CHAPTER THREE
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Wherefore avoid pride as you would avoid the devil; remembering you must die, and
consequently those things must die with you, that could be any temptation to pride; and that there
is a judgment follows, at which you must give an account both for what you have enjoyed and
done.
2. From humility springs meekness. Of all the rare qualities, of wisdom, learning, valour, etc. with
which Moses was endowed, he was denominated by his meekness: this gave the rest a lustre they
must otherwise have wanted. The difference is not great between these excellent graces; yet the
scripture observes some. God will each the humble his way, and guide the meek in judgment. It
seems o be humility perfectly digested, and from a virtue become a nature. A meek man is one
that is not easily provoked, yet easily grieved; not peevish or testy, but soft, gentle, and
inoffensive. O blessed will you be, my dear children, if this grace adorn you ! there are divers
great and precious promises to the meek in scripture. That God will clothe the meek with
salvation; and blessed are they for they shall inherit the earth. Psal. 37:11. Mat. 5: 5. Christ
presses it in his own example, Learn of me for I am meek, etc., Mat. 11:29. And requires his to
become as little children in order to salvation, Mat. 18:3. and a meek and quiet spirit is of great
price with the Lord 1 Pet. 3:4. It is a fruit of the spirit, Gal. 5:22,23, exhorted to Eph. 4:2.
Col.3:12. Tit. 3:2. and many places more to the same effect.
3. Patience is an effect of a meek spirit and flows from it: it is a bearing and suffering disposition;
not choleric or soon moved to wrath, or vindictive ; but ready to hear and endure too, rather than
be swift and hasty in judgment or action. Job is as much famed for this, as was Moses for the
other virtue: without it there is no running the Christian race, or obtaining the heavenly crown;
without it there can be no experience of the work of God, Rom.5:3, 4, 5 - For patience worketh,
saith the apostle, experience; nor hope of an eternal recompense, for experience worketh that
hope. Therefore, says James, let patience have its perfect work, Jam. 1:4. It is made the saints
excellency ; here is the patience of the saints, Rev. 13:10. It is joined with the kingdom of Christ,
Rev. 1:9. Luke 21:19. In patience possess your souls. Rom. 12:12;15:4. 2 Cor. 6:4. 1 Thes. 5:14.
Be patient towards all men, Tit. 2:2. Heb. 6:12; 10:36. which shows the excellency and necessity
of patience, as that does the true dignity of a man. It is wise and will give you great advantage
over those you converse with on all accounts. For passion blinds men's eyes, and betrays men's
weakness; patience sees the advantage and improves it. Patience enquires, deliberates and brings
to a mature judgment; though your civil as well as Christian course you cannot act wisely and
safely without it; therefore I recommend this blessed virtue to you.
4. Show mercy, whenever it is in your power, that is forgive, pity and help, for so it signifies.
Mercy is one of the attributes of God, Gen. 19:19. Exod. 20: 6. Psal. 86:15. Jer. 3:12. It is
exalted in scripture above all His works, and is a noble part of His image in man. God hath
recommended it Hos. 12:6. Keep mercy and judgment and wait on the Lord. God hath shown it to
man, and made it his duty, Mic. 6: 8. He hath showed thee O man what is good, and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly, or to humble thy
self to walk with thy God: a short but ample expression of God's love, and man's duty; happy are
you if you mind it. In which you see mercy is one of the noblest virtues. Christ has a blessing for
them that have it, blessed are the merciful, (Mat. 5.) for they shall find mercy; a strong motive
indeed. In Luke, 6:35, 36, he commands it. Be you merciful as your Father is merciful. He bid the
Jews that were so over-righteous, but so very unmerciful, learn what this meaneth: I will have
mercy and not sacrifice, Matt. 9:13. He hit them in the eye. And in his parable of the Lord and his
servants, he shows what will be the end of the unmerciful steward, Matt. 18:34, 35, that having
been forgiven much by his master, would not forgive a little to his fellow-servant. Mercy is a great
part of God's law, Exod. 23:4, 5. It is a material part of God's true fast. Isa. 58: 6, 7. It is a main
part of God's covenant, Jer. 31:34. Heb. 8:12. And the reason and rule of the last judgment, Mat.
25:31, to the End: pray read it. It is a part of the undefiled religion, Jam.1:27;3:17. Read Prov.
