CHAP. IV.

 

OF WORSHIP DUE TO GOD'S NAME.

 

 

 

1. Of prayer, and its several parts. 2: Of public prayers in the church.

 

3. In the family. 4: Of private prayer. 5: Of fasting.

 

 

 

I. Of Prayer and its several Parts.

 

 THE eighth duty we owe to God is worship; this is that great duty by which especially we acknowledge his God-head, worship being proper only to GOD, and therefore it is to be looked on as a most weighty duty. This is to be performed, first, by our souls; secondly, by our bodies: the soul's part is praying. Now prayer is a speaking to GOD, and there are divers parts of it, according to the different things about which we speak.

 

 2. As first, there is confession, that is, the acknowledging our sins to God. And this may be either general or particular; the general is when we only confess in gross that we are sinful; the particular, when we mention the several sorts and acts of our sins. The former is necessary to be always a part of our solemn prayers, whether public or private. The latter is proper for private prayer, and there the oftener it is used the better; yea, even in our daily private prayer, it will be fit constantly to. remember some of our greatest and foulest sins, though never so long since past: for such we should never think sufficiently confessed and bewailed. And this bewailing must always go along with confession; we Host be heartily sorry for the sins we confess, and from our souls acknowledge our own great unworthiness in having committed them. For our confession is not intended to instruct GOD, who knows our sins much better than our-selves do, but it is to humble ourselves, and therefore we must not think to have confessed aright till that be done.

 

 3. The second part of prayer is petition, that is, the begging of God whatsoever we want, either for our souls or bodies. For our souls, we must first beg pardon of sins, and that for the sake of JESUS CHRIST, who shed his blood to obtain it. Then we must beg the assistance of God's Spirit, to enable us to forsake our sins, and to walk in obedience to him. And herein it will be needful, particularly to beg all the several virtues, as faith, love, zeal, purity, but especially those which you most wantest. And in all these things that concern thy soul, be very earnest and importunate; take no denial from GOD, nor give over, though you do not presently obtain what you suest for. But if you have never so long prayed for a grace, and yet findest it not, do not grow weary of praying, but rather search what the cause may be which makes thy prayers ineffectual; see if you do not thyself hinder them. Perhaps you prayest to God to enable thee to conquer some sin, and yet never goest about to fight against it, never makest any resistance, but yieldest to it as often as it comes, nay, puttest thyself in its way, in the road of temptations. If it be thus, no wonder though thy prayers avail not, for you wilt not let them. There-fore amend this: set to the doing of thy part, and then you needest not fear but God will do his.

 

 4. Secondly, we are to petition also for our bodies, that is, we are to ask of God such things as are needful to us while we live here. But these only in such a degree as his wisdom sees best for us. We must not presume to be our own carvers, and pray for all that wealth or greatness which our own vain hearts may desire, but only for such a condition as he sees may most tend to those great ends of living, the glorifying him, and the saving our own souls.

 

 5. A third part of prayer is deprecation, that is, when we pray to God to turn away some evil from us. Now the evil may be either the evil of sin, or the evil of punishment. The evil of sin is that we are especially to pray against, most earnestly' begging of God that he will by the power of his grace preserve us from falling into sin. And whatever sins they are, to which you knows thy-self most inclined, there be particularly earnest with God to preserve thee. This is to be done daily, but then more especially when we are under any present temptation, in which case we have reason to cry out, as Peter did when he found himself sinking, " Save, Lord, or I perish!" humbly beseeching him either to withdraw the temptation, or strengthen us to withstand it.

 

 6. Secondly, we are likewise to pray against the evil of punishment, but principally against spiritual punishments, as the anger of GOD, the withdrawing his grace, and eternal damnation. Against these we can never pray with too much earnestness. But we may also pray against temporal punishments, that is, any outward affliction; but this with submission to God's will, according to the example of CHRIST, Matt. 26: 39, " Not as I will, but as you wilt."

 

 7. A fourth part of prayer is intercession, that is, praying for others. This in general we are to do for all mankind, as well strangers as acquaintance, but more particularly those to whom we have any special relation; either public, as our governors both in church and state; or private, as parents, husbands, wife, children, friends. We are also to pray for all that are in affliction, and such particular persons as we discern especially to be so. Yea, we are to pray for those that have done us injury, those that despitefully use us and persecute us." For all these sorts of persons we are to pray, and that for the very same good things we beg of God for ourselves, that God would give thee, in their several places and callings, all spiritual and temporal blessings, which he sees wanting to them, and turn away from them all evil, whether of sin or punishment.

 

 8. The fifth part of prayer is thanksgiving; that is, the praising God for his mercies, whether to our persons, and those that immediately relate to us, or to the church and nation whereof we are members, or yet more general, to all mankind; and this for all his mercies, both spiritual and temporal. In the spiritual, first, for those wherein we are all in common concerned, as the giving of his Son, the sending of his Spirit, and all those means he has used to bring sinful men unto himself. Secondly,. for those mercies we have in our own particulars received; such are the having been born within the church, and so brought up in the Christian religion, by which we have been partakers of those precious advantages of the word and sacraments, and have had the means of eternal life put into our hands. But besides these, there is none of us but have received other spiritual mercies from God.

 

 9. As first, God's patience and long-suffering, waiting for our repentance, and not cutting us off in our sins. Secondly, his calls and invitations of us to repentance, not only outward in the ministry of the word, but also inward, by the motions of his Spirit. But then if you be one that bast, by the help of God's grace, been wrought upon by these calls, and brought from a profane or worldly, to a Christian course of life, you art in the highest degree tied to praise his goodness, as having received from him the greatest of mercies.

 

 1O. We are likewise to give thanks for temporal blessings, whether such as concern the public, as the prosperity of the church or nation, and all remarkable deliverances afforded to either; or else such as concern our particular; such are all the good things of this life which we enjoy; as health, friends, food, raiment; also for those minute preservations whereby we are by God's gracious providence kept from danger, and the especial deliverances which God has given us in time of the greatest perils. It will be impossible to set down the several mercies which every man receives from GOD, because they differ in kind and degree between one man and another. But it is sure that he which receives least, has yet enough to employ his whole life in praises to God. And it will be very fit for every man to consider the several passages of his life, and the mercies he has in each received, and to gather a kind of catalogue of them, at least the principal, which he may always have in his memory, and often with a thankful heart repeat before God.

 

II. Of public Prayers in the Church.

 

 11. These are the several parts of prayer, and all of them to be used both publicly and privately. The public use of them is, first, that the church, where all meet to join in those prayers wherein they are in common concerned. And in this (where the prayers are such as they ought to be,) we should be very constant, there being an especial blessing promised to the joint requests of the faithful; and he that without a necessary cause absents himself from public prayers, cuts himself off from the church, which has always been thought so unhappy a thing, that it is the greatest punishment the govenors of the church can lay upon the worst offender; and therefore it is a strange madness for men to inflict it upon them-selves.

 

III. Of family Prayer.

 

 12. A second sort of public prayer is that in a family, where all that are members of it join in their common supplication; and this also ought to be very carefully attended to, first by the master of the family, who is to look that there be such prayers, it being as much his part thus to provide for the souls of his children and servants, as to provide food for their bodies. Therefore there is none, even the meanest householder, but ought to take this care. What choice soever they make of prayers, let them be sure to have some; and let no man that professes himself a Christian, keep so heathenish a family, as not to see God be daily worshipped in it. But when the master of a family has done his duty in this providing, it is the duty of every member of it to make use of that provision, by being constant and diligent at those family prayers.

 

IV. Of private Prayer.

 

 13. Private or secret prayer is that. which is used by man alone, apart from all others, wherein we are to be more particular, according to our particular needs, than in public it is fit to be. And private prayer is a duty which will not be excused by the performance of public. They are both required, and one must not be taken in exchange for the other. And whoever is diligent in pub-lick prayers, and yet negligent in private, it is much to be feared he rather seeks to approve himself to men than to God; contrary to the command of our Savior, Matt. 6: who enjoins this private prayer, this "praying to our Father in secret," from whom alone we are to expect our reward, and not from the vain praises of men.

 

 14. Now this duty of prayer is to be often performed, by none seldomer than evening and morning, it being most necessary that we should thus begin and end all our works with GOD, and that not only in respect of our-selves, who can never be either prosperous or safe, but by committing ourselves to him; and therefore should tremble to venture on the perils of day or night without his safeguard. How much oftener this duty is to be per-formed, must be judged according to the business or leisure men have. Where by business, I mean not such business as men unprofitably make to themselves, but the necessary business of a man's calling, which with some will not afford them much time for set and solemn prayer. But even these men may often in a day lift up their hearts to GOD, in short prayers, even whilst they are at their work. As for those that have more leisure, they are in all reason to bestow more time upon this duty. And let no man, that can find time to bestow upon his vanities, nay, perhaps, his sins, say he wants leisure for prayer; but let him now endeavor to redeem what he has mis-spent, by employing more of that leisure in this duty for the future.

 

 15. But we are not only to consider how often, but how well we perform it. Now to do it well, we are to respect, first, the matter of our prayers, to look that we ask nothing that is unlawful, as revenge upon our enemies, or the like. Secondly, the manner; and that must be first in faith. We must believe, that if we ask as we ought, God will either give us the thing we ask for, or else something which he sees better for us. And, secondly, in humility; we must acknowledge ourselves utterly unworthy of any of those good things we beg for, and therefore sue for them only for CHRIST's sake. Thirdly, with attention; we must mind what we are about, and not suffer ourselves to be carried away to the thought of other things. I told you, at first, that prayer was the business of the soul; but if our minds be wandering, it is the work, only, of the tongue and lips, which make it, in God's account, no better than vain babbling, and so will never bring a blessing on us. Nay, as Jacob said to his mother, Gen. 27: 12, it will be more likely to bring a curse on us than a blessing; for it is a profaning one of the most solemn parts of God's service; it is a piece of hypocrisy, the "drawing near to him with our lips, when our hearts are far from him," and a great slighting and despising that dreadful Majesty

 

we come before. It is just as if a malefactor, that comes to sue for his life to the king, should, in the midst of his supplication, happen to espy a butterfly, and should

 

leave his suit and run after that butterfly, would you not think it pity a pardon should be cast away upon so care-less a creature And sure it will be as unreasonable to expect that God should attend and grant those suits of ours, which we do not consider ourselves.

 

 16. This wandering in prayer is a thing we are much concerned to arm ourselves against; it being that to which we are naturally wonderfully prone. To that end it will be necessary, first, to possess our hearts at our coming to prayers with the greatness of that Majesty we are to approach, that so we may dread to be vain and trifling in his presence. Secondly, we are to consider the great-concernment of the things we are to ask, some whereof are such, that if we should not be heard, we were of all creatures the most miserable; and yet this wandering is the way to keep us from being heard. Thirdly, we are to beg God's aid in this particular: and therefore, when you settest to prayer, let thy first petition be for this grace of attention.

 

 17. Lastly, be as watchful as is possible, over thy heart in time of prayer, to keep out all wandering thoughts; or if any have gotten in, let them not find entertainment; but as soon as ever you discernest them, suffer them not to abide one moment, but cast them out with indignation, and beg God's pardon for them.

