that giveth me all Life is not for meat or drink or play but these are for Life and Life for the higher Ends of Life § 16. 2. Look unto thy Redeemer drowsie soul and consider for what end he did Redeem thee Was it to wander a few years about the earth and to sleep and sport a while in flesh Or was it to crucifie thee to the world and raise thee up to the Love of God He came down to Earth from Love it self being full of Love to shew the Loveliness of God and reconcile thee to him and take away the enmity and by Love to teach thee the art of Love His Love constrained him to offer himself a Sacrifice for sin to make thee a Priest thy self to God to offer up the Sacrifice of an enflamed heart in love and praise And wilt thou disappoint thy Redeemer and disappoint thy self of the benefits of his Love The Means is for the End Thou maist as well say I would not be Redeemed as to say I would not Love the Lord. § 17. 3. And bethink thy self O drowsie soul for what thou wast Regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit Was it not that thou mightst KNOW and LOVE the Lord What is the Spirit of Adoption that is given to Believers but a Spirit of predominant Love to God Gal. 4. 6. Thou couldst have loved Vanity and doted on thy fleshly friends and pleasures without the Spirit of God It was not for these but to destroy these and kindle a more noble heavenly fire in thy breast that the Spirit did renew thee Examine search and try thy self whether the Spirit hath sanctified thee or not Knowest thou not that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his 2 Cor. 13. 5. Rom. 8. 9. And if Christ and his Spirit be in thee thy Love is dead to earthly vanity and quickned and raised to the most Holy God Live then in the Spirit if thou have the Spirit To walk in the Spirit is to walk in Love Hath the Regenerating Spirit given thee on purpose a new principle of Love and done so much to excite it and been blowing at the Coals so oâ—t and shall thy carnality or sluggishness yet extinguish it As thou wouldst not renounce or contemn thy Creation thy Redemption and Regeneration contemn not and neglect not the Love of thy Creator Redeemer and Regenerater which is the End of all § 18. Direct 2. Think of the perfect fitness of God to be the only Object of thy superlative Love Direct 2. and how easie and necessary it should seem to us to do a work so agreeable to right Reason and uncorrupted Nature and abhorr all temptations which would make God seem unsuitable to thee O sluggish and unnatural soul Should not an object so admirably â—it allure thee Should not such attractive Goodness draw thee Should not perfect amiableness win thee wholly to it self Do but know thy self and God and then forbear to love him if thou canst Where should the fish live but in the Water And where should Birds flye but in the Air God is thy very Element Thou dyest and sinkest down to brutishness if thou forsake him or be taken from him What should delight the smell but odours or the appetite but its delicious food or the eye but Light and what it sheweth and the ear but harmony And what should delight the soul but God If thou know thy self thou knowest that the Nature of thy Mind inclineth to knowledge and by the knowledge of effects to rise up to the cause and by the knowledge of lower and lesser matters to ascend to the highest and greatest And if thou know God thou knowest that he is the cause of all things the Maker Preserver and Orderer of all the Being of Beings the most Great and Wise and Good and Happy so that to know him is to know all to know the most excellent independent glorious being that will leave no darkness nor unsatisfied desire in thy soul. And is he not then most suitable to thy mind If thou know thy self then thou knowest that thy will as free as it is hath a natural necessary inclination to goodness Thou canst not Love evil as evil nor canst thou choose but Love apprehended goodness especially the chiefest good if rightly apprehended And if thou know God thou knowest that he is Infinitely good in himself and the Cause of all the good that is in the world and the giver of all the good thou hast received and the only fit and suitable good to satisfie thy desires for the time to come And yet shall it be so hard to thee to Love so agreeably to perfect Nature so Perfect and full and suitable a good even goodness and Love it self which hath begun to Love thee Is any of the Creatures which thou Lovest so suitable to thee Are they good and only Good and Perfectly Good and unchangeably and eternally Good Are they the spring of comfort and the satisfying happiness of thy soul Hast thou found them so Or dost thou look to find them best at last Foolish soul Canst thou love the uneven defective troublesome creature if to some one small inferiour use it seemeth suitable to thee and canst thou not Love him that is all that rational Love can possibly desire to enjoy What though the creature be near thee and God be infinitely above thee He is nearer to thee than they And though in glory he be distant thou art passing to him in his glory and wilt presently be there Though the Sun be distant from thee it communicateth to thee its Light and Heat and is more suitable to thee than the Candle that is nearer thee What though God be most Holy and thou too earthly and unclean Is he not the fitter to purifie thee and make thee Holy Thou hadst rather if thou be poor have the company and favour of the Rich that can relieve thee than of beggars that will but complain with thee And if thou be unlearned or ignorant thou wouldst have the company of the wise and learned that can teach thee and not of those that are as ignorant as thy self Who is so suitable to thy Desires as he that hath all that thou canst wisely desire and is willing and ready to satisfie thee to the full Who is more suitable to thy Love than he that Loveth thee most and hath done most for thee and must do all that ever will be done for thee and is himself most lovely in his infinite perfections O poor diseased lapsed soul if sin had not corrupted and distempered and perverted thee thou wouldst have thought God as suitable to thy Love as meat to thy hunger and drink to thy thirst and rest to thy weariness and as the earth and water the Air and Sun are to the inhabitants of the world O whither art thou fallen and how far how long hast thou wandered from thy God that thou now drawest
the respects of his Goodness and Love as to our selves but highliest regarding himself for himself as carried to him above our selves § 10. 11. Though Love in its own Nature be still the same and is nothing but the Rational appetite of Good or the Wills Volition of Good apprehended by the understanding the first motion of the Will to Good arising from that Natural inclination to Good which is the Nature of the Will and the pondus animae the poise of the soul or from healing Grace which repaireth the breach that is made in nature Yet Love in regard of the state of the Lover and the way of its imperate acting is thus differenced 1. Either the Lover is in the Hopeful pursuit of the thing beloved and then it is DESIRING SEEKING LOVE 2 Or he is or seemeth to be denyed destitute and deprived of his beloved in whole or in part and then it is a MOURNING LAMENTING LOVE 3. Or he enjoyeth his beloved and then it is ENJOYING DELIGHTING LOVE 1. The ordinary Love which Grace causeth on Earth is a predominancy of seeking desiring Love encouraged Nobâ—â—us praestaâ— ius est Charitatem exertere in Deo quam virtures propter Deum Châ—â—â—â—tâ—s compâ—ndiosissima ad Deum via est per quam celeâ—â—ime in Deum perveniâ—ur nec sine Charitate aliqua viâ—tus supernaturaâ—ter homini sapit Charitas enim forma omnium virtutum est Per hoc Charitatis exercâ—tium homo ad tantâ—m 〈◊〉 aâ—ominationem venit ut non solum seipsum contemrat verum etiam se ab aliis contemni aequo animo ferat imo etiam ab aliis contemptus gaudâ—aâ— Thaulâ—rus flor c. 7. p. 114. by some little fore-tastes of enjoying delighting Love and in a great measure attended with Mourning Lamenting Love 2. The state of deserted dark declining relapsing and melancholy tempted Christians is A predominance of Mourning Lamenting Love assisted with some help of seeking desiring Love but destitute of enjoying delighting Love 3. The state of the Glorified is Perfection of enjoying delighting Love alone And all the rest are to bring us unto this III. The Reasons why Love to God is so great and high and necessary a thing and so much esteemed above other Graces are 1. It is the motion of the soul that tendeth to the End And the End is more excellent than all the Means as such 2. The Love or Will or Heart is the Man where the Heart or Love is there the Man is It is the fullest resignation of the whole man to God to Love him as God or offer him the Heart God never hath his Own fully till we Love him Love is the grand significant vital motion of the soul such as the Heart or Will or Love is such you may boldly call the man 3. The Love of God is the perfection and highest improvement of all the faculties of the soul and the End of all other Graces to which they tend and to which they grow up and in which they terminate their operations 4. The Love of God is that Spirit or life of moral excellency in all other Graces in which though not their form yet their acceptableness doth consist without which they are to God as a lifeless Carrion is to us And to prove any action sincere and acceptable to God is to prove that it comes from a Willing Loving mind without which you can never prove it 5. Love is the commander of the soul and therefore God knoweth that if he have our Hearts he hath all For all the rest are at its command For it is as it were the nature of the Will which is the commanding faculty and its Object is the Vltimate End which is the Commanding Object Love setleth the mind on Thinking the tongue on speaking the hands on working the feet on going and every faculty obeyeth its command 6. The obedience which Love commandeth participateth of its nature and is a ready chearful sweet obedience acceptable to God and pleasant to our selves 7. Love is a pure chaste and cleansing grace and most powerfully casteth out all creature Austi◠〈…〉 all 9. iâ— Iohn having shewed that among men it makeeth no one beautiful to Love one that is beautiful saith Anima nostio soeda est per inâ—quitatem amando Deum pulchra â—fficiâ—ur Qualâ—s amâ—r qui â—eddaâ— pulchrum amantem Deus semper Pater est amavit nos faedos ut ex saedis faceret pulchros Pulchri erimus amando enim qui pulcher est Quantum in â—e crescit Amor tantum crescit pulchritudo Quia ipsa Charitas animae pulchritudo est pollution from the soul The Love of God doth quench all carnal sinful love and most effectually carryeth up the soul to such high delights as causeth it to contemn and forget the toyes which it before admired 8. The Love of God is the true acknowledging and honouring him as good That blessed Attribute his GOODNESS is denyed or despised by those that Love him not The Light of the Sun would not be valued honoured or used by the world if there were no eyes in the world to see it And the Goodness of God is to them that Love him not as the Light to them that have no eyes If God would have had his Goodness to be thus unknown or neglected he would never have made the Intellectual creatures Those only give him the glory of his Goodness that truly Love him 9. Love in its attainment is the Enjoying and delighting Grace It is the very content and felicity of the soul Both as it maketh us capable to receive the most delightful communications of Gods Love to us and as it is the souls delightful closure with its most amiable felicitating object 10. Love is the Everlasting Grace and the work which we must be doing in Heaven for ever These are the the Reasons of Loves preheminence § 12. IV. The Love of Creatures hath its Contraries on both extreams in the excess and in the Defect But the Love of God hath no contrary in excess For infinite Goodness cannot possibly be Loved too much unless as the passion may possibly be raised to a degree distracting or disturbing the brain The odious Vices contrary to the Love of God are 1. Privative Not loving him 2. Positive Hating him 3. Opposite Loving his creatures in his stead All these concurr in every unsanctified soul. That they are all void of the true Love of God and taken up with creature Love is past all doubt But whether they are all Haters of God may seem more questionable But it is as certain as the other Only the hatred of God in most doth not break out into that open opposition persecution or blasphemy as it doth with some that are given up to desperate wickedness Nor do they think that they hate him But the Aversation of the Will is the Hatred of God And if men had not a great aversation to him they would not forsake him and
what that Glory is are questions fittest for the beholders and possessors to resolve 46. But if it be no more than the Universal existent frame of Nature Containing all the Creatures of God beheld uno intuitu in the Nature order and use of all the parts it would be an unconceivable felicity to the beholders as being an unconceivable Glorious Demonstation of the Deity 47. It is lawful and a needful duty to labour by the means of such excellencies as we now know which Heaven is resembled to in Scripture to imprint upon our Imaginations themselves such an image of the GLORY of the Heavenly Society CHRIST ANGELS SAINTS and the HEAVENLY PLACE and STATE as shall help our Intellectual apprehensions of the Spiritual Excellencies which transcend imagination And the neglect of Loving God as foreseen in the Demonstration of the Heavenly GLORY doth greatly hinder our Love to him immediately as in himself considered 48. The LORD JESUS CHRIST in his Glorified Created Nature is Crowned with the highest excellency of any particular Creature that he might be the MEDIATOR OF OUR LOVE to God and in him seen by faith we might see the GLORY of the Deity And as in Heaven we shall have spiritual Glorified Bodies as well as Souls so the Glorified Created Nature of Christ will be an Objective Glory fit for our Bodies at least to behold in order to their Glory as the Divine Nature as it pleaseth God in Glory revealed will be to the soul. 49. The exercise of our Love upon God as now appearing to the glorified in the glorious created nature of CHRIST beheld by us by faith is a great part of our present exercise of Divine Love And we extinguish our Love to GOD by beholding so little by faith our glorified Mediator 50. We owe greater Love to ANGELS than to Men because they are Better nearer God and liker to him and more demonstrate his Glory and indeed also Love us better and do more for us than we can do for one another And the neglect of our due Love and Gratitude to Angels and forgetting our relation to them and receivings by them and communion with them and living as if we had little to do with them is a culpable overlooking God as he appeareth in his most noble creatures and is a neglect of our Love to God in them and a great hinderance to our higher more immediate Love Therefore by Faith and Love we should exercise a daily converse with Angels as part of our heavenly conversation Phil. 3. 20 21. Heb. 12. 22. and use our selves to Love God in them Though not to pray to them or give them Divine Worship 51. We must Love the glorified Saints more than the inhabitants of this lower world because they are far better and liker to God and nearer to him and more demonstrate his holiness and glory And our neglect of conversing with them by faith and of Loving them above our selves and things on earth is a neglect of our Love to God in them and a hinderance of our more immediate Love And a Loving Conversation with them by faith would greatly help our higher Love to God 52. Our neglect of Love to the Church on earth and to the Kingdoms and publick Societies of mankind is a sinful neglect of our Love to God in them and a hinderance of our higher Love to him And the true use of such a Publick Love would greatly further our higher Love 53. If those Heathens who laid down their Lives for their Countreys had neither done this for fame nor meerly as esteeming the temporal good of their Countrey above their own temporal good and lives but for the true excellency of Many above One and for Gods greater Interest in them they had done a most noble holy work 54. Our adherence to our carnal selves first and then to our carnal interests and friends and neglecting the Love of the highest excellencies in the servants of God and not Loving men according to the measure of the Image of God on them and their Relation to him is a great neglect of our Love of God in them and a hinderance of our higher immediate Love And to use our selves to Love men as God appeareth in them would much promote our higher Love And so we should Love the best of men above our selves 55. The Loving of our selves sensually preferring our present Life and earthly Pleasure before our higher spiritual felicity in Heaven and our neglecting to Love Holiness and seek it for our selves and then to Love God in our selves is a neglect and hinderance of the Love of God 56. Man hath not lost so much of the knowledge and Love of God as appearing in his Greatness and Wisdom and Natural Goodness in the frame of Nature as he is the Author of the creatures natural goodness as he hath of the knowledge and Love of his Holiness as he is the Holy Ruler Sanctifier and End of souls 57. The sensitive faculty and sensitive Interest are still predominant in a carnal or sensual man And his Reason is voluntarily enslaved to his sense so that even the Intellectual Appetite contrary to its primitive and sound nature Loveth chiefly the sensitive Life and Pleasure 58. It is therefore exceeding hard in this depraved state of nature to Love God or any thing better than our selves because we Love more by Sense than by Reason and Reason is weak and serveth the interest of Sense 59. Yet the same man who is prevalently sensual may know that he hath a rational immortal soul and that Knowledge and Rectitude are the Felicity of this soul and that it is the Knowledge and Love of and Delight in God the highest Good that can make him perpetually happy And therefore as these are apprehended as a means of his own Felicity he may have some kind of Love or Will unto them all 60. The thing therefore that every carnal man would have is an everlasting perfect sensual pleasure And he apprehendeth the state of his souls perfection mostly as consisting in this kind of felicity And even the Knowledge and Love of God which he taketh for part of his felicity is principally apprehended but as a speculative gratifying of the imagination as carnal men now desire knowledge Or if there be a righter notion of God and Holiness to be Loved for themselves even ultimately above our sensual pleasure and our selves yet this is but an uneffectual dreaming Knowledge producing but an answerable lazy wish And it will not here prevail against the stronger Love of sensuality and phantastical pleasure nor against inordinate self-love And it is a sensual Heaven under a spiritual Name which the carnal hope for 61. This carnal man may Love God as a Means to this Felicity so dreamed of as knowing that without him it cannot be had and tasting corporal comforts from him here And he may Love Holiness as it removeth his contrary calamities and as he thinks it is crowned with
answer 1. Regard your duty more than what men think of you Prefer virtue before the thoughts or breath of men 2. But yet if you do it wisely the wise and good will think much the better of you You may easily let them see that you do it not in fordid sparing but in love of Temperance and of them if you speak but when there is need either for eating more or less and if your discourse be first in general for Temperance and apply it not till you see that they need help in the application 3. It is undenyable that healthful persons are much more prone to excess than to the defect in eating and that nature is very much bent to Luxury and Gluttony I think as much as to any one sin and it s as sure that it is a beastly breeding odious sin And if this be so is it not clear that we should do a great deal more to help one another against such Luxury than to provoke them to it Had we not a greater regard to mens favour and fansies and reports than to God and the good of their souls the case were soon decided § 11. 7. Another cause of Gluttony is that Rich men are not acquainted with the true Use of 〈…〉 aâ—te alios Aâ—tes quae liberalis â—uerâ—nt mechaâ—iâ—ae â—vaseâ—e ipsâ—â— qui â—â—lloâ—â—m dâ—â—â—â— philo sophi â—â—â—â—tores â—â—â—â—iâ—â— aâ— pâ—tâ—es patâ—â—â—â— esse solent 〈…〉 atque a 〈…〉 â—actiâ—â—â—â— â—â—que intelligaâ— nullam esse râ—â—â—â—quam spem salâ—tâ—â— Nobâ—â—itatâ— tribuâ—tur quod est Gulae aâ—t procâ—lâ—â—bio â—â—â—â—itatis Petrarch Riches nor think of the account which they must make to God of all they have They think that their Riches are their own and that they may use them as they please or that they are given them as plentiful provisions for their flesh and they may use them for themselves to satisfie their own desires as long as they drop some crums or scraps or small matters to the poor They think they may be saved just in the same way that the Rich man in Luk. 16. was damned and he that would have warned his five Brethren that they come not to that place of torment is yet himself no warning to his followers They are cloathed in purple and fine linen or silk and fare sumptuously or deliciously every day and have their good things in this life and perhaps think they merit by giving the scraps to Lazarus which its like that Rich man also did But God will one day make them know that the Richest were but his Stewards and should have made a better distribution of his provisions and a better improvement of his Talents and that they had nothing of all their Riches given them for any hurtful or unprofitable pleasing of their Appetites nor had no more allowance for Luxury than the poor If they knew the Right use of Riches it would reform them § 12. 8. Another cause of Gluttony is their unacquaintedness with those Rational and Spiritual Exercises in which the delightful fruits of Abstinence do most appear A man that is but a painful serious Student in any noble study whatsoever doth find a great deal of â—erenity and aptitude come by Temperance and a great deal of cloudy mistiness on his mind and dulness on his invention come by fulness and excess And a man that is used to holy contemplations meditation reading prayer self-examination or any spiritual converse above or with his heart doth easily find a very great difference how abstinence helpeth and Luxury and fullness hinder him Now these Epicures have no acquaintance with any such Holy or Manly works nor any mind of them and are therefore unacquainted with the sweetness and benefit of abstinence and having no taste or tryal of its benefits they cannot value it They have nothing to do when they rise from eating but a little talk about their worldly business or complement and talk with company which expect them or go to their sports to empty their paunches for another meele and quicken their appetites lest Luxury should decay as the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf and as the Heathens their God Bacchus Exod. 32. 5. They sate down 1 Cor. â—0 7. to eat and drink and rose up to play Their dyet is fitted to their work Their idle or worldly lives agree with gluttony But were they accustomed to better work they would find a necessity of a better dyâ—◠§ 13. 9. Another great cause of Gluttony is mens beastly ignorance of what is hurtful or helpful Of this see more in my Book of self-denyal to their very health They make their Appetites their Rule for the quantity and quality of their food And they think that nature teacheth them so to do because it giveth them such an Appetite and because it is the measure to a beast And to prove themselves Beasts they therefore take it for their measure As if their natures were not Rational but only sensitive or nature had not given them Reason to be the superiour and Governour of sense As if they knew not that God giveth the Bruits an appetite more bounded because they have not Reason to bound it and giveth them not the temptation Sâ—e Plutarâ—ks Precepts of health of your delicate varieties or giveth them a concoction answerable to their appetites and yet giveth man to be the Rational Governour of those of them that are for his special service and apt to exceed And if his Swine his Horses and his Cattle were all left to their Appetites they would live but a little while If promiscuous generating be not lawful in mankind which is lawful in bruits why should they not confess the same of the Appetite Men have so much love of life and fear of death that if they did but know how much their Gluttony doth hasten their death it would do more to restrain it with the most than the fear of death eternal doth But they judge of their digestion by their present feeling If they feel not their stomachs sick or disposed to vomit or if no present pain correct them they think their Gluttony doth not hurt them and think they have eaten no more than doth them good But of this more anon in the Directions § 14. 10. Another great cause of Gluttony is that it is grown the common custome and being not known is in no disgrace unless men eat till they spew or to some extraordinary measure And so the measure which every man seeth another use he thinketh is moderation and is fit for him whereas the ignorance of Physick and matters of their own health hath made Gluttony almost as common as eating with those that are not restrained by want or sickness And so every man is an example of evil to another and encourage one another in the sin If Gluttony were but in as much disgrace as whoredome yea or as drunkenness is and as easily known and as commonly taken notice of it would contribute
all his work and lyeth not only in the heat of the brain or rigid opinions or heat of speech 10. It is not a sudden flash but a constant resolution of the soul Like the natural heat and not like a Feaver Though the feeling part is not still of one Gal. 4. 15 18. degree Therefore it concocteth and strengtheneth when false zeal only vexeth and consumeth § 5. Direct 2. When you are thus acquainted with the nature of true zeal consider next of its excellency Direct 2. and singular benefits that there may be a love to it and an honour of it in your hearts To that The excellency of zeal and diligence end consider of these following commendations of it § 6. 1. Zeal being nothing but the fervour and vigour of every grace hath in it all the beauty and excellency of that Grace and that in a high and excellent degree If Love to God be excellent then zealous fervent Love is most excellent § 7. 2. The nature of holy Objects are such so great and excellent so transcendent and of unspeakable consequence that we cannot be sincere in our estimation and seeking of them without zeal If it were about riches or honours a cold desire and a dull pursuit might serve the turn and well beseem us But about God and Christ and Grace and Heaven such cold desires and endeavours are but a contempt To love God without zeal is not to Love him because it is not a loving him as Psal. 69. 10. Joh. 2. 17. Gal. 4. 18. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Tit. 2. 14. Rev. 3 15 16 19. God To seek Heaven without Zeal and Diligence is not to seek it but contemn it To pray for salvation without any zeal is but hypocritically to babble instead of praying For no desire of Christ and Holiness and Heaven is saving but that which preferreth them before all the treasures and pleasures of the World And that which doth so hath sure some zeal in it so that some Zeal is essential to every Grace as life and heat is to a man § 8. 3. The integrity and honesty of the heart to God consisteth much in zeal As he is true to his friend that is zealous for him and not he that is indifferent and cold To do his service with zeal is to â—am 5. 16. Rom. 12. 11. do it willingly and heartily and entirely To do it without zeal is to do it heartlesly and by the halves and to leave out the life and kernel of the duty It is the Heart that God doth first require § 9. 4. Zeal is much of the strength of duty and maketh it likelyest to attain its end The Prayer Mat. 11. 12. Rom. 15. 30. Luk. 13. 24. 2 Tâ—m 2. 5. 1 Cor 9. 24 25 26. Heb. 12. 1. Deut. 6. 5. Mat. â—2 37. 2 Cor. 5. 14. Prov. 10. 4. of the faithful that 's effectual must be fervent Jam. 5. 16. Zeal must make us importunate suiters that will take no denyal if we will speed Luk. 18. 1 8 c. The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force We must strive to enter in at the strait gate for many shall seek to enter and not be able Not every one that striveth is crowned nor every one that runneth wins the prize but he that doth it effectually so as to attain No wonder if we be commanded to Love God with all our heart and soul and might which is a Zealous Love For this is it that overcometh all other love and will constrain to dutiful obedience As experience telleth us it is the zealous and diligent Preacher that doth good when the cold and negligent do but little so is it in all other duties The diligent hand maketh rich And God blesseth those that serve him heartily with all their might § 10 5. Zeal and diligence take the opportunity which sloth and negligence let slip They are up Joh. 9. 4. Isa 55. 6. Luk. 19. 42. Heb. 3. 7 15. Mat. 25. with the Sun and work while it is day They seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near They know the day of their Visitation and Salvation They delay not but take the accepted time When the slothful are still delaying and trifling and hear not Gods voice while it is called to day but harden their hearts and sleep with their lamps unfurnished and knock not till the door be shut They stand and look upon their work while they should do it They are never in readiness when Christ and Mercy are to be entertained They are still putting off their duty till some other time till time be done and their work undone and they are undone for ever § 11. 6. Zeal and diligence are the best improvers of Time and mercy As they delay not but take the present time so they loyter not but do their work to purpose As a speedy Traveller goeth farther in a day than a slothful one in many so a zealous diligent Christian will do more for God and his soul in a little time than a negligent dullard in all his life It is a wonder to think what Augustine and Chrysostome did among the Ancients what Calvin and Perkins and Whittaker and Reignolds and Chamier and many other Reformed Divines have done in a very little time And what Swarez and Vasquez and Iansenius and Tostatus and Cajetan and Aquinas and many other Papists have performed by diligence when Millions of men that have longer time go out of the World as unknown as they came into it having never attained to so much knowledge as might preserve them from the reproach of Bruitish ignorance nor so much as might save their souls from Hell And when many that had diligence enough to get some laudable abilities had never diligence enough to use them to any great benefit of others or themselves Zeal and diligence are that fruitful well-manured soil where God soweth his seed with best Mat. 13 8 23. Prov. 26. 14. success and which return him for his mercies an hundred fold and at his coming giveth him his own with usury Mat. 25. 27 20. But sloth and negligence are the grave of mercies where they are buried till they rise up in judgement against the despisers and consumers of them Aristotle and Plato Galen and Hippocrates improvers of nature shall condemn these slothful neglecters and abusers of nature and grace yea their Oxen and Horses shall be witnesses against many that served not God with any such diligence as these beasts served them yea many gallants of great estates never did so much service for the common good in all their lives as their very beasts have done Their parts their life and all is lost by them § 12. 7. Zeal and diligence are the victorious enemies of sin and Satan They bear not with sin They are to it as a consuming fire is to the thorns and bryars Zeal burneth up
her discontent yet the case must be resolved by such considerations And a prudent man that knoweth what is like to be the consequent on both sides may and must accordingly determine it 4. But ordinarily the life health or preservation of so proud luxurious and passionate a woman is not worth the saving at so dear a rate as the wasting of a considerable estate which might be used to relieve a multitude of the poor and perhaps to save the lives of many that are worthier to live And 1. A mans duty to relieve the poor and provide for his family is so great 2. And the account that all men must give of the use of their Talents is so strict that it must be a great reason indeed that must allow him to give way to very great wastfulness And unless there be somewhat extraordinary in the case it were better deal with such a Woman as a Bedlam and if she will be mad to use her as the mad are used than for a steward of God to suffer the Devil to be served with his masters goods Lastly I must charge the Reader to remember that both these cases are very rare and it is but few Women that are so lyable to so great mischiefs which may not be prevented at cheaper rates And therefore that the Indulgence given in these decisions is nothing to the greater part of men nor is to be extended to ordinary Cases But commonly men every where sin by omission of a stricter Government of their families and by Eli's sinful indulgence and remisness And though a Wife must be Governed as a Wife and a Child as a Child yet all must be governed as well as servants And though it may be truly said that a man cannot hinder that sin which he cannot hinder but by sin or by contributing to a greater hurt yet it is to be concluded that every man is bound to hinder sin whenever he is able lawfully to hinder it And by the same measures Tolerations or not-hindering Errours and sins about Religion in Church and Common-wealth is to be judged of None must commit them or approve them nor forbear any duty of their own to cure them But that is not a duty which is destructive which would be a duty when it were a means of edifying CHAP. X. The Duties of Parents for their Children OF how great importance the wise and holy Education of Children is to the saving of their souls and the comfort of the Parents and the good of Church and State and the happiness of the World I have partly told you before but no man is able fully to express And how great that calamity is which the World is faln into through the neglect of that duty no heart can conceive But they that think what a case the Heathen Infidel and ungodly Nations are in and how rare true piety is grown and how many millions must lie in Hell for ever will know so much of this inhumane negligence as to abhor it § 1. Direct 1. Understand and lament the corrupted and miserable state of your Children which they Direct 1. have derived from you and thank fully accept the offers of a Saviour for your selves and them and â—bsolutely See my Treat for Infant Baptism resign and dedicate them to God in Christ in the sacred Covenant and solemnize this Dedication and Covenant by their Baptism And to this end understand the command of God for entring your Children solemnly into Covenant with him and the Covenant-mercies belonging to them thereupon Rom. 5. 12 16 17 18. Ephes. 2. 1 3. Gen. 17. 4 13 14. Deut. 29. 10 11 12. Rom. 11. 17 20. Joh. 3. 3 5. Mat. 19. 13 14. You cannot sincerely dedicate your selves to God but you must dedicate to him all that is yours and in your power and therefore your Children as far as they are in your power And as Nature hath taught you your Power and your duty to enter them in their infancy into any Covenant with man which is certainly for their good and if they refuse the conditions when they come to age they forfeir the benefit so nature teacheth you much more to oblige them to God for their far greater good in case he will admit them into Covenant with him And that he will admit them into his Covenant and that you ought to enter them into it is past doubt in the evidence which the Scripture giveth us that from Abrahams time till Christ it was so with all the Children of his people Nay no man can prove that before Abrahams Time or since God had ever a Church on Earth of which the Infants of his servants if they had any were not members dedicated in Covenant to God till of late times that a few began to scruple the lawfulness of this As it is a comfort to you if the King would bestow upon your Infant-Children who were tainted by their Fathers treason not only a full discharge from the blot of that offence but also the titles and estates of Lords though they understand none of this till they come to age so is it much more matter of comfort to you on their behalf that God in Christ will pardon their Original sin and take them as his Children and give them title to everlasting life which are the mercies of his Covenant § 2. Direct 2. As soon as they are capable teach them what a Covenant they are in and what are Direct 2. the benefits and what the conditions that their souls may gladly consent to it when they understand it and you may bring them seriously to renew their Covenant with God in their own persons But the whole order of Teaching both Children and Servants I shall give you after by it self and therefore shall here pass by all that except that which is to be done more by your familiar converse than by more solemn teaching § 3. Direct 3. Train them up in exact obedience to your selves and break them of their own Direct 3. wills To that end suffer them not to carry themselves unreverently or contemptuously towards you but to keep their distance For too much Familiarity breedeth contempt and emboldeneth to disobedience The common course of Parents is to please their Children so long by letting them have what they crave and what they will till their wills are so used to be fulfilled that they cannot endure to have them denyed and so can endure no Government because they endure no crossing of their wills To be Obedient is to renounce their own wills and be ruled by their Parents or Governours wills To use them therefore to have their own wills is to teach them disobedience and harden and use them to a kind of impossibility of obeying Tell them oft familiarly and lovingly of the excellency of obedience and how it pleaseth God and what need they have of Government and how unfit they are to govern themselves and how dangerous it is to Children
be guilty of the blood and calamities of an unjust War that a wise man will rather be abused as a Neuter than run himself into the danger of such â— case § 4. Direct 4. When Necessity forceth you to go forth in a just War do it with such humiliation Direct 4. and unwillingness as beseemeth one that is a Patient a Spectator and an Actor in one of the sorest of Gods temporal judgements Go not to kill men as if you went to a Cock-fight or a Bear-baiting Make not a sport of a common calamity Be not insensible of the displeasure of God expressed in so great a judgement What a sad condition is it to your selves to be imployed in destroying others If they be good how sad a thought is it that you must kill them If they are wicked how sad is it that by killing them you cut off all their hopes of mercy and send them suddenly to Hell How sad an employment is it to spoil and undo the poor inhabitants where you come To cast them into terrors to deprive them of them of that which they have long been labouring for To prepare for famine and be like a consuming pestilence where you come Were it but to see such desolations it should melt you into compassion much more to be the executioners your selves How unsuitable a work is it to the grace of Love Though I doubt not but it is a service which the Love of God our Countrey and our Rulers may sometimes justifie and command yet as to the Rulers and Masters of the business it must be a very clear and great necessity that can warrant a War And as to the Souldiers they must needs go with great regret to kill men by thousands whom they Love as themselves He that Loveth his neighbour as himself and blesseth and doeth good to his persecuting enemy will take it heavily to be employed in killing him even when necessity maketh it his duty But the greatest calamity of War is the perniciousness of it to mens souls Armies are commonly that to the soul as a City infected with the Plague is to the body The very Nurseries and Academies of pride and cruelty and drunkenness and whoredome and robbery and licentiousness and the bane of Piety and common Civility and Humanity Not that every Souldier cometh to this pass the hottest Pestilence killeth not all But O how hard is it to keep up a life of faith and godliness in an Army The greatness of their business and of their fears and cares doth so wholly take up their minds and talk that there is scarce any room found for the matters of their souls though unspeakably greater They have seldome leisure to hear a Sermon and less to pray The Lords Day is usually taken up in matters that concern the lives and therefore can pretend necessity So that it must be a very resolute confirmed vigilant person that is not alienated from God And then it is a course of life which giveth great opportunity to the Tempter and advantage to temptations both to errors in judgement and vitiousness of heart and life He that never tryed it can hardly conceive how difficult it is to keep up piety and innocency in an Army If you will suppose that there is no difference in the Cause or the Ends and Accidents I take it to be much more desirable to serve God in a Prison than in an Army and that the condition of a Prisoner hath far less in it to tempt the foolish or to afflict the wise than a military Excepting those whose life in Garrisons and lingring Wars doth little differ from a state of peace I am not simply against the lawfulness of War Nor as I conceive Erasmus himself though he saw the sinfulness of that sort of men and use to speak truly of the horrid wickedness and misery of them that thirst for blood or rush on Wars without necessity But it must be a very extraordinary Army that is not constituted of Wolves and Tygers and is not unto common honesty and piety the same that a Stews or Whore-house is to chastity And O how much sweeter is the work of an honest Physicion that saveth And though I ignore not that it is a much more fashionable and celebrated practice in young Gentlemen to kill men than to cure them and that mistaken mortals think it to be the noblest exercise of vâ—rtue to destroy the noblest workmanship of nature and indeed in some few cases the requisiteness and danger of destructive vaâ—ouâ— may makâ— its actions become a virtuous Patriot yet when I consider the character given of our great Master and Exemâ—lar that he went ab uâ— doing good and healing all manner of sicknesses I cannot but think such an employment worthy of the very noblest of lâ—â— Discipâ—es Mr. Boyles Experiment Philos p. 303 304. mens lives than of a Souldier whose vertue is shewed in destroying them Or a Carpenters or Masons that adorneth Cities with comely buildings than a Souldiers that consumeth them by fire § 5. Direct 5. Be sure first that your cause be better than your lives and then resolve to venture Direct 5. your lives for them It is the hazarding of your Lives which in your Calling you undertake And therefore be not unprepared for it but reckon upon the worst and be ready to undergo what ever you undertake A Souldiers life is unfit for one that dare not dye A Coward is one of the most pernicious murderers He verifieth Christs saying in another sense He that saveth his life shall lose it While men stand to it it is usually but few that dye because they quickly daunt the enemy and keep him on the defensive part But when once they rowt and run away they are slain on heaps and fall like leaves in a windy Autumn Every Coward that pursueth them is emboldned by their fear and dare run them through or shoot them behind that durst not so near have looked them in the face and maketh it his sport to kill a fugitive or one that layeth down his weapons that would flye himself from a daring presence Your cowardly fear betrayeth the cause of your King and Countrey It betrayeth the lives of your fellow Souldiers while the running of a few affrighted dastards lets in ruine upon all the rest And it casteth away your own lives which you think to save If you will be Souldiers resolve to conquer or to dye It is not so much skill or strength that conquereth as boldness It is Fear that loseth the day and fearlesness that winneth it The Army that standeth to it getteth the Victory though they fight never so weakly For if you will not run the enemy will And if the lives of a few be lost by courage it usually saveth the lives of many Though wisdom still is needful in the Conduct And if the cause be not worth your lives you should not meddle with it § 6. Direct 6. Resolve
nature of Carnal-selfishness and it is no better § 4. 3. SELFISHNESSE is the corruption of all the faculties of the soul. It is the sin of the mind by self-conceitedness and pride It is the sin of the will and affections by self-love and all the selfish passions which attend it Selfish desires angers sorrows discontents jealousies fears audacities c. It is the corruption of all the inferiour faculties and the whole conversation by self-seeking and all the forementioned evils § 5. 4. Selfishness is the commonest sin in the world Every man is now born with it and hath it more or less And therefore every man should fear it § 6. 5. Selfishness is the hardest sin in the world to overcome In all the unregenerate it is predominant For nothing but the sanctifying Spirit of God can overcome it And in many thousands that seem very zealous in Religion and very mortified in all other respects yet in some way or other selfishness doth so lamentably appear yea and is so strong in many that are sincere that it is the greatest dishonour to the Church of Christ and hath tempted many to infidelity or to doubt whether there be any such thing as true sanctification in the world The persons that seemed the most mortified Saints if you do but cross them in their self-interest or opinion or will or seem to slight them and have a low esteem of them what swellings what heart-burnings what bitter censurings what proud impatience if not Schisms and separations will it cause God hath better servants but too many which seem to themselves and others to be the best are no better How then should every Christian abhor and watch against this Universal Evil § 7. Direct 2. Consider oft how amiable a creature man would be and what a blessed condition the Direct 2. world and all societies would be in if selfishness were but overcome There would then â—e no pride no covetousness no sensuality no tyranny or oppressing of the poor no malice cruelty or persecution no Church-divisions no scandals nothing to dishonour Religion or to hinder the saving progress of the Gospel no fraud or treacheries no over-reaching or abusing others no lying noâ— deceit no neglect of our duty to others In a word no injustice or uncharitableness in the world § 8. Direct 3. Iudge of good and evil by sober Reason and not by bruitish sense And then oft Direct 3. consider whether really there be not a more excellent end than your self ish interest Even the publick good of many and the pleasing and glorifying of God And whether all mediate good or evil should not be judged of principally by those highest ends Sense leadeth men to selfishness and privateness of design But true Reason leadeth men to prefer the publick or any thing that is better than our self-interest § 9. Direct 4. Nothing but returning by converting Grace to the true Love of God and of Man for Direct 4. his sake will conquer selfishness Make out therefore by earnest prayer for the Spirit of Sanctification And be sure that you have a true apprehension of the state of Grace that is that it is indeed The Love of God and Man Love is the fulfilling of the Law Therefore Love is the Holiness of the soul Set your whole study upon the exercise and increase of Love and selfishness will dye as Love reviveth § 10. Direct 5. Study much the self-denying example and precepts of your Saviour His life and Direct 5. doctrine are the liveliest representation of self-denyal that ever was given to the World Learn Christ and you will learn self-denyal He had no sinful selfishness to mortifie yet natural-self was so wonderfully denyed by him for his Fathers Will and our Salvation that no other Book or Teacher in the world will teach us this lesson so perfectly as he Follow him from the Manger or rather from the Womb to the Cross and Grave Behold him in his poverty and contempt enduring the contradiction and ingratitude of sinners and making himself of no reputation Behold him apprehended accused condemned crowned with thorns clothed in purple with a reed in his hand scourged and led away to execution bearing his Cross and hanged up among Thieves forsaken by his own Disciples and all the world and in part by him who is more than all the world And consider why all this was done For whom he did it and what lesson he purposed hereby to teach us Consider why he made it one half the condition of our salvation and so great a part of the Christian Religion to Deny our selves and take up our Cross and follow him and will have no other to be his Disciples Luke 14. 26 31 33. Were a Crucified Christ more of our daily study and did we make it our Religion to learn and follow his holy example self-denyal would be better known and practised and Christianity would appear as it is and not as it is misunderstood adulterated and abused in the world But because I have long ago written a Treatise of Self-denyal I shall add no more CHAP. XXVII Cases and Directions for Loving our Neighbour as our selves Tit. 1. Cases of Conscience about Loving our Neighbour Quest. 1. IN what sense is it that I must love my neighbour as my self Whether in the kind of Quest. 1. love or in the degree or only in the reality Answ. The true meaning of the Text is You must love him according to his true worth without the diversion and hinderance of selfishness and partiality As you must love your self according to that degree of Goodness which is in you and no more so must you as impartially love your neighbour according to that degree of Goodness which is in him So that it truly extendeth to the reality the kind and the degree of love supposing it in both proportioned to the goodness of the object But before this can be understood the true nature of Love must be well understood Quest. 2. What is the true Nature of Love both as to my self and neighbour Quest. 2. Answ. Love is nothing but the prime motion of the Will to its proper object which is called Complacence The object of it is simple Goodness or Good as such It ariseth from suitableness between the Object and the Will as appetite doth from the suitableness of the appetent faculty and the food This GOOD as it is variously modified or any way differeth doth accordingly cause or require a difference in our Love Therefore that Love which in its prime act and nature is but one is diversly denominated as its objects are diversified To an object as simply Good in it self it followeth the Understandings Estimation and is called as I said meer Complacence or Adhesion To an Object as not yet attained but absent or distant and attainable it is called Desire or Desiring Love And as expected Hope or Hoping Love which is a conjunction of Desire
shut-up the bowels of his compassion from him how dwelleth the Love of God in him 1 Iohn 3. 17. Surely if the love of his brother were in him the love of God had been in him But he hath no true love to his brother that will only love him on terms that cost him little and cannot give and suffer for his love All these are deceiving Counterfeits of Love to the children of God Tit. 6. Cases and Directions for intimate special Friends Quest. 1. IS it lawful to have an earnest desire to be Loved by others Especially by some one person Quest. 1. above all other Answ. There is a desire of others Love which is lawful and there is a desire which is unlawful I. It is lawful 1. When we desire it as it is their duty which God himself obligeth them to perform and so is part of their integrity and is their own good and pleaseth God So Parents must desire their children to love them and one another because it is their duty and else they are unnatural and bad And Husband and Wife may desire that each other discharge that duty of Love which God requireth and so may all others 2. It is lawful also to desire for our own sakes to be loved by others so be it it be 1. With a calm and sober desire which is not eager peremptory or importunate nor overvalueth the Love of man 2. According to the proportion of our own worth not desiring to be thought Greater Wiser or Better than indeed we are nor to be loved erroneously by an overvaluing Love 3. When we desire it for the benefits to which it tendeth more than to be valued and loved our selves As 1. That we may receive that edification and good from a friend which Love disposeth them to communicate 2. That we may do that good to our friends which Love disposeth them to receive 3. That we may honour and please God who delighteth in the true Love and Concord of his Children II. But the unlawful desire of others Love to us is much more common and is a sin of a deeper malignity than is commonly observed This desire of love is sinful when it is contrary to that before described As 1. When we desire it over eagerly 2. When we desire it selfishly and proudly to be set up in the good opinion of others and not to make a benefit of it to our selves or them bt our own Honour is more desired in it than the honour of God 3. When we desire to be thought Greater Wiser or Better than we are and to be loved with such an overvaluing Love and have no desire that the bounds of Truth and Usefulness should restrain and limit that love to us which we affect 4. When it is an erroneous fanciful carnal or lustful esteem of some one person which maketh us desire his love more than others As because he is higher richer fairer c. This eager desire to be over-loved by others hath in it all these aggravations 1. It is the very sin of Pride which God hath declared so great a detestation of For Pride is an over-valuing our selves for Greatness Wisdom or Goodness and a desire to be so over-valued of others And he that would be over-loved would be over-valued 2. It is self-idolizing When we would be loved as better than we are we rob God of that Love which men should render to him who can never be over-loved and we would fain seem a kind of petty Deities to the world and draw mens eyes and hearts unto our selves When we should be jealous of Gods interest and honour lest we or any creature should have his due this proud disposition maketh people set up themselves in the estimation of others and they scarce care how Good or Wise they are esteemed nor how much they are lifted up in the hearts of others 3. It is an injurious ensnaring the minds of others and tempting them to erroneous opinions of us and affections to us which will be their sin and may bring them into many inconveniences It is an ordinary thing to do greater hurt to a friend whom we value by ensnaring him in an inordinate Love than ever we did or can do to an enemy by hating him Quest. 2. Is it lawful meet or desirable to entertain that extraordinary affection to any one which Quest. 2. is called special friendship or to have an endeared intimate friend whom we love far above all others Answ. Intimate special friendship is a thing that hath been so much pleaded for by all sorts of men and so much of the felicity of mans life hath been placed in it that it beseemeth not me to speak against it But yet I think it meet to tell you with what Cautions and limits it must be received and how far it is good and how far sinful For there are perils here to be avoided which neither Cicero nor his Scipio and Laelius were acquainted with I. 1. It is lawful to choose some one well qualified person who is fittest for that use and to make him the chief companion of our lives our chiefest counsellor and comforter and to confine our intimacy and converse to him in a special manner above all others 2. And it is lawful to love him not only according to his personal worth but according to his special suitableness to us and to desire his felicity accordingly and to exercise our love to him more frequently and sensibly because of his nearness and presence than towards some better men that are further off The Reasons of such an intimate friendship are these 1. No man is sufficient for himself and therefore Nature teacheth him to desire an helper And there is so wonderful a diversity of temperaments and conditions and so great a disparity and incongruity among good and wise men towards each other that one that is more suitable and congruous to us than all the rest may on that account be much preferred 2. It is not many that can be so near us as to be ordinary helpers to us And a wiser man at a distance or out of reach may be less useful to us than one of inferiour worth at hand 3. The very exercise of friendly love and kindness to another is pleasant And so it is to have one to whom we may confidently reveal our secrets to bear part of our burden and to confirm us in our right apprehensions and to cure us of wrong ones 4. And it is no small benefit of a present bosome friend to be instead of all the world to us that is of common unprofitable company For man is a sociable creature and abhorreth utter solitude And among the common sort we shall meet with so much evil and so little that is truly wise or good as will tempt a man to think that he is best when he is least conversant with mankind But a selected friend is to us for usefulness instead of many without these common
have said of this subject in my Directions for a sound Conversion Dir. 5. which I hope the Reader will peruse I shall here briefly name the Uses which we must make of Christ by faith in order to our holy converse with God But I must tell you that it is a Doctrine â—anâ— omnium vâ—râ—â—â—â—um radix â—undâ—mâ—â—rum fides â—â— quae certance adjuvat Vâ—nâ—â—nâ—â—s câ—ronâ—t câ—â—lessi dono quosdam de 〈…〉 signoâ—um 〈◊〉 Nihil enim quod sincerae fidei denegâ—tur quia nec aiâ—ud â— nobis Deuâ— quam fidem exigit Hanc dâ—â—git hanâ— requirit huic â—â—nâ—ta promitut tribur S. 〈◊〉 Mâ—rt Aâ—â—â—â— Toâ—â—t Memâ—â—dâ—â— Sanct. p. 4. Notandum quod cum fides moriua â—t praeter opera jam nâ—que fides est Nam neque hâ—mo mortutis homo est Non enâ—m sicu spiritâ—um â—oâ—pore meliorem ita â—â—â—â—ra fâ—deâ— pra 〈…〉 da â—um quando gratia salvatur homo non ex of eribus sed ex fide nisi forâ—e hâ—c in questiore sit quod salve fides quae cum oâ—â—riâ— us propriiâ— vâ—â—â—â—t tanquam a iud genus operum sit praeter quae salus ex fide prevenâ—â—t we autem sunt opera quae sub umbra 〈◊〉 bâ—eâ—â—anâ—uâ— Diâ—â—â—â—nus Alexand. in Iac. cap. 2. which requireth a prepared heart that hath life within to enable it to relish holy truth and to dispose it to diligence delight and constancy in practice A senseless Reader will feel but little savour in it and a sluggish Reader that suffereth it to dye as soon as it hath toucht his ears or fantasie will fall short of the practice and the pleasure of this life He must have faith that will live by faith And he must have the heart and nature of a child that will take pleasure in loving reverent and obedient converse with a Father § 4. 1. The Darkness of Ignorance and Unbelief is the great impediment of the soul that desireth to draw near to God When it knoweth not God or knoweth not mans capacity of enjoying him and how much he regardeth the heart of man or knoweth not by what way he must be sought and found or when he doubteth of the certainty of the word which declareth the duty and the hopes of man all this or any of this will suppress the ascending desires of the soul and clip its wings and break the heart of its holy aspirings after God by killing or weakning the hopes of its success Here then make Use of Iesus Christ the great revealer of God and his will to the blinded world and the great confirmer of the Divine authority of his Word Life and immortality are brought more fully to light by the Gospel than ever they were by any other means Moses and the Prophets did bring with their Doctrine sufficient evidence of its credibility But Christ hath brought both a fuller Revelation and a fuller evidence to help belief An inspired Prophet which proveth his inspiration to us is a credible messenger but when God himself shall come down into flesh and converse with man and teach him the knowledge of God and the way to life and tell him the mysteries of the world to come and seal his testimony with unquestionable proofs who will not learn of such a Teacher and who will deny belief to such a messenger except absurd unreasonable men Remember then when Ignorance or Unbelief would hinder your access to God that you have the ablest Teacher and the surest Witness to acquaint you with God in all the world If God had sent an Angel from Heaven to tell you what he is and what he requireth of you and what he will do for you would it not be very acceptable to you But he hath done much more he hath sent his Son Dilectio Dei misiâ— nobâ—â— salvaâ—orem cuâ—uâ— Gâ—aâ—iâ— salvati sum â—s ut possideamus haâ—c gratiaâ— cammunicatio facit spiritus A 〈◊〉 iâ— 2 Coâ— 13. 13. The Deity it self hath appeared in flesh He that hath seen God and he that is God hath come among men to acquaint them with God His testimony is more sure and credible than any Angels Heb. 1. 1 2 3. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken to us by his Son John 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him We have neither heard the Voice of God nor seen his shape John 5. 37. No man hath seen the Father save he which is of God he hath seen the Father John 6. 46. No man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him Matth. 11. 27. What more can we desire that is short of the sight of the Glory of God than to have him revealed to us by a messenger from Heaven and such a Messenger as himself hath seen him and is God himself Plato and Plotinus may describe God to us according to their dark conjectures something we may discern of him by observing his works But Christ hath declared what he saw and what he knew beyond all possibility of mistake And lest his own testimony should seem questionable to us he hath confirmed it by a life of Miracles and by Rising from the dead himself and ascending visibly to Heaven and by the Holy Ghost and his miraculous gifts which he gave to the Messengers of his Gospel Had it been no more than his Resurrection from the dead it had been enough to prove the utter unreasonableness of unbelief § 5. 2. It is also a great impediment to the soul in its approach to God that Infinite distance disableth us to conceive of him aright We say as Elihu Job 36. 26. Behold God is great and we know him not And indeed it is impossible that mortal man should have any adequate apprehensions of his Fssence But in his Son he hath come down to us and shewed himself in the clearest Glass that ever did reveal him Think of him therefore as he appeared in our flesh As he shewed himself in his Holiness and Goodness to the world You may have positive thoughts of Iesus Christ Though you may not think that the Godhead was flesh yet may you think of it as it appeared in flesh It may quiet the understanding to conceive of God as incarnate and to know that we cannot yet know him as he is or have any adequate conceptions of him These may delight us till we reach to more § 6. 3. It hindereth the souls approach to God when the Infinite distance makes us think that God will not regard or take notice of such contemptible worms as we we are ready to think that he is too high for our converse or delight In this case the soul hath no such remedy as to look to Christ and see how the Father hath regarded us and set his
Unthankfulness and neglect are the way to be denyed further help § 18. Quest. But how shall I know whether good effects be from the Means or from my Reason and Quest. Endeavour and when from the Spirit of God Answ. Answ. It is as if you should ask How shall I know whether my harvest be from the Earth or Sun or Rain or God or from my labour I will tell you how They are all con-causes If the effect be there they all concur If the effect be wanting some of them were wanting It 's foolish to ask which is the cause when the effect is not produced but by the concurrence of them all If you had asked which cause did fail when the effect faileth there were reason in that question But there is none in this The more to blame those foolish Atheists that think God or the Spirit is not the cause if they can but find that Reason and Means are in the effect Your Reason and Conscience and Means would fall short of the effect if the Spirit put not life into all § 19. Obj. But I am exceedingly troubled and confounded with continual doubts about every motion that Object is in my mind whether it be from the Spirit of God or not Answ. The more is your ignorance or the malice of Satan causing your disquiet In one word Answ. you have sufficient Direction to resolve those doubts and end those troubles Is it Good or Evil or Indifferent that you are moved to This question must be resolved from the Word of God which is the Rule of duty If it be good in matter and manner and circumstances it is from the Spirit of God either its common or special operation If it be evil or indifferent you cannot ascribe it to the Spirit Remember that the Spirit cometh not to you to make you new duty which the Scripture never made your duty and so to bring an additional Law but to move and help you in that which was your duty before Only it may give the Matter while Scripture giveth the Obligation by its general command If you know not what is your duty and what not it is your ignorance of Scripture that must be cured Interpret Scripture well and you may interpret the Spirits motions easily If any new duty be motioned to you which Scripture commandeth not take such motions as not from God Unless it were by extraordinary confirmed Revelation DIRECT IV. Gr. Dir. 4. Let it be your chiefest study to attain to a true orderly and practical knowledge of God For the true and orderly impression of Gods Attributes on the heart in his several Attributes and Relations and to find a due impression from each of them upon your hearts and a distinct effectual improvement of them in your lives § 1. BEcause I have written of this point more fully in another Treatise Of the Knowledge of God and Converse with him I shall but briefly touch upon it here as not willing to repeat Laert. in Zeno. saith Dicunt Stoici Deum esse animal immortale rationale perfectum ac beatum à malo omni remotissimum providentia sua mundum quae sunt in mundo administrans omnia Non tamen inesse illi humanae â—ormae lineamenta Caeterum esse opificem immensi hujus operis sicut patrem omnium Eumque multis appellari nominibus juxta proprietates suas Quosdam item esse daemones dicunt quibus insit hominum miseratio inspectores rerum humararum Heroas quoque so utas corporibus sapientum animas Bonos aiunt esse Divinoâ— quod in seipsis quasi habeant Deum Malum vero impium sine Deo esse quod duplici ratione accipitur sive quod Deo contrarius dicatur sive quod aspernetur Deum Id tamen malis omnibus non convenire Pios autem Religiosos esse sapientes peritos divini juris omnes Pâ—â—tatem esse seiâ—â—iam divini cultus Diis item eos sacr ficia sacturos castosque futuros Quippe ea quae in Deos admittuntur peccata detesâ—ari Diisque charos ac gratos fore quo sancti justique in rebus divinis sint that which there is delivered Only let me briefly mind you of these few things 1. That the true knowledge of God is the summ of Godliness and the end of all our other knowledge and of all that we have or do as Christians As Christ is a Teacher that came from God so he came to call and lead us unto God Or else he had not come as a Saviour It is from God that we fell by sin and to God that we must be restored by grace To save us is to restore us to our perfection and our happiness and that is to restore us unto God § 2. 2. That the true knowledge of God is powerful and effectual upon the heart and life And every Attribute and Relation of God is so to be known as to make its proper Impress on us And the measure of this saving knowledge is not to be judged of by Extensiveness or number of Truths concerning God which we know so much as by the Clearness and Intensiveness and the measure of its holy effects upon the heart § 3. 3 This is it that denominateth both our selves and all our Duties HOLY when Gods Image is thus imprinted on us and we are like him by the new birth as Children to their Father and by his knowledge both our Hearts and Lives are made Divine being disposed unto God devoted to him and employed for him he being our Life and Light and Love § 4. This is the summ of the Covenant of God with man I will be thy God and thou shalt be my people And the other parts of the Covenant that Christ be our Saviour and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier are both subservient unto this there being now no coming unto God but as Reconciled in Christ our Mediator and by the teaching and drawing of the Holy Ghost To be our God is to be to us An Absolute Owner a most Righteous Governour and a most Bountiful Benefactor or Father as having Created us Redeemed and Regenerated us and this according to his most Blessed Nature properties and perfections § 5. 5. It is not only a loose and unconstant effect of your particular thoughts of God that is the necessary Impress of his Attributes as to Fear him when you remember his Greatness and Iustice But it must be an Habit or holy nature in you every Attribute having made it s stated Image upon you and that Habit or Image being in you a constant Principle of holy spiritual operations A Habit of Reverence Belief Trust Love c. should be as it were your Nature § 6. 6. Not that the knowledge of God in his perfections should provoke us to desire his properties and perfections For to have such an aspiring desire to be Gods were the greatest Pride and wickedness But only we must desire 1.
