pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie We are also plainly and largely taught by our Lord and Master how grievous a sin the sin of hatred is and how great an impediment it lays in our way to salvation not only when it appears outwardly in evil deeds but even when but conceited inwardly in the heart Mat. 5. I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the Council but whosoever shall say thou fool to wit moved with anger and with design to hurt him shall be in danger of hell fire Wherefore our Lord and Master in his divine wisdom that he might shew how expedient it is to be free from that vice and perturbation of mind plainly tells his Disciples that he who hath not first satisfied this command of Charity must not think to obtain the favour of God by any Sacrifice or other Religious performance Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift In many other passages he confirms the same saying Luke 6. Be ye merciful as your Father also is merciful forgive and ye shall be forgiven give and it shall be given unto you Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Now the charity which our Lord so much commendeth is not a cold and ordinary but a burning and fervent charity ready to do good whereby he bids us to become like unto God who makes his Sun to shine upon the good and the bad and causeth it to rain upon the just and the unjust And when our Saviour taught his Disciples to pray he enlarged more upon the Subject of Charity Mercy and Beneficence than upon any other as being of all others the chief and most convincing argument of Piety which by the Apostle also is called the bond oâ— perfection seeing all the commands and duties whatsoever of the Law are easily obeyed and performed by those who are so quickned by Charity as not so much to seek their own as the things of others according as it is written 1 Cor. 13. Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Whereas 1 John He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes The summ then of all The summ of the rule common to all Men. that a Scholar of Christ ought to know hold meditate upon and practise is briefly comprehended under these three Heads to wit the Fear of the Lord Repentance and Charity Now Charity is not here considered only as it relates to God whom we ought to love above all things but also as it is to be practised towards Men. 1 John 3. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren But whosa hath this Worlds good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him My little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 John 4. Let us love him because he first loved us If a Man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also Whoever therefore shall carefully observe these three heads will by experience find the mercy goodness and clemency of God towards him the excellency whereof the thought of Man is not able to conceive and far less his tongue to express For the gracious God is always ready to fulfill the promises of salvation which have been made and often confirmed to Believers as it is written Jer. 18. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I though to do unto them Ezek. 18. And if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord and not that he should return from his ways and live So that the Oracles of God do often confirm the Promimises of life and salvation made even to wicked Men who turn from their ways to those I say who turning from the evil of their way and following a course of true Repentance make it their care and study to obey the commands of God and to do Judgment and Justice for whoever do so shall live not by an idle lasie and unactive Faith which is also called a dead Faith but through the righteousness which they have wrought they shall indeed obtain life and salvation from God the author and fountain of life which he hath promised to all who believe in him and obey his world according to that infinite mercy of his which the Scripture celebrates in many places Psal 145. The lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And therefore he bears with the sins of men that he may bring them to Repentance Wisdom 11. For he loveth all the things that are and abhorreth nothing that he hath made for never would he have made any thing if he had hated it And therefore it is that he freely offers and promises his mercy unto all who with a true heart and purpose of mind desire to be converted and to return to him as it is written Ezek. 33. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O House of Israel For the Lord is most gracious and desirous of our
I speak concerning Christ and the Church Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his Wife even as himself and the Wife see that she reverence her Husband Now those houses Domestick Discipline and families are most acceptable to God which are reared upon the Foundations of the fear of the Lord Repentance and Brotherly love where Children and Servants are both by institution and example instructed in the duties of Virtue and true Piety and taught to discharge the several offices of their stations to fear and reverence their Fathers and Masters and to submit to the Authority of the Master of the Family as appointed and established by the Laws of God Wherefore it ought to be the care and study both of Masters of Families and of Children and Servants That all should diligently discharge their several parts the one in commanding the others in obeying and all in mutual helping and assisting of one another in promoting the good of the Family the practice of Piety and the salvation of their Souls For so are Families enjoyned by the Holy Ghost to know and practise their duties Ephes 6. Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with Promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth And ye Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as Men-pleasers but as the Servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to Men knowing that whatsoever good thing any Man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free And ye Masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatning knowing that your Master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of persons with him Nor is it consistent with Christian Doctrine and Truth that Children who ought to be educated by their Parents in the fear of the Lord and in the knowledge and practice of Piety should be bred up in the Principles of corrupt and perverse Doctrine and led in the broad way that tends to destruction being from their infancy indulged and pampered in Pomp and Pride countenanced in Luxury Worldly Delights and Lustful Pleasures taught all the lewd Songs Sports and Exercises of the Age and made acquainted with the factious Principles Feuds and Animosities of their Parents which from their Cradle upward they pursue and promote seeing thereby it happens that the Children of Christians who ought to be holy and imitable examples to all the World of Religion Honesty Reverence and Piety towards God become the scandalous patterns of Dishonesty Uncleanness Irreverence and Impiety both against God and their Parents Servants and Domesticks also encouraged by the publick and private examples of wickedness both in societies abroad and families at home grow through the neglect of those who should punish and correct them proper instruments of Unfaithfulness Disobedience Robberies Thefts Oppressions and the disgrace of Families so that all those employments almost which in themselves are good and lawful run out of course and degenerate into corrupt Nuysances Now it is manifest that this perverseness and depravation of manners always happens when Christian People are not taught the pure simple true and severe Discipline of the Gospel or if they be taught it either through an inveterate habit of sinning wholly slight and neglect it or if they commend and approve it yet think it not so absolutely necessary as that they ought to prefer it before all other things that come in competition therewith and so receive the word that is sown by the Husband-man in stony or thorny ground But we ought greatly to fear and have a care that that complaint of the Lord may not seem to be uttered against us Jer. 5. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets prophesie falsely and the Priests bear rule by their means and my People love to have it so and what will ye do in the end thereof Now to conclude what sinner soever moved by the fear of the Lord shall seriously consider upon the wrath and indignation of God that he hath deserved and the severe and terrible Judgment to which he has made himself liable and shall again meditate in his own thoughts that Grace Mercy and the blessing of Heaven is ready prepared for him if he will but carefully and heartily endeavour to be cloathed with the Wedding Garment that is to follow the rule of Piety above described unless he be more than impious and given over to a reprobate sense there is no doubt but that he will turn with full purpose of heart and soul from Vice to Virtue from corruption to integrity from madness and folly to a sound mind and in a word from the slavery of the Devil to that merciful Lord who is so pleased with the serious and true Repentance of Sinners that with an Oath he has sworn he desires it and has freely promised his blessings to those who hope in his Mercy and turn to him with their heart As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live He that hath ears to hear let him hear and turn to Repentance if he desire to obtain mercy from the most High who healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds by whose grace assistance good will and pleasure we have written this practical Rule of Christian Piety for the instruction of our fellow-Christians hoping that the meditation and study thereof may be useful to them for obtaining salvation through the goodness of God to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen It hath not been our purpose to set off this Christian Institution with the ornaments and flowrishes of exquisite Language and Rhetorick but rather in few and plain words to accommodate this Doctrine of Piety to the capacities of all Christians who might thereby more easily both learn and retain it it being our desire rather to deliver and teach useful and good sense than gay and painted words Now the sum of all that hath been said is shortly this That extraordinary and supernatural gifts and graces are promised to all Men who will believe and accept the same not only in this life but also more especially in that which is to come and the same purchased and conveyed to them by the virtue and efficacy of that wonderful mystery of the conception birth death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God who is ready to bestow them on every one who in the fear of the Lord obeys the holy dictates and precepts of the Law and is diligent and sincere in the practice of brotherly-Brotherly-love and Charity For God requires that Men should fear obey worship and serve him and upon these conditions gave us his promises to the performance of which he obliged himself out of meer grace and bounty And this is the duty which every Christian whether high or low learned or unlearned ought to know and practise But for all other things which Men may desire to know and learn relating either to their private capacities or to the rank and quality which they bear amongst Men and wherein they may be deceived mistaken and err since all Men are not competent Judges of such things we have purposely omitted them exhorting all and every one that having diligently considered and observed the abovementioned three heads they would keep that station wherein by right and Law they are placed not declining to the right or to the left from their common duty which being faithfully performed God of his goodness will impart to all what is necessary to be known and practised by every one in the place and degree that he is called to in society Now if any thing appear unseemly and not altogether so justifiable in the actions and conduct of others it is not the part of any private Man to Judg and Censure it or to endeavour any change or alteration in the Duties and Offices of others but to leave the care of that to the lawful Ministers and Magistrates and to pray the Lord of the Vineyard that he would send fit Labourers into his Vineyard and that he would advance protect and defend his own Harvest Without doubt the Lord will have pity on his inheritance and take care of the welfare and prosperity of his people and will highly approve that no Man for the fault or errour of another withdraw himself from the unity and concord of the established Church and Government but that every Man mind not what other people do but what be ought to do and perform himself and with heart and soul set about it FINIS
