so much as mentioned If any man shall say That Episcopacy is included under the Popes wicked Hierarchy which there is denied he will prove himself ridiculous for it is well known unto all that ever looked into the Ecclesiasticall history that the Church was governed by Bishops 600 yeers before the Popes wicked Hierarchy began And as that government was not abjured so neither is it any innovation at all for it is evident that in the yeere 81. they had Bishops and it is yet to be seen registrate in the Books of Councell and subscribed by the Commissioners for the time how that but a little time before the publishing of that Confession Kings declaration the generall Assembly did agree with his Majesties Regents in his minority that the estate of Bishops which is one of the estates of Parliament should be maintained and authorized But about foure or five yeeres after about the yeere 83. the generall Assembly tooke upon them contrary to their own subscriptions to discharge the estate of Bishops and to declare the same to be unlawfull commanding all the Bishops in the kingdome to dimit their places and Jurisdictions under paine of Excommunication and in like manner commanding the King and his Councell under the like payne not to choose any others in their place But when that wise King saw their proceedings and how they took more upon them then ever the Bishops had done and under the pretence of their new discipline trod upon his Scepter labouring to establish an Ecclesiasticall tyranny of infinite Jurisdiction and perceiving withall that their new erected government was the mother of all faction confusion and rebellion And that it tended to Anabaptisme and popularity and to the overthrow of his State Crowne and kingdome 1584 he called a Parliament and by the consent of all his States hee overthrew their Presbytries and restored againe the Bishops to their places But indeed at that time the Sonnes of Zerviah were too strong for him that hee could never invest the Bishops with their full power and authority untill that happy time that his Majesty came unto the Crowne of England And then not long after by a free General assembly held at Glasgow he did not erect but ratify and confirme the estate of Bishops The acts of which Assembly were immediately after confirmed by Act of Parliament So that Episcopacy is no Innovation as is pretended in this last Oath And as for the 5. Acts of Perth Assembly they were never intended to be abjured in the Negative confession for there is no mention of any of them neither can they be comprehended under popish rites Kneeling at the Communion is no popish rite for I have upon another occasion proved it to be the gesture used in the Primitive Church at the receiving of the Sacrament And that the first that ever did sit after their fashion was the Pope to expresse his state So that we may justly charge them that the gesture which they use is abjured in that confession amongst the rest of popish rits The Five Holy-dayes established by the Assembly of Perth are not Popish rites but such as were observed in the Church since the dayes of the Apostles as may appeare by that bitter contention between the Easterne and Westerne Churches about the observation of Easter And as for the other three Articles for private Baptisme the Communion of the sick and Confirmation of Children There is no man in his right wits who will not acknowledge that they were in use many hundred yeeres before Popery was hatched and are in themselves things not onely lawfull and expedient but in some cases necessary But yet they will say that these things are abjured in generall termes when they sweare to continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of that Kirk For answer wherunto I shall desire you to consider First that they say not they will continue in the present discipline of this Kirk as these new men doe interpret it but indefinitely that they will continue in the discipline of this Kirk Secondly albeit they had said so yet by the discipline we must understand that discipline which was established by authority and Law And not that which was violently brought in by some factious Ministers and their adherents Now I have shewed that Episcopall government was ratified and confirmed by divers Acts of Parliament but never dissolved by any and that their Presbyteriall government was put down by act of Parliament but never established by any Thirdly say that by discipline we should yeeld to understand that discipline which then was used though brought in by private authority Yet certainly it was never their intent to sweare to maintaine that discipline in all particulars without alteration or addition for such an oath had been simply unlawfull because that thereby they should have made a perpetuall Law concerning ceremonies and rites which are themselves and must be changeable according to the Exigency of the times And so if that interpretation which is now given of the words were true it would follow 1 That their negative Confession were directly contrary unto their positive Confession which is the only true Nationall confession of the Church of Scotland For in that confession in the 20th Article touching matters of Policy and order they say Not that we think that one policy and one order in Ceremonies can be appointed for all ages times and places For as Ceremonies such as men have devised are but temporall so may and ought they to be changed when they rather suffer Superstition then that they edifie the Church using the same So that by these mens Interpretation here is Confession against Confession The positive Confession declares matters of Policy and order to be alterable and such as upon occasion both may and ought to be changed But these men do so