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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90061	The craft and cruelty of the churches adversaries, discovered in a sermon preached at St. Margarets in Westminster, before the Honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament. Novemb. 5, 1642. By Mathew Newcomen, minister of the Gospell at Dedham in Essex. Published by order of the House of Commons.	Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1643 (1643)	Wing N907; Thomason E128_1; ESTC R18223	52,376	80

owne likenesse in the shape of one of those beasts that Daniel saw in his vision that had three ribs in the mouth of it and they sayd unto it arise devoure much flesh Dan. 7.5 You may trace the monster foot by foot from Abel unto this present in steps of blood The persecutions of the Jewish church under Pharoah Nebuchadnezar Antiochus and of the christian church vnder the heathen and after them the Arrian Emperors and Bishops since them vnder Antichrist on the one side and the Turk on the other are so knowne I need not mention them but this they all declare that the indeavoures of the adversaries have alwayes bin by cruelty to cause the worke to cease And indeed if wee consider those floods and seas of blood which in the successive persecutions of the church have beene exhausted wee may wonder the church is not quite extinct save onely the bloud of Martyres extra venas is not cruor but semen and by the irradiation of the sunn of righteousnesse becomes miraculously fruitfull to the producing of a new succession of Saints But to trace the adversaries of the church in their craft t Secondly of the oraft of headversaries which are severall Prov. 30.19 hic labor hoc opus they are serpentina soboles the seed of the serpent and as the way of the serpent upon a rocke is unknowable so are their wayes of undermining the church yet as farre as either in history or scripture I may I shall trace them and give you a breife veiw of the severall arts and crafts whereby the adversaries of the church have sought to hinder their proceedings and cause the work to cease First The first design that ever was against the Church of which we reade in Scripture is that of Pharaoh and his Councellors Exod. the first Come let us deale wisely with them and what is the result of this consultation not to deny them presently the liberty of their Religion we take away but by burdening and oppressing them in their liberties and estates to breake their hearts and imbase their spirits that they should have no heart to minde Religion or any thing because of their great anguish and affliction a designe that hath bin practised against the church of God many a time Thus the Persian Tyrant thought to have subdued the spirit of Hormisdus that noble christian He would not kill him but enthrall him Turne him out of his possessions throw him from his honour give his wealth diguitie wife to the basest of his slaves Turne him naked our of dores to keepe Mules in the Wildernesse by this meanes thinking to choke and smother that holy fire God had enkindled in his heart And this is the art of the great Turke at this day though he pretend to let the Christians in Greece and those countries under him enjoy their lives and their religion yet so heavy is his yoake upon them that they have little joy of their lives and for the most part as little care of their religion scarce any thing more than the name of Christ generally to be found among them Second The second art whereby the adversaries of the church have sought to prejudice it hath beene by procuring matches and mixtures of some of the members of the church and some of their owne that were Idolaters This was the art of Balaam when hee saw hee could no otherwise fasten a curse upon the Israel of God he gave the King of Moab councell to ensnare the men of Israel with the daughters of Moab whereby they were drawne not onely to corporall but to spirituall adultery The history of this you have Num. 25 1 2 3. The people began to commit whoredome with the daughters of Moah and the people did eat of their sacrifices and bowed downe to their gods and Israel joyned himselfe to Baal-Peor And that this was the plot of Balaam is cleare Numbers 31.16 These caused the children of Israel through the councell of Balaam to commit trespafle against the Lord It was Balams councell this and wicked councell it was This mixing with unbelievers hath bin ever looked upon as a thing of dangerous consequence to the Church of God which is the reason that Nehemiah was in such a heat of indignation against the people for this thing Nehe 13.25 26. ver I contended with them and cursed them and smote certaine of them and plucked off their haire and made them swear by God saying you shall not give your daughters to their Sonnes nor take their daughters unto your sonnes did not Salomon King of Israel sin by these thinge yet among many Nations there was no King like him who was beloved of his God Neverthelesse even him did outlandish women cause to sin Great