any such necessary p. 916 Q. 173. What particular Directions for Order of Studies and Books should be observed by young Students who intend the Sacred Ministry p. 917 Q. 174. What Books should a poor man choose that for want of money or Time can have or read but few There are three Catalogues set down but somewhat disorderly as they came into my memory 1. The smallest or Poorest Library 2. A poor Library that hath considerable Additions to the former 3. Some more Additions to them for them that can go higher With some additional Notes p. 921 TOME IV. Christian Politicks CHAP. I. GEneral Directions for an Upright Life p. 1 The most passed by on necessary reasons CHAP. II. A few brief Memoranda to Rulers for the interest of Christ the Church and mens salvation p. 5 CHAP. III. Directions to Subjects concerning their duty to Rulers p. 9. Of the Nature and Causes of Government Mr. Richard Hookers Ecclesiastical Policy as it is for Popularity examined and confuted Directions for obedience Duty to Rulers Q. Is the Magistrate Iudge in Controversies of faith or worship p. 20. Q. 2. May the Oath of Supremacy be lawfully taken in which the King is pronounced Supream Governour in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil p. 20. Q. 3. Doth not this give the Pastors power to the Magistrate Q. 4. Hath the King power of Church Discipline and Excommunication Q. 5. If Kings and Bishops differ which must be obeyed Q. Is he obliged to suffer who is not obliged to obey p. 25. Of admonition of Rulers Q. 1. Whether the sound Authors of Politicks be against Monarchy Q. 2. Whether Civilians be against it Q. 3. Are Historians against it Greek Roman or Christian Q. 4. Whether Athens Rome Aristotle Philosophers Academies be against it Q. 5. Are Divines and Church discipline against it Q. 6. Is Scripture and Christianity against it Objections answered Q. Are Papists Prelatists and Puritans against it Bilson and Andrews Vindication of the Puritans Christianity is the greatest help to Government Further Directions Tit. 2. Q. Whether mans Laws bind the Conscience Q. Is it a sin to break every Law of man More fully answered p. 36 37 CHAP. IV. Directions to Lawyers about their Duty to God p. 39 CHAP. V. The Duty of Physicions p. 43 CHAP. VI. Directions to Schâ—olmasters about their duties for Childrens souls p. 44 CHAP. VII Directions for Souldiers about their duty in point of Conscience Princes Nobles Iudges and Iustices are past by lest they take Counsel for injury p. 46 CHAP. VIII Advice against Murder p. 50. The Causes of it Wars Tyranny malignant persecuting fury Unrighteous judgement oppression and uncharitableness Robbery Wrath Guilt and Shame Malice and Revenge wicked Impatience Covetousness Ambition c. The Greatness of the sin The Consequents Tit. 2. Advice against Self-murder The Causes to be avoided Melancholy worldly trouble discontent passion c. p. 54. Besides Gluttony Tipling and Idleness the great Murderers CHHP. IX Directions for the forgiving of injuries and enemies Against wrath malice revenge and persecution Practical Directions Curing Considerations Twenty p. 56 CHAP. X. Cases resolved about forgiving wrongs and debts and about self defence and seeking â—ur Right by Law or otherwise p. 61 Q. What injuries are we bound to forgive Neg. and Affir resolved Q. 2. What is the meaning of Matth. 5. 38 c. Resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee c. p. 63 Q. 3. Am I bound to forgive another if he ask me not forgiveness Luke 17. 3 c. p. 64 Q. 4. Is it lawful to sue another at Law 1 Cor. 6. 7. Q. 5. Is it lawful to defend our lives or estates against a Robber Murderer or unjust Invader by force of Arms Q. 6. Is it lawful to take away anothers life in defending my purse or estate only p. 65 Q. 7. May we kill or wound another in defence or vindication of our honour or good name p. 66 CHAP. XI Special Directions to escape the guilt of persecution Determining much of the Case about Liberty in matters of Religion p 67. What is persecution The several kinds of it The greatness of the sin Understand the Case of Christs interest in the world Q. Whether particular Churches should require more of their members as Conditions of Communion than the Catholick Church and What Penalties to be chosen that hinder the Gospel least More Directions to the number of forty one CHAP. XII Directions against Scandal as Given p. 80. What Scandal is and what not The sorts of scandalizing The Scripture sense of it Twenty Directions CHAP. XIII Directions against Scandal taken or an aptness to receive hurt by the words or deeds of others Especially quarrelling with Godliness p. 88. or taking encouragement to sin Practical Directions against taking hurt by others p. 90. CHAP. XIV Directions against soul-murder and partaking of other mens sins p. 92 The several wayes of destroying souls How we are not guilty of other mens sin and ruine CHAP. XV. General Directions for furthering the salvation of others p. 95 CHAP. XVI Special Directions for holy Conference Exhortation and Reproof Tit. 1. Motives to holy Conference and Exhortation p 97 Tit. 2. Directions to Christian edifying discourse p. 100 Tit. 3. Special Directions for Exhortations and Reproofs p. 101 CHAP. XVII Directions for keeping Peace with all men How the Proud do hinder Peace Many more Causes and Cures opened p. 103 CHAP. XVIII Directions against all Theft fraud or injurious getting keeping or desiring that which is anothers p. 107 Tit. 2. Cases of Conscience about Theft and such injuries Q. 1. Is it sin to steal to save ones life Q. 2. May I take that which another is bound to give me and will not Q. 3. May I take my own from an unjust borrower or possessor if I cannot otherwise get it Q. 4. May I recover my own by force from him that taketh it by force from me Q. 5. May we take from the Rich to relieve the poor Q. 6. If he have so much as that he will not miss it may I take some Q. 7. May not one pluck ears of Corn or an Apple from a Tree c. Q. 8. May a Wife Child or Servant take more than a Cruel Husband Parent or Master doth allâ—w May Children forsake their Parents for such Cruelty Q. 9. May I take what a man forfeiteth penally Q. 10. What if I resolve when I take a thing in necessity to make satisfaction if ever I be able Q. 11. What if I know not whether the Owner would consent Q. 12. May I take in jeast from a friend with a purpose to restore it Q 13. May I not take from another to prevent his hurting himself Q. 14. May I take away Cards Dice Play-books Papist-books by which he would hurt his soul. Q 15. May not a Magistrate take the Subjects goods when it is necessary to their own preservation Q 16. May I take from
as much as may be in a way of Concord with the united faithful Pastors and Churches in your proximity or Countrey 3. Look to the publick good and interest of Religion more than to your particular Congregation 4. Neglect not the greatest advantages for your own edification But rather take them by a removal of your dwelling though you suffer by it in your estates than by any division disturbance of the Churches peace or common detriment 5. Do not easily go against the Magistrates Commands unless they be apparently unlawful and to the Churches detriment or ruine in the reception of your Pastors 6. Do not easily forsake him that hath been justly received by the Church and hath possession that is till necessity require it Quest. 106. To whom doth it belong to Reform a Corrupted Church to the Magistrates Pastors or People Answ. A Church is reformed three several wayes 1. By the personal reformation of every member 2. By doctrinal Direction and 3. By publick forcible Execution and constraint of others 1. Every member whether Magistrates Pastors or People must reform themselves by forsaking 1 Cor. 11. 28 29 31 33 34. 1 Cor. 5. 11. Dan. 3. 6. all their own sins and doing their own duties If a Ruler command a private person to go to Mass to own any falshood or to do any sin he is not to be obeyed because God is to be first obeyed 2. The Bishops or Pastors are to Reform the Church by Doctrine Reproof and just Exhortations 1 Cor. 5. 3. 4 5 1. Pet. 5. 2 3. Luke 22. 24 25 26 27. and Nunciative Commands in the name of Christ to Rulers and people to do their several duties and by the actual doing of his own 3. The King and Magistrates under him only must Reform by the Sword that is by outward force and Civil Laws and Corporal Penalties As forcibly to break down Images to cast out Idolaters or the Instruments of Idolatry from the Temples to put true Ministers in possession of the Temples or the Legal publick maintenance to destroy punish or hurt Idolaters c. Supposing still the Power of Parents and Masters in their several families Quest. 107. Who is to Call Synods Princes Pastors or People Answ. 1. THere are several wayes of Calling Synods 1. By Force and Civil Mandates 2. By The question of the power of Synods is sufficiently answered before Pastoral Perswasion and Counsel and 3. By humble intreaty and petition 1. Magistrates only that is the Supream by his own power and the Inferiour by power derived from him may call Synods by Laws and Mandates enforced by the Sword or Corporal Penalties or Mulcts 2. Bishops or Pastors in due Circumstances may call Synods by Counsel and perswasive invitation 3. The people in due Circumstances and necessity may Call Synods by way of Petition and Intreaty But what are the due Circumstances Answ. 1. The Magistrate may Call them by Command at his discretion for his own Counsel or for the Civil peace or the Churches good 2. The Pastors and people may not Call them nor meet when the Magistrate forbiddeth it except when the necessity of the Church requireth it Synods may profitably be stated for order when it may be lawfulâ—y obtained both as to limits of Place numbers and Time But these prudential Orders are not of stated necessity but must give place to weightier reasons on the contrary 3. Synods themselves are not ordinarily necessary by Nature or Institution Let him that affirmeth it prove it But that which is statedly necessary is The Concord of the Churches as the End and a necessary correspondency of the Churches as the Means and Synods when they may well be had as a convenient sort of means 4. When Synods cannot be had or are needless Messengers and Letters from Church to Church may keep up the Correspondency and Concord 5. In cases of real necessity which are very rare though usefulness be more frequent the Bishops and people should first petition the King for his consent And if that cannot be had they may meet secretly and in small numbers for mutual consultation and advice about the work of God and not by keeping up the formality of their set numbers times and places and orders provoke the King against them 6. The contempt of Synods by the separatists and the placing more power in Synods than ever God gave them by others yea and the insisting on their circumstantial orders making them like a Civil Senate or Court have been the two extreams which have greatly injured and divided the Churches throughout the World Quest. 108. To whom doth it belong to appoint dayes and assemblies for publick Humiliation and Thanksgiving Answ. THe answer of the last question may serve for this 1. The Magistrate only may do it by way of Laws or civil Mandate enforced by the sword 2. The Pastors may do it in case of necessity by Pastoral advice and exhortation and nunciative command in the name of Christ. 3. The people may do it by Petition 4. As ordinary Church Assemblies must be held if the Magistrate forbid them of which next so must extraordinary ones when extraordinary causes make it a duty 5. When the Magistrate forcibly hindereth them natural impossibility resolveth the question about our duty Quest. 109. May we omit Church-assemblies on the Lords day if the Magistrate forbid them Answ. 1. IT is one thing to forbid them for a time upon some special cause as Infection by May we omit Church-Assemblies on the Lords day if forbidden by Magistrates pestilence fire war c. And another thing to forbid them statedly or prophanely 2. It is one thing to omit them for a time and another to do it ordinarily 3. It is one thing to omit them in formal obedience to the Law and another thing to omit them in prudence or for necessity because we cannot keep them 4. The Assembly and the circumstances of the Assembly must be distinguished 1. If the Magistrate for a greater good as the common safety forbid Church Assemblies in a time of pestilence assault of enemies or fire or the like necessity it is a duty to obey him Because positive duties give place to those great natural duties which are their end so Christ justified himself and his disciples violation of the external rest of the Sabbath For the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath 2. Because Affirmatives bind not ad semper and out of season duties become sins 3. Because one Lords day or Assembly is not to be preferred before Many which by the omission of that one are like to be obtained 2. If Princes prophanely forbid holy assemblies and publick worship either statedly or as a renunciation of Christ and our religion it is not Lawful formally to obey them 3. But it is lawful prudently to do that secretly for the present necessity which we cannot do publickly and to do that with smaller numbers which we
against forms of prayer that all the years that he lived at Middleburg and Anâ—werp he constantly used the same form before Sermon and mostly after Sermon and also did read prayers in the Church and that since he seldome concluded but with the Lords Prayer of England Cartwright Hildersham Greenham Perkins Baine Amesius c. And I less fear erring in all this company than with those on either of the extreams Quest. 79. Is it lawful to forbear the preaching of some Truths upon mans prohibition that I may have liberty to preach the rest yea and to promise before hand to forbear them Or to do it for the Churches peace Answ. 1. SOme Truths are of so great moment and necessity that without them you cannot preach the Gospel in a saving sort These you may not forbear nor promise to forbear 2. Some Truths are such as God at that time doth call men eminently to publish and receive as against some Heresie when it is in the very height or the Church in greatest danger of it Or concerning some Duty which God then specially calleth men to perform As the duty of Loyalty just in the time of a perillous Rebellion c. Such preaching being a Duty must not be forborn when it can be performed upon lawful terms 3. But some Truths are Controverted among good men and some are of a lower nature and usefulness And concerning these I further say 1. That you may not renounce them or deny them not subscribe to the smallest untruth for liberty to preach the greatest truth 2. But you may for the time that the Churches benefit requireth it both forbear to preach them and promise to forbear both for the Churches peace and for that Liberty to preach the Gospel which you cannot otherwise obtain The Reasons are 1. Because it is not a duty to preach them at that time For no duty is a duty at all times Affirmative Precepts bind not ad semper because man cannot alwayes do them 2. It is a sin to prefer a lesser truth or good before a Greater You cannot speak all things at once When you have all done some yea a thousand must be by you omitted Therefore the less should be omitted rather than the greater 3. You have your Office to the Churches Edification Preaching is made for man and not man for preaching But the Churches Edification requireth you rather to preach the Gospel than that opinion or point which you are required to forbear Without this the hearers may be saved but not without the Gospel And what a man may do and must do he may on good occasion promise to do He that thinketh Diocesans or Liturgies or Ceremonies unlawful and yet cannot have leave to preach the Gospel in time of need unless he will forbear and promise to forbear to preach against them may and ought so to doâ— and promise rather than not to preach the Gospel Object But if men imprison or hinder me from preaching that is their fault But if I voluntarily forbear any duty it is my own fault Answ. 1. It is to forbear a sin and not a duty at that time It is no more a duty than reading or singing or praying at Sermon time 2. When you are in Prison or know in all probability you shall be there though by other mens fault it is your own fault if you will deny a lawful means to avoid it For your not preaching the Gospel is then your own sin as well as other mens And theirs excuseth not yours Quest. 80. May or must a Minister silenced or forbid to Preach the Gospel go on still to preach it against the Law Answ. DIstinguish between 1. Iust silencing and Unjust 2. Necessary preaching and unnecessary 1. Some men are justly forbidden to preach the Gospel as 1. Those that are utterly unable and do worse than nothing when they do it 2. Those that are Hereticks and subvert the Essentials of Christianity or Godliness 3. Those that are so Impious and Malignant that they turn all against the Practice of that Religion which they profess In a word All that do directly more hurt than good 2. In some places there are so many able preachers that some tolerable men may be spared if not accounted supernumeraries and the Church will not suffer by their silence But in other Countreys either the Preachers are so few or so bad or the people so very ignorant and hardened and ungodly or so great a number that are in deep necessity that the need of preaching is undenyable And so I conclude 1. That he that is justly silenced and is unfit to Preach is bound to forbear 2. He that is silenced by just Power though unjustly in a Countrey that needeth not his Preaching must forbear there and if he can must go into another Coâ—â—â—â—â—y where he may be more serviceable 3. Magistrates may not Ecclesiastically Ordain Ministers or degrade them But only either give them Liberty or deny it them as there is cause 4. Magistrates are not the â—ountain of the Ministerial Office as the Soveraign is of all the Civil power of inferiour Magistrates But both offices are immediately from God 5. Magistrates have not power from God to forbid men to Preach in all cases nor as they please but justly only and according to Gods Laws 6. Men be not made Ministers of Christ only pro tempore or on tryal to go off again if they dislike it But are absolutely dedicated to God and take their lot for better and for worse which maketh the Romanists say that ordination is a Saâ—ramenâ— and so it may be aptly called and that we receive an indelible character that is an obligation during life unless God himself disable us 7. Aâ— we are â—â—â—â—rlier devoted and relaâ—ed to God than Church lands goods and temples are so the sacriledge of alienating a consecrated person unjustly is greater and more unquestionable than the sacriledge of alienating Consecrated houses lands or things And therefore no Minister may Sacrilegiously alienate himself from God and his undertaken office and work 8. We must do â—â—y Lawful thing to procure the Magistrates Licence to Preach in his Dominions 9. All men silenced or forbidden by Magistrates to Preach are noâ— thereby obliged or warranted to forbear Foâ— â— The Apostles expresly determine it Act. 4. 19. Whether it be better to hearken to God rather than to you judge ye 2. Christ oâ—â— foreâ—old his servants that they must Preach against the will of Rulers and suffer by them 3. The Apostles and ordinary Ministers also for 300 years after Christ did generally preach against the Magistrates will throughout the Roman Empire and the World 4. The Orthodox Bishops commonly took themselves bound to Preach when Arrian or other Heretical Emperours forâ—ad them 5. A moral duty of stated necessity to the Church and mens salvation is noâ— subjected to the will of men for Order sake For Order is for the thing Ordered and for the End Magistrates
cannot dispense with us for not Loving our Neighbours or not shewing mercy to the poor oâ— saving the lives of the neâ—dy in 〈◊〉 and diâ—â—ress Else they that at last shall hear I was hungry aâ—d yâ—â—â—â—â— mâ— not I was nâ—ked and ye 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â— I was in prison and ye visited me not might oft say â—â—â—◠〈…〉 〈◊〉 Magistrates for bad â—s Yet a lâ—ssâ—r Moral duty may be forbidden by the Magistrate for the sake of a greater because then it is no duty indeed and may be forborn if he forbid it not As to save one manâ— liâ—â— iâ— it would prove the death of a multitude or to save one mans house on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—o woâ—lâ—â—â—â—â—â—any Therefore 10. Iâ— is lawful and â— dâ—â—â—â— to for â—â—â—â— some certain â—â—â—â— or number of Sermons Prayers or Sacraments c. when â—â—â—â—er the present â—se of them would apparently pâ—oâ—â—re more hâ—rt than good o◠〈…〉 forbear 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â— like to prâ—â—â—â—â— moâ—â— good than the doing of them For they are all for our Edification and are made for man and not man for them though for God As if forbearing this dâ—y 〈◊〉 pâ—â—â—â—uâ—â—â—â—â—â— liâ—â—â—â—y for many dayes serviâ—e afterward c. 〈…〉 at the 〈◊〉 oâ—â—an to forsake or forbear our Calling and duty when it is to bâ— judged Necessary to the honour of God to the good of the Church and of mens souls that is whâ—n aâ—â—in 〈◊〉 case Dan. 6. our Religion it self and our owning the true God doth seeâ— suspended by the suspence of our duty Or when the multitude of ignorant hardened â—â—godly souls and the want of fit men for number and quality doth put it past Controversie that our work is greatly necessary 12. Those that are not Immediately called by Christ as were the Apostles but by men being yet Mat. â—8 20. Râ—m 10. 14. 1 â—or 9. 16. â—â—â—â— â— 4â— 10. 4â— â—â—â—m 4 1 2. â—â—â—â— 8 4 12. 1â— 3â— statedly obliged to the death when they are called may truly say as Paul Necessity is laid upon me and woe â—e to me if I preach not the Gospel 13. Papists and Protestants concurr in this judgement Papists will preach when the Law forbids them And the judgement of Protestants is among others by Bishop Bilson of subjection and Bishop Andrews Tortur Tort. plainly so asserted 14. But all that are bound to preach are not bound to do it to the same number nor in the same manner as they have not the same opportunity and call Whether it shall be in this place or that to more or fewer at this hour or that are not determined in Scripture nor alike to all 15. The Temples tythes and such adjuncts of Worship and Ministry are at the Magistrates dispose and must not be invaded against his Laws 16. Where any are obliged to Preach in a forbidden discountenanced state they must study to do it with such prudence caution peaceableness and obedience in all the Lawful circumstantials as may tend to maintain peace and the honour of Magistracy and to avoid temptations to sedition and unruly passions Quest. 81. May we lawfully keep the Lords day as a fast Answ. NOt ordinarily Because God hath made it a day of thanksgiving And we must not pervert it from the use to which it was appointed by God But in case of extraordinary necessity it may be done As 1. In case that some great judgement call us so suddenly to humiliation and fasting as that it cannot be deâ—erred to the next day As some sudden invasion fire sickness c. Luk. 6. 5. 13. â—â— Maâ— 2. In case by persecution the Church be denyed liberty to meet on any other day in a time when publick fasting and prayer is a duty 3. In case the people be so poor or servants Children and Wives be so hardly restrained that they cannot meet at any other time It is lawful in such cases because Positives give way to Moral or Natural duties caeteris paribus and lesser duties unto greater The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath Quest. 82. How should the Lords day be spent in the main Answ. I Have so far opened that in the Family-directions that I will now only say 1. That Eâ—charistical worship is the great work of the day And that it should be kept as a day of publick Psal. 92. 1 2 3 4 5. Psal. 118. 1 2 3 15 19 23 24 27 28 29. Act. 20. 7 9. Rev. 1. 10. Act. 24. 14 25 26 c. Psal. 16. 7 8 9 10. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Thanksgiving for the whole work of Redemption especially for the Resurrection of our Lord. 2. And therefore the celebration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was alwayes a chief part of its observation in the primitive Churches Not meerly for the Sacrament sake but because with it was still joyned all the Laudatory and Thanksgiving worship And it was the Pastors work so to pray and praise God and preach to the people as tendeth most to possess their souls with the liveliest sense of the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Communion of the holy Spirit on the account of our Redemption 3. Though confession of sin and humiliation must not be the chief work of the day yet it may and must come in as in due subordination to the chief 1. Because there are usually many persons present who are members only of the visible Church and are not fit for the Laudatory and rejoycing part 2. Because while we are in the flesh our sâ—lvation is imperfect and so are we and much sin still remaineth which must be a grief and burden to believers And therefore while sin is mixt Psal. 2. 9 10 11. Heb. 12. 28 29. with grace Repentance and sorrow must be mixed with our Thanksgivings and we must rejoyce with trembling And though we receive a Kingdom which cannot â—e moved yet must our acceptable service of God be with reverence and Godly fear because our God is a consuming fire 3. Our sin and misery being that which we are saved from doth enter the definition of our salvation And without the sense of theâ— we can never know aâ—ight what mercy is nor ever be truly glad and thankful But yet take heed that this subordinate duty be not pretended for the neglecting of that Thanksgiving which is the work of the day Quest. 83. May the people bear a Vocal part in Worship or do any more than say Amen Answ. YEs The people should say Amen that is openly signifie their consent But the meaning 1 Cor. 14. Psal. 150. 81 2 3. 98. 5. 94. 1 2 3 c. 105. 7. 2 c. 145. thoughout Col. 3 16. is not that they must do no more nor otherwise express their consent saving by that single word For 1. There is no Scripture which forbiddeth more 2. The people bear an equal part in singing the Psalms which are prayer and praise
was an Ecclesiastical Usurper quoad personam that had no true Call to a Lawful Office shall after have a Call or if any thing fall out which shall make it our duty to Consent and Call him then the impediment from his Usurpation is removed 3. It is not lawful though the Civil Magistrate command us to swear obedience even in licitis honestis to such an Usurper whose Office it self is unlawful or forbidden by Christ as he is such an Officer No Protestant thinketh it lawful to swear obedience to the Pope as Pope nor do any that take Lay-Elders to be an unlawful Office think it lawful to swear obedience to them as such 4. If one that is in an unlawful Ecclesiastical Office be also at once in another that is lawful we may swear obedience to him in respect of the Lawful Office So it is Lawful to swear obedience to the Pope in Italy as a Temporal Prince in his own Dominions And to a Cardinal as Richelieu Mazarine Ximenes c. as the Kings Minister exercising a power derived from him So it is lawful for a Tenant where Law and Custome requireth it to swear fidelity to a Lay Elder as his Landlord or Temporal Lord and Master And so the old Non-conformists who thought the English Prelacy an unlawful Office yet maintained that it is Lawful to take the Oath of Canonical obedience because they thought it was imposed by the King and Laws and that we swear to them not as Officers claiming a Divine Right in the Spiritual Government but as Ordinaries or Officers made by the King to exercise so much of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under him as he can delegate according to the Oath of Supremacy in which we all acknowledge the King to be Supream in all Ecclesiastical Causes that is Not the Supream Pastor Bishop or Spiritual Key-bearer or Ruler but the Supream Civil Ruler of the Church who hath the power of the Sword and of determining all things extrinsick to the Pastoral Office and so of the Coercive Government of all Pastors and Churches as well as of other Subjects And if Prelacy were proved never so unlawful no doubt but by the Kings Command we may swear or perform formal obedience to a Prelate as he is the Kings Officer Of the Non-conformists judgement in this read Bradshaw against Canne c. 5. But in such a case no Oath to Inferiours is lawful without the Consent of the Soveraign power or at least against his will 6. Though it be a duty for the flock to obey every Presbyter yet if they would make all the people swear obedience to them all wise and conscionable Christians should dissent from the introduction of such a custome and deny such Oaths as far as lawfully they may that is 1. If the King be against it we must refuse it 2. If he be neutral or meerly passive in it we must refuse unless some apparent necessity for the Churches good require it 1. Because it favoureth of Pride in such Presbyters 2. Because it is a new Custome in the Church and contrary to the antient practice 3. It is not only without any authority given them by Christ that they exact such Oaths but Mat. 22. 4 10. Luke 22. 27 c. Mark 9. 35. 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. 1 Cor. 9. 19. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 4. 5. also contrary to the great humility lowliness and condescension in which he describeth his Ministers who must be Great by being the servants of all 4. And it tendeth to corrupt the Clergy for the future 5. And such new impositions give just reason to Princes and to the People to suspect that the Presbyters are aspiring after some inordinate exaltation or have some ill project for the advancement of themselves 7. But yet if it be not only their own ambition which imposeth it but either the King and Laws command it or necessity require it for the avoidance of a greater evil it may be Lawful and a duty to take an Oath of Obedience to a Lawful Presbyter or Bishop Because 1. It is a ☜ duty to Obey them 2. And it is not forbidden us by Christ to promise or swear to do our duty even when they may sin in demanding such an Oath 8. If an Office be Lawful in the essential parts and yet have unlawful integrals or adjuncts or be abused in exercise it will not by such additions or abuses be made unlawful to swear Obedience to the Officer as such 9. If one Presbyter or Bishop would make another Presbyter or Bishop to swear obedience to him without authority the Case is the same as of the Usurpers before mentioned Quest. 154. Must all our preaching be upon a Text of Scripture Answ. 1. IN many Cases it may be lawful to preach without a Text to make Sacred Orations Act◠2 3. like Greg. Nazianzenes and Homilies like Macarius's Ephrem Syrus's and many other antients and like our own Church-Homilies 2. But ordinarily it is the fittest way to preach upon a Text of Scripture 1. Because it is our Luke 4. 18. very Office to Teach the people the Scripture The Prophets brought a new word or message from God but the Priests did but keep interpret and teach the Law already received And we are not Mal. 2. 7. successors of the inspired Prophets but as the Priests were Teachers of Gods received Word And this practice will help the people to understand our Office 2. And it will preserve the due esteem and reverence of the Holy Scriptures which the contrary practice may diminish Quest. 155. Is not the Law of Moses abrogated and the whole Old Testament out of date and therefore not to be Read publickly and preached on Answ. 1. THe Covenant of Innocency is ceased cessante subditorum capacitate as a Covenant or promise And so are the Positive Laws proper to Adam in that state and to many particular persons since 2. The Covenant mixt of Grace and Works proper to the Jews with all the Jewish Law as such was never made to us or to the rest of the world and to the Jews it is ceased by the coming and perfecter Laws and Covenant of Christ. 3. The Prophecies and Types of Christ and the Promises made to Adam Abraham and others of his Coming in the flesh are all fulfilled and therefore not useful to all the ends of their first making And the many Prophecies of particular things and persons past and gone are accomplished 4. But the Law of Nature is still Christs Law And that Law is much expounded to us in the Old Testament And if God once for another use did say This is the Law of Nature the truth of these words as a Divine Doctrine and Exposition of the Law of Nature is still the same 5. The Covenant of Grace made with Adam and Noah for all mankind is still in force as to the great benefits and main condition that is as to pardon given by it
holy industry of all their lives Say not God can give more to you in a year than to others in twenty For it is a poor argument to prove that God hath done it because he can do it He can make you an Angel but that will not prove you one Prove your wisdome before you pretend to it and overvalue it not Heb. 5. 11 12 sheweth that it is Gods ordinary way to give men wisdom according to their time and means unless their own negligence deprive them of his blessing Direct 6. Study to keep up Christian Love and to keep it lively For Love is not censorious but Direct 6. is inclined to judge the best till evidence constrain you to the contrary Censoriousness is a Vermine which crawleth in the carkass of Christian Love when the life of it is gone Direct 7. Value all Gods graces in his servants And then you will see something to love them Direct 7. for when hypocrites can see nothing Make not too light of small degrees of grace and then your censure will not overlook them Direct 8. Remember the tenderness of Christ who condemneth not the weak nor casteth Infants Direct 8. out of his family nor the diseased out of his Hospital but dealeth with them in such gracious gentleness as beseemeth a tender-hearted Saviour He will not break the bruised reed He carryeth his Lambs in his arms and gently driveth those with young He taketh up the wounded man when the Priest and Levite pass him by And have you not need of the tenderness of Christ your selves as well as others Are you not afraid lest he should find greater faults in you than you find in others And condemn you as you condemn them Direct 9. Let the sense of the common corruption of the world and imperfection of the godly moderate Direct 9. your particular censures As Seneca saith To censure a man for that which is common to all men is in a sort to censure him for being a man which beseemeth not him that is a man himself Do you not know the frailty of the best and the common pravity of humane nature How few are there that must not have great allowance or else they will not pass for currant in the ballance Elias was a man subject to passions Ionah to pievishness Iob had his impatiency â—â—ul saith even of the Teachers of the primitive Church They all that were with him seek their own and not the things of Iesus Christ. What blots are charged on almost all the Churches and almost all the holy persons mentioned throughout all the Scriptures Learn then of Paul a better lesson than censoriousness Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ. Let every man prove his own work and then be shall have rejoycing in himself alone c. Direct 10. Remember that Iudgement is Gods prerogative further than as we are called to it for Direct 10. the performance of some duty either of Office or of private Charity or self-preservation And that the Judge is as at the door And that judging unmercifully maketh us lyable to judgement without mercy The foresight of that near universal Judgement which will pass the doom on us and all men will do much to cure us of our rash censoriousness Direct 11. Peruse and observe all the Directions in the last Chapter against evil-speaking and backbiting Direct 11. that I may not need to repeat them Especially avoid 1. The snare of selfishness and interest For most men judge of others principally by their own interest He is the good man that is good to them or is on their side that loveth and honoureth them and answereth their desires This is the common false judgement of the corrupted selfish world who vilifie and hate the best because they seem unsuitable to them and to their carnal interest Therefore take heed of your judgement about any man that you have any falling-out with For its two to one but you will wrong him through this selfishness 2. Avoid passion which blindeth the judgement 3. Avoid Faction which maketh you judge of all men as they agree or disagree with your opinions or your side and party 4. Avoid too hasty belief of censures and rebuke them 5. Hear every man speak for himself before you censure him if it be possible and the case be not notorious Direct 12. Keep still upon your mind a just and deep apprehension of the malignity of this sin of Direct 12. rash censuring It is of greatest consequence to the mortifying of any sin what apprehensions of it are upon the mind If religious persons apprehended the odiousness of this as much as they do of swearing drunkenness fornication c. they would as carefully avoid it Therefore I shall shew you the Malignity of this sin Tit. 3. The evil of the Sin of Censoriousness § 1. 1. IT is an usurpation of Gods Prerogative who is the Judge of all the world It is a stepping up into his Judgement Seat and undertaking his work as if you said I will be God as to this action And if he be called The Antichrist who usurpeth the Office of Christ to be the Universal Monarch and Head of the Church you may imagine what he doth who though but in one point doth set up himself in the place of God § 2. 2. They that usurp not Gods part in judging yet ordinarily usurp the part of the Magistrate or Pastors of the Church As when mistaken censorious Christians refuse to come to the Sacrament of Communion because many persons are there whom they judge to be ungodly what do they but usurp the Office of the Pastors of the Church To whom the Keys are committed for admission and exclusion And so are the appointed Judges of that case The duty of private members is but to admonish the offender first secretly and then before witnesses and to tell the Church if he repent not and humbly to tell the Pastors of their duty if they neglect it And when this is done they have discharged their part and must no more excommunicate men themselves than they must hang Thieves when the Magistrate doth neglect to hang them § 3. 3. Censoriousness signifieth the absence or decay of Love which inclineth men to think evil and judge the worst and aggravate infirmities and overlook or extenuate any good that is in others And there is least Grace where there is least Love § 4. 4. It sheweth also much want of self-acquaintance and such heart-employment as the sincerest Christians are taken up with And it sheweth much want of Christian humility and sense of your own infirmities and badness and much prevalency of Pride and self-conceitedneâ—s If you knew how ignorant you are you would not be so peremptory in
A Christian Directory Or A SUMM of PRACTICAL THEOLOGIE AND CASES OF CONSCIENCE Directing Christians how to USE their Knowledge and Faith How to improve all Helps and Means and to Perform all Duties How to Overcome Temptations and to escape or mortifie every Sin In Four Parts I. CHRISTIAN ETHICKS or private Duties II. CHRISTIAN OECONOMICKS or Family Duties III. CHRISTIAN ECCLESIASTICKS or Church Duties IV. CHRISTIAN POLITICKS or Duties to our Rulers and Neighbours By RICHARD BAXTER Mal. 2. 7 8. The Priests lips should keep Knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts But ye are departed out of the way Ye have Caused many to stumble at the Law ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi Matth. 13. 52. Every SCRIBE which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth out of his Treasure things New and Old Heb. 5. 13 14. For every one that useth Milk is unskilful in the Word of Righteousness for he is a Babe But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age Those who by reason of USE have their senses exercised to discern both Good and Evil. 2 Tim. 2. 14 15 16. Of these things put them in remembrance charging them before God that they STRIVE not about WORDS to no profit but to the subverting of the Hearers Study to shew thy self approved UNTO GOD a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of Truth But shun profane and vain Bablings for they will increase unto more Ungodliness and their Word will eat as doth a Canker 2 Pet. 3. 16. In which Pauls Epistles are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Princes Arms in S t. Pauls Church-yard 1673. Advertisements READERS THE Book is so big that I must make no longer Preface than to give you this necessary short account 1. Of the Quality 2. And the Reasons of this Work I. The matter you will see in the Contents As Amâ—sius his Cases of Conscience are to his Medulla the second and Practical part of Theologie so is this to a Methodus Theologiae which I have not yet published And 1. As to the Method of this it is partly natural but principally Moral that is partly suitable to the real order of the Matter but chiefly of usefulness secundum ordinem Intentionis where our reasons of each location are fetcht from the End Therefore unless I might be tedious in opening my reasons à fine for the order of every particular I know not how to give you full satisfaction But in this Practical part I am the less solicitous about the Accurateness of method because it more belongeth to the former Part the Theory where I do it as well as I am able 2. This Book was written in 1664. and 1665. except the Ecclesiastick Cases of Conscience and a few sheets since added And since the Writing of it some invitations drew me to publish my Reasons of the Christian Religion my Life of Faith and Directions for weak Christians by which the work of the two first Chapters here is fullier done And therefore I was inclined here to leave them out But for the use of such Families as may have this without the other I forbore to dismember it 3. But there is a great disproportion between the several parts of the Book 1. The first Part is largest because I thought that the Heart must be kept with greatest diligence and that if the Tree be good the fruit will be good and I remember Pauls counsel 1 Tim. 4. 16. Take heed to thy self and unto thy Doctrine Continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Nothing is well done by him that beginneth not at home As the man is so is his strength and work 2. The two first Chapters are too course and tedious for those of the higher form who may pass them over But the rest must be spoken to To whom that is unprofitable which is most suitable and pleasant to more exercised and accurate wits The Grand Directions are but the explication of the essentials of Christianity or of the Baptismal Covenant even of our Relation-duties to God the Father Son in several parts of his Relation and of the Holy Ghost The doctrine of Temptations is handled with brevity because they are so numerous lest a due amplification should have swelled the Book too much when a small part of their number maketh up so much of Mr. Iohn Downame's great and excellent Treatise called The Christian Welfare The great radical sins are handled more largely than seemeth proportionable to the rest because all die when they are dead And I am large about Redeeming Time because therein the sum of a holy obedient life is included 4. If any say Why call you that a sum of Practical Theologie which is but the Directing part and leaveth out the explication reasons various Uses marks motives c I answer 1. Had I intended Sermonwise to say all that might well be said on each subject it would have made many Volumes as big as this 2. Where I thought them needful the explication of each duty and sin is added with marks contraries counterfeits motives c. And Uses are easily added by an ordinary Reader without my naming them 5. I do especially desire you to observe that the resolving of practical Cases of Conscience and the reducing of Theoretical knowledge into serious Christian Practice and promoting a skilful facility in the faithful exercise of universal obedience and Holiness of heart and life is the great work of this Treatise And that where I thought it needful the Cases are reduced to express Questions and Answers But had I done so by all many such Volumes would have been too little And therefore I thought the Directing way most brief and fit for Christian practice For if you mark them you will find few Directions in the Book which may not pass for the answer of an implyed Question or Case of Conscience And when I have given you the Answer in a Direction an ingenious Reader can tell what Question it is that is answered And so many hundred Cases are here resolved especially in the two first Parts which are not interrogatively named 6. And I must do my self the right as to notifie to the Reader that this Treatise was written when I was for not-subscribing Declaring c. forbidden by the Law to Preach and when I had been long separated far from my Library and from all Books saving an inconsiderable parcel which wandred with me where I went By which means this Book hath two defects 1. It hath no Cases of Conscience but what my bare memory brought to hand And Cases are so
Vows The use the obligation VVhether any things be indifferent and such may be Vowed As Marrying c. May we Vow things Indifferent in themselves though not in their circumstances In what Cases we may not Vow VVhat if Rulers command it VVhat if I doubt whether the Matter imposed be lawful Of Vowing with a doubting Conscience Tit. 2. Directions against Perjury and Perfidiousness and for keeping Vows and Oaths The heinousness of Perjury Thirty six Rules about the obligation of a Vow to shew when and how far it is obligatory useful in an age stigmatized with open Perjury Mostly out of Dr. Sanderson VVhat is the Nullity of an Oath Cases in which Vows must not be kept p. 700 How far Rulers may Nullifie a Vow Numb 30. opened Of the Accidental Evil of a Vow Of Scandal Q. Doth an error de persona caused by that person disoblige me ibid. CHAP. VI. Directions to the people concerning their Internal and private duty to their Pastors and their profiting by the Ministerial Office and Gifts p. 714 The Ministerial Office opened in fifteen particulars The Reasons of it The true old Episcopacy Special duties to your own Pastors above others Of the Calling Power and Succession of Pastors The best to be preferred The Order of Minirial Teaching and the Resolution of faith How far Humane faith conduceth to Divine Of Tradition VVhat use to make of your Pastors to p. 724 CHAP. VII Directions for the discovery of Truth among Contenders and how to escape Heresie and deceit Cautions for avoiding deceit in Disputations p. 725 CHAP. VIII Directions for the Union and Communion of Saints and for avoiding unpeaceableness and Schism p. 731 VVherein our Unity consisteth VVhat diversity will be in the Churches VVhat Schism is VVhat Heresie VVhat Apostasie VVho are Schismaticks The degrees and progress of it VVhat Separation is a duty Q. Is any one form of Church Government of Divine appointment May man make new Church Officers The Benefits of Christian Concord to themselves and to Insidels The mischiefs of Schism VVhether Papists or Protestants are Schismaticks The aggravations of Division Two hinderances of our true apprehension of the evil of Schism Direrections against it Of imposing defective Liturgies The Testimonies of antiquity against the bloody and Cruel way of Curing Schism Their Character of Ithacian Prelates CHAP. IX Twenty Directions how to worship God in the Church Assemblies p. 755 CHAP. X. Directions about our Communion with holy souls departed now with Christ. p. 758 CHAP. XI Directions about our Communion with the holy Angels p. 763 The Contents of the Ecclesiastical Cases of Conscience added to the Third Part. Q. 1. HOw to know which is the true Church among all pretenders that a Christians Conscience may be quiet in his Relation and communion p. 771 Q. 2. Whether we must esteem the Church of Rome a true Church And in what sence some Protestant Divines affirm it and some deny it p. 774 Q. 3. Whether we must take the Romish Clergie for a true Ministry p. 775 Q. 4. Whether it be necessary to believe that the Pope is the Antichrist p. 777 Q. 5. Whether we must hold that a Papist may be saved p. 778 Q. 6. Whether those that are in the Church of Rome are bound to separate from it And whether it be lawful to go to their Mass or other worship p. 779 Q. 7. Whether the true calling of the Minister by Ordination or Election be necessary to the essence of the Church ibid Q. 8. Whether sincere faith and Godliness be necessary to the being of the Ministry And whether it be lawful to hear a wicked man or take the Sacrament from him or take him for a Minister p. 780 Q. 9. Whether the people are bound to receive or consent to an ungodly intolerable heretical Pastor yea or one far less fit and worthy than a competitor if the Magistrate command it or the Bishop impose him p. 781 Q. 10. What if the Magistrate command the people to receive one Pastor and the Bishop or Ordainers another which of them must be obeyed p. 787 Q. 11. Whether an uninterrupted succession either of right Ordination or of conveyance by jurisdiction be necessary to the being of the Ministry or of a true Church p. 787 Q. 12. Whether there be or ever was such a thing in the world as one Catholick Church constituted by any head besides or under Christ p. 789 Q 13. Whether there be such a thing as a visible Catholick Church and what it is ibid. Q. 14. What is it that maketh a visible member of the universal Church and who are to be accounted such p. 790 Q. 15. Whether besides the profession of Christianity either testimony or evidence of conversion or practical Godliness be necessary to prove a man a member of the Universal visible Church ibid. Q. 16. What is necessary to a mans reception into membership in a particular Church over and above this foresaid title Whether any other tryals or Covenant or What p. 791 Q. 17. Wherein doth the Ministerial office Essentially consist p. 792 Q. 18. Whether the peoples choice or consent is necessary to the office â—f a Minister in his first work as he is to convert Insidels and Baptize them And whether this be a work of office and what call is necessary to it p. 793 Q. 19. Wherein consisteth the power and nature of Ordination and To whom doth it belong and Is it an act of jurisdiction and Is imposition of hands necessary in it p 794 Q. 20. Is ordination necessary to make a man a Pastor of a particular Church as such and Is he to be made a General Minister and a particular Church-Elder or Pastor at once and at one Ordination p. 795 Q. 21. May a man be oft or twice ordained p. 796 Q. 22. How many ordainers are necessary to the validity of Ordination by Christs Institution Whether one or more p. 798 Q. 23. What if one Bishop Ordain a Minister and three or many or all the rest protest against it and declare him no Minister or degrade him is he to be received as a true Minister or not ibid. Q. 24. Hath a Bishop power by divine right to ordain degrade or govern excommunicate or absolve in another Diocess or Church either by his consent or against it And doth a Minister that officiateth in anothers Church act as a Pastor and their Pastor or as a private man And doth his Ministerial office cease when a man removeth from his flock p. 799 Q. 25. Whether Canons Be Laws and Pastors have a Legislative power p. 800 Q. 26. Whether Church-canons or Pastors directive determinations of matters pertinent to their Office do bind the Conscience and what accidents will disoblige the people you may gather before in the same case about Magistrates Laws in the Political Directions As also by an impartial transferring the case to the precepts of Parents and School-masters to Children without respect to
of flesh and blood which maketh you pretend Moderation and Peace and that it is a sign that you are hypocrites that are so lukewarm and carnally comply with error and that the cause of God is to be followed with the greatest zeal and self denyal And all this is true if you be but sure that it is indeed the cause of God and that the greater works of God be not neglected on such pretences and that your Zeal be much greater for Faith and Charity and Unity than for your opinions But upon great experience I must tell you that of the zealous contenders in the world that cry up The Cause of Consuming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 use at 〈◊〉 â—o 〈◊〉 up the owners of it Whatever tâ—â—y say oâ— do against others in theâ—â— inâ—â—mperaâ—e violâ—nce they teach otherâ— at last to say and do against them when they have opportunity How the Orâ—â—odox taught the Aâ—â—iaâ—s to use severity against them may be sâ—en in Victor utic p. 447 448 449. in the Edict of Hunneâ—yâ—hus â—â—gem quam dudum Christiani Imperatores nostri contra eos alios haereticos pro honorisicentia Ecclesiae Catholiâ—ae dedâ—runâ— adversus nos illi proponere non eâ—ubuerunt v. g. Rex Hun. c. Triumphalis Majestatis Regiae probatur esâ—e virtutis mâ—â—a in autores conâ—lia retorquere Quisquis enim pravitatis aliquid invenerit sibi imputet quod incurrit Nullâ—s 〈◊〉 homâ—usion Saceâ—doâ—es assumanâ— nec aliquid mysteriâ—â—um quae magis polluunt sibi vendicenâ— Nullam habeant oâ—dinandi licentiam Quod ipsaâ—um legum continentia demonstratur quas induxiâ—â—e Imperaâ—oâ—ibuâ— c. viz. Ut nulla exceptâ—s superstiti 〈…〉 s suae â—nâ—stibus Ecclesia pateret nuâ—lâ—s liceret aliis aut convictus agere aut exercere convâ—ntâ—s nec Ecclesias auâ— in uâ—â—iâ—â—â—â— aut in quibuâ—dam 〈◊〉 locis God and Truth there is not one of very many that understandeth what he talks of but some of them cry up the Cause of God when it is a brat of a proud and ignorant brain and such as a judicious person would be ashamed of And some of them are rashly zealous before they have parts or time to come to any judicious tryal and some of them are mis-guided by some person or party that captivateth their minds and some of them are hurried away by passion and discontent and many of the ambitious and worldly are blinded by their carnal interests and many of them in meer pride think highly of an Opinion in which they are somewhat singular and which they can with some glorying call their Own as either invented by them or that in which they think they know more than ordinary men do And abundance after longer experience confess that to have been their own erroneous cause which they before entitled the Cause of God Now when this is the case and one cryeth Here is Christ and another There is Christ one saith This is the cause of God and another saith That is it no man that hath any care of his Conscience or of the honour of God and his profession will leap before he looketh where he shall alight or run after every one that will whistle him with the name or pretence of truth or a good cause It is a sad thing to go on many years together in censuring opposing and abusing thâ—se that are against you and in seducing others and mis-imploying your zeal and parts and time and poysoning all your prayers and discourses and in the end to see what mischief you have done for want of knowledge and with Paul to confess that you were mad in opposing the truth and servants of God though you did it in a zeal of God through ignorance Were it not much better to stay till you have tryed the ground and prevent so many years grievous sin than to scape by a sad repentance and leave behind you stinking and venemous fruits of your mistake And worse if you never repent your selves Your own and your Brethrens souls are not so lightly to be ventured upon dangerous untryed wayes It will not make the Truth and Church amends to say at last I had thought I had done well Let those go to the Wars of disputing and 〈◊〉 and câ—nsuâ—ing and siding with a Sect that are riper and better understand the cause Wars are not for Children Do you suspend your judgement till you can solidly and certainly inform it and serve God in Charity quietness and peace And it s two to one but you will live to see the day that the contenders that would have led you into their Wars will come off with so much loss themselves as will teach them to approve your peaceable course or teach you to bless God that kept you in your place and duty § 3. In all this I deny not but every truth of God is to be valued at a very high rate and that he that shall carry himself in a neutrality when Faith or Godliness is the matter in controversie or shall do it meerly for his worldly ends to save his stake by temporizing is a false-hearted hypocrite and at the heart of no Religion But withal I tell you that all is not matter of Faith or Godliness that the Autonomian-Papist the Antinomian-Libertine or other passionate parties shall call so And that as we must avoid contempt of the smallest Truth so we must much more avoid the most heinous sins which we may commit for the defending of an error And that some Truths must be silenced for a time though not denyed when the contending for them is unseasonable and tendeth to the injury of the Church If you were Masters in the Church you must not teach your Scholars to their hurt though it be truth you teach them And if you were Physicions you must not cramm them or Medicate them to their hurt Your power and duty is not to Destruction but to Edification The good of the Patient is the end of your Physick All Truth is not to be spoken nor all Good to be done by all men nor at all times He that will do contrary and take this for a carnal principle doth but call folly and sin by the name of zeal and duty and set the house on fire to rost his Egg and with the Pharisees prefer the outward rest of their Sabbath before his Brothers life or health Take heed what you do when Gods honour and mens souls and the Churches peace are concerned in it § 4. And let me tell you my own observation As far as my judgement hath been able to reach the men that have stood for Pacification and Moderation have been the most judicious and those that have best understood themselves in most controversies that ever I heard under debate among good Christians And those that suriously censured them as lukewarm or corrupted have been men that had least judgement and most passion pride and foul mistakes in the points in question § 5. Nay I will tell you
your salvation Take heed lest it turn into carnal security and a perswasion of your good estate upon ill grounds or you know not why 4. Have you the Hope of glory Take heed lest it turn into a careless venterousness of your soul or the meer laying aside of fear and cautelous suspicion of your selves 5. Have you a Love to them that fear the Lord Watch your hearts lest it degenerate into a carnal or a partial Love Many unheedful young persons of different Sexes at first love each other with an honest chaste and pious Love but imprudently using too much familiarity before they were well aware it hath turned into a fleshly Love which hath proved their snare and drawn them further into sin or trouble Many have honoured them that fear the Lord who insensibly have declined to honour only those of them that were eminent in wealth and worldly honour or that were esteemed for their parts or place by others and little honoured the humble poor obscure Christians who were at least as good as they Forgetting that the things that are highly esteemed among men are abomination in the sight of God Luke 16. 15. and that God valueth not men by their places and dignities in the world but by their graces and holiness of life Abundance that at first did seem to Love all Christians as such as far as any thing of Christ appeared in them have first fallen into some Sect and over admiring their party and have set light by others as good as them and censured them as unfound and then withdrawn their special Love and confined it to their party or to some few and yet thought that they loved the godly as much as ever when it was degenerate into a factious Love 6. Are you zealous for God and truth and holiness and against the errors and sins of others Take heed lest you lose it not while you think it doth increase in you Nothing is more apt to degenerate than zeal In how many thousand hath it turned from an innocent charitable peaceable tractable healing profitable heavenly zeal into a partial zeal for some Party or Opinions of their own and into a fierce censorious uncharitable scandalous turbulent disobedient unruly hurting and destroying zeal ready to wish for fire from Heaven and kindling contention confusion and every evil work Read well Iames 3. 7. So if you are meek or patient take heed lest it degenerate into stupidity or contempt of those you suffer by To be patient is not to be meerly insensible of the affliction but by the power of faith to bear the sense of it as over-ruled by things of greater moment § 3. How apt men are to corrupt and debase all duties of Religion is too visible in the face of the far greatest part of the Christian world Throughout both the Eastern and the Western Churches the Papists the Greeks the Armenians the Abassines and too many others though the Essentials of Religion through Gods mercy are retained yet how much is the face of Religion altered from what it was in the dayes of the Apostles The ancient simplicity of Doctrine is turned into abundance of new or private opinions introduced as necessary Articles of Religion and alas how many of them â—alse So that Christians being too proud to accept of the ancient test of Christianity cannot now agree among themselves what a Christian is and who is to be esteemed a Christian and so they deny one another to be Christians and destroy their Charity to each other and divide the Church and make themselves a scom by their divisions to the Infidel world And thus the Primitive Unity Charity and Peace is partly destroyed and partly degenerate into the Unity Charity and Peace of several Sects among themselves The primitive simplicity in Government and Discipline is with most turned into a â—orâ—â—ble Secular Government exercised to advance one man above others and to satisfie his will and lusts and make him the Rule of other mens lives and to suppress the power and spirituality of Religion in the world The primitive simplicity of Worship is turned into such a Masque of Ceremony and such a task of formalities and bodily exercise that if one of the Apostolical Christians should come among them he would scarce think that this is the same employment which formerâ—y the Church was exercised in or scarce know Religion in this antick dress So that the amiable glorious face of Christianity is so spotted and defiled that it is hidden from the Unbelieving world and they laugh at it as irrational or think it to be but like their own And the principal hinderance of the conversion of Heathens Mahometans and other Unbelievers is the corruption and deformity of the Churches that are near them or should be the instruments of their conversion And the probablest way to the conversion of those Nations is the true Reformation of the Churches both in East and West which if they were restored to the ancient spirituality rationality and simplicity of Doctrine Discipline and Worship and lived in charity humility and holiness as those whose hearts and conversations are in Heaven with all worldly glory and honour as under their feet they would then be so illustrious and amiable in the eyes even of Heathens and other Infidels that many would flock in to the Church of Christ and desire to be such as they And their light would so shine before these men that they would see their good works and glorifie their heavenly Father and embrace their faith § 4. The commonest way of the degenerating of all Religious duties is into this dead formality or lifeless Image of Religion If the Devil can but get you to cast off the spirituality and life of duty he will give you leave to seem very devout and make much ado with outward actions words and beads and you shall have so much zeal for a dead Religion or the Corpse of Worship as will make you think that it is indeed alive By all means take heed of this turning the Worship of God into lip-service The commonest cause of it is a carnality of mind Fleshly men will think best of the most fleshly Religion or else a slothfulness in duty which will make you sit down with the easiest part It is the work of a Saint and a diligent Saint to keep the soul it self both regularly and vigorously employed with God But â—o say over certain words by rote and to lift up the hands and eyes is â—asie And hypocrites that are conscious that they are void of the life and spirituality of Worship do think to make all up with this formality and quiet their consciences and delude their souls with a hansome Image Of this I have spoken more largely in a Book called The Vain Religion of the Formal Hypocrite § 5. Yet run not here into the contrary extream as to think that the Body must not worship God as well as the soul or that the
last place in teaching learning and most serious consideration § 3. Two sorts do most dangerously sin against or abuse the Holy Ghost The first is the Prophane who through custom and education can say I believe in the Holy Ghost and say that He sanctifieth them and all the Elect people of God but hate or resist all sanctifying works and motions Deus est principium eâ—â—ectivum in Creatione refectivum in redemptione perfectivum in sanctificatione Ioh. Con. bis comp Theol. l. 4. c. 1. of the Holy Ghost and hate all those that are sanctified by him and make them the objects of their scorn and deride the very name of sanctification or at least the thing The second sort is the Enthusiasts or true Fanaticks who advance extoll and plead for the Spirit Rejectis propheticis Apostolicis scriptis Manichaei novum Evangelium scripserunt ut antecellere communi hominum multitudini semi-d 〈…〉 rentur simularunt Enthusiaâ—mos seu afflatus subâ—â—o in â—urâ—a se in terram objâ—â—â—â—entes c vâ—lut 〈◊〉 dâ—â— tacentes deinde tanquam redeuntes ex specu Trophonio plorantes multa vaticinati sunt Prorsus ut Anabaptistae recens fâ—ceruâ— in seditione Monasteriensi Etsi autem in quibusdam manifesta simulatio fuit tamen aliquibus reipsa à Diabolis surâ—tes immisses esse certum est Carioâ— Chron. l. 3. p. 54. against the Spirit covering their greatest sins against the Holy Ghost by crying up and pretending to the Holy Ghost They plead the Spirit in themselves against the Spirit in their Brethren yea and in almost all the Church They plead the authority of the Spirit in them against the authority of the Spirit in the holy Scriptures and against particular truths of Scripture and against several great and needful Duties which the Spirit hath required in the Word and against the Spirit in their most judicious godly faithful Teachers But can it be the Spirit that speaks against the Spirit Is the Spirit of God against it self Are we not all baptized by One Spirit and not divers or contrary into one body 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. But it is no marvel for Satan to be transformed into an Angel of light or his Ministers into the Ministers of Christ and of Righteousness whose end shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. The Spirit himself therefore hath commanded us that we believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4. 1. Yea the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. Therefore take heed that you neither Mistake nor abuse the Holy Spirit § 4. 1. The Doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost to be believed is briefly this 1. That the Holy Ghost as given since the Ascension of Christ is his Agent on earth or his Advocate with men called by him the Paraclete Instead of his bodily presence which for a little space he vouchsafed to a few being John 16. 7. â— ascended he sendeth the Holy Spirit as better for them to be his Agent continually to the end and John 15 2â— John 16. 13. Gal. 3. 1 2 3 4 Heb. 2. 3 4. unto all and in all that do believe 2. This Holy Spirit so sent infallibly inspired the holy Apostles and Evangelists first to preach and then to write the Doctrine of Christ contained as indited by him in the Holy Scriptures perfectly imprinting therein the Holy Image of God 3. The same Spirit in them sealed this holy Doctrine and the Testimony of these holy men by many Miracles and wonderful Gifts by which they did actually convince the unbelieving world and plant the Churches 4. The same Spirit having first by the Apostles given a Law or Canon to the Universal Church constituting its Offices and the duty of the Officers and the manner of their entrance Eph. 3 2 3 4 8 13. dâ—tâ— Qualifie and â—ispose men for the stated ordinary Ministerial work which is to Explain and Apâ—â—â—â— â—he â—oresaid Scriptures and directeth those that are to Ordain and Choose them they being not wanting on their part and so he appointeth Pastors to the Church 5. The same Spirit assisteth the Ministers thus sent in their faithful use of the means to Teach and Apply the holy Scriptures according to the necessities of the peoplâ— the weight of the matter and the Majesty of the Word of God 6. The same Spirit doth by this Word heard or read renew and sanctifie the souls of the Elect illuminating their minds opening and quickning their hearts prevailing with changing and Actâ— 26. 18. resolving their wills thus writing Gods Word and imprinting his Image by his Word upon their hearts making it powerful to conquer and cast out their strongest sweetest dearest sins and bringing John 14 16 26 them to the saving knowledge love and obedience of God in Jesus Christ. 7. The same holy Spirit assisteth the sanctified in the exercise of this grace to the increase of it by blessing and concurring with the means appointed by him to that end And helpeth them to use those means perform their duties conquer temptations oppositions and difficulties and so confirmeth and preserveth them to the end 8. The same Spirit helpeth believers in the exercise of grace to feel it and discern the sincerity of it in themselves in that measure as they are meet for and in these seasons when it is fittest for them 9. The same Spirit helpeth them hereupon to conclude that they are justified and reconciled to God and have right to all the benefits of his Covenant 10. Also he assisteth them actually to rejoyce in the discerning of this Conclusion For though Reason of it self may do something in these acts yet so averse is man to all that is holy and so many are the difficulties and hinderances in the way that to the effectual performance the help of the Spirit of God is necessary § 5. By this enumeration of the Spirits operations you may see the errors of many detected and many common Questions answered 1. You may see their blindness that pretend the Spirit within them against Scripture Ministry or the use of Gods appointed means when the same Spirit first indited the Scripture and maketh it the Instrument to illuminate and sanctifie our souls Gods Image is 1. Primarily in Jesus Christ his Son 2. Derivatively by his Spirit imprinted perfectly in the holy Scriptures 3. And by the Scripture or the holy Doctrine of it instrumentally impressed on the soul. So that the Image of God in Christ is the Cause of his Image in his holy Word or Doctrine and his Image in his Word is the Cause of his Image on the heart So a King may have his Image 1. Naturally on his Son who is like his Father 2. Expressively in his Laws which express
