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<DATE>2014-11-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>AN Invitation OF A SEEKER To all tho&s;e that &s;eriou&s;ly de&s;ire to find the LORD.</P>
<P><HI>Written by</HI> I. S. <HI>or the Indefatigable</HI> SEEKER.</P>
<Q><P>Seek and you &s;hall find. <BIBL><HI>Luk. 11.9.</HI></BIBL></P>
<P>I &s;ought him, and I found him not, <BIBL><HI>Cant. 3.1.</HI></BIBL></P>
<P>I have found him, and I will hold him. <BIBL><HI>3.4.</HI></BIBL></P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed MDCLXX.</P>
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<HEAD>To the READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Gentle Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IF de&s;ire to find the Lord moves thy &s;pirit, I &s;peak to thee. If curio&s;ity draws thee to read, I de&s;ire thee, either to proceed no further, or to correct thy mind. The bu&s;ine&s;s of thy Soul requires a &s;erious thought: For to purcha&s;e Heaven, and live eter|nally, is a matter of high concern; To be plunged into everla&s;ting fire, is a woful horror. Chri&s;t alone is the way that leads to Happine&s;s; to tread any other path is to walk in error. All error is dangerous, the final is irremediable. Chri&s;t is all
<PB REF="3"> Truth; And in him is found no fal&s;ity. Regard not what fal&s;e Prophets &s;ay of Chri&s;t, for they will undervalue him. But to &s;eek to understand aright, what he teacheth of him&s;elf, for &s;o thy faith &s;hall be &s;ecure and &s;ound. I have &s;ought with labour, I have found with plea&s;ure; I entreat thee to enjoy both. <HI>Farewell.</HI></P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="5" REF="3">
<HEAD>An Invitation of a Seeker to all tho&s;e that &s;eriou&s;ly de&s;ire to find the Lord.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. I.</HI> What moved the Author to become a Seeker.</HEAD>
<P>SOme months ago I departed from the Court with a &s;ad heart, having recei|ved an affront, which I never knew how to dige&s;t, nor how to revenge. I retired my &s;elf into my Chamber, and there excluding all vi&s;its, I gave &s;cope to my fancy; which getting the reins ran di&s;order|ly from one di&s;mal apprehen&s;ion to another, till perceiving no way of remedy, I began to fear that the mi&s;ery I groaned under might prove eternal. I was to&s;&s;ed to and fro, with
<PB N="6" REF="4"> unquiet &amp; half-raving motions, till at length I was wa&s;ted in&s;en&s;ibly, I knew not how, to the con&s;ideration of their &s;tate, who lye chained in flames, and with fruitle&s;s tears bewail their truly eternal mi&s;ery. I was &s;urprized with horror to think that men &s;hould burn in flames for all eternity. I could not conceive, without trembling, how this fle&s;h of mine could fry and broyl for all eternity. Wo be to the Soul, &s;aid I, that &s;hall fall into this burning Lake, and a thou&s;and woes to the man or woman that &s;hall live impri&s;oned in this inextingui&s;hable Fire, without hope of ever being relea&s;ed. And wo to me, if when I clo&s;e mine eyes, I &s;hall hear that Heaven Gates are &s;hut, and that there is no lodging for me, but a Dungeon filled with eternal groans. The contemplation of the&s;e pains extingui&s;hed the memory of my &s;ufferings. My Con&s;cience warned me, that unle&s;s I looked to it, I might rue the hour that ever I was born, whereas making u&s;e of this ad|monition, I might for ever ble&s;s the time that I &s;pend in &s;eeking my &s;ouls good. Wherefore taking this to be the mo&s;t important affair that can be handled in this life, I re&s;olved to lay all other imployments a&s;ide, and never cea&s;e to &s;eek, till I had found the Lord.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="7" REF="4">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. II.</HI> The Seeker di&s;heartned is animated to proceed.</HEAD>
<P>THe re&s;olution was made, but no Star appeared, by which I might &s;teer my de|&s;ign forward. I reflected upon the mercies of Chri&s;t, who invites all to come to him, and refu&s;eth none that &s;eek him; and I gave wings to my hope, that I &s;hould quick|ly arrive at my pretended haven. But I found lead tyed to my feet, and I advanced &s;o &s;low|ly, that fear of not finding the Lord wound|ed my brea&s;t, and the wound grew deeper by the increa&s;e of new fears. My intention was to lay Faith for a ground-work, but I met with &s;uch diver&s;ity of faith, that I was gravelled at the fir&s;t &s;tep. All preached Chri&s;t unto me, which I liked very well; but they were &s;o divided among them&s;elves, that I light upon almo&s;t as many faiths in Chri&s;t, as I dealt with men. I remembred how Chri&s;t &s;aith, that <HI>every Kingdom divided against it &s;elf, &s;hall be made de&s;olate; and every City or Hou&s;e divided again&s;t it &s;elf &s;hall not &s;tand.</HI> Mat. 12.24. How then, &s;aid I, can &s;o many con|trary faiths combine together in one to knit up a Kingdom, City or Hou&s;e of Chri&s;t,
<PB N="8" REF="5"> &s;eeing that divi&s;ion and di&s;&s;ention is cau&s;e of fall and ruine? I was &s;taggered how to make them agree; and I was no le&s;s puzzled how, in the mid&s;t of &s;uch confu&s;ion, to di&s;tingui&s;h the true from the fal&s;e. I began a little to relent in the enterprize, but relying upon the comfortable words of my Saviour, <HI>Seek and ye &s;hall find,</HI> Luk. 11.9. I re&s;olved to con|tinue my trade of Seeking.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP, III.</HI> The Seeker &s;earcheth the Scriptures to find the Lord.</HEAD>
<P>I Could not fancy to my &s;elf, where the Jew|ell I &s;ought for, might be found with more certainty, then in the Word of God. For the Lord &s;ent the people to <HI>the Law and Sanctuary, I&s;a.</HI> 8.20. Chri&s;t commands all <HI>to &s;earch the Scriptures,</HI> Joh. 5.36. And the men of <HI>Berea were daily &s;earching the Scriptures, whe|ther the&s;e things were &s;o,</HI> Acts 17.11. There|fore to obey the Lord and Chri&s;t, and to imi|tate tho&s;e, whom I looked upon as Seekers, I laid hold of the Bible, de&s;irous to receive out of it a plenary &s;atisfaction of the doubts following. Fir&s;t, Whether the Word of God did allow all the opinions, that now run
<PB N="9" REF="5"> currant, or &s;ome of them onely to be true. Secondly if all, how then by the &s;ame Word of God could &s;uch contraries be linked to|gether in one body of Truth: If &s;ome only, how many, and which they were, that I might embrace what the Word of God ap|proved, and reject what the &s;ame Word di&s;al|lowed. <HI>I</HI> grounded the hope of good &s;ucce&s;s upon the words of <HI>Paul. The whole Scripture is given by in&s;piration of God, and is profitable to teach, to improve, to correct, and to in&s;truct in righteou&s;ene&s;s, that the man of God may be-perfect, in&s;tructed to every good work,</HI> 2 Tim. 3.16. If all things nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation be found in Scirpture, I made no que&s;tion but that the&s;e important points would be clearly di&s;cu&s;&s;ed. I was eager to have the &s;olution, whil&s;t the doubts were yet fre&s;h. But I knew not what Book, or what Chapter, much le&s;s what Ver&s;e to turn to. I looked upon the Bible as a long labour, if I were to read it from the beginning of <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> till the end of the <HI>Revelations,</HI> before I could know the an|&s;wer. And if I were to open it at hap-haz|zard, till I light upon what &s;hould make to my purpo&s;e; the manner of &s;earching &s;eem|ed not very &s;erious, but &s;omewhat like to the pricking at a Lottery, where I might per|chance get &s;omething, and a hundred to one, nothing. And if I &s;hould happen on a place
<PB N="10" REF="6"> bearing a doubtful &s;en&s;e, I knew not what Rule to ob&s;erve, whereby I might be a&s;&s;ured that I under&s;tood the Text right. For I deemed it a very undecent thing, and de|&s;tructive of the reverence due to God's Word, &s;o to deal with the Bible, as Philo|&s;ophers are &s;aid to do with their <HI>Aristotle;</HI> who&s;e &s;peeches they turn and wre&s;t, as if they were made of Wax, and make him &s;ay, not what he intended, but what they plea&s;e.</P>
<P>Whil&s;t I thus di&s;cour&s;ed with my &s;elf, my finger opening the Bible, directed my eye to that place, where <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaks of the Epi&s;tles of <HI>Paul: Among them &s;ome things</HI> (&s;aid he) <HI>are hard to be under&s;tood, which they that are unlearned and un&s;table pervert, as they do other Scriptures al&s;o, to their own de&s;truction,</HI> 2 Pet. 3.16.</P>
<P>This pa&s;&s;age amazed me: For my in&s;tabi|lity being great, and my Learning &s;mall, I feared lea&s;t in&s;tead of finding &s;alvation, I might run to de&s;truction. I knew well enough that the Prophets are ob&s;cure and dark, that <HI>Ezekiel, Daniel</HI> and the <HI>Revelations</HI> are full of profound &amp; &s;ublime my&s;teries, not to be inter|preted but by learned men only: but that <HI>Pauls</HI> Epi&s;tles &s;hould be hard to be under&s;tood, was a doctrine that I never heard of before. That the unlearned pervert them, and not onely them, but other more ea&s;ie Scriptures
<PB N="11" REF="6"> al&s;o, may well terrifie tho&s;e, from reading the Bible, who have no more Learning in them, then to be able to read Engli&s;h current|ly. For if Scripture, that is medicinal, when it is perverted, becomes venomous, no won|der if the ignorant &s;uck di&s;ea&s;es and ruine from the &s;ame flower, that affords health and good &s;ub&s;tance to the man that is know|ing.</P>
<P>I was moved with curio&s;ity to &s;ee <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf, but it ended in a new trouble. For I chanced upon a place to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> where <HI>Paul</HI> layes down at large divers gifts, admini&s;trations, and operations of wi&s;dom, knowledge, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> among&s;t which he numbers <HI>interpretation of Speeches or Scriptures;</HI> and &s;aith, that they are not be&s;towed upon every one, but &s;ome upon one, &s;ome upon another, as the Spirit will. Whil&s;t I &s;tayed and pau&s;ed, not knowing well what to make of it, I turned the leaf again, and met with this other place: <HI>the Letter killeth, the Spirit giv|eth life,</HI> 2 Cor. 3.6. This put me into a new plunge: For conferring the&s;e Texts to|gether, I was not a little di&s;quieted in mind.</P>
<P>At length I &s;aid to my &s;elf: if the Letter killeth when the ignorant reads, why am I that am unlearned commanded to &s;earch the Scriptures. If the Spirit only give life, why is this &s;pirit given to &s;ome onely, and not to
<PB N="12" REF="7"> all? Why is it not given to every one that de&s;ires to have it? Why to them onely to whom the Spirit will, and not to all them, who at any time have a will to receive life by reading the Scriptures? if without this Spi|rit my reading is dead, and if the Lord be|&s;tow not this &s;pirit upon me, then although I to&s;s and tumble the Scriptures, yet I do but fi&s;h in the dark with them, <HI>that laboured all night and caught nothing,</HI> Luk. 5.5. My heart fainted, and I began to de&s;pair, yet not to be wanting to my &s;elf, I turned to above forty or fifty, or more places in the Bible, continuing the &s;ame diligence for &s;ome dayes together, and &s;till I found much to confound me, little to further me, nothing at all that &s;erved directly to &s;olve my doubts. And at this very day I &s;hould be highly obliged to that man, who having the Bible at his fin|gers end, could &s;hew me any one place where the afore&s;aid points, that &s;o nearly concern our Soul, are propounded, di&s;cu&s;&s;ed and re|&s;olved. <HI>I,</HI> for my part, after a long weary &s;earch, concluded ab&s;olutely that the holy Scripture is the Sea, of which <HI>Ezek</HI> &s;peaks, <HI>Chap.</HI> 47. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 3.4.5. which I thinking to wade over, was at fir&s;t &s;tep up to the Ankles, at the next above the Knees, then up to the Reins and Armpits. At length <HI>I</HI> di&s;cover|ed an Ocean &s;o va&s;t, that a tall Ship would
<PB N="13" REF="7"> hardly pa&s;s it without danger, and much le&s;s I, that had not &s;o much as a &s;mall Cock-boat. Melancholly frights and fears turmoyled my mind, becau&s;e reading the Bible, and &s;earch|ing the Scriptures, the more I &s;ought the farther off I was from finding. This made me &s;igh, and breath, quake, and tremble, for fear lea&s;t my &s;oul &s;hould mi&s;carry in the mid&s;t of divine helps.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. IV.</HI> The Seeker is pre&s;ent at a Conference of Re|ligion.</HEAD>
<P>MY b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ea&s;t being &s;omwhat &s;treightned by this interior conflict, I walked forth in|to the Fields to take the fre&s;h a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r, where I met with a Friend, who invited me to a &s;pi|ritual conference, where I &s;hould hear things of Religion Learnedly handled. This revi|ved my dull &s;pirits, and I &s;eemed rather to fly, then to walk thither. We came into a hand|&s;ome Room well furni&s;hed, where three Gentlemen, a Lady, and her Kin&s;woman &s;ate mode&s;tly di&s;cour&s;ing together. They ro&s;e up at our arrival, and very civilly admitted us to take place among them. I entreated
<PB N="14" REF="8"> that our pre&s;ence might not di&s;turb their pious entertainment. One of them turning him&s;elf to me, &s;aid: We are met here to de|liberate upon the high concern of our Souls, and to determine what Religion ought to be held to &s;ecure our Salvation. <HI>I</HI> replied, that it was the only thing I &s;ought after, and that I de&s;ired nothing more, then to hear what their wi&s;doms would re&s;olve upon. Then &s;aid he that &s;ate over again&s;t me: We have ju&s;t now unanimou&s;ly concluded by evi|dent Rea&s;ons drawn out of the Bible, that Idolatry is abominable before the face of the Lord; and therefore that the Papi&s;t Reli|gion, which is founded in Idolatry, is &s;o cer|tainly fal&s;e, that not &s;o much as an ear ought to be given to it. I agree with you in that (&s;aid <HI>I</HI>) and do hold that Popery is to be &s;hut out of our deliberation. Becau&s;e <HI>I</HI> could never brook that men &s;hould be &s;aved by their own merits, as though Chri&s;t had not dyed for us: Or that any man &s;hould prefer the Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> before God; or that people &s;hould be &s;o &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly ad|dicted to Ceremonies, as to neglect the main &s;ub&s;tance. This declaration plea&s;ed them all, and therefore he that &s;ate on my right hand, began in this manner.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="15" REF="8">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. V.</HI> Faith alone is &s;ufficient to &s;ave you.</HEAD>
<P>VVHo&s;oever de&s;ires to enter into a &s;hort and &s;ecure way to Heaven, let him onely have faith in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and he &s;hall infallibly be one of the Elect. <HI>For all the cho&s;en are regenerated by faith,</HI> Rom. 3.25. And his &s;alvation is certain; For, <HI>He that &s;hall believe, and be baptized, &s;hall be &s;a|ved,</HI> Mat. 16.16. Chri&s;t reprehends the Apo&s;tles <HI>for want of faith,</HI> Mar. 4.40. and <HI>Paul</HI> exhorteth all to be &s;tedfa&s;t in Faith, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15.12. The rea&s;on is evident; be|cau&s;e, who&s;oever hath faith alone, &s;hall have all the things following. He &s;hall fir&s;t of all have <HI>remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins,</HI> Acts 10.43. Second|ly, <HI>He &s;hall live,</HI> Hab. 2.4. Thirdly, <HI>His heart &s;hall be pure,</HI> Act. 15.9. Fourthly, <HI>All things &s;hall be po&s;&s;ible unto him,</HI> Mar. 9.23. Fifthly, <HI>Tho&s;e that are ju&s;tified by faith, are at peace with God,</HI> Rom. 5.1. Chri&s;t commands &s;uch to fear nothing. <HI>Be not afraid, onely be|lieve,</HI> Mat. 5.36. On the other &s;ide with|out faith, it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e God, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11.6. It is evidently demon&s;trated from
<PB N="16" REF="9"> hence, and &s;uch like innumerable places of the Bible, that faith alone is &s;ufficient to &s;al|vation, and that nothing el&s;e is required. He that &s;ate next him replied immediately.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. VI.</HI> Live well, and it matters not what Religion you live in.</HEAD>
<P>IF this opinion of &s;ole faith were ju&s;tifia|ble in the whole latitude, in which it is propo&s;ed, it would undermine my princi|ples, and make all that <HI>I</HI> have to &s;ay, fall to the ground. But I am too &s;trongly rooted in the Word of God, to be &s;haken with &s;uch weak bla&s;ts. <HI>I</HI> grant that you mu&s;t believe, and that faith is nece&s;&s;ary. But <HI>I</HI> &s;ay, that be&s;ides faith, you mu&s;t al&s;o live well, or el&s;e you will never get to heaven. My rea&s;on is taken out of the Bible: <HI>Faith if it have not works, is dead in it &s;elf,</HI> Jam. 2.17. <HI>The De|vils believe, and tremble,</HI> ver&s;. 19. It were a &s;trange Doctrine to &s;ay that a dead Faith, or an Apo&s;tate angel &s;hould ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Again, <HI>Every man &s;hall receive according to his works,</HI> Rev. 22.12. And Chri&s;t at the counting day, will not
<PB N="17" REF="9"> &s;ay: <HI>Come ye ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> becau&s;e you did be|lieve, but <HI>becau&s;e ye fed the hungery, gave drink to the thir&s;ty, cloathed the naked,</HI> and did &s;uch like works of mercy, <HI>Mat.</HI> 25.35. Be&s;ides, <HI>Paul</HI> dilating him&s;elf at large upon this &s;ub|ject, concludes, that although you have ne|ver &s;o much faith, and in never &s;o great per|fection, as even to be able to remove moun|tains, yet if you have not Charity, it will avail you nothing, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. <HI>per tot.</HI></P>
<P>This being &s;o, I hold it frivolous to be nice in choo&s;ing any Religion. I would have every one be con&s;tant in the Religion he was fir&s;t brought up in, and bend all his care, not to &s;eek another, but to live uprightly, well and ju&s;tly in his own: Chri&s;t looks upon the heart. He regards not in what Religion you live, but is wholly attent to what, and how you work. Thus <HI>I</HI> extend charity, whil&s;t <HI>I</HI> admit that men in all Religions may be &s;aved, if they live well. It is again&s;t Chri&s;tian du|ty to &s;ay that a man &s;hall be damned meerly becau&s;e he is not of &s;uch an expre&s;s Religion; and becau&s;e he is for&s;ooth of that Religion, although he live never &s;o loo&s;ely, yet he may be &s;aved. Chri&s;t commands us not to judge our neighbour, yet this Religion, con|demns people to Hell, without &s;eeing their hearts.</P>
<PB N="18" REF="10">
<P>The Gentlewoman, with a &s;miling di&s;like mixed with female gravity, not being able to contain her &s;elf any longer, broke out into the&s;e words.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. VII.</HI> Predestination makes all Religions vain.</HEAD>
<P>I Will not examine the latter part of your di&s;cour&s;e, which tends onely to delude the world with the mask of Religion. If I were di&s;po&s;ed to maintain a Religion, I could an|&s;wer you, that your doctrine would &s;ute bet|ter with the times that flouri&s;hed in the Law of Nature, then with the&s;e dayes, in which the Law of Grace gives life to believers. Be|cau&s;e Grace (as the&s;e hold) is the &s;oul of faith, and unle&s;s the works of faith be anima|ted with this &s;oul, they are dead. Now re|member what you your &s;elf &s;aid of a dead faith. Moreover, I could tell you, that the primitive faithful had <HI>but one Soul.</HI> Act. 4.32. that is, they had but one only vivifying grace, and con&s;equently but one faith. Now diver|&s;ity, contrariety and fal&s;ity of Religions mu&s;t needs &s;pring from diver&s;ity, contra|riety and fal&s;ity of faiths. And if your charity extend it &s;elf to &s;ave all tho&s;e that work well with any faith in any Religion
<PB N="19" REF="10"> what&s;oever, it mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity embrace all tho&s;e that work well with a fal&s;e erroneous or impious faith. You might as well dilate your charitable bowels a little more, and in|clude al&s;o a natural faith, and &s;o make Hea|thens, Turks and Jews, that live well, to be of the elect and cho&s;en people of the Lord. But let them that are fond of Religion an&s;wer for them&s;elves. I, at pre&s;ent, have again&s;t the fir&s;t part of your opinion, and &s;ay that it hath no &s;ub&s;i&s;tance; becau&s;e it layes a &s;up|po&s;ition repugnant to evident Texts of Scri|pture. When you ground your Religion upon your good works, you &s;uppo&s;e that man hath Free-will, and &s;o you make your count with|out your Ho&s;t. By which you &s;hew, that you are ignorant in the fundamentals of Re|ligion, otherwi&s;e you would have noted how often, and how clearly the Word of God &s;peaks again&s;t you. Hearken, I pray; <HI>All in all things Gad doth work,</HI> Eph. 1.11. <HI>All our works O Lord, thou ha&s;t wrought to us,</HI> I&s;a. 26.12. <HI>I know O Lord, that mans way is not in his hands, nor in his power to direct his steps,</HI> Jer. 10.23. <HI>And there is no evil in the City, which the Lord hath not done,</HI> Amos 3.6. <HI>Becau&s;e as clay in the hand of the Pot|ter, to order it at his plea&s;ure, &s;o are we in the hands of the Lord, that he may reward them, as liketh him be&s;t,</HI> Eccle&s;. 33.12. You
<PB N="20" REF="11"> &s;ee how plain the Scripture &s;peaketh. As the clay worketh nothing, nor can make it &s;elf a ve&s;&s;el of honour or wrath, but wholly de|pends of the Potter; So man can concur no|thing to his own good or evil deeds, but works them all in and by Chri&s;t, as Chri&s;t him&s;elf te&s;tifies. <HI>Without me you can do no|thing,</HI> Joh. 15.5. Therefore all good and evil is from Chri&s;t alone, and nothing at all from man. For <HI>I</HI> argue thus: Either man by &s;trength of Free-will can do &s;omething, or nothing: If &s;omething, though never &s;o little, then Chri&s;t doth not &s;ay true: if no|thing, then to what purpo&s;e do we labour to do good works, which are not in our pow|er, but in Gods hand alone.</P>
<P>Wherefore we may leave off to &s;earch any further into the thing call'd Religion: For every one of us is either Prede&s;tinat, or Re|probat. He that is Prede&s;tinat, let him not care what life he lives, for he &s;hall certainly go to Heaven, becau&s;e he is one of the Elect. But he that is already made Reprobate, let him live as well as he will, and do as many good works as he plea&s;e, he &s;hall notwith|&s;tanding be as certainly damned, as it is impo&s;|&s;ible for a reprobat to be &s;aved. Therefore let every one live merrily, and make the be&s;t u&s;e of his time that he can, and in the end take the doom which God has prepared for him.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="11">
<P>The third Gentleman, &s;hewing unwilling|ne&s;s to offend her, turned him&s;elf to me, and &s;aid.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. VIII.</HI> Change your Religion as the time changeth.</HEAD>
<P>PRede&s;tination is a point of great &s;ubtilty, which this Gentlewonan comprehends not; for &s;he neither makes it cohere in it &s;elf, nor doth rightly deduce it. <HI>I</HI> have heard it di&s;cu&s;&s;ed by choice wits, who proved evidently out of <HI>Paul,</HI> and other Scriptures, that it doth not hinder or hurt man's liberty. Becau&s;e, as <HI>I</HI> remember, &s;ome of them held, that Prede&s;tination, is an act in God, which follows another act in the divine under&s;tand|ing, that &s;ees all our good works. So that God fir&s;t &s;ees a man's good works, and then doth prede&s;tinate him: And he doth never prede&s;tinate any man before he hath &s;een his final good works. In&s;omuch, as the actual working well hath &s;ome priority to the act of Prede&s;tination: So that if you actually work well finally, you &s;hall be &s;aved; if not, you &s;hall be reprobat. Not well; fir&s;t, &s;aid they, God decrees to &s;ave every man:
<PB N="22" REF="12"> <HI>For he will have all men to be &s;aved, and to come to the knowledge of the Truth,</HI> 1 Tim. 2.4. Then he decrees to give to every one, &s;ome divine help that may conduct him to Heaven: Then he &s;ees who will lay hold of &s;uch a help, and who will not; who goes forward concurring with divine favours, and who cuts them off; who per&s;e|vers to the end in good, and who fails in the clo&s;ing of life. The&s;e decrees (&s;aid they) are altogether in the &s;ame in&s;tant of Eter|nity, but with a certain priority and di&s;tincti|on in &s;igns. I did not under&s;tand them per|fectly, but I perceived that they concluded, that our finall working well is precedent, and that God's prede&s;tinating is &s;ub&s;equent; and that the&s;e acts agree as well together, as doth the Wages with the VVorkman or the Law|rel with the Conquerour. Others explica|ted Prede&s;tination another way, but all did con&s;ent that Free-will is in no wi&s;e endama|ged by it, but pre&s;erved entire.</P>
<P>In the time of this Di&s;pute, one of the Doctors ro&s;e up, and turning him&s;elf to the multitude, that &s;tood gaping to hear them, &s;aid with a loud voice: This matter is &s;ub|lime, and requires deeper &s;peculation, then is commonly found in people, that have only a &s;uperficial knowledge. Certain per&s;ons, who want the grounds, that co&s;t Learned
<PB N="23" REF="12"> men many years labour before they could rightly under&s;tand and po&s;&s;e&s;s them, do boggle and falter, and &s;tumble at the con|templation of this profound my&s;tery. They would &s;ooner &s;ave their Souls by hearkening humbly, then by a daring &s;light above their capacity. But let us leave this arguing to great Doctors, and let us &s;peak in plain terms, more ea&s;ie to be under&s;tood.</P>
<P>Madam, in the &s;en&s;e that you alledge the opinion, it cannot &s;tand with God's Ju&s;tice, and it doth de&s;troy his Goodne&s;s. The Bible is full of Gods tender love towards man. It is not love, but an effect of hate, to de|cree mans eternal torment without any cau&s;e given by man. It is not ju&s;tice, but cruelty to condemn man to eternal death, for that which God him&s;elf forced him to do. Wherefore if God be good and ju&s;t, the rea&s;on why man is prede&s;tinat, or reprobate, mu&s;t come from man working, not from God forcing. This truth is &s;o often repea|ted in the Bible, that what&s;oever the opinions of School-men may be, concerning the man|ner of explicating Prede&s;tination, it is con|&s;onant to the &s;weet and ju&s;t proceeding of the Lord, that man be either &s;aved or dam|ned for his own good or evil deeds. Be&s;ides, you controdict your &s;elf: For fir&s;t you affirm, that man hath no Free-will, and then you
<PB N="24" REF="13"> add very incon&s;equently, that he may live as well as he will, and do as many good works as he plea&s;e, exhorting him at length to live merrily, and to make the be&s;t u&s;e of his time that he can. You ought rather to have &s;aid, that the Lord may do in him, and with him, what he will and what he plea&s;e; and then have entreated the Lord to make him merry, and grant him a cheerful u&s;e of his time. But you de&s;ire a poor man to do, what immedi|ately before you laboured to per&s;wade him was impo&s;&s;ible to be done. In which your tongue doth naturally bew<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ay the ignorance you have of the my&s;tery.</P>
<P>Upon man's freedom <HI>I</HI> plant my Religion: Free-will is a mo&s;t noble excellency, that di&s;tingui&s;heth man from brute bea&s;ts and gives him ample &s;cope to exerci&s;e the power, that is proper to his divine extraction. Where|fore &s;eeing that nothing is more contrary to the dignity of man, than to be tyed and bound to a Religion, and nothing is more agreeable to his nature, then to do and un|do; to take and refu&s;e; to put on and put off; to change and alter at his plea&s;ure; <HI>I</HI> conclude that every man ought to embrace the Religion as it runs current in the times. It is a great art to &s;ail with any wind, and it is no le&s;s wi&s;dom to walk to heaven in any Religion. If the Religion grow old, &s;tale, out
<PB N="25" REF="13"> of date, or fa&s;hion, why &s;hould our will be compelled to wear what others ca&s;t off? If the Religion it &s;elf change, how can we and the Religion agree together, unle&s;s we frame our dictamens to the Religions hu|mour? He would have &s;poken more, but the Lady took him up &s;hort, with a quick motion both of tongue and body, and deli|vered her mind thus.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. IX.</HI> Let not your Religion &s;oar above Rea&s;on.</HEAD>
<P>YOu talk of Religion, as if it were an idle invention. You compare it to the fa&s;hion, which is altered at the ficklene&s;s of a fancy, which no man is obliged to follow, and every one may change at his plea&s;ure. This is contrary to the &s;train of former ages, when Chri&s;tians &s;tuck &s;o clo&s;e to their faith, that rather than forgo it, they were con|tent to hazzard their lives and fortunes, and by &s;uch con&s;tancy Heaven was peopled with Martyrs. Although for my part, this dying to maintain my belief, or this lo&s;ing my means to &s;ecure my con&s;cience, I confe&s;s it is a doctrine which the Spirit hath not yet taught me. And you mu&s;t know that the
<PB N="26" REF="14"> &s;pirit teacheth all truth. And although I &s;ay it, I am as well ver&s;ed in the &s;pirit, as any other what&s;oever of my years: For I have made it my only &s;tudy from my infancy to under&s;tand the Bible perfectly well. Now what &s;hould in&s;truct man, but the &s;pirit of man? And what is mans &s;pirit but that, by which he lives? As I cannot live by your &s;pirit, nor you by mine, &s;o neither of us can under&s;tand what the Spirit of the Lord &s;peaks to our neighbour. It is not the out|ward preaching that doth the deed; it is the &s;pirit that moves. If you preach, and I at|tend not, all that you &s;ay is vain babling. The &s;pirit mu&s;t inform, and it mu&s;t inform according to my capacity. I cannot be ob|liged to believe more, than my &s;pirit is able to direct me. Nor can my &s;pirit make me comprehend more, then what my forces ar|rive to. The &s;pirit, rea&s;on, and my forces are all the &s;ame. It were incon&s;i&s;tent with mans nature to require from him a belief, that &s;hould tran&s;cend his forces, or exceed the reach of his rea&s;on. Believe therefore as much, and as far as rea&s;on leads you. The Will is a blind power, and &s;ees no more then what Rea&s;on dictates. You cannot without violence ca&s;t her into &s;hackles, when rea&s;on repugnes.</P>
<P>My judgement is, that he were unrea&s;on|able,
<PB N="27" REF="14"> that would have a man imbrace a Reli|gion above his rea&s;on, or captivate his under|&s;tanding to impo&s;&s;ibilities. The holy Scri|pture doth often inculcar this doctrine unto us, Hearken how expre&s;ly. <HI>My Command is not hidden from thee, nor is far off; It is not in Heaven, neither is it beyond the Sea, but it is near thee, and in thy heart,</HI> Deut. 30.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">1. Who&s;oever hath the Spirit of the Lord &s;ees plainly, that thou art not commanded to be|lieve things above thy capacity, or beyond thy reach, but &s;uch onely as are within the compa&s;s of thy power. And to go no fur|ther; what do we pretend at pre&s;ent, but onely to &s;hew who hath the be&s;t rea&s;on for his Religion, and who hath the &s;tronge&s;t ar|guments to maintain it, provided that all be confirmed by the Word of God. I have no thought of drawing you to me, unle&s;s Rea&s;on convince you. And I do not &s;ee, why I &s;hould come to any of you, unle&s;s the &s;trength of Argument forces me. There|fore, &s;eeing every one hath briefly laid open his mind, let us try what mettal our wits and tongues are made of.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="28" REF="15">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. X.</HI> The Conference is interrupted.</HEAD>
<P>THis &s;peech was received with applau&s;e, and the di&s;pute began with mode&s;t pro|po&s;als, and quiet replies; but by little and little it grew warm. Contrary opinions could never meet, without cla&s;hing Rea|&s;on oppo&s;ed Rea&s;on, Authority faced Au|thority, and Scripture &s;ought again&s;t Scri|pture. Every one pretended to have the Word of God clear for him&s;elf, and made whole troops of Scripture march up in his own favour, but they were alwayes beaten back by other forcible Scriptures. In this part the Women out did the Men. The young Lady was &s;o nimble at it, that &s;he &s;eemed rather to &s;peak Scripture, then cite it. Which &s;he did with &s;o good a grace, with &s;o hand&s;om a delivery, and with &s;o free a &s;pirit, that if <HI>Paul</HI> had not commanded Wo|men not to teach, I would give her my vote to be preferred to the fir&s;t Chair of the Uni|ver&s;ity.</P>
<P>My Friend, that introduced me, had hither|to been &s;ilent, when on the &s;uddain he changed colour and countenance, declaring by
<PB N="29" REF="15"> his exotick motions and ge&s;tures, that &s;ome internal impul&s;e gave him more then humane authority to &s;peak. Your &s;pirits (&s;aid he) jarre among them&s;elves. The Spirit of the Lord takes po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of my tongue, com|manding me to preach, and you to hear un|controulable verities. We all turned towards him with amazement, expecting with reve|rence what the voice of this new &s;pirit would deliver. He began thus:</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XI.</HI> Honour the Lord alone, and live by pure &s;pirit.</HEAD>
<P>ALL good Religions &s;eek to honour the Lord. Con&s;equently that Religion mu&s;t be the be&s;t, which honours the Lord mo&s;t. All honour and glory ought to be given to the Lord, and to the Lord alone. No creature is to be admitted to partake with him in a point, wherein he is &s;o jealous, that he promi&s;eth <HI>not to give his honour to any other.</HI> E&s;a. 42.8. Do not injure the Lord, or vio|late nature. That honour is &s;tollen from the Lord, which is given to graven images. Fly Idolatry; or to Angels and Saints, who nei|ther &s;ee you, nor hear you, nor know not you. O fly, fly Idolatry: Or to mortal men,
<PB N="30" REF="16"> who by Natures rule are no more then your equals. Will you &s;till retain and practi&s;e prophane Idolatry? Capping, bowing kneel|ing and the like, are meer humane inventi|ons, they were heretofore given to Idols, and do yet &s;mell of abomination and &s;uper|&s;tition. I hope that the friends of the Lord, as they are zealous in their mind to dete&s;t, So they will be efficacious in their carriage to aboli&s;h the rags of Idolatry.</P>
<P>O Deare&s;t Brethren and Si&s;ters, Adore, I command you in &s;pirit and truth. To adore in &s;pirit excludes all corporal &s;uperfluities, as gold in its purity admits no dro&s;s. To adore in truth, is to bani&s;h from the heart the worlds fal&s;ity, which con&s;i&s;ts chiefly in ly|ing, cheating, cou&s;ening, and the like. Be|hold how palpably that Religion exceeds the re&s;t, which having been lately found out by certain illuminated per&s;ons, walks in the way of pure &s;pirit. It is a Religion that doth &s;o excellently well refine our lives, that we arrive to have our Yea, yea; and our nay, nay: that we come not to retain fal&s;ity in our buying and &s;elling, no duplicity in our words, no deceit in our actions. It is &s;o ele|vated in &s;pirit, that it regards not the body; it is &s;o entirely addicted to honour the Lord, that it di&s;dains to &s;toop &s;o low, as to bow to a creature. It is &s;o &s;olicitous to be ve&s;ted
<PB N="31" REF="16"> with the life of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that as the Apo|&s;tles did rejoyce in &s;uffering for the truth of the Go&s;pel, &s;o it doth glory that it is per&s;e|cuted by the children of the blind world for the fervour of I reaching. O Men and Wo|men, that pretend to &s;ave your Souls, love the Spirit, not the Body: follow interior feelings, not corporal &s;en&s;es: Ri&s;e up to a pitch of perfection, that may feed the &s;oul, and be a&s;hamed to ta&s;t of the dregs of iniqui|ty, pre&s;ented unto you in the foul cup, which u&s;eth to be carow&s;ed by worldlings. O rai&s;e your hearts to the freedom of the Children of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and exempt your &s;elves from the thraldom of Satan. O! all you that hear me, attend to the &s;pirit that &s;peaks. Fly &s;in, and you &s;hall be happy. Purifie your minds, and you &s;hall &s;ee the Lord. Take heed, beware, look to it. If you be tainted or &s;potted, you &s;hall be thrown from the face of the Lord. Every light action, eve|ry impertinent &s;mile, or vain thought may be your eternal ruine. Every &s;lip is a down|fall, every &s;tumble a precipice, and every ca&s;t of an unbridled eye ca&s;ts you into eter|nal fire. If your Eye offend you, if your Foot &s;candalize you, plulck it out, cut it off, and away with it. For if you &s;tep a&s;ide, or look awry, or think ami&s;s, hope not for Heaven. One &s;ingle error, imperfection or
<PB N="32" REF="17"> defect, though never &s;o &s;lender, light, or &s;mall, damns you eternally. Unle&s;s you live as free from &s;in, and as perfect as is your eter|nal Father, you are lo&s;t Children for ever.</P>
<P>He &s;aid much more to the &s;ame purpo&s;e, which made us all a&s;toni&s;hed, and no man knew on the &s;uddain what to reply.</P>
<P>The day being far &s;pent, and time want|ing to di&s;cu&s;s this matter, we re&s;olved to have another meeting at the fir&s;t conveni|ency.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XII.</HI> What the Seeker did after the Conference.</HEAD>
<P>I Retired home with my head full of con|fu&s;ion; with a combat in my brains, with a di&s;order in all my powers. Sleep fled from mine eyes, and I revolved in my mind what had pa&s;&s;ed, but was not able to judge of it; nor to approve or di&s;approve any thing. All &s;eemed probable, yet nothing plea&s;ed. Every opinion &s;ingly by it &s;elf car|ried a face of truth with it, but compared to others, lo&s;t its varni&s;h. It was a paradox to me, that every one &s;hould prove his opi|nion by plain and clear Scripture, and that every one again &s;hould be confuted by evi|dent
<PB N="33" REF="17"> Scripture. I could think no otherwi&s;e of it, but that either Scripture was contrary to it &s;elf, which I could not beleive, &s;eeing the holy Gho&s;t was the author of it, or el&s;e that the places cited by them were not right+ly under&s;tood. Which if &s;o, I knew not what to do, nor whither to go, nor to whom to repair, that <HI>I</HI> might have the true mean|ing of it. Then I began to con&s;ider this new Religion, which if it &s;hould chance to prove the true one, I did not &s;ee how it is po&s;&s;ible for a man to laugh any more, or to be merry, or to hope &s;alvation, and not de|&s;pair: For who can live with the exact ri|gor which this Religion requires? At length there occurred to my mind a good hone&s;t Prote&s;tant Gentleman, who&s;e coun&s;el I might ask; and with the quiet of this thought I be|gan to repo&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XIII.</HI> A reflection upon every one of the afore&s;aid opi|nions.</HEAD>
<P>I Went early the next morning to a Gentle|man, who although he be one that loves his ea&s;e, yet he is of a &s;ingular good judge|ment. I recounted unto him the whole &s;tate
<PB N="34" REF="18"> of my &s;oul, with all the pa&s;&s;ages as I have now related them. He &s;miled upon me, and pittied my ca&s;e, but remitted me for fur|her in&s;truction to an acquaintance of his. I pre&s;&s;ed him hard, that he would at lea&s;t give me his opinion touching the conference. Thus then (&s;aid he) in brief to every one of them.</P>
<P>To the fir&s;t. If faith alone be &s;ufficient, then clear it is that good works are &s;uperflu|ous. But if faith without works be dead, and profit nothing, then either <HI>Iames, Mat|thew</HI> and <HI>Paul,</HI> mu&s;t be da&s;hed out of the Bible, or the former opinion mu&s;t needs fall.</P>
<P>To the &s;econd. If all that live well &s;hall be &s;aved, and it be charity to hold &s;o: I do not &s;ee why all that live ill, &s;hould not be par|doned, and why it &s;hould not be charity to hold &s;o. If &s;alvation or pardon depend up|on your holding the opinion, I be&s;eech you to hold it. But if they depend upon Chri&s;t, your holding or not holding the opinion, will avail little, unle&s;s you hold with Chri&s;t. To live well in a Religion is like the walking well of a Traveller. To walk &s;trong is excellent good, as long as you are in the right way. But as &s;oon as you once &s;tept out of it, your walking well will never bring you to your journeys end. He doth kindly, and
<PB N="35" REF="18"> like a friend, that endeavours to put you in again, And if any one under pretence of charity, &s;hould &s;ooth you up with a per&s;wa|&s;ion, that it matters not what way you go, &s;o you walk with &s;trength; you would give him &s;mall thanks for his charity, when at the dais end you find your errror without remedy, and then you would perhaps remember that they did not &s;ay ill, who told you before|hand, that you would repent your &s;elf too late. In the &s;ame manner, it is the part of a good Chri&s;tain to admoni&s;h you of your errou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, when you walk in a Religion that was never trodden by Chri&s;t or his follow|ers And if you con&s;ider the thing well, you have no rea&s;on to charge them with un|charitable affection, who groundedly urge you to prevent the danger of falling into the company of tho&s;e, who in the day of Judge|ment &s;hall with bitter, but barren grief cry out: <HI>We have &s;trayed from the way of truth: the &s;un of understanding hath not ri&s;en unto us: and the way of the Lord we never knew,</HI> Wi&s;d. 5.6.</P>
<P>To the third. To have no Religion, is to take away the fruit of Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion. His &s;ufferings would be in vain, the preach|ing of the Apo&s;tles fru&s;trate, all divine pro|mi&s;es and threats to no purpo&s;e. If we have no liberty to execute, we have no rea&s;on to
<PB N="36" REF="19"> regard what is commanded. If nece&s;&s;ity force us, it is &s;en&s;le&s;s that Ju&s;tice &s;hould cha&s;ti&s;e us; more &s;en&s;le&s;s it is to lay indi&s;|cretion to Gods charge, for commanding us <HI>to work our Salvation,</HI> and <HI>to work till he comes,</HI> Luk. 19.13. Becau&s;e this Command would be impo&s;&s;ible or frivilous. For it is either given to all, or to the cho&s;en onely: If to all, it is impo&s;&s;ible, becau&s;e the Repro|bat cannot work their &s;alvation. If to the cho&s;en only, it is frivolous, becau&s;e before they work, or whether they work or no, they are &s;ure to be &s;aved.</P>
<P>To the fourth. To make my Religion a Weather-cock, that may be turned with the bla&s;t of any &s;ick brain, is to de&s;trroy the prin|ciples of wi&s;dom, Prudence u&s;eth to be &s;tay|ed, &s;ober and con&s;tant, which qualities are wanting to a faith that wavers. B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> preaching to Ethnicks and Gentils, you may perhaps gain them, but you &s;hall not have the lauda|bility of con&s;erving them; if you make it lawful for them to &s;erve the times, and &s;uck the corruption of every depraved age. This ficklene&s;s, and mutability cannot challenge to it &s;elf the denomination of per&s;evering to the end, and therefore cannot de&s;erve to expect the reward due to a Per&s;everance.</P>
<P>The fifth opinion, which takes Rea&s;on for the rule of Faith, and will not bow to an
<PB N="37" REF="19"> authority that towereth above her capacity, hath much of that haughty &s;pirit, that pre|tended to rai&s;e his throne above the Heavens, and equalize the Highe&s;t. He that will not &s;toop to the Maje&s;ty of Gods Authority &s;peaking, pre&s;umes to erect his cre&s;t above the clouds. Who can comprehend that God is one alone in three Per&s;ons? that he crea|ted all things of nothing? that the &s;econd Per&s;on (not the fir&s;t or third) was made man in one Per&s;on and two Natures? that God &s;hould be born of a Virgin, &s;uffer, and dye? that a Man &s;hall come to examine and judge all the thoughts, words, and actions of the whole progeny of <HI>Adam?</HI> and that he &s;hall pronounce an irrevocable Sentence of eter|nal life, and eternal death? A Batt cannot gaze upon the Sun&punc; much le&s;s can the weak eyes of Rea&s;on fix their view upon the rayes of the&s;e &s;upercele&s;tial my&s;teries. The office of rea&s;on is not to dive into the Divine &s;e|crets, but to &s;earch out convincing argu|ments, that may evidently prove the credi|bility of Gods &s;peaking. Which done, Rea|&s;on cea&s;eth; and there ari&s;eth in the will a &s;trict obligation to command a firm belief of the my&s;teries revealed by Gods &s;peaking, becau&s;e God, if he &s;peak, mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity &s;ay true. So that Rea&s;on, like a Gentleman-u&s;her, leads the Will up to the door of the
<PB N="38" REF="20"> Pre&s;ence-chamber, and then retires. After which, the Will leaning no longer upon Rea&s;on, changeth arms, and relies her faith upon the certainty that God &s;peaks, and the evidence, that he cannot lye. But the&s;e things are out of my road.</P>
<P>The la&s;t opinion, becau&s;e it is new, will not want followers. Apprentices, Serving|men, and Waiting-maids, I warrant you, will flock to it: For this Religion makes them at fir&s;t &s;tep equal to their Ma&s;ter, and gives them a friendly leave to &s;it down with their Mi&s;tre&s;s, One degree more will make the pur&s;e common, and perhaps the mo&s;t needy will grow the mo&s;t perfect. Some knavi&s;h wit feeling the &s;weet of enjoying other men's la|bors, may be an ea&s;ie contemplation bring forth another Religion, which may give him courage to keep what this Religion helps him to get. And then he that is now &s;cru|pulous in buying and &s;elling, will &s;wallow down the &s;cruple, if you talk of re&s;toring.</P>
<P>To the e&s;&s;ential point of this Religion, I &s;ay, that no man can honour another un|le&s;s he do aba&s;e him&s;elf. And he honours the Lord mo&s;t, that is mo&s;t vilified in his own &s;ight. Humility hath an eye that can &s;ee no good, but evil in it &s;elf, and on the contra|ry can di&s;cern no evil, but good in others. And therefore &s;he being de&s;irous that every
<PB N="39" REF="20"> thing may &s;tand in its proper place, rejoyceth to be put in the lowe&s;t. Pride and <HI>Lucifer</HI> joyn hands together. You need no greater &s;ign to know a proud man, then to &s;ee that he will not &s;toop: He refu&s;eth to bow, be|kau&s;e he feels &s;omething in him&s;elf that &s;ug|ge&s;ts unto him that he is &s;uperiour, or at lea&s;t equal to others, This motion hath no divine &s;avour in it: For the Spirit of Je&s;us Chri&s;t teacheth you to bow to the meane&s;t; the &s;pirit of <HI>Lucifer</HI> will not have you &s;toop to the highe&s;t.</P>
<P>As for the honour given to Images, Saints or Angels, I know there is much tugging about it. It ought to be decided by the Word of God, which I wil not venture to do; becau&s;e what&s;oever conceit, they who read the Bible may have of them&s;elves. I dare not pre&s;ume to be more, then were the Apo&s;tles before Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, who were not able to under&s;tand the Scri|ptures (although they were able to read them in their mother tongue) <HI>until Chri&s;t had opened their under&s;tanding, and the &s;en&s;e or mean|ing of them,</HI> Luk. 24.25.</P>
