Repent of your sinful life and yet set your Heart upon the life to come and Love God and Holiness better than the world and fleshly pleasure and trust your soul on Christ as your Redeemer and he will certainly forgive you and reconcile you unto God and present you justified and spotless in his sight Think of your sin till you abhor your self and think of your sin and misery till you feel that you are undone if you have not a Saviour and then think what Love God hath shewed you in Christ in giving him to be incarnate and die for sinners and offering you freely to pardon all that ever you have done and to justifie and save you and bring you to endless Glory with himself if yet as last you will but give up your self to Christ and accept his mercy and return to God What joyful tidings is here now for a sinful miserable soul Yet this is the certain truth of God This is his very Covenant of grace which is founded in the blood of Christ and which he is now ready to make with you and seal to you by his spirit within and his Sacrament without if you do but Heartily and unfeignedly Consent Believe in Christ and Turn to God from the world and the flesh and resolve upon a Holy life if you should recover and then I can assure you from the word of God that he will freely pardon you and take you for his Child and save your soul in endless Glory As late as it is he will certainly receive you if you return to him by Christ with all your heart And doth not your heart now rejoice in this unspeakable mercy which is willing to save you after all the sin that you have committed and after all the time that you have lost Do you not Love that God that is so abundant in Goodness and in Love and that Saviour who hath purchased you this pardon and salvation Is it not better think you to Love and praise and serve him than to live in fleshly lusts and pleasures And is it not better to dwell in Heaven with him in endless Ioys than to live awhile in the vain delights of sinners and thence to pasâ— to endless misery O beg of God now to give you a New Heart to Believe in Christ and Repent of sin and Love him that is most Holy Good and gracious And take heed that you sleight his grace no longer and that you do not now take on you in a fear to be that which you are not or to do that which you would not hold to if you should recover And to make all sure will you now sincerely enter into a Covenant with Christ I mean but the same Covenant which you made in Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lords supper and which would have saved you if you had sincerely made and kept it Let me therefore help you both to understand it and to do it by these questions which I intreat you to answer sincerely as one that is going to the presence of God Quest. 1. Do you truly Believe that you are a Rational creature differing from bruits being made to Love and serve your Maker and have an immortal soul which must live in Heaven or Hell for ever And that there is indeed a Heaven of Ioyes and a Hell of punishments when this life is ended Quest. 2. Do you believe that in Heaven the souls of the Iustified at death and the Body also at the Resurrection shall be joined with the Angels and shall dwell with Christ and see the Glory of God and be perfected in Holiness and filled with the sense of the Love of God and with the greatest Ioyes that our nature can receive and shall live in the most delightful Love and Praise of God for ever Quest. 3. Seeing you are certain that all the pleasures of this life are short and will end in death and leave the flesh which desired them in corruption do you not firmly believe that the Ioyes of Heaven are infinitely better and more to be desired and sought than all the pleasures and profits of this life And that it is most reasonable that we should Love God above all Creatures even with all our heart and soul and might Quest. 4. Seeing then that the Love of God is both our Duty and our Happiness is it not reason that we should be kept from the Love of any thing in the world which would steal away our hearts from God and hinder us from Loving him and desiring and seeking him and that we should mortifie the love of worldly riches honours and delights so far as they are against the Love of God Quest. 5. Seeing God is the absolute Lord and Ruler of the world is it not reason that we obey him whatsoever he commandeth us though we did not see the Reason why he doth command it And yet is it not plainly Reasonable that he command us to Love and honour and worship him and to Love one another and to deal Iustly with all and do as we would be done by and toâ—â—e careful of our souls and temperate for our bodies and not to neglect or dishonour our maker nor to neglect our own salvation nor abuse our bodies by beastly filthiness or excess nor to wrong our neighbours nor deny to do them any good that is in our power This is the sum of all Gods laws and this is the nature of Holiness and obedience And do you not from your heart believe that all this is very reasonable and good Quest. 6. When the sinful world was faln from Happiness into misery by turning away from God and Holiness to sensuality and God sent his Son to be their Redeemer and Saviour to be a Sacrifice for sin and a Teacher and Pattern of a Holy and Obedient life and to make a new Covenant with them in which he giveth them the pardon of all sin and everlasting happiness if they will but give up themselves to him as their Saviour and Sanctifier and by true Repentance turn to God do you not verily Believe that miserable sinners should gladly and thankfully accept of such an offer and abundantly Love that God and Saviour that hath so tenderly loved them and so freely Redeemed them from the flames of Hell and so freely offered them everlasting life And do you not Believe that he who after all this shall slight all this mercy and refuse to be renewed by sanctifying grace and shall neglect his God and soul and this salvation and rather choose to keep his sins doth not deserve to be utterly forsaken and to be punished more than if a Saviour and Salvation had never been offered to him Quest. 7. Hath not this been your own case Have you not lived a fleshly worldly life neglecting God and your salvation and minding more these lower things and have you not refused the word and spirit of Christ which would have brought you to Repentance and a holy
God and from a holy life when you run but into sin and Hell § 60. Tempt 30. Another great Temptation is in making them believe that their sins are but such Tempt 30. common infirmities as the best have They cannot deny but they have their faults but are not all men sinners They hope that they are not reigning unpardoned sins § 61. Direct 30. But O how great a difference is between a converted and an unconverted sinner Direct 30. between the failings of a Child and the contempt of a Rebel between a sinner that hath no gross or mortal sin and hateth bewaileth and striveth against his infirmities and a sinner that loveth his sin and is loth to leave it and maketh light of it and loveth not a holy life God will one day shew you a difference between these two when you see that there are siners that are justified and saved and sinners that are condemned § 62. BUt here are many subordinate Temptations by which Satan perswades them that their sins Tempt Temp. 1. are but infirmities One is because their sin is but in the heart and appeareth not in outward deeds And they take restraint for sanctification § 63. Direct 1. Alas man the Life and Reign of sin is in the Heart That is it's Garrison and Direct 1. Throne The life of sin lyeth in the prevalence of your lusts within against the Power of Reason and Will All outward sins are but acts of obedience to the reigning sin within and a gathering Tribute for this which is the King For this it is that they make provision Rom. 13. 14. On this all is consumed Iames 4. 3. Original sin may be reigning sin as a King may be born a King Sin certainly reigneth till the soul be converted and born again § 64. Tempt 2. The Devil tells them it is but an infirmity because it is no open gross disgraceful Tempt 2. sin It 's hard to believe that they are in danger of Hell for sins which are accounted small § 65. Direct 2. But do you think it is no mortal heinous sin to be void of the Love of God and Direct 2. holiness to Love the flesh and the world above him to set more by Earth than Heaven and do more for it However they shew themselves these are the great and mortal sins Sin is not less dangerous for lying secret in the heart The root and heart are usually unseen Some Kings as in China Persia c. keep out of sight for the honour of their Majesty Kings are the spring of Government but actions of State are executed by Officers When you see a man go or work you know that it is something within which is the Cause of all If sin appeared without as it is within it would lose much of its Power and Majesty Then Ministers and friends and every good man would cast a stone at it but its secresie is its peace The Devil himself prevaileth by keeping out of sight If he were seen he would be less obeyed So is it with the Reigning sins of the heart Pride and Covetousness may be Reigning sins though they appear not in any notorious disgraceful course of life David's hiding his sin or Rachel her Idol made them not the better It is a mercy to some men See Jer. 4. 14. Hos. 7. 6 7. that God permitteth them to fall into some open scandalous sin which may tend to humble them who would not have been humbled nor convinced by heart-sins alone An Oven is hottest when it is stopped § 66. Tempt 3. Satan tells them they are not unpardoned reigning sins because they are common Tempt 3. in the world If all that are as bad as I must be condemned say they God help a great number § 67. Direct 3. But know you not that Reigning sin is much more common than saving holiness Direct 3. and that the gate is wide and the way is broad that leadeth to destruction and many go in at it Salvation is as rare as holiness and damnation as common as Reigning sin where it is not cured This sign therefore makes against you § 69. Tempt 4. But saith the Tempter they are such sins as you see good men commit You play Tempt 4. at the same games as they you do but what you see them do and they are pardoned § 68. Direct 4. You must judge the man by his works and not the works by the man And there Direct 4. is more to be lookt at than the bare matter of an act A good man and a bad may play at the same game but not with the same end nor with the same love to sport nor so frequently and long to the loss of time Many drops may wear a stone Many stripes with small twigs may draw blood Many mean men in a Senate have been as great Kings You may have many of these little sins set all together which plainly make up a carnal life The power of a sin is more considerable than the outward shew A poor man if he be in the place of a Magistrate may be a Ruler And a sin materially small and such as better men commit may be a sin in Power and Rule with you and concur with others which are greater § 70. Tempt 5. But saith the Tempter they are but sins of Omission and such are not reigning Tempt 5. sins § 71. Direct 5. Sins of Omission are alwayes accompanied with some positive sensual affection Direct 5. to the creature which diverteth the soul and causeth the omission And so Omission is no small part of the Reigning sin The not using of Reason and the Will for God and for the mastering of sensuality is much of the state of ungodliness in man Denying God the heart and life is no small sin God made you to do good and not only to do no harm Else a Stone or Corpse were as good a Christian as you for they do less harm than you If sin have a Negative Voice in your Religion whether God shall be worshipped and obeyed or not it is your King It may shew its power as well by commanding you not to pray and not to consider and not to read as in commanding you to be drunk or swear The wicked are described by omissions such as will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal. 10. 4. Such as know not God and call not on his name Jer. 10. 25. That have no truth or mercy or knowledge of God Hos. 4. 1. That feed not cloath not visit not Christ in his members Matth. 25. that hide their Talents Matth. 25. Indeed if God have not your hearts the creature hath it and so it is omission and commission that go together in your reigning sin § 72. Tempt 6. But saith the Tempter they are but sins of ignorance and therefore they are not reigning Tempt 6. sins At least you are not certain that
basest of the people whose poverty might tempt them to discontent nor set thee upon the pinnacle of worldly honour where giddiness might have been thy ruine and where temptations to pride and lust and luxury and enmity to a holy life are so violent that few escape them He hath not set thee out upon a Sea of cares and vexations worldly businesses and encumberances but fed thee with food convenient for thee and given thee leisure to walk with God He hath not chained thee to an unprofitable profession nor used thee as those that live like their beasts to eat and drink and sleep and play or live to live But he hath called thee to the noblest and sweetest work when that hath been thy business which others were glad to taste of as a recreation and repast He hath allowed thee to converse with Books and with the best and wisest men and to spend thy dayes in sucking in delightful knowledge And this not only for thy pleasure but thy use and not only for thy self but many others O how many sweet and precious truths hath he allowed thee to feed on all the day when others are diverted and commonly look at them sometimes a far off O how many precious hours hath he granted me in his holy Assemblies and in his honourable and most pleasant work How oft hath his Day and his holy uncorrupted Ordinances and the communion of his Saints and the mentioning of his Name and Kingdom and the pleading of his cause with sinners and the celebrating of his praise been my delight O how many hundreds that he hath sent have wanted the abundant encouragement which I have had When he hath seen the disease of my despondent mind he hath not tryed me by denying me success nor suffered me with Ionas according to my inclination to overrun his work but hath ticed me on by continued encouragements and strowed all the way with mercies But his mercies to me in the souls of others have been so great that I shall secretly acknowledge them rather than here record them where I must have respect to those usual mercies of believers which lye in the common road to Heaven And how endless would it be to mention all All the good that friends and enemies have done me All the wise and gracious disposals of his providence in every condition and change of life and change of times and in every place whereever he brought me His every dayes renewed merciâ—s His support under all my languishings and weakness his plentiful supplies his gracious helps his daily pardons and the Glorious Hopes of a blessed Immortality which his Son hath purchased and his Covenant and Spirit sealed to me O the mercies that are in One Christ one Holy Spirit one Holy Scripture and in the Blessed God himself These I have mentioned unthankful heart to shame thee for thy want of Love to God And these I will leave upon record to be a witness for God against thy ingratitude and to confound thee with shame if thou deny thy Love to such a God Every one of all these mercies and multitudes more will rise up against thee and shame thee before God and all the world as a monster of unkindness if thou Love not him that hath used thee thus Here also consider what God is for your future good as well as what he hath been hitherto How all sufficient how powerful merciful and good But of this more anon § 24. Direct 7. Improve the vanity and vexation of the Creature and all thy disappointments and Direct 7. injuries and afflictions to the promoting of thy Love to God And this by a double advantage First By observing that there is nothing meet to divert thy Love or rob God of it unless thou wilt Love thy trouble and distress Secondly That thy Love to God is the comfort by which thou must be supported under the injuries and troubles which thou meetest with in the world And therefore to neglect it is but to give up thy self to misery Is it for nothing O my soul that God hath turned loose the world against thee That Devils rage against thee and wicked men do reproach and slander thee and seek thy ruine and friends prove insufficient and as broken Reeds It had been as easie to God to have prospered thee in the world and suited all things to thy own desires and have strawed thy way with the flowers of worldly comforts and delights But he knew thy proneness to undo thy self by carnal loves and how easily thy heart is enticed from thy God And therefore he hath wisely and mercifully ordered it that thy temptations shall not be too strong and no creature shall appear to thee in an over-amiable tempting dress Therefore he hath suffered them to become thy enemies And wilt thou love an enemy better than thy God What! an envious and malicious world A world of cares and grief and pains a weary restless empty world How deep and piercing are its injuries How superficial and deceitful is its friendship How serious are its sorrows What toyish shews and dreams are its delights How constant are its cares and labours How seldome and short are its flattering smiles Its comforts are disgraced by the certain expectation of succeeding sorrows Its sorrows are heightned by the expectations of more In the midst of its flatteries I hear something within me saying Thou must dye This is but the way to rottenness and dust I see a Winding-sheet and a Grave still before me I foresee how I must lye in pains and groans and then become a lothesome corpse And is this a world to be more delighted in than God What have I left me for my support and solace in the midst of all this Vanity and Vexation but to look to him that is the All-sufficient sure never failing good I must love him or I have nothing to love but enmity or deceit And is this the worst of Gods design in permitting and causing my pains and disappointments here Is it but to drive my foolish heart unto himself that I may have the solid delights and happiness of his Love O then let his blessed will be done Come home my soul my wandering tired grieved soul Love where thy love shall not be lost Love him that will not reject thee nor deceive thee nor requite thee as the world doth with injuries and abuse Despair not of entertainment though the world deny it thee The peaceable region is above In the world thou must have trouble that in Christ thou maist have peace Retire to the harbour if thou wouldst be free from storms God will receive thee when the world doth cast thee off if thou heartily cast off the world for him O what a solace is it to the soul to be driven clearly from the world to God and there to be exercised in that sacred Love which will accompany us to the world of Love § 25. Direct 8. Labour for the truest
into the causes of all the oppressions rapines cruelties and inhumanity which have made men so like to Devils Look into the corrupted lacerated Churches and enquire into the cause of their contentions divisions usurpations malignity and cruelty against each other And you will find that Pride and Worldliness are the Causes of all When men of a Proud and Worldly mind have by fraud and friendship and Simony Usurped the Pastorship of the Churches according to their Minds and Eâ—ds they turn it into a Malignant Domination and the Carnal worldly part of the Church is the great enemy and Persecutor of the spiritual part and the fleshly Hypocrite as Cain against Abel is filled with envy against the serious believer even out of the bitter displeasure of his mind that his deceitful Sacrifice is less respected What Covetousness hath done to the advancement of the pretended Holy Catholick Church of Rome I will give you now but in the words of an Abbot and Chronicler of their own Abbas Urspergens Chron. p. 3â—â— Vix remansit aliquis Episcopatus sive dignitas Ecclesiastica vel etâ—am Parochialis Ecclesiae quae ron fieâ—et litigâ—osa Romam deduceretur ipsa causa sed non manu vacua Gaude mater nostra Roma quonâ—am aperiuntur cataractae thesaurorum in teâ—ra ut ad te consâ—uant rivi aggeres nummoâ—um in magna copia Laetare super iniquitate filiorum hominum quonâ—am in recompensationem tantorum malorum datur tibi precâ—um Jocundare super adjutrice tua discordia quia erupit de puteo infernalis abyssi ut accumulentur tibi multa pecuniaâ—um praemia Habes quod semper sitisti decanta Canticum quia per malitiam hominum non pâ—â— tuam Religionem orbem vicistâ— Ad te trahit homines non ipsorum devotio aut pura Conscientia sed sâ—â—lerum multiplicium perpetratio litium decisio precio comparata Foâ—tun Galindas speaking of Pope Paul the fifth his love to the Iesuites for helping him to money saith Adeo praestat acquirendarum pecuniarum quam animarum studiosum peritum esse apud illos qui cum animarum Christi sanguine redemptarum in se curam receperint vel quid anima sit nesciunt vel non pluris animam hominis quam piscis faciunt quod credo suum officium Piscatum quendam esse aliquando per strepitum inaudierint quibus propterea gratior fuerit qui Animam auri cum Paracelso quam animam Saxoniae Electoris invenisse nuntiet Arcan Soci Iesu. pag. 46. Lege ibid. Iâ—struct secret de Iesuitarum pâ—axi Et Ioh. Sarisbur l. 7. c. 21. de Monach. Potentiores ditiores favore vel mercede recepta facilius absolutione exâ—nerant peccatis alienis humeros supponentes jubent abire in tunicas vestes pullas quicquid illi se commisisse deplorant Si eis obloquetâ—s Religionis inimicus veritatis diceris impugnator hand It is the departing of the heart from God to creatures See the malignity of it before Good men have been overtaken with heinous sins but its hard to find where Scripture calleth any of them Covetous A heart secretly cleaving most to this present world and its prosperity is the very killing sin of every hypocrite yea and of all ungodly men 2. Worldliness makes the Word unprofitable and keepeth men from believing and repenting and coming home to God and minding seriously the everlasting world What so much hindereth the Conversion of sinners as the love and caâ—es of earthly things They cannot serve God and Mammon Their treasure and hearts cannot be chiefly be both in Heaven and Earth They will not yield to the terms of Christ that love this world They will not forsake all for a treasure in Heaven In a word as you heard The love of money is the root of all evil and the Love of the Father is not in the lovers of the world 3. It destroyeth holy meditation and conference and turneth the thoughts to worldly things And it corrupteth Prayer and maketh it but a means to serve the flesh and therefore maketh it odious to God 4. It is the great hinderance of mens necessary preparation for death and judgement and stealeth away their hearts and time till it is too late 5. It is the great cause of contentions even among the nearest relations and the cause of the Wars and calamities of Nations and of the woful divisions and persecutions of the Church when a worldly generation think that their worldly interest doth engage them against self-denying and spiritual principles practices and persons 6. It is the great cause of all the injustice and oppression and cruelty that rageth in the world They would do as they would be done by were it not for the love of money It maketh men perfidious and false to all their friends and engagements No vows to God nor obligations to men will hold a Lover Iâ—m â— 1. 2 3 4 5. 1 Iohn â— â—â— of the world The world is his God and his worldly interest is his rule and law 7. It is the great destroyer of Charity and Good works No more is done for God and the poor because the Love of the world forbids it 8. It disordereth and proâ—aneth families and betrayeth the souls of Children and Servants to the Devil It turneth out prayer and reading the Scripture and good books and all serious speeches of the liâ—e to come because their hearts are taken up with the world and they have no relâ—sh of any thing but the provisions of their flesh Even the Lords own Day cannot be reserved for holy works nor a duty performed but the world is interposing or diverting the mind 9. It tempâ—eth mâ—n to sin against their knowledge and to forsake the truth and fit themselves to the rising side and save their bodies and estates whatever become of their souls It is the very price that the Dâ—vil gives for souls With this he bought the soul of Iudas who went to the Pharisâ—es with a What will you give me and I will deliver him to you With this he attempted Christ himself 2 Tim 4. 10. Matth. 4. 9. All these will I give thee if thâ—u wilt fall down and worship me It is the cause of Apâ—â—â—â—acy and unfaithfulness to God And it s the price that sinners sell their God their Conscience and their salvation for 10. It depriveth the soul of holy communion with God and comfort from 1 â—im 6. 17 1â— him and of all foretaste of the life to come and finally of Heaven it self For as the Love of the world keepeth out the Love of God and Heaven it must needs keep out the hopes and comforts Christs Sheep mark is 〈◊〉 on the Sheep that are shorâ— When the Hâ—ece groweth long the Mark wears out which should arise from holy love It would do much to cure the love of money and of the world if you knew how pernicious a sin it is § 35.
withdrew from the accusation as tending to their own confusion And Severus saith Certe Ithacium nihil pensi nihil sancti habuisse definio fuit enim audax loquax impudens sumptuosus ventri gulae plurimum impertiens Hic stultitiae eo usque processerat ut omnes etiam sanctos viros quibus aut studium inerat lectionis aut propositum erat certare jejuniis tanquam Priscilliani socios discipulos in erimen arcesseret Ausus etiam Miser est Martino Episcopo viro plane Apostolis conferendo palam objectare haeresis infamiam quia non desinebat inâ—repare Ithacium ut ab accusatione desisteret And when the Leaders were put to death the Heresie increased more and honoured Priscillian as a Martyr and reproached the Orthodox as wicked persecuters And the end was that the Church was filled by it with divisions and manifold mischiefs and all the most godly made the common scorn Inter haec plebs Dei optimus quisque probro atque ludibrio habebatur They are the last words of Severus's History And changing the names are calculated for another Meridian and for later years CHAP. IX How to behave our selves in the publick Assemblies and the worship there performed and after them See my Treaâ— of the Lords day and my Cure of Church-Div I Have purposely given such particular Directions in Tom. 2. on this subject and written so many Books about it and said so much also in the Cases of Conscience that I shall here only cast in a few common Directions lest the Reader think I make a bawk Direct 1. Let your preparations in secret and in your family on the beginning of the Direct 1. Lords dayes be such as conduce to fit you for the publick Worship Run not to Church as ungodly Eccl. 5. 1 2 3 4. people do with a carnal heart that never sought God before you went nor considered what you go about As if all your Religion were to make up the number of the auditors and you 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. Prov. 1. 20. to the end thought God must not be worshipped and obeyed at home but only in the Church God may in mercy meet with an unprepared heart and open his eyes and heart and save him But he hath made no promise of it to any such He that goeth to Worship that God at Church whom he forgetteth and despiseth in his heart and house may expect to be despised by him O consider what it is for a sinner that must shortly die to go with the servants of God to worship him to pray for his salvation and to hear what God hath to say to him by his Minister for the life of his immortal soul Direct 2. Enter not into the holy Assembly either superstitiously or unreverently Not as if Direct 2. the bending of the knee and mumbling over a few words with a careless ignorant mind and spending an hour there as carelesly would save your souls Nor yet as if the Relation which the worship the worshippers and the dedicated Place have unto God deserved not a special honour and regard Though God be ever with us every where yet every Time and Place and person and business is not equally Related to God And Holiness is no unfit attribution for that Company or that Place which is Related to God though but by the lawful separation and dedication of man To be uncovered in those Countreys where uncovering signifieth Reverence is very well becoming a reverent soul except when the danger of cold forbids it It is an unhappy effect of our Contentions that many that seem most reverent and holy in their high regard of holy things do yet carry themselves with more unreverent deportment than those that themselves account prophane God is the God of Soul and Body and must be worshipped by both And while they are united the actions of one are helpful to the other as well as due and decent Direct 3. If you can come at the beginning that you may shew your attendance upon God and Direct 3. your esteem of all his worship Especially in our Assemblies where so great a part of the duty as Confession Praises Reading the Scriptures are all at the beginning And it is meet that you thereby shew that you prefer publick worship before private and that needless businesses keep you not away Direct 4. If you are free and can do it lawfully choose the most able holy Teacher that you can Direct 4. have and be not indifferent whom you hear For O how great is the difference and how bad are our hearts and how great our necessity of the clearest doctrine and the Livelyest helps Nor be you indifferent what manner of people you joyn with nor what manner of worship is there performed But in all choose the Best when you are free But where you are not free or can have no better refuse not to make use of weaker Teachers or to communicate with faulty Congregations in a defective faulty manner of worship so be it you are not compelled to sin And think not that all the faults of the Prayers or Communicants are imputed to all that joyn with them in that worship For then we should joyn with none in all the World Direct 5. When the Minister is weak be the more watchful against prejudice and sluggishness of Direct 5. heart lest you lose all Mark that Word of God which he readeth to you and reverence and Love and lay up that It was the Law Read and meditated on which David saith the Godly do delight Psal. 1. 2 3. Psal. 12. 6 7. 19. 7 8 9. in The sacred Scriptures are not so obscure and useless as the Papists do pretend but convert the soul and are able to make us wise unto salvation Christ went ordinarily to the Synagogues where even bad men did read Moses and the Prophets every Sabbath day There are thousands that cannot Read themselves who must come to the Assembly to hear that word read which they cannot read or hear at home Every sentence of Scripture hath a divine excellency and therefore had we nothing but the Reading of it and that by a bad man a holy soul may profit by it Direct 6. Mind not so much the case of others present as your selves And think not so much how Direct 6. bad such and such a one is and unworthy to be there as how bad you are your selves and unworthy of communion with the people of the Lord and what a mercy it is that you have admittance and are not cast out from those holy opportunities Direct 7. Take heed of a pievish quarrelsome humour that disposeth you to carp at all that 's said Direct 7. and done and to find fault with every mode and circumstance and to affect a causless singularity as thinking that your own wayes and words and orders are far more excellent than other mens Think ill of nothing out of
of his conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had had his conversation in the world and not in fleshly wisdom 2 Cor. 1. 12. And this was Davids comfort 2 Sam. 22. 22 23 24. For I have kept the wayes of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God For all his judgements were before me and as for his Statutes I did not depart from them I was also upright before him and have kept my self from mine iniquity Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness with the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful and with the upright thou wilt shew thy self upright Yea peace is too little exceeding joy is the portion and most beseeming condition of the upright Psal. 32. 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal. 33. 1. Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Psal. 64. 10. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory Psal. 97. 11. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart The Spirit that sanctifieth them will comfort them 4. As the Upright so their upright life and duties are specially delightful and acceptable to God Prov. 15. 8. The prayer of the upright is his delight Psal. 15. 2. Therefore God blesseth their duties to them and they are comforted and strengthened by experience of success Prov. 10. 29. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity Mic. 2. 7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly 5. No carnal policies no worldly might no help of friends nor any other humane means doth put a man in so safe a state as Uprightness of heart and life To walk uprightly is to walk surely because such walk with God and in his way and under his favour and his promise And if God be not sufficient security for us there is none Psal. 140. 13. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name the upright shall dwell in thy presence Prov. 11. 3 6. The integrity of the upright shall guide them but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness 6. Lastly The failings and weaknesses of the Upright are pardoned and therefore they shall certainly be saved Rom. 7. 24 25. 8. 1. The upright may say in all their weaknesses as Solomon 1 Chron. 29. 17. I know also my God that thou tryest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness As for me in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things God will do good to them that are good and to them that are upright in their hearts Psal. 125. 4. The Upright love him Cant. 1. 4. and are loved by him No good thing will he withhold from them Psal. 84. 11. The way to right comforting the mind of man is to shew to him his uprightness Job 33. 23. And who so walketh uprightly shall be saved Prov. 28. 18. For the high way of the upright is to depart from evil and he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul Prov. 16. 17. I conclude with Psal. 37. 37. Mark the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace § 4. II. The true Rules of an Upright life are these that follow Psal. 73. 25. 63. 3. 1 Cor. 4 3 4. Phil. 3. 8 9 18 19. Psal. 4. 7 8. Luke 12. 4. Mat. 6. 1 2 3. 1. He that will walk uprightly must be absolutely devoted and subjected unto God He must have a God and the true God and but one God not notionally only but in sincerity and reality He must have a God whose word shall be an absolute Law to him A God that shall command himself his time his estate and all that he hath or that he can do A God whose will must be his will and may do with him what he please and who is more to him than all the world whose Love will satisfie him as better than life and whose approbation is his sufficient encouragement and reward Luke 14. 26 27 33 34. Luke 18. 22. Mat. 6. 19 20. 1 John 2. 15. Phil. 3. 18 21. 2. His Hope must be set upon Heaven as the only felicity of his soul He must look for his Reward and the End of all his labours and patience in another world and not with the Hypocrite dream of a felicity that is made up first of worldly things and then of Heaven when he can keep the world no longer He that cannot that doth not in heart quit all the world for a heavenly treasure and venture his all upon the Promise of better things hereafter and forsaking all take Christ and everlasting happiness for his portion cannot be upright in heart or life 3. He must have an Infallible Teacher which is only Christ and the encouragement of pardoning John 12. 16. Joh. 15. 1 c. grace when he faileth that he sink not by despair And therefore he must live by faith on a Mediator And he must have the fixed principle of a Nature renewed by the Spirit of John 3. 5 6. Rom. 8. 8 9. 2 Tim. 3. 15. Isa. 8. 20. 1 Thess. 5. 12. Isa. 33. 22. James 4 12. Heb. 8. 10 16. Neh. 9. 13 14. Psal. 19. 7. 119. 1 2 3. Christ. 4. He that will walk uprightly must have a certain just infallible Rule and must hold to that and try all by it And this is only the Word of God The teachings of Men must be valued as helps to understand this Word and the judgements of our Teachers and those that are wiser than our selves must be of great authority with us in subordination to the Scripture But neither the Learned nor the Godly nor the Great must be our Rule in co-ordination with the Word of God 5. He that will walk uprightly must have both a solid and a large understanding to know things truly as they are and to see all particulars which must be taken notice of in all the cases which he must determine and all the actions which his integrity is concerned in 1. There is no walking uprightly Prov. 1. 5. 10. 23. 17. 27. 3. 4. Psal. 111. 10. Ephes. 1. 18. Acts 26. 18. Col. 1. 9. 2. 2. 2 Tim. 2. 7. 1 Cor. 14 15 20. Luke 24. 45. Mat. 15. 16. Ephes. 5. 17. 1 Tim. 1. 7. Prov. 8. 5. John 12. 40. 2 Pet. 2. 12. Rom. 3. 11. Mat. 13. 19 23 Isa. 52. 13. Hos. 14. 9. Prov. 14. 15 18. 18. 15. 22. 3. 8. 12. Ephes. 5. 15. Psalm 101. 2. in the dark Zeal will cause you to go apace but not at all to go Right if Judgement guide it not Erroneous zeal will make
the world Rom. 8. 1 5 6 7 8 10 13 14. Whether all that were baptized are such as these when they come to age judge you § 4. It is true also that if you truly Repent you are forgiven But it is as true that true Repentance is the very Conversion of the soul from sin to God and leaveth not any man in the power of sin It is not for a man when he hath had all the pleasure that sin will yield him to wish then that he had not committed it which he may do then at an easie rate and yet to keep the rest that are still pleasant and profitable to his flesh Like a man that casts away the bottle which he hath drunk empty but keeps that which is full Or as men sell off their barren Kine and buy milch ones in their stead This kind of Repentance is a mockery and not a cure for the soul. If thou have true Repentance it hath so far turned thy heart from sin that thou wouldst not commit it if it were to do ☞ again though thou hadst all the same temptations And it hath so far turned thy heart to God and Holiliness that thou wouldst live a holy life if it were all to do again though thou hadst the same temptations as afore against it Because thou hast not the same heart This is the nature of true Repentance such a Repentance indeed is never too late to save but I am sure it never comes too soon § 5. Mark now I beseech you what a state of sin and what a state of Holiness is He that is in a state of sin hath habitually and predominantly a greater love to some pleasures or profits or honours of this world than he hath to God and to the glory which he hath promised He preferreth and seeketh and holdeth if he can his fleshly prosperity in this world before the favour of God and the happiness of the world to come His heart is turned from God unto the creature and is principally set on things on earth Thus his sin is the blindness and madness and perfidiousness and Idolatry of his soul and his forsaking of God and his salvation for a thing of nought It is that to his soul which poyson and death and sickness and lameness and blindness are to his body It is such dealing with God as that man is guilty of to his dearest friend or Father who should hate him and his company and love the company of a Dog or a Toad much better than his and obey his enemy against him And it is like a mad mans dealing with his Physicion who seeks to kill him as his enemy because he crosseth his appetite or will to cure him Think of this well and then tell me whether this be a state to be continued in This state of sin is something worse than a meer inconsiderate act of sin in one that otherwise liveth an obedient holy life § 6. On the other side a state of Holiness is nothing else but the Habitual and predominant devotion Nulla Religio vera est nisi 〈◊〉 virâ—â—t justitiâ— constat Id. ibid. and dedication of soul and body and life and all that we have to God An esteeming and loving and serving and seeking him before all the pleasures and prosperity of the flesh Making his favour and everlasting Happiness in Heaven our End and Jesus Christ our way and referring all things in the world unto that end and making this the scope design and business of our lives It is a turning from a deceitful world to God and preferring the Creator before the creature and Heaven before Earth and Eternity before an inch of Time and our souls before our corruptible bodies and the authority and Laws of God the Universal Governour of the world before the word or will of any man how great soever and a subjecting our sensitive faculties to our Reason and advancing this Reason by Divine Revelation and living by faith and not by sight In a word it is a laying up our treasure in Heaven and setting our hearts there and living in a Heavenly conversation setting our affections on the things above and not on the things that are on earth and a rejoicing in hope of the glory to come when sensualists have nothing but transitory bruitish pleasures to rejoyce in This is a state and life of Holiness when we perswade you to be Holy we perswade you to no worse than this When we commend a life of Godliness to your Choice this is the life that we mean and that we commend to you And can you understand this well and yet be unwilling of it It cannot be Do but know well what Godliness and Ungodliness is what Grace and Sin are and the work is almost done Direction 3. TO know what a life of Holiness is believe the Word of God and those that have Direct 3. tryed it and believe not the slanders of the Devil and of ungodly men that never tryed or knew the things which they reproach § 1. Reason cannot question the reasonableness of this advice Who is wiser than God or who is to be believed before him And what men are liker to know what they talk of then such as speak from their own experience Nothing more familiar with wicked men than to slander and reproach the holy wayes and servants of the Lord. No wisdom no measure of Holiness or righteousness will exempt the Godly from their malice Otherwise Christ himself at least would have been exempted if not his Apostles or other Saints whom they have slandered and put to death Christ hath foretold us what to expect from them John 15. 18 19 20 21. If the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you If you were of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Remember the word that I said unto you The servant is not greater than the Lord If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you if they have kept my sayings they will keep yours also § 2. The truth is wicked men are the seed and children of the Devil and have his image and obey him and think and speak and do as he would have them And the Godly are the seed and members of Christ and bear his Image and obey him And do you think that the Devil will bid Victor utic saith that the Arrian Goths tormented the devoted Virgins to force them to confess that their Pastors had committed fornication with them but no torment prevaâ—â—ed with them though manâ— were killed with it pag. 407 408. lib. 2. Terrent praecepâ—â—s â—â—ralibus ut in medio Vandalorum nostri nâ—llatâ—â—us respirarent Neâ— usâ— quaâ—â—e orandi aut immolandi conâ—edâ—retâ—r gâ—mâ—ntibus locus Nam diversae calumniae non dâ—erant quotidie etiam illis sacerdotibus qui in his
indeed in a graceless state in which if they died they were past all hope that they would not quickly look about them and better understand the offers of a Saviour and live in continual solicitude and fear till they found themselves in a safer state If you were sure your selves that you must yet be made new creatures or be damned would it not set you on work to seek more diligently after grace than ever you have done The Devil knoweth this well enough that he could scarce keep you quiet this night in his snares but you would be ready to repent and beg for mercy and resolve on a new life before to morrow if you were but sure that you are yet in a state of condemnation And therefore he doth all that he can to hide your sin and danger from your eyes and to quiet you with the conceit that though you are sinners yet you are penitent pardoned and safe § 3. Well Sirs there can be no harm in knowing the truth And therefore will you but try your selves Whether you are unsanctified or not You were baptized into the name of the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier and if now you neglect or mock at sanctification what do you but deride your Baptism or neglect that which is its sense and end It doth not so much concern you to know that you live the life of nature as to know whether sanctification have made you spiritually alive to God § 4. And let me tell you this to your encouragement that we do not call you to know that you are unconverted and unpardoned and miserable as men that have no remedy but must sit down in despair and be tormented with the fore-knowledge of your endless pains before the time No it is but that you may speedily and thankfully accept of Christ the full remedy and turn to God and quickly get out of your sin and terror and enter into a life of safety and of peace We desire not your continuance in that life which tendeth to despair and horror we would have you out of it if it were in our power before to morrow and therefore it is that we would have you understand what danger you are in that you may go no further but speedily turn back and seek for help And I hope there is no hurt though there be some present trouble in such a discovery of your danger as this is Well if you are but willing to know I shall help you a little to know what you are § 5. 1. IF you are persecutors or haters or deriders of men for being serious and diligent in the service Marks of 〈…〉 of God and fearful of sinning and because they go not with the multitude to do evil it is a certain sign that you are in a state of death Yea if you love not such men and desire not rather to be such your selves than to be the greatest of the ungodly See Gal. 4. 29. Acts 26. 11. 1 Tim. 1. 13. 1 Pet. 4. 2 3 4 5. Psal. 15. 4. 1 Iohn 3. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. Iohn 13. 35. Psal. 84. 10. § 6. 2. If you love the world best and set your affections most on things below and mind most earthly things nay if you seek not first Gods Kingdom and the righteousness thereof and if your hearts be not in Heaven and your affections set on the things that are above and you prefer not your hopes of life eternal before all the pleasures and prosperity of this world it is a certain sign that you are but worldly and ungodly men See this in Matth. 6. 19 20 21 33. Phil. 3. 18 19 20. Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. Psal. 73. 25. 1 Iohn 2 15 16 17. Iames 1. 27. Luke 12. 20 21. 16. 25. § 7. 3. If your estimation belief and hopes of everlasting life through Christ be not such as will prevail with you to deny your selves and forsake Father and Mother and the nearest friends and house and land and life and all that you have for Christ and for these hopes of a happiness hereafter you are no true Christians nor in a state of saving grace See Luke 14. 26 33. Matth. 10. 37 38 39. Matth. 13. 21 22. § 8. 4. If you have not been converted regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of Jesus Christ making you spiritual and causing you to mind the things of the Spirit above the things of the flesh If this Spirit be not in you and you walk not after it but after the flesh making provision for the flesh to satisfie its desires and preferring the pleasing of the flesh before the pleasing of God it is certain that you are in a state of death See Matth. 18. 3. Iohn 3. 3 5 6. Heb. 12. 14. Rom. 8. 1. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. 13. 13 14. Luke 16. 19 25. 12. 20 21. Heb. 11. 25 26. 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. 5. 7. Rom. 8. 17 18. § 9. 5. If you have any known sin which you do not hate and had not rather leave it than keep it and do not pray and strive and watch against it as far as you know and observe it but rather excuse it plead for it desire it and are loth to part with it so that your will is habitually more for it than against it it is a sign of an impenitent unrenewed heart 1 Iohn 3. 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 24. Gal. 5. 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25. Rom. 7. 22 24. 8. 13. Luke 13. 3 5. Matth. 5. 19 20. 2 Tim. 2. 19 Psal. 5. 5. Luke 13. 27. § 10. 6. If you Love not the Word as it is a light discovering your sin and duty but only as it is a general truth or as it reproveth others If you love not the most searching preaching and would not know how bad you are and come not to the light that your deeds may be manifest it is a sign that you are not children of the light but of the darkness Iohn 3. 19 20 21. § 11. 7. If the Laws of your Creator and Redeemer be not of greatest power and authority with you and the will and word of God cannot do more with you than the word or will of any man and the threatnings and promises of God be not more prevalent with you than the threats or promises of any men it is a sign that you take not God for your God but in heart are Atheists and ungodly men Luke 19. 27. Matth. 7. 21 22 23 26. Dan. 3. 16 17 18. 6. 5 10. Ier. 17. 5 6. Luke 12. 4. Acts 5. 29. Psal. 14. 1 c. § 12. 8. If you have not in a deliberate Covenant or resolution devoted and given up your selves to God as your Father and felicity to Jesus Christ as your only Saviour and your Lord and King and to the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier to be made holy by him desiring that your heart and life
Holy Ghost Read Luke 19. 27. Some think it strange that any men should be called Haters of God And I believe you will find it hard to meet with that man that will confess it by himself till converting Grace or Hell constrain him And indeed if God himself had not charged men with that sin and called them by that name we should scarce have found belief or patience when we had endeavoured to convince the world of it Intreat but the worst of men to repent of Hating God and try how they will take it Yet they may read that name in Scripture Rom. 1. 30. Psal. 81. 15. Luke 19. 14. Did not the Iews hate Christ think you when they murdered him and when they hated all his followers for his sake Matth. 10. 22. Mar. 13. 13. And doth not Christ say that they shall be hated for his sake not only of the Jews but also of all Nations and all men Matth. 24. 9. 10. 22. Even by the world Iohn 17. 14. 15 17 18 19 c. And this was a hating both Christ and his Father Iohn 15. 23 24. But you will say It is not possible that any man can hate God I answer How then come the Devils to hate him Yea every ungodly man hateth God Indeed no man hateth him as Good or as Merciful to them But they hate him as Holy and Iust as one that will not let them have the pleasure of sin without damning them as one engaged in justice to cast them into Hell if they dye without conversion and as one that hath made so pure and precise a Law to govern them and convinceth them of sin and calls them to that repentance and Holiness which they hate Why did the world hate Christ himself He tells you John 7. 7. The world cannot hate you but me it hateth because I testifie against it that the works thereof are evil John 3. 19. This is the condemnation that Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Nay it is a wonder of blindness that this God-hating world and age should not perceive that they are God-haters while they hate his servants to the death and implacably rage against them and hate his holy wayes and Kingdom and bend all their power and interest in most of the Kingdoms of the world against his interest and his people upon earth While the Devil fighteth his battels against Christ through the world by their hands they will yet confess the Devils malice against God but deny their own as if he used their hands without their hearts Well poor wretched worms instead of denying your enmity to him lament it and know that he also taketh you for his enemies and will prove too hard for you when you have done your worst Read Psal. 2. and tremble and submit This is especially the case of persecutors and open enemies but in their measure also of all that would not have him to reign over them And therefore Christ came to Reconcile us unto God and God to us and it is only the sanctified that are Reconciled to him See Col. 1. 21. Phil. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 25. Rom. 5. 10. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be Rom. 8. 7. Mark that Text well § 2. 2. As long as you are unsanctified you are unjustified and unpardoned you are under the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed Every sinful thought word and deed of which the least deserveth Hell is on your score to be answered for by your self And what this signifieth the threatnings of the Law will tell you See Acts 26. 18. Mar. 4. 12. Col. 1. 14. There is no sin forgiven to an impenitent unconverted sinner § 3. 3. And no wonder when the unconverted have no special interest in Christ. The pardon and life that is given by God is given in and with the Son God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5. 10 Rom. 8. 9. 11 12. Till we are members of Christ we have no part in the pardon and salvation purchased by him And ungodly sinners are not his members So that Jesus Christ who is the hope and life of all his own doth leave thee as he found thee and that is not the worst for § 4. 4. It will be far worse with the impenitent rejecters of the grace of Christ than if they had never heard of a Redeemer For it cannot be that God having provided so precious a Remedy for sinful miserable souls should suffer it to be despised and rejected without encreased punishment Was it not enough that you had disobeyed your Great Creator but you must also set light by a most Gracious Redeemer that offered you pardon purchased by his blood if you would but have come to God by him Yea the Saviour that you despised shall be himself your judge and the Grace and Mercy which you set so light by shall be the heaviest aggravation of your sin and misery For how shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 3. And of how much sorer punishment then the despisers of Moses Law shall they be thought worthy who have trodden under foot the Son of God c. Heb. 10. 29. § 5. 5. The very prayers and sacrifice of the wicked are abominable to God except such as contain their returning from their wickedness So that terror ariseth to you from that which you expect should be your help See Prov. 15. 8. 21. 27. Isa. 1. 13. § 6. 6. Your common Mercies do but increase your sin and misery till you return to God Your carnal hearts turn all to sin Tit. 1. 15. Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled § 7. 7. While you are unsanctified you are impotent and dead to any holy acceptable work when you should redeem your time and prepare for eternity and try your states or pray or meditate or do good to others you have no heart to any such spiritual works your minds are byassed against them Rom. 8. 7. And it is not the excusable impotency of such as would do good but cannot but it is the malicious impotency of the wicked the same with that of Devils that cannot do good because they will not and will not because they have blind malicious and ungodly hearts which makes their sin so much the greater Tit. 1. 16. § 8. 8. While you have unsanctified hearts you have at all times the seed and disposition unto every sin And if you commit not the worst it is because some providence restraining the Tempter hindereth you No thanks to you that you do not daily commit Idolatry Blasphemy Theft
carrieth thee to the place No one forceth thee to sin If thou do it it is because thou wilt do it and lovest it If thou be in good earnest with God and wilt be saved indeed and art not content to part with Heaven for thy cups and company away with them presently without delay § 4. Hast thou lived in wantonness fornication uncleanness gluttony gaming pastimes sensuality to the pleasing of thy flesh while thou hast displeased God O bless the Patience and Mercy of the Lord that thou wast not cut off all this while and damned for thy sin before thou didst repent And as thou lovest thy soul delay no longer but make a stand and go no further not one step further in the way which thou knowest leads to Hell If thou knowest that this is the way to thy damnation and yet wilt go on what pity dost thou deserve from God or man § 5. If thou have been a Covetous Wordling or an Ambitious seeker of honour or preferment in the world so that thy gain or rising or reputation hath been the game which thou hast followed and hath taken thee up instead of God and life eternal away now with these known deceits and hunt not after Vanity and Vexation Thou knowest before hand what it will prove when thou hast overtaken it and hast enjoyed all that it can yield thee and how useless it will be as to thy comfort or happiness at last § 6. Surely if men were willing they are able to forbear such sins and to make a stand and look before them to prevent their misery Therefore God thus pleadeth with them Isa. 1. 16 17 18. Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well c. Isa. 55 2 3. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you V. 6 7. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Christ supposeth that the foresight of judgement may restrain men from sin when he saith Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee John 5. 14. 8. 11. Can the presence of men restrain a Fornicator and the presence of the Judge restrain a Thief yea or the foresight of the Assizes And shall not the presence of God with the foresight of judgement and damnation restrain thee Remember that impenitent sin and damnation are conjoyned If you will cause one God will cause the other Choose one and you shall not choose whether you will have the other If you will have the Serpent you shall have the sting Direction 15. IF thou have sincerely given up thy self to God and consented to his Covenant shew it Direct 15. by turning the face of thy endeavours and conversation quite another way and by seeking Heaven more fervently and diligently than ever thou soughtest the world or fleshly pleasures § 1. Holiness consisteth not in a meer forbearance of a sensual life but principally in living unto God The principle or heart of Holiness is within and consisteth in the Love of God and of his Word and Wayes and Servants and Honour and Interest in the world and in the souls delight in God and the Word and Wayes of God and in its inclination towards him and desire after him and care to please him and lothness to offend him The expression of it in our lives consisteth in the constant diligent exercise of this internal life according to the directions of the Word of God If thou be a believer and hast subjected thy self to God as thy absolute Soveraign King and Judge it will then be thy work to obey and please him as a Child his Father or a Servant his Master Mal. 1. 6. Do you think that God will have Servants and have nothing for them to do Will one of you commend or reward your servant for doing nothing and take it at the years end for a satisfactory answer or account if he say I have done no harm God calleth you not only to do no harm but to love and serve him with all your heart and soul and might If you have a better Master than you had before Aâ—osta faith that the Iâ—aiaâ—s are so addicted to their Idolatry and unwearied in it that he knoweth not what words can sufficiently declare how totally their minds are transformed into it no Whâ—re monger having so mad a love to his Whore as they to their Ido's so that neither in their idleness or their business neither in publick or in private will they do any thing till they have first used their Superstition to their Idols They will neither rejoyce at Weddings or mourn at Funerals neither make a Feast or partake of it not so much as move a foot out of doors or a hand to any work without this Heathemsh Sacriledge And all this they do with the greatest secrefie lest the Christians should know it Lib. 5. c. 8. p. 467. See here how nature teacheth all men that there is a Deity to be worshipped with all possible love and industry And shall the Worshippers of the true God then think it unnecessary preciseness to be as diligent and hearty in his service you should do more work than you did before Will you not serve God more zealoussy than you served the Devil Will you not labour harder to save your souls than you did to damn them Will you not be more zealous in good than you were in evil What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed For the end of those things is death Rom. 6. 21 22. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life If you are true Behâ—vers you have now laid up your hopes in Heaven and therefore will set yourselves to seek it as worldlings set themselves to seek the world And a sluggish wish with heartless lazy dull endeavours is no fit seeking of eternal joyes A creeping pace beseemeth not a man that is in the way to Heaven especially who went faster in the way to Hell This is not running as for our lives You may well be diligent and make haste where you have so great encouragement and help and where you may expect so good an end and where you are sure you shall never in life or death have cause to repent of any of your just endeavours and where every step of your way is pure and
Associate your selves with them that go the way to Heaven if you resolve your selves to go it O what a deal of difference will you find between these two sorts of companions The one sort if you have any thoughts of Repentance would stifle them and laugh you out of the use of your reason into their own distracted mirth and dotage And if you have any serious thoughts of your salvation or any inclinations to repent and be wise they will do much to divert them and hold you in the power and snares of Satan till it be too late If you have any zeal or heavenly mindedness they will do much to quench it and fetch down your minds to earth again The other sort will speak of things of so great weâ—â—â—â—t and moment and that with seriousness and reverence as will tend to raise and quicken your souâ— and possess you with a taste of the heavenly things which they discourse of They will encourage you by their own experiences and direct you by that truth which hath directed them and zealously communicate what they have received They will pray for you and teach you how to pray They will give the example of holy humble obedient lives and lovingly admonish you of your duties and reprove your sins In a word as the carnal mind doth savour the things of the flesh and is enmity against God the company of such will be a powerful means to infect you with their plague and make you such if you were escaped from them much more to keep you such if you are not escaped And as they that are spiritual do mind the things of the Spirit so their converse tendeth to make you spiritually minded as they are Rom. 8. 7 8. Though there are some useful qualities and gifts in some that are ungodly and some lamentable faults in many that are spiritual yet experience will shew you so great a difference between them in the main in heart and life as will make you the more easily to believe the difference that will be between them in the life to come § 6. 6. Another means is serious Meditation on the life to come and the way thereto Which though all cannot manage so methodically as some yet all should in some measure and season be acquainted with it § 7. 7. The last Means is to choose some prudent faithful Guide and Counsellor for your soul to Of how great concernment faithful Pastors are for the Conversion of the ungodly see a Jesuite Acosta li. 4. c. 1. 2 3 4. Infinitum esset caetera persequi quae contra hos satuos principes Tanaos contra Pastores stultos vel potius idola pastorum contra seipsos potius pascentes contra vaesâ—nos Prophetas contra Sacerdotes contemptores atque arrogantes contra â—lercus solennitatum contra popularis plausus captatores contra inexplebiles pecuniae gurgites caeâ—erasque pestes Propheticus sermo declamat Vix alias sancti Patres plenioribus velis feruntur in Pelagus quam cum de sacerdotali contumelia oratio est Acosta ib. p. 353. Non est iste sacerdos non est sed infestus atrox dolosus illusor sui lupus in dominicum gregem ovina pelle armatus Ibid. open those cases to which are not fit for all to know and to resolve and advise you in cases that are too hard for you Not to lead you blindfold after the interest of any seduced or ambitious men nor to engage you to his singular conceits against the Scripture or the Church of God but to be to your soul as a Physicion to your body or a Lawyer to your estates to help you where they are wiser than you and where you need their helps Resolve now that instead of your idle company and pastime your excessive cares and sinful pleasures you will wait on God in the seasonable use of these his own appointed means and you will find that he appointed them not in vain and that you shall not lose your labour Direction 17. THat in all this you may be sincere and not deceived by an hypocritical change be sure Direct 17. that God â—e all your Confidence and all your hopes be placed in Heaven and that there be no secret reserve in your hearts for the world and flesh and that you divide not your hearts between God and the things below nor take not up with the Religion of an hypocrite which giveth God what the flesh can spare § 1. When the Devil cannot keep you from a change and reformation he will seek to deceive you with a superficial change and half reformation which goeth not to the root nor doth not recover the heart to God nor deliver it entirely to him If he can by a partial deceitful change perswade you that you are truly renewed and sanctified and fix you there that you go no further you are as surely his as if you had continued in your grosser sins And of all other this is the most common and dangerous cheat of souls when they think to halve it between God and the world and to secure their fleshly interest of pleasure and prosperity and their salvation too and so they will needs serve God and Mammon § 2. This is the true Character of a self-deceiving hypocrite He is neither so fully perswaded of The â—ull desâ—â—iption of a 〈…〉 e câ—nâ—ersiâ—n and of an Hypocriâ—e Whâ—â—â—â—â—â— there are two great and grievous â—oâ—â—â—â— of â—roâ—ble â—â—â—â—â—d â—â—nâ— in the Churchâ—â— at the tryal of members and another â—n mens Consciences in trying their staâ—â—s about this Question How to know true Conversion or Sanctification I must tell them in boâ—h theâ—e troubles plainly that Christianity is but one thing the same in all Ages which is thâ—â—â—â— Consent to the Baptismal Covenant And there is no such way to resolve this question as to write or set before you the Covenant of Baptism in its proper sense and then ask your hearts whether you unâ—eignedly and resolvedly Consent He that consenteth truly is Converted and Justified and he that professeth Consent is to be received into the Church by Baptism if his Parents Coâ—â—â—â—t did not bring him in before which he is to do nevertheless himself at age the certain truth of the Scripture and the life to come nor yet so mortified to the flesh and world as to take the joyes of Heaven for his whole portion and to subject all his worldly prosperity and hopes thereunto and to part with all things in this world when it is necessary to the securing of his salvation And therefore he will not lose his hold of present things nor forsake his worldly interest for Christ as long as he can keep it Nor will he be any further religious than may stand with his bodily welfare resolving never to be undone by his godliness but in the first place to save himself and his prosperity in the world as long as he can And therefore he is truly a carnal worldly
minded man being denominated from what is predominant in him And yet because he knoweth that he must dye and for ought he knows he may then find against his will that there is another life which he must enter upon leâ—t the Gospel should prove true he must have some Religion And therefore he will take up as much as will stand with his temporal welfare hoping that he may have both thaâ— and Heaven hereafter and he will be as Religious as the predominant interest of the flesh will give him leave He is resolved rather to venture his soul than to be here undone and that 's his first principle But he is resolved to be as godly as will stand with a worldly fleshly life that 's his second principle And he will hope for Heaven as the end of such a way as this that 's his third Therefore he will place most of his Religion in those things which are most consistent with worldliness and carnality and will not cost his flesh too dear as in being as this or that opinion Church or party whether Papist Prot 〈…〉 t or some smaller party in adhering to that party and being zealous for them in acquiring and usiâ—g such parts and gifts as may make him highly esteemed by others and in doing such good works as cost him not too dear and in forbearing such sins as would procure his disgrace and shame and cost his flesh dearer to commit them than forbear them and such other as his flesh can spare This is his fourth principle And he is resolved when tryal calleth him to part with God and his conscience or with the world that he will rather let go God and Conscience and venture upon the pains hereafter which he thinks to be uncertain than to run upon a certain calamity or undoing here At least he hath no Resolution to the contrary which will carry him out in a day of tryal This is his fifth principle And his sixth principle is That yet he will not torment himself or blot his name with confessing himself a temporizing worldling resolved to turn any way to save himself And therefore he will be sure to believe nothing to be Truth and duty that is dangerous but will furnish himself with Arguments to prove that it is not the will of God and that sin is no sin Yea perhaps conscience and duty shall be pleaded for his sin It shall be out of tenderness and piety and charity to others that he will sin and will charge them to be the sinners that comply not and do not wickedly as well as he He will be one that shall first make a Controversie of every sin which his flesh calls necessary and of every Duty which his flesh counts intollerably dear And then when it is a Controversie and many reputed Wise and some reputed Good are on his side he thinks he is on equal terms with the most honest and sincere He hath got a burrow for his Conscience and his Credit He will not believe himself to be an Hypocrite and no one else must think him one lest they be uncharitable For then the censure must fall on the whole party and then it is sufficient to defend his reputation of piety to say Though we differ in opinion we must not differ in affection and must not condemn each other for such differences A very great Truth where rightly applyed But what is it O Hypocrite that makes thee differ in cases where thy flesh is interessed rather than in any other And why wast thou never of that mind till now that thy worldly interest requireth it And how cometh it to pass that thou artâ— alwayes on the self-saving opinion And whence is it that thou consultest with those only that are of the opinion which thou desirest should be true and either not at all or partially and slightly with those that are against it Wast thou ever conscious to thy self that thou hast accounted what it might cost thee to be saved and reckoned on the worst and resolved in the strength of grace to go through all Didst thou ever meddle with much of the self-denying part of Religion or any duties that would cost thee dear May not thy Conscience tell thee that thou never didst believe that thou shouldst suffer much for thy Religion that is thou hadst a secret purpose to avoid it § 3. O Sirs take warning from the mouth of Christ who hath so oft and plainly warned you of this sin and danger and told you how necessary self-denyal and a suffering disposition is to all that are his Disciples and that the worldly fleshly principle predominant in the Hypocrite is manifest by his self-saving course He must take up his Cross and follow him in a Conformity to his sufferings that will indeed be his Disciple We must suffer with him if we will reign with him Rom. 8. 17 18. Mat. 13. 20 21 22. He that received the seed in stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it yet hath he not root in himself but dureth for a while for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word by and by he is offended He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful If thou have not taken Heaven for thy part and art not resolved to let go all that would keep thee from it I must say to thy Conscience as Christ to one of thy Predecessors Luke 18. 22. Yet lâ—ckest thou one thing and such a One as thou wilt find of flat necessity to thy salvation And it 's likely some trying time even in this life will detect thine Hypocrisie and make thee Go away sorrowful for thy riches sake as he ver 23. If godliness with contentment seem not sufficient gain to thee thou wilt make thy Gain go instead of Godliness that is thy Gain shall be next thy heart and have the precedency which Godliness should have and thy gain shall choose thee thy Religion and over-rule thy Conscience and sway thy life O Sirs take warning by the Apostates and temporizing hypocrites that have lookt behind them and with Demas for the world forsaken their duty and are set up by Justice as Pillars of Salt for your warning and remembrance And as ever you would make sure work in turning to God and escape the too late repentance of the hypocrite see that you go to the root and resign the world to the will of God and reckon what it may cost you to be followers of Christ and look not after any portion but the favour of God and life eternal and see that there be no secret reserve in your hearts for your worldly interest or prosperity and think not of halfing it between God and the world nor making your Religion complyant with the desires and interest of the flesh Take God
to Hell that they cannot be known asunder Hath not Christ taught us plainly how to know them Psal. 1. 15. 1 Iohn 3. and bid us give diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. If all men must hope that they shall be saved then most must hope for that which they shall never have But it is no hope of Gods making which deceiveth men Should so great a matter as our everlasting joy or misery be cast out of our Care and ventured so regardlesly in the dark When it is it that we have life and time and all for to make it sure And what hurt can it do you to find out the truth of your own condition If you are indeed unregenerate and unholy discover it now in time and you have time to be recovered You must despair of being saved without conversion But that preventeth absolute final despair Whereas if you find not out your case till time is past then hope is past and the Devil hath you in endless desperation where he would § 20. Tempt 10. If this prevail not the Devil will seek to carry it by noise instead of reason Tempt 10. and will seek to keep you in jovial merry voluptuous company that shall plead by Pots and Playes and pleasures and shall daily make a jest of Godliness and speak of the godly with scorn as a company of Fanatick Hypocrites § 21. Direct 10. But consider that this is but the rage of fools that speak of what they never understood Direct 10. See Prov. 13. 20 Prâ—v â—8 â— Ephes. 5. 7. 11. Did they ever try the way they speak against Are they to be believed before God himself Will they not â—at their words at last themselves Will their merry lives last alwayes Do they dye as merrily as they live and bring off themselves as well as they promised to bring off you He that will be cheated of his salvation and forsake his God for the ranting scorns of a distracted sinner is worthy to be damned § 22. Tempt 11. Next be telleth them that a godly life is so hard and tedious that if they should begin Tempt 11. they should never endure to hold on and therefore it is in vain to try it § 23. Direct 11. But this pretence is compounded of wickedness and madness What but a wicked Direct 11. heart can make it so hard a thing to live in the Love of God and holiness and in the hopes and seeking of eternal life Why should not this be a sweeter and pleasanter life than drinking and roaring and gaming and fooling away time in vain or than the enjoying of all the delights of the flesh There 's nothing but a sick distempered heart against it that nauseateth that which in it self is most delightful When Grace hath changed your hearts it will be easie Do you not see that others can hold on in it and would not be as they were for all the world And why may not you God will help you It is the Office of Christ and the Spirit to help you Your encouragements are innumerable The hardness is most at first It is the longer the easier But what if it were hard Is it not necessary Is Hell easier and to be preferred before it And will not Heaven pay for all your cost and labour Will you sit down in desperation and resolve to let your salvation go upon such silly bug-bear words as these § 24. Tempt 12. Next the Devils endeavour will be to find them so much employment with Tempt 12. worldly cares or hopes or business that they shall find no leisure to be serious about the saving of their souls § 25. Direct 12. But this is a snare though frequently prevalent yet so irrational and against so Direct 12. many warnings and witnesses even of all men in the world either first or last at conversion or at death that he who after all this will neglect his God and his salvation because he hath worldly things to mind is worthy to be turned over to his choice and have no better help or portion in the hour of his necessity and distress Of this sin I have spoken afterward Chap. 4. Part. 6. § 26. Tempt 13. Lest the soul should be converted the Devil will do all that he can to keep you from Tempt 13. the acquaintance and company of those whose holiness and instructions might convince and strengthen you and especially from a lively convincing Minister and to cast you under some dead hearted Minister and Society § 27. Direct 13. Therefore if it be possible though it be to your loss or inconvenience in the Direct 13. world live under a searching heavenly Teacher and in the company of them that are resolved for Heaven It is a dead heart indeed that feeleth not the need of such assistance and is not the better for it when they have it If ever you be fair for Heaven and like to be converted it will be among such helps as these § 28. Tempt 14. But one of the strongest Temptations of Satan is by making their sin exceeding Tempt 14. pleasant to them for the gain or honour or fleshly satisfaction and so encreasing the violence of their sensual appetite and lust and making them so much in Love with their sin that they cannot leave it Like the thirst of a man in a burning Feavor which makes him cry for cold drink though it would kill him the fury of the appetite conquering reason So we see many drunkards fornicators worldlings that are so deeply in Love with their sin that come on it what will they will have it though they have Hell with it § 29. Direct 14. Against this Temptation I desire you to read what I have said after Chap. 4. Direct 14. Part. 7. Chap. 3. Direct 6. 8. O that poor sinners knew what it is that they so much Love Is the pleasing of the flesh so sweet a thing to you and are you so indifferent to God and holy things Are these less amiable Do you foresee what both will be at last Will your sin seem better than Christ and Grace and Heaven when you are dying O be not so in Love with damning folly and the pleasure of a Beast as for it to despise the heavenly wisdom and delights § 30. Tempt 15. Another great Temptation is the prosperity of the wicked in this life and the reproach Tempt 15. and suffering which usually falls upon the godly If God did strike every notorious sinner dead in the place as soon as he had sinned or struck him blind or dumb or lame or inflicted presently some such judgement then many would fear him and forbear their sin But when they see no men prosper so much as the most ungodly and that they are the persecutors of the holy seed and that sentence against an evil work is not speedily executed then are their hearts set in them
In your Baptism you renounced the world with its pomps and vanity and now do you deifie what you then defied § 36. Temp. 18. Another Temptation is to draw on the sinner into such a custom in sin and long Tempt 18. neglect of the means of his Recovery till his Heart is utterly Hardened § 37. Direct 18. Against this read after Chap. 4. Part. 2. against Hardness of Heart Direct 18. Tempt 19. § 38. Temp. 19. Another Temptation is to Delay Repentance and purpose to do it hereafter § 39. Direct 19. Of this I entreat you to read the many Reasons which I have given to shame and Direct 19. waken delayers in my Book of Directions for a sound Conversion § 40. Tempt 20. The worst of all is to tempt them to flat unbelief of Scripture and the life Tempt 20. to come § 41. Direct 20. Against this read here Chap. 3. Dir. 1. Chap. 4. Part. 1. and my Treatise against Direct 20. Infidelity § 42. Temp. 21. If they will needs looks after Grace he will do all he can to deceive them with counterfeits Tempt 21. and make them take a seeming half conversion for a saving change § 43. Direct 21. Of this read my Directions for sound Conversion and the Formal Hypocrite and Direct 21. Saints Rest Part. 3. c. 10. § 44. Temp. 22. If he cannot make them flat Infidels he will tempt them to question and contradict Tempt 22. the sense of all those Texts of Scripture which are used to convince them and all those doctrines which grate most upon their galled consciences as of the Necessity of Regeneration the fewness of them that are saved the difficulty of salvation the torments of Hell the necessity of mortification and the sinfulness of all particular sins They will hearken what Cavillers can say for any sin and against any part of Godliness and with this they wilfully delude themselves § 45. Direct 22. But if men are resolved to joyn with the Devil and shut their eyes and â—avil Direct 22. against all that God speaketh to them to prevent their misery and know not because they will not know what remedy is left or who can save men against their wills This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil He that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved John 3. 19 20. In Scripture some things are hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. Of particulars read the end of my Treatise of Conversion § 46. Temp. 23. Yea Satan will do his worst to make them Hereticks and teach them some doctrine Tempt 23. of licentiousness suitable is their lusts It s hard being wicked still against Conscience in the open light This is kicking against the pricks too smarting work to be easily born Therefore the Devil will make them a Religion which shall please them and do their sins no haâ—m Either a Religion made up of loose Opinions like the Familists Ranters Libertines and Antinomians and the Jesuites too much or else made up of trifling formalities and a great deal of bodily exercise and Stage-actings and complement as much of the Popish devotion is And a little will draw a carnal heart to believe a carnal doctrine It s easier to get such a new Religion than a new heart And then the Devil tells them that now they are in the right way and therefore they shall be saved A great part of the world think their case is good because they are of such or such a Sect or Party and of that which they are told by their Leaders is the true Church and way § 47. Direct 23. But remember that what ever Law you make to your selves God will judge Direct 23. you by his own Law Falsifying the Kings Coyn is no good way to pay a debt but an addition of Treason to your former misery It is a new and a holy heart and life and not a new Creed or a new Church or Sect that is necessary to your salvation It will never save you to be in the soundest Church on earth if you be unsound in it your selves and are but the dust in the Temple that must be swept ouâ— Much less will it save you to make your selves a Rule because Gods Rule doth seem too strict § 48. Tempt 24. Another way of the Tempter is to draw men to take up with meer Convictions Tempt 24. instead of true Conversion when they have but learnt that it is Necessary to salvation to be Regenerate and have the Spirit of Christ they are as quiet as if this were indeed to be regenerate and to have the Spirit As some think they have attained to perfection when they have but received the opinion that perfection may here be had so abundance think they have sanctification and forgiveness because now they see that they must be had and without sanctification there is no salvation And thus the knowledge of all Grace and Duty shall go with them for the grace and duty it self and their judgement of the thing instead of the possession of it and instead of having grace they force themselves to believe that they have it § 49. Direct 24. But remember God will not be mocked He knoweth a convinced head from Direct 24. a holy heart To think you are Rich will not make you rich To believe that you are well or to know the remedy is not enough to make you well You may dream that you eat and yet awake hungry Isa. 29. 8. All the Land or money which you see is not therefore your own To know that you should be holy maketh your unholiness to have no excuse Ahab did not scape by believing that he should return in peace Self-flattery in so great and weighty a case is the greatest folly If you know these things happy are ye if you do them John 13. 17. § 50. Tempt 25. Another great Temptation is by hiding from men the intrinsick evil and odiousness Tempt 25. of â—in What harm saith the Drunkard and Adulterer and voluptuous Sensualists is there in all this that Preachers make so great ado against it What hurt is this to God or man that they would make us believe we must be damned for it and that Christ dyed for it and that the Holy Ghost must mortifie it Wherefore say the Iews Ier. 16. 10. hath God pronounced all this great evil against us or what is our iniquity or what is our sin that we have committed He that knoweth not God knoweth not what sin against God is especially when the Love of it and Delight in it blindeth them § 51. Direct 25. Against this I intreat you to ponder on those forty intrinsecal evils in sin which Direct 25. I have after
named Chap. 3. Dir. 8. § 16. and the aggravations § 17 18. If the Devil can but once perswade you that sin is harmless all Faith all Religion all Honesty and your souls and all are gone For then all Gods Laws and Government must be fictions Then there is no work for Christ Psal. 40. 12. Psal. 51. as a Saviour or the Spirit as a Sanctifier to do Then all Ordinances and Means are troublesome Vanities and Godliness and Obedience deserve to be banished from the earth as unnecessary troublers of mankind Then may this poyson be safely taken and made your food But O how mad a conceit is this How quickly will God make the proudest know what harm it was to refuse the Government of his Maker and set up the Goverment of his beastly appetite and misguided will and that sin is bad if Hell be bad § 32. Tempt 26. The Devil also tempteth them to think that though they sin yet their good works Tempt 26. are a compensation for their bad and therefore they pray and do some acts of Pharisaical devotion to make God amends for what they do amiss § 53. Direct 26. Against this consider that if you had never so many good works they are all Direct 26. but your duty and make no satisfaction for your sin But what good works can you do that shall save a wicked soul and that God will accept without your Hearts Your hearts must be first cleansed See Prov. 28 9 Prov. 15 26 8 Prov. 21. 27. Isa. 1. 13. 14. and your selves devoted and sanctified to God For an evil Tree will bring forth evil fruit First make the Tree good and the fruit will be good It is the Love of God and the hatred of sin and a holy and heavenly life which are the good works that God chiefly calleth for and Faith and Repentance and Conversion in order to these And will God take your lip-labour or the leavings of your â—â—â—â—sh by way of alms while the world and fleshly pleasure have your hearts Indeed you do no work that 's truly good The matter may be good but you poyson it with bad Principles and Ends. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be but is enmity to God Rom. 8. 6 7. § 54. Tempt 27. Some are tempted to think that God will not condemn them because they are poor Tempt 27. and afflicted in this life and have their sufferings here And that he that condemneth the rich for not shewing merâ—y tâ— the pâ—â—r will himself shew them mercy § 55. Direct 27. Hath he not shewed you mercy And is it not mercy which you vilifie and reâ—â—se Direct 27. Even Christ and his Spirit and holy communion with God Or must God shew you the mercy of Glory without the mercy of Grace Which is a contradiction Strange that the same men that will not be intreated to accept of mercy nor let it save them are yet saying that God will be merciful and save them And for your poverty and suffering is it not against your will You cannot deny it And will God save any man for that which is against his will You would have riches and honour and pleasure and your good things in this life as well as others if you could tell how You love the world as well as others if you could get more of it And to be carnal and worldly for so poor a pittance and to have the world when you suffer in it doth make you more unexcusable than the rich The Devils have suffered more than you and so have many thousand souls in Hell And yet they shall be saved never the more If you are poor in the world but rich in faith and holiness then you may well expect salvation Iames 2. 5. But if your sufferings make you no more holy they do but aggravate your sin § 56. Tempt 28. Also the Devil blindeth sinners by keeping them ignorant of the nature and power Tempt 28. of Holiness of heart and life They know it not by any experience And he will not let them see it and judge of it in the Scripture where it is to be seen without any mixed contraries but he points them only to professors of holiness and commonly to the weakest and the worst of them and to that which is worst in them and sheweth them the miscarriages of hypocrites and the falls of the weaker sort of Christians and then tells them This is their Godliness and Religion They are all alike § 57. Direct 28. But it 's easie to see how these men deceive and condemn themselves This is Direct 28. as if you should plead that a Beast is wiser than a man because some men are drunk and some are passionate and some are mad Drunkenness and passions which are the disturbances of Reason are no disgrace to Reason but to themselves Nor were they a disgrace themselves if Reason which they hinder were not honourable So no mans sins are a disgrace to Holiness which condemneth them nor were they bad themselves if holiness were not good which they oppose It is no disgrace to the day-light or Sun that there is night and darkness Nor were darkness bad if light were not good Will you refuse health because some men are sick Nay will you rather choose to be dead because the living have infirmities The Devils reasoning is foolisher than this Holiness is of absolute necessity to salvation If many that do more than you are as bad as you imagine what a case then are you in that have not near so much as they If they that make it their greatest care to please God and be saved are as very Hypocrites as the Devil would perswade you what a hopeless case then are you in that come far short of them If so you must do more than they and not less if you will be saved Or else out of your own mouths will you be condemned § 58. Tempt 29. Another way of the Tempter is by drawing them desperately to venture their souls Tempt 29. Come on them what will they 'le put it to the venture rather than live so strict a life § 59. Direct 29. But O man consider what thou dost and who will have the loss of it and Direct 29. how quickly it may be too late to recall thy adventure What should put thee on so mad a resolution Is sin so good Is Hell so easie Is thy soul so contemptible Is Heaven such a trifle Is God so hard a Master Is his work so grievous and his way so bad Doth he require any thing unreasonable of you Hath God set you such a grievous task that it 's better venture on damnation than perform it You cannot believe this if you believe him to be God Come near and think more deliberately on it and you will find you might better run from your food your friend your life than from your
