say That Man's Obedience is insincere who together with his Intentions of serving God joins another Intention of serving Sin But 1st that Man's Obedience is insincere who together with his Intention of serving God joins another Intention of serving Sin as if a Man as our Saviour tells us the Pharisees did make long Prayers and other Professions of Religion to enable him the better and without suspicion to devour Widows Houses as well as serve God Where his obedient Performances slow from such a mixture of Design as this they will in no wise be owned as an obedient but punished as a sinful Service Secondly Again Men's Obedience is insincere when they design some temporal Ends in the practice of Vertue as much or more than the design God's Service 2dly When he designs some temporal Ends in the practice of Vertue as much or more than he intends God's Service as when a Man is temperate and will not drink which is his Duty indeed but yet only because he cannot without making himself sick But when in the performance of any Vertue a Man has a regard as much if not more to his Profit or Ease than to the Commands of God in that case this Obedience is also insincere and will be far from entitling him to be an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven For thus to have as much regard to our worldly Profit or Pleasure in the performance of any Duty as to please God is a degrading of Him it is a setting up the World for His Rival And to bring other Things in Competition with Him is plainly to renounce Him In respect of our Love to God we must even hate Father and Mother Wife and Children the dearest Interests and Concerns we have in the World He will be served and respected above all for He is jealous of the Pre-eminence of His Service above all Things as an Husband is of his Wife's Love to him above other Men I the Lord saith he am a jealous God Exod. 20.5 And so much for that Sincerity which is required of us as the first Qualification of an Acceptable Obedience II. That Evangelical or Gospel-Obedience 2dly Evangelical Obedience must be entire viz. which now under the Covenant of Grace is the indispensible Condition of every Man's Salvation must be an entire Obedience to all the Laws of the Gospel Now this Integrity of our Obedience is such a Perfection and Compleatness of it as excludes all Maimedness and Defects and this in another Word is ordinarily express'd in Scripture by Vprightness or walking uprightly And to be upright in God's Ways is not to stumble and fall by Sin or Disobedience but to be perfect and entire or wanting nothing in obedient Performances And that our Obedience may be thus entire and upright it must be First The Obedience of the whole Man Secondly To the whole Law And Thirdly performed at all times First That our Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel may be entire and so avail as to Life and Happiness it must be the Obedience of the whole Man that is 1st The Obedience of the whole Man that is we must take care to obey with all the Powers and Faculties of our Nature We must have our Understandings our Wills our Affections and our Bodily Powers obedient to God's Laws And for this the very Letter of the Law is express for when the Lawyer ask'd our Saviour What shall I do to inherit eternal Life Luke 10.25 our Saviour ask'd how it is written in the Law who answering that it is written Thou shalt love that is serve as it is Deut. 11.13 the Lord thy God with all thine Heart or Will with all thy Soul or Affections with all thy Strength or Bodily Powers and with all thy Mind or Understanding vers 26 27. When the Lawyer answered him That thus indeed it was written in the Law as it was Deut. 11. our Saviour told him he answered right and bid him do this and he should live Obedience with all the Powers and with the whole Nature is the Means of Life and the indispensible Condition of our eternal Happiness And In the first place of the Mind and Vnderstanding First We must keep all God's Commandments with our Mind or Understanding that is all the Thoughts and Imaginations all the Contrivances and Counsels of our Hearts must be governed by and kept in obedience to the Laws of the Gospel so that we must not indulge our selves nor entertain in our Hearts evil Thoughts wanton and vain Thoughts nor must we purpose and contrive wicked and unjust Things no more than we must outwardly act them Thus the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 tells us That the Weapons of a Christian's Warfare must be mighty through God to the pulling down Strong-holds to the casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and to the bringing into captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ. This