2. Thus leaven, the whole lump has leavened; Israel was guilty of what Achan did; And so must stand, until they purged are, Till Achan doth, for sin, his burden bear. The reason is, Achan a member was Of that great body, and by nature's laws, The hand, foot, eye, tongue, ear, or one of these, May taint the whole with Achan's foul disease. The church must too be sensible of this, Some lep'rous stones make all the house amiss: And as the stones must thence removed be, In order to the house's sanctity, So it must purged be (in any wise) Before 'tis counted clean (by sacrifice).

3. Next have a care, lest sin, which you should purge Becomes not unto you a farther scourge, The which it will, if such shall judges be, Which from its spots and freckles are not free; Pluck thou the beam first out of thine own eye, Else the condemned will thee vilify And say, let not the pot the kettle judge; If otherwise, it will beget a grudge, A great one 'twixt the church and him that sinned, Nor by such means, can ever such be winned To a renew'd embrace of holiness; More like be tempted further to transgress.

4. Again, let those that loud against it cry, See they don't entertain it inwardly; Sin, like to pitch, will to the fingers cleave, Look to it then, let none himself deceive; 'Tis catching; make resistances afresh, Abhor the garment spotted by the flesh. Some at the dimness of the candle puff, Who yet can daub their fingers with the snuff.

5. Beware, likewise, lest rancour should appear Against the person, do in all things fear: Bewail the man, while you abhor his sin; Pity his soul; the flesh you still are in; Thyself consider thou may'st tempted be, Hast thou no pity, who will pity thee?

6. See that the ground be good on which you go: Sin, but not virtue show dislike unto. Take heed of hypocritical intentions, And quarrel not at various apprehensions About some smaller matter, lest it breed Needless debates, and lest that filthy seed Contention, should o'errun your holy ground, And lest not love, but nettles there are found.

7. You must likewise allow each man his grains, For that none perfect are, sin yet remains, And human frailties do attend the best; To bear and forbear here, will tend to rest. Vain jangling, jars, and strifes will there abound, Where moles are mountains made, or fault is found, With every little, trivial, petty thing; This spirit snib, or 'twill much mischief bring Into this house, and 'tis for want of love, 'Tis entertain'd: it is not of the dove.

8. For those that have private opinions too We must make room, or shall the church undo: Provided they be such as don't impair Faith, holiness, nor with good conscience jar: Provided also those that hold them shall Such faith hold to themselves, and not let fall Their fruitless notions in their brother's way, Do this, and faith and love will not decay.

9. We must also in these our dealings shew We put a difference 'twixt those sins that do Clash with the light of nature, and what we Perceive against the faith of Christ to be. Those against nature, nature will detect; Those against faith, faith from them must direct The judgment, conscience, understanding too, Or there will be no cure, whate'er you do. When men are caught in immoralities, Nature will start, the conscience will arise To judgment; and if impudence doth recoil, Yet guilt, and self-condemnings will embroil The wretch concerned, in such unquietness Or shame, as will induce him to confess His fault, and pardon crave of God and man, Such men with ease therefore we conquer can.

But 'tis not thus with such as swerve in faith With them, who, as our wise Apostle saith, Entangled are at unawares, with those Cunning to trap, to snare, and to impose By falsifyings, their prevarications: No, these are slyly taken from their stations, Unknown to nature; yea, in judgment they Think they have well done to forsake the way. Their understanding, and their judgment too Doth like, or well approve of what they do. These are, poor souls, beyond their art and skill, Ta'en captive by the devil, at his will, Here therefore you must patience exercise, And suffer long, ye must not tyrannize It over such, but must all meekness shew; Still dropping of good doctrine as the dew, Against their error; so its churlishness You conquer will, and may their fault redress.

The reason why we must not exercise That roughness here, as where conviction lies In nature, is because those thus ensnared Want nature's light and help to be repair'd. A spirit hath them taken, they are gone, Delusions supernat'ral they're on The wing of; They are out o' th' reach of man Nothing but God, and gospel reach them can. Now since we cannot give these people eyes, Nor regulate their judgment, wherein lies, Our work with them, if not, as has been said, In exercising patience. While display'd The holy word before their faces is, By which alone they must see what's amiss With their poor souls, and so convert again, To him with whom salvation doth remain.

Obj. But they are turbulent, they would confound The truth, and all in their perdition drown'd.

Ans. If turbulent and mischievous they are, Imposing their opinions without care Who they offend, or do destroy thereby. Then must the church deal with them presently, Lest tainted be the whole with their delusion, And brought into disorder and confusion.

XI.

THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THOSE THUS DEALT WITH.

The man that worthily rejected is, And cast out of this house, his part in bliss Is lost for ever, turns he not again, True faith and holiness to entertain. Nor is it boot, for who are thus cast out, Themselves to flatter, or to go about To shift the censure; nothing here will do, Except a new conversion thou come to. He that is bound on earth, is bound in heaven, Nor is his loosing, but the sin forgiven; Repentance too, forgiveness must precede, Or thou must still abide among the dead.

XII.

AN EXPOSTULATION WITH SUCH TO RETURN.

O shame! Is't not a shame for men to be For sin, spu'd out from good society! For man enlightened to be so base! To turn his back upon the God of grace! For one who for his sins has mourn'd and cry'd, To slight him, who for sin hath bled and died! What fool would sell his part in paradise, That has a soul, and that of such a price? What parallel can suit with such so well, As those, for sin cast down from heaven to hell! But let me tell thee, here is aggravation; The angels, though they did fall from their station Had not the caution thou hast had; they fell; This thou hast seen, and seeing, didst rebel. One would a thought, the noise of this their fall, A warning; yea, a warning, and a call, Should unto thee have been, to have a care Of falling too: O how then didst thou dare, Since God did not spare them, thus to presume To tempt him in his wrath, thee to consume. Nor did the angels from a Jesus fall, Redeemed they were not, from a state of thrall; But thou! as one redeem'd, and that by blood, Redemption hast despised; and the mud Or mire of thine own filth again embracest: A dying bleeding Jesus thou disgracest! What wilt thou do? see's not how thou hast trod Under thy foot, the very Son of God? O fearful hand of God! And fearful will Thy doom be, when his wrath thy soul shall kill.

Yea, with a signal these must hear their sin, This dirty sow from mire has washed been, Yet there did wallow, after wash'd she was; So to procure a lust, obtain'd this loss. O shame! is't not a shame for man to be, So much averse to his felicity, That none can make him leave to play the fool, Till to the devil he be put to school, To learn his own salvation to prize?