Essential Truths by errors of their own nor the doctrine of Godliness by wicked malicious applications 4. Such as drive not on any ambitious tyrannical designs of their own but deny themselves and aim at your salvation 5. Such as are not too hot in proselyting you to any singular opinion of their own it being the prediction of Paul to the Ephesians Acts 20. 30. Of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them 6. Such as are judicious with holy zeal and zealous with judgement 7. Such as are of experience in the things of God and not young beginners or Novices in Religion 8. Such as bear reverence to the judgements of the generality of wise and godly men and are tender of the Unity of the Church and not such as would draw you into a Sect or party to the contempt of other Christians no not to a party that hath the favour of Rulers and the people to promote them 9. Such as are gentle peaceable and charitable and not such as burn with hellish malice against their Brethren nor with an ungodly or cruel consuming zeal 10. Such as not live not sensually and wickedly contrary to the doctrine which they preach but shew by their lives that they believe what they say and feel the power of the truths which they preach § 4. And your familiar companions have great advantage to help or hinder your salvation as well Imperat Reâ— ut nostrae religionis illorum mensa nullum communem haberent neque cum Catholicis omino vescerentur Quae res non ipâ—â—s aliquod praestitit beneficium sed nobis maximum conâ—ulit lucrum Nam si sermo â—oâ—â—m sicut cancer consuevit serpere quanto magis communis mensa ciborum potuit inquinare cum dicat Apostolus cum nefariis nec cibum habere communem Victor Utic p. 418. Magnum virtutis praesidium societas bonoâ—um socius exemplo excitat sermone recreat consilio instâ—uiâ— orationibus adjuvat autoritate continet quae omnia so itudini desunt Ios. Acosta l. 4. c. 13. Dicunt Stoici Amicitiam solos inter bonâ—s quos sibi invicem studiorum similitudo conciliet posse consistere Porro amicitiam ipsam societatem quandam esse dicunt omnium quae sunt ad vitam necessaria cum amicis ut nobismet ipsis utamur atque ob id amicum eligendum amicorumque multitudinem â—â—â—â—er expetenda ponunt inter malos non posse constare amicitiam Laert. in Zenone as your Teachers The matter is not so great whom you meet by the way or travell with or trade and buy and sell with as whom you make your intimate or familiar friends For such have both the advantage of their interest in your affections and also the advantage of their nearness and familiarity and if they have but also the advantage of higher abilities than you they may be powerful instruments of your good or hurt If you have a familiar friend that will defend you from error and help you against temptations and lovingly reprove your sin and feelingly speak of God and the life to come inditing his discourse from the inward power of faith and love and holy experience the benefit of such a friend may be more to you than of the learnedst or greatest in the world How sweetly will their speeches relish of the Spirit from which they come How deeply may they pierce a careless heart How powerfully may they kindle in you a love and zeal to God and his Commandments How seasonably may they discover a temptation prevent your fall reprove an error and recover your souls How faithfully will they watch over you How profitably will they provoke and put you on and pray with you fervently when you are cold and mind you of the Truth and duty and mercy which you forget It is a very great mercy to have a judicious solid faithful companion in the way to Heaven § 5. But if your ears are daily filled with froth and folly with ribaldry or idle stories with Oaths and Curses with furious words or scorns and jears against the godly or with the Sophistry of deceivers is it likely this should leave a pleasant or wholsome relish on your minds Is it likely that the effect should not be seen in your lean or leprous hearts and lives as well as the effects of an infected or unwholsome air or diet will be seen upon your diseased bodies He is ungodly that liketh such company best And he is proud and presumptuous that will unnecessarily cast himself upon it in confidence that he shall receive no hurt And he is careless of himself that will not cautelously avoid it And few that long converse with such come off without some notable loss except when we live with such as Lot did in Sodom grieving for their sin and misery or as Christ conversed with publicans and sinners with a holy zeal and diligence to convert and save them or as those that have not liberty who bear that which they have not power to avoid § 6. Among the rest your danger is not least from that are eager to proselite you to some party or unsound opinion that they think they are in the right and that they do it in love and that they think it necessary to your salvation and that Truth or Godliness are the things which they profess all this makes the danger much the greater to you if it be not Truth and Godliness indeed which they propose and plead for And none are in more danger than the ungrounded and unexperienced that yet are so wise in their own esteem as to be confident that they know Truth from Error when they hear it and are not afraid of any deceit nor much suspicious of their own understandings But of this before § 7. The like danger there is of the familiar company of lukewarm ones or the prophane At Non tamen at corporum sic animorum moâ—bi transseunt ad nolentes Imo vero nobilis animus viâ—iorum odro ad amorem vâ—rtutis accâ—nditur Petraâ—â—h Dialog de aâ—iâ— moriâ— first you may be troubled at their sinful or unsavoury discourse and make some resistance against the infection But before you are aware it may so cool and damp your graces as will make your decay discernable to others First You will hear them with less offence and then you will grow indifferent what company you are in and then you will laugh at their sin and folly and then you will begin to speak as they and then you will grow cold and seldomer in prayer and other holy duties and if God prevent it not at last your judgements will grow blind and you will think all this allowable § 8. But of all bad company the nearest is the worst If you choose such into your families or into your nearest conjugal relations you cast water upon the fire you imprison your selves in such â—etters as will gall and grieve
decent and editying determination of the outward circumstances of Religion and the right ordering of Worship is a needless thing or sinful or that a form of prayer in it self or when imposed is unlawful But let the Soul and Body of Religion go together and the alterable adjuncts be used as things alterable while the life of Holiness is still kept up Direct 19. PRomise not your selves long life or prosperity and great matters in the world lest it entangle Direct 19. your hearts with transitory things and engage you in ambitious or covetous designs and steal away your hearts from God and destroy all your serious apprehensions of Eternity § 1. Our own experience and the alterations which the approach of death makes upon the most doth sensibly prove that the expectation of a speedy change and reckoning upon a short life doth greatly help us in all our preparation and in all the work of Holiness through our lives Come to a man that lyeth on his death-bed or a prisoner that is to dye to morrow and try him with Nemini exploratum potest esse quomodo seâ—e habiturum sit corpus non dico ad annum sed ad vesperum Câ—ceâ—o 2. de fit Dii boni quid est in hominis vita diu Mihi ne diuturnum quidem quicquam videtur in quo est aliquid extremum Cum enim id advenit tum illud praeterâ—it eâ—fluxit tan tum remanet quod virtute recte factis fit consecutus hoâ—ae quidem â—edunt diâ—â— meâ—ses anni nec praeteritum tempus unquam revertitur nec quid sequatur sciri potest Cic. in Cat. Maj. Quem saepe transit casus aliquando invenâ— discourse of riches or honours or temptations to lust or drunkenness or excess and he will think you are mad or very impertinent to tell him of such things If he be but a man of Common Reason you shall see that he will more easily vilifie such temptations than many religious persons will do in their prosperity and health O how serious are we in repenting and perusing our former lives and casting up our accounts and asking What we shall do to be saved when we see that death is indeed at hand and time is at an end and we must away Every sentence of Scripture hath then some life and power in it Every word of Exhortation is savoury to us Every reproof of our negligence and sin is then well taken Every thought of sin or Christ or Grace or Eternity goes then to the quick Then time seems precious and if you ask a man whether it be better spent in Cards and Dice and Playes and Feastings and needless recreations and idleness or in prayer and holy conference and reading and meditating on the Word of God and the life to come and the holy use of our lawful labours How easily will he be satisfied of the truth and confute the Cavils of voluptuous time-wasters Then his judgement will easilier be in the right than Learning or Arguments before could make it In a word the expectation of the speedy approach of the soul into the presence of the Eternal God and of our entring into an unchangeable endless life of joy or torment hath so much in it to awaken all the powers of the soul that if ever we will be serious it will make us serious in every thought and speech and duty And therefore as it is a great mercy of God that this life which is so short should be as uncertain and that frequent dangers and sicknesses call to us to look about us and be ready for our change so usually the sickly that look for death are most considerate and it is a great part of the duty of those that are in youth and health to consider their frailty and the shortness and uncertainty of their lives and alwayes live as those that wait for the coming of their Lord. And we have great reason for it when we are certain it will be ere long and when we have so many perils and weaknesses to warn us and when we are never sure to see another hour and when time is so swift so quickly gone so unrecoverable and Nothing when it is past Common reason requireth such to live in a constant readiness to dye § 2. But if youth or health do once make you reckon of living long and make you put away the Nihil tam sirmum câ—â— periculum 〈◊〉 sâ—â— etiam â—â—â—â—vilido day of your departure as if it were far off this will do much to deceive and dull the best and take away the power of every truth and the life of every good thought and duty and all will be apt to dwindle into customariness and form You will hardly keep the faculties of the soul awake if you do not still think of death and judgement as near at hand The greatest Certainty of the greatest Change and the greatest Joy or Misery for ever will not keep our stupid hearts awake unless we look at all as near as well as certain This is plain in the common difference that we find among all men between their thoughts of death in health and when they see indeed that they must presently dye They that in health could think and talk of death with laughter or lightly without any awakening of soul when they come to dye are oftentimes as much altered as if they had never heard before that they are mortal By which it is plain that to live in the house of mirth is more dangerous than to live in the house of mourning and that the expectation of long life is a grievous enemy to the operations of grace and the safety of the soul. § 3. And it is one of the greatest strengtheners of your temptations to luxury ambition worldliness and almost every sin When men think that they shall have many years leisure to repent they are apt the more boldly to transgress when they think that they have yet many years to live it tempteth them to pass away Time in idleness and to loiter in their race and trifle in all their work and to over-value all the pleasures and honours and shadows of felicity that are here below He that hath his life in his House or Land or hath it for inheritance will set more by it and bestow more upon it than if he thought he must go out of it the next year To a man that thinks of liveing many years the favour of great ones the raising of his estate and name and family and the accommodations and pleasing of his flesh will seem great matters to him and will do much with him and will make self-denyal a very hard work § 4. Therefore though Health be a wonderful great mercy as Enabling him to duty that hath a heart to use it to that end yet it is by accident a very great danger and snare to the heart it self to turn it from the way of duty The best life
for the soul is that which least endangereth it by being over-pleasing to the Body and in which the flesh hath the smallest interest to set up and plead against the Spirit Not but that the largest stock must be accepted and used for God when he trusteth us with it for when he setteth us the hardest work we may expect his greatest help But a dwelling as in Tents in a constant unsetledness in a moveable condition having little and needing little never feeling any thing in the creature to tempt us to say Soul take thy Rest this is to most the safest life which giveth us the freâ—st advantages for Heaven § 5. Take heed therefore as you love your souls of falling into the snare of worldly Hopes and laying designs for rising and riâ—hâ—s and pleasing your selves in the thoughts and prosecution of these things â—â—r then you are in the readiest way to perdition even to idolatrous worldliness and apostacy of heart from God and opening a door to every sin that seems but necessary to your worldly ends and to odious Hypocrisie for a cloke to all this and to quiet your guilty minds with something that is like Religion When once you are saying with worldly security as he Luke 12. 17 18. 19. I will pull down my barn and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and goods and I will say to my soul Soul thou hast much goâ—ds laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and â—e mercy you are then befooling your selves and near being called away as fools by dâ—â—th â— 20 21. And when without a sense of the uncertainty of your lives you are saying as those in â—ames 4. 13 14. To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas you know not what will be on the morrow You forget what your lives are that they are a vapour appearing a little while and then vanishing away Ver. 14. Boast not thy self therefore of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. Direct 20. SEe that your Religion be purely Divine and animated all by God as the Beginning the Direct 20. D 〈…〉 ma 〈…〉 dâ—â—â—â—â—â—bat â—iaâ—◠〈…〉 nem 〈◊〉 â—e◠〈◊〉 â—eâ—i 〈◊〉 sufficere quâ—dem ad bene beateque vivendum â—aeâ—erum instrumentis indigere corporis bonis robore sanitate integritate 〈◊〉 c. Exterioribus etiam opiâ—â—â—â— genâ—ris claâ—itate gloria c. Ea si non affluerint nihilominus tamen beatum foâ—â—â—apiâ—â—tem Arbitratur Deos humana câ—rnere atque curare daemones esse Porro in dialogâ—â— justitiam Divinâ—m legem â—â—bitratus est ut ad juâ—e agendum poâ—entius persuâ—deret nè post mortem poenas improbi luerent Laert. in Plaâ— .. Way and the End and that first upon thy Soul and then upon all that thou hast or dost there be written HOLINESS TO THE LORD and that thou corrupt not all with an inordinate hypâ—critical respect to man § 1. To be Holy is to be Divine or devoted to God and appropriated to Him and his Will and Use and that our Hearts and Lives be not Common and Unclean To be Godly is to Live to God as those that from their hearts believe that he is God indeed and that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him that he is our God All-sufficient our shield and exceeding great reward Heb. 11. 6. Gen. 15. 1. 17. 1. And that Of Him and Through Him and To Him are all things that all may give the Glory for ever unto him Rom. 11. 36. As God is infinitely above all Creatures so Living upon God and unto God must needs advance us above the highest sensual life And therefore Religion is transcendently above all Sciences or Arts so much of God as is in you and upon you so much you are more excellent than the highest worldly perfection can advance you to GOD should be the First and Last and All in the mind and mouth and life of a believer God must be the Principal Matter of your Religion The Understanding and Will must be exercised upon him When you awake you should be still with him Psal. 139. 8. Your Meditatiâ—ns of him should be sweet and you should be glad in the Lord Psal. 104. 34 Yet creatures under Him may be the frequent less principal matter of your Religion but still as referred unto Him God must be the Author of your Religion God must institute it if you expect he should accept it and reward it God must be the Rule of your Religion as Revealing his Will concerning it in his Word God must be the Ultimate End of your Religion It must be intended to Please and Glorifie Him God must be the continual Motive and Reason of your Religion and of all you do you must be able truly to fetch your Reason from Heaven and to say I do it because it is his will I do it to please and glorifie and enjoy him God must be taken as the Soveraign Iudge of your Religion and of you and of all you do And you must wholly look to his Justification and approbation and avoid what ever he condemneth Can you take God for your Owner your Soveraign your Saviour your sufficient Protector your Portion your All If not you cannot be godly nor be saved If his Authority have not more Power upon you than the authority of the Greatest upon earth you are Atheistical Hypocrites and not truly Religious whatever you pretend If HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon you and all that 's yours you are devoted to him as his Own peculiar ones If your Names be set upon your Sheep or Plate or Clothes you will say if another should take them They are mine Do you not see my mark upon them Slavery to the Flesh the World and the Devil is the mark that is written upon the ungodly upon the foreheads of the prophane and upon the Hearts of Hypocrites and all and Satan the world and the flesh have their service If you are Conseerated to God and bear his Name and Mark upon you tell every one that would lay claim to you that you are His and resolved to live to Him to Love Him to Trust Him and to stand or fall to him alone Let God be the very Life and Sense and End of all you do § 2. When once Man hath too much of your regard and observation that you set too much by his favour and esteem or eye him too much in your profession and practice when mans approbation too much comforteth you and manâ— displeasure or dispraise doth too much trouble you when your fear and love and care and obedience are too much taken up for Man You so far withdraw your selves from God and are becoming the servants of men and friends of the world and turning back to bondage and forsaking your Rock and Portion and
the soul to this full subjection and Obedience to God is so Difficult and yet so How to bring the soul into subjection to God reasonable so necessary and so excellently good that we should not think any diligence too great by which it is to be attained The Directions that I shall give you are some of them to Habituate the mind to an Obediential frame and some of them also practically to further the exercise of Obedience in particular acts § 4 Direct 1. Remember the unquestionable plenary Title that God hath to the Government of you Direct 1. and of all the world The sense of this will awe the soul and help to subject it to him and to silence all rebellious motions Should not God Rule the Creatures which he hath made Should not Christ Rule the souls which he hath purchased Should not the Holy Ghost Rule the souls which he hath 〈◊〉 and quiâ—kned § 5. Direct 2. Remember that God is perfectly fit for the Government of you and all the world You can desire nothing reasonably in a Governour which is not in him He hath perfect wisdom to know what is best He hath perfect Goodness and therefore will be most regardful of his subjects good and will put no Evil into his Laws He is Almighty to protect his Subjects and see to the execution of his Laws He is most Iust and therefore can do no wrong but all his Laws and Judgements are equal and impartial He is infinitely perfect and self-sufficient and never needed a Lye or a deceit or unrighteous means to Rule the world nor to oppress his subjects to attain his Ends. He is â—ur very End and Interest and felicity and therefore hath no Interest opposite to our good which should cause him to destroy the innocent He is our dearest friend and Father and loveth us better than we love our selves and therefore we have reason confidently to Trust him and chearfully and gladly to obey him as one that Ruleth us in order to our own felicity Direct 3. § 6. Direct 3. Remember how unable and unfit you are to be Governours of your selves So blind and ignorant so byassed by a corrupted will so turbulent are your passions so uncessant and powerfull is the temptation of your sense and appetite and so unable are you to protect or reward your selves that methinks you should fear nothing in this world more than to be given up to your own hearts lusts to walk in your own seducing counsels Psal. 81. 11 12. The brutish appetite and sense hath got such dâ—minion over the Reason of carnal unrenewed men that for such to be governed by themselves is for a man to be governed by a Swine or the Rider to be ruled by the Horse § 7. Direct 4. Remember how great a matter God maketh of his Kingly prerogatives and of mans Direct 4. obedience The whole tenour of the Scripture will tell you this his precepts his promises his threatnings his vehement exhortations his sharp reproofs the sending of his Son and Spirit the example of Christ and all the Saints the Reward prepared for the obedient and the punishment for the disobedient all tell you aloud that God is far from being indifferent whether you obey his Laws or not It will teach you to regard that which you find is so regarded of God § 8. Direct 5. Consider well of the excellency of full obedience and the present benefits which it bringeth Direct 5. tâ— your selves and others Our full subjection and obedience to God is to the world and the soul as Health is to the body When all the humours keep their due temperament proportions and place and every part of the body is placed and used according to the intent of nature then all is at eâ—se within us Our food is pleasant our sleep is sweet our labour is easie and our vivacity maketh Life a pleasure to us we are useful in our places and helpful to others that are sick and weak So is it with the soul that is fully obedient God giveth him a Reward before the full reward He findeth that obedience is a Reward to it self and that it is very pleasant to do good God owneth him and Conscience speaketh peace and comfort to him His mercies are sweet to him his burdens and his work are easie He hath easier access to God than others Yea the world shall find that there is no way to its right order unity peace and happiness but by a full subjection and obedience to God § 9. Direct 6. Remember the sad effects of disobedience even at present both in the soul and in Direct 6. the world When we rebell against God it is the confusion ruine and death of the soul and of the world When we disobey him it is the sickness or disordering of the soul and will make us groan Till our bones be set in joynt again we shall have no ease God will be displeased and hide his face Conscience will be unquiet The soul will lose its peace and joy It s former mercies will grow less sweet It s former rest will turn to weariness Its duty will be unpleasant Its burden heavy who would not fear such a state as this § 10. Direct 7. Consider that when God doth not Govern you you are Ruled by the flesh the world Direct 7. and the Devil And what right or fitness they have to govern you and what is their work and final reward methinks you should easily discern If ye live after the flesh ye shall die Rom. 8. 13. And if ye saw to the flesh of the flesh ye shall reap corruption Gal. 6. 8. It will strike you with horror if in the hour of temptation you would but think I am now going to disobey my God and to obey the flesh the world or the Devil and to prefer their Will before his Will § 11. Direct 8. Turn your eye upon the rebellious Nations of the earth and upon the state of the Direct 8. most malignant and ungodly men and consider that such madness and misery as you discern iâ— them every wilful disobedience to God doth tend to and partaketh of in its degree To see a swinish Drunkard in his Vomit to hear a raging Bedlam curse and swear or a malignant Wretch blaspheme and scorn at a holy life to hear how foolishly they talk against God and see how maliciously they hate his servants one would think should turn ones stomach against all sin for ever To think what Beaâ—s or incarnate Devils many of the ungodly are to think what confusion and inhumanity possesseth most of those Nations that know not God one would think should make the least degree of sin seem odious to us when the dominion and ripeness of it is so odious Direct 9. § 12. Direct 9. Mark what obedience is expected by men and what influence Government hath upon the state and affairs of the would and what the
Father of lyes and error than for the School of Christ. Except Conversion make men as little children that come not to caâ—p and cavil but to learn they are not meet for the Kingdom of Christ. Matth. 18. 3. John 3. 3 5. Know how blind and ignorant you are and how dull of learning and humbly beg of the Heavenly Teacher that he will accept you and illuminate you and give up your understandings absolutely to be informed by him and your Hearts to be the Tables in which his Spirit shall write his Law Believing his doctrine upon the bare account of his infallible Veracity and resolving to obey it and this is to be the Disciples of Christ indeed and such as shall be taught of God § 11. Direct 10. Come to the School of Christ with honest willing hearts that Love the truth and Direct 10. â—ain would know it that they may obey it and not with false and byassed hearts which secretly hinder the understanding from entertaining the truth because they love it not as being contrary to their carnal inclinations and interest The word that was received into Honest hearts was it that was as the seed that brought forth plentifully Matth. 13. 23. When the Heart saith unfeignedly Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Teach me to know and do thy will God will not leave such a Learner in the dark Most of the damnable ignorance and error of the world is from a wicked heart that perceiveth that the Truth of God is against their fleshly interest and lusts and therefore is unwilling to obey it and unwilling to believe it lest it torment them because they disobey it A will that 's secretly poysoned with the Love of the world or of any sinful lusts and pleasures is the most potent impediment to the believing of the truth § 12. Direct 11. Learn with quietness and peace in the School of Christ and make not divisions and Direct 11. meddle not with others lessons and matters but with your own Silence and quietness and minding your own business is the way to profit The turbulent wranglers that are quarrelling with others and are religions contentiously in envy and strife are liker to be corrected or ejected than to be edified Read Iames 3. § 13. Direct 12. Remember that the School of Christ hath a Rod and therefore learn with fear and Direct 12. reverence Heb. 12. 28 29. Phil. 2. 12. Christ will sharply rebuke his own if they grow negligent and oftend And if he should cast thee out and forsake thee thou art undone for ever See therefore that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they sâ—aped not that refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we if we refuse him that is from Heaven Heb. 12. 25. For how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that â—eard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Heb. 2. 3 4. Serve the Lord therefore with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son left he be angry and you perish in the kindling of his wrath Psal. 2. 11 12. DIRECT VIII Gr. Dir. 6. To obev Christ as our Physicion in his healing work and his Spirit in its cleansing mortifying work Remember that you are Related to Christ as the Physicion of your souls and to the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier Make it therefore your serious study to be cured by Christ and cleansed by his Spirit of all the sinful diseases and defilements of your hearts and lives § 1. THough I did before speak of our Believing in the Holy Ghost and using his help for our access to God and converse with him yet I deferred to speak fully of the Cleansing and Mortifying part of his work of Sanctification till now and shall treat of it here as it is the same with the Curing work of Christ related to us as the Physicion of our souls it being part of our Subjection and Obedience to him to be Ruled by him in order to our cure And what I shall here write against sin in general will be of a twofold use The one is to help us against the inward corruptions of our hearts and for the outward obedience of our lives and so to further the work of Sanctification and prevent our sinning The other is to help us to Repentance and Humiliation habitual and actual for the sins which are in us and which we have already at any time committed § 2. The General Directions for this curing and cleansing of the soul from sin are contained for the most part in what is said already and many of the particular Directions also may be fetcht from the sixth Direction before going I shall now add but two General Directions and many more Particular ones Direct 1. I. The two General Directions are these 1. Know what corruptions the soul of man is naturally Direct 1. defiled with And this containeth the knowledge of those faculties that are the seat of thâ—se corruptions and the knowledge of the corruptions that have tainted and perverted the several faculties Direct 2. 2. Know what sin is in its nature or intrinsick evil as well as in the effects Direct 2. How the several faculties of the soul are corrupted and diseased § 3. 1. The Parts or faculties to be cleansed and cured are both the Superiour and Inferiour 1. The Understanding though not the first in the sin must be first in the cure For all that is done upon the Lower faculties must be by the Governing power of the will And all that is done upon the will ac cording to the order of humane nature must be done by the Understanding But the Understanding hath its own diseases which must be known and cured It s malady in general is Ignorance which is not only a privation of actual knowledge but an undisposedness also of the understanding to know the truth A man may be deprived of some actual knowledge that hath no disease in his mind that causeeth In what cases a sound understanding may be ignorant it as in case that either the object be absent and out of reach or that there be no sufficient Revelation of it or that the mind be taken up wholly upon some other thing or in case a man shut out the thoughts of such an object or refuse the evidence which is the act of the will even as a man that is not blind may yet not see a particular object 1. In case it be out of his natural reach 2. Or if it be night and he want extrinsick light 3. Or in case he be wholly taken up with the observation of other things 4. Or in case he wilfully either shut or turn away his eyes It is a very hard question to resolve how far and wherein the
and self obligations to God 38. It is a preferring of Time before Eternity and regarding things of a transitory nature and a moments pleasure before that which never shall have end The perâ—â—rtâ—â—â—â— and confusion of 〈…〉 39. It is a making a breach in the harmonie and order of the world As the dislocation or deformity of a particular member is the trouble and deformity of all the Body because the comliness and welfare of the whole containeth the comliness proportion and welfare of all the parts And as the dislocation or breaking of one part in a Watch or Clock is against the use of all the engine so every man being a part of the Kingdom of God doth by sin make a breach in the order of the whole and also giveth an ill example to other parts and makes himself unserviceable to the body and dishonoureth the whole body with the blot of Rebellion and le ts in judgement on the world and kindleth a consuming fire in the place where he liveth and is cruel and injurious to others 40. Sin is not only a preferring the Body before the Soul but it is also an Unmercifulness or Cruelty against our selves both soul and body and so is contrary to the true use of the indeleble principle of self-love For it is a wounding and abusing the Soul and defiling the Body in this life and a casting both on the wrath of God and into the flames of Hell hereafter or a dangerous venturing them into the way of endless damnation and despair and a contempt of those insufferable torments All these parts of malignity and poyson are intrinsecal to sin and found in the very Nature of it § 17. The common Aggravations of sin being written of by many and easily gathered from what is said of the nature of it I shall briefly name only a few 1. The Infinite perfection of God in all those blessed Attributes and Relations which sin is against is the Greatest Aggravation of sin 2. The unconceivable Glory of Heaven which is despised is a great aggravation of sin 3. So is the greatness of the Torments of Hell which sinners despise and venture on 4. So is the great Opposition that God hath made against sin having said and done so much against it and declared himself to hate nothing else immediately in the world 5. The clearness of evidence against it the nothingness of all that can be said for it is also a great aggravation of it 6. So is the fullness and fitness and power of all the Means in Creatures providences and Scriptures that is vouchsased the world against it 7. So is the experience and warning of all ages the repentings of the converted and the disowning it by almost all when they come to die Wonderful that the experience of the world for above five thousand years will teach them no more effectually to avoid so mortal pernicious a thing 8. The neerness to us also is an Aggravation It is not a distant evil but in our bowels in our very hearts we are bound so strictly to love our selves that it is a great aggravation to do our selves so great a mischief 9. The constant inhaesion of sin is a great aggravation that it is ever with us lying down and rising up at home and abroad we are never free from it 10. That it should poyson all our common mercies and corrupt all our duties is an aggravation But we shall take up some of these anon § 18. The special Aggravations of the sins of Gods own Children are these 1. They sin against See the Assemblâ—â— larger Catechism about aggravations of sin a neerer Relation than others do even against that God that is their Father by the new birth which is more heynous than if a stranger did it 2. They are Christs own members and it is most unnatural for his Members to rebel against him or do him wrong 3. They sin against more excellent operations of the spirit than others do and against a principle of Life within them 4. They sin against the differencing grace which appeared in their conversion God took them out of a world of sinners whom he past by when he could as well have sanctified them And should they so quickly thus requite him 5. They sin against the pardon and Iustification which they have already received Did God so lately forgive them all their former debts so many so great and heinous sins and that so freely to them when the procurement was so dear to Christ and should they so soon forget or so ill requite so great a mercy 6. They sin against a more serious Covenant which at their conversion they entred into with God than other men do 7. They sin against all the heart-breaking or humbling sorrows which they have tasted of at their conversion and since They have known more of the evil of sin than others in their sad experience of its sting 8. They sin against more knowledge than other men They have known more what sin is and what Christ is and what the will of God is than others and therefore deserve to be beaten with many stripes 9. They have oftner confessed sin than others and spoke odiously of it as the vilest thing and aggravated it to God and man 10. Their many Prayers against it and all their labour in hearing and reading and Sacraments and other means do aggravate it 11. They make a greater Profession of strict obedience and therefore sin against their own profession 12. They have renewed their Promises of obedience to God in prayer at Sacraments and at other times much more than others 13. They have had more experience than others of the goodness of obedience and of the comforts and benefits that attend it in the favour of God and communion with him therein 14. Their sins are aggravated by all the reproofs and exhortations which they have used to others to tell them how unreasonable and bad it is to provoke the Lord. 15. They sin under greater hopes of glory than others do and provoke that God with whom they hope to live for ever 16. The high Titles of love and praise which God doth give them in his Word do aggravate their sin That he should call them his treasure his peculiar people his jewels and the apple of his eye his sons and daughters and a holy people and Priests to God and boast of them as a people more excellent than their neighbours and after this they should sin against him 17. They have had audience with God the answer of prayers and many a deliverance and mercy in this life which others have not which aggravate their sins as being thus contemned and as obliging them more to God than others 18. They dishonour God more than any others by their sins His honour lyeth not so much upon the actions of the ungodly as on those that are nearest to him 19. They harden the wicked more than such sins in other men would
you have to do and to answer for and therefore most to mind and talk of § 11. Tempt 6. The Tempter also suiteth his Temptations to our advantages and hopes of rising Tempt 6. or thriving in the world He seeth which is our rising or thriving way and there he layeth his snares accommodate to our designs and ends making some sinful omission or commission seem necessary thereto Either Balaam must prophesie against the people of God or else God must keep him from honour by keeping him from sin Numb 24. 11. If once Judas be set on What will you give me The Devil will teach him the way to gain His way is necessary to such sinful ends § 12. Direct 6. Take heed therefore of overvaluing the world and being taken with its honour Direct 6. pleasure or prosperity Take heed lest the Love of earthly things engage you in eager desires and designs to grow great or rich For if once your heart have such a design you are gone from God The heart is gone and then all will follow as occasion calls for it Understand these Scriptures Prov. 23. 4. Labour not to be rich Prov. 28. 20 22. He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye 1 Tim. 6. 9. But they that will be rich fall into Temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition For the love of money is the root of all evil But godliness with contentment is great gain Seek not great matters for your selves Jer. 45. 5. Be dead to the world Fear more the Rising than the falling way Love that condition best which fitteth thee for communion with God or maketh thee the most profitable servant to him and hate that most which is thy greatest hinderance from these and would most enslave thee to the world § 13. Tempt 7. The Tempter suiteth his Temptations to our company If they have any error or Tempt 7. sin â—r are engaged in any carnal enterprise he will make them snares to us and restless till they have ensnared us If they love us not he will make them continual provocations and set before us all their wrongs and provoke us to uncharitableness and revenge If they love us he will endeavour to make their Love to us to be the Shooing-horn or Harbinger of their errors and evil wayes to draw us to their imitation He findeth something in all our company to make the matter of some Temptation § 14. Direct 7. Converse most with God Let faith make Christ and Angels your most regarded Direct 7. and observed company that their mind and presence may more affect you than the mind and presence of mortal men Look not at any mans Mind or Will or Actions without respect to God who governeth and to the Rule by which they should all be suited and to the Iudgement which will open and reward them as they are Never see man without seeing God see man only as a creature dependant on his Makers will And then you will lament and not imitate him when he sinneth and you will oppose and Christ saith Hate Luke 14. 26. and not be seduced by him when he would draw you with him to sin and Hell Had Adam more observed God than Eve he had not been seduced by his helper Then you will look on the proud and worldly and sensual as Solomon on the slothful mans Vineyard Prov. 24. 30 31 32. I saw and considered it well I looked on it and received instruction You would not long for the Plague or Leprosie because it is your friends disease § 15. Tempt 8. The Tempter maketh advantage of other mens Opinions or Speeches of you or dealings Tempt 8. by you and by every one of them would ensnare you in some sin If they have mean thoughts of you or speak despising or dishonouring words of you he tempteth you by it to hate them or love them less or to speak contemptuously of them If they applaud you he tempteth you by it to be proud If they wrong you he tempteth you to revenge If they enrich you or are your benefactors he would make their benefits a price to hire you to some sin and make you pay as â—eâ—â—r for them as your salvation cometh to If they scorn you for Religion he would make you ashamed of Christ and his Cause If they admire you he would draw you by it to hypocrisie If they threaten you he would draw you to sin by fear as he did Peter If they deal rudely with you he tempteth you to passion and to requite them with the like And even to distaste Religion it self if men professing Religion be against you or seem to do you any wrong Thus is every man a danger to his brother § 16. Direct 8. Discern in all men what there is of God to be your help and that make use of Direct 8. and what there is of Satan sin and self and that take heed of Look upon every man as a Helper and a Tempter and be prepared still to draw forth his Help and resist his Temptation And remember that man is but the Instrument It is Satan that Tempteth you and God that tryeth you by that man Saith David of Shimei The Lord hath bidden him that is He is but Gods Rod to scourge me for my sin as my Son himself is As Satan was his instrument in trying Iob not by Gods effecting but permitting the sin Observe God and Satan in it more than men § 17. Tempt 9. His Temptations also are suited to our fore-received opinions and thoughts If you Tempt 9. have but let in one lustful thought or one malicious thought he can make great advantage of that Nest-Egg to gather in more as a little leaven to leaven the whole lump He can rowl it up and down and do much to hatch it into a multitude If you are but tainted with any false opinion or prejudice against your Teacher your Ruler or your Brother he can improve it to such increase and raise such conclusions from it and more from them and reduce them all to practice as shall make observers with astonishment say Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth § 18. Direct 9. Take heed what Thoughts you first admit into your mind And especially cherish Direct 9. and approve none but upon very good tryal and examination And if they prove corrupt sweep clean your fantasie and memory of them that they prove not inhabitants and take not up their lodgings in you or have not time to spawn and breed And fill up the room with contrary thoughts and useful Truth and cherish them daily that they may encrease and multiply And then your Hearts will be like a well-peopled Kingdom able to keep their possession against all enemies § 19. Tempt 10. Also he fitteth his Temptations to your natural and acquired parts
but Christ that profits you § 2â— Direct 14. This is distracted contradiction To set Christ against Christ and the Spirit Direct 14. against the Ordinances of the Spirit Is it not Christ and the Spirit that appointed them Doth he not best knâ—w in what way he will give his grace Can you not preserve the soul and life without killing the body Cannot you have the Water and value the Cistern or Spring without cutting off the â—â—â—â—s that must convey it O wonderful that Satan could make men so mad as this reasoning hâ—th shewed us that many are in our dayes And to set up superstition or pretend a good heart against Gods worship is to accuse him that appointed it of doing he knew not what and to think that we are wiser than he and to shew a good heart by disobedience pride contempt of God and of his mercies Tit. 4. Temptations to frustrate holy duties and make them uneffectual § 1. THe Devil is exceeding diligent in this 1. That he may make the soul despair and say Now I have used all means in vain there is no hope 2. To double the sinners misery by turning the very remedy into a disease 3. To shew his malice against Christ and say I have turned thy own means to thy dishonour § 2. Consider therefore how greatly we are concerned to do the work of God effectually Means well used are the way to more grace to communion with God and to salvation But ill used they dishonour and provoke him and destroy our selves like children that cut their fingers with the knife when they should cut their meat with it § 3. Tempt 1. Duty is frustrated by false ends As 1. To procure God to bear with them in their Tempt 1. sin when as it is the use of duty to destroy sin 2. To make God satisfaction for sin which is the work of Christ 3. To merit grace when the imperfection merits wrath 4. To prosper in the world and escape affliction Jam. 4. 3. and so they are but serving their flesh and desiring God to serve it 5. 〈…〉 uiet conscience in a course of sin by sinning more in offering the sacrifice of fools Eccles. 5. 1 2. 6. To be approved of men and verily they have their reward Matth. 6. 5. 7. To be saved when they can keep the world and sin no longer that is to obtain that the Gospel may all be false and God unjust § 4. Direct 1. First see that the Heart be honest and God and Heaven and Holiness most desired else all Direct 1. that you do will want right ends § 5. Tempt 2. When ignorance or error make men take God for what he is not thinking blasphemously Tempt 2. of him as if he were like them and liked their sins or were no lover of Holiness they frustrate all their worship of him § 6. Direct 2. Study God in his Son in his Word in his Saints in his Works Know him as described Direct 2. before Chap. 3. Direct 4. And see that your wicked corrupted hearts or wilful forgetting him blind not your understandings § 7. Tempt 3. To come to God in our selves and out of Christ and use his name but customarily and Tempt 3. not in faith and confidence § 8. Direct 3. Know well your sin and vileness and desert and the Justice and Holiness of God Direct 3. and then you will see that if Christ reconcile you not and Justifie you not by his blood and do not sanctifie and help you by his Spirit and make you sons of God and intercede not for you there is no access to God nor standing in his sight § 9. Tempt 4. The Tempter would have you pray hypocritically with the tongue only without the Tempt 4. heart To put off God in a few customary words with seeming to pray as they do the poor Jam. 2. with a few empty words either in a form of words not understood or not considered or not felâ— and much regarded or in more gross hypocrisie praying for the Holiness which they will not have and against the sin which they will not part with § 10. Direct 4. O fear the holy jealous heart-searching God that hateth hypocrisie and will be Direct 4. worshipped seriously in Spirit and Truth and will be sanctified of all that draw near him Lev. 10. 3. and saith they worship him in vain that draw nigh him with the lips when the heart is far from him Matth. 15. 8 9. See God by faith as present with thee and know thy self and it will waken thee to seriousness See Heb. 4. 13. Hos. 8. 12 13. § 11. Tempt 5. He would destroy Faith and Hope and make you doubt whether you shall get any Tempt 5. thing by duty § 12. Direct 5. But 1. Why should God command it and promise us his blessing if he meant not Direct 5. to perform it 2. Remember Gods Infiniteness and Omni-presence and All-sufficiency He is as verily with thee as thou art there he upholdeth thee he sheweth by his mercies that he regardeth thee and by his regarding lower things And if he regard thee he doth regard thy duties It is all one with him to hear thy prayers as if he had never another creature to regard and hear Believe then and hope and wait upon him § 13. Tempt 6. Sometime the Tempter will promise you more by holy duty than God doth and make Tempt 6. you expect deliverance from every enemy want and sickness and speedier deliverance of soul than ever God promised and all this is to make you cast away all as vain and think God faileth you when you miss your expectations § 14. Direct 6. But God will do all that He promiseth but not all that the Devil or your selves Direct 6. promise See what God promiseth in his Word That 's enough for you Make that and no more the end of duties § 15. Tempt 7. The Tempter usually would draw you from the heart and life of duty by too much Tempt 7. ascribing to the outside Laying too much on the bare doing of the work the giving of the alms the hearing the Sermons the saying the words the hansome expression order manner which in their places are all good if animated with Spirit life and seriousness § 16. Direct 7. Look most and first to the soul in duty and the soul of duty The picture of meat Direct 7. feedeth not the picture of fire warmeth not Fire and shadows will not nourish us God loveth not dead carcasses instead of spiritual worship we regard not words our selves further than they express the Heart Let the outer part have but its due § 17. Tempt 8. He tempteth you to rest in a forced affected counterseit servency stirred up by a desire Tempt 8. to take with others § 18. Direct 8. Look principally at God and holy motives and less at men that all your fire be Direct 8.
me Denyal of our grace may seem to be humility but it tendeth to extinguish Love and Gratitude § 57. But you 'l say I must avoid soul-delusion and Pharisaical ostentation on the other side and few reach assurance how then should we keep up the Love of God Answ. 1. Though I am not come to the point of Trying and Discerning Grace I shall give you this much help in the way because it is so useful to the exercises of Love 1. If you have not Enjoying delighting Love yet try whether you have not Desiring seeking Love Love appeareth as truly in deâ—iâ—â—ng and seeking Good as in delighting in it Poor men shew their Love of the world by Desiring and seeking it as much as rich men do in delighting in it What is it that you most desire and seek 2. Or if this be so weak that you scarce discern it do you not find a mourning and lamenting Love You shew that you loved your money by mourning when you lose it and that you loved your friend by grieving for his death as well as by delighting in him while he lived If you heartily lament it as your greatest unhappiness and loss when you think that God doth cast you off and that you are void of Gracâ— and cannot serve and honour him as you would this shews you are not void of Love 3. If you feel not that you Love him do you feel that you would fain Love him and that you Love to Love him If you do so it is a sign that you do Love him When you do not only desire to find such an Evidence of salvation in you but when you desire Love it self and Love to Love God Had you not rather have a heart to Love him perfectly than to have all the riches in the world Had you not rather live in the Love of God if you could reach it than to live in any earthly pleasure If so be sure he hath your hearts The Will is the Love and the Heart If God have your Will he hath your Heart and Love 4. What hath your Hearts if he have them not Is there any thing that you prefer and seek before him and that you had rather have than him Can you be content without him and let him go in exchange for any earthly pleasure If not it is a sign he hath your Hearts You love him saâ—ingly if you set more by nothing else than by him 5. Do you love his holy Image in his word Do you delight and meditate in his Law Psalm 1. 2. Is it in your hearts Psalm 40. 8. Or do you pray Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies Psalm 119. 36. If you love Gods Image in his word the wisdom and holiness of it you love God 6. Do you love his Image on his Children If you Love them for their heavenly wisdom and holiness you so far Love God He that loveth the Candle for its light doth love the light it self and the sun He that loveth the wise and holy for their wisdom and holiness doth love wisdom and holiness it self The word and the saints being more in the reach of our sensible apprehensions than God himself is we ordinarily feel our Love to them more sensibly than our Love to God when indeed it is God in his word and servants that we love 1 Iohn 3. 14. Psalm 15. 4. 7. Though for want of Assurance you feel not the delights of Love have you not a heart that would delight in it more than in all the riches of the world if you could but get assurance of your interest Would it not comfort you more than any thing if you could be sure he Loveth you and could perfectly Love him and obey him If so it is not for want of Love that you delight not in him but for want of Assurance So that if God have thy heart either in a delighting Love or a seeking and desiring or a lamenting mourning Love he will not despise it or reject it He is â—igh to them that be of a broken heart Psalm 34. 18. A broken and contrite heart is his sacrifice which he will not despise Psalm 51. 17. The good Lord will have mercy on every one that prepareth their hearts to seek him though they do it not according to the preparation of the sanctuary 2 Cor. 30. 18 19. By these Evidences you may discern the sincerity of Love in small degrees and so you may make Love the occasion of more Love by discerning that Goodness of God which is manifested to you in the least § 38. 2. But suppose you cannot yet attain assurance Neglect not to improve that Goodness and Mercy of God which he revealeth to you in the state that you are in Love him but as Infinite Goodness should be loved who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. Love him as the most blessed merciful God who made you and all things and hath given to the world an universal pardon on condition of their penitent acceptance and offereth them everlasting life and all this purchased by the blood of Christ Love him as one that offereth you reconciliation and intreateth you to be saved and as one that delighteth not in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn and live and as one that would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth though he will save none but the penitent that do acknowledge the truth And when you love him sincerely on these accounts you will have the evidence of his special Love to you § 39. Direct 16. Improve thy sense of natural and friendly love to raise thee to the Love of God Direct 16. When thou seest or feelest what Love a parent hath to children and a Husband to a wife or a Wife to a Husband or faithful friends to one another think then What Love do I owe to God O how inconsiderable is the Loveliness of a child a wife a friend the best of Creatures in comparison of the Loveliness of God Unworthy soul Canst thou love a drop of Goodness in thy friend And canst thou not Love the Ocean of Goodness in thy God Is a spark in the creature more amiable than the fire that kindled it Thou canst Love thy friend for all his blemishes his ignorance his passions and manifold imperfections And canst thou not love thy God who hath none of these nor any thing to discourage or damp thy love Thou lovest and deservedly lovest thy friend because he loveth thee and deals friendly with thee But O how much greater is the Love of God Did ever friend Love thee as he hath loved thee Did ever friend do for thee as he hath done He gave thee thy being thy daily safety and all the mercies of thy life He gave thee his Son his Spirit and his Grace He pardoned thy sins and
took thee into his favour and adopted thee for his son and an heir of Heaven He will glorifie thee with Angels in the presence of his Glory How should such a friend as this be loved How far above all mortal friends Their love and friendship is but a token and message of his Love Because he Loveth thee he sendeth thee kindness and mercy by thy friend and when their kindness ceaseth or can do thee no good his kindness will continue and comfort thee for ever Love them therefore as the messengers of his Love but Love him in them and love them for him and love him much more § 40. Direct 17. Think oft how delightful a life it would be to thee if thou couldst but live in the Direct 17. Love of God And then the complacencie will provoke desire and desire will turn thy face towards God till thou feel that thou lovest him The Love of a friend hath its sweetness and delight and when we Love them we feel such pleasure in our Love that we Love to Love them How pleasant then would it be to Love thy God O blessed joyful life if I could but love him as much as I desire to love him How freely could I leave the ambitious and the covetous and the sensual and voluptuous to their doting delusory swinish love How easily could I spare all earthly pleasures How near should I come to the Angelical life Could I love God as I would love him it would fill me with continual pleasure and be the sweetest feast that a soul can have How easily would it quench all carnal love How far would it raise me above these transitory things How much should I contemn them and pitty the wretches that know no better and have their portion in this life How readily should I obey And how pleasant would obedience be How sweet would all my Meditations be when every thought is full of Love How sweet would all my prayers be when constraining Love did bring me unto God and indite and animate every word How sweet would Sacraments be when my ascending flaming love should meet that wonderful descending love which cometh from Heaven to call me thither and in living bread and spiritful wine is the nourishment and cordial of my soul How sweet would all my speeches be when Love commanded them and every word were full of Love How quiet would my Conscience be if it had never any of this accusation against me to cast in my face to my shame and confusion that I am wanting in Love to the blessed God O could I but Love God with such a powerful Love as his Love and Goodness should command I should no more question my sincerity nor doubt any more of his Love to me How freely then should I acknowledge his grace and how heartily should I give him thanks for my justification sanctification and adoption which now I mention with doubt and fear O how it would lift up my soul unto his praise and make it my delight to speak good of his name What a purifying fire would Love be in my breast to burn up my corruptions It will endure nothing to enter or abide within me that is contrary to the will and interest of my Lord but hate every motion that tendeth to dishonour and displease him It would fill my soul with so much of Heaven as would make me long to be in Heaven and make death welcome which is now so terrible Instead of these withdrawing shrinking fears I should desire to depart and to be with Christ as being best of all O how easily should I bear any burthen of reproach or loss or want when I thus Loved God and were assured of his Love How light would the Cross be And how honourable and joyful would it seem to be imprisoned reviled spit upon and buffeted for the sake of Christ How desirable would the flames of Martyrdom seem for the testifying of my love to him that loved me at dearer rates than I can love him Lord is there no more of this blessed life of Love to be attained here on earth When all the world reveals thy Goodness when thy Son hath come down to declare thy love in so full and wonderful a manner When thy word hath opened us a window into Heaven where afar off we may discern thy Glory yet shall our hearts be clods and ice O pitty this unkind unnatural soul This dead insensible disaffected soul Teach me by thy spirit the art of Love Love me not only so as to convince me that I have abundant cause to Love thee above all but Love me so as to constrain me to it by the magnetical attractive power of thy Goodness and the insuperable operations of thy omnipotent Love § 41. Direct 18. In thy Meditations upon all these incentives of Love preach them over earnestly to Direct 18. thy Heart and expostulate and plead with it by way of soliloquy till thou feel the fire begin to burn Do not only Think on the Arguments of Love but dispute it out with thy Conscience and by expostulating earnest reasonings with thy heart endeavour to affect it There is much more moving force in this earnest talking to our selves than in bare cogitation that breaks not out into mental words Imitate the most powerful Preacher that ever thou wast acquainted with And just as he pleadeth the case with his hearers and urgeth the truth and duty on them by reason and importunity so do thou in secret with thy self There is more in this than most Christians are aware of or use to practise It is a great part of a Christians skill and duty to be a good preacher to himself This is a lawful and a gainful way of preaching No body here can make question of thy call nor deny thee a License nor silence thee if thou silence not thy self Two or three sermons a week from others is a fair proportion but two or three sermons a day from thy self is ordinarily too little Therefore I have added soliloquies to many of these Directions for Love to shew you how by such pleadings with your selves to affect your hearts and kindle Love § 42. And O that this might be the happy fruit of these Directions with thee that art now reading or hearing them That thou wouldst but offer up thy flaming Heart to Jesus Christ our Great High-Priest to be presented an acceptable sacrifice to God! Or if it flame not in Love as thou desirest yet give it up to the Holy Spirit to increase the flames Thou little knowest how much God setteth by a Heart He calleth to thee himself My son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. Without it he cares not for any thing that thou canst give him He cares not for thy fairest words without it He cares not for thy lowdest prayers without it He cares not for thy costliest alms or sacrifices if he have not thy heart If thou give all thy goods to
feed the poor and give thy body to be burnt and have not Love it will profit thee nothing If thou speak with the tongue of Men and Angels and hast not Love thou art but as sounding brass or a tinkling Cymbal If thou canst prophecie and preach to admiration and understand all mysteries and knowledge and hadst faith to do miracles and have not Love thou art Nothing 1 Cor. 13. 1 2 3. Thou hast but a shadow and wantest that which is the substance and life of all Come then and make an agreement with God and resolve now to Offer him thy Heart He asketh thee for nothing which thou hast not It is not for riches and lands that he seeketh to thee for then the poor might say as Peter silver and gold have I none Give him but such as thou hast and it sufficeth He knoweth that it is a polluted sinful heart but give it him and he will make it clean He knoweth that it is an unkind heart that hath stood out too long but give it him yet and he will pardon and accept it He knoweth that it is an unworthy heart but give it him and he will be its worth Only see that you give it him entirely and unreservedly for he will not bargain with the Devil or the world for the dividing of thy heart between them A half heart and a hollow heart that is but lent him till fleshly interest or necessity shall call for it again he will not accept Only resign it to him and do but Consent that thy Heart be his and entirely and absolutely his and he will take it and use it as his own It is his own by title Let it be also so by thy Consent If God have it not who shall have it Shall the world or pride or fleshly lust Did they make it or did they purchase it Will they be better to thee in the time of thy extremity Do they bid more for thy heart than God will give thee He will give thee his Son and his Spirit and Image and the forgiveness of all thy sins If the greatest gain or honour or pleasure will win it and purchase it he will have it If Heaven will buy it he will not break with thee for the price Hath the world and sin a greater price than this to give thee And what dost thou think that he will do with thy Heart and how will he use it that thou art loth to give it him Will he blind it and deceive it and corrupt it and abuse it and at last torment it as Satan will do No he will more illuminate it and cleanse it and quicken it Psalm 51. 10. Ephes. 2. 1. Ier. 24. 7. He will make it new and heal and save it Ezek. 36. 26. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Tit. 3. 3. 5. and 2. 14. He will advance and honour it with the highest relations imployments and delights For Christ hath said John 12. 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be If any man serve me him will my Father honour He will Love it and govern it and comfort it and the Heart that is delivered to him shall be kept â—ear unto his own John 26. 27. For the Father himself loveth you saith Christ because you have loved me Whereas if thou deliver not thy heart to him it will feed on the poyson of Iuscious vanity which will gripe and tear it when it is down it will be like a house that nothing dwelleth in but Dogs and Flies and Worms and Snakes it will be like one that is lost in the Wilderness or in the night that tireth himself in seeking the way home and the longer the worse Despair and Restlesness will be its companions for ever Let me now once more in the name of God bespeak thy Heart I will not use his commands or threatnings to thee now though these as seconds must be used because that Love must have attractive arguments and is not raised by meer authority or fear If there be not Love and Goodness enough in God to deserve the highest affections of every reasonable creature then let him go and give thy Heart to one that 's better Hear how God pleadeth his own cause with an unkind unthankful people Mic. 6. 2 3. Hear O ye mountains the Lords controversie O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me What is there in him to turn away thy heart Let malice it self say the worst without notorious impudence against him What hath he ever done that deserveth thy disaffection and neglect What wouldst thou have to win a heart that is not in him For which of his mercies or excellencies is it that thou thus contemnest and abusest him What dost thou want that he cannot yea or will not give thee Doth not thy tongue speak honourably of his Goodness while thy heart contradicteth it and denieth all What hast thou found that will prove better to thee Is it sin or God that must be thy glory rest and joy if thou wilt not be a firebrand of restlesness and misery for ever What saist thou yet sinner Shall God or the world and fleshly pleasures have thy Heart Art thou not yet convinced which best deserveth it and which will be best to it Canst thou be a loser by him Will he make it worse and sin make it better Or wilt thou ever have cause to repent of giving it up to God as thou hast of giving it to the world and sin I tell thee if God have not thy Heart it were well for thee if thou hadst no Heart I had a thousand times rather have the Heart of a dog or the basest creature than that mans heart that followeth his fleshly lusts and is not unfeignedly delivered up to God through Christ. If I have not prevailed with your hearts for God by all that I have said your Consciences shall yet bear me witness that I shewed you Gods title and love and goodness and said that which ought to have prevailed and you shall find ere long who it is that will have the worst of it But if you resolve and Give them presently to God he will entertain them and sanctifie and save them And this happy day and work will be the Angels joy Luke 15. 7 10. and it will be my joy and especially your own everlasting joy DIRECT XII Trust God with that soul and body which thou hast delivered up and dedicated to Gr. Dir. 12. him and quiet thy mind in his Love and faithfulness whatever shall appear to To Trust in God thee or befall thee in the world § 1. I Shall here briefly shew you 1. What is the Nature of this Trust in God 2. What are the Of the nature of Affiance and faith I have written moâ—e â—ulâ—y in my Dispuration with Dr. Baâ—low of Sâ—viâ—g Faith contraries to it 3. What are the
great Direct 13. a part of thy duty Is it not the sweetest employment in the world to be alwayes thinking on so sweet a thing as the mercies of God and to be mentioning them with glad and thankful hearts Is not this a sweeter kind of work than to be abusing mercie and casting it away upon fleshly lusts and sinning it away and turning it against us Yea is it not a sweeter work than to be groaning under sin and misery If God had as much fixt your thoughts upon sadning heart-breaking objects as he hath by his commands upon reviving and delighting objects you might have thought Religion a melancholly life But when sorrow is required but as preparatory to delight and chearful Thanksgiving is made the life and sum of your Religion who but a Monster will think it grievous to live in Thankfulness to our great Benefactor To think thus of the sweetness of it will do much to incline us to it and make it easie to us § 16. Direct 14. Make conscience ordinarily of allowing Gods mercies as great a room in thy Direct 14. Thoughts and Prayers as thou allowest to thy sins and wants and troubles In a day of humiliation or after some notable fall into sin or in some special cases of distress I confess sin and danger may have the greater share But ordinarily mercy should take up more time in our remembrance and confession than our sins Let the Reasons of it first convince you that this is your duty And when you are convinced hold your selves to the performance of it If you can not be so Thankfull as you desire yet spend as much time in the confessing of Gods Mercy to you as in confessing your sins and mentioning your wants Thanksgiving is an effectual petitioning for more It sheweth that the soul is not drowned in selfishness but would carry the fruit of all his mercies back to God If you cannot think on mercy so thankfully as you would yet see that it have a due proportion of your thoughts This course of allowing mercy its due time in our Thoughts and Prayers would work the soul to greater thankfulness by degrees Whereas on the contrary when men accustom themselves to have ten words or twenty of Confession and Petition for one of thanksgiving and ten thoughts of sins and wants and troubles for one of mercies this starveth thankfulness and turneth it out of doors You can command your words and thoughts if you will Resolve therefore on this duty § 17. Direct 15. Take heed of a proud a covetous a fleshly or a discontented mind for all Direct 15. these are enemies to Thankfulness A proud heart thinks it self the worthiest for more and thinks diminutively of all A covetous heart is still gaping after more and never returning the fruit of what it hath received A fleshly mind is an insatiable gulf of corporal mercies like a greedy Dog that is gaping for another bone when he hath devoured one and sacrificeth all to his belly which is his God Phil. 3. 18. A discontented mind is alwayes murmuring and never pleased but findeth something still to quarrel at and taketh more notice of the denying of its unjust desires than of the giving of many undeserved mercies Thankfulness prospereth not where these vices prosper § 18. Direct 16. Avoid as much as may be a Melancholy and over-fearful temper for that Direct 16. will not suffer you to see or taste your greatest mereits nor to be glad or thankful for any thing you have but is still representing all things to you in a terrible or lamentable shape The Grace of Thankfulness may be habitually in a timerous melancholly mind And that appeareth in their valuation of the Mercy How glad and thankful would they be if they were assured that the Love of God is towards them But it is next to impossible for them ordinarily to exercise thankfulness because they cannot believe any thing of themselves that is good and comfortable It is as natural for them to be still fearing and despairing and complaining and troubling themselves as for froward children to be crying or sick men to groan Befriend not therefore this miserable disease but resist it by all due remedies § 19. Direct 17. Take heed of all unthankful doctrines which teacheth you to deny or undervalue Direct 17. mercy Such is 1. The Doctrine of the Pelagians whom Prosper calleth the Ungratefull that denyed faith and special grace to be any special gift of God and that teach you that Peter is no more beholden to God than Iudas for his differencing grace 2. The Doctrine which denyeth general grace which is presupposed unto special and tells the world that Christ dyed only for the Elect and that all the mercy of the Gospel is confined to them alone and teacheth all men to deny God any thanks for Christ or any Gospel mercy till they know that they are elect and justified and would teach the wicked on Earth and in Hell that they ought not to accuse themselves for sinning against any Gospel mercy or for rejecting a Christ that dyed for them 3. All Doctrine which makes God the physical efficient predeterminer of every act of the creature considered in all its circumstances and so tells you that saving grace is no more nor no otherwise caused of God than sin and every natural act is and our thanks that we owe him for keeping us from sin is but for not irresistible pre-moving us to it Such Doctrines cut the veins of thankfulness and being not doctrines according to godliness the life of grace and spiritual sense of believers is against them § 20. Direct 18. Put not God off with verbal Thanks but give him thy self and all thou hast Direct 18. Thankfulness causeth the soul to enquire What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me Psal. 116. 12. And it is no less than thy self and all thou hast that thou must render that is thou must give God not only thy Tythes and the Sacrifice of Cain but thy self to be entirely his servant and all that thou hast to be at his command and used in the order that he would have thee use it A thankful soul devoteth it self to God This is the living acceptable Sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. It studieth how to do him service and how to do good with all his mercies Thankfulness is a powerful spring of obedience and makes men long to be fruitful and profitable and glad of opportunities to be serviceable to God Thus Law and Gospel Obedience and Gratitude concur A thankful obedience and an obedient thankfulness are a Christians life Psal. 50. 14 15 23. Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy Vows to the Most High And call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Who so offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God
But the misery is that few of the ignorant and weak have knowledge and humility enough â—o pâ—rceive their ignorance and weakness but they think they speak as wisely as the best and are offended if their words be not reverenced accordingly As a Minister should study and labour for a skill and ability to preach because it is his work so every Christian should study for skill to discourse with wisdom and meet expressions about holy things because this is his work And as unfit expressions and behaviour in a Minister do cause contempt instead of edifying so do they in discourse § 31. Direct 10. When ever Gods holy Name or Word is blasphemed or used in levity or jeast Direct 10. or a holy life is made a scorn or God is notoriously abused or dishonoured be ready to reprove it with gravity where you can and where you cannot at least let your detestation of it be conveniently manifested Of Prayer I have spoken aâ—terwaâ—d Among those to whom you may freely speak lay open the greatness of their sin Or if you are unable for long or accurate discourse at least tell them who hath said Thou shalt Tom. 2. c. not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain And where your speech is unmeet as to some Superiours or is like to do more harm than good let your departing the room or your looks or rather your tears shew your dislike Directions for the glorifying God in our Lives § 32. Direct 1. Our Lives then glorifie God when they are such as his Excellencies most appear in Direct 1. And that is when they are most Divine or Holy when they are so managed that the world may see that Turâ—issimum est Philosopho secus docere quam viviâ— Paul Scaligâ—r p. 728. it is God that we have chiefly respect unto and that HOLINESS TO THE LORD is written upon all our faculties and affairs So much of GOD as appeareth in our lives so much they are truly venerable and advanced above the rank of fleshly worldly lives God only is the real glory of every person and every thing and every word or action of our lives And the natural conscience of the world which in despight of their Atheism is forced to confess and reverence a Deity will be forced even when they are hated and persecuted to reverence the appearance of God in his holy ones Let it appear therefore 1. That Gods Authority commandeth you above all the powers of the earth and against all the power of fleshly lusts 2. That it is the Glory and Nam illa quae de regno calorum commâ—mâ—rantur à nâ—bâ—â— dâ—que praesentâ—um reâ—um contâ—mpâ—u vel non caâ—â—unt vel non â—aâ—â—le sibi peâ—suadeâ—t cum sâ—rmo factis evertitur Interest of God that you live for and look after principally in the world and not your own carnal interest and glory And that it is his work that you are doing and not your own and his cause and not your own that you are engaged in 3. That it is his Word and Law that is your Rule 4. And the example of his Son that is your pattern 5. And that your hearts and lives are moved and acted in the world by motives fetcht from the Rewards which he hath promised and the punishments which he hath threatned in the world to come 6. And that it is a supernatural powerful principle sent from God into your hearts even the Holy Ghost by which you are inclined and actuated in the tenor of your lives 7. And that your daily converse is with God and that men and other creatures are comparatively nothing to you but are made to stand by while God is preferred and honoured and served by you and that all your business is with him or for him in the world Acâ—staâ—l 4. c. 18. p. 418. § 33. Direct 2. The more of Heaven appeareth in your Lives the more your Lives do glorifie God Worldly and carnal men are conscious that their glory is a vanishing glory and their pleasure but a transitory dream and that all their honour and wealth will shortly leave them in the dust And Direct 2. therefore they are forced in despight of their sensuality to bear some reverence to the life to come And though they have not hearts themselves to deny the pleasures and profits of the world and to spend their dayes in preparing for eternity and in laying up a treasure in Heaven yet they are convinced that those that do so are the best and wisest men and they could wish that they might dye the death of the righteous and that their last end might be like his As Heaven exceedeth Earth even in the reverent acknowledgement of the World though not in their practical esteem and choice so Heavenly Christians have a reverent acknowledgement from them when malice doth not hide their Heavenliness by slanders though they will not be such themselves Let it appear in your lives that really you seek a higher happiness than this world affordeth and that you verily look to live with Christ and that as Honour and Wealth and Pleasure command the lives of the ungodly so the hope of Heaven commandeth yours Let it appear that this is your design and business in the world and that your Hearts and conversation are above and that whatever you do or suffer is for this and not for any lower end and this is a life that God is glorified by § 34. Direct 3. It glorifieth God by shewing the excellency of faith when we contemn the riches Direct 3. and honours of the world and live above the worldlings life accounting that a despicable thing which he accounts his happiness and loseth his soul for As men despise the toyes of children so a believer must take the transitory vanities of this world for matters so inconsiderable as not to be worthy his regard save only as they are the matter of his duty to God or as they relate to him or the life to come Saith Paul 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not at the things which are seen they are not worth our observing or looking at but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The world is under a believers feet while his eye is fixed on the coelestial world He travelleth through it to his home and he will be thankful if his way be fair and if he have his daily bread but it is not his home nor doth he make any great matter whether his usage in it be kind or unkind or whether his Inn be well adorned or not He is almost indifferent whether for so short a time he be rich or poor in a high or in a low condition further than as it tendeth to his Masters service Let men see that you
have a higher birth than they and higher hopes and higher hearts by setting light by that which their hearts are set upon as their felicity When seeming Christians are as worldly and ambitious as others and make as great a matter of their gain and wealth and honour it sheweth that they do but cover the base and sordid Spirit of worldlings with the visor of the Christian name to deceive themselves and bring the faith of Christians into scorn and dishonour the holy name which they usâ—r◠§ 35. Dirâ—ct 4. It much hâ—noureth God when his servants can quietly and fearlesly trust in him Diâ—â—ct 4. iâ— the â—â—ce of all the dangers and threatnings which Devils or men can cast before them and can joyfully sufâ—er pain or dâ—ath in obedience to his commands and in confidence on his promise of everlasting happinesâ— This sheweth that we believe indeed that there is a God and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. and that he is true and just and that his promises are to be trusted on and that he is able to make them good in despight of all the malice of his enemies and that the threats or frowns of sinful Worms are câ—ntemptible to him that feareth God Psal. 58. 11. Sâ— that men shall say Verily there is a reward for the righteous Verily there is a God that judâ—eth in the earth and that at last will judge the world in righteousness Paul glâ—ried in the Thâ—ssal â—iaâ—s for their faith and paâ—ience in all their persecutions and tâ—ibulations which they endured as a mâ—nifest tâ—ken â—f the righteous judgement of God that they might be accounted worthy of the Kingdâ—m 〈…〉 God fâ—r which they suffered Seeing it is a righteous thing with Gâ—d to recompence tribulation to them that trouble us and rest with his Saints to those that are troubled 2 Thess. 1. 4 5 6 7. If ye be rep 〈…〉 d for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you â—â— their part he is evil spâ—ken of but on your part he is glorified 1 Pet. 4. 14. If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalf Vers. 16. When confidence in God and assurance of the great reward in Heaven Matth. 5. 11 12. doth cause a believer undâ—untedly to say as the three Witnesses Dan. 3. We are not careful O King to answer thee in this mâ—tter The God whâ—m we serve is able to deliver us when by faith we can go through the tryal of carnal mâ—ckings and scourgings of bonds and imprisonment to be destitute and afflicted yea and toâ—tured not accepting deliverance upon sinful terms thus God is glorified by believers List up your voices O ye afflicted Saints and sing fâ—r the Mâ—jesty of the Lord Glorifie ye the Lord in the fires even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the Islâ—s of the Sea Iâ—a 24. 14 15. Sing to his Praise with Paul and Silas though your feet be in the stocks Iâ— God call for your lives remember that you are nâ—t your own you are bought with a price therefâ—re glorifie God in your bodies and Spiâ—its which are his 1 Cor. 6. 20. Rejoyce in it if you bear in your bodies the marks of the Lord Iesus Gal 6. 17. And if you alwayes bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be manifested in your bodies 2 Cor. 4. 10. And with all boldness see that Christ be magnified in your bodies whether it be by life or death Phil. 1. 20. Hâ— dishonoureth and reproacheth Christ and faith that thinks he is not to be trusted even unto the death § 36. Direct 5. It much honoureth God when the hopes of everlasting joyes do cause believers to Direct 5. liâ—e much more jâ—yfully than the most prosperous worldlings not with their kind of doting mirth in vain sports and pleasures and foolish talking and uncomely jests But in that constant cheerâ—ulness and gladness which beseemeth the heirs of glory Let it appear to the world that indeed you hope to live with Christ and to be equal with the Angels Doth a dejected countenance and a mournâ—ul troubled and complaining life express such hopes or rather tell men that your hopes are small and that God is a hard Master and his service grievous Do not thus dishonour him by your inordinate dejectedness Do not affright and discourage sinners from the pleasant service of the Lord. § 37. Direct 6. When Christians live in a readiness to dye and can rejoyce in the approach of death Direct 6. and lâ—ve and long for the ay of Iudgement when Christ shall justifie them from the slanders of the woâ—ld and shall judge them to eternaâ— joyes this is to the glory of God and our profession When death which is the King of fears to others appeareth as disarmed and conquered to believers when Iudgement which is the terror of others is their desire this sheweth a triumphant faith and that godliness is not in vain It must be something above nature that can make a man desire to depart and be with Christ as best of all and to be absent from the body and present with the Lord and to comfort one another with the mention of the glorious coming of their Lord and the day when he shall judge the world in righteousness Phil 1. 21. 2 Cor. 5. 8. 1 Thess. 4 18. 2. 1 10. § 38 Direct 7. The Humility and Meekness and Patience of Christians much honour God and their Direct 7. holy faith as Pride and Passion and Impatience dishonour him Let men see that the Spirit of God doth cast down the devillish sin of Pride and maketh you like your Master that humbled himself to assume our flesh and to the death of the Cross and to the contradiction and reproach of foolish sinners and made himself of no reputation but endured the shame of being derided spit upon and crucified Phil. 2. 7 8 9. Heb. 12. 2. and stooped to wash the feet of his Disciples It is not stoutness and lifting up the head and standing upon your terms and upon your honour in the world that is the honouring of God When you are as little children and as nothing in your own eyes and seek not the honour that is of men but say Not to us O Lord not to us but to thy Name be the glory Psal. 115. 1. and are content that your honour decrease and be trodden into the dirt that his may increase and his name be magnified this is the glorifying of God So when you shew the world that you are above the impotent passions of men not to be insensible but to be angry and sin not and to give place to wrath and not to resist and avenge your selves Rom. 12. 19. and to be meâ—k and lowly in heart Matth. 11. 29. It will appear that
have it No nor with any perfection of your intellectual nature meerly as such and for your selves without the Pleasing and Glorifying God in it If you practically perceive that every thing is therefore and so far Good and Amiable as God shineth in it as its cause or as it conduceth to Glorifie him and Please his Will If accordingly you Love that person best on whom you perceive most of God and that is most serviceable to him though not at all beneficial to your self If you Love the wellfare of the Church the Kingdom the World and of the Heavenly society Saints Angels and Christ as the Divine Nature interest Image or impress maketh all Lovely in their several degrees and would rather be annihilated were it put upon your choice than Saints Angels Kingdoms Church should be annihilated If your hearts have devoted themselves and all that you have to God as his own to be used to his utmost service If your chief desire and endeavour in the world be to please his blessed will and in that will and the comtemplation of his infinite perfections you seek your rest If you desire your own everlasting happiness in no other kind but as consisting in the perfect sight of Gods Glory and in your perfect Loving of him and being pleasant or beloved to him and this as resting more in the Infinite Amiableness of God than the felicity which hence will follow to your selves though that also must be desired If now you deny your own glory for his Glory if your chief desire and endeavour be to Love him more and more and you Love your selves best when you Love him most In a word If nothing more take up your care than how to Love God more and nothing in the whole world your self or others seem more Amiable to your sober practical judgement and your wills than the Infinite Goodness of God as such If all this be so you have not only attained sincerity which is not now the question but this Divine nature and high confirmed Holiness Though withall you never so much desire your own salvation which is but to desire more of this Love And though your Nature have such a sensitive selfish desire of Life and Pleasure as is brought into subjection to this Divine Love If any be offended that so many propositions must be used in opening the case and say that they rather confound mens witts than inform them I Answer 1. The matter is high and I could not ascend by a shorter ladder Nor have I the faculty of climbing it per saltum stepping immediately from the lowest to the highest part If any will make the case plainer in fewer words and with less ado I shall thankfully accept his labour as a very great benefit when I see it 2. Either all these particulars are really diverse and really pertinent to the matter in question or not If not it is not blaming the number that will evince it but naming such particulars as are either unjustly or unnecessarily either distinguished or inserted And if it be but repeating the same things that is blamed I shall be glad if all these words and more would make such weighty cases clear and do confess that after all I need more light and am allmost stalled with the difficulties my self But if the particulars can be neither proved false nor needless but the Reader be only overset with multitude I would intreat him to be patient with other men that are more laborious and more capable of knowledge And let him know that if his difficulties do not rather engage him in a diligent search than tempt him to impatience and accusation I number him not only with the slothful contemners but therefore also with the enemies of knowledge even as I reckon the neglecters and contemners and accusers of Piety among its enemies But ere I end I must answer some Objections Object 1. Some will say Doth not every man Love God above himself and all while he knoweth him to be Better and so more Lovely For there is some Act of the will that answereth this of the understanding Answ. 1. You must know that the carnal mind is first captivated to carnal self and sensuality And therefore the most practical and powerful apprehensions of Goodness or Amiableness in every such person doth fasten upon Life and Pleasure or sensual prosperity And the sense having here engaged the mind and will the contrary conclusions that God is Best are but superficial and uneffectual like dreams and though they have answerable effects in the will they are but uneffectual velleities or wishes which are born down with far stronger desires of the contrary And though God be loved as one that is notionally conceived to be Best and Most to be Loved yet he is not loved Best or Most Yea though ordinarily the understanding say God is Best and Best to me and for me and Most to be loved when it cometh to volition or choice there is a secret apprehension which saith more powerfully hic nunc this sensible pleasure is Better for me and more eligible Why else is it chosen Unless you will say that the motion is principally sensitive and the force of the sensitive Appetite suspendeth all forcible opposition of the Intellect and so ruleth the Locomotive facultie it self But whether the Intellect be Active or but Omissive in it the sin cometh up to the same height of evil However it be it is most evident that while such men say God is most to be Loved they love him not most when they will not leave a lust or known sin for his Love Nor shew any such love but the contrary in their lives Object 2. But do not all men practically Love God best when they Love Wisdom Honesty and Goodness in all men Even in strangers that will never profit them And what is God but Wisdom Goodness and Greatness it self Answ. They first Idolize themselves and their sensual delights and then they Love such Wisdom Goodness and Greatness as is suitable to their self ish sensual lust and interest And it is not the Prime Good which is above them and to be preferred before them which they love as such but such Goodness as is fitted to their fleshly concupiscence and ends And therefore Holiness they Love not And though they love that which is never like to benefit them that is but as it is of the same kind with that which in others nearer them may benefit them and therefore is suitable to their minds and interest And yet we confess that the mind of man hath some principles of virtue and some footsteps and witnesses of a Deity left upon it But though these work up to an approbation of Good and a dislike of evil in the General notion of it and in particulars so far as it crosseth not their Lust yet never to prefer the Best things practically before their Lust And God is not Loved Best nor as God
