Gentlemen-good-fellows to Whether this be a Forgery or Slaunder I appeal to the Experience of the respective Counties where they reside I intend not the Innocent in this accusation wherefore none but the Guilty have Reason to be angry and they as little as any Why should an honest Citizen be displeas'd to hear another say There are many Knaves in the City But if it be grievous to them to hear of their faults their Drunkenness Swearing and such like Loosness let them think what it is to commit them How loudly did God cry Who will rise up for me against the evil doers Or Who will stand up for me against the workers of Iniquity And because none would hearken God himself hath brought upon men their own iniquity and cut them off in their wickedness Psal 94. 16 23. Had our Justices and all Magistrates been as careful to prevent the Contagion of Sin in themselves their Families and Jurisdictions as they are to hinder the spreading of the Infection this latter Labour might happily have been spared them And now I am speaking of Rulers and Men of Place and Honour here give me leave sadly to lament it That the Nobility and Gentry of our Land the Major part of them are arrived to such an height of Prophaneness that they as being by their Advancements more Conspicuous than others are most Infamous for the several Vices we have mentioned Oh where are the hop't for fruits of those Sufferings many of them have past through Do they not demean themselves as if they were delivered to do all these Abominations Are they not too like that King Ahaz who being afflicted grew worse and worse Have they taken such a prejudice against the Word Reformation that they hate the very thing too and the least appearance of it What do they recoil with greater eagerness to their vicious courses as having been under a restraint for a while Are they resolved not to be behind hand in sin for all that Or do they think to revenge themselves of God for the afflictions they have lain under Or did they think themselves now so secure that without all danger they might provoke the most High God Why you poor impudent Worms do you know whom you have reproached Against whom you have exalted your voice and lift up your eyes on high even against the Holy One of Israel Why you Sotrish Sons of Belial did you think a title or place of Honour would dispense with you for your Rebellions against the Almighty Ruler of the World Who hath stood by you and observed all your contempt of Him and his Laws and hath hitherto spared you out of Pity not Fear What because you could proudly insult and domineer over your Fellow-creatures did you think to Out-brave God himself What did you think a Feather in your Caps or a Ruffling Suit for which Fools look at you with so much Reverence would procure his Respect Did you think he would be more tender of your Delicacies than to Treat you so roughly as he doth inferiour Sinners Did you imagine when he sent his Messengers to seize you when he should Commission either Death or the Devil to lay hold on you that you should fright them away with Swearing and Banning and Damming Or with your Swords and Pistols as you were wont to serve the Serjeants that came to Arrest you Did you imagine you had made an agreement with Death and Hell that they should never swallow you up Or that your Submissions to the Devil had made him so much your Friend that he would not hurt you At length I beseech you be convinc t of your mistakes and humbled for your folly and be perswaded to believe That the strictest Holinesse is no dishonour to your Greatnesse nor think that your Interest which contradicts it Oh be not so monstrously vile to abuse Gods bounty so as to make it but an help to your sinning against him with more freedom and constancy Make not your Estates snares to your Souls by mispending them only in gratifying your Lusts Appetite and Pride but improve them for the Honour and according to the intention of the Donor that they may not become such an accursed portion to you that at length you should hear the cutting answer given to one of your Predecessors In thy Life-time thou didst receive thy good things Nor let any of our Great Ones please themselves with a conceit That they are not the Persons eminently instrumental in bringing down Judgments upon us because as yet they are freest from the same as having the conveniencies of removing themselves from that stroke which lights most upon the Meaner Sort for we may frequently find in Scripture That the sins of the Great Ones have brought Sufferings upon the Commonalty who also in their place and measure have been as wicked as others And withall let them not be too confident till they are past all danger till their Harness is put of or rather till God hath laid down his Sword If these Judgments reach them not God hath yet more in store for the obstinate and if they escape all here yet if at length they are cast into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone they 'l have little cause for boasting Since then our Great Men like those Jer. 5. 5. Though they have known the way of the Lord yet have altogether broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds My prayer is that they may not do as those v. 3. Who when they were stricken did not grieve but refused to receive correction and made their faces harder than a flint and refused to return lest God execute on them those threatnings you may read at large ver 6. Oh that they may receive instruction in time before they feel that Iron Rod which will dash in pieces all it lights on and comes too late to teach them any thing but what will aggravate their torment 11. I am verily perswaded had this Plague befal'n us Three or Fourscore Years ago and had Popery been as rife then as now it is with us this would not have been accounted one of the least procuring causes by the most sober Divines of the Nation except this be grown a more innocent thing than formerly and the Idolatry of it distinguish t away by latter wits or else Idolatry be grown less offensive to God than heretofore we may take the boldness to say That the Licence its Professors have had or have taken to exercise the same is one of the Abominations of our Land provoking to a God jealous of his Worship Reason of State is an Abysse which it becomes not short-sighted Subjects to pry into but if the pretence of this induce any thing contrary to the interest of Religion he that hath imbib'd but the very principles of Christianity may confidently pronounce the deepest Politicians that advise it Stark Fools The resolution and constancy of pious Prince Edward England's Josiah in denying Liberty for Mass to his
Satan to God Even the turning the bent of mens hearts and lives from sin and the creature to God by Jesus Christ and to the ways of Holinesse let them be of what opinion they will as to the several forms and modes amongst us Oh how many fewer Drunkards Swearers Whoremongers Oppressors and Cheaters might there have been amongst us had they had their liberty to have preached down these sins whose only study and businesse it was to decry and shame them and bring men from the love and practice of them How many more might there have been who as true mourners in our Zion would have been humbled for their own and the Nations sins and laboured by all means to have prevented Gods wrath had they in all places enjoyed those means for their Conversion which they sometimes did and might yet have done If then the multitudes of provoking sinners and the scarcity of humble holy praying Christians have been any ground of our sufferings can it be doubted whether that which hath been so much the cause of those hath done any thing to the procuring of these Oh for the Lords sake bethink your selves all you that are concerned Was it just and equal Dealing when the Prince of Darkness was advanc'd with all his might into the Field then to Disband and put out of Commission so many experienced Leaders that in their own Persons and by encouraging and guiding the several Companies would have done their best to resist him Did you herein consult the pleasure of the great Captain of our Salvation from whom you own your selves to have received your Offices only for the successful carrying on of his Designs and the fighting of his Battels Nay and all this you have done because they submitted not to some things which you your selves call Indifferent and which they believed were contrary to the former Instructions they had received from their Lord and Master Judge in your Consciences Do you think it is more acceptable to Christ that the Souls of men whom he thought worth his precious Hearts-blood should perish rather than some Ceremony or Injunction of yours be omitted Did he ever in his Actions or Doctrine manifest such a contempt of Souls and such an esteem for a Ceremony Consider his Life and Death and read his Discourses to the Pharisees and then judge Are Salvation and Damnation Indifferent things And shall they be less regarded than such Oh how will you compensate for the Disservice you have already done to the Gospel It is not all your Revenues