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<DATE>2014-03-26</DATE>
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<NAME>Kate Allen</NAME>
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<ITEM>Checklist: x *Add TEMPHEAD, change DATE, validate x*Review over structure: FRONT,BODY, BACK, DIV or rarely GROUP x*Add DIV TYPEs, make sure that @types makes sense as a navigational aide, and work in the context of the whole text, validate x*Survey book for troublesome formats of all kinds, including lists, illustrations, tables, music, math, end-notes, quasi-tabular arrangments, and marginalia. x*Proof title page(s) x*Examine marginalia. Is it all best tagged as NOTE? x*Observe divtop and divbottom material marking beginnings and ends of divisions, check that they are correctly tagged as HEAD, HEADNOTE, CLOSER, OPENER, ARGUMENT, EPIGRAPH, SIGNED, DATELINE, BYLINE, TRAILER, etc. x*Check for GAPs x*Check PB placement and completeness, ensure sequence of N="" x*Check ^, oe, abq, italic I / J, _Initals, space between &amp;c., -- x*Check for illustrations and correct usage of FIGURE. Add FIGDESCs if necessary. x*Check q, startq, endq, Q x*Correct excusable and inexcusable errors x*If appropriate, check for yoghs. x*If appropriate, check for Latin problems, e.g. oe and ae digraphs x*If appropriate, check for abbreviation and brevigraph problems. x*If appropriate, check for units of measure, symbols (alchemical, astronomical, etc.) and the like. x*Correct illegibles from proofsheet x*Check illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs
*Final validate Corrected [ ] illegible groups out of [ ]. Converted [ ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illegible". DONE</ITEM>
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<P>OF WILL-WORSHIP.</P>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">.</Q>
<P><FIGURE>
<FIGDESC>Oxford crest</FIGDESC>
<HEAD>OXONI ENSIS ACADEMIA&middot;</HEAD>
</FIGURE></P>
<P><HI>OXFORD,</HI> Printed by HENRY HALL Printer to the UNIVERSITIE. 1644.</P>
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<HEAD>OF WILL-WORSHIP.</HEAD>
<P><MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="&sect;"> _THe word <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Will-wor&s;hip,</HI> hath for &s;ome time had the ill for<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">une to pa&s;&s;e under an ill notion, and be taken for &s;ome|what <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">eproveable in a Chri&s;tian: how ju&s;t|ly. I &s;hall briefly enquire.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="&sect;"> That this word is not u&s;ed in the Greeke Tran&s;latours of the Old Te&s;tament, or the Apocriphall Authours, (no not &s;o much as <GAP DESC="foreign">, of which it is compounded, but once or twice in the Booke of <HI>Wi&s;edome</HI>) will be acknowlodged by any which &s;hall make enquiry: and therefore it cannot be expected, it &s;hould receive any light from thence. And in the new Te&s;tament, it is an <GAP DESC="foreign">, but once u&s;ed. <HI>Col.</HI> 2.23. and for other Authors it may &s;uffice to have ob&s;erved, that it is not u&s;ed by any, but tho&s;e who (in all probability) have it from this place of Saint <HI>Paul.</HI> And &s;o the re&s;ult of this enquiry will be, how it is u&s;ed, and what it &s;ignifieth in this one place; which mu&s;t be done by examining the context.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="&sect;"> The Apo&s;tles di&s;cour&s;e in that place is of <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>doctrines of men,</HI> teaching &s;omethings to be forbidden by God, that God forbiddeth not; where yet you mu&s;t ob&s;erve, he doth not &s;peak of commands, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> doctrines; <HI>i. e.</HI> not of the prohibition of the Magi&s;trate expre&s;&s;ed by any act of po&s;itive humane Law (which in indifferent things is permitted to him to interpo&s;e, and be|ing
<PB N="2" REF="3"> &s;o interpo&s;ed, by vertue of the Apo&s;tles precept for obedi|ence will have the power of obliging;) But of fal&s;e teachers impo&s;ing them upon their brethren, as Gods commands, when they are not; this is called <HI>Dogmatizing</HI> in this place. <HI>v.</HI> 20. (and <HI>teaching fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> doctrines the traditions of men, Matth.</HI> 15.9. which if the Magi&s;trate &s;hould doe, he &s;hould thereby incurre the cen&s;ure of a fal&s;e teacher al&s;o) <HI>i. e.</HI> (as it is cleare by the for|mer part of the Chapter, and particularly, <HI>v.</HI> 16.) urging &s;ome aboli&s;h't Ceremonies as &s;till in force by divine precept, which who&s;oever doth, he tels them, <HI>Gal.</HI> 5.2. <HI>That Chri&s;t &s;hall pro|fit them nothing:</HI> upon this ground, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"> <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> comming, as the &s;ub&s;tance typified by tho&s;e legall In&s;titutions, did con&s;equently &s;et a period to the obligeingne&s;&s;e of tho&s;e In&s;titutions; which, if it &s;hould be &s;till urged, would be <HI>interpretative</HI> the denying of Chri&s;t, and &s;o mo&s;t ju&s;tly the forfeiting tho&s;e benefits, which are to be expected from him; and therefore though Saint <HI>Paul</HI> might lawfully (and did) circumci&s;e <HI>Timothy,</HI> yet the urging of Circumci&s;ion, (or any &s;uch Judaicall rite, which Chri&s;t meant to abrogate) for a Doctrine, or teaching that it was then nece&s;&s;ary for Chri&s;tians, was in his opinion the denying of Chri&s;t: in like manner, as the teaching the abrogation of any of the morall Commandements, meant by <HI>the Law and the Pro|phets, Mat.</HI> 5.17. which Chri&s;t meant not to abrogate by his comming, is on the other &s;ide cen&s;ured as a mo&s;t unchri&s;tian thing. <HI>v.</HI> 19. and a kind of denying of Chri&s;t al&s;o.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="&sect;"> This will by the way explaine that difference (convenient to be premi&s;ed) betwixt making of po&s;itive humane Lawes in|indifferent things (which the frequent commands of <HI>obeying Magi&s;trates</HI> pre&s;uppo&s;e to be Lawfull; for if there were no legality in the giving of &s;uch commands, the obedience to them being given could not be impo&s;ed on Con&s;cience, as it is <HI>Rom.</HI> 13.5. And if the matter of the Command were before commanded by God, 'twere then no longer obedience to the law of the Magi&s;trate, but onely to God: and for an example of this even in matters of Religion, take the example of <HI>David,</HI> who 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 23. <HI>v.</HI> 24, and 27. numbred the Levites, or ap|pointed them to &s;erve and doe the worke of the hou&s;e of the
<PB N="3" REF="3"> Lord from the age of twenty yeares and upward (upon a ground there &s;pecified <HI>v.</HI> 25.) whereas by the command of God to <HI>Mo&s;es, Num.</HI> 8.24. this &s;ervice belong'd to the Levites, but from twenty five yeares old and upward, till the age of fifty yeares, and then they &s;hall cea&s;e waiting, <HI>v.</HI> 25.) and ur|ging or teaching things for divine commands, which either ne|ver were commanded by God, or el&s;e are now out-dated, and the obligingne&s;&s;e taken from them by Chri&s;t. The latter of the&s;e is it on which the di&s;cour&s;e of the Apo&s;tle proceeds here, without any reflection on the former.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5" UNIT="&sect;"> His meaning in this particular he farther expre&s;&s;eth, by na|ming &s;ome formes of tho&s;e dogmatizers, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 21. <HI>[touch not, ta&s;t not, handle not]</HI> noting thereby tho&s;e kinds of doctrine, which affirme men obliged to fa&s;ting, or ab&s;tinence from &s;uch or &s;uch meats (the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, to touch, &s;ignifying to eate a|mong good authors) which now 'tis by Chri&s;t made free to all men to u&s;e <HI>fine di&s;crimine.</HI> Then <HI>v.</HI> 22. he pa&s;&s;eth a cen&s;ure on &s;uch dogmatizing, and on all &s;uch out-dated, yet continued legall performances [<GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>all which are to de|&s;truction: i. e.</HI> de&s;tructive or dangerous, (not as we render it <HI>[all which are to peri&s;h)</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, by the abu&s;e (not as we ren|der it [with the u&s;ing) The Originall enforces no &s;uch &s;en&s;e, and the way of interpretation that is ordinarily affixt to that &s;en&s;e [the peri&s;hing of the meat by going out into the draught] (when the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes not of the meat, but of the com|mands of ab&s;taining) makes the &s;ence &s;ufficiently improbable. The full importance of the words is, that when the&s;e ab&s;tinen|ces are thus impo&s;ed and taught, as divine obliging precepts, this is an <HI>abu&s;e</HI> of them (which were otherwi&s;e innocent things) and that abu&s;e annext makes the very u&s;e of them dan|gerous or de&s;tructive&punc; which is the &s;en&s;e of what the Latine Fathers, Saint <HI>Au&s;tine,</HI> and Saint <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> have &s;aid on this place: <HI>&s;unt in interitum &amp; aeternam perditionem, &s;i credant ea nece&s;&s;aria ad &s;alutem, They are to de&s;truction, and eternall perdi|tion to them that beleeve them nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="6" UNIT="&sect;"> Having thus &s;et a marke on them for caution, he addes a di&s;tinct &s;pecification of that which makes them &s;o dangerous,