that we can use to help them and none but the Almighty can cast him out and deliver them Let Husband or Wife or Parents or the dearest friends intreat a hardned sinner to be converted and he will not hear them Let the learnedst or wisest or holiest man alive both preach and beseech him and he will not turn At a distance he may reverence and honour a great Divine and a learned or a holy man especially when they are dead But let the best man on earth be the Minister of the place where he liveth and intreat him daily to repent and he will either hate and persecute him or neglect and disobey him What Minister was ever so learned or holy or powerful a Preacher that had not sad experience of this When the Prophet Isa. 53. 1. cryeth out Who hath believed our report And the Apostles were fain to shake off the dust of their feet against many that rejected them and were abused and scorned and persecuted by those whose souls they would have saved Nay Jesus Christ himself was refused by the most that heard him And no Minister dare compare himself with Christ. If our Lord and Master was blasphemed scorned and murdered by sinners what better should his ablest Ministers expect St. Augustine found drunkenness so common in Africk that he motioned that a Council might be called for the suppression of it But if a General Council of all the Learned Bishops and Pastors in the world were called they could not convert one hardned sinner by all their Authority Wit or diligence without the power of the Almighty God For will they be converted by Man that are hardned against God What can we devise to say to them that can reach their hearts and get within them and do them good Shall we tell them of the Law and Judgements of the Lord and of his wrath against them Why all these things they have heard so often till they sleep under it or laugh at them Shall we tell them of Death and Judgement and Eternity Why we speak to the posts or men asleep They hear us as if they heard us not Shall we tell them of endless Ioy and Torments They feel not and therefore fear not nor regard not They have heard of all these till they are a weary of hearing them and our words seem to them but as the noise of the Wind or Water which is of no signification If Miracles were wrought among them by a Preacher that healed the sick and raised the dead they would wonder at him but would not be converted For Christ did thus and yet prevailed but with few Iohn 11. 48. 53. And the Apostles wrought Miracles and yet were rejected by the most Acts 7. 57. 22. 22. Nay if one of their old companions should be sent from the dead to give them warning he might affright them but not convert them for Christ hath told us so himself Luke 16. 31. Or if an Angel from Heaven should preach to them they would be hardned still as Balaam and others have been Christ rose from the dead and yet was after that rejected We read not of the Conversion of the Souldiers that watcht his Sepulchâ—e though they were affrighted with the sight of the Angels but they were after that hired for a little money to lye and say that Christs Disciples stole him away If Magistrates that have power on their bodies should endeavour to bring them to Godliness they would not obey them nor be perswaded King Hezekiahs messengers were but mocked by the people David and Solomon could not convert their hardned subjects Punish them and hang them and they will be wicked to the death Witness the impenitent Thief that dyed with Christ and dyed reproaching him Though God afflict them with rod after rod yet still they sin and are the same Psal. 78. Hâ—s 7. 14. Amos 4. 9. Ier. 5. 3. Isa. 1. 5. Let death come near and look them in the face and let them see that they must presently go to judgement it will affright them but not convert them Let them know and confess that sin is bad that Holiness is best that death and eternity are at hand yet are they the same and all will not win their hearts to God Till Grace take away their stony hearts and give them tender fleshy hearts Ezek 36. 26. § 8. Direct 6. Take notice of the doleful effects of hard heartedness in the world This fills the Direct 6. world with wickedness and confusion with Wars and bloodshed and leaveth it under that lamentable desertion and delusion which we behold in the far greatest part of the Earth How many Kingdoms are left in the blindness of Heathenism and Mahometanism for hardning their hearts against the Lord How many Christian Nations are given up to the most gross deceits of Popery and Princes and people are enemies to Reformation because they hardned their hearts against the light of truth What vice so odious even beastly filthiness and bitterest hatred and persecution of the wayes of God which men of all degrees and rancks do not securely wallow in through the hardness of their hearts This is the thing that grieves the godly that wearieth good Magistrates and breaks the hearts of faithful Ministers when they have done their best they are fain as Christ himself before them to grieve for the hardness of mens hearts Alas we live among the dead Our Towns and Countreys are in a sadder case than Aegypt when every house had a dead man Even in our Churches it were well if the dead were only under ground and most of our seats had not a dead man that sitteth as if he heard and kneeleth as if he prayed when nothing ever pierced to the quick We have studied the most quickning words we have preached with tears in the most earnest manner and yet we cannot make them feel As if we cryed like Baals worshippers O Baal hear us or like the Irish to their dead Why wouldst thou dye and leave thy house and lands and friends So we talk to them about the death of their souls and their wilful misery who never feel the weight of any thing we say we are left to ring them a peal of lamentation and weep over them as the dead that are not moved by our tears we cast the seed into stony ground Matth. 13. 5 20. It stops in the surface and it is not in our power to open their hearts and get within them I confess that we are much too blame our selves that ever we did speak to such miserable souls without more importunate earnestness and tears and it is because the stone of the heart is much uncured in our selves for which God now justly layeth so many of us by But yet we must say our importunity is such as leaveth them without excuse we speak to them of the greatest matters in all the world we speak it to them in the name of God we shew them his
of this but live as quietly and talk as pleasantly as if all were well with them and their souls were safe and their calling and election were made sure Alas if these souls were not hardned in sin we should see it in their tears or hear it in their complaints they would after Sermon sometime come to the Minister as they Acts 2. 37. Acts 16. 30. Sirs what must we do to be saved or we should see it in their lives or hear of it by report of others who would observe the change that grace hath made and Sermons would stick longer by them and not at best be turned off with a fruitless commendation and saying it was a good Sermon and there is an end of it Judge now by this true description which I have given you what a hardned sinner is And then the godly may so see cause to bewail the remnants of this mischief as yet to be daily thankful to God that they are not in the power of it § 10. Direct 7. Live if you can possibly under a lively quickning Ministry and in the company of Direct 7. seriâ—us lively Christianâ— It is true that we should be deeply affected with the truths of God how coldly soever they be delivered But the question is not what is our duty but what is our disease and 〈…〉 and the proper remedy All men should be so holy as not to need any exhortations to 〈◊〉 at all But shall Ministers therefore neglect such exhortations or they that need them â—â—â—â— away their â—ars Hear if possible that Minister that first feels what he speaks and so speaks what â—â— feels as tendeth most to make you feel Isa. 58. 1 2. Cry aloud spare not lift up thy â—â—â—â—â— like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their sins Though â—â—câ—â—â— seek me daily and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook nâ—t â—â—â—â— Orâ—inanceâ— of their God God is the chief agent but he useth to work according to the â—â—â—â—â—â— of the instrument O woful case to hear a dead Minister speaking to a dead people the living truths of the living God! As Christ said If the blind lead the blind both will fall into the ditch And if the dead must raise the dead and the ungodly enemies of a holy life must bring men to godliness and to a holy life it must be by such a power as once made use of clay and spittle to open the eyes of the blind It seems it was a Proverb in Christs dayes Let the dead bury their dead 2 â—â—â—â— 13 â—1 But not Let the dead raise the dead God may honour the bones of the dead Prophet with the raising a Corps that is cast into its grave and toucheth them A meeting of a dead Minister and a dead people is like a place of graves and though it be a lamentable thing to hear a man speak without any life of life eternal yet God can concurr to the quickning of a soul. But sure we have no great reason to expect that ordinarily he should convert men so miraculously without the moral aptitude of means It is most incongruous for any man in his familiar discourse to speak without great seriousness and reverence of things concerning life eternal But for a Preacher to talk of God of Christ of Heaven and Hell as coldly and sleepily as if he were perswading men not to believe him or regard him that no more regards himself is less tolerable It is a sad thing to hear a man draw out a dreaming dull discourse about such astonishing weighty things and to speak as if it were the business of his art to teach men to sleep while the names of Heaven and Hell are in their ears and not to be moved while they hear the message of the living God about their life or death everlasting If a man tell in the Streets of a fire in the Town or a Souldier bring an Allarm of the enemy at the Gates in a reading or jeasting tone the hearers will neglect him and think that he believeth not himself I know it is not meer noise that will convert a soul A bawling fervency which the hearers may discern to be but histrionical and affected and not to come from a serious heart doth harden the auditors worst of all A rude unreverent noise is unbeseeming an Embassador of Christ But an ignorant saying of a few confused words or a sleepy recital of the most pertinent things do as little beseem them Christ raised not Lazarus by the lowdness of his voice But where the natural ears are the passage to the mind the voice and manner should be suitable to the matter Noise without seriousness and pertinent matter is like Gunpowder without Bullet that causeth sound and no execution And the weightiest matter without clear explication and lively application is like Bullet without Powder If you will throw Canon Bullets at the enemy with your hands they will sooner fall on your feet than on them And it is deadness aggravated by hypocrisie when a lifeless Preacher will pretend moderation as if he were afraid of speaking too lowd and earnestly leâ—t he should awake the dead whom lightning and thunder will not awake and when he will excuse himself by accusing those that are not as drowzie or dead as he and would make men believe that seriousness is intemperate rage or madness If you are cast upon a cold and sleepy Minister consider the matter more than the manner But choose not such a one for the cure of hardness and insensibility of heart § 11. Direct 8. Take notice how sensible tender hearted Christians are of sins far less than those Direct 8. that you make a jeast of And how close those matters come to their hearts that touch not yours And have not you as much cause to be moved as they and as much need to lay such things to heart Did you but know what a trouble it is to them to be haunted with temptations to the unbelief and Atheism which prevaileth with you though they are far from choosing them or delighting in them Did you see how involuntary thoughts and frailâ—ies make some of them aweary of themselves and how they even hate their hearts for believing no more and loving God no more and for being so strange to God and Heaven when yet there is nothing in the world so dear to them nor hath so much of their Estimation or Endeavour You would think sure that if such hearts had your sin and misery to feel they would feel it to their grief indeed unless the sin it self did hinder the feeling as it doth with you Let tender hearted Christians instruct you and not be witnesses against you § 12. Direct 9. Take heed of hardning Company Examples and Discoursâ— To hear men rail and Direct 9. sâ—â—ffe at Holiness and curse and swear and blaspheme the Name and Truth of God
it as some of a higher degree The thing pretended by Eminent Hypoâ—â—ites is to be zealous eminent Christians or at least to be sincere in a special manner while they discern the common Hypocrite not to be sincere 2. The cloak of seeming or pretense by which they would be thought to be what they are not is any thing in gâ—neral that hath an appearance of Godliness and is apt to make others think them godly And thus there are diverse sorts of Hypocrites according to the variety of their cloaks or ways of dissimulation though hypocrisie it self be in all of them the same thing As among the very Mahometanes and Heathens there oft arise some notable Hypocrites that by pretended Revelations and austerity of life profess themselves as Mahomet did to be Holy persons that had some extraordinary familiarity with God or Angels So among the Papists there are besides the common ones as many sorts of Hypocrites as they have self-devised Orders And every where the cloak of the common Hypocrite is so thin and transparent that it sheweth his nakedness to the more intelligent sort And this puts the Eminent Hypocrite upon some more laudable pretense that is not so transparent As for instance the Hypocrisie of common Papists whose cloak is made up of penances and ceremonies of saying over latine words or numbering words and beads for prayers with all the rest of their trumpery before named Chap. 3. Gr. Dir. 15. Dir. 11. is so thin a cloak that it will not â—atisfie some among themselves but they withdraw into distinct societies and orders the Church and the profession of Christianity being not enough for them that they may be Religious as if they saw that the rest are not Religious And then the common sort of ungodly Protestants have so much wit as to see through the cloak of all the Popish Hypocrisie and therefore they take up a fitter for themselves and that is the name of a Protestant Reformed Religion and Church joyned to the Common Profession of Christianity The Name or Profession of a Christian and a Protestant with going to Church and a heartless lip-service or saying their Prayers is the cloak of all ungodly Protestants Others discerning the thinness of this cloak do think to make themselves a better and they take up the strictest opinions in Religion and own those which they account the strictest party and own that which they esteem the purest and most spiritual worship The cloak of these men is their opinions pâ—rty and way of worship while their carnal lives detect their Hypocrisie Some that see through all these pretenses do take up the most excellent cloak of all and that is An appearance of serious spirituality in Religion with a due observation of all the outward parts and means and a Reformation of life in works of piety Iustice and charity I say An appearance of all these which if they had indeed they were sincere and should be saved in which the Godly Christian goeth beyond them all § 4. By this it is plain that among us in England all men that are not Saints are Hypocrites because that all except here or there a Jew or Infidel profess themselves to be Christians and every true Christian is a Saint They know that none but Saints or Godly persons shall be saved And there is few of them that will renounce their hopes of Heaven and therefore they must pretend to be all godly And is it not most cursed horrid hypocrisie for a man to pretend to Religion as the only way to his salvation and confidently call himself a Christian while he hateth and derideth the power and practice of that very Religion which he doth profess Of this see my Treat of The Vain Religion of the Formal Hypocrite When Pâ—â—â—â— in vita sua speaketh of others extolling his eloquence he addeth his own neglect of it Ego modo bene vixisâ—em qualiter dixisâ—em parvi sacerem Venâ—osa gloria est de solo verborum splendore famam quaerere Conscientiam potius quam famam attende Falli saepe poterit fama Conscientia nunquam Seâ—ec § 5. The Hypocrites Ends in his pretenses and dissemblings are not all the same One intendeth the pleasing of Parents or some friends on whom he doth depend that will else be displeased with him and think ill of him Another intendeth the pleasing of the higher powers when it falls out that they are friends to Godliness Another intends the preserving of his esteem with religious persons that they may not judge him wicked and prophane Another intendeth the hiding of some particular villany or the success of some ambitious enterprise But the most common end is to quiet and comfort their guilty souls with an Image of that Holiness which they are without and to steal some peace to their Consciences by a lie And so because they will not be Religious indeed they will take up some shew or image of Religion to make themselves as well as others believe that they are Religious § 6. Direct 1. To escape Hypocrisie understand well wherein the life and power of Godliness doth consist Direct 1. and wherein it differeth from the lifeless Image or Corps of Godliness The life of Godliness is expressed in the 17 Grand Directions in Chap. 4. It principally consisteth in such a faith in Christ as causeth us to Love God above all and obey him before all and prefer his favour and the hopes of Heaven before all the pleasures or profits or honours of the world and to worship him in spirit and truth according to the direction of his word The Images of Religion I shewed you before § 3. Take heed of such a lifeless Image § 7. Direct 2. See that your chief study be about the Heart that there Gods Image may be planted Direct 2. and his interest advanced and the interest of the world and flesh subdued and the Love of every sin cast out and the Love of Holiness succeed and that you content not your selves with seeming to do goâ—d in outward acts when you are bad your selves and strangers to the great internal duties The first and Sic vivendum est quaâ—i in coâ—â—â—â—ctu â—â—â—amuâ— Sic cogitandum tanquam aliquis pectus intimum prospicere poâ—â—iâ— Senec. Rem dâ—â—am ex qua mâ—â—â—â—s a stimes nâ—straâ— Vix quempiam invenâ—es qui possit aperto ostiâ—â—ivâ—re jâ—â—itores conscientia nostra suposuit sic vivimus ut deprehendi sit sabiâ—â— aspici Senec. Ep. 96. great work of a Christian is about his heart There it is that God dwelleth by his spirit in his Saints And there it is that sin and Satan reign in the ungodly The great duties and the great sins are those of the heart There is the root of Good and Evil The tongue and life are but the fruits and expressions of that which dwelleth within The inward habit of sin is as a second nature And a sinful nature is worse than a sinful
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
will find that Hell is no jeasting matter If you mock your selves out of your salvation where are you then If you play with time and means and mercy till they are gone you are undone for ever O dally not till you are past remedy Alas poor dreaming trifling Hypocrites Is time so swift and life so short and death so sure and near and God so holy just and terrible and Heaven so glorious and Hell so hot and both everlasting and yet will you not be in earnest about your work Up and be doing as you are men and as ever you care what becomes of you for ever Depart from iniquity if you will name the name of Christ 2 Tim. 2. 19. Let not a cheating world delude you for a moment and have the kernel the heart while God hath but the empty shell A mock-Religion will but keep up a mock-hope a mock-peace and a mock-joy and comfort till Satan have done his work and be ready to unhood you and open your eyes Job 8. 13. So aâ—e the paths of all that forget God and the Hypocrites hope shall perish Job 27. 8 9. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he bath gained when God taketh away his soul Will God hear his â—ry when trouble cometh upon him Job 20. 4 5 6 7. Knowest thou not this of old that the triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment Though his excellency mount up to the Heavens and his head reach unto the Clouds yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung they which have seen him shall say where is he Away then with hypocritical formality and dalliance and be serious and sincere for thy soul and with thy God PART IV. Directions against inordinate Man-pleasing or that Over-valuing the Favour and Censure of Man which is the fruit of Pride and a great Cause of Hypocrisie Or Directions against IDOLIZING MAN § 1. AS in other cases so in this iniquity consisteth not simply in the hearts Neglect of God but in the preferring of some competitor and prevalence of some object which standeth up for an opposite interest And so the obeying man before God and against him and the valuing the favour and approbation of man before or against the approbation of God and the fearing of mans censure or displeasure more than Gods is an IDOLIZING MAN or setting him up in the place of God It turneth our chiefest observance and care and labour and pleasure and grief into this humane fleshly channel and maketh all that to be but Humane in our hearts and lives which objectively should be Divine Which is so great and dangerous a sin partaking of so much Impiety Hypocrisie and Pride as that it deserveth a special place in my Directions and in all watchfulness and consideration to escape it § 2. As all other Creatures so specially Man must be regarded and valued only in a due subordination and subserviency to God If they be valued otherwise they are made his enemies and so are to be hated and are made the principal engine of the ruine of such as overvalue them See what Luke 14. 26 27. the Scripture saith of this sin Isa. 2. 22. Cease ye from Man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Matth. 23 9. And call no Man your Father upon the earth for Magna animi sublimiâ—ate carpentes se atque objuâ—gantes Soâ—â—ates conâ—emnebat 〈…〉 Socrat. one is your Father which is in Heaven 8. And be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant Jer. 20. 15. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm Psal. 118. 6 8 9. The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do unto me It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man yea in Princes Job 32. 21 22. Let me not accept any mans person neither let me give flattering titles unto man For I know not to give flattering titles in so doing my Maker would soon take me away Job 21. 4. As for me is my complaint to man Gal. 1. 10. Do I seek to please men For if I yet When 〈◊〉 was asked why â—he exercised not himself with the most he answered If I should do as the mâ—st dâ— I should be no Philosopher La 〈…〉 p. Adulatâ—onâ—â—â—â—â—dum crimen servitutis malâ—gnitati falsa species libertatis inest Taâ—itus â—b 17. Secure Conscience first Qua semel amisâ—a postea nullus â—â—â—â—s pleased men I should not be a servant of Christ. 1 Cor. 4. 3. But with me it is a very small thing to be judged of you or of mans judgement Luke 14. 26. If a man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Matth. 5. 11 12. Not with eye-service as men-pleasers Ephes. 6 6. Col. 3. 22. 1 Thess. 2. 4. So we speak not as pleasing men but God who tryeth our hearts Jude 16. Having mens persons in admiration because of advantage This is enough to shew you what Scripture saith of this inordinate man-pleasing or respect to man And now I shall proceed to Direct you to escape it § 3. Direct 1. Understand well wherein the nature of this sin consisteth that you may not run into the Direct 1. contrary extream but may know which way to bend your opposition I shall therefore first shew you how far we may and must please men and how far not § 4. 1. Our Parents Rulers and Superiours must be honoured obeyed and pleased in all things which they require of us in the several places of authority which God hath given them over us And this must be not meerly as to man but as to the Officers of God from whom and for whom and not against him they have all their power Rom. 13. Exod. 20. 12. Titus 3. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 2. 2 10. § 5. 2. We must in charity and condescension and meekness of behaviour seek to please all men in order to their salvation We must so thirst for the conversion of sinners that we must become all things lawful to all men that we may win them We must not stand upon our terms and Rom. 14. 15. 1 2 3. keep at a distance from them but condescend to the lowest and bear the infirmities of the weak and in things indifferent not take the course that pleaseth our selves but that which by pleasing him may edifie our weak brother We must forbear and forgive and part with our right and deny our selves the use of our Christian
and the enemies of Godliness to say that he is Proud and preacheth to draw disciples after him and to be admired by men for they judge of the hearts of others by their own As if they knew not that Christ and his most excellent servants have been crowded after without being thereby lifted up or chargeable with pride As the Sun is not accusable for being beheld and admired by all the world nor fire and water earth and air food and rest for being valued by all Little do they know how deep a sense of their own unworthiness is renewed in the hearts of the most applauded Preachers by the occasion of mens estimation and applause and how much they desire that none may over-value them and turn their eye from the doctrine upon the person And how oft they cry out with the laborious Apostle who is sufficient for these things And how oft they are tempted to cast off all through fear and sense of their unfitness when the envious dullards fearlesly utter a dry discourse and think that they are wronged because they are not commended and followed as much as others they think the common sense of all the faithful and the love of truth and care of their salvation must be called Pride because it carrieth men to prefer the means which is fitted best to their edification and salvation 14. If a humble Christian have after much temptation and a holy life attained to well-grounded perswasions of his salvation and be thankful to God for sanctifying him and numbring him with his little flock when the world lyeth in wickedness he will be taken for Proud by ungodly men that cannot endure to hear before hand of the difference which the judgement of God will declare between the righteous and the wicked As if it were Pride to be happy or to be thankful 15. If a man that is falsly accused or slandered shall modestly deny the charge and use that lawful means which he oweth to his own vindication he will be accused of Pride because he contradicteth proud accusers and consenteth not to belie himself yea though the dishonour of Religion and the hinderance of mens salvation be the consequent of his dishonour 16. Many of the poor do mistake their Superiours to be proud if their apparel be not in fashion and value almost like their own though it be sober and agreeable to their rank 17. Some are of a more rustick or careless disposition unfit for complement and some are taken up with serious studies and employments so contrary to complement that they have neither â—â—â—â— a incessu adâ—o gestuoâ—u compoâ—iâ—â—s ut vel â—â—nde supâ—rbissimi animi contrarerit infamiam Callimach Exper. de Attil p. 341. time nor mind for the observance of the humours of complemental persons who because they expect it and think they are neglected do usually accuse such men of Pride 18. Some are of a silent temper and are accused for Pride because they speak not to others as oft as they expect it 19. Some are naturally unapt to be familiar till they have much acquaintance and are so far from impudent that they are not bold enough to speak much to strangers and take acquaintance with them no though it be with their inferiours and therefore are ordinarily mis-judged to be proud 20. Some have contracted some unhansome customes in their speech or gestures which to rash censurers seem to come from Pride though it be not so By all these seemings the humble are judged Quod â— magnaâ—um ac procâ—â—um congressu abstinuerit Chrysanthius alieniotque â—uerit non arrogantiae aut fastui tribuendum est quin potius rusticitas quaedam aut simplicitas existimari debet in eo qui quid esset potestas ignorabat ita vulgariter minime dissimulanter cum illis verba factitabat Eâ—â—aâ—ius in Châ—â—sâ—st by many to be Proud § 8. III. There are also many counterfeits of Humility by which the Proud are taken to be Humble As 1. An accusing of themselves and bewailing their vileness through meer terror of Conscience as Iudas or the constraint of affliction as Pharaoh or of the face of death 2. A customary confessing of such sins in prayer or in speech with others which the best are used to confess and the confessing of them is taken rather to be an honour than a disgrace 3. A Religious observance of those Commandments and Doctrines of men which the Apostle speaketh of Col. 2. 18 19 20 21 22 23. which have a shew of wisdom in Will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh 4. A holding of those Tenets which doctrinally are most to mans abasement but yet never humbled themselves at the heart 5. A discreet restraint of boasting and such a discommending of themselves as tendeth to procure them the reputation of modesty and humility 6. An affected condescension and familiarity with others even of the lower sort which may seem humility when the poorest have their smiles and courtesie and yet may be but the humility of â— Sam. 15. 3 4 5 6. Absolom the fruit of pride designed to procure the commendations of the world 7. A choosing to converse with their inferiours because they would bear sway and be alwayes the greatest themselves in the company Like Dionysius the Tyrant that when he was dethroned turned Schoolmaster that he might domineer among the boyes 8. A constrained meanness of apparel provisions and deportment when poverty forceth men to speak and live as if they were humble whereas if they had but wealth and honours they would live as high as the proudest of them all How quiet is the Bear when he is chained up and how little doth serve a Dog or a Fox when he can get no more 9. An affected meanness and plainness in apparel while pride runs out some other way He that is odiously proud of his supposed wisdom or learning or holiness or birth or great reputation may in his very pride be above the womanish and childish way of pride in apparel and such other little toyes 10. A loathing and speaking against the pride of others while he overlooks his own perhaps because the pride of others cloudeth him as the covetous hate others that are covetous because they are the greatest hinderers of their gain as Dogs fight for the bone which both would have Many more counterfeits of Humility may be gathered from what is said before of the seemings of Pride whereto it is contrary § 9. Direct 2. Observe the motions and discoveries of pride toward God and Man that it may not Direct 2. like the Devil prevail by keeping out of sight Because this is the chief part of my work I shall here distinctly shew you the signs and motions of it in its several wayes against God and Man Signs of the worst part of PRIDE against GOD. § 10. Sign 1. Self-idolizing Pride doth cause men to glory in their
mourning where you may see the end of all the living and be made better by laying it to heart and let not your hearts be in the house of miâ—th Eccles. 7. 2 3 4. Delight not to converse with men that be in â—â—nâ—ur and understand not but are like the beasts that perish for though they think of perpetuating their houses and call their lands after their own names yet they abide not in their honour and this their way is their folly though yet their posterity approve their sayings Psal. 49. 20. 12. 13 14. Converse with penitent humbled souls that have seen the odiousness of sin and the wickedness and deceitfulness of the heart and can tell you by their own feeling what cause of humiliation is still before you With these are you most safe § 106. I have been the larger against PRIDE as seeing its prevalency in the world and its mischievous effects on souls and families Church and State and because it is not discerned and resisted by many as it ought I would fain have God dwell in your hearts and peace in your societies and fain have you stand fast in the hour of temptation from prosperity or adversity and fain have affliction easie to you But none of this will be without humility I am loth that under the mighty 1 Pet. 5. 6. Lam. 3. 29. 2. 19. Amos 3. 8. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Iames 4. 6. Dan. 5. 22. 2 Châ—â—n 34. â—â— hand of God we should be unhumbled even when judgements bid us lay our mouths in the dust The storms have been long up the Cedars have fallen It is the Shrubs and bending Willows that now are likest to scape I am loth to see the prognosticks of wrath upon your souls or upon the Land I am loth that any of you should through Pride be unhumbled for sin or ashamed to own despised godliness or that any should through Pride be unhumbled for sin or ashamed to own despised godliness or that any that have seemed Religious should prove seditious unpeaceable or Apostates And therefore I beseech you in a special manner take heed of pride be little in your own esteem Praise not one another unseasonably be not offended at plain reproofs Look to your duties and then leave your reputations to the will of God Rebuke pride in your children Use them to mean attire and employments Cherish not that in them which is most natural now and most pernicious God dwelleth with the Humble and will take the Humble to dwell with him Isa. 57. 15. Job 22. 29. Put on humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another Col. 3. 12 13. Be clothed with humility Serve the Lord with all humility of mind and â—e will exalt you in due time Acts 20. 19. 1 Pet. 5. 6 7. PART VI. See an excellenâ—â—ract a◠〈◊〉 〈…〉 3. 〈…〉 Pat. though 〈…〉 Directions against Covetousness or Love of Riches and against worldly Cares I Shall say but little on this subject now because I have written a Treatise of it already called The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ in which I have given many Directions in the Preface and Treatise against this sin § 1. Direct 1. Understand well the Nature and Malignity of this sin both what it is and why it is so great and perillous I shall here shew you 1. What Love of Riches is lawful 2. What it is Direct 1. that is unlawful and in what this sin of Covetousness or Worldliness doth consist 3. Wherein the Malignity or Greatness of it lyeth 4. The Signs of it 5. What Counterfeits of the contrary vertuâ— do hide this sin from the eyes of worldlings 6. What false appearances of it do cause many to be suspected of Covetousness unjustly § 2. I. All love of the creature the world or riches is not sin For 1. The works of God are I 〈…〉 all Good as such and all Goodness is amiable As they are related to God and his Power and Wisdom and Goodness is imprinted on them so we must love them even for his sake 2. All the impressions of the Aâ—tributes of God appearing on his works do make them as a Glass in which at this distance we must see the Creator and their sweetness is a drop from him by which his Goodness and Love â—s tasted And so they were all made to lead us up to God and help our minds to conâ—â—â—â— with him and kindle the Love of God in our breasts as a Love-token from our dearest friend And thus as the means of ouâ— communion with God the Love of them is a duty and not a sin 3. They are naturally the means of sustaining our bodies and preserving life and health and alâ—â—â—â—ty And as such our sensitive part hath a Love to them as every Beast hath to their food And this Love in it self is not of moral kind and is neither a vertue nor a vice till it either be used in obedience 〈…〉 Reason and so it is good or in disobedience to it and so it is evil 4. The creatures are necessary means to support our bodies while we are doing God the service which we owe him in the world And so they must be Loved as a means to his service Though we cannot say properly that Riches are ordinarily thus necessary 5. The Creatures are necessary to sustain our bodies in our journey to Heaven while we are preparing for eternity And thus they must be loved as remote helps to our salvation And in these two last respects we call it in our prayers our daily bread 6. Riches may enable us to relieve our needy brethren and to promote good works for Church or State And thus also they may be loved so far as we must be thankful for them so far we may Love them For we must be Thankful for nothing but what is Good § 3. II. But Worldliness or sinful Love of Riches is 1. When Riches are loved and desired and Covâ—â—ousness what Phâ—l 3. 7 8 9. â—am 1. 10. Phil. 4. 11. 1 â—â—m â— 8. Prâ—v 23 4. â—abour not to be Riâ—h sought more for the Flesh than for God or our Salvation even as the matter or means of our worldly prosperity that the flesh may want nothing to please it and satisfie its desires Or that Pride may have enough wherewith to support it self by gratifying and obliging others and living at those rates and in that splendour as may shew our Greatness or further our Domination over others 2. And when we therefore desire them in that proportion which we think most agreeable to these carnal ends and are not contented with our daily bread and that proportion which may sustain us as passengers to Heaven and tend most to the securing of our souls and to the service of God So that it is the end by which a sinful Love of Riches is principally to be discerned when they are lâ—ved for pride or flesh-pleasing as they are the matter
of a worldly corporal felicity and not principally for God and his service and servants and our salvation And indeed as Sensualists love them they should be hated § 4. Worldliness is either predominant and so a certain sign of death or else mortified and in a subduâ—d Worldliness 〈…〉 â—â—â—â— 14. 26 33. degree consistent with some saving grace Worldliness predominant as in the Ungodly 〈…〉 s When men that have not â— lively belief of the everlaâ—sting happiness noâ— have not laid up their treasure and hopes in Heaven do take the pleasure and prosperity of this life for that felicity which is highest in their esteem and dearest to their hearts and therefore love the Riches of the world or full provisions as ☞ the matter and means of this their temporal felicity Worldliness in a mortified person is When â—e Matth. â— 19 20 21 33. Iohn 6 27. Luke 12 19 20. Luke 18 22 23 he that hath laid up his treasure in Heaven and practically esteemeth his everlasting hâ—pes above all the pleasure and prosperity of the flesh and seeketh first the Kingdom of God and his righteâ—usness and useth his estate principally for God and his salvation hâ—th yet sâ—me remnants of iâ—ordinate desire to the pâ—â—sperity and pleasure of the flesh and some inordinate desire of Riches for that end which yet he â—â—â—â—eth lameâ—teth reâ—uteth and so far subdâ—â—th that it is not predominant against the interest of God and his salvation Yet this is a great sin though it be forgiven § 5. III. The Malignity or Greatness of this sin consisteth in these points especially when it The Malignity of it is predominant 1. The love of the World or of Riches is a sin of Deliberation and not of meer temerity or sudden passion Worldlings contrive the attaining of their ends 2. It is a sin of Interest â—ove and Choice set up against our chiefest Interest It is the setting up of a false end and seeking that and not only a sin of error in the means or a seeking the right end in a mistaken way 3. It Ephes. 5. 5. Col. 3. 5. Jam. 4. 4. is Idolatry or a denying God and deposing him in our hearts and setting up his creatures in his sâ—â—ad in that measure as it prevaileth The worldling giveth that Love and that Trust unto the creature which is due to God alone He delighteth in it instead of God and seeketh and holdeth it as his felicity instead of God And therefore so far as any man loveth the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joâ—n 2. 15. And the friendship of the world is enmity to God 4. It is a contempt of Heaven when it must be neglected and a miserable world preferred 5. It sheweth that unbelief prevaileth at the heart so far as worldliness prevaileth For if men did practically believe the Heavenly Glory and the promise thereof they would be carried above these present things 6. It is a debasing of the soul of man and using it like the Brutes while it is principally set upon the serving of the flesh and on a temporal felicity and neglecteth its eternal happiness and concernments 7. It is a perverting of the very drift of a mans life as employed in seeking a wrong end and not only of some one faculty or act It is a habitual sin of the state and course of mind and life and not only a particular actual sin 8. It is a perverting of Gods creatures to an End and Use clean contrary to that which they were made and given for and an abusing God by his own gifts by which he should be served and honoured And a destroying our souls with those mercies which were given us for their help and benefit This is the true character of this heinous sin In a word it is the forsaking God and turning the heart from him and alienating the Life from his service to this present world and the service of the flesh Fornication drunkenness murder swearing perjury lying stealing c. are very heinous sins But a single act of one of these committed rashly in the violence of passion or temptation speaketh not such a malignant turning away of the heart habitually from God as to say a man is Covetous or a Worldling § 6. IV. The signs of Covetousness are these 1. Not preferring God and our everlasting Happiness Signs of Worldliness before the Prosperity and Pleasure of the flesh but valuing and loving fleshly prosperity above its worth 2. Esteeming and loving the creatures of God as provision for the flesh and not to further Rom. 13. 14. Matth. 6. 19. 1 Tim. 3. 8. Phil. 3. 18. Ezek. 3â— 31. Jer. 9. 23. us in the service of God 3. Desiring more than is needful or useful to further us in our duty 4. An inordinate eagerness in our desires after earthly things 5. Distrustfulness and carking cares and câ—ntrivances for time to come 6. Discontent and trouble and repining at a poor condition when we have no more than our daily bread 7. When the world taketh up our thoughts inordinately when our thoughts will easilier run out upon the world than upon better things And when our thoughts of worldly plenty are more pleasant and sweet to us than our thoughts of Christ and Grace and Heaven And our thoughts of want and poverty are more bitter and grievous to us than our thoughts of sin and Gods displeasure 8. When our speech is freer and sweeter about prosperity in the world than about the concernments of God and our souls 9. When the world beareth sway Mark 7. 22. in our families and converse and shutteth out all serious eadeâ—vours in the service of God and for our own and others souls Or at least doth out short Religious duties and is preferred before them and thrusteth them into a corner and maketh us slightly huddle them over 10. When we are dejected over much and impatient under losses and crosses and worldly injuries from mâ—n 11 When worldly matters seem sufficient to engage us in contentions and to make us break peace and we will by Law-suits seek our right when greater hurt is liker to follow to our brothers soul or greater wrong to the cause of Religion or the honour of God than our Right is worth 12. When in our trouble and distress we fetch our comfort more from the thoughts of our provisions in the world or our hopes of supply than from our trust in God and our hopes of Heaven 13. When we are more Job 1. 21. thankful to God or man for outward riches or any gift for the provision of the flesh than for hopes or helps in order to salvation for a powerful Ministry good Books or seasonable instructions for the sâ—â—l 14. When we are quiet and pleased if we do but prosper and have plenty in the world though the soul be miserable unsanctified and unpardoned 15. When we are more careful to provide a worldly
Direct 14. Remember how base a sin it is and how dishonourable and debasing to the mind of Direct 14. man If earth be baser than Heaven and money than God than an earthly mind is baser than a heavenly mind As the Serpents feeding on the dust is a baser life than that of Angels that are employed in admiring and obeying and praising the Mâ—st Holy God § 36. Direct 15. Call your selves to a daily reckoning how you lay out all that God committeth to Direct 15. your trust and try whether it be so as you would hear of it at judgement If you did but use to sit Pecunia apud cum nunquam mansâ—â—â—â—e probatur nisi 〈◊〉 hora oâ—â—eraâ—ur quando sol â—â—â—â— expâ—â—ans cursum nâ—cturnis tenebris daret locum Victor ut de Eugen. Epise Caâ—th Plato compareth our life to a Game at Tables We may wish for a good throw but what ever it be we must play it as well as we can Plutarch dâ— tranquil anim in judgement daily upon your selves as those that believe the judgement of God it would make you more careful to use well what you have than to get more And it would quench your thirst after plenty and prosperity when you perceived you must give so strict an account of it The flesh it self will less desire it when it finds it may not have the use of it § 37. Direct 16. When you find your Covetousness most eager and dangerous resolve most to cross Direct 16. it and give more to pious or charitable uses thoâ—â—â—â—t another time For a man hath reason to fly furthest from that sin which he is most in danger of And the acts tend to the encrease of the habit Obeying your Covetousness doth increase it And so the contrary acts and the disobeying and displeasing it do destroy it This course will bring your Covetousness into a despair of attaining its desires and so will make it sit down and give over the pursuit It is an open protesting against every covetous desire and an effectual kind of repenting and a wise and honest disarming sin and turning its motions against it self to its own destruction Use it thus oft and Covetousness will think it wisdom to be quiet § 38. Direct 17. Above all take heed that you think not of reconciling God and Mammon and Direct 17. mixing Heaven and Earth to be your felicity and of dreaming that you may keep Heaven for a reserve at last when the world hath been loved as your best so long as you could keep it Nothing so much defendeth worldliness as a cheating hope that you have it but in a subdued pardoned degree and that you are not worldlings when you are And nothing so much supports this hope as because you confess that Heaven only must be your last refuge and full felicity and therefore you do something for it on the by But is not the world more loved more sought more delighted in and â—aster Luke 14. 26 27 30 33. held Hath it not more of your hearts your delight desire and industry If you cannot let go all for Heaven and forsake all this world for a treasure above you cannot be Christs true Disciples § 39. Direct 18. If ever you would overcome the love of the world your great care must be to mortifie Direct 18. the Flesh for the world is desired but as its provision A mortified man hath no need of that which is a sensualists felicity Quench your hydropical feavorish thirst and then you will not make Socrates saepe cum eorum quae publice vendebantur multitudinem intueretur secum ista volvebat Quam multis ipse non egeo Laert. in Socr. Pecuniam perdidisti Bene si te illa non peâ—didit quod jam multis possessoribus suis fecit Gaude tibi ablatum unde infici posses teque illaesum inter pericula transivisse Petrarch l. 2. Dial. 13. such a stir for drink Cure the disease which enrageth your appetite and that is the safest and cheapest way of satisfying it Then you will be thankful to God when you look on other mens wealth and gallantry that you need not these things And you will think what a trouble and burden and interruption of your better work and comfort it would be to you to have so much land and so many servants and goods and business and persons to mind as rich men have And how much better you can enjoy God and your self in a more retired quiet state of life But of this more in the next Part. § 40. Did men but know how much of an ungodly damnable state doth consist in the Love of the world and how much it is the enemy of souls and how much of our Religion consisteth in Exod. 18. 21 2 Pet. 2. 14. 1 Tim. 3. â— Col. 3. 5. the contempt and conquest of it and what is the meaning of their renouncing the World in their baptismal Covenant and how many millions the Love of the world will damn for ever they would not make such a stir for nothing and spend all their dayes in providing for their perishing flesh nor think them happiest that are richest nor boast themselves of their hearts desire and bless the Covetous whom the Lord abhorreth Psal. 10. 3. They would not think that so small a sin which Christians should not so much as name but in detestation Ephes. 5. 3. When God hath resolved that the covetous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. Ephes. 5. 5. And a Christian must not so much as eat with them 1 Cor. 5. 11. Did Christ say in vain Take heed and beware of Covetousness Luke 12. 15. Wo to him that coveteth an evil Covetousness to his house that he may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evil Hab. 2. 9. O what deserving servants hath the world that will serve it so diligently so constantly and at so dear a rate when they before hand know that besides a little transitory deluding pleasure it will pay them with nothing but everlasting shame O wonderful deceiving power of such an empty shadow or rather wonderful folly of mankind That when so many ages have been deceived before us and almost every one at death confesseth it did but deceive them so many still should be deceived and take no warning by such a world of examples I conclude with Heb. 13. 5. Let your conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee PART VII Directions against the Master sin SENSUALITY FLESH-PLEASING or Voluptuousness § 1. I Shall be the shorter on this also because I have spoken so much already in my Treatise of Self-denyal Before we come to more particular Directions it is needful that we discern the nature and evil of the sin which we speak against I shall therefore 1. Telly you what
carnal and unsanctified All the Baals and Iupiters and Apolloes and other Idols of the world set together have not so much of the Love and Service due to God as the Flesh alone hath If other things be Idolized by the sensualist it is but as they subserve his flesh and therefore they are made but inferior Idâ—ls He may Idolize his wealth and Idolize men in power and worldly greatness but it is but as they can help or hurt his Flesh This hath his Heart By the interest of the flesh he judgeth of his condition by this he judgeth of his friends By this he chooseth his actions or refuseth them and by this he measureth the words and actions of all others He takes all for Good which pleaseth his Flesh and all for bad that is against his pleasure § 8. 3. The flesh is not only the common Idol but the most devouring Idol in all the world It hath not as subservient flattered Idolâ— have only a knee and complement or now and then a sacrifice or ceremonie but it hath the heart the tongue the body to serve it the whole estate the service of friends the use of wit and utmost diligence in a word it hath All. It is loved and served by the sensualist as God should be loved and served by his own even with all the Heart and Soul and Might They honour it with their substance and the first fruits of their increase It is as faithfully served as Christ requireth to be of his disciples Men will part with Father and Mother and Brother and Sister and nearest friends and all that is against it for the pleasing of their flesh Nay Christ required men to part with no greater matter for him than transitory earthly things which they must shortly part with whether they will or no but they do for the flesh ten thousand thousand fold more than ever they were required to do for Christ They forsake God for it They forsake Christ and Heaven and their Salvation for it They forsake all the solid comforts oâ— this life and all the joys of the life to come for it They sell all that they have and lay down the price at its feet Yea more than all they have even all their Hopes of what they might have to all eternity They suffer a martyrdom in the flames of Hell for ever for their flesh All the pains they take is â—or â—â— All the wrong they do to others and all the stirs and ruines that they make in the world is for it And all the time they spend is for it and had they a thousand years more to live they would spend it all accordingly If any thing seem excepted for God it is but the bones or crums or leavings of the flesh Or rather its nothing For God hath not indeed the hours which he seems to have He hath but a few fair words and complements when the flesh hath their hearts in the midst of their hypocritical worship and on his holy day And they serve him but as the Indians serve the Devil that he may serve their turns and do them no hurt § 9. 4. How base an Idol is the Flesh If all the derision used by Elijah and the Prophets against the Heathenish Idolatry be due is not as much due against the Idolatry of all the sensual Is it so great a madness to serve an Idol of silver or gold or stone or wood What better is it to serve an Idol of flesh and blood A paunch of gutts That 's full of filth and excrements within and the skin it self the cleanest part is ashamed to be uncovered We may say to the Carnal worldling as Elijah to the Baalists and more Call upon your God in the hour of your distress Cry aloud Perhaps he is asleep or he is blowing his nose or vomiting or purging Certainly he will be shortly rotting in the grave more loathsom than the dirt or dung upon the earth And is this a God to sacrifice all that we can get to And to give all our time and care and labour and our souls and all to O judge of this Idolatry â—â— God will make you judge at last § 10. 5. And here next consider how impious and horrid an abasement it is of the eternal God to prefer so vile a thing before him And whether every ungodly sensual man be not a constant practical Blaspheamer What dost thou but say continually by thy practice This dunghil nasty flesh is to be preferred before God to be more loved and obeyed and served It deserveth more of my time than he It is more worthy of my delight and love God will be judge and judge in righteousness ere long whether this be not the daily language of thy life though thy tongue be taught some better manners And whether this be Blasphemy judge thy self Whether thou judge God or the flesh more worthy to be pleased and which thou thinkest it better to please ask thy own heart when Cards and Dice and Eating and Drinking and Gallantry and Idleness and Greatness and Abundance do all seem so sweet unto thee in comparison of thy thoughts of God and his holy word and service And when morning and night and whenever thou art alone those thoughts can run out with unweariedness or pleasure upon these provisions for thy flesh which thou canst hardly force to look up unto God a quarter of an hour though with unwillingness § 11. 6. Think also what a contempt of Heaven it is to prefer the pleasing of the flesh before it There is but two ends which all men aym at the pleasing of the flesh on earth or the enjoying of God in Heaven unless any be deluded to think that he shall have a sensual life hereafter too as well as here And these two stand one against the other And he that sets up one doth renounce or as good as renounce the other If yee sow to the flesh of the flesh ye shall reap corruption But if ye sow to the spirit of the spirit ye shall reap everlasting life Gal. 6. 8. Your wealth and honour and sports and pleasures and appetites are put in the scales against Heaven and all the Joys and Hopes hereafter To say you hope to have them both is the cheat of infidelity that believes not God And is not Heaven most basely esteemed of by those that prefer so base a thing before it § 12. 7. Remember that flesh-pleasing is a great contempt and treacherie against the soul. It is a great contempt of an immortal soul to prefer its corruptible flesh before it and to make its servant to become its master and to ride on horseback while it goes as it were on foot Is the flesh worthy of so much time and cost and care and so much ado as is made for it in the world and is not a never dying soul worth more Nay it is a betraying of the soul You set up its enemy before it and
and let them find that thou art not to be spoken with nor at leisure to do nothing but wilt rather seem uncivil and morose than be undone And wouldst thou do thus for a transitory prosperity or life and doth not life eternal require much more will thy weighty business in the world resolve thee to put by thy friends thy play-fellows and sports and to shake off thy idleness and should not the business of thy salvation do it I would desire no more to confute the distracted Time-wasters when they are disputing for their idle sports and vanities and asking what harm is in Cards and Dice and stage-plays or tedious feasts or complementing adorning idleness than if I could help them to one sight of Heaven and Hell and make them well know what greater business they have to do which is staying for them while they sleep or play If I were just now in disputing the case with an idle Lady or a sensual belly-slave or gamester and he were asking me scornfully what hurt is in all this if one did but knock at his door and tell him The King is at the door and calls for you it would make him cast away his game and his dispute Or if the house were on fire or a Child faln into fire or water or Thieves breaking in upon them it would make the Ladies cast by the other Lace or Ribband Or if there were but a good bargain or a Lordship to be got they could be up and going though sports and game and gawdery were cast off And yet the foresight of Heaven and Hell though one of them is even at the door will not do as much with them Because Heaven is as nothing to an unbeliever or an inconsiderate sensless wretch And as it is nothing to them when it should move them it shall be nothing to them when they would enjoy it Say not Recreation must be used in its season I know that necessary whetting is no letting But God and thy own Conscience shall tell thee shortly whether thy Recreation feastings long dressings and idleness were a necessary whetting or refreshment of thy Body to fit it for that work which thou wast born and livest for or whether they were the Pastimes of a voluptuous fleshly bruit that lived in these pleasures for the love of pleasure Verily if I lookt but on this one unreasonable sin of Time-wasting it would help me to understand the meaning of Luk. 15. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Prodigal is said to Come to himself and that conversion is the bringing a man to his wits § 9. Direct 2. Be not a stranger to the condition of thy own soul but look home till thou art acquainted Direct 2. what state it is in and what it is in danger of and what it wanteth and how far thou art behind hand in thy provisions for immortality and then be an idle Time-waster if thou canst Could I but go down with thee into that dungeon Heart of thine and shew thee by the light of truth what is there could I but let in one convincing beam from Heaven which might fully shew thee what a condition thou art in and what thou hast to do with thy remaining Time I should have no need to dispute thee out of thy childish fooleries nor to bid thee be up and doing for thy soul no more than to bid thee stir if a Bear were at thy back or the house in a flame about thy ears Alas our ordinary Time-wasters are such as are yet unconverted carnal wretches and are all the while in the power of the Devil who is the chief master of the sport and the greatest gainer They are such as are utter strangers to the regenerating sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost and are yet unjustified and under the guilt of all their sins and certain to be with Devils in Hell for ever if they die thus before they are converted This is true sinner and thou wilt shortly find it so by grace or vengeance though thy blind and hardened heart now rise against the mention of it And is this a case for a man to sit at cards and dice in or to sport and swagger in The Lord have mercy on thee and open thy eyes before it is too late or else thy Conscience will tell thee for ever in another manner than I am telling thee now that thou hadst need to have better improved thy Time and hadst greater things to have spent it in What for a man in thy case in an unrenewed unsanctified unpardoned state to be thus casting away that little Time which all his hopes lie on and in which if ever he must be recovered and saved O Lord have mercy on such sensless souls and bring them to themselves be fore it be too late I tell thee man an enlightened person that understandeth what it is and hath escaped it would not for all the Kingdoms of the world be a week or a day in thy condition for fear lest death cut off his hopes and shut him up in Hell that very day He durst not sleep quietly in thy condition a night lest death should snatch him away to Hell and canst thou sport and play in it and live securely in a sensual course O what a thing it is to be hoodwinkt in misery and to be led asleep to Hell who could perswade men to live thus awake and go dancing to Hell with their eyes open O if we should but imagine a Peter or a Paul or any of the blessed to be again brought into such a case as one of these unsanctified sinners and yet to know what now they know what would they do would they feast and game and play and trifle away their time in it or would they not rather suddenly bewail their former mispent time and all their sins and cry day and night to God for mercy and fly to Christ and spend all their time in Holiness and obedience to God! Alas poor sinner do but look into thy heart and see there what thou hast yet to do of greater weight than trimming and playing I almost tremble to think and write what a case thou art in and what thou hast to do while thou livest as if thou hadst Time to spare If thou know not I will tell thee and the Lord make thee know it Thou hast a hardened heart to be yet softened and an unbelieving heart to be brought to a lively powerful Belief of the word of God and the unseen world Thou hast an unholy Heart and life to be made Holy if ever thou wilt see the face of God Heb. 12. 14. Matth. 18. 3. Ioh. 3. 3 5 6. Thou hast a Heart-full of sins to be mortified and subdued and an unreformed life to be reformed And what abundance of particulars do these Generals contain Thou hast a pardon to procure through Jesus Christ for all the sins that ever thou didst commit and all the duties which ever thou
didst omit Thou hast an offended God to be reconciled to and for thy estranged soul to know as thy Father in Jesus Christ what abundance of Scripture truths hast thou to learn which thou art ignorant of How many holy duties as Prayer Meditation holy conference c. to learn which thou art unskilful in and to perform when thou hast learned them How many works of Justice and Charity to mens souls and bodies hast thou to do How many needy ones to relieve as thou art able and the sick to visit and the naked to cloath and the sad to comfort and the ignorant to instruct and the ungodly to exhort Heb. 3. 13. Heb. 10. 25. Ephes. 4. 29. what abundance of duty hast thou to perform in thy Relations to Parents or Children to Husband or Wife as a Master or a Servant and the rest Thou little knowest what sufferings thou hast to prepare for Thou hast Faith and Love and Repentance and patience and all Gods graces to get and to exercise daily and to increase Thou hast thy accounts to prepare and assurance of salvation to obtain and Death and Judgement to prepare for what thinks thy heart of all this work Put it off as lightly as thou wilt it is God himself that hath laid it on thee and it must be done in time or thou must be undone for ever And yet it must not be thy toyl but thy delight This is appointed thee for thy chiefest recreation Look into the Scripture and into thy Heart and thou wilt find that all this is to be done And dost thou think in thy Conscience that this is not greater business than thy gawdy dressings thy idle visits or thy needless sports which is more worthy of thy Time § 10. Direct 3. Remember how gainful the Redeeming of Time is and how exceeding comfortable Direct 3. in the review In Merchandize or any trading in husbandry or any gaining course we use to say of a man that hath grown rich by it that he hath made use of his Time But when Heaven and communion with God in the way and a life of holy strength and comfort and a death full of joy and hope is to be the gain how cheerfully should Time be Redeemed for these If it be pleasant for a man to find himself thrive and prosper in any rising or pleasing employment How pleasant must it be continually to us to find that in redeeming Time the work of God and our souls do prosper Look back now on the Time that is past and tell me which part is sweetest to thy thoughts However it be now I can tell thee at death it will be an unspeakable comfort to look back on a well spent life and to be able to say in humble sincerity My time was not cast away on worldliness ambition idleness or fleshly vanities or pleasures but spent in the sincere and laborious service of my God and making my calling and election sure and doing all the good to mens souls and bodies that I could do in the world It was entirely devoted to God and his Church and the good of others and my soul What a joy is it when going out of the world we can in our place and measure say with our blessed Lord and pattern John 17. 4 5. I have Glorified thee on earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do and now O Father glorifie me with thy self Or as Paul 1 Tim. 4. 6 7 8. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Iudge shall give And 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdâ—m we have had our conversation in the world It s a great comfort in sickness to be able to say with Hezekiah Isa 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight O Time well spent is a precious cordial to a soul that is going to its final sentence and is making up its last and general accounts Yea the reviews of it will be joyful in Heaven which is given though most freely by the Covenant antecedently yet as a Reward by our most righteous judge when he comes to sentence men according to that Covenant § 11. Direct 4. Consider on the contrary how sad the review of ill spent time is and how you will Direct 4. wish you had spent it when it is gone Hast thou now any comfort in looking back on thy despised hours I will not so far wrong thy understanding as to question whether thou know that thou must die But thy sin alloweth me to ask thee Whether at thy dying hour it will be any comfort to thee to remember thy pastimes And whether it will then better please thee to find upon thy account so many hours spent in doing good to others and so many in prayer and studying the Scriptures and thy Heart and in preparing for death and the life to come so many in thy calling obediently managed in order to eternity or to hear so many hours spent in idleness and so many in needless sports and plays hawking and hunting courting and wantonness and so many in gathering and providing for the flesh and so many in satisfying its greedy lusts Which reckoning doth thy Conscience think would be most comfortable to thee at the last I put it to thy own Conscience if thou were to die to morrow how thou wouldst spend this present day Wouldst thou spend it in idleness and vain pastimes Or if thou were to die this day where wouldst thou be found and about what exercises Hadst thou rather death found thee in a Play-house a Gaming-house an A L E house in thy fleshly jollity and pleasure Or in a holy walking with thy God and serious preparing for the life to come Perhaps you 'l say that If you had but a day to live you would lay by the labours of your calling and yet that doth not prove them sinful But I answer There is a great difference between an evil and a small unseasonable Good If death found thee in thy honest calling holily managed Conscience would not trouble thee for it as a sin And if thou rather choose to die in prayer it is but to choose a greater duty in its season But sure thou wouldst be loth on another account to be found in thy Time-wasâ—â—ing pleasures And Conscience if thou have a Conscience would make thee drâ—ad it as a sâ—n Thou wilt not wish at death that thou hadst never laboured in thy lawful calling though thou wouldst be found in a more seasonable work But thou wilt wish then if thou
understand thy self that thou hadst never lost one minutes Time and never known those sinful vanities and temptations which did occasion it O spend thy Time as thou wouldst review it § 12. Direct 5. Go hear and mark how other men at Death do set by Time and how they wish then Direct 5. that they had spent it It is hardly possible for men in health especially in prosperity and security to Imagine how pretious Time appeareth to an awakened dying man Ask them then whether liâ—e be too long and men have any Time to spare Ask them then whether slugging or working playing or praying be the better spending of our Time Both Good and Bad saints and sensualists do use then to be high esteemers of Time O then what would an ungodly unprepared sinner give for some of the Time which he used before as nothing worth Then the most Holy servants of Christ are sensible how they sinned in lâ—sing any of their Time O then how earnestly do they wish that they had made much of every minute And they that did most for God and their souls that they had done much more Now if they were to pray over their prayers again how earnestly would they beg And how much more good would they do if Time and talents were restored I knew familiarly a most holy grave and Râ—vâ—rend Divine who was so affected with the words of a Godly woman wâ—o at her death did often and vâ—â—â—â—mâ—ntly cry out O Call Time again O Call Time again that the sense of it seemed to remain on his heart and appear in his praying preaching and conversation to his death Now you have Time to cast away upon every nothing But then you will say with David Pâ—alm 89. 47. Remember how short my Time is And as Hagar sate down and wept when her water was spent Gen. 21. 15 16. So then you will lament when Time is gone or just at an end that you set no more by it while you had it O sleepy sinner Thy heart cannot now conceive how thou wilt set by Time when thou hearest the Physicion say You are a dead man and the Divine say you must prepare now for another world When thy heart saith All my daies are gone I must live on earth no more all my preparing time is at end Now what is undone must be undone for ever O that thou hadst now but the esteem of Time which thou wilt have then or immediately after Then O pray for me that God will recover me and try me once again O then how I would spend my time And is it not a most incongruous thing to see the same persons now idle and toy away their time and perhaps think that they do no harm who know that shortly they must cry to God O for a little more Time Lord to do the great work that 's yet undone A little more Time to make sure of my salvation May not God then tell you you had Time till you knew not what to do with it You had so much Time that you had many and many an hour to spare for idleness and vanity and that which you were not ashamed to call Pastime § 13. Direct 6. Remember also that when Iudgement comes God will call you to account both for Direct 6. every hour of your mispent Time and for all the Good which you should have done in all that time and did it not If you must give account for every idle word then sure for every idle hour Matth. 12. 36. And if we must be judged according to all the talents we have received and the improvement of them required of us then certainly for so precious a talent as our Time Mat. 25. And how should that man spend his Time that believeth he must give such account of all Even to the most just and Holy God who will judge all men according to their works and cause them all to reap as they have sowed O spend your Time as you would hear of it in Judgement § 14. Direct 7. Remember how much time you have lost already and therefore if you are not impenitent Direct 7. and insensible of your loss it will provoke you to redeem with the greater diligence the remnant which mercy shall vouchsafe you How much lost you in childhood youth and riper age How much have you lost in ignorance How much in negligence How much in fleshly pleasure and vanity How much in worldliness and many other sins O that you knew but what a loss it was if it had been but one year or week or day Do you think you have spent your Time as you should have done And as beseemed those that had such work to do If not do you repent of it or do you not If you do not you have no hope to be forgiven If you do Repent you will not sure go on to do the same Who will believe that he Repents of gaming revelling or other idle loss of time who doth so still while he professeth to Repent He that hath lost the beginning of the day must go the faster in the end if he will perform so great a journey Can you remember the hours and years that you have mispent in the follies of childhood and the vanities of inconsiderate youth and yet still trifle and not be provoked by penitent shame and fear to diligence Have you not yet cast away enough of such a precious treasure but you will vilifie also the little which remains § 15. Direct 8. Remember the swift and constant motion of your neglected Time What hast it Direct 8. makes And never stays That which was here while you spake the last word is gone before you can speak the next Whatever you are doing or saying or thinking of its passing on without delay It stayeth not while you sleep Whether you remember and observe it and make use of it or not it glides away It stayeth not your leisure It hasteth as fast while you play as while you work while you sin as when you repent No Monarch so potent as to command it a moment to attend his will We have no more Ioshuas to stop the Sun It is above the jurisdiction of the Princes of the earth It will not hear them if they command or request it to delay its hast but the smallest moment Crowns and Kingdoms would be no price to hiâ—e it to loiter but while you draw another breath Your lives are not like the cloaths of the Israelites in the wilderness that wax not old But like the provisions of the Gibeonites worn and wasted while you are passing but a little way And is Time so swift and you so slow Will you stand still and see it pass away as if you had no use for it no work to do nor no account to give § 16. Direct 9. Consider also how unrecoverable Time is when its past Take it now or it s lost for Direct 9. ever All
the men on earth with all their power and all their wit are not able to recall one minute that is gone All the riches in this world cannot redeem it by reversing one of those hours or moments which you so prodigally cast away for nothing If you would cry and call after it till you tear your hearts it will not return Many a thousand have tryed this by sad experience and have cryed out too late O that we had now that Time again which we made so light of But none of them did ever attain their wish No more will you Take it therefore while you have it It is now as liberal to the poorest beggar as to the greatest Prince Time is as much yours as his Though in your youth and folly you spend as out of the full heap as if Time would never have an end you shall find it is not like the widdows oyl or the loaves and fishes multiplyed by a Miracle But the hour is at hand when you will wish you had gathered the fragments and the smallest crums that nothing of so precious a commodity had been lost even the little minutes which you thought you might neglect and be no losers Try whether you can stop the present moment or recall that which is gone by already before you vilifie or loiter away any more lest you repent too late § 17. Direct 10. Think also how exceeding little Time thou hast and how near thou allway standest Direct 10. to eternity Job 7. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth Are not his days also like the Ex ipsà vitâ discedimus tanquam ex hospitio non tanquam ex domo Commorandi enim nobis natura diversorium non habitandi domum dedit Cic. i◠Cat. Maj. days of an hireling Job 14. 1 2. Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down He fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not Job 9. 25 26. Now my days are swifter than a post they flee away they see no good they are passed away as the swift ships as the Eagle that hasteth to the prey O what is this inch of hasty Time How quickly will it all be gone Look back on all the Time that 's past If thou have lived threescore or fourscore years what is it now Doth it not seem as yesterday since thou wast a child Do not days and nights wheel on apase O man how short is thy abode on earth How small a Time will leave thee in eternity What a small and hasty moment will bring thee to the state in which thou must remain for ever Every night is as the death or end of one of the few that are here allotted thee How little a while is it till thy mortal sickness Till thou must lie under languishing decays and pain Till thy vital powers shall give up their office and thy pulse shall cease and thy soul shall take its silent undiscerned flight and leave thy body to be hid in darkness and carried by thy friends to the common earth How short a Time is it betwixt this and the digging of thy grave Betwixt thy pleasures in the flesh and thy sad farewel when thou must say of all thy pleasures They are gone Betwixt thy cares and businesses for this world and thy entrance into another world where all these vanities are of no esteem How short is the Time between thy sin and thy account in judgement Between the pleasure and the pain And between the patient holiness of the Godly and their full reward of endless joys And can you spare any part of so short a life Hath God allotted you so little Time and can you spare the Devil any of that little Is it not all little enough for so great a work as is necessary to your safe and comfortable death O remember when sloth or pleasure would have any how little you have in all And out of how small a stock you spend How little you have for the one thing necessary The providing for eternal life And how unseasonable it is to be playing away time so neer the entrance into the endless world § 18. Direct 11. Remember also how uncertain that little Time is which you must have As you Direct 11. know it will be short so you know not how short You never yet saw the day or hour in which you were sure to see another And is it a thing becoming the Reason of a man to slug or cast away that day or hour which for ought he knows may be his last You think that though you are not certain yet you are likely to have more But nothing that is hazardous should be admitted in a business of such moment Yea when the longest life is short and when so frail a body liable to so many hundred maladies and casualties and so sinful a soul do make it probable as well as possible that the thred thy of life should be cut off ere long even much before thy natural period When so many score at younger years do come to the grave for one that arriveth at the ripeness of old age is not then the uncertainty of thy Time a great aggravation of the sinfullness of thy not-redeeming it If you were sure you had but one year to live it would perhaps make you so wise as to see that you had no Time to spare And yet do you wast it when you know not that you shall live another day Many a one is this week trifling away their Time who will be dead the next week who yet would have spent it better if they had thought but to have dyed the next year O man what if death come before thou hast made thy necessary preparation Where art thou then When Time is uncertain as well as short hast thou not work enough of weight to spend it on If Christ had set thee to attend and follow him in greatest holiness a thousand years shouldst thou not have gladly done it And yet canst thou not hold out for so short a life Canst thou not watch with him one hour He himself was provoked by the nearness of his death to a speedy dispatch of the works of his life And should not we Matth. 26. 18. He sendeth to prepare his last communion feast with his Disciples thus My time is at hand I will keep the passover at thy house with my Disciples And Luke 22. 15. With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer So should you rather say My time is short my death is at hand and therefore it concerneth me to live in the knowledge and communion of God before I go hence into his presence especially when as Eccles. 9. 12. Man knoweth not his time Many thousands would have don◠better in their preparations if they had known the period of their time Matth. 24. 43. But know this
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
thoughts Can you expect that the Drunkard should rule his Thoughts whilst he is in the ALE-house or Tavern and seeth the drink Or that the Glutton should rule his thoughts while the pleasing dish is in his sight Or that the Lustful person should keep chast his thoughts in the presence of his enamouring toy Or that the wrathful person rule his thoughts among contentious passionate words Or that the Proud person rule his thoughts in the midst of honour and applause Away with this fuel Fly from this infectious air if you would be safe § 6. Direct 5. At least make a Covenant with your senses and keep them in obedience if you Direct 5. will have obedient thoughts For all know by experience how potently the senses move the thoughts Iob saith I made a Covenant with my eyes why then should I think upon a Maid Mark how the Covenant with his eyes is made the means to rule his thoughts Pray with David Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity Psalm 119. 37. Keep a guard upon your eyes and ears and tast and touch if you will keep a guard upon your thoughts Let not that come into these outer parts which you desire should go no further Open not the door to them if you would not let them in § 7. Direct 6. Remember how near kin the Thought is to the deed and what a tendencie it hath to Direct 6. it Let Christ himself tell you Matth. 7. 22. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Iudgement vers 28. I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart A malicious thought and a malicious deed are from the same spring and have the same nature Only the deed is the riper serpent that can sting another when the Thought is as the younger serpent that hath only the venemous nature in it self A lustful thought is from the same defiled puddle as actual filthiness And the thought is but the passage to the action It is but the same sin in its minority tending to maturity § 8. Direct 7. Keep out or quickly cast out all inordinate passions For Passions do violently press Direct 7. the thoughts and forcibly carry them away If anger or grief or fear or any carnal Love or joy or pleasure be admitted they will command your thoughts to run out upon their several objects And when you rebuke your thoughts and call them in they will not â—aer you till you get them out of the crowd and noise of passion As in the heat of civil wars no Government is well exercised in a Kingdom And as violent storms disable the marryners to govern the ship and save it and themselves so passions are too stormy a Region for the Thoughts to be well Governed in Till your souls be reduced to a calm condition your thoughts will be tumultuating and hurryed that way that the tempests drive them Till these warrs be ended your Thoughts will be licentious and partakers in the rebellion § 9. Direct 8. Keep your souls in a constant and careful obedience unto God Observe his Law Be Direct 8. continually sensible that you are under his Government and awed by his authority Man judgeth not your Thoughts If you are subject to man only your Thoughts must be ungoverned But the Heart is the first Object of Gods Government and that which he principally regardeth His Laws extend to all your thoughts And therefore if you know what Obedience to God is you must know what the obedience of your Thoughts to him is For he that obeyeth God as God will obey him in one thing as well as another and will obey him as the Governor and Iudge of Thoughts The powerful searching word of Christ is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart and as a two-edged sword is sharp and quick and will pierce and cut as deep as the very soul and spirit Heb. 4. 12 13. It casteth down every imagination and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10. 5. Therefore David saith to God search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Psalm 139. 23 24. And you find Gods laws and reproofs extending to the thoughts Isa. 59. 7. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity The fools heart-atheism is rebuked Psalm 14. 1. He reproveth a rebellious people for walking in a way that is not good after their own thoughts Isa. 65. 2. See how Christ openeth the heart Matth. 15. 9. He chargeth them Deut. 15. 9. to beware that there be not a thought in their wicked hearts against the mercy which they must shew to the poor Psalm 49 11. He detecteth the inward thought of the wâ—â—ldâ—ing that their hâ—uses shall continue for ever Psalm 24. 9. He â—aith The thought of foolishness iâ—â—â—â—â— The old world was â—â—ndemnâ—d because the imaginations of their hearts were only evil continually Gâ—n 6. 5 And when God calleth a sinner to conversion he saith Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteâ—us man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upâ—n him Isa. 55. 6 7. You see then if you are subject to God your Thoughts must be obedient § 10. Direct 9. Remember Gods continual presence that all your thoughts are in his sight He Direct 9. seâ—th evâ—ry â—ilthy thought and every covetous and proud and ambitious thought and every uncharitable malitious thought If you be not Atheists the remembrance of this will somewhat check and controul your thoughts that God beholdeth them He understandeth your thoughts afar off Psalm 139 â— Dâ—th not â—e that pâ—ndereth the heart consider it Prov. 24. 12. Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts â—aith Christ Matth. 9. 4. § 11. Direct 10. Bethink you seriously what a Government you would keep upon your thoughts if Direct 10. they were but written on your foreheads or seen to all that see you yea or but open to some person whom â—â—u reverence O how ashamed would you then be that men should see your filthy thoughts your malitious thoughts your covetous and deceiving thoughts And is not the eye of God ten thousand times more to be reverenced and regarded And is not man your God if you are awed more by mâ—n than by God And if the eye of man can do more to restrain you § 12. Direct 11. Keep tender your Consciences that they may not be regardless or insensible of the Direct 11. smallest sin A tender Conscience feareth evil and idle thoughts and will smart in the penitent review â—â— thoughts But a â—eared Conscience feeleth nothing except some grievous crying sins A â—â—nder Conscience obeyeth that precept Prov. 30. 32. If thou hast done foolishly in lifting
thoughts a world of work If God be not in all the thoughts of the ungodly Psal. 10. 4. it is because he is not in his heart He may be nigh their mouths but is far from their reins Jer. 12. 2. Do those men believe themselves or would they be believed by any one that is wise who say they Love God above all and yet neither think of him nor love to think of him but are unwearied in thinking of their wealth and honours and the pleasures of their flesh Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal. 50. 22. § 5. Direct 5. Soundly understand the wonderful mysterie of mans Redemption and know Iesus Direct 5. Christ and you need not want employment for your thoughts For in him are hid all the Treasures of 5. Jesus Christ and all the work of Redemption wisdom and knowledge Col. 2. 3. He is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. If the study of Aristotle Plato Plotinus and their numerous followers and Commentators can find work for the thoughts of men that would know the works of God or would be accounted good Philosophers even for many years together or a great part of their lives what work then may a Christian find for his thoughts in Jesus Christ who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanâ—â—â—â—fication and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1. 19. And therefore in him there is fulness of matter for our meditations As Paul determined to know nothing or make ostentation of no other knowledge but Christ crucified 1 Cor. 2. 2. So if your thoughts had nothing to work upon many years together but Christ crucified they need not stand still a moment for want of most suitable and delightful matter The mysterie of the Incarnation alone may find you work to search and admire many ages But if thence you proceed to that world of wonderful matter which you may find in his Doctrine Miracles example sufferings temptations victories resurrection ascension and in his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and in all the benefits which he hath purchased for his stock O what full and pleasant work is here for the daily thoughts of a believer The soul may dwell here with continual delight till it say with Paul Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Therefore daily bow your knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ of whâ—m the whole family in Heaven and earth is named that he will grant you according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that being rooted and grounded in Love you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Ephes. 3. 14. to 20. § 6. Direct 6. Search the holy Scriptures and acquaint your selves well with the Oracles of God Direct 6. which are able to make you wise unto salvation and you will find abundant matter for your thoughts If you cannot find work enough for your minds among all those heights and depths those excellencies and difficulties it is because you never understood them or never set your hearts to search them What mysterious Doctrines how sublime and heavenly are there for you to meditate on as long as you live What a perfect Law a system of precepts most spiritual and pure What terrible threatnings against offenders are there to be matter of your meditations What wonderful histories of Love and Mercy What holy examples What a treasury of precious promises on which lyeth our hope of life eternal What full and free expressions of grace What a joyful act of pardon and oblivion to penitent believing sinners In a word the character of our inheritance and the Law which we must be governed and judged by is there before us for our daily Meditation David that had much less of it than we saith O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day Psal. 119. 97. And God said to Ioshua 1. 8. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein And Moses commanded the Israelites that these words should be in their hearts and that they teach them diligently to their children and talk of them when they sate in their houses and when they walked by the way and when they lay down and when they rose up and to write them on the posts of their houses and on their gates c. that they might be sure to remember them Deut. 6. 7. § 7. Direct 7. Know thy self well as thou art the work of God and in thy self thou wilt find Direct 7. abundant matter for thy meditations There thou hast the natural Image of God to mediate on and 7. Our 〈…〉 as we are Gods wâ—â—k admire even the noble faculties of thy understanding and free will and executive power And thou hâ—st his Moral or Spiritual Image to meditate on if thou be not unregenerate even thy holy Wisdom Will and Power or thy holy Light and Love and Power with promptitude for holy practice and all in the Unity of holy Life And there thou hast his Relative Image to meditate See my Book of the 〈…〉 on even thy being 1. The Lord or Owner 2. The Ruler 3. The Benefactor to the inferiour creatures and their End O the world of mysteries which thou carriest continually about thee in that little room What abundance of wonders are in thy body which is fearfully and wonderfully made And the greater wonders in thy soul Thou art thy self the clearest glass that God is to be seen in under Heaven as thou art a man and a Saint And therefore the worthiest matter for thy own Meditations except that holy Word which is thy Rule and the Holy Church which is but a coalition of many such What a shame is it that almost all men do Live and dye such strangers to themselves as to be utterly unacquainted with the innumerable excellencies and mysteries which God hath laid up in them and yet to let their thoughts run out upon vanities and toyes and complain of their barrenness and want of matter to feed their better Meditations § 8. Direct 8. Be not a stranger to the many sins and wants and weaknesses of thy soul and thou Direct 8. never needest to be empty of matter for
