and ye have not because ye ask not ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your Lusts And whilst matters go thus amongst those who profess the Faith and pretend to Piety and Religion the Christian Commonwealth and true Piety are lessened and impaired the barbarous and wicked Empires and Kingdoms of Christs enemies encrease and are enlarged Heresies and erroneous and accursed Sects spring up and daily grow greater and greater God set before us an illustrious and noble pattern of Chastity and Continence in the persons of his own Princes saying He shall not multiply to himself many Wives that may allure his mind That was not lawful to the ancient Kings of the people of Israel and shall it therefore be lawful to Christian Princes to deflower Virgins rob Women of their Honour and Reputation and by their foul example tempt others to the desire or act of the same filthiness till they know no more the number of them they have debauched and wronged Kings and Princes who would approve themselves to God are forbidden in Scripture to lift up their hearts in Pride above their brethren It would be horrid wickedness then to use Tyranny Inhumanity Pride Ambition Haughtiness Arrogance Insolency and Cruelty towards Christian Subjects and so to treat them as if they were Heathen Slaves bought with their Money for the satisfaction of their Lusts and Pleasures their Luxury Vanity and Pride God forbids any Man to aspire to Power and Supremacy to arrogate it to himself or any way to invade it he will not have any Man to be the Lord and Master of his People except those who are appointed by his Favour and Authority or are declared to be such by the just Right of Inheritance And therefore we dare be bold to affirm that it is not Lawful for any Man that professes himself to be a Disciple of Christ and fears the Judgment of God either by Favour Interest or popular Faction or by Force Fraud or Deceit by Money Gifts or Promises to invade the Rights and Places of others or to detain them being unjustly invaded It is a barbarous and inhumane thing to do so altogether repugnant to the Christian Doctrine and only to be practised by Heathenish Tyrants and perverse Infidels who are therefore liable to the severe and grievous punishments of a terrible Judgement Now seeing it is the command of God that the Ministers and Officers of Kings and Princes should be chosen from among the best and fittest of the People who are far from Covetousness and Ambition It would be a bad custom amongst Christians to appoint those for the administration of Ecclesiastical or Civil employments who endeavour to screw themselves into Place by Bribes or Largesses Arrogance or Ostentatiom or other such arts and politick slights and it would be worst of all if unworthy and unfit Persons vitious covetous and ambitious Men should be advanced to Magistracy either by the sole favour of Princes without any consideration of merit or for a reward of other ignoble services or upon the account of Money solicitation of friends recommendation of Ladies or other worldly by-respects But if Princes and Magistrates being endowed with the three above-mentioned Heads of Christian Piety will carefully and diligently set about the performance of the duties of their several places and employments they will omit no occasion of executing Justice and Judgment with all integrity and they will give no place either in City or Country in publick or in private to the saucy disobedient licentious froward and corrupt humors of wicked and perverse Men The fruit whereof will be that delights and pleasures luxury and uncleanness pride and violence brutishness and sensuality and in a word the contempt and neglect of the Laws of God reigning and abounding no more in Christian Countrys Cities and Towns they will not be like unto those Cities which St. Paul saies were for unrighteousness delivered up to a Reprobate sense or be by God Judged worse than Sodom and Gomorrah nor be liable to that character which the Prophet put upon those who neglected Righteousness and Judgment Jer. 9. They be all Adulterous an Assembly of treacherous Men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies but they are not valiant for the Truth upon the Earth for they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour and trust ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant and every neighbour will walk with standers And they will deceive every one his neighbour and will not speak the truth they have taught their tongue to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity Jer. 6. For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness and from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsly All these things happen where the fear of the Lord true Piety and Justice are neglected by Princes and Magistrates which is the cause that Thefts Robberies Murders Adulteries whoredom Blasphemy Perjury Usury Disobedience to Parents Irreverence towards Superiours in a word the forgetting and contempt of the commandments of God and all other horrid vices and impieties are so frequent and that besides the eternal destruction to which they hurry Men headlong they make Christ and the most pure and holy Christian Religion not only to be despised and contemned but also reproached and evil spoken of by barbarous and unbelieving Nations and perfidious