can do it though your Repentance and Reformation of such miscarriages for the future may do much Be not offended with my freedom of speech for God is my Witness I speak not out of passion nor a desire to make you odious but out of a just zeal for the Cause of our dearest Lord and the Concern of mens Immortal souls What amends will you ever be able to make to the poor Creatures who may now be tormented in Hell for want of those means of prevention which you deprived them of Though they may have had those other advantages which may leave them inexcusable before God yet how will you excuse the denying them the best you might have afforded You may deride storm at on contemn these expoftulations of a poor Worm like your selves but consider I beseech you What answer you will make the great Judge of Heaven and Earth who will come shortly in Glory and Power to plead his own and his Peoples Cause when he will regard no man for the pompous Titles he hath had or great Offices he hath born in his Church for then well fare the Pope and his Clergy but they who have done and taught his Commands let them be of never such diminutive titles and esteem here shall be accounted Great in his Kingdom And That That 's our comfort by his Word we shall be judged at last if here we may not be tried by it Then we shall all stand on equal terms and the arbitrary determinations of frail men shall no more take place but there abide an Inquisition To that Bar we appeal by that judgment let us stand or fall thither we refer our selves and if we may not be heard here we will patiently and chearfully wait that final just decision of our Cause But now hear for your own sakes at least if neither our beseechings and tears nor the cry and blood of souls may be regarded Do you think this is a slight matter And that you can easily shift it off if they be required at your hands Did Christ die for souls shall they escape who murder them And do they do any less who hinder those that would run to help and save them If the silent Watchman be so damnably guilty what are they that silence the Watchmen To conclude Whether it had not been more acceptable to God more correspondent to your Commission more beseeming your Places and Profession more for the advancement of Religion and the eternal Welfare of Souls to have continued and encouraged faithful Labourers in the Vineyard of the Lord whose only delight was to be employed in his Service rather than to have offered them such terms which Christ never bid you and then exclude them for not accepting those terms I think your own Consciences may easily determine now be sure the Lord of the Vineyard will shortly 2. Another Effect of their removal from the Ministry is that many Places are left destitute and many are supplied with negligent insufficient scandalous men Had their rooms been fill'd with others as learned pious and industrious as they yet could they who cast them forth hardly evade the former charge except they could manifest that the Harvest was not great enough to have required all their utmost conjunct diligence But it is beyond all contradiction evident That in many Places since their removal there have been no Ministers at all in some as bad as none in others worse than none Let none maliciously interpret my Accusation largelier than I design it which is not at all of the innocent I censure no man as a Conformist but reverence and esteem all those who by their Lives and Doctrines have apparently endeavoured to advance Religion of which number I am confident there are many Conformable men And I abhor that uncharitable censorious Spirit which condemns all that are not just of their own Way But on the other side I think all are engag'd to be as far from palliating the notorious miscarriages of others Oh how many titular Ministers have we got that are far from deserving the name of Christians That should rather be turned out of the Church than admitted into the Pulpit This is so manifest That Sober men though of their own way acknowledge and lament it How many are there that more effectually preach for the Devil all the Week than for God upon his Day whose lives do more to set up Profaneness than their Sermons to
room of a Submission to them accept of any the most Solemn Engagements from those who will enter into them that they will not disturb the Peace either of Church or State And if you find any acting contrarily proceed against them as you please Let the World judge what reasonable offers we make Is it our obedience to Authority you would have us manifest Why let our Submission in all other things speak for us Or lay on us what commands you will in Civil things or in any thing that may be no snare to our Consciences and by them prove whether we be obstinate or not In a word Will you accept our Promises Bonds Oaths or what assurance can be desired That we will labour in all things to act most agreeably to the Gospel of our Lord which we all own as a sufficient Rule And that we will not allow our selves in any prejudice humour or perversness but in all things though we would not be made one a Rule to another in matters that will well allow diversity will comply with you so far as possibly we can without danger of displeasing God and damning of our own Souls And surely you have more tenderness than to desire us to do such things I am bold thus to speak in others names though not one be privy to my Work because I am perswaded there are few but will do thus much and what can in reason be required more of any Let none usurp the Prerogative of searching hearts and knowing mens meanings better than themselves and say These are fine words and specious pretences but the design of all is but to get more Liberty to strengthen a Party For I solemnly profess and Thou God who standest over me whil'st I am writing these words know'st it I abhor such a design If to raise men to the knowledge and love of God through the Spirit of his Son if to bring them to a careful observance of the precepts of our Lord that they may be obedient to their Governours Ecclesiastical and Civil just and charitable to their Brethren that they may be holy humble heavenly patient meek pure chaste and temperate abounding in all the graces and fruits of the Spirit If this be to make men a Party then let me be interpreted as earnestly desirous to promote it otherwise not And shall those who have no other aims than these be kept out of the Ministry as turbulent factious and schismatical Yea some that were not Born so soon as our Civil Confusions and therefore Sided with none Offended none If you indeed thought there were any thus innocent and whose intentions were so upright would you have no regard to them but reject all their Petitions even such as I have made Surely you would not Why be assured if there may any faith be given to men and if it be possible for men to know their own hearts there are some yea I am confident many Such Well however after all we may be censured and slandered yet whilest we can daily betake our selves to the All-knowing God and profess before him that it is the grief of our souls that we are deprived of those opportunities of serving him which we once had or hoped for which we beg may be restor'd and vouchsaf't rather than any outward advantages whatever and that we had rather serve him in the Ministry than for any interest of our own be made Monarchs of the World onely we dare not pretend his Glory to justifie our lie we dare not for to him we may speak plainly say we consent to those things we cannot find warrant for from his Word nor that those who have vowed to reform his Church are not oblig'd by those Vows when corruptions are so many and great but we beseech him to lead us into all Truth and discover to us our duty for that he knows we would do any thing but Sin against him to purchase a liberty publickly to Serve him and therefore to his righteous judgment we wholly commit our Cause whilst I say in our daily prayers to God we can make such Professions as these and that some can we may possess our souls in patience and be comforted with the Conscience of our Integrity whatever clamours there are without us and whatever calumnies men may labour to fasten upon us And I beseech you who by your harshness send such daily to God with tears and groans under the heavy pressures yea and Thousands more of the best Christians in the Land on their behalf and on the behalf of their own souls in so great a measure deprived of the precious quickning means they once enjoyed bethink your selves how grateful those your proceedings are to God which thus occasion the just sorrows and complaints of his Ministers and dearest People And let me further put it to your Conscience whether in your private Addresses to God you can say that you are griev'd in heart for your Brethren deprived of their Liberties and that you have condescended to them as far as possibly you could without sinning and that you would do all that in you lies for their restauration that might not provoke him and be a burthen to your own Consciences and that it is the interest of Christ and the