the Holy Ghost to lead men by obedience to felicity Behold it with reverence as a Letter or Message sent from Heaven and as a thing of grand importance to your souls When you meditate of any Grace think on it as a part of the Image of God implanted and actuated by the Holy Ghost to advance the soul into communion with God and prepare it for him When you meditate on any Duty remember who commandeth it and whom you are chiefly to respect in your obedience and what will be the end of obeying or disobeying When you meditate on any sin remember that it is the defacing or privation of Gods image and the rebell that riseth up against him in all his attributes to depose him from the Government of the soul and of the world and foresee the End to which it tendeth Take in God if you would feel Life and Power in all that you meditate on § 21. Direct 7. Let your ordinary Meditations be on the Great and Necessary things and think Direct 7. less frequently on the less Necessary matters Meditation is but a means to a further end It is to work some good upon the soul Use therefore those subjects which are most powerful and fit to work it Great truths will do great works upon the heart They are usually the surest and most past controversie and doubt There is more weight and substance and power in one Article of the Creed or one Petition in the Lords Prayer or one Commandment in the Decalogue to benefit the soul than in abundance of the controverted opinions which men have troubled themselves and others with in all ages As one purse of Gold will buy more than a great quantity of Farthings Meditating on Great and weighty truths makes Great and weighty Christians And meditating inordinately on light and controverted opinions makes light opinionative contentious professors Little things may have their time and place but it must be but little time and the last place except when God maketh any little thing to be the matter of our lawful calling and employment as all the common matters of the world are little And then they may have a larger proportion of our time though still they must have the lowest place in our estimation and in our hearts § 22. Direct 8. When ever you are called to meditate on any smaller truth or thing see that you Direct 8. take it not as separated from the greater but still behold it as connexed to them and planted and growing in them and receiving their life and beauty from them so that you may still preserve the life and interest of the greatest matters in your hearts and may not mortifie the least and turn it into a deceit or idol We are to climb upwards and not to descend downwards and therefore we begin at the body of the Tree and so pass up to the few and greatest boughs and thence to the smaller numerous branches which as they are hard to be discerned numbred and remembred so are they not all strong enough to bear us but are fitted rather to be looked on than trodden and rested on But if you take them not as growing from the greater boughs but cut them off they lose their life and beauty and fruitfulness If all the Controversies in the Church had been managed with due honour and preservation of Holiness Charity Unity Peace and greater truths and if all the circumstantials in Religion had been ordered with a salvo and due regard and just subsâ—rviency to the power and spirituality of holy Worship the Christian world would have had more Life and strength and fruitfulness and less imagery unholy ludicrous complement and hypocrisie § 23. Direct 9. Let the end and order of your meditations be first for the setling of your judgements Direct 9. and next for the resalving and setling of your wills and thirdly for the reforming and bettering of your lives and but in the fourth place after all these for the raising of your holy passions or lively feeling which must have but its proper room and place But indeed where some of these are done already they may be supposed and we may proceed to that which is yet to do As if you know what is sin and duty but do it not your meditation must be not to make you know what you knew not but first to consider well of what you know and set the powerful truth before you and then labour hereby to bring your wills to a fixed Resolution of obedience But if it be a Truth whose principal use is on the Will and Affections as to draw up the heart to the Love of God by the meditating on his attractive excellencies then the most pains must there be taken Of which see Chap. 3. Direct 11. § 24. Direct 10. Turn your cogitations often into soliloquies methodically and earnestly preaching Direct 10. to your own hearts as you would do on that subject to others if it were to save their souls As this will keep you in order from rambling and running out and will also find you continual matter Of this see the third part of my Saints Rest more fully For method is a wonderful help both to invention memory and delight so it will bring things soonest to your affections An earnest pleading of convincing reasons with our own Hearts is a powerful way to make the fire burn and to kindle desire fear love hatred repentings shame sorrow joy resolution or any good effect Convictions upbraidings expostulations reprehensions and self-perswasions may be very powerful when a dull way of bare thinking is but like a dull way of preaching without any lively application which little stirs the hearers Learn purposely of the liveliest Books you read and of the best and liveliest Preachers you hear to preach to your hearts and use it orderly and you will find it a most powerful way of meditating § 25. Direct 11. Turn your meditations often into ejaculatory prayers and addresses unto God For Direct 11. that will keep you reverent serious and awake and make all the more powerful because the more Divine When you meditate on sin turn sometimes to God by penitent lamentation and say Lord what a wretch and rebell was I to entertain such an enemy of thine into my heart and for nothing to offend thee and violate thy Laws O pardon O cleanse me O strengthen me Conquer and â—ast out this odious enemy of thee and me So when you are seeking to excite or exercise any grace send up a fervent request to God to shew his Love and power upon thy dead and sluggish heart and to be the principal agent in a work which is so much his own Prayer is a most holy duty in which the soul hath so nearly to do with God that if there be any holy seriousness in the heart it will be thus excited A dull and wandring mind will bear some reverence to God and therefore
1 Pet. 2. 21 22 23 24. Isa. 53. cast down who never despised or envied man nor never feared man who never was over-merry or over-sad who being reviled reviled not again but was dumb as a lamb before the shearers § 21. Direct 17. Keep as far from all occasions of your passions as other duties will allow you And Direct 17. contrive your affairs and occasions into as great an opposition as may be to the temptation Run not into temptation if you would be delivered from evil Much might be done by a willing prudent man by the very ordering of his affairs God and Satan works by means let the means then be regarded § 22. Direct 18. Have a due care of your bodies that no distemper be cherished in them which causeth Direct 18. the distemper of the soul. Passions have a very great dependance on the temperament of the body And much of the cure of them lieth when it is possible in the bodyes emendation § 23. Direct 19. Turn all your passions into the right chanel and make them all Holy using them for Direct 19. God upon the greatest things This is the true cure The bare restraint of them is but a palliate cure like the easing of pain by a dose of opium Cure the fear of man by the fear of God and the Love of the creature by the Love of God and the cares for the body by caring for the soul and earthly fleshly desires and delights by spiritual desires and delights and worldly sorrow by profitable godly sorrow § 24. Direct 20. Controul the effects and frustrate your passions of what they would have and that Direct 20. will ere long destroy the cause Cross your selves of the things which carnal Love and desire would have Forbear the things which carnal mirth or anger would provoke you to and the fire will go out for want of fewel Of which more in the particulars Tit. 2. Directions against sinful Love of Creatures § 1. LOve is the Master Passion of the soul because it hath the chiefest Object even Goodness which Solus Amor facit hominem bonum vel malum Paul Sâ—aliger Thes. p. 721. is the object of the will And simple Love is nothing but Complacencie which is nothing but the simple Volition of Good And it is a Passionate Volition or Complacencie which we call the Passion of Love When this is Good and when its sinful I shewed before But yet because the one half of the cure here lieth in the conviction and it is so hard a thing to make any Lover perceive a sinfullness in his Love I shall first help you in the tryal of your Love to shew the sinfullness of it when I have first named the objects of it § 2. Any creature which seemeth Good to us may possibly be the object of sinful Love As Honor Greatness authority praises money houses lands cattle meat drink sleep apparel sports friends relations and life it self As for Lustful Love I shall speak of it anon Helps for discovering of sinful Love § 3. Direct 1. Make Gods interest and his word the standard to judge of all affections by That Direct 1. which is against the Love of God and would abate or hinder it yea which doth not directly or indirectly tend to further it is certainly a sinful Love And so is all that is against his word For the Love of God is our final act upon our ultimate end and therefore all that tends not to it is a sin against our very end and so against our nature and the use of our faculties § 4. Direct 2. Therefore whatever creature is Loved ultimately for it self and not for a higher end Direct 2. even for God his service his honour his relation to it or his excellencie appearing in it is sinfully loved For it is made our God when it is Loved ultimately for it self § 5. Direct 3. Suspect all Love to creatures which is very strong and violent and easily kindled and Direct 3. hardly moderated or quieted Though you might think it is for some spiritual end or excellencie that you Love any person or any thing yet suspect it if it be so easie and strong Because that which is truly and purely spiritual is against corrupted nature and comes from Grace which is but weak we find no such easiness to Love God and scripture and prayer and holiness nor are our affections so violent to these It s well if all the fewel and blowing we can use will keep them alive It s two to one that the flesh and the Devil have put in some of their fewel or gunpouder if it be fierce § 6. Direct 4. Suspect all that Love which selfishness and fleshly-interest have a hand in Is it some Direct 4. bodily pleasure and delight that you love so much Or is it a good book or other help for your soul We are so much apter to exceed and sin in carnal fleshly mindedness than in Loving what is good for our souls that there we should be much more suspicious If it be violent and for the body it s ten to one there is sin in it § 7. Direct 5. Suspect all that Love to creatures which your Reason can give no good account of nor Direct 5. shew you a justifiable cause If you Love one place or person much more than others and know not why but Love them because you cannot choose this is much to be suspected Though God may sometime kindle a secret Love between friends from an unexpressible unity or similitude of minds beyond what reason will undertake to justifie yet this is rare and commonly fansie or folly or carnality is the cause However it is more to be suspected and tryed than Rational Love § 8. Direct 6. Suspect all that fervent Love to any Creature which is hasty before sufficient tryal for Direct 6. commonly both persons and things have the best side outward and seem better at the first appearance than they prove Not but that a moderate Love may be taken up upon the first appearance of any excellency especially spiritual But so as to allow for a possibility of being deceived and finding more faultiness upon a fuller tryal than we at first perceive Have you dwelt in the house with the persons whom you so much admire and have you tryed them in their conversations and seen them tryed by crosses losses injuries adversity prosperity or the offers of preferment or plenty in the world you would little think what lurketh undiscovered in the hearts of many that have excellent parts till tryal manifest it § 9. Direct 7. Try your affections in prayer before God whether they be such as you dare boldly pray Direct 7. God either to increase or continue and bless and whether they be such as Conscience hath no quarrel against If they endure not this tryal be the more suspicious and search more narrowly The name and presence
not be sollicitous for pins or fool-gawds And the hopes of a Lordship or a Kingdom will cure the desire of little things A man that needeth a Physicion for the Dropsie or Consumption will scarce long for Childrens balls or tops And methinks a man that is going to Heaven or Hell should have somewhat greater than worldly things to long for O what a vain and doting thing is a carnal mind that hath pardon and grace and Christ and Heaven and God to think of and that with speed before it be too late and can forget them all or not regard them and eagerly long for some little inconsiderable trifle as if they said I must needs taste of such a dish before I dye I must needs have such a house or a Child or friend before I go to another world O study what need thy distressed soul hath of a Christ and of peace with God and preparation for Eternity and what need thy darkened mind hath of more knowledge and thy dead and carnal heart of more life and tenderness and Love to God and communion with him Feel these as thou hast cause and the eagerness of thy carnal Desires will be gone § 4. Direct 2. Remember how much your carnal Desires do aggravate the weakness of your spiritual Direct 2. Desires and make the sin more odious and unexcusable Are you so eager for a Husband a Wife a Child for wealth for preferment or such things while you are so cold and indifferent in your Desires after God and grace and glory Your desires after these are not so earnest They make you not so importunate and restless They take not up your thoughts both day and night They set you not so much on contrivances and endeavours You can live as quietly without more grace or assurance of salvation or communion with God as if you were indifferent in the business But you must needs have that which you desire in the world or there is no quiet with you Do you consider what a horrible contempt of God and grace and Heaven is manifested by this Either you are Regenerate or unregenerate If you are Regenerate all your instructions and all your experiences of the worth of spiritual things and the vanity of things temporal do make it a heynous sin in you to be now so eager for those things which you have so often called vanity while you are so cold towards God whose Goodness you have had so great experience of Do you know no better yet the difference between the creature and the Creator Do you yet no better understand your necessities and interest and what it is that you live upon and must trust to for your everlasting blessedness and content If you are unregenerate as all are that Love any thing better than God what a madness is it for one that is condemned in Law to endless torments and shall be quickly there if he be not regenerate and justified by Christ to be thirsting so eagerly for this or that thing or person upon earth when he should presently bestir him with all his might to save his soul from endless misery How incongruous are these Desires to the good and bad § 5. Direct 3. Let every sinful Desire humble you for the worldliness and fleshliness which it discocovereth Direct 3. to be yet unmortified in you and turn your Desires to the mortifying of that flesh and concupiscence which is the cause If you did not yet love the world and the things that are in the world you would not 1 Ioh. 2. 15. be so eager for them If you were not too carnal and did not mind too much the things of the flesh you would not be so earnest for them as you are It should be a grievous thing to your hearts to consider what worldliness and fleshliness this sheweth to be yet there That you should set so much by the creature as to be unable to bear the want of it Is this renouncing the world and flesh The thing you need is not that which you so much desire but a better heart to know the Vanity of the Creature to be dead to the world and to be able to bear the want or loss of any thing in it and a fuller mortification of the flesh mortifying and not satisfying it is your work § 6. Direct 4. Ask your hearts seriously whether God in Christ be enough for them or not If Direct 4. they say no they renounce him and all their hope of Heaven For no man takes God for his God that takes him not for his portion and as enough for him If they say yea then you have enough to stop the mouth of your fleshly desires while your hearts confess that they have enough in God Should that soul that hath a filial interest in God and an inheritance in eternal life be eager for any conveniences and contentments to the flesh If God be not enough for you you will never have enough Turn to him more and know him better if you would have a satisfied mind § 7. Direct 5. Remember that every sinful Desire is a rebelling of your wills against the will of Direct 5. God and that it is his will that must govern and dispose of all and your wills must be conform to his yea that you must take pleasure and rest in the will of God Reason the case with your hearts and say who is it that is the Governour of the World and who is to rule me and dispose of my affairs Is it I or God whose will is it that must lead and whose must follow whose will is better guided Gods or mine either it is his will that I shall have what I desire or not If it be I need not be so eager for I shall have it in his time and way If it be not his will is it fit for me to murmur and strive against him Remember that your discontents and carnal desires are so many accusations brought in against God As if you said Thou hast not dealt well or wisely or mercifully by me I must have it better I will not stand to thy will and government I must have it as I will and have the disposal of my self § 8. Direct 6. Observe how your eager Desires are condemned by your selves in your daily prayers Direct 6. or else they make your prayers themselves condemnable If you pray that the will of God may be done why do your wills rebell against it and your desires contradict your prayers And if you ask no more than your daily bread why thirst you after more But if you pray as you desire Lord let my will be done and my self ish carnal desire be fulfilled for I must needs have this or that then what an abominable Prayer is this Desire as you must Pray § 9. Direct 7. Remember what Covenant you have made with God that you renounced the world Direct 7. and the flesh and took him
the chief part of this sin is to be cured according to the Directions in the first Chapter as a state of wickedness is and more I shall say anon about the Worship of God and Chap. 3. Direct 11. containeth the cure also Only here I shall add a few Directions to a God-hating Generation § 2. Direct 1. The first thing you have to do is to discover this to be your sin For you are confident Direct 1. that you love God above all while you hate him above all even above the Devil You will confess that this is horrid wickedness where it is found and well deserveth damnation Take heed lest thy own confession judge thee Remember then that it is not the bare Name that we now speak of I know that Gods Name is most honoured and the Devils name is most hated Nor is it every thing in God that is hated None hateth his Mercifulness and Goodness as such Nor is it every thing in the Devil that is loved None love his hatred to man nor his cruelty in tormenting men But the Holiness of God which is it that man must receive the Image of and be conformed to is hated by the unholy And the Devils unholiness and friendship to mens sin and sensuality is loved by the sensual and unholy And this hatred of God and Love of the Devil one would think you might casily perceive § 3. 1. In that you had rather God were not so Iust and Holy you had rather he had never commanded you to be Holy but leâ—t you to live as your flesh would have you you had rather God were indifferent as to your sins and would give you leave to follow your lusts Such a God you would have And a God that will damn you unless you be Holy and hate your sins and forsake them you like not you cannot abide but indeed do hate him § 4. 2. Therefore you will not Believe that God is such a holy sin-hating God Because you would Malunâ— nescire quia jam oderunt Tertul. Apoâ—get c. â— not have him so you will not believe he is so and so hate his nature while you believe that you love him and love but an Idol of your unholy fantasies Psal. 50. 21 22. These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtst that I was altogether such a one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thy eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver § 5. 3. You love not the Holiness of the Word of God which beareth his Image You love not these strict and holy passages in it Ioh. 3. 3 5. Luke 14. 26 33. Matth. 18. 3. Rom. 8. 13. Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. 2 Cor. 5. 17. with abundance more You had rather have had a Scripture that would have left your ambition covetousness lust and appetite to their liberties and that had said nothing for the absolute necessity of Holiness nor had condemned the ungodly § 6. 4. You love not the holiest Ministers or servants of Christ that most powerfully preach his holy Word or that most carefully seriously and zealously obey it your hearts rise against them when they bring in the Light which sheweth that your deeds and you are evil Iohn 3. 19 20. They are an eye-sore to you your hearts rise not so much against Whoremongers Swearers Lyars Drunkards Atheists or Infidels as against them What sort of persons on the face of the earth are so hated by the ungodly in all Nations and of all degrees and used by them so cruelly and pursued by them so implacably as the holiest servants of the Lord are § 7. 5 You love not to call upon God in serious fervent spiritual prayer praises and thanksgiving You are quickly weary of it you had rather be at a Play or Gaming or a Feast your hearts rise against holy Worship as a tedious irksome thing § 8. 6. You love not holy edifying discourse of God and of heavenly things Your hearts rise against it and you hate and scorn it as if all serious talk of God were but hypocrisie and God were to be banished out of our discourse § 9. 7. You cannot abide the serious frequent Thoughts of God in secret but had rather stuff your minds with thoughts of your Horses or Hawks or bravery or honour or preferments or sports or entertainments or business and labours in the world So that one hour of a thousand or ten thousand was never spent in serious delightful thoughts of God his holy truths or works or Kingdom § 10. 8. You love not the blessed day of Judgement when Christ will come with his holy Angels to judge the world to justifie his accused and abused servants to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thess. 1. 8 9 10 11. And can you be so blind after all this as not to see that you are HATERS OF GOD § 11. Direct 2. Know God better and thou canst not hate him especially know the beauty and Direct 2. glorious excellency of that Holiness and Iustice which thou hatest Should the Sun be darkned or disgraced because sore eyes cannot endure its light Must Kings and Judges be all corrupt or change their Laws and turn all men loose to do what they list because Malefactors and licentious men would have it so § 12. Direct 3. Know God and Holiness as they are to thee thy self and then thou wilt know them not only to be Best for thee as the Sun is to the world and as life and health is to thy body but to be thy only good and happiness and then thou canst not choose but love them Thy prejudice and false conceits of God and Holiness cause thy Hatred § 13. Direct 4. Cast away thy cursed unbelief If thou believe not what the Scripture saith of God Direct 4. and man and of the souls immortality and the life to come thou wilt then hate all that is Holy as a deceit and needless troubler of the world But if once thou believe well the Word of God and the life everlasting thou wilt have another heart § 14. Direct 5. Away with thy beastly blinding sensuality While thou art a slave to thy flesh Direct 5. and lusts and appetite and its interest reigneth in thee thou canst not choose but hate that Holiness which is against it and hate that God that forbiddeth it and tells thee that he will judge thee and damn thee for it if thou forsake it not This is the true cause of the Hatred of God and Pene omnis sermâ— Div nus habet aemuloâ— suos Quot genera prâ—â—â—ptorum sunt â—â—t adversa â—oâ—um si larg 〈…〉 esse 〈…〉 buâ— juâ—â—t Dominus avarus irascitur si parsimomam eâ—gâ—â— prodigus execratur Sermones sacros improbi hostes suos dicunt Salvian li. 4 ad Eccles. Cath. Non ego tibi
continually in that case your selves If you should be still so what were you good for or what could you enjoy or what comfort would your lives be to you Why if a long pain be so bad a short one is not lovely Keep not wilfully so troublesome a malady in your mind § 6. Direct 4. Observe also what an enemy it is to the body it self It inflameth the blood and Direct 4. stirreth up diseases and breedeth such a bitter displeasedness in the mind as tends to consume the strength of nature and hath cast many into Acute and many into Chronical sicknesses which have proved their death And how uncomfortable a kind of death is this § 7. Direct 5. Observe how unlovely and unpleasing it rendereth you to beholders deforming the Direct 5. countenance and taking away the amiable sweetness of it which appeareth in a calm and loving temper If you should be alwayes so would any body love you or would they not go out of your way if not lay hands on you as they do anything that is wild or mad You would scarce desire to have your picture drawn in your fury till the frowning wrinkles and inflamed blood are returned to their places and have left your visage to its natural comeliness Love not that which maketh you so unlovely to all others § 8. Direct 6. You should love it the worse because it is a hurting passion and an enemy to Love and Direct 6. to anothers good You are never angry but it inclineth you to hurt those that angred you if not all others that stand in your way It putteth hurting thoughts into your mind and hurting words into your mouths and enclineth you to strike or do some mischief And no men love a hurtful creature Avoid therefore so mischievous a passion § 9. Direct 7. Nay mark the tendency of it and you will find that if it should not be stopt it would Direct 7. tend to the very ruine of your brother and end in his blood and your own damnation How many thousand hath anger murdered or undone It hath caused Wars and filled the world with blood and cruelty And should your hearts give such a fury entertainment § 10. Direct 8. Consider how much other sin immoderate anger doth incline men to It is the great Direct 8. crime of drunkenness that a man having not the government of himself is made lyable by it to any Proâ—rium est magnitudinis verae non sentire se esse percussum Qui non irâ—scitur inconcussus injuria persistit qui irascitur motus est Sexec de Ira. l. 3. c. 5. wickedness And so is it with immoderate anger How many Oaths and Curses doth it cause every day How many rash and sinful actions What villany hath not anger done It hath slandered railed reproached falsly accused and injured many a thousand It hath murdered and ruined Families Cities and States It hath made Parents kill their Children and Children dishonour their Parents It hath made Kings oppress and murder their Subjects and Subjects rebell and murder Kings What a world of sin is committed by sinful anger throughout all the world How endless would it be to give you instances David himself was once drawn by it to purpose the murdering of all the family of Nahal Its effects should make it odious to us § 11. Direct 9. And it is much the worse in that it suffereth not a man to sin alone but stirreth up Direct 9. others to do the like Wrath kindleth wrath as fire kindleth fire It s two to one but when you are angry you will make others angry or discontent or troubled by your words or deeds And you have not the power of moderating them in it when you have done You know not what sin it may draw them to It is the Devils bellows to kindle mens corruptions and sets hearts and families and Kingdoms in a flame § 12. Direct 10. Observe how unfit it maketh you for any holy duty for prayer or meditation or Direct 10. any communion with God And that should be very unwelcome to a gracious soul which maketh it unfit to speak to God or to be employed in his Worship If you should go to prayer or other Worship in your bedlam passion may not God say as the King of Gath did of David Have I need of mad men Yea it unfitteth all the family or Church or society where it cometh for the Worship of God Is the family fit for prayer when wrath hath muddied and disturbed their minds Yea it divideth Christians and Churches and causeth confusion and every evil â—am 3. 15 16. work § 13. Direct 11. It is a great dishonour to the grace of God that a servant of his should shew the Direct 11. world that grace is of no more force and efficacy that it cannot rule a raging passion nor so much as keep a Christian sober that it possesseth the soul with no more patience nor fear of God nor Government over it self O wrong not God thus by the dishonouring of his Grace and Spirit § 14. Direct 12. It is a sin against Conscience still repented of and disowned by almost all when Direct 12. they come to themselves again and a meer preparation for after sorrow That therefore which we fore-know we must repent of afterwards should be prevented and avoided by men that choose not shame and sorrow § 15. Object 1. But you 'll say I am of a hasty cholerick nature and cannot help it Object 1. Answ. That may strongly dispose you to anger but cannot Necessitate you to any thing that is sinful Answ. Reason and Will may yet command and master passion if they do their Office And when you know your disease and danger you must watch the more § 16. Object 2. But the provocation was so great it would have angered any one Who could choose Object 2. Answ. It is your weakness that makes you think that any thing can be great enough to discharge Answ. a mans reason and allow him to break the Laws of God That would have been small or nothing to a prepared mind which you call so great You should rather say Gods Majesty and dreadfulness is so great that I durst not offend him for any provocation Hath not God given you greater cause to obey than man can give you to sin § 17. Object 3. But it is so sudden that I have no time of deliberation to prevent it Object 3. Answ. Have you not Reason still about you And should it not be as ready to rule as passion to Answ. rebell Stop passion at first and take time of deliberation § 18. Object 4. But it is but short and I am sorry for it when I have done Object 4. Answ. But if it be evil the shortest is a sin and to be avoided And when you know before hand Answ. that you must be sorry after why will
much to a common reformation III. The Greatness of the sin of Gluttony § 15. To know the Greatness of the sin is the chief part of the cure with those that do but believe Rom. 16. 17 18. They serve not the Lord Iesus but their own Bâ—llies that there is a God I shall therefore next tell you of its nature effects and accidents which make it great and therefore should make it odious to all § 16. 1. Luxury and Gluttony is a sin exceeding contrary to the Love of God It is Idolatry It hath the Heart which God should have And therefore Gluttons are commonly and well called Belly-Gods and God-bellys because that Love that â—are that delight that service and diligence which God should have is given by the Glutton to his Belly and his throat He Loveth the pleasing of his Appetite better than the Pleasing of God His dishes are more delightful to him than any holy exercise is His thoughts are more frequent and more sweet of his belly than of God or Godliness His care and labour is more that he may be pleased in meats and drinks than that he may secure his salvation and be justified and sanctified And indeed the Scripture giveth them this name Phil. 3. 19. whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly who glory in their shame who mind earthly things being enemies to the Cross of Christ that is to bearing the Cross for Christ and to the Crucifying of the flesh and to the mortifying suffering parts of Religion Nay such a devouring Idol is the Belly that it swalloweth up more by Intemperance and excess than all other Idols in the world do And remember that the very life of the sin is in the Appetite and Heart when a mans Heart is set upon his Belly though he fare never so hardly through necessity he is a Glutton in Heart When you make a Great matter of it ☜ what you shall eat and drink as to the delight and when you take it for a great loss or suffering if you fare hardly and are troubled at it and your thoughts and talk are of your belly and you have not that Indifferency whether your fare be course or pleasant so it be wholsom as all Temperate persons have this is the Heart of Gluttony and is the Hearts forsaking of God and making the Appetite its God § 17. 2. Gluttony is self-murder Though it kill not suddenly it killeth surely Like the dropsie It is a common saying that â—ula plures occidit quam gladius Quicquid avium volitat quicquid piscium natat quicquid ferarum discurrit nostris sâ—pelitur ventribus Quaeâ—e nunc â—ur subito moriamur Quia mortibus viviâ—us Senec. Hierome saith that he had read of some that had been sick of the Arthritis and Podagra that were cuâ—â—d by being brought to poverty by confiscation of their estates and so brought to a poor dyeâ— which killeth as it filleth by degrees Very many of the wisest Physicions do believe that of those that over-live their Child-hood there is scarce one of twenty yea or of a hundred that dyeth but Gluttony or excess in eating or drinking is a principal cause of their death though not the most immediate cause It is thought to kill a hundred to one of all that dye at Age. And it will not let them dye easily and quickly but tormenteth them first with manifold diseases while they live You eat more than nature can perfectly concoct and because you feel it not trouble you or make you sick you think it hurts you not whereas it doth by degrees first alter and vitiate the temperament of the blood and humours making it a crude unconcocted unnatural thing unfit for the due nutrition of the parts turning the nourishing mass into a burdensom excrementitious mixture abounding with Saline or tartareous matter and consisting more of a pituitous slime or redundant serosity than of that sweet nutrimental milk of nature quickened with those spirits and well proportioned heat which should make it fit to be the Oyl of life And our Candle either sparkleth away with Salt or runs away because there is some Thief in it or goeth out because the Oyle is turned into Water or presently wasteth and runs about through the inconsistent softness of its Oyl Hence it is that one part is tainted wieh corruption and another consumeth as destitute of fit nutriment and the vessels secretly obstructed by the grossness or other unfitness of the blood to run its circle and perform its offices are the cause of a multitude of lamentable diseases The frigid distempers of the Brain the soporous and comatous effects the Lethargy Carus and Apoplexy the Palsie Convulsion Epilepsie Vertigo Catarhs the Head-ache and oft the Phrensie and Madness come all from these effects of gluttony and excess which are made upon the blood and humours The Asthma usually and the Phthisis or Consumption and the Pleurisie and Peripneumony and the Hemoptoick passion often come from hence Yea the very Syncopes or Swooning Palpitations of the heart and Faintings which men think rather come from weakness do usually come either from oppression of nature by these secret excrements or Putrilaginous Blood or else from a weakness contracted by the inaptitude of the blood to nourish us being vitiated by excess The loathing of meat and want of appetite is ordinarily from the crudities or distempers caused by this excess yea the very Canine appetite which would still have more is caused by a vitiousness in the humours thus contracted The Pains of the Stomach Vomitings the Cholera Hickocks Inflamations Thirsts are usually from this cause The Wind Colick the Iliack Passion Loosness and Fluxes the Tenesmus and Ulcers the Worms and other troubles in those parts are usually from hence The obstructions Châ—ysostome saith the difference betwixt famine and excess is that famine kills men sooner out of their pain and excess doth putrifie and consume them by long and painful sicknesses in Hâ—br Hom. 29. of the Liver the Jaundice Inflamations Abscessus and Ulcers Schirrhus and Dropsie are commonly from hence Hence also usually are Inflammations Pains Obstructions and Schirrhus of the Spleen Hence commonly is the Stone Nephritick torments and Stoppages of Urine and Ulcers of the Reins and Bladder Hence commonly is the Scorbute and most of the Feavers which are found in the World and bring such multitudes to the grave Even those that immediately are caused by Colds distempers of the Aire or Infections are oft caused principally by long excess which vitiateth the humours and prepareth them for the disease Hence also are Gouts and Hysterical affects and diseases of the eyes and other exteriour parts So that we may well say that Gluttony enricheth Landlords filleth the Churchyards and hasteneth multitudes untimely to their ends Perhaps you 'll say that the most temperate have diseases To which experience teacheth me to answer that usually Children are permitted to be Voracious and
covering him § 4. 3. And that God hath not put this Law into mans nature without very great cause albeit the Implicite belief and submission due to him should satisfie us though we knew not the causes particularly yet much of them is notorious to common observation As that if God had not restrained lust by Laws it would have made the female sex most contemptible and miserable and used worse by men than dogs are For first rapes and violence would deflowre them because they are too weak to make resistance And if that had been restrained yet the lust of men would have been unsatisfied and most would have grown weary of the same woman whom they had abused and taken another at least when she grew old they would choose a younger and so the aged women would be the most calamitous creatures upon earth Besides that lust is addicted to variety and groweth weary of the same the fallings out between men and women and the sicknesses that make their persons less pleasing and age and other accidents would expose them almost all to utter misery And men would be Law-makers and therefore would make no Laws for their relief but what consisted with their lusts and ends So that half the world would have been ruined had it not been for the Laws of matrimony and such other as restrain the lusts of men § 5. 4. Also there would be a confused mixture in procreation and no men would well know what children are their own which is worse than not to know their Lands or Houses § 6. 5. Hereby all natural affection would be diminished or extinguished As the love of Husband and Wife so the Love between Fathers and Children would be diminished § 7. 6. And consequently the due education of children would be hindered or utterly overthrown The mothers that should first take care of them would be disabled and turned away that fresh harlots might be received who would hate the offspring of the former So that by this means the world and all societies and civility would be ruined and men would be made worse than bruits whom nature hath either better taught or else made for them some other supply Learning Religion and civility would be all in a manner extinct as we see they are among those few savage Cannibals that are under no restraint For how much all these depend upon education experience telleth us In a word this confusion in procreation would introduce such confusion in mens hearts and families and all societies by corrupting and destroying necessary affection and education that it would be the greatest plague imaginable to mankind and make the world so base and beastly that to destroy mankind from off the earth would seem much more desirable Judge then whether God should have left mens Lusts unrestrained § 8. Object But you 'll say there might have been some moderate restraint to a certain number as Object it is with the Mahometans without so much strictness as Christ doth use Answ. That this strictness is necessary and is an excellency in Gods law appeareth thus 1. By Answ. the greatness of the mischief which else would follow To be remiss in preventing such a confusion in the world would be an enmity to the world 2. In that mans nature is so violently inclined to break over that if the hedge were not close there were no sufficient restraining them they would quickly run out at a little gap 3. The wiser and the better any nation or persons are even among the Heathens the more fully do they consent to the strictness of Gods Laws 4. The cleanest sort of bruits themselves are taught by nature to be as strict in their copulations Though it be otherwise with the meer terrestrial beasts and birds yet the aërial go by couples Those that are called the fowles of the Heavens that fly in the air are commonly taught this chastity by nature as if God would not have lust come near to Heaven 5. The families of the Mahometans that have more wives than one do shew the mischief of it in the effects in the hatred and disagreement of their wives and the great slavery that women are kept in making them like slaves that they may keep them quiet And when women are thus enslaved who have so great a part in the education of children by which all virtue and civility are maintained in the world it must needs tend to the debasing and brutifying of mankind § 9. 7. Children being the pretiousest of all our treasure it is necessary that the strictest Laws be made for the securing of their good education and their welfare If it shall be treason to debase or counterfeit the Kings coyn and if men must be hanged for robbing you of your goods or money and the Laws are not thought too strict that are made to secure your estates how much more is it necessary that the Laws be strict against the vitiating of mankind and against the debasement of your image on your children and against that which tendeth to the extirpation of all virtue and the ruine of all societies and souls § 10. 8. God will have a holy seed in the world that shall bear his image of holiness and therefore he will have all means fitted thereunto Bruitish promiscuous generation tendeth to the production of a bruitish seed And though the word preached is the means of sanctifying those that remain unsanctified from their youth yet a holy marriage and holy dedication of children to God and holy education of them are the former means which God would not have neglected or corrupted and to which he promiseth his blessing As you may see 1 Cor. 7. 14. Mal. 2. 15. Did not he make one Yet had he the residue of the spirit And wherefore one That he might seek a godly seed Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth For the Lord bateth putting away § 11. 9. Yea lust corrupteth the mind of the person himself if it be not very much restrained and moderated It turneth it from the only excellent pleasure by the force of that bruitish kind of pleasure It carrieth away the thoughts and distempereth the passions and corrupteth the phantasie and Solomons wives turned away his heart aâ—ter other Gods 1 Kings 11. 4. The wisdom of Solomon preserved him not from the power of lust and the deceit of women 1 Pet. 2. 10. Fleshly â—â—â—â—ts that fight against the â—oâ—l thereby doth easily corrupt the intellect and heart Pleasure is so much of the End of man which his Nature leadeth him to desire that the chief thing in the world to make a man Good and Happy is to engage his heart to those Pleasures which are Good and make men Happy And the chief thing to make him Bad and Miserable is to engage him in the pleasures which make men Bad and end in Misery And the principal thing by which you may know
in the most adorned manner and do all that Harlots can do to make themselves a snare to fools do put the charitable hard to it whether to believe that it is their tongues or their backs that are the lyer As Hierome saith Thou deservest Hell though none be the worse for thee for thou broughtest the poyson if there had been any to drink it Let thy apparel be suited not only to thy rank but to thy disease If thou be enclined to lust go the more meanly clad thy self and gaze not on the ornaments of others It s folly indeed that will be enamoured on the Taylors work yet this is so common that its frequently more the apparel than the person that â—ntiseth first and homely rags would have prevented the deceit As the Poet saith Auferimur cultu gemmis auroque teguntur Omnia pars minima est ipsa puella sui Ovid. de Remed Am. § 13. Direct 11. Think on thy tempting object as it is within and as it shortly will appear without Direct 11. How ordinary is it for that which you call Beauty to be the portion of a fool and a fair skin to cover a silly childish pievish mind and a soul that is enslaved to the Devil And as Solomon saith Prov 11. 22. As a jewel of Gold in a Swines snout so is a fair woman without discretion And will you lust after an such adorned thing Think also what a dunghill of filth is covered with all those ornaments that it would turn thy stomach if thou sawest what is within them And think what a face that would be if it were but covered with the Pox and what a face it will be when sickness or age hath consumed or wrinkled it And think what thy admired Carkass will be when it hath lain a few days in the grave Then thou wouldst have little mind of it And how quickly will that be O man there is nothing truly amiable in the Creature but the image of God the wisdom and holiness and righteousness of the soul. Love this then if thou wilt Love with wisdom with purity and safety For the Love of Purity is pure and safe § 14. Direct 12. Think on thy own death and how fast thou hastest to another world Is a lustful Direct 12. heart a seemly temper for one that is ready to dye and ready to see God and come into that world where there is nothing but pure and holy doth abide § 15. Direct 13. Consider well the tendency and fruits of lust that it may still appear to your Direct 13. minds as ugly and terrible as it is indeed 1. Think what a shame it is to the soul that can no better rule the body and that is so much defiled by its lusts 2. Think what an unfit companion it is to lodge in the same heart with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit shall a member of Christ be thus polluted shall the Temple of the Holy Ghost be thus turned into a Swine sty Is lust fit to dwell with the Love of God wilt thou entertain thy Lord with such odious company what an unkindness and injury is this to God that when he that dwelleth in the highest Heavens condescendeth to take up a dwelling in thy heart thou shouldst bring these Toads and Snakes into the same room with him Take heed lest he take it unkindly and be gone He hath said he will dwell with the humble and contrite heart but where said he I will dwell in a lustful heart 3. Think how unfit it makes thee for Prayer or any holy address to God What a shame and fear and deadness it casts upon thy spirit 4. And think how it tends to worse Lust tendeth to actual filthiness and that to Hell cherish not the Eggs if thou wouldst have none of the Brood It s an easie step from a Lustful heart to a defiled body and a shorter step thence to everlasting horrour than you imagine As St. Iames saith Every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and entised then when lust both conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Jam. 1. 13 14. Gal. 6. 8. If ye sow to the flesh of the flesh ye shall reap corruption Remember that Lust is the spawn of sin and sin is the way to Hell § 16. Direct 14. Be sure to keep up a holy constant Government over thy Thoughts Suffer them not Direct 14. to go after tempting filthy sensual things As soon as ever a thought of Lust comes into thy mind abhor it and cast it out Abundance of the cure and of thy safety lyeth upon thy Thoughts They that let their Thoughts run uncontrolled and seed on filthiness are already fornicators in the heart and are hatching the Cockatrice Eggs and no wonder if from Thoughts they proceed to deeds O what a deal of uncleanness is committed by the Thoughts which people are little ashamed of because they are unseen of men If the Thoughts of many were open to beholders what wantonness and lust would appear in many adorned Sepulchres Even in the time of holy Worship when once such give the unclean spirit possession of their thoughts how hardly is he cast out they can scarce look a comely person in the face without some vicious thought If Hierome confess that in his Wilderness his Thoughts were running among the Ladies at Rome what may we think of them that feed such filthy Phantasies Say not you cannot rule your Thoughts You can do much if you will and more than you do If money and honour can make an ungodly Preacher command his Thoughts to holy things in the studies of Divinity through much of his life you may see that your Thoughts are much in your power but of this before § 17. Direct 15. If other means serve not open thy case to some friend and shame thy self to him as Direct 15. I advised under the former Title Confession and shame and advise will help thee § 18. Direct 16. Above all go to Christ for help and beg his spirit and give up thy Heart to better Direct 16. things O if it were taken up with God and Heaven and the Holy life that 's necessary thereto these things are so Great and Holy and sweet and of such concernment to thee that they would leave little room for Lust within thee and would make thee abhor it as contrary to those things which have thy heart No such cure for any carnal Love as the Love of God nor for fleshly lusts as a spiritual renewed Heavenly mind Thou wouldst then tell Satan that God hath taken up all the room and thy narrow Heart is too little for him alone and that there is no room for lust or the thoughts that serve it A true Conversion which turneth the heart to God doth turn it from this with other sins though some sparks may still be unextinguished It was once noted
is most hurtful 1. When it tendeth to delude men in the greatest things even the state of their souls The flattery of a Preacher that deceiveth men as in the name of Christ is of all other flattery the most pernicious To make the unregenerate believe that they are regenerate and the ungodly to believe that they are Godly and the unjustified to believe that they are justified and the Children of Satan to believe that without Conversion they may be saved to make a worldling a swearer a glutton a drunkard a fornicator a formal hypocrite or a haâ—er of holiness believe that such as he may come to Heaven without the sanctifying renewing work of the Holy Ghost this is the most eminent service of the Devil that the Tongue of any man can do him except it be the very open opposers of Religion As the Devil useth more to flatter men to Hell than to frighten them thither so do his Ministers and instruments And all doctrines of Libertinism and loosness which warrant men to do evil and to neglect a holy life are of the two a more dangerous way of flattery than that which consisteth but in mis-application Thus also carnal friends do use to flatter a sinner into presumption and false hopes when they see him convinced of his sin and misery and say Trouble not your self God is merciful and you have lived well and been a good neighbour and done no body harm and if such as you be not saved God help a great many Thus when a convinced sinner is striving to get out of the Devils snares the servants of Satan rock him asleep again by false and flattering speeches and deceit 2. Flattering is pernicious when it tendeth to the hurt of many In â—iâ—â—um hoâ—â—â—â—â—dâ—â—iâ—iâ—â—â—â— gratia â—â— â—â—â—â— nâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as when Rulers are deceived and perverted by it to the destruction of the people and themselves Prov. 26. 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruine See 1 Thes. 2. 5. Ezek. 12. 24. Psal. 12. 2 3. § 40. 29. Another sin is a jearing mocking deriding or scorning at others either for their infirmities of body or mind or for their virtues or through envy and malice or pride or a custome of deriding scornful speech Scorners delight in scorning Prov. 1. 22. See Psal. 22. 7. 44. 13. 79. 4. especially when sinners scorn at the reproofs and counsels of the godly and cast them all back into their â—â—ces with contempt For he that reproveth a scorner getteth himself a blot Prov. 9. 7 8. A scorner lâ—veth not one that reproveth Prov. 15. 12. § 41. 30. Another tongue-sin is Idolatry or false worship the praise of Idols or praying to them or making songs or speeches or disputes for them as also the false worship of the true God These among many others are the sins of the Tongue to be avoided No wonder if there be yet more for the Tongue is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a world of iniquity Jam. 3. 6. § 42. Direct 4. When you have thus understood the duties and sins of the Tongue and the greatness Direct 4. of them the next thing which you must be most careful and diligent about is that you keep all that 〈…〉 u qâ—â— s 〈…〉 â—â—ntâ—â— quae â—â—quâ—râ—â— ut S 〈…〉 â—â—dum nihil â—â—â—â—gua loqui vaâ—â—t dum câ—â—dâ— dup ex alâ—e iâ—sâ—dit â—â—â—â—us Sâ—nt Pâ—â—â—â—a i â—â—â— aâ—â—â—â—io Bias perâ—ontantâ— homini impâ—â— quid â—ssâ—t piâ— as nihil respondâ—t â—umque ille silâ—nâ—â— causam sâ—â—â—â—iâ—areâ—uâ— Quâ—a inquit de â—ebus nihil ad te pertinentibus quaeris Laâ—â—t upon the heart which should be upon the tongue and keep the heart clean from that which the tongue must be kept clean from The principal work must be about the heart For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh 1. The tongue will be no other way effectually governed If the heart be upon the world the tongue will most commonly be upon the world you may force it a little against your hearts but it will be but to a very unconstant obedience when you ever so little lose the reins its gone If the heart be proud the tongue will speak proudly If the heart be lustful or vain or malicious the words will ordinarily be so too 2. Or if you can force the tongue to go against the heart it is but an hypocritical reformation A vain a proud a worldly a wanton a malicious or ungodly heart will condemn you though the tongue were forced to speak humbly chastely patiently or piously Therefore if you would overcome the Vanity or worldliness or wantonness or any other corruption of your speech first set your selves to overcome the same corruption in your hearts and to revive and actuate the contrary graces And if you would use your tongues to the honour of God and the edification of men wind up the spring of those holy affections which must be as water to the mill It is the use of the tongue to express the mind And it is the use of holy speech to be the expression of a holy mind And do you think to express that which you have not Will you make a duty of a lie If you would speak of Christ or Heaven with seriousness see that your hearts are seriously set upon Christ and Heaven When you go into any company where you should speak for God and for the hearers good endeavour before hand to get a deep impression on your hearts of those attributes or truths of God which you would express and to revive the sense of that upon your selves which you would make others sensible of Stirr up within you the Love of God and the Love of holiness and truth and a love to the souls of them you speak to and then you will be as a conduit which runs as soon as the Cock is turned because it s always full of water § 43. Direct 5. Labour for understanding in the matters on which you should discourse Ignorance Direct 5. denyeth provision for discourse or furnisheth you only with chaff and vanity and maketh you so speak as that it were better to say nothing Knowledge and wisdom is a continual store-house of good and profitable talk such as the scribe instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven that bringeth out of his treasure things new and old Matth. 13. 52. When a man understandeth the matter which he is to speak of he is furnished to speak understandingly of it to others and to defend it against gainsayers Psal. 37. 30 31. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgement The Law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Prov. 10. 31 32. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom but the froward tongue shall be cut out The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness Wise
of the world III. If laying the hand on the Book and Kissing it be unlawful for any special matter or manner forbidden more than other significant acts it is for some of the reasons named by you which now I will answer I. Object It savoureth of the Romish superstition Answ. 1. Not at all Prove that if you can 2. Superstition is the feigning of things to be Pleasing or Displeasing to God which are not and using or disusing them accordingly whatever be the Etymologie of the word Superstitum Cultus or supra Statutum c. it is certain that the common use of it among Heathens as Plutark at large and Christians was for an erroneous undue fear of God thinking this or that was displeasing or pleasing to him to be done or to be avoided which was not so but was the conceit of a frightned mistaking mind Therefore to say that God is displeased with this signification of the mind when it is not so nor can be proved is superstition And this is not the solitary instance of Satans introducing superstition under pretense of avoiding superstition 3. The sense of the Law is to be judged of by the Law and by the notorious doctrine and profession of the Law-makers and of the Land which here renounceth the superstitious use of it But I confess I was more afraid that the Papists had too much derogated from the Scripture than given too much to it And they profess that they swear not by a creature Vid. Perer. ubi sup in Gen. 24. 2. Object But Paraeus c. in Gen. 24. 2. saith Non absque superstitione fit cum super crucifixum aut codicem Evangelii digitis impositis juratur ut fit in Papatu Answ. 1. But that same Act which in Papatu is superstitious because of superstitious conceits and ends is not so in all others that have none such 2. It is no new thing to be quick in accusing our adversaries But Paraeus addeth not a syllable of proof And if he had it must have been such as toucht not us or else invalid Object Some good men have scrupled it Answ. 1. Ten thousand to one such have not scrupled it 2. They are not our Gods nor Law 3. The Quakers and the old Anabaptists and they say Origen scrupled yea condemned all swearing or all imposed Oaths And if we avoid all as sin which some good men have scrupled we shall make superstition a great part of our Religion And when on the same grounds we have but practised all as Duty which some good men have taken for Duty we shall quite out-go the Papists He that readeth Beda Boniface and abundance such pious writers will soon see that Godly or Fanatical Religious persons dreams visions strict opinions confident assertions and credulous believing one another with the hope of improving such things against Pagans and Jews for Christianity brought in almost all the Legends and superstitions of the Papists II. Object 2. Our Common-Law Commissions that give authority to examine persons direct it to be Object done super sacramenta sua per sancta Dei evangelia fideliter prestanda And in the form of Administrations in Ecclesiastical Courts the words are Ad sancta Dei Evangelia rite legitime jurati Whether these forms do not infer that in their first use at least persons either swore by the Evangelists or offended in that mode of swearing And our Common-Law calls it a Corporal Oath from touching the Book Answ. 1. To know the sense of our present Law it is not necessary that we know the sense of the Answ. first users of the form For the Law is not now the Kings Law that first made it He hath no Law that hath no Government but the Kings Law that now Reigneth and beareth his sense 2. To justifie our obedience to a Law it is not necessary that we prove every phrase in that Law to be fitly expressed 3. But examine it well and try whether it be not also fit and laudable 1. There are three things conjoyned in the Oaths in question 1. A testimony assertory or a promise 2. An Oath 3. An Imprecation The Assertory Testimony here is the first thing intended and the Oath and Imprecation are but as a means to make that Testimony or Promise valid 2. The published Doctrine of England in the 39. Articles the book of Ordination c. is that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to Salvation as being Gods Law or Rule of our Faith and Life All our Duty to God is there commanded All the promises on which we hope are there contained All the punishments which the perjured or any sinner must feel and should fear are there threatned Therefore 3. The Laying on the hand and Kissing the book is an Action directly related to the Imprecation and not to the Oath but only by consequence as the Imprecation is subservient to the Oath as the Oath is to the Assertion So that this is the plain paraphrase of the whole I do believe that God the Ruler of all the world is the Iudge of secrets which are above mans judgement the searcher of hearts and the hater and avenger of perjury according to this his holy word by which he governeth us And to this God I appeal as to the truth of this my testimony consenting my self to lose all the benefit of his promises to the just and to bear all the punishments here threatned to the Perjured if I lie And what could be said more fitly 1. To own the Protestant doctrine that the Scripture is Gods perfect word that the evil to be feared and the good to be hoped for is all there contained and is all the fulfilling of that word 2. And to put the word in its due subordination to God And our ordinary form of swearing sheweth this So help you God and the Contents of this Book Whether you will call this swearing upon or by the Gospel or call it a corporal Oath or a spiritual Oath is only de nomine and is nothing to the matter thus truly described Sacramentum signifieth the Oath it self and Ad sancta evangelia is a fit phrase or if super sacramenta signifie the two Sacraments of the Gospel it can mean no more than As one that by the reception of the Sacrament doth profess to believe this Gospel to be true I do renounce the benefits of it if I lie And in this sense it hath been some mens custom to receive the Sacrament when they would solemnly swear III. Object Some seem to object against kissing the Book as having the greater appearance of giving Object too much to it or putting some adoration on it and because this Ceremony of kissing is held to be of later date than laying on the hand Answ. The Ceremony signifieth that I love and approve the Gospel and place the hope of my salvation Answ. in it And the publick Doctrine of the Kingdom before cited sheweth as a
most pernicious confusion into the affairs of mankind Iâ— Truth be excluded men cannot buy and sell and trade and live together It would It was one of the Roman Lawâ— â—aâ— 12. Qui â—aâ—sâ—m tâ—stâ—monium dâ—â—â—â—se convictus erit e saâ—o Taâ—pâ—iâ— dejiciatur be sufficient to destroy their rational converse if they had no tongues But much more to have false tongues Silence openeth not the mind at all Lying openeth it not when it pretendeth to open it and falsly representeth it to be what it is not And therefore though you say that your Lyes do no such hurt yet seeing this is the nature and tendency of Lying as such it is just and merciful in the Righteous God to banish all Lying by the strictest Laws As the whole nature of Serpents is so far at enmity with the nature of man that we hate and kill them though they never did hurt us because it is in their nature to hurt us so God hath justly and mercifully condemned all lying because it 's nature tendeth to the desolation and confusion of the World and if any indulgence were given to it all iniquity and injustice would presently like an inundation overwhelm us all § 25. 7. Lying tendeth directly to perjury it self It is the same God that forbiddeth them both And when once the heart is hardened in the one it is but a step further to the other Cicero could observe that He that is used to lye will easily be perjured A sâ—ared Conscience that tollerateth one will easily be brought to bear the other § 26. 8. There is a partiality in the Lyar that condemneth himself and the sin in another which in himself he justifieth For there is no man that would have another lye to him As Austin saith Hic autem homâ—nes fallunâ— falluntur Misericres suâ—t cum mentiendo fallunt quam cum mentientibus credendo falluntur Uâ—que adeo tamen rationalis natura refugit falsitatem quantum potest devitat errorem ut falli nolint etiam quicunque amant fallere August Enchyrid c. 17. I have known many that would deceive but never any that would be deceived If it be good why should not all others lye to thee If it be bad why wilt thou lye to others Is not thy tongue under the same Law as theirs Dost thou like it in thy Children and in thy Servants If not it should seem much worse to thee in thy self as thou art most concerned in thy own actions § 27. 9. Iudge what lying is by thy own desire and expectation to be believed Wouldst thou not have men believe thee whether thou speak truth or not I know thou wouldst For the Lyar loseth his end if he be known to lye and be not believed And is it a reasonable desire or expectation in thee to have men to believe a Lye If thou wouldst be believed speak that which is to be believed § 28. 10. Lying maketh thee to be always incredible and so to be useless or dangerous to others For he that will lye doth leave men uncertain whether ever he speak truth unless there be better Evidence of it than his credibility As Aristotle saith A Lyar gets this by Lying that no body will believe him when he speaks the truth How shall I know that he speaketh true to day who lyed yesterday unless open Repentance recover his credibility Truth will defend it self and credit him that owneth it at last But falshood is indefensible and will shame its Patrons Saith Petrarch excellently Petrarâ—h l 1. de vit solit As Truth is immortal so a fiction and lye endureth not long Dissembled matters are quickly opened as the hair that is combed and set with great diligence is ruffled with a little blast of wind and the paint that is laid on the face with a deal of labour is washed off with a little sweat the craftyest lye cannot stand before the truth but is transparent to him that neerly looketh into it every thing that is covered is soon uncovered shadows pass away and the native colour of things remaineth It is a great labour to keep hidden long No man can long live under water he must needs come forth and shew the face which he concealed At the farthest God in the day of judgement will lay open all § 29. Direct 2. If you would avoid lying take heed of guilt Unclean bodies need a cover Direct 2. and are most ashamed to be seen Faultiness causeth Lying and Lying increaseth the fault When Sâ—epe delinquentibus promptissimum est mentiri Ciâ—â—r men have done that which they are afraid or ashamed to make known they think there is a necessity of using their art to keep it secret But wit and craft is no good substitute for honesty such patches make the rent much worse But because the corrupted heart of man will be thus working and flying to deceitful shifts prevent the cause and occasion of your lying Commit not the fault that needs a lye Avoiding it is much better than hiding it if you were sure to keep it never so close As indeed you are not for commonly truth will come to light It is the best way in the World to avoid lying to be innocent and do nothing which doth fear the light Truth and honesty do not blush nor desire to be hid Children and Servants are much addicted to this crime when their folly or wantonness or appetites or slothfulness or carelesness hath made them faulty they presently study a lye to hide it with which is to go to the Devil to intreat him to defend or cover his own works But wise and obedient and careful and diligent and conscionable Children and Servants have need of no such miserable shifts § 30. Direct 3. Fear God more than man if you would not be Lyars The excessive fear of man Direct 3. is a common cause of Lying This maketh Children so apt to lye to escape the rod and most persons Iâ—â—e veâ—â—tatâ—â— Defeâ—â—or esse debeâ— quâ— cum râ—cteâ—â—â—â—ntâ— loquâ— non metuâ—t nec erubeâ—â—â—â—t Ambâ— â—yarâ— are â—aliant against God cowardâ— against men Montaâ—â—a â—sâ— that are obnoxious to much hurt from others are in danger of Lying to avoid their displeasure But why fear you not God more whose displeasure is unspeakably more terrible Your Parents or Master will be angry and threaten to correct you But God threatneth to damn you and his wrath is a consuming fire No mans displeasure can reach your souls and extend to eternity will you run into Hell to escape punishment on Earth Remember whenever you are tempted to escape any danger by a lye that you run into a thousand fold greater danger and that no hurt that you escape by it can possibly be half so great as the hurt it bringeth It 's as foolish a course as to cure the tooth-ach by cutting off the head § 31. Direct 4. Get down your Pride and overmuch regard
Ephes. 5. 18 19. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord giving thanks alwayes for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Iesus Psal 119. 172. Psal. 49 3 3â— 28. Christ 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God Sinful omission of good discourse is the cause of sinful commission of vanity Specially when the heart it self is vain For as a man is so is he apt to speak 1 John 4. 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world Isa. 32. 6. For the vile person will speak villany and his heart will work iniquity to practise hypocrisie and to utter error against the Lord. § 34. Direct 5. Walk alwayes with God as in his presence and in the awe of his Laws and judgement Direct 5. that conscience may be kept awake and tender You will be restrained from vain talk if you perceive Jer. 8. 6. Prov. 6. 22. Psal. 7â— 12. 105 2. 114. 27. 149. 11. that God is hearing you and if you remember that your tongue is under a Law and that for every idle word men shall give account in the day of judgement Matth. 12. 36 37. and that by your words you shall be justified or condemned If the Law of God were in your hearts Psal. 40. 8. and hidden there Psal. 119. 11. Your heart would be fixed Psal. 57. 7. His word then would be the rejoycing of your heart Psal. 119. 111. and your tongues would then be talking of judgement Psal. 37. 30. A tender conscience will smart more with an idle world than a seared senseless conscience with an Oath or lye or slander For the Fear of God is clean Psal. 19. 9. and by it men depart from evil Proverbs 16. 6. Be thou therefore in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23. 17. § 34. Direct 6. Avoid idleness if you would avoid idle talk The drones of the Commonwealth Direct 6. that have nothing else to do but visit and complement and prate of other mens matters and that 1 Tim. 5. 13. 1 Pet. 4. 15. can have while to sit whole hours together upon no business are they that are most guilty of idle chat Idle Gentlemen and Beggars and idle gossipping Women and Old men that are void of the fear of God and Children that have no business to do are they that can sit talking away their time to as little purpose as if they had been all the time asleep All idle persons swarm with the Vermine of idle thoughts and words § 36. Direct 7. If you would avoid idle talk avoid idle talkative companions or if you cannot Direct 7. avoid them answer them not but let them talk alone unless it be to reprehend them or turn them to Gaâ—â—ulo non respondeâ—e convitium est more profitable talk For when you hear vanity it will incline you to speak vanity And these ungodly persons speak every one vanity to his neighbour as if their tongues were so their own that no Lord might controll them Psal. 12. 1 2 5 6. The Philosopher could say That which you would not hear do not speak and that which you would not speak do not hear Most are like Parrots that will oftest speak the words which they oftest hear How hard is it to avoid idle talk amongst idle talkers One vain word draws on another and there is no end § 37. Direct 8. Avoid vain works if you would avoid vain words For a man that engageth himself Direct 8. in vain employment doth lose all the words as vain which he useth about that employment What a life then do they live that have an unlawful Calling When their very business and Trade is sin the adjuncts the words about it must be sin and so all their lives are a continued sin I had rather therefore be the basest drudge than one of these men Especially Stage-players should think of this And those that spend whole hours yea half dayes if not nights in gaming and vain or sinful sports what abundance of idle words do they use about them Every cast of the Dice and every Card they play hath an idle word so that a sober man would be aweary and ashamed to hear them § 38. Direct 9. Plunge not your selves into excess of worldly business as some do that undertake more Direct 9. without necessity than they can discharge For such necessitate a variety of thoughts and words And all that are spent in serving them in those their vain employments are vain though the work for the matter of it be not vain § 39. Direct 10. Let not a vicious mind make that seem necessary or convenient which is vain Direct 10. Carnal hearts that are acquainted with no better things think nothing vain that pleaseth their sensual inclinations or which their carnal interest doth require A man-pleaser thinketh Civility obligeth him to observe his unnecessary visits and complements and to answer idle talkers and not sit silent by them noâ— contradict them And so it must be a point of good manners to break the Law of God And as they think it uncivil not to pledge every drinker in his healths so not to answer every twatler in his talk § 40. Direct 11. Take heed of a proud self-conceited mind that thinks too well of your own discourse Direct 11. Gâ—t but Humility and you will rather chooâ—e to hear than to speak But when all your fansies and Prov. 3. 7. 26. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 18. impertinâ—nâ—ies seem some excellent matters to you then you are with child till you are delivered of them and then all must reverence and silently attend your pride and folly or be taken as neglecters of you for disregarding it § 41. Direct 12. Avoid Passion and passionate companions For passion is talkative and will not be Direct 12. châ—â—kt but resisteth the restraint of reason and multiplyeth words which are worse than vain Prov. 14. 17 1â— 18. Eccles 7 8 9 § 42. Direct 13. Take heed of an inordinate jeasting vain For it habituateth the mind to foolish lâ—vity and knows no bounds and breeds idle words as thick as putrified flesh breeds Vermine And it is the greater sin because it is ordinary and with a certain pleasure and pride and glorying in vanity Direct 13. Eccles. 2. 2 Eccles. 7. 6. Epheâ— 5. 4 and sinful levity and folly § 43 Direct 14. Understand particularly what service you have to do for God or men in every company you come in and so fit your words to the present duty and company For those words Direct 14. are vain and inconvenient in one company that are necessary or convenient in another If you be to Prov. 2â— 17. Prov. 1â— 1â—
or have been and all the Godly thoughout the world and all that ever had experience of a holy life And what art thou that thou shouldst scorn all these Art thou wiser than all the Ministers and godly persons in the world Than all the Apostles and holy Martyrs of Christ that ever were Yea than God himself § 33. 8. Didst thou ever mark how unlike the speech of Christ and his Apostles was to thine Did they deride men for being too diligent for the pleasing of God and saving of their souls Read but thâ—se places following and judge Matth. 5. 8 11 20. 6. 33 21. 7. 13 14. 1 Pet. 4. 18. 2. Pet. 3. 11. 1. 10. Heb. 11. 6. Matth. 5. Rom. 8 1 5 6 7 8 9 13. Phil. 3. 18. 19. Heb. 12. 28 29. § 34. 9. Dost thou not thy self do as much for the world as those that thou opposest do for Heaven Art thou offended that they preach and pray so long Art not thou longer about thy worldly business Are not Gallants longer at a feast or visit or games and recreations Art thou offended that they talk so much of Heaven And dost not thou talk more of earth And which of these dost thou think in thy Conscience doth better deserve to be sought and talked of Which will prove better at the last And whose labour will be more worthy of derision § 35. 10. What gain would it be to thee if thou hadst thy will and Praying and Preaching and Holiness were as much banished from the world as thou wouldst have it And if men to please thee should displease God and cast away their souls for ever Would it do thee good for earth to be so like to Hell It is the grief of godly men already to think how little Holiness is in the world There is scarce a sadder thought that ever came into my heart than to survey all the Nations of the earth and to think how ignorance and ungodliness abound and how few there be that are truly holy And what an inhumane creature is that who yet would have them fewer and scorn out of the world the little Rom. 11. 1 2 wisdom and piety that is left And would it be any pleasure to thee in Hell if men should accompany thee thither to humour thee Nay it would be thy everlasting torment to see there so many for ever undone by hearkning to thy wicked counsel Say not that thou art not so cruel and it is not their damnation that thou desirest No more it is not thy own that thou desirest But all 's one as to the effect if thou desire the way to it Thou maist as well give one man poyson and deride at another for eating and drinking and yet say it is not your death that I desire But die they must if they ruled by thee § 36. 11. Were not he a cruel man that would not do as much for the saving of his neighbours soul as that which thou deridest them for in the saving of their own If thou wert sick should I refuse to pray for thy life Or if I knew that it might save anothers soul should I think any means or pains too much If not methinks I may be allowed to do as much for my self as charity bids me do for another § 37. 12. Is it a season to mock at Holiness when at the same time there are so many millions of souls in Heaven that all came thither by the way of Holiness And so many millions of souls in Hell that all came thither for want of Holiness And while thou art prating against it they are crying out in despair of the folly of their neglecting it Would one of the souls in Heaven regard thy mocks if he were to live on earth again Or would one of the souls in Hell be mocked thither if they were but tryed with another life If thou sawest at this hour what unholy souls in Hell are suffering and what holy souls in Heaven enjoy wouldst thou ever mock again at Holiness For shame consider what thou dost and see by faith the things that mortal eyes behold not § 38. 13. What if men should yield unto thy derisions and forsake a holy life to please thee Wouldst thou undertake to justifie them or be answerable for them before that God that required Holiness and will condemn all the unholy Wouldst thou bring them off and save them from damnation Alas poor soul how unable wilt thou be to save thy self And wilt thou take them for wise men if they displease the Lord and go to Hell to humour such a one as thou § 39. 14. Thou wilt not thy self be mockt out of thy House or Land or Right nor from thy meat or drink or rest wouldst thou â—ast these away if another should mock but thee for using them I think thou wouldst not And wouldst thou have wise men be mockt out of their Salvation § 40. 15. Thou wouldst not think it reasonable that thy Children or Servants be derided for loving or obeying thee Or thy very horse dispraised for serving thee And do they owe thee more than we all owe God § 41. 16. God highly honoureth them and dearly loveth them for that very thing that thou hâ—tâ—st and deridest them for Joh. 16. 27. 14. 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that Loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Psal. 11. 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Psal. 146. 8. The Lord loveth the righteous 2 Cor. 6. For ye are the temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord and Allmighty And darest thou scorn the sons and daughters of the Allmighty Even for that very thing for which he hath promised to receive them and to be a Father to them How contrary then art thou to God Mal. 3. 16 17 18. A Book of remembrance was written for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his name and they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Iewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him And darest thou scorn Gods Iewels and those that are thus pretious to him 1 Sam. 2. 30. For them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed And wilt thou be one of his despisers opposing that in others for which God himself hath promised to honour them § 42. 17. To hate and scorn at Holiness is to hate and scorn at
all his work and lyeth not only in the heat of the brain or rigid opinions or heat of speech 10. It is not a sudden flash but a constant resolution of the soul Like the natural heat and not like a Feaver Though the feeling part is not still of one Gal. 4. 15 18. degree Therefore it concocteth and strengtheneth when false zeal only vexeth and consumeth § 5. Direct 2. When you are thus acquainted with the nature of true zeal consider next of its excellency Direct 2. and singular benefits that there may be a love to it and an honour of it in your hearts To that The excellency of zeal and diligence end consider of these following commendations of it § 6. 1. Zeal being nothing but the fervour and vigour of every grace hath in it all the beauty and excellency of that Grace and that in a high and excellent degree If Love to God be excellent then zealous fervent Love is most excellent § 7. 2. The nature of holy Objects are such so great and excellent so transcendent and of unspeakable consequence that we cannot be sincere in our estimation and seeking of them without zeal If it were about riches or honours a cold desire and a dull pursuit might serve the turn and well beseem us But about God and Christ and Grace and Heaven such cold desires and endeavours are but a contempt To love God without zeal is not to Love him because it is not a loving him as Psal. 69. 10. Joh. 2. 17. Gal. 4. 18. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Tit. 2. 14. Rev. 3 15 16 19. God To seek Heaven without Zeal and Diligence is not to seek it but contemn it To pray for salvation without any zeal is but hypocritically to babble instead of praying For no desire of Christ and Holiness and Heaven is saving but that which preferreth them before all the treasures and pleasures of the World And that which doth so hath sure some zeal in it so that some Zeal is essential to every Grace as life and heat is to a man § 8. 3. The integrity and honesty of the heart to God consisteth much in zeal As he is true to his friend that is zealous for him and not he that is indifferent and cold To do his service with zeal is to â—am 5. 16. Rom. 12. 11. do it willingly and heartily and entirely To do it without zeal is to do it heartlesly and by the halves and to leave out the life and kernel of the duty It is the Heart that God doth first require § 9. 4. Zeal is much of the strength of duty and maketh it likelyest to attain its end The Prayer Mat. 11. 12. Rom. 15. 30. Luk. 13. 24. 2 Tâ—m 2. 5. 1 Cor 9. 24 25 26. Heb. 12. 1. Deut. 6. 5. Mat. â—2 37. 2 Cor. 5. 14. Prov. 10. 4. of the faithful that 's effectual must be fervent Jam. 5. 16. Zeal must make us importunate suiters that will take no denyal if we will speed Luk. 18. 1 8 c. The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force We must strive to enter in at the strait gate for many shall seek to enter and not be able Not every one that striveth is crowned nor every one that runneth wins the prize but he that doth it effectually so as to attain No wonder if we be commanded to Love God with all our heart and soul and might which is a Zealous Love For this is it that overcometh all other love and will constrain to dutiful obedience As experience telleth us it is the zealous and diligent Preacher that doth good when the cold and negligent do but little so is it in all other duties The diligent hand maketh rich And God blesseth those that serve him heartily with all their might § 10 5. Zeal and diligence take the opportunity which sloth and negligence let slip They are up Joh. 9. 4. Isa 55. 6. Luk. 19. 42. Heb. 3. 7 15. Mat. 25. with the Sun and work while it is day They seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near They know the day of their Visitation and Salvation They delay not but take the accepted time When the slothful are still delaying and trifling and hear not Gods voice while it is called to day but harden their hearts and sleep with their lamps unfurnished and knock not till the door be shut They stand and look upon their work while they should do it They are never in readiness when Christ and Mercy are to be entertained They are still putting off their duty till some other time till time be done and their work undone and they are undone for ever § 11. 6. Zeal and diligence are the best improvers of Time and mercy As they delay not but take the present time so they loyter not but do their work to purpose As a speedy Traveller goeth farther in a day than a slothful one in many so a zealous diligent Christian will do more for God and his soul in a little time than a negligent dullard in all his life It is a wonder to think what Augustine and Chrysostome did among the Ancients what Calvin and Perkins and Whittaker and Reignolds and Chamier and many other Reformed Divines have done in a very little time And what Swarez and Vasquez and Iansenius and Tostatus and Cajetan and Aquinas and many other Papists have performed by diligence when Millions of men that have longer time go out of the World as unknown as they came into it having never attained to so much knowledge as might preserve them from the reproach of Bruitish ignorance nor so much as might save their souls from Hell And when many that had diligence enough to get some laudable abilities had never diligence enough to use them to any great benefit of others or themselves Zeal and diligence are that fruitful well-manured soil where God soweth his seed with best Mat. 13 8 23. Prov. 26. 14. success and which return him for his mercies an hundred fold and at his coming giveth him his own with usury Mat. 25. 27 20. But sloth and negligence are the grave of mercies where they are buried till they rise up in judgement against the despisers and consumers of them Aristotle and Plato Galen and Hippocrates improvers of nature shall condemn these slothful neglecters and abusers of nature and grace yea their Oxen and Horses shall be witnesses against many that served not God with any such diligence as these beasts served them yea many gallants of great estates never did so much service for the common good in all their lives as their very beasts have done Their parts their life and all is lost by them § 12. 7. Zeal and diligence are the victorious enemies of sin and Satan They bear not with sin They are to it as a consuming fire is to the thorns and bryars Zeal burneth up
