the Scriptures of above three or four whom roaring Despair overthrew but secure Presumption hath sent millions to perdition without any noise As therefore the Damosels of Israel sang in their Dances Saul hath killed his thousands and David his ten thousands so may I say that despair of God's mercy hath damned thousands but the presumption of God's mercy hath damned ten thousands and sent them quick to Hell where now they remain in eternal torments without all help or ease or hope of redemption God spared the Thief but not his fellow God spared one that no Man might despair God spared but one that no Man should presume Joyful assurance to a Sinner that repents no comfort to him that remains impenitent God is infinite in mercy but to them only who turn from their sins to serve him in holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. To keep thee therefore from the hinderance of presumption remember that as Christ is a Saviour so Moses is an Accuser Live therefore as though there were no Gospel die as though there were no Law Pass thy life as though thou wert under the conduct of Moses depart this life as if thou knewest none but Christ and him crucified Presume not if thou wilt not perish Repent if thou wilt be saved The fifth hinderance of Pieâ—y 5. Evil company commonly term'd good fellows but indeed the Devil 's chief instruments to hinder a wretched Sinner from repentance and Piety The first sign of God's favour to a Sinner is to give him grace to forsake evil companions such who wilfully continue in sin contemn the means of their Calling gibing at the sincerity of profession in others and shaming Christian Religion by their own prophane lives These sit in the seat of the scorners For as soon as God admits a sinner to be one of his People he bids him Come out of Babylon Every lewd company is a Babylon out of which let every child of God either keep himself or if he be in think that he hears his Father's voice sounding in his ears Come out of Babylon my child As soon as Christ looked in mercy upon Peter he went out of the company that was in the High-Priest's Hall and wept bitterly for his offence David vowing upon recovery a new life said Away from me all ye workers of iniquity c. As if it were impossible to become a new man till he had shaken off all old ill Companions The truest proof of a man's Religion is the quality of his companions Prophane companions are the chief enemies of Piety and quellers of holy motions Many a time is poor Christ offering to be new born in thee thrust into the Stable when these lewd companions by their drinking plays and jests take up all the best Rooms in the Inn of thy heart Oh let not the company of earthly sinners hinder thee from the Society of heavenly Saints and Angels The sixth hindrance of Piety 6. A conceited fear least the practice of Piety should make a Man especially a young Man to wax too sad and pensive whereas indeed none can better joy nor have more cause to rejoyce than pious and religious Christians For as soon as they are justified by faith they have peace with God than which there can be no greater joy Besides they have already the Kingdom of grace descended into their hearâ—s as an assurance that in God's good time they shall ascend into his Kingdom of glory This Kingdom of grace consists in three things First Righteousness for having Christ's righteousness to justifie them before God they endeavour to live righteously before men Secondly Peace for the peace of conscience inseparably followeth a righteous conversation Thirdly the joy of the Holy Ghost which joy is only felt in the peace of a good conscience and is so great that it passeth all understanding No tongue can express it no heart can conceive it but only he that feels it This is that fulness of joy which Christ promised his Disciples in the midst of their troubles a joy that no man could take from them The feeling of this joy David upon his repentance begged so earnestly at the hands of God Restore me to the joy of thy salvation And if the Angels in Heaven rejoyce so much at the conversion of a sinner the joy of a sinner converted must needs be exceeding great in his own heart It is worldly sorrow that snows so timely upon men's heads and fills the furrows of their hearts with the sorrows of death The godly sorrow of the Godly when God thinks it meet to try them causeth in them repentance not to be repented of for it doth but further their salvation and in all such tribulation they shall be sure to have the Holy Ghost to be their Comforter who will make our consolation to abound through Christ as the sufferings of Christ shall abound in us but whilest a man liveth in impiety he hath no peace saith Esay his laughter is but madness saith Solomon his riches are but clay saith Habbakkuk nay the Apostle accounts them no better than dung in comparison of the pious man's treasure all his joys shall end in woes saith Christ. Let not therefore this false fear hinder thee from the practice of Piety Better it is to go sickly with Lazarous to Heaven than full of mirth and pleasure with Dives to Hell Better it is to mourn for a time with men than to be tormented for ever with