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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23775	The whole duty of man laid down in a plain way for the use of the meanest reader divided into XVII chapters : one whereof being read every Lords day, the whole may be read over, thrice in the year, necessary for all families : with private devotions.; Whole duty of man	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Fell, John, 1625-1686.; Sterne, Richard, 1596?-1683.; Henchman, Humphrey, 1592-1675.; Pakington, Dorothy Coventry, Lady, d. 1679.	1659 (1659)	Wing A1170_PARTIAL; Wing A1161_PARTIAL; ESTC R22026	270,427	508

a liberal portion of them The sins of this day thou hast not repayed as justly thou might'st by sweeping me away with a swift destruction but hast spared and preserved me according to the greatness of thy mercy Here mention the particular mercies of that day What shall I render unto the Lord for all these benefits he hath done unto me Lord let this goodness of thine lead me to repentance and grant that I may not only offer thee thanks and praise but may also order my conversation aright that so I may at the last see the salvation of God through Jesus Christ. Here use the Prayer for Grace and that of Intercession appointed for the Morning For PRESERVATION OBlessed Lord the Keeper of Israel that neither slumbrest nor sleepest be pleased in thy mercy to watch over me this night keep me by thy grace from all works of darkness and defend me by thy power from all dangers grant me moderate and refreshing sleep such as may fit me for the duties of the day following And Lord make me ever mindful of that time when I shall lie down in the dust and because I know neither the day nor the houre of my Masters coming grant me grace that I may be always ready that I may never live in such a state as I shall fear to die in but that whether I live I may live unto the Lord or whether I die I may die unto the Lord so that living and dying I may be thine through Jesus Christ. Use the same concluding prayer as in the Morning As thou art putting off thy clothes think with thy self that the time approaches that thou must put off thy body also and then thy Soul must appear naked before Gods judgment Seat and therefore thou hadst need be careful to make it so clean and pure by repentance and holiness that he who will not look on iniquity may graciously behold and accept it Let thy Bed put thee in mind of thy Grave and when thou lyest down say O Blessed Saviour who by thy precious death burial didst take away the sting of death and power of the grave grant me the joyful fruits of that thy victory and be thou to me in life and death advantage I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed it O Lord thou God of truth IN the ANTIENT CHURCH there were besides morning and night four other times every day which were called HOURS OF PRAYER and the zeal of those first Christians was such as made them constantly observed It would be thought too great a strictness now in this lukewarm age to enjoyn the like frequency yet I cannot but mention the example and say that for those who are not by very necessary business prevented it will be but reasonable to imitate it and make up in publick and private those FOUR TIMES of PRAYER besides the OFFICES already set down for MORNING and NIGHT and that none may be to seek how to exercise their devotions at these times I have added divers COLLECTS for several Graces whereof every man may use at each such time of prayer so many as his zeal and leisure shall point out to him adding if he please one of the confessions appointed for morning or night and never omitting the LORDS PRAYER But if any mars state of life be really so busie as will not allow him time for so long and solemn devotions yet certainly there is no man so overlayed with business but that he may sinde leisure oftentimes in a day to say the LORDS PRAYER alone and therefore let him use that if he cannot more But because it is the Character of a Christian Phil. 3. 20. That he hath his conversation in heaven it is very fit that besides these set times of Prayer he should divers times in a day by short and sudden EJACULATIONS dart up his soul thither And for this sort of devotion no man can want leisure for it may be performed in the midst of business the Artisicer at his work the Husbandman at his Plough may practice it Now as he cannot want time so that he may not want matter for it I have thought it not unuseful out of that rich store-house the BOOK of PSALMS to furnish him with some texts which may very fitly be used for this purpose which being learned by heart will always be ready at hand to imploy his devotion and the matter of them being various some for Pardon of sin some for Grace some for the light of Gods countenance some for the Church some for Thanksgiving c. every man may fit himself according to the present need and temper of his soul. I have given these not as a full collection but only as a taste by which the Readers appetite may be raised to search after more in that Book and other parts of holy Scripture COLLECTS for several GRACES For FAITH O Blessed Lord whom without Faith it is impossible to please let thy spirit I beseech thee work in me such a Faith as may be acceptable in thy ●ight even such as worketh by love O let me not rest in a dead ineffectual Faith but grant that it may be such as may shew it self by my works that it may be that victorious Faith which may enable me to overcome the world and conform me to the Image of that Christ on whom I believe that so at the last I may receive the end of my