1)ire8ions for youHg (hriftians. ttJill/;. he dot/J God jirvice? John J6. 2· ( or olf<reth a fcrvice ( acceptable) tO God.) T~erefo~e I' (lUl faith, It i1 good to. be zca~oufly ajfe[led ~lway~J m a good '!_l.Jtter, ?al. 4· 18. She~mgyou thac , z ol indeed is good, it found JUdgement be HS gUJde. Your ?rfi quefhon ~~1fi be, TPbe~her you arf · the rinht w 12 y? and your fecOnd, Jf/hethcr you go apace 1 It IS fad to obferve what odwus actions ~;e com~nitted in all Ages of the world, by r.he infii~atio~ of mi~~uided ~ea I ? And,what a (hame an imprudent Zea~ot is to his .prof(ffi?n, wh1le makmg h1mfMlf ndiculous· m t~c eyes ofthe ad~c~farics he brings hlS profeffion 11 felf mto contempt, and makerh the ungodly th111~ that theRelrgt· oul a're but a company of tranfported brain-fick Zealots : And thus thty are hardcnc~ to their pe~dition. How many things doth unadvifed affection provoke well-meaning people to, that afterwards \V ill be their 011me and farrow ~ . 9· 3· Laboor therefore for ;,_now/edge and foundncfl of underjlanding ; that you may know truth from f;l!hood good from ev1l ; and may walk confident()!, whtle you walk fafely; and that you be– come not a th~me to your profelfion, by afurious profecution ofthat which you mufi afterwards con~ fcfs to bean hror; by drawingothers to that whichyou would after wi{h that you had never known your !elves. And yet fee that all your knowledge have itl efficacy, upon your heart and lif<: And rake every truth as an infhurnent ofGod, to reveal hirnfclf to you, or to draw your heart to him, and con– form you to 1tis holy will. , ----------------- -----~--------------~---- -•... 39 . . o ;rect. 3· LAbour to ttnderftand tht true Method ofDivinity, a)ld fie TruthJ in t!.eir feveral deltg. A~on.ld~ '!Pa and order ; that you tak..,e not the la{t fur the firjl ; nor the leffer for the greattr. f;u~~ ca~~~There[ore fee that you be well grounded in the Cattcbifm ; and refufe not tJ learn fome Cattchlfm tho~t is -<:hi~ndi. found and fuU, and ~ep it in memory while yuu live. · E.t Li. S· 9. I· Method or nght order exceedingly helpeth, underf!anding, memory and pra{JiceA TtuthJ ·Opns en it have adependance on each other: The leffcr branches fpring out of the greater, and thofe out of b.:':h~~01~1 the fiock and root. Some duties are but meaHr to other dutiu, or fubferv1ent to them, and to be uno compen· meafured accordingly : And if it be not un·dertlood which is the chief, the other cannot be referred to dario & brevi it. \Vhen two things materially g6od come together, and both cannot be done, the greater muft take q.uem m~mo·. ~lace, and the leffer is no d~ty at that time, ...bura fin, as ~referred bt:forc the. greater•. Therefore it :~t:;a~t'[-. 1s one of the commonefi difficulties among Cafes of Confctence, to know whtch duty IS the greater, fumm:t fit and to be preferred. Upon this ground Chrif\ healed on the Sabbath day, and pleaded for his Difci- eorum omni-. pies rubbing the ears oj com, and for David1 eating the fotw hread, and tclleth them, that the Sab- um qua: ;ad . bath.was matk f or man , and not man for the Sabbath , and _thM God wiU have mercy , and nos :~Q~i.fl~~; Sacrifice. · funtnccctf:tria: altero uberi· ore, ubi e:1.dem amplius, dilucidiurq; dic:mtur, & copiofius con6rmentur: Ut ille prio1 difcipulis potius, hie poRCrior ipflS pr:ecepto– ribus ufu lit. Act~fla t. 5· c. 14. P490. · - Divinity is a curious well compofed frame. As it is not enough that you have all the parts of yQ!Ir Watch or Clock; but you mull fee that every part be in its proper place, or elfe it will not go, or anfwet its end: fo it is not enough that you know dle feveral parts of Divinity or duty, unlefs you kno~ them in their true order and place. You may he confounded before you are aware, and led into many dangerous errors, by mifiaking the Order of feveral Truths : And you may be mif-·· guided into heinous fins, by mifiaking the Degrees and Order of Dutiu l As when duties of Piety and Charity feem to be competitors : And when you think that the commands of men contraditl the comma~tds ot God; and when the fitbjfance and the circumftancu or modu of duty arc in quefiion before You as incontitlent : or when the mean! feerneth to ceafe to be a means, by croffing of the end : and in abundance of fuch cafes, you cannot eafily conceive what a fnare it may prove to you, to be ignorant of the Metlndt and Rad~ of duty. . 9. 2• Object. If that be fo, what man can choo[e but be confounded in hi1 Religion, when there be fo few tb..t ob{<rve any Mtthod at all, anti few that agree in Method, and none that hatb pHhliflml a Schem< or Metbod fo cxa[i and clear, a1 to be Cl}mmonly approved by Divinu t/Jemfelvtl• What then can ignorant Chrijfians diJ l Anfw. Divinity is like a Tree that hath one Trunk, and thence a few greater arms or bot>ghs, and S~cici dic~~t thence a thoufand fmaller branches : Or like the veins, or nervs, or arteries in the body, that have v1 _rtuces.libtJffi firfl one or fe.w trunks divided into_more,and thofe•into a few more,and thofe into more-, till they mul- :~':n~,t;:, e u~ tiply at lafi mto more than can eahly be feen or numbered. Now it is Ciilfie for any man to begin at qui on:un ha.: trle chief trunk, and to difcern the tirl\ divifions, and the next, though not to comprehendthenum.: buerit, t~mneS her .and order of_ al~ ~he extream and {mallcr bunches. So is i~ i~ Divinity; lt is not very hard to' ~~~e;:tz:O:~begm at the Umty of tht: Eternal God-head, and fee there a Tnmty ofPerfons, and of Primary at~ tributes, and of Relarions; and to arife to the principal attributes and works of God as in thefe Relations, and to the Relations of man to God, and to the great Duties of thefe Relations; to difcern Gods Covenants and chiefcfi Laws, and the duty of man in obedience !hereto, and the Judgement of God in the execution of his i~md:ions : though yet many particular truths be: not underfiood. ~And he that beg;nneth and proce<deth as he ought, doth know methodically fo muoh as he knowcth: G Ami
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