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<DATE>2014-04-23</DATE>
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<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>SAINT</HI> PAVLS RVLE FOR RELIGIOVS PERFORMANCES.</P>
<P>A Sermon preached <HI>May</HI> 15. <HI>An|no Domini</HI> 1631.</P>
<P>By <HI>Henry Paynter</HI> B. D. Preacher of Gods Word in the City of EXETER.</P>
<Q><BIBL>Rom. <HI>14.16.</HI></BIBL> <HI>Let not then your good be evill &s;poken of.</HI></Q>
<Q><BIBL>Eph. <HI>6.1.</HI></BIBL> <HI>Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.</HI></Q>
<Q><BIBL>Tit. <HI>2.8.9, 10.</HI></BIBL> <HI>That he that is of the contrary part, may be a&s;hamed, having no evill thing to &s;ay of you: Exhort &s;er|vants to be obedient to their owne ma&s;ters, and to plea&s;e them wel in all things, not an&s;wering againe, not purloy|ning, but &s;hewing all fidelity, that they may adorne the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.</HI></Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Ba&s;il. Epi&s;t. 76.</HI></BIBL> Ab&s;urditas rei de qua &s;cribo, animum quidem meum moe&s;titia replevit, propterea quod omnino in &s;u&s;pitionem abiit, &amp; ru|more percrebuit, hactenus tamen mihi incerta vi&s;a. Quod igi|tur de illa &s;cribo, medicinae loco &s;it, &s;i qui&s;quam &s;ibi male con|&s;cius e&s;t. Qui&s;ibi vero nihil huius e&s;t con&s;cius, ei &s;it (<GAP DESC="foreign">) vice praemunitionis ut id mali praecaveat. Si quis autem hanc rem &s;u&s;que deque fert (id quod in vobis depre|hendi nolim) illi &s;it (<GAP DESC="foreign">) pro conte&s;tatione.</Q>
<P>LONDON, Printed by <HI>I. B.</HI> for <HI>Nathaniel Butter.</HI> 1632.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To my very VVor&s;hipfull and <HI>Chri&s;tian Auditors.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_DOe I appeale, for the evi|dences of my &s;incere&s;t in&s;tru|ctions and unpartiall endea|vours in this Sermon to pre|vent &s;uch inconveniences as were iu&s;tly feared, but by vi|gilaney of authority and effi|cacy of Gods truth and ordi|nance apparantly prevented. Who &s;o fit as tho&s;e who yeelded me their pre&s;ence and pa|tiences to as&s;i&s;t me in giving up this account, being requi|red, and now out of my power to be healed (having pa&s;t as I under&s;tand) the hands and allowance of the examiner. Far was it from my purpo&s;e when I preached it, to do what now is thought fit to be done without me: Onely we may adde our te&s;timony that this is the &s;ame, and all that was delivered upon that nece&s;&s;ary occa&s;ion, whereby it may appeare how &s;mall their under&s;tanding and charity is, that &s;o ra&s;hly cen&s;ured it, or tho&s;e whom it concerned. Gving of pre&s;ervatives may import danger of infection, but not that all that take them are infected, or that pre&s;cribe them iniurious. Yet a fooli&s;h calumniation fall backe upon its
<PB REF="3">headlong avoucher by di&s;covery of truth, and he had his puni&s;hment in his bo&s;ome before his mouth was open. They are happy that need &s;o little feare traducers, whiles their con&s;ciences pleade for them before God, their actions before men; the wor&s;t people will cry, <HI>Ad leones</HI> with others; and fooles will at lea&s;t be medling, and iudge cau&s;e and per|&s;on before they under&s;tand. Were authority &s;o iealous, as ignorance is cen&s;orious, &s;ome would be more &s;ilent for their owne ca&s;e: others again&s;t their wills, whom we would be glad to heare &s;peake. Be&s;t is; none but a &s;ycophant or man|plea&s;er, could cen&s;ure the delivering of the&s;e few rules and cautions &s;o needfull here, as &s;ince they have appeared to be. At lea&s;t we know what can comfort us with <HI>Paul, 2. Cor. 1.12.</HI> and &s;hall, I tru&s;t, wait the better on all Gods ordi|nances, with more wi&s;edome, and never the le&s;&s;e zeale, for that it is more according to knowledge. In <HI>Eccl. 5.</HI> and the fir&s;t &s;even ver&s;es the Preacher &s;heweth what abundance of folly, vanity, ra&s;hnes, error, &s;inne, danger, and repen|tance often accompanieth divine &s;ervices in publike and private, for the prevention whereof I wi&s;h we could better di&s;tingui&s;h betwene holy zeale and headlong performance. There is greatods betweene knowledge of the nece&s;sity of a duty, and ability to performe it in a due way and manner. I know not what hath lately more gravel'd and amazed me, then &s;ome Novices new boa&s;ts of &s;uch &s;udden &s;prowting of grace in the&s;e latter and colder times, unto that height of abilities, which hath not beene knowne in pure&s;t times un|der powerfulle&s;t meanes, among&s;t eminent and famous Chri&s;tians, but with long time and much experience. We are bound ever to acknowledge and ble&s;&s;e God for the glori|ous &s;ucce&s;&s;e of the Go&s;pel even now in this Kingdom, yet expect we no miraculous effects of it, as in the Primitive
<PB REF="3">Churches, which, inioying them, yet needed to be regulated in the u&s;e of them, becau&s;e &s;ometimes it was not decent and orderly: and if in the publike, how much more in the pri|vate, where there is none to order the re&s;t, or that can well iudge wherein the decency of &s;uch performances con&s;i&s;ts; but ignorance and affection mu&s;t &s;way and cen&s;ure al. And it is no &s;mall comfort to us in this place, nor &s;lender gagg to licentious tongues abroad, that the &s;everall lights (among which this is one of the lea&s;t and ob&s;cure&s;t) held forth in one day by &s;o many able and well agreeing guides, was not without that &s;ucce&s;&s;e, which hath &s;ince cau&s;ed much thank&s;|giving to God by many of tho&s;e that they were reached unto, among the re&s;t, who being more wi&s;e and humble, &amp; having more godly knowledge and experience then &s;ome other, per|ceived &s;ome failings &amp; inconveniences which they were not aware of, nor could &s;o well be di&s;covered without &s;ome help. If others &s;ee not the generall u&s;e of the&s;e in&s;uing directi|ons, it will be their advantage not much to trouble their thoughts about it; leaving tho&s;e, whom it concernes, to en|ioy their benefit, and to give te&s;timony to what they heard, who can and will rightly interpret it, and the&s;e few lines by &s;udden accident (to &s;upply a defect, and prevent an inconve|nience) ha&s;tily written to be prefixed, <HI>Dec. 17. Anno Domini 1631.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>Errata.</HEAD>
<P>In Epi&s;t. lin. 4. read intention in Epi&s;t. l. 13. r. patience, in Epi&s;t. l. 14. for healed r. recalled. in Epi&s;t. l. 22. r. Giving.</P>
<P>Page 7 line 13. reade done in, page 9. l. 2. read <GAP DESC="foreign">, p. 11. l. 24. r. &s;ee, looke, p. 19. l. 8. r. my thought, p. 20. l. 20. r. Better preparation by examination, p. 21. l. 30. r. doe in; p. 14. l 21. r. your acceptance, p. 28. marg. r. <GAP DESC="foreign">, p. 29, marg, <HI>Suid,</HI> p. 38. l. 9. r. Iudge of. <HI>Ibid.</HI> l. 24. r. or upon, p. 40. l. 17. r. decryed.</P>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="4">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD>SAINT PAVLS RVLE FOR RELIGIOVS PERFORMANCES.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>1. Corinth. 14.40.</BIBL>
<Q><HI>Let all things be done decently and in order.</HI></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe Church of Corinth fir&s;t gathered and e&s;tabli&s;hed by Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> mini&s;tery, was in a &s;hort time a very famous and flouri&s;hing Church in re&s;pect of all gifts nece&s;&s;ary for con&s;ti|tution, edification or beau|ty of a Church. It was in i'ts infancy perfect in all i'ts parts, belonging to do|ctrine, di&s;cipline, ornament: But in the Apo&s;tles ab|&s;ence
<PB N="2" REF="5">degenerated and grew crooked through ill handling by unnaturall nurces, that &s;ought onely them&s;elves: u&s;ing their gifts and employing them|&s;elves, in the Churches bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, partially, ambiti|ou&s;ly, covetou&s;ly. <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> were two great di&s;ea&s;es, their teachers were very dangerou&s;ly &s;icke of: which could not po&s;&s;ibly &s;tand with the good con&s;titution and health of the Church that was yet but tender, and wanted &s;trength to expell the ma|lignity of the&s;e di&s;tempers which they had &s;uck't in with their milke. Vaine affectation of popular ap|plau&s;e carrying &s;uch &s;elfe-conceited orators not one|ly to that &s;elfe-di&s;turbing pa&s;&s;ion of envious emula|tion, to have their gifts as much extolled and prefer|red above other &s;incerer preachers by the people, as boa&s;ted of by them&s;elves, for their &s;trange curio&s;ities quaint elegancies and philo&s;ophicall conceits with|out the &s;olidity of whole&s;ome doctrine: but al&s;o to that ba&s;e practi&s;e of detraction, and uncharitable ca|lumniation, ca&s;ting out unworthy a&s;per&s;ions again&s;t the Apo&s;tle, who de&s;ired to know (that is to crake and make &s;hew of knowing) nothing but Chri&s;t Ie|&s;us and him crucified: di&s;gracing his gifts and vili|fying his mini&s;tery and preaching, as weake and con|temptible; having nothing in it worth the Churches notice or acceptance.</P>
<P>This they did only to aduance them&s;elues:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">iu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> they alone mu&s;t carry the bell; as we &s;ee in <HI>Diotrephes</HI> one of the&s;e their &s;welling teachers, who&s;e a&s;piring after a fir&s;t-hood, and chiefly in the affections of the peo|ple, was not without &s;undry indignities, offered to o|thers better de&s;erving; &s;etting up his owne reputa|tion
<PB N="3" REF="5">by the preuidice of the faithfull &s;ervants of Ie|&s;us Chri&s;t, again&s;t whom he was full of prating and malicious words, yea diabolicall imputations ten|ding to deepe&s;t mi&s;chiefe,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Mercuries</HI> di&s;ciples, who was there|fore called <GAP DESC="foreign">, becau&s;e he made his of|fice and elo|quence &s;erve his covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e: and therefore (as <HI>Suidas</HI> &s;aith) <HI>Ill mar&s;upium tribuunt &amp; prae&s;idem &s;ta|tuunt &s;ermo|num &amp; merci|mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">icrum.</HI></NOTE> This was one of their di&s;|ea&s;es which they were voluntarily &s;icke of and nou|ri&s;hed (as countetfeit rogues &s;ome artificially made or continued malady) for their covetous ends, know|ing the more they could get to be e&s;teemed of the people, the more they &s;hould drawe from them: and therefore laboured with a perpetuall iealou&s;ie of their owne credit, and de&s;pightfull behaviour a|gain&s;t others, who&s;e faithfull endeavours they thought might becloude it, and &s;o hinder their pro|fit. Therefore they &s;trived to blindfold, yea to &s;tupi|fie the people while they tooke their peny-worthes out of them, bringing them into bondage, devouring, taking, exalting them&s;elves, as the Apo&s;tle in a &s;a|cred and mo&s;t &s;avory &s;arca&s;me detecteth, and unma&s;|keth them. 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.20.</P>
<P>Hence grew the di&s;temper of that whole Church, not onely cau&s;ing deformity but danger, in two epi|demicall evills,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.</NOTE> faction and prophanene&s;&s;e among the people. On the one hand divi&s;ions and &s;ides, as if Chri&s;t him&s;elfe were divided: On the other pro|phanene&s;&s;e and licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e of life,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.20, 21.</NOTE> as if they would crucifie him againe. And &s;o that Church (though fundamentally &s;ound and orthodoxe) wan|ted 2. things which were needful her <GAP DESC="foreign"> &amp; her <GAP DESC="foreign">, both decorum and order. In&s;omuch that even in the publike mini&s;tration there was a &s;canda|lous un&s;eemeline&s;&s;e, and Church-ruining di&s;order, as appeares in this and &s;ome of the precedent chap|ters.