Faith even the salvation of my soul by the same Jesus Christ. For HOPE O Lord who art the hope of all the ends of the earth let me never be destitute of a well grounded hope nor yet possest with a vain presumption suffer me not to think thou wilt either be reconciled to my sins or reject my repentance but give me I beseech thee such a hope as may be answerable to the only ground of hope thy promises and such as may both incourage and enable me to purifie my self from all filthiness both of flesh and Spirit that so it may indeed become to me an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast entring even within the vail whither the forerunner is for me entred even Jesus Christ my High Priest and blessed Redeemer For THE LOVE of GOD. O Holy and gracious Lord who art infinitely excellent in thy self and infinitely bounti●ul and compassionate towards me I beseech thee suffer not my heart to be so hardned through the deceitfulness of sin as to resist such charms of love but let them make deep and lasting impressions on my soul. Lord thou art pleased to require my heart and thou only hast right to it O let me not be so sacrilegiously unjust as to alienate any part of it but enable me to render it up whole and entire to thee But O my God thou seest it is already usurped the world with its

that thou wilt deliberately choose death thou wilt surely practice according to that sentence of thy understanding I shall add no more on this first part of Charity that of the Affections I proceed now to that of the Actions And this endeed is it whereby the former must be approved we may pretend great charity within but if none break forth in the Actions we may say of that Love as Sa●nt James does of the Faith he speaks of that it is dead Jam. 2. 20. It is the loving in deed that must approve our bearts before God 1 Jo. 3. 18. Now this love in the Actions may likewise fitly be distributed as the former was in relation to the four distinct capacities of our brethren their Souls their Bodies their Goods and Credit The Soul I formerly told you may be considered either in a naturall or spirituall sense in both of them Charity binds us to do all the good we can As the Soul signifies the mind of a man so we are to endeavour the comfort and refreshment of our brethren desire to give them all true cause of joy cheerfulnes especially when we see any under any sadness or heaviness then to bring out all the cordialls we can procure that is to labour by all Christian and fit means to chear the troubled spirits of our brethren to comfort them that are in any heaviness as the Apostle speakes 2. Cor. 1. 4. But the Soul in the spirituall sence is yet of greater concernment and the securing of that is a matter of much greater moment then the refreshing of the mind only in as much as the eternall sorrows and sadnesses of Hell exceed the deepest sorrows of this life and therefore though we must not omit the former yet on this we are to employ our most zealous charities Wherein we are not to content our selves with a bare wishing well to the Souls of our brethren this alone is a sluggish sort of kindness unworthy of those who are to imitate the great Redeemer of Souls who did and suffered so much in that purchase No we must add also our endeavour to make them what we wish them to this purpose 't were very reasonable to propound to our selves in all our conversings with others that one great designe of doing some good to their souls If this purpose were fixt in our minds we should then discern perhaps many opportunities which now we overlook of doing something towards it The brutish ignorance of one would call upon thee to endeavour his instruction the open sin of another to reprehend admonish him the faint and weak vertue of another to confirm and incourage him Every spirituall want of thy brother may give thee some occasion of exercising some part of this Charity or if the circumstances be such that upon sober judging thou think it vain to attempt any thing thy self as if either thy meanness or thy unacquaintedness or any the like impediment be like to render thy exhortations fruitless yet if thou art industrious in thy Charity thou mayest probably find out some other instrument by whom to do it more successfully There cannot be a nobler study then how to benefit mens Souls and therefore where the direct means are improper 't is fit we should whet our wits for attaining of others Indeed 't is a shame we should not as industriously contrive for this great spirituall concernment of others as we do for every worldly trifling interest of our own yet in them we are unwearied and trye one means after another till we compass our end But if after all our serious endeavours the obstinacy of men do not suffer us or themselves rather to reap any fruit from them if all our wooings and intreatings of men to have mercy on their own Souls will not work on them yet be sure to continue still to exhort by thy example Let thy great care and tenderness of thy own Soul preach to them the value of theirs and give not over thy compassions to them but with the Prophet Jer. 13. 17. Let thy Soul weep in secret for them and with the Psalmist Let rivers of waters run down thy eyes because they kept not Gods Law Psal. 119. 136. Yea with Christ himself weep over them who will not know the things that belong to their peace Luk 11. 42. And when no importunities with them will work yet even then cease not to importune God for them that he will draw them to himself Thus we see Samuel when he could not diswade the people from that sinful purpose they were upon yet he professes notwithstanding that he will not cease praying for them nay he lookt on it as so much a duty that it would be sin to him to omit it God forbid sayes he that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you 1 Sam. 12. 