Jews when they see and observe Christian Countrys and Cities full of Murderers Usurers Deceivers Cheats Backbiters Robbers Thieves Bauds Whores Adulterers and other flagitious Sinners abounding in Hatred Envy Suspicions Injuries and Offences void of Peace Sincerity and Honesty and lastly practising Carnal Licentiousness and all the tricks and artifices of Fraud and Cunning. All which vices and wickednesses are banished from thence where the decency of an honest Christian Conversation and the Obedience and love of Gods Commands are encouraged by Princes and Magistrates where Injuries Villanies Revenge and Contentions are not reckoned Honourable but Disgraceful to Persons and Families where Virtue only is applauded but Cruelty and Injustice Immodesty Inhumanity Pride and Arrogance are discountenanced and hissed at Now it is impossible that in those places where Rulers and Governors do their duty and give good example to others Murderers Thieves Robbers Blasphemers Adulterers perjured Persons Panders Usurers Cheats Covetous and hurtful persons Witches Wizzards Sorcerers or any despisers and transgressors of the Laws of Heaven should harbour and abide but that all according to the direction of God should as much as may be be entirely rooted out not only lest by their crimes and wickedness they may hurt others but lest they should by their filthy Conversation corrupting the whole Body of the State and especially the tender Youth allure them into the like Crimes and render their Scholars worse than the
And so after he had patiently endured he obtained the Promise For Men verily swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the Vail whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec It remains then which is the design of this little Book that we handle the Parts and Offices that are incumbent on Believers and the Scholars of Christ but especially those which indifferently concern all ranks ages and conditions of Men and without which their learning will be in vain and the Doctine insignificant Let every one then whether King or Priest Prince or States-man private or publick rich or poor Bond or Free Father or Son Husband or Wife Young or Old Merchant or Artificer Soldier or Peasant Learned or Unlearned provided he profess himself to be a Disciple and Follower of Christ and Christian Doctrine provided he be Baptized into the Faith of the Catholick Church without which there is no Salvation let every one I say learn in what Station soever he be how he ought to keep his Post behave and carry himself in this World and that from the Precepts and Institutions of the Holy Ghost himself who ought to be his Guide and not from us who do but as Students in the same School deliver to our fellow Scholars the Precepts and Doctrine of our great Master who hath called us from Darkness to his marvellous Light and let him take it in good part if perchance we inculcate some things which way seem hard and uneasie to the Manners Customs and Opinions of this present Age not interpreting what we say as a reproof to any person in particular but judging it the duty of a faithful Minister and Servant to declare and manifest to his fellow servants the Will of the Lord in his own words whereby if any Man out of Conscience Ignorance or Fear shal think himself censured he must not be offended with the Doctrine and Precepts which are Just and Holy nor with his fellow Servant who delivers them but with himself his faults and vices who having professed this Doctrine hath not submitted himself to the Laws and Conditions thereof which are Constant Universal and Immutable and not made and published that according to the desire humour lust and counsels of every private man they may be altered and changed but which command Obedience by changing all those Desires Passions Lusts and Counsels that may be a hindrance to the punctual observation of the same our Lord himself having said Mat. 5. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill That is to make those who believe in me pure holy and faithful in observing and fulfilling the same For verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now if the entry into the Kingdom of Heaven be denied to those whose righteousness and obedience to the Laws of God does not exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees not of the wicked and hypocrites but of the good Scribes and Pharisees who seemed most to excell in the study of observing the Law what will become of him who through hatred or favour of Man shall pervert change conceal dissemble or any other ways make void the rules of righteousness that he is to deliver to his fellow Christians and teach so He shall indeed be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven and deemed unworthy to be admitted into that Heavenly Communion and Society into which all that are received are called Kings and great Now to be a King and to be the least are inconsistent hence it follows that in the Kingdom of Heaven it is the same thing to be the least and to be none for no man that breaketh the Commandments of God and teacheth others so to do shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but they only shall enter whose righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and who being not only hearers but doers of the Law shall be justified before God Wherefore if in the Precepts Rules and Instructions of the Doctrine that hath been delivered unto us any thing may seem to any Man stricter than his own Will Opinion or predominant Affections can comply with or submit unto let him if he intends to enter into life be persuaded that neither the way which God hath once fenced in is to be changed or enlarged nor that strait and narrow Gate made wider for the sake of any particular Person and that he must become Humble Lowly and poor in Spirit striving to walk in the narrow way and to enter at the strait Gate which will not be difficult to those who truly love this Doctrine and earnestly implore the assistance of Divine Grace that will be denied to none who dutifully and carefully submit to the rules and dictates of this Discipline For Psal 145. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them And so he shall underderstand that the ways of the Lord are broad and pleasant to those who as Pilgrims and Strangers abstaining from and renouncing the carnal desires that war against the Soul and becoming poor in Spirit undertake that holy Journey and enter into the right way as the Royal Psalmist saith Psal 119. And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy Precepts I will speak of thy Testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed And I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved My hands also will I lift up unto thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy Statutes I know that good and holy Men will willingly listen to their fellow Christian and not so much mind the language and learning of him that writes as the sayings which proceed out of the mouth of the living God whose sacred and infallible
filled and animated with divine Fear follow the ways of Godliness which Fear as we have said is the beginning or principal part of Knowledg that is it is a reverent care to avoid sin obey the Will and worship the Majesty of God And therefore the holy Mother of our Lord affirms Luke 1. That his Mercy is on them that fear him from Generation to Generation thereby intimating that that divine and inexhaustible Mercy was in no Age ever wanting to those who Fear and religiously Serve the Lord. And indeed divine Wisdom hath by many and frequent Testimonies and Oracles out of the mouths of all the Prophets and Holy Men asserted the Dignity and Excellence of the Fear of God and amongst others by that of the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 25. Oh how great is he that findeth Wisdom yet there is none above him that feareth the Lord. For Knowledg and Wisdom do indeed illuminate and instruct the Mind but that holy Fear of the Lord turns the heart effectually unto God and inclines it to the Obedience and Observation of the Precepts of the divine Law As the same Son of Sirach does expresly teach Ecclus. 2. saying My Son if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy Soul for Temptation Set thy Heart aright and constantly endure and make not hast in time of trouble Cleave unto him and depart not away that thou maist be encreased at thy last end Whatsoever is brought unto thee take chearfully and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate For Gold is tried in the Fire and acceptable Men in the Furnace of Adversity Believe in him and he will help thee order thy way aright and trust in him Ye that fear the Lord wait for his Mercy and go not aside lest ye fall Ye that fear the Lord believe him and your reward shall not fail Ye that fear the Lord hope for good and for everlasting Joy and Mercy Look at the Generations of old and see did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded Or did any abide in his fear and was forsaken Or whom did he ever despise that called upon him For the Lord is full of Compassion and Mercy Long-Suffering and very Pitiful and forgiveth Sins and saveth in time of Affliction Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the sinner that goeth two ways Wo unto him that is faint-hearted for he believeth not therefore shall he not be defended Wo unto you that have lost Patience and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you They that fear the Lord will not disobey his Word and they that love him will keep his ways They that fear the Lord will seek that is well pleasing unto him and they that love him shall be filled with the Law They that fear the Lord will prepare their heart and humble their Souls in his sight saying we will fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men for as his Majesty is so is his Mercy Nor do the holy Scriptures affirm only that the Fear of God is an useful proper and effectual means for working out our own Salvation but also that it is absolutely necessary and without which no Man can be saved seeing he who is not endowed with this Religious and Godly Fear can neither rightly set about nor with a steddy and constant purpose of mind go through with the work of Repentance nor yet faithfully keep the Laws of God as they ought to do who endeavour to approve themselves to God and procure the blessing of Justification and Christian Sanctification And therefore it was the Decree and Purpose of Heaven that a messenger of the Salvation which was coming into the World should as a fore-runner be sent before to Preach the Repentance and observation of the Divine Laws to Men and by that means