give no scandal or offence. 30. To follow after peace with all men, and to make peace. 31. Not to go to law before the unbelievers. 32. To do all:

things that are of good report, or the actions of public honesty; abstaining from all appear.. ances of evil. 33. To convert souls, or turn sinners from the error of their ways. 34. To confess Christ before all the world. 35. To resist unto blood, if God calls us to it. 36. To rejoice in tribulation for Christ's sake. 37. To remember and shew forth the Lord's death till his second coming, by celebrating the Lord's supper. 38. To believe all the New Tes tament. 39. To add nothing to St. John's last book, that is, to pretend to no new revelations. 40. To keep the customs of the church, and her solemnities, lest we be reproved, as the Corinthians were by St. Paul, We have no such customs, nor the Churches of God. 41. To contend earnestly for the faith.

5

4

Not to be contentious in matters not concerning the eternal interest of our souls: but in matters indifferent to have faith to ourselves. 42. Not to make schisms or divisions in the body of the church. 43. To call no man master upon earth. But to ac knowledge Christ our master and law-giver. 44. Not to domineer over the Lord's heritage. 45.

1 Matt. xviii. 7. I Cor. x. 32.

Heb. xii. 14.

To try

31 Cor. vi. 1.

2

all things, and keep that which is best. 46. To be temperate in all things. 47. To deny ourselves. 48. To mortify our lusts and their instruments. 49. *To lend, looking for nothing again, nothing by way of increase, nothing by way of recompence. 50. To watch and stand in readiness against the coming of the Lord. 51. Not to be angry without à cause.. 52. Not at all to revile. 53. Not to swear.

7

Not to respect persons. 55.

denly on no man.

54.

To lay hands sud[This especially pertains to bishops. To whom also, and to all the ecclesi astical order, it is enjoined, that they preach the word, that they be instant in season and out of season, that they rebuke, reprove, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.] 56. To keep the Lord's day, derived into an obligation from a practice apostolical. 57. To do all things to the glory of God. 58. To hunger and thirst after righteousness and its rewards. 59. To avoid foolish questions. 60. To pray for persecutors, and to do good to them that persecute us, and despitefully use us. 61. 7 To pray for all men. 62. To maintain good works for necessary uses. 63. To work with our own hands that we be not burthensome to others, avoiding idleness. 64. To be perfect as our hea

6

11 Cor. ix. 25. Tit. ii. 2. viii. 13. Luke vi. 34, 35. xxv. 13.6 Matt. v. 22.

4

5

1

2 Matt. xvi. 24. 3 Col. iii. 6. Rom. Mark xiii. 34. Matt. xxiv. 42. ánd Eph. iv. 26. 71 Cor. vi. 16. Matt. v. 22.

Matt. v. 84. 9 Jam. ii. 1. 11 Tim. v. 22. 11 Tim. iv. 2. 31 Cor. x. 31. Matt. v, 6. Titus iii. 9. 6 Matt. v. 44. Rom. xii. 14. Titus iii. 14. Eph. iv. 28. 9

71 Tim. ii. 1.

5

1 Matt. v. 48.

venly Father is perfect. 65. To be liberal and frugal; for he that will call us to account for our time, will also for the spending our money. 66. Not to use uncomely jestings. 67. Modesty as opposed to boldness, to curiosity, to indecency. 68. To be swift to hear, slow to speak. 69. To worship the holy [Jesus] at the mention of his holy name: As of old, God was at the mention of [Jehovah.]

5

These are the strait lines of scripture by which we may also measure our obliquities, and discover our crooked walking. If the sick man hath not done these things, or if he have done contrary to any of them, in any particular, he hath cause enough for his sorrow, and matter for his confession: Of which he needs no other forms, but that he heartily deplore and plainly. enumerate his follies, as a man tells the sad stories of his own calamity.

SECT. IX.

H.

Of the Sick Man's Practice of Charity and Justice, by way of Rule.

1. LET the sick man set his house in order before he die; state his cases of conscience, reconcile the fractures of his family, re-unite brethren, cause right understandings, and remove jealousies, give good counsels for the future conduct of their persons and 31 Tim. ii. 9.

111. Cor. viii. 7. 11. Cor. ix. 5. 2 Eph. v. 4. James i. 16. Phil. ii. 10.

estates, charm them into religion by the authority and advantages of a dying person; because the last words of a dying man are like the tooth of a wounded lion, making a deeper impression in the agony than in the most vigourous strength, PER

2. Let the sick man discover every secret of art, or profit, physic, or advantage to mankind, if he may do it without the prejudice of a third person. Some persons are so uncharitably envious, that they are willing that a secret receipt should die with them, and be buried in their grave, like treasures in the Sepulchre of David. But this, which is a design of charity, must therefore not be done to any man's prejudice; and the mason of Herodotus, the king of Egypt, who kept secret his notice of the king's treasure, and when he was a dying told his son, betrayed his trust then when he should have kept it most sacredly for his own interest. In all other cases let thy charity out-live thee, that thou mayest rejoice in the mansion of rest, because by thy means: many living persons are eased or advantaged.

3. Let him make his will with great justice and piety, that is, that the right heirs be not defrauded for collateral respects, fancies, or indirect fondness; but the inheritances descend in their legal and due channel: and in those things where, we have a liberty, that we take the opportunity of doing virtuously, that is, of considering how God may be best served by our donatives or how the interest of any virtue may be promoted; in which we are principally to

regard the necessities of our nearest kindred and relatives, servants and friends.

4. Let the will or testament be made with ingenuity, openness, and plain expression, that he may not entail a law-suit upon his posterity and relatives, and make them lose their charity, or entangle their estates, or make them poorer by the gift. He hath done me no charity, but dies in my debt, that makes me sue for a legacy.

5. It is proper for the state of sickness, and an excellent anealing us to burial, that we give alms in this state, so burying treasures in our graves, that will not perish, but rise again in the resurrection of the just. Let the dispensation of our alms be as little intrusted to our exécutors as may be, excepting the lasting and successive portions; but with our own present care let us exercise the charity, and secure the Stewardship. It was a custom amongst the old Greeks, to bury horses, clothes, arms, and whatsoever was dear to the deceased person, supposing they might need them and that without clothes they should be found naked by their judges; and all the friends did use to bring gifts; by such liberality, thinking to promote the interest of their dead. But we may offer ourselves best of all; our doles and funeral meals, if they be our own early provisions, will then spend the better: and it is good to carry our passing penny in our hand, and by reaching that hand to the poor, make a friend in the everlasting habitations.