dangers the Church of God is exposed unto by this designe First of being corrupted by this meanes and drawne from the true Religion which is the very reason why God forbad such marriages in the old law Deut. 7.4 For they will turne away thy sonnes from following me that they may serve other Gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and desroy thee suddainely And sad experience of this sad effect and consequent of marrying with Idolaters and those that are enemies to the Church The Church of God hath had not only in Salomon whose heart his jd●●●●rous wives turned away from God and so capti●●ted that he did publiquely tolerate their idolarour worship 1 Kings 11.4 When Salomon was cold his wives turned away his heart after other Gods and vers 7. Then did Salomon build an high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moah and for Moloch the abomination of Ammon and likewise did he for all his strange wives and sacrificed to their Gods Nor onely in Iehoram the Son of Jehosaphat the reason of whose deflection from the practice of his father and the principles of his education unto Idolatry is rendered by the holy ghost this for the daughter of Ahab was hie wife 2 King 8.18 Nor onely in other of the Kings of Israel and Judah but even in christian Kings and Princes when they have matched though not with Pagans and Heathens but with such as have professed the christian Religion onely not in purity Valens the Emperour was at first a true Orthodox Professor but being married to an Arrian Lady she soone insnared him with her flatteries and captivated him to the same heresie with her selfe and he proved a most bloudy persecutor of the true Orthodox Church Theod. 4.11 Or secondly If there be such establishment of heart in the truth that the unbeliever dares not attempt to draw the believing yoak-fellow from the true Religion or attempts it but in vaine This inconvenience yet followes thereupon that the unbeliever will as much as they can viis et modis promote the false Religion and subvert the true The Church of God had experience of this in Justinian the Emperour Evagr. 4.10 whose

for setling true Religion and repressing Popery And as Pilat came upon the Galileans when they were sacrificing and mingled their bloud with their Sacrifices And as the Adversaries heare made account to come upon Nehemiah and his builders and temper their morter with their blouds so did ours plot to come upon our Law makers they shall write no Lawes but in their owne blouds And Oh Lord if this plot had taken What a * That which P. Valderama fables concerning Ignatius his Lodgings indeed would have bin true of these buil●ings Cum pri●●um proposuit apud se militarem vitam abdicare Do nus in quâ tum s●●t ●ota contren u●t par●etes ejus concussa suerant lig●a omnta trabes concre●uerunt Quemad●●dum accidit cum in Mont● aliquo Sulp●u eo ●●neum os a●eritur Flammae exinde erumpere i●cipiunt fic c mille Terrores mille Pavores mille edium inceudia consequu●a fuerint Nu us un qu●n Aetea out ign●us mons paria secit Vesuvius what an Etna had this place bin What an Aceldama what a Golgotha had this Land bin What a Chaos had this Church and State bin how had our Lawes Liberties Religion bin swallowed up in that Fiery gulph and buried in those ashes How would that man of sinne that sonne of perdition have satiated his thirst of blood in the archivements of this Day and have looked upon those piles of mangled dismembred bodies and that horrid face of death such as was never seene before with as much content as Haniball did upon a pit full of the bloud of Men when he cryes out O formosum spectaculum Or Valesus the Asian Proconsul when trampling over the carcasses of 300. Men whom hee had slaine he cryed out O rem regiam Or that Queene who when shee saw some of her Protestant subjects lying dead and stripped upon the Earth cryed our The goodliest tapestry that ever shee beheld Many goodly bloudy sights hath Antichrist glutted his cruell mind with The Funerall piles of England in Queen Maries dayes The Massacre of France The warres of Germany The butcheries of Ireland Goodly sights in the eyes of Antichrist But to have seene a whole Parliament and therein the peace and Religion of a whole Kingdome blowne up in a moment Thuarus writes that the Pope caused the Massacre of Paris to bee painted in his Pallace surely had this Plot succeeded it should have been * For though the plot succeeded not yet F. Garnet had the honour to have his picture set among the reit of Romes Saints in the Iesuites Church at Rome Voluisse sat est Gir. 1. Apol. contra Iesuitas portraied in his Holinesse Chappell or Oratory And how came it to passe that it succeeded not Was there any thing wanting either in the wills or endeavours of our Adversaries No our Adversaries said They shall not know nor see till wee are in the midst of them and slay them Nor did we till that very night that Morning the fatall blow should have been given And then it was not any State vigilancy or prudence but meerely divine providence that