appetite actively 4. And so whether the will which is the principium actuâ— quoad exercitium were not the first in the omission The intellect having before said This must bâ— further considered the will commanded not that further consideration when it could and should However if it be too hard for us to trace our own souls in all their motions it is certain that the will of Man is the first subject of Moral good and evil And uncertainties must not make us deny that which is certain The Reader who understandeth the importance and consequence of these points I am sure will pardon me for this interposition of these difficult controverted points which I purposely avoid where I judge them not very needful in order to the defence or clearing of the plainer common truths And as for others I must bear their censure § 9. The Degree of sinfulness in the will lyeth in a stiffness and obstinacy a tenaciousness of deceitâ—â—â—â— temporal Good and an Eagerness after it and stubborn averseness to spiritual good as it is against 〈…〉 Non incestum vel aspersione aquae vel dierum numero tollitur Cicero 2. de lâ—gib that temporal flâ—shly good This is the wills disease § 10. 3. The sinfulness of the memory is in its Retentiveness of Evil or things hurtful and prohited and its Looseness and Neglect of better spiritual necessary things If this were only as things present have the natural advantage to make a deeper impress upon the fantasie and things unseen and absent have the disadvantage it were then but a natural innocent infirmity or if in sickness age or weakness all kind of memory equally decay But it is plain that if the Bible be open before our eyes and preaching be in our ears and things unseen have the advantage of their infinite greatness and excellency and concernment to us yet our Memories are like walls of stone to any thing that is spiritual and like walls of wax on which you may write any thing of that which is secular or evil Note here also that the faultiness of the memory is only so farr sinful as it is Voluntary It is the will where the sin is as in its Throne or chiefest subject Because men Love carnal things and Love not spiritual things therefore it is that they mind and understand and remember the one and not the other So that it is but as Imperate and Participatively that the memory is capable of sin § 11. 4. The sinfulness of the Imagination consisteth in its readiness to Think of Evil and of common earthly things and its unaptness to Think of any thing that is Holy and Good And when we do force our selves to holy Thoughts they are disorderly confused unskilfully managed with great averseness Here also voluntariness is the Life of the sin § 12. 5. The sin of the Affections or Passions consisteth in this That they are too easily and violently moved by the sensitive interest and appetite and are Habitually prone to such carnal inordinate motions running before the understanding and will some of them and solliciting and urging them to evil and resisting and disobeying the commands of Reason and the Will but dull and backward to things spiritually good and to execute the right dictates of the Mind and Will § 13. 6. The sin of the sensitive appetite consisteth in the inordinate rage or immoderateness to its object which causeth it to disobey the Commands of Reason and to become the Great inciter of Rebellion in the soul violently urging the Mind and Will to consent to its desires Materially this dependeth much on the temper of the body but formally this also is so farr sinful as positively or privatively mediately or immediately it is voluntary To have an Appetite simply to the object of Appetite is no sin But to have a diseased inordinate unruly appetite is a sin not primarily in it self considered but as it is voluntary as it is the Appetite of a Rational free agent that hath thus disordered the frame of its own Nature § 14. 7. The sin of the exteriour parts tongue hand eys feet c. is only in Act and not in Habit or at least the Habits are weak and subject to the will And it is in the execution of the sinful desires of the flesh and commands of the will that the fame consisteth These parts also are not the primary subject of the guilt but the will that either Positively puts them upon evil or doth not restrain them when it ought And so they are guilty but participatively and secondarily as the other imperate faculties are It is not Good or Evil meerly as it is the act of tongue or hand but as it is the act of the tongue or hand of a Rational free agent agreeable or disagreeable to the Law If a mad-man should speak blasphemy or should kill or steal it were no further sin than as he had Voluntarily contracted the ill disposition which caused it while he had the use of Reason If a mans hand were held and forced by another to do mischief utterly against his will it is the sin of the chief agent and not of the involuntary instrument But no force totally excuseth us from Guilt which leaveth the act to our Rational Choice He that saith Take this Oath or I will kill thee or torment thee doth use force as a Temptation which may be resisted but doth not constrain a man to swear For he leaveth it to his Choice whether he will swear or die or be tormented And he may and ought to choose death rather than the smallest sin The will may be tempted but not constrained § 15. Direct 2. Labour clearly to understand the evil of sin both intrinsecal in it self and in Direct 2. its aggravationâ— and effects When you have found out where it is and wherein it doth consist find out the malignity and odiousness of it I have heard some Christians complain that they read much to shew them the evil of sin in its Effects but meet with few that shew them its evil in it self sufficiently But if you see not the evil of sin in it self as well as in the effects it will but tempt you to think God unjust in overpunishing it and it will keep you from the principal part of true Repentance and Mortification which lieth in hating sin as sin I shall therefore shew you wherein the intrinsical malignity of sin consisteth § 16. 1. Sin is formally the violation of the perfect holy righteous Law of God 2. It is a denyal or contempt of the Authority or Governing-power of God As if we said Thou shalt not be our Governour in this 3. It is an usurping the Soveraign Power to our selves of governing our selves in that act For when we refuse Gods Government we set up our selves in his stead and so make Gods of our selves as to our selves as if we were self-sufficient independent and had Right hereto 4. It is a
and self obligations to God 38. It is a preferring of Time before Eternity and regarding things of a transitory nature and a moments pleasure before that which never shall have end The perâ—â—rtâ—â—â—â— and confusion of 〈…〉 39. It is a making a breach in the harmonie and order of the world As the dislocation or deformity of a particular member is the trouble and deformity of all the Body because the comliness and welfare of the whole containeth the comliness proportion and welfare of all the parts And as the dislocation or breaking of one part in a Watch or Clock is against the use of all the engine so every man being a part of the Kingdom of God doth by sin make a breach in the order of the whole and also giveth an ill example to other parts and makes himself unserviceable to the body and dishonoureth the whole body with the blot of Rebellion and le ts in judgement on the world and kindleth a consuming fire in the place where he liveth and is cruel and injurious to others 40. Sin is not only a preferring the Body before the Soul but it is also an Unmercifulness or Cruelty against our selves both soul and body and so is contrary to the true use of the indeleble principle of self-love For it is a wounding and abusing the Soul and defiling the Body in this life and a casting both on the wrath of God and into the flames of Hell hereafter or a dangerous venturing them into the way of endless damnation and despair and a contempt of those insufferable torments All these parts of malignity and poyson are intrinsecal to sin and found in the very Nature of it § 17. The common Aggravations of sin being written of by many and easily gathered from what is said of the nature of it I shall briefly name only a few 1. The Infinite perfection of God in all those blessed Attributes and Relations which sin is against is the Greatest Aggravation of sin 2. The unconceivable Glory of Heaven which is despised is a great aggravation of sin 3. So is the greatness of the Torments of Hell which sinners despise and venture on 4. So is the great Opposition that God hath made against sin having said and done so much against it and declared himself to hate nothing else immediately in the world 5. The clearness of evidence against it the nothingness of all that can be said for it is also a great aggravation of it 6. So is the fullness and fitness and power of all the Means in Creatures providences and Scriptures that is vouchsased the world against it 7. So is the experience and warning of all ages the repentings of the converted and the disowning it by almost all when they come to die Wonderful that the experience of the world for above five thousand years will teach them no more effectually to avoid so mortal pernicious a thing 8. The neerness to us also is an Aggravation It is not a distant evil but in our bowels in our very hearts we are bound so strictly to love our selves that it is a great aggravation to do our selves so great a mischief 9. The constant inhaesion of sin is a great aggravation that it is ever with us lying down and rising up at home and abroad we are never free from it 10. That it should poyson all our common mercies and corrupt all our duties is an aggravation But we shall take up some of these anon § 18. The special Aggravations of the sins of Gods own Children are these 1. They sin against See the Assemblâ—â— larger Catechism about aggravations of sin a neerer Relation than others do even against that God that is their Father by the new birth which is more heynous than if a stranger did it 2. They are Christs own members and it is most unnatural for his Members to rebel against him or do him wrong 3. They sin against more excellent operations of the spirit than others do and against a principle of Life within them 4. They sin against the differencing grace which appeared in their conversion God took them out of a world of sinners whom he past by when he could as well have sanctified them And should they so quickly thus requite him 5. They sin against the pardon and Iustification which they have already received Did God so lately forgive them all their former debts so many so great and heinous sins and that so freely to them when the procurement was so dear to Christ and should they so soon forget or so ill requite so great a mercy 6. They sin against a more serious Covenant which at their conversion they entred into with God than other men do 7. They sin against all the heart-breaking or humbling sorrows which they have tasted of at their conversion and since They have known more of the evil of sin than others in their sad experience of its sting 8. They sin against more knowledge than other men They have known more what sin is and what Christ is and what the will of God is than others and therefore deserve to be beaten with many stripes 9. They have oftner confessed sin than others and spoke odiously of it as the vilest thing and aggravated it to God and man 10. Their many Prayers against it and all their labour in hearing and reading and Sacraments and other means do aggravate it 11. They make a greater Profession of strict obedience and therefore sin against their own profession 12. They have renewed their Promises of obedience to God in prayer at Sacraments and at other times much more than others 13. They have had more experience than others of the goodness of obedience and of the comforts and benefits that attend it in the favour of God and communion with him therein 14. Their sins are aggravated by all the reproofs and exhortations which they have used to others to tell them how unreasonable and bad it is to provoke the Lord. 15. They sin under greater hopes of glory than others do and provoke that God with whom they hope to live for ever 16. The high Titles of love and praise which God doth give them in his Word do aggravate their sin That he should call them his treasure his peculiar people his jewels and the apple of his eye his sons and daughters and a holy people and Priests to God and boast of them as a people more excellent than their neighbours and after this they should sin against him 17. They have had audience with God the answer of prayers and many a deliverance and mercy in this life which others have not which aggravate their sins as being thus contemned and as obliging them more to God than others 18. They dishonour God more than any others by their sins His honour lyeth not so much upon the actions of the ungodly as on those that are nearest to him 19. They harden the wicked more than such sins in other men would
it § 52. Direct 14. If God so much regard us as to make us and preserve us continually and to become Tempt 14. our Governour and make a Law for us and judge us and Reward his servants with no less than Heaven than you may easily see that he so much regardeth us as to observe whether we obey or break his Laws He that so far careth for a Clock or Watch as to make it and wind it up doth care whether it go true or false What do these men make of God who think he cares not what men do Then he cares not if men beat you or râ—b you or kill you for none of this hurteth God And the King may say if any murder your friends or children why should I punish him he hurt not me But Iustice is to keep order in the world and not only to preserve the Governour from hurt God may be wronged though he be not hurt And he will make you pay for it if you hurt others and smart for it if you hurt your self § 53. Tempt 15. The Tempter laboureth to extenuate the sin and make it seem a little one and if Tempt 15. every little sin must be made such a matter of you 'll never be quiet § 54. Direct 15. But still remember 1. There is deadly poyson in the very nature of sin as Direct 15. there is in a Serpent be he never so small The least sin is worse than the greatest pain that ever man selt and would you choose that and say its little The least sin is odious to God and had a hand in the death of Christ and will damn you if it be not pardoned and should such a thing be made light of And many sins counted small may have great aggravations such as the knowing deliberate wilful committing of them is To love a small sin is a great sin specially to love it so well that the remembrance of Gods Will and Love of Christ and Heaven and Hell will not suffice to resolve you against it Besides a small sin is the common way to greater James 1. 14 15. When lust hath conceived it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death James 3. 5. Behâ—ld how great a matter a little fire kindleth The horrid sins of David and Peter had small beginnings Mortal sicknesses seem little matters at the first Many a thousand have sinned themselves to Hell that began with that which is accounted small § 55. Tempt 16. Also the Devil draweth on the sinner by promising him that he shall sin but once Tempt 16. or but a very few times and then do so no more He tells the Thief and the Fornicator that if they will do it but this once they shall be quiet § 56. Direct 16. But O consider 1. That one stab at the heart may prove uncurable God may Direct 16. deny thee time or grace to repent 2. That it is easier to forbear the first time than the second For one sin disposeth the heart unto another If you cannot deny the first temptation how will you deny the next When you have lost your strength and grieved your helper and strengthened your enemy and your snare will you then resist better wounded then now when you are whole § 57. Tempt 17. But when the Devil hath prevailed for once with the sinner he makes that an argument Tempt 17. for a second He saith to the Thief and Drunkard and Fornicator It is but the same thing that thou hast done once already and if once may be pardoned twice may be pardoned and if twice why not thrice and so on § 58. Direct 17. This it is to let the Devil get in a foot A spark is easier quenched than a flame Direct 17. but yet remember that the longer the worse the oftner you sin the greater is the abuse of the Spirit of God and the contempt of grace and the wrong to Christ and the harder is repentance and the sharper if you do repent because the deeper is your wound Repent therefore speedily and go no further unless you would have the Devil tell you next It 's now too late § 59. Tempt 18. The Tempter maketh use of the greater sins of others to perswade men to venture Tempt 18. upon less Thou hearest other men curse and swear and rail and dost thou stick at idle talk How many in the world are enemies to Christ and persecute his Ministers and Servants and dost thou make so great a matter of omitting a Sermon or a prayer or other holy duty § 60. Direct 18. As there are degrees of sin so there are degrees of punishment And wilt thou Direct 18. rather choose the easiest place in Hell than Heaven How small soever the matter of sin be thy wilfulness and sinning against conscience and mercies and warnings may make it great to thee Are great sinners so happy in thy eyes that thou wouldst be as like them as thou darest § 61. Tempt 19. Also he would embolden the sinner because of the Commonness of the sin and Tempt 19. the multitude that commit either that or worse as if it were not therefore so bad or dangerous § 62. Direct 19. But remember that the more examples you have to take warning by the more Direct 19. unexcusable is your fall It was not the number of Angels that fell that could keep them from being Devils and damned for their sin God will do Justice on many as well as on one The sin is the greater and therefore the punishment shall not be the less Make the case your own Will you think it a good reason for any one to abuse you beat you rob you because that many have done so before He should rather think that you are abused too much already and therefore he should not add to your wrongs If when many had spit in Christs face or bufletted him some one should have given him another spit or blow as if he had not enough before would you not have taken him to be the worst and cruellest of them all If you do as the most you 'll speed as the most § 63. Tempt 2â— â—â— is a dangerous Temptation when the Devill propâ—seth some very good end and â—â—â—â—t 2â— mâ—kâ—t◠〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 or the necessary means to accomplish it when he blindâ—th men sâ— farr as tâ—â—â—â—â—k tâ—â—â—â— it is necessary tâ— their salvation or to other mens or to the wellfare of the Church or pro 〈…〉 oâ— the pleasing of God then sâ—n will be commited without regret and continued in â—â—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 Oâ— this account it is that â—â—reâ—â—e and will-worship and superstition are kept up â—â—â—â— 2. 18 21 22 23. Having a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting the body It is for God that much of the wickedness of the world is done against God It s for the Church aâ—â— Truth that Papists have murdered and persecuted so
refuse to be converted to him notwithstanding all the arguments of Love that can be used to allure them Displicency Nâ—litiâ—n and Aversation are Hatred § 13. If you think it impossible that men can Hate God whom they confess to be infinitely good Consider for the true understanding of this Hatred 1. That it is not as good that they hate him 2. And it is not God simply in himself considered 3. And therefore it is not all in God 4. And it is not the name of God 5. But it is 1. God as he seemeth unsuitable to them and unfit for their delight and Love which seeming is caused by their carnal inclination to things of another nature and the sinful perverting of their appetites and the blindness and error of their minds 2. And it is God as he is an enemy to their carnal concupiscence whose Holy nature is against their unholiness and hateth their sin and his Laws forbid them the things which they most love and take delight in And so they hate God as a mad man hateth his Keeper and Physicion and takes them for his enemies and as a hungry Dog doth hate him that keepeth him from the meat which he loveth or would take it out of his mouth 3. And they hate God as one that by his Holiness Iustice and Truth is engaged to condemn them for their sin and so consequently to their sin is their enemy that will destroy them unless they forsake it when their Wills are enslaved to their sins and they cannot endure to be forbidden them and yet see that God will damn them in Hell fire if they cast them not away this filleth them with displicency against God as Holy and Just. 4. And then consequently they hate him in the rest of his Attributes As his Omniscience that he alway seeth them His Omnipresence that he is alwayes with them His Omnipotency that he is unresistible and able to punish them His very mercy as expressed to others when they must have no part in it yea his very immutability eternity and being as he is to continue an avenger of their iniquity so that the wicked in despair do wish that there were no God and in prosperity they wish he were not their Governour and Judge or were unholy and unjust allowing them to do what they list without account or punishment Thus God is hated by the wicked according to the measure of their wickedness and carnal interest and concupiscence which he is against Where you may note 1. That the Hatred of God beginneth at the sensual Love of things temporal which he forbiddeth 2. That the wicked great ones of the world and those that have the strongest concupiscence are usually the greatest haters of God as having the greatest adverse interest and being most in love with the things which he prohibiteth and will condemn § 14. V. The Counterfeit of Love to God is something that seemeth like it and yet is consistent with prevalent hatred or privation of true Love and maketh self-deceiving Hypocrites 1. One is when so much of God is Loved as men think hath no opposition to their lusts and carnal interest as his mercy and readiness to forgive and then they think that they truly Love God though they hate his Holiness and other attributes 2. Another Counterfeit is to Love God upon mistakes imagining that he is of the sinners mind and will bear with him and not condemn him though he continue sensual and ungodly This is not indeed to Love God but something contrary to God If mens fantasies will take God to be like the Devil a friend to sin and no friend to holiness and false in his threatnings c. and thus will Love him this is so far from being indeed the Love of God that it is an odious blaspheming of him 3. Another counterfeit is to Love God only for his temporal mercies as because he preserveth and maintaineth them when yet he is resisted when he would give them things spiritual 4. Another is when the opinionative approbation of the mind and honouring God with the lips and knee is mistaken for true Love In a word whatever Love of God respecteth him not as God indeed and is not superlative but is subservient to creature Love is but a counterfeit § 15. VI. The Directions for the exercise of the Love of God are these Direct 1. Direct 1. Consider well that the Love of our Creator Redeemer and Regenerater is the very end for which we are Created Redeemed and Regenerate and how just it is that God should have the end of such excellent works and that by neglecting or opposing the Love of God which is the end we neglect or oppose the works of Creation Redemption and Regeneration themselves Let us plead these Works of God with our hearts and say 1. O sluggish soul dost thou forget the use for which thou wast created and for which thou wast indued with Rational faculties Dost thou repent that thou art a man and refuse the employment of a man What is the means or instrument good for but its proper End and Use and action God made the Sun to shine and it shineth He made the Earth to support us and bear fruit and it doth accordingly And he made thee to Love him and wilt thou refuse and disobey How noble and excellent is thy employment in comparison of theirs Is the fruit of the earth or the labour of thy Beast or the service of any inferiour creature so sweet and honourable a work as thine to KNOW and LOVE thy Bountiful Glorious Creator How happy is thy Lot How blessed is thy portion in comparison of theirs And dost thou forsake thy place and descend to more ignoble objects as if thou hadst rather have been some silly fordid animal If thou hadst not rather be a Beast than a Man why choosest thou the love and pleasures of a Beast and refusest the love and pleasures of a man Is Creation and the Image of God in a Rational free soul a thing to be thus contemned for nothing What is the Sun good for if it should yield no light or heat And what art thou good for more than the beasts that perish if thou KNOW not and LOVE not thy Creator If God should offer to unman thee and turn thee into a Horse or Dog thou wouldst think he thrust thee into misery And yet thou canst voluntarily and wilfully unman thy self and take it as thy ease and pleasure If death came this night to dissolve thy nature it would not please thee And yet thou canst daily destroy thy nature as to its Use and End and not lament it It were better I had never been a man nor never had a Heart or Love within me it I use it not in the holy Love of my Creator It is true I have a Body that is made to eat and drink and sleep But all this is but to serve my soul in the Love of him
and fullest conceptions of the Goodness and excellencies of God which are his Amiableness and abhor all misrepresentations of him as unlovely That which is apprehended as unlovely cannot be loved And that which is apprehended as evil is apprehended as unlovely Therefore it is the grand design of Satan to hide Gods Goodness and misrepresent him as evil Not to deny him to be Good in himself for in that he hath no hope to be believed but to perswade men that he is not Good to them or to make them forget or overlook his goodness Not to O Oâ—aâ—â—â—â— in tua oratione plus dâ—â—ge Deum quam â—eipsum alia si hoc facâ—s justus es prudens de cha itaâ—e sanctâ—tate habi uatuâ— Qui â—abâ—â—us est a nicus tuus in oratione O Oratâ—r quando orabis pro commissis justitiam Dei tecum teneas diligendo non autem odiendo quia si sic misericordia Dei non postâ—r esse tua amica â—o quia injustus esâ—et â—uâ— habitus esset crudelis â— spe charâ—ate prolonga â—â— tuum amare in odire esset perveâ—sum de quo oâ—ire esset in aeteâ—num habituatus perswade them that God is Evil in himself but that he is evil to them by restraining them from their beloved sins and hating them as sinners and resolving to damn them if they go on impenitently This which is part of the Goodness of God he maketh them believe is evil by engaging them in a way and interest which he knoweth that God is engaged against and entising them under the strokes of his Justice And he tempteth believers themselves to poor diminutive unworthy thoughts of the Goodness and Mercifulness of God and to continual apprehensions of his wrath and terrors And if he can make them believe that God is their enemy and think of him only as a consuming fire how little are they like to Love him If Christians knew how much of the Devils malice against God and them doth exercise it self in this to make God appear to man unlovely they would more studiously watch against such misrepresentations and fly from them with greater hatred Not that we must first by the advice of arrogant Reason and self-love as some do draw a false description of Goodness and Amiableness in our minds and make that the measure of our judgement of God his nature attributes and decrees nor take his Goodness to be only his suitableness to our opinions wills and interest But we must take out from the word and works of God that true description of his Goodness which he hath given of himself and expunge out of our conceits whatsoever is contrary to it Think of Gods Goodness in proportion with his other attributes O my soul how unequally hast thou thought of God Thou easily believest that his Power is Omnipotence and that his Knowledge is Omniscience but of his Goodness how narrow and poor are thy conceivings As if it were nothing to his Power and Knowledge How oft hast thou been amazed in the consideration of his Greatness and how seldom affected with the apprehensions of his Goodness Thou gratifiest him that would have thee believe and tremble as he doth himself and not him that would have thee Believe and Love How oft hast thou suffered the malicious enemy to accuse God to thee and make thee believe that he is a hater of man and hateful to man or a hater of thee that he might make thee hate him How oft hast thou suffered him to draw in thy thoughts a false representation of thy dearest Lord and shew him to thee as in that unlovely shape How oft have thy conceptions dishonoured and blaspheamed his Love and Goodness while thou hast seemed to magnifie his Knowledge and his Power Think of him now as Love itself as fuller of Goodness than the sea of water or the sun of Light Love freely and boldly without the stops of suspicions and fears where thou art sure thou canst never love enough and if all the love of men and Angels were united in one flame they could never love too much or come near the proportion of the Glorious Goodness which they love Cast thy self boldly into this Ocean of delights Though the narrowness of thy own capacity confine thee yet as there are no bounds in the object of thy love let not false unbelieving thoughts confine thee O that I were all eye to see the Glorious Amiableness of my God! O that I were all Love that I might be filled with his Goodness O that all the Passions of Raim Lullius Arte Magâ—a de Appliâ— cap. 114. p. 557 558. my soul were turned into this holy Passion O that all my fears and cares and sorrows were turned into Love And that all the thoughts that confusedly crowd in upon me and molest me were turned into this one uncessant thought of the infinite Goodness of my God! O that all my tears and groanings yea and all my other mirth and pleasures were turned into the melodious songs of Love And that the pulse and voice and operations of Love were all the motion of my soul Surely in Heaven it will be so though it is not to be expected here § 26. Direct 9. The great Means of promoting Love to God is duly to behold him in his appearances to man in the waies of NATURE GRACE and GLORY First therefore learn to understand and improve his appearances in NATURE and to see the Creator in all his works and by the Knowledge and Love of them to be raised to the Knowledge and Love of him Though sin hath so disabled us to the due improvement of these Appearances of God in nature that Grace must restore us before we can do it effectually and acceptably yet Objectively Nature is still the same in substance and affordeth us much help to the Knowledge and Love of God He knoweth nothing of the world aright that knoweth not God in it and by it Some note that the greatest students in Nature are not usually the best proficients in grace and that Philosophers and Physicions are seldom great admirers of piety But this is to judge of the wise by the foolish and to impute the ignorance and impiety of some to others that abhor it Doubtless he is no Philosopher but a fool that seeth not and admireth not the Creator in his works Indeed if a man do wholy give himself to know the shape and form of Letters and to write them curiously or cut them in brass or stone or to print them and not to understand their significations or use no wonder if he be ignorant of the arts and sciences which those Letters well understood would teach him Such a man may be called an Engraver a Sâ—rivener a Printer but not a Scholar And no better can the Atheist be callâ—d a Philosopher or a learned man that denyeth the most wise Allmighty author while he beholdeth his works
When the Nature and Name of God is so plainly â—ngraven upon them all It is a great part of a Christians daily busyness to see and admire God in his works and to use them as steps to ascend by to himself Psal 111. 2 3 4. The works of the â—â—rd â—â—e great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honâ—urable and glâ—â—iâ—us and his righteousness endureth for ever He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred Psal. 143. 5 I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands Psal. 77. 12. I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy dâ—ings Psal. 92. 4 5 6. For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands A bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a fâ—ol understand this As the praising of Gods works so the observing of God in his works is much of the work of a holy soul. Psal. 145. 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 17. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised And his greatness is unsearchable One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts I will speak of the glorious honour of his Magisty and of thy wondrâ—us works And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great Goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Rom. 1. 19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest to them For God hath shewed it to them For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse If we converse in the world as believers or rational creatures ought we should as oft as David repeat these words Psal. 107. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wondrâ—us works to the Children of men And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoyâ—ing They that go down to the sea in ships that do busyness in great waters these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep verse 21 22 23 24. But this is a subject â—itter for a Volume of Physicks Theologically handled than for so short a touch What an excellent Book is the visible world for the daily studies of a holy soul Light is not more visible to the eye in the Sun than the Goodness of God is in it and all the creatures to the mind If I Love not God when all the word revealeth his Loveliness and every creature telleth me that he is Good what a blind and wicked heart have I O wonderful Wisdom and Goodness and Power which appeareth in every thing we see In every Tree and Plant and Flower In every Bird and Beast and Fish In every Worm and Fly and creeping thing In every part of the Body of Man or Beast Much more in the admirable composure of the whole In the Sun and Moon and Starrs and Meteors In the Lightning and Thunder the Air and Winds the Rain and Waters the Heat and Cold the Fire and the Earth Especially in the composed frame of all so far as we can see them set together In the admirable order and cooperation of all things In their times and seasons and the wonderful usefullness of all for man O how Glorious is the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in all the frame of nature Every creature silently speaks his Praise declaring Him to Man whose office is as the worlds High Priest to stand between them and the Great Creator and expresly offer him the praise of all Psal. 8. 3 4 5 6 9. When I consider the Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Starrs which thou hast ordained What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works to the children of men The earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord Psal. 33. 5 6 7 8 9. Read Psalm 65. Thus Love God as appearing in the works of Nature § 27. Direct 10. Study to know God as he appeareth more clearly to sinners in his Goodness in the Direct 10. works of GRACE especially in his Son his Covenant and his Saints and there to Love him in the admiration of his Love Here Love hath made it self an advantage of our sin and unworthiness of our necessities and miseries of the Law and justice and the flames of Hell The abounding of sin and misery hath glorified abounding Grace That Grace which fetcheth sons for God from among the voluntary vassals of the Devil Which fetcheth Children of Light out of darkness and Living souls from among the dead and heirs for Heaven from the gates of Hell and brings us as from the Gallows to the Throne 1. A believing view of the Nature Undertaking Love Obedience Doctrine Example Sufferings Intercession and Kingdom of JESUS CHRIST must needs inflame the believers hearts with an answerable degree of the Love of God To look on a Christ and not Love God is to have eyes and not to see and to overlook him while we seem to look on him He is the liveliest Image of Infinite Goodness and the messenger of the most unsearchable astonishing Love and the purchaser of the most unvaluable benefits that ever were revealed to the sons of men Our greatest Love must be kindled by the Greatest revelations and communications of the Love of God And Greater Love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends John 15. 13. that is Men have no dearer and clearer a way to express their Love to their friends But that Love is aggravated indeed which will express it self as far for enemies But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 8 9 10. Steep then that stiff and heardned heart in the blood of Christ and it will melt Come near with Thomas and by the passage of his wounds get near unto his heart and it will change thy unkind unthankful heart into the very nature of Love Christ is the best Teacher of the lesson of Love that
such a reward But he had rather have that reward of it self without Holiness 62. He may also Love and desire Christ as a means conceited to such an end And he may use much Religious duty to that end And he may forbear such sins as that End can spare lest they deprive him of his hoped-for felicity Yea he may suffer much to prevent an endless suffering 63. As Nature necessarily Loveth self and self-felicity God and the Devil do both make great use of this natural pondus or necessitating Principle for their several ends The Devil saith Thou Lovest Pleasure therefore take it and make provision for it God saith Thou lovest felicity and fearest misery I and my Love are the true felicity and adhering to sensual pleasure depriveth thee of better and is the beginning of thy misery and will bring thee unto worse 64. God commandeth man nothing that is not for his own good and forbiddeth him nothing which is not directly or indirectly to his hurt And therefore engageth self-love on his side for every act of our obedience 65. Yet this good of our own is not the highest nor all the good which God intendeth and we must intend but it is subordinate unto the greater good fore-mentioned 66. As a carnal man may have opinionative uneffectual convictions that God and his Love are his spiritual felicity better than sensual yea and that God is his ultimate End above his own felicity it self so the sanctifying of man consisteth in bringing up these convictions to be truly effectual and practical to renew and rule the Mind and Will and Life 67. Whether this be done by first knowing God as the Beginning and End above our selves and then knowing effectually that he is mans felicity or whether self-love be first excited to Love him as our own felicity and next we be carryed up to Love him for himself as our highest End it cometh all to one when the work is done And we cannot prove that God tyeth himself constantly to either of these methods alone But experience telleth us that the later is the usual way and that as Nature so Grace beginneth with the smallest seed and groweth upward towards perfection And that self-love and desire of endless felicity and fear of endless misery are the first notable effects or changes on a repenting soul. 68. And indeed the state of sin lyeth both in mans fall from GOD to SELF and in the mistake of his own felicity preferring even for Himself a sensible good before a spiritual and the Creature before the Creator And therefore he must be rectified in both 69. And the hypocrites uneffectual Love to God and Holiness is much discovered in this that as he loveth dead Saints and their Images and Holy-dayes because they trouble him not so he best loveth opinionatively and least hateth practically the Saints in Heaven and the Holiness that is far from him and God as he conceiveth of him as one that is in Heaven to glorifie men But he hateth practically though not professedly the God that would make him holy and deprive him of all his sinful pleasures or condemn him for them And he can better like Holiness in his Pastor neighbour or child than in Himself 70. Therefore sincerity much consisteth in the Love of self-holiness but not as for self alone but as carrying self and all to God 71. As the Sun-beams do without any interception reach the eye and by them without interception our sight ascendeth and extendeth to the Sun so Gods communicated Goodness and Glorious Revelation extend through and by all inferiour mediums to our understandings and our wills And our Knowledge and Love ascendeth and extendeth through all and by all again to God And as it were unnatural for the eye illuminated by the Sun to see it self only or to see the mediate creatures and not to see the Light and Sun by which it seeth nay it doth least see it self so is it unnatural for the soul to understand and Love it self alone which it little understandeth and should Love with self-denyal and the Creatures only and not to Love God by whom we know and Love the creature 72. It is possible to Love God and Holiness and Heaven as a conceited state and means of our sensual felicity and escape of pain and misery But to Love God as the true felicity of the Intellectual nature and as our spiritual Rest and yet to Love him only or chiefly for our selves and not rather for Himself as our highest end implyeth a contradiction The same I say of Holiness as Loved only for our selves The evidence whereof is plain in that it is Essential to God to be not only better than our selves and every creature but also to be the Ultimate End of all things to which they should tend in all their perfections And it is Essential to Holiness to be the souls devotion of it self to God as God and not only to God as our felicity Therefore to Love God only or chiefly for our selves is to make him only a means to our felicity and not our chief End and it is to make our selves Better and so more Amiable than God that is to be Gods our selves 73. This is much of the sense of the Controversie between the Epicureans and the sober Philosophers as is to be seen in Cicero c. The sober Philosophers said that Virtue was to be loved for it self more than for Pleasure Because if Pleasure as such be better than vertue as such than all sensual Pleasure would be better than Vertue as such The Epicureans said that not all pleasure but the pleasure of Vertue was the chief good as Torquatus his words in Cicero shew And if it had been first proved that a mans self is his just ultimate end as the finis cui or the personal end than it would be a hard question whether the Epicureans were not in the right as to the finis cujus or the Real end which indeed is but a medium to the personal cui But when it is most certain that no mans person is to be his own ultimate end as cui but God and then the Universe and societies of the world as beforesaid it is then easie to prove that the sober Philosophers were in the right and that no mans Pleasure is his ultimate end finis cujus Because no mans Pleasure is either such a demonstration of the Divine perfection as Vertue is as such nor yet doth it so much conduce to the common good of societies or mankind and so to the pleasing and glorifying of God And this way Cicero might easily have made good his cause against the Epicureans 74. Though no man indeed Love God as God who Loveth him not as Better than himself and therefore Loveth him not better and as his absolutely ultimate end and though no man desire Holiness indeed who desireth not to be devoted absolutely to God before and above himself yet is it very common to
it not by will or work but only he willeth the Person not including the Holiness as to any absolute will And so God loveth the person without the Holiness but not so much as he would love him if he were holy Object But you intimate that it is best as to the beauty of the Universe that there be sin and unholiness and damnation And God loveth that which is Good as to the Universe yea that is a Higher Good than personal Good as the subject is more noble and therefore more to be loved of us as it is of God Answ. 1. I know Augustine is oft alledged as saying Bonum est ut malum fiat But sin and punishment must be distinguished It is true of Punishment presupposing sin that it is Good and Lovely in respect to publick Ends though hurtful to the person suffering And therefore as God willeth it as Good so should we not only be patient but be pleased in it as it is the demonstration of the Justice and Holiness of God and as it is Good though not as it is our hurt But sin or unholiness privative is not Good in it self nor to the Universe Nor is it a true saying that It is good that there be sin Nor is it willed of God Though not nilled with an absolute effective Nolition as hath been elsewhere opened at large Sin is not Good to the Universe nor any part of the beauty of the Creature God neither willeth it Causeth it or Loveth it Object At least he hath no great Love to Holiness in those persons that he never giveth it to Otherwise he would work it in them Answ. He cannot love that existent which existeth not Nor doth he any further Will to give it them thâ—n to Command it and give them all necessary means and perswasions to it But what if God make but one Sun Will you say that he hath no great Love to a Sun that will make no more What if he make no more Worlds Doth that prove that he hath no great love to a world He loveth the World the Sun and so the Saints which he hath made And he doth not so far love Suns or Worlds or Saints as to make as many Suns or Worlds or Saints as foolish Wits would prescribe unto him Our Question is What Being God loveth and we should most love as being Best and Likest him and not what he should give a Being to that is not Object 6. Holiness is but an Accident and the person is the substance and Better than the Accident And Dr. Twiâ—s â—ppugneth on such accounts the saying of Arminius That God loveth Iustice better than just men because it is for Iustice that he loveth them Answ. 1. Aristotle and Pâ—rphyrie have not so clearly made known to us the nature of those things or modes which they are pleased to call Accidents as that we should lay any great stress upon their sayings about them Another will say that Goodness it self is but an Accident and most will call it a Mode and they will say that the substance is better than the Mode or Accident and therefore better than Goodness it self And would this think you be good arguing Distinguish then between Physical Goodness of Being in the soul both as a Substance and as a Formal Vertue and the Perfective or Modal qualitative or gradual Goodness And then consider that the later alway presupposeth the former where there is Holiness there is the substance with its Physical Goodness and the perfective Modal or Moral Goodness too But where there is no Holiness there is only a substance deprived of its Modal Moral Goodness And is not both better than one and a perfect being than an imperfect And as to Arminius saying He cannot mean that God loveth Righteousness without a subject or substance better than a subject without Righteousness For there is no such thing to love as Righteousness without a subject Though there may be an abstracted distinct conception of it If therefore the Question be only Whether God love the same man better as he is a Man or as he is a Saint I answer he hath a Love to each which is suitable to its kind He hath such complacency in the substance of a Serpent a Man a Devil as is agreeable to their being that is as they bear the natural impressions of his creating perfections yet such as may stand with their pain death and misery But he hath such a complacency in the actual Holiness Love and Obedience of men and Angels as that he taketh the person that hath them to be meet for his service and glory and everlasting felicity and delight in him as being qualified for it So that Gods Love must be denominatively distinguished from the object and so it is a Love of Nature and a Love of the Moral perfections of Nature The first Love is that by which he loveth a man because he is a man and so all other creatures The second Love is that by which he loveth a good man because he is Good or Holy And if it will comfort you that God loveth your being without your perfections or virtue let it comfort you in pain and death and Hell that he continueth your being without your well being or felicity Object 7. All Goodness or Holiness is some ones Goodness or Holiness as health is And as it is the persons wellfare and perfection so it is given for the persons sake Therefore the person as the finis cut and utmost End is better than the thing given him and so more amiable Answ. That all Goodness is some ones Goodness proveth but that some one is the Subject or Being that is Good but not that to Be is better than to be Good as such And as he is in some respect the finis cui for whom it is and so it is Good to him yet he and his Goodness are for a higher end which is the pleasing of God in the demonstration of his Goodness That therefore is best which most demonstrateth Gods Goodness And there is no subject or substance without its accidents or modes And that person that is not Good and Holy is Bad and Unholy Therefore the question should be Whether a person bad and unholy be more amiable than a person good and holy that hath both Physical and Moral Goodness And for all that the name of an Accident maketh Action seem below the person yet it must be also said that the person and his faculties are for Action as being but the substance in a perfect Mode and that Action is for higher ends than the persons being or felicity Object 8. Love is nothing but benevolence Velle bonum alicui ut ei bene sit But who is it that would not wish good to God that is to be blessed as he is But how can holiness then be loved but rather the person for his holiness because we cannot wish it good but only to be what it is Answ.
