as that he thought none fit to be their ruler, their overseer, but sucli as were known men of activity? Gen. xlvii. 6, 7. Pharaoh would have none to be his cowherds but men of activity, men of skill, men that were prudent and diligent, ingenuous and industrious. Shall Pharaoh be so careful for his cows, and shall not others be as careful for souls ? What man is there under heaven that hath the use of his reason, his wits, &c., that when he is to travel, would take a fool, an ignoramus, for his guide ; and that when he is sick, would send for a mountebank to be his physician ; or that when he is to ride a danger- ous way, would make choice of a coward to defend him ; or that when he hath a lawsuit, would make use of a dunce to plead it ; or that when he hath a suit of clothes to make, would send for a bungling tailor to make it ? Surely none. And why then should not men be as wise for their souls ?
Do not you know that that sort of persons that now I am a speaking of, have been the greatest instruments of bringing the greatest calami- ties and miseries, and the sorest desolations and destructions that ever have been brought upon cities, nations, kingdoms, and countries ? Compare the scriptures in the margin together, and then let conscience speak. 1 And who is so ignorant as not to know that it was the high- priests, scribes, and Pharisees that brought the innocent blood of our Lord Jesus Christ upon that once great and glorious nation of the Jews, to their utter destruction and desolation, about forty years after Christ's ascension, when the Komans came and took their city, and practised the greatest severity and cruelty imaginable upon them, as Josephus and other historians shew ? In the Marian days, and in the massacre of the Protestants in France, how great a hand this sort of men had that I am now a-reasoning with, all the world knows. And so the pagan priests stiiTcd up the pagan emperors to be despe- rate persecutors of the people of Grod that were within their empires ; which occasioned Tertullian to give that good counsel to Scapula, a pagan persecutor ; ' Grod,' saith he, ' will surely make inquisition for our blood, and therefore if thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself : if not thyself, yet spare thy country, wliich must be responsible when God comes to visit for blood.
Do not you know that his Majesty hath very Christianly, zealously, argumentatively, and smartly declared against drunkenness, lewdness, profaneness, &c., and that he hath declared that his resolution is and shall be to promote the power of godliness, to encourage the exercises of religion, both public and private, to take care that the Lord's-day be applied to holy exercises, without unnecessary divertisements ; and that insufficient, negligent, and scandalous ministers be not permitted in the church ?
Do not you know that when the great Shepherd our Lord Jesus Christ shall appear, that he will call you to a pai'ticular and exact ac- count for every soul that hath miscarried under your charge, either by reason of your ignorance, insufficiency, profaneness, looseness, or super- stition, &c. ? and how will you then be able to stand in that day? &c., 1 Pet. V. 2-4 ; Ezek. iii. 17-19.
1 Jer. xxvi. 8, 9, 11, 14, 15j Lam. iv. 11-13; Amos vii. 10, 11; 1 Kings xxii.; 2 Chron.
30 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
Gentlemen, if you say you know not these things, and that they are riddles and mysteries to you, how dare you say that you are the minis- ters of Jesus Christ ? But if you shall say that you know very well that these things are certainly true, yea, that they are such clear and undeniable truths that no devil can deny, and yet shall continue in your ignorance, insufficiency, profaneness, looseness, superstition, &c., what man on earth is there that hath but read the scriptures, and that can but write liis own name, and that would not be begged i for a fool in folio, will believe you to be the true faithful ministers of Jesus Christ?
Well, Gentlemen, I have read of Alexander the Great, how that he had a soldier of his name that was a coward, which when he under- stood, he commanded him either to fight like Alexander, or else to lay down the name of Alexander.^ So say I to you. Gentlemen, either preach as the ministers of Jesus Christ ought to preach — viz. , plainly, spiritually, powerfully, feelingly, fervently, frequently, &c., and live as the ministers of Jesus Christ ought to live — viz. , heavenly, graciously, holily, humbly, righteously, harmlessly, and exemplarily, &c., or else lay down your very names of being the ministers of Jesus Christ, and put no longer a cheat upon yourselves, nor upon the people, by making them believe that you are the only ministers of Jesus Christ, when you have nothing of the spirit of Christ, nor of the anointings of Christ, nor of the grace of Christ, nor of the life of Christ in you. Gentle- men, if this counsel be seriously minded and faithfully followed, it will turn more to your accounts in the great day of our Lord Jesus, and do you more good then, than all the profits, preferments, and honours of this world can do you good now. But if you shall slight and despise this counsel now, I shall be found a true prophet, to your woe and misery in that great day, &c.
If this Treatise should fall into the hands of any ladies and gentle- women, as I suppose it may, that have not yet experienced the sweet and powerful operations of holiness in their own souls, I would then say.
Ladies and Gentlewomen, your souls are as precious, and as immor- tal, and as capable of union and communion with Christ here, and of an eternal fruition of Christ hereafter, as the souls of any men in the world are. I have read a sad story of one Bochna, a woman which had but two sons in all the world ; and whilst she was walking with the one towards the river, she heard the other crying out, and hasten- ing back, she found a knife sticking in his side, which killed him im- mediately: then she made haste to the other child, but he in her absence was fallen into the river and drowned, and so she lost both her sons at once. Now, ladies, this is your very case ; every one of you have two children, as I may say, a soul and a body, a life eternal and a life temporal ; and oh, what a dreadful and unspeakable loss would it be to lose both these at once ! and yet, as certain as there is a God in heaven, you will lose them both without holiness.
All know, that know anything of scripture or history, that there
have been many great ladies and gentlewomen, that have been great
lovers of holiness, and great delighters in holiness, and great prizers
of holiness, and great admirers of .holiness, and great countenancers of
^ Qu. ' bagged '=: taken for.— G. ^ Plutarch, s. n.—G.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 31