Text forbids all Thoughts and Contrivances of Sin Secondly Secondly of the Will As ever we hope to have our Obedience avail us to Life and Happiness as we must keep our Minds and Understandings so likewise our Wills in Obedience to God's Commands The Choice as well as the Practice of our Duty is plainly necessary to render it available to our Salvation but on the other side he that would sin if he could conveniently and opportunely if he chuse Sin although he miss of opportunity to act it the bare Choice without the Practice is sufficiently to his Condemnation Thus our Lord Himself has determined it Whosoever looks on a Woman to lust after her or so long 'till his Heart consent to commit Lewdness with her if he could though he never meet with an opportunity to act it hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Matth. 5.28 This Text shews us that we may disobey in Willing as well as Doing and that we shall be condemned for a wicked Choice as well as a wicked Practice Thirdly Thirdly of the Affections As we will render to God the Obedience of the whole Man an entire Obedience such as will avail us to Salvation we must regulate our Souls and Affections conforming them wholly to what God commands That is we must love our Duty as well as do it and not to do it meerly out of Fear but of out Love To pretend Obedience to God and yet to love what he forbids to make a show of his Service and yet in our very Hearts to hanker after his vilest Enemies our Sins whom above all Things his Soul hates this surely is not honestly to Serve but grosly to Collogue and flatly to Dissemble with Him And we must not do our Duty meerly out of Fear I say but out of Love for thus to serve God against our Wills is to submit to Him as a Slave doth to a tyrannous Lord not through any Kindness for him but through a hateful Fear of
concern us That we be not Ignorant of these his Devices Now these Politick Methods of his These Politick Methods of his discover'd to us under the Parable of a malicious Enemy coming privately in the Night sowing Tares where the Husbandman had before sown good Seed whereby he Endeavours To Corrupt Men's Notions of God and Religion so that by their very Religion they may Dishonour him are discover'd to us in the Gospel under the Parable of some malicious Enemy who coming privately in the Night sows Tares where the Husbandmen had before sown good Seed The Parable runs thus Matth. 13.24 The Kingdom of Heaven is liken'd unto a Man which Sowed good Seed in his Field but while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his way But when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appeared the Tares also And in the 37 38 39 ver Our Saviour himself gives us this Explication of it He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom that is the Ministers of Religion and their good Doctrine The Tares are the Children of the wicked One that is Hereticks and their Evil Principles The Enemy that sowed them is the Devil Like a skillful Husbandman he is choice about the Nature of the Seed the Temper and Preparedness of the Soil the Fitness of the Season and the skillfulness of the Seeds-man From which Parable and Explication of our Saviour's we may observe That the most skilful Husbandman is not more curious about the Nature of his Seed the Temper and Preparedness of the Soil and the Fitness of the Season and the Skilfulness of the Seeds-man than Satan is choice and considerate about the Nature of his Erroneous Doctrines the Preparation of Men's Minds to Receive 'em about the most proper and seasonable Times of dispersing 'em and the Capacity and Qualities of those his Agents whom he Imploys to sow them in the Souls of Men. And * First As to the Nature of the Seed he takes care his Heretical Opinions and Practices should bear some Resemblance of Divine Truth in order to conceal their Discovery First I do take it to be infinitely worth your while to consider That those Heretical Principles and Opinions which Satan does choose to Blend with Christianity Do generally bear some Resemblance of Divine Truths in order to conceal their Discovery So that as the Tares which the Enemy sowed were not Distinguishable till the Wheat grew up and bore Fruit So the Heretical and Impious Doctrines of Satan's infusing can scarcely be Known but by their Fruits to which way of Trying 'em our Saviour does therefore direct us And thus he does usually Gild over his Errors Thus especially he Gilds his Errours where the Light of the Gospel does most clearly shine as here I. When under the plausible Appearance of Advanceing God's Honour in some of his Attributes he renders him Odious and Despis'd in Others with the Resemblance of Divine