23. Nor shall we need to fear that our prayers will be quite lost for if they prevail not for those for whom we pour them out yet however they will return into our own bosomes Psal. 35. 13 we shall be sure not to miss of the reward of that Charity In the second place we are to exercise this Active Charity towards the bodies of our Neighbours we are not only to compassionate their pains and miseries but also to do what we can for their ease and relief The good Samaritan Luke 10. had never been proposed as our pattern had he not as well helped as pitied the wounded man 'T is not good wishes no nor good words neither that avail in such cases as St. James tells us If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give him not those things that are needful for the body what doth it profit Jam. 2. 15. 16. No sure it profits them nothing in respect of their bodies and it will profit thee as little in respect of thy Soul it will never be reckoned to thee as a Charity This releeving of the bodily wants of our brethren is a thing so strictly required of us that we find it set down Mat. 25. as the especiall thing we shall be tried by at the Last Day on the omission whereof is grounded that dreadful sentence ver 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And if it shall now be asked what are the particular acts of this kind which we are to perform I think we cannot better inform our selves for the frequent and ordinary ones then from this Chapter where are set down these severals the giving meat to the hungry and drink to the thirtty harbouring the stranger clothing the naked and visiting the sick and imprisoned By which visiting is meant not a bare coming to see them but so coming as to comfort and relieve them for otherwise it will be but like the Levite in the

and heartily that no man can miss of enjoying them but by his own default For he doth most really and affectionately desire we should embrace them and live as appears by that solemn Oath of his Eze. 33. 11. As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his ways and live whereto he adds this passionate expression turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die To the same purpose you may read Ezek. 18. Consider this I say and then surely you cannot but say He hath great kindness to our souls Nay let every man but remember with himself the many calls he hath had to repentance and amendment sometimes outward by the Word sometimes inward by the secret whispers of Gods Spirit in his heart which were only to woe and intreat him to avoid Eternal misery and to accept of Eternal happiness let him I say remember these together with those many other means God hath used towards him for the same end and he will have reason to confess Gods kindness not only to mens souls in general but to his own in particular 31. Neither hath he been wanting to our Bodies all the good things they enjoy as health strength food raiment and what ever else concernes them are meerly his gifts so that indeed it is impossible we should be ignorant of his mercies to them all those outward comforts and refreshments we daily enjoy being continual effects and witnesses of it and though some enjoy more of these then others yet there is no person but enjoyes so much in one kinde or other as abundantly shews Gods mercy and kindness to him in respect of his Body 32. And now surely you will think it but reasonable we should Love him who is in all respects thus Lovely Indeed this is a duty so generally acknowledged that if you should ask any man the question whether he loved God or no he would think you did him great wrong to doubt of it yet for all this it is too plain that there are vey few that do indeed love him and this will soon be proved to you by examining a little what are the common effects of love which we bear to men like our selves and then trying whether we can shew any such fruits of our love to God 33. Of that sort there are divers but for shortness I will name but two The first is a Desire of pleasing the second a Desire of enjoying These are constantly the Fruits of Love For the first 't is known by all that he that loves any person is very desirous to approve himself to him to do whatsoever he thinks will be pleasing to him and according to the degree of love so is this desire more or less where we love earnestly we are very earnest and careful to please Now if we have indeed that love to God we pretend to it will bring forth this fruit we shall be careful to please him in all things Therefore as you judge of the tree by its fruits so may you judg of your love of God by this fruit of it nay indeed this is the way of tryal which Christ himself hath given us Jo. 14. 15. If ye love me keep my commandements and S. John tell us 1 Ep. 5. 