interpret the negative Confession and Covenant as if they were bound by an oath to preserve the same Orders that were used in the yeer 81. inviolably for ever 2 Such an Interpretation is against all right reason For the condition of the Church being changeable the same Orders cannot be convenient for her at all times As the same policy is not fit for the Church in all places so neither for one and the same Church at all times 3 Such an Interpretation shall condemne the practice of the ancient Church which did upon occasion often change her rites as namely dipping in Baptisme which she changed from once into thrice and again from thrice into once 4 It is contrary to the Judgement of all Divines Mr. Calvin tells us that In externall discipline and Ceremonies Christ would not particularly prescribe what we shoâ—la fellow Quod istud pendere a temporum varietate pravideret And again he saith That sometimes it profiteth and is expedient that there be a difference in these things lest men should think that Religion were tyed unto outward Ceremonies And indeed to make the Rites of the
A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE VISITATION OF Downe and Conner Held in Lisnegarvy the 26 th of September 1638. Wherein for the convincing of the Nonconformists there is a full Confutation of the COVENANT Lately sworne and subscribed by many in Scotland Published by Authority My sonne Feare the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are Seditious Proverb 24.21 For Rebellion is as the sinne of Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 LONDON Printed by John Raworth for George Thomason and Octavian Pullen and are to be sold at the Rose in St. Pauls Church-yard 1639. After the names of the Clergie were called the Visitor spake in this manner AND now my brethren of the Clergy and all you Gentlemen of the Laity I intreat your attention while I shall expresse my self in some things that concern my Pastorall charge Some things I have to say that concern the Clergie onely Some things that concern the Church-wardens And somewhat that doth concern both the Clergie and the Laity As for you of the Clergie There is generally a great fault in you in the neglect of Catechizing You know that you are bound to it by the Canons of the Church bound by an act in my first Visitation and though ye regard neither of these as I know many of you do not yet consider I beseech you that ye are bound to it in conscience for Catechizing is the easiest and most profitable way of instruction The Apostle calls it the doctrine of the beginnings of Christ Heb. 6.1 which must be layed before a man can be led forward unto perfection It is milk for babes whereas preaching is meat for men that are of age who have their wits exercised to discern both good and evill But you cannot abide to give milk Heb. 5.14 and are all for strong meat albeit there are many of you who are not well able to chew it This is the true cause of the ignorance of the people for they not having been instructed in the grounds of Religion are not able to understand any part of a Sermon It is one of the great stratagems of our adversary the devill thâ—t when he cannot draw men wholly from the service of God he makes them to single out some part of it and to magnifie that with a neglect of all other parts as namely Preaching amongst you which is grown to that esteem that it hath shuffled out of the Church both the publique prayers which is the immediate worship of God and this duty of Catechizing and is now accounted the sole and onely service of God the very Consummatâ—â—â—eâ—â— of all Christianity as if all Religion consisted in the hearing of a Sermon Unto whom I may say in the words of the Apostle What Is all hearing Is the whole body an eare 1 Cor. 12. Or tell you in the words of a most Reverend prelate That if you be the sheep of Christ you have no mark of his sheep but the eare-mark And therefore to conclude this point If you will will not hereafter make conscience of this duty of Catechizing Then the conscience of my duty will inforce me to proceed against you according to the Canons of the Church As for the Church-wardens I have a double complaint against them One That whereas by their place they are to look unto the fabrick of the Church the greatest part of your Temples are kept no better then Hog-styes I know that it is one of the mysteries of iniquity in their Religion that God is most purely served when he is worshipped slovenly in a poor and homely cottage and that any cost is too much to be bestowed upon Gods service They are much like unto the officers of Julian the Apostate who when they saw the stately vessels of the Temple cryed out En qualibus vasis ministratur Mariae filio what stately plate is this for the Carpenters sonne But my second complaint is yet greater They are bound by their Oath to present all known disorders within their Parish especially them who do not repair unto the Church to hear Divine service and to receive the Sacrament according to the orders of this Church Yet they present none at all And indeed the Church-wardens especially in the Ards and Claneboyes are of all others the most disorderly men the very ring-leaders of the separation and it is for that cause they are chosen that others may not be presented So that it seems unto me that too many of them in Scotland have entred in a mutuall bond to defend one another by Arms So their fellows in this Diocesse have entred in a mutuall bond to defend one another by their Oathes But here I tell them plainly that I will proceed against them First for the neglect of the repair of their Churches Next for their non-conformity Thirdly for not presenting notorious offenders And lastly for their perjury And if they think my authority too weak to overtake them in regard of the great Patronage and countenance they have I will deliver them over unto a Court that is able to deal with them My last complaint will hold me longer It strikes both against the Clergy and the Laity for their generall non-conformity and disobedience unto the Orders of this Church You of the Clergy have all Sworn subscribed and promised absolute conformity And yet when you come amongst your people you slide back and for a colour of obedience read some part of the Service it may be the Lessons and a few Collects as if it were left unto your power to mince the Service of God cutting and carving upon it as you please I must tell you that those who will not be tyed neither by oaths Subscriptions nor promises There is nothing will tye them but a coercive power But they of the Laity are yet worse they will hear no prayer at all While divine Service is reading they walke in the Church-yard and when prayer is ended they come rushing into the Church as it were into a Play-house to hear a Sermon But ere it be long I hope a course shall be taken that they who will hear no prayers shall hear no Sermon I know that the thing which doth encourage you in this your disobedience is the present Insurrection in Scotland You think and some of you do not stick for to speak it that they will inforce the King for to yeeld unto all their demands and amongst the rest procure unto you a liberty to live here as you list But deceive not your selves for howsoever in Scotland some thinke themselves strong enough to resist their Prince yet I thanke God you are not so many here but the Kings Laws and authority is well able to overtake you And be assured that their insolent opposition against our most Pious Prince will make you that are of their Faction to be more narrowly look'd unto here then otherwise you would have been for now that our neighbours house is on fire it is high time to
Papists who by Equivocation or out of hope of Papall dispensation did for feare of the Laws subscribe unto the former confession That negative confession I say was never confirmed by any Parliament What Confirmation it had was onely from the Kings mandate whom they procured not only himselfe to sweare and subscribe but also to command all his Subjects to do so But here I pray you to consider first What age the King was of then not full Fifteen yeeres by foure moneths And how easie a matter was it to abuse his tender youth Let us therfore appeale from K. Iames a minor unto himselfe when he was of riper yeeres And we shall find that he did utterly disallow of that fact insomuch that in the Parliament held the yeere 84. he procured the first confession to be confirmed but without any mention of the latter and so in divers Parliaments following And in the Conference at Hampton Court he did fully manifest his dislike of that Negative confession saying that Mr. Craig with his I renounce and I detest did multiply so many particulars that simple people were not able to conceive And so being amazed did either fall backe into Popery or remaine still in their ignorance And saith he If I should hold my selfe to that forme the confession of my faith must bee in my Table-booke and not in my head So that it hath no civill confirmation at all But you will say that a Sinodicall confirmation by a generall Assembly held at Edenburgh another at Glasgow wherunto I answer that the act of the Synod had onely relation unto the Kings mandate For thus the words runne Forasmuch as the Kings Majestie hath set forth and proclaimed a Godly Confession of faith This present Assembly doth appoint that all Ministers shall conforme themselves therunto under paine of deprivation So that whatsoever strength is in the Synodicall confirmation depenes upon the force and vigor of the Kings mandate while that was in force the confirmation of the Synod was in force and that being expired the confirmation of the Synod is likewise expired But the Kings mandate is expired because upon mature judgment hee did retract and disallow it in his life time and though he had not yet the same being a personall act of the Kings without the consent of the States of Parliament is now certainly expired with his royall breath For Mortuo mandatore expirat mandatum So that indeed this Confession which they now urge so violently upon the Kings Subjects hath no legall confirmation at all And as it hath no confirmation So it never had the honour to be received into the body of the Confessions of reformed Churches as was the former Confession neither indeed was it worthy for it is not a Confession of faith at all but a Confession of unbeleese The author tels us not what he doth beleeve but what he doth not beleeve And I hope you will all confesse that faith consist in assenting to revealed truths and not in dissenting from errâ—rs Besides is it not more fit for a Minister to teach his people positive truths of Christian Doctrine then to spend his time in telling them of unknown heresies And as that Negative Confession is not the nationall confession of that Church so the Oath that is now ministred is not the same with that which was received by the Kings Majesty and his Subjects in the yeere 81 as is pretenâ—ed But is substantially different from it in many respects 1 In the former Oath or Covenant they did swear with the King and by his commandement and their is no doubt but it is most lawfull for Subjects if the matter of the Oath be true and Lawfull to swear by the commandement of the king to whom primarily and Originally belongs the power to minister an Oath and to others only by Commission and power delegated from him But this new Oath is not only without the King but against him and flat contrary to his commandement