<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2014-07-02</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Colm MacCrossan</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="B11956">
<STC T="S">4598</STC>
<STC T="C">S118625</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99853832</BIBNO>
<VID>177551</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<PB REF="1">
<P>TENTATIONS: Their
<LIST>
<ITEM>Nature,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Danger,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cure.</ITEM>
</LIST> <HI>The third</HI> PART: BY RICHARD CAPEL, Sometimes fellow of <HI>Magdalen Colledge</HI> in <HI>Oxford.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>R. Y.</HI> for <HI>John Bartlet,</HI> and are to be &s;old at his Shop in <HI>Cheap-&s;ide,</HI> at the &s;igne of the Gilt Cup. 1636.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="tract">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>TENTATIONS: Their
<LIST>
<ITEM>Nature,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Danger,</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cure.</ITEM>
</LIST> <HI>The third</HI> PART.</HEAD>
<P>_WEe are now in this third part to treat of &s;uch Ten|tations, as doe not u&s;e to &s;tare in the face of common Chri&s;tians: but of &s;uch Tentations as &s;tartle the con&s;ciences of &s;uch Chri&s;ti|ans as are now <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2. 6. Inter imper|fectos non|nulla&punc; obte|gunt, nulla mentiuntur. <HI>Aug. de vera relig.</HI> c. 28.</NOTE> <HI>perfect,</HI> as Saint <HI>Paul</HI> cals them in one place, and become Spirituall in &s;ome great degree, as hee meanes by that terme in <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3. 1.</NOTE> another place. For when a man comes once to be
<PB N="2" REF="3"> very &s;pirituall, to have an eye to &s;ee, and a &s;en&s;e to feele &s;uch things, which before hee made no care of, then his heart will ake at &s;ome faults, and his &s;oule will &s;mite at &s;uch things, which be|fore he u&s;ed not to &s;ee to be any &s;innes at all; or if he did, yet he felt no great bitterne&s;&s;e in them. <HI>Paul,</HI> becau&s;e hee had much grace, and was in compari&s;on of many now (as it were) all con|&s;cience, and his con&s;cience was (almo&s;t) all tenderne&s;&s;e, a &s;eeing, a &s;peaking, a feeling, and a &s;mi|ting con&s;cience, therefore hee did cry out for ordinary &s;capes, <HI>O wretched man, a body of &s;inne, a Law in my members:</HI> So <HI>Rom. 7. 14. I am carnall:</HI> What, &s;imply? No, but he had a quicke eye, and &s;aw too much fle&s;h in him&s;elfe: <HI>&s;old under &s;in:</HI> What a &s;lave to &s;inne &s;imply? No, no &s;inne raigned in him, but <HI>&s;old</HI> in re&s;pect of his fle&s;h, and in re|&s;pect of his feeling, he felt abun|dance, it even wearied him out.
<PB N="3" REF="3"> <HI>Ahab &s;old him&s;elfe to doe evill. Paul</HI> was <HI>&s;old under &s;inne,</HI> hee did not &s;ell him&s;elfe: <HI>Ahab</HI> &s;old him&s;elfe <HI>to</HI> &s;inne, <HI>Paul</HI> was &s;old <HI>under</HI> &s;inne. All this cry was not becau&s;e his &s;ins were &s;o great, but becau&s;e his heart was &s;o good, and for that he had an <HI>extraor|dinary</HI> con&s;cience of his owne. And thus it is (in our mea&s;ure) with &s;ome now, who becau&s;e they are come to be very hea|venly, and exceeding &s;pirituall, they finde great trouble for &s;uch matters, which others (though otherwi&s;e good people) make little or nothing of. But before we come to mention any parti|culars by name&punc; I will fir&s;t &s;peak of an head or two, under which lye many branches.</P>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="4" REF="4">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. I.</HI> Of le&s;&s;er &s;innes.</HEAD>
<P>_IT is fal&s;e divinity for a man to call any &s;innes <HI>little,</HI> &s;imply and with|out compari&s;on. Sinnes cannot bee little to him that thinkes them little. But yet it is &s;o, that &s;ome &s;innes in relation to other &s;innes, are farre le&s;&s;er; and &s;o &s;ome are great, and &s;ome are little. In this &s;en&s;e there are de|grees of compari&s;on in &s;innes and &s;inning; &amp; &s;ome have gone about to tell us which is the greate&s;t &s;in of all, but which is of all &s;ins the lea&s;t, I do not find that any man hath beene on that argument. 'Tis enough for us that &s;ome &s;ins are a great deale le&s;&s;er than others, and the &s;ame &s;inne is le&s;&s;er in one, and at one time, than in another, and at an|other time. And the&s;e le&s;&s;er &s;ins, when they be of the lea&s;t &s;ize of all both for matter and maner,
<PB N="5" REF="4"> yet they may and will make a foule cry in the con&s;ciences of &s;ome men, who are come to that mea&s;ure Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peakes of, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4. 13. Wherefore, fir&s;t we are to doe our be&s;t to avoid them; &s;imply to bee without them we cannot, but yet we are to &s;tand as free as may bee: and to that end con&s;ider but the&s;e things:</P>
<P N="1">1 That the lea&s;t that is, is &s;inne, forbidden by the great God, and that on paine of dam|nation, and co&s;t Chri&s;t his pre|tious blood. No &s;inne, be it ever &s;o little, but hath in it all the na|ture of poy&s;on. It is killing, it is damning. Be it but a penny, yet it hath the &s;uper&s;cription and image of the divell on it. It car|rieth guilt enough in the mouth of it to damne all the &s;oules in the world, in ca&s;e all the &s;oules in the world were guilty of it. And what if Saint <HI>Paul</HI> put it on<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6. 9.</NOTE> great &s;ins, that they &s;hut us out of heaven? yet the lea&s;t &s;in hath
<PB N="6" REF="5"> in it enough to doe the deed. His meaning is, that &s;uch great &s;innes u&s;e not to be where grace is; and when they bee done by &s;uch a man, they doe turne away from him the light of Gods ble&s;&s;ed face, ca&s;t for a time a cloud upon the countenance of the Lord, and they do di&s;tre&s;&s;e the heart of &s;uch a &s;inner with a terrible feare: but 'tis not &s;o (e|ver) with le&s;&s;er &s;innes, becau&s;e they may and doe u&s;e to &s;cape a man without his allowance, and God u&s;eth not to &s;hew him&s;elfe in his di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t &s;uch &s;inners. Le&s;&s;er are damnable, in and of them&s;elves: greater &s;ins are not onely, but yet chiefly, the &s;innes which doe draw out the anger of God; &s;o that we are to beware mo&s;t of great and foule faults, <HI>the great tran&s;gre&s;|&s;ion, P&s;al.</HI> 19. 13. But yet &s;mall debts are dangerous, and &s;o are many, nay one &s;mall &s;inne; and &s;ometimes there is the more danger, for that we thinke there
<PB N="7" REF="5"> is no danger. And &s;uch &s;ins, of which wee u&s;e to &s;ay, <HI>it is but a little one,</HI> we are more apt to al|low, and con&s;ent unto, than to greater, and then, when &s;uch a &s;inne is <HI>&s;o</HI> committed, and after it is committed, <HI>&s;o</HI> allowed, there will follow in a tender con&s;cience a maine out-cry. This being a common practice with the divell, to make us make too little of a little &s;inne, when it is to be done or while it is a doing, but after to make us make rather too much, than too little of it. Con&s;ider then, not &s;o much what it is which is for|bidden, but who it is that for|bids it, and why, and what is like to become of it: when Satan &s;aith, Doe it, becau&s;e it is a little &s;in, An&s;wer, No, I will not do it, I dare not doe it&punc; becau&s;e it is a &s;in, and God will be very angry with me (nay, &s;ay, I <HI>will not</HI> do it becau&s;e it is a little &s;in, and God will be very angry with me) in ca&s;e I prove <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Luk. 16. 10.</NOTE> <HI>unfaithfull in a
<PB N="8" REF="6"> little,</HI> e&s;pecially if it bee not a thing done in <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 116. 11.</NOTE> ha&s;t, and I have time to ponder on the matter: I <HI>mu&s;t not;</HI> it is a mo&s;t unfaithfull thing to breake with God for a little. Little &s;ins carry with them but little temptation, and then a man &s;hewes much vitiou&s;ne&s;&s;e within, when he &s;ins on a little tentation. 'Tis divelli&s;h to &s;inne without a temptation, 'tis little le&s;&s;e than divelli&s;h to &s;inne on a little occa&s;ion. Many times the le&s;&s;e the temptation, the greater the &s;inne. <HI>Sauls</HI> &s;in in not &s;tay|ing for <HI>Samuel</HI> was not &s;o much in the matter; but it was much in the malice of it, and co&s;t him deare. Say, <HI>the guilt is not little when we therefore &s;inne, becau&s;e the &s;inne is little.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, let us not bee made &s;uch children, as to thinke that wee &s;hall avoid &s;ome grea|ter &s;inne by yeelding unto &s;ome le&s;&s;er. For a le&s;&s;er makes way for a greater, and a le&s;&s;er &s;inne thus cho&s;en and yeelded unto,
<PB N="9" REF="6"> is greater and wor&s;er than the great &s;inne, had we fallen into it without &s;uch choyce; a le&s;&s;er &s;in allowed being guiltier than a greater &s;inne not allowed. Nei|ther is it a little &s;inne to com|mit a little &s;inne, becau&s;e it is a little &s;inne. Againe, in ca&s;e wee give way to a le&s;&s;er to avoid a greater, <HI>in the cour&s;e of our cor|rupt nature</HI> we are in the way to doe the greater, and <HI>in the cour&s;e of Gods ju&s;tice</HI> wee &s;hall (a thou&s;and to one) fall into the greater. For if we commit one &s;inne to avoyd another, it is but ju&s;t wee &s;hould avoyd neither. Let us rather &s;ay, &s;in is not cu|red nor prevented by &s;inne. Do not once thinke to avoid a grea|ter &s;inne by it; if thou &s;houlde&s;t, yet this little &s;inne is little <HI>to thee</HI> no longer, but the wrath is great, and the danger great, and 'tis ten to one, that if we <HI>will</HI> fall into the le&s;&s;er, we <HI>&s;hall</HI> fall into the greater, we having not the law in our hands to keep off &s;ins as we plea&s;e.</P>
<PB N="10" REF="7">
<P N="3">3 Thirdly, bee not deceived, &s;o as to thinke, and &s;ay, It is but a little &s;inne: or, They bee but &s;mall, and it is not po&s;&s;ible to a|void them. Take them together, and it is not po&s;&s;ible but wee &s;hall &s;inne &s;ome &s;innes while we are heere. 1 <HI>Joh. 1. 8. If we &s;ay wee have no &s;inne, we deceive our &s;elves, and the truth is not in us.</HI> He &s;aith not, and <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Hoc non tantum hu|militer dici|tur, &s;ed eri|am ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aciter: poterat e|nim Apo&s;to|lus dicere, Si dixerimus quia non ha|bemus pec|catum nos ip&s;os extol|limus, &amp; <HI>hu|militas</HI> in nobis non e&s;t: Sed cum ait nos ip&s;os decipimus, &amp; <HI>veritas</HI> in no|bis non e&s;t, &s;atis o&s;ten|dit, eum qui &s;e dixerit non habere peccatum, non verum loqui, &s;ed fal|&s;um. <HI>Conci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. Mil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">vit. can. 6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>humi|lity</HI> is not in us, but, and the <HI>truth</HI> is not in us, to &s;hew, that he that &s;ayth he hath no &s;inne, &s;peakes not truth. But &s;et them downe one by one, and 'tis ea&s;i|er to avoid this, or that le&s;&s;er &s;inne, than a greater. Simply not to &s;in we cannot; but name this or that &s;inne, and we may avoid it. As not to eate at all we can|not: but not to eate of this, or that di&s;h we may. Grace within may, and (if we would) it would keepe us ea&s;ier from le&s;&s;er infir|mities, than from greater &s;innes. The rea&s;on why we are not kept from le&s;&s;er, rather than from
<PB N="11" REF="7"> greater, is not becau&s;e that grace in us may not do one with more ea&s;e than the other, but becau&s;e fir&s;t, God he it is who doth by his actuall a&s;&s;i&s;ting and preven|ting grace keepe us, and not our habits of grace within, (<HI>in, and of them&s;elves</HI>) and therefore one rea&s;on of this is, becau&s;e he will, and doth &s;uffer us to fall in|to le&s;&s;er &s;innes, but will not &s;uf|fer us to fall into greater. So we have in <HI>Deut. 18. 14. The&s;e Na|tions which thou &s;halt po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e hearkened unto ob&s;ervers of times, and unto diviners, but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not &s;uffered thee to do &s;o.</HI> It was not becau&s;e they were better to God than the Nations, but be|cau&s;e God was better to them. And God doth &s;uffer us to fall into le&s;&s;er &s;innes, rather than in|to greater &s;innes, becau&s;e le&s;&s;er &s;innes u&s;e not &s;o to di&s;turbe our peace, as greater &s;innes do; wee having our di&s;charge for them in our generall pardon of grace.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="8">
<P>Secondly, we fall into le&s;&s;er &s;innes, rather than into greater, becau&s;e wee do not take that heed of le&s;&s;er &s;innes which wee do of greater. We are fooli&s;h in this, and doe thinke that le&s;&s;er faults are venial, and do not de|&s;erve hell: and on the&s;e grounds it is, that we hold out again&s;t greater, but not agan&s;t le&s;&s;er &s;innes, albeit in and of it &s;elfe it is ea&s;ier to avoid the le&s;&s;er; only le&s;&s;er &s;lips being very many, we doe not eye them &s;o as wee might: againe, we pray more a|gain&s;t great temptations than again&s;t le&s;&s;er. For we dreame, that of our &s;elves we can re&s;i&s;t the &s;maller and weaker tempta|tions; whereas 'tis out of our power, without Gods &s;peciall grace in a &s;pirituall and gracious maner, to re&s;i&s;t the lea&s;t motion that is. We mu&s;t then be at it, and keepe our &s;pirits waking, and know that as wee ought, &s;o we may with weake graces pre|&s;erve our &s;elves from le&s;&s;er &s;ins.
<PB N="13" REF="8"> In a word, all in generall are not<NOTE PLACE="marg">Durand l. 2. D. 42. q. 2.</NOTE> evitable: for while Rea&s;on is in her watch again&s;t one motion, another on a &s;uddaine &s;teps in, and &s;urpri&s;eth a man ere hee is aware; but when they come one by one in &s;ingle, it is ea&s;ier by farre to checke a le&s;&s;er than a greater motion, as being more avoidable.</P>
<P>Thus much for the meanes to avoyd le&s;&s;er &s;innes. Now a word or two how to get off the trou|ble of minde that falls on the Con&s;cience of a &s;pirituall man for le&s;&s;er faults.</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t, thinke it to be a ble&s;|&s;ed trouble, when we can finde an aking Con&s;cience for le&s;&s;er evills. It &s;hewes that we are ve|ry tender, and that wee have much grace, a great deale of the &s;pirit, much light that can &s;ee them, much life that can feele them, and can make <HI>much</HI> of that which others make <HI>nothing</HI> of. This trouble is mixed with joy, and it ends in comfort, &s;ith
<PB N="14" REF="9"> it brings us to the maine ground of all comfort, that is, <HI>that wee are in the &s;tate of grace.</HI> Bee thankfull that thou ha&s;t a <HI>Da|vids</HI> heart, that can &s;mite thee for a lap of <HI>Sauls</HI> garment: that thou ha&s;t a <HI>Pauls</HI> Con&s;cience, that can cry out and call him|&s;elfe wretched man, and &s;igh af|ter death, not for greater cro&s;&s;es, but for le&s;&s;er &s;innes. This is a &s;ure te&s;timony of faith: onely wee mu&s;t &s;ee that it be not in hypocri&s;ie, that we do it not in partiality. This were to &s;traine at a gnat; and wee may know, that we doe not &s;wallow a Ca|mell, if wee &s;traine at a Camell fir&s;t and mo&s;t, and then &s;traine at Gnats: Thus if we do, hap|pie we that have &s;uch troubles in our con&s;ciences, becau&s;e &s;uch troubles breed and feed heaven|ly comforts: and what if troubles ari&s;e many together, for many le&s;&s;er leakes in our &s;oules? yet they do not exclude comfort quite, they do onely &s;u&s;pend it
<PB N="15" REF="9"> for the pre&s;ent: and how &s;u&s;pend it? not in regard of the roote, but of &s;ome fruite: as a &s;icke man is &s;etled, becau&s;e he hath and knowes he hath the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|on of his e&s;tate, albeit for the pre&s;ent he have not the fruition. Right &s;o, &s;uch doe mourne, and they are ble&s;&s;ed. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> i. e. as men do at fune|ralls, <HI>Zach.</HI> 12. to. as one mourneth for his only &s;onne.</NOTE> <HI>mourn.</HI> And why ble&s;&s;ed? what? have they com|fort? No, but they &s;hall have, <HI>they &s;hall be comforted:</HI> they are ble&s;&s;ed that do mourne, not be|cau&s;e they mourne, but becau&s;e their mourning is &s;ome cau&s;e, and a &s;igne, that they &s;hall bee comforted. A man then may be a ble&s;&s;ed man without comfort <HI>in hand</HI> as long as hee hath it <HI>in hope.</HI> A man &s;hould not for any thing de&s;ire to have his Con&s;ci|ence to pa&s;&s;e over le&s;&s;er faults, without &s;ome cry and &s;ome touch; it being our infirmity that in troubles of heart we u&s;e to cry too much for greater, too little for le&s;&s;er faults: yet (&s;aving
<PB N="16" REF="10"> &s;ome frailties in the manner of our trouble of minde) this trou|ble of heart is (not indeed an happy thing, but it is) an happy &s;igne.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, wee mu&s;t not judge of the &s;inne altogether by the trouble we feele, for we are troubled more with horrours &s;ometimes for le&s;&s;er &s;innes, than for farre greater &s;innes, <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Durand. l. 4. D. 33. q. 2.</NOTE> becau&s;e we have a greater inclination to one &s;in than to another: and as the <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t. de a|nima. l. 1. c. 2.</NOTE> Philo&s;opher ob&s;erves, it is from the body, and the temper thereof that &s;ome weaker pa&s;&s;i|ons and affections move us more than &s;ome &s;tronger doe: wherefore our trouble mu&s;t not be our judge. It follows not, this &s;inne doth trouble mee lea&s;t, therefore it is the lea&s;t &s;inne; this doth trouble mee more, therefore it is the greater &s;inne: but we mu&s;t judge of the great|ne&s;&s;e and littlene&s;&s;e of &s;inne by the word, and we mu&s;t doe what wee can, that our trouble come
<PB N="17" REF="10"> chiefly from the right light of our mind, and not from the hu|mour, the inclination or di&s;in|clination of the body: next, that our &s;orrow and trouble carry &s;ome proportion to our &s;innes: and la&s;tly, that we turne our &s;orrowes upon our &s;innes, to crucifie them, becau&s;e they &s;o crucifie us; and then, when wee finde that our little &s;innes grow le&s;&s;e and le&s;&s;e, fewer and fewer, our trouble &s;tands, and runnes right, and wee are happy men when our &s;ins cure them&s;elves, when they eate out their owne guilt and &s;trength. There is no &s;inne &s;o little but it may grow le&s;&s;e, and he is in the right who findes this u&s;e of his troubles for le&s;&s;er &s;innes, that they wea|ken under his trouble, and weare away daily. Thus little &s;innes hurt not; but when they are &s;een and allowed, they hurt and damne: and I thinke &s;ome are in hell, who never committed &s;uch great &s;innes, as &s;ome have
<PB N="18" REF="11"> done, who are now in heaven.</P>
<P>Le&s;&s;er &s;innes are of two kinds; Fir&s;t, <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t Eth. 1. 7. c. 7.</NOTE> of precipitaney and ha&s;t, when a man ere hee can con&s;ider the matter, is on a &s;ud|daine by imprudencie hurried away with &s;ome pa&s;&s;ion, and is in &s;ome &s;in ere he is aware: So he, (<HI>I &s;aid in my</HI> HAST, <HI>all men are liars.</HI>) Secondly, of infirmity, when a man wre&s;tles, and hath &s;ome time to fight it out again&s;t evill motions: but for want of breath and &s;trength, falls and is as S. <HI>Paul</HI> was, in &s;ome <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Rom. 7. 23.</NOTE> Capti|vity <HI>to the law of &s;inne.</HI> This is wor&s;e than the former, becau&s;e here a man hath while and &s;pace to looke to him&s;elfe, but in the former all is in an hurry; ha&s;t doth it, and marres all, and there is no time for one to bethinke him&s;elfe: and &s;ins of infirmitie having more of our nature, are more hard to cure, than &s;udden ha&s;ty &s;innes of precipitancie; but <HI>both</HI> are le&s;&s;er &s;innes, and our point is meant of <HI>both.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="19" REF="11">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. II.</HI> Of &s;innes of Omi&s;&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>_WHen a man is come to &s;ome height of grace, then he is wringed in his Con&s;cience, &s;ome|times for doing his duties &s;o poorely, and &s;ometimes for not doing them at all: It is an argu|ment of a brave &s;pirit to have an heart to ake, and to finde ones blood to ri&s;e <HI>for omitting du|ties;</HI> and that not for cu&s;tome, as boyes, who finde &s;omething within, when they pa&s;&s;e their &s;et times and formes of prayer, but when tis out of Con&s;cience. To mourne over our &s;oules for &s;innes of Commi&s;&s;ion is not &s;o much, &s;ith &s;innes of Commi&s;&s;i|on do more quickly, and more &s;harpely checke the Con&s;cience, than &s;innes of Omi&s;&s;ion: for that in &s;innes of Commi&s;&s;ion there is both an act, and a defect; but