<PB N="4" REF="6">Again&s;t the&s;e two intolerable evils, hee con&s;ti|tutes this law, rule or canon, as an Idea or platforme according to which all their performances mu&s;t be fa&s;hioned. It is the mould in which all they teach and doe mu&s;t be ca&s;t, that it may beare this double &s;tampe or impre&s;&s;e of <HI>Decencie and Order,</HI> which mu&s;t give a commendable and gracefull lu&s;ter to every ordinance, every action, all their behaviour, even unto ge&s;tures and rituall ob&s;ervations, e&s;pecially in publike,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.4, &amp;c. &amp; ver. 3, 4.</NOTE> (as hee had &s;hewed before) and if there be any other particular not expre&s;ly mentio|ned, about the admini&s;tration of holy things, (as in|deed there were &s;ome) in the congregation, and Chri&s;tian meetings, and duty of Gods wor&s;hip and &s;ervice tending to the profe&s;&s;ion and practi&s;e of reli|gion, that God may be glorified, the Church edifi|ed, aliens allured or convinced, the mouth of iniqui|ty &s;topped, the face of Chri&s;tianity become amiable; and the power of the Go&s;pel the better evidenced, he windeth it all into this <HI>Coronis,</HI> or gnomicall iniun|ction: <HI>Let all things be done decently and in order.</HI> For this is the externall beauty of the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t on earth, not onely that &s;he is compleate and not de|fective in e&s;&s;entialls, but comely and amiable in all particulars for forme and order.</P>
<P>Occa&s;ion might be here taken for more varietie of ob&s;ervation and doctrine, then a &s;ermon or two can beare the pro&s;equution and application of. I de&s;ire onely by your patience, which I mu&s;t intreate, &s;ome time more then ordinary, for the di&s;patch of this one conclu&s;ion which I lay downe plainely thus.</P>
<PB N="5" REF="6">
<P><HI>In the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of Religion and all holy and gracious per+formances about the &s;ame, not onely the goodne&s;&s;e of the mat|ter and &s;ub&s;tance of the act or duty, but duene&s;&s;e of the forme and manner is nece&s;&s;arily required:</HI> This point I thinke fit to explaine, and therein the three tearmes of the matter, forme, and nece&s;&s;ity: and then apply it.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t the matter, the duty it &s;elfe and &s;ub&s;tance of the action mu&s;t be good and warranted by the word. <HI>He hath &s;hewed thee oh man what is good,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich. 6.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>and</HI> (that is) <HI>what the Lord doth require of thee:</HI> and therefore the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>The Law is holy,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom, 7, 12.</NOTE> <HI>and the Commandement holy iu&s;t and good:</HI> not onely in it &s;elfe, but to the ob|&s;ervers to whom it is revealed and given to be done: &s;uch are all duties of piety and religion: Gods ordi|nances, and duties of his holy wor&s;hip inioyned, with love, iu&s;tice, mercy, truth, peace, &amp;c. that which is pre&s;cribed of God, not humane inventions, will wor&s;hip, or things forbidden by the word, need|le&s;&s;e and &s;uperfluous traditions of which the Church was in a few ages too full: the&s;e are not intended to be done at all, but all the duties of holine&s;&s;e (which we are e&s;pecially by the holy Gho&s;t in this place di|rected to con&s;ider of and &s;et right in performance) all &s;uch things are &s;imply to be allowed and done, being warranted and commanded in the Scriptures.</P>
<P N="2">2. For the &s;econd: by <HI>forme,</HI> I doe not intend the internall and e&s;&s;entiall forme, &s;inceritie, faith, affe|ction to the will of God, when a duty is performed out of true con&s;cionable de&s;ire to obey &amp; plea&s;e God, without which a worke is a dead worke, de&s;titute of &s;pirit and life.</P>
<P>But I meane the externall forme, the manner and
<PB N="6" REF="7">due carriage of every action in wi&s;edome according to circum&s;tance, and this outward forme or manner of performance in all good duties hath two princi|pall affections or properties, that may no more bee &s;lighted or neglected, then the good worke ought to be marred and defaced, <HI>Scilicet, Decency and Order.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>De hone&s;to in|terrogetur ex|terior conver|&s;atio: non quod ex ea hone&s;tum prodeat, Sed per eam.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ern. in Cant. Ser. 86. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">finiatur (Decorum) me <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">genu|itas &s;ollicita, &s;er<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">re, cum con&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">tentia bo|na, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters">ae inte|gr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">atem, vel <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">xta Apo&s;to|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">um providere <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">, non ta<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">m coram Deo &s;ed etiam cora~ he~m nibus.</HI> Idem ibidem 1 Cor. 12.23.</NOTE> 1. <GAP DESC="foreign"> decently, hone&s;tly, and in a &s;eeme|ly manner, it mu&s;t be performed. So much is requi|red in all our conver&s;ation, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13.13. that it blu&s;h not to be &s;eene abroad in the day for want of &s;eemely attire and ornaments requi&s;ite according to the &s;tte and quality of euery bu&s;ines and godly action, lea&s;t being not inve&s;ted with comely habit, and graced by due comportment, it &s;eeme ridiculous, offen&s;ive, or loath&s;ome to any.</P>
<P>Therefore <GAP DESC="foreign"> is comeline&s;&s;e which adornes an uncomely thing, as the Apo&s;tle, &s;peaking of un|comely parts, &s;aith they are beautified by comely garments and ornaments upon them to &s;et them forth. And his u&s;ing a word of that nature in this place, is to imply, that our be&s;t and mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary actions, even in and about the wor&s;hip of God (which proceeding from us, have too much crookedne&s;&s;e, too many defects, when they are performed at the be&s;t) ought to be inve&s;ted with the mo&s;t &s;eemely ornaments of circum&s;tance in the manner, that may gracefully adorne them, as when there is due ob&s;er|vation, of time, place, per&s;on, &s;exe, conditi|on, gifts, abilities, and the like. This is de|cently.</P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Praeter ordinem &amp; &s;eriem reru~ agitur, quando quae prima &s;unt &s;ecundo quis aut tertio loco codo care &s;ata|git: &amp; quae in tertium locum &s;ubordinata &s;unt, principi|um putat.</HI> Ba&s;. &s;er. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. de Bapt. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;cretio quip|pe omni virtuti ordinem ponit, ordo modum tribuit &amp; de|corum, etiam &amp; perp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tu ta|tem&mdash;tolle hanc, &amp; vir|tus erit vitium, &amp;c.</HI> Ber. in Cant, &s;er. 50,</NOTE> 2. <GAP DESC="foreign"> According to due order: that no|thing be done confu&s;edly, according to every ra&s;h|braine,
<PB N="7" REF="7">tumultuarily, hudlingly; which who ever doth, breakes the rankes of per&s;ons, ordinances, and things in the Church (which is and ought to be, as a well &s;et army with banners) and brings into it (what in him lyeth) &s;uch an <GAP DESC="foreign">, and hurly-burly, as would mingle all things confu&s;edly, and give great advantage to the enemy. And this hath ever beene Satans aime, and one of his greate&s;t &s;tragems, to &s;ubuert order which God hath &s;tabli&s;hed, and by confu&s;ion to breake in with his forces, and play the <GAP DESC="foreign">, by di&s;&s;olving order to worke de&s;truction. Therefore there mu&s;t be wi&s;edome to &s;et good duties in their places, and make them come to be due in their cour&s;es and turnes, like the &s;tanding and &s;er|vice of the prie&s;ts and Levites in their &s;everall or|ders and cour&s;es; &s;ome in the highe&s;t, &s;ome in the next, &s;ome in inferiour place.</P>
<P>By the word <HI>Order,</HI> therefore, he points backe to his former doctrines and reprehen&s;ions: for that Church was almo&s;t quite unjoynted through pre|po&s;terous zeale, and Church-de&s;troying confu&s;ion growing apace upon them, &s;o that hee was faine to cry for order againe almo&s;t in every thing. 1. Touching the &s;tate of &s;exes, in a &s;ort more then di&s;turbed, if not turned up&s;ide-downe:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. c. 11. &amp; 14. He doth not here meane the hu&s;band and the wife in &s;peciall, but the &s;exes, man and wo|man, general|ly.</NOTE> wo|men not keeping their &s;tation in a decorum be|comming their &s;exe, to give the prerogative to the man who was fir&s;t created, of whom and for whom the woman was, and who is her head: That the woman &s;hould not u&s;urpe above that the &s;exe was created for; not arrogating, but yeelding
<PB N="8" REF="8">the head&s;hip and prerogative to the man, e&s;pecially in divine &s;ervices and holy duties. Authority, emi|nency, &s;uperiority, in all actions, e&s;pecially of &s;a|cred ioynt devotions, being challenged to the man. There was a certaine petulancy of forward behavi|our appearing in the weaker ve&s;&s;ell (which that &s;exe is by a peculiar corruption apt to di&s;cover) cro&s;|&s;ing and inclining to breake the pale of re&s;training,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">itimur in ve|titum &s;emper cu+pimusque nega+ta.</NOTE> and inclo&s;ing &s;ubiection, e&s;pecially in things of mo&s;t devotion, wherein I verily thinke that &s;exe doth ge|nerally excell the other, about pious actions, and duties of Gods wor&s;hip; perhaps, being more &s;en&s;i|ble of their owne imbecillity and weakne&s;&s;e, there|fore more zealou&s;ly and heartily de&s;irous to &s;hrowd them&s;elves under the &s;hadow of the Almighty, and to be much and often under his wing. But I &s;ay they favoured them&s;elves in too much boldnes, pa&s;&s;ing bounds, affecting, glorying in their knowledge, de|votion,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 11.17, 18, 19, 20.</NOTE> forwardne&s;&s;e, to the preiudice of the &s;ove|raignty and royalty of the man. This di&s;order he much calls vpon them to reforme.</P>
<P N="2">2. About the Supper, it was taken and v&s;ed very di&s;orderly,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor 1.10.11, 12.</NOTE> &s;o that they came together not for the better, but for the wor&s;e. Religion and devotion was preiudiced by it: and &s;chi&s;mes, and &s;ects, and divi&s;i|ons increa&s;ed generally: and in this particular, the di&s;order was &s;o great, that they divided them&s;elves one from another in the very <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 34.</NOTE> ioynt meeting, and mo&s;t united action of the Church. Other things were out of frame, and needed &s;ettlement (we know not how many) but this was the greate&s;t and mo&s;t intolerable, as that which after a &s;ort overthrew and