save thee as the Devil Direct 47. can be to damn thee and which then should prevail 2. Be you as constant in resistance Be as oft in prayer and other confirming means Do as Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7 8. who prayed thrice as Christ did in his agony when the prick in the flesh was not removed 3. Tempt not the Tempter by giving him encouragement A faint denyal is an invitation to ask again Give him quickly a flat denial and put him out of hope if you would shorten the temptation § 119 Tempt 48. Lastly the Divel would sink the sinner in despair and perswade him now it Tempt 48. is too late § 120. Direct 48. Observe his design that it is but to take off that Hope which is the weight Direct 49. to set the wheels of the soul a going In all he is against God and you In other sins he is against Gods Authority In this he is against his Love and Mercy Read the Gospel and you will find that Christs death is sufficient the promise is universal full and free and that the day of Grace is so far continued till the day of death that no man shall be denied it that truly desireth it And that the same God that forbiddeth thy presumption forbiddeth also thy despair Tit. 3. Temptations to draw us off from duty § 1. Tempt 1. THe greatest Temptation against duty is by perswading men that it is no duty Tempt 1. Thus in our dayes we have seen almost all duty cast off by this erroneous fancy One saith that the â—â—ly observation of the Lords day is not commanded of God in Scripture Another saith What Scripture have you for family-prayer or singing Psalms or baptizing Infants or praying before and aâ—ter Sâ—rmâ—n or for your Office Ordination Tythes Churches c. Another saith that Church-Government and Discipline aâ—e not of Divine Institution Another saith that Baptism and the Lords Supper â—â—re but for that age And thus all duty is taken down instead of doing it § 2. Direct 1. Read and fear Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments Direct 1. and shall teach men sâ— he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall â—e called great in the Kingdom of Heaven Denying duty is too easie a way of â—vâ—â—ing obedience to serve turn Denying the Laws that bind you to publick payments will not save you from them but for all that if you deny you must be distrained on And God will make it deaâ—â—â—â— to you if you put him to distrain on you for duty Must he go to Law with you for it He 'll quickly shâ—w you Law for it and prove that it was your duty Open your doubts to able men and you will hear more evidence than you know But if pride and false-heartedness blind you you must bear your punishment § 3. Tempt 2. Saith the Tempter It is a duty to weak ones but not for you You must not be Tempt 2. still under Ordinances in the lower form every day must be a Sabbath to you and every bit a Sacrament and every place as a Church you must live above Ordinances in Christ. § 4. Direct 2. We must live above Mosaical Ordinances Col. 2. 18. 21. but not above Christs Ordinances Direct 2. unless you will live above obedience and above the Government of Christ Hath not Christ appointed the Ministry and Church helps till we all come to a perfect man Ephes. 4. 13. and promised to be with them to the end of the world Matth. 28. 20. It is befooling Pride that can make you think you have no need of Christs instituted means § 5. Tempt 3. But thou art unworthy to pray or recieve the Sacrament It 's not for Dogs Tempt â— Direct ◠§ 6. Direct 3. The wilful impenitent refusers of Grace are unworthy The willing soul that fain would be what God would have him hath an accepted worthiness in Christ. § 7. Tempt 4. But while you doubt you do it not in faith and therefore to you it is sin Tempt 4. Direct 4. § 8. Direct 4. But is it not a greater sin to leave it undone Will doubting of all duty excuse you from it Then you have an easie way to be free from all Do but doubt whether you should believe in God or Christ or love him or live a godly life and it seems you think it will excuse you But if you doubt whether you should feed your child you deserve to be hanged for murthering it if you famish it If you doubt of duty it is duty still and you are first bound to lay by your doubts But things indifferent left to your choice must not be done with a doubting conscience It was of such things that Paul spake § 9. Tempt 5. The Devil puts somewhat still in the way that seemeth necessary to thrust out Tempt 5. duty § 10. Direct 5. God hath not set you work which he alloweth you no Time for Is all your Direct 5. time spent in better things Is it not your carnal mind that makes you think carnal things most needful Christ saith One thing is needful Luke 10. 42. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you Had you that love and delight in holiness as you Matth. 6. 33. should you would find time for it An unwelcome Guest is put off with any excuse Others as poor as you can find time for duty because they are willing Set your business in order and let every thing keep its proper place and you may have time for every duty § 11. Tempt 6. But you are so unable and unskilful to pray to learn that it 's as good never Tempt 6. mâ—ddle with it § 12. Direct 6. Set your selves to learn and mark those that have skill and do what you can Direct 6. You must learn by practice The unskilfullest duty is better than none Unworded groans come oft from the Spirit of God and God understandeth and accepteth them Rom. 8. 26 27. § 13. Tempt 7. It will be so hard and long to learn that you will never overcome it Tempt 7. Direct 7. § 14. Direct 7. Willingness and diligence have the promise of Gods help Remember it is a thing that must be done When your own disuse and sin hath made it hard will you put God and your souls off with that as an excuse If you had neglected to teach your child to speak or go when it is young should he therefore never learn Will you despair and let go all your hope on this pretence or will you hope to be saved without prayer and other holy duty How foolish are both these Sick men must eat though their stomachs be against it they cannot live else § 15. Tempt 8. But thou findest thou art but the worse for duty and
never the better Tempt 8. for it § 16. Direct 8. Satan will do what he can to make it go worse with you after than before He Direct 8. will discourage you if he can by hindering your success that he may make you think it is to no purpose so many Preachers because they have fished long and catcht nothing grow cold and heartless and ready to sit down and say as Jer. 20. 9. I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name So in Prayer Sacrament Reproof c. the Devil makes great use of this What good hath it done thee But patience and perseverance win the Crown The beginning is seldom a time to perceive success The Carpenter is long at work before he rear a house Nature brings not forth the Plant or birth the first day Your life-time is your working time Do your part and God will not fail on his part It is his part to give success and dare you accuse him or suspect him There is more of the success of prayer to be believed than to be felt If God have promised to hear he doth hear and we must believe it whether we feel it or not Prayers are oft heard long before the thing is sent us that we prayed for We pray for Heaven but shall not be there till death If Moses his message to Pharaoh ten times seem lost it is not lost for all that What work would ever have been done iâ— on the first conceit of unsuccessfulness it had been given off Be glad that thou hast time to plow and sow to do thy part and if God will give thee fruit at last § 17. Tempt 9. But saith the Tempter it gâ—eth worse with thee in the world since thou settest thy Tempt 9. sâ—â—f to read and pray and live obediently Thou hast been poorer and sicker and more despised since than ever before Jer. 20. 8. Thou art a derision daily every one mocketh thee This thou gettest by it § 18. Direct 9. He began not well that counted not that it might cost him more than this to be Direct 9. a holy Christian If God in Heaven be not enough to be thy portion never serve him but find something better if thou canst He that cannot lose the world cannot use it as he ought If thou hadâ—t rather be at the Devils finding and usage than at Gods thou art worthy to speed accordingly Nay if thou think thy soul it self worse remember that we are not worst when we are troubled most Physick makes sick when it works aright § 19. Tempt 10. Satan filleth many with abundance of scruples about every duty that they come Tempt 10. tâ— it as sick persons to their meat with a pievish quarrelling disposition This aileth and that aileth it something is still amiss that they cannot get it down This fault the Minister hath in praying or preaching or the other circumstance is amiss or the other fault is in the company that joyn with them and all is to turn them off from all § 20. Direct 10. But do you mend the matter by casting off all or by running into greater inconveniences Direct 10. Is not their imperfect prayer and communion better than your idle neglect of all or unwarrantable division It is a sign of an upright heart to be most about heart-observation and quarrelsome with themselves and the mark of hypocrites to be most quarrelsome against the manner of other mens performances and to be easily driven by any pretences from the Worship of God and communion of Saints § 21. Tempt 11. The Devil will set one duty against another Reading against hearing praying Tempt 11. against preaching private against publick outward and inward worship against each other mercy and justice piety and charity against each other and still labour to eject the greater § 22. Direct 11. The work of God is an harmonious and well composed frame If you leave out a Direct 11. part you spoil the whole and disadvantage your selves in all the rest Place them aright and each part helpeth and not hindâ—reth another Plead one for another but cast by none § 23. Tempt 12. The commonest and sorest temptation is by taking away our appetite to holy duties Tempt 12. by abating our feeling of our own necessity when the soul is sleepy and feeleth no need of prayer or reading or hearing or meditating but thinks it self tolerably well without it or else grows sick and is against it and troubled to use it so that every duty is like eating to a sick stomach then it is easie to tempt it to neglect or omit many a duty A little thing will serve to put it by when men feel no need of it § 24. Direct 12. O keep up a lively sense of your necessities Remember still that Time is Direct 12. short and death is near and you are too unready Keep acquaintance with your hearts and lives and every day will tell you of your necessities which are greatest when they are least perceived § 25. Tempt 13. The Tempter gets much by ascribing the success of holy means to our own endeavour Tempt 13. or to chance or something else and making us overlook that present benefit which would greatly encourage us As when we are delivered from sickness or danger upon prayer he tells you so you might have been delivered if you had never prayed Was it not by the Physicians â—are and skill and by such an excellent medicine If you prosper in any business was it not by your own contrivance and diligence § 26. Direct 13. This separating God and means when God worketh by means is the folly of Direct 13. Atheists When God heareth thy prayer in sickness or other danger he sheweth it by directing the Physicion or thy self to the fittest means and blessing that means and he is as really the cause and prayer the first means as if he wrought thy deliverance by a Miracle Do not many use the same Physicion and Medicine and labour and diligence who yet miscarry Just observation of the answers of prayer might do much to cure this All our industry may say as Peter and Iohn Acts 3. 12. Why look ye so earnestly on us as if by our own power or holiness we had done this When God is glorifying his grace and owning his appointed means § 27. Tempt 14. Lastly the Devil setteth up something else in opposition to holy duty to make it Tempt 14. seem unnecessary In some he sets up their good desires and saith God knoweth thy heart without expressing it and thou maist have as good a heart at home as at Church In some he sets up superstitious fopperies of mans devising instead of Gods Institution In some he pretendeth the Spirit against external duty and saith The Spirit is all the flesh profitteth nothing yea in some he sets up Christ himself against Christs Ordinances and saith It is not these
in case they were all sinful but yet I am most strongly suspicious of sinfulness in the subscription and less suspicious of sinfullness in my forbearing in such a case to preach and least of all suspicious of sinfullness in my preaching though prohibited In this case to subscribe sinfully is the greatest sin and to forbear sinfully to exercise my office is the next and to preach unwarrantably is the least § 52. Rule 8. If I could perceive no difference in the degrees of evil in the Omission and the Rule Commission nor yet in the degrees of my suspicion or doubting then that is the greater sin which I had greater helps and evidence to have known and did not § 53. Rule 9. If both greater material evil be on one side than on the other and greater suspicion Rule or evidence of the sinfullness also then that must needs be the greater sin § 54. Rule 10. If the Greatness of the Material Evil be on one side and the greatness of the Rule suspicion and evidence be on the other then the former if sin will be materially and in it self considered the worst but the later will be formally the greater disobedience to God But the comparison will be very difficult As suppose that I swear to God that I will cast away a shilling or that I will forbear to pray for a week together Here I take perjury to be a greater sin than my casting away a shilling or forbearing to pray a week But when I question whether the Oath should be kept or not I have greater suspicion that it should not than that it should because no oath must be the bond of the least iniquity Here if the not keeping it prove a sin I shall do that which is the Greater sin in it self if I keep it not but I shall shew more disobedience in keeping it if it be not to be kept § 55. Rule 11. If it be a double sin that I suspect on one side and but a single one on the other Rule it maketh an inequality in the case As suppose that in my Fathers family there are Hereticks and Drunkards and I swear that in my place and calling I will endeavour to cast them out My Mother approveth my Vow My Father is against it and dischargeth me of it because I did it not by his advice On one side I doubt whether I am bound or may act against my Fathers will On the other side I as much doubt whether I am not perjured and disobedient to my Mother if I do it not and whether I disobey not God that made it my duty to endeavour the thing in my place and calling before I vowed it § 56. Rule 12. There is a great deal of difference between omitting the substance of a duty for Rule â—ver and the delaying it or altering the time and â—place and manner For instance that which will justifie or excuse me for shortning my prayer or for praying but once a day or at noon rather than in the morning or for defect in method or fervency or Expressions may not justifie or excuse me for denying renouncing or long forbearing prayer And that which may excuse an Apostle for not preaching in the Temple or Synagogues or not having the Emperors or the High-Priests allowance or consent or for not continuing in one City or Country would not excuse them if they had renounced their callings or totally as to all times and places and manner of performance have ceased their work for fear of men § 57. Rule 13. If the duty to be omitted and the sin to be committed seem equal in greatness and Rule our doubt be equal as to both it is commonly held safer to avoid the Commission more studiously than the â—mission For which there are many reasons given § 58. Rule 14. There is usually much more matter for fear and suspicion caeteris paribus of sins Rule to be committed than of Duties to be omitted when the Commission is made necessary to the doing of the duty Both because it is there that the fear beginneth For I am certain that the Good work is no Duty to me if the act be a sin which is its necessary Condition Therefore so far as I suspect the act to be sinful I must needs suspect the duty to be no duty to me at that time It is not possible I should be rationally more perswaded that the Duty is my duty than that the Condition is no sin If it were the saving of the lives of all the men in the Country I could no further take it to be my duty than I take that to be no sin by which it must be done it being a thing past controversie that we must not sin for the accomplishment of any good whatsoever And also because the sin is supposed to be allwaies sin but few duties are at all timeâ— duties And the sin is a sin to every man but the duty may be another mans duty and not mine For instance Charles the fifth imposeth the Interim upon Germany Some Paâ—â—â—â—rs yielded to it Others refused it and were cast out Those that yielded pleaded the Good of the Churches and the prevention of their utter desolation but yet confessed that if the thing imposed were sinful it was not their duty to do it for any Good whatsoever but to seek the Good of the Church as well as they could without it The other that were cast out argued that so far as they were confident the Interim was sinful they must be confident that nothing was their duty that could not be done without it and that God knew best what is Good for his Church and there is no accomplishing its good by sin and Gods displeasure and that they did not therefore forsake their Ministry but only lose the Rulers License for they resolved to preach in one place or other till they were imprisoned and God can serve himself by their imprisonment or death as well as by their preaching And while others took their places that thought the Interim lawful the Churches were not wholy destitute and if God saw it meet he could restore their fuller liberties again In the mean time to serve him as all Pastors did for three hundred years after Christ without the License of the Civil Magistrate was not to cast away their office Another instance The zealous Papists in the Reign of Hen. 3. in France thought that there was a Necessity of entring the League and warring against the King because Religion was in danger the preservation whereof is an unquestionable duty The Learned and moderate Lawyers that were against them said that there being no question but the King had the total soveraingty over them they were sure it was a sin to resist the Higher powers and therefore no preservation of Religion could be a duty or lawful to them which must be done by such a certain sin Sin is not the means to save
act Keep your hearts with all diligence for from thence are the issues of life Prov. 4. 23. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good But the viperous generation that are evil cannot speak good for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Math. 12. 33 34. Till the spirit have regenerated the soul all outward Religion will be but a dead and pittiful thing Though there is something which God hath appointed an unregenerate man to do in order to his own conversion yet no such antecedent act will prove that the person is justified or reconciled to God till he be converted To make up a Religion of doing or saying something that is good while the heart is void of the spirit of Christ and sanctifying grace is the Hypocrites Religion Rom. 8. 9. § 8. Direct 3. Make conscience of the sins of the thoughts and the desire and other affections or passions Direct 3. of the mind as well as of the sins of tongue or hand A lustful thought a malicious thought a proud ambitious or covetous thought especially if it proceed to a wish or contrivance or consâ—nt is a sin the more dangerous by how much the more inward and neer the heart as Christ hath shewed you Mat. 5. 6. The Hypocrite who most respecteth the eye of man doth live as if his Thoughts were free § 9. Direct 4. Make conscience of secret sins which are committed out of the sight of men and may Direct 4. be concealed from them as well as of open and notorious sins If he can do it in the dark and secure his reputation the Hypocrite is bold But a sincere believer doth bear a reverence to his conscience and much more to the all-seeing God § 10. Direct 5. Be faithful in secret duties which have no witness but God and Conscience As meditation Direct 5. and self-examination and secret prayer And be not only Religious in the sight of men § 11. Direct 6. In all publick worship be more laborious with the heart than with the tongue or knee Direct 6. and see that your tongue over-run not your heart and leave it not behind Neglect not the due composure of your words and due behaviour of your bodys But take much more pains for the exercise of holy desires from a believing loving fervent soul. § 12. Direct 7. Place nâ—t more in the externals or modes or circumstances or ceremonies of worship Direct 7. than is due and lay not out more zeal for indifferent or little things than cometh to their share but 〈…〉 ed mâ—â—â—â—ad of hurt fuâ—â—â—â—nes ceremonies be obâ—iteraâ—â—d by ceremoniâ—s Let the Prâ—â—sts perswade the novâ—â—â—â— that holy water Images â—oâ—aâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 and â—oâ—ches and the rest which the Church alloweth and uâ—â—th are very â—it for them and let them exâ—â—l them with many praises in their popular Sermons that instead of the old superstition they may be used to new and religious signs This is to quenth the â—iâ—e with oyl let the great substantials of Religion have the precedencie and be far preferred before them Let the Love of God and man be the sum of your obedience And be sure you learn well what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice And remember that the great thing which God requireth of you is to do Iustice and love mercy and walk humbly with your God Destroy not him with your meat fâ—r whom Christ dyed Call not for fire from Heaven upon dissenters and think not every man intollerable in the Church that is not in every little matter of your mind Remember that the hypocrisie of the Pharisees is described by Christ as consisting in a zeal for their own traditions and the inventions of men and the smallest matters of the Ceremonial Law with a neglect of greatest moral duties and a furious cruelty against the spiritual worshipers of God Math. 15. 2. Why do thy disciples transgress the Tradition of the Elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread v. 7. Ye Hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This people draweth niâ—â—â—ntâ— me with their mouth and hâ—â—â—â—ureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching fâ—r doctrines the commandments of men Math. 23. 4 5 6 13 14 c. They bind heavy burdens which they touch not themselves All their works they do to be seen of men They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the burdens of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief sâ—ats in the Synagogues and greetings in publick and to be called Rabbi But they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men and were the greatest enemies of the entertainment of the Gospel by the people They tythed mint and annise and cummin and omitted the great matters of the Law Iudgement and Mercy and Faith They streined at a gnat and swallowed a Camel They had a great veneration for the dead Prophets and Saints and yet were persecuters and murderers of their successors that were living v. 23 c. By this description you may see which way Hypocrisie doth most ordinarily work even to a blind and bloody zeal for opinions and traditions and ceremonies and other little things to the treading down the interest of Christ and his Gospel and a neglect of the life and power of Godliness and a cruel persecuting those servants of Christ whom they are bound to love above their ceremonies I marvel that many Papists tremble not when they read the Character of the Pharisees But that hypocrisie is a hidden sin and is an enemy to the light which would discover it § 13. Direct 8. Make conscience of the duties of obedience to superiors and of justice and mercy Direct 8. towards men as well as of acts of piety to God Say not a long mass in order to devour a widows house or a Christians life or reputation Be equally exact in justice and mercy as you are in prayers And labour as much to exceed common men in the one as in the other Set your selves to do all the good you can to all and do hurt to none And do to all men as you would they should do to you § 14. Direct 9. Be much more busie about your selves than about others and more censorious of Direct 9. your selves than of other men and more strict in the Reforming of your selves than of any others For this is the character of the sincere When the Hypocrite is little at home and much abroad and is a sharp reprehender of others and perniciously tender and indulgent to himself Mark his discourse in all companies and you shall hear how liberal he is in his censures and bitter reproach of others How such men and such men that differ from him or have opposed him or that he hates are thus and thus faulty and bad and hateful Yea he is as great an accuser of his
liberty were it as long as we live if it be necessary to the saving of our brethrens souls by removing the offence which hindereth them by prejudice We mâ—st not seek our own carnal ends but the benefit of others and do them all the good we can § 6. 3. As our neighbour is commanded to Love us as himself we are bound by all lawful means to render our selves amiable to him that we may help and facilitate this his Love as it is more necessary to him than to us For to help him in obeying so great a command must needs be a great duty And therefore if his very sin possess him with prejudice against us or cause him to distaste us for some indifferent thing we must as far as we can lawfully remove the cause of his prejudice and dislike Though he that hateth us for obeying God must not be cured by our disobeying him we are so far from being obliged to displease men by surliness and morasity that we are bound to pleasing gentleness and brotherly kindness and to all that carriage which is necessary to care their sinful hatred or dislike § 7. 4. We must not be self-conceited and prefer a weak unfurnished judgement of our own before the greater wisdom of another but in honor must prefer each other and the ignorant must honour the knowledge and parts of others that excel them and not be stiff in their own opinion nor wise in their own eyes nor undervalue another mans reasons or judgement but be glad to learn of any that can teach them in the humble acknowledgement of their own insufficiency § 8. 5. Especially we must reverence the judgement of our able faithful Teachers and not by pride set up our weaker judgement against them and resist the truth which they deliver to us from God Neither must we set light by the censures or admonitions of the lawful Pastors of the Church When they are agreeable to the word and judgement of God they are very dreadful As Tertullian Gal. 5. 10. 1 Cor. 5. saith If any so offend as to be banished from communion of prayer and assembly and all holy commerce it is a judgement foregoing the great judgement to come Yea if the Officers of Christ should wrong you in their censures by passion or mistake while they act in their own charge about matters belonging to their cognisance and judgement you must respectfully and patiently bear the wrong so as not to dishonour and contemn the authority and office so abused § 9. 6. If sober godly persons that are well acquainted with us do strongly suspect us to be faulty where we discern it not our selves it should make us the more suspitious and fearful and it judicious persons fear you to be Hypocrites and no sound Christians by observing your temper and course of life it should make you search with the greater fear and not to disregard their judgement And if judicious persons especially Ministers shall tell a poor fearful doubting Christian that they verily think their state is safe it may be a great stay to them and must not be sleighted as nothing though it cannot give them a certainty of their case Thus far mans judgement must be valued § 10. 7. A good name among men which is the reputation of our integrity is not to be neglected as a thing of naught for it is a mercy from God for which we must be thankful and it is a useful means to our succesful serving and honouring God And the more eminent we are and the more the honour of God and Religion is joyned with ours or the good of mens souls dependeth Qui 〈…〉 Non solem veritas in hac parte sed etiam opinio studiose quaerenda est ut te hypoâ—â—â—â—am agere interdum mâ—nâ—me poeâ—â—tâ—at said 〈…〉 harshly enough to Acosta â—â—â—i 4. c. 17. p. 413. on our reputation the more careful we should be of it and it may be a duty sometimes to vindicate it by the Magistrates justice against a slander Especially Preachers whose success for the saving of their hearers depends much on their good name must not despise it § 11. 8. The censurers of the most petulant and the scorns of enemies are not to be made light of as they are their sins which we must lament nor as they may provoke us to a more diligent search and careful watchfullness over our waies Thus far mans judgement is regardable § 12. But 1. We must know how frail and erroneous and unconstant a thing man is and therefore not be too high in our expectations from man We must suppose that men will mistake us and wrong us and slander us through ignorance passion prejudice or self-interest And when this befals us we must not account it strange and unexpected § 13. 2. We must consider how far the enmity that is in lapsed man to holiness and the ignorance 1 Pet. 4 1â— 13 c. 1 Cor. 4. 12 13. Acts â—â— â—2 Acts 24 5 6. Mat. 5. 10. â—â— 1â— prejudice and passion of the ungodly will carry them to despise and scorn and slander all such as seriously and zealously serve God and cross them in their carnal interest And therefore if for the sake of Christ and righteousness we are accounted as the scorn and off-scouring of all things and as pestilent fellows and movers of sedition among the people and such as are unworthy to live and have all manner of evil spoken of us falsly it must not seem strange or unexpected to us nor cast us down but we must bear it patiently yea and exceedingly rejoyce in hope of our reward in Heaven § 14. 3. Considering what remnants of pride and self-conceitedness remain in many that have true grace and how many Hypocrites are in the Church whose Religion consisteth in Opinions and their several modes of worship we must expect to be reproached and abused by such as in Opinions and Modes and Circumstances do differ from us and take us therefore as their adversaries A great deal of injustice sometime by slanders or reproach and sometimes by greater violence must be expected from contentious professors of the same Religion with our selves especially when the interest of their faction or cause requireth it and especially if we bring any truth among them which seemeth new to them or crosseth the opinions which are there in credit or would be Reformers of them in any thing that is amiss § 15. 4. No men must be Pleased by sin nor their favour preferred before the pleasing of God Mans favour as against God is to be despised and their displeasure made light of It doing our duty will displease them let them be displeased we can but pitty them § 16. 5. We must place none of our happiness in the favor or approbation of men but account it as to our selves to be a matter of no great moment neither worth any great care or endeavour to obtain it or grief for losing
desiring the converse and company of superiours than inferiours and to live like those that are a step above us than those that are a step below us are signs as significant of Pride as the Robes of a Judge or a Doctor are of their dignities and degrees I am sure Humility hath learnt this lesson Rom. 12. 16. Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate be not wise in your own eyes As for the ridiculous effeminate fashions and deportment of some men and the spots and paintings and nakedness and other antick fashions of some women and the many hours which they daily waste in dressings and adornings and preparing themselves for the sight of others they are the badges of so foolish and worse than childish a sort of pride that I will not trouble my self and the Reader in reprehending them Manly pride is ashamed of such toyes Let the Patrons of them please their Patients by proving them lawful while they have no wiser work to do and when they have done let them go on to prove that it is lawful for sober persons to wear such Irons as they do in Bedlam and that such Chains as they in Newgate wear are no signs of a prisoner and that it is lawful for an honest woman to wear a Harlots habit If the proud have no more wit than to wear the badges of their childishness or distraction and shew then shame to all they meet and make themselves as ridiculous as men that lay aside their Breeches and wear Side-coats again like children I will leave them to themselves and will not now trouble them with any longer contradiction Sign 26. § 77. Sign 26. Proud persons are ashamed and troubled if any necessity force them to go lower in apparel or provisions or deportment than others do of their degree To shew you that it is not as a Duty that Decency is regarded by them but as the ornaments of pride else they would be quiet when Providence maketh it cease to be their duty They are not so much ashamed of sin and the neglect of God and their salvation as they are to be seen in sordid attire or in a poor and homely garb Beggars and servants shew here that they are as proud as Lords What abundance of them go but seldome to Church and give this as a reason I wanted cloaths As if they would neglect their souls their God their greatest duty rather than do it in such Clothes as they do their common work Doth Christ appoint you to give him the meeting that by his Ministers he may instruct you for salvation and that you may ask and receive the pardon of your sins and will you disappoint him and refuse to come for want of better clothes Sure you do not think that these are the Wedding Garment which he requireth you to bring You would beg if you were naked or in rags and will you not come to beg of God because you have no better clothes Do you set more by the reputation of your clothes than the means of your salvation How little do such wretches set by God and by his mercy now that will shortly on their death-beds cry for Mercy without any such regard of clothes Naked they come into the world and naked they must go out and yet they will turn their backs on the Worship of God for want of clothes They are not ashamed nor afraid to be ungodly and to forsake their duty but they are ashamed of torn or poor attire What say they shall we make our selves ridiculous When their pride and ungodliness is cause of a thousand fold more shame We read of thousands even of the poor that crowded after Christ to hear him but of none that staid at home for want of clothes when it is like they had no better than yours § 78. Sign 27. If a proud man be wronged he looketh for great submission before he will forgive Sign 27. you must lye down at his feet and make a very full confession and behave your self with great submission especially if the Law be in his hands And he is prone to revenge and cruel in his revenge But if he have wronged others he is hardly brought to confess that he wronged them and more hardly to humble himself for reconciliation and ask them forgiveness when a humble person is ready to let go his right for peace and easily forgiveth and easily stoopeth to ask forgiveness § 79. Sign 28. Lastly Pride maketh men inordinately desire to have an honourable memorial Sign 28. kept of their names when they are dead if they are persons that rise to the hopes of such a remembrance Many a monument hath Pride erected Many a Book it hath written to this end Anaâ—agoras in â—aert p. 8â— Cum vidisteâ— Mausoâ— sepulchrum Monumentum inquit pretiosum lapidibus ornatum divitiarum imago Many a good work materially it hath done and made it bad by such a base intention Many a Hospital and Alms-house and School-house it hath built And many a pound it hath given to charitable uses in pretension but to proud and selfish uses in intention Not that any should causelesly suspect anothers ends or blemish the deserved honour of good works which it is lawful ordinately to regard But we should suspect our own hearts and take heed of so horrible a sin which would turn the excellentest parts and works into poyson or corruption And remember how heinous a thing it is for a man to be laying proud designs when he is turning to the dust and going to appear before his Judge yea to set up the monuments of his Pride over his rotten flesh and bones And to shew that he dyeth in so great a sin without repentance by endeavouring that as much as may be of it may survive when he is dead and gone If such wicked ends do sometime offer to intrude into necessary excellent works an honest heart must abhor them and cast them out and beg forgiveness and not for that forbear his work nor refuse the comfort of his more sincere desires and intents But such good works do sink the hypocrite into Hell that are principally done as a service to Pride to leave a name on earth behind him § 80. Thus I have been long in shewing you the signs of Pride because the discovery is a great part of the cure Not that every proud person hath all these signs For every one hath not the same temptations or occasion to shew it But every one hath some and many of these And he that hath any one of them hath a sign of Pride And again I say that for all this our Reputation as it subserveth the Honour of God and our Religion and our brethrens good must be carefully by all just means preserved and by necessary defences vindicated from calumniators Though we must quietly bear whatever infamy or slander we are tryed with § 81. Direct 3. Having understood
for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in ryoting and drunkeness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof 3. Time must be Redeemed from things indifferent and lawful at another time when things necessary do require it He that should save mens lives or quench a fire in his house or provide for his family or do his Masters work will not be excused if he neglect it by saying that he was about an indifferent or a lawful business Natural rest and sleep must be parted with for Time when necessary things require it Paul Preached till midnight being to depart on the morrow Act. 20. 7. The Lamenting Church calling out for Prayer saith Arise cry out in the night in the beginning of the watches pour out thy heart like water before the fac◠of the Lord Lam. 2. 19. Cleanthes Lamp must be used by such whose Sun-light must be otherwise employed 4. Time must be Redeemed from worldly business and commodity when matters of greater weight and commodity do require it Trades and Plow and profit must stand by when God calls us by necessity or otherwise to greater things Martha should not so much as trouble her self in providing meat for Christ and his followers to eat when Christ is offering her food for her soul and she should with Mary have been hearing at his feet Luk. 10. 42. Worldlings are thus called by him Isa. 55. 1 2 3. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the water Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfyeth not hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness 5. Time must be Redeemed from smaller Duties which in their season must be done as being no duties when they hinder Greater duty which should then take place It is a duty in its time and place to shew respect to neighbours and superiours and to those about us and to look to our family affairs but not when we should be at Prayer to God or when a Minister should be Preaching or at his necessary studies Private Prayer and Meditation and visiting the sick are duties But not when we should be at Church or about any greater duty which they hinder The Directions contemplative for Redeeming Time § 8. Direct 1. Still keep upon thy Heart by Faith and Consideration the lively sense of the Greatness Direct 1. and absolute necessity of that work which must command thy Time remembring who setteth thee on work and on what a work he sets thee and on what terms and what will be the end It is God that calleth thee to labour And wilt thou stand still or be doing other things when God expecteth duty from thee Moses must go to Pharaoh when God bids him go Ionas must go to Nineve when God bids him go yea Abraham must go to Sacrifice his Son when God bids him go And may you go about your fleshly pleasures when God commandeth you to his service He hath appointed you a work that is worth your Time and all your labour to know him and serve him and obey him and to seek everlasting life How diligently should so excellent a work be done and so blessed and glorious a master be served especially considering the unutterable importance of our diligence we are in the race appointed us by our Maker and are to Run for an immortal Crown It 's Heaven that must be now won or lost And have we Time to spare in such a race We are fighting against the enemies of our salvation The question is now to be resolved whether the Flesh the World and the Devil or We shall win the day and have the victory And Heaven or Hell must be the issue of our warfare And have we Time to spare in the midst of such a fight when our very loss of Time is no small part of the enemies conquest Our most wise Omnipotent Creator hath been pleased to make this present life to be the trying preparation for another resolving that it shall go with us all for ever according to our preparations here And can we play and loyter away our Time that have such a work as this to do O miserable sensless souls do you believe indeed the Life everlasting and that all your lives are given you now to resolve the question whether you must be in Heaven or Hell for ever Do you believe this Again I ask you Do you believe this I beseech you ask your Consciences over and over whether you do indeed believe it Can you believe it and yet have Time to spare what find Time to play away and game away and idle and prate away and yet believe that this very Time is given you to prepare for life eternal and that salvation or damnation lyeth on the race which now even now you have to run Is not such a man a Monster of stupidity If you were asleep or mad it were the more excusable to be so sensless But to do thus awake and in your wits O where are the brains of those men and of what metal are their hardened hearts made that can idle and play away that Time that little Time that only Time which is given them for the everlasting saving of their souls Verily firs if sin had not turned the ungodly part of the world into a Bedlam where it is no wonder to see a man out of his wits people would run out with wonder into the Streets to see such a monster as this as they do to see mad men in the Country where they are rare and they would call to one another Come and see a man that can trifle and sport away his Time as he is going to Eternity and is ready to enter into another world Come and see a man that hath but a few dayes to win or lose his soul for ever in and is playing it away at Cards and Dice or wasting it in doing nothing Come and see a man that hath hours to spare and cast away upon trifles with Heaven and Hell before his eyes For thy souls sake consider and tell thy self If thy estate in the world did lye upon the spending of this day or week or if thy life lay on it so that thou must live or dye or be poor or rich sick or well as thou spendest it wouldst thou then waste it in dressings or complement or play and wouldst thou find any to spare upon impertinent triflings Or rather wouldst thou not be up betime and about thy business and turn by thy games and thy diverting company and disappoint thy idle visiters
distress that if he would but spare them and try them once again they would amend their lives and live more holily and spend their time more carefully and diligently for their souls and shew all about them the truth of their Repentance by the greatness of their change and an exemplary life O it is a most dangerous terrible thing to return to security sloth and sin and break such promises to God! such are often given over to woful hard-heartedness or despair for God will not be mocked with delusory words § 70. Thus I have opened this great duty of Redeeming Time the more largely because it is of unspeakable importance and my soul is frequently amazed with admiration that the sluggish world can so insensibly and impenitently go on in wasting precious time so near Eternity and in so needy and dangerous a case Though I bless my God that I have not wholly lost my Time but have long lived in a sense of the odiousness of that sin yet I wonder at my self that such over-powring motives compell me not to make continual haste and to be still at work with all my might in a case of everlasting consequence CHAP. VI. Directions for the Government of the Thoughts I Have shewed you in my Treatise of walking with God how much mans Thoughts are regarded by God and should be regarded by himself and what agents and instruments they are of very much Good or Evil This therefore I shall suppose and not repeat but only Direct you in the Governing of them The work having three parts they must have several Directions 1. For the avoiding of evil thoughts 2. For the exercise of good thoughts 3. For the improvement of good thoughts that they may be effectual Tit. 1. Directions against evil and idle Thoughts § 2. Direct 1. KNow which are evil Thoughts and retein such an odious Character of them continually Direct 1. on your minds as may provoke you still to meet them with abhorrence Evil thoughts are such as these 1. All thoughts against the Being or Attributes or Relations or honour or works of God Atheistical and Blasphemous Idolatrous and unbelieving thoughts All thoughts that tend to disobedience or opposition to the will or word of God And all that savour of unthankfullness or want of Love to God or of discontent and distrust or want of the fear of God or that tend to any of these Also sinful selfish covetous proud studies to make a meer trade of the Ministry for gain To be able to overtalk others Searching into unrevealed forbidden things Inordinate curiosity and hasty conceitedness of your own opinions about Gods Decrees or obscure Prophecies Prodigies Providence mentioned before about Pride of our understandings All thoughts against any particular word or truth or precept of God or against any particular duty against any part of the worship and ordinances of God that tend to unreverent neglects of the name or Holy Day of God All impious thoughts against publick duty or family duty or secret duty and all that would hinder or marr any one duty All thoughts of dishonour contempt neglect or disobedience to the authority or higher powers set over us by God either Magistrates Pastors Parents Masters or any other Superiors All thoughts of Pride self-exalting ambition self-seeking Covetousness Voluptuous sensual Thoughts proceeding from or tending to the corrupt inordinate pleasures of the flesh Thoughts which are unjust and tend to the hurt and wrong of others Envyous malicious reproachful injurious contemptuous wrathful revengeful thoughts Lustful wanton filthy thoughts Drunken gluttonous fleshly thoughts Inordinate careful fearful anxious vexatious discomposing thoughts Presumptuous and secure despairing and dejecting thoughts Slothful delaying negligent and discouraging thoughts Uncharitable cruel false censorious unmerciful thoughts And idle unprofitable thoughts Hate all these as the Devils spawn § 3. Direct 2. Be not insensible what a great deal of Duty or sin is in the Thoughts and of how Direct 2. dangerous a signification and consequence a course of evil thoughts is to your souls They shew what a Man is as much as his words or actions do For as be thinketh in his heart so is he Prov. 23. 7. A good man or evil is denominated by the good or evil treasure of the heart though known to men but by the fruits O the vile and numerous sins that are committed in mens thoughts and proceed from mens thoughts O the pretious Time that is lost in idle and other sinful thoughts O the good that is hindered hereby both in heart and life But of this having spoken in the Treatise aforementioned I proceed § 4. Direct 3. Above all be sure that you cleanse the Fountain and destroy those sinful inclinations Direct 3. of the heart from which your evil thoughts proceed In vain else will you strive to stop the streams Or if you should stop them that very Heart it self will be lothsom in the eyes of God Are your Thoughts all upon the world either coveting or caring or grieving for what you want or pleasing your selves with what you have or hope for Get down your deceived estimation of the world cast it under your feet and out of your heart and count all with Paul but as loss and dung for the excellent knowledge of God in Christ For till the world be dead in you your worldly thoughts will not be dead But all will stand still when once this poise is taken off Crucifie it and this breath and pulse will cease So if your thoughts do run upon matter of preferment or honour disgrace or contempt or if you are pleased with your own preheminence or applause Mortifie your Pride and beg of God a humble self-denying contrite heart For till Pride be dead you will never be quiet for it but it will stir up swarms of self-exalting and yet self-vexing thoughts which make you hateful in the eyes of God So if your thoughts be running out upon your back and belly what you shall eat or drink or how to please your appetite or sense Mortifie the flesh and subdue its desires and master your appetite and bring them into full obedience unto reason and get a habit of temperance or else your thoughats will be still upon your guts and throats For they will obey the ruling power And a violent passion and desire doth so powerfully move them that it is hard for the reason and will to rule them So if your thoughts are wanton and filthy you must cleanse that unclean and lustful heart and get Christ to cast out the unclean spirit and become chast within before you will keep out your unchast cogitations So if you have confusion and vanity in your thoughts you must get a well-furnished and well-composed mind and heart before you will well cure the maladie of your thoughts § 5. Direct 4. Keep at a sufficient distance from those tempting objects which are the fuel and incentives Direct 4. of your evil
of Christs Body and Blood aright But besides all these what a deal of duty have you to perform to Magistrates Pastors Parents Masters and other superiours to subjects people children servants and other inferiours to every neighbour for his soul his body his estate and name and to do to all as you would be done by And besides all this how much have you to do directly for your selves for your souls and bodies and families and estates Against your ignorance infidelity pride selfishness sensuality worldliness passion sloth intemperance cowardize lust uncharitableness c. Is not here matter for your thoughts § 15. Direct 15. Overlook not that life full of particular mercies which God hath bestowed on your Direct 15. selves and you will find pleasant and profitable matter for your thoughts To spare me the labour of 15. All our particular Mercies repeating them look back to Chap. 3. Dir. 14. Think of that mercy which brought you into the world and chose your Parents your place and your condition which brought you up and bore with you patiently in all your sins and closely warned you of every danger which seasonably afflicted you and seasonably delivered you and heard your Prayers in many a distress which hath yet kept the worst of you from death and Hell and hath Regenerated justified adopted and sanctified those that he hath fitted for eternal life How many sins he hath forgiven How many he hath in part subdued How many and suitable helps he hath vouchsafed you From how many Enemies he hath saved you how oft he hath delighted you by his word and grace what comforts you have had in his Servants and ordinances in your relations and callings His mercies are innumerable and yet do your meditations want matter to supply them If I should but recite the words of David in many thankful Psalms you would think Mercy found his Thoughts employment § 16. Direct 16. Foresee that exact and righteous judgement which shortly you have to undergo Direct 16. and it will do much to find you employment for your thoughts A man that must give an account to 16. The account at Judgement God of all that he hath done both good and evil and knoweth not how soon for ought he knows before to morrow me thinks should find him something better than vanity to think on Is it nothing to be ready for so great a day To have your justification ready your accounts made up Your Consciences cleansed and quietted on good grounds To know what answer to make for your selves against the accuser To be clear and sure that you are indeed Regenerate and have a part in Christ and are washed in his blood and reconciled to God and shall not prove hypocrites and self-deceivers in that trying day when it is a sentence that must finally decide the question whether we shall be saved or damned and must determine us to Heaven or Hell for ever and you have so short and uncertain a time for your preparation will not this administer matter to your Thoughts If you were going to a Judgement for your lives or all your estates you would think it sufficient to provide you matter for your thoughts by the way How much more this final dreadful judgement § 17. Direct 17. If all this will not serve the turn it 's strange if God call not home your thoughts Direct 17. by sharp afflictions and methinks the improvement of them and the removal of them should find some 17. Our Afflictions employment for your thoughts It 's time then to search and try your ways and turn again unto the Lord Lam. 3. 4. To find out the Achan that troubleth your peace and know the voice of the rod and what God is angry at and what it is that he calleth you to mind To know what root it is that beareth these bitter fruits and how they may be sanctified to make you conformable to Christ and partakers of his holiness Heb. 12. 10. Besides the exercise of holy patience and submission there is a great deal of work to be done in sufferings to exercise faith and honour God and the good cause of our suffering and to humble our selves for the evil cause and to get the benefit And if you will not meditate of the Duty you shall meditate of the pain whether you will or not and say as Lam. 3. 17 18 19 20. I forgate prosperity and I said My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord Remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me Put not God to remember you by his spur and help your meditations by so sharp a means Psal. 78. 33 34 35. Therefore did he consume their days in vanity and their years in trouble when he â—lew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer § 18. Direct 18. Be diligent in your callings and spend no time in idleness and perform your labours Direct 18. with holy minds to the glory of God and in obedience to his commands and then your thoughts will 18. The business of your Calling have the less leisure and liberty for vanity or idleness Employments of the body will employ the Thoughts They that have much to do have much to think on For they must do it prudently and skillfully and carfully that they may do it successfully and therefore must think how to do it And the urgency and necessity of business will almost necessitate the thoughts and so carry them on and find them work Though some employments more than others And let none think that these Thoughts are bad or vain because they are about worldly things For if our Labours themselves be not bad or vain then neither are those thoughts which are needful to the well-doing of our work Nor let any worldling please himself with this and say My thoughts are taken up about my calling For his calling it self is perverted by him and made a carnal work to carnal ends when it should be sanctified That the thoughts about your labours may be good 1. Your Labours themselves must be good performed in obedience to God and for the good of others and to his glory 2. Your Labours and thoughts must keep their bounds and the higher things must be still preferred and sought and thought on in the first place And your Labours must so far employ your thoughts as is needful to the well-doing of them but better things must be thought on in such labours as leave a vacancy to the Thoughts But diligence in your calling is a very great help to keep out sinful thoughts and to furnish us with thoughts which in their place are good § 19. Direct 19. You have all Gods spiritual helps and holy ordinances to feed your meditations Direct 19. and
Whoever took a talkative babler for a wise man He that is Logophilus is seldome Philologus much less Philosophus As Demosthenes Eccles 5. 3 7. Eccles. â—0 12 13. Eccles. 10. 14. Psal. 37. 30 Prov. 17. 27 28. 10. 20. 12. 18. 10 19. 18. 4 5 6. â—1 23. said to a Prater If thou knewest more thou wouldst say less They seldom go for men of action and vertue that talk much They that say much usually do little Women and Children and old folks are commonly the greatest talkers I may add mad folks Livy noteth that Souldiers that prate and brag much seldom fight well And Erasmus noteth that Children that quickly learn to speak are long in learning to go It is not the barking Curr that biteth Let it be the honour of a Parrot to speak much but of a man to speak wisely The mobility of their tongues an honour common to an Aspen leaf is all their honour that can multis verbis pauca dicere say a little in a great many of words but multa paucis much in few words is the character of the wise unless when the quality of the auditors prohibiteth it And qui sunt in dicendo brevissimi if the auditors can bear it shall be accounted the best speakers I am not of his mind that said He oft repented speaking but never repented silence But except they be Ministers few men have so much cause to repent of silence as of speech Non quam multa sed quam bene must be the Christians care As one said of Philosophy I may much more say of Religion that though an Orators excellency appeareth only in speaking yet the Philosophers and the Christians appeareth as much in silence § 26. 6. Where there is much idle talk there will be much sinful talk Prov. 10. 19. In the multitude of words there wants not sin but he that refraineth his lips is wise There are lyes or backbitings or medling with other folks matters or scurrilous jeasts if not many such sins that go along with a course of idle talk It is the vehicle in which the Devil giveth his most poysonous draughts Saith Lipsius It is given to Praters Non multa tantum sed male to speak ill as well as to speak much § 27. 7. Vain words hinder your own edification Who knoweth if you would hold your tongues but some one would speak wiselyer that might do you good Prov. 23. 8 9. § 28. 8. And you weary the Hearers unless they are strangely patient when you intend to please them or else you might as well talk all that by your self It is scarce manners for them unless you be much their inferiors to tell you they are aweary to hear you and to intreat you to hold your tongues But you little know how oft they think so I judge of others by my self I flye from a talkative person as from a Bed that hath Fleas or Lice I would shut my doors against them as I stop my Windows against the Wind and Cold in Winter How glad am I when they have done and gladder when they are gone Make not your selves a burden to your company or friends by the troublesome noise of an unwearied tongue § 29. 9. Many words are the common causers of contention Some word or other will fall that offendeth those that hear it or else will be carried to those that are absent and made the occasion of heart-burnings rehearsals brawls or Law-suits There is no keeping quietness peace and love with talkative pratlers at least not long § 30. 10. Are you not sensible what Pride and impudency is in it when you think your selves worthiest to speak As if you should say you are all children to me hold your tongues and hear me speak If you had Christian Humility and Modesty you would in honour prefer others before your selves Rom. 12. 10. You would think your selves unworthiest to speak unless the contrary be very evident and desire rather to hear and learn As Heraclitus being asked Why he alone was silent in the company answered That you may talk So when you talk above your parts it is as if you told the company I talk that all you may be silent § 31. 11. It is a voluntary sin and not repented of For you may easily forbear it if you will and you wilfully continue in it and therefore impenitency is your danger § 32. 12. Lastly Consider how unprofitable a sin it is and how little you have to hire you to commit it What get you by it Will you daily sin against God for nothing § 33. Direct 4. If you would not be idle talkers see that your hearts be taken up with something that Direct 4. is good And that your tongues be acquainted with and accustomed to their proper work and duty An Isa. 32. 4 5 6. Matth. 12 34 36. 2 Cor. 4. 13. John 3. 11. 1 John 4. 5. Prov. 16. 23. Psal. 40 5. Cant. 7. 9. empty head and heart are the causes of empty frothy vain discourse Conscience may tell you when your tongues run upon vanity that at that time there is no sense of sin or duty or the presence of God upon your hearts no holy Love no Zeal for God but you are asleep to God and all that 's good and in this sleep you moither and talk idly of any thing that cometh into your mind Also you make not conscience of speaking of that which is good or else it would keep out vanity and evil Remember what abundance of greater matters you have to talk of You have the evil of sin the multitude and subtilty of temptations and the way of resisting them to talk of You have your faults to lament your evidences to enquire after your mercies thankfully to open the greatness and goodness and all the attributes of God to praise You have all the works of God to admire even all the creatures in the world to contemplate and all Gods admirable Providences and Government to observe You have the mysterie of Redemption the person and office and life and miracles and sufferings and glory and intercession and reign of Christ to talk of And all the secret sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost and all the Ordinances of God and all the means of Grace and all our duties to God and man and all the holy Scripture besides death and judgement and Heaven and Hell and the concernments of the Church of God and the case of the persons you speak to who may need your instruction exhortation admonition reproof or comfort And is not here work enough to employ your tongues and keep them from idle talk Make conscience of those Prov. 23. 16. duties commanded Ephes. 4. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying and may minister grace to the hearers and grieve not the holy Spirit Psal. 145. 6 11 12 13 21. of God
he shall serve me He that worketh Deceit shall not dwell within my House He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Iust. LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Princes-Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. To all that fear God in the Burrough and Parish of Kederminster in Worcestershire Dear Friends YOU are the Only People that ever I took a special Pastoral Charge of And Gods blessing and your Obedience to his Word do make the remembrance of my Labours and Converse with you to be sweet It was neither by Your Will or Mine that we have been this twelve years separated nor that we yet continue so I thank our most Gracious God who maugre all the Serpents Malice hath Inwardly and Outwardly so well provided for you above most others as that I hope you will be no losers by any thing which hath yet befallen you That I have hitherto survived so many of my departed Friends both with you and elsewhere after all that you have known is my own wonder as well as yours And what I have been doing in this time of our separation I have formerly told you in part by some other Writings and now tell you more by this which was written about five or six years ago though it found not passage into the world till now I live not yet Idle But whether this be the way of my chiefest service to the Church of God in my present case some distant Censurers have questioned If it be not my Ignorance of my duty and of what will be most useful to others is the cause and not my Love of Ease or my obeying Man rather than God I judge that my chief duty which I think is likest to do most good I am glad that once more before I dye I have opportunity to speak to you at this distance and to perswade you to and Direct you in that Family Holiness and Righteousness which hath been so much of your Comfort and Honour and will be so while you faithfully continue it O how happy a state is it to have God dwell in your Families by his Love and Blessing and Rule them by his Word and Spirit and Protect them by his Power and Delight in them and they in Him as his Churches preparing for the Coelestial Delights O how much of the Interest of true Religion must be kept up in the world by the Holiness and Diligence of Christian Families How happy a supply doth it afford where there are sad defects in the Teaching Holiness and Discipline of the Churches O that the Rulers of Families who are silenced by no others did not silence themselves from that Instructing and Prayer which is their work I should be sorry that this Directory is so Voluminous that few of you can buy it but that more Ends than One in such works must be intended If any of you which God forbid shall shew by an ungodly life that you have forgotten the Doctrine which was taught you or if more yet shall traduce the Doctrine of your once unworthy Teacher Posterity shall here see what it was in this Record which may remain and preach when I am yet more silenced in the dust The Lord whom we have served though with lamentable defects and in whom though alas too weakly we have trusted preserve us in the Life of Faith Hope and Love in Sincerity Zeal and patient Constancy to the Glorious Life where we hope to behold in Perfect Love without the fear of death or separation our most Blessed Head and God for ever Amen Totteridge near Barnet Feb. 10. 1671 2. Your Servant in Willingness Richard Baxter A Christian Directory TOM II. Christian Oeconomicks CHAP. I. Directions about Marriage for Choice and Contract AS the Persons of Christians in their privatest capacities are Holy as being Dedicated and separated unto God so also must their Families be HOLINESS TO THE LORD must be as it were written on their Doors and on their Relations their Possessions and Affairs To which it is requisite 1. That there be a Holy Constitution of their Families 2. And a holy Government of them and discharge of the several duties of the Members of the Family To the right constituting of a Family belongeth 1. The right contracting of Marriage and 2. The right choice and contract betwixt Masters and their Servants For the first § 2. Direct 1. Take heed that neither lust nor rashness do thrust you into a marryed condition before Direct 1. you see such Reasons to invite you to it as may assure you of the Call and approbation of God For 1. It is God that you must serve in your Marryed state and therefore it is meet that you take his counsel before you rush upon it For he knoweth best himself what belongeth to his service 2. And it is God that you must still depend upon for the blessing and comforts of your relation And therefore there is very great reason that you take his advice and consent as the chief things requisite to the match If the Consent of Parents be necessary much more is the Consent of God § 3. Quest. But how shall a man know whether God call him to Marriage or consent unto it Hath Quest. he not here left all men to their liberties as in a thing indifferent Answ. God hath not made any Universal Law commanding or forbidding Marriage but in this Answ. Whether Marriage be indifferent regard hath left it indifferent to mankind yet not allowing all to marry for undoubtedly to some it is unlawful But he hath by other General Laws or Rules directed men to know in what cases it is lawful and in what cases it is a sin As every man is bound to choose that condition in which he may serve God with the best advantages and which tendeth most to his spiritual welfare and increase in Holiness Now there is nothing in Marriage it self which maketh it commonly inconsistent with these benefits and the fulfilling of these Laws And therefore it is said that He that Marrieth doth well that is he doth that which of it self is not unlawful and which to some is the 1 Cor 7. 7 3◠most eligible state of life But there is something in a single life which maketh it especially to Preachers and persecuted Christians to be more usually the most advantagious state of life to these Ends of Christianity And therefore it is said that He that marrieth not doth better And yet to individual persons it is hard to imagine how it can choose but be either a duty or a sin at least except in some unusual cases For it is a thing of so great moment as to the ordering of our hearts and lives that it is hard to imagine that it should ever be indifferent as a means to our main end but
