The blessedness of the righteous discoursed from Psal. 17, 15 /The blessednesse of the righteous discoursed from Psal. 17, 15 /

Obedience, where 'tis due but from one creature to another, carries its no small advantages with it, and conducibleness, to a pleasant, unsolicitous life. To be particularly prescribed to, in things about which our minds would otherwise be tossed with various apprehensions, anxious, uncertain thoughts; how great a privilege is it! I cannot forget a pertinent passage of an excellent person of recent memory. And (saith he) for pleasure I shall profess my self so far from doting on that popular Idol,¹ liberty, that I hardly think it possible for any kind of obedience to be more painful than an unrestrained liberty. Were there not true bounds of Magistrates, of Laws, of piety, of reason in the heart, every man would have a fool, I add, a mad Tyrant to his Master, that would multiply him more sorrows, than briars and thorns did to Adam, when •e was freed from the bliss at once and the restraint of Paradise; and was, sure, greater slave in the wilderness, than in the enclosure; would but the Scripture permit me that kind of Idolatry, the binding my faith, and obedience to any one visible infallible Judg or Prince, were it the Pope, or the Mufti, or the grand Tartar; might it be reconcilable with my Creed, it would be certainly with my interest, to ⟨p. 133⟩get presently into that posture of obedience: I should learn so much of the Barbarian Ambassadors in Appian, which came on purpose to the Romans to negotiate for leave to be their servants. 'Twould be my policy, if not my piety, and may now be my wish, though not my faith, that I might never have the trouble to deliberate, to dispute, to doubt, to choose (those so many profitless uneasinesses) but only the favour to receive commands, and the meekness to obey them. How pleasurable then must obedience be to the perfect will of the blessed God, when our wills shall also be perfectly attempered and conformed there unto!² Therefore are we taught, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. What is most perfect in its kind gives rule to the rest.

Obedience, where 'tis due but from one creature to another, carries its no small advantages with it, and conducibleness, to a pleasant, unsolicitous life. To be particularly prescribed to, in things about which our minds would otherwise be tost with various apprehensions, anxious, uncertain thoughts; how great a priviledge is it! I cannot forget a pertinent passage of an excellent person of recent memory. And (saith he) for pleasure I shall profess my self so far from doting on that popular Idol,