Edification and Salvation of Souls which you aimed at in your proceedings against them Can you make such Professions as these to God Or to men as you will answer it at the great and dreadful day of accounts I leave it to your calm and sober Considerations I shall no longer stand to importune you but as hoping I have not been speaking all this while to the wind entreat you to take into your serious review the Petition for Peace presented to you by the Divines appointed by His Majesty to treat with you about Church-affairs There may you see what their Requests are and the pressing Reasons with which they enforce them Requests so reasonable That nothing but Experience could have convinced me they were deniable Reasons so evident that I am perswaded they are unanswerable And in this perswasion I am more confirm'd from their being railed at and scribled against which was all the answer I ever heard of by a Gentleman from whom if my present Paper can escape a suppressing it fears not an Answer for his violence is much more to be dreaded than his Reason Now sleight not I beg you these entreaties because you can easily deny them for the cause I plead is just and equal and of weighty moment which I refer to your impartial debates and leave the event to the disposure of that God for whose Honour it was if I know my self that I undertook this plea. And him I shall humbly follow with my Prayers That this Supplication which I am writing August 24. may through his good Providence and the favour of Authority do something to the reversing of the Act whose being in force took date from This day three years since This fatal
SOLOMON'S PRESCRIPTION For the Removal of the PESTILENCE OR The Discovery of the PLAGUE of our Hearts in order to the Healing of that in our Flesh By M. M. LAMENT 3. 39 40 41. Wherefore doth a living man complain A man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our wayes and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens PSAL. 106. 29 30. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the Plague brake in upon them Then stood up Phinehas and executed Judgment and so the Plague was stayed LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC LXV The Preface to the Reader Reader I Had more Objections in my own thoughts to the sending forth this Paper and can fore-think more faults like to be found with it when sent forth then I shall now stand to tell thee of or make any answer for But because amongst all those Objections I met not with this That it was impossible it should do anie good I thought the rest answerable and because amongst all its faults thou canst not trulie find this That it was not intended for anie good I perswade my self all the rest are pardonable What the design of it is if thou art in haste the Title will tell thee if thou art at leasure and think'st it worth thy while thou may'st find it in the Book it self so either way I might be excused from saying ought of it here But somewhat for thy satisfaction know when I considered the sore Judgment wherewith we have been visited which so evidentlie declares Wrath to be gone forth from the Lord against us I thought it might be an Essay verie acceptablè to God and profitable to our selves to do the best I could to make the voyce of the Rod Articulate that in the print of its lashes not onlie Gods Wrath but the sin he scourgeth us for and the duty he would drive us to might be found in legible Characters that even he that runs may read them When I lookt on Affliction as a Medicine for a distempered Nation I thought it was exceeding necessarie in order to its kindlie working with us to tell the nature import and use of it and to give directions how it ought to be received And though I acknowledge my self the meanest of Ten thousand for so great a Work yet when I saw or heard of nothing so particular and distinct as I thought the matter required humblie depending upon and imploring Divine assistance I made this attempt wherein whil'st I have guided my self by the Physitians own Rules and an impartial consideration of the nature of the Patient I hope I have made no material I am sure no wilful mistakes This then was my great desire and hope to be by this undertaking a worker together with Gods Providence for some good to the Nation And surely no man hath cause to be angry with this intention or with any thing that flows sincerelie from it Had anie man though the meanest among the People in the time when Nineveh was threatned with destruction given in a Catalogue of those sins they were guiltie of the removal of which could onlie prevent their Ruine I am perswaded his endeavours would have been grateful to the Prince his Nobles and the People though he had spoke to them all with more plainness and boldness than I have done And I dare confidentlie expect the same if our Fasting and Prayers be not onlie for fashion-sake but in as good earnest as theirs Two great miscarriages moreover I was prone to fear the most would be guiltie of which I have especiallie consulted against The first of being swallowed up so much with a sense of their Suffering as to be indispose for all profitable Reflections and therefore fain would I turn mens eyes and thoughts from off this to the sin that brought it and have them onlie to consider the former so much as to inform themselves more clearlie of the evil of the latter Oh what Out-cryes we may hear up and down what doleful times these are So manie Thousands dead this Week so manie another The Plague got to this Town and then to that All Trading as well as Persons dead and gone But were People formerly thus affected whilst we were bringing this upon our selves Did they cry out then Oh how manie Thousand Oaths are sworn in a Week And how manie Lyes told How manie Thousands Drunk and how manie commit Lewdness Had we had Weeklie Bills of such Sins brought in they would far have exceeded the largest Sums that ever yet the Mortalitie made But alas these with the most were light matters Not half so manie groans and tears for these nor anie such complaints of them nor did the consideration of them make anie sensible alteration amongst us Now this I would fain obtain to have those dayes thought as much worse than these and those actions as much worse than these sufferings as the Disease is worse than Physick and a Childs disobedience to his Parents worse than his being Whip't And he that should weep out of pitie to the Child when he sees it lash't and yet could be content to hear him revile and abuse his father I should think to be a person of more Fondness than Discretion and for him to be more concerned for the Childs Smart than the Parents Honor argues him to have no true love for either And here by the way let me give a Caution viz. That no man bewray so much follie as to argue That because in mercie God may abate and remove his heavy Judgments before manie or perhaps any of these sins I have mentioned are put away from amongst us and because we may have our former health and plentie restor'd whilst there is no such Reformation of disorders as I have exhorted to that therefore our Sufferings were not intended to chastise us for those sins nor to bring us to this Reformation If thou be an Atheist or Infidel that makest this Argument who believest not there is a God or that he concerns not himself with our Affairs but that all things come by Nature or Chance or I know not what I shall then leave thee to receive satisfaction if nothing sooner will give it there where all such as thou by the feeling of Divine Vengeance are at once convinc't what the sin is which hath deserved it and that there is a God who inflicts it but if thou be a Christian then I would wish thee well to examine the nature of the thing that I mean which thou thinkest God hath not punish't us for because it is yet continued and upon the issue of that examination pass thy judgment It 's much to be feared thou wilt see Drunkards and hear Swearers after the Plague may be ceas't and wilt thou think therefore that these and the like Wickednesses did not provoke God to afflict us But rather stay if thou art in doubt till the