 

 18. In the fourth place, we must look our prayers be with zeal and earnestness; it is not enough that we so far attend to them, as barely to know what it is we say, but we must put forth all the affections of our souls, according to the several parts of prayer before mentioned. It is not the cold faint request that will ever obtain from God; we see it will not from ourselves; for if a beggar should ask relief from us, and do it in such a manner that he seemed indifferent whether he had it or not, we should think he had either little want, or great pride, and so have no heart to give him. Therefore be careful when you drawest nigh to God in prayer, to raise up thy soul to the highest pitch of zeal and earnestness you art able. And, because of thyself alone you art not able todo any thing, beseech God that he will inflame thy heart with this heavenly fire of devotion; and when you have obtained it, beware that you neither quench it by any wilful sin, nor let it go out again for want of stirring it up.

 

 19. Fifthly, we must pray with purity, I mean, we must purge our hearts from all affections to sin. This is surely the meaning of the apostle, 1 Tim. 2: 8, when he commands men to "lift up holy hands in prayer." He that cherishes any sin in his heart, his prayers, be they never so many or earnest, will little avail him. The Psalmist will tell him he shall not be heard, Psalm lxvi. 18, " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Nay, Solomon will tell him yet worse, that his prayers are not only vain, but abominable, Prov. 15: 8, " The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." And thus to have our prayers turned into sill, is one of the heaviest things that can befall any man. Therefore, let us not be so cruel to ourselves, as to pull it upon our own heads.

 

 2O. In the last place, we must direct our prayers to right ends; and that either ill respect of the prayer itself, or the things we pray for. First, We must pray, not to gain the praise of men, only for company or fashion-sake, but we must do it first as an act of worship to God: Secondly, As an acknowledgment that he is that great spring from whence alone we expect all good things: and, Thirdly, To gain a supply of our own, or others' needs. Our end in all must be God's glory first; and next that our own and others' salvation; and all other things must be taken in only as they tend to those. I have now done with that first part of worship, that of the soul.

 

 21. The other is that of the body; and that is such humble and reverent gestures in our approaches to God as may both express the inward reverence of our souls, and also pay him some tribute for our very bodies, with which the apostle commands us to glorify GOD, as well as with our souls; and good reason, since he has created and redeemed the one as well as the other: whensoever, therefore, you offerest thy prayers unto GOD, let it be with all lowliness, as well of body as of mind.

 

Of Fasting.

 

 22. To prayer, fasting is very proper to be annexed. The Scripture usually joins them together. So Anna, Luke 2: 37, " served God with fasting and prayer." And the Christians of the first times were generally very frequent in the practice of it. Now, though fasting be especially proper to a time of humiliation, yet it is not so restrained to it but it may be seasonable whensoever we have any extraordinary thing to request from God. Thus, when Esther was to endeavor the deliverance of her people from destruction, she and all the Jews kept a solemn fast, Esther 4: 16. And thus when Paul and Barnabas were to be ordained apostles, there was fasting joined to prayer, Acts 13: 3. And so it will be very fit for us whensoever we have need of any extraordinary directions, or assistance from GOD, whether concerning our temporal or spiritual concernments, thus to quicken our prayers by fasting.

 

 23. How often this duty of fasting is to be performed, we have no direction in Scripture. That must be allotted by men's own piety, according as their health, or other considerations, will allow. But as it is in humiliation, the frequenter returns we have of set times for it the better; so it is likewise in fasting, the oftener the better, so it be not hurtful either to our healths, or to some other duty required of us. Nay, perhaps fasting may help some men to more times for humiliation than they would otherwise gain. For there are some who cannot, without a manifest hinderance to their calling, allow a whole day to that work; yet such a one may at least afford that time he would otherwise spend in eating and so fasting will be doubly useful to such a man, both by helping him in duty, and gaining him time for it.

 

 24. I have now gone through the first branch of our duty to GOD, to wit, the acknowledging him for our God. The second is, the having no other; of which I need say little, as it is a forbidding of that grosser sort of heathenish idolatry, the worshipping of idols, which, though it were once common in the world, yet is now so rare, that it is not likely any that read this will be concerned in it. Only I must say, that to pay Divine worship to any creature, be it saint or angel, yea, or the image of CHRIST himself, is a transgression of the second branch of our duty to GOD, being the imparting that to a creature, which is due only to GOD, and therefore is strictly to be abstained from.

 

 25. But there is another sort of idolatry, of which we are generally guilty, and that is, when we pay those affections of love, fear, trust, and the like, to any creature, in a higher degree than we do to God; for that is the setting up that thing, whatsoever it is, for our God. And this inward kind of idolatry is that which provokes God to jealousy, as well as the outward, of worshipping an idol.

 

CHAP. 5

 

I. Duty to ourselves; of sobriety. H. Of humility. 3: The great sin of pride.

 

4: Of vain-glory, the danger, folly, and the means to prevent it. 5: Of meekness.

 

I. Our Duty to ourselves; of Sobriety.

 

 This duty to ourselves is, by St. Paul, in the fore-mentioned text, Titus 2: 12, summed up in this one word, soberly. Now by soberly is meant our keeping within those due bounds which God has set us. My business will therefore be to tell you what are the particulars of this sobriety: and that, 1. Inrespect of the

 

soul; 2. In respect of the body. The sobriety of the soul stands in right governing its passions and affections, and to that are many virtues required. I shall give you the particulars of them.

 

II. Of Humility.

 

 2. The first of them is humility. This being the foundation on which all others must be built. And he that hopes to gain them without this, will prove but like that foolish builder CHRIST speaks of, Luke 6: 49, " who built his house on the sand." Of the humility towards GOD, I have already spoken; I am now to speak of humility as it concerns ourselves.

 

 3. This humility is of two sorts; the first is, the having a mean opinion of ourselves; the second is, the being content that others should have so of us. The first of these is contrary to pride, the other to vain glory. And that both these are absolutely necessary to Christians, I am now to show you; which will, I conceive, best be done by laying before you, first, the sin; secondly, the danger; thirdly, the contrary virtues.

 

III. The great Sin of Pride.

 

 4. And first, for pride; the sin of it is so great, that it cast the angels out of heaven, and therefore, if we may judge of sin by the punishment, it was not only the first, but the greatest sin that ever the devil himself has been guilty of: but we need no better proof of the heinousness of it, than the extreme hatefulness of it to God; which besides that instance of his punishing the devil, we may frequently find in the Scriptures, Prov. xvi 5, " Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord." So Jam. 4: 6, " God resisteth the proud;" and divers other texts there are to the same purpose. Now, since it is certain, GOD, who is all goodness, hates nothing but as it is evil, it must needs follow, that where God hates :n so great a degree, there must be a great degree of evil.

 

 5. But, secondly, pride is not only very sinful, but very dangerous; and that, in respect of drawing us to other sins; secondly, of betraying us to punishments. First, pride draws us to other sins, wherein it shows itself to be directly contrary to humility; for as that is the root of all virtue, so is this of all vice. For he that is proud sets himself up as his own GOD, and so can never submit to any other rules than what he makes to himself. " The ungodly," says the Psalmist, "is so proud that he careth not for God." Where you see it is his pride that makes him despise God. And when a man is once come to that, he is prepared for the commission of all sins. I might instance in a multitude of particular sins that naturally flow from this of pride; as, first, anger, which the wise man sets as the effect of pride, Prov. 21: 24, calling it proud wrath; secondly, strife and contention; which he again notes to be the offspring of pride, Prov. 13: 1O, " Only by pride cometh contention." And both these are indeed natural effects of pride: for he that thinks highly of himself, expects much submission and observance from others, and therefore cannot but quarrel when he thinks it not sufficiently paid. It would be infinite to mention all the fruits of this bitter root: I shall name but one more, and that is, that pride not only betrays us to many sins, but also makes them incurable, for it hinders the working of all remedies.

 

 6. Those remedies must either come from God or man; if from God they must be either in the way of meekness and gentleness, or else of sharpness and punishment. Now if God by his goodness essay to lead a proud man to repentance, he quite mistakes God's meaning, and thinks all the mercies he receives are but the reward of his own desert; and so long it is sure he will never think he needs repentance. But if, on the other side, God use him more sharply, and lay afflictions and punishments upon him, those in a proud heart work nothing but murmurings and hating of GOD, as if he did him injury in those punishments. As for the remedies that can be used by man, they again must be either by way of correction or exhortation. Corrections from man will never work more on a proud heart, than those from God; for he that can think God unjust in them, will much rather believe it of man. And exhortations will do as little. For let a proud man be admonished, though never so mildly, he looks on it as a disgrace. And there-fore, instead of confessing or amending the fault, he falls to reproaching his reprover, and for that precious act of kindness, looks on him as his enemy. Now one that thus stubbornly resists all means of cure, must be concluded in a. most dangerous state.

 

 7. But besides this danger of sin, I told you there was another, that of punishment; and of this there will need little proof, when it is considered, that God is the proud man's professed enemy, that he hates and resists him, as appeared in the text fore-cited: and then there can be little doubt, that he which has so mighty an adversary shall he sure to smart for it. " For pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though hand join in hand, yet they shall not be unpunished." The decree, it seems, is unalterable, and whatever endeavors are used to preserve the proud man, they are but vain, for " he shall not go unpunished."

 

 8. In the third place I am to show you the great folly of this sin; and to do that, it will be necessary to consider the several things whereof men use to be proud; they are of three sorts, either those which we call the goods of nature, or the goods of fortune, or the goods of grace.

 

 9. By the goods of nature 1 mean beauty, strength, wit, and the like; and the being proud of any of these is a huge folly. For, first, we are apt to mistake, and think our-selves handsome or witty when we are not; and then there cannot be a more ridiculous folly than to be proud of what we have not; and such every one esteems it in another man, though he never supposes it his own case. And therefore there is nothing more despicable amongst all men, than a proud fool; yet no man that entertains high opinions of his own wit, but is in danger to be thus deceived, a man's own judgment of himself being of all others the least to be trusted. But, secondly, suppose we be not out in judging, yet what is there in any of these endowments which is worth the being proud of, there being scarce any of them which some creature or other has not in a greater degree than man How much does the whiteness of the lily, and the redness of the rose, exceed thewhite and red of the fairest face What a multitude of creatures is there, that far surpass man in strength and swiftness And divers others there are, which, as far as concerns any useful end of theirs, act much more wisely than most of us; and are therefore in scripture often pro-posed to us by way of example. It is therefore surely great unreasonableness for us to think highly of ourselves for such things as are common to us with beasts and plants. But, thirdly, if they were as excellent as we fancy them, yet they are not durable, they are impaired and lost by sundry means; a phrenzy will destroy the rarest wit; a sickness decay the freshest beauty, the greatest strength; or, however, old age will be sure to do all. But, lastly, whatever they are, we gave them not to ourselves. No man can think he did any thing towards the procuring his beauty or wit, and so can with no reason value himself for them.