Truth especially in those Churches and Countries where the Light of the Gospel does most clearly shine And I think I cannot do you better Service than to Instance in some of those pernicious Errors both in Faith and Practice of this Kind which do at present Infest this Church and Nation that so you may be Caution'd against the Entertainment of them And First It is usual with Satan here amongst us Vnder the plausible Appearance and Colour of Advancing God's Honour in some of his Attributes to render him Odious and Despised in other Thus for Instance By infusing into Men's Hearts a Belief that God has Created the far greatest Part of the World on purpose to manifest his Dominion and Power and Justice in Damning them afterwards for their Sins he Robs him of the Honour of being a Gracious Merciful and Good God to the utter abolishing of all Veneration towards him and Love of him Insomuch that the very Atheist who denies there is a God does not so much Affront him as even a sober Heathen thought as those who think so Dishonourably of him II. When under â—â—e Colour of â—dvancing â—ospel truths â—â—e propagates â—eresies wchâ—o undermine â—eligion and â—he Necessity â—f a holy Life Secondly Vnder the Colour of Setting up as the most precious Gospel Truths some Opinions that seem to have a great Resemblance of Truth he brings in such Heresies into the Church as do utterly undermine Religion and the necessity of a good Life Thus by his Teaching that Christ has so Paid the whole Debt for our Sins that the vilest Wretch that Lives need no more but be Perswaded that he is an Elected Person and that the Promises belong to him on the Assurance of his particular Election and that such a Faith as this will save him By Vertue of such an Opinion of Satan's infusing no doubt you shall too often find an Envious Malicious Viper a Covetous Worldling a Rebel and an Adulterer even before his Sins are Repented of talk of Recumbing and Leaning upon Christ and Roling upon the Promises as they are pleas'd to Express it with more Assurance than the best and holiest Livers and the faithfullest Servants of Christ III. When he teaâ—hes to prefer â—ome eminent Christian Duty or some Part of a Duâ—y or one Way of perâ—orming a Duty to the â—isparagement of anoâ—her Thirdly A most fatal and mischievous Delusion of Satan rise amongst us in this Nation at this Day is his Teaching Men to prefer some Eminent Christian Duty or One Part of a Duty or One way and manner of performing a Duty to the Disparagement of another Thus you shall often see some careless whether they come to Prayers or not so they can be but at the Sermon and others on the contrary say they care not whether they shall hear a Sermon in their Lives so they can have but Prayers But the most notorious Cheat he puts upon Men is his infusing into their Hearts to Prefer One Part of a Duty to the utter Contempt of the Other Thus because in the Worship of God in Prayers and Praises to perform this with an Hearty inward Devotion is principally required and we are commanded As to prefer Prayer to the neglect of Preaching or Sermons to the contempt of Prayer that since God is a Spirit Christians must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth Hence vast Numbers of Men do conclude that Outward Reverence by Kneeling lifting up the Eyes and the like is a meer Outward Ceremony not at all necessary under the Gospel insomuch that God is now most highly Dishonour'd even in our Publick Assemblies where we come to do him Honour by the shameful want of Reverence appearing in most People by Sitting at their very Prayers As also prayâ—ng in Spirit â—o the regard of Bodily Worship So true it is what One said That such a rude and slovenly Kind of
under the Sun all the days of his life which God giveth him for it is his portion Eccl. 5.18 Nay it is very necessary that we should take Pleasure in gratifying the sensible Cravings of our Nature for if our Palates do not relish our Meat or if our Stomachs refuse it we should starve And indeed the Comforts and Enjoyments of this Life which we receive from the bountiful Hand of God is a great subject of our Praises and Thanksgivings to him Thou preparest a Table for me in the presence of mine Enemies thou anointest my Head with Oyl my Cup runneth over said Holy David in a great sence of God's bountiful Goodness towards him in bestowing upon him so many worldly Comforts Thus these Sensitive Pleasures may be lawfully Enjoy'd by us and they are only then and so far to be Renounc'd when they become Thirdly Sensual These Pleasures unlawful only when they become Thirdly Sensual which when they do they are indeed the greatest Temptations the World has to draw us into Sin