of every unjust Yoke by mutual Forbearance and bearing up one another as living Stones of that Temple where there is not to be heard the noise of either Ax or Hammer no squabble or clamour about Forms or Opinions but a peaceable study and endeavour of provoking one another to Love and good Works What I with the Worthy Doctor 's help have said on this Head beareth along with it both a detection and reprehension of the degeneracy of the present Age and a warmth and encouragement to hasten these good Times by endeavouring to correct our Lives according to this Pattern we have of them 4 Our true English Constitution in Laws and Temper in Persons while we do no violence nor suffer it to be done to either doth dispose to comprehensive Love beyond any Constitution or Temper in other Nations Luk. 19.12 13. which is a Talent Christ hath given us to traffick with in his absence commanding us to improve it to his best advantage that he may receive the benefit of it when he returneth and may see our increase unto God when he shall come and shew himself in that Regal illustrious manner upon us We then hide our Lord's Money and shall be doomed as unprofitable Servants as Rejecters of his Person and Government and executed for being Enemies thereunto if we use it not to increase in Love 5 How bad soever by degeneracy we have made our selves though as Sardis Rev. 3.1 2 4. we are ready to die yet are there things which remain and works still with us which we holding fast and strengthning we remembring and perfecting by Love before God may bring us to wear the glorious Robes in Royal Presence as reward for behaving our selves as we ought We also in this World may equal in glory or fame the greatest of Kingdoms and be deemed by all People the most worthy Nation And farther 6 We may subordinate to Christ be a light to lighten the Gentiles and be God's Salvation to the ends of the Earth i.e. Revealers to them of God's Righteousness or the way of Living which is acceptable unto and which is blest by him We may also be the glory of his People Israel i.e. Reformers of the Religion of the Jews bringing them from the Type and Ceremonial to the Substance also the Religion of the Christian bringing them from empty Forms dividing and burthensom Rites from Opinions which gender Strife from precepts about Meats and Drinks c. unto the Kingdom of God to Righteousness to Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost i. e. Mercifulness Peaceableness and a delight to do good one to another to that Joy which results from Unanimity holy Christian Joy which is according to the will of God and wrought by his Spirit All which whensoever accomplished will bring honour and glory as to them who receive it so to us who instrumentally bring them to it Could I see our Nation converted into Love I should expect the Nations about us would soon be gathering thereunto As a Great Man elsewhere hath said so say I here It is not my purpose to wrong the worth of any by denying the praise where it is due or by preferring a less excellent But he that finds a King so as is herein described hath what will cause the Nations afar off to wish him their King and bring them to him as the Queen of Sheba c. were brought to see and praise Solomon Whenever a Kingdom appears made up of such King and Subjects as those be who are dwellers in Love it will be Omen that God is near to draw all Nations to himself like the Morning Star after the Night of blackness or thick darkness will indicate the Day at hand wherein the Sun of righteousness will arise on the Universe with healing under his wing to give unto sick and lost Man saving and eternal health The fame and greatness of their prosperity will be so as to compel the blind the halt and maimed Nations to come to tast of their Feast and tasting will see and dislike as their enjoyments so all their practices in a State far from God They will also begin to arise or go to their true Father who so soon as he sees them up and going will run and embrace them will shew his love and manifest himself and his Will to them in which they will find abundant strength and true joy not as their former which if at all was but scant or foolish laughter and at best as the crackling of Thorns under a Pot for melody and duration Now as bringing this to pass will be glorious so to be first therein would be advantage and more glory to us For then as the first begotten from the dead and the first Divine-born of Nations we might expect to receive from God and Man i.e. such doubled portions from God as shall cause all Nations to deem us the most beloved of him O that the Shields of the Earth were thus in love that they would therein begin to Kiss the Son who also is love for he is God Why do the Heathen rage Psalm 2. and the People imagine a vain thing c. Which the aforesaid Divine Poet thus paraphraseth I. What makes this stir Why do the People rage And all their little Kings engage Their ancient Strifes they mind no more Forget they once were Enemies And though they ne're agreed before Now all conspire against their God to rise II. Their God's become their Common Enemy And his Anointed they defie Off with his yoke let 's break his bands Away with all his Chains they say Our necks we know let 's try our hands If they can rule as well as those obey III. But he who reigns above sees all their pride And do's their boasts and threats deride If they go on He 'll to them speak And if God speaks sure man shall hear For when his voice doth Cedars break Proud Libanus which bears them quakes for fear IV. Yet let them rise and do their worst my Throne Stands fixt as th'Hill 't is set upon Sion which cannot be remov'd And that no farther doubt may be Whether God has my choice approv'd I 'll shew his Seal and publish his Decree V. Thou art my Son This day I Thee begot He spoke the word who changes not Ask of me and the World is thine The utmost skirts of all the Earth Nations unknown beyond the Line Whose Countries yet have neither Name nor Birth VI. Thou shalt their Sovereign be and to Thee all Who will not stoop shall lower fall Their Potsheards shall Thy Scepter feel For since its rule they 'l have no more From Gold it shall be turn'd to Steel And make them dust who were but earth before VII Be wise O Kings and you who others give Their Laws hear Mine that you may live Great as you are look not too high For one above you stills your noise Yet since your Office calls you nigh Serve