brought to light this worke of darkenesse The particular acts of which providence I need not instance you know the Story and all that know it will acknowledge That if ever the arme of GOD were revealed in any deliverance it was in this onely that by all which hath beene spoken our hearts may bee raised to the higher straine of thankfullnesse Let me as I have set before you the subtilty and cruelty of our adversaries in the invention of this Treason present unto you the mercy of God in the prevention of it O how freely did God deliver us from the bloudy intendment of our Adversaries Many Deliverances hath God wrought for our Selves for other Churches for his Church in former times but was there ever any so free as this Esth 4.16 God delivered his Church from the bloudy conspiracie of Haman A worke of astonishing power and mercy But what Prayers what Teares what Fastings and Wrestlings did it cost Esther and Mordecai and the whole Church ere they could obtaine that Deliverance It was a gracious Deliverance GOD wrought for his Infantile Church in rescuing Peter from the hands of Herod but it was wrought by aboundant importunity uncessant Prayer Act. 12.5 Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto GOD for him But this Deliverance came not upon the wings of our prayers but Gods free mercy wee knew not our danger and therefore could not make Deliverance the subject of our Prayers Masses were said in Rome for the good successe of the Catholicke designe but no Prayers in England for our Deliverance from their Treason and yet wee delivered admirable Mercy A people to be delivered by their God before they seeke Deliverance 2. And delivered so fully You know the Plot was laid for a full destruction to cut off every Person in that Honourable Assembly to blow them all up teare them all in peeces and in and with them the whole Nation But see how fully God prevented their mischievous designe That not a limbe of any one of them was shaken not one bone broken The Deliverance was like that of the three Children in the fiery fornace There was not so much as a haire of their head sindged neither did the fire so much as take hold upon any of their Garments neither was there so much as the sent thereof upon them Like that of Hierusalem from the fury of Senacherib who comming up against the Church full of pride and rage intending nothing but to breake in peeces and destroy saith GOD He shall not come up against this City nor shoot an arrow there So said the LORD to our Adversaries You shall not come up against this Assembly nor fire one corne of Powder nor shed one droppe of bloud there where they intended to have filled all with bloud and fire O admirable Deliverance Hath GOD delivered Germany thus Is Ireland thus delivered O England England The ashes of Germany The bloud of Ireland proclaime thy Deliverance this day glorious in the fulnesse of it 3. And not onely in the fulnesse of our Deliverance but in the confusion of our enemies whom God tooke this day in their owne Pits and snares And the plot they had laid to blow us up did recoyle and blow up themselves God turned it to their owne destruction That which they had designed for the advantage of their Catholike cause and Religion a good cause and a good Religion that must bee advanced by such sinfull devillish wayes hath been the greatest disadvantage to their cause All the streames of Tyber will never wash off that blot of just infamy which this Treason hath fastned on them till Babylon sinke like a Mil stone into the bottome of the Sea it will never be washed off This was the Lords doning This turning the Wheele upon our Adversaries this bringing their mischiefe

head as Nisus was Cui splē didus Ostro Inter ho noratos medio de vertice canos crinis inhaerebat magni fiducia Regni Ovid. Metam Application the third by way of Exhortation first to the Parliament he might be more secure there then he can be among Papists and Cavaliers if every haire of his head were a life I come to a few words of Exhortation First To you the Members of the honorable House of Parliament Secondly To you the rest of my brethren First for you honourable and beloved This text this truth tells you what you must look to meet with God hath opened to you a great doore of opportunity for the promoving of his Churches good but their are many adversaries God hath called you together to a great work but you must look our adversaries will do their utmost either by craft or cruelty to cause the work to cease That which our Saviour spake to his Disciples to confirme their hearts against the persecutions of their adversaries The same say I to you to steel your hearts against the oppositions of your adversaries Matth. 