<P>The la&s;t part of this opinion being &s;po|ken to an Auditory, that holds no third place between Heaven and Hell, doth very well to inculcate damnation to all tho&s;e that commit the &s;malle&s;t &s;ins: For &s;eeing it is cer|tain
<PB N="40" REF="21"> that no &s;in, how little &s;oever it be, can enter into heaven, <HI>Revel.</HI> 21.27. it is clear in their principles, that both the &s;in and the &s;inner mu&s;t go down into hell.</P>
<P>With your good patience, I will tell you a reflection I u&s;e to make upon this point.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XIV.</HI> How he ought to live that denies Purgatory, and what is to be &s;aid of him that believes it.</HEAD>
<P>I Will not di&s;pute, whether or no there be &s;uch a place as &s;ome call Purgatory. I only &s;ay that who&s;oever denies it, obligeth him&s;elf to carry a heavy burden, whereas it is certain, that <HI>The yoke of Chri&s;t is &s;weet, and his burthen is light,</HI> Matt. 11.30. Mark now. The Word of God &s;aith in many places, that there is a di&s;tinction between &s;ins and &s;ins, that &s;ome are greater, &s;ome are le&s;s. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;aith that <HI>there is a &s;in to death, and a &s;in not to death,</HI> 1 <HI>Iohn</HI> 5.16. Chri&s;t &s;aith that <HI>&s;ome &s;ins are guilty of a Council, others of Iudgement, and others of Hell,</HI> Matt. 5.23. But he that denies Purgatory, &s;ayes that all &s;ins what&s;oever they be, are &s;ins to death, hell and damnation. And therefore
<PB N="41" REF="21"> he by his own tenets mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity oblige him&s;elf, for every &s;in that he commiteth, how light &s;oever it be, to be liable to eter|nal torment. This is a hard task: It is hard, and &s;o hard, that it brings the hope of &s;al|vation into a very narrow compa&s;s: For it is morally impo&s;&s;ible that a man ve&s;ted with corruptibility &s;hould con&s;erve him&s;elf any long time from falling into &s;ome &s;in or other, &s;eeing <HI>the just man falls &s;even times a day,</HI> Prov. 24.16. We know well enough, that as long as we live in this mortal life, we are &s;urrounded with enemies, that we have tray|tors in our bowells, that we tread upon &s;nares, and cannot breath without danger: we know that our tongue, our eyes, and our &s;en&s;es; that our body, our fle&s;h, and our appetites; that our very &s;oul, and the better part of us con&s;pire joyntly, and &s;everally again&s;t us to defile us, to entrap and ruine us. Yet he that will admit no third place between Hea|ven and Hell, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily profe&s;&s;e to have Hell for his eternal habitation, if in the mid&s;t of all the&s;e a&s;&s;aults, he doth not guard his interior as free from all &s;pot&punc; &s;car, wound or blemi&s;h, as is the eternal Father. This opinion cannot be propo&s;ed without hor|rour, nor imbraced with prudent hope, becau&s;e it maks our life un&s;upportably tedi|ous, and our &s;alvation impo&s;&s;ible in practi&s;e:
<PB N="42" REF="22"> For he that cleaves to this opinion, doth ve|ry imprudently hope to be &s;aved, unle&s;s he re&s;olve to renounce the u&s;e of his &s;en&s;es, to make a divorce between his will and his ap|petites; to retire him&s;elf wholly from the company of men, and there live ab&s;tracted from all fancies, thoughts and de&s;ires. He that doth this, doth &s;omething; but it is not &s;ufficient, unle&s;s at his departure, he leave him&s;elf behind him: For when he lies upon his death bed, deprived of &s;en&s;e, and almo&s;t of &s;trength, he &s;hall be encompa&s;&s;ed with thou&s;ands of temptations, both within and without; from above and from beneath, and from all &s;ides: Yet this man makes it an ar|ticle of his faith, that the day is lo&s;t, and that his Salvation is de&s;perate, if Satan can but touch him with a &s;ting, though the ve|nom pa&s;&s;e not to his heart. Can a man be|lieve this to be true, and yet live without innumerable anxieties, or die without im|men&s;e fears?</P>
<P>They who believe there is a Purgatory, live with fewer frights, and dye with greater hopes. Becau&s;e it is far ea&s;ier to pre&s;erve them&s;elves from gro&s;s and palpable &s;ins, as bla&s;phemy, adultery, drunkenne&s;s, and the like, which are <HI>&s;ins to death,</HI> then from the in|numerable darts of &s;ubtile temptations, which are &s;hot from invi&s;ible ambu&s;hes, but make
<PB N="43" REF="22"> not impre&s;&s;ion of mortal harm, by rea&s;on that they cau&s;e <HI>&s;ins only that are not to death.</HI> And when they are brought to their la&s;t Agony, be&s;ides the manifold helps they have to keep Satan aloof, it is a comfort to know that the wound is not &s;o deep, nor the cure &s;o hard, when the &s;haft of temptation &s;carce razeth the skin, when as it pierceth the entrals: and there|fore, although in that la&s;t and dreadful combat, which Satan is permitted to give with all his forces, they &s;hould receive &s;ome &s;light wound, yet as long as they live in Chri&s;t, they have hopes to have their wounds healed, and their triumph &s;ecure. For as it were cruelty to carry maimed, brui&s;ed, or wounded bodies to the Grave, and not to the Ho&s;pital; So it were little agreeable to the &s;weetne&s;s of Chri&s;t's love, that &s;ouls not yet dead to him, but &s;till living by the vertue of his Merits, &s;hould be unmercifully buryed in Hell, and not rather charitably carried to a place, where they might receive cure. They who believe there is a Purgatory, do not hold it of their own brains, but they cite for it many places out of the Bible. This one at pre&s;ent occurs to my memory. <HI>The filth of the daughters of Si|on must be wa&s;hed away by the &s;pirit of judge|ment, and by the &s;pirit of burning,</HI> I&s;a. 4.4.</P>
<P>By the <HI>Daughters of Sion,</HI> are under&s;tood the Elect, who being otherwi&s;e beautiful,
<PB N="44" REF="23"> have notwith&s;tanding contracted <HI>the filth of</HI> &s;uch <HI>&s;ins as are not to death.</HI> But becau&s;e they are &s;ins, the Sentence &s;hall pa&s;s again&s;t them by <HI>the &s;pirit of judgement,</HI> confining them to <HI>the &s;pirit of fire:</HI> Yet becau&s;e they were not <HI>&s;ins to death,</HI> they &s;hall not be confined to the fire that burns eternally without purging or clean&s;ing, but to a fire, by <HI>who&s;e &s;pirit of burning the filth mu&s;t be wa&s;hed away.</HI></P>
<P>I have been free with you to open my &s;en&s;e concerning the fore&s;aid opinions: I pray tell me with the &s;ame freedom what you think of it. To whom I replyed.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XV.</HI> Religion &s;eems nothing el&s;e but a probable opi|nion.</HEAD>
<P>I Have been very attent to all that you have &s;aid, and it &s;eems to me that it is conformable to rea&s;on, and that it carries with it a great probability. It makes me in|cline to the opinion of &s;ome others, that I have heard of, that Religion is nothing el&s;e but a probable opinion. And therefore &s;ee|ing a man may with a &s;afe con&s;cience follow any probable opinion, I begin to think that it may be lawful for me to imbrace any Reli|gion,
<PB N="45" REF="23"> &s;eeing every Religion aleageth great probabilities for it &s;elf: And you have now brought a probable proof for Purgatory, which I alwayes thought to be a cheating invention.</P>
<P>The word was &s;carce out of my mouth, but he replied. I perceive that multiplicity of opinions hath troubled your judgement. I do not wonder at it, becau&s;e I was once of the &s;ame opinion, but by the help of others I have learned, that the true Religion mu&s;t be more than probable, otherwi&s;e it could never oblige under the pain of eternal dam|nation. As for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll other Religions, I dare engage that a learned man, malitiou&s;ly bent to deprave the Bible, would invent twenty a day, as good as any of the&s;e, which malice or ignorance hath already brought forth: And he would maintain them by pro|babilities grounded on the Word of God. Let any indifferent man or woman judge whether any of the Religions that are not yet born, or that few years ago came fir&s;t to light, may prudently be held to be the Religion, which &s;ixteen Ages pa&s;t, Chri&s;t foun|ded. By your good leave I will in&s;i&s;t a little more fully upon this point: For although it may &s;eem to be more then is convenient for this &s;hort di&s;cour&s;e, yet it will not be more, then is good for you to know.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="45" REF="24">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XVI.</HI> A probable Religion is no Religion.</HEAD>
<P>THe Lord having &s;aid in the Old Te&s;ta|ment that all &s;hould peri&s;h by water, that were not in the Ark of <HI>Noah,</HI> no probabili|ties could make any man &s;ecure, that he might e&s;cape in &s;ome other Bark, or upon the top of &s;ome Hou&s;e, Tree or Mountain. And who&s;oever laughed at <HI>Noah</HI> for his un|charitable preaching o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;uch a Doctrine, found afterwards by his own &s;ad experience, that all &s;afety con&s;i&s;ts in believing and obey|ing God, and not in relying upon humane probabilities. So Chri&s;t having &s;aid in the New Te&s;tament, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat <HI>He is the door</HI> Joh. 10.4. it is not prudent for any man to live, much le&s;s to dye, with a probability that he may enter into Heaven at another gate, then by Chri&s;t and his Religion. For as drowning was inevitable to all tho&s;e that were out of the Ark, &s;o becau&s;e Chri&s;t is all Truth, dam|nation mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity light upon all tho&s;e that are out of Chri&s;ts Religion.</P>
<P>The &s;incere Seeker mu&s;t ground his &s;earch upon this principle: <HI>Out of Christs Religion there is no &s;alvation.</HI> Then he mu&s;t examine
<PB N="46" REF="24"> Religion, as wi&s;e men do Jewels. A pro|bability onely that a Diamond is true, doth not invite men to buy, but rather holds them from bargaining. It is imprudence to part with your money, as long as you fear you may be deceived; and as great imprudence it is, to lay down your fear, unle&s;s you be certain of the goodne&s;s of the ware. Pro|bability includes alwayes a fear of fal&s;ity, and this fear cannot prudently cea&s;e, till certain|ty of truth be di&s;covered: For he that is not &s;ecure, mu&s;t needs be timorous. This I &s;ay, not to him that builds his &s;ecurity upon the hate of trouble, nor to him that cleaves to his opi|nion, not becau&s;e he hath rea&s;on for it, but becau&s;e he will not be moved from it, but I &s;ay it to him that is &s;erious in the pur&s;uit of hit eternal welfare. <HI>I</HI> &s;ay that although he have all the probabilities that Wit and Art can in|vent, yet until he be certain that he is in the true Religion, no di&s;cour&s;e or argument, no authority or rea&s;on, no &s;earch or diligence &s;hall ever be able &s;o to quiet his Con&s;cience, that he &s;hall not every now and then, hear &s;ome importune and &s;ecret whi&s;per of doubting, than he is not in the right. The which at the hour of his death will clamour, not in his prai&s;e for working probably, but to his confu&s;ion, for believing imprudently. Nothing but certainty and infallibility can
<PB N="58" REF="25"> give ground &s;ufficient to draw a con&s;equence that may make the imbracing of a Religion, upon which depends eternal joy or wo, with|out blame &s;ecurely practical. That you may &s;ee that I &s;peak this groundedly, take this adverti&s;ement with you.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XVII.</HI> Grounds concerning probable opinions.</HEAD>
<P>NOte Fir&s;t. No moral matter can po&s;|&s;ibly be propo&s;ed, which hath not &s;ome good and &s;ome ill in it, as well for the affir|mative part, as for the negative.</P>
<P>Note Secondly. Every moral and practi|cal ca&s;e may be con&s;idered two wayes: Fir&s;t, as it is meerly and &s;imply the ca&s;e propo&s;ed; Secondly, as it is conjoyned with &s;ome &s;ecret principle, which every one according to the diver&s;ity of circum&s;tances in which he is, ought to pre&s;cribe unto him&s;elf for the rule of his actions. In the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e, what&s;oever can be propo&s;ed, may ea&s;ily be made pro|bable by any man that hath a natural wit, or &s;ome moderate extent in learning. In the &s;econd &s;en&s;e, infinite probabilities fall to the ground, and he mu&s;t be a man of more then
<PB N="49" REF="25"> ordinary knowledge and experience, that can &s;ecure the con&s;cience in the practical fol|lowing of a probable opinion.</P>
<P>Note thirdly. To under&s;tand this well, that <HI>Syndece&s;is</HI> is a habit that con&s;erves the&s;e two general principles: <HI>Avoid evil, and do good.</HI> The right practi&s;e of this habit, is a mo&s;t efficacious help to perfection, the wrong u&s;e thereof is the bane of Con&s;cience: For if you &s;treighten it, you lead to &s;cruples; if you enlarge it, you open a gap to liberty: and if you extingui&s;h it, all &s;hame of &s;inning is lo&s;t, and iniquity is drunk up like water. Wherefore it requires a skilful director, &s;o to lead a Soul, that neither the habit be hurt, nor the Con&s;cience wounded.</P>
<P>Upon this habit, men that work with di&s;|cretion and fore-&s;ight, lay &s;ome other gene|ral principle, by which they level the medi|at ends of their particular actions. Who|&s;oever takes any voluntary obligation upon him&s;elf, or hath any impo&s;ed upon him by another, is bound by vertue of the &s;ame obligation to e&s;tabli&s;h in his mind &s;ome axi|om or maxim &s;uitable to the matter. Upon which maxim or principle if he look, contra|ry probabilities will little move him; and if he look not, probabilities will never excu&s;e him. He that hath no &s;uch general principle, lives irre&s;olute, un&s;ettled, indeterminate in
<PB N="50" REF="26"> his judgement, and ea&s;ily changeth his opini|on. Upon every new rea&s;on he repents his former doings. He is vehement to will, and as violent to leave off. As long as he hath no &s;table maxim to govern him&s;elf by, he cannot be brought into the way when he is out, but is uncapable of help or coun|&s;el. Lea&s;t I &s;hould proceed too far in &s;pe|culation, I explicate my &s;elf by familiar examples.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XVIII.</HI> Probabilities prevail not again&s;t establi&s;hed Maxims.</HEAD>
<P>A Gentleman enters to &s;erve in Court. If he have no general maxim, by which to guide his actions, you &s;hall &s;ee him live at random, not unlike unto a Ve&s;&s;el, that want|ing a Stern, Oar, or Sail, is carried hither and thither, forward and backward, as mens wits do ebb and flow; and he is to&s;&s;ed up and down with the wind of every Courtiers mouth. But if he oblige him&s;elf to get ho|nour and preferment, and take for a prin|ciple, that <HI>nothing is to be done that may hin|der preferment, but all is to be done that may further it;</HI> you &s;hall &s;ee him pre&s;ently &s;quare
<PB N="51" REF="26"> his actions by this Rule, and become another man. He learns how to di&s;tingui&s;h between per&s;ons and per&s;ons; how to ob&s;erve time and place; when to advance, and when to retreat. He is not lavi&s;h in word or ge&s;ture, but fearful at every the lea&s;t appearance of impeding his preferment. A whole army of rea&s;ons will never make him yield to commit an undecency, if one &s;ingle argument point out danger of hindring his promotion. Let us de&s;cend more to particulars.</P>
<P>The que&s;tion is asked, Whether this Gentleman may without danger of putting &s;top to his preferment, appear in the Court not in the fa&s;hon. Take it in the terms propo&s;ed, and it is very probable he may. Becau&s;e the legitimate cau&s;e of Honour and preferment depends not upon his going or not going in the fa&s;hon, but upon his virtue, his good talents, worth, and noble qualities. But as long as his &s;ecret intention of ri&s;ing guides him, I dare an&s;wer for him, that the meer apprehen&s;ion of the tongue of his Rivals, &s;hall more prevail with him, even to make him &s;pend above his ability, to be in the fa&s;hion, then a whole volley of probabilities to make him for&s;ake it.</P>
<P>The &s;ame happens in &s;piritual affairs. He that hath no fixed maxim to &s;teer his actions by, will find out hundreds of probabilities
<PB N="52" REF="27"> to enlarge his con&s;cience, to e&s;chew hard|&s;hip, to plea&s;e &s;en&s;e, and to lull him&s;elf a|&s;leep with a probable per&s;wa&s;ion, that the way, which Chri&s;t taught to be narrow, is now become very broad, and that the eye of a Needle is now grown as wide as a City Gate: So that not only Camels, but Camels with their Loads al&s;o may ea&s;ily enter into Heaven without &s;tooping. Whereas this ca&s;e, by the te&s;timony of Chri&s;t was re&s;er|ved to Gods Omnipotency. He that keeps before his eye &s;ome &s;olid maxim of eternal verity, is &s;o &s;treightned with divine fear, that contrary probabilities cannot dilate him.</P>
<P>Hence you may gather the rea&s;on why learned con&s;cientious men are large in their opinions to others, and &s;treight to them|&s;elves. Their own motions are made by Needle and Compa&s;s, and therefore in all variation they are timerous. But when they give coun&s;el to others, they an&s;wer to the plain ca&s;e, without having regard to the pri|vate axiom, which every one keeps &s;ecret to him&s;elf. Or if the axiom be mentioned, they look upon it not as a Rule, but as a meer circum&s;tance, and &s;o it hinders not the ea&s;ie making of the ca&s;e probable. But if they be told in confidence that it is an axiom, and the aim of their private drift; then you &s;hall &s;ee them &s;crupulou&s;ly wave the difficul|ty,
<PB N="53" REF="27"> and &s;carce ever be po&s;itive again&s;t it; becau&s;e they feel their own con&s;cience &s;crewed into the an&s;wer. In this point is di&s;covered a true ma&s;tery of &s;pirit: In this con&s;i&s;ts the art of directing and &s;ecuring the Con&s;cience.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XIX.</HI> Examples out of holy Scripture of probable opinions against Maxims.</HEAD>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="example">
<HEAD><HI>1 Example.</HI> The <HI>Maxim.</HI> The Lord commanding by him|&s;elf ought to be obeyed.</HEAD>
<P>IF it might have been lawful to &s;et a&s;ide this principle, <HI>The Lords Command is ab&s;o|lutely to be obeyed;</HI> See with what probability <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Eve</HI> might have di&s;cour&s;ed in this manner. To eat an Apple is not intrin&s;ecal|ly ill, becau&s;e that which enters in doth not defile. And perhaps it is not matter &s;uffici|ent to found &s;o heavy a precept, that the breach thereof &s;hould de&s;erve death. But grant it be, yet the good that comes from
<PB N="54" REF="28"> eating will prevent the ill, and recompence the harm: For to know good and evil is a divine perfection, and will rai&s;e us to the &s;imilitude of the Deity. And if we be like to God, we &s;hall be immortal; if immortal, then the <HI>Serpent</HI> &s;ayes true, that we &s;hall not dye. Without doubt it is a good &s;pirit that &s;peaks, becau&s;e the Lord, who created all things very good, would never have permit|ted an evil one to enter into Paradi&s;e. Be&s;ides an evil &s;pirit would never wi&s;h us &s;o well, as to inform us with &s;o much civility of the high dignity we may be rai&s;ed unto. In truth there is no rea&s;on why he &s;hould forge a lye, &s;eeing he can gain nothing by deluding us. The probability for <HI>Adam</HI> was much greater: For on the one &s;ide he could not for&s;ake his Wife, whom the Lord had given him to love, and live with: On the other &s;ide if he did not eat, his life would be intolerable, becau&s;e &s;he would alwaies be contri&s;tated, and there would follow a perpetual di&s;uni|on of mind and wills between them. Again the Lord, who had conjoyned them in body, could not rationally di&s;approve, that they &s;hould be united in mind, for the avoiding of innumerable di&s;orders. Behold what they might have &s;aid for them&s;elves. But their &s;hrinking from this principle, <HI>The Lords Command is inviolably to be obeyed,</HI> per|haps
<PB N="55" REF="28"> made &s;uch like probabilities &s;ugge&s;ted by the Devil to blu&s;ter and grow big: Where|as if they had &s;tuck to it, they would have laughed at the &s;illine&s;s of the Serpents argu|ment, who being an Angel, had &s;uch &s;hal|low invention.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="example">
<HEAD><HI>2 Example. Maxim.</HI> The Lord commanding by his Sub|&s;titute ought to be obeyed.</HEAD>
<P>THe Lord put a period to the Kingdom of <HI>Saul</HI> for a fact that might &s;eem war|rantable by &s;trong probabilities. <HI>Saul</HI> was commanded by <HI>Samuel</HI> not to offer Sacrifice before his return. Let us &s;ee the rea&s;ons that moved <HI>Saul</HI> to tran&s;gre&s;s this precept. <HI>Samuel</HI> was &s;carce departed, but the Phili&s;tins &s;warming in number like the &s;ands of the Sea, encamped them&s;elves clo&s;e by <HI>Saul.</HI> The Souldiers of <HI>Saul</HI> being very few, were &s;truck with &s;uch terror at the &s;ight of them that they began to run away by whole troops. The Phili&s;tines taking the advantage both of. time and place, drew out into the field, and were upon the point of giving battel. <HI>Saul,</HI> who had hitherto been quiet out of re&s;pect
<PB N="56" REF="29"> to the precept, began now to rou&s;e him&s;elf, but withal &s;tood perplexed and dubious what to re&s;olve on. At length he ca&s;t the matter into the &s;cales of probability, and di&s;cour&s;ed thus. To decline the fight is not po&s;&s;ible: to fight, without fir&s;t having appea&s;ed the face of the Lord by &s;acrifice, is temerarious, and perhaps impious: To expect <HI>Samuel</HI> is imprudence, &s;eeing no man knows where he is, nor when he will come. All delayes are dangerous. becau&s;e the pre&s;ent &s;tate requires action not deliberation, for the enemy &s;tands in battel array ready to force me. Be&s;ides, &s;ome of my Souldiers are fled, others look the &s;ame way. and all the re&s;t refu&s;e to draw &s;word, unle&s;s they may be &s;ure of the Lords protection. Becau&s;e being few in number, it is madne&s;s to oppo&s;e a va&s;t multitude, un|le&s;s they have the Lords favour to &s;hel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">er them, which is onely to be got by &s;acrifice. So that all things con&s;idered it is nece&s;&s;ary to offer Sacrifice. Nece&s;&s;ity turned the bal|lance, and made it very probable that the precept did not urge in this pre&s;&s;ing ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity. <HI>Saul</HI> therefore offered Sacrifice, prote&s;ting that he did it with pure intention to appea&s;e the face of the Lord, and that he retained &s;till a de&s;ire to ob&s;erve the Com|mand, but could not re&s;i&s;t nece&s;&s;ity. One would think, that in the&s;e circum&s;tances <HI>Saul</HI>
<PB N="57" REF="29"> might have been held blamele&s;s. But becau&s;e no circum&s;tance could &s;ufficiently authorize him to de&s;ert this principle: <HI>The Lord is to be obeyed when he commands by his Sub&s;titute. Sa|muel</HI> gave him a &s;harp check, and told him: <HI>Thou hast done fooli&s;hly,</HI> 1 Kin. 13.13. that is, without &s;en&s;e, wit or brains. Becau&s;e <HI>obe|dience being better than &s;acrifice,</HI> ch. 15.22. all rea&s;ons that oppo&s;e the obligation of obey|ing a command given by a lawful Superior, are &s;o far from carrying with them a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uffici|ent probability to ground a prudent action, that they are all vain, fooli&s;h, and none at all. And they may co&s;t a Subject the lo&s;s of Hea|ven, as it co&s;t <HI>Saul</HI> the lo&s;s of his Crown and Kingdom.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="example">