For since the time that his Majesty manifested his Royall pleasure requiring them to renounce their covenant they have proceeded and sworn many thousands of people So that I am sure by the Lawes of our Kingdome they are in a great Premunire 2. In the first Oath or Covenant there is no bond of mutuall defence But in this new Oath there is a bond of mutuall defence of one another Against all persons whatsoever the King himselfe not excepted 3. Although there had been such a bond of mutuall defence in the former Covenant yet ought it not to be in this for Subjects may lawfully make a Covenant of mutuall defence by Armes by the consent of the King who only hath the power of the Sword within his dominions But they who made this late Covenant had not the Kings consent but did it contrary to the Kings expresse will and pleasure wherein they have violated the lawes of their own kingdome which they were bound to maintaine for by an act of Parliament Anno 1585 all leagues or bonds of mutuall defence made without the privity and consent of the King are expresly forbidden And as in this respect their Covenant is contrary to the Lawes of their kingdome So I am sure it is contrary unto the Law of God for I never knew any Divine who doth not maintain that unto the undertaking of a just warre there is required not only a good cause but also lawfull authority A just cause of warre doth not warrant every man to undertake warre though against a stranger much lesse against the King against whom no cause though never so just can make a warre undertaken by his Subjects warrantable But a just cause doth only warrant the King or supreme Magistrate in whom authority is originally and Primarily and without whose commission the Warres undertaken by private men are no better then robbery and murther That rash and heady adventure of the Israelits against the Canaanites Num. cap. 14. v. 44. was without authority for neither Moses nor the Arke went up with them and therfore Moses doth call their attempt a presumption and they prospered accordingly for they were smitten unto Hormah a name answerable unto the event namely destruction Lastly this Oath is not the same with the former because it contains not only the old Covenant or confession but also their owne interpretation of it For they do plainly insinuate that Episcopall government and the 5. Articles of Perth are abjured in that Confession Now it is reasonable that a few factious spirits who are the Authors of this conspiracy should take upon them to interpret a Nationall confession and obtrude their interpretation upon the whole Church forcing all men to sweare unto it This were too much though their interpretation were true because it wants publique authority and approbation But indeed the interpretation is most notoriously false and like the glosse of Orleance which destroyes the Text. Episcopall government is not abjured in the Negative confession nor
abjured in the former Oath For I have evidently proved all these to be false Besides in the Catalogue of errors renounced there are many things wich common people cannot understand as namely I would gladly know how many amongst that multitude who have sworn this late Covenant doe know what is Opus operatum abjured in the Oath It is wisely provided in the civill Law that none should be admitted to sweare who are not of some reasonable understanding and therfore no Idiots nor mad men nor children are admitted to be witnesses But in this last Oath they have sworn many thousands who have not so much knowledge of an Oath of Religion or of the confession of Faith as a child of seven yeere old And therefore they doe not sweare in Iudicio Lastly as we must sweare in trueth and in judgement so also in righteousnesse As the matter of our Oath must be true and our knowledge of it certaine So we must sweare unto a good and lawfull end For to make the name of God a bond to doe evill is a sinne out of measure sinfull But the end of this last Oath is most unlawfull even to arme Subjects against their Prince and pull downe Orders established by Lawes wherby they make that which should be Sacramentum pietatis to be Vinculum iniquitatis These Oaths vve call Juramenta latronum such as theeves and robbers take to be true one to another For they doe not only joyne hand in hand as Solomon tells us but doe even also by Oath bind themselves to doe mischiefe Prov. 11.2 Nehem. 6.18 Tobiah the greatest hinderer of the Temple had many in Judah his sworne men Further as they have not sworne neither in trueth in judgement nor in righteousnesse So there are many who have sworne this Oath who before did receive the Oath of the Kings Supremacie and of Canonicall obedience and conformity to the Articles of Perth So that here is Oath against Oath Belike these men doe challenge a Papall power to dispence with Oathes All these things being considered I have discovered as much perjurie in their Oath as can be committed in a promissorie Oath And then wee know that the rule in Divinity is Paenitenda promissio non perâ—icienda praesumptio And surely since this is a swearing age with them they may doe well to sweare once more that they will never sweare so againe When David had made a rash Oath to destroy Nabal in cold blood he did choose rather to breake his Oath then to keepe it And I think there is no Divine who will not say that Herod had better broken his rash oath then cut off Iohn Baptists head And yet I must tell you it is not altogether so haynous a crime to take a head from a Prophet as to pull a Crowne from a Kings head And now have I taken from them all pretence of Religion which is not sit to make a cloake for such knavery by shewing that the Negative confession is not the Nationall Confession of the Church