<PB N="9" REF="8">made a nullity of the Sacrament.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 20.</NOTE> <HI>This was not to eate the Lords Supper.</HI> 3. In the u&s;e of tho&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign"> ex|cellent (though common) gifts of the holy Gho&s;t, then abundantly powred upon the Church, as was fore&s;hewed. In the exerci&s;e of the&s;e he requireth Order in the Church as in a naturall body: every member in it's place.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.1, &amp;c. 21, 25.</NOTE> Not the eare where the eye &s;hould be, nor the foot take the function of the hand: but every one to it's proper u&s;e, office, operation, fa|culty. Neither &s;hould they be &s;et one again&s;t ano|ther. <HI>There &s;hould be no &s;chi&s;me in the body.</HI> 4. That be&s;t gifts be zealou&s;ly affected, not onely among tho&s;e that we now &s;peake of, but chiefly among tho&s;e gifts that accompany &s;alvation,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Cap.</HI> 12. <HI>ult.</HI></NOTE> by which the other are &s;anctified: and having promi&s;ed to &s;hew them a more excellent way, and that <HI>ex abundanti</HI> (over and above what he had before done) by plainer in&s;tance and illu&s;tration, how their gifts may be guided in a mo&s;t orderly manner for the be&s;t good and with mo&s;t peace, he proceedeth unto it in the following chap|ter throughout, where he teacheth them that chari|ty is mo&s;t earne&s;tly to be coveted,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Spon&s;a &s;ine du|bio intellexerat in omnibus quae viderat, emine|re &amp; praecelle|recharitatis gra+tiam, &amp;c. Ideo depo&s;cit ut or|dinem eius di&s;|cat, ne forte a|liquid inordi|natum faciens vulnus abea aliquod accipi|at.</HI> Hier. in Cant.</NOTE> as inclining men to the due and diligent u&s;e of all their abilities with|out enuy and &s;elfe-love, (the great di&s;turbers of Or|der) to the be&s;t advantage of the Church. Know|ledge and faith, and hope are excellent: but in &s;ee|king the&s;e, one may &s;eeke him&s;elfe, But charity is not all for her owne profit, but &s;eekes the profit of many that they may be &s;aved, and goes abroad, and putteth forth all the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit to worke, for the common benefit: And doth not &s;ay, &s;hall I not take utmo&s;t liberty to increa&s;e mine owne
<PB N="10" REF="9">knowledge and faith, and comfort, and felicity? for &s;uch a &s;peech without limitation,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.4. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> though full of zeale, may be as full (and indeed it &s;avors &s;trongly) of &s;elfe-love,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. ver 5.</NOTE> that knowes, endures no order; charity is not in that manner emulous, no not of grace. The Apo&s;tle tels them charity is not &s;o di&s;orderly to &s;eek her owne &s;o, to know alone, to beleeve alone, to re|joyce in the truth alone, but with others, as the Church and people of God may injoy the &s;ame com|forts and benefits together,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 6. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> with ones &s;elfe: takes along the edification, comfort, peace, liberty, and good of the generall, with ones owne: yea prefers it. Therefore that is fir&s;t in order, and greate&s;t. Where it &s;o rules not, there is no keeping ranke, the army is di&s;ordered, and confu&s;ion found in the chiefe parts; &s;elfe-love turnes captaine (an u&s;urping trea|cherous one) and lets in the enemy upon the maine, and body of the Church,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">p.</HI> 14.</NOTE> for per&s;onall re&s;pects. Ther|fore having &s;et charity on worke, and given her the command as generall, hee goeth on &s;till pre&s;cribing order, and laying the rules to pre&s;erve it: fir&s;t chari|ty, then the be&s;t other &s;pirituall gifts, chiefly pro|phe&s;ie: for greater is he that doth prophecy: then he mar&s;halls other <GAP DESC="foreign"> in their places, and maketh canons for the u&s;e and orderly performance of all things of this kinde, as appeares in this la&s;t, which includes all, with a binding imperative, which hath relation to the manner, let all things be &s;o done: that <HI>decorum</HI> and order be duely ob&s;erved. Therefore I would not touch this &s;econd point briefly, being the principall thing intended, that all might &s;ee (that would) it is not enough to &s;ay, &s;hould not Chri&s;ti|ans
<PB N="11" REF="9">exerci&s;e their gifts? ought not all Gods ordi|nances to be u&s;ed? Is not &s;uch a duty lawfull, yea ne|ce&s;&s;ary and commanded, and therefore to be done? yes, but with a provi&s;o, if decently and in order. I have al&s;o produced the Apo&s;tles owne <HI>&s;eries,</HI> a large <GAP DESC="foreign"> of 4. chapters, le&s;t ignorance &s;hould thinke headlong performances grounded on better authori|ty, then order can &s;hew for it &s;elfe (for ignorance and my &s;elfe are well enough agreed to account mine owne iudgement nothing) though order it &s;elfe,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kin. 10.5. <HI>Salomons</HI> greate&s;t ma|ie&s;tie &s;eemed to con&s;i&s;t in order of his actions, at|tendances, go|vernment, &amp;c. which the Queen of the South behol|ding had no &s;pirit left in her. Eph. 5.15. <HI>Haec tria perpe|tuo meditare adv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">rbia Pau|li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Haec tria &s;unt vitae re|gula certa tuae.</HI></NOTE> if it could but once get a good opinion in the minde, and an vnpartiall a&s;pect or ob&s;ervation, would make ma|ie&s;tie it &s;elfe amazed, and ravi&s;h the heart of him that had &s;eene heaven, the greate&s;t Apo&s;tle that e|ver was; the Order of Chri&s;tians in the profe&s;&s;ion and practi&s;e of religion made the very heart of &s;uch a beholder, even to leape within him for ioy. <HI>Col.</HI> 2.5. this was the &s;econd thing, the right manner.</P>
<P><HI>Sect.</HI> 3. I &s;hall need to &s;tand the le&s;&s;e upon the third particular, <HI>The nece&s;sity</HI> thereof. The Scripture &s;ufficiently &s;hewes this, in laying downe a Chri&s;ti|an mans duty every where, and in all the parts, in ad|verbs, importing the manner of doing, not onely in generall; &s;o looke to it, take heed that ye walke ac|curately, exactly for the manner; but in &s;peciall, not onely that which is pious, iu&s;t, and (for the matter) nece&s;&s;ary, is to be embraced:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 1 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> but all mu&s;t be done <HI>piou&s;ly, righteou&s;ly, &s;oberly:</HI> that is, in &s;uch a manner as duties of &s;obriety, iu&s;tice and piety, ought to be done in re&s;pect of the property and nature of the worke, and needfull circum&s;tances thereunto belonging. We may in&s;tance in one or two duties, and the&s;e of piety.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="12" REF="10">1. The handling of the word it mu&s;t be in a law|full calling thereunto, reverently, &s;oundly, con&s;cio|nably,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.12.</NOTE> to Gods honour and our brethrens edificati|on, &s;o as men may perceive they have Gods Oracles in handling.</P>
<P N="2">2. Prayer, how &s;trictly are we to look to the whole man, even outward carriage as well as the &s;tate of the heart, and matter of the petitions we aske of God;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 5.1, &amp;c.</NOTE> le&s;t wee offer the &s;acrifice of fooles, make God angry through our ra&s;hne&s;&s;e, powre out prayers to be repented of,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.5. &amp;c.</NOTE> and di&s;honour God by taking his name in vaine, phari&s;aicall o&s;tentation, uncharita|blene&s;&s;e, hypocri&s;ie, &amp;c. and who knoweth not that this is the chiefe&s;t part of a Chri&s;tians cunning, and his be&s;t skill in the performance of what God hath commanded,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hebr. 12.28. 1 The&s;. 4.3.</NOTE> and his owne heart intendeth to &s;erve him in, that it be &s;o done <HI>as he may &s;erve him acceptably, learning and receiving of Gods mini&s;ters</HI> (not onely in what particular wayes, but) <HI>how he ought to walke with God in all plea&s;ing.</HI> And had I not beene too large al|ready in the confirmation and explanation of the conclu&s;ion, I would &s;hew you further grounds, of no little con&s;equence, nay of &s;o much weight at lea&s;t, as all our religion is worth for the due manner of per|mance. For it is &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, that many Chri&s;tian vertues &s;hould want their exerci&s;e, <MILESTONE UNIT="Rea&s;ons."> and &s;o God (that gives them) his honour without it; the prevention of many evills depends upon it; By it the glory of God is more advanced then by the duty it &s;elfe, which it were not hard for an hypocrite to doe, with|out the due manner, and &s;o by con&s;equence can have no &s;uch comfort by doing, as by doing well. For this
<PB N="13" REF="10">leaveth not place for &s;uch apparant &s;ignes of pride and hypocri&s;ie (the occa&s;ion whereof, worldlings take to traduce religion) and the iealous thoughts thence ari&s;ing worke much wo and perplexity to ma|ny a &s;incere (though too ignorant and ra&s;h) &s;oule; It maketh good provi&s;ion for the peace of the Church, the manife&s;ting of love, and inkindling of it towards us, and religion too in others, when it pre&s;ents it &s;elfe like <HI>He&s;ter</HI> in it's ornaments; takes away the appa|rance and foment of arrogancy, emulation, envy: e|videncing mortification, meekne&s;&s;e, mode&s;tie, hu|mility, obedience to lawfull authority: and prevents coofu&s;ion, di&s;traction, inordinatene&s;&s;e and in&s;olen|cie, contention, di&s;couragement of others, iealou|&s;ies, evill &s;urmi&s;es, contempt, and &s;leighting of re|ligion, by &s;uch as are not yet inamored with the comeline&s;&s;e and order of &s;pirituall conuer&s;ation: I &s;ay all the&s;e things &s;hew that there are many things con&s;iderable, ob&s;erveable, in the&s;e holy performan|ces; touching the right forme and gracefull manner of proceeding in them: And that it is not enough, the duties be good and holy, and nece&s;&s;ary, tending to our own edification and comfort; but that we goe duely about them with much care and wi&s;edome, and circum&s;pection according to decorum and or|der.</P>
<P>Before we apply this to our &s;elves, <MILESTONE N="1:" UNIT="V&s;e"> the &s;cope of the words and intention of the holy Gho&s;t in them calleth us (at lea&s;t in a word) to &s;hew the fal&s;e u&s;e that the Church of Rome maketh of this mo&s;t whole&s;ome and Apo&s;tolicall <HI>Canon,</HI> wanting not
<PB N="14" REF="11">an <HI>Eckius,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">, <HI>de Sae|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">rant lib.</HI> 2 <HI>cap</HI> 3. <HI>Hoc modo <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mnes no&s;tra ceremoniae <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ua<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> bonae &amp; divinae, &amp;c.</HI></NOTE> a Phari&s;aicall ceremony-monger, or red|cap't Romani&s;t, to wre&s;t the meaning of this Scrip|ture to their owne &s;en&s;e: as if he meant here to lay a foundation for Antichri&s;t, to build all the &s;tubble of unprofitable and &s;uper&s;titious ceremonies upon, that &s;hould afterward be invented, and foi&s;ted into the Church, and forced upon the con&s;ciences of Gods people as divine, under the pretence of decency, and order. The Apo&s;tle &s;peakes chiefly of nece&s;&s;ary and profitable ordinances, with that decency and order in &s;etting them forth, which tendeth to edification, and mu&s;t not be corrupted, perverted, adulterated, abu&s;ed and multiplied <HI>in infinitum,</HI> according to mens fanta&s;ies and humours, to the di&s;honour of God, and trouble of the Church, whereof the&s;e ma|&s;ters of mi&s;chievous ceremonies (&s;uch as <HI>Durandus</HI>) are damnably guilty,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ration. Divin. offic.</NOTE> ob&s;curing the &s;plendour and beauteous lu&s;ter of Gods ordinances, and thru&s;ting many of them out of their order and ranke, making the commandements of God of none effect,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ordo e&s;t pari|um di&s;parium|que &s;ua cuique loca tribuens, di&s;po&s;itio. De Civitat Dei.</NOTE> by their traditions. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> could tell them, had they eares to heare whole&s;ome doctrine, that by order is meant a farre other matter, and not luxury of inven|tions tending to confu&s;ion, which was never from God; and they might have taken notice how grie|vou&s;ly he complained of the intolerablene&s;&s;e of the litter of &s;uch burthen&s;ome ob&s;ervations,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Adeo ut tole|rabilior e&s;t Iu|daeorum quam Chri&s;tiauorum conditio. Aug. in Epi&s;t.</NOTE> increa&s;ed beyond all rea&s;on within 400. yeeres after Chri&s;t, &s;o that the burthen of the Iewes under <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> was lighter then that was then laid on the Church, and yet the&s;e un&s;atiable tradition-merchants are &s;till la|ding and taking in more, till &s;he is ready to &s;inke, and