<HEAD><HI>3 Example. Maxim.</HI> The Lords invitation ought to be ac|cepted.</HEAD>
<P>THe &s;ame obligation there is of having and maintaining a corre&s;pondent prin|ciple, when the Lord intreats only, without giving any expre&s;s command. For as when the Lord knocks, no rea&s;on can make it
<PB N="58" REF="30"> good, why you &s;hould not open; or when he calls, why he &s;hould not come; &s;o no|thing ought to per&s;uade you, not to accept, when he invites. This is evident by the pa|rable of tho&s;e that were invited to a co&s;tly Supper, and excu&s;ed them&s;elves, <HI>Luk.</HI> 14. The Parable is known: Let us ponder their excu&s;es. One was already engaged by pro|mi&s;e to go &s;ee a Farm: And no man ought to break his word. Another had nece&s;&s;ity of &s;taying to try certain yoke of Oxen, which he had lately bought: And nece&s;&s;ity hath no law. A third had impo&s;&s;ibility of going, be|cau&s;e being but newly Married, it was not po&s;&s;ible to get his Wives con&s;ent: And im|po&s;&s;ibility makes all pardonable. Be&s;ides, all excu&s;ed them&s;elves, and therefore it had been &s;ingularity for any one in particular to have accepted the invitation. For &s;ingulari|ty, even among&s;t vertuous men is held a vice; becau&s;e you make your &s;elf more wi&s;e, or more zealous than the re&s;t. The&s;e proba|bilities of excu&s;e were the ground of their puni&s;hment; which was to be eternally ba|ni&s;hed from the table, which their probable opinions made them refu&s;e to &s;it at, and were the cau&s;e why others were invited to take their room. Let a &s;oul that feels her &s;elf in|teriorly invited by the Omnipotent to a banquet of prayer, to perfection and con|templation,
<PB N="59" REF="30"> take heed of excu&s;es, though never &s;o probale, le&s;t not &s;he any more, but others be called.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="4" TYPE="example">
<HEAD><HI>4 Example. Maxim.</HI> A strong pre&s;umption of the Lord's Will, ought to be held for his will.</HEAD>
<P>IT is &s;ufficient to &s;ee, that the will of the Lord be made manife&s;t by a prudent con|jecture, or at lea&s;t by a &s;trong pre&s;umption, that it may &s;tand for a directing principle. <HI>E&s;ther</HI> was rai&s;ed from a low &s;tate to wed a Diadem: She had &s;carce po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of it, but <HI>Mardocheus</HI> pre&s;&s;ed her to acquaint the King, how that the people of the Lord was in danger to be de&s;troyed. She being now become a Courtier, and a principiant in po|licy, found difficulty to do it. Her ca&s;e may be propo&s;ed thus. Whether or no a man is obliged in con&s;cience to thru&s;t him&s;elf upon the furthering of an uncertain good, with the certain danger of bla&s;ting his own bud|ding fortune, of incurring the di&s;plea&s;ure of his Soveraign, and of being lyable to death, by doing openly again&s;t the known approved laws. <HI>E&s;ther</HI> judged it by the rule
<PB N="60" REF="31"> of nature, and by the maxim of the world, and therefore made &s;ure that the &s;entence would have pa&s;&s;ed in her favour. But as &s;oon as <HI>Mardocheus</HI> in&s;tilled into her a principle, which he gathered only out of the vehe|ment pre&s;umption of the circum&s;tances, to wit: <HI>The Lord required of her, that &s;he &s;hould put her &s;elf forward:</HI> She immediately let go her probable hold, as being too weak to oppo&s;e the Lords will. If &s;he had replied unto the maxim: <HI>And perhaps the Lord re|quires it not.</HI> She might well have followed a probable opinion, but her Con&s;cience would alwaies have upbraided her for not following the Lord.</P>
<P>I fear I have in&s;i&s;ted upon this point a little longer then will agree with your ap|proval. Indeed &s;aid I, it &s;eems to me, that you have been a little too &s;evere again&s;t pro|bable opinions, which notwith&s;tanding by the judgement of very learned men may be followed with a &s;ecure Con&s;cience. Pardon me (&s;aid he) in this: For if I had known how to be clear in my expre&s;&s;ions, I intended not &s;o much as to touch that que&s;tion. Take therefore in few words what I have &s;aid in many.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 TYPE="summary">
<PB N="61" REF="31">
<HEAD>The &s;um of what hath been &s;aid concerning probable opinions.</HEAD>
<P>IN my former dircour&s;e I affirmed four things. Fir&s;t, that any ca&s;e con&s;idered meerly in it &s;elf, may ea&s;ily be made probable on either &s;ide. Secondly that men who work for an end, ought to have &s;ome particular p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ivate principle, by which to direct their actions and that many times they are obliged to have &s;uch a principle. Thirdly, that in the pre&s;ence of that maxim or principle, it is very hard to make the contrary &s;ufficiently p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">obable. Fourthly, and chiefly (it being the end and cau&s;e why I entred upon this matter) that certain axioms or principles, which men are obliged to have, and &s;hall not be excu&s;ed if they have them not, are of &s;uch a nature, that it is impo&s;&s;ible to have a true, real, practical probability again&s;t them. Of this kind are the four Maxims, which among hun|dred others, I have cho&s;en out of the Bible to &s;hew you the verity of my a&s;&s;ertion. This maxim is of the &s;ame &s;tamp with them: <HI>Out of the true Religion is no &s;alvation:</HI> Or, <HI>no other Religion can be true but that which Chri&s;t founded.</HI> For I maintain it, that it is not
<PB N="62" REF="32"> po&s;&s;ible to make the contrary practically pro|bable. In all which, I determine nothing what may be done in ca&s;e that you make a thing truly and really probable: and I think you will &s;carce allow, that a prudent man &s;hould follow an opinion in practi&s;e that is onely &s;eemingly and fal&s;ly probable. Let us proceed.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XX.</HI> Why out of the true Religion there can be no &s;alvation.</HEAD>
<P>I Have &s;taid, as I told you, long upon this matter, to the end that you might learn, how that the Lords will cannot be counter|manded by any probable or po&s;&s;ible rea&s;ons. So that if the Lord give a command, and threaten to puni&s;h the di&s;obedient, it is not &s;ecure to make many di&s;cour&s;es upon the pre|cept, but it is nece&s;&s;ary to obey. For the Lord will not be jea&s;ted with, nor laughed at. He is &s;evere and rigorous in exacting an account of his precept, and cha&s;ti&s;eth very &s;hrewdly the neglect of it. The Lord commanded <HI>Adam</HI> not to eat of the Apple. You &s;ee what an au&s;tere puni&s;hment was
<PB N="63" REF="32" MS="y"> laid upon him, and all us his po&s;terity for di&s;obedience. All hopes of recovering the divine favour were quite cut off, and made impo&s;&s;ible, till God him&s;elf was plea&s;ed to de|&s;cend to the ba&s;ene&s;s of humane fle&s;h, and be made man in the womb of the Virgin <HI>Mary.</HI> He being the &s;econd Per&s;on of the mo&s;t Ble&s;|&s;ed Trinity was called Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and by the precious merits of his bitter death and pa&s;&s;ion, made a derfect attonement between us, and his eternal Father. In recompence of which, all power was given to him, and he by vertue of the &s;ame power framed a <HI>Re|ligion, clean un&s;potted,</HI> Jam. 1.27. <HI>He made by it perpetual Prie&s;ts unto him&s;elf,</HI> Exod. 29.2. And if you demand, <HI>What is this Religi|on?</HI> Your Fore-fathers &s;hall an&s;wer you, <HI>that it is the victim of the Lords pa&s;&s;age: It is the Religion of the Pha&s;e,</HI> Exod. 12. v. 27. and 43. That is, it is a Religion of the real and true victim offered once upon the Cro&s;s, of which, the Sacrifices of the old Law were only types and figures. This is the Religion which Chri&s;t made, pre&s;cribing unto us the manner of walking in it. This is the Religion, which he promi&s;eth to con&s;erve, to be pre|&s;ent with it till the end of the world, and that it &s;hall be taught all truth, without po&s;|&s;ibility of erring. He doth not leave this Religion to the liberty of every &s;ubtle mali|tious
<PB N="64" REF="33"> wit, to cut and mince it, to chop and change it at his plea&s;ure. This Religion is his Dear and his Spou&s;e; and therefore one alone, and the onely help to Salvation, of which the Ark of <HI>Noah</HI> was a type, as be|ing one, and the onely means to e&s;cape the Deluge. Chri&s;t prote&s;teth that in this his Religion he him&s;elf is the way, and the only way, and that there is no other way to hea|ven but by him. Wherefore what&s;oever you may hear of probable opinions, that teach you another way, and make you believe that Chri&s;t is here, and Chri&s;t is there, and Chri&s;t is with them, or Chri&s;t is within them: Be|ware of fal&s;e Prophets who &s;ay, <HI>The Lord did &s;peak, when the Lord &s;poke not,</HI> Jer. 14.13. and lay for a Maxim, that <HI>it is not po&s;&s;ible for any other Religion to be true, than what Christ founded.</HI> And therefore he that walks not in Chri&s;ts Religion, walks not in the way to heaven, and he that walks not in the way to it, &s;hall never arrive at it.</P>
<P>As &s;oon as he had ended, I told him, that I de&s;ired nothing more then to be a&s;&s;ured of Chri&s;ts Religion. And I had hitherto u&s;ed much labour in &s;eeking it, but could not find it. To which he an&s;wered.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="65" REF="33">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXI.</HI> Why the Seeker cannot find the true Religion.</HEAD>
<P>IF you &s;eek Chri&s;t's Religion, as you have done hitherto, you may &s;eek all the dayes of your life, and be never the nearer. Becau&s;e you are like to a man, that benighted in a wood, and being entred into by-paths, &s;eeks his way by groping, or having day-light, is wholly &s;ollicious to follow the track made by Bea&s;ts and their Keepers. Imagine you whether by going forward he is likely to re|cov<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r the high way. So you have left the beaten road of Religion, which was troden by Chri&s;t and his followers, and are entred into many By-religions, which thwart and cro&s;s one the other. They lead into a wil|derne&s;s of confu&s;ion, where the end of one Religion begets another, and at length you will find no Religion at all, unle&s;&s;e you make it.</P>
<P>Be attent now, and I will give you &s;uch a ray of knowledge, that as it is ea&s;ie to di&s;tingui&s;h a Man from an Ape, &s;o &s;hall you be able to di&s;cern the true Relgion of
<PB N="66" REF="34"> Chri&s;t from all tho&s;e which the Devil hath dre&s;&s;ed up with mymical probabilities to mock you. And I will put you in &s;uch a way, that unle&s;s you wilfully &s;hut your eyes, you &s;hall as clearly &s;ee the credibility of a&s;&s;enting to the true faith, as you behold the Sun to &s;hine. But fir&s;t give me leave to ask you a que&s;tion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="22" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXII.</HI> A digre&s;&s;ion concerning Papi&s;ts.</HEAD>
<P>I Pray tell me, what harm would it have done you, to have had a Papi&s;t pre&s;ent at your Conference? How! &s;aid I, Papi&s;ts there? Would you have me turn Idolater in mine old dayes? I do not &s;ay &s;o neither (&s;aid he.) Only I would not have you con|demn them before you hear them. No di&s;|creet Judge will &s;end men to the Gallows, though never &s;o many hainous crimes be laid to their charge, till he have heard them &s;peak for them&s;elves. Perhaps Papi&s;ts are farther off from Idolatry, then you from true know|ledge, or he that taught you from &s;incere dealing. If you know any of them, that live according to the faith, which they pro|fe&s;s:
<PB N="67" REF="34"> reflect, I pray, if they have not the repute of hone&s;t men. If you have ever treated with them, reflect again, whether they carry them&s;elves otherwi&s;e then civilly and decently, or whether you have heard any word from their mouths, that may favour of not believing in, or adoring one God alone, or of not hoping to be &s;aved by the merits of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. Can you think it credible that prudent men &s;hould be &s;o dull and dolti&s;h, as in the mid&s;t of a people that cryes out again&s;t Idolatry, they &s;hould deny the Lord of all, and make Gods of &s;tocks and &s;tones? Open the eyes of your under|&s;tanding, and &s;u&s;pect rather that &s;ome un|truths may be forged again&s;t them. How&s;o|ever, I think the pre&s;ence of a Papi&s;t would not have infected you, nor his &s;peech have bewitched you. Upon my word, he is a man, as you are, although you may happily have heard him been de&s;cribed for a mon&s;ter. And I hope that you have di&s;cretion enough to lend him an ear, and keep your heart for the Lord and your &s;elf. But let a Papi&s;t be what|&s;oever he will, you that are a Seeker, ought to try the Religion, and &s;earch into the depth of it, and not to take upon tru&s;t what the enemies of Papi&s;t Religion teach you, I admire (quoth I) to hear this out of your mouth, who at other times have been &s;o bit|ter
<PB N="68" REF="35"> again&s;t them. I would not (&s;aid he) for all this, have you take me for a Papi&s;t. But I will tell you in &s;ecret, that Court policy is one thing, when we look upon the times; and Con&s;cience is another, when we are ask|ed coun&s;el: and that it is one thing to choo&s;e a Religion to live in; and another to re|&s;erve one to die in. Is it po&s;&s;ible then (&s;aid I) can there be any good in Popery? I an&s;wer you (&s;aid he) as <HI>Philip</HI> did <HI>Nathaniel. Philip</HI> told <HI>Nathaniel</HI> that <HI>he had found the Me&s;&s;i|as Ie&s;us of</HI> Nazareth. <HI>Nathaniel</HI> replied, <HI>Can any good come out of Nazareth?</HI> Joh. 1.46. <HI>Philip</HI> an&s;wered him, as I do you: <HI>Come and &s;ee,</HI> ver. 46, When you are invited to buy any thing, you may enter the &s;hop, you may &s;ee, handle, turn and con&s;ider the ware, and if you like it not, you are free to leave it. But if you find it better there, and better cheap then el&s;ewhere, to forbear buying meerly becau&s;e you had before an ill opini|on of the &s;hop, hath &s;omewhat of the ma|lign, which I hope is not in you, whom in this ca&s;e I look upon as a true I&s;raelite void of deceit. My meaning is that if you meet with the true Religion where you lea&s;t ex|pected to find it, you ought cheerfully to embrace it, and not ob&s;tinatly reject it, meerly upon this &s;core, becau&s;e you had been long erroneou&s;ly informed, that it was not there.</P>
<PB N="69" REF="35">
<P>I pray tell me (&s;aid I) whether the Gentle|man you recommend me to be a Papi&s;t or no. Care not what he is (&s;aid he) becau&s;e it may prejudice the liberty of your di&s;cour&s;e. I a&s;&s;ure you that he is an hone&s;t man, and a Learned one. Rely upon his hone&s;ty that he will not dilude you and upon his learning that he is able to in&s;truct you. Take heed of tho&s;e Ma&s;ters in knowledge who&s;e lives gain them &s;mall credit, lea&s;t intere&s;t make them maliti|ous to blind you: And commit not your &s;oul to ignorant guides, becau&s;e it is dangerous to chop Logick with the Devil.</P>
<P>I will now point at &s;ome general heads, which &s;hall infallibly bring you to find out the true Religion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="23" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXIII.</HI> Points to be ob&s;erved by the Seeker in choo&s;ing a Religion.</HEAD>
<P>ALL Religions now a daies preach Chri&s;t, but all have him not. Apply the touch|&s;tone, and you &s;hall di&s;cover which is true gold, which counterfeit. Ob&s;erve by the Rules following three things. Fir&s;t, What
<PB N="70" REF="36"> Religion ought to &s;pring from Chri&s;t. Se|condly, What Religion hath received great|e&s;t favour from him. Thirdly, What Religion it is that honours and loves him mo&s;t. This is done by comparing Chri&s;t to the Religi|ons, the Religions among them&s;elves, and the Religions to Chri&s;t. Out of which you &s;hall clearly &s;ee what Religion Chri&s;t founded. Then your natural di&s;cour&s;e will tell you which is the onely true one.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="24" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXIV.</HI> Chri&s;t is compared to the Religions.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. <HI>CHrist is Author of the true Relgion.</HI> He delivered it to his Apo&s;tles, they to others, till it was handed to us. Seek therefore the Religion, of who&s;e beginning from our dayes upwards, no Annals, Hi|&s;tory or Chronicle maketh mention, till you come to Chri&s;t. And do not hold Chri&s;t to be founder of that Religion, of which any mean Hi&s;torographer can name you the fir&s;t Author, and &s;hew you the preci&s;e time, place, manner, and other circum&s;tances, in which it fir&s;t began.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="71" REF="36">2. <HI>Chri&s;t is obliged to co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;erve his own Reli|gion till the the end of the world.</HI> Seek what Reli|gion flouri&s;hed in all Ages, and what in &s;ome of them was not &s;o much as known or named. For Chri&s;t to con&s;erve his Religion, was not to con&s;erve <HI>Peter</HI> or the Apo&s;tles, who are all dead, but he was to con&s;erve the &s;ame e&s;&s;ential &s;eat and form, the &s;ame Authority, Power, Juri&s;diction, and the like, which he communicated to <HI>Peter</HI> and the Apo&s;tles at his fir&s;t founding it. Therefore what&s;oever was conferred upon <HI>Peter</HI> as chief head and ruler of his Religion, ought to pa&s;s invari|ably to every one of <HI>Peter's</HI> Suce&s;&s;ors as long as the world &s;hall endure, in the &s;ame manner as all Royal Prerogatives de&s;cend with the Crown upon all tho&s;e that lawful|ly &s;ucceed to kingly dignity. Otherwi&s;e Chri&s;t doth not con&s;erve his Religion, but lets it decay. Seek who were <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;|&s;ours, and what Religion hath them. For that Religion comes in by intru&s;ion, not by &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, which in &s;tead of having them, de|rides them.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Chri&s;t &s;tirs up his own Religion to vertue and perfection.</HI> It would be again&s;t the pru|dence of Chri&s;t, to exact from weak men high and &s;ublime actions, unle&s;s he did com|municate unto them proportionable abilities to perform what he requires. Seek what Reli|gion
<PB N="72" REF="37"> hath received plenty of &s;upernatural helps and graces; and what Religion it is, that by the good u&s;e of them, hath produ|ced in all ages an abundance of men famous for holine&s;s of life and &s;ancty. And do not hold that Religion to be legitimate, which cannot &s;hew, or name, or find upon Record any one man, who&s;e irreprehen&s;ible life made him known to the world as a worthy of-&s;pring of the grace of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Chri&s;t is an enemy to the world, the fle&s;h and the devil.</HI> Every man is obliged in bap|ti&s;m to renounce the pomps of them. Seek the Religion, that propo&s;eth to you greater and more efficacious helps to perform it. Seek, I &s;ay, what Religion walks to heaven by the &s;treight way of penance, and enters in by the narrow gate of mortification. And &s;hun that Religion as mo&s;t plea&s;ing to the Devil, which opens a broad way to vice and &s;en&s;uality.</P>
<P N="5">5. <HI>Christ commands that his Religion be Preaching through the whole world.</HI> Fir&s;t then, Chri&s;t mu&s;t &s;end Preachers. Secondly, He mu&s;t &s;end them to all parts of the whole Univer&s;e, and give them zeal to convert Souls. Third|ly, They mu&s;t all preach his Religion, of which this &s;hall be a mark, that they all preach one and the &s;ame, not divers Do|ctrines. Examine therefore diligently what
<PB N="73" REF="37"> Religion hath been continually taught in all ages to all Nations: and what Religion to &s;ome People or Countrey onely, and at cer|tain times. Secondly, What Commi&s;&s;ion the Preachers have: whether lineally de&s;cend|ing from Chri&s;t, for the&s;e onely ought to be heard, or vainly ari&s;ing from them&s;elves, or unadvi&s;edly derived from others, to whom Chri&s;t gave no authority: For all the&s;e en|ter in by the window, not by the door, and are Wolves, not Pa&s;tors. Seek again what labour and pains the Preachers take in propa|gating the Go&s;pel in in&s;tructing the ignorant, and in converting of others. Out of which you may gather, whether love of &s;ouls, or pri|vate intere&s;t move them. Search further what Religion it is, that preacheth in all places one &s;ole Faith without di&s;cord of opinions; and you &s;hall find that the unity of truth can &s;pring from no other head than Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="25" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="74" REF="38">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXV.</HI> The Religions are compared one to the other.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. <HI>IN Security.</HI> Whether that Religion be more &s;ecure, which promi&s;eth infallibi|lity, and impo&s;&s;ibility to erre, or that Reli|gion, which profe&s;&s;eth it &s;elf to be fallible, and cannot a&s;&s;ure you but that it doth erre. Cea&s;e not to &s;eek, as long as you find only weak props for your belief, and be not afraid to adhere firmely, when you may build upon the rock of infallible Authority: For the Religion which is adorned with this, is an honour to Chri&s;t, and a worthy &s;upport of Faith.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>In confirming doctrine.</HI> Whether that Religion doth convince more potently who&s;e articles and points are all confirmed by &s;u|pernatural te&s;timonies; or that Religion, which neither hath, nor careth to have any other proof in it, than humane, and meerly natural. Ponder well the Religion, who&s;e te|nets have been ratified from heaven by a ce|le&s;tial tongue, that is, by Miracles. And let any man judge whether it be credible that
<PB N="75" REF="38"> Chri&s;t would work &s;o many wonders to con|firm any other Religion than his own.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>In facilitating faith and works.</HI> Whe|ther that Religion doth more facilitate faith which pre&s;cribes you an ea&s;ie infallible Rule, by which you may certainly know what to be|lieve, and what not; or that Religion which leaves you to your &s;elf, to find it out if you can. Who&s;oever works without rule, &s;quare, line, or compa&s;s, &s;hall be liable to error, not be directed by Art: So he that extends to frame his actions according to the life of Chri&s;t the P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ototypon, mu&s;t not live in a Re|ligion at random, but mu&s;t apply him&s;elf to the Religion that hath received &s;uch like &s;piritual in&s;truments by the merits of Chri&s;t, and teacheth the right u&s;e of them.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>In quieting the m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd.</HI> Whether, that Religion be&s;t quiet the mind, which clear|eth all doubts, re&s;olveth all que&s;tions, gives a po&s;itive an&s;wer to all controver&s;ies, wipes away all &s;cruples, and in all ca&s;es &s;ecures the con&s;cience; or that Religion, which never frees you from a tacite fear of being in the wrong, but alwayes &s;tings you with an anxi|ous de&s;ire to &s;earch further. No Religion can perfectly appea&s;e the mind, unle&s;s there be an Oracle in it that is divine, to wit, a &s;pi|rit of infallible truth, that is to move onely according to Chri&s;ts will and Doctrine.</P>