so highly that among them those which were taken for the first makers of Laws were honoured as Gods or the Sons of God and the rest that made either Additions or Corrections were commended to all Posterity for Men of no less vertue and no less liberally beneficial to their Countries than the greatest and most prosperous Conquerors that ever governed them 7 As Consequent hereunto such proceedure is most agreeable to God and doth entitle to his Blessing than which nothing can give more efficacy to Means or more secure our desired End When men avoid evil and prefer in present practice the greater good before the less they are in God's way and he is with them Such need not fear what Man can do unto them 8 Differing about Means or undue prosecuting of them may occasion frustration to good Men in their One End viz. Publick-weal and an undue proceedure herein is where we trespass upon the Natural order of things i. e. when we prefer in our present practice the less good or when by our pursuit of it we render the Greater impossible or very difficult to us By estimation there are a hundred Commoners chosen to serve in the Parliament expected to Assemble shortly whose interest in Lands amounts in value to Three hundred thousand Pounds per Annum by which Instance as by many other it is apparent the Commons have far greater share or interest in England now than in Ages heretofore Security and reasonable satisfaction is therefore their due And in that their said acquired Interest hath added so great strength unto them it is their Princes safety to grant it Good Laws are most conducive to a Right Ballance in the Kingdoms of Men. The Right of Cases and the Reason of Things as now they stand is to be regarded or kept to by Legislators in order thereunto If nothing be done herein the Government is not like to stand which by past evil practice and by present discontent or jealousie in People is made as a bowing wall and as a tottering fence And if Laws made or to be made suit not well unto the Right of Cases and to the Reason of Things they will soon prove uneasie or oppressive so that the Monarchy may be overthrown thereby For the Royal Preacher when most sagacious hath said Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad Eccl. 7.7 Let then our Legislators be faithful to our King and in him to the Nation so as not to environ him with Danger by Laws or let ought therein remain that may be justly uneasie to Great and to Popular strength Though I am not for making sad needlesly or unjustly any one of this Kingdom in his Religious Interest c. Yet I would be understood in this place to have regard only or chiefly to Civils wherein this Nation under every dispensation as to Religion even from if not before Magna Charta to this day hath been as it were One The Laws therefore which recover or reinforce this Constitution will be of more certain efficacy and continuance than those which concern Religion in that a Superiour Law was ever pretended upon every change in the latter when the former hath remained untouched both under Popish and under Protestant Supremacy Where Protestantism is the Temper and Interest of a People as it is now ours in England I cannot see any one thing a greater defence against our being Popish than is this of well securing our Civil Constitution and by Law providing for such Executions as may evidence its Being and the Executors conformity thereunto I would not be supposed by ought I have said in a design to prevent all necessary proceedure that is as we say Personal i. e. the bringing of Persons to Judgment c. when the Publick good conjunct with their Merit do require it But this I heartily desire that we may not injure Our King or our Country by passing this opportunity and leaving undone that in Laws without which the other will not heal us being not so extensive as our present Malady is nor so preventive of a Relapse as the other would be There are those who will give Heads if they have so many Calves by the dozen so they may not be debarred the Old trade of grasing in order to a New breed And there have been or there may be many Rogues in design to Rob a House who by fore-contrivance have one personating an honest Neighbour that upon the repulse or flight of some is to cry Stop Thief c. in hope the Master and his Family in haste to pursue may omit to lock the Door or leave the House unguarded so that other of them may with ease gain the Prize they came for I have also heard that to burn the Pipes was once thought sufficient to extinguish future smoaking Tobacco I leave the Wise to apply these though foolish yet well intended Suggestions From what I have said on this Head may be also collected the necessity of making Laws that may keep every man be he Papist or Protestant from doing hurt or from receiving it To which I will here super-add Suppose the Soveraign Real find it for Publick good requisite to bound the Sovereign or Supream Person should their Laws respect a Papist only It would be rare for a Prince in his wits to own or shew himself to be one before he is Crowned after which those Laws affect him not But be it that he owns Popery before Coronation yet the Laws will prove as weak in effect as if none because they will be superseded or made void by the Law of Holy Church and Father at Rome For all Laws made in bar against them or made to limit a Papist as such and made about Religion except their own Canons c. are Ipso facto Null whenas if the Law be without distinction without partiality or doth make no difference and hath respect only to Civils there is no Holy Law to supersede it nor do I know that in past Ages they at any time have interposed therein Again being our Legislators are Protestants if they make not Laws as effectual to secure the Protestant Prince from things so noxious to him as is Popery Tyranny or Rebellion c. they be less kind and more unfaithful to him than to a Papist which God forbid ours in England should ever be I have already mentioned that the securing our Constitution in Civils is bar against Popery In farther evidence whereof let it be noted how constant the Jesuits are in advising and practising to alter our Government either into Anarchy Democracy or into Absolute Monarchy Had I time and capacity to express what I have abundant reason to believe I could plentifully shew how industriously those Vipers seek to prey upon our Vitals in Civils They would sing Te Deum for the Death of our King be it of his Body Natural by the hand of Blood-thirsty Men or be it of him Moral or Political by the Self-killing I have
Or in the words of St. Paul Coloss 3. ver 12 13 14 15. Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and Beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so do ye And above all these things put on Charity which is the Bond of perfectness And let the Peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body and be ye thankful By all which we shall be as the pictures and resemblances of God prized and valued by him we shall shew his Spirit hath sanctified us and is given unto us and by the most excellent Bond we shall be united indissolubly one to another and tyed to the exercise of all Graces not only as our duty but delight We shall hereby be perfectly skilled in all necessary and perfecting knowledge particularly the unspeakable Love of Christ the knowledge of which is a Science of great concernment to us far beyond all other Sciences for hereby our hearts will be enflamed with Love to God will be fortified against temptation to evil and will be filled with the Vertues which are most Divine Now the God of Peace or which delighteth in the Peace and Unity of Christians that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepheard of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and eternal Spirit three Subsistences or Persons and but one God be glory for ever and ever Amen Postscript I Am not ignorant of Exceptions the more Curious may make against the management of this Discourse being wrote by one who is more willing than able to do well As 1 That I have started many things but have