3. That this is the love of God that we walk after his commandements and where this one proof is wanting it will be impossible to testifie our loue to God 34. But it must yet be farther considered that this love of God must not be in a low or weak degree for besides that the Motives to it his excellency and his kindness are in the highest the same Commandment which bids us love God bids us love him with all our heart and with all our strength that is as much as is possible for us and above any thing else And therefore to the fulfilling of this Commandement it is necessary we love him in that degree and if we do so then certainly we shall have not onely some slight and faint endeavours of pleasing but such as are most diligent and earnest such as will put us upon the most painful and costly duties make us willing to forsake our own ease goods friends yea life it self when we cannot keep them without disobeying God 35. Now examine thy self by this hast thou this fruit of love to shew doest thou make it thy constant and greatest care to keep Gods Commandments to obey him in all things earnestly labouring to please him to the utmost of thy power even to the forsakeing of what is dearest to thee in this world if thou dost thou maist then truly say thou lovest God But on the contrary if thou wilfully continuest in the breach of many nay but of any one command of his never deceive thy self for the love of God abides not in thee This will be made plain to you if you consider what the Scripture saith of such as that they are enemies to God by their wicked works Col. 1. 21. That the carnal minde and such is every one that continues wilfully in sin is enmity with ' God Rom. 8. 7. That he that sins wilfuly tramples under foot the Son of God and doth despight unto the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10. 29. and many the like And therefore unless you can think enmity and trampling and despight to be fruits of love you must not believe you love God whilest you go on in any wilful disobedience to him 36. A Second fruit of Love I told you was desire of Enjoying This is constantly to be seen in our love to one another If you have a friend whom you intirely love you desire his conversation wish to be alwayes in his company and thus will it also be in our love to God if that be as great and hearty as this 37. There is a two fold Enjoying of God the one Imperfect in this life the other more Perfect and compleat in the life to come that in this life is that conversation as I may call it which we have with God in his Ordinances in Praying and Meditating in Hearing his Word in Receiving the Sacrament which are all intended for this purpose to bring us into an intimacy and familiarity with God by speaking to him and hearing him speak to us 38. Now if we do indeed love God we shall certainly hugely value and desire these wayes of conversing with him it being all that we can have in this life it will make us with David esteem one day in Gods Courts better then a thousand Psal. 84. 10. We shall be glad to have these opportunities of approaching to him as often as it is possible be careful to use them diligently to that end of uniting us still more to him yea we shall come to these Spiritual exercises with the same chearfulness we would go to our dearest friend And if indeed we do thus it is a good proof of

out of custome to put on at their coming to the Sacrament which they never think of keeping afterwards For this is a certain truth that whosoever comes to this holy Table without an entire hatred of every sin comes unworthily and it is as sure that he that doth entirely hate all sin will resolve to forsake it for you know forsaking naturally follows hatred no man willingly abides with a thing or person he hates And therefore he that doth not so resolve as that God the searcher of hearts may approve it as sincere cannot be supposed to hate sin and so cannot be a worthy receiver of that holy Sacrament Therefore try your resolutions throughly that you deceive not your selves in them it is your own great danger if you do for it is certain you cannot deceive God nor gain acceptation from him by any thing which is not perfectly hearty and unfeigned 13. Now as you are to resolve on this new obedience so you are likewise to resolve on the meanes which may assist you in the performance of it And therefore consider in every duty what are the means that may help you in it and resolve to make use of them how uneasie soever they be to your flesh so on the other side consider what things they are that are likely to lead you to sin and resolve to shun and avoid them this you are to do in respect of all sias whatever but especially in those whereof you have formerly been guilty For there it will not be hard for you to finde by what steps and degrees you were drawn into it what company what occasion it was that ensnared you as also to what sort of temptations you are aptest to yield And therefore you must particularly fence your self against the sin by avoiding those occasions of it 14. But it is not enough that you resolve you will do all this hereafter but you must instantly set to it and begin the course by doing at the present whatsoever you have opportunity of doing And there are several things which you may nay must do at the present before you come to the Sacrament 15. As first you must cast off every sin not bring any one unmortified lust with you to that Table for it is not enough to purpose to cast them off afterwards but you must then actually do it by with-drawing all degrees of love and affection from them you must then give a bill of divorce to all your old beloved sins or else you are no fit way to be married to Christ. The reason of this is clear For this Sacrament is our spiritual nourishment now before we can receive spiritual nourishment we must have spiritual life for no man gives food to a dead person But whosoever continues not only in the act but in the love of any one known sin hath no spiritual life but is in Gods account no better then a dead carkass and therefore cannot receive that spiritual food It is true he may eat the bread and drink the wine but he receives not Christ but in stead of him that which is most dreadful the Apostle will tell you what 1 Cor. 11. 