<PB N="20" REF="12"> in <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Durand. l. 2. D. 36. q. 1. n. 4.</NOTE> &s;innes of omi&s;&s;ion there is a defect onely. Againe, &s;innes of omi&s;&s;ion are again&s;t an affirma|tive law, which doth rather &s;hew us our duty than checke us for vice. And la&s;tly, &s;innes of commi&s;&s;ion doe pre&s;uppo&s;e the omi&s;&s;ion of &s;ome duty. Where|fore it is a note of a judgement rightly and clearely informed, and of an heart excellently &s;teeled with grace, when wee cannot finde quiet after omit|ting duties, but are grieved at the very heart when a duty is omitted; and that chiefe&s;t of all, when we finde little feeling in the very doing of &s;uch duties. Now if we dare not omit duties, and when through infirmity we doe pa&s;&s;e them over, our hearts are in a chafe for it, it is a &s;igne that all is very well with us within: and chiefly in ca&s;e wee doe finde our con&s;cience complaine for the omi&s;&s;ion of duties, which nature doth not convince us of, but they are du|ties
<PB N="21" REF="12"> onely becau&s;e the Word &s;aith &s;o, and wee know them to be duties becau&s;e in the Word we finde them &s;o. Here now if wee can feele trouble becau&s;e wee omit the reading of the Word, the hearing of a Sermon, our dutie in prayers, and in the Sacraments, beleeve it, it is a &s;igne of a &s;ound minde, of much grace, and of &s;ome growth in ver|tue. But in ca&s;e wee can take it to heart, that when wee do do our duties, that we do them no better, in no better manner; that we read the Word &s;o cur&s;orily; we pray indeed, but it is &s;o cold|ly; wee receive Sacraments when time &s;erves, but it is but in forme, and for fa&s;hion: now I &s;ay, if we can weepe within, and that betwixt God and our &s;elves without a witne&s;&s;e, not onely for non-performance of duties, but for our unmannerly doing of them; beleeve it, this &s;hewes not onely that &s;uch are holy, but very holy, and pa&s;&s;ing
<PB N="22" REF="13"> good men and women. Albeit troubles for omi&s;&s;ion of duties be a good &s;igne, yet hee doth not be&s;t &s;till who hath lea&s;t in|ward trouble, but who hath lea&s;t cau&s;e; and therefore wee are to beware, that we draw not need|le&s;&s;e troubles, nor &s;pirituall bru&s;hes on our &s;elves; attend and watch over our &s;oules, that when the heart calls, and God calls, we do &s;et about &s;uch du|ties as con&s;cience doth require. As wee mu&s;t not make duties where God makes none; &s;o wee mu&s;t not omit, and skip over &s;uch le&s;&s;ons as God doth com|mand us to performe, le&s;t God &s;mite us with &s;ome pang of un|beleefe, as he did <HI>Thomas Di|dymus,</HI> for being ab&s;ent but once from an holy meeting of the A|po&s;tles, (I thinke) on the Lords day. We do not know what may come of it when we mi&s;&s;e a du|tie, 'tis to be expected that the next will be to fall into &s;ome &s;in of Commi&s;&s;ion. Omi&s;&s;ion of our
<PB N="23" REF="13"> diet will breed di&s;ea&s;es, &s;o will omitting of duties breed noi|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome matter in the &s;oule, and make worke for hell, or for the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hy&s;ician of our &s;oules. We mu&s;t dye the death, or take &s;ome <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">trong phy&s;icke. Naught is like <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o come of it when we &s;eeme to make con&s;cience of committing &s;innes, but not of omitting du|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ies: one being an offence a|gain&s;t God as well as the other. Let us then &s;ee to our matters, that wee doe <HI>what</HI> is requi|red, <HI>becau&s;e</HI> it is required, and <HI>as</HI> it is required, and <HI>when</HI> it is required, and then wee &s;hall have peace within: and when we have done our be&s;t, &s;uch is our frailty, that many things will &s;cape us, and wee &s;hall through ha&s;t or heedle&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;tep over many a dutie; but if wee feele remor&s;e and trouble of heart, we are in a good and excellent e&s;tate, very &s;pirituall: onely we mu&s;t beware that we re&s;t not in our trouble, and thinke that that
<PB N="24" REF="14"> is all, but wee mu&s;t goe farther. A &s;infull thing it is, when wee have omitted a duty, to thinke to make all amends with Go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> and our con&s;ciences, by pa&s;&s;ing thorow the fire of &s;ome biting angui&s;h for it: as though this inward bleeding had &s;ome me|rit in it. No, no, it mu&s;t bring us farther: our troubles mu&s;t draw us up to Chri&s;t. Wee mu&s;t re|pent, and be truly and heartily &s;orry that we have broken with God, that we have not kept our &s;elves up in doing our duties and even vow unto him to bee more &s;trict <HI>that way</HI> again&s;t another time. Grieving with|out repenting, and repenting without obeying comes to lit|tle. And for that we are more apt to omit duties than to com|mit &s;innes, wee are to u&s;e the more care, that wee hold fa&s;t our re&s;olution to performe our obe|dience to God, to omit nothing for any mans plea&s;ure which God would have us doe. In no
<PB N="25" REF="14"> ca&s;e we are to doe an unlawfull <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ct for feare, or favour, or at the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ommand of man: but for du|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">es we may upon the interpo&s;i|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion of authority &s;ometimes <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">mit &s;ome things lawfull, but <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hen they goe not for duties to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e done at this time: and &s;ome are alwayes &s;icke or crazie, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">annot doe duties in publike, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd of nece&s;&s;ity mu&s;t omit ma|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y duties in private: this is a cro&s;&s;e, not a &s;inne, thus to omit duties; which wee doe not, be|cau&s;e: by rea&s;on of weakne&s;&s;e we cannot do them. God doth by &s;ickne&s;&s;e call &s;uch to a more ex|cellent dutie, which is to &s;uffer cro&s;&s;es and &s;ickne&s;&s;es with pati|ence, when it is not becau&s;e we will not, or care not, but becau&s;e we cannot. The not doing of the duty is a cro&s;&s;e, and not a &s;inne; wee mu&s;t then &s;ee to it, that we do not &s;lubber over du|ties, and care not how they bee done, &s;o they bee done: for hee that doth duties the next
<PB N="26" REF="15"> way, the next will be, hee will not do them at all; and when we come to omit duties, wee <HI>mu&s;t</HI> and <HI>will,</HI> and <HI>&s;hall</HI> commit &s;ins. So the i&s;&s;ue is, that when it is a duty, and a duty to be done <HI>now</HI> by us, wee forfeit our peace in ca&s;e we doe omit the lea&s;t thing that is: every tittle of Gods Law being better worth than all the world. Wherefore for what is pa&s;t mourne and &s;pare not, but not as men without hope. The pardon is ready, and was made <HI>in Gods minde</HI> before we were ever made. We might die in our &s;ins the while, if when we have &s;inned we were to &s;tay the pro|viding of a pardon. Chyrurgians have &s;ome generall plai&s;ters rea|dy to clap on on a &s;uddaine, le&s;t the patient dye ere he can make and provide his &s;alve. God in Chri&s;t hath all plai&s;ters and par|dons ready made and &s;ealed: he &s;till offers, 'tis but for us to come and take the offer. A&s;&s;oon as a duty is omitted, and the
<PB N="27" REF="15"> wound begins to ake and fe&s;ter, away to God, make peace with him, and all will end well. Some|times wounds trouble us at fir&s;t: &s;ometimes againe we feele no|thing while we are hurt, we can|not tell whether we are hurt or not; but after the wound payes us. And &s;o it is in &s;innes of omi&s;|&s;ion; at fir&s;t, when it is omitted, we ayle nothing, feele nothing: but when we pau&s;e, and blow up|on it a while, the pang of a ten|der con&s;cience will come upon us, and we &s;hall finde it bitter. Wherefore goe on without in|terruption, lo&s;e not a &s;troake. The more we fa&s;t, the longer we may: the more wee omit, the longer we may, and &s;hall &s;till, except we returne. Oh returne, give not over &s;o: Sathan doth not meane it &s;hall end thus. Let us get our pardon, make our peace, doe our fir&s;t workes with advantage. Declining will &s;teale upon us. Lo&s;e not a meale. Do all that wee are to doe with all
<PB N="28" REF="16"> our heart. Doe what we doe, not onely to &s;top the mouth of con|&s;cience, but to &s;top Gods mouth. Doe all for matter; for manner in obedience to him, becau&s;e he &s;aith it, becau&s;e hee will have it &s;o: then u&s;e our &s;elves to it, and u&s;e is a gteat matter; and wee &s;hall finde when con&s;cience and cu&s;tome come together, it mu&s;t bee a great matter which mu&s;t put us by. And when it is rather weakene&s;&s;e than negligence which doth occa&s;ion a default, our peace will hold, the quiet of our minde will not cracke. Not but that the lea&s;t omi&s;&s;ion of the lea&s;t duty that is, is a &s;inne, but it troubles not, becau&s;e we have a pardon of cour&s;e for daily weakne&s;&s;es, included in that genetall pardon which we have upon our generall repentance. And here wee mu&s;t &s;ee, that our peace for &s;uch infirmities do re|&s;ult out of our generall acquit|tance, wherein all &s;ins are con|tained, though none in particu|lar
<PB N="29" REF="16"> named: and not becau&s;e wee thinke them to be but veniall &s;ins, &amp; have a Pope in our belly, which makes us thinke, that they do not de&s;erve Gods anger. And in &s;ome others there is a quiet, becau&s;e they judge of &s;in and de&s;ert by nature and not by Scripture, and doe conceit of God as of men; and becau&s;e men do pa&s;&s;e over light abu&s;es and petty matters, therefore God al&s;o doth (thinke they) not count of them: but this is fooli&s;h divi|nity. For man is no way bound in ju&s;tice to proceed again&s;t a|bu&s;es offered him; and therefore &s;mall matters doing him no &s;en|&s;ible hurt, he may and doth pa&s;&s;e them over: but God hath tied him&s;elfe in ju&s;tice to enter his action again&s;t the lea&s;t &s;inne, and in law the penalty is hell. Be&s;ides, man being under a law &s;tands bound to skip over &s;uch offences again&s;t him, but God is under no law of any Superi|our, but hath onely bound him|&s;elfe
<PB N="30" REF="17"> &s;elfe by a law of his owne ju&s;tice of his owne making to proceed again&s;t all &s;innes, except he have &s;atisfaction made him. The right is, that when we feele no grud|ging for &s;uch daily infirmities (after all care had and u&s;ed) it is becau&s;e they doe not &s;tagger, nor cau&s;e us to doubt of our right to that great and generall pardon, written for us in blood; in the blood of the Lambe. Thus we &s;ee what our care is to bee, that wee omit as few duties as we can, and as &s;eldome as 'tis po&s;&s;ible: wee &s;ee al&s;o what our comforts are to be, in ca&s;e wee fall into omi&s;&s;ion of a duty; and wee &s;mart for it, to wit, it is a proofe of our faith; a worke of grace, and wee &s;hall come out in better ca&s;e than ever, and wee &s;hall bee more curious in ob&s;er|ving, and carefull in doing our duties ever after.</P>
<P>Next, beware of delaying. <HI>I del dyed not</HI> (&s;aith <HI>David) to keep thy Commandement&punc; P&s;al.</HI> 119.
<PB N="31" REF="17"> Delayes bee dangerous; our hearts will coole, and our affe|ctions will fall downe. It is good then to be doing while it is called <HI>to day,</HI> while it is cal|led <HI>now.</HI> Now, now, now, &s;aith <HI>David, P&s;al.</HI> 118. 2, 3, 4. There be three nowes, and all to teach us, that for ought we know now or never, to day or not at all, while the heart &s;trikes, el&s;e our irons will coole. Sathan hath little hope to prevaile &s;hould he put us to omit our duties quite when the clocke &s;trikes, and therefore his skill is to urge us to put it off till another time, as fitter and better: Do it anon, next houre, next day, next weeke (&s;aith he): and why not next yeare? Hereafter (&s;aith he) it will be as well as now. This he &s;aith indeed, but his meaning (by hereafter) is never; and hee that is not fit to day hath no promi&s;e but he &s;hall bee more unapt to morrow. We have nei|ther God, nor our owne hearts
<PB N="32" REF="18"> at command: and when we have lo&s;t the oppotunity, God to cor|rect us perhaps will not give us affections. The cocke within &s;hall not crow to awaken us, the Sunne &s;hall not &s;hine, and then we are in danger to give over quite; and if we come once to a totall omi&s;&s;ion of one duty, why not of another, and of another, and &s;o of all? and then farewell to us.</P>
<P>Againe, omi&s;&s;ion of duties will bring us to commi&s;&s;ion of the &s;inne that is contrary to that duty. Men do &s;in and &s;candall, (<HI>P&s;.</HI> 119. 11.) Why? becau&s;e the Word is not in them. They kil|led Chri&s;t: Why? becau&s;e they received not his Word, <HI>Joh.</HI> 8. 37. And wee feele that &s;innes <HI>committed</HI> will give a fearefull blow to our con&s;ciences. Then he that would not come to that penance, as to be put to it in the court of his owne con&s;cience for committing of &s;innes, that man mu&s;t &s;ee to it, that he doe
<PB N="33" REF="18"> not <HI>omit</HI> duties; or if he doe, yet let him &s;ee to it, that he make all well againe pre&s;ently; el&s;e the next will be, that he <HI>will,</HI> and <HI>mu&s;t,</HI> and <HI>&s;hall</HI> fall into the com|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;inne. The &s;umme is, he that will not commit &s;innes, let him not omit duties. Fir&s;t, God will &s;courge omitting of duties with &s;uffering us to com|mit &s;innes, and &s;o we <HI>&s;hall</HI> &s;inne. Secondly, omitting duties wea|kens us, lets Sathan in, and cor|ruption out: and &s;o we <HI>will</HI> &s;in. Thirdly, makes. God in his ju|&s;tice to give us over; and &s;o we <HI>mu&s;t</HI> &s;inne. La&s;tly, when we have an <HI>extraordinary</HI> occa&s;ion come in, it is lawfull to omit for a turne or &s;o; the doing of <HI>ordi|nary</HI> duties: only we mu&s;t take two caveats,</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1"> Fir&s;t, that we double it, and make it up the next time; doe twice as much as we are wont, and as our &s;tint was.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> Secondly, that we take it as a cro&s;&s;e that wee are nece&s;&s;arily
<PB N="34" REF="19"> hindred. If a man make and take occa&s;ion to put by the doing of duties, the end will be naught: we are in danger to come from putting <HI>by</HI> duties, to put them <HI>off</HI> quite: But now if an occa&s;ion be put upon us, it is no &s;inne to omit; but yet we mu&s;t take it as a cro&s;&s;e. If we be glad that we have &s;uch occa&s;ion come in the way, that without &s;inne we may omit a duty, it &s;hewes hypocri|&s;ie and deep corruption; but if we be &s;orry it falls out &s;o, there is no hurt done. So <HI>pray</HI> (&s;aith Chri&s;t) <HI>that your flight bee not on the Sabbath day, Matth.</HI> 24. 20. Not but that it was lawfull, and no &s;inne for a Jew to flye on the Sabbath day (for <HI>Eliah</HI> did flye forty dayes, and &s;o of nece&s;|&s;ity five or &s;ixe Sabbaths); but yet they were to take it heavily, that (though by a ju&s;t occa&s;ion) they might not enjoy their Sab|baths: &s;o we are to grieve, that by a ju&s;t occa&s;ion we are put by the doing of our duties. It is
<PB N="35" REF="19"> no &s;inne, but it is a cro&s;&s;e, that by the providence of God wee are hindred, and put to the lo&s;&s;e of a duty: If we be glad of it, it &s;hewes much corruption; if we take it as a cro&s;&s;e, it &s;hewes much &s;anctification.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. III.</HI> Of Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>_COvetou&s;ne&s;&s;e breeds a (tentation) and more (a &s;nare.) It drawes us in, it holds us fa&s;t when wee are in. Wee thinke too well of this &s;inne, and it u&s;eth not to vexe us till we are brought to a fight and &s;en&s;e of it. God u&s;eth to give men over to &s;ome vexing &s;inne, on purpo&s;e to bee even with them for this &s;inne. Tenta|tions, ba&s;e tentations of the &s;e|venth Commandement are let out often to pay men for this &s;in of covetou&s;nes, the wor&s;e &s;inne
<PB N="36" REF="20"> of the two, take them both in the height of their degrees. For la&s;civiou&s;nes properly is not, bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> covetou&s;nes is idolatry; not &s;o much, becau&s;e the love of mony makes mony an idoll: for &s;o the Glutton makes his belly his god, but he doth not tru&s;t in his belly-cheere, hee thinkes not to bee protected by his belly: but the covetous per&s;on puts his tru&s;t in his mony; and it is high idolatry to make any creature our confidence, as the World|ling &s;aith to his wedge, Thou art my confidence: and we find, that the Word is much again&s;t the &s;inne of covetou&s;nes; page af|ter page there be many &s;harpe invectives again&s;t worldline&s;&s;e, and all little enough to bring men to thinke it to be a &s;in, or &s;uch a &s;in as it is.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<PB N="37" REF="20">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 1.</HI> What Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is.</HEAD>
<P><HI>LEt your conver&s;ation</HI> (&s;aith Saint <HI>Paul) be without co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, Hebr.</HI> 13. 4. How? <HI>Be content with &s;uch things as yee have.</HI> Why? <HI>The Lord hath &s;aid, he will not for&s;ake us.</HI> So then covetou&s;nes is, when wee are not content with what wee for the pre&s;ent have. Oh, but I have nothing! Yes, thou ha&s;t the promi&s;e, and the promi&s;e is all, and hee that hath the pro|mi&s;e hath all. Have wee more, have we little, have we nothing, yet by vertue of the promi&s;e we are to bee content: <HI>Be content</HI> (&s;aith Saint <HI>Paul) with food and raiment,</HI> under the&s;e two heads containing all nece&s;&s;aries. In rea&s;on and in nature, hee that hath nece&s;&s;aries for backe and belly is to be content: Hou&s;es are not named, for that in tho&s;e
<PB N="38" REF="21"> dayes they were to &s;tand ready to runne from place to place, and to leave hou&s;e and all behind them. But in Divinity, and in the way of Faith, hee that hath neither food nor raiment is to be content: for the promi&s;e is virtually food, raiment, and all. But to come neere the matter; covetou&s;nes doth not properly &s;tand in getting, but in <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Ari&s;tot. eth. 4. c. 1.</NOTE> kee|ping: for it is oppo&s;ite to libe|rality; and liberality is in gi|ving: Wherefore covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;tands <HI>in not giving,</HI> in parting with nothing. Hee is greedy to get, but it is that he may &s;ave and keep. <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6. 10.</NOTE> <HI>Nor covetous, nor extortioners,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle plainly; differencing extortion (immoderate getting) from co|vetou&s;nes, which con&s;i&s;ts in pinching and &s;aving. So the A|po&s;tle, 1 <HI>Tim. 3. 3. Not greedy of filthy lucre, not covetous.</HI> So that to be greedy to get filthy lucre, is not formally and pro|perly covetou&s;nes; but to be co|vetous
<PB N="41" REF="21"> <HI>is to bee all for &s;paring.</HI> To get is an effect of covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e: to &s;ave is the life and na|ture of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Hence men are more glad of a penny &s;aved than of a penny gotten. Wherefore their plea is to no purpo&s;e, who &s;tand upon it, that they are not covetous, becau&s;e they rake not after that which is anothers, but onely looke to their owne: whereas indeed he is the very covetous man, who is all for &s;aving and &s;paring, and can part with nothing.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 2.</HI> That covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is a great &s;inne.</HEAD>
<P>WE mu&s;t bee convinced that covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, I meane that our covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is a vice: for it holds &s;omething of a vertue, of frugality, which is not to wa&s;t that which one hath:
<PB N="40" REF="22"> and this makes us entertaine thoughts that it is no vice; and we often &s;ay that it is good to bee a little worldly: a little co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e we like well: which &s;hewes that wee doe not in|deed and in heart hold it to be a &s;inne. For if &s;inne be naught, a little of &s;inne cannot be good: as good &s;ay a little poy&s;on were good, &s;o it be not too much. And &s;o we finde, that men will rate at their children for &s;pending, and are ready to turne them out of doores, if they bee given unto wa&s;t: but if they be neere and pinching, then we like that too much; and I &s;carce know a man, who doth u&s;e to call upon his children that they &s;pare not, &s;ave not. I know youth is rather ad|dicted the other way, and is more &s;ubject to wa&s;t, and con|&s;ume, by rea&s;on that naturall heate is quicke, and active in them: and therefore indeed there is more feare, and danger, that they prove prodigall, and