to be believed Either you have not done your best or else you are not under a necessity And your urgency being your own fault seeing you should subdue it God still obligeth you both to subdue your Vice and to obey your Parents 3. But if there should be any one that hath such an incredible necessity of marriage he is to procure some others to sollicite his Parents for their consent and if he cannot obtain it some say it is his duty to marry without it I should rather say that it is minus malum the lesser evil and that having cast himself into some necessity of sinning it is still his duty to avoid both and to choose neither but it is the smaller sin to choose to disobey his Parents rather than to live in the flames of lust and the filth of unchastity And some Divines say that in such a case a Son should appeal to the Magistrate as a superior authority above the Father But others think 1. That this leaveth it as difficult to resolve what he shall do if the Magistrate also consent not And 2. That it doth but resolve one difficulty by a greater it being very doubtful whether in Domestick cases the authority of the Parent or the Magistrate be the greater § 11. 3. The same answer serveth as to the third Question when Parents forbid you to marry the persons that you are most fond of For such fondness whether you call it Lust or Love as will not stoop to reason and your Parents wills is inordinate and sinful And therefore the thing that God bindeth you to is by his appointed means to subdue it and to obey But if you cannot the accidents and probable consequents must tell you which is the lesser evil § 12. Quest. But what if the Child have promised marriage and the Parents be against it Answ. If Quest. the Child was under the Parents Government and short of years of discretion also the promise is void for want of capacity And if the child was at age yet the promise was a sinful promise as to the promising act and also as to the thing promised during the Parents dissent If the actus promittendâ— only had been sinful the promise making the promise might nevertheless oblige unless it were null as well as sinful But the materia promissa being sinful the matter promised to marry while Parents do dissent such a child is bound to forbear the fullfilling of that promise till the Parents do consent or die And yet he is bound from marrying any other unless he be disobliged by the person that he made the promise to because he knoweth not but his Parents may consent hereafter And whenever they consent or die the promise then is obligatory and must be performed § 13. The 3. Chap. of Num. enableth Parents to disoblige a Daughter that is in their house from a Vow made to God so be it they disallow it at the first hearing Hence there are two doubts arise 1. Whether this power extend not to the disobliging of a promise or contract of Matrimony 2. Whether it extend not to a Son as well as a Daughter And most expositors are for the affirmative of both cases But I have shewed before that it is upon uncertain grounds 1. It is uncertain whether God who would thus give up his own right in case of Vowing will also give away the right of others without their consent in case of Promises or Contracts And 2. It is uncertain whether this be not an indulgence only of the weaker sex seeing many words in the Text seem plainly to intimate so much And it is dangerous upon our own presumptions to stretch Gods Laws to every thing we imagine there is the same reason for Seeing our imaginations may so easily be deceived and God could have exprest such particulars if he would And therefore when there is not clear ground for our inferences in the Text it is but to say Thus and thus God should have said when we cannot say Thus he hath said We must not make Laws under pretense of â—xpounding them whatsoever God commandeth thee take heed that thou do it thou shalt â—â—â—â— nothing thereto nor take ought therefrom Deut. 12. 32. § 14. Quest. If the Question therefore be not of the sinfullness but the nullity of such Promises of Quest. children because of the dissent of Parents for my part I am not able to prove any such nullity It is said that They are not sui juris their own and therefore their promises are null But if they have attained Object to years and use of discretion they are naturally so far sui juris as to be capable of disposing even of Answ. their souls and therefore of their fidelity They can oblige themselves to God or man Though they are not so far sui juris as to be ungoverned For so no child no Subject no Man is sui juris seeing all are under the Government of God And yet if a man promise to do a thing sinful it is not a nullity but a sin not no promise but a sinful promise A nullity is when the Actus promittendi is Reputativè nullus vel non actus And when no Promise is made then none can be broken § 15. Quest. But if the Question be only how far such Promises must be kept I answer by summing Quest. up what I have said 1. If the child had not the use of Reason the want of Natural â—apacity proveth the Promise null Here ignorantis non est consensus 2. If he was at age and use of Reason then 1. If the Promising act only was sinful as before I said of Vows the Promise must be both repented of and kept It must be repented of because it was a sin It must be kept because it was a real Promise and the matter lawful 2. If the Promising act was not only a sin but a nullity by any other reason then it is no obligation 3. If not only the Promising act be sin but also the matter Promised as is marrying without Parents consent then it must be repented of and not performed till it become lawful Because an oath or promise cannot bind a man to violate the Laws of God § 16. Quest. But what if the parties be actually Married without the Parents consent Must they live Quest. together or be separated Answ. 1. If Marriage be consummated per carnalem concubitum by the carnal knowledge of each other I see no reason to imagine that Parents can dissolve it or prohibit their cohabitation For the Marriage for ought I ever saw is not proved a nullity but only a sin and their concubitus is not fornication And Parents cannot forbid Husband and Wife to live together And in Marriage they do really though sinfully forsake Father and Mother and cleave to each other and so are now from under their Government though not disobliged from all obedience 2. But if
that our own advantage falls in but impliedly and in evident subordination Such are the blessed works of praise and thanksgiving which we here begin and shall in Heaven perpetuate Yet see a most admirable Mystery of true Religion We indeed receive more largely from God and enjoy more fully our own felicity in him in these acts of worship that give all to God than in the other wherein we more directly seek for somewhat from him And those are the second sort of worship-actions viz. When the substance or matter of the work is a seeking or receiving somewhat from God or delivering something Religiously in his name and so is more directly for our selves though yet it 's God that should be our ultimate end in this too You may perceive I make this of three sorts Whereof the first consisteth in our religious addresses to God for something that we want And is called Prayer The 2. consisteth in our religious addresses to God to receive somewhat from him viz. 1. Instructions precepts promises threatnings from his mouth Messengers c. 2. The Sacramental signs of his grace in Baptism and the Lords Supper The 3. is when the Officers of Christ do in his name solemnly deliver either his Laws or Sacraments His Laws either in general by ordinary Preaching or by a more particular application in Acts of discipline 2. The Word Solemn signifies sometimes any thing usual and so some derive it Solenne est quod fieri solet Sometimes that which is done but on one set day in the year and so some make solenne to be quasi solum semel in anno But vulgarly it is taken and so we take it here for both celebre usit â—tum that is a thing that is not accidentally and seldom but statedly and ordinarily to be done and that with such Gravity and Honourable seriousness as beseems a business of such weight 3. By family we mean not a tribe or stock of kindred dwelling in many houses as the word is taken oâ—t in Scripture but I mean a houshold Domus familia a Houshold and family are indeed in Oeconomicks somewhat different notions but one thing Domus is to familia as civitas to respublica the former is made the subject of the latter the latter the finis internus of the former And so Domus est societas naturae consentanea e personis domesticis vitae in dies omnes commode sustentandae causa collecta Familia est ordo domus per Regimen Patris-familias in personas sibi subjectas Where note that to a compleat family must go four Integral parts Pater familias Mater familias Filius Servus A Father Mother Son and Servant But to the essence of a family it sufficeth if there be but the pars imperans pars subdita one head or Governor either Father Mother Master or Mistress and one or more governed under this head Note therefore that the Governour is an essential part of the family and so are some of the governed viz. that such their be but not each member If therefore twenty children or servants shall worship God without the Father or Master of the family either present himself or in some Representative it is not a family worship in strict sense But if the head of the family in himself or Delegate or Representative be present with any of his children or servants though all the rest be absent it is yet a family duty though the family be incompleat and maimed and so is the duty therefore if culpably so performed 4. When I say in and by a family I mean not that each must do the same parts of the work but that one either the head or some one deputed by him and representing him be the mouth and the rest perform their parts by receiving instructions or mentally concurring in the Prayers and praise by him put up Lastly by Divine appointment I mean any signification of Gods will that it is mens duty to perform this Whether a signification by natural means or supernatural directly or by consequence so we may be sure it is Gods will The sum of the Question then is Whether any Sacred Actions religiously and ordinarily to be performed to Gods honour by the head of the family with the rest be by Gods appointment made our duty My thoughts of this Question I shall reduce to these heads and propound in this order 1. I shall speak of family worship in General 2. Of the sorts of that worship in special 3. Of the time I. Concerning the first I lay down my thoughts in these Propositions following for limitation and caution and then prove the main conclusion Prop. 1. It is not all sorts of Gods worship which he hath appointed to be performed by families as Prop. 1. such There being some proper to more publick Assemblies 2. More particularly the Administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper are proper to the Ministerial or Organized Churches and not common to families for as they are both of them committed only to Ministers of the Gospel and have been only used by them for many hundred years in the Church except that some permitted others to baptize in case of necessity So the Lords Supper was appointed for a Symbole and means of a more publick communion than that of families And though some conjecture the contrary from its first institution and think that as there is a family prayer and Church prayer family teaching and Church teaching so there should be family Sacraments and Church Sacraments yet it is a Mistake For though Christ administred it to his family yet it was not as a family but as a Church For that which is but one family may possibly be a Church also This exposition we have from the Doctrine and practice of the Apostles and constant custom of all the Churches which have never thought the Lords Supper to be a family duty but proper to larger assemblies and administrable only by ordained Ministers Nor will the reasons drawn from circumcision and the passeover prove the contrary both because particular Churches were not then instituted as now and therefore families had the more to do and because there were some duties proper to families in the very institution of those Sacraments And because God gave them a power in those which he hath not given to Masters of families now in our Sacraments 3. Many thousands do by their own vitiousness and negligence disable themselves so that they cannot perform what God hath made their duty yet it remains their duty still Some disability may excuse them in part but not in whole I shall now prove that the Solemn Worship of God in and by families as such is of Divine appointment Argument 1. If Families are Societies of Gods Institution furnished with special advantages and opportunities for Gods solemn Worship having no prohibition so to use them then the solemn Worship of God in and by families as such is of
persons he bids them Continue in prayer and watch in the same c. 2. If neighbours are bound to speak together in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs with grace in their hearts to the Lord and to continue in prayer and thanksgiving then families much more who are nearlier related and have more necessities and opportunities as is said before 3. If whatever we do in word or deed we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks then families must needs joyn in giving thanks For they have much daily business in word and deed to be done together and asunder Argument 15. From Dan. 6. 10. When Daniel knew that the Writing was signed he went into his house and his window being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore time Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God Here note 1. The Nature of the duty 2. The necessity of it 1. If it had not been open family-prayer which Daniel here performed how could they have known what he said It is not probable that he would speak so lowd in secret nor is it like they would have found him at it So great a Prince would have had some servants in his ouâ—ward rooms to have stayed them before they had come so near 2. And the Necessity of this prayer is such that Daniel would not omit it for a few dayes to save his life Argument 16. From Josh. 24. 15. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Here note 1. That it is a Houshold that is here engaged For if any would prove that it extendeth further to all Ioshuah's Tribe or inferiour kindred yet his houshold would be most eminently included 2. That it is the same thing which Ioshuah promiseth for his house which he would have all Israel do for theirs for he maketh himself an example to move them to it If Housholds must serve the Lord then housholds must pray to him and praise him But housholds must serve him Therefore c. The consequence is proved in that Prayer and Praise are so necessary parts of Gods service that no family or person can be said in general to be devoted to serve God that are not devoted to them Calling upon God is oft put in Scripture for all Gods Worship as being a most eminent part and Atheisis are described to be such as call not upon the Lord Psal. 14 c. Argument 17. The story of Cornâ—lius Acts 10. proveth that he performed family-worship For observe 1. That verse 2. he is said to be A devoâ—t man and one that feared God with all his house which gâ—ve much almes to the people and prayed to God alway And vers 30. he saith at the ninth hour I prayed in my house And ver 24. he called together his kindred and near friends So ver 11. 14. Thou and all thy house shall be savâ—d So that in ver 2. Fearing God comprehendeth Prayer and is usually put for all Gods Worship therefore when he is said to Fear God with all his house it is included that he worshipped God with all his house And that he used to do it conjunctly with them is iâ—plyed in his gathering together his Kindred and Friends when Peter came not mentioning the calling together his houshold as being usual and supposed And when it is said that he prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his house it may signifie his houshold as in Scrâ—pture the word is often taken However the circumstances shew that he did it Argument 18. From 1. Tim 3. 4 5 12. One that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity For if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God Let the Deacons be the Husbands of one Wife Ruling their Children and their own houses well Here mark that it is such a Ruling of their houses as is of the same nature as the Ruleing of the Church mutaâ—is mutandis and that is a training them up in the Worship of God and guiding them therein For the Apostle maketh the defect of the one to be a sure discovery of their unfitness for the other Now to Rule the Church is to teach and guide them as their mouth in prayer and praises unto God as well as to oversee their lives therefore it is such a Ruling of their houses as is pre-requisite to prove them fit They that must so Rule well their own houses as may partly prove them not unfit to Rule the Church must Rule them by holy instructions and guiding them as their mouth in the Worship of God But those mentioned 1 Tim. 3. must so Rule their houses Therefore c. The Pastors Ruling of the Church doth most consist in going before them and guiding them in Gods Worship Therefore so doth the Ruling of their own houses which is made a trying qualification of their fitness hereunto Though yet it reach not so high nor to so many things and the conclusion be not Affirmative He that ruleth his own house well is fit to rule the Church of God but Negative He that ruleth not his own house well is not fit to rule the Church of God But that is because 1. This is a lower degree of Ruling which will not prove him fit for a higher 2. And it is but one qualification of many that are requisite Yet it is apparent that some degree of aptitude is proved hence and that from a similitude of the things When Paul compareth Ruling the House to Ruling the Church he cannot be thought to take them to be wholly hetâ—rogeneous He would never have said He that cannot Rule an Army or Regiment or a City how shall he Rule the Church of God I conclude therefore that this Text doth shew that it is the duty of Masters of families to Rule well their own families in the right worshipping of God mutatis mutandis as Ministers must Rule the Church Argument 19. If families have special necessity of family-prayer conjunctly which cannot be supplyed otherwise then it is Gods will that family-prayer should be in use But families have such necessities Therefore c. The Consequent needs no proof The Antecedent is proved by instances Families have Family necessities which are larger than to be confined to a Closet and yet more private than to be brought still into the publick Assemblies of the Church 1. There are many worldly occasions about their Callings and Relations which its fit for them to mention among themselves but unfit to mentition before all the Congregation 2. There are many distempers in the hearts and lives of the members of the families and many miscarriages and differences and disagreements which must be taken up at home and which prayer must do much to cure and yet are not
fit to be brought to the ears of the Church-assemblies 3. And if it were fit to mention them all in publick yet the number of such cases would be so great as would overwhelm the Minister and confound the publick Worship nay one half of them in most Churches could not be mentioned 4. And such cases are of ordinary occurrence and therefore would ordinarily have all these inconveniences And yet there are many such cases that are not fit to be confined to our secret prayers each one by himself because 1. They often so sin together as maketh it fit that they consess and lament it together 2. And some mercies which they receive together its fit they seek and give thanks for together 3. And many works which they do together its fit they seek a blessing on together 4. And the presence of one another in Confession Petition and Thanksgiving doth tend to the increase of their fervour and warming of their hearts and engaging them the more to duty and against sin and is needful on the grounds laid down before Nay it is a kind of Family-schism in such cases to separate from one another and to pray in secret only as it is Church schism to separate from the Church-assemblies and to pray in families only Nature and Grace delight in Unity and abhor division And the Light of Nature and Grace engageth us to do as much of the work of God in Unity and Concord and Communion as we can Argument 20. If before the giving of the Law to Moses God was worshipped in families by his own appointment and this appointment be not yet reverst then God is to be worshipped in families still But the Antecedent is certain Therefore so is the consequent I think no man denyeth the first part of the Antecedent that before the flood in the families of the righteous and after till the establishment of a Priesthood God was worshipped in families or housholds It is a greater doubt whether then he had any other publick Worship When there were few or no Church assemblies that were larger than families no doubt God was ordinarily worshipped in families Every Ruler of a family then was as a Priest to his own family Cain and Abel offered their own Sacrifices so did Noah Abraham and Iacob If it be objected that all this ceased when the Office of the Priest was instituted and so deny the later part of my Antecedent I reply 1. Though sâ—me make a doubt of it whether the Office of Priesthood was instituted before Aarons time I think there is no great doubt to be made of it seeing we find a Priesthood then among other Nations who had it either by the light of Nature or by Tradition from the Church And Melchizedecks Priesthood who was a Type of Christ is expresly mentioned So that though family-worship was then the most usual yet some more publick worship there was 2. After the institution of Aarons Priesthood family worship continued as I have proved before yea the two Sacraments of Circumcision and the Passeover were celebrated in Families by the Master of the house Therefore Prayer was certainly continued in families 3. If that part of Worship that was afterward performed in Synagogues and publick Assemblies was appropriated to them that no whit proveth that the part which agreed to families as such was transferred to those Assemblies Nâ—y it is a certain proof that that part was left to families still because we find that the publick Assemblies never undertook it We find among them no prayer but Church-prayer and not that which was fitted to Families as such at all Nor is there a word of Scripture that speaketh of Gods reversing of his command or order for family-prayer or other proper family-worship Therefore it is proved to continue obligatory still Had I not been too long already I should have urged to this end the example of Iob in sacrificing daily for his Sons and of Esther's keeping a Fast with her Maids Hest. 4. 16. And Jer. 10. 25. Pour out thy fury on the Heathen that know thee not and on the families that call not on thy name It s true that by families here is meant Tribes of people and by calling on his Name is meant their worshipping the true God But yet this is spoken of all Tribes without exception great and small And Tribes in the beginning as Abrahams Isaacs Iacobs c. were confined to families And the argument holdeth from parâ—ty of reason to a proper family And that calling on Gods Name is put for his Worship doth more confirm us because it proveth it to be the most eminent part of Worship or else the whole would not be signified by it At least no reason can imagine it excluded So much for the proof of the fourth Proposition Objections answered Object 1. HAd it been a duty under the Gospel to pray in families we should certainly have found Object 1. it more expresly required in the Scripture Answ. 1. I have already shewed you that it is plainly required in the Scripture But men must not teach God how to speak nor oblige him to make all plain to blind perverted minds 2. Those things which were plainly revealed in the Old Testament and the Church then held without any contradiction even from the persecutors of Christ themselves might well be past over in the Gospel and taken as supposed acknowledged things 3. The General Precepts to pray alway with all prayer in all places c. being expressed in the Gospel and the Light of Nature making particular application of them to Families what need there any more 4. This reason is apparent why Scripture speaketh of it no more expresly Before Christs time the Worship of God was less spiritual and more ceremonial than afterward it was And therefore you find ofter mention of Circumcision and sacrificing than of Prayer And yet Prayer was still supposed to concurr And after Christs time on earth most Christian families were disturbed by persecution and Christians sold up all and lived in Community And also the Scripture History was to describe to us the state of the Churches rather than of particular families Object 2. Christ himself did not use to pray with his family as appeareth by the Disciples asking Object 2. him to teach them to pray and by the silence of the Scripture in this point Therefore it is no duty to us Answ. 1. Scripture silence is no proof that Christ did not use it All things are not written which he did 2. His Teâ—ching them the Lords Prayer and their desire of a common Rule of Prayer might consist with his usual praying with them At least with his using to pray with them after that though at first he did not use it 3 But it is the Consequence that I principally deny 1. Because Christ did afterwards call his servants to many duties which he put them not on at first as Sacraments Discipline preaching frequenter Praying c.
and breed up children for the devil Their natural corruption is advantage enough to Satan to engage them to himself and use them for his service But when Parents shall also take the Devils part and teach their children by precepts or example how to serve him and shall estrange them from God and a holy life and fill their minds with false conceits and prejudice against the means of their salvation as if they had sold their children to the Devil no wonder then if they have a black posterity that are trained up to be heirs of Hell He that will train up children for God must begin betimes before sensitive objects take too deep possession of their hearts and custom increase the pravity of their nature Original sin is like the arched Indian Fig-tree whose branches turning downwards and taking root do all become as trees themselves The acts which proceed from this habitual viciousness do turn again into vicious habits And thus sinful nature doth by its fruits increase it self And when other things consume themselves by breeding all that sin breedeth is added to it self and its breeding is its feeding and every act doth confirm the habit And therefore no means in all the world doth more effectually tend to the happiness of souls than wise and holy education This dealeth with sin before it hath taken the deepest root and boweth nature while it 's but a twig It preventeth the increase of natural pravity and keepeth out those deceits corrupt opinions and carnal fantasies and lusts which else would be serviceable to sin and Satan ever after It delivereth up the heart to Christ betime or at least doth bring him a Disciple to his School to learn the way to life eternal and to spend those years in acquainting himself with the ways of God which others spend in growing worse and in learning that which must be again unlearned and in fortifying Satans garrison in their hearts and defending it against Christ and his saving grace But of this more anon § 5. Motive 5. A holy well-governed family is the preparative to a holy and well-governed Church If Masters of families did their parts and sent such polished materials to the Churches as they ought to Motive 5 do the work and life of the Pastors of the Church would be unspeakably more easie and delightful It would do one good to Preach to such an auditory and to Catechise them and instruct them and examine them and watch over them who are prepared by a wise and holy education and understand and love the doctrine which they hear To lay such polished stones in the building is an easie and delightful work How teachable and tractable will such be And how prosperously will the labours of their Pastors be laid out upon them And how comely and beautiful the Churches be which are composed of such persons And how pure and comfortable will their communion be But if the Churches be sties of unclean beasts if they are made up of ignorant and ungodly persons that savour nothing but the things of the flesh and use to worship they know not what we may thank ill-governed families for all this It is long of them that Ministers preach as to idiots or barbarians that cannot understand them and that they must be always feeding their auditors with milk and teaching them the principles and Catechizing them in the Church which should have been done at home Yea it is long of them that there are so many Wolves and Swine among the Sheep of Christ and that holy things are administred to the enemies of holiness and the godly live in communion with the haters of God and Godliness and that the Christian Religion is dishonoured before the heathen world by the worse-than-heathenish lives of the Professors and the pollutions of the Churches do hinder the conversion of the unbelieving world whilest they that can judge of our Religion no way but by the people that profess it do judge of it by the lives of them that are in heart the enemies of it when the haters of Christianity and Godliness are the Christians by whose conversations the Infidel world must judge of Christianity you may easily conjecture what judgement they are like to make Thus Pastors are discouraged the Churches defiled Religion disgraced and Infidels hardned through the impious disorder and negligence of families What Universities were we like to have if all the Grammar-Schools should neglect their duties and send up their scholars untaught as they received them and if all Tutors must teach their pupils first to spell and read Even such Churches we are like to have when every Pastor must first do the work which all the Masters of families should have done and the part of many score or hundreds or thousands must be performed by one § 6. Motive 6. Well-governed Families tend to make a happy State and Commonwealth A good Motive 6. education is the first and greatest work to make good Magistrates and good Subjects because it tends to make good men Though a good man may be a bad Magistrate yet a bad man cannot be a very good Magistrate The ignorance or worldliness or sensuality or enmity to godliness which grew up with them in their youth will shew it self in all the places and relations that ever they shall come into When an ungodly family hath once confirmed them in wickedness they will do wickedly in every state of life when a perfidious Parent hath betrayed his Children into the power and service of the Devil they will serve him in all relations and conditions This is the School from whence come all the injustice and cruelties and persecutions and impieties of Magistrates and all the murmurings and rebellions of subjects This is the soil and seminary where the seed of the Devil is first sown and where he nurseth up the plants of Covetousness and Pride and Ambition and Revenge Malignity and Sensuality till he transplant them for his service into several Offices in Church and State and into all places of inferiority where they may disperse their venome and resist all that is good and contend for the interest of the flesh and Hell against the interest of the Spirit and of Christ. But O what a blessing to the world would they be that shall come prepared by a holy education to places of Government and Subjection And how happy is that Land that is ruled by such superiours and consisteth of such prepared subjects as have first learnt to be subject to God and to their Parents § 7. Motive 7. If the Governours of Families did faithfully perform their duties it would be a Motive 7. great supply as to any defects in the Pastors part and a singular means to propagate and preserve Religion in times of publick negligence or persecution Therefore Christian Families are called Churches because they consist of holy persons that worship God and learn and love and obey his word If you lived among
first care should be to know and perform the Duties of our Relations and please God in them and then look for his blessing by way of encourageing-reward Study and do your parts and God will certainly do his § 2. Direct 1. The first Duty of Husbands is to Love their Wives and Wives their Husbands Direct 1. with a true entire Conjugal Love Ephes. 5. 25 28 29 33. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it So ought men to love their Wives as their own Gen 2. 24. Ephes. 5 25 28 29 33. bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no man ever yet â—ated his own flesh â—ut nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church Let every one of you in particular so love his Wife even as himself It is a Relation of Love that you have entered God hath made it your Duty for your mutual help and comfort that you may be as willing and ready to succour one another as the hand is to help the eye or other fellow-member and that your converse may be sweet and your burdens easie and your lives may be comfortable If Love be removed but for an hour between Husband and Wife they are so long as a bone out of joint There is no ease no order no work well done till they are restored and set in joint again Therefore be sure that Conjugal Love be constantly maintained § 3. The Sub-directions for maintaining Conjugal Love are such as these Direct 1. Choose one at Sub-directions â—o maintain Conjugal love first that is truly amiable especially in the vertues of the mind 2. Marry not till you are sure that you can Love entirely Be not drawn for sordid ends to joyn with one that you have but ordinary affections â—or 3. Be not too hasty but know before hand all the imperfections which may tempt you afterwards to loathing But if these duties have been sinfully neglected yet 4. Remember that Justice commandeth you to Love one that hath as it were forsaken all the world for you and is contented to be the companion of your labours and sufferings and be an equal sharer in all conditions with you and that must be your companion until death It is worse than barbarous inhumanity to entice such a one into a bond of Love and society with you and then to say You cannot Love her This was by perfidiousness to draw her into a spare to her undoing What comfort can she have in her converse with you and care and labour and necessary sufferings if you deny her Conjugal Love Especially if she deny not Love to you the inhumanity is the greater 5. Remember that Women are ordinarily affectionate passionate creatures and as they love much themselves so they expect much love from you And when you joyned your self to such a Nature you obliged your self to answerable duty And if Love cause not Love it is ungrateful and unjust contempt 6. Remember that you are under Gods command And to deny conjugal Love to your Wives is to deny a duty which God hath urgently imposed on you Obedience therefore should command your Love 7. Remember that you are Relatively as it were one flesh You have drawn her to forsake Father and Mother to cleave to you You are conjoyned for procreation of such children as must bear the image and nature of you both your possessions and interests are in a manner the same And therefore such nearness should command affection They that are as your selves should be most easily loved as your selves 8. Take more notice of the good that is in your Wives than of the evil Let not the observation of their faults make you forget or overlook their vertues Love is kindled by the sight of Love or Goodness 9. Make not infirmities to seem odious faults but excuse them as far as lawfully you may by considering the frailty of the Sex and of their tempers and considering also your own infirmities and how much your Wives must bear with you 10. Stir up that most in them into exercise which is best and stir not up that which is evil And then the good will most appear and the evil will be as buried and you will easilier maintain your love There is some uncleanness in the best on earth And if you will be daily stirring in the filth no wonder if you have the annoyance And for that you may thank your selves Draw out the fragrancy of that which is good and delectable in them and do not by your own imprudence or pievishness stir up the worst and then you shall find that even your faulty Wives will appear more amiable to you 11. Overcome them with Love and then whatever they are in themselves they will be Loving to you and consequently Lovely Love will cause Love as fire kindleth fire A good husband is the best means to make a good and loving Wife Make them not froward by your froward carriage and then say We cannot love them 12. Give them examples of amiableness in your selves set them the pattern of a prudent lowly loving meek self denying patient harmless holy heavenly life Try this a while and see whether it will not shame them from their faults and make them walk more amiably themselves § 4. Direct 2. Another Duty of Husbands and Wives is Cohabitation and where age prohibiteth Direct 2. not a sober and modest conjunction for procreation Avoiding lâ—sciviousness unseasonableness and whatever tendeth to corrupt the mind and make it vain and filthy and hinder it from holy employment And therefore Lust must not be cherished in the married but the mind be brought to a moderate chaste and sober frame and the Remedy must not be turned into an increase of the disease but used to extinguish it For if the mind be left to the power of Lust and only marriage trusted to for the cure with many it will be found an insufficient cure and Lust will rage still as it did before and will be so much the more desperate and your case the more miserable as your sin prevaileth against the remedy Yet marriage being appointed for a remedy against lust for the avoiding all unlawful congress the Apostle hath plainly described your duty 1 Cor. 7. 2 3 4 5. It is good for a man not to touch a woman Nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife Defraud you not one the other except it be with consent for a time that ye may give your selves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency Therefore those persons live contrary to the nature of
strait or penurious therefore she will dispose of it without his consent this is thievery disobedience and injustice Quest. But as the case standeth with us in England hath the Wife a joint propriety or not Quest. 1. Answ. Three wayes at least she may have a propriety 1. By a reserve of what was her own before which however some question it may in some cases be done in their agreement at marriage 2. By the Law of the Land 3. By the Husbands consent or donation What the Law of the Land saith in this case I leave to the Lawyers But it seemeth to me that his words at Marriage with all my worldly goods I thee endow do signifie his consent to make her a joynt-proprietor And his consent is sufficient to the collation of a title to that which was his own Unless any can prove that Law or custome doth otherwise expound the words as an empty formality and that at the contract this was or should be known to her to be the sense And the Laws allowing the wife the third part upon death or separation doth intimate a joynt-propriety before Quest. 2. If the Husband live upon unlawful gain as cheating stealing robbing by the high-way c. Quest. 2. is not the wife guilty as a joynt proprietor in retaining such ill-gotten goods if she know it And is she bound to accuse her Husband or to restore such goods Answ. Her duty is first to admonish her husband of his sin and danger and endeavour his repentance in the mean time disclaiming all consent and reception of the goods And if she cannot prevail for his Repentance Restitution and Reformation she hath a double duty to perform the one is to help them to their goods whom he hath injured and robbed by prudent and just means The other is to prevent his robbing of others for the time to come But how these must be done is the great difficulty 1. If she foresee or may do that either by her husbands displeasure or by the cruel revenge of the injured party the hurt of discovering the fraud or robbery will be greater than the good then I think that she is not bound to discover it But by some secret indirect way to help the owner to his own if it may be done without a greater hurt 2. To prevent his sin and other mens future suffering by him she seemeth to me to be bound to reveal her husbands sinful purposes to the Magistrate if she can no other way prevail with him to forbear My reasons are Because the keeping of Gods Law and the Law of the Land and the publick order and good and the preventing of our Neighbours hurt by Robbery or fraud and so the interest of honesty and right is of greater importance than any duty to her Husband or preservation of her own peace which seemeth to be against it But then I must suppose that she liveth under a Magistrate who will take but a just revenge For if she know the Laws and Magistrate to be so unjust as to punish a fault with death which deserveth it not she is not to tell such a Magistrate but to preserve her Neighbours safety by some other way of intimation If any one think that a Wife may in no case accuse a husband to the hazzard of his life or estate let them 1. Remember what God obliged Parents to do against the lives of incorrigible Children Deut. 21. 2. And that the honour of God and the lives of our Neighbours should be preferred before the life of one offender and their estates before his estate alone 3. And that the light of Reason telleth us that a Wife is to reveal a Treason against the King which is plotted by a Husband and therefore also the robbing of the Kings Treasury or deceiving him in any matter of great concernment And therefore in due proportion the Laws and common good and our Neighbours welfare are to be preserved by us though against the nearest relation Only all due tenderness of the life and reputation of the Husband is to be preserved in the manner of proceedings as far as will stand with the interest of justice and the common good Quest. 3. May the Wife go hear Sermons when the Husband forbiddeth her Quest. 3. Answ. There are some Sermons which must not be heard There are some Sermons which may be heard and must when no greater matter doth divert us And there are some Sermons which must be heard whoever shall forbid it Those which must not be heard are such as are Heretical ordinarily and such as are superfluous and at such times when greater duties call us another way Those which may be heard are either occasional Sermons or such Lectures as are neither of Necessity to our selves nor yet to the owning of God and his publick Worship One that liveth where there are daily or hourly Sermons may hear them as oft as suiteth with their condition and their other duties But in this case the Command of a Husband with the inconveniences that will follow disobeying him may make it a duty to forbear But that we do sometimes publickly owne Gods Worship and Church-Ordinances and receive Ministerial teaching for our Edification is of double necessity that we dâ—ny not God and that we betray not or desert not our own souls And this is especially necessary ordinarily on the Lords Dayes which are appointed for these necessary uses And here the Husband hath no power to forbid the Wife nor should she formally obey his prohibition But yet as affirmatives bind not ad semper and no duty is a duty at every season so it is possible that on the Lords Day it may extraordinarily become a duty to forbear Sermons or Sacraments or other publick Worship As when any greater duty calleth us away As to quench a fire and to save mens lives and to save our Countrey from an enemy in a time of War and to save our own lives if we knew the assembly would be assaulted or to preserve our liberty for greater service Christ â—et us to learn the meaning of this Lesson I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice In such a case also a mischief may be avoided even from a Husband by the omission of a duty at that time when it would be no duty for this is but a transposition of it But this is but an act of prudent self-preservation and not an act of formal obedience Quest. 4. If a Woman have a Husband so incorrigible in Vice as that by long tryal she findeth that Quest. 4. speaking against it maketh him worse and causeth him to abuse her is she bound to continue her disswasion or to fâ—rbear Answ. That is not here a duty which is not a means to do some good And that is no means which we know before hand is like iâ— not certain to do no good or to do more harm We must not by weariness laziness or â—ensoriousness take a case to
be but humane nature And that should have been foreseen before your choice And as it is no excuse to a drunkard to say I cannot leave my drink so it is none to an adulterer or hater of another to say I cannot love them For that is but to say I am so wicked that my heart or will is against my duty But the innocent parties case is harder though commonly both parties are faulty and therefore both are obliged to return to Love and not to separate But if hatred proceed not to adultery or murder or intollerable injuries you must remember that Marriage is not a Contract for years but for life and that it is possible that hatred may be cured how unlikely soever it may be And therefore you must do your duty and wait and pray and strive by Love and Goodness to recover Love and then stay to see what God will do For mistakes in your choice will not warrant a separation Quest. 18. What if a Woman have a Husband that will not suffer her to read the Scriptures nor go Quest. 18. to Gods Worship publick or private or that so beateth or abuseth her as that it cannot be expected that humane nature should be in such a case kept fit for any holy action or if a man have a Wife that will scold at him when he is praying or instructing his family and make it impossible to him to serve God with freedome or peace and comfort Answ. The Woman must at necessary seasons though not when she would both read the Scriptures and Worship God and suffer patiently what is inflicted on her Martyrdome may be as comfortably suffered from a Husband as from a Prince But yet if neither her own Love and duty and patience nor friends perswasion nor the Magistrates justice can free her from such inhumane cruelty as quite disableth her for her duty to God and man I see not but she may depart from such a Tyrant But the man hath more means to restrain his Wife from beating him or doing such intollerable things Either by the Magistrate or by denying her what else she might have or by his own violent restraining her as belongeth to a Conjugal Ruler and as circumstances shall direct a prudent man But yet in case that unsuitableness or sin be so great that after long tryal there is no likelihood of any other co-habitation but what will tend to their spiritual hurt and calamity it is their lesser sin to live asunder by mutual consent Quest. 19. May one part from a Husband or Wife that hath the Leprosie or that hath the French Quest. 19. Pox by their adulterous practices when the innocent persons life is endangered by it Answ. If it be an innocent persons disease the other must co-habite and tenderly cherish and comfort the diseased yea so as somewhat to hazard their own lives but not so as apparently to cast them away upon a danger not like to be avoided unless the others life or some greater good be like to be purchased by it But if it be the Pox of an Adulterer the innocent party is at liberty by the others adultery and the saving of their own lives doth add thereto But without Adultery the disease alone will not excuse them from co-habitation though it may from Congress Quest. 20. Who be they that may or may not marry again when they are parted Quest. 20. Answ. 1. They that are released by divorce upon the others Adultery Sodomy c. may marry again 2. The case of all the rest is harder They that part by consent to avoid mutual hurt may not marry again Nor the party that departeth for self-preservation or for the preservation of estate or children or comforts or for liberty of Worship as aforesaid Because it is but an intermission of Conjugal fruition and not a total dissolution of the Relation And the innocent party must wait to see whether there be any hope of a return Yea Christ seemeth to resolve it Matth. 5. 31 32. that he is an Adulterer that marrieth the innocent party that is put away because the other living in adultery their first contracted Relation seemeth to be still in being But Grotius and some others think that Christ meaneth this only of the man that over-hastily marrieth the innocent divorced Woman before it be seen whether he will repent and reassume her But how can that hold if the Husband after Adultery free her May it not therefore be meant that the Woman must stay unmarried in hope of his reconciliation till such time as his adultery with his next married Wife doth disoblige her But then it must be taken as a Law for Christians For the Jew that might have many Wives disobligeth not one by taking another A short desertion must be endured in hope But in case of a very long or total desertion or rejection if the injured party should have an untameable lust the case is difficult I think there are few but by just means may abstain But if there be any that cannot after all means without such trouble as overthroweth their peace and plainly hazardeth their continence I dare not say that Marriage in that case is unlawful to the innocent Quest. 1. IS it lawful to suffer or tollerate yea or contribute to the matter of known sin in a family ordinarily in Wife Child or Servant And consequently in any other Relations Answ. In this some lukewarm men are apt to run into the extream of Remissness and some unexperienced young men that never had families into the extream of censorious rigor as not knowing what they talk of 1. It is not Lawful either in Family Commonwealth Church or any where to allow of sin nor to tollerate it or leave it uncured when it is truly in our power to cure it 2. So that all the question is When it is or is not in our power Concerning which I shall answer by some instances I. It is not in our Power to do that which we are Naturally unable to do No Law of God bindeth us to Impossibilities And Natural Impotency here is found in these several cases 1. When we are overmatcht in strength when Wife Children or Servants are too strong for the Master of the house so that he cannot correct them nor remove them A King is not bound to punish rebellious or offending Subjects when they are too strong for him and he is unable either by their Numbers or other advantages If a Pastor censure an offendor and all the Church be against the censure he cannot procure it executed but must acquiesce in having done his part and leave their guilt upon themselves 2. When the thing to be done is an Impossibility at least Moral As to hinder all the persons of a Family Church or Kingdom from ever sinning It is not in their own power so far to reform themselves Much less in a Ruler so far to reform them Even as to our selves Perfection is
her discontent yet the case must be resolved by such considerations And a prudent man that knoweth what is like to be the consequent on both sides may and must accordingly determine it 4. But ordinarily the life health or preservation of so proud luxurious and passionate a woman is not worth the saving at so dear a rate as the wasting of a considerable estate which might be used to relieve a multitude of the poor and perhaps to save the lives of many that are worthier to live And 1. A mans duty to relieve the poor and provide for his family is so great 2. And the account that all men must give of the use of their Talents is so strict that it must be a great reason indeed that must allow him to give way to very great wastfulness And unless there be somewhat extraordinary in the case it were better deal with such a Woman as a Bedlam and if she will be mad to use her as the mad are used than for a steward of God to suffer the Devil to be served with his masters goods Lastly I must charge the Reader to remember that both these cases are very rare and it is but few Women that are so lyable to so great mischiefs which may not be prevented at cheaper rates And therefore that the Indulgence given in these decisions is nothing to the greater part of men nor is to be extended to ordinary Cases But commonly men every where sin by omission of a stricter Government of their families and by Eli's sinful indulgence and remisness And though a Wife must be Governed as a Wife and a Child as a Child yet all must be governed as well as servants And though it may be truly said that a man cannot hinder that sin which he cannot hinder but by sin or by contributing to a greater hurt yet it is to be concluded that every man is bound to hinder sin whenever he is able lawfully to hinder it And by the same measures Tolerations or not-hindering Errours and sins about Religion in Church and Common-wealth is to be judged of None must commit them or approve them nor forbear any duty of their own to cure them But that is not a duty which is destructive which would be a duty when it were a means of edifying CHAP. X. The Duties of Parents for their Children OF how great importance the wise and holy Education of Children is to the saving of their souls and the comfort of the Parents and the good of Church and State and the happiness of the World I have partly told you before but no man is able fully to express And how great that calamity is which the World is faln into through the neglect of that duty no heart can conceive But they that think what a case the Heathen Infidel and ungodly Nations are in and how rare true piety is grown and how many millions must lie in Hell for ever will know so much of this inhumane negligence as to abhor it § 1. Direct 1. Understand and lament the corrupted and miserable state of your Children which they Direct 1. have derived from you and thank fully accept the offers of a Saviour for your selves and them and â—bsolutely See my Treat for Infant Baptism resign and dedicate them to God in Christ in the sacred Covenant and solemnize this Dedication and Covenant by their Baptism And to this end understand the command of God for entring your Children solemnly into Covenant with him and the Covenant-mercies belonging to them thereupon Rom. 5. 12 16 17 18. Ephes. 2. 1 3. Gen. 17. 4 13 14. Deut. 29. 10 11 12. Rom. 11. 17 20. Joh. 3. 3 5. Mat. 19. 13 14. You cannot sincerely dedicate your selves to God but you must dedicate to him all that is yours and in your power and therefore your Children as far as they are in your power And as Nature hath taught you your Power and your duty to enter them in their infancy into any Covenant with man which is certainly for their good and if they refuse the conditions when they come to age they forfeir the benefit so nature teacheth you much more to oblige them to God for their far greater good in case he will admit them into Covenant with him And that he will admit them into his Covenant and that you ought to enter them into it is past doubt in the evidence which the Scripture giveth us that from Abrahams time till Christ it was so with all the Children of his people Nay no man can prove that before Abrahams Time or since God had ever a Church on Earth of which the Infants of his servants if they had any were not members dedicated in Covenant to God till of late times that a few began to scruple the lawfulness of this As it is a comfort to you if the King would bestow upon your Infant-Children who were tainted by their Fathers treason not only a full discharge from the blot of that offence but also the titles and estates of Lords though they understand none of this till they come to age so is it much more matter of comfort to you on their behalf that God in Christ will pardon their Original sin and take them as his Children and give them title to everlasting life which are the mercies of his Covenant § 2. Direct 2. As soon as they are capable teach them what a Covenant they are in and what are Direct 2. the benefits and what the conditions that their souls may gladly consent to it when they understand it and you may bring them seriously to renew their Covenant with God in their own persons But the whole order of Teaching both Children and Servants I shall give you after by it self and therefore shall here pass by all that except that which is to be done more by your familiar converse than by more solemn teaching § 3. Direct 3. Train them up in exact obedience to your selves and break them of their own Direct 3. wills To that end suffer them not to carry themselves unreverently or contemptuously towards you but to keep their distance For too much Familiarity breedeth contempt and emboldeneth to disobedience The common course of Parents is to please their Children so long by letting them have what they crave and what they will till their wills are so used to be fulfilled that they cannot endure to have them denyed and so can endure no Government because they endure no crossing of their wills To be Obedient is to renounce their own wills and be ruled by their Parents or Governours wills To use them therefore to have their own wills is to teach them disobedience and harden and use them to a kind of impossibility of obeying Tell them oft familiarly and lovingly of the excellency of obedience and how it pleaseth God and what need they have of Government and how unfit they are to govern themselves and how dangerous it is to Children
be used but as means and not all at once but sometimes one and sometimes another when the End is still the same and paâ—t Deliberation or choice so all those Graces which are but means must be used thus variously and with deliberation and choice when the Love of God and of eternal life must be the constant tenour and constitution of the mind as being the final grace which consisteth with the exercise of every other mediate grace Never take â—o with lip-labour or bodily exercise alone nor bâ—rren thoughts unless your Hearâ—â— be also employed in a course of duty and holy breathings after God or motion towards him or in the sincere internal part of the duty which you perform to men JUSTICE and LOVE are Graces which you must still exercise towards all that you have to deal with in the world LOVE is called the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. 10. because the LOVE of God and man is the soul of every outward duty and a cause that will bring forth these as its effects § 13. Direct 13. Keep up a high esteem of Time and be every day more careful that you lose Direct 13. none of your Time than you are that you lose none of your Gold or Silver And if vain recreations dressings feastings idle talk unprefâ—iable company or sleep be any of them Temptations to râ—â— yoâ— of any of your Time accordingly heighten your watchfulness and for in resolutions against them Be not more careful to escape Thieves and Robbers than to escape â—hat person or action or course of life that would rob you of any of your Time And for the Redeeming of Time especially see not only that you be never idle but also that you be doing the Greatest Good that you can do and prefer not a lâ—ss before a Greater § 14. Direct 14. Eat and drink with temperance and thankfulness for health and not for unprofitable Direct 14. pleasure For quantity most carefully avoid excess For many exâ—eed for one that taketh too little Never please your appetite in meat or drink when it tendeth to the detriment of your health Prov. 31. 4 6. It is not for Kings to drink Wine nor for Princes strong drink Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish and wine to those that be of heavy hearts Eccles. 10. 16. 17. Woe to thee O Land when thy King is a Child and thy Princes eat in the worning Blessed aâ—t thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobleâ— and thy Princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness Then must poorer men also take heed of in temperance and excess Let your dyet incline rather to the courser than the finer sort and to the cheaper than the costly sort and to sparing abstinence than to fulness I would advise Rich men especially to write in great letters on the walls of their Dining rooms or Parlours these two sentences Ezek. 16. 49. BEHOLD THIS WAS THE INIQUITY OF SODOM PRIDE FULNESS OF BREAD and ABUNDANCE OF IDLENESS WAS IN HER neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy Luk. 16. 19 25. There was a certain Rich man which was CLOATHED IN PURPLE and SILK and FARED SUMPTUOUSLY every day Son remember that thou in thy life time * receivedst thy good things Paul wept when See Dr. Hammaâ—d's Annotat he mentioned them whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things being enemies to the Cross Phil. 3. 18 19. O live not after the flesh lest ye die Rom. 8. 13. Gal. 6. 8. and 5. 21 23 24. § 15. Direct 15. If any temptation prevail against you and you fall into any sins besides common infirmities Direct 15. presently lament it and confess not only to God but to men when confession conduceth more to good than harm and rise by a true and through repentance immediatly without delay Spare not the flesh and dawb not over the breach and do not by excuses palliate the sore but speedily rise whatever it cost For it will certainly cost you more to go on or to remain impenitent And for your ordinary infirmities make not too light of them but confess them and daily strive against them and examine what strength you get against them and do not aggravate them by impenitence and contempt § 16. Direct 16. Every day look to the special duties of your several Relations whether you are Direct 16. Husbands Wives Parents Children Masters Servants Pastors People Magistrates Subjects remember that every Relation hath its special duty and its advantage for the doing of some good And that God requireth your faithfulness in these as well as in any other duty And that in these a mans sincerity or hypocrisie is usually more tryed than in any other parts of our lives § 17. Direct 17. In the evening return to the worshipping of God in the family and in secret as was Direct 17. directed for the morning And do all with seriousness as in the sight of God and in the sense of your necessities and make it your delight to receive instructions from the holy Scripture and praise God and call upon his name through Christ. § 18. Direct 18. If you have any extraordinary impediments one day to hinder you in your duty Direct 18. to God and man make it up by diligence the next And if you have any extraordinary helps make use of them and let them not overslip you As if it be a Lecture-day or a Funeral Sermon or you have opportunity of converse with men of extraordinary worth or if it be a day of humiliation or thanksgiving it may be expected that you gather a double measure of strength by such extraordinary helps § 19. Direct 19. Before you betake your selves to sleep it is ordinarily a safe and needful course Direct 19. to take a review of the Actions and Mercies of the past day that you may be specially thankful for all special mercies and humbled for your sins and may renew your repentance and resolutions for obedience and may examine your selves whether your souls grow better or worse and whether sin go down and grace increase and whether you are any better prepared for sufferings and death But yet waste not too much time in the ordinary accounts of your life as those that neglect their duty while they are examining themselves how they perform it and perplexing themselves with the long perusal of their ordinary infirmities But by a general yet sincere repentance bewail your unavoidable daily failings and have recourse to Christ for a daily pardon and renewed grace And in case of extraordinary sins or mercies be sure to be extraordinarily humbled or thankful Some think it best to keep a daily Catalogue or Diurnal of their sins and mercies If you do so be not too particular in the enumeration of those that are the matter of every dayes return For it
in the sense of your natural sin and misery to stir up the lively sense of the wonderful Love of God and our Redeemer and to spend all the day in the special exercises of Faith and Love And seeing it is the Christian weekly festival or day of Thanksgiving for the greatest mercy in the world spend it as a day of Thanksgiving should be spent especially in Ioyful Praises of our Lord and let the huâ—bling and instructing exercisâ—s of the day he all subordinate to these laudatory exercises I know that much time must be spent in teaching and warning the ignorant and ungodly because their poverty and labours hinder them from other such opportunities and we must speak to them then or not at all But if it were not for their meer necessity and if we could as well speak to them other dayes of the Week the Churches should spend all the Lords Day in such praises and thanksgivings as are suitable to the ends of the institution But seeing that cannot be expected methinks it is desirable that the antient custome of the Churches were more imitated and the morning Sermon being fuited to the state of the more ignorant and unconverted that the rest of the day were spent in the exercises of Thanksgiving to the Joy and encouragement of believers and in doctrine suited to their state And yet I must add that a skilfull Preacher will do both together and so declare the Love and Grace of our Redeemer as by a meet application may both draw in the ungodly and comfort those that are already sanctified and raise their hearts in Praise to God § 4. Direct 4. Remember that the Lords day is appointed specially for publick worship and personal Direct 4. Communion of the Churches therein see therefore that you spend as much of the day as you can in this publick worship and Church-communion especially in the celebration of that Sacrament which is appointed for the memorial of the death of Christ untill his coming 1 Cor. 11. 25 26. This Sacrament in the Primitive Church was celebrated every Lords day yea and ofter even ordinarily on every other day of the week when the Churches assembled for Communion And it might be so now without any hinderance to Preaching or Prayer if all things were ordered as they should be For those Prayers and instructions and exhortations which are most suited to this Eucharistical action would be the most suitable Prayers and Sermons for the Church on the Lords dayes In the mean time sâ—e that so much of the day as is spent in Church-communion and publick worship be accordingly improved by you and be not at that time about your secret or family services but take only those hours for such private duties in which the Church is not assembled And remember how much the Love of Saints is to be exercised in this Communion and therefore labour to keep alive that Love without which no man can celebrate the Lords day according to the end of the institution § 5. Direct 5. Understand how great a mercy it is that you have leave thus to wait upon God for the receiving and exercise of grace and to cast off the distracting thoughts and businesses of the world and Direct 5. what an opportunity is put into your hand to get more in one day than this world can affâ—rd you all your lives And therefore come with gladness as to the receiving of so great a mercy and with desire after it and with hope to speed and not with unwillingness as to an unpleasant task as carnal hearts that Love not God or his Grace or Service and are aweary of all they do and glâ—d when it is done as the Ox that is unyoaked Isa. 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a Delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own waies nor finding thine own pleasuâ—e nor speaking thine own words then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord The affection that you have to the Lords day much sheweth the temper of the heart A holy person is glad when it cometh as loving it for the holy exercises of the day A wicked carnal heart is glad of it only for his carnal ease but weary of the spiritual duties § 6. Direct 6. Avoid both the extreams of Prophaneness and Superstition in the point of your external rest And to that end Observe 1. That the work is not for the day but the day for the holy Direct 6. work As Christ saith Mark 2. 27. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath It is appointed for our good and not for our hurt 2. The outward rest is not appointed for it self but as a means to the freedom of the mind for inward and spiritual employments And therefore all those outward and common labours and discourses are unlawful which any way distract the mind and hinder either our outward or inward attendance upon God and our edification 3. And whatever it was to the Jews no common words or actions are unlawful which are no hinderance to this communion and worship and spiritual edification 4. Yea those things that are necessary to the support of nature and the saving of the Life or health or estate and goods of our selves or our neighbours are needful duties on that day Not all those works which are truly charitable for it may be a work of mercy to build Hospitals or make Garments for the poor or Till their ground but such works of mercy as cannot be put off to another day and such as hinder not the duties of the day 5. The same word or action on the Lords day which is unlawful to one man may be lawful to another as being no hinderance yea a duty to him As Christ saith The Priests in the Temple break or prophane the Sabbath that is the outward rest but not the command and are blameless Matth. 12. 15. And the Cook may lawfully be employed in dressing meat when it were a sin in another to do it voluntarily without need 6. The Lords day being to be kept as a day of Thanksgiving the dressing of such meat as is fit for a day of Thanksgiving is not to be scrupled The primitive Christians in the Apostles time had their Love-feasts constantly with the Lords Supper or after on the Evening of the day And they could not feast without dressing meat 7. Yet that which is lawful in it self must be so done as consisteth with care and compassion of the souls of servants that are employed about it that they may â—e deprived of no more of their spiritual benefit than needs 8. Also that which is lawful must sometimes be forborn when it may by scandal tempt others that are loose or weak to do that which is unlawful not that the meer displeasing of the erroneous should put us out of the right