away and the lusts thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever From all which divine sentences we may conclude that they who have not carefully avoided the corruption and pollution of life and manners and have not laboured to shun those things that are to be shunned will with all their actions works and oblations be displeasing and so enemies to the pure and holy spirit of God Divine wisdom it self asserts this and therefore advises us not to lose the fruit of our good works through our own fault and negligence Prov. 15. The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord Eccles 34. He that sacrificeth a thing wrongfully gotten his Offering is ridiculous and the gifts of unjust Men are not accepted The most high is not pleased with the Offerings of the wicked neither is be pacified for sin by the multitude of sacrifices The Prophet expostulates the same thing with those who by their perverse actions and deeds both publick and private polluted the sacrifices which they frequented Bring no more vain oblations incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek Judgment relieve the oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord tho your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow tho they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land but if ye refuse and rebell ye shall be devoured with the Sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it This divine expostulation is made up both of promises and threatenings to those who either doe or will not obey wherefore by the same spirit the author of this expostulation we are invited and stirred up by strong and often repeated reasons to seek to God for mercy and the accomplishment of his promises Isay 55. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Seeing therefore it hath been made out unto us by many clear and manifest testimonies and Texts of both the Old and New Testament that these three heads to wit the fear of the Lord Repentance and brotherly Charity as the pure fountains and sources of all pious actions accompanied with Faith are most acceptable to God and through his gracious favour very instrumental not only to make us escape the wrath and indignation of God but also find grace and mercy in time of need and are so necessary to salvation that without them we cannot please God nor obtain the accomplishment of his promises concerning our immortal state and the celestial inheritance purchased to us by the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And seeing by the Covenant of Grace all Believers are assured that through the diligent study and practice of these three points every one may attain their share of that Promise and Obligation which God himself hath graciously and freely proposed to us for our salvation I thought it my duty being moved with Christian zeal and fervent Charity to admonish and exhort all my fellow Christians not only by what we have hitherto alledged but by all the oracles sentences precepts admonitions and exhortations uttered by the holy spirit and laid up in the Treasury of sacred Record that they would carefully set about the duties of Piety and diligently prosecute the same in the constant practice of these three principal Points the Fear of the Lord Repentance and Charity For no Man putting his hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved Now that these things may be religiously and rightly performed we must put off all the carnal affections and lusts that war against the Soul these I say which resist divine grace and retard and keep back the effects of that love whereby Joh. 3. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life 2 Tim. 2. If a Man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work And being enriched with the blessings of divine Grace he shall even in this life being to tast and see that the Lord is good to those that love and fear him That we may therefore briefly summ up all that hath been said of this rule of Christian Piety which hath been confirmed by the word of God delivered in the oracles of the Prophets and asserted in the sentences of the Apostles and all Holy Writ we affirm that these three heads of Religion are not only of principal use but even absolutely necessary to all ranks and conditions of Christians for obtaining the salvation of their souls and the inheritance and possession of the Kingdom of Heaven and that this is a rule common to all Men who would live according to the Doctrine Precepts and Instructions of our Lord. Now these Heads which we have often mentioned are the Fear of the Lord Repentance and Charity or Brotherly love which all of us who profess the Doctrine of the Christian Religion must not only know but also carefully practise through the assistance of the divine grace which as we have already shew'd will be denied to none that rightly seek it as our Lord and Master himself does plainly assure us Luke 11. I say unto you ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened If a Son shall ask bread of any of you that is a Father will he give him a stone or if he ask a Fish will he for a Fish give him a Serpent or if he shall ask an Egg will he offer him a Scorpion if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask him We also testifie and from the reading The Use and Practice of this Rule and observation of the holy Scriptures do affirm and declare that the corruption depravation and malignity of life and manners which is to be found amongst