<PB N="41" REF="22"> turne wa&s;ters; and the more may bee &s;aid and done that way to youth: but the thing I pre&s;&s;e is, that in ca&s;e wee &s;ee our chil|dren in their youth to begin to be covetous and worldly, wee call them good husbands, and are too glad to &s;ee it &s;o, and are too much plea&s;ed with them for it: little doe they thinke that worldline&s;&s;e is a mo&s;t guiltfull &s;inne in re&s;pect of God, and mo&s;t hurtfull in re&s;pect of men. Harke what the Word &s;aith of it, <HI>Ephe&s;. 5. 5. It is idolatrie,</HI> and idolatrie is the fir&s;t &s;inne of the fir&s;t Table: It is <HI>the roote of all evills, 1 Tim.</HI> 6. 10. there is no evill but a worldly man will do it to &s;ave his pur&s;e. Thus <HI>David, P&s;. 119. 36.</HI> Encline mine heart unto thy te&s;timonies, and not un|to covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e: hee &s;aith not, this or that te&s;timonie, but (as including all the Lawes of God) he &s;aith <HI>te&s;timonies:</HI> to &s;hew us, that covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e drawes us a|way, not from &s;ome onely, but
<PB N="42" REF="23" MS="y"> from all Gods Commandments So S. <HI>Paul, Where covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is, there are many lu&s;ts, 1 Tim. 6. 9. and many &s;orrows. 1 Tim. 6. 10. It drownes men in per|dition and de&s;truction, 1 Tim.</HI> 6. 9. And &s;uch a drowning the Greeke word &s;ignifies, as is al|mo&s;t pa&s;t all hope and recovery; the bane of all &s;ociety. Men cry out of it, becau&s;e they would have none covetous, none rich but them&s;elves. An hater hee is of mankind; <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Chry&s;. in Matt. 26. hom. 81.</NOTE> hee hates all poore, becau&s;e they would beg &s;ome thing of him: and all rich, becau&s;e they have riches, which he would have. A covetous man would have all that all have. Thus &s;peakes a noble Father, Such believe not the Word, they tru&s;t neither God nor man. For he that tru&s;ts not God, cannot tru&s;t man. It robs God of that confidence wee &s;hould have in him, and dependance wee owe unto him: it turnes a man from all the Commandements. Hence
<PB N="43" REF="23"> the Prophet <HI>David</HI> prayes God <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o turne his heart to his Com|mandements, <HI>and not to cove|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, P&s;al.</HI> 119. 36. For not onely we <HI>ought</HI> not, but, as the phra&s;e is, <HI>we cannot &s;erve God and Mammon, Luk.</HI> 16. 13. It is impo&s;&s;ible for any &s;inner (as a &s;inner) to enter into the King|dome of Heaven, <HI>Matt.</HI> 19. 26. But there is &s;omthing in it, that it is &s;aid to bee an unpo&s;&s;ible thing for a rich man, that is, a rich covetous man, to enter into heaven: and perhaps this is thus delivered, becau&s;e we do thinke that their riches will bee a meanes to bring them to hea|ven. Therefore Chri&s;t, to re|pre&s;&s;e &s;uch conceits, &s;aith, that <HI>it is not po&s;&s;ible for a rich man to come to heaven. Who then</HI> (&s;ay the De&s;ciples) <HI>can be &s;a|ved?</HI> Who then! which &s;hewes that they were &s;icke of this di&s;|ea&s;e to think that if any went to heauen it were your rich men; dreaming that riches were
<PB N="44" REF="24"> a good helpe that way. The<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> had no wealth, and therefo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> were they more apt to admi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> them, as not feeling what forc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> in them, to rob God of his fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">+wer, (his tru&s;t) which is due un|to him from his creature: which Chri&s;t &s;hews to be his meaning&punc; when he adds what a hard thing it is to have riches, and not to tru&s;t in them. Wherefore it was an excellent prayer of that wi&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> man, <HI>Prov. 30. 8, 9. Give mee neither poverty, nor riches, le&s;t I bee full and deny thee.</HI> The danger (as he &s;hewes) of pover|ty was much; <HI>le&s;t I be poore, and &s;teale, and take the Name of God in vaine,</HI> either by denying the fact, or by opening the mouths of the wicked: but the danger of riches is more, <HI>le&s;t</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>I deny thee, and &s;ay, who is the Lord?</HI> which is farre the greater offence of the two: to take the name of God in vaine is naught, but to deny God is farre wor&s;e. A conveni|ent
<PB N="45" REF="24"> e&s;tate betwixt fami&s;hing and &s;urfeiting is be&s;t for the &s;oule, as being that condition, which (as <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> &s;ayes, and proves) is ea&s;ie&s;t of all to bee &s;ubject to, and moderated by the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ules of Rea&s;on. The &s;umme is, that we &s;tand convinced by the Word and Spirit that covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e is a foule vice; and that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ur &s;paring more than needs, is (in us) covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and that <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o &s;pare more than needs,</HI> as well <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s to &s;pend more than needs, <HI>will</HI> (as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Prov. 11. 24.) <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ring us to poverty,</HI> and to wor&s;e than poverty. Wherefore <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ake heed and beware of cove|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, the &s;inne is great be|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">au&s;e the temptation is not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">reat. Such have not that to &s;ay <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or them&s;elves which many o|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her &s;inners have: <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Chry&s;. in Matt. 26-hom 82.</NOTE> the com|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lexion of the body helpes for|ward other &s;innes (at lea&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">en think &s;o:) a &s;anguine &s;appy <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ody is thought to encline with
<PB N="46" REF="25"> &s;ome force to the &s;inne of un|cleanne&s;&s;e: &s;uch againe as are hot and dry of complexion, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> mo&s;t &s;ubject to choler, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Phy&s;icians are called and u&s;ed to drive away the edge of the&s;e hu|mors: and in the&s;e matters 'tis true that the manners of the minde doe much, ay too much follow the humors of the body&punc; but now for covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, it holds little or nothing of the bo|dy; and covetous men them|&s;elves do not thinke nor &s;ay that it is long of their complexion&punc; and never yet did any goe to phy&s;icke for a pill to purge ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> this covetous humour. Where|fore it is only from the evill ha|bit of the mind, and the depra|ved complexion of the &s;oule; wherefore this &s;inne is &s;o much the more culpable, in that it is not at all under the nature o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> our body, but onely under th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> corrupt humour of our will. W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> have medicines to purge cho|ler, and to purge melancholy&punc;
<PB N="47" REF="25"> but none to purge covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e: wherefore in this &s;inne the complexion of the body is onely a &s;tander by, a meere loo|ker on.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 3.</HI> That all men are more or le&s;&s;e covetous.</HEAD>
<P>THere is no man living but is &s;icki&s;h at lea&s;t of this di&s;|ea&s;e. It growes in the fle&s;h, and breeds in the bones of all. Some are given over to it: all are more or le&s;&s;e given to it. One di&s;ea&s;e may take away the feeling of another: and &s;o &s;ome thinke they are not covetous, becau&s;e they feele it not; whereas perhaps pride and prodigality, perhaps &s;omething el&s;e doth ma&s;ter this di&s;ea&s;e, and keepe it under &s;o, that &s;uch feele it not: and if you marke it, &s;uch as are tran&s;|ported with &s;ome other pa&s;&s;ion
<PB N="48" REF="26"> of vaine glory or wor&s;e, do &s;hew much worldline&s;&s;e withall. You &s;hall &s;ee how they trouble their owne hou&s;e, vexing at &s;ervants becau&s;e they get no more, hea|ving at the wife for that &s;hee &s;aves no more. They about them are &s;carce quiet in their beds; and yet becau&s;e there is predo|minant and prevailing in them &s;ome &s;pending humour, for&s;ooth they do thinke them&s;elves, and others mu&s;t thinke them to bee free from covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Where|as in truth no man can &s;imply wa&s;h him&s;elfe from this corrup|tion; and <HI>Martin Luther</HI> was out, when he &s;aid hee &s;tood free from covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. It is a chiefe piece of originall &s;inne, and they that take them&s;elves to be free by nature are lea&s;t free. For how can they bee freed from it, &s;ith they never in any particular wi&s;e prayed again&s;t it, or &s;et the Word, or the threatning, or the promi&s;e again&s;t it? Sinnes u&s;e not of them&s;elves to cure them|&s;elves,
<PB N="49" REF="26"> but rather they doe mul|tiply, and encrea&s;e, and grow in our hands, and 'tis our &s;implici|ty to thinke otherwi&s;e. And therefore &s;uch are in wor&s;t ca&s;e of all, who did never &s;et again&s;t this &s;inne in any earne&s;t, becau&s;e they thought who ever was free from it they were.</P>
<P N="1">1 Poore men they pa&s;&s;e it o|ver to rich men, and alas, what have they to be covetous of&punc; as though it came from without. The Apo&s;tles were poore fel|lows, and had nothing to be co|vetous of, yet (take heed) is not enough, but <HI>take heede and be|ware of</HI> covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, <HI>Luk.</HI> 12. 15. Hee is a covetous man who loves money, though hee have no money: and I thinke that poore men are generally more covetous and worldly than rich. <HI>The &s;luggard lu&s;teth and hath nothing, Prov.</HI> 13. 4. and the cau&s;e is, becau&s;e they do not thinke that they are covetous, &amp; therefore they pray not again&s;t
<PB N="50" REF="27"> it, and &s;o get no power again&s;t it: wherefore the oppre&s;&s;ion of a poore man (an effect of cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e) is like <HI>a &s;weeping raine, (Pro.</HI> 28. 3.) &s;ome thunder &s;hower; they take all before them. Sith then it is a &s;in which is bred and borne with them, ex|cept poore men be convinced of it, and u&s;e the meanes to cure it, they are deadly &s;icke of cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Be&s;ides, poore men wonder at riches as at &s;ome ex|cellent thing, whereas rich men finde by experience there is no &s;uch thing in riches.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, Rich men, they thinke that they need not be co|vetous, they have enough. <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Ge. 33. 9. E&s;au's is <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> i. e. I have <HI>much.</HI> Jacobs <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 11. <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> i. e. I have <HI>all things.</HI></NOTE> <HI>E&s;au</HI> indeed &s;aid &s;o, and &s;o did <HI>Jacob;</HI> but yet in the originall <HI>E&s;au's</HI> enough is not the &s;ame with <HI>Ja|cobs:</HI> one &s;aid it and thought it, the other onely &s;aid it. But what doe riches &s;erve for? Of all one would thinke, that riches would cure a man of this di&s;ea&s;e of co|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e, if of any &s;in: and yet
<PB N="51" REF="27"> we finde that men are the wor&s;e this way, the more they have of the worlds goods; and fewell will put out fire, as &s;oone as ri|ches will extingui&s;h worldli|ne&s;&s;e. Thus we &s;ee the pa&s;&s;ions of rich men are &s;tronger after riches, than of poore men. Wee never read of any poore man &s;icke unto death for anothers garden, as King <HI>Ahab</HI> tooke his bed for <HI>Naboths</HI> vineyard. In|deed, if other matters doe con|curre, and there be a like porti|on of rea&s;on and religion, the poore man hath the advantage of the rich. For the one his de|&s;ire is to have to live, and there is &s;ome limit and &s;tint: but the de&s;ire of the rich is to thrive, and there is no limit nor end of that de&s;ire. It growes all upon fancie, and for certaine rich men are in greate&s;t danger of all, there being more &s;nares in a great e&s;tate than in a little e|&s;tate. Of all they love riches mo&s;t when it is of their owne
<PB N="52" REF="28">
<NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Plat. de Ju&s;t. l. 31. Dial. 1. Ari&s;t. Rhet. l. 2.</NOTE> getting, as wee doe bookes of our owne making, and men doe children of their owne beget|ting. A &s;tate too bigge is trouble|&s;ome, like a &s;hoe too bigge, which hinders our gate as well as a &s;hoe too little. All, both rich and poore, high and low, are &s;o farre covetous as they have not got power again&s;t it by the word and promi&s;e, by faith and prayer.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 4.</HI> That covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is a dan|gerous temptation.</HEAD>
<P>WE read of the deceitful|ne&s;&s;e of riches, <HI>Matth.</HI> 13. 22. Nothing cozens a man &s;o much. Men goe on, and thinke no hurt, &amp; as long as they make profit, they are &s;o plea&s;ed with it, that gaine is godline&s;&s;e to them: and we (naturally) doe &s;o
<PB N="53" REF="28"> admire the things of this life, that we thinke God would ne|ver give riches to us, did he not love us. Where we love we be|&s;tow our wealth, and we thinke that whom God loveth he en|richeth, and whom he enricheth he loveth. And a common &s;peech it is with us, that God hath ble&s;|&s;ed &s;uch or &s;uch a man: I knew (&s;ay we) his beginning, and how wonderfully the Lord hath ble&s;|&s;ed him in a &s;hort time, &amp; rai&s;ed him to a great e&s;tate; and thus for a time the hearts of wi&s;e men are &s;et upon riches. And there|fore when men come to &s;ee with Gods eyes&punc; this proves a terrible temptation. For what wee are mo&s;t vehement after, for that, when wee come to &s;ome ripe|ne&s;&s;e in grace, then wee heare a new note. That which before was &s;carce a &s;inne, nay almo&s;t a vertue, is now a &s;inne of &s;innes. What I, a Chri&s;tian; one bound for heaven, to be an earth|ly minde! I thought i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> had
<PB N="54" REF="29"> the love of the Father, becau&s;e I had the world at will: but now I &s;ee, I feele, I finde to my co&s;t that &s;uch as love the world, the love of the Father is not in them, 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 2. 15. We cannot bring heaven and earth toge|ther. There is no mixing of hea|venline&s;&s;e and worldline&s;&s;e. I am a man not worthy to looke on God, or to have God look on mee, that have &s;et &s;o much of the world. Now I finde that men do ble&s;&s;e the covetous, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 10. 3. but the Lord abhorres them And God hath given mee over to many other noi&s;ome lu&s;ts, to make this lu&s;t of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e to be noy&s;ome to mee. Ah wret|ched man, that have beene an idolater now for &s;o many yeares and have made a God of the &s;hels of the Tower, and have e|ven lo&s;t the life of grace for a little clay. And 'tis certaine, that this &s;inne, when once it comes to be &s;eene in its true and right colours, will &s;tare a man in the
<PB N="55" REF="29"> face, and make an hideous cry in the con&s;cience; and many a man hath beene even at the pit of de&s;paire for &s;ucking &s;o after the world, it being a &s;inne &s;o con|trary to God and godline&s;&s;e: and the longer we are cou&s;ened with the skill of hell, and held in the chaines of this corruption, the wor&s;e it is when the ulcer breakes forth; and it puts a man even quite be&s;ides him&s;elfe. He cannot pray for the world: there is no entrance for the Word becau&s;e of the world: he can reli&s;h no talke but of buy|ing and &s;elling; getting and &s;a|ving is all his life: he is follow|ed with many dangerous lu&s;ts; he growes weary of life and light: and yet all this while a man may &s;tand among&s;t men for a religious man. A drunkard, and a very religious man one cannot be, but a worldly <HI>Judas,</HI> an earth-worme, and a very reli|gious man one may be; I meane, one may bee accounted &s;o a|mong&s;t
<PB N="56" REF="30"> men: chiefly, if &s;o be that we doe vent our covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, not &s;o much in getting and ha|ling from others, as in &s;aving and keeping within the com|pa&s;&s;e of our owne; whereas a man may be extreame worldly, and is indeed mo&s;t properly covetous, when hee is all for &s;a|ving, and u&s;eth no unlawfull wayes to gaine and rake in from others. And this doth drench men in this earthly humour, that as long as all is but their owne, they thinke all well, and thus they grow &s;ecure (though not &s;afe); whereas not to give when wee &s;hould, is as bad a piece of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, as to get where we &s;hould not: and when things come to a reckoning, alas the day that ever Chri&s;tian &s;oules &s;hould ta&s;t of &s;uch bitter &s;auce for &s;eeking great things to them&s;elves; and thereby they pa&s;&s;e many a lamentable night when they finde out them|&s;elves to have beene covetous,
<PB N="57" REF="30"> who did not once dreame of it. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> calls this &s;inne all that is naught. He can &s;cant in|vent names bad enough for this wickedne&s;&s;e. <HI>Idolatry:</HI> What el&s;e? <HI>The roote of all evill,</HI> &s;ets all lu&s;ts on fire: and lu&s;ts in <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">Hippoe: ad: Dem.</NOTE> bea&s;ts indeed are unruly, yet they are finite; but in men they are infinite. A Tentation. What el&s;e? A &s;nare; and more, drowns men in perdition. Is that all? No, and in de&s;truction too; cloyes a man with many fooli&s;h and hurtfull lu&s;ts. They thinke they have all the wit who can get money, but their lu&s;ts are fooli&s;h lu&s;ts. They take money to be a great helpe, but it fils a man full of hurtfull lu&s;ts; hurt|full to others and to them&s;elves: for &s;uch pierce them&s;elves. How? thorow (not with &s;ome onely, but) with many &s;orrows: yea, and wor&s;e yet, for it makes &s;ome to erre from the truth; and it had beene better for &s;uch ne|ver to have knowne the wayes
<PB N="58" REF="31"> of God. By all which wee &s;ee what a great blow it mu&s;t needs give to the Con&s;cience of a ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of God, when he once &s;ees him|&s;elfe to bee over head and eares in this vice. Wherefore I con|ceive it to be a wi&s;e &s;peech of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Fly the&s;e things, 1 Tim.</HI> 6. 11. and of another, <HI>The be&s;t coveting is to covet not to bee covetous.</HI></P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 5.</HI> How to bee convinced of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>IF wee will not convince our &s;elves to our comfort, God will convince us to our woe and the Con&s;cience fir&s;t or la&s;t &s;hall bee made to &s;peake when wee have little li&s;t to heare Wherefore it is good to be be forehand. We mu&s;t be made to &s;ee it; better now than hereaf|ter. Be not afraid: What if the
<PB N="59" REF="31"> &s;ight of this &s;inne in the ugly face thereof, and in its particular colours will co&s;t us &s;ome hot wa|ter? There is no danger, 'tis not the way to de&s;paire: but to let all runne, to refu&s;e to looke into the guiltine&s;&s;e of this &s;inne, to bee afraid to account (now) with our con&s;ciences, is the way to bloody de&s;paire hereafter, to hang in hell, and to hang per|haps too on earth, before &s;uch come to hell. Satan tells us, that <HI>now</HI> to doe it is the way to me|lancholy and de&s;paire, that hee may the better fill all full of blood and fire <HI>at once</HI> hereafter. Bee doing now, and get to bee convinced, not onely negative|ly, as not to be able to deny it to be a &s;inne, and that we in ma|ny particulars are very faulty, but affirmatively to be &s;et down in it, to affirme that it is a very great &s;in, and that wee have our hearts and hands deepe in this tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion. Fir&s;t, be willing to be convinced of the hainou&s;|ne&s;&s;e
<PB N="60" REF="32"> of this crime. Many in|deed are willing to be rich, and would indeed be loth ro bee co+vetous: but becau&s;e rich they thinke they cannot be, except they be having and &s;aving, there|fore they thinke it fit and good to be neere: And for a world of particulars in buying and &s;el|ling, they would leave them they &s;ay, were they convinced that they were covetous practi|&s;es. Now they are not convin|ced, becau&s;e they will not, not becau&s;e the ca&s;e is not plaine e|nough, nor becau&s;e there is not enough &s;aid to prove &s;uch and &s;uch cour&s;es in getting and &s;a|ving to be notorious, and to &s;a|vour &s;trong of the earth, but be|cau&s;e they are at a point not to leave them; and therefore they will not bee convinced; and this is, becau&s;e (as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith) <HI>They</HI> WILL BE <HI>rich, 1 Tim.</HI> 6. 9. They are loth that their con&s;ciences &s;hould tell them that they live in &s;inne.
