ARTICLE II.—Directions for Prosecuting the Exercise V. When you have tried their knowledge, pro- VI. If they appear to be unconverted, make some prudent inquiry into their state Vil. Endeavour to impress their heart with a sense of their deplorable condition VIII. Conclude with an exhortation to them to IX. At dismissing them, mollify their minds by a few words deprecating anything like offence, and endeavour to engage the mas- ters of families to carry on the work you X. Keep a list of your people in a book, with XI. Through the whole course of the exercise, see that the manner as well as the matter XII. If God enable you, extend your charity to 1 To my Reverend and Dearly-beloved Brethren, the faithful Ministers of Christ, in BRITAIN and IRELAND, Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ be increased. REVEREND BRETHREN, THE subject of this Treatise so nearly concerneth yourselves, and the churches committed to your care, that it emboldeneth me to this address, notwithstanding the imperfections in the manner of handling it, and the consciousness of my great unworthiness to be your monitor. Before I come to my principal errand, I shall give you an account of the reasons of the following work, and of the freedom of speech I have used, which to some may be displeasing. * When the Lord had awakened his ministers in this county, and some neighbouring parts, to a sense of their duty in the work of catechizing, and private instruction of all in their parishes, who would not obstinately refuse their help, and when they had subscribed an agreement, containing their resolutions for the future performance of it, they judged it unmeet to enter upon the work, without a solemn humbling of their souls before the Lord, for their long neglect of so • Worcestershire. 40 B great and necessary a duty; and, therefore, they agreed to meet together at Worcester, December 4, 1655, and there to join in humiliation and in earnest prayer to God, for the pardon of our neglects, and for his special assistance in the work which we had undertaken, and for the success of it with the people whom we had engaged to instruct; at which time, among others, I was desired by them to preach. In compliance with their wishes, I prepared the following Discourse; which, though it proved longer than could be delivered in one or two sermons, yet I intended to have entered upon it at that time, and to have delivered that which was most pertinent to the occasion, and to have reserved the rest to another season. But, before the meeting, by the increase of my ordinary pain and weakness, I was disabled from going thither; to recompense which unwilling omission, I easily yielded to the request of divers of the brethren, forthwith to publish the things which I had prepared, that they might read that which they could not hear. If it be objected, that I should not have spoken so plainly and sharply against the sins of the ministry, or that I should not have published it to the view of the world; or, at least, that I should have done it in another tongue, and not in the ears of the vulgar; especially, at such a time, when Quakers and Papists are endeavouring to bring the ministry into contempt, and the people are too prone to hearken to their suggestions-I confess I thought the objection very considerable; but that it prevailed not to alter my resolution, is to be ascribed, among others, to the following reasons: 1. It was a proposed solemn humiliation that we agreed on, and that this was prepared and intended for. And how should we be humbled without a plain confession of our sin ? 2. It was principally our own sins that the confession did concern; and who can be offended with us for confessing our own sins, and taking the blame and shame to ourselves, which our consciences told us we ought to do? 3. Having necessarily prepared it in the English tongue, I had no spare time to translate it into Latin. 4. When the sin is open in the sight of the world, it is vain to attempt to hide it; all such attempts will but aggravate and increase our shame. 5. A free confession is a condition of a full remission; and when the sin is public, the confession should also be public. If the ministers of England had sinned only in Latin, I would have made shift to admonish them in Latin, or else have said nothing to them. But if they will sin in English, they must hear of it in English. Unpardoned sin will never let us rest or prosper, though we be at ever so much care and cost to cover it: our sin will out, though we find not it out. confession is purposely to make known our sin, and freely to take the shame to ourselves; and if "he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy," no wonder if "he that covereth them shall not prosper." If we be so tender of ourselves, and so loath to confess, God will be the less tender of us, and he will indite our confessions for us. He will either force our consciences surely find us The work of to confession, or his judgments shall proclaim our iniquities to the world. 6. Too many who have undertaken the work of the ministry, do so obstinately proceed in self-seeking, negligence, pride, and other sins, that it is become our necessary duty to admonish them. If we saw that such would reform without reproof, we would gladly forbear the publishing of their faults. But when reproofs themselves prove so ineffectual, that they are more offended at the reproof than at the sin, and had rather that we should cease reproving, than that themselves should cease sinning, I think it is time to sharpen the remedy. For what else should we do? To give up our brethren as incurable were cruelty, as long as there are further means to be used. "We must not hate them, but plainly rebuke them, and not suffer sin upon them." To bear with the vices of the ministry, is to promote the ruin of the church; for what speedier way is there for the depraving and undoing of the people, than the pravity of their guides ? And how can we more effectually further a reformation, than by endeavouring to reform the leaders of the church? For my part, I have done as I would be done by; and it is for the safety of the church, and in tender love to the brethren, whom I adventure to reprehendnot to make them contemptible and odious, but to heal the evils that would make them so, that so no enemy may find this matter of reproach among us. But, especially, because our faithful endea vours are of so great necessity to the welfare of the church, and the saving of men's souls, that it |