great reckoning day till thou hast heard all mens Accounts cast up and those Actions which are then approved confidentlie pronounce no sins but not all those that survive the heaviest Judgments here on earth which may be sent to punish and reform those that were guiltie of them since hardned sinners may frustrate some ends of an Affliction and all are not followed here as Pharaoh was No I say do not justifie all such Actions though thou shouldst hear them openlie defended and applauded and those men punish't that dare to oppose and contradict them and that opposition made the onlie sin This lower World is full of such mad mistakes and confusions but all will shortlie be set strait The other miscarriages that I feared men would be apt to run into and which I have laboured to provide against was That though they might be convinc't that sin in the general was the cause of all our miseries yet hardly that it was their sin or their friends but some bodies else that they don't love and so shift it off to this or that Party whom they would have punish't had they been in Gods stead Such a strong self-love there is in everie man that his fancie shapes God verie much in a likeness to himself Even the vilest sinners Psal 50. 21. thought God such an one as themselves And consequentlie they account themselves and all their Concernments dear to God and so would interpret all his Providences in favour of them to right their quarrel and to avenge them of their enemies for thus would they prescribe God might they be call d to his counsel All would fain carrie it that God is of their Partie and against those whom they are against everie man will be more inclined to accuse others than himself Nay and hence it oft falls out that they who have espoused anie sin will be so far alone from thinking ill of it that they 'l rather accuse the contrarie vertue and so godliness it self may sometimes bear the blame or however the most godlie and unblameable men The Pillars of a Land sometimes are accounted the Pests of it on which whilst some men blind with rage lay their hands to pluck them down they are about to do themselves and the people with whom they are the same courtesie that Sampson did to the Philistine Lords They who were the Salt to savour a corrupt World were accounted the filth and off-scouring of all things Ahab will sooner count Elijah than himself a troubler of Israel And when anie mischief befalls the Empire then the poor Christians must be thrown to the Lyons Thus I fear amongst us manie bitter and undeserved censures will be past by one against another which great sin I have done my best to consult against whil'st I have chieflie laboured to bring everie man to a reflection upon himself whil'st I have studied faithfullie to deal both to this man and that his share in procuring our miseries and whil'st I have made the Divisions and Parties that are amongst us which occasion this Censoriousness one great cause of our Sufferings However one or otber may interpret what I have done I am prettie indifferent only I hope I have said nothing which need make anie man presentlie fall a confuting me which I le promise you it 's an hard thing in these dayes to escape say what you will 't is against Sin onlie I have a quarrel If any guiltie person as the Pharisees when Christ preach't shall think I mean him let him once again know That it is not against Small or Great but the Sins of All that I am entered into the Lists and I hope they 'l rather see to forsake than vindicate them But if otherwise if leave may be granted I dare undertake to evidence That Sin is that which brings Suffering and that those things I have mentioned as the sins of our Nation are indeed such Yea and if it be not thought Immodestie to forestall the Readers judgment I dare add That I have spoken verie great Truth and Reason in the matters most liable to Exception notwithstanding all the weaknesses and disadvantages in the representing which I readilie acknowledge to be manie and great But I have alreadie exceeded the due bounds of a Preface wherefore to conclude Let all censure as they shall find meet only let me make a solemn Profession which is the more credible from one who hath no great reason to expect to out-live the General Desolation that so far as I know my own heart I have spoke nothing with a design to exasperate any or to humor and gratifie one Faction by disgracing or inveighing against another but it hath been my care to speak the very truth according to the infallible Word of God and the clearest apprehensions of my own Soul with an unfeigned desire to discover what indeed those sins are which we especiallie smart for that the inconsiderate and ignorant may be informed the guiltie humbled wickedness rooted out God appeased and all our mercies both spiritual and temporal restored and continued and these designs shall be followed with my prayers and I hope with thine too that read'st me but how far the success may answer either I must leave to the Readers improvement of and Gods blessing upon my well-intended though weak endeavours Thine in the Service of the Gospel M. M. I KINGS 8. 37 38 39. If there be in the Land a Famine If there be Pestilence Blasting Mildew Locust or if there be Caterpillar if their Enemy besiege them in the Land of their Cities whatsoever Plague whatsoever sicknesse there be What Prayer and Supplication soever be made by any man or by all thy People Israel which shall know every man the Plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this House Then hear thou in Heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and do and give to every man according to his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men THE good and gracious God the Ruler and Governour of the world and the disposer of all events doth nothing rashly or in vain and therefore hath made it the duty of the sons of men wisely to weigh and consider of his Providences and to learn Instructions thence as well as from the Revelations of his mind in his written Word Micah 6. 9. We are bid to hear the Rod. And though in the bounteous dispensations of his favours we can assign no higher cause than his own meer grace and good Will which is accomplish't in the doing good to his Creatures Yet in the inflicting of Judgment which is his strange work we may be sure to find something out of himself moving him to it It cannot be well conceived how man should ever be the subject of pain or sorrow did not sin render him passible and open a way for the Sword to enter his bowels and give it that edge and force which causeth it to
against an overflowing torrent of wickedness what can I a weak and single person do for the advancement of Holiness against a wicked raging multitude what canst thou do why thou canst strive and dye canst not But what then shall no-body do any thing because every man is but one and hath many difficulties to encounter Or wilt thou therefore do nothing because thou canst not expect a successe answerable to thy desires Or may we not joyn and unite our strength and all set to a shoulder for the carrying on of the work of the Lord Be sure thou shalt always have difficulties to try thee for 't is thy heart God calls for he needs not thy hands Why Man if thou wast alone in all the World having such a Leader and Captain as Christ wouldst thou not stick to his Cause and keep to his Colours and die fighting If not thou deservest not the name of a Christian And if there be so few who seek the things of Christ with how much more vigour and resolution ought those few to bestir themselves and not also forsake their Lord because the rest of the world do but still they should imagine they hear the awakening words of Christ to his Disciples sounding in their ears What will ye forsake me also But this was a digression Let not then I say the consideration of thy being a single person abate any thing of the measures of thy Sorrow for Sin for if all do thus as all may have the same ground there will be none found to charge sin on themselves and acknowledge Gods Justice in all his sharp dispensations Wherefore whoever thou art into whose hands these lines may fall my earnest request to thee yea my strict Injunction is this that thou presently get alone and soberly sit down to the intent study of thy self Beg of God to help thee in this work and do thou endeavour with all faithfulnesse as in his sight who will shortly Judge thee before all the world to rip open to thy self all the baseness that hath been lodg'd in thy heart all the lusts that have been entertained there And Consider well thy Life what known Sins thou hast been guilty of what Duties thou hast omitted And then with all speed and seriousnesse betake thy self to God acknowledg thy own vileness plainly confess that 't is this or that thy sin thy loosness thy covetousness thy pride idlenesse or voluptuousnesse that may have helpt forward his anger And own it as a token of undeserved Grace that all manner of woes have not seiz'd upon thee in thy own person that whilst so many are Afflicted and taken out of the world before thee thou hast warning and leave to prepare for what may befall thee And see that thou labour to represent sin to thy self with all its heightning circumstances and aggravations that the review of it may more deeply affect thee help thy Meditations with those doleful miseries so many now lie under and that in part for thy sins which yet are but the beginning of woes to the impenitent and then think if these are no jesting matters what is the sin that procur'd them Think of that matchless Love that continued Patience that clear Light those great Engagements Purposes and frequent Promises that thou hast sinned against till at length these Considerations work thee to such an apprehension of sin that thou canst not conceive of any suffering suited to its demerit but the everlasting wrath of the most dreadful Majesty and till thou acknowledge not only thy contributing to the present calamity but that if the rest of the Nation had been like thee it would surely have been all in