 

 1O. In the second place, the folly is as great to be proud of the goods of fortune. By them I mean wealth and honor, and the like; for it is sure they add nothing of true worth to the man; somewhat of outward pomp they may help him to, but that makes no change in the person. You may load an ass with money, or deck him with rich trappings, yet still you will not make him a whit the nobler kind of beast. Secondly, these arc things we have no hold of, they vanish many times ever we are aware; he that is rich to-day may be poor to-morrow, and then he will be the less pitied by all in his poverty, the prouder he was when he was rich. Thirdly, we have them all, but as stewards, to lay out for our Master's use, and therefore should rather think how to make our accounts, than pride ourselves in our receipts. Lastly, whatever of these we have, they, as well as the former, are not owing to our-selves. If they be lawfully gotten, we owe them only to GOD, whose blessing it is that maketh rich, Prov. 10: 22. if unlawfully, we have them upon such terms, that we have very little reason to brag of them. And thus you see in these several respects, the folly of this second part of pride.

 

 11. The third is that of the goods of grace; that is, any virtue a man has. And here I cannot say but the things are very valuable, being infinitely more precious than all the world, yet nevertheless this is of all the rest the greatest folly; and that not only in the foregoing respect, that we help not ourselves to it, grace being above all things most immediately God's work in us, but especially in this, that the being proud of glace is the sure way to lose it. GOD, who gives grace to the humble, will take it from the proud; and as he will lose the grace for the future, so he will lose all the reward of it for the time past. For let a man have done never so many good acts, yet if he be proud of them, that pride shall be charged on him to his destruction, but the good shall never be remembered to his reward. And this proves it to be a most wretched folly to be proud of grace. It is like that of children, that pull those things in pieces they are most fond of; but yet much worse than that of theirs, for we not only lose the thing, (and that the most precious that can be imagined,) but we must also be eternally punished for doing so, there being nothing that shall be so sadly reckoned for in the next world as the abuse of grace. And certainly there can be no greater abuse of it, than to make it serve for an end so directly contrary to that for which it was given; it being given to make us humble, not proud; to magnify GOD, not ourselves.

 

 12. The second contrary to humility I told you was vain-glory; that is, a thirst after the praise of men. And first, that this is a sin, I need prove no otherwise than by the words of our Savior, John 5: 44, " How can ye believe, that receive honor of one another" Where it appears that it is not only a sin, but such an one as hinders the receiving CHRIST into the heart, for so believing there signifies. This, in the second place, shows you the great danger of this sin; for if it be that which keeps CHRIST out of the heart, it is sure it brings infinite danger, since all our safety, all our hope of escaping the wrath to come, stands in receiving him. But, besides, experience shows that wherever this sin has possession, it endangers men to fall into any other. For he that so considers the praise of men, whenever the greatest sins come to be in fashion and credit, will be sure to commit them rather than run the disgrace of being singular and precise. I doubt there are many consciences can witness the truth of this, so that I need say no more to prove the danger of this sin.

 

 13. The third thing I am to spew, is the folly of it; and that will appear, first, by considering what it is we thus hunt after; nothing but a little air, a blast, the breath of men, it brings us in nothing of real advantage, for I am never made the wiser nor the better for a man's saying I am wise and good. Besides, if I am commended, it must be either before my face, or behind my back. If the former, it is very often flattery, and so the greatest abuse that can be offered, and then I must be very much a fool to be pleased with it. But if it be behind my back, I have not then so much as the pleasure of knowing it, and there-fore it is a strange folly thus to pursue what is so utterly gainless. But, secondly, it is not only gainless, but painful and uneasy also; he that seeks praise is not at all master of himself, but must suit all his actions to that end, and instead of doing what his own reason or conscience (nay, perhaps his worldly convenience) directs him to, he must take care to do what will bring him in commendations, and so enslave himself to every one that has but a tongue to commend him. Nay, there is yet a farther uneasiness in it; and that is, when such a man fails of his aim, when he misses the praise, and perhaps meets with the contrary--reproach, (which is no man's lot more often than that of the vain-glorious) then what disturbances and disquiets, and even torment of mind is he under And sure this painfulness that attends this sin, is sufficient proof of the folly of it. Yet this is not all, it is further very hurtful; for if this vain-glory be concerning any Christian action, it destroys all the fruit of it; he that prays or/gives alms to be seen of men, (Matt. 6: 2,) must take that as his reward; they must expect none from GOD, but the portion of those hypocrites, that " love the praise of men more than.the praise of God." And this is a miserable folly to make such an exchange; but if the vain-glory be not concerning any virtuous action, but only some indifferent thing, yet even then it is very hurtful; for vain-glory is a thing that, wheresoever it is placed, endangers our eternal estate, which is the greatest of all mischiefs. And even for the present it is observable, that of all other sins it stands most in its own light. For there are very few that thus hunt after praise but they are discerned to do so, and that is sure to eclipse whatever praise-worthy thing they do, and bring scorn upon them instead of reputation. And then certainly we may justly condemn this sin of folly, which is so ill a manager, even of its own design.

 

IV. Of Meekness.

 

 14. A second virtue is meekness; that is, a calmness and quietness of spirit, contrary to the impatience of auger. This virtue may be exercised either in respect of God or our neighbor. That towards God I have already spoken of under the head of Humility, and that towards our neighbor I shall hereafter. All I have here to say of it is, how it becomes a duty to ourselves; that it does, in respect of the great advantage we reap by it; "Blessed are the meek," and not only in the next world, but even in this too, " they shall inherit the earth." Indeed none but the meek person has the true enjoyment of any thing in the world, for the angry and impatient are like sick people, who cannot enjoy the greatest prosperities. For let things be never so fair without, they will raise storms within their own breasts; and surely whoever has, either in himself or others, observed the great uneasiness of this passion of anger, cannot choose but think meekness a most pleasant thing.

 

V. Of Consideration.

 

 15. The third virtue is consideration; and this in a most special manner we owe to our souls, for without it we shall, as rash unadvised people use to do, rush into infinite perils. Now this consideration is either of our state or of our actions; by our state I mean, what our condition is to God-ward; whether it be such, that we may reasonably conclude ourselves in his favor. This it much concerns us to consider and examine, and that not by those easy rules men are apt to frame to themselves, as, whether they believe that CHRIST died for their sins, that they are of the number of the elect, and shall certainly be saved. If these and the like were all that were required to put us into God's favor, none but some melancholy person could ever be out of it; for we are apt enough generally to believe comfortably of ourselves. But the rules God has given us in his word are those by which we must be tried at the last day, and therefore are certainly the only safe ones by which to try ourselves now. And the sum of those are, that whosoever continues in any one willful sin, is not in his favor; nor can, if he do so die, hope for mercy at his hand.

 

 16. The second thing we are to consider is our actions, and those either before or after the doing of them. In the first place we are to consider before we act, and not to do any thing rashly or headily; but first to advise with our consciences, whether this be lawful to be done. For he that follows his own inclination, and does every thing which that -moves him to, shall be sure to fall into a multitude of sins. Therefore consider soberly, and be assured of the lawfulness of the thing before you venture to do it.

 

 17. Secondly, we are to consider the actions when they are past also; that is, we are to examine whether they have been such as are allowable by the laws of CHRIST. This is very necessary, whether they be good or bad; if they be good, the recalling them helpeth us to the comfort of a good conscience, and that comfort again encouraged] us to go on in the like; and besides, it stirs us up to thankfulness to GOD, by whose grace alone we are enabled to do them. But if they be bad, then it is especially necessary that we thus examine them, for without this it is impossible we should ever come to amendment; for unless we observe them to have been amiss, we can never think it needful to mend, but shall still run on from one wickedness to another, which is the greatest curse any man can he under.

 

CHAP. 6

 

I. Of contentedness and the contraries to it, murmuring, ambition, covetousness, envy.

 

2: Helps to contentedness. 3: Of duties which concern our bodies. 4: Of chastity; helps to it. 5: Of temperance.

 

I. Of Contentedness.

 

 THE fourth virtue is contentedness; and this surely is a duty we owe to ourselves, it being that without which it is impossible to be happy. This contentedness is a well-plcasedness with that condition, whatever it is, that God has placed us in; not murmuring and repining at our lot, but cheerfully welcoming whatever God sends. How great and pleasant a virtue this is, may appear by the contrariety it has to several great and painful vices; so that where this is rooted in the heart, it subdues not only some such single sin, but a cluster of them together.

 

 2. And first, it is contrary to all murmuring in general, which is a sin most hateful to GOD, as may appear by his sharp punishments of it on the Israelites in the wilderness. And surely it is also very painful and uneasy to a man's self; for if, as the Psalmist says, it be a " joyful and pleasant thing to be thankful," we may conclude it is a sad and unpleasant thing to be murmuring; and every man's own experience will confirm the truth of it.

 

 3. Secondly, it is contrary to ambition; the ambitious man is always disliking his present condition, and that makes him so greedily seek a higher; whereas he that is content with his own, lies quite out of the road of this temptation. Now ambition is not only a great sin in itself, but it puts men upon many other. There is nothing so horrid which a man that eagerly seeks greatness, will stick at; and the uneasiness of it is answerable to the sin. This none can doubt of, that considers what a multitude of fears and jealousies, cares and distractions, there are that attend ambition in its progress, besides the great and public ruins that usually befall it in the end. And therefore sure contentedness is, in this respect, as well a happiness as a virtue.

 

 4. Thirdly, it is contrary to covetousness; this the apostle witnesseth, Heb. 13: 5, " Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have;" where you see contentedness is set as the direct contrary to covetousness. But of this there needs no other proof than common experience; for we see the covetous man never thinks he has enough, and therefore can never be content; for no man can be said to be so that thirsts after any thing he has not. Now, that you may see how excellent and necessary a virtue this is that secures against covetousness, it will not be amiss a little to consider the nature of that sin.

 

 5. That it is a very great crime, is most certain, for it is contrary to the very foundation of all good life; I mean those three great duties, to GOD, to ourselves, and to our neighbors. First, it is so contrary to our duty to GOD, that CHRIST himself tells us, Luke 16: 13, " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." He that sets his heart upon wealth, must necessarily take it off from God.

 

 6. Secondly, it is contrary to the duty we owe our-selves, and that both in respect of our souls and bodies. The covetous man despises his soul, sells that to eternal destruction for a little pelf. Nor does he only offend against his soul, but his body too; for he often denies it those necessary refreshments it wants, and for which his wealth (as far as it concerns himself,) was given him. This is so constantly the custom of rich misers, that I need not prove it to you.

 

 7. In the third place, covetousness is contrary to the duty we owe to our neighbors; and that in both the parts of it, justice and charity. He that loves money will not' care whom he cheats and defrauds, so he may bring in gain to himself: and from thence spring those many tricks of deceit so common in the world. As for charity, that is never to be hoped for from a covetous man, who dreads the lessening of his own heaps more than the starving of his poor brother. And it is not much less uneasy than wicked; for between the care of getting, and the fear of losing, the covetous man enjoys no quiet hour. Therefore every man is deeply concerned, as he tenders his happiness, either in this world or the next, to guard himself against this sin, which he can no way do but by contentedness.