<P N="5"><PB N="76" REF="39">5. <HI>In curing the Soul.</HI> Whether that Re|ligion can be&s;t cure all mental maladies, which hath in it certain odori&s;erous elixir's and bal&s;ams di&s;tilled from the precious wounds of Je&s;us Chri&s;t; which can di&s;tin|gui&s;h &s;pirits; which hath power over Devils, which hath &s;overain antidotes again&s;t all &s;orts of temptations, and hath the u&s;e and expe|rience of giving ea&s;e to all afflicted minds: Or that Religion, which is yet to learn what it is to manage the interior man.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="26" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXVI.</HI> The Religions are compared to Christ.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1. <HI>TOwards the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t.</HI> That Religion hath a true kindne&s;s for the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, which adoring him as per|fect God and Man, looks upon his merits as the &s;pring of all her good, and making daily commemoration of his death and Pa&s;&s;ion, humbly acknowledgeth that what &s;he hath or can have, what &s;he doth or can do, &s;lows from the &s;ource of his mercy. And there|fore moved with a vehement de&s;ire that he may be known, and loved by the whole world,
<PB N="77" REF="39"> is continually begging, that the torrent of his infinite &s;atisfactory goodne&s;s may be deri|ved to the &s;ouls of all that are capable of it, both living and dead. And not content with bare de&s;ire, &s;ends to all parts of the Uni|ver&s;e men &s;ufficiently in&s;tructed with abilities to reduce the erring or &s;traying &s;heep into Chri&s;ts &s;old. That Religion e&s;teems Chri&s;t in words only, which be&s;ides words u&s;eth lit|tle or no indu&s;try to promote his &s;ervice.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Towards the honour of Chri&s;t.</HI> That Re|ligion &s;eeks really to honour Chri&s;t, which &s;ticking clo&s;e to his commands, &s;ets &s;o high a price upon them, that rather than tran&s;|gre&s;s them, or forgo his &s;ervice, or lo&s;e &s;aith in him, or fall into his di&s;grace, is pre|pared to lay down her life, to &s;acrifice her fortunes, and be di&s;poiled of what&s;oever is dear unto her. That Religion &s;eeks not Chri&s;ts honour, but her own intere&s;t, which cleaves no longer to any principle of Chri&s;t, then whil&s;t it doth agree with her commodity, which will not under&s;tand the principles of Chri&s;ts power and love, when they make not for her ends, but is &s;o addicted to &s;en&s;e, that &s;he will &s;ooner for&s;ake them all than a|bandon her own ea&s;e.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Towards the Word of God.</HI> That Reli|ligion carrieth it &s;elf with due re&s;pect to Gods Word, which hath the Bible in high vene|ration,
<PB N="78" REF="40"> holding it to be full of &s;ublime and profound my&s;teries, as having been penned by the Holy Gho&s;t, and as being &s;hut up with &s;uch divine and my&s;tical &s;eals, <HI>as no man can be found either in heaven or earth, or under the earth, worthy to open the &s;ame, except the Lamb that was &s;lain,</HI> Revel. 5.3.6, And therefore not pre&s;uming upon her own un|der&s;tanding, or relying upon any humane interpretation, though the man that inter|prets be never &s;o learned, is alwayes beg|ging with &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive and humble prayer, that &s;he may receive the right &s;en&s;e and hidden meaning of it from the &s;ame divine Spirit that wrote it. That Religion holds the Bible in mean e&s;teem, which thinks that any Woman or Child, that any rude or ignorant per&s;on is worthy to interpret and glo&s;s it, if he be able to read it. Now becau&s;e &s;uch un|learned wits can penetrate no further than the bark or out-&s;ide, this Religion can never hope to eat of the kernel, or ta&s;te of the marrow, but mu&s;t be content to &s;eed upon what dull and gro&s;s under&s;tandings can de|liver.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Towards the will of Chri&s;t.</HI> That Re|ligion is wholly attent to do Chri&s;ts &s;acred will, which fears to di&s;ta&s;t, and labours to her uttermo&s;t to plea&s;e him. Which know|ing that Chri&s;t hates &s;in, doth fly it; that
<PB N="79" REF="40"> Chri&s;t loves vertue, doth practi&s;e it, that Chri&s;t gives precepts and coun&s;els, doth chearfully obey, and follow them, &s;eeking in all things to conform her &s;elf to the be&s;t will and plea&s;ure of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. That Religi|on cares little to do Chri&s;ts will, which &s;aith that his Commandements are impo&s;&s;ible, which fears not his judgements, but pre&s;umes upon his mercies; or &s;o exaggerates his ri|gour, as &s;he de&s;pairs of his goodne&s;&s;e; which works like a &s;lave, who will do no more then what he is commanded, and therefore &s;he refu&s;eth to do any act of &s;upererogation. She knows well enough that among&s;t men, it is laudable for a man in things not command|ed to plea&s;e his Ma&s;ter, to plea&s;ure his Friend, to content his Father, to exhilerate his Spou&s;e, or to endear his Soveraign. And the true Religion knows al&s;o that Chri&s;t by his death and pa&s;&s;ion is become to every Soul a Ma|&s;ter, Friend, Father, Spou&s;e and Soveraign, and therefore with a free heart does things grateful to him, without being expre&s;ly com|manded to do them.</P>
<P N="5">5. <HI>Towards all that belongs to Chri&s;t.</HI> That Religion imitates a loving Spou&s;e, which for the love &s;he bears to Chri&s;t, honours and loves what&s;oever appertains to Chri&s;t her Spou&s;e. He cannot love you really, who before your face kicks your dog, or your &s;er|vant,
<PB N="80" REF="41"> or any thing that is yours. And much le&s;s can his love be &s;incere and cordial, if in your pre&s;ence he affronts your be&s;t friends, your neare&s;t rela<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and in contemptible wi&s;e laughs at your Mother. He that loves you mu&s;t manife&s;t his love by re&s;pecting all that is yours, and by holding it in the &s;ame degree of veneration, as he knows it is in your e&s;teem. That Religion gives evident &s;igns of re&s;pect, honour and love to Chri&s;t, which doth reverence the Sai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ts becau&s;e they are Chri&s;ts friends; honours <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> becau&s;e &s;he is Chri&s;ts Moch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oth high|ly e&s;teem many other things, meerly becau&s;e they are con&s;ecrated to the &s;ervice of Chri&s;t, or do relate to his per&s;on.</P>
<P>That Religion plays the part of a &s;tep|dame, which &s;aith to Chri&s;t in his face: Chri&s;t I love thee, but I neither care for thy Mother, not for any childe of friend thou ha&s;t in Paradi&s;e, no, although he were mine own Father, Mother, Brother or Si&s;ter, or any of the deare&s;t acquaintance that ever I had. Gentle Reader, did&s;t thou once love the&s;e, and can&s;t thou now like the Religi|on that forbids thee to care any more for them? that commands thee to forget, &s;light and contemn them, for no other rea&s;on, but meedy becau&s;e Je&s;us Chri&s;t, out of the abun|dance of his mercy hath been plea&s;ed to take
<PB N="81" REF="41"> them up to him&s;elf, and honour them with the happy beatifical vi&s;ion of God. What could Satan do more, then reach thee to hate whom Chri&s;t loves?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="27" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXVII.</HI> A Conclu&s;ion drawn out of the Premi&s;&s;es.</HEAD>
<P>OUt of what hath been &s;aid, I conclude, that the Relgion which Chri&s;t him&s;elf founded, and &s;till con&s;erves in being, adorn|ing it with &s;anctity, arming it again&s;t ini|quity, and &s;ending it to teach in all ages and places one and &s;ame univer&s;al doctrine; that the Religion, which hath an impo&s;&s;ibi|lity of erring, a &s;ecurity of knowing, a faci|lity of working, a miraculous &s;ub&s;i&s;ting, and a comfortable guide of living; which hath in it an oracle of truth to quiet the con&s;ci|ence, an ab&s;olute power to quell the Devil, and a mo&s;t a&s;&s;ured art to cure all &s;piritual maladies: I &s;ay, that the Religion, which looks upon the merits of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, with hope; upon his honour, with zeal; upon his Word, with reverence; upon his will, with fidelity; upon his Mother, with duty;
<PB N="82" REF="42"> upon his friends with re&s;pect; and upon what&s;oever belongs to him, with e&s;teem and love; I conclude, and &s;ay, that the Religi|on, which hath, and doth all the&s;e things, &s;hewing evidently that &s;he hath, and doth them all and every one of them, is comfort|able in it &s;elf, honourable to Chri&s;t, and may be &s;ecurely embraced by any prudent man.</P>
<P>On the other &s;ide, he is very imprudent, who ventures his &s;oul in a Religion, which at mo&s;t doth onely pretend to have or do &s;ome of them, not all: And he is much more to be blamed, if his Religion have none of them, or makes profe&s;&s;ion to de&s;troy the be&s;t part of them. If thou art &s;erious in &s;eeking a Religion, do not hold thy &s;elf &s;afe, as long as thou maye&s;t be &s;afer. And where|&s;oever thou meete&s;t with a Religion, that is deficient in any one of the&s;e, take it for a a &s;ure token, that &s;he is none of Chri&s;ts.</P>
<P>I have now put a clew of thread into your hand, which if you follow, you &s;hall ea&s;ily and &s;weetly come out of the labyrinth, into which your importune thoughts have brought you. But becau&s;e I would not have you de|part with the opinion, that I am a Papi&s;t, I will tell you the motives I have again&s;t them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="28" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="83" REF="42">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXVIII.</HI> Motives again&s;t Popery.</HEAD>
<P>PApi&s;ts have many ob&s;ervances, which I cannot away with. They will have you go to confe&s;&s;ion, and you mu&s;t tell all your &s;ins, and then you mu&s;t do penance, and fa&s;t and di&s;cipline; and be bound to God knows how many rigorous practi&s;es. I wonder what plea&s;ure they can take in &s;uch like ceri|monies. I that love certain pretty things, and have done in my dayes, what I would be loth the air &s;hould know, if I could help it; in what a ca&s;e &s;hould I be, if I were &s;uch a fool, as to tell them of it? They would &s;o hamper me, before they had done with me, that I fear they would make me do things which nature abhors to think of. I mu&s;t confe&s;s, that I feel &s;ometimes regrets and gripings of Con&s;cience, that trouble my mirth, and pre&s;s upon me, to hearken to Re|ligion; but a full table, good liquour, and certain delightful &s;ports and dalliances joyn|ed with a fat &s;oil, convince me, that a fa&s;ting Religion is not for my purpo&s;e.</P>
<PB N="84" REF="43">
<P>It may be (&s;aid I) that mi&s;under&s;tanding begets difficulties, and that they appear grea|ter in the fancy, than they prove afterwards in reality. I a&s;&s;ure you that Hell and Eter|nity are &s;o fixed in my mind, that I would rather <HI>chasti&s;e my body</HI> in this world with <HI>Paul</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 9.27. then burn eternally body and &s;oul in the next with <HI>Lucifer.</HI> Where&s;oever I find the infallible true Religion, I will embrace it becau&s;e it is true, not &s;hun it, be|cau&s;e it is hard; nay if it be to be won by toil and labour, I &s;hall conceive rather a higher e&s;teem of its worth; becau&s;e &s;weat and labour accompany noble enterpri&s;es, and generous minds feed upon difficulties. Hea|ven is gained by force, and he that u&s;eth vio|lence &s;hall carry the palm. Let me find the true faith, and I will prefer the Lord, my &s;oul, and heaven before what&s;oever may &s;tand between us.</P>
<P>I like your re&s;olu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ion well (&s;aid he) and you move &s;o much, that I will make it my bu&s;ine&s;s to attend how to &s;ave my &s;oul. In the mean time take the&s;e two documents. By the fir&s;t you &s;hall gather, who in&s;tructs you with truth; by the other, how to di&s;po&s;e your &s;elf to receive it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="29" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="85" REF="43">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXIX.</HI> Two Documents for the Seeker.</HEAD>
<P>THey that &s;ell ill ware, procure to have dark &s;hops, that &s;o they may put it off with fine words. They that defend an ill cau&s;e, would never by their good wills be brought to the barr, and much le&s;s to the pleading of the chief point. So they that main|tain fal&s;e Religions, have many time &s;mooth and &s;ilken language; but they cloud them&s;elves in &s;ophi&s;try, and avoid to their power, the light of a learned adver&s;ary. They are ob|&s;cure in their an&s;wers, and wre&s;t your atten|tion to &s;ome other matter than what was propo&s;ed, &s;hifting off with &s;ubtilty, the clo&s;ing in the true point of the controver&s;ie: Yet they are clear enough in their jea&s;ts, free in their taunts, and more ready to give a &s;coff to your demand, than a &s;olution, preten|ding by this, that becau&s;e they have made it ridiculous, you may hold it erroneous. Their backwardne&s;s to an&s;wer, when you feelingly pre&s;s them, declares that they have more mind to leave you in your error, than to
<PB N="86" REF="44"> trouble them&s;elves with the care of &s;ettling you in the way of &s;alvation. The Doctors of truth &s;eek after no windings or turnings, no &s;hiftings or &s;hufflings, but march up with open brea&s;t to meet the difficulty. The Gentleman, to whom I have recommended you, will be &s;erious, becau&s;e the matter of &s;al|vation is of main importance: He will be plain, clear, di&s;tinct, and po&s;itive in his &s;peech, becau&s;e intelligibility is required here, not &s;ubtilty. He will hear you with patience, and an&s;wer you with charity. I take the&s;e to be &s;igns of a tongue that &s;peaks verity. I de&s;ire you to collect all your diffi|culties together, to propo&s;e them throughly, and not be content with any an&s;wer what&s;o|ever, but reply, and reply again, and do not &s;ubmit your judgement, till you are fully con|vinced. But this being done, then let your will work with the prudence requi&s;ite in &s;uch a ca&s;e, and &s;hew by a cheerful determination to believe, the pious affection that &s;he bears to the Lord of truth: For no wi&s;e man ought to be &s;tubborn and ob&s;tinate again&s;t the known truth, becau&s;e this doth highly offend the Divine Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P>The la&s;t Document, which I intend al&s;o (God willing) to practi&s;e my &s;elf, is this. Before you go to confer with any one, about this important affair of your eternall good,
<PB N="87" REF="44"> retire your &s;elf into the &s;ecret clo&s;et of your heart, and there with bended knee and weeping eye beg light of the Father of lights, a light I &s;ay, that may &s;hine upon your under&s;tanding, and give you a clear knowledge of the true Religion. Beg it by the Merits and Pa&s;&s;ion of Je&s;us Chri&s;t your Redeemer. Beg humbly al&s;o of the &s;ame Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that you may not be deceived by error, by imprudence, or by mi&s;takes: But that you may propo&s;e your doubts with a &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive will to be in&s;tructed, and with a prepared heart to receive the purity of the Go&s;pel. My wi&s;hes are, that &s;weet Je&s;us grant it both to you, and me, and that it may be unto us both a pledge of eternal com|fort.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="30" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXX.</HI> The Seeker finds what he &s;ought.</HEAD>
<P>I Followed this whol&s;om coun&s;el, I &s;poke with the Gentleman, and I received from him entire &s;atisfaction of all my doubts. The clouds of trouble are now vani&s;hed, my mind
<PB N="88" REF="45"> is become &s;erene, and my faith &s;o firm, that it is not po&s;&s;ible, that I can have any more prudent doubt in it. The comfort I received was un&s;peakable, when I heard him inter|pret the Bible. It repre&s;ented to my thoughts a well tuned Lute, which being touched by an ignorant hand offends the ear with har&s;h &s;ounds, but being handled by a skilful arti&s;t, makes &s;weet and plea&s;ant melody. So the Word of God, in the mouth of the un|learned, makes jarring in &s;en&s;e, and contra|diction in opinions, but being expounded by him that hath the &s;pirit of under&s;tanding, it makes mo&s;t admirable harmony and divine concord. It would not be unplea&s;ing unto thee, Dear Reader, to hear how all the pla|ces quoted in the above mentioned confe|rence, which &s;eems to impugn and de&s;troy one the other, do notwith&s;tanding, being right|ly under&s;tood, concur to make up one unpa|ralel'd fabrick of a divine &s;piritual Edifice, as do timber, iron, &s;tone and morter, com|po&s;e one &s;tately building, when each one of them is laid in its proper place, but be|ing di&s;ordered breeds confu&s;ion. I may be en|couraged to perform it, if I &s;hall come to know that this &s;mall labour is any way accep|ted. But not to defraud thee of thy whole ex|pectation, I will briefly &s;et down the di&s;cour&s;e which the Gentleman held with me concer|ning
<PB N="89" REF="45"> the fir&s;t point of the &s;ixth opinion about Idolatry, and honour due to the Lord, related in the eleventh Chapter. The &s;um of it was thus.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="31" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXI.</HI> What is requi&s;ite to under&s;tand the Bible well.</HEAD>
<P>MAny things are required to under&s;tand the Bible well, which I will not touch at pre&s;ent. Among the re&s;t, one is to believe firmly, that it is wholly my&s;terious, that it contains no &s;uperfluity, or errour, and that no one place of it can contradict another. He that reads, and under&s;tands not, may judge at fir&s;t &s;ight that he meets with many apparent repugnancies. But this comes not from the defect of the &s;entence, which is written, but from the want of &s;upetnatural light in him that readeth. Diver&s;ity of light works diver&s;ity in judgement. If you have only the light of &s;en&s;e, you will affirm that the Sun &s;tands &s;till. And although you di&s;|cover by the effect, that it is moved from Ea&s;t to We&s;t, yet the eye will never grant the mo|tion;
<PB N="90" REF="46"> and if the eye be called to coun&s;el, it will pervert the judgement. As &s;en&s;e is to rea&s;on, &s;o is rea&s;on to the Word of God. You mu&s;t deny &s;en&s;e to under&s;tand Philo&s;o|phy, and you mu&s;t captivate rea&s;on to pene|trate the verities of faith. If you bring onely a natural and humane &s;pirit to under|&s;tand the Bible with, you &s;hall &s;ee, and not under&s;tand, you &s;hall read and read, and read, and be never the wi&s;er. This &s;hall ap|pear in the pa&s;&s;age I will touch in the en&s;u|ing Chapter: Where I will leave thee, my Reader, to try whether thy natural wit can teach thee to under&s;tand thy commande|ments.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="32" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXII.</HI> What the Spirit of the Lord teacheth concer|ning Images.</HEAD>
<P>HE mu&s;t needs read the Bible with a very dim light, that cannot di&s;cover a pal|pable difference between <HI>making of graven Images</HI> and <HI>making of graven Images to ones &s;elf:</HI> Or between drinking of Wine, and drinking of Wine till one be drunk. The
<PB N="91" REF="46"> Lord commanded the making of Images, and taught the art of making them, having at the &s;ame time &s;everely forbidden the making them <HI>to ones &s;elf:</HI> For the Lord in the Com|mandements that he delivered to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and &s;olemnly publi&s;hed upon Mount <HI>Sinai,</HI> wrote with his own finger, <HI>Thou &s;halt not make to thy &s;elf any graven Image or likene&s;s of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is in Earth beneath,</HI> Exod. 20.4. Yet the &s;ame Lord before he ended &s;peaking with <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> com|manded that the likene&s;s of things that are in heaven <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ove, <HI>viz.</HI> of <HI>Cherubins,</HI> and of things that are in the earth beneath, <HI>viz.</HI> of <HI>Pomgranates, Nuts,</HI> and <HI>Lillies</HI> &s;hould be made. Moreover he infu&s;ed into <HI>Be&s;aleel</HI> and <HI>Aho|liah,</HI> a godly wi&s;e &s;pirit to make them, and then expre&s;ly reiterated the prohibition of <HI>making to ones &s;elf. See I have called by name</HI> Be&s;aleel: <HI>and I have filled him with the &s;pirt of God in wi&s;dom, and in understanding, and in knowledge of all manner of workman&s;hip, to de|vi&s;e cunning works, to work in gold in Silver, and in bra&s;s, and in cutting of &s;tones, to &s;et them, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmon&s;hip. And I have given with him Aholiah, and in the hearts of all that are wi&s;e hearted, I have put wi&s;dom that they may make all that I have commanded thee,</HI> Ex. 13.4. By vertue of this godly &s;pirit they
<PB N="92" REF="47"> made Pomgranats, Nuts and Lillies, they wove Cherubins into the Veil, and Curtains, they made two golden Statues or Images of Cherubins, and placed them upon the Mercy Seat. Which the Lord was &s;o far from di&s;|approving, that he did alwayes afterwards commune and &s;peak with <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> from <HI>between the two Cherubins,</HI> Exod. 25.22. At the &s;ame time the Lord commanded a <HI>perfume to be made,</HI> forbidding <HI>the making it to them|&s;elves,</HI> or the <HI>making the like of it to &s;mell thereto,</HI> Exod. 30.37. You &s;ee that the Lord makes a difference between <HI>making</HI> and <HI>making to ones &s;elf.</HI> He likes and commands the making, and yet forbids the making to ones felf. So that the making, and con&s;e|quently the having of images, pictures, &s;ta|tues, or the likene&s;s and &s;imilitude of things in heaven or in earth is not di&s;plea&s;ing to the Lor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, but the making them to ones &s;elf is dete&s;table and abominable in his &s;ight. Per|haps you may &s;ay, that you perceive not yet the full meaning of making an Image to ones &s;elf. An example will give you light. The golden Calf, and the brazen Serpent were two Images, or likene&s;&s;es of things in the earth beneath. <HI>Aaron</HI> and the people erected the Calf to them&s;elves, Exod. 30.37. and &s;o made it an Idol. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> by the commandement of the Lord, <HI>made the Serpent and &s;et it for a
<PB N="93" REF="47"> &s;ign.</HI> Numb. 21.8. to be a figure of the Me&s;&s;ias, that was to be rai&s;ed upon the Cro&s;s, Wi&s;d. 16. and &s;o made it a repre&s;entation. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was moved with zeal to beat down the Calf, and puni&s;h the offenders with death: the Lord was moved with compa&s;&s;ion to pre|&s;erve the Serpent, and reward the lookers on it with life. The Idolaters fell pro&s;trate be|fore the Calf, and their adoration re&s;ted there: the true believers did reverence the Serpent, but their faith pa&s;&s;ed to the future Me&s;&s;ias. They fixed their eye upon the fi|gure, but their h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">arr upon the Redeemer fi|gured, for not the Serpent, but the Saviour repre&s;ented by it gave the cure. Wherefore if any one had been in&s;olently bent to throw down the Serpent, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> would doubtle&s;&s;e have been as fiery again&s;t him for his impie|ty, as he was zealous again&s;t the adorers of the Calf for their Idolatry. Becau&s;e, as to &s;et up the Calf, was to di&s;honour the Lord, &s;o to pull down the Serpent, was to renounce the Me&s;&s;ias. If you are &s;till to &s;eek what is to make an Image to ones &s;elf know that the&s;e three things are very divers; to make an Image of ones &s;elf, for ones &s;elf, and to ones &s;elf. The two former are lawful, the third is damnable. If as yet you perceive nothing, then acknowledge your ignorance in under&s;tanding the Bible, &s;eeing you can|not