<PB N="61" REF="32"> And wee Divines doe a&s;&s;ure men, that it is not &s;inne to them <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ill they be convinced; this they catch at, and &s;ay that they are not convinced: but our divinity is, when they would faine bee convinced, but are not, not be|cau&s;e they would not, but be|cau&s;e they cannot; that in this ca&s;e ignorance and <HI>non-con|vincement</HI> doth helpe. But now when the&s;e men are not convin|ced becau&s;e they will not; as when the thing is plaine, and carries convincement in the mouth of it, in this ca&s;e 'tis all one as though they did what they were &s;ure were a &s;inne, and wor&s;e too: for their not being convinced hath much ob&s;tinacy<NOTE PLACE="marg">Negligentia addi&s;cendi, vel voluntas non addi&s;|cendi. <HI>Du|rand.</HI> l. 3. D. 22. q. 3. n. 3.</NOTE> and wilfulne&s;&s;e in it; or at the be&s;t, this their ignorance comes out of too too much negligence. The&s;e help them&s;elves with this, that they know &s;ome good Di|vines that hold &s;uch and &s;uch dealings to bee lawfull, as to &s;et or fell money, to &s;ell for day, to
<PB N="62" REF="33"> marry for mony, to enclo&s;e and depopulate: but that will be no an&s;wer to the con&s;cience of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> man when it is opened. For ther<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> is &s;carce any &s;inne but a ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> may &s;inne it, and &s;ay hee is no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> convinced of it to be a &s;inne. Fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> one Divine holds one thing t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> be lawfull, another good Scho|lar holds another thing to be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> lawfull; and &s;o in the re&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> man may picke matter out of &s;e|verall Divines, &s;ome one for one thing, and &s;ome one for another, to di&s;pen&s;e with almo&s;t ever<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> thing. Bee willing then <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o bee convinced, and the Spirit will convince us that covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is a &s;inne, and that wee are all too too worldly, and that in this earthly veine, <HI>in many things we &s;inne all, I am. 3. 2. in all for the manner, in many for the ve|ry matter.</HI></P>
<P>2 Secondly, it is not enough t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> be convinced: we mu&s;t goe fur|ther. Convincement of it &s;elfe i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> no note of &s;aving grace. The Di|vell
<PB N="63" REF="33"> &s;ins again&s;t convincement, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd &s;o doe all who &s;inne again&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nowledge and con&s;cience, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ch as &s;inne of malice: and the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nne again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">herefore the wor&s;t &s;inne of all, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ecau&s;e it is cleerly and flat a|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ain&s;t convincement. And <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">herefore to bee convinced is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ood, if it come to good and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rove good; if we fall to mourne <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd to for&s;ake our earthly min|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">edne&s;&s;e: but if when wee are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">onvinced, we &s;in and grow ra|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her wor&s;e than better, runne a|way with the bit in our mouthes, then our &s;inne is the greater and our ca&s;e the wor&s;er becau&s;e wee are convinced, it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hewes wee are growne head|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">trong. Wherefore with con|vincement wee mu&s;t begin, but we mu&s;t not end with it.</P>
<P N="3">3 Thirdly, u&s;e meanes of be|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ng convinced that wee are worldly and covetous: as by way of faith to beleeve it, be|cau&s;e wee are borne in originall
<PB N="64" REF="34"> &s;inne, and that this is a great and a chiefe roote in our origi|nall &s;in <HI>to lu&s;t after the worldly</HI> is an hereditary di&s;ea&s;e, a &s;inn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> lying deepe in our nature; and when men have not killed it, or not crucified the world, the world mu&s;t needs be their God. Di&s;ea&s;es that we are borne with are not cured with ea&s;e, as borne blinde, borne deafe; &s;o borne covetous, borne worldly. There+fore it is long ere one &s;hall get power. <HI>I write unto you Fathers,</HI> that is, &s;trong Chri&s;tians, <HI>that you love not the world, 1 Joh.</HI> 2. 13. that is, no one thing of the world. So that a man may be a very mortified man, a Fa|ther, and yet be very &s;ubject to dote on the world. So tho&s;e who have done nothing to &s;peake of in any particular man+ner again&s;t this &s;inne of cove+tou&s;ne&s;&s;e, mu&s;t needs be very full without any more que&s;tion. Every man, and every woman mu&s;t &s;ay within them&s;elves, I
<PB N="65" REF="34"> am a covetous man, a covetous woman, and the le&s;&s;e I have felt <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t the wor&s;e it is, and the more <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ovetous I am: and if I looke not to it betime, I &s;hall feele it with a witne&s;&s;e one day. Next, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">inde out this di&s;ea&s;e by the<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31. 25.</NOTE> fruits of it; as thus: I can joy when goods encrea&s;e, I can grieve when I receive a lo&s;&s;e in mine e&s;tate. I can finde my &s;elfe a glad man when I have a commodity to &s;ell, if it be deare: if my &s;er|vant, when he comes from town, &s;ell cheaper than before, then I am &s;orry; if dearer, then I can be glad. Oh this is very cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Againe, when a man is loath to part with his money to a good u&s;e; here is covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e. Men thinke them&s;elves free, becau&s;e they can poure out their money upon a fea&s;t, upon building, upon apparrell, upon their children, upon wor&s;e: but &s;ay one can doe all this, a man is but a true lover of him&s;elfe: as <HI>Luk.</HI> 16. 19. that rich man &s;pent
<PB N="66" REF="35"> royally on him&s;elfe, he was n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> in debt to his backe or belly, y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> a very churle. And <HI>Nabal</HI> co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> fea&s;t (&s;aith the text) like a Kin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> yet for all that it was but a m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">+&s;ers fea&s;t. But if &s;uch an one ca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> finde that a pound is ready thi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> way, but Gods way (I meane<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> to give to the poore, to be&s;to<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> on a good u&s;e, a penny com<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> harder than a pound; here is co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. In the other ca&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> pride is &s;tronger than covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e: but when wee can drop our blood as &s;oone as our m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|ney when it is directly and im|mediately on God, this is to b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> covetous. This I finde in my+&s;elfe, therefore I am hard and covetous, and the end will bee naught unle&s;&s;e I mend my man|ners.</P>
<P N="4">4 Fourthly, be convinced i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> affection, as well as in judge+ment, not onely to &s;ee it to be &s;inne, and a &s;inne in thee, but t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> hate it. Naturally <HI>all the waye<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> of a man are cleane in his own<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="67" REF="35"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">yes, Prov.</HI> 16. 2. And though <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;ay wee are all &s;inners, yet when it comes to particulars, no men doe acknowledge them|&s;elves to be &s;inners. A covetous man thinkes all the world to be covetous except him&s;elfe; hee hath rea&s;on for what hee doth, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o make the mo&s;t of his owne. He hath Nature and Scripture <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or it to provide for his owne: and Chri&s;t &s;aith, <HI>Let nothing be lo&s;t.</HI> This hinders convince|ment in affection, in that wee love the &s;inne, becau&s;e we love the fruit, the profit of it. The Law will convince the judge|ment; but it is the Go&s;pel which doth convince the lu&s;t and the affection. The Spirit of love doth convince: it is the Spirit of power, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 1. 7. and this comes not by the workes of the Law, but by the <HI>hearing of faith, Gal.</HI> 3. 2. to wit, by the Go&s;pel. For by the Go&s;pel wee fall in love with God, with Chri&s;t, with the promi&s;es. Now
<PB N="68" REF="36"> a man mu&s;t love &s;omething th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> is better than the world, e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> hee cannot chu&s;e but love t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> world. He mu&s;t &s;ee a better co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">+moditie, a truer gaine in Go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> el&s;e he will let his heart goe af|ter the earth: and hee is to take more delight in heaven, el&s;e hee will have his delight in the earth. No man can long hold together without &s;ome princi|pall matter (at lea&s;t in his con|ceit) to rejoice in. For the rea&s;on why we do delight in &s;uch poore matters (as the things of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> world are, being compared to the noble minde of a man) is, for that we have no better things to take delight in. Let us learne then to be convinced in our af|fection of love: fir&s;t, that the matters here are not worthy ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> love: &s;econdly, to know the things of heaven to be infinite+ly better: thirdly, to acknow|ledge a &s;overaigne good in them: fourthly, and to get an a&s;|&s;urance and a &s;ound ta&s;te of
<PB N="69" REF="36"> them; and then the world and the things of the world will ta&s;te but dead in our hearts. Sweete things &s;poyle the ta&s;te of ones drink: and there is a &s;uperexcel|lent &amp; a tran&s;cendent &s;weetne&s;&s;e in the delights of the promi&s;es, which when wee have caught once, away then with earthly profits, trea&s;ures, plea&s;ures, de|lights: All is but <HI>dung</HI> and tra&s;h, <HI>Phil.</HI> 3. 8. Honey, and the honey combe is nothing to the con|tent and &s;weetne&s;&s;e we finde in things above, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 19. 10. Some delight in the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of things, as younger people; <HI>Da|vid</HI> tells them that the word is &s;weeter than live honey drop|ping from the very combs: o|thers again are all for the gaine and profit that is to be made, as elder people; <HI>David</HI> in the &s;ame place tels them that the word is better and more to be de&s;ired; What, than &s;ilver? No, than gold, yea than much gold (ever|&s;omuch hee meanes) ay th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n
<PB N="70" REF="37"> <HI>much fine gold.</HI> 'Tis then becau&s;e wee have not <HI>ta&s;ted</HI> that the Lord is gracious, (1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2. 3.) that we dote &s;o on this world. If wee had ta&s;ted deepe of the <HI>heavenly gift,</HI> we would not bee &s;o licori&s;h after the world as we be, but would &s;ay with <HI>David, P&s;al. 119. 103. Thy words are &s;weeter unto my ta&s;te than hony to my mouth.</HI> And, <HI>I am now become a &s;tranger in the earth, hide not thy Commandements from mee:</HI> doe not &s;uffer mee to hide my &s;elfe from them, but re|veale them to mee (almo&s;t) whether I will or no. Looke upward, and get acquaintance with heaven: Hunt after &s;ha|dowes and flies no longer: bee for heaven alone. Wee &s;trive to no purpo&s;e, and doe but beate the aire as long as we goe about to take our affection from things wee &s;ee, till by faith wee &s;ee better. Wee mu&s;t have our heaven in heaven, or el&s;e wee &s;hall &s;et up our heaven here on
<PB N="71" REF="37"> the earth; &s;ee better things to be tru&s;ted unto, or el&s;e we &s;hal make a God of this world, and tru&s;t to lying vanities rather than to nothing. The affection of love being thus wonne, all other affe|ctons follow after accordingly: and though the judgement &s;hould carry the affection after it &s;till, yet alwayes it doth not. For the affections can tell how to bride the judgement, and with their &s;moake to dazle the eye of our minde, and to woo away the la&s;t re&s;olution of our judgement. For the under&s;tan|ding of a man is quicke, and turnes almo&s;t at an in&s;tant, and therefore to hold the under&s;tan|ding firme to the la&s;t it is excel|lent, to &s;et our affections on things above, and <HI>then</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Pro. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 24.</NOTE> <HI>the wayes of life will be above to the wi&s;e.</HI> (So &s;aith <HI>Solomon</HI> the wi&s;e) fooles be for things below, but wi&s;e men are all for things a|bove; above the common &s;train, above them&s;elves, above the
<PB N="72" REF="38"> world: they live in heaven. Let us then &s;eeke (and <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Tert. de prae&s;crip. c. 9. &amp; 10.</NOTE> finde) the Kingdome of heaven, and for other matters, matters of the world, they will <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Matt. 6. 3.</NOTE> &s;eeke us. Fall in love with heaven, and the things of heaven, and then wee &s;hall not love the world nor the things of this world.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="6" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 6.</HI> How to be cured of cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>WE mu&s;t know that wee can never be &s;o healed of it, as not to finde and feele &s;ome bitter rootes of it, &s;till rea|dy to &s;et our teeth on edge. <HI>Let your conver&s;ation bee without covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> What, &s;imply? No covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e at all! That cannot bee; but let not cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e raigne. Let it not be in us in the guilt or in the power; in our con&s;ciences in the guilt, in
<PB N="73" REF="38"> our hearts and lives in the power. Be you as free from it as po&s;&s;ibly you can, and when wee have all done, &s;ay, I am too too covetous &s;till. Lord have mercy on mee; now I am leaving the world I am earthly &s;till: now I am to be weaned I am longing to &s;ucke the brea&s;t &s;till: the lon|ger I &s;ucke the wor&s;e I am to be weaned. Chri&s;t mu&s;t be our Ad|vocate when wee have done all, el&s;e wee are gone, wee are un|done.</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t, wee mu&s;t know and confe&s;&s;e that wee can neither pardon nor cure our &s;elves. Age helpes again&s;t many &s;ins; here it doth hurt. For to &s;hew us that this &s;inne is utterly again&s;t all rea&s;on, when we are old and lea|ving the world, why then we are wor&s;t in raging love to the world: we then &s;ing loath to de|part with this earth, when wee &s;ee that a little will &s;erve to bring us to our grave; and though we are ready to ki&s;&s;e the earth
<PB N="74" REF="39"> for age, yet then wee are even &s;icke after the world; nothing &s;its &s;o merry with us then as the world. One would thinke that when we have gotten that wi&s;e|dome and experience as to find what the world is, <HI>viz.</HI> lighter than vanity, yet I know not how the hearts of good men do &s;teale&punc; after the world &s;trangely in their old age. Hence we &s;ee <HI>Solomon,</HI> and <HI>A&s;a,</HI> and <HI>Uzziah</HI> fell in their old age. Therefore it is certaine age will not doe it, nor will money doe it. For the more we have the more we de|&s;ire to have. What makes us &s;et &s;o much of money? One would thinke if riches would cure any &s;inne, it &s;hould be covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e: and many de&s;ire it to &s;tay the rage of this affection; but wee &s;ee that the richer the harder, part with nothing, as in Dives; like children with mouthes full, and both hands full, yet they will rather &s;poyle it than give away any: &amp; therefore 'tis out of
<PB N="75" REF="39"> our hands to heale this &s;icknes. And many had made &s;ome cure but that they went about it by their own &s;trength; &amp; then we &s;ee the more we &s;trive (leaving Chri&s;t out) the more covetous we are.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, wee mu&s;t goe to God and to Chri&s;t, fir&s;t to par|don it, and then to cure it; and wee mu&s;t begin at the moare within: el&s;e if we lop off the aets and boughs, and let the roote a|lone, a <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Non e&s;t i|dem re&s;ur|gere &agrave; pec|cato, &amp; ce&s;|&s;are ab actu peccandi&punc; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Durand<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> D&punc; 8. q. 3. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> <HI>cea&s;ing</HI> there may bee for a time, but no healing, no cure done. The love of money doth remaine, and &s;pring up it will againe <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mat. 12. 45&punc;</NOTE> &s;eaven for one. By faith in Chri&s;t, and prayer to Chri&s;t &s;ucke the poy&s;on out. Say, Ah Lord, I am &s;o worldly that I cannot tell what to make of my &s;elfe, nor what to doe with my &s;elf&punc; Help Lord, help quickly, take away the &s;ting, ea&s;e my con|&s;cience; take away the &s;trength, ea&s;e mine heart; wa&s;h away the filth, purge my &s;oule that I may live in thy &s;ight; and then (but
<PB N="76" REF="40"> not till then) the Word and or|dinances will be &s;weet and good unto my &s;oule.</P>
<P N="3">3 Thirdly, goe to the Bible, &s;et the Word again&s;t this &s;inne: the Word is as plaine as may be again&s;t this vice; yet wee &s;ee men pa&s;&s;e plain places over: and 'tis no &s;mall marvell; for Chri&s;t was often upon it, that his King|dome was not of this world. He did &s;hun all earthly pompe on purpo&s;e: and yet how did the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves dreame of a temporall Kingdome? and e|ven then when Chri&s;t was pre&s;|&s;ing it hard, that his Kingdome was not of this world, yet then (I &s;ay) &s;ome of the chiefe A|po&s;tles would needs be great of|ficers about him when he came to his Kingdome; and being re|proved for it, and (I thinke) &s;or|ry for it, yet they were at it a|gaine and again, no fewer times than thrice. They did not &s;ee the plaine light, becau&s;e it was an opinion that they had beene
<PB N="77" REF="40"> bred in, and made for their pur|po&s;e. Wee are loth to &s;ee what we would not have to be true, and to beleeve things again&s;t our minde, bee the places never &s;o plaine. And &s;o it is with a world of particulars in covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. The word is cleare, and yet wee &s;ee how the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves did not &s;ee the meaning of what the Lord him&s;elfe &s;pake very often in their hearing. Therefore the <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Joh. 16. 9.</NOTE> Spirit mu&s;t bee had and u&s;ed, el&s;e all will not doe. The Word cannot worke it without the Spirit: the Spirit will not with|out the Word; both joyned to|gether will doe the deed. The heart when it is &s;et upon by the converting and convincing Spi|rit of God, will yeeld to the Word. A man &s;hall finde that (as other &s;innes, &s;o) this &s;inne of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e will dy and weare away, now &s;ome and then &s;ome. It cannot &s;tand before the Word and Spirit of God. In drunken|ne&s;&s;e&punc;
<PB N="78" REF="41"> and la&s;civiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and &s;ome other &s;innes, Rea&s;on may doe &s;omewhat: and men doe thinke that a little drunkenne&s;&s;e is a &s;inne; but with mo&s;t a little worldline&s;&s;e goes for a vertue: and Rea&s;on will plead hard for this &s;inne. What! men mu&s;t live as others do: the world is hard, and men mu&s;t doe as they may. There is no living as others do, that is, growing rich in ha&s;t, ex|cept we do as others do. And till the hearts &amp; wils of men be ma|&s;tered by the Word and Spirit of God, a covetous man will have &s;omthing to &s;ay. He will find one eva&s;ion, one di&s;tinction or other: and many heape up riches rather for that they would bee &s;et of, and not left out, than for any thing el&s;e. <HI>Charge</HI> (&s;aith S. <HI>Paul, 1 Tim. 6. 17.) them that are rich that they be not</HI> HIGH MINDED. Men get a fat pur&s;e to maintaine an high minde: But when the Spirit comes with its mighty worke, then <HI>here I
<PB N="79" REF="41"> am, Lord, &s;peake for thy &s;ervant heareth (1 Sam.</HI> 3. 10.); there is an end of di&s;puting: Sathan him|&s;elfe hath no more to &s;ay. No|thing under heaven can make the heart of man come downe but the Spirit of God. Men &s;peake but too true when they &s;ay, that Preachers &s;hall never per&s;wade them from making the mo&s;t of their owne, that they will never beleeve &s;uch and &s;uch propo&s;itions which conclude a|gain&s;t their profit. For all the preaching in the world with|out the worke of the Spirit cannot reach the heart of a man in any &s;inne, but chiefly not in this &s;inne, which hideth in the very bottome of the heart&punc; If the <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Gen. 9. 27. Illabi in ani|mam conve|nit &s;oli Deo. <HI>Aquin. 3&punc; q. 64. 1. c.</HI></NOTE> Lord per&s;wade <HI>Japheth, Japheth</HI> will and mu&s;t yeeld, but not till then.</P>
<P N="4">4 Fourthly, de&s;ire to bee par|doned and healed, that God may have the glory, that hee may have the prai&s;e of all; and then in the &s;econd and third
<PB N="80" REF="42"> place wee may come to the o|ther ends, as that I may have re&s;t in my minde, quiet in mine heart, and in mine hou&s;e, and that I may finde a ble&s;&s;ing from the Almighty; but the chiefe and maine mu&s;t bee the glory of God: el&s;e wee &s;erve our &s;elves, and &s;eeke our owne re&s;pects. Excellent is that of <HI>Agur, Give not poverty</HI> (&s;o that God mu&s;t give us to bee poore, el&s;e all the world cannot make us poore) <HI>le&s;t I bee poore and &s;teale, Prov.</HI> 30. 8. And what? bee fined? bee made to re&s;tore fourefold? bee put into the gaole? No, but <HI>le&s;t I take the name of God in vaine:</HI> that is, cau&s;e men to think ill of God, to &s;ee me deny it to his &s;hame and mine, that &s;uch a man (as I have &s;hewed to bee) &s;hould &s;teale (a ba&s;e &s;inne). This is the way to bee cured: el&s;e if wee &s;eeke our &s;elves, or our owne &s;oules quiet in it, and doe not begin with the glory and honour of God, wee are like
<PB N="81" REF="42"> to lo&s;e our labour, and to be as farre off at the la&s;t as at the fir&s;t.</P>
<P N="5">5 Fifthly, pray hard again&s;t this di&s;ea&s;e. It will come and ri&s;e in our hearts amaine. The moti|ons of it od &s;o plea&s;e, that they are up and pa&s;t ere they are di&s;|cerned, without great care. Wee are to pray to God to give us a &s;ight of this di&s;ea&s;e in the moti|ons of it, that wee may by his grace &s;uppre&s;&s;e it ere it ri&s;e to its height: and prayer will make us give over to be cove|tous; but pray in &amp; with the Spi|rit, and the Spirit (as 'tis in the<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">.</NOTE> originall, <HI>Ro. 8. 26.) lifts with us and before us</HI> in our prayers.</P>
<P N="6">6 Sixthly, let us exerci&s;e our &s;elves in the acts of giving and lending. For &s;ometimes it is a greater worke of mercy to lend than to give. Give much, give often; <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 11. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Give</HI> (not a little, but) a <HI>portion to &s;even, and al&s;o to eight.</HI> And, <HI>To him that hath &s;hall bee given, Matt.</HI> 25. 29.
<PB N="82" REF="43"> that is, to him that u&s;eth that he hath &s;hall bee more given: hee doth not &s;ay hee &s;hall HAVE more, but more &s;hall bee GIVEN. In morall habits the act, and exerci&s;e, and u&s;e of tho&s;e habits, doe intend and en|crea&s;e the habits by the force of a cu&s;tomary u&s;e of the actions of tho&s;e habits; as to enure on's &s;elfe to temperate cour&s;es, doth encrea&s;e the vertue, and aug|ment the habit of temperance, becau&s;e there bee &s;eedes of &s;uch vertues in our nature to be fetched out. But it is not &s;o in graces, in &s;upernaturall habits of Spirituall and Theologicall vertues. For they are of meere gift, by infu&s;ion from heaven, not onely in the habits them&s;elves, but in the degrees and encrea&s;e of them, and not by eduction from any power preexi&s;tent, or di&s;po&s;ition coexi&s;tent in our na|ture. Wee have of our &s;elves no hand in getting or in encrea|&s;ing &s;pirituall vertues and &s;uper|naturall