 

 8. In the fourth place, it is contrary to envy; for he that is content with his own condition, has no temptation to envy another's. How unChristian a sin envy is, shall hereafter be showed: at the present, I need say no more, but that it is a very uneasy one; it frets and gnaws the very heart of him that harbours it. But the worse this sin is, the more excellent is this grace of contentedness that frees us from it. I suppose I have said enough to make you think this a very desirable virtue.

 

 9. A fifth duty is diligence: this is made up of two parts, watchfulness and industry; and both these we owe to our souls.

 

 1O. First, watchfulness, in observing all the dangers that threaten them. Now, since nothing can endanger our souls but sin; this watchfulness is principally to be employed against that; and as in a besieged city, where there is any weak part, there it is necessary to keep the strongest guard; so it is here, wherever you findest thy inclinations such as are likely to betray thee to sin, there it concerns thee to be especially watchful. Observe, therefore, carefully to what sins either thy natural temper, thy company, or thy course of life incline thee, and watch thyself very narrowly in those.

 

 11. The second part of diligence is industry or labor, and this also we owe to our souls, for without it they will as little prosper as the vineyard of the sluggard: for there is a husbandry of the soul, as well as of the estate, and the end of the one, as of the other, is the increasing and improving its riches. Now the riches of the soul are either natural or Divine. By the natural, I mean its faculties or reason, wit, memory, and the like; by the Divine, I mean the graces of GOD, which are given immediately by God; and both these, we are to take care to improve, they being talents entrusted to us for that purpose.

 

 12. Of grace we must be especially careful to husband and improve it. This is a duty expressly commanded, 2 Pet. 3: 18, "Grow in grace." And again, in the first chapter of that Epistle, ver. 5, " Give all diligence to add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge," &c. Now the special means of improving grace is by employing it, by doing those things for the enabling of us whereunto it was given us. This is a sure means, as it has the promise of GOD, "That to him that has," (that is, has made use of what he has,) " shall be given, and he shall have abundance." He that diligently and faithfully em-ploys the first beginnings of grace, shall yet have more; and he that in like manner husbands that more, shall yet have a greater degree; so that what Solomon says of temporal riches, is also true of spiritual, " The hand of the diligent maketh rich."

 

 13. Therefore, whenever you findest any good motions in thy heart, remember that is the season for this spiritual husbandry: if you have but a check of conscience against any sin, drive that on till it come to a hatred; and then that hatred till it come to a resolution; then from that resolution proceed to endeavors. Do this faithfully and sincerely, and you shall certainly find the grace of God assisting thee, not only in every of these steps, but also enabling thee to advance still higher, till you come to victory. Yet to this industry you must not fail to add thy prayers, there being a promise that God " will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it."

 

I have now done with those virtues which respect our souls: I come now to those which concern our bodies.

 

II. Of Chastity.

 

 14. The first of which is chastity, which may well be set in the front of the duties we owe to our bodies, since the apostle, 1 Cor. 6: 18, sets the contrary as the especial sin against them: "He that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body."

 

 15. Now chastity consists in a perfect abstaining from all kinds of uncleanness, not only that of adultery and fornication, but all other sorts of it, committed either upon ourselves, or with any other. In a word, all acts of that kind are utterly against chastity, save only in lawful marriage. And even there, men are not to think them-selves let loose to please their brutish appetites, but are to keep themselves within such rules of moderation as agree to the ends of marriage; which being these two, the begetting of children, and the avoiding of fornication, nothing must be done which may hinder the first of these ends; and the second aiming only at the subduing of lust, it is very contrary to that end to make marriage an occasion of heightening and inflaming it.

 

 16. But this virtue of chastity reacheth not only to the restraining of the grosser act, but to all lower degrees. It sets a gnarl upon our eyes, and upon our hands; so also upon our tongues, that they speak no immodest or filthy words: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." Nay, upon our very thoughts and fancies, we must not entertain any filthy desires; not so much as the imagination of any such thing. Therefore he that forbears the gross act, and yet allows himself in any of these, it is to be suspected that it is rather some outward restraint that keeps him from it, than con-science. For if it were that, it would keep him from these too, these being sins also, and very great ones, in God's sight.

 

 17. Besides the natural fruits of this sin, it is attended with heavy judgments from God. The most extraordinary judgment that ever befel any place, fire and brimstone from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, was for this sin of uncleanness: and many examples likewise of God's vengeance may be observed on particular persons for this sin. The incest of Amnon cost him his life. Zimri and Cozbi were slain in the very act. And no person that commits the like, has any assurance it shall not be his own case. For how secretly soever it is committed, it. cannot be hid from GOD, who is the sure avenger of all such wickedness.

 

 18. Lastly, this sin shuts us out from the kingdom of heaven, wherein no impure thing can enter. And we never find any list of those sins which bar men thence, but this of uncleanness has a special place in it. If we will thus pollute ourselves, we are fit company only for those black spirits, the devil and his angels, and therefore with them we must expect our portion, where our flames of lust will end in flames of fire.

 

 19. All this laid together may surely recommend the virtue of chastity to us; for the preserving of which we must be very careful, first, to check the beginnings of the temptation, to cast away the very first fancy of lust with indignation; for if you once fall to partly with it, it gains still more upon you, and then it will be harder to resist: therefore your way in this temptation is to flee, rather than fight. This is very necessary, not only that we may avoid the danger of proceeding to act the sin, but also in respect of the present fault of entertaining such fancies, which:of themselves, though they should never proceed further, are a great abomination before God. Secondly, have a special care to flee idleness, which is the proper soilfor these filthy weeds to grow in, and keep thyself always busied in some innocent or virtuous employment. Thirdly, never suffer thyself to recall any unclean passages of thy former life with delight, for that is to act over the sin again, and will be so reckoned by God; nay, perhaps thus deliberately to think of it may be a greater guilt than a rash acting of it. Fourthly, forbear the company of such light and wanton persons as either by the filthiness of their discourse, or any other means, may be a snare to thee. Fifthly, pray earnestly that God would give thee the spirit of purity, especially at the time of any present temptation. Bring the unclean devil to CHRIST to be cast out, as did the man in the gospel; and if it will not be cast out with prayer alone, add fasting to it; but be sure you do not keep up the flame by any high or immoderate feeding. The last remedy, when the former proves vain, is marriage, which becomes a duty to him that cannot live innocently without it. But even here, there must be care taken, lest this, which should be for his good, be-come an occasion of falling, for want of sobriety in the use of marriage.

 

III. Of Temperance.

 

 2O. The second virtue that concerns our bodies is temperance; and the exercises of that are divers: as, first, temperance in eating; secondly, in drinking; thirdly, in sleep; fourthly, in apparel. I shall speak of them severally; and first, of temperance in eating. This temperance is observed when our eating is agreeable to those ends to which eating is by God and nature designed; those are first, the being; secondly, the well-being of our bodies.

 

 21. Man is of such a frame, that eating becomes necessary to him for the preserving his life; hunger being a natural disease, which will prove deadly, if not prevented, and the only physic for it is eating, which is therefore a necessary means of keeping us alive: and that is the first end of eating. And as men use not to take physic for pleasure, but remedy, so neither should they eat.

 

 22. But, secondly, God has been so bountiful, as to provide not only for the being, but the well-being of our bodies; and therefore we are not tied to such strictness that we may eat no more than will just keep us from starving, but we may also eat whatsoever, either for kind or quantity, most tends to the health and welfare of them. Now, that eating which is agreeable to these ends, is within the bounds of temperance; as, on the contrary, whatsoever is contrary to them is a transgression against it. He therefore that sets up to himself other ends of eating, as either the pleasing of his taste, or (what is yet worse,) the pampering of his body, that he may the better serve his lust, he directly thwarts and crosses those ends of God; for he that has those aims, does that which is contrary to health; yea, to life itself, as appears by the many diseases and untimely deaths which surfeiting and uncleanness daily bring on men.

 

 23. He therefore that will practice this virtue of temperance, must neither eat so much, nor of any such sorts of meat, (provided he can have other,) as may he hurtful to his health. What the sorts or quantities should be, is impossible to set down, for that differs according to the several constitutions of men. Some men may, with temperance, eat a great deal, because their stomachs require it; when another may be guilty of intemperance in eating but half so much, because it is `more than is useful to him. And so also for the sorts of meat, it may be niceness and luxury for some to be curious in them, when yet some degree of it may be necessary to a weak stomach, which, not out of wantonness, but disease, cannot eat the coarser meats. But I think it may in general be said, that, to healthful bodies, the plainest meats are generally the most wholesome, but every man in this must be left to judge for himself; and that he may do it aright, he must be careful that he never suffer him-self to be enslaved to his palate.

 

 24. The second is temperance in drinking; and the ends of eating and drinking being much the same, I can give no other direct rules in this, than what were given in the former, to wit, that we drink neither of. such sorts of liquor, nor in such quantities, as may not agree with the right ends of drinking, the preserving our lives and healths. Only in this there will be need of one caution; for our understandings being in more danger to be hurt by drinking than meat, we must take care to keep that safe, and rather not drink what we might safely, in respect of our health, if it be in danger to distemper our reason. Some men's brains may be so weak, that their heads cannot bear that quantity of drink which would do their bodies no harm; and whoever is of this temper must strictly abstain from that degree of drink, or that sort of it, which he finds has that effect; yea, though it do in other respects appear not only safe, but useful to his health. For though we are to preserve our healths, yet we are not to do it by a sin.

 

 25. But, alas! of those multitudes of drunkards we have in the world, this is the case of very few, most of them going far beyond what their health requires, even to the utter destruction thereof. And therefore, as it is plain men have set up to themselves some other ends of drinking than those allowable ones fore-mentioned, it may not be amiss a little to explain what they are, and withal to show the unreasonableness of them.

 

 26. The first is that which they call good fellowship; one man drinks to keep another company. But I would ask such a one, whether, if that man were drinking poison, he would pledge him for company If he would not, by the very same, nay, far greater reason, he is not to do this: for immoderate drinking- is poison; perhaps it does not always work death immediate, (yet there want not many instances of its having done even that)) but that the custom of it does usually bring men to their ends, is past doubt: and therefore though the poison work slowly, yet it is still poison. But, however, it does at the present work that which a wise man would more abhor than death; it works madness and frenzy, turns the man into a beast, by drowning that reason which would difference him from one. Certainly the effects of drink are such, that had being drunk been first enjoined as a punishment, we should have thought him a more than ordinary tyrant that had invented it.

 

 27. A second end of drinking is said to be the maintaining of friendship and kindness amongst men. But this is strange that men should do that towards the maintaining of friendship, which is really the greatest mischief that can be done to any man. Did ever any think to befriend a man by helping him to destroy his estate, his credit, his life Yet he that thus drinks with a man, does this, and much more; he ruins his reason, yea, his soul, and yet this must be called the way of preserving of friendship. This is so ridiculous, that one would think none could own it, but when he was actually drunk. But besides, alas! experience shows us, that this is fitter to beget quarrels than preserve kindness, as the many drunken brawls we every day see, with the wounds, and sometimes murders, that accompany them, witness.