some that may inform you should hear them pray sometime that you may know their spirit and how they profit § 20. Direct 20. Put such Books into their hands as are meetest for them and engage them to Direct 20. read them when they are alone And ask them what they understand and remember of them And hold them not without necessity so hard to work as to allow them no time for reading by themselves But drive them on to work the harder that they may have some time when their work is done § 21. Direct 21. Cause them to teach one another when they are together Let their talk be profitable Direct 21. Let those that read best be reading sometime to the rest and instructing them and furthering their edification Their familiarity might make them very useful to one another § 22. Direct 22. Tire them not out with too much at once but give it them as they can receive it Direct 22. Narrow mouth'd bottles must not be filled as wider vessels § 23. Direct 23. Labour to make all sweet and pleasant to them and to that end sometime mix Direct 23. the reading of some profitable history as the Book of Martyrs and Clarkes Martyrologie and his Lives § 24. Direct 24. Lastly Entice them with kindnesses and rewards Be kind to your Children Direct 24. when they do well and be as liberal to your servants as your Condition will allow you For this maketh your persons acceptable first and then your instructions will be much more acceptable Nature teacheth them to Love those that Love them and do them good and to hearken willingly to those they love A small gift now and then might signifie much to the further benefit of their souls § 25. If any shall say that here is so much ado in all these directions as that few can follow Direct 25. them I intreat them to consult with Christ that dyed for them whether souls be not pretious and worth all this adoe And to consider how small a labour all this is in comparison of the everlasting end And to remember that all is Gain and pleasure and a delight to those that have holy hearts And to remember that the effects to the Church and Kingdom of such holy Government of families would quite over-compensate all the pains CHAP. XXIII Tit. 1. Directions for Prayer in General § 1. HE that handleth this Duty of PRAYER as it deserveth must make it the second The Stoicks say Orabit sapiens ac vâ—ta faciet bona à diis postulans Lacrt. it Zenone So that when Scneca saith Cur deos precibus fatigatis c. he only intendeth to reprove the slothful that think to have all done by prayer alone while they are idle and neglect the means Part in the Body of Divinity and allow it a larger and exacter Tractate than I here intend For I have before told you that as we have three Natural faculties An Understanding Will and Executive Power so these are qualified in the Godly with Faith Love and Obedience and have three particular Rules The Creed to shew us what we must Believe and in what Order The Lords Prayer to shew us what and in what order we must Desire and Love And the Decalogue to tell us what and in what order we must do Though yet these are so near kin to one another that the same actions in several respects belong to each of the Rules As the Commandments must be Believed and Loved as well as Obeyed and the matter of the Lords Prayer must be believed to be good and necessary as well as Loved and Desired and Belief and Love and Desire are commanded and are part of our obedience yet for all this they are not formally the same but divers And as we say that the Heart or Will is the man as being the Commanding faculty so Morally the Will the Love or Desire is the Christian and therefore the Rule of Desire or Prayer is a Principal part of true Religion The internal part of this Duty I partly touched before Tom. 1. Chap. 3. and the Church Part I told you why I past by Tom. 2. it being not left by the Government where we live to Private Ministers discussion save only to perswade men to obey what is established and commanded Therefore because I have omitted the later and but a little toucht upon the former I shall be the larger on it in this place to which for several Reasons I have reserved it § 2. Direct 1. See that you understand what Prayer is Even The expressing or acting of our Direct 1. Desires before another to move or some way procure him to grant them True Christian Prayer is The believing and serious expressing or acting of our lawful desires before God through Iesus our Mediator by the help of the Holy Spirit as a means to procure of him the grant of these desires Here note 1. That inward Desire is the soul of Prayer 2. The expressions or inward actings of them is as the Body of Prayer 3. To men it must be Desire so expressed as they may Plerumque hoc negotium plus gentibus quam sermonibus agitur August Epist. 121. understand it But to God the inward acting of Desires is a Prayer because he understandeth it 4. But it is not the acting of Desire simply in it self that is any Prayer For he may have Desires that offereth them not up to God with Heart or Voice But it is Desires as some way offered up to God or represented or acted towards him as a means to procure his blessing that is Prayer indeed § 3. Direct 2. See that you understand the Ends and Use of Prayer Some think that it is of Direct 2. no Use but only to move God to be willing of that which he was before unwilling of And therefore because that God is Immutable they think that Prayer is a Useless thing But Prayer is Useful 1. As an act of Obedience to Gods Command 2. As the performance of a condition without which he hath not promised us his Mercy and to which he hath promised it 3. As a Means to actuate and express and increase our own Humility Dependance Desire Trust and Hope in God and so to make us capable and fit for Mercy who else should be uncapable and unfit 4. And so though God be not changed by it in himself yet the Real change that is made by it on our selves doth infer a change in God by meer Relation or Extrinsical denomination he being one that is according to the tenour of his own established Law and Covenant engaged to disown or punish the Unbelieving Prayerless and Disobedient and after engaged to Own or pardon them that are Faithfully Desirâ—us and Obedient And so this is a Relative or at least a denominative change So that in Prayer Faith and Fervency are so far from being useless that they as much prevail for the thing
to express his Desires so far as they are good 3. A wicked mans wicked prayers are never accepted but a wicked mans prayers which are for good things from common grace are so far accepted as that they are some means conducing to his reformation and though his person be still unjustified and these Prayers sinful yet the total omission of them is a greater sin 4. A wicked man is bound at once to Repent and Pray Act. 8. 22. Isa. 55. 6 7. And when ever Gods bids him ask for grace he bids him desire grace And to bid him Pray is to bid him Repent and be of a better mind Therefore those that reprove Ministers for perswading wicked men to Pray reprove them for perswading them to Repentance and good desires But if they Pray without that Repentance which God and man exhort them to the sin is theirs But all their labour is not lost â— their desires fall short of saving sincerity They are under obligations to many duties which tend to bring them nearer Christ and which they may do without special saving grace § 12. Quest. 12. May a wicked man pray the Lords Prayer or be exhorted to use it Quest. 12. Answ. 1. The Lords Prayer in its full and proper sense must be spoken by a Penitent believing Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 10. 14. justified person For in the full sense no one else can call him Our Father though in a limited sense the wicked may And they cannot desire the Glory of God and the coming of his Kingdom nor the dâ—ing of his will on Earth as it is in Heaven and this sincerely without true grace especially those enemies of holiness that think it too much strictness to do Gods will on Earth ten thousand degrees lower than it is done in Heaven Nor can they put up one Petition of that Prayer sincerely according to the proper sense no not to pray for their Daily bread as a means of their support while they are doing the will of God and seeking first his Glory and his Kingdom But yet it 's possible for them to speak these words from such common desires as are not so bad as none at all § 13. Quest. 13. Is it Idolatry to Pray to Saints or Angels Or is it alwayes sinful Quest. 13. Answ. I love not to be too quarrelsome with other mens devotions But 1. I see not how 〈…〉 65 â— Isâ— 6â— 16. Psal 145. 18. 1 Kâ—â—e 8. 3â— Aâ—â— 1. 24. Rom. 8. 27. 10. 14. Psal. 62. 8. Mat. 4. 9. Praying to an Angel or a departed Saint can be excused from sin Because it supposeth them to be every where present or to be Omniscient and to know the heart yea to know at once the hearts of all men or else the speaker pretendeth to know when the Saint or Angel is present and heareth him and when not And because the Scripture doth nowhere signifie that God would have us pray to any such Saints or Angels but signifieth enough to satisfie us of the contrary 2. But all prayer to them is not Idolatry but some is and therefore we must distinguish if we will judge righteously 1. To pray to Saints or Angels as supposed Omnipresent Omniscient or Omnipotent is flâ—t Idolatry 2. To pray to them to Forgive us our sins against God or to Justifie or Sanctifie or Redeâ—m or save us from Hell or any thing which belongeth to God only to do is no better than Idolatry 3. But to pray to them only to do that which belongeth to the guardian or charitable office that is committed to them and to think that though they are not Omnipresent nor Omniscient â—ev 22. 8 9. â—o 2. 18. nor you know not whether they hear you at this time or not yet you will venture your prayers at uncertainty it being but so much labour lost this I take to be sinfully superstitious but not Idolatry 4. But to pray to living Saints or Sinners for that which belongeth to them to give is no sin at all § 14. Quest. 14. Is a man bound to pray ordinarily in his family Quest. 14. Answ. I have answered this affirmatively before and proved it One grain of grace would answer it better than arguments can do § 15. Quest. 15. Must the same man pray secretly that hath prayed in his family or with others Quest. 15. Answ. 1. Distinguish between those that were the speakers and those that were not and 2. Between those that have leisure from greater or more urgent duties and those that have not And so 1. Those that are free from the urgency of all other duties which at that time are greater should pray both in the family and in secret especially if they were not themselves the speakers usually they will have the more need of secret Prayer because their hearts in publick may easilier flag and much of their case may be omitted 2. But those that have more urgent greater duties mâ—â— take up a Mark that Isay but At 〈…〉 at that time with family prayer alone with secret ejaculations especially if they were the Speakers having there put up the same requests as they would do in secret § 16. Quest. 16. Is it best to keep set hours for prayer or to take the time which is fittest at present Quest. 16. Answ. Ordinarily set times will prove the fittest times and to leave the time undetermined and uncertain will put all out of order and multiply impediments and hinder duty But yet when extraordinary cases make the ordinary time unfit a fitter time must be taken § 17. Quest. 17. Is it lawful to joyn in family or Church prayers with ungodly men Quest. 17. Answ. I joyn both together because the cases little differ For the Pastor hath the Government of the people in Church-worship as the Master of the family hath in family-worship You may choose at first whether you will be a member of the Church or family if you were not born to it as your priviledge But when you are a member of either you must be Governed as members And to the case 1. You must distinguish between Professed wicked men and those that sin against their profession 2. And between a family or Church that is totally wicked and that which is mixt of good and bad 3. And between those wicked men whose presence is your sin because you have power to remove them and those whose presence is not your sin nor the matter in your power 4. And between one that may yet choose of what family he will be and one that may not And so I answer 1. If it be the fault of the Master of the family or the Pastors of the Church that such wicked men are there and not cast out then it is their sin to joyn with them because it is their duty to remove them But that is not the case of the fellow-servants or people that have no power 2. If that wicked men profess
seduced to think all proper Communion of Churches lyeth in that Sacrament and to be more prophanely bold in abusing many other parts of worship 5. There are better means by Teaching and Discipline to keep the Sacrament from contempt than the omitting or displacing of it 6. Every Lords Day is no ofter then Christians need it 7. The frequency will teach them to Live prepared and not only to make much ado once a Moneth or Quarter when the same work is neglected all the year beside Even as one that liveth in continual expectation of death will live in continual preparation when he that expecteth it but in some grievous sickness will then be frightned into some seeming preparations which are not the habit of his soul but laid by again when the disease is over 2. But yet I must add that in some undisciplin'd Churches and upon some occasions it may be longer omitted or seldomer used No duty is a duty at all times And therefore extraordinary cases may raise such impediments as may hinder us a long time from this and many other priviledges But the ordinary faultiness of our imperfect hearts that are apt to grow customary and dull is no good reason why it should be seldome Any more than why other special duties of Worship and Church-communion should be seldome Read well the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians and you will find that they were then as bad as the true Christians â—â—e now and that even in this Sacrament they were very culpable and yet Paul seeketh not to cure them by their seldomer communicating § 21. Quest. 3. Are all the members of the visible Church to be admitted to this Sacrament or Quest. 3. communicate Answ. All are not to seek it or to take it because many may know their own unfitness when the Church or Pastors know it not But all that come and seek it are to be admitted by the Pastors except such Children Ideots ignorant persons or Hereticks as know not what they are to receive and do and such as are notoriously wicked or scandalous and have not manifested their repentance But then it is presupposed that none should be numbered with the adult members of the Church but those that have personally owned their Baptismal Covenant by a Credible Profession of true Christianity § 22. Quest. 4. May a man that hath knowledge and civility and common gifts come and Quest. 4. take this Sacrament if he know that he is yet void of true Repentance and other saving Grace Answ. No For he then knoweth himself to be one that is uncapable of it in his present state § 23. Quest. 5. May an ungodly man receive this Sacrament who knoweth not himself to be Quest. 5. ungodly Answ. No For he ought to know it and his sinful ignorance of his own condition will not make his sin to be his duty nor excuse his other faults before God § 24. Quest. 6. Must a sincere Christian receive that is uncertain of his sincerity and in continual Quest. 6. doubting Answ. Two preparations are necessary to this Sacrament The general preparation which is a state of grace and this the doubting Christian hath And the particular preparation which consisteth in his present actual fitness And all the question is of this And to know this you must further distinguish between Immediate duty and more Remote and between the degrees of doubtfulness in Christians 1. The nearest immediate duty of the doubting Christian is to use the means to have his doubts resolved till he know his case and then his next duty is to receive the Sacrament And both these still remain his duty to be performed in this order And if he say I cannot be resolved when I have done my best yet certainly it is some sin of his own that keepeth him in the dark and hindereth his assurance and therefore Duty ceaseth not to be duty the Law of Christ still obligeth him both to get assurance and to receive and the want both of the knowledge of his state and of Receiving the Sacrament are his continual sin if he lye in it never so long through these scruples though it be an infirmity that God will not condemn him for For he is supposed to be in a state of grace But you will say What is still he cannot be resolved whether he have true faith and Repentance or not What should he do while he is in doubt I answer It is one thing to ask what is his duty in this case and another thing to ask Which is the smaller or less dangerous sin Still his duty is both to get the knowledge of his heart and to communicate But while he sinneth through infirmity in failing of the first were he better also omit the other or not To be well resolved of that you must discern 1. Whether his judgement of himself do rather incline to think and hope that he is sincere in his repentance and faith or that he is not 2. And whether the consequents are like to be good or bad to him If his hopes that he is sincere be as great or greater than his fears of the contrary then there is no such ill consequent to be feared as may hinder his communicating but it is his best way to do it and wait on God in the use of his Ordinance But if the perswasion of his gracelesness be greater than the hopes of his sincerity then he must observe how he is like to be affected if he do communicate If he find that it is like to clear up his mind and increase his hopes by the actuating of his grace he is yet best to go But if he find that his heart is like to be overwhelmed with horror and sunk into despair by running into the supposed guilt of unworthy Receiving then it will be worse to do it than to omit it Many such fearful Christians I have known that are fain many years to absent themselves from the Sacrament because if they should receive it while they are perswaded of their utter unworthiness they would be swallowed up of desperation and think that they had taken their own damnation As the twenty fifth Article of the Church of England saith the unworthy receivers do So that the chief sin of such a Doubting Receiver is not that he receiveth though he doubt for doubting will not excuse us for the sinful omission of a duty no more of this than of Prayer or Thanksgiving But only Prudence requireth such a one to forbear that which through his own distemper would be a means of his despair and ruine As that Physick or food how good soever is not to be taken which would kill the taker Gods Ordinances are not appointed for our destruction but for our edification and so must be used as tendeth thereunto Yet to those Christians who are in this case and dare not communicate I must put this Question How dare you so long refuse it He that
him Levit. 19. 17. but tell him his faults as Christ hath directed you Matth. 18. 15 16 17. and do your parts to promote Christs discipline and keep pure the Church See 1 Cor. 5. throughout § 37. Direct 6. When you come to the holy Communion let not the over-scrupulous regard of the person of Direct 6. the Minister or the company or the imperfections of the ministration disturb your meditations nor call away your minds from the high and serious employment of the day Hypocrites who place their Religion in bodily exercises have taught many weak Christians to take up unnecessary scruples and to turn their eye and observation too much to things without them Quest. But should we have no regard to the due celebration of these sacred mysteries and to the Minister and Communicants and manner of administration Answ. Yes You should have so much regard to them 1. As to see that nothing be amiss through your default which is in your power to amend 2. And that you joyn not in the committing of any known sin But 1. Take not every sin of another for your sin and think not that you are guilty of that in others which you cannot amend or that you must forsake the Church and Worship of God for these corruptions which you are not guilty of or deny your own mercies because others usurp them or abuse them 2. If you suspect any thing imposed upon you to be sinful to you try it before you come thither and leave not your minds open to disturbance when they should be wholly employed with Christ. § 38. Quest. 1. May we lawfully receive this Sacrament from an ungodly and unworthy Minister Quest. 1. Answ. Whoever you may lawfully commit the guidance of your souls to as your Pastor you may lawfully receive the Sacrament from yea and in some cases from some others For in case you come May we receive from an unworthy Minister into a Church that you are no member of you may lawfully joyn in communion with that Church for that present as a stranger though they have a Pastor so faulty as you might not lawfully commit the ordinary conduct of your soul to For it is their fault and not yours that they chose no better and in some cases such a fault as will not warrant you to avoid communion with them But you may not Receive if you know it from a Heretick that teacheth any error against the Essence of Christianity 2. Nor from a man so utterly ignorant of the Christian faith or duty or so utterly unable to Teach it to others as to be notoriously uncapable of the Ministry 3. Nor from a man professedly ungodly or that setteth himself to preach down Godliness it self These you must never own as Ministers of Christ that are utterly uncapable of it But see that you take none for such that are not such And there are three sorts more which you may not receive from when you have your choice nor take them for your Pastors but in case of Necessity imposed on you by others it is lawful and your duty And that is 1. Usurpers that make themselves your Pastors without a lawful Call and perhaps do forcibly thrust out the Lawful Pastors of the Church 2. Weak ignorant cold and lifeless Preachers that are tolerable in case of necessity but not to be compared with worthier men 3. Ministers of scandalous vicious lives It is a sin in you to preferr any one of these before a better and to choose them when you have your choice But it is a sin on the other side if you rather submit not to one of these than be quite without and have none at all You own not their faults in such a case by submitting to their Ministry § 29. Quest. 2. May we communicate with unworthy persons or in an undisciplined Church Quest. 2. Answ. You must here distinguish if you will not err and that 1. Between persons so unworthy as Gildas ae excid Britt speaketh thus to the better sort of Pastors then Quis perosuâ— est consilium maâ—â—guantâ—um cum impiis non sedit Quis eorum salutari in arca hoc est inunc Ecclesia ullum Deo adversantium ut Noe diluvii tempore non admisiâ— ut perspicue monstraretur non nisi innoxios vel poenitentes egregios in dominica domo esse debere to be no-Christians and those that are culpable scandalous Christians 2. Between a few members and the whole society or the denominating part 3. Between sin professed and owned and sin disowned by a seeming penitence 4. And between a Case of Liberty when I have my choice of a Better society and a Case of Necessity when I must communicate with the worser society or with none And so I answer 1. You ought not to communicate at all in this Sacrament with a society that professeth not Christianity if the whole body or denominating part be such that is 1. With such as never made profession of Christianity at all 2. Or have Apostatized from it 3. Or that openly own any Heresie inconsistent with the Essential Faith or Duty of a Christian. 4. Or that are notoriously ignorant what Christianity is 2. It is the duty of the Pastors and Governours of the Church to keep away notorious scandalous offendors till they shew Repentance and the peoples duty to assist them by private reproof and informing the Church when there is cause Therefore if it be through the neglect of your own duty that the Church is corrupted and undisciplined the sin is yours whether you receive with them or not 3. If you rather choose a corrupted undisciplined Church to communicate with when you have your choice of a better caeteris paribus it is your fault But on the contrary It is not your sin but your duty to communicate with that Church which hath a true Pastor and where the denominating part of the members are capable of Church-communion though there may some Infidels or Heathens or uncapable persons violently intrude or scandalous persons are admitted through the neglect of Discipline in case you have not your choice to hold personal communion with a better Church and in case also you be not guilty of the corruption but by seasonable and modest professing your dissent do clear your self of the guilt of such intrusion and corruption For here the Reasons and Ends of a lawful separation are removed Because it tendeth not to Gods honour or their reformation or your benefit For all these are more crossed by holding communion with no Church than with such a corrupted Church And this is to be preferred before none as much as a better before this § 40. Quest. 3. But what if I cannot communicate unless I conform to an imposed gesture as kneeling Quest. 3. or sitting Answ. 1. For sitting or standing no doubt it is lawful in it self For else authority were not to be obeyed if they should command it and else
among them and defile them 7. It is the duty of the several members of the flock if a Brother trespass against them to tell him his faults between them and him and if he hear not to take two or three and if he hear not them to tell the Church 8. It is the Pastors duty to admonish the unruly and call them to Repentance and pray for their Conversion 9. And it is the Pastors duty to declare the obstinately impenitent uncapable of Communion with the Church â—nd to charge him to forbear it and the Church to avoid him 10. It is the peoples duty to avoid such accordingly and have no familiarity with them that they may be ashamed and with such no not to eat 11. It is the Pastors duty to Absolve the Penitent declaring the remission of their sin and re-admitting to the Communion of the Saints 12. It is the peoples duty to re-admit the absolved to their Communion with joy and to take them as Brethren in the Lord. 13. Though every Pastor hath a General power to exercise his office in any part of the Church where he shall be truly called to it yet every Pastor hath a special obligation and consequently a special power to do it over the flock of which he hath received the special charge and oversight 14. The Lords day is separated by Gods appointment for the Churches ordinary holy Communion in Gods Worship under the conduct of these their Guides 15. And it is requisite that the several particular Churches do maintain as much agreement among themselves as their capacity will allow them and keep due Synods and correspondencies to that end Thus much of Gods Worship and Church-order and Government at least is of Divine institution and determined by Scripture and not left to the will or liberty of man Thus far the Form of Government at least is of Divine Right § 21. But on the contrary 1. About Doctrine and Worship the Scripture is no Law in any of these following cases but hath left them undetermined 1. There are many natural Truths which the Scripture meddleth not with As Physicks Metaphysicks Logick c. 2. Scripture telleth not a Minister what particular Text or Subject he shall Preach on this day or that 3. Nor what method his Text or Subject shall be opened and handled in 4. Nor what day of the week besides the Lords day he shall preach nor what hour on the Lords day he shall begin 5. Nor in what particular place the Church shall meet 6. Nor what particular sins we shall most confess nor what personal mercies we shall at this present time first ask nor for what we shall now most copiously give thanks For special occasions must determine all these 7. Nor what particular Chapter we shall now read nor what particular Psalm we shall now sing 8. Nor what particular translation of the Scripture or version of the Psalms we shall now use Nor into what Sections to distribute the Scripture as we do by Chapters and Verses Nor whether the Bible shall be Printed or Written or in what Characters or how bound 9. Nor just by what sign I shall express my consent to the truths or duties which I am called to express consent to besides the Sacraments and ordinary words 10. Nor whether I shall use written Notes to help my memory in Preaching or Preach without 11. Nor whether I shall use a writing or book in prayer or pray without 12. Nor whether I shall use the same words in preaching and prayer or various new expressions 13. Nor what utensils in holy administrations I shall use as a Temple or an ordinary house a Pulpit a font a Table cups cushions and many such which belong to the several parts of Worship 14. Nor in what particular gesture we shall preach or read or hear 15. Nor what particular garments Ministers or people shall wear in time of Worship 16. Nor what natural or artificial helps to our natural faculties Of which I have spoke more fully in my Disput. 5. of Church-Government p. 400. c. we shall use as medicaments for the Voice tunes musical instruments spectacles hour-glasses These and such like are undetermined in Scripture and are left to be determined by humane prudence not as men please but as means in order to the proper end according to the General Laws of Christ. For Scripture is a General Law for all such circumstances but not a particular Law So also for Order and Government Scripture hath not particularly determined 1. What individual persons shall be the Pastors of the Church 2. Or of just how many persons the Congregations shall consist 3. Or how the Pastors shall divide their work where there are many 4. Nor how many every Church shall have 5. Nor what particular people shall be a Pastors special charge 6. Nor what individual persons he shall Baptize receive to Communion admonish or absolve 7. Nor in what words most of these shall be expressed 8. Nor what number of Pastors shall meet in Synods for the communion and agreement of several Churches noâ— how oft nor at what time or place nor what particular order shall be among them in their consultations with many such like § 22. When you thus understand how far Scripture is a Law to you in the Worship of God it will be the greatest Direction to you to keep you both from disobeying God and your Superiours that you may neither pretend obedience to man for your disobedience to God nor pretend obedience to God against your due obedience to your Governours as those will do that think Scripture is a more particular Rule than ever Christ intended it And it will prevent abundance of unnecessary scruples contentions and divisions § 23. Direct 12. Observe well in Scripture the difference between Christs Universal Laws which Direct 12. bind all his Subjects in all times and places and those that are but local personal or alterable Laws What commands of God are not universal noâ— perpetual lest you think that you are bound to all that ever God bound any others to The Universal Laws and unalterable are those which result from the Foundation of the universal and unalierable nature of persons and things and those which God hath supernaturally revealed as suitable constantly to all The particular local or temporary Laws are those which either resulted from a particular or alterable nature of persons and things as mutually related as the Law of nature bound Adams Sons to marry their Sisters which bindeth others against it or those which God supernaturally enacted only for some particular people or person or for a time If you should mistake all the Iewish Laws for universal Laws as to persons or duration into how many errours would it lead you So also if you mistake every personal mandate sent by a Prophet or Apostle to a particular man as obliging all you would make a snare of it Every man is not to abstain
from Vineyards and Wine as the Rechabites were nor every man to go forth to Preach in the garb as Christ sent the twelve and seventy Disciples Nor every man to administer or receive the Lords Supper in an upper room of a house in the Evening with eleven or twelve only c. nor every one to carry Pauls Cloak and Parchments nor go up and down on the messages which some were sent on And here in precepts about Worship you must know what is the thing primarily intended in the command and what it is that is but a subservient means For many Laws are universal and immutable as to the matter primarily intended which are but local and temporary as to the matter subservient and secondarily intended As the command of saluting one another with a holy Kiss and using Love feasts in their sacred Communion primarily intended the exercising and expressing holy Love by such convenient signes as were then in use and suitable to those times But that it be done by those particular signes was subservient and a local alterable Law as appeareth 1. In that it is actually laid down by Gods allowance 2. In that in other places and times the same signes have not the same signification and aptitude to that use at all and therefore would be no such expression of Love or else have also some ill signification So it was the first way of Baptizing to dip them overhead which was fit in that hot Countrey which in colder Countreys it would not be as being destructive to health and more against modesty Therefore it is plain that is was but a local alterable Law The same is to be said of not-eating things strangled and blood which was occasioned by the offence of the Jews and other the like This is the case in almost all precepts about the external worshipping gestures The thing that God commandeth universally is a humble reverent adoration of him by the mind and body Now the adoration of the mind is still the same but the bodily expression altereth according to the custome of Countreys In most Countreys kneeling or prostration are the expressions of greatest veneration and submission In some few Countreys it is more signified by sitting with the face covered with their hands In some it is signified best by standing kneeling is ordinarily most fit because it is the most common sign of humble reverence but where it is not so it is not fit The same we must say of other gestures and of habits The Women among the Corinthians were not to go uncovered because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11. 10. and yet in some places where long hair or covering may have a contrary signification the case may be contrary The very fourth Commandment however it was a perpetual law as to the proportion of time yet was alterable as to the seventh day Those which I call Universal Laws some call Moral But that 's no term of distinction but signifieth the common nature of all Laws which are for the Governing of our Manners Some call them Natural Laws and the other Positive But the truth is There are some Laws of Nature which are Universal and some that are particular as they are the Result of Universal or Particular Nature And there are some Laws of Nature that are perpetual ☜ which are the result of an unaliered foundation and there are some that are Temporary when it is See the Advertisement before my Book against Infidelity some Temporary alterable thing in Nature from whence the duty doth result So there are some Positive Laws that are Universal or unalterable during this World and some that are Local particular or temporary only § 24. Direct 13. Remember that whatever duty you seem obliged to perform the obligation still Direct 13. supposeth that it is not naturally impossible to you and therefore you are bound to do it as well as you can See Mr. Trumans book of Natural and Moral Impotency And when other mens force or your natural disability hindereth you from doing it as you would you are not therefore disobliged from doing it at all but the total omission is wâ—rse than the defective performance of it as the defective performance is worse than doing it more perfectly And in such a case the Defects which are utterly involuntary are none of yours imputatively at all but his that hindereth you unless as some other sin might cause that As if I were in a Countrey where I could have liberty to Read and Pray but not to Preach or to Preach only once a moneth and no more It is my duty to do so much as I can do as being much better than nothing and not to forbear all because I cannot do all Obj. But you must forbear no part of your duty Answ. True but nothing is my duty which is Object 1. naturally impossible for me to do Either I can do it or I cannot If I can I must supposing it a duty in all other respects but if I cannot I am not bound to it Obj. But it is not suffering that must deter you for that is a carnal reason and your suffering Object 2. may do more good than your preaching Answ. Suffering is considerable either as a pain to the flesh or as an unresistible hindrance of the work of the Gospel As it is meerly a pain to the flesh I ought not to be deterred by it from the work of God But as it forcibly hindereth me from that work as by Imprisonment death cutting out the tongue c. I may lawfully foresee it and by lawful means avoid it when it is sincerely for the work of Christ and not for the saving of the flesh If Paul foresaw that the Preaching of one more Sermon at Damascus was like to hinder his preaching any more because the Jews watcht the gates day and night to kill him it was Pauls duty to be let down by the wall in a basket and to escape and preach elsewhere Act. 9. 25. And when the Christians could not safely meet publickly they met in secret as Ioh. 19. 38. Act. 12. 12 c. whether Pauls suffering at Damascus for Preaching one more Sermon or his preaching more elsewhere was to be chosen the interest of Christ and the Gospel must direct him to resolve That which is best for the Church is to be chosen § 25. Direct 14. Remember that no material duty is formally a duty at all times that which Direct 14. is a duty in its season is no duty out of season Affirmative precepts bind not to all times except only to habits or the secret intention of our ultimate end so far as is sufficient to animate and actuate the means while we are waking and have the use of reason Praying and Preaching that are very great duties may be so unseasonably performed as to be sins If forbearing a prayer or Sermon or Sacrament one day or month be rationally like to procure
many Christian Nations that it is lawful to break their Oathes and promises to their lawful Lords and Rulers or their Vows to God and to undertake by defending or owning this to justifie all those Nations that shall be guilty of this Perjury and perfidiousness O what a horrid crime is this what a shame even unto humane nature and how great a wrong to the Christian name § 10. Direct 9. Understand and remember these following Rules to acquaint you how fâ—r a vow is Direct 9. obligatory which I shall give you for the most part out of Dr. Sanderson because his decisions of these cases are now of best esteem § 11. Rule 1. The General Rule laid down Numb 30. 2 3. doth make a Vow as such to be obligatory Rule 1. though the party should have a secret equivocation or intent that though he speak the words to deceive another yet he will not oblige himself Such a reserve not to oblige himself hindereth not the obligation but proveth him a perfidious hypocrite D. Sanders pag. 23. Iuramentum omne ex suâ naturâ est obligatorium Ita ut si quis juret non intendens se obligare nihilominus tamen suscipiendo juramentum ipso facto obligetur that is If he so far understand what he doth as that his words may bear the definition of an oath or Vow Otherwise if he speak the words of an Oath in a strange language thinking they signifie something else or if he spake in his sleep or deliration or distraction it is no Oath and so not obligatory § 12. Rule 2. Those conditions are to be taken as intended in all Oathes whether exprest or no Ride 2. which the very nature of the thing doth necessarily imply unless any be so bruitish as to express the See Dr. Sanders p. 47. 197. contrary And these are all reducible to two heads 1. A natural and 2. A moral Impossibility 1. Whoever sweareth to do any thing or give any thing is supposed to mean If I live and if I be not disabled in my body faculties estate If God make it not impossible to be c. For no man can be supposed to mean I will do it whether God will or not and whether I live or not and whether I be able or not 2. Whoever Voweth or sweareth to do any thing must be understood to mean it If no change of Providence make it a sin or if I find not contrary to my present supposition that God forbiddeth it For no man that is a Christian is to be supposed to mean when he Voweth I will do this though God forbid it or though it prove to be a sin especially when men therefore Vow it because they take it to be a duty Now as that which is sinful is morally Impossible so there are divers ways by which a thing may appear or become sinful to us 1. When we find it forbidden directly in the Word of God which at first we understood not 2. When the change of things doth make that a sin which before was a duty of which may be given an hundred instances As when the change of a mans estate of his opportunities of his Liberty of his parts and abilities of objects of customes of the Laws of Civil Governours doth change the very matter of his duty Quest. § 13. Quest. But will every change disoblige us If not what change must it be seeing Casuists Answ. use to put it as a condition in general Rebus sic stantibus Answ. No it is not every change of Cicero dâ— Iâ—g lib. 1. Proveth that Right is founded in the Laâ— of Nature mâ—re than in mans Laws else saith â—e men may make evil good and good evil and make Adâ—lâ—â—ry Perjurâ— â— just b 〈…〉 g a Law for them things that disobligeth us from the bonds of a Vow For then Vows were of no considerable signification But 1. If the very Matter that was Vowed or about which the Vow was do cease Cessante materiâ cessat obligatio As if I promise to teach a pupil I am disobliged when he is dead If I promise to pay so much money in Gold and the King should â—orbid Gold and change his coyne I am not obliged to it 2. Cessante termino vel correlato cessat obligatio If the party dye to whom I am bound my personal obligation ceaseth And so the conjugal bond ceaseth at death and civil bonds by civil death 3. Cessante fine cessat obligatio If the use and end wholly cease my obligation which was only to that use and end ceaseth As if a Physicion promise to give Physick for nothing for the cure of the Plague to all the poor of the City when the Plague ceaseth his end and so his obligation ceaseth 4. Cessante personâ naturali relaâ—â cessat obligatio personalis When the natural person dyeth the obligation ceaseth I cannot be â—bliged to do that when I am dead which is proper to the living The subject of the obligation ceasing the Accidents must cease 5. Cessante relatione vel personâ civili cessat obligatio talis quâ tâ—lis The obligation which lay on a person in any Relation meerly as such doth cease when that Relation ceaseth A King is not bound to Govern or protect his subjects if they trayterously depose him or if he cast them off and take anothor Kingdom as when H. 3. of France left the Kingdom of Pâ—land nor are subjects bound to Allegiance and obedience to him that is not indeed their King A Judge or Justice or Constable or Tutor is no longer bound by his oath to do the offices of these Relations than he continueth in the Relation A divorced Wife is not bound by her conjugal vow to her Husband as before nor masters and servants when their relations cease nor a Souldier to his General by his military Sacrament when the Army is disbanded or he is cashiered or dismist Rule 3. § 14. Rule 3. No Vows or promises of our own can dissolve the obligation laid upon us by the Law of God For we have no co-ordinate much less superiour authority over our selves Our self-obligations are but for the furthering of our obedience Rule 4. § 15. Rule 4. Therefore no Vows can disoblige a man from any present duty nor justifie him in the committing of any sin Vows are to engage us to God and not against him If the matter which we vow be evil it is a sin to Vow it and a sin to do it upon pretence of a Vow Sin is no acceptable sacrifice to God § 16. Rule 5. If I vow that I will do some duty better I am not thereby disobliged from doing it at Rule 5. all when I am disabled from doing it better Suppose a Magistrate seeing much amiss in Church How often perjury hath ruined Christian Princes and States all History doth testifie The ruine of the Roman Empire by the Goths was
bound at all to keep my oath in his sense if my own sense was according to the common use of the words Prop. 7. Though I may not lye to a robber or tyrant that unjustly imposeth promises or oaths upon me yet if he put an oath or promise on me which is good and lawful in the proper usual sense of the words though bad in his sense which is contrary to the plain words whether I may take this to save my liberty or life I leave to the consideration of the judicious that which may be said against it is that Oaths must not be used indirectly and dissemblingly that which may be said for it is 1. That I have no obligation to fit my words to his personal private sense 2. That I deceive him not but only permit him to deceive himself as long as it is he and not I that misuseth the words 3. That I am to have chief respect to the publick sense and it is not his sense but mine that is the publick sense 4. That the saving of a mans life or liberty is cause enough for the taking a lawful oath Prop. 8. In case I misunderstood the imposed Oath through my own default I am bound to keep it in both senses my own and the imposers if both be consistent and lawful to be done For I am bound to it in my own sense because it was formally my oath or Vow which I intended And I am bound to it in his sense because I have in Justice made the thing his due As if the King command me to Vow that I will serve him in wars against the Turk And I misunderstand him as if he meant only to serve him in wars against the Turk And I misunderstand him as if he meant only to serve him with my purse And so I make a Vow with this intent to expend part of my estate to maintain that War whereas the true sense was that I should serve him with my Person In this case I see not but I am bound to both Indeed if it were a promise that obliged me only to the King then I am obliged no further and no longer than he will For he can remit his own right But if by a Vow I become obliged directly to God himself as a party then no man can remit his right and I must perform my Vow as made to him § 27. Rule 13. If any impose an ambiguous oath and refuse to explain it and require you only to Rule 13. swear in those words and leave you to your own sense Dr. Sanderson thinketh that an honest man Sand. p. 193. Caâ— 4â— should suspect some fraud in such an oath and not take it at all till all parties are agreed of the sense pag. 193 194. And I think he should not take it at all unless there be some other cause that maketh it his duty But if a Lawful Magistrate command it or the interest of the Church or State require it I see not but he may take it on condition that in the plain and proper sense of the words the oath be lawful and that he openly profess to take it only in that sense § 28. Rule 14. If any power should impose an Oath or Vow or promise which in the proper usual sense Rule 14. were downright impious or blaspheamous or sinful and yet bid me take it in what sense I pleased though I could take it in such a sense as might make it no real consent to the impiety yet it would be impious in the sense of the would and of such heynous consequence as will make it to be unlawful As if I must subscribe or say or swear those words There is no God or Scripture is untrue though it 's easie to use these or any words in a good sense if I may put what sense I will upon them yet the publick sense of them is Blaspheamy and I may not publickly blaspheam on pretence of a private right sence and intention § 29. Rule 15. If the Oath imposed be true in the strict and prâ—per sense yet if that sense be not Rule 15. vulgarly known nor sufficiently manifest to be the imposers sense and if the words are false or blaspheamous in the vulgar sense of those that I have to do with and that must observe and make use of my example I must not take such an oath without leave to make my sense as publick as my oath As if I were commanded to swear that God hath no fore-knowledge no knowledge no will c. It were easie to prove that these terms are spoken primarily of man and that they are attributed to God but analogically or metaphorically and that God hath no such humane acts formaliter but eminenter and that forma dat nomen and so that strictly it is not knowledge and will in the primary proper notion that God hath at all but something infinitely higher for which man hath no other name But though thus the words are true and justifiable in the strictest proper sense yet are they unlawful because they are blaspheamy in the vulgar sense And he that speaks to the Vulgar is supposed to speak with the Vulgar Unless he as publickly explain them § 30. Rule 16. If the supream power should impose an oath or promise which in the ordinary obvious Rule 16. sense were sinful and an inferiour officer would bid me take it in what sense I pleased I might not therefore take it because that such an officer hath no power to interpret it himself much less to allow me to take it in a private sense But if the Law giver that Imposeth it bid me take it in what sense I will and give me leave to make my sense as publick as my oath I may take it if the words be but dubious and not apparently false or sinful so there be no reason against it aliunde as from ill consequents c. § 31. Rule 17. If any man will say in such a case when he thinketh that the imposers sense is bad I Rule 17. take not the same Oath or Engagement which is imposed but another in the same words and I suppose not inferiour officers authorized to admit any interpretation but I look at them only as men that can actually execute or not execute the Laws upon me and so I take a Vow of my own according to my own sense though in their words as a means of my avoiding their severities As this is a collusion in a very high and tender business so that person if the publick sense of the oath be sinful must make his professed sense as publick as his Oath or promise It being no small thing to do that which in the publick sense is impious and so to be an example of perfidiousness to many § 32. Rule 18. Though an Oath imposed by an Usurper or by violence is not to be taken in formal obedience Rule 18. nor at all unless
taken upon a particular occasion must be generally or strictly interpreted Rule 44. unless there be special reasons for a restraint from the Matter End or other evidence As if you are afraid that your Son should marry such a Woman and therefore swear him not to marry without your Consent He is bound thereby neither to marry that Woman not any other Or if your servant haunt one particular Alehouse and you make him forswear All Houses in General he must avoid all other So Dr. Sanderson instanceth in the Oath of Supremacy p. 195. § 67. Rule 45. He that Voweth absolutely or implicitly to obey another in all things is bound to obey Rule 45. him in all lawful things where neither God nor other superiour or other person is injured unless the nature of the relation or the ends or reasons of the oath or something else infer a limitation as implyed § 68. Rule 46. Still distinguish between the falshood in the words as disagreeing to the Thing sworn and Rule 46. the falshood of them as disagreeing from the swearers mind The former is sometime excusable but the later never There are many other Questions about Oaths that belong more to the Chapter of Contracts and Justice between man and man and thither I refer them CHAP. VI. Directions to the People concerning their Internal and Private Duty to their Pastors and the improvement of their Ministerial Office and Guifts THe Peoples Internal and Private duty to their Pastors which I may treat of without an appearance of â—ncroachment upon the work of the Canons Rubricks and Diocesans I shall open to you in these Directions following § 1. Direct 1. Understand first the true Ground and Nature and Reasons of the Ministerial Direct 1. Office or else you will not understand the Grounds and Nature and Reasons of your duty to them The Diâ—â—â—â— 2. of Church-Government Ch. 1. And universal Coâ—coâ—d Nature and Works of the Ministerial Office I have so plâ—inly opened already that I shall referr you to it to avoid repetition Hâ—re are two sorts of Reasons to be given you 1. The Reasons of the necessity of the Ministerial work 2. Why certain persons must be separated to this work and it must not be left to all in common § 2. 1. The Necessity of the work it self appeareth in the very Nature of it and enumeration of the parts of it Two sorts of Ministers Christ hath made use of for his Church The first sâ—rt was for Of the differencâ— between fixed and uâ—fixed Ministers see my Disp. 2. 〈…〉 Church-Government and Ios. Acoâ—â—aâ— 5. â— 21. 22. dâ— Missionibus the Revelation of some New Law or Doctrine to be the Churches Rule of Faith or Life And these were to prove their authority and credibility by some Divine attestation which was especially by Miracles and so Moses revealed the Law to the Jews and Christ and the Apostles revealed the Gospel The second sort of Ministers are appointed to Guide the Church to salvation by opening and applying the Rule thus already sealed and delivered And these as they are to bring no new Revelations or Doctrines of faith or Rule of life so they need not bring any Miracle to prove their call or authority to the Church For they have no power to deliver any new Doctrine or Gospel to the Church but only that which is confirmed by Miracles already And it is impudency to demand that the same Gospel be proved by new Miracles by every Minister that shall expound or preach it That would make Miracles to be no Miracles § 3. The work of the ordinary Ministry such as the Priests and Teachers were under the Law The Work of the Ministry and ordinary Pastors and Teachers are under the Gospel being only to Gather and Govern the Churches their work lay in Explaining and Applying the Word of God and delivering his Sacraments and now containeth thâ—se particulars following 1. To Preach the Gospel for the Conversion Rom. 10. 7 14. Mar. 16. 15. of the unbelieving and ungodly world And that is done partly by expounding the words by a Translation into a tongue which the hearers or readers understand and partly by opening the sense Matth. 28. 19 20. and matter 2. In this they are not only Teachers but Messengers sent from God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to charge and command and intreat men in his Nâ—me to Repent and believe and be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 19 20 21. to God and in his Name to offer them a sâ—alâ—d pardon of all their sins and title to eternal life 3. Those that become the Disciples of Christ they are as his Stewards to receive into his Acts 26 17 18. Eph. 2. 19. house as fellow Citizens of the Saints and of the Houshold of God and as his Commissioned Officers Acts 2. 37 38 39 40. to solemnize by Baptism their enterance into the holy Covenant and to receive their engagement to God and to be the Messengers of Gods Engagement unto them and by Investiture to deliver them by that Sacrament the pardon of all their sin and their title by Adoption to â—ternal life As a house is delivered by the delivery of a Key or Land by a Twig and Turfe or Knighthood by a Sword or Garter c. 4. These Ministers are to gather these Converts into solemn Assemblies and ordered Churches Tit. 1. 7. 1 â—or 4. 1 2. Matth 28. 19 20. for their solemn worshipping of God and mutual edification communion and safe proceeding in their Christian course 5. They are to be the stated Teachers of the Assemblies by expounding and applying that Word which is fit to build them up 6. They are to be the Guides of the Congregation Acts 20. 32. 1 Cor. 3. 11 12. in publick Worship and to stand between them and Christ in things pertaining to God as subservient to Christ in his Priestly Office And so both for the people and also in their names to put Acts 14. 23. 2 Tim 2. 2. Acts 13. 2. 2. 41 42. 6. 2 Acts 20. 7 28. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Titus 1. 5. Acts 20 20 31. â—ol 1. 28. Eph 4 11 12. Mal. 2. 7. 1 Tim. 5. 17. up the publick Prayers and Praises of the Church to God 7. It is their duty to Administer to them as in the Name and stead of Christ his Body and Blood as broken and shed for them and so in the frequent renewals of the holy Covenants to subserve Christ especially in his Priestly Office to offer and deliver Christ and his benefits to them and to be their Agent in offering themselves to God 8. They are appointed to Oversâ—e and Govern the Church in the publick Ordering of the solemn Worship of God and in râ—buking any that are there disorderly and seeing that all things be done to edification 9. They are appointed as Teachers for every particular Member of the Church to have private
their schism to the height as far as arrogance can aspire they not only refuse communion with those from whom they separate but condemn them as no Pastors no Churches no Christians that are not subject to them in this their Usurpation And they that are but about the third or fourth part at most of the Christian world do condemn the Body of Christ to Hell even all the rest because they are not Subjects of the Pope § 25. Besides all this criminal odious Schism of Imposers or Separaters there is a degree of Schism or unjust Division which may be the infirmity of a good and peaceable person As if a humble tender Christian should mistakingly think it unlawful to do some action that is imposed upon all that will hold communion with that particular Church such as Paul speaketh of Rom. 14. if they had been imposed And if he suspecting his own understanding do use all means to know the truth and yet still continueth in his mistake If this Christian do forbear all reviling of his superiours and censuring those that differ from him and drawing others to his opinion but yet dare not joyn with the Church in that which he taketh to be a sin this is a sinful sort of withdrawing because it is upon mistake But yet it is but a pardonable infirmity consistent with integrity and the favour of God § 26. IV. In these cases following Separation is our duty and not a sin 1. The Churches separation What Separation is a duty from the Unbelieving world is a necessary duty For what is a Church but a society dedicated or sanctified to God by separation from the rest of the world 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive 1 Pet. 2. 5 7 9. Leg. Gâ—otâ—um de Imp. pag. 230 231. you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty The Church is a Holy people and therefore a separated people § 27. 2. If a Church apostatize and forsake the faith or if they turn notoriously Heretical denying openly any one Essential Article of the faith and this not only by an undiscerned consequence but directly in express terms or sense it is our duty to deny to hold communion with such Apostates or Hereticks For it is their separating from Christ that is the sinful separation and maketh it necessary to us to separate from them But this is no excuse to any Church or person that shall falsly accuse any other Church or person of Heresie because of some forced or disowned consequences of his Doctrine and then separate from them when they have thus injured them by their calumnies or censures § 28. We are not bound to own that as a Church which maketh not a visible Profession of faith and holiness that is If the Pastors and a sufficient number of the flock make not this Profession For as the Pastor and flock are the constituent parts of the Church politically considered so Profession of faith and holiness is the essential qualification of the members If either Pastors or people want this profession it is no Political Church But if the people profess true Religion and have no Pastors it is a community of believers or a Church unorganized and as such to be acknowledged § 29. 4. If any shall unlawfully constitute a new Political Church-form by making new constitutive Officers to be its Visible Head which Christ never appointed we are not to hold communion with the Church in its devised form or Polity though we may hold Communion with the members of it considered as Christians and members of the Universal Church Mark well that I do not say that every new devised Officer disobligeth us from such communion but such as I describe which I shall sullyer open § 30. Quest. May not men place new Officers in the Church and new forms of Government which Quest. Whether any form of Church-Government be of Divine appointment and whether man may appoint any other God never instituted or is there any form and Officers of Divine institution Answ. Though I answered this before I shall here briefly answer it again 1. There are some sorts of Officers that are essential to the Polity or Church-form and some that are only needful to the well-being of it and some that are only Accidental 2. There is a Church-form of Gods own institution and there is a superadded humane Polity or form There are two sort of Churches or Church-forms of Gods own institution The first is the Universal Church considered Politically as Headed by Jesus Christ This is so of Divine appointment as that it is an Article of our Creed Here if any man devise and superinduce another Head of the Universal Church which God never appointed though he pretend to hold his Soveraignty from Christ and under him it is Treason against the soveraignty of Christ as setting up an Universal Government or Soveraign in his Church without his authority and consent Thus the Pope is the Usurping Head of a Rebellion against Christ and in that sense by Protestants called Antichrist And he is guilty of the Rebellion that subscribeth to or owneth his Usurpation or sweareth to him as his Governour though he promise to obey him but in licitis honestis Because it is not lawful or honest to consent to a Usurpers Government If a Usurper should trayterously without the Kings consent proclaim himself Vice-King of Ireland or Scotland and falsly say that he hath the Kings Authority when the King disclaimeth him he that should voluntarily swear obedience to him in things lawful and honest doth voluntarily own his Usurpation and Treason And it s not the lawfulness and honesty of the matter which will warrant us to own the Usurpation of the Commander And Secondly There is another subordinate Church-form of Christs institution that is Leg. Grotium de Imp. p. 223. 226. Particular Churches consisting of Pastors and people conjoyned for personal Communion in Gods Worship These are to the Universal Church as particular Corporations are to a Kingdom even such Parts of it as have a distinct subordinate Polity of their own It is no City or Corporation if they have not their Mayors Bâ—ilists or other Chief Officers subject to the King as Governours of the people under him And it is no particular Church in a Political sense but only a Community if they have not their Pastors to be under Christ their spiritual Conductors in the matters of salvation as there is no School which is not constituted of Teacher and Schâ—lars That particular organized Political Churches are of Christs institution by his Spirit in the Apostles is undenyable Acts 14. 23. They ordained them Elders in every Church Tit. 1. 5. Ordain Elders in every City as I commanded thee Acts 20. 17. He sent to Ephesus and called the Elders
of the Church 28. Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God So 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. Heb. 13. 7 17 24 c. 1 Cor. 7. 23. If the whole Church be come together into one place c. Thus far it is no question but Church-forms and Government is of Divine appointment And man can no more alter this or set up such other without Gods consent than a subject can alter or make Corporations without the Kings consent 2. But besides these two sorts of Divine institution there are other allowable associations which some call Churches God hath required these particular Churches to hold such Communion as they are capable of for promoting the common Ends of Christianity And Prudence is left to determine of the Times and Places and manner of their Pastors Assemblies Councils and Correspondencies according to Gods general Rules If any will call these Councils or the Associations engaged for special correspondencies by the name of Churches I will not trouble any with a strife about the Name In this case so far as men have power to make that Association or Combination which they call a Church so also if they make Officers suited to its ends not encroaching upon the Churches or Officers of Christs own institution I am none of those that will contend against them Nor will this allow us to deny Communion with them 3. And in those Churches which Christ himself hath instituted there are Officers that make but for the Integrity and not for the Political Essence of the Church As Deacons and all Pastors or Presbyters more than One. For it is not essential to it to have any Deacons or many Pastors As to this sort of Officers Christ hath appointed them and it is not in mans power to alter his institution nor to set up any such like in co-ordination with these But yet if they should do so as long as the true Essentials of the Church remain I am not to deny communion with that Church so I own not this corruption 4. But there are also as circumstantial employments about Gods Worship so Officers to do those employments which men may lawfully institute As Clerks Church-wardens Door-keepers Ringers c. It is not the adding of these that is any sin By this time you may see plainly both how far Churches Officers and Church-Government is jure Divino and how far man may or may not add or alter and what I meant in my Proposition viz. That if men introduce a new Universal Head to the Church Catholick or a new Head to particular Churches instead of that of Christs institution this is in sensu Politico to make new species of Churches and destroy those that Christ hath instituted for the pars gubernans and pars gubernata are the essential Constituents of a Church And with such a Church as such in specie I must have no communion which is our case with the Papal Church though with the Material parts of that Church as members of Christ I may hold communion still § 30. 5. If particular members are guilty of obstinate impenitency in true Heresie or ungodliness or any scandalous crime the Church may and must remove such from her communion For it is the Communion of Saints And the offender is the Cause of this separation § 31. 6. If a whole Church be guilty of some notorious scandalous sin and refuse with obstinacy But not denying her to be a Church unless she cast off some essential part But so disowning her as in a Thess. 3. to Repent and Reform when admonished by neighbour Churches or if that Church do thus defend such a sin in any of her members so as openly to own it other Churches may refuse communion with her till she Repent and be Reformed Or if they see cause to hold communion with her in other respects yet in this they must have none § 32. 7. If any Church will admit none to her personal Communion but those that will take some false Oath or subscribe any untruth or tell a lye though that Church do think it to be true as the Trent Oath which their Priests all swear it is not lawful to do any such unlawful thing to obtain Where any Church retaining the purity of doctrine doth require the ownâ—ng of and conforming to any unlawful or suspected practice men may lawfully deny conformity to and communion with that Church in such things without incurring the guilt of Shism Mr. Stilliâ—â—fleet Ireâ—ic p. 11â— communion with that Church And he that refuseth in this case to commit this sin is no way guilty of the separation but is commendable for being true to God And though the case may be sad to be deprived of the liberty of publick Worship and the benefits of publick communion with that Church yet sin is worse and * 1 Sam. 15. 22. Prov. 15. 8. obedience is better than Sacrifice God will not be served with sin nor accept the Sacrifice of a disobedient fool Eccles. 5. 1 2. Nor must we lye to glorifie him nor do evil that good may come by it Just is the damnation of such servers of God Rom. 1. 7 8. All publick Worship is rather to be omitted than any one sin committed to enjoy it Though neither should be done where it is possible to do better It is not so unwise to think to feed a man with Poysons as to think to serve God acceptably by sin § 33. 8. If any one Church would ambitiously Usurp a Governing power over others as Rome doth over the world it is no unwarrantable separation to refuse the Government of that Usurping Church We may hold communion with them as Christians and yet refuse to be their subjects And therefore it is a proud and ignorant complaint of the Church of Rome that the Protestants separate from them as to Communion because they will not take them for their Governours § 34. 9. If any by violence will banish or cast out the true Bishops or Pastors of the Church and set up Usurpers in their stead as in the Arrians persecution it was commonly done it is no culpable separation but laudable and a duty for the people to own their Relation to their true Pastors and deny communion with the Usurpers as the people of the Eastern Churches did commonly refuse communion with the intruding Bishops even to the Death telling the Civil Rulers that they had Bishops of their own to whom they would adhere § 35. 10 If a true Church will obstinately deny her members the use of any one Ordinance of God as Preaching or Reading Scripture or Prayer or Praise or Discipline while it retaineth all the rest though we may not separate from this Church as no Church which yet in the case of total rejection of Prayer or Praise is very questionable at least yet if we have opportunity we must remove our local communion