14:21, 22. But the merciful man's mercy reaches farther, even to his beast; then surely to man, his
fellow- creature, he shall not want it. Wherefore, I charge you, oppress no body, man nor beast.
Take no advantage upon the unhappy, pity the afflicted, make their case your own, and that of
their wives and poor innocent children the condition of yours, and you cannot want sympathy,
bowels, forgiveness, nor a disposition to help and succour them to your ability. Remember, it is
the way for you to be forgiven, and helped in time of trial. Read the Lord's Prayer, Luke 11.
Remember the nature and goodness of Joseph to his brethren; follow the example of the Good
Samaritan, and let Edom's unkindness to Jacob's stock, Obad. 10-16. And the heathen's to Israel,
Zach. 1:21; 2: 8, 9, be a warning to you. Read also, Prov. 25:21, 22. Rom. 12:19, 20.
5. Charity is a near neighbour to mercy: it is generally taken to consist in this, not to be
censorious, and to relieve the poor. For the first, remember you must be judged. Mat. 7:1. And
for the last, remember you are but stewards. Judge not, therefore, lest you be judged. Be clear
yourselves before you fling the stone. Get the beam out of your own eye; it is humbling doctrine,
but safe. Judge, therefore, at your own peril: see it be righteous judgment, as you will answer it to
the Great Judge. This part of charity also excludes whisperings, backbiting, talebearing,
evil-surmising, most pernicious follies and evils, of which beware. Read 1 Cor. 13. For the other
part of charity, relieving the poor, it is a debt you owe to God: you have all you have or may
enjoy, with the rent-charge upon it. The saying is, that he who gives to the poor, lends to the
Lord: but it may be said, not improperly, the Lord lends to us to give to the poor: they are at least
partners by providence with you, and have a right you must not defraud them of. You have this
privilege, indeed, when, what, and to whom; and yet, if you heed your guide, and observe the
object, you will have a rule for that too.
I recommend little children, widows, infirm and aged persons, chiefly to you: spare something out
of your own belly rather than let theirs go pinched. Avoid that great sin of needless expense on
your persons and on your houses, while the poor are hungry and naked. My bowels have often
been moved, to see very aged and infirm people, but especially poor helpless children, lie all night
in bitter weather at the thresholds of doors, in the open streets, for want of better lodging. I have
made this reflection, if you were so exposed, how hard would it be to endure? The difference
between our condition and theirs has drawn from me humble thanks to God, and great
compassion and some supply to those poor creatures. Once more be good to the poor: what do I
say: be just to them, and you will be good to yourselves: think it your duty, and do it religiously.
Let the moving passage, Mat. 25:35. to the end, live in your minds: I was hungry, and thirsty, and
naked, sick, and in prison, and you administered unto me, and the blessing that followed: also
what he said to another sort, I was an hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and sick, and in prison, and
you administered not unto me; for a dreadful sentence follows to the hard-hearted world. Woe be
to them that take the poor's pledge, Ezek. 18:12,13. or eat up the poor's right. O devour not their
part! Less lay it out in vanity, or lay it up in bags, for it will curse the rest. Hear what the Psalmist
says, Psal. 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble:
the Lord will preserve and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt
not deliver him into the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of
languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. This is the reward of being faithful stewards
and treasurers for the poor of the earth. Have a care of excuses, they are, I know, ready at hand:
but read Prov. 3:27, 28. Withhold not good from them, to whom it is due, when it is in the power
of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour go, and come again, and to morrow I will give,
when thou hast it by thee. Also bear in mind Christ's doctrine, Mat. 5:42. Give to him that asketh
thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. But above all, remember the
poor woman, that gave her mite; which Christ preferred above all, because she gave all, but it was
to God's treasury, Mark 12: 42, 43, 44.