 

 28. A third end is said to be the cheering of their spirits, making them merry. But sure if the mirth be such; that reason must be turned out of.doors before it begin, it will be very little worth; one allay say with Solomon, that " the laughter of such fools is madness." And sure they that will be drunk to put themselves in this temper, must by the same reason be glad of a frenzy, if they could but be sure it would be of the merry sort. But little do these merry folks think what sadness they are all this while heaping up to themselves often in this world, when by some mad pranks they play in their jollity, they bring mischief upon themselves; but how-ever certainly in another, where this mirth will be sadly reckoned for.

 

 29. A fourth end is said to be the putting away of cares: but I shall ask what those cares are Be they such as should be put away Perhaps they are some cheeks of conscience which must be thus charmed. And I doubt this has proved too effectual with many to the laying them asleep. But this is the wickedest folly in the world; for if you thinkest not these checks to have something considerable in them, why do they trouble thee But if you do, it is impossible you can hope this can long secure thee from them. You may thus stop their mouths for awhile, but they will one day cry the louder for it. Suppose a thief or a murderer knew he was pursued to be brought to justice, would he, think you, to put away the fear of being hanged, fall to drinking, and in the mean time take no care for his escape Yet this is the very case here, thy conscience tells thee of thy danger, that you must ere long be brought before God's judgment-seat; and is it, not madness for thee, instead of endeavoring to get thy pardon, to drink away the thoughts of thy danger But, in the second place, suppose these cares be some worldly ones, and such as are fit to be put away; then for shame do not disgrace thy reason, thy Christianity, as not to let them be as forcible to that end as a little drink. Thy reason will tell thee, it is in vain to care where care will bring no ad-vantage; and thy Christianity will direct thee to one, on whom you may safely " cast all thy cares, for he careth for thee," 1 Pet. 5: 7. And therefore, unless thou meanest to renounce being both a man and a Christian, never betake thee to this pitiful shift, to rid thee of thy cares. But besides, this will not do the deed neither, for though it may at the present keep thee from the sense of thy cares, yet when that is over, they will return again with greater violence; and if you have any con-science, bring a new care with then, even that which arises from the guilt of so foul a sin.

 

 3O. A fifth end is said to be the passing away time. This, though it be as unreasonable as any of the former; yet, by the way, it serves to reproach idleness, which is, it seems, so burdensome a thing, that even this vilest employment is preferred before it. But this is in many a very false plea. For they often spend time at the pot, not only when they have nothing else to do, but even to the neglect of their most necessary business. However, it is in all a most unreasonable one, for there is no man but he may find somewhat or other to employ himself in. If he have little worldly business of his own, he may do somewhat to the benefit of others; but, how-ever, there is no man but has a soul, and if he will look carefully to that, he need not complain for want of business, where there are so many corruptions to mortify, so many inclinations to watch over, so many temptations (whereof this of drunkenness is not the least,) to resist, the graces of God to improve, and former neglects of all these to lament, sure there can never want employment; for all these require time, and so men at their deaths find. For those that have all their lives made it their business to give away their time, would then give all the world to redeem it. And sure where there is much leisure from worldly affairs, God expects to have the more time employed in spiritual exercises.

 

 31. A sixth end is said to be the preventing that reproach which is cast on those that will be stricter than their neighbors. But in answer to this, I shall first ask, what is the harm of such reproach Sure it cannot equal the least of those mischiefs drunkenness betrays us to. Nay, if we will take our Savior's word, it is a happiness. " Blessed," says he, " are ye when men shall revile you, and say all manner of evil against you for my sake," Matt. 5: 11. And St. Peter tells us, 1 Pet. 4: 14, " If ye be reproached for the name of CHRIST, happy are ye." And sure, to be reproached for obedience to any command of CHRIST's, is to be reproached for his name. Secondly, Consider the heavy doom CHRIST has pronounced on those that are ashamed of him, and so are all those that for fear of reproach shall shrink from their obedience to him, Mark 8: 38, " Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of the Father with the holy angels." There is none but will at that day desire to be owned by CHRIST: but whoever will not here own him, that is, cleave close to his commands, notwith, standing all the scorns, nay, persecutions of the world, shall then certainly be cast off by him.

 

 32. There is a seventh end, which though every man thinks too base to own, yet it is too plain it prevails with many; and that is the bare pleasure of the drink: but to these I confess it will not be fit to say much; for he that is come into this lamentable degree of sottishness is not likely to receive benefit by any thing that can be said. Yet let me tell even this man, that he of all others has the most means of discerning his fault; for this being such a ground of drinking as nobody will own, he is condemned of himself, yea, and all his fellow-drunkards too; for their denying it is a plain sign they acknowledge it a most abominable thing. And if Esau were called a profane person, Heb. 12: 16, for " selling his birth-right for a mess of pottage," and that too when he had the necessity of hunger upon him; what name of reproach can be bad enough for him who sells his health, his reason, his GOD, his soul, for a cup of drink, and that when he is so far from needing it, that perhaps he has you already than he can keep

 

 33. I suppose 1 have now showed you the unreasonableness of those motives, which are ordinarily brought in excuse of this sin. I am farther to tell you, that it is not only that degree of drunkenness which makes men able neither to go nor speak, which is to be looked on as a sin, but all lower degrees which at all work upon the understanding, whether by dulling it and making it less fit for any employment, or by making it too light and airy, or inflaming men to rage and fury. These, or whatever else make any change in the man, are to be reckoned into this sin of drunkenness. Nay, farther, the drinking beyond the natural ends of drinking, that is, beyond moderate refreshment, is a sirs, though by the strength of a man's brain it makes not the least change in him; and therefore those, that are not actually drunk, yet can spend whole days, or any considerable part of them, in drinking, are so far from being innocent, that that greater woe belongs to them which is pronounced, Isa. 5: 22, against those that are mighty to drink.

 

 34. Nay, this man is guilty of the greatest waste: first, of the good creatures of God: that drink which is by God's providence intended for the refreshing and relieving of us is abused and misspent, when it is drunk beyond that measure which those ends require. But, in the second place, this is a waste of that which is much more precious, our time, which is allowed us by God to work out our salvation, and must be strictly reckoned for, and therefore ought every minute of it to be most thriftily husbanded to that end; but when it is thus laid out, it tends to the direct contrary, even to the working out our damnation. Besides, he that thus drinks, though he escape being drunk himself, is guilty of all the drunkenness that any of his company fall under; for he gives them encouragement to drink on by his example.

 

 35. Therefore, Christian reader, let me now entreat, nay, conjure thee, by all that love you tightest to have to the honor of GOD, the credit of thy Christian profession, the eternal welfare of thine own son, the prosperity of the church and nation whereof you art a member; nay, by that love which certainly you have to thy own temporal welfare, to think sadly of what has been spoken, and then judge whether there be any pleasure in this sin which can be any tolerable recompence for all those mischiefs it brings with it. I am confident no man in his wits can think there is; and if there be not, then be ashamed to be any longer that fool which shall make so wretched a bargain, but begin at this instant a firm and a faithful resolution, never once more to be guilty of this swinish sin, and in the fear of God betake thee to a strict temperance; which when you have done, you wilt find you have made, not only a gainful, but a pleasant exchange; for there is no man that has tried both courses, but his own heart will tell him there is infinitely more present comfort and pleasure in sobriety and temperance, than ever all his drunken revellings afforded him.

 

Of Temperance in Sleep.

 

 36. The third part of temperance concerns sleep. And temperance in that also must be measured by the end for which sleep was ordained by GOD, which was only the refreshing and supporting our bodies, which being of such a temper that continual labor wearies them out, sleep comes as a medicine to that weariness, as a repairer of that decay, that so we may be enabled to such labors as the duties of religion, or works of our calling require of us. Sleep was intended to make us more profitable, not more idle; as we give rest to our beasts, not that we are pleased with their doing nothing, but that they may do us the better service.

 

 37. By this therefore you may judge what is temperate sleeping; that which tends to the refreshing and making us more lively and fit for action, and to that end a mode-rate degree serves best. It will be impossible to set down just how many hours is that moderate degree,because as in eating, so in sleep, some constitutions re-quire more than others. Every man's own experience must in this judge for him; but then let him judge uprightly, and not consult with his sdoes in the case; for that will still cry, " A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep," Prov. 24: 33. But take only so much as he really finds to tend to the end afore-mentioned.

 

 38. He that does not thus limit himself, falls into several sins under this general one of sloth. As first, he wastes his time, that precious talent which was committed to him by God to improve, which he that sleeps away, does like him in the gospel, Matt. 25: 18, "hide it in the earth," when he should be trading with it; and you know what was the doom of that unprofitable servant, " Cast ye him into outer darkness:" he that gives himself to darkness of sleep here, shall there have darkness without sleep, but with " weeping and gnashing of teeth." Secondly, he injures his body: immoderate sleep fills that full of diseases, makes it a very sink of humors, as daily experience shows. Thirdly, he injures his soul, and that not only in robbing it of the service of the body, but in dulling its faculties, making them unfit for those employments to which God has designed them; of all which ill husbandry the poor soul must one day give account. Nay, lastly, he affronts and despises God him-self in it, by crossing the very end of his creation, which was to serve God in an active obedience; but he that sleeps away his life, directly thwarts that, and when God says, " Man is born to labor," his practice says the direct contrary. Take heed therefore of giving thyself to immoderate sleep, which is the committing so many sins in one.

 

 39. But besides the sin of it, it is very hurtful in other respects; it is the sure bane of thy outward testate, wherein the sluggish person shall never thrive, according to that observation of the wise man, Prov. 23: 21, " Drowsiness shall cover a man with rags;" nay, indeed it can scarce be said that the sluggard lives. Sleep, you know, is a kind of death, and he that gives himself up to it, what does he but die before his time Therefore if untimely death be a curse, it must needs be a strange folly to choose that from our own sloth, which we dread so much from God's hand.

 

 4O. The last part of temperance is that of apparel, which we are to measure by the ends for which clothing should be used. Those are especially these three: first, the hiding of nakedness. This was the first occasion of apparel. From this end we are likewise engaged to have our apparel modest, such as may answer this end of covering our shame: and therefore all immodest fashions, which may either argue the wantonness of the wearer, or provoke that of the beholder, are to be avoided.

 

 41. A second end of apparel is the fencing the body from cold, to preserve the health thereof. And this end we must likewise observe in our clothing; we must wear such kind of habits as may keep us in convenient warmth. And this is transgressed, when, out of the vanity of being in fashion, we put ourselves in such clothing as either will not defend us from cold, or is some other way so uneasy, that it is rather a hurt than a benefit to our bodies. This is a most ridiculous folly, and yet that which people that take a pride in their clothes are usually guilty of.

 

 42. A third end of apparel is the distinguishing of persons; and that first, in respect of sex; secondly, in respect of qualities. First, clothes are to make difference of sex; this has been observed by all nations, the habits of men and women have always been divers. And God himself expressly provided for it among the Jews, by commanding the man should not wear the apparel of the woman, nor the woman of the man. But then, secondly, there is also a distinction of qualities: God has placed some in a higher condition than others, and in proportion to their condition it befits their clothing to be. "Gorgeous apparel," our Savior tells us "is for kings' courts," Luke 7: 25. Now this end of apparel should also be observed. Men and women should content themselves with that sort of clothing which agrees with their sex and condition, not striving to equal that of a higher rank, not yet making it matter of envy among those of their own estate, vying who shall be finest; but let every man clothe himself in such sober attire as befits his place and calling, and not think himself disparaged if his neighbors have better than he.