The definition is false as hath been shewed and as the instance proveth else a man could not be said to love Learning Virtue or any quality but only to love the person that wanteth it or hath it But Love is a Complacency and benevolence is but its effect or antecedent 2. The unholy wish not good to God for they would all depose him from his Godhead They would not have him to be a hater of their sin nor to be their Holy and Righteous Governour and Judge Object 9. It is better to Be a man though a sinner and miserable in Hell than not to be at all Else God would never ordain cause or permit it Answ. 1. It is better to the highest ends Gods Glory and the Universal Order to be a punished man than to be nothing when God will have it so Because Punishment as to those highest ends is good Though it is not best for the poor miserable sinner But the same cannot be said of sin It is indeed better also to those highest ends to be a Man though a sinner while God continueth humanity But not to be a Man and a sinner For the latter implyeth some Good to be in the sin which hath no Good and therefore God neither causeth it nor willeth it though he permit it But though a sinful man is better than no man to Gods ends it followeth not that to be a man is better than to be a good man Object 10. If that be best and most amiable which is most to the glory of God then it is more amiable to be a sinner in Hell torment glorifying his Iustice than not to be at all or to be a bruit Answ. 1. It is neither of these that is offered to your Love and Choice but to be Holy All Good is not matter of Election But that Good which is in Hell is not the sin but the punishment For the sin doth reputatively and as much as in it lyeth rob God of his glory and punishment repaireth it Therefore love the punishment if you can and spare not so you love Holiness better For that would honour God more excellently and please him more Object 11. If I must love to be like God I must love to be Great and I must Love the Greatest as mâ—st like him Answ. You must love to be like him in those perfections which you are capable of and to the ends and uses of your proper nature Therefore you must be desirous to be like him in your measure even in such Power and Greatness as is suitable to the Nature and Ends of a Rational soul. Not in such strength as he giveth a Horse or such magnitude as he giveth a Mountain which is not to be most like him But in the vital activity and power of an Intellectual free-agent To be Powerful and great in Love to God and all his service and in all good works to be profitable to the world to be lively and ready in all obedience strong to suffer and to conquer sin and all temptations In a word to be Great and Powerful in Wisdom and true Goodness Thus seek even in Power to be like to God in your Capacities Object 12. God himself doth not love men only for their Goodness nor Love that best which is best For he loveth his Elect while enemies and ungodly and he telleth Israel he loved them because he would love them and not because they were better than others And in the womb he loved Jacob best when he was no better than Esau. Answ. 1. Distinguish between Gods Complacence and Benevolence 2 Between the good that is present and foreseen good with a present capacity for it 1. God had a greater Benevolence to Iacob than Esau and to the Israelites than to other Nations that were perhaps not much worse And it is not for our Goodness that God decreeth to make us good or to give us a double proportion of any of those mercies which he giveth not as Rector but as Dominus and Benefactor as an absolute Owner and free Benefactor And with this Love of Benevolence he loveth us when we are his enemies that is he purposeth to make us good But this benevolence is but a secundary Love and fruit of Complacency joyned with the free unequal distribution of his own 2. But for Complacency which is Love in the first and strictest sense God so loveth the wicked though Elect no farther than they are Good and Lovely that is 1. As they have the Natural Goodness of Rational Creatures 2. And as they are capable of all the future service they will do him and glory they will bring him 3. And as his Infinite Wisdom knoweth it fit to choose them to that service Or if the Benevolence of Election do go before his first Complacence in them above others as being before his foresight that they will serve and love him better yet still this proper Love called Complacence goeth not beyond the worth of the thing loved Object Doth God love us Complacentially in Christ beyond the Good that is in us Answ. Not beyond our Real and Relative Good as we are in our selves by his grace and as we are in Christ related to him and both wayes such as demonstrate the Divine perfections and shall Love and Glorifie and Please him for ever So much for the opening of the true Nature of LOVE to God our selves and others and of mans ultimate end and of the Nature of Holiness and Goodness and those Mysteries of Religion which are involved in these points CHAP. IV. Subordinate Directions against those Grand heart-sins which are directly contrary to the Life of Godliness and Christianity THE positive Directions to the Essential Duties of Godliness and Christianity have already given you Directions * The recital of such sins as the former Positive Directions do detect and afford help against against the contrary sins As in the first Grand Direction you have helps against direct Unbelief In the second you have Directions against Unbelief as it signifieth the not using and applying of Christ according to our various needs In the third you have Directions against †Of the sin against the Holy Ghost I have written a special Treatise in my Unreasonableness of Infidelity all resisting or neglecting the Holy Ghost Which were first because in Practice we must come by the Son and the Spirit to the saving Knowledge and Love of the Father In the fourth you have Directions * Since the writing of this I have published the same more at large in my Reasons of the Christian Religion and in my Life of Faith against Atheism Idolatry and Ungodliness In the fifth you have Directions against self-idolizing and self-dependance and unholiness in an alienating your selves from God In the sixth you are Directed against Rebellion and Disobedience against God In the seventh you have Directions against Unteachableness Ignorance and Error In the eighth you have Directions against Impenitency
Unbelief is one of the Causes of them and the sinfullest Cause § 2. And that the Article of Remission of sin is to be Believed with application to our selves is certain The Article of Remission of sin to be believed applyingly But not with the application of Assurance Perswasion or Belief that we are already pardoned but with an applying Acceptance of an offered pardon and Consent to the Covenant which maketh it ours We believe that Christ hath purchased Remission of sin and made a Conditional Grant of it in his Gospel to all viz. if they will Repent and Believe in him or take him for their Saviour or become Penitent Christians And we consent to do so and to accept it on these terms And we believe that all are actually pardoned that thus consent § 3. By all this you may perceive that those troubled Christians which doubt not of the truth of the Word of God but only of their own sincerity and consequently of their Justification and Salvation do ignorantly complain that they have not faith or that they cannot believe For it is no act of unbelief at all for me to doubt whether my own heart be sincere This is my ignorance of my self but it is not any degree of unbelief For Gods Word doth no where say that I am sincere and therefore I may doubt of this without doubting of Gods Word at all And let all troubled Christians know that they have no more unbelief in them than they have doubting or unbelief of the truth of the Word of God Even that despair it self which hath none of this in it hath no unbelief in it iâ— there be any such I thought it needful thus far to tell you what unbelief is before I come to give you Directions against it And though the meer doubting of our own sincerity be no unbelief at all yet real unbelief of the very truth of the Holy Scriptures is so common and dangerous a sin and some degree of it is latent in the best that I think we can no way so much further the work of Grace as by destroying this The weakness of our faith in the truth of Scriptures and the remnant of our unbelief of it is the principal cause of all the languishings of our Love and Obedience and every Grace and to strengthen faith is to strengthen all What I have â—ullier written in my Saints Rest Part 2. and my Treatise against Infidelity I here suppose § 4. Direct 1. Consider well how much of Religion Nature it self teacheth and Reason without Direct 1. supernatural Revelation must needs confess as that there is another life which man was made for and that he is obliged to the fullest Love and Obedience to God and the rest before laid down 〈…〉 in the world are perpetual visible Evidences in my eyes of the truth of the Holy Scriptures 1 That there should be so Universal and implacable a hatred against the godly in the common sort â—f unrenewed men in all Agâ—â— and Nations of the Earâ—h when thâ—se men deserve so well of them and do them no wrong â—s a visible proof of Adams fall and he 〈◊〉 of a Saviour and a Sanctifier 2 That all those who are seriously Christians should be so far renewed and recovered from the common corruption as their heavenly â—inds and lives and their wonderful difference from other men sheweth this is a visible proof that Christianity is of God 3. That God doth â—o â—lainly shew a particular special Providence in the converting and confirming souls by differencing Grace and work on the soul as the sanctified feel doth shew that indeed the work is his 4. That God doth so plainly grant many of his Servants prayers by special Providences doth prove his owning them and his 〈◊〉 5. That God suffereth his Servants in all times and places ordinarily to suffer so much for his Love and Service from the world and flâ—sh dâ—â—h shew that there is a Judgement and Rewards and Punishments hereafter Or else our highest duty would be our greatest losâ— and thâ—n how should his Government of men be just 6. That the Renewed Nature which maketh men better and therefore is of God doth wholly look at the life to come and lead us to â—t and live upon it this sheweth that such a life there is or else this would be delusory and vain and Goodness it self would be a deceit 7. When it is undenyable that de facto esse the world is not Governed without the Hopes and Fears of another life almost all Nations among the Heathens believing iâ— and shewing by their very worshipping their dead Heroes as Gods that they believed that their soulâ— did live and even the wicked generally being restrained by those hopes and fears in themselves And also that de posse it is not pâ—â—â—â—ible the world should be governed agreeably to mans rational nature without the hopes and fears of another life But men would be wâ—â—se than Beasts and all Villanies would be the allowed practice of the world As every man may feel in himself what he were like to be and do if he had no such restraint And there being no Doctrine or Life comparable to Christianity in their tendency to the life to come All these are visible staâ—ding evidences assisted so much by common sense and reason and still apparent to all that they leave Infidelity without excuse and are ever at hand to help our faith and resist temptations to unbelief 8. And if the world had not had a Beginning according to the Scriptures 1. We should have found Monuments of Antiquity above sâ—x thousand years old 2. Arts and Sciences would have come to more perfection and Printing Guns c. not have been of so late invention 3. And so much of America and other parts of the world would not have been yet uninhabited unplanted or undiscovered Of Aâ—heâ—sm I have spoken before in the Introduction and Nature so clearly revealeth a God that I take it as almost needless to say much of it to sober men in the Introduction And then observe how congruously the doctrine of Christ comes in to help where Nature is at a loss and how exactly it suits with Natural Truths and how clearly it explaineth them and fully containeth so much of them as are necessary to salvation and how suitable and proper a means it is to attain their Ends and how great a testimony the Doctrines of Nature and Grace do give unto each other § 5. Direct 2. Consider that mans End being in the life to come and God being the righteous and Direct 2. merciful Governour of man in order to that End it must needs be that God will give him sufficient means to know his will in order to that end And that the clearest fullest means must needs demonstrate most of the Government and Mercy of God § 6. Direct 3. Consider what full and sad experience the world hath of its pravity and great
mourning where you may see the end of all the living and be made better by laying it to heart and let not your hearts be in the house of miâ—th Eccles. 7. 2 3 4. Delight not to converse with men that be in â—â—nâ—ur and understand not but are like the beasts that perish for though they think of perpetuating their houses and call their lands after their own names yet they abide not in their honour and this their way is their folly though yet their posterity approve their sayings Psal. 49. 20. 12. 13 14. Converse with penitent humbled souls that have seen the odiousness of sin and the wickedness and deceitfulness of the heart and can tell you by their own feeling what cause of humiliation is still before you With these are you most safe § 106. I have been the larger against PRIDE as seeing its prevalency in the world and its mischievous effects on souls and families Church and State and because it is not discerned and resisted by many as it ought I would fain have God dwell in your hearts and peace in your societies and fain have you stand fast in the hour of temptation from prosperity or adversity and fain have affliction easie to you But none of this will be without humility I am loth that under the mighty 1 Pet. 5. 6. Lam. 3. 29. 2. 19. Amos 3. 8. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Iames 4. 6. Dan. 5. 22. 2 Châ—â—n 34. â—â— hand of God we should be unhumbled even when judgements bid us lay our mouths in the dust The storms have been long up the Cedars have fallen It is the Shrubs and bending Willows that now are likest to scape I am loth to see the prognosticks of wrath upon your souls or upon the Land I am loth that any of you should through Pride be unhumbled for sin or ashamed to own despised godliness or that any should through Pride be unhumbled for sin or ashamed to own despised godliness or that any that have seemed Religious should prove seditious unpeaceable or Apostates And therefore I beseech you in a special manner take heed of pride be little in your own esteem Praise not one another unseasonably be not offended at plain reproofs Look to your duties and then leave your reputations to the will of God Rebuke pride in your children Use them to mean attire and employments Cherish not that in them which is most natural now and most pernicious God dwelleth with the Humble and will take the Humble to dwell with him Isa. 57. 15. Job 22. 29. Put on humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another Col. 3. 12 13. Be clothed with humility Serve the Lord with all humility of mind and â—e will exalt you in due time Acts 20. 19. 1 Pet. 5. 6 7. PART VI. See an excellenâ—â—ract a◠〈◊〉 〈…〉 3. 〈…〉 Pat. though 〈…〉 Directions against Covetousness or Love of Riches and against worldly Cares I Shall say but little on this subject now because I have written a Treatise of it already called The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ in which I have given many Directions in the Preface and Treatise against this sin § 1. Direct 1. Understand well the Nature and Malignity of this sin both what it is and why it is so great and perillous I shall here shew you 1. What Love of Riches is lawful 2. What it is Direct 1. that is unlawful and in what this sin of Covetousness or Worldliness doth consist 3. Wherein the Malignity or Greatness of it lyeth 4. The Signs of it 5. What Counterfeits of the contrary vertuâ— do hide this sin from the eyes of worldlings 6. What false appearances of it do cause many to be suspected of Covetousness unjustly § 2. I. All love of the creature the world or riches is not sin For 1. The works of God are I 〈…〉 all Good as such and all Goodness is amiable As they are related to God and his Power and Wisdom and Goodness is imprinted on them so we must love them even for his sake 2. All the impressions of the Aâ—tributes of God appearing on his works do make them as a Glass in which at this distance we must see the Creator and their sweetness is a drop from him by which his Goodness and Love â—s tasted And so they were all made to lead us up to God and help our minds to conâ—â—â—â— with him and kindle the Love of God in our breasts as a Love-token from our dearest friend And thus as the means of ouâ— communion with God the Love of them is a duty and not a sin 3. They are naturally the means of sustaining our bodies and preserving life and health and alâ—â—â—â—ty And as such our sensitive part hath a Love to them as every Beast hath to their food And this Love in it self is not of moral kind and is neither a vertue nor a vice till it either be used in obedience 〈…〉 Reason and so it is good or in disobedience to it and so it is evil 4. The creatures are necessary means to support our bodies while we are doing God the service which we owe him in the world And so they must be Loved as a means to his service Though we cannot say properly that Riches are ordinarily thus necessary 5. The Creatures are necessary to sustain our bodies in our journey to Heaven while we are preparing for eternity And thus they must be loved as remote helps to our salvation And in these two last respects we call it in our prayers our daily bread 6. Riches may enable us to relieve our needy brethren and to promote good works for Church or State And thus also they may be loved so far as we must be thankful for them so far we may Love them For we must be Thankful for nothing but what is Good § 3. II. But Worldliness or sinful Love of Riches is 1. When Riches are loved and desired and Covâ—â—ousness what Phâ—l 3. 7 8 9. â—am 1. 10. Phil. 4. 11. 1 â—â—m â— 8. Prâ—v 23 4. â—abour not to be Riâ—h sought more for the Flesh than for God or our Salvation even as the matter or means of our worldly prosperity that the flesh may want nothing to please it and satisfie its desires Or that Pride may have enough wherewith to support it self by gratifying and obliging others and living at those rates and in that splendour as may shew our Greatness or further our Domination over others 2. And when we therefore desire them in that proportion which we think most agreeable to these carnal ends and are not contented with our daily bread and that proportion which may sustain us as passengers to Heaven and tend most to the securing of our souls and to the service of God So that it is the end by which a sinful Love of Riches is principally to be discerned when they are lâ—ved for pride or flesh-pleasing as they are the matter
is meant by Flesh here And 2. What flesh-pleasing it is that is unlawful and what sensuality is 3. Wherein the Malignity of this sin consisteth 4. I shall answer some Objections 5. I shall shew you the Signs of it 6. The Counterfeits of the contrary 7. And the false Signs which make some accused wrongfully by themselves or others § 2. I. Because you may find in Writings between the Protestants and Papists that its become a Controversie whether by flesh in Scripture where this sin is mentioned be meant the Body it What is meant by â—lesh self or the soul so far as it is unregenerate I shall briefly first resolve this question When we speak of the unregenerate part we mean not that the soul hath two parts whereof one is regenerate and the other unregenerate But as the purblind eye hath both Light and Darkness in the same subject so is it with the soul which is regenerate but in part that is in an imperfect degree And by the unregenerate part is meant the whole soul so far as it is unregenerate The word flesh in its primary signification is taken for that part of the Body as such without respect to sin and next for the whole body as distinct from the soul. But in respect to sin and duty it is taken 1. Sometime for the sensitive appetite not as sinful in it self but as desiring that which God hath obliged Reason to deny it 2. More frequently for this sensitive appetite as inordinate and so sinful in its own desires 3. Most frequently for both the inordinate sensitive appetite it self and the Rational powers so far as they are corrupted by it and sinfully disposed to obey it or to follow inordinately sensual things But then the Name is primarily taken for the sensual appetite it self as diseased and but by participation for the Rational powers For the understanding of which you must consider 1. That the appetite it self might innocently even in innocency desire a forbidden object when it was not the Appetite that was forbidden but the Desire of the Will or the actual taking it That a man in a Feavor doth Thirst for more than he may lawfully drink is not of it self a sin But to Desire it by Practical Volition or to Drink it is a sin For it is these that God forbids and not the Thirst which is not in our power to extinguish That Adam had an Appetite to the forbidden fruit was not his sin but that his will obeyed his appetite and his mouth did eat For the Appetite and sensitive nature is of God and is in nature antecedent to the Law God made us Men before he gave us Laws And the Law commandeth us not to alter our selves from what he made us or any thing else which is naturally out of our power But it is the sin of the will and executive powers to do that evil which consisteth in obeying an innocent Appetite The Appetite is necessary and not free and therefore God doth not direct his commands or prohibitions to it directly but to the Reason and free-will 2. But since mans fall the Appetite it self is corrupted and become inordinate that is more impetuous violent and unruly than it was in the state of Innocency by the unhappy distempers that have befallen the Body it self For we find now by experience that a man that useth himself to sweet and wholsom temperance hath no such impetuous strivings of his Appetite against his reason if he be healthful as those have that are either diseased or used to obey their appetites And if Use and Health make so great alteration we have cause to think that the Depravation of Nature by the Fall did more 3. This inordinate appetite is sin by Participation so far as the Appetite may be said to be Free by participation though not in it self Because it is the Appetite of a Rational free-agent For though sin be first in the will in its true form yet it is not the will only that is the subject of it though primarily it be but the whole man so far as his acts are Voluntary For the will hath the Command of the other faculties and they are Voluntary acts which the will either commands or doth not forbid when it can and ought To lye is a voluntary sin of the man and the tongue partaketh of the guilt The will might have kept out that sin which caused a disorder in the appetite If a Drunkard or a Glutton provoke a venerous inordinate appetite in himself that lust is his sin because it is voluntarily provoked 4. Yet such additions of inordinacy as men stir up in any Appetite by their own actual sins and customs are more aggravated and dangerous to the soul than that measure of distemper which is meerly the fruit of original sin 5. This inordinateness of the sensitive Appetite with the meer Privation of Rectitude in the Mind and Will is enough to cause mans Actual sin For if the Horses be headstrong the meer weakness sleepiness negligence or absence of the Coachman is enough to concur to the overthrow of the Coach So if the Reason and Will had no Positive inclinations to evil or sensual objects yet if they have not so much Light and Love to higher things as will restrain the sensual appetite it hath positive inclination enough in it self to forbidden things to ruine the soul by actual sin 6. Yet though it be a great controversie among Divines I conceive that in the Rational Powers themselves there are Positive habitual inordinate inclinations to sensual forbidden things For as actually its certain the Reason of the Proud and Covetous do contrive and oft approve the sin and the Will embrace it so these are done so constantly in a continued stream of action by the whole man that it â—eems apparent that the same faculties which run out out in such strong and constant action are themselves the subjects of much of the inclining Positive habits And if it be so in additional acquired sin its like it was so in Original sin 7. Though sin be formally subjected first in the Will yet Materially it is first in the sensitive appetite at least this sin of Flesh-pleasing or sensuality is The flesh or sensitive part is the first Desirer though it be sin no further than it is voluntary 8. All this set together telleth you further that the word flesh signifieth the sensual inclinations of the whole man but first and principally the corrupted sensual appetite and the Mind and Wills whether Privative or Positive concurrence but secondarily and as falling in with sense The Appetite 1. Preventeth Reason 2. And resisteth reason 3. And at last corrupteth and enticeth Reason and Will to be its servants and purveyors § 3. And that the name flesh doth primarily signifie the sensitive appetite it self is evident in the very notation of the name Why else should the Habits or Vices of the Rational powers be called Flesh
put its safety into an enemies hands And you cast away all its Joys and Hopes for the gratifying of the flesh Might it not complain of your cruelty and say Must my endless happiness be sold to purchase so short a pleasure for your flesh Must I be undone for ever and lie in Hell that it may be satisfied for a little time But why talk I of the souls complaint Alas it is it self that it must complain of For it is its own doing It hath its choice The flesh can but tempt it and not constrain it God hath put the chief power and government into its hands If it will sell its own eternal hopes to pamper worms meat it must speed accordingly You would not think very honourably of that mans wit or honesty who would sell the patrimony of all his children and all his friends that trusted him therewith and after sell their persons into slavery and all this to purchase him a delicious feast with sports and gallantry for a day And is he wiser or better that selleth in effect the inheritance of his soul and betrayeth it to Hell and Devils for ever and all this to purchase the fleshly pleasure of so short a life § 12. 8. Remember what a Beastly life it is to be a sensualist It is an unmanning of your selves Sensual pleasures are bruitish pleasures Beasts have them as well as men We have the higher faculty of reason to subdue and rule the beastly part And Reason is the Man and hath a higher kind of felicity to delight in Do you think that Man is made for no higher matters than a Beast And that you have not a more noble object for your delight than your Swine or Dog hath who have the pleasure of meat and lust and play and ease and fancie as well as you Certainly where sensual pleasures are preferred before the higher pleasures of the soul that man becomes a Beast or worse subjecting his Reason to his bruitish part § 13. 9. Think what an inconsiderable pitiful felicity it is that fleshly persons choose How small and short as well as sordid O how quickly will the game be ended And the delights of boyling lust be gone How quickly will the drink be past their throats and their delicate dishes be turned into filth How short is the sport and laughter of the fool And how quickly will that face be the index of a pained body or a grieved self-tormenting mind It is but a few days till all their stately greatness will be levelled and the most adorned pampered flesh will have no more to shew of all the pleasure which was so dearly bought than a Lazarus or the most mortified saint A few days will turn their pleasure into anguish and their jollity into groans and their ostentation into lamentation and all their glory into shame As every moment puts an end to all the pleasures of their lives thats past and it is now to them as if it had never been so the last moment is at hand which will end the little that remains And then the sinner will with groans confess that he hath made a miserable choice and that he might have had a more durable pleasure if he had been wise When the skull is cast up with the spade to make room for a successor you may see the hole where all the meat and drink went in and the hidious seat of that face which sometime was the discovery of wantonness pride and scorn but you 'll see no signs of mirth or pleasure § 14. 10. Lastly consider that there is scarce a sin in the world more unexcusable than this The flesh-pleaser seeth the end of all his sensual delights in the faces of the sick and in the corps that are daily carried to the earth and in the graves and bones and dust of those that sometime had as merry a life as he His reason can say all this is gone with them and is as if it had never been and so it will shortly be with me He knoweth that all the pleasure of his life past is now of no value to himself His warnings are constant close and sensible And therefore he hath the greater sin § 15. IV. Object 1. What hurt is it to God or any one else that I please my flesh I will not believe The Pâ—ea oâ— Flesh pleasers that a thing so harmless will displease him Answ. Mecrâ—y as it is Pleasure it hath no hurt in it But as it is inordinate or immoderate pleasure or as it is overloved and preferred before God and your salvation or as it is greater than your delight in God or as it wants its proper end and is loved meerly for it self and not used as a means to higher things and as it is made a hinderance to the soul and to spiritual pleasure and the service of God and as it is the bruitish delight of an ungoverned rebellious appetite that mastereth reason and is not under obedience to God Though sin can do God no hurt it can do you hurt and it can do him wrong I think I have shewed you what hurt and poyson is in it already It is the very rebellion of corrupted nature The turning of all things upside down The taking down God and Heaven and Reason and destroying the use of all the creatures and setting up Flesh-pleasing instead of all and making a Bruit your God and Governour And do you ask what harm there is in this So will your child do when he desireth any play or pleasure and the sick when they desire to please their appetite But your Father and Physicion and Reason and not Brutish Appetite must be Judge § 16. Object 2. But I feel it is natural to me and therefore can be no sin Answ. 1. The inordinate violent unruly appetite is no otherwise Natural to you than as a leprosie is to a leprous generation And will you love your disease because it is natural It is no otherwise Natural than it is to be malicious and revengeful and to disobey your Governours and abuse your neighbours And yet I think they will not judge you innocent for rebellion or abuse because its natural to you 2. Though the Appetite be natural is not Reason to Rule it as natural to you And is not the subjection of the Appetite to Reason natural If it be not you have lost the nature of man and are Metamorphosed into the nature of a Beast God gave you a higher nature to govern your appetite and lower nature And though Reason cannot take away your Appetite it can rule it and keep you from fulfilling it in any thing or measure that 's unmeet § 17. Object 3. But it appeareth by the case of Eve that the Appetite was the same in innocency therefore it is no sin Answ. You must not forget the difference between 1. The Appetite it self 2. The violence and unruly disposition of the appetite 3. And the actual obeying and pleasing of
the appetite The first the Appetite it self was in innocency and is yet no sin But the other two the violence of it and the obeying it were not in innocency and are both sinful § 18. Object 4. But why would God give innocent man an Appetite that must be crost by Reason and that desired that which Reason must forbid Answ. The sensitive nature is in order of generation before the Rational And Reason and Gods Laws do not make sense to be no sense You may as well ask why God would make Beasts which must be restrained and ruled by men and therefore have a desire to that which man must restrain them from You do but ask Why God made us men and not Angels Why he placed our souls in flesh He oweth you no account of his creation But you may see its meet that Obedience should have some tryal by difficulties and opposition before it have its commendation and reward He gave you a Body that was subject to the soul as the Horse unto the rider and you should admire his Wisdom and thank him for the governing-power of Reason and not murmur at him because the Horse will not go as well without the guidance of the rider or because he maketh you not able to go as fast and well on foot So much for the Sensualists Objections § 19. V. The signs of a Flesh-pleaser or Sensualist are these which may be gathered from what Signs of Sensuality is said already 1. When a man in desire to please his appetite referreth it not actually or habitually to a higher end viz. the fitting himself to the service of God but sticketh only in the delight 2. When he looks more desirously and industriously after the prosperity of his Body than of his Soul 3. When he will not part with or forbear his pleasures when God forbiddeth them or when they hurt his soul or when the necessities of his soul do call him more lowdly another way But he must have his delight whatever it cost him and is so set upon it that he cannot deny it to himself 4. When the pleasures of his flesh exceed his delights in God and his holy Word and Wayes and the fore-thoughts of endless pleasure and this not only in the passion but in the estimation choice and prosecution When he had rather be at a Play or Feast or Gaming or getting good bargains or profits in the world than to live in the life of faith and love a holy and heavenly conversation 5. When men set their minds to contrive and study to make provision for the pleasures of the flesh and this is first and sweetest in their thoughts 6. When they had rather talk or hear or read of fleshly pleasures than of spiritual and heavenly delights 7. When they love the company of merry sensualists better than the Communion of Saints in which they may be exercised in the praises of their Maker 8. When they account that the best calling and condition and place for them to live in where they have the pleasure of the flesh where they have ease and fare well and want nothing for the body rather than that where they have far better help and provision for the soul though the flesh be pinched for it 9. When he will be at more cost to please his flesh than to please God 10. When he will believe or like no Doctrine but Libertinism and hateth mortification as too strict preciseness By these and such other signs sensuality may easily be known Yea by the main bent of the life § 20 VI. Many flesh-pleasers flatter themselves with better titles being deceived by such means as Counterfeits of Mortification these 1. Because they are against the doctrine of Libertinism and hold as strict opinions as any But flesh-pleasing may stand with the doctrine of mortification and the strictest opinions as long as they are not put in practice 2. Because they live not in any gross disgraced vice They go not to Stage-playes or unseasonably to Ale-houses or Taverns they are not drunken nor gamesters nor spend not their hours in unnecessary recreations or pastimes They are no fornicators nor wallow in wealth But the flesh may be pleased and served in a way that hath no disgrace accompanying it in the world May not a man make his ease or his prosperity or the pleasing of his appetite without any infamous excesses to be as much his felicity and highest end and that which practically he taketh for his Best as well as if he did it in a shameful way Is not many a man a gluttonous flesh-pleaser that maketh his delight the highest end of all his eating and drinking and pleaseth his appetite without any restraint but what his health and reputation put upon him though he eat not till he vomit or be sick Even the flesh it self may forbid a sensualist to be drunk or to eat till he be sick For sickness and shame are displeasing to the flesh Many a man covereth a life of sensuality not only with a seeming temperance unreproved of men but also with a seeming strictness and austerity But conscience might tell them where they have their good things Luke 16. 25. 3. Some think they are no sensual flesh-pleasers because they live in constant misery in poverty and want labouring hard for their daily bread and therefore they hope that they are the Lazarus's that have their sufferings here But is not all this against thy Will Wouldst thou not fare as well as the rich and live as idly and take thy pleasure if thou hadst as much as they What thou wouldst do that thou dost in Gods account It is thy will that thou shalt be judged by A Thief doth not become a true man when the Prison or Stocks do hinder him from stealing but when a changed heart doth hinder him 4. Others think that they are no flesh-pleasers because their wealth and places and degrees of honour allow them to live high in dyet and delights It s like the Rich man Luke 16. who was clothed with purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every day did live upon his own and as he thought agreeably to his rank and place And the fool Luke 12. 19 20. that said Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry did intend to please himself but with his own which God had given him as a blessing on his land and labour But no mans Riches allow him to be voluptuous The commands of taming and mortifying the flesh and not living after it nor making provision for it to satisfie it lusts belong as much to the rich as to the poor Though you are not to live in the same garb with the poor you are as much bound to mortification and self-denyal as the poorest If you are Richer than others you have more to serve God with but not more than others to serve the flesh with If poverty deny them any thing which might better enable
good Nor is he most beloved of God who hath rolled over the greatest number of good thoughts in his mind or of good words in his mouth no nor he that hath stirred up the strongest passions hereabouts but he that Loveth God and Heaven best and hateth sin most and whose will is most confirmed for Holiness of life He that goeth about his labour in obedience to God may have as much comfort as another that is meditating or praying But neither labour nor prayer is matter of comfort to an ungodly carnal heart Yea if decay of memory or natural ability take you off both Action and Conâ—â—mplation you may have as much acceptance and solid comfort in a patient bearing of the Cross and an obedient ☜ cheerful submission to the holy Will of God Tit. 5. Directions to the Melancholy about their Thoughts IT is so easie and ordinary a thing for some weak-headed persons to cast themselves into Melancholy Read more after Paâ—t 3. against Despair by over-straining either their Thoughts or their Affections and the case of such is so exceeding lamentable that I think it requisite to give such some particular Directions by themselves And the rather because I see some Persons that are unacquainted with the nature of this and other diseases exceedingly abuse the name of God and bring the profession of Religion into scorn by imputing all the affects and speeches of such Melancholy persons to some great and notable operations of the spirit of God and thence draw observations of the methods and workings of God upon the soul and of the nature of the legal workings of the spirit of bondage As some other such have divulged the prophecies the possessions and dispossessing of Hysterical Women as I have read especially in the Writings of the Fryars I do not call those Melancholy who are rationally sorrowful for sin and sensible of their misery and sollicitous about their recovery and salvation though it be with as great seriousness as the faculties can bear As long as they have sound Reason and the imagination fantasie or thinking faculty is not crazed or diseased But by Melancholy I mean this diseased crazynes hurt or errour of the imagination and consequently of the understanding which 〈◊〉 dicunt â—â—p entem nunquam sanitate mentis excâ—dere Incidere tamen aliquando in imaginationes absurdas propter atraebiâ—is redundantiam sive ob delâ—rationem non quidem deviatione rationis verum ex imbecilâ—itate naturae Laert. in Zâ—â—one is known by these following signes which yet are not all in every Melancholy person § 2. 1. They are commonly exceeding fearful causlesly or beyond what there is cause for every thing which they hear or see is ready to increase their fears especially if fear was the first cause as ordinarily it is 2. Their fantasie most erreth in aggravating their sin or dangers or unhappiness every ordinary infirmity they are ready to speak of with amazement as a heynous sin And every possible danger they take for probable and every probable one for certain and every little danger for a great one and every calamity for an utter undoing 3. They are still addicted to excess of sadness some weeping they know not why and some thinking it ought to be so and if they should smile or speak merrily their hearts smite them for it as if they had done amiss 4. They place most of their Religion in sorrowing and austerities to the flesh 5. They are continual self-accusers turning all into matter of accusation against themselves which they hear or read or see or think of quarrelling with themselves for every thing they do as a contentious person doth with others 6. They are still apprehending themselves forsaken of God and are prone to despair They are just like a man in a Wilderness forsaken of all his friends and comforts forlorn and desolate their continual thought is I am undone undone undone 7. They are still thinking that the day of Grace is past and that it is now too late to repent or to find mercy If you tell them of the tenour of the Gospel and offers of free pardon to every penitent believer they cry out still too late too late my day is past not considering that every soul that truly repenteth in this life is certainly forgiven 8. They are oft tempted to gather despairing thoughts from the doctrine of Predestination and to think that if God have reprobated them or have not elected them all that they can do or that all the world can do cannot saâ—e them and next they strongly conceit that they are not elected and so that they are past help or hope not knowing that God electeth not any man separatedly or simply to be saved but conjunctly to believe repent and to be saved and so to the end and means together and that all that will repent and choose Christ and a holy life are elected to salvation because they are elected to the means and condition of salvation which if they persevere they shall enjoy To Repent is the best way to prove that I am elected to Repent 9. They never read or hear of any miserable instance but they are thinking that this is their case If they hear of Cain of Pharaoh given up to hardness of heart or do but read that some are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction or that they have eyes and see not ears and hear not hearts and understand not they think This is all spoken of me or this is just my case If they hear of any terrible example of Gods judgements on any they think it will be so with them If any dye suddenly or a house be burnt or any be distracted or dye in despair they think it will be so with them The reading of Spira's case causeth or increaseth Melancholy in many the ignorant Author having described a plain Melancholy contracted by the trouble of sinning against Conscience as if it were a damnable despair of a sound understanding 10. And yet they think that never any one was as they are I have had abundance in a few weeks with me almost just in the same case and yet every one say that never any one was as they 11. They are utterly unable to Rejoyce in any thing They cannot apprehend believe or think of any thing that is comfortable to them They read all the threatnings of the word with quick sense and application but the Promises they read over and over without taking notice of them as if they had not read them or else say They do not belong to me The greater the mercy of God is and the riches of grace the more miserable am I that have no part in them They are like a man in continual pain or sickness that cannot rejoyce because the feeling of his pain forbiddeth him They look on husband wife friends children house goods and all without any comfort as one would do that is going to be executed for some
the Meek that they shall inherit the earth Matth. 5. 50. § 11. Direct 11. Live as in Gods presence and when your passions grow bold repress them with the Direct 11. reverend Name of God and bid them remember that God and his holy Angels see you § 12. Direct 12. Look on others in their passion and see how unlovely they make themselves With Direct 12. â—rowning countenances and flaming eyes and threatning devouring looks and hurtful inclinations And think with your selves whether these are your most desirable patterns § 13. Direct 13. Without any delay confess the sin to those that stand by if easier means will not Direct 13. repress it And presently take the shame to your selves and shame the sin and honour God This means is in your power if you will and it will be an excellent effectual means Say to those that you are angry with I find a sinful anger kindling in me and I begin to forget Gods presence and my duty and am tempted to speak provoking words to you which I know God hath forbidden me to do Such a present opening of your temptation will break the force of it And such a speedy confession will stop the fire that it go no further For it will be an engagement upon you in point of honour even the reputation both of your wit and honesty which will both suffer by it if you go on in the sin just when you have thus opened it by confession I know there is prudence to be used in this that you do it not so as may make you ridiculous or harden others in their sinful provocations But with prudence and due caution it is an excellent remedy which you can use if you are not unwilling § 14. Direct 14. If you have let your passion break out to the offence or wrong of any by word or Direct 14. deed freely and speedily confess it to them and ask them forgiveness and warn them to take heed of the like sin by your example This will do much to clear your consciences to preserve your Brother to cure the hurt and to engage you against the sin hereafter If you are so proud that you will not do this say no more You cannot help it but that you will not A good heart will not think this too dear a remedy against any sin § 15. Direct 15. Go presently in the manner that the place alloweth you to prayer to God for Direct 15. pardon and grace against the sin Sin will not endure prayer and Gods presence Tell him how apt your pievish hearts are to be kindled into sinful wrath and intreat him to help you by his sufficient grace and engage Christ in the cause who is your head and advocate and then your souls will grow obedient and calm Even as Paul when he had the prick in the flesh prayed thrice as Christ did in his agony so you must pray and pray again and again till you find Gods grace sufficient 2 Cor. 12. 7 8 9. for you § 16. Direct 16. Covenant with some faithful friend that is with you to watch over you and rebuke Direct 16. your passions as soon as they begin to appear and promise them to take it thankfully and in good part And perform that promise that you discourage them not Either you are so far aweary of your sin and willing to be rid of it as to be willing to do what you can against it or you are not If you are you can do this much if you please If you are not pretend not to repent and to be willing to be delivered from your sin upon any lawful terms when it is not so Remember still the mischievous effects of it do make it to be no contemptible sin Eccles. 7. 9. Be not hasty in thy Spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosome of fools Prov. 16. 32. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City Prov. 15. 18. A wrathful man stirreth up strife but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife The discretion of a man deferreth his anger and it is his glory to pass over a transgression Prov. 19. 11. Tit. 8. Directions against sinful Fear § 1. THe chief of my advice concerning this sin I have given you before Chap. 3. Direct 12. Yet somewhat I shall here add Fear is a necessary Passion in man which is planted in Nature for the restraining of us from sin and driving us on to duty and preventing misery It is either God or Devils or men or inferiour creatures or our selves that we fear God must be feared as he is God as he is Great and Holy and Iust and True as our Lord and King and Judge and Father And the fear of him is the beginning of wisdom Devils must be feared only as subordinate to God as the executioners of his wrath And so must men and beasts and fire and water and other creatures be feared and no otherwise We must so discern and fear a danger as to avoid it Our selves we are less apt to fear because we know that we Love our selves But there is no creature that we have so much cause to fear as our folly weakness and willfulness in sin § 2. Fear is sinful 1. When it proceedeth from unbelief or a distrust of God 2. When it ascribeth more to the creature than is its due As when we fear Devils or men as Great or bad or as our enemies without due respect to their dependance upon the will of God When we fear a chained creature as if he were unchained 3. When we fear God upon mistake or error or fear that in him which is not in him or is not to be feared As when we fear least he will break his promise lest he will condemn the keepers of his Covenant lest he will not forgive the penitent that hate their sin lest he will despise the contrite lest he will not hear the prayers of the humble faithful soul lest he will fail them and forsake them lest he will not cause all things to work together for their good lest he will forsake his Church lest Christ will not come again lest our bodies shall not be raised lest there be no life of glory for the just or no immortality of souls all such fears as these are sinful 4. When our fear is so immoderate in degree as to distract us or hinder us from faith and prayer and make us melancholy or when it hindereth Love and praise and thanks and necessary joy and tendeth not to drive us to God and to the use of means to avoid the danger but to drive us from God and kill our hope and make us sit down in despair Directions against sinful fear of God § 3. Direct 1. Know God in his Goodness Mercifulness and Truth and it will banish sinful fears Direct 1. of him For they proceed
great wrong to Christ to doubt of his willingness For 1. He is a greater lover of Holiness than thou art and therefore cannot come behind thee in being willing of thy Holiness 2. He is more merciful to thee than thou art to thy self His Love and mercy is beyond thy measure 3. He hath begun to thee and fully shewed his willingness first He dyed to prepare thee a full remedy He hath drawn up the Covenant He hath therein expressed his own consent and intreateth thine He is the first in consenting and is a suiter to thee Never sinner did yet begin to him in the world Never any was willing of the match before him His general offer of mercy and Covenant tendered to all doth shew his willingness before they can shew theirs by their acceptance Never man over-went him in willingness and was more willing than he Take this sinner as Gods infallible truth If the match break between Christ and thee and thou be lost it shall not be through his refusal but through thine And it cannot break any other way no not by the craft or force of all the Devils in Hell but either because Christ is unwilling or because thou art unwilling And on Christs part it shall never break And therefore if thou be willing the match is made and there is no danger but lest thy heart draw back If thou art not willing why complainest thou for want of that which thou wouldst not have If thou art willing the Covenant is then made for Christ is more willing and was willing first § 22. Direct 11. Write out these sentences that contain the sense and substance of the Gospel and Direct 11. often read them Write them on thy very chamber walls and set them still before thine eyes and try whether Deut. 6. 6 7 8. 11. 18 19 20. they agree with the words of him that tempteth thee to despair such as these which I here transcribe for thee Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life v. 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil 1 Joh. 5. 10 11 12. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a lyar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life Joh. 1. 11 12. He came unto his own and his own received him not but to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God to them that believe on his name Rev. 22. 17. Let him that is athirst come And whoever will let him take the water of life freely Joh. 5. 40. And ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Joh. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 7. 37. If any man thirst let him come to me and drink Luk. 14. 17. Come for all things are now ready And read oft Luk. 15. § 23. Direct 12. Distinguish between sin seen and felt and sin reigning unto death that you may Direct 12. not be so blinded as to think your sin greatest or your condition worst when your sight and feeling of it Eph. 4. 19. is greatest To see and feel your sin and misery is at least the ordinary preparation for recovery To be dead is to be past feeling They that are most forsaken of God are most willing of their present condition and most love their sin and hate holiness and all that would reform them and if they have power will persecute them as enemies § 24. Direct 13. Think not that the troublesome strivings and temptations which weary you are the Direct 13. worst condition or a sign of the victory of sin It is rather a sign that you are not yet forsaken of God while he beareth witness in you against sin and is yet following you with his disswasives Paul saith Gal. 5. 15. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Read Rom. 7. from 14. to the end § 25. Direct 14. Understand the difference between weak grace and no grace that you may not Direct 14. think every want of grace is a sign of total gracelesness When you have opened in your complaints a long Catalogue of weaknesses consider whether yet there be not a true desire to be better and some degree of life with all these § 26. Direct 15. Think well of the excellency of the least degree of special grace that it is a seed of glory Direct 15. the beginning of life eternal the Divine nature and the image of God and of greater worth than all the learning wealth and honour in the world And be not unthankful for so great a mercy because you have not more § 27. Direct 16. Make Conscience of observing the grace and mercy received as well as the wants Direct 16. remaining and the sins committed and of the thankful remembrance and mention of mercy as much as the humble mention of sin Think as oft of mercy as of sin Talk of it as much to others and mention it to God as much in prayer This is your plain duty If you will not do it your wilfull unthankfulness for what you have received may well leave you in distress without the comfort of it § 28. Direct 17. Let your thoughts of Gods Goodness hear some proportion with your thoughts of his Direct 17. Knowledge and his Power And then you will not be so apt to entertain false suspicions of it and think of him as a man-hater like the Devil nor to run away from him that is the infinite most attractive Good § 29. Direct 18. Record the particular kindnesses to thy self by which God hath testified his particular Direct 18. love to thee that they may stand as neer and constant witnesses of his mercy and readiness to do thee good against thy excessive fearfulness and despair § 30. Direct 19. Think how few there are in the world so likely for mercy as thy self Look not Direct 19. only on a few that are better than thy self but think how five parts of the world are open Infidels and Heathens and of the sixth part that are Christians how few are Reformed from Popish and Barbarous ignorance and superstition and among Protestants how small is the number of them that are less in Love with sin than thy self I know that many wicked men abuse
unacquainted with the particular weaknesses and dangers of your own hearts or Direct 9. any of your sinful inclinations That when you know where the wall is weakest you may there make the best defense That wanton word will set a wanton heart on fire which a sober mind doth hear with pity as a bedlam kind of speech A pievish passionate heart is presently disturbed and kindled with those words which are scarce observed by a well-composed soul. § 10. Direct 10. Hear every sinful word as dictated by the Devil and suppose you saw him all Direct 10. the while at the speakers elbow putting each word into his mouth and telling him what to say For it is as verily the Devil that doth suggest them all as if you saw him Suppose you saw him behind the rayler hissing him on as boys do dogs in fighting and bidding him Call him thus or thus Suppose you saw him at the malignants ear bidding him Revile a holy life and speak evil of the ways and servants of the Lord Suppose you saw him behind the wanton bidding him use such ribbald talk or on the stage suggesting it to the actors or at the ear of those that would provoke you to passion to tell them what to say against you This just supposition would much preserve you § 11. Direct 11. Suppose you heard the end annexed to every speech As when you hear one Direct 11. tempting you to lust suppose he said come let us take our pleasure a while and be damned for ever So also in every word that tempteth you to any other sin if the Tempter put in the sin do you put in Gods wrath and Hell and separate not that which God hath adjoyned but with the serpent see the sting § 12. Direct 12. Observe when the infection first seizeth on you and presently take an antidote to Direct 12. expel it if yâ—u love your souls The signs of infection are 1. When your zeal abateth and you grow more indifferent what you hear 2. Next you will feel some little inclination to it 3. Next you will a little venture upon an imitation 4. And lastly you will come to full consent and so to ruine If you feel but a remitting of your dislike and hatred or any filth or tincture left on your thoughts and fantasie go presently and shake them off Bewail it to God in true Repentance and wash your souls in the blood of Christ and cast up the poison by holy resolutions and sweat out the remnant by the servent exercises of Love and Holiness PART IV. Directions for Governing the Tast and Appetite Tit. 1. Directions against Gluttony § 1. THE most that is necessary to be said to acquaint you with the Nature and Evil of this sin is said before in Chap. 4. Part 7. against Flesh-pleasing But something more particularly must be said 1. To shew you what is and what is not the sin of Gluttony 2. To shew you the Causes of it 3. The odiousness of it and 4. To acquaint you with the more particular Helps and Means against it § 2. I. Gluttony is a Voluntary excess in eating for the pleasing of the Appetite or some other carnal So the Israâ—lites Num 11. loathing Manna because they must have change of dyet waâ— a sin of gulâ—sity or gluttony being more for Appetite than Health end Here note 1. The Matter 2. The end or effect of this excess 1. It is sometime an excess in quantity when more is eaten than is meet 2. Or else it may be an excess in the Delicious quality when more regard is had of the Delight and sweetness than is meet 3. Or it may be an excess in the frequencie and ordinary unseasonableness of eating When men eat too oft and sit at it too long 4. It may be an excess in the costliness or price when men feed themselves at too high rates 5. Or it may be an excess of curiosity in the dressing and sawâ—ing and ordering of all 2. And it is usually for some carnal end whether it may be properly called Glttony if a man should think that at a Sacrifice or thanksgiving he were bound to eat inordinately and so made the service of God his end we need not enquire though I see not but it may have that name For that 's a case that is more rare and it is undoubtedly a sin And it is Gluttony if it be done for the pleasing of Even fruitful land saith Plâ—tarch enricheth not if it cost too much the manuring So here others that are importunate with you But the common Gluttony is when it is done for the pleasing of the Appetite with such a pleasure as is no help to Health or Duty but usually a hurt to Body or Soul the Body being hurt by the excess the soul is hurt by the inordinate Pleasure § 3. Yea it is a kind of Gluttony and excess when men will not fast or abstain when they are required from that which at other times they may use with abstinence and without blame If a man use not to eat excessively nor deliciously yet if he will not abstain from his temperate dyet either at a publick fast or when his lust requireth him to take down his body or when his Physicion would dyet him for his health and his disease else would be encreased by what he eateth this is an inordinate eating and excess to that person at that time Or if the Delight that the appetite hath in one sort of meat which is hurtful to the body prevail against reason and health so with the person that he will not forbear it it is a degree of Gulosity or Gluttony though for quantity and quality it be in it self but mean and ordinary § 4. By this you may see 1. That it is not the same quantity which is an excess in one which is in another A labouring man may eat somewhat more than one that doth not labour and a strong and healthful body more than the weak and sick It must be an excess in quantity as to that particular person at that time which is when to please his appetite he eateth more than is profitable to his health or duty 2. So also the frequency must be considered with the quality of the person For one person may rationally eat a little and often for his health and another may luxuriously eat ofter than is profitable to health Eccles. 10. 16 17. Wo to thee O land when thy King is a child and thy Princes eat in the morning Blessed art thou O land when thy King is the son of Nobles and thy Princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness 3. And in point of costliness the same measure is not to be set to a Prince and to a plow-man that is luxurious excess in one which may be temperance and frugality in another But yet unprofitable cost which all things considered would do more good another way is