<PB N="4" REF="4"> or de&s;tructive (which in them&s;elves were not) [<GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>after the commandements and do|ctrines of men.</HI>] which words, whether they be annext to <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 20. (The middle words being read in a Parenthe|&s;is, as our Engli&s;h reads them) or whether to the immediately precedent, they do point out that wherein the danger doth con&s;i&s;t, to wit, impo&s;ing on men humane <HI>ordinances</HI> or <HI>do|ctrines: i. e.</HI> tho&s;e things, which though they are not com|manded by God, are yet by men affirmed, and pretended, and taught (though as we &s;ay, magi&s;terially, or without proofe) to be &s;o <HI>commanded.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="7" UNIT="&sect;"> Having thus farre expre&s;&s;ed the danger of taking up &s;uch do|ctrines upon fal&s;e-Teachers impo&s;ing them, the Apo&s;tle then by way of clo&s;e (either to take off the varni&s;h under which they are commended to mens practice, and by which it is made probable to them, that they are commanded; or el&s;e to &s;et downe the &s;imple nature of the&s;e things ab&s;tracted from all &s;uch accidentall abu&s;e) addes this briefe de&s;cription of the do|ctrines them&s;elves, or the ab&s;tinences they teach [<GAP DESC="foreign">] the&s;e words are variou&s;ly rendred by Interpreters, as having great difficulty in them. The mo&s;t &s;imple genuine &s;ence methinkes might be this. [which things have <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>rationem &s;apientiae,</HI> &s;ome true, at lea&s;t appearing <HI>notion of wi&s;edome</HI> in them (wi&s;edome in Scripture phra&s;e &s;ignifying piety) <HI>i. e.</HI> have either &s;ome reall matter of piety in them, (for &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifies: and this would be more cleare, if we &s;hould read <GAP DESC="foreign">, di&s;joyned, not in one but two words, thus [<GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&amp;c. which things have &s;omewhat of piety in them,</HI> or being con&s;idered <HI>in &s;ome re|&s;pect</HI> have <HI>piety in them</HI>) or, as the Fathers &s;eeme rather to have under&s;tood it, &s;ome colour, &s;ome appearance of piety; to wit, <HI>in voluntary wor&s;hip and humility, and &s;everity toward,</HI> or pu|ni&s;hing of <HI>the body:</HI> as the word <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifies: and the mar|gent of our Bibles acknowledges: and <HI>not in any honour or care of the body</HI> (for &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the new Te&s;tament by an Hebrai&s;me &s;ignifies, that honour which is expre&s;t in relieving of wants,
<PB N="5" REF="4"> <HI>Mat.</HI> 15.5. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 5.17.) not in admini&s;tring to the body <HI>omnia nece&s;&s;aria ad &s;aturitatem carnis explendam,</HI> as Saint <HI>Hie|rome</HI> hath it, all things nece&s;&s;ary <HI>to the filling, or &s;tuffing, or &s;atia|ting of the fle&s;h:</HI> for &s;o <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifies. And I confe&s;&s;e I can|not &s;ufficiently wonder what &s;hould move &s;ome learned Inter|preters to explaine that word by <HI>mediocritatem ad &s;implicem u&s;um re&s;trictam, A mediocrity without any exce&s;&s;e,</HI> when the word in all authors &s;ignifieth <HI>&s;atiety</HI> or fulne&s;&s;e. In <HI>Galen</HI> 'tis u&s;ed for repletion or &s;urfet: and in all Attick writers for &s;ome|thing like that: which made <HI>Robertus Stephanus</HI> in his Greeke Concordance render it <HI>&s;atietas</HI> in this place: and among the tran&s;latours of the old Te&s;tament, all the Hebrew words that are rendred by it, are of the &s;ame nature, &s;uch are <GAP DESC="foreign"> fatne&s;&s;e, <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>gravamen,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> from <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>multiplicare,</HI> and e&s;peci|ally <GAP DESC="foreign"> from <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>&s;atiatus e&s;t,</HI> which is by them 18 times rendred <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="8" UNIT="&sect;"> This la&s;t part of the ver&s;e is added, I conceive to illu&s;trate the former <HI>&agrave; contrario,</HI> and &s;o to &s;hew that there is &s;omewhat of true or pretended piety in tho&s;e former doctrines by their contrariety to that tending, and filling, and pampering of the fle&s;h, which is &s;o unlike piety or Chri&s;tianity: and though the connexion of this la&s;t clau&s;e with the re&s;t be &s;omewhat per|plext, yet you &s;hall find it but little more cleared by any other interpretation that will be affixt to it; and upon examination I am a little confident, that this which I have given is the mo&s;t prompt, and proper, and genuine rendring of the ver&s;e, that will be met with among interpreters.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="9" UNIT="&sect;"> Which being acknowledged, there will be no doubt or dif|ficulty in re&s;olving, that there is no ill character &s;et upon <GAP DESC="foreign">, or will-wor&s;hip by the Apo&s;tle in this place. And if you demand what it is that is noted by it, I an&s;wer punctually, That voluntary wor&s;hip, or acts of Religion, which the He|brewes call <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>the free-will offering</HI> often mentioned in the Pentateuch, which was not required of them by any obligati|on of particular law, and yet was not wont to be condemned or &s;u&s;pected, but accounted as acceptable to God: under which head the ab&s;tinences here &s;poken of may not unfitly be compre|hended.</P>
<PB N="6" REF="5">
<P><MILESTONE N="10" UNIT="&sect;"> For the clearing of all which, I &s;hall fir&s;t give my rea&s;ons for my fir&s;t a&s;&s;ertion, that <GAP DESC="foreign"> is here u&s;ed in a good creditable &s;ence. Secondly, I &s;hall gue&s;&s;e at the grounds, or oc|ca&s;ions of the ordinary mi&s;take of it in them that take it for a fault. And thirdly, I &s;hall adde &s;omewhat concerning tho&s;e vo|luntary oblations noted by it, as they may be applyable to us Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="11" UNIT="&sect;"> A fir&s;t rea&s;on of my a&s;&s;ertion, is, becau&s;e <HI>will-wor&s;hip</HI> is here joyned with two, not only lawfull, but laudable Chri&s;tian ver|tues: as 1. with <HI>humility,</HI> which being by <HI>Calvin</HI> interpreted in this place <HI>Dei &amp; hominum reverentia,</HI> the reverence both of God and men, is without doubt a Chri&s;tian vertue (and hath nothing in this place to &s;et an ill character upon it, what ever it may ver&s;e 18. being joyned with wor&s;hip of Angels) and be|ing &s;o, cannot be &s;o ill company as to defame the will-wor&s;hip to which it a&s;&s;ociates, but will rather plead for it, that it is of the &s;ame making, a Chri&s;tian vertue al&s;o. Secondly, 'tis joyned with puni&s;hing,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> or not &s;paring, or (as <HI>Calvin</HI> varies the phra&s;e) mortifying of the body, which as an act of &s;elfe-denyall cannot be unacceptable to Chri&s;t, and as a &s;pecies of <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>revenge,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.11. will de&s;erve to be numbred among the effects of godly &s;orrow.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="12" UNIT="&sect;"> A &s;econd rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the&s;e very doctrines of ab&s;tinence &amp;c. are here &s;aid in re&s;pect of the will-wor&s;hip, &amp;c. di&s;cernable in them, to have <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>rationem &s;apientiae,</HI> &s;omewhat of wi&s;edome or piety in them: which [&s;omewhat] if it be reall, according to the former interpretation of the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, it will then be parallell to that which is &s;aid upon the like occa&s;i|on of <GAP DESC="foreign"> bodily exerci&s;e, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4.8. which doth belong not to the <HI>gymnici agones,</HI> the Olympick exerci&s;es, as &s;ome contrary to the context would wre&s;t it, but to &s;uch kind of <GAP DESC="foreign">, ab&s;tinence, continence, &amp;c. mention'd <HI>v.</HI> 1. which though, when they are taught as nece&s;&s;ary (to the defaming of marriage or meats, as <GAP DESC="foreign">, unlawfull and to <HI>be refu&s;ed, v.</HI> 4. and in the &s;tile of the fathers, and coun&s;ells, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>hurtfull</HI> and <HI>abominable</HI>) are then &s;ignes of apo&s;ta&s;ie from the Faith, <HI>v.</HI> 1. yet con&s;idered in them&s;elves as voluntary acts, are