 

 43. And let all remember, that clothes are things which add no true worth to any, and therefore it is an intolerable vanity to spend any considerable part either of their thoughts, time, or wealth upon them, or to value themselves ever the more for them, or despise their poor brethren that want them. But if they desire to adorn themselves, let it be, as St. Peter adviseth the women of his time, 1 Pet. 3: 4, " in the hidden man of the heart, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit." Let them clothe themselves as richly as is possible, with all Christian virtues, and that is the raiment that will set them out lovely in God's eyes, yea, and in men's too, who, unless they be fools and idiots, will more value thee for being good than fine; and sure one plain coat you puttest upon a poor man's back, will better become thee than twenty rich ones you shall put upon thine own.

 

CHAP. 7

 

OF DUTIES TO OUR NEIGHBOR.

 

I. Of justice, negative, positive. 2: Of the sin of murder; the heinousness of it, the punishments of it, and the strange discoveries thereof.

 

Of Duties to our Neighbor.

 

 I COME now to the third part of duties, those to our neighbor, which are by the apostle summed up in the word [righteousness,] by which is meant not only bare justice, but. all kind of charity also, for that is now by the law of. CHRIST become a debt to our neighbor, and it is a piece of unrighteousness to defraud him of it. I shall therefore build all the particular duties we owe tc our neighbor, on those two general ones, justice and charity.

 

I. Of Justice.

 

 2. I begin with justice, whereof there are two parts, the one negative, the other positive. The negative justice is to do no wrong to any. The positive justice is to do right to all; that is, to yield them whatsoever is due unto them. I shall first speak of the negative justice, the not wronging any. This first part of justice extends itself into several branches. A man may be injured either in his soul, his body, his possessions, or credit; and therefore this duty of negative justice lays a restraint on us in every of these; that we do no wrong to any man, in respect either of his soul, his body, his possessions, or his credit.

 

 3. First, This justice ties us to do no hurt to his soul. And here my first work must be to examine what harm it is that the soul can receive. It is, we know, an in-visible substance, which we cannot reach with our eye, much less with our swords; yet for all that, it is capable of being hurt and wounded, and that even to death.

 

 4. The mind of a man may be wounded with grief or sadness, as Solomon says, Prov. 15: 13, " By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken." Therefore whoever does causelessly afflict or grieve his neighbor, he transgresseth this part of justice, and wrongs his soul. This sort of injury spiteful men are very often guilty of, they will do things by which themselves reap no good, only that they may vex and grieve another. This is a most savage humor, thus to take pleasure in the sadness of others; and whoever harbors it in his heart, may truly be said to be possessed with the devil; for it is the nature only of those accursed spirits to delight in the miseries of men,; and, till that be cast out, they are fit only to dwell, as the possessed person did, Mark 5: 3, among gravesand tombs, where there are none capable of receiving affliction by them.

 

 5. It is a still greater wrong to the soul, to draw a man to sin. Sin is the disease and wound of the soul, as being the direct contrary to grace, which is the health and soundness of it. Now this wound we give to every soul, whom we do by any means whatsoever draw into sin.

 

 6. The ways of doing that are divers: I shall mention some of them, whereof though some are more direct than others, yet all tend to the same end. Of the more direct ones there is, first, the commanding of sin, that is, when a person that has power over another shall re-quire him to do something which is unlawful; an example of this we have in Nebuchadnezzar's commanding the worship of the golden image, Dan. 3: 4, and his copy is imitated by any parent or master, who shall require his child or servant to do any unlawful act. Secondly, there is counselling of sin, when men advise and persuade others to any wickedness. Thirdly, there is enticing and alluring to sin, by setting before men the pleasures or profits they shall reap by it. Fourthly, there is assistance in sin, that is, when men aid and help others either in contriving or acting a sin. All these are direct means of bringing this great evil of sin upon our brethren.

 

 7. There are also others, which, though more indirect, may yet be as effectual towards that ill end. As first, example in sin; he that sets others an ill pattern, does his part to make them imitate it, and too often it has that effect; there being generally nothing more forcible to bring men into any sinful practice, than the seeing it used by others, as might be instanced in many sins, to which there is no other temptation but their being in fashion. Secondly, there is encouragement in sin, when either by approving, or, at least, by not showing a dislike, we give others confidence to go on in their wickedness. A third means is by justifying and defending any sinful act of another's, for by that we do not only confirm him in his evil, but endanger the drawing others to the like, who may be the more inclinable to it, when they shall hear it so pleaded for.. Lastly, the bringing up any reproach upon strict living, as those do who have the ways of God in derision. This is worse than all the former, not only in respect of the man who is guilty of it, (as it is an evidence of the great profaneness of his own heart) but also in regard of others, it having a more general ill effect than any of the former can have; it being the betraying men, not only to some single acts of disobedience to CHRIST, but even to the casting off all subjection to him; by all these means we may draw on our-selves this great guilt of wounding the souls of our brethren.

 

 8. It would be too long to instance in all the sins, in which it is usual for men to ensnare others, as drunkenness, uncleanness, rebellion, and a multitude more. But it will concern every man, for his own particular, to consider sadly what mischiefs of this kind he has done to any, by all, or any of these means, and to weigh well the greatness of the injury. Men are apt to boast of their innocency towards their neighbors, that they have done wrong to no man; but God knows, many that thus brag are of all others the most injurious persons: perhaps they have not maimed his body, nor stolen his goods; but, alas! the body is but the case and cover of the man, and the goods some appurtenances to that; it is the soul is the man, and that they can wound without remorse, and yet, with the adulteress, Prov. 30: 2O, " say, they have done no wickedness;" but glory of their friendly behavior to those whom they thus betray to eternal ruin. For whomsoever you hast- drawn to any sin, you have done thy part to insure to those endless flames. And then think with thyself how base a treachery this is. You wouldst call him a treacherous villain, that should, while he pre-tends to embrace a man, secretly stab him. But this of thine is far beyond that, as the soul is of more value than the body. And remember yet farther, that besides the cruelty of it to thy poor brother, it is also most dangerous to thyself, it being that against which CHRIST has pronounced a woe: Matt. 18: 7, and ver. 6, he tells us, that " whoever shall offend (that is, draw into sin) any of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." You may plunge thy poor brother into perdition, but you art like to bear him company to that place of torment.

 

 9. Let therefore thy own and his danger beget in thee a sense of the greatness of this sin, this horrid piece of injustice to the precious soul of thy neighbor. Bethink thyself seriously to whom you have been thus cruel whom you have enticed to drinking, allured to lust, stirred up to rage, whom you have encouraged in any ill course, or discouraged by thy scoffings at piety in general, or at any strict walking of his in particular; and then draw up a bill of indictment, accuse and condemn thy-self as a Cain, a murderer of thy brother, heartily and deeply bewail all thy guilt of this kind, and resolve never once more to be a stumbling-block in thy brother's way.

 

 1O. But this is not all, there must be some fruits of this repentance brought forth. Now in all sins of injustice, restitution is a necessary fruit of repentance, and so it is here; you have committed an act (perhaps many) of high injustice to the soul of thy brother; you have robbed it of its innocency, of its title to heaven; you must. now endeavor to restore all this to it again, by being more earnest and industrious to win him to repentance than ever you wast to draw him to sin. Use now as much art to convince him of the danger, as ever you didst to flatter him with the pleasure of his vice. In a word, countermine thy-self by using all those means to recover him that you didst to destroy him, and be more diligent and zealous in it; for it is necessary you should, both in regard of him and thyself. First, in respect of him, because there is in man's nature so much a greater readiness to evil than to good, that there will need much more pains to instil the one into him, than the other. Besides, the man is supposed to be already accustomed to the contrary, which will add much to the difficulty of the work. Then in respect of thyself, if you be a true penitent, you wilt think thyself obliged, as St. Paul did, to " labor more abundantly," and wilt be ashamed that when you art trading for GOD, bringing back a soul to him, you should not pursue it with more earnestness than when you wast an agent of SATAN's; besides, the remembrance that you wast a means of bringing this poor soul into this snare, must quicken thy diligence to get him out of it. So much for the first part of negative justice, in respect of the souls of our brethren.

 

II. Of Murder.

 

 11. The second concerns the bodies, and to those also this justice binds thee to do no wrong. Now of wrongs to the body there may be several degrees, the highest of them is killing, taking away the life; this is forbid in the very letter of the sixth commandment; " You shall do no murder." Besides the direct ways of killing, there is another, and that is, when by our persuasions we draw a man to do that which tends to the shortening of his life; he that makes his neighbor drunk, if by that drunken-nets the man comes to any mortal hurt, he that made him drunk is not clear of his death. If drinking cast him into a disease, and that disease kill him, I know not how he that drew him to that excess can acquit himself of his murder in the eyes of God. I wish those who make it their business to draw in customers to that trade of debauchery, would consider it. There is yet another way of bringing this guilt upon ourselves; and that is, by stirring up others to it, or to that degree of anger and revenge which produce it; and he that sets two persons at variance, or seeing them already so, blows the coals; if murder ensue, certainly has his share in the guilt.

 

 12. Now for the heinousness of murder, I suppose none can be ignorant that it is of the deepest die. This we may see in the first act of this kind that ever was committed: AbeI's blood cries from the earth, as God tells Cain; yea, the guilt of this sin is such, that it leaves a stain even upon the land where it is committed, such as is not to be washed out, but by the blood of the murderer, as appears, Deut. six. 12, 13. The land cannot be purged of blood, but by the blood of him that shed it; and therefore, though in other cases, the fleeing to the altar secured a man, yet in this, of wilful murder, no such refuge was allowed; but such a one was to be taken even thence, and delivered up to justice, Exod. 21: 14, " You shall take him from my altar, that he may die." This sin is not only an injury to our brother, but the highest despite towards God himself; for it is the de-facing of his image, which he has stamped upon man. Nay, yet further, it is the usurping God's proper right and authority. For it is God alone that has right to dispose of the life of man; it was he alone that gave it, and he alone has power to take it away; but he that murders a man, does, as it were, wrest this power out of God's hand, which is the highest pitch of rebellious presumption.

 

 13. And as the sin is great, so likewise is the punishmerrt; we see it frequently very great, and remarkable even in this world, (besides those most fearful effects of it in the next) blood not only cries, but it cries for vengeance; and the great God of recompences, as he styles himself, will not fail to hear it. Very many examples the Scriptures give us of this; Ahab and Jezebel, that murdered innocent Naboth, for greediness of his vine-yard, were themselves slain, and the dogs licked their blood, in the place where they had shed his. Many more instances might be given of this, out of the sacred story; and many also out of human, there having been no age but has yielded multitudes of examples of this kind; so that every man may furnish himself out of the observavations of his own time.