all their labour and suffering To think of the blessed end of all their pains and patience and how far they are now from repenting of it methinks should stir us up to zeal and diligence § 24. 8. To foresee what thoughts all the world will have of holy diligence at last how the best will wish they had been better and had done much more for God and their salvation and how the worst will wish when it is too late that they had been as zealous and diligent as the best How earnestly they will then knock and cry Lord open to us when it is all in vain and say to the watchful diligent souls Give us of your Oyle for our Lamps are gone out Matth. 25. To think how glad the most ungodly would then be if they might but have dyed the death of the righteous and their latter end might be Num. 23. 10. as his And what heart-tearing grief will seize upon them for ever to think how madly they lost their souls and sluggishly went to Hell to spare their pains of that sweet and holy work that should have prevented it Will not such forethoughts awaken the most sluggish stupid souls that will but follow them till they can do their work § 25. 9. Remember that thou must be zealous and diligent in this or nothing For there is nothing else that is worth thy seriousness in comparison of this To be earnest and laborious for perishing vanities is the disgrace of thy mind and will prove thy disappointment and leave thee at last in shame and sorrow when holy diligence will recompence all thy pains § 26. 10. Remember also that thou hast been slothful and negligent too long And how dost thou repent of thy former sloth if thou wilt be as slothful still Art thou grieved to think how many duties slothfulness hath put by and how many it hath murdered and frustrated and made nothing of and how much Grace and Mercy and Comfort it hath already deprived thee of and how much better thy case were if thou hadst lived in as much holy diligence as the best thou knowest And yet wilt thou be slothful still § 27. 11. Remember that thou hast thy Life and health and wit and parts for nothing else but by thy present duty to prepare for everlasting joyes that all Gods mercies bind thee to be diligent and every Ordinance and all his helps and means of grace are given to further thee in the work and Sun and Moon and Air and Earth and all attend thee with their help And yet wilt thou be cold and slothful and frustrate all these means and mercies § 28. 12. Remember how diligent thy Enemy is Satan goeth about even night and day like a 1 Pet. 5. ◠roaring Lyon seeking to devour And wilt thou be less diligent to resist him § 29. 13. Think what an example of diligence Christ himself hath left thee And how laboriously blessed Paul and all the holy Servants of Christ did follow their Masters work Did they Pray and watch and work as slothfully as thou dost § 30. 14. Remember how hot and earnest thou wast formerly in thy sin And wilt thou now be cold and negligent in thy duty when God hath set thee in a better way § 31. 15. Observe how eager and diligent worldlings are for the world and flesh-pleasers for their sports and pleasures and proud persons for their greatness and honour and malignant persons to oppose the Gospel of Christ and their own and other mens salvations Look on them and think what a shame it is to thee to be more cold and remiss for God § 32. 16. Observe how an awakening pang of Conscience or the sight of death when it seems to be at hand can waken the very wicked to some kind of serious diligence at the present so that by their confessions and cryes and promises and amendments while the fit was on them they seemed more zealous than many that were sincere And shall not saving grace do more with you than a fit of fear can do with the ungodly § 33. 17. Remember of how sad importance it is and what it signifieth to be cold and slothful If it be predominant so as to keep thee from a holy life it is damnable The spirit of slumber is a most dreadful judgement But if it do not so prevail yet though thou be a Child of God it signifieth a great debility of soul and foretelleth some sharp affliction to befall thee if God mean to do thee good by a recovery The decay of natural heat is a sign of old age and is accompanied with the decay of all the powers And sicknesses and pains do follow such decays of life And as you will make your Horse feel the rod or spur when he grows dull and heavy expect when you grow cold and dull to feel the spur of some affliction to make you stir and mend your pace § 34. 18. Remember that thy sloth is a sinning against thy knowledge and against thy experience and against thy own Covenants promises and profession and therefore an aggravated sin These and such like serious thoughts will do much to stir up a slothful soul to Zeal and Diligence § 35. Direct 4. Drown not your hearts in worldly business or delights for these breed a Direct 4. loathing and aversness and weariness of holy things They are so contrary one to the other that Luk. 8. 14. the mind will not be eagerly set on both at once but as it relisheth the one it more and more disrelisheth the other There is no heart left for God when other things have carryed it away § 36. Direct 5. Do all you can to raise your hearts to the Love of God and a delight in holy things Direct 6. and then you will not be slothful nor weary nor negligent Love and Delight are the most excellent remedy against a slow unwilling kind of duty Know but how good it is to walk with God and do his work and thou wilt do it chearfully § 37. Direct 6. A secret root of unbelief is the mortal enemy of zeal and diligence Labour for a Direct 7. well-grounded belief of the word of God and the world to come and stir up that belief into exercise when you would have your slothful hearts stird up When there is a secret questioning in the heart What if there should be no life to come What if the grounds of Religion are unsound This blasteth the vigor of all endeavors and inclineth men to serve God only with hypocritical halving and reserves and maketh men resolve to be no further Religious than stands with present fleshly happiness § 38. Direct 7. Take heed of debauching Conscience by venturing upon doubtful things much more Direct 7. by known and willful sin For when once Conscience is taught to comply with sin and is mastered in Rom. 14 21. 22. 1 Cor. 5. 6. Eph. 4. 29 30. one thing
for their mortified garb Thus many Sects amongst the Popish Fryars go by Agreement or Vow in Clothes so differing from all other persons in seeming humility and gravity which must be the badge of their Order in the eye of the world that the boast and affectation is visible and professed And thus the Quakers that by the notoriety of their difference from other sober persons and by their impudent bawling in the Streets and Churches and railing against the holiest and humblest Ministers and people that are not of their Sect and this in the face of Markets and Congregations do make a plain profession or detection of their Pride But where it is not openly revealed we cannot judge it § 13. Quest. 3. Is it not lawful for a person that is deformed to hide their deformity by their clothing Quest. 3. And for any person to make themselves by clothing or spots or painting to seem to others as comely and beautiful as they can Answ. The person and the matter and the End and Reasons the May not a â—â— formity be hâ—â— by appareâ— oâ— paâ—â—â—â—ing principle and the probable consequents must all be considered for the right answering of this Question It is lawful to some persons by some means for some good Ends and Reasons when a greater Evil is not like to follow it to hide their deformities and to adorn themselves so as to seem more comely than they are But for others persons by evil means for evil ends and reasons or when it tendeth to evil consequents it is unlawful 1. A person that is naturally very deformed may do more to hide it by their ornaments than one that hath no such deformity may do to seem more comely Because one aspireth no higher than to seem somewhat like other persons but the other aspireth to seem excellent above others And a person that is under Government may do more in obedience to their Governours than another may do that is at their own choice 2. If the matter of their ornament be but modest decent clothing and not immodest insolent luxurious vain or against Nature or the Law of God or man it is in that respect allowable But so is no cover of deformity by unlawful means 3. It may be lawful if also it be to a lawful end as to obey a Governour or only to cover a deformity so as not unnecessarily to reveal it But it is alway sinful when the end is sinful As 1. If it be to seem extraordinary beautiful or comely when you are not so or if it be to be Laertius saith that when Craesus sate in all his ornaments and glory on his Throne he asked Soloâ— An pulchrius unquâ—m specticulum vidâ— it Ilâ—umque ditisse Gallos gallmaceâ—s fasianos pavoâ—â—s Naturali enim eos nitore speciosiâ—ate exâ—mia vestiri observed and admired by beholders 2. If it be to tempt the beholders minds to lustful or undue affections 3. If it be to deceive the mind of some one that you desire in marriage For in that case to seem by such dissembling to be what you are not is the most injurious kind of cheat much worse than to sell a Horse that is blind or lame for a sound one 4. If it be to follow the fashions of proud Gallants that you may not be scorned by them as not neat enough all these are unlawful ends and reasons 4. So also the Principle or Mind that it cometh from may make it sinful As 1. If it come from a lustful wanton mind 2. Or if it come from an overgreat regard of the opinion of spectators which is the proper complexion of Pride A person that doth it not in pride is not very solicitous about it nor makes no great matter of it whether men take him to be comely or uncomely and therefore he is at no great cost or care to seem comely to them If such persons be deformed they know it is Gods work and not their sin and it is sin that is the true cause of shame And all Gods works are good and for our good if we are his children They know that God doth it to keep them humble and prevent that pride and lust and wantonness which is the undoing of many and therefore they will rather be careful to improve it and get the benefit than to hide it and seem comelier than they are 5. Also the consequents concur much to make the action good or bad Though that be not your end yet if you may foresee that greater hurt than good will follow or is like to follow it will be your sin As 1. If it tend to the ensnaring of the minds of the beholders in procacious lustful wanton passions though you say you intend it not it is your sin that you do that which probably will procure it yea that you did not your best to avoid it And though it be their sin and vanity that is the cause it is never the less your sin to be the unnecessary occasion For you must consider that you live among diseased souls And you must not lay a stumbling-block in their way nor blow up the fire of their lust nor make your ornaments their snares but you must walk among sinful persons as you would do with a Candle amongst Straw or Gunpowder or else you may see the flame which you would not foresee when it is too late to quench it But a proud and procacious lustful mind is so very willing to be loved and thought highly of and admired and desired that no fear of God or of the sin and misery of themselves or others will satisfie them or take them off 2. Also it is sinful to adorn your selves in such fashions as probably will encourage pride and vanity in others or seem to approve of it When any fashion is the common badge of the proud and vain sort of persons of that time and place it is sinful unnecessarily to conform your selves to them because you will harden them in their sin and you joyn your selves to them as one of them by a kind of profession As when spotted faces a name that former Ages understood not or naked breasts or such other fashions are used ordinarily by the vain and brain-sick and heart-sick proud and wanton party it is a sin unnecessarily to use them For 1. You will hinder their Repentance 2. And you will hinder the great Benefit which the world may get by their vain attire For though it be no thanks to them that intend it not yet it is a very great commodity that cometh to mankind by these peoples sin that fools should go about in fools-coats and that empty brains and proud and wanton hearts should be so openly detected in the Streets and Churches that sober people may avoid them and that wise and chaste and civil people may not be deceived by such in marriage to their undoing As the different clothing of the different Sexes is necessary to
Rich men may want great sums or larger provisions which the poor can easily be without And their condition lifting them up to greater pride doth torment them with greater discontents How few in all the world that have families are content with their estates § 24. 4. Hereupon a married life containeth far more temptations to worldliness or covetousness than a single state doth For when you think you need more you will desire more And when you find all too little to satisfie those that you provide for you will measure your estate by their desires and be apt to think that you have never enough Birds and Beasts that have young ones to provide for are most hungry and rapacious You have so many now to scrape for that you will think you are still in want It is not only till Death that you must now lay up but you must provide for children that survive you And while you take them to be as your selves you have two Generations now to make provisions for And most men are as Covetous for their posterity as if it were for themselves § 25. 5. And hereupon you are hindred from works of Charity to others Wife and Children are the devouring gulf that swalloweth all If you had but your selves to provide for a little would serve And you could deny your own desires of unnecessary things and so might have plentiful provision for good works But by that time Wife and Children are provided for and all their importunate desires satisfied there is nothing considerable left for pious or charitable uses Lamentable experience proclaimeth this § 26. 6. And hereby it appeareth how much a married state doth ordinarily hinder men from honouring their profession It is their vows of single life that hath occasioned the Papists to do so many works of publick charity as is boasted of for the honour of their Sect For when they have no Children to bequeath it to and cannot keep it themselves it is easie for them to leave it to such uses as will pacifie their Consciences most and advance their names And if it should prove as good a work and as acceptable to God to educate your own Children piously for his service as to relieve the children of the poor yet is it not so much regarded in the world nor bringeth so much honour to Religion One hundred pound given to the poor shall more advance the repution of your liberality and virtue than a thousand pound given to your own children though it be with as pious an end to train them up for the service of the Church And though this is inconsiderable as your own honour is concerned in it yet it is considerable as the honour of Religion and the good of souls is concerned in it § 27. 7. And it is no small patience which the natural imbecility of the female sex requireth you to prepare Except it be very few that are patient and manlike women are commonly of potenâ— fantasies and tender passionate impatient spirits easily cast into anger or jealousie or discontent and of weak understandings and therefore unable to reform themselves They are betwixt a man and a child Some few have more of the man and many have more of the child but most are but in a middle state Weakness naturally inclineth persons to be froward and hard to please as we see in children old people and sick persons They are like a sore distempered body You can scarce touch them but you hurt them With too many you can scarce tell how to speak or look but you displease them If you should be very well verst in the art of pleasing and set your selves to it with all your care as if you made it your very business and had little else to do yet it would put you hard to it to please some weak impatient persons if not quite surpass your ability and skill And the more you love them the more grievous it will be to see them still in discontents aweary of their condition and to hear the clamorous expressions of their disquiet minds Nay the very multitude of words that very many are addicted to doth make some mens lives a continual burden to them Mark what the Scripture saith Prov. 21. 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of the house top than with a brawling woman in a wide house Vers. 19. It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman So 25. vers 24. And Prov. 27. 15. A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike Eccles. 7. 28. One man among a thousand have I found but a woman among all those have I not found § 28. 8. And there is such a meeting of faults and imperfections on both sides that maketh it much the harder to bear the infirmities of others aright If one party only were froward and impatient the stedfastness of the other might make it the more tolerable But we are all sick in some measure of the same disease And when weakness meeteth with weakness and pride with pride and passion with passion it exasperateth the disease and doubleth the suffering And our corruption is such that though our intent be to help one another in our duties yet we are apter far to stir up one anothers distempers § 79. 9. The business care and trouble of a married life is a great temptation to call down our thoughts from God and to divert them from the one thing necessary Luk. 10. 42. and to distract the mind and make it indisposed to holy duty and to serve God with a divided heart as if we served him not How hard is it to pray or meditate with any serious fervency when you come out of a crowd of cares and businesses Hear what St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 7. 7 8. For I would that all men were as I my self I say to the unmarried and the widows It is good for them if they abide even as I. 26 27 28. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress that it is good fâ—r a man so to be such shall have trouble in the flesh 32 33. But I would have you be without carefulness He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord how he may please the Lord But he that is married careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife 34 35. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in body and in Spirit but she that is married careth for the things of the world how she may please her husband And this I speak for your own profit not that I may cast a snare upon you but for that which is comely and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction 37 38. He that standeth stedfast in his heart having no necessity but hath power over his own will and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his
Virgin doth well So then he that marrieth doth well but he that marrieth not doth better And mark Christs own words Matth. 19. 11. His Disciples say unto him If the case of a man be so with his wife it is not good to marry But he said unto them All men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given He that is able to receive it let him receive it § 30. 10. The business of a married state doth commonly devour almost all your time so that little is left for holy contemplations or serious thoughts of the life to come All Gods service is contracted and thrust into a corner and done as it were on the by The world will scarce allow you time to meditate or pray or read the Scripture You think your selves as Martha under a greater necessity of dispatching your business than of sitting at Christs feet to hear his Word O that single persons knew for the most part the pretiousness of their leisure and how free they are to attend the service of God and learn his Word in comparison of the married § 31. 11. There is so great a diversity of temperaments and degrees of understanding that there are scarce any two persons in the world but there is some unsuitableness between them Like stones that have some unevenness that maketh them lye crooked in the building some crossness there will be of opinion or disposition or interest or will by nature or by custome and education which will stir up frequent discontents § 32. 12. There is a great deal of duty which Husband and Wife do owe to one another As to instruct admonish pray watch over one another and to be continual helpers to each other in order to their everlasting happiness and patiently to bear with the infirmities of each other And to the weak and backward heart of man the addition of so much duty doth add to their weariness how good soever the work be in it self And men should feel their strength before they undertake more work § 33. 13. And the more they Love each other the more they participate in each others griefs And one or other will be frequently under some sort of suffering If one be sick or lame or pained or defamed or wronged or disquieted in mind or by temptation fall into any wounding sin the other beareth part of the distress Therefore before you undertake to bear all the burdens of another and suffer in all anothers hurts it concerneth you to observe your strength how much more you have than your own burdens do require § 34. 14. And if you should marry one that proveth ungodly how exceeding great would the affliction be If you loved them your souls would be in continual danger by them They would be the powerfullest instruments in the world to pervert your judgements to deaden your hearts to take you off from a holy life to kill your prayers to corrupt your lives and to damn your souls And if you should have the grace to scape the snare and save your selves it would be by so much the greater difficulty and suffering as the temptation is the greater And what a heart-breaking would it be to converse so nearly with a child of the Devil that is like to lye for ever in Hell The daily thoughts of it would be a daily death to you § 35. 15. Women especially must expect so much suffering in a Married life that if God had not put into them a natural inclination to it and so strong a love to their children as maketh them patient under the most annoying troubles the world would ere this have been at an end through their refusal of so calamitous a life Their sickness in breeding their pain in bringing forth with the danger of their lives the tedious trouble night and day which they have with their children in their nursing and their childhood besides their subjection to their husbands and continual care of family affairs being forced to consume their lives in a multitude of low and troublesome businesses All this and much more would have utterly deterred that Sex from marriage if Nature it self had not enclined them to it § 36. 16. And O what abundance of duty is incumbent upon both the Parents towards every child for Art thou discontented with thy childless state Remember that of all the Roman Kings noâ— one of them left the Crown to his Son Plutarch de â—ranq anim the saving of their souls What uncessant labour is necessary in Teaching them the Doctrine of Salvation Which made God twice over charge them to teach his word diligently or sharpen them unto their children and to talk of them when they sit in their houses and when they walk by the way and when they lye down and when they rise up Deut. 6. 6 7. 11. 19. What abundance of obstinate rooted corruptions are in the hearts of Children which Parents must by all possible diligence root up O how great and hard a work is it to speak to them of their sins and Saviour of their God their souls and the life to come with that reverence gravity seriousness and unwearied constancy as the weight of the matter doth require and to suit all their actions and carriage to the same ends Little do most that have Children know what abundance of care and labour God will require of them for the sanctifying and saving of their Childrens souls Consider your fitness for so great a work before you undertake it § 37. 17. It is abundance of affliction that is ordinarily to be expected in the miscarriages of Children when you have done your best much more if you neglect your duty as even godly Parents too often do After all your pains and care and labour you must look that the foolishness of some and the obstinacy of others and the unthankfulness of those that you have loved best should even pierce your hearts You must look that many vices should spring up and trouble you and be the more grievous by how much your children are the more dear And O what a grief it is to breed up a Child to be a servant of the Devil and an enemy of God and godliness and a persecutor of the Church of God! And to think of his lying in Hell for ever And alas how great is the number of such 18. And it is not a little care and trouble that servants will put you to so difficult is it to get those that are good much more to make them good so great is your duty in teaching them and minding them of the matters of their salvation so frequent will be the displeasures about your work and worldly business and every one of those displeasures will hinder them for receiving your instructions that most families are houses of correction or affliction § 39. 19. And these marriage Crosses are not for a year but during life They deprive you of all hope of relief while you live
together There is no room for repentance nor casting about for a way to escape them Death only must be your relief And therefore such a change of your condition should be seriously fore-thought on and all the troubles be foreseen and pondered § 40. 20. And if Love make you dear to one another your parting at death will be the more grievous And when you first come together you know that such a parting you must have Through all the course of your lives you may foresee it One of you must see the Body of your beloved turned into a cold and ghastly clod You must follow it weeping to the grave and leave it there in dust and darkness There it must lye rotting as a loathsome lump whose sight or smell you cannot endure till you shortly follow it and lye down your self in the same condition All these are the ordinary concomitants and consequents of Marriage easily and quickly spoken but long and hard to be endured No fictions but realities and less than most have reason to expect And should such a life be rashly ventured on in a pang of lust or such a burden be undertaken without fore-thought § 41. But especially the Ministers of the Gospel should think what they do and think again before Of Ministers Marriage they enter upon a married life Not that it is simply unlawful for them or that they are to be tyed from it by a Law as they are in the Kingdom of Rome for carnal ends and with odious effects But so great a hinderance ordinarily is this troublesome state of life to the Sacred Ministration which they undertake that a very clear call should be expected for their satisfaction That I be not tedious consider well but of these four things 1. How well will a life of so much care and business agree to you that have time little enough for the greater work which you have undertaken Do you know what you have to do in publick and private in reading meditating praying preaching instructing personally and from house to house And do you know of how great importance it is even for the saving of mens souls And have you time to spare for so much worldly cares and business Are you not charged 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him that hath chosen him to be a Souldier Is not this plain Souldiers use not to look to Farms and Servants If you are faithful Ministers I dare confidently say you will find all your time so little for your proper work that many a time you will groan and say O how short and swift is time and O how great and slow is my work and duty 2. Consider how well a life of so great diversions avocations and distractions doth suit with a Mind devoted to God that should be alwayes free and ready for his service Your studies are on such great and mysterious subjects that they require the whole mind and all too little To resolve the many difficulties that are before you to prepare those suitable convincing words which may pierce and perswade the hearers hearts to get within the bosome of an hypocrite to follow on the Word till it attain its effect and to deal with poor souls according to their great necessity and handle Gods Word according to its Holiness and Majesty these are things that require Non bene fit quod occupato animo fit Hieron Epist. 553. ad Paulin. a whole man and are not employments for a divided or distracted mind The talking of Women and the crying of children and the cares and business of the world are ill preparations or attendants on these studies 3. Consider well whether a life of so great disturbance be agreeable to one whose Affections should be taken up for God and whose work must be all done not formally and affectedly with the lips alone but seriously with all the heart If your Heart and warm Affections be at any time left behind the life and power the beauty and glory of your work is lost How dead will your studies and praying and preaching and conference be And can you keep those Affections warm and vigorous for God and taken up with Heaven and Heavenly things which are disturbed with the cares and crosses of the world and taken up with carnal matters 4. And consider also how well that indigent life will agree to one that by charity and good works should second his Doctrine and win mens souls to the love of holiness If you feed not the bodies of the poor they will less relish the food of A single life doth well with Church-men for Charity will hardly water the ground where it must fill a pool Lord Bacon Essay 8. The greatest works and foundations have been from childless men who have sought to express the image of their minds that have none of their body So the care of posterity hath been most in them that had no posterity Lord Bacon Essay 9. He that hath a Wife and Children hath given hostages to Fortune For they are impediments to great Enterprises The best works and of greatest merit for the publick have proceeded from unmarried and childless men I◠Ibid. Essay 8. the soul Nay if you abound not above others in good works the blind malicious world will see nothing that is good in you but will say You have good words but where are your good works What abundance have I known hardned against the Gospel and Religion by a common fame that these Preachers are as covetous and worldly and uncharitable as any others And it must be something extraordinary that must confute such fame And what abundance of success have I seen of the labours of those Ministers who give all they have in works of Charity And though a rich and resolved man may do some good in a married state yet commonly it is next to nothing as to the ends now mentioned Wife and Children and Family-necessities devour all if you have never so much And some provision must be made for them when you are dead And the maintenance of the Ministry is not so great as to suffice well for all this much less for any eminent works of Charity besides Never reckon upon the doing of much good to the poor if you have Wives and Children of your own Such instances are rarities and wonders All will be too little for your selves Whereas if all that were given to the poor which goeth to the maintenance of your families you little know how much it would reconcile the minds of the ungodly and further the success of your Ministerial work § 42. Direct 3. If God call you to a married life expect all these troubles or most of them and make a particular preparation for each Temptation Cross and Duty which you must expect Think not that you are entring into
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
that you behaved not your selves like such as Loved them It doth not deserve the name of Love which can leave a soul to endless misery § 12. What then shall we say of them that do not only deny their help but are hinderers of the 1 King 11. 4. Act. 5. 2. â—â—â—â—â—s Adams tempter Job 2. 9. holiness and salvation of each other And yet the Lord have mercy on the poor miserable world how common a thing is this among us If the wife be ignorant and ungodly she will do her worst to make or keep her husband such as she is her self And if God put any holy inclinations into his heart she will be to it as water to the fire to quench it or to keep it under And if he will not be as sinful and miserable as her self he shall have little quietness or rest And if God open the eyes of the wife of a bad man and shew her the amiableness and necessity of a holy life and she do but resolve to obey the Lord and save her soul what an enemy and tyrant will her husband prove to her if God restrain him not so that the Devil himself doth scarce do more against the saving of their souls than ungodly Husbands and Wives do against each other § 13. 2. Consider also that you live not up to the Ends of Marriage nor of humanity if you are not helpers to each others souls To help each other only for your bellies is to live together but like beasts You are appointed to live together as heirs of the grace of life 1 Pet. 3. 7. And husbands must love their Wives as Christ loved his Church who gave himself for it that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it that he might present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 25 26 27. That which is the end of your very life and being must be the end of your relations and your daily converse § 14. 3. Consider also if you neglect each others souls what enemies you are to one another and how you prepare for your everlasting sorrows When you should be preparing for your joyful meeting in Heaven you are laying up for your selves everlasting horrour What a dreadful meeting and greeting will you have at the bar of Christ or in the flames of hell when you shall find there how perversly you have done Is it not better to be praising God together in Glory than to be rageing 1 Thes. 5. 11. Heb. 12. 15. Col 2. 19. Eph. 4. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 5. Gen. 35. 2 4. Lev. 19. 17. against each other in the horrour of your Consciences and flying in the faces of one another with such accusations as these O cruel Husband O merciless deceitful Wife It was long of you that I came to this miserable woful End I might have lived with Christ and his Saints in Joy and now I am tormented in these flames in desperation You were commanded by God to have given me warning and told me of my sin and misery and never to let me rest in it but to have instructed and intreated me till I had come home by Christ that I might not have come to this place of torment But you never so much as spake to me of God and my salvation unless it were lightly in jeast or in your common talk If the house had been on fire you would have been more earnest to have quenched it than you were to save my soul from hell You never told me seriously of the misery of a natural unrenewed state nor of the great necessity of regeneration and a holy life nor never talkt to me of Heaven and Hell as matters of such consequence should have been mentioned But morning and night your talk was nothing but about the world and the things of the world your idle talk and jesting and froward and carnal and unprofitable discourse was it that filled up all Numb 16. 27 32. the time and we had not one sober word of our salvation You never seriously foretold me of this day You never prayed with me nor read the Scripture and good Books to me You took no pains to help me to knowledge nor to humble my hardened heart for my sins nor to save me from them nor to draw me to the Love of God and holiness by faith in Christ You did not go before me with the good example of a holy and heavenly conversation but with the evil example of an ungodly fleshly worldly life You neither cared for your own soul nor mine nor I for yours or mine own and now we are justly condemned together that would not live in Holiness together O foolish miserable souls that by your ungodliness and negligence in this life will prepare each other for such a life of endless wo and horror O therefore resolve without delay to live together as the heirs of Heaven and to be helpers to Directions to help each other to salvation each others souls To which end I will give you these following Sub-directions which if you will faithfully practise may make you to be special blessings to each other § 15. Direct 1. If you would help to save each others souls you must each of you be sure that Subdirect 1. you have a care of your own and retain a deep and lively apprehension of those great and everlasting matters of which you are to speak to others It cannot be reasonably expected that he should have Gen. 2. 18. a due compassion to anothers soul that hath none to his own and that he should be at the pains that is needful to help another to salvation that setteth so little by his own as to sell it for the base and momentany ease and pleasure of the flesh Nor is it to be expected that a man should speak with any suitable weight and seriousness about those matters whose weight his heart did never feel and about which he was never serious himself First see that you feel throughly that which you would speak profitably and that you be what you perswade another to be and that all your counsel may be perceived to arise from the bottom of your hearts and that you speak of things which by experience you are well acquainted with § 16. Direct 2. Take those opportunities which your ordinary nearness and familiarity affordeth Subdirect 2. you to be speaking seriously to each other about the matters of God and your salvation When you lye down and rise together let not your worldly business have all your talk but let God and your souls have the first and the last and at least the freest and sweetest of your speech if not the most When you have said so much of your common business as the nature and dispatch of it requireth â—ay it by and talk together of the state and duty of your souls towards God and of your hopes of Heaven as those that
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
Religious Countreys among more wise and learned men than he converseth with at home and have sufficient motives for his course But to send young raw unsettled persons among Papists and prophane licentious people though perhaps some sober person be in company with them and this only to see the Countreys and fashions of the World is an action unbeseeming any Christian that knoweth the pravity of humane nature and the mutability of young unfurnished heads and the subtilty of deceivers and the contagiousness of sin and errour and the worth of a soul and will not do as some Conjurers or Witches even sell a soul to the Devil on condition he may see and know the fashions of the world which alas I can quickly know enough of to grieve my heart without travelling so far to see them If an other Countrey have more of Christ and be nearer Heaven the invitation is great but if it have more of sin and Hell I had rather know Hell and the Suburbs of it too by the Map of the Word of God than by going thither And if such children return not the confirmed children of the Devil and prove not the calamity of their Countrey and the Church let them thank special grace and not their Parents or themselves They over-value that vanity which they call Breeding who will hazard the substance even Heavenly Wisdom Holiness and Salvation to go so far for so vain a shadow § 16. Direct 16. Teach your children to know the pretiousness of Time and suffer them not to mispend Direct 16. an hour Be often speaking to them how pretious a thing Time is and how short mans life is and how great his work and how our endless life of joy or misery dependeth on this little Time Speak odiously to them of the sin of those that play and idle away their time And keep account of all their hours and suffer them not to lose any by excess of sleep or excess of play or any other way but engage them still in some employment that is worth their Time Train up your children in a life of diligence and labour and use them not to ease and idleness when It was one of the Roman Laws of thâ— twelve Tablâ—â— Filius aâ—â—e 〈…〉 â—â—ns 〈…〉 curia 〈…〉 vitâ—â—â—â— c 〈…〉 ne prâ—staâ—o Alioquâ— parentes nutrire câ—gitor A Son â—hat is taught to Trade to live by shall not be bound to keep his Parents in want but others shall Ezek. 16. 49. they are young Our wandring Beggars and too many of the Gentry utterly undo their children by this means Especially the female Sex They are taught no Calling nor exercised in any employment but only such as is meet for nothing but ornament and recreation at the best and therefore should have but recreation-hours which is but a small proportion of their time So that by the sin of their Parents they are betimes engaged in a life of Idleness which afterward it is wondrous hard for them to overcome And they are taught to live like Swine or Vermine that live only to live and do small good in the world by living To rise and dress and adorn themselves and take a walk and so to dinner and thence to Cards or Dice or chat and idle talk or some play or visit or recreation and so to Supper and to chat again and to bed is the lamentable life of too many that have great obligations to God and greater matters to do if they were acquainted with them And if they do but interpose a few hypocritical heartless words of prayer they think they have piously spent the day Yea the health of many is utterly ruined by such idle fleshly education so that disuse doth disable them from any considerable motion or exercise which is necessary to preserve their health It would move ones heart with pity to see how the houses of some of the Higher sort are like Hospitals and education hath made especially the females like the lame or sick or bedrid so that one part of the day that should be spent in some profitable employment is spent in bed and the rest in doing nothing or worse than nothing and most of their life is made miserable by diseases so that if their legs be but used to carry them about they are presently out of breath and are a burden to themselves and few of them live out little more than half their dayes Whereas poor creatures if their own Parents had not betrayed them into the sins of Sodom Pride fulness of bread and abundance of Idleness they might have been in health and lived like honest Christian people and their legs and arms might have served them for Use as well as for integrality and ornament § 17. Direct 17. Let necessary correction be used with discretion according to these following Rules Direct 17. 1. Let it not be so seldome if necessary as to leave them fearless and so make it uneffectual and let it not be so frequent as to discourage them or breed in them a hatred of their Parents 2. Let it be different according to the different tempers of your children Some are so tender and timerous and apt to be discouraged that little or no correction may be best And some are so hardned and obstistinate that it must be much and sharp correction that must keep them from dissoluteness and contempt 3. Let it be more for sin against God as lying railing filthy speaking prophaneness c. than for faults about your worldly business 4. Correct them not in passion but stay till they perceive that you are calmed For they will think else that your anger rather than your reason is the cause 5. Alwayes shew them the tenderness of your Love and how unwilling you are to correct them if they could be reformed any easier way and convince them that you do it for their good 6. Make them read those Texts of Scripture which condemn their sin and then those which command you to correct them As for example if Lying be their sin turn them first to Prov. 12. 22. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his delight and 13. 5. A righteous man hateth lying John 8. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the Father of it Rom. 22. 15. For without are dogs and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye And next turn him to Prov. 13. 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his Son but be that loveth him chastneth him betimes Prov. 29. 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom but a child left to himself bringeth his Mother to shame Prov. 22. 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him Prov. 23. 13 14. Withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not die Thou shalt beat him with the rod
and shalt deliver his soul from Hell Prov. 19. 18. Chasten thy Son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying Ask him whether he would have you by sparing him to disobey God and hate him and destroy his soul. And when his reason is convinced of the reasonableness of correcting him it will be the more sucessful § 18. Direct 18. Let your own example teach your children that holiness and heavenliness and Direct 18. blamelessness of tongue and life which you desire them to learn and practise The example of Parents is most powerful with children both for good and evil If they see you live in the fear of God it will do much to perswade them that it is the most necessary and excellent course of life and that they must do so too And if they see you live a carnal voluptuous and ungodly life and hear you curse or swear or talk filthily or railingly it will greatly embolden them to imitate you If you speak Direct 19. never so well to them they will sooner believe your bad lives than your good words § 19. Direct 19. Choose such a Calling and course of life for your children as tendeth most to the saving of their souls and to their publick usefulness for Church or State Choose not a Calling that is most lyable to temptations and hinderances to their salvation though it may make them rich but a Calling which alloweth them some leisure for the remembring the things of everlasting consequence and fit opportunities to get good and to do good If you bind them Apprentices or Servants if it be possible place them with men fearing God and not with such as will harden them in their sin § 20. Direct 20. When they are marriageable and you find it needful look out such for them as are Direct 20. suitable betimes When Parents stay too long and do not their duties in this their children often choose for themselves to their own undoing For they choose not by judgement but blind affection § 21. Having thus told you the common duties of Parents for their children I should next have Direct 1. told you what specially belongeth to each Parent but to avoid prolixity I shall only desire you to remember especially these two Directions 1. That the Mother who is still present with children when they are young be very diligent in teaching them and minding them of good things When the Fathers are abroad the Mothers have more frequent opportunities to instruct them and be still speaking to them of that which is most necessary and watching over them This is the greatest service that most women can do for God in the world Many a Church that hath been blessed with a good Minister may thank the pious education of Mothers And many a thousand souls in Heaven may thank the holy care and diligence of Mothers as the first effectual means Good women this way by the good education of their children are ordinarily great blessings both to Church and State And so some understand 1 Tim. 2. 15. by Child-bearing meaning bringing up children for Direct 2. God but I rather think it is by Maries bearing Christ the promised seed 2. By all means let children be taught to read if you are never so poor and what ever shift you make or else you deprive them of a singular help to their instruction and salvation It is a thousand pities that a Bible should signifie no more than a Chip to a rational creature as to their reading it themselves and that so many excellent Books as be in the world should be as sealed or insignificant to them § 22. But if God deny you children and save you all this care and labour repine not but be thankful believing it is best for you Remember what a deal of duty and pains and hearts grief he hath freed you from and how few speed well when Parents have done their best what a life of misery children must here pass through and how sad the fear of their sin and damnation would have been to you CHAP. XI The special Duties of Children towards their Parents THough Precepts to Children are not of so much force as to them of riper age because of their natural incapacity and their childish passions and pleasures which bear down their weak dâ—gree of Reason yet somewhat is to be said to them because that measure of Reason which they have is to be exercised and by exercise to be improved and because even those of riper years while they have Parents must know and do their duty to them and because God useth to bless even children as they perform their duties § 1. Direct 1. Be sure that you dearly love your Parents Delight to be in their company Be not Direct 1. like those unnatural children that love the company of their idle play-fellows better than their Parents and had rather be abroad about their sports than in their Parents sight Remember that you have your Being from them and come out of their loins Remember what sorrow you have cost them and what care they are at for your education and provision and remember how tenderly they have loved you and what grief it will be to their hearts if you miscarry and how much your happiness will make them glad Remember what Love you owe them both by Nature and in Iustice for all their Love to you and all that they have done for you They take your Happiness or Misery to be one of the greatest parts of the Happiness or Misery of their own lives Deprive them not then of their Happiness bâ— depriving your selves of your own Make not their lives miserable by undoing your selves Though they chide you and restrain you and correct you do not therefore abate your Love to them For this is their Duty which God requireth of them and they do it for your good It is a sign of a wicked child that loveth his Parents the less because they correct him and will not let him have his own will Yea though your Parents have many faults themselves yet you must love them as your Parents still § 2. Direct 2. Honour your Parents both in your Thoughts and speeches and behaviour Think Direct 2. not dishonourably or contemptuously of them in your hearts Speak not dishonourably rudely unreverently or sawcily either to them or of them Behave not your selves rudely and unreverently before them Yea though your Parents be never so poor in the world or weak of understanding yea though they were ungodly you must honour them notwithstanding all this Though you cannot honour them as Rich or Wise or Godly you must honour them as your Parents Remember that the fifth Commandment hath a special promise of temporal blessing Honour thy Father and Mother that thy dayes may be long in the land c. And consequently the dishonourers of Parents have a special curse even in this life And the Justice of
all your dayes § 2. Direct 2. Remember that you are entring into the way to everlasting life and not into a place Direct 2. of happiness or continuance Presently therefore set your hearts on Heaven and make it the design of all your lives to live in Heaven with Christ for ever O happy you if God betimes will throughly teach you to know what it is that must make you happy and if at your first setting out your End be right and your faces be Heavenward Remember that as soon as you begin to live you are hasting toward the end of your lives Even as a Candle as soon as it beginneth to burn and the Hour-glass as soon as it is turned is wasting and hasting to its end So as soon as you begin to live your lives are in a Consumption and posting towards your final hour As a runner as soon as he beginneth his race is hasting to the end of it so are your lives even in your youngest time It is another kind of life that you must live for ever than this trifling pitiful fleshly life Prepare therefore speedily for that which God sent you hither to prepare for O happy you if you begin betime and go on with cheerful resolution to the end It is blessed wisdom to be wise betime and to know the worth of Time in childhood before any of it be wasted and lost upon the fooleries of the world Then you may grow wise indeed and be treasuring up understanding and growing up in sweet acquaintance with the Lord when others are going backwards and daily making work for sad repentance or final desperation Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say of all things here below I have no pleasure in them § 3. Direct 3. Remember that you have corrupted Natures to be cured and that Christ is the Physicion Direct 3. that must cure them and the Spirit of Christ must dwell within you and make you holy and give 2 Cor. 5. 17. Rom 8 9. â—3 John 3. 3 5 6. you a new heart and nature which shall Love God and Heaven above all the honour and pleasures of the world Rest not therefore till you find that you are born anew and that the Holy Ghost hath made you hâ—ly and quickned your hearts with the Love of God and of your dear Redeemer The old nature loveth the things of this world and the pleasures of the flesh but the New Nature loveth the Lord that made you and Redeemed and Renewed you and the endless joyes of the world to come and that holy life which is the way thereto § 4. Direct 4. Take heed of loving the pleasures of the flesh in overmuch eating or drinking or Direct 4. play Set not your hearts upon your bâ—lly or your sport Let your meat and sleep and play be moderate Meddle not with Cards or Dice or any bewitching or riotous sports Play not for money lest it stir up covetous desires and tempt you to be over eager in it and to lye and wrangle and fall out with others Use neither food or sports which are not for your health A greedy appetite enticeeth children to devour raw fruits and to rob their neighbours Orchards and at once to undo soul and body And an excessive love of play doth cause them to run among bad companions and lose their time and destroyeth the love of their Books and their duty and their Parents themselves and all 1 Cor. 10. 31. that 's good You must eat and sleep and play for health and not for useless hurtful pleasure § 5. Direct 5. Subdue your own wills and desires to the will of God and your superiours and be not Direct 5. eagerly set upon any thing which God or your Parents do deny you Be not like those self-willed fleshly children that are importunate for any thing which their fansie or appetite would have and cry or are discontent if they have it not Say not that I must have this or that But be contented with any thing which is the will of God and your Superiours It is the greatest misery and danger in the world Psal. 81. 10 11 12. to have all your own wills and to be given up to your hearts desire § 6. Direct 6. Take heed of a custome of foolish filthy railing lying or any other sinful Direct 6. words You think it is a small matter but God thinketh not so It is not a jeasting matter to sin against the God that made you It is fools that make a sport with sin Prov. 14. 9. 10. 23. 26. 19. One lye one curse one oath one ribbald or railing or deriding word is worse than all the pain that ever your flesh endured § 7. Take heed of such company and playfellows as would entice and tempt you to any of these sins Direct 7. and choose such company as will help you in the fear of God And if others mock at you care no more for it than for the shaking of a leaf or the barking of a Dog Take heed of lewd and wicked company as ever you care for the saving of your souls If you hear them rail or lye or swear or talk filthily be not ashamed to tell them that God forbiddeth you to keep company with such as they Psal. 119. 63. Prov. 13. 20. 18. 7. 1 Cor. 5. 12. Eph. 5. 11. 4. § 8. Direct 8. Take heed of Pride and Covetousness Desire not to be fine nor to get all to Direct 8. your selves but be humble and meek and love one another and be as glad that others are pleased as your selves § 9. Direct 9. Love the Word of God and all good Books which would make you wiser and Direct 9. better and read not Play-books nor Tale-books nor Love-books or any idle stories When idle Children are at play and fooleries let it be your pleasure to read and learn the mysteries of your salvation § 10. Direct 10. Remember that you keep holy the Lords Day Spend not any of it in play or idleness Direct 10. Reverence the Ministers of Christ and mark what they teach you and remember it is a message from God about the saving of your souls Ask your Parents when you come home to help your understandings and memories in any thing which you understood not or forgat Love all the holy exercises of the Lords Day and let them be pleasanter to you than your meat or play § 11. Direct 11. Be as careful to practise all as to hear and read it Remember all is but Direct 11. to make you holy to love God and obey him Take heed of sinning against your knowledge and against the warnings that are given you § 12. Direct 12. When you grow up by the direction of your Parents choose such a Trade or Calling Direct 12. as alloweth you
the week IT somewhat tendeth to make a holy life more easie to us when we know the ordinary course and method of our duties and every thing falleth into its proper place As it helpeth the Husbandman or Tradesman to know the ordinary course of his work that he need not go out of it unless in extraordinary cases Therefore I shall here give you some brief Directions for the holy spending of every day § 1. Direct 1. Proportion the time of your sleep aright if it be in your power that you waste Direct 1. not your pretious morning hours sluggishly in your bed Let the time of your sleep be rationally fitted to your health and labour and not sensually to your slothful pleasure About six hours is meet for healthful people and seven hours for the less healthful and eight for the more weak and aged ordinarily The morning hours are to most the preitousest of all the day for all our duties especially servants that are scanted of time must take it then for prayer if possible leâ—t they have none at all § 2. Direct 2. Let God have your first awaking thoughts Lift up your hearts to him reverently Direct 2. and thankfully for the rest of the night past and briefly cast your selves upon him for the following day and use your selves so constantly to this that your consciences may check you when common thoughts shall first intrude And if you have a Bed-fellow to speak to let your first speech be agreeable to your thoughts It will be a great help against the temptations that may else surprize you and a holy engagement of your hearts to God for all the day § 3. Direct 3. Resolve that pride and the fashions of the times shall never tempt you into such a Direct 3. garb of attire as will make you long in dressing you in the morning but wear such cloathing as is soon put on It 's dear-bought bravery or decency as they will needs call it which must cost every day an hours or a quarter of an hours time extraordinary I had rather go as the wilde Indians than have those morning hours to answer for as too many Ladies and other gallants have § 4. Direct 4. If you are persons of quality you may employ a child or servant to read a Chapter Direct 4. in the Bible while you are dressing you and eating your breakfast if you eat any Else you may employ that time in some fruitful meditation or conference with those about you as far as your necessary occasions do give leave As to think or speak of the mercy of a nights rest and of your renewed time and how many spent that night in hell and how many in prison and how many in a colder harder lodging and how many in grievous pain and sickness aweary of their beds and of their lives and how many in distracting terrours of their minds and how many souls that night were called from their bodies to appear before the dreadful God And think how fast days and nights â—oul on and how speedily your last night and day will come And observe what is wanting in the readiness of your soul for such a time and seek it presently without delay § 5. Direct 5. If more necessary duties call you not away let secret prayer by your self alone or Direct 5. with your chamber-fellow or both go before the common prayers of the family and delay it not causlesly but if it may be let it be first before any other work of the day Yet be not formal and superstitious to your hours as if God had absolutely tyed you to such a time nor think it not your duty to pray once in secret and once with your chamber-fellow and once with the family every morning when more necessary duties call you off That hour is best for one which is worst for another To most private prayer is most seasonable as soon as they are up and cloathed To others some other hour may be more free and fit And those persons that have not more necessary duties may do well to pray at all the opportunities before-mentioned But reading and meditation must be allowed their time also And the labours of your callings must be painfully followed And servants and poor people that are not at liberty or that have a necessity of providing for their families may not lawfully take so much time for prayer as some others may especially the aged and weak that cannot follow a calling may take longer time And Ministers that have many souls to look after and publick work to do must take heed of neglecting any of this that they may be longer and oftener in private prayer Allwayes remember that when two duties are at once before you and one must be omitted that you prefer that which all things considered is the greatest And understand what maketh a duty greatest Usually that is greatest which tendeth to the greatest good yet sometime that is greatest at that time which cannot be done at another time when others may Praying in it self considered is better than Plowing or Marketting or Conference And yet these may be greater than it in their proper seasons because prayer may be done at another time when these cannot § 6. Direct 6. Let family-worship be performed constantly and seasonably twice a day at that hour Direct 6. which is freest in regard of interruptions not delaying it without just cause But whenever it is performed be sure it be reverently seriously and spiritually done If greater duty hinder not begin with a brief invocation of Gods name and craving of his help and blessing through Christ and then read some part of the holy Scripture in order and either help the hearers to understand it and apply it or if you are unable for that then read some profitable Book to them for such ends and sing a Psalm if there be enough to do it fitly and earnestly pour out your souls in Prayer But if unavoidable occasions will not give way to all this do what you can especially in prayer and do the rest another time but pretend not necessity against any duty when it is but unwillingness or negligence The lively performance of Family-duties is a principal means to keep up the power and interest of Godliness in the world which all decays when these grow dead and slight and formal § 7. Direct 7. Renew the actual intention and remembrance of your ultimate end when you set your Direct 7. selves to your days work or set upon any notable business in the world Let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do Do no work which you cannot entitle God to and truly say he set you about And do nothing in the world for any other ultimate end than to Please and Glorifie and Enjoy him And remember that whatever you do must be done as a means to these and as by one that is that way going
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
Christ and his Disciples But walk with the most Holy and blameless and charitable that live upon that truth which others talk of and are seeking to please God by the wisdom which is first pure and then peaceable and gentle Jam. 3. 17 18 when others are contending for their several sects or seeking to please Christ by killing him or censuring him or slandering him in his servants Ioh. 16. 2 3. Matth. 25. 45. 40. Direct 8. § 8. Direct 8. Keep a just account of your Practice Examine your selves in the end of every day and week how you have spent your time and practised what you were taught and judge your selves before God according at you find it Yea you must call your selves to account every hour what you are doing and how you do it whether you are upon Gods work or not And your hearts must be watcht and followed like unfaithful servants and like loitering Scholars and driven on to every duty like a dull or tired horse § 9. Direct 9. Above all set your hearts to the deepest contemplations of the wonderful Love of God Direct 9. in Christ and the sweetness and excellency of a holy life and the certain incomprehensible glory which it tendeth to that your souls may be in Love with your dear Redeemer and all that is holy and Love and obedience may be as natural to you And then the practice of holy doctrine will be easie to you when it is your delight § 10. Direct 10. Take heed that you receive not ungrounded or unnecessary prejudices against the Direct 10. person of the Preacher For that will turn away your heart and lock it up against his doctrine And therefore abhor the spirit of uncharitableness cruelty and faction which alway bendeth to the suppressing or vilifying and disgracing all those that are not of their way and for their interest And be not so blind as not to observe that the very design of the Devil in raising up divisions among Christians is that he may use the tongues or hands of one another to vilifie them all and make them odious to one another and to disable one another from hindering his Kingdom and doing any considerable service to Christ. So that when a Minister of Christ should be winning souls either he is forbidden or he is despised and the hearers are saying O he is such or such a one according to the names of reproach which the Enemy of Christ and Love hath taught them CHAP. XX. Directions for profitable Reading the holy Scriptures § 1. SEeing the diversity of mens tempers and understandings is so exceeding great that it is impossible that any thing should be pleasing and suitable to some which shall not be disliked and quarrelled with by others and seeing in the Scriptures there are many things hard to be understood which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. and the Word is to some the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. You Mar. 4. 24. have therefore need to be careful in Reading it And as Christ saith Luke 8. 18. Take heed how you hear so I say Take heed how you read § 2. Direct 1. Bring not an evil heart of Unbelief Open the Bible with holy Reverence as the Book Direct 1. Read Chap. 3. Dir. 1. and against Unbelief Tom. 1. of God indited by the Holy Ghost Remember that the Doctrine of the New Testament was revealed by the Son of God who was purposely sent from Heaven to be the Light of the world and to make known to men the Will of God and the matters of their salvation Bethink you well if God should but send a Book or Letter to you by an Angel how reverently you would receive it How carefully you would peruse it and regard it above all the Books in the world And how much rather should you do so by that Book which is indited by the Holy Ghost and recordeth the doctrine of Christ himself whose authority is greater than all the Angels Read it not therefore as a common Book with a common and unreverent heart but in the dread and Love of God the Author Direct 2. § 3. Direct 2. Remember that it is the very Law of God which you must live by and be judged by at last And therefore read it with a full Resolution to obey what ever it commandeth though flesh and men and Devils contradict it Let there be no secret exceptions in your heart to baulk any of its Precepts and shift off that part of obedience which the flesh accounteth difficult or dear § 4. Direct 3. Remember that it is the Will and Testament of your Lord and the Covenant of most Direct 3. full and gracious Promises which all your Comforts and all your hopes of pardon and everlasting life are built upon Read it therefore with Love and great delight Value it a thousand fold more than you would do the letters of your dearest friend or the Deeds by which you hold your Lands or any thing else of low concernment If the Law was sweeter to David than honey and better than thousands of Gold and Silver and was his delight and meditation all the day O what should the sweet and pretious Gospel be to us Direct 4. § 5. Direct 4. Remember that it is a Doctrine of unseen things and of the greatest Mysteries and therefore come not to it with arrogance as a Iudge but with Humility as a Learner or Disciple And if any thing seem difficult or improbable to you suspect your own unfurnished understanding and not the sacred Word of God If a Learner in any Art or Science will suspect his Teacher and his Books when ever he is stalled or meeteth with that which seemeth unlikely to him his pride would keep possession for his ignorance and his folly were like to be uncurable Direct 5. § 6. Direct 5. Remember that it is an Universal Law and Doctrine written for the most ignorant as well as for the curious and therefore must be suited in plainness to the capacity of the simple and yet have matter to exercise the most subtile wits and that God would have the style to savâ—ur more of the innocent weakness of the instruments than the matter Therefore be not offended or troubled when the style dâ—th seem less polite than you might think beseemed the Holy Ghost nor at the plainness of some parts or the mysteriousness of others But adore the wisdom and tender condescension of God to his poor creatures § 7. Direct 6. Bring not a carnal mind which savoureth only fleshly things and is enslaved to those Direct 6. sins which the Scripture doth condemn For the carnal mind is enmity against God and neither is nor can be subject to his Law Rom. 8. 7 8. And the things of God are not discerned by the meer natural man for they are foolishness to him and they must be spiritually
among those that cannot pray Iohn and Christ taught their Disciples Mat. 6. Luk. 11. to pray Tit. 4. Special Directions for secret Prayer § 1. Direct 1. LET it be in as secret a place as conveniently you can that you may not be Direct 1. disturbed Let it be done so that others may not be witnesses of it if you can avoid it and yet take it not for your duty to keep it unknown that you pray secretly at all for that will be a snare and scandal to them § 2. Direct 2. Let your voice be suited to your own help and benefit if none else hear you If it be Direct 2. needful to the orderly proceeding of your own thoughts or to the warming of your own affections you may use a voice But if others be within hearing it is very unfit § 3. Direct 3. In secret let the matter of your prayers be that which is most peculiarly your own Direct 3. concernment or those secret things that are not fit for publick prayer or are there passed by Yet never forgetting the highest interest of Christ and the Gospel and the World and Church § 4. Direct 4. Be less sollicitous about words in secret than with others and lay out your care about Direct 4. the heart For that 's it that God most esteemeth in your prayers § 5. Direct 5. Do not through carnal unwillingness grow into a neglect of secret prayer when you Direct 5. have time Nor yet do not superstitiously tye your selves to just so long time whether you are fit or at leisure from greater duties or not But be the longer when you are most fit and vacant and the shorter when you are not To give way to every carnal backwardness is the sin on one side and to resolve to spend so long time when you do but tire your selves and sleep or business or distemper maketh it a lifeless thing is a sin on the other side Avoid them both § 6 Direct 6. A melancholy person who is unfit for much solitariness and heart-searchings must be much Direct 6. short if not also seldomer in secret prayers than other Christians that are capable of bearing it And they must instead of that which they cannot do be the more in that which they can do As in joyning with others and in short ejaculations besides other duties but not abatâ—ing their piety in the main upon any pretence of curing melancholy CHAP. XXIV Brief Directions for Families about the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. OMitting those things which concern the publick administration of this Sacrament for the Reasons before intimated Tom 2. I shall here only give you some brief Directions for your private duty herein § 1. Direct 1. Understand well the proper ends to which this Sacrament was instituted by Direct 1. Christ and take heed that you use it not to ends for which it never was appointed The true ends Q. What are the Ends of the Sacramâ—nâ— Matth. 26. 28. Mar. 14. â—4 Luâ— â—2 â—0 1 Cor. 11. 25. Heb. 9. 15 16 â—â— 1â— 1 Cor. 10. 16 24. Joh. 6. 32 35 51 58. are these 1. To be a solemn commemoration of the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ to keep it as it were in the eye of the Church in his bodily absence till he come 1 Cor. 11. 24 25 26. 2. To be a solemn renewing of the holy Covenant which was first entred in Baptism between Christ and the Receiver And in that Covenant it is on Christs part a solemn delivery of Himself first and with Himself the Benefits of Pardon Reconciliation Adoption and right to life eternal And on mans part it is our solemn acceptance of Christ with his Benefits upon his terms and a Delivering up our selves to Him as his Redeemed ones even to the Father as our Reconciled Father and to the Son as our Lord and Saviour and to the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier with Professed Thankfulness for so great a benefit 3. It is appointed to be a lively objective means by which the spirit of Christ should work to stir up and exercise and increase the Repentance Faith Desire Love Hope Ioy Thankfulness and new-obedience of Believers by a lively Representation of the evil of sin the infinite Love of God in Christ the firmness of the Covenant or promise the greatness and sureness of the mercy given and the blessedness purchased and promised to us and the great obligations that are laid upon us And that herein Believers might be solemnly called out to the most serious exercise of all these 1 Cor. 11. 27 28 29 31. 1 Cor. 10. 16 17 â—1 1 Cor. 11. 25 26. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Act 2 42 46. 20. 7. graces and might be provoked and assisted to stir up themselves to this Communion with God in Christ and to pray for more as through a sacrificed Christ. 4. It is appointed to be the solemn profession of Believers of their Faith and Love and Gratitude and obedience to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and of continuing firm in the Christian Religion And a badge of the Church before the world 5. And it is appointed to be a signe and means of the Unity Love and Communion of Saints and their readiness to communicate to each other § 2. The false mistaken ends which you must avoid are these 1. You must not with the Papists think that the end of it is to turn Bread into no bread and Wine into no wine and to make them Really the true Body and blood of Jesus Christ. For if sense which telleth all men that it is still Bread and wine be not to be believed then we cannot believe that ever there was a Gospel or an Apostle or a Pope or a man or any thing in the world And the Apostle expresly calleth it Bread three times in three verses together after the consecration 1 Cor. 11. 26 27 28. And he telleth us that the use of it is not to make the Lords Body really present but to shew the Lords death till be come that is As a visible representing and commemorating sign to be instead of his bodily presence till he come § 3. 2. Nor must you with the Papists use this Sacrament to sacrifice Christ again really unto the Father to propitiate him for the quick and dead and ease souls in Purgatory and deliver them out Rom. 6. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Heb. 9. 26. 10. 12 26. Heb. 9. 24. of it For Christ having dyed once dyeth no more and without killing him there is no sacrificing him By once offering up himself he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and now there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin Having finished the sacrificing work on earth he is now passed into the Heavens to appear before God for his Redeemed ones § 4. 3. Nor is it any better than odious impiety to receive the Sacrament to
consenteth to the Covenant may boldly come and signifie his Consent and receive the sealed Covenant of God For Consent is your preparation or the necessary condition of your Right If you Consent not you refuse all the mercy of the Covenant And dare you live in such a state Suppose a Pardon be offered to a condemned Thief but so that if he after cast it in the dirt or turn Traytor he shall dye a sorer death will he rather choose to dye than take it and say I am afraid I shall abuse it To refuse Gods Covenant is certain death but to Consent is your preparation and your life § 25. Quest. 7. But what if Superiours compell such a Christian to communicate or else they will excommunicate Quest. 7. and imprison him What then should he choose Answ. If he could do it without his own souls hurt he should obey them supposing that it is nothing but that which in it self is good that they command him But they have their power to 2 Cor. 13. 10. Matth. 10. 28. edification and not to destruction and he must value his soul above his body and therefore it is past question that it is a smaller hurt to be excommunicated and lye and dye in Prison than to cast his soul into despair by doing that which he thinketh is a grievous sin and would be his damnation But all means must be used to cure the mistake of his own understanding § 26. Quest. 8. Is not the case of an Hypocrite that knoweth not himself to be an hypocrite and of Quest. 8. a sincere Christian that knoweth not himself to be sincere all one as to communicating when both are equally in doubt Answ. No For Being and Seeing are things that must be distinguished The one hath grace in Being though he see it not and therefore hath a Right to the blessings of the Covenant and therefore at once remaineth obliged both to Discern his Title and to Come and take it And therefore if he come doubtingly his sin is not that he Receiveth but in the Manner of receiving that he doth it doubtingly And therefore it will be a greater sin not to receive at all unless in the last mentioned case wherein the consequents are like to be worse to him But the other hath no true Repentance or Faith or Love in Being and therefore hath no Right to the blessings of the Covenant and therefore at present is obliged to discern that he is graceless and to Repent of it and it is not his sin that he doubteth of his title but that he demandeth and taketh what he hath no title to And therefore it is a greater sin in him to Take it than to delay in order to his recovery and preparation Yea even in point of Comfort there is some disparity For though the true Christian hath far greater terrors than hypocrites when he taketh himself to be an unworthy Receiver as being more sensible and regardful of the weight of the matter yet usually in the midst of all his fears there are some secret testimonies in his heart of the Love of God which are a Cordial of hope that keep him from sinking into despair and have more life and power in them than all the hypocrites false perswasions of his own sincerity § 27. Quest. 9. Wherein lyeth the sin of an hypocrite and ungodly person if he do receive Quest. 9. Answ. His sin is 1. In lying and hypocrisie in that he professeth to Repent unfeignedly of his sin and to be resolved for a holy life and to Believe in Christ and to Accept him on his Covenant-terms and to give up himself to God as his Father his Saviour and his Sanctifier and to forsake the flesh the world and the Devil when indeed he never did any of this but secretly abhorreth it at his heart and will not be perswaded to it And so all this profession and his very Covenanting it self and his Receiving as it is a professing-Covenanting-sign is nothing but a very lye And what it is to lye to the Holy Chost the case of Ananias and Sapphira telleth us 2. It is usurpation to come and lay claim to those Benefits which he hath no title to 3. It is a prophanation of these holy mysteries to be thus Commandment 2. 3. Lev. 10. 2 3. used and it is a taking of Gods Name in vain who is a jealous God and will be sanctified of all that draw near unto him 4. And it is a wrong to the Church of God and the Communion of Saints and the honour of the Christian Religion that such ungodly hypocrites intrude as members As it is to the Kings Army when the enemies spies creep in amongst them or to his Marriage-feast to have a guest in rags Matth. 22. 11 12. Object But it is no Lye because they think they say true in their profession Answ. That is through their sinful negligence and self-deceit And he is a lyar that speaks a falshood which he may and ought to know to be a falshood though he do not know it There is a Lyar in Rashness and Negligence as well as of set purpose § 28. Quest. 10. Doth all unworthy receiving make a man lyable to damnation Or what unworthiness Quest. 10. is it that is so threatned 1 Cor. 11. 28 29. Answ. There are three sorts of unworthiness or unfitness and three sorts of judgement answerably to be feared 1. There is the utter unworthiness of an Infidel or Impenitent ungodly hypocrite And damnation to Hell fire is the punishment that such must expect if conversion prevent it not 2. There is an unworthiness through some great and scandalous crime which a regenerate person falleth into and this should stop him from the Sacrament for a time till he have repented and cast away his sin And if he come before he rise from his fall by a particular Repentance as the Corinthians that sinned in the very use of the Sacrament it self they may expect some notable Vid. Synod Doâ—â—draâ— suffrag Theol. Brittan in Artic 5. temporal judgement at the present and if Repentance did not prevent it they might fear eternal punishment 3. There is that measure of unworthiness which consisteth in the ordinary infirmities of a Saint and this should not at all deterr them from the Sacrament because it is accompanied with a greater worthiness yea though their weakness appear in the time and manner of their Receiving But yet ordinary corrections may follow these ordinary infirmities The grosser abuse of the Sacrament it self I joyn under the second rank Quest. 11. What is the particular preparation needful to a fit Communicant Quest. 11. Answ. This bringeth me up to the next Direction § 29. Direct 5. Let your Preparation to this Sacrament consist of these particulars following Direct 5. 1. In your duty with your own consciences and hearts 2. In your duty towards God 3. And in your duty towards your neighbour
words of the Institution are read and the Bread and Wine are solemnly Consecrated by separating them to that sacred use and the acceptance and blessing of God is desired admire the mercy that prepared us a Redeemer and say O God how wonderful is thy Wisdom and thy Love How strangely dost thou glorifie thy mercy over those sins that gave thee advantage to glorifie thy justice Even thou our God whom we have offended hast out of thy own treasury satisfied thy own justice and given us a Saviour by such a Miracle of Wisdom Love and Condescension as men or Angels shall never be able fully to comprehend so didst thou love the sinful world as to give thy Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life O thou that hast prepared us so full a remedy and so pretious a gift sanctifie these creatures to be the Representative Body and Blood of Christ and prepare my heart for so great a gift and so high and holy and honourable a work § 53. 5. When you behold the Consecrated Bread and Wine discern the Lords Body and reverence it as the Representative Body and Blood of Iesus Christ and take heed of prophaning it by looking on it as common Bread and Wine Though it be not Transubstantiate but still is very Bread and Wine in its Natural Being yet it is Christs Body and Blood in representation and effect Look on it as the consecrated Bread of life which with the quickning Spirit must nourish you to life eternal § 54. 6. When you see the Breaking of the Bread and the Pouring out of the Wine let Repentance and Love and Desire and Thankfulness thus work within you O wondrous Love O hateful sin How merciful Lord hast thou been to sinners and how cruel have we been to our selves and thee Could Love stoop lower Could God be merciful at a dearer rate Could my sin have done a more horrid deed than put to death the Son of God How small a matter hath tempted me to that which must cost so dear before it was forgiven How dear payed my Saviour for that which I might have avoided at a very cheap rate At how low a price have I valued his blood when I have sinned and sinned again for nothing This is my doing My sins were the thorns the nails the spear Can a murderer of Christ be a a small offendor O dreadful justice It was I and such other sinners that deserved to bear the punishment who were guilty of the sin and to have been fewel for the unquenchable flames for ever O pretious Sacrifice O hateful sin O gracious Saviour How can mans dull and narrow heart be duly affected with such transcendent things or Heaven make its due impression upon an inch of flesh Shall I ever again have a dull apprehension of such Love Or ever have a favourable thought of sin Or ever have a fearless thought of Iustice O break or melt this hardned heart that it may be somewhat conformed to my crucified Lord The tears of Love and true Repentance are easier than the flames from which I am redeemed O hide me in these wounds and wash me in this pretious blood This is the Sacrifice in which I trust This is the Righteousness by which I must be justified and saved from the Curse of thy violated Law As thou hast accepted this O Father for the world upon the Cross Behold it still on the behalf of sinners and hear his blood that cryeth unto thee for mercy to the miserable and pardon us and accept us as thy Reconciled Children for the sake of this Crucified Christ alone We can offer thee no other Sacrifice for sin and we need no other § 55. 7. When the Minister applyeth himself to God by Prayer for the efficacy of this Sacrament that in iâ— he will give us Christ and his Benefits and pardon and justifie us and accept us as his reconciled Children joyn heartily and earnestly in these requests as one that knoweth the need and worth of such a mercy § 56. 8. When the Minister delivereth you the consecrated Bread and Wine look upon him as the messenger of Christ and hear him as if Christ by him said to you Take this my broken body and blood and feed on it to everlasting life and take with it my sealed Covenant and therein the sealed testimony of my Love and the sealed pardon of your sins and a sealed gift of life eternal so be it you unfeignedly consent unto my Covenant and give up your selves to me as my Redeemed ones Even as in delivering the possession of House or Lands the deliverer giveth a Key and a twig and a turfe and saith I deliver you this house and I deliver you this land so doth the Minister by Christs authority deliver you Christ and pardon and title to eternal life Here is an Image of a sacrificed Christ of Gods own appointing which you may lawfully use And more than an Image even an Investing instrument by which these highest mercies are solemnly delivered to you in the name of Christ. Let your hearts therefore say with Ioy and Thankfulness with faith and Love O matchless bounty of the eternal God! what a gift is this and unto what unworthy sinners And will God stoop so low to man and come so neer him and thus reconcile his worthless enemies Will he freely pardon all that I have done and take me into his family and love and feed me with the flesh and blood of Christ I believe Lord help mine unbelief I humbly and thankfully accept thy gifts Open thou my heart that I may yet more joyfully and thankfully accept them Seeing God will glorifie his Love and mercy by such incomprehensible gifts as these behold Lord a wretch that needeth all this mercy And seeing it is the offer of thy Grace and Covenant my soul doth gladly take thee for my God and Father for my saviour and my sanctifier And here I give up my self unto thee as thy Created Redeemed and I hope Regenerate one as thy Own thy Subject and thy Child to be saved and sanctified by thee to be beloved by thee and to Love thee to everlasting O seal up this Covenant and pardon by thy Spirit which thou sealest and deliverest to me in thy Sacrament that without reserve I may be entirely and for ever thine § 57. 9. When you see the Communicants receiving with you let your very hearts be united to the Saints in love and say How goodly are thy tents O Jacob How amiable is the family of the Nâ—â—b 24. 5. Psal 13. 15. 4. 16. 2 3. Iuk 19 8. Psal. 84. 10. Lord How good and pleasant is the unity of brethren How dear to me are the pretious members of my Lord though they have yet all their spots and weaknesses which he pardoneth and so must we My goodness O Lord extendeth not unto thee but unto thy Saints the excellent ones on earth in
whom is my delight What portion of my estate thou requirest I willingly give unto the poor and if I have wronged any man I am willing to restore it And seeing thou hast loved me an enemy and forgiven me so great a debt I heartily forgive those that have done me wrong and love my enemies O keep me in thy family all my days for a day in thy Court is better than a thousand and the door-keepers in thy house are happier than the most prosperous of the wicked § 58. 10. When the Minister returneth Thanks and Praise to God stir up your souls to the greatest alacrity and suppose you saw the Heavenly hosts of Saints and Angels Praising the same God in the presence of his Glory and think with your selves that you belong to the same family and society as they and are learning their work and must shortly arrive at their perfection Strive therefore to imitate them in Love and Ioy and let your very souls be poured out in Praises and Thanksgiving And when you have the next leisure for your private thoughts as when the Minister is exhorting you to your duty exercise your Love and Thanks and faith and hope and self-denyal and Resolution for future obedience in some such breathings of your souls as these O my gracious God thou hast surpassed all humane comprehension in thy Love Is this thy usage of unworthy prodigals I feared leâ—t thy wrath as a consuming fire would have devoured such a guilty soul and thou wouldst have charged upon me all my folly But while I condemned my self thou hast forgiven and justified me and surprized me with the sweetest embracements of thy Love I see now that thy thoughts are above our thoughts and thy wayes above our wayes and thy Love excelleth the Love of man even more than the Heavens are above the earth With how dear a price hast thou Redeemed a wretch that deserved thy everlasting vengeance with how pretious and sweet a feast hast thou entertained me who deserved to be cast out with the workers of iniquity Shall I ever more slight such Love as this shall it not overcome my rebelliousness and melt down my cold and hardened heart shall I be saved from Hell and not be thankful Angels are admiring these miracles of Love and shall not I admire them Their love to us doth cause them to rejoyce while they stand by and see our heavenly feast And should it not be sweeter to us that are the guests that feed upon it my God how dearly hast thou purchased my Love How strangely hast thou deserved and sought it Nothing is so much my grief and shame as that I can answer such Love with no more fervent fruitful Love O what an addition would it be to all this pretious mercy if thou wouldst give me a Heart to answer these thine invitations That thy Love thus poured out might draw forth mine and my soul might flame by its approaching unto these thy flames and that Love drawn out by the sense of Love might be all my life O that I could Love thee as much as I would Love thee Yea as much as thou wouldst have me Love thee But this is too great a happiness for earth But thou hast shewed me the place where I may attain it My Lord is there in full possession who hath left me these pledges till he come and fetch us to himself and feast us there in our Masters joy O blessed place O happy company that see his Glory and are filled with the streams of those rivers of consolation yea happy we whom thou hast called from our dark and miserable state and made us heirs of that felicity and passengers to it and expectants of it under the conduct of so sure a guide O then we shall Love thee without these sinful pâ—wses and defects in another measure and another manner than now we do when thou shalt reveal and communicate thy attractive Love in another measure and manner than now Till then my God I am devoted to thee By Right and Covenant I am thine My soul here beareth witness against my self that my defects of Love have no excuse Thou deservest all if I had the love of all the Saints in Heaven and Earth to give thee What hath this world to do with my affections And what is this sordid corruptible flesh that its desires and pleasures should call down my soul and tempt it to neglect my God What is there in all the sufferings that man can lay upon me that I should not joyfully accept them for his sake that hath Redeemed me from Hell by such unmatched voluntary sufferings Lord seeing thou regardest and so regardest so vile a worm my heart my tongue my hand confess that I am wholly thine O let me live to none but thee and to thy service and thy saints on earth And O let me no more return unto iniquity nor venture on that sin that killed my Lord And now thou hast chosen so low a dwelling O be not strange to the Heart that thou hast so freely chosen O make it the daily residence of thy spirit Quicken it by thy grace adorn it with thy gifts employ it in thy Love delight in its attendance on thee refresh it with thy joyes and the light of thy countenance and destroy this carnality selfishness and unbelief And let the world see that God will make a Palace of the lowest heart when he chooseth it for the place of his own abode § 59. Direct 8. When you come home review the mercy which you have received and the duty Direct 8. which you have done and the Covenant you have made And 1. Betake your selves to God in Praise and Prayer for the perfecting of his work and 2. Take heed to your hearts that they grow not cold and that worldly things or diverting trifles do not blot out the sacred impressions which Christ hath made and that they cool not quickly into their former dull and sleepy frame 3. And see that your Lives be actuated by the grace that you have here received that even they that you converse with may perceive that you have been with God Especially when Temptations would draw you again to sin and when the injuries of friends or enemies would provoke you and when you are called to testifie your love to Christ by any costly work or suffering remember then what was so lately before your eyes and upon your heart and what you resolved on and what a Covenant you made with God Yet judge not of the fruit of your Receiving so much by ☜ feeling as by faith for more is promised than you yet possess CHAP. XXV Directions for fearful troubled Christians that are perplexed with doubts of their sincerity and justification § 1. HAving Directed Families in the Duties of their Relations and in the right Worshipping of God I shall speak something of the special duties of some Christians who in regard of their state