much to a common reformation III. The Greatness of the sin of Gluttony § 15. To know the Greatness of the sin is the chief part of the cure with those that do but believe Rom. 16. 17 18. They serve not the Lord Iesus but their own Bâ—llies that there is a God I shall therefore next tell you of its nature effects and accidents which make it great and therefore should make it odious to all § 16. 1. Luxury and Gluttony is a sin exceeding contrary to the Love of God It is Idolatry It hath the Heart which God should have And therefore Gluttons are commonly and well called Belly-Gods and God-bellys because that Love that â—are that delight that service and diligence which God should have is given by the Glutton to his Belly and his throat He Loveth the pleasing of his Appetite better than the Pleasing of God His dishes are more delightful to him than any holy exercise is His thoughts are more frequent and more sweet of his belly than of God or Godliness His care and labour is more that he may be pleased in meats and drinks than that he may secure his salvation and be justified and sanctified And indeed the Scripture giveth them this name Phil. 3. 19. whose end is destruction whose God is their Belly who glory in their shame who mind earthly things being enemies to the Cross of Christ that is to bearing the Cross for Christ and to the Crucifying of the flesh and to the mortifying suffering parts of Religion Nay such a devouring Idol is the Belly that it swalloweth up more by Intemperance and excess than all other Idols in the world do And remember that the very life of the sin is in the Appetite and Heart when a mans Heart is set upon his Belly though he fare never so hardly through necessity he is a Glutton in Heart When you make a Great matter of it ☜ what you shall eat and drink as to the delight and when you take it for a great loss or suffering if you fare hardly and are troubled at it and your thoughts and talk are of your belly and you have not that Indifferency whether your fare be course or pleasant so it be wholsom as all Temperate persons have this is the Heart of Gluttony and is the Hearts forsaking of God and making the Appetite its God § 17. 2. Gluttony is self-murder Though it kill not suddenly it killeth surely Like the dropsie It is a common saying that â—ula plures occidit quam gladius Quicquid avium volitat quicquid piscium natat quicquid ferarum discurrit nostris sâ—pelitur ventribus Quaeâ—e nunc â—ur subito moriamur Quia mortibus viviâ—us Senec. Hierome saith that he had read of some that had been sick of the Arthritis and Podagra that were cuâ—â—d by being brought to poverty by confiscation of their estates and so brought to a poor dyeâ— which killeth as it filleth by degrees Very many of the wisest Physicions do believe that of those that over-live their Child-hood there is scarce one of twenty yea or of a hundred that dyeth but Gluttony or excess in eating or drinking is a principal cause of their death though not the most immediate cause It is thought to kill a hundred to one of all that dye at Age. And it will not let them dye easily and quickly but tormenteth them first with manifold diseases while they live You eat more than nature can perfectly concoct and because you feel it not trouble you or make you sick you think it hurts you not whereas it doth by degrees first alter and vitiate the temperament of the blood and humours making it a crude unconcocted unnatural thing unfit for the due nutrition of the parts turning the nourishing mass into a burdensom excrementitious mixture abounding with Saline or tartareous matter and consisting more of a pituitous slime or redundant serosity than of that sweet nutrimental milk of nature quickened with those spirits and well proportioned heat which should make it fit to be the Oyl of life And our Candle either sparkleth away with Salt or runs away because there is some Thief in it or goeth out because the Oyle is turned into Water or presently wasteth and runs about through the inconsistent softness of its Oyl Hence it is that one part is tainted wieh corruption and another consumeth as destitute of fit nutriment and the vessels secretly obstructed by the grossness or other unfitness of the blood to run its circle and perform its offices are the cause of a multitude of lamentable diseases The frigid distempers of the Brain the soporous and comatous effects the Lethargy Carus and Apoplexy the Palsie Convulsion Epilepsie Vertigo Catarhs the Head-ache and oft the Phrensie and Madness come all from these effects of gluttony and excess which are made upon the blood and humours The Asthma usually and the Phthisis or Consumption and the Pleurisie and Peripneumony and the Hemoptoick passion often come from hence Yea the very Syncopes or Swooning Palpitations of the heart and Faintings which men think rather come from weakness do usually come either from oppression of nature by these secret excrements or Putrilaginous Blood or else from a weakness contracted by the inaptitude of the blood to nourish us being vitiated by excess The loathing of meat and want of appetite is ordinarily from the crudities or distempers caused by this excess yea the very Canine appetite which would still have more is caused by a vitiousness in the humours thus contracted The Pains of the Stomach Vomitings the Cholera Hickocks Inflamations Thirsts are usually from this cause The Wind Colick the Iliack Passion Loosness and Fluxes the Tenesmus and Ulcers the Worms and other troubles in those parts are usually from hence The obstructions Châ—ysostome saith the difference betwixt famine and excess is that famine kills men sooner out of their pain and excess doth putrifie and consume them by long and painful sicknesses in Hâ—br Hom. 29. of the Liver the Jaundice Inflamations Abscessus and Ulcers Schirrhus and Dropsie are commonly from hence Hence also usually are Inflammations Pains Obstructions and Schirrhus of the Spleen Hence commonly is the Stone Nephritick torments and Stoppages of Urine and Ulcers of the Reins and Bladder Hence commonly is the Scorbute and most of the Feavers which are found in the World and bring such multitudes to the grave Even those that immediately are caused by Colds distempers of the Aire or Infections are oft caused principally by long excess which vitiateth the humours and prepareth them for the disease Hence also are Gouts and Hysterical affects and diseases of the eyes and other exteriour parts So that we may well say that Gluttony enricheth Landlords filleth the Churchyards and hasteneth multitudes untimely to their ends Perhaps you 'll say that the most temperate have diseases To which experience teacheth me to answer that usually Children are permitted to be Voracious and
appetite I hope you will not say that God is too strict with you or would dyet you too hardly as long as he alloweth you ordinarily to choose that when you can have it lawfully which is most for your own health and forbiddeth you nothing but that which hurteth you What Heathen or Infidel that is not either mad or swinish will not allow this measure and choice as well as Christians Yea if you believe not a life to come methinks you should be loth to shorten this life which now you have God would but keep you from hurting your selves by your excess as you would keep your Children or your Swine Though he hath a farther end in it and so must you namely that a healthful body may be serviceable to a holy soul in your Masters work yet it is the health of your bodies which is to be your nearest and immediate end and measure It is a very great oversight in the Education of youth that they be not taught betimes some The Measure of Eating common and necessary Precepts about dyet acquainting them what tendeth to health and life and what to sickness pain and death And it were no unprofitable or unnecessary thing if Princes took a course that all their subjects might have some such common needful Precepts familiarly known As if it were in the Books that Children first learn to read in together with the Precepts of their moral duty For it is certain that men love not death or sickness and that all men love their health and Multum confert coâ—â—tatio exitus qâ—od cum omnibus â—iâ—jis sit commune tamen huic proprâ—um Petrarch life And therefore those that fear not God would be much restrained from Excess by the fear of sickness and of death And what an advantage this would be to the Common-wealth you may easily perceive when you consider what a mass of treasure it would save besides the lives and health and strength of so many subjects And it is certain that most people have no considerable knowledge what measure is best for them but the common rule that they judge by is their Appetite They think they have eaten enough when they have eaten as long as they have list and not before If they could eat more with an appetite and be not sick after it they never think they have been guilty of Gluttony or Excess § 44. First Therefore you must know that Appetite is not to be your Rule or measure either for Temperaâ—tia voluptatâ—bus imperat alias odit atque abigit alias dispensat ad sanum modum dirigit nec unquam ad illas propter ipsas venit Senâ—â— Scit optimum esse modum cupidorum non quantum velis sed quantum debeas sumere Senâ—â— quantity quality or time For 1. It is irrational and Reason is your Ruling faculty if you are men 2. It dependeth on the temperature of the Body and the humours and diseases of it and not meerly on the natural need of meat A man in a Dropsie is most Thirsty that hath least cause to drink Though frequently in a putrid or malignant Feavor a draught of cold drink would probably be death yet the Appetite desireth it never the less Stomachs that have acide humours have commonly a strong appetite be the digestion never so weak and most of them could eat with an appetite above twice as much as they ought to eat And on the contrary some others desire not so much as is necessary to their sustenance and must be urged to eat against their Appetite 3. Most healthful people in the world have an Appetite to much more than nature can well digest and would kill themselves if they pleased their appetites For God never gave man his Appetite to be the measure of his eating or drinking but to make that grateful to him which Reason biddeth him take 4. Mans Appetite is not now so sound and regular as it was before the fall but is grown more rebellious and unruly and diseased as the body is And therefore it is now much more unfit to be our measure than it was before the fall 5. You see it even in Swine and many greedy Children that would presently kill themselves if they had not the Reason of others to rule them 6. Poyson it self may be as delightful to the Appetite as food and dangerous meats as those that are most wholsome So that it is most certain that Appetite is not fit to be the measure of a man Yet this is true withal that when Reason hath nothing against it then an Appetite sheweth what nature taketh to be most agreeable to it self and Reason therefore hath something for it if it have nothing against it because it sheweth what the Stomach is like best to close with and digest and it is some help to Reason to discern when it is prepared for food § 45. Secondly It is certain also that the present feeling of ease or sickness is no certain rule to judge of your digestion or your measure by For though some tender relaxed windy stomachs are sick or troubled when they are overcharged or exceed their measure yet with the most it is not so unless they exceed to very swinishness they are not sick upon it nor feel any hurt at present by less excesses but only the imperfection of concoction doth vitiate the humours and prepare for sicknesses by degrees as is aforesaid and one feeleth it a moneth after in some diseased evacuations and another a twelve-moneth after and another not of many years till it have turned to some uncurable disease For the diseases that are bred by so long preparations are ordinarily much more uncurable than those that come but from sudden accidents and alterations in a cleaner body Therefore to say I feel it do me no harm and therefore it is no excess is the saying of an ideot that hath no foreseeing Reason and resisteth not an enemy while he is Garrisoning fortifying and arming himself but only when it comes to blows Or like him that would go into a Pest-house and say I feel it do me no harm But within a few dayes or weeks he will feel it As if the beginning of a Consumption were no hurt to them because they feel it not Thus living like a Beast will at last make men judge like Beasts and brutifie their brains as well as their bellies § 46. Thirdly It is certain also that the common custom and opinion is no certain rule nay certainly it is an erring rule For judging by appetite hath brought men ordinarily to take excess to be but temperance All these then are false measures § 47. It I should here presume to give you any Rules for judging of a right measure Physicions would think I went beyond my Calling and some of them might be offended at a design that tendeth 〈…〉 for the Measure of Eating so much to their impoverishing and those that serve the greedy Worm
would be more offended Therefore I shall only give you these general intimations 1. Nature is content with a little but Appetite is never content till it have drowned Nature 2. It is the perfection of concoction and 〈…〉 Senec. goodness of the nutriment that is more conducible to health than the quantity 3. Nature will easilier overcome twice the quantity of some light and passable nourishment than half so much of gross and heavy meats Therefore those that prescribe just twelve Ounces a day without differencing meats that so much differ do much mistake 4. A healthful strong body must have more than the weak and sickly 5. Middle aged persons must have more than old folks or children Juvenum viâ—tus est Nihil â—â—â—â—us Soâ—â—at 6. Hard Labourers must have more than easie Labourers and these more than the idle or Students or any that stir but little 7. A body of close Pores that evacuateth little by sweat or transpiration must have less especially of moisture than another 8. So must a cold and flegmatick constitution 9. So must a stomach that corrupteth its food and casteth it forth by periodical bilious evacuations 10. That which troubleth the stomach in the digestion is too much or too bad unless with very weak sickly persons 11. So is that too much or bad which maketh you more dull for study or more heavy and unfit for labour unless some disease be the principal cause 12. A body that by excess is already filled with crudities should take less than another that nature may have time to digest and waste them 13. Every one should labour to know the temperature of their own bodies and what diseases they are most enclined to and so have the judgement of their Physicion or some skilful person to give them such directions as are suitable to their own particular temperature and diseases 14. Hard Labourers err more in the quality than the quantity partly through poverty partly through ignorance and partly through appetite while they refuse that which is more wholsome as meer Bread and Beer if it be less pleasing to them 15. If I may presume to conjecture ordinarily very hard Labourers exceed in quantity about a fourth part Shop-keepers and persons of easier Trades do ordinarily exceed about a third part Voluptuous Gentlemen and their Servingmen and other servants of theirs that have no hard labour do usually exceed about half in half But still I except persons that are extraordinarily temperate through weakness or through wisdom And the same Gentlemen usually exceed in Variety Costliness Curiosity and Time much more than they do in quantity so that they are Gluttons of the first magnitude The Children of those that govern not their appetites but let them eat and drink as much and as often as they desire it do usually exceed above half in half and lay the foundation of the diseases and miseries of all their lives All this is about the truth though the Belly believe it not § 48. When you are once grown wise enough to know what in measure and time and quality is Venter praecepta non audit Senec. fittest for your health go not beyond that upon any importunity of Appetite or of friends For all that is beyond that is Gluttony and sensuality in its degree § 49. Direct 8. If you can lawfully avoid it make not your Table a snare of Temptation to your Direct 8. selves or others I know a greedy appetite will make any Table that hath but necessaries a snare to iâ— If you will not take this counsel at least use after meat to set before your guests a Bason and a â—eather oâ— a Provang to vomit it up again that you may shew some mercy to their bodies if you will shew none to their souls self But do not you unnecessarily become Devils or tempters to your selves or others 1. For Quality study not Deliciousness too much unless for some weak distempered stomachs the best meat is that which leaveth behind it in the mouth neither a troublesome loathing nor an eager appetite after more for the tastes sake But such as Bread is that leaveth the Palate in an indifferent moderation The curious inventions of new and dilicious dishes meerly to please the Appetite is Gluttony inviting to greater Gluttony Excess in Quality to invite to excess in Quantity § 50. Object But you 'll say I shall be thought niggardly or sordid and reproached behind my back if my Table be so fitted to the temperate and abstinent Answ. This is the pleading of Pride for Gluttony Rather than you will be talkt against by belly-gods A Sensualist craving to be admitted of Cato among his familiars Cato answered him I cannot live wiâ—h one whose Palate is wiser than his brain Erâ—s or ignorant fleshly people you will sin against God and prepare a Feast or Sacrifice for Bacchus or Venus The antient Christians were torn with Beasts because they would not cast a little Frankincense into the fire on the Altar of an Idol And will you feed so many Idol bellies so liberally to avoid their censure Did not I tell you that Gulosity is an irrational vice Good and temperate persons will speak well of you for it And do you more regard the judgement and esteem of belly-gods § 51. Object But it is not only riotous luxurious persons that I mean I have no such at my Table But it will be the matter of obloquy even to good people and those that are sober Answ. I told you some measure of Gluttony is become a common sin and many are tainted with it through custome that otherwise are good and sober But shall they therefore be left as uncurable or shall they make all others as bad as they And must we all commit that sin which some sober people are grown to favour You bear their censures about different opinions in Religion and other matters of difference and why not here The deluded Quakers may be witnesses against you that while they run into the contrary extream can bear the deepest censures of all the world about them And cannot you for honest Temperance and Sobriety bear the censures of some distempered or guilty persons that are of another mind Certainly in this they are no Temperate persons when they plead for excess and the baits of sensuality and intemperance § 52. 2. For variety also make not your Table unnecessarily a snare Have no greater variety than the weakness of stomachs or variety of Appetites doth require Unnecessary variety and pleasantness of meats are the Devils great instruments to draw men to Gluttony And I would wish no good people to be his Cooks or Caterers When the very brutish Appetite it self begins to say of one dish I have enough then comes another to tempt it unto more excess and â—â—other after that to more All this that I have said I have the concurrent judgement of Physicion 〈…〉 n who condemn fulness and variety as
hurt And of this there be many degrees He that hath in the least degree disturbed his Reason and disabled or hindred it from its proper office is Drunken in that degree And he that hath overturned it or quite disabled it is stark drunk or drunk in a greater degree § 4. All excess of Drink is sinful Gulosity or sensuality of the same nature with Gluttony and falls under all my last Reproofs and Directions And in some persons that can sâ—t it out and bear much drink without intoxication the sin may be greater than in some others that by a smaller quantity are drunk by a surprize before they are aware But yet caeteris paribus the overthrow of the understanding maketh the sin to be much the greater For it hath all the evil that the other degrees have with more It is A voluptuous excess in drink to the depravation of Reason Gulosity is the general nature of it Excess is the Matter Depravation of Reason is its special form § 5. It is Excess of drinking when you drink more than according to the judgement of sound Reason doth tend to fit your body mediately or immediately for its proper duty without a greater hurt Sometime the immediate benefit is most to be regarded As if a man had some present duty of very great moment to perform The present benefit consisteth 1. In the abatement of such a troublesom thirst or pain as hindreth you from doing your duty 2. In adding that refocillation and alacrity to the spirits as maketh them fitter instruments for the operations of the mind and body That measure which doth one or both of these without greater hurt is not too great I say without greater hurt because if any one should in a Dropsie or a Feaver prefer a little present ease and alacrity before his health and life it were excess Or if any man ordinarily drink more than nature will well digest and which causeth the incoction of his meat and consequently crudities and consequently a dunghil of flegm and vitious humours fit to engender many diseases this is excess of drinking though he feel it ease him and make him cheerful for the present time And this is the common case of most Bibbers or Tiplers that are not stark Drunkards They feel a present ease from thirst and perhaps a little alacrity of spirits and therefore they think that measure is no excess which yet tendeth to crudities and diseases and the destruction of their health and life § 6. Therefore except in some great extraordinary case of necessity it is not so much the present as the future foreseen effects which must direct you to know your measure Reason can foresee though Appetite cannot Future effects are usually Great and long when present effects may be small and short He that will do that which tendeth to the hurt of his health for the present easing or pleasing of his thirsty appetite doth sin against Reason and play the beast You should be so well acquainted with your Bodies and the means of your own health as to know first whether the enduring of the thirst or the drinking to quench it is like to be the more hurtful to your health and more a hindrance to your duty § 7. And for the present Alacrity which strong drink bringeth to some you must foresee that you purchase it not at too dear a rate by a longer dullness or disablement afterwards And take heed that you take not an alien counterfeit hilarity consisting in meer sensual delight for that serenity and just alacrity of the spirits as doth fit you for your duty For this also is a usual and wilful self-deceit of sensualists They make themselves believe that a cup of sack or strong drink giveth them a true assistant alacrity when it only causeth a sensual delight which doth more hinder and corrupt the mind than truly further it in its duty and differeth from true alacrity as paint from beauty or as a feaver doth from our natural heat § 8. You see then that Intemperance in drinking is of two sorts 1. Bibbing or drinking too much 2. Drunkenness in various degrees And these Intemperate Bibbers are of several sorts 1. Those that when they have over-heated themselves or are seaverish or have any ordinary diseased thirst will please their appetites though it be to their hurt and will venture their health rather than endure the thirst Though in Feavers Dropsies Coughs it should be the greatest enemy to them yet they are such beastly servants to their appetites that drink they must whatever come of it Though Physicions forbid them and friends disswade them they have so much of the bruit and so little of the man that Appetite is quite too hard for Reason with them These are of two sorts One sort keep the soundness of their Reason though they have lost all the strength and power of it for want of a Resolved will And these confess that they should abstain but tell you They cannot They are not so much men The other sort have given up their very Reason such as it is to the service of their Appetites and these will not believe till the Cough or Gout or Dropsie c. make them believe it that their measure of drinking is too much or that it will do them hurt but say that it would hurt them more to forbear it Some through real ignorance and some made willingly ignorant by their appetites § 9. 2. Another sort of Bibbers their are much worse than those who have no great diseased thirst to excuse their gulosity but call it a Thirst when ever their Appetite would have drink and use themselves ordinarily to satisfie such an Appetite and drink almost as oft as the throat desireth it and say It is but to quench their thirst and never charge themselves with Intemperance for it These may be known from the first sort of Bibbers by the quality of their drink It is cold small beer that the first sort desire to quench a real thirst when Reason bids them endure it if other means will not quench it But it is Wine or Strong-Drink or some drink that hath a delicious gust which the second â—â— non solum 〈…〉 seculares 〈…〉 sed ip 〈…〉 x domiâ—i 〈…〉 que pasâ—o 〈…〉 quâ— exâ—m 〈…〉 omni pâ—ebi dâ—buerirt ebrierâ—te quam plurimi quasi vino mâ—didi torpebant resoluti animositatum tumore juâ—giorum contentione 〈…〉 ae rapâ—â—â—â—bus ungulis indiscreto boni malique judicio carpebantur Gildas sort of Bibbers use to please the Appetite which they call their Thirst. And of these Luxurious Tiplers next to stark Drunkards there are also divers degrees some being less guilty and some more § 10. 1. The Lowest degree are they that will never ordinarily drink but at meels But they will then drink more than nature requireth or than is profitable to their health § 11. 2. The second degree are they that use to drink between meels
Treason against their King or reviled Magistrates and Superiours and perhaps attempted and done mischief as well as spoken it If you are superiours how unfit are you to judge or govern Is it not lawful for any to appeal from you as the Woman did from Philip drunk to Philip sober You will be apter to abuse your inferiours than well to govern them Also Drunkenness destroyeth civility justice and charity It inflameth the mind with anger and rage It teacheth the tongue to curse and rail and slander It makes you unfaithful and uncapable of keeping any secret and ready to betray your chiefest friend as being master neither of your mind or tongue or actions Drunkenness hath made men commit many thousand murders It hath caused many to murder themselves and their nearest relations many have been drowned by falling into the water or broke their neâ—ks with falling from their Horses or dyed suddenly by the suffocation of nature It draweth men to idleness and taketh them off their lawfull calling It maketh a multitude of thieves by breeding necessity and emboldening to Villany It is a principal cause of lust and filthiness and the great maintainer of whoredomes and taketh away all shame and fear and wit which should restrain men from this or any sin What sin is it that a drunken man may not commit no thanks to him that he forbeareth the greatest wickedness Cities and Kingdoms have been betrayed by Drunkenness Many a drunken Garrison hath let in the enemy There is no confidence to be put in a drunken man nor any mischief that he is secure from 12. Lastly Thou sinnest not alone but temptest others with thee to perdition It is the great crime of Ieroboam that he made Israel to sin The judgement of God determineth those men to death that not only do wickedness but have pleasure in them that do it Rom. 1. 32. And is not this thy case Art thou not Satans instrument to tempt others with thee to waste their Time and neglect their souls and abuse God and his creatures Yea some of you glory in your shame that you have drunk down your companions and carryed it away the honour of a sponge or a tub which can drink up or hold liquor as well as you And what is that man worthy of that would thus transform himself and others into such Monsters of iniquity § 55. IV. Next let us hear the drunkards excuses for even drunkenness will pretend to Reason and Obj. 1. men will not make themselves mad without an argument to justifie it 1. Saith the Tipler I take no mâ—re than doth me good you allow a man to eat as much as doth him good and why not to drink as much No man is fiâ—â—er to judge this than I For I am sure I feel it do me good Answ. What good dost thou mean man Doth it fit thee for holy thoughts or words or deeds Answ. Doth it help thee to live well or fit thee to die well Art thou sure that it tendeth to the health of thy bâ—dy Thou canst not so say without the imputation of folly or self-conceitedness when all the wise Physicions in the world do hold the contrary No it doth as Gluâ—tony doth It pleaseth thee in the drinking but it filleth thy body with crudities and flegme and prepareth for many Mortal sicknesses It maketh thy body like grounds after a flood that are covered with stinking slime or like fenny Lands that are drowned in water and bear no fruit or like grounds that have too much rain that are dissolved to dirt but are unfit for use It maketh thee like a leaking ship that must be pumpt and emptied or it will sink If thou have not Vomits or Purges to empty thee thou wilt quickly drown or suffocate thy life As Basil saith A drunkard is like a Ship in a Tempest when all the goods are cast over-boord to disburden it lest it â—ink Physicions must pump thee or disburden thee or thou wilt be drowned And all will not serve if thou hold on to fill it up again For intemperance maketh most diseases uncurable A Historian speaketh of two Physicions that differed in their Prognosticks about a Patient one forsook him as uncurable the other undertook him as certainly curable but when he came to his remedies he prescribed him so strict abstinence as he would not undergo and so they agreed in the issue when one judged him uncurable because intemperate and the other curable if he would be temperate Thou that feelest the drink do thee good dost little think how the Devil hath a design in it not only to have thy soul but to have it quickly that the mud walls of thy body being washt down may not hold it long And I must tell thee that thou hast cause to value a good Physicion for greater reasons than thy life and art more beholden to him than many others even that he may help to keep thy soul out of Hell a little longer to see if God will give thee repentance that thou mayest escape out of the snare of the Devil who taketh thee captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. As Aelian writeth of King Antigonus that having great respect for Zeno the Philosopher he once met him when he was in drink and embracing him urged him to ask of him what he would and bound himself with many Oaths to give it him Zeno thanked him and the request he made to him was that he would go home and Vomit To tell him that he more needed to be disburdened of his drink than â—e himself did need his gifts The truth is the good that thou feelest the drink do thee is but the present pleasing of thy appetite and tickling thy fantasie by the exhilerating vapours And so the Glutton and the Whoremonger and every sensual wretch will say that he feeleth it do him good But God bless all sober men from such a good So the Gamester feeleth the sport do him good but perhaps he is quickly made a Beggar by it It is Reason and faith and not thy appetite or present feeling that must tell thee what and how much doth thee good § 36. Obj. 2. But I have heard some Physicions say that it is wholsome to be Drunk sometimes Obj. 2. Answ. None but some Sot that had first drunk away his own understanding I have known Physicions Answ. that have been Drunkards themselves and they have been apt to plead for their own vice Q. May one be Mâ—dicinally Drunk But they quickly killed themselves and all their skill could not save their lives from the effects of their own Beastiality even as the knowledge and doctrine of a wicked Preacher will not save his soul if he live contrary to his Profession And what if the Vomiting of a Drunkard did him some good with all the harm Are there not easier safer lawfuller means enough to do the same good without the harm He is a Bruit
covering him § 4. 3. And that God hath not put this Law into mans nature without very great cause albeit the Implicite belief and submission due to him should satisfie us though we knew not the causes particularly yet much of them is notorious to common observation As that if God had not restrained lust by Laws it would have made the female sex most contemptible and miserable and used worse by men than dogs are For first rapes and violence would deflowre them because they are too weak to make resistance And if that had been restrained yet the lust of men would have been unsatisfied and most would have grown weary of the same woman whom they had abused and taken another at least when she grew old they would choose a younger and so the aged women would be the most calamitous creatures upon earth Besides that lust is addicted to variety and groweth weary of the same the fallings out between men and women and the sicknesses that make their persons less pleasing and age and other accidents would expose them almost all to utter misery And men would be Law-makers and therefore would make no Laws for their relief but what consisted with their lusts and ends So that half the world would have been ruined had it not been for the Laws of matrimony and such other as restrain the lusts of men § 5. 4. Also there would be a confused mixture in procreation and no men would well know what children are their own which is worse than not to know their Lands or Houses § 6. 5. Hereby all natural affection would be diminished or extinguished As the love of Husband and Wife so the Love between Fathers and Children would be diminished § 7. 6. And consequently the due education of children would be hindered or utterly overthrown The mothers that should first take care of them would be disabled and turned away that fresh harlots might be received who would hate the offspring of the former So that by this means the world and all societies and civility would be ruined and men would be made worse than bruits whom nature hath either better taught or else made for them some other supply Learning Religion and civility would be all in a manner extinct as we see they are among those few savage Cannibals that are under no restraint For how much all these depend upon education experience telleth us In a word this confusion in procreation would introduce such confusion in mens hearts and families and all societies by corrupting and destroying necessary affection and education that it would be the greatest plague imaginable to mankind and make the world so base and beastly that to destroy mankind from off the earth would seem much more desirable Judge then whether God should have left mens Lusts unrestrained § 8. Object But you 'll say there might have been some moderate restraint to a certain number as Object it is with the Mahometans without so much strictness as Christ doth use Answ. That this strictness is necessary and is an excellency in Gods law appeareth thus 1. By Answ. the greatness of the mischief which else would follow To be remiss in preventing such a confusion in the world would be an enmity to the world 2. In that mans nature is so violently inclined to break over that if the hedge were not close there were no sufficient restraining them they would quickly run out at a little gap 3. The wiser and the better any nation or persons are even among the Heathens the more fully do they consent to the strictness of Gods Laws 4. The cleanest sort of bruits themselves are taught by nature to be as strict in their copulations Though it be otherwise with the meer terrestrial beasts and birds yet the aërial go by couples Those that are called the fowles of the Heavens that fly in the air are commonly taught this chastity by nature as if God would not have lust come near to Heaven 5. The families of the Mahometans that have more wives than one do shew the mischief of it in the effects in the hatred and disagreement of their wives and the great slavery that women are kept in making them like slaves that they may keep them quiet And when women are thus enslaved who have so great a part in the education of children by which all virtue and civility are maintained in the world it must needs tend to the debasing and brutifying of mankind § 9. 7. Children being the pretiousest of all our treasure it is necessary that the strictest Laws be made for the securing of their good education and their welfare If it shall be treason to debase or counterfeit the Kings coyn and if men must be hanged for robbing you of your goods or money and the Laws are not thought too strict that are made to secure your estates how much more is it necessary that the Laws be strict against the vitiating of mankind and against the debasement of your image on your children and against that which tendeth to the extirpation of all virtue and the ruine of all societies and souls § 10. 8. God will have a holy seed in the world that shall bear his image of holiness and therefore he will have all means fitted thereunto Bruitish promiscuous generation tendeth to the production of a bruitish seed And though the word preached is the means of sanctifying those that remain unsanctified from their youth yet a holy marriage and holy dedication of children to God and holy education of them are the former means which God would not have neglected or corrupted and to which he promiseth his blessing As you may see 1 Cor. 7. 14. Mal. 2. 15. Did not he make one Yet had he the residue of the spirit And wherefore one That he might seek a godly seed Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth For the Lord bateth putting away § 11. 9. Yea lust corrupteth the mind of the person himself if it be not very much restrained and moderated It turneth it from the only excellent pleasure by the force of that bruitish kind of pleasure It carrieth away the thoughts and distempereth the passions and corrupteth the phantasie and Solomons wives turned away his heart aâ—ter other Gods 1 Kings 11. 4. The wisdom of Solomon preserved him not from the power of lust and the deceit of women 1 Pet. 2. 10. Fleshly â—â—â—â—ts that fight against the â—oâ—l thereby doth easily corrupt the intellect and heart Pleasure is so much of the End of man which his Nature leadeth him to desire that the chief thing in the world to make a man Good and Happy is to engage his heart to those Pleasures which are Good and make men Happy And the chief thing to make him Bad and Miserable is to engage him in the pleasures which make men Bad and end in Misery And the principal thing by which you may know
Gods own Image and the clearest image of God that is under Heaven even that which Christ came down from Heaven to give us the Luk. 19 27. first draught of even that copy of the holy life of Christ which by the spirit of God is drawn upon the heart And he that scorneth at this image of God doth scorn at the Holy-Ghost that made it and scorn at Christ who gave us the first pattern and scorn at God himself whose image it is Saith Chrysostom God is loved and hated in his servants as a King is honoured or despised in his image And he that dare scorn God and scorn Iesus Christ and scorn the Holy-Ghost in the Image of God upon his children methinks should never have the face once to expect to be saved by the God that he doth scorn § 43. 18. Thou art the shame of humane nature and makest man so like a Devil that it is hard Quid hâ—mâ—ni 〈…〉 issimum Hoâ—â—â—â— inquit Martiâ— Dâ—mieâ—â— de Moâ—iâ— to prove that Devils can do much worse than thou Can there be a greater sin than for a creature to scorn and deride the Image and Laws of his Creator And hate and oppose or persecute men for obeying him and seeking to please him and to save their souls What couldst thou do worse if thou wouldst study to be as bad as thou canst What a shame is it to thy understanding to be so blind And to thy heart to be so wicked It were not half so great a shame to scorn the Sun for shining or the earth for bearing fruit For though these are Gods creatures yet they bear not the Image of his Holiness as his children do When he will condemn men at last it will be upon this account Matth. 25. 40. 45. Verily I say unto you in as much as you did it not or did it to one of the least of these my brethren ye did it not or did it unto me O wonderful that the nature of man can ever come to this to hate and oppose and scorn the Image and obedience of his Maker and make a mock of the Holiness of God! It is a great question whether the very tempting men to such sins as these be not the Devils greatest sin And to commit it is worse than to tempt thee to commit it caeteris paribus And for a man that hath a Saviour offered him thus to scorn his Saviours Grace and mock his servants must needs be far worse than for the Devil to do it who hath no Saviour no pardon offered and no hope but is shut up under endless desperation As it is worse for a child to curse his Father or scorn him than for an enemy to do it Think and tremble how near this deriding or opposing the Mat. 12. work of the Holy-Ghost doth come to the unpardonable Blasphemy against him § 44. 19. What villany may not be expected from thee that canst commit such a sin as this May not thy neighbour look for any mischief that thy carnal interest shall lead thee to do against him Is it any wrong to thee to think that thou art a thief a murderer a whoremonger a deceiver unless it be for want of a temptation to commit them Or that thou wouldst be a Trayâ—or against thy King and Psal. 123. 4. Country Or perfidious to thy truest friend if thou wert tempted to it When thou scornest men for obeying God himself Can that man stick at any wickedness that he is equally tempted to who daâ—e scorn his Maker the Redeemer and the Sanctifier And spit contempt upon Holiness it self the Image of his Judge For my part if ever I trust thee or any such man as thou with life or liberty or with the worth of a groat it shall be thy Interest and not thy honesty and conscience that I 'le trust I 'le trust thee little further than I would trust the Devil himself that governs thee § 45. 20. Lastly consider what thou wilt think of thy self for this at death and judgement Will Read well Jud. 14. 1â— Psal. 1. it comfort thee when thou art going to be judged of God to think that thou art now going into the presence of that God whom thou wast wont to scorn When thou seest Christ come with thousands of his holy Angels to judge the world will it comfort thee to think This is he whose holy life and precepts and servants I mockt or persecuted on earth Now I must be judged by him that I derided O dreadful case For a scorner or persecutor of Godliness to go to be judged by that holy God whose waies he scorned and persecuted If you say It was not Christ but a man that you derided see Mat. Prov. 9. 12. Prov. â—9 8. Isa. 28. 14. 25. 40 45. Luk. 19. 27. Act. 9. 4. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me If thou scorn a child for that in which he resembleth imitâ—â—eth or obeyeth his Father thou wilt find in the day of judgement to thy woe that it was the Father himself that was the utmost and principal object of thy scorn Then I had rather be the vilest Toad than such a Man Then wilt thou stand to what thou saidst Wilt thou then maintain thy slanders and reproach Wilt thou then condemn or scorn the godly when thou seest them justified at Christs right hand or glorified with him in Heaven No! as Mâ—l 3. 18. When God makes up his jewels Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Then how gladly would you eat all the words of reproach and scorn that ever you uttered against a saint And wish that you had never spoken them I tell you it is an unseemly thing for the same man now to scorn at godliness who will so speedily tremble before the righteous God in the remembrance of it § 46. I have thought these discoveries of the horridness of this sin to be the best Directions against it For as it is a sin that thou gettest nothing by so it is a sin that thou maist easily leave if thou be willing But for those that are yet but in the way to it or in danger of it I shall add these further Directions to keep them from so desperate a wickedness § 47. Direct 1. Avoid the company of those distracted men that dare revile the servants and ways of Direct 1. God There is that in your corrupted natures which will incline you to imitate the most horrid blasphemies if you often hear them We have seen it in our days that in imitation of others men have been drawn to sins not to be named To drink healths to the Devil to make God dâ—mn me an ordinary by-word Be not therefore companions of them § 48. Direct 2. Take heed of sinning your selves into blindness of mind and hardness of heart Forsake Direct 2 not God lest you be forsaken
Virgin doth well So then he that marrieth doth well but he that marrieth not doth better And mark Christs own words Matth. 19. 11. His Disciples say unto him If the case of a man be so with his wife it is not good to marry But he said unto them All men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given He that is able to receive it let him receive it § 30. 10. The business of a married state doth commonly devour almost all your time so that little is left for holy contemplations or serious thoughts of the life to come All Gods service is contracted and thrust into a corner and done as it were on the by The world will scarce allow you time to meditate or pray or read the Scripture You think your selves as Martha under a greater necessity of dispatching your business than of sitting at Christs feet to hear his Word O that single persons knew for the most part the pretiousness of their leisure and how free they are to attend the service of God and learn his Word in comparison of the married § 31. 11. There is so great a diversity of temperaments and degrees of understanding that there are scarce any two persons in the world but there is some unsuitableness between them Like stones that have some unevenness that maketh them lye crooked in the building some crossness there will be of opinion or disposition or interest or will by nature or by custome and education which will stir up frequent discontents § 32. 12. There is a great deal of duty which Husband and Wife do owe to one another As to instruct admonish pray watch over one another and to be continual helpers to each other in order to their everlasting happiness and patiently to bear with the infirmities of each other And to the weak and backward heart of man the addition of so much duty doth add to their weariness how good soever the work be in it self And men should feel their strength before they undertake more work § 33. 13. And the more they Love each other the more they participate in each others griefs And one or other will be frequently under some sort of suffering If one be sick or lame or pained or defamed or wronged or disquieted in mind or by temptation fall into any wounding sin the other beareth part of the distress Therefore before you undertake to bear all the burdens of another and suffer in all anothers hurts it concerneth you to observe your strength how much more you have than your own burdens do require § 34. 14. And if you should marry one that proveth ungodly how exceeding great would the affliction be If you loved them your souls would be in continual danger by them They would be the powerfullest instruments in the world to pervert your judgements to deaden your hearts to take you off from a holy life to kill your prayers to corrupt your lives and to damn your souls And if you should have the grace to scape the snare and save your selves it would be by so much the greater difficulty and suffering as the temptation is the greater And what a heart-breaking would it be to converse so nearly with a child of the Devil that is like to lye for ever in Hell The daily thoughts of it would be a daily death to you § 35. 15. Women especially must expect so much suffering in a Married life that if God had not put into them a natural inclination to it and so strong a love to their children as maketh them patient under the most annoying troubles the world would ere this have been at an end through their refusal of so calamitous a life Their sickness in breeding their pain in bringing forth with the danger of their lives the tedious trouble night and day which they have with their children in their nursing and their childhood besides their subjection to their husbands and continual care of family affairs being forced to consume their lives in a multitude of low and troublesome businesses All this and much more would have utterly deterred that Sex from marriage if Nature it self had not enclined them to it § 36. 16. And O what abundance of duty is incumbent upon both the Parents towards every child for Art thou discontented with thy childless state Remember that of all the Roman Kings noâ— one of them left the Crown to his Son Plutarch de â—ranq anim the saving of their souls What uncessant labour is necessary in Teaching them the Doctrine of Salvation Which made God twice over charge them to teach his word diligently or sharpen them unto their children and to talk of them when they sit in their houses and when they walk by the way and when they lye down and when they rise up Deut. 6. 6 7. 11. 19. What abundance of obstinate rooted corruptions are in the hearts of Children which Parents must by all possible diligence root up O how great and hard a work is it to speak to them of their sins and Saviour of their God their souls and the life to come with that reverence gravity seriousness and unwearied constancy as the weight of the matter doth require and to suit all their actions and carriage to the same ends Little do most that have Children know what abundance of care and labour God will require of them for the sanctifying and saving of their Childrens souls Consider your fitness for so great a work before you undertake it § 37. 17. It is abundance of affliction that is ordinarily to be expected in the miscarriages of Children when you have done your best much more if you neglect your duty as even godly Parents too often do After all your pains and care and labour you must look that the foolishness of some and the obstinacy of others and the unthankfulness of those that you have loved best should even pierce your hearts You must look that many vices should spring up and trouble you and be the more grievous by how much your children are the more dear And O what a grief it is to breed up a Child to be a servant of the Devil and an enemy of God and godliness and a persecutor of the Church of God! And to think of his lying in Hell for ever And alas how great is the number of such 18. And it is not a little care and trouble that servants will put you to so difficult is it to get those that are good much more to make them good so great is your duty in teaching them and minding them of the matters of their salvation so frequent will be the displeasures about your work and worldly business and every one of those displeasures will hinder them for receiving your instructions that most families are houses of correction or affliction § 39. 19. And these marriage Crosses are not for a year but during life They deprive you of all hope of relief while you live
beg his guidance and his blessing and run not without him nor before him Reckon upon the worst and foresee all temptations which would diminish your affections or make you unfaithful to each other and see that you be fortified against them all § 57. Direct 11. Be sure that God be the ultimate end of your marriage and that you principally Direct 11. choose that state of life that in it you may be most serviceable to him and that you heartily devote your selves and your families unto God that so it may be to you a sanctified condition It is nothing but making God our Guide and End that can sanctifie our state of life They that unfeignedly follow Gods counsel and aim at his Glory and do it to please him will find God owning and blessing their relation But they that do it principally to please the flesh to satisfie lust and to increase their estates and to have Children surviving them to receive the fruits of their Pride and Covetousness can expect to reap no better than they sow and to have the Flesh the World and the Devil the masters of their family according to their own desire and choice § 58. Direct 12. At your first conjunction and through the rest of your lives remember the Direct 12. day of your separation And think not that you you are settling your selves in a state of Rest or felicity or continuance but only assuming a companion in your travels Whether you live in a married or an unmarried life remember that you are hasting to the everlasting life where there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage You are going as fast to another world in one state of life as in the other 1 Cor â— 29 30. You are but to help each other in your way that your journey may be the easier to you and that you may happily meet again in the Heavenly Hierusalem When worldlings marry they take it for a settling themselves in the world And as Regenerate persons begin the world anew by beginning to lay up a treasure in Heaven so worldlings call their Marriage their beginning the world because then as engaged servants to the world they set themselves to seek it with greater diligence than ever before They do but in marriage begin as seekers that life of foolery which when he had found what he sought that Rich man ended Luk. 12. 19 20. with a This I will do I will pull down my barnes and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods And I will say to my soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But God said unto him Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided If you would not dy such fools do not marry and live such worldlings Tit. 2. Cases of Marriage Quest. 1. WHat should one follow as a certain Rule about the prohibited degrees of Consanguinity or Quest. 1. affinity Seeing 1. The Law of Moses is not in force to us 2. And if it were it is very The case of Pâ—lâ—gamy is â—â— fully and â—â—ainly resolved by Christ that I take it not to be necessary to decide it especially while the Law of the Land doth make it death dark Whether it may by parity of reason be extended to more degrees than are named in the text 3. And seeing the Law of nature is so hardly legible in this case Answ. 1. It is certain that the prohibited degrees are not so statedly and universally unlawful as that such marriage may not be made lawful by any necessity For Adams sons did lawfully marry their own Sisters 2. But now the world is peopled such necessities as will warrant such marriages must needs be very rare and such as we are never like to meet with 3. The Law of nature is it which prohibiteth the degrees that are now unlawful And though this Law be dark as to some degrees it is not so as to others 4. The Law of God to the Jews Lev. 18. doth not prohibit those degrees there named because of any reason proper to the Jews but as an exposition of the Law of nature and so on reasons common to all 5. Therefore though the Jewish Law cease yea never bound other nations formally as that political national Law yet as it was Gods exposition of his own Law of nature it is of use and consequential obligation to all men even to this day For if God once had told but one man This is the sence of the Law of nature it remaineth true and all must believe it and then the Law of nature it self so expounded will still oblige 6. The world is so wide for choice and a necessity of doubtful marriage is so rare and the trouble so great that prudence telleth every one that it is their sin without flat necessity to marry in a doubtful degree And therefore it is thus safest to avoid all degrees that seem to be equal to those named Lev. 18. and to have the same reason though they be not named 7. But because it is not certain that indeed the unnamed cases have the same reason while God doth not acquaint us with all the reasons of his Law therefore when the thing is done we must not censure others too deeply nor trouble our selves too much about those unnamed doubtful cases We must avoid them before hand because else we shall cast our selves into doubts and troubles unnecessarily But when it is past the case must be considered of as I shall after open Quest. 2. What if the Law of the Land forbid more or fewer degrees than Lev. 18. doth Quest. 2. Answ. If it forbid fewer the rest are nevertheless to be avoided as forbidden by God If it forbid more the forbdiden ones must be avoided in obedience to our Rulers Quest. 3. Is the marriage of Cousin Germanes that is of brothers children or sisters children or brothers Quest. 3. and sisters children unlawful Answ. I think not 1. Because not forbidden by God 2. Because none of that same rank are forbidden that is none that on both sides are two degrees from the Root I refer the Reader for my Reasons to a Latin Treatise of Charles Butler on this Subject for in those I rest As all the Children of Noahs Sons did marry their Cousin Germanes for they could not marry in any remoter degree so have others since without reproof and none are forbidden 3. But it is safest to do otherwise because there is choice enough beside and because many Divines being of the contrary opinion may make it matter of scruple and trouble afterwards to those that venture upon it without need Quest. 4. What would you have thâ—se do that have married Cousin Germanes and now doubt whether it Quest. 4. be lawful so to do Answ. I would have them cast away such doubts
beyond our Callings nor into confusion Argument 5. It is a Duty to receive all the mercies that God offereth us But for a family to have access to God in joynt prayers and praises is a mercy that God offereth them Therefore it is their duty to accept it The major is clear in nature and Scripture Because I have offered and ye refused is Gods great aggravation of the sin of the rebellious How oft would I have gathered you together and ye would not All the day long have I stretched out my hand c. To refuse an offered kindness is contempt and ingratitude The minor is undeniable by any Christian that ever knew what family prayers and prayses were Who dare say that it is no mercy to have such a joynt access to God Who feels not conjunction somewhat help his own affections who makes conscience of watching his heart Argument 6. Part of the Duties of families are such that they apparently loose their chiefest life and excellency if they be not performed joyntly Therefore they are so to be performed I mean singing of Psalms which I before proved an ordinary Duty of conjunct Christians Therefore of families The Melody and Harmony is lost by our separation and consequently the alacrity and quickning which our affections should get by it And if part of Gods praises must be performed together it is easie to see that the rest must be so too Not to speak of teaching which cannot be done alone Argument 7. Family prayer and praises are a Duty owned by the teaching and sanctifying work of the spirit Therefore they are of God I would not argue backward from the spirits teaching to the words commanding but on these two suppositions 1. That the experiment is very general and undeniable 2. That many texts of Scripture are brought already for family prayer and that this argument is but to second them and prove them truly interpreted The Spirit and the word do alway agree If therefore I can prove that the spirit of God doth commonly work mens hearts to a love and savour of these Duties doubtless they are of God Sanctification is a transcript of the precepts of the word on the heart written out by the spirit of God So much for the consequence The Antecedent consisteth of two parts 1. That the sanctified have in them inclinations to these Duties 2. That these Inclinations are from the spirit of God The first needs no proof being a matter of experience I appeal to the heart of every sound and stable Christian whether he feel not a conviction of this Duty and an inclination to the performance of it I never met with one such to my knowledge that was otherwise minded Object Many in our times are quite against family prayer who are good Christians Answ. I know none of them I confess I once thought some very good Christians that now are against them but now they appear otherwise not only by this but by other things I know none that cast off these Duties but they took up vile sins in their stead and cast off other Duties as well as these Let others observe and judge as they find 2. The power of delusion may for a time make a Christian forbear as unlawful that which his very new nature is inclined too As some think it unlawful to pray in our Assemblies and some to joyn in Sacraments And yet they have a spirit within them that inclineth their hearts to it still and therefore they love iâ— and wish it were lawful even when they forbear it upon a conceit that it is unlawful And so it 's possible for a time some may do by family Duties But as I expect that these ere long recover so for my part I take all the rest to be graceless Prejudice and error as a temptation may prohibit the exercise of a Duty when yet the spirit of God doth work in the heart an inclination to that Duty in sanctifying it 2. And that these inclinations are indeed from the spirit is evident 1. In that they come in with all other grace 2. And by the same means 3. And are preserved by the same means standing or falling increasing or decreasing with the rest 4. And are to the same end 5. And are so generally in all the sâ—iâ—ts 6. And so resisted by flesh and blood 7. And so agreeable to the Word that a Christian sins against his new nature when he neglects family Dutys And God doth by his spirit create a desire after them and an estimation of them in every gracious soul. Argument 8. Family prayer and praises is a Duty ordinarily crowned with admirable divine and special blessings Therefore it is of God The consequence is evident For though common outward prosperity may be given to the wicked who have their portion in this life yet so is not prosperity of soul. For the Antecedent I willingly appeal to the experience of all the holy families in the world Who ever used these Duties seriously and found not the benefits What Families be they in which grace and Heavenly mindedness prospereth but those that use these Duties Compare in all your Towns Cities and Villages the families that read Scriptures pray and praise God with those that do not and see the difference Which of them abound more with impiety with Oaths and cursings and railings and Drunkenness and Whoredoms and Worldliness c. And which abound most with Faith and Patience and Temperance and Charity and Repentance and Hope c. The controversie is not hard to decide Look to the Nobility and Gentry of England See you no difference between those that have been bred in praying families and the rest I mean taking them as we say one with another proportionably Look to the Ministers of England Is it praying families or prayerless families that have done most to the well furnishing of the Universities Argument 9. All Churches ought solemnly to pray to God and praise him A Christian family is a Church Therefore The major is past doubt the minor I prove from the nature of a Church in general which is a society of Christians combined for the better worshipping and serving of God I say not that a family formally as a family is a Church But every family of Christians ought moreover by such a combination to be a Church Yea as Christians they are so combined seeing Christianity tieth them to serve God conjunctly together in their Relations 2. Scripture expresseth it 2 Cor. 16. 19. Aquila and Priscilla salute much in the Lord with the Church that is in they house He saith not which meeteth in their house but which is in it So Philemon 2. And to the Church in this house Rom. 16. 5. Likewise greet the Church that is in their house Col. 4. 15. Salute the brethren that are at Laodicea and Nymphas and the Church which is in his house Though some Learned men take these to be meant of part of the Churches assembling in