 

 14. And it is worth our notice, what strange, and even miraculous means it has often pleased God to use, for the discovery of this sin; the very brute creatures have often been made instruments of it; nay, often the horror of a man's own conscience has made him betray himself; so that it is not any closeness a man uses in the acting of this sin, that can secure him from the vengeance of it; for he can never shut out his own conscience, that will in spite of him be privy to the fact, and that very often proves the means of discovering it to the world; or if it should not do that, yet it will sure act revenge on him, it will be such a hell within him, as will be worse than death. This we have seen in many, who, after the commission of this sin, have never been able to enjoy a minute's rest, but have had that intolerable anguish of mind, that they have chosen to be their own murderers, rather than live in it. These are the usual effects of this sin, even in this world; but those in another are yet more dreadful, where surely the highest degrees of torment belong to this high pitch of wickedness: for if, as our Savior tells us, Matt. 5: 22, hell-fire be the portion of him that shall but call his brother, fool; what greater degree of those burnings can we think proportionable to this so much greater injury

 

 15. The consideration of all this ought to possess us with the greatest horror and abomination of this sin, and to make us extremely watchful of ourselves, that we never fall into it; and to that end, to prevent all those occasions which may insensibly draw us into this pit. If, therefore, you wilt be sure never to kill a man in thy rage, be sure never to be in that rage; for if you permittest thyself to that, you can have no security against the other; anger being a madness that suffers us not to consider, or know what we do, when it has once possessed us. Therefore, when you findest thyself to be once inflamed, think betimes. whither this may lead thee, if you lettest loose to it, and immediately put the bridle upon this head-strong passion. So again, if you wilt be sure thy malice shall not draw thee to it, be sure never to harbour one malicious thought, Be therefore careful, at the very first approach of this treacherous guest, to shut the doors against it. So also, if you wilt be sure thy covetousness, thy ambition, thy lust, or any other sinful desire, shall not betray thee to it, be sure you never permit any of them to enter in; for if they be once entertained in the heart, they will be past thy control, and hurry thee to this or any other sin, that may serve their ends. In the like manner, if you wouldst not be guilty of any of the mortal effects of thy neighbor's drunkenness, be sure not to entice him to it, nor accompany him at it; and to that purpose do not allow thyself in the same practice, for if you do, you wilt be laboring to get company at it. Lastly, if you wilt not be guilty of the murder committed by another, take heed you never give any encouragement to it, or contribute any thing to that hatred or contention that may be the cause of it. For when you have either kindled or bloomed the fire, what knows you whom it may consume Bring always as much water as you can to quench, but never bring one drop of oil to increase the flame. The like may be said of all other occasions of this sin; and this careful preserving ourselves from these, is the only sure way to keep us from this sin: therefore, as ever you wouldst keep thyself innocent from the great offence, guard thee, warily, from all steps and approaches towards it.

 

 16. But although murder be the greatest, yet it is not the only injury that may be done to the body of our neighbor; there are others which are also of a very high nature. The next in degree to this, is maiming him, depriving him of any member, or at least of the use of it; and this is a very great wrong to him, as we may discern by the judgment of God himself, in the case of the bond-servant, who should, by his master's means, lose a member, Exod. 21: 26, the freedom of his whole life was thought but a reasonable recompence for it; " He shall let him go free," says the text, " for his eye;" nay, though it were a less considerable part, if it were but a tooth, which of all others may be lost with the least damage, yet the same amends was to be made him. If the person be poor, one that must labor for his living, the injury is yet greater; it is such as may, in effect, amount to the former sin of murder; for, as the wise man says, Eccl. xxxiv. 22, " The poor man's bread is his life, and he that deprives him thereof, is a blood-shedder" And therefore he that deprives him of the means of getting his bread, by disabling him from labor, is surely no less guilty.

 

 17. And though unprofitable revenge be not now allowed to us Christians, yet sure it is the part of every one who has done this injury, to make what satisfaction lies in his power. It is true, he cannot restore a limb again, (which, by the way, should make men wary how they do those mischiefs which it is impossible for them to repair) but yet he may satisfy for some of the ill effects of that loss. If that have brought the man to want, he may, nay, he must, if he have but the least ability, relieve and support him; yea, though it be by his own extraordinary labor. For if it be a duty of us all to be eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, much more must we be so to them whom ourselves have made blind and lame. There-fore whoever has done this injury to any of his poor brethren, let him know he is bound to do all that is possible towards the repairing of it; if he do not, every new suffering that the poor man's wants bring upon him, be-comes a new accusation against him at the tribunal of the just Judge.

 

 18. There are yet other degrees of injury to the body of our neighbor. I shall mention only two more, wounds and stripes; a man may wound another, which, though it finally cause loss neither of life nor limb, is yet an endangering of both; and the like may be said of stripes; both of which, however, are painful at the pre-sent, nay, perhaps, long after: and pain, of all temporal evils, is to be accounted the greatest; for it is not only an evil in itself, but it is such an one that permits us not, whilst we are under it, to enjoy any good, a man in painaving no taste of any of the greatest delights. If any man despise these as light injuries, let him ask himself how he would like it, to have his own body slashed and bruised, and put to pass under those painful means of cure, which are many times necessary in such cases I presume there is no man would willingly undergo this from another; and why, then, should you offer it to him

 

 19. This savageness and cruelty of mind is so unbecoming a man, that he is not allowed to use it, even to his beast. How intolerable is it, then, towards those that are of the same nature, and which is more, are heirs of the same eternal hopes with us They that shall thus transgress against their neighbors, in any of the fore-going particulars, or whatever else is hurtful to the body, are unjust persons, want even this lower sort of justice, the negative, to their neighbors, in respect of their bodies.

 

 2O. Neither can any man excuse himself by saying, what he has done was only in return of some injury offered him; for suppose it be so, that he have indeed received wrong, yet cannot he be his own revenger, with-out injury to that man, who is not, by being thine enemy, become thy slave, to do with him what you listest; you have never the more right of dominion over him, because he has done thee wrong; and therefore if you hadst no power over him before, it is certain you have none now; and therefore you art not only uncharitable, (which yet were sin enough to damn thee) but unjust, in every act of violence you dost to him. Nay, this injustice ascends higher, even to God himself, who has reserved vengeance as his own peculiar right, a Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord," Rom. 12: 19. And then he that will act revenge for himself, what does he but encroach upon the special right and prerogative of GOD, snatch the sword, as it were, out of his hand, as if he knew better how to wield it Which is at once a robbery and contempt of the Divine Majesty.

 

CHAP. 8

 

I. Of justice about the possessions of our neighbor; against injuring him, as concerns his wife, his goods.

 

2: Of oppression, theft, paying debts, 4c.

 

 1. The third part of negative justice concerns the possessions of our neighbor; which are his wife as well as his goods.

 

 2. The peculiar right that every man has in his wife is so well known, that it were vain to say any thing in proof of it. The corrupting a man's wife, is acknowledged by all to be the worst sort of theft, infinitely beyond that of the goods.

 

 3. Indeed, there is in this one a heap of the greatest injustices together, some towards the woman, and some to-wards the man. Towards the woman there are the greatest imaginable; it is that injustice to her sou], which was be-fore mentioned as the highest of all others; it is the robbing ber of her innocency, and setting her in a course of the norridest wickedness, (no less than lust and perjury together) from which it is probable she may never return, and then it proves the damning of her eternally.

 

 4. But besides those, there are to him many and high injustices; for it is first, the robbing him of that, which of all other things he accounts most precious—the love and faithfulness of his wife; and that also wherein he has such an incommunicable right, that himself cannot, if he would, make it over to any other; and therefore, sure it cannot, without the most injustice, be torn from him by any.

 

 5. All this put together, will surely make this the greatest injury that can be done a man, and (which heightens it yet the more) it is that for which a man can never make reparation. To this purpose it is observable in the Jewish law, that the thief was appointed to restore four-fold, and that freed him; but the adulterer, having no possibility of making any restitution and satisfaction, he must pay his life for his offence, Lev.xx. 1O.

 

 6. The second thing to which negative justice to our neighbor's possessions reacheth, is his goods; under which general word is contained all those things, as house, land, cattle, money, in which he has a right and property; these we are to suffer him to enjoy, without seeking either to work him damage in any of them, or to get any of them to ourselves. I make a difference between these two, because there may be two several motives of this in-justice; the one malice, the other covetousness.

 

 7. The malicious man desires to work his neighbor's mischief, though he get nothing by it himself. It is frequently seen that men will spoil the goods of one to whom they bear. a grudge, though they never design to get any thing by it, but only the pleasure of doing a spite to the other. This is a most hellish humor, directly answer-able to that of the devil, who bestows all his pains and industry, not to bring in any good to himself, but only to undo others; and how contrary it is to all rules of justice, you may see by the precept given by God to the Jews concerning the goods of an enemy; where they were so far from being allowed a liberty of spoil and destruction, that they are expressly bound to prevent it, Exod. 23: 4, 5. " If you meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again; if you see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldst forbear to help him, you shall surely help with him."

 

 8. But on the other side, let not the covetous defrauder judge his sin light, because there is another that in some one respect outweighs it; for perhaps in others his may cast the scales; Certainly it does in this; he that is unjust for greediness of gain, is like to multiply more acts of this sin than he that is so out of malice; for it is impossible any.man should have so many objects of his ma-lice, as he may have of his covetousness. Let us desend now to the several branches of covetous injustice; it is true they may all bear the name of robbery or theft; yet for method's sake, it will not be amiss to distinguish them into these three, oppression, theft, and deceit.

 

II. Of Oppression,

 

 9. By oppression, I mean that open and bare-faced robbery of seizing upon the possessions of others, and avowing the doing so. For the doing of this there are several instruments; at first, that of power, by which many nations and princes have been turned out of their rights, and many private men out of their estates. Some-times, again, law is made the instrument of it; he that covets his neighbor's lands or goods, pretends a claim to them, and then, by corrupting of justice, by bribes and gifts, or else over-ruling it by greatness and authority, gets judgment on his side. This is a high oppression, and of the worst sort, thus to make the law, which was intended for the defense of men's rights, to be the means of overthrowing them; and it is a very heavy guilt, that lies both on him that procures, and on him that pronounces such a sentence, yea, and on the lawyer too, that pleads such a cause; for, by so doing, he assists in the oppression. Sometimes again, the very necessities of the oppressed are the means of his oppression. Thus it is in the case of extortion and griping usury; a man is in extreme want of money, and this gives opportunity to the extortioner to wrest unconscionably from him, to which the poor man is forced to yield, to supply his present wants. And thus it is often with exacting landlords, when their poor tenants know not how to pro-vide themselves elsewhere, rack and skrew them beyond the worth of a thing. All these and the many like are but several ways of acting this one sin of oppression, which becomes yet the more heinous by how much the more helpless the person is that is thus oppressed. Therefore the oppression of the widow and fatherless is in scripture mentioned as the height of this sin.

 

 1O. The second sort of this injustice is theft, and of that also there are two kinds; the one the with-holding what we should pay, and the other taking from our neighbor what is already in his possession.