Men of all conditions proceed from the neglect of these three Parts of Christian discipline which are as certain first Principles of practical Piety known to all Men who are in their right senses And the necessity of these three Principles to wit of the Fear of the Lord Repentance and brotherly-Brotherly-love is manifest not only to all Christians by the light and revealed will of God preached unto them but also to the unlearned and those who know not the written Law by the similitude and image of the Deity stamped on their minds tho as we have said they be not proved and confirmed to them by so many sentences and oracles of holy Scripture which perhaps is their own fault seeing they mind nothing less than the serious learning of those things which make for their own salvation and whilst they heedlesly and negligently run over these diligently study to know and practise the contrary But though they have not at all learn'd or neglect to be taught the Law Rom. 2. Yet they are a Law to themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Now if these three heads of a Christian life were well known and carefully practised by all we should experience another kind of efficacy of the grace of God in us find another chearfulness of mind and other evidences of Faith also Other proofs of our Religion would appear both in publick and private nor would there so many detestable instances of vice and impiety so openly abound in City and in Country in Courts and private Families and in all the societies of Christians where monstrous and flagitious wickedness doth but two much and two often reign and the divine Laws are despised and violated by bloody contentions enmity hatred strife calumnies fraud deceit bitter and frequent quarrels robberies thefts extorsions and defrauding of the poor besides the innumerable arts of violence and oppression whoredom and uncleanness adultery fornication incest and many other heinous abominations not to be named So many places of the Christian World would not abound in surfeiting and drunkenness chambering and wantonness sinful and sensual delights and pleasures and corrupt luxury nor would there be so much vanity and ostentation so immoderate and useless expensiveness so great emulation and pride nor so vast a number of other sins and monstrous wickednesses and impieties as to woful experience we daily see But on the contrary if the fear of the Lord accompanied with Repentance and Charity dwelt in the hearts of all Christians the actions of their lives would be ordered aright It would then be the chiefest care of every one first to stand in a we and fear lest they fall into the hands of the living God and next that they may obtain forgiveness and mercy from him and so every one would endeavour to perform what they promised in the holy Sacrament of Baptism having entred into Covenant before a mortal Man indeed yet with the immortal God the Just Judg of all the World the Lord of Hosts and the avenger of all sin and wickedness Psal 5. Who is a God that hath not pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him The foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all workers of iniquity He shall destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful Man The summ of which promise was To renounce the devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked World and to lead his life according to the Laws of him whose Son he would be accounted and every one being endowed with divine fear incited by the desire of amending his life by Repentance and inflamed with Brotherly love and Charity would direct all his works and actions to the advancement not only of private and particular but also of common and publick Peace Faith Justice Righteousness Mercy Honesty and in a word of the general virtue and sanctity of all Men and carefully perform the duties incumbent upon him that he may receive his reward from him who cannot lie Of the several Duties and Offices of all ranks and conditions of Men to be examined according to this Rule The Second Part. NOW if these three heads of pure Religion and undefiled before God the Father were observed by all Men we should see many lively instances and effects of that practice whereof the summ is James 1. To visit the Fatherless and Widows and to keep himself unspotted from the World And from these fountains of all humane actions that is the Fear of the Lord the study of Repentance and exercise of Charity the offices and duties of all degrees ranks and conditions of Men might easily be drawn and deduced so that the whole body of the Christian Common-wealth from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot would be more healthful and sound than at present we see and would in all its Members worthily perform its several functions There would be no trouble nor discord amongst the various degrees of Men but all would conspire for the mutual good and profit one of another For the variety of degrees orders Ministeries and Offices is not to be condemned but rather approved of and commended amongst a Christian People as being found to be of great use and advantage when they are instituted and executed according to the Laws and Precepts of God for as St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 11. The body is not one Member but many If the foot shall say because I am not the hand I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body and if the ear shall say because I am not the eye I am not of the body is it therefore not of the body if the whole body were an eye where were the hearing if the whole were hearing where were the smelling But now hath God sit the Members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him And a little after he subjoyns That there should be no Schism in the body but that the Members should have the same care one for another And whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or one Member be honoured all the Members rejoyce with it Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular When the several Members are once perswaded of this and in the fear of the Lord in the study of Repentance and practice of Brotherly love and Charity they know their Duties and Offices there is no doubt but that they will religiously set about the performance of the same That we may then begin with the first and chief orders The Duty of Pastors Rulers and Governors of the Christian state it is manifest that it is the duty of Rulers and Governours and of those who are to guide and direct others to take care to maintain the honour of God and to provide what is
