two things are to be done the one is that we persevere in the pure and holy Faith of the Catholick Church and the other that we endeavour the amendment of our lives and manners according to the Rules and Precepts of our Lord and Master constantly praying against sin that endangers our souls and for eternal life which is their happiness and bliss If these things be purely religiously and holily set about they will procure us the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ as the Holy Ghost by the mouth of his Prophet does assure us Psal 107. Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of Men. They that go down to the Sea in Ships that do business in great waters These see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy Wind which lifteth up the waves thereof They mount up to the Heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and are at their wits end Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses He maketh the Storm a Calm so that the waves thereof are still Then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven Oh that Men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Chilren of Men. Let them exalt him also in the Congregation of the People and praise him in the Assembly of the Elders Whose is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. THE Practical Rule OF Christian PIETY The First Part. THE scope and design of all Philosophers who have treated of the Nature and Actions of Man and have given precepts and rules for the conduct of humane life seems to have been to find out and demonstrate a supreme Perfection to which when Man had once attained he had no further desires to disturb him but rested content in an entire and peaceable enjoyment of the chief and most Humane Felicity desirable good And this they called a state of Happiness or Bliss Constant and daily experience made it manifest that The common condition of life the way of living which most part of Mankind followed being obnoxious to care and anxiety labour and pain trouble and perturbation of thoughts came far short of that perfection of humane Nature that rest and tranquillity of mind that Mankind aspired to And that the various states and conditions of Men made no difference in the case seeing Kings Princes Magistrates and common People the Rich and the Poor the Whole and the Sick all were dissatisfied and uneasie in their own condition Wherefore many have made it their business to search out and discover several means how they might attain to that chief good which might produce a solid and universal repose in the minds of all Men. But the different biass of passions and inclination so divided and distracted the thoughts of the undertakers that they were wide of the Mark and erred in the way of finding true happiness for some placed chief good in the delights and pleasures of the Body others in the affluence of Riches others again in indolence or exemption from grief and pain and some in a freedom from all Passions and Affections Every one in their several Studies and Actions pursued the end they had proposed to themselves and laid down Maxims and Rules for others to do the like whom by large promises and exhortations they invited to the same course of life However the Opinion of those who placed the chief end and happiness of Man in bodily delights pleasures and sensual lusts in the judgment of the wiser hath been totally exploded As not only in the act and enjoyments of delights and pleasure but also in the manner of attaining to them rendering the nature of Man inferiour and more unhappy than that of Beasts But the opinion of those who made the perfection of life chiefly to consist in the soundness of the mind and in virtue tho in general it was approved yet the determination of the things that did constitute and the method prescribed for arriving at that felicity were found liable to so many errors and difficulties that being measured by and compared with the standard of true happiness they were at length condemned and rejected as ineffectual For some being ignorant of the true Original of the Souls of Men and not acknowledging God for the author of them they fancied to themselves a certain perfection of Virtue which they were so far from attaining to that neither they nor their Disciples could ever reach within the view thereof Some again tho they knew God to be the Supreme and true Author of Humane Nature yet they owned him not to be the chief end and happiness of Man and tho indeed they might acknowledge that yet without the revealed will of God himself they could not rightly understand how they ought to seek and by what means come to the enjoyment of him nay and that also being known they could not without the assistance of divine Grace set about the performance of the duties required therein God was therefore in the first place to be known and applied to by Faith and that supreme Master to be consulted who might shew and declare himself and his Doctrine unto them by those secret and divine ways whereby he can and is wont to do it for without Faith it is impossible to please God But the quite contrary course was taken by those who attributed so much to the industry and sharpness of humane understanding that they thought that there was nothing to be sought from God judging it unseeming a quaint and accurate Philosopher to have recourse to the will of God as being the act rather of a slothful Soul than of a prying and inquisitive Mind that searched into the nature of things That Man might and ought of himself find out the excellent nature of Virtue carefully and industriously pursue after and labour to obtain it and having obtained it preserve and improve the same which tho they promised to themselves and endeavoured to accomplish yet seeing they were neither rooted in Faith nor had begged and desired the aid of divine Grace their search was in vain so that no where finding what they lookt for they fatally misled themselves and those that followed them And losing all hopes of attaining to the happiness they proposed they at length degenerated into the basest and most corrupt kind of life This the Holy Ghost takes notice of and thus condemns Eph. 4. This I say therefore and testifie in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in