6. Liberality or bounty is a noble quality in man, entertained of few, yet praised of all, but the
covetous dislike it, because it reproaches their sordidness. In this she differs from charity, that she
has sometimes other objects, and exceeds in proportion. For she will cast her eye on those that do
not absolutely want, as well as those that do ; and always outdoes necessities and services. She
finds out virtue in a low degree, and exalts it. She eases their burden that labour hard to live:
many kind and generous spells such find at her hand, that don't quite want, whom she thinks
worthy. The decayed are sure to bear of her: she takes one child, and puts out another, to lighten
the loads of over-charged parents, more to the fatherless. She shows the value of services in her
rewards, and is never debtor to kindness; but will be creditor on all accounts. Where another give
six pence, the liberal man gives his shilling; and returns double the tokens be receives. But
liberality keeps temper too; she is not extravagant any more than she is sordid; for she hates
niggard's feasts as much as niggard's fasts ; and as she is free, and not starched, so she is plentiful,
but not superfluous and extravagant. You will hear of her in all histories, especially in scripture,
the wisest as well as best of books: her excellency and her reward are there. She is commanded
and commended Deut.15:3, 4, 7,8, and Psal.37:21-26. The righteous showeth mercy and giveth,
and the good man is merciful and ever lendeth. He shows favour and lendeth, and disperseth
abroad. Psal. 112:5. There is that scattereth, and yet encreaseth; and there is that withholdeth
more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty; the liberal soul shall be fat. Prov. 11:24, 25. The
bountiful eye shall be blessed, Prov. 22:9. The churl and liberal man are described and a promise
to the latter, that his liberality shall uphold him, Isa. 32:78. Christ makes it a part of his religion
and the way to be the children of the highest (Read Luke 6:34, 35.) to lend and not receive again,
and this to enemies as well as friends; yea to the unthanlful and to the evil; no exception made, no
excuse admitted. The apostle Paul, 2 Cor. 9:5-10, enjoins it, threatens the straighthanded, and
promises the open-hearted a liberal reward.
Wheresoever therefore, my dear children, liberality is required of you, God enabling of you, sow
not sparingly not grudgingly, but with a cheerful mind, and you shall not go without your reward;
ought that ought not to be your motive. But avoid ostentation, for that is using virtue to vanity,
which will run you to profuseness, and that to want; which begets greediness, and that avarice,
the contrary extreme. As men may go westward until they come east, and travel until they and
those they left behind them, stand antipodes, up and down.
7. Justice or righteousness, is another attribute of God, Deut. 32:4. Psal, 9:7,8; 5:8. Dan. 9:7. Of
large extent in the life and duty of man. Be just therefore in all things, to all; to God as your
Creator; render to Him that which is His, your hearts, for that acknowledgment He has reserved
to Himself, by which only, you are entitled to the comforts of this and a better life. And if He has
your hearts, you have Him for your treasure, and with Him all things requite to your felicity.
Render also to Caesar that which is his, lawful subjection; not for fear only, but conscience sake.
To parents, a filial love and obedience. To one another, natural affection. To all people in doing as
you would be done by hurt no man's name or person. Covet no man's property in any sort.
Consider well of David's tenderness to Saul, when he sought his life, to excite your duty; and
Ahab's unjust covetousness and murder of Nabath, to provoke your abhorrence of injustice.
David, though anointed King, took no advantages, he believed, and therefore did not make haste,
but left it to God to conclude Saul's reign, for he would not hasten it. A right method and a good
end, my dear children, God has shown it you, and requires it of you.
Remember the tenth commandment; it was God gave it, and that will judge you by it. It
comprehends restitution as well as acquisition, and especially the poor man's wages, Lev. 19:13.
Deut. 24:14, 15. Jer. 22:13. Amos. 5:11. Mal. 3:5. Samuel is a great and good example of
righteousness, 1Sam. 12:3. He challenged the whole house of Israel, whom he had oppressed or
defrauded. The like did the apostle to the Corinthians, 2 Cor. 7:2. He exhorted that Christians to
be careful that they did not defraud, 1 Thes. 4: 6, for this reason, that God was the avenger of the
injured. But as bad as it was, there must be no going to law amongst Christians, 1Cor. 6:7. To
your utmost power, therefore, owe no one any thing but love, and that in prudence as well as
righteousness; for justice gives you reputation, and adds a blessing to your substance; it is the best
security you can have for it.
I will close this head, with a few scriptures to each branch. To your superiors: submit to every
ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake 1 Pet. 2:12. Obey those that have rule over you. Heb.
13:17. Speak not evil of dignities. Jude 8. 1Pet. 2:10. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King,
and meddle not with them; that are given to change. Pro. 24:21. To your parents; Honour your
father and your mother, that the days may be long in the land, which the Lord your God shall give
you. Exod. 20:12. Children obey your parents, it is the first command with promise. Ephes. 6:1, 2.