<PB N="94" REF="48"> without an Interpreter under&s;tand &s;o much as your Commandements. Con&s;e&s;s that there is a my&s;tery locked up in the&s;e words, and that you have not the key to open it. Beg of the Lord a clearer light, demand a fuller information of &s;ome learned man, or expect a larger Treati&s;e from me, and then you &s;hall admire that you could not comprehend it &s;ooner. In the mean time I entreat you not to condemn or cen&s;ure, tho&s;e, who being taught by the holy Gho&s;t, di&s;cover a more palpable difference between making, and making to ones &s;elf, then there is between drinking and drukenne&s;s. Therefo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e as mo|derate wine exhilerates the heart, and immo|derately taken cau&s;eth the dete&s;table &s;in of drunkenne&s;s; &s;o the good u&s;e of pictures and images is a help to piety; though the abu&s;e of them be a ground for Idolatry. And as he de&s;erves to be hi&s;&s;ed out of the company of &s;ober men, who to aboli&s;h the vice of drunkenne&s;s, would inveigh again&s;t all &s;uch as keep wine for a frugal table; &s;o they who laudably cry out again&s;t Idolatry, are worthy to be blamed, when with bitter language they reprehend that, which the Lord him&s;elf was plea&s;ed to pre&s;cribe, command and teach.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="33" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="95" REF="48">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP XXXIII.</HI> What the Spirit of the Lord teacheth concerning honour due to Men, Angels, and Holy things.</HEAD>
<P>THe Spirit of the Lord teacheth us to hate Idolatry, to honour God, and to walk in pure &s;pirit. The &s;ame &s;pirit that cannot contradict it &s;elf, commandeth us to honour our Father, our Mother, our King, and all tho&s;e to whom honour is due, <HI>Rom.</HI> 3.7. <HI>viz.</HI> lawful Prelates, Magi&s;trates, Ma|&s;ters.</P>
<P>Now to the end that the &s;pirit of errour may not weave it &s;elf into the manner of giving this honour, I will &s;hew the harmonical &s;en&s;e of the Bible in the &s;ubordinate concord of the&s;e two Commands. Fir&s;t then,</P>
<P>All honour is due, and ought to be given to the Lord alone. This I &s;uppo&s;e is grant|ed on all &s;ides. Yet I take it in the greate&s;t latitude of rigour that the word <HI>All,</HI> and the word <HI>alone</HI> can admit. Mark what I &s;ay. I will &s;hew that <HI>all honour</HI> of what &s;ort or
<PB N="96" REF="49"> kind &s;oever it be, ought in a mo&s;t &s;trict and proper &s;en&s;e be given to the Lord God, and to the <HI>Lord God alone,</HI> and to no body el&s;e.</P>
<P>Yet I further affirm, that the Lord gives not an order contrary to this, when he com|mands us to honour Men or Angels. So that I undertake to declare two things: The one, that it is lawful, and that we ought to honour Men and Angels, which I will p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ove in this Chapter, and by it I intend to &s;hew the non-&s;en&s;e of that Religion; which in the Eleventh precedent Chapter refu&s;ed to do it for fear of Idolatry. The other, that this honour is no wayes prejudicial, but &s;ubordi|nate to the giving all honour and glory to the <HI>Lord God alone,</HI> which I will &s;hew in the fortieth Chapter. Now to the fir&s;t point.</P>
<P>Many rea&s;ons might be alledged to prove this verity. It were enough to &s;ay unto a man that fears the Lord, that the Lord com|mands us to honour our Father, King, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to take from him all &s;cruple of Idolatry. But let us have the Bible before our eyes, and argue thus. What&s;oever honour we find in the Bible, that Patriarks, Prophets, and other faithful &s;ervants of the Lord, (who above all things hated Idolatry, and were fearful to offend a jealous God) did give to Men, Angels, or holy things, without ever being reprehended by the Lord, may lawfully
<PB N="97" REF="49"> be given by us to Men, Angels, and holy things, without danger of Idolatry, or of di&s;plea&s;ing the Lord. The rea&s;on is becau&s;e the Word of God doth relate and approve things well done, that we may do them; it reprehends things ill done, that we may avoid them. And where&s;oever there appears but the lea&s;t &s;hadow of Idolatry, it fails not to rebuke the offender, that we may fear to fall into the &s;ame &s;in. Now there are in|finite examples in the Bible, of Patriarks, Prophets, Kings, and other mo&s;t faithful &s;ervants of the Lord, that hated Idolatry who notwith&s;tanding bowed, kneeled down, and ca&s;t them&s;elves pro&s;trate before Men, An|gels, and holy things. Yet there is no men|tion made in the Bible, that the Lord did re|prehend or di&s;like them for it; which infal|libly he would have done, if their hearts had been tainted with Idolatry. No man that reads the Bible (and you know how many there are that read it) can have the face to de|ny this. <HI>Abraham, Daniel, Toby, Balam, Manoah</HI> and his wife, <HI>Peter, John,</HI> and ma|ny others both in the old and new Te&s;ta|ment, moved by the &s;pirit of the Lord, wor|&s;hiped Angels and Men, and yet they would not for the world have done any thing to provoke the Lords anger,</P>
<PB N="98" REF="50">
<P>The Spirit of the Lord taught <HI>Iacob</HI> to bow him&s;elf &s;even times to his Brother <HI>E&s;au:</HI> it taught <HI>Leah, Rachel,</HI> their Children, and their Servants to do the like. <HI>Gen.</HI> 33. <HI>v.</HI> 3.67. It taught all the &s;ons of I&s;rael to do obey&s;ance to <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> their younger Brother, and <HI>to bow them&s;elves before him with their faces to the earth,</HI> Gen. 42.6. The men of our new Religion would perhaps have laughed at them, becau&s;e they being &s;ervants to the Lord, bowed to an earthly power. But they wor&s;hipped the Lord in his per&s;on. <HI>Nebu|chadnezar,</HI> although he were a potent King, yet he ca&s;t him&s;elf pro&s;trate at the feet of <HI>Daniel</HI> his &s;lave, beholding him not as his &s;lave, nor yet as God, but as a faithful &s;ervant of the Omnipotent, <HI>Dan.</HI> 2.46. They, who will not &s;toop to their Soveraign, would like this example well, if Princes would be moved by it to wor&s;hip them, as if they were &s;ervants of the Lord. But where humility is wanting, there the name of <HI>Servant of the Lord</HI> is wholly de&s;troyed.</P>
<P><HI>Io&s;hua</HI> the great Captain of the Lord wor|&s;hipped an Angel, as &s;oon as he knew him to be an Angel, <HI>Io&s;h.</HI> 5.14. And the Angel not onely accepted of the wor&s;hip, but more|over commanded <HI>Io&s;hua</HI> to put off his &s;hooes, becau&s;e the earth, on which he &s;tood, was holy. The earth, was the prophane earth
<PB N="99" REF="50"> of <HI>Hiericho,</HI> and was only made holy by the pre&s;ence of the Angel. <HI>jo&s;huah,</HI> who had the Spirit of the Lord, un-&s;hod him&s;elf, per|forming this religious honour to the earth, as relating to the Angel, and wor&s;hipped the Angel as relating to God the Lord <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> all.</P>
<P>It is very credible that the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">gel would never have commanded <HI>Io&s;hua</HI> to do an act di&s;plea&s;ing to the Lord: An<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> it is not to be pre&s;umed that any one of thi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> new Reli|gion is filled with greater zeal of the Lords honour, than was <HI>Io&s;hua</HI> the Chief General of the Lord of Ho&s;ts. Therefore if <HI>Io&s;hua</HI> did un&s;hooe him&s;elf, &s;toop, bow to, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eve|rence and wor&s;hip the Angel, we ought not much to regard whether or no &s;ome others, whole names are not regi&s;tred in the Bible, would have &s;tood bolt upright, without mo|tion, and have kept their hats on.</P>
<P>Neither ought we to take much notice of tho&s;e, who perhaps would have &s;ided with <HI>Michol,</HI> when &s;he laughed at <HI>David</HI> for dance|ing before the Ark. The holy Text a&s;&s;ures us that <HI>David</HI> did it, moved by the interior Spirit of the Lord, and that holding the royal purple in meaner e&s;teem then he did the &s;anctity that &s;hined in the Ark, he judged it religio&s;ity to declare by that humble act, that the Diadem was not due to him by any other title, than by his favour, whom he ho|noured
<PB N="100" REF="51"> in doing that reverence to the Ark. If you ask of me, what &s;anctity the wood of the Ark could have? I an&s;wer, that it is &s;ufficient for us to know, that the Bible calls it <HI>holy,</HI> and that the Lord would have it held &s;o: that he &s;lew 50000. <HI>Beth&s;amites</HI> for a meer curious lifting up of their eye to view it: that he would have it touched only by Prie&s;ts and Levites, and therefore cha&s;ti&s;ed the ra&s;hne&s;s of <HI>Oza</HI> with &s;uddain death, be|cau&s;e he &s;tretched forth his profane arm to &s;u&s;tain it from falling, when the Oxen that drew it, &s;tumbled, kicked, and made it totter. Let Lay-people learn by this example not to be too bold to u&s;e their unhallowed hands a|bout things con&s;ecrated to Gods immediate &s;ervice: For the Lord will have religious ho|nour given to religious things.</P>
<P>Let us &s;tep a little a&s;ide, though not quite out of the way, and demand of &s;uch as de|ny to give honour to Saints, what it is they give to &s;en&s;le&s;s creatures, when they go to Church to receive Bread and Wine, They uncover their heads, they compo&s;e their bodies, and I &s;uppo&s;e their minds to, they bow, they kneel down, and u&s;e many more cerimonies before this Table, then when they eat in their own Parlours. What is this? what honour is this, which they give to bread and wine? If the honour be di|vine,
<PB N="101" REF="51" MS="y"> it is palpable Idolatry: becau&s;e divine honour cannot be given to any creature. If it be civil, it is ridiculous; becau&s;e civil honour cannot be given to any that wants under&s;tanding. If it be a middle honour between both, which &s;ome call religious, they practi&s;e what they condemn, and they fall in o that, which they exhort others to avoid. For they honour that which is not God, and they give to bread and wine, what they deny to Saints and Angels. They ho|nour Bread and Wine, two dead creatures, but what honour it is they give, neither they not their Teachers can tell you. Yet they retain and give the &s;ame cerimonious ho|nour (though at other times they cry out again&s;t cerimonies) to the&s;e two dull inani|mate creatures, that was given by their fore|fathers for many ages together to the true and real Body and Blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t their Redeemer. They wor&s;hip and adore the&s;e two earthly creatures, under pretence of a bare and naked memory of Chri&s;ts Pa&s;&s;ion. And the Saints who are a living memory of the &s;elf &s;ame Pa&s;&s;ion, who are the fruit of Chri&s;ts Merits, the end of his &s;ufferings, the glory of his Triumph, and the crown of his labours, are not thought worthy of &s;o much as a civil re&s;pect. What the Saints (who being like to the Angels &s;ee
<PB N="102" REF="52"> the&s;e things in the divine E&s;&s;ence) will think of &s;uch men, or what their pious Ance&s;tors will &s;ay to them, when they meet them in the next world, I leave to the &s;eeking Reader to con&s;ider.</P>
<P>Let us return to our fir&s;t argument. See|ing the Lord, who &s;earcheth the reins and heart, is a jealous God, and &s;pareth not his be&s;t friends, when they commit any &s;in, but vi&s;iteth the idolatrous iniquity of the Fa|ther unto the third and fourth generation: &s;eeing therefore that the Lord did like and approve of the wor&s;hip that was given by his &s;ervants to Men, Angels, and holy things, and cau&s;ed the&s;e their actions to be regi&s;tred in the Bible for our example, it follows only, that we rai&s;e a que&s;tion, whether it be better and &s;afer for us to imitate the foot|&s;teps of tho&s;e who&s;e vertues are commend|ed by the te&s;timony of Gods Word, or give ear to tho&s;e, whom no man knows who they are, from whence they come, whether they go, who &s;ent them, or with what &s;pirit they &s;peak. And who, in fine, alledge no other te&s;timony for the truth of the new doctrine they preach, but their own bare word. As though, becau&s;e they have the impudency or boldne&s;s to affirm it, every body el&s;e, with|out any further &s;earch into the matter, ought to have the &s;implicity to believe it.</P>
<PB N="103" REF="52">
<P>But as he is blame-worthy, who will afford no honour to Saints or Angels, &s;o he de|&s;erves ju&s;t reprehen&s;ion, who gives them too much, as &s;hall appear in the next Chapter. Be|cau&s;e all extreams are vicious.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="34" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXIV.</HI> What the Spirit of the Lord teacheth concern|ing the &s;uper&s;titious adoring of Angels.</HEAD>
<P><HI>SImon Magus</HI> broached many pe&s;tilent er|rours in his dayes, and among&s;t the re&s;t, that the Old Te&s;tament was as punctually to be ob&s;erved as the New: that God did not make all things but (as <HI>Manichey</HI> profe&s;&s;ed afterward more at large) that Spiders, Frogs, Serpents, and the like, were created by the Devil; becau&s;e it was unfit that &s;uch noy&s;om creatures &s;hould have their origen from an infinite Goodne&s;s. The&s;e ab&s;urdities wonne &s;mall credit with the primitive Chri&s;tians, who were well in&s;tructed, that the light of the Go&s;pel had di&s;per&s;ed the figures of the old law, as the Sun doth Clouds, and made them cea&s;e: that Goodne&s;&s;e had created all things very good, and that for <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in, Ju&s;tice had commanded the Elements to
<PB N="104" REF="53"> produce &s;courges. <HI>Simon</HI> betook him&s;elf to another &s;tratagem, and &s;ought to wre&s;t a pious practi&s;e to his perver&s;e end. He &s;aw that Angels were much e&s;teemed and wor|&s;hipped by all the Chri&s;tians of tho&s;e times. Therefore to cover his impiety, he pro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;|&s;ed that he taught nothing, but what had been communicated unto him by the revela|tion of Angels. Then to the end that the Chri&s;tians might be touched with greater re|ligion, he highly extolled the dignity of the Angellical nature; and not content with mean exaggerations, he proceed at length &s;o far as to term them Demy-Gods, and that con&s;equently humble men ought to adore them with &s;acrifice, the good ones for their excellency, the bad ones for their power in creating.</P>
<P>The Spirit of the Lord moved <HI>Paul</HI> to beat down this &s;acrilegious errour, <HI>Let no man &s;educe you under &s;hew of Humility, or in the Re|ligion and wor&s;hipping of Angels</HI> Colo&s;&s;. 2.18. Which is to &s;ay, Humility is lovely, but be|ware of its name, when it is u&s;ed for a cloke to beguile and &s;educe you. To honour Angels is very laudable: but to adore them as Demi-gods, and to offer to them the Re|ligious wor&s;hip of &s;acrifice, is to fall into the a|bominable &s;uper&s;tition of Idolaters and Pagans who having multiplicity of Gods, mu&s;t of ne|ce&s;&s;ity
<PB N="105" REF="53"> have &s;ome greater &s;ome le&s;&s;er. But the fir&s;t Commandement of the Lord, is, that thou &s;halt have, love, adore, and &s;erve one God alone, and not have &s;o much as the &s;imilitude or likene&s;s of any thing, that may &s;eem to &s;tand in any inferior competency of a God|head. All Creatures are pure Servants, God alone is the Lord; wherefore although you have Revelations of Angels, you ought not pre&s;ently to give credit to them, but you mu&s;t examine and di&s;cu&s;s the Revelation, that you may know whether it be a good or evil Spirit that &s;peaks. <HI>Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits, whether they are of God,</HI> 1 John 4.1. <HI>Becau&s;e Satan is oftentimes transfigured into an Angel of Light,</HI> 2 Cor. 11.14. And whil&s;t he &s;eemingly per&s;uades good things, he draws the Soul in&s;en&s;ibly into &s;oul and gro&s;s errors. But although he &s;hould &s;ay, that <HI>he is an Angel from Heaven, yet if he Preach unto you any other Go&s;pel, then what you have received, let him be accur&s;ed,</HI> Gal. 1.6. Becau&s;e it is impo&s;&s;ible that an Angel &s;hould come from Heaven, unle&s;s he came head-long with <HI>Lucifer,</HI> and teach a Doctrine that varies from the Doctrine of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Good Angels are &s;o far from abu&s;ing mans Humility, to require &s;acrifice of him, or any other Wor&s;hip that may intrench upon the Honour due to the Lord, that they rather
<PB N="106" REF="54"> &s;eem to refu&s;e to be honoured by Men, that are eminently humble and holy, as appeareth <HI>Rev.</HI> 19.10. and 22. as you &s;hall &s;ee in the next Chapter.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="35" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXV.</HI> Of whom the Angels refu&s;e to be honoured.</HEAD>
<P>IF the followers of the new Religion be as well grounded in Humility, as they p e|tend to be &s;ublime in &s;pirit, they will under|&s;tand what I &s;hall now &s;ay; Otherwi&s;e I &s;hall lo&s;e time, as if I &s;hould &s;peak of Painting, Limning, or Carving, with tho&s;e that have no in&s;ight in the&s;e things.</P>
<P>St. <HI>Iohn</HI> Evangeli&s;t having learned Humility and Meekne&s;s of Je&s;us Chri&s;t his Ma&s;ter, be|holding the Maje&s;ty of the Angel in the <HI>Reve|lations,</HI> of whom he had learned many divine &s;ecrets, <HI>fell down at his feet, wor&s;hipping him</HI> to give him what was due to a Peer of Heaven. The Angel looking upon <HI>Iohn</HI> as one o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the chief Pillars of Chri&s;ts Church, as an Apo&s;tle, an Evangeli&s;t, a Doctor, a Virgin, a Prophet, and as <HI>Hierom</HI> witne&s;&s;eth, a Martyr; but a|bove all, as honoured with the title of <HI>the Di&s;|ciple whom Ie&s;us loved.</HI> And therefore fore&s;ee|ing
<PB N="107" REF="54"> how high and eminent a place <HI>Iohn</HI> was to po&s;&s;e&s;s in Heaven, &s;aid to him. <HI>Do not do it, I am thy fellow &s;ervart. Adore God,</HI> ver&s;. 10. As if he had &s;aid, Honour and Wor&s;hip is due to tho&s;e who are Superio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s. Fellow &s;er|vants are equal; therefore do not wor&s;hip me, who according to the &s;tile of Heaven, am at the mo&s;t but thy equal. Adore God, who is our common Lord. If a &s;ervant, as fel|low &s;ervant have no authority over his compa|nion, becau&s;e authority rai&s;es him above his fellow, it follows clearly, that the words <HI>Do not do it,</HI> were of coun&s;el onely, not of com|mand. <HI>Iohn</HI> who had an Eagle-eye to behold the Divinity, had never yet opened it to view his own pre&s;ent or future dignity, and there|fore could not &s;ee how to approve of this coun&s;el. He called to mind the words of his Saviour, that <HI>the lea&s;t in Heaven was greater then the greate&s;t in Earth,</HI> Mat. 11.11. and cho&s;e rather to &s;ub&s;i&s;t &s;olidly in the lowly Foot-&s;teps of his Ma&s;ters humility, then ven|ture to admit a thought of what he might be hereafter, and therefore he fell down again at the feet of the Angel to wor&s;hip him. The Angel continued to treat <HI>Iohn</HI> with re|&s;pect: <HI>Iohn</HI> an&s;wered with &s;igns of an hum|ble mind.</P>
<P>The like contract was between St. <HI>Peter</HI> and the <HI>Centurion,</HI> Act. 15.8. The <HI>Centurion</HI>
<PB N="108" REF="55"> received <HI>Peter</HI> as chief of the Apo&s;tles, as a Me&s;&s;enger, or rather as an Angel &s;ent from Heaven, and giving him re&s;pect due to his calling, wor&s;hipped him. <HI>Peter</HI> looking upon him&s;elf as a poor Fi&s;her-man, as a great &s;in|ner, and as one that came to teach Humility, and not to engro&s;s Honour to his Office, would have declined as a &s;inful man, what the <HI>Centurion</HI> gave to him as a man of God. He that under&s;tands the Language of Humility, needs no larger Comment. To tho&s;e that are ignorant thereof, I declare my &s;elf by a familiar example.</P>
<P>A King being enamoured of the beauty of &s;ome Countrey Pea&s;ant, after many inter|changes of love and affection, &s;ends one of his bo&s;om friends to treat with her. She re|ceives the Emba&s;&s;ador with the re&s;pect that a poor maid ought to give to a per&s;on of great Nobility. He looking upon her as the de&s;ign|ed Spou&s;e of his Soveraign, may well &s;ay, <HI>Madam, I pray do not &s;o much honour to me, who am but your &s;ervant.</HI> No intelligent man can think, that he intends by this manner of &s;peech to command her. But &s;he, if prudence guide her actions will not omit with a mode&s;t blu&s;h to continue &s;till the Honour &s;he gave him, reflecting that he is certainly the Kings Favourite, and that it is yet uncertain what may happen between her and the Crown. To
<PB N="109" REF="55"> take too much upon her before the time, might degrade her from Royal favours; where|as her humble behaviour makes her more lovely and amiable. The matter needs no application among &s;uch as have been brought up in the School of Humility. Let us return back to the Angels and Saints, and examine by the Bible whether or no they &s;ee, hear, and know what men do.</P>
<P>Although Angels do commonly appear in the &s;hape of Young Men with wings, yet no man in&s;tructed in the right Faith, can think that they have need of an aetial body, or of any corporal in&s;truments to &s;ee, hear, move, or flie with.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="36" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXVI.</HI> What the Spirit of the Lord teacheth concern|ing the Angels and Saints &s;eeing, hearing, and knowing what men do.</HEAD>
<P>THe di&s;tance between Heaven and Earth is very great, yet a Spirit in the twinck|ling of an eye, before the Sun can dart its Rayes from Ea&s;t to We&s;t, may be here, there, and back again. And although the Angelical Citizens could not move from their heavenly
<PB N="110" REF="56"> abode, yet the happine&s;s of their condition makes them able to &s;ee, and hear a far off, without being beholding to propinquity of place. For <HI>Dives</HI> being in Hell, &s;aw <HI>Ahra|ham</HI> and <HI>Lazarus,</HI> and knew which was <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> and which was <HI>Lazarus.</HI> He &s;poke to <HI>Abraham,</HI> and <HI>Abraham</HI> to him, and they under&s;tood one the other, although by rea&s;on of the great Chaos that was fixed between them, they could not meet together, <HI>Luke</HI> 16.26.</P>
<P>This &s;eeing, hearing, and &s;peaking, with what eye, ear, or tongue was it done? To men that traffick wholly in Spirit this que&s;tion is needle&s;s: becau&s;e if they have ever heard the Lord &s;peak to the interior ear of their heart they have found that the Lords Voice came not to them by earthly conveyances. But if they are ignorant of this Language, I fear they may tell me, that the Lord him&s;elf being a pure Spirit, can neither &s;ee nor hear. But <HI>Da|vid</HI> will tell them, <HI>that &s;uch people are fooli&s;h and bruiti&s;h, who think the Lord, who planted the ear, doth not hear, and he that framed the eye, doth not &s;ee,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;al. 93.3.</P>