flames before now Be sincere and thorow in this humiliation of soul and take heed of neglecting any such Consideration as may help on the same Review thy Self thy Place and Relations and what in them was expected from thee which thou failedst in performing and accordingly lay it to heart and judge and condemn thy self and behaviour If in any place of Honour and Service thou hast not improved thy interest for the rooting out of Sin and advancement of Holiness account thy negligence aggravated by the greatness of the Talents thou wast entrusted with Wast thou a man of Wealth Wit Power a Magistrate a Minister a Master of a Family Take a strict account of and humbly bewail thy unfaithfulness to thy several Trusts and thy carelesness of those duties which thy place did peculiarly engage thee to And do not think when thou hast discovered and confess'd sin that then thy work is over as if by thy formalities thou hadst purchased to thy self a dispensation to continue in it like many that think they serve God sufficiently by going to Church and saying their Prayers and in the mean while make this their serving him but a kind of indulgence for their sinning against him But when thou hast made this progress thy next work in order to the obtaining of a Pardon is seriously and deliberately to resolve upon the putting away far from thee every known sin upon mortifying thy dearest lusts and upon a faithful performance of those duties common to all Christians and those thy Talents or Relations call for If thou hast been a debauch't or covetous Person a careless Mispender of thy money or time an Extortioner or Oppressour a racking Landlord or cheating Tradesman a Sabbath-breaker and Neglecter of Duty to God publick or private or hast liv'd in any the like sins enter now into a solemn Covenant with God that by the assistance of his Almighty Grace thou wilt never more allow thy self in such a course of Impiety If thou hast abused thy Riches and laid them out only in making provisions for thy own or others lusts If thou thoughtest thy Dignity above others did dispense thee a liberty of sinning without controll and accordingly hast misimprov'd it If thou hast been unfaithful in the execution of Justice with which thou wast entrusted neither looking after sin to punish it nor punishing it when it was revealed to thee but hast rather been a Terrour to good works than to evil If as a Minister thou hast been regardless of the souls of those committed to thy oversight only striving to enrich thy self not better thy people practising those sins thou hast preach'd against Or if as Ruler of a Family thou hast been negligent not setting up the Worship of God in thy House but gone from one day to another without so much as a serious Prayer nor hast instructed thy Children nor Servants in the fear of the Lord whatever in a word thy trust and unfaithfulness to it hath been confess and lament the same and resolve for the future to do thy utmost to discharge thy duty to answer and fill up thy several Relations And here again let not any insist on that silly Objection before mention'd What can my repentance do to the diverting of Judgments that flow in upon us like a deluge
How notoriously infamous is our Nation grown for filthiness and lewdness It cannot now be charged on the Pope alone That Publick Stews are erected within his Jurisdiction only yet here 's this difference Those are if History and Common Report speak Truth Licenc't Ours are not demolish't Nor yet perhaps are ours so publick or certainly known but yet too publick they are to the disgrace of our Nation and Holy Profession Insomuch that one would think Venice was lost from its foundation and floated into England It is not the loathsomnesse of that disease which in a just judgment attends it that will deter men from this more loathsom sin Yea so common is it grown that by many 't is look'd upon as a very light matter no way so hainous as God and his Preachers would make it And they are ready to censure his Laws as severe for not allowing them the priviledges of Bruits so strangely doth frequency in sin wear out the sense of it And a sensual life doth even blind the understanding and bribe the Conscience till at length with much ado men almost perswade themselves that they may do what they have often done and are resolved still to persist in Whoredom Wine and new Wine take away the heart Hos 4. 10 11. Even in a Literal sense the Spirit of Whoredoms cause men to erre And can it seem strange if at length God make use of Arguments which such brutish creatures themselves are capable of to prove to them That their filthiness is highly provoking to his glorious Majesty who is of purer eyes than to endure to behold the least iniquity His Word condemned this before as plainly as it could speak but vile Wretches whose Senses are their Masters would not understand it they acknowledged not his Commands they either believed not or would not consider his threatnings his promises of an everlasting glory were too thin and spiritual for them to relish or be allured by What tell ye them of Rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand They must have their dirt to tumble and wallow in Take those who will for them they must have their Chambering and Wantonnesse and lustful dalliances Nothing must go for reason with them which contradicted their sensual desires and is it not just they should then be dealt with sutable to their Natures That since nothing else would do it Sense and feeling may at length assure them their sweet and pleasant sins are a displeasure to God and most pernicious to themselves And if neither seeing the beginning of Gods wrath upon others nor feeling it themselves will prevail with them God hath judgments in store that shall extort from them will they or will they not most passionate and hearty acknowledgments that whilest they were satisfying their Lusts they were most studiously contriving their own ruine and treasuring up wrath for themselves against the day of wrath If neither Poverty nor Shame Pox nor Plague can bring them to such a confession Hell shall bring them to this and much more But as if we were not content with those ordinary sins of Adultery and Fornication 't is reported that we have amongst us beside the effeminate abusers of themselves with mankind also This in Italy had been no such monstrous thing but can it be accounted lesse in England Both Heathen and Popish Rome indeed hath still been infamous for this amongst other abominations and thence 't is most probable we have derived Sodomy as well as Popery And 't is well if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all other projects for the promotion of Holy Church this be 〈…〉 to debauch our Gentry the better to dispose them for the embracing of tâ—at Religion which can afford them Indulgences at so cheap a Rate Now let any man but seriously consider the Holinesse of God his Infinite purity and justice and withall reflect upon his Omnipresence his All-searching eye that is upon the most secret actions think but how he hath been a Witnesse of all that Lewdnesse that hath been committed in all places in the greatest privacies and retirements not bars and bolts could keep him out not drawn curtains nor the darkest night could hide impure sinners from his view consider we but these things and shall we wonder if for these wickednesses the Lord be wroth with us and pour out the Vyals of his fury upon us How justly might God take up the complaint against us which he did against Israel Jer. 5. 2 8. When I had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assembled themselves by Troops in the Harlots houses They were as Jed Horses in the morning every one Neighed after his Neighbours wife And what follows ver 9. Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this And oh now that all those whose Consciences condemn them for these things would presently arise and take shame to themselves and do no more so wickedly lest worse things yet befall them And the good Lord awaken those that are in Authority to greater vigilance and industry for the future in searching after punishing and suppressing this Impiety wherewith we are so polluted that the Visitation now upon us which hath so much the same cause with that laid on the Israelites Num. 25. may also have the same speedy and effectual cure which we may read Psal 106. 29 30. Thus they provok't him to anger with their inventions and the Plague brake in upon them Then stood up Phinehas and executed iudgment and so the Plague was stayed The two next Sins I shall mention may passe for Appendices to this first as having been too apparent promoters of it which yet if they were not may upon other Accounts be deservedly reckoned amongst the provoking sins of the Land 2. The former is the Licentiousnesse of the Stage where wickednesse and amongst other sorts wantonnesse is more effectually taught than it is decryed in the Pulpit Let their Favourers talk what they will of their advancing Virtue and shaming Vice I should put it amongst one of the wonders of the Times to hear of any man Reform'd by a Play If to hear others be the way to make men leave them if to hear the Sacred Name of God profaned his Word jested with Religion it self derided be the way to make men Devout if to hear Lascivious Discourse and see Impudent Persons and Actions be the way to get Modesty then let us all flock to the Play-house And next from the same Reason let Youth be brought up in a Brothel-house to learn Chastity at a Tavern to avoid Drunkennesse at a Gaming-house to keep them from Cursing and Swearing I have heard but few count it any great wisdom in that Nation where they were wont to make their Servants drunk to shew their Children the odiousnesse of it and surely there was lesse charity in it to make some commit wickednesse that they might prevent it in others But when Vice