and many Thousands there are whom when nothing else could Corrupt have been miserably soil'd by the Power of sensual Pleasures Which what they are and how far to be Renounc'd I come now to declare unto you And it is then that these Sensitive Pleasures which otherwise would be for the Preservation and Comfort of our Nature and the Matter of our Praises to God It is then I say that they become Sensual and so are to be Renounced when they gratify only our corrupt and depraved Natures As the sensitive Nature craves such things as are suitable to it and are necessary to its Preservation and Comfort in this Life and sensitive Pleasures are such as arise from such allowable Gratifications So the Sensual and Corrupted Nature of Man craves these sensitive Pleasures beyond Bounds and Moderation It prefers 'em before Rational and Divine Pleasures It appears to relish no Enjoyments like those of Sense it gluts it self with sensitive Pleasures so as to surfeit on these Sweets Nay and lastly the Sensual Man does load and burthen his Nature therewith so as to render it unfit for he Duties of his Calling and Religion These are the inordinate Cravings of the sensual Nature and when we gratify this corrupted Nature of ours to this immoderate Degree with Sensitive Pleasures then those Pleasures which were in themselves allowable become Sensual and such as must be utterly Renounced by every Christian And as we will accordingly Renounce Sensual Pleasures First We must not prefer Sensitive Ones in our Judgments or Desires either before our spiritual Joy in God or the eternal Joys of his Kingdom As First when we prefer 'em in our Judgments or Desires either before our spiritual Joy in God or the eternal Joys of his Kingdom which is what the Carnal Man does do Which is I say what the Carnal Man does do For while the Flesh is the prevailing Ingredient in any Man he only relishes the satisfaction of the Senses He cannot enjoy God he cannot delight in doing his Will no more than a Swine can in clean Pasture whose natural Property inclines him only to wallow in the Mire But when the Soul is clarify'd and purg'd by the great Refiner how sublime and satisfying a Pleasure does it feel in the Love of God and in his Service As in natural Feeding when the Palate is in due Temper our Tast commends our proper Food to the Appetite and the Appetite to the Stomach but a foul Stomach dis-affects the Appetite spoils the Palate and the most savoury and wholesom Meat is loathsom when the Disease is the Taster Thus if the Soul be in its due Temper the Doing the will of God would be our Meat and Drink mixt with a sweeter Pleasure than those natural Operations are but the Soul in the unregenerate Man is so Corrupt and Carnaliz'd that it has no tast of the pure Delights of Blessed Spirits in Communion with God Like the Israelites who despis'd the Bread of Angels and impatiently long'd for the Onions and Garlick and Flesh-pots of Egypt But this must no be our Temper but with the Holy Psalmist we must be able experimentally to say The fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desir'd are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey-comb Psal 19.9 10. Secondly And we must Renounce it as a great sign of a sensual Spirit which relishes no Enjoyments like those of Sence II. When a Man relishes no Enjoyments like those of Sence When a Person is observ'd to be wholly in a manner purveying for the Belly Cooking or Ordering his Dishes always commending or rather quarrelling with every thing he eats or drinks No the Discourses of Philosophical wise and vertuous Minds is even at the very Table of other-guess Matters than of the Excellency of that Dish the Poynancy of such a Sauce or the Flavour of such and such Liquors And with these Epicures we may justly Expostulate in the words of our Saviour Are ye yet without understanding Do ye not yet understand that whatever entereth into the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the Draught Matth. 15.17 And it is sure a sign of an Understanding below the Excellency of the Soul of Man to concern it self so much about what in few Hours will go down into the Guts the Sink and the vilest part of the Body Thirdly It must be Renounced as a high and sinful Sensuality to glut our Senses so as to surfeit on these Sweets III. When he gluts himself so as to surfeit on these Sweets There is nothing which does more decay Nature which brings upon us more desperate and incurable Diseases and does more precipitate and hasten a sudden Death than Excess in the Gratifications of Men's Lusts and Appetites But this is grosly to abuse the Creatures of God which were allowed us only for our Use It is to make but an ungrateful Return