not pursued them as I ought 2 That I have insisted too little on the Explication of things i. e. as Divines are wont to say The Doctrinal part Answ 1 I intended to have delivered my whole mind in two or three Sheets to make it as little labour to me and charge to others as I could 2 I conceive that they who under God are to help us do fully understand the matters I do here only point to So that it may be here if ever said A word is enough to the Wise 3 I more doubt the Rectitude of the Will in applying or choosing unto Practice than the capacity of the Meanest to understand the things I have proposed unto 4 The Nature of some things required my stop to farther proceedure into them and others are explicated or fully stated already by some of greatest comprehension and ability in our Church In special the late excellent Bishop Wilkins in his Discourse of Natural Religion out of which I took one part of the Analysis pag. 31. and Isaac Barrow D. D. in his Sermons Mr. Baxter in his Cure of Church Divisions c. and the most Worthy Citizen of London Mr. William Allen in several of his Treatises Also that Great Man Edw. Stillingfleet D. D. now Dean of St. Pauls in his Irenicum From whom I expect de novo as great a Healer as was his Weapon Salve His Temper his Wisdom and Goodness I know are disposing thereto rather than to self-Vindication or Conquest over his Antagonists 5 Which is enough alone I have not the ability or leasure of other men and do reach in great part my design if I hereby excite some of Ability to be doing that so it may be well done Lastly The Pair of Extreams in our Church may see their Sin and their Recovery from it by what I have wrote in the first and third Chapters Provided they afford them more thoughts as they ought if they will give any than I have given words to them The like may I say to the Pair of Extreams in our State For thereby men may see their station in this Kingdom the Constitution they are under and their duty therein part of which is to be Faithful and Constant thereunto King-Flatterers and Republicans or Self-Designers know themselves to be so and a Prince needs no more to find them out than his own Observation of them in their daily mean towards his Person or Government To the latter more especially in two things 1 In Suggestions to a Variation in that Constitution Wherein the Prince is already Supream and unto which he hath sworn Adhesion 2 In Proposals to Things less acceptable to his People and which the King cannot but see if he looks into any thing are not necessary to the maintenance of the Government or his true Greatness therein These two or such are alwaies Casts of the Office of the Flatterer or Leveller in his Kingdom So that a more particular account of this matter would have been as too tedious so almost needless Sincere Obedience to God and Charity or as I have said Doing our own Business and Love have Natural and Moral tendancy to Knowledge and Wisdom i. e. to the seeing and to the well-managing of all things so that he who is Upright shall not fail of Science requisite to the knowing and doing of his duty in the station God hath set him He hath Infallibility nearer or more secured in God's Promises to him than the Pope and Conclave at Rome have they being not so good Men. Besides so far as any one proposeth to Vertue or Grace he doth propose as to all Wisdom and Knowledge as hath been said so unto all that is neceslary to cure all Maladies For Vertue in the Blossom and Fruit being of the same nature with that in the Root Peace and every thing prosperous or truly desirable thence must come Contrary hereunto is Sin of which St. James saith Chap. 1.14 15. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own hearts lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Most fully to this purpose is Prov. 14.14 The Backslider in heart shall be filled with his own waies and a Good-man shall be satisfied from himself In short Men must have and Nations will find as they are corrupted and lapsed or as they be restored and renewed by Grace I will conclude with the words of St. Paul Gal. 6. ver 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Which is most true of Kingdoms and Societies of Men. Now of Obedience to God of vigour or sincerity therein and of Love I have spoken though little yet I hope what may be understood and what a good Heart will improve to every needful purpose in his Converse with God or Man If the Antidoter or any for him be displeased at me I will not be overcome of that Evil but endeavour to overcome
memory and heart the great mercy of God in restoring to us our King and our ancient Government in Civils 2 To awaken both King and People unto serious reflection how since to this day it hath stood betwixt God and us with respect to his Commandments and our joyning affinity with People of those abominations The former every one may know for the word is very nigh them Deut. 30.14 Acts 17.24 by which they may discern how they have either broken or obeyed the Laws of God In the latter by Abominations I mean the evil Principles and Practices with which our State was so sorely afflicted and corrupted as you have heard By People of those Abominations I mean those now with us who are in temper principle or practice like to them heretofore by whom we suffered By joyning Affinity with them I intend accepting their Counsel and consenting to Attempts and Plots for execution thereof And if such be in Neighbour Nations by joyning Affinity with them I intend Correspondencies Leagues and all Assistances whatsoever whereby they are enabled to make havock or destruction on God's Creation to overthrow or change Constitutions and to invade or ravish the Rights and Properties of their Neighbours Let us then by the Occurrences since 60 to this day try how near we have been allied to People of these Abominations Vpon an impartial and serious search I doubt it will appear that upon some great Sins of ours that for one it may be of not improving unto mutual Love and Charity the Opportunity given us at his Majesties first Return to us whereby we might have been fitted joyned together compacted and in growing towards perfection as you have heard I say for this and other sins committed by us the Devil having gained leave to sift us hath shaken again our late restored Constitution that I fear it will fall into perdition so that there will be no remnant nor escaping Sect. VII 3 The Attempts made the 20 years last past to heal us wherein I find 1 Some of excellent tendancy thereunto Of these most especially were His Majesties gracious Letters and Delarations from Breda his Commission for a Treaty at the Savoy and his Declaration about Ecclesiastical Affairs I wish them wrote in letters of Gold for future Ages and that the present Neglecters who therein are despisers of them may see repent and amend thereby For so it is nothing yet done proves effectual to our Cure 2 Others in their attempts to heal as I would hope have hurt afresh or opened but have no way tended to close our wounds Whether any late made Laws in England or Scotland do so is no Inquiry for me His Majesty single or where he is greatest in Parliament may inspect and remove when and as he pleaseth What Subjects therein have done may as I think be