<PB N="83" REF="43"> habits: only the promi&s;e is for us, that in ca&s;e we do exer|ci&s;e our &s;elves in the duties and actions of any graces, God hath bound him&s;elfe to pre&s;erve them, to adde unto them, to en|crea&s;e them, to put more unto the heape, and to ca&s;t in &s;ome more degrees of holine&s;&s;e into the old &s;tore. We mu&s;t then in|ure our hearts and hands to give. And <HI>as it is a morall ver|tue,</HI> it will encrea&s;e by the force and &s;trength of morall exerci&s;e: and <HI>as it is a divine quality,</HI> &s;o wee &s;hall have more by the meere gift and promi&s;e of God. <HI>The encrea&s;e is the gift of God, 1 Cor.</HI> 3. 7. U&s;e makes ma&s;tery, and exerci&s;e doth make us doe things with ea&s;e and delight. There is nothing lo&s;t by giving: <HI>We &s;hall finde it,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Salomon, Eccle&s;.</HI> 11. 1. But when? <HI>after many dayes. Ca&s;t thy bread up|on the waters.</HI> As good (&s;ay we) throw it downe Thames, wee &s;hall never &s;ee it againe. Yes
<PB N="84" REF="44"> that wee &s;hall one day. What if after many dayes? yet at la&s;t, and at the be&s;t it &s;hall be found. How <HI>many</HI> the word &s;aith not; but 'tis enough that we have a promi&s;e that wee &s;hall be payed for giving, and for &s;taying too. Were there no reward propo&s;ed &amp; promi&s;ed, yet this were enough to move us to give, for that it is an honor to be an in&s;trument of Gods glory. We think it a great favour in ca&s;e wee may bee for the honour of our Soveraigne Lord the King, albeit we gaine not a groat by it, but venture life and all: but now &s;ith we hereby &s;hall not onely be a meanes to glorifie God, but even in this life to reward our &s;elves al&s;o, <HI>Give</HI> therefore <HI>a portion to &s;e|ven and al&s;o to eight.</HI> Care not how much portion we give, nor to how many (in ca&s;e wee beg|ger not our &s;elves by it.)</P>
<P>Oh but I doe be&s;t to keepe that I have again&s;t hereafter. Who knowes what dayes may come?</P>
<PB N="85" REF="44">
<P>Ay, becau&s;e evill dayes are like to come on the earth, what therefore? hide all? give no|thing? No, no, give the rather: for (&s;aith <HI>Solomon, Eccle&s;. 11. 2.) Thou knowe&s;t not what evill may come on the earth:</HI> There|fore give liberally, it being the be&s;t way to provide again&s;t the evill to come. <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Act. 20. 35.</NOTE> Better it is (&s;aid Chri&s;t often) to give than to re|ceive. Wee thinke it better to receive a pound than to give a penny, and we are all for recei|ving: but it is farre better to give, better for us, better for &s;uch as doe receive. Yet we mu&s;t not therefore give, becau&s;e we would finde an increa&s;e by it in the later end; that were to &s;erve our &s;elves upon God, to give a pur|po&s;e that hee &s;hould give us a|gaine, and wee get by the bar|gaine: but in ca&s;e we &s;hould ne|ver &s;ee penny againe, yet wee mu&s;t give, and give, and give our &s;elves over to giving, and expect our reward in heaven. Now God
<PB N="86" REF="45"> in a &s;econd and third place to help our infirmities hath promi|&s;ed us, that our &s;eed &s;hall multi|ply upon the earth. It is a &s;ow|ing, and the more &s;eed wee &s;ow, the greater crop wee &s;hall have, and wee &s;hall have heaven and earth too, as farre as is good and fit for us to have, and for God to give: Ay, giving is &s;o rare and admirable a piece of &s;ervice, that &s;uch as have nothing but what they <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Eph&punc; 4. 28. Act. 20. 34.</NOTE> yearne, mu&s;t worke a lit|tle the harder, that they may have to give to &s;uch as lack. And what if we our &s;elves doe feele &s;ome lacke, and are in need? yet we are like to meet with &s;uch as need more than we doe, and to them we mu&s;t give &s;omewhat of that we get by our fingers ends. Be&s;ides, this giving increa&s;eth love, not only from them to us to whom we give, but chiefly from us to them to whom we do give. We doe truly and heartily love &s;uch as we give unto, more than they doe or can love us
<PB N="87" REF="45"> that doe give unto them. For as wee hate &s;uch as the objects of our &s;in and wrong, to whom-we doe any hurt, from whom wee take any thing: as <HI>a lying tongue hates tho&s;e that are afflicted by it, Prov.</HI> 26. 28. &s;o on the other &s;ide, we love tho&s;e to whom we doe give, as the objects of our vertues. As our Creatour God loves us becau&s;e he makes us, &s;o we doe (as it were) &s;et them up and make them; and wee love our children to whom wee doe good, more than they can love us. It is a ble&s;&s;ed thing to re|ceive when a man hath need; but 'tis a more ble&s;&s;ed thing to give than to receive. <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 41. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed</HI> (&s;aith the Prophet <HI>David) is he that</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg"><HI>i. e.</HI> qui praeoccupat vocem peti|turi. Aug. in P&s;al. 103.</NOTE> <HI>con&s;idereth the poore.</HI> What? to &s;ay, Alas poore man! the world is hard with him, I would there were a cour&s;e taken to doe him good. No, no, but &s;o to con&s;ider him as to give; to give till the poore man be &s;atisfied, to draw out ones &s;heafe, ay ones very
<PB N="88" REF="46"> &s;oule to the hungry. But what if troubles &s;hould come? were it not better to keep mony by one? Mony will not deliver one. It may be an occa&s;ion to endanger one, to bring one in rather than to help one out of trouble: but if a man be a mercifull man, God will deliver him either by him|&s;elfe, or by &s;ome other man or matter. Ay, but what if &s;ickne&s;&s;e come? why the Lord will &s;treng|then him in the bed of <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">P&s;al&punc; 41. 3.</NOTE> langui|&s;hing; and, which is a great ea&s;e and a kindne&s;&s;e, God (as it were) him&s;elfe will make his bed in his &s;ickne&s;&s;e. Here poore people have the advantage: for they are they who can be&s;t make the beds of &s;icke folke, which we &s;ee is a great act of mercy, in that it is &s;aid, that the Lord him&s;elfe will make their beds in&punc; their &s;ickne&s;&s;e: and there are none &s;o poore but they may make the beds of the &s;icke. This made Saint <HI>Paul</HI> refu&s;e to re|ceive, but ready to give. This
<PB N="89" REF="46"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tood for S. <HI>Pauls</HI> confort: <HI>I have</HI> (&s;aid he) <HI>coveted no mans &s;il|ver, Act.</HI> 20. 33. Hee &s;aid not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat he had not taken any thing from any man, but hee had not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oved nor coveted any thing that was anothers.</P>
<P>Againe, we are not only to be <HI>liberall,</HI> but in ca&s;e there be oc|ca&s;ion we are to bee <HI>munificent</HI> al&s;o. For he is covetous, not only who is not liberall, but he al&s;o who is not munificent. So they were <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Luk. 23. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> commended by Gods own pen who bought unguents &amp; co&s;tly &s;pices to embalme the body of Chri&s;t after the maner of Princes and Grandies. There|fore we mu&s;t not only do things for need, but for &s;tate and for ho|nour; chiefly &s;ith God is not only liberall, but bountifull and munificent to us. I &s;peake of &s;uch as are able; for we may not &s;tretch beyond our &s;taple, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">poyle all. I mu&s;t not make my &s;elfe poore to keepe another from being poore; throw my
<PB N="90" REF="47"> &s;elfe into the &s;ame degree of need, to helpe another in and a|gain&s;t his need. The <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Mar. 12. 43, 44.</NOTE> widow who ca&s;t in all that &s;hee had, binds us not by her example, becau&s;e what &s;hee did give, &s;hee gave it rather to and for the &s;er|vice of God than to the poore: it was to Gods boxe, not to the poores boxe, &s;hee gave all that &s;he had. So that we may give all to maintaine and hold up Gods wor&s;hip, but not &s;o in giving to the poore. Her example was admirable to free her from cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e, who could part with all for, and to the Lord; chiefly &s;hee beeing a woman, a &s;exe through the weakne&s;&s;e and fears of that &s;exe, more &s;ubject to bee covetous then man. How&s;oever when the ca&s;e doth require, and our e&s;tate will beare it, we mu&s;t not onely be liberall but mu|nificent: which is not onely an higher &s;tep in the &s;ame vertue, but another &s;uperiour vertue of another kind: for liberality and
<PB N="91" REF="47"> munificencie doe differ in the <HI>&s;pecies</HI> and very nature: they make two vertues, not two de|grees of one and the &s;ame ver|tue. To conclude, the rule is, that an excellent and ready way to be able to get mony out of our owne fingers, is to accu&s;tome our &s;elves to give much and of|ten. And as corruption and cu|&s;tome meeting together, worke very forcibly in &s;innes; &s;o in du|ties, where grace and cu&s;tome joyne hands, there we finde the worke to be done with delight and ea&s;e; and &s;uch prove at la&s;t to become to bee <HI>givers with|out grudging, 1 Pet.</HI> 4. 9. Libe|rality is a vertue which onely of all vertues is above envie. Some do di&s;commend &s;uch as are ju&s;t, but all commend the liberall and bountifull man, becau&s;e all may get by him; and therefore we have the advantage of it, that we may &s;tudy to &s;hew our &s;elves liberall, and not bee vexed with the evill eye of any, but rather
<PB N="92" REF="48"> have thankes from God and man: therefore give without grudging, and (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> hath it, <HI>Rom. 12. 8.) with cheerfulne&s;&s;e; and of a ready minde, 2 Cor.</HI> 8. 19. and if the minde be ready the pur&s;e will be ready.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="7" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 7.</HI> Why, and to whom wee mu&s;t give.</HEAD>
<P>TO all, but chiefly to the poore, &s;uch as are in need: and need in a ca&s;e, or in &s;ome one particular point may befall a rich man. But when they doe make their owne need, and through pride or folly doe oc|ca&s;ion their owne occa&s;ions and wants, and do de&s;ire that wee &s;hould give or lend, here we are to withhold, and not to feed the lu&s;ts &amp; humors of men: For in &s;uch di&s;ea&s;es ranke feeding doth hurt. But when there is a
<PB N="93" REF="48"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rue and reall need which God makes, and they them&s;elves doe not make, and cannot of them|&s;elves put off; here wee are to give and &s;pare not. Give to them that need, to keepe them from need, and &s;o by con&s;equence from &s;in. For who knowes what need may force a man to doe? Now need is not onely for the belly, but for the backe al&s;o, ay and for firing al&s;o. Wood was a won|der <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Lam. 5. 4.</NOTE> heretofore to be &s;old at a rate, but now poore people have mo&s;t to doe to get fire. For they may get a &s;mall piece of money to buy a loafe, but cannot get &s;o much together as to buy and get home a load of wood. Be&s;ides, there is an u&s;e for a poore body to aske a piece of bread and an old garment: but to come to ones doore and to aske for a faggot, a billet, or &s;o, were &s;trange. And therefore it were to bee wi&s;hed that men would &s;hew their mercy in this ca&s;e, to provide for poore people,
<PB N="94" REF="49"> le&s;t they &s;teale and take the Name of God in vaine. Neither mu&s;t we take delight in it when wee have occa&s;ion to &s;ave our &s;elves from giving, if there be a|ny occa&s;ion come in why law|fully we may, and (perhaps) we mu&s;t forbeare (as not to give when wee &s;ee them ca&s;t it away on drinke): but a liberall heart &s;hould take it as a cro&s;&s;e; and wee are covetous and out of the way, if we finde that our hearts are glad that we have ju&s;t occa|&s;ion (at this pre&s;ent) not to give, and &s;o may (as we thinke) &s;ave our money and our con&s;ciences al&s;o: this is covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. As al&s;o when a man doth give be|cau&s;e hee dares not chu&s;e, but gives to a poore body for feare of his owne con&s;cience, and would rather than any thing that his con&s;cience would give him leave not to give, but to get and &s;ave as others doe: here is too much covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e; and therefore when we meete with
<PB N="95" REF="49"> fit men, wee mu&s;t bee glad that wee have meanes and occa&s;ion to give to &s;even and to eight: ay and in ca&s;es that bee there|after, we mu&s;t give beyond our ordinary ability; give even almo&s;t all away, as <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Mat. 10. 42.</NOTE> Chri&s;t inti|mates, to a cup of cold water: and there is none but hath a di&s;h of water to give; yea cold wa|ter, as not to be able to be at the <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Quod lig|num non ha|buerit unde calefaceret aquam. <HI>Aug.</HI> in P&s;. 125.</NOTE> charge of heating of it. If it be but a cup of cold water in that hot climate, it is accepted, in and through the promi&s;e which is Amen in Chri&s;t. Heaven is to be had for little or nothing, for a &s;igh, for a <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Aug. hom. 13.</NOTE> cup of cold water. Wherefore it is a great gift of God when a man hath a free heart, and can bee ma&s;ter of his pur&s;e, and can turne that he hath the right way: it being con&s;ide|rable that the Lord is &s;ayd to puni&s;h in all the Parables of that nature in the Go&s;pell, &s;uch as do abu&s;e their &s;ub&s;tance ei|ther in too much wa&s;ting or &s;pa|ring;
<PB N="96" REF="50"> albeit our greate&s;t dan|ger doth lye in &s;paring: this being al&s;o proper to this &s;inne of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that whereas in other vices the <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Suus <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ui|que modus e&s;t, tamen magis offen|dit nimium quam parum. <HI>Cic. de Orat. l. 1.</HI></NOTE> exce&s;&s;e is har|de&s;t to cure, here the defect is mo&s;t incurable, it being by oddes more ea&s;ie to cure a wa|&s;ter than a &s;aver; and the rather, becau&s;e it doth partake much of frugality, which is a vertue wee all admire.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="8" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 8.</HI> A removall of &s;uch &s;hewes as men have why they may be worldly.</HEAD>
<P><HI>THe heart of man is</HI> <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Jer. 17. 9. <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> &amp; <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> im|port crook|ed, crafty, deceitfull, wretched, de&s;perately &s;icke unto death.</NOTE> <HI>de|ceitfull and wicked above all things,</HI> and the wit of man is active to excu&s;e or defend what ever plea&s;eth us. If wee cannot &s;ay, it is not done, then the next is to &s;ay it is no &s;inne, it is rather a vertue than a
<PB N="97" REF="50"> fault. Thus wee &s;ee how &s;inne makes men to fall into errours a purpo&s;e to quiet the con&s;cience. As <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Mar. 8. 15. Matt. 16. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Herod</HI> fell into the here|&s;ie of the Sadducees, that there was no being after this life, that death did end it &s;elfe and all, and that there was no plea&s;ure nor paine after death, and all to &s;tupifie his con&s;cience for the murther of <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Bapti&s;t.</HI> Thus men make it their religion to be irreligious, and pretend con&s;cience in their owne divini|ty, and all to be of no con&s;cience at all. So doth this &s;inne of co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e: it makes men coine fal&s;e Doctrines a purpo&s;e to get or &s;ave money: as u&s;ury to be no &s;inne, to &s;ell for time to bee no fault, to make the mo&s;t of ones owne to be frugality and thrift; to &s;uffer nothing (no not the pa|ring of ones nailes) to be lo&s;t, is to follow the coun&s;ell of our Lord Je&s;us. So the Phari&s;ees made it a matter of con&s;cience that <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Matth. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 4, 5, 6.</NOTE> children &s;hould &s;tarve
<PB N="98" REF="51"> their owne parents to give to their boxe. So the <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Mat. 22. 17.</NOTE> Phari&s;ees would mo&s;t willingly pay <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> his due, were it (for&s;ooth) a thing lawfull, &s;ith it was once dedica|ted unto God. And thus when it was covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e they would faine have it &s;eeme to be con&s;ci|ence; which made them que&s;ti|on the lawfulne&s;&s;e of paying tribute unto <HI>Cae&s;ar.</HI> But fie up|on that branch of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, which &s;tinks as bad as hell, when under a pretence of <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Mat. 23. 14.</NOTE> long pray|ers, they would like a whale de|voure whole hou&s;es. Of whom? of widowes: not of virgins or wives, who were under covert of their parents or husbands; but widowes, weake for their &s;exe, and lying open to their &s;poile, becau&s;e they have what they have at their owne di&s;po|&s;ing. And who be they who thus devoure and eate up widowes? why the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, the great Rabbies of that age, who u&s;ed in their Pulpits to
<PB N="99" REF="51"> preach again&s;t covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e in others: (a great <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">Rom. 2. 21.</NOTE> aggravation of their &s;inne.) And what did they devoure? not their money and pur&s;es onely, no nor their beds under them only, but their whole hou&s;es. And why mu&s;t they &s;weepe all thus? <HI>Under pre|tence</HI> (&s;aith the Text) <HI>of their long prayers: i. e.</HI> making them beleeve they &s;hould have great benefit by &s;uch long prayers; in|&s;omuch that all that ever the widowes had mu&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ee all little enough to make them amends for the good they &s;hould re|ceive by their prayers. Thus they made whole hou&s;es the price of their prayers, which hypocri&s;ie of theirs made their &s;in the greater; <HI>and they did</HI> (&s;aith Chri&s;t) <HI>receive the grea|ter damnation.</HI> Let him goe then for the wor&s;t of covetous men, who makes religion a meanes to devoure others, and a cloake for his covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. And againe, there is a vile deceit, when wee
<PB N="100" REF="52"> will bee very mercifull, and give &s;omething liberally, a purpo&s;e becau&s;e we thinke God will take notice of us, &amp; ble&s;&s;e us, and make us rich. Thus men abu&s;e God and hone&s;t dealing, a purpo&s;e to &s;erve their covetous dealings. We mu&s;t then beware that re|ligion be not made a cover for our covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and that wee doe not &s;ay or thinke that it is con&s;cience, when it is covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e and nothing el&s;e. And this deceit &s;uch are mo&s;t &s;ubject to, who are religiou&s;ly given. Many pretences el&s;e men catch at to cover this filthy cup; as to have wherewith to doe good to o|thers, whereas the more a man hath, commonly the le&s;&s;e good he doth. Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles did mo&s;t good this way in pro|viding for poore people, and poore Churches, and yet they were poore. For 'tis the love (not the lacke) of money that makes men Churles; and the more money wee have the
<PB N="101" REF="52"> more wee u&s;e to love it, and the le&s;&s;e willing wee are to part with it. Moreover, it is for|&s;ooth again&s;t Gods Law, &s;ay they, to give to beggers: And why? There mu&s;t (&s;aith the text, &s;ay they) be no begger in I&s;rael: But where is that text? not in the Bible that I know of. 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2. 8. wee reade that the Lord lifteth up the <HI>begger</HI> out of the dunghill, and &s;o &s;hould wee: where the hebrew &s;ignifies beg|ger as begger is di&s;tingui&s;hed from poore: and the greeke word in the New Te&s;tament, which is commonly tran&s;lated poore, &s;ignifies <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mat. 26. 11. <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">. <HI>Tert. adver&s;. Marcel. l 4. c. 14.</HI></NOTE> begger proper|ly and &s;trictly. <HI>The poore (i. e.</HI> the begger) <HI>you have alwayes with you. Lazarus</HI> a begger, <HI>Barti|meus</HI> a begger, and others were beggers. <HI>David</HI> &s;aw none for his time onely. And againe (we &s;ay) we de&s;ire to be rich, not &s;o much becau&s;e wee love money, as for that we would not be bur|den&s;ome to others&punc; and are loth
<PB N="102" REF="53"> to be beholding. 'Tis good not to be burden&s;ome any more than needs wee mu&s;t: but rich men be u&s;ually the greate&s;t burdens of all, and it is pride that wee would not bee beholding to o|thers; whereas wee cannot live without being beholding one to another: and generally rich men are more beholding to poore, than poore to rich, and poore men may live without the rich better than the rich can without the poore.</P>
<P N="2">2 A &s;econd colour is, that they may have to live, and to bring the yeer and world about. Now if we would turne our de|&s;ire of living into a de&s;ire of li|ving well, this would not be. For wee all doe de&s;ire to be here for ever; and we are in our thoughts immortall; for there is no man &s;o old, but thinkes he &s;hall live a day elder; and he that thinkes he &s;hall live a day longer, doth upon the matter thinke he &s;hall live ever, and never dye. And
<PB N="103" REF="53"> hence it is, that our de&s;ire of ha|ving riches (wherein we thinke our life con&s;i&s;ts) doth prove im|mortall and infinite.</P>
<P N="3">3. A third errour is, that men doe thinke that their happine&s;&s;e doth con&s;i&s;t in the plea&s;ure and voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the body. Now the&s;e lu&s;ts cannot be con|tent with a little, but are with|out mea&s;ure, and in a man wor&s;e than in a bea&s;t. Hence they are apt to &s;tudy to heape up riches without all &s;tint, that they may have wherewith to &s;erve the turne (not of grace, not of na|ture neither, but) of &s;inne and Sathan. Plea&s;ures <HI>nece&s;&s;ary</HI> are &s;atisfied with a little and with ea&s;e, being content with things ea&s;ie to come by: plea&s;ures <HI>not nece&s;&s;ary,</HI> though not &s;infull, we need not trouble our &s;elves much about them: but for de|lights <HI>carnall</HI> and &s;infull, there is no &s;tinting of them, no need, no u&s;e of the&s;e; they are a bur|den to nature it &s;elfe, therefore
<PB N="104" REF="54"> they are to bee rejected. Thus we &s;ee how and why men do not referre money to its right end, but referre all to the getting and &s;aving of money, as to the end of all; and men do make riches to be all in all, and a man is &s;aid to bee made when hee is made rich. The glutton would needs bee in his change of &s;uits every day, and fare &s;umptuou&s;ly every day (though to fare thus every day tooke away the &s;en&s;e of it). Now thus to weare, and thus to fare are co&s;tly ware. Such lu&s;ts will aske great co&s;t and charges. Again, rich men thinke of living many <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Luk. 12. 19.</NOTE> yeares, and &s;o do heape up much wealth to provide for &s;o many yeares; and that night when they are plodding in their beds how to be richer, death comes and their <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 146. 4.</NOTE> thoughts pe|ri&s;h in that very day.</P>
<P N="4">4 A fourth deceit is, that men doe thinke that they doe &s;o e&s;teeme of a penny &s;aved, be|cau&s;e they have many children,
<PB N="105" REF="54"> and were it not for their chil|dren to breed them, and to mar|ry them, they would not care &s;o much as they do for the mucke of this world; whereas the truth is, that they get money for them&s;elves and their owne lu&s;ts, and not for their owne children. A world of particulars do cleare this.</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t; we &s;ee men that have no children are more covetous, and &s;tand more upon a penny, then &s;uch as have. Neither doth the life of children con&s;i&s;t in their riches: wee dreame &s;o in|deed; but riches and the care of riches doth cau&s;e death: and what a madne&s;&s;e is it thus to bee fooli&s;h after riches to pro|long when it doth &s;horten life? Such as have children about them are forced by nece&s;&s;ity to part with money to provide nece&s;&s;ities: and u&s;e makes them the more willing and able to part with that they have. Whereas they who have no
<PB N="106" REF="55"> children are all for &s;aving: they are put to it but &s;eldome to lay out any thing, and therefore it is death to them to &s;ee any thing goe out of their fingers.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, &s;uch as have children, and while their chil|dren are young, doe &s;ay and thinke that all their raking and coveting is for children, yet they breed them not the be&s;t, but the cheape&s;t way; and when once their children are growne up, can part with nothing to place their &s;onnes: would faine marry their daughters, but for their blood they cannot abide to part with an an&s;werable portion, not becau&s;e they have it not, but becau&s;e they have not a heart to part with it, and &s;o &s;uffer their daughters to pa&s;&s;e over the <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Rom. 7. 36.</NOTE> flower of their youth in great and fearfull di&s;content. The marriage of the daughter mu&s;t &s;tay for the purcha&s;e, not the purcha&s;e for the marriage of the daughter: and when the
<PB N="107" REF="55"> heire is up, he is &s;old rather than married; a great portion is all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n all, and the father mu&s;t have it: &s;o hee is paid many times more than all is worth hee parts with to his &s;onne.</P>
<P N="3">3 Thirdly, &s;uch as &s;ay that all is long of children, yet marke &s;uch, and if one or two of &s;ixe or &s;even die, they are rather more covetous and hard than before. There is &s;o much &s;aved, and &s;ome nece&s;&s;ary laying out bar|red, and the more one doth &s;ave, the more he may &s;till. The rich <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Luk. 12. 16.</NOTE> churle that was as cove|tous&punc; as ever hee could hold, had no children: &s;o meanes the text by the&s;e words, <HI>Then</HI> <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 20.</NOTE> <HI>who&s;e &s;hall tho&s;e things bee which thou ha&s;t provided?</HI> So that Hold-fa&s;t &s;poken <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 4. 8. P&s;al. 39. 6.</NOTE> of, who was never &s;atisfied, had no child nor brother. And therefore 'tis a meere mi&s;take for men to thinke they &s;ave the paring of their nailes for their children, when wee finde that