to a more edifying Church that useth all the publick Ordinances of God unless the publick good forbid or some great impediment or contrary duty be our excuse § 36. 11. If a true Church will not cast out any impenitent notorious scandalous sinner though 2 John 10. 11. 2 Tim. 3. 5. Rom. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 11. I am not to separate from the Church yet I am bound to avoid private familiarity with such a person that he may be ashamed and that I partake not of his sin § 37. 12. As the Church hath diversity of members some more holy and some less and some of whole sincerity we have small hope some that are more honourable and some less some that walk Mat. 13. 41 30. Jer. 15. 19. 1 Cor. 12. 23 24. blamelesly and some that work iniquity So Ministers and private members are bound to difference between them accordingly and to honour and love some far above others whom yet we may not excommunicate And this is no sinful separation § 38. 13. If the Church that I live and communicate with do hold any tolerable error I may differ therein from the Church without a culpable separation Union with the Church may be continued with all the diversities before mentioned D. 3. § 10. § 39. 14. In case of persecution in one Church or City when the servants of Christ do flye to another having no special reason to forbid it this is no sinful separation Matth. 10. 23. § 40. 15. If the publick service of the Church require a Minister or a private Christian to remove to another Church if it be done deliberately and upon good advice it is no sinful separation § 41. 16. If a Lawful Prince or Magistrate command us to remove our habitation or command a Minister from one Church to another when it is not notoriously to the detriment of the common interest of Religion it is no sinful separation to obey the Magistrate § 42. 17. If a poor Christian that hath a due and tender care of his salvation do find that under one Minister his soul declineth and groweth dead and under another that is more sound and clear and lively he is much edified to a holy and heavenly frame and life and if hereupon preferring his salvation before all things he remove to that Church and Minister where he is most edified without unchurching the other by his censures this is no sinful separation but a preferring the One thing needful before all § 43. 18. If one part of the Church have leisure opportunity cause and earnest desires to meet ofter for the edifying of their souls and redeeming their time than the poorer labouring or careless and less zealous part will meet in any fit place under the oversight and conduct of their Pastors and not in opposition to the more publick full assemblies as they did Acts 12. 12. to pray for Peter at the house of Mary where many were gathered together praying and Acts 10. 1 c. this is no sinful separation § 44. 19. If a mans own outward affairs require him to remove his habitation from one City or Countrey to another and there be no greater matter to prohibite it he may lawfully remove his local communion from the Church that he before lived with to that which resideth in the place he goeth to For with distant Churches and Christians I can have none but Mental Communion or by distant means as writing messengers c. It is only with present Christians that I can have local personal communion § 45. 20. It is possible in some cases that a man may live long without local personal communion with any Christians or Church at all and yet not be guilty of sinful separation As the Kings Embassadour or Agent in a Land of Infidels or some Traveller Merchants Factors or such as go to convert the Infidels or those that are banished or imprisoned In all these twenty cases some kind of separation may be lawful § 46. 21. One more I may add which is when the Temples are so small and the Congregations so great that there is no room to hear and joyn in the publick Worship or when the Church is so excessively great as to be uncapable of the proper ends of the society in this case to divide or withdraw is no sinful separation When one Hive will not hold the Bees the swarm must seek themselves another without the injury of the rest By all this you may perceive that sinful separation is first in a censorious uncharitable mind condemning Churches Ministers and Worship causelesly as unfit for them to have communion with And Secondly it is in the personal separation which is made in pursuance of this censure But not in any local removal that is made on other lawful grounds § 47. Direct 4. Understand and consider well the Reasons why Christ so frequently and earnestly Direct 4. presseth Concord on his Church and why he so vehemently forbiddeth Divisions Observe how much the Scripture speaketh to this purpose and upon what weighty Reasons Here are four things distinctly to be represented to your serious consideration 1. How many plain and urgent are the Texts that speak for Unity and condemn Division 2. The great Benefits of Concord 3. And the mischiefs of Discord and Divisions in the Church 4. And the Aggravations of the sin § 48. I. A true Christian that hateth fornication drunkenness lying perjury because they are forbidden in the Word of God will hate Divisions also when he well observeth how frequently and vehemently they are forbidden and Concord highly commended and commanded John 17. 21 22 23. That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also See Rom. 14. throughout Rom. 15. 12. 5 6 7. may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be One even as we are One I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in One and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as Ephes. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. thou hast loved me Here you see that the Unity of the Saints must be a special means to convince the Infidel world of the truth of Christianity and to prove Gods special Love to his Church and 1 Pet. 3. 6. 1 Cor. 12. throughout Phil. 3. 15 16. Acts 2. 1 46. 4. 32. also to accomplish their own perfection 1 Cor. 1. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions or Schisms among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement For it hath been declared to me of you my brethren that there are contentions among you Rom. 12. 4 5. Psalm 133. 1 Cor. 8. 1
how contrary soever among themselves but they all pretended Gods authority and entitled him to their sin and called it his service and censured others as ungodly or less godly that would not do as bad as they St. Iames is put to confute them that thought this wisdom was from above and so did glory in their sin and lye against the truth when their wisdom was from beneath and no better than earthly sensual and deviliish For the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of mercy c. James 3. 17. § 78. 12. Church divisions are unlike to our Heavenly state and in some regard worse than the Kingdom of the Devil for he would not destroy it by dividing it against it selâ— Matth. 12. 26. O what a blessed harmony of united holy souls will there be in the Heavenly Ierusalem where we hope to dwell for ever There will be no discords envyings Sideings or contendings one being of this party and another of that but in the Unity of perfect Love that world of Spirits with joyful Eph. 4. 13 14 16. praise will magnifie their Creator And is a snarling envy or jarring discord the likely way to such an end Is the Church of Christ a Babâ—l of confusion Should they be divided party against party here that must be one in perfect Love for ever Shall they here be condemning each other as none of the children of the Most High who there must live in sweetest concord If there be shame in Heaven you will be ashamed to meet those in the delights of Glory and see them entertained by the Lord of Love whom you reviled and cast out of the Church or your communion causelesly on earth § 79. Remember now that Schism and making parties and divisions in the Church is not so small a sin as many take it for It is the accounting it a duty and a part of Holiness which is the greatest cause that it prospereth in the world And it will never be reformed till men have right apprehensions of the evil of it Why is it that sober people are so far and free from the sins of swearing drunkenness fornication and lasciviousness but because these sins are under so odious a character as helpeth them easily to perceive the evil of them And till Church-divisions be rightly apprehended as whoredom and swearing and drunkenness are they will never be well cured Imprint therefore on your minds the true Character of them which I have here laid down and look abroad upon the effects and then you will fear this confounding sin as much as a consuming Plague § 80. The two great causes that keep Divisions from being hated as they ought are 1. A charitable Two Hinderances of our true apprehensions of Schisme respect to the good that is in Church-dividers carrying us to overlook the evil of the sin judging of it by the Persons that commit it and thinking that nothing should seem odious that is theirs because many of them are in other respects of blameless pious conversations And indeed every Christian must so prudently reprehend the mistakes and faults of pious men as not to asperse the piety which is conjunct and therefore not to make their persons odious but to give the person all his just commendations for his piety while we oppose and aggravate his sin Because Christ himself so distinguisheth between the good and the evil and the person and the sin and loveth his own for their good while he hateth their evil and so must we And because it is the grand design of Satan by the faults of the godly to make their Persons hated first and their Piety next and so to banish Religion from the world And every friend of Christ must shew himself an enemy to this design of Satan But yet the sin must be disowned and opposed while the person is Loved according to his worth Christ will give no thanks for such Love to his children as cherisheth their Church-destroying sins There is no greater enemy to sin than Christ though there be no greater friend to souls Godliness was never intended to be a fortress for iniquity or a battery for the Devil to mount his Cannons on against the Church nor for a blind to cover the Powder-mines of Hell Satan never opposeth Truth and Godliness and Unity so dangerously as when he can make Religious men his instruments Remember therefore that all men are vanity and Gods interest and honour must not be sacrificed to theirs nor the most Holy be abused in reverence to the holiest of sinful men § 81. The other great hinderance of our due apprehension of the sinfulness of divisions is our too deep sense of our sufferings by superiours and our looking so much at the evil of persecutions as not to look at the danger of the contrary extream Thus under the Papacy the people of Germany at Luthers Reformation were so deeply sensible of the Papal cruelties that they thought by how many wayes soever men fled from such bloody persecutors they were very excusable And while men were all taken up in decrying the Roman Idolatry corruptions and cruelties they never feared the danger of their own divisions till they smarted by them And this was once the case of many good people here in England who so much hated the wickedness of the Prophane and the Haters of Godliness that they had no apprehensions of the evil of Divisions among themselves And because many prophanâ— ones were wont to call sober godly people Schismaticks and Factious therefore the very names begâ—n with many to grow into credit as if they had been of good signification and there had been really no such sin as schism and factiâ—n to be feared Till God permitted this sin to break in upon us with such fury as had almost turned us into a Babel and a desolation And I am perswaded God did purposely permit it to teach his people more sensibly to know the evil of that sin by the efâ—â—cts which they would not know by other means And to let them see when they had reviled and ruined each other that there is that in themselves which they should be more afraid of than of any enemy without § 82. Direct 5. Own nâ—t any cause which is an enemy to Love And pretend neither Truth nor Holiness Direct 5. nor Unity nor Order nor any thing against it The Spirit of Love is that one Vital Spirit which 〈…〉 9 〈…〉 4. 〈…〉 2. 〈…〉 19. â—â— 1 〈…〉 1 â—â—â—â— 5 〈…〉 2 â—â—â—â— 1. 7. Heb. 10. 24. 〈…〉 5. 6 13. doth animate all the Saints The increase â—f Love is the powerful Balâ—â—me that healeth all the Churches wounds Though loveless lifeless Physicions think that all these wounds must be healed by the Sword And indeed the Weapon-salve is now become the proper cure It is the Sword that must be medicated that the wounds made by it may be healed The decayes of
he calleth them out of Babylon It 's true you must partake with no Church in their sins but you may partake with any Church in their holy profession and worship so far as you can do it without partaking with them in their sins § 88. Direct 11. Understand what it is that maketh you partakers of the sins of a Church or any Direct 11. member of it lest you think you are bound to separate from them in good as well as in evil Many fly from the publick Assemblies lest they partake of the sins of those that are there present Certainly nothing but Consent direct or indirect can make their faults to become yours And therefore nothing which signifieth not some such consent should be on that account avoided 1. If you by word or subscription or furtherance own any mans sin you directly consent to it 2. If you neglect any duty which lyeth upon you for the cure of his sin you indirectly consent For you consent that he shall rather continue in his sin than you will do your part to help him out of it Consider therefore how far you are bound to reprove any sin or to use any other means for the reformation of it whether it be in the Pastor or the people and if you neglect any such means your way is to reform your own neglect and do your duty and not to separate from the Church before you have done your duty to reform it But if you have done all that is your part then the sin is none of yours though you remain there present § 89. It is a turbulent fanâ—ie and disquieting errour of some people to think that their presence Quest. Whether presence be not a consent to sin in the Assembly and continuance with the Church doth make them guilty of the personal faults of those they joyn with If so who would ever joyn with any Assembly in the World Quest. But what if they be gross and scandalous sinners that are members of the Church Answ. If you be wanting in your duty to reform it it is your sin But if bare presence made their sins to be ours it would also make all the sins of the Assembly ours But no word of God doth intimate any such thing Paul never told the Churches of Galatia and Corinth so that had so many defiled members Quest. But what if they are sins committed in the open Assembly even by the Minister himself in his praying preaching and other administrations and what if all this be imposed on him by a Law and so I am certain before hand that I must joyn with that which is unwarrantable in Gods Worship Answ. The next Direction containeth those distinctions that are necessary to the answer of this § 90. Direct 12. Distinguish carefully 1. Between a Ministers Personal faults and his Ministerial Direct 12. faults 2. Between his tolerable weaknesses and his intolerable insufficiencies 3. And between the work ☜ of the Minister and of the Congregation And then you will see your doubt resolved in these following Propositions § 91. 1. A Ministers personal faults as swearing lying drunkenness c. may damn himself Saith Câ—â—aâ—thâ—s in â—art The Peripâ—â—â—â—ticks are like Letters that sound well but hear not themselves and must be matter of lamentation to the Church and they must do their best to reform them or to get a better Pastor by any lawful means But in case they cannot his sin is none of theirs nor doth it make his administration null of ineffectual nor will it allow you to separate from the Worship which he administreth Though many of the Priests were wicked men the Godly Jews were not thereby disobliged from Gods publick Worship or sacrifices which were to be offered by their hands Otherwise how sad a case were the Church in that must answer for the sins which they never committed nor could reform But no Scripture chargeth this upon them § 92. 2. It is not all Ministerial faults that will allow you to separate from or disown a Minister Yet I excuse not imâ—iâ—ty or insufficiency in Ministers but only those that prove him or his ministration utterly intolerable Such are 1. An utter insufficiency in knowledge or utterance for the necessary parts of the Ministerial work As if he be not able to Teach the necessary points of Christian Religion nor to administer the Sacraments and other parts of publick Worship 2. If he set himself to oppose the very ends of his Ministry and Preach down It was one of Soloâ—s Laws Qâ—i nequitia ac slaâ—itiis insignis est tribunali publicisque sâ—â—gâ—stis arâ—eâ—dus est And Gildas saith to the ungodly Pastors of Britain Apparet ergò â—um qui vos sacerdotes sclers ex corde dicit noâ—â—sse exiâ—ium Christianum Quomodo vos aliquid solvetis ut sit solutum iâ— coelis à coelo ob scâ—lâ—ra adempti immaniâ—m peccatorum fuâ—ibus coâ—pâ—diti Qua ratione aliquid in teâ—â—a ligabitis quod supra mundum etiam ligetur propter vosmâ—t iâ—sos qâ—i ita ligaâ—i iniquitatibus iâ— hoc mundo tenemini ut in coelos nunquam asâ—endatis sed in infausta taâ—tari ergastula non conversi in haâ— vita ad dominum dâ—â—idatis fol. ult O iniâ—ici Dei noâ— sacerdotes O liciâ—atores malorum non poâ—tifices traditores non sanctorum Apostolorum successorâ—s inpugnatorâ— non Christi ministri pag. 571. impres Basil. Godliness or any part of it that is of necessity to salvation For then he doth the Devils work in seeking the damnation of souls and so maketh himself the Devils Minister and is not the Minister of Christ. For the end is essential to the Relation Herein I include a Preacher of Heresie that doth preach up any damning errour and preach down any necessary saving Truth that is that preacheth such errour as subverteth either Faith or Godliness and doth more harm in the Church than Good 3. If he so deprave Gods publick Worship as to destroy the substance of it and make it unacceptable and offer up a publick false-worship to God which he disowneth in the very matter of it As if he put up blaspheamy for praise and prayer or commit Idolatry or set up New Sacraments and guide the people thus in publick Worship As the Papists Priests do that adore bread with Divine Worship and pray to the dead and offer real Sacrifices for them c. Such Worship is not to be joyned in 4. Or if they impose any actual sin upon the people As in their Responds to speak any falshood or to adore the bread or the like These faults discharge us from being present with such Pastors at such Worship But besides these there are many Ministerial faults which warrant not our separation As 1. The internal vices of the Pastors mind though manifested in their Ministration As some tolerable errours of judgement or envy and pettish opposition to others Phil. 1. 15. Some
knowing before hand that maketh it unlawful For 1. I know in general before hand that all imperfect men will do imperfectly And though I know not the particular that maketh it never the lawfuller if fore knowledge it sâ—lâ— did make it unlawful 2. If you know that e. g. an Antinomian or some mistaken Preacher would constantly drop some words for his errour in Prayer or Preaching that will not make it unlawful in your own judgement for you to joyn if it be not a flat Heresie 3. It is an ther mans errour or fault that you forâ—know and not your own and therefore fore-knowledge maketh it not your own 4. God himself doth as an Universal Cause of Nature concur with men in those acts which he foreknoweth they will sinfully do and yet God is not to be judged either an Author or approver of the sin because of such concurrence and fore-knowledge Therefore our fore-knowledge maketh us no approvers or guilty of the failings of any in their sacred Ministrations unless there be some other guilt If you say that it is no one of these that maketh it unlawful but all together you must give us a distinct argument to prove that the concurrence of these three will prove that unlawful which cannot be proved so by any of them alone for your affirmation must not serve the turn and when we know your argument I doubt not but it may be answered One thing I still confess may make any defective Worship to be unlawful to you and that is When you prefer it before better and may without a greater inconvenience enjoy an abler Ministry and purer Administration but will not § 95. Obj. But he that sitteth by in silence in the posture as the rest of the Congregation seemeth to Object consent to all that is said and done and we must avoid all appearance of evil Answ. The appearance of evil which is evil indeed mâ—st be alway avoided But that appearance of Answ. evil which is indeed good must not be avoided We must not forsake our duty lest we seem to sin that were but to prefer hypocrisie before sincerity and to avoid appearances more than realities The omission of a duty is a real sin and that must not be done to avoid a seeming sin And whom doth it appear so to If it appear evil to the blind or prejudiced it is their eyes that must be cured But if it appear so to the wise then it 's like it is evil indeed For a wise man should not judge that to be evil that is not But I confess that in a case that is altogether indifferent even the mistakes of the ignorant may oblige us to forbear But the Worship of God must not be so â—orb â—â—â—â— It is an irrational fancy to think that you must be Uncivil by contradicting or covering your heads or doing something â—ffâ—â—â—â—ive to the Congregation when any thing is said or done which you disallow Your presâ—nâ— signifieth your Consent to all that you prâ—fess even to Worship God according to his Word and not to all the humane imperfections that are there expâ—â—ssâ—d § 96. Direct 13. Distinguish carefully between your personal private duties and the duty of the Direct 13. Pastor â—â— Church with which you must concurr And do not think that if the Church or Pastor do not their duty that you are bouâ—d to do it for them To cast out an obâ—â—â—â—nate impenitent sinner by sentence from the Communion of the Church is the Pastors or Churches duty and not yours unless in concurrence or subâ—erviency to the Church Therefore if it be not done enquire whether you did your duty towards it If you did the sin is noâ—e of yours For it is not in your power to cast out all that are unworthy from the Church But private familiarity is in your power to refuse and with such â—â—â—â— not to â—â—â—◠§ 97. Direct 14. Take the measure of your accidental duties more from the Good or hurt of the Direct 14. Church or fâ—â—m my than from the immediate good or hurt that cometh to your self You are not to take that for the station of your duty which you feel to be most to the commodity of your souls but that in which you may do God most service If the service of God for the good of many require you to stay with a weaker Minister and defective administrations you will find in the end that this was not only the place of your duty but also of your benefit For your life is in Gods hands and all your comforts and that is the best way to your peace and happiness in which you are most pleasing unto God and have his Promise of most acceptance and grace I know the least advantage to the soul must be preferred before all earthly riches but not before the publick good Yea that way will prove most advantageous to us in which we exercise most obedience § 98. Direct 15. Take heed of suffering prejudice and fansie to go for reason and raise in your Direct 15. minds unjustifiable distastes of any way or mode of Worship It is wonderful to see what fansie and prejudice can do Get once a hard opinion of a thing and your judgements will make light of all that is said for it and will see nothing that should reconcile you to it Partiality will carry you away from equity and truth Abundance of things appear now false and evil to men that once imagine them to be so which would seem harmless if not laudable if they were tryed by a mind that 's clear from prejudice § 99. Direct 16. Iudge not of doctrines and worship by Persons but rather of persons by their doctrine Direct 16. and worship together with their lives The world is all prone to be carryed by respect to persons I confess where any thing is to be taken upon trust we must rather trust the intelligent experienced honest and credible than the ignorant and incredible But where the Word of God must be our Rule it is perverse to judge of Things by the Persons that hold them or oppose them Sometimes a bad man may be in the right and a good man in the wrong Try the way of the worst men before you reject it in disputable things And try the opinions and way of the best and wisest before you venture to receive them § 100. Direct 17. Eâ—slave not your selves to any Party of men so as to be over-desirous to please Direct 17. them nor over fearful of their consare Have a respect to all the rest of the world as well as them Most men that once engage themselves in a party do think their honour and interest is involved with them and that they stand or fall with the favour of their party and therefore make them before they are aware the masters of their Consciences § 101. Direct 18. Regard more the judgement of aged ripe experienced men that have
7. 26. 13. Mat. 23. 14. Mar. 1â— 40. Exod. 6. 30. Deuâ— 7. 12. 11. 13. 13. 18. 15. 5. 26. 17. 28. 1. Psal. 81. 8 9 10 11 12. of promoting unity and obedience and the Catholick Church while the Cloak or Cover of it is but the thin transparent Spider-web of humane Traditions and numerous Ceremonies and childish complementing with Goâ— And when they have nothing but the prayers of a long Liturgie to cover the effects of their earthly sensual and diabolical zeal and wisdom as St. Iames calls it 3. 15 16. and to concâ—ct the Widdows houses which they devour and to put a reverence upon the office and work which they labour all the week to render reproachful by a sensual luxurious idle life and by perfidious making merchandize of souls As ever you care what becometh of your souls take heed lest sin grow bold under Prayers and grow familiar and contemptuous of Sermons and holy speeches and lest you keep a custome of Religious exercises and wilful sins For oh how doth this harden now and wound hereafter He is the best hearer that is the holiest liver and faithfullest obeyer Direct 14. Be not a bare hearer of the Prayers of the Pastor whether it be by a Liturgie or Direct 14. without For that is but hypocrisie and a sin of omission You come not thither only to hear prayers but to pray And kneeling is not praying but it is a profession that you pray And will you be prayerless even in the house of Prayer and when you profess and seem to pray and so add hypocrisie to impiety I fear many that seem Religious and would have those kept from the Sacrament that Pray not in their Families do very ordinarily tolerate themselves in this gross omission and mocking of God and are Prayerless themselves even when they seem to Pray Direct 15. Stir up your hearts in a special manner to the greatest alacrity and joy in speaking Direct 15. and singing the Praises of God The Lords day is a day of Joy and Thanksgiving and the Praises of God are the highest and holyest employment upon Earth And if ever you should do any thing with all your might and with a joyful and triumphing frame of soul it is this Be glad that you may joyn with the Sacred Assemblies in heart and voice in so Heavenly a work And do not as some humersome pievish persons that know not the danger of that proud disease fall to quarreling with Davids Psalms as unsuitable to some of the hearers or to nauseate every failing in the Metâ—â— so as to turn so holy a duty into neglect or scorn for alas such there are near me where I dwell nor let prejudice against melody or Church-musick if you dwell where it is used possess you with a spleneâ—ick disgust of that which should be your most joyful work And if you know how much the incorporate soul must make use of the body in harmony and in the joyful praises of Iehovah do not then quarrel with lawful helps because they are sensible and corporeal Direct 16. Be very considerate and serious in Sacramental renewings of your Covenant with God Direct 16. O think what great things you come thither to Receive And think what a holy work you have to See Mâ— Rawlâ—â—s Book of Sacramental Covenanting do And think what a Life it is that you must promise So solemn a Covenanting with God and of so great importance requireth a most holy reverent and serious frame of soul. But yet let not the unwarrantable differencing this Ordinance from Gods praises and the rest seduce you into the common errours of the times I mean 1. Of those that hence are brought to think that the Sacrament should never be received without a preparatory day of humiliation above the preparation for an ordinary Lords days work 2. And therefore receive it seldom whereas the primitive Churches never spent a Lords day together without it 3. Those that turn it into a perplexing terrifying thing for fear of being unprepared when it should be their greatest comfort and when they are not so perplexed about their unpreparâ—dness to any other duty 4. Those that make so great a difference betwixt this and Church-prayers praises and other Church-woâ—ship as that they take this Sacrament only for the proper work and priviledge of Church-members And thereupon turn it into an occasion of our great contentions and divisions while they fly from Sacramental Communion with others more than from Communion in the other Church-worship O what hath our subtle enemy done against the Love Peace and Unity of Christians especially in England under pretence of Sacramental purity Direct 17. Perform all your Worship to God as in heart-Communion with all Christs Churches Direct 17. upon Earth Even those that are faulty though not with their faults Though you can be present but with one yâ—â— consent as present in spirit with all and separate not in heart from any one any further than they separate from Christ. Direct 18. Accordingly let the Interest of the Church of Christ be very much upon your heart Direct 18. and pray as hard for it as for your self Direct 19. Yâ—â— remember in all what Relation you have to the Heavenly Society and Chore and Direct 19. think how they Worship God in Heaven that you may strive to imitate than in your degree Of which more anâ—n Direct 20. Let your whole course of life after savour of a Church-frame Live as the servants of Direct 20. that God whâ—m you Worship and as ever before him Live in the Love of those Christians with whom you have Communion and do not quarrel with them at home nor despise nor persecute them with whom you joyn in the Worshipping of God And do not needlesly open the weaknesses of the Minister to prejudice others against him and the Worship And be not Religious at the Church alone for then you are not truly Religious at all CHAP. X. Directions about our Communion with Holy Souls Departed and now with Christ. THE oversight and neglect of our duty concerning the souls of the blessed now with Christ I have said more of â—his since in my â—â—â—â—e of Faith doth very much harden the Papists in their erroneous excesses here about And if we will ever reduce them or rightly confute them it must be by a judicious asserting of the Truth and observing so much with them as is our duty and commending that in them which is to be commended and not by running away from truth and duty that we may get for enough from them and errour For errour is an ill way of confuting errour The practical Truth lyeth in these following Precepts § 1. Direct 1. Remember that the departed souls in Heaven are part and the noblest part of the Body Direct 1. of Christ and family of God of which you are inferiour members and therefore that you owe
expectat cuique ad resipiscendum non ista sufficiunt infatuatum se juxta Domini sententiam nullo unquam sale saliri posse demonstrat I will not English it lest those take encouragement by it who are bent to the other extream 7. Yet it will be a great offence if any censorious self-conceited person shall on this pretence set up his judgement of mens parts to the contempt of Authority or to the vilifying of worthy men and especially if he thereby make a stir and Schism in the Church instead of seeking his own edification 8. Yea if a Minister be weaker yea and colder and worse than another yet if his Ministry be competently fitted to edification he that cannot leave him and go to a better without apparent hurt to the Church and the souls of others by division or exasperating Rulers or breaking family ☜ order or violating Relation duties must take himself to be at present denyed the greater helps that others have and may trust God in the use of those weaker means to accept and bless him because he is in the station where he hath set him This case therefore must be Resolved by a prudent comparing of the Good or Hurt which is like to follow and of the accidents or circumstances whence that must be discerned Quest. 10. What if the Magistrate command the people to receive one Pastor and the Bishops or Ordainers another which of them must be obeyed 1. THe Magistrate and not the Bishop or people unless under him hath the power and disposal See more of this after of the Circumstantials or Accidents of the Church I mean of the Temple the Pulpit the Tythes c. And he is to determine what Ministers are fit either for his own Countenance or Toleration and what not In these therefore he is to be obeyed before the Bishops or others 2. If a Pope or Prelate of a foreign Church or any that hath no lawful Jurisdiction or Government over the Church that wanteth a Pastor shall command them to receive one their command is null and to be contemned 3. Neither Magistrate nor Bishop as is said may deny the Church or people any Liberty which God in Nature or Christ in the Gospel hath setled on them as to the Reception of their proper Pastors 4. No Bishop but only the Magistrate can compell by the Sword the obedience of his commands 5. If one of them command the reception of a worthy person and the other of an intolerable one the former must prevail because of obedience to Christ and care of our souls 6. But if the persons be equal or both fit the Magistrate is to be obeyed if he be peremptory in his commands and decide the case in order to the peace or protection of the Church both because it is a lawful thing and because else he will permit no other 7. And the rather because the Magistrates Power is more past controversie than Whether any Bishop Pastor or Synod can any further than by counsel and perswasion oblige the People to receive a Pastor Quest. 11. Whether an uninterrupted Succession either of right Ordination or of Conveyance by Iurisdiction be necessary to the Being of the Ministry or of a true Church THe Papists have hitherto insisted on the necessity of successive right Ordination But Voâ—tius de desperata Causa Papatus hath in this so handled them and confuted Iansenius as hath indeed shewed the desperateness of that Cause And they perceive that the Papacy it self cannot be upheld by that way and therefore Iohnson alias Terret in his Rejoynder against me now concludeth that it is not for want of a successive Consecration that they condemn the Church of England but for want of true Iurisdiction because other Bishops had title to the places whilest they were put in And that successive Consecration which we take to include Ordination is not necessary to the being of Ministry or Church And it is most certain to any man acquainted in Church History that their Popes have had a succession of neither Their way of Election hath been frequently changed sometimes being by the people sometimes by the Clergy sometimes by the Emperours and lastly by the Cardinals alone Ordination they have sometime wanted and a Lay-man been chosen And oft the Ordination hath been by such as had no power according to their own Laws And frequent intercisions have been made sometime by many years vacancy when they had no Church and so there was none on Earth if the Pope be the Constitutive Head for want of a Pope sometime by long Schisms when of two or three Popes no one could be known to have more right than the other nor did they otherwise carry it than by power at last Sometimes by the utter incapacity of the possessors some being Lay-men some Hereticks and Infidels so judged by Councils at Rome Constance Basil and Eugenius the fourth continued after he was so censured and condemned and deposed by the General Council I have proved all this at large elsewhere And he that will not be cheated with a bare sound of words but will ask them whether by a succession of Iurisdiction they mean Efficient Conveying Iurisdiction in the Causers of his Call or Received Iurisdiction in the Office received will find that they do but hide their desperate Cause in Confusion and an insignificant noise For they maintain that none on earth have an Efficient Iurisdiction in making Popes For the former Pope doth not make his successor And both Electors Ordainers and Consecrators yea and the people Receiving they hold to be subjects of the Pope when made and therefore make him not by Jurisdiction giving him the power Therefore Iohnson tells me that Christ only and not man doth give the power and they must needs hold that men have nothing to do but design the person Recipient by Election and Reception and to Invest him ceremonially in the possession So that no Efficient Iurisdiction is here used at all by man And for Received Iurisdiction 1. No one questioneth but when that Office is received which is Essentially Governing he that receiveth it receiveth a Governing power or else he did not receive the Office If the question be only whether the Office of a Bishop be an Office of Iurisdiction or contain essentially a Governing power they make no question of this themselves So that the noise of Successive Jurisdiction is vanished into nothing 2. And with them that deny any Jurisdiction to belong to Presbyters this will be nothing as to their case who have nothing but Orders to receive They have nothing of sense left them to say but this That though the Efficient Iurisdiction which maketh Popes be only in Christ because no men are their Superiours yet Bishops and Presbyters who have Superiours cannot receive their power but by an Efficient Power of man which must come down by uninterrupted succession Answ. 1. And so if ever the Papal Office have an
3. Else there should be seldome any Church in the world for want of a Head yea never any For I have proved there and to Iohnson that there never was a true General Council of the Universal See also in my Reasons of Christian Religion Coâ—s 2. of the Interest of the Church Church But only Imperial Councils of the Churches under one Emperours power and those that having been under it had been used to such Councils And that it is not a thing ever to be attempted or expected as being unlawful and morally impossible Quest. 13. Whether there be such a thing as a Visible Catholick Church And what it is THe Antients differently used the terms A Catholick Church and The Catholick Church By the first they meant any particular Church which was part of the Universal By the second 1 Cor. 12. 12. and throughout they meant the Universal Church it self And this is it that we now mean And I answer Affirmatively There is a Visible Universal Church not only as a Community or as a Kingdom distinct from the King but as a Political Society 2. This Church is the Universality of Baptized Visible Christians Headed by Iesus Christ himself Eph. 4. 1 5 6 7 16. There is this and there is no other upon earth The Papists say that this is no Visible Church because the Head is not Visible I answer 1. It is not necessary that he be seen but visible And is not Christ a Visible person 2. This Church consisteth of two parts the Triumphant part in Glory and the Militant part And Christ is not only Visible but seen by the triumphant part As the King is not seen by the ten thousandth part of his Kingdoms but by his Courtiers and those about him and yet he is King of all 3. Christ was seen on earth for above thirty years and the Kingdom may be called visible in that the King was once visible on earth and is now visible in Heaven As if the King would shew himself to his people but one year together in all his life 4. It ill becometh the Papists of any men to say that Christ is not visible who make him see him taste him handle him eat him drink him digest him in every Church in every Mass throughout the year and throughout the world And this not as divided but as whole Christ. Object But this is not quatenus Regent Answ. If you see him that is Regent and see his Laws and Gospel which are his Governing instruments together with his Ministers who are his Officers it is enough to denominate his Kingdom visible 5. The Church might be fitly denominated Visible secundum quid if Christ himself were invisible Because the Politick Body is visible the dispersed Officers Assemblies and Laws are visible But sure all these together may well serve for the denomination Quest. 14. What is it that maketh a Visible Member of the Universal Church And who are to be accounted such 1. BAptism maketh a Visible member of the Universal Church and the Baptized as to entrance Matth. 28. 19. 〈…〉 1â— 16. unless they go out again are to be accounted such 2. By Baptism we mean open devotion or dedication to God by the Baptismal Covenant in which the adult for themselves and Parents for their Infants do Profess Consent to the Covenant of Grace which includeth a Belief of all the Essential Articles of the faith and a Resolution for sincere obedience and a Consent to the Relations between God and us viz. that he be our Reconciled Father our Saviour and our Sanctifier 3. The Continuance of this Consent is necessary to the continuance of our visible membership 4. He that through ignorance or incapacity for want of water or a Minister is not baptized and yet is solemnly or notoriously dedicated and devoted to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in the same Covenant though without the outward Sign and professeth openly the same Religion is a visible Christian though not by a compleat and regular visibility As a Souldier not listed nor taking his Colours or a Marriage not regularly solemnized c. 5. He that forsaketh his Covenant by Apostacy or is totally and duly excommunicated ceaseth to be a visible member of the Church Quest. 15. Whether besides the Profession of Christianity either Testimony or Evidence of Conversion or Practical Godliness be necessary to prove a man a Member of the Universal Visible Church 1. AS the Mediator is the way to the Father sent to recover us to God so Christianity includeth John 14. 6. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 6 3 11. Godliness And he professeth not Christianity who professeth not Godliness 2. He that professeth the Baptismal Covenant professeth Christianity and Godliness and true Conversion 2 Pet. 1. 3. And therefore cannot be rejected for want of a Profession of Conversion or Godliness 3. But he that is justly suspected not to understand his own profession but to speak general words without the sense may and ought to be examined by him that is to baptize him And therefore though the Apostles among the Jews who had been bred up among the Oracles of God did justly presume of so much understanding as that they baptized men the same day that they professed to believe in Christ yet when they baptized converted Gentiles we have reason to think that they Acts 2. 38 39. first received a particular account of their Converts that they understood the three essential Articles of the Covenant 1. Because the Creed is fitted to that use and hath been ever used thereunto by the Churches as by tradition from the Apostles practice 2. Because the Church in all ages as far as Church History leadeth us upward hath used catechising before baptizing yea and to keep men as Catechumens some time for preparation 3. Because common experience telleth us that multititudes can say the Creed that understand it not If any yet urge the Apostles example I will grant that it obligeth us when the case is the like And I will not fly to any conceit of their heart-searching or discerning mens sincerity When you bring us to a people that before were the Visible Church of God and were all their life time trained up in the knowledge of God of sin of duty of the promised Messiah according to all the Law and Prophets and want nothing but to know the Son and the Holy Ghost that this Iesus is the Christ who will reconcile us to God and give us the sanctifying Spirit then we will also baptize men the same day that they profess to believe in Iesus Christ and in the Father as reconciled by him and the Holy Ghost as given by him But if we have those to deal with who know not God or sin or misery or Scripture Prophecies no nor natural verities we know no proof that the Apostles so haâ—â—ily baptized such Of this I have largely spoken in my Treatise of Confirmation 4. It is
not Necessary to a mans Baptism and first Church-membership that he give any testimony of an antecedent godly life Because it is Repentance and future obedience professed that is his title and we must not keep men from Covenanting till we first see whether they will keep the Covenant which they are to make For Covenanting goeth before Covenant-keeping And it is any the most impious sinner who Repenteth that is to be Washed and Justified as soon as he becometh a Believer 5. Yet if any that Professeth Faith and Repentance should commit Whoredome Drunkenness 1 Cor 6 9 16. Tit. 3. 3 4 5. Eph. 2 1 2 3. Acts 2. 37 38. Murder Blasphemy or any mortal sin before he is baptized we have reason to make a stop of that mans baptism because he contradicteth his own profession and giveth us cause to take it for hypocritical till he give us better evidence that he is penitent indeed 6. Heart-Covenanting maketh an invisible Church-member and Verbal Covenanting and Baptism make a Visible Church-member And he that maketh a Profession of Christianity so far as to declare that he believeth all the Articles of the Creed particularly and understandingly with some tolerable understanding though not distinct enough and full and that he openly devoteth himself to God the Father Son and Spirit in the Vow and Covenant of Baptism doth produce a sufficient title to the Relation of a Christian and Church-member and no Minister may reject him for want of telling when and by what arguments means order or degrees he was converted 7. They that forsake these terms of Church entrance left us by Christ and his Apostles and used by all the Churches in the world and reject those that shew the Title of such a Profession for want of something more and set up other stricter terms of their own as necessary to discover mens conversion and sincerity are guilty of Church tyranny against men and usurpation against Christ And of making Engines to divide the Churches seeing there will never be agreement on any humane devised terms but some will be of one size and some of another when they forsake the terms of Christ. 8. Yet if the Pastor shall see cause upon suspicion of hypocrisie ad melius esse to put divers questions to one man more than to another and to desire further satisfaction the Catechumens ought in conscience to answer him and endeavour his satisfaction For a Minister is not tyed up to speak only such or such words to the penitent And he that should say I will answer you no further than to repeat the Creed doth give a man reason to suppose him either Ignorant or Proud and to suspend the reception of him though not to deny it But still ad esse no terms must be imposed as necessary on the Church but what the Holy Ghost by the Apostles hath established Quest. 16. What is necessary to a mans reception into Membership in a particular Church over and above this foresaid title Whether any other Tryals or Covenant or what 1. A Particular Church is a regular Part of the Universal as a City of a Kingdom or a Troop of an Army 2. Every man that is a member of the particular Church is a member of the Universal but every one that is a member of the Universal Church is not a member of a particular 3. Every particular Church hath its own particular Pastor one or more and its own particular place or bounds of habitation or residence Therefore he that will be a member of a particular Church 1. Must cohabite or live in a proximity capable of Communion 2. And must Consent to be a member of that particular Church and to be under the Guidance of its particular Pastors in their Office work For he cannot be made a member without his own Consent and Will nor can he be a member that subjecteth not himself to the Governour or Guide 4. He therefore that will intrude into their Communion and priviledges without expressing his consent before hand to be a member and to submit to the Pastoral oversight is to be taken for an invader 5. But no other personal qualification is to be exacted of him as necessary but that he be a member of the Church Universal As he is not to be baptized again so neither to give again all that account of his Faith and Repentance particularly which he gave at Baptism Much less any higher proofs of his sincerity But if he continue in the Covenant and Church-state which he was Baptized into he is capable thereby of reception into any particular Church upon particular Consent Nor is there any Scripture proof of any new examinations about their Conversion or sincerity at their removals or enterance into a particular Church 6. But yet because he is not now lookt on only as a Covenant-maker as he was at Baptism but also as a Covenant-keeper or performer therefore if any can prove that he is false to his Baptismal Covenant by Apostasie Heresie or a wicked life he is to be refused till he be Absolved upon his renewed repentance 7. He that oft professeth to Repent and by oft revolting into mortal sin that is sin which sheweth a state of death doth shew that he was not sincere must afterward shew his Repentance by actual amendment before he can say it is his due to be believed 8. Whether you will call this Consent to particular Church Relation and â—ury by the name of a Conant or not is but lis de nomine It is no more than mutual Consent that is necessary to be expressed And mutual Consent expressed may be called a Covenant 9. Ad melius esse the more express the Consent or Covenant is the better For in so great matters men should know what they do and deal above board Especially when experience telleth us that ignorance and Imagery is ready to eat out the heart of Religion in almost all the Churches in the world But yet ad esse Churches must see that they feign or make no more Covenants necessary than God hath made because humane unnecessary inventions have so long distracted and laid waste the Churches of Christ. 10. The Pastors Consent must concurr with the persons to be received For it must be mutual Consent Matth. 28. 19 â—0 And as none can be a member so none may be a Pastor against his will And though he be under Christs Laws what persons to receive and is not arbitrary to do what he list yet he is the Heb. 13. 7. 17. 1 Theâ—â— 5. 12 1â— Guide of the Church and the discerner of his own duty And a Pastor may have reasons to refuse to take a man into his particular Charge without rejecting him as unworthy Perhaps he may 1 Tim. 5. 17. already have more in number than he can well take care of And other such Reasons may fall out 11. In those Countreys where the Magistrates Laws and common consent do take
There are two things more in question 1. His Office whether he be a Minister 2. His Regularity whether he came Regularly to it and also his Comparative relation whether this man or another is to be preferred I answer therefore 1. If the person be utterly uncapable the one Bishop or the many whosoever taketh him for uncapable is for the Truth sake to be believed and obeyed 2. If the man be excellently qualified and his Ministry greatly Necessary to the Church whoever would deprive the Church of him be it the One or the Many is to be disobeyed and the ordainers preserred Obj. But who shall judge Answ. The Esse is before the Scire The thing is first True or false before I judge it to be so And therefore whoever judgeth falsly in a case so notorious and weighty as that the welfare of the Church and souls is consideratis considerandis injured and hazarded by his errour is not be believed nor obeyed on pretence of order Because all Christians have judicium discretionis a discerning judgement 3. But if the case be not thus to be determined by the persons notorious qualifications then either it is 1. The man ordained 2. Or the People that the case is debated by whether they should take him for a Minister 3. Or the neighbour Ministers 1. The person himself is caeteris paribus more to regard the judgement of many concordant Bishops than of one singular Bishop And therefore is not to take orders from a singular Bishop when the Generality of the wise and faithful are against it unless he be sure that it is some notorious faction or errour that perverteth them and that there be notorious necessity of his labour 2. The Auditors are either Infidels to be converted and these will take no man upon any of their Authorities or else Christians converted These are either of the particular charge of the singular Bishop who ordaineth or not If they be then pro tempore for orders sake they owe him a peculiar obedience till some further process or discovery disoblige them Though the most be on the other side But yet they may be still bound in Reason most to suspect the Judgement of their singular Bishop while for orders sake they submit to it But if they are not of his flock then I suppose the Judgement and Act of many is to prevail so much against the Act of a single and singular person as that both neighbour Ministers and people are to disown such an ordained person as unfit for their Communion under the notion of a Minister Because Communion of Churches is maintained by the Concord of Pastors But whether the ordained mans Ministry be by their contradictory declaration Eph. 4. 3. 1 Cor. 12. Rom. 14 17 19. or degradation made an absolute nullity to himself and those that submit to him neither I will determine nor should any other Strangers to the particular case For if he be rejected or degraded without such cause and proof as may satisfie other sober persons he hath wrong But if he be so 1 Cor. 14. 33. 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. degraded on proved sufficient cause to them that it is known to it giveth the degraders the advantage And as 1. All particular members are to be obedient to their proper Pastor Phil. 2. 1 2 3. Eph. 4. 15 16. 1 Cor. 1. 10. 2. And all particular Churches are to hold correspondency and communion according to their capacity so must men act in this and such like cases respectively according to the Laws of Obedience to their Pastor and of Concord of the Churches Quest. 24. Hath one Bishop power by Divine right to Ordain Degrade or Govern or Excommunicate or Absolve in anothers Diocess or Church either by his consent or against it And doth a Minister that officiateth in anothers Church act as a Pastor and their Pastor or as a private man And doth the Ministerial office cease when a man removeth from his flock I Thrust these questions all together for their affinity and for brevity 1. Every true Minister of Christ Bishop or Pastor is related to the universal Church by stronger obligations than to his particular charge As the whole is better than the parts and its wellfare to be preferred 2. He that is no Pastor of a particular Church may be a Pastor in the universal obliged as a consecrated person to endeavour its good by the works of his office as he hath particular opportunity and call 3. Yet he that hath a particular charge is specially and neerlyer related and obliged to that charge or Church than to any other part of the universal though not then to the whole And consequently hath a peculiar Authority where he hath a peculiar obligation and work 4. He that is without degrading removed from a particular Church doth not cease to be a General Minister and Pastor related to the Universal Church As a Physicion put out of a Hospital charge is a Physicion still And therefore he needeth no new ordination but only a special Designation to his next particular charge 5. No man is the Bishop of a Diocess as to the measure of ground or the place by divine right that is by any particular Law or determination of God But only a Bishop of the Church or people For your office essentially containeth a Relation to the People but Accidentally only to the Place 6. Yet natural Convenience and Gods General Laws of Order and Edification do make it usually but not alwayes best and therefore a duty to distinguish Churches by the peoples habitation Not taking a man for a Member eo nomine because he liveth on that ground But for order sake taking none for members that live not on that ground and not intruding causelesly into each others bounds 7. He that by the Call or Consent of a Neighbour Pastor and people doth officiate by Preaching Sacraments Excommunication or Absolution in anothers special charge for a day or week or month or more without a fixed relation to that flock doth neither officiate as a Lay-man nor yet unlawfully or irregularly But 1. As a Minister of Christ in the Church Universal 2. And as the Pastor of that Church for the present time only though not statedly Even as a Physicion called to help another in his Hospital or to supply his place for the time doth perform his work 1. As a Licensed Physicion 2. And as the Physicion of that patient or Hospital for that time though not statedly 8. No man is to intrude into anothers Charge without a Call Much less to claim a particular stated Oversight and Authority For though he be not an Usurper as to the Office in General he is an Usurper as to that particular flock It is no error in Ordination to say Take thou authority to preach the Word of God and administer the holy Sacraments when thou shalt be thereto lawfully called that is when thou hast a particular call to the
of Heaven and happiness but not sensibly punished or cast into Hell For this Iansenius hath wrote a Treatise and many other Papists think so 4. Some think that all the Children of sincere believers dying in infancy are saved that is Glorified whether baptized or not and no others 5. Some think that God hath not at all revealed what he will do with any Infants 6. Some think that he hath promised salvation as aforesaid to believers and their seed but hath not at all revealed to us what he will do with all the rest 7. Some think that only the Baptized Children of true believers are certainly by promise saved 8. Some think that all the adopted and bought Children of true Christians as well as the natural are saved if baptized say some or if not say others 9. Some think that Elect Infants are saved and no other but no man can know who those are And of these 1. Some deny Infant Baptism 2. Most say that they are to be baptized and that thereby the non-elect are only received into the visible Church and its priviledges but not to any promise or certainty of Justification or a state of salvation 10. Some think that all that are baptized by the Dedication of Christian Sponsors are saved 11. Some think that all that the Pastor Dedicateth to God are saved because so dedicated by him say some or because baptized ex opere operato say others And so all baptized Infants are in a state of salvation 12. Some think that this is to be limited to all that have right to Baptism coram Deo which some think the Churches reception giveth them of which anon 13. And some think it is to be limited to those that have right 〈…〉 m Ecclesia or are rightfully baptized ex parte Ministrantis where some make the Magistrates command sufficient and some the Bishops and some the baptizers will Of the title to Baptism I shall speak anon Of the salvation of Infants it is too tedious to confute all that I dissent from not presuming in such darkness and diversity of opinions to be peremptory nor to say I am certain by the Word of God who are undoubtedly saved nor yet to deny the undoubted certainty of wiser men who may know that which such as I do doubt of but submitting what I say to the judgement of the Church of God and my superiours I humbly lay down my own thoughts as followeth 1. I think that there can no promise or proof be produced that all unbaptized Infants are saved either from the poena damni or sensus or both 2. I think that no man can prove that all unbaptized Infants are damned or denyed Heaven Nay I think I can prove a promise of the contrary 3. All that are rightfully baptized in foro externo are visible Church members and have Ecclesiastical right to the priviledges of the visible Church 4. I think Christ never instituted Baptism for the collation of these outward Priviledges alone unless as on supposition that persons culpably fail of the better ends 5. I think Baptism is a solemn mutual contract or Covenant between Christ and the Baptized person And that it is but one Covenant even the Covenant of Grace which is the sum of the Gospel which is sealed and received in baptism And that this Covenant essentially containeth our saving relation to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and our Pardon Justification and Adoption or right to life everlasting And that God never made any distinct Covenant of outward Priviledges alone to be sealed by Baptism But that outward mercies are the second and lesser gift of the same Covenant which giveth first the great and saving blessings 6. And therefore that whoever hath right before God to claim and Receive Baptism hath right also to the benefits of the Covenant of God and that is to salvation Though I say not so of every one that hath such right before the Church as that God doth require the Minister to Baptize him For by Right before God or in foro coeli I mean such a Right as will justifie the claim before God immediately the person being one whom he commandeth in that present state to claim and receive baptism For many a one hath no such right before God to claim or receive it when yet the Minister hath right Mark 16. 16. Act. 2. 37 38. Act. 22. 16. 1 Cor 6. 11. Tit. 3. 3 5 6. Heb. 10. 22. Eph. 5. 26. Rom. 6. 1 4. Col. 2. 12. 1 Pet. 3. 21 22. Eph. 4. 5. Act. 8. 12 13 16 36 38. to give it them if they do claim it The case stands thus God saith in his Covenant He that believeth shall be saved and ought to be Baptized to profess that belief and be invested in the benefits of the Covenant And he that Professeth to believe whether he do or not is by the Church to be taken for a visible believer and by Baptism to be received into the Visible Church Here God calleth none but true believers and their seed to be Baptized nor maketh an actual promise or Covenant with any other and so I say that no other have right in foro coeli But yet the Church knoweth not mens hearts and must take a serious Profession for a credible sign of the faith professed and for that outward title upon which it is a duty of the Pastor to Baptize the claimer So that the most malignant scornful hypocrite that maketh a seemingly serious profession hath right coram Ecclesia but not coram Deo save in this sense that God would have the Minister Baptize him But this I have largelyer opened in my Disputations of Right Act. 9. 18. 16. 15 33. 19 5. Gal. 3. 27. to Sacraments 7. I think therefore that all the Children of true Christians do by Baptism receive a publick Investiture by Gods appointment into a state of Remission Adoption and right to salvation at the present Though I dare not say that I am undoubtedly certain of it as knowing how much is said against it But I say as the Synod of Dort Art 1. that Believing Parents have no cause to doubt of the salvation of their Children that dye in infancy before they commit actual sin that is not to trouble themselves with fears about it The Reasons that move me to be of this judgement though not without doubting and hesitancy are these 1. Because whoever hath right to the present Investiture delivery and possession of the first and great benefits of Gods Covenant made with man in Baptism hath right to Pardon and Adoption and everlasting life But the Infants of true Christians have right to the present investiture delivery and possession of the first and great benefits of Gods Covenant made with man in Baptism Therefore they have right to pardon and everlasting life Either Infants are in the same Covenant that is are subjects of the same promise of God with their believing Parents
it unlawful to make so promiscuous an Adoption of children or of choosing another to be a Covenanter for the child instead of the Parent to whom it belongeth or to commit their children to anothers either propriety or education or formal promise of that which belongeth to education when they never mean to perform it nor can do 2. Because they take it for an Adding to the Ordinance of God a thing which Scripture never mentioneth To which I answer 1. I grant it unlawful to suppose another to be the Parent or proprietor that is not Or to suppose him to have that power and interest in your child which he hath not Oâ— to desire him to undertake what he cannot perform and which neither he nor you intend he shall perform I grant that you are not bound to alienate the propriety of your children nor to take in another to be joint-proprietors nor to put out your children to the God-fathers education So that if you will misunderstand the Use of Sponsors then indeed you will make them unlawful to be so used But if you take them but as the antient Churches did for such as do attest the Parents fidelity in their perswasion and do promise first to mind you of your duty and next to take care of the childrens pious education if you dye I know no reason you have to scruple this much Yea more it is in your own power to agree with the God-fathers that they shall represent your own persons and speak and promise what they do as your deputies only in your names And what have you against this Suppose you were sick lame imprisoned or banished would you not have your child baptized And how should that be done but by your deputing another to represent you in entring him into Covenant with God Object But when the Church-men mean another thing this is but to juggle with the world Answ. How can you prove that the authority that made or imposed the Liturgie meant any other thing And other individuals are not the Masters of your sense 2. Yea and if the Imposers had meant ill in a thing that may be done well you may discharge your conscience by doing it well and making a sufficient profession of your better sense 2. And then it will be no sinful addition to Gods Ordinance to determine of a lawful circumstance which he hath left to humane prudence As to choose a meet Deputy Witness or Sponsor who promiseth nothing but what is meet Quest. 40. On whose account or right is it that the Infant hath title to Baptism and its benefits Is it on the Parents Ancestors Sponsors the Churches the Ministers the Magistrates or his own Answ. THe titles are very various that are pretended Let us examine them all I. I cannot think that a Magistrates Command to baptize an Infant giveth him right 1. Because there is no proof of the validity of such a title 2. Because the Magistrate can command no such thing if it be against Gods Word as this is which would level the case of the seed of Heathens and believers And I know but few of that opinion II. I do not think that the Minister as such giveth title to the Infant For 1. He is no proprietor 2. He can shew no such power or grant from God 3. He must baptize none but those that antecedently have right 4. Else he also might levell all and take in Heathens children with believers 5. Nor is this pretended to by many that I know of III. I cannot think that it is a particular Church that must give this Right or perform the condition of it For 1. Baptism as is aforesaid as such doth only make a Christian and a member of the Universal Church and not of any particular Church And 2. The Church is not the proprietor of the child 3. No Scripture Commission can be shewed for such a power Where hath God said All that any particular Church will receive shall have right to baptism 4. By what act must the Church give this right If by baptizing him the question is of his antecedent right If by willing that he be baptized 1. If they will that one be baptized that hath no right to it their will is sinful and therefore unfit to give him right 2. And the baptizing Minister hath more power than a thousand or ten thousand private men to judge who is to be baptized 5. Else a Church might save all Heathens children that they can but baptize and so levell Infidels and Christians seed 6. It is not the Church in general but some one person that must educate the child Therefore the Church cannot so much as promise for its education The Church hath nothing to do with those that are without but only with her own And Heathens children are not her own nor exposed to her occupation IV. I believe not that it is the Universal Church that giveth the Infant title to baptism For 1. He that giveth title to the Covenant and baptism doth it as a performer of the Moral Condition of that title But God hath no where made the Churches faith to be the condition of baptism or salvation either â—o Infidels or their seed 2. Because the Universal Church is a body that cannot be consulted with to give their Vote and Consent Nor have they any Deputies to do it by For there is no Universal Visible Governour And if you will pretend every Priest to be commissioned to act and judge in the name of the Universal Church you will want proof and that 's before confuted 3. If all have right that the Universal Church offereth up to God or any Minister or Bishop be counted its Deputy or Agent to that end it is in the power of that Minister as is said to levell all and to baptize and save all which is contrary to the Word of God V. I believe that God-fathers as such being no Adopters or Proprietors are not the performers of the condition of salvation for the Infant nor give him right to be baptized 1. Because he is not their Own and therefore their will or act cannot go for his Because there is no Word of God for it that all shall be baptized or saved that any Christians will be Sponsors for Gods Church blessings be not tyed â—o such inventions that were not in being when Gods Laws were made Where â—here is no promise or word there is no faith 3. No Sponsors are so much as lawful as is shewed before who are not Owners or their Deputies or meer secondary subservient parties who suppose the principal Covenanting party 4. And as to the Infants salvation the Sponsors may too oft be ignorant Infidels and Hypocrites themselves that have no true faith for themselves and therefore not enough to save another 5. And it were strange if God should make no promise to a wicked Parent for his own child and yet should promise to save by baptism all that some wicked