prepare the way for Christian Righteousness Mat. 3. For John the Baptist came preaching in the Wilderness of Judea and saying Repent ye For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias saying The voice of one crying in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths streight For the same purpose the Apostles were sent out by Jesus Christ the Author and High-Priest of our Salvation to Publish and Preach this necessary Duty of Repentance for as the Evangelist saith Mark 6. They went out and Preached that Men should Repent The Apostles excepted none that heard them and desired to be partakers of the Salvation which they Preached from the Duty and Care of Repentance The Apostle Paul affirms before King Agrippa that he was enjoyned and had performed the same duty both towards the Jews and Gentiles without any distinction Preaching throughout all the wasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn of God and do works meet for repentance When the Jews and others at Jerusalem asked the question what was to be done by those who desired to be saved St. Peter answered Acts 2. Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of Sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the Promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call It might be proved by above six hundred Testimonies from the Holy Scripture that without the fear of the Lord and Repentance which is the second Head of Doctrine we now treat of and without the keeping and observation of the Laws of God no Man that is come to Age and that knows God and the nature of good and evil can obtain remission of sins and the inheritance and enjoyment of the Kingdom of Heaven This our Saviour himself the best Interpreter of his Fathers will asserts saying Luke 13. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mat. 5. and except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now seeing the word Repentance is often to be mentioned in this little Book that it may clearly appear what we mean we are to take notice that Repentance comprehends two things a detestation and forsaking of our sins and ill life past and an earnest and sincere practice and performance of those Virtues Acts and Deeds which are known to be acceptable to God As to the first part that is the detestation and forsaking of sin and a sinful life that Repentance chiefly relates to it which is enjoyned and taught by the Christian Church of which the particulars are the sorrow and contrition of heart the confession of the mouth and satisfaction in deed to use the common phrase and expression of the learned for knowing the nature whereof we shall refer you to the Books of the Learned who have fully handled and discussed that Point being resolved here
Dexterity and Success and thereby for the working out of their own Salvation the very Offices and Charges which they bear do declare For such Ministers are appointed by God not that they should only consult their own interests and indulge and please their own humours but that they should with all care and industry provide for the people of God those things that are known to conduce to the promoting of true Christian Piety publick honesty peace and tranquillity innocence and uprightness according to the Precepts and directions of the divine wisdom Now they who endeavour and study to do so must shew themselves to be Princes indeed not slaves to pride ambition strife hatred deceit frauds and avarice not approving desiring or admitting any thing that is not good just and honest not imitating crafty arts the slyness of dissimulation and humane cunning nor out of private revenge or for fulfilling their own lusts or ambitious desires being the authors of the devastations plundrings and ruine of Countrys Cities Towns and Villages nor vexing and oppressing poor Christian People with heavy and insupportable Taxes and Impositions but proposing themselves as patterns and examples to other Men of publick equity innocence and righteousness and making their lives and conversations a rule to private Men of continence modesty and godliness reckoning themselves no less than other Christians bound and obliged by that Covenant which they entered into in their Baptism and diligently observing that necessary renunciation which they then made of the Devil and all his works If these things were rightly observed one Prince would not invade the Kingdoms Cities Towns and Rights of other Christians nor detain what he had unjustly usurped By this means mutual Charity and Peace would keep not only Princes themselves but also their Vassals and Subjects in their duty honesty would commend and Majesty and Authority adorn them Justice would reign amongst People the zeal of Gods honour every where appear in exact obedience to the precepts and holy commandments of God and lastly in common and united desires purposes words and works that promise would be fulfilled which was made by all Christians none excepted in Baptism For if the true nature of Regal Imperial and Princely Authority be considered it will manifestly appear that these high and supreme dignities have for that end been instituted by God that they who are honoured with them should be the Guardians asserters and avengers of the holy Laws of God be and have the title of the fathers of their People that they should rightly administer