considered by me In them I find Partiality in some Hypocrisie in others and Defect of Charity in most I will instance a few in Church and State 1 In the Church One attempts the mischief of Separation and omits that of Imposition Another strikes at the mischief of Imposition and strokes that of Separation One appears as he saith for Union with mouth opening Curse â—e Meroz as if he would kill and slay all flesh but his own for Unity sake Another sets forth the Plotters Doom as a Son of the Church the more effectually to wound his Mother In this last I intend only a part of his Sermon the other being very useful All of them I find defective in Charity writing as one would think to scourge or vex rather than to amend their Brethren rather to enlarge than lessen our distances They are Schismatically and factiously for the Church forgetting as I said that truth must be spoken in Love 2 In the State It may not be convenient for me to represent the blame-worthy or defective attempts herein The best of the Attempts are those which comport with and strengthen His Majesties frequent and gracious Assurances of Ruling according to our Constitution Whether within 20 years past any alteration hath been made therein I do not enquire True Old English looks so lovely that I turn me from New things as most deforming and as a return thereunto so the corroborating of it is most sanative to King and People Remove not the Ancient bound is the advice of the King of Kings by Solomon Prov. 22.28 Any change herein will not only deface but well nigh kill us for to propose exalting a Political Head so as not to be a Member of the Body Politick is as it would be in the Natural to set a man's Head that Collar may not touch Chin some inches from his Neck And to propose the other way would be as edifying and comly as to pull the Neck awry and to crook the Body so that some parts of the Hunch'd-back may level with the Head We all know who look one way whilst they row the other I wish they were as much exposed who among us put a Crowned-Head too high for his Body on design to out him quite or to bring us again to Hunch'd-back level These or any other departure from Old English be it excess or defection are against the interest and grain as of an ingenuous and generous People so of the most noble and true Prince Therefore Counsellors thereunto ought to be treated as Murtherers of Princes and Traytors to Kingdoms They who wish a King hated or deposed are prone to give him such Advice For not daring to Poyson or Stab they contrive this way to bring him to Self-murther and let their station in his Kingdom their relation to him or their pretences point never so fair to the contrary yet do they at heart wish themselves and his Kingdoms rid of him Never any Kings in England perished by fury of the People but by the Treason or Flattery of such as did either in desire or fact succeed them Neither was there any Motive urging so forcibly the Death of our late King as Fear lest the People should stir in his quarrel Monarchies saith the incomparable Lord Bacon need not to fear any curbing of their Absoluteness by mighty Subjects so long as by wisdom they keep the hearts of the People who will be sure to come in on their side For A good form of Government as the Great Sir Walter Rawleigh saith sufficeth by it self to retain the People not only without assistance of a laborious Wit but even against all devices of the greatest and shrewdest Politicians every Sheriff and Constable being sooner able to arm the Multitude in the Kings behalf than any over-weening Rebel how Mighty soever can against him The moderate use of Sovereign Power being most effectual to secure the People to their Lords and consequently in the establishment or enlargement of Dominion Sect. VIII The Maladies yet on us and the proper Cure or Remedies for them The Maladies are Extreams He must be a Stranger in our Israel
who seeth not more than one dangerous Extream with us I think I may without offence to any say there are twice two of them the one pair in the Church the other in the State Those in the Church are 1 The Neglecters and Despisers of Religion 2 The Misunderstanders and Misusers of Religion Those in the State are 1 Court-Flatterers who are for Scratching King-Itch unto King-self-killing by putting him far above i. e. out of the Body and in Masquerade with these are some of the 2 Republicans and Self-Designers who ever are of them whose Minds aspire George uharton 1658. And envy One should have what All desire For be 't a Few or Many we live under Such shall repine still whilst not of the number These Objects so affected my mind that I could not resist giving vent though sufficiency to do it well is far remote from me So well as I could amidst the intervening of business differing in Nature I have represented these matters wherein I hope I have not mist my design to avoid giving Being or increase to one Extream by opposing of the other having dealt impartially and in Charity unto all and being without design to bring Men to any private Opinion or particular Party now in this or in any other Kingdom I am troubled that God hath this against us that we have left our first Love that vehement that pure and Christian Love which at first we had Remember therefore O England c. from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first-works or else God will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Crown and Candlestick out of its place except thou repent He that hath an Ear let him hear That things in this Day wherein others abundantly discourse of Persons may have their due regard I have treated chiefly of them in this Book The Reason of them appeared of force so that I could not do other than advance them as I do sometimes above Persons by which I mean no particular men but Persons as such in way of Argument It is unhappiness but no Crime in me because my will is not to err or to displease herein By Persons by Evil Counsellors and their removes oft-mentioned I intend not any particular as I have said much less them who be impeached or imprisoned for Treason c. they I deem removed Nor am I in design to dispose the Parliament to decline or to delay or to division about the needful prosecuting of the highest if most noxious Subject in this Kingdom A late Writer hath offered sufficient to indispose me for Popish Succession I wish the utmost security that can be were against this and all other Evils therefore have proposed that we might have effectual Laws conjunct with Personals these connext are as I think what God and good Men would at this time have us to pursue and as connected only are cure to us Secure the Throne and the Nation to be English and Protestant or King and People be but partially i. e. most dangerously secured The Plotters I find were in motion to overthrow us in these Conjunct Let their method to destroy instruct us how to save our selves When they attack a Nation in one sort they usually begin to innovate or to disturb in Civils but since they were now joynt with us i. e. towound or kill us in both let us not separate in the matter with them but heartily apply to secure both our Civil and our Religious Interests so that our King and Kingdom may not be again in danger by France or Rome by Levellers