of his Flock Luke 11. Wo unto you ye Lawyers for ye lade Men with burdens grievous to be born and ye your selves touch not the burden with one of your fingers Wo unto you Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites for ye are like unto whited Sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead Mens bones and of all uncleanness Those Pastors and Ministers who dread such reproofs and threatnings of the Holy Ghost will forsake other affairs which concern not but rather obstruct their function and with all diligence and pains will set about the discharge of that duty which has been committed to them from above Nor will they think it enough to entrust others with the Government of their Churches who seriously mind their profit but slightly their duty or others by whom Children are only taught to say a few Prayers by heart whilst by age they are unable to do or understand any thing else Nay rather themselves being neither tired out by labour frightned by dangers nor discouraged by difficulties will never leave off to watch over visit and take account of the Flock of God and to take care of and instruct Christians of all ages ranks and conditions in the necessary duties of true and solid Piety This indeed is a heavy charge and not to be performed without much labour and pain but it is likewise most acceptable to the Lord and Master of the Flock who laid down his life for his sheep and will never withdraw the help and assistance which he hath promised to those who study to discharge aright the office of their Ministry And loe said he I am with you to the end of the World Now it behoves every one with a Religious awe and fear to take heed and look to himself that by Ambition Avarice Bribes Interest or other arts he aspire not to that noble Ministery nor be found so doing by that Just Judg from whom the secrets of the heart and actions of Men are not hidden and who allows no Man for his own ends by his own arts and industry and without a-lawful Call and Election to canvass for or step into that holy function nor to undertake the duties of the same unless he be endowed with those virtues and qualities which are set down and expresly described by the Holy Ghost for Tit. 1. A Bishop must be blameless as the Steward of God not self-will'd not soon angry not given to wine no striker nor given to filthy lucre but a lover of hospitality a lover of good Men sober just holy temperate holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers Happy is that Flock that has a Pastor so endowed and qualified then would there be fewer diseases less slothful idleness and fewer scabs and putrifying sores to be seen amongst the Sheep so much error ignorance delusion and superstition would not be found amongst them In a word Non insueta graves tentabunt pabula foetas Nec mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent No novell food their teeming Flocks would cloy Nor no contagious neighbouring ills annoy But on the contrary at what time the sovereign Lord should come to visit the Flock which he hath committed to the care of good Shepherds he would find it pure and clean free from all impious and false doctrines without errors nurtured and bred up in sound Discipline and solid Institution healthy and plump comely and beautiful as being fed with the sound food of pure and heavenly Doctrine which will not only be most acceptable to their Lord and Master but will also procure to the Pastors a most certain and excellent reward And what and how great that may be hoped to be the chief of the Apostles St. Peter declares to his fellow-labourers in the Gospel 1 Pet. 5. The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder and a witness of the Sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but wilfully not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but being ensamples to the Flock and when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of gloâ—y that fadeth not away And we make no The Duty of inferiour Ministers doubt but that if the three Heads which have been already proposed be carefully observed in the lives and manners of inferiour Ministers Priests and Deacons and all that serve at the Altar it will be a most profitable and sure way to procure the grace and favour of God not only to themselves but to all those also who war under their conduct in the Church of Christ for where the fear of the Lord the study of Repentance and the fervent virtue of brotherly love and Charity dwell abundantly there neither Pride nor Ambition neither Hatred nor Injustice neither Backbiting Vanity Pomp nor Ostentation nor any of those vices which are wont to war against the foul and the honesty and integrity of life have any place but rather Honesty Industry Justice Peace Concord Mildness Mercifulness Continence Civility Gravity and all the other Virtues which accompany these and spring from those three Heads as from pure Fountains of Christian Piety will be eminent and conspicuous Superiours will Rule Govern and Correct their Inferiours with paternal love and affection Inferiours will submit unto obey and love their superiours as the Vicegerents and Vicars of Jesus Christ our Redeemer the Lord Master and Head of his Church And both will retain in their minds and practise in their lives what is enjoyned by our Saviour Luke 22. The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors But ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve Now in all that we have already said or shall hereafter say it is not our intention to observe what the practice of all and every one is but only to admonish and declare what they ought to do as we premised in the beginning of this Treatise For it hath always been our design and constant purpose not to give offence to any Man living but only to propose to all what Christ our Supreme Lord and heavenly Master requires of us and of all that would be his Disciples and Followers And therefore that we may prosecute the Offices of the several ranks and qualities of Christians ar we have proposed in the beginning how useful and advantageous the three chief Heads of our Christian Rule to wit the Fear of the Lord Repentance and Brotherly Love are to Kings Princes The Duties of Kings Princes and Magistrates and Magistrates for ordering and carrying on their affairs with Prudence Wisdom