of God you will easily be assured that you love them When you strongly hate sin and live in universal constant obedience you will easily discern your Repentance and obedience But weak grace will have but weak assurance and little consolation § 12. Direct 3. Set your selves with all your skill and diligence to destroy every sin of heart Direct 3. and life and make it your principal eare and business to do your duty and please and honour God in your place and to do all the good you can in the world and trust God with your souls as long as you wait upon him in his way If you live in wilful sin and negligence be not unwilling to be reproved and delivered If you cherish your sensual fleshly lusts and set your hearts too eagerly on the world or defend your unpeaceableness and passion or neglect your known duty to God or man and make no Conscience of a true reformation it is not any enquiries after signes of grace that will help you to assurance You may complain long enough before you have case while such a thorn is in your foot Conscience must be better used before it will speak a word of sound well grounded peace to you But when you set your selves with all your care and skill to do your Duties and please your Lord he will not let your labour be in vain He will take care of your peace and comfort while you take care of your duty And in this way you may boldly trust him Only think not hardly and falsly of the Goodness of that God whom you study to serve and please § 13. Direct 4. Be sure whatever condition you are in that you understand and hold fast and Direct 4. improve the General grounds of Comfort which are common to mankind so far as they are made known to them and they are three which are the Foundation of all our comfort 1. The Goodness and Mercifulness of God in his very Nature 2. The sufficiency of the satisfaction or sacrifice of Christ. 3. The universality and freeness and sureness of the Covenant or promise of pardon and salvation to all that by final impenitence and unbelief do not continue obstinately to reject it or to all that unfeignedly Repent and Believe 1. Think not meanly and poorly of the infinite Goodness of God Psal. 103 8 11 17. 89. 2. 86. 5 15. 25. 10. 119. 64. 138. 8. 1â—6 5. Even to Moses he proclaimeth his name at the second delivery of the Law The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Exod. 34. 6 7. His mercy is over all his works It is great and reacheth to the Heavens It is firm and endureth for ever And he hath pleasure in those that hope in his mercy Psal. 147. 11. 100. 5. 33. 18. 57. 10. 108. 4. 2. Extenuate not the Merits and Sacrifice of Christ but know that never man was damned for want of a Christ to dye and be a sacrifice for his sin but only for want of Repentance and faith in him Ioh. 3. 16. 3. Deny not the universality of the conditional promise of pardon and salvation to all that it is offered to and will accept it on the offerers terms And if you do but feel these three foundations firm and stedfast under you it will encourage every willing soul. The Love of God was the cause of our Redemption by Christ Redemption was the foundation of the Promise or new Covenant And he that buildeth on this threefold foundation is safe § 14. Direct 5. When you come to try your particular Title to the blessings of the Covenant be Direct 5. sure that you well understand the condition of the Covenant and look for the performance of that condition in your selves as the infallible Evidence of your title And know that the condition is nothing but an unfeigned Consent unto the Covenant Or such a Belief of the Gospel as makeeth you truly willing of all the mercies offered in the Gospel and of the Duties required in order to those mercies And That nothing depriveth any man that heareth the Gospel of Christ and pardon and salvation but obstinate unwillingness or refusal of the mercy and the necessary annexed duties Understand this well and then peruse the Covenant of Grace which is but to take God for your God and Happiness your Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier and then ask your hearts whether here be any thing that you are unwilling of and unwilling of in a prevailing degree when it is greater than your willingness And if truly you are willing to be in Covenant with your God and Saviour and Sanctifier upon these terms know that your Consent or Willingness or Acceptance of the mercy offered you is your true performance of the Condition of your title and consequently the infallible evidence of your title even as Marriage Consent is a title-condition to the person and priviledges And therefore if you find this your doubts are answered You have found as good an evidence as Scripture doth acquaint us with And if this will not quiet and satisfie you you understand not the business nor is it Reason or Evidence that can satisfie you till you are better prepared to understand them But if really you are unwilling and will not consent to the terms of the Covenant then instead of doubting be past doubt that you are yet unsanctified And your work is presently to consider better of the terms and benefits and of those unreasonable reasons that make you unwilling till you see that your happiness lyeth upon the business and that you have all the reason in the world to make you willing and no true Reason for the withholding of your Consent And when the light of these considerations hath prevailed for your Consent the match is made and your Evidence is sure § 15. Direct 6. Iudge not of your hearts and Evidences upon every sudden glance or feeling Direct 6. but upon a sober deliberate examination when your minds are in a clear composed frame And as then you find your selves record the judgement or discovery and believe not every sudden inconsiderate appearance or passionate fear against that Record Otherwise you will never be quiet or resolved but carryed up and down by present sense The case is weighty and not to be decided by a sudden aspect nor by a scattered or a discomposed mind If you call your unprovided or your distempered understandings suddenly to so great a work no wonder if you are deceived You must not judge of colours when your eye is blood-shotten or when you look through a coloured Glass or when the object is far off It is like casting up a long and difficult account which must be done deliberately as a work of time and when it is so done and the summs
conference or meditation or reading or hearing as formerly they had But though they are as much as ever Resolved for God against sin and Vanity yet they are colder and duller and have less zeal and fervency and delight in holy exercises 4. When age or weakness or melancholy hath decayed or confounded their Imaginations and ravelled their Thoughts so that they cannot order them and command them as formerly they could 5. And when age or melancholy hath weakened their parts and gifts so that they are of flower understandings and unabler in prayer or preaching or conference to express themselves than heretofore All these are but bodily changes and such hinderances of the soul as depend thereon and not to be taken for signs of a soul that declineth in holiness and is less accepted of God § 18. Direct 2. When you know the Marks of a Backslider come into the light and be willing to Direct 2. know your selves whether this be your condition or not and do not foolishly cover your disease Enquire whether it be with you as in former times when the light of God did shine upon you and you delighted in his wayes when you hated sin and loved holiness and were glad of the company of the heirs of life when the Word of God was pleasant to you and when you poured out your souls to him in prayer and thanksgivings When you were glad of the Lords day and were quickned and confirmed under the teaching and exhortation of his Ministers when you took worldly wealth and pleasures as childish toyes and fooleries in comparison of the contents of holy souls when you hungred and thirsted after Christ and righteousness and had rather have been in Heaven to enjoy your God and be free from sinning than to enjoy all the pleasures and prosperity of this World And when it was your daily business to prepare for death and to live in expectation of the everlasting Rest which Christ hath promised If this were once your case enquire whether it be so still or what alterations are made upon your hearts and lives § 19. Direct 3. If you find your selves in a Backsliding case by all means endeavour the awakening of your souls by the serious consideration of the danger and misery of such a state To which end I shall here set some such awakening thoughts before you For security is your greatest danger § 20. 1. Consider that to fall back from God was the sin of the Devils They are Angels that Direct 3. kept not their first estate but left their own habitations and are now reserved in chains under darkness to the judgement of the great day Jud. 6. And shall they entise you into their own condemnation § 21. 1. It was the sin of our first Parents Adam and Eve to revolt from God and lose their holiness And is there any sin that we should more carefully avoid than that which all the world hath so much suffered by Every one of the Creatures that you look on and every pain and misery you feel doth mind you of that sin and and call to you to take heed by the warning of your first Parents that you suffer not your hearts to be drawn from God § 22. 3. It is a part of Hell that you are choosing upon earth Depart from me ye cursed is the sentence on the damned Matth. 25. 41. 7. 23. And will you damn your selves by departing from God and that when he calleth you and obligeth you to him To be separated from God is one half the misery of the damned § 23. 4. You are drawing back toward the case that you were in in the dayes of your unconverted state And what a state of darkness and folly and delusion and sin and misery was that Iâ— it were good or tolerable why turned you from it and why did you so lament it and why did you so earnestly cry out for deliverance But if it were as bad as you then apprehended it to be why do you again turn towards it Would you be again in the case you were would you perish in it or would you have all those heart-breakings and terrours to pass through again May I not say to you as Paul to the Galatians O foolish sinners who hath bewitched you that you are so soon turned back who have seen that of sin and of God and of Christ and of Heaven and of Hell as you have done Gal. 3. 1 2 3 4. § 24. 5. Yea it is a far more doleful state that you are drawing towards than that which you were in before For the guilt of an Apostate is much greater than if he had never known the truth And his recovery is more difficult and of smaller hope Because he is twice dead and pluckt up by the root Jud. 12. 2 Pet. 2. 20 21 22. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the later end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb The Dog is turned to his own vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Heb. 10. 26 27. For if we sin wilfully by Apostacy after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries I know this speaketh only of total apostacy from Christ such being worthy of fâ—r sorer punishment than he that despised Moses Law v. 28 29. But it is a terrible thing to draw towards so desperate a state A habit is easier introduced upon a negation than a privation in him that never had it than in him that hath totally lost it § 25. 6. What abundance of Experience do you sin against in your Backsliding You have had experience of the evil of sin and of the smart of repentance and of the deceitfulness of all that can be said for sinning and of the goodness of God and of the safety and sweetness of Religion And will you sin against so great experience If your horse fall once into a quicksand he will scarce be forced into it again And will you be less wise § 26. 7. What abundance of promises and Covenants which you have made to God do you violate in your backsliding How often in your fears and dangers and sicknesses at Sacraments and dayes of humiliation have you bound your selves afresh to God! And will you forget all these and sin against them § 27. 8. By what multitudes of mercies hath God obliged you mercies before your repentance and mercies that drew you to repent and mercies since How mercifully hath he kept
is not wholly dispossessed of those objects which are against its work nor delivered from those Principles which have an Enmity against it The love of the world and flesh was in the heart before the love of God and holiness and ignorance was before knowledge and Pride before humility and selfishness before self-denyal And these are not wholly rooted out We have dealt so gently with them as the Israelites with the Canaanites Iebusites and other Inhabitants of the Land that they are left to try us and to be thorns in our sides And the Garrison is not free from danger that hath an enemy alwayes lodged within Our enemies are in the house with us They lye down and rise up with us and are as near us as our flesh and bones we can never be where they are not nor leave them behind us whithersoever we go or whatever we Mar. 13. 12. Matth. 10. 21. do No marvel if Brother be against Brother and the Father against the Son when we are so much against our selves And are we yet secure § 11. 8. And the number of the snares that are still before us and of the subtile malitious enemies of our souls may easily convince us that we are wholly free from danger How subtile and diligent is the Devil How much do his servants imitate him Every creature or person that we have to do with and every common mercy which we receive hath matter of danger in it which calleth us to fear and watch § 12. 9. Perseverance is nothing else but our continuance in the grace which we received And this grace consisteth in Act as well as in Habit And the Habit is for Action and the Act is it that increaseth and continueth the habit And the Fear of God and the belief of his threatnings and repentance and watchfulness and diligent obedience are a great part of this grace And the Acts are ours performed by our selves by the helps of God God doth not Believe and Repent and Obey in us but causeth us our selves to do it Therefore to grow cold and secure and sinful upon preâ—ence that we are sure to persevere this is to cease persevering and to fall away because we are sure to persevere and not to fall away which is a meer contradiction § 13. 10. Lastly Bethink you well what is the meaning of all these Texts of Scripture and the Reason that the Holy Ghost doth speak to us in this manner Col. 1. 21 22 23. And you hath he reconciled to present you holy if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel John 15. 4. Abide in me and I in you 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and withered 7. If ye abide in me and my words abide in yâ—u ye shall ask what ye will Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God 1 Cor. 10. 4 5 12. They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ But with many of them God was not well pleased Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall Rom. 11. 20 21. Be not high-minded but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he spare not thee Gal. 5. 4. Ye are fallen from grace Matth. 10. 22. He that endureth to the end shall be saved Matth. 24. 13. Heb. 3. 6 14. Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of hope firm unto the end For we are partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end Heb. 4. 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief Rev. 2. 25. Hold fast till I come 26. And he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations Rev. 3. 2 3. 2. 4. § 14. Take heed therefore of that Doctrine which telleth you that sins to come are all pardoned to you before they are committed and that you are Justified from them and that it is unlawful to be afraid of falling away because it is impossible c. For no sin is pardoned before it is committed though the Remedy be provided For it is then no sin And you are Justified from no sin any further than it is pardoned Suppose God either to decree or but to fore-know the freest most contingent act and there will be a Logical impossibility in order of Consequence that it should be otherwise than he so decreeth or foreseeth But that inferreth no natural impossibility in the thing it self For God doth not Decree or foresee that such a mans fall shall be Impossible but only non-futurum § 15. Direct 4. In a special manner take heed of the company and doctrine of deceivers yea though Direct 4. they seem most Religious men and are themselves first deceived and think they are in the right And take heed of falling into a dividing party which separateth from the generality of the truly wise and Ephes. 4. 14. 1 Thesâ— 5. 12 13. godly people For this hath been an ordinary introduction to backsliding False doctrine hath a mighty power on the heart And he that can separate one of the sheep from the rest of the flock hath a fair advantage to carry him away See Rom. 16. 16 17. § 16. Direct 5. Be very watchful against the sin of Pride especially pride of gifts or knowledge or Direct 5. holiness which some call spiritual Pride For God is engaged to cast down the proud Prov. 16. 18. Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall Satan assaulted our first Parents by that way that he fell himself and his success encourageth him to try the same way with their posterity And alas how greatly hath he succeeded through all ages of the world till now § 17. Direct 6. Take heed of a divided hypocritical heart which never was firmly resolved for Direct 6. God upon expectation of the worst and upon terms of self-denyal nor was ever well loosed from the Love of this present world nor firmly believed the life to come For it is no wonder that he falleth from grace who never had any grace but common which never renewed his soul. It is no wonder that false hearted friends forsake us when their interest requireth it Nor that the seed which never had depth of earth do bring forth no fruit but what will wither when persecution shall arise or that Luke 14. 26 29 33. which is sown among thorns be choaked Matth. 13. Sit down and count what it will cost you to be Christians and receive not Christ upon mistakes or with reserves § 18. Direct 7. Take heed lest the world or any
thing in it steal again into your hearts and seem Direct 7. too sweet to you If your friends or dwellings or lands and wealth or honours begin to grow too pleasant and be over-loved your thoughts will presently be carryed after them and turned away from God and all holy affection will be damped and decay and grace will fall into a consumption It is the Love of money that is the root of all evil and the love of this world which is the mortal enemy of the Love of God Keep the world from your hearts if you would keep your graces § 19. Direct 8. Keep a strict Government and watch over your fleshly appetite and sense For the Direct 8. loosing of the reins to carnal lusts and yielding to the importunity of sensual desires is the most ordinary Rom. 8. 13. Rom. 13. 13 14. way of wasting grace and falling off from God § 20. Direct 9. Keep as far as you can from Temptations and all occasions and opportunities of sinning Direct 9. Trust not to your own strength And be not so fool-hardy as to thrust your selves into needless danger No man is long safe that standeth at the brink of ruine If the fire and straw be long near together some spark is like to catch at last § 21. Direct 10. Incorporate your selves into the Communion of Saints and go along with Direct 10. them that go towards Heaven and engage your selves in the constant use of all those means which God hath appointed you to use for your perseverance Especially take heed of an idle slothful unprofitable life And keep your graces in the most lively exercise For the slothful is Brother to the waster And idleness consumeth or corrupteth our spiritual health and strength as well as our bodily Set your selves diligently to work while it is day and do all the good in your places that you are able For it is acts that preserve and increase the habits And a Religion which consisteth only in doing no hurt is so lifeless and corrupt that it will quickly perish § 22. Direct 11. Keep alwayes in thine eye the doleful case of a Backslider which I opened Direct 11. before O what horror is waiting to seize on their consciences How many of them have we known that on their death-beds have lain roaring in the anguish of their souls crying out I am utterly forsaken of God because I have forsaken him There is no mercy for such an apostate wretch O that I had never been born or had been any thing rather than a man Cursed be the day that ever I hearkned to the counsel of the wicked and that ever I pleased this corruptible flesh to the utter undoing of my soul O that it were all to do again Take warning by a mad besotted sinner that have lost my soul for that which I knew would never make me satisfaction and have turned from God when I had found him to be good â—nd gracious O prepare not for such pangs as these or worse than these in endless desperation § 23. Direct 12. Make not a small matter of the beginnings of your backsliding There are very Direct 12. few that fall quite away at once the misery creepeth on by insensible degrees You think it a small matter to cut short one duty and omit another and be negligent at another and to entertain some pleasing thoughts of the world or first to look on the forbidden fruit and then to touch it and then to taste it but these are the way to that which is not small A thought or a look or a taste or a delight hath begun that with many which never stopt till it had shamed them here and damned them for ever CHAP. XXVII Directions for the Poor THere is no condition of life so low or poor but may be sanctified and fruitful and comfortable to us if our own misunderstanding or sin and negligence do not pollute it or imbitter it to us If we do the Duty of our condition faithfully we shall have no cause to murmurr at it Therefore I shall here direct the Poor in the special Duties of their condition and if they will but conscionably perform them it will prove a greater kindness to them than if I could deliver them from their poverty and give them as much riches as they desire Though I doubt this would be more pleasing to the most and they would give me more thanks for money than for teaching them how to want it § 1. Direct 1. Understand first the use and estimate of all earthly things that they were never made Direct 1. to be your portion and felicity but your provision and helps in the way to Heaven And therefore they Prov. 28. 6. Jam. 2. 5. are neither to be estimated nor desired simply for themselves for so there is nothing good but God but only as they are Means to the Greatest Good Therefore neither Poverty nor Riches are simply to be rejoyced in for themselves as any part of our happiness But that condition is to be desired and rejoyced in which affordeth us the greatest helps for Heaven and that condition only is to be lamented and dislikt which hindereth us most from Heaven and from our duty § 2. Direct 2. See therefore that you really take all these things as matters in themselves indifferent Direct 2. and of small concernment to you and as not worthy of much love or care or sorrow further than they conduce to greater things We are like runners in a race and Heaven or Hell will be our End and therefore woe to us if by looking aside or turning back or stopping or trifling about these matters or burdening our selves with worldly trash we should lose the race and lose our souls O Sirs what greater matters than poverty or riches have we to mind Can those souls that muâ—â— shortly be in Heaven or Hell have time to bestow any serious thoughts upon these impertinencies Shall we so much as look at the temporal things which are seen instead of the things eternal that are unseen 2 Cor. 4. 18. Or shall we whine under those light afflictions which may be so improved as to work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory v. 17. Our present life is not in the abundance of the things which we possess Much less is our eternal life Luke 12. 15. § 3. Direct 3. Therefore take heed that you judge not of Gods Love or of your happiness or misery by Direct 3. your riches or poverty prosperity or adversity as knowing that they come alike to all and Love or hatred Eccles. 2. 14. 9. 2. 9. 3. is not to be discerned by them except only Gods Common Love as they are common mercies to the body If a Surgeon is not to be taken for a hater of you because he letteth you blood nor a Physicion because he purgeth his Patient nor a Father because he
that by abasing them takes the way to do them good Prov. 11. 2. 29. 23. 16. 18. § 11. 4. Falshood also and decâ—it and unjust getting tend to poverty For God doth often even in this present life thus enter into judgement with the unjust Ill-gotten wealth is like fire in the thatch and bringeth oft-times a secret curse and destruction upon all the rest The same may be said of unmercifulness to the poor which is oft cursed with poverty when the liberal are blest with plenty Prov. 11. 24 25. Isa. 32. 8. Psal. 73. 21 22 25 26 34 35. § 12. Direct 8. Be acquainted with the special temptations of the poor that you may be furnished to Direct 8. resist them Every condition hath its own temptations which persons in that condition must specially be fortified and watch against And this is much of the wisdom and safety of a Christian. § 13. Tempt 1. One Temptation of Poverty will be to draw you to think highlier of Riches and Tempt 1. Honours than you ought To make you think that the Rich are much happier than they are For the world is like all other deceivers it is most esteemed where it is least known They that never tryed a life of wealth and plenty and prosperity are apt to admire it and think it braver and better than it is And so you may be drawn as much to over-love the world by want as other men by plenty Against this remember that it is folly to admire that which you never tryed and knew and mark whether all men do not vilifie it that have tryed it to the last Dying men call it no better than vanity and deceit And it is rebellious pride in you so far to contradict the wisdom of God as to think most highly of that condition which he hath judged worst for you and to fall in Love with that which he denyeth you § 14. Tempt 2. The Poor will also be tempted to over-much care about their wants and worldly Tempt 2. matters They will think that Necessity requireth it in them and will excuse them So much care is Luke 10. 41. your duty as is needful to the right-doing of your work Take care how to discharge your own duties but be not too careful about the event which belongs to God If you will care what you should be and do God will care sufficiently what you shall have And so be it you faithfully do your business Matth. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 7. Phil. 4. 6. your other care will add nothing to the success nor make you any richer but only vex and disquiet your minds It is the poor as well as the Rich that God hath commanded to be careful for nothing and to cast all their care on him § 15. Tempt 3. Poverty also will tempt you to repining impatience and discontent and to fall out Tempt 3. with others which because it is one of the chief Temptations I will speak to by it self anon § 16. Tempt 4. Also you will be tempted to be Coveting after more Satan maketh Poverty a snare Tempt 4. to draw many needy creatures to greater Covetousness than many of the Rich are guilty of None Prov. 23. 4. thirst more eagerly after more And yet their poverty blindeth them so that they cannot see that they are covetous or else excuse it as a justifyable thing They think that they desire no more but necessaries and that it is not Covetousness if they desire not superfluities But do you not covet more than God allotteth you And are you not discontent with his allowance And doth not he know best what is necessary for you and what superfluous What then is Covetousness if this be not it § 17. Tempt 5. Also you will be tempted to Envy the Rich and to Censure them in matters where Tempt 5. you are incompetent Judges It is usual with the Poor to speak of the Rich with Envy and Censâ—riousness They call them Covetous meerly because they are Rich especially if they give them nothing when they know not what wayes of necessary expence they have nor know not how many others they are liberal to that they are unacquainted with Till you see their accounts you are unfit to censure them § 18. Tempt 6. The poor also will be tempted to use unlawful means to supply their wants Tempt 6. How many by the temptation of necessity have been tempted to comply with sinners and wound their Prov. 30. 8 9. John 6. 27. consciences and lye and flatter for favour or preferment or to cheat or steal or over-reach A dear price to buy the food that perisheth with the loss or hazard of everlasting life and lose their souls to provide for their flesh § 19. Tempt 7. Also you will be tempted to neglect your souls and omit your spiritual duties Tempt 7. and as Martha to be troubled about many things while the one thing needful is forgotten And you will think that Necessity will excuse all this Yea some think to be saved because they are poor and say God will not punish them in this life and in another too But alas you are more unexcusable than the Rich if you are ungodly and mindless of the life to come For he that will love a life of poverty and misery better than Heaven deserveth indeed to go without it much more than he that preferreth a life of plenty and prosperity before it God hath taught you by his providence to know that you must either be happy in Heaven or no where If you would be worldlings and part with Heaven for your part on Earth how poor a bargain are you like to make To love rags and toil and want and sorrow better than Eternal joy and happiness is the most unreasonable kind of Ungodliness in the world It s true that you are not called to spend so many hours of the Week-dayes in Reading and Meditation as some that have greater leisure are But you have reason to seek Heaven and set your hearts upon it as much as they And you must think of it when you are about your labour and take those opportunities for your spiritual duties which are allowed you Poverty will excuse ungodliness in none Nothing is so Necessary as the service of God and your salvation and therefore no necessity can excuse you from it Luke 10. 41 42. Read the case of Mary and Martha One would think that your hearts should be wholly set upon Heaven who have nothing else but it to trust to The poor have fewer hinderances than the rich in the way to life eternal And God will save no man because he is poor but condemn poor and rich that are ungodly § 20. Tempt 8. Another great Temptation of the poor is to neglect the holy education of their Tempt 8. children so that in most places there are none so ignorant and rude and heathenish and unwilling to learn as
the poorest people and their children They never teach them to read nor teach them any thing for the saving of their souls and they think that their poverty will be an excuse for all When reason telleth them that none should be more careful to help their children to Heaven than they that can give them nothing upon earth § 21. Direct 9. Be acquainted with the special Duties of the poor and carefully perform them Direct 9. They are these 1. Let your sufferings teach you to contemn the world It will be a happy poverty if it do but help Duty 1. to wean your affections from all things below that you set as little by the world as it deserveth 2. Be eminently Heavenly-minded The less you have or hope for in this life the more fervently Duty 2. seek a better You are at least as capable of the heavenly treasures as the greatest Princes God purposely Phil. 3. 18 20 21. 2 Cor. 5. 7 8. straitneth your condition in the world that he may force up your hearts unto himself and teach you to seek first for that which indeed is worth your seeking Matth. 6. 33 19 20 21. 3. Learn to live upon God alone Study his Goodness and faithfulness and all-sufficiency When Duty 3. you have not a place nor a friend in the world that you can comfortably betake your selves to for relief Gal. 2. 20. Psal. 73. 25. 26 27 28. 2 Cor. 1. 10. retire unto God and trust him and dwell the more with him If your poverty have but this effect it will be better to you than all the Riches in the world 4. Be laborious and diligent in your Callings Both precept and necessity call you unto this And Duty 4. if you cheerfully serve him in the labour of your hands with a heavenly and obedient mind it will Ephes 4. 28. Prov. 21. 25. 1 Sam. 15. 22. 2 Thes. 3. 8 10 be as acceptable to him as if you had spent all that time in more spiritual exercises For he had rather have Obedience than Sacrifice and all things are pure and sanctified to the pure If you cheerfully serve God in the meanest work it is the more acceptable to him by how much the more subjection and submission there is in your obedience 5. Be humble and submissive unto all A poor man proud is doubly hateful And if Poverty Duty 5. cure your Pride and help you to be truly humble it will be no small mercy to you 〈…〉 1â— 23. 〈…〉 uty 6 6. You are specially obliged to mortifie the flesh and keep your senses and appetites in subjection because you have greater helps for it than the Rich You have not so many baits of lust and wantonness and gluttony and voluptuousness as they 7. Your corporal wants must make you more sensibly remember your spiritual wants and teach Duty 7. you to value spiritual blessings Think with your selves If a hungry cold and naked body be so great a calamity how much greater is a guilty graceless soul a dead or a diseased heart If bodily food and necessaries are so desirable O how desirable is Christ and his Spirit and the Love of God and life eternal 8. You must above all men be careful Redeemers of your Time Especially of the Lords Day Duty 8. Your labours take up so much of your time that you must be the more careful to catch every opportunity for your souls Rise earlier to get half an hour for holy duty and meditate on holy things in your labours and spend the Lords Day in special diligence and be glad of such seasons and let scarcity preserve your appetites 9. Be willing to dye Seeing the world giveth you so cold entertainment be the more content to Duty 9. let it go when God shall call you For what is here to detain your hearts 10. Above all men you should be most fearless of sufferings from men and therefore true to God Duty 10. and Conscience For you have no great matter of honour or riches or pleasure to lose As you fear not a Thief when you have nothing for him to rob you of 11. Be specially careful to fit your children also for Heaven Provide them a portion which is better Duty 11. than a Kingdom For you can provide but little for them in the world 12. Be exemplary in Patience and Contentedness with your state For that grace should be the Duty 12. strongest in us which is most exercised And Poverty calleth you to the frequent exercise of this § 22. Direct 10. Be specially furnished with those Reasons which should keep you in a chearful contentedness Direct 10. with your state and may suppress every thought of anxiety and discontent As 1. Consider as aforesaid that that is the best condition for you which helpeth you best to Heaven Phil. 4. 11 12 13. Maâ—â—h â— â— 1 Sam. 2. 7. Matth. â— 2â— c. 〈…〉 8. 2◠〈…〉 14. 11. 〈…〉 16. 9. 〈…〉 3 15. 〈…〉 9 〈…〉 30 31. 〈…〉 3â— 25. 〈…〉 1â— 14. 〈…〉 5. 22. 〈…〉 9. 20. 〈…〉 4. â— 10. Rom. 8. 28. Heb. 13. 5. and God best knoweth what will do you good or hurt 2. That it is rebellion to grudge at the Will of God which must dispose of us and should be our Rest. 3. Look over the life of Christ who chose a life of poverty for your sakes and had not a place to lay his head He was not one of the Rich and voluptuous in the world and are you grieved to be conformed to him Phil. 3. 7 8 9. 4. Look to all his Apostles and most holy Servants and Martyrs Were not they as great sufferers as you 5. Consider that the Rich will shortly be all as poor as you Naked they came into the world and naked they must go out And a little time makes little difference 6. It is no more comfort to dye Rich than poor but usually much less because the pleasanter the world is to them the more it grieveth them to leave it 7. All men cry out that the world is vanity at last How little is it valued by a dying man and how sadly will it cast him off 8. The time is very short and uncertain in which you must enjoy it We have but a few dayes more to walk about and we are gone Alas of how small concernment is it whether a man be rich or poor that is ready to step into another world 9. The Love of this world drawing the heart from God is the common cause of mens damnation And is not the world liker to be over-loved when it entertaineth you with prosperity than when it useth you like an enemy Are you displeased that God thus helpeth to save you from the most damning sin and that he maketh not your way to Heaven more dangerous 10. You little know the troubles of the Rich He that hath much hath much to do with it and
sects and parties and what divisions and contentions tend to as you have done And therefore it belongeth to your gravity and experience to call them unto Unity Charity and Peace and to keep them from proving fire-brands in the Church and rashly over-running their understandings and the truth § 8. Direct 8. Of all men you must live in the greatest contempt of earthly things and least entangle Direct 8. your selves in the Love or needless troubles of the world You are like to need it and use it but a little while A little may serve one that is so neer his journeys end You have had the greatest experience of its vanity You are so near the great things of another World that methinks you should have no leisure to remember this or room for any unnecessary thoughts or speeches of it As your bodies are less able for worldly employment than others so accordingly you are allowed to retire from it more than others for your more serious thoughts of the life to come It is a sign of the bewitching power of the world and of the folly and unreasonableness of sin to see the Aged usually as Covetous as the young and men that are going out of the world to love it as fondly and scrape for it as eagerly as if they never lookt to leave it You should rather give warning to the younger sort to take heed of Covetousness and of being ensnared by the world and while they labour in it faithfully with their hands to keep their hearts entirely for God § 9. Direct 9. You should highly esteem every minute of your time and lose none in idleness or unnecessary Direct 9. things but be alwayes doing or getting some good and do what you do with all your might For you are sure now that your time will not be long How little have you left to make all the rest of your preparation in for eternity The young may die quickly but the old know that their time will be but short Though Nature decay yet grace can grow in life and strength and when your outward man perisheth the inner man may be renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. 16. Time is a most pretious commodity to all but especially to them that have but a little more to determine the question in Whether they must live in Heaven or Hell for ever Though you cannot do your worldly businesses as heretofore yet you have variety of holy exercises to be imployed in Bodily ease may beseem you but Idleness is worse in you than in any § 10. Direct 10. When the decay of your strength or memory or parts doth make you unable to read Direct 10. or pray or meditate by your selves so much or so well as heretofore make the more use of the more lively gifts and help of others Be the more in hearing others and in joyning with them in prayer that their memory and zeal and utterance may help to lift you up and carry you on § 11. Direct 11. Take not a decay of nature and of those gifts and works which depend thereon Direct 11. for a decay of grace Though your memory and utterance and fervour of affection abate as your Natural heat abateth yet be not discouraged but remember that you may for all this grow in grace if you do but grow in holy wisdom and judgement and a higher esteem of God and holiness and a greater disesteem of all the vanities of the world and a firmer resolution to cleave to God and trust on Christ and never to turn to the world and sin This is your growth in grace § 12. Direct 12. Be patient under all the infirmities and inconveniences of old age Be not discontented Direct 12. at them nor repine not nor grow pievish and froward to those about you This is a common temptation which the Aged should carefully resist You knew at first that you had a body that must decay If you would not have had it till a decaying age why were you so unwilling to dye If you would why do you repine Bless God for the dayes of youth and strength and health and ease which you have had already and grudge not that corruptible flesh decayeth § 13. Direct 13. Understand well that passive obedience is that which God calleth you to in your Direct 13. age and weakness and in which you must serve and honour him in the conclusion of your labour When you are unfit for any great or publick works and active obedience hath not opportunity to exercise it self as heretofore it is then as acceptable to God that you honour him by patient suffering And therefore it is a great errour of them that wish for the death of all that are impotent decrepit and bed-rid as if they were utterly unserviceable to God I tell you it is no small service that they may do not only by their prayers and their secret Love to God but by being examples of faith and patience and heavenly-mindedness and confidence and joy in God to all about them Grudge not then if God will thus imploy you § 14. Direct 14. Let your thoughts of death and preparations for it be as serious as if death were Direct 14. just at hand Though all your life be little enough to prepare for death and it be a work that should be done as soon as you have the use of Reason yet age and weakness call lowder to you presently to prepare without delay Do therefore all that you would fain find done when your last sickness cometh that unreadiness to die may not make death terrible nor your age uncomfortable § 15. Direct 15. Live in the joyful expectations of your change as becometh one that is so near to Direct 15. Heaven and looketh to live with Christ for ever Let all the high and glorious things which faith apprehendeth now shew their power in the Love and joy and longings of your soul. There is nothing in which the weak and aged can more honour Christ and do good to others than in joyful expectation of their change and an earnest desire to be with Christ. This will do much to convince unbelievers that the promises are true and that Heaven is real and that a holy life is indeed the best which hath so happy an end When they see you highest in your joyes at the time when others are deepest in distress and when you rejoyce as one that is entring upon his happiness when all the happiness of the ungodly is at an end this will do more than many Sermons to perswade a sinner to a holy life I know that this is not easily attained But a thing so sweet and profitable to your selves and so useful to the good of others and so much tending to the honour of God should be laboured after with all your diligence and then you may expect Gods blessing on your labours Read to this use the fourth part of my Saints Rest. CHAP.
Come to him therefore as the Saviour of souls that be may Teach you the will of God and Reconcile you to his Father and pardon your sins and renew you by his spirit and acquaint you with his Fathers Love and save you from damnation and make you heirs of life eternal For all this may yet possibly be done as short as your time is like to be And it will yet be long of you if it be not done The Covenant of Grace doth promise pardon and salvation to every Penitent Believer when ever they truly turn to God without excepting any hour or any person in all the world Nothing but an unbelieving hardened heart resisting his grace and unwilling to be Holy can deprive you of pardon and salvation even at the last It was a most foolish wickedness of you to put it off till now but yet for all that if you are not yet saved it shall not be long of Christ but you Yet he doth freely offer you his mercy and he will be your Lord and Saviour if you will not refuse him yet the match shall not break on his part see that it break not on your part and you shall be saved Know therefore what he is as God and Man and what a blessed work he hath undertaken to Redeem a sinful miserable world and what he hath already done for us in his life and doctrine in his death and sufferings by his Resurrection and his Covenant of Grace and what he is now doing at his Fathers right hand in making intercession for penitent believers and Heb. Rom. 5. what an endless Glory he is preparing for them and how he will save to the uttermost all that come to God by him O yet let your heart even leap for Joy that you have an allsufficient willing gracious Saviour whose Grace aboundeth more than sin aboundeth If the Devils and poor damned souls in Hell were yet but in your case and had your offers and your hopes how glad do you imagine they would be Cast your selves therefore in Faith and Confidence upon this Saviour Trust your souls upon his Sacrifice and Merit for the pardon of your sins and peace with God Beg of him yet the renewing grace of his spirit Be willing to be made holy and a new Creature and to live a holy life if you should survive Resolve to be wholly ruled by him and give up your self absolutely to him as your Saviour to be justified and sanctified and saved by him and then trust in him for everlasting happiness O happy soul if yet you can do thus without deceit § 8. Direct 4. Believe now and consider what God is and will be to your soul and what Love he Direct 4. hath shewed to you by Christ and what endless Ioy and Glory you may have with him in Heaven for For a new heart and the Love of God and a Resolution for a holy obedient life ever notwithstanding all the sins that you have done And think what the world and the flesh hath done for you in comparison of God Think of this till you fall in Love with God and till your hearts and hopes are set on Heaven and turned from this world and flesh and till you feel your self in Love with Holiness and till you are firmly Resolved in the strength of Christ to live a holy life if God recover you and then you are truly sanctified and shall be saved if you die in this condition Take heed that you take not a Repentance and good purposes which come from nothing but Fear to be sufficient If you recover all this may die again when your fear is over You are not sanctified nor God hath not your hearts till your Love be to him that which you do through fear alone you had rather not do if you might be excused And therefore your Hearts are still against it When the feeling of Gods unspeakable Love in Christ doth melt and overcome your hearts when the infinite Goodness of God himself and his mercies to your souls and bodies do make you take him as more Lovely and desirable than all the world when you so believe the Heavenly Joyes above as to desire them more than earthly pleasures when you Love God better than worldly prosperity and when a life of such ☜ Love and Holiness seemeth better to you than all the merriments of sinners and you had rather be a Saint than the most prosperous of the ungodly and are firmly resolved for a holy life if God recover you then are you indeed in a state of grace and not till then This must be your case or you are undone for ever And therefore meditate on the Love of Christ and the Goodness of God and the Joyes of Heaven and the happiness of Saints and the misery of worldlings and ungodly men meditate on these till your eyes be opened and your hearts be touched with a holy love and Heaven and Holiness be the very things that you desire above all and then you may boldly go to God and believe that all your sins are pardoned And it is not bare terrour but these believing thoughts of God and Heaven and Christ and Love that must change your hearts and do the work § 9. These four Directions truly practised will yet set you on safe ground as sad and dangerous as your condition is But it is not the hearing of them or the bare approbation of them that will serve the turn To find out your sinful miserable state and to be truly humbled for it and to discern the Remedy which you have in Christ and penitently and believing to enter into his Covenant and to see that your Happiness is wholly in the Love and fruition of God and to believe the Glory prepared for the Saints and to prefer it before all the prosperity of the world and Love it and set your hearts upon it and to resolve on a holy life if you should recover forsaking this deceitful world and flesh all this is a work that is not so easily done as mentioned and requireth your most serious fixed thoughts and indeed had been fitter for your youthful vigor than for a painful weak distempered state But necessity is upon you It must needs be yet done and throughly and sincerely done or you are lost for ever And therefore do it as well as you can and see that your hearts do not trifle and deceive you In some respect you have greater helps than ever you had before You cannot now keep up your hard-heartedness and security by looking at death as a great way off You have now fuller experience than ever you had before what the flâ—sh and all its pleasures will come to and what good your sinful sports and recreations and merriments will do you and what all the riches and greatness and gallantry and honours of the world are worth and what they will do for you in the day of your necessity You stand so
neer another world and must so quickly appear before the Lord that methinks a dead and sensless heart should no longer be able to make you sleight your God your Saviour and your endless life And one would think that the flesh and world should never be able to deceive you any more O happy soul if yet at last you are not only frightened into an unsound Repentance but can hate all sin and Love the Lord and trust in Christ and give up your self entirely to him and set your heart upon that blessed life where you may see and Love him perfectly for ever § 10. Quest. But will so late Repentance serve the turn for one that hath been so long ungodly Quest. 1. Answ. Yes if it be sincere But there 's all the doubt and that 's it that your salvation now dependeth Oâ— late Repentance on Quest. But how many I knâ—w whether it be sincere Quest. 2. Answ. 1. If you be not only â—rightened into it but your very heart and will and Love is changed 2. If it extend both to the end and the necessary means so that you Love God and the Ioyes of ☞ Heaven above all earthly prosperity and pleasure and also you had rather be perfectly Holy than live in all the delights of sin and if you hate every known sin and Love the holy wayes and servants of God and this unfeignedly this is a true change 3. And if this Repentance and change be such as will hold if God should recover you and would shew it self in a new and holy and self-denying life which certainly it will do if it come not only from fear but from Love But if you renounce the world and the flesh against your wills because you know there is no remedy and if you bid farewell to your worldly sinful pleasures not because you love God better but because you cannot keep them though you would and if you take not God and Hâ—aven as your Best but only for Better than Hell but not as Better than worldly prosperity which yet you would choose if you had your choice This kind of Repentance will never save you and if you should recover it would vanish away and come to nothing as soon as your fears of death are over and you are returned to your worldly delights again Though now in your extremity you cry out never so confidently O I had rather have Heaven than Earth and I had rather have Christ and Holiness than all the pleasures and prosperity of sinners yet if it be not from a renewed sanctified Heart that had rather be such indeed but from meer necessity and fear and against the Habit of your Hearts and wills this is but such a Repentance as Iudas had that is neither sincere at present nor if you recover will hold you to a holy life II. Directions to the Sanctified for a safe departure § 1. When the soul is truly Converted and Sanctified the principal business is dispatched that is necessary to a safe departure But yet I cannot say that there is no more to be done They were Godly persons that are exhorted 2 Pet. 1. 10. to give diligence to make their calling and election sure which being as the Greek importeth not only to make it known or certain but to make it firm doth signifie more than barely to discern it These following duties are yet further necessary § 2. Direct 1. Satisfie not your selves that once you found your selves sincere but if your understandings Direct 1. he clear and free renew the tryal and if you are insufficient for it of your self make use of the help of a faithful judicious Minister or friend For when a man is going to the bar of God it concerneth him to make all as sure as possibly he can § 3. Direct 2. Review your lives and renew your universal Repentance for all the sins that ever you Direct 2. committed and also let your particular Repentance extend to every particular sin which you remember but especially Repent of your most aggravated soul-wounding sins For if your Repentance be universal and true it will also be particular and you will be specially humbled for your special sins And search deep and see that none escape you And think not that you are not called to Repent of them or ask forgiveness because you have Repented of them long agoe and received a pardon For this is a thing to be done even to the last § 4. Direct 3. Renew your faith in Iesus Christ and cast your souls upon his Merits and Mediation Direct 3. Satisfie not your selves that you have a habit of Faith and that formerly you did Believe but fly to your trusty Rock and refuge and continue the exercise of your faith and again give up your souls to Christ. § 5. Direct 4. Make it your chief work to stir up in your Hearts the Love of God and a desire to Direct 4. live with Christ in glory Let those comforting and encouraging objects which are the instruments of this be still in your thoughts And if you can do this it will be the surest proof of your title to the Crown § 6. Direct 5. If you have wronged any by word or deed be sure that you do your best to right Direct 5. them and make them satisfaction and if you have fallen out with any be reconciled to them Leave not other mens goods to your Heirs or Executors Restore what you have wrongfully gotten before you leave your Legacies to any Confess your faults where you can do no more And ask those forgiveness whom you have injured and leave not mens names or estates or souls under the effects of your former wrongs so far as you are able to make them reparation Direct 6. § 7. Direct 6. Be still taken up in your duty to God even that which he now calleth you to that you may not be found idle or in the sins of omission but may be most holy and fruitful at the last Though sickness call you not to all the same duties which were incumbent on you in your health yet think not therefore that there is no duty at all expected from the sick Every season and state hath its peculiar duties and it s peculiar mercies which it much concerneth us to know I shall anon tell you more particularly what they are § 8. Direct 7. Be specially fortified and vigilant against the most dangerous Temptations of Satan by Direct 7. which he useth to assault the sick Pray now especially that God would not lead you into Temptation but deliver you from the Evil one For in your weakness you may be less fit to wrestle with them than at another time O beg of God that as he hath upheld you and preserved you till now he would not forsake you at last in your extremity Particularly § 9. Tempt 1. One of the most dangerous Temptations of the enemy is to take the
advantage of a Tempt 1. Christians bodily weakness to shake his faith and question his foundations and call him to dispute Hic labor extremus longaâ—um haec meta viarum est Virgil. over his principles again Whether the soul be immortal and there be a Heaven and a Hell and whether Christ be the Son of God and the Scriptures be Gods Word c. As if this had never been questioned and scanned and resolved before It is a great deal of advantage that Satan expecteth by this malitious course If he could he would draw you from Christ to infidelity But Christ prayeth for you that your faith may not fail If he cannot do this he would at least weaken your faith and hereby weaken every grace And he would hereby divert you from the more needful thoughts which are suitable to your present state and he would hereby distract you and destroy your comforts and draw you in your perplexities to dishonour God Away therefore with these blasphemous and unseasonable motions Cast them from you with abhorrence and disdain It is no time now to be questioning your foundations You have done this more seasonably when you were in a fitter case A paiâ—ed languishing body and a disturbed discomposed mind is unfit upon a surprize to go back and dispute over all our principles Tell Satan you owe him not so much service nor will you so cast away those few hours and thoughts for which you have so much better work You have the witness in your selves even the Spirit and Image and Seal of God You have been converted and renewed by the power of that word which he would have you question and you have found it to be owned by the Spirit of grace who hath made it mighty to pull down the strongest holds of sin Tell Satan you will not gratifie him so much as to turn your holy heavenly desires into a wrangling with him about those truths which you have so often proved You will not question now the being of that God who hath maintained you so long and witnessed his being and goodness to you by a life of mercies nor will you now question the being or truth of him that hath Redeemed you or of the Spirit or Word that hath sanctified guided comforted and confirmed you If he tell you that you must prove all things tell him that this is not now to do you have long proved the truth and goodness of your God the mercy of your Saviour and the power of his Holy Spirit and Word It is now your work to live upon that Word and fetch your hopes and comforts from it and not to question it § 10. Tempt 2. Another dangerous Temptation of Satan is when he would perswade you to Tempâ— â— Despair by causing you to mis-understand the tenour of the Gospel or by thinking too narrowly and unworthily of Gods mercy or of the satisfaction of Christ. But because this Temptation doth usually tend more to discomfort the soul than to damn it I shall speak more to it under Tit. 3. § 11. Tempt 3. Another dangerous Temptation is when Satan would draw you to overlook your Tempt 3. sins and overvalue your graces and be proud of your good works and so lay too much of your comfort upon your selves and lose the sense of your need of Christ or usurp any part of his office or hiâ— honour I shall afterward shew you how far you must look at any thing in your selves But certainly that which lifteth you up in pride or incroacheth on Christs Office or would draw you to undervalue him is not of God Therefore keep humble in the sense of your sinfulness and unworthiness and cast away every motion which would carry you away from Christ and make your selves and your works and righteousness as a Saviour to your selves § 12. Tempt 4. Another perillous Temptation is by causing the thoughts of death and the grave Tempt 4. and your doubts and fears about the world to come to overcome the Love of God and not only the comforts but also the desires and willingness of your hearts to be with Christ. It will abate your Love to God and Heaven to think on them with too much estrangedness and terror The Directions under Tit. 3. will help you against this Temptation § 13. Tempt 5. Another dangerous Temptation is fetcht from the remnants of your worldly Tempt 5. mindedness when your dignity or honor your house or lands your relations and friends or your pleasures and contentments are so sweet to you that you are loth to leave them and the thoughts of death are grievous to you because it taketh you from that which you over-love and God and Heaven are the less desired because you are loth to leave the world Watch carefully against this great Temptation Observe how it seeketh the very destruction of your grace and souls and how it fighteth against your Love to God and Heaven and would undo all that Christ and his Spirit have been doing so long Observe what a root of matter it findeth in your selves and therefore be the more humbled under it Learn now what the world is and how little the accommodations of the flesh are worth when you perceive what the end of all must be Would you never dye Would you enjoy your worldly things for ever Had you rather have them than to live with Christ in the Heavenly glory of the New Ierusalem If you had it is your grievous sin and folly And yet you know that it is a desire that you can never hope to attain Dye you must whether you will or not What is it then that you would stay for Is it till the world be grown less pleasant to you and your Love and minds be weaned from it When should that rather be than now And what should more effectually do it than this dying condition that you are in It is time for you to spit out these unwholsome pleasures and now to look up to the true the holy the unmeasurable everlasting pleasures Tit. 2. Directions how to Profit by our Sickness WHether it shall please God to recover you or not it is no small Benefit which you may get by his Visitation if you do your part and faithfully improve it according to these Directions following § 1. Direct 1. If you hear Gods call to a closer tryal of your hearts concerning the sincerity of your Direct 1. conversion and thereby are brought to a more exact examination and come to a truer acquaintance with your state be it good or bad the benefit may be exceeding great For if it be good you may be much comforted and confirmed and fitted to give thanks and praise to God And if it be bad you may be awakened speedily to look about you and seek for a recovery § 2. Direct 2. If in the review of your lives you find out those sins which before you overlookâ— or Direct 2. perceive
to corruption as it doth the bruits but to live in joy with Christ and his Church-triumphant § 14. Direct 14. Remember both how vile your body is and how great an enemy it hath proved to Direct 14. your soul And then you will the more patiently bear its dissolution It is not your dwelling house but your tent or Prison that God is pulling down And yet even this vile body when it is corrupted shall at last be changed into the likeness of Christs glorious body by the working of his unresistible power Phil. 3. 20 21. And it is a flesh that hath so rebelled against the spirit and made your way to Heaven so difficult and put the soul to so many conflicts that we should the easilier submit it to the will of justice and let it perish for a time when we are assured that mercy will at last recover it § 15. Direct 15. Remember what a world it is that you are to leave and compare it with that Direct 15. which you are going to and compare the life which is near an end with that which you are next to enter upon Was it not Henochs reward when he had walkt with God to be taken to him from a polluted world 1. While you are here you are your selves defiled sin is in your natures and your graces are all imperfect sin is in your lives and your duties are all imperfect You cannot be free from it one day or hour And is it not a mercy to be delivered from it Is it not desirable to you to sin no more and to be perfect in holiness to know God and Love him as much and more than you can now desire You are here every day lamenting your darkness and unbelief and estrangedness from God and want of Love to him How oft have you prayed for a cure of all this And now would you not have it when God would give it you why hath God put that spark of Heavenly life into you but to fight against sin and make you weary of it And yet had you rather continue sinning than have the victory and be with Christ 2. It is a life of Grief as well as sin And a life of cares and doubts and fears When you are at the worst you are fearing worse If it were nothing but the fears of death it self it should make you the willinger to submit to it that you might be past those fears 3. You are daily afflicted with the infirmities of that flesh which you are so loth should be dissolved To satisfie its hunger and thirst to cover its nakedness to provide it a habitation and supply all its wants what care and labour doth it cost you Its infirmities sicknesses and pains do make you oft aweary of your selves so that you groan being burdened as Paul speaketh 2 Cor. 5. 3 4 6. And yet is it not desirable to be with Christ 4. You are compassed with temptations and are in continual danger through your weakness And yet would you not be past the danger Would you have more of those horrid and odious temptations 5. You are purposely turned here into a Wilderness among wild beasts you are as Lambs among Wolves and through many tribulations you must enter into Heaven You must deny your selves and take up your Cross and forsake all that you have and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution in the world you must have trouble the seed of the Serpent must bruise your heel before God bruise Satan under your feet And is such a life as this more desirable than to be with Christ Are we afraid to land after such storms and tempests Is a wicked world a malitious world a cruel world an implacable world more pleasing to us than the joy of Angels and the sight of Christ and God himself in the Majesty of his Glory Hath God on purpose made the world so bitter to us and permitted it to use us unjustly and cruelly and all to make us love it less and to drive home our hearts unto himself and yet are we so unwilling to be gone § 16. Direct 16. Settle your estates betime that worldly matters may not distract or discompose you Direct 16. And if God have endowed you with Riches dispose of a due proportion to such pious or charitable uses in which they may be most serviceable to him that gave them you Though we should give what we can in the time of life and health yet many that have but so much as will serve to their necessary maintenance may well part with that to good uses at their death which they could not spare in the time of their health especially they that have no Children or such wicked Children as are like to do hurt with all that is given them above their daily bread § 17. Direct 17. If it may be get some able faithful guide and comforter to be with you in your Direct 17. sickness to counsel you and resolve your doubts and pray with you and discourse of heavenly things when you are disabled by weakness for such exercises your selves Let not carnal persons disturb you with their vain bablings Though the difference between good company and bad be very great in the time of health yet now in sicknes it will be more discernable And though a faithful friend and spiritual Pastor be alwayes a great mercy yet now especially in your last necessity Therefore make use of them as far as your pain and weakness will permit § 18. Direct 18. Be fortified against all the Temptations of Satan by which he useth to assault men Direct 18. in their extremity Stand it out in the last conflict and the Crown is yours I shall instance in particulars Directions for resisting the Temptations of Satan in the time of sickness § 19. Tempt 1. The most ordinary Temptation against the Comfort of Believers for I have already Tempt 1. spoken of those that are against their safety is to doubt of their own sincerity and consequently of their part in Christ Saith the Tempter All that thou hast done hath been but in hypocrisie Thou wast never a true Believer nor never didst truly Repent of sin nor truly love God and therefore thou art unjustified and shalt speedily be condemned § 20. Against this Temptation a Believer hath two Remedies The first is to confute the Tempter by those Evidences which will prove that he hath been sincere such as I have often mentioned before And by refelling those reasonings by which the Tempter would prove him to have been an Hypocrite As when it is objected Thou hast repented and been humbled but slightly and by the halves Answ. Yet was it sincerely and weak grace is not no grace Obj. Thou hast been a lover of the world and a neglecter of thy soul and cold in all that thou didst for thy salvation Answ. Yet did I set more by Heaven than earth and I first sought the
grace and hopes which he hath given you through Christ I know that a pained languishing body is undisposed to express the comforts of the soul But yet as long as the soul is the Commander they may be expressed in some good measure though not with such vivacity and alacrity as in health Behave your selves before all as those that are going to dwell with Christ If you shew them that you take Heaven for a real felicity it will do much to draw them to do so too Shew them the difference between the death of the righteous and of the wicked and that may so draw them to desire to dye the death of the Righteous that it may draw them also to resolve to live their lives How many souls might it win to God if they saw in his dying servants such confidence and joy as beseemeth men that are entering into a world of joy and peace and blessedness If we went out of the body as from a Prison into liberty and from a tedious journey to our desired home it would invite sinners to seek after the same felicity and be a powerful Sermon to convert the inconsiderate § 4. Direct 3. Now tell poor sinners of the vanity of the world and of all its glory wealth and pleasure Direct 3. and of the mischief and deceitfulness of sin Say to them O Sirs you may see in me what the world is worth If you had all the wealth and pleasure that you desire thus it would turn you off and forsake you in the end It will ease no pain It will bring no peace to a troubled soul It will not lengthen your lives an hour It will not save you from the wrath of God It maketh your death the sadder because you must be taken from it Your account will be the more dreadfull O Love not such a vain deceitful world Sell not your souls for so poor a price Forsake it before you are forsaken by it O make not light of any sin Though the wanton flesh would have you take it for a harmless thing you cannot imagine when the pleasure is gone how sharp a sting is left behind Sin will be then no jeasting matter when your souls are going hence into the dreadful presence of the Most Holy God § 5. Direct 4. Now tell those about you of the Excellency and Necessity of the Love of God of Heaven Direct 4. of Christ and of a holy life Though these may be made light of at a distance yet a soul that is drawing near them will be more awakened to understand their worth say to them O friends I find now more than ever I did before that it is only God that is the end and happiness of souls Nothing but his favour through Iesus Christ can comfort and content a dying man And none but Christ can reconcile us to God and answer for our sins and make us acceptable And no way but that of faith and holiness will end in happiness Opinions and customary forms in Religion will not serve the turn To be of this or that Party or Church or Communion will not save you It is only the soul that is justified by Christ and sanctified by his Spirit and brought up to the Love of God and holiness that shall be saved What ever Opinion or Church you are of without Holiness you shall never see God to your comfort as without faith it is impossible to please him Heb. 12. 14. 11. 6. Rom. 8. 6 7 8 9. O now what a miserable case were I in if I had all the wealth and honour in the world and had not the favour of God and a Christ to purchase it and his Spirit to witness it and prepare me for a better life Now I see the difference between spending time in Holiness and in sin between a godly and a worldly fleshly careless life Now I would not for a thousand worlds that I had spent my life in sensuality and ungodliness and continued a stranger to the life of faith Now if I had a world I would give it to be more holy O Sirs believe it when you come to dye sin will be then sin indeed and Christ and Grace will be better than riches and to dye in an unregenerate unsanctified state will be a greater misery than any heart can now conceive § 6. Direct 5. Endeavour also to make men know the difference between the godly and the wicked Direct 5. Tell them I nâ—w see who maketh the wisest choice O happy men that choose the joyes which have no end and lay up their treasure in Heaven where rust and moths do not corrupt and thieves do not break through and steal and labour for the food that never perisheth Matth. 6. 19 20. John 6. 27. O foolish sinners that for an inch of fleshly filthy pleasure do lose everlasting Rest and joy What shall it profit them that win all the world and lose their souls § 7. Direct 6. Labour also to convince men of the pretiousness of Time and the folly of putting off Direct 6. Repentance and a holy life till the last Say to them O friends it is hard for you in the time of health and prosperity to judge of Time according to its worth But when Time is gone or near an end how pretious doth it then appear Now if I had all the Time again which ever I spent in unnecessary sleep or sports or curiosities or idleness or any needless thing how highly should I value it and spend it in another manner than I have done Of all my life that is past and gone I have no comfort now in the remembrance of one hour but what was spent in obedience to God O take Time to make sure of your salvation before it s gone and you are left under the tormenting feeling of your loss § 8. Direct 7. Labour also to make them understand the sinfulness of sloth and of loytering in the Direct 7. matters of God and their salvation and stir them up to do it with all their might Say to them I have often heard ungodly people deride or blame the diligence and zeal and strictness of the godly But if they saw and felt what I see and feel they could not do it Can a man that is going into another world imagine that any thing is so worthy of his greatest zeal and labour as his God and his salvation Or blame men for being loth to burn in Hell Or for taking more pains for their souls than for their bodies O friends let fools talk what they will in their sleep and frenzy as you love your souls do not think any care or cost or pains too great for your salvation If they think not their labour too good for this world do not you think yours too good for a better world Let them now say what they will when they come to dye there is none of them all that is not quite forsaken of
united your Heart unto himself and turned it from sin to Holiness from the world to God and from Earth to Heaven and made you a new creature to live for Heaven as you did for earth Surely this is not so small and indiscernable a work or change but he that hath felt it on himself may know it It is a great work to bring a sinner to feel his unrighteousness and misery and to apply himself to Christ for Righteousness and life It is a great work to take off the heart from all the felicity of this world and to set it unfeignedly upon God and to cause him to place and seek his happiness in another world what ever become of all the prosperity or pleasure of the flesh It is thus with every true Believer for all the remnant of his sins and weaknesses And may you not know whether it be thus or not with you One of these is your case And it 's now time to know which of them it is when God is ready to tell you by his judgement If indeed you are in Christ and his Spirit be in you and hath renewed you and sanctified you and turned your heart and life to God I have then nothing more than Peace and Comfort to speak to you as in the following Exhortation But if it be otherwise and you are yet in a carnal state and were never renewed by the spirit of Christ Will you give me leave to deal faithfully with you as is necessary with one in your condition and to set before you at once your sin and your Remedy and to tell you what yet you must do if you will be saved IV. And first will you here lay to heart your folly and unfeignedly lament your sinful life before the Lord Not only this or that particular sin but principally your fleshly heart and life that in the main you have lived to this corruptible flesh and loved and sought and served the world before your God and the happiness of your soul. Alas friend did you not know that you had an immortal soul that must live in joy or misery for ever Did you not know that you were made to Love and serve and honour your maker and that you had the little time of this life given you to try and prepare you for your endless life and that as you lived here it must go with you in heaven or hell for ever If you did not believe these things why did you not come and give your Reasons against them to some judicious Divine that was able to have shewed you the Evidence of their truth If you did believe them alas how was it possible that you could forget them Could you believe a Heaven and a Hell and not regard them or suffer any transitory worldly vanity to be more regarded by you Did you know what you had to do in the world and yet is it all undone till now Were you never warned of this day Did never Preacher nor Scripture nor book nor friend nor conscience tell you of your end and tell you what would be the fruit of sin and of your contempt and slighting of Christ and of his grace Did you know that you must Love God above the world if ever you would be saved and that you must to that end be partaker of Christ and renewed by his spirit and yet would you let out your heart upon the world and follow the bruitish pleasures of the flesh and never earnestly seek after that Christ and spirit that should thus renew and sanctifie you Do you not think now that it had been wiser to have sought Christ and grace and set your affections first on the things above and to have made sure work for your soul against such a day as this than to have hardened your heart against Gods grace and despised Christ and Heaven and your salvation for a thing of nought You see now what it was that you preferred before Heaven what have you now got by all your sinful Love of the world where now is all your fleshly pleasure Will it all now serve turn to save you from death or the wrath of God and everlasting misery will it now go with you to another world Or do you think it will comfort a soul in Hell to remember the wealth which he gathered and left behind him upon earth would it not now have been much more comfortable to you if you could say My dayes were spent in Holiness in the Love of my dear Redeemer and in the hearty service of my God in praising him and praying to him in learning and obeying his holy word and will My business in the world was to please God and seek a better world and while I followed my lawful trade or calling my eye was chiefly on eternal life Instead of pleasing the flesh I delighted my soul in the Love and praise and service of my Redeemer and in the hopes of my eternal blessedness and now I am going to enjoy that God and happiness which I believ'd and sought Would not this be more comfortable to you now than to look back on your time as spent in a worldly fleshly life which you preferred before your God and your salvation Christ would not have forsaken you in the time of your extremity as the world doth if you had cleaved faithfully to him You little know what peace and comfort you might have found even on earth in a holy life How sweet would the word of God have been to you How sweet would prayer and meditation and holy conference have been Do you think it is not more pleasant to a true Believer to read the promises of eternal life and to think and talk of that blessed state when they shall dwell with God in Ioy for ever than it was to you to think and talk of worldly trash and vanity If you had used the world as a traveller doth the necessaries of his journey the thought of heaven would have offorded you solid rational comfort all the way O little do you know the sweetness of the Love of God in Christ and how good a Christian findeth it when he can but exercise and increase his knowledge and faith and Love to God and thankfulness for mercy and hopes of Heaven and walk with God in a heavenly conversation Do you not wish now that this had been your course But that which is done cannot be undone and time that is past can never be called back But yet there is a sure Remedy for your soul if you have but a heart to entertain and use it God so loved the world Joh. 3. 16 18. that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever Believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iesus Christ being God and Man is the Mediator between God and man His death is a sufficient Sacrifice for our sins It is his Office to save all those that come to God by him Do but unfeignedly
life and consequently rejected Christ as a Saviour and the Holy Ghost as a sanctifier and all the mercy which he offered you on these terms Quest. 8. If this hath been your case are you now unfeignedly grieved for it Not only because it hath brought you so near to Hell but also because it hath displeased God and deprived you of that Holy and comfortable life which you might all this while have lived and endangered all your hopes of Heaven Do you so far Repent as that your very Heart and Love is changed so that now you had rather have a Holy life on earth and the sight and enjoyment of God in the Heavenly Joyes for ever than to have all the pleasure and prosperity of this world Do you hate your sins and loath your self for them and truly desire to be made Holy Are you firmly Resolved that if God do recover you to health you will live a new and Holy life that you will forsake your fleshly worldly life and all your wilful sins and will set your self to learn the will of God and call upon him and live in the holy Communion of Saints and make it your chief care to please God and to be saved Quest. 9. Are you willing to these ends to Give up your self absolutely now to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as your Reconciled Father your Saviour and your Sanctifier to be sanctified and Iustified and saved from your sins and from the wrath of God and live to God in Love and Holiness And are you willing to bind your self to this by entring into this Covenant with God renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil Either your Heart is willing and sincere in this Resolution and Covenant or it is not If it be not there is no hope that your sin should be pardoned and your soul be saved upon any other or easier terms And for all that God is merciful and Christ died for sinners it was never his intent to save one impenitent unsanctified soul But if your Heart unfeignedly consent to this I Matth. 28. 19 â—0 2 Cor. 6. 10 17 18. have the commission of Christ himself to tell you that God will be your Reconciled God and Father and Christ will be your Saviour and the Holy Spirit will be your Sanctifier and Comforter and your sins are pardoned and your soul shall be saved and you shall dwell in Heaven with God for ever God did consent before you consented He shewed his Consent in purchasing and making and offering you this Covenant Shew your unfeigned Consent now by accepting it and giving up your self unreservedly to him and you have Christs Blood and Spirit and Sacrament to seal it to you The flesh and the world have deceived you but Trust in Christ upon his Covenant terms and he will never deceive you And now alas what pity is it that a soul that is in so miserable a case and is lost for ever if it have not help and speedy help should be deprived of all this Grace and Glory and only for want of Repenting and Consenting What pity is it that a soul that is ready to go into another world where mercy shall never more be offered it should rather go stupidly on to hell than Return to God and Accept his mercy Do but truly Repent and Consent to this Covenant and all the mercies of it are certainly yours God will be your God and Christ and the Spirit and pardon and Heaven and all are yours The Lord open and perswade your heart that you may not be undone and lost for ever for want of accepting the mercy that is offered you And now I know it would be comfortable to you if you could be fully assured that you are forgiven and shall be saved In a matter of such unspeakable moment how jâ—yful would a well-grounded certainty be to any man that hath the right use of his understanding I tell you therefore from God that there is no cause of your doubting on his part but only on your own There is no doubt to be made whether God be merciful nor whether Christ be a sufficient Saviour and sacrifice for your sins nor whether the Covenant be sure and promise of pardon and salvation to all true penitent believers be true All the doubt is whether your faith and Repentance be sincere or not And for that I can but tell you how you may know it and I shall open the Truth to you that I may neither Deceive you nor causlâ—sly Discomfort you If this Repentance and Change which you now profess and this Covenant which you have made Matth. 13. 19 20 21 22 23. Rom. 8. 7 8 9. Heb. 12. 14. Joh. 3. 3 5 6. Matth. 18. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Eph. 6. 24. 1 Cor. 16. 22. Luk. 14. 26 27. with God 1. Do come only from a present fear and not from a changed renewed heart 2. And if your Resolutions be such as would not hold you to a holy life if you should recover but would die and fade away and leave you as were before when the fear is past then is it but a forced hypocritical Repentance and will not save you if you so die Though a Minister of Christ should Absolve you of all your sins and seal it by giving you the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for all this you are lost for ever if you have no more For Absolution and the Sacrament are given you but on supposition that yâ—ur faith and Repentance be sincere And if this Condition fail in you the Action of the holiest Minister in the world will never save you But 1. If your Repentance and Covenant come not only from a present fear but from a Renewed Heart which now Loveth God and Christ and Heaven and Holiness better than all the Honours and Riches and Pleasures of the flesh and world and had rather have them even on Gods terms 2. And if this change be such as if you should recover would hold you to a Holy Life and not die or dwindle into hypocritical formality when the fright is over then I can assure you from the word of God that if you die in this Repentance you shall certainly be saved And though Late Repentance have so many difficulties that it too seldom proveth true and sound and it is an unspeakable madness to cast our salvation on so great a hazard and to defer that till such a day as this which should be the principal work of all our lives and for which the greatest care and diligence is not too much Yet for all that when Conversion is indeed sincere it is alwayes acceptable how late soever And a returning prodigal shall find Luk. 15. 19 20 21 22. Joh. 6. 37. better entertainment with God than he could possibly expect And never will Christ cast out one soul that cometh to him in sincerity of heart The Lord give you such a Heart and all is yours Amen
is through the faith of Christ that being made conformable unto his death I may attain to the Resurrection of the dead and may by him be presented without spot or blemish My God thou hast encouraged my fearful soul by the multitude of thy mercies as well as by thy promises to trust thee and yield it self to thee Thou hast filled up all my dayes with mercy Every place that I have lived in and every relation and all that I have had to do with in the world are the witnesses of thy Love and mercy to me Thy eyes beheld my substance being yet imperfect and all my members were written in thy Book My parents were instructed by thee to educate me and all things commanded by thee to serve for my preservation comfort and salvation Thou hast brought me forth in a land and age of mercies and caused me to hear and see the things which others have not seen or heard The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places My life hath not been spent in a howling wilderness nor in banishment from thy Sanctuary or the communion of thy Saints nor hath it been wholly consumed in darkness and sorrow and unserviceable barrenness But often have I heard the joyful sound and I have gone with the multitude to the house of God and there have seen the light of thy countenance and drank of the Rivers of thy pleasure even of the waters of life and have been solaced with the voice of joy and praise How oft have I cryed unto thee in my trouble and thou hast delivered me out of my distresses When for my folly and transgression I was afflicted thou broughtst me out of darkness and the shadow of death Thou renewedst my age as Hezekiahs and causedst the shadow of my Dyal to go back and hast set me at liberty to praise thee for thy Goodness and declare thy Psal. 107. 8. 15 Psal. 50. 15. 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. Psal. 23. Psal. 139. 17 18. Heb. 13. 5. John 13. 1. Psal 57. 10. 108. 4. 36. 5. 103. 17. 136. Psal. 63. 3. Phil. 1. 23. Luke 2. 29 30. 2 Cor. 1. 2 3 4 5 7 8. works to the children of men In the day of trouble I called upon thee and thou didst deliver me that I might glorifie thee Thou causedst me to receive the sentence of death that I might trust in God that raiseth the dead My Shepheard hath led me in his pleasant pastures by the silent streams He restored my soul and conducted me in the paths of righteousness How pretious are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the summ of them If I should count them they are more in number than the sand And will that mercy now forsake me which hath abounded to me and supported me so long Thou hast said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Having loved thy own that are in the world thou wilt love them to the end For thy mercy is great and reacheth to the Heavens and it endureth for ever O therefore when I awake let me be with thee And as thy loving kindness is better than Life and to depart and be with Christ is far better than the best condition upon earth so let thy servant depart in peace his eye of faith beholding thy salvation And when my earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved let me have that building of God the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Let my present burden of sin and suffering make me more earnestly to groan not to be unclothed but to be clothed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life that being absent from the body I may be present with the Lord. And seeing this Cup may not pass from me and I must not look for the Chariot of Elias to carry me unto Heaven let thy Will be done and let me rest therein and let death be the gain and advantage of my soul And Phil. 1 21. 2 Cor. 4. 16 â—8 1 Kings 19. 4. while this outward man is perishing let the inner man be renewed from day to day For what am I better than my Fathers and all thy Saints and the generations of mankind that I should think of any other passage than this of Death to the world of immortality O let this fainting heart be glad and let my glory rejoyce and in Love and Ioy in Thankfulness and Praise let me pass into the world of Love and Ioy where Thanksgiving and Praise shall be my work for ever And though my flesh and heart will fail Psal. 73. 26. be thou the strength of my heart O God and my portion for ever Though I must walk through the valley of the shadow of death let me fear no evil But be thou still with me and let me be comforted by thy rod Psal. 23. 4 5 6. and staff Let the goodness and mercy which hath followed me thus far all my dayes receive me at the last that I may dwell with thee for ever For it is the will of my Redeemer that those which thou hast given him be with him where he is to behold the glory which thou hast given him And that his servants John 17. 24. John 12. 26. Acts 7. 59. Luke 23. 43. John 20. 17. Joh. 14. 1 2 3. Psal. 16. 11 12. should follow him that where he is there also may his servants be Amen Lord Iesus Good is thy Will and the Word which thou hast spoken Into thy hands I commend my Spirit which thou hast Redeemed Receive it and let me be with thee in Paradise O thou that hast called us thy Brethren when thou didst ascend to thy Father and our Father and to thy God and our God take up this poor unworthy soul to the mansions which thou hast prepared for us that I may be with thee where thou art And though this flesh must perish let it rest in hope and be but sowed as a grain of wheat till thy powerful Call shall raise it from the dust and this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality and this 1 Cor. 15. 53 54 55. natural body shall be raised a spiritual body and death shall be swallowed up in Victory For though I be dead my life is hid with Christ in God And when thou appearest who art my Life then let me appear with Col. 3. 3 4 5. 2 Thess. 1. 10 11. thee in glory O hasten that appearance and come with thy holy glorious Angels to be glorified in thy Saints and admired in and by Believers When thou wilt change our vile bodies and make them like to thy Glorious Body by the mighty working by which thou canst subdue even all things to thy self Hast Phil. 3. 21. Rev. 2â— 20 17 Eph. 5. 26 27. 1 Cor. 15. 45. Acts 3. 5. John 14. 19. Rev. 14. 13. Matth. 10. 30. Luke 21. 18. Heb. 12. 22 23 Rev. 1. 6. Rom. 11. 36. Rev.