<PB N="15" REF="11">will be till Chri&s;t come in vengeance to &s;urprize their &s;hip, and compell their merchants to breake bulke by force, &s;inking all as a mil&s;tone. <HI>Rev.</HI> 18. But we mu&s;t leave them, and come unto our &s;elves.</P>
<P>Let us, my brethren, <MILESTONE N="22" UNIT="V&s;e"> be willing to have our judg|ments rectified, and euery one of us be exhorted, yea clo&s;ely held to the ob&s;ervation of this &s;acred and divine con&s;titution. I mu&s;t be inforced to an unu&s;u|all cour&s;e of application; &s;etting my bounds, not where &s;trictne&s;&s;e and propriety of inference, &s;o much as vicinity of dangerous inconvenience &s;ome where, and variety of nece&s;&s;ary occa&s;ions other where will leade me to pitch them; not without &s;ome reluctation of mine owne affections &s;ometimes to &s;ome per&s;ons; though now a right judgement challengeth it's prerogative to reforme and regulate what deafe (yet &s;incerely devout) affections, (not|with&s;tanding &s;undry and (in &s;ome apprehen&s;ions) &s;harpe intimations, and premonitory cautions) had brought out of &s;quare. We have much to looke un|to (beloved) in the practi&s;e of religion. There are a|bout it three pernicious errors, which we have need to deale again&s;t. Two I will but mention, the third &s;tay upon. Let perplexity be cen&s;ured, &s;o mi&s;ta|king bee prevented; for this time e&s;pecial|ly.</P>
<P N="1">1. A <HI>Gallio</HI>-like neglect; Contemptuou&s;nes of the whole bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of Chri&s;tianity; when men ac|count it out of their element, out of their juri&s;dicti|on, be&s;ide the patent of their rea&s;onable imploy|ments. This multitudes will neither directly pro|fe&s;&s;e, nor &s;o much as by good con&s;equence cleare
<PB N="16" REF="12">them&s;elves of. This appeares in that &s;o many of them are &s;o utterly impatient while we inveigh a|gain&s;t <HI>E&s;au</HI>-like prophanene&s;&s;e, as if, among all that are guilty, none could be found or ought to be &s;u&s;pe|cted: though the evidence prove they beare no more love to the Go&s;pel and zealous mini&s;ters and profe&s;|&s;ours of it then to &s;wine: unle&s;&s;e &s;uch Gadarenites owne &s;peeches and behauiour toward them be much mi&s;taken. This is prophanene&s;&s;e.</P>
<P N="2">2. A renting a&s;under of the two tables of the co|venant, the one from the other in their conver&s;ation and practi&s;e: and this is of two &s;orts. 1. Rejecting the fir&s;t, and re&s;ting in &s;hewes of the &s;econd, as, car|nall love, pretended truth, peace, iu&s;tice, toyle in &s;ecular imployments, exce&s;&s;ive care, and ea|ger incumbency upon their trades and callings, thinking this a &s;ufficiency, if not the highe&s;t pitch of religious righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; This is the worlds meere civility, if &s;o much. 2. Rejecting the &s;econd table, and re&s;ting in a profe&s;&s;ed zeale of the fir&s;t, de&s;irous not to bee accounted ci|vil onely but religious; and many times are &s;o reputed by others, yea, re&s;olved (through delu|&s;ion of con&s;cience) in their owne hearts. The Scrip|ture in many places, points them out: e&s;pecially <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 1. &amp; 58. <HI>Zach.</HI> 7. <HI>Mat.</HI> 22, &amp;c. this is next to de|&s;perate hypocri&s;ie.</P>
<P N="3">3. In abu&s;e of nece&s;&s;ary duties of Religion, tending to the hinderance of it, through igno|rance, mi&s;under&s;tanding, and want of experi|ence and ob&s;ervation. And this may bee in many of Gods children. Yet hence ari&s;eth,
<PB N="17" REF="12">that <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign"> deformity, and confu&s;i|on, which the nece&s;&s;ity of the congregations, and people in this City, more (perhaps) then in &s;ome other places inforceth Authority and us to deale a|gain&s;t at pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>Therefore I de&s;ire you, brethren, &s;uffer the words of a twofold exhortation. You know that. 1. All things that God chargeth us to &s;erve him in, mu&s;t be done. 2. Then mu&s;t there be al&s;o a <HI>Decorum</HI> and <HI>Methode,</HI> or needfull duties will degenerate in|to unlawfull actions by circum&s;tance. 1. Let all things injoyned by the Lord be done. Let all his ordinances be con&s;cionably frequented. In pub|like, publike ordinances: in private, private ordi|nances. With the congregation, with the family, in &s;ecret. All the holy exerci&s;es of the word, prea|ching, reading, catechi&s;ing, &s;inging of p&s;almes, repetition, meditation, conference, Sacraments, prayer, fa&s;ting, brotherly admonition, &amp;c. It is not one or two of the&s;e that we exhort unto, but all. We have often &s;hewed you the nece&s;&s;ity of the&s;e, and per&s;waded to them: not without forewarning of the danger of contempt, yea of neglect of any one of them. I know religious duties begin to come into &s;ome account with many: are heartily imbraced by &s;ome; profe&s;&s;edly di&s;liked of fewe. Yet &s;urely there is a manife&s;t omi&s;&s;ion and &s;leigh|ting, if not contempt, of &s;ome ordinances, where|unto we mu&s;t impute the <HI>non proficiency</HI> and power|le&s;&s;e profe&s;&s;ion of the Go&s;pel in too many among&s;t us. God indeed hath promi&s;ed to ble&s;&s;e every one of his ordinances to his people: but will he not al|&s;o
<PB N="18" REF="13">be &s;evere again&s;t the wilfull neglect of any of them? All are appointed for our edification, God working by them all unto &s;alvation. But the ca|&s;ting off the care and u&s;e of any one, breakes the chaine of Gods ordination, and proceeding, who hath knit them together in a needfull dependance each on other (where he affordeth them) one fur|thering the operation and efficacie of the other, &s;o that where all are con&s;cionably frequented, they are very effectuall to edification, where any are left out and &s;ome linke of the chaine broken, there is an interruption of the operation and ble&s;&s;ing. As in the conveighance of your City water: where one pipe failes and the worke broken off, &s;o that there is not a continuation of all the leads fa&s;tened or reaching clo&s;e each to other, that one may &s;erve a|nother, the water cea&s;eth it's cour&s;e, pa&s;&s;eth not forward, and &s;o it is not found in the conduit for u&s;e. Surely, if we better learned this point (my brethren) and had well gotten the practi&s;e of it, Religion would flouri&s;h; the fruits, the power, the ble&s;&s;ing would abound; and the complaint would not bee &s;o rife or not &s;o iu&s;t, that people are one thing in the Church,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">. 33, 31.</NOTE> another at home: pious in the congregation, prophane in conver&s;ation: &s;it|ting before us hearing our words, but not doing them, as <HI>Ezechiels</HI> hearers: yea hearing many things but under&s;tanding them not, as the Lord com|plaines by <HI>E&s;ay,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word">. 42.10.</NOTE> ever learning, and never comming to the knowledge of the truth,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Tim. 37.</NOTE> as &s;ome in the be|ginning of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>This then we exhort you for your owne good, &s;al|vation,
<PB N="19" REF="13">comfort: make con&s;cience of all, or re&s;t &s;e|cure in none. Contempt of one will bring a cur&s;e upon all. When the law was not publikely read in and before <HI>Io&s;iahs</HI> time, religion was decayed,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cro. 3.4.</NOTE> though they had Prophets &s;ent unto them, and &s;ome doubtle&s;&s;e plyed their priuate devotion. And what was the rea&s;on why the&s;e Bereans made &s;uch a noble progre&s;&s;e in the faith and religion, beyond them of The&s;&s;alonica, but becau&s;e they ioyned the private duties with the publike, which others did not. The&s;e mu&s;t not therefore be &s;undred.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.11.2.</NOTE> In the u&s;e of the publike in this place we ob&s;erve your di|ligence, how it is with you for the private we can|not &s;o well know, but God ob&s;erveth with what con&s;cience and affection you imbrace both the&s;e and them.</P>
<P>For the preaching of the Word among you: As it was at fir&s;t moved unto me without any thought for this congregation (by &s;ome of the mo&s;t eminent in it, and in the City, in your &s;enate) and by me rea|dily entertained, and (according to my mea&s;ure) con&s;tantly hitherto for this part of the day perfor|med; &s;o I mu&s;t beare you witne&s;&s;e, you have beene with like readine&s;&s;e and con&s;tancy pre&s;ent at the &s;ame: attending this &s;oule-&s;aving Ordinance with|out any ob&s;erveable affected withdrawings. The other &s;i&s;ter-ordinance of catechi&s;ing, I confe&s;&s;e you have as cheerefully, if not with more alacrity of af|fection embraced, and &s;ubiected your families unto it more reverently and orderly then many o|ther congregations (though yet you &s;ee &s;ome fay|lings which I hope you will redre&s;&s;e) and pre&s;en|ted
<PB N="20" REF="14">your &s;elves al&s;o whether it were before or af|ter the beginning of other duties, which gave example to them, encouragement to me, where|in as you have well begun, be not hereafter wan|ting, as you love your comfort, and de&s;ire that the knowledge of God &s;hould abound among&s;t us,</P>
<P>The Sacraments, the one of Bapti&s;me: the greate&s;t part of you give good te&s;timonie how highly you e&s;teeme and reverence it, by your con|tinuance alwayes at the admini&s;tration of it, a&s;|&s;i&s;ting by your joynt prayers, contrary to that prophane practi&s;e of many turning their backs upon it. The other of the Lords Supper is as generally u&s;ed (&s;o farre as I can ob&s;erve) as the Law intendeth it for per&s;ons capable; if not by more then are well admittable, whereof, as well as of the too &s;eldome celebration of it you mu&s;t bee admoni&s;hed, That there may bee better by preparation, examination and in|&s;truction of &s;uch as neede it, and a more fre|quent participation for the greater comfort of your faith;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 31.11, 12, 13. Neh. 8.3. Acts. 13.15. 8 King. 22.10, 11, 19.</NOTE> you may doubtle&s;&s;e injoy it &s;o often as you will de&s;ire with convenience.</P>
<P>Of the publike reading I need not &s;peake: un|le&s;&s;e I &s;hall exhort you to affoord your mo&s;t heed|full attention to this plaine and di&s;tinct recita|tion of Gods Law, of farre greater benefit then is by the common vnder-valuers and negligent hearers of it, received. And for the publike pray|ers of the Church: I cannot but take your &s;ea&s;o|nable comming together upon the&s;e dayes to joyn
<PB N="21" REF="14">in the reverent and &s;olemne celebration of them, a &s;ufficient manife&s;tation of all your judgements, touching the lawfull, yea and nece&s;&s;ary u&s;e of them. And me thinkes it &s;hould be needle&s;&s;e la|bour after &s;o long and generall a practi&s;e of this whole Church of England, and all our congrega|tions con&s;enting in the publike leitourgy, to prove unto you that a &s;et forme of prayer, e&s;pecially in the congregation, is warrantable by the Word of God, and nece&s;&s;ary to hold and further the joynt devotions of the people. Be&s;ides that doubting (upon &s;ome occa&s;ion not unknowne un|to you) the danger of the &s;preading of Anabap|ti&s;me in this City, which now through Gods mercy it is as free from as any place, and de&s;i|ring to direct and encourage the weake and un|experienced Chri&s;tian to the profitable u&s;e of &s;uch an helpefull ordinance as God hath vouch&s;a|fed to lend them for a furtherance and &s;upply in the dutie of prayer, I largely in another Church handled the &s;ame point, and clearing it, an&s;wered objections, which I found made again&s;t it, applying it for confutation, and gave &s;ome plaine and ea&s;ie familiar rules (as I could thinke upon them) for the advantage and comfort of &s;uch as need the u&s;e of a &s;et forme in priuate. And lately performed another di&s;cour&s;e in this congregation to like purpo&s;e, and enough, as I conceive to the meane&s;t, upon the catechi&s;me in the end of it. More we &s;hal in the next commandement which we are now almo&s;t come unto. It would al&s;o require a iu&s;t exerci&s;e: &amp; we cannot enter upon it. Onely