<PB N="7" REF="5"> there &s;aid to be profitable, or (though in an inferiour degree being compared with piety, yet) <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>a little pro|fitable</HI> &s;till, or profitable for a little. But if that interpretation of [<GAP DESC="foreign">] will not be accepted, but <HI>[&s;peciem] &s;hew of wi&s;e|dome</HI> be required to be taken in its &s;tead, yet will the Argu|ment be &s;till of validity; For can any thing be &s;aid to have &s;o much as a <HI>&s;hew</HI> of wi&s;edome or piety in re&s;pect to <HI>will-wor&s;hip</HI> in it, if that <HI>will-wor&s;hip</HI> thus pretended, pa&s;&s;e confe&s;tly either for fooli&s;h, or impious? Can any thing be repre&s;ented to mee as having &s;o much as a <HI>&s;hew</HI> of piety, in re&s;pect to rage or lu&s;t di&s;cernible in it? Certainly, who&s;oever would make &s;uch a recommendation, mu&s;t, if he &s;peake in earne&s;t, &s;uppo&s;e &s;ome|what really of piety in tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ions al&s;o, or otherwi&s;e they cannot impart &s;o much as a <HI>&s;hew of piety</HI> to any thing el&s;e.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="13" UNIT="&sect;"> A third rea&s;on is, becau&s;e the Greeke Fathers in their expo|&s;itions of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">is place, though they interpret <GAP DESC="foreign">, onely of ap|pear<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"> the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">hew, as contrary to <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign">, power and truth, or as <HI>Oecumenius</HI> hath it, <GAP DESC="foreign">, a bare &s;hew of probability, yet generally they paraphra&s;e will-wor|&s;hip, and humility, and not &s;paring of the body by words of good &s;avour. Thus Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>He appeares pious, and moderate, and a contemner of the body;</HI> and then all the fault is, that he is not truly what he appeares: and <HI>Theophylact</HI> hath the &s;ame words, and <HI>Oecumenius</HI> comes very neare <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> pretending (<HI>i. e.</HI> having a &s;hew of) <HI>piety and devotion in wor&s;hip:</HI> by which 'tis cleare, what no|tion they had of <GAP DESC="foreign">, to wit, that of devotiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, pi|ety, the thing which is commended (by that word) in <HI>Symeon, Luk.</HI> 2.25, <GAP DESC="foreign">, ju&s;t and devout: and <HI>Act.</HI> 2.5. &amp; 8.2. and pre&s;cribed by Saint <HI>Paul Heb.</HI> 12.28. and &s;o &s;ure farre enough from any ill notion; even &s;o farre, that the interpreter of <HI>Clemens Alex:</HI> rendreth <GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>in religione,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 447.</NOTE> in religion.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="14" UNIT="&sect;"> A Fourth rea&s;on, becau&s;e by this way of interpreting, that very ob&s;cure place, which hath po&s;ed &s;o many, may conveni|ently be under&s;tood, and this prove the importance of it. That
<PB N="8" REF="6"> &s;uch doctrines are de&s;tructive of Chri&s;tian religion, in obtrud|ing humane out-dated <HI>Judaicall</HI> Con&s;titutions, for <HI>divine pre|cepts,</HI> &s;till obligeing Chri&s;tians, (as they that urge the nece&s;&s;i|ty of circumci&s;&s;ion, <HI>evacuate the doctrine of the Go&s;pell. Gal.</HI> 5. 2.) and yet in &s;ome re&s;pects have <HI>piety</HI> in them, at lea&s;t a <HI>&s;hew of it,</HI> to wit, in <HI>Will-wor&s;hip, Humility.</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="15" UNIT="&sect;"> A Fifth, becau&s;e that which <HI>He&s;ychius</HI> &s;aith of this word, is very agreeable to this interpretation, for he renders <GAP DESC="foreign"> by <GAP DESC="foreign">, voluntary wor&s;hip or piety (as <GAP DESC="foreign"> a word u&s;ed, <HI>Eccl.</HI> 19.27. is &s;aith he, <GAP DESC="foreign">) the very notion of the <GAP DESC="foreign"> I told you of, &s;o ordinarily rendred by the 72. <GAP DESC="foreign">, voluntary guifts, or offerings, or performances.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="16" UNIT="&sect;"> A Sixth, becau&s;e rea&s;on it &s;elfe a&s;&s;ures us, that tho&s;e things which are done in the &s;ervice of God, are not therefore ill be|cau&s;e they are &s;pontaneous, (the voluntaryne&s;&s;e of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">tion is not able to defame it, if there be no <GAP DESC="foreign">, no irr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span">y im|putable to the action it &s;elfe, ab&s;tracted from the voluntarine&s;&s;e; there being no <HI>univer&s;all negative</HI> command in the Scripture, e&s;pecially the New Te&s;tament, prohibiting all things and de|grees of things, be&s;ides what are in particular commanded) but on the other &s;ide, when in the &s;ervice of God, a man out of a pious affection (of love and gratitude inciting to do things acceptable to God: as well as of feare deterring from all that is prohibited) &s;hall (in conformity to God's <HI>generall</HI> com|mands, and the doctrine of the Go&s;pell) do any thing el&s;e, be|&s;ide what God hath commanded by any particular precept, this action of his, is to be accounted &s;o much more commend|able and acceptable to God, piety being one of tho&s;e virtues <HI>quarum tantae &s;unt amplitudines, ut quant&ograve; auctiores &s;unt, tan|to &s;int etiam laudatiores:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ageltius noct. Att. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>which have &s;uch width of compa&s;&s;e, that the larger they are, they are al&s;o &s;o much more commendable;</HI> and withall the more <HI>voluntary</HI> and <HI>&s;pontaneous,</HI> the more <HI>accept|able.</HI> To which that of the &s;onne of <HI>Syrach</HI> is agreeable. <HI>Eccl.</HI> 43.30. <HI>When you glorifie the Lord, exalt him as much as you can, for even he yet will far exceed; and when you exalt him, put forth all your &s;trength, for you can never go farre enough, i. e.</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="6"> how farre &s;oever you exceed the <HI>particular</HI> command, you are yet within the compa&s;&s;e of the <HI>generall,</HI> and in re&s;pect of that can never be thought to have done enough, though the particular act or the degree of it, be &s;omewhat that you are not particularly obliged to.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="17" UNIT="&sect;"> Having thus vindicated this word from the abu&s;e and re|proach laid on it, It followes in the &s;econd place that I point at the <GAP DESC="foreign"> that which &s;eemes to have cau&s;ed or oc|ca&s;ioned this abu&s;e, and that I conceive to be &s;ome one or more of the&s;e foure things.</P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="18" UNIT="&sect;"> 1. That the vulgar Latine tran&s;lation renders <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Su|per&s;titio,</HI> from whence I conceive it is that Ma&s;ter <HI>Calvin</HI> hath taken confidence to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ad Gal. c. <HI>3.</HI> t. <HI>9.</HI> p. <HI>171.</HI></NOTE> that <HI>Super&s;titio Graecis dicitur</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, and Saint <HI>Jerome</HI> agreeable to that tran&s;lation, (which in this was mo&s;t probably his,) <HI>Infelices Judaei quant&acirc; &s;uper&s;titi|one vivant inter nationes, dicentes, ne tetigeris, ne gu&s;taveris,</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sic &amp; qu. <HI>10.</HI> ad Algas. t. <HI>3.</HI> p. <HI>171.</HI></NOTE> Whereas the truth is, <GAP DESC="foreign"> is the Greeke for Super&s;titi|on, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifies it no more, then <GAP DESC="foreign"> doth, which although it be by <HI>Etymologi&s;ts</HI> deduced from <GAP DESC="foreign">, and &s;o appropriated to &s;ome cu&s;tomes of the <HI>Thracians,</HI> and abu|&s;ively belongs to <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;uperfluous and curious wor&s;hips, as <HI>Plutarch</HI> hath it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Alex.</NOTE> yet in &s;implicity of &s;peech &s;ignifies wor&s;hip, and in holy writ is u&s;ed in this good &s;ence. <HI>Act.</HI> 26.5. <HI>Ja.</HI> 1.27. (and never otherwi&s;e but when the adjuncts alter it) and from thence the compound <GAP DESC="foreign">, voluntary or &s;pontaneous wor&s;hip.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="19" UNIT="&sect;"> 2. That as among the Jewes in the time of the <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>God's immediate prae&s;iding among them,</HI> all was to be done ac|cording to the paterne <HI>(in monte)</HI> in the mount; &s;o &s;ome men have re&s;olv'd them&s;elves and laboured to per&s;wade others, though without any New Te&s;tament evidence, (Chri&s;t hav|ing no farther interpo&s;ed in this matter, nor the Apo&s;tles, then that all be done decently and ordinately, and that obedience be paid to the higher powers in tho&s;e things, wherein the law of nature, and the Go&s;pell hath neither commanded, nor pro|hibited) that no rite, no circum&s;tance, no degree of wor&s;hip may be u&s;ed in the Chri&s;tian Church, but what hath Chri&s;ts ex|ample