Masters because we are all apt to learn and imitate wicked and bad examples for as the divine Oracle saith Gen. 8. The imagination of Mans heart is evil from his Youth Nor would any reason of State allow if the fear of the Lord Repentance and brotherly-Brotherly-love dwelt as they ought in the hearts of Princes that open Malefactors disturbers of the publick Peace and those that hurt and corrupt the Innocent and Simple who by the Authority of divine Law are utterly to be expelled and cast out of Christian Governments should either be suffered to live in their own Country or be received protected and defended by other Princes or secured by Pass-ports and safe conducts lest thereby they might be continued alive to the ruine and destruction either of the Princes and Magistrates from whom they have fled or of those by whom they are received If this were punctually observed we should find greater reverence paid to the Law less licentiousness and wanton and rash Factiousness amongst Christians For neither is divine Justice divided nor is any wicked impure or incorrigible person tho transported to any place of the Earth approved of or accepted of God nor ought good and godly Princes ever to admit such to any place in their favour or affairs for it is written Psal 5. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abher the bloody and deceitful Man Now that this Judgment and Counsel of God ought to be followed by those Princes who study and endeavour to approve themselves to the Lord and Prince of Princes that holy profession of the Prince according to Gods own heart plainly demonstrates Psal 101. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked person Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour him will I cut off him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the Land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight I will early destroy all the wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord. The authority of divine Justice is perpetual and unalterable which ought equally to be regarded by all Christian Princes nor must they think it is divided or to be executed by halves but they must observe it wholly and entirely squaring it by the Will and Precept of the King of Kings and Lord of all the Earth who when he had appointed Cities of Refuge or Sanctuaries amongst his People whither they who had killed any one without malice or inveterate and confirmed hatred might fly to escape revenge concerning others who with a deliberate purpose of mind committed the fact he thus Enacts Deut. 19. If any Man hate his neighbour and lie in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he dies and fleeth into one of these Cities then the Elders of his City shall send and fetch him thence and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die thine eye shall not pity him but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with thee The same Justice he commands to be executed Deut. 17. 19 22 24. against Thieves Robbers Cheats Ravishers Adulterers and other open Offenders and publick violators of Justice Truth and Honesty all whom he will have taken out of the way that the evil may be put away from Israel and therefore to the several sentences he adds And so shalt thou put away the evil from among you And since the Christian Doctrine hath taught the rest of the Officers of Kingdoms and Commonwealths all Judges Lawyers Advocates Proctors Clerks and other subservient Ministers of Magistrates and Courts of Judicature the fear of the Lord Repentance and brotherly-Brotherly-love it will not allow them to Practise or get Estates by Fraud Deceit Cavilling Petty-fogging malicious interpretation of the Law protracting of Suits starting of litigious Processes superfluous invention of Pleas or by false information against the Innocent or unjust defence of the Guilty For this Doctrine condemns all haughtiness of mind Luxury Pride and Ambition and all vices that are fed and cherished by riches even innocently got but much more severely condemns Men who get Estates and live splendidly of the sweat and blood of their Christian Brethren and by their Fraud Craft cunning and over-reaching and such ways as exceed the perverseness of which God sadly complaining thus threatens by the Prophet Jer. 5. Among my People are found wicked Men they lay wait as he that setteth snares they set a trap they catch Men. As a Cage is full of Birds so are their Houses full of Deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich They are waxen fat they shine yea they over pass the deeds of the wicked they Judge not the Cause the Cause of the Fatherless yet they prosper and the right of the needy do they not Judge Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord Shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this from such crimes must all the Officers of a State flee who in prospect of Salvation endeavour to live Godly Justly and Honestly in this present wicked world and they ought to make it their whole care and business that Equity Justice and Moderation may flourish both in publick and private and that the powerful rich and crafty may not unjustly impose upon the weak poor and simple since that charge is seriously pressed upon them by God himself Isa 1. Learn to do well seek Judgment relieve the oppressed Judge the fatherless plead for the widow Now as to the Rich and such as The Duty of the Rich. endeavour to be so if they would remember their promise made in holy Baptism and confirmed by covenant with the Lord if they resolve to follow after and practise holiness according to the rules of Christian Piety they may easily and plainly learn from the Doctrine of our Lord and Master contained in the three aforementioned Heads how far otherwise they ought to behave themselves both in getting and spending of Estates than most part of Rich Men usually do For the Unjust Covetous and Insatiable Desire of Riches and the vain superfluous ambitious or selfish use of them are not consistent with the fear of the Lord the duty of Repentance and brotherly-Brotherly-love of Christians which approve not those advantages that wealth abuses to pleasures and