<PB N="22" REF="15">re&s;t I pray you in a right iudgement, and in a due and peaceable practi&s;e of the duty, even as you doe: and breede not a iealou&s;ie of your &s;ligh|ting of it to the offence of the Church.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Dor. 11.1.</NOTE> Nor let it of|fend any (a &s;tranger to the uprightne&s;&s;e of our in|tentions herein) to heare your de&s;erved prai&s;e in that you remember us in the&s;e things, and keepe the ordinances, as they have beene delivered unto you according to the word of God. This is &s;poken of the publike.</P>
<P>Now for the private I have al&s;o better warrant to exhort, then to reprove: becau&s;e I have a clearer light to informe what you ought to doe, then what you neglect. I will in&s;tance in the principall.</P>
<P N="1">1.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 14. Pagans would not have the morning and evening &s;a|crifice omit|ted i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the hou&s;e. <GAP DESC="foreign"> He&s;iod. <GAP DESC="foreign">. l. 1. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er. 10.5.</NOTE> <HI>Prayer in every family.</HI> God forbid that &s;hould be verified among&s;t us in this kinde, which <HI>David</HI> &s;peaketh of the &s;tate of all by nature, lying under wra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">h: That the Lord &s;hould looke downe out of heaven into our families and among our people any day to &s;ee upon &s;olemne inqui&s;ition, if they will &s;eek'e after God, and finde that they call not <HI>upon the Lord</HI> but are &s;trangers to this ordinance, which is the manner of Athei&s;ts: and let it be, not of Chri|&s;tian families, which &s;hould be &s;o many Churches, not meere civill &s;ocieties. If the Prophet <HI>Ieremies</HI> divine imprecation be thought upon, how dares a|ny put him&s;elfe and his family foorth into the ma|nifold weightie, and dangerous imployments of the day, before prayer have beene the key to open, warrant and legitimate the way unto them? yea to open heaven for the getting downe of a ble&s;&s;ing upon them? Or withwhat fa&s;ety commit we our
<PB N="23" REF="15">&s;elves to re&s;t, in the mid&s;t of all the dangers and terrors of any night, before prayer have beene the looke to &s;hut us in (that we may be as <HI>Noah,</HI> &s;hut in by God him&s;elfe) with the more holy &s;ecurity? Let <HI>Prayer</HI> &s;et the guard of God, his holy Angells and providence about you and yours, and all that you haue, as the hedge or mote, or fence about <HI>Iob.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 1.10.</NOTE> Let not the neglect, and now, after warning, too wilfull neglect of it lay you open to evill, and let in the devill and Gods wrath upon you &s;leeping. So it be not formall but fervent, and out of con&s;ci|ence to Gods ordinance and commandement; it needs not be tedious nor un&s;ea&s;onable. Prove it in earne&s;t, and thou wilt bee &s;o farre from finding a burthen or preiudice, as thou wilt be &s;ure to ac|knowledge it unto thy hou&s;e (with other religious exerci&s;es) as the Arke was to <HI>Obed-Edoms.</HI> And if <HI>Davids</HI> noone-day may conveniently be added, it will bring in ble&s;&s;ings heape mea&s;ure. E&s;pecially remember every day the clo&s;et, or &s;ome place e|quivalent, before thy father who &s;eeth in &s;ecret, and will reward thee openly. And this is the fir&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Meditation.</HI> It hath a double obiect, the works of God and the word of God, both with per&s;onall application, every one to his owne u&s;e. It is a mo&s;t compleating exerci&s;e &s;ucking out the &s;pirits and quinte&s;&s;ence of all things. <HI>Meditatio totum,</HI> men were wont to <HI>a&s;cribe all unto it,</HI> as the dige&s;tion of all the &s;oules food for nouri&s;hment, &s;trength and com|fort of the inner man. Other exerci&s;es of religion are as nece&s;&s;ary for the &s;oule, as foode for the bo|dy.
<PB N="24" REF="16">But where there is eager ravenous feeding and no dige&s;tion, expect a con&s;umption. Meditation therefore is &s;pecially for the Sabbath, it mu&s;t chal|lenge a part as well as hearing and prayer. It is no day out of &s;ea&s;on, if the due &s;ea&s;on be cho&s;en and taken for retired &s;oliloquies. Three nece&s;&s;ary and fruitfull exerci&s;es, are maine ordinary mini&s;ters of whole&s;ome and &s;ub&s;tantiall nouri&s;hment to main|taine the life and &s;trength, and heate of meditati|on, and they are, repetition, conference, rea|ding.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Repetition</HI> of what is publikely taught, e&s;peci|ally by your owne pa&s;tors, the foode provided of God for you. You thinke &s;ome of us teach too much and too long. If it be &s;o, it is an inconveni|ence (not to be approved, much le&s;&s;e continued) and yet an errour on the right hand occa&s;ioned &s;ometimes by more love then findes acceptance, though it mo&s;tly pre&s;ent it &s;elfe in de&s;ired habit trying our acceptance, by pre&s;&s;ing upon the curte|&s;ie of our entertainment but an ordinary time. Yet Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;eemes to in&s;inuate him&s;elfe into the affections of the people, by an argument taken from what is irke&s;omene&s;&s;e and wearine&s;&s;e to the fle&s;h.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 12.12. Gal. 6.11.</NOTE> <HI>You &s;ee how large a letter I have written to you with mine owne hand.</HI> He would have them (I think) con&s;ider his great labour. And if any doe manife&s;t the like, &s;u&s;taining much toyle before in &s;tudying, much paines in delivering, and much weakne&s;&s;e after a &s;ermon, I know no way to ea&s;e him, and gratifie your &s;elves like this: carrying away and calling to minde againe in private what is publike|ly
<PB N="25" REF="16">taught. Le&s;&s;e then (I confe&s;&s;e) with a little of your paines in repetition, would make your bur|then lighter, and doe more good. Forgive us that wrong, and doe your &s;elves this right, and we &s;hall be &s;horter, to encourage you to what ye are bound to doe, yea though any of us &s;hould be &s;o irreligi|ous to preach again&s;t it. Set your memories on worke, and let them undergoe the be&s;t taske that ever God made them for: and helpe your &s;elves by your notes, at lea&s;t one in a family for the benefit of all the re&s;t. A few &s;hort notes, to &s;upply the de|fects of a &s;hort, or &s;lippery memory, yea here and there a word would bring much to remembrance. We &s;hould be glad either to inlarge or le&s;&s;en our paines to further our profit, which we are called to &s;erve in Chri&s;t, who entred and inured his di&s;ci|ples to this exerci&s;e of repeating apart. It is &s;o ne|ce&s;&s;ary that it is hard to reape any benefit often|times by the publike without it, as we &s;ee by the forgetfulne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;ts owne di&s;ciples, who could not be guilty of the fault of their forgetful|nes in his teaching.</P>
<P>Doe as the Bereans did, examine your proofes, compare the places (as their laudable and &s;ucce&s;&s;efull practi&s;e was) but pre&s;&s;e them not be|yond our intentions: mini&s;ters may expound their owne meaning in repetition, and dilate upon it, as Chri&s;t did to the di&s;ciples in his repetitions.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 4.34</NOTE> For private Chri&s;tians to take &s;o much upon them, is to make new worke, not to repeat the old. It is to teach privately, and not to learne of the publike teacher,
<PB N="26" REF="17">for private gifts there is another private Ordi|nance.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Conference.</HI> The two di&s;ciples give a good ex|ample, <HI>Luk.</HI> 24.14, 15. this drew Chri&s;t to joyne him&s;elfe unto them, and kept him in their compa|ny with a great advantage in knowledge, faith, com|fort, beyond their expectation, when they begun to conferre betweene them&s;elves about Chri&s;ts death and &s;ufferings.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.21.</NOTE> God doth u&s;e to ble&s;&s;e holy confe|rence in nece&s;&s;ary,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 18.20.</NOTE> lawfull and orderly meetings: and Chri&s;t promi&s;eth to be at &s;uch meetings. Communication tending to the increa&s;e of wi&s;e|dome, &s;oundnes of judgement, faith, repentance, mortification, reformation of life, obedience to parents, ma&s;ters, magi&s;trates, mini&s;ters doctrine, touching love, peace, &s;obriety, equity, mercy, hu|mility, meekne&s;&s;e, &amp;c. is too little, too &s;eldome on foote.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col 3.16.</NOTE> Doe not thinke Authority (by forbidding conventicles, wherein men plot &s;chi&s;me and facti|on,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb 10.24, 25</NOTE> and oppo&s;ition to regularity, truth, lawfull go|vernment, doctrine of the Church, authority, peace, &amp;c.) ever once meant to countermand the charge of the Almighty to talke of his law,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.7.</NOTE> in the hou&s;e or in the field, and no le&s;&s;e in the hou&s;e then upon the way. Therefore let not &s;ini&s;ter apprehen&s;ions on your parts, blind you &s;o much as to preiudice Au|thority, your &s;elves, or us in this particular. Know you are neither debarred nor &s;o much as in the lea&s;t intention di&s;couraged from the&s;e good duties, and doing them well,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Qui profanum vulgus &amp; ereco, &amp;c.</HI> Hema.</NOTE> but exhorted and urged thereun|to. Who can choo&s;e but abhorre that too vulgar prophanenes of mens wits and tongues, and wiles
<PB N="27" REF="17">not &s;o much bent to &s;hut out all holy conference and &s;pirituall di&s;cour&s;e like here&s;ie, as ours &s;hould be to &s;hut the&s;e per&s;ons out of our mo&s;t intimate fa|miliarity. This is all I intended to &s;peake here of meditation. Now this and the former duty of pray|er are a&s;&s;i&s;ted and furthered by two other.</P>
<P N="5">5. Reading of the Scriptures,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts. 8.</NOTE> and &s;inging of P&s;alms. By the one the Eunuch did mo&s;t &s;uccesful|ly &s;pend his time and exerci&s;e his heart. He got an extraordinary ble&s;&s;ing by a reverent reading of the Text, and referring the expo&s;ition thereof (as is meet) unto a guide. Private per&s;ons may not pre&s;ume on the &s;pirit of interpretation; as it came not from private motion at fir&s;t.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.20, 21</NOTE> From the overda|ring boldnes, and &s;pirit of pride in &s;uch rackers of Scriptures given by in&s;piration of God, hath their private interpretation and &s;trange conceited expo|&s;ition &s;prung, no le&s;&s;e then fanaticall and heretical; that could at la&s;t be defended with no pretence but the motion of the holy Gho&s;t. Hence &s;pirits of error haue not a litle troubled the Church, &amp; words and tearms unknown to the Church, have (through the love of their novelty) &s;pread and fretted til emi|nent members of the Church have been gangren'd and the faith of many been de&s;troyed. Yet private per&s;ons may take occa&s;ion by the reading of the Scriptures profitably to admoni&s;h one another, and remembring may repeate how they have heard the &s;ame expounded by the publike mini&s;ter. With the other of the&s;e two duties our Saviour &s;olaced his di&s;ciples hearts, and cheared their &s;pirits,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.30. Iam. 5.3.</NOTE> and <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas</HI> their owne, and the Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Iames</HI>