hold their own mercies upon the condition of their own continued fidelity And let their Apostasie be on other reasons never so impossible or not future yet the promise of continuance and consummation of the personal felicity of the greatest Saint on earth is still conditional upon the condition of â—his persevering sidelity 6. Even before Children are capable of Instruction there are certain duties imposed by God on the Parents for their sanctification viz. 1. That the Parents pray earnestly and believingly for them Second Commandment Prov. 20. 7. 2. That they themselves so live towards God as may invite him still to bless their Children for their sakes as he did Abrahams and usually did to the faithful's seed 7. It is certain that the Church ever required Parents not only to enter their Children into the Covenant and so to leave them but to do their after duty for their good and to pray for them and educate them according to their Covenant 8. It is plain that if there were none to promise so to educate them the Church would not baptize them And God himself who allowed the Israelites and still alloweth us to bring our Children into his Covenant doth it on this supposition that we promise also to go on to do our duty for them and that we actually do it 9. All this set together maketh it plain 1. That God never promiseth the adult in Baptism though true believers that he will work in them all graces further by his sanctifying spirit let them never so much neglect or resist him or that he will absolutely see that they never shall resist him nor that the spirit shall still help them though they neglect all his means or that he will keep them from neglecting the means Election may secure this to the Elect as such but the Baptismal Covenant as such secureth it not to the baptized nor to believers as such 2. And consequently that Infants are in Covenant with the Holy Ghost still conditionally as their Parents are And that the meaning of it The Holy Ghost is promised in Baptism to give the Child grace in his Parents and his own faithful use of the appointed means is that the Holy Ghost as your sanctifier will afford you all necessary help in the use of those means which he hath appointed you to receive his help in Obj. Infants have no means to use Answ. While Infants stand on their Parents account or Wills the Parents have means to use for the continuance of their grace as well as for the beginning of it 10. Therefore I cannot see but that if a believer should apostatize whether any do so is not the question and his Infant not be made anothers Child he forfeiteth the benefits of the Covenant to his Infant But if the propriety in the Infant be transferred to another it may alter the case 11. And how dangerously Parents may make partial forfeitures of the spirits assistance to their Children and operations on them by their own sinful lives and neglect of prayer and of prudent and holy education even in particular acts I fear many believing Parents never well considered 12. Yet is not this forfeiture such as obligeth God to deny his spirit For he may do with his own as a free benefactor as he list And may have mercy freely beyond his promise though not against his word on whom he will have mercy But I say that he that considereth the woful unfaithfulness and neglect of most Parents even the Religious in the Great work of holy educating their Children may take the blame of their ungodliness on themselves and not lay it on Christ or the spirit who was in Covenant with them as their sanctifier seeing he promised but conditionally M. â—â—istoâ— pag. â—3 As Abraham as a single person in Covenant was to accept of and perform the conditions of the Covenant so as a Parent he had something of duty incumbent on him with reference to his immediate seed And as his faithful performance of that duty incumbent on him in his single capacity so his performing that duty incumbent on him as a Parent in reference to his seed was absolutely necessary in order to his enjoying the good promised with reference to himself and his seed Proved Gen. 17 1. 18. 19. He proveth that the promise is conditional and that as to the continuance of the Covenant state the conditions are 1. The Parents upright life 2. His duty to his Children well done 3. The Childrens own duty as they are capable to give them the sanctifying Heavenly influences of his Life Light and Love in their just use of his appointed means according to their abilities 13. Also as soon as Children come to a little use of Reason they stand conjunctly on their Parents Wills and on their own As their Parents are bound to teach and rule them so they are bound to learn of them and be ruled by them for their good And though every sin of a Parent or a Child be not a total forfeiture of grace yet both their notable actual sins may justly be punished with a denyal of some further help of the spirit which they grieve and quench 11. And now I may seasonably answer the former question whether Infants Baptismal saving grace may be lost of which I must for the most that is to be said referr the Reader to Davenant in Mr. Bedfords Book on this subject and to Dr. Sam. Ward joyned with it Though Mr. Gatakers answers are very Learned and considerable And to my small Book called My Iudgement of Perseverance Augustine who first rose up for the doctrine of perseverance against its Adversaries carried it no higher than to all the Elect as such and not at all to all the Sanctified but oft affirmeth that some that were justified sanctified and Love God and are in a state of salvation are not elect and fall away But since the Reformation great reasons have been brought to carry it further to all the truly sanctified of which cause Zanchius was one of the first Learned and zealous Patrons that with great diligence in long disputations maintained it All that I have now to say is that I had rather with Davenant believe that the fore-described Infant state of salvation which came by the Parents may be lost by the Parents and the Children though such a sanctified renewed nature in holy Habits of Love as the adult have be never lost than believe that no Infants are in the Covenant of Grace and to be baptized Obj. But the Child once in possession shall not be punished for the Parents sin Answ. 1. This point is not commonly well understood I have by me a large Disputation proving from the current of Scripture a secondary original sin besides that from Adam and a secondary punishment ordinarily inflicted on Children for their Parents sins besides the common punishment of the World for the first sin 2. But the thing in question is
Actis Apostolorum invenimus quoniam qui Iohannis baptismum habebant non accepissent Spiritum Sanctum quem ne auditu quidem noverant Ergo non erat coeleste quod coelestia non exhibebat See Dr. Hammond in loc Quest. 47. Is Baptism by Lay-men or Women Lawful in Cases of necessity Or are they nullities and the person to be re-baptized Answ. 1. I Know some of the Antients allowed it in necessity But I know no such necessity that can be For 1. God hath expresly made it a part of the Ministerial Office by Commission Mat. 28. 19 20. 2. He hath no where given to any other either Command to oblige them to do it or Commission to authorize them or Promise to bless and accept them in it or Threatning if they omit it 3. He oft severely punisheth such as invade the Sacred Function or usurp any part of of it 4. Therefore it is a sin in the doer and then there can be no necessity of it in such a case in the receiver 5. He that is in Covenant by open professed Consent wants nothing necessary to his salvation either necessitate medii vel praecepti when it cannot be had in a lawful way II. As to the nullity I will not determine so controverted a point any further than to say 1. That if the Lay-man had the Counterfeit Orders of a Minister and had possession of the place and were taken for one his deceit deprived not the Receiver of his right nor made it his sin and I should not re-baptize him if after discovered 2. But if he were in no possession or pretence of the Office I would be baptized again if it were my case Because I should fear that what is done in Christs name by one that notoriously had no authority from him to do it is not owned by Christ as his deed and so is a nullity As if a deceiver go in my name to make bargains for me 3. And if any that had after discovered a Minister to be indeed no Minister that baptized him should doubt of the validity and for certainty have it done again by an authorized Minister I would not discommend him Nor would I account it Morally twice baptizing but a Physical repeating of that act which morally is but one As I explained before of Re-ordination Therefore if one that was a gross Heretick in the very Essentials or an Infidel or one that had not knowledge and parts essentially necessary to the Ministry baptize one in right words I would not blame him that for certainty would have an authorized person to do it Especially if he was notoriously such a one when he did it Let those that are angry with this resolution be as fair to me as they will be to Venerable Beda and that great Miracle-working Bishop Iohn whom in his Ecclesiastical History he reporteth to baptize a man again in England meerly because the Priest that did Of which before it was so dull ignorant and insufficient as in Iohns judgement to be uncapable of the Office and therefore had been by him forbidden to use it though the person baptized at age knew not this viz. Herebaldus ut Bed l. 5. c. 6. Quest. 48. May Anabaptists that have no other error be permitted in Church-communion Answ. YEs And tolerated in their own practice also For 1. They agree with us in all points absolutely necessary to communion 2. The antient Christians had liberty either to baptize or to let them stay till age as they thought best And therefore Tertullian and Nazianzen speak against haste And Augustine and many children of Christian Parents were baptized at age 3. The Controversie is of so great difficulty that if in all such cases none that differ be tolerated we may not live together in the world or Church but endlesly excommunicate or persecute one another 4. Such sober Antipaedobaptists will consent to profess openly that they do devote their children to God according to all the power or duty which they can find communicated or laid upon them in the Word of God And that if they believed that God would accept them into his Covenant upon their dedication they would willingly do it And that actually they do offer them to God according to their power and promise to bring them up in his way And who can force mens wills to choose aright for themselves or others Quest. 49. May one offer his Child to be baptized with the Sign of the Cross or the use of Chrysme the White Garment Milk and Hony or Exorcisme as among the Lutherans who taketh these to be unlawful things Answ. I Am not now to meddle with the question Whether they be lawful But to this question I answer 1. He that judgeth them unlawful must first do his best to be â—â—rtain whether they be so or not 2. If so he must never approve of them or consent to them 3. He must not offer his child to be so baptized when caeteris paribus he may have it done in a better manner on lawful terms 4. But when he cannot lawfully have better he may and must offer his child to them that will so baptize him rather than to worse or not at all Because baptism is Gods Ordinance and his priviledge and the sin is the Ministers and not his Another mans sinful Mode will not justifie the neglect of our duty Else we might not joyn in any Prayer or Sacrament in which the Minister modally sinneth that is with none 5. The Milk and Honey White Garment and Chrysme are so antient called by Epiphanius and others the Traditions and Customes of the Universal Church that the original of them is not known And he that then would not be so baptized must not have been baptized at all 6. But in this case he that bringeth his child to baptism should make known that it is baptism only that he desireth and that he disowneth and disalloweth the manner which he accounteth sinful And then he is no consenter to it 7. But where Law scandal or greater inconveniencies forbid him he is not to make this profession openly in the Congregation but in that prudent manner which beseemeth a sobâ—r peaceable person whether to the Minister in private or to his neighbours in converse It being easie among neighbours to make known a mans dissent without a disorderly troubling of the Church or violating the Laws of Obedience Civility and Peace 8. But he must not 1. Either offer his child to baptism where the Ordinance is essentially corrupted or worse than none 2. Or where he cannot be admitted without an actual sin of his own As by false professions subscriptions c. For we must not do evil for good ends Quest. 50. Whence came the antient universal custome of Anointing at Baptism and putting on a White Garment and tasting Milk and Honey And whether they are lawful to us Answ. 1. WE must remember that the signification of these was not by a new institution
Ministers of Christ or Lay men If Lay men their actions are unlawful If Ministers they are Commissioned officers of Christ themselves and it is the work of their own office which they do and it is they that shall have the reward or punishment But if preaching to all these Churches or giving to all these persons in a thousand Parishes the Sacraments c. were the Bishops or Archbishops work that is which they are obliged to do then they would sin in not doing it But if they are the Governours only of those that are obliged 〈◊〉 do it and are not obliged to do it themselves then Governing the doers of it is only their work And therefore it is but equivocally said that the work is theirs which others and not they are obliged to do and that they do their work per alios when they do but Govern those others in doing their own work Of this read the Lord Bacons Considerations and Grotius de Imper. summ Potest Cirâ—a Sacra who soundly resolve the case against doing the Pastoral work per alium Quest. 59. May a Lay man preach or expound the Scriptures Or what of this is proper to the Pastors office Answ. 1. NO doubt but there is some Preaching or Teaching and Expounding which a Lay man may use So did Origen so did Constantine so may a King or Iudge on the Bench so may a Parent to his Children and a Master to his family and a Schoolmaster or Tutor to his Scholars 2. It is not any one Method or Sermon-fashion which is proper to a Minister and forbidden to a Lay man That Method which is most meet to the Matter and hearers may be used by one as well as by the other 3. It is not the meer publickness of the Teaching which must tell us what is unlawful for a Lay man For Writing and Printing are the most publick wayes of Teaching And these no man taketh to be forbidden the Laity Scaliger Causabon Grotius Erasmus Constantine King Iames the Lord Bacon and abundance more Lay men have done the Church great service by their Writings And Judges on the Bench speak oft Theologically to many But that which is proper to the Ministers or Pastors of the Church is 1. To make a stated office of it and to be separated set a part devoted or consecrated and appropriated to this sacred work and not to do it occasionally only or sometimes or on the by but as their Calling and the Employment of their lives 2. To do it as Called and Commissioned Ministers of Christ who have a special nunciative and Teaching Authority committed to them And therefore are in a special manner to be heard according to their special Authority 3. To be the stated Teachers of particular Churches as their Pastors and Guides Though they may sometime permit a Lay man when there is cause to Teach them pro tempore These three are proper to the Ministerial and Pastors office But for the regulating of Lay mens Teaching 1. They must statedly keep in their families or within their proper bounds 2. They must not presume to go beyond their abilities especially in matters dark and difficult 3. They must not thrust themselves without a just call and need into publick or numerous meetings as Teachers nor do that which savoureth of Pride or Ostentation or which tendeth to cherish those vices in others 4. They must not live or Preach as from under the Government of the Church Pastors But being members of their flocks must do all as under their lawful oversight and guidance much less must they proudly and schismatically set up themselves against their lawful Pastors and bring them into Act. 20. 30. Heb. 13 7 17 24. 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. 1 Tim. 5. 17. contempt to get themselves reputation and to draw away Disciples after them 5. Times and places must be greatly distinguished In Infidel or grosly ignorant Countreys where through the want of Preachers there is a true necessity men may go much further than in Countreys where Teachers and knowledge do abound Quest. 60. What is the true sense of the distinction of Pastoral power in foro interiore exteriore rightly used Answ. 1. NOt as if the Pastors had any power of the sword or outward force or of mens Bodies or Estates immediately For all the Pastoral power is Immediately on the soul and but secondarily on the body so far as the perswaded soul will move it Reason and Love and the Authority of a messenger of Christ are all the power by which Bishops or Pastors as such can work in foro interiore vel exteriore They Rule the body but by Ruling the soul. 2. But the true use of the distinction is only to serve instead of the usual distinction of Publick and personal obligation It is one thing to satisfie a mans private Conscience about his own personal case or matters And another thing to oblige the whole Church or a particular person of his duty as a member of the society to the rest When the Pastor Absolveth a penitent person in foro interiore that is in his own Conscience he delivereth him a discharge in the name of Christ on Condition he be truly penitent Else not But in foro exteriore he actually and absolutely restoreth him to his visible state of Church Communion The rest of the members perhaps may justly think this man unlike to prove a true penitent And then in foro interiore they are not bound to believe him certainly penitent or pardoned by God But in foro exteriore that he is restored to Church Communion and that for order sake they are bound to hold Communion with him they are bound internally to believe So that it comes neer the sense of the distinction of the secret Iudgement of God and Conscience and Church judgement Quest. 61. In what sense is it true that some say that the Magistrate only hath the External Government of the Church and the Pastors the Internal Answ. 1. NOt as External and Internal are opposed in the nature of the Action For the Voice of the Pastor in Preaching is External as well as the Kings 2. Not as they are opposed in the manner of Reception For the Ears of the Auditors are external Recipients from the Preacher as well as from the King 3. Not as distinguishing the parts that are to obey the duties commanded and the sins forbidden as if the King ruled the Body only and the Pastor the soul. For the soul is bound to obey the King or else the Body could not be bound to obey him unless by cords And the Body must obey the Preacher as well as the soul. Murder drunkenness swearing lying and such other external Vices are under the Pastors power to forbid in Christs name as well as the Kings 4. Not as if all the external parts or actions of Religion were exempted from the Pastors power For preaching praying reading Sacraments Church-assemblies are external parts
of Religion and under the Pastors care But in two respects the External power is only the Kings or Civil Magistrates 1. As it is denominated from the sword or mulcts or Corporal penalties which is the external means of execution As Bishop Bilson of Obed. useth still to distinguish them with many others See B. Carlton of Jurisdiction Though in this respect the distinction were far more intelligibly exprest by The Government by the sword and by the sacred word 2. But the principal sense of their distinction is the same with Constantines who distinguished of a Bishop without and within or of our common distinction of Intrinsick and Extrinsick Government And though Internal and External have the same signification use maketh Intrinsick and Extrinsick more intelligible And by Internal is meant that power which Intrinsecally belongeth to the Pastors â—ffice as Instituted by Christ and so is Intrinsecal to the Pastorship and the Church as preaching praying ☜ sacraments the Keyes of Admission and Exclusion Ordination c. And by External is meant that which is Extrinsecal to the Pastorship and the Church which Princes have sometimes granted them but Christ hath made no part of their office In this sense the assertion is good and clear and necessary that the disposal of all things Circa Sacra all accidents and circumstances whatsoever which by Christs Institution are not Intrinsecal to the Pastorship and Church but extrinsecal do belong to the power of Kings and Magistrates Quest. 62. Is the tryal judgement or consent of the Laity necessary to the admittance of a member into the Universal or particular Church Answ. 1. IT is the Pastors office to bear and exercise the Keyes of Christs Church Therefore by office he is to Receive those that come in and consequently to be the tryer and Iudge of their fitness 2. It belongeth to the same office which is to Baptize to Iudge who is to be baptized Otherwise Ministers should not be rational Judges of their own actions but the executioners of other mens judgement It is more the Iudging who is to be baptized which the Ministers office consisteth in than in the bare doing of the outward act of Baptizing 3. He that must be the ordinary Judge in Church-admissions is supposed to have both Ability and Leisure to make him fit and Authority and Obligation to do the work 4. The ordinary body of the Laity have none of all these four qualifications much less all 1. They are not ordinarily Able so to examine a mans faith and resolution with judgement and skill as may neither tend to the wrong of himself nor of the Church For it is great skill that is required thereunto 2. They have not ordinarily Leisure from their proper callings and labours to wait on such a work as it must be waited on especially in populous places 3. They are not therefore obliged to do that which they cannot be supposed to have Ability or Leisure for 4. And where they have not the other three they can have no Authority to do it 5. It is therefore as great a crime for the Laity to usurp the Pastors office in this matter as in preaching baptizing or other parts of it 6. And though Pride often blind men both people and Pastors so as to make them overlook the burden and look only at the Authority and honour yet is it indeed an intolerable injury to the Laity if any would lay such a burden on them which they cannot bear and consequently would make them responsible for the omissions or misdoing of it to Christ their Judge 7. There is not so much as any fair pretence for the Laity having power to judge who shall be received into the Universal Church For who of the Laity should have this power Not All nor the Major Vote of the Church For who ever sought the Votes of all the Christians in the World before he baptized a man Not any one particular Church or persons above the rest For they have no Right Joh. 20 21 22 23. 21. 15 16 17 Mat 28. 19 20. 1 Cor. 4. 1 2. 1 Tim. 5 17. Heb. 13. 7 17. 1 Cor. 5. 3 4 5 6 11. 2 Thes. 3 6 10 14. Tit. 3. 10. 2 Joh. Mar. 13 9 23 33. Mar. 4 â—4 Mat. 7. 15 16. Mat. 16. 6. 11 12. Mar. 12. 38. 8 15. Phil. 3. 2 3. Col. 2. 8. 1 Pet. 3. 17. Mat 24. 4. to shew for it more than the rest 8. It is not in the power of the Laity to keep a man out of their own particular Church Communion whom the Pastor receiveth Because as is said it is his Office to judge and bear the Reyes 9. Therefore if it be ill done and an unworthy person be admitted the Consciences of the people need not accuse themselves of it or be disturbed because it is none of their employment 10. Yet the Liberty of the Church or people must be distinguished from their Governing power and their Executing duty from the power of Iudging And so 1. The people are to be Guided by the Pastors as Volunteers and not by Violence And therefore it is the Pastors duty in all doubtful cases to give the people all necessary satisfaction by giving them the Reasons of his doings that they may understandingly and quietly obey and submit 2. And in case the people discern any notable appearance of danger by introducing Hereticks and grosly impious men to corrupt the Church and by subverting the order of Christ they may go to their Pastors to desire satisfaction in the case 3. And if by open proof or notoreity it be certain that by Ignorance fraud or negligence the Pastors thus corrupt the Church the people may seek their due Remedy from other Pastors and Magistrates 4. And they may protest their own dissent from such proceedings 5. And in case of extremity may cast off Heretical and Impious and Intolerable Pastors and commit their souls to the conduct of fitter men As the Churches did against the Arrian Bishops and as Cyprian declareth it his peoples duty to do as is aforesaid Quest. 63. What power have the people in Church Censures and Excommunication Answ. THis is here adjoined because it requireth but little more than the foregoing answer 1. As it is the Pastors office to judge who is to be received so also to judge who is to be excluded 2. But the Execution of his sentence belongeth to the people as well as to himself It is they that 1 Cor 5. 3 6 11. either hold Communion with the person or avoid him 3. Therefore though ordinarily they must acquiesce in the Pastors judgement yet if he grosly offend 2 Joh. â—â—â—â— 3. 10. against the Law of God and would bring them e. g. to communion with hereticks and openly impious and excommunicate the Orthodox and Godly they may seek their remedy as before Quest. 64. What is the peoples remedy in case of the Pastors male-administration Answ. THis also
is here annexed for dispatch as being almost sufficiently answered already 1. It must be supposed that all Church disorders and male-administrations cannot be expected to be remedied but many while we are sinners and imperfect must be born 2. The first Remedy is to speak submissively to the Pastor of his faults and to say to Archippus Take Col. 4. 17. heed to the Ministry which thou hast received And if he hear not more privately for the people more openly to warn and intreat him not as his Governours but as Christians that have Reason to regard Christs interest and their own and have charity to desire his reformation 2. The next remedy is to consult with the neighbour Pastors of other Churches that they may Act. 15. admonish him not as his Governours but as neighbour Pastors 3. The next remedy is to seek redress from those Governours that have power to correct or cast our the intolerable 4. The last remedy is that of Cyprian to desert such intolerable Pastors But in all this the people must be sure that they proceed not proudly ignorantly erroneously passionately factiously disorderly or rashly Quest. 65. May one be a Pastor or a member of a particular Church who liveth so far from it as to be uncapable of personal Communion with them Answ. THe Name is taken from the Relation and the Relation is founded in Capacity Right and Obligation to actual Communion duties and priviledges 1. He that is so statedly distant is uncapable statedly of Communion and therefore uncapable of the Relation and Name 2. He that is but for a Time accidentally so distant is but for that time uncapable of Communion with them And therefore retaineth Capacity Right and obligation statedly for the future but not for the present exercise Therefore he retaineth the Relation and name in respect to his future intended exercise but not in so plenary a sense as he that is capable of present Communion 3. It is not the length or shortness of the Time of absence that wholly cutteth off or continueth the Relation and Name but the probability or improbability of a seasonable accession For if a man be removed but a day with a purpose to return no more his relation ceaseth And if a man be long purposing and probably like to return and by sickness or otherwise be hindered it doth not wholly end his relation 4. If the delay be so long as either maketh the return improbable or as necessitateth the Church to have another statedly in the Pastors place where they can have but one and so the people by taking another consent though with grief to quit their relation and title to the former there the Relation is at an end 5. It is a delusory formality of some that call themselves members of a separated or other Church from which they most ordinarily and statedly live at an utter distance and yet take themselves to be no members of the Church where they live and usually joyn with And all because they Covenanted with one and not with the other Quest. 66. If a man be injuriously suspended or Excommunicated by the Pastor or people which way shall he have remedy Answ. AS is aforesaid in case of male-administration 1. By admonishing the Pastor or those that wrong him 2. By consulting Neighbour Pastors that they may admonish him 3. By the help of Rulers where such are and the Churches good forbids it not 4. In case of extremity by removing to a Church that will not so injure you And what needs there any more save patience Quest. 67. Doth presence alwayes make us guilty of the errours or faults of the Pastor in Gods worship or of the Church Or in what cases are we guilty Answ. 1. IF it alwayes made us guilty no man could joyn with any Pastor or Church in the world without being a wilful sinner Because no man worshippeth God without sin in matter or manner omission or commission 2. If it never made us guilty it would be lawful to joyn with Mahometans and Bread-worshippers c. 3. Therefore the following decision of the question in what cases it is a duty or a sin to separate doth decide this case also For when separation is no duty but a sin there our presence in the Worship is no sin But when separation is a duty there our presence is a sin 4. Especially in these two cases our presence is a sin 1. When the very Assembly and Worship is so bad as God will not accept but judgeth the substance of it for a sin 2. In case we our selves be put upon any sin in Communion or as a previous condition of our Communion As to make some false profession or to declare our consent to other mens sin or to commit corporal visible reputative Idolatry or the like But the Pastor and Church shall answer for their own faults and not we when we have cause to be present and make them not ours by any sinful action of our own Quest. 68. Is it lawful to Communicate in the Sacrament with wicked men Answ. THe answer may be gathered from what is said before 1. If they be so wicked for number and flagitiousness and notoriety as that it is our duty to forsake the Church then to communicate with them is a sin Therefore the after resolution of the just causes of separation must be peruâ—ed As if a Church were so far defiled with Heresie or open Impiety that it were justified by the Major Vote and bore down Faith and Godliness and the society were become uncapable of the Ends of Church Association and Communion In this and other cases it must be deserted 2. If we dâ— not perform our own duty to remote unlawful Communions whether it be by admonition of the offender or Pastor or what ever is proved really our duty the omission of that duty is our sin 3. But if we sin not by omitting our own duty it will be no sin of ours to communicate with the Church where scandalous sinners or Hereticks are permitted The Pastors and delinquents sins are not ours 4. Yea if we do omit our own duty in order to the remedy that will not justifie us in denying Communion with the Church while wicked men are there But it will rather aggravate our sin to omit one duty first and thence fetch occasion to omit another Quest. 69. Have all the members of the Church right to the Lords Table And is Suspension lawful OF this see the Defence of the Synods Propositions in New England I answer 1. You must distinguish between a fundamental Right of State and an immediate right of present possession or if you will Between a Right duly to receive the Sacrament and a Right to immediate reception simply considered 2. You must distinguish between a Questioned Controverted right and an unquestioned right And so you must conclude as followeth 1. Every Church-member at least adult as such hath the fundamental right of stated
Relation or a Right duly to receive the Sacrament that is To receive it understandingly and seriously at those seasons when by the Pastors it is administred 2. But if upon faults or accusations this Right be duly questioned in the Church it is become a controverted right and the possession or admission may by the Bishops or Pastors of the Church be suspended if they see cause while it is under tryall till a just decision 3. Though Infants are true members yet the want of natural capacity duly to receive maketh it unlawful to give them the Sacrament because it is to be Given only to Receivers and Receiving is more than eating and drinking It is Consenting to the Covenant which is the real Receiving in a moral sense or at least Consent professed So that they want not a state of right as to their Relation but a natural capacity to Receive 4. Persons at age who want not the Right of a stated Relation may have such actual Natural and Moral indispositions as may also make them for that time unmeet to Receive As Sickness Infection a Journey persecution scattering the Church a Prison And morally 1. Want of necessary knowledge of the nature of the Sacrament which by the negligence of Pastors or Parents may be the case of some that are but newly past their childhood 2. Some heinous sin of which the sinner hath not so far repented as to be yet ready to receive a sealed pardon or which is so scandalous in the Church as that in publick respects the person is yet unfit for its priviledges 3. Such sins or accusations of sin as make the persons Church-title justly Controverted and his Communion suspended till the case be decided 4. Such fears of unworthy Receiving as were like to hurt and distract the person if he should receive till he were better satisfied These make a man uncapable of present Reception and so are a barr to his plenary right They have still right to Receive in a due manner But being yet uncapable of that due Receiving they have not a plenary right to the thing 5. The same may be said of other parts of our duty and priviledges A man may have a Relative habitual or stated right to praise God and give him thanks for his justification and sanctification and adoption and to godly conference to exercises of humiliation c. who yet for want of present actual preparation may be uncapable and so want a plenary right 6. The understanding of the double preparation necessary doth most clearly help us to understand this case A man that is in an unregenerate state must be visibly cured of that state of utter ignorance unbelief ungodliness before he can be a member of the Church and lay a claim to its priviledges But when that is done besides this general preparation a particular preparation also to each duty is necessary to the right doing it A man must understand what he goeth about and must consider of it and come with some suitable affections A man may have right to go a journey that wants a Horse or may have a Horse that is not sadled He that hath clothes must put them on before he is fit to come into company He that hath right to write may want a pen or have a bad one Having of Gracious habits may need the addition of bringing them into such acts as are suitable to the work in hand Quest. 70. Is there any such thing in the Church as a rank or Classis or Species of Church members at age who are not to be admitted to the Lords Table but only to hearing the Word and Prayer between Infant members and adult confirmed ones Answ. SOme have excogitated such a classis or species or order for convenience as a prudent necessary thing Because to admit all to the Lords Table they think dangerous on one side And to cast all that are unfit for it out of the Church they think dangerous on the other side and that which the people would not bear Therefore to preserve the reverence of the Sacrament and to preserve their own and the Churches peace they have contrived this middle way or rank And indeed the controversie seemeth to be more about the title whether it may be called a middle order of meer Learners and Worshippers than about the Matter I have occasionally written more of it than I can here stay to recite And the accurate handling of it requireth more words than I will here use This breviate therefore shall be all 1. It is certain that such Catechumens as are in meer preparation to faith repentance and baptism are no Church-members or Christians at all and so in none of these ranks 2. Baptism is the only ordinary regular door of enterance into the visible Church and no man unless in extraordinary cases is to be taken for a Church-member or visible Christian till Baptized Two Objections are brought against this 1. The Infants of Christians are Church-members as such before baptism and so are believers They are baptized because members and not members by baptism Answ. This case hath no difficulty 1. A Believer as such is a member of Christ and the Church What makes a visible member invisible but not of the visible Church till he be an orderly Professor of that belief And this Profession is not left to every mans will how it shall be made but Christ hath prescribed and instituted a certain way and manner of profession which shall be the only ordinary symbol or badge by which the Church shall know visible members and that is baptism Indeed when baptism cannot be had an open profession without it may serve For Sacraments are made for Man and not Man for Sacraments But when it may be had it is Christs appointed Symbol Tessera and Church-door And till a person be baptized he is but Irregularly and initially a Professor As an Embrio in the Womb is a man or as a Covenant before the writing sealing and delivering is initially a Covenant or as persons privately contracted without solemn Matrimony are married or as a man is a Minister upon Election and Tryal before Ordination He hath only in all these cases the beginning of a title which is not compleat nor at all sufficient in foro Ecclesiâ— to make a man Visibly and Legally A married man a Minister and so here a Christian. For Christ hath chosen his own visible badge by which his Church-members must be known 2. And the same is to be said of the Infant-title of the children of believers They have but an initial right before baptism and not the badge of visible Christians For there are three distinct gradations to make up their visible Christianity 1. Because they are their own and as it were parts of themselves therefore Believers have power and obligation to dedicate their children in Covenant with God 2. Because every believer is himself dedicated to God with all that is his own according
which are commonly supposed to be the Responses of the people or repeated by them And in Rev. 14. 2 3. the voice as of many waters and as of a great thunder and the voice of Harpers harping with their harps who sung a new song before the Throne and before the four beasts and the elders a song which noâ—e could learn but the hundred forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the Earth which were not defiled with women who were Virgins and followed the Lamb c. doth seem very plainly to be spoken of the praises of all the Saints Chap. 17. 15. by waters is meant people multitudes c. And Chap. 1â— 5 6 7 8. there is expresly recited a form of praise for all the people A voice came out of the Throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waâ—â—rs and as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Alleluja for the Lord God omnipotent reigâ—eth Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready and to her was granted c. And indeed he that hath stiled all his people Priests to God and a holy and royal Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ and to shew forth the praises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the virtues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light doth seem not to take them for so prophanâ— a generation as to be prohibited from speaking to God in publick any otherwise than by the mouth of a Priest And it seemeth to be more allowed and not less under the Gospel than under the Law because Numb 1. 5â— 3. 10 38. Exod. 20. Heb. 4. 16 17. Eph. 2. 13. Heb. 12. 18 21 22 23. then the people as under guilt were kept at a greater distance from God and must speak to him more by a Priest that was a type of Christ our intercessour But now we are brought nigh and reconciled to God and have the spirit of soâ—s and may go by Christ alone unto the Father And therefore though it be true that Ministers yet are sub-intercessours under Christ our high Priest yet they are rarely called Priestâ— but described more in the new Testament by other parts of their office Obj. But the peoples responses make a confused noise in the Assemblies not intelligible Answ. All things are ill done that are done by ill men that carnally and formally slubber it over But if the best and holiest people would unanimously set themselves to do it as they do in singing Psalms so that they did not only stand by to be the hearers of others it would be done more orderly and spiritually as well as singing is Quest. 84. Is it not a sin for our Clerks to make themselves the mouth of the people who are no ordained Ministers of Christ Answ. 1. IN those places where ordained Deacons do it this objection hath no place 2. The Clerks are not appointed to be the mouth of the people But only each Clerk is one of the people commanded to do that which all should do lest it should be wholly left undone If all the Congregation will speak all that the Clerk doth it will answer the primary desire of the Church-Governours who bid the People do it But if they that will not do it themselves shall pretend that the Clerk doth usurp the Ministry because he ceaseth not as well as they they might as well say so by a few that should sing Psalms in the Church when the rest are against it and forbear May not a man do his duty in singing or saying when you refuse yours without pretending to be your mouth or usurping the Ministry Quest. 85. Are repetitions of the same words in Church-prayers lawful Answ. 1. IT is not lawful to affect them as the Heathens who think they shall be heard for their Maâ— 6. 18. Battologie or saying over the same words as if God were moved by them as by a charm 2. Nor is it lawful to do that which hath a strong appearance of such a conceit and thereby to make Gods worship ridiculous and contemptible As the Papists in their Psalters and Prayer Books repeating over the name of Iesus and Mary so oft together as maketh it seem a ludicrous Canting But 1. It is lawful to speak the same words from fulness and fervency of zeal 2. And when we are afraid to give over lest we have not yet prevailed with God 3. And in Gods solemn Praises sung or said a word or sentence oft repeated sometime hath an elegancy and affecting decency And therefore it is so often used in the Psalms yea and in many Scripture Prayers 4. In such cases to Psal. 136. 107. 8 13 21 c. bring a serious urgency of spirit to the repeated words and not to quarrel with the repetitions is the duty of one that joyneth with true Christian Assemblies as a son of piety and peace Quest. 86. Is it lawful to bow at the naming of Iesus Answ. THE question either respecteth the Person of Jesus named by any of his names or else Mic. 6. 6. Jer. 23. 27. Isa. 52 5 6. Isa. 29. 24. Isa. 42. 8 9. Psal. 2. 10 11. Phil. 2. 9 10 11 12. Psal. 34. 3. 66. 2. 68. 4. 72 19. â—6 1 2. 96 2. 100. 4. 111. 9. 148. 13. 149. 3. Isa. 9. 6 7. 12. â— Psal. 138. 2 3. Rev. 15. 4. 1 Chron. 29. 20. 2 Chron. 29. 30. this name Iesus only And that either simply in it self considered or else comparatively as excluding or not including â—â—â—â—er names 1. That the person of Iesus is to be bowed to I never knew a Christian deny 2. That we may lawfully express our reverence by bowing when the names God Jehovah Jesus Christ c. are uttered I have met with few Christians who deny nor know I any reason to deny it 3. Had I been fit to have prescribed directions to other Ministers or Churches I would not have perswaded much less commanded them to bow at the Name of Iesus any more than at the name of God Iehovah Christ c. For many Reasons which the Reader may imagine though I will not now mention them 4. But if I live and joyn in a Church where it is commanded and peremptorily urged to bow at the name of Iesus and where my not doing it would be divisive scandalous or offensive I will bow at the name of God Iehovah Iesus Christ Lord c. one as well as the other seeing it is not bowing at Christs name that I scruple but the consequents of seeming to distinguish and prefer that name alone before all the rest Quest. 87. Is it lawful to stand up at the Gospel
in his office and be satisfied that he hath discharged his own duty and leave them under the guilt of their own faults 3. But if it be an intolerable wickedness or Heresie as Arrianism Socinianism c. and the people own the errour or sin as well as the person the Pastor is then to admonish them also and by all means to endeavour to bring them to Repentance And if they remain impenitent to renounce Communion with them and desert them 4. But if they own not the crime but only think the person injured the Pastor must give them the proof for their satisfaction And if they remain unsatisfied he may proceed in his office as before Quest. 92. May a whole Church or the greater part be Excommunicated Answ. 1. TO excommunicate is by Ministerial Authority to pronounce the person unmeet for Christian Communion as being under the guilt of impenitence in heynous sin and to charge the Church to forbear Communion with him and avoid him and to bind him over to the bar of God 2. The Pastor of a particular Church may pronounce all the Church uncapable of Christian Communion and salvation till they repent e. g. If they should all be impenitent Arrians Socinians Blaspheamers c. For he hath authority and they deserve it But he hath no Church that he is Pastor of whom he can command to avoid them 3. The neighbour Pastors of the Churches about them may upon full proof declare to their own Churches that such a neighbour Church that is faln to Arrianism c. is unmeet for Christian Communion and to be owned as a Church of Christ and therefore charge their flocks not to own them nor to have occasional Communion with their members when they come among them For there is Authority and a meet object and necessity for so doing And therefore it may be done 4. But a single Pastor of another Church may not usurp authority over any neighbour Church to judge them and excommunicate them where he hath neither call nor 2 Joh. 10 11. 3 Joh 9. 10. Rev. 2. 5 16. 3. 3â— 15 6. full proof as not having had opportunity to admonish them all and try their repentance Therefore the Popes Excommunications are rather to be contemned than regarded 5. Yet if many Churches turn Hereticks notoriously one single neighbour Pastor may renounce their Communion and require his flock for to avoid them all 6. And a Pastor may as lawfully excommunicate the Major part of his Church by charging the Minor part to avoid them as he may do the Minor part Except that accidentally the inconveniences of a division may be so great as to make it better to forbear And so it may oft fall out also if it were the minor part Quest. 93. What if a Church have two Pastors and one Excommunicate a man and the other absolve him what shall the Church and the dissenter do Answ. IT was such cases that made the Churches of old choose Bishops and ever have but one Bishop in one Church But 1. He that is in the wrong is first bound to repent and yield to the other 2. If he will not the other in a tolerable ordinary case may for peace give way to him though not Consent to his injurious dealing 3. In a dubious case they should both forbear proceeding till the case be cleared 4. In most cases each party should act according to his own judgement if the Counsel of neighbour Pastors be not able to reconcile them And the people may follow their own judgements and forbear obeying either of them formally till they agree Quest. 94. For what sins may a man be denied Communion or Excommunicated Whether for impenitence in every little sin Or for great sin without impenitence Answ. 1. I Have shewed before that there is a suspension which is but a forbearance of giving a man the Sacrament which is only upon an Accusation till his cause be tryed And an Innocent person may be falsly accused and so tryed 2. Some sins may be of so heynous scandal that if the person repent of them this day his absolution and reception may be delayed till the scandal be removed 1. Because the publick good is to be preferred before any mans personal good 2. And the Churches or Enemies about cannot so suddenly know of a mans repentance If they hear of a mans Murder Perjury or Adultery to day and hear that he is absolved to morrow they will think that the Church consisteth of such or that it maketh very light of sin Therefore the ancient Churches delayed and imposed penances partly to avoid such scandal 3. And partly because that some sins are so heynous that a sudden profession is not a sufficient Evidence of repentance unless there be also some evidence of Contrition 3. But ordinarily no man ought to be Excommunicate for any sin whatsoever unless Impenitence be Luk. 13. 3 5. Act. 2. 37 38 39 c. added to the sin Because he is first to be admonished to Repent Matth. 18. 15 16. Tit. 3. 10. And Repentance is the Gospel condition of pardon to believers 4. A man is not to be excommunicated for every sin which he repenteth not of Because 1. Else all men should be Excommunicated For there are in all men some errours about sin and duty and so some sins which men cannot yet perceive to be sins 2. And Ministers are not Inâ—allible and may take that for a sin which is no sin and so should excommunicate the innocent 3. And daily unavoidable infirmities though repented of yet awaken not the soul sometimes to a notable contrition Gâ—l 6. 1 2 3 4. Jam. 3. 1 2 3. nor are they fit matter for the Churches admonition A man is not to be called openly to repentance before the Church for every idle word or hour 4. Therefore to Excommunication these two must concur 1. A heynousness in the sin 2. Impenitence after due admonition and patience Quest. 95. Must the Pastors examine the people before the Sacrament Answ. 1. REgularly they should have sufficient notice after they come to age that they own their Baptismal Covenant and that they have that due understanding of the Sacrament and the Sacramental work and such a Christian Profession as is necessary to a due participation 2. But this is fitlyest done at their solemn transition out of their Infant-Church-state into their adult And it is not necessarily to be done every time they come to the Lords Table unless the person desire help for his own benefit but only once before their first communicating if it be the satisfaction of the Pastor or Church that is intended by it Quest. 96. Is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper a Converting Ordinance Answ. YOu must distinguish 1. Between the Conversion of Infidels without the Church and of Hypocrites within it 2. Between the primary and the secondary intention of the Instituter 3. Between the primary duty of the receiver and the
order to our Absolution and Communion 4. Especially so far as is necessary to subdue our fleshly lusts and tame our bodies and bring them into a due subjection to our faith and to avoid our sin for the time to come And also by 2 Cor. 7. 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 9 27. Col. 1. 5 6. Rom. 13 13 14. the exercise of sober mortification prudently to keep under all our worldly phantasies and love of this present world without unfitting our selves for duty 5. And so far as is needful by such mortification to fit us for fervent prayer especially by fasting on dayes of humiliation and to help us in our meditations of death and judgement and to further our heavenly contemplations and conversation 6. The greatest difficulty is Whether any self-revenge be lawful or due which is answered by Psal. 69. 10. Lev. 16. 29 31. â—3 27 32. Numb 29. 7. 30. 13. Ezra 8. 21. what is said already None such as disableth us for Gods service is lawful But true Repentance is an anger or great displeasure with our selves for sin and a hatred of sin and loathing of our selves for it And to judge condemn and afflict our own souls by a voluntary self-punishing is but that exercise of justice on our selves which is fit for pardoned sinners that are not to be condemned by the Lord and indeed the just exercise of Repentance and displeasure against our selves On which accounts of sober self-revenge we may cherish such degrees of godly sorrow fasting course cloathing as Sackcloth and denying our selves the pleasures of this world as shall not be hurtful but helpful to our duty And if great and heinous sinners have of old on these terms exceeded other men in their austerities and self-afflictings we cannot condemn them of superstition unless we more particularly knew more cause for it But popishly to think that self-afflicting without respect to Isa. 58. 5. such causes or necessities is a meritorious perfection fit for others is superstition indeed And â—o think as many of the Melancholy do that self-murder is a lawful self-revenge is a heinous sin and leadeth to that which is more heinous and dangerous Quest. 101. Is it lawful to observe stated times of fasting imposed by others without extraordinary occasion And particularly Lent Answ. REmember that I here meddle not with the question how far it is lawful for Rulers to 2 Chron. 20 3. Ezâ—a 8. 21. Jonah 3. 5. Zech. 8. 19. Joel 2. 15. Read Dallaeus Treatise de Iejuniis impose such Fasts on others save only to say 1. That it is undoubtedly fit for Kings to do it by Precepts and Churches by Consent in extraordinary cases of defection sin or judgements 2. That it is undoubtedly sinful usurpation for either Pope or any pretended Ecclesiastical Universal Rulers to impose such on the Universal Church Because there are no Universal Rulers Or for a neighbour Bishop by usurpation to impose it on a neighbour Church 3. And that it is sinful in all or many Churches to make by their Agreements such things to be necessary to their Union or Communion with their neighbour Churches so that they will take all those for Schismaticks that differ from them in such indifferent things But as to the Using of such fasts omitting the imposing I say I. 1. Thâ—â— so great and extraordinary a duty as holy fasting must not be turned into a meer Isa. 58. 3 5 6 7 8. formality oâ— ceremony 2. No particular man must be so observant of a publick commanded anniversary fast as for it to neglect any duty commanded him by God which is inconsistent with it As to rejoyce or keep a day of Thanksgiving in Lent upon an extraordinary obliging cause To keep the Lords day in Lent as a day of Thanksgiving and Rejoycing To preserve our own health c. It is not lawful in obedience to man to fast so much or use such dyet as is like to destroy our lives or health These being not so far put into the power of man Nor can man dispence with us as to the duty of self-preservation If God himself require us not to offer him our lives and health needlesly as an acceptable Sacrifice nor ever maketh self-destruction our duty no nor any thing that is not for mans own good then we are not to believe without very clear proof that either Prince or Prelates have more power than ever God doth use himself 3. Such an Anniversary fast as is meet for the remembrance of some sin or judgement if commanded is to be kept both for the Reason of it and for the Authority of the Commander For 1. It is not unlawful as Anniversary For 1. It is not forbidden and 2. There may be just occasion Some arbitrarily keep an anniversary fast on the day of their Nativity as I have long done and some on the day that they fell into some great sin and some on the day of the death of a friend or of some personal domestick or National Calamity and none of this is forbidden 2. And that which is not unlawful in it self is not therefore unlawful to be done because it is commanded seeing obedience to superiours is our duty and not our sin unless in sinful things 4. Whether it be lawful or meet to commemorate Christs sufferings by anniversary fasts is next to be considered II. As for Lent in particular We must distinguish 1. Between the antient Lent and the later Lent 2. Between keeping it on a Civil account and on a Religious 3. Between true fasting and change of dyet 4. Between the Imitation of Christs fourty dayes fasting and the meer Commemoration of it Which premised I conclude 1. The keeping a true Fast or Abstinence from food for fourty dayes on what account soever being impossible or self-murder is not to be attempted 2. The Imitation of Christ in his fourty dayes fasting is not to be attempted or pretended to Because his miraculous works were not done for our imitation And it is presumption for us to pretend to such a power as is necessary to Miracles or yet to make any Essayes at such an imitation any more than at the raising of the dead 3. The pretending of a fast when men do but change their dyet Flesh for Fish Fruit Sweet-meats c. is but hypocritical and ridiculous Most poor labourers and temperate Ministers do live all the year on a more flesh-denying dyet and in greater abstinence than many Papists do in Lent or on their fasting dayes And what a ridiculous dispute is it to hear e. g. a Calvin that never eateth but one small meal a day for many years to plead against the keeping of the Popish fasts and their Clergy call him voracious and carnal and an Epicure and plead for fasting as holy mortification who eat as many meals and as much meat on a Lent day or fasting day as Calvin did in three feasting dayes and drink as much Wine in
a Lent as he in twenty years Sure I am I know many such on both sides Some that eat but a small meal a day and never drink Wine at all and others that drink Wine daily and eat of many dishes at a meal and that to the full and of the sweetest as Fish Fruits c. yet rail at the former for not fasting as they do So delusory are the outward appearances and so â—alse the pretensions of the carnal sort 4. The antient Lent consisted first of one day Good-fryday alone and after that of three dayes and then of six and at last it came up to fourty Of which read Dallaeus ubi supra at large 5. None can question the lawfulness of an obedient keeping of such a Civil Lent fast as our Statutes command for the vending of Fish and for the breed of Cattle so be it no bodily necessity oâ— greater duty be against it 6. It is not unlawful for those that cannot totally fast yet to use more abstinence and a more mortifying sort of dyet than ordinary for the exercises of repentance and mortification in due time 7. If Authority shall appoint such a mortifying abstemious course upon lawful or tolerable grounds and ends I will obey them if they peremptorily require it when my health or some greater duty forbiddeth it not 8. As for the Commanding such an Abstinence as in Lent not in Imitation but bare Commemoration of Christs forty dayes fast I would not command it if it were in my power But being peremptorily commanded I cannot prove it unlawful to obey with the fore-mentioned exceptions 9. It was antiently held a crime to fast on the Lords dayes even in Lent And I take that day to be separated by Christ and the Holy Ghost for a Church Festival or day of Thanksgiving Therefore I will not keep it as a fast though I were commanded unless in such an extraordinary necessity as aforesaid OF Pilgrimages Saints Relicts and Shrines Temples of their Miracles of Pray 〈…〉 to Angels to Saints for the Dead of Purgatory of the Popes Pardons Indulgences Dispensations of the Power of true Pastors to forgive sins with a multitude of such cases which are commonly handled in our Controversal Writers against the Papists I must thither refer the Reader for a Solution because the handling of all such particular Cases would swell my Book to a magnitude beyond my intention and make this part unfuitable to the rest Quest. 102. May we continue in a Church where some one Ordinance of Christ is wanting as Discipline Prayer Preaching or Sacraments though we have all the rest Answ. DIstinguish 1. Of Ordinances 2. Of a stated want and a temporary want 3. Of one that may have better and one that cannot 1. Teaching Prayer and Praise are Ordinances of such necessity that Church Assemblies have not their proper use without them 2. The Lords Supper is of a secondary need and must be used when 〈…〉 but a Church-Assembly may attain its ends sometimes without it in a good degree 3. Discipline is implicitly exercised when none but the Baptized are Communicants and when professed Christians voluntarily assemble and the preaching of the Word doth distinguish the precious from the vile Much more when notorious scandalous sinners are by the Laws kept from the Sacrament As our Rubrick and Canons do require 4. But for the fuller explicite and exacter exercise of discipline it is very desirable for the well being of the Churches but it is but a stronger fence or hedge and preservative of Sacred Order And both the being of a Church and the profitable use of holy assemblies may subsist without it As in Helvetia and other Countreys it is found I conclude then 1. That he that consideratis considerandis is a free man should choose that place Acts 28. ult 11. 26. 20. 7 20 c. 1 Cor. 14. Acts 2. 42. 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. 2 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 10. 25 26 Col 4. 16. Acts 13 27. 15 2â— â— Theâ—s 5 27. 1 Cor. 5. 3 4 c. where he hath the fullest opportunities of worshipping God and edifying his soul. 2. He is not to be accounted a free-man that cannot remove without a greater hurt than the good either to the Church or Countrey or to his family his neighbours or himself 3. Without Teaching Prayer and Divine Praises we are not to reckon that we have proper Church-Assemblies and Communion 4. We must do all that is in our power to procure the right use of Sacraments and Discipline 5. When we cannot procure it it is lawful and a duty to joyn in those Assemblies that are without it and rather to enjoy the rest than none Few Churches have the Lords Supper above once a moneth which in the Primitive Church was used every Lords day and ofter And yet they meet on other dayes 6. It is possible that Preaching Prayer and Praise may be so excellently performed in some Churches that want both Discipline and the Lords Supper and all so coldly and ignorantly managed in another Church that hath all the Ordinances that mens souls may much more flourish and prosper under the former than the later 7. If forbearing or wanting some Ordinances for a time be but in order to a probable procurement Matth. 26. 31. Acts 8. 1. of them we may the better forbear 8. The time is not to be judged of only by the length but by the probability of success For sometime Gods Providence and the disturbances of the times or the craft of men in power may keep men so long in the dark that a long expectation or waiting may become our duty Quest. 103. Must the Pastors remove from one Church to another when ever the Magistrate commandeth us though the Bishops contradict it and the Church consent not to dismiss us And so of other Cases of disagreement Answ. 1. AS in mans soul the Intellectual Guidance the Will and the executive power do concur so in Church Cases of this nature the Potestative Government of the Magistrate the Directive Guidance of the senior Pastors and the Attractive Love of the people who are the chief inferiour final Cause should all concur And when they do not it is confusion And when Gods order is broken which commandeth their concurrence it is hard to know what to do in such a division which God alloweth not As it is to know whether I should take part with the Heart against the Head or with the Head against the Stomach and Liver on supposition of cross inclinations or interests when as Nature supposeth either a concord of inclination and interests or else the ruine sickness or death of the person And the Cure must be by reconciling them rather than by knowing which to side with against the rest But seeing we must suppose such diseases frequently to happen they that cannot cure them must know how to behave themselves and to do their own duty For my
own part in such cases I would do thus 1. I would look at my ultimate end Gods Glory and at the next end the Good of souls and welfare Eph. 4. 12 14. 2 Cor. 10. 8. 13. 10. Rom. 14. 19. Rom. 15. 2. 1 Cor. 10. 23. 1 Cor. 14. 5 12 26. 2 Cor. 12. 19. of the Church and so at the Peoples Interest as it is the End of the Order of Magistracy and Ministry And I would take my self to be so obliged to that end as that no point of meer Order could disoblige me the End being better than the Means as such Therefore I would do all things to edification supposing that all Power of man is as Paul's was for Edification and not for destruction 2. But in judging of what is Best for the Church I must take in every accident and circumstance and look to many more than to a few and to distant parts as well as to those near me and to the time and ages to come as well as to the present and not go upon mistaken suppositions of the Churches good He that doth not see all things that are to be weighed in such a case may err by leaving out some one 3. I would obey the Magistrate formally for conscience sake in all things which belong to his Office And particularly in this case if it were but a Removal from place to place in respect to the Temple or Tythes or for the Civil peace or for the preservation of Church order in cases where it is not grosly injurious to the Church and Gospel 4. In cases which by Gods appointment belong to the Conduct of Bishops or Pastors or the Concord of Consociate Churches I would formaliter follow them And in particular if they satisfie me that the removal of me is an apparent injury to the Church As in the Arrians times when the Emperours removed the Orthodox from all the Great Churches to put in Arrians I would not obedientially and voluntarily remove 5. If Magistrates and Bishops should concur in commanding my remove in a case notoriously injurious and pernicious to the Church as in the aforesaid case to bring in an Arrian I would not obey formally for conscience sake supposing that God never gave them such a power against mens souls and the Gospel of Christ And there is no power but of God 6. But I would prefer both the Command of the Magistrate and the Direction of the Pastors before the meer will and humour of the people when their safety and welfare were not concerned in the case 7. And when the Magistrate is peremptory usually I must obey him Materially when I do it not formally in conscience to his meer Command Because though in some cases he may do that which belongeth not to his Office but to the Pastors yet his violence may make it become the Churches interest that I yield and give place to his wrath For as I must not Resist him by force so if I depart not at his Command it may bring a greater suffering on the Churches And so for preventing a greater evil he is to be submitted to in many cases where he goeth against God and without authority though not to be formally obeyed 8. Particular Churches have no such interest in their Ministers or Pastors as to keep them against their wills and the Magistrates and against the interest of the Universal Church as shall be next asserted I have spoken to this instance as it taketh in all other cases of difference between the Power of the Magistrate the Pastors and the peoples interest when they disagree and not as to this case alone Quest. 104. Is a Pastor obliged to his Flock for Life Or is it lawful so to oblige himself And may be remove without their Consent And so also of a Church-member the same questions are put THese four Questions I put together for brevity and shall answer them distinctly I. 1. A Minister is obliged to Christ and the Universal Church for Life durante vita with this exception if God disable him not 2. But as a Pastor he is not obliged to this or that flock for life There is no such command or example in Gods Word II. To the second 1. It is lawful to oblige our selves to a people for life in some cases conditionally that is If God do not apparently call us away 2. But it is never lawful to do it Absolutely 1. Because we shall engage our selves against God against his power over us and interest in us and his wisdom that must guide us God may call us whither he please And though now he speak not by supernatural revelation yet he may do it by providential alterations 2. And we shall else oblige our selves against the Universal Church to which we are more strictly bound than to any particular Church and whose good may oblige us to remove 3. Yea we may bind our selves to the hurt of that Church it self seeing it may become its interest to part with us 4. And we should so oblige our selves against our duty to authority which may remove us III. To the third question I answer 1. A Pastor may not causelesly remove nor for his own worldly commodity when it is to the hurt of the Church and hinderance of the Gospel 2. When he hath just cause he must acquaint the people with it and seek their satisfaction and consent 3. But if he cannot procure it he may remove without it As 1. When he is sure that the interest of the Gospel and Universal Church require it 2. Or that just authority doth oblige him to it The reasons are plain from what is said And also 1. He is no more bound to the people than they are to him But they are not so bound to him but they may remove on just occasion 2. If he may not remove it is either because God forbids it or because his own Contract with them hath obliged him against it But 1. God no where forbids it 2. Such a contract is supposed not made nor lawful to be made IV. As to the peoples case it needs no other answer 1. No member may remove without cause 2. Nor abruptly and uncharitably to the Churches dissatisfaction when he may avoid it But 3. He may remove upon many just causes private or publick whether the Church and Pastors consent or not so the manner be as becometh a Christian. Quest. 105. When many men pretend at once to be the true Pastors of a particular Church against each others title through differences between the Magistrates the Ordainers and the Flocks what should the people do and whom should they adhere to Answ. THis case is mostly answered before in Quest. 82. c. I need only to add these What Pastor to adhere to Rules of Caution 1. Do not upon any pretence accept of an Heretick or one that is utterly unfit for the Office 2. Do not easily take a Dividing Course or person but keep
