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<DATE>2007-06-06</DATE>
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<NAME>Robyn Anspach</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">, ESSAYES AND OBSERVATIONS <HI>Theologicall &amp; Morall.</HI></P>
<P>Wherein Many of the humours and di&s;|ea&s;es of the Age are di&s;covered, and characteriz'd: divers cautions and di|rections prae&s;cribed for the avoi|dance of their infection, and the promotion of their cure.</P>
<P>Together with &s;ome Meditations &amp; Prayers adjoyn'd, &s;erving to the &s;ame purpo&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>By a Student in Theologie.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL>JOB. 32. <HI>v.</HI> 7, 8, 10.</BIBL>
<P>I &s;aid; Dayes &s;hould &s;peake, and multitude of yeares &s;hould teach wi&s;edome.</P>
<P>But there is a &s;pirit in man, and the in&s;piration of the Almighty giveth under&s;tanding.</P>
<P>&mdash;I al&s;o will &s;hew mine opinion.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON, Printed by </HI>R. W.<HI> for </HI>R. Davis<HI> in Oxon. </HI>1654.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>To the lively Patternes of reall Chri&s;tianity his honoured Parents.</HEAD>
<P><HI>_I</HI> Have great cau&s;e to feare the liquor I have expre&s;&s;ed from the&s;e unripe grapes may di&s;reli&s;h in your expe|rienced, and judicious Pa|lates: and that what I now
<PB REF="3">
de&s;igne as an humble te&s;ti|mony of my duty and ob&s;er|vance, I may my &s;elfe ere long condemn to the flames as a libell and indignity to the relation I am ho|noured with from you. Yet having thus adventured the u&s;age of the World (which certainly is grown in all re&s;pects more pee|vi&s;h, &amp; ill-natur'd of late then formerly) I knew not how to &s;cruple my appro|ach to your gates, whither
<PB REF="3">
(if to any place) pro&s;cri|bed Candor and Humanity has retired. Were I to limne out the exact pour|traicture of that charity, Christian prudence, and moderation (to which I chiefely purpos'd to do ho|mage in the&s;e &s;heetes) I &s;hould place no other Ar|chetype before my eyes but your &s;elves. But I &s;hall pray for an <HI>Apelles</HI> for that piece: in the mea~e time may it plea&s;e you to illu&s;t|rate
<PB REF="4">
the&s;e ob&s;cure &s;had|dowes with your grati|ous radiation, and accep|tance.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your&punc;</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>To the indifferent Reader.</HEAD>
<P>_I Hold it very un|nece&s;&s;ary to make an apology for coming forth in print: if the book do not that for the Author, 'tis pa&s;t the power of his Epi&s;tle. Nei|ther have I altogether &s;o much charity beyond di&s;|cretion as to believe the ut|mo&s;t of all excu&s;es writers make for them &s;elves, and thinke I have &s;ome cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect, that what &s;ome &s;ay <HI>[Their widdow's mite is not to be contemned, That a de&s;ire to</HI>
<PB REF="5">
<HI>doe good according to that little a man has ought favourably to be accepted, That they durst not hide their &s;ingle talent, though they acknowledge how &s;mall that is,</HI> and the like] may have more of form in them then of trueth divers times; &amp; that if the&s;e mode&s;t mejo&s;ies were converted into the plain &s;en&s;e of their &s;ecret thoughts, they would &s;alute the Readers eare in another &s;tyle, I &s;hall not therefore provoke my Reader to pa&s;&s;e the &s;ame &s;entence on me, which I have on others, but &s;hall freely acknowledge
<PB REF="5">
that a <HI>Cacoethes &s;cribendi</HI> had &s;ome mixture with my more ju&s;tifiable inducements to this work; which if thou de&s;ire&s;t furthar to be &s;atisfied in, take this account. Having often in the diver&s;ion of my &s;tudies (For I mu&s;t tell thee they are much of another nature) occa&s;ionally glanced upon &s;ome &s;uch con&s;iderati|ons, &amp; a long time as lightly pa&s;&s;ed from them, I began at length to que&s;tion whether I were not injurious to my Genius, or rather a &s;uperiour benevolence to bury &s;uch thoughts in their concepti|on?
<PB REF="6">
Mu&s;ing a while here|on, I found at length that what was &s;o ea&s;ily repre&s;en|ted was not as ea&s;ily recal|led, and that I had cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect that po&s;&s;ibly whil&s;t I laboured with more in|tention to <HI>gather grapes of</HI> thornes, I might loo&s;e <HI>figges</HI> ready to drop into my mouth. Hereupon I u&s;ed more providence for the future, and as I had &s;uch a thought &s;ugge&s;ted, I pre&s;ent|ly committed it to paper. At length upon a review I con|ceited them &s;uch (for I will not conceale this weakne&s;&s;e from thee) as might perhaps
<PB REF="6">
not without &s;ome profit be &s;ent to the Pre&s;&s;e, and &s;o I gave them my <HI>Inprimantur.</HI> Thus Reader thou had&s;t my de&s;ignes, and my motives thereunto in their true co|lours. I confe&s;&s;e I had ra|ther be accounted a foole, than an hypocrite, and yet rather be accounted a hypo|crite, than be one. That I &s;ubjoyn'd a caution now and then, was becau&s;e I fea|red divers in this age to re|&s;emble the <HI>Thornes David</HI> mentioned at his la&s;t, <HI>that cannot be taken with</HI> [bare] <HI>hands but the man that touch|eth them mu&s;t be fenced with</HI>
<PB REF="7">
<HI>iron</HI> &amp;c: and if the courte|ous Reader think the like wanting in other places, I de&s;ire his charity to believe them under&s;tood. And now if I can perceive that the&s;e few notions procure any Chri&s;tian the lea&s;t advan|tage, as I pray God they may, I &s;hall not be quite di&s;ani|mated either by the har&s;h cen&s;ure from others, which I expect, or the condemna|tory &s;entence of ra&s;hne&s;&s;e &amp; precocity, which I am more &s;ure of from my &s;elfe; but &s;hall think it a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e not wholly to be repe~ted of, that another has been benefitted
<PB REF="7">
though by my indi&s;cretion. La&s;tly, if this hope faile me (yet I hope not) I have one more in re&s;erve, and that is to be edifyed my &s;elfe by hearing and &s;eeing my Book laught at; which that thou may'&s;t the more free|ly do (if thou thinke&s;t it de|&s;erves it) I &s;hall not tell thee my name, but am</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thy Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="8">
<PB REF="8">
<HEAD>Apremunition for the Reader.</HEAD>
<P>IT's reported that the harve&s;t <HI>Py|thagoras</HI> reaped of his long &s;tudy was <HI>Nil admirari,</HI> a freedome from wonder. <HI>I</HI> dare not boa&s;t of the pro|gre&s;&s;e of mine; yet according to what <HI>I</HI> have made, <HI>I</HI> find the contrary won|ders increa&s;e. The more <HI>I</HI> looke into my &s;elf, the more <HI>I</HI> looke abroad, <HI>I</HI> di&s;|cover the more thinges that provoke my admiration, and the &s;ame things when not &s;trange to me, yet upon fur|ther in &s;ight cea&s;e not to be wo~derfull. and therefore Reader <HI>I</HI> de&s;ire thee not to wonder; if, when thou thinke&s;t not the di&s;coveries new, the <HI>exordium</HI> of &s;ome of my Ob&s;ervations be, It &s;eems &s;trange to me, or <HI>I</HI> wonder.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<PB REF="9" MS="y">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P>THe mi&s;takes of the Pre&s;&s;es (for more than one was made u&s;e of for expedition &s;ake) which &s;eem mo&s;t likely to endanger the &s;en&s;e are here corrected. As for &s;maller ones, it was thought fit rather to leave them to the Readers candor, than di&s;courage him with a whole page of Errata's.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>In the E&s;&s;ayes.</HEAD>
<P>Pag. 17. lin. 5. for <HI>all</HI> r. <HI>at.</HI> p. 18. l. 1. for <HI>their</HI> r. <HI>the Galatians account.</HI> p. 25. l. 3. for <HI>lighte&s;t</HI> r <HI>high|e&s;t.</HI> p 30. l. 1&punc; r. <HI>effected.</HI> p. 65. l. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. r. <HI>God grant&punc;</HI> p. 58. l. 12. after <HI>that</HI> r <HI>(as I have heard)</HI> p. 67. l. 21. r. <HI>haven&punc;</HI> p. 69. l. 24. r. <HI>A Kempis.</HI> p. 106. l: 18. for <HI>&s;trange</HI> r. <HI>&s;tale.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>In the Meditations.</HEAD>
<P>Advert: for <HI>the eyes</HI> r&punc; <HI>their eyes</HI> pag. 3. l. 13. for <HI>not them</HI> r. <HI>n<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> man.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="9" MS="y">
<HEAD>ESAYES AND OBSERVATIONS.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Some few of the Vanities and Ab&s;urdityes in VVriters and Readers.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;erva|tion</HI> 1.</NOTE> _I Have often won|dered what in the world &s;hould per|&s;wade &s;o many to write Bookes: if you &s;ay their eyes are not open to di&s;|cerne their owne weakne&s;&s;es and the ill &s;ucce&s;&s;e of others, I won|der the more how they can &s;ee to write in the <HI>darke.</HI> Some pre|&s;ent us with daintyes at anothers
<PB N="2" REF="10">
co&s;t: and thinke they &s;hall <HI>Take</HI> much by converting the originall &s;en&s;e into their owne wor&s;e words. Some think borrowed collections of the <HI>Terra filius's</HI> and <HI>Prevaricators</HI> wit worth prin|ting: and yet, after percolation through their braines, the Fre&s;h-Man him&s;elfe &s;carce thinks them worthy his former Humme and &s;tampe. Some have wit of their <HI>owne</HI> at will, but can they think they have therefore the readers patience and his peny &s;o too, or that the trifles they adore mu&s;t exact wor&s;hip from all men el&s;e? Some write to plea&s;e fools, and let wi&s;er heades pa&s;&s;e what &s;entence they will on their works; they ap|plaud them&s;elves at home and are acquitted by their Peeres: and I would that &s;ome who thinke better of what they doe could at|te&s;t it unto our experience. Some
<PB N="3" REF="10">
thinke to make amends for what they have erred before by a &s;e|cond edition, or The other Part of the &s;ame: but can they hope when they have frayed the Bird far away by the fir&s;t &s;tone, they &s;hall hit it with the third or the fourth? Some out of mode&s;ty conceale their names, and yet they leave markes enough in their Bookes to be de&s;cryed: or if they doe not, they hope the difficult di&s;covery may advance their re|putation. Some fancie they &s;hall have much credit for a Greeke word here and there interpo&s;ed, but who knoweth how often they con&s;ult the Book to accent right? Some pitty the Readers igno|rance, and I would they did not more betray their owne? How &s;ollicitous are many of the rea|ders profit, and when they come to a &s;peciall &s;entence they <HI>Digit</HI>
<PB N="4" REF="11">
it &s;treight, and that mu&s;t make a|mends for the <HI>tedium</HI> of the for|mer page&punc; whereas, in a booke that de&s;erves printing, there is &s;carce a <HI>Categorematicall</HI> word, but as well de&s;erves a marke. Some are at their journeyes end &s;oone, and when they lye at the lowe&s;t &s;taire of invention, they thinke it impo&s;&s;ible to a&s;cend higher. Some write out of &s;erious de&s;ignes, and yet I wi&s;h they did not admini&s;ter occa&s;ion to others of an other temper. Some tell us a &s;ad &s;to|ry; how much the Age is injured by the <HI>lo&s;&s;e</HI> of &s;ome of their works: and yet how little do they help us to believe it by what they have <HI>&s;aved?&punc;</HI> Some fancy they inrich the Age with choice <HI>&s;ecrets:</HI> and yet &s;ee as farre into a Mil&s;tone, as into their own <HI>hearts.</HI> Some thinke they can never, benefit us enough: but, meethinks, &s;ince S^t <HI>Iohn</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="11">
wrote &s;o &s;hort a hi&s;tory of what he might have filled the world with books, they might contract them|&s;elves to a le&s;&s;er bulke. Some labour after moderation betwene parties: and yet I wonder they then put &s;o much viniger in their inke? Or can others thinke to re|forme the vices of the Age by <HI>laughing</HI> as them only, and &s;o committing a greater them&s;elves? However there are &s;ome that en|deavour to doe that little good they can, and when that is joyned with humility and di&s;cretion, I hugely accept it: &amp; a few there are able to do much, and <HI>Oh</HI> that the world would &s;uffer them!</P>
<P>The Reader al&s;o has his vani|ties, too many to be noted in this ha&s;t. Some &s;terile braines envy others men di&s;coveries, &amp; if they meete with a thought publi&s;hed which they Lock'd up as the jewel
<PB N="6" REF="12">
of their owne invention, they pre|&s;ently in a lamentable tone cry out, They are robd, they are robd! &amp; yet they weare &s;o hard a pave|ment on their brains, that, tis not ea&s;y to think how any thing could be pick'd thence. Some like <HI>Alex|ander</HI> in his youth, are ill at ea&s;e that &s;o much is acted before they come on the &s;tage, and feare there will be no <HI>part</HI> left for them, and yet, it would puzzle a Diviner too choo&s;e out <HI>any one</HI> for which they are fit. Some fall into <HI>Iulius Cae|&s;ars</HI> pa&s;&s;ion, that anothey Man ri|&s;eth to high fame at their yeares: but do they thinke the Ballcourts, the Tavernes, or wor&s;e places the ready way to doe wonders in print? Some let <HI>writing books</HI> a|lone, and read to benefit them|&s;elves: but do they hope to be nouri&s;hed with the bare &s;ight or ta&s;t of their meat? Some are &s;o
<PB N="7" REF="12">
taken with an Authour that they loo&s;e them&s;elves, and are ready at every clo&s;e to exclaime <GAP DESC="foreign">; He mu&s;t be more then man that thus &s;peaketh, and yet the per&s;on it may be has Wormes (good &s;tore) in his brains, and my thinks it &s;hould di&s;courage their idola|try, that tho&s;e who &s;ee &s;o over|much in others are reputed to have very little in them&s;elves. Some plaine hearts light on a pro|fitable treati&s;e, like it well, and could be edified by it, but that it is not nam'd a <HI>Sermon:</HI> Or it may be they &s;ay; tis pitty there were not more <HI>Scripture</HI> in it, when tis but too oft there to be <HI>quoted.</HI> Some have their eyes turn'd yel|low at the &s;ight of thinges, &s;o much above their heavy heads: and yet their tongues are nimble enough, to &s;ay; &s;uch pregnant parts are often void of grace.