knoweth the reason of his own commands It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matth. 4. 10. If God should command us nothing how is he our Governour and our God And if he command us any thing what should he command us more fitly than to worship him And he that will not obey him in this is not like to obey him well in any thing For there is nothing that he can with less shew of Reason except against seeing all the Reason in the world must confess that worship is most due to God from his own Creatures § 12. These Reasons for the Worship of God being undenyable the Objections of the infidels and Object ungodly are unreasonable As Obj. 1. That our worship doth no good to God for he hath no need of it Answ. Answ. It pleaseth and honoureth him as the making of the world and the happiness of man doth Doth it follow that there must be no world nor no man happy because God hath no need of it or no addition of felicity by it It is sufficient that it is necessary and Good for us and pleasing unto God § 13. Obj 2. Proud men are unlikest unto God and it is the Proud that love to be honoured and Object praised Answ. Pride is the affecting of an undue honour or the undue affecting of that honour Answ. which is due Therefore it is that this affectation of honour in the Creature is a sin because all honour is due to God and none to the Creature but derivatively and subserviently For a subject to affect any of the honour of his King is disloyalty And to affect any of the honour of his follow subjects is injustice But God requireth nothing but what is absolutely his due And â—e hath commanded us even towards men to give fear and honour to whom they are due Rom. 13. 7. § 14. Direct 3. Labour for the truest knowledge of the God whom you worship Let it not be said Direct 3. of you as Christ said to the Samaritan Woman Joh. 4. 22. Ye worship ye know not what nor as it is said of the Athenians whose Altar was inscribed To the unknown God Act. 17. 23. You must know whom you worship or else you cannot worship him with the heart nor worship him sincerely and acceptably though you were at never so great labour and cost God hath no pleasure in the sacrifice of fools Eccl. 5. 1 4. Though no man know him perfectly you must know him truly And though God taketh not every man for a Blaspheamer and denier of his Attributes whom contentious pievish wranglers call so because they consequentially cross some espoused opinions of theirs yet real misunderstanding of Gods nature and attributes is dangerous and tendeth to corrupt his worship by the corrupting of the Worshippers For such as you take God to be such Worship you will offer him For your worship is but the honourable acknowledgement of his perfections And mistakingly to praise him for supposed imperfections is to dishonour him and dispraise him If to know God be your eternal life it must needs be the life of all your worship Take heed therefore of ignorance and errour about God § 15. Direct 4. Understand the office of Iesus Christ as our Great High Priest by whose Mediation Direct 4. alone we must have access to God Whether there should have been any Priesthood for sacrifice or intercession Heb. 8. 3. if there had been no sin the Scripture telleth us not expresly but we have great reason to conjecture there would have been none because there would not have been any reasons for the exercise of such an office But since the fall not only the Scriptures but the practice of the whole world doth tell us that the sinful people are unmeet immediatly thus to come to God but that they must come by the Mediation of the Priest as a Sacrificer and Intercessour So that either Nature teacheth sinners the Necessity of some Mediator or the Tradition of the Church hath dispersed the Knowledge of it through the World And certainly no other Priest but Christ can procure the acceptance of a sinful people upon his own account nor be an effectual Mediator for them to God Heb. 7. 27 28. Heb 9. 26 28. unless in subserviency to an effectual Mediator who can procure us access and acceptance for his own sake For all other Priests are sinners as well as the people and have as much need of a Mediator Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. Heb. 10. 13 14. for themselves 1. See therefore that you never appear before God but as sinners that have offended him and have deserved to be cast out of his favour for ever and such as are in absolute necessity of a Mediator to procure their access and acceptance with God Come not to God without the sense of sin and misery 2. See also that you come as those that Have a Mediator in the Heb. 6. 20. Heb. 7. 25 26. Matth. 1â— 5. Joh. 11. 42. presence of God even Jesus our High Priest who appeareth before God continually to make intercession for us Come therefore with holy boldness and confidence and joy having so sure and powerful a friend with God the beloved of the Father whom he heareth alwayes § 16. Direct 5. Look carefully to the state of thy soul that thou bring not an unholy heart to Worship Direct 5. the most Holy God Come not in the Love of sin nor in the hatred of Holiness For otherwise thou hatest God and art hated of him as bringing that before him which he cannot but hate And it 's easie to judge how unfit they are to worship God that hate him and how unlike they are to be accepted by him whom he hateth Psal. 5. 3 4 5 6 7. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man But as for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psal. 15. 1 2. Who shall abide in Gods tabernacle but he that walketh Lâ—v. 10 3. uprightly and worketh righteousness God will be sanctified in them that come nigh him and are unsanctified persons fit for this and can the unholy offer him holy worship The carnal mind is enmity against God is it fit then to serve and honour him Rom. 8. 7 8. See 2 Cor. 6. 15 16 17 18. Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. It is a purified peculiar holy people that Christ hath redeemed to be the worshippers of God and as Priests to offer him acceptable Sacrifice Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 2. 5. 9. If you will receive the Kingdom that cannot be moved you must have grace in your hearts to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 28 29. I know an ungodly person as soon as he hath any repenting thoughts must express them in Confession and Prayer to God But as no Prayers of an ungodly man are profitable to him but those which are acts of his penitent return towards God so no worship of God hath a promise of Divine acceptance but that which is performed by such as sincerely return to God and such are not ungodly The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. I know the wicked must seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near but it must be in forsaking his way and thoughts and turning to the Lord Isa. 55. 6. 7. Simon Magus must first Repent of his wickedness and then pray that the thoughts of his heart may be forgiven him Act. 8. 22. O come not in thy unholy carnal state to Worship God unless it be as a penitent returner to him to lament first thy sin and misery that thou maist be sanctified and reconciled and fit to Worship him § 17. Direct 6. Yet take it not as sufficient that thou art in a state of sanctification but also particularly Direct 6. sanctifie thy self to every particular address to God in holy worship Even the Child of a King will not go rudely in dirt and filthiness into his fathers presence Who would not search his heart and life and cleanse his soul from his particular pollution by renewed Repentance and purposes of reformation before he venture to speak to God Particular sins have made sad breaches between God and his Children and made soul work in souls that the blood of Christ had cleansed Search therefore with fear lest there should be any reviving sin or any hidden root of bitterness or any transgression which thou winkest at or wilfully cherishest in thy self that if there be such thou maist bewail and hate it and not come to God as if he had laid by his hatred of sin § 18. Direct 7. Whenever thou comest to worship God labour to awaken thy soul to a reverent apprehension Direct 7. of the presence and Greatness and holiness of his Majesty and to a serious apprehension of the Greatness and excellency of the holy work which thou takest in hand Remember with whom thou hast to do Heb. 4. 13. To speak to God is another kind of work than to speak to the greatest Prince on earth yea or the greatest Angel in Heaven Be holy for the Lord your God is holy To sanctifie the name of God and come in Holiness before him is to apprehend him as infinitely advanced above the whole Creation and to come with Hearts that are separated from common things to him and elevated above a common frame A common frame of heart in worship such as we have about our common business is meer prophaneness If it be common it is unclean Look to your feet when you go to the house of God Eccl. 5. 1. Put off the shooes of earthly common unhallowed affections when ever you tread on holy ground that is when you are about holy work and when you draw near the Holy God In reverent adoration say as Iacob Gen. 28. 17. How dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven See Isa. 6. 1 3 5. § 19. Direct 8. In the worship of God remember your communion with the holy Angels and with all Direct 8. the hosts of Heaven You are the servants of the same God and though you are yet far below Luk. 20. 36. See Eccl. 5. 5. Psal. 138. 1. Isa. 6. 2. them you are doing that which tendeth towards their dignity for you must be equal with them You work is partly of the same kind with theirs It is the same Holy Majesty that you admire and praise though you see him yet but as in a glass And the Angels are some of them present with you and see you though you see not them 1 Cor. 11. 10. you are commanded to respect them in your behaviour in Gods worship If the eye of faith were so far opened as that in all your Worshipping of God you saw the blessed companies of Angels though not in the same place and See Mr. Ambrose his Book of Communion with Angels And Zanchy on the same subject and Mr. â—awrenâ—e and Dr. Hammonds Annotat. on 1 Cor. 11. manner with you yet in the same worship and in communion with you admiring magnifying extolling and praising the most Glorious God and the Glorified Redeemer with flaming fervent holy minds it would sure do much to elevate your souls and raise you up to some imitation and resemblance of them You find that in Gods publick worship it is a great help to the soul in holy cheerfulness and fervour to joyn with a full Assembly of holy fervent cheerful worshippers and that it is very difficult to the best to keep up life and fervent cheerfulness in so small or ignorant or prophane a company as where there is is no considerable number to concur with us O then what a raising help would it be to praise God as within the sight and hearing of the Heavenly praises of the Angelical chore You see how apt men are to be comformed to the company that they are in They that are among Dancers or gamesters or tiplers or filthy talkers or scorners or railers are apt to do as the company doth or at least to be the more disposed to it And they that are among Saints in holy worship or discourse are apt to imitate them much more than they would do in other company And what likelier way is there to make you like Angels in the Worshipping of God than to do it as in the communion of the Angels and by faith to see and hear them in the consort The Angels disdain not to study our studies and to learn by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 12. They are not so far from us nor so strange to us and our affairs as that we should imagine our selves to be out of their communion Though we may not worship them Col. 2. 18. we must worship as with them § 20. Direct 9. Take special care to the Matter of your Worship that it be such as is agreeable to the Direct 9. will of God to the holiness of his nature and the directions of his word and such as hath a promise of Adulterium est impium est
what you are going to do that you miss not of the end for want of seeking it The Devil will give hypocritical worldlings leave to play them with the most excellent Ordinances if he can but keep God out of sight even as you will let your children play them with a box of Gold as long as it is shut and they see not what 's within § 25. Direct 11. Be laborious with your hearts in all Gods worship to keep them employed on their Direct 11. Eph. 6. 18. Luke 21. 36. Rev. 3. 3. Col. 4. 2. Matth. 26. 38 40 41. Mar. 13. 33. 34 35 37. duty and be watchful over them lest they slug or wander Remember that it is heart-work that you are principally about And therefore see that your hearts be all the while at work Take your selves as idle when your hearts are idle And if you take not pains with them how little pains will they take in duty If you watch them not how quickly will they lye down and forget what they are doing and fall asleep when you are in treaty with God How easily will they turn aside and be thinking of impertinent vanities Watch therefore unto prayer and every duty 1 Pet. 4. 7. 2 Tim. 4. 5. Direct 12. § 26. Direct 12. Look up to Heaven as that which all your duties tend to that from thence you may fetch your encouraging motives Do all as a means to life eternal separate no duty from its reward and end As the traveller remembreth whither he is going all the way and a desired end doth make the foulest steps seem tolerable so think in every prayer you put up and in every duty that it is all for Heaven § 27. Direct 13. Depend upon the Spirit of God for help You cannot seek God spiritually and acceptably Direct 13. without him Think not that you are sufficient to worship God aright without his help Where this is despised or neglected you see what lamentable work is made by blind corrupted nature in Gods service Sensual wretches that have not the Spirit are fitter for any thing than to Jude 19. worship God If he that hath not the Spirit of Christ be none of his Rom. 8. 9. then he that pretends to worship God without the Spirit of Christ can ill think to be heard for the sake of Christ. § 28. Direct 14. Look also to your tongues and the deportment of your bodies that the whole man Direct 14. may worship God in holiness as he requireth Pretend not your good meanings nor the spirituality of your worship to excuse you from worshipping also with your bodies Your Hearts must be first lookt to but your words and bodies must next be lookt to And if you regard not these it is hardly credible that you regard your hearts 1. Your words and gestures are the due expression of your hearts And the Heart will desire to express it self as it is Many would express their Hearts to be better than they are and therefore good expressions are oft to be suspected But few would express their hearts as worse than they are and therefore bad appearances do seldome lye 2. Your words and actions are needful to the due honouring of God As evil words and actions do dishonour him and the unseemly disorderly performance of his service is very injurious to such holy things so yourmeet and comely words and gestures are the external beauty of the worship which you perform And God should be served with the best 3. Your words and gestures reflect much on your own hearts As acts tend to the increase of the habits so the external expressions tend to increase the internal affections whether they be good or evil 4. Your words and gestures must be regarded for the good of others who see not your hearts but by these expressions And where many have communion in worshipping God such acts of communion are of great regard CHAP. II. Directions about the Manner of Worship to avoid all corruptions and false unacceptable Worshipping of God THe lamentable contentions that have arisen about the Manner of Gods worship and the cruelty and blood and divisions and uncharitable revilings which have thence followed and also the necessary regard that every Christian must have to worship God according to his Will do make it needful that I give you some Directions in this case § 1. Direct 1. Be sure that you seriously and faithfully practise that inward worship of God in which Direct 1. the life of Religion doth consist as to love him above all to fear him believe him trust him delight in him be zealous for him and that your Hearts be sanctified unto God and set upon Heaven and Holiness Read on this subject a small Book which I have written called Catholick Unity For this will be an unspeakable help to set you right in most controversies about the worshipping of God Nothing hath so much filled the Church with contentions and divisions and cruelties about Gods worship as the agitating of these controversies by unholy unexperienced persons when men that hate a holy life and holy persons and the Holiness of God himself must be they that dispute what manner of worship must be offered to God by themselves and others and when the controversies about Gods service are fallen into the hands of those that hate all serious serving of him you may easily know what work they will make of it As if sick men were to determine or dispute what meat and drink themselves and all other men must live upon and none must eat but by their prescripts most healthful men would think it hard to live in such a Countrey As men are within so will they incline to worship God without Outward worship is but the expression of inward worship He that hath a heart replenished with the Love and Fear of God will be apt to express it by such manner of worship as doth most lively and seriously express the love and fear of God If the heart be a stranger or an enemy to God no marvel if such worship him accordingly O could we but help all contenders about worship to the inward light and life and love and experience of holy serious Christians they would find enough in themselves and their experiences to decide abundance of controversies of this kind Though still there will be some that require also other helps to decide them It is very observable in all times of the Church how in Controversies about Gods worship the generality of the godly serious people and the generality of the ungodly and ludicrous worshippers are ordinarily of differing judgements and what a stroke the temper of the soul hath in the determination of such cases § 2. Direct 2. Be serious and diligent also in all those parts of the outward worship of God that all sober Direct 2. Christians are agreed in For if you be negligent and false in so much as you confess your
Dâ—â—r l. 1. p. 46. â—aâ—th that Possi 〈…〉 s believed that Epiâ—urus thought there was no God but put a sâ—orn upon him by describing him like a man idle careless c. which he would not have done if he had thought there was a God to any of his creatures 3. God is Omnipresent and therefore you may every where lift up holy hands to him 1 Tim. 2. 8. And you must alwayes worship him as in his sight 4. God is Omniscient and knoweth your Hearts and therefore let your Hearts be employed and watched in his worship 5. God is most wise and therefore not to be worshipped ludicrously with toyes as children are pleased with to quiet them but with wise and rational worship 6. God is most Great and therefore to be worshipped with the greatest reverence and seriousness and not presumptuously with a careless mind or wandring thoughts or rude expressions 7. God is most Good and Gracious and therefore not to be worshipped with backwardness unwillingness and weariness but with great Delight 8. God is most Merciful in Christ and therefore not to be worshipped despairingly but in joyful Hope 9. God is True and faithful and therefore to be worshipped believingly and confidently and not in distrust and unbelief 10. God is most Holy and therefore to be worshipped by Holy persons in a Holy manner and not by unholy hearts or lips nor in a common manner as if we had to do but with a man 11. He is the Maker of your Souls and Bodies and therefore to be worshipped both with soul and body 12. He is your Redeemer and Saviour and therefore to be worshipped by you as sinners in the humble sense of your sin and misery and as Redeemed ones in the thankful sense of his Mercy and all in order to your further cleansing healing and Recovery 13. He is your Regenerater and Sanctifier and therefore to be worshipped not in the confidence of your natural sufficiency but by the Light and Love and Life of the Holy Ghost 14. He is your Absolute Lord and the Owner of you and all you have and therefore to be worshipped with the absolute resignation of your self and all and honoured with your substance and not Hypocritically with exceptions and reserves 15. He is your Soveraign King and therefore to be worshipped according to his Lawes with an obedient kind of worship and not after the Traditions of men nor the will or wisdom of the flesh 16. He is your Heavenly Father Mat. 15. 2 3 6. Mar. 7. 3. to 14. Col. 2. 8 18 2â— and therefore all these Holy dispositions should be summed up into the strongest Love and you should run to him with the greatest readiness and Rest in him with the greatest Ioy and thirst after the full fruition of him with the greatest of your Desires and press towards him for himself with the most servent and importunate suites All these the very Being and Perfections of God will teach you in his worship And therefore if any controverted worship be certainly contrary to any of these it is certainly unwarranted and unacceptable unto God § 8. Direct 7. Pretend not to worship God by that which is destructive or contrary to the Ends of Direct 7. worship For the aptitude of it as a means to its proper end is essential to it Now the Ends of worship are 1. The Honouring of God 2. The Edifying of our selves in Holiness and delighting our souls in the contemplation and praises of his perfections 3. The communicating this Knowledge Holiness and delight to others and the increase of his actual Kingdom in the world 1. Avoid then all that pretended Worship which dishonoureth God not in the opinion of carnal men that judge of But with the Ba 〈…〉 Aâ—â—â—â—a the 〈…〉 p. 2. 9. â— 2. 〈…〉 riâ—u signa oâ—â—â—â—â— exteâ—num cultum diligenter câ—â—are His quippe delectâ—ntur d 〈…〉 homines animaleâ— N. B. â—donec paulatim aboleatur memoria gustus praeteritorum So Gâ— â—issiâ— sâ—â—â—â—h iâ— viâ—a Gâ—eâ— Nâ—oâ—as that they turned the Pagans Festivals into Festivals for the Martyrs to please them the better Which Bâ—dâ— and many others relate of the practice of those times him by their own misguided imaginations but according to the discovery of himself to us in his works and Word Many Travellers that have conversed with the soberer Heathen and Mahometan Nations tell us that it is not the least hinderance of their conversion and cause of their contempt of Christianity to see the Christians that live about them to worship God so ignorantly irrationally and childishly as many of them do 2. Affect most that manner of worship caeteris paribus which tendeth most to your own right information and holy resolutions and affections and to bring up your souls into nearer communion and delight in God And not that which tendeth to deceive or flatter or divert you from him nor to be in your ears as sounding brass or a tinkling Cymbal or as one that is playing you a lesson of Musick and tendeth not to make you better 3. Affect not that manner of worship which is an enemy to knowledge and tendeth to keep up Ignorance in the world Such as is a great part of the Popish worship especially their reading the Scriptures to the people in an unknown tongue and celebrating their publick prayers and praises and Sacraments in an unknown tongue and their seldome preaching and then teaching the people to take up with a multitude of toyish Ceremonies instead of knowledge and rational worship Certainly that which is an enemy to knowledge is an enemy to all Holiness and true obedience and to the Ends of worship and therefore is no acceptable worshipping of God 4. Affect not that pretended worship which is of it self destructive of true Holiness Such as is the preaching of false doctrine not according to godliness and the opposition and reproaching of a holy life and worship in the misapplication of true doctrine and then teaching poor souls to satisfie themselves with their Mass and Mass Ceremonies and an Image of worship instead of serious Holiness which is opposed Prov. 24. 24. He that saith to the wicked thou art Righteous him shall the people curse Nations shall ahhor him And if this be done as a worship of God you may hence judge how acceptable it will be Isa. 5. 20. Wo unto them that call Evil Good and Good Evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter To make people believe that Holiness is but Hypocrisie or a needless thing or that the Image of Holiness is Holiness it self or that there is no great difference between the godly and ungodly doth all tend to mens perdition and to damn men by deceiving them and to root out Holiness from the earth See Ezek. 22. 26. 44. 23. Jer. 15. 19. If thou take forth the pretious from the vile thou shalt be as
your help or liberty to do it afterward when that once or few times doing it were like to hinder you from doing it any more it would be your duty then to forbear it for that time unless in some extraordinary case For even for the life of an Oxe or an Asse and for Mercy to mens bodies the rest and holy work of a Sabbath might be interrupted much more for the souls of many Again I warn you as you must not pretend the interest of the end against a peremptory absolute command of God so must you not easily conclude a command to be absolute and peremptory to that which certainly contradicts the End nor easily take that for a Duty which certainly is no means to that good which is the end of duty or which is against it Though yet no seeming aptitude as a means must make that seem a duty which the prohibition of God hath made a sin § 26. Direct 15. It is ever unseasonable to perform a lesser duty of Worship when a greater Direct 15. should be done Therefore it much concerneth you to be able to discern when two duties are inconsistent which is then the greater and to be preferred In which the Interest of the end must much direct you that being usually the greatest which hath the greatest tendency to the greatest good § 27. Direct 16. Pretend not one part of Gods Worship against another when all in their Direct 16. place and order may be done Set not Preaching and Praying against each other nor publick and private Worship against each other nor internal Worship against external but do all § 28. Direct 17. Let not an inordinate respect to man or common custome be too strong a byas to Direct 17. pervert your judgements from the Rule of Worship nor yet any groundless prejudice make you distaste that which is not to be disliked The errour on these two extreams doth fill the World with corruption and contentions about the Worship of God Among the Papists and Russians and other ignorant sort of Christians abundance of corruptions are continued in Gods Worship by the Majus fidei impedimentum ex inveâ—eraâ—â consuetudine proficiscitur Ubique consuetudo magnas vires habet sed in barbaris longe maximas quippe ubi rationis est minimum ibi consueâ—udo radices profundiâ—â—imas agit In omni natura motio eò diuturnioâ— ac vehemenâ—ior quo magis est ad unum determinaâ—a Ios. Acosta de Iâ—d l. 2. p. 249. meer power of custome tradition and education and all seemeth right to which they have been long used and hence the Churches in South East and West continue so long overspread with ignorance and refuse reformation And on the other side meer prejudice makes some so much distaste a prescribed form of Prayer or the way of Worship which they have not been used to and which they have heard some good men speak against whose judgements they highlyest esteemed that they have not room for sober impartial reason to deliberate try and judge Factions have engaged most Christians in the World into several parties whereby Satan hath got this great advantage that instead of Worshipping God in Love and Concord they lay out their zeal in an envious bitter censorious uncharitable reproaching the manner of each others Worship And because the interest of their Parties requireth this they think the interest of the Church and Cause of God requireth it and that they do God service when they make the Religion of other men seem odious when as among most Christians in the World the errours of their modes of Worship are not so great as the adverse parties represent them except only the two great crimes of the Popish Worship 1. That it 's not understood and so is See Bishop Ier. Tailours late Book against Popery souleless 2. They Worship bread as God himself which I am not so able as willing to excuse from being Idolatry Judge not in such cases by passion partiality and prejudice § 29. Direct 18. Yet judge in all such Controversies with that reverence and charity which Direct 18. is due to the universal and the Primitive Church If you find any thing in Gods Worship which the primitive or universal Church agreed in you may be sure that it is nothing but what is consistent with acceptable Worship For God never rejected the Worship of the primitive or universal Church And it is not so much as to be judged erroneous without great deliberation and very good proof We must be much more suspicious of our own understandings § 30. Direct 19. In circumstances and modes of Worship not forbidden in the Word of God affect Direct 19. not singularity and do not easily differ from the practice of the Church in which you hold Communion nor from the commands or directions of your lawful Governours It 's true if we are forbidden with Dan. 3. Act. 4. 17 18. 5. 28. Daniel to Pray or with the Apostles to speak any more in the name of Christ or are commanded as the three witnesses Dan. 3. to Worship Images we must rather obey God than man and so in case of any sin that is commanded us But in case of meer different modes and circumstances and order of Worship see that you give authority and the consent of the Church where you are their due § 31. Direct 20. Look more to your own hearts than to the abilities of the Ministers or the Ceremonies Direct 20. or manner of the Churches Worship in such lesser things It is Heart-work and Heaven-work that the sincere believer comes about and it is the corruption of his heart that is his heaviest burden which he groaneth under with the most passionate complaints A hungry soul enflamed with Love to God and man and tenderly sensible of the excellency of common truths and duties would make up many defects in the manner of publick administration and would get nearer God in a defective imperfect mode of Worship than others can do with the greatest helps When Hypocrites find so little work with their Hearts and Heaven that they are Jam. 3. 15 16 17. taken up about words and forms and ceremonies and external things applauding their own way and condemning other mens and serving Satan under pretence of Worshipping God CHAP. III. Directions about the Christian Covenant with God and Baptism § 1. THough the first Tome of this Book is little more than an explication of the Christian Covenant with God yet being here to speak of Baptism as a part of Gods Worship it is needful that I briefly speak also of the Covenant it self § 1. Direct 1. It is a matter of great importance that you well understand the nature Direct 1. of the Christian Covenant what it is I shall therefore here briefly open the nature of it and then speak of the Reasons of it and then of the solemnizing it by Baptism and next of our Renewing it
breach almost uncurable because no professions of repentance or future fidelity can be trusted Thus I have partly shewed you the Malignity of Perjury and Covenant-breaking § 3. Direct 2. Be sure that you make no Vow or Covenant which God hath forbidden you to keep Direct 2. It is rash vowing and swearing which is the common cause of Perjury You should at the making of your Vow have seen into the bottom of it and foreseen all the evils that might follow it and the Temptations which were like to draw you into perjury He is virtually perjured as soon as he hath sworn who sweareth to do that which he must not do The preventive means are here the best § 4. Direct 3. Be sure you take no Oath or Vow which you are not sincerely resolved to perform Direct 3. They that Swear or Vow with a secret reserve that rather than they will be ruined by keeping it they will break it are Habitually and Reputatively perjured persons even before they Lege distinctionem Grotii inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aanot. in Matth. 5. 33. Modern Policy supposed Dr. Sand rosts Princ. 7. 1. We are ready to interpret the words too kindly especially if they be ambiguous and its hard to find terms so positive but that they may be eluded indeed or seem to us to be so if we be disposed 2. Some are invited to illicite promises qua illicite because they know them to be invalid 3. Some are frighted into these bonds by threats and losses and temporal concernments and then they please themselves that they sweâ—r by Duâ—eâ—s and so are disengaged 4. Some are Oath-proof c. break it Besides that they shew a base hypocritical profligate conscience that can deliberately commit so great a sin § 5. Direct 4. See that all fleshly worldly interest be fully subdued to the interest of your souls Direct 4. and to the will of God He that at the heart sets more by his body than his soul and loveth his worldly prosperity above God will lye or swear or forswear or do any thing to save that carnal interest which he most valueth He that is carnal and worldly at the heart is false at the heart The Religion of such an Hypocrite will give place to his temporal safety or commodity and will carry him no further than the way is fair It is no wonder It is one of Solons sayings in Laertius p. 51. Probiâ—itateâ—n â—uâ—â—â—â—rando certiorem habe What will not an Atheistical impious person say or swear for advantage that a proud man or a worldling will renounce both God and his true felicity for the World seeing indeed he taketh it for his God and his felicity even as a Believer will renounce the world for God § 6. Direct 5. Beware of inordinate fear of man and of a distrustful withdrawing of your hearts Direct 5. from God Else you will be carryed to comply with the will of man before the will of God and to avoid the wrath of man before the wrath of God Read and fear that heavy curse Ier. 17. 5 6. God is unchangeable and hath commanded you so far to imitate him as If a man Vow a Vow unto the Lord or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond he shall not break his word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth Numb 30. 2. But man is mutable and so is his interest and his affairs And therefore if you are the servants of men you must swear one year and for swear it or swear the contrary the next when their interest requireth it you must not be thought worthy to live among men if you will not promise or swear as they command you And when their interest altereth and requireth the contrary you must hold all those bonds to be but straws and break them for their end◠§ 7. Direct 6. Be sure that you lose not the fear of God and the tenderness of your consciences Direct 6. When these are lost your understanding and sense and life is lost and you will not stick at the greatest wickedness nor know when you have done it what you did If faith see not God continually present and foresee not the great approaching day Perjury or any villany will seem tolerable for worldly ends For when you look but to mens present case you will see that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hands of God no man knoweth Love or hatred by all that is before them All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the Good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an â—ath Eccles. 9. 1 2. But in the end men shall discern between the righteous and the wicked Mal. 3. 18. Therefore it is the believing foresight of the end that by preserving the fear of God and tenderness of Conscience must save you from this and all other heynous sin § 8. Direct 7. Be not bold and rash about such dreadful things as Vows Run not as fearlesly Direct 7. upon them as if you were but going to your dinner The wrath of God is not to be jeasted with Usq ad aras was the bounds even of a Heathens kindness to his friend Meddle with Oathes with the greatest fear and caution and circumspection It 's terrible here to find that you were mistaken through any temerity or negligence or secret seduction of a carnal interest § 9. Direct 8. Especially be very fearful of owing any publick doctrine or doing any publick act Direct 8. which tendeth to harden others in their Perjury or to encourage multitudes to commit the sin To be Nunc nunâ— qui sâ—dera rumpit Ditatur Qui servat â—get Claud. anâ— forsworn your selves is a dreadful case but to teach whole Nations or Churches to forswear themselves or to plead for it or justifie it as a lawful thing is much more dreadful And though you teach not or own not Perjury under the name of Perjury yet if first you will make plain perjury to seem no Perjury that so you may justifie it it is still a most inhumane horrid act God knoweth I insult not over the Papists with a delight to make any Christians odious But with grief I remember how lamentably they have abused our holy profession while not only their great Doctors but their approved General Council at the Laterane under P. Innocent the third in the third Canon hath Decreed that the Pope may depose Temporal Lords from their Dominions and give them unto others and discharge their Vassals from their Allegiance and fidelity if they be hereticks or will not exterminate Hereticks even such as the holy men there condemned were in the Popes account To declare to
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell even together in unity It is like the pretious oyntment upon the head that ran down upon the heard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garment As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore The Translators well put this as the Contents of this Psalm The benefit of the communion of Saints § 53. 5. The concord of Believers doth greatly conduce to the successes of the Ministery and propagation of the Gospel and the conviction of unbelievers and the conversion and salvation of ungodly souls When Christ prayeth for the Unity of his Disciples he redoubleth this argument from the effect or end that the world may believe that thou hast sent me and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them c. Joh. 17. 21 23. Would this make the world believe that Christ was sent of God Yes undoubtedly if all Christians were reduced to a Holy Concord it would do more to win the Heathen world than all other means can do without it It is the Divisions and the wickedness of professed Christians that maketh Christianity so contemned by the Mahometanes and other Infidels of the world And it is the Holy Concord of Christians that would convince and draw them home to Christ. Love and Peace and concord are such vertues as all the world is forced to applaud notwithstanding natures enmity to good When the first Christian Church were all with one accord in one place and continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house partook of food with gladness and singleness of heart and when the multitude of believers were of one heart and of one soul c. Act. 2. 1 46. 4. 32. then did God send upon them Act. 2. 41. Act. 4. 33. the Holy Ghost and then were three thousand converted at a Sermon And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Iesus and great grace was upon them all How our Concord would promote the Conversion of Infidels Our Concord in Religion hath all these advantages for the converting of unbelievers and ungodly men 1. It is a sign that there is a constraining evidence of truth in that Gospel which doth convince so many A concurrent satisfaction and yielding to the truth is a powerful testimony for it 2. They see then that Religion is not a matter of worldly Policy and design when so many men of contrary interests do embrace it 3. And they see it is not the fruit of a Melancholy constitutions when so many men of various temperatures entertain it 4. They may see that the Gospel hath Power to conquer that self-love and self interest which is the most potent thing in vitiated nature Otherwise it could never make so many unite in God as their common interest and end 5. They may see that the Gospel and spirit of Christ is stronger than the devil and all the allurements of the flesh and world when it can make so many agree in the renouncing of all earthly vanities for the hopes of everlasting life 6. They will see that the Design and doctrine of Christianity is Good and excellent beseeming God and desirable to man when they see that it doth produce so good effects as the Love and Unity and Concord of manking 7. And it is an exceeding great and powerful help to the Conversion of the World in this respect because it is a thing so conspicuous in their sight and so intelligible to them and so approved by them They are little wrought on by the doctrine of Christ alone because it is visible or audible but to few and understood by fewer and containeth many things which nature doth distaste But the holy Concord of Believers is a thing that they are more able to discern and judge of and do more generally approve The HOLY CONCORD of Christians must be the CONVERSION of the unbelieving world if God have so great a mercy for the world which is a consideration that should not only deter us from ☜ Divisions but make us zealously study and labour with all our interest and might for the healing of the lamentable Divisions among Christians if we have the hearts of Christians and any sense of the interest of Christ. § 54. 6. The Concord of Christians doth greatly conduce to the ease and peace of particular Believers The very exercise of Love to one another doth sweeten all our lives and duties We sail towards Heaven in a pleasant Calm with wind and tide when we live in Love and peace together How easie doth it make the work of Godliness How light a burden doth Religion seem when we are all as of one heart and soul § 55. 7. Lastly Consider whether this be not the likest state to Heaven and therefore have not in it the most of Christian excellency and perfection In Heaven there is no discord but a perfect consort of glorified spirits harmoniously loving and praising their Creator And if Heaven be desirable holy Concord on earth is next desirable § 56. III. On the contrary consider well of the Mischiefs of Divisions 1. It is the killing of The Mischiefs of Division the Church as much as lyeth in the dividers or the wounding it at least Christs Body is One and it is sensible and therefore Dividing it tendeth directly to the destroying it and at least will cause its smart and pain To Reform the Church by Dividing it is no wiser than to cut out the Liver or Spleen or Gall to cleanse them from the filth that doth obstruct them and hinder them in their office you may indeed thus cleanse them but it will be a mortal cure As he that should Divide the Kingdom into two Kingdoms dissolveth the old Kingdom or part of it at least to erect two new ones so he that would divide the Catholick Church into two must thereby destroy it if he could succeed or destroy that part which divideth it self from the rest Can a member live that is cut off from the Body or a branch that is separated from the tree § 57. Quest. O but say the Romanists why then do you cut off your selves from us The Division Quest. is made by you and we are the Church and you are dead till you return to us How will you know which part is the Church when a Division is once made Answ. Are you the Church Are you the Answ. Whether Papists or Protestants are Schismaticks only Christians in the World The Church is all Christians united in Christ their Head You traiterously set up a new usurping Head and proclaim your selves to be the whole Church and condemn all that are not subjects to your new Head We keep our station and disclaim his Usurpation and deny subjection to
you and tell you that as you are the subjects of the Pope you are none of the Church of Christ at all From this treasonable conspiracy we withdraw our selves But as Coacil Tolâ—t 4. c. 61. 28. q. 1. Ca. Iudai qui allow separation from a Jewish husband if afâ—er admonition he will not be a Christian and so doth Aâ—osta and his Coâ—cil Lirâ—â—s l. 6. c. 21. and other Jesuits and allow the marrying of another And sure the Conjugal bond is faster than that of a Pastor and his sâ—ock may not a man then change his Pastor when his soul is in apparent hazzard you are the subjects of Christ we never divided from you nor denyed you our Communion Let Reason judge now who are the Dividers And is it not easie to know which is the Church in the Division It is all those that are still united unto Christ If you or we be divided from Christ and from Christians that are his Body we are then none of the Church But if we are not Divided from Christ we are of the Church still If part of a Tree though the far greater part be out off or separated from the rest it is that part how small soever that still groweth with the Root that is the living Tree The Indian Fig-tree and some other Trees have branches that take root when they touch the ground If now you ask me whether the branches springing from the second Root are members of the first Tree I answer 1. The rest that have no new Root are more undoubtedly members of it 2. If any branches are separated from the first Tree and grow upon the new root alone the case is out of doubt 3. But if yet they are by continuation joyned to both that Root which they receive their nutriment most from is it which they most belong to Suppose a Tyrant counterseit a Commission from the King to be Vice-King in Ireland and proclaimeth all them to be Traytors that receive him not The King disclaimeth him the wisest subjects renounce him and the rest obey him but so as to profess they do it because they believe him to be commissioned by the King Let the question be now who are the Dividers in Ireland and who are the Kings truest subjects and what Head it is that denominateth the Kingdom and who are the Traytors This is your case § 58. 2. Divisions are the deformities of the Church Cut off a nose or pluck out an eye or dismember either a man or a picture and see whether you have not deformed it Ask any compassionate Christian ask any insulting enemy whether our Divisions be not our deformity and shame the lamentation of friends and the scorn of enemies § 59. 3. The Churches Divisions are not our own dishonour alone but the injurious dishonour of Christ and Religion and the Gospel The World thinketh that Christ is an impotent King that cannot keep his Kingdom at unity in it self when he hath himself told us that every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every City or House divided against it self shall not stand Mat. 12. 25. They think the Gospel tendeth to Division and is a doctrine of dissention when they see divisions and dissentions procured by it They impute all the faults of the subjects to the King and think that Christ was confused in his Legislation and knew not what to teach or command because men are confounded in their opinions or practices and know not what to think or do If men misunderstand the Law of Christ and one saith This is the sense and another saith that is the sense they are ready to think that Christ spake non-sense or understood not himself because the ignorant understand him not Who is there that converseth with the ungodly of the World that heareth not by their reproach and scorns how much God and Religion are dishonoured by the Divisions of Religious people § 60. 4. And thus also our Divisions do lamentably hinder the progress of the Gospel and the conversion and salvation of the ungodly World They think they have small encouragement to be of your Religion while your Divisions seem to tell them that you know not what Religion to be of your selves Whatever Satan or wicked men would say against Religion to discourage the ungodly from it the same will exasperated persons in these Divisions say against each others way And when every one of you condemneth another how should the Consciences of the ungodly perswade them to expect salvation in any of those ways which you thus condemn Doubtless the Divisions of the Christian world have done more to hinder the conversion of Infidels and keep the Heathen and Mahometane World in their damnable ignorance and delusions than all our power is able to undoe and have produced such desolations of the Church of Christ and such a plentiful harvest and Kingdom for the Devil as every tender Christian heart is bound to lament with tears of bitterness If it must be that such offence shall come yet woe to those by whom they come § 67. 5. Divisions lay open the Churches of Christ not only to the scorn but to the malice will and fury of their enemies A Kingdom or house divided cannot stand Matth. 12. 25. where hath the Church been destroyed or Religion rooted out in any Nation of the Earth but divisions had a Rev. 17. 13. principal hand in the effect O what desolations have they made among the flocks of Christ As Seneca and others opened their own veins and bled to death when Nero or such other Tyrants did send them their commands to Die even so have many Churches done by their divisions to the gratifying of Satan the enemy of souls § 62. 6. Divisions among Christians do greatly hinder the edification of the members of the Church while they are possessed with envyings and distaste of one another they lose all the benefit of each others gifts and of that holy communion which they should have with one another And they are possessed with that zeal and wisdom which Iames calleth earthly sensual and devillish which corrupteth Eph. 4. 16. 1 Tim. 1. 4. Rom. 15. 19. Acts 9. 3â— all their affections and turneth their food to the nourishment of their disease and maketh their very worshipping of God to become the increase of their sin Where divisions and contentions are the members that should grow up in humility meekness self-denyal holiness and love do grow in pride and perverse disputings and passionate strivings and envious wranglings The Spirit of God departeth from them and an evil Spirit of malice and vexation taketh place though in their passion they know not what Spirit they are of Whereas if they be of one mind and live in peace the God of love and peace will be with them What lamentable instances of this calamity have we in many of the Sectaries of this present time Especially in the people called Quakers that while they
men were before when once they converse together and grow acquainted they are more reconciled The reason is partly because they find less evil and more good in one another than before they did believe to be in them and partly because uncharitableness and malice being an ugly monster is bolder at a distance but ashamed of it self before your face And therefore the pens of the Champions of malice are usually more bitter than their tongues when they speak to you face to face Of all the furious adversaries that have raged against me in the later part of my life I remember not one enemy that I have or ever had that was ever familiar or acquainted with me And I have my self heard ill reports of many which by personal acquaintance I have found to be all false Keep together and either silence your differences or gently debate them yea rather chide it out than withdraw asunder Familiarity feedeth Love and Unity § 106. Direct 23. When ever you look at any corruption in the Church look also at the contrary exâ—râ—am Direct 23. and see and avoid the danger of one as well as of the other Be sure every error and Church-corruption hath its extream And if you do not see it and the danger of it you are the liker to run into it Look well on both sides if you would be safe § 107. Direct 24. Worship God your selves in the purest manner and under the most edifying Ministry Direct 24. that lawfully you can attain but be not too forward to condemn others that reach not to your measure or attain not so much happiness And deny not personal communion sometimes with Churches that are more blemished and fit for Communion And when you cannot joyn locally with them let them have the communion of your Hearts in faith and charity and prayer for each other I fear not here openly to tell the world that if I were turned loose to my own liberty I would ordinarily worship God in that manner that I thought most pure and agreeable to his Will and Word but I would sometimes go to the Churches of other Christians that were fit for Christian communion if there were such about me Sometime to the Independants sometime to the moderate Anabaptists sometime to such as had a Liturgie as faulty as that of the Greek or the Ethiopian Churches to shew by my practice what communion my heart hath with them all § 108. Direct 25. Take heed that you interess not Religion or the Church in Civil differences This Direct 25. error hath divided and ruined many famous Churches and most injuriously made the holy truth and worship of God to be a reproach and infamy among selfish partial carnal men When Princes and Since the writing of this I have published a Book called The Curt of Church-Divistoâ—s and a Defence of it which handle these things more fully States fall out among themselves they will needs draw the Ministers to their sides and then one side will certainly condemn them and call them all that self-interest and malice can invent And commonly when the controversie is only in point of Law or Politicks it is Religion that bears the blame of all and the differences of Lawyers and Statesmen must be charged upon Divines that the Devil may be able to make them useless as to the good of all that party that is against them and may make Religion it self be called Rebellion And O that God would maintain the Peace of Kingdoms and Kings and Subjects were all Lovers of peace the rather because the differences in States do cause so commonly divisions in the Church It would make a man wonder and a lover of History to lament to observe in the differences between the Pope and Henry the fourth and other Emperours how the Historians are divided one half commending him that the other half condemneth and how the Bishops and Churches were one half for the Pope and the other for the Emperour and one half still accounted Rebels or Schismaticks by the other though they were all of one Religion It is more to ruine the Church than Kingdoms that Satan laboureth so much to kindle Warrs and breed Civil differences in the world And therefore let him that loveth the Churches Peace be an obedient Subject and an enemy of Sedition and a Lover and defender of the Civil Peace and Government in the place that God hath set him in For this is pleasing unto God § 109. I know there are some that with too bloody and calamitous success have in most ages given other kind of Directions for the extirpation of Error Heresie and Schism than I have here given But God hath still caused the most wise and holy and charitable and experienced Christians Bâ—â—a Hist. Ecâ—lâ—sâ—â—ib 1. cap. 26. Didicerat enim Rex Edilberth a Doctoribut auctoribusque suae salutis servitium Christi voluntarium non coactitium debeâ—e esse to bear their testimony against them And he hath ever caused their way of cruelty to turn to their own shame And though like Treasons and Robberies it seem for the time present to serve their turn it is bitterness in the end and leaveth a stinking memorial of their names and actions to posterity And the Treatises of Reconcilers such as our Halls Ushers Bergius Burroughs and many other by the delectable savour of Unity and Charity are sweet and acceptable to prudent and peaâ—â—able persons though usually unsuccessful with the violent that needed them Besides the fore-cited witness of Sr. Francis Bacon c. I will here add one of the most antient and one or two of this age whom the contrary-minded do mention with the greatest honour Iustin Martyr Dial. cum Tryph. doth at large give his judgement that a Judaizing Christian who thinketh it best to be circumciâ—â—d and keep the Law of Moses be suffered in his opinion and practice and admitted to the communion and priviledges of the Church and loved as one that may be saved in that way so be it he do not make it his business to perswade others to his way and teach it as necessary to salvation or communion For such he doth condemn King Iames by the Pen of Is. Causabone telleth Cardinal du Perron that His Majesty thinketh that for Concord there is no nearer way than diligently to separate things necessary from the unnecessary and to bestow all our labour that we may agree in the things necessary and that in things unnecessary there may be place given for Christian Liberty The King calleth these things simply necessary which either the Word of God expresly commandeth to be believed or done or which the antient Church did gather from the Word of God by necessary consequence Grotius Annot. in Matth. 13. 41. is so full and large upon it that I must intreat the Reader to peruse his own words where by arguments and authority he-vehemently rebuketh the Spirit of fury cruelty and uncharitableness which
that hath all these hath a constant Habit of prayer in him For prayer is nothing but the expression with the tongue of these Graces in the heart So that the Spirit of Sanctification is thereby a Spirit of Adoption and of Supplication And he that hath freedom of utterance can speak that which Gods Spirit hath put into his very heart and made him esteem his greatest and nearest concernment and the most necessary and excellent thing in all the world This is the Spirits principal help 5. The same Spirit doth incline our hearts to the diligent use of all those means by which our abilities may be increased As to read and hear and confer and to use our selves to prayer and to meditation self-examination c. 6. The same Spirit helpeth us in the use of all these means to profit by them and to make them all effectual on our hearts 7. The same Spirit concurreth with Means Habits Reason and our own endeavours to help us in the very act of praying and preaching 1. By illuminating our minds to know what to desire and say 2. By actuating our Wills to Love and holy desire and other affections 3. By quickning and exciting us to a liveliness and â—ervency in all And so bringing our former habits into acts the Grace of prayer is the heart and soul of gifts And thus the Spirit teacheth us to pray Yea the same Spirit thus by common helps assisteth even bad men in praying and preaching giving them common habits and acts that are short of special saving grace Whereas men left to themselves without Gods Spirit have none of all these forementioned helps And so the Spirit is said to intercede for us by exciting our unexpressible groans and to help our infirmities when we know what Rom. 8. 26. to ask as we ought Quest. 168. Are not our own Reasons Studies Memory Strivings Books Forms Methods and Ministry needless yea a hurtful quenching or preventing of the Spirit and setting up our own instead of the Spirits operations Answ. 1. YEs if we do it in a conceit of the sufficiency of our selves our reason memory John 15 1 3 4 5 7. studies books forms c. without the Spirit Or if we ascribe any thing to any of these which is proper to Christ or to his Spirit For such proud self-sufficient despisers of the Spirit cannot reasonably expect his help I doubt among men counted Learned and Rational there are too many such * Even among them that in their Ordination heard Receive yâ— the Holy Ghost and Oveâ— which the Holy Gâ—â—â—â—â—ath made you 〈…〉 that know not mans insufficiency or corruption nor the necessity and use of that Holy Ghost into whose name they were baptized and in whom they take on them to believe But think that all that pretend to the Spirit are but Phanaticks and Enthusiasts and self-conceited people when yet the Spirit himself saith Rom. 8 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his And Gal. 4. 6. Because we are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts whereby we cry Abba Father 2. But if we give to Reason Memory Study Books Methods Forms c. but their proper place in subordination to Christ and to his Spirit they are so far from being quenchers of the Spirit that they are necessary in their places and such means as we must use if ever we will expect the Spirits help For the Spirit is not given to a Bruit to make him a man or rational nor to a proud despiser or idle neglecter of Gods appointed means to be instead of means nor to be a Patron to the vice of pride or idleness which he cometh chiefly to destroy But to bless men in the laborious use of the means which God appointeth him Read but Prov. 1. 20 c. 2. 3. 5. 6. 8. and you will see that knowledge must be laboured for and instruction heard And he that will lye idle till the Isa. 64. 7. Mat. 7. 13 14. 2 Pet. 1. 10. Spirit move him and will not stir up himself to seek God nor strive to enter in at the streight gâ—â—e nor give all diligence to make his Calling and Election sure may find that the Spirit of sloth hath destroyed him when he thought the Spirit of Christ â—ad been saving him He that hath but two Articles in his Creed must make this the second For he that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. Quest. 169. How doth the Holy Ghost set Bishops over the Churches Answ. 1. BY making the Office it self so far as the Apostles had any hand in it Christ himself Acts 20. 28. having made their Office 2. The Holy Ghost in the Electors and Ordainers directeth them to discern the fitness of the persons Acts 1. 24. Act. 13. 2. 15. 28 c. 14. â—3 elected and ordained and so to call such as God approveth of and calleth by the Holy Ghost in them Which was done 1. By the extraordinary gift of discerning in the Apostles 2. By the ordinary help of Gods Spirit in the wise and faithful Electors and Ordainers ever since 3. The Holy Ghost doth qualifie them for the work by due Life Light and Love Knowledge Willingness and Active ability and so both enâ—lining them to it and marking out the persons by his gifts whom he would have elected and ordained to it Which was done 1. At first by extraordinary gifts 2. And ever since by ordinary 1. Special and saving in some 2. Common and only fitted to the Churches instruction in others So that who ever is not competently qualified is not called by the Holy Ghost When Christ ascended he gave gifts to men some Apostles Prophets and Evangelists 1 Cor. 12. 12 13 28 29. some Pastors and Teachers for the edifying of his body c. Eph. 4. 7 8 9 10. Quest. 170. Are Temples Fonts Utensils Church-lands much more the Ministers holy And what reverence is due to them as holy Answ. THe question is either de nomine whether it be fit to call them holy or de re whether they have that which is called Holiness I. The word Holy signifieth in God essential transcendent Perfection and so it cometh not into our question In creatures it signifieth 1. A Divine nature in the Rational Creature Angels and Men by which it is made like God and disposed to him and his service by Knowledge Love and holy Vivacity which is commonly called Real saving Holiness as distinct from meer Relative 2. It is taken for the Relation of any thing to God as his own peculiar appropriated to him so Mar. 6. 20. Col. 1. 22. Tit. 1. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. 3. 5. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Exod. 22. 31. 1 Cor. 1. 1 2 3. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Heb. 12.