Sister Mary was in those times accounted singular Piety even by those Bishops who came to request it 'T is somewhat strange methinks to see even the poor Quakers themselves drag d to Prisons and banish'd the Land whil'st Conventicles more expresly contrary to the Law of God and equally I think to the Law of the Land are at least overlook't Yea let me add this freedom they enjoy whil'st half a dozen of private Christians in all things so far as concerns Laymen conformable to the Church of England cannot have Liberty to meet together for the private Service of God though it were but to join their prayers on the behalf of our Land that it would please God to remove from off us the heavy Judgments we now lie under Could there be no provision made against Seditious Meetings without such Restraints as these Nay and if they take this Liberty by stealth how much more secure are twice as many Drunkards in a Tavern met at one of their Conventicles of Good-fellowship So that the more Politick have found a Tavern the safest place for a Meeting And doth not this abundantly evince how much the humors and private inclinations of men oversway and prevail in their administrations by the same Laws If therefore the spirit of the times and the inclination of inferiour Magistrates lay as much against Prophaneness as what they call Phanaticism that would have no more immunity than this Let none be offended at my Liberty of speech since doubtless these are things that need a Reformation I hope 't is allowable to say so yea and necessary too And as for Popery though I involve not the Magistrate in the guilt of all that Liberty they assume to themselves yet I hope we may have free leave to lay guilt upon It and to charge a most intolerable impudence upon the Professors and numerous Abettors of it How many both openly and closely are hard at work for the propagation of that which is much more hurtful though not so spreading as the Contagion now amongst us And that it is not so spreading we owe not so much to their want of will or pains but to the Goodness of God the Illness of their Cause and the better temper of our Clime fortified with the Truth But surely it would well deserve the care of those in power to do somewhat more to keep the Healthful from the Sick and to order that there might not be so much License given for people to frequent those places where 't is not impossible but some may be Infected even such whose Sense chooseth their Religion who would have their Devotion like their Recreations and a Chappel like a Play-house And I wish too many of our Gallants be not of this disposition but as for others I would have them go to a Mass to be confirmed against Popery It is very notorious what freedom they take for their meetings in many places in the Countrey as well as City besides those that may be priviledged And certainly England is not like to fare the better for being the Stage whereon so much Pious Pageantry and Historical Worship is acted Had Dagon been carried about amongst the Israelites with as much Reverence as the Ark was amongst the Philistines with Rudeness 't is likely That had been attended with as great Plagues as was This. He that considers what Idolatry often brought upon the Jews and shall well contemplate the Popish Devotions and our present miseries may not more clearly discern our punishment like to theirs than a like probable cause of it and look upon us little more beholden to Rome than they were to Baal Peor If these meek Innocents who with much ado bring themselves to talk a little humbly when instead of Fire and Faggot they are forc't to argue with words should Retort that we deal as unjustly with them as the Heathens did with the Primitive Christians who imputed to them whatever mischiefs befell the Empire I shall be brought to think so too if they can as easily evade the charge of worshipping Angels Saints Bread Altars Crucifixes and Images as those first Christians could free themselves from the palpably false Objections made against them but in the mean time I cannot be perswaded but that God is highly provok't with all those mockeries of Worship which they have devised and in the midst of us solemnized And even for these Inventions may the Plague be broke in upon us 12. We may well account amongst our provoking Sins the sad and lamentable Divisions that have been and still are on foot amongst us And whoever have raised and kep't up these have had not the least influence to procure wrath upon us Well may that People be divided from God separated from his love who are so divided one amongst another When one part of the Nation hath suffered then still the other hath rejoyc'd in their Brethrens Miseries as contributing to the advancement of their Cause And successively what the Sufferers call Tyranny Cruelty and Persecution those that inflict it call it a just punishment for their malignity or obstinacy Oh how just is it then That a general Punishment should at length work us into a more general Compassion That at least we may pity each other when we are all in the same Misery that appears to have nothing of a Party in it but strikes down on all sides those that stand before it Many and great Factions in the Western Church did immediately precede its being over-run by the Gothes and Vandals and not only in this but all other Corruptions are we like to them as may be learn'd from the Writers of those days God of his infinite mercy avert the further Judgments which such Disorders presage Such is and long hath been our Case That the loudest and most earnest intreaties for Peace have been drowned with the contrary noise and clamour of the Contentious What comes from the weaker and oppressed Party is still rejected as murmuring and complaining And those that are in Prosperity reject the offers which after they would gladly condescend to Still the Side that rules when they find they can secure their Interests without any compliance partly out of a jealousie of being undermined partly out of a love to to have the preheminence and partly out of a desire of revenge are far from hearkning to the most reasonable motions for Unity and Peace And he that mentions or laments our Divisions with never so Catholick and impartial a spirit and design if he charge not all the blame upon one Party shall scarce receive any thanks from either If he cries out of nothing but Antichristianism Idolatry Superstition and Tyranny then he shall be hugg'd by some And if he inveigh bitterly against Schism Sedition Faction Hypocrisie and charge this upon all that are not just of the humour of the times they live in then he shall please others But if he say some are too imperious and imposing and others too
and there one in a Town and these even as the Remnant of the Faithful amongst the Israelites have been the wonder and scorn of the rest These have been the Song of Drunkards and they together with that Word they walk by have been the sport of those whose hearts have been merry as Sampson was to the Philistine Lords They and their Scripture serve the profane Gallant to shew his Wit and help the Poet to Matter for his Play These for the most part are looked at as the most pernicious to the Places where they live And upon them Malice hath its narrowest eye He that departs from Evil makes himself a Prey they have hated and put to silence him that hath reproved in the Gate and abhorred him that spake uprightly and after all wiped their mouths and said Let the Lord be glorified Were not we arriv'd to a most doleful state when the most exact obedience to the Laws of God was accounted less disgraceful than the most open violation of them and few durst plead for and practise Holiness with that confidence that others durst commit and own known Sins How hath God waited long and made the Power of his Long-suffering to appear striving with us in the ways of Love and mingling Corrections with his Mercies that he might prevail with us to pity our selves but all in vain He punish'd us with the Sword and kep't us long in the Furnace and we are com'n out less refined Again he tried us with mercies but we improved them not He hath threatned when he might have destroyed and born with us long to prevent our ruine and yet nothing would work But we have prest him with our iniquities and even made him to serve with our sins we