<PB N="8" REF="13">
La&s;tly &s;ome few read books with|out uncharitable reflections on the Authour, and are glad to be profited though they know not by whom: God increa&s;e their number.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="warning">
<HEAD>Caution.</HEAD>
<P>THe ingenius Reader is de&s;ir'd to di&s;tingui&s;h between Authors, and believe, I mean no di&s;paragement to &s;uch as are above my reach. Im|po&s;&s;ible be it for any to think, I would &s;eem to be without vanityes my &s;elfe: I &s;e a world within me, and &s;hould be glad any would di&s;cover more; and I a&s;&s;ure him among&s;t other writers, and readers, I have not &s;pared my &s;elfe. Nay I &s;hall confe&s;&s;e to thee that I have been &s;o farre gone in one, that I have been forced to my prayers; that I might count all things dung and dro&s;&s;e in compari&s;on of Chri&s;t and his
<PB N="9" REF="13">
Scriptures. And I petition my more Serious Reader he will not think I induldge a light &s;atyricall veine, in that this &s;ubject hath carryed mee &s;o far in the&s;e un&s;tudied thoughts. I &s;hall indeavour to make him amends in what followeth.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Concerning forcible Impre&s;sions.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;er.</HI> 2.</NOTE> AS there is a &s;upernaturall illu|mination whereby a child of God perceives the things which others &s;ee, but perceive not: and a &s;pirituall opening of the heart cordially to imbrace the things, which float onely in the &s;urface of other mens brains, or but un|dulate their affections at be&s;t: &s;o al&s;o are there different impre&s;&s;i|ons of an inferiour nature, which the &s;ame trueth maketh on diver&s;e &s;ubjects, yea and many times on
<PB N="10" REF="14">
the &s;ame &s;ubject, at diver&s;e &s;ea|&s;ons. There may be &s;uch a <HI>con&s;pi|racy</HI> of <HI>circum&s;tances</HI> (&s;ome times di&s;cernible &s;ometimes not) &s;o di&s;|po&s;ing a man, that at one time &s;uch an ob&s;ervation, or &s;uch a di&s;cour&s;e may be as gratefull to him as the coole waters of the well of Beth|lehem were to <HI>David:</HI> which at another time the &s;ame man can reli&s;h no more, then <HI>Job</HI> did the white of an egge. The words of the wi&s;e (I know <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;aith) <HI>are like goads</HI> and <HI>nailes fa&s;tened by the ma&s;ters of the A&s;&s;emblies:</HI> and yet the&s;e pierce deeper when they meete with an object &s;o &s;oftened for impre&s;&s;ion: &amp; 'tis not the lea&s;t part of their wi&s;dome to make a good gue&s;&s;e thereat. I am confi|dent the <HI>Ma&s;ters</HI> of our <HI>A&s;&s;em|blies</HI> might finde it profitable e|nough more to &s;tudy this <HI>Art:</HI> &amp; yet I am not ignorant that <HI>Solo|mons</HI>
<PB N="11" REF="14">
character concerning a <HI>word &s;poken</HI> in <HI>&s;ea&s;on</HI> is often in their mouthes, though &s;ometimes they therewith u&s;her in a di&s;cour&s;e, which hath little imaginable in it to make it &s;eeme <HI>in &s;ea&s;on,</HI> but that good things are never <HI>out.</HI> I have often thought I have heard a Ser|mon, in but one <HI>Text</HI> opportunely applyed: and have had my head not once more in&s;tructed, and my affections more moved by one <HI>&s;hort</HI> &s;entence, or a <HI>clo&s;e</HI> reproofe; than I can many times perceive by a whole <HI>Doctrine, Rea&s;ons</HI> and <HI>U&s;e.</HI> I doubt not but men <HI>meane well,</HI> and I know <HI>God choo&s;eth the fooli&s;h things of the world to con|found the wi&s;e:</HI> yet this hindereth me not, but that I &s;hould wi&s;h them the be&s;t in&s;tructed that may be, who thinke them&s;elves fitt to teach, and I tremble (as much as any I hope) to have the weake&s;t of
<PB N="12" REF="15">
Gods me&s;&s;ingers lightly regar|ded.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Of Naturall weakne&s;&s;es.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> 3.</NOTE>It is a &s;trange thing to ob&s;erve what force and pertinacity there is in &s;ome naturall weakne&s;&s;es and a &s;tranger yet that &s;o many men &s;o little heed it, but pre&s;ume &s;o largly on them&s;elves. To &s;peake my owne experience, I have of|ten taken notice of a particular infirmity in my &s;elfe (which is not nece&s;&s;ary for the reader to be named) have condemned it as a folly worth laughing at in others, and unworthy the e&s;teeme my friends charity have conferred on my &s;elfe, which I haue often &s;uffered by, which I have reproved in the very acting, and hated af|terwards: and yet againe and a|gaine fall into it (notwith&s;tand|ing
<PB N="13" REF="15">
all my di&s;cour&s;es, rea&s;onings, re&s;olvings, and experimentall &s;mart for it) as if there were witch-craft in that proverbe.</P>
<P><HI>Naturam expellas furc&acirc;, licet u&s;|qut recurret.</HI> My &s;oule! this ca&s;e is be&s;ide religion: yet I doubt if thou look narrowly into thy &s;elfe, thou mighte&s;t find it many <HI>paral|lels</HI> of that <HI>concernment.</HI> Let this admoni&s;h thee that it is not in <HI>man that walketh to direct his way, but in him, from whom are the very prepa|rations of the heart.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Concerning the &s;ympathy of Soules.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> 4.</NOTE> THere is a &s;trange hermony be|tween &s;ome &s;oules: &amp; though all true Chri&s;tians are ty'd to|gether by a my&s;ticall union, yet &s;ome of the&s;e do more &s;ympathize betweene them&s;elves then do o|thers.
<PB N="14" REF="16">
I have more then once met with an authour, that hath &s;o hap|pily expre&s;&s;ed his owne thoughts (and in &s;ome part mine too) in points of charity, or humility, or holy jealou&s;y over a mans owne &s;pirit, that, me thought, he utter|ed his &s;oule to me, and unbowel|led the very heart of an experien|ced awefull chri&s;tian. I have &s;eem+ed exactly to know the man, though I never &s;aw his face: and have beene ready to leave my bo|dy behind to &s;earch him out, to have purer communication with his &s;pirit, and to mingle together our &s;oules.</P>
<P>My owne heart is &s;o deceitfull, that I dare not be overbold in making too confident conclu|&s;ions upon my &s;elfe: much le&s;&s;e dare I hold it (any whit) im|po&s;&s;ible I might frame a wrong <HI>Jdea</HI> of another. Yet I have met
<PB N="15" REF="16">
with &s;ome men that have &s;o fully and experimentally expre&s;&s;ed to me the <HI>power of Godlyne&s;&s;e</HI> in them; that I have beene ready to &s;ay as in&s;pired <HI>Paul</HI> did of his fruits of the Lord: that I knew their ele|ction; and conclude without any re&s;erve of he&s;itation, <HI>that this is the true grace</HI> of <HI>God wherein</HI> they <HI>&s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>Verily I per&s;wade my &s;elfe I lie open to no danger (of that na|ture) more then of being led in|to an errour, or inconvenience by the authotity of a per&s;on that hath &s;o gained &s;uch an intere&s;t in me. And therefore becau&s;e <HI>God only is wi&s;e, and deceives not, nor can be deceived, but every man a lyer;</HI> I &s;hall ever make the Italian Proverbe my prayer;
<Q>A chi mi fide mi guarda Dio</Q>
Farre more open to danger do they lye, who beleive &s;uch can|not
<PB N="16" REF="17">
erre who&s;e <HI>per&s;ons</HI> (it may be for &s;ome advantage) <HI>they have in admiration:</HI> and therefore cre|dit the <HI>Go&s;pell,</HI> becau&s;e in their <HI>mouthes.</HI> But que&s;tionle&s;&s;e, if the <HI>wi&s;e</HI> virgins had no oyle to &s;pare for others lamps, in the next world, they mu&s;t &s;it in utter darkne&s;&s;e, who in this borrow all their light from <HI>fooles.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Concerning ill will un|de&s;erved.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">5 <HI>Ob&s;erva:</HI></NOTE> TWas not <HI>Jerimies</HI> hard condi|tion only, no nor that mo|derne German Divines, to make that bitter expo&s;tulation; <HI>Woe is wee my mother that thou ha&s;t borne mee a man of &s;trife, and a man of con|tention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on u&s;ury, neither have men lent on u&s;ury to me, and yet e|very one of them doth cur&s;e me.</HI> There
<PB N="17" REF="17">
are tho&s;e in every age that might claime a &s;hare in that complaint, but how many in this? Diver&s;e with that Prophet are far from <HI>de&s;iring</HI> or rejoicing all <HI>the evill day (God he knoweth it)</HI> and yet every man thinks they bode and meane them ill. Many compare them to <HI>I&s;hmael, who&s;e hand was again&s;t eve|ry man,</HI> and they receive <HI>I&s;hmaels</HI> portion from others; <HI>Every mans hand</HI> and tongue is <HI>again&s;t</HI> them: And though they are <HI>for peace</HI> (none more) yet when they <HI>&s;peake thereof</HI> to others (who agree well enough among them&s;elves) they <HI>make them&s;elves ready for</HI> conten|tion: &s;o that to the outward eye the fault &s;eemeth next tho&s;e from whom it is farthe&s;t. That coura|gious <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> was &s;omewhat di&s;|heartned, (or greived at lea&s;t) <HI>that the more be loved</HI> his Corin|thians <HI>the le&s;&s;e he was beloved:</HI> and
<PB N="18" REF="18">
that (in their accompt) <HI>he was be|come their enemie for telling them the truth.</HI> An ingenuous &s;oule hateth no imputation more, than that of being a <HI>Timon</HI> (and good rea&s;on too, there is none but a De|vill further from a Chri&s;tian:) what an affliction and wound mu&s;t it needs be to the very heart of meeke Chri&s;tians, to lie unde|&s;ervedly under this cen&s;ure; to have their good meanings ill in|terpreted, and their very indea|vours to explaine them&s;elves, mi&s;con&s;trued or not believed? How many are counted bu&s;y pragmaitcks in the world, that meddle with no mans affairs, but when they thinke con&s;cience and charity obliegeth them, and then but fearefully too? Howbeit if a &s;mall indi&s;cretion or mi&s;take be committed, (from the which the highe&s;t Saints are not wholly pri|viledged)
<PB N="19" REF="18">
oh into what foule names are they aggravated! and one &s;uch errour committed mu&s;t &s;toppe their mouths for the fu|ture, although from &s;peaking truth, and now &s;uch attempts lie under double prejudice.</P>
<P>However, the ca&s;e is not yet at the &s;adde&s;t&punc; if this mea&s;ure be mea&s;ured to them from &s;uch as are friends to none who are ene|mies to their &s;innes: but if tho&s;e that &s;eeme better Chri&s;tians ex|pre&s;&s;e &s;omewhat of this nature to|wards them, if to them their breath be offen&s;ive, and &s;uch as &s;hould be their <HI>Familiars</HI> draw a|way, or <HI>&s;tand aloofe off</HI> them, all|though they <HI>intreate them with</HI> the <HI>words</HI> of a guilele&s;&s;e <HI>mouth;</HI> oh in|to what bitter complaints like tho&s;e wee read of <HI>Job</HI> and <HI>Heman,</HI> mu&s;t they nece&s;&s;arily breake out? &amp; yet I am confident&punc; God out of
<PB N="20" REF="19">
gracious de&s;igne &s;uffers many of his deare children to be exerci&s;ed by this temptation; under which certainly they would &s;ink, did not God &s;upport them by a &s;trong hand.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;er.</HI> 6.</NOTE> Vncharitable Mi&s;takes.</HEAD>
<P>THere is one mi&s;take rife a|mong&s;t Chri&s;tians, the Mo|ther of many inconveniences and much uncharitablene&s;&s;e, and that is, Mens pa&s;&s;ing a judgment upon others according to what they have experimented in them&s;elves, or at lea&s;t believe &s;o. How ma|ny bu&s;y braines, as if they we<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="foreign">, take upon them to read the &s;ecrets of others hearts, and frame unto them&s;elves &s;uch and &s;uch <HI>Idea's</HI> of other mens tempers, Spirits, de&s;igns, and com|monly take the <HI>coppy</HI> from them|&s;elves
<PB N="21" REF="19">