Justice punish the guilty and transgressors of the Law put to death open and incorrigible Malefactors protect the poor and weak from the violence and oppression of the powerful and rich defend the innocent against the attempts of the wicked and maintain the fatherless and widows In a word that they should endeavour what in them lyes to keep and preserve all the Members of the State both high and low great and small rich and poor in peace concord tranquillity and security This I say is the true end for which the dignity and authority of Kings Princes and chief Magistrates is appointed by God from whence it follows that needless Pomp and ostentation with voluptuous greatness the affectation of Arbitrary dominion the designs of boundless ambition and the consequents thereof the dangers and losses of souls bodies and estates and the excessive harassing and overcharging Subjects are both displeasing to God and grievous to the people Nor is it only the Office of Kings and Princes to cause the rest of Mankind to be instructed and kept in the duties of Religion Piety Honesty and in the fear of God and to shew themselves the Ministers of the Will of God and Ecclesiastical Discipline but it is their proper duty also as they are Princes To know the Law of God carefully attend to and diligently practise and obey the same being led by the fear of the Lord in all the actions of their lives and administrations of their Government As it is enjoyned by this singular Precept Deut. 17. It shall be when the King sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left neither shall he multiply Wives to himself that his heart turn not away neither shall he greatly multiply to himself Silver and Gold lest trusting therein he fall into avarice and covetousness which the Apostle calls Idolatry and the root of all evil They are not to respect persons in Judgment nor to take bribes Eccles 20. For Presents and Gifts blind the eyes of the Wise and make them liable to that dreadful Sentence pronounced against those that pervert Judgment Deut. 27. Cursed be he that perverteth the Judgment of the Stranger Fatherless and Widow Of which execrable practice these Judges and Magistrates are taxed of whom it is written 1 Sam. 8. They turned aside after lucre and took bribes and perverted Judgment But seeing it is impossible that so many Provinces The Duty of inferiour Magistrates Cities and Towns as may happen to be in one Christian Kingdom can be Governed by the pains and care of the Prince alone divine Providence has appointed that Judges Magistrates and other publick Ministers should be constituted who may carefully and dutifully discharge the Offices and Trust that is reposed upon them Deut. 16. As it is written Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy Gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout all thy Tribes and they shall Judge the People with just Judgment Thou shalt not wrest Judgment thou shalt not respect persons neither take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the Wise and pervert the words of the Righteous That which is altogether Just shalt thou follow And in another place Exod. 18. Provide out of all the People able Men such as fear God Men of Truth hating Covetousness and place such over them to be Rulers of Thousands and Rulers of Hundreds Rulers of Fifties and Rulers of Tens And let them Judge the People at all Seasons c. Which kind of Men when Jehosaphat had chosen he thus admonished them 2 Chron. 19. Take heed what ye do for ye Judge not for Man but for the Lord who is with you in Judgment Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of Persons nor taking of Gifts Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with
Masters because we are all apt to learn and imitate wicked and bad examples for as the divine Oracle saith Gen. 8. The imagination of Mans heart is evil from his Youth Nor would any reason of State allow if the fear of the Lord Repentance and Brotherly-love dwelt as they ought in the hearts of Princes that open Malefactors disturbers of the publick Peace and those that hurt and corrupt the Innocent and Simple who by the Authority of divine Law are utterly to be expelled and cast out of Christian Governments should either be suffered to live in their own Country or be received protected and defended by other Princes or secured by Pass-ports and safe conducts lest thereby they might be continued alive to the ruine and destruction either of the Princes and Magistrates from whom they have fled or of those by whom they are received If this were punctually observed we should find greater reverence paid to the Law less licentiousness and wanton and rash Factiousness amongst Christians For neither is divine Justice divided nor is any wicked impure or incorrigible person tho transported to any place of the Earth approved of or accepted of God nor ought good and godly Princes ever to admit such to any place in their favour or affairs for it is written Psal 5. 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 workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abher the bloody and deceitful Man Now that this Judgment and Counsel of God ought to be followed by those Princes who study and endeavour to approve themselves to the Lord and Prince of Princes that holy profession of the Prince according to Gods own heart plainly demonstrates Psal 101. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked person Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour him will I cut off him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the Land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight I will early destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord. The authority of divine Justice is perpetual and unalterable which ought equally to be regarded by all Christian Princes nor must they think it is divided or to be executed by halves but they must observe it wholly and entirely squaring it by the Will and Precept of the King of Kings and Lord of all the Earth who when he had appointed Cities of Refuge or Sanctuaries amongst his People whither they who had killed any one without malice or inveterate and confirmed hatred might fly to escape revenge concerning others who with a deliberate purpose of mind committed the fact he thus Enacts Deut. 19. If any Man hate his neighbour and lie in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he dies and fleeth into one of these Cities then the Elders of his City shall send and fetch him thence and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die thine eye shall not pity him but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with thee The same Justice he commands to be executed Deut. 17. 19 22 24. against Thieves Robbers Cheats Ravishers Adulterers and other open Offenders and publick violators of Justice Truth and Honesty all whom he will have taken out of the way that the evil may be put away from Israel and therefore to the several sentences he adds And so shalt thou put away the evil from among you And since the Christian Doctrine hath taught the rest of the Officers of Kingdoms and Commonwealths all Judges Lawyers Advocates Proctors Clerks and other subservient Ministers of Magistrates and Courts of Judicature the fear of the Lord Repentance and Brotherly-love it will not allow them to Practise or get Estates by Fraud Deceit Cavilling Petty-fogging malicious interpretation of the Law protracting of Suits starting of litigious Processes superfluous invention of Pleas or by false information against the Innocent or unjust defence of the Guilty For this Doctrine condemns all haughtiness of mind Luxury Pride and Ambition and all vices that are fed and cherished by riches even innocently got but much more severely condemns Men who get Estates and live splendidly of the sweat and blood of their Christian Brethren and by their Fraud Craft cunning and over-reaching and such ways as exceed the perverseness of which God sadly complaining thus threatens by the Prophet Jer. 5. Among my People are found wicked Men they lay wait as he that setteth snares they set a trap they catch Men. As a Cage is full of Birds so are their Houses full of Deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich They are waxen fat they shine yea they over pass the deeds of the wicked they Judge not the Cause the Cause of the Fatherless yet they prosper and the right of the needy do they not Judge Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord Shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this from such crimes must all the Officers of a State flee who in prospect of Salvation endeavour to live Godly Justly and Honestly in this present wicked world and they ought to make it their whole care and business that Equity Justice and Moderation may flourish both in publick and private and that the powerful rich and crafty may not unjustly impose upon the weak poor and simple since that charge is seriously pressed upon them by God himself Isa 1. Learn to do well seek Judgment relieve the oppressed Judge the fatherless plead for the widow Now as to the Rich and such as The Duty of the Rich. endeavour to be so if they would remember their promise made in holy Baptism and confirmed by covenant with the Lord if they resolve to follow after and practise holiness according to the rules of Christian Piety they may easily and plainly learn from the Doctrine of our Lord and Master contained in the three aforementioned Heads how far otherwise they ought to behave themselves both in getting and spending of Estates than most part of Rich Men usually do For the Unjust Covetous and Insatiable Desire of Riches and the vain superfluous ambitious or selfish use of them are not consistent with the fear of the Lord the duty of Repentance and Brotherly-love of Christians which approve not those advantages that wealth abuses to pleasures and
condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight St. John expressly affirms that we shall obtain what we ask of God in order to our Salvation who will give his good spirit to those that seek him if our heart condemn us not which he saith may be proved by this if we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight Our Lord and Master commands the same John 14. If ye love me keep my commandments And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive seein the Lust and Pride the Pomp and Vanity with all the other Vices of this World are an abomination to him 2 Tim. 2. But if a Man purge himself from these he shall be a Vessel unto Honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work The sum then of all that hath been said in short is this whoever with a pure and holy