<PB N="28" REF="18">directeth us to like u&s;e of it,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.18, 19. 2 Kin. 3.15.</NOTE> and <HI>Paul</HI> would have it performed in the fulnes of the &s;pirit, unto edifica|tion, &amp;c. And the Prophet &s;tirred up the &s;pirit of prophe&s;ie in him&s;elfe by a &s;pirituall &s;ong with mu|&s;icke as &s;ome under&s;tand. I have thus, my good brethren, exhorted you to the performance of all the&s;e holy duties in private, for weighty cau&s;e; I know what need I have &s;o to doe: and know you, that your forgetting and &s;lighting this charge, will not be the lea&s;t of your &s;innes, if your &s;inne, &s;eeing ye know the&s;e duties, and the bloud of contemners will be upon their owne heads, when we &s;hall be a|ble with comfort to &s;hake our garments from the guilt of it: e&s;pecially of &s;uch as will plead exemp|tion (in male-contented pa&s;&s;ion) upon wilfull mi&s;|interpretation of &s;incere&s;t intentions, in our next exhortation to the due and inoffen&s;ive manner of performance,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vpon the E|pi&s;tle to the Church of <HI>Pergamus,</HI> Rev. 2,</NOTE> which I have given &s;ome ta&s;t and in|timations of heretofore, to the di&s;ta&s;t, and not with|out the jealou&s;ies and cen&s;ures of &s;ome, that &s;hould not now have needed a whole (and I mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e tedious) &s;ermon, to bala&s;t them upright if they would have &s;teered by the compa&s;&s;e of the word, or carryed le&s;&s;e &s;ayle, or not have coa&s;ted &s;o neare up|on the commanding tide of authority, be&s;ide their cour&s;e and without nece&s;&s;ity.</P>
<P>I cannot &s;ay with <HI>Paul,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">7.21.</NOTE> ye might have hearke|ned unto me, and not have put forth and gained this harme and lo&s;&s;e; becau&s;e authority is propiti|ous;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> and there is no nece&s;&s;ity of receiving any, by landing upon an I&s;thmus or any narrow point, or &s;treight betweene the double da&s;hing waves of &s;e|verity
<PB N="29" REF="18">and rigour; nor yet of ca&s;ting out our nece&s;|&s;ary commodities tending to &s;pirituall &s;u&s;tenance and &s;trength, as the ordinances before mentioned. No <HI>Daniel</HI> is forbidden to pray unto his God: nor is any ca&s;t out for orderly profe&s;&s;ing and &s;eeking the knowledge of God, but we are taught, and piou&s;ly &s;tirred up and called to them both.</P>
<P>Now then to come from the duties them&s;elves to the manner:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rules.</NOTE> and leaving &s;o much as concerneth the decency and order of the publike duties in the congregation, to my forementioned in&s;uing oppor|tunity; I proceede with the private which is now &s;pecially occa&s;ioned and intended. There are &s;ome rules to be ob&s;erved in the performance, that God be not di&s;honoured, and his name taken in vaine, in &s;tead of being wor&s;hipped. It cannot be &s;inne of lowe&s;t ranke to turne his owne ordinances to his di&s;honour: therefore take the&s;e few rule 8. 1. <MILESTONE N="1"> <HI>That holy duties in private be performed &s;ea&s;onably.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. 1 The&s;. 5.5, 6, 7, 8. Rom. 13.13.</NOTE> Pagans did even deifie time; and I here meane by it, both a due time and a fit opportunity or occa&s;ion. The time mu&s;t be fit and &s;utable to the opportunitie, the&s;e are duties of the day and of the light, as the per&s;ons are, and profe&s;&s;e to be that performe them. Let children of darknes and of the night, affect the night for their workes of darknes, when their acti|ons dare not &s;ee the light, as their di&s;po&s;ition hath of old been ob&s;erved: and the mo&s;t ingenuous Pa|gans would avoyd the occa&s;ion of cen&s;ures and im|putations, that might attend night imployments.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Surgunt de nocte Latrones</NOTE></P>
<P>Blacke&s;t a&s;per&s;ions have falne upon pure&s;t in|nocency, from the mouthes of children of dark|nes,
<PB N="30" REF="19">with deepe&s;t &s;taine, though time hath brought their integrity to light againe. But this is a worke of Gods mercifull providence, which our improvi|dence and ra&s;hnes is not excu&s;ed by. It is true that when men of evill intentions, evill con&s;ciences, have mea&s;ured the &s;ervants of God by them&s;elves, as their manner is: or out of a helli&s;h policy, like <HI>A|thaliah,</HI> cry trea&s;on, faction, wickednes, to divert the taynt of it from them&s;elves, and fa&s;ten it on them that are furthe&s;t from it, they will be found (if they could beday &amp; night ob&s;erved with <HI>Lynceus</HI> eyes) to bend their utmo&s;t endeavours,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1.10,</NOTE> that they may be in their affections and whole outward con|ver&s;ation (<GAP DESC="foreign">) &s;o uncorrupt and free from &s;uch mixture, &s;taine and blemi&s;h of evill, as may not &s;tand with their profe&s;&s;ion of holines, that they need not be a&s;hamed or affraid to be brought to tri|all by the cleare&s;t &s;un-&s;hine light of truth, which the Go&s;pel revealeth, according to which we ought to judge of mens e&s;tate and wayes. Therefore they al&s;o de&s;ire to provide for things hone&s;t and &s;eemly in the &s;ight of all men,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.17.</NOTE> though want of un|der&s;tanding, and of experience in &s;ome young and weake Chri&s;tians led more by affections and exam|ple, then by &s;oundnes of judgement (which it is impo&s;&s;ible they &s;hould in &s;o &s;hort time attaine un|to a &s;ufficiency of, to guid them exactly in their profe&s;&s;ion, e&s;pecially &s;uch of them as are more &s;tiffely opinionate, and conceited of their owne a|bilities then they have cau&s;e to be, and mo&s;t admire the &s;hallowe&s;t judgements, and weake&s;t patternes where they find earne&s;tnes of affection) doe mo&s;tly
<PB N="31" REF="19">looke forth-right upon a good action, de&s;iring to have no better buckler giuen them to beat back all good coun&s;ell, admonition or direction for the manner, then this, that it is nece&s;&s;ary, good, or law|full, and will hardly be per&s;waded of any nece&s;&s;ity to take notice of any circum&s;tance, good or bad, on the right hand or on the left, whereby it comes to pa&s;&s;e, that they ordinarily extoll none &s;o much as tho&s;e that are mo&s;t uncircum&s;pect, and fayle dan|gerou&s;ly together in laying &s;ome &s;eeming grounds of fal&s;e&s;t a&s;per&s;ions: and this is one of the mo&s;t u&s;u|alle&s;t faylings: About the time, It may be much to our purpo&s;e to con&s;ider that though Chri&s;ts going up to Ieru&s;alem was of great con&s;equence,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ich. 7.6, 10.</NOTE> The ob|&s;ervation of the fea&s;t of Tabernacles was comman|ded, the action good, the oportunity of doing great good by his doctrine and miracles very pregnant; who &s;o devoured with the zeale of his fathers hou&s;e a he? his kin&s;men importune, ha&s;ten him; he tel|leth them his houre was not yet come, though their's was, he mu&s;t take his fit opportunity: there was danger of the &s;hew of o&s;tentation on the one &s;ide, of the malice of adver&s;aries on the other. He would goe up, and did: not at the beginning, not upon a ra&s;h motion, not to the preiudice of the Go|&s;pel; the bu&s;ines was commendable, profitable to the Church: now was the time, yet not the fitte&s;t time. His going up and the honour of God, and be|nefit of his Church furthered thereby, was of more weight then all the concour&s;e and performances be&s;ides: yet to &s;ay all this, is to &s;ay too little, if this one circum&s;tance of <HI>Time</HI> be yet again&s;t it.
<PB N="32" REF="20">The zeale of the Lord of ho&s;ts is &s;ubjected to meet|nes of time. His love to his fathers glory, his Chur|ches &s;alvation, gives wi&s;edome the prerogative of choo&s;ing the oportunity, A wi&s;e mans heart di&s;cer|neth the time and judgement for every purpo&s;e:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl 8.5, 6.</NOTE> that is, if there be wi&s;edome in the heart, it will guide him prudently to di&s;po&s;e of his wayes, e&s;pe|cially his mo&s;t importunate actions, in their time. An action as well as a word lo&s;eth it's goodnes if it be out of &s;ea&s;on, out of it's due time. But you de|mand (brethre~) what is the due time of holy duties? There is a general time, and there is a &s;pecial time: or thus, there is a common or u&s;uall time; there is al&s;o a proper and peculiar time. There is a time for the &s;ervice of God in generall, both in our callings, and in holy duties: and there is a time of re&s;t and repo&s;e and intermi&s;&s;ion, as the P&s;almi&s;t &s;heweth: and the Lord mentioneth the time of holy duties,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104.23. Deut. 6.7.</NOTE> with the time of ri&s;ing up and lying downe, when he in&s;tanceth in that which he &s;aith in another place &s;hould be our meditation day and night. In|deed the de&s;ire of our &s;oule &s;hould be towards the Lord,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ay 26.8.</NOTE> and toward the remembrance of his name, even in the night our reynes &s;hould cha&s;ten us, in the night when we examine our hearts upon our beds: and we &s;hould with <HI>David</HI> prai&s;e him at midnight; if we awake, if &s;leepe depart from our eyes, and God by denying us naturall re&s;t, call us to &s;pirituall meditations: or by &s;ome extraordina|ry act of his providence, call us to &s;ome extraordi|nary duties. Otherwi&s;e for a family, or two or three in it, or &s;undry per&s;ons of &s;everall familyes,
<PB N="33" REF="20">to neglect the day, or for every pretence of day|lets, or want of opportunities, to put them&s;elves, without nece&s;&s;ity upon the &s;ad and &s;u&s;pected night for &s;uch duties, how farre it is from decency and order, let the cour&s;e of nature which God hath &s;ta|bli&s;hed, the inconveniences that follow it and may follow, and the judgement of all the godly wi&s;e, and that are not led by will and humour, and the experience of all that know what life and quicknes and cheerefulnes in holy duties, is: and what is to be &s;urprized with the contrary in the night, and how unprofitable &s;uch drow&s;ie dreaming perfor|mances are, yeeld us impartiall information. The imputations al&s;o that were layd upon primitive Chri&s;tians for their night meetings (not privaoe but for Church a&s;&s;emblies) &s;uch as they could have,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">There is through Gods mercy no iu&s;t cau&s;e of laying any crime to the charge of any that delight in the&s;e good duties in this City: and what is more de&s;ired then that there may never be: to which end tho&s;e things are &s;poken; as cautions onely.</NOTE> being nece&s;&s;itated by mo&s;t bloudy per&s;ecu|tions of Roman tyrants, &s;hould make any Chri&s;ti|ans thinke what is like to be belched out again&s;t re|ligion and profe&s;&s;ers of it, for needles night watch|ings and night walking to &s;uch purpo&s;es in the&s;e peaceable times, and for religions &s;ake by &s;uch as hate both it and them that mo&s;t zealou&s;ly practi&s;e it. What excu&s;e admits that &s;inne of putting into the blacke mouths of here tickes, Athei&s;ts, Papi&s;ts, bitter enemies &s;o &s;pecious a pretence to bla&s;pheme the good way, the more to harden their owne hearts again&s;t it, when our principall care &s;hould be to &s;top their mouthes by following the&s;e things that are amiable and of good report to win them. 2. And for more &s;peciall opportunitie in the day, and &s;ea&s;onablenes for &s;uch things, wi&s;edome and