(though they perceive it not,) and then every thin <HI>colour</HI> &s;erveth them for a <HI>demon&s;tration?</HI> What ra&s;hne&s;&s;e is it in &s;ome men to require of others an exact ac|compt of the time and other cir|cum&s;tances of their conver&s;ion, a legible hi&s;tory of the conflicts and agonies of their &s;oules, and (what is harde&s;t of all) a po&s;itive deter|mination how the ca&s;e &s;tands with the~ now in particulars, &amp; all this to be done, according to the &s;tandard of what they have felt or fancied in them&s;elves? Whereas many a true <HI>I&s;raelite</HI> may wander out his whole life in the wilder|ne&s;&s;e; and a <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him&s;elfe not have a full &s;ight of <HI>Canaan</HI> till his la&s;t minute. Bu ala&s;&s;e; how gro&s;ely doe &s;uch men forget what they &s;o often read, <HI>that the heart only knowes its owne heavine&s;&s;e, and a &s;tranger cannot [fully] partake of his joy, that</HI>
<PB N="22" REF="20">
<HI>the &s;pirit, like the winde, bloweth when, and where, and how it li&s;teth, that grace is compared</HI> by Truth it &s;elfe <HI>to &s;eeds and plants which &s;pring and grow a man &s;eeth not, knowth not how?</HI> There are &s;ome Chri&s;tians that have run through &s;uch a maze in their lives, that they cannot track their owne &s;teps: Some have their evidences &s;o blurred, and interlined, that their owne eyes will not &s;erve many times to read them. Too many, like <HI>Hagar,</HI> &s;ee not the wels of con&s;olation before them, and &s;ome meete with &s;uch riddles in their &s;ouls, or &s;uch mi|&s;teryes in the method of Gods dealing with them; that the next world only can re&s;olve and inter|pret them&punc; And 'twould be a hard &s;entence to conclude all &s;uch un|&s;anctified per&s;ons, that cannot a&s;|&s;ure them&s;elves (much le&s;s others) that they are not &s;uch.</P>
<P><PB N="23" REF="20">
This error is then mo&s;t dange|rous when it &s;wayeth the pulpit, and is oftner there I feare then taken notice of. 'Tis the duty of &s;uch as &s;peake from that place (I doubt not) to exhort us to <HI>examine and try our &s;elves whether wee be in the faith, to give all diligence to make our calling and election &s;ure.</HI> It is their duty too, to take care <HI>they grieve not a weake brother for whom Chri&s;t Dyed,</HI> or drive a &s;tray &s;heepe further from the fold. There are criterions (I que&s;tion not) which di&s;criminate betweene the &s;heep, &amp; the Goates, yet it is not impo&s;|&s;ible for any but the chiefe &s;hep|heard to faile &s;ometimes in the application.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="24" REF="21">
<HEAD>The Vaine Mans &s;elf-miracle</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;er.</HI> 7.</NOTE> THere are &s;ome men who&s;e braines are filled with a very little, and yet think all mens el&s;e with much le&s;&s;e. How difficultly are they per&s;waded to believe, that tho&s;e who know more know &s;o much as them&s;elves, and if they are overcome by &s;ome conviction irre&s;i&s;tible, yet will they create &s;ome choice fanta&s;ticall circum|&s;tances or other, whereby their knowledge of the &s;ame things mu&s;t out-value other mens. If by chance they light upon a good thought or ob&s;ervation (which though new to them, is yet com|mon and familiar to wi&s;er heads) &s;trait wayes with <HI>Pythagoras</HI> they cry <GAP DESC="foreign">, and can hardly forbeare Sacrificing Hacatombs to their good &s;tarres. T hey thinke
<PB N="25" REF="21">
they are borne to oblige the whole world by their great parts: and they account it the lighte&s;t &s;in to be par&s;imonious of them. The deepe commi&s;eration they have of the mi&s;takes, and follyes, and ignorances of the age makes them alwaies eager to fly up to the Theater; and if &s;ome &s;mall occa&s;ion be pre&s;ented more ju&s;ti|fiable then u&s;uall, they are like <HI>El<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hu</HI> in <HI>Iob; Behold they are full of matter, and their &s;pirit within them con&s;traines them: Their Belly is as wine which has no vent, and if they &s;hould now hold their peace, they &s;hould bur&s;t like new bottels;</HI> and yet by the leave of their rare gifts, many of tho&s;e, they &s;o take upon them to in&s;truct, may reply as <HI>Iob</HI> did to his other freinds; <HI>Sure</HI> [as ye take your &s;elves] <HI>yee are the men, and wi&s;dome mu&s;t dye with you. But we have under&s;tanding as well as you, we</HI>
<PB N="26" REF="22">
<HI>are not inferiour to you: yea who know not &s;uch things as the&s;e? How forcible are are right words: but what dorh your arguing reprove?</HI> But &s;hould an Angel tell them this &s;to|ry, they would &s;carce be drawne to credit him; but thinke &s;till their meane&s;t thoughts de&s;erve Golden Characters, though their fancy at the highe&s;t &s;carce exceeds the tract of obvious di&s;cour&s;e. God forbid this humour &s;hould carry any man up into the Pulpit. To|wards that Sacred function (which above all other I honour and reverence, and for which I wi&s;h my &s;elfe once competently &s;ufficient) I cannot thinke I can u&s;e candor enough. Far be from me an uncharitable &s;u&s;pition to|wards Per&s;ons engaged in that employment, which is &s;o deeply intere&s;&s;ed in humility and &s;elfe denyall, which has already
<PB N="27" REF="22">
&s;o little encouragement in the world, and is like to have le&s;&s;e. I dare not, like <HI>Miriam, &s;peak,</HI> nay nor think again&s;t a <HI>Servant</HI> of the Lord, be he but a <HI>Doore Keeper,</HI> as well as a <HI>Mo&s;e, s</HI>or an <HI>Aaron.</HI> Expe|rience tels me the &s;tronge&s;t brains have not alwaies done God and his Church the be&s;t &s;ervice: and this I &s;hall thinke a warrant for &s;ome of le&s;&s;e abilities. Yea, if the ca&s;e neede, I &s;hall &s;trive to &s;up|po&s;e many other pious incite|ments in tho&s;e, in whom I cannot di&s;cover, nor &s;carce imagine them. Yet I cannot deny, but &s;ome (and the more is the pitty, if many) mingle &s;uch ra&s;h confi|dence with their unexperienc'd ignorance in that dreadfull place, that it would puzzle a charity, which is not blind &amp; deafe too, to excu&s;e them from this vanity, or frame a better apology for them.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="warning">
<PB N="28" REF="23">
<HEAD>Caution.</HEAD>
<P>LEa&s;t a Reader may think the for|mer part of the proceeding E&s;&s;ay my owne Charecter (which if he does, God forgive him. I do) Let him know, that I publi&s;h not the&s;e Ob&s;ervations for &s;uch as have taken notice of them already, and farre better then my&s;elfe, (which I beleive are multitudes) but for tho&s;e that as yet have not, withall I &s;hould be glad that tho&s;e whom I cannot &s;uppo&s;e ignorant of them, would in their practi&s;e more demon|&s;trate it. For my owne part, I have been in the two extreames (of which <HI>Quintilian</HI> knew not whether mo&s;t to blame) one while not any thing I did, but liked me highly (yet owning what ever I had for Gods free Gui<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s) and afterward not any thing I did but was quite as farre from it, yet then too, not calling God illiberall. And if at the
<PB N="29" REF="23">
pre&s;ent I am not in the mean, yet I hope I am coming neere it. I &s;hall tell thee further (if thou wilt believe I doe it without any indirect de&s;igne) that there is nothing for which I have wra&s;tled with God more (<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd that with prayers and teares) then for lowly and charitable &s;pirit: and I have a good hope that for the interce&s;&s;ion of his Son, He has not &s;hut out my prayer.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;er.</HI> 8.</NOTE> Difference of Parts.</HEAD>
<P>I Have often ob&s;erved (but &s;el|dome without wonder) the di|ver&s;ity of mens parts: though lam not thereby induced with a French Authour to conclude the difference greater between &s;ome men and others&punc; then betweene &s;ome men and Bruits. It has beene oft ob&s;erved how that &s;ome men in the diver&s;ion of their
<PB N="30" REF="24">
&s;tudies have affected with ea&s;e, what would have been too great a task for an Age of &s;ome plodding <HI>&s;tudents</HI> &s;erious thoughts. But this puzzleth me mo&s;t. That a|mong young men I perceive tho&s;e allotted be&s;t parts, who either lea&s;t value them, or lea&s;t mind their re|all improvement. That a merry boon Blade (that pa&s;&s;ionately af|fects the Tavern, or companions, or his dog, or hor&s;e, or &s;omething <HI>Wor&s;e,</HI> and that &s;o much beyond the cloy&s;ters and Books which he accounts&punc;him&s;elfe &s;o unluckily al|lyed to) &s;hall yet pa&s;&s;e with gene|rall e&s;teeme, and come off (in any bu&s;ine&s;s) with applau&s;e; whil&s;t the clo&s;e &s;tudent &s;its neglected in his cell, or comes abroad, &amp; is &s;miled at; men wondring what infecti|on he has got from his cobwebs, and du&s;t, and he him&s;elfe too of|ten bewailing his deare penny|worthes,
<PB N="31" REF="24">
and &s;ometimes in the Poets phra&s;e interrogating him|&s;elfe, whether it de&s;erve &s;o much paines, and watching only.</P>
<P><HI>Pallere &amp; toto vinum ne&s;cire De|cembri?</HI> 'Tis &s;aid (for a <HI>miracle)</HI> of the gatherers of <HI>Manna, That he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack:</HI> but it &s;eemes an <HI>ab&s;ur|dity</HI> here that the indu&s;trious ga|therer &s;hould want, and the Tru|ant have to &s;pare. I am not &s;o nigh Athei&s;t as to allow. For|tune a hand in this uneven di&s;tri|bution, but therein di&s;cerne a finger of providence which rules all. It may be God will have the edge of ambition taken off fir&s;t, and that requireth yeares. It may be He will have a man at a lo&s;&s;e to him&s;elfe in his parts, that &s;o he may the more readily acknow|ledge all he has Gods gift, and
<PB N="32" REF="25">
con&s;equently with le&s;&s;e temptati|on to pride, or &s;elfe &s;eeking im|ploy all in Gods &s;ervice, Many o|ther gracious intentions God may have towards the&s;e backward per|&s;ons, whereas on the contrary the former per&s;on parts <HI>peri&s;h</HI> commonly in <HI>the u&s;ing,</HI> yea and many times too before that. 'Its no common thing to &s;ee the &s;ame party in reputation both in his youth, and in his full age: and be|cau&s;e they come to &s;ame to &s;oon, they keepe not in it long. The lavi&s;h prai&s;es men be&s;tow upon their <HI>Juvenile</HI> attainments makes them thinke they are come to their <HI>Nil Ultra</HI> then, and therefore (labouring onely for them&s;elves, and thinking vaine breath reward enough) for want of going for|ward, they go back. Thus what at the <HI>Horizon</HI> promis'd a glori|ous noone-day Sunne &s;uddenly
<PB N="33" REF="25">
vani&s;heth into a &s;nuffe. I &s;hould prophe&s;ie that indu&s;trious &s;oule, who with <HI>Aquinas</HI> a long time beareth the Nick-name of <HI>Bos Mutus</HI> the dumbe Oxe, mo&s;t like|ly atlength (as great <HI>Albertus</HI> &s;aid of him) to fill the whole world with his <HI>lowings.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>The Common-wealth meere VVits.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 9.</NOTE> There is a commonwealth of men, in their owne eyes, the mo&s;t of all other refined from the vulgar, and their intere&s;t of grea|ter concernment then all el&s;e&punc; and yet of all others, if wanting would be lea&s;t mi&s;&s;ed. They are not on|ly like <HI>Ae&s;ops Flies,</HI> in that buz|zing about the wheels of all af|faires they fancy to them&s;elves what a du&s;t they rai&s;e: but like his
<PB N="34" REF="26">
<HI>B<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">etle</HI> too, which made <HI>Iupiter</HI> let fall the Eagles egges out of his lappe. They boa&s;t between them|&s;elves great &s;ecurity, and cry with Nero; <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>yea while they live;</HI> they feare nought: and yet their Ba&s;is re&s;ts on things more uncertaine and fleeting than the aire and that is but <HI>Chimara's</HI> and fancies. To be <HI>&s;erious</HI> with <HI>them</HI> a little, I feare none are more hardly per&s;waded to be Chri&s;tians: For pride, vaine glo|ry; and contempt of others (tho&s;e &s;tiffe Oppo&s;ites to humbling grace) though I dare not affirme them &s;trict Proprieties to that &s;o|ciety, yet I wi&s;h they did not ap|peare Accidents allmo&s;t in&s;epera|ble. Be&s;ides, how farre is he from cure that hath not one eye open to &s;ee his di&s;ea&s;e, and will as &s;oon almo&s;t deny his Creed as believe tho&s;e that can di&s;cerne better?