of Scotland and that this Oath is not the same which was sworne An. 81. but an Oath in many respects altogether unlawfull And finally that Episcopall government and the Articles of Perth are not abjured in the Negative Confession I will now guesse what are the true causes that set them on work not using light conjectures but building upon more then probable grounds 1. That which sets the Clergie on work is Selfe-love De civit Dei Lib. 14. cap. 28. which as S. Austin sayes did build the Citie of the devill It is pride singularity ambition and the desire of popular applause They cannot endure to be subject to a Bishop esteeming themselves men of greater gifts and perfections then those who are appointed to be their Bishops and so They perish in the gaine-saying of Core You know that Core's sinne was disobedience he would not be subject unto Aaron appointed his Superiour by God nor to Moses either who swayed the Scepter So they by their good will will not be subject either to Bishop or King This pride hath beene the occasion of many heresies in the Church as will evidently appeare unto those who read the Histories of Arius coveting the Bishoprick of Alexandria of Donatus labouring to have beene Bishop of Carthage of Novatus desiring a Bishoprick in Italy and of Aerius contending with Eustathius for a Bishoprick in Pontus These men affecting these honorable places and receiving their severall foyles when through ambition they could not get the places they sought for in the Church they laboured to gaine honour another way in their severall Synagogues So I could tell you of a man who is now a ring-leader of the faction in Edenburgh and hath publickly preached the King to be a Papist and when his Majestie desired them to renounce their Covenant promising them all reasonable satisfaction in other things he in a Sermon compared his Majestie unto an Italian who promised mercy to his vanquished enemie upon a condition that he would renounce Christ which when the Caitiff had done presently stabb'd him to the heart saying I hope now I have killed you both soule and body Yet this man within these two yeeres was an earnest suter for the Bishoprick of Argyle M. Henry Rollocke and was recommended for it by many of the Bishops of that Kingdome but missing thereof the same humor which possessed Arius Donatus and the rest doth now also work in him 2 That which sets the Lay-men on work is covetousnesse amongst whom not a few would gladly prey upon the Bishopricks as their Fathers did upon the Abbeyes This was observed by M. Cartwright and the Author of the Ecclesiasticall discipline of their Lay-followers in England And I must needs think that they of Scotland as they are of the same religion so they are of the same mind Whilest they heare us speak against Bishops and Cathedrall Churches Discip Eccles saith the Author of the Ecclesiasticall discipline it tickleth their eares looking for the like prey they had before of Monasteries Yea they have in their hearts devoured already the Churches inheritance They care not for Religion so they may get the spoile They could be content to crucifie Christ so they might have his garments Our age is full of spoiling Souldiers and of wicked Dyonisians who will rob Christ of his golden coat as neither fit for him in Winter nor Summer They are Cormorants and seek to fill the bottomlesse sacks of their greedy appetites They doe yawne after a prey and would thereby to their perpetuall shame purchase to themselves a field of blood 3 I may more then probably conjecture that they have another ayme even such as was Ieroboams ayme When he had drawne away the ten Tribes from the house of David he said in his heart If the people goe up to Ierusalem to worship their heart will returne againe unto their Lord Rehoboam And therefore he erected two golden Calves and said
unto the people It is too farre for you to go up to Ierusalem These are the gods that brought you up out of the land of the land of Egypt So those men intending to draw away the Kings Subjects from their Obedience and perceiving that if they should joyne with his Majesties good Subjects in the true and orderly worship of God that their heart would returne againe unto their Lord the King They have devised an Idol of their owne brain like Ioroboams Calves even their Presbyteriall discipline and cry that up as the only true worship of God And yet I hold not them all to be alike guilty but that many of them yea the farre greatest part have not as yet learned the deepnesse of Sathan We may distinguish them into three degrees The first sort are they who have contrived the plot are the ring-leaders of the faction the seducers of others and so dogmatizing heretiques For these I can make no excuse but leave them as wilde Asses to be spoken within the moneth of their affliction The second sort and the far greatest number 2. Sam 15.11 are those who have been seduced by them like those Two Hundered who followed Absolon out of Jerusalem knowing nothing of his Treason They have been drawne to dance after their pipe though they understood not the Spring and have been carried head-long with it before they knew well what they did And all under Godly pretences For they were made to beleeve that the very state of Religion Church and Kingdome did depend upon this New Covenant and that all men were bound in conscience to defend the Nationall confession of faith and the Oath sworne by their forefathers Besides it is a plausible matter with the people to heare them depraved that are in authority but especially to understand of any liberty or power which may appertaine unto themselves Furthermore also it is not unknowne to any of Judgement how much the profession of extraordinary zeale and as it were contempt