5. So saith our Saviour persecuted they the Prophets that were before you The same say I to you So maligned they the Parliaments that were before you So slandered they the Parliaments that were before you So plotted they against the Parliaments that were before you So said they of them We will come upon them and they shall neither know nor see till we are in the middest of them and slay them and cause the work to cease Therefore be you in nothing terrified of your adversaries Durate vosmetrebus servate secundis Bear up against their oppositions After ages shall keep thankesgiving dayes for your deliverance as you now do for the deliverance of your forefathers You have the rememberance of that great deliverance as an incouragement to your hearts this day Drus Apopht● Qui custodivit Patres custodiet etiam filios Deliverances past are the pledges of future deliverances And this advantage you have above your forefathers That whereas they neither knew their danger nor sought deli verance yet were they delivered You see your danger flee to God by prayers tears fastings for deliverance You have the pray●rs and tears of all the Churches and Saints of Christ poasting incessantly to Heaven upon the same Embassage and can you faile of deliverance Remember againe the goodnesse and greatnesse of your cause and what Luther said to Melancthon When upon that opposition which the German reformation mett with all he was much troubled a and disquieted in his spirit Cum effet Melancthon animo admodum anxio non tam sui quam ipsius exitus posteritatis causâ Lutherus mo●et vt quia non hominum sed omnipotentis Dei sit hoc negotium omni deposirâ sollicitudine totam molem in illum reiiciat Cur inquit te Cruci as si Filium suum Deus pro nobis impendit quid trepidamus quid metuimus quid angimur tristamur an Satanas est illo potentior Cur mundum â Chirsto debellatum reformidamus Si malam causam defendimus cur non mutamus propositum si-piam atque jastam cur Dei promissis non confidimus praeter vitam certè nihil nobis Satanas etipere potest at vivit tamen in sempiternum regnat Christus sub cujus tu●elâ veritas est Peccatores quidem sumus non uno modo sed tamen Christus idcircò non est mend ●x cujus causam agimus Fremant Reges atque populi quantum volent ' qui caelos inhabitat deridebit cos Causam hanc Deus absque concilio nostro gubernavit ad hoc usque tempus protexit is quoque ad optatum sinem tandem perducet Sleid com l. 7. not for his own sake out for the works sake and the issue of it and posterityes sake Luther gives him councell That seeing the businesse was not mans but Almighty Gods Laying aside all care he would cast the whole weight of it upon him Why saith he do you vex your self If God have bestowed his Sonne upon us why are we afraid what tremble we at why are we distracted sadded Is Satan stronger then he Why feare we the world which Christ hath conquered If we defend an evill cause why do we not change our purpose If the cause be holy and just why do we not trust Gods promises Certainly there is nothing beside our lives that Sathan can snatch from us and though we dye Christ lives and reignes for ever under whose tuition the truth is We are indeed sinners more wayes th●n one but our sinnes shall never make Christ whose cause we are ingaged in a lier Let the Kings of the earth and the people rage as much as they will he that sits in heaven shall laugh them to scorn God hath hitherto ruled and defended this cause without our councells he alsowill bring it to the desired end May not all this be applied unto you but specially this last clause God without your councells above your councells by naked and immediate providences hath carried on his work in your hands hitherto and he will give it the desired prayed for issue you may be confident of it Only as your cause is good so see that your wayes be good Remembring what the holy ghost saith Proverb 16.7 When a mans wayes please God he maketh his very enemies to be at peace with him Let your personall wayes Your publick wayes What you act as men What you act as Parliament men please God and reape the fruit of it in peace with or triumph over all your enemies For your personall wayes your conversations as men Oh me thinkes if any of you when you came to this Assembly were of vaine conversations as other men are Yet so many prayers so many sermons so many Fast-dayes so many dangers so many deliverances such variety of admirable astonishing providences as you have known should have prevailed with your hearts to abandon all and become eminently gracious exact in all your wayes But if not If there be yet any sinne found upon any of you If any of you be conscious that any of his wayes though never so secret be displeasing unto God Let me in the feare of God and in the bowells of our Lord Iesus beseech you As you desire successe either to your councells or armes As you tender the good of your native country which I know is deare unto you why else should you put your lives in your hands to do it service Oh breake off your sinnes by repentance why should men of brave and honourable spirits staine and diminish their glory by any one sinne That as it was said of Naaman he was a mighty man of vaiour but a leper So of any of you He is a prudent man abrave speaker but a profound statist a worthy patriott but Oh let there be no But For Gods sake be you all as the Sunne