<PB N="35" REF="26">
Give them a &s;erious exhortation or reproofe, they returne you backe againe, in a &s;coffe, the &s;a|lutation of <HI>Grave</HI> and <HI>Wi&s;e.</HI> And if you labour to an&s;wer them ac|cording to their fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e, you mu&s;t expect but <HI>wor&s;e language</HI> 'Tis the fir&s;t <HI>rudiment</HI> of that profe&s;&s;i|on, <HI>Never to acknowledg a fault:</HI> and they would have it their <HI>Pri|viledge,</HI> that none &s;hould dare <HI>tell</HI> them of <HI>any.</HI> Howbeit if any man be &s;e bold, it would be a &s;in im|pardonable by the Company, to let him &s;cape unpuni&s;h'd; nay, I warrant you, if words could wound, the man &s;hould bleed to death. Being &s;uch <HI>untractable</HI> &s;ubjects I leave them to God who is be&s;t able to <HI>deale</HI> with them&punc;</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="36" REF="27">
<HEAD>Of Vanity in Society and Di&s;cour&s;e.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 10.</NOTE> I Have wondered much at &s;ome mens choi&s;e of their company (and the &s;ame Chri&s;tians, and as they think, good ones too.) How many of them are <HI>unequally yoaked together</HI> (in re&s;pect of elected &s;o|ciety) with (I &s;ay not Infidells, yet) unbelievers in a true &s;en&s;e? To omit the a&s;&s;embly of <HI>&s;coffers,</HI> to who~ with <HI>David</HI> I <HI>would</HI> not have my <HI>&s;oule joyned;</HI> I cannot choo&s;e my companions and friends, as do &s;ome (who yet thinke not them|&s;elves of that Tribe:) nor can I thinke any man unworthy my acquaintance, becau&s;e hee <HI>wants wit;</HI> nay rather I feare &s;ome that <HI>have it,</HI> &amp; that not out of any inca|pacity of being <HI>plea&s;ed</HI> with their &s;ociety, but out of an <HI>Experience</HI> of not being profited. I value much
<PB N="37" REF="27">
acutene&s;&s;e in di&s;cour&s;e, but I would not have my meat &s;ea&s;o|ned with <HI>poy&s;oned &s;alt:</HI> and when things are admirable for the <HI>&s;ub|&s;tance,</HI> I cannot deride them for their <HI>dre&s;&s;e.</HI> Neither can I di&s;cerne any thing I dare laugh at in &s;uch a &s;aying as this; One <HI>graine</HI> of <HI>grace is more</HI> worth <HI>then</HI> a <HI>pound of wit.</HI></P>
<P>I know, &s;ome men feare it would bee a Di&s;paragement to their parts, to conver&s;e with one of weaker than them&s;elves: but (come what will of it) I hold it my duty, when opportunity pre|&s;ents mee with one &s;uch, and I do it with delight. I can thanke God, who hath made me differ from another, without any arrogant in&s;ultation over him: and doe not tell him, I pitty his ignorance, but earne&s;tly indea|vour to redre&s;&s;e it. I can receive
<PB N="38" REF="28">
his di&s;cour&s;e without exploding the weakne&s;&s;e of i<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc; and am not provoked to upbraid him, if he ap|apprehend not mine; yea rather, correct the error my &s;elfe, and fit my future &s;peech to his capaci|ty</P>
<P>But, alas! How much be&s;ide their purpo&s;e (and, I would That were all) are mo&s;t Chri&s;tians whole &s;ociety and di&s;cour&s;e? I &s;hall not here mention correpti|ons, advices, private exhortations and incouragements (tho&s;e maine bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of &s;ociety) to all which Chri&s;tians are as much oblieged, as they doe neglect them: How many &s;eeme to thinke all <HI>rationa|lity</HI> to con&s;i&s;t in <HI>ri&s;ibility,</HI> and the imployment of their time to ap|prehend or make matter whereon to exerci&s;e that faculty? How many hope for high e&s;teeme by &s;etting at <HI>nought a weak brother;</HI> or,
<PB N="39" REF="28">
it may bee, by making him ap|peare &s;o, who is &s;tronger than them&s;elves? I tremble to thinke how &s;ome can talke to the <HI>griefe</HI> of <HI>tho&s;e, whom God hath wounded:</HI> and many who doe not &s;o them|&s;elves, yet without &s;cruple give their a&s;&s;ent, and &s;ometimes their applau&s;e too, to tho&s;e that doe. I reduce my thoughts from this &s;ad &s;ubject: only <HI>I</HI> am confident, if <HI>So|lomon</HI> him&s;elfe (who &s;o much com|mended cheerfulne&s;&s;e) were now on earth, and S^t <HI>Paul</HI> (who bade us <HI>alwaies rejoyce)</HI> what men now a|dayes delight in as facetious di&s;|cour&s;e, they would with joynt votes condemne for mad, if not devili&s;h mirth.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="warning">
<HEAD>Caution.</HEAD>
<P>LEa&s;t my reader &s;hould thinke &s;ome things in this too arrogant
<PB N="40" REF="29">
for me to &s;pake of my &s;elfe: I &s;hall not oblige him to believe that I am every whit as I there de&s;cribed, but that I pa&s;&s;ionately de&s;ire it. I begge of his charity al&s;o to apply this Caution to what other expre&s;&s;ion el&s;e where in my Booke, hee may thinke needs it.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Of Frugality.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;er.</HI> 11.</NOTE> I Have often wondered at the difference of our dayes from the di&s;criptions of the for|mer; and in nothing more than in the poynts of <HI>Frugality.</HI> To pa&s;&s;e over tho&s;e white ages, when the Wealthy Patriarches di&s;dai|ned not the offices of <HI>husbandmen,</HI> &amp; of Sheepherds when great men imployed their children, yea their <HI>daughters,</HI> that &s;oft &s;ex, in &s;uch &s;er|vices in the moderne age (that a|bout Chri&s;ts time I mean) Frugali|ty was never accou~ted a crime. <HI>Ci|cero</HI>
<PB N="41" REF="29">
in his defence of <HI>Dejotarus,</HI> King, maintaind it a vertue proper for a Prince. The Sumptuary laws, the apothegms, the patterns and pre&s;idents thereof famou&s;ly known, and too many to be repea|ted, &s;peak &s;ufficiently in it's be|halfe. Chri&s;tianity certainly has not ca&s;hiered it it's e&s;teem: nay rather on many good grounds and arguments has advanc'd it (far above a &s;emy-vertue) into the roll of vertues and duties ob|liging the co&s;cience it &s;elfe; and que&s;tionle&s;&s;e the be&s;t of the pri|mitive Chri&s;tians were not &s;o neg|lectful of the repute of the Go&s;pel, &s;o un-mindefull of the nece&s;&s;ities of the Saints, as in their opinions, or practice to undervalue it. Yet by what experience <HI>I</HI> have had it, it &s;eems to me now to be as farre bani&s;h'd from mo&s;t places as is ju&s;tice: nay it has not that thin gar|ment
<PB N="42" REF="30">
of <HI>words</HI> allowed it, with <HI>ho|ne&s;ty,</HI> to keep it from being <HI>&s;terved. I</HI> have often wondred that &s;uch, as profe&s;&s;e them&s;elves di&s;ciples of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> &s;hould with le&s;&s; &s;training be|&s;tow pounds upon the rich, upon &s;uperfluities, upon impertinent company, (when commonly the lo&s;&s;e of time is equally con&s;idera|ble) than far &s;maller &s;ummes on the poore members of Chri&s;t, or whom at lea&s;t charity obligeth them to hope to be &s;uch. But <HI>I</HI> know not what limits to put to my admiration, that a Chri&s;tian &s;hould be wor&s;e thought of for &s;uch acts of Charity, and &s;uch living as may maintaine them, than for direct breaches of &s;crip|ture commands in apparell, in diet, in revelling banquetings and come&s;&s;ations; as if every Prodigall were &s;ure to returne home to his father with him in
<PB N="43" REF="30">
the Go&s;pell, or there were no fa|vour to be expected for &s;uch &s;ons as have not ru~ that riotous cour&s;e. <HI>I</HI> know a man that by generall vote was ca&s;t for a par&s;imonious, and a covetous fellow; yea not a few among the more &s;erious &s;ort thought him much too clo&s;e han|ded, and yet the &s;ame man as rea|dy as any to &s;pend liberally ac|cording to his ability, where the lea&s;t &s;hadow of rea&s;on could make it &s;eem fitting&punc; &amp; by his own con|&s;cience &s;o free from that crime that he ranked the contrary in his u&s;uall confe&s;&s;ions. Certainly, as the world goes now, a man had need have a great mea&s;ure of <HI>&s;elf|denyall</HI> to bee a good <HI>husband</HI> as well as a good <HI>Chri&s;tian.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="44" REF="31">
<HEAD>Concerning Par&s;imony of Gifts.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 12.</NOTE> ONe would think the obligati|ons chri&s;tianity layeth on us to edify one another (yea, &amp; that in &s;uch expre&s;&s;e terms, as not a word allowed, but what may &s;ome way <HI>&s;erve</HI> for that <HI>u&s;e, Ephe&s;:</HI> 4.) &s;hould have exempted Chri&s;ti|ans from that accu&s;ation among the Ancients, <HI>clau&s;is the&s;auris in|cubandi,</HI> of niggardly tenacity and concealment of their inqui&s;itions and gifts&punc; and yet wee find &s;ome, that may without inju&s;tice be ta|xed for &s;uch par&s;imony: &s;ome that &s;it a brood on their parts, and that till they are addle too. Diver&s;e men gather hony only for them|&s;elves. They grudge to give away the &s;weat of their braine: and they had rather have their wealth be
<PB N="45" REF="31">
buried with them, than make o|thers rich without pains. Others thinke whatever is lent to another is alien'd from them&s;elves: and their barren hopes are &s;o farre from promi&s;ing them an increa&s;e, that the count the principall lo&s;t. How vaine and ab&s;urd are the&s;e humours, how much more &s;ordid this penuriou&s;nes than that of the pur&s;e? It is there true, a man ca~not retaine what he gives, but mu&s;t rely on the hopes religion affords him of a remuneration: but here in the very act of liberality the &s;tock increa&s;eth. <HI>I</HI> know it the humour of vaine men to catch at hints of di&s;cour&s;e, and before their opinion be asked, to give you their judgment &amp; dici&s;ion of any matter in debate: though perhaps they borrow from another what ever they &s;peak. But yet he is very &s;hort &s;ighted that cannot di&s;cover
<PB N="46" REF="32">
a mean betweene this, and the for|mer weakne&s;&s;e: Nor is his judg|ment better who cannot di&s;tin|gui&s;h between an obligation, to profit others, and an affectation of undue prai&s;es unto our &s;elfe. And were the matter put to my choice, <HI>I</HI> wonld rather undergoe this cen&s;ure unde&s;erved, than neg|lect the former duty when an op|portunity ingaged&punc; You will &s;ay, &s;uch men as the&s;e re&s;erve their parts for a fit opportunity to ex|pre&s;&s;e them: but doe they &s;uppo&s;e none &s;uch but the publicke Thea|ters, and whence they may be re|warded with a <HI>grande &amp; in&s;anum</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">? Or are their endowments &s;o &s;canty, that they have nothing to &s;pare for a private charity or civi|lity? Or rather is their mind &s;o vain, that they mu&s;t &s;el every thing for generall applau&s;e? If <HI>I</HI> &s;hould yeeld them what they fooli&s;hly
<PB N="47" REF="32">
pretend, that publicke places and imploiments are the proper &s;tage where on to act their parts: yet &punc;tis certaine that the&s;e private offi|ces are &s;o far from hindering them therein, that they further them. That Glory of <HI>Chri&s;t-Coll edge</HI> in <HI>Cambridge,</HI> (than in whom I am per&s;waded that in no <HI>man &s;ince</HI> primitive times rare gifts were tempered with more moderation and humility) was wont to profe&s;&s;e him&s;elfe beholding to tho&s;e, who would mini&s;ter a hand&s;ome occa|&s;ion to him to utter any of his choi&s;e notions; and when others thought them&s;elves great gainers thereby, he accounted him&s;elfe a greater. A well fraught &s;oule is far from the feare of &s;pending it's &s;tock: nay rather he is troubled his wares &s;hould lye on his hands: and becau&s;e publicke opportuni|ties are not pre&s;ented often e|nough,
<PB N="48" REF="33">
he gladly maketh u&s;e of the private to keepe his notions from gathering ru&s;t; and the more liberally he &s;pends this way, the more his &s;tore increa&s;eth. Where|as tho&s;e illiberall men, who keepe their parts for them&s;elves, and to &s;hew them to the publike, doe but loo&s;e their labour, and mu&s;t be contended with the Title of <HI>Vmbratiles Doctores;</HI> and like <HI>I&s;ocra|tes,</HI> declaime in the &s;hade.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Concerning the vaine boa&s;t|ing Saint-&s;hip.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 13.</NOTE> TIs to be feared, that many men (and &s;ome &s;uch as per&s;wade them&s;elves they have an Apo&s;to|licall &s;pirit beyond all others) do yet in their purpo&s;es and indea|vours quite contradict S^t <HI>Pauls</HI> temper. That ble&s;&s;ed Saint was fearfull that his <HI>Corinthians</HI> might
<PB N="49" REF="33">
thinke over highly of him, and therefore (as he tells them) for|bore the di&s;covery of many ex|cellencies and priviledges&punc; which he had received of God; and that, <HI>lea&s;t any man &s;hould thinke of him, above what they heard of him, or &s;aw in him.</HI> I omit tho&s;e who&s;e whole aime is like <HI>Simon Magus,</HI> to be thought &s;ome great ones; &s;uch as take upon them to have cleare knowledge of tho&s;e mi&s;teries the Go&s;pell hath drawne a vaile o|ver, and not only vent the cabbi|net &s;ecrets of Gods unrevealed will and un&s;earchable waies be|fore men, but to God him&s;elfe (all which are &s;o far from a true Go&s;|pell &s;pirit (which nece&s;&s;arily mu&s;t be an humble, a &s;ober, and a cha|ritable one) as that they &s;eem to be the very <GAP DESC="foreign"> prophecyed of by <HI>St Peeter, Saint Jude</HI> and others.) I feare too much of this
<PB N="50" REF="34">
leaven remaineth undi&s;cerned a|mong tho&s;e who have the repu|tation of a more &s;ober fect, &s;hould wee otherwi&s;e heare &s;o many, if not <HI>direct</HI> o&s;tentations, yet by <HI>cir|cumlocution</HI> and <HI>nece&s;&s;ary con&s;e|quence?</HI> 'Tis to be fear'd, &s;ome men make a vaine <HI>glorying</HI> of that which is the greate&s;t obligation to humility; namely, the <HI>free grace of God.</HI> Let no man therefore &s;ay, the per&s;ons I meane a&s;&s;ume no|thing unto them&s;elves, but a&s;|cribe all to Gods mercy, and &s;o no danger in it, their boa&s;ting being in the Lord. For I here &s;u&s;pect a great depth of Satan&punc; God en|able <HI>his</HI> to fathom it. Suppo&s;e we &s;hould heare a Courtier thus &s;pea|king; It is my Ma&s;ters plea&s;ure thus highly to honour &amp; confide in me; True it is, there is nothing in me that may lay claime to the lea&s;t of the&s;e priviledges be&s;towed
<PB N="51" REF="34">
upon me; If &s;o had been his plea|&s;ure he might have made choice of &s;uch or &s;uch a one of his &s;er|vants for the&s;e imployments, and dignities he has intru&s;ted me in: and yet all the while the man has no &s;ufficient warrant for &s;uch his pre&s;umptuous conceit, nay con|trarily the per&s;ons he &s;o much exalts him&s;elfe above, are indeed much more in the <HI>Princes</HI> favour, he has already made more expe|rience of their humility diligence and faithfulne&s;&s;e, and intends them further honour. Would not every man conclude this Cour|tier di&s;eas'd in his brains? The <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> in the Go&s;pell acknow|ledged God the Author of what he gloried in, and gave him prai&s;e for many favours: His fault was that he could not allow the <HI>Con|temn'd Publican</HI> a &s;hare in this pri|viledge. There are many men
<PB N="52" REF="35">
take upon them&s;elves to be <HI>Dani|els, Per&s;ons greatly beloved</HI> of God and yet have no better authoritie for their a&s;&s;urance, than that of a pre&s;umptuous fancy. Many thinke the Lord doth nothing almo&s;t (great or &s;mall) but he re|veales the &s;ecret to them: Many per&s;wade them&s;elves that they have heard the words of God and &s;eene the vi&s;ions of the Allmigh|tie; and yet &s;ome of tho&s;e they looke upon as &s;trangers to God may without <HI>Miriams</HI> guilt replie to them in her words; <HI>Hath the Lord &s;poken only to you, hath he not al&s;o &s;poken to us?</HI> A va&s;t diffe|rence there is between a Mans <HI>be|ing</HI> a <HI>reprobate</HI> and a mans <HI>vaun|ting</HI> of his being a <HI>Saint.</HI> 'Tis true I grant we are bound to <HI>glo|ry in the Lord: Yet not beyond the line,</HI> of things which God hath not wrought in us, or by us.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="53" REF="35">
<HEAD>Of Pride of Parts.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 14&punc;</NOTE> I Cannot per&s;wade my &s;elfe there is any &s;in more connatu|rall, and generall than Pride, and of all &s;orts of pride that of a mans parts There is &s;carce a foole in the world but conceiteth ma|ny particulars in him&s;elfe, where|in he excells other men; and &s;carce a wi&s;e man in the world but hath &s;ome alloy of this folly. The inbred flattery of our &s;elves within us makes us (according to the proverb) thinke all our <HI>own gee&s;e &s;wans</HI> and our mo&s;t <HI>deformed</HI> i&s;&s;ue <HI>amiable.</HI> Hence tho&s;e ra&s;h, and un&s;ucce&s;&s;efull attempts in writing, and &s;peaking, when men cannot di&s;tingui&s;h between the affection of a <HI>Mother,</HI> and a <HI>Step|dame. Quintilian</HI> &s;pake &s;olid ex|perience that it was &s;eldome &s;een
<PB N="54" REF="36">
that a man &s;hould &s;u&s;pect him|&s;elfe enough. Life and &s;oule can|not keep together in a man out of conceit with him&s;elfe; unle&s;&s;e he has a higher principle then mo|rality to &s;u&s;tain him. And yet as unwillingly as men are to ap|peare weak to them&s;elves, they are far more unwilling to appeare &s;o to others. They know other men judge according to outward appearances, and &s;o they dare not tru&s;t them for &s;uch favourable in|dulgences, as they allow them|&s;elves. Hence tho&s;e <HI>Sollicitous arts</HI> and <HI>&s;tudied de&s;ignes</HI> of enhaun&s;ing a mans reputation in publick. Tho&s;e <HI>cautelous concealments</HI> of <HI>defects,</HI> which would be le&s;&s;e &s;een, if freely laied open: For alas! How &s;hort doe tho&s;e attempts fall of the &s;cope they aime at? What an errour in policie do the&s;e opiniative wi&s;e men com|mit?