luxury but rather condemn them The Christian Doctrine that advises those who would be saved not to trust to Riches commending Honesty Modesty Temperance Innocence Continence Mercy Bounty Liberality and the other Duties of Piety and Religion and on the contrary detesting and disswading from the opposite vices as Pride and Haughtiness Delights and Pleasures Injuries Robberies and Oppression of the Poor detaining or Cheating the Labourers Wages Usury Monopolies enhaunsing of prices and every thing else that is either disgraceful to the doer hurtful to our Christian Brethren or inconsistent with the publick good in the Judgment of God himself For he who reckons all Christians his Brethren and Children of one Common Father the Just Merciful and Bountiful God and shall know that they stand in need of his help ought to assist them partly by giving and partly by lending without any hope of profit benefit or interest and thereby magnifie God the Father who hath enabled him to shew that kindness to his Brethren which the liberal goodness of God hath promised to recompense with a sure and excellent reward For so it is written Luke 6. Do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the highest for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil Be ye therefore Merciful as your Father also is Merciful To this duty of beneficence enjoyned by Christ to his Disciples we may add that strict command of God Deut. 15. If there be among you a poor Man of one of thy brethren within any of thy Gates in thy Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year the year of release is at hand and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou givest him nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because that for that thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto For the poor shall never cease out of the Land therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the Land The sincere Disciples of Christ ought to set before their eyes and think on that command of God that is backed with so many reasons commended by so many promises and armed with so many threatnings against the neglecters of it and freely bestow and lend according to their abilities avoiding what in them lies that sentence pronounced by the Holy Ghost against the rich Men of this World and not in good works Jam. 5. Go to now ye rich Men weep and houl for your miseries that shall come upon you Your riches are corrupted and your Garments are Moth-eaten your Gold and Silver is Cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last days Behold the hire of the Labourers which have reaped dawn your Fields which is of you kept back by Fraud erieth and the cries of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth Ye have lived in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter Consonant to this sentence is that dreadful commination of Christ Luke 6. Wo unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation Wo unto you that are full for ye shall hunger wo unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep And is it not a very terrible sentence that is pronounced and with an asseveration confirmed by our Saviour against rich Men Mat. 19. Verily I say unto you that a rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And again I say unto you it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God The reason of this difficulty the Holy Ghost affirms to be because the desire and love of riches deceives Men and turns them often out of the streight road of Equity and Justice For he that desires to be rich hastens to be so but then what respect is there to the Law what fear or shame in him who sets his soul upon wealth nay plenty and opulency when once it is acquired debauches both Men and Women from an innocent modest and honest way of living into luxury vanity and pomp into pride and strife and into other violations of the divine commandments and contempt of Christian simplicity setting off enormous vices with great and plausible names so prone is the sinful appetite of Man to abuse even the advantages and blessings of earthly things a fault carefully to be avoided as the Apostle admonisheth 1 Tim. 6. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown Men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows And therefore that good Men may be ware of that deceitfulness of riches Psal 62. The holy Ghost by the mouth of the Prophet gives this admonition If riches encrease set not your heart upon them Nor is the holy Doctrine of our Lord and Master The duty of Merchants and Tradesmen more remiss or obscure in informing all those who live and endeavour to get Estates by Traffick and Trades For such are taught by the fear of the Lord the study of Repentance and Brotherly Love to deceive no Man not to adulterate or change diminish or increase their goods and commodities nor to neglect any thing that relates to them which the nature of the goods require not to change and raise their prices nor to deal fraudulently in weights and measures for the holy Scriptures assure us that all such frauds and cheats argue a contempt of divine Justice Christian simplicity and uprightness and are extremely offensive to the supreme Judge of all Men. Prov. 11. A false ballance is abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight And again Prov. 20. Divers weights and divers measures both of them are alike abomination to the Lord. Nor is that custom of cheating and circumventing our brethren by false prices and oaths and a cunning wheadle of words less abominable to God as it is written Amos 8. Hear this O ye that swallow up the needy even to make the poor of the Land to fail saying when will the new Moon