heart believes the promises of God to his own salvation let him sincerely renounce the pomps and vanities of this World and the sinful Lusts and Desires of the Flesh and make good his profession of Repentance by a true and earnest forsaking of all sin and vice and a following after Righteousness and obedience to the commands of God with a zealous and constant care Of this care we shall speak hereafter having first laid down for a certain truth which we cannot inculcate too often that the holy spirit cannot dwell in a heart polluted with the sinful lusts pleasures and other corruptions of the flesh the spirit I say of sanctification by which who are acted are the Sons of God For this is the express sentence of God Almighty himself which hath been alledged already and ought often to be cited Gen. My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh that is to say so long as Man is flesh and obeys the will and lusts of the flesh he shall not be partaker of my spirit And this sentence was pronounced by God at that time when the Sons of God coming in unto the Daughters of Men perverted all the rules of Piety and Virtue and turned Righteousness into Iniquity Now they who believed the Promises of God made unto Adam the common Parent of Mankind and being endowed with that Faith exercised themselves in the practice of Piety are in holy Scripture called the Sons of God for amongst them was preserved the knowledg of the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by the holy Seed of the Woman and they being animated with the Faith and Hope of this promised Salvation shunned all worldly ambition and corruption leading a life neither magnificent nor splendid nor attended with the glory and delights which Men admire but low modest and mean living in the forry habitations of cottages tents caves and dens and were satisfied with sober poverty in imitation of their common Parents Adam and Eve whom God having cloathed them with coats made of Beasts skins commanded to live contented willing that they who by their own fault had forfeited the sovereignty of the World should live like strangers and sojourners in it This example the Sons of God followed But on the other hand the Sons of Men who either believed not the divine Promises or lived in pomp and splendor gave themselves over to delights and pleasures courted glory and worldly greatness and built to themselves stately Houses Towns and Castles being not a little incited to that course of life by the humour and counsel of Women by whose blandishments and conversation the Sons of God also being first allured and then wholly overcome they took to themselves wives of all which they chose That is to say when the Sons of God perceived the delights and pleasures the pomp and splendor that was amongst Men which might tempt humane frailty to prefer them before the rigours of an austere frugality but especially being enticed by the sight of Women among whom Vanity and Luxury both in diet and apparel was most conspicuous they forsook the hardships of an austere life continence and poverty that they might embrace riches wealth pleasures and luxury and making Marriages with the Daughters of Men they overturned Piety and perverted the antient discipline of primitive virtue and integrity Whereupon that divine Sentence was pronounced My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is flesh because of the Sons of God they not only became like unto the Sons of Men but begat a race much more corrupt than themselves more licentious in their lives indulging themselves in all sorts of vice and voluptuousness and prone to all kind of injustice barbarity and cruelty Gen. 6. These are the Giants which were in the Earth in those days and also after that when the Sons of God came in unto the Daughters of Men and they bare children unto them the same became mighty Men which were of old Men of Renown And God saw that the wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually And it repented the Lord that he had made Man on the Earth So much did the licentious wickedness of the dissolute life of Men offend God that holy Oracles assure us it repented him that he had made Man on the Earth and that he resolved to destroy all Mankind these only excepted who continued in the discipline and duty of the Sons of God tho they were but very few in number as it is written But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord because he was a Just Man being not only endowed with that Faith of the Sons of God but through the exercise of true Repentance and Obedience to the commandments of God accepted also of the Lord as one who having spent so many years in building of an Ark and by frequent Sermons forewarning the Men of that age of the imminent wrath of God endeavoured to perswade them to Repentance and amendment of life for which he got the title and name of a Preacher of Righteousness Now this practice of Repentance which as we have said is necessary to all the Disciples and followers of Christ must be accompanied with an endeavour of amendment of life and of following after Righteousness and Honesty which for illustration sake we shall call by the name of Obedience and define Obedience Obedience to be an ordering and framing of all the actions of our life according to the counsel and will of God And this is performed by the knowledg and diligent practice of the commands of God For it is not enough to know the precepts and institutions of our Christian discipline or to talk of and commend them in quaint and