or by ought else that is noxious to them Which God of his mercy grant to us Amen Before you proceed to read further I entreat you to correct by the Errata some of the too many faults in this Book CHAPTER I. SECTION I. MAN being reasonable as is evident in that he is above a Beast and hath something within him whereby he knows what he doth and why is obliged not to desire or do any thing of which he cannot give a good account to himself and others Nature disposeth him to associate and when therein Reason gives every one in his proper degree desire of Rule and aptness to Obey for the ordering of this life in a Civil frame of Justice Which aptness to Command or Obey is good and most useful whilst accountable unto i. e. bounded by right Reason But as no corruption is worse than of that which is best so there is not any Passion that nourisheth a Vice more hurtful unto Mankind than that which issueth from the most noble Root even the depraved affection of Ruling Neither fareth it much better where the Subject hath a depraved affection to Slavery such seldom if ever are Vertuous and serve only to maintain or gratifie the fore-going greater mischiefs Section II. Man being as Reasonable so Created as appears in that he once was not but was made and is preserved by another is bound to know to obey and love his Maker and Preserver as his Owner Ruler and Benefactor Man reflecting on himself c. will see his Maker is GOD as the generality and best of his kind have ever done This God being the first and Supream good the Idea of all absolute perfection and blessedness is most essential to the Notion of him The Interpreter within us of these things which a late Learned * Smith's Treatises Man styles the Face of God will hence give us to understand what absolute right he hath to us that we are more his than our own and are truly Men no further than we do tend to God perform our duty to him and cease seeking of happiness in Worldly pleasures and profits or in any thing below him We are also hence instructed wherein our happiness consisteth and our way thereunto viz. in shewing our selves Created men and in the enjoyment of our Creator God What in this Section I have said of Man is also to be extended to Human Society i. e. to Man in every of his Relatives for as man's Naturals are by the Creation of God so all his acquisitions are by his Providence Therefore in all that is his came he to it naturally or providentially he is constantly to proceed in dependance on God and so as to be subservient and subject in all things to him Also what I said in the fore-going Section is to be applied to the highest Singular and to the greatest Collective Body if Humane Vnaccountable to any comports not with Rational Beings With Brutes it doth because of baseness and incapacity and to some in appearance Men it may be desirable but they are those who by servitude to divers Lusts have made themselves worse than Beasts Though I take what I have said to be self-evident yet to confirm it you shall hear the voice of Nature in the excellent words of Antoninus a Roman Emperour Vpon every action thou art about Meditat. Book 8. Sect. 2. put
Precepts are as most Catholick in extent and obligation so most reasonable and most Christian in their nature CHAP. II. SECT I. IT is the Interest and Duty of Man in Society be he Supream or most Inferiour to be in earnest contrivance for Peace and to be unmovably sixt in desire and practice to that be it matter of Priviledge or of Duty and to that only which GOD which Reason and the Constitution he is in hath given unto or required of him so nothing therein be forbidden of God Also to be universal in Charity and more especially to love the Brotherhood i.e. his own Nation or Society This in Thesis is owned by all yet very oft is it that some on the one hand usurp and impose too far and some on the other enter upon Sedition and Schism Instances we have too near us I will mention two Section II. 1 The Hellish and horrid Plot to alter our Government and Religion in or with which some were so Devillish and Romish as to contrive to shed Royal and most Sacred blood I mean the Blood of our King As God hath discovered and hitherto prevented so I hope he will at length give perfect salvation from it That our King our Nobles and we may sing to God's glory and praise the 124th Psalm Which the most Ingenious Woodford thus paraphraseth I. Had not the Lord our Cause maintain'd The Lord himself may Israel say Had not the Lord the Victory for us gain'd Instead of getting we had lost the day And Captives been to them who now are made Our prey II. On us they came and like a flood Which would within no banks be held They fiercer grew the more they were withstood Increas'd in rage when we their force repell'd And by Our opposition higher only swell'd III. God on the banks in view did stand And when the floods did loudest roar Mov'd o're the floods his All-commanding hand They stood awhile and gaz'd then backwards bore And chid their fellow-waves which came too slow before IV. The Lord himself has made Our way And from their Snares has set us free The Snares are broke which they for us did lay And when they look'd that we should taken be God who first loos'd the Net did give us wings to flee V. God is our refuge and in vain Frail Man against him thinks to stand His Word made all things all things do's sustain And he deliverance for us will command Has past his word to do 't and will use his Hand Section III. 2 The now Revived Contest betwixt Consormists and Non-conformists in Church matters which I fear will if not so designed by some strengthen the former or give being to another Plot in this Kingdom If what Mr. Baxter as I hear hath said be true that the Devil hath stirred up this strife it concerns them so to resist that both may fly from them So far as I see into it that great and good Man speaks truth I wish it may so impress as to issue in speedy and greater Vnion though I fear it will not I rarely read either of their Disputations because I am very well satisfied that the Impositions of the one and the Separations of the other are mischievous things yet being by fame and importunity brought to an Antidote so entituled against a Discourse I had lately because of ill words given it read I find one of St. Paul's Novices so far engaged in the Dispute and so lifted up that I doubt he will fall and pluck others with him being they are Admirers of him into the state of deadly Ill-will I find this Antidote hath the needful loud praise for wit and argument so hath Melius Inquirendum but whether so needful I know not because I have not read it Somewhat like a farther or better Inquiry I meet with as Leaf-gold closing up this Antidote The whole is very precious so if he please he may call it Optimum Inquirendum It begins at page 100. Thus have I at length rubb'd through the Reverend Author's Discourse and upon a calm reflection on my work do not think I can displease any one more than my self Such is the common fate of eager Disputants that whilst they would reach a knock at their Antagonists they lose their blow and wound themselves So easie it is while we are Scribling to forget that we are dying and that our Sand runs faster than our Ink If the late change of Ink-horns