be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat making the Ephah small and the Shekel great and falsifying the ballances by deceit That we may buy the poor for Silver and the needy for a pair of Shooes yea and sell the refuse of the wheat The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob surely I will never forget any of their works Shall not the Land tremble for this and every one mourn that dwelleth therein whosoever are the true disciples and followers of Christ will fear and stand in awe to offend God and to be liable to such threatnings whatever art or profession they follow they 'l manage the same with all faithfulness and care and behave themselves modestly and justly in the business they set about neither wronging their brethren in their work nor exacting too much for their labour nor overvaluing the goods they sell them but proposing to themselves charity and the good of others rather than covetousness and abominating all filthy and forbid gain they will be content with the lawful gettings of their callings and shun and despise the pride of life as a thing altogether inconsistent with the simplicity of their vocation But that we may now descend from the publick society and duties of Mankind to the particular relations of private persons and enter into the houses and families of Christians we are to take notice what the mutual duties of private persons in a family are and how they are to be performed by Christians as in the presence of God who is a Judge and witness of all their actions Christian Women and Wives who desire to order their lives according The duty of Women and Wives to this short but universal rule of Christian Piety must studiously avoid all Pride Arrogance Vain-glorious Boasting Envy Haughtiness Back-biting and evil speaking shewing nothing in their conversation of Voluptuousness Wantonness Lustfulness Idleness or Curiosity and giving no example of Anger Hatred Discord Grudge nor Malice Put on the contrary they are in all things to approve themselves Modest Peaceable lovers of Truth Charity and Simplicity and Dutiful and Obedient to their Husbands and Yokefellows in all things that are lawful and honest For these ornaments and certain proofs of true virtue are always conspicuous in those Christian Women who fear the Lord practise Repentance and live holily in brotherly-Brotherly-love and Charity with all Men To which they are also enjoyned by the holy Precepts of the spirit of God with assurances of his favour if they perform and of his anger and indignation if they omit and neglect their duty Eph. 5. Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the head of the Wife even as Christ is the head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the body Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Wives who sincerely and heartily study Piety will not mind gorgeous attire rich costly and gaudy apparel which by decking and setting off the body Eclipses the beauty gravity and modesty of the mind but such as being prepared by virtue is an argument of probity and chiefly designed to render them acceptable to God and beloved of their own Husbands For that attire and dress is most commendable and graceful in a Wife which adorns the mind and makes her lovely in the sight of God and her own Husband and venerable to all others that being the ornament which the Holy Ghost prescribes and commends as becoming a Christian Wife 1 Pet. 3. While they the Husbands behold your chast conversation coupled with fear Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden Man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own Husbands And tho God would not have such to be ignorant or negligent of their own duty yet he does not approve that they should be tatlers or disputers or that they should arrogate to themselves wisdom and knowledge nor would he have them to be greedy of many teachers or desirous of much learning but being satisfied with the knowledge of true Piety and Christian Candor and Simplicity that they should busie themselves in the exercise and practice thereof 1 Cor. 14. Let your Women keep silence in the Churches for it is not permitted to them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the Law And if they will learn any thing let them ask their Husbands at home for it is a shame for Women to speak in the Church And again in another place 1 Tim. 2. Let the Women learn in silence with all subjection But I suffer not a Woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the Man but to be in silence For Adam was first formed then Eve And Adam was not deceived but the Woman being deceived was in the transgression Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety The same Doctrine The duty of Husbands and Discipline of Christian Piety comprehended under the three aforemention'd Heads the fear of the Lord Repentance and brotherly-Brotherly-love if it be rightly known and practised will also keep Men in their duty and to the performance of the chast Vows and Promises of Marriage for it enjoyns Husbands to love their Wives and to have the same care of them as of themselves but especially as the most important concern of Marriage to consult and provide for the eternal salvation of the Wife not only by frequent and reiterated admonitions but also by good and wholsom examples and if it be needful by undergoing all kinds of danger and running the risk of life and fortune for accomplishing that end The whole of this duty is by the Holy Ghost summ'd up in this Precept Eph. 5. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish So ought Men to love their Wives as their own bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no Man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church for we are Members of his body of his flesh and of his bones For this cause shall a Man leave Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife and they two shall be one flesh This is a great mystery but