the Enemies of Religion that forbad Christs Ministers to preach his Gospel and forbad Gods servants to meet in Church-assemblies for his Worship the support of Religion and the comfort and edification of believers would then lye almost all upon the right performance of family-duties There Masters might teach the same truth to their housholds which Ministers are forbid to preach in the Assemblies There you might pray together as fervently and spiritually as you can There you may keep up as holy converse and communion and as strict a discipline as you please There you may celebrate the praises of your blessed Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier and observe the Lords Day in as exact and spiritual a manner as you are able You may there provoke one another to Love and to good works and rebuke every sin and mind each other to prepare for death and live together as passengers to eternal life Thus holy families may keep up Religion and keep up the life and comfort of believers and supply the want of publick preaching in those Countreys where persecutors prohibit and restrain it or where unable or unfaithful Pastors do neglect it § 8. Motive 8. The duties of your families are such as you may perform with greatest peace and least exception Motive 8. or opposition from others When you go further and would be instructing others they will think you go beyond your Call and many will be suspicious that you take too much upon you And if you do but gently admonish a rowt of such as the Sodomites perhaps they will say This one fellow came in to sojourn and he will needs be a Iudge Gen. 19. 9. But your own house is your Castle Your family is your charge You may teach them as oft and as diligently as you will If the ungodly rabble scorn you for it yet no sober person will condemn you nor trouble you for it if you teach them no evil All men must confess that Nature and Scripture oblige you â—o it as your unquestionable work And therefore you may do it among sober people with approbation and quietness § 9. Motive 9. Well governed Families are honourable and exemplary unto others Even the worldly and Motive 9. ungodly use to bear a certain reverence to them For Holiness and Order have some witness that commendeth them in the consciences of many that never practised them A worldly ungodly disordered family is a Den of Snakes a place of hissing railing folly and confusion It is like a Wilderness overgrown with Bryars and Weeds But a holy family is a Garden of God It is beautified with his Graces and ordered by his Government and fruitful by the showres of his heavenly blessing And as the very sluggard that will not be at the cost and pains to make a Garden of his thorny Wilderness may yet confess that a Garden is more beautiful and fruitful and delightful and if wishing would do it his Wilderness should be such Even so the ungodly that will not be at the cost and pains to order their souls and families in holiness may yet see a beauty in those that are so ordered and wish for the happiness of such if they could have it without the labour and cost of self-denyal And no doubt the beauty of such holy and well governed families hath convinced many and drawn them to a great approbation of Religion and occasioned them at last to imitate them § 10. Motive 10. Lastly Consider That holy well governed families are blest with the special presence Motive 10. and favour of God They are his Churches where he is worshipped His houses where he dwelleth He is engaged both by Love and Promise to bless protect and prosper them Psal. 1. 3. 128. It is safe to sail in that Ship which is bound for Heaven and where Christ is the Pilot. But when you reject his Government you refuse his company and contemn his favour and forfeit his blessing by despising his presence his interest and his commands § 11. So that it is an evident truth that most of the mischiefs that now infest or seize upon mankind throughout the earth consist in or are caused by the disorders and ill-governedness of families These are the Schools and Shops of Satan from whence proceed the beastly ignorance lust and sensuality the devilish pride malignity and cruelty against the holy wayes of God which have so unman'd the progeny of Adam These are the Nests in which the Serpent doth hatch the Eggs of Covetousness Envy Strife Revenge of Tyranny Disobedience Wars and Bloodshed and all the Leprosie of sin that hath so odiously contaminated humane nature and all the miseries by which they make the world calamitous Do you wonder that there can be persons and Nations so blind and barbarous as we read of the Turks Tartarians Indians and most of the inhabitants of the earth A wicked education is the cause of all which finding nature depraved doth sublimate and increase the venome which should by education have been cured And from the wickedness of families doth National wickedness arise Do you wonder that so much ignorance and voluntary deceit and obstinacy in errors contrary to all mens common senses can be found among professed Christians as Great and small High and low through all the Papal Kingdom do discover Though the Pride and Covetousness and Wickedness of a worldly carnal Clergie is a very great cause yet the sinful negligence of Parents and Masters in their families is as great if not much greater than that Do you wonder that even in the Reformed Churches there can be so many unreformed sinners of beastly lives that hate the serious practice of the Religion which themselves profess It is ill education in ungodly families that is the cause of all this O therefore how great and necessary a work is it to cast Salt into these corrupted fountains Cleanse and cure these vitiated Families and you may cure almost all the calamities of the earth To tell what the Emperours and Princes of the earth might do if they were wise and good to the remedy of this common misery is the idle talk of those negligent persons who condemn themselves in condemning others Even those Rulers and Princes that are the Pillars and Patrons of Heathenisme Mahometanisme Popery and Ungodliness in the world did themselves receive that venome from their Parents in their birth and education which inclineth them to all this mischief Family-reformation is the easiest and the most likely way to a common Reformation At least to send many souls to Heaven and train up multitudes for God if it reach not to National reformation CHAP. VI. More special Motives for a holy and careful Education of Children BEcause the chief part of Family-Care and Government consisteth in the right Education of Children I shall adjoyn here some more special Motives to quicken considerate Parents to this duty And though most that I have to say for it be already said
in my Saints Rest Part 3. Chap. 14. Sect. 11. c. and therefore shall be here omitted yet something shall be inserted lest the want here should appear too great § 1. Motive 1. Consider how deeply Nature it self doth engage you to the greatest care and diligence Motive 1. for the holy education of your children They are as it were parts of your selves and those that Nature teacheth you to Love and provide for and take most care for next your selves And will you be regardless of their chief concernments and neglective of their souls Will you no other way shew your love to your children than every Beast or Bird will to their young to cherish them till they can go abroad and shift for themselves for corporal sustenance It is not Dogs or Beasts that you bring into the world but Children that have immortal souls And therefore it is a care and education suitable to their natures which you owe them Even such as conduceth most effectually to the happiness of their souls Nature teacheth them some natural things without you as it doth the Bird to flye But it hath committed it to your trust and care to teach them the greatest and most necessary things If you should think that you have nothing to do but feed them and leave all the rest to Nature then they would not learn to speak And if Nature it self would condemn you if you teach them not to speak it will much more condemn you if you teach them not to understand both what they ought to speak and do They have an everlasting inheritance of happiness to attain and it is that which you must bring them up for They have an endless misery to escape and it is that which you must diligently teach them If you teach them not to escape the flames of Hell what thanks do they owe you for teaching them to speak and go If you teach them not the way to Heaven and how they may make sure of their salvation what thanks do they owe you for teaching them how to get their livings a little while in a miserable world If you teach them not to know God and how to serve him and be saved you teach them nothing or worse than nothing It is in your hands to do them the greatest kindness or cruelty in all the world Help them to know God and to be saved and you do more for them than if you helped them to be Lords or Princes If you neglect their souls and breed them in ignorance worldliness ungodliness and sin you betray them to the Devil the enemy of souls even as truly as if you sold them to him You sell them to be slaves to Satan you betray them to him that will deceive them and abuse them in this life and torment them in the next If you saw but a burning Fornace much more the flames of Hell would you not think that man or woman more fit to be called a Devil than a Parent that could find in their hearts to cast their Child into it or to put him into the hands of one that would do it What Monsters then of inhumanity are you that read in Scripture which is the way to Hell and who they be that God will deliver up to Satan to be tormented by him and yet will bring up your children in that very way and will not take pains to save them from it What a stir do you make to provide them food and rayment and a competent maintenance in the world when you are dead And how little pains take you to prepare their souls for the heavenly inheritance If you seriously believe that there are such Ioyes or Torments for your children and your selves as soon as death removeth you hence is it possible that you should take this for the least of their concernments or make it the least and last of your cares to assure them of an endless happiness If you Love them shew it in those things on which their everlasting welfare doth depend Do not say you Love them and yet lead them unto Hell If you love them not yet be not so unmerciful to them as to damn them It is not your saying God forbid and we hope better that will make it better or be any excuse to you What can you do more to damn them if you studied to do it as maliciously as the Devil himself You cannot possibly do more than to bring them up in ignorance carelessness worldliness sensuality and ungodliness The Devil can do nothing else to damn either them or you but by tempting to sin and drawing you from Godliness There is no other way to Hell No man is damned for any thing but this And yet will you bring them up in such a life and say God forbid we do not desire to damn them But it is no wonder when you do by your children but as you do by your selves Who can look that a man should be reasonable for his child that is so unreasonable for himself Or that those Parents should have any mercy on their childrens souls that have no mercy on their own You desire not to damn your selves but yet you do it if you live ungodly lives And so you will do by your children if you train them up in ignorance of God and in the service of the flesh and world You do like one that should set fire on his house and say God forbid I intend not to burn it or like one that casteth his child into the Sea and saith he intendeth not to drown him or traineth him up in robbing and thievery and saith he intendeth not to have him hanged But if you intend to make a Thief of him it is all one in effect as if you intended his hanging for the Law determineth it and the Iudge will intend it So if you intend to train up your children in ungodliness as if they had no God nor souls to mind you may as well say you intend to have them damned And were not an enemy yea is not the Devil more excusable for dealing thus cruelly by your children than you that are their Parents that are bound by Nature to love them and prevent their misery It is odious in Ministers that take the charge of souls to betray them by negligence and be guilty of their everlasting misery but in Parents it is more unnatural and therefore more unexcusable § 2. Motive 2. Consider that God is the Lord and Owner of your children both by the title of Creation and Motive 2. Redemption Therefore in justice you must resign them to him and educate them for him Otherwise you rob God of his own Creatures and rob Christ of those for whom he dyed and this to give them to the Devil the enemy of God and them It was not the world or the flesh or the Devil that created them or redeemed them but God And it is not possible for any Right to be built upon a
and temperature of your children which is a great advantage for the choosing and applying of the best remedy 8. You have opportunity of watching over them and discerning all their faults in time But if a Minister speak to them he can know no more what fault to reprehend than others tell him or the party will confess You may also discern what success your former exhortations had and whether they amend or still go on in sin and whether you should proceed to more severe remedies 9. You have opportunity of speaking to them in the most familiar manner which is better understood than the set speech of a Minister in the Pulpit which few of them mark or understand You can quicken their attention by questions which put them upon answering you and so awaken them to a serious regard of what you say 10. You are so frequently with them that you can repeat your instructions and drive them home that what is not done at one time may be done at another Whereas other men can seldom speak to them and what is so seldome spoken is easily neglected or forgotten 11. You have power to place them under the best means and to remove many impediments out of their way which usually frustrate other mens endeavours 12. Your example is near them and continually in their sight which is a continual and powerful Sermon By all these advantages God hath enabled you above all others to be instruments of your Childrens good and the first and greatest promoters of their salvation § 6. Motive 6. Consider how great a Comfort it would be to you to have your children such as you Motive 6. may confidently hope are the children of God being brought to know him and love and serve him through your own endeavours in a pious education of them 1. You may love your children upon an higher account than as they are yours even as they are Gods adorned with his Image and quickned with a divine celestial life And this is is to love them with a higher kind of Love than meer Natural affection is It would rejoyce you to see your children advanced to be Lords or Princes But O how much greater cause of joy is it to see them made the members of Christ and quickned by his Spirit and sealed up for life eternal 2. When once your children are made the children of God by the Regeneration of the Spirit you may be much more free from care and trouble for them than before Now you may boldly trust them on the care of their heavenly Father who is able to do more for them than you are able to desire He loveth them better than you can love them He is bound by promise to protect them and provide for them and to see that all things work together for their good He that clotheth the Lillies of the fields and suffereth not the young Lions or Ravens to be unprovided for will provide convenient food for his own children though he will have you also do your duty for them as they are your children While they are the children of Satan and the servants of sin you have cause to fear not only lest they be exposed to miseries in this world but much more lest they be snatched away in their sin to Hell Your children while they are ungodly are worse than among Wolves and Tygâ—rs But when once they are renewed by the Spirit of Christ they are the charge of all the blessed Trinity and under God the charge of Angels Living or dying they are safe For the Eternal God is their portion and defence 3. It may be a continual comfort to you to think what a deal of drudgery and calamity your child is freed from To think how many Oaths he would have sworn and how many lyes and curses he would have uttered and how bâ—aftly and fleshly a life he would have lived how much wrong he would have done to God and men and how much he would have pleased the Devil and what torments in Hâ—ll he must have endured as the reward of aâ—â—â—â— and then to think how mercifully God hath prevented all this and what service he may do God in the world and finally live with Christ in glory What a joy is this to a considering believing Parent that taketh the mercies of his children as his own 4. Religion will teach your children to be more dutiful to your selves than Nature can teach them It will teach them to Love you even when you have no more to give them as well as if you had the wealth of all the world It will teach them to honour you though you are poor and contemptible in the eyes of others It will teach them to obey you and if you â—all into want to relieve you according to their power It will â—it them to comfort you i st the time of your sickness and distress when ungodly children will be as thorns in your feet or eyes and cut your hearts and prove a greater grief than any enemies to you A gracious child will bear with your weaknesses when a Châ—m will not cover his Fathers nakedness A gracious Child can pray for you and pray with you and be a blessing to your house when an ungodly Child is fitter to curse and prove a curse to those he liveâ— with 5. And is it not an exceeding joy to think of the everlasting happiness of your Child and that you may live togâ—ther in Heaven for ever When the foresâ—en misâ—ry of a gracâ—lâ—ss Child may grieve you when ever you look him in the face 6. Lastly It will be a great addition to your joy to think that God blessed your diligent instructions and made you the instrument of all that good that is done upon your children and of all that good that is done by them and of all the happiness they have for ever To think that this was conveyed to them by your means will give you a larger share in the delights of it § 7. Motive 7. Remember that your Childrens Original sin and misery is by you and therefore in Motive 7. juâ—â—ice you that have undone them are bound to do your best to save them If you had but conveyed a leprosiâ— or some hereditary Disease to their bodies would you not have done your best to cure them O that you could do them but as much good as you do them hurt It is more than Adamâ— sin that runneth down into the natures of your Children yea and that bringeth judgements on them And even Adams sin cometh not to them but by you § 8. Motive 8. Lastly Consider what exceeding great need they have of the utmost help you can afford Motive 8. them It is not a corporal disease an easie enemy a tolerable that we call unto you for their helpâ—â— But it is against Sin and Satan and Hell fire It is against a body of sin not one but many â—oâ— small but pernicious having seized upon the heart
had to mind If vain and empty persons like your selves commend you for your bravery or curiosity so will not any judicious sober person whose commendation is much worth And yet I must here with grief take notice that when some few that in other matters seem wise and Religious are themselves a little tainted with this childish curiosity and pride and let fall words of disparagement against those whose dress and dwellings and entertainments are not so curious as their own this proves the greatest maintainer of this sin and the most notable service to the devil For then abundance will plead this for this sinful curiosity and pride and say I shall else be accounted base or fordid even such and such will speak against me Take heed if you will needs be such your selves that you prate not against others that are not as vain and curious as you For the nature of man is more prone to Pride and Vanity than to Humility and the improvement of their Time and â—ost in greater matters and while you think that you speak but against indecency you become the Devils Preachers and do him more service than you consider of You may as wisely speak against people for using to eat or drink too little when there is not one of a multitude that liveth not ordinarily in excess and so excess will get advantage by it § 10. Direct 10. Be specially careful in the Government of your tongues and let your words be Direct 10. few and well considered before you speak them A double diligence is needful in this because it is the most common miscarriage of your Sex A laxative running tongue is so great a dishonour to you that I never knew a woman very full of words but she was the pity of her friends and the contempt of others who behind her back will make a scorn of her and talk of her as some crackt-brained or half-witted person yea though your talk be good it will be tedious and contemptible if it be thus poured out and be too cheap Prov. 10. 19. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin but he that refraineth his lips is wise You must answer in judgement for your idle words Matth. 12. 36. You will take it ill to be accounted fools and made the derision of those that talk of you Judge by the Scripture what occasion you give them Eccles. 5. 3 7. A dream cometh by the multitude of business and a fools voice iâ— known by multitude of words In the multitude of dreams and many words there are divers vanities Eccles. 10. 12 13 14. The words of a wise mans mouth are gracious but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself The beginnings of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is mischievous madness A fool also is full of words Whereas a woman that is canteâ—oâ—â— and sparing of her words is commonly reverenced and supposed to be wise So that if you had no higher design in it but meerly to be well thought of and honoured by men you can scarcely take a surer way than to let your words be few and weighty Though the avoiding of sin and unquietness should prevail with you much more § 11. Direct 11. Be willing and diligent in your proper part of the care and labour of the family Direct 11. As the primary provision of maintenance belongeth most to the Husband so the secondary provision within doors belongeth specially to the wiâ—e Read over and over the 31 Chap. of the Provâ— Especially the care of nursing your own children and teaching them and watching over them when they are young and also watching over the family at home when your Husbands are abroad is your proper work § 12. Direct 12. Dispose not of your Husbands estate without his knowledge and consent You Direct 12. are not only to consider whether the work be good that you lay it out upon but what power you Q. May a wife give without the Husbandâ— Consâ—nt â— have to do it Quest. But may a woman ' give nothing nor lay out nothing in the house without her Husbands consent Answ. 1. If she have his general or implicite consent it may suffice that is If he allow her to follow her judgement or if he commit such a proportion to her power to do what she will with it Or if she know that if he knew it he would not be against it 2. Or if the Law or his consent do give her any propriety in any part of his estate or make her a joynt proprietor she may proportionably dispose of it in a necessary case The Husband is considerable either as a See Dr â—â—gâ—â— on Family-Relation who saith the most against Womens giving Proprietor or as her Governour As a proprietor he only may dispose of the estate where he is the sole-proprietor But where consent or the Law of the Land doth make the Woman joynt-proprietor she is not disabled from giving for want of a propriety But then no Law exempteth her from his Government And therefore she is not to give any thing in a way of disobedience though it be her own Except when he forbiddeth that which is her duty or which he hath no power to forbid So that in case of joynt-propriety she may give without him so be it she exceed not her proportion and also if it be in a case of Duty where he may not hinder her As to save the lives of the poor in extream necessity famine or imprisonment or the like 3. But if the thing be wholly her own excepted from his propriety and she be sole-proprietor then she need not ask his consent at all any other way than as he is her Guide to direct her to the best way of disposing of it Which if he forbid her instead of directing her to it she is not thereby excusable before God for the abusing of her trust and Talents 4. I conceive that ad aliquid as to certain absolutely necessary uses the very Relation maketh the 2 Sam. 25. 18 29 30. Prov. 31. 11 12 13 20. Hos. 6. 6. Matth. 9. 1â— 12 7. 2 King 4. 9 22. Woman as a joynt proprietor As if her Husband will not allow her such food and rayment as is necessary to preserve the lives and health of herself and all her Children she is bound to do it without or against his will if she can and if it be not to a greater hurt and the estate be his own and he be able rather than let her Children contract such diseases as apparently will follow to the hazzard of their lives Yea and to save the life of another that in famine is ready to perish For she is not as a stranger to his estate But out of these cases if a Wife shall secretly waste or give or lay it out on bravery or vanity or set her wit against her Husbands and because she thinks him too
that they themselves dislike and so possess them with the same dislike from generation to generation Woe to them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa. 5. 20. § 8. Direct 8. Let it be the principal part of your care and labour in all their education to make Direct 8. Holiness appear to them the most Necessary Honourable gainful pleasant delightful amiable state of life and to keep them from apprehending it either as needless dishonourable hurtful or uncomfortable Especially draw them to the Love of it by representing it as lovely And therefore begin with that which is easiest and most grateful to them as the History of the Scripture and the lives of the Martyrs and other good men and some short familiar lessons For though in restraining them from sin you must go to the highest step at first and not think to draw them from it by allowing them the least degree for every degree disposeth to more and none is to be allowed and a general reformation is the easiest as well as absolutely necessary Yet in putting them upon the Practice of Religious duties you must carry them on by degrees and put them at first upon no more than they can bear either upon the learning of doctrines too high and spiritual for them or upon such duty for quality or quantity as is over-burdensome to them For if you once turn their hearts against Religion and make it seem a slavery and a tedious life to them you take the course to harden them against it And therefore all Children must not be used alike as all stomachs must not be forced to â—at alike If you force some to take so much as to become a surfet they will loath that sort of meat as long as they live I know that nature it self as corrupt hath already an enmity to Holiness and I know that this enmity is not to be indulged in Children at all But withall I know that mis-representations of Religion and imprudent Education is the way to increase it and that the enmity being in the Heart it is the change of the Mind and Love that is the overcoming of it and not any such constraint as tendeth not to reconcile the Mind by Love The whole skill of Parents for the Holy education of their Children doth consist in this to make them conceive of Holiness as the most amiable and desirable life which is by representing it to them in words and practice not only as most Necessary but also as most Profitable Honourable and Delightful Prov. 3. 17. Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace c. § 9. Direct 9. Speak often to them of the bruitish baseness and sinfulness of flesh-pleasing sensuality Direct 9. and of the greater excellency of the Pleasures of the mind which consist in wisdom and in doing good For your chiefest care must be to save them from Flesh-pleasing which is not only in general the sum of all iniquity whatsoever but that which in special Children are most prone to For their flesh and sense is as quick as others and they want not only faith but clear Reason to resist it And so besides their natural pravity the custome of obeying sense which is in strength without Reason which is in infancy and almost useless doth much increase this pernicious sin And therefore still labour to imprint in their minds an odious conceit of a fleshpleasing life speak bitterly to them against Gluttony and drunkenness and excess of sport and let them often hear or read the parable of the Glutton and Lazarus in the 16 of Luke And let them learn without book Rom. 8. 1 5 6 7 8 9 13. Rom. 13. 13 14. and oft repeat them Direct 10. § 10. Direct 10. To this end and also for the health of their bodies keep a strict guard upon their appetites which they are not able to guard themselves Keep them as exactly as you can to the rules of reason both in the quantity and quality of their food Yet tell them the Reason of your restraint or else they will secretly strive the more to break their bounds Most Parents that ever I knew or had any good account of in that point are guilty of the great hurt and danger of their Childrens health and souls by pleasing and glutting them with meat and drink If I should call them Devils and Murderers to their own Children they would think I spake too harshly But I would not have them give so great occasion for it as by destroying as far as lyeth in them the souls and bodies of their Children They destroy their souls by accustoming them to gluttony and to be ruled by their appetites which all the teaching in the world will hardly ever after overcome without the special grace of God What is all the vice and villany in the world but the pleasing of the desires of the flesh And when they are habituated to this they are rooted in their sin and misery And they destroy their Bodies by suffering them to please their appetites with raw fruits and other hurtful things but especially by drowning and overwhelming nature by excess And all this is through that beastly ignorance joyned with self conceitedness which maketh them also overthrow themselves They think that their appetite is the measure of their eating and drinking and that if they drink but when they are thirsty as some Drunkards are continually and eat but when they are hungry it is no excess And because they are not presently sick or vomit it not up again the Beasts think it doth them no harm but good You shall hear them like mad people say I warrant them it will do them no harm to eat and drink when they have list it will make them strong and healthful I see not that those that are dyeted so strictly are any healthfuller than others When as all this while they are burdening nature and destroying digestion and vitiating all the humours of the body and turning them into a dunghill of flegm and filth which is the fewel that breedeth and feedeth almost all the diseases that after seize upon them while they live and usually bringeth them to an untimely end as I have fullyer opened before Tom. 1. in the Directions against Gluttony If therefore you love either the souls or Bodies of your Children use them to temperance from their infancy and let not their appetites or craving wills but your own reason be the chooser and the measure of their dyet Use them to eat sparingly and so it moderately please their appetite or be not such as nature loatheth let it be rather of the courser than the finer sort of dyet see it measured to them your selves and suffer no servant to give them more nor to let them eat or drink between meals and out of season And so you will
and shalt deliver his soul from Hell Prov. 19. 18. Chasten thy Son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying Ask him whether he would have you by sparing him to disobey God and hate him and destroy his soul. And when his reason is convinced of the reasonableness of correcting him it will be the more sucessful § 18. Direct 18. Let your own example teach your children that holiness and heavenliness and Direct 18. blamelessness of tongue and life which you desire them to learn and practise The example of Parents is most powerful with children both for good and evil If they see you live in the fear of God it will do much to perswade them that it is the most necessary and excellent course of life and that they must do so too And if they see you live a carnal voluptuous and ungodly life and hear you curse or swear or talk filthily or railingly it will greatly embolden them to imitate you If you speak Direct 19. never so well to them they will sooner believe your bad lives than your good words § 19. Direct 19. Choose such a Calling and course of life for your children as tendeth most to the saving of their souls and to their publick usefulness for Church or State Choose not a Calling that is most lyable to temptations and hinderances to their salvation though it may make them rich but a Calling which alloweth them some leisure for the remembring the things of everlasting consequence and fit opportunities to get good and to do good If you bind them Apprentices or Servants if it be possible place them with men fearing God and not with such as will harden them in their sin § 20. Direct 20. When they are marriageable and you find it needful look out such for them as are Direct 20. suitable betimes When Parents stay too long and do not their duties in this their children often choose for themselves to their own undoing For they choose not by judgement but blind affection § 21. Having thus told you the common duties of Parents for their children I should next have Direct 1. told you what specially belongeth to each Parent but to avoid prolixity I shall only desire you to remember especially these two Directions 1. That the Mother who is still present with children when they are young be very diligent in teaching them and minding them of good things When the Fathers are abroad the Mothers have more frequent opportunities to instruct them and be still speaking to them of that which is most necessary and watching over them This is the greatest service that most women can do for God in the world Many a Church that hath been blessed with a good Minister may thank the pious education of Mothers And many a thousand souls in Heaven may thank the holy care and diligence of Mothers as the first effectual means Good women this way by the good education of their children are ordinarily great blessings both to Church and State And so some understand 1 Tim. 2. 15. by Child-bearing meaning bringing up children for Direct 2. God but I rather think it is by Maries bearing Christ the promised seed 2. By all means let children be taught to read if you are never so poor and what ever shift you make or else you deprive them of a singular help to their instruction and salvation It is a thousand pities that a Bible should signifie no more than a Chip to a rational creature as to their reading it themselves and that so many excellent Books as be in the world should be as sealed or insignificant to them § 22. But if God deny you children and save you all this care and labour repine not but be thankful believing it is best for you Remember what a deal of duty and pains and hearts grief he hath freed you from and how few speed well when Parents have done their best what a life of misery children must here pass through and how sad the fear of their sin and damnation would have been to you CHAP. XI The special Duties of Children towards their Parents THough Precepts to Children are not of so much force as to them of riper age because of their natural incapacity and their childish passions and pleasures which bear down their weak dâ—gree of Reason yet somewhat is to be said to them because that measure of Reason which they have is to be exercised and by exercise to be improved and because even those of riper years while they have Parents must know and do their duty to them and because God useth to bless even children as they perform their duties § 1. Direct 1. Be sure that you dearly love your Parents Delight to be in their company Be not Direct 1. like those unnatural children that love the company of their idle play-fellows better than their Parents and had rather be abroad about their sports than in their Parents sight Remember that you have your Being from them and come out of their loins Remember what sorrow you have cost them and what care they are at for your education and provision and remember how tenderly they have loved you and what grief it will be to their hearts if you miscarry and how much your happiness will make them glad Remember what Love you owe them both by Nature and in Iustice for all their Love to you and all that they have done for you They take your Happiness or Misery to be one of the greatest parts of the Happiness or Misery of their own lives Deprive them not then of their Happiness bâ— depriving your selves of your own Make not their lives miserable by undoing your selves Though they chide you and restrain you and correct you do not therefore abate your Love to them For this is their Duty which God requireth of them and they do it for your good It is a sign of a wicked child that loveth his Parents the less because they correct him and will not let him have his own will Yea though your Parents have many faults themselves yet you must love them as your Parents still § 2. Direct 2. Honour your Parents both in your Thoughts and speeches and behaviour Think Direct 2. not dishonourably or contemptuously of them in your hearts Speak not dishonourably rudely unreverently or sawcily either to them or of them Behave not your selves rudely and unreverently before them Yea though your Parents be never so poor in the world or weak of understanding yea though they were ungodly you must honour them notwithstanding all this Though you cannot honour them as Rich or Wise or Godly you must honour them as your Parents Remember that the fifth Commandment hath a special promise of temporal blessing Honour thy Father and Mother that thy dayes may be long in the land c. And consequently the dishonourers of Parents have a special curse even in this life And the Justice of
satisfaction for our sins and Risen from the dead and conquered death and Satan and is ascended and Glorified in Heaven and that he is the King and Teacher and High Priest of the Church That he hath made a new Covenant of Grace and pardon and offered it in his Scriptures and by his Ministers to the World and that those that are sincere and faithful in this Covenant shall be saved and those that are not shall remedilâ—sly be damned because they reject this Christ and Grace which is the last and only remedy And here open to them the nature of this Covenant that God doth offer to be our Reconciled God and Father and Felicity and Christ to be our Saviour to forgive our sins and reconcile us unto God and renew us by his spirit and the Holy Spirit to be our sanctifier to illuminate and regenerate and confirm us and that all that is required on our part is such an unfeigned consent as will appear in the performance in our serious endeavours Even that we wholly give up our selves to be renewed by the holy spirit to be justified taught and Governed by Christ and by him to be brought again to the Father to Love him as our God and End and to live to him and with him for ever But whereas the temptations of the Devil and the allurements of this deceitful world and the desires of the flesh are the great enemies and hinderances in our way we must also consent to renounce all these and let them go and deny our selves and take up with God alone and what he seeth meet to give us and to take him in Heaven for all our portion And he that consenteth unfeignedly to this Covenant is a member of Christ a justified reconciled Child of God and an heir of Heaven and so continuing shall be saved and he that doth not shall be damned This is the Covenant that in Baptism we solemnly entred into with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as our Father and Felicity our Saviour and our Sanctifier This in some such brief explication you must familiarly open to them again and again § 10. Direct 10. When you have opened the Baptismal Covenant to them and the Essentials of Direct 10. Christianity cause them to learn the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments And tell them the Uses of them that man having three Powers of soul his Understanding his Will and his Obediential or executive power all these must be sanctified and therefore there must be a Rule for each And that accordingly the Creed is the summary Rule to tell us what our Understandings must Believe and the Lords Prayer is the summary Rule to direct us what our wills must desire and our tongues must ask and the Ten Commandments is the summary Râ—le of our Practice And that the Holy Scripture in general is the more large and perfect Rule of all And that all that will be taken for true Christians must have a General implicite Belief of all the Holy Scriptures and a particular explicite Belief Desire and sincere practice according to the Creeds Lords Prayer and ten Commandments § 11. Direct 11. Next teach them a short Catechism by memory which openeth these a little Direct 11. more fully and then a larger Catechism The shorter and larger Catechism of the Assembly are very well fitted to this use I have published a very brief one my self which in eight Articles or Answers containeth all the essential points of Belief and in One Answer the Covenant-consent and in four Articles or Answers more containeth all the substantial parts of Christian duty The answers are some of them long for Children But if I knew of any other that had It is in my 〈…〉 and by it self so much in so few words I would not offer this to you because I am conscious of its imperfections But there are very few Catechisms that differ in the substance Which ever they learn let them as they go have your help to understand it and let them keep it in memory to the last § 12. Direct 12. Next open to them more distinctly the particular part of the Covenant and Catechism Direct 12. And here I think this Method most profitable for a family 1. Read over to them the best expositions that you can get on the Creed the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments which are not too large to confound them nor too brief so as to be hardly understood For a summary Mr. Brinsleyes True watch is good but thus to read to them such as Mr. Perkins on the Creed and Dr. King on the Lords Prayer and Dod on the Commandments are fit so that you may read one Article one Petition and one Commandment at a time And read these over to them divers times 2. Besides this in your familiar discourse with them open to them plainly one Head or Article of Religion at a time and another the next time and so on till you come to the end And here 1. Open in one discourse the nature of man and the Creation 2. In another or before it the nature and attributes of God 3. In another the fall of man and especially the Corruption of our nature as it consisteth in an inordinate inclination to earthly and fleshly things and a backwardness or averseness or enmity to God and Holiness and the Life to come and the nature of sin and the impossibility of being saved till this sin be pardoned and these natures renewed and restored to the Love of God and Holiness from this Love of the world and fleshly pleasures 4. In the next discourse open to them the doctrine of Redemption in general and the Incarnation and natures and person of Christ particularly 5. In the next open the Life of Christ his fulfilling the Law and his overcoming the Tempter his humble life and contempt of the world and the end of all and how he is exemplary and imitable unto us 6. In the next open the whole Humiliation and suffering of Christ and the pretenses of his persecutors and the Ends and Uses of his suffering death and burial 7. In the next open his Resurrection the proofs and the Uses of it 8. In the next open his Ascension Glory and Interâ—ession for us and the Uses of all 9. In the next open his Kingly and Prophetical offices in General and his making the Covenant of Grace with man and the nature of that Covenant and its effects 10. In the next open the Works or Office of the Holy Ghost in General as given by Christ to be his Agent in men on earth and his great witness to the world and particularly open the extraordinary gift of the spirit to the Prophets and Apostles to plant the Churches and indite and seal the holy Scripture and shew them the authority and use of the holy Scriptures 11. In the next open to them the ordinary works of the Holy Ghost as the Illuminater Renewer
and hope for audience when they beg for mercy and offer up prayer or praises to him § 15. III. In the Communication though the Sacrament have respect to the Father as the Joh. 3. 5. 1 Cor. 12. 12 â—3 1 Cor. 15 45. Gal. 3. 14. 4. 6. Eph. 2. 22. principal Giver and to the Son as both the Gift and Giver yet hath it a special respect to the Holy Ghost as being that spirit given in the flesh and blood which quickeneth souls without which the flesh will profit nothing And whose Operations must convey and apply Christs saving benefits to us Ioh. 6. 63. 7. 39. § 16. These three being the parts of the Sacrament in whole as comprehending that sacred Action and participation which is essential to it The material Parts called the Relate and correlate are 1. Substantial and Qualitative 2. Active and passive 1. The first are the Bread and Wine as signs and the Body and Blood of Christ with his graces and benefits as the things signified and given The second are the Actions of Breaking Pouring out and Delivering on the Ministers part after the Consecration and the Taking Eating and Drinking by the Receivers as the sign And the thing signified is the Crucifying or Sacrificing of Christ and the Delivering himself with his benefits to the believer and the Receivers thankful Accepting and using the said gift To these add the Relative form and the ends and you have the definition of this Sacrament Of which see more in my Univers Concord p. 46 c. § 17. Direct 3. Look upon the Minister as the Agent or Officer of Christ who is commissioned by Direct 3. him to seal and deliver to you the Covenant and its benefits And take the Bread and Wine as if you heard Christ himself saying to you Take my Body and Blood and the pardon and Grace which is thereby purchased It is a great â—â—â—â—p in the application to have Mercy and pardon brought us by the hand of a commissioned Officer of Christ. § 18. Direct 4. In your preparation before hand take heed of these two extreams 1. That you Direct 4. come not prophanely and carelesly with common hearts as to a common work For God will be sanctified in them that draw near him Lev. 10. 3. And they that eat and drink unworthily not discerning the Lords Body from common bread but eating as if it were a common meal do eat death to Quinam auteâ—â— indigâ—i ineptive sint quibus Angelorum panis praebeatur sacerdoâ—um ipsoâ—um audâ—ta confessione â—aeâ—erisque perspectis judicium esto Acosta â— 6. c. 10. p. 549. themselves instead of life 2. Take heed lest your mistakes of the nature of this Sacrament should possess you with such fears of unworthy receiving and the following dangers as may quite discompose and unfit your souls for the joyful exercises of faith and Love and Praise and Thanksgiving to which you are invited Many that are scrupulous of Receiving it in any save a feasting gesture are too little careful and scrupulous of Receiving it in any save a feasting frame of mind The first extream is caused by Prophaneness and negligence or by gross ignorance of the nature of the Sacramental work The later extream is frequently caused as followeth 1. By setting this Sacrament at a greater distance from other parts of Gods worship than there is cause so that the excess of Reverence doth overwhelm the minds of some with terrours 2. By studying more the terrible words of eating and drinking damnation to themselves if they do it unworthily than all the expressions of Love and mercy which that blessed feast is furnished with So that when the Views of infinite Love should ravish them they are studying wrath and vengeance to terrifie them as if they came to Moses and not to Christ. 3. By not understanding what maketh a Receiver worthy or unworthy but taking their unwilling infirmities for condemning unworthiness 4. By Receiving it so seldom as to make it strange to them and increase their fear whereas if it were administred every Lords day as it was in the Primitive Churches it would better acquaint them with it and cure that fear that cometh from strangeness 5. By imagining that none that want Assurance of their own sincerity can receive in faith 6. By contracting an ill habit of mistaken Religiousness placeing it all in poâ—ing on themselves and mourning for their corruptions and not in studying the Love of God in Christ and living in the daily Praises of his name and joyful Thanksgiving for his exceeding mercies 7. And if besides all these the Body contract a weak or timerous melancholy distemper it will leave the mind capable of almost nothing but fear and trouble even in the sweetest works From many such causes it cometh to pass that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is become more terrible and uncomfortable to abundance of such distempered Christians than any other ordinance of God And that which should most comfort them doth trouble them most § 19. Quest. 1. But is not this Sacrament more holy and dreadful and should it not have more preparation Quest. 1. than other parts of worship Answ. For the degree indeed it should have very careful preparation And we cannot well compare it with other parts of worship as Praise Thanksgiving Covenanting with God Prayer c. because that all these other parts are here comprized and performed But doubtless God must also be sanctified in all his other worship and his name must not be taken in vain And when this Sacrament was received every Lords day and often in the week besides Christians were supposed to live continually in a state of general preparation and not to be so far from a due particular preparation as many poor Christians think they are § 20. Quest. 2. How often should the Sacrament be now administred that it neither grow into contempt Quest. 2. or strangeness Answ. Ordinarily in well disciplined Churches it should be still every Lords day For 1. We have no reason to prove that the Apostles example and appointment in this case was proper to those times any more than that Praise and Thanksgiving daily is proper to them And we may as well deny the obligation of other institutions or Apostolical orders as that 2. It is a part of the seâ—led order for the Lords days worship And omitting it maimeth and altereth the worship of the day and occasioneth the omission of the Thansgiving and Praise and lively commemorations of Christ which should be then most performed And so Christians by use grow habited to sadness and a mourning melancholy Religion and grow unacquainted with much of the worship and spirit of the Gospel 3. Hereby the Papists lamentable corruptions of this ordinance have grown up even by an excess of reverence and fear which seldom receiving doth increase till they are come to Worship Bread as their God 4. By seldom communicating men are
been truly taught that to deny our foundations is the horrid crime of Infidelity And therefore because it is so horrid a crime to deny or question them we thought we need not study to prove them And so most have taken their Foundation upon trust and indeed are scarce able to bear the tryal of it and have spent their dayes about the superstructure and in learning to prove the controverted less necessary points Insomuch that I fear there are more that are able to prove the points which an Antinomian or an Anabaptist do deny than to prove the immortality of the soul or the truth of Scripture or Christianity and to dispute about a Ceremony or form of prayer or Church-government than to dispute for Christ against an Infidel So that their work is prepared to their hands and it is no great victory to overcome such â—aw unsetled souls § 2. Direct 2. Get every sacred Truth which you believe into your very hearts and lives and Direct 2. see that all be digested into Holy Love and Practice When your food is turned into vital nuâ—â—iment into flesh and blood it is not cast up by every thing that maketh you sick and turneth your stomachs as it may be before it is concocted distributed and incorporated Truth that is but barely known is but like meat that is undigested in the stomach But Truth which is turned into the Lâ—ve of God and of a holy life is turned into a new nature and will not so easily be let go § 3. Direct 3. Take heed of Doctrines of presumption and security and take heed lest you fall Direct 3. away by thinking it so impossible to fall away that you are past all danger The Covenant of Vâ—â—tu â—â—â—â— Chrysippus â—â—â—â—â—â—â—ossâ— â—leaâ— hâ—â—â—â—â—â— nâ—n â—â—â—â—se aâ—â—â—â—e posse aâ—â—â—â—â— pâ—r 〈◊〉 aâ—ram bâ—â—em 〈…〉 posse o 〈…〉 aâ— stabâ—es comprehension â—â— c.. Lâ—â—t in Zâ—â—oâ—â— Grace doth sufficiently encourage you to obey and hope against temptations to despair and casting off the means But it encourageth no man to presume or sin or to cast off means as needlesâ— things Remember that if ever you will stand the fear of falling must help you to stand and if ever you will persevere it must be by seeing the danger of backsliding so far as to make you afraid and quicken you in the means which are necessary to prevent it It is no more certain that you shall persevere than it is certain that you shall use the means of persevering And one means is by seeing your danger to be stirred up to fear and caution to escape it Because it is my meaning in this Direction to save men from perishing by security upon the abuse of the Doctrine of Perseverance I hope none will be offended that I lay down these Antidotes § 4. 1. Consider That the Doctrine of Perseverance hath nothing in it to encourage security The very Controversies about it may cause you to conclude that a certain sin is not to be built upon a Controverted Doctrine Till Augustines time it is hard to find any antient Writers that clearly asserted the certain perseverance of any at all Augustine and Prosper maintain the certain perseverance of all the Elect but deny the certain perseverance of all that are Regenerated Justified or Sanctified For they thought that more were Regenerate and Justified than were Elect of whom some stood even all the Elect and the rest fell away So that I confess I never read one antient Father or Christian Writer that ever maintained the certainty of the perseverance of all the Justified of many hundred if not a thousand years after Christ And a Doctrine that to the Church was so long unknown hath not that certainty or that necessity as to encourage you to any presumption or security The Churches were saved many hundred years without believing it § 5. 2. The Doctrine of Perseverance is against security because it uniteth together the End and the Means For they that teach that the Justified shall never totally fall from Grace do also teach that they shall never totally fall into security or into any reigning sin For this is to fall away from Grace And they teach that they shall never totally fall from the use of the necessary means of their preservation nor from the cautelous avoiding of the danger of their souls God doth not simply Decree that you shall persevere but that you shall be kept in perseverance by the fear of your danger and the careful use of means and that you shall persevere in these as well as in other graces Therefore if you fall to security and sin you fall away from grace and shew that God never decreed or promised that you should never fall away § 6. 3. Consider how far many have gone that have fallen away The instances of our times are much higher than any I can name to you out of History Men that have seemed to walk humbly and holily fearing all sin blameless in their lives zealous in Religion twenty or thirty years together have fallen to deny the truth or certainty of the Scriptures the Godhead of Christ if not Christianity it self And many that have not quite fallen away have yet fallen into such grievous sins as make them a terrible warning to us all to take heed of presumption and carnal security § 7. 4. Grace is not in the nature of it a thing that cannot perish or be lost For 1. It is a separable quality 2. Adam did lose it 3. We lose a great degree of it too oft And the remaining degrees are of the same nature It is not only possible in it self to lose it but too easie and not possible without co-operating grace to keep it § 8. 5. Grace is not Natural to us To love our ease and honour and friends is natural but to love Christ and his holy wayes and servants is not Natural to us Indeed when we do it it is Nature as not lapsed and Nature as restored incline the soul to the Love of God but not Nature as corrupâ— nor is it an act performed per 〈…〉 â— â— nâ—â—â—â—ssario our Natural powers that do it But not as Naturally disposed to it but as inclined by the Cure of supernatural Grace Eating and drinking and sleeping we forget not because Nature it self remembreth us of them but Learning and acquired habits may be lost if not very deeply radicated And it s commonly concluded as to the Nature of them that Habitus infusi habent se ad modum acquisitorum Infused Habits are like to acquired ones § 9. 6. Grace is as it were a stranger or new-comer in us It hath been there but a little while And therefore we are but raw and too unacquainted with the right usage and improvement of it and are the apter to â—orget our duty or to neglect it or ignorantly to do that which tendeth to its destruction § 10. 7. Grace dwelleth in a heart which
upon a Cross at the will of proud malitious persecutoâ—s You shall there see that Person whom God hath Chosen to advance above the whole Creation and in John 17. â—4 Phil. 2 7 8 9 10. whom he will be more glorified than all the Saints The wonderful condescension of his Incarnation and the wonderful Mysterie of the Hypostatical Union will there be better understood And which is all in all you shall see the most Blessed God himself whether in his Essence or not yet undoubtedly in his Glory in that state or place which he hath prepared to reveal his Glory in Matth. 5. 8. Heb. 12. 14. for the Glorifying of holy Spirits You shall see him whose sight will perfect your understandings and Love him and feel the fulness of his Love which is the highest felicity that any created Being can attain Though this will be in different measures as souls are more or less amiable and capacious or else the humane nature of Christ would be no happier than we yet none shall have any sinful or trouble some imperfection and all their capacities shall be filled with God O dear friend I am even confounded and ashamed to think that I mention to you such high and glorious things with no more sense and admiration and that my soul is not drawn up in the flames of a more â—ervent Love nor lifted up in higher joyes nor yet drawn out into more longing desires when I speak of such transcendent happiness and joy O had you and I but a glimpse with Acts 7. 56. 2 Cor. 12. 3 4 5. Gal. 1. 4. blessed Stephen or Paul of these unutterable pleasures how deeply would it affect us and how should we abhorr this life of sin and be aweary of this dark and distant state and be glad to be gone from this Prison of flesh and to be delivered from this present evil world This is the life that you are going to live Though a painful Death must open the Womb of Time and let you into eternity how quickly will the pain be over And though Nature make Death dismal to you and sin have made it penal and you look at it now with backwardness and fear yet this will all be quickly past and your souls will be born into a world of joy which will make you forget all your fears and sorrows It is meet that as the Birth of Nature had its pains and the Birth of Grace hads its penitent John 16. 21. John 3. 3 5 7 8. sorrows so the Birth of Glory should have the greatest difficulties as it entreth us into the happiest state O what a change will it be to a humbled fearful soul to find it self in a moment dislodged from a sinful painful flesh and entred into a world of Light and Life and holy Love unspeakably above all the expressions and conceptions of this present life Alas that our present ignorance and fear should make us draw back from such a change That whilst all our brethren that dyed in faith are triumphing in these Joyes with Christ our trembling souls should be so loth to leave this flesh and be afraid to be called to the same felicity O what an enemy is the remnant of Unbelief to our imprisoned and imperfect souls That it can hide such a desirable Glory from our eyes that it should no more affect us and we should no more desire it but are willing to stay so long from God How wonderful is that Love and Mercy that brings such backward souls to Happiness and will drive us away from this beloved world by its afflicting miseries and from this beloved flesh by pain and weariness and will draw us to our joyful blessedness as it were whether we will or not and will not leave us out of Heaven so long till we are willing our selves to come away You seem now to be almost at your journeys end But how many a foul step have those yet to go whom you leave behind you in this dirty world You have fought a good fight and kept the faith and shall never be troubled with an enemy or temptation when this one concluding brunt is over You shall never be so much as tempted to unbelief or pride or worldly mindedness or fleshly lusts or to any defects in the service of your Lord But how many temptations do you leave us encompassed with and how many dangers and enemies to overcome And alas how many falls and wounds may we receive You seem to be near the end of your race when those behind you have far to run You are entring into the harbour and leave us tossed by Tempests on the Waves Flesh will no more entice or clog your soul You will no more have unruly senses to command nor an unreasonable appetite to govern nor a stragling fantasie or wandering thoughts or headstrong lusts or boistrous passions to restrain You will no longer carry about a root of corruption nor a principle of enmity to God! It will no more be difficult or wearisome to you to do good Your service of God will no more be mixed and blemished with imperfections You shall never more have a cold or hard or backward heart or a careless customary duty to lament That primitive Holiness which consisteth in the Love of God and the exercise and delights thereof will be perfected And those subservient duties of Holiness which consist in the use of Recovering means will cease as needless Preaching and Studying and Books will be necessary no more Sacraments and Church Discipline and all such means have done their work Repentance and Faith have attained their end As your bodies after the Resurrection 2 Cor. 3. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 6. 1 Cor. 13. 12. will have no need of food or rayment or care or labour so your souls will be above the use of such Creatures and Ordinances as now we cannot be without For the Glass will be unnecessary when you must see the Creator face to face Will it not be a joyful day to you when you shall know God as much as you desire to know him and love him as much as you desire to love him and be loved by him as much as much as you can reasonably desire to be loved and rejoyce in him as much as you desire to rejoyce Yea more than you can now desire I open you but a Casement into the everlasting mansions and shew you but a dark and distant prospect of the promised Land the Heavenly Ierusalem The satisfying sight is reserved for the time when thereby we shall have that satisfying fruition And is there any such thing to be hoped for on earth Will health or wealth will the highest places or the greatest pleasures make man happy You know it will not Or if it would the happiness would be so short as maketh it little worthy of our regard Have you not seen an end of all perfection Have you not observed and tryed what a deluding dream