Devils The seventh hindrance of Piety 7. And lastly the hope of long life for were it possible that a wicked liver thought this year to be his last year this month his last month this week his last week but that he would change and amend his wicked life no verily he would use the best means to repent and to become a new man But as the rich man in the Gospel promised himself many years to live in mirth ease and fulness when he had not one night to live longer so many wicked Epicures falsly promise themselves the age of many years when the thread of their life is already almost drawn out to an end So Jeremy ascribes the cause of the Jews sins and calamities to this that she remembered not her last end The longest space betwixt a man's coming by the womb and going by the grave is but short for man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live He hath but a few days and those full of nothing but troubles And except the Practice of Piety how much better is the state of the child that yesterday was baptized and to day is buried than Methusalem's who lived nine hundred sixty nine years and then died of the two happier the Babe because he had less sin and fewer sorrows And what now remains of both but
A Publick Fast is when by the Authority of the Magistrate either the whole Church within his Dominion or some special Congregation whom it concerneth do assemble themselves together to perform the forementioned duties of Humiliation either for the removing of some publick calamity threatned or already inflicted upon them as the sword invasion famine pestilence or other fearful sickness or else for the obtaining of some publick blessing for the good of the Church as to crave the assistance of his holy Spirit in the election and ordination of fit and able Pastors c. or for the tryal of Truth and execution of Justice in matters of difficulty and great importance c. When any evil is to be removed the Pastors are to lay open unto the People by the evidence of God's Word the sins which were the special causes of that Calamity call upon them to repent and publish unto them the mercies of God in Christ upon their Repentance The People must hear the Voice of God's Messengers with hearty sorrow for their sins earnestly beg pardon in Christ and promise unfeigned amendment of their life When any blessing is to be obtained the Pastors must lay open to the People the necessity of that blessing and the goodness of God who giveth such graces for the good of Men. The people must devoutly pray unto God for bestowing of that grace and that he would bless his own means to his own glory and the good of his Church And when the holy Exercise is done let every Christian have a special care according to his ability to remember the poor And whosoever when just occasion is offered useth not this holy Exercise of Fasting he may justly suspect that his heart never yet felt the power of true Christianity So much of Fasting Now followeth the exercise of holy Feasting Of the Practice of Piety in Holy Feasting HOLY Feasting is a solemn Thanksgiving appointed by Authority to be rendred unto God on some special day for some extraordinary blessings or deliverances received Such among the Jews was the Feast of the Passover to remember to praise God for their deliverance out of Egypt's bondage or the Feast of Purim to give thanks for their deliverance from Haman's conspiracy Such amongst us are the fifth of August to praise God for delivering our Gracious King from the bloody conspiracy of the traiterous Gowries And the fifth of November to praise God for the deliverance of the King and the whole State from the Popish Gun-powder Treason Such Feasts are to be celebrated by a publick rehearsal of those special benefits by spiritual Psalms and Dances by mutual feasting and sending presents every man to his Neighbour and by giving gifts to the poor But forasmuch as the benefit of our Redemption was the greatest that Man needed from God or that God ever bestowed upon Man and that the Lord's-Supper is left by our Redeemer as the chiefest memorial of our Redemption every Christian should account this holy Supper his chiefest and joyfullest Feast in this World And seeing that as it ministreth to worthy partakers the greatest assurance which they have of their salvation so it pulleth temporal judgments on the Bodies and without repentance eternal damnation on the Souls of them who receive it unworthily Let us see how a Christian may best sit himself to be a due partaker of so holy a feast and to be a worthy Guest at so sacred a Supper Meditations concerning the due manner of practising Piety in receiving the Holy Supper of the Lord. THough no man living is of himself worthy to be a Guest at so holy a Banquet yet it pleaseth God of his grace to accept him for a worthy receiver who endeavoureth to receive that holy mystery with that competent measure of reverence that he hath prescribed in his Word He that would receive this holy Sacrament with due reverence must conscionably perform three sorts of duties First those which are to be done before he receiveth Secondly those that are to be done in the receiving Thirdly those that