<PB N="55" REF="36">
There is nothing more con|ducing to a good fame and e&s;|teem than a prudent &s;ecuritie, and neglect of it. Men brook not to &s;ell their valuations at pre&s;crib'd rates: nor to have their commen|dations extorted from them as a debt or tribute; nay rather they &s;u&s;pect de&s;ignes when &s;uch &s;edu|lous artifice is u&s;ed, and think the river not deep becau&s;e it makes a noi&s;e.</P>
<P>There is yet a more deadly poy&s;on in Pride, and that is when it infects Chri&s;tianity it &s;elfe, and the &s;tronge&s;t obligations to hu|mility. I have &s;poken &s;omewhat hereof already, and therefore I &s;hall onely now take notice how difficultly this enemy is ejected even out of a good Chri&s;tians heart. Alas! How many lurking holes, and &s;trong holds to retire to doth it find in an humble Soule,
<PB N="56" REF="37">
that labours it's extermination. Many times it mingleth it &s;elfe with the very praiers, and teares that are plentifully powred out for it's mortification. A devout Chri&s;tian may, with <HI>Hezekiah, be humbled for the pride of his heart</HI> and yet againe be <HI>proud</HI> of that <HI>humility.</HI> It lieth <HI>perdue</HI> many times, and when we think our &s;elves mo&s;t &s;afe &s;urpri&s;eth us, and through &s;trange &s;ubtilties gathers &s;trength on us a long time ere di&s;|covered; and when di&s;covered, &s;o varieth it's &s;hapes, that it is longer ere &s;ubdued. I &s;ay not that this pride is raigning, (yea contrary, 'Tis mo&s;t likely there to raigne, where lea&s;t perceived) Yet &s;ince of all relicts of the old man there is none more di&s;plea&s;ing in the eyes of God, and none more pre|judicall to a Saint, I &s;hould think this Devill the mee<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;t of all o|thers
<PB N="57" REF="37">
to be encountred with fa&s;t|ing and prayer. If any Readers ca&s;e requires, and he &s;o plea&s;e, he may make u&s;e of the prayer and meditation I have added among&s;t others for this purpo&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Of Arguments for Sermons.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 15.</NOTE> A Man would think in this a|bundance of preaching, and preachers (God be prai&s;ed for both) that there &s;hould not one point of divinity (of what nature &s;oever) e&s;cape frequent di&s;cu&s;&s;ion; and yet an ob&s;ervant Auditour may perceive it much otherwi&s;e. To omit the polemicall part of Divinity, which is not held &s;o proper for the Pulpit, (and yet &s;ome <HI>Auditories</HI> and occa&s;ions may &s;eem more than to tolerate them, &amp; it would do vulgar eares no hurt to be wi&s;ely and di&s;creet|ly
<PB N="58" REF="38">
in&s;tructed in tho&s;e points, they are called upon to be &s;o zealous for, unle&s;&s;e we will defend in our <HI>&s;elves</HI> the <HI>implicite faith</HI> we con|demn in our <HI>Adven&s;aries)</HI> To o|mit, I &s;ay, controverfiall divinity; we may ob&s;erve that very many u&s;efull practicall points are rarely handled in the Pulpit; yea and &s;ome the mo&s;t &s;ea&s;onable of all others. I aime not at the per&s;on that thought &s;trange to heare ano|ther preach of faith and Repen|tance in this age, which &s;eem|ed to him as if the man had been in a dreame all the&s;e times of <HI>Glorious di&s;pen&s;ations</HI> (&amp; I won|der what he would have thought of one that &s;hould have di&s;cour|&s;ed concerning <HI>unruly</HI> and <HI>&s;elfe|willed Spirits, concerning fal&s;e pro|phets,</HI> and <HI>deluders,</HI> and the <HI>Tryall of Spirits,</HI> &amp;c.) I &s;peak of &s;ober men, and &s;uch as have not deriv'd
<PB N="59" REF="38">
their Go&s;pell from the late darke and my&s;terious providences of God in this nation. How few of the&s;e I &s;ay, in&s;truct us in many points of con&s;cience very nece&s;&s;a|ry for this age; as concerning the obligation and di&s;pen&s;ation of oaths: of the nece&s;&s;ity, for me, and circum&s;tances of Chri&s;tian com|munion, of &s;chi&s;m, of obedience in vici&s;&s;itudes of civil government. Many give us good &s;tore of cau|tions, and directions not to loo&s;e our way in a knowne beaten path: but leave us to guide our &s;elves in tho&s;e that are perillous, and un|trod.</P>
<P>But you will &s;ay, &s;ome of the&s;e touch too much the affaires of State. Yet certainly &s;ome of them do not: and many others that might be named, which yet are almo&s;t buried in &s;ilence. If men &s;peake often enough of the <HI>danger</HI>
<PB N="60" REF="39">
of the <HI>La&s;t times,</HI> and tho&s;e vices of &s;ome <HI>men</HI> which make them &s;uch (2 Tim. 3. cap. 1, 2, 3&punc; 4 ver&s;.) 'tis not likely &s;uch <HI>per&s;ons</HI> &s;hould be counted <HI>Saints</HI> or &s;imple &s;oules deluded with the noi&s;e of <HI>glori|ous times</HI> when the weake&s;t <HI>experi|ence</HI> may confute &s;uch a <HI>preten&s;ion.</HI> Be&s;ides, is the <GAP DESC="foreign"> of Go&s;pell officers &s;o much inferiour to that of tho&s;e of the Law, that they mu&s;t not be allow'd to rebuke wickedne&s;&s;e in <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">igh places or per|&s;ons? The Prie&s;ts in <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> when words would not do it, made bold to thru&s;t <HI>Vzziah</HI> out of the Temple, when he made but a <HI>Sacrilegious</HI> intru&s;ion: what hin|ders, but tho&s;e who take upon them the care of Soules (and <HI>great mens</HI> are not exempted from their charge) &s;hould imitate at lea&s;t the milder part of this animo&s;i|tie?</P>
<P><PB N="61" REF="39">
Alas! I have ob&s;erved, that &s;ome men, who about a twelve years &s;ince challenged as great a &s;hare as any in this free ome of Spirit and &s;peech (and then exerci&s;ed it, as 'twas thought, beyond di&s;|cretion) are &s;ince become cre&s;t|falne, and like men amazed, have &s;carce aword to &s;peake out at pa&s;|&s;ages which call for a <HI>Stentors</HI> voice. Away with unchri&s;tian pu&s;illamimous pretences! Let not this &s;ati&s;fie men that they inveigh (and &s;ometimes <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> ravim)</HI> a|gain&s;t a petty Heretick, or poore deluder, who has not wit enough in all lik<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly hood, to do much mi&s;|cheife, whil&s;t they let <HI>Gol<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a</HI> &s;in|ners e&s;cape, who give the other their power to do mi&s;cheife. Let them not thinke it enough to re|prove the abominations of the times in a parenthe&s;is, or oblique reflections, or at the furthe&s;t in a
<PB N="62" REF="40">
timerous &s;oft voice; now &s;inners have armed their foreheads with &s;teel, &amp; &s;eem to <HI>dare th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nder.</HI> Nor will a <HI>booke-reproofe</HI> &s;erve the turn, which <HI>(vel duo, vel nem<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">)</HI> perhaps but one or two it concerns read, and neither of tho&s;e lay to heart. No; men mu&s;t have the deformi|ty of their &s;ins layd before their eyes, and the <HI>proud men</HI> (&s;uch as <HI>Iehonan</HI> and <HI>AZariah)</HI> mu&s;t be told of their <HI>di&s;&s;imulation</HI> to their faces I am loath to prophe&s;ie what mens cowardize portends: Yet &s;ure I am &s;ome of tho&s;e that are enjoyned by office to reprove &s;in with boldne&s;&s;e, will not find every excu&s;e they now make for their omi&s;&s;ion warrantable at the dreadfull day of Generall ac|count.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="warning">
<PB N="63" REF="40">
<HEAD>Caution.</HEAD>
<P><HI>I</HI> Would by no meanes be guilty of the fault reprooved in the Prophets; namely of contending with the Prie&s;ts, or taking upon me to in&s;truct my tea|chers, (whom I as much as any man de&s;ire to reverence.) Farre from my intentions be a de&s;igne of impo&s;ing Lawes upon my &s;uperiours, or of bin|ding burthens upon other mens &s;houl|ders, which I would not touch with my lea&s;t finger. I thought it neither of the&s;e offences to reprove &s;ome cor|rupt flattering <HI>Zedekiahs</HI> po&s;&s;e&s;t with a lying Spirit, and &s;ome hone&s;t yet faint hearted <HI>Eli's</HI> who want cou|rage to frown upon enormous &s;ins; and I intend my reproofe no further. If my &s;tyle &s;eem too tart, I mu&s;t u&s;e the excu&s;e of that famed Divine D^r <HI>Twi&s;&s;e</HI> That what is naturall to me I cannot ea&s;ily alter.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="64" REF="41">
<HEAD>Of impatient de&s;ires of full a&s;&s;urance.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 16.</NOTE> THere are &s;ome Chri&s;tians over impatiently de&s;irous of full a&s;&s;urance of their &s;alvati|on. A good hope, or a good per&s;wa&s;ion of heart&punc; will not &s;erve their turns. Nothing con|tents them, unle&s;&s;e they be made as &s;ure of Heaven, as if they were in it already. This is, as if a &s;on had a good fathers word, his oath, his fidelitie, his deed and &s;eale made over to him for &s;uch an inheritance: but he takes on, and will not be &s;atisfied, unle&s;&s;e his father put the deed into his owne keeping, and in his owne characters too. No, &s;ay they, the ca&s;e is not like: God forbid they &s;hould doubt of the lea&s;t promi&s;e of God. They have no a&s;&s;urance that they are God's
<PB N="65" REF="41">
children, and &s;o dare not call him father. I an&s;wer; I intend not the compari&s;on for exact, but thus make u&s;e of it. <HI>(I</HI> &s;peake to per|&s;ons that in &s;ome mea&s;ure hunger and thir&s;t after righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that de&s;ire to ca&s;t them&s;elves on Gods mercy, and cordially en|deavour to live an&s;werably. To others, I only &s;ay; Repent and be|lieve the Go&s;pell, and grant they may) You &s;ay, you are not a&s;&s;u|red you are Gods &s;ons. I &s;ay, are you a&s;&s;ured you are not? If you &s;ay you are, you mu&s;t be con&s;ci|ous to your &s;elves of &s;ome indul|ged rotte~ne&s;&s;e of heart, of an ap|pare~t want of true repentance and faith; and &s;o till this leaven be pur|ged out of you (as I &s;aid before) you are not the per&s;ons to whom I &s;peake. If you &s;ay (as I pre&s;ume you will) that you are not &s;o a&s;&s;u|red, I proceede thus; you cannot
<PB N="66" REF="42">
deny one part of the contradicti|on, Either you are in the &s;tate of grace, or you are not. You &s;ticke between the&s;e contraries; you are neither a&s;&s;ur'd of this or that. I &s;ay then, there mu&s;t be &s;ome grounds &amp; argume~ts con&s;iderable on both hands that thus hinders either &s;cale from making a perceptible de&s;cent. Examine then with re|verence betwene God and thy &s;oule which &s;ide hath the better grounds: if the uncomfortable (unle&s;&s;e a temptation prevaile o|ver thee, the frequencie whereof cau&s;eth the greate&s;t difficulty in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e) <HI>I</HI> &s;ay then, nece&s;|&s;arily thou mu&s;t be privy to &s;ome, if not reigning &s;in or &s;ins, yet very like them. <HI>Humble</HI> thy <HI>Soule</HI> there|fore; <HI>breake</HI> off <HI>thy &s;ins by repe~tance, &s;trengthen the things that remaine which are ready to dye,</HI> and that with &s;peede, lea&s;t thy very <HI>&s;parke</HI> goe
<PB N="67" REF="42">
out. To be &s;hort; do as thou woulde&s;t do if thou wert &s;ure thou wert not in the &s;tate of grace but de&s;ire&s;t to be.</P>
<P>But on the contrary; If after hearty prayer for a di&s;cerning &s;pirit, and impartiall con&s;iderati|on of particulars, thou finde&s;t the arguments in the other &s;cale weightier, when thou art free from temptations (and thou may'&s;t make &s;ome gue&s;&s;e at that, if thou finde&s;t thy heart moov'd with humble de&s;ires after God, to feare him, to tru&s;t in him, to re|joyce in his name) I &s;ay, if then thou &s;eeme&s;t to heare the <HI>Lord an&s;wer</HI> thee <HI>with good words and comfortabl<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> thou ha&s;t in a &s;erene day a plea&s;ant &s;ight afforded thee, of the heaven where thy to&s;&s;ed &s;oule <HI>would be;</HI> though anon thou loo&s;e&s;t this &s;ight, the heavens lowre, and the waves, <HI>billow after</HI>
<PB N="68" REF="43">
<HI>billow</HI> threaten to <HI>&s;wallow</HI> thee up: yet &s;tay thy &s;elfe upon thy God; &s;ay to thy &s;oule, <HI>why art thou ca&s;t downe Oh my &s;oule, why art thou di&s;quieted within mee? Hope &s;till in God, for I &s;hall yet prai&s;e him who is the health of my countenance and my God, And O thou of little faith, wherefore doe&s;t thou feare?</HI></P>
<P>But this &s;atisfies not thee: after this cour&s;e taken thou can&s;t not perceive either &s;cale weigh down. That's &s;trange! doe&s;t thou pray heartily, doe&s;t thou walke humbly and circum&s;pectly, or (if thou art jealous of thy &s;elfe in the&s;e) doe&s;t thou earne&s;tly de&s;ire to doe thus, and pante&s;t after com|munion with God? I tell thee (if at all thou can&s;t value an others o|pinio~ of thee) I tell thee <HI>I</HI> am per|&s;waded God keeps thee under di&s;|cipline out of &s;ome gracious de|&s;igne&punc; and wilt thou pre&s;cribe him