<PB N="10" REF="7"> or particular precept to authorize it; which a&s;&s;ertion being &s;o irrationall and proofele&s;&s;e, and yet &s;o re&s;olute not to yeild, hath beene faine to catch at any thing to &s;u&s;teine it, which can come within its reach, and in de&s;titution of other auxiliaries, hath fa&s;tened on this (though but &s;ound of) word, and taken advantage by the ob&s;curity of this one text to impo&s;e upon ea&s;y readers this fal&s;ity, that whatever is not command|ed by Chri&s;t by his particular precept, or ju&s;tified by his exam|ple, is cen&s;urable under the title of Will-wor&s;hip, though o|therwi&s;e in re&s;pect of the matter of it, it would not be cen&s;ura|ble. Which conclu&s;ion when we con&s;ider what &s;mall ground it hath in that ob&s;cure text thus explained, we &s;hall have little temptation to re&s;olve on, as a foundation to &s;uper&s;truct any o|ther doctrines upon, (which we mu&s;t not do but upon plaine un|doubted texts) or to conclude tho&s;e actions <HI>criminous,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>voluntary,</HI> which we may rather mo&s;t ju&s;tly conclude ju&s;tifya|ble, becau&s;e not prohibited; and not only &s;o, but al&s;o accepta|ble to God, if agreeable to his generall commands, and the doctrine of the Go&s;pell, and the more acceptable for the vo|luntarine&s;&s;e, as being in that parallel to tho&s;e oblations which are pronounced mo&s;t acceptable. A pa&s;&s;age I have lately ob|&s;erved, which though it be not of any great authority, yet ap|pearing at the fir&s;t &s;ight di&s;tinctly contrary to my pre&s;ent affir|mation I have thought not impertinent here to take into con&s;i|deration. It is in <HI>Photius's</HI> his <GAP DESC="foreign"> out of <HI>Philo&s;torgius</HI> &s;et &s;et out very lately by <HI>Jacobus Gotofredus</HI> in Greeke and Latine. The words in Latine (which is the language which tho&s;e who are mo&s;t &s;ubject to be abu&s;ed in this matter will be mo&s;t likely to read him in) are the&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tor. Eccl. l. 3.5.</NOTE> <HI>Theophilus ad Indiam profectus e&s;t, multaque quae apud eos haud rit&egrave; fiebant, emendavit; nam &amp; &s;edentes audiebant lectiones Evangelicas, et alia quaedam fa|ciebant quae lex divina non praecipit.</HI> Which words by affirm|ing <HI>[that 'twas a fault, to be mended in them, to do &s;ome thing which the divine law commands not]</HI> &s;eeme to conclude again&s;t all voluntary wor&s;hip uncommanded by the word of God, as ab&s;olutely unlawfull; how ju&s;tly you &s;hall now di&s;cerne. To which purpo&s;e you mu&s;t fir&s;t ob&s;erve, the words in the Greeke,
<PB N="11" REF="7"> which in <HI>Gotofreds</HI> copy runne thus, <GAP DESC="foreign">, but in the manu&s;cript in the publick Library, have <GAP DESC="foreign"> in&s;tead of <GAP DESC="foreign">; this undoubtedly is the truer reading, and the meaning of the word is, to admit, per|mit, or to u&s;e, <HI>invale&s;cere, vel obtinere,</HI> to prevaile or obtaine for the u&s;age of any thing. To which if you adde that <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifies not the law or word of God, but the &s;acred Canons or cu&s;tomes of the Church (which be&s;ide other arguments is cleare, by <HI>Nicephorus</HI> his repeating tho&s;e &s;ame words (out of <HI>Photius,</HI> for 'tis cleare by other evidences that <HI>Nicephorus</HI> made u&s;e of <HI>Photius's ecloga,</HI> and not of the entire copy of <HI>Philo&s;torgius</HI>) only with this change of <GAP DESC="foreign"> for <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Gotofred</HI> in his notes acknowledges) the product will then be only this, that the thing which in tho&s;e <HI>Indians</HI> was ami&s;&s;e, and reformed by <HI>Theophilus,</HI> was the &s;itting at the reading of the Go&s;pell, and doing &s;ome other things which the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall or &s;acred Canons did not allow of, or u&s;e, for which they were not in force; and &s;o the place will yeild us an authority from the antient Canons for &s;tanding at the reading of the Go&s;pell, but offer us nothing which we &s;hall need to quarrell with. He that is not &s;atisfyed with this account which I have given him of this place, I &s;hall de&s;ire, will con&s;ider whether it be probable that the &s;itting at the reading of the Go&s;pell &s;hould goe for a fault, only becau&s;e the Scripture commands it not. This I am confident will not be affirmed by the adver&s;aries of my pre&s;ent a&s;&s;ertions, who for the mo&s;t part choo&s;e to &s;it at the reading of the Go&s;pell, upon this very ground becau&s;e &s;tanding at that time is not commanded in the Scripture. The ca&s;e I conceive &s;o cleare that I &s;hall not farther enlarge upon it.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="20" UNIT="&sect;"> A third ground or occa&s;ion of this abu&s;e of the word I &s;up|po&s;e to be the affinity of the 18 ver&s;e of that chapter to the <HI>Colo&s;&s;. [Let no man deceive you in a voluntary humility,</HI> &amp;c.] to this now in hand. For I am per&s;waded many men have not ob&s;erved the great di&s;tance betweene them, and for want of doing &s;o, have thought <GAP DESC="foreign"> here &s;ubject to all the &s;ame charges which the wor&s;hip of Angels is there guilty of, and &s;o particularly of that crime of Super&s;tition, which the wor&s;hip|pers
<PB N="12" REF="8"> of Angells cannot be freed from; e&s;pecially &s;eeing that they, like the Dogmatizers here, did teach that wor&s;hip to be the will of God, and that God was honoured in the wor&s;hip of tho&s;e Officers of his;<NOTE PLACE="marg">De id<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">lol. c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> the errour which, as <HI>Maimonides</HI> ob|&s;erved, hath brought the greate&s;t part of Idolatry fir&s;t into the world, <HI>exi&s;timando hanc varietatem e&s;&s;e Dei voluntatem,</HI> when men conceived and taught that the&s;e vaine idolatrous or &s;uper|&s;titious wor&s;hips were the will and plea&s;ure of God.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="21" UNIT="&sect;"> For the clearing of this matter, and rectifying the mi&s;take I &s;hall not doubt to affirme, that the prohibition in the 18 ver&s;e (though in &s;ome tran&s;lations it &s;eemes to belong to this matter of Will-wor&s;hip, and con&s;equently to &s;et an ill character upon it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Strom: l. <HI>3.</HI> p. <HI>447.</HI></NOTE> and although <HI>Clemens Alexandrinus</HI> compound both the&s;e ver&s;es together, reading thus, <GAP DESC="foreign">, yet) will be found not at all to belong to it, if the Greeke text in that chapter be con|&s;ulted with, and the Hebrai&s;me in <GAP DESC="foreign"> be taken notice of</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="22" UNIT="&sect;"> To which end you may ob&s;erve the&s;e two things. 1. That the words are not in the originall <GAP DESC="foreign">, but <GAP DESC="foreign">. Now the word <GAP DESC="foreign"> hath in the Septuagints tran&s;lation of the old Bible, (and by proportion may have al&s;o here) a &s;ence which Atticall wri|ters have not taken notice of, and it will by Analogy be fitte&s;t rendred thus [plea&s;ing him&s;elfe, or delighting in humility and wor&s;hiping of Angels.] (or as Saint <HI>Hierome</HI> explaines it, <HI>Su|perbus fict&acirc; humilitate,</HI> proud of a feined humility) as 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 18.22. The Septuagint read <GAP DESC="foreign">, which the Engli&s;h out of the Hebrew render [The <HI>King delighteth in thee,</HI>] and &s;o 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 15.26. and very often in other places, upon this ground or Originall that the Hebrew &s;ignifies both <HI>acquievit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> and <HI>voluit,</HI> to <HI>delight</HI> in, and to <HI>will;</HI> and &s;o in the old Te&s;tament is rendred promi&s;cuou&s;ly, <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>I am well plea&s;|ed,</HI> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>I will,</HI> and one &s;ometimes u&s;ed when the other would be more proper, (which cu&s;tome is not unu&s;uall in the new Te&s;tament, for thus you &s;hall finde it, <HI>Mat:</HI> 27.43. <GAP DESC="foreign">, which though we there render, (<HI>Let him deliver him if he will have him,</HI> in&s;erting the word
<PB N="13" REF="8">
[have] and by that indeed &s;omewhat changeing the &s;ence,) yet <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 22.8. (whence 'tis apparent the words are taken, and where the Septuagints render <GAP DESC="foreign"> by <GAP DESC="foreign">) we render it, <HI>let him deliver him, if he delight in him.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="23" UNIT="&sect;"> But be&s;ides, as this <HI>delight or will</HI> in this 18.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Theophyl. in Col. cap. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> ver&s;e is fa&s;ten'd on an unlawfull thing, to wit <HI>wor&s;hiping of Angells</HI> (a thing not only not pre&s;cribed, but prohibited by God) and includes &s;uch an impious kind of mi&s;taken humility that takes in o|thers either as mediatours to God, or as to be adored be&s;ide him (as the <HI>Angelici</HI> in the Chri&s;tian Church, and the <HI>E&s;&s;eni</HI> among the Jewes did) &s;o and in this &s;ence this wor&s;hip (if you would from hence &s;tile it <HI>Will-wor&s;hip,</HI> or what you plea&s;e) &s;hall be without any difficulty acknowledged by me to be an unlawfull thing, as being the willing of that which God for|bids; which though it be readily granted, yet it will remaine true neverthele&s;&s;e, that <HI>voluntary wor&s;hip,</HI> where the matter is perfectly <HI>lawfull,</HI> not forbidden, nay <HI>approved</HI> by a <HI>Generall</HI> (though not commanded by any particular) <HI>precept,</HI> is farre e|nough from having any Tincture of evill in it. But this would de&s;erve a larger di&s;cour&s;e by way of Comment on that ver&s;e. In the mean while, this may &s;erve to &s;hew how groundle&s;&s;e the mi&s;take is that ari&s;eth from hence.</P>