have grieved his Spirit by our stubborness and rebellion and have began to think because he kept silence he was such one as we and liked well enough of our ways and because his Judgments were not speedily executed our hearts have been fully set to do evil And when we were come to this pass and God was even weary with withholding and there were so few to stand in the gap to turn away his wrath and even of them many in a great measure thrust out of it Were we not ripe for destruction Was not our Ephah full Is it then any wonder if at length God be risen to plead with us in a manner that shall make us know and feel that he ruleth in the World who will by no means acquit the impenitent who though he bear long yet will not always bear wit h a stiff-necked Generation Could we expect any other than that God should make bare his Arm and visit us for these things and ease himself of his Adversaries and avenge himself of such obstinate Contemners of his Laws and Authority And what Shall the Lion roar and not the Beasts of the Forest tremble Is God angry and shall not we fear Doth he shake his Rod over us nay lay it upon us so that Thousands feel it in their flesh and all hear the sound of its terrible lashes and yet do we not tremble Shall not our haughty countenances change and the joynts of our loins be loosed now there is an Invisible hand come forth writing such bitter things against us Hath God such a sore Controversie with us Hath he done so much and yet will he yet do these and these things against us and wilt thou not yet prepare to meet thy God Oh England Oh the dreadful senslessnesse and stupidity of the hearts of our People How few are yet careful to learn Righteousnesse by the Judgments that are amongst us Notwithstanding this day of Adversity how few will be brought to Consider Is not this a direful presage of farther Wrath And that it is even an utter Destruction that is coming upon us Oh what a spirit of slumber and sottishnesse hath possest the most If it is not so with those about thee Reader thou dwellest in a happy place Though people hear of Thousands Dying about thee and have daily reason to expect their turn should be next yet how regardlesse do they appear of all due preparations for it as ever They flatter themselves with a conceit that yet they may escape and that Death shall not come nigh their Dwellings and so post off all thoughts of it taken up with the very same businesses designs and pleasures they were always wont But what should we say can Sword or Famine or Plague or any outward Affliction work on them who have been nothing bettered but rather hardned by Commands Promises and Threatings Can the Rod plead with and importune them so as the Word hath done Will Sickness inform command argue and beseech so affectionately as the Minister was wont Where Moses and the Prophets might not be heard what can prevail If hewing them with the Prophets and slaying them with the words of his mouth would not affect them Hos 6. 5. Shall the Execution of his Judgments bring light Why yes no doubt God hath his Chastisements which setting on and enforcing his Word do often humble and reform Souls and he hath also those Punishments by which he Destroys And if men will will strive against his Spirit and resist it's workings shut their eyes against the light contemn Instruction yea harden themselves under Correction and rather hate the God who makes them smart than the sins that procure it like those in Rev. 16. who blasphemed God when they were in anguish what can be expected but the final ruine of the People or Persons that are guilty of such Stubbornnesse and Impenitency And oh that this were not the case of multitudes amongst us The Lord awaken those that are yet in a capacity to a timely prevention of such a doleful misery And thus I have given an account of those Crying Sins that are to be found amongst us which belong to the first Branch which comprehended under it those sins that were more evident and notorious And by this we have made way for the Second to discover some such miscarriages which may be lesse evident but no lesse hainous than these as being indeed in a great measure productive of them and therefore I thought it methodical enough to proceed from the sensible effects to the somewhat more latent Cause All that I shall speak of the latter Branch I shall reduce to this one Head namely That it may very justly be presumed to have a great Influence in the procuring our Miseries that so many able Ministers of Christ have of late been silent and in a manner useless compared to what they might have been had they continued their Publick Employments Thus far I hope none will be offended For if it be granted de facto that there are many whom God had furnished with abilities to serve him in the Ministery which he had called them to that have not exercised those abilities to the best advantage in that Function and I think
he must have a good stock of Impudence who shall deny that many of those who have been of late Unserviceable were so accomplish't then I shall easily evidence that hereby God hath been much dishonoured and provoked whosoever the fault hath been which is that I shall briefly inquire into and discover and then give in full evidence of my assertion I know it may so happen that what I write may displease one and another but for that I am indifferent as having resolved to give no allowance to my passion or prejudice but to use the same impartiality and faithfulfulnesse to the utmost of my power that I should do if so soon as ever I had finished my work I was to receive my summons to appear before the just Judge of Heaven and Earth Nor would I willingly speak any thing but what the undoubted Interest of Christ and his Gospel engage me to and will warrant me in And whilst I have the Lord engaged in the whole cause which I undertake and plead I value not a straw at my foot what the most enraged potent malice can do Nay I dare then bespeak all in the words of the King of Egypt to Josiah a little varied 2 Chron. 35. 21. What have I to do with thee Oh man whoever thou art I come not against thee this day but against Sin wherewith I have war for God commanded me to this work Forbear from medling with God who is with me that he Destroy thee not And I think a man may with as much comfort be a Martyr for the Unity and Peace of the Church and advancement of Holinesse as ever any of our Protestants were for the defence of the Reformed Religion and indeed this was more their Cause than Christianity it self if we consider it right yea though he have a sheet of paper pinn'd to his back that shall call him Schismatical and Seditious and as such he be punished as they we know were burnt for Hereticks But to the businesse in hand As to the matter of Fact it s well enough known what Conditions were required of all that would continue in the Ministery and still are exacted of all that will enter upon it which Multitudes not submitting to were Suspended and Silenced and others who both by their Parents and themselves were designed for that Employment and accordingly Educated were prevented of their intentions The ill effects hereof I shall speak something to anon Now that I may deal fairly and plainly this I must needs say That if there have been any of these Dissenters who were convinced in their Consciences that the things commanded were such as all circumstances considered they might lawfully have submitted to but yet out of faction humour obstinacy a desire to gratifie or promote a party or any such carnal principle did refuse such submission they cannot be excused from the guilt of deserting their charges and of the many ill consequences of that desertion What can any man in reason desire more For it is as such they suffer and not meerly as misinformed much lesse sure as invincibly ignorant or as men that would not sin and if they have indeed been guilty of the Crimes for which their Punishments are proportioned I readily joyn with their most forward accusers but oh that the Punishment had stayed till the Crime had been proved and laid on those only that were found guilty But on the other hand if there were any who did use all probable means for their satisfaction being earnestly desirous to have continued in the work of the Lord and after all remained perswaded that they could not comply with what was enjoyned them without wilful sinning against God then they who by their Impositions did necessitate them to forsake their Ministry are liable to the former charge viz. are guilty of their Ejection and of the Effects thereof except they had sufficient reason for so doing Would they have any thing spoke more candidly and gently Now whether there be any of the former sort or not I cannot nor dare expresly affirm and I think till they shall acknowledge or some other way discover it more than I for my part have known them yet do it can be known only to him from whom no secret thoughts are hid but I desire them to deal faithfully with their own hearts and if they are conscious to themselves of any such ill Principles and grounds of their not Conforming