<P>He hath a dull conceit of a &s;piritual e&s;&s;ence, who allows it no manner of working above terrene. A Spirit, though yet clogged with Fle&s;h, may &s;ee things &s;ecret and di&s;tant, with an eye that is proper to their nature. Which
<PB N="111" REF="56"> knowledge is much more clear, as &s;oon as the du&s;t of this body, which dimms the &s;piritu|al light is &s;haken off. <HI>Elizeus</HI> &s;aw in &s;pirit all that <HI>Giezi</HI> treated with <HI>Naaman Syrus,</HI> 1 Sam. 9.19. <HI>Peter<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> &s;aw the fal&s;e heart of <HI>A|nanias</HI> and <HI>Saphyra,</HI> Acts 5.4. <HI>Ezekiel</HI> and <HI>Daniel</HI> &s;aw, and fore&s;aw wonderful things. <HI>Eli|as</HI> &s;even years after that he was tran&s;lated from humane conver&s;ation, &s;ent a Letter to King <HI>Ioram,</HI> admoni&s;hing him di&s;tinctly of the hainous crimes he had committed in that interval. It he had not known them, how could he have writ them? Let us pa&s;s to the Angels and Saints.</P>
<P>The Angels could not po&s;&s;ibly perform the &s;everal Offices committed by the Lord to their Charge, if they wanted day-light to &s;ee, or ears of fle&s;h to hear, or &s;ucce&s;&s;ive motion to be pre&s;ent. They are Me&s;&s;engers, they are Guides, they are Protectors, they offer up our Prayers, and every where execute the Lords command. As Me&s;&s;engers, they mu&s;t know to whom they are &s;ent, and where they &s;hall find them: they mu&s;t &s;peak to be under&s;tood, they mu&s;t &s;ee how the Em|ba&s;&s;y is taken, and they mu&s;t under&s;tand the an&s;wer that is returned. As Guides, they mu&s;t know who follows, and who &s;tands &s;till, and who goes another way, As they offer up our Prayers, they mu&s;t be pre&s;ent to receive
<PB N="112" REF="57"> them, they mu&s;t expect our lei&s;ure, and not ab&s;ent them&s;elves, they mu&s;t take them in what time, place, or manner &s;oever they are made, they mu&s;t under&s;tand them in what language &s;oever they are &s;aid, although it were in the &s;ecret whi&s;per of the mind. As Protectors, they mu&s;t be obeyed, and feared, for the Lord commands us to obey them, and bids us beware of provoking them. <HI>Becau&s;e they will not pardon our Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions,</HI> Exod. 32.21.</P>
<P>Not only Angels, which are thus imployed by the Lord, but the re&s;t al&s;o under&s;tand di|&s;tinctly what men do in this life. This appears, for that <HI>they are &s;orry and weep when men com|mit &s;in,</HI> I&s;ai. 33.7. and <HI>they rejoyce when they are converted or repenteth,</HI> Luk. 15.10. Which they could not do, unle&s;s they knew both the &s;in, and the repentance. Becau&s;e weeping or rejoycing for a thing, &s;uppo&s;eth a knowledge, it being impo&s;&s;ible to rejoyce for that, of which one is ignorant. No man can re|joyce that he hath a trea&s;ure hidden in his Garden, or that he is made Heir to &s;ome great Fortune, unle&s;s he fir&s;t know it. Neither doth any man weep for the death of his friend, till he have the certainty of it. So no Angel can be &s;orry or glad for the fall or conver&s;ion of a &s;inner, unle&s;s he fir&s;t know the interior mo|tion of his faint or contrite Soul. Now &s;eeing
<PB N="113" REF="57"> that this joy is in Heaven before the Angels of God, in the &s;ame moment that the &s;inner repents, it follows that immediately in the &s;ame in&s;tant the Angels have a knowledge of it.</P>
<P>This knowledge is common to them all, be|cau&s;e all of them are many times witne&s;&s;es and accu&s;ers. Paul <HI>chargeth</HI> Timothy <HI>before the Elect Angels, that he &s;hould ob&s;erve the things committed to him,</HI> 1 Tim. 5.21. He doth not charge him before two or twenty, or any other determinate number, but before them all; becau&s;e no rea&s;on can be a&s;&s;igned why any one &s;hould be included or excluded, more than another. Now what account &s;hould the Angels be able to give of <HI>Timothy's</HI> ob|&s;erving or not ob&s;erving tho&s;e things, if they neither &s;ee, hear, or know what <HI>Timo|thy</HI> doth? or if they &s;ee him &s;ometimes, yet for the mo&s;t part they &s;ee him not? Or what prudence I pray was it in <HI>Paul</HI> to write it, or what imprudence had it been in <HI>Timothy</HI> to laugh at it, if <HI>Paul</HI> or <HI>Timothy</HI> had believed, that the Angels know nothing of mans acti|ons? But &s;urely <HI>Timothy</HI> took it for no jea&s;t|ing matter.</P>
<P><HI>Paul</HI> chargeth him <HI>before the Elect Angels.</HI> I fear, Gentle Reader, that thou &s;halt find at the hour of thy Death, that the Reprobate Angels will have &s;een, known, and noted
<PB N="114" REF="58"> down more of thy life, than thou would&s;t wil|lingly &s;ee again, or wilt know how to an&s;wer to. It would be happy for thee, if thou could&s;t except again&s;t them, as being blind and deaf, alledging that thy actions were done in &s;ecret, in the dead of mid-night, under-ground, or clo&s;e walls. Or if thou could&s;t mock them, as <HI>Elias</HI> did the gods of the fal&s;e Prophets, &s;aying, thou did&s;t work, when they were talk|ing with others or of other things, when they were upon a journey, or when they &s;lept, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 18.27. Take heed, procure to live well, and tru&s;t not too much to frivolous Opinions. If a man may be frighted at his Death, to &s;ee the Devils, who are his ene|mies to accu&s;e him, how great will the trou|ble be, when the Elect Angels, who are Chri&s;ts friends &s;hall oppo&s;e him? It will be a &s;ad change, when the Angels, who by the Lords appointment, and their own inclinati|on, were Protectors, Friends, and Guardians, &s;hall for mans default and perver&s;ene&s;s be|come his irreconcilable enemies, and accu|&s;ers. The Saints al&s;o will joyn with them to accu&s;e the wicked, as Chri&s;t &s;aith, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hall do the Jews. Note the force of this Argu|ment.</P>
<P>The <HI>Iews</HI> refu&s;ed to receive Chri&s;t for the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias,</HI> although they had &s;o many evident &s;igns before their eyes, that he was the man
<PB N="115" REF="58"> promi&s;ed in the Scriptures. This they did un|der pretence that they were the Di&s;ciples of <HI>Mo&s;es, Io&s;</HI> 9.28. &amp; yet they would not believe what <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had written of the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias, Ioh.</HI> 5.46. Chri&s;t told them, that he him&s;elf would not accu&s;e them for it, but that <HI>Mo&s;es would accu&s;e them, in whom they trust,</HI> Joh. 5.45. They knew that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in his life time had had &s;o great an affection for them, that he had often de&s;ended them from the Lords wrath, and they &s;till tru&s;ted in him that he would help them by his prayers and interce&s;&s;i|on. For the words <HI>in whom ye tru&s;t</HI> being in the pre&s;ent ten&s;e, they &s;hew that the Jews confi|dence was yet in <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> although he were then dead. But in lieu, &s;aith Chri&s;t, of Praying, Interceding or pleading for them, he &s;hould accu&s;e them. Certainly it will be a great eye-&s;ore and heart-break to the Jews to &s;ee <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> prove an enemy, whom they hoped to have found a con&s;tant friend. It is not probable, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> will accu&s;e them upon hear-&s;ay, or bare relation only. Becau&s;e in a Court of mo&s;t exact Ju&s;tice &s;uch an Accu&s;er ought not to be heard, where the Sentence is to be given of death, eternal death, and where the principal that related it, may ea&s;ily be found, produced, and made to bring in his evidence. Therefore he will charge them with what he can depo&s;e upon his own &s;ight and knowledge.
<PB N="116" REF="59"> Which he could never do, if he were igno|rant of what is done in the world by them. As <HI>Abraham</HI> could never have told <HI>Dives,</HI> that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and the Prophets were in the world; &s;eeing they were all of them bo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> after <HI>Abra|hams</HI> death, unle&s;s he had known what pa&s;&s;ed among&s;t the living.</P>
<P>Some may obiect, the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> when the people having immediate recour&s;e unto the Lord, alledged that <HI>Abraham was ignorant of them and that I&s;rael did not ac|ledge them,</HI> I&s;ai. 63.16. It is to be noted, how they who pre&s;ume to read the Bible much, under&s;tand it &s;o little as to bring pla|ces for them&s;elves which make point-blank again&s;t them, as this doth, which proves home to the purpo&s;e of my intent. The ignorance which the <HI>I&s;raelits</HI> deplored to be in <HI>Abraham</HI> was a &s;mart ignorance cau&s;ed by their own fault, which made them more &s;en&s;ible of their &s;ins, and cry out with greater feeling to the Lord for mercy, as being deprived of the In|terce&s;&s;ion, and help of &s;o great a Protector as was their Father <HI>Abraham,</HI> It was &s;uch an ignorance as Parents have, when tired with the ingratitude of their Children, they fir&s;t di&s;inherit them, and then acknowledge them no more for theirs, not caring thence forward to hear or know what they do. So <HI>A|braham</HI> and <HI>I&s;rael</HI> weary of the Jewi&s;h ob&s;ti|nacy,
<PB N="117" REF="59"> but not being willing to accu&s;e them, whom they had once cheri&s;hed as their Chil|dren, thought fit not to acknowledge them any more, or remember them any longer. So they were ignorant, becau&s;e they would be &s;o. And the holy Text doth not &s;ay <HI>he did not know them,</HI> for he knew them well enough, but <HI>He did not acknowledge them.</HI> He would have no|thing to do with a People, whom the Lord had ca&s;t off, and was &s;o far from owning them for his own, that he would not permit any to &s;peak for them, or treat of a Reconciliation with them. For the Lord forbad <HI>Ieremiah</HI> to to pray for them, <HI>Ier.</HI> 7.16. prote&s;ting that although <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Samuel,</HI> who were then dead, or <HI>Ezekiel</HI> and <HI>Daniel,</HI> who were yet living, &s;hould intercede for that undutiful generation he would give no more eat to them <HI>becau&s;e his Soul or affection was no more &s;et upon that people,</HI> Jer, 11.14. and 14.12. and 15.1. If it had been po&s;&s;ible the Lord al&s;o would not have known them.</P>
<P>What &s;hall we &s;ay to the words which Chri&s;t u&s;eth to the fooli&s;h Virgins, <HI>I know you not?</HI> Matt. 31.14. Wo to the Soul, to whom Chri&s;t &s;hall &s;ay, <HI>I know you not.</HI> It were a &s;illy thing to rai&s;e a Di&s;pute upon the&s;e words, whether or no Chri&s;t &s;ee and know what men do. This ignorance, this non-know|ledge of Chri&s;t argues a deep knowledge of the
<PB N="118" REF="60"> unworthine&s;s of tho&s;e to whom he &s;peaks. Every one u&s;eth to be known by his name. And they are truely known to Chri&s;t, who&s;e names are written in the Book of life. Now becau&s;e Chri&s;t de&s;ired to know all, he died for all, and left it in their power to apply the virtue of his death and merits unto them&s;elves that if they plea&s;ed, they might all be regi|&s;tred therein. Which if they be carele&s;s to do, he will make it be &s;een in due time, that it is their negligence, not his fault, that they are not written there. When this life is ended, and Heaven Gate is once &s;hut, then it may well be verifyed, that neither the Lord, Chri&s;t, the Angels, or Saints, do &s;ee, hear or know any of tho&s;e that are without. For who&s;oever goes to hell, &s;hall be in eternal oblivion be|fore God, his Anointed, and all the Court of Heaven. A dreadful Sentence.</P>
<P>Dear Reader, let thy life be &s;uch, as that the Lord may be moved to command the An|gels to do the &s;ame office to thee, as they did to <HI>Lazarus,</HI> that is, to carry thy Soul to a happy repo&s;e. If thou di&s;like&s;t the condition, if thou &s;tande&s;t yet &s;tiff in thy opinion, that they neither know where thou art, nor how thou live&s;t, nor when thou dye&s;t; if thou nei|ther care&s;t for their help, nor do&s;t value their anger, blame not them when thou give&s;t up the Gho&s;t, if they leave thee, and carry others.</P>
<PB N="119" REF="60">
<P>Thrice happy they that are carried thither. They &s;hall all of them be <HI>like unto the Angels,</HI> Mat. 22.30. For as much as belongs to the en|joying of God, and many of them again for as much as belongs to the treating with men. For as the Lord governed the world by the mi|ni&s;try of Angels before the coming of the <HI>Me&s;|&s;ias,</HI> as we find in the Old Te&s;tament: &s;o Chri&s;t, upon whom all power is conferred, is plea&s;ed &s;ince his A&s;cention to make u&s;e of the Saints to perform the &s;ame Functions, as we have in the New. Becau&s;e out of de&s;ire that he hath to honour humane nature, which he a&s;&s;umed, he rewards the Saints, <HI>that &s;hall overcome</HI> in the warfare of this life, <HI>with making them to God. Kings and Prie&s;ts, that they may reign upon earth</HI> Rev. 5.10. <HI>giving them power,</HI> to &s;ome <HI>over <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ities,</HI> Luk. 19.17. to others <HI>over Nations, that they may rule them with a rod of Iron,</HI> Rev. 2.26. to others <HI>over many things,</HI> Mat. 25.21.</P>
<P>The&s;e and many other like pa&s;&s;ages of the holy Bible, cannot have a good and proper &s;en&s;e, un<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;s the Saints, as well as the Angells, have a particular di&s;tinct knowledge of the manifold varieties of accidents that happen upon this earth. Authority to reign and rule gives right to them that have received &s;uch au|thority, to know the limits of their Power, to be informed of the nature of the people that are their Subjects, to under&s;tand what lan|guage
<PB N="120" REF="61"> they &s;peak, and under what Climate the City, Region, or place they govern, is &s;ituated. They mu&s;t know the condition, &s;tate, and quality of the per&s;ons committed to their charge, how they behave them&s;elves, whether they be inclined to vertue or to vice, whether ea&s;ie or hard to be managed, and when it is requi&s;ite to u&s;e, when to &s;pare the rod of Iron. And becau&s;e this government is conferred upon the Saints by Chri&s;t, chiefly and directly for the &s;piritual, invi&s;ible help of their Subjects, and tends onely indirectly to the ea&s;e of their corporal nece&s;&s;ities, it is ne|ce&s;&s;ary that the Saints &s;hould be as vigilant and watchful to protect and defend their Cli|ents, as the Devil is bu&s;ie to ruine them. Wherefore they mu&s;t be able upon any re|cour&s;e made unto them, in what time, place, or manner &s;oever it be to hear their Subjects plaints or prayers, to grant their reque&s;t, to redre&s;s their mi&s;eries, and to procure, if need be, Divine favours for them. As In&s;truments are nece&s;&s;ary to a man that doth practi&s;e an Art, &s;o are the&s;e things to the Saints that are to exerci&s;e immediate juri&s;diction. He that makes the Saints blind, deaf, dumb, and ig|norant, mi&s;takes the Bible, and calls in que|&s;tion the fulne&s;s of Chri&s;ts promi&s;e. He that ponders the&s;e things maturely, when he reads them in them in the Word of God, doubts not
<PB N="121" REF="61"> but that Chri&s;t is faithful his &s;ayings true, his re|wards perfect, his gifts complete, his promi&s;e without repentance, and that he fulfils and performs it with entire &s;atisfaction to the par|tie. Which if it be &s;o, let every one confe&s;s that to believe that the Angels and Saints, hear, &s;ee, and know what is done in this low|er earth, is well and &s;olidly grounded in the Bible.</P>
<P>It is high time that we come to the chief point treated of in the 33 Chapter. It was there e&s;tabli&s;hed and agreed upon, that all Ho|nour and Glory ought to be given to the Lord alone, taking the word <HI>All</HI> and <HI>alone</HI> in their mo&s;t proper and rigorous &s;ignification. Notwith&s;tanding, to the end you may &s;ee that I &s;hun not the difficulty, I will here confirm it more at large, by &s;hewing fir&s;t, what honour is, then to whom, and upon what title it can be due; from whence I will pa&s;s to an&s;wer plainly and fully the main Point.</P>
<P>The&s;e three Chapters are &s;omewhat &s;pecu|lative; let tho&s;e who fear them, turn them over, and go to the 40 <HI>Chapter.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="37" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="123" REF="62">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXVII.</HI> What Honour is.</HEAD>
<P>HOnour is the fruit of an exteriour in|crea&s;e, gotten by the dilating of his name, who being inwardly full, works for him&s;elf mo&s;t admirable things outwardly. The declaration of this definition &s;ufficeth to prove that true Honour can agree to none but the Lord alone.</P>
<P>A thing doth increa&s;e interiorly within it &s;elf, when there is received into it &s;ome new quality or vertue which it had not before. In which manner, God cannot increa&s;e, becau&s;e his E&s;&s;ence being intrin&s;ecally full of all po&s;|&s;ible and imaginable excellencies, perfections, beauty, happine&s;s, and the like, he can re|ceive into him&s;elf no real entity which can make him greater or better. Man (the &s;ame is to be &s;aid of Angels) may increa&s;e interi|orly, becau&s;e his E&s;&s;ence being a pure no|thing, and a meer vacuity of all good, he may continually receive into him&s;elf new actualities and forms, which may augment his perfection.</P>
<PB N="122" REF="62">
<P>An exterior encrea&s;e is made by &s;uper|adding, to the e&s;&s;ence &s;ome new thing, or &s;ome new <HI>name.</HI> God cannot increa&s;e by acquiring any new thing, becau&s;e all things are his: but he may encrea&s;e by getting a new <HI>name,</HI> as by making the World he got the name of <HI>Creator,</HI> which he had not be|fore.</P>
<P>The fruit of this increa&s;e is called <HI>Ho|nour,</HI> and ought onely to be gathered by him that is inwardly full of his own perfections. Becau&s;e Honour is a Royal ve&s;t, that can only &s;it well upon a full e&s;&s;ence. It &s;tands with rea&s;on, that he, who is full inwardly &s;hould encrea&s;e outwardly.</P>
<P>Man, it is true, may encrea&s;e all the&s;e wayes; but it is again&s;t right order, that he &s;hould encrea&s;e outwardly by honour, till his interior vacuities be filled with perfections. Which becau&s;e it can never be done by rea|&s;on of the infinite nulls that are in him, and by rea&s;on that what&s;oever he hath, or can have, is none of his but Gods. Therefore honour appropriated to man, is a vain &s;welling, not a &s;olid dilating; it is a ma&s;&s;ey Robe upon In|fant &s;houlders, it is a fond fluttering with u&s;urped feathers.</P>
<P>The <HI>name</HI> is identified with the thing: be|cau&s;e according to Philo&s;ophers, <HI>praedicatur in recto de re.</HI> It is affirmed in the nominative
<PB N="124" REF="63"> ca&s;e. In&s;omuch as what&s;oever is affirmed of the name, is affirmed of the thing it &s;elf. And therefore when the Lords Name encrea|&s;eth, the Lord him&s;elf is &s;aid to encrea&s;e. And becau&s;e the name is not the Lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d him|&s;elf, but hath been impo&s;ed upon him by men to &s;ignifie his intrin&s;ecal e&s;&s;ence or par|ticular attributes (as the name <HI>God, Creator,</HI> is not his intrin&s;ecal e&s;&s;ence, nor intrin&s;e|cally in him) therefore becau&s;e the name is really out of him, the Lord by the encrea&s;e of his name, is &s;aid to encrea&s;e outwardly.</P>
<P>This outward encrea&s;e is made by dilating the name, and the name is dilated when it pa&s;&s;eth to the knowledge, e&s;teem, and repute that others have of him that is, or of him that works. It is greater or le&s;&s;er, as the knowledge and e&s;teem is in more or fewer, greater or le&s;&s;er. And he that hath no re|putation at all, or an ill one, is &s;aid to have no name at all, or an ill one.</P>
<P>A Name is of two kind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. The one is impo&s;ed upon the thing at the fir&s;t, to notify and di&s;tingui&s;h the e&s;&s;ence; the other is got|ten afterwards by working. The fir&s;t name repre&s;ents and &s;ignifies a determinate nature, as it is planted it it &s;elf, and as it is di&s;tinct from all others. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> the Name <HI>God, Man, Heaven,</HI> repre&s;ents and &s;ignifies the nature and e&s;&s;ence of the&s;e things, as they are con|&s;tituted
<PB N="125" REF="63"> in them&s;elves with all their e&s;&s;en|tial and proper predicats, and as they are condi&s;tinct from all others. And what&s;oever is verified of this name, is verified of the thin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, who&s;e name it is, which can be &s;aid of nothing el&s;e be&s;ide, that is out of the e&s;&s;ence.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Name is gotten by free work|ing, which being added to the fir&s;t name, encrea&s;eth it, and makes it greater. True it is, that by rea&s;on of the abundant variety of free actions man may do, he may have divers names, as of ju&s;t, liberal, magnanimous, prudent; but they are all comprehended un|der the &s;econd name. Upon this name doth alwaies attend prai&s;e or blame. Becau&s;e e|very free action is prai&s;e or blame-worthy, and is the root of renown, glory, or ignomi|ny.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="38" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXVIII.</HI> To whom, and upon what title Honour is due.</HEAD>
<P>EXcellency, is an object obliging every one that looks upon it, to crown his name with honour, that is the proper Lord of the Excellency. The true Lord of it can be no
<PB N="126" REF="64"> other than God alone, &s;eeing all excellency is either in God, or belongs to him. What|&s;oever is in him, is natural and nece&s;&s;ary, and therefore, although he ought to be honoured for it, yet honour joyned with prai&s;e and glory is due to him for tho&s;e excellencies alone, that &s;hine in his free producing mo&s;t admirable works out of him&s;elf. He made all things to purcha&s;e this honour, as the crown of his Works. He was jealous of it, and re&s;erved it for his own brow. But be|cau&s;e to work for honour only is vanity, he made all things for profit al&s;o. Not for his own profit, becau&s;e he can want nothing, but for mans good, who &s;tands in need of all things. Man therefore is obliged to reap profit by creatures, that is, by the right u&s;e of them to encrea&s;e inwardly in perfection, and make God encrea&s;e outwardly by yield|ing him all the honour. For God compre|hending from all eternity, that he could not be inwardly better, decreed to make him|&s;elf in time outwardly greater. Therefore he fill<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d all and every one of his works, with the effects of his wonderful power, wi&s;dom, and goodne&s;s, and would be the &s;ole princi|pal agent of all that is vertuous, good, and laudable, to the end that his Name alone might be dilated, hallowed, &s;anctified, and crowned with honour, admiration, prai&s;e,
<PB N="127" REF="64"> and glory, by all created under&s;tandings, wills and tongues, Who&s;oever appropriates any of this honour to him&s;elf, or gives it with appropriation to any other, bereaves the Lord of his external Diadem, and Tray|tor-like &s;ets it upon his own, or upon &s;ome other empty brow, that proudly and vainly pre&s;umes to u&s;urp the dignity of a Godhead.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="39" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XXXIX.</HI> Honour can by no title be due to Men, Angels, or any other creature.</HEAD>