<P>The 4. and la&s;t occa&s;ion of this mi&s;take which I &s;hall ob|&s;erve, is the u&s;e of a word in <HI>Epiphanius</HI> (which I perceive to be taken notice of by learned men) <GAP DESC="foreign">, which being attributed to the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> there, (who, &s;aith he, were &s;o called for that rea&s;on, the word <HI>Phari&s;ee</HI> coming from an <MILESTONE N="24" UNIT="&sect;"> Hebrew primitive, which &s;ignifies <HI>&s;eperation</HI> or <HI>di&s;crimination,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> and &s;o denoting &s;ome performances in them, wherein they <HI>ex|ceeded</HI> other <HI>Jewes</HI>) may perhaps &s;eem to be taken in an ill notion.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="25" UNIT="&sect;"> To which I an&s;wer 1. that if <GAP DESC="foreign"> were a de|notation of &s;ome ill, it would not yet nece&s;&s;arily prejudice <GAP DESC="foreign"> which we &s;peake of; becau&s;e the <GAP DESC="foreign"> added in <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters">hat word, noting <HI>aboundance</HI> or <HI>&s;uperfluity</HI> (which perhaps may referre either to &s;ome unlawfull, or at lea&s;t vaine luxuriant matter, taken into that wor&s;hip, as for example either prohi|bited
<PB N="14" REF="9"> <HI>objects,</HI> or noxious, at lea&s;t burthenous in the number, or in the quality ridiculous <HI>ceremonies</HI>) might turne that into evill which the <HI>voluntarine&s;&s;e</HI> or <HI>uncommandedne&s;&s;e</HI> of them were not able to do.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="26" UNIT="&sect;"> But then Secondly, I cannot acknowledge, that that word is by <HI>Epiphanius</HI> there taken in an ill &s;en&s;e: all that the con|text enforces, is but this, that that is the meaning or interpre|tation of their name, and &s;ure it is not nece&s;&s;ary, that becau&s;e the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> were evill men, or had &s;ome great faults, there|fore their name &s;ignified &s;ome ill thing, for &s;ure if their name was a&s;&s;umed by their owne choi&s;e, they would not be &s;uch ill carvers to them&s;elves, (I am &s;ure other <HI>Hereticks</HI> were not, as the <HI>Novatians</HI> called them&s;elves <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>pure,</HI> and the Monta|ni&s;ts <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the &s;pirituall</HI> &amp;c.) and that it was impo&s;ed on them by other men 'tis not affirmed: and be&s;ides I remem|ber that &s;ome other antient writers interpret that name by <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>&s;eparate or &s;et apart to God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;tome. Oecumenius. &amp;c.</NOTE> and no man will thinke there is any hurt in that, &s;ave only the vanity of u&s;urp|ing that title, and inclo&s;ing it from all others.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="27" UNIT="&sect;"> The truth is, that was the maine crime that defamed the <HI>Pha|ri&s;ees,</HI> their cen&s;orious proud de&s;pi&s;ing of other men, whom they thought not &s;o godly as them&s;elves; and therefore I re|member 'tis Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome's</HI> advice, that when the Phari&s;ee and the Publican are compared by <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and the Publican pre|ferr'd, we &s;hould be carefull, not to preferre the Publicans <HI>&s;ins</HI> before the Phari&s;ees <HI>good qualities,</HI> before his <HI>fa&s;ting,</HI> and <HI>tithing</HI> &amp;c. but only the Publicans <HI>humility</HI> before the Phari&s;ees <HI>pride,</HI> the <HI>Publicans judging him&s;elfe,</HI> before the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> fa&s;tidious <HI>contemning</HI> of others. For the Phari&s;ees exactne&s;&s;e in tho&s;e particulars neglected by others, or not ob&s;erved in that height, is &s;o farre from being reprehended in the &s;cripture, that 1. <HI>'tis</HI> di&s;tinctly &s;aid, that the <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <HI>oportuit [the&s;e things ought yee to have done]</HI> belonged (to the doing of tho&s;e other things o|mitted by them, <HI>judgement, mercy, and faith,</HI> and) not to the <HI>leaving</HI> tho&s;e <HI>undone,</HI> which they did ob&s;erve. 2. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaking not contumeliou&s;ly or &s;arca&s;tically, but &s;adly of him|&s;elfe, calls that <HI>Sect</HI> of the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> by an honourable title <GAP DESC="foreign">
<PB N="15" REF="9"> <HI>Act.</HI> 26. <HI>a way of the greate&s;t &s;trict|ne&s;&s;e in religion.</HI> Which though it excu&s;es not the Phari&s;ees other faults, yet is farre from being it &s;elfe any ill character, or leaving any blemi&s;h upon their voluntary religious performan|ces, wherein their &s;uperlative &s;trictne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;ted.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="28" UNIT="&sect;"> To the&s;e I &s;hall adde a third an&s;wer, which the learned cri|ticall writers concerning the Sects among&s;t the Jewes will au|thorize, that the originall of the&s;e Phari&s;ees was from the <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <HI>Ha&s;idaei,</HI> who were &s;o called for their exce&s;&s;e of pie|ty and charity, their voluntary performances above what the law required of them. The&s;e are mentioned 1 <HI>Mac.</HI> 2.42. and defined to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, we render it voluntarily devoted to the law, but the phra&s;e &s;ignifies tho&s;e that in their obedience performed voluntarily &s;ome things which the law required not, and &s;o differed from the <HI>Karraim</HI> or <HI>Karaei</HI> who did that only which was commended by law. Of both which compared together 'tis the learned and the Prote&s;tant <HI>Scaligers</HI> ob&s;ervation <HI>Elench Tribaeres, cap.</HI> 22. that as no man is re|quired to do more then is commanded him, (and &s;o the <HI>Kar|raim</HI> are ju&s;tified) &s;o no man is to be quarrel'd with for doing better, when he is bound to do well, or for performing much when a mediocrity is required of him, and &s;o the <HI>Ha&s;idaei</HI> ju&s;ti|fied al&s;o, and with them the <GAP DESC="foreign"> we &s;peak of. But when that <GAP DESC="foreign"> (&s;aith he) became <GAP DESC="foreign">, when tho&s;e vo|luntary free-will-offerings began to be formed into precepts, and entered into bookes, then from <HI>Ha&s;idi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"></HI> or pious men, they became dogmatizers, laid obligation upon all to do as they did, and then being not obeyed in their &s;evere pre&s;ciptions, di&s;cri|minated them&s;elves from all others, as the only obedient &s;er|vants of God, and &s;o called them&s;elves <GAP DESC="foreign"> Phari&s;ees, di|vided not only from the re&s;t of the prophane world, which did not as they did, but from the very <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;id<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters"></HI> them&s;elves, who performed as much as they, but thought not them&s;elves oblig|ed by law to do &s;o. Which being the notion of the Phari&s;ees, may by <HI>Epiphanius</HI> be expre&s;t and cen&s;ured by the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, as they, that in <HI>G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">,</HI> offended not in the Will-wor&s;hip, did yet in the dogmatizing, and &s;o the <HI>Ha&s;idai</HI> we
<PB N="16" REF="10"> may ju&s;tifie, though not the Phari&s;ees, the <GAP DESC="foreign"> though not the <GAP DESC="foreign"> All this I thought not ami&s;&s;e to adde <HI>ex abundanti,</HI> more then the nece&s;&s;ity of the pre&s;ent di&s;qui&s;i|tion required of me, that I might have my <GAP DESC="foreign"> or <HI>voluntary oblation</HI> to pre&s;ent to the Reader al&s;o.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="29" UNIT="&sect;"> Now for the third and la&s;t thing propo&s;ed, concernnig tho&s;e voluntary oblations under the law, it will be worth ob|&s;erving, fir&s;t, that they were a part of the wor&s;hip and &s;ervice of God when they were performed, and therefore avowed by tho&s;e <HI>Generall precepts</HI> which re&s;pect that wor&s;hip of his. 2. that they were not commanded particularly by any <HI>particular</HI> command of God's in the law, but were left to every mans liber|ty (except it were in ca&s;e of vow, which yet it was free to him not to make,) &amp; &s;o were <HI>Spontaneous,</HI> not nece&s;&s;ary. &amp; 3. that <HI>Lev.</HI> 22. there is a law, by which he that offers them is for|bid to offer them <HI>maimed or blemi&s;ht v.</HI> 20. from all which to|gether it appeares, that they were <HI>voluntary,</HI> and yet allowed by by God and accepted. And then I cannot &s;ee why there may not be &s;omewhat in Chri&s;tianity of the &s;ame con&s;titution al&s;o, <HI>voluntary</HI> and not <HI>particularly</HI> impo&s;ed, and yet allowed by (and acceptable to) God, Nor why he that doth any &s;uch thing, may not be called <GAP DESC="foreign">, and the oblation or action it &s;elfe <GAP DESC="foreign">. Under which head or title I &s;hould place what&s;oever may by the doctrine of the Go&s;pell appeare to be <HI>acceptable</HI> to <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> and yet is not <HI>commanded</HI> by any particu|lar command; or which is commanded for the <HI>act,</HI> but not for the <HI>&s;pecification</HI> of it to time, or place, or degree, &amp;c.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="30" UNIT="&sect;"> Of which kind there be many particulars incident, both in the wor&s;hip of God, and in actions of common life, if it were &s;ea&s;onable to in&s;ert them here. I &s;hall only mention one or two <GAP DESC="foreign">. God commanded not <HI>David</HI> to build him a Temple, nor to make tender of that &s;ervice, as will appeare 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 7.5. &amp;c. Nay profe&s;&s;es him&s;elfe content to live in tents and tabernacles. And yet <HI>David's</HI> intention to build a Temple for God, that magnificent de&s;igne of his, though never &s;o much exceeding God's command is very acceptable to God, as appeares by <HI>Nathans</HI> me&s;&s;age to him in that place and <HI>Solo|mons</HI>