29. He eats and drinks his own damnation Therefore you see how great a necessity lies on you thus actually to put off every sin before you come to this Table 16. And the same necessity lies on you for a second thing to be done at this time and that is the putting your soul into a heavenly and Christian temper by possessing it with all those graces which may render it acceptable in the eyes of God For when you have turned out Satan and his accursed train you must not let your soul lie empty if you do Christ tells you Luke 11. 26. He will quickly return again and your last estate shall be worse then your first But you must by earnest prayer invite into it the holy Spirit with his graces or if they be in some degree there already you must pray that he will yet more fully possess it and you must quicken and stir them up 17. As for example you must quicken your humility by considering your many and great sins your Faith by meditating on Gods promises to all penitent sinners your love to God by considering his mercies especially those remembred in the Sacrament his giving Christ to die for us and your love to your neighbour nay to your enemies by considering that great example of his suffering for us that were enemies to him And it is most particularly required of us when we come to this Table that we copy out this patern of his in a perfect forgivenesse of all that have offended us and not only forgivenesse but such a kindnesse also as will express it self in all offices of love and friendship to them 18. And if you have formerly so quite forgot that blessed example of his as to do the direct contrary if you have done any unkindnesse or injury to any person then you are to seek forgivenesse from him and to that end first acknowledge your fault secondly Restore to him to the utmost of your power whatsoever you have deprived him of either in goods or credit This Reconciliation with our brethren is absolutely necessary towards the making any of our services acceptable with God as appears by that precept of Christ Matth. 5. 23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Where you see that though the gift be already at the Altar it must rather be left there unoffered then be offered by a man that is not at perfect peace with his neighbour And if this charity be so necessary in all our services much more in this where by a joynt partaking in the same holy mysteries we signifie our being united and knit not only to Christ our head but also to each other as fellow members And therefore if we come with any malice in our hearts we commit an act of the highest Hypocrisie by making a solemn profession in the Sacrament of that charity and brotherly love whereof our hearts are quite void 19. Another most necessary grace at this time is that of devotion for the raising whereof we must allow our selves some time to withdraw from our worldly affairs and wholly to set our selves to this business of preparation one very speciall part of which preparation lyes in raising up our souls to a devout and heavenly temper And to that it is most necessary that we cast off all thoughts of the world for they will be sure as so many clogs to hinder our souls in their mounting towards heaven A special exercise of this devotion is Prayer wherein we must be very frequent and earnest at our coming to the Sacrament this being one great instrument

For though there be sins both against our selves and our neighbours yet they being forbidden by God they are also breaches of his Commandments and so sins against him This repentance is in short nothing but a turning from sin to God the casting off all our former evils and in stead thereof constantly practising all those Christian duties which God requireth of us And this is so necessary a duty that without it we certainly perish we have Christs word for it Luke 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish 27. The directions for performing the several parts of this duty have been already given in the preparation to the Lords Suppor and thither I refer the Reader Only I shall here mind him that it is not to be lookt upon as a duty to be practised only at the time of receiving the Sacrament For this being the onely remedy against the poyson of sin we must renew it as often as we repeat our sins that is daily I mean we must every day repent of the sins of that day for what Christ saith of other evils is true also of this sufficient to the day is the evil thereof we have sins enough of each day to exercise a daily repentance and therefore every man must thus daily call himself to account 28. But as it is in accounts they who constantly set down their daily expences have yet some set time of casting up the whole sum as at the end of the week or moneth so should it also be here we should set aside some time to humble our selves solemnly before God for the sins not of that day onely but of our whole lives And the frequenter these times are the better For the oftner we thus cast up our accounts with God and see what vast debts we are run in to him the more humbly shall we think of our selves and the more shall thirst after his mercy which two are the special things that must qualifie us for his pardon He therefore that can assign himself one day in the week for this purpose will take a thriving course for his soul. Or if any mans state of life be so busie as not to afford him to do it so often let him yet come as near to that frequency as is possible for him remembring alwayes that none of his worldly imployments can bring him in near so gainful a return as this spiritual one will do and therefore it is very ill husbandry to pursue them to the neglect of this 29. Besides these constant times there are likewise occasional times for the performance of this duty such especially are the times of calamity and affliction for when any such befals us we are to look on it as a message sent from heaven to call us to this duty and therefore must never neglect it when we are thus summoned to it lest we be of the number of them who despise the chastisements of the Lord Heb. 12. 