 

 11. Of the first sort is the not paying of debts, whether such as we have borrowed, or such as by our promise are become our debts, for they are equally due to him that can lay either of these claims to them. And therefore the with-holding of either of them is a theft, a keeping from my neighbor that which is his; yet the former of them is rather the more injurious, for by that 1 take from him that which once he actually had, (be it money or what-ever else) and so make him worse than I found him. This is so great injustice, that I see not how a man can look upon any thing he possesses as his own right, whilst he thus denies another his. It is the duty of every man in debt rather to strip himself of all, and cast himself naked upon God's providence, than thus to feather his nest with the spoils of his neighbor. The sure way for a man to secure himself from this injustice, is never to borrow more than he knows he has means to repay; unless it be of one who knowing his disability, is willing to run the hazard. Otherwise he commits this sin at the very time of borrowing; for he takes that upon promise of paying, which he knows he is never likely to restore, which is a flat robbery.

 

 As for the other sort of debt, that which is brought upon a man by his own voluntary promise, that also cannot without great injustice be with-holden; for it is now the man's right, and then it is no matter by what means it came to be so. Therefore we see David makes it a part of the description of a just man, Psalm 15: 4. that he keeps his promises, yea, though they were to his own disadvantage. And surely he is utterly unfit to ascend to that holy hill, that does not punctually observe this part of justice. To this sort of debt may be reduced the wages of the servant, the hire of the laborer; and the with-holding of these is a great sin, and the complaints of those that are thus injured ascend up to God. " Behold (says St. James) the hire of the laborers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries, and the cries of them that have reaped are entered into the ear of the Lord of sabaoth." Deut. 24: 14, 15, we find a strict command in this matter; " You shall not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, at his day you shall give him his hire; neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be a sin unto thee." This is one of those loud clamorous sins, which will not cease crying till it brings down God's vengeance; and therefore, though you have no justice to thy poor brother, yet have at least so much mercy to thyself, as not to pull down judgments on thee by thus wronging him.

 

 12. The second part of theft is, the taking from our neighbor that which is already in his possession; and this may be done, either more openly or more closely;" the first is, the manner of those that rob on the way, or plunder houses; the other is the way of the pilfering thief, that takes away a man's goods unknown to him: I shall not dispute which of these is worst, it is enough that they are both such acts of injustice as make men odious to GOD, unfit for human society, and betray the actors to the greatest mischiefs, even in this world, death itself being by law appointed the reward of it.

 

Under this head of theft may be ranked the receivers of stolen goods, whether those that take them as partners in the theft, or those that buy them, when they know or believe they are stolen. This many that pretend much to abhor theft are guilty of, when they can buy the thing a little cheaper than the common rate. And here also comes in the concealing of any goods a man finds of his neighbor's, which whosoever restores not, if he know or can learn out the owner, is no better than a thief.

 

The third part of injustice is deceit, and iii that there may be as many acts as there are dealings between man and man.

 

 It were impossible to name them all, but I think they will be contained under these two general deceits in matters of trust and in matters of traffick or bargaining.

 

 1. He that deceives a man in any trust that is committed to him, is guilty of a great injustice, and that of the most treacherous sort. It is the joining two great sins in one, defrauding and promise-breaking; for in all trusts there is a promise implied, if not expressed; for the very accepting of the trust contains under it a promise of fidelity; these trusts are broken sometimes to the living, sometimes to the dead; to the living there are many ways of doing it, according to the several kinds of trust: sometimes a trust is more general, like that of Potiphar to Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 4; a man commits to another all that he has, and thus guardians of children and sometimes stewards are entrusted. Sometimes again it is restrained to one special thing; a man entrusts another to bargain or deal for him in such a particular, or he puts some one thing into his hands to manage and dispose of. Thus among. servants, it is usual for one to be entrusted with one part of the master's goods, and another with another part of them. Now in all these cases, whosoever acts not for him that entrusts him with the same faithfulness that he would for himself, but shall either carelessly lose, or prodigally embezzle the things committed to him, or else convert them to his own use, he is guilty of this great sin of betraying a trust to the living. In like manner, he that, being entrusted with the execution of a dead man's testament, acts not according to the known intention of the dead man, is guilty of this sin in respect of the dead, which is so much the greater, by how much the dead has no means of redress, as the living may have. It is a kind of robbing of graves, which is a theft of which men naturally have such a horror, that he must be a very hardened thief that can attempt it.

 

 2. The second sort of fraud is in matters of traffic and bargain, wherein there may be deceit both in the seller and buyer; that of the seller, either in concealing the faults of the commodity, or else in over-rating it.

 

 3. The ways of concealing its fault are ordinarily these, either first denying that it has any such fault, nay, perhaps commending it for the contrary quality; and this is downright lying, and so adds that sin to the other: and if that he be confirmed with an oath, as it is too usually, then the yet greater guilt of perjury comes in also. And then what a heap of sins is here gathered together! abundantly enough to sink a poor soul to destruction; and all this only to screw a little more money out of his neighbor's pocket, and that sometimes so very little, that it is a miracle that any man that thinks he has a soul, can set it at so miserable a price. A second means of concealing is by using some art to the thing, to make it look fair, and to hide the faults of it; and this is acting a lie, though it be not speaking one, which amounts to the same thing. A third means is the picking out ignorant chap-men. This is an art too well known among tradesmen, who will hot bring out their faulty wares to men of skill, but keep them to put off to such whose unskilfulness may make them passable with them. And this is still the same deceit with the former; for it all tends to the same end, the cozening and defrauding of the chapman, and then it is not much odds whether I make use of my own art or his weakness for the purpose. This is certain, he that will do justly, must let his chapman know what he buys; and if his own skill enable him not to judge, (nay, if he do not actually find out the fault) you art bound to tell it him, otherwise you makest him pay for somewhat which is not there, he presuming there is that good quality in it, which you knows is not; and therefore you may as honestly take his money for some goods of another man's which you knows you can never put into his possession, which I suppose no man will deny to be an arrant cheat. To this head may be referred that deceit of false weights and measures, for that is the concealing from the buyer a defect in the quantity, as the other was in the quality of the commodity, and is again the making him pay for what he has not. This sort of fraud is pointed at particularly by Solomon, Prov. 11: 1, with this note upon it, that it " is an abomination to the Lord."

 

 4. The second part of fraud in the seller, lies in over-rating the commodity; though he have not disguised or concealed the faults of it, and so have dealt falsely in that respect, yet if he set an unreasonable price upon it, he de-frauds the buyer. I call that an unreasonable price which exceeds the true worth of the thing, considered with those moderate gains which all tradesmen are presumed to be allowed in the sale. Whatever is beyond this, must in all likelihood be fetched in by some of these ways; at first, by taking advantage of the buyer's ignorance of the value of the thing, which is the same as doing it in the goodness, which has already been showed to be a deceit; or secondly, by taking advantage of his necessity: you findest a man has urgent need of such a thing, and therefore takest this opportunity; but this is that very sin of extortion and oppression spoken of before; for it is sure nothing can justly raise the price of any thing, but either its becoming dearer to thee, or its being some way better in itself; but the necessity of thy brother causes neither of these, his nakedness does not make the clothes you sellest him stand thee in ever the more stead, neither does it make them any way better; and therefore to rate them ever the higher, is to change the way of trading, and sell even the wants and necessities of thy neighbor, which sure is a very unlawful vocation. Or, thirdly, it may be by taking advantage of the indiscretion of the chapman. A man perhaps earnestly fancies such a thing; and then suffers that fancy so to over-rule his reason, that he re-solves to have it upon any terms. If you findest this in him, and thereupon raisest thy rate, this is to make him buy his folly; which is of all others the dearest purchase; it is sure his fancy adds nothing to the real value, no more than his necessity did in the former case, and therefore should riot add to the price. He therefore that will deal justly in selling, must not catch at all advantages which the temper of his chapman may give, but consider soberly what the thing is worth, and what he will afford it for to another, of whom he had no such advantage, and accordingly rate it to him at no higher a price.

 

 5. On the buyer's part, there are not ordinarily so many opportunities of fraud; yet it is possible a man may happen to sell somewhat, the worth whereof he is not acquainted with, and then it will be as unjust for the buyer to make gain by his ignorance, as in the other case it was for the seller; but that which often falls out, is the case of necessity, which may as probably fall on the seller's side as the buyer's. A man's wants compel him to sell, and permit him not to stay to make the best bargain, but force him to take the first offer; and here for the buyer to grate upon upon him, because he sees him in that strait, is the same fault as in the seller.

 

 6. In this whole business of traffic, there are so many opportunities of deceit, that a man had need fence him-self with a very firm resolution, or he will be in danger to fall under temptation; for as the wise man speaks, Ecclus. 27: 2, " As a nail sticks fast between the joining of the stones, so does sin stick close between buying and selling." It is so interwoven with all trades, so mixed with the very first principles of them, that it is taught together with them, and so becomes a part of the art; so that he is now scarce thought fit to manage a trade that wants it; while he that has most of this black art of defrauding, applauds himself, nay, perhaps boasts to others how he has over-reached his neighbors. But God knows all the while there is another over-reaching thee, and cheating thee of what is infinitely more precious, even thy soul; the devil herein deals with thee as fishers use to do; those that will catch a great fish, will bait the hook with a less, and so the great one coming with greediness to devour that, is him-self taken. So you that art gaping to swallow up thy brother, art thyself made a prey to that great devourer. And, alas! what will it ease thee in hell, that you have left wealth behind thee upon earth, when you shall there want that which the meanest beggar here enjoys, even a

 

drop of water to cool thy tongue Consider this, and henceforth resolve to employ all that diligence you have used to deceive others, in rescuing thyself from the frauds of the grand deceiver.

 

 7. To this purpose it is absolutely necessary that you make restitution to all whom you have wronged; for as long as you keepest any thing of the unjust gain, it is as it were an earnest-penny from the devil, which gives him full right to thy soul. But perhaps it may be said, it will not in all cases be possible to make restitution to the wronged party, peradventure he may be dead; in that case then make it to his heirs, to whom his right descends. But it may be further objected, that he that has long gone on in a course of fraud may have injured many that he cannot now remember, and many that he has no means of finding out; in this case all I can advise is this; first, to be as diligent as is possible, both in recalling to mind who they were, and in endeavoring to find them out: and when, after all thy care, that proves impossible, let thy restitutions be made to the poor; and that they may not be made by halves, be as careful as you can to reckon every the least mite of unjust gain; but when that cannot be exactly done, yet even here let them take some general measures, whereby to proportion their restitution. As for example, a tradesman that cannot remember how much he has cheated in every single parcel, yet may possibly guess in the gross, whether he have usually over-reached to the value of a third or a fourth part of the wares; and then, what proportion soever he thinks he has so defrauded, the same proportion let him now give out of that estate he has raised by his trade; but herein it concerns every man to deal uprightly, as in the presence of GOD, and not to make advantage of his own forgetfulness, to the cutting short of the restitution, but go on the other hand, and be sure rather to give too much than too little. If he happen to give somewhat over, he need not grudge the charge of such a sin-offering, and it is sure he will not, if he heartily desire an atonement.