<PB N="17" REF="10"> comment upon it, 1 <HI>King.</HI> 8.18. Thou did&s;t well that it was in thine heart. In like manner Saint <HI>Paul</HI> might have re|ceived hire for his labour from the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> but would not, he made the Go&s;pell chargeles to them, and counts and calls this <HI>matter of boa&s;ting,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.9.10. This was a <GAP DESC="foreign"> in that A|po&s;tle towards his <HI>Corinthians.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="31" UNIT="&sect;"> So againe he might have ab&s;teined from going up to <HI>Jeru|&s;alem, Act</HI> 21. a Prophet told him that <HI>b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">nds expected him</HI> there, if he went, <HI>v.</HI> 11. and in that ca&s;e to fly was ju&s;tifiable by <HI>Mat.</HI> 10.23. yet <HI>Paul would neede goe up, v.</HI> 13. that was his <GAP DESC="foreign"> againe.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="32" UNIT="&sect;"> Thus workes of mercy or Almes-giving are commanded by God; liberality and largene&s;&s;e of hand and heart commended and promi&s;ed a liberall reward, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.6. <HI>Laying by us weeke|ly in &s;tore,</HI> as God hath pro&s;pered us, is by Saint <HI>Paul</HI> appoin|ted, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 16.2. But then for the <HI>quotum,</HI> how much every rich man &s;hould &s;et apart for this purpo&s;e out of his yearely re|venue, what proportion of the whole, whether a thirtieth, twentieth, or tenth part, is not at all particularly defined. Or &s;uppo&s;ing that one of the&s;e proportions were defined, namely the thirtieth part every yeare, (equivalent to the 10^t^h every 3^d yeare, which among the Jewes was de&s;igned for the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the &s;econd <HI>or poore mans tithing</HI>) yet if I ac|knowledging this my duty, &s;hould yet re&s;olve to exceed this proportion, and &s;et a&s;ide a twentieth, or tenth, or fifth part of my e&s;tate, this mu&s;t be acknowledged more then what I am particularly obliged to; and then &s;o much of it as is more, will be my <GAP DESC="foreign"> or free will offering, that now I &s;peake of. Ju&s;t as among the Jewes, that proportion which they were by Law obliged to, was called their <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>their righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> which he that performed, &s;atisfied the obligation of the Law in that behalfe; &amp; that which exceeded <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>aboundance</HI> or <HI>excellency of goodne&s;&s;e,</HI> or mercy, or piety.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="33" UNIT="&sect;"> In like manner prayer is a Chri&s;tian duty, part of divine wor|&s;hip; Orall prayer a part of that, and that in the Clo&s;et as well as the Congregation.</P>
<P>In the performance of this duly qualified, there is no doubt;
<PB N="18" REF="11"> but the adjoining of bodily wor&s;hip, whether of the eye, or hand, or knee, is not onely lawfull, but acceptable in the &s;ight of God, yet the&s;e not commanded particularly by any <HI>particu|lar command</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> but onely avowed by the <HI>Generall com|mands</HI> of <HI>glorifying</HI> God in our <HI>bodies</HI> as well as <HI>spirits,</HI> by the example of approved pre&s;idents in the Scripture, &amp;c. Or if any &s;hall conceive the&s;e to be under any particular command, then in &s;tead of di&s;puting again&s;t him, I &s;hall &s;uppo&s;e it, and proceed, and in&s;tance in pro&s;tration as a lowlier and bumbler act of bodi|ly wor&s;hip then kneeling is, and this not affirmed to be parti|cularly commanded, and &s;o voluntary, yet &s;ure acceptable to God, if it flow from that vehement zeale of &s;pirit and dimi&s;&s;i|on of mind, in confe&s;&s;ion and &s;ence of &s;inne, that I &s;hall hope it doth, and be not polluted by any appendant vanity, or cor|ruption, more then kneeling might be &s;uppo&s;ed to be, and then this is a <GAP DESC="foreign"> againe, a free will offering of the &s;ame kind al&s;o.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="34" UNIT="&sect;"> So againe <HI>prayer</HI> is a duty commanded and for the frequency of u&s;ing it <HI>ince&s;&s;ant continuall prayer, i. e.</HI> &s;ay the learned in pro|portion to the <HI>continuall or daily &s;acrifices</HI> among the Jewes, prayer morning and evening every day, (or as the word u&s;ed by Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 5.17. [<GAP DESC="foreign">] is u&s;ed by the Author of the fir&s;t Booke of <HI>Macchabees, c.</HI> 12.11. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>We remember then that every &s;ea&s;on ince&s;&s;antly, (i. e.</HI> as the re&s;t of the ver&s;e explaines it) <HI>both in in our fea&s;ts and other con|venient dayes, in the &s;acrifices, and in our prayers, &amp;c.</HI> Not om|mitting the daily con&s;tant times of prayer and &s;acrifice.) To the&s;e two <HI>David</HI> and <HI>Daniell</HI> added a 3^d time, and a Chri&s;tian now may &s;ure doe well to improve it in publicke and private to &s;ix or &s;eaven times a day; which number though counte|nanced by <HI>Davids</HI> re&s;olution of <HI>[&s;even times a day will I prai&s;e thee.]</HI> Yet being not pre&s;cribed by <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> will be his <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>free will-offering</HI> againe. The <HI>matter</HI> of it commanded, to wit, <HI>prayer,</HI> but not the frequent reiterating of it daily. For if it &s;hall be pretended that the precept of praying <HI>ince&s;&s;antly</HI> doth par|ticularly de&s;igne this frequency, I &s;hall an&s;wer that the [ince&s;|&s;ant] &s;o interpreted, doth either require an interupted continu|ed prayer, in that &s;ence as <HI>Paul</HI> in preaching, <HI>continued his &s;peech
<PB N="19" REF="11"> till midnight, Act.</HI> 20.7. (which to affirme is the here&s;y of the <HI>Euchitae;</HI> and that which the objector cannot in earne&s;t thinke him&s;elfe obliged to; For then ever to give over or in|termit, or doe any thing el&s;e, mu&s;t be acknowledged a &s;inne) or el&s;e denotes particularly that definite number of &s;even times, which if it &s;hall be affirmed, will fir&s;t be proofele&s;&s;e, and deni|ed as rea&s;onably as demanded: and then 2. I &s;hall adde one time more to my &s;uppo&s;ition, (and yet &s;o as not to neglect the other duties of my calling) and that will be the <GAP DESC="foreign"> I &s;peake of.</P>
<P>If to all or any of the&s;e in&s;tances it be excepted or oppo&s;ed that the&s;e may be &s;uppo&s;ed in Saint <HI>Paul, &amp;c.</HI> to be <HI>incitations</HI> and motions of the &s;pirit, di&s;obedience to (and re&s;i&s;ting of) <MILESTONE N="35" UNIT="&sect;"> which would have beene a &s;inne; I an&s;wer fir&s;t that every &s;uch free-will offering is not a particular incitation or motion of the &s;pirit, &s;uch as was ob&s;ervable in the Prophets of old, or indeed any farther then that &s;ignifies an act of a &s;oule fir&s;t renewed then a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the &s;pirit of God. That &s;pirit is a &s;oule to the &s;oule, and is to that as the &s;oule to the body; the body having a &s;oule, and animated by it, moves and workes by that principle, and &s;o the &s;oule animated and &s;trengthen'd by Chri&s;t and his &s;pirit, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>is able to doe all things,</HI> and actually doth them by the &s;ame &s;trength.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="36" UNIT="&sect;"> Not to enter any deeper into that que&s;tion, then to this pre|pre&s;ent matter is nece&s;&s;ary, that which I meane will be be&s;t un|der&s;tood by noting the difference betweene the grace of &s;an|ctification, and the &s;pirit of prophecy &s;o vulgarly knowne; and I de&s;ire it may be extended no farther then one example of <HI>Da|vid</HI> will explaine and ju&s;tify, &s;et downe by way of narration, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 7. but repeated more clearely to our purpo&s;e, 1 <HI>King.</HI> 8.17.18. <HI>It was (&s;aith</HI> Solomon) <HI>in the heart of</HI> David <HI>my father to build an hou&s;e for the name of the Lord God of</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>and the Lord &s;aid unto</HI> David <HI>my father, where as it was in thy heart to build an hou&s;e unto my name, thou did&s;t well that in was in thine heart, Neverthele&s;&s;e thou &s;halt not build the hou&s;e.</HI> On occa&s;ion of this pa&s;&s;age I &s;hall aske: was this which was in <HI>Davids</HI> heart, by the incitation of God in the &s;ence that the objector under&s;tands incitation, or was it not? If it was, then God in|cited