to him for all his Bounties And is unnaturally to destroy our selves for the sake of a paultry Pleasure which vanisheth in the very Enjoyment of a Pleasure which is mixed with more bitter Ingredients than Gall and Wormwood For even in their Laughter the heart of those sensual Men is sorrowful and the end of their mirth is heaviness Prov. 14.13 Lastly The Deliciousness of those Pleasures must not cause any one to load and burthen his Nature therewith to that Degree as to render him unfit for the Duties of his Calling and Religion And lastly when the Deliciousness of of these Pleasures causes him to load and burthen his Nature therewith so as to render him unfit for the Duties of hâ—â— Calling and Religion in which respect those do Offend who do so immoderately indulge the Appetites in Eating and Drinking that they are drowsy and sleepy even under the Messages sent them from
that chuse to Act and Perform it Every Sin against Knowledge and Conscience is a wilful Sin when our own Heart rebukes and checks us at the time of Sinning telling us that God hath forbidden that which we are about to do notwithstanding which we presume to do it And as for them they are all of an heinous Guilt and of a crying Nature such Sins are a despising of God's Law and therefore are call'd Presumptuous Sins and are said to be acted through a Rebellious Pride and with an high Hand Numb 15.30 And those who have committed such are said Heb. 10.29 to have done despight to the Spirit of Grace because as well the Spirit of God as their own Reason have resisted 'em in the committing of such Sins which Resistance notwithstanding they have violently broke through And as to such Sins therefore they will make us the Children of Wrath and subject us to punishment as well now as under the Law as is evident from that place Heb. 10.28 29. now mentioned He that despised Moses's Law died without Mercy of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant an unholy Thing which they do who do wholly apostatize and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace which they do who do sin wilfully And this they will be accounted to do whether such Sins be Directly and Expresly Wilful and Chosen or only Indirectly so Some Sins are directly and expresly wilful and by Interpretation Sometimes Men eye and view the Sin they are about to commit before they chuse or act they pause and deliberate doubt and demurr about it they have a Conflict and Dispute in their own Minds whether they should commit or keep off from it And when notwithstanding this they commit it that Sin is then directly and expresly chosen and wilful and done in despight of the Spirit of Grace and is therefore of a very heinous and damning Nature But besides these there are other sinful Actions which are not chosen directly and expresly but only indirectly Some indirectly and interpretatively and by interpretation that is when Men expresly chuse such a state of Things as make some sinful Actions after that to be no longer a matter of free Choice but almost necessary and unavoidable Thus he that wilfully drinks 'till he is drunk and then in his Drink commits Murder and Uncleanness or any other mad Frolicks or sinful Extravagances without any deliberation or consideration at all shall nevertheless be judged to have wilfully committed those Sins because he did deliberately and wilfully fall into that Sin of Drunkenness which when he was in by depriving himself of his Reason made those or any other Sins unavoidable at that time So again he that watches not over but indulges and gives way to his Passions and in his Anger kills a Man and he that accustoms himself to a Sin so often that he knows not when he commits it as to swear in either of these cases also he shall be judged wilfully in God's account to have committed Murder and to have swore because any Man may chuse to indulge and humour his Passions or to accustom himself to that Sin which makes his falling into other Sins so unavoidable And lastly he that wilfully neglects the means of attaining to any Grace or Vertue will be judged wilfully to have omitted his Duty which in the use of due means he might have done acceptably Thus in either of these cases when Men fall into any Sin either by Drunkenness or by indulging and not watching over their Passions or by reason of having long accustomed themselves to such Sins or lastly by neglecting the Means of attaining to any Grace or Vertue In any of these cases he that commits a Sin his Sin will be accounted as indirectly and interpretatively chosen and voluntary because he did willingly do those things which brought and betray d him into such Sin or wilfully neglected those Means which would have