into Ink-glasses had but taught us how frail and brittle we all are it had been the most innocent significant ceremony that ever was invented These are his words Now that you may see how he deals with other men rather than to suggest his intent in them I remark thereon thus You see Sirs after that Ink on 99 Pages and one large Epistle to Sir T. R. had obliterated the Old as mischievous he constitutes the Glass a new Ceremony and it being once Horn but lately changed into Glass is become very instructive and the most Innocent significant Ceremony that ever was invented He doth not I confess impose it yet so solemnly is it proposed that I guess his Flock and Admirers may receive and use it as such from him For 1 It is the most innocent significant Ceremony that ever was invented he saith 2 It is not of mens invention being his own peculiar every other man will say His own did I say Was he in the Body or out of it I cannot tell but this I find he was upon a calm reflection out or most displeased with himself and by a wound Own-self had given him occasioned by being more eager and less skilful at Sharps than his Antagonist was put into thought of dying I find him also in fresh remembrance if not in sight of so great a Miracle as is said to be in Transubstantiation no less than the change of Ink-horns into Ink-glasses which change was in design or when least had aptitude to teach us great parts of Religion such as that to know our selves i.e. as he saith how frail and brittle we all are He might have added as well to know God his Omniscience since we are transparent like Glass in his sight and so from truth to truth and from duty to duty even so far as fancy can make Glass to go The Ink having no share in the Miracle he prudently omits suggesting instruction thence else as red or black or both it might have yielded much as he I presume knows hath been experimented heretofore Now a most Innocent significant Ceremony founded on a miraculous Change and as such seriously proposed by an opposer of Human Inventions Carnal Ordinances and the beggerly rudiments of this world and being as it were Leaf-gold on Antidote what flesh alive can resist it The upper and lower Tier of Cannon in Ship Sovereign can never kill and slay like this it so far pierceth me that I cannot call it Human because so without reason or wit I wish his
to Magistrates one of the Capitals and Honour the King is connected with Fear of God The excellent Preacher concludes his whole Argument Eccl. Chap. 10. with a strict prohibition of all hard and undutiful thoughts and risings of heart against Rulers notwithstanding their errours in Government and Corruption in living not so much as secretly in their hearts to wrong them both for Conscience and for fear of wrath as the Apostle likewise directeth Rom. 13.5 4 To the Non-Conformists in England c. whose being so and being made so is matter of grief to me I say to them study to be quiet and do your Own business Which beside what Doctor Stilling fleet in his late Sermon and others before have told you is to do what Laws do not forbid you what is most needed what you are specially qualified unto what the best of you in times past when associated for most good have recommended as great Duty and lamented past neglect as grievous Sin And what if now managed with prudence and love will as I think bring more Souls unto God and more comfort and profit to your selves than the way of exercise you are in It is Sirs to go from house to house in the Parishes where you inhabit upon the work of Personal Instruction The nature whereof the manner of performance the motive and obligation thereunto may be seen in Mr. Baxter's Reformed Pastor Christian Concord the Worcestershire and other Counties Agreements to which I refer I do not foresee what you can object hereunto neither do I think ought will happen to obstruct you therein from without but what may soon be removed by care prudence humility and love in its management My self for one and many more there are who do not receive you or contribute to you in your present way of Separation would do their utmost to strengthen and encourage you herein And those who now are joyned to you if true Christians will in no wise draw back but rather proceed for so good a work Yet if any of them who have not well learned wherein Purity Spirituality and true Christian Liberty consisteth through suspicion of your return to Egypt or to Garlick and Onions should withhold from you God will make it up in others and will if they be sincere reveal himself farther to them and bring them back with advantage to you It is now near twenty four years since the generous and pious Mr. Tho. Wadsworth now with God expressed to me at Newington-Buts to this effect When I came first to minister at this place I began to think my business lay not so much in my Pulpit as in the Houses of my Flock not to eat or drink with them or there to receive a Fleece from them but to bring them fully to God I therefore inquired who were worthy and whoso consented into their Houses I entred on some daies weekly I was yet not satisfied being I saw many Families within my Parish bounds remaining ignorant of and averse unto God And being sometime after quickned by Mr. Baxter in private Letters to me and his Gildas Salvianus I resolved upon and exercised Personal and Family Instruction through my whole Parish I found many obstinate and many dismally ignorant equal to the darkest corner in the Vniverse But I thank God my labour was not in vain They being brought by my House-ministration unto the light and life Divine I had more success in one year in this way than I could expect in twenty the other Ministers ought to seek out the bad to make them good gathering and edifying those who are made so to their hand is the less needful work I should not doubt of success herein somewhat equal to what appeared in Newington many years since God being as present and as powerful now as then But I must humbly offer this to them that they treat us not with Mint Anise and Cummin but with the weighty matters of the Law with what recommends itself to every man's Conscience And so discourse that both matter and manner thereof may manifest you design not to beget dislike to the Publick Forms c. but only to bring us more fully to God i. e. to that temper and practice which King Bishops and People cannot but see is best for the whole This I own is the Duty also of every Conforming Minister and the neglect thereof their Sin I wish you were both at it with all your might for this under God would procure such degrees of Light Life and Love that our Service to God would be serving him in Spirit and Truth and an acceptable Service unto him though it were performed in the worst form I ever yet heard of among Protestants To the pure Worshipper all these Forms are pure i. e. none of them shall prejudice a good Man or his sacrifice to God If this be so we have gained this point That to be holy is far preferrable to pure Administrations since the purest of them are not pure to the unholy Should not then the means most likely to increase Holiness be dearest unto us and such as hath been said is Personal Instruction especially if we add that this practice will be promotive of Love than which there cannot