commanded when none but Christ ever did so well Quest. 1. What is moral goodness in any creature and subject but a conformity to his Rulers will expressed in his Law And if this Conformity be its very form and being it cannot be that any thing should be morally good that is not commanded Quest. 2. Doth not the Law of God command us to love him with all our heart and soul and strength and accordingly to serve him And is it possible to give him more than all or can God come after and counsel us to give him more than is possible Quest. 3. Doth not the Law of Nature oblige us to serve God to the utmost of our Power He that denyeth it is become unnatural and must deny God to be God or deny himself to be his rational creature For nothing is more clear in nature than that the Creature who is nothing and hath nothing but from God and is absolutely His Own doth owe him all that he is able to do Quest. 4. Doth not Christ determine the Case to his Disciples Luke 17. 10. 5. A middle between Good and Evil in Morality is a contradiction There is no such thing For Good and Evil are the whole of Morality Without these species there is no Morality § 10. Object 2. It seems then you hold that there is nothing indifferent which is a paradox Object 2. Answ. No such matter There are thousands and millions of things that are indifferent But they Whether any things â—e Indifferent Stoici indifferentia distinguunt 1. â—â—a quaen queadsâ—â—â—â—â—tatem neque ad inâ—â—liâ—itatem confâ—â—â—â— ut sunt diviâ—iae sanitas vires gloria c. Nam sine his contingit â—oelicem esse cum earum usus vel rectus â—oelicitatis vel pravus intâ—licitatis author sit 2. Quae neque appetitum neque occasionem movent ut pares vel imparts habere capillos c. Lacit â—â— Zenoâ—â— are Things Natural only and not Things Moral They are indifferent as to Moral Good and Evil because they are neither But they are not Indifferentia Moralia The Indifferency is a Negation of any Morality in them in genere as well as of both the species of Morality Whatsoever participateth not of Virtue or Vice and is not Eligible or Refusable by a moral agent as such hath no morality in it There may be two words so equal as it may be indifferent which you speak and two Eggs so equal as that it may be indifferent which you eat But that is no more than to say the choosing of one before the other is not actus moralis There is no matter of Morality in the choice § 11. Object 3. But if there may be Things Natural that are Indifferent why not things Object 3. Mâ—ral Answ. As Goodness is convertible with Entity there is no Natural Being but is good As Goodness signifieth Commodity there is nothing but is Profitable or Hurtful and that is Good to one that is Hurtful to another But if it were not so yet such Goodness or Badness is but Accidental to Natural Being but Moral Goodness and Badness is the whole Essence of Morality § 12. Object 4. But doth not the Apostle say He that marrieth doth well and he that marrieth not Object 5. doth better Therefore all is not sin which is not best Answ. The Question put to the Apostle to decide was about Marrying or not Marrying as it belonged Whether Marrying â—e Indifferent to all Christians in general and not as it belonged to this or that individual person by some special reason differently from others And so in respect to the Church in general the Apostle determineth that there is no Law binding them to marry or not to marry For a Law that is made for many must be suited to what is common to those many Now Marriage being good for one and not for another is not made the matter of a common Law nor is it fit to be so and so far is left indifferent But because that to most it was rather a hinderance to good in those times of the Church than a help therefore for the present necessity the Apostle calleth marrying doing well because it was not against any Universal Law and it was a state that was suitable to some But he calls not marrying doing better because it was then more ordinarily suited to the ends of Christianity Now God maketh not a distinct Law for every individual person in the Church but one Universal Law for all And this being a thing variable according to the various Cases of individual persons was unfit to be particularly determined by an Universal Law But if the question had been only of any one individual person then the decision would have been thus Though marrying is a thing not directly commanded or forbidden yet to some it is helpful as to Moral Ends to some it is hurtful and to some it is so equal or indifferent that it is neither discernably helpful nor hurtful Now by the General Laws or Rules of Scripture to them that consideratis considerandis it is discernably helpful it is not indifferent but a duty To them that it is discernably hurtful it is not indifferent but a sin To them that it is neither discernably helpful or hurtful as to Moral Ends it is indifferent as being neither duty nor sin for it is not a thing of Moral choice or nature at all But the Light of Nature telleth us that God hath not left it Indifferent to men to Hinder themselves or to Help themselves as to Moral Ends Else why pray we Lead us not into temptation And marriage is so great a Help to some and so great a Hurt to others that no man can say that it is Morally Indifferent to all men in the world And therefore that being none of the Apostles meaning it followeth that his meaning is as aforesaid § 13. Object 5. But there are many things indifferent in themselves though not as cloathed with Object 5. all their accidents and circumstances And these actions being Good in their accidents may be the matter of a Vow Answ. True but those actions are commanded duties and not things indifferent as so circumstantiated It is very few actions in the world that are made simply duties or sins in their simple nature without their circumstances and accidents The commonest matter of all Gods Laws is Actions or dispositions which are Good or Evil in their circumstances and accidents Therefore I conclude Things wholly Indifferent are not to be Vowed § 14. Direct 5. It is not every Duty that is the matter of a lawful Vow Else you might have as Direct 5. many Vows as Duties Every good thought and word and deed might have a Vow And then every sin which you commit would be accompanied and aggravated with the guilt of Perjury And no wise man will run his soul into such a snare Object But do we not in Baptism Vow
many Christian Nations that it is lawful to break their Oathes and promises to their lawful Lords and Rulers or their Vows to God and to undertake by defending or owning this to justifie all those Nations that shall be guilty of this Perjury and perfidiousness O what a horrid crime is this what a shame even unto humane nature and how great a wrong to the Christian name § 10. Direct 9. Understand and remember these following Rules to acquaint you how fâ—r a vow is Direct 9. obligatory which I shall give you for the most part out of Dr. Sanderson because his decisions of these cases are now of best esteem § 11. Rule 1. The General Rule laid down Numb 30. 2 3. doth make a Vow as such to be obligatory Rule 1. though the party should have a secret equivocation or intent that though he speak the words to deceive another yet he will not oblige himself Such a reserve not to oblige himself hindereth not the obligation but proveth him a perfidious hypocrite D. Sanders pag. 23. Iuramentum omne ex suâ naturâ est obligatorium Ita ut si quis juret non intendens se obligare nihilominus tamen suscipiendo juramentum ipso facto obligetur that is If he so far understand what he doth as that his words may bear the definition of an oath or Vow Otherwise if he speak the words of an Oath in a strange language thinking they signifie something else or if he spake in his sleep or deliration or distraction it is no Oath and so not obligatory § 12. Rule 2. Those conditions are to be taken as intended in all Oathes whether exprest or no Ride 2. which the very nature of the thing doth necessarily imply unless any be so bruitish as to express the See Dr. Sanders p. 47. 197. contrary And these are all reducible to two heads 1. A natural and 2. A moral Impossibility 1. Whoever sweareth to do any thing or give any thing is supposed to mean If I live and if I be not disabled in my body faculties estate If God make it not impossible to be c. For no man can be supposed to mean I will do it whether God will or not and whether I live or not and whether I be able or not 2. Whoever Voweth or sweareth to do any thing must be understood to mean it If no change of Providence make it a sin or if I find not contrary to my present supposition that God forbiddeth it For no man that is a Christian is to be supposed to mean when he Voweth I will do this though God forbid it or though it prove to be a sin especially when men therefore Vow it because they take it to be a duty Now as that which is sinful is morally Impossible so there are divers ways by which a thing may appear or become sinful to us 1. When we find it forbidden directly in the Word of God which at first we understood not 2. When the change of things doth make that a sin which before was a duty of which may be given an hundred instances As when the change of a mans estate of his opportunities of his Liberty of his parts and abilities of objects of customes of the Laws of Civil Governours doth change the very matter of his duty Quest. § 13. Quest. But will every change disoblige us If not what change must it be seeing Casuists Answ. use to put it as a condition in general Rebus sic stantibus Answ. No it is not every change of Cicero dâ— Iâ—g lib. 1. Proveth that Right is founded in the Laâ— of Nature mâ—re than in mans Laws else saith â—e men may make evil good and good evil and make Adâ—lâ—â—ry Perjurâ— â— just b 〈…〉 g a Law for them things that disobligeth us from the bonds of a Vow For then Vows were of no considerable signification But 1. If the very Matter that was Vowed or about which the Vow was do cease Cessante materiâ cessat obligatio As if I promise to teach a pupil I am disobliged when he is dead If I promise to pay so much money in Gold and the King should â—orbid Gold and change his coyne I am not obliged to it 2. Cessante termino vel correlato cessat obligatio If the party dye to whom I am bound my personal obligation ceaseth And so the conjugal bond ceaseth at death and civil bonds by civil death 3. Cessante fine cessat obligatio If the use and end wholly cease my obligation which was only to that use and end ceaseth As if a Physicion promise to give Physick for nothing for the cure of the Plague to all the poor of the City when the Plague ceaseth his end and so his obligation ceaseth 4. Cessante personâ naturali relaâ—â cessat obligatio personalis When the natural person dyeth the obligation ceaseth I cannot be â—bliged to do that when I am dead which is proper to the living The subject of the obligation ceasing the Accidents must cease 5. Cessante relatione vel personâ civili cessat obligatio talis quâ tâ—lis The obligation which lay on a person in any Relation meerly as such doth cease when that Relation ceaseth A King is not bound to Govern or protect his subjects if they trayterously depose him or if he cast them off and take anothor Kingdom as when H. 3. of France left the Kingdom of Pâ—land nor are subjects bound to Allegiance and obedience to him that is not indeed their King A Judge or Justice or Constable or Tutor is no longer bound by his oath to do the offices of these Relations than he continueth in the Relation A divorced Wife is not bound by her conjugal vow to her Husband as before nor masters and servants when their relations cease nor a Souldier to his General by his military Sacrament when the Army is disbanded or he is cashiered or dismist Rule 3. § 14. Rule 3. No Vows or promises of our own can dissolve the obligation laid upon us by the Law of God For we have no co-ordinate much less superiour authority over our selves Our self-obligations are but for the furthering of our obedience Rule 4. § 15. Rule 4. Therefore no Vows can disoblige a man from any present duty nor justifie him in the committing of any sin Vows are to engage us to God and not against him If the matter which we vow be evil it is a sin to Vow it and a sin to do it upon pretence of a Vow Sin is no acceptable sacrifice to God § 16. Rule 5. If I vow that I will do some duty better I am not thereby disobliged from doing it at Rule 5. all when I am disabled from doing it better Suppose a Magistrate seeing much amiss in Church How often perjury hath ruined Christian Princes and States all History doth testifie The ruine of the Roman Empire by the Goths was
c. He goeth on to confirm it at large by argument § 20. Rule 9. An Oath is to be taken and interpreted strictly Sandersoa saith Iuramenti obligatio Rule 9. est stricti juris that is non ut excludat juris interpretationem aequitate temperatam sed ut excludat juris interpretationem gratia corruptam not as excluding an equitable interpretation but as excluding an interpretation corrupted by partiality that it be a Iust interpretation between the extreams of Rigid and favourable or partial and in doubtful cases it is safer to follow the strict than the benign Sand. p. 41 42 4â— 44. Ubi de justo sensu ambigitur longe satius est naturae rei accommodatius strictiore quam benigniore uti interpretatione Sand. pag. 44. or favourable sense It is dangerous stretching and venturing too far in matters of so sacred a nature and of such great importance as Vows and Oaths § 21. Rule 10. In the exposition of such doubtful oaths and Vows 1. We must specially watch against Rule 10. self-interest or commodity that it corrupt not our understandings 2. And we must not take our oaths or Sand. pag. 45. any part of them in such a sense as a pious prudent stander-by that is impartial and no whit interested in the business cannot easily find in the words themselves § 22. Rule 11. In doubtful cases the greatest danger must be most carefully avoided and the safer Rule 11. side preferred But the danger of the soul by perjury is the greatest and therefore no bodily danger should Sand. p. 46. so carefully be avoided And therefore an oath that in the common and obvious sense seemeth unlawful should not be taken unless there be very full evidence that it hath another sence Sand. p. 46. Nititur autem c. This reason leaneth on that general and most useful rule that in doubtful cases we must follow the safer side But it is safer not to swear where the words of the oath proposed do seem according to the common and obvious sence of the words to contain in them something unlawful than by a loose interpretation so to lenifie them for our own ends that we may the more securely swear them For it is plain that such an oath may be refused without the peril of perjury but not that it can be taken without some danger or fear The same Rule must guide us also in keeping Vews § 23. Rule 12. It is ordinarily resolved that imposed Oaths must be kept according to the sense of Rule 12. the imposer See Sanders p. 191 192. But I conceive that assertion must be more exactly opened and bounded 1. Where justice requireth that we have respect to the will or right of the imposer there the oath imposed must be taken in his sence But whether it must be kept in his sence is further to be considered 2. When I have done my best to understand the sence of the imposer in taking the Oath and yet mistake it and so take it without fraud in another sense the Question then is somewhat hard whether I must keep it in the sense I took it in or in his sense which then I understood not If I must not keep it in my own sense which I took it in then it would follow that I must keep another oath and not that which I took For it is the sense that is the oath And I never obliged my self to any thing but according to my own sense And yet on the other side if every man may take Oaths in their private sense then oaths will not attain their ends nor be any security to the imposers § 24. In this case you must carefully distinguish between the formal obligation of the Oath or Vow as such and the obligation of justice to my neighbour which is a consequent of my Vow And for the former I conceive with submission that an Oath or Vow cannot bind me formally as such in any sense but my own in which bonâ fide I took it Because formally an oath cannot bind me which I never took But I never took that which I never meant nor thought of if you so define an oath as to take in the sense which is the soul of it § 25. But then in regard of the consequential obligation in point of Iustice unto man the question I think must be thus resolved 1. We must distinguish between a lawful imposer or contracter and a violent usurper or robber that injuriously compelleth us to swear 2. Between the obvious usual sense of the words and an unusual forced sense 3. Between a sincere involuntary misunderstanding the imposer and a voluntary fraudulent reservation or private sense 4. Between one that I owe something to antecedently and one that I owe nothing to but by the meer self-obligation of my Vow 5. Between an Imposer that is himself the culpable cause of my misunderstanding him and one that is not the cause but my own weakness or negligence is the cause 6. Between a case where both senses may be kept and a case where they cannot being inconsistent Upon these Distinctions I thus resolve the question § 26. Prop. 1. If I fraudulently and wilfully take an oath in a sense of my own contrary to They were ill times that Abbas Urspergensis describeth Chron. pag. 320. Ut omnis homo jam sit perjurus praedictis facinoribus implicatus ut vix excusari possit quin sit in his sicut populus sic sacerdos O that this calamity had ended with that age Et pag. 321. Principes terrarum Barones arte diabolicâ edocti nec cuâ—abant juramenta infringeâ—e nec fidem violare jus omne confundere the sense of the Imposer and the common and just sense of the words themselves I am guilty of perfidiousness and prophaneness in the very taking of it Prop. 2. If it be long of my own culpable ignorance or negligence that I misunderstood the Imposer I am not thereby disobliged from the publick sense Prop. 3. When the Imposer openly putteth a sense on the words imposed contrary to the usual obvious sense I am to understand him according to his own expression and not to take the oath as imposed in any other sense Prop. 4. If the Imposer refuse or neglect to tell me his sense any otherwise than in the imposed words I am to take and keep them according to the obvious sense of the words as they are commonly used in the time and place which I live in Prop. 5. If it be long of the Imposers obscurity or refusing to explain himself or other culpable cause that I mistook him I am not bound to keep my oath in his sense as different from my own unless there be some other reason for it Prop. 6. If the Imposer be a robber or usurper or one that I owe nothing to in justice but what I oblige my self to by my oath I am not then
Make sure of the sincerity of your Charity and hold it fast and then no error that you hold will be destructive to you But if you know more than others and use your knowledge to the weakning of your Love you are but as our first Parents deceived and destroyed by a dâ—sire of fleshly uneffectual knowledge Such knowledge puffeth up but charity edifieth 1 Cor. 8. 1. To contend for Truth to the lâ—ss of Love in your selves and the destruction of it among others is but to choak your selves with excellent food and to imitate that Orthodox Catholick Physicion that gloried that he killed his Patients secundum artem by the most accurate method and excellent Rules of Art that men could dye by § 11. Direct 10. Pretend no Truth against the power and practice of Godliness For this also is Direct 10. its prâ—pâ—â— End Iâ—â—â— be not Truth that is accâ—rding to Godliness it is no truth worthy our seeking or 1 Tim. 6 3. Tâ—â— 1. 1. 1 Tiâ— 4. 7 8 1 Tim. 6. 5 6 11. câ—ntending â—or And if it be contrary to Godliness in it self it is no truth at all Therefore if it be used agaiâ—st Godliness it is used contrary to the Ends of Truth Those men that suppress or hinder tâ—e 〈◊〉 Knowledge and Holiness and Concord and Edification under pretence of securing dâ—â—â—â—nding or propâ—gating the Orthâ—dâ—x belief will find one day that God will give them as 2 Pet. 1. â— 3. 11. little thanks for their blâ—â—d prâ—posterous zeal â—oâ— truth as a tender Father would do to a Physicion that killed his Children bâ—câ—usâ— they distasted or spit out his Medicines It is usually a pitiful defence of Truth that is made by the Enemies of Godliness More near and particular Directions against Error § 12. Direct 1. Begin at the Greatest most Evident Certain and Necessary Truths and so proceed Direct 1. orderly to the knowledge of the less by the help of these As you climb by the Body of the Tree unto See Ch. 2. D. 3. the branches If you begin at those truths which spring out of greater common truths and know not the premises while yoâ— plead for the conclusion you abuse your Reason and lose the Truth and your labour both For thâ—re is no way to the branches but by ascending from the stock The Principles wâ—ll laid must bâ— your help to all your following knowledge § 13. Direct 2. The two first Things which you are to learn are what man is and what God is Direct 2. the Nâ—ture and Relâ—tion of the two Parties is the first thing to be known in order to the knowledge of the Câ—venant it self and all following transâ—ctions between God and man One error here will introduce abundance A thousand other points in Natural Philosophy you may safely be ignorant of bâ—t if you know not what Man is what Reason is what Natural Free-will is and what the inferiâ—ur sensitive U Deum noâ—is etâ—â— ignâ—â—â—â—s â—cum faâ—iem 〈◊〉 â—bi â—â—â—â—â—â— noâ—um eslâ—â—◠〈◊〉 etiamsi â—gâ—oreâ— â—â—cum 〈…〉 Direct 3. Nulla â—â—ga Dâ—â—â—â— pâ—â—â—â—â— est nisi hâ—nâ—stâ—â—â— nâ—mâ—nâ— Dâ—oâ—â—m ac 〈…〉 o Plaâ—â— facultiâ—s are as to their Uses it will lay you open to innumerable errors In the Nature of man you must see the foundation of his relations unto God And if you know not those Great Relâ—â—iâ—ns the duties of which must take up all our lives you may easily foresee the consâ—quents of such ignorance or error So if you know not what God is and what his Relations to us are so far as is necessary to our living in the duties of those Relations the consequents of your ignorance will bâ— sad If learned men be but perverted in their apprehensions of some onâ— Attribuâ—e of God as those that think his Goâ—dness is nothing but his Benignity or proneness to do good or that he is a Nâ—â—â—â—sâ—â—ry agâ—â—t dâ—ing good ad ultimum posse c. what abundance of hoâ—rid and impious consequâ—nts will follow § 14. Direct 3. Hâ—ving sâ—undly understood both these and other Principles of Religion try all the subsequent truths â—erâ—â—y and receive nothing as truth that is certainly inconsistent with any of these principles Even Principles that are not of sense may be disputed till they are wâ—ll râ—ceived and with those that have â—â—t received them But afterward they are not to be called iâ— question for then you wâ—uld never proceed â—or build higher if you still stand questioning all your grounds Indeed no truth is inconsistent with any other truth But yet when two dark or doubâ—ful points are compared together it is hard to know which of them to reject But here it is easie Nothing that contradicteth the trâ—e Nature of Gâ—d or man or any Principle must be hâ—ld § 15. Direct 4. Bâ—lieve notâ—ing which certainly contradicteth the End of all Religion If it be of a Direct 4. naâ—â—râ—l or necessary tendency to ungodliness against the Love of God or against a holy and heavenly mind and conversation it cannot bâ— truth what ever it preâ—end § 16. Direct 5. Be sure to distinguish well betwixt revealed and unrevealed things And before you Direct 5. dispute any question search first whetâ—er thâ—â—â—solution be Revealed oâ— not And if it be not lay it ☞ by and take it as part of your necessary submission to be ignorant of what God would have you ignorant as it is part of your obedience to labour to know what God would have you know And when some things unrâ—veâ—lâ—d are mixed in the controversie take out those and lay them by before you go any further and see that the resolution of the râ—st be not laid upon them nor twisted with them to â—ntangle the whole in uncertainty or confusion Thus God instructed Iob by convincing him of Job 38. 39. 40. 41. Non 1 sumu quâ—bâ—s nihil vâ—rum essvâ—dâ—aâ—uâ— sâ—d ii qui â—â—â—â—bâ—s â—â—â—â—â— faâ—sae â—â—aeâ—am adjunâ—â—â—â— est 〈◊〉 camuâ— â—an â simâ—â—â—â—â—â—â— uâ— c. Ciâ— dâ— Nat. Dâ—or p. 7. his ignorance and shâ—wing him how many things were past his knowledge Thus Christ instructed Nic dâ—mus about the work of Regeneration so as to let him know that though the Necessity of it must be known yâ—t the manner of the Spirits accâ—sses to the soul cannot be known Iohn 3. 7 8. And Paul in his discâ—urse of Election takes notice of the unsearchable depths and the creatures unfitness to dispute with God Rom. 9. When you find any dispuâ—es about Predetermination or Predestination resolved into such points as thâ—se Whether God do by physical premoving influx or by concourse or by moral operation ut finiâ— determine or spâ—cifie moral acts of man Whether a Positive Decâ—ee quoad actum be necessary to the Nâ—gation of effects as that such a one shall not have grace given him or be câ—â—verted or saved that all the millions of possible persons names and things shall not be
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell even together in unity It is like the pretious oyntment upon the head that ran down upon the heard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garment As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore The Translators well put this as the Contents of this Psalm The benefit of the communion of Saints § 53. 5. The concord of Believers doth greatly conduce to the successes of the Ministery and propagation of the Gospel and the conviction of unbelievers and the conversion and salvation of ungodly souls When Christ prayeth for the Unity of his Disciples he redoubleth this argument from the effect or end that the world may believe that thou hast sent me and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them c. Joh. 17. 21 23. Would this make the world believe that Christ was sent of God Yes undoubtedly if all Christians were reduced to a Holy Concord it would do more to win the Heathen world than all other means can do without it It is the Divisions and the wickedness of professed Christians that maketh Christianity so contemned by the Mahometanes and other Infidels of the world And it is the Holy Concord of Christians that would convince and draw them home to Christ. Love and Peace and concord are such vertues as all the world is forced to applaud notwithstanding natures enmity to good When the first Christian Church were all with one accord in one place and continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house partook of food with gladness and singleness of heart and when the multitude of believers were of one heart and of one soul c. Act. 2. 1 46. 4. 32. then did God send upon them Act. 2. 41. Act. 4. 33. the Holy Ghost and then were three thousand converted at a Sermon And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Iesus and great grace was upon them all How our Concord would promote the Conversion of Infidels Our Concord in Religion hath all these advantages for the converting of unbelievers and ungodly men 1. It is a sign that there is a constraining evidence of truth in that Gospel which doth convince so many A concurrent satisfaction and yielding to the truth is a powerful testimony for it 2. They see then that Religion is not a matter of worldly Policy and design when so many men of contrary interests do embrace it 3. And they see it is not the fruit of a Melancholy constitutions when so many men of various temperatures entertain it 4. They may see that the Gospel hath Power to conquer that self-love and self interest which is the most potent thing in vitiated nature Otherwise it could never make so many unite in God as their common interest and end 5. They may see that the Gospel and spirit of Christ is stronger than the devil and all the allurements of the flesh and world when it can make so many agree in the renouncing of all earthly vanities for the hopes of everlasting life 6. They will see that the Design and doctrine of Christianity is Good and excellent beseeming God and desirable to man when they see that it doth produce so good effects as the Love and Unity and Concord of manking 7. And it is an exceeding great and powerful help to the Conversion of the World in this respect because it is a thing so conspicuous in their sight and so intelligible to them and so approved by them They are little wrought on by the doctrine of Christ alone because it is visible or audible but to few and understood by fewer and containeth many things which nature doth distaste But the holy Concord of Believers is a thing that they are more able to discern and judge of and do more generally approve The HOLY CONCORD of Christians must be the CONVERSION of the unbelieving world if God have so great a mercy for the world which is a consideration that should not only deter us from ☜ Divisions but make us zealously study and labour with all our interest and might for the healing of the lamentable Divisions among Christians if we have the hearts of Christians and any sense of the interest of Christ. § 54. 6. The Concord of Christians doth greatly conduce to the ease and peace of particular Believers The very exercise of Love to one another doth sweeten all our lives and duties We sail towards Heaven in a pleasant Calm with wind and tide when we live in Love and peace together How easie doth it make the work of Godliness How light a burden doth Religion seem when we are all as of one heart and soul § 55. 7. Lastly Consider whether this be not the likest state to Heaven and therefore have not in it the most of Christian excellency and perfection In Heaven there is no discord but a perfect consort of glorified spirits harmoniously loving and praising their Creator And if Heaven be desirable holy Concord on earth is next desirable § 56. III. On the contrary consider well of the Mischiefs of Divisions 1. It is the killing of The Mischiefs of Division the Church as much as lyeth in the dividers or the wounding it at least Christs Body is One and it is sensible and therefore Dividing it tendeth directly to the destroying it and at least will cause its smart and pain To Reform the Church by Dividing it is no wiser than to cut out the Liver or Spleen or Gall to cleanse them from the filth that doth obstruct them and hinder them in their office you may indeed thus cleanse them but it will be a mortal cure As he that should Divide the Kingdom into two Kingdoms dissolveth the old Kingdom or part of it at least to erect two new ones so he that would divide the Catholick Church into two must thereby destroy it if he could succeed or destroy that part which divideth it self from the rest Can a member live that is cut off from the Body or a branch that is separated from the tree § 57. Quest. O but say the Romanists why then do you cut off your selves from us The Division Quest. is made by you and we are the Church and you are dead till you return to us How will you know which part is the Church when a Division is once made Answ. Are you the Church Are you the Answ. Whether Papists or Protestants are Schismaticks only Christians in the World The Church is all Christians united in Christ their Head You traiterously set up a new usurping Head and proclaim your selves to be the whole Church and condemn all that are not subjects to your new Head We keep our station and disclaim his Usurpation and deny subjection to
Orbs besides what Scripture saith even reason will strongly perswade any rational man 1. When we consider that Sea and Land and Air and all places of this lower baser part of the world are replenished with inhabitants suitable to their natures And therefore that the incomparably more great and excellent Orbs and Regions should all be uninhabited is irrational to imagine 2. And as we see the Rational Creatures are made to govern the Brutes in this inferiour world so reason telleth us it is improbable that the higher Reason of the inhabitants of the higher Regions should have no hand in the government of man And yet God hath further condescended to satisfie us herein by some unquestionable apparitions of good Angels and many more of evil spirits which puâ—s the matter past all doubt that there are inhabitants of the unseen world And when we know that such there are it maketh it the more easie to us to believe that such we may be either numbered with the happy or unhappy Spirits considering the affinity which there is between the nature of our souls and them To conquer senseless Saducism is a good step to the conquest of irreligiousness He that is well perswaded that there are Angels and Spirits is much better prepared than a Sadducee to bâ—lieve the immortality of the soul And because the infinite distance between God and man is apt to make the thoughts of our approaching his Glory either dubious or very terrible the remembrance of those myriads of blessed Spirits that dwell now in the presence of that glory doth much embolden and confirm our thoughts As he that would be afraid whether he should have access to and acceptance with the King would be much encouraged if he saw a multituâ—e as mean as himself or not much unlike him to be familiar attendants on him I must confess such is my own weakness that I find a frequent need of remembring the holy Hosts of Saints and Angels that are with God to embolden my soul and make the thoughts of Heaven more familiar and sweet by abating my strangeness â—mazedness and fears And thus far to make them the Media that I say not the Mediators of my thoughts in their approaches to the Most High and Holy God Though the remembrance of Christ the true Mediator is my chief encouragement Especially when we consider how servently those holy Spirits do love every holy person upon earth and so that all those that dwell with God are dearer friends to us than our Fathers or Mothers here on earth are as is briefly proved before this will embolden us yet much more § 18. Direct 5. Make use of the thoughts of the Angelical Hosts when you would see the Glory and Direct 5. Majesty of Christ If you think it a small matter that he is the Head of the Church on earth a handful of people contemned by the Satanical party of the world yet think what it is to be Head over all things far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come that is Gave him a power dignity and name greater than any power dignity or name of men or Angels and hath put all things under his feet Ephes. 1. 21 22 23. Being made so much better than the Angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they Of him it is said Let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1. 4 6. Read the whole Chapter Our Head is the Lord of all these Hosts § 19. Direct 6. Make use of the remembrance of the glorious Angels to acquaint you with the dignity Direct 6. of humane nature and the special dignity of the servants of God and so to raise up your hearts in Magna dignitas fidelium animarum ut unaquaeque habeat ab ortu nativitatis in custodiam sui Angelum depuâ—atum imo plures Hitro Luke 20. 36. thankfulness to your Creator and Redeemer who hath thus advanced you 1. What a dignity is it that thâ—se holy Angels should be all Ministring Spirits sâ—nt for our good that they should love us and concern themselves so much for us as to rejoyce in Heaven at our conversion Lord What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Psal. 8. 4. 5. 2. But yet it is a higher declaration of our dignity that we should in Heaven be equal with them and so be numbered iâ—to their society and joyn with them everlastingly in the praise of our Creator 3. And it is yet a greater honour to us that our Natures are assumed into union of person with the Son of God and sâ— advanced above the Angels For he took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham Nâ—r hath he put the world to come in subjection to the Angels Heb. 2. 5 16. This is the Lords doing and it is wonderous in our eyes § 20. Direct 7. When you would admire the works of God and his government look specially to the Direct 7. Angels part If God would be glorified in his works then especially in the most glorious parts If he take delight to work by Instruments and to communicate such excellency and honour to them as may conduce to the honour of the principal cause we must not overlook their excellency and honour unless we will deny God the honour which is due to him As he that will see the excellent workmanship of a Watch or any other Engine must not overlook the chiefest parts nor their operation on the rest So he that will see the excellent order of the works and Government of God must not over-look the Angels nor their Offices in the Government and preservation of the inferiour creatures so far as God hath revealed it unto us We spoil the Musick if we leave out these strings It is a great part of the glory of the works of God that all the parts in Heaven and Earth are so admirably conjoyned and joynted as they are and each in their places contribute to the beauty and harmony of the whole § 21. Direct 8. When you would be apprehensive of the excellency of Love and Humility and exact Direct 8. obedience tâ— the will of God look up to the Angels and see the lustre of all these vertues as they shine Heb. 1. 14. Psal. 103. 20 21 in them How perfectly do they Love God and all his Saints Even the weakest and meanest of the members of Christ With what humility do they condescend to minister for the heirs of salvation How readily and perfectly do they obey their Maker Though our chiefest pattern is Christ himself who came nearer to us and appeared in flesh to give us the example of all such duties yet under him the
to believe it To the first I say 1. There are many Antichrists And we must remove the ambiguity of the name before we can resolve the question If by Antichrist be meant One that usurpeth the Office of a Universal Vicar of Christ and Constitutive and Governing Head of the whole Visible Church and hereby layeth the ground of Schisms and Contentions and Bloodshed in the world and would rob Christ of all his members who are not of the Popes Kingdom and that formeth a multifarious Ministry for this service and corrupteth much of the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church in this sense no doubt but the Pope is Antichrist But if by Antichrist be meant him particularly described in the Apocalyps and Thessalonians then the controversie de re is about the exposition of those dark Prophecies Of which I can say no more but this 1. That if the Pope be not He he had ill luck to be so like him 2. That Dr. Moors Moral Arguments and Bishop Downhams and many others expository arguments are such as I cannot answer 3. But yet my skill is not so great in interpreting those obscure Prophecies as that I can say I am sure that it is the Pope they speak of and that Lyra learned Zanchy and others that think it is Mahomet or others that otherwise interpret them were mistaken II. But to the second Question I more boldly say 1. That every one that indeed knoweth this to be the sense of those Texts is bound to believe it 2. But that God who hath not made it of necessity to salvation to understand many hundred plainer Texts nor absolutely to understand more than the Articles and fundamentals of our Religion hath much less made it necessary to salvation to understand the darkest Prophecies 3. And that as the suspicion should make all Christians cautelous what they receive from Rome so the obscurity should make all Christians take heed that they draw from it no consequences destructive to Love or order or any truth or Christian duty And this is the advice I give to all Quest. 5. Whether we must hold that a Papist may be saved THis question may be resolved easily from what is said before 1. A Papist as a Papist that is by Popery will never be saved no more than a mans life by a Leprosie 2. If a Papist be saved he must be saved against and from Popery either by turning from the opinion Viâ— Hâ—â— Eâ—â—l Rom. not est Christiana 〈◊〉 A Papist cannot go beyond a Reprobate and then he is no Papist or by preserving his heart from the power of his own opinions And the same we may say of every error and sin He that is saved must be saved from it at least from the Power of it on the heart and from the guilt of it by forgiveness 3. Every one that is a true sincere Christian in Faith Love and true Obedience shall be saved what error soever he hold that doth consist with these 4. As many Antinomians and other erroneous persons do hold things which by consequence subvert Christianity and yet not seeing the inconsistence do hold Christianity first and faster in heart and sincere practice and would renounce their error if they saw the inconsistence so is it with many Papists And that which they hold first and fastest and practically doth save them from the power operations and poyson of their own opinions As an Antidote or the strength of nature may save a man from a small quantity of poyson 5. Moreover we have cause to judge that there are millions among the Papists corrupted with many of their lessor errors who yet hold not their greater that believe not that none are Christians but the Popes subjects and that Christs Kingdom and the Popes are of the same extent or that he can remit mens pains in another world or that the Bread and Wine are no Bread and Wine or that men merit of God in point of Commutative Justice or that we must adore or worship the Bread or yet the Cross or Image it self c. Or that consent to abundance of the Clergies tyrannical usurpations and abuses And so being not properly Papists may be saved if a Papist might not And we the less know how many or few among them are really of the Clergies Religion and mind because by terror they restrain men from manifesting their judgement and compell them to comply in outward things 6. But as fewer that have Leprosies or Plagues or that take poyson scape than of other men so we have great cause to believe that much fewer Papists are saved than such as escape their errors And therefore all that love their souls should avoid them 7. And the trick of the Priests who perswade people that theirs is the safest Religion because we say that a Papist may be saved and they say that a Protestant cannot is so palpable a cheat that it should rather deterr men from their way For God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God And all men must know us to be Christs Disciples by loving one another And he that saith he loveth God and loveth not his Brother is a lyar And charity believeth all things credible That Religion is likest to be of God which is most charitable and not that which is most uncharitable and malicious and like to Satan To conclude no man shall be saved for being no Papist much less for being a Papist And all that are truly holy heavenly humble lovers of God and of those that are his servants shall be saved But how many such are among the Papists God only knoweth who is their Judge THe Questions whether the Greeks Abassines Nestorians Eutychians Antinomians Anabaptists c. may be saved must be all resolved as this of the Papists allowing for the different degrees of their corruption And therefore I must desire the Reader to take up with this answer for all and excuse me from unnecessary repetition As for such disputers as my Antagonist Mr. Iohnson who insisteth on that of Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an Heretick is condemned of himself when he hath proved that the word Heretick hath but one signification I will say as he doth Till then if he will try who shall be damned by bare equivocal words without the definition let him take his course for I will be none of his imitators Quest. 6. Whether those that are in the Church of Rome are bound to separate from it And whether it be lawful to go to their Mass or other Worship THese two also for brevity I joyn together I. To the first we must distinguish of separation 1. It is one thing to judge that evil which is evil and separate from it in Judgement 2. It is another thing to express this by forbearing to subscribe swear or otherwise approve that evil 3. And another thing to forbear communion with them in the Mass and Image Worship and gross or known
exercise and to a fixed Charge as thou hast now a Call to the Office in general 9. Yet every Bishop or Pastor by his Relation to the Church Universal and to mankind and the interest of Christ is bound not only as a Christian but as a Pastor to do his best for the common good and not to cast wholly out of his care a particular Church because another hath the oversight of it Therefore if an Heretick get in or the Church fall to Heresie or any pernicious error or sin the neighbour Pastors are bound both by the Law of Nature and their Office to interpose their Counsel as Ministers of Christ and to prefer the substance before pretended order and to feek to recover the peoples souls though it be against their proper Pastors will And in such a case of necessity they may ordain degrade excommunicate and absolve in anothers charge as if it were a vacuity 10. Moreover it is one thing to excommunicate a man out of a particular Church and another thing for many associated Churches or Neighbours to renounce Communion with him The special 1 Cor. 5. Tit. 3. 10. 2 Thess. 3. 6 14. Pastors of particular Churches having the Government of those Churches are the special Governing Judges who shall or shall not have Communion as a member in their Churches But the neighbour-Pastors of other Churches have the power of Judging with whom they and their own flocks will or will 2 John 10. Rev. 2. 14 15 2â— not hold Communion As e. g. Athanasius may as Governour of his flock declare any Arrian-member excommunicate and require his flock to have no Communion with him And all the neighbour Pastors though they excommunicate not the same man as his special Governours yet may declare to all their flocks that if that man come among them they will have no Communion with him and that at distance they renounce that distant Communion which is proper to Christians one with another and take him for none of the Church of Christ. Quest. 25. Whether Canons be Laws And Pastors have a Legislative Power ALL men are not agreed what a Law is that is what is to be taken for the proper sense of that Word Some will have the name confined to such Common Laws as are stated durable Rules for the subjects actions And some will extend it also to personal temporary verbal Precepts and Mandates such as Parents and Masters use daily to the children and servants of their families And of the first sort some will confine the name Laws to those acts of Soveraignty which are about the common matters of the Kingdom or which no interiour Officer may make And others will extend it to those Orders which by the Soveraigns Charter a Corporation or Colledge or School may make for the subregulation of their particular societies and affairs I have declared my own opinion de nomine fully elsewhere 1. That the definition of a Law in the proper general sense is To be A sign or signification of the Reason and Will of the Rector as such to his subjects as such instituting or antecedently determining what shall be Due from them and to them Jus efficiendo Regularly making Right 2. That these Laws are many more wayes diversified and distinguished from the efficient sign subjects matter end c. than is meet for us here to enumerate It is sufficient now to say 1. That stated Regulating Laws as distinct from temporary Mandates and Proclamations 2. And Laws for Kingdoms and other Common-wealthy in regard of Laws for Persons Schools Families c. 3. And Laws made by the Supream Power as distinct from those made by the derived authority of Colleges Corporations c. called By-Laws or Orders For I will here say nothing of Parents and Pastors whose Authority is directly or immediately from the efficiency of Nature in one and Divine Institution in the other and not derived efficiently from the Magistrate or any man 4. That Laws about great substantial matters distinct from those about little and mutable circumstances c. I say the first sort as distinct from the second are Laws so called by Excellency above other Laws But that the rest are univocally to be called Laws according to the best definition of the Law in Genere But if any man will speak otherwise let him remember that it is yet but lis de nomine and that he may use his liberty and I will use mine Now to the Question 1. Canons made by Virtue of the Pastoral Office and Gods General Laws in Nature or Scripture for regulating it are a sort of Laws to the subjects or flocks of those Pastors 2. Canons made by the Votes of the Laity of the Church or private part of that society as private are no Laws at all but Agreements Because they are not acts of any Governing power 3. Canons made by Civil Rulers about the circumstantials of the Church belonging to their Office as orderers of such things are Laws and may be urged by moderate and meet civil or corporal penalties and no otherwise 4. Canons made by Princes or inferiour Magistrates are no Laws purely and formally Ecclesiastical which are essentially Acts of Pastoral power But only Materially Ecclesiastical and formally Magistratical 5. No Church Officers as such much less the people can make Laws with a Co-active or Coâ—rcive sanction that is to be enforced by their Authority with the Sword or any corporal penalty mulct or force This being the sole priviledge of Secular Powers Civil or Oâ—conomical or Scholastick 6. There is no obligation ariseth to the subject for particular obedience of any Law which is evidently against the Laws of God in Nature or holy Scripture 7. They are no Laws which Pastors make to people out of their power As the Popes c. 8. There is no power on earth under Christ that hath Authority to make Universal Laws to bind the whole Church on all the earth or all mankind Because there is no Universal Soveraign Civil or Spiritual Personal or Collective 9. Therefore it is no Schism but Loyalty to Christ to renounce or separate from such a society of ☜ Usurpation nor no disobedience or rebellion to deny them obedience 10. Pastors may and must be obeyed in things Lawful as Magistrates if the King make them Magistrates Though I think it unmeet for them to accept a Magistracy with the Sword except in case of some rare necessity 11. Is Pope Patriarchs or Pastors shall usurp any of the Kings Authority Loyalty to Christ and him and the Love of the Church and State oblige us to take part with Christ and the King against such Usurpation but only by lawful means in the compass of our proper place and Calling 12. The Canons made by the Councils of many Churches have a double nature As they are made for the people and the subjects of the Pastors they are a sort of Laws That is They oblige by the derived
as much as they can whether by Synods or other meet wayes of correspondency And though this be not a distinct Government it is a distinct mode of Governing Object But that there be Pastors with fixed Churches or Assemblies is not of the Law of Nature Answ. 1. Hath Christ no Law but the Law of Nature Wherein then differ the Christian Religion and the Heathenish 2. Suppose but Christ to be Christ and man to be what he is and Nature it self will tell us that this is the fittest way for ordering the Worship of God For Nature saith God must be solemnly and ordinarily worshipped and that qualified persons should be the official Guides in the performance And that people who need such conduct and private oversight besides should where they live have their own stated Overseers Object But particular Congregations are not de primaria intentione divina For if the whole world could joyn together in the publick Worship of God no doubt that would be properly a Church But particular Congregations are only accidental in reference to Gods intention of having a Church because of the Impossibility of all mens joyning together for Ordinances c. Answ. 1. The question with me is not whether they be of primary Intention but whether stated Churches headed with their proper Bishops or Pastors be not of Gods institution in the Scripture 2. This Objection confirmeth it and not denyeth it For 1. It confesseth that there is a necessity of joyning for Gods Worship 2. And an Impossibility that all the world should so joyn 3. But if the whole world could so joyn it would be properly a Church So that it confesseth that to be a society joyned for Gods publick Worship is to be properly a Church And we confess all this If all the world could be one family they might have one Master or one Kingdom they might have one King But when it is confessed that 1. A Natural Impossibility of an Universal Assembly necessitateth more particular assemblies 2. And that Christ hath instituted such actually in his Word what more can a considerate man require 3. I do not understand this distinction de primaria intentione divina and accidental c. The Primary Intention is properly of the Ultimate End only And no man thinketh that a Law de mediis of the means is no Law or that God hath made no Laws de mediis For Christ as a Mediator is a Means But suppose it be limited to the Matter of Church Laws If this be the meaning of it that it is not the principal means but a subordinate means or that it is not instituted only propter finem ultimum no more than propter se but also in order to a higher thing as its immediate end we make no question of that Assemblies are not only that there may be assemblies but for the Worship and Offices there performed And those for Man And all for God But what or all this Hath God made no Laws for subordinate means No Christian denyeth it Therefore the Learned and Judicious Disputer of this point declareth himself for what I say when he saith I engage not in the Controversie Whether a particular Congregation be the first political Dr. Stillingflects Iâ—en p. 154 so p. 170. By Church here I mean not a particular Congregation c. So h gâ—anteth that 1 the Universal Church 2. Particular Congregations are of Divine Institution one ex intentione primaria and the other as he calls it accidentally but yet of Natural necessity Church or no It sufficeth for my purpose that there are other Churches besides The thing in question is Whether there be no other Church but such particular Congregations Where it seemeth granted that such particular Churches are of Divine institution And for other Churches I shall say more anon In the mean time note that the question is but de nomine here whether the Name Church be fit for other societiâ—s and not de re But lest any should grow to the boldness to deny that Christ hath instituted Christian stated Societies consisting of Pastors and flocks associate for personal Communion in publick Worship and holy living which is my detinition of a particular Church as not so confined to one assembly but that it may be in divers and yet not consisting of divers such distinct stated assemblies with their distinct Pastors nor of such as can have no personal communion but only by Delegates I prove it thus from the Word of God 1. The Apostles were commissioned by Christ to deliver his commands to all the Churches and settle them according to his will Iohn 20. 21. Matth. 28. 19 20 c. 2. These commissioned persons had the promise of an infallible Spirit for the due performance of their work Iohn 16. 13 14 15. 15. 26. 14. 26. Matth. 28. 20. 3. These Apostles where ever the success of the Gospel prepared them materials did settle Christian stated societies consisting of Pastors or Elders with their flocks associated for personal communion in publick worship and holy living These setled Churches they gave orders to for their direction and preservation and reformation These they took the chief care of themselves and exhorted their Elders to fidelity in their work They gave command that none should forsake such assemblies and they so fully describe them as that they cannot easily be misunderstood All this is proved Acts 14. 23. Titus 1. 5. Rom. 16. 1. 1 Cor. 11. 18 20. 22 26. 1 Cor. 14. 4 5 12 19 23 28 33 34. Col. 4. 16. Acts 11. 26. 13. 1. 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Acts 14. 27. 15. 3. to omit many more Here are proofs enow that such particular Churches were de facto setled by the Apostles Heb. 10. 25. Forsake not the assembling of your selves together So Iames 2. 2. they are called Synagogues 2. It is confessed that there is a natural necessity of such stated Churches or Assemblies supposing but the Institution of the Worship it self which is there performed And if so then we may say that the Law of Nature it self doth partly require them 1. It is of the Law of Nature that God be publickly worshipped as most Expositors of the fourth Commandment do confess 2. It is of the Law of Nature that the people be taught to know God and their duty by such as are able and fit to teach them 3. The Law of Nature requireth that man being a sociable creature and conjunction working strongest affections we should use our sociableness in the greatest matters and by conjunction help the zeal of our prayers and praises of God 4. Gods institution of publick Preaching Prayer and Praise are scarce denyed by any Christians 5. None of these can be publickly done but by assembling 6. No Assembly can suffice for these without a Minister of Christ Because it is only his Office to be the ordinary Teacher and to go before the people in prayer and praise and to administer the
against forms of prayer that all the years that he lived at Middleburg and Anâ—werp he constantly used the same form before Sermon and mostly after Sermon and also did read prayers in the Church and that since he seldome concluded but with the Lords Prayer of England Cartwright Hildersham Greenham Perkins Baine Amesius c. And I less fear erring in all this company than with those on either of the extreams Quest. 79. Is it lawful to forbear the preaching of some Truths upon mans prohibition that I may have liberty to preach the rest yea and to promise before hand to forbear them Or to do it for the Churches peace Answ. 1. SOme Truths are of so great moment and necessity that without them you cannot preach the Gospel in a saving sort These you may not forbear nor promise to forbear 2. Some Truths are such as God at that time doth call men eminently to publish and receive as against some Heresie when it is in the very height or the Church in greatest danger of it Or concerning some Duty which God then specially calleth men to perform As the duty of Loyalty just in the time of a perillous Rebellion c. Such preaching being a Duty must not be forborn when it can be performed upon lawful terms 3. But some Truths are Controverted among good men and some are of a lower nature and usefulness And concerning these I further say 1. That you may not renounce them or deny them not subscribe to the smallest untruth for liberty to preach the greatest truth 2. But you may for the time that the Churches benefit requireth it both forbear to preach them and promise to forbear both for the Churches peace and for that Liberty to preach the Gospel which you cannot otherwise obtain The Reasons are 1. Because it is not a duty to preach them at that time For no duty is a duty at all times Affirmative Precepts bind not ad semper because man cannot alwayes do them 2. It is a sin to prefer a lesser truth or good before a Greater You cannot speak all things at once When you have all done some yea a thousand must be by you omitted Therefore the less should be omitted rather than the greater 3. You have your Office to the Churches Edification Preaching is made for man and not man for preaching But the Churches Edification requireth you rather to preach the Gospel than that opinion or point which you are required to forbear Without this the hearers may be saved but not without the Gospel And what a man may do and must do he may on good occasion promise to do He that thinketh Diocesans or Liturgies or Ceremonies unlawful and yet cannot have leave to preach the Gospel in time of need unless he will forbear and promise to forbear to preach against them may and ought so to doâ— and promise rather than not to preach the Gospel Object But if men imprison or hinder me from preaching that is their fault But if I voluntarily forbear any duty it is my own fault Answ. 1. It is to forbear a sin and not a duty at that time It is no more a duty than reading or singing or praying at Sermon time 2. When you are in Prison or know in all probability you shall be there though by other mens fault it is your own fault if you will deny a lawful means to avoid it For your not preaching the Gospel is then your own sin as well as other mens And theirs excuseth not yours Quest. 80. May or must a Minister silenced or forbid to Preach the Gospel go on still to preach it against the Law Answ. DIstinguish between 1. Iust silencing and Unjust 2. Necessary preaching and unnecessary 1. Some men are justly forbidden to preach the Gospel as 1. Those that are utterly unable and do worse than nothing when they do it 2. Those that are Hereticks and subvert the Essentials of Christianity or Godliness 3. Those that are so Impious and Malignant that they turn all against the Practice of that Religion which they profess In a word All that do directly more hurt than good 2. In some places there are so many able preachers that some tolerable men may be spared if not accounted supernumeraries and the Church will not suffer by their silence But in other Countreys either the Preachers are so few or so bad or the people so very ignorant and hardened and ungodly or so great a number that are in deep necessity that the need of preaching is undenyable And so I conclude 1. That he that is justly silenced and is unfit to Preach is bound to forbear 2. He that is silenced by just Power though unjustly in a Countrey that needeth not his Preaching must forbear there and if he can must go into another Coâ—â—â—â—â—y where he may be more serviceable 3. Magistrates may not Ecclesiastically Ordain Ministers or degrade them But only either give them Liberty or deny it them as there is cause 4. Magistrates are not the â—ountain of the Ministerial Office as the Soveraign is of all the Civil power of inferiour Magistrates But both offices are immediately from God 5. Magistrates have not power from God to forbid men to Preach in all cases nor as they please but justly only and according to Gods Laws 6. Men be not made Ministers of Christ only pro tempore or on tryal to go off again if they dislike it But are absolutely dedicated to God and take their lot for better and for worse which maketh the Romanists say that ordination is a Saâ—ramenâ— and so it may be aptly called and that we receive an indelible character that is an obligation during life unless God himself disable us 7. Aâ— we are â—â—â—â—rlier devoted and relaâ—ed to God than Church lands goods and temples are so the sacriledge of alienating a consecrated person unjustly is greater and more unquestionable than the sacriledge of alienating Consecrated houses lands or things And therefore no Minister may Sacrilegiously alienate himself from God and his undertaken office and work 8. We must do â—â—y Lawful thing to procure the Magistrates Licence to Preach in his Dominions 9. All men silenced or forbidden by Magistrates to Preach are noâ— thereby obliged or warranted to forbear Foâ— â— The Apostles expresly determine it Act. 4. 19. Whether it be better to hearken to God rather than to you judge ye 2. Christ oâ—â— foreâ—old his servants that they must Preach against the will of Rulers and suffer by them 3. The Apostles and ordinary Ministers also for 300 years after Christ did generally preach against the Magistrates will throughout the Roman Empire and the World 4. The Orthodox Bishops commonly took themselves bound to Preach when Arrian or other Heretical Emperours forâ—ad them 5. A moral duty of stated necessity to the Church and mens salvation is noâ— subjected to the will of men for Order sake For Order is for the thing Ordered and for the End Magistrates