of them confess For if once the Sword were taken from them the world would quickly see that their Church had the hearts of few of those multitudes whom by Fire and Sword they forced to seem their members or at least that when the windows were opened the light would quickly deliver poor souls from the servitude of those men of darkness For then few would fear the unrighteous excommunications of meer Usurpers It is a manifold Usurpation by which their Kingdom is upheld For a Kingdom it is rather to be called than a Church 1. They Usurp the Power of the Keyes or Ecclesiastical Government Lege Epist. Caroli Calvi ad Papam inter Hincâ—ari Rhemeâ—sis Epistolas cont Papae usurpationes Isidor Hispal sent 3. c. 51. Cognoscant Principes seculi Deo debere se rationem reddere propter Ecclesiam quam a Christo tuâ—ndam suscipiuâ—t Nam five augeatur pax disciplina Ecclesiae per fideles Principes sive solvatur ille ab eis rationem exigit qui eorum potestati suam Ecclesiam credidit Leo Ep. ad Lâ—onem Imp. Debes incunctanâ—er advertere Regiam potestatem tibi non solum ad mundi regimen sed maxime ad Ecclesiae praesidium esse collatam See the judgement of Io. Paâ—isiensis Francis Victoria and Widdrington in Groâ— de Imper. p. 23. Lege Lud. Molinâ—i Discourse of the Powers of Cardinal Chigi over all the world and make themselves Pastors of those Churches which they have nothing to do to Govern Their Excommunications of Princes or people in other Lands or Churches that never took them for their Pastors is an Usurpation the more odious by how much the power usurped is more holy and the performance in so large a Parish as the whole World is naturally impossible to the Roman Usurper 2. Under the name of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction they usurp the Magistrates Coercive power in such causes as they call Ecclesiastical 3. Yea and they claim an immunity to their Clergy from the Civil Government as if they were no subjects of the King or the King had not power to punish his offending subjects 4. In ordine ad spiritualia they claim yet more of the Magistrates power 5. And one part of them give the Pope directly in Temporals a Power over Kings and Kingdoms 6. Their most eminent Divines do ordinarily maintain that the Pope may excommunicate Kings and interdict Kingdoms and that an excommunicated King is no King and may be killed It is an Article of their Religion determined of in one of their approved General Councils Later sub Innoc. 3. Can. 3. that if Temporal Lords will not exterminate Hereticks from their Lands such as the Albigenses that denyed Transubstantiation mentioned Can. 2. the Pope may give their Dominions to others and absolve their Vassals from their fealty And when some of late would have so far salved their honour as to invalidate the authority of that Council they will not endure it but have strenuously vindicated it And indeed what ever it be to us with them it is already enrolled among the Approved General Councils Between the Erastians who would have no Government but by Magistrates and the Papists who give the Magistrates power to the Pope and his Prelates the truth is in the middle that the Pastors have a Nunciative and Directive Power from Christ and a Discipline to exercise by the Word alone on Volunteers much like the Power of a Philosopher in his School or a Physicion in his Hospital supposing them to be by Divine Right § 55. Direct 26. Refuse not to swear Allegiance to your lawful Soveraign Though Oaths are Direct 26. fearful and not to be taken without weighty cause yet are they not to be refused when the cause is weighty as here it is Must the Soveraign be sworn to do his Office for you and must he undertake so hard and perillous a charge for you which he is no way able to go through if his Subjects be not faithful to him and shall those Subjects refuse to promise and swear fidelity This is against all reason and equity § 56. Direct 27. Think not that either the Pope or any power in the world can dispense with this Direct 27. your Oath or absolve you from the bond of it or save you from the punishment due from God to the perjured and perfidious Of this see what I have written before against Perjury § 57. Direct 28. Do nothing that tendeth to bring the sacred bonds of Oaths into an irreligious contempt Direct 28. or to make men take the horrid crime of Perjury to be a little sin Soveraigns have no sufficient Perjurii poenâ— diviâ—â—a exitium humana dedecus Cicero Agesilaus sent thanks to his enemies for their perjury as making then no question of their overthrow Perjuri numinis contemptores Plutarch Thâ—odosius execrabatur cum legisset superbâ—am dominantium praecipue perfidos ingratos Paul Diaconus l. 2. security of the fidelity of their Subjects or of their lives or Kingdoms if once Oaths and Covenants be made light of and men can play fast and loose with the bonds of God which lye upon them He is virtually a Traytor to Princes and States who would bring perjury and perfidiousness into credit and teacheth men to violate Oaths and Vows For there is no keeping up humane Societies and Governments where there is no trust to be put in one another And there is no trust to be put in that man that maketh no Conscience of an Oath or Vow § 58. Direct 29. Be ready to your power to defend your Governours against all Treasons Conspiracies Direct 29. and Rebellions For this is a great part of the duty of your relation The Wisdom and Goodness necessary to Government is much personal in the Governours themselves But the strength without which Laws cannot be executed nor the people preserved is in the People and the Princes interest See the instance of loyalty in Mascelzer against his own Brother Gildo a Rebel Paul Diacon l. 3. initio in them Therefore if you withdraw your help in time of need you desert and betray your Rulers whom you should defend If you say It is they that are your Protectors I answer True but by your selves They protect you by Wisdom Counsel and Authority and you must protect them by obedience and strength Would you have them protect you rather by mercenaries or foreigners If not you must be willing to do your parts and not think it enough in Treasons Invasions or Rebellions to sit still and save your selves and let him that can lay hold on the Crown possess it What Prince would â—s the Governour of a people that he knew would forsake him in his need § 59. Direct 30. Murmurr not at the payment of those necessary Tributes by which the common safety Direct 29. must be preserved and the due honour of your Governours kept up Sordid Covetousness hath been the ruine of
the authority which he committed to their trust § 86. 3. The Christian Religion bindeth subjects to obedience upon sorer penalties than Magistrates can inflict even upon pain of Gods displeasure and everlasting damnation Rom. 13. 2 3. And how great a help this is to Government it is so easie to discern that the simpler sort of Atheists do perswade themselves that Kings devised Religion to keep people in obedience with the fears of Hell Take away the fears of the life to come and the punishment of God in Hell upon the wicked and the world will be turned into worse than a den of Serpents and wild beasts adulteries and murders and poysoning Kings and all abomination will be freely committed which wit or power can think to cover or bear out Who will trust that man that believeth not that God doth judge and punish § 87. 4. The Christian Religion doth encourage obedience and peace with the Promise of the Reward of endless happiness caeteris paribus Heaven is more than any Prince can give If that will not move men there is no greater thing to move them Atheism and Infidelity have no such motives § 88. 5. Christianity teacheth subjects to obey not only good Rulers but bad ones even Heathens themselves and not to resist when we cannot obey Whereas among Heathens Princes ruled no longer than they pleased the Souldiers or the people so that Lampridius marvelled that Heliogabalus was no sooner butchered but suffered to reign three years Mirum fortasse cuipiam videatur Constantine venerabilis quod haec clades quam retuli loco principum fuerit quidem propè trienio ita ut nemo inventus Cicero saith that every Good man was in his heart or as much as in him lay one that killed Caesar. fuerit qui istum à gubernaculis Romonanae majestatis abduceret cum Neroni Vitellio Caligulae caeterisque hujusmâ—di nunquam tyranniceda defuerit § 89. 6. Christianity and Godliness do not only restrain the outward acts but rule the very hearts and lay a charge upon the thoughts which the power of Princes cannot reach It forbiddeth to curse the King in our bed-chamber or to have a thought or desire of evil against him It quencheth the first sparks of disloyalty and disorder And the rule of the outward man followeth the ordering of the heart And therefore Atheism which leaveth the Heart free and open to all desires and designes of rebellion doth kindle that fire in the minds of men which Government cannot quench It corrupteth the fountain It breaketh the spring that should set all a going It poisoneth the heart of Common-wealths § 90. 7. Christianity and Godliness teach men Patience that it may not seem strange to them to bear the Cross and suffer injuries from high and low And therefore that Impatience which is 1 Pet. 4. 12. the beginning of all rebellion being repressed it stayeth the distemper from going any further § 91. 8. Christianity teacheth men self-denyal as a great part of their religion And when selfishness Luk. 14. 29 33. is mortified there is nothing left to be a principle of Rebellion against God or our superiors Selfishness is the very predominant principle of the ungodly It is only for themselves that they obey when they do obey No wonder therefore if the Author of Leviathan allow men to do any thing when the saving of themselves requireth it And so many selfish persons as there be in a Kingdom so many several Interests are first sought which for the most part stand cross to the Interests of others The Godly have all one common center They unite in God and therefore may be kept in concord For Gods will is a thing that may be fulfilled by all as well as one But the selfish and ungodly are every one his own Center and have no common center to unite in their interests being ordinarily cross and inconsistent § 92. 9. Christianity teacheth men by most effectual arguments so set light by the Riches and honours of the world and not to strive for superiority but to mind higher things and lay up our Ungebantur Reges non pet dominum sed qui caeteris crudeliores existerent paulo post ab unctoribus non pro veri examinatione trucidabantur aliis electis trucioribuâ— Gildas de exc Brit. treasure in a better world and to condescend to men of low degree It forbiddeth men to exalt themselves lest they be brought low and commandeth them to humble themselves that God may exalt them And he that knoweth not that Pride and Covetousness are the great disquieters of the world and the cause of contentions and the ruine of States knoweth nothing of these matters Therefore if it were but by the great urging of humility and heavenly mindedness and the strict condemning of Ambition and Earthly-mindedness Christianity and Godliness must needs be the greatest preservers of Government and of order peace and quietness in the World § 93. 10. Christianity teacheth men to live in the Love of God and man It maketh Love the very heart and life and sum and end of all other duties of Religion Faith it self is but the bellows to kindle in us the sacred flames of Love Love is the end of the Gospel and the fulfilling of the Law To Love all Saints with a special Love even with a pure heart and fervently and to Love all men heartily with a common love To love our Neighbour as our selves and to Love our very enemies this is the life which Christ requireth upon the penalty of damnation And if Love thus prevail what should disturb the Government peace or order of the world § 94. 11. Christianity teacheth men to be exact in Justice distributive and commutative and to do to others as we would they should do to us And where this is followed Kings and States will have little to molest them when Gens sine justitiâ est sine remige navis in undâ § 95. 12. Christianity teacheth men to do good to all men as far as we are able and to abound in good works as that for which we are Redeemed and new made And if men will set themselves wholly to do good and be hurtful and injurious to none how easie will it be to govern such § 96. 13. Christianity teacheth men to forbear and to forgive as ever they will be forgiven of Rom. 14 15. 1. God and the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please themselves but one another to their edification Not to be censorious harsh or cruel nor to place the Kingdom of Gal. 6. 1 2 3 4. Jam â—3 15 16 17. Titus 3. 2. God in meats and drinks and dayes but in righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost To bear one anothers burdens and to restore them with the Spirit of meekness that are overtaken in a fault and to be peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy and good
fruits without partiality and hypocrisie and to speak evil of no man And where this is obeyed how quietly and easily may Princes govern § 97. 14. Christianity setteth before us the perfectest pattern of all this humility meekness contempt of worldly wealth and greatness self-denyal and obedience that ever was given in the world The Eternal Son of God incarnate would condescend to earth and flesh and would obey his Superiours after the flesh in the repute of the world and would pay tribute and never be drawn to any contempt of the Governours of the world though he suffered death under the false accusation of it He that is a Christian endeavoureth to imitate his Lord And can the imitation of Christ or of Luke 20 18. Matth. 21. 42 44. Acts 4 11. 1 Pet. 2. 7. 8. Zâ—ch 1â— 3. his peaceable Apostles be injurious to Governours Could the world but lay by their Serpentine enmity against the holy doctrine and practice of Christianity and not take themselves engaged to persecute it nor dash themselves in pieces on the stone which they should build upon nor by striving against it provoke it to fall on them and grind them to powder they never need to complain of disturbances by Christianity or Godliness § 98. 15. Christianity and true Godliness containeth not only all these Precepts that tend to peace and order in the world but also strength and willingness and holy dispositions for the practising of such precepts Other Teachers can speak but to the ears but Christ doth write his Laws upon the heart so that he maketh them such as he commandeth them to be Only this is the remnant of our unhappiness that while he is performing the Cure on us we retain a remnant of our old diseases and so his work is yet imperfect And as sin in strength is it that setteth on fire the course of nature so the relicts of it will make some disturbance in the world according to its degree But nothing is more sure than that the Godliest Christian is the most orderly and loyal subject and the best member according to his parts and power in the Common-wealth and that sin is the cause and holiness the cure of all the disorders and calamities of the world § 99. 16. Lastly Consult with experience it self and you will find that all this which I have spoken hath been ordinarily verified What Heathenism tendeth to you may see even in the Roman Government for there you will confess it was at the best To read of the tumults the cruelties Read the lives of all the Philosophers Orators and famous men of Greece or Rome and try whether the Christians or they were more for Monarchy Arcesilaus Regum neminem magnopere coluit Quamobâ—em legatione ad Antigonum fungens pro patria nihil obtinuit Hesich in Arces It s one of Thales sayings in Laert. Quid difficile Regum vidisse tyrannum senem Chrysippus videtur aspâ—rnator Regum modice fuisse Quod cum tam multa scripserit libros 705. nulli unquam regi quicquam adscripserit Senâ—ca faith Traged de Herc. fur perillously Victima haud ulla amplior Potest magisque opima mactari Jovi Quam Rex iniquus Cicero pro Milon Non se obstrinxit scelere siquis Tyrannum occidat quamvis familiarem Et 5. Tusc. Nulla nobis cum Tyrannis societas est neque est contra naturam spoliare eum quem honestum est necare Plura habet similia the popular unconstancy faction and injustice How rudely the Souldiers made their Emperours and how easily and barbarously they murdered them and how few of them from the dayes of Christ till Constantine did dye the common death of all men and scape the hands of those that were their subjects I think this will satisfie you whither mens enmity to Christianity tendeth And then to observe how suddenly the case was altered as soon as the Emperours and Subjects became Christian till in the declining of the Greek Empire some Officers and Courtiers who aspired to the Crown did murder the Emperours And further to observe that the rebellious doctrines and practices against Governours have been all introduced by factions and heresies which forsook Christianity so far before they incurred such guilt and that it is either the Papal Usurpation which is in its nature an enemy to Princes that hath deposed and trampled upon Emperours and Kings or else some mad Enthusiasticks that over-run Religion and their wits that at Munster and in England some lately by the advantage of their prosperity have dared to do violence against Soveraignty but the more any men were Christians and truly Godly the more they detested all such things All this will tell you that the most serious and Religious Christians are the best members of the Civil Societies upon Earth § 100. II. Having done with the first part of my last Direction I shall say but this little of the second Let Christians see that they be Christians indeed and abuse not that which is most excellent to be a cloak to that which is most vile 1. In reading Politicks swallow not all that every Author writeth in conformity to the Polity that he liveth under What perverse things shall you read in the Popish Politicks Contzen and abundance such What usurpation on Principalities and cruelties to Christians under the pretence of defending the Church and suppressing Heresies 2. Take heed in reading History that you suffer not the Spirit of your Author to infect you with any of that partiality which he expresseth to the cause which he espouseth Consider in what times and places all your Authors lived and read them accordingly with the just allowance The name of Liberty was so pretious and the name of a King so odious to the Romans Athenians c. that it is no wonder if their Historians be unfriendly unto Kings 3. Abuse not Learning it self to lift you up with self-conceitedness against Governours Learned men may be ignorant of Polity or at least unexperienced and almost as unfit to judge as of matters of Warr or Navigation 4. Take heed of giving the Magistrates power to the Clergy and setting up Secular Coercive power See Bilson of Subject p. 525 526. proving from Châ—ysost Hilary Oâ—â—gen that Pastors may use no force oâ— terror but only perswasion to recover their wandering sheep Bilson ibid. p. 541. Parliamenâ—s have been kept by the King and his Barons the Clergy wholly excluded and yet their Acts and Statutes good And when the Bishops were present their voices from the Conquest to this day were never Negative By Gods Law you have nothing to do with making Laws for Kingdoms and Common-wealths You may teach you may not command Perswasion is your part Compulsion is the Princes c. Thus Bishop Bilson So p. 358. under the name of the power of the Keys And it had been happy for the Church if God had perswaded Magistrates in all ages to have kept the
your labour is in vain How easie is it for you to overlook some one thing among a multitude that must be seen about the Causes and Cure of diseases unless God shall open it to you and give you a clear discerning and an universal observation And when twenty considerable things are noted a mans life may be lost for want of your discerning one point more What need have you of the help of God to bring the fittest remedies to your memory And much more to bless them when they are administred as the experience of your daily practice may inform you where Atheism hath not made men fools § 5 Direct 5. Let your continual observation of the fragility of the flesh and of mans mortality Direct 5. make you more spiritual than other men and more industrious in preparing for the life to come and greater contemners of the vanities of this world He that is so frequently among the sick and a spectator of the dead and dying is utterly unexcusable if he be himself unprepared for his sickness or for death If the heart be not made better when you almost dwell in the house of mourning it is a bad and deplorate heart indeed It is strange that Physicions should be so much suspected of Atheism as commonly they are and Religio medici should be a word that signifieth irreligiousness Sure this conceit was taken up in some more irreligious Age or Countrey For I have oft been very thankful to God in observing the contrary even how many excellent pious Physicions there have been in most Countreys where the purity of Religion hath appeared and how much they promoted the work of Reformation such as Crato Platerus Erastus and abundance more that I might name And in this Land and Age I must needs bear witness that I have known as many Physicions Religious proportionably as of any one profession except the Preachers of the Gospel But as no men are more desperately wicked than those that are wicked after pious education and under the most powerful means of their reformation so it is very like that those Physicions that are not truly good are very bad because they are bad against so much light and so many warnings And from some of these it 's like this censorious Proverb came And indeed mans nature is so apt to be affected with things that are unusual and to lose all sense of things that are grown common that no men have more need to watch their hearts and be afraid of being hardened than those that are continually under the most quickening helps and warnings For it is very easie to grow customary and sensless under them and then the danger is that there are no better means remaining to quicken such a stupid hardened heart Whereas those that enjoy such helps but seldom are not so apt to lose the sense and benefit of them The sight of a sick or dying man doth usually much awaken those that have such sights but seldom But who are more hardened than Souldiers and Sea men that live continually as among the dead when they have twice or thrice seen the fields covered with mens Carkasses they usually grow more obdurate than any others And this is it that Physicions are in danger of and should most carefully avoid But certainly an Atheistical or ungodly Physicion is unexcusably blind To say as some do that they study nature so much that they are carryed away from God is as if you should say They study the work so much that they forget the workman or They look so much on the Book that they overlook the sense or that They study medicine so much that they forget both the patient and his health To look into Nature and not see God is as to see the creatures and not the light by which we see them or to see Trees and Houses and not to see the Earth that beareth them For God is the Creating Conserving Dirigent Final Cause of all Of him and Through him and To him are all things He is All in all And if they know not that they are the subjects of this God and have immortal souls they are ill proficients in the study of Nature that know no better the nature of man To boast of their acquisitions in other Sciences while they know not what a Man is nor what they are themselves is little to the honour of their understandings You that live still as in the fight of death should live as in the sight of another world and excell others in spiritual wisdom and holiness and sobriety as your advantages by these quickening helps excell § 6. Direct 6. Exercise your Compassion and Charity to mens souls as well as to their Bodies and Direct 6. speak to your patients such words as tend to prepare them for their change You have excellent opportunities if you have hearts to take them If ever men will hear it is when they are sick and if ever they will be humbled and serious it is when the approach of death constraineth them They will hear that counsel now with patience which they would have despised in their health A few serious words about the danger of an unregenerate state and the necessity of holiness and the use of a Saviour and the everlasting state of Souls for ought you know may be blest to their conversion and salvation And it is much more comfortable for you to save a soul than to cure the body Think not to excuse your selves by saying It is the Pastors duty For though it be theirs ex officio it is yours also ex charitate Charity bindeth every man as he hath opportunity to do good to all and especially the greatest good And God giveth you opportunity by casting them in your way The Priest and Levite that past by the wounded man were more to be blamed for not relieving him than those that never went that way and therefore saw him not Luk. 10. 32. And many a man will send for the Physicion that will not send for the Pastor And many a one will hear a Physicion that will despise the Pastor As they reverence their Landlords because they hold their estates from them so do they the Physicion because they think they can do much to save their lives And alas in too many places the Pastors either mind not such work or are insufficient for it or else stand at ods and distance from the people so that there is but too much need of your charitable help Remember therefore that he that converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins Jam. 5. 20. Remember that you are to speak to one that is going into another world and that must be saved now or never And that all that ever must be done for his salvation must be presently done or it will be too late Pity humane nature and harden not your hearts against a man
of Iesus of Nazareth which thing I also did c. And 1 Tim. 1. 13. that it was ignorantly in unbelief that he was a blaspheamer a persecutor and injurious And on the other side some Persâ—cute Truth and Goodness while they know it to be so Not because it is Truth or Goodness but because it is against their carnal worldly interest and inclination As the Conscience of a worldling a drunkard a whoremonger beareth witness against his sin while he goeth on in it so oft-times doth the Conscience of the Persâ—cutor and he hath secret convictions that those whom he persecuteth are better and happier than himself § 5. 3. As to the cause sometime persecution is for Christianity and Godliness in the gross or for some great essential point And sometimes it is only for some particular Truth or duty and that perhaps of a lower nature so small or so dark that it is become a great Controversie whether it be Truth or errour duty or sin In some respects it is more comfortable to the persecuted and more heynous in the persecutor that the suffering be for the Greatest things For this leaveth no doubt in the mind whether our cause be good or not and this sheweth that the persecutors mind is most aliene from God and truth But in some other respect it is an aggravation of the sin of the persecutor and of the comfort of the persecuted when it is for smaller truths and duties For it is a sign of great uncharitableness and cruelty when men can find in their hearts to persecute others for little things And it is a sign of a heart that is true to God and very sincere when we will rather suffer any thing from Man than renounce the smallest truth of God or commit the smallest sin against him or omit the smallest duty when it is a duty 4. Sometime persecution is directly for Religion that is for matters of professed Faith or Worship And sometimes it is for a civil or a common cause Yet still it is for our Obedience to God or else it is not the persecution which we speak of though the Matter of it be some common or civil thing As if I were persecuted meerly for giving to the poor or helping the sick or for being Loyal to my Prince and to the Laws or for doing my duty to my Parents or because I will not bear false-witness or tell a lye or subscribe a falshood or any such like This is truly persecution whatever the matter of it be as long as it is truly for Obeying God that we undergo the suffering § 6. I omit many other less considerable distributions And also those afflictions which are but improperly called persecutions as when a man is punished for a fault in a far greater measure than it deserveth this is Injustice but not persecution unless it be his Religion and Obedience to God which is the secret cause of it § 7. Direct 2. Understand well the greatness of the sin of Persecution that you may be kept in a Direct 2. due fear of being tempted to it Here therefore I shall shew you how Great a sin it is § 8. 1. Persecution is a fighting against God So it is called Act. 5. 39. And to fight against God is odious Malignity and desperate folly 1. It is Venemous malignity for a Creature to fight against his Creator and a sinner against his Redeemer who would save him and for so blind a worm to rise up against the wisdom of the All-knowing God! and for so vile a sinner to oppose the fountain of Love and Goodness 2. And what Folly can be greater than for a Mole to reproach the Sun for darkness or a lump of Earth to take up Arms against the Almighty terrible God Art thou able to make good thy cause against him or to stand before him when he is offended and chargeth thee with sin Hear a Pharisee Act. 6. 38 39. And now I say unto you refrain from these men and let them alone for if this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happily ye be found even to fight against God Or hear Christ himself Act. 9. 4 5. I am Iesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks with bare feet or hands to beat the thorns How unmeet a match is man for God! He needeth not so much as a word to take away thy soul and crush thee to the lowest Hell His will alone can lay thee under thy deserved pains Canst thou Conquer the Almighty God Wilt thou assault the Power which was never overcome or storm Jehovahs Throne or Kingdom First try to take down the Sun and Moon and Stars from the Firmament and to stop the course of the Rivers or of the Sea and to rebuke the Winds and turn night into day and Winter into Summer and decrepit Age into vigorous Youth Attempt not greater matters till thou hast performed these It is a greater matter than any of these to conquer God whose cause thou fightest against Hear him again Isa. 45. 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Or thy work He hath no hands And Isa. 45. 9. who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together Wo to the man that is not content to fight with men but chooseth the most dreadful God to be his enemy It had been better for thee that all the World had been against thee § 9. 2. Persecution opposeth the gracious design of our Redeemer and hindereth his Gospel and work of mercy to the world and endeavoureth the ruine of his Kingdom upon earth Christ came to save men and persecutors raise up their power against him as if they envyed salvation to the World And if God have made the work of mans Redemption the most wonderful of all his works which ever he revealed to the sons of men you may easily conceive what thanks he will give them that resist him in so high and glorious a design If you could pull the Stars out of the Firmament or hinder the motions of the Heavens or deny the rain to the thirsty Earth you might look for as good a reward for this as for opposing the merciful Redeemer of the World in the blessed work of mans salvation § 10. 3. Persecution is a resisting or fighting against the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 51. saith Stephen to the Jews Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye If you silence the Ministers who are the means by which the spirit worketh in the illuminating and sanctifying of souls Act. 26. 17 18. or if you afflict men for those Holy duties which the
Son and Holy Ghost when they have in Baptism vowed themselves unto his service Of all men on earth these men will have least to say for their sin or against their condemnation § 22. 12. Lastly Remember that Christ taketh all that is done by persecutors against his servants for his cause to be done as to himself and will accordingly in judgement charge it on them So speaketh he to Saul Acts 9. 5 6. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I am Iesus whom thou persecutest And Matth. 25. 41. to 46. Even to them that did not â—eed and clothe and visit and relieve them he saith Verily I say unto you in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me What then will he say to them that impoverished and imprisoned them Remember that it is Christ reputatively whom thou dost hate deride and persecute § 23. Direct 3. If you world escape the guilt of persecution the cause and interest of Christ in the Direct 3. world must be truly understood He that knoweth not that Holiness is Christs end and Scripture is his Word and Law and that the Preachers of the Gospel are his messengers and that preaching is his appointed means and that sanctified believers are his members and the whole number of them are his mystical body and all that profess to be such are his visible body or Kingdom in the world and that sin is the thing which he came to destroy and the Devil the world and the flesh are the enemies which he causeth us to conquer I say He that knoweth not this doth not know what Christianity or Godliness is and therefore may easily persecute it in his ignorance If you know not or believe not that serious Godliness in heart and life and serious preaching and discipline to promote it are Christs great cause and interest in the world you may fight against him in the dark whilst ignorantly you call your selves his followers If the Devil can but make you think that Ignorance is as good as Knowledge and Pharisaical formality and hypocritical shews are as good as spiritual worship and rational service of God and that seeming and lip-service is as good as seriousness in Religion and that the strict and serious obeying of God and living as we profess according to the principles of our Religion is but hypocrisie pride or faction that is that all are hypocrites who will not be hypocrites but seriously Religious I say if Satan can bring you once to such erroneous malignant thoughts as these no wonder if he make you persecutors O value the great blessing of a sound understanding For if Error blind you either impious error or factious error there is no wickedness so great but you may promote it and nothing so good and holy but you may persecute it and think all the while that you are doing well John 16. 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service What Prophet so great or Saint so holy that did not suffer by such hands Yea Christ himself was persecuted as a sinner that never sinned § 24. Direct 4. And if you would escape the guilt of persecution the cause and interest of Christ Direct 4. must be highest in your esteem and preferred before all worldly carnal interests of your own Otherwise the Devil will be still perswading you that your own interest requireth you to suppress the interest of Christ For the truth is the Gospel of Christ is quite against the interest of carnality and concupiscence It doth condemn ambition covetousness and lust It forbiddeth those sins on pain of damnation which the proud and covetous and sensual love and will not part with And therefore it is no more wonder to have a proud man or a covetous man or a lustful voluptuous man to be a persecutor than for a Dog to fly in his face who takes his bone from him If you love your pride and lust and pleasures better than the Gospel and a holy life no marvel if you be persecutors For these will not well agree together And though sometimes the providence of God may so contrive things that an ambitious hypocrite may think that his worldly interest requireth him to seem religious and promote the preaching and practice of godliness this is but seldome and usually not long For he cannot choose but quickly find that Christ is no Patron of his sin and that Holiness is contrary to his worldly lusts Therefore if you cannot value the Cause of Godliness above your lusts and carnal interests I cannot tell you how to avoid the guilt of persecution nor the wrath and vengeance of Almighty God § 25. Direct 5. Yea though you do prefer Christs interest in the main You must carefully take Direct 5. beed of stepping into any forbidden way and espousing any interest of your own or others which is contrary to the Laws or interest of Christ. Otherwise in the defence or prosecution of your cause you will be carryed into a seeming Necessity of persecuting before you are aware This hath been the ruine of multitudes of great ones in the world When Ahab had set himself in a way of sin the Prophet 1 Kings 22. 8 27. 1 King 13. 2 4. must reprove him and then he hateth and persecuteth the Prophet because he prophesied not good of him but evil When Ieroboam thought that his interest required him to set up Calves at Dan and Bethel and to make Priests for them of the baâ—est of the people the Prophet must speak against his sin and then he stretcheth out his hand against him and saith Lay hold on him If Asa sin and 2 Chron. 16. 10. the Prophet tell him of it his rage may proceed to imprison his reprover If Amaziah sin with the Idolaters the Prophet must reprove him and he will silence him or smite him And silenced he is 2 Chron. 15. 16. and what must follow 2 Chron. 15 16. The King said to him Art thou made of the Kings counsel forbear why shouldst thou be smitten This seemeth to be gentle dealing Then the Prophet forbore and said I know that God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this and hast not hearkned to my counsel It Pilate do but hear If thou let this man go thou art not Caesars friend he thinketh John 19. 12. it his interest to crucifie Christ As Herod thought it his interest to kill him and therefore to kill so many other Infâ—nts when he heard of the birth of a King of the Jews Because of an Herodias Matth. 2. 16 17 18. Matth. 14. 6 7 8 9. Mar. 6. 19. 21 22. Acts 12. 2 3 4. and the honour of his word Herod will not stick to behead Iohn Baptist And another Herod will kill Iames with the Sword and imprison Peter because he seeth that it pleaseth
Superiour must be reproved by a private inferiour And when it is done it must be done with great submission and respect An angry pievish person must be dealt with tenderly as you handle thorns but a duller sottish person must be more earnestly and warmly dealt with So also a greater sin must be roughly handled or with greater detestation than a less § 6. Direct 6. Take a fit season Not when a man is in drink or passion or among others Direct 6. where the disgrace will vex and harden him but in secret between him and you if his conversion be your end § 7. Direct 7. Do all in love and tender pity If you convince not the hearer that you do it in unfeigned Direct 7. love you must usually expect to lose your labour because you make not advantage of 2 Thess. 3. 15. 2 Cor. 2. 4. Gal. ◠1. 2 Tim. 2. 25. 1 Thess 5 13. his self-love to promote your exhortations Therefore the exhorting way should be more frequent than the reproving way For reproof disgraceth and exasperateth when the same thing contrived into an exhortation may prevail § 8. Direct 8. Therefore be as much or more in shewing the Good which you would draw them to as Direct 8. the evil which you would turn them from For they are never savingly converted till they are won to the Love of God and Holiness Therefore the opening of the riches of the Gospel and the Love of God and the Joyes of Heaven must be the greatest part of your treaty with a sinner § 9. Direct 9. And labour so to help him to a true understanding of the nature of Religion that Direct 9. he may perceive that it is not only a necessary but a pleasant thing All love delights It is the slander and misrepresentation of godliness by the Devil the World and the Flesh which maketh mistaken sinners shun it The way to convert them and win their hearts to it is to make them know how good and pleasant it is and to confute those calumnies § 10. Direct 10. Yet alwayes insert the remembrance of death and judgement and of Hell For Direct 10. the drowsie mind hath need to be awakened and Love worketh best when fear subserveth it It s hard to procure a serious audience and consideration of things from hardened hearts if the sight of death and Hell do not help to make them serious Danger which must be escaped must be known and thought on These things put weight and power into your speech § 11. Direct 11. Do all as with Divine authority and therefore have ready some plain Texts Direct 11. of Scripture for the duty and against the sin you speak of Shew them where God himself hath Col. 3. 16. said it § 12. Direct 12. Seasonable expostulations putting themselves to judge themselves in their answer Direct 12. hath a convincing and engaging force As when you shew them Scripture ask them Is not this the Word of God Do you not believe that its true Do you think he that wrote this knoweth not better than you or I c. § 13. Direct 13. Put them on speedy practice and prudently engage them to it by their promise Direct 13. As if you speak to a drunkard draw him to promise you to come no more at least of so long time into an Ale-house Or not drink Ale or Wine but by the consent of his Wife or some sober houshold friend who may watch over him Engage the voluptuous the unchaste and gamester to forsake the company which ensnareth them Engage the ungodly to read the Scripture to frequent good company to pray morning and night with a Book or without as they are best able Their promise may bring them to such a present change of practice as may prepare for more § 14. Direct 14. If you know any near you who are much fitter than your selves and liker to Direct 14. prevail procure them to attempt that which you cannot do succesifully At least when sinners perceive Ezek. 33. 34. Gal. 6. 1. Tit. 2. 4. that it is not only one mans opinion it may somewhat move them to reverence the reproof § 15. Direct 15. Put some good Book into their hands which is fittest to the work which you would Direct 15. have done And get them to promise you seriously to read it over and consider it As if it be for the conversion of a careless sinner Mr. Whateleys or Mr. Swinnocks Treatise of Regeneration or some other Treatise of Repentance and Conversion If it be for one that is prejudiced against a strict Religious life Mr. Allens Vindication of Godliness If it be an idle voluptuous person who wasteth pretious Time in Playes or needless recreations in gaming or an idle life Mr. Whateleys Sermon called The Redemption of Time If it be a prayerless person Dr. Prestons Saints Daily Exercise If it be a drunkard Mr. Harris Drunkards Cup And for many reigning particular sins a Book called Solomons Prescription against the Plague For directions in the daily practice of Godliness The Practice of Piety or Mr. Thomas Gouges Directions c. Such Books may speak more pertinently than you can and be as constant food to their sober thoughts and so may further what you have begun § 16. Direct 16. When you cannot speak or where your speaking prevaileth not mourn for them Direct 16. and earnestly pray for their recovery A sad countenance of Nehemiah remembered Artaxerxes of his Ezek. 9. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. duty A sigh or a tear for a miserable sinner may move his heart when exhortation will not He hath a heart of stone who will have no sense of his condition when he seeth another weeping for him § 17. Quest. But it is alwayes a duty to reprove or exhort a sinner How shall I know when it is Quest. my duty and when it is not Answ. It is no duty in any of these cases following 1. In general When you have sufficient reason to judge that it will do more harm than good and will not attain its proper end For God hath not appointed us to do hurt under pretence of duty It is no Means which doth cross the end which it should attain As prayer and preaching may be a sin when they are like to cross their proper end so also may reproof be 2. Therefore it must not be used when it apparently hindereth a greater good As we may not pray or preach when we should be quenching a fire in the Town or saving a mans life So when reproof doth exclude some greater duty or benefit it is unseasonable and no duty at that time Christ alloweth us to forbear the casting of pearls before Swine or giving that which is holy to Prov. 9. 7. 8. Matth 7. 6. Dogs because of these two Reasons forementioned It is no means to the contemptuous and they will turn again and all to
thing as Mine by which I may justly have it possess it use it and dispose of it This Dominion or Propriety is either Absolute and that belongeth to none but God or subordinate respective and limited which is the only Propriety that any creature can have Which is such a Right which will hold good against the claim of any fellow creature though not against Gods And among men there are Proprietors or Owners which are Principal and some who are but dependant subordinate and limited The simple Propriety may remain in a Landlord or Father who may convey to his Tenant or his child a limited dependant propriety under him Injuriously to deprive a man of this Propriety or of the thing in which he hath propriety is the sin which I speak of in this Chapter which hath no one name and therefore I express it here by many Whether it be Theft Robbery Cousenage Extortion or any other way of depriving another injuriously of his own These General Directions are needful to avoid it § 2. Direct 1. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world 1 John 2. 15. Cure covetousness Direct 1. and you will kill the root of fraud and theft As a drunkard would easily be cured of his drunkenness if you could cure him of his thirst and love to drink so an extortioner thief or deceiver would easily be cured of their outward sin if their hearts were cured of the disease of worldiness The love of money is the root of all this evil Value these things no more than they deserve § 3. Direct 2. To this end acquaint your hearts with the greater riches of the life to come Direct 2. And then you will meet with true satisfaction The true hopes of Heaven will cure your greedy desires of earth You durst not then forfeit your part in that perpetual Blessedness for the temporal supply of some bodily want You durst not with Adam part with Paradise for a forbidden bit nor as Esau prophanely sell your birthright for a morsel It is the unbelief and contempt of Heaven which maketh men venture it for the poor commodities of this world § 4. Direct 3. Be contented to stand to Gods disposal and suffer not any carking discontented Direct 3. thoughts to feed upon your hearts When you suffer your minds to run all day long upon your necessities and straits the Devil next tempteth you to think of unlawful courses to supply them He will shew you your neighbours money or goods or estates and tell you how well it would be with you if this were yours He shewed Achan the Golden Wedge He told Gehezi how unreasonable it was that Naamans money and Rayment should be refused He told Balaam of the hopes of preferment which he might have with Balak He told Iudas how to get his thirty pieces He perswaded Ananias and Saphira that it was but reasonable to retain part of that which was their own Nay commonly it is discontents and cares which prepareth poor wretches for those appearances of the Devil which draweth them to Witchcraft for the supplying of their wants If you took God for your God you would take him for the sufficient disposer of the world and one that is fitter to measure out your part of earthly things than you your selves And then you would rest in his wisdom will and fatherly providence and not shift for your selves by sinful means Discontentedness of mind and distrust of God are the cause of all such frauds and injuries Trust God and you will have no need of these § 5. Direct 4. Remember what Promises God hath made for the competent supply of all your wants Direct 4. Godliness hath the promise of this life and of that to come All other things shall be added to you if you seek first Gods Kingdom and the righteousness thereof Matth. 6. 33. They that fear the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal. 37. All things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. Live by faith on these sufficient promises and you need not steal § 6. Direct 5. Overvalue not the accommodation and pleasure of the flesh and live not in the sins Direct 5. of gluttony drunkenness pride gaming or ryotous courses which may bring you into want and so to seek unlawful maintenance He that is a servant to his flesh cannot endure to displease it nor can â—ear the want of any thing which it needeth But he that hath mastered and mortified his flesh can endure its labour and hunger yea and death too if God will have it so Large revenues will be too little for a fleshly minded person But a little will serve him that hath brought it under the power of reason Magna pars libertatis est bene moratus venter saith Seneca A well nurtured fair-conditioned belly is a great part of a mans liberty because an ill-taught and ill-conditioned belly is one of the basest slaveries in the world As a Philosopher said to Diogenes If thou couldst flatter Dionysius thou needest not eat herbs But saith Diogenes If thou couldst eat hearbs thou needest not flatter Dionysius He took this for the harder task So the Thief and deceiver will say to the poor If you could do as we do you need not fare so hardly But a contented poor man may better answer him If you could fare hardly as I do you need not deceive or steal as you do A proud person that cannot endure to dwell in a Cottage or to be seen in poor or patcht apparel will be easily tempted to any unlawful way of getting to keep him from disgrace and serve his pride A Glutton whose Heaven is in his throat must needs fare well how ever he come by it A Tipler must needs have provision for his guggle by right or by wrong But a humble man and a temperate man can spare all this and when he looketh on all the proud mans furniture he can bless himself as Socrates did in a Fair with Quam multa sunt quibus ipse non egeo How many things be there which I have no need of And he can pity the sensual desires which others must needs fulfill even as a sound man pitieth another that hath the itch or the thirst of a sick man in a Feavor that cryeth out for drink As Seneca saith It is Vice and not Nature which needeth much Nature and necessity and duty are contented with a little But he that must have the pleasure of his sin must have provision to maintain that pleasure Quench the fire of pride sensuality and lust and you may spare the cost of fuel Rom. 13. 13 14. 8. 13. § 7. Direct 6. Live not in Idleness or sloth but be laborious in your Callings that you may
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
Sedition among the people and accounting them as the filth and off-scouring of the world That zeal which murdered and destroyed many hundred thousand of the Waldenses and Albigenses and thirty thousand or forty thousand in one French Massacre and two hundred thousand in one Irish Massacre and which kindled the Marian Bonefires in England and made the Powder Mine and burnt the City of London and keepeth up the Inquisition I say that zeal will certainly think it a service to the Church that is their Sect to write the most odious lyes and slanders of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Beza and any such excellent servants of the Lord. So full of horrid impudent lyes are the writings of not one but many Sects against those that were their chief opposers that I still admonish all posterity to see good evidence for it before they believe the hard sayings of any factious Historian or Divine against those that are against his party It is only men of eminent conscience and candour and veracity and impartiality who are to be believed in their bad report of others except where notoriety or very good evidence doth command belief above their own authority and veracity A siding factious zeal which is hotter for any Sect or party than for the common Christianity and Catholick Church is alwayes a railing a lying and a slandering zeal and is notably described Iames 3. as earthly sensual and devilish causing envy strife and confusion and every evil work Direct 4. Observe well the Commonness of this sin of backbiting that it may make you the more afraid Direct 4. of falling into that which so few do scape I will not say among high and low rich and poor Court and Countrey how common is this sin but among men professing the greatest zeal and strictness in Religion how few make conscience of it Mark in all companies that you come into how common it is to take liberty to say what they think of all men yea to report what they hear though they dare not say that they believe it And how commonly the relating of other mens faults and telling what this man or that man is or did or said is part of the chatt to waste the hour in And if it be but true they think they sin not Nay nor if they did but hear that it is true For my part I must profess that my conscience having brought me to a custome of rebuking such backbiters I am ordinarily censured for it either as one that loveth contradiction or one that defendeth sin and wickedness by taking part with wicked men And all because I would stop the course of this common vice of evil-speaking and backbiting where men have no call And I must thankfully profess that among all other sins in the world the sins of SELFISHNESSE PRIDE and BACKBITING I have been most brought to hate and fear by the observation of the commonness of them even in persons seeming godly Nothing hath fixed an apprehension of their odiousness so deeply in me nor engaged my heart against them above all other sins so much as this lamentable experience of their prevalence in the world among the more Religious and not only in the prophane Direct 5. Take not the honesty of the person as sufficient cause to hear or believe a bad report of Direct 5. others It is lamentable to hear how far men otherwise honest do too often here offend Suspect evil speakers and be not over-credulous of them Charity thinketh not evil not easily and hastily believeth it Lyars are more used to evil speaking than men of truth and credit are It is no wrong to the best that you believe him not when he backbiteth without good evidence Direct 6. Rebuke backbiters and encourage them not by hearkning to their tales Prov. 25. 23. Direct 6. The north wind driveth away rain So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue It may be they think themselves religious persons and will take it for an injury to be driven away with an angry countenance But God himself who loveth his servants better than we is more offended at their sin and that which offendeth him must offend us We must not hurt their souls and displease God by drawing upon us the guilt of their sins for fear of displeasing them Tell them how God doth hate backbiting and advise them if they know any hurt by others to go to them privately and tell them of it in a way that tendeth to their repentance Direct 7. Use to make mention of the good which is in others except it be unseasonable and will Direct 7. seem to be a promoting of their sin Gods giâ—ts in every man deserve commendations And we have allowance to mention mens vertues oftner than to mention their vices Indeed when a bad man is praised in order to the disparagement of the good or to honour some wicked cause or action against truth and godliness we must not concur in such malitious praists But otherwise we must commend that which is truly commendable in all And this custome will have a double benefit against backbiting It will use your own tongues to a contrary course and it will rebuke the evil tongues of others and be an example to them of more charitable language Direct 8. Understand your selves and speak often to others of the sinfulness of evil speaking and Direct 8. backbiting Shew them the Scriptures which condemn it and the intrinsecal malignity which is in it as here followeth Direct 9. Make conscience of just reproof and exhorting finners to their faces Go tell them of Direct 9. it privately and lovingly and it will have better effects and bring you more comfort and cure the sin of backbiting Tit. 3. The Evil of Backbiting and Evil Speaking § 1. 1. IT is forbidden of God among the heinous damning sins and made the character of a notorious wicked person and the avoiding of it is made the mark of such as are accepted of God and shall be saved Rom. 1. 29 30. it is made the mark of a reprobate mind and joyned with murder and hating God viz. full of envy debate deceit malignity whisperers backbiters Psal. 15. 2 3. Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy hill He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour And when Paul describeth those whom he must sharply rebuke and censure he just describeth the factious sort of Christians of our times 2 Cor. 12. 20. For I fear lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not Lest there be debates envyings wraths strifes backbitings whisperings swellings tumults Ephes. 4. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another and tender hearted § 2. 2. It is
shut-up the bowels of his compassion from him how dwelleth the Love of God in him 1 Iohn 3. 17. Surely if the love of his brother were in him the love of God had been in him But he hath no true love to his brother that will only love him on terms that cost him little and cannot give and suffer for his love All these are deceiving Counterfeits of Love to the children of God Tit. 6. Cases and Directions for intimate special Friends Quest. 1. IS it lawful to have an earnest desire to be Loved by others Especially by some one person Quest. 1. above all other Answ. There is a desire of others Love which is lawful and there is a desire which is unlawful I. It is lawful 1. When we desire it as it is their duty which God himself obligeth them to perform and so is part of their integrity and is their own good and pleaseth God So Parents must desire their children to love them and one another because it is their duty and else they are unnatural and bad And Husband and Wife may desire that each other discharge that duty of Love which God requireth and so may all others 2. It is lawful also to desire for our own sakes to be loved by others so be it it be 1. With a calm and sober desire which is not eager peremptory or importunate nor overvalueth the Love of man 2. According to the proportion of our own worth not desiring to be thought Greater Wiser or Better than indeed we are nor to be loved erroneously by an overvaluing Love 3. When we desire it for the benefits to which it tendeth more than to be valued and loved our selves As 1. That we may receive that edification and good from a friend which Love disposeth them to communicate 2. That we may do that good to our friends which Love disposeth them to receive 3. That we may honour and please God who delighteth in the true Love and Concord of his Children II. But the unlawful desire of others Love to us is much more common and is a sin of a deeper malignity than is commonly observed This desire of love is sinful when it is contrary to that before described As 1. When we desire it over eagerly 2. When we desire it selfishly and proudly to be set up in the good opinion of others and not to make a benefit of it to our selves or them bt our own Honour is more desired in it than the honour of God 3. When we desire to be thought Greater Wiser or Better than we are and to be loved with such an overvaluing Love and have no desire that the bounds of Truth and Usefulness should restrain and limit that love to us which we affect 4. When it is an erroneous fanciful carnal or lustful esteem of some one person which maketh us desire his love more than others As because he is higher richer fairer c. This eager desire to be over-loved by others hath in it all these aggravations 1. It is the very sin of Pride which God hath declared so great a detestation of For Pride is an over-valuing our selves for Greatness Wisdom or Goodness and a desire to be so over-valued of others And he that would be over-loved would be over-valued 2. It is self-idolizing When we would be loved as better than we are we rob God of that Love which men should render to him who can never be over-loved and we would fain seem a kind of petty Deities to the world and draw mens eyes and hearts unto our selves When we should be jealous of Gods interest and honour lest we or any creature should have his due this proud disposition maketh people set up themselves in the estimation of others and they scarce care how Good or Wise they are esteemed nor how much they are lifted up in the hearts of others 3. It is an injurious ensnaring the minds of others and tempting them to erroneous opinions of us and affections to us which will be their sin and may bring them into many inconveniences It is an ordinary thing to do greater hurt to a friend whom we value by ensnaring him in an inordinate Love than ever we did or can do to an enemy by hating him Quest. 2. Is it lawful meet or desirable to entertain that extraordinary affection to any one which Quest. 2. is called special friendship or to have an endeared intimate friend whom we love far above all others Answ. Intimate special friendship is a thing that hath been so much pleaded for by all sorts of men and so much of the felicity of mans life hath been placed in it that it beseemeth not me to speak against it But yet I think it meet to tell you with what Cautions and limits it must be received and how far it is good and how far sinful For there are perils here to be avoided which neither Cicero nor his Scipio and Laelius were acquainted with I. 1. It is lawful to choose some one well qualified person who is fittest for that use and to make him the chief companion of our lives our chiefest counsellor and comforter and to confine our intimacy and converse to him in a special manner above all others 2. And it is lawful to love him not only according to his personal worth but according to his special suitableness to us and to desire his felicity accordingly and to exercise our love to him more frequently and sensibly because of his nearness and presence than towards some better men that are further off The Reasons of such an intimate friendship are these 1. No man is sufficient for himself and therefore Nature teacheth him to desire an helper And there is so wonderful a diversity of temperaments and conditions and so great a disparity and incongruity among good and wise men towards each other that one that is more suitable and congruous to us than all the rest may on that account be much preferred 2. It is not many that can be so near us as to be ordinary helpers to us And a wiser man at a distance or out of reach may be less useful to us than one of inferiour worth at hand 3. The very exercise of friendly love and kindness to another is pleasant And so it is to have one to whom we may confidently reveal our secrets to bear part of our burden and to confirm us in our right apprehensions and to cure us of wrong ones 4. And it is no small benefit of a present bosome friend to be instead of all the world to us that is of common unprofitable company For man is a sociable creature and abhorreth utter solitude And among the common sort we shall meet with so much evil and so little that is truly wise or good as will tempt a man to think that he is best when he is least conversant with mankind But a selected friend is to us for usefulness instead of many without these common
incumbrances and snares 5. And it is a great part of the commodity of a faithful friend to be assisted in the true knowledge of our selves To have one that will watch over us and faithfully tell us of the sin and danger and duty which we cannot easily see without help and which other men will not faithfully acquaint us with II. But yet it is rare to choose and use this friendship rightly And there are many evils here to be carefully avoided The instances shall be mentioned anon in the directions and therefore now passed by Quest. 3. Is it meet to have more such bosome friends than one Quest. 3. Answ. Usually One only is meetest 1. Because Love diffused is oft weak and contracted is more strong 2. Because secrets are seldome safe in the hands of many 3. Because suitable persons are rare 4. And though two or three may be suitable to you yet perhaps they may be unsuitable among themselves And the calamity of their own disparities will redound to you And their fallings out may turn to the bewraying of your secrets or to some other greater wrong 2. But yet sometimes two or three such friends may be better than one alone 1. In case they be all neer and of an approved suitableness and fidelity 2. In case they be all suitable and endeared to one another 3. If a man live per vices in several places and his friends cannot remove with him he may have one friend in one place and another in another and so many will be but as one that is constant 4. And in case that many may add to our help our counsel and comfort more than to our danger hurt or trouble In all these cases many are better than one Quest. 4. Is it fit for him to take another bosome friend who hath a pious Wife and is any other so Quest. 4. fit to be a friend as he and she that are as one flesh Answ. When a Wife hath the understanding and vertue and fidelity fit for this sort of friendship then no one else is so â—it because of neerness and united interests The same I say of a Husband to a Wife But because that it seldome falls out that there is such a fitness for this office especially in the Wife in that case it is lawful and meet to choose a friend that is fit indeed and to commit those secrets to him which we commit not to a Wife For secrets are not to be committed to the untrusty nor wise counsel to be expected from the unwise how neer soever And the great writers about this special Friendship do think that no woman is fit for it but men only But that conclusion is too injurious to that Sex Quest. 5. Is it agreeable to the nature of true friendship to Love our friend not only for himself but Quest. 5. for our own commodity and whether must he or I be the chief end of my love and friendship Answ. 1. Indeed in our Love to God he that is the object is also our chief and ultimate end and we must Love him more for Himself than for our selves And yet here it is lawful subordinately to intend our selves 2. And our love to the Common-wealth should be greater than our Love to our selves and therefore we may not Love it chiefly for our selves 3. And if our bosome friend be notoriously Better than we are and more serviceable to God and to the common good we should Love him also above our selves and therefore not chiefly for our selves 4. But in case of an equality of goodness and usefulness we are not bound to Love our most intimate friend more than our selves and therefore may at least equally Love him for our selves as for himself And if we are really and notoriously better and more useful we may love him chiefly for our selves and our selves above him But still we must love God and the publick Good above both our selves and him and must Love both our selves and him in order to God who is the beginning and end of all Quest. 6. Is it contrary to the nature of true friendship to keep any secret from such a bosome friend Quest. 6. or to retain any suspicion of him or to suppose that he may possibly prove unfaithful to us and forsake us Answ. Cicero and the old Doctors of Friendship say that all this is inconsistent with true friendship And it is true that it is contrary to perfect friendship But it is as true that perfect friendship cannot be nor must not be among imperfect men And that the nature of mankind is so much depraved that the best are unmeet for perfect friendship And certainly few men if any in the world are fit for every secret of our hearts Besides that we are so bad that if all our secret thoughts were known to one another it might do much to abate our friendship and love to each other And it is certain that man is so corrupt a creature and good men so imperfectly cured of their corruption that there is selfishness uncertainty and mutability in the best And therefore it is not a duty to judge falsly of men but contrarily to judge of them as they are And therefore to suppose that it is possible the closest friend may reveal our secrets one time or other and that the steadfastest friend may possibly become our enemy To think that possible which is possible and more is injurious to none Quest. 7. Is it lawful to change a bosome friend and to prefer a new one whom we perceive to be Quest. 7. more worthy before an old one Answ. An old friend caeteris paribus is to be preferred before a new one and is not to be cast off without desert and necessity But for all that 1. If an old friend prove false or notably unfit 2. Or if we meet with another that is far more able fit and worthy no doubt but we may prefer the later and may value Love and use men as they are for goodness worth and usefulness Quest. 8. What Love is due to a Minister that hath been the means of our Conversion And can such a Quest. 8. one â—e loved too much Answ. 1. There is a special Love due to such a one as the hand by which God did reach out to us his unvaluable mercies And ingratitude and sectarian proud contempt of such as have been our fathers in Christ is no small sin 2. But yet another that never did us good who is much wiser and better and more serviceable to the Church must be better Loved than he by whom we were converted Because we are to love men more for the sake of God and his Image and service than for our selves 3. And it is a very common thing for passionate Women and young people when they are newly converted to think that they can never too much value and honour and Love those that converted them and to think that all such
direct you in it and confer about it And it is best for you if he be one that excelleth you herein that he may add something to you But then you will not be such to him and so the friendship will be unequal 20. Lastly There must be some suitableness in Age and Sex The young want experience to make them meet for the bosome friendship of the aged though yet they may take delight in instructing them and doing them good And the young are hardly reconcilable to all the gravity of the aged And it must not be a person of a different sex unless in case of Marriage Not but that they may be helpful to each other as Christians and in a state of distant friendship But this bosome intimacy they are utterly unfit for because of unsuitableness temptation and scandal Directions for the right Use of special Bosome Friendship Direct 1. ENgage not your self to any one as a bosome friend without great evidence and Direct 1. proof of his fitness in all the foregoing qualifications By which you may see that this is not an ordinary way of duty or benefit but a very unusual case For it is a hard thing to meet with one among many thousands that hath all these qualifications And when that is done if you have not all the same qualifications to him you will be unmeet for his friendship what ever he be for yours And where in an age will there be two that are suited in all those respects Therefore our ordinary way of duty is to love all according to their various worth and to make the best use we can of every ones grace and gifts and of those most that are nearest us but without the partiality of such extraordinary affection to any one above all the rest For young persons usually make their choice rashly of one that afterwards proveth utterly unmeet for the Office of such a friend or at least no better than many other persons Nay ten to one but after experience will acquaint them with many that are much wiser and better and fitter for their love And hasty affections are guilty of blind partiality and run men into sin and sorrow and often end in unpleasant ruptures Therefore be not too forward in this friendship Direct 2. When you do choose a friend though he must be one that you have no cause to be Direct 2. suspicious of yet reckon that it is possible that he may be estranged from you yea and turn your enemy Causeless jealousies are contrary to friendship on your part and if there be Cause it is inconsistent with friendship on his part But yet no friendship should make you blind and not to know that man is a corrupt and mutable creature especially in such an age as this wherein we have seen how personal Changes State-changes and changes in Religion have alienated many seeming friends Therefore Love them and Use them and Trust them but as men that may possibly fail all your expectations and open all your secrets and betray you yea and turn your enemies Suspect it not but judge it possible Direct 3. Be open with your approved friend and commit all your secrets to him still excepting Direct 3. those the knowledge of which may be hurtful to himself or the revealing of them hereafter may be intollerably injurious to your self to the honour of Religion to the publick good or to any other If you be needlesly close you are neither friendly nor can you improve your friend enough to your own advantage But yet if you open all without exception you may many wayes be injurious to your friend and to your self and the day may come which you did not look for in which his weakness passion interest or alienation may trouble you by making all publick to the world Direct 4. Use as little affectation or ceremony with your friend as may be but let all your converse Direct 4. with him be with openness of heart that he may see that you both trust him and deal with him in plain sincerity If dissimulation and forced affectation be but once discovered it tendeth to breed a constant diffidence and suspicion And if it be an infirmity of your own which you think needeth such a cover the Cloak will be of worse effect than the knowledge of your infirmity Direct 5. Be ever faithful to your friend for the cure of all his faults and never turn friendship Direct 5. into flattery yet still let all be done in Love though in a friendly freedome and closeness of admonition It is not the least benefit of intimate friendship that what an enemy speaketh behind our backs a friend will open plainly to our faces To watch over one another daily and be as a glass to shew our faces or faults to one another is the very great benefit of true friendship Eccles. 4. 9 10 11. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labour For if they fall the one will lift up his fellow But wo to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up It is a flatterer and not a friend that will please you by concealing or extenuating your sin Direct 6. Abhor Selfishness as most contrary to real friendship Let your friend be as your self Direct 6. and his interest as your own If we must love our neighbour as our selves much more our dearest bosome friends Direct 7. Understand what is most excellent and useful in your friend and that improve Much Direct 7. good is lost by a dead hearted companion that will neither broach the Vessel and draw out that which is ready for their use nor yet feed any good discourse by due questions or answers but stifle all by barren silence And a dull silent hearer will weary and silence the speaker at the last Direct 8. Resolve to bear with each others infirmities Be not too high in your expectations from Direct 8. each other Look not for exactness and innocency but for humane infirmities that when they fall out you may not find your selves disappointed Patience is necessary in all humane converse Direct 9. Yet do not suffer friendship to blind you to own or extenuate the faults of your dearest Direct 9. friend For that will be sinful partiality and will be greatly injurious to God and treachery against the soul and safety of your friend Direct 10. And watch lest the love estimation or reverence of your friend should draw you to Direct 10. entertain his errors or to imitate him in any sinful way It is no part of true friendship to prefer men before the truth of Christ nor to take any heretical dividing or sensual infection from our friend and so to dye and perish with him Nor is it friendly to desire it Direct 11. Never speak against your friend to a third person Nor open his dishonourable weakness Direct 11. to another
c. because the changes may be such which God will make as shall make that way to be one year necessary which before was not and so change your duty We cannot prescribe to God what way he shall appoint us for the future to use his talents in His Word bids us prefer the greatest good but which is the greatest his providence must tell us 8. He that hath no more than is necessary to the very preservation of his own life and his families is not bound to give to others unless in some extraordinary case which calleth him to prefer a greater and more publick good And he that hath no more than is needful to the comfortable support of himself and family is not bound to relieve those that have no greater wants than himself And his own necessity is not to be measured meerly by what he hath but by the use he hath for it For a Magistrate or one that is engaged in publick works may have as much need of many hundreds a year as a private man of many pounds 9. Those that have many children to provide for or poor kindred that nature casteth on them cannot give so much proportionably to other poor as those are bound to do that have few or none For these are bound to give all except their personal necessaries to publick pious or charitable works because God calleth not for it any other way 10. To pamper the flesh is a sin as well in the Rich as in the Poor The Rich therefore are bound not only to give all that the flesh can spare when it s own inordinate desires are satisfied but to deny themselves and mortifie the flesh and be good husbands for God and studiousness to retrench all unnecessary expences and to live Laboriously and Thriftily that they may have the more to do good with It is a great extenuation of the largest gifts as to Gods esteem when they are but the leavings of the flesh and are given out of mens abundance and when we offer that to God that costeth us nothing As Christ doth purposely determine the case Luke 21. 1 2 3 4. comparing the Rich mans gifts with the Widows two mites he said Of a truth I say unto you that this poor Widow hath cast in more than they all For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had that is all the stock she had before-hand though she had need of it her self It is a very considerable thing in our charity how much mortification and self-denyal is expressed in it and how much it costeth our own flesh to give to others And therefore they that think they are excused from doing good to others as long as they have any need of it themselves and will give nothing but what they have no need of it being not of absolute necessity to their lives do offer a sacrifice of no great value in the eyes of God What then shall we say of them that will not give even out of their abundance and that which without any suffering they may spare 11. The first and principal thing to be done by one that would give as God would have him is to get a truly charitable heart which containeth all â—â—ese parts 1. That we see God in his needy creatures and â—â— his cause or work that needs our help 2. That we be sensible of his abundant love in Christ to us in giving pardon and eternal life and that from the sense of this our thankful hearts are moved to do good to others 3. That therefore we do it ultimately as to Christ himself who taketh that which is done for his cause and servants as done to him Matth. 25. 40. 4. That we conquer the cursed sin of selfishness which makes men little regard any but themselves 5. That we love our Neighbours as our selves and love most where there is most of God and goodness and not according to self-interest And that as members of the same Body we take our brethrens wants and sufferings as our own and then we should be as ready to help them as our selves 6. That we know the vanity of worldly riches and be not earthly-minded but regard the interest of God and our souls above all the treasures of the world 7. That we unfeignedly believe the promises of God who hath engaged himself to provide for us and everlastingly to reward us in glory with himself If these seven qualifications be wrought upon the Heart good works will plentifully follow Make but the Tree good and the fruit will be good But when the Heart is void of the root and life which should produce them the Iudgement will not be perswaded that so much is necessary and required of us and the will it self will still hang back and be delaying to do good and doing all pinchingly and hypocritically with unwillingness and distrust No wonder if good works are so rare when it is evident that to do them sincerely and heartily as our Trade and business it is necessary that the whole soul be thus renewed by faith and love and self-denyal and mortification and by a Heavenly hope and mind They are the fruits and works of the new creature which is alas too rare in the world For we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Ephes. 2. 10. Therefore our first and chiefest labour should be to be sure that we are furnished with such hearts and then if we have wherewith to do good such hearts will be sure to do it Such hearts will best discern the time and measure as a healthful mans appetite will in eating For they will take it for a mercy and happiness to do good and know that it is they that give that are the great receivers It is but a little money or alms that the poor receive of us but it is Gods acceptance and favour and reward that wâ— receive which is in this life a hundred fold in value and in the world to come eternal life Matth. 19. 29. But if we have but little or nothing to give such a heart is accepted as if we had given as much as we desire to give so that if you have a heart that would give thousands if you had it God will set down upon your account so many thousands given in desire Your two mites shall be valued above all the superfluities of sensual worldlings For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. But God taketh not that for a willing mind which only saith I would give if I should suffer nothing by it my self or were sure I should not want But that which saith I will serve God as well as I can with my estate while I have it and deny my
your excellency The soul of Religion is departing from you and it is dying and returning to the dust And if once Man get the preheminence of God and be preferred and set above him in your hearts or lives and feared trusted and obeyed before him you are then dead to God and alive to the world and as Men are taken for your Gods you must take up with such a salvation as they can give you If your Alms and Prayers are done to be seen of men and to procure their good thoughts and words if you get them make your best of them For verily your Judge hath said unto you You have your reward Matth. 6. 1 2 3. Not that man is absolutely to be contemned or disregarded No under God your Superiours must Aâ—te 〈◊〉 sâ— voles aâ—â— haâ—e sedâ—m ae 〈…〉 am domum contuâ—â—t re 〈…〉 Sermoâ—â—bâ—s vuâ—gâ— dedeâ—â—s te nec in praeviâ—s humamanis â—pem posueris rerum tuarum suis te illecebrâ—s oportet ipsa viâ—tâ—s trahat ad verum dâ—â—uâ— Ciâ—râ— somâ— Sâ—â—p Cael stia sâ—mper â—pâ—â—tato â—â—â—â—a humana contemnito Id. Ibid. be obeyed you must do wrong to none and do good to all as far as in you lyeth you must avoid offence and give good example and under God have so much regard to men as to become all things to all men for their salvation But if once you set them above their rank and turn your selves to an inordinate dependance on them and make too great a matter of their opinion or words concerning you you are losing your godliness or divine disposition and turning it into man-pleasing and hypocrisie When man stands in competition with God for your first and chief regard or in opposition to him or as a sharer in co-ordination with him and not purely in subordination to him he is to be numbred with things to be forsaken Even good men whom you must love and honour and whose communion and help you must highly value yet may be made the object of your sin and may become your snare Your honouring of them or love to them must not entice you to desire inordinately to be honoured by them nor cause you to set too much by their approbation If you do you will find that while you are too much eying man you are losing God and corrupting your Religion at the very heart And you may fall among those that how Holy soever may have great mistakes in matters of Religion tending to much sin and may be somewhat censorious against those that are not of their mind and so the retaining of their esteem and the avoiding of their censures may become one of the greatest temptations of your lives And you will find that man-pleasing is a very difficult and yet unprofitable task Love Christ as he appeareth in any of his servants and be followers of them as they are followers of Christ and regard their approbation as it agreeth with Christs But O see that you are able to Live upon the favour of God alone and to be quietted in his acceptance though man despise you and to be Pleased so far as God is pleased though man be displeased with you and to rejoyce in his Justification though men condemn you with the odiousest slanders and the greatest infamy and cast out your names as evil doers See that God be taken as Enough for you or else you take him not as your God Even as Enough without man and Enough against man That you may be able to say If God be for us who can be against us Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 31 33 34. Do I seek to please men For if I yet pleased men I should not be a servant of Christ Gal. 1. 10. Jer. 17. 5. Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord For he shall be like the Heath in the Desert and shall not see when good cometh Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a Tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the Rivers and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is be to be accounted of Isa. 2. 22. § 3. HAving given you these Directions I must tell you in the Conclusion that they are like foed that will not nourish you by standing on your Table or like Physick that will not cure you by standing in the Box They must be taken and digested or you will find none of the benefit It is not the Reading of them that will serve the turn to so great use as the safe proceeding and confirmation of beginners or Noâ—ices in Religion It will require humility to perceive the need of them and labour to learn digest and practise them Those slothful souls that will refuse the labour must bear the sad effects of their negligence There is not one of all these Directions as to the Matter of them which can be spared Study them Understand them and Remember them as things that must be done If either a senselesness of your necessity or a conceit that the Spirit must do it without so much labour and diligence of your own do prevail with you to put off all these with a meer approbation the consequent may be sadder than you can yet foresee Though I suppose you to have some beginnings of Grace I must tell you that it will be comparatively a sad kind of life to be erroneous and scandalous and troublesome to the Church or full of doubts and fears and passions and to be burdensome to others and your selves Yea it is reason that you be very suspicious of your Sincerity if you desire not to increase in grace and be not willing to use the means which are necessary to your encrease He is not sincere that desireth not to be perfect And he desireth not sincerely who is not willing to be at the labour and cost which is necessary to the obtaining of the thing desired I beseech you therefore as you love the happiness of prudent strong and comfortable Christians and would escape the misery of those grievous diseases which would turn your lives into languishing unserviceableness and pain that you seriously study these Directions and get them into your minds and memories and hearts and let the faithful practice of them be your greatest care and the constant employment of your lives CHAP. III. The General Grand Directions for Walking with God in a Life of Faith and Holiness Containing the Essentials of Godliness and Christianity I Am next to Direct you in that Exercise of Grace which is common to all Christians Habits are for Use Grace is given you not only that you may have it
a name above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus is Christ to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2. 9 10 11. Pray therefore that the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the acknowledgement of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his right hand in the coelestials fâ—r above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be Head over all things to his Church Eph. 1. 17 c. The Father hath glorified his name in his Son Iohn 12. 28. 13. 31 32. 14. 13. 17. 1. § 6. Direct 4. Behold God as the End of the whole Creation and intend him as the End of all the Direct 4. actions of thy life You honour him not as God if you practically esteem him not as your ultimate end even the Pleasing of his will and the honouring him in the world If any thing else be made your chiefest end you honour it before him and make a God of it § 7. Direct 5. Answer all his blessed attributes with suitable affections as I have directed in my Direct 5. Treatise of the Knowledge of God and here briefly Dir. 4. and his Relations to us with the duty which they command subjection Love c. as I have opened in the foregoing Directions We glorifie him in our hearts when the Image of his Attributes is there received § 8. Direct 6. Behold him by faith as allways present with you And then every Attribute will Direct 6. the more affect you and you will not admit dishonourable thoughts of him Pray to him as if you saw him and you will speak to him with reverence Speak of him as if you saw him and you dare not take his name in vain nor talk of God with a common frame of mind nor in a common manner as of common things By faith Moses forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. God is contemned by them that think they are behind his back § 9. Direct 7. Think of him as in Heaven where he is revealed in Glory to the blessed and magnified Direct 7. by their high everlasting Praise Nothing so much helpeth us to Glorifie God in our minds as by faith to behold him where he is most Glorious The very reading over the description of the Glory of the New Ierusalem Rev. 21. 22. will much affect a believing mind with a sense of the Gloriousness of God Suppose with Stephen we saw Heaven opened and the ancient of daies the Great Jehovah Gloriously illustrating the City of God and Jesus in Glory at his right hand and the innumerable army of Glorifyed Spirits before his throne Praysing and magnifying him with the highest admirations and joyfullest acclamations that creatures are capable of would it not raise us to some of the same admirations The soul that by faith is much above doth most Glorifie God as being neerest to his Glory § 10. Direct 8. Foresee by faith the coming of Christ and the day of the universal Iudgement when Direct 8. Christ shall come in flaming fire with thousands of his holy Angels to be Glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe 2 Thes. 1. 10. § 11. Direct 9. Abhor all Doctrines which blaspheam or dishonour the name of God and would Direct 9. blemish and hide the Glory of his Majesty I give you this rule for your own preservation and not in imitation of uncharitable firebrands and dividers of the Church to exercise your pride and imperious humour in condemning all men to whose opinions you can maliciously affix a blasphemous consequence which either followeth but in your own imagination or is not acknowledged but hated by those on whom you do affix it Let it suffice you to detest false doctrines without detesting the persons that you imagine guilty of them who profess to believe the contrary truth as stedfastly as you your selves § 12. Direct 10. Take heed of sinking into flesh and earth and being diverted by things sensible from Direct 10. the daily contemplation of the Glory of God If your belly become your God and you mind earthly things and are set upon the honours or profits or pleasures of the world when your conversation should be in Heaven you will be glorying in your shame when you should be admiring the Glory of your Maker Phil. 3. 18 19 20. and you will have so much to do on earth that you will find no leisure because you have no hearts to look up seriously to God Directions for Glorifying God with our tongues in his Praises § 13. Direct 1. Conceive of this duty of Praising God according to its superlative excellencies as being Direct 11. the highest service that the tongue of men or Angels can perform To Bless or Praise or Magnifie How great a duty Praising God is God is not to make him Greater or better or happier than he is but to declare and extol his Greatness Goodness and felicity And that your hearts may be inflamed to this excellent work I will here shew you how great and necessary how high and acceptable a work it is § 14. 1. It is the giving to God his chiefest due A speaking of him as he is And when we have Christianus est homo dicens faciâ—â—â—â—â—â—grata diabolo oâ—nans 〈…〉 am Dâ—â— â—â—â—â—oris vitae à salutis suae Bâ—choâ—â—â—â— spoken the highest how far fall we short of the due expression of his glorious perfections O how great Praise doth that Allmightiness deserve which created and conserveth all the world and over-ruleth all the sons of men and is able to do whatsoever he will Great is the Lord and Greatly to be praised and his Greatness is unsearchable One Generation shall praise his works to another and declare his mighty acts I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy Greatness Psalm 145. 3 4 5. What Praise doth that knowledge deserve which extendeth to all things that are or were or ever shall be and that wisdom which ordereth all the world He knoweth every thought of man
and all the secrets of the heart Psalm 44. 21. 94. 11. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world Acts 15. 18. His understanding is infinite Psalm 147. 5. What praise doth that Goodness and Mercy deserve which is diffused throughout all the world and is the life and hope and happiness of men and Angels His Mercy is Great unto the Heavens and his Truth unto the Clouds Psalm 57. 10. O how great is his Goodness to them that fear him Psalm 31. 10. and therefore how great should be his Praise Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord and who can shew forth all his Praise Psalm 106. 2. For great is the Glory of the Lord Psalm 138. 5. § 15. 2. It is the end of all Gods wondrous works and especially the end which man was made for that all things else might Praise him Objectively and men and Angels in estimation and expression that his Glorious excellency might be visible in his works and be admired and extolled by the rational creature For this all things were created and are continued For this we have our understanding and our speech This is the fruit that God expecteth from all his works Deny him this and you are guilty of frustrating the whole creation as much as in you lieth You would have the Sun to shine in vain and the Heavens and Earth to stand in vain and man and all things to live in vain if you would not have God have the praiâ—e and Glory of his works Therefore Sun and Moon and Starrs and Firmament are called on to Praise the Lord Psalm 148. 2 3 4. as they are the matter for which he must by us be praised O praise him therefore for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Psalm 150. 2. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works for the children of men Psalm 107. 8 c. Yea it is the end of Christ in the Redemption of the world and in saving his elect that God might in the Church in Earth and Heaven have the praise and glory of his grace Ephes. 1. 6 12 14. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that iâ— the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb. 13. 15. And let the redeemed of the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever Psalm 107. 2. For this all his Saints are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that they should shew forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 5 9. § 16. 3. The Praise of God is the highest and noblest work in it self 1. It hath the highest object even the glorious excellencies of God Thanksgiving is somewhat lower as having more respect to our selves and the Benefits received But Praise is terminated directly on the perfections of God himself 2. It is that work that is most immediately neerest on God as he is Our end And as the end as such is better than all the means set together as such so are the final duties about the end greater than all the mediate duties 3. It is the work of the most excellent creatures of God the holy Angels They proclaimed the coming of Christ by way of Praise Luke 2. 13 14. Glory to God in the highest on earth peace Good-will towards men Psalm 103. 20. 148. 2. And as we must be equal to the Angels it must be in equal Praising God or else it will not be in equality of Glory 4. It is the work of Heaven the place and state of all perfection And that is best and highest which is nearest Heaven Where they rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Allmighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 8. 10. Rev. 19. 5. A voice came out of the throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Allelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready § 17. 4. It beseemeth us and much concerneth us to learn and exercise that work which in Heaven we must do for ever and that is to Love and joyfully Praise the Lord. For earth is but the place of our apprentiship for Heaven The preparing works of mortifying repentance must in their place be done but only as subservient to these which we must ever do When we shall sing the new song before the Lamb Thou art worthy For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto our God Rev. 5. 9 10. Therefore the Primitive Church of believers is described as most like to Heaven Luke 24. 53. with great joy they were continually in the Temple Praising and blessing God O Praise the Lord therefore in the congregations of the Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psalm 149. 1 2. Let the Saints be joyful in glory Let the high praises of God be in their mouths verse 5 6. § 18. 5. Though we are yet diseased sinners and in our warfare among enemies dangers and perplexities yet Praise is seasonable and suitable to our condition here as the greatest part of our duty which all the rest must but promote Pretend not that it is not fit for you because you are sinners and that humiliation only is suitable to your state For the design of your redemption the tenour of the Gospel and your own condition engage you to it Are they not engaged to Praise the Lord that are brought so near him to that end 1 Pet. 2 5. 9. that are reconciled to him To whom he hath given and forgiven so much 1 Tim. 1. 15. Tit. 3. 3 5. Psalm 103. 1 2 3. that have so many great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. that are the Temples of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in them and sanctifieth them to God That have a Christ interâ—â—ding for them in the highest Rom. 8. 33 34. That are allways safe in the arms of Christ that are guarded by Angels and Devils and enemies forbidden to touch them further than their father sâ—eth necessary for their good That have the Lord for their God Psalm 33. 12. 4. 8. That have his Saints for their companions and helpers That have so many ordinances to help their souls And so
sense and reason but will wish that they had Loved God and sought and served him not formally in hypocritical complement but with all their heart and soul and might § 9. Direct 8. Labour also to fortifie the minds of your friends against all fears of suffering for Direct 8. Christ and all impatience in any of their afflictions Say to them The sufferings as well as the pleasures of this life are s◠short that they are not worthy once to be compared with the durable things of the life to come If I have past through a life of want and toil if my body hath endured painful sickness if I have suffered never so much from men and been used cruelly for the sake of Christ what the worse am I now when all is past Would an easie honourable plentiful life have made my death either the safer or the sweeter O no! It is the things eternal that are indeed significant and regardable Neither pleasure nor pain that is short is of any great regard Make sure of the Everlasting pleasures and you have done your work O live by faith and not by sense Look not at the temporal things which are seen It is not your concernment whether you are rich or poor in honour or dishonour in health or sickness but whether you be justified and sanctified and shall live with God in Heaven for ever Such serious counsels of dying men may make their sickness more fruitful than their health CHAP. XXXI Directions to the Friends of the Sick that are about them § 1. Direct 1. WHen you see the sickness or death of your friends take it as Gods warning Direct 1. to you to prepare for the same your selves Remember that thus it must be with you Thus are you like to lye in pain and thus will all the world forsake you and nothing of all your honour or wealth will afford you any comfort This will be the end of all your pleasures of your greatness and your houses and lands and attendance and of all your delicious meats and drinks and of all your mirth and play and recreations Thus must your carkasses be forsaken of your souls and laid in a grave and there lie rotting in the dark and your souls appear before your Judge to be sentenced to their endless state This certainly will be your case and O how quickly will it come Then what will Christ and Grace be worth Then nothing but the favour of God can comfort you Then whether will it be better to you to look back on a holy well-spent life or upon a life of fleshly ease and pleasure Then had you rather be a Saint or a Sensualist Lay this to heart and let the house of mourning make you better and live as one that looks to dye § 2. Direct 2. Use the best means for the recovery of the sick which the ablest Physicions shall advise Direct 2. you to as far as you are able Take heed of being guilty of the Pride and folly of many self-conceited ignorant persons who are ready to thrust every Medicine of their own upon their friends in sickness when they neither know the nature of the sickness or the cure Many thousands are brought to their death untimely by the folly of their nearest friends who will needs be medicining them and ruling them and despising the Physicion as if they were themselves much wiser than he when they are meerly ignorant of what they do As ignorant Sectaries despise Divines and set up themselves as better Preachers so many silly Women despise Physicions and when they have got a few Medicines which they know not the nature of nor how to use they take themselves for the better Physicions and the lives of their poor friends must pay for their pride and folly No means must be trusted to instead of God but the best must be used in subservience unto God And one would think that a small measure of wit and humility might serve to make silly women understand that they that never bestowed one year in the study of Physick are not so likely to understand it as those that have studied and practised it a great part of their lives It is sad to see people kill their dearest friends in kindness even by that ignorance and proud selfconceitedness which also maketh them the destroyers of their own souls § 3. Quest. But seeing God hath appointed all mens time what good can Physick do If God hath Quest. appointed them to live they shall live and if he have appointed them to dye it is not Physick that can save them Answ. This is the foolish reasoning of wicked people about their salvation If God have appointed Answ. me to salvation I shall be saved if he have not all my diligence will do no good But such people know not what they talk of God hath made your duty more open and known to you than his own decrees And you separate those things which he hath joyned together As God hath appointed no man to salvation simply without respect to the means of salvation so God hath appointed no man to live but by the means of life His Decree is not Such a man shall be saved or Such a man shall live so long only But this is his Decree Such a man shall be saved in the way of faith and holiness and in the diligent use of means and Such a man shall live so long by the use of those means which I have fitted for the preservation of his life So that as he that liveth a holy life may be sure he is chosen to salvation if he persevere and he that is ungodly may be sure that he is in the way to Hell so he that neglecteth the means of his health and life doth shew that it is unlike that God hath appointed him to live and he that useth the best means is liker to recover though the best will not cure uncurable Diseases nor make a man immortal The reasoning is the same as if you should say If God have appointed me to live so long I shall live though I neither eat nor drink But if he have not eating and drinking will not prolong my life But you must know that God doth not only appoint you to live that is but half his Decree but he decreeth that you shall live by eating and drinking § 4. Direct 3. Mind your friends betimes to make their Wills and prudently by good advice to settle Direct 3. their estates that they may leave no occasion of contending about it when they are dead This should be done in health because of the uncertainty of life But if it be undone till sickness it should then be done betimes The neglect of it oft causeth much sinful contending about worldly things even among those near relations who should live in the greatest amity and peace § 5. Direct 4. Keep away vain company from them as far as you can conveniently