dence upon the Body, to refemble that of Senfe and Understanding. Now thefe Paflions are to be govern'd and regulated by the fame Rules and Laws that the Will is, as being only fo many forts of Wills as I faid before, arifing from or attended with a Bodily Commotion. But then because for that reafon they are the more fierce and violent, they are to be obferv'd and managed with the greater Care. Which the Prudent Chriftian will not neglect to ufe in the government of them, both for his own fake, and for the fake of others, confidering how much the Tranquility of his own Mind, and the peace of Society,and the Happinefs of Human life depend upon it. And withal, how many Follies, Diforders, and Extravagancies Men have been tranfported into by their mad and ungovern'd Paffions, fo as to do fuch things as they would never have done in cool Blood, and which they condemn and repent of as foon as they return to themselves.Our Prudent Chriftian therefore carries a very strict hand over his Paffions, and watches them with a very jealous Eye, placing a stronger guard over this weaker fide of his Nature. He knows that nothing is done well where they are either the Judges or the Executioners, and therefore he takes a more than ordinary Care to keep his Mind in good Temper, and will no more be drunk with Paffion than any other way, that fo having the free and full ufe and command of his Reafon, he may think, act, and speak according to the pure Dictates of it.

8. This

P

الله

8. This last Expreffion puts me in mind of another thing which every Prudent Christian must needs look upon as a confiderable part of his Self-government, and that without which all the reft is vain and ineffectual, and that is the Government of the Tongue. For fo fays St. James, If any man among you feem to be Religious,and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this mans Religion is vain, Jam. 1. 26. This therefore I fhould here confider as a diftinct part of that government which a Prudent Chriftian exercises over himself, but it having been already difcours'd at large in a particular Treatife upon that Subject, well known and in good esteem among us, I chufe rather to refer my Reader thither, while I go on to the confideration of the following Section.

SECT. IV.

How a Prudent Christian governs himself with respect to his Confcience.

I.

Onfcience I take to be a kind of Practical Judgment, not that Practical Judgment fo much spoken of in the Schools, which immediately precedes Action, orders the doing of it, and which the Will always neceffarily follows, but that Practical Judgment whereby a Man either directly judges of the Lawfulness of his doing fuch an Action, or reflects upon it and cenfures it when done, either in the way of Allowance

or Difallowance, according as the nature of the Action is found to be with relation to the Law of God. By which it appears, that tho' the Law of God be the Principal and Ultimate, yet Confcience is the Immediate Rule of our Actions, and that which is the next Guide and Director of Life, being like that Eye which our Saviour fpeaks of, Mat. 6. 22. if not the same with it, which if it be fingle, the whole Body fhall be full of Light, but if it be evil, it will be as full of Darkness, all Confufion and Difuniformity. And therefore whoever is a Wife and Prudent Christian will think himself under a particular Obligation and Concern to. take care of his Confcience, as a Traveller does of the Light whereby he is to walk, or as an Artist does of the Rule whereby he is to frame, shape and order his work. And this care of his Confcience he will exprefs,

2. First, By taking due Care to inform and inftruct his Confcience well in all the parts and points of his Duty, and that not only in general, but as far as he has opportunity, in particular Junctures and Circumstances,what we com. monly call the Cafes of Confcience. For confidering that Confcience is the Immediate Rule of his Actions, and that even the Law of God himself cannot affect or influence him any otherwife than by the Mediation and Application of his Confcience, he thinks it of the highest Neceffity and Importance that this his Rule fhould it felf be right, fo as not to need a further regulation,

fince if it be wrong, all that he acts by that Rule will be wrong too. And then as our Saviour says, if the Light that is in thee be Darkness, how great is that Darkness! How great indeed, fince it causes Error, Disorder, and Confusion in the whole Body. For tho' a Man be bound to follow a Mistaken or Erring Conscience, and cannot (while so perfwaded) innocently act against it, nay, and may do it fincerely too, provided he was not wanting in his Endeavours to inform it right,yet however 'tis alfo certain that in such a Cafe he goes out of the right way to his End, tranfgreffes his Duty (which is to be measured by the Law of God, and not by his perswasion) and does that which is materially and in it felf Sinful, and which will be fo alfo formally and to him too, if 'twas through his Fault or Negligence that his Confcience was no better inform'd. And therefore the Prudent Chriftian will be fure to give all diligence to inform his Confcience aright in the full extent of his Christian Duty, that fo he may neither act wrong, nor be accountable for not knowing what was right.Thofe who unhappily feparate from our Communion, and pretend Confcience for their doing fo, would do well to confider this, whether laying afide all Interest, Paffion, and Prejudice, and examining nothing but the Merits of the Cause they have taken a due Care to inform their Confciences aright (fince a Man may fin by following his Confcience as well as by acting against it, and that too imputably, if it was mistaken for want

of Care to inform it better) or whether without fo much as fetting themfelves to inquire into the matter, but only following the Impreffions of their Education, or other Prejudices, or not inquiring fo fully and impartially as they ought, they have taken up a Fancy or a Humour to divide from us, and break the Peace and Unity of the Church. If they manage themselves according to the first way, then they act fincerely, and are truly Confcientious Diffenters, whofe Cafe I acknowledge deserves our Pity rather than our Cenfure. But if according to the other way,I cannot think them either fuch Prudent Chriftians, or fuch Honest Men as I could wish them, nor fuch Confcientious Diffenters as they profefs themselves.

3. After due Means and Endeavours used for the neceffary Information and Inftruction of his Confcience in all parts of Chriftian Duty, the next Inftance of his Care of it will be to live and act up to it, and according to its Dictates, and not in any thing to go against the Light of his Mind. This indeed is a Duty which a Man always owes to his Confcience, even to a miftaken one, never to act contrary to it, by doing that which he thinks ought not to be done when he does it, tho' he is mifperfwaded in fo thinking. And to act otherwife is not to act fincerely. But yet as a Man is bound to follow his Confcience, fo he is as much bound to take care it be well inform'd, that fo he may act fincerely, not only with regard to his prefent perfwafion, but upon the whole, and do that which by the Law

?

of