.Aj,ain.ft Scanda1i:zing. h;;~~~~nf1i~ -rn 1a~d out, to mal<e others of his mind, in the points of Antinomimifin, AnaA baptifm, S:-p~· uon,Popery,&c. thinking that the favingof tlx:ir fouls had lain upon it: And at Jalt they find, chat as they euc:d thcrnfdves, fo all their labour was but to fc.J;zd.J/ize the weak, and Jay a flumbUng block in their way to Heaven ? 9· 30. Direct. 8. Nev(r pufwtJde any m.1n ( much lr[f compcU him) to any 1hilrg uiJnrcrJJJry Diret:. S. JVIJicb he tal{!tb to be a fin ( whatever ynu take:: ir for your fdves ). I-~or if he judge it a fin, it i:; a fin to him ! No mln co.n innocently do that which he thinketh is fOrbidden him of God. And fh"ll a thing unneceffHy be preferred before the (wing of a foul? (Yea b::forc: the fouls of thouA fand s,as by mai.y mer.;ilefs men it is.) Indeed if there be an Ancecedt:nt nectf!iry (as well as a Jrswf-,e!mjJ in du: thing, and fuch fJ. mccf!ity as is nor in your power to take awJ.y, rhen the Do– ing it will be his tin, and the tlOC doing it his grc.:.~ter fin; and the: greau:r ji11 is gre.uliet1 to be avoided (but by convenient means. ) • 9· 3 1• Direct. 9· Rcmemb.:r the c~.Jrge1 ~bleb you bave of. the fo;t/t of ~ne another : Though you Dlrtll· j;. be not M.Jgifhares or PJfiors : (for t.u:zr care of fouls IS fo unquefuonable and fo grear, rha.t fcand.1l in them is like Parents murdering their own Children:) Yet no privne mm mutt fay as Cain, Am I my brotbcu ~etper. Every man is bound to do his bell for rhe fiving of his Neighbour : Much more w forb:n inft:Cl:i!1g, fcducing, fcmdllizin,g and deHroying him. · 9· 32· Dir<tt. IO. Keep np • jpecial tcndemt{I of",,, weak,.: So doth God himltlf; and fo mull v· a IO we. Hr gatbertth. the Lamb1 rvitb hit armt, &c. HJ. 40. I r. If his Infln~s cry) he doth not therefore tre ' • knock out their brains, or turn them ollt of doors! Nor dorh ht far,, they arc: not his Children, fof every ignorance or pi~;vi!h plfiion which they are .guilry ~f; Chri!i ~orh no.t rurn mtn our of his s~hncl, becaufc thty want knowledge! For why thco Will he havc:,1Hdt: Children come? and what do thty come for but to learn ~ H.: cloth not ha(Chis ntw born b"bes; but (eecfeth and nurfeth them with afpecial rendernefs : And he harh commanded and comm.unictted the like tendcrotfs to his Minifters; who muli not be: weak wirh rhe weak, and froward wirh the froward ; but in mee!meCs and puier:cc mufi ~ecr wirh the weak, and endure their bitterdl cenfures and rcquitals: For me fcrv:mt of tht Lord nm[f notjfrivt 1 bu~ be gentle toall mm~apt.to Jeach; patient~ in meek,_nt{s in{fru{Jing thr{e tb.:Jt oppofe themfclvts 1 &c. :2 T1m. 2· 24) 25- And 1f they ar~ long h:arnmg b:for.: they comt: ro ~he Knowledge of the truth, thty a1e not thnefore to be c.aO: off: He that CJ.n read, Rom. 14. & 1 S· & 1 Cor. 12· 12. & 8. & Gal. 6. and yer c;an,Pe fa merctlefs and 1 cruel, as to call men out of the Mini(hy or Church, or to ruine them, fo~ tultra,Ple w:akntfs, wh1ch God h1th fo earndlly chuged us to bear with in qur Brethren, either he doth notundtrftand wha:t _he readerh, or not btlieve ir, or bath fomewhar elfe which he more regardeth at his heart, than the Authoriry or L"?ve of God. 9- 33· Direc~t. r I· Do not ctn/Hre every ma;z to be wilful or objiinau, rvb:J i1 nat of your opinio1!, DireQ. I 1 • when he bath heard )'OJir rJ?.ifo_;u, haw cl~ar foevtr they nuy may.feem to ~ou. .Alas, how many things are there befides wilfui•obHmacy, to hmdcr one man from bemg•zs wtfe as another ! If a few times repeating over rhe Reafons of an opinion, is enough ro implant it in all the hearer,c;, why do your Children go 10 Tong to School, and after that to the Univerfities ? and why are ytm 10 long Preaching to all your ParHhloners ? Sure you preach 'ilor noveltitJ to them as l~ng ~s. you live ! And yet thirty or fourty years painful preaching, even of t_he fame fundamentals of. Rehg1on, fl1allleave many ignorant of them in the bc:fi Parirhes in the Land. There mufi be a nghr and ripe difp.>fition in the hearers, or clfe the dearefi reafoning mJy be uneffc:Clual! A difUft!d or unfurnifhed mind, thlt bath not received all the truths, which are prefuppofed to thofe which you deliver, or hath not dioetic:d them into a clear underfhnding may long hc:u the truell: reafons :md never apprehend their w:fghr : There is need of more z.doe than a bare unfolding of the trurh, to make a man receive it in its pro– per evidence! Perhaps.he hath bee~ long pre-poifelTed wirh contrary_ opinions,. w~ic~ are not eafily rooted out ? Or if he be but col'lhdent of the truth of fome.one optmon, wh:ch IS tnconfiflenr wirh yours, no wonder if he cannot receive rhat whicb is contrary, to what he fo verily believerh to be the truth. There is a marvellous v!ticty of mens apprehenfions 1 of the fame opinions or ,rcafons, as they• are varioufly reprefenred to men, and variouily pondered, a,nd as the natural cap1cicy of men is Vl– .rions, and as the whole courfe of their lives, their education, company and conver[~['ion, have vari– oufly formed their minds. le is like the fetting together all the parts of w.uc~ when it is in pieces : ·u a11y one pur of many be mirplaced, it may nccc:ffirate the mifplacing of rhofe that follow, with· out any wilful obHinacy in him that doth it. If in the whole fnme of G.cred Truth, there be buc fome one rnifunderfiood, it may bring in other mifh.kes and keep out rruny truths, even from an honefi willing mind ! And who is there that can fay, he i~ free from errour? Have not you Be'rceivcd 'in your [elves, that the truths which you heard an hundred times over to little purpofe when you were Children, were ri::ceived more convincingly and f:ldsfyingly when you were m::n ! ,e..nd that you have found a delightful clearncfs in fame points on a fudden, which before you Cither refilled or held with httle obfr::rvation or regard? And yet it is common wirh the [ctlNd.,JizerJ of fouls, t~ cry our again(i all that conform not to their opinions and will, as foon as they have heard thtir reil~ fans, that they arc, jtllhbilrn, and refraUory, and wilj:tl and faCJioM, and {o turn from arguments to Clubs; as if they had never known themfelvcs or others, nor how weak and dark the· underfiand– ingsof almofi all men are ! But tbey jhaU have jeulgcment without mercy who jhew no mercy ! And when their own errours.OJall all be opened to them by the Lord, they will b.e loth they {bould all be imputed to their wilful obJfinacy! And perhaps thefc very cenforious men., rruy prove ~hc:mfdves to have bcenonthe wrong tide: For Ptidc and un,cb~ritablenefs ate.ufually.erroneo.us. . Mm. mrnmmm
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