preserved him from them And so his Sin will be condemned as a chosen and wilful Sin and a Transgression of God's Law and he punished as a wilfully disobedient Person So that the difference between the Law and the Gospel is not such as that wilful Sins shall be now unpunish'd But the difference is 1st that those who sincerely and entirely obey shall not be called to an account for unchosen and involuntary sins But here the difference is very great and comfortable and it is this That First Our unchosen and involuntary Sins which through the Weakness and Frailty of our Nature we cannot always avoid through the Mediation of Christ now under the Covenant of Grace those who sincerely and entirely Obey the Laws of the Gospel shall not be called to an account for such And such unchosen and involuntary Sins are those which we commit either through Ignorance because we did not understand our Duty or through Inconsideration because we did not think of it And unless our Ignorance and Inconsideration be themselves wilful we shall not be condemned for the Failings we have committed through either of ' em The first cause of an innocent and pardonable Involuntariness is Ignorance of our Duty The first cause of an innocent Involuntariness Ignorance of our Duty when we do what God forbids because we do not know that He has forbid it for such Failings as we ignorantly commit we shall not be condemned under the Covenant of Grace for Christ who is our High Priest as St. Paul assures us will have compassion on the Ignorant and them that are out of the Way Heb. 5.2 Provided it be not wilful True it is there are those that are wilfully ignorant for either they shut their Eyes and will not see their Duty or they are idle and careless and will not enquire after it So that if they do not know their Duty it is because they do not desire the Knowledge of it or will be at no pains for it they neither read the Word nor come to hear it nor to be Catechised and if they do come neither think nor consider afterwards upon what they have heard nor pray to God to make all those means of Knowledge effectual to their Salvation And in the neglect of these Means of Knowledge they make themselves wilfully ignorant and so their Ignorance will not be their Excuse but their condemning Sin because it was wilful and chosen But if you have an honest Heart desirous to be taught that you may know and do your Duty and use an honest Industry by Reading coming to be Catechised by constantly Hearing of the Word If thus you do all that lies upon you to be informed what you ought to do and yet afterwards if through Misunderstanding you fail then through the Grace of the Gospel and the Mediation of our Saviour what you have been wanting in will not be
of Riches Men do run themselves into many grievous Sins As also into many miserable Snares so as to be hardly ever able to disentangle themselves out of ' em For as Restitution is necessary to Peace with God so it is extreamly difficult to be willing or able afterwards to make pag. 146 Secondly And no less Temptations are those subject to who do possess ' em In the Possession of Riches Men are Tempted to the highest Offences against God their Neighbour and Themselves But lastly the great Sins of all are occasion'd by a Lothness to part with and a Fear of losing ' em pag. 147 From a lothness to part with Riches arises Unmercifulness to Men. From the Fear of losing 'em Apostacy from God In what sence and how far Riches are to be Renounced pag. 148 In General being they are not Evil in themselves they are in Cases only to be Renounced by us wherein we cannot without Sin Pursue Possess or Retain them As First Riches consider'd in the Getting no Man must so put his Heart upon 'em as to Esteem 'em his chiefest Good and Happiness Nor must he labour after 'em with immoderate Care so as to neglect the great Duties of Religion and Devotion Especially he must beware of Enriching himself by unjust Means pag. 149 Particularly not by Sacriledge Whoever has unjustly gain'd any thing must renounce it by making Restitution thereof Secondly Riches consider'd in the Possession are to be renounced by paring off those Superfluities which tempt Idleness and Luxury Pride and Insolence and an Idolatrous Trust in Riches and by bestowing it to Pious and Charitable Uses pag. 150 And Lastly By suffering the Loss thereof rather than Apostatize from the Faith pag. 152 LECT XV. What is meant by the Honours of this World and in what Sence and how far they are to be Renounced What is meant by Honour properly and strictly What in the general Meaning of the word pag. 153 First Nobility or Gentility The original Nature of Nobility or Gentility The Abuses it is subject to and