that nothing is of it self and directly any part of the Christian Religion which is not there 6. It instituteth those Sacraments perfectly which are the seals of Gods Covenant with man and the delivery of the benefits and which are the Badges or Symbols of the Disciples and Religion of Christ in the World 7. It determineth what Faith Prayer and obedience shall be his appointed means and Conditions of Justification Adoption and Salvation And so what shall be Professed and Preached in his name to the World 8. It is a perfect Instrument of donation or Conveyance of our Right to Christ and of Pardon and Justification and Adoption and the Holy Spirits assistances and of Glory As it is Gods Covenant promise or deed of gift 9. It instituteth certain Ministers as his own Church officers and perfectly describeth their office as instituted by him 10. It instituteth the form of his Church Universal which is called his body And also of Particular holy societies for his Worship And prescribeth them certain Duties as the Common Worship there to be performed 11. It determineth of a weekly day even the first to be separated for and used in this holy Worship 12. It is a perfect General Rule for the Regulating of those things which it doth not command or forbid in particular As that all be done wisely to edification in charity peace concord season order c. 13. It giveth to Magistrates Pastors Parents and other Superiours all that power by which they are authorized to oblige us under God â—o any undetermined particulars 14. It is the perfect Rule of Christs Judging Rewarding and punishing at last according to which he will proceed 15. It is the only Law that is made by Primitive Power 16. And the only Law that is made by Inâ—allâ—ble wisdom 17. And the only Law which is faultless and hath no thing in it that will do the subject any harm 18. And the only Law which is from Absolute Power the Rule of all other Laws and from which Psal. 12. 6. 19. 7 8 9 10. Psal. 119. there is finally no appeal Thus far the holy Scripture with the Law of nature is our perfect Rule But not in any of the following respects 1. It is no particular revelation or perfect Rule of natural Sciences as Physicks Metaphysicks c. 2. It is no Rule for the Arts for Medicine Musick Arithmetick Geometry Astronomy Grammar Râ—eâ—orick Logick nor for the Mechanicks as Navigation Architecture and all the Trades and occupations of men no not Husbandry by which we have our food 3. It is no particular Rule for all the muâ—able subordinate duties of any societies It will not serve instead of all the Statutes of this and all other Lands nor tell us when the Terms shall begin and end nor what work every Parent and Master shall set his Children and Servants in his family c. 4. It is no full Rule in particular for all those Political principles which are the ground of humane Laws As whether each Republick be Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical What person or of what Family shall Reign Who shall be his Officers and Judges and how diversified so of his Treasury Munition Coin c. 5. It is no Rule of Propriety in particular by which every man may know which is his own Land or house or goods or Cattle 6. It is no particular Rule for our natural actions what meat we shall eat what Cloaths we shall wear So of our rest labour c. 7. It is no particular Law or Rule for any of all those Actions and Circumstances about Religion or Gods own Ordinances which he hath only commanded in general and left in specie or particular to be determined by man according to his General Laws But of these next Quest. 131. What Additions or humane Inventions in or about Religion not commanded in Scripture are lawful or unlawful Answ. 1. THese following are unlawful 1. To feign any new Article of faith or doctrine any Deut. 12. 32. Rev. 2â— 18. Col. 2. 18 19 20 21 22 23. 16 17. Mat. 15. 3 8 9. Gal. 1. 8 9. Jer. 5. 12. Jer. 14. 14. 23 25 26 32. Ezek. 13 9 19. 22. 28. Zeâ—h 13. 2 3 4 5 6. precept promise threatning prophesie or revelation and falsly to father it upon God and say that it is of him or his special Word 2. To say that either that is written in the Bible which is not or that any thing is the sense of a Text which is not and so that any thing is a sin or a duty by Scripture which is not Or to father Apocryphal Books or Texts or words upon the spirit of Christ. 3. To make any Law for the Church universal or as obligatory to all Christians which is to usurp the soveraignty of Christ For which treasonable Usurpation it is that Protestants call the Pope Antichrist 4. To add new parts to the Christian Religion 5. To make any Law which it did properly belong to the Universal Soveraign to have made if it should have been made at all Or which implyeth an accusation of ignorance oversight errour or omission in Christ and the holy Scriptures 6. To make new Laws for mens inward Heart-duties towards God 7. To make new Sacraments for the fealing of Christs Covenant and Collation of his benefits therein contained and to be the publick Tesserae Badges or Symbols of Christians and Christianity in the World 8. To feign new Conditions of the Covenant of God and necessary means of our Justification Adoption and salvation 9. To alter Christs instituted Church-Ministry or add any that are supra-ordinate co-ordinate or derogatory to their office or that stand on the like pretended ground and for equal ends 10. To make new spiritual societies or Church-forms which shall be either supra-ordinate co-ordinate Gal. 2. 5. or derogatory to the Forms of Christs Institution 11. Any impositions upon the Churches be the thing never so lawful which is made by a pretended Act. 15. 28 24 25. 2 Cor. 10. 8. 13. 10. 1 Cor. 14. 5 12 26. 2 Cor. 12. 19. Eph. 4. 12 16 1 Tim. 1 4. power not derived from God and the Redeemer 12. Any thing that is contrary to the Churches good and Edification to justice charity piety order unity or peace 13. Any unnecessary burden imposed on the Consciences of Christians especially as necessary either to their salvation communion liberty or peace 14. And the exercise of any power pretended to be either Primitive and underived or Infallible or Impeccable or Absolute 15. In general any thing that is contrary to the Authority matter form obligation honour or ends of the Laws of God in Nature or Scripture 16. Any thing which setteth up those Judaical Laws and Ceremonies which Christ hath abrogated in that form and respect in which he abrogated them 17. Where there is a doubt among sober Conscionable Christians lest in obeying man they should sin against
God and disobey his Laws and the matter doubted of is confessed unnecessary by the Imposers So Infinite is the distance between God and Man and so wholly dependent on him are the Highest that they should be exceeding unwilling to vie with the Authority of their maker in mens Consciences or to do any thing unnecessary which tendeth to compell men to tread down Gods Authority in their Consciences and to prefer mans Much more unwilling should they be to silence the sober Preachers of Christs Gospel upon such accounts Quest. 132. Is it unlawful to obey in all those cases where it is unlawful to impose and command Or in what cases And how far Pastors must be believed and obeyed Answ. I Must intreat the Reader carefully to distinguish here 1. Between Gods Law forbidding Rulers to do evil and his Law forbidding Subjects or private men 2. Between Obedience formally so called which is when we therefore obey in conscience because it is commanded and the commanders Authority is the Formal Reason and object of our obedience And Obedience Material only which is properly no obedience but a doing the thing which is commanded upon other Reasons and not at all because it is commanded 3. Between Formal obedience to the Office of the Ruler in General and formal obedience to him as commanding this very Matter in particular 4. Between such Authority in the Ruler as will warrant his Impositions before God for his own justification And such Authority as may make it my duty to obey him And so I answer 1. We shall not be judged by those Laws of God which made the Rulers duty but by that which made our own It is not all one to say Thou shalt not command it and to say Thou shalt not do it 2. Whatever God absolutely forbiddeth men to do we must not do whoever command it 3. There are many of the things forementioned Absolutely and alwayes unlawful as being evil of themselves which no man may either command or do And there are some of them which are only evil by accident which may not be commanded but may be done when contrary weightier Accidents do preponderate 4. Many such things may be done Materially on other reasons as for the Churches good the furtherance of the Gospel the winning of men to God the avoiding of scandal or of hurt to others or our selves c. when they are not to be done in formal obedience out of Conscience to the Authority imposing As if it be commanded by one that hath no just power 5. Our Actions may participate of obedience in general as being actions of subjects when they are not obedience in the full and perfect formality as to the particular The last leaf of Rich. Hooker's eighth Book of Eccl. Polit. will shew you the reason of this He that hath not just power to command me this one particular Act yet may be my Ruler in the General and I am bound to Honour Eph. 5. 24. Col. 3. 20 22. Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. him in General as my Ruler And to disobey him in a thing Lawful for me to do though not for him to command may be dishonouring of him and an appearance of disobedience and denyall of his power A Parent is forbidden by God to command his Child to speak an idle word or to do a vain and useless action much more a hurtful Yet if a Parent should command a Child to speak an idle word or do a vain action the duty of obedience would make it at that time not to be vain and idle to him yea if he bid him throw away a cup of Wine or a piece of bread which is evil when causeless the Child may be bound to do it not only because he knoweth not but the Parents may have lawful ends and reasons for their command as to try and exercise his obedience but also if he were sure that it were not so Because he is a subject and the honouring of a Parent is so great a good and the dishonouring him by that disobedience may have such ill consequents as will preponderate the evil of the lâ—ss of a Cup of Wine c. Yet in this case the Act of obedience is but mixt It is an act of subjection or Honour to a Parent because in General he is a Governour But it is but Materially obedience in respect of that particular matter which we know he had no Authority to command 6. In this respect therefore A Ruler may have so much power as may induce on the subject an obligation to obey and yet not so much as may justifie his commands before God nor save himself from Divine punishment I add this so distinctly lest any should misapply Mr. Rich. Hooker's doctrine aforesaid Eccl. Pol. l. 8. p. 223 224. As for them that exercise power altogether against order though the kind of power which they have may be of God yet in their exercise thereof against God and therefore not of God otherwise than by permission as all injustice is Usurpers of power whereby we do not mean them that by violence have aspired unto places of highest authority but them that use more authority than they did ever receive in form and manner before mentioned Such Usurpers thereof as in the Exercise of their power do more than they have been authorized to do cannot in Conscience bind any man to obedience Lest any should gather hence that they are never bound in Conscience to obey their Parents their Job 19. 11. Rom. 13. 1. King their Pastors in any point wherein they exercise more power than God gave them I thought meet to speak more exactly to that point which needed this distinguishing For the ground is sure that There is no power but of God And that God hath given no man power against himself his Laws and service But yet there are many cases in which God bindeth children and subjects to obey their superiours in such matters as they did sinfully command 7. It greatly concerneth all sober Christians therefore to be well studied in the Law of God that we may certainly know what those things are which God hath absolutely forbidden us to do whoever command them and to distinguish them from things that depend on mutable accidents That as the three Witnesses and Daniel Dan. 3. 6. we may be true to God whatever we suffer for it and yet may obey men in all â—hat is our duty to them Thus the Apostles knew that no man had power from God to silence them or persecute them for the Gospel Therefore they would not obey those that forbad them to Preach And yet they would appear before any Magistrate that commanded them and obey their 〈◊〉 And so we may do even to an Usurper or a private man 8. The principal and most notable Case in which we must obey when a Ruleâ— sinfully commandeth is when the matter which he commandeth is not such as is either forbidden us by
to true penitent believers with a right to everlasting life and as to the obligation to sincere obedience for salvation though not as to the yet future coming of Christ in the flesh And this Law of Grace was never 2 Tim. 3. 15. Rom. 15. 4. 16. 26. yet repealed any further than Christs coming did fulfill it and perfect it Therefore to the rest of the world who never can have the Gospel or perfecter Testament as Christians have the former ☞ Law of Grace is yet in force And that is the Law conjoyned with the Law of Nature which now the world without the Church is under Under I say as to the force of the Law and a former Matth. 22. 29. Luke 24. 27 32 45. John 5. â—9 Acts 17. 2. 11. 18. 24 25. John 20. 9. John 7. 38 42. 10. 35. 13. 18. 19. 24 28. Luke 4. 18. 21. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. Acts 8. 32 33 35. Rom. 1. 2. promulgation made to Adam and Noah and some common intimations of it in merciful forbearances pardons and benefits though how many are under it as to the knowledge reception belief and obedience of it and consequently are saved by it is more than I or any man knoweth 6. There are many Prophecies of Christ and the Christian Church in the Old Testament yet to be fulfilled and therefore are still Gods Word for us 7. There are many Precepts of God to the Jews and to particular persons given them on Reasons common to them with us where parity of Reason will help thence to gather our own duty now 8. There are many holy expressions as in the Psalms which are fitted to persons in our condition and came from the Spirit of God and therefore as such are fit for us now 9. Even the fulfilled Promises Types and Prophecies are still Gods Word that is his Word given to their several proper uses And though much of their Use be changed or ceased so is not all They are yet useful to us to confirm our faith while we see their accomplishment and see how much God still led his Church to Happiness in one and the same way 10. On all these accounts therefore we may still Read the Old Testament and preach upon it in the publick Churches Quest. 156. Must we believe that Moses Law did ever bind other Nations or that any other parts of the Scripture bound them or belonged to them or that the Iews were all Gods Visible Church on Earth Answ. I Conjoyn these three Questions for dispatch I. 1. Some of the Matter of Moses Law did Rom. 2. Rom. 1. 20 21 Enod 12. 19 43 48 49. 20. 10. Lev. 17. 12 15. 18. 26. 24. 16 22. Numb 9. 14. 15. 14 15 16 29 30. 19. 10. Deut. 1. 16. bind all Nations that is The Law of nature as such 2. Those that had the knowledge of the Jewish Law were bound â—ollaterally to believe and obey all the expositions of the Law of nature in it and all the Laws which were given upon reasons common to all the world As about degrees of Marriage particular rules of Justice c. As if I heard God from Heaven tell another that standeth by me Thou shalt not marry thy fathers Widow for it is abominable I ought to apply that to me being his subject which is spoken to another on a common reason 3. All those Gentiles that would be proselytes and joyn with the Jews in their policy and dwell among them were bound to be observers of their Laws But 1. The Law of Nature as Mosaical did not formally and directly bind other Nations 2. Nâ—r were they bound to the Laws of their peculiar policy Civil or Ecclesiastical which were positives The reason is 1. Because they were all one body of Political Laws given peculiarly to one political body Even the Decalogue it self was to them a political Law 2. Because Moses was not authorized or sent to be the Mediator or deliverer of that Law to any Nation but the Jews And being never in the enacting or Promulgation sent or directed to the rest of the World it could not bind them II. As to the second Question Though the Scripture as a writing bound not all the World yet 1. The Law of Nature as such which is recorded in Scripture did bind all 2. The Covenant of Psal. 145. 9 103. 19. Psal. 100. 1. Rom. 14. 11. Act. 34 35. Jud. 14. 15. Grace was made with all mankind in Adam and Noe And they were bound to promulgate it by Tradition to all their off-spring And no doubt so they did whether by word as all did or by writing also as it 's like some did as Henochs Prophesies were it 's like delivered or else they had not in terms been preserved till Iudes time 3. And God himself as aforesaid by actual providences pardoning and benefits given to them that deserved hell did in part promulgate it himself 4. The neighbour Nations might learn much by Gods doctrine and dealing with the Jews III. To the third Question I answer 1. The Jews were a people chosen by God out of all the Deut. 14. 2 3. 7. 2. 6 7. Exod. 19. 5. 6. 7 8. Lev. 20. 24 26. Deut. 4. 20 33. 29. 13. 33. 29. Rom. 3. 1 2 3. Nations of the Earth to be a holy Nation and his peculiar treasure having a peculiar Divine Law and Covenant and many great priviledges to which the rest of the World were strangers so that they were advanced above all other Kingdoms of the world though not in wealth nor worldly power nor largeness of Dominion yet in a special dearness unto God 2. But they were not the only people to whom God made a Covenant of Grace in Adam and Noe as distinct from the Law or Covenant of Innocency 3. Nor were they the only people that professed to Worship the true God neither was holiness and salvation confined to them but were found in other Nations Therefore though we have but little notice of the state of other Kingdoms in their times and scarcely know what National Churches that is whole Nations professing saving faith there were yet we may well conclude that there were other visible Churches besides the Jews For 1. No Scripture denyeth it and charity then must hope the best 2. The Scriptures of the Old Testament give us small account of other Countreys but of the Jews alone with some of their Neighbours 3. Sem was alive in Abrahams dayes yea about 34 years after Abrahams death and within 12 years of Ismaels death viz. till about An. Mundi 2158. And so great and blessed a man as Sem cannot be thought to be less than a King and to have a Kingdom governed according to his holiness and so that there was with him not only a Church but a National Church or holy Kingdom 4. And Melchizedeck was a holy King and
own And the truth is after all later discoveries there is yet so much errour darkness uncertainty and confusion in the Philosophy of every pretending sect the Peripateticks the Stoicks the Pythagoreans and Platonists much more the Epicureans the Lullianists the Cartesians Act. 17. 18 19 c. Eph. 4. 18 19. Hos. 4. 1. 6. 6. Psal. 119. 99. 2 Pet. 3. 18. 2 Pet. 1. 3 5 8. â—ol 2. 3. 3. 10. Phil. 3. 8. Eph. 3. 19. Eph. 1. 17. Rom. 1. 20 21 28. Eccl. 1. 16 17 18. 1 Cor. 8. 1 11. 1 Cor. 13. 2 3 4. Rom. 2. 20. Jâ—m 3. 13 14 17. Jer. 4. 22. 1 Cor. 8. 2. Telesius Campanella Patricius Gassendus c. that it is a wonder that any that ever throughly tryed them can be so weak as to glory much of the certainties and methods of any which hitherto are so palpably uncertain and full of certain errours We may therefore make use of all true humane learning Real and Organical And he is the happy Scholar who fasteneth upon the CERTAIN and the USEFUL parts well distinguished from the rest and truly useth them to their great and proper ends But niceties and fooleries which some spend their lives in for meer ostentation and also uncertain presumptions should be much neglected And the great certain necessary saving Verities of Morality and the Gospel must be dearly loved and thankfully imbraced and studiously learned and faithfully practised by all that would prove wise men at last Quest. 159. If we think that Scripture and the Law of Nature do in any point contradict each others which may be the standard by which the other must be tryed Answ. IT is certain that they never do contradict each other 2. The Law of Nature is either that which is very clear by Natural evidence or that which is dark as degrees of Consanguinity unfit for Marriage the evil of officious lies c. 3. The Scriptures also have their plain and their obscurer parts 4. A dark Scripture is not to be expounded contrary to a plain natural 1 Cor. 5. 1 2. Verity 5. A dark and doubtful point in Nature is not to be expounded contrary to a plain and certain Scripture 6. To suppose that there be an apparent contradiction in cases of equal clearness or doubtfulness is a case not to be supposed But he that should have such a dream must do as he would do if he thought two Texts to be contradictory that is he must better study both till he see his errour still remembring that natural evidence hath this advantage that it is 1. first in order 2. and 1 Joh. 1. 1 2 3. Heb. 2. 3 4. most common and received by all But supernatural evidence hath this advantage that it is for the most part the more clear and satisfactory Quest. 160. May we not look that God should yet give us more Revelations of his will than there are already made in Scripture Answ. YOu must distinguish between 1. New Laws or Covenants to mankind and new predictions or informations of a partiâ—ular person 2. Between what may possibly be and what we may expect as certain or probable And so I conclude 1. That it is certain that God will make no other Covenant Testament or Universal Law for the Government of mankind or the Church as a Rule of Duty and of Iudgement Because he hath oft told us Gal. 1. 7 8 9. Mat. 28. 20. 2. Thes. 1. 10 11. Mark 16. 15 16. that this Covenant and Law is perfect and shall be in force as our rule till the end of the world Obj. So it was said of the Law of Moses that it was to stand for ever yea of many Ceremonies in it Answ. 1. It is in the Original only for ages and ages or to generations and generations which we translate for ever when it signifieth but to many generations 2. It is no where said of Moses Law as such that it should continue either till the end of the world or till the day of Iudgement Rev. 14. 6. Rev. 22. 18 19. Heb. 7. 28 29. 1 Tim. 1. 16. Rom. 6. 22. Joh. 5. 22 24. 6. 27 40 47. 12. 50. Heb. 1. 7 8 9. as it is said of the Gospel And 3. It is not said that he will add no more to the former Testament but contrarily that he will make a new Covenant with them c. But here in the Gospel he peremptorily resolveth against all innovations and additions 2. It is certain that God will make no new Scripture or inspired word as an infallible universal Rule for the exposition of the word already written For 1. This were an addition which he hath disclaimed and 2. It would imply such an insufficiency in the Gospel to its ends as being not intelligible as is contrary to its asserted perfection and 3. It would be contrary to that established way for the understanding of the Scripture which God hath already setled and appointed for us till the end 3. It is certain that God will give all his servants in their several measures the help and illumination Eph. 1. 18 19. of his spirit for the understanding and applying of the Gospel 4. It is possible that God may make new Revelations to particular persons about their particular duties events or matters of fact in subordination to the Scripture either by inspiration vision or apparition or voice For he hath not told us that he never will do such a thing As to tell them what shall befall them or others or to say Go to such a place or dwell in such a place or do such a thing which is not contrary to the Scripture nor co-ordinate but only a subordinate determination of some undetermined case or the circumstantiating of an action 5. Though such Revelation and Prophesie be Possible there is no certainty of it in general nor Mic. 2. 11. 1 King 22. 21 22. 1 Joh. 4. 1 2. 2 Thes. 2. 2. any probability of it to any one individual person much less a promise And therefore to expect it or pray for it is but a presumptuous tempting of God 6. And all sober Christians should be the more cautelous of being deceived by their own Imaginations because certain experience telleth us that most in our age that have pretended to prophesie or to inspirations or revelations have been melancholy crackt-brained persons neer to madness who have proved to be deluded in the end And that such crazed persons are still prone to such imaginations 7. Therefore also all sober Christians must take heed of rash believing every Prophet or pretended spirit lest they be led away from the Sacred Rule and before they are aware be lost in vain expectations and conceits Quest. 161. Is not a third Rule of the Holy Ghost or perfecter Kingdom of Love to be expected as different from the Reign of the Creator and Redeemer Answ. 1. THe works ad extra and the Reign of the
12. 12. Col. 4. 15. people that make the Church 2. That God may be acceptably Worshipped in all places when it is our duty 3. That the ancient Churches and Christians in times of persecutions ordinarily met in secret against the Rulers wills and their meetings were called Conventicles and slandered which occasioned Pliny's examination and the right he did them 4. That no Minister must forsake and give over his work while there is need and he can do it Mat. 18. 20. 1 Cor. 9. 10. 1 Thes. 2. 15 16. Act. 4. 19. See Dr. Hammoâ—d in ioc 1 Tim. 2. 8. Act. 8. 4. 1 Joh. 3. 17. 2 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. Hâ—b 10. 25. 5. That where there are many thousands of ignorant and ungodly persons and the publick Ministers either through their paucity proportioned to the people or their disability or unwillingness or negligence or all are insufficient for all that publick and private Ministerial work which God hath appointed for the instruction perswasion and salvation of such necessitous souls there is need of more Ministerial help 6. That in cases of real not counterfeit necessity they that are hindered from exercising their Ministerial Office publickly should do it privately if they have true Ordination and the call of the peoples necessity desire and of opportunity so be it they do it in that peaceable orderly and quiet manner as may truly promote the interest of Religion and detract not from the lawful publick Ministry and work 7. That they that are forbidden to Worship God publickly unless they will commit some certain See much of this case handled before Q. 109. and Q. 110. sin are so prohibited as that they ought not to do it on such terms 8. That the private meetings which are held on these forementioned terms in such cases of necessity are not to be forsaken though prohibited Though still the honour of the Magistrate is to be preserved and obedience given him in all Lawful things And such Meetings are not sinful nor dishonourable to the assemblers For as Tertullian and Dr. Heylin after him saith Cum pii cum boni cocunt non factio dicenda est sâ—d curia When pious and good people meet especially as aforesaid it is not to be called a faction but a Court. Thus far I think we all agree And that the Church of England is really of this mind is certain 1. In that they did Congregate in private themselves in the time of Cromwells Usurpation towards the end when he began to restrain the use of the Common Prayer 2. In that they wrote for it see Dr. Hide of the Churcâ— in the beginning 3. Because both in the reign of former Princes since the Reformation and to this day many laborious conforming Ministers have still used to repeat their Sermons in their Houses where many of the people came to hear them 4. Because the Liturgie alloweth private Baptism and restraineth not any number from being present nor the Minister from instructing them in the use of Baptism which is the sum of Christianity 5. Because the Liturgie commandeth the visitation of the sick and alloweth the Minister there to pray and instruct the person according to his own ability about Repentance faith in Christ and preparation for death and the life to come and forbiddeth not the friends and neighbours of the sick to be present 6. Because the Liturgie and Canons allow private Communion with the sick lame or aged that cannot come to the assembly where the nature of that holy work is to be opened and the Eucharistical work to be performed And some must be present and the number not limited 7. And as these are express testimonies that all private meetings are not disallowed by the Church of England so there are other instances of such natural necessity as they are not to be supposed to be against As 1. For a Captain to Pray and read Scripture or good Books and sing Psalms with his Souldiers and with Marriners at Sea when they have no Minister 2. There are many thousands and hundred thousands in England that some live so far from Church and some are so weak that they can seldome go and some Churches have not room for a quarter of the Parish and none of the thousands now meant can read and so neither can help themselves nor have a Minister that will do it And thousands that when they have heard a Sermon cannot remember it but lose it presently If these that cannot Read or Remember nor teach their own families nor go to Church do take their Families many of them to some one Neighbours house where the Sermon is repeated or the Bible or Liturgie read methinks the Church should not be against it But it must be still remembred that 1. Rulers that are Infidels Papists Hereticks or persecutors that restrain Church-meetings to the injury of mens souls must be distinguisht from pious Princes that only restrain Hereticks and real Schismaticks for the Churches good 2. And that times of Heresie and Schism may make private meetings more dangerous than quiet times And so even the Scottish Church forbad private meetings in the Separatists dayes of late And when they do more hurt than good and are justly forbidden no doubt in that case it is a duty to obey and to forbear them as is aforesaid Quest. 173. What particular Directions for Order of Studies and Books should be observed by young Students § 1. BEcause disorder is so great a disadvantage to young Students and because many have importuned me to name them some few of the best Books because they have no Time to read nor money to buy many I shall here answer these two demands § 2. I. The Order of their studies is such as respecteth their whole lives or such as respecteth every Day It is the first which I now intend § 3. Direct 1. The knowledge of so much of Theologie as is necessary to your own Duty and Salvation is the first thing which you are to learn when you have learnt to speak Children have souls to save and their Reason is given them to use for their Creators service and their salvation 1. They can never begin to Learn that too soon which they were made and Redeemed to Learn and which their whole lives must be employed in practising And that which absolute Necessity requireth and without which there is no salvation 3. And that which must tell a man the only ultimate end which he must intend in all the moral actions of his life For the right Intention of our end is antecedent to all right use of means And till this be done a man hath not well begun to Live nor to use his Reason nor hath he any other work for his Reason till this be first done He liveth but in a continual sin that doth not make God and the publick good and his salvation his end Therefore they that would not have Children begin with Divinity would have them
will be governed on no other terms But if the contract limit them not but they be chosen simply to be the summae Potestates without naming any particular powers either by concession or restraint than as to Ruling they are Absolute as to men and limited only by God from whose highest Power they can never be exempt who in Nature and Scripture restraineth them from all that is impious and unjust against his Laws and honour or against the publick happiness and safety And here also remember that if any shall imagine that God restraineth a Magistrate when it is not so and that the commands of their Governours are contrary to the Word of God when it is no such matter their error will not justifie their disobedience Though I have answered these Passages of this Reverend Author it is not to draw any to undervalue his learned Writings but to set right the Reader in the Principles of his Obedience on which the Practice doth so much depend And I confess that other Authors of Politicks say as much as Mr. Hooker saith both Papists and Protestants but not all nor I think the soundest I will instance now in Alstedius only an excellent person but in this mistaken who saith Encyclop l. 23. Polit. c. 3. p. 178. Populus Universus dignior potior est tum magistratu tum Ephoris Hinc recte docent Doct. Politici populum obtinere regnum jura Majestatis proprietate dominio Principem Ephoros Usu administratione whereas the people have not the Regnum vel jura Majestatis any way at all Si administratores efficium suum facere nolint si impia iniqua mandent si contra dilectionem Dei proximi agant populus propriae salutis curam arripiet imperium male utentibus abrogabit in locum eorum alios substituet Porro Ephori validiora ipso Rege imperia obtinent Principem enim constitâ—â—nt deponunt id quod amplissimum est praeeminentiae argumentum Atque haec prerogativa mutuis pactis stabilitur Interinâ— princeps summam potestatem obtinere dicitur quatenus Ephori administrationem imperii cumulum potestatis ipsi committunt Denique optimatum universorum potestas non est infinita absoluta sed certis veluti rhetris clathris definita utpote non ad propriam libidinem sed ad utilitatem salutem populi alligata Hinc illorum munia sunt Regem designare constituere inaugurare constitutum consiliis auxiliis juvare sine consensu approbatione Principis quamdiu ille suum officium facit nihil in Reipublicae negotiis suscipere Nonnâ—â—quam conventum inscio Principe agere necessitate reipublicae exigente Populum contra omnis generis turbatores violatores defendere I suppose Mr. Hookers Principles and Alstedius's were much the same I will not venture to recite the Conclusion cap. 12. pag. 199. R. 5. de resistendo Tyranno Many other Authors go the same way and say that the people have the Majestas Realis both Papists and Protestants and Heathens But I suppose that what I have said against Hooker will serve to shew the weakness of their grounds Though it is none of my purpose to contradict either Hooker or any other so far as they open the odiousness of the sin of Tyranny which at this day keepeth out the Gospel from the far greatest part of the world and is the greatest enemy to the Kingdom of Christ nor yet as they plead for the just Liberties of the People But I am not for their Authority § 24. Direct 2. Begin with an Absolute Universal resolved Obedience to God your Creator and Redeemer Direct 2. who is your Soveraign King and will be your final righteous Iudge As he that is no loyal Subject to the King can never well obey his Officers so he that subjecteth not his soul to the Original Power of his Creator can never well obey the Derivative Power of earthly Governours Object But you may say experience teacheth us that many ungodly people are obedient to their superiours as well as others I answer Materially they are but not Formally and from a right principle and to right ends As a Rebel against the King may obey a Justice of Peace for his own Ends as long as he will let him alone or take his part But not formally as he is the Kings Officer So ungodly men may flatter Princes and Magistrates for their own ends or on some low and by account but not sincerely as the Officers of God He is not like to be truly obedient to man that is so foollish dishonest and impious as to rebel against his Maker nor to obey that authority which he first denyeth in its Original and first efficient cause What ever Satan and his servants may say and however some hypocrites may contradict in their practices the Religion which they profess yet nothing is more certain than that the most serious godly Christians are the best subjects upon earth As their principles themselves will easily demonstrate § 25. Direct 3. Having begun with God obey your Governours as the Officers of God with an obedience Direct 3. ultimately Divine All things must be done in Holiness by the Holy That is God must be Greg. Nazianz. cited by Bilson of Subject p. 361. Thou reignest together with Christ Thou rulest with him Thy Sword is from him Thou art the Image of God discerned obeyed and intended in all And therefore in Magistrates in a special manner In two respects Magistrates are obeyed or rather flattered by the ungodly First as they are men that are able to do them corporal good or hurt As a Horse or Dog or other Bruit will follow you for his belly and loveth to be where he fareth best Secondly As the Head of his Party and encourager of him in his evil way when he meets with Rulers that will be so bad Wicked men Love wicked Magistrates for being the servants of Satan But faithful men must Honour and Obey a Magistrate as an Officer of God Even a Magistrate as a Magistrate and not only as Holy is an Officer of the Lord of all Therefore the fifth Commandment is as the hinge of the two Tables Many of the Antients thought that it was the last Commandment of the first Table and the Moderns think it is the first Comandment of the last Table For it commandeth our duty to the noblest sort of men but not meerly as men but as the Officers of God They debase Magistrates that look at them meerly as those that master other men as the strongest Beast doth by the weaker Nothing will make you sincere and constant in your honouring and obeying them but taking them as the Officers of God and remembring by whose commission they rule and whose work they do that They are Ministers of God to us for good Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5. If you do not this 1. You wrong God whose servants they are For he
with Government in Athens Quia plebs aliis institutis moribus assueverat Laert. in Platone and many other Philosophers that were fittest for Government refused it on the same account through the disobedience of the people your own If your Rulers sin you shall not answer for it but if you sin your selves you shall If you should live under the Turk that would oppress and persecute you your souls shall speed never the worse for this It is not you but He that should be damned for it If you say But it is we that should be oppressed by it I answer 1. How small are temporal things to a true believer in comparison of eternal things Have not you a greater hurt to fear than the killing of your bodies by men Luke 12. 4. 2. And even for this life do you not believe that your lives and liberties are in the power of God and that he can relieve you from the oppression of all the world by less than a word even by his will If you believe not this you are Atheists If you do you must needs perceive that it concerneth you more to care for your duty to your Governours than for theirs to you and not so much to regard what you receive as what you do nor how you are used by others as how you behave your selves to them Be much more afraid lest you should be guilty of murmuring dishonouring disobeying flattering not praying for your Governours than lest you suffer any thing unjustly from them 1 Pet. 4. 13 14 15 16 17. Let none of you suffer as a muderer or as a thief or as an evil doer or as a busiâ—-body in other mens matters yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalf If ye be reproached for the name of Christ ye are happy Live so that all your Adversaries may be forced to say as it was said of Daniel Dan. 6. 5. We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God Let none be able justly to punish you as drunkards or thieves or slanderers or fornicators or perjurâ—d or deceivers or rebellious or seditious and then never fear any suffering for the sake of Christ or Righteousness Yea though you suffer as Christ himself did under a false accusation of disloyalty fear not the suffering nor the infamy as long as you are free from the Guilt See that all be well at home and that you be not faulty against God or your Governours and then you may boldly commit your selves to God 1 Pet. 2. 23 24. § 46. Direct 22. The more Religious any are the more obedient should they be in all things lawful Direct 22. Exâ—â—l others in Loyalty as well as in Piety Religion is so far from being a just pretence of rebellion that it is the only effectual bond of sincere subjection and obedience § 47. Direct 23. Therefore believe not them that would exempt the Clergy from subjection to the Direct 23. Civil powers As none should know the Law of God so well as they so none should be more obedient to Kings and States when the Law of God so evidently commandeth it Of this read Bilson of Christian subjection who besides many others saith enough of this The Arguments of the Papists from the supposed incapacity of Princes would exempt Physicions and other Arts and Sciences from undâ—r their Government as well as the Clergy § 48. Direct 24. Abase not Magistrates so far as to think their office and power extendeth not to Direct 24. matters of Religion and the worship of God Were they only for the low and contemptible matters of this world their office would be contemptible and low To help you out in this I shall answer some of the commonest doubts § 49. Quest. 1. Is the Civil Magistrate Iudge in Controversies of faith or Worship Answ. It hath Quest. 1. many a time grieved me to hear so easie a Question frequently propounded and pitifully answered Who shall be Iudge in poâ—nts of faith and Worship by such as the publick good required to have had more understanding in such things In a word Iudgement is Publick or Private The Private judgement which is nothing but a Rational discerning of truth and duty in order to our own Choice and practice belongeth to every Rational person The Publick Iudgement is ever in Order to execution Now the execution is of two sorts 1. By the Sword Of thâ—se things see my Prâ—positions of the Difference of the Magistrates and Pastors power to Dr. L d. Moul. 2. By Gods word applyed to the case and person One is upon the Body or Estate The other is upon the Conscience of the person or of the Church to bring him to Repentance or to bind him to avoid Communion with the Church and the Church to avoid Communion with him And thus Publick Judgement is Civil or Ecclesiastical Coercive and violent in the execution or only upon Consenters and volunteers In the first the Magistrate is the only Iudge and the Pastors in the second About faith or worship if the Question be who shall be protected as Orthodox and who shall be punished by the Sword as Hereâ—ical Idolatrous or irreligious here the Magistrate is the only Judge If the Question be who ☞ shall be admitted to Church Communion as Orthodox or ejected and excommunicate as Heretical or prophane The Rex sacrorum among the Romans was debarred from exercising any Magistracy Plut. Rom. Quest. 63. here the Pastors are the proper Judges This is the truth and this is enough to end all the voluminous wranglings upon the Question Who shall be Iudge and to answer the cavils of the Papists against the Power of Princes in matters of Religion It is pity that such gross and silly sophisms in a case that a Child may answer should debase Christian Princes and take away their chief Power and give it to a proud and wrangling Clergy to persecute and divide the Church with § 50. Quest. 2. May our Oath of Supremacy be lawfully taken wherein the King is pronounced supream Quest. 2. Governour in all causes Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Answ. There is no reason of scruple to him that Of the Oath of Supremacy understandeth 1. That the title Causes Ecclesiastical is taken from the ancient usurpation of the Pope and his Prelates who brought much of the Magistrates work into their Courts under the name of Causes Ecclesiastical 2. That our Canons and many Declarations of our Princes have expounded it fully by disclaiming all proper Pastoral power 3. That by Governour is meant only one that Governeth coercively or by the sword so that it is no more than to swear that In all causes See Bilson of subject p. 238 256. Princâ—s only be Governours in things and causes Ecclesiastical that iâ— With the Sword But if you
The word obligation being Metaphorical must in controversie be explained by its proper Answ. terms The Law doth first constituere debitum obedientiâ— propter inobedientiam debitum poenâ— Here then you must distinguish 1. Between Obligation in foro conscientiâ— and in foro humano 2. Between an obligation ad poenam by that Law of man and an obligation ad patiendum by another Divine Law And so the answer is this 1. If the Higher Powers e. g. forbid the Apostles to preach upon pain of death or scourging the dueness both of the obedience and the penalty is really null in point of Conscience however in foro humano they are both due that is so falsly reputed in that Court Therefore the Apostles are bound to preach notwithstanding the prohibition and so far as God alloweth they may resist the penalty that is by flying For properly there is neither debitum obedientiae nec poenae 2. But then God himself obligeth them not to resist the higher powers Rom. 13. 1 2 3. and in their patience to possess their souls So that from this command of God there is a true obligation ad patiendum to patient suffering and non-resistance though from the Law of man against their preaching there was no true obligation aut ad obedientiam aut ad poenam This is the true resolution of this Sophism § 65. Direct 34. It is one of the most needful duties to Governours for those that have a call and Direct 34. opportunity as their Pastors to tell them wisely and submissively of those sins which are the greatest enemies Vetus est verumque dictum Miser est Imperator cui vera reticentur Grotius de Imp. p. 245. Principi consâ—ile non dulciora sed optima is one of Soloâ—s Sentences in Laâ—rt de Solon Therefore it is a horrid villany of the Jâ—suites which is expressed in Secret Instruct. in Arcanis Iesuit pag. 5 6 7 8 11. to indulge great men and Pri 〈…〉 es in those opinions and sins which please them and to be on that side that their Liberty requireth to keep their favour to the Society So Maffaeius l. 3. c. 11. in vita ipsiuâ— Loyolae Alexand. Severus so greatly hated flatterers that Lampridius saith Siquis caput flexisset aut blandius aliquid dixisseâ— uti adulator vel abjiciebatur si loci ejus qualitas pateretur vel ridebatur ingenti cachinno si ejus dignitas graviori subjacere non posset injuriae Venit ad Attilam past victoriam Marullus poeta ejus temporis egregius compositumque in adulationâ—m carmen recitavit In quo ubi Attila per interpretem cognovit se Deum divina sâ—irpe ortum vanissime praedicari aspernatus sacrilâ—gae adulationis impudentiam cum autore â—armen exuri jusserat A qua severitate subinde temperavit ne scriptores caeteri a laudibus ipsius celebrandis terrerentur Callimach Exp. in Attila p. 353. to their souls and not the smallest enemies to their Government and the publick peace All Christians will confess that sin is the only forfeiture of Gods protection and the cause of his displeasure and consequently the only danger to the soul and the greatest enemy to the Land And that the sins of Rulers whether personal or in their Government have a far more dangerous influence upon the publick state than the sins of other men Yea the very sins which upon true repentance may be pardoned as to the everlasting punishment may yet be unpardoned as to the publick ruine of a state As the sad instance of Manasseh sheweth 2 Kings 23. 26. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal 2 Kings 24. 3 4. Surely at the Commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did and also for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon And yet this was after Iosiah had Reformed So Solomons sin did cause the renting of the ten Tribes from his Sons Kingdom Yea the bearing with the High Places was a provoking sin in Kings that otherwise were upright Therefore sin being the fire in the Thatch the quenching of it must needs be an act of duty and fidelity to Governours And those that tempt them to it or sooth and flatter them in it are the greatest enemies they have But yet it is not every man that must reprove a Governour but those that have a Call and Opportunity nor must it be done by them imperiously or reproachfully or publickly to their dishonour but privately humbly and with love honour reverence and submissiveness § 66. Object But great men have great Spirits and are impatient of reproof and I am not bound Object to that which will do no good but ruine me Answ. 1. It is an abuse of your Superiours to censure them to be so proud and bruitish as not to Answ. consider that they are the subjects of God and have souls to save or lose as well as others Will you judge so hardly of them before tryal as if they were far worse and foolisher than the poor and take this abuse of them to be an excuse for your other sin No doubt there are good Rulers in the world that will say to Christs Ministers as the Prince Elector Palatine did to Pitisâ—us charging him to tell Mâ—lâ—h Adam in vit Barth Pitisci him plainly of his faults when he chose him to be the Pastor â—nlicus 2. How know you before hand what success your words will have Hath the Word of God well managed no power yea to make even bad men good Can you love your Rulers and yet give up their souls in despair and all for fear of suffering by them 3. What if you do suffer in the doing of your duty Have you not learned to serve God upon such terms as those Or do you think it will prove it to be no duty because it will bring suffering on you These reasons favour not of faith § 67. Direct 35. Think not that it is unlawful to obey in every thing which is unlawfully commanded Direct 35. It may in many cases be the subjects duty to obey the Magistrate who sinfully commandeth him For all the Magistrates sins in commanding do not enter into the matter or substance of the thing commanded If a Prince command me to do the greatest duty in an ill design to some selfish end it is his sin so to command but yet that command must be obeyed to better ends Nay the matter of the command may be sinful in the Commander and not in the obeyer If I be commanded without any just reason to hunt a feather it is his sin that causelesly commandeth me so to lose my time and yet it may be my
sin to disobey it while the thing is lawful Else servants and children must prove all to be needful as well as lawful which is commanded them before they must obey Or the command may at the same time be evil by accident and the obedience good by accident and per se very good accidents consequence or effects may belong to our Obedience when the accidents of the command it self are evil I could give you abundance of instances of these things § 68. Direct 36. Yet is not all to be obeyed that is evil but by accident nor all to be disobeyed Direct 36. that is so but the accidents must be compared and if the obedience will do more good than harm we must obey if it will evidently do more harm than good we must not do it Most of the sins in the world are evil by accident only and not in the simple act denuded of its accidents circumstances or It was one of the Roman Laws of the twelve Tables Justa imperia sunto iisque cives modesâ—e ac sine recusatione parento consequents You may not sell poyson to him that you know would poyson himself with it though to sâ—ll poyson of it self be lawful Though it be lawful simply to lend a Sword yet not to a Traytor that you know would kill the King with it no nor to one that would kill his Father his neighbour or himself A command would not excuse such an act from sin He wâ—â— slain by David that killed Saul at his own command and if he had but lent him his Sword to do it it had been his sin Yet some evil accidents may be weighed down by greater evils which would evidently follow upon the not doing of the thing commanded § 69. Direct 37. In the question whether Humane Laws bind Conscience the doubt is not of that nature Direct 37. as to have necessary influence upon your practice For all agree that they bind the subject to obedience and that Gods Law bindeth us to obey them And if Gods Law bind us to obey mans Law and so to disobey them be materially a sin against Gods Law this is as much as is needful to resolve you in respect of practice No doubt mans Law hath no primitive obliging power at all but a Derivative from God and under him And what is it to bind the Conscience an improper Speech but to bind the person to judge it his duty conscire and so to do it And no doubt but he is bound to judge it his duty that is immediately by Humane Law and remotely by Divine Law and so the contrary to be a sin prâ—ximatâ—ly against man and ultimately against God This is plain and the rest is but logomachy § 70. Direct 38. The question is much harder whether the violation of every Humane Penal Law be Direct 38. a sin against God though a man submit to the penalty And the desert of every sin is death Mr. Rich. Hoâ—kers last Book unhappily ended before he gave us the full reason of his judgement in Eccl. Pol. l. 8. p. 2â—4 this case these being his last words Howbeit too rigorous it were that the breach of every Humane Law should be a deadly sin A mean there is between those extremities if so be we can find it out Amesius hath diligently discust it and many others The reason for the affirmative is because God bindeth us to obey all the lawful commands of our Governours And suffering the penalty is not obeying the penalty being not the primary intention of the Law-giver but the Duty and the penalâ—y only to enforce the duty And though the suffering of it satisfie man it satisfieth not God whose Law we break by disobeying Those that are for the Negative say that God binding us but to obey the Magistrate and his Law binding but aut ad obedientiam an t ad poenam I fulfill his will if I either do or suffer If I obey not I please him by satisfying for my disobedience And it is none of his will that my choosing the penalty should be my sin or damnation To this it is replyed that the Law bindeth ad poenam but on supposition of disobedience And that disobedience is forbidden of God And the penalty satisfieth not God though it satisfie man The other rejoyn that it satisfieth God in that it satisfieth man because Gods Law is but to give force to mans according to the nature of it If this hold then no disobedience at all is a sin in him that suffereth the penalty In so hard a case because more distinction is necessary to the explication than most Readers are willing to be troubled with I shall now give you but this brief decision On second thoughts this case is fullier opened afterward There are some penalties which fulfil the Magistrates own will as much as obedience which indeed have more of the nature of a Commutation than of Penalty As he that watcheth not or mendeth not the High-wayes shall pay so much to hire another to do it He that shooteth not so oft in a year shall pay so much He that eateth flesh in Lent shall pay so much to the poor He that repaireth not his Hedges shall pay so much and so in most amercements and divers Penal Laws in which we have reason to judge that the penalty satisfieth the Law-giver fully and that he leaveth it to our choice In these cases I think we need not afflict our selves with the conscience or fear of sinning against God But there are other Penal Laws in which the penalty is not desired for it self and is supposed to be but an imperfect satisfaction to the Law-givers will and that he doth not freely leave us to our choice but had rather we obeyed than suffered only he imposeth no greater a penalty either because there is no greater in his power or some inconvenience prohibiteth In this case I should fear my disobedience were a sin though I suffered the penalty Still supposing it an act that he had Power to command me § 71. Direct 39. Take heed of the perâ—icious design of those Atheistical Politicians that would make Direct 39. the world believe that all that is excellent among men is at enmity with Monarchy yea and Government it self And take heed on the other side that the most excellent things be not turned against it by abuse Here I have two dangers to advertise you to beware The first is of some Machiavellian pernicious principles and the second of some erroneous unchristian practices § 72. I. For the first there are two sorts of Atheistical Politicians guilty of them The first sort are some Atheistical flatterers that to engage Monarchs against all that is good would make them believe that all that is good is against them and their interest By which means while their design is to steal the help of Princes to cast out all that is good from the world they are most
repentance and heap coals of fire on his head If thy enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink This is overcoming evil with good and not by beastly fury to overcome him but when you are drawn to sinful passion and revenge you are overcome of evil Rom. 12. 19 20 21. If you would do good it must be by good and not by evil § 24. Consid. 18. Remember also how little you are concerned in the words or actions of other Consid. 18. men towards you in comparison of your carriage to your selves and them You have greater matters to mind than your little sufferings by them even the preserving of your innocency and your peace with God! It is your own actions and not theirs that you must answer for You shall not be condemned for suffering wrong but for doing wrong you may All their injuries against you make you not the less esteemed of God and therefore diminish not your felicity It is themselves that they mortally wound even to damnation if they impenitently oppress another Keep your selves and you keep your salvation what ever others do against you § 25. Consid. 19. Remember that injuries are your tryals and temptations God tryeth you by Consid. 19. them and Satan tempteth you by them God tryeth your Love and patience and obedience that you may be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect and may be indeed his Children while you Love your enemies and bless them that curse you and do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you Matth. 5. 44 45. and being tryed you may receive the Crown of life Jam. 1. 3 4. 12. And Satan on the other side is at work to try whether he can draw you by injuries to impatiency and to hatred malice revenge or cruelty and so damn your souls by the hurting of your bodies And when you foreknow his design will you let him overcome Hear every provoking word that 's given you and every injury that 's done unto you as if a messenger from Satan were sent to buffet you or to speak that provoking language in his name and as if he said to you I come from the Devil to call thee all that 's nought and to abuse thee and to try whether I can thus provoke thee to passion malice railing or revenge to sin against God and damn thy soul. If you knew one came to you from the Devil on this errand tell me how you would entertain him And do you not know that this is indeed the case Rev. 2. 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that ye may be tryed and ye shall have tribulation ten dayes be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a Crown of life As trying imprisonments so all other trying injuries are from the Devil by Gods permission whoever be his instruments And will you be overcome by him when you foreknow the end of his attempts § 26. Consid. 20. Lastly set before you the example of our Lord Iesus Christ See whether he was Consid. 20. addicted to wrath and malice hurtfulness or revenge If you will not imitate him you are none of his Disciples nor will he be your saviour A serious view of the holy pattern of Love and meekness and patience and forgiveness which is set before us in the life of Christ is a most powerful remedy against malice and revenge and will cure it if any thing will cure it Phil. 2. 5 6 7. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Iesus who being in the form of God yet made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant 1 Pet. 4. 1. forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind 1 Pet. 2. 19. to the 25. For this is thank worthy if a man for Conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an ensample that ye should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed it to him that judgeth righteously Think not to live and reign with Christ if you will not follow him and suffer with him It is impudent presumption and not faith to look to be like the Saints in glory while you are like the Devil in malice and cruelty CHAP. X. Cases resolved about forgiving injuries and debts and about self-defence and seeking right by Law or otherwise THE Cases about forgiving and revenging are many and some of them difficult I shall resolve those of ordinary use in our practice and pass by the rest § 1. Quest. 1. Is a man bound to forgive all injuries and damages that are done him If not Quest. 1. What injuries be they which every man is obliged to forgive Answ. To both these Questions I briefly answer 1. We must distinguish between a Crime or sin against God and the common good and an injury or dammage to our selves 2. And between publick justice and private revenge 3. And between those damages which fall upon my self only and those that by me redound to others as Wife or Children c. 4. And between the remitting of a punishment and the remitting of reparations of my loss 5. And between the various punishments to be remitted He that will confound any of these shall sooner deceive himself and others than resolve the doubts § 2. Prop. 1. It frequently falleth out that it is not in our power to remit the penalty of a crime no not the temporal penalty For this is a wrong to God the Universal Governour and God only can forgive it and man no farther than God hath commissioned him Murder whoredome drunkenness swearing c. as they are sins against God the Magistrate is bound to punish and private men to endeavour it by the Magistrate And if it may be said that the Soveraign Ruler of a Nation hath power to forgive such crimes the meaning is no more than this 1. That as to the species of these sins if he do forgive the temporal punishment which in his Office he should have inflicted yet no humane power can question him for it because he hath none on Earth above him But yet God will question him and shew him that he had no power to dispense with his Laws nor disoblige himself from his duty 2. And that in some cases an individual crime may be forgiven by the Magistrate as to the temporal punishment even where the Ends of the Law and Government require it But this must not be
office nor yet may he break his Laws for the avenging of himself He may use no other means than the Law of God and his Soveraign do allow him Therefore he may not rail or revile or slander or rob or strike or hurt any unless in case of defence as afterward nor take any other prohibited course § 17. Prop. 9. No rigor or severity must be used to right my self where gentler means may probably do it but the most harmless way must first be tryed § 18. Prop. 10. In general All wrongs and debts and damages must be forgiven when the hurt is like to be greater which will come by our righting our selves than that which by forbearance we shall sustain And all must be forgiven where Gods Law or mans forbiddeth us not to forgive Therefore a man that will here know his duty must conduct his actions by very great prudence which if he have not himself he must make use of a guide or Counsellour and he must be able to compare the Evil which he suffereth with the evil which will in probability follow his Vindication and to discern which of them is the greater Or else he can never know how far and when he may and must forgive And herein he must observe § 19. 1. The hurt that cometh to a mans soul is greater than the hurt that befalleth the body And therefore if my suing a man at Law be like to hurt his soul by uncharitableness or to hurt my own or the souls of others by scandal or disturbances I must rather suffer any meer bodily injuries than use that means But if yet greater hurt to souls would follow that bodily suffering of mine the Case is then altered the other way So if by forgiving debts or wrongs I be liker to do more good to the soul of him whom I forgive or others than the recovery of my own or the righting of my self is like any way to equal I am obliged to forgive that debt or wrong § 20. 2. The good or hurt which cometh to a community or to many is caeteris paribus to be more regarded thâ—n that which cometh to my self or any one alone Because many are of more worth than One and because Gods honour caeteris paribus is more concerned in the good of many than of one Therefore I must not seek my own right to the hurt of many either of their souls or bodies unless some greater good require it § 21. 3. The good or hurt of publick persons Magistrates or Pastors is caeteris paribus of more regard than the good or hurt of single men Therefore caeteris paribus I must not right my self to the dishonour or the hurt of Governours no though I were none of their charge or subjects because the publick good is more concerned in their honour or wellfare than in mine The same may be said of persons by their Gifts and interests more eminently serviceable to God and the common good than I am § 22. 4. The good or hurt of a neer relation of a dear friend of a worthy person is more to be regarded by me caeteris paribus than the good or hurt of a vile unworthy person or a stranger And therefore the Israelites might not take Usury of a poor brother which yet they might do of an aliene of another Land The Laws of nature and Friendship may more oblige me to one than to another though they were supposed equal in themselves Therefore I am not bound to remit a debt or wrong to a Thief or deceiver or a vile person when a neerer or a worthier person would be equally damnified by his benefit And thus far if without any partial self-love a man can justly estimate himself he may not only as he is neâ—rest himself but also for his real worth prefer his own commodity before the commodity of a more unworthy and unserviceable person § 23. 5. Another mans Necessities are more regardable than our own superfluities as his life is more regardable than our corporal delights Therefore it is a great sin for any man to reduce another to extremity and deprive him of necessaries for his life meerly to vindicate his own right in superfluities for the satisfaction of his concupiscence and â—ensual desires If a poor man steal to save his own or his Childrens lives and the rich man vindicate his own meerly to live in greater fulness or gallantry in the World he sinneth both the sin of sensuality and uncharitableness But how far for the common good he is bound to prosecute the Thief as criminal is a case which depends on other circumstances And this is the most common case in which the forgiving of debts and damages is required in Scripture viz. when the other is poor and we are rich and his necessities require it as an act of Charity And also the former case when the hurt by our vindication is like to be greater than our benefit will countervail § 24. Quest. 2. What is the meaning of those words of Christ Matth. 5. 38 39 40 41 42. Quest. 2. Ye have heard that it hath been said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also and if any man will sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also And whosoever shall compell thee to go a mile go with him two Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away Answ. The meaning of the Text is this as if he had said Because you have heard that Magistrates are required to do justice exactly between man and man and to take an eye for an eye c. therefore you may perhaps believe those Teachers who would perswade you that for any man to exact this satisfaction is no fault But I tell you that duties of Charity must be performed as well as Iustice must be done And though it be the Magistrates duty to do you this Iustice it is not your duty alwayes to require it but Charity may make the contrary to be your duty Therefore I say unto you overvalue not the concernments of your flesh nor the trifles of this world but if a man abuse you or wrong you in these trifles make no great matter of it and be not presently inflamed to revenge and to right your selves but exercise your patience and your Charity to him that wrongeth you and by a habituated stedfastness herein be ready to receive another injury with equal patience yea many such rather than to fly to an unnecessary vindication of your right For what if he give you another Stroke Or what if he also take your Cloke or what if he compel you to another mile for him Let him do it Let him take it How small is your hurt What inconsiderable things are these Your resistance and
vindication of your right may violate Charity and Peace and inflame his passion and kindle your own and hurt both your souls and draw you into other sins and cost you dearer than your right was worth Whereas your patience and yieldingness and submission and readiness to serve another and to let go your own for Peace and Charity may shame him or melt him and prevent contention and keep your own and the publick peace and may shew the excellency of your Holy Religion and win mens souls to the Love of it that they may be saved Therefore instead of exacting or vindicating your utmost right set light by your corporal sufferings and wrongs and study and labour with all your power to excel in Charity and to do good to all and to stoop to any service to another and humble your selves and exercise patience and give and lend according to your abilities and pretend no◠justice against the great duties of Charity and Patience So that here is forbidden both violent and legal revenge for our Corporal abuses when the Law of Charity or Patience is against it But this disobligeth not Magistrates to do Justice or men to seek it in any of the Cases mentioned in the seven first Propositions § 25. Quest. 3. Am I bound to forgive another if he ask me not forgiveness The reason of the Quest. 3. question is because Christ saith Luke 17. 3 4. If thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him Answ. In the resolving of this while some have barely affirmed and others denyed for want of distinguishing they have said worse than nothing It is necessary that we distinguish 1. Between the forgiving of an enemy and of a stranger and of a neighbour and of a brother as such 2. Between the several penalties to be remitted as well as revenges to be forborn And so briefly the case must be thus resolved Prop. 1. An Enemy a stranger and a neighbour as such must be forgiven in the cases before asserted though they ask not forgiveness nor say I repent For 1. Many other Scriptures absolutely require it 2. And forgiving them as such is but the continuing them in our common charity as men or neighbours that is our not endeavouring to ruine them or do them any hurt and our hearty desiring and endeavouring their good according to their capacities or ours And thus far we must forgive them Prop. 2. A Brother must be also thus far forgiven though he say not I repent that is we must Love him as a man and wish and endeavour his good to our power Prop. 3. A Brother as a Brother is not to be so forgiven as to be restored to our estimation and affection and usage of him as a Brother either in spiritual account or intimate special Love and familiarity as long as he is Impenitent in his gross offences and that is till he turn again and say I repent A Natural Brother is still to be Loved as a Natural Brother For that kind of Love dependeth not on his honesty or repentance But 1. A Brother in a Religious sense 2. Or a bosome familiar friend are both unfit for to be received in these capacities till they are penitent for gross offences Therefore the Church is not to pardon the Impenitent in point of Communion nor particular Christians to pardon them in their esteem and carriage Nor am I bound to take an unfit person to be my bosome friend to know my secrets Therefore if either of these offend I must not forgive them that is by forgiveness continue them in the respect and usuage of this brotherhood till they Repent And this first especially is the Brother mentioned in the Text. § 26. Quest. 4. Is it lawful to sue a Brother at Law The reason of the question is from the Quest. 4. words of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 6. 7. There is utterly a fault among you because ye go to Law one with another Why do you not rather take wrong Why do you not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded Answ. 1. Distinguish betwixt going to Law before Heathens or other enemies to the Christian Religion and before Christian Magistrates 2. Between going to Law in malice for revenge and going meerly to seek my right or to seek the suppression and reformation of sin 3. Between going to Law when you are bound to forgive and when you are not 4. And between going to Law in haste and needlesly and going to Law as the last remedy in case of necessity when other means fail 5. And between going to Law when the hurt is like to be greater than the benefit and going to Law when it is likely to do good There is a great deal of difference between these cases § 27. Prop. 1. Christians must rather suffer wrong than go to Law before the enemies of Religion when it is like to harden them and to bring Christianity into contempt Prop. 2. It is not lawful to make Law and Justice the means of private unlawful revenge nor to vent our malice nor to oppress the innocent Prop. 3. When ever I am bound to forgive the trespass wrong or debt then it is unlawful to seek my own at Law For that is not forgiving Prop. 4. There are many other remedies which must first be tryed ordinarily before we go to Law As 1. To rebuke our neighbour for his wrong and privately to desire necessary reparations 2. To take two or three to admonish him or to refer the matter to Arbitrators or in some cases to a lott And if any make Law their first remedy needlesly while the other means should first be used it is a sin Prop. 5. It is not lawful to go to Law-sutes when prudence may discern that the hurt which may come by it will be greater than the benefit either by hardning the person or disturbing our selves or scandalizing others against Religion or drawing any to wayes of unpeaceableness and revenge c. The foreseen consequents may over-rule the case § 28. But on the other side Prop. 1. It is lawful to make use of Christian Judicatories so it be done in a lawful manner yea and in some cases of the Judicatories of Infidels Prop. 2. The suppressing of sin and the defending of the innocent and righting of the wronged being the duty of Governours it is lawful to seek these benefits at their hands Prop. 3. In cases where I am not obliged to forgive as I have shewed before some such there be I may justly make use of Governours as the Ordinance of God Prop. 4. The order and season is when I have tryed other means in vain When perswasion or arbitration will do no good or cannot be used with hope of success Prop. 5. And the great condition to prove it lawful is