<P>ONe may &s;ay, that the two roots, which make honour due, are both of them in man, becau&s;e he is indued with multiplicity of noble talents, and produceth a great num|ber of excellent actions, I an&s;wer, that they are &s;o: but that neither of them is &s;ufficient to make it lawful to give unto him the honour that ought to &s;prout from them. The &s;ame is to be &s;aid of the Angels.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t doth not &s;uffice, becau&s;e what|&s;oever excellency is in man, it is wholly the Lords work. No man can boa&s;t that he hath any, which he hath not received, and which
<PB N="128" REF="65"> without any injury done him may not be ta|ken again from him. Therefore he cannot pretend to be honoured for an excellency that is none of his. If you &s;ay the Lord be|&s;towed it upon him, and therefore it is his. I an&s;wer, that he be&s;towed upon him the u&s;e, not the propriety. And this u&s;e is &s;o his, that he is not licenced to u&s;e and abu&s;e it at his plea&s;ure, but he is obliged to u&s;e it according to the divine will. Which if he do, he per|forms but his duty; if he do it not, he may fear cha&s;ti&s;ement.</P>
<P>The &s;ame rea&s;on proves that the &s;econd root doth not &s;uffice. For although man does many heroical actions, yet upon due reflexion of what the Lord might have expected from him, he will happily be a&s;hamed to con&s;ider how by his tepidity and negligence the action is disfigured, ob&s;cured and &s;poiled. But let us grant that he wrought with the utmo&s;t of his forces, ability and power, yet it is not po&s;|&s;ible for him to arrive higher than to obtain the name of an <HI>unprofitable Servant.</HI> And if he would pre&s;ume to &s;tretch forth his hand to catch at honour for it, he would de&s;erve to be branded with the infamous name of <HI>Proud,</HI> and to be thrown out of the Lords favour, as <HI>Lucifer</HI> was out of Heaven. Now to the main point.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="40" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="129" REF="65">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XL.</HI> How, and why honour may be given to Men, Angels, or Saints, without prejudice of giving All Honour to the Lord.</HEAD>
<P>THe difficulty ari&s;eth from the words of the Lord, &s;aying by the Prophet: <HI>I will not give my glory or honour to any other,</HI> I&s;a. 42.8. Becau&s;e, <HI>To God alone all honour and glory,</HI> 1 Tim. 1.17.</P>
<P>To under&s;tand the Text right, you mu&s;t note that the word <HI>to give,</HI> may be taken two wayes. The one is in a &s;trict, proper, and rigorous &s;en&s;e, when by vertue of giving the Receiver is made ab&s;olute Lord and Ma|&s;ter of the thing given: As when one gives you a Jewel, he transfers upon you the do|minion of it, &s;o that you may di&s;po&s;e of it at your plea&s;ure, without being accountable to any man for it. In this &s;en&s;e the Lord &s;peaks, as is manife&s;t out of the precedent words of the &s;ame ver&s;e. <HI>I am the Lord, that is my name:</HI> that is to &s;ay. I alone am, and will be the Lord of honour and glory, and I
<PB N="130" REF="66"> will have no Lord of it but my &s;elf, and there|fore I will not give it to any other.</P>
<P>There is another imperfect way of giving, when the thing given is not put directly into the true owners hand, but into another mans hand to be delivered to the right owner of it. By vertue of &s;uch an indirect giving, the Receiver is not made Lord of the thing given, but contracts an obligation to deliver it to the true and lawful Owner. This obligation is grounded in the cau&s;e, that moved the Giver, and in our ca&s;e it, is indi&s;pen&s;able. In this &s;en&s;e the Lord is con|tent, and commands in many places of the Bible, that honour be given to &s;uch as co|operate with him to the producing of certain works that de&s;erve honour, that by their means it be returned to him. A familiar example will make it clear.</P>
<P>One gives you a Letter, Petition, Bill or Memorial to be pre&s;ented to the Kings mo&s;t Excellent Maje&s;ty. This Bill or Memorial is given to you by a very improper manner of giving, it being properly and in rigour to be given to the King. It is only committed to your fidelity to give it, and you by recei|ving it contract an obligation to deliver it, and may be called in que&s;tion for it, if you omit to do it. If the office or profit of &s;uch Bills belongs to you, you may ju&s;tly expect,
<PB N="131" REF="66"> that th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y be put into your hands, but you cannot pretend that they are yours, or that you have right to detain them, or to &s;up|pre&s;s them, or otherwi&s;e to di&s;po&s;e of them. In this imperfect manner we may give a cer|tain kind of honour to Men, Angels, and Saints, and they may receive it, and expect it &s;hould be given them. Yet they can have no title to have or to hold it, but they are charged with an obligation to return it entire unto the Lord.</P>
<P>I &s;aid <HI>a certain kind of honour,</HI> that is, &s;uch an honour as is due unto the Lord for created excellencies. Becau&s;e the honour, that is due unto him for the increated, is an honour that is called <HI>Divine,</HI> of which the Lord is &s;o jealous, that he will not permit any part thereof to be communicated in any manner to creatures. He will not allow of &s;o much as a &s;imple thought, that a creature can have any divine excellency in it: much le&s;s will be approve of a &s;ettled will to kneel or bow to it. But when the excellencies are created, then you may and ought to give ho|nour in the imperfect manner afore&s;aid, to the per&s;on that hath them.</P>
<P>For although all men are equal in their birth as being equally born naked, yet they are not afterwards equally dignified alike, &s;ome of them being determined by the Lord,
<PB N="132" REF="67"> in the order of nature to be Kings, Com|manders, Magi&s;trates, and meaner Officers; others again being called by the &s;ame Lord in the order of Grace, to be Bi&s;hops, Prelates, Pa&s;tors, and the like; others in a more &s;ub|lime way to be In&s;truments and furtherers of his &s;piritual charge, in which number are the Angels and Saints, and &s;he above them all, who holds by the title of Gods Maternity. The&s;e favours as they rai&s;e the per&s;ons favou|red to a very notable eminency, &s;o they oblige all others to te&s;tifie by an exteriour act of cap|ping, bowing, kneeling, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> their interior approbation of the Lords plea&s;ure in exalting them, rather then others. For who&s;oever gives Honour to the Creature, mu&s;t do it with an actual, virtual, or habitual intention to Honour the Lord, not with a formal will, to have it re&s;t there. And who&s;oever receives it, mu&s;t immediately &s;end it to the Lord for who&s;e &s;ake it is given him. Otherwi&s;e he is di&s;loyal to man, and treacherous to the Lord: to man, becau&s;e he betrayes the tru&s;t that man put in him; to the Lord, becau&s;e he defrauds him of the Honour &s;ent him.</P>
<P>Wherefore they de&s;erve much to be com|pa&s;&s;ionated, who are placed in great office, dig|nity, or &s;uperiority. Becau&s;e on the one &s;ide they are obliged to receive Honour, other|wi&s;e they cannot return it to the Lord; on the
<PB N="133" REF="67"> other &s;ide they mu&s;t beware of it, becau&s;e Honour is an edged tool, which the Lord will not have them to handle; it is a &s;weet that he will not have them ta&s;te of, it is a per|fume that he will not have them &s;mell to, it is a Coin that mu&s;t not be clipped, but returned whole and entire into his Exchequer. Who|&s;oever prevaricates in this kind, &s;hall be im|peached for <HI>Proud,</HI> and proceeded again&s;t as Traitors to the external Scepter of Heavens Soveraign.</P>
<P>The Holy Bible layes before our eyes the incomparable example of the B. Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> as a mo&s;t perfect pattern how to return Ho|nour to the Lord.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> by in&s;tinct of the Holy Gho&s;t, having honoured the Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> with the title of <HI>Mother of the Lord,</HI> and being a&s;toni|&s;hed at the humble vi&s;it &s;he made to her in|ferior, pronounced her <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed among&s;t women, Luk.</HI> 1.42. with a ble&s;&s;edne&s;s that was never yet communicated to any but her alone, &s;eeing no other ever had, or ever &s;hould have &s;uch a ble&s;&s;ed fruit, as &s;he bore in her womb. The Virgin admitted of the Honour, which &s;he could not refu&s;e without prejudice of Truth, that &s;poke by the tongue of <HI>Elizabeth.</HI> But without detaining it one &s;ingle moment, &s;he di&s;patched it pre&s;ently to the Lord. <HI>And Mary &s;aid, my Soul doth magnifie the Lord, and my Spi|rit
<PB N="134" REF="68"> hath rejoyced in God my Saviour,</HI> Luk. 1.46. Behold, how not &s;he, but the Lord is magnify|ed, and that not with words onely, but with <HI>Heart and Soul.</HI> She admits no joy, but what is &s;piritual, and her Spirit rejoyceth in God a|lone. Who although as her Son he be impri|&s;oned in her womb, yet as God, he is her peculiar Saviour. She goes forward, acknow|ledging that from her &s;elf &s;he hath nothing, but that it is the Omnipotent that hath wrought great things in her; and therefore not the Hand-maid but the Name of the Lord ought to be exalted, hallowed and &s;anctified. Het whole Canticle is a mo&s;t humble Docu|ment to in&s;truct us, how that honour which with rea&s;on is given to Creatures for the noble works which the Lord hath wrought in and by them, ought not to re&s;t in Creatures, but be transferred to the Lord of it and them. And &s;o the Lord receives a double honour.</P>
<P>For as he, to whom a pre&s;ent is &s;ent, is far more e&s;teemed than be that carries it; &s;o the Lord to whom all Honour is finally di|rected, is much more Honoured, then Men or Angels, who have onely charge to deliver it. Yea, as it cannot be denied, but that the greater worth and Nobilty of the carrier, makes the pre&s;ent more grateful, &s;o it mu&s;t needs be granted, that Honour is mo&s;t acce|ptable unto the Lord, when it is pre&s;ented
<PB N="135" REF="68"> him by the Hand of his be&s;t friends, and grea|te&s;t favourites.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="44" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XLIV.</HI> Why Angels and Saints ought rather to be honoured then Men.</HEAD>
<P>OUt of what hath been &s;aid, it is ea&s;ie to gather, that honour may be more &s;e|curely committed to Saints and Angels, then to mortal men. Becau&s;e men by rea&s;on of their ignorance, blindne&s;s, pa&s;&s;ion, &s;elf-love, vehement temptation, and other frailties in corrupt natures, are &s;ubject to apply to them|&s;elves the &s;weet that is felt in receiving Ho|nour. Whereas the Saints and Angels have &s;uch a clear knowledge of their own in&s;uffi|ciency and weakne&s;s, and of the Lords Power, Worth, and Dignity, that it is not po&s;&s;ible for them to receive any prai&s;e which they &s;hould not pre&s;ently make pa&s;s to their Cre|ator.</P>
<P>The Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> as &s;he &s;urpa&s;&s;eth all in being exalted to the &s;uperexcellent dignity of the Mother-hood of God, &s;o &s;he exceeds them all in the perfect di&s;covery of her own ba&s;ene&s;s, and the Lords dreadful greatne&s;s.
<PB N="136" REF="69"> This &s;upernatural ray of divine light witholds her from arrogating to her &s;elf any the lea&s;t parcel of the incomparable Enconiums, or exaggerated prai&s;e, which all learned and pi|ous ages have bequeathed unto us, as lively te&s;timonies of the de&s;ire they had to honour her. And no man did ever fear, that any of them &s;hould &s;tick by her, who with humble gratitude makes them all &s;tream to increa&s;e the Honour, Prai&s;e and Glory of God the Fountain.</P>
<P>Becau&s;e I have mentioned the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> and becau&s;e this Treati&s;e may come into the hands of &s;ome that have been brought up with a mean conceit of her; I will briefly lay down &s;ome Motives, drawn out of the Bible, upon which the Religion of Chri&s;t re|lies, when it attributes honour to her.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="42" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XLII.</HI> Rea&s;ons out of the Bible for Honour given to the Virgin <HI>Mary.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> is the true Mother of God. This Title alone doth rai&s;e her above all created greatne&s;s. The highe&s;t Cherubin or Seraphin dares pre&s;ume no more,
<PB N="137" REF="69"> then to be &s;ervant of the Lord. She is in|ve&s;ted with the title of Mother, and of &s;uch a Mother, as &s;till remains a Virgin. Becau&s;e it was convenient that no other than a Virginal womb &s;hould bring forth a God-head. An Arch-Angel was &s;ent from Heaven with ex|pre&s;s in&s;tructions to declare her <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> The tenour of his Emba&s;&s;y was dictated by the Holy Gho&s;t, and &s;et down word by word in the Holy Bible. <HI>Hail full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Ble&s;&s;ed art thou among Women,</HI> Luk. 1.28. <HI>Hail,</HI> becau&s;e &s;aluted from the &s;acred Trinity, and elected to an incomprehen&s;ible dignity. <HI>Full of Grace,</HI> becau&s;e alwayes free from &s;in, and abounding in Original Ju&s;tice. <HI>The Lord is with thee,</HI> becau&s;e he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed thee in the fir&s;t in&s;tant of thy being. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed art thou among women,</HI> becau&s;e thou ha&s;t re|ceived a Prerogative above them all. The Arch-Angel <HI>Gabriel</HI> denounced this Ble&s;&s;ing to her in private, but <HI>Elizabeth</HI> by in&s;tinct of the Holy Gho&s;t proclaimed it in the &s;ame words in publick, giving notice thereof to the whole world. <HI>And &s;he cried out with a loud voice, and &s;aid, Ble&s;&s;ed art thou among women.</HI> Luk. 1.42. Not only ble&s;&s;ed in thy &s;elf, but ble&s;&s;ed al&s;o for the <HI>ble&s;&s;ed fruit of thy womb:</HI> ble&s;&s;ed for thy Faith, ble&s;&s;ed for the promi&s;es made to thee, and ble&s;&s;ed <HI>becau&s;e tho&s;e things &s;hall be performed and accompli&s;hed, which have
<PB N="138" REF="70"> &s;poken to thee.</HI> The ble&s;&s;ed Virgin in&s;pired by the &s;ame Holy Gho&s;t declared openly, what the Lord had &s;poken to her in &s;ecret, <HI>(viz.)</HI> That <HI>all Generations &s;hall call her ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> Luk. 1.48. This Prophe&s;ie began immediately to be fulfilled. The Apo&s;tles enacted it for an Article of Faith, that &s;he is &s;till a Virgin, and that &s;he enjoys the unmatchable ble&s;&s;ing of Virginity and Fecundity. All faithful &s;ub|jects of Chri&s;ts Religion &s;ubmitted to it. The Primitive Fathers, the Aecumenical Councils, the Doctors of the Church the &s;peculative Di|vines, all Contemplatives, all Ma&s;ters in Spi|rit, all Chri&s;tian Hi&s;toriographers, and all that have managed a Pen &s;avouring of Sancti|tie, have left Learned and Pious Monuments of the tribute of Prai&s;es, that have been paid to her worth. No man who hath read Au|thors can deny this. Gentle Reader, if thou knowe&s;t any man that makes profe&s;&s;ion to have read them, charge his Con&s;cience, who|&s;oever he be, with this my &s;aying, and he mu&s;t be more then impudent if he will deny it. But if thou do&s;t meet with &s;ome one that bears &s;uch &s;mall re&s;pect to Chri&s;t, that even again&s;t mo&s;t palpable truth, he is forward to cloud the name of Chri&s;ts Mother, I am &s;orry that thou can&s;t not read them thy &s;elf. For I a&s;&s;ure thee, thou &s;hould&s;t find more devour, &s;weet, tender expre&s;&s;ions of admiration, Love, and
<PB N="139" REF="70"> Prai&s;e of the glorious Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> which could not be written, but by Pens dipped in the Spirit of Truth and Piety, &s;eeing that whil&s;t they carry the prai&s;es of the Mother aloft, they tend to the exaltation of the Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>But why &s;he more ble&s;&s;ed then other wo|men? Becau&s;e all other women carry along with them the Original Cur&s;e, &s;he alone is pronounced <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> as never having incurred any Original &s;tain. Becau&s;e it being e&s;tabli&s;h|ed in the Divine Law, that <HI>&s;he &s;hould cru&s;h his head,</HI> that fir&s;t infected the Root of Man|kind, <HI>Gen.</HI> 3.15. it had been prepo&s;terous, that the Serpent &s;hould fir&s;t have &s;queezed her. And &s;eeing &s;he was to be Mother to the Son, by vertue of who&s;e Merits &s;he was to cru&s;h Satan, it was ab&s;olutely convenient, that &s;he &s;hould enjoy by p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">iviledge, what was due to her Son by Nature. For it is an e&s;ta|bli&s;hed Maxim in Imperial and Royal Courrs, that in priviledges the Spou&s;e doth participate with the Soveraign. <HI>Hester,</HI> becau&s;e &s;he was Queen, was exempted from the rigorous Edict of Death, that was Proclaimed <HI>again&s;t all. He&s;t.</HI> 13.13. In like manner the fatal Decree of Original Death, which pa&s;&s;ed a|gain&s;t all the po&s;terity of <HI>Adam,</HI> was not to include the B. Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> &s;eeing &s;he was to be Queen of Heaven, and the <HI>Daughter, Mo|ther,</HI> and <HI>Spou&s;e</HI> of God.</P>
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<P>Her peculiar ble&s;&s;ing con&s;i&s;ted in that, which the Royal P&s;almi&s;t &s;peaks of her in a my&s;tical &s;en&s;e. <HI>Deus qui praecinxit me virtute, &amp; po&s;uit immaculatam viam meam,</HI> P&s;al. 17.35. <HI>God who girded me with a preventing vir|tue or grace&punc; and laid my way immaculate.</HI> It was the Omnipotent virtue of God, that pre|vented her, it was his Grace that filled her, it was his Love that paved the way, his Purity that freed it from &s;pot, and it was his Merits that made the <HI>way Hers.</HI> It was truly <HI>her way.</HI> For &s;he alone and no other did ever tread it. She was &s;o lovely and gracious in her pa&s;&s;age over it, that the words of the Spou&s;e are right|ly applyed unto her. <HI>Thou art all beautiful and fair, and there is no &s;pot or blemi&s;h in thee,</HI> Cant. 4.7. This is the fir&s;t in&s;tant of her being. Who &s;hall declare what the la&s;t of her Life was?</P>
<P>It is not po&s;&s;ible for humane capacity to comprehend how excellent and rare a crea|ture &s;he was, when &s;he a&s;cended triumphant to heaven. For &s;eeing that one dram of Grace doth more adorn the Soul then all na|tural lu&s;tre can do, who &s;hall conceive what beauty &s;hined in her, that was enriched with a plenitude of grace in the fir&s;t moment of her immaculate Conception? She was in that fir&s;t in&s;tant full of Grace, yet not|with&s;tanding &s;he got every in&s;tant following
<PB N="141" REF="71"> a new increa&s;e: For every moment &s;he got a new depth by an humble &s;inking down into her own nothing, and a new largene&s;s of heart by a continual dilating of her charity. So that every moment &s;he was full, and eve|ry moment &s;he had need of the Holy Gho&s;t to be filled. Thus &s;he went encrea&s;ing in &s;plendor and beauty all the dayes of her life, without any the lea&s;t ecclip&s;e, diminution or wane of her graces, till being accompli&s;h|ed in perfection befitting the dignity &s;he was to bear in heaven, &s;he rendred up her pure &s;pirit into the hands of her Lord, her Son, and her Redeemer.</P>
<P>Therefore the Religion that &s;peaks ho|nourably of her, is warranted by the Bible. But the Religion that &s;peaks ill of her, doth evidently di&s;honour Chri&s;t. For to vilifie the Mother, is to di&s;parage the Son. To make light of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> is to tax the love of Chri&s;t that cho&s;e her, and the power that made her. Chri&s;t loved Man, and love made him choo&s;e a Mother, and he cho&s;e <HI>Her.</HI> It were very &s;trange, that love &s;hould make him choo&s;e her, and yet he &s;hould not love her. It were yet more &s;trange, that loving her, and judging her fit to be his Mother, he &s;hould think it unfit to frame her perfect, or to be&s;tow upon her the prerogatives, graces and favours, that ought to attend upon Gods
<PB N="142" REF="72"> Mother. I appeal to all dutiful Children to tell me, what a rare kind of Creature they would make their own Mother, if it lay in their power to do it. <HI>Solomon</HI> placed his Mother <HI>Ber&s;abee</HI> upon his own Throne. And I believe that none of <HI>Solomon.</HI> Subjects dur&s;t ever &s;ay that it was above her de&s;ert, or that &s;he did not become it. Chri&s;t commands us to honour our Parents, and he came into the world to give us example. We &s;hall ar|gue what he did, by con&s;idering what was convenient to be done.</P>
<P>It was in the hand of the Wi&s;dom and power of Chri&s;t to frame his own Mother according to the proportion of the love he bore her. The incomparable Title of Gods Maternity did require that his love &s;hould command his wi&s;dom to invent, and his po|wer to execute what might &s;tand with the re|putation of the Mother of an Incarnate God. Therefore it was nece&s;&s;ary that he &s;hould u&s;e them both, to enrich her with &s;uch re&s;plen|dant qualities that &s;he might out-&s;hine the Subjects of his Realm; to adorn her with &s;uch matchle&s;s excellencies, that no Peer in Heaven might pretend to &s;it above her; to plant upon her cheek &s;uch excellent beauty, that &s;he might grace the Throne, in which &s;he is &s;eated, and reflect a glorious honour upon Chri&s;t her Son, who is the &s;pring of her &s;plendour.</P>
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<P>I conclude the whole Treati&s;e thus. That Religion mu&s;t certainly be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> member of Chri&s;ts Kingdom, which to maintain the Ho|nour of Chri&s;t, endeavours to cen&s;ure his Mothers credit. Satan and his adherents, as they hate Chri&s;t, &s;o they exceed in rage and malice again&s;t his Mother. And therefore it is to be pre&s;umed that the Religion &s;ides with them, which labors to depre&s;s <HI>Her.</HI></P>
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<HEAD><HI>CHAP. XLVIII.</HI> The Seeker to the Reader.</HEAD>
<P>I Have pa&s;&s;ed the bounds of my intended brevity. My intention was, Gentle Rea|der, rather to &s;tir thee up to hear others, than read me. For thou wilt receive greater &s;atisfaction from the lively voice of Learn|ed men, then from the bare reading of dead lines. Men are not wanting to give thee in&s;truction, if thou bee&s;t not backward to demand information. Whil&s;t time is be not carele&s;s: if time pa&s;s there is no return. Where the tree falls, there it &s;hall lye. Thy &s;oul lyes at &s;take, and Eternity expects thee. Happy &s;halt thou be, if thou arrive&s;t to en|joy the Lord. Otherwi&s;e, woe, and woe.
<PB N="144" REF="73"> Do not die with a fal&s;e perwa&s;ion that igno|rance of the True Religion may excu&s;e thee. Fear rather lea&s;t in the hour of thy death Chri&s;t may &s;ay to thee who art his by the ti|tle of a Chri&s;tian, what the Lord &s;aid to the Jews, at the time when they were his elect|ed and cho&s;en people. <HI>Thou dost &s;till erre in thy heart, and thou hast not known my wayes,</HI> Hearken what follows and tremble: <HI>I have &s;worn to thee in my anger, that thou &s;halt not enter inter into the rest,</HI> Prov. 25. <HI>v.</HI> 10.11. that is prepared for the Ble&s;&s;ed. Seek there|for<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the true way; Seek Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and his Religion. Seek &s;incerely, and thou &s;halt find &s;ecurely.</P>
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