<PB N="69" REF="43">
his method how to deale with thee? It may be thy heart needes furthar humbling, or lon|ger at lea&s;t: it may be thy pan|tings after God are to be hereby inflamed, or God purpo&s;eth that thou &s;houlde&s;t <HI>wra&s;tle with him with mighty wra&s;tlings,</HI> and intends thee the honour of a <HI>Prince</HI> or <HI>pre|vailer</HI> with him&s;elfe. Whatever the cau&s;es be (and they may be infinite) though thou di&s;cerne them not, indeavour with <HI>Abra|ham again&s;t Hope</HI> to <HI>believe in hope,</HI> that God would bring thee out of this Maze. Say unto God, <HI>Lord why ca&s;te&s;t thou off my Soule, why goe I thus heavily all the day long by rea|&s;on of the oppre&s;&s;ion of the enemy? &s;hew me &s;ome token for good, that my enemy may &s;ee it, and be a&s;hamed, and my &s;oule comforted.</HI> To be &s;hort; for thy practice (as the voice from heaven in <HI>Kempi&s;ious</HI> advi|&s;ed
<PB N="70" REF="44">
one in thy ca&s;e) doe what thou wolde&s;t, &amp; what thou thin|ke&s;t thou &s;houlde&s;t doe if thou had&s;t obtained that certainty thou de&s;ire&s;t.</P>
<P>If &s;till thou objecte&s;t, as thou maye&s;t everla&s;tingly, if thou &s;ay|e&s;t, thou longe&s;t for higher enjoy|ments of God, &s;o doe I too, I <HI>la|bour to forget what is behind, and pre&s;&s;e forward;</HI> but yet &s;o, as that <HI>I</HI> am not di&s;content, nor unthank|full unto God for what by his grace I have attained. And if tis thus with thee, I blame thee not&punc; labour to <HI>grow</HI> in &s;trength and a&s;&s;urance, <HI>I</HI> aide thee with my prayers, and de&s;ire to be aided with thine. But if thou mea|ne&s;t by a&s;&s;urance what I &s;uppo&s;ed at fir&s;t, and ha&s;t no mea&s;ure of cheerfulne&s;&s;e or patience till thou ha&s;t attained that, I cannot com|mend thee; for how can&s;t thou
<PB N="71" REF="44">
grow, when at full growth? Be|&s;ides, thou woulde&s;t be priviledg|ed from doubts and fears wherein con&s;i&s;ts the chiefe exerci&s;e of faith. Now this humour is what I &s;til'd impatient demanding of thy evidence into thy owne kee|ping and characters.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>The unadvi&s;ed Boanerges catechized.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 17.</NOTE> I am very confident that many preachers much offend and con|tri&s;tate &s;ome of the true children of God, when they not &s;o di&s;cret|ly and temperately as the mat|ter requires, inveigh again&s;t the faire morall man. I hate as much as any the <HI>&s;owing pillowes under eve|ry elbow, and the dawbing with un|tempered mortar</HI> (with tho&s;e in <HI>Ezechiel;</HI> and am as much &s;atisfi|ed (I believe) as others in the <HI>ex|treame dcceitfullne&s;&s;e of the heart:</HI>
<PB N="72" REF="45">
yet I like not that the <HI>heart of the righteous &s;hould bee made &s;ad, whom God would not have &s;ad; and that who&s;e joy might abound, the ever|ble&s;&s;ed &s;on of God</HI> was contented to be <HI>&s;orry unto death.</HI> Now I wi&s;h, a &s;ort of men (who &s;eeme not a a little to re&s;emble the olde Pha|ri&s;ees: though they much inveigh again&s;t them) would con&s;ider, That there are &s;ome <HI>weake</HI> Chri&s;t|ians not to be <HI>offended,</HI> and there|fore great caution to be u&s;ed: &s;ome <HI>children</HI> of <HI>light that &s;it in darkne&s;&s;e, and &s;ee</HI> little or <HI>no light,</HI> &s;ome <HI>tender lambs</HI> in Chri&s;ts flock, &s;ome <HI>ewes great with young,</HI> who with a little hard u&s;age might be in danger of mi&s;carrying: &s;ome faint and &s;ickly, &s;ome lame &amp; fee|ble handed, whom the Holy Gho&s;t would by all means have <HI>healed &amp; &s;tre~gthen'd, not turn'd out of the way.</HI> Againe, tho&s;e Chri&s;tians that are
<PB N="73" REF="45">
&s;tronger are not fully priviledg|ed from doubts and fears, and di&s;comforts frequent. A <HI>David may &s;ay in his ha&s;t,</HI> and think in his heart too, That he is <HI>ca&s;t out of Gods pre&s;ence,</HI> that his hopes have deceived him, and that he <HI>&s;hall one day fall by the hand</HI> of the enemy. Further yet, none are more jealous of them&s;elves and of their e&s;tate than the true children of God: none &s;o apt to apply &s;evere do|ctrines to their owne hearts. A weake Saint is not ea&s;ily per&s;wa|ded to believe a true worke of grace in his heart, but &s;cruples almo&s;t perpetually: and among&s;t the &s;tronger there is &s;carce one to be found but meetes with &s;o much of all corruption in his heart, and among&s;t the re&s;t &s;ome hypocri&s;y too, that at a low ebbe of faith he will be apt to charge the di&s;&s;embler, the formalli&s;t, the
<PB N="74" REF="46">
halfe-Chri&s;tian on him &s;elfe, though of all others he be fur|the&s;t from &s;uch. Now &s;uppo&s;e at &s;uch a &s;ad houre he &s;hould heare a Mini&s;ter aggravate his owne thoughts, tell him how many come to heaven gates, and yet <HI>never enter in, how narrow the way</HI> to life is <HI>and how few find it,</HI> and all this without needfull qualificati|ons and cautions, how much would much this &s;et forward his affliction, <HI>breake his bones</HI> and <HI>wound his &s;oule</HI> within him, goe neere to put out his &s;moaking flax, and overwhelme him with the waves of de&s;paire? Verily I per&s;wade my &s;elfe, had <HI>it been po&s;&s;i|ble,</HI> many of the <HI>elect</HI> them&s;elves had here &s;uffered &s;hipwracke. Meane while, becau&s;e the &s;ecurity wee have from God by no means fru&s;trates or makes u&s;ele&s;&s;e hu|mane providence and &s;ollicitude
<PB N="75" REF="46">
for the avoiding of dangers, and therefore of this great one, I could not but thus deliver my mind, and exhort the&s;e Boanerges carefully to examine the ground on which they plant their terrible artillery. If wee will believe Trueth it &s;elfe, the young man in the Go&s;pell was not <HI>the furthar</HI> off but nigher the kingdome of heaven by his good morality. The Scripture, I am &s;ure, tell's us that in many things wee offend all, and makes a challenge to any Saint of what forme &s;oever to &s;ay; <HI>I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my &s;in.</HI> It becometh us much better to be &s;evere and rigid toward our &s;elves, than towards others&punc; <HI>I</HI> de|ny not but that the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> were furthar from the <HI>kingdome of heaven, then the Publi|cans</HI> and <HI>Harlots:</HI> Yet we &s;hall find that the <HI>devout men and wo|men</HI>
<PB N="76" REF="47">
are often noted in the Acts of the Apo&s;tles to be the u&s;uall con|verts, and thus that judicious Di|vine M^r <HI>Mede</HI> takes off from the &s;tupendiou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the wonder, that &s;o many thou&s;ands &s;hould be converted at one Sermon, &s;aying, that they were mo&s;tly of the de|vout pro&s;elytes, in whom God had wrought praedi&s;po&s;itions to|ward conver&s;ion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Concerning unhappy Differen|ces betweene good men.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 18.</NOTE> IT is &s;ad to behold how far the differences of the times have prevailed with even the better &s;ort of men&punc; and that of all parties: how much they have blinded the eyes and imbittered the hearts of tho&s;e that call God Father, and &s;o &s;hould each the other, Brother: yet alas how much ea&s;yer are op|probious
<PB N="77" REF="47">
titles be&s;towed on each other, than that loving ap|pellation. 'Tis &s;trange, that when Chri&s;tianity obligeth it's pro|fe&s;&s;ors to <HI>beare with one another,</HI> to <HI>&s;peake no evill,</HI> to <HI>think</HI> no <HI>evill,</HI> to <HI>forgive injuryes,</HI> yea to requite and <HI>overcome them with good,</HI> that they &s;hould practi&s;e the contrary to the&s;e precepts; and yet not per|ceive it although they have them often in their mouthes. The one &s;ide belieues the other hath too little charity to be religious: the other thinke they as much want zeale: and neither betray a grea|ter defect of both, than by thus cen&s;uring each other. What &s;trange Idea's of one another doth the pa&s;&s;ions and intere&s;t of men create? thus good men mutually become judgers of evill thoughts. Notwith&s;tanding, the&s;e di&s;tem|pers excepted, (which their
<PB N="78" REF="48">
affections, and ingagements make undi&s;cernable, yea many times a|dopt them into religion) in all things el&s;e almo&s;t, the per&s;ons on both &s;ides approove them|&s;elves eminent patterns of wi&s;|dome and piety; and 'tis not ea&s;y to &s;ay which de&s;erve mo&s;t com|mendations. If the one excell in deepe knowledge, the other in profitable, practicall applications and conde&s;centions; If the one in fervour of &s;pirit the other in moderation with di&s;cretion. If the ones <HI>axe</HI> be keener, the other <HI>putteth</HI> to it <HI>the more force;</HI> and while&s;t the one fetchets the ho|mer &s;troake, the other &s;trik's oft|ner. Both excellently exhort to the contempt of of the worlde, to the denyall of our &s;elves, to a ho|ly life; the one by faith effectuall from S^t <HI>Paul,</HI> the other by good works evidencing and ju&s;tifying
<PB N="79" REF="48">
faith from <HI>Saint Iames,</HI> and both &s;econd their doctrine by their lives: what cour&s;e now &s;hall an in|different Per&s;on take, while&s;t each of the&s;e call him from the other to them&s;elves, each denounce the others coa&s;t infectious, if not deadly?</P>
<P>For my owne part, I &s;o adheare to neither, as to &s;wallow downe the errours of the one (as far as I can de&s;erne them) or to reject things laudible in the other: nei|ther would I have objects, that are comely in them&s;elves, appeare deformed to mee, through the fault only of a di&s;tempered or|gan, or medium. I know the God of wi&s;dome &amp; of peace can make a &s;weet harmony out of the&s;e di&s;|cordant &s;ounds, and I humbly pray him to doe it. In the meane time I cannot away with a mo|nopoly of Gods free grace, and
<PB N="80" REF="49">
dare not conclude He favours not a per&s;o~, who~ he hath not priviled|ged with the under&s;tanding of fo~e points, which it may be I count of greater concernment than in|deed they are. <HI>I</HI> cannot think it a piece of religion to anathema|tize from Chri&s;t &s;uch as will not &s;ub&s;cribe to every one of my Ar|ticles: but am con&s;cious to &s;o ma|ny errours &s;peculative and practi|call in my &s;elfe, that <HI>I</HI> know not how to be &s;evere towards others. For differences between Chri&s;ti|ans <HI>I</HI> much bewaile them, and hope my want of yeers and ac|commodations may be &s;ome ex|cu&s;e for mee if <HI>I</HI> judge not accu|ratly between them. Yet <HI>I</HI> doubt not, but hee that believes the Scriptures to be the word of God, and firmly indeavours to live accordingly, beleiving and obay|ing God, and hoping for pardon
<PB N="81" REF="49">
of his &s;ins through Chri&s;ts merits, is a true member of Chri&s;t: and with every &s;uch I hold an inter|nall communion (viz by a&s;&s;ent, by love, by prayer&punc; and I hope there are many &s;uch, or &s;ome at lea&s;t in every divi&s;ion of Chri&s;ti|anity, even as there &s;till remains &s;ome flower in the cour&s;e&s;t bran. The foundadition of God remai|neth &s;ure, the Lord knoweth who are his: howbeit tis my duety to walke charitably, and reject none whom, for ought <HI>I</HI> am &s;ure of, God may receive; yet my hopes are fulle&s;t there where <HI>I</HI> &s;ee modera|tion and Chri&s;tian lenity mo&s;t approved and practi&s;ed.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="82" REF="50">
<HEAD>Of ambitious di&s;content.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 19.</NOTE> THere is one piece of content the lea&s;t of any taken notice for a vertue &amp; yet much commen|ded in Scripture, and that is con|tentation with a mans gifts. I doe not wonder hereat; fir&s;t, be|cau&s;e &s;ome men place their high|e&s;t happine&s;&s;e in them, yea mi&s;|take them (and not a few doe &s;o) for &s;anctification it &s;elfe. Againe, the want of them is commonly imputed to a defect of indu&s;try: and ingenuous men much hate that opprobrious charge.</P>
<P>Yet I wonder greatly that ma|ny Chri&s;tians eares &s;hould be &s;o clo&s;e &s;topped at what St <HI>Paul</HI> di&s;cour&s;eth of in the 12 chapter of the fir&s;t Epi&s;t: to the Corinth. (viz) that it is requi&s;ite there &s;hould be <HI>feet</HI> and other inferiour
<PB N="83" REF="50">