are to be done after that he hath received the Sacrament The first is called Preparation the second Meditation the third Action or Practice Of Preparation That a Christian ought necessarily to prepare himself before he presume to be a partaker of the holy Communion may evidently appear by five Reasons First Because it is God's Commandment For if he commanded under the pain of death that none uncircumcised should eat the Paschal Lamb nor any circumcised under four days preparation how much greater preparation doth he require of him that comes to receive the Sacrament of his Body and Blood which as it succeedeth so doth it exceed by many degrees the Sacrament of the Passover Secondly Because the Examples of Christ teacheth us so much for he washed his Disciples Fâ—et before he admitted them to eat of this Supper signifying how thou shouldest lay aside all unpureness of heart and uncleanness of life and be furnished with humility and charity before thou presumest to taste of this holy Supper Thirdly because it is the counsel of the Holy Ghost Let every man examine himself and so let him eat c. And if a man when he is to eat with an earthly Prince must consider diligently what is before him and put a Knife to his Throat rather than commit any Rudeness how much more oughtest thou to prepare thy soul that thou mayest behave thy self with all fear and reverence when thou art to feast at the holy Table of the Prince of Princes Fourthly Because it hath been ever the practice of all GOD's Saints to use holy preparation before they would meddle with divine Mysteries David would not go near to God's Altar till he had first washed his hands in innocency much less shouldest thou without due preparation approach to the Lord's Table Abimelech would not give nor David and his Men would not eat the Shew-bread but on condition that their Vessels were holy How much less should'st thou presume to eat the Lord's Bread or rather the Bread which is the Lord unless the Vessel of thy heart be first cleansed by repentance And if the Lord required Joshua as he had done Moses before to put off his shooes in reverence of his Holiness who was present in that place where he appeared with his sword in his hand for the destruction of his Enemies how much rather should'st thou put off all the affections of thine earthly conversation when thou comest near that place where CHRIST appeareth to the Eye of thy Faith with Wounds in his hands and side for the Redemption of his Friends And for this cause it is said That the Lamb's Wife hath made her self ready for the marriage Prepare therefore thy self if thou wilt in this life be betrothed unto Christ by Sacramental Grace or in Heaven married unto him by Eternal Glory Fifthly
Israelites to convey them to Canaan's possession so death to the wicked is a sink to hell and condemnation but to the godly the gate to everlasting life and salvation And one day of a blessed death will make amends for all the sorrows of a bitter life When therefore thou perceivest thy soul departing from thy body pray with thy Tongue if thou canst else pray in thy heart and mind these words fixing the eyes of thy soul upon Jesus Christ thy Saviour A Prayer at the yielding up of the Ghost O Lamb of God which by thy blood hast taken away the sins of the world have mercy upon me a sinner Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Amen When the sick party is departing let the faithful that are present kneel down and commend his soul to God in these or the like words O Gracious God and merciful Father who art our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble lift up the light of thy favourable countenance at this Instant upon thy servant that now cometh to appear in thy presence wash away good Lord all his sins by the merits of Christ Jesus's blood that they may never be laid to his charge Increase his faith preserve and keep safe his soul from the danger of the Devil and his Wicked Angels Comfort him with thy Holy Spirit cause him now to feel that thou art his loving Father and that he is thy child by Adoption and Grace Save O Christ the price of thine own blood and suffer him not to be lost whom thou hast bought so dearly Receive his soul as thou didst the penitent thief into thy heavenly Paradise Let thy blessed Angels conduct him thither as they carried the soul of Laâ—arus and grant unto him a joyful resurrection at the last day O Father hear us for him and hear thine own Son our only Mediator that sits at thy right hand for him and us all even for the merits of that bitter death and passion which he hath suffered for us In confidence whereof we now recommend his soul into thy fatherly hands in that blessed Prayer which our Saviour hath taught us in all times of our troubles to say unto thee Our Father c. Thus far of the Practice of Piety in dying in the Lord. Now followeth the Practice of Piety in dying for the Lord. THE Practice of Piety in dying for the Lord is termed Martyrdom Martyrdom is the testimony which a Christian beareth to the Doctrine of the Gospel by enduring any kind of death to invite many and to confirm all to embrace the truth thereof To this kind of death Christ hath promised a Crown Be thou faithful unto the death and I will give thee the Crown of life Which promise the Church so firmly believed that they termed martyrdom it self a Crown And God to animate Christians to this excellent prize would by a prediction that Stephen the first Christian Martyr should have his name of a Crown Of Martyrdom there are Three kinds 1. Solâ voluntate in will only as John the Evangelist who being boiled in a Cauldron of Oil came out rather annointed than sod and died of old age at Ephesus 2. Solo opere in deed only as the Innocents of Bethlehem 3. Voluntate opere both in will and deed as in the Primitive Church Stephen Polycarpus Ignatius Laurentius Romanus Antiochianus and thousands And in our days Cranmer Latimer Hooper Ridley Farrar Bradford Philpot Sanders Glover Taylor and others innumerable whose fiery zeal to God's Truth brought them to the flames of Martyrdom to seal Christ's Faith It is not the cruelty of the death but the innocency and holiness of the cause that maketh a Martyr Neither is an erroneous Conscience a sufficient warrant to suffer Martyrdom because Science in God's Word must direct Conscience in man's heart For they who killed the Apostles in their erroneous Consciences thought they did God good service and Paul of zeal breathed out slaughters against the Lord's Saints Now whether the cause of our Seminary Priests and Jesuits be so holy true and innocent as that it may warrant their Conscience to suffer death and to hazard their eternal salvation thereon let Paul's Epistle written to the ancient Christian Romans but against our new Antichristian Romans be judge And it will plainly appear that the Doctrine which St. Paul taught to the ancient Church of Rome is ex diametro opposite in 26 fundamental points of true Religion to that which the new Church of Rome teacheth and maintaineth For St. Paul taught the Primitive Church of Rome 1. That our Election is of God's free Grace and not ex operibus praevisis Rom. 9. 11. Rom. 11. 5 6. 2. That we are justified before God by faith only without good works Rom. 3. 20 28. Rom. 4. 2 c. Rom. 1. 17. 3. That the good works of the regenerate are not of their own condignity meritorious nor such as can deserve Heaven Rom. 8. 18. Rom. 11. 6. Rom. 6. 23. 4. That these Books only are God's Oracles and Canonical Scripture which were committed to the custody and credit of the Jews Rom. 3. 2. Rom. 1. 2. Rom. 16. 26. such were never the Apocrypha 5. That the Holy Scriptures have God's authority Rom. 9. 17. Rom. 3. 4. Rom. 11. 32. conferred with Gal. 3. 22. Therefore above the authority of the Church 6. That all as well Laity as Clergy that will be saved must familiarly read or know the Holy Scripture Rom. 15. 4. Rom. 10. 1 2 8. Rom. 16. 26. 7. That all Images made of the true God are very Idols R. 1. 23. R. 2. 22. conferr'd 8. That to bow the knee religiously to an Image or to worship any Creature is meer Idolatry R. 11. 4. and a lying service R. 1. 25. 9. That we must not pray unto any but to God only in whom we believe Rom. 10. 13 14. Rom. 8. 15 27. therefore not to Saints and Angels 10. That Christ is our only intercessor in Heaven Rom. 8. 34 Rom. 5. 2 Rom. 16. 27. 11. That the only Sacrifice of Christians is nothing but the spiritual Sacrificing of their souls and bodies to serve God in holiness and righteousness R. 12. 1 R. 15. 16. therefore no real sacrificing of Christ in the Mass. 12. That the religious worship called dulia as well as latria belongeth to God alone Rom. 1. 9. Rom. 12. 11. R. 16. 18. conferr'd 13. That all Christians are to pray unto God in their own native language R. 14. 11. 14. That we have not of our selves in the state of corruption free will unto good Rom. 7. 18 c. Rom. 9. 16. 15. That Concupiscence in the regenerate is sin Rom. 7. 7 8 10. 16. That the Sacraments do not confer grace ex opere operato but sign and seal that â—t is conferred already unto us Rom. 4. 11 12. Rom. 2. 28 29. 17. That every
true believing Christian may in this life be assured of his salvation Rom. 8. 9 16 35 c. 18. That no man in this life since Adam's fall can perfectly fulfil the Commandments of God Rom. 7. 10 c. Rom. 3. 19 c. Rom. 11. 32. 19. That to place Religion in the difference of meats and days is superstition Rom. 14. 3. 5 6 17 23. 20. That the imputed righteousness of Christ is that only that makes us just before God Rom. 4. 9 17 23. 21. That Christ's flesh was made of the Seed of David by Incaâ—nation not of a Wafer Cake by Transubstantiation Rom. 1. 3. 22. That all true Christians are Saints and not those whom the Pope only doth Canonize Rom. 1. 7. Rom 8. 27. Rom. 15. 31. Rom. 16. 2. and 15. Rom. 15. 25. 23. That Ipse Christ the God of Peace and not Ipsa the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head Rom. 16. 20. 24. That every soul must of conscience be subject and pay Tribute to the higher powers that is the magistrates which bear the Sword Rom. 13. 1 2. c. and therefore the Pope and all Prelates must be subject to their Emperors Kings and Magistrates unless they will bring damnation upon their souls as Traitors that resist God and his Ordinance Rom. 13. 2. 