Thegreat Power and Prevalencyoffelfi/hnefs difeovered. 6 L Let a Miniller or any other man refolve to bellow all that God bath given him for his fervice, on the poor, or pious tiles : Perhaps he thatl difpleafe as many as he p:eafeth becaufe he bath not enough for all ; and if he give to nineteen , the twentieth will fay [He pail by me ; and I am nevershe better.] And thus this infatiable, unreafonablefelf will hardly be piea- fed ; And among the godly howmuch doth it prevail 1 0 how many Minifters in Engignd can tell by fad experience, how much offelffurviveth in Profeffors ! fo much that we ca,i hard- ly rule them, or keep them from breaking all to pieces, and tvery man running a way ofhis own. The mine of England's ex. peedReformation ; the fall ofour hopes in too great a mea- lure ; the multiplying of fees : the fwarms oferrors : the rage againft the faithfulleft Mininers : the negle& of Difcipline, and obftinaterefufal ofpenitent confeilions, and humbling, felt-de- nying duties : thebackwardnefs to learn : the forwardnefs to be teachers; the high efteem of weak parts, and weaker grace : the commonnefsofbackbiting,cenfuring,and flandering, efpeci- ally thole that are not of their fond opinions : the riling defigns ofmany : the tendernefs of their reputations : the contendings for preheminence, all thefe,with many others,do too loudly tell the world howmuch of fe/f, and how little felf.denial is in ma- ny that Teem godly. 7. But yet this is not the higheft difcovery of the power of Carnal /'elf. Though its fad to think thu it fhould be fo potent in any that have grace : yet its ladder to think, that it hath too much Power in the wifeft and moil learned Magiftrates and Mi- niflers, that fhould be the greaten enemies of it in the refl. A Magiftrate, as a Magiarate,is for the common good. Political fo- cieties confining ofSoveraign and Subject, are therefore called Commonwealth! , from the final Caufe, which is the common good, or weal ()Fall : fo that it is efrential to a Magiftrate to be for the common good. Andyet Pelf creeps in, and makes filch work with many of them, that its hard to Judge whether it have left them the efrence of the Magiftracy,and whether they fhould, be called Magiftrates or no. But yet its ladder, that the Learned, Godly Preachers offelf- alexia/ fhould have fo littleofit,;as too many have, Alas, that 13 Minifters
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