<PB N="20" REF="12"> him to doe &s;omewhat which God had determined he &s;hould not doe; as 'tis plaine by the la&s;t words, <HI>Neverthele&s;&s;e thou &s;halt not build.</HI> 1. I &s;hall in charity hope the Reader will not affirme this that God incites, or inwardly moves to that which he will not have done; therefore the &s;econd mu&s;t be re|&s;olved on, that he did not incite; and yet the thing which was in <HI>Davids</HI> heart plea&s;ed the Lord, <HI>[Thou did&s;t well that it was in thy heart]</HI> and thence it followes that what is in good mens hearts, what they re&s;olve and doe, may be without this incita|tion of Gods, and yet be acceptable to him, which is the &s;umme of the fir&s;t part of my an&s;wer.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="37" UNIT="&sect;"> But then 2. I an&s;wer that if it be &s;till called an incitation of God, yet having expre&s;t what a kind of incitation it mu&s;t be, the non-obedience to it will not be a &s;inne; for to make it &s;o, it will be required, 1. That it be expre&s;t to come from God. And 2. That it comes from him <HI>&s;ub ratione praecepti,</HI> under the noti|on of a precept; whereas this incitation being &s;uppo&s;ed to be an inarticulate &s;ilent motion, not revealed in Scripture, or by voice from Heaven, or as the Prophets were, (<GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>moved</HI> or <HI>carried by the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.21.) or by any other ex|traordinary way, &s;o as to be clearely intelligible or di&s;cernible, whether it be from God or no, much le&s;&s;e that it is a precept of Gods, it cannot be thus obliging as a precept would be, to which obedience is &s;o due, that non-obedience would be &s;in.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="38" UNIT="&sect;"> In breife this voluntary oblation, as every good gift or Chri|&s;tian action, I &s;hall acknowledge to de&s;cend <HI>from above, from the father of lights;</HI> and thereupon <HI>David</HI> put it into his Thanke&s;giving or <HI>Magnificat,</HI> 1 <HI>Chron,</HI> 29.14. (ble&s;&s;ing God that the <HI>people offered &s;o willingly.</HI>) But this will not conclude the particular, to which he or they were thus enabled and thus moved or inclined by God to be le&s;&s;e, but rather more voluntary, the action being the action of the man, thus willingly doing what he is by God enabled and mo|ved by the &s;pirit, (God working in him both to will and to doe, the fir&s;t by his renewing, the &s;econd by his a&s;&s;i&s;ting grace) and voluntary working or operating upon that &s;trength and motion, and then all that this inferres is the obligation to gra|titude,
<PB N="21" REF="12"> to humility, and not <HI>boa&s;ting</HI> in them that have thus <HI>re|ceived,</HI> but not any kind of obligation to that particular action, for that mu&s;t &s;uppo&s;e a particular command.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="39" UNIT="&sect;"> And there is great difference betweene the&s;e two, the pre|cept, and the grace. 1. in that the precept belongs (becau&s;e given) to all, the grace to none but him that hath it, (and not obliging him neither, unle&s;&s;e the matter of it be <HI>&s;ub praecepto</HI> all|ready. <HI>i. e.</HI> unle&s;&s;e the thing to which he is thus moved by the &s;pirit of God, he were otherwi&s;e obliged to by &s;ome other command. (For in that ca&s;e it is that Saint <HI>Stephens</HI> reproofe hath place. <HI>Act.</HI> 7.57. <HI>[Ye do alwaies re&s;i&s;t the holy Gho&s;t,]</HI> which in the ca&s;e in hand we &s;uppo&s;e him not to be) 2. Be|cau&s;e it is the de&s;igne of a precept to lay an obligation, and that <HI>&s;ub periculo animae,</HI> if it be not obeyed; but of grace not &s;o; but only to &s;trengthen and incline, which he that makes u&s;e of as he &s;hould, is promi&s;ed a reward for &s;o doing, <HI>more grace</HI> here, (according to the parable of the talents concluded with <HI>haben|ti dabitur,</HI>) and a richer crowne or reward hereafter; And upon not u&s;ing of it, threatned particularly with the withdraw|ing of the grace before given. <HI>Take from him the pound, &amp;c. Luk.</HI> 19.24. and whereas in Saint <HI>Matthew</HI> 'tis added <HI>[take him and ca&s;t him into utter darkene&s;&s;e,]</HI> 'tis cleare by Saint <HI>Luk.</HI> that there was a precept of <HI>occupying. v.</HI> 13. to the neglect of which this puni&s;hment was apportioned. 2. I &s;hall acknow|ledge, that the bringing God no returne of all his grace, is a great and damning &s;inne. But then thirdly, that comes not home to prove it a &s;inne, to omit the doing of any one particu|lar, in that degree which God's grace enables me to do, there being no obligation in this matter <HI>ad &s;emper,</HI> or <HI>ad gradum</HI> to do it allwaies, or to do it in &s;uch a degree; though <HI>ad &s;peciem</HI> (or that the thing be done) there be. For in the parable of the Talents, though the bringing in no increa&s;e at all be puni&s;hed, yet the bringing in increa&s;e in a lower degree is accepted, and rewarded according to its proportion; he that <HI>had of his pound made five pounds. Luk.</HI> 19.18. is <HI>rewarded with five Cities,</HI> as well as he that <HI>had gained ten pounds is rewarded</HI> with ten.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="40" UNIT="&sect;"> If againe it be objected, that, all concomitant circum&s;tances
<PB N="22" REF="13"> con&s;idered, nothing remaines free and voluntary, and that af|firmation proved by this, becau&s;e in this ca&s;e prudence added to other Chri&s;tian rules of piety, mercifullne&s;&s;e, &amp;c. will re|quire us to do that which is fitte&s;t to be done.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="41" UNIT="&sect;"> To this I an&s;wer. 1. That every man is not bound under paine of &s;inne to be prudent, or pious, or mercifull in &s;uch a de|gree; there is a great latitude in prudence, and in piety, and in mercifullne&s;&s;e. I may give &s;o much, as will denominate me mercifull, and pray &s;o often as to denominate me pious, and yet be capable of growing in each of the&s;e graces; nay I may in prudence give &s;o much to &s;uch a man, and yet this not &s;o con|&s;i&s;t in an indivi&s;ible point, but that if I had given le&s;&s;e, or given more, it might have beene prudent too.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="42" UNIT="&sect;"> It is, I confe&s;&s;e, po&s;&s;ible to offend again&s;t prudence in too prodigall a giving, as in too par&s;imonious again&s;t piety, and then I &s;hall not ju&s;tifie that imprudence any more, then excu&s;e that unmercifullne&s;&s;e, I de&s;ire my voluntary oblations may be free from both, but then &s;till the po&s;&s;ibility and danger of &s;uch faults in the extremes proves not either the unlawfullne&s;&s;e or nece&s;&s;ity of any other degree which is within tho&s;e extremes, but &s;till allowes a latitude within which one may be more or le&s;&s;e mercifull, and yet <HI>mercifull</HI> &s;till, yea and <HI>prudent</HI> too. 2. though prudentiall con&s;iderations do alwayes help to direct us, yet do they not allwayes command or lay obligations upon us, and therefore are &s;till compatible with voluntary oblati|ons.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="43" UNIT="&sect;"> For if it be affirmed from prudentiall con&s;iderations, that a man (knowing the greate&s;t perfection, to be mo&s;t gloriou&s;ly rewarded, and that reward farre above all other de&s;ignes, that to the neglecting of that he may fa&s;ten upon,) ought therefore, and is bound to a&s;pire to perfection, and not to content him|&s;elfe with any thing but the be&s;t. To this I an&s;were, that this whole rea&s;oning is fal&s;e.</P>
<P>For 1. although <HI>prudence</HI> would advi&s;e one to this, yet doth it not lay any command which hath power of obliging &s;o, as not to obey will be pre&s;ently &s;infull; for if any &s;uch command be &s;uppo&s;ed, it cea&s;es to be prudentiall, and becomes nece&s;&s;ary,