25. That Paul not Peter was ordained by the grace of God to be the chief Apostle of the Gentiles and consequently of Rome the chief City of the Gentiles Rom. 15. 15 16 19 20 c. Rom 11. 14. Rom. 16. 4. 26. That the Church of Rome may err and fall away from the true Faith as well as the Church of Jerusalem or any other particular Church Rom. 11. 20 21 22. And seeing the new upstart Church of Rome teacheth in all these and in innumerable other points clean contrary to that which the Apostle taught the Primitive Romans let God and this Epistle judge betwixt them and us whether of us both stands in the true ancient Catholick Faith which the Apostle taught the old Romans And whether we have not done well to depart from them so far as they have departed from the Apostles Doctrine And whether it be not better to return to St. Paul's Truth than still to continue in Rome's Error And if this be true then let Jesuites and Seminary Priests take heed and fear lest it be not faith but faction not truth but treason not Religion but Rebellion beginning at Tiber and ending at Tyburn which is the cause of their deaths And being sent from a troublesome Apostatical See rather than from a peaceable Apostolical Seat because they cannot be suffered to perswade Subjects to break their Oaths and to withdraw their Allegiance from their Sovereign to raise Rebellion to move Invasion to stab and poison Queens to kill and murther Kings to blow up whole States with Gun powder they desperately cast away their own bodies to be hanged quartered and their souls saved if they belong to God I wish such honour to all his Saints that sends them And I have just cause to fear that the miracles of Lipsius's Two Ladies Blunstone's Boy Garnet's Straw and the Maid's fiery Apron will not suffice to clear that these men are not Murtherers of themselves rather than Martyrs of Christ. And with what conscience can any Papist count Garnet a Martyr when his own conscience forced him to conâ—ess that it was for Treason and not for Religion that he died But if the Priests of such a Gunpowder Gospel be Martyrs I marvel who are Murtherers if they be Saints who are Scythians who are Canibals if they be Catholicks But leaving these if they will be filthy to their filthiness still let us to whose fidelity the Lord hath committed his true faith as a precious depositum pray unto God that we 〈◊〉 lead a holy life answerable to our holy faith in piety to Christ and obedience to oâ—r King that if our Saviour shall ever count us worthy that honour to suffer Martyrdom for his Gospel's sake be it by open burning at the stake as in Q. Mary's days or by secret murthering as in the Inquisition-house or by outragious massacring as in the Parisians Mattens in being blown up with Gun-powder as was intended in the Parliament-House we may have grace to pray for the assistance of his holy Spirit so to strengthen our frailty and to defend his cause as that we may seal with our deaths the evangelical truth which we have professed in our lives That in the days of our lives we may be blessed by his word in the day of Death be blessed in the Lord and in the day of judgment be the blessed of his Father Even so grant Lord Jesus Amen A Divine Colloquy betwixt the Soul and her Saviour concerning the effectual merits of his dolorous Passion Soul LOrd wherefore didst thou wash thy Disciples feet Christ To teach thee how thou shouldest prepare thy self to come to my Supper S. Lord why would'st thou wash them thy self C. To teach thee humility if thou wilt be my Disciple S. Lord wherefore didst thou before thy death institute thy last Supper C. That thou mightest the better remember my death and be assured that all the merits thereof are thine S. Lord wherefore would'st thou go to such a place where Judas knew to find thee C. That thou mightest know that I went as willingly to suffer for thy sin as ever thou wentest to any place to commit a sin S. Lord wherefore would'st thou begin thy passion in a Garden C. Because that in a Garden thy sin took first beginning S. Lord wherefore did thy three select Disciples fall so fast asleep when thou beganst to fall into thy agony C. To shew that I alone wrought the work of thy Redemption S. Lord why were there so many plots and snares laid for thee C. That I might make thee to escape all the snares of thy Ghostly Hunter S. Lord why would'st thou suffer Judas betraying thee to kiss thee C. That by enduring the words of dissembling Lips I might there begin to expiate sin where 〈◊〉 find brought it into the world S. Lord why would'st thee be sold for thiâ—ty pieces of Silver C. That I might free thee from perpetual bondage S. Lord why didst thou pray with such strâ—ng crying and tears C. That I might 〈◊〉 the fury of God's Justice which was so fiercely kindled against thee S. Lord why wast thou so afraid and cast â—nto such an Aâ—â—ny C. That 〈◊〉 the â—rath due to thy sins thou mightest be more secure in thy deâ—â—h and 〈◊〉 more comfort in thy crosse S. Lord wherâ—fâ—re 〈…〉 and so earnestly 〈…〉 〈◊〉 thee C. That 〈…〉 the horrour of that curseâ—◠〈…〉 being due to thy sin I was 〈…〉 and endure for thee S. Lord wherefore didst thou after 〈◊〉 wish submit thy will unto