<HI>in the body</HI> as well as <HI>eyes</HI> and lipps: and that <HI>every member hath it's proper</HI> u&s;e and &s;ervice wherewith it ought to be con|tent. But alas, what a mutiny in the body (beyond that in <HI>Agrip|pa's</HI> Fable) may wee now di&s;co|ver. How many mu&s;t needs be tongues who are fitter to be eares, how many take upon them to be eyes who had need be led by the hand? Hence, &s;o many Novices (contrary to Apo&s;tolicall Canon) take upon them to be publicke Teachers, and (as the learned'&s;t of our Engli&s;h Kings once &s;pake) every <HI>Good-mans &s;on writes</HI> Ca|techi&s;mes. I know the <HI>Harve&s;t is great,</HI> and I therefore <HI>pray</HI> the <HI>Lord of the Harve&s;t to &s;end</HI> multitudes <HI>into his vineyard;</HI> yet tho&s;e &s;uch as are able to labour: and the A|po&s;tles <GAP DESC="foreign"> (who is &s;ufficient for the&s;e things) will
<PB N="84" REF="51">
not &s;uffer me to think every one &s;uch. The wi&s;dome of primitive times appointed under offices in the Church, as of Readers, Dea|cons &amp;c, beneath a Bi&s;hop or Presbyter: and in the&s;e, men of le&s;&s;er abilityes were retained or fitted for higher. 'Twere to be wi&s;hed, that &s;ince men now ada|yes pleade &s;o much for parity in Church-Officers, they could ef|fect &s;omething towards it at lea&s;t, viz. a &s;ufficiency inall tho&s;e mens gifts, who&s;e imployme~ts, &amp; digni|ties they thus equall. I &s;hall &s;peak but one word more to any &s;uch over forward <HI>Ahima<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">z&punc;</HI> that hee would fir&s;t <HI>goe and learne</HI> thorowly what that Scripture meaneth <HI>(James</HI> the third and fir&s;t (My <HI>Brethren</HI> be not many teachers.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="85" REF="51">
<HEAD>The de&s;trustive Pro&s;perity of Fooles.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> 20.</NOTE> 'Tis ea&s;y to ob&s;erve what a lu&s;|ter &s;ucce&s;&s;e affords to mens per&s;ons, and actions. 'To omit the knowne ver&s;e in <HI>Du Bartas,</HI> (almo&s;t growne a Proverbe) the compari&s;ons made between <HI>Iul. Cae&s;ar</HI> and <HI>Cataline,</HI> and many of their <HI>paralells</HI> (who all owe their different <HI>reputations</HI> to their diffe|rent <HI>&s;ucce&s;&s;e.)</HI> Is it not a &s;trange thing that foure or five oppo&s;ite partyes &s;hould &s;ucceed each o|ther on the &s;tage, and each of them be accounted <HI>Saints</HI> whil&s;t up, and neither longer? <HI>Iuvenall</HI> ob&s;erved in his time&punc; That though <HI>Riches</HI> had not the honour of a Temple in Rome, as <HI>Victory</HI> had, yet it had the devotion of mens hearts&punc; Tis to be feared,
<PB N="86" REF="52">
neither of the&s;e Idolatries is yet quite bani&s;hed Chri&s;tendome. How many opinions are there in the world confuted only by this argument? <HI>Alexanders</HI> way of vntying Gordian knots is too well knowne in this age, and too much practi&s;ed. Experience tells us what deepe rootes an errour may take by prevalence, and continu|ance: and how little the &s;tronge&s;t a&s;&s;aults of an un&s;uccesfull trueth can &s;hake it; there needing no o|ther confutation of impro&s;perous arguments, but either &s;corne or &s;ilence. I conceive, among&s;t di|vers others, that worthy defence of our <HI>Saviours Prayer</HI> by M^r <HI>D' E&s;pagne</HI> is thus an&s;wered.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not conjecture of what ill con&s;equence this errour is when publicke: but certainly there is nothing more dangerous to any particular Soule that lyeth under
<PB N="87" REF="52">
it. When a man &s;hall with much &s;crupling venture upon a cour&s;e, or action, and in judgment con|demne him&s;elfe for what he al|lowes in practice; and yet a little after finding no harme for the pre&s;ent to follow, yea contrari|wi&s;e fancying much good, &s;hall conclude his former &s;crupulo&s;i|ty needle&s;&s;e&punc; and vote his con&s;ci|ence to be reformed by his &s;uc|ce&s;&s;e; what a ready way is this to prepare a mans throat to <HI>&s;wallow Camels</HI> at length, who at fir&s;t <HI>&s;trai|ned</HI> at the &s;malle&s;t imaginary <HI>Gnat?</HI> This is it that turns grace into pre&s;umption &amp; wantonne&s;&s;e, and makes the very ble&s;&s;ings and mercies of God become the bane of &s;oules. God bring them out of this <HI>path leading downe to the cham|bers of death,</HI> who walke &s;ecurely in it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="88" REF="53">
<HEAD>The All-mo&s;t Chri&s;tian.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> 21.</NOTE> THere are &s;ome Chri&s;tians that may (with <HI>Tiberius</HI> in <HI>Sueto|nius)</HI> well beare the title of the hor&s;es called <HI>Callipedes, qui mul|tum cur&s;itant parum progrediuntur.</HI> They are like &s;ticks &amp; &s;traws in a whirlepoole nigh a &s;trait pa&s;&s;age, they are ever and anon making to|wards it, but never &s;hoot the gulph. 'Tis a &s;ad thing when a man &s;hall be every day purpo&s;ing &amp; promi|&s;ing to leave &s;uch and &s;uch gro&s;&s;e &s;ins, and every day commit them: when he &s;hall be alwaies &s;inning, and alwaies confe&s;&s;ing, and &s;o on in a round, making even his con|fe&s;&s;ion a chiefe &s;in. A thing more to be pittyed it is, that &s;ome &s;hall attaine unto good perfection in externall behaviour, and morall hone&s;ty, induce others, yea and
<PB N="89" REF="53">
them&s;elves too, to believe they are Saints of good proficience, and as I may &s;ay, knock at the very gate of heaven, and yet not enter in. What can be the cau&s;e of this, but that men will have &s;ome <HI>little Zoar's &s;pared:</HI> they can be content to let religion &s;eize on the out|works and &s;uburbs of their &s;oules, but they mu&s;t re&s;erve to them|&s;elves a Cittadell in their hearts. Many men &s;eeme to beare the &s;tronge&s;t burthens of Chri&s;tiani|ty, yea with the young Phari&s;ee to have kept all the Commande|ments from their youth, and yet they have &s;ome &s;ecret &s;ins lodg|ing in their bo&s;omes, which if they be told they mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily part with, they would be much grieved: skin for skin, and all that they have, yea life it &s;elfe will they part with rather than tho&s;e. This di&s;ea&s;e is then mo&s;t deadly
<PB N="90" REF="54">
when it turns the free grace of God, and the &s;anctifying power of the &s;pirit into it's nutriment: which is done when a man &s;hall be convinced of a gro&s;&s;e &s;in (and the lea&s;t allowed is &s;uch) and &s;hall pray God by his omnipotent power to deliver him from it, and here &s;et up his re&s;t, not <HI>cooperating</HI> with Gods grace, nor in his heart hating the &s;in, or de&s;iring it's mortification, but confuting his frequent praiers by continuall practi&s;e. This, I per&s;wade my &s;elfe, is one of the <HI>depthes of Sa|tan!</HI> but becau&s;e it requires an experienced Divine to fathome it, and al&s;o border's upon the nice&s;t of the Arminian contro|ver&s;ies (which I here purpo&s;ely &s;hun) <HI>I</HI> &s;hall &s;peake no further on this Argument.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="22" TYPE="observation">
<PB N="91" REF="54">
<HEAD>Concerning a tender Con|&s;cience.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;:</HI> 22.</NOTE> THere are &s;ome men which pretend great tenderne&s;&s;e of Con&s;cience, and cry out extream|ly not to be pricked: and yet &s;eem to expre&s;&s;e very little of that temper&punc; It is a hard matter to believe he has a tender con&s;ci|ence, that will hazard and attempt the overthrow of a Church or State, proceed to tumults and &s;e|dition, involve him&s;elfe in the guilt of the foule&s;t crimes, yea and <HI>&s;wallow any Camells rather than &s;ome</HI> few <HI>Gnats,</HI> which perhaps too his owne fancy or phren&s;y hath created. <HI>I</HI> &s;uppo&s;ed tender|ne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience had con&s;i&s;ted in a fearfull avoidance of every &s;in, even to a <HI>circum&s;tance</HI> or an <HI>appearance;</HI> and &s;o con&s;equently
<PB N="92" REF="55">
in &s;ome proportionable dete&s;tati|on of &s;ins according as their foul|ne&s;&s;e and odiou&s;ne&s;&s;e increa&s;eth. <HI>I</HI> thought a propriety thereof had been <HI>patiently</HI> to <HI>&s;uffer</HI> any <HI>evill</HI> rather than <HI>commit</HI> any: and to be content to be rather infrin|ged of &s;ome part of due liberty, than u&s;e indirect means to obtaine or enhaun&s;e it. The world has been excellently inform'd long &s;ince, that it is no part of a &s;trict con&s;cience to lift a burthen from it's owne &s;houlder, and lay it with more weight upon anothers: <HI>I</HI> would there were none that pra|cti&s;ed it. But alas? What riddles, and paradoxes do wee meet of this nature? Wee have been told what an impartiall <HI>informer witne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>judge</HI> con&s;cience is: and yet there are practices but too many in the worlde that make the truth &s;eem contrary. How
<PB N="93" REF="55">
ea&s;y doth it appeare in &s;ome men to charme this clamorous facul|ty, and confine it's juri&s;diction to what circuit they plea&s;e, even with an <HI>Hitherto &s;hall thou goe and no furthar?</HI> But what a wonder is it that men &s;hould <HI>cry, Peace, Peace</HI> to them&s;elves in this en&s;na|ring e&s;tate: that they &s;hould think them&s;elves religious all the while, and believe their Corban of zeale for &s;ome points, which their inte|re&s;&s;e makes deare to them, &s;hould di&s;pence with their obedience to many of the great commande|ments of God. It has puzzl'd me oft to &s;ee how cautious men are in &s;ome &s;maller particulars, how they charge them&s;elves with pro|fane&s;&s;e, and &s;uper&s;tition, and irre|ligion if they faile in &s;uch; and yet the &s;ame men &s;ecurely com|mit greater &s;ins without asking them&s;elves <HI>what they have done;</HI>
<PB N="94" REF="56">
nay they will not regard another that &s;hall tell them never &s;o plain|ly that they have done <HI>ill.</HI> This is all one as if a man &s;hould run from a barking curre, and leape into a lyons jawes before him, or cautelou&s;ly avoide the &s;ting of a Bee, and yet voluntarily expo&s;e his bo&s;ome to an A&s;pe or a Scor|pion.</P>
<P>S^t <HI>Paul</HI> charged it as a great ab&s;urdity upon the Iew, that he &s;hould prohibit others from what, and condemne others for what he practiz'd him&s;elfe; <HI>Thou that &s;ay|e&s;t a man &s;hould not &s;teale doe&s;t thou &s;teal?</HI> would not the ab&s;urdity have been greater if he &s;hould have anathematiz'd others, or him&s;elfe for a &s;mall &s;in, or a &s;had|dow of a &s;inne, and the mean while have allowed in him&s;elfe, or promoted in others the grea|te&s;t? Or if the Apo&s;tle had thus
<PB N="95" REF="56">
interrogated him; Thou that ab|horre&s;t a Ceremony, doe&s;t thou commit &s;acriledge? <HI>I</HI> would by no meanes aggravate other mens failings: yet I cannot but wonder that &s;ome men &s;hould &s;eem to be more fearefull of a &s;uper&s;tition or formality (which with them is all one) in u&s;ing that forme of Pray|er pre&s;cribed by Wi&s;edome it &s;elfe, than of <HI>taking God's</HI> Holy <HI>Name in vain,</HI> and that in actions of greate&s;t &s;olemnity.</P>
<DIV3 TYPE="warning">
<HEAD>Caution.</HEAD>
<P><HI>I</HI> cannot feare that any who indeed has a tender con&s;cience &s;hould take offence at what I have here &s;aid. I con|fe&s;&s;e I am fearefull &s;omewhat may be applyed to Per&s;ons whom I much reverence, and believe Chri&s;tians of high rank: yet I wonder that &s;ome of the&s;e &s;hould &s;o little &s;cruple at &s;ome
<PB N="96" REF="57">
practi&s;es, the guilt whereof would wound me to the heart. But <HI>I</HI> per|&s;wade my &s;elfe they may di&s;cover par|ticulars in me, which they may as much be puzzled at: and therefore <HI>I</HI> endeavour to exerci&s;e towards them the &s;ame charity <HI>I</HI> de&s;ire from them. God be mercifull to us all.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="23" TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Of Chri&s;tian Reputation.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;.</HI> 23.</NOTE> It's a great offence to &s;ome weak Chri&s;tians, that tho&s;e they looke upon as eminent Saints, doe ex|pre&s;&s;e a great deale of jealou&s;y, if not uncharitablene&s;&s;e towards them. Many too much forget the <HI>pangs of their new birth,</HI> and &s;o con|&s;equently <HI>&s;top their bowels of com|pa&s;&s;ion</HI> towards others in that ca&s;e. And 'tis to be feared, that &s;ome, whil&s;t they read too &s;evere le|ctures concerning the conflicts of naturall con&s;cience, and the di|ver&s;e
<PB N="97" REF="57">