<PB N="34" REF="21">experience will leade men to it. Opportunity is, when it may be performed (if by one) mo&s;t &s;ecret|ly, &s;ilently, with be&s;t affections, mo&s;t &s;afety, com|fort, fruit, with lea&s;t hinderance to our calling, &amp;c. (if by more) by all that &s;hould performe it toge|ther or the mo&s;t (when all cannot joyne) without di|&s;turbance, di&s;traction, annoyance, inconvenience, &s;leepines, hinderance of importnat affaires in our callings, prejudice to our &s;elves, ma&s;ters, pa|rents, governours, who have time given them of God to imploy them&s;elves and theirs in that which they have to doe about the things of this life, for their and our maintenance and the publike good. In which time it is not lawfull for any to with|draw them&s;elves and their &s;ervice and attendance from them, without their leave, upon the &s;ix dayes wherein they have the di&s;pen&s;ation of time com|mitted unto them.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Com. 4.</NOTE> They ought wi&s;ely and religi|ou&s;ly to &s;teward it for the meet &s;ea&s;ons of &s;erving God in the dayly duties of his priuate wor&s;hip that all may be &s;anctified unto them, as well as for their &s;ecular imployments, wherin the Lord is al&s;o &s;er|ved for the common good, and their owne liveli|hood, in their places and callings. If they allow not what they ought, it is their &s;inne, inferiours may not therefore &s;et apart what time they li&s;t, to their preiudice. God wil not regard &s;tollen &s;ervice, no more then we &s;hould &s;tollen bread, and &s;tollen waters. It is not &s;o &s;avoury to him, as the&s;e too oft to us: he will never accept that time for his wor|&s;hip which he hath manife&s;tly given your parents and ma&s;ters, and they need, for their callings and
<PB N="35" REF="21">due occa&s;ions. Though it be their &s;inne to neglect holy duties in their owne families; none may ther|fore &s;hake off the yoke, and inordinately fly abroad without nece&s;&s;ity, and &s;o make them&s;elves guilty of a &s;inne as great. If they rob God, thou may&s;t not therefore rob them: and u&s;urpe liberty unlaw|fully again&s;t all good rea&s;on and their con&s;ent. The Lord hath no need of &s;poyles. Beware of <HI>Adams</HI> rufull tricke of eating forbidden fruit: take that which is allowed, till thou be better advi&s;ed.</P>
<P>A &s;econd rule is this,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rule 2.</NOTE> that (as the publike) &s;o private holy duties be performed in meet places; otherwi&s;e they may receive three blemi&s;hes. The fir&s;t, a &s;hew of &s;uper&s;tition, if any place be cho&s;en for them, as more holy in it &s;elfe then any other.</P>
<P>A &s;hew of o&s;tentation and vaine-glory, and hy|pocri&s;ie, if &s;uch places be affected as may make the exerci&s;es and performers, and partakers of the &s;ame more noted and ob&s;erved, then another place which might as well be cho&s;en:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.5.</NOTE> as Phari&s;es in the Synagogues, &s;treet-corners, and market-places, and that &s;tanding too, that they might be &s;eene or heard the more. 3. A colour or apparance of con|&s;ciou&s;nes of &s;ome worke of darknes (though none be &s;o much as thought on) if in a place too &s;ecret (when by more then one) as if they or their actions were &s;ubject to &s;ome ju&s;t taxe of exorbitancie. To &s;ecure again&s;t all the&s;e, I conceive that place mo&s;t u&s;ually taken up (unles it be for one alone, or more of a &s;ex in the &s;ame family, opportunely &s;eque&s;tring them&s;elves for private devotion) for the morning and evening &s;acrifice and family dutyes, is mo&s;t
<PB N="36" REF="22">expedient. E&s;pecially that hou&s;e or roome that hath lea&s;t &s;hew of projected retyrednes out of a ju&s;t feare through con&s;ciou&s;nes of evill.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 3.19, 20.21. Eph 5.12.</NOTE> Lea&s;t that be mi&s;applyed and uniu&s;tly charged upon children of the light, which belongeth rather to children of this world, who are mo&s;t apt to traduce and &s;lan|ner their mo&s;t holy and mo&s;t harmele&s;&s;e intenti|ons.</P>
<P N="3">3. That holy duties be performed in lawful mee|tings,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rule 3.</NOTE> by fit per&s;ons; and that both for number and quality. 1. For number, we mu&s;t not take the&s;e for private exerci&s;es, performed by &s;o many toge|ther. <HI>Act.</HI> 1.15. and <HI>cap.</HI> 20.7, &amp;c. They were the Church a&s;&s;emblies in time of cruell per&s;ecutions: and therefore the time and place were al&s;o extraor|dinary, for it is not meet that Chri&s;tians &s;hould now troope together for midnight duties, or in &s;o great a&s;&s;emblies by day in a private place, for that makes it exceede the bounds, and loo&s;eth the na|ture of a private meeting, intrenching upon the borders of a publike congregation, and the duties become publike, though not of a whole congrega|tion; and &s;uch a meeting, for &s;uch performances would carry the face of a &s;eparation, and of another Church, to the dangerous preiudice and conceived cen&s;ure of that, out of which it i&s;&s;ues.</P>
<P N="2">2. For quality in &s;undry re&s;pects, e&s;pecially of gifts, age, place, and calling, and &s;uch like relati|ons. The agents mu&s;t be fit for &s;uch worthy per|formances in &s;uch pre&s;ence: and their gifts mu&s;t be an&s;werable to the&s;e high undertakings before God, his Sonne, his Angels, his Saints; and in
<PB N="37" REF="22">the&s;e gifts, &s;ufficiency, gravity, &s;obriety, reve|rence, &amp;c. mu&s;t be re&s;pected. Every babe is not fit to be the mouth of &s;o many other. They mu&s;t not intrude them&s;elves, nor be &s;et up (much le&s;&s;e ur|ged) to perform holy duties in the &s;ight of the Lord &amp; before his people that want competent abilities; To take Gods name in vaine, and make dreadfull ordinances ridiculous and contemptible; Nor is it enough to &s;ay, come abroad and performe; increa&s;e your gifts; as in an <HI>EXERCISE;</HI> where you may be tryed, cen&s;ured: becau&s;e prayer, thanksgi|ving, confe&s;&s;ion, duties of humiliation are ordinan|ces of God for devotion, not exerci&s;e, as in a Schole or Vniver&s;itie, this mu&s;t be done fir&s;t in &s;ecret; and then mu&s;t follow hearing and joyning with others, in &s;ilence. Be&s;ides, what great benefit of their mu|tuall cen&s;ure where the highe&s;t priviledge is to be judged by their Peeres, and there is not any that ought to take upon him to be a judge of what is &s;olid, orthodoxe, and according to the Word of God; but all may and doe erre together, often, and ea&s;ily in &s;uch ca&s;es; and perhaps di&s;like that which is mo&s;t &s;ound and con&s;onant to divine truth; and hence may and &s;ometimes have heterodoxe, exoti|call and &s;trange uncouth opinions, ab&s;urdities, practi&s;es, &s;prung up: yea rootes of bitternes in the Churches, long before publike notice, and grown pa&s;t all capability of controll, laughing our pul|pit doctrine to &s;corne before out faces, Neither doth this remedy and ju&s;tifie all, that &s;ome &s;uch <HI>Io|nathan</HI> or wandring Levite as hath crotchets and te|nents tending to novelty, may be gotte~ in by &s;tealth
<PB N="38" REF="23">and made ma&s;ter of the a&s;&s;embly, but much the wor&s;e and leading to further refractarines, and cor|ruption: &s;o farre is it from being a <HI>&s;uper&s;edeas</HI> a|gain&s;t innovation and corruption, and lawfull ex|ception again&s;t the inconveniences of &s;uch a cour&s;e. Schi&s;me and faction hath mo&s;t often been warmed in and &s;prung out of the charitable &s;implicity of their good and well intended devotions, that have not beene aware, nor well able to judge an others (and &s;ometimes a conceited mini&s;ters) pride, &s;in|gularity, ignorance. As for their place and callings, and relations to &s;uperiors, I &s;hall not need to &s;peak much, if that be well con&s;idered, which is &s;poken of the husbands di&s;anulling the wifes vowe and promi&s;e to God for &s;pending time in fa&s;ting and humiliation,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 30.13.</NOTE> one of the weightie&s;t, and &s;ometimes mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary and profitable among&s;t private du|ties.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.5.</NOTE> A worke of the be&s;t is performeable by &s;uch as have power, and under the power of &s;uch as have immediate lawfull authority, with generall or particular, implied or expre&s;&s;ed con&s;ent, and none otherwi&s;e. (I &s;peake of private duties where|in &s;o much time is &s;pent from their callings upon the weeke dayes, as upon the Saboth from the fa|mily, as requireth their di&s;pen&s;ation by vertue of their place and calling.) Children and &s;ervants, may not &s;o farre re&s;emble children of <HI>Belial,</HI> (that will reject every yoke at plea&s;ure) as to deale &s;o un|ju&s;tly and di&s;honorably with tho&s;e who&s;e they are, and who have intere&s;t in them, to rent them&s;elves from the head and body dome&s;ticall, whereof they are members, no not by a &s;ecret and in&s;en&s;ible vio|lence
<PB N="39" REF="23">to ca&s;t off duty and &s;ervice at their own will, as if it were enough to &s;ay <HI>CORBAN,</HI> 'tis giuen to God, 'tis time be&s;towed, &s;ervice performed, a more religious way. I know (that which is to be bewayled) &s;ome ma&s;ters and parentt are not &s;o well skilled, as to direct tho&s;e that are under them in a religious cau&s;e. And &s;urely one maine cau&s;e of the unmeet and forbidden meetings of good and well affected &s;oules, which I am &s;ure need the&s;e our directions, is this, they doe not delight in &s;uch duties in their families them&s;elves, nor appoint, command, &amp; allow them in their hou&s;es &s;o often &amp; &s;omuch as they &s;hould. For there they haue power, may be bold, yea are bound to do it in what mea|&s;ure they are able, with cheerefulnes reverence, and authority. The word, the Church of God, and all authority in it, incourageth thereunto: and the neglect is a very great fault, and one maine rea&s;on, why religion and the knowledge of it, is &s;o hardly wrought in tho&s;e of &s;uch private families by the publike mini&s;tery. Yet, I &s;ay, we mu&s;t not therfore be every one a ma&s;ter, a commander, and order di|rect and meet at plea&s;ure. Too many u&s;urping the commanders liberty, lo&s;t <HI>Halicarna&s;&s;us,</HI> the chiefe city of Caria, and the whole country with it, &s;o that it grew into a proverb, appliable in &s;uch ca&s;es. And indeed where every one is a captaine, a ma|&s;ter, a ruler, there is no order; all falls into a confu|&s;ion, and Anabapti&s;ticall anarchy.</P>
<P>The fourth rule for private dutyes is:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rule 4.</NOTE> That they be performed as may be&s;t &s;tand with charity? and the more common good, peace, and &s;afety of the
<PB N="40" REF="24">Church we live in. And here a double charity is to be re&s;pected.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.</NOTE> 1. Our owne, towards others voyd of envy, emulation, pride, &s;welling, contempt, di&s;grace; what proceedes not from charity, is to our &s;elves unprofitable (that I &s;ay not unchri&s;tian) how like &s;oever Chri&s;tian duties. It is almo&s;t in|credible, what uncharitablenes may be bewrayed in &s;elfe-conceited ra&s;hnes of novices, yong plants, as &s;uddenly &s;prung up as mu&s;hroms, yet in &s;uch meetings as bold as doctors of the chayre, &s;tating the doctrines of publike mini&s;ters, cen&s;uring their gifts, at lea&s;t by compari&s;on (as if they could judge and determine &s;uch things with ea&s;e) and accor|ding to the verdict (affection it is) of the&s;e low|forme Critickes mu&s;t runne the generall cen&s;ures of mini&s;ters, profe&s;&s;ions, families, extolled by all &s;uperlatives utterable, or decyed below all charita|ble hopes of them for pre&s;ent; almo&s;t adored, or almo&s;t to be abhorred: very holy, or very graceles is the doome: and who knowes how neare home the wor&s;t part of it may &s;ometimes fall (I hope farre better things of you) my deare brethren,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 16.14.</NOTE> and de|voutly affected Chri&s;tians (&s;trange uncharitablenes (I &s;ay) may breake out in &s;uch arrogant cen&s;ures, if all things be not done in love. 2. The charity of others al&s;omu&s;t be re&s;pected, that it be not woun|ded and provoked again&s;t our &s;elves, by our indi&s;|creete menaging of religious duties with &s;ome ap|parance of evil, mingling that which is unlawfull, with that which is lawfull, and how (may &s;ome &s;ay) how can this &s;tand together with &s;inceritie? evill affection, evill meanes, evill aymes, evill ef|fects,
