as it shall be judged necessary, this is it which will trouble men; such, I mean, who love a beggarly ease before a laborious thriving trade (a foul stable to some beasts is better than a fair way); and therefore it is, that since all Christians are convinced of the necessity, the indispensable necessity of repentance, they have resolved to admit it, but they also resolve they will not understand what it is. Una herclè falsa lacrimula;' one or two forced tears against a good time: and, believe it, that is a great matter too, that is not ordinary. But if men lose an estate, -Nemo dolorem Fingit in hoc casu, vestem diducere summam Men need not to dissemble tears or sorrow in that case: but as if men were in no danger when they are enemies to God, and as if to lose heaven were no great matter, and to be cast into hell were a very tolerable condition, and such as a man might very well undergo, and laugh heartily for all that;-they seem so unconcerned in the actions of religion, and in their obedience to the severe laws of repentance, that it looks as if men had no design in the world, but to be suffered to die quietly, to perish tamely, without being troubled with the angry arguments of the churchmen, who by all means desire they should live and recover, and dwell with God for ever. Or if they can be forced to the farther entertainments of repentance, it is nothing but a calling for mercy, an e Juv. xiii. 131. ineffective prayer, a moist cloud, a resolution for today, and a solemn shower at the most. Mens immota manet, lacrima volvuntur inanes, The mind is not changed, though the face be: for repentance is thought to be just as other graces, fit for their proper season, like fruits in their own month; but then every thing else must have its day too we shall sin, and we must repent; but sin will come again, and so may repentance: for there is a time for every thing under the sun;' and the time for repentance is when we can sin no more, when every objection is answered, when we can have no more excuse; and they who go upon that principle, will never do it, till it be too late: for every age hath temptations of its own, and they that have been used to the yoke all their life-time, will obey their sin when it comes in any shape, in which they can take any pleasure. But men are infinitely abused, and by themselves most of all. For repentance is not like the summer-fruits, fit to be taken a little, and in their own time; it is like bread, the provisions and support of our life, the entertainment of every day, but it is the bread of affliction' to some, and the bread of carefulness' to all: and he that preaches this with the greatest zeal and the greatest severity, it may be, he takes the liberty of an enemy, but he gives the counsel and the assistance of a friend. My Lord, I have been so long acquainted with the secrets of your spirit and religion, that I know I d En. iv. 449. need not make an apology for dedicating this severe You know, according to the pru book to you. dence which God hath given you, that he that flatters you is your enemy, and you need not be flattered; for he that desires passionately to be a good man and a religious, to be the servant of God and be saved, will not be fond of any vanity, and nothing else can need to be flattered; but I have presented to your Lordship this discourse, not only to be a testimony to the world, how great a love, and how great an honour I have for you, but even by ascribing you into this relation, to endear you the rather every day more and more to the severest doctrines andpractices of holiness. I was invited to make something to this by an honourable person who is now with God, and who desired his needs should be served by my ministry. But when I had entered upon it, I found it necessary to do it in order to more purposes, and in prosecution of the method of my other studies. All which as they are designed to God's glory and the ministry of souls, so if by them I can signify my obligations to your Lordship, which by your great nobleness do still increase, I shall not esteem them wholly ineffective, even of some of those purposes whither they are intended; for truly, my Lord, in whatsoever I am or can do, I desire to appear, My noblest Lord, Your Honour's most obliged, and Most affectionate Servant, JER. TAYLOR. THE PREFACE ΤΟ THE RIGHT REVEREND AND RELIGIOUS FATHERS, BRIAN, LORD BISHOP OF SARUM; AND JOHN, LORD BISHOP OF ROCHESTER; AND TO THE MOST REVEREND AND RELIGIOUS CLERGY OF ENGLAND, MY DEAR BRETHREN. MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS, THE wiser part of mankind hath seen so much trifling in the conduct of disputations, so much partiality, such earnest desires of reputation, such resolution to prevail by all means, so great mixture of interest in the contention, so much mistaking of the main question, so frequent excursions into differing matter, so many personal quarrels and petty animosities, so many wranglings about those things that shall never be helped, that is, the errors and infirmities of men; and, after all this (which also must needs be consequent to it), so little fruit and effect of questions, no man being the wiser, or changed from error to truth, but from error to error most frequently and there are in the very vindication of truth so many incompetent, uncertain, and untrue things offered, that if by chance some truth be gotten, we are not very great gainers, because, when the whole account is cast up, we shall find, or else they that are disinterested will observe, that there is more error than truth in the whole purchase; and still no man is satisfied, and every side keeps its own, unless where folly or interest makes some few persons to change; and still more weakness and more impertinences crowd into the whole affair upon every reply, and more yet upon the rejoinder; and when men have wrangled tediously and vainly, they are but where they were; save only, that they may re member they suffered infirmity, and, it may be, the transport of passions, and uncharitable expressions; and all this for an unrewarding interest, for that which is sometimes uncertain itself, unrevealed, unuseful, and unsatisfying; that in the event of things, and after being wearied for little or nothing, men have now in a very great proportion left it quite off, as unsatisfying waters, and have been desirous of more material nourishment, and of such notices of things and just assistances, as may promote their eternal interest. And, indeed, it was great reason and high time that they should do so for when they were employed in rowing up and down in uncertain seas, to find something that was not necessary, it was certain they would less attend to that, which was more worthy their inquiry: and the enemy of mankind knew that to be a time of his advantage, and accordingly sowed tares while we so slept; and we felt a real mischief while we contended for an imaginary and fantastic good. For things were come to that pass, that it was the character of a good man to be zealous for a sect, and all of every party respectively, if they were earnest and impatient of contradiction, were sure to be saved by their own preachers; and holiness of life was not so severely demanded, but that men believe their country articles; and heaven-gates at no hand might be permitted to stand open to any one else. Thence came hatred, variance, emulation, and strifes; and the wars of Christendom which have been kindled by disputers, and the evil lives which were occasioned and encouraged by those proceedings, are the best confutation in the world of all such disputations. But now when we come to search into that part of theology, which is most necessary, in which the life of Christianity, and the interest of souls, the peace of Christendom, and the union of minds, the sweetness of society, and the support of government, the usefulness and comfort of our lives, the advancement of virtue, and the just measures of honour; we find many things disordered, the tables of the commandments broken in pieces, and some parts are lost and some disordered, and into the very practice of Christians there are crept so many material errors, that although God made nothing plainer, yet now nothing is more difficult and involved, uncertain and discomposed, than many of the great lines |