Great judgments follow those that disobey this law, and defraud their parents of their due. Whose
robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, it is no transgression, the same is the companion of a
destroyer. Prov. 28:24. Or such would destroy their parents if they could. It is charged by the
prophet Ezekiel upon Jerusalem, as a mark of her wicked state: in thee have thy princes set lightly
by father or mother, oppressed strangers, and vexed fatherless and widows. Ezek. 22:6, 7. To thy
neighbour, hear what God's servants taught. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the
Lord than sacrifice. Prov. 21:3. Divers weights and measures are alike abomination unto the Lord.
Levit. 19:36, Deut. 25:13-16 inclusive, Prov. 11;1; 20:10, 23. Read Prov. 22:16, 22, 23: 23:10,
11. Peruse the 6th of Micah, also Zech. 8:16, 17. And especially the 15th. Psalm. As a short but
full measure of life, to give acceptance with God.
I have said but little to you of distributing justice, or being just in power or government; for I
should desire you may never be concerned therein, unless it were upon your own principles, and
then the less the better, unless God require it from you. But if it ever be your lot; know no man
after the flesh; know neither rich nor poor, great nor small, nor kindred, nor stranger, but the
cause according to your understanding and conscience, and that upon deliberate enquiry and
information. Read Exod. 23. from 1 to 10. Deut. 1:16, 17;16:19, 29; 24:17. 2Sam. 23;3. Jer. 22:3,
4. Prov. 24:23. Lam. 3: 35, 36. Hos. 12;6. Amos 8:4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Zeph. 2:3; 3:1. Zech. 7:9, 10.
Jer. 5:4, 5,6; 8:6, 7. Which show both God's commands and complaints, and man's duty in
authority; which as I said before, wave industriusly at all times, for privacy is freed from the
clamour, danger, incumbrance and temptation that attend stations in government: never meddle
with it, but for God's sake.
8. Integrity is a great and commendable virtue. A man of integrity, is a true man, a bold man and a
steady man; he is to be trusted and relied upon. No bribes can corrupt him, no fear daunt him; his
word is slow in coming but sure. He shines brightest in the fire, and his friend hears of him most,
when he most needs him. His courage grows with danger, and conquers opposition by constancy.
As he cannot be flattered or frightened into that he dislikes, so he hates flattery and temporizing in
others. He runs with truth, and not with the times; with right and not with might. His rule is
straight; soon seen but seldom followed: It has done great things. It was integrity preferred Abel's
offering, translated Enoch, saved Noah, raised Abraham to be God's friend, and father of a great
nation, rescued Lot out of Sodom, blessed and encreased Jacob, kept and exalted Joseph, upheld
and restored Job, honoured Samuel before Israel, crowned David over all difficulties, and gave
Solomon peace and glory, while he kept it; it was this preserved Mordecai and his people, and
signally defended Daniel among the lions, and the children in the flames, that it drew from the
greatest king upon earth, and an heathen too, a most pathetical confession, to the power and
wisdom of the God that saved them, and which they served. Thus is the scripture fulfilled, the
integrity of the upright shall guide them. Prov. 11:3. O my dear children ! fear love and obey this
great holy and unchangeable God, and you shall be happily guided, and preserved through your
pilgrimage to eternal glory.
9. Gratitude or thankfulness is another virtue of great lustre, and so esteemed with God and all
good men. It is an owning of benefits received, to their honour and service that confer them. It is
indeed a noble sort of justice, and might in a sense be referred as a branch to that head ; with this
difference, though, that since benefits exceed justice, the tie is greater to be grateful, than to be
just; and consequently there is something baser, and more reproachful in ingratitude than injustice.