<PB N="41" REF="24">events at lea&s;t, though by accident occa&s;io|ned by our faylings in the manner of doing what is in it &s;elfe good.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.15.</NOTE> Let us remember the Apo&s;tles words in another ca&s;e, touching what was lawfull, but by accident offen&s;ive, that is,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.31.</NOTE> which made o|thers to offend and &s;tumble: <HI>Now walke&s;t thou not charitably.</HI> And &s;urely &s;uch as well con&s;ider the precious u&s;e of love and peace, and how religion pro&s;pereth by peace and re&s;t, and the Church in|joying them increa&s;eth by them, will never &s;eeke it by their contraries, on the one &s;ide exa&s;perating authority; on the other &s;ide, &s;etting the Egyptian dogs a barking without any nece&s;&s;ity; But if it &s;hall be objected; that Hereticks, Papi&s;ts, Athei&s;ts and per&s;ons of an implacable and curious pragma|ticall di&s;po&s;ition, malecontented headlong bay|ards will be bawling again&s;t good performances, without cau&s;e; I an&s;wer, They will, too fa&s;t, out of their owne private enmity; yea though they &s;leep, they will manife&s;t the habit by grumbling and im|perfect whapping. It is therefore the greater folly to awake and &s;tirre them without nece&s;&s;ity; and then complaine of our hurt, to the trouble of our Governours, who will find iu&s;t cau&s;e to lay no &s;mall blame upon our&s;elves. Hearken my deare chil|dren, 1. It is not nece&s;&s;ary private duties &s;hould be performed with &s;o much noy&s;e; There is a &s;ilent &s;e|crecy, which God will accept thy devotions in, ac|cording to thy mea&s;ure, at home and apart, rather then buy them of thee with the lo&s;&s;e of any part of his owne glory, which cloudy tumultuou&s;|nes (ray&s;ed through thy indi&s;cretion) may much
<PB N="42" REF="25">eclip&s;e, deface. 2, Thou ha&s;t liberty for the pub|like duties, and helpe too, even to admiration, if not farre beyond thy thankfulnes and contentation. 3. None is debarred or inhibited the meete, profi|table, frequent u&s;e of the private. 4. I pre&s;ume to hold this (as yet) for a truth, and a godly rule be|yond exception, vnle&s;&s;e it be of a very ignorant per&s;on: <HI>That our per&s;onall comforts and advantages ought (by the rule of charity) even in grace and &s;pirituall things in part, and in &s;ome degree to be parted withall, in love to others, and for the more publike good, &amp; more gene|rall freedome and peace of the Church, whereby the Church hath it's pa&s;&s;age for the edification and &s;alvation of many.</HI> El&s;e, where is that affection, that charitable &s;pi|rit that breathed forth &s;o &s;trongly towards the Church in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Paul,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exo. 32.32. Rom. 3.9.</NOTE> &s;triving after this affe|ction, and preferring ones priuate concernements, contentments, comforts before the publike good, cannot &s;tand together.</P>
<P N="5">5. So to performe religious duties as may &s;tand with the faithfull and due di&s;charge of the duties of our callings.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rule 5.</NOTE> All will grant (I thinke) it mu&s;t be as Gods glory may be mo&s;t advanced; and that is in the mo&s;t generall good. Hearken then, By holy ordinances in publike we get knowledge, faith, hope, charity, humility, mercy, iu&s;tice, obedience: by private duties we further and increa&s;e all the&s;e with much delight and pre&s;ent comfort. But all mu&s;t be enjoyed in common in the hive. We doe not gather all this hony for our &s;elves alone to make inclo&s;ure of it: but to manife&s;t and &s;et all on worke, for the advancement of the common good, and &s;o we come neere&s;t the &s;ove|raigne
<PB N="43" REF="25">good, who is therefore knowne to be &s;o, be|cau&s;e he diffu&s;eth and communicateth his good|nes to all. Now we have none other orbe to moove in, while we &s;end forth this influence, but our par|ticular place, calling, imployment in Church and Common-weale. There's great ods betweene pri|vate edification and the publike good. This is our chiefe&s;t aime, and the end of all our u&s;e of Gods ordinances: and the other is &s;ubordinate to this and for this. That for which any thing is, mu&s;t not be neglected and &s;lighted for that which is for it. And nothing is good and well, but as it &s;erveth, and is &s;ubordinate to that for which it is. This is true in all ordinances, actions, arts, cour&s;e of nature, oeco|nomy, policy. The &s;pirituall hidden Manna of grace we gather by prayer, meditation, &s;acraments, &amp;c. is to be unto us as the food brought to <HI>Eliah</HI> by the Angel, in the &s;trength and comfort whereof we mu&s;t painfully and faithfully travell in our cal|lings with love and righteou&s;nes which mu&s;t there|in e&s;pecially &s;hew it &s;elfe. Our calling is as it were the center into which all the lines are equally di|rected from the circumference of all our deuotions: In&s;tance in this one particular of our preaching and your hearing. What is the end of all? that every one have his portion &s;ea&s;onably, and learne to be good in his calling, by &s;hewing the fruit of all therein. Magi&s;trates, mini&s;ters, husbands, wives, parents, children, ma&s;ters, &s;ervants, merchants, la|bourers, &amp;c. And when our preaching comes home to this clo&s;ely, you will &s;ay 'tis be&s;t: and &s;o indeed is this dayes doctrine, becau&s;e it bendeth &s;o much this way. And indeed S. <HI>Paul</HI> in almo&s;t all his epi|&s;tles
<PB N="44" REF="26">(at lea&s;t <HI>Rom. Gal. Eph. Col. Tim. Tit.</HI> &amp;c.) &s;hut|teth up all that he teacheth touching knowledge, faith, regeneration, and our generall vocation, and ends it in that wherein men and women &s;hould &s;hew the power of all their particular callings. Take away the magi&s;trate, mini&s;ter, the husband, wife, children, &s;ervants, I meane their faithfulne&s;&s;e in their callings, and you take away religion: be|cau&s;e without the&s;e, hou&s;e-keeping, family, trades, Church, common wealth fall; and then where's re|ligion? Take away the ma&s;ters providence: the mi|&s;tre&s;&s;es &s;ubjection to her husband, and care for him, children, &s;ervants, &amp;c. that &s;he doe little or nothing but religious duties, and leave the family at ran|dome; by that example breeding children and &s;er|vants to walke in the &s;ame &s;teps, not acquainted with labour and good hou&s;e-wifery.</P>
<P>Give &s;ervants what liberty they will take or co|venant for, to be at every &s;ermon, every repetition, every meeting, every conference they will; and let them be received from hou&s;e to hou&s;e, from &s;ervice to &s;ervice, as often as they li&s;t change for &s;uch like ends, and for more liberty to rove and range: or be &s;uffered to live in a ma&s;terles manner, as &s;ojourners, under a pretence they worke for them&s;elves, and &s;o being onely in their owne power, can give them|&s;elves to prayer and conference and meetings, I &s;ay grant this generally, and &s;top the &s;hip from thevoi|age, forbeare or forbid the market, call home the factor, draw home the &s;tocke, &s;hut up the &s;hop|windowes, di&s;&s;olve the family, and away. We may re&s;olve to give them a meeting in new England
<PB N="45" REF="26">&s;hortly, for the old cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t, cannot &s;u&s;taine it &s;elfe and us. I &s;ay, &s;uppo&s;e this generall (for if it be nece&s;&s;ary why &s;hould not all do &s;o) trades and husbandry it &s;elfe, by which God &s;aith the King is maintained, will fall, and the kingdome after it. It is a weake objection, that <HI>Mary</HI> had cho&s;en the good part, when it was &s;o &s;eldome &s;he could enjoy it as the &s;tate of that Church was, and if there were any compari&s;on intended again&s;t <HI>Martha's</HI> imploy|ment, it was not to condemne hou&s;ewifery, but her neglect of a rare opportunity, while &s;he did care and trouble her &s;elfe too much about this &s;ervice, and that for outward fea&s;ting, which Chri&s;t expe|cted not;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.28.</NOTE> and the Apo&s;tle tells us that idlene&s;&s;e is theft in the fruit and effects of it, and he that wor|keth with his hands doth that which is good too, and much good comes of it, and therefore giveth &s;o often and &s;erious charge again&s;t inordinatenes and irregularity. It is le&s;&s;e, again&s;t what hath bin now &s;aid, that wee mu&s;t redeeme time, &s;eeing the an&s;wer is to be had from the very &s;cope of that place, we touched but now, provided it be not to the overthrow of labour, and &s;o of the Church:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.15, 16.</NOTE> and in the &s;ame place, not as fooles but as wi&s;e: is there no redeeming of time, but by unfaithfulnes in our callings, this will be an ea&s;ie redemption for a little time, but at la&s;t many mu&s;t pay for it. There is dangerous &s;eparating of that which God hath joyned. It will prove unwi&s;e, purcha&s;ing the one with the preiudice of the other,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Th. 4.11, 12</NOTE> and to the offence of aliens, hindring them from comming to our Religion for idlenes &s;ake. The &s;um therfore is.</P>
<PB N="46" REF="27">
<P>Let that which is good be well done: if it may be done with liberty and prai&s;e, and comfort (for our con&s;ciences delude us, if we think there is more comfort in following our owne wi&s;edome then Gods) why &s;hould it be done with trouble, offence and preiudice? That may &s;eeme good and comfor|table to a few for them&s;elves that would walke in it, that is evill and dangerous to many for their &s;akes. Selfe-love and folly are no good guides at home, wor&s;e iudges abroad. Charity hath better eyes and more nece&s;&s;ary good properties, then ma|ny well affected people doe know; more pitty, that love &s;hould be &s;o great a &s;tranger to tho&s;e that pre|ferre her &s;o much before wi&s;edome which is a grea|ter &s;tranger, and yet &s;hould be ju&s;tified of all her children, and not called Idol to her face, and that with open mouth crying downe di&s;cretion. Chri&s;t, the e&s;&s;entiall wi&s;edome of the father will dwell no where but with prudence.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.15. Deut. 4.6.</NOTE> <HI>Pro.</HI> 8.12. The word is called wi&s;edome, given to make us wi&s;e unto &s;al|vation, and obedience is called wi&s;edome and un|der&s;tanding, to &s;hew that we mu&s;t be wi&s;e in obe|dience, as well as zealous of good works. Take her with thee: and under this guide by following the&s;e rules, thou neede&s;t not remit of thy godly fervency: the more the better. In religious duties thus regu|lated, every one may be, ought to be <GAP DESC="foreign"> in|tent with all the powers of his &s;oule, and doe them with all his &s;trength. The more &s;uch religion a|boundeth, the greater ble&s;&s;ing may be expected up|on our performances, our &s;elves, our families, the whole City, the whole Kingdome. If any Prophet
<PB N="47" REF="27">be yet &s;uch a foole, or &s;pirituall man &s;o mad, to vent crotchets tending to breed an ill opinion of mens lawfull callingss (pretending it to be world|lines, and all time &s;pent in it, to be quite lo&s;t, be|cau&s;e not &s;pent in religious duties) and to the tur|ning of the active life into the contemplative, it is time for him to proiect for cloy&s;ters, and for the getting in the Abbeyes and Nunneries againe, and &s;o needfull it would be; &s;o &s;hould a fruitfull land of indu&s;trious trades and callings be|come a Sodome of Idlenes; and that which would follow. Con&s;ider, what hath been &s;aid, and the Lord give you under&s;tanding in all things.</P>
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