to their Rulers Laws to be humbled for and expel them That there are many such ejected and prevented from the Ministery as I described in my latter Supposition I cannot but believe as having for my self the Testimony of my own Conscience in the sight of God and for others such Professions from men that have done nothing that I know to forfeit their credit and such Reasons to make those Professions appear credible that I am little less confident of it then I am that there is such a place as Rome or Paris which I know only by hear-say I say little less confident of this that there are many who yield not a Conformity to what was imposed not out of Hypocrisie or Humour but out of a fear of displeasing God and hurting their own Souls If this then be acknowledged I think those who have cast and kept such out have very great cause to be humbled for their severity toward them according to the measure they were Instrumental herein Except I added they had sufficient reason for their so doing And that I shall grant they had if they manifest either of these two things which are all the grounds I can imagine 1. That there are as good effects of this their Ejection as I can produce ill ones 2. Or that the nature of thethings imposed on them was such that it had been of as dreadful consequence to have dispenst with conformity to them as thus to deal with them for not rendring such a Conformity But till either of these be proved or some other satisfactory reason assigned giving leave soberly to debatethe case I shall for the conviction and humiliation of the guilty mention a very few of the many sad effects of this their exclusion 1. The first is the unreformednesse and wickednesse of multitudes that through Gods blessing upon their endeavours might have been converted and reformed And that this might have been in all probability accomplished we may very reasonably argue from that eminent successe which God gave to many of their publick labours and by some fruits since then of their private endeavours Let none here willfully mistake and say that by Converting men I mean nothing else but to turn them to a party or an opinion for I professe I intend no such thing but the very same that Christ doth when he tells us that except we be Converted we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and that the Apostle doth when he speaks of our being turned from darknesse to light and from the power of
suppress it Are there not many openly guilty of that Drunkenness Wantonness Swearing and such like Loosness which they are appointed to turn others from And are these wickednesses provoking in the People and not in their Teachers who can never be guilty alone Are any men capable of offering such an affront to God and doing so much hurt to mens Souls by their wickedness as they from whose Lives should be learn't what is acceptable to God and necessary for us 'T is I remember the phrase of an excellent Divine A Profane Minister is the Devil in his Pontificalibus I list not here to blaze abroad all the disorders of our Clergy I shall not insist upon the ignorance and insufficiency of any though in point of Honour they were concerned to have provided against such who did lately with so much earnestness declaim against making Priests of the lowest of the people I will not meddle with that Tribe that lives by the Cathedrals I will not tell of mens oblique Preaching against that Holiness which they pretend to Preach up I shall not speak of the Pride and Covetousness the Laziness and Negligence of Pluralists Non-residents and of all those who too apparently seek their own Honour and Profit from the places they enter upon rather then the Salvation of Souls These things I shall not dilate upon because I would not too much swell my Paper and lest I should be thought to Rail Only let me beg the Guilty to charge these Crimes home on their own Consciences as men that value their everlasting happiness for doubtless God is much displeased with the sins of those whose Callings hath so near a relation to him and especially with the most heinous sin of making Religion only as a stirrup by it to get up into Dignities and Preferments which they who could see and censure in others should be careful themselves to avoid But those I mainly intend are the grosly vicious and debauch't who are most unworthy to take Gods Name into thier mouths to declare his Covenants or Statutes who themselves hate to be Reformed Good Lord That ever it should come to this in a Christian Church Reformed from the Corruptions that had overspread Christendom that infamously loose and dissolute men should be Ordained into and continued in the Ministry when godly sober men are excluded and kept out Oh how might the Romanist insult for such an acknowledgment if the Pope and his Cardinals with the rest of their Hierarchy were not known all the world over But with us such doings are capable of far greater aggravations than with them Oh that I could speak so sharply as might displease our Church-governours into a Reformation of this Corruption What are Wolves fittest to be Shepherds of the flocks Can the Devils Vassals destroy his Kingdom Must stark mad men be made Physitians and sent to recover other men to their wits Must they that have the Plague-sores running upon them be sent amongst others to prevent their Infection Is not a Pest-house a fitter place for such a man than a Pulpit Are Traytors and Incendiaries the fittest men to reclaim others from their Rebellion Are they likely to honour God and the Gospel and save mens Souls who do as it were by their actions say Come Parishioners follow me whatever I jest to you in the Church about God and Christ Heaven and Hell these are but idle Dreams or such matters as you need not much regard God is an hard Master his Laws are too strict it 's best to take our Pleasures and satisfie our Lusts come on it what will you entered into too strict a Covenant in Baptism you had better serve the Devil than this Jesus Christ who layes such hard things on his Followers what need you regard his blood he shed it that you might have leave to live wickedly or however 't is of no great worth for you had better be in an Ale-house or Whore-house than the Heaven he hath purchas 't Are not these think you sweet Preachers of the Gospel And let them consider then how well they have discharged their trust who set them up and maintain them whil'st they shut forth those who would make it their whole business to carry on the very same design which Christ came into the world for If any should here object and say But these profane men are peaceable whil'st your Godly ones are turbulent and disobedient I shall wish him to stay till I come presently to speak a word or two to that only here let me answer It seems strange to me that those men must pass for peaceable and obedient who are known Rebels against the Laws of Christ when they must be accounted disobedient who had rather lose their lives than wilfully break one of the least of these his Commands only because they submit not to Humane Impositions which yet they would do did they not think themselves pre-obliged by the Laws of Christ to the contrary Is this fair dealing I put it to thy own Conscience Reader be thou who thou wilt and as partial as thou wilt And if I went no farther I suppose I have spoke enough to manifest that there have been such sad consequences of the ejection of all who Conformed not that doubtless God hath hereby been dishonoured and displeased and for this hath a controversie with our Land 3. I might moreover add the feuds and animosities which have hereby been fomented and heightned and are like to be still perpetuated whereas had there been such an abatement of things required as might well have been granted in order to the retaining them in their places this might have been an happy mean for the composure of our greatest differences and people could not have taken notice of such divisions amongst us nor could Papists have had so much reason to hit us in the teeth with them nor could they whose spirits were too much exasperated or judgments corrupted have had so much occasion to make Factions and Parties and so much sin had been prevented 4. Nor yet think it nothing that so many innocent men and their Families are exposed to such great necessities that some of them have scarce had bread and water to keep them alive and some have been glad to betake themselves to hard Labour to procure them a Livelihood Certainly the very cryes of their Children for bread sounding in the ears of a most just and merciful God are not disregarded And whether they who have reduc't them to these exigencies have observed the great Rule not only of Christianity but even Nature it self To do as they would be done to I would wish them well to consider If any should Retort That they themselves were once so dealt with I answer I think they were used nothing near so harshly But grant they were the greater was their Injustice which was the cause and the more inexcusable they who inflict on others the hard measure which they themselves lately groaned under