94The jewral wayes of 'Dejlroying Souls. fiancy. Whtre is there a poor foul, that is moved by God"' Turn and Live, but the devil hath fome at hand to drive them from it? by pcrfwading them that it is needlefs, and that all is well with them, and telling them fome diflml fiories of a holy life. y. IS· 15. Another way of foul murder, ls by laying baits of deceit and fin, before the finner: As men delh?Y Rats a~d Mice b,r bait~ and fweetned poyfon, or catch Fi01es or Birds , by eo~ vering the~r dea1h wtth fomethmg wh1ch they mofi: love : So dorh the Devil and his inlhurncnts de~ (\ray fouls, the baits of a pleaf.mt cup, or pleafam comp;;.ny, or plealanc meats, or pleafant fports, or Playcs, .or Games: A l:'caft, a Tavern, an 'Ale-houfe, a Whore, a Stage-play, a Romance a pJir of Cards or Dice, can do th~ dc:ed. If he can poffibly he will prove it a thing /J-wful, If he' cannot he wili prove it a venial fin: If th.at cannot be, he will drown confideration, and llop rhc mourh of "" Rcafon, and Confcience, and cry, Drive on. Some have yet higher baits than thcfe; Lordfhips and Lands, Dominion and HonOur, to choak their fouls. §. 16. s6. Al(o an homjf name for fin, and a dijlnmrft ~tame for duty toGod, doth fcrvc the turn for many mens perdi,ion. 1 o call drunkenmfs [good fdlorcfhip,or to tak,p aCup,] and Gluttony [ gno4 houfe keeping,] and volupruoufnefs [ rtcrea"ti.o1t or p.1jlime; J a~d pride [ tbe maintaining of tbeir ho~· nour; J and wotldlinefs [good h:ubandry; J and prodigality [ libcrality; J and lufi and whoredomr [ Lovr, a11d IJ<J< ing a!t1ijlriJ, J and opprdTion [ the [rc~ing of tbeir due; J and perfidious diffiruu~ h1ion [ Cottrtjhip ; J •nd jeering [ Wiuinrji; J Thefe and more fuch are traps for fouls. And of the fame: uiC is the calling of du[ies by names of vice, which tend to make them odious or con· temptible. § 17. I 7· Alfo thejl~ucri~g of finners, and pnifing them in their fin, is a foul murdering en· couragernent to them m tll dotog: And great finners feldome want fuch ~;:nernies. §· r8. 18 An obedient rcadiHeji to all that wicked Superiours command, is an encouragement to them to proc~t:d m tnifchief. If P.uents or M1flers command their inferiours fO fpend the Lords DJ.y in dancing or other unlawful cxerci[es; or bid them Heal, or lye, or forbid them to worfhip D>n. 3· & 6. God ; thofe that obey !htm,do harden them in their fin : As Daniel and the three WimetTes had done the Kmg, if they had obeyed him. 9· '9· '9· Alfo when thofe that have power 10 hinder fin, and fur!h<r godl;mfs,do not do it. when they cirher give men Jeave to fin, or forbear their duty when they !hould rellrain ir. He rhar Hands by, and ft:eth his m:ighbour robbed or murdered, anddoth not what he can to fave him, is guilty of the fin, and the fuffcrers hurt. ~· 20. 20· Silenct when we are obliged to reprove a finner, or to infiruCl: the ignorant, or exhort the obfiinate, or any way fpeak for rnensfa1vation, is injurious ro their fouls, and make!h us partakers of their fin. Soul murder may be done by bare omiffions. 9· 21. 21• OppofingMa~ifirales,Minifiers, or any 01hers, in the difchargc of their duty for godlinefs or againU: tin, is an a8 of hoflility againfi God and rnc:ns falvation. ~· 22· 22· An unneClffary occafioning of fin, or doing that necdlefly, which we may forefee that by accident another will dd1roy hirnfclf by, is m be guilty of his fin and dcfiru6bon: As he is that would fell poyfon to him 1hat he might forfee would kill himfd! with i1; or lend fire 10 his neigh– bour, who he knoweth will burn his hou[e with ic. But of this before, in the Chapter ofScandal. . 9·23· 23.Theythat areguil!y ofSchifms or Church-divifions, or murderers of fouls: By deJobp 17. 21, priving them of that means (the concord and harmony ofbelievers ) which God hath appointed for xr. mens convi6tion and falvation: and-by fetting up before them the greueH fcandal, to bring Religion into contempt, and debilitate the godly. hek. 9 . 49· 24• 24· Thofe al(o !hat mourn not for 1ho fins of the times, and confefs !hem not to God, and Zcph·3·'7,18· pray not againll them, and pray not for the finners when they ought, arc thus guilty. 9· 2 5· 2 S· And [o are they that fecretly rejoyce in fin, or confc:nt to ir, or approve it, when it is done; whic;h if they manifeH, it,,.is pernicious to othcrsal[o. 9· 26. 26. Lafily, A coldnefs orindilferency in !he. doin~ of ourdury againfi fJn, without juft zeal, and pity to the finner, and reverence to the truth, IS a way of gu1lt, and hurtethothers : To reprove fin as Eli did his fans ; or to fpeak againft it lightly, as between jean and carncll, is the way to make the £inner think, that it is a fmall or jeafiing matter. To perfwade men to converfion or a godly life, without a melting love and pity to.their fouls, and without the reverence of God, and ferioufn~.:f; of mind, which the nature and weight of rhe thing requircth, is the way to harden them in their fin and mifery. All thefe wayes may a man be guil!y, J.Of the fin; and 2. The perdition of another. How weore 9· 2 7. But here (on the Negative part) take nolice of thefe things following. not ~uilty of 1 • That properly no man dorh partake of the fame formal numerical fin, which is anpthers: N uxa ~~h;~C~:~~ fin caput [tquitur. The fin is individuated and informed by the individu,il will of the offender. It is not po{iiblc that another m>ns fin fhould be·properly and formally mine, unlefs I were individually and formally that iame man and not another. If two men fct rheir hands to the fame evil deed, they are difiinct caufes and fubjtcts of the dil\inCl: formal guilt; though Con-caufes, and parlial caufcs of the efftli: So that it is only by multiplication, that we make the: fin or guilt of another, to become the' matter of fin to us, the form rc:fulting from our felves. • 9· 28. 2 • All men that are_guihy of the fin and damna1ion of other men, are not equally guil1y ; Not only as fome are pardoned upon repentance, and fome remain impenitent and unpardoned: Bur as fome contribute wilfi~lly to rhe mifchief, and with delight, and in a greater meaiUre; and fome only in a fmall degree, by an overfight, or fmall omilfion, or weak perforrnJnce of a duty) by meer infumity or filfprize. 9· 29•
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