in what Instances to be renounced First A Gentleman be he of what Rank or Quality soever must utterly renounce all that Honour which pretends to Place him above the Laws of God or Man and beyond Reproof or Punishment when he has Violated either pag. 154 Such a One is bound above others to be a strict and orderly Liver and upon his Failure is more open to Reproof and more liable to be severely Punished Secondly As also that which exalts Persons above their Brethren to that degree as to despise and oppress the rest of Mankind as if they were but a lower Rank of Creatures and had not the same God to their Father Bodies Form'd out of the same Clay and Souls as Excellent in their Natures and as capable of Improvements as precious in God's sight and as much the Heirs of Heaven as their own pag. 155 Thirdly Such ought even to Renounce all Pretensions to Honour who have degenerated from those worthy Qualities which Ennobled their Ancestors pag. 156 This the Determination of our Saviour and his Apostles in their Case Lastly And such ought to Renounce all Pretensions to Honour amongst Christians at least-wise who despise Religion and its chiefest Vertues as Qualities beneath ' em But if such are accounted Honourable by vain Men they are Despicable in the Eyes both of God and of all Wise and Good Men. pag. 157 The Summ how far Paternal Honour is to be Renounced Secondly In what Sence and how far Civil Honour is to be Renounced whether the Favour of Princes or the Effects of their Favour Posts of Honour pag. 158 These kind of Honours and outward Glories are dazling and bewitching Things But First A Prince's Favour tho' extreamly Valuable when it can be had without Sin yet no Man must gain possess or retain it by wicked Arts or sinful Compliances Nor Secondly the Effects of their Favours high Places and Titles of Honour First In the obtaining of these no Man must grasp at that which is above his Capacities and Abilities to manage to the Publick Good pag. 159 This Mischievous to the State This Mischievous to the Church Nor Secondly ought Persons of the best Capacities and greatest Abilities be over-eager and importunate in their Suits and Applications to those who bestow them pag. 160 Thirdly How far and in what Sence that Honour which consists in the high Esteem and Reputation of the wise and vertuous part of Mankind is to be Renounc'd This is what the Wise Man calls a Good Name and is more Valuable than Riches or precious Ointments pag. 161 It is a more peculiar Blessing than any the greatest Treasures and procures better Security to our Persons and Estates It is a necessary Qualification to the Episcopal Promotion It is Comfortable to a Man 's own self pag. 162 And smells Sweet in the World It renders a Person capable of doing Good in it And active in Promoting it A desire of Reputation and Credit is a thing Implanted in our Natures by God And to preserve a Reputation untainted and unsuspected of Evil is a Duty enjoin'd us by his Laws pag. 163 Nevertheless even a Good Name is in some measure to be Renounced by us and the Temptations it gives us As First we must so far Renounce the Honour that shall accrue to us from our good Works as not to make our own Glory the End and Reason of any Good we do pag. 164 Secondly We must not affect but renounce those Praises which are above our Deserts Thirdly We must beware of taking the Honour and Respects given us for any worthy Performances wholly to our selves and of not transferring it to God to whom the Glory of all that is Good in us does properly belong pag. 165 Fourthly We must abhor making a Reputation for Religion an Instrument only to our own Advancement But must use the Authority our Credit gives us to discountenance Vice and to encourage Vertue in the World pag. 166 Fifthly As valuable as is a Good Name and Reputation amongst Men we must renounce all undue Means of preserving it Such are Duelling upon the account of Slanders amongst the great Ones Going to Law thereupon usual amongst common People Lastly We must utterly renounce and forfeit the Esteem of Men rather than incur the Dis-favour of God pag. 167 Fourthly How far that Honour is to be renounced which consists in the Applauses of the Vulgar upon what they do account Praise-worthy and Honourable pag. 168 This sort of Honour must be utterly and absolutely renounced Lastly In what Sence and how far we must renounce those outward Expressions of Respect either by Word or Deed which are usually given upon the account of any of the foremention'd Honours pag. 169 First No Created Being either Men or Angels must suffer those Respects to be given them whether by word or deed which are proper and peculiar to signify our sence of God's Majesty