and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Nevertheless we must always be upon our guard and take diligent heed lest securely trusting to past Pardons and the confident expectation of Gods future mercy we never cease to do evil and learn to do good that is not the use but the abuse of divine Clemency and Mercy The Mercy of God is indeed from Generation to Generation but upon those that fear him and I will hear saith the Psalmist Psal 85. what God the Lord will say for he will speak Peace unto the People and to his Saints but let them not return again to Folly Again Isai as saith Isa 30. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you The Lord will wait that he may be gracious saith he not that they who are waited for should heap sin upon sin and return unto the vomit but because he hath promised mercy to them who with their whole heart so turn unto him that they stand in awe and greatly fear any more to offend him otherwise as the same Prophet saith Therefore will the Lord be exalted that he may have Mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of Judgment who denies not his promised Mercy to any that rightly seek it but withall does not for ever delay but in due time inflict the punishments which are appointed to those whose heart is not right and stedfast with him There is no time with God void of Mercy towards those who hinder not their own Mercy Now they do hinder it who after the hardness and impenitence of their heart treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath Isa 66. To this Man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word But concerning those who are not truly poor of a contrite spirit and tremble at his word he hath pronounc'd this Sentence He that killeth an Ox is as if he flew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs neck he that Offereth an Oblation as if he Offered Swines Blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol 1 Kings 8. they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their abominations They therefore that have committed sin for as Solomon saith there is no Man that sinneth not must constantly keep in the way of Repentance and denying themselves hear and follow him who hath said Not he that beginneth but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved They must from their whole heart and Soul Renounce the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world as they have promised and vowed in their Baptism otherwise Jer. 8. thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return why then is this People of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding The Lord calls it a perpetual back-sliding when men in their manners retain and follow that wicked course of life which in word or thought they may have condemned and falsly professing and boasting of their Repentance do not conscientiously perform the duty of it but belying their own hearts deceive themselves and not God nor his Minister to whom they promised a serious amendment of life This the Lord finds fault with by the same Prophet They hold fast deceit they refuse to return I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no Man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Every one turned to his Course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel The Lord indeed waits that he may have mercy upon us and uses patience not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Come to Repentance saith that Apostle who knew that Repentance was necessary to sinners for appeasing the wrath and obtaining the mercy of God Now the Holy Spirit does plainly tell us that the long-suffering of God is not everlasting tho we believe and confess his Mercy to be infinite Psal 7. God Judgeth the Righteous and God is angry with the Wicked every day if he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death He ordaineth his arrows against the Persecutors When God Almighty was about to destroy the old World because of sin he allotted them a certain time to repent in as it is written Gen 6. And the Lord said my Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is Flesh yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years At the end of which all Mankind perished in the Flood save only the Family of Noah who in that Age was found Righteous in the sight of God The People of Niniveh being warned by the Prophet that after forty days they should be destroyed delayed not their Repentance until the last day but set about it so soon as they heard the denunciation all that time I say was employed and spent in fasting and prayer for averting the wrath of God imploring divine mercy and amending their sinful lives as it is written Jona 3. And Jonah began to enter into the City a days Journey and he cried and said yet fourty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown So the People of Nineveh believed God and Proclaimed a Fast and put on Sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them for word came unto the King of Nineveh and he arose from his Throne and he laid his Robe from him and covered him with Sackcloth and sate in Ashes and he caused to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the Decree of the King and his Nobles saying let neither Man nor Beast Herd nor Flock tast any thing let them not feed nor drink water But let Man and Beast be covered with Sackcloth and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from their evil way and from the violence that is in their hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not The Men of Nineveh will rise in Judgment against those who having been warned not once but often yet have not turned from their evil ways or who have delayed the duty of a serious Repentance to the last day of their life living in the mean time wickedly and following the Vanities Lusts Ambition Pride and Vices of the World whereas no Man ought or can say that he is allowed to put off the exercise of Repentance to the extremity of life since upon the first call and admonition all Men are commanded to turn and be converted unto the Lord. To day saith the Holy Ghost if you will hear his voice harden