elegant language unless we also carefully and studiously practise and observe them This is the express Doctrine of our Lord and Master Mat. 7. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then I will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wife Man which built his house upon a Rock and the Rain descended and the Floods came and the Winds blew and beat upon that House and it fell not for it was founded upon a Rock We must therefore take care that the structure of our salvation be founded upon this Rock of true Obedience lest that after we have built much and long some contrary gust beating upon it it fall to the ground Now this Obedience is performed in observing the will of our heavenly Father according to the Doctrine of our Saviour saying He that doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven And the Father himself hath declared that his will is that we should know hold fast and carefully practise the Doctrine of his dearest Son Mat. 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him If then we would desire to know what we are to do for obtaining the salvation which this beloved Son hath brought into the World let us seriously consult him who was proposed and confirmed to us by the Father in presence of most reverend witnesses two of the Old and three of the New Testament as the wise and infallible interpreter of his Will and we shall hear him thus answering and teaching us John 15. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love John 14. 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 and again Joh. 15. ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you And elsewhere Mat. 11. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls For my yoke is easie and my burthen is light By which words we are plainly taught that the desired rest of our souls cannot be found but by those who do the Will of the Father Now for discovering of this Will the Father himself referred us to the hearing of his Son and the Son tells us that it is his Fathers Will that they who would find rest to their Souls should take his yoke upon them and that his yoke is neither hard nor heavy but soft and easie and that his burden that is the sum of the Doctrine of the Law and Commandments is a light burden And indeed the thing it self not only speaks it to be so but the noble instances also of many who have submitted to that yoke fully confirm it For the yoke we speak of is no more but that sincere and brotherly love which by another name is commonly called charity as our Lord and Master does frequently inculcate John 15. This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you These things I command you that ye love one another And he affirms this constant and perpetual precept to be so properly and peculiarly his own that he would have it to be the badg and mark of his Disciples and followers John 13. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another St. John the great Disciple and Witness of our Lord and Master again and again confirms this 1 John 3. Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment And of how great necessity the keeping of this commandment is the same Apostle fully demonstrates unto us 1 John 2. He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes This is so true and plain a Doctrine of Christian Religion that that famous Expositor of the divine Oracles made no scruple to prefer this love before all the other virtues acts and endowments of the mind of Man 1 Cor. 13. Though I speak with the tongues of Men and of Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling Cimbal And tho I have the gift of prophesie and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have not Charity I am nothing And tho I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing And so far is Charity commended by this Apostle that he calls it Col. 3. the bond of perfectness Now if Charity be so necessary that without it the Apostle affirms all things else to be unprofitable to salvation how far is he from salvation who not only loves not his brother but even hates and persecutes him if he who loves not banishes from himself the love of God in what condition is he and how shall he be esteemed in the eyes of God that hateth his brother No less than a Murderer and according to the sentence of the holy word of God he is guilty of that crime John 3. Whosoever hateth his brother is a Murderer in thought and affection which God chiefly takes notice of he is accounted a Murderer who loveth not his brother and ye know saith he that no Murderer hath eternal life abiding in him As elsewhere He that hateth his brother walketh in darkness Wherefore St. James admonisheth Christians lest being corrupted with this vice which under some disguise or other uses to creep and steal into mens minds they should make void the name and profession of Religion and so deceive themselves or others James 3. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth Calling and boasting your selves to be Christians This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual divilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But the wisdom that is from above is first