So that though you are not obliged by legal bonds or judgments, to restitution with due interest,
your virtue, honour and humanity, are naturally pledges for your thankfulness: and by how much
the less you are under external ties, esteem your inward ties so much the stronger. Those that can
break them, would know no bounds: for make it a rule to you, the ungrateful would be unjust too,
but for fear of the law. Always own therefore the benefits you receive, and then to choose, when
they may most honour or serve those that conferred them. Some have lived to need the favours
they have done, and should they be put to ask, where they ought to be invited ? No matter if they
have nothing to show for it, they show enough when they show themselves to those they have
obliged: and such see enough to induce their gratitude, when they see their benefactors in
adversity; the less law, the more grace and the stronger tie. It is an evangelical virtue, and works
as faith does, only by love: in this it exactly resembles a Christian state, we are not under the law,
but under grace, and it is by grace, and not by merit that we are saved. But are our obligations the
less to God, that He heaps His favours so undeservedly upon us ? Surely no. It is the like here,
that which we receive is not owned or compelled, but freely given so no tie; but choice, a
voluntary goodness without bargain or condition, but has this therefore no security? Yes certainly,
the greatest; a judgment writ, and acknowledged in the mind; He is His to the altar with a good
conscience: but how long: as long as He lives. The characters of gratitude, like those of
friendship, are only defaced by death, else indelible. A friend loveth at all times, says Solomon,
Prov. 17:17; 27:10. And thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. It is injustice, which
makes gratitude a precept. There are three sorts of men that can hardly be grateful, the fearful
man, for in danger he loses his heart, with which he should help his friend: the proud man, for he
takes that virtue for a reproach: he that unwillingly remembers he owes any thing to God, will not
readily remember he is beholden to man. History lays it to the charge of some, of this sort of great
men, that uneasy to see the authors of their greatness, have not been quiet, till they have
accomplished the ruin of those that raised them. Lastly, the covetous man, is as ill at it as the
other two; his gold has spoiled his memory, and won't let him dare be grateful, though perhaps he
owes the best part, at least the beginning of it, to another's favour. As there is nothing more
unworthy of a man, so nothing in man, so frequently reproached in scripture. How often does
God put the Jews in mind, for their forgetfulness and unthankfulness, for the mercies and favours
they received from him, Read Deut. 32:15. Jesurun waxed fat, and kicked against God, grew
unmindful, forgot and forsook his rock that had done mighty things for him. Thus Moses, Deut.
31:16, 17. Also Judg. 10:11, 12, 13. and 1Sam. 8: 8. David likewise in his 78, 105, 106 Psalms,
gives an history of God's love to Israel, and their ingratitude. So Isa.17:1-11. Likewise Jer. 2:31,
32; 5:7-20; 15:6; 16:10, 11, 12, 20, 21; 18:15, Hos. 8:9. It is a mark of apostasy, from
Christianity, by the apostle. 2 Tim. 3:2.
10. Diligence is another virtue useful and laudable among men: it is a discreet and understanding
application of one's self to business; and avoids the extremes of idleness and drudgery. It gives
great advantages to men: it loses no time, it conquers difficulties, recovers disappointments, gives
dispatch, supplies want of parts; and is that to them, which a pond is to a spring; though it has no
water of it self, it will keep what it gets, and is never dry. Though that has the heels, this has the
wind; and often wins the prize. Nor does it only concern handicrafts and bodily affairs, the mind is
also engaged, and grows foul, rusty and distempered without it. It belongs to you, throughout
your whole man; be no more sauntering in your minds than in your bodies. And if you would
have the full benefit of this virtue, don't baulk it by a confused mind. Shun diversions ; think only
of the present business, till that be done. Be busy to purpose; for a busy man, and a man of
business, are two different things. Lay your matters right, and diligence succeeds them, else pain
is lost. How laborious are some to no purpose ? Consider your end well, suit your means to it,
and then diligently employ them, and you arrive where you would be, with God's blessing.
Solomon praises diligence very highly. First, it is the way to wealth: the diligent hand makes rich,
Prov. 10:4. The soul of the diligent shall be made fat, Prov. 13;4. There is a promise to it, and one
of another sort to the sluggard, 23:21. Secondly, it prefers men, ver. 29. seest thou a man
diligent in his business he shall stand before kings. Thirdly, it preserves an estate: be thou diligent
to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herd; for riches are not forever, ch. 27:23,
24. Eccl 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where
you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. There is no
living upon the principal, you must be diligent to preserve what you have, whether it be
acquisition or inheritance, else it will consume. In short the wise man advises, whatsoever thy
hand finds to do, do it with thy might. Eccl. 9:10. As it mends temporal state, no spiritual one can
be got or kept without it. Moses earnestly presses it upon the Israelites, Deut. 4:9 and 6: 7 . The
Apostle Paul commends it in the Corinthians, and Titus to them for that reason 2 Cor. 8; 7:22.