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
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-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
faithful Author of this Doctrinâ— will abundantly and to the fulâ— perform what he hath promised tho in the beginning it be unknown to believers seeing hâ— who freely and graciously hath promised standeth not in need oâ— the goodness of others nor iâ— made poorer by conferring hiâ— own but by how much the morâ— he is liberal and bountiful by sâ— much the riches of his goodnesâ— and inexhaustible mercy does encrease Rom. 10. For the samâ— Lord over all is rich unto all thaâ— call upon him Whether then the reward of the Discipline of Christ be fully known to his followers or but darkly shadowed out to them yet it shall not be denied to those who with a pure and holy heart seek after it nor shall it want any thing of that amplitude and fulness which the divine nature of the thing it self and the Majesty Authority and Bounty of him that promises it does require Esa 55. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts For as the rain cometh down and the snow from Heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the Earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goeth forth of my mouth it shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it for ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace the Mountains and the Hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field she clap their hands Instead of tâ— Thorn shall come up the Fig-treâ— and instead of the Bryar shall comâ— up the Myrtle tree and it she be to the Lord for a name for aâ— everlasting sign that shall not bâ— cut off A clear proof of thâ— appears in Abraham whom God heretofore having selected and separated him from the Doctrinâ— and Manners of the Gentiles proposed as an excellent pattern to be imitated by those who would imbrace and submit to this Discipline how he having received and by firm Faith believed thâ— promise of an earthly inheritance did not instantly know what extent of Land was assured to him referring that to thâ— Almighty who had made the Promise but thought it was enough for him to relie on the promises of the God of the whole Earth who having freely spoken the word was best able and most willing to perform it And no sooner was the Promise made but he trusting it obeyed the command and submitted to the conditions enjoyned him Gen. 12. For the Lord said unto Abraham get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindred and from thy Fathers house unto a Land that I will shew thee and I will make of thee a great Nation and I will bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalâ— be a blessing And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the Earth be blessed So Abraham departed as the Lord had commanded him knowing neither whither he went nor how large the possession was that he was to have which the Apostle observing saith By Faith Abraham when he was call'd to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went wholly trusting to the word of him who could and would perform more than he was able either to ask or think and looking upon it as his duty to obey the Master whose Disciple he was that had promised him large inheritance to be revealed and discovered unto him in due time as the event made appear For Abraham having made a competent progress in the discipline he had embraced being called by God to whose institution he had resigned himself was fully instructed by him not only in the exâ—ent of the Earthly inheritance but of the Heavenly Blessings also which were shadowed and typified thereby as it is written Gen. 13. And the Lord said unto Abraham after that Lot was separated from him lift up now thine eyes and look from the Place where thou art North-ward and South-ward and East-ward and West-ward For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever And I will make thy Seed as the dust of the Earth so that if a Man can number the dust of the Earth then shall thy Seed also be numbred Arise walk through the Land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for I will give it unto thee Wherefore seeing no Man can doubt but that what things God hath promised will more fully be accomplished than he who is to receive them can wish for oâ— think it will be the duty of a true Believer and Disciple of Christ to set diligently about the performance of the condition imposed upon him and to leave the blessings and favours which he does expect to the arbitrement of him to whose conduct and doctrine he hath resigned himself even to God Almighty the powerful and rich Father of all Mercies who maketh it to rain upon the Just and the Unjust and who by the mouth of his own Son in whom he hath spoken and made the greatest of promises to us hath promised to give his good spirit to those that seek him For if he most graciously fulfilled what at sundry times and in divers manners he spake and promised unto the Fathers by the Prophets and if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast how can we be denied or disappointed of any thing that hath been promised to us by the Son of his Love the faithful interpreter of his Will and bountiful dispencer of his Grace and Mercies This made a most approved Apostle who by his own and the experience of others was convinced of that truth break out in thankfulness to God Rom. 8. What shall we then say to these things If God be for us who can be against us He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not also with him freely give us all things So that on the part of him that promises no doubt can be made nor any impediment interpose why those things which have been promised should not superabundantly be fulfilled Luke 6. good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom And the truth of this Christian Doctrine for ever stands firm and unshaken Tit. 1. According to the Faith of Gods Elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness In hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before the World began but hath in due times manifested his word Heb. 6. For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself saying surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee
salvation who when he would have Men to turn to him with their whole heart and mind and so obtain life he patiently waits for their Repentance and this the holy Scriptures clearly testifie Isa 30. Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you And the Apostle St. Peter saith The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Now that the Conversion and true Repentance of sinners is most acceptable and pleasing to God his own Son shews us in that saving Sermon which he made in the three Parables of the prodigal Son the lost sheep and groat whereby he exhorted all Men that they would endeavour by their conversion to please God and cause joy in the whole Court of Heaven that so they might tast of the wonderful goodness of God who is rich in mercy towards all that call upon him with a pure and single heart and upon whom if they approve themselves by Faith and the practice of true Repentance and Obedience he bestows great mercies and the spirit of sanctification with all his gifts and graces which St. Peter affirms was given to all that obey him and our Saviour promised to be given saying John 14. If ye love me keep my commandments And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive Now in the sence of St. John the world are they who live according to the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh or the pride of life that is who are slaves to lust delights pleasures or ambition for those shall not feel the power and virtue of that holy spirit abiding in them as the Lord himself pronounces Gen. 6. My spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he also is flesh With Man who is flesh and striveth not to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh as the Apostle saith if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live to wit through the spirit of God given and communicated unto you for so it is written Isa 66. Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest for all those things hath mine hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord but to this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word Those divine gifts and graces whereby Men upon Earth are changed into other creatures and become almost celestial avoiding the corruption that is in the World through lust and having their conversation in heaven examples and instances of these gifts I say which were very frequent of old are now rare to be found on the Earth because we have neither that strong and lively faith in the Promises of God nor purely and sincerely obey his Precepts neither are we filled with the holy fear of the Lord but by a double and deceitful heart wicked and perverse thoughts and actions we are wanting to our selves and to the grace and goodness of God of God I say who trieth the heart and searcheth the reins and sees us wholly given over to impure thoughts the delights and pleasures of the flesh and to pride and ambition like adulterous Women dealing treacherosly against their lawful husbands which kind of hearts estranged from or divided in their chief love he neither loves nor approves of The mind must be pure and single and fervent in love that aspires to the heavenly marriage of this bridegroom and would have it confirmed and made good to it The wise Son of Sirach advises us to endeavour that as much as we can when he saith Ecclus 1. 2. Distrust not the fear of the Lord and come not unto him with a double heart Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the sinner that goeth two ways And the word of God by the mouth of his holy Prophets does also in many places expresly admonish us heartily to renounce the vanities sins and pollutions of this World and make it our whole care to forsake them Jer. 4. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodg within thee Whosoever come so provided to seek the Lord shall certainly find him to be loving gracious and bountiful Jer. 29. Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you saith the Lord whose blessed Son hath also said Mat. 5. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God God is to be seen by the pure in heart saith our Saviour He is to be seen dwelling in them whom he consecrates for a holy Temple to himself as it is written Isa 57. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Psal 147. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up then wounds This contrition of heart so acceptable unto God and so much commended in Scripture doth not dwell nor abide with the anxious desire of worldly things and of the pomp and glory of the age which are hateful to the Lord. Nor let any Man perswade himself that he can serve two Masters that is that he can please God and at the same time fulfil the lusts of the flesh pursue the vanities pride and ambition of the World and obey the dictates of carnal wisdom The Apostle St. James declares it to be impossible Jam. 4. Ye adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy And therefore we are earnestly warned by the Apostle St. John that being deluded by vain arguments or any idle and groundless hope and opinion we should not retain the love of this World but wholly reject it if we would approve our selves to God whom we ought to love for our own salvation John 2. Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world And the world passeth