5. 30. There is yet another time of repentance which in the practice of men hath gotten away the custome from all those and that is the time of death which it is true is a time very fit to renew our repentance but sure not proper to begin it and it is a most desperate madness for men to defer it till then For to say the mildest of it it is the venturing our Souls upon such miserable uncertainties as no wise man would trust with any thing of the least value For first I would ask any man that means to repent at his death how he knows he shall have an hours time for it do we not daily see men snatch'd away in a moment and who can tell that it shall not be his own case But secondly suppose he have a more leisurely death that some disease give him warning of its approach yet perhaps he will not understand that warning but will still flatter himself as very often sick people do with hopes of life to the last and so his death may be sudden to him though it comes by never so slow degrees But again thirdly if he do discern his danger yet how is he sure he shall then be able to repent Repentance is a grace of God not at our command and it is just and usual with God when men have a long time refused and rejected that grace resisted all his calls and invitations to conversion and amendment to give them over at last to the hardness of their own hearts and not to afford them any more of that grace they have so despised Yet suppose in the fourth place that God in his infinite patience should still continue the offer of that grace to thee yet thou that hast resisted it may be thirty or forty or fifty years together how knowest thou that thou shalt put off that habit of resistance upon a sudden and make use of the grace afforded It is sure thou hast many more advantages towards the doing it now then thou wilt have then 31. For first The longer sin hath kept possession of the heart the harder it will be to drive it out It is true if Repentance were nothing but a present ceasing from the acts of sin the death bed were fittest for it for then we are disabled from committing most sins but I have formerly shewed you repentance contains much more then so there must be in it a sincere hatred of sin and love of God Now how unlikely is it that he which hath all his life loved sin cherisht it in his bosome and on the contrary abhorred God and goodness should in an instant quite change his affections hate that sin he loved and love God and goodness which before he utterly hated 32. And secondly The bodily pains that attend a death bed will distract thee and make thee unable to attend the work of repentance which is a business of such weight and difficulty as will employ all our powers even when they are at the freshest 33. Consider those disadvantages thou must then struggle with and then tell me what hope there is thou shalt then do that which now upon much easier terms thou wilt not But in the third place there is a danger behind beyond all these and that is that the repentance which death drives a man to will not be a true repentance for in such a case it is plain it is only the fear of hell puts him on it which though it may be a good beginning where there is time after to perfect it yet where it goes alone it can never avail for Salvation Now that death bed repentances are often onely of this sort is too likely when it is observed that many men who have seemed to repent when they have thought Death approaching have yet after it hath pleased God to restore them to health been as wicked perhaps worse as ever they were before which shews plainly that there was no real change

is the common Father of all those that are under his authority The duty we owe to this Parent is first Honour and Reverence looking on him as upon one on whom god hath stamped much of his own power and authority and therefore paying him all honour and esteem never daring upon any pretence whatsoever to speak evil of the Ruler of our people Acts 23. 5. 3. Secondly Paying Tribute This is expresly commanded by the Apostle Rom. 13. 6. Pay ye Tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing God has set them apart as Ministers for the common good of the people and therefore 't is all justice they should be maintained and supported by them And indeed when it is considered what are the cares and troubles of that high calling how many thorns are platted in every Crown we have very little reason to envie them these dues and it may truly be said there is none of their poor labouring subjects that earns their living so hardly 4. Thirdly We are to pray for them this is also expresly commanded by the Apostle 1 Tim. 2. 2. to be done for Kings and for all that are in authority The businesses of that calling are so weighty the dangers and hazards of it so great that they of all others need prayers for Gods direction assistance and blessing and the prayers that are thus poured out for them will return into our own bosomes for the blessings they receive from God tend to the good of the people to their living a quiet and peaceable life as it is in the close of the verse forementioned 5. Fourthly We are to pay them Obedience This is likewise strictly charged by the Apostle 1 Peter 2. 