&s;ubtile workings of counter|feit grace, endanger an abortion in others. Some too tartly inter|rogate how long others <HI>&s;ticke in the place</HI> of <HI>coming forth of children,</HI> and it may be too little remember <HI>their owne delayes</HI> there. Some require an <HI>Elijah's fervour</HI> in all men el&s;e, becau&s;e they feele &s;ome|thing like it in them&s;elves. Diver&s;e accu&s;e a defect of light in others, or at lea&s;t that their <HI>candle burnes under a Bu&s;hell:</HI> whereas indeed it is not &s;o, but the fault lyeth in their want of di&s;cerning. Others bid us, if we have the heat of god|line&s;&s;e in us, rake our coales out of the embers: whereas many true Chri&s;tians have the <HI>rayes</HI> of grace more <HI>united</HI> in their &s;oules, as in a <HI>burning-gla&s;&s;e,</HI> where though the <HI>circumference</HI> be not &s;o great, yet the <HI>heat</HI> is more <HI>in|ten&s;e.</HI>
<PB N="98" REF="58">
Many devout hearts burne <HI>inward,</HI> &s;o that tho&s;e <HI>without</HI> can|not be competent judges what are their flames. I &s;peake not this to patronize any fault, much le&s;&s;e that great one of <HI>lukewarmne&s;&s;e:</HI> I would by no means di&s;courage private exhortations and re|proofes, nay nor a <HI>godly jealou&s;y</HI> in any man <HI>over another.</HI> It is far from my intent to furni&s;h any halfe-Chri&s;tian with expedients how to elude any &s;uch cour&s;es intended for his good. (To which alas how many are apt?) My purpo&s;e is onely this, that &s;ince the Apo&s;tle exhorts us <HI>to be patient &amp; meeke towards all men, &amp; that</HI> upon this con&s;ideration how <HI>fooli&s;h, and di&s;obedient,</HI> and vitious in all kinds wee our &s;elves once were, wee &s;hould not be peevi&s;h and uncharitably ill-natured to|wards &s;uch as perhaps are <HI>weaker</HI>
<PB N="99" REF="58">
Chri&s;tians, yet may have more <HI>humility</HI> in them, and more <HI>love.</HI> Be&s;ides, how many are thought &s;trangers to God, and the di&s;ci|pline of Grace, who yet from their youth up have been under that di&s;cipline? The Lord has given them coun&s;ell, and their reines in&s;tructed them in the night &s;ea|&s;ons; They have been <HI>lead into the galleryes,</HI> and have had <HI>the ban|ner of Gods love</HI> di&s;played over them; and had they either the Art, or the confidence to commu|nicate to others a hi&s;tory of their experiences, they might di&s;cover many &s;ubtile wiles of the naturall mans <HI>heart,</HI> and of <HI>Sathan, of who&s;e devices they are not ignorant.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;ay the&s;e uncharitable jealou|&s;ies, and &s;u&s;pitions are an offence to weak, or Novice-Chri&s;tians; which &s;omewhat need the crutch of other mens opinions to &s;upport
<PB N="100" REF="59">
their &s;oules. As for an experien|ced Chri&s;tian, though he avoid what in him lyeth the giving offence to any, and &s;etts a due va|lue on a good report (e&s;pecially from good men) yet is he in &s;ome mea&s;ure affected like magnani|mous S^t <HI>Paul: It is a very &s;mall thing with him to be judged of men, Yea he judges not him&s;elfe</HI> (peremptori|ly and ab&s;olutely without ap|peale to the higher court) <HI>but re|ferres all</HI> things within him&s;elfe to the <HI>righteous judgment of God</HI> through the interce&s;&s;ion of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="observation">
<HEAD>Of Prejudices again&s;t godline&s;s.</HEAD>
<P>Its a great &s;tumbling-blocke to ingenious men that religion <HI>(I</HI> meane the full power thereof) &s;eemes to them to de&s;troy mo|de&s;ty,
<PB N="101" REF="59">
and other principles of na|ture, and of education a &s;econd nature; and <HI>I</HI> am per&s;waded 'tis this that makes &s;ome men but partiall Chri&s;tians. That Chri|&s;tianity and the <HI>power</HI> of <HI>godline&s;&s;e</HI> &s;uffers unde&s;ervedly herein I make not the lea&s;t que&s;tion. Were I to deliver the mo&s;t ex|act rules of humble mode&s;t beha|viour, I &s;hould pick them out of the &s;acred preceps: or were I to pre&s;cribe an ab&s;olute patterne of &s;uch carriage and expre&s;&s;ions, I &s;hould take them from no other place than the &s;acred hi&s;tories. Let a man but reade the &s;peeches of <HI>Abigail,</HI> of <HI>Hanna,</HI> of <HI>Mephibo|&s;heth</HI> and diver&s;e other holy per|&s;ons; and if he be not &s;ticken into admiration, I &s;hall pronounce him incapable of any noble im|pre&s;&s;ions of humanity, as well as of devotion. <HI>Saint Paul</HI> delivers it
<PB N="102" REF="60">
for a rule, that <HI>we &s;hould not give offence to them without, and practi&s;ed</HI> it him&s;elfe <HI>in becoming all things to all men, that he might gaine &s;ome.</HI> Certainly then he had no moro&s;e humour within him which he would compell other men to &s;ub|mit to, no intemperance of Spirit which he would have accounted zeale: yea, we reade with what a noble appellation he an&s;wered <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ectus,</HI> (who accu&s;ed him but of madne&s;&s;e) that he &s;pake the words of &s;obriety, as well as truth. Notwith&s;tanding all this, the ground of the former charge a|gain&s;t religion &s;eem's &s;pecious and obvious. Some men mi&s;in|terpret the Apo&s;tles <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <HI>boldne&s;&s;e of &s;peech,</HI> and take that for a &s;ufficient warrant for indecen|cies, and ill manners. Others thinke it a crime to be mode&s;t in matters of religious concernment;
<PB N="103" REF="60">
whereas, if they would con&s;ider S^t <HI>Pauls</HI> behaviour towards his <HI>Corin|thians Ep.</HI> 2. 10, 11, 12) they might find it much advantagious, and be&s;ides confidence, in mattes that require it, takes mo&s;t when it holds a combat, and &s;eems &s;ome&punc;times to give the upper hand to ba&s;hfulne&s;&s;e. Another thing that &s;ets forward this prejudice is, that (by I know not what hard hap) the vulgar &s;ort take them for the mo&s;t genuine Chri&s;tians, who &s;eem mo&s;t to have bani&s;hed &s;uch ingenuous principles: and thinke tho&s;e men not zealous enough for the trueth, or too much regar|ding their owne reputations, who u&s;e ce&s;&s;ions, apologies, and excu&s;es, all which well managed Chri&s;tianity will allow of with|out a taint of vaine o&s;tentation.</P>
<P>We neede not dwell long on this &s;ubject, now the generality of
<PB N="104" REF="61">
men of the higher ranke &s;et a greater value on this orna|ment, than on the &s;ub&s;tance of Chri&s;tianity it &s;elfe. Let us re|member therefore that we im|proove not matters of conveni|ence into matters of highe&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;ity; &amp; &s;o con&s;equently more accu&s;e a failure or defect in them than in direct hone&s;ty and integri|ty of life, as is the fa&s;hion of too many now adaies, who much glo|ry in their good breeding. But certainly, &s;ince Chri&s;tian <HI>love co|vers a multitude</HI> of <HI>&s;ins,</HI> if &s;uch men had but a rea&s;onable mea|&s;ure of that temper, they would not be &s;o far provoked by a &s;mall incivility, or indi&s;cretion which the party who commits perhaps wants, but accommodations to di&s;cover in him&s;elfe, and &s;o to re+forme them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="observation">
<PB N="105" REF="61">
<HEAD>Of Set Formes and extempo|rary Prayer.</HEAD>
<P>I Am not yet fully &s;ati&s;fied whe|ther the danger be greater of making prayer a meer <HI>lip-labour</HI> by the u&s;e of &s;et forms, or a meer <HI>braine-labour</HI> the extemporary way. 'Tis undoubtedly true, that the whole heart, yea the whole ma~ ought to be laid out in that Ange|licall &s;ervice, and almo&s;t as &s;trongly atte&s;ted by experience, that which way &s;oever we ma|nage our devotions, there will multitudes of vanities and imper|fections attend them. I am &s;ure that eminency of grace con&s;i&s;ts not in any art of invention; and doubt not but a plaine Ru&s;tick (who&s;e thoughts one would think are confined to a narrow com|pa&s;&s;e) may as &s;weetly conver&s;e
<PB N="106" REF="62">
with God in a few common words, as a &s;ublimer Chri&s;tian in elaborate meditations. What ever high di&s;pen&s;ations men pretend, they &s;eem to me to have but fri|ged &s;oules, who need the heat of invention to warme them, and in the &s;ame forme cannot attaine unto variety of thoughts. <HI>I</HI> have often di&s;erned deeper matter in the &s;ame words; and I thanke God, can pray them unto him morning, and evening, and night|time, without flatne&s;&s;e many times, and &s;ometimes with tears: and after a thou&s;and repetitions enjoy new affections in my &s;trange expre&s;&s;ions, and am a&s;&s;u|red I have not yet attained the utmo&s;t they may &s;ignify. <HI>I</HI> dare not tempt God &s;o far as wholy to tru&s;t to &s;uddaine injections: nor can I &s;cruple the making u&s;e of &s;uch helps as my experience tells
<PB N="107" REF="62">
me God hath &s;anctified to my weakne&s;&s;e. Yet diver&s;e times my &s;oule breaks out unexpectedly into new matter and words too, and if I &s;hould <HI>deny them vent my heart would bur&s;t.</HI> Al&s;o, <HI>I</HI> cannot thinke that <HI>I am ra&s;h with my lips in</HI> &s;o doing. Nay rather, I will prai&s;e the Lord, as he enables me, both with my <HI>old</HI> and with my <HI>new &s;ongs,</HI> who is worthy <HI>every way</HI> to be magnified.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="conclusion">
<HEAD>The Conclu&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>I Shall here &s;toppe my pen, for I doubt my reader may thinke what is pa&s;t more than enough of &s;uch dough-baked con&s;iderati|ons. Tho&s;e that remaine I &s;hall keepe by me till I perceive how the&s;e are dige&s;ted.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="index">
<PB REF="63">
<PB REF="63">
<HEAD>The contents or argument of every Ob&s;ervation&punc;</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1</HI> Ab&s;urdityesin Writers and Readers pag. <HI>1</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Caution</HI> 1. <HI>pag.</HI> 8</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2</HI> Concerning forcible impre&s;&s;ions (pag. <HI>9</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>3</HI> Of Naturall weakne&s;&s;es pag. <HI>12</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>4</HI> The Sympathy of Soules pag. <HI>13</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5</HI> Concerning ill will unde&s;erved <HI>16</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>6 <HI>&V;ncharitable mi&s;takes</HI> 20</ITEM>
<ITEM>7 <HI>The Selfe-Miracle</HI> 24
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Caut</HI> 2. 28</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8</HI> Difference of parts <HI>29</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>9</HI> The Common wealth of meer Wits <HI>33</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10</HI> Vanity in Society and di&s;cour&s;e <HI>36</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Caut</HI> 3. 39</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>11 <HI>Of Frugality</HI> 40</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12</HI> Concerning Par&s;imony of Parts <HI>44</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>13</HI> The vaine boa&s;t of Saint-&s;hip <HI>48</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="64">
<HI>14</HI> Of Pride of parts <HI>53</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>15</HI> Of Arguments for Sermons <HI>57</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Caut.</HI> 4. 63</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>16</HI> Of impatiency after full a&s;&s;u|rance <HI>64</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>17</HI> The unadvi&s;ed Boanerges catechi|zed <HI>71</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>18</HI> &V;nhappy differences between good men <HI>76</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>19</HI> Of Ambitious di&s;content <HI>82</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>20</HI> The de&s;tructive pro&s;perity of fooles <HI>(85</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>21</HI> The All&punc;mo&s;t Chri&s;tian <HI>88</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>22</HI> Of Tender con&s;ciences <HI>91</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Caut</HI> 5. 95</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>23</HI> Of Chri&s;tian Reputation <HI>96</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>24</HI> Of praejudices again&s;t godline&s;&s;e <HI>101</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>25</HI> Of Extemporary prayer &amp;c. <HI>105</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher to the reader">
<HEAD>The Publi&s;her to the Reader.</HEAD>
<P>The Author acknowledges he might have rank'd the&s;e ob&s;er|vations in a better order, had his owne occa&s;ions and my impor|tunity to have them Printed a|gain&s;t
<PB REF="64">
this time allowed him the ful liberty of his &s;econd thoughts: had it not been for this al&s;o, he per&s;wades him&s;elfe he &s;hould have licked the&s;e Bear's whelps (&s;o he &s;tiles them) into a &s;ome|what better &s;hape.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