<PB N="23" REF="13"> and meane while by being only prudentiall, appeares to be un|der no &s;uch command.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="45" UNIT="&sect;"> 2. Though 'tis <HI>prudent</HI> to u&s;e tho&s;e meanes which may ad|vance us highe&s;t in glory, and though perfection will do that, yet 'twill not be alwaies <HI>prudence</HI> to undertake the way of per|fection, becau&s;e that being to high &s;teep, may be al&s;o a dange|rous way, <HI>every man cannot receive it,</HI> faith the Apo&s;tle, and for him that cannot overcome the difficulties to re&s;olve upon the cour&s;e, may perhaps be precipitious. and even the precept of God may interpo&s;e &s;ometimes, and tra&s;h us, and make it un|lawfull for us to a&s;pire to the mo&s;t perfect e&s;tate; as if the di&s;|charge of a duty of our calling &s;hould a wait us on one &s;ide, and an opportunity of Martyrdome on tother&s;ide, then in that ca&s;e obedience will be better then that riche&s;t &s;acrifice; and as <HI>Cy|prian,</HI> though mo&s;t pa&s;&s;ionately de&s;irous of Martyrdome, yet on &s;uch an occa&s;ion avoyded it, when he was neare it, and, (as <HI>Diaconus</HI> &s;aith of him,) <HI>maluit praeceptis Dei obedire, quam vel &s;ic coronari,</HI> he preferr'd the con&s;cience of his duty before the glory of &s;uch a crowne, &s;o may it be re&s;olved the Chri&s;tians duty &s;ometimes not to a&s;pire to <HI>&s;ome perfection.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="46" UNIT="&sect;"> But then 3. the perfection that we are by Chri&s;t command|ed to a&s;pire to, is capable of degrees, for if you compare <HI>Mat.</HI> 5.48. where that precept is given <HI>[be ye perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect]</HI> with <HI>Luk.</HI> 6.36. where the &s;ame pa&s;&s;age is recited, or if you con&s;ult the context in either place, you will finde that <HI>perfection</HI> to &s;ignifie mercifullne&s;&s;e, and &s;o <HI>Mat.</HI> 19.21. <HI>If thou wilt be perfect, &s;ell all, and give to the poore]</HI> which is another argument that that is the meaning of <HI>perfe|ction,</HI> and then the &s;ame degrees that are in mercifullne&s;&s;e, will be in perfection al&s;o. Or if you will not admit of that &s;ence, yet if it be any perfection acquirable in this life, 'twill be capable of degrees and growth al&s;o; or if it be not here ac|quirable, 'tis certainly not under Evangelicall precept now, that <HI>light, i. e.</HI> &s;upportable <HI>burthen,</HI> that rode of <HI>not greivous, i. e.</HI> po&s;&s;ible commands, which he and his grace brought into the world.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="47" UNIT="&sect;"> As for that ordinary &s;aying that &s;eemes &s;o plau&s;ible, that e|very
<PB N="24" REF="14"> one is bound to do that which is be&s;t, it is mo&s;t di&s;cerna|bly fal&s;e (and that which a world of fal&s;ities are built on) which to prove I &s;hall need no farther te&s;timony; then that of the A|po&s;tle 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.28. <HI>(he that giveth in marriage doth well, and he that giveth not, doth better)</HI> nor argument then this, that the be&s;t being a <HI>&s;uperlative</HI> &s;uppo&s;es the <HI>po&s;itive</HI> to be good; whereas if all were bound to do that which is <HI>be&s;t,</HI> that which were <HI>only good</HI> were <HI>evill,</HI> for &s;o is that whatever it is, which comes &s;hort of what we are bound to.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="48" UNIT="&sect;"> Once more, if it be objected that whatever is thus perform|ed, is commanded by tho&s;e large inclu&s;ive words <HI>[thou &s;halt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">y &s;oule &amp;c.]</HI> nothing being of &s;uch latitude, as that the <HI>(with all)</HI> &s;hould not contein it.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="49" UNIT="&sect;"> I an&s;were, that that phra&s;e denoteth two things only, fir&s;t <HI>&s;incerity</HI> of this love of God, as oppo&s;ed to <HI>partiall divided love</HI> or &s;ervice. 2. the loving him above all other things, and not admitting any thing into competition with him, not loving a|ny thing el&s;e in &s;uch a degree; and in neither of the&s;e re&s;pects excluding all other things from a &s;ubordinate place in our love; which being &s;uppo&s;ed, twill be ea&s;ie to di&s;cerne that this &s;in|cere love of God above all, is capable of degrees, and that it is very po&s;&s;ible for two men <HI>to love God with all their hearts, i. e.</HI> &s;incerely and above all other things, and &s;o both to obey that precept, and yet one to love him in a more inten&s;e degree, then the other doth. (Which may be ob&s;erved among&s;t the An|gels them&s;elves, the <HI>Seraphin</HI> being &s;o called, becau&s;e they are more ardent in Zeale, then other Angels.) Nay for the &s;ame per&s;on con&s;tantly to love God above all, and yet to have higher expre&s;&s;ions of that love at one time then another. Thus we read of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elfe. <HI>Luk.</HI> 22.24. (who we know did never faile in performing what was mans duty, in prayer, or any thing el&s;e. Yet) that he at that time prayed more earne&s;t|ly; which is a demon&s;trative evidence, that the lower degree is not nece&s;&s;arily &s;infull, when the higher is acceptable to God. Which when it is granted, there is no doubt, but the&s;e free-will-offerings will be reconcileable with that command, and
<PB N="25" REF="14"> he that loves God withall his heart may have &s;ome <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;&s;ibility of loving God better the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> yet he doth, and &s;o &s;ome roome left for a voluntary oblation.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="50" UNIT="&sect;"> I de&s;ire to fore&s;ee the wor&s;t that is imaginable, and there|fore though in con&s;cience very guiltle&s;&s;e, and free from having any favourable thoughts of the doctrine of &s;upererogation a|mong the <HI>Romani&s;ts,</HI> &s;hall yet conceive it po&s;&s;ible for &s;ome bo|dy to be &s;o unwary as to adde that objection to the former, that this may tend to the a&s;&s;erting of that doctrine, that if it be ac|knowledged po&s;&s;ible for a Chri&s;tian to doe more then he is commanded, he may then &s;upererogate.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="51" UNIT="&sect;"> To which I an&s;wer. 1. That there is great difference be|tweene affirming that a man may doe more <HI>then is commanded,</HI> and that he may doe <HI>&s;omething which is not commanded,</HI> the for|mer &s;uppo&s;es him that doth more, to have done all, whereas the &s;econd may be true, though in mo&s;t or all other things he have beene wanting. Now it is the &s;econd we a&s;&s;ert, not the former; which being &s;uppo&s;ed,</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="52" UNIT="&sect;"> I an&s;wer 2^l^y. That to &s;upererogate &s;uppo&s;eth one of the&s;e two things, either that the per&s;on &s;poken of hath paid God all that is due to him, by way of perfect obedience, <HI>i. e.</HI> hath never &s;inned. Or 2. That having &s;inned and &s;o become a debtor to God, he hath paid that debt by &s;atisfaction, <HI>i. e.</HI> done &s;ome|thing el&s;e which may &s;atisfy God for his former &s;innes, the lat|ter of which is the way which the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> pitch upon, and not contenting them&s;elves with the &s;atisfaction wrought by <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> teach doctrine of their owne &s;atisfaction, which, &s;ay they, they may performe &s;o farre, as not onely to &s;atisfy for their owne &s;innes, but al&s;o to doe more then &s;o, helpe toward the rai&s;ing of a banke, or trea&s;ure for others al&s;o, and that is it they meane by &s;uperogating.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="53" UNIT="&sect;"> Now from either of the&s;e our pre&s;ent doctrine is perfectly free; for 1. it &s;uppo&s;eth no perfect obedience, but willingly yeildeth as much of the corruption of our nature, and of our daily failings and tre&s;pa&s;&s;es, as ever any Catholique affirmed a|gain&s;t <HI>Pelagius.</HI> And 2. Suppo&s;ing every man to have &s;inned, it pretendeth not to the lea&s;t degree of &s;atisfaction to God for
<PB N="26" REF="15"> any the lea&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">one to be wrought by any meanes, but onely th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ufferings of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and &s;o is out of all po&s;&s;ibility of thinking to &s;upererogate, acknowledging &s;o heavy an arreare of &s;inne ly|ing unremoveably upon every ones &s;core, if God be not mer|cifully plea&s;ed to accept of <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> &s;ufferings for perfect &s;ati&s;|faction, that there is nothing compa&s;&s;eable by us, or within one reach; that can &s;atisfy for any the lea&s;t &s;inne we have commit|ted; and from thence 3. forbiddeth any the mo&s;t ju&s;tified man to pretend toward &s;atisfying for others; but to <HI>worke out his owne &s;alvation with feare and trembling, i. e.</HI> with all the humili|ty in the world.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="54" UNIT="&sect;"> If I could fore&s;ee any farther &s;cruples or difficulties in this matter, I &s;hould be as free in producing them, as in the&s;e I have beene, and find no rea&s;on to feare, but that by Gods helpe I &s;hould be able to &s;atisfy them al&s;o. In the meane, till by the face of this paper I be farther in&s;tructed, I have no temptation to importune or detaine the Reader any farther, then with my prayers for him, that the Lord give him a right under&s;tanding in all things.</P>
<Q>He that &s;oweth sparingly &s;hall reape sparingly, and he that &s;oweth bountifully &s;hall reape bountifully. Every man according as he purpo&s;eth in his heart, not grudgingly, or of nece&s;&s;ity, for God lo|veth a chearefull giver. <BIBL><HI>2</HI> Cor. <HI>6, 7.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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