13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supream or unto Governours as those that are sent by him We owe such an obedience to the supream power that whoever is authorized by him we are ●o submit to and S. Paul likewise is most full to this purpose Romans 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers And again Ver. 2. Wh●soever resisteth the powers resisteth the Ordinance of God And 't is observable that these precepts were given at a time when those powers were Heathens and cruel persecutors of Christianity to shew us that no pretence of the wickedness of our Rulers can free us of this duty An obedience we must pay either Active or Passive the Active in the case of all lawful commands That is when ever the Magistrate commands something which is not contrary to some command of God we are then bound to act according to that command of the Magistrate to do the things he requires But when he enjoyns any thing contrary to what God hath commanded we are not then to pay him this active obedience we may nay we must refuse thus to act yet here we must be very well assured that the thing is so contrary and not pretend conscience for a cloak of stubbornness we are in that case to obey God rather then man But even this is a season for the Passive obedience we must patiently suffer what he inflicts on us for such refusal and not to secure our selves rise up against him For who can stretch his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless sayes David to Abishai 1 Samuel 26. 9. and that at a time when David was under a great persecution from Saul nay had also the assurance of the Kingdom after him and St. Pauls sentence in this case is most heavie Rom. 13. 2. They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Here is very small encouragement to any to rise up against the lawful Magistrate for though they should so far prosper here as to secure themselves from him by this means yet there is a King of Kings from whom no power can shelter them and this damnation in the close will prove a sad prize of their victories What is on the other side the duty of the Magistrate to the people will be vain to mention here none of that rank being like to read this Treatise and it being very useless for the people to inquire what is the duty of their Supream wherein the most are already much better read then in their own it may suffice them to know that whatsoever his duty is or however performed he is accountable to none but God and no failing of his part can warrant them to fail of theirs 6. The second sort of Parents are the spiritual That is the Ministers of the Word whether such as be Governours in the Church or others under them who are to perform the same offices to our Souls that our natural parents do to our bodies Thus S. Paul tells the Co●inthians that in Christ Jesus he had begotten them through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4. 15. and the Galatians Chap. 4. 19. that he travels in birth of them till Christ be formed in them And again 1 Cor. 3. 2. He had fed them with Milk that is such Doctrines as were agreeable to that infant state of Christianity they were then in but he had stronger meat for them of full age Heb. 5. 14. All these are the Offices of a Parent and therefore they that perform them to us may well be accounted as such 7. Our duty to these is first to love them to bear them that kindness which belongs to those who do us the greatest benefits This is required by S. Paul 1 Thess. 5. 13. I beseech you brethren mark them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their works sake The work is such as ought in all reason to procure them love it being of the highest advantage to us 8. Secondly 'T is our duty to value and esteem them as we see in the text now mentioned and surely this is most reasonable if we consider either the nature of their work or who it is that imployes them The nature of their work is of all others the most excellent we use to value other professions proportionably to the dignity and worth of the things they deal in Now surely there is no Merchandize of equal worth with a Soul and this is their Traffick rescuing precious Souls from perdition And if we consider further who it is that imployes them it yet addes to the reverence due to them They are Ambassadours for Christ 2 Cor. 5. 20. and Ambassadours are by the Lawes of all Nations to be used with a respect answerable to the quality of those that send them Therefore Christ tells his disciples when he sends them out to preach He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10. 16. It seems there is more depends on the despising of Ministers then men ordinarily consider 't is the despising of God and Christ

