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"Sin when it is "Abstain

And if it be a (real or supposed fault that you speak against them for, doth it not intimate that they should avoid all faults, as far as they are able? And yet will you at the same time reproach them for being too strict, and fearful to offend as if it were their fault that they are unwilling to be faulty? 1 But let us hear what God saith of this. "Fools make a mock at sin;" Prov. xiv. 9. Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people;" ver. 34. And yet you make the avoiding it a reproach. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door;" Gen. iv. 7. "Be sure your will find you out;" Numb. xxxii. 23. finished bringeth forth death;" James i. 15. from all appearance of evil;" 1 Thess. v. 22. "But I say unto you, that for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified; and by thy words thou shalt be condemned;" Matt. xii. 36.37. "Whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven;" Matt. v. 19. “But say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment— but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire;" ver. 22. "I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already with her in his heart;" ver. 28. "I say unto you, swear not at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool:

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your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil;" ver. 34-37. "But above all things, my brethren, swear not; neither by heaven, neither by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation ;" "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named amongst you as becometh saints: neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks;" Ephes. v. 3, 4. An hundred such passages of Scripture I might recite, that might quickly satisfy you what Godexpecteth, and whether it be too much preciseness to fear the smallest sin.

8. But perhaps it is the rigor of their church discipline that maketh you offended with those that you count too pure and precise; because they will not let other men alone, but are reproving them, and bringing them to open penitence and confession of their open sins, and casting those out of the communion of the church, which do refuse it. Answ. But do they do this of themselves, or doth God command it them? Do you think that the communion of saints is to be turned into a rabble of impiety; and the church into a swine-sty? Do you not know that the canons of the ancient churches for many hundred years after Christ, are stricter in this discipline by far, than those that now offend you by their strictness? And hear what the Holy Ghost saith, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him;" Lev. xix. 17. "If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man or a publican;" Matt. xviii. 15-17. "For I verily as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed, that in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one to satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus-Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven- Now I have written to you not to keep company; if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one no not to eat therefore put away from among yourselves the wicked person;" 1 Cor. v. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us

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And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be

ashamed;" 2 Thess. iii. 6. 14. "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds;" 2 John 10,11. "Confess your faults one to another;" James v. 16. "Give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me;" Josh. vii. 19. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy;" Prov. xxviii. 13. Doth not all this justify the exercise of discipline, and condemn the neglect of it?

9. But, (saith the impious person,) why make they such a difference between themselves and other men; extolling themselves as the only servants of the Lord, and condemning others as ungodly and children of the devil, and terrifying men's consciences with the fears of hell?

Answ. If any do so against such as are sanctified and renewed, and have the Spirit of Christ, and live to God, they deal uncharitably: and if you dislike their censoriousness, so do I, and so do all the sober, considerate servants of the Lord. But if it be only against the carnal, unsanctified world that they do thus, it is God that maketh the difference, and not they. Do you not find the whole Scripture dividing all the world into two ranks, the godly and the ungodly? the regenerate and the unregenerate? the converted and unconverted? the sanctified and unsanctified? the carnal and the spiritual? the earthlyminded and the heavenlyminded? the pardoned and unpardoned? the justified and unjustified? the children of God and the enemies of God? the servants of God and of the devil? the heirs of heaven and the heirs of hell? To prove this would be to repeat the Bible. Read Psalm i. x. xv. xxvii. Matt. v. Rom. viii. John iii. Matt. xiii. 1 John iii. &c. Do you not find Christ himself acquainting you beforehand that one sort shall be set at his right hand in judgment, and the other at his left? and one part sent to life everlasting, and the other to everlasting punishment? Matt. xxv. Do they speak any more of the everlasting torments, the worm that dieth not, the fire that is unquenchable, than Christ himself hath done? Matt. xiii. 2. 2 Thess. i. &c. Do you love to be flattered into hell, and deceived in a matter of everlasting consequence? Is it not better for you to search your hearts,

and try whether you have the Spirit of Christ or not; and then search the Scripture, and try whether any man be his that hath not his Spirit (Rom. viii. 9.), or can be saved that is not converted and born again of the Spirit? Matt. xviii. 3. John iii. 3. 6. "Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your ownselves. Know ye not your ownselves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" 2 Cor. xii. 5.

10. But you will say that the reason of your distaste against these that are so forward in religion is, that they are inwardly as bad as others, and as proud and worldly; and why do they not excel others in good works, as much as they do in their devotions?

Answ. 1. So they do, according to their ability. Twenty years' trial and more I have had of them since I was a minister of Christ, and I can truly say that, ordinarily, I have known of many a shilling, if not pounds, that have come from the purses of these that you call Puritans and precise, for one groat or penny that I have known come from most others about me of their rank, to any pious and charitable use. But all that are godly, are not rich; and though Christ extolleth the widow's two mites, the standers-by regarded them not; Matt. xii. 42, 43." If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not;" 2 Cor. viii. 12. And he that hath said, "Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. vi. 1.); hath hereby kept his servants from making the world acquainted with much of their deeds of charity. And for the sins of the heart that you charge them with, they are known to none but God, unless they be discovered in their lives. But malice in all ages hath been used to such unproved slanders of the servants of the Lord.

2. But suppose them as bad as malice doth imagine: is that any reason why both they and you should not be better? It is holiness and not sin that I am pleading for. Is their godliness and care of salvation necessary, or not? If it be, why do you not imitate them in that? And if know any fault in them, take warning and avoid it. But be not so mad as to run into hell, because some fall in the way to heaven, or some miss the way that seemed to go thither.

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Imitate not the Judas in Christ's family, but the rest of his disciples, and that not in their falls, but in their faith and piety. All that shall be saved, have both holiness towards God, and justice and charity to men. "The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits;" James iii. 17. If you want the first, you are ungodly; if the latter, are hypocrites. And if the hypocrite and the ungodly will stand snarling here at one another, they shall perish together, in that misery that will convince them that neither of them were the heirs of life; when saints, and none but they, shall live with Christ. Object. But it is but a few that are of so strict a mind and life; and shall none be saved but these few?'

Answ. Christ hath told you whom he will save. He will not falsify his word, nor take the unsanctified into heaven for want of company. He hath told you that the gate is strait, and the way narrow that leads to life, and few there be that find it; Matt. vii. 14. and that it is a little flock to whom the Father will give the kingdom; Luke xii. 32. You shall not want company in heaven, nor find comfort in your company in hell.

But if you would have the number of the godly to be greater, why do you not increase it by your joining with them? Why do not all the town and parish agree together, and bind themselves in a covenant to serve and seek the Lord, as the Israelites; Josh. xxiv. 2 Chron. xv. 12, 13. O happy people that will thus accord, and heartily perform it!

And now, beloved hearers, I have finished this first part of my task, and proved to you the necessity of a holy life. That" one thing is needful," while you pitifully cumber yourselves about " many things," is the message that from Christ I have been hitherto delivering to you. What say you? Are you yet resolved to seek this one thing with the chiefest of your desires, and care, and labour, or are you not? Dare any one of you say that you have not heard that which should resolve a sober, considerate man? I think you dare not. But if you dare, I am sure you shall never be able to make it good, and justify your words to God, or to your consciences at last, or to any wise, impartial perNow take your choice, whether you will now be SAINTS, and for ever like ANGELS; or now be like BRUTES, and for ever like DEVILS. For one of these must be your case, as sure as you have heard these words.

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