So he does Timothy to the Philippians on the same account, and urges them to work out their
salvation, Phil. 2:12, 20, 21. Peter also exhorts the churches to that purpose: wherefore the
rather brethren, says he, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these
things you shall never fail, 2 Pet. 1:10. and in ch. 3:13, 14. Wherefore beloved, seeing that you
look for such things; (the end of the world and last judgment) be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace, without spot and blameless. Thus diligence is an approved virtue: but remember
that is a reasonable pursuit or execution of honest purposes, and not an evercharging or
oppressive prosecution, to mind or body, or most awful enterprises. Abuse it not therefore to
ambition or avarice. Let necessity, charity, and conveniency govern it, and it will be well
employed and you may expect prosperous returns.
11. Frugality is a virtue too, and not of little use in life, the better way to be rich, for it has less toil
and temptation. It is proverbial, a penny saved is a penny got; it has a significant moral; for this
way of getting is more in your own power and less subject to hazard, as well as snares, free of
envy, void of suits, and is beforehand with calamities. For many get that cannot keep and for want
of frugality spend what they get, and so come to want what they have spent. But have a care of
the extreme: want not with abundance, for that is avarice, even to sordidness; it is fit you consider
children, age and casualties, but never pretend those things to palliate and gratify covetousness.
As I would have your liberal but not prodigal; and diligent but not drudging; so I would have you
frugal but not sordid. If you can, lay up one half of your income for those uses, in which let
charity have at least the second consideration; but not Judas's, for that was in the wrong place.
12. Temperance I must earnestly recommend to you, throughout the whole course of your life: it
is numbered amongst the fruits of the spirit, Gal. 22, 23, and is a great and requisite virtue.
Properly and strictly speaking, it refers to diet; but in general may be considered as having relation
to all the affections and practices of men. I will therefore begin with it in regard to food, the sense
in which it is customarily taken. Eat to live, and not live to eat, for that's below a beast. Avoid
curiosities and provocations; let your chiefest sauce be a good stomach, which temperance will
help to get you. You cannot be too plain in your diet, so you are clean; nor too sparing, so you
have enough for nature. For that which keeps the body low, makes the spirit clear, as silence
makes it strong. It conduces to good digestion, that to good rest, and that to a firm constitution.
Much less feast any, except the poor; as Christ taught, Luke 14:12, 13. For entertainments are
rarely without sin; but receive strangers readily. As in diet so in apparel, observe I charge you an
exemplary plainness. Choose your clothes for their usefulness not the fashion, and for covering
and not finery, or to please a vain mind in yourselves or others: they are fallen souls that think
clothes can give beauty to man. The life is more than raiment, Mat. 6:25. Man cannot mend God's
work, who can give neither life nor parts. They show little esteem for the wisdom and power of
their creator, that underrate His workmanship (I was a going to say His image) to a tailor's
invention: gross folly and profanity! But do you, my dear children, call to mind who they were
of old, that Jesus said, took so much care about what they should eat, drink and put on. Were
they not gentiles, heathens, a people without God in the world? Read Mat. 6, and when you have
done that, peruse those excellent passages of the apostle Paul and Peter, 1 Tim. 2; 9, 10. and 1
Pet.3: 3-5, where, if you find the exhortation to women only, conclude it was effeminate, and a
shame then for men to use such arts and cost upon their person. Follow you the example of those
primitive Christians, and not voluptuous Gentiles, that perverted the very order of things: for they
felt lust above nature, and the means above the end, and preferred vanity to conveniency: a
wanton excess that has no sense of God's mercies, and therefore cannot make a right use of them,
and less yield the returns they deserve. In short, these intemperances are great enemies to health
and to posterity; for they disease the body, rob children, and disappoint charity, and are of evil
example; very catching, as well as pernicious evils. Nor do they end there: they are succeeded by
other vices, which made the apostle put them together in his epistle to the Galatians, Ch. 5:20, 21.