<PB N="108" REF="56"> this <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg">Qui hoc morbo pre|muntur, &amp; vitam paren|tum &s;enum graviter fe|runt, &amp; dulce illud, &amp; na|turae &s;uavi&s;&s;i|mum libero|rum donum, grave &amp; mo|le&s;tum e&s;&s;e cen&s;ent: un|de factum e&s;t, ut multi &s;terilitatem ux orum emerint, ac naturam orbam effecerint, qui et&s;i filios non interfecerunt natos, attamen ne omnino na&s;cerentur effecerunt. <HI>Chry&s;. Hom. 29. in. Matt. 8.</HI></NOTE> wicked humor doth not onely make brother &s;icke of brother, &s;i&s;ter &s;icke of &s;i&s;ter, children &s;icke of their father, but even parents &s;icke of their children: and the be&s;t comfort that many parents have when their children are dead and bu|ried is, that there is one cared for, and &s;o much &s;aved.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="9" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 9.</HI> A tryall of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e in us, how farre forth it may bee &s;aid to prevaile.</HEAD>
<P>ALas the day, it is wofull to &s;ee how all &s;orts of men deny them&s;elves to be faulty in this &s;inne, wherein they are mo&s;t faulty. Aske the young man, &amp; he knowes not what it means to be
<PB N="109" REF="56"> covetous; his toy takes him an|other way, hee wonders what you meane to aske him any &s;uch que&s;tion. Aske the aged man, and though by rea&s;on of feares and melancholy he is mo&s;t &s;ub|ject to this di&s;ea&s;e, to make his riches his maintenance, his <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 30. 7.</NOTE> <HI>&s;trong mountaine,</HI> yet he denies all, and he (for&s;ooth) hath but a little time to live, and a little will now &s;erve his turne, &s;ith he is even at his journies end; and why &s;hould he be covetous <HI>now?</HI> it is too late now. And indeed becau&s;e he is now pa&s;t getting, therefore hee is now the more eager after &s;aving; and yet he mu&s;t not bee thought to bee worldly (not he.) Come to the poore man, and what &s;hould he be covetous of? Alas, he hath little or nothing about him. Come to the rich man, and he hath enough (as he &s;aith) and why &s;hould hee bee covetous? though 'tis but from the teeth outward that hee &s;aith <HI>hee hath
<PB N="110" REF="57"> enough,</HI> who hath never enough; and the more he hath, the more he would have: and looke how many thou&s;and he hath, &s;o many thou&s;and he wants. This is not <HI>Jacobs</HI> enough, but <HI>E&s;aus</HI> e|nough, which albeit in the En|gli&s;h the word (enough) be in both, yet in the originall the words differ; which &s;hewes that the &s;en&s;e in tho&s;e two brethren was different al&s;o. Some purge them&s;elves, for that they can &s;pend with the be&s;t; but this is nothing: for the <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Luke 16.</NOTE> Churle of all Churles could and did finde in his heart to fare royally, and &s;pend like a young Prince on his back and belly; and like another <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Suet. in Nero. c. 30.</NOTE> <HI>Nero</HI> he was in his change of apparrell, a new &s;uit for every day, and yet a covetous wretch, a meere earth-worme, not a crumme for <HI>Lazarus.</HI> Others thinke they &s;tand cleere, becau&s;e they let others alone with that which they have; but this &s;erves not: for <HI>Dives</HI> is in <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Luke 16. 23.</NOTE> Hell, and
<PB N="111" REF="57"> his enditement did pa&s;&s;e again&s;t him, not for taking any thing from any man, but for that he did not <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Luke 16. ver. 21.</NOTE> di&s;tribute of his owne to the &s;icke and poore. The truth is, we are all too worldly given, and this &s;inne is in us all, we are more or le&s;&s;e all of us &s;ick of it, and we have need of a Re|deemer, and to &s;tand under mer|cy for the pardon and cure of this &s;inne; and he that &s;aith he hath no covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e in him is a lyar, and if he per&s;i&s;t in this conceit after conviction, fare|well to him: this canker will gangren his &s;oule, and eate him out for ever. Wee mu&s;t all cry him mercy, and confe&s;&s;e our &s;elves to be guilty; but yet all are not totally under this cor|ruption: where it is and reignes, there the e&s;tate is naught. Where it is, and mole&s;ts indeed, but reignes not, there the e&s;tate is good for the maine, and will grow better; there is comfort and hope, and &s;uch are in Chri&s;t,
<PB N="112" REF="58"> and may and &s;hall come to good.</P>
<P>But how &s;hall I know whe|ther it reignes in me or not?</P>
<P N="1">1. Fir&s;t, if I u&s;e all the means to be convinced, that &s;uch &s;aving is covetou&s;nes: though &s;uch a man hath much neerne&s;&s;e in him, yet the &s;inne is not impu|ted to him; it reignes not be|cau&s;e he &s;ees it not. Many will take nothing fro~ others, becau&s;e they thinke it the way that o|thers &s;hall take nothing from them; but yet they give nothing to others, and thinke no hurt of it for want of light. They &s;ee that to be a &s;inne to take from others by way of inju&s;tice, but they &s;ee not this to be a &s;inne not to give to others by way of mercy, it be|ing much ea&s;ier to bee convin|ced of a &s;in of commi&s;&s;ion than of omi&s;&s;ion. In this ca&s;e it reigns not for want of &s;ight, &s;ith the want of &s;ight is not for want of will to &s;ee it to be a &s;inne, but for want of light.</P>
<PB N="113" REF="58">
<P>Secondly, if grace doth make as grieve at the heart after wee have played a covetous pranke, and failed in our duty this way; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ut when we have done what we ought in giving, and parting with &s;ome of what we have, Sin and Sathan cannot make us &s;or|ry; or if we feele &s;ome &s;orrow <HI>cut of our fle&s;h</HI> for parting with our goods, yet we reflect upon our &s;orrow, and this &s;orrow for doing a duty will co&s;t us much and much &s;orrow: Here cove|tou&s;nes is indeed, but is not in its reigne; it is in us, but we are not in it. In this ca&s;e we are in the Spirit, not in the Fle&s;h, al|beit wee have much, yea too much fle&s;h in us. Here we may cry, Victory, victory.</P>
<P>'Tis danger the &s;inne doth reigne,</P>
<P>1. Fir&s;t, when a man doth make much of &s;uch phra&s;es, and lickes his lips at &s;uch places as &s;peake of frugality, and have a &s;hew to excu&s;e his &s;inne; but
<PB N="114" REF="59"> places that are flat again&s;t him, and cleere again&s;t his &s;inne he cannot abide, and would bee glad if there were no places i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Word again&s;t covetou&s;nes, and had rather than any thing God had not forbidden this &s;in; and were he to make a Bible, he would leave covetou&s;nes out, that he might enter upon all co|vetous practices, and his con|&s;cience &s;it at quiet. This is a bad &s;igne.</P>
<P N="2">2. Secondly, when a man (for&s;ooth) prayes again&s;t cove|tou&s;nes (what el&s;e?) but never prayes that hee may be liberall and bountifull. This &s;hewes too much bad bloud.</P>
<P N="3">3. Thirdly, when a man doth u&s;e means to increa&s;e his greedy de&s;ire; as a man may be &s;aid to be a drunkard in a high degree, when a man doth u&s;e meanes to provoke him&s;elfe to drinking, and to tice downe his liquor. So when a man doth nouri&s;h and feed his covetous humour, doth
<PB N="115" REF="59"> not &s;et again&s;t it, but doth all for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t, as to take all our delight up <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n covetous talke, in covetous company: and in this ca&s;e it is pa&s;t que&s;tion, but that covetou&s;|nes for the pre&s;ent doth ma&s;ter him, and reigne in him.</P>
<P N="4">4. Fourthly, when covetou&s;|nes doth grow again&s;t the means to cure it, then all is like to be naught. We &s;ay a di&s;ea&s;e is pa&s;t cure, when it is <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Mar. 5. 26.</NOTE> wor&s;e, and the party is &s;icker after the u&s;e of the phy&s;icke which doth u&s;e to cure it. And &s;o when the meanes, which &s;hould, and (were wee ought) would cure covetou&s;nes, doth rather occa&s;ion the &s;inne to be more &s;trong, and ripen the humour; here covetou&s;nes is in its power: the more the Mini|&s;ter doth labour again&s;t it, the more we <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Pro. 23. 4.</NOTE> <HI>labour to be rich.</HI> God doth correct us, and let us bloud, and yet wee grow wor&s;e; hee cro&s;&s;eth us in &s;ome lo&s;&s;es in our goods; we lo&s;e them a purpo&s;e becau&s;e we love them, and yet
<PB N="116" REF="60"> wee &s;tudy not how to be more mercifull and pittifull, but how to licke our &s;elves whole againe by &s;aving, how to picke up our crummes again by being neerer than ever; whereas the blow was given in our e&s;tate to cha|&s;ti&s;e us, becau&s;e wee were too neere before. Again, God comes neerer, takes away a wife, a child, becau&s;e wee &s;ay we are &s;o <HI>hard,</HI> a purpo&s;e to provide for wife and children: and do wee mend upon it? Alas no, but ten times <HI>harder</HI> after wife, or child, or children are dead. We be|come more covetous, and &s;tand more upon a penny than before. The fewer children the le&s;&s;e expence, and wee become more troubled for expences, and all our care is to &s;pend le&s;&s;e and lay up more to the heape &s;till. This is wor&s;t of all, when wee are in&s;tructed and corrected too in the very kinde, and yet <HI>will not learne righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, I&s;a.</HI> 26. 9. This is a dangerous ca&s;e,
<PB N="117" REF="60"> and &s;uch are in danger to be ea|ten up of the world, and to bee choaked with the cares of this life. But where the meanes doe pro&s;per, &amp; do weaken and le&s;&s;en the di&s;ea&s;e, though it bee but a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oore little at a time, and there <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s ever a &s;triving and a groaning <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat wee come on in liberality <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o fa&s;ter, and we are troubled <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat we can be no better in this matter, and yet doe &s;tay our hearts, that Chri&s;t dyed for us, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd did do better, and that in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">im there was no covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e: <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ere is matter and cau&s;e of com|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ort. Humbled we mu&s;t be, be|cau&s;e there is &s;o much covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e in us &s;till: but comforted we may be, becau&s;e there is no more.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="10" TYPE="section">
<PB N="118" REF="61">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 10.</HI> Helpes again&s;t temptations and doubts ari&s;ing from co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HEAD>
<P>WHen a man is once a thorow Chri&s;tian, and growne ripe and &s;trong in faith, the pa&s;&s;ions and humors of co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e will pay him home. What, thou a Chri&s;tian! Is there any hope that ever thou &s;hould&s;t come to heaven, that ha&s;t &s;uch pa&s;&s;ions of love, and affection to the ea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">h? And &s;ure it is a ba&s;e humor, and fights &s;trongly a|gain&s;t the principles of our faith, that wee that profe&s;&s;e heaven &s;hould practi&s;e &s;o much of the earth: and our motions to, and in this veine doe trouble us the more, becau&s;e they move with too much con&s;ent and content. The way to &s;ettle the heart is:</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t to con&s;ider that more or le&s;&s;e, there will be &s;ome dregs
<PB N="119" REF="61"> of this di&s;ea&s;e in us all till wee die. Nothing will kill this di&s;|ea&s;e quite but death. It is a &s;inne that lies &s;o clo&s;e, that the elder we grow, the more it will worke upon the advantage of age, and we mu&s;t di&s;contentedly be con|tented to be exerci&s;ed with it while we are here: and what is in all, we mu&s;t beare it when we feele it in us. Are we better than all the world? wee get &s;ome ad|vantage out of Rea&s;on, &s;ome out of age, &s;ome out of example a|gain&s;t &s;ome other &s;innes: but for covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, Rea&s;on (as it is in us) is for it; age is a friend to it; and for example, all the world is &s;icke of the world. As for religi|on, the power of it is as much a|gain&s;t this &s;inne as any, but the profe&s;&s;ion of it may &s;tand with it as long as it keepes within the bounds of lawfull contract: (but a man may bee very covetous in keeping and holding his owne together). And for <HI>&s;hame,</HI> it daunts other &s;innes; but for
<PB N="120" REF="62"> this &s;inne it hath the voice of the time, and applau&s;e of the world, and therefore wee mu&s;t not be out of heart, but thanke God that we have a minde and an heart &s;et again&s;t it.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, a man may come to &s;ome good degrees of much faith and &s;anctification, and yet bee too too worldly, love the world, and the things of the world too much. They were <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2. 15.</NOTE> Fathers, to wit, not children, but men in Chri&s;t, to whom Saint <HI>John</HI> gave coun&s;ell not to love the world, nor the things of the world. So that a man may bee a Father in Chri&s;t, and yet love the world too much. The Apo&s;tles were poore, and &s;o had an advantage again&s;t cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e; were bred up at Chir&s;ts feete, were at his elbow, &s;till heard him &s;peake much and often again&s;t covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &s;aw him in a poore e&s;tate in his own per&s;on, tru&s;ted one that he knew to be a theefe with the keeping
<PB N="121" REF="62"> of his pur&s;e, lived in a time of per&s;ecution, &s;tood in danger of their heads every houre, and yet <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Luk. 12. 15.</NOTE> Chri&s;t &s;aw what their di&s;ea&s;e was, as it is plaine by the phy|&s;icke hee did pre&s;cribe them, <HI>Take heed and beware of cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> He doubles his words, to &s;hew in what danger they were of this di&s;ea&s;e; they had the roote of it in their fle&s;h. And he doth not bid them take heed of it, as though they had no co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e in them at all, but he meanes they mu&s;t take heed it grow not upon them, that it bring not forth fruit, cur&s;ed and bitter fruit. So that wee mu&s;t hold up in the mid&s;t of all that Sathan can object again&s;t our e&s;tate, by rea&s;on that wee are yet &s;o worldly; for that better men than wee, who al&s;o lived in freer times, were pe&s;tered with this di&s;ea&s;e: they are in heaven, and &s;o &s;hall wee bee. Alas, our dayes are dayes of peace and plenty, and wee know not what &s;uch
<PB N="122" REF="63"> tempe&s;ts and &s;orrowes meane as the Apo&s;tles did runne thorow. And therefore it is no marvell in ca&s;e we be followed with this &s;orry gue&s;t wor&s;e than they were. An&s;wer all with this, Others did well, and came to good for all this di&s;ea&s;e; it did not damne them, it &s;hall not damne mee.</P>
<P N="3">3 If wee have asked our par|don, we are &s;afe. For &s;inne par|doned is as no &s;inne. And what if wee fall into the acts of it a|fre&s;h, and the &s;ame acts too? that is not to be wondered at &s;o much in this &s;inne, &s;ith it is in the habite within, a &s;inne that is as much naturall as any, and &s;tands in motions within rather than in acts &amp; actions without. Say, I have asked pardon, I doe beleeve my pardon, I am &s;afe.</P>
<P N="4">4 Fourthly, if we have power again&s;t it. What power? not &s;uch as wee would have, nor &s;uch perhaps as &s;ome others have. What of that? <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 119. 36.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe was faine to pray hard that God
<PB N="123" REF="63"> would encline his heart to his Law, and not to covertou&s;ne&s;&s;e. It &s;erves to comfort us, if wee have an heart that can hate it, and a judgement that can con|demne it. For the power of &s;inne &s;tands in the love of it. If wee love it not, it is enough: For love will have its way at the la&s;t. In ca&s;e then that wee hate it and abhorre it, and the oftner the motion is made, wee reject it the more, and the fa&s;ter it comes upon us, wee doe hate it the more, and had rather than any thing wee could rid our hearts more of it than we do, all is well. This is enough to carry us to heaven. And what if &s;ome|times wee are in a maze, and do &s;tudy, and plod on in covetous prankes a great time, and feele no actuall oppo&s;ing within all the time? (actuall, I &s;ay, for vir|tuall oppo&s;ing there is) yet if af|ter wee come to &s;ettle and to thinke of the matter in cold blood, we groane, and doe looke
<PB N="124" REF="64"> backe on our owne thoughts with great indignation, hap|py wee, we are not to bee cal|led covetous men. It is not the often comming of the a&s;|&s;ault and motion, but the end and u&s;e of it which comes after, that &s;hewes all. It may bee it is &s;uffered to tempt us often that wee may conquer the lu&s;t often.</P>
<P>4 Fourthly, de&s;ire to be di&s;|&s;olved, and to bee &s;et free from this choaking &s;inne; a &s;igne of great hatred again&s;t a &s;inne is, when we had rather die than be pe&s;tred and haunted with &s;uch a gho&s;t. 'Tis a devill, and it will fright a godly man: 'tis an An|gell of light &s;ometimes, and preacheth to us that it is good to &s;ave, a vertue, a duty to have wherewith to doe good, to pro|vide for ones owne, to leave &s;omewhat to children: and therefore if ever we cry out with S. <HI>Paul,</HI> let it bee in this ca&s;e, I de&s;ire to be <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Phil. 1. 23. <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, &s;olvere nau|tarum in&s;tar.</NOTE> <HI>let loo&s;e,</HI> to be free
<PB N="125" REF="64"> from this &s;inne, and to bee with Chri&s;t Je&s;us. We can &s;igh after death to bee free from cro&s;&s;es, but not from covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. We rather would live to feed this di&s;ea&s;e, and to get more goods. Ah cur&s;ed companion! Ah dan|gerous &s;nare! Learne of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> who did not de&s;ire to die to bee free from per&s;ecutions: he did rather glory in them, and de&s;ire to live that he might &s;uf|fer more; but hee did de&s;ire to die to bee free from &s;inne. Wee de&s;ire to live to &s;inne longer, he to die to &s;inne no more: <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Ro. 7. 24.</NOTE> <HI>Ah wretched man that I am, who &s;hall free mee from this body of death!</HI> Ah wretched man, who &s;hall deliver mee from this &s;inning &s;inne! Hee that can &s;ay this, is in a good e&s;tate. When covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e and &s;aving doe plea&s;e, there is great danger: when it doth vexe and di&s;quiet ones minde, <HI>not by rea&s;on of the cares of it, but the guilt of it,</HI> &s;uch a man may live and die up|on
<PB N="126" REF="65"> on it, and venter his &s;oule on it, that hee &s;hall goe to heaven. I &s;peake not that it is lawfull to wi&s;h for death &s;imply, but with a tacite &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to the will of God; nor to bee &s;et free from the troubles, and feares, and cares of this &s;inne, nor that we would not conflict and wre&s;tle any longer; for this were to &s;erve our &s;elves, as not willing to bee at any paines, or to beare any &s;orrow: wee mu&s;t rather bee content to be in the combat again&s;t &s;inne as much, and as long as God will have us: But now to de&s;ire to be rid of this corrupt affection in hatred to it, as it is a &s;inne; and though wee feele &s;ome carnall love to the world in us &s;till, yet <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">This refle|cting on our &s;elves for lo|ving the world is the greate&s;t ha|ting the world that is, for it is infinite as all reflect acts are infinite one upon another &s;till <HI>Scot. Coll. 6.</HI></NOTE> we doe not love this love, but hate it mo&s;t extremely; and wee would rather than our lives bee gone hence, that we might &s;inne this &s;inne no longer; for that it hinders us like another clogge in doing God &s;ervice, and makes us that wee cannot run the way
<PB N="127" REF="65"> of Gods Commandements, and as it is a great and foule di&s;ho|nour to God: In this &s;en&s;e hee that can de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved, to be where covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is no more, that man is in an happy ca&s;e; and that chiefly, if that we be &s;uch as do much feare death, and the feare of death be &s;trong in us; and yet we had rather die than &s;inne, and doe rather chu&s;e to die than live that we may be freed from this lu&s;t: for certaine here is great power again&s;t co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. But for a man who doth not much feare death, for &s;uch an one to wi&s;h to die rather than to live in this world among &s;o many worldly lu&s;ts, is good, I confe&s;&s;e, but not &s;o good a thing, nor &s;o good a &s;igne as it is when one is more &s;trongly afraid of death, and yet death is nothing to him, but doth rather &s;eeke it than &s;hunne it, and all becau&s;e of this &s;inne. He feares death very much, but hee feares this divell covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e much more. Here
<PB N="128" REF="66"> is faith: here is a picture of libe|rality.</P>
<P N="5">5 La&s;tly, if we can pray again&s;t this &s;inne, and the fruite of it, that wee had rather bee poore than covetous, have nothing than love any of the things of the world, and not for forme, but from the heart, can begge of God pardon and power, then we are not in any danger, by rea&s;on of the law of this &s;in (yet) in our members. Many would faine be rich, but would not be cove<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ous, and doe pray again&s;t the &s;in, but not again&s;t the de&s;ire of riches. They dare not &s;ay as <HI>Agur, Give mee neither poverty nor riches, Prov.</HI> 30. 8. Alas aske th&egrave;&s;e, and they will tell you, that they doe thinke that they cannot po&s;&s;ibly be rich except they be covetous, and that there is no thriving without it: &amp; yet they will pray not to be covetous, but yet they hold this fa&s;t, that they would &amp; mean to be rich; whereas it doth imply, and it is in our Engli&s;h a
<PB N="129" REF="66"> contradiction to &s;ay <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6. 9.</NOTE> <HI>I will bee rich,</HI> and yet not couetous. And therefore if wee meane to have ground of comfort, wee mu&s;t pray again&s;t the &s;inne without all re&s;ervation, and leave it to God to di&s;po&s;e of us and our e&s;tate for outward things, as hee plea&s;eth, and &s;ay, Lord, ra|ther than I &s;hould-bee covetous give mee not riches, ay take ri|ches from me, &s;o thou take cove|tou&s;nes away from me withall. This is right, and hee that can pray &s;o, and doth it from the heart, his heart is upright, and God will bee his friend, and comfort him again&s;t all his in|ward &s;orrowes, which doe &s;o urge him, for that hee feeles covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e worke &s;o migh|tily in his fle&s;h. Many feele no trouble, for that they are igno|rant, and doe &s;ee nothing, and doe thinke well of it that their heart is after the world, they thinke they doe God good &s;ervice to gather riches toge|ther;
<PB N="130" REF="67"> but this is a dangerous depth of error. But for us, let us &s;ee it (if any thing) to be a &s;inne, and a mighty &s;in. Let us feele it, and &s;pare not to worke much upon our hearts with godly &s;or|row. Let us &s;ee that wee pray, and lye at God again&s;t it day after day: and then when Sa|tan &s;aith, Thou art not an up|right man becau&s;e thou art cove|tous, an&s;ver, I am, I am: for co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e hath not me, though I have too much of it; it is in mee but not of mee. I hate it, I pray again&s;t it, I take phy&s;icke again&s;t it; It is not in mee in power, and I care not how &s;oone death doth come, that it may not be in me at all. I with <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 119. 113.</NOTE> <HI>Da|uid have</HI> vaine thoughts, <HI>but I hate</HI> them; and that is enough.</P>
<P><HI>Object.</HI> But I &s;ee many can part with their money better than I can.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1 On them&s;elves they may, but not on God; and this proves nothing, &s;ith thou can&s;t
<PB N="131" REF="67"> part with as much or more than they, on the Lord.</P>
<P>2 On good u&s;es al&s;o perhaps they doe give more than thou do&s;t, who are yet carnall men, but it is to be &s;eene, to be pray|&s;ed and commended of men, it is not to be &s;eene and allowed of God: and therefore the left hand mu&s;t know what the right hand doth, el&s;e nothing will drop from them: But now though we cannot give &s;o much and &s;o often, yet that we give is as in Gods &s;ight, and in the feare and to the glory of God; and we take all occa&s;ions that are of|fred in &s;ecret, and one hand &s;hall not bee acquainted with what the other gives: here le&s;&s;e given comes to more, &s;ith it is to &s;erve God, than more given when it is given to &s;erve our &s;elves: and a man is not more willing to &s;erve him&s;elfe in any thing more than in reaching to him|&s;elfe the prai&s;e of men: and wee dote more after the prai&s;e
<PB N="132" REF="68"> of men to be counted and called <HI>liberall, mercifull</HI> and <HI>bounti|full,</HI> than in all vertues againe what&s;oever.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. IV.</HI> Of Lying.</HEAD>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 1.</HI> The greatne&s;&s;e of the &s;inne.</HEAD>