leave our stings in others put them to some present trouble but that compared with the hurt redounds to our selves by it is no more then that inconsiderable pain is to death Nay not so much because the mischiefs that we bring upon our selves are eternal to which no finite thing can bear any proportion Remember then whensoever thou art contriving plotting a revenge that thou quite mistakest the mark thou thinkest to hit thy enemy and alas thou woundest thy self to death And let no man speak peace to himself or think that these are va●n terrors that he may obtain pardon from God though he give none to his brethren For he that is truth it self has assured us the contrary Mat. 6. 15. If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses And least we should forget the necessity of this duty he has inserted it into our daily Prayers where we make it the condition on which we beg pardon from God Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass again●t us What a heavy curse then does every revengful person lay upon himself when he sayes this Prayer he does in effect beg God not to forgive him and 't is too sure that part of his prayer will be heard he shall be forgiven just as he forgives that is not at all This is yet farther set out to us in the parable of the Lord and the Servant Matth. 18. the servant had obtained of his Lord the forgiveness of a vast debt ten thousand talents yet was so cruel to his fellow servant as to exact a poor trifling sum of an hundred pence upon which his Lord recalls his former forgiveness and charges him again with the whole debt and this Christ applies to our present purpose ver 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his brother their trespasses One such act of uncharitableness is able to forfeit us the pardon God hath granted us and then all our sins return again upon us and sink us to utter ruine I suppose it needless to heap up more testimonies of Scripture for the truth of this these are so clear as may surely serve to perswade any man that acknowledges Scripture of the great and fearful danger of this sin of uncharitableness The Lord possess all our hearts with such a just sense of it as may make us avoid it The last consideration I shall mention is that of Gratitude God has shewed wonderful mercies to us Christ has suffered heavy things to bring us into a capacity of that mercy and pardon from God And shall we not then think our selves obliged to some returnes of thankfulness If we will take the Apostles judgment he tells us 2 Cor. 5. 15. That since Christ dyed for us all 't is but reasonable that we should not henceforth live unto our selves but unto him that dyed for us Indeed were every moment of our life consecrated to his immediate Service 't were no more then common gratitude requires far less then such inestimable benefits deserve what a shameful unthankfulness is it then to deny him so poor a satisfaction as this the forgiving our brethren Supose a man that were ransomed either from death or slavery by the bounty and sufferings of another should upon his release be charged by him that so freed him in return of that kindness of his to forgive some slight debt which was owing him by some third person would you not think him the unthankfullest wretch in the world that should refuse this to so great a benefactor yet such a wretch and much worse is every revengful person Christ hath bought us out of eternal slavery and that not with corruptible things as silver and gold 1 Pet. 1. 8. But with his own●most precious blood and hath earnestly recommended to us the love of our brethren and that with the most moving arguments drawn from the greatness of his love to us and if we shall obstinately refuse him in so just so moderate a demand how unspeakable a vileness is it and yet this we do downright if we keep any malice or grudg to any person whatsoever Nay farther this is not barely an unthankfulness but there is also joyned with it a horrible contempt and despising of him This Peace unity of brethren was a thing so much prized valued by him that when he was to leave the world he thought it the most pretious thing he could bequeath and therefore left it by way of legacy to his Disciples Jo. 14. 27. Peace I leave with you we use to set a great value on the slightest bequests of our dead friends to be exceeding careful not to lose them and therefore if we wilfully bangle away this so pretious a Legacy of Christ 't is a plain sign we want that Love and esteem of him which we have of our earthly friends and that we despise him as well as his Legacy The great prevailing of this sin of uncharitableness has made me stand thus long on these considerations for the subduing it God grant they may make such impression on the Reader as may be available to that purpose I shall add only this one advice that these or whatsoever other remedies against this sin must be used timely 'T is oftimes the frustrating of bodily medicines the applying them too late and 't is much oftner so in spiritual therefore if it be possible let these the like considerations be so constantly habitually fixt in thy heart that they may frame it to such meekness as may prevent all risings of rancour or revenge in thee for it is much better they should serve as armour to prevent then as balsome to cure the wound But if this passion be not yet so subdued in thee but that there will be some stirrings of it yet then be sure to take it at the very first rise and let not thy fancy chew as it were upon the injury by often rolling it in thy mind but remember betime● the foregoing considerations and withal that this is a time and season of tryal to thee wherein thou mayest shew how thou hast profited in Christs School there now being an opportunity offered thee either of obeying and pleasing God by passing by this offence of thy brother or else of obeying and pleaseing Satan that lover of discord by nourishing hatred against him Remember this I say l●otimes before thou be enflamed for if this fire be throughly kindled it will cast such a smoak as will blind thy reason and make thee unfit to judge even in this so very plain case whet her it be better by obeying God to purchase to thy self eternally bliss or by obeying Satan eternall torments Whereas if thou put the question to thy self before this commotion and disturbance of mind 't is impossible but thy understanding must pronounce for God And then unless thy will be so perverse