is in two cases viz. 1. If they commit such capital crimes as God and man would have punished with death its fit they dye and then they are silenced For in this case it is supposed that their lives by their impunity are like to do more hurt than good 2. If their Heresie insufficiency scandal or any fault what ever do make them more hurtful than profitable to the Church it is fit they be cast out If their Ministry be not like to do more good than their faults to do harm let them be silenced But if it be otherwise then let them be punished in their bodies or purses rather than the peoples souls should suffer The Laws have variety of penalties for other men Will none of those suffice for Ministers But alas What talk I of their faults Search all Church History and observe whether in all ages Ministers have not been silenced rather for their duties than their faults or for not subscribing to some unnecessary opinion or imposition of a prevailing party or about some wrangling controversies which Church disturbers set afoot There is many a poor Minister would work in Bridewell or be tyed to shovell the Streets all the rest of the Week if he might but have liberty to preach the Gospel And would not such a penalty be sufficient for a dissent in some unnecessary point As it is not every fault that a Magistrate is deposed for by the Soveraign but such as make him unfit for the place so is it also with the Ministers § 39. Direct 18. Malignity and Prophaneness must not be gratified or encouraged It must be considered Direct 18. how the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to his Law nor can be Rom. 8. 7 â— Gen. 3. 15. And that enmity is put between the Womans and the Serpents seed and that the whole business of the world is but the prosecution of the War between the Armies of Christ and Satan And that malignity inclineth the ungodly world to slander and reproach the servants of the Lord and they are glad of any opportunity to make them odious or to exasperate Magistrates against them And that their silencing and fall is the joy of the ungodly And if there be any Civil differences or sidings the ungodly rabble will take that side be it right or wrong which they think will do most to the downfal of the godly whom they hate Therefore besides the merits of the particular cause a Ruler that regardeth the interest of the Gospel and mens salvation must have some care that the course which he taketh against godly Ministers and people when they displease him be such as doth not strengthen the hands of evil doers nor harden them increase them or make them glad I do not say that a Ruler must be against what ever the ungodly part is for or that he must be for that which the major part of godly men are for I know this is a deceitful rule But yet that which pleaseth the malignant rabble and displeaseth or hurteth the generality of godly men is so seldome pleasing to God that its much to be suspected § 40. Direct 19. The substance of faith and the Practice of Godliness must be valued above all opinions Direct 19. and parties and worldly interests And Godly men accounted as they are caeteris paribus the best members both of Church and State If Rulers once knew the difference between a Saint and a sensualist a vile person would be contemned in their eyes and they would honour them that fear the Lord Psal. 15. 4. And if they honoured them as God commandeth them they would not persecute them And if the promoting of practical Godliness were their design there were little danger of their oppressing those that must be the instruments of propagating it if ever it prosper in the World § 41. Direct 20. To this end Remember the neer and dear relation which every true believer standeth Direct 20. in to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost They are called by God his peculiar treasure his jewels Exod. 19. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Tit. 2. 14. 2 Cor. 6. 16 17 18. Mal. 3. 17 18. â—â—h 3. 17. 1 Cor. 3. 16. 2 Tim. 1. 14. 1 Joh. 4 15 16. his Children the members of Christ the Temples of the Holy Ghost God dwelleth in them by Love and Christ by faith and the Spirit by all his sanctifying gifts If this were well believed men would more reverence them on Gods account than causelesly to persecute them Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of my eye § 42 Direct 21. Look not so much on mens infirmities as to overlook or make light of all that is good in them But look as much at the good as at the evil And then you will see reason for lenity as well as for severity and for love and tenderness rather than for hatred and persecution And you will discern that those may be serviceable to the Church in whom blinded malice can see nothing worthy of honour or respect § 43. Direct 22. Estimate and use all lesser matters as means to spiritual worship and practical holiness Direct 22. If there be any thing of worth in Controversies and Ceremonies and such other matters of inferiour rank it is as they are a means to the power of Godliness which is their end And if once they be no otherwise esteemed they will not be made use of against the interest of Godliness to the silencing of the Preachers and persecuting the professours of it § 44. Direct 23. Remember that the Understanding is not Free save only participative as it is Direct 23. subject to the will It acteth of it self per modum naturae and is necessitated by its object further than as it is under the power of the will A man cannot hold what opinion he would himself nor be against what he would not have to be true much less can he believe as another man commandeth him My understanding is not at my own command I cannot be of every mans belief that is uppermost Evidence and not force is the natural means to compell the mind even as Goodness and not force is the natural means to win mens Love It is as wise a thing to say Love me or I will kill thee as to say Believe me or I will kill thee § 45. Direct 24. Consider that it is essential to Religion to be above the authority of man unless as Direct 24. they subserve the authority of God He that worshippeth a God that is subject to any man must subject his Religion to that man But this is no Religion because it is no God whom he worshippeth But if the God whom I serve be above all men my Religion or service of him must needs be also above the will of men § 46. Direct 25. Consider that an obedient disposition towards Gods Laws and a tender Conscience
rend us Much more if it be some potent enemy of the Church who will not only rend us but the Church it self if he be so provoked Reproving him then is not our duty 3. Particularly When a man is in a passion or drunk usually it is no season to reprove him 4. Nor when you are among others who should not be witnesses of the fault or the reproof or whose presence will shame him and offend him except it be only the shaming of an incorrigible or malicious sinner which you intend 5. Nor when you are uncertain of the fact which you would reprove or uncertain whether it be a sin 6. Or when you have no witness of it though you are privately certain with some that will take advantage against you as slanderers a reproof may be omitted 7. And when the offenders are so much your superiours that you are like to have no better success than to be accounted arrogant A groan or tears is then the best reproof 8. When you are so utterly unable to manage a reproof that imprudence or want of convincing reason is like to make it a means of greater hurt than good 9. When you foresee a more advantageous season if you delay 10. When another may be procured to do it with much more advantage which your doing it may rather hinder In all these cases that may be a sin which at another time may be a duty § 18. But still remember 1. That pride and passion and slothfulness is wont to pretend such reasons falsly upon some sleight conjectures to put by a duty 2. That no man must account another Gen. 20. 36. a Dog or Swine to excuse him from this duty without cogent evidence And it is not every wrangling opposition nor reproach and scorn which will warrant us to give a man up as remediless Job 31. 13. Heb. 13. 22. 2 Pet. 1. 13. 2 Tâ—m 2. 25 26. and speak to him no more but only such 1. As sheweth a heart utterly obdurate after long means 2. Or will procure more suffering to the reprover than good to the offender 3. That when the thing is ordinarily a duty the reasons of our omission must be clear and sure before they will excuse us § 19. Quest. Must we reprove Infidels or Heathens What have we to do to judge them that are without Answ. Not to the ends of excommunication because they are not capable of it which is meant Deut. 22. 1. 1 Cor. 5. But we must reprove them 1. In common compassion to their souls What were the Apostles and other Preachers sent for but to call all men from their sins to God 2. And for the defence of truth and godliness against their words or ill examples CHAP. XVII Directions for keeping Peace with all men § 1. PEace is so amiable to Nature it self that the greatest destroyers of it do commend it and those persons in all times and places who are the cause that the world cannot enjoy it will yet speak well of it and exclaim against others as the enemies of peace as if there were no other name but their Own sufficient to make their adversaries odious As they desire salvation so do the ungodly desire Peace which is with a double error one about the Nature of it and another about the Conditions and other Means By Peace they mean the quiet undisturbed enjoyment of their honours wealth and pleasures that they may have their lusts and will without any contradiction And the Conditions on which they would have it are the complyance of all others with their opinions and wills and humble submission to their domination passions or desires But Peace is another thing and otherwise to be desired and sought Peace in the mind is the delightful effect of its internal harmony as Peace in the body is nothing but its pleasant health in the natural position state action and concord of all the parts the humours and spirits And Peace in Families Neighbourhoods Churches Kingdoms or other Societies is the quietness and pleasure of their order and harmony and must be attained and preserved by these following means § 2. Direct 1. Get your own hearts into a humble frame and abhor all the motions of Pride and Direct 1. self exalting A humble man hath no high expectations from another and therefore is easily pleased or quieted He can bow and yield to the pride and violence of others as the Willow to the impetuous winds His language will be submissive his patience great he is content that others go before him He is not offended that another is preferred A low mind is pleased in a low condition But Pride is the Gun-powder of the mind the family the Church and State It maketh men ambitious and setteth them on striving who shall be the greatest A proud mans Opinion must alwayes go for truth and his will must be a Law to others and to be sleighted or crossed seemeth to him an unsufferable wrong And he must be a man of wonderful complyance or an excellent artificer in man-pleasing and flâ—ttery that shall not be taken as an injurious undervaluer of him He that overvalueth himself will take it ill of all that do not also overvalue him If you forgetfully go before him or overlook him or neglect a complement or deny him something which he expected or speak not honourably of him much more if you reprove him and tell him of his faults you have put fire to the Gun-powder you have broke his peace and he will break yours if he can Pride broke the Peace between God and the apostate Angels but nothing unpeaceable must be in Heaven and therefore by self-exâ—lting they descended into darkness And Christ by self-humbling ascended unto Glory It is a matter of very great difficulty to live peaceably in family Church or any society with any one that is very Proud They expect so much of you that you can never answer all their expectations but will displease them by your omissions though you never speak or do any thing to displease them What is it but the lust of Pride which causeth most of the wars and bloodshed throughout the World The Pride of two or three men must cost many thousands of their subjects the loss of their Peace Estates and Lives Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi What were the Conquests of those Emperours Alexander Caesar Tamerlane Machumet c. but the pernicious effects of their infamous Pride Which like Gun-powder taking fire in their breasts did blow up so many Cities and Kingdoms and call their Villanies by the name of Valour and their Murders and Robberies by the name of War If one mans Pride do swell so big that his own Kingdom cannot contain it the Peace of as much of the World as he can conquer is taken to be but a reasonable sacrifice to this infernal vice The lives of thousands both Subjects and Neighbours called enemies by this malignant spirit must be cast
be observed 1. That you keep not his sword for your benefit and advantage nor claim a propriety in it but give it his friends or deliver it to the Magistrate 2. That you do nothing without the Magistrate in which you may safely stay for his Authority and help But if two be fighting or thieves be robbing or murdering a man or anothers life be in present danger you must help them without staying for the Magistrates authority 3. That you make not this a pretence for the usurping of Authority or for resisting or deposing your lawful Prince or Magistrate or Parent or Master or of exercising your own will and passions against your Superiours pretending that you take away their swords to save themselves or others from their rage when it is indeed but to hinder justice § 21. Quest. 14. May I not then much more take away that by which he would destroy his own or other Quest. 14. mens souls As to take away Cards or Dice from Gamesters or heretical or sâ—diâ—ious books or Play-books and Romances or to pull down Idols which the Idolaters do adore or are instruments of Idolatry Answ. There is much difference in the cases though the soul be more precious than the body For 1. Here there is supposed to be so much leisure and space as that you may have time to tell the Magistrate of it whose duty primarily it is Whereas in the other case it is supposed that so much delay would be a mans death Therefore your duty is to acquaint the Magistrate with the sin and danger and not to anticipate him and play the Magistrate your self Or in the case of Cards and Dice and hurtful books you may acquaint the persons with the sin and perswade them to cast them away themselves 2. Your taking away these instruments is not like to save them For the love of the sin and the Will to do it remaineth still and the sinner will but be hardened by his indignation against your irregular course of charity 3. Men are bound to save mens bodies whether they will or not because it may be so done But no man can save anothers soul against his will And it is Gods will that their salvation or damnation shall be more the fruit of their own wills than of any others Therefore though it 's possible to devise an instance in which it is lawful to steal a poysonous book or idol from another when it is done so secretly as will encourage no disobedience or disorder nor is like to harden the sinner but indeed to do him good c. yet ordinarily all this is A Wife or near friend that is under no suspicion of alienating the thing to their own commodity nor of ill designes may go somewhat further in such cases than an inferiour or a stranger unlawful for private men that have no Government of others or extraordinary interest in them § 2. Quest. 15. May not a Magistrate take the subjects goods when it is necessary for their own preservation Quest. 15. Answ. I answered this question once heretofore in my Political Aphorisms And because I repent of medling with such subjects and of writing that Book I will leave such cases hereafter for fitter persons to resolve Quest. 16. But may I not take from another for a holy use As to give to the Church or maintain the Quest. 16. Bishops If David took the hallowed bread in his necessity may not hallowed persons take common bread much more Answ. If holy persons be in present danger of death their lives may be saved as other mens on the terms mentioned in the first case Otherwise God hath no need of theft or violence nor must you rob the Laity to cloath the Clergy But to do such evil on pretence of piety and good is an aggravation of the sin CHAP. XIX General Directions and particular Cases of Conscience about Contracts in general and about Buying and Selling Borrowing and Lending Usury c. in particular Tit. 1. General Directions against injurious Bargaining and Contracts BEsides the last Directions Chap. 18. take these as more nearly pertinent to this case § 1. Direct 1. See that your hearts have the two great principles of Iustice deeply and habitually Direct 1. innaturalized or radicated in them viz. The true Love of your neighbour and the Denyal of your self which in one precept are called The Loving of your neighbour as your self For then you will be freed from the Inclination to injuries and fraud and from the power of those temptations which carry men to these sins They will be contrary to your habitual will or inclination and you will be more studious to help your neighbour than to get from him § 2. Direct 2. Yet do not content your self with these habits but be sure to call them up to act Direct 2. when ever you have any bargaining with others and let a faithful Conscience be to you as a Cryer to proclaim Gods Laws and say to you Now remember Love and Self-denyal and Do as you would be done by If Alexander Severus so highly valued this saying Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris as to make it his Motto and write and engrave it on his doors and buildings having learned it of some Christians or Jews saith Lampridius What a crime and shame is it for Christs own profest Disciples neither to learn or love it Put home the question when you have any bargaining with others How would I be dealt with my self if my case were the same with his § 3. Direct 3. When the Tempter draweth you to think only of your own commodity and gain remember Direct 3. how much more you will lose by sin than your gain can any way amount to If Acan Gehezi Ahab Iudas c. had foreseen the end and the greatness of their loss it would have curbed their covetous desires Believe Gods Word from the bottom of your heart that you shall lose things eternal if you sinfully get things temporal and then you will not make haste to such a bargain to win the world and lose your souls § 4. Direct 4. Understand your neighbours case aright and meditate on his wants and interest You Direct 4. think what you want your self but you think not whether his wants with whom you deal may not be as great as yours Consider what his commodity costeth him or what the toil of the workmans labour is What house rent he hath to pay and what a family to maintain and whether all this can be well done upon the rates that you desire to trade with him And do not believe every common report of his riches or of the price of his commodity For same in such cases is frequently false § 5. Direct 5. Regard the publick good above your own commodity It is not lawful to take up Direct 5. or keep up any oppressing monopoly or Trade which tendeth to enrich you
not ad semper no act especially external is a duty at all times Therefore not this of revealing an offenders fault And if it be not alwayes a duty then it must be none when it is inconsistent with some greater benefit or duty For when two goods come together the greater is to be preferred Therefore in case that you see in just probability that the concealment of the sinner will do more hurt to the Common-wealth or the souls of men than the saving of your life is like to do good You may not promise to conceal him or if you sinfully promise it you may not perform it But in case that your life is like to be a greater good than the Not promising to conceal him then such a promise is no fault because the disclosing him is no duty But to judge rightly of this is a matter of great difficulty If it be less than life which you save by such a promise it oft falls out that it is a lesser good than the detecting of the offence § 18. But it will here be said If I promise not to conceal a Robber I must conceal him nevertheless for when he hath killed me I cannot reveal him and I must conceal the bribe-taker for till I have promised secrecy I cannot prove him guilty And he that promiseth to forbear a particular good action whilest he liveth doth yet reserve his life for all other good works whereas if he dye he will neither do that nor any other But this case is not so easily determined If Daniel dye he can neither pray nor do any other good on earth And if he live he may do much other good though he never pray And yet he might not promise to give over praying to save his life I conceive that we must distinguish of duties essential to the outward part of Christianity or of constant indispensible necessity and duties which are alterable and belong only to some persons times and places Also between the various consequents of omissions And I conceive that ordinarily a man may promise for the saving of his life that he will forbear a particular alterable duty or relation As to read such a Commentary to speak with such a Minister to be a Magistrate or a Minister c. in case we have not before bound our selves never to give over our Calling till death And in case that the good which will follow our forbearance is likely to a judicious person to be greater than the evil But no man may promise to omit such a duty as God hath made necessary during life as not to love God or fear or trust him not to Worship him and call upon him and praise him nor to do good to mens souls or bodies in the general or not to Preach or Pray while I am a Minister of Christ or not at all to Govern while you are a Governour For all these contradict some former and greater promises or duties Nor may you omit the smallest duty to save your life at such a time when your death is like to do more good than your life would do without that one duty Apply this to the present case § 19. Quest. 12. If another man deceive me into a promise or Covenant against my good am I bound Quest. 12. to perform it when I have discovered the deceit Answ. Yes 1. In case that the Law of the Land or other reasons for the publick good require it 2. Or in case that you were faulty by negligence heedlesness or otherwise guilty of your own deceit in any considerable and avoidable degree Otherwise in that measure that he deceived you and in those respects you are not obliged § 20. Quest. 13. If the contracting parties do neither of them understand the other is it a Covenant Quest. 13. Or if it be whose sense must carry it Answ. If they understand not each other in the Essentials of the Contract it is no contract in point of Conscience except where the Laws for the publick safety do annex the obligation to the bare external act But if they understand not one another in some circumstances and be equally culpable or innocent they must come to a new agreement in those particulars But if one party only be guilty of the misunderstanding he must bear the loss if the other insist on it § 21. Quest. 14. Am I bound to stand to the bargains which my friend or trustee or servant maketh Quest. 14. for me when it proveth much to my injury or loss Answ. Yes 1. If they exceed not the bounds of that commission or trust which they received from you 2. Or if they do yet if by your former trusting and using them or by any other sign you have given the other party sufficient cause to suppose them entrusted by you to do what they do so that he is deceived by your fault you are bound at least to see that he be no loser by you though you are not bound to make him a gainer unless you truly signified that you authorized them to make the contract For if it be meerly your friends or servants errour without your fault it doth not bind you to a third person But how far you may be bound to pardon that errour to your friend or servant is another question and how far you are bound to save them harmless And that must be determined by laying together all other obligations between them and you § 22. Quest. 15. If I say I will give such or such a one this or that am I bound thereby to do it Quest. 15. Answ. It is one thing to express your present mind and resolution without giving away the liberty of changing it And it s another thing to intend the obliging of your self to do the thing mentioned and that obligation is either intended to man or to God only and that is either in point of rendition and use or in point of veracity or the performance of that moral duty of speaking truth If you meant no more in saying I will do it or I will give it but that this is your present Will and purpose and resolution yea though it add the confident perswasion that your will shall not change yet this no further obligeth you than you are obliged to continue in that will And a mans confident resolutions may lawfully be changed upon sufficient cause But if you intended to alienate the title to another or to give him present right or to oblige your self for the future to him by that promise or to oblige your self to God to do it by way of peremptory assertion as one that will be guilty of a lye if you perform it not or if you dedicate the thing to God by those words as a Vow then you are obliged to do accordingly supposing nothing else to prohibit it § 23. Quest. 16. Doth an inward promise of the mind not expressed oblige Quest. 16. Answ. In a Vow to God it
doth And if you intend it as an assertion obliging you in point of Veracity it doth so oblige you that you must not lye But it is no contract nor giveth any man a title to what you tacitely thought of § 24. Quest. 17. May I promise an unlawful thing simply so without an intention of performing Quest. 17. it to save my life from a thief or persecutor Answ. No Because it is a lye when the tongue agreeth not with the heart Indeed those that think a lye is no sin when it hurteth not another may justifie this if that would hold good But I have before confuted it Tom. 1. in the Chapter against Lying § 25. Quest. 18. May any thing otherwise unlawful become a duty upon a promise to do it Quest. 18. Answ. This is answered before Tom. 1. Chapter of Perjury and Vows A thing simply unlawful will be so still notwithstanding a Vow or promise And some say so of that also which is unlawful antecedently but by accident As e. g. It is not simply unlawful to cast away a cup of Wine or a piece of Silver for it is lawful upon a sufficient cause But it is unlawful to do it without any sufficient cause Now suppose I should contract with another that I will do it am I bound by such a contract Many say No because the matter is unlawful though but by accident and the contract cannot make it lawful I rather think that I am bound in such a case But yet that my obligation doth not excuse me wholly from sin It was a sin before I promised it or Vowed it to cast away a farthing causelesly And if I causelesly promised it I sinned in that promise But yet there may be cause for the performance And if I have entangled my self in a necessity of sinning whether I do it or not I must choose the lesser sin for that is then my duty Though I should have chosen neither as long as I could avoid it In a great and hurtful sin I may be obliged rather to break my Covenant than to commit it yet it is hard to say so of every accidental evil My reasons are 1. Because the Promise or Covenant is now an accident to be put into the ballance and may weigh down a lighter accident on the other side But I know that the great difficulty is to discern which is indeed the preponderating accident 2. I think if a Magistrate command me to do any thing which by a small accident is evil as to spend an hour in vain to give a penny in vain to speak a word which antecedently was vain that I must do it and that then it is not vain because it manifesteth my obedience Otherwise obedience would be greatly straightned Therefore my own Contract may make it my duty because I am able to oblige my self as well as a Magistrate is 3. Because Covenant-breaking and Perjury is really a greater sin than speaking a vain word And my error doth not make it no sin but only entangle me in a necessity of sinning which way soever I take § 26. Quest. 19. If a man make a contract to promote the sin of another for a reward as a corrupt Quest. 19. Iudge or Lawyer Officer or Clerk to promote injustice or a resetter to help a Thief or a Bawd or Whore for the price of fornication may he take the reward when the sin is committed suppose it repented of Answ. The offender that promised the reward hath parted with his title to the money Therefore you may receive it of him and ought except he will rightly dispose of it himself But withal to confess the sin and perswade him also to repent But you may not take any of that money as your own For no man can purchase true propriety by iniquity But either give it to the party injured to whom you are bound to make satisfaction or to the Magistrate or the poor according as the case particularly requireth § 27. Quest. 20. If I contract or bargain or promise to another between us two without any legal Quest. 20. form or witness doth it bind me to the performance Answ. Yes in foro conscientiae supposing the thing lawful But if the thing be unlawful in foro Dei and such as the Law of the Land only would lay hold of you about or force you to if it had been witnessed then the Law of the Law of the Land may well be avoided by the want of legal forms and witnesses § 28. Quest. 21. May I buy an Office for money in a Court of Iustice Quest. 21. Answ. Some Offices you may buy where the Law alloweth it and it tendeth not to injustice But other Offices you may not The difference the Lawyers may tell you better than I and it would be tedious to pursue instances § 29. Quest. 22. May one buy a place of Magistracy or Iudicature for money Quest. 22. Answ. No◠when your own honour or commodity is your end Because the common good is the end of Government and to a faithful Governour it is a place of great labour and suffering and requireth much self-denyal and patience Therefore they that purchase it as a place of honour gain or pleasure either know not what they undertake or have carnal ends Else they would rather purchase their liberty and avoid it But if a King or Judge or other Magistrate see that a bad man more unfit to Govern is like to be put in if he be put by it is lawful for him to purchase the peoples deliverance at a very dear rate even by a lawful War which is more than money when the Soveraigns power is in such danger But the Heart must be watcht that it pretend not the common Whether the consequent good or hurt is like to be greater must be well considered good and intend your own commodity and honour And the probable consequents must be weighed And the Laws of the Land must be consulted also For if they absolutely prohibite the buying of a place of Judicature they must be obeyed And ill effects may make it sinful § 30. Quest. 23. May one sell a Church-benefice or Rectory or Orders Answ. If the Benefice be originally of your own gift it is at first in your power to give part or all to take some deductions out of it or not But if it be already given to the Church and you have Quest. 23. but the Patronage or Choice of the Incumbent it is sacriledge to sell it for any commodity of your own But whether you may take somewhat out of a greater Benefice to give to another Church which is poorer dependeth partly on the Law of the Land and partly upon the probable consequents If the Law absolutely forbid it supposing that unlawful contracts cannot be avoided unless some lawful ones be restrained it must be obeyed for the common good And if the consequent of a lawful contract be like
you must answer it as an unfaithful Servant And yet on the other side it may fall out that a person of quality by a seasonable prudent handsome respectful entertainment of his equals or superiours may do more good than by bestowing that charge upon the poor He may save more than he expendeth by avoiding the displeasure of men in power He may keep up his interest by which if he be faithful he may do God and his Countrey more service than if he had given so much to the poor And when really it is a needful means to a greater good it is a duty and then to omit it and give that cost to the poor would be a sin § 6. Object But if this rule hold a man must never do but one kind of good when he hath found out the greatest he must do nothing else Answ. He must alwayes do the greatest good but the same thing is not at all times the greatest good Out of season and measure a good may be turned to an evil Praying in its season is better than plowing and plowing in its season is better than praying and will do more good For God will more accept and bless it § 7. Object Therefore it seemeth the prudentest way to divide my expences according to the proportion of others of my quality some to the poor and some to necessary charges and some to actions of due civility Answ. That there must be a just distribution is no question because God hath appointed you several duties for your expences But the question is of the proportions of each respectively Where God hath made many duties constantly necessary as to maintain your own bodies your children to pay tribute to the King to help the poor to maintain the charges of the Church there all must be wisely proportioned But entertainments recreations and other such after to be mentioned which are not constant duties may be sometimes good and sometimes sinful And the measure of such expences must be varyed only by the rule already laid down viz. According to the proportion of the effect or good which is like to follow Though the custome of others of the same rank may sometimes intimate what proportion will be suitable to that lawful end And sometimes the inordinate custome of others will rather tell one what is to be avoided Therefore true prudence without a carnal byas comparing the good effects together which rationally are like to follow is the only resolver of this doubt Which having so largely shewed I shall refer you to it in the solution of many of the following questions § 8. Inst. 3. Another way of sinful wasting is upon unnecessary sumptuous buildings Inst. 3. Quest. 3. When is it prodigality to erect sumptuous Edifices Quest. 3. Answ. Not when they are for the publick good either in point of use or ornament and honour so be it no greater good be thereby omitted Therefore it is not Churches Hospitals Burses or Common Halls that I am speaking of Nor when they are proportioned to the quality of the person for the honour of Magistracy or for a mans necessary use But when it is for the ostentation of a mans riches or rather of his Pride and for the gratifying of a carnal irrational fancy And when a man bestoweth more upon buildings than is proportionable to his estate and to his better expences and to speak more exactly when he bestoweth that upon his buildings which some greater service calleth for at that time it is then his prodigality and sin § 9. Quest. 4. Here once for all let us enquire Whether it be not lawful as in dyet so in buildings Quest. 4. recreation and other such things to be at some charge for our Delight as well as for our Necessities Answ. The question is thus commonly stated but not well For it seemeth to imply that no Delights are necessary and so putteth things in opposition which are oft co-incident Therefore I distinguish 1. Of necessity Some things are necessary to our being and some to our felicity and and some but to our smaller benefit 2. Of Delight Some delight is sinful as gratifying a sinful humour or disposition Some is unnecessary or wholly useless and some is necessary either to our greater or our lesser good And so the true solution is 1. The sinful delight of a Proud a Covetous a lustful a voluptuous mind is neither to be purchased or used 2. A Delight wholly needless that is unprofitable is sinful if it be purchased but at the price of a farthing or of a bit of bread or of a minutes time Because that is cast away which purchaseth it 3. A Delight which tendeth to the health of the body and the alacrity of the mind to fit it for our Calling and the service of God being not placed in any forbidden thing may be both indulged and purchased so it be not above its worth 4. So far as delight in house or sports or any creature tendeth to corrupt our minds and draw us to the love of this present world and alienate our hearts from Heaven so far must they be resisted and mortified or sanctified and turned a better way 5. In the Utensils of our duty to God usually a moderate natural delight is a great help to the duty and may become a spiritual delight As a delight in my Books in the Preachers utterance in the melody of Psalms in my study and its conveniences in my walk for meditation c. And a delight in our food and recreations maketh them much fitter to cherish health and to attain their ends so it be not corrupt immoderate or abused to evil ends § 10. Inst. 4. Another way of 〈…〉 rodigality is in needless costly Recreations Inst. 4. Quest. 5. Is all cost laid out upon recreations unlawful Quest. 5. Answ. No but caeteris paribus we should choose the cheapest and be at no needless cost on them nor lay out any thing on them which consideratis considerandis might be better bestowed But of this before § 11. Inst. 5. Another way of Prodigality is in over-costly apparel Inst. 5. Quest. 6. What may be accounted Prodigality in the costliness of apparel Quest. 6. Answ. Not that which is only for a due distinction of superiours from inferiors or which is needful to keep up the Vulgâ—rs reverence to Magistrates But 1. All that which is meerly serviceable to pride or vain curiosity or amorous lust or an affectation to be thought to be more comely and beautiful than others 2. All that which hath more cost bestowed upon it than the benefit or end is worth 3. Or which hath that cost which should be rather laid out another way upon better uses The cheapest apparel must be chosen which is warm and comely and sitted to the right ends And we must come nearer those that are below our ranck than those above it § 12. Inst. 6. Also Prodigality is much shewed in
measures every man on earth is a false Worshipper that is he offereth God a worship some way faulty and imperfect and hath some sin in his worshipping of God And sin is a thing that God requireth not but forbiddeth even in the smallest measures Quest. 9. Which must I judge a true Church of Christ and which a false Church Quest. 9. Answ. The Universal Church is but one and is the whole society of Christians as united to Christ their only Head And this cannot be a false Church But if any other set up an Usurper as the Universal Head and so make another Policy and Church this is a false Church formally or in its policy But yet the members of this false Church or policy may some of them as Christians be also members of the true Church of Christ And thus the Roman Church as Papal is a false Catholick Church haveing the Policy of an Usurper but as Christians they may be members of the true Catholick Church of Christ. But for a particular Church which is but part of the Universal that is a true Church considered meerly as an ungoverned Community which is a true part of the Catholick prepared for a Pastor but yet being without one But that only is a true Political Church which consisteth of Professed Christians conjoyned under a true Pastor for Communion in the profession of true Christianity and for the true worshipping of God and orderly walking for their mutual assistance and salvation Quest. 10. Whom must we judge true Prophets and Pastors of the Church Quest. 10. Answ. He is a true Prophet who is sent by God and speaketh truth by immediate supernatural revelation or inspiration And he is a false Prophet who either falsly saith that he hath Divine revelations or inspiration or prophesieth falshood as from God And he is a true Pastor at the bar of God who is 1. Competently qualified with abilities for the Office 2. Competently disposed to it with willingness and desire of success And hath right ends in undertaking and discharging it 3. Who hath a just admission by true Ordination of Pastors and Consent of the flock And he is to be accounted a true Pastor in foro Ecclesiae in the Churches judgement whom the Church judgeth to have all these qualifications and thereupon admitteth him into possession of the place till his incapacity be notorious or publickly and sufficiently proved or he be removed or made uncapable Tit. 2. Directions for the Cure of sinful Censoriousness Direct 1. MEddle not at all in judging of others without a call Know first whether it be any Direct 1. of your work If not be afraid of those words of your Judge Matth. 7. 1 2 3 4 5. Iudge not that ye be not judged For with what judgement you judge you shall be judged c. And Rom. 14. 4. Who art thou that judgest another mans servant To his own Master he standeth or falleth And vers 10. 13. But why dost thou judge thy brother Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ Every one of us shall give account of himself to God Let us not therefore judge one another any more 1 Cor. 4. 3 4 5. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgement Therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come who both will bring to light the bidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts Col. 2. 16. Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moon or Sabbath Quest. But when have I a call to Iudge another Answ. You may take the answer to this from the answer to Quest. 10. Chap. 23. Tit. 1. 1. If your Office or place require it as a Magistrate Pastor Parent Master Tutor c. 2. If the safety of the Church or your neighbour do require it 3. If the good of the sinner require it that you may seek his repentance and reformation 4. If your own preservation or welfare or any other duty require it Direct 2. Keep up an humble sense of your own faults and that will make you compassionate to Direct 2. others He that is truly vile in his own eyes is least inclined to vilifie others And he that judgeth himself with the greatest penitent severity is the least inclined to be censorious to his brother Pride is the common cause of censoriousness He that saith with the Pharisee I fast twice a week and pay tythe of all that I have I am no adulterer c. will also say I am not as other men nor as this Publican when the true penitent findeth so much of his own to be condemned that he smiteth on his own breast and saith God be merciful to me a sinner The prouder self-conceited sort of Christians are ever the most censorious of their neighbours Direct 3. Be much therefore at home in searching and watching and amending your own hearts Direct 3. and then you will find so much to do about your selves that you will have no mind or leisure to be censuring others Whereas the superficial hypocrite whose Religion is in externals and is unacquainted with his heart and Heaven is so little employed in the true work of a Christian that he hath leisure for the work of a censorious Pharisee Direct 4. Labour for a deep experimental insight into the nature of Religion and of every duty Direct 4. For no men are so censorious as the ignorant who know not what they say whilest experienced persons know those difficulties and other reasons which calm their minds As in common business no man will sooner find fault with a Workman in his work than idle praters who least understand it So is it commonly in matters of Religion Women and young men that never saw into the great mysteries of Divinity but have been lately changed from a vicious life and have neither acquaintance with the hard points of Religion nor with their own ignorance of them are the common proud censurers of their brethren much wiser than themselves and of all men that are more moderate and peaceable than themselves and are more addicted to Unity and more averse to Sects and separations than they Study harder and wait till you grow up to the experience of the aged and you will be less censorious and more peaceable Direct 5. Think not your selves fit Iudges of that which you understand not And think not proudly Direct 5. that you are liker to understand the difficulties in Religion with your short and lazy studies than those that in reading meditation and prayer have spent their lives in searching after them Let not pride make you abuse the Holy Ghost by pretending that he hath given you more wisdome in a little time and with little means and diligence than your betters have by the
you should perform your trust or would discharge you of it If it be some great and unexpected dangers which you think upon good grounds the Parent would acquit you from if he were living you fulfill your trust if you avoid them and do that which would have been his will if he had known it Otherwise you must perform your promise though it be to your loss and suffering Quest. 16. But what if it was only a trust imposed by his desire and will without my acceptance or promise Quest. 16. to perform it Answ. You must do as you would be done by and as the common good and the Laws of love and friendship do require Therefore the quality of the person and your obligations to him and especially the comparing of the consequent good and evil together must decide the case Quest. 17. What if the surviving kindred of the Orphane be nearer to him than I am and they censure Quest. 17. me and calumniate me as injurious to the Orphane may I not ease my self of the trust and cast it upon them Answ. In this case also the measure of your suffering must first be compared with the measure of the Orphanes good And then your Conscience must tell you whether you verily think the Parent who entrusted you would discharge you if he were alive and knew the case If he would though you promised it is to be supposed that it was not the meaning of his desire or your promise to incur such sufferings And if you believe that he would not discharge you if he were alive then if you promised you must perform But if you promised not you must go no farther than the Law of love requireth Quest. 18. What is a Minister of Christ to do if a penitent person confess secretly some heynous or Quest. 18. capital crime to him as Adultery theft robbery murder Must it be concealed or not Answ. 1. If a purpose of sinning be antecedently confessed it is unlawful to farther the crime or give opportunity to it by a concealment But it must be so far opened as is necessary for the prevention of anothers wrong or the persons sin Especially if it be Treason against the King or Kingdom or any thing against the common good 2. When the punishment of the offender is apparently necessary to the good of others especially to right the King or Countrey and to preserve them from danger by the offender or any other it is a duty to open a past fault that is confessed and to bring the offender to punishment rather than injure the innocent by their impunity 3. When Restitution is necessary to a person injured you may not by concealment hinder such Restitution but must procure it to your power where it may be had 4. It is unlawful to promise universal secresie absolutely to any penitent But you must tell him before he confesseth If your crime be such as that opening it is necessary to the preservation or righting of King or Countrey or your Neighbour or to my own safety I shall not conceal it That so men may know how far to trust you 5. Yet in some rare cases as the preservation of our Parents King or Countrey it may be a duty to promise and perform concealment when there is no hurt like to follow but the loss or hazard of our own lives or liberties or estates And consequently if no hurt be like to follow but some private loss of another which I cannot prevent without a greater hurt 6. If a man ignorant of the Law and of his own danger have rashly made a promise of secresie and yet be in doubt he should open the case in hypothesi only to some honest able Lawyer enquiring if such a case should be what the Law requireth of the Pastor or what danger he is in if he conceal it that he may be able farther to judge of the case 7. He that made no promise of secresie virtual or actual may caeteris paribus bring the offender to shame or punishment rather than fall into the like himself for the concealment 8. He that rashly promised universal secresie must compare the penitents danger and his own and consider whose suffering is like to be more to the publick detriment all things considered and that must be first avoided 9. He that findeth it his duty to reveal the crime to save himself must yet let the penitent have notice of it that he may flye and escape unless as aforesaid when the Interest of the King or Countrey or others doth more require his punishment 10. But when there is no such necessity of the offenders punishment for the prevention of the hurt or wrong of others nor any great danger by concealment to the Minister himself I think that the Crime though it were capital should be concealed My reasons are 1. Because though every man be bound to do his best to prevent sin yet every man is not bound to bring offenders to punishment He that is no Magistrate nor hath a special call so to do may be in many cases not obliged to it 2. It is commonly concluded that in most cases a capital offender is not bound to bring himself to punishment And that which you could not know but by his free Confession and is confest to you only on your promise of concealment seemeth to me to put you under no other obligation to bring him to punishment than he is under himself 3. Christs words and practice in dismissing the Woman taken in Aduâ—tery sheweth that it is not alwayes a duty for one that is no Magistrate to prosecute a capital offender but that sometime his repentance and life may be preferred 4. And Magistrates pardons sheweth the same 5. Otherwise no sinner would have the benefit of a Counsellor to open his troubled Conscience to For if it be a duty to detect a great crime in order to a great punishment why not a less also in order to a less punishment And who would confess when it is to bring themselves to punishment 11. In those Countries where the Laws allow Pastors to conceal all crimes that penitents freely confess it is left to the Pastors judgement to conceal all that he discerneth may be concealed without the greater injury of others or of the King or Common-wealth 12. There is a knowledge of the faults of others by Common â—ame especially many years after the committing which doth not oblige the hearers to prosecute the offender And yet a crime publickly known is more necessarily to be punished lest impunity embolden others to the like than an unknown crime revealed in Confession Tit. 2. Directions about Trusts and Secrets Direct 1. BE not rash in receiving secrets or any other trusts But first consider what you are thereby Direct 1. obliged to and what difficulties may arise in the performance and foresee all the consequents as far as is possible before you undertake the trust that you cast not
do your self right For he whom you commend is either superior or inferior to you If he be inferior if he be to be commended then you much more If he be superior if he be not to be commended then you much less Lord Bacon Essay 54. pag. 299. may have the preheminence as a dwarf that makes another seem a proper man They are less troubled that God and the Gospel is dishonoured by the infirmities insufficiencie and faults of others than that their glory is obscured by worthier men though God be honoured and his work promoted Whereas the humbled person wisheth from the bottom of his heart that all the Lords people were Prophets that all men could preach and pray and discourse and live much better than he doth himself though he would also be as good as they He is glad when he heareth any speak more judiciously powerfully and convincingly than he rejoycing that Gods work is done whoever do it For he loveth Wisdom and Holiness Truth and duty not only because it is his own but for it self and for God and for the souls of others A Proud man envieth both the parts and work and honour of others And is like the Devil repining at the gifts of God and the better and wiser any one is the more he envieth him He is an enemy to the fruits of Gods beneficence as if he would have God less Good and bountiful to the world or to any but himself and such as will serve his party and interest and honour with their gifts His eye is evil because God is Good If others be better spoken of than himself as more learned able wise or holy it kindleth in his breast a secret hatred of them unless they are such whose honour is his honour or contributeth thereto Whereas the holy humble soul is sorry that he wants what others have but glad that others have what he wants He loveth Gods gifts where-ever he seeth them yea though it were in one that hateth him He would not have the world to be shut up in a perpetual night because he may not be the Sun but would have them receive that by another which he cannot give them and is glad that they have a Sun though it be not he Though some preached Christ of envy and strife of contention and not sincerely to add afflictions to his bonds yet Paul rejoyced and would rejoyce that Christ was preached Phil. 1. 15 16 17 18. § 46. Sign 4. When the Proud man is praying or preaching his eye is principally upon the hearers Sign 4. and from them it is that his work is animated and from them that he fetcheth principally the fire or motives of his zeal He is thinking principally of their case and all the while fishing for their love and approbation and applause And where he cannot have it the fire of his zeal goeth out Whereas though the humble subordinately look at men and would do all to edification yet it is not to be Loved by them so much as to exercise Love upon them nor to seek for honour and esteem from them so much as to convert and save them And it is God that he chiefly eyeth and regardeth and from him that he fetches his most powerful motives and it is his approbation that he expecteth His eye and heart is so upon the auditors as to be more upon God He would feed the sheep but would please the Lord and Owner of them § 47. Sign 5. A Proud man after his duty is more inquisitive how he was liked by men and what Sign 5. they think or say of him than whether God and Conscience give him their approbation He hath his scouts to tell him whether he be honoured or dishonoured This is the return of prayer that he looks after This is the fruit of preaching which he seeks to reap But these are inconsiderable things to a serious humble soul He hath God to please his work to do and sets not much by humane judgement § 48. Sign 6. A Proud man is more troubled when he perceiveth that he is undervalued and misseth Sign 6. of the honour which he sought than that his preaching succeeds not for the good of souls or his Clâ—mens Alex. stâ—om l. 1. c. 4. Aâ—t â—ideli Christiano docentâ— veâ— unicum sufficere auditorem prayers prevail not for their spiritual good Every man is most troubled for missing that which is his end To do good and get good is the end of the sincere and this he looks after and rejoyceth if he obtain it and is troubled if he miss it To seem good and wise and able is the Proud mans end And if the people honour him it puffs him up with gladness as if he were a happy man And if they slight him or despise him he is cast down or cast into some turbulent passion and falls a hating or wrangling with them that deny him the honour he expects as if they did him a hainous wrong As if a Physicion should want both skill and care to cure his patients but hateth and revileth them because they prefer another that is abler and will not die to secure his honour or magnifie his skill for killing their friends The Proud mans honour is his Life and Idol § 49. Sign 7. The Heart of the Proud is not enclined to humbling duties to penitent confessions Sign 7. and lamentations for sin and earnest prayer for grace and pardon but unto some formal observances and lip-labour or the Pharisees self-applause I thank thee that I am not as other men nor as this Publican Not but that the humblest have great cause to bless God for their spiritual mercies and his differencing grace But the Proud thank God for that which they have not for sanctification when they are unsanctified and for justification when they are unjustified and for the assured hope of Glory when they are sure to be damned if they be not changed by renewing grace and for being made the heirs of Heaven while they continue the heirs of Hell And therefore the proud are least afraid of coming without right or preparation to the sacrament of the Body and blood of Christ They rush in with confident presumption When the humble soul is trembling without as being oft more fearful to enter than it ought § 50. Sign 8. Proud persons are of all others the most impatient of Church discipline and uncapable Sign 8. of living under the Government of Christ. If they sin they can scarce endure the gentlest admonition But if they are reproved sharply or cuttingly that they may be found in the faith you shall perceive that they smart by their impatience But if you proceed to more publick reproof and admonition and call them to an open confessing of their sin to those whom they have wronged or before the Congregation and to ask forgiveness and seriously crave the prayers of the Church you shall then see the power of Pride
against the ordinance and commands of God! How scornfully will they spurn at these reproofs and exhortations How obstinately will they refuse to submit to their unquestionable duty And how hardly are they brought to confess the most notorious sins Or to confess that it is their duty to confess them Though they would easily believe that it is the duty of another and would exhort another to do that which they themselves refuse The Physick seemeth so loathsom to them which Christ hath prescribed them that they hate him that bringeth it and will die and be damned before they will take it but perhaps will turn again and all to rent you unless where they are restrained by the secular arm But if you proceed to reject them for their obstinate impenitencie in heynous sin from the visible communion of the Church you shall then see yet more how contrary Pride is to the Church-order and Government ordained by Christ. How bitterly will they hate those that put them to such necessary disgrace How will they storm and rage and turn their fury against the Church as if Christs remedy were the greatest injury to them in the world You may read their Character in the second Psalm Therefore Christ calleth men to come as little Children into his school or else they will be unteachable and incorrigible Mat. 18. 3. § 51. Sign 9. A Proud man hath an Heretical disposition even when he cryeth out against Hereticks Sign 9. He is apt to look most after matters of dispute and contention in Religion Obscure prophecies Gods decrees controversies which trouble the Church more than edifie circumstances ceremonies forms outwards orders and words And for his opinion in these he must be somebody § 52. Sign 10. A Proud man is unsatisfied with his standing in communion with the Church of Sign 10. Christ and is either ambitiously aspiring to a dominion over it or is inclined to a separation from it They are too good to stand on even ground with their brethren If they may be Teachers or Rulers they can approve the constitution of the Church But otherwise it is too bad for them to have communion with They must be of some more refined or elevated society They are not content to come out and be separate from the infidel and idolatrous world but they must also come out and be separate from the Churches of Christ consisting of men that make a credible profession of faith and godliness They think it not enough to forbear sin themselves and to have no fellowship with the works of darkness but reprove them nor to separate from men as they separate from Christ but they will also separate from Isa. 65. 5. Math. 11. 19. Math. 9. 11. Math. 15. 2 3. them in their duty and odiously aggravate every imperfection and fill the Church with clamors and contentions and break it into fractions by their schisms and this not for any true reformation or edifying of the body for how can division edifie it but to tell the world that they account themselves more holy than the Church Thus Christ himself was quarrelled with as unholy by the Pharisees for eating with publicans and sinners And his disciples for not washing before meat and observing the traditions of the Elders and for rubbing out corn to eat on the sabbath day And they that will not be strict in their conformity to Christ will be righteous overmuch and stricter than Christ would have them be where Pride commandeth it They will be of the strictest party and opinions and make opinions and parties that are stricter than Gods commands and run into errors and schisms that they may be singular from the general communion of the Church and will be of a lesser than Christs little flock Signs of Pride in common converse § 53. Sign 1. Pride causeth subjects to be too quick in censuring the actions of their Governors Sign 1. and too impatient of what they suffer from them and apt to murmur at them and rebel against them It makes inferiors think themselves competent judges of those commands and actions of their superiors the Reasons of which they never heard nor can be fit to judge of unless they were of their council It makes them forget all the benefits of Government and mind only the burdens and suffering part and say as Corah Ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation are holy every one Numb 16. 3. of them and the Lord is among them Wherefore then lift ye up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk verse 13. 14. and hony to kill us in the wilderness except thou make thy self alltogether a Prince over us Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men Proud men are impatient and aggravate their disappointments and think they have reason and justice on their side § 54. Sign 2. A Proud man is more disposed to command than to obey and cannot serve God contententedly Sign 2. in a mean and low condition He is never a good subject or servant or child for subjection seems a slavery to him He thinks it a baseness to be governed by another He hath a Reason of his own which still contradicteth the Reason of his Rulers and a will of his own that must needs be fulfilled and cannot submit or yield to Government He is still ready to step out of his rank and prepare for suffering by disorder that he may tast the sweetness of present liberty As if your horse or cattle should break out from you to be free and famish in the winter when snow depriveth them of grass Whereas the humble know it is much easier to obey than Govern and that the valleys are the most fruitful grounds and that it is the Cedars and mountain trees that are blown down and not the shrubs And that a low condition affordeth not only more safety but more quietness and leasure to converse with God And that it is a mercy that others may be employed in his preservation and keeping the walls and watching the house while he may follow his work in quietness and peace And therefore willingly payeth honour and tribute to whom it is due § 55. Sign 3. If a Proud man be a Ruler he is apt to be lifted up in mind and to despise his inferiors Sign 3. as if they were not men or he were more He is apt to disdain the counsels of the wise and to scorn admonition from the ministers of Christ and to hate every Michea that prophesieth not good of him and to value none but flatterers and discountenance faithful dealers and not endure to hear of his faults He is apt to fall out with the power of Godliness and the Gospel of Christ as that which seemeth to cross his interest and to forget his own subjection to God and the danger of his subjects He is
such a manner as might no way hinder the ends of Government as to others by encouraging thievery or unjust violence it is not unlawful before God the end of the Law being the chief part of the Law But when you cannot take your own without either encouraging theft or violence in others or weakening the power of the Laws and Government by your disobedience which is the ordinary case it is unlawful Because the preservation of order and of the honour of the Government and Laws and the suppression of theft and violence is much more necessary than the righting of your self and recovering your own § 11. Quest. 4. If another take by theft or force from me may I not take my own again from him Quest. 4. by force or secretly when I have no other way Answ. Not when you do more hurt to the Common-wealth by breaking Law and order than your own benefit can recompence For you must rather suffer than the Common-wealth should suffer But you may when no such evils follow it § 12. Quest. 5. If I be in no necessity my self may I not take from rich men to give the poor who are Quest. 5. in extream necessity Answ. The answer to the first case may suffice for this In such cases wherein a Poor man may not take it for himself you may not take it for him But in such cases as he may take it for himself and no one else is fit to do it he himself being unable you may do it when no accidental consequents forbid you § 13. Quest. 6. If he have so much as that he will not miss it and I be in great want though not Quest. 6. like to dye of famine may I not take a little to supply my want Answ. No because God hath appointed the means of just propriety and what is not gotten by those means is none of yours by his approbation He is the giver of Riches and he intendeth not to give to all alike If he give more to others he will require more of them And if he give less to you it is the measure which he seeth to be meetest for you and the condition in which your obedience and patience must be tryed And he will not take it well if you will alter your measure by forbidden means and be carvers for your selves or level others § 14. Quest. 7. There are certain measures which humanity obligeth all men to grant to those in want Quest. 7. and therefore men take without asking As to pluck an Apple from a tree or as Christs disciples to rub the ears of Corn to eat If a Nabal deny me such a thing may I not take it Answ. If the Laws of the Land allow it you you may Because mens propriety is subjected to the Law for the common good But if the Law forbid it you you may not except when it is necessary to save your life upon the terms expressed under the first question § 15. Quest. 8. May not a Wife or Child or Servant take more than a cruel Husband or Parent or Quest. 8. Master doth allow Suppose it be better meat or drink Answ. How far the Wife hath a true propriety her self and therefore may take it dependeth on the Contract and the Laws of the Land which I shall not now meddle with But for Children and Servants they may take no more than the most cruel and unrighteous parents or masters do allow them except to save their lives upon the conditions in the first case But the servant may seek relief of the Magistrate and he may leave such an unrighteous Master And the Child must bear it patiently as the cross by which it pleaseth God to try him Unless that the Government of the Parent be so bad as to tend to his undoing And then I think he may leave his Parents for a better condition except it be when their own necessity obligeth him to stay and suffer for their help and benefit Whether Children may forsake their Parents For it is true that a Child oweth as much to his Parents as he can perform by way of gratitude for their good But it is true also that a Parent hath no full and absolute propriety in his Child as men have in their Cattle But is made by nature their guardian for their benefit And therefore when Parents would undoe their Childrens souls or bodies the Children may forsake them as being first forsaken by them further than as they are obliged in gratitude to help them as is aforesaid § 16. Quest. 9. If a man do deserve to lose somewhat which he hath by way of punishment may I Quest. 9. not take it from him Answ. Not unless the Law either make you a Magistrate or Officer to do it or allow and permit it at the least Because it is not to you that the forfeiture is made Or if it be you must execute the Law according to the Law and not against it For else you will offend in punishing offences § 17. Quest. 10. But what if I fully resolve when I take a thing in my necessity to repay the owner Quest. 10. or make him satisfaction if ever I be able Answ. That is some extenuation of the sin but no justification of the fact which is otherwise unjustifiable Because it is still without his consent § 18. Quest. 11. What if I know not whether the owner would consent or not Quest. 11. Answ. In a case where common custome and humanity alloweth you to take it for granted that he would not deny you as to pluck a ear of Corn or gather an herb for Medicine in his field you need not scruple it unless you conjecture that he is a Nabal and would deny you But otherwise if you doubt of his consent you must ask it and not presume of it without just cause § 19. Quest. 12. What if I take a thing from a friend but in a way of jeast intending to restore Quest. 12. it Answ. If you have just ground to think that your friend would consent if he knew it you will not be blameable But if otherwise either you take it for your own benefit and use or you take it only to make sport by The former is their for all your jeast The later is but an unlawful way of jeasting § 20. Quest. 13. What if I take it from him but to save him from hurting his body with it As If I Quest. 13. steal poyson from one that intended to kill himself by it or take a sword from a drunken man that would hurt himself or a knife from a melancholy man or what if it be to save another as to take a mad mans sword from him who would kill such as are in his way or an angry mans that will kill another Answ. This is your duty according to the sixth Commandment which bindeth you to preserve your Neighbours life So be it these conditions