<P>_GOD is not onely true, but truth it &s;elfe, and to lie is a &s;inne con|trary not onely to the revealed will, but after a &s;ort to the nature of God: I &s;ay (af|ter a &s;ort) for properly God be|ing infinite, and there being nothing infinite but GOD, nothing can bee contrary to the nature of GOD, &s;ith no|thing can be contrary to that which is infinite, but what is al&s;o infinite. Be&s;ides, one thing can bee properly contrary
<PB N="133" REF="68"> but to one thing. Wheras there|fore lying is contrary to veraci|tie and truth in man, it cannot in &s;trict and proper &s;peaking, be &s;aid to be contrary to the nature of God too: but herein we &s;peak after the common manner of men; and thus we meane when wee &s;ay that lying is contrary not onely ro the expre&s;&s;ed will, but to the nature of God.</P>
<P>God can kill though he can|not commit murther. Hee can command us to take away, as the life, &s;o the goods of another, he being Lord of life and all; as hee did the I&s;raelites to take a|way the jewels of the <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Exod. 11. 2.</NOTE> Egypti|ans (though perhaps the&s;e jewels proved after a &s;nare to them in the matter of the <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">Exo. 32. 4.</NOTE> golden calfe) but yet <HI>God cannot lye,</HI> nor give command to any man to &s;peake that which is fal&s;e: in many other &s;innes the act is good, the obliquity is naught, here in a lye the very act is an obliquity; a fal&s;e matter is a lye, bee the
<PB N="134" REF="69"> manner what it will. It is not &s;aid hee will not lye, but the termes be flat, <HI>Hee cannot lie;</HI> for what&s;oever God can doe, were it done by him, mu&s;t needs bee good and ju&s;tly done, other|wi&s;e he &s;hould have power to be unju&s;t. His nature is &s;o again&s;t a lie, that he cannot commit a lie, nor command us to &s;peake that which in the matter is fal&s;e, but yet he can permit us to lye, and thus to permit us to lye is good and ju&s;t. Note, that God cannot be &s;aid to &s;inne, being under no binding law of any Superiour, yea 'tis again&s;t his nature to &s;peake that which is fal&s;e, and things do and mu&s;t needs work according to the fir&s;t principles of their nature. <HI>Hee cannot lie,</HI> not becau&s;e he is impotent and weake, but becau&s;e hee is not weake but omnipotent. And as wee hate that mo&s;t, which is mo&s;t contrary to our humour: &s;o God hates a lie as a thing con|trary to the truth, and to his na|ture,
<PB N="135" REF="69"> as well as again&s;t his will. All which doth prove, that to lie is to &s;inne a great &s;in in it &s;elfe: yet by rea&s;on of &s;ome circum|&s;tances, partly in the matter of a lie, partly in our nature, it is a &s;in that u&s;eth not to &s;mite hard on our con&s;ciences, till we come to be very &s;pirituall, and much &s;anctified: but then it cuts deep, not only becau&s;e it is a very &s;in|full &s;inne, but al&s;o for that it is a very <HI>ba&s;e</HI> &s;inne. For &s;inne is then very faulty, when is is farre off from the nature of God: as that is mo&s;t cold, which is far|the&s;t off from the fountaine of heate; mo&s;t darke, which is mo&s;t remote from the Sunne the fir&s;t light. Now this &s;inne of lying being farre di&s;tant from the na|ture of God, as being (in the &s;en&s;e I &s;hewed) quite contrary to it; this makes it to be in the eye of a &s;uper-&s;pirituall man very odious: and when it is once layd on &s;uch a con&s;cience, though it grind but &s;lowly, yet
<PB N="136" REF="70"> it grinds &s;urely and &s;orely. Wee reade that the divell is the fa|ther of lies, <HI>Joh.</HI> 8. 44. Is he not the father of all &s;ins? Yes, but yet there is &s;omething in it that he is &s;aid in a &s;trict phra&s;e of &s;peech to bee the father of lies, which is for that hee brought &s;inne in|to the world by the way of lying at the fir&s;t, and doth &s;till main|taine and propagate his King|dome by nothing &s;o much as by lies. All the corruption that is in us came from Sathan, but yet this &s;inne of forging and lying is from the divell more than any, ta&s;tes of the divell more than a|ny. Hence <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Rom 3. 4.</NOTE> every man is a lier, &amp; &s;o every man is every &s;inner el&s;e; but in a &s;pecial maner every man is a lier, for that the very fir&s;t de|pravation of our nature came in by lying, &amp; our nature doth ta&s;te much &s;till of this old blocke to bee given to lying, the divell breathing into us a &s;trong breath to &s;tirre us up to lying. Hence no <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 58. 4.</NOTE> &s;ooner do we &s;peake but we
<PB N="137" REF="70"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ie. As we are in body &s;ubject to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll di&s;ea&s;es, but yet &s;ome to one <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ickne&s;&s;e rather than to ano|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her: &s;o in the &s;oule all are apt <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nough to all &s;inne, and &s;ome ra|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her to one <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">Cic. Tu&s;c&punc; 4.</NOTE> vice than to ano|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">her, but all are much inclined <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o lying. A lier then is as like <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he divell as ever he can looke; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s unlike to God as ever he can <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e. So God is &s;aid to hate a lying <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ongue, <HI>Prov.</HI> 6. 17. and wee know what S. <HI>John</HI> &s;aith of &s;uch <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s doe make or love lies, <HI>Apoc. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">2. 15. Lying lips are an abomi|nation to the Lord, Prov.</HI> 12. 21. Hee that loves lies is, what? an abomination, the very height of all di&s;ta&s;te. To whom? not to men, not to Kings, but to the Lord. Which is to bee noted, for that wee can beleeve that God loves the godly, but that he hates the wicked wee are loath to be|leeve. Moreover, it is a &s;in that u|&s;eth to be done without (almo&s;t) any temptation; out comes a lie without any occa&s;ion, ay ma|ny
<PB N="138" REF="71"> times many have &s;uch a veine, that they will lie to their owne hurt, when to &s;peake the truth would &s;erve their turnes better, and make for their ends more: yet they are &s;o fooli&s;h, and &s;o wicked, that way, that for their tongues and hearts they cannot chu&s;e but lie. It is a &s;inne &s;oone acted, it is but to &s;peake a word or two. And for &s;wearing, others may know when wee &s;weare, but for lying men make the bolder, becau&s;e it is not ea&s;ie to finde them out in a lie. And when a man hath u&s;ed his tongue to a cu&s;tome in lying, it is hard to forbeare, &s;ith when it is come to an u&s;e once there are two things to bee left, naturall corruption and habi|tuall cu&s;tome.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<PB N="139" REF="71">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 2.</HI> What lying is.</HEAD>
<P>ALie (to &s;peake properly) is a &s;ignification of that which is fal&s;e, with a will to de|ceive the eares of the hearer with that which is not true. So that Ironicall &s;peeches, and &s;ome Hyperbolicall phra&s;es are not very lies. Faining, or &s;imulation is not ever lying, when it is only diver&s;e <HI>from</HI> the truth, and not contrary <HI>to</HI> the truth. So parents are not <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Perk. on Gal. 1. 20.</NOTE> thought to lie, when they doe affright their children on ju&s;t occa&s;ions with <HI>the bloo|dy man, the beare, the bulbegger.</HI> To conceale &s;ome of the truth is no lie. <HI>Abraham</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Gen. 12. 13.</NOTE> &s;aid <HI>Sarah</HI> was his &s;i&s;ter, and &s;o &s;hee was, but he had lied, if hee had &s;aid &s;hee was not his wife. <HI>Jacob</HI> is noted in the Scripture to be a <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Gen. 33. 14.</NOTE> plaine man, no di&s;&s;embler, yet what &s;aith he? Let my Lord pa&s;&s;e on
<PB N="140" REF="72"> before his &s;ervant, untill I come unto my Lord unto Seir; yet he never meant to come to Seir, nor in the&s;e words doth he pro|mi&s;e to come to Seir. <HI>So then thou &s;halt &s;ay</HI> (&s;aith the King to <HI>Jeremiah) I pre&s;ented my &s;up|plication before the King, that hee would not cau&s;e mee to re|turne to Jonathans hou&s;e to die there, Jer.</HI> 38. 26. And no que&s;ti|on thus hee did; but by the Kings command hee was not to tell to the Princes the re&s;t which pa&s;&s;ed between the King and him. None of all this doth make for equivocation (a &s;infull practi&s;e crept into the Church now in the latter end of the world). It is wi&s;edome when it is for the glory of God, and the good of all, to hide &s;ometime &s;ome of the truth; we are &s;o far from being to tell all, that wee are bound to the contrary, as ne|ver to &s;peake any thing that is fal&s;e, &s;o not ever to out with all that is true. Nor doe I ju&s;tifie
<PB N="141" REF="72"> <HI>Davids</HI> practi&s;e in faining him|&s;elfe to bee out of his minde, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 21. 11. This was not fit for any man, much le&s;&s;e for a man of his quality, for to &s;ave a thou&s;and lives. Had <HI>David</HI> firmely beleeved that GOD could, and would deliver him from that danger hee was in, which hee ought to have done, hee having a promi&s;e that hee mu&s;t be King after <HI>Saul, David</HI> needed not to have done as hee did, and God did looke on his upright heart, and did &s;et him free; and <HI>David</HI> did on that oc|ca&s;ion make the 34th P&s;alme.</P>
<P>Albeit it bee lawfull to con|ceale &s;ome of the truth to doe another good, yet wee mu&s;t not lie to &s;ave <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Job. 13. 7.</NOTE> Gods honour. Offi|cious lies be &s;innes, and were it po&s;&s;ible that one by lying might &s;ave a mans &s;oule, yet lie hee &s;hould not. A man is not to ca&s;t away his owne &s;oule to &s;ave an|others, nor to &s;inne again&s;t God for any mans &s;ake. Many mea&s;ure
<PB N="142" REF="73"> matters by the good or hurt they doe: and when by accident a lie may &s;erve the turne, then the lie goes for a vertue; and in the opinion of men he is &s;o farre from &s;inning who tells an offici|ous lie, that in their conceit hee &s;innes, except hee lie &s;uch a li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. This is an error, for &s;inne doth deprive us of a greater good, than all the po&s;&s;ible good it may bee thought to bring unto the party whom one thinkes to helpe by a lie: yet 'tis certaine that 'tis be&s;ides the nature of a lie to doe any good to any: and <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Judg. 14 15. 16.</NOTE> <HI>Dalilah</HI> did lie to &s;ave her fa|thers hou&s;e from burning, but wee &s;ee that her fathers hou&s;e was burned. And <HI>Abraham</HI> tels a tale to &s;ave his life, and the end was that it proved a dangerous occa&s;ion to venter life and all. The way to have &s;aved all, was to have &s;aid &s;he was his wife. Plain Engli&s;h is u&s;ually be&s;t and mo&s;t beneficiall on every &s;ide. Being asked by a lawfull Magi&s;trate, a
<PB N="143" REF="73"> plaine and direct an&s;wer had beene be&s;t, and in likelihood have &s;tood him in be&s;t &s;tead; for the King would &s;ooner have ab|&s;tained from his wife than his &s;i&s;ter, <HI>Gen.</HI> 12. 18, 19. and 20. 5. 9. and 26. 10. It was very ill to en|danger <HI>Sarahs</HI> cha&s;tity, which was done more by &s;aying &s;he was his &s;i&s;ter, than that &s;hee was his wife. God that pre&s;erved them notwith&s;tanding their di&s;&s;imula|tion, would &s;ure have pre&s;erved them in plaine &s;peaking. Againe, if they would make no con&s;ci|ence of murther, is it like they of that land would make any con|&s;cience of adultery? &s;o that we &s;ee faining u&s;eth to prove but a &s;orry &s;hift.</P>
<DIV4 TYPE="subsection">
<HEAD>Whether one may not make u&s;e of the lie of another.</HEAD>
<P>Fir&s;t, I &s;ay in the generall that it is no &s;inne to make u&s;e of the &s;inne of another; as the taker of money to u&s;e in ca&s;e of his true
<PB N="144" REF="74"> need is no way a partaker of the &s;in of the u&s;urer, who &s;ins in not lending <HI>gratis.</HI> For this is not to induce another to &s;in, but rather to occa&s;ion him to fall into the le&s;&s;er &s;in, that is, that he rather &s;in the &s;in of u&s;ury than of homicide &amp; undoing another: And this is lawfull, for the man is &s;uppo&s;ed to bee in danger of peri&s;hing by extreme need, in ca&s;e hee have not money to &s;erve his turne. <HI>Jacob</HI> did require an oath of <HI>La|ban, Gen.</HI> 31. and yet <HI>Jacob</HI> did know that <HI>Laban</HI> would &s;weare by his fal&s;e gods; which was a &s;in in <HI>Laban,</HI> but not in <HI>Jacob:</HI> and therefore to aske an oath of one who wee know will depo&s;e by Idols, in and of it &s;elfe is <HI>No &s;in,</HI> which what is it but to make u&s;e of anothers &s;inne? So <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Act. 23. 6.</NOTE> S. <HI>Paul</HI> was not ignorant that the Pha|ri&s;ees and Sadducees would, and mu&s;t &s;inne in falling toge|ther by the eares, yet hee did, and did well in it, when hee ca&s;t a bone betwixt them a pur|po&s;e
<PB N="145" REF="74"> to get his owne liberty. Herein hee did not partake of their &s;in, becau&s;e he knew them to be incorrigible, &amp; &s;et in mon|&s;trous malice. Hee did looke at his own e&s;cape (which he might lawfully &s;eeke) he u&s;ed their un|avoidable corruption to bring about his owne liberty. So that in &s;uch ca&s;es a man may u&s;e things (in others unlawfull) to bring about his lawfull ends. Neither is this to u&s;e unlawfull meanes: For an unlawfull thing may become a lawfull means to purcha&s;e our lawfull de&s;ires. So in our very particular, a man knows another will tel a lie, &amp; by his lie he is like to receive good, or to be put in ca&s;e to doe &s;ome good, as long as one doth not per&s;wade or cau&s;e him to make an excu&s;e, to tell a lie, I thinke it lawfull for one thus to make u&s;e of that humor wee &s;ee in others to faine matters for our good: I doe not put matter of lying in him, nor provoke him, but I doe
<PB N="146" REF="75"> verily thinke that in helping me hee will trip, and u&s;e a fal&s;e tongue. I may make a good u&s;e of his lying lips, chiefly if hee might helpe mee without a lie if he would, but I thinke he will not: his &s;inne is upon him, not on me: I doe onely take oc|ca&s;ion to make u&s;e of his vicious habit of lying. But am I not bound to profe&s;&s;e an outward di&s;like of his lying, and wi&s;h him in any hand to u&s;e no lies?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;.</HI> I am bound to abhorre his lying veine within, and that from the heart, but herein I joyne not with him in the &s;inne; I am not bound to profe&s;&s;e out|ward mi&s;like, and to call upon him to let all alone rather than to lie; for in &s;o doing I &s;hould de&s;troy the end in the meanes, and fru&s;trate my &s;elfe of mine owne intentions.</P>
<P>And for je&s;ting lies they are wor&s;e than officious lies. There is no good meant to any by them. What? to &s;in again&s;t God
<PB N="147" REF="75"> and then to &s;ay <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Pro. 26. 19.</NOTE> <HI>am I not in je&s;t?</HI> It is an evill indeed for a man to &s;port away his &s;oule. There is no je&s;ting with &s;in, &s;in is an edge|toole. Idle words are under a deepe <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Mat. 12. 36.</NOTE> cen&s;ure, and what are idle lies? I confe&s;&s;e pernicious lies are wor&s;t, when there is &s;in again&s;t God, and hurt again&s;t men: but yet your lying je&s;ts are next, and though not &s;o bad as pernicious, yet wor&s;e than offici|ous lies. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ets the text again&s;t <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Eph. 5 4. <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">. <HI>i. e.</HI> the abu&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> je&s;ts, bec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> in <HI>Pauls</HI> time the Greekes cal|led &s;curri|lous je&s;ts <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">.</NOTE> <HI>je&s;ting,</HI> and what then can be &s;aid, when je&s;ting and ly|ing meet together? All (but of all) &s;uch as are given to je&s;ting are to beware of lying in je&s;t, le&s;t they fall into hell in good ear|ne&s;t. Thus we &s;ee that lying is a &s;inne, and what kinde of &s;inne it is.</P>
</DIV4>
</DIV3>
<PB N="148" REF="76">
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD><HI>SECT. 3.</HI> Remedies again&s;t lying, and temptations that way.</HEAD>
<P>THe trouble of minde, which i&s;&s;ues from this &s;in of ly|ing, is not great on weaker Chri&s;tians, becau&s;e it is not &s;een in the true guilt of it: but when once we come to bee able to &s;ee day at a little hole, and to finde out &s;inne in its owne nature, then it goes to the heart of an humbled Chri&s;tian, that he hath lied all maner of lies: then it comes fre&s;h to his minde, that it is a &s;inne flat and direct a|gain&s;t the very nature of God, who is not onely true, but truth; that it is not onely a thing which GOD <HI>will</HI> not doe, but which GOD <HI>cannot</HI> doe. Now hee &s;ees how bad a vice this &s;inne of lying is, and the le&s;&s;e hee thought on it be|fore, the more it bites now,
<PB N="149" REF="76"> that on no occa&s;ion a lie was ready; and it vexeth his righ|teous &s;oule &s;omething al&s;o, that it is &s;o ba&s;e a &s;inne as it is. All &s;ins have a ba&s;ene&s;&s;e in them, but lying is more ba&s;e (al|mo&s;t) than any, either for that it comes from feare (and feare is a ba&s;e pa&s;&s;ion) or for that it tends to cou&s;ening and im|po&s;ture; and this makes this &s;inne, when it is well weigh|ed, to make a wofull crie in the con&s;cience of a much mor|tified and enlightened man.</P>
<P>For remedies again&s;t the cla|mour of this &s;inne, take forth &s;uch rules as the&s;e:</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t, make not this &s;inne of lying wor&s;e than it is. Ma|ny are again&s;t it, as though it were almo&s;t the &s;inne again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t. Thus wee &s;ee mothers will not &s;it downe by it, but pre&s;ently correct their children if they tell them a lie. But for other &s;innes (as bad, though not in our eyes as ba&s;e
<PB N="150" REF="77"> as this) they will make nothing of them: as they can teach their <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Peccatum quod tibi non di&s;pli|cet in filio tuo delectat+te: &s;ed aetas de&s;eruit, non cupiditas. <HI>Aug. in P&s;. 50.</HI></NOTE> children to bee proud, and call upon them to bee fine: <HI>You a gentleman,</HI> and <HI>be thus, do thus, bee once &s;eene in &s;uch beggerly company!</HI> And &s;o for the &s;inne of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, their care is to teach them to &s;ave, to get, to be rich and worldly; never once angry with them for covetous practi&s;es, but doe approve and applaud them: but if a lie fall from their lips, they chide, they fight, as though there were no &s;inne but lying. Is this &s;inceri|ty, to make &s;uch re&s;pects of &s;ins and &s;inning, that one mu&s;t bee condemned, the other com|mended? whereas pride is a farre greater &s;inne than lying, and is the cau&s;e of mo&s;t lies that are told. Lying dies when we die, but pride lives when we are dead. We love to bee prai&s;ed, and commended even after we are dead and buried. I &s;peake not that children are to bee
<PB N="151" REF="77"> let alone without word or blow in this cur&s;ed &s;inne of lying, but wee mu&s;t not teach them to &s;inne other &s;innes, and &s;pend all our zeale on this vice of ly|ing. Hee that <HI>teacheth men &s;o &s;hall bee called the lea&s;t in the Kingdome of heaven, Mat.</HI> 5. 19. To &s;inne is from temptation, to teach another to &s;in hath &s;carce any temptation: therefore the acter of &s;inne is bad, the teacher of any &s;inne is wor&s;e. To teach any, chiefly our children, to &s;inne any &s;in is a great wicked|ne&s;&s;e; and yet it is common to teach them to be worldly (wee call it thrifty). No mother I thinke to bee found, who doth britch her child for &s;paring, and &s;aving: but for lying the very hope of the familie mu&s;t up <HI>toties quoties;</HI> and they doe la&s;h their children more for ly|ing, than for all &s;innes and faults el&s;e; and yet lying is not Idolatry as covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is: a little covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is good, and
<PB N="152" REF="78"> a little lying is unpardonable with them. And againe, to lie commonly is a &s;inne that doth le&s;&s;e hurt to man than covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e doth. I feare the cau&s;e why parents doe &s;o beare their chil|dren for their lies, is not for that they &s;inne again&s;t God when they lie, but becau&s;e it is a di&s;grace to their children to be lyers, and a di&s;grace to them to have their children flap them in the mouth with a lie. What? tell mee a lie! Ile teach you better manners. So that upon the matter 'tis not zeale, but pride that makes women fight &s;o for lying. They can (many of them) be well content to have their children lie to o|thers for an advantage, but not to them&s;elves, and can place them in &s;hops where they make a common trade of lying, but by no meanes they cannot abide that they &s;hould make a lie to them. This is pride to be lamen|ted in the parent rather than the
<PB N="153" REF="78"> lie to be corrected in the child.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, make it as great as it is, as neere as we can. Men have &s;ome temptation to &s;teale for &s;ome profit, to adulteries for &s;ome plea&s;ure: but for to lie (as men doe u&s;e) on &s;light or no oc|ca&s;ions, makes the &s;in the wor&s;e, as being almo&s;t without any temptation. Men think it an or|nament to their &s;peeches: But can that be an ornament to us, which is an abomination to God? S. <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">Jam. 3. 6.</NOTE> <HI>James</HI> tells us that the tongue is a world of iniquity. What? is not the hand a world of iniquity too? Is not that &s;et on fire of hell? It is, but not like the tongue. For the hand hath its bounds, and cannot bee all the towne and country over, cannot reach over heaven &amp; earth: but the tongue is able to walke all the world over, can run over whole countries, pari&s;hes, hou&s;es, doth bite at every body. The tongue is a member apt to move, it turnes up and downe without
<PB N="154" REF="79"> any labour, it is not apt to bee quickly weary. Be&s;ides, man is a &s;ociable creature, and the tongue is an in&s;trument of &s;o|cietie, therefore wee are apt to talke. The hand is not for all &s;innes, but there is no &s;inne but the tongue is for it, can &s;in all manner of &s;innes, is full of deadly poy&s;on, poy&s;ons all the &s;oule, all the body, all the towne, all the country. Other poy&s;on workes by contract, but the ve|nome of the tongue works farre and neere. The uncurable poy|&s;on of a&s;pes, which indeed is<NOTE PLACE="marg">r Rom. 3. 13. A&s;pes poy|&s;on pa&s;t re|medie. <HI>Ari&s;t. hi&s;t. an. 1. 8. 29. Plin. 29. 4,</HI></NOTE> &s;aid to bee under the tongue, is the &s;inne of lying. And it is to &s;ome purpo&s;e that Saint <HI>Paul</HI> making the Anatomie of a na|turall man, doth &s;tand more on the organ, and in&s;trument of &s;peaking, than all the members of the body el&s;e. A boa&s;ting, a railing tongue are bad enough, but a lying tongue is wor&s;t of all, yet a &s;inne very common. The other &s;innes of the tongue
<PB N="155" REF="79"> di&s;cover them&s;elves, this of lying lyes hid. Wherefore we are to u&s;e great heed that we fall not, or lye not in this &s;inne of lying. There is <HI>a way of lying,</HI> as <HI>Da|vids</HI> phra&s;e is, <HI>P&s;.</HI> 19. 29. and by u&s;e we come to a cu&s;tome, which is as another law. Wee mu&s;t looke to our &s;elves in foure ca&s;es e&s;pecially.</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t, when we are baited with &s;ome advantage, when by a lie we may get or &s;ave. Where|as gaine got by a lie will burne our fingers, and burne in our pur&s;es too. Lie not for advan|tage &s;ake. Hee lo&s;eth indeed, who lo&s;eth in the latter end. Now marke the end of your common liers, and a lying tongue many times proves their undoing.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, when it is to a|voyd the ill will of &s;ome great man, or to plea&s;e &s;ome good friend, whom we make and take for an&punc; Idol. In that ca&s;e we are apt to double, to &s;ay, and un&s;ay
<PB N="156" REF="80"> any thing, we know not, we care not what.</P>
<P N="3">3 Thirdly, when we are about the commending of any good man, or any good thing, then we thinke it no great matter, yea ra|ther a vertue than a vice, to &s;peak too much, to goe too farre, to borrow a point of the law, be|cau&s;e it is to doe good, as wee thinke, to bring good men, and good things in reque&s;t.</P>
<P N="4">4 Fourthly, when wee prai&s;e our &s;elves. <HI>He that &s;aith he hath no &s;in,</HI> <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 1. 8.</NOTE> <HI>lies,</HI> and &s;innes the &s;inne of lying in &s;aying that hee hath no &s;inne.</P>
<P>Now when in the&s;e ca&s;es wee do fall into &s;ome lie notwith|&s;tanding all our care, the medi|cine is to repent, and then God mu&s;t either lie (which he can|not) or el&s;e he mu&s;t forgive us our lie, and heale our tongues, and touch our lips with the law of truth, and &s;ettle us, that all is well for all this. Looke upon <HI>David,</HI> who did lie often, and
<PB N="157" REF="80"> <HI>Abraham</HI> did little better; and what did <HI>Peter</HI> but lie, and wor&s;e? and yet they came to them&s;elves againe, and all went well with them.</P>