be a more purifying Grace Which brings me to the Second General Head of which I shall discourse in the next Chapter CHAP. IV. SECT I. TO Love i. e. as St. Paul I told you saith Let all your things be done in Charity If what I have hitherto wrote signifie nothing yet if King and Subjects if Pastors and People if Friends and Foes will Love our Kingdom will be holy and happy and without it were our Ordinances in Church and State the most pure or Spiritual we should yet be without Righteousness and Peace i. e. a very wicked and miserable People Let 1 Joh. 4.16 then our whole be Love let it be the temper and abode of our Souls The excellency and benefit whereof is obvious to those who dwell in God and in whom God doth dwell for God is Love those who do this are most like God and are very dear to him By the natural intimacy of Self-love by our own frame by the nature of God his love and Relation to us as Creator and in Jesus Christ Redeemer as also by the nature and end of his Ordinances c. of which many have treated we may see as our obligation and inducements thereunto so also the true nature and offices of Love By it in this Discourse I intend what our Saviour hath put together as first and second Matt. 22.37.39 Ver. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind Ver. 39. Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self calling one the great Commandement and the other like unto it adding that these are the fulfilling of the Law These connext are to be our temper and practice No man truly loveth God who doth not
love Man and he who rightly loveth Man must love God Now what I would establish in mens minds is the conduciveness of this connected and comprehensive Love to the worthy and happy estate of all Societies be they Kingdoms Churches or Families c. which I shall endeavour to do by representing the matter as it stands 1 In the Ordination of God 2 In the Government of God 3 In its own nature and effects By all which it will appear that the Society and no other but that where love presides is worthy and happy 1 As it stands in the Ordination of God Gen. 20.4 Exod. 20.5 Deut. 7.9.19 and 11.13 c. and 30.6 c. Joshua 23.11 c. Judges 5.31 Psal 14.7 and 29.11 and 33.11 and 85.8 and 94.14 and 105.24 43 and 122.6 and 125.2 and 145.15 20 and 148.14 and 149.4 and 119.132.165 Prov. 14.34 and 8.17 21 and 15.17 Isai 26.1 2 3 and 51 and 58.12 and 60.12 and 65.8 to 25 and 66.10 14. Jer. 18.7 9. Rom. 8.28 God hath settled the matter past all peradventure as will appear if you consult the fore-cited and other Scriptures 2 God's righteous Government requires that good success and happiness should attend such Communities because there being no Kingdoms or States c. hereafter there are no rewards there for them so that they would go without recompence should it be omitted in this life which is inconsistent with God's righteous and gracious Government to admit therefore it is here if any where that Nations are thereby exalted Prov. 14.34 3 The nature and effects of love Happiness is connatural with love they are inseparable Whilst love presides the Nation must cease to be before it can be other than happy by it Societies are so formed that all their parts are made blessed thereby For what is it that settleth a Nation or makes it prosperous but what results from or is the contrivance of Love and the things which reproach and ruin a Kingdom are contrary thereunto Where a Kingdom is founded and governed by Love how pleasant looks it even like the description given Psal 133. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity c. which the aforesaid Poet thus Paraphraseth I. Blest day wherein I live to see The Tribes like Brethren all agree Like Brethren striving who shall my best Subjects be II. God has by them restor'd my Crown And they secur'd what was their own For what on me they pour'd upon themselves fell down III. Th' Anointing Oil they on me spent On them in Acts of Favour went As if for them as much as me the Oil was meant IV. Like that which on the High-Priest shed At first it only wet his Head But then o're Beard and Clothes and all was quickly spread V. Or like those Mists which from the Main The Sun draws up to send again In Dews first on the Hills and then the humble Plain VI. With such th' Almighty loves to dwell And Souls agreed his Praise can tell How on them blessings when on others vengeance fell Where Love disposeth to associate with what pleasant gusts do they go thereto and so soon as they be gathered it binds them fast together so united as none dare to offend them and so inoffensive as not to provoke others The foundation of their Concord is the root or stock of Peace yea Isai 30.27 of quietness and assurance for ever being An Obediential Faith and Affiance in God as he in Christ is reconciling the World to himself extended in great Righteousness true Charity Purity and Humility these good things they learn of God these are their business and delight and by these they continually walk with him Micah 6.8 They establish their Union by such Principles and Rules as will make all concerned in the State understand that their interest is cared for The Union appears to be Common Benefit so settled as fore-seeing the whole cannot be happy where any part is miserable In a word they unite and abide as Members one of another Therefore if any be afflicted they like good blood run to the wounded parts relief Their Magna Charta is to love God above all and to love others as themselves Their Petition of Right to do as they would be done unto and on these hang all their Precepts Which alwaies are no more than are needful and are such as every man's Conscience and Reason approves and are also for Publick good Being 1 Such as stop the main Springs of Calamity 2 Such as direct or assist to growth in Vertue and Peace The former is done by prohibiting and watchfully suppressing all Vice especially those which are most noxious to Publick Order and Interest Such as Atheism Prophaneness Contempt of God and Religion Covetousness Ambition Peevish moroseness and Flattery Also Revenge excepting that of Forgiveness if the Injury be private and when publick that prosecution publick Justice and general Good requires to bring Traytors against King or State to just punishment Yet herein so as if one part of the Government differ in desire or opinion as to the execution of just vengeance on Persons they will charitably compound taking in full satisfaction for the blood of the Traytor such Laws as will sufficiently secure against or put an end unto like Treasons for future the gentlest way so it effectually secure the Government and promote the ends thereof they alwaies choose There is one other evil they prohibit and carefully suppress viz. Suspicion and though about this they have some explanatory Proviso's to prevent unreasonable Credulity and Supineness c. especially when the Head and thereby the whole Body is in apparent or immanent danger yet their general Rule is this To believe our Neighbour is good or to hope he will be so As they thus prohibit to stop Vice so 2 They enact for growth in Vertue This is done by commanding two things 1 Personal Inspection Reformation and Watchfulness And then 2 Neighbourly in order to this latter They bear their Infirmities and cover their Faults until they can be shewn them in private and there they do it with greatest sweetness They never reprove Sinners publickly but for most weighty causes and then so do it that the Guilty may see their love is fervent and may be awakened not through lowdness and noise but by the smart though yet sweet penetration of Reason and Love which shines so clearly in his Corrections that the Offender cannot but grieve for himself when he sees the Reprover was sorry for him first They command Seriousness without Morosity and enjoyn Chearfulness without Levity They prescribe Patience whereby to secure Self-possession against Moral-slavery and loss And that no excellencies may escape their notice and aspirings they have one act which hath more than ordinary Sanction you will find it Verbatim thus Finally Phil. 4.8 Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things