was an Ecclesiastical Usurper quoad personam that had no true Call to a Lawful Office shall after have a Call or if any thing fall out which shall make it our duty to Consent and Call him then the impediment from his Usurpation is removed 3. It is not lawful though the Civil Magistrate command us to swear obedience even in licitis honestis to such an Usurper whose Office it self is unlawful or forbidden by Christ as he is such an Officer No Protestant thinketh it lawful to swear obedience to the Pope as Pope nor do any that take Lay-Elders to be an unlawful Office think it lawful to swear obedience to them as such 4. If one that is in an unlawful Ecclesiastical Office be also at once in another that is lawful we may swear obedience to him in respect of the Lawful Office So it is Lawful to swear obedience to the Pope in Italy as a Temporal Prince in his own Dominions And to a Cardinal as Richelieu Mazarine Ximenes c. as the Kings Minister exercising a power derived from him So it is lawful for a Tenant where Law and Custome requireth it to swear fidelity to a Lay Elder as his Landlord or Temporal Lord and Master And so the old Non-conformists who thought the English Prelacy an unlawful Office yet maintained that it is Lawful to take the Oath of Canonical obedience because they thought it was imposed by the King and Laws and that we swear to them not as Officers claiming a Divine Right in the Spiritual Government but as Ordinaries or Officers made by the King to exercise so much of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under him as he can delegate according to the Oath of Supremacy in which we all acknowledge the King to be Supream in all Ecclesiastical Causes that is Not the Supream Pastor Bishop or Spiritual Key-bearer or Ruler but the Supream Civil Ruler of the Church who hath the power of the Sword and of determining all things extrinsick to the Pastoral Office and so of the Coercive Government of all Pastors and Churches as well as of other Subjects And if Prelacy were proved never so unlawful no doubt but by the Kings Command we may swear or perform formal obedience to a Prelate as he is the Kings Officer Of the Non-conformists judgement in this read Bradshaw against Canne c. 5. But in such a case no Oath to Inferiours is lawful without the Consent of the Soveraign power or at least against his will 6. Though it be a duty for the flock to obey every Presbyter yet if they would make all the people swear obedience to them all wise and conscionable Christians should dissent from the introduction of such a custome and deny such Oaths as far as lawfully they may that is 1. If the King be against it we must refuse it 2. If he be neutral or meerly passive in it we must refuse unless some apparent necessity for the Churches good require it 1. Because it favoureth of Pride in such Presbyters 2. Because it is a new Custome in the Church and contrary to the antient practice 3. It is not only without any authority given them by Christ that they exact such Oaths but Mat. 22. 4 10. Luke 22. 27 c. Mark 9. 35. 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. 1 Cor. 9. 19. 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 4. 5. also contrary to the great humility lowliness and condescension in which he describeth his Ministers who must be Great by being the servants of all 4. And it tendeth to corrupt the Clergy for the future 5. And such new impositions give just reason to Princes and to the People to suspect that the Presbyters are aspiring after some inordinate exaltation or have some ill project for the advancement of themselves 7. But yet if it be not only their own ambition which imposeth it but either the King and Laws command it or necessity require it for the avoidance of a greater evil it may be Lawful and a duty to take an Oath of Obedience to a Lawful Presbyter or Bishop Because 1. It is a ☜ duty to Obey them 2. And it is not forbidden us by Christ to promise or swear to do our duty even when they may sin in demanding such an Oath 8. If an Office be Lawful in the essential parts and yet have unlawful integrals or adjuncts or be abused in exercise it will not by such additions or abuses be made unlawful to swear Obedience to the Officer as such 9. If one Presbyter or Bishop would make another Presbyter or Bishop to swear obedience to him without authority the Case is the same as of the Usurpers before mentioned Quest. 154. Must all our preaching be upon a Text of Scripture Answ. 1. IN many Cases it may be lawful to preach without a Text to make Sacred Orations Act◠2 3. like Greg. Nazianzenes and Homilies like Macarius's Ephrem Syrus's and many other antients and like our own Church-Homilies 2. But ordinarily it is the fittest way to preach upon a Text of Scripture 1. Because it is our Luke 4. 18. very Office to Teach the people the Scripture The Prophets brought a new word or message from God but the Priests did but keep interpret and teach the Law already received And we are not Mal. 2. 7. successors of the inspired Prophets but as the Priests were Teachers of Gods received Word And this practice will help the people to understand our Office 2. And it will preserve the due esteem and reverence of the Holy Scriptures which the contrary practice may diminish Quest. 155. Is not the Law of Moses abrogated and the whole Old Testament out of date and therefore not to be Read publickly and preached on Answ. 1. THe Covenant of Innocency is ceased cessante subditorum capacitate as a Covenant or promise And so are the Positive Laws proper to Adam in that state and to many particular persons since 2. The Covenant mixt of Grace and Works proper to the Jews with all the Jewish Law as such was never made to us or to the rest of the world and to the Jews it is ceased by the coming and perfecter Laws and Covenant of Christ. 3. The Prophecies and Types of Christ and the Promises made to Adam Abraham and others of his Coming in the flesh are all fulfilled and therefore not useful to all the ends of their first making And the many Prophecies of particular things and persons past and gone are accomplished 4. But the Law of Nature is still Christs Law And that Law is much expounded to us in the Old Testament And if God once for another use did say This is the Law of Nature the truth of these words as a Divine Doctrine and Exposition of the Law of Nature is still the same 5. The Covenant of Grace made with Adam and Noah for all mankind is still in force as to the great benefits and main condition that is as to pardon given by it
uncertain searchable and unsearchable revealed and unrevealed And lay the first as your foundation yea rather keep the knowledge of them as your Science of Physick by it self and let no obscurity in the rest cause you to question certain things nor ever be so perverse as to try things known by things unknown and to argue à minùs notis Lay no stress on small or doubtful things § 13. Direct 9. Metaphysicks as now taken is a mixture of Organical and Real Knowledge And part of it belongeth to Logick the Organical part and the rest is Theologie and Pneumatologie and the highest parts of Ontologie or Real Science § 14. Direct 10. In studying Philosophy 1. See that you neither neglect any helps of those that have gone before you under pretence of taking nothing upon trust and of studying the naked Things themselves For if every man must begin all a new as if he had been the first Philosopher knowledge will make but small proficiency 2. Nor yet stick not in the bare Belief of any Author whatsoever but study all things in their naked natures and proper evidences though by the helps that are afforded you by others For it is not science but humane belief else whoever you take it from § 15. Direct 10. So certain are the numerous errours of Philosophers so uncertain a multitude of their assertions so various their sects and so easie is it for any to pull down much which the rest have built and so hard to set up any comely structure that others in like manner may not cast down that I cannot perswade you to fall in with any one sort or sect who yet have published their sentiments to the World The Platonists made very noble attempts in their enquiries after spiritual beings But they run into many unproved fanaticisms and into divers errours and want the desirable helps of true method The wit of Aristotle was wonderful for subtility and solidity His knowledge vast His method oft accurate But many precarious yea erroneous conceptions and assertions are so placed by him as to have a troubling and corrupting influence into all the rest The Epicureans or Democratists were still and justly the contempt of all the sober sects And our late Somatists that follow them yea and Gassendus and many that call themselves Cartesians yea Cartesius himself much more Berigardus Regius and Hobbes do give so much more to meer Matter and Motion than is truly due and know or say so much too little of Spirits Active Natures Vital Powers which are the true principles of motion that they differ as much from true Philosophers as a Carkass or a Clock from a living man The Stoicks had noble Ethical principles and they and the Platonists with the Cynicks were of the best lives But their writings are most lost and little of their Physicks fully known to us and that also hath its errours Patricius is but a Platonist so taken with the nature of Light as insisting on that in Phanatical terms to leave out a great deal more that must be conjoyned Telesius doth the like by Heat and Cold Heaven and Earth and among many observable things hath much that is unsound and of ill consequence Campanella hath improved him and hath many hints of better Principles especially in his Primalities than all the rest But he phanatically runs them up into so many unproved and vain yea and mistaken superstructures as that no true Body of Physicks can be gathered out of all his works The attempt that pious Commenius hath made in his small Manual hath much that is of worth but far short of accurateness The Hermetical Philosophers have no true method of Philosophy among them And to make their three or five Principles to be so many Elements or simple bodies constituting all compounds and form up a systeme of Philosophy on their suppositions will be but to trifle and not to satisfie judicious minds especially considering how defective their Philosophy is made by their omissions Lullius and his followers fit not their Method to the true order of the Matter Scaliger Scheggius Wendeline and Sennertus especially in his Hypomnemata were great men and have many excellent things But too much of Aristotles goeth for currant with them My worthy Learned and truly pious friend Mr. Sam. Gott in his new Book on Gen. 1. hath many excellent notions and much that is scarce elsewhere to be met with But the tedious paragraphs the defect of method and several unproveable particulars make it like all humane works imperfect Therefore if I must direct you according to my judgement I must advise you 1. To suppose that Philosophers are all still in very great darkness and there is much confusion defectiveness errour and division and uncertainty among them 2. Therefore addict not your selves absolutely to any Sect of them 3. Let your first studies of them all leave room for the changing of your judgement and do not too hastily fix on any of their sentiments as sure till you have heard what others say and with ripened understandings have deeply and long studied the Things themselves 4. Choose out so much of the Certainties and Useful parts of Physicks as you can reach to and make them know their places in subserviency to your holy principles and ends and rather be well content with so much than to lose too much time in a vain fatigation of your brains for more I have made some attempt to draw out so much especially de Mundo de Homine in my Methodus The logiae though I expect it should no more satisfie others than any of theirs have satisfied me § 16. Direct 11. When you have well stated your Ontologie or Real Science then review your Logick and Organical part of Metaphysicks and see Verba rebus aptentue Fetch then your words and Organical notions from the Nature of the Things Abundance are confounded by taking up Logical Notions first which are unsuitable to true Physical beings § 17. Direct 12. Somewhat of Ethicks may be well learnt of Philosophers but it 's nothing to the Scriptures Christian Ethicks § 18. Direct 13. Somewhat of artificial Rhetorick and Oratory should be known But the Oratory which is most natural from the evidence of things well managed by a good understanding and elocution which hath least of appearing art or affectation is ever the most effectual and of best esteem § 19. Direct 14. The doctrine o◠Politicks especially of the Nature of Government and Laws in General is of great use to all that will ever understand the Nature of Gods Government and Laws that is of Religion Though there be no necessity of knowing the Government and Laws of the Land or of other Countreys and further than is necessary to our obedience or our outward concernments yet so much of Government and Laws as Nature and Scripture make common to all particular forms and Countreys must be known by him that will understand Morality or Divinity or
they call Ecclesiastical and keep the people in dependance on their dictates and teach them to disobey upon pretence that God is against the matter of their obedience And also by contending for their Opinions or for superiority and domination over one another they fill Kingdoms with quarrels and break them into sects and factions and are the chief disturbers of the publick peace Ans. We cannot deny but that carnal ignorant worldly proud unholy Pastors have been and are Answ. the great calamity of the Churches But that is no more disgrace to their Office or to Divinity than it is to Philosophy or reason that Philosophers have been ignorant erroneous divided and contentious nor then it is to Government that Kings and other Rulers have been imperfect bad contentious and filled the World with wars and bloodshed Nay I rather think that this is a proof of the excellency of Divinity As the reason of the foresaid imperfections and faultiness of Philosophers and Rulers is because that Philosophy and Government are things so excellent that the corrupt imperfect nature of man will not reach so high as to qualifie any man to manage them otherwise than with great defectiveness so also Divinity and the Pastoral office are things so excellent and sublime that the nature of lapsed man will not reach to a capacity of being perfect in them So that the faultiness of the nature of man compared with the excellency of the things to be known and practised by Divines is the cause of all these faults which they complain of And natures vitiâ—siâ—y if any thing must be blamed Certainly the Pastoral office hath men as free from ignorance worldliness pride and unquietness as any Calling in the World To charge the faults of nature upon that profession which only discovereth but never caused them yea which would heal them iâ— they are to be healed on earth judge whether this dealing be not foolish and injurious and what will be the consequents if such unreasonable persons may be heard And therefore though Leviathan and his Spawn among all that is good bring down Divines and the zealots for Democracy have gloried of their new forms of Common-wealths as inconsistent with a Clergie their glory is their shame to all but Infidels Let them help us to take down and cure the ignorance pride carnality worldliness and contentiousness of the Clergie and we will be thankful to them but to quarrel with the best of men for the common pravity of nature and to reproach the most excellent science and function because depraved nature cannot attain or manage them in perfection this is but to play the professed enemies of mankind § 78. Obj. 6. These Atheists or Infidels also do spit their venome against Christianity and Godliness it Object 6. self and would make Princes believe that the principles of it are contrary to their interest and to Government and peace And they fetch their cavils 1. From the Scriptures contemptuous expressions of worldly wealth and greatness 2. From its prohibition of revenge and maintaining our own right 3. From the setting it above all humane Laws and by its authority and obscurity filling the minds of men with scrupulosity 4. From the divisions which Religion occasioneth in the world and 5. From the testimonies of the several sects against each other I shall answer them particularly though but briefly § 79 Obj. 1. Say the Infidel Politicians How can subjects have honourable thoughts of their superiours Object 1. when they believe that to be the Word of God which speaketh so contemptuously of them As Just such accusaâ—ions as Papists bring against the Reformers did the Heathens bring against the Christians as you may see in Eâ—napius in Aedesio At egregii illi viri bellicosi confusis perturbatisque rebus omnibus debellasse Deos incruentis quidem sed ab avaritiae crimine non puris manibus gloriabantur sacrilegium impietatis crimen laudi sibi assumentes Iidem postea in Sacra loca invexerunt Monachos sic dictos homines quidem speciè sed vitam turpem porcorum more exigentes qui in propatulo infinita infanda scelera committebant quibus tamen pietatis pars videbatur sacri loci reverentiam proculcari O partiality Luk. 6. 24. Woe to you that are rich for ye have received your consolation Jam. 5. 1 2 3. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you ver 5 6. Ye have lived in pleasure on earth and been wanton Ye have condemned and killed the just Luk. 12. 21. Luk. 16. The Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus is spoken to make men think of the Rich as miserable damned creatures Ezek. 21. 25. Thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel Prov. 25. 5. Take away the wicked from before the King Prov. 29. 12. If a Ruler hearken to lies all his servants are wicked The contempt of Greatness is made a part of the Christian Religion Ans. 1. As if there were no difference between the contempt of Riches and worldly prosperity Answ and the contempt of Government He is blind that cannot see that Riches and Authority are not the same Yea that the over-valuing of Riches is the cause of seditions and the disturbance of Governments when the contempt of them removeth the chief impediments of obedience and peace 2. And may not Governours be sufficiently honoured unless they be exempted from the Government of God and unless their sin must go for virtue and unless their duty and their account and the danger of their souls be treacherously concealed from them God will not flatter dust and ashes Great and small are alike to him He is no respecter of persons When you can save the greatest from death and judgement then they may be excepted from all those duties which are needful to their preparation 3. And is it not strange that God should teach men to contemn the power which he himself ordaineth and which is his own Hath he set officers over us for the work of Government and doth he teach us to despise them There is no shew of any such thing in Scripture There are no principles in the world that highlyer advance and honour Magistracy than the Christian principles unless you will make Gods of them as the Roman Senate did of the Antonines and other Emperours § 80. Obj. 2. How can there be any Government when men must believe that they must not resist evil Object 2. Rom. 12. 17 19 20. Luk. 6. 28 29 30. Matth. 5. 39 40 41. Luk. 22. 25 26. but give place to wrath and turn the other cheek to him that smiteth them and give their Coat to him that taketh away their Cloke and lend asking for nothing again Is not this to let thieves and violent rapacious men rule all and have their will and go unpunished What use is there then for Courts or Iudges And when Christ commandeth his disciples that
though the Kings of the Nations rule over them and exercise authority and are called Benefactours yet with them it shall not be so Answ. These were the old cavils of Celsus Porphyry and Iulian but very impudent As though Answ. Love and Patience were against peace and Government Christ commandeth nothing in all these words but that we love our neighbour as our selves and love his soul above our wealth and that we do as we would be done by and use not private revenge and take not up the Magistrates work And is this doctâ—ine against Government It is not Magistrates but Ministers and private Christians whom he commandeth not to resist evil and not to exercise Lordship as the Civil Rulers do When it will do more hurt to the soul of another than the benefit amounteth we must not seek our own right by Law nor must private men revenge themselves All Law-suits and contentions and hurting of others which are inconsistent with loving them as our selves are forbidden in the Gospel And when was Government ever disturbed by such principles and practices as these Nay when was it disturbed but for want of these when was there any sedition rebellion or unlawful wars but through self-love and Love of earthly things and want of Love to one another How easily might Princes rule men that are thus ruled by Love and patience § 81. Obj. 3. Christianity teacheth men to obey the Scriptures before their Governours and to obey no Object 3. Law that is contrary to the Bible And when the Bible is so large and hath so many passages hard to be understood and easily perverted some of these will be alwayes interpreted against the Laws of men And then they are taught to fear no man against God and to endure any pains or death and to be unmoved by all the penalties which should enforce obedience and to rejoyce in this as a blessed martyrdom Le Blank in his Travails pag. 88. saith of some Heathen Kâ—ngs They are all jealous of our Religion holding that the Christians adore one God great above the rest that will not suffer any others and that he sets a greater esteem and value upon innocent poor and simple people than upon the rich Kings and Princes and that Princes had need to preserve to themselves the affections and esteem of their subjects to reign with greater ease to the face of Kings and thâ—se that punish them are reproached as persecutors and threatned with damnation and made the vilest men on earth and represented odious to all Answ. The sum of all this Objection is that That there is a God For if that be not denyed no Answ. man can deny that he is the Universal Governour of the world and that he hath his proper Laws and judgement and rewards and punishments or that Magistrates are his Ministers and have no power So B. Bilson of subject p. 243. Princes be supream not in respect that all things be subject to their wills which were plain Tyranny not Christian authority But that all persons within their Realms are bound to obey their Laws or abide their pains So p. 242. but from him and consequently that the commands and threats and promises of God are a thousand fold more to be regarded than those of men He is a beast and not a man that feareth not God more than man and that feareth not Hell more than bodily sufferings And for the Scriptures 1. Are they any harder to be understood than the Law of nature it self Surely the Characters of the will of God in naturâ rerum are much more obscure than in the Scriptures Hath God sent so great a Messenger from Heaven to open to mankind the mysteries of his Kingdom and tell them what is in the other world and bring life and immortality to light and yet shall his revelation be accused as more obscure than nature it self is If an Angel had been sent from Heaven to any of these Infidels by name to tell them but the same that Scripture telleth us sure they would not have reproached his message with such accusations 2. And are not the Laws of the Land about smaller matters more voluminous and difficult And shall that be made a reproach to Government And for misinterpretation it is the fault of humane nature that is ignorant and rash and not of the Scriptures Will you tell God that you will not obey him unless he will make his Laws so as no man can misinterpret them when or where were there ever such laws God will be God and the Judge of the world whether you will or not And he will not be an underling to men nor set their Laws above his own to avoid your accusations If there be another Life of joy or misery it is necessary that there be Laws according to which those rewards and punishments are to be adjudged And if Rulers oppose these who are appointed to promote obedience to them they must do it at their perils For God will render to all according to their works § 82. Obj. 4. Doth not experience tell the world that Christianity every where causeth divisions and Object 4. sets the world together by the ears What a multitude of sects are there among us at this day And every The differences are oft among the Lawyers which set the Common-wealth on fire and then they are charged on Divines â— g. Grotius de Imper. p. 53. Si â—rma in eos reges sumpta sâ—nt in quos totum populi jus translatum erat ac qui proinde non precariò sed proprio jure imperabant laudari salva piâ—tate non possâ—nt quâ—mcunque tandâ—m praetâ—xtum aut eventum habuerint Sin alicubi Reges tales suere qui pactis sive positivis legibus Seraâ—us aliâ—ujus aut Ordinum decretis astâ—ingerentur in hos ut summum Imperium non obtinent arma ex optimatum tanquam superioâ—um sententia sumi justis de causis poâ—uerinâ— Multi enim Reges etiam qui sanguinis jure succedunt Reges sunt nomine magâ—s quam Imperio Sed fallit imperitos quod illam quotidianam maximè in oculoâ— in curâ—entem rerum administrationem quae saepe in optimatum statu penes unum est ab interiore Reipublicae constitutione non satis disceruunt Quod de Regibus dixi idem multo â—agis de iis acceptum volo qui â—e nomine non Reges sed Principes fuere h. e. non summi sed Priâ—i p. 54. one thinketh that his salvation lyeth upon his opinion And how can Princes govern men of so contrary minds when the pleasing of one party is the losing of the rest We have long seen that Church-divisions shake the safety of the State If it were not that few that are called Christians are such indeed and serious in the Religion which themselves profess there were no quietness to be expected For those that are most serious are so full of scruples
them to be teachers of Rebellion It is not every different opinion in politicks that proveth men to be against subjection He that can read such a Book as Bilsons for Christian subjection against Antichristian rebelion and yet deny him to be a Teacher of Subjection hath a very hard forhead For the Controversies I shall say no more of them here but what I have said before to Mr. Hooker And as for Calvin and the Disciplinarians or Puritans as they are called They subscribe all the same confessions for Magistracy and take the same oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as others do and they plead and write for them so that for my part I know not of any difference in their Doctrine Hear what B. Andrews saith who was no rebel in his Tortura Torti pag. 379 380. Calvinus autem ut Papam Regem ita Regem Papam non probavit Neque nos quod in Papâ detestamur in Rege approbamus At ille nobiscum nos cum illo sentimus easdem esse in Ecclesia Christiana Regis Iacobi partes quae Iosiae fuerunt in Iudaica nec nos ultra quicquam fieri ambimus that is But Calvin neither liked a Pope King nor a King Pope Nor do we approve of that in the King which we detest in the Pope But he with us and we with him do judge that King James hath as much to do in a Christian Church as Josias had in the Iewish Church and we go not about to get any more And after Sub Primatus nomine Papatum novum Rex non invebit in Ecclesiam sic enim statuit ut non Aaroni Pontifici ita nec Ieroboamo Regi jus ullam esse conflatum à se vitulum populo proponendi ut adoret idest non vel fidei novos articulos vel cultus Divini novas formulas procudendi that is The King doth not bring into the Church a new Papacy under the name of Primacy For thus he judgeth or determineth that neither Aaron the Priest nor Jeroboam the King had any Right to propose the Calf which they had made to the people to be adored that is neither to hammer or make new articles of faith or new forms of Divine Worship And pag. 379 380. Quos vero Puritanos appellat si Regium primatum detestantur detestandi ipsi Profitentur enim subscribunt jurant indies sed illi quod faciunt ingenuè faciunt societatem in hoc Torti ipsumque adeo Tortum tanquam mendacem hominem alibi de aliis hic de se ac sycophantem egregium detestantur that is And for those he calleth Puritans if they detest the Kings Supremacy they are to be detested For they daily profess subscribe and swear to it And what they do they do ingenuously and they detest the society of Tortus in this and Tortus himself as a lying man elsewhere of others and here of themselves and an egregious sycophant By these testimonies judge what Protestants think of one another in point of loyalty 5. And why are not all the other Christians taken into your enumeration The Armenians Abassins and all the Greek Churches whom the Papists so frequently reproach as flatterers or servile because they still gave so much to their Emperours Have you any pretence for your accusation as against them Unless perhaps from the tumults which Alexandria in its greatness was much addicted to which is nothing to the doctrine of Christianity nor to the practice of all the rest § 84. Having answered these cavils of the late Atheistical or Infidel Politicians I shall next shew Christianity is most for Loyalty and subjection though briefly yet by plentiful evidence that Christianity and true Godliness is the greatest strength of Government and bond of subjection and means of Peace that ever was revealed to the World which will appear in all these Evidences following 1. Christianity teacheth men to take the higher powers as ordained of God and to obey them as Gods Ministers or Officers having an Authority derived immediately from God so that it advanceth the Magistrate as Gods officer as much higher than Infidels advance him who fetch his Rom. 13. 1. 2 3 4. power no higher than Force or Choice as a servant of God is above a servant of men which is more than a man is above a Dog § 85. 2. Christianity telleth us that our obedience to Magistrates is Gods own command and so that we must obey him by obeying them And as obedience to a Constable is more procured by the Kings Laws than by his own commands so obedience to a King is far more effectually procured by Gods Laws than by his own If God be more above a King than a King is above a a Worm the command of God must be a more powerful obligation upon every understanding person than the Kings And what greater advantage can a King have in Governing than to have subjects whose Consciences do feel themselves bound by God himself to obey the King and all his officers Obj. But this is still with exception If it be not in things forbidden of God And the subjects are Object made judges whether it be so or no. Ans. And woe to that man that grudgeth that God must be obeyed Answ. before him and would be himself a God to be obeyed in things which God is against The subjects are made no publick Judges but private discerners of their duties And so you make them your selves or else they must not judge whether the King or a Usurper were to be obeyed or whether the word of the King or of a Constable if they be contradictory is to be preferred To judge what we B. â—ilsoâ— ubi sup p. 259. As Bishops ought to discern which is truth before they teach so must the people discern who teacheth right before they believe Pag. 261 262. Princes as well as others must yield obedience to Bishops speaking the word of God But if bishops pass their commission and speak besides the Word of God what they list both Prince and people may despise them See him further pag. 259 260 261 262. proving that all have a judiciun discretionis must choose or refuse is proper to a Rational Creature even bruits themselves will do something like it by instinct of nature and will not do all things according to your will You would have us obey a Justice of Peace no further than our Loyalty to the King will give leave and therefore there is greater reason that we should obey the higher powers no farther than our Loyalty to God will give leave But if men pretend Gods commands for any thing which he commandeth not Magistrates bear not the sword in vain and subjects are commanded by God not to resist If they punish them rightfully God will bear the Rulers out in it If they punish them wrongfully or persecute them for well-doing God will severely punish them who so wronged his subjects and abused
Sword in their own hands and not have put it into the Clergies hands to fulfill their wills by For 1. By this means the Clergy had escaped the odium of usurpation and domineering by which atheistical Politicians would make Religion odious to Magistrates for their sakes 2. And by this means greater unity had been preserved in the Church while one faction is not armed with the Sword to tread down the rest For if Divines contend only by dint of Argument when they have talkt themselves and others aweary they will have done But when they go to it with dint of Sword it so ill becometh them that it seldom doth good but the party often that trusteth least to their Reason must destroy the other and make their cause good by Iron arguments 3. And then the Romish Clergy had not been armed against Princes to the terrible concussions of the Christian world which Histories at large relate if Princes had not first lent them the Sword which they turned against them 4. And then Church Discipline would have been better understood and have been more effectual which is corrupted and turned to another thing and so cast out when the Sword is used instead of the Keys under pretence of making it effectual None but Consenters are capable of Church-communion No man can be a Christian nor Godly nor saved against his will And therefore Consenters and Volunteers only are capable of Church-discipline As a Sword will not make a Sermon effectual no more will it make Discipline effectual which is but the management of Gods Word to work upon the conscience So far as men are to be driven by the Sword to the use of means or restrained from offering injury to Religion the Magistrate himself is fittest to do it It is noted by Historians as the dishonour of Cyrill of Alexandria though a famous Bishop that he was the first Bishop that like a Magistrate used the Sword there and used violence against Hereticks and dissenters 5. Above all abuse not the name of Religion for the resistance of your lawful Governours Religion must be defended and propagated by no irreligious means It is easie before you are aware to catch the feavor of such a passionate zeal as Iames and Iohn had when they would have had fire from Heaven to consume the refusers and resisters of the Gospel And then you will think that any thing almost is lawful which doth but seem necessary to the prosperity of Religion But no means but those of Gods allowance do use to prosper or bring home that which men expect They may seem to do wonders for a while but they come to nothing in the latter end and spoil the work and leave all worse than it was before § 101. Direct 40. Take heed of mistaking the nature of that Liberty of the people which is truly Direct 40. valuable and desirable and of contending for an undesirable Liberty in its stead It is desirable to have 1 Pet. 2. 16. Gal. 5. 13. 2 Pet. 2. 19. Gal. 4. 26. 2 Cor. 3. 17. Liberty to do good and to possess our own and enjoy Gods mercies and live in peace But it is not desirable to have Liberty to sin and abuse one another and hinder the Gospel and contemn our Governours Some mistake Liberty for Government it self and think it is the peoples Liberty to be Governours And some mistake Liberty for an exemption from Government and think they are most free when they are most ungoverned and may do what their list But this is a misery and not a mercy and therefore was never purchased for us by Christ. Many desire servitude and calamity under the name of liberty Optima est Reipublicae forma saith Seneca ubi nulla Libertas deest nisi licentia pereundi As Mr. R. Hooker saith Lib. 8. p. 195. I am not of opinion that simply in Kings the Most but the Best limited power is best both for them and the people The Most limited is that which may deal in fewest things the best that which in dealing is tyed to the soundest perfectest and most indifferent Rule which Rule is the Law I mean not only the Law of Nature and of God but the National Law consonant thereunto Happier that people whose Law is their King in the greatest things than that whose King is himself their Law Yet no doubt but the Law-givers are as such above the Law as an Authoritative instrument of Government but under it as a man is under the obligation of his own Consent and Word It ruleth subjects in the former sense It bindeth the summam Potestatem in the later § 102. Direct 41. When you have done all that you can in just obedience look for your reward Direct 41. from God alone Let it satisfie you that he knoweth and approveth your sincerity You make it a holy work if you do it to please God and you will be fixed and constant if you take Heaven for your Reward which is enough and will not fail you But you make it but a selfish carnal work if you do it only to please your Governours or get preferment or escape some hurt which they may do you and are subject only in flattery or for fear of wrath and not for conscience sake And such obedience is uncertain and unconstant For when you fail of your hopes or think Rulers deal unjustly or unthankfully with you your subjection will be turned into passionate desires of revenge Remember still the example of your Saviour who suffered death as an enemy to Caesar when he had never failed of his duty so much as in one thought or word And are you better than your Lord and Master If God be All to you and you have laid up all your hopes in Heaven it is then but little of your concernment further than God is concerned in it whether Rulers do use you well or ill and whether they interpret your actions rightly or what they take you for or how they call you But it is your concernment that God account you Loyal and will judge you so and justifie you from mens accusations of disloyalty and reward you with more than man can give you Nothing is well done especially of so high a nature as this which is not done for God and Heaven and which the Crown of Glory is not the motive to I have purposely been the larger on this subject because the times in which we live require it both for the setling of some and for the confuting the false accusations of others who would perswade the world that our doctrine is not what it is when through the sinful practices of some the way of truth is evil spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 2. Tit. 2. A fuller resolution of the Cases 1. Whether the Laws of men do bind the Conscience 2. Especially smaller and Penal Laws THe word Conscience signifieth either 1. In general according to the notation of the word The knowledge of our own
upon an absolute obedience to your Commanders in all things consistent with Direct 6. your obedience to God and the Soveraign power Disobedience is no where more intolerable than in an Army Where it is often unfit for a Souldier to know the reason of his commands and where self-conceitedness and wilfulness is inconsistent with their common safety and the lives of many may pay for the disobedience of a few If you cannot obey undertake not to be Souldiers § 7. Direct 7. Especially detest all murmurings mutinies sidings and rebellions For these are to Direct 7. an Army like violent Feavors to the body or like a Fire in a City and would make an Army the greatest plague to their King and Countrey How many Emperours Kings and Commanders have lost their dignities and lives by the fury of mutinous enraged Souldiers And how many Kingdoms and other Common-wealths have been thus overthrown and betrayed into the enemies hands And how many thousands and millions of Souldiers have thereby lost their lives In your discontents and murmuring passions you may quickly set the house on fire over your heads and when you feel your misery repent too late Passion may begin that which fruitless penitence must end The leaders of mutinies may easily have many fair pretences to enflame an Army into discontents They may aggravate many seeming injuries they may represent their Commanders as odious and unworthy by putting an ill appearance on their actions But in the end it will appear that it was their own advancement which they secretly aimed at and the destruction of the present Government or the Souldiers ruine which is like to be the effect A mutinous Army is likest Hell of any thing I know among Gods creatures and next Hell there is scarce a worse place for their Commanders to be in § 8. Direct 8. Use not your power or liberty to the robbing or oppressing or injuring of any Though Direct 8. military Thieves and oppressors may scape the Gallows more than others they shall come as soon to Hell as any If you plunder and spoil and tyrannize over the poor people under pretence o◠supplying your own wants there is a God in Heaven that will hear their cryes and will avenge them speedily though you seem to go scot-free for a time You may take a pride in domineering over others and making your selves Lords by violence of other mens estates and when you see none that will question you for it you may take that which you have most mind of But the poor and oppressed have a just defender who hath a severer punishment for you than the Sword or Gallows And though he take you not in the very fact and his sentence is not presently executed yet be certain of it that your day is coming § 9. Direct 9. Take heed lest custome and the frequency of Gods judgements do harden your hearts Direct 9. into a reprobate stupidity Many a man that formerly by the sight of a Corpse or the groanings of the sick was awakened to serious thoughts of his latter end when he cometh into an Army and hath often seen the dead lye scattered on the earth and hath often scaped death himself groweth utterly senseless and taketh blockishness to be valour and custome maketh such warnings to be of no effect You can scarce name a more strange and lamentable proof of the madding and hardning nature of sin That men should be most senseless when they are in the greatest danger And least fear God when they are among his dreadfullest judgements And least hear his voice when his calls are lowdest And live as if they should not dye when they look death so often in the face and see so many dead before them That they should be most regardless of their endless life when they are nearest it and sense it self hath such notable advantage to tell them of all this What a monstrous kind of sottish stupidity is this Think whither the soul is gone when you see the carkass on the earth and think where your own must be for ever § 10. Direct 10. Take heed of falling into drunkenness and sensuality though Temptations and Liberty Direct 10. be never so great It is too common with Souldiers because they are oft put to thirst and wants to think they may lawfully powre it in when they come at it without moderation or restraint Even as many poor men take a gluttonous meal for no sin because they have so many dayes of hunger so is it with such Souldiers in their drink till drunkenness first have wounded their consciences and afterwards grow common till it have debauched and seared them and then they have drowned Religion and Reason and are turned sottish miserable bruites § 11. Direct 11. If necessity deprive you of the benefits of Gods publick or stated Worship see that Direct 11. you labour to repair that loss by double diligence in those spiritual duties which yet you have opportunity for If you must march or watch on the Lords Dayes redeem your other time the more If you cannot hear Sermons be not without some profitable Book and often read it And let your meditations be holy and your discourses edifying For these you have opportunities if you have hearts § 12. Direct 12. Take heed that Command or Successes do not puff you up and make you over-value Direct 12. your selves and ineline you to rebell against your Governours What lamentable effects hath England lately seen of this A silly half-witted Souldier if he be but made a Captain doth carry it as if he were wiser than the Preacher or the Judge As if his dignity had added to his wit When Victories have laid the power at mens feet and they think now that none is able to controll them how few are they that abuse not such success to their own undoing and are not conquered by the pride of their own hearts when they have conquered others How ordinarily do they mis-expound the Providence of God and think he hath put the Government into their hands because they have the strength and from the Histories of former successful Rebels and the fairness of their opportunity encourage themselves to Rebell and think they do but what 's their duty How easily do they justifie themselves in those unlawful deeds which impartial by-standers see the evil of And how easily do they quiet their consciences when they have but power enough to raise up flatterers and to stop the mouth of wholsome reprehension How lamentably doth prosperity make them drunk and sudden advancement overturn their brains and their greatness together with ther pride and fury preserveth them from the accesses of wisdom and of sober men that so their malady may have no remedy And there like a drunken man they rave a while and speak big words and lay about them and glory in the honour of a pestilence that they can kill men and we must not speak to them
of Iesus of Nazareth which thing I also did c. And 1 Tim. 1. 13. that it was ignorantly in unbelief that he was a blaspheamer a persecutor and injurious And on the other side some Persâ—cute Truth and Goodness while they know it to be so Not because it is Truth or Goodness but because it is against their carnal worldly interest and inclination As the Conscience of a worldling a drunkard a whoremonger beareth witness against his sin while he goeth on in it so oft-times doth the Conscience of the Persâ—cutor and he hath secret convictions that those whom he persecuteth are better and happier than himself § 5. 3. As to the cause sometime persecution is for Christianity and Godliness in the gross or for some great essential point And sometimes it is only for some particular Truth or duty and that perhaps of a lower nature so small or so dark that it is become a great Controversie whether it be Truth or errour duty or sin In some respects it is more comfortable to the persecuted and more heynous in the persecutor that the suffering be for the Greatest things For this leaveth no doubt in the mind whether our cause be good or not and this sheweth that the persecutors mind is most aliene from God and truth But in some other respect it is an aggravation of the sin of the persecutor and of the comfort of the persecuted when it is for smaller truths and duties For it is a sign of great uncharitableness and cruelty when men can find in their hearts to persecute others for little things And it is a sign of a heart that is true to God and very sincere when we will rather suffer any thing from Man than renounce the smallest truth of God or commit the smallest sin against him or omit the smallest duty when it is a duty 4. Sometime persecution is directly for Religion that is for matters of professed Faith or Worship And sometimes it is for a civil or a common cause Yet still it is for our Obedience to God or else it is not the persecution which we speak of though the Matter of it be some common or civil thing As if I were persecuted meerly for giving to the poor or helping the sick or for being Loyal to my Prince and to the Laws or for doing my duty to my Parents or because I will not bear false-witness or tell a lye or subscribe a falshood or any such like This is truly persecution whatever the matter of it be as long as it is truly for Obeying God that we undergo the suffering § 6. I omit many other less considerable distributions And also those afflictions which are but improperly called persecutions as when a man is punished for a fault in a far greater measure than it deserveth this is Injustice but not persecution unless it be his Religion and Obedience to God which is the secret cause of it § 7. Direct 2. Understand well the greatness of the sin of Persecution that you may be kept in a Direct 2. due fear of being tempted to it Here therefore I shall shew you how Great a sin it is § 8. 1. Persecution is a fighting against God So it is called Act. 5. 39. And to fight against God is odious Malignity and desperate folly 1. It is Venemous malignity for a Creature to fight against his Creator and a sinner against his Redeemer who would save him and for so blind a worm to rise up against the wisdom of the All-knowing God! and for so vile a sinner to oppose the fountain of Love and Goodness 2. And what Folly can be greater than for a Mole to reproach the Sun for darkness or a lump of Earth to take up Arms against the Almighty terrible God Art thou able to make good thy cause against him or to stand before him when he is offended and chargeth thee with sin Hear a Pharisee Act. 6. 38 39. And now I say unto you refrain from these men and let them alone for if this counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happily ye be found even to fight against God Or hear Christ himself Act. 9. 4 5. I am Iesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks with bare feet or hands to beat the thorns How unmeet a match is man for God! He needeth not so much as a word to take away thy soul and crush thee to the lowest Hell His will alone can lay thee under thy deserved pains Canst thou Conquer the Almighty God Wilt thou assault the Power which was never overcome or storm Jehovahs Throne or Kingdom First try to take down the Sun and Moon and Stars from the Firmament and to stop the course of the Rivers or of the Sea and to rebuke the Winds and turn night into day and Winter into Summer and decrepit Age into vigorous Youth Attempt not greater matters till thou hast performed these It is a greater matter than any of these to conquer God whose cause thou fightest against Hear him again Isa. 45. 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Or thy work He hath no hands And Isa. 45. 9. who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together Wo to the man that is not content to fight with men but chooseth the most dreadful God to be his enemy It had been better for thee that all the World had been against thee § 9. 2. Persecution opposeth the gracious design of our Redeemer and hindereth his Gospel and work of mercy to the world and endeavoureth the ruine of his Kingdom upon earth Christ came to save men and persecutors raise up their power against him as if they envyed salvation to the World And if God have made the work of mans Redemption the most wonderful of all his works which ever he revealed to the sons of men you may easily conceive what thanks he will give them that resist him in so high and glorious a design If you could pull the Stars out of the Firmament or hinder the motions of the Heavens or deny the rain to the thirsty Earth you might look for as good a reward for this as for opposing the merciful Redeemer of the World in the blessed work of mans salvation § 10. 3. Persecution is a resisting or fighting against the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 51. saith Stephen to the Jews Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye If you silence the Ministers who are the means by which the spirit worketh in the illuminating and sanctifying of souls Act. 26. 17 18. or if you afflict men for those Holy duties which the
rend us Much more if it be some potent enemy of the Church who will not only rend us but the Church it self if he be so provoked Reproving him then is not our duty 3. Particularly When a man is in a passion or drunk usually it is no season to reprove him 4. Nor when you are among others who should not be witnesses of the fault or the reproof or whose presence will shame him and offend him except it be only the shaming of an incorrigible or malicious sinner which you intend 5. Nor when you are uncertain of the fact which you would reprove or uncertain whether it be a sin 6. Or when you have no witness of it though you are privately certain with some that will take advantage against you as slanderers a reproof may be omitted 7. And when the offenders are so much your superiours that you are like to have no better success than to be accounted arrogant A groan or tears is then the best reproof 8. When you are so utterly unable to manage a reproof that imprudence or want of convincing reason is like to make it a means of greater hurt than good 9. When you foresee a more advantageous season if you delay 10. When another may be procured to do it with much more advantage which your doing it may rather hinder In all these cases that may be a sin which at another time may be a duty § 18. But still remember 1. That pride and passion and slothfulness is wont to pretend such reasons falsly upon some sleight conjectures to put by a duty 2. That no man must account another Gen. 20. 36. a Dog or Swine to excuse him from this duty without cogent evidence And it is not every wrangling opposition nor reproach and scorn which will warrant us to give a man up as remediless Job 31. 13. Heb. 13. 22. 2 Pet. 1. 13. 2 Tâ—m 2. 25 26. and speak to him no more but only such 1. As sheweth a heart utterly obdurate after long means 2. Or will procure more suffering to the reprover than good to the offender 3. That when the thing is ordinarily a duty the reasons of our omission must be clear and sure before they will excuse us § 19. Quest. Must we reprove Infidels or Heathens What have we to do to judge them that are without Answ. Not to the ends of excommunication because they are not capable of it which is meant Deut. 22. 1. 1 Cor. 5. But we must reprove them 1. In common compassion to their souls What were the Apostles and other Preachers sent for but to call all men from their sins to God 2. And for the defence of truth and godliness against their words or ill examples CHAP. XVII Directions for keeping Peace with all men § 1. PEace is so amiable to Nature it self that the greatest destroyers of it do commend it and those persons in all times and places who are the cause that the world cannot enjoy it will yet speak well of it and exclaim against others as the enemies of peace as if there were no other name but their Own sufficient to make their adversaries odious As they desire salvation so do the ungodly desire Peace which is with a double error one about the Nature of it and another about the Conditions and other Means By Peace they mean the quiet undisturbed enjoyment of their honours wealth and pleasures that they may have their lusts and will without any contradiction And the Conditions on which they would have it are the complyance of all others with their opinions and wills and humble submission to their domination passions or desires But Peace is another thing and otherwise to be desired and sought Peace in the mind is the delightful effect of its internal harmony as Peace in the body is nothing but its pleasant health in the natural position state action and concord of all the parts the humours and spirits And Peace in Families Neighbourhoods Churches Kingdoms or other Societies is the quietness and pleasure of their order and harmony and must be attained and preserved by these following means § 2. Direct 1. Get your own hearts into a humble frame and abhor all the motions of Pride and Direct 1. self exalting A humble man hath no high expectations from another and therefore is easily pleased or quieted He can bow and yield to the pride and violence of others as the Willow to the impetuous winds His language will be submissive his patience great he is content that others go before him He is not offended that another is preferred A low mind is pleased in a low condition But Pride is the Gun-powder of the mind the family the Church and State It maketh men ambitious and setteth them on striving who shall be the greatest A proud mans Opinion must alwayes go for truth and his will must be a Law to others and to be sleighted or crossed seemeth to him an unsufferable wrong And he must be a man of wonderful complyance or an excellent artificer in man-pleasing and flâ—ttery that shall not be taken as an injurious undervaluer of him He that overvalueth himself will take it ill of all that do not also overvalue him If you forgetfully go before him or overlook him or neglect a complement or deny him something which he expected or speak not honourably of him much more if you reprove him and tell him of his faults you have put fire to the Gun-powder you have broke his peace and he will break yours if he can Pride broke the Peace between God and the apostate Angels but nothing unpeaceable must be in Heaven and therefore by self-exâ—lting they descended into darkness And Christ by self-humbling ascended unto Glory It is a matter of very great difficulty to live peaceably in family Church or any society with any one that is very Proud They expect so much of you that you can never answer all their expectations but will displease them by your omissions though you never speak or do any thing to displease them What is it but the lust of Pride which causeth most of the wars and bloodshed throughout the World The Pride of two or three men must cost many thousands of their subjects the loss of their Peace Estates and Lives Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi What were the Conquests of those Emperours Alexander Caesar Tamerlane Machumet c. but the pernicious effects of their infamous Pride Which like Gun-powder taking fire in their breasts did blow up so many Cities and Kingdoms and call their Villanies by the name of Valour and their Murders and Robberies by the name of War If one mans Pride do swell so big that his own Kingdom cannot contain it the Peace of as much of the World as he can conquer is taken to be but a reasonable sacrifice to this infernal vice The lives of thousands both Subjects and Neighbours called enemies by this malignant spirit must be cast
bear too patiently with your selves If another speak evil of you he doth not make you evil It 's worse to make you bad than to call you so And this you do against your selves Doth your Neighbour wrong you in your honour or Estate But he endangereth not your soul He doth not forfeit your salvation He doth not deserve damnation for you nor make your soul displeasing to God But all this you do against your selves even more than all the Devils in Hell do and yet you are too little offended with your selves see here the power of blind self-love If you loved your Neighbours as your selves you would agree as peaceably with your Neighbours almost as with your selves Love them more and you will bear more with them and provoke them less § 5. Direct 4. Compose your minds to Christian gentleness and meekness and suffer not Passion to Direct 4. make you either turbulent and unquiet to others or impatient and troublesome to your selves A gentle and quiet mind hath a gentle quiet tongue It can bear as much wrong as another can do according to its measure It is not in the power of Satan He cannot at his pleasure send his Emissary and by injuries or foule words procure it to sin But a Passionate person is frequently provoking or provoked A little thing maketh him injurious to others and a little injury from others disquieteth himself He is daily troubling others or himself or both Coals of fire go from his lips It is his very desire to provoke and vex those that he is angry with His Neighbours Peace and his own are the fuel of his anger which he consumeth in a moment To converse with him and not provoke him is a task for such as are eminently meek and self-denying He is as the leaves of the Aspe tree that never rest unless the day be very calm The smallest breath of an angry tongue can shake him out of his tranquillity and turn him into an Ague of disquietness The Sails of the Windmill are scarce more at the winds command than his heart and tongue is at the command of Satan He can move him almost when he please Bid but a Neighbour speak some hard speeches of him or one of his Family neglect or cross him and he is presently like the raging Sea whose waves cast up the mire and dirt An impatient man hath no security of his own peace for an hour Any enemy or angry person can take it from him when they please And being troubled he is troublesome to all about him If you do not in your patience possess your souls they will be at the mercy of every one that hath a mind to vex you Remember then that no peace can be expected without Patience nor patience without a meek and gentle mind Remember that the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3. 4. And that the wisdom from above is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated Jam. 3. 17. And that the eternal wisdom from above hath bid you learn of him to be meek and lowly in spirit as ever you would find rest to your souls Matth. 11. 28 29. And he that loseth his own peace is likest to break the peace of others § 6. Direct 5. Be careful to maintain that order of Government and obedience which is appointed Direct 5. of God for the preservation of Peace in families Churches and Common-wealths If you will break this vessel peace will flow out and be all quickly spilt What peace in Schools but by the authority of the Schoolmaster Or in Armies but by the authority of the General If an unwise and ungodly Governour do himself violate the foundations and boundaries of peace and either weakly or wilfully make dividing Laws no wonder if such wounds do spend the vital blood and spirits of that society It being more in the power of the Governours than of the Subject to destroy Peace or to preserve it And if the Subjects make not conscience of their duty to their Superiours the banks of peace will soon be broken down and all will be overwhelmed in tumult and confusion Take heed therefore of any thing which tendeth to subvert or weaken Government Disobedience or Rebellion seldome wanteth a fair pretence but it more seldome answereth the agents expectation It usually pretendeth the weaknesses miscarriages or injurious dealings of superiours But it as usually mendeth an inconvenience with a mischief It setteth fire on the house to burn up the Rats and Mice that troubled it It must be indeed a grievous malady that shall need such a mischief for its remedy Certainly it is no means of Gods appointment Take heed therefore of any thing which would dissolve these bonds Entertain not dishonourable thoughts of your Governours and receive not nor utter not any dishonourable words against them If they be faulty open not their shame Their honour is their interest and the peoples too Without it they will be disabled for effectual Government When subjects or servants or children are sawcily censorious of superiours and make themselves Judges of all their actions even those which they do not understand and when they presume to defame them and with petulant tongues to cast contempt upon them the fire is begun and the sacred bonds of peace are loosed When superiours rule with Piety Justice and true love to their subjects and Inferiours keep their place and rank and all conspire the publick good then Peace will fourish and not till then § 7. Direct 6. Avoid all revengeful and provoking words When the poyson of Asps is under mens Direct 6. lips Rom. 3. 13. no wonder if the hearers minds that are not sufficiently antidoted against it fester Death and life are in the power of the tongue Prov. 18. 21. When the tongue is as a Sword yea a sharp sword Psal. 57. 4. and when it is purposely whetted Psal. 64. 3. But no marvel if it pierce and wound them that are unarmed But by long forbearing a Prince is perswaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bone Prov. 25. 15. A railer is numbered with those that a Christian must not eat with 1 Cor. 5. For Christianity is so much for Peace that it abhorreth all that is against it Our Lord when he was reviled reviled not again and in this was our example 1 Pet. 2. 21 23. A scorning railing reproachful tongue is set as Iames saith 3. 6. on fire of Hell and it setteth on fire the course of nature even persons families Churches and Common-wealths Many a a ruined society may say by experience Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth James 3. 5. § 8. Direct 7. Engage not your selves too forwardly or eagerly in disputes nor at any time without Direct 7. necessity And when necessity calleth you set an extraordinary watch upon your passions Though disputing is lawful and sometime necessary to defend