<P N="3">3 Thirdly, breake off this cu&s;tome of fal&s;e and vaine &s;pea|king, by an anti-cu&s;tome, inure our &s;elves to &s;peake the le&s;&s;e, goe to God to rule that unruly member of ours. As when wee have got a toy by rea&s;on of u&s;e, and would but cannot leave it, we &s;ee it to bee a blemi&s;h, then we u&s;e to &s;ay, Wife tell mee of of &s;uch a matter; &s;onne doe you &s;peake to mee, and rather than faile wee will put our &s;ervants upon it to tell us al&s;o: and thus many times wee breake off from a fooli&s;h cu&s;tome. And &s;o when we finde that we are gi|ven to a vaine of lying, and fal&s;e &s;peaking, what &s;hould wee doe but &s;ay, Wife tell mee of it, when you heare mee tell a lie; &s;o to our children and friends. Wee all doe &s;hew our &s;elves
<PB N="158" REF="81"> content that our very &s;ervants &s;hould tell us of any blemi&s;h by dirt or &s;o in our faces, and we all &s;hould de&s;ire even our &s;ervants to &s;hew us of lies or other blemi&s;hes in our &s;oules: do thus, and in time the law of truth will be in our lips.</P>
<P N="4">4 Fourthly, we mu&s;t be con|tent to have this &s;inne of lying to die in us by pieces. It is a di&s;ea&s;e wee u&s;e to recover of but &s;lowly (yet &s;urely) wee &s;hall re|maine <HI>in part</HI> what wee were <HI>wholly</HI> in nature, and it is a &s;inne very naturall unto us, and rooted deepe in our nature, a &s;inne fit to &s;erve turnes, and therefore it goes away by degrees, and a foote, as &s;ome di&s;ea&s;es doe. Wherefore we mu&s;t not bee di&s;|mayed in ca&s;e wee finde &s;ome weakne&s;&s;e this way more than ordinary. Indeed, if the oftner we lie wee hate the &s;inne the le&s;&s;e, and begin to thinke of it, as of a veniall matter, our ca&s;e is dangerous; but in ca&s;e we doe
<PB N="159" REF="81"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ate it the more the more wee <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ommit it, and love truth in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ur &s;elves and others, and it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">umble us mightily that we are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> often overtaken with a lie, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd wee learne to con&s;ider of o|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hers with mercy, and we grow <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ore and more willing to ca&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ff this lying skin of ours, why <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hen happy time that ever we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">old a lie. Wee mu&s;t &s;hew no <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ercy to our &s;inne of lying, be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s cruell as wee can again&s;t the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ice: but to our &s;elves wee mu&s;t, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hew &s;o much mercy, as not to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hinke that wee are utterly reje|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ted, becau&s;e of a lie or two. He is a <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Jam. 3. 2.</NOTE> <HI>perfect man</HI> who can rule <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is tongue (it is an unruly member) and of all mo&s;t in the &s;inne of lying the tongue is ve|ry apt to trip, and in ca&s;e wee cannot doe what wee would in the government of the tongue, wee mu&s;t not de&s;paire, but pray to God to pa&s;&s;e over all that is pa&s;t, to forgive all the lies that ever wee have told: this is a
<PB N="160" REF="82"> common &s;inne of our youth, and too common a &s;inne of our age: for <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t Rhet. 2.</NOTE> old people are too too apt to talke, and they thinke they may lie by authority; and for the time to come, wee are to pray him to pre&s;erve u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> from the law of lying, to &s;et a doore before our tongues. The <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">Jam. 3 7. <HI>Aelian. l. 17. Plin. l. 10. c. 45.</HI></NOTE> creatures a man may tame, yea the fi&s;hes of the &s;ea, but the tongue of a man or woman who can tame? God can and will.</P>
<P><HI>Ob.</HI> But Saint <HI>James</HI> &s;aith, that out of the &s;ame fountaine comes not &s;weete and bitter, therefore out of the &s;ame mouth comes not lying and truth.</P>
<P><HI>Sol.</HI> I an&s;wer, in a regenerate man there are two fountaines, the fle&s;h is one, the &s;pirit is an|other: out of the &s;pirit comes truth, out of the fle&s;h lying; but the fle&s;h is not the godly mans fountaine: <HI>Not I</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Paul) but &s;inne that dwelleth in mee, Rom.</HI> 7. 20. Hee allowes nothing that comes out of the fle&s;h, hee
<PB N="161" REF="82"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">wnes it not. Againe, S. <HI>James</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ides tho&s;e that were bitter <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd cen&s;orious again&s;t the faults <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f others, have a &s;aying again&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">very body, and thinke that all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">his is zeale, nothing for&s;ooth <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ut the &s;pirit. But Saint <HI>James</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hews that this comes from the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ountaine of the fle&s;h, and not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rom the &s;pirit, as &s;ome did <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">reame; for to <HI>ble&s;&s;e</HI> is &s;weete, to <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">en&s;ure</HI> bitter; bitter and &s;weete <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome not out of one and the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ame fountaine; the fountaine of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he &s;pirit doth &s;end forth &s;weete <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">le&s;&s;ings, not bitter cen&s;ures; it came from fle&s;h in them that they were &s;o bitter again&s;t fle&s;h in others. And therfore they did mi&s;take, who did take their bitter &s;peaking again&s;t others (though for their infirmities and &s;ins) to come from the &s;pirit.</P>
<P N="5">5 Fiftly, &s;peake with the lea&s;t. Much &s;peaking breedes much lying. <HI>Hee that hath eares to</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 13.</NOTE> <HI>heare let him heare.</HI> So &s;aith Chri&s;t often, but we never read,
<PB N="162" REF="83"> he that hath a tongue to &s;peake let him &s;peake: rather as Saint <HI>James</HI> hath it (<HI>Chap. 1. 19.) Be &s;wift to heare, but &s;low to &s;peake,</HI> heare much, but &s;peake little.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. V.</HI> Of Swearing.</HEAD>
<P>_TO &s;ay much of &s;wea|ring needs not, ex|cept where cu&s;tome hath taken away &s;en&s;e. This &s;in doth rattle the con&s;cience quickly, but where the &s;inne is by rea&s;on of u&s;e growne inveterate, there <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 4. 2.</NOTE> oath toucheth oath, and almo&s;t as many oathes as words; for which prophane vein we &s;hould all mourne, for that it makes the land to mourne, and &s;ee to it betime le&s;t it bee (almo&s;t) too late; for inveterate &s;innes are &s;eldome pardoned. But put ca&s;e a man doe forget him&s;elfe, and
<PB N="163" REF="83"> doe rip up an oath, yet wee mu&s;t not thinke too much of the mat|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er, but befriend our &s;elves with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ope of pardon, el&s;e we &s;hall be apt to &s;weare, and &s;weare againe, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat if wee mu&s;t goe to hell wee may goe for &s;omewhat. Hope of pardon is the be&s;t medicine (next to the blood of Chri&s;t) <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o cure &s;inne in the world. It is a &s;inne &s;o much the greater, be|cau&s;e it is without a &s;en&s;ible temptation: they are not baited with plea&s;ure or profit, but they doe &s;weare becau&s;e they will &s;weare; and &s;uch &s;hall one day know, that (without repentance) the Lord hath &s;worne to bee the de&s;truction of &s;wearers. Briefly, I will put off the matter in a few lines.</P>
<P N="1">1 Fir&s;t, wee mu&s;t not &s;weare by the creature. Indeed to &s;peak properly we cannot: for it is no oath in it &s;elfe when it is by the creature. For it is the life and forme of an oath to bee by the Creator; but yet it is an oath to
<PB N="164" REF="84"> us, and we mu&s;t an&s;wer for it, or Chri&s;t for us. By the creature we mu&s;t not &s;weare.</P>
<P N="2">2 Secondly, wee mu&s;t &s;ee that we doe not &s;weare <HI>very</HI> oathes, and we to thinke no &s;uch matter when wee have done. Many men have oathes as common in their mouthes as can be, and yet thinke nothing le&s;&s;e, as [gods mee] is &s;wearing by a figure: [gods lord] is an oath without the forme indeed, but yet there is the matter of an oath expre&s;|&s;ed and the forme implied: and [as I am a gentleman] is little better. Say tho&s;e termes bee not very oathes, yet deepe prote&s;tations they are by the graunt of all, which is enough to cry downe the common and vaine u&s;e of &s;uch &s;peeches. This we finde as common as may bee among&s;t the wi&s;e&s;t and be&s;t &s;ort of people, to fill their mouth with &s;uch &s;peeches as the&s;e, [as true as I live, and, as I live it is &s;o, or not &s;o:] [as I live it is
<PB N="165" REF="84"> thus or thus.] In my opinion this is (to us) no better than plaine &s;wearing. For we finde [as I live] up and downe in the Word as a common forme of an oath, when the Lord is &s;aid to &s;weare: So, <HI>as true as I live, all the earth &s;hall be filled with the glory of the Lord, Num.</HI> 14. 21. This was an oath. For &s;peaking of this very place the Phalmi&s;t &s;aith, that the Lord did &s;weare (<HI>Unto whom I &s;ware in my wrath that they &s;hould not enter into my re&s;t, P&s;.</HI> 95. 11.) Thus then by the voyce of the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe (<HI>&s;urely as I live</HI>) is the forme of an oath, and that commonly in the pro|phe&s;ie of <HI>Ezechiel, Chap.</HI> 18. 3. &amp; 20. 33. &amp; 5. 11. I cannot but marvel that hone&s;t minded peo|ple, after this hath bin reproved in them &amp; proved to them to be an oath, &s;hould yet u&s;e it, as they do almo&s;t at every third word, &amp; venter the di&s;plea&s;ure of God for a fooli&s;h phra&s;e. Can one
<PB N="166" REF="85"> imagine that the&s;e (if cau&s;e were) would leave their lives for God, when wee cannot per|&s;wade them to leave a word or two for the Lords &s;ake? This &s;hewes that it is the Lord who mu&s;t per&s;wade, and that the Word without his cooperating Spirit will not convince. There is much humor and pride in this. They can &s;ay nothing for it, why 'tis good or fit to u&s;e &s;uch phra|&s;es, to out pre&s;ently with [as I live, as true as I live] onely they have u&s;ed it long, and now will not leave it, becau&s;e they will not bee thought to have beene out of the way all this while. Many good people wonder at the Patriarches for their poly|gamie, what they meant in it; but this &s;inne of common and triviall &s;wearing is to mee a greater wonder, having le&s;&s;e temptation in it, and the more u&s;e it the more wee &s;hould &s;hunne it, and the longer wee have beene in it the more ha&s;te
<PB N="167" REF="85"> wee &s;hould make out of it. Had none but <HI>Lamech,</HI> and &s;uch as <HI>Lamech,</HI> doubled or trebled their wives, polygamie had beene as &s;trange then in the Church as it is now; but when <HI>Abraham,</HI> Saint <HI>Abraham</HI> took to him more wives than one, it went for currant, and grew com|mon. Right &s;o, if none but vaine and light per&s;ons would &s;weare &s;uch oathes, if [as true as I live, and &s;uch like formes of &s;wea|ring] were heard onely from the mouthes of the &s;onnes of <HI>Belial,</HI> &s;uch oathes had never beene &s;o rife in the Church: but now when grave and godly people make no bones of &s;uch &s;wearing phra&s;es, every one thinkes hee may, and (almo&s;t) ought to &s;peake as they &s;peake. To doe as mo&s;t doe is no an|&s;wer. Wee are to doe as God doth, and as the word would have us &s;peake and doe. Some thinke to put off all with this, that it is but a ptote&s;tation.
<PB N="168" REF="86"> <HI>But a prote&s;tation!</HI> Doe wee thinke to cry (<HI>but</HI>) at a pro|te&s;tation? There is, I confe&s;&s;e, one maine difference betweene a prote&s;tation and an oath, that wee may lawfully prote&s;t by a creature, but without &s;inne wee cannot &s;weare by a creature. But in the matter in hand there is little, if any difference, be|twixt prote&s;ting and &s;wearing. It is a &s;inne to &s;weare frivolou&s;|ly, and &s;o it is to prote&s;t frivo|lou&s;ly. A vaine prote&s;tation comes to as much (for ought I know) as a vaine oath. What|&s;oever is more than Yea, yea, commeth of <HI>that evill one,</HI> &s;aith Chti&s;t, <HI>Matth.</HI> 5. 37. that is, of the divell; and as it comes of of evill &s;o evill comes of it. <HI>Let your Yea bee yea, and your Nay nay, le&s;t you fall into con|demnation,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>James, Chap.</HI> 5. 12. So that more than <HI>yea,</HI> or <HI>nay</HI> comes from the di|vell, and brings to the divell: and is not a prote&s;tation more
<PB N="169" REF="86"> than yea or nay as well as an oath? My meaning is not, that wee &s;hould tye our &s;elves &s;u|per&s;titiou&s;ly to tho&s;e termes, neither doth it warrant us to &s;weare <HI>by yea, or by nay;</HI> but wee mu&s;t &s;ee that wee doe con|&s;ider before hand what wee &s;ay, and that wee know things to be true ere wee affirme them, and &s;ay (aye): to bee fal&s;e, ere we doe deny them, and &s;ay (no): and that wee &s;hould ordinarily content our &s;elves with bare affirming or denying, <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 9. 2.</NOTE> <HI>fearing all oathes,</HI> all prote&s;tations in ordinary communication. What doe the&s;e leave for them|&s;elves in greater matters, who will prote&s;t thus for every trifle? I would they that can, and doe acquit them&s;elves, and free their mouthes from vaine oathes, would al&s;o as much from foo|li&s;h prote&s;tations. Oathes and prote&s;tations are couzen ger|manes, and hee that makes no care of the one, 'tis but a &s;cruple
<PB N="170" REF="87"> that hee makes of the other. Let us then away with petty oathes, made oathes. Sweare not at all, that is, without cau&s;e, and often: Know and acknow|ledge that the&s;e oathes wee now &s;peake of, have a guilt in them above what wee thinke of perhaps; that wee &s;inne in &s;wearing vainely, and we &s;inne in &s;wearing thus [as true as I live] becau&s;e wee &s;weare by a creature, and that frivolou&s;ly too. Give it over le&s;t God give us over, be willing to be convin|ced, be willing to leave thy foo|lery in &s;peaking, and then wee &s;hall bee quickly convinced, and then there is a pardon ready for our folly herein. And what if we be long u&s;ed unto it? why 'tis a matter of comfort to us, if wee have the wit and the grace with us to breake off an old and long cu&s;tome, to cure an inve|terate di&s;ea&s;e. What if all the Countrey doe u&s;e it? it is the more for our comfort that wee
<PB N="171" REF="87"> can &s;tand alone, and walke a|lone with God.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, take heede wee bridle our tongues in our pa&s;&s;ion: for then a man is not his owne man. Other affections carry one po|wer of the &s;oule out of the way; but pa&s;&s;ion overturnes all. Anger (we &s;ee) re&s;ts not onely in the head, but in the <HI>bo&s;omes of fooles, Eccle&s;.</HI> 7. 9. Thus we call hang|man whom wee know never hang'd any man: whore-&s;on, who&s;e mother wee know to bee very cha&s;t: theefe, who to our knowledge did never &s;teale. Dogges in a chafe barke at their owne ma&s;ters: &s;o we in our pa&s;|&s;ions let our tongues fly at our be&s;t friends. To &s;umme and &s;hut up all, wee mu&s;t &s;ee to our lips and words, that they bee <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">et on fire of heaven. Chri&s;t &s;aith, that a man is <HI>condemned by his words, (Matt.</HI> 12. 37.) as though nothing did returne into the condemnation of a man but his words; and indeed a mans
<PB N="172" REF="88"> mo&s;t and wor&s;t &s;innes be his words. The holy <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.</NOTE> Gho&s;t is more on the tongue than all the mem|bers el&s;e, as though a man were almo&s;t all tongue alwayes: it is a little member, but a world of iniquity, <HI>Jam.</HI> 3. Not a City or Country, but a world of iniqui|ty. Rule the tongue and rule all. <HI>A man &s;hall eate good by the fruits of his mouth, Prov.</HI> 13. 2. He is a perfect man, that can do it: and a Chri&s;tian &s;hould (as all men in all my&s;teries el&s;e doe) de&s;ire to be perfect in his facul|ty; and that he cannot be but by ordering his tongue aright. For the tongue is a very moveable member, which is turn'd up and downe without much labour, or much wearine&s;&s;e, or any great difficulty. And again, man by his very nature is much given to be &s;peaking: for man is (as before I &s;hewed) a &s;ociable creature, and without entercour&s;e of &s;peech and talke, the &s;ociety of man with man cannot hold.
<PB N="173" REF="88"> Man hath his tongue in his head to that end: and <HI>David</HI> calls his tongue <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16. 9. 30. 2.</NOTE> his glory: <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">P&s;. 57. 8.</NOTE> <HI>Awake my glory.</HI> They doe ill that &s;ay words are but winde: &s;uch a winde they are, that without re|pentance will &s;erve to blow a man to hell. Wee think that our tongues of all members are our owne, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 12. 4. Our eyes, eares, hands, feete are not our owne to u&s;e them at our plea&s;ure: but of all our tongues are lea&s;t of all our owne. There is no one of our members but is unruly: but yet it is not for nothing that the tongue is &s;aid to bee <HI>an unruly member, Jam.</HI> 3. 8. All the members, when they &s;inne, are &s;et on fire of hell; but none like unto the tongue, none &s;o much, none &s;o often: and therefore we mu&s;t learne to commit the government of our tongues unto the Lord, that hee would &s;et a doore before our lips, and that hee would keepe the k<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> and be (as 'twere) the
<PB N="174" REF="89"> porter to let out words at his plea&s;ure, that our words may be <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 5. 2.</NOTE> but few no more than we can well ju&s;tifie; that we &s;peake not unprofitably, but to purpo&s;e; that our words may bee both food to the weake to nouri&s;h the &s;oule, phy&s;icke to the &s;icke in &s;oule to cure the con&s;cience; that hee would put away &s;wea|ring, lying, and equivocating, which is wor&s;e than lying. As <HI>Abraham</HI> in that he &s;aid <HI>Sarah</HI> was not his wife, did &s;peake doubly: hee did not &s;peake out, and be&s;ides his tale he did di&s;|&s;emble. To equivocate is upon the matter to lie &amp; to di&s;&s;emble too. Plaine dealing (ay though it be in &s;inning) is a jewel, &amp; double dealing is ba&s;e: a tongue and a tongue is hatefull to God and man, a mon&s;ter in grace and na|ture, and therefore bee before|hand to keepe our tongues from evill, and when we do overla&s;h, &s;peaking fooli&s;hly or fal&s;ly, lets &s;alve all by confe&s;&s;ion, and peti|tion,
<PB N="175" REF="89"> &s;eeking to the God of truth for pardon of our lies, and we &s;hall have our pardon: wee need not doubt of our pardon, &s;ith truth it &s;elfe hath made the promi&s;e. Have wee &s;poken foo|li&s;hly or fal&s;ly, and &s;inned with our words? Why <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 14 2.</NOTE> <HI>take unto you words:</HI> what words? why words of confe&s;&s;ion, of humiliation, of petition, and the match is made, peace is concluded betwixt God and us. In the Law they offered a calfe, and there follow|ed attonement, let us offer up <HI>the calves of our lips, Ho&s;.</HI> 14. 2. the lips made the breach, let our lips make up the breach againe. And (<HI>P&s;al. 85. 8.) God will &s;peake peace to us,</HI> alwayes provided that wee returne not againe to the &s;ame or the like folly in &s;peaking wee know not or care not what. <HI>Be perfect as our hea|venly Father is perfect, Maith.</HI> 5. 48. And <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Jam. 3. 2.</NOTE> perfect wee are not till wee do rule our tongues, but perfect we are when we doe
<PB N="176" REF="90"> rule our tongues: every other creature in his kinde doth, and wee &s;hould labour after perfe|ction. <HI>So &s;peake yee as they that mu&s;t bee judged by the Law of liberty. Iam.</HI> 2. 12.</P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="90">
<HEAD>THE CONTENTS OF THIS THIRD PART.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<HEAD>CHAP. I.</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>TEmptations to le&s;&s;er &s;innes, to &s;pirituall Chri&s;tians are very grievous.</HI> pag. 1</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>No &s;innes are little, &s;implie and without compari&s;on.</HI> 4</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The lea&s;t &s;inne forbidden and damnable.</HI> 5</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wee cannot avoid a greater &s;inne by yeelding to a le&s;|&s;er.</HI> 8</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wee mu&s;t not &s;ay, It is but a little &s;inne, and cannot bee a|voided.</HI> 10</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Why wee fall into le&s;&s;er &s;innes, rather than into greater.</HI> 11</ITEM>
<PB REF="91">
<ITEM><HI>How to get off trouble of con&s;ci|ence that comes for le&s;&s;er faults.</HI> 13</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>This trouble is not an happie thing, but an happy &s;igne.</HI> 16</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Le&s;&s;er &s;innes of precipitancie, and of infirmity.</HI> 18</ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<HEAD>CHAP. II.</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>IT is a brave &s;pirit, that ri&s;es at the omitting of duties.</HI> 19</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hee is not be&s;t &s;till who hath lea&s;t inward trouble, but who hath lea&s;t cau&s;e.</HI> 22</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Omitting of duties breeds &s;innes of commi&s;&s;ion.</HI> 23. 32</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Troubles of con&s;cience mu&s;t draw us up to Chri&s;t.</HI> 24</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The not doing of a dutie is &s;ometime a cro&s;&s;e, not a &s;inne.</HI> 25</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Delay not to amend omi&s;&s;ions.</HI> 30</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mi&s;chiefes of omi&s;&s;ions.</HI> 33</ITEM>
<PB REF="91">
<ITEM><HI>Caveats in omitting duties on extraordinary occa&s;ion.</HI> 33</ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<HEAD>CHAP. III.</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>COvetou&s;ne&s;&s;e breedes a temptation and a &s;nare.</HI> 35</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>What covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is.</HI> 37</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is a great &s;in. 41. wholly in the minde, not the body.</HI> 45</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>All men are more or le&s;&s;e cove|tous.</HI> 47</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Poore men generally more cove|tous than rich.</HI> 49</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Riches are not the di&s;ea&s;e of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> 50</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is a dangerous temptation.</HI> 52</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>How to bee convinced of cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> 58</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>The Law convinceth the judge|ment: the Go&s;pell, the lu&s;t and affection.</HI> 67</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>How to bee cured of covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e.</HI> 72</ITEM>
<PB REF="92">
<ITEM><HI>Why and to whom we mu&s;t give.</HI> 92</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>A removall of &s;uch &s;hewes as men have why they may bee worldly.</HI> 96</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>How farre forth covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e may be &s;aid to prevaile in us.</HI> 108</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Helpes again&s;t temptations and doubts ari&s;ing from covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e.</HI> 118</ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<HEAD>CHAP. IV.</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>THe greatne&s;&s;e of the &s;inne of lying.</HI> 132</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>What lying is.</HI> 139</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Whether one may not make u&s;e of the lye of another.</HI> 143</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Remedies again&s;t lying, and temptations that way.</HI> 148</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Foure ca&s;es wherein wee mu&s;t looke to our &s;elves e&s;pecially.</HI> 155</ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<PB REF="92">
<HEAD>CHAP. V.</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>WEe mu&s;t not &s;weare by the creatures.</HI> 163</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>We mu&s;t &s;ee we &s;weare&punc; not very oathes, and thinke them no &s;uch matter.</HI> 164</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Of Prote&s;tations, what is to bee thought.</HI> 167</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Take heede to bridle your tongues in pa&s;&s;ion.</HI> 171</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Of equivocation.</HI> 174</ITEM>
</LIST>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