The evil fruits of this part of intemperance, are so many and great, that upon a serious reflection,
I believe there is not a country, town, or family, almost, that does not labour under the mischief of
it. I recommend to your perusal the first part of, No Cross No Crown, and of the Address to
Protestants, in which I am more particular in my censure of it: as are the authorities I bring in
favour of moderation. But the virtue of temperance does not only regard eating, drinking, and
apparel: but furniture, attendance, expense, gain, parsimony, business, diversion, company,
speech, sleeping, watchings, and every passion of the mind, love, anger, pleasure, joy, sorrow,
resentment, are all concerned in it: therefore bound your desires, learn your will's subjection, take
Christ for your example, as well as guide. It was he that led and taught a life of faith in
providence, and told his disciples the danger of the cares and pleasures of this world; they choked
the seed of the kingdom, stifled and extinguished virtue in the soul, and rendered man barren of
good fruit. His sermon upon the Mount is one continued divine authority in favour of an
universal temperance. The apostle, well aware of the necessity of this virtue, gave the
Corinthians a seasonable caution. Know ye not, says he, that they which run in a race, run all,
but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for mastery,
(or seeketh victory) is temperate in all things: (he acts discreetly and with a right judgment) Now,
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run as not
uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection; left that by any means, when I have preached to others, I my self should become a
castaway, 1 Cor. 9:25-17. In another chapter he presses the temperance almost to indifferency:
but this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth then, that both they that have wives, be as
though they had none; and those that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as
though they rejoiced not; and they that use this world as not abusing it. And all this is not without
reason: he gives a very good one for it. For, sayeth he, the fashion of the world passeth away: but
I would have you without carefulness, 1 Cor. 7:29-32. It was for this cause he presided it so hard
upon Titus to warn the elders of that time to be sober, grave, temperate, Tit. 2:2. not eager,
violent, obstinate, tenacious, or inordinate in any sort. He makes it an indispensible duty in pastors
of churches, that they be not self-willed, soon angry, given to wine or filthy lucre, but lovers of
hospitality, of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, Tit. 1:7,8. And who so: Because against
these excellent virtues there is no law., Gal. 5:23.
I will shut up this head (being touched upon in divers places of this advice) with this one most
comprehensive passage of the apostle, Philip. 4:5. Let your moderation be known unto all men,
for the Lord is at hand. As if He had said, Take heed! Look to your ways! Have a care what ye
do! For the Lord is near you, even at the door; He sees you, He marks your steps, tells your
wanderings, and He will judge you. Let this excellent, this home and close sentence live in your
minds: let it ever dwell upon your spirits, my beloved children, and influence all your actions, ay,
your affections and thoughts. It is a noble measure, sufficient to regulate the whole; they that have
it are easy as well as safe. No extreme prevails; the world is kept at arm's end; and such have
power over their own spirits, which gives them the truest enjoyment of themselves and what they
have: a dominion greater than that of empires. O may this virtue be yours! You have grace from
God for that end, and it is sufficient: employ it, and you cannot miss of temperance, nor therein of
the truest happiness in all your conduct.
13. I have chosen to speak in the language of the scripture; which is that of the Holy Ghost, the
spirit of truth and wisdom, that wanted no art or direction of man to speak by; and express itself
fitly to man's understanding. But yet that blessed principle, the eternal word I begun with to you,
and which is that light, spirit, grace and truth, I have exhorted you to in all its holy appearances of
manifestations in your selves, by which all things were at first made, and man enlightened to
salvation, is Pythagoras's great light and salt of ages, Anaxagoras's divine mind, Socrates's good
spirit, Timaeus's unbegotten principle, and author of all light, Hieron's God in man; Plato's eternal,
ineffable, and perfect principle of truth; Zeno's maker and father of all; and Plotin's root of the
soul. Who as they thus styled the eternal word, so the appearance of it in man, wanted not very
significant words. A domestic God, or God within says Hieron, Pythagoras, Epictetus and
Seneca; genius, angel or guide says Socrates and Timaeus; the light and spirit of God says Plato;
the divine principle in man says Plotin; the divine power and reason, the infallible immortal law in
the minds of men, says Philo; and the law and living rule of the mind, the interior guide of the
soul, and everlasting foundation of virtue, says Plutarch. Of which you may read more in the first
part of the "Christian Quaker," and in the "Confutation of Atheism," by Dr. Cudworth. These
were some of those virtuous gentiles commended by the Apostle, Rom. 2:13, 14, 15. that though
they had not the law given to them, as the Jews had, with those instrumental helps and
advantages, yet, doing by nature the things contained in the law, they became a law unto
themselves.
WILLIAM PENN