Parent in this respect cannot oblige him to his hurt For if he will quit the benefit he may be freed when he will from his obligation and may refuse to stand to the Covenant if he dislike it If he will give up his lease he may be disobliged from the Rent and service § 3. In all this you may perceive that no man can oblige another against God or his salvation And therefore a Parent cannot oblige a child to sin nor to forbear hearing or reading the Word of God or praying or any thing necessary to his salvation Nor can he oblige him to hear a Heretical Pastor nor to marry an Infidel or wicked Wife c. § 4. And here also you may perceive on what grounds it is that God hath appointed Parents to oblige their children in the Covenant of Baptism to be the servants of God and to live in holiness all their dayes § 5. And hence it is apparent that no Parents can oblige their children to be miserable or to any such condition which is worse than to have no being § 6. Also that when Parents do as commonly they do profess to oblige their children as Benefactors for their good the obligation is then to be interpreted accordingly And the child is then obliged to nothing which is really his hurt Yea all the Propriety and Government of Parents cannot authorize them to oblige the child to his hurt but in order to some greater good either to the Parents themselves or to the Common-wealth or others At least that which the Parents apprehend to be a greater good But if they err through ignorance or partiality and bind the child to a greater hurt for their lesser good as to pay 200 l. to save them from paying 100 l. whether their injury and sin do excuse the child from being obliged to any more than the proportion of the benefit required I leave undetermined § 7. Quest. 2. But what if the Parents disagree and one of them will oblige the child and the other Quest. 2. will not Answ. 1. If it be an act of the Parents as meer Proprietors for their own good either of them may oblige him in a just degree because they have severally a propriety 2. If it be an act of Government as if they oblige him to do this or that act of service at their command in his minority the Father may oblige him against the Mothers consent because he is the chief Ruler but not the Mother against the Fathers will though she may without it § 8. Quest. 3. Is a man obliged by a contract which he made in ignorance or mistake of the Quest. 3. matter Answ. I have answered this before in the case of Marriage Part. 3. Chap. 1. I add here 1. We Must distinguish between culpable and inculpable error 2. Between an error about the principal matter and about some smaller accidents or circumstances 3. Between a case where the Law of the Land or the common good interposeth and where it doth not 1. If it be your own fault that you are mistaken you are not wholly freed from the obligation But if it was your gross fault by negligence or vice you are not at all freed But if it were but such a frailty as almost all men are lyable to so that none but a person of extraordinary virtue or diligence could have avoided the mistake then equity will proportionably make you an abatement or free you from the obligation So far as you were obliged to understand the matter so far you are obliged by the contract especially when another is a loser by your error 2. An inculpable error about the circumstances or smaller parts will not free you from an obligation in the principal matter But an inculpable error in the essentials will 3. Except when the Law of the Land or the common good doth otherwise over-rule the case For then you may be obliged by that accident In divers cases the Rulers may judge it necessary that the effect of the contract shall depend upon the bare words or writings or actions lest false pretences of misunderstanding should exempt deceitful persons from their obligations and nothing should be a security to contractors And then mens private commodity must give place to the Law and to the publick good 4. Natural infirmities must be numbered with faults though they be not moral vices as to the contracting of an obligation if they be in a person capable of contracting As if you have some special defect of memory or ignorance of the matter which you are about Another who is no way faulty by over-reaching you must not be a loser by your weakness For he that cometh to the market or contracteth with another who knoweth not his infirmity is to be supposed to understand what he doth unless the contrary be manifest You should not meddle with matters which you understand not Or if you do you must be content to be a loser by your weakness 5. Yet in such cases another that hath gained by the bargain may be obliged by the Laws of equity and charity to remit the gain and not to take advantage of your weakness But he may so far hold you to it as to secure himself from loss except in cases where you become the object of his Charity and not of Commutative Justice only § 9. Quest. 4. Is a drunken man or a man in a transporting passion or a melancholy person obliged by Quest. 4. a contract made in such a case Answ. Remember still that we are speaking only of Contracts about matters of profit or worldly interest and not of marriage or any of another nature And the Question as it concerneth a man in Drunkenness or Passion is answered as the former about culpable error And as it concerneth a melancholy man it is to be answered as the former question in the case of natural infirmity But if the melancholy be so great as to make him uncapable of bargaining he is to be esteemed in the same condition as an Ideot or one in deliration or distraction § 10. Quest. 5. But may another hold a man to it who in drunkenness or passion maketh an ill bargain Quest. 5. or giveth or playeth away his money and repenteth when he is sober Answ. He may ordinarily take the money from the loser or him that casteth it thus away But he may not keep it for himself But if the loser be poor he should give it to his Wife or Children whom he robbeth by his sin If not he should either give it to the Magistrate or Overseer for the poor or give it to the poor himself The reason of this determination is Because the loser hath parted with his propriety and can lay no further claim to the thing But yet the gainer can have no right from anothers crime If it were from an injury he might so far as is necessary to reparations But from a crime he cannot For his
and selleth the Wood for the same money and repayeth it in a year and so hath all the Land for almost nothing as if I. N. had purchased the Land and freely given it him after a year or two The gift had been the same Object Here you suppose the seller wronged by selling his Land almost for nothing Answ. 1. That 's nothing at all to the present case but a different case by it self 2. I can put many cases in which such a sale may be made without any wrong to the seller As when it is done by some Prince or State or Noble and liberal person purposely designing the inriching of the subjects or after a War as lately in Ireland So that the question is whether I. N. may not give T. S. a thousand or eight hundred pounds worth of Land taking a years Rent first out of the Land or a years use for the money which cometh to the same summ § 15. Another A Rich Merchant trading into the East Indies having five thousand pound to lay out upon his commodities in Traffick when he hath laid out four thousand five hundred pound lendeth in charity the other five hundred pound to one of his servants to lay out upon a commodity which when it cometh home will be worth two thousand pound and offereth him to secure the carriage with his own requiring only the Use of his money at 6. per cent Here the taking of thirty pound Use is but the free giving him one thousand four hundred and seventy pound and is all one with deducting so much of the gift § 16. Another Instance Certain Orphans having nothing left them but so much money as will by the allowed Use of it find them bread and poor clothing The guardian cannot lay it out in Lands for them And if he maintain them upon the stock it will be quickly spent and he must answer for it A rich man that is their neighbour tradeth in Iron-works Furnaces and Forges or Lead-works or other such commodities in which he constantly getteth the double of the stock which he employeth or at least twenty pound or forty pound in the hundred The Guardian dare not lend the money to any poor man lest he break and never be able to pay it Therefore he lendeth it this rich man And if he have it without Usury the poor Orphans give the rich man freely twenty pound or forty pound a year supposing their stock to be an hundred If he take Usury the rich man doth but give the poor Orphans some part of his constant gain § 17. Another instance In a City or Corporation where there is a rich Trade of Clothing or making Silks there is a stock of money given by Legacy for the poor and entrusted into the hands of the richest of the City to trade with and give the poor the Use of it And there is another stock left to set up young beginners who have not a stock to set up themselves on condition that they give the third part of their gain to the poor and at seven years end resign the stock The question is Whether the poor should be without this Use of their money and let the rich go away with it or whether they may take it § 18. Now I prove that such Usury is not forbidden by God 1. It is not forbidden us by the Law of Moses 1. Because Moses Law never did forbid it For 1. It is expresly forbidden as an act of unmercifulness and therefore forbidden only to the poor and to brethren Exod. 22. 25. Levit. 25. 36 37. Yea when the poor are not named it is the poor that are meant Because in that Countrey they did not keep up stocks for Merchandize or Trading but lent usually to the needy only At least the circumstances of the several Texts shew that it is only Lending to the needy and not lending to drive Exod. 2â— 21. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him Exod. 23. 9. Thou shalt not oppress a stranger c. So that Usury to a stranger was no oppression on any enriching Trade which is meant where Usury is forbidden 2. And it is expresly allowed to be used to strangers Deut. 23. 19 20. to whom nothing unjust or uncharitable might be done only such a measure of Charity was not required towards them as unto brethren And there were more Merchants of strangers that traded with them in forreign commodities than of Jews that fetcht them home So that the prohibition of Usury is in the Law it self restrained only to their lending to the poor But in the Prophets who do but reprove the sin it is expressed without that limitation partly because it supposeth the meaning of the Law to be known which the Prophets did but apply and partly because there was little or no lending used among the Jews but to the needy as an act of charity § 19. 2. And if it had been forbidden in Moses Law only it would not extend to Christians now Because the Law of Moses as such is not in force The matter of it is much of the Law of Nature indeed but as Mosaical it was proper to the Jews and Proselytes or at least extended not to the Christian Gentiles as is plain in 2 Cor. 3. 7. Gal. 3. 19 24. 5. 3. Eph. 2. 15. 1 Tim. 1. 7. Heb. 7. 12 16 19. Moses Law as such never bound any other Nations but the proselytes that joyned themselves to the Jews nor was all the world obliged so to be proselyted as to take up their Laws Much less do they bind us that are the servants of Christ so long after the dissolution of their Common-wealth So much of them as are part of the Law of Nature or of any positive Law of Christ or of the Civil Law of any State are binding as they are such Natural Christian or Civil Laws But not one of them as Mosaical Though the Mosaical Law is of great use to help us to understand the Law of Nature in many particular instances in which it is somewhat difficult to us § 20. 2. There is no Positive Law of Christ forbidding all Usury As for Luke 6. 32 35. it is plainly nothing to the case For he saith not Lend looking for no gain or increase but looking for nothing again And the Context sheweth that the meaning must be one of these two Either q. d. Lend not only to them that will lend to you again when you are in want but even to the poor that you can never hope to borrow of Or else Lend not only to them that are able to pay you and where your stock is secured but to the needy where your money is hazarded and though they will pay you if â—hey are able yet you have little or no hope that ever they should be able to repay Lâ—nd so as to be willing to make a gift of it in case the borrower never repay it And there is no
deceivers If the very Vices the Ambition the Carnal Policies and Pomps the filthiness and worldliness of the Roman Clergy did not become a preservative to mens minds against the Temptations which would draw them to their way and if the Atheism Infidelity Whoredoms and prophaneness of Papists did not become an Antidote how few were like to return uninfected And because the Jesuits know that they can never take this stumbling block out of the way therefore too many of them have thought best to debauch those first whom they would proselyte and to reconcile them first to Playes and drunkenness and whoredoms that so the dislike of these may not hinder their reconciliation with the Kingdom of Rome yea that a seeming necessity of a Priests pardon may make it seem necessary to become their subjects And as unfurnished are these young travellers usually to resist the temptations to this sensuality lust and pomp as those of Popery So that they are perfidiously sent into a Pesthouse when they are in the greatest disposition to be infected And if they come not home drunkards gluttons gamesters idle prodigal proud infidels irreligious or Papists its little thanks to those perfidious Parents who thus perform their promise for them in Baptism by sending them to Satans Schools and University to be educated Whereas if they were but kept to their due studies and under a holy government at home till they were furnished with sound religious knowledge and till they were rooted in holiness and in a Love to a pious sober life and till they had got a setled hatred of intemperance and all sin and till they had a Map of the places persons and affairs of the world well imprinted on their minds by study and due information then necessary travel would be more safe and then they would be in a capacity to learn wisdom from other mens folly and virtue from other mens vice and piety from other mens impiety which Novices are rather apâ— to imitate 5. And in the mean time the loss of all the helps which they should have at home doth greatly tend to their destruction For they oft travel into Countreys where they shall have no publick worship of God which is lawful or which they understand or if they have it is usually cold preaching and dull praying when they have need of the best and all too little And they have seldome such pious society to edifie and quicken them by private converse as they have or might have here at home And seldome come into such well ordered religious families And if humane nature be prone to infection by temptations and so averse to holiness that all means is too little and even in the best families folly and sensuality and a distaste of Godliness often thrives as unsown Weeds overspread the Garden where with great cost and labour only better things were sowed What then but sin and misery can be expected from those that by their own Parents are banished from their native Countrey not so well as into a Wilderness but into the pestilent infected Countreys of the world I would ask those Parents that plead for this crime and cruelty as a kindness Are you no wiser or better your selves than the company into which you send your children Can you teach them and educate them no better nor give them better examples than they are like to have abroad Can you set them on no better work for the improvement of their time If not Why do you not repent of this your shame and misery and reform your selves If you can Why will you then betray your children Congressus sapientum consert prudentiam non montes non maria Erasm. Or if you cannot Are there no Schools no Learned and Pious men no Religious families and company at home in your own Land where you might place them to better advantage than thus to expose them to the Tempter Undoubtedly there are and such as may be had at Cheaper rates 6. And it is not the smallest part of the guilt and danger that they are sent abroad without due oversight and conduct They that do but get them some sober or honest servant to attend them or some sober companion think they have done well when as they had need of some Divine or Tutor of great Learning Piety Prudence and Experience whom they will reverence and obey that may take the oversight of them and be ready to answer any Sophister that would seduce them But the charge of this is thought too great for the safety of their own children whom they themselves expose to a necessity of it I know that carnal minds will distaste all this and have Objections enough against it and reasons of their own to make it seem a duty to betray and undo their childrens souls and to break their promise made for them in Baptism All this is but our preciseness They must have experience and know the world or else they will be contemptible tenebriones or Owls When ever they go it will be a temptation and such they must have at home There is no other part of their age so fit or that can be spared and we must trust God with them where ever they are and they that will be bad will be bad in one place as well as another and many are as bad that stay at home And thus quos perdere vult Iupiter hos dementat Yea the poor children and the Common-wealth must suffer by such Parents soâ—tish folly And well saith Solomon Prov. 28. 11. The Rich man is wise in his own conceit And because it is not Reason indeed but Pride and the Rich disease and Carnality which is here to be consuted I shall not honour them with a distinct particular answer But only tell them If all companies be alike send them to Bedlam or to a Whore-house If all means be alike let them be Janizaries and bred up where Christ is scorned If you think they need but little helps and little watching it seems you never gave them more And its pity you should have children before you know what a man is and how much nature is corrupted and how much is needful to its recovery And its pity that you dedicated them to God in Baptism before you believed Christ and knew what you did And engaged them to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil under a Crucified Christ while you purposed like hypocrites to train them in the School and Service of the World the Flesh and the Devil and in the contempt of the Cross of Christ or of a holy mortified life And if all ages be alike and Novices be equal to experienced persons let the Scholars rule their Master and let Boyes be Parliament men and Judges and let them be your Guides at home And if acquaintance with Courtship and the customes of the world and the reputation of such acquaintance be worth the hazarding of their souls renounce God and give up your
holy industry of all their lives Say not God can give more to you in a year than to others in twenty For it is a poor argument to prove that God hath done it because he can do it He can make you an Angel but that will not prove you one Prove your wisdome before you pretend to it and overvalue it not Heb. 5. 11 12 sheweth that it is Gods ordinary way to give men wisdom according to their time and means unless their own negligence deprive them of his blessing Direct 6. Study to keep up Christian Love and to keep it lively For Love is not censorious but Direct 6. is inclined to judge the best till evidence constrain you to the contrary Censoriousness is a Vermine which crawleth in the carkass of Christian Love when the life of it is gone Direct 7. Value all Gods graces in his servants And then you will see something to love them Direct 7. for when hypocrites can see nothing Make not too light of small degrees of grace and then your censure will not overlook them Direct 8. Remember the tenderness of Christ who condemneth not the weak nor casteth Infants Direct 8. out of his family nor the diseased out of his Hospital but dealeth with them in such gracious gentleness as beseemeth a tender-hearted Saviour He will not break the bruised reed He carryeth his Lambs in his arms and gently driveth those with young He taketh up the wounded man when the Priest and Levite pass him by And have you not need of the tenderness of Christ your selves as well as others Are you not afraid lest he should find greater faults in you than you find in others And condemn you as you condemn them Direct 9. Let the sense of the common corruption of the world and imperfection of the godly moderate Direct 9. your particular censures As Seneca saith To censure a man for that which is common to all men is in a sort to censure him for being a man which beseemeth not him that is a man himself Do you not know the frailty of the best and the common pravity of humane nature How few are there that must not have great allowance or else they will not pass for currant in the ballance Elias was a man subject to passions Ionah to pievishness Iob had his impatiency â—â—ul saith even of the Teachers of the primitive Church They all that were with him seek their own and not the things of Iesus Christ. What blots are charged on almost all the Churches and almost all the holy persons mentioned throughout all the Scriptures Learn then of Paul a better lesson than censoriousness Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ. Let every man prove his own work and then be shall have rejoycing in himself alone c. Direct 10. Remember that Iudgement is Gods prerogative further than as we are called to it for Direct 10. the performance of some duty either of Office or of private Charity or self-preservation And that the Judge is as at the door And that judging unmercifully maketh us lyable to judgement without mercy The foresight of that near universal Judgement which will pass the doom on us and all men will do much to cure us of our rash censoriousness Direct 11. Peruse and observe all the Directions in the last Chapter against evil-speaking and backbiting Direct 11. that I may not need to repeat them Especially avoid 1. The snare of selfishness and interest For most men judge of others principally by their own interest He is the good man that is good to them or is on their side that loveth and honoureth them and answereth their desires This is the common false judgement of the corrupted selfish world who vilifie and hate the best because they seem unsuitable to them and to their carnal interest Therefore take heed of your judgement about any man that you have any falling-out with For its two to one but you will wrong him through this selfishness 2. Avoid passion which blindeth the judgement 3. Avoid Faction which maketh you judge of all men as they agree or disagree with your opinions or your side and party 4. Avoid too hasty belief of censures and rebuke them 5. Hear every man speak for himself before you censure him if it be possible and the case be not notorious Direct 12. Keep still upon your mind a just and deep apprehension of the malignity of this sin of Direct 12. rash censuring It is of greatest consequence to the mortifying of any sin what apprehensions of it are upon the mind If religious persons apprehended the odiousness of this as much as they do of swearing drunkenness fornication c. they would as carefully avoid it Therefore I shall shew you the Malignity of this sin Tit. 3. The evil of the Sin of Censoriousness § 1. 1. IT is an usurpation of Gods Prerogative who is the Judge of all the world It is a stepping up into his Judgement Seat and undertaking his work as if you said I will be God as to this action And if he be called The Antichrist who usurpeth the Office of Christ to be the Universal Monarch and Head of the Church you may imagine what he doth who though but in one point doth set up himself in the place of God § 2. 2. They that usurp not Gods part in judging yet ordinarily usurp the part of the Magistrate or Pastors of the Church As when mistaken censorious Christians refuse to come to the Sacrament of Communion because many persons are there whom they judge to be ungodly what do they but usurp the Office of the Pastors of the Church To whom the Keys are committed for admission and exclusion And so are the appointed Judges of that case The duty of private members is but to admonish the offender first secretly and then before witnesses and to tell the Church if he repent not and humbly to tell the Pastors of their duty if they neglect it And when this is done they have discharged their part and must no more excommunicate men themselves than they must hang Thieves when the Magistrate doth neglect to hang them § 3. 3. Censoriousness signifieth the absence or decay of Love which inclineth men to think evil and judge the worst and aggravate infirmities and overlook or extenuate any good that is in others And there is least Grace where there is least Love § 4. 4. It sheweth also much want of self-acquaintance and such heart-employment as the sincerest Christians are taken up with And it sheweth much want of Christian humility and sense of your own infirmities and badness and much prevalency of Pride and self-conceitedneâ—s If you knew how ignorant you are you would not be so peremptory in
Motive 7. are our fellow Souldiers and Travellers with whom only we can have sweet and holy converse and a Heavenly conversation when the carnal favour not the things of God Mot. 8. Consider how serviceable their graces render them for the pleasing of God and the good of Motive 8. men They are the work of God created to good works Ephes. 2. 10. They are fitted by grace to Love and praise their Maker and Redeemer and to obey his Laws and to honour him in their works as shining lights in a dark generation They are the blessings of the place where God hath planted them They pray for sinners and exhort them and give them good examples and call them from their sins and lovingly draw them on to conversion and salvation For their sakes God useth others the better where they live Ten righteous persons might have saved Sodom They are lovely therefore for the service which they do Mot. 9. All their graces will be shortly perfected and all their infirmities done away They are Motive 9. already pardoned and justified by Christ and every remaining spot and wrinkle will be shortly taken away Ephes. 5 26 27. and they shall be presented perfect unto God And they that shall be so perfect then are amiable now Mot. 10. They shall see the Glory of God and live for ever in his presence They shall be employed Motive 10. in his perfect Love and praise and we shall be their companions therein And those that must sing Halleluja's to God in perfect amity and concord in such an harmonious blessed chore should live in great endearedness in the way Tit. 4. The Hinderances and Enemies of Christian love Enemy 1. THE first Enemy of Christian Love is the inward unregeneracy and carnality of the mind Enemy 1. For the carnal mind is enmity to God and neither is nor can be subject to his law Rom. 8. 6 7. And therefore it is at enmity with Holiness and with those that are seriously holy The excellency of a Christian is seen only by faith believing what God speaketh of them and by spiritual discerning of their spiritual worth But the natural man discerneth not the things of the spirit but they are as foolishness to him because they must be spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. There must be a suitableness of nature before there can be true love And he that will love them as holy must first love holiness himself Enemy 2. Another Enemy to Christian Love is selfishness or inordinate self-love For this will Enemy 2. make men love no one heartily but as they serve or love or honour them and according to the measures of their self ish interest If a Godly man will not flatter such persons and serve their proud or covetous humours they cannot love him A selfish person maketh so great a matter of every infirmity which crosseth his interest or every mistake which crosseth his opinon or every little injury that his done him that he cryeth out presently O what wicked and unconscionable people are these What hypocrites are they Is this their Religion Is this justice or charity All virtues and vices are estimated by them according to their own ends and interests chiefly They can think better of a common Whoremonger or Swearer or Atheist or Infidel that loveth and honoureth and serveth them than of the most holy and upright servant of God who thinketh meanly or hardly of them and standeth in their way and seemeth to be against their interest It is no commendations to him in this mans account that he loveth God and all that are godly if he seem to injure or cross a selfish man A carnal self-lover can love none but himself and for himself and maketh all faults which are against himself to be the characters of an odious person rather than those which are committed against God Enemy 3. Christian love is often diminished and marred by Degenerating into a Carnal sort of Enemy 3. Love through the prevalency of some Carnal Vice Thus they that loved a man for Godliness turn it into a selfish love for some honour or favour or benefits to themselves And young persons of different Sexes begin to love each other for piety and by undiscreet and unwary and sinful familiars are drawn before they are aware to carnal fond and sinful love And these persons think that their holy love is stronger than before when as it is stifled consuming and languishing as natural heat by a burning Feavor and is overcome and turned into another thing Enemy 4. Passion and Impatiency is a great enemy to Christian Love It is stirring up displeasing Enemy 4. words and carriage and then cannot bear them It meeteth every where with matter of displeasure and offence and is still casting water on this sacred fire and feigning or finding faults in all Enemy 5. Self-ignorance and partiality is a great enemy to love when it maketh men overlook Enemy 5. their own corruptions and extenuate all those faults in themselves which in others they take for heinous crimes And so they want that compassion to others which would bear with infirmities because they know not how bad they are themselves and what need they have of the forbearance of others Enemy 6. Censoriousness is an enemy to brotherly love as is aforesaid A censorious person will Enemy 6. tell you how dearly he loveth all the godly But he can allow so few the acknowledgement of their godliness that few are beholden to him for his love His sinful humour blindeth his mind that he cannot see anothers godliness He will love them for their sincerity when he can see it but that will not be till he hath better eyes Timon was a great lover of wisdom but a hater of all men because he took no man to be wise Enemy 7. Faction and Parties or siding in Religion is one of the greatest enemies of Christian Enemy 7. love For this causeth Censoriousness and maketh men so overvalue the Opinions which they have chosen and the interest of their party that they hardly see goodness in any that are not of their mind and quickly find faults or devise them in those that are against them Enemy 8. Conversing with malicious wicked or censorious persons is a great hinderance of the love Enemy 8. of godly men For he that heareth them daily slandered and represented as brainsick seditious self-conceited humorous hypocritical people will easily take them as odious but hardly as amiable unless he come nearer them and know them better than by a lyars words Enemy 9. Too high expectations is a great enemy to love When men either look that Saints on Enemy 9. earth should be like Saints in Heaven who have no infirmity or look for greater parts of nature or art ingenuity or excellency of speech than is in other persons or when selfishness and covetousness or pride doth make men look for great respect and
to God who needeth fewest things for himself and doth most good to others And Christ telleth us that universal charity extending even to them that hate and persecute us doth make us as his Children like our heavenly Father Matth. 5. 44 45 46 48. As Hating and Hurting their neighbours is the mark of the Children of the Devil Iohn 8. 44. so Loving and Doing Good is the mark of the Children of God And it is observable that no one treateth so copiously and pathetically of Love both of Christs love to us and ours to him as the blessed Disciple whom Jesus is said to have eminently Loved as Iohn 13. 14 15 16. 17. 1 Iohn shew It hath often pleased me to hear how dearly you were beloved by that exceeding great and populous Parish where lately you were Preacher for your eminent Charity to their souls and bodies And to see that still you take it for your work and calling to be a provoker of others to Love and to Good Works Heb. 10. 24. whilest many that are taken for good Christians do deal in such works as Rarities or Recreations only a little now and then upon the by and whilest Satans Ministers are provoking others to Hatred and to Hurtfulness Your Labour is so amiable to me that it would contribute to my comforts if I were able to contribute any thing to your assistance You desire me to give you my judgement of the quota pars What proportion it is meet for most men to devote to Charitable uses Whether the Tenth Part of their increase be not ordinarily a fit proportion The reason why I use not to answer such Questions without much distinguishing when lazy impatient Readers would have them answered in a word is because the real difference of particular cases is so great as maketh it necessary unless we will deceive men or leave the matter as dark and unresolved as we found it I. Before I answer your Question I shall premise that I much approve of the way which you insist upon of setting so much constantly apart as is fit for us to give that it may be taken by us to be as a devoted or consecrated thing And methinks that there is much of a Divine Direction for the time in 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. together with the practice of the antient Church That upon the first day of the week every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him And it will do much to cure Pharisaical Sabbatizing when the Lords Day is statedly used in this with holy works and will teach Hypocrites to know what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice Matth. 9. 13. and 12. 7. And that works of Charity are an odour a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God who of the riches of his Glory in Christ will supply all the need of such as bring forth such fruit to abound unto their account Phil. 4. 17 18 19. So it be done without any ensnaring vows or rash engagements to unnecessary things this constant setting apart a certain proportion for pious and charitable uses will have these advantages 1. Our distribution will be made deliberately and prudently when before-hand we study a due proportion and determine accordingly whereas they that give only occasionally as some object suddenly inviteth them will do it at randome without due respect to their own accounts whether the proportion given be answerable to their own estate and duty 2. This stated way will make mens charity much more extensive When objects of charity are not in their sight they will inquire after them and they will seek for the needy if the needy seek not unto them because they have so much by them to dispose of which is devoted to God But those who give but as occasional objects draw it from them will give to none but those that crave or will pass by many as needy whom they see not while they relieve only those few that they hap to see 3. And it will make mens charity also to be more constant and done obediently as a Christians daily work and duty when occasional charity will be more rarely and unconstantly exercised In a word as the observation of the Lords Day which is a stated proportion of time secureth the holy improvement of our time much better than if God be served but occasionally without a stated time and as a constant stated course of Preaching excelleth meer occasional exhortations even so a constant course of Giving wisely stated will find out objects and overcome temptations and discharge our Duty with much more integrity and success And if we can easily perceive that occasional Praying will not so well discharge the duty of prayer as a constant stated course will do why should we not think the same of occasional Giving if men did but perceive that Giving according to our ability is as sure and great a duty as Praying Now to your Question of the Proportion of our gifts II. We must distinguish 1. Between them that have no more than will supply their own and their families true necessities and those that have more 2. Between them that have a stock of money which yieldeth them no increase and those that have more increase by their labour but little stock 3. Between them whose increase is like to be constant and theirs that is uncertain sometime more and sometime less 4. Between them that have many children or near kindred that nature casteth upon them for relief and those that have few or no children or have a competent provision for them and have few needy kindred that they are especially obliged to relieve 5. Between those that live in times and places where the necessities of the poor are very great or some great works of Piety are in hand and those that live where the poor are in no great necessity and no considerable opportunity for any great work of Piety or Charity doth appear These distinctions premised I answer as followeth 1. It is certain that every true Sanctified Christian hath Devoted himself and all that he hath to God to be used in obedience to his will and for his glory 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. 1 Cor. 10. 31. Luke 18. 33. The Question therefore is not Whether the Tenth part of our estate should be devoted to and employed in the service of God one way or other as he directeth us For it is out of Question that all is his and we are but his stewards and must give account of our stewardship and of all our receivings Matth. 25. But the Question is only what proportion is best pleasing to God in our giving to others 2. A Christian being unseignedly thus resolved in the General to lay out that he hath or shall have as God would have him and to his glory as near as he can his next enquiry must be for finding out the will of God to know in the ordinary course of his distribution where
first care should be to know and perform the Duties of our Relations and please God in them and then look for his blessing by way of encourageing-reward Study and do your parts and God will certainly do his § 2. Direct 1. The first Duty of Husbands is to Love their Wives and Wives their Husbands Direct 1. with a true entire Conjugal Love Ephes. 5. 25 28 29 33. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it So ought men to love their Wives as their own Gen 2. 24. Ephes. 5 25 28 29 33. bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no man ever yet â—ated his own flesh â—ut nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church Let every one of you in particular so love his Wife even as himself It is a Relation of Love that you have entered God hath made it your Duty for your mutual help and comfort that you may be as willing and ready to succour one another as the hand is to help the eye or other fellow-member and that your converse may be sweet and your burdens easie and your lives may be comfortable If Love be removed but for an hour between Husband and Wife they are so long as a bone out of joint There is no ease no order no work well done till they are restored and set in joint again Therefore be sure that Conjugal Love be constantly maintained § 3. The Sub-directions for maintaining Conjugal Love are such as these Direct 1. Choose one at Sub-directions â—o maintain Conjugal love first that is truly amiable especially in the vertues of the mind 2. Marry not till you are sure that you can Love entirely Be not drawn for sordid ends to joyn with one that you have but ordinary affections â—or 3. Be not too hasty but know before hand all the imperfections which may tempt you afterwards to loathing But if these duties have been sinfully neglected yet 4. Remember that Justice commandeth you to Love one that hath as it were forsaken all the world for you and is contented to be the companion of your labours and sufferings and be an equal sharer in all conditions with you and that must be your companion until death It is worse than barbarous inhumanity to entice such a one into a bond of Love and society with you and then to say You cannot Love her This was by perfidiousness to draw her into a spare to her undoing What comfort can she have in her converse with you and care and labour and necessary sufferings if you deny her Conjugal Love Especially if she deny not Love to you the inhumanity is the greater 5. Remember that Women are ordinarily affectionate passionate creatures and as they love much themselves so they expect much love from you And when you joyned your self to such a Nature you obliged your self to answerable duty And if Love cause not Love it is ungrateful and unjust contempt 6. Remember that you are under Gods command And to deny conjugal Love to your Wives is to deny a duty which God hath urgently imposed on you Obedience therefore should command your Love 7. Remember that you are Relatively as it were one flesh You have drawn her to forsake Father and Mother to cleave to you You are conjoyned for procreation of such children as must bear the image and nature of you both your possessions and interests are in a manner the same And therefore such nearness should command affection They that are as your selves should be most easily loved as your selves 8. Take more notice of the good that is in your Wives than of the evil Let not the observation of their faults make you forget or overlook their vertues Love is kindled by the sight of Love or Goodness 9. Make not infirmities to seem odious faults but excuse them as far as lawfully you may by considering the frailty of the Sex and of their tempers and considering also your own infirmities and how much your Wives must bear with you 10. Stir up that most in them into exercise which is best and stir not up that which is evil And then the good will most appear and the evil will be as buried and you will easilier maintain your love There is some uncleanness in the best on earth And if you will be daily stirring in the filth no wonder if you have the annoyance And for that you may thank your selves Draw out the fragrancy of that which is good and delectable in them and do not by your own imprudence or pievishness stir up the worst and then you shall find that even your faulty Wives will appear more amiable to you 11. Overcome them with Love and then whatever they are in themselves they will be Loving to you and consequently Lovely Love will cause Love as fire kindleth fire A good husband is the best means to make a good and loving Wife Make them not froward by your froward carriage and then say We cannot love them 12. Give them examples of amiableness in your selves set them the pattern of a prudent lowly loving meek self denying patient harmless holy heavenly life Try this a while and see whether it will not shame them from their faults and make them walk more amiably themselves § 4. Direct 2. Another Duty of Husbands and Wives is Cohabitation and where age prohibiteth Direct 2. not a sober and modest conjunction for procreation Avoiding lâ—sciviousness unseasonableness and whatever tendeth to corrupt the mind and make it vain and filthy and hinder it from holy employment And therefore Lust must not be cherished in the married but the mind be brought to a moderate chaste and sober frame and the Remedy must not be turned into an increase of the disease but used to extinguish it For if the mind be left to the power of Lust and only marriage trusted to for the cure with many it will be found an insufficient cure and Lust will rage still as it did before and will be so much the more desperate and your case the more miserable as your sin prevaileth against the remedy Yet marriage being appointed for a remedy against lust for the avoiding all unlawful congress the Apostle hath plainly described your duty 1 Cor. 7. 2 3 4 5. It is good for a man not to touch a woman Nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife Defraud you not one the other except it be with consent for a time that ye may give your selves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency Therefore those persons live contrary to the nature of
their relation who live a great part of their lives asunder as many do for worldly respects when they have several houses possessions or trades and the husband must live at one and the wife at another for their commodity sake and only come together once in a week or in many weeks when this is done without great necessity it is a constant violation of their duties And so it ☜ is for men to go trade or live beyond Sea or in another Land and leave their wives behind them yea though they have their wives consent it is an unlawful course except in a case of meer necessity or publick service or when they are able on good grounds to say that the Benefits are like to be greater to soul and body than the loss and that they are confirmed against the danger of incontinence The offices which Husband and Wife are bound to perform for one another are such as for the most part suppose their Cohabitation like the offices of the members of the body for each other which they cannot perform if they be dismembred and divided § 5. Direct 3. Abbor not only Adultery it self but all that tendeth to unchastness and the viâ—lation of your Direct 3. Marriage-Covenant Adultery is so contrary to the conjugal bond and state of life that though de Mâ—t. 5 31 32. 19. 9. Jâ—h 8. 4 5. â—f 〈…〉 Hâ—b 1â— 4. Prov. 22. 14. Hos. 4. 2 3. Prov. 2 17. 1 Cor 6. 15 19. Mal. 2. 15. Prov. 6. 32 35. Deâ—t 23. 2. Lâ—v. 21. 9. 18. 28. Numb 25. 9. Jer. 5. 7 8 9. Gen. 6. 2 3. c. Gen. 34. 27. 2 Sam. 13. 22. â— Sam. 12. 10. Judg. 20. 10. Jer. 23. 14. facto it do not actually dissolve the bond and nullifie the marriage yet it so far disobligeth the wronged innocent party that de jure it is to such a sufficient ground to warrant a divorce And God required that it be punished by death Lev. 20. 10. When lust is the chiefest cause of marriage and when married persons live not in the fear of God but pamper the flesh and live licentiously no wonder if marriage prove an insufficient remedy against such cherished lust Such carnal beastly persons are still casting fuel on the fire by wanton unbridled thoughts and speeches by gluttony drinking sports and idleness by vain enticing company and not avoiding occasions opportunities and temptations they burn as much when they are married as they did before And the Devil that bloweth up this fire in their flesh doth conduct and accommodate them in the satisfying of their lusts so that their bruitish concupiscence is like a fire burning in the Sea water it self will not quench it One Woman will not satisfie their beastiality And perhaps they loath their own wives and run after others though their own in the eye of any impartial man be the more comely and amiable and their Whores be never so deformed or impudent filthy lumps of dirt So that one would think that they had no other reason to love and follow such unlovely things but only because that God forbiddeth it As if the Devil did it to shew his power over them that he can make them do that as in despight of God which else they would abhor themselves When once their sensuality and forsaking of God hath provoked God to forsake them and give them up to the rage of that sensuality an unclean spirit sometimes takes possession of them and wholly enclineth them to wallow in uncleanness They can scarce look a comely person in the face that is of the other Sex but unclean thoughts are rising in their hearts They think of filthiness when they are alone They dream of filthiness in the night They talk of filthiness with others The tongues of the dogs that licked Lozarus his sores were not used in such a filthy employment as theirs are They are as fed Horses in the morning every one neigheth after his neighbours wife Jer. 5. 8. They declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not Isa. 3. 9. And usually when they are given over to this filthy sin it utterly debaucheth their Consciences and maketh them like blocks or beasts insensible of their misery and the wrath of God and given over to all other villanies and even to hate and persecute Godliness if not civility it self Some few Adulterers I have known that sin so much against their Consciences that they live in continual despair tormented in the sense of their own unhappiness and yet sinning still as Rev. 21. 8. Prov. 5. 20. 2 Pet. 2. 10 12 14. Read before To. 1. Ch. 8. Part 5. Tâ—t 1. if the Devil would make them a derision And yet these are the better sort because there is some testimony for a better life remaining in their minds But others of them being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Eph. 4. 19. They have eyes full of Adultery that cannot cease from sin As natural bruit beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed 2 Pet. 2. 10 11 12. Take heed therefore of the causes of this odious sin and of all appear mee of it suffer not your eye or thought to go after a stranger nor to begin a breach in your Covenant and conjugal fidelity § 6. Direct 4. Husband and wife must take Delight in the Love and Company and converse of each Direct 4. other There is nothing that mans heart is so inordinately set upon as Delight And yet the lawful delight allowed them by God they can turn into loathing and disdain The delight which would entangle you in sin and turn you from your duty and from God is it that is forbidden you But this is a Delight that is helpful to you in your duty and would keep you from sin When Husband and Wife take pleasure in each other it uniteth them in duty it helpeth them with ease to do their work and bear their â—urdens and is not the least part of the comfort of the married state Prov. 5. 18 19. Rejoyce with the wife of thy youth as the loving Hind and pleasant Roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht always with her love Therefore a Wife is called The desire of the eyes Ezek. 24. 16. Avoid therefore all things that may represent you unpleasant or unlovely to each other And use all lawful means to cherish complacency and delight not by foolish ridiculous or proud attire or immodest actions but by cleanness and decency and kind deportment Nastiness and uncleanness and unseemly carriage and foolish speech and whatever is loathsome in body or mind must be shunned as Temptations which would hinder you from that love and pleasure and content which Husband and Wife should have in one another And yet it is a foolish fleshly person that will continue Love no longer than it is cherished with all this care If there
that you behaved not your selves like such as Loved them It doth not deserve the name of Love which can leave a soul to endless misery § 12. What then shall we say of them that do not only deny their help but are hinderers of the 1 King 11. 4. Act. 5. 2. â—â—â—â—â—s Adams tempter Job 2. 9. holiness and salvation of each other And yet the Lord have mercy on the poor miserable world how common a thing is this among us If the wife be ignorant and ungodly she will do her worst to make or keep her husband such as she is her self And if God put any holy inclinations into his heart she will be to it as water to the fire to quench it or to keep it under And if he will not be as sinful and miserable as her self he shall have little quietness or rest And if God open the eyes of the wife of a bad man and shew her the amiableness and necessity of a holy life and she do but resolve to obey the Lord and save her soul what an enemy and tyrant will her husband prove to her if God restrain him not so that the Devil himself doth scarce do more against the saving of their souls than ungodly Husbands and Wives do against each other § 13. 2. Consider also that you live not up to the Ends of Marriage nor of humanity if you are not helpers to each others souls To help each other only for your bellies is to live together but like beasts You are appointed to live together as heirs of the grace of life 1 Pet. 3. 7. And husbands must love their Wives as Christ loved his Church who gave himself for it that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it that he might present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 25 26 27. That which is the end of your very life and being must be the end of your relations and your daily converse § 14. 3. Consider also if you neglect each others souls what enemies you are to one another and how you prepare for your everlasting sorrows When you should be preparing for your joyful meeting in Heaven you are laying up for your selves everlasting horrour What a dreadful meeting and greeting will you have at the bar of Christ or in the flames of hell when you shall find there how perversly you have done Is it not better to be praising God together in Glory than to be rageing 1 Thes. 5. 11. Heb. 12. 15. Col 2. 19. Eph. 4. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 5. Gen. 35. 2 4. Lev. 19. 17. against each other in the horrour of your Consciences and flying in the faces of one another with such accusations as these O cruel Husband O merciless deceitful Wife It was long of you that I came to this miserable woful End I might have lived with Christ and his Saints in Joy and now I am tormented in these flames in desperation You were commanded by God to have given me warning and told me of my sin and misery and never to let me rest in it but to have instructed and intreated me till I had come home by Christ that I might not have come to this place of torment But you never so much as spake to me of God and my salvation unless it were lightly in jeast or in your common talk If the house had been on fire you would have been more earnest to have quenched it than you were to save my soul from hell You never told me seriously of the misery of a natural unrenewed state nor of the great necessity of regeneration and a holy life nor never talkt to me of Heaven and Hell as matters of such consequence should have been mentioned But morning and night your talk was nothing but about the world and the things of the world your idle talk and jesting and froward and carnal and unprofitable discourse was it that filled up all Numb 16. 27 32. the time and we had not one sober word of our salvation You never seriously foretold me of this day You never prayed with me nor read the Scripture and good Books to me You took no pains to help me to knowledge nor to humble my hardened heart for my sins nor to save me from them nor to draw me to the Love of God and holiness by faith in Christ You did not go before me with the good example of a holy and heavenly conversation but with the evil example of an ungodly fleshly worldly life You neither cared for your own soul nor mine nor I for yours or mine own and now we are justly condemned together that would not live in Holiness together O foolish miserable souls that by your ungodliness and negligence in this life will prepare each other for such a life of endless wo and horror O therefore resolve without delay to live together as the heirs of Heaven and to be helpers to Directions to help each other to salvation each others souls To which end I will give you these following Sub-directions which if you will faithfully practise may make you to be special blessings to each other § 15. Direct 1. If you would help to save each others souls you must each of you be sure that Subdirect 1. you have a care of your own and retain a deep and lively apprehension of those great and everlasting matters of which you are to speak to others It cannot be reasonably expected that he should have Gen. 2. 18. a due compassion to anothers soul that hath none to his own and that he should be at the pains that is needful to help another to salvation that setteth so little by his own as to sell it for the base and momentany ease and pleasure of the flesh Nor is it to be expected that a man should speak with any suitable weight and seriousness about those matters whose weight his heart did never feel and about which he was never serious himself First see that you feel throughly that which you would speak profitably and that you be what you perswade another to be and that all your counsel may be perceived to arise from the bottom of your hearts and that you speak of things which by experience you are well acquainted with § 16. Direct 2. Take those opportunities which your ordinary nearness and familiarity affordeth Subdirect 2. you to be speaking seriously to each other about the matters of God and your salvation When you lye down and rise together let not your worldly business have all your talk but let God and your souls have the first and the last and at least the freest and sweetest of your speech if not the most When you have said so much of your common business as the nature and dispatch of it requireth â—ay it by and talk together of the state and duty of your souls towards God and of your hopes of Heaven as those that
take these for their greater business And speak not lightly or unreverently or in a rude and wrangling manner but with gravity and sobriety as those that are advising together about the greatest matter that ever they had to do in the world § 17. Direct 3. When either Husband or Wife is speaking seriously about holy things let the other Subdirect 3. be careful to cherish and not to extinguish and put an end to the discourse There are two wayes to cherish such discourse The first is by taking your turn and bearing a due proportion in the discourse with wisdom and gravity But all cannot do this some are but learners and those must take the second way which is to ask for resolution in matters of which they doubt or are uninstructed and to draw on more by pertinent Questions The two wayes by which such discourse is silenced are these The first is by the constant silence of the hearer When a man talketh as to a post that giveth him no answer nor putteth any pertinent question he will be wearyed out at last and will give over The second is by a cross contradicting cavilling wrangling against what is spoken or by interruptions and diversions when you come in presently with some worldly or impertinent talk and winde about from sober conference to something that is unedifying And some that will not seem meerly profane and vain and worldly will destroy all holy fruitful conference even by a kind of Religious talk presently carrying you away from Heart-searching and Heavenly discourse to some Controversie or doctrinal or formal or historical matter that is sufficiently distant from the Heart and Heaven Take heed of these courses if you would help each other § 18. Direct 4. Watch over the hearts and lives of one another and labour to discern the state of Subdirect 4. one anothers souls and the strength or weakness of each others sins and graces and the failings of each others lives that so you may be able to apply to one another the most suitable help What you are unacquainted with you cannot be very helpful in you cannot cure unknown diseases you cannot Matth 27. 19. give wise and safe advice about the state of one anothers souls if you are mistaken in them God hath placed you nearest to each other that you might have so much interest in each other as to quicken you to a loving care and so much acquaintance with each other as to keep you from misunderstanding and so from neglecting or deceiving one another And you should be alwayes provided of those fit remedies that are most needful and suitable to each others case If that Preacher be like to be dull and unsuccessful that is all upon meer Doctrine and little or nothing in close and lively application you may conceive that it will be so also with your familiar conference § 19. Direct 5. See that you neither flatter one another through fond and foolish love nor exasperate Subdirect 5. one another by a passionate or contemptuous kind of reprehension Some persons are so blinded with fond affection that they can scarce see in Husband Wife or Children any aggravated sin or misery but they think all is well that they do or not so ill as in another they would perceive it But this is the same course that self-loving sinners take with their own souls to their delusion and perdition This flattering of your selves or others is but the Devils charm to keep you from effectual repentance and salvation And the ease of such Anodynes and Narcoticks doth endure but a little while On the other side some cannot speak to one another of their faults without such bitterness of passion or contempt as tendeth to make the stomach of the receiver to lothe the Medicine and so to refuse it or to cast it up If common reproofs to strangers must all be offered in Love much more between the nearest relations § 20. Direct 6. Be sure that you keep up true Conjugal love to one another and that you grow not to Subdirect 6. disaffect the persons of each other For if you do you will despise each others counsels and reproofs They that slight or loath or are weary of each other will disdain reproofs and scorn advice from one another When entire affection greatly disposeth to the right entertainment of instruction § 21. Direct 7. Discourage not each other from instruction or reproof by taking it ill or by churlish Subdirect 7. reflections or by obstinate unreformedness When you will not learn or will not amend you discourage your instructer and reprover Men will be apt to give over when they are requited with ingratitude and snappish retortions or when they perceive that their labour is all in vain And as it is the heaviest judgement of God that befalleth any upon earth when he withdraweth his advice and help and leaveth sinners wholly to themselves so it is the saddest condition in your relations when the ignorant and sinning party is forsaken by the other and left to their own opinons and wayes Though indeed it should not be so because while there is life there is hope § 22. Direct 8. So far as you are able to instruct or quicken one another call in for better helps Subdirect 8. Engage each other in the reading of the most convincing quickning Books and in attendance on the most powerful Ministry and in profitable converse with the holiest persons Not so as to neglect your duty to one another ever the more but that all helps concurring may be the more effectual When they find you speak to them but the same things which Ministers and other Christians speak it will be the more easily received § 23. Direct 9. Conceal not the state of your souls nor hide not your faults from one another You Subdirect 9. are as one flesh and should have one heart And as it is most dangerous for a man to be unknown to himself so is it very hurtful to Husband or Wife to be unknown to one another in those cases wherein they have need of help It is foolish tenderness of your selves when you conceal your disease from your Physicion or your helpful friend And who should be so tender of you and helpful to you as you should be to one another Indeed in some few cases where the opening of a fault or secret will but tend to quench affection and not to get assistance from another it is wisdom to conceal it But that is not the ordinary case The opening your hearts to each other is necessary to your mutual help § 24. Direct 10. Avoid as much as may be contrariety of opinions in Religion For if once you Subdir 10. be of different judgements in matters which you take to be of great concernment you will be tempted to disaffect contemn or undervalue one another and so to despise the help which you might receive And if you fall into several