him with trembling and with fear rejoyce VIII Lest he be angry kiss the Eternal Son Happy are they who thus have done And there have plac'd their chief desire Vnto your selves and him return For if his Anger once take fire Those Flames which should but only warm will burn Good Poesie and sense are quickning things therefore not amiss in me now and then to call in the Doctor who excels therein to help where there is so great need One Psalm more there is I cannot part with being most apposite to my purpose it is that for or of Solomon who you know was a King Which Psalm our Poet in his Paraphrase hath contrived to express my hearts desire i.e. the happiness and glory of our King's Kingdom it is Psalm 72. I. Great God Thy Judgments to our Sovereign give And let his Throne like thine abide May the Young Prince before thee live And on his Enemies Necks in Triumph ride Put on his Head thy Righteous Crown And to the Father's glories add Thy own II. Then shall He judge the People and dispense That Justice which he has receiv'd To him the Poor shall look and thence Have both their Miseries pitty'd and reliev'd The Needies cause He shall maintain And on their Enemies turn their wrongs again III. So shall the barren Cliffs with shouts resound And all the little Hills rejoyce The Vallies from the lower ground Shall thence receive the Image of the Voice Sweet Peace on every Hill shall reign And Justice once more guide the humble Plain IV. Whilst time can measure it His Rule shall last And when even that shall be no more When Time it self expir'd is cast I'th'Vrne that had all dust but his before No Ages left to count it by It shall be measur'd by Eternity VI. Peace and Her fruits shall prosper in his daies And under his Auspicious Reign The Palm shall flourish and the Bayes And Justice to the Earth return'd again To Heav'n no more be forc'd to go But with him keep her residence below VII His far-stretch'd sway Nature alone can bound Which shall from Sea to Sea extend As far as there is any ground And only where the World finds hers have end Then up to Heav'n his Fame shall flie And fill the Mighty Circle of the skie VIII Black Ethiopia at his Feet shall bow Her neck for him to tread upon Honour'd enough if thus he shew Acceptance of the Footstool for his Throne Down in the dust his Foes shall lie With Heads more low than once their thoughts were high IX The Western Continent and farthest Isles And both the Indies Gifts shall bring To him they shall present the Spoils Of Sea and Land as Vniversal King All Kings before him shall bow down And do for Theirs just Homage to his Crown X. Kingdoms opprest shall his Protection crave And needy States unto him sue Th' Opprest he with his arms shall save And with the Needy his Old League renew Redeem their Slaves defend their Right And shew their Blood was precious in his sight XI Thus shall he live and reign and thus receive The Tributes which to him are paid Some Myrrh some Frankincense shall give And Gold which shall like Stones be common made And the due service of each day Shall be to praise that King for whom we pray XIII And when to God he shall resign his breath Yet in his Name he still shall live Above the Pow'r of Grave or Death And to the Immortal Verse a Subject give Which of his happy Reign shall sing And count that Land so which has such a King XIV Bless Him whose Words these Miracles obey And who must all these gifts bestow To Israel's God let Israel pray That from his Spring such streams may ever flow For ever bless his holy Name Nor bound with less than Heaven his mighty Fame There is no hurt I hope in this Transcription it is edifying unto me as is all his Book and what I thereof bring is the more pleasing because so far I am sure I offer what is worthy of thy acceptance I am now near concluding my Discourse having no other remain in my thoughts than some few Directions which shall be given in the next Chapter CHAP. VI. SECT I. IN order to our being what I have hitherto designed in this Discourse I shall propose to some Directions 1 More general 2 More special 1 The General Direction shall be to Four things 1 Look we diligently lest any root of bitterness be springing up in us These are so opposite to what I have been proposing that they be the only troubling and defiling things these will occasion any man to fail of the Grace of God for they be poyson and death to Love What natural name they have St. Paul and St. James will tell you the one names it the law in our members the other Rom. 7. James 4.1 our lusts in the one is pointed to us its Commanding power in the other its being Brutish and in both that it is a warring thing in war against Reason and against the Soul of Man against the direction of God's Spirit and then against every body else The looking diligently and honestly within you will soon inform you what it is and what names I should here give them Of all these bitter roots none to a Nation are so certainly and so speedily mortal as those of affecting to be flattered Revenge and being without natural affection in the Ruler or the Governours subordinate to him Suspicion Jealousies or Fears and affectation of Change and an Opinion of having Political Science in the People I descend not to other particulars and say no more of these because the next Direction if followed will surely cure all at once 2 Let us be willing to be truly Religious or Divine in Intellect and Will in Affection and Practice i.e. that the whole of us tend to God and be given to him So that upon All which is either Naturally or Providentially ours we write with our own hand i.e. most heartily This is the Lord's I know God works in us both to will and to do but how so as that we likewise refuse not to work He stands and knocks and we must open or he comes not in Psal 24. Lift up your heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in View this King of Glory until ye be enamour'd of his Divine perfections search or seek until you find him within your selves i. e. to be so far as we can like unto God and out of the real sense of this likeness in our selves to love and admire him This is the true and the highest Worship Man can exhibite to his Maker And to be pure in this of Religion our Will is also requisite i. e. that we throughly consent to be in due moderation and rule over all the joys and pleasures of our Members to bear a strict hand