of the world doth worke with the multitude When they see men goe simply in the streets and bow down their heads like a bull-rush though their inward parts burne altogether with deceit wringing their necks awry shaking their heads as though they were in some present griefe lifting up the white of their eyes sometimes at the sight of some vanity as they walke when they heare them give great groanes Cry out against this sinne and that sinne not in them their hearers but in their Superiors and finally make long prayers under colour whereof they devoure not onely the houses of Widdowes but of married folkes too When I say the multitude to heare and see such kind of men They are by and by carried away with a marvellous great conceit and opinion of them and with such shewes have these Pharisaicall teachers drawne the multitude after them who have not their sences exercised to discerne between good and evill but judge onely by the outward appearance If they should judge them by their fruits they should find them to be very farre from the true Religion S. Iames hath given us a most full description of the true religion Iam. 3.17 The wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable Gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without judging and without hypocrisie Whereas Solomon describes wisedome to have built her a house with seven pillars So the Apostle describes this heavenly wisedome which is the true Religion by seaven properties neither of which will agree with their religion It is not Pure For therfore is the true religion called pure because it alloweth of nothing which is not in it selfe just lawfull and honest And hereby Lactantius proveth against the Gentiles the verity of the Christian religion But their Religion alloweth of many things which in themselves are neither Just lawfull nor honest as namely Vsury Sacriledge disobedience to lawfull authority and rebellion against Princes Againe is not peaceable for these men are the incendiaries of Christendome as if they had come to set fire upon the Earth Not gentle For they are more austere in their carriage then ever was Cato Not Easie to bee intreated for they will neither be perswaded by their friends nor commanded by their superiors to doe any thing but what they will squaring themselves by that old rule of the Donatists Quod volumus sanctum est Not full of mercy and good fruits For they are all for sacrifice nothing for mercy All for the duties of the first Table neglecting the duties of the second Their faith hath drowned their charity For we have knowne them pull downe many Churches and yet build but a few Hospitalls Not without Judging For of all men living they are known to be the most rigid censurers of others And consequently they are not without Hypocrisie For that is the true note of an hypocrite when one as our Saviour saith can spy the mote that is in his brothers eye and not discerne the beame that is in his own And yet with their pretence of piety they have deceived a number of simple people But there is yet a third sort who have subscribed the Covenant against their conscience onely for fear of a Massacre which they had just cause to suspect when a Catalogue was taken up of the names what in every Parish of those who refused to subscribe And now I pray you what is become of their plea of Christian liberty For when we did presse them to conforme themselves unto the Orders of our Church they alleaged that it was contrary to Christian liberty to inforce men to the doing of any thing against their conscience and that a man should be fully resolved in his owne mind of the lawfulnesse of that which hee doth And yet we did urge men onely under payne of suspension and Excommunication and that after much patience and forbearance using withall all fair meanes to perswade them But they compell men to subscribe with them against their Conscience by Pike and Pistoll threatning no lesse unto the refusers then losse of life goods and lands By this ye may judge of the sincerity of their actions and what they would doe in other places if they should once gaine the power into their own hands All this paines have I taken to detect these men and their proceedings to the end that I might draw you off from their faction For who would be in love with that Religion whose bond is Perjury whose badge is Rebellion Therefore come out from amongst them and separate your selves Be not partaker with them in their sins lest you receive also of their plagues Manifest your dislike of them their proceedings by conforming your selves absolutely unto the Orders of this Church in all things and think not to halt any longer between God and Baal Neither be afraid of their power for howsoever they prosper for a time It is but a Summer storme Nubecula est cito pertransibit You may assure your selves that in end they will not prevaile 1 Sam. 2.10 For that God by whom Kings reigne will give strength unto his King and exalt the horne of his anoynted He will scatter the people that delight in Warre even make the hearts of the Canaanites to melt and their joynts to tremble Psal 91.16 But will satisfie the King with long life and shew him his salvation And now I have wearied both you and my self with a long Speech I know there are many here who thinke I have spoke too much But I could not have said lesse and manifest my fidelity to God and the King And if it be true which is grown unto a Proverb that Leves loquuntur curae ingentes stupent No man can expect that my Speech should be eloquent For I protest before God that I have spoken out of the grief of my heart and the very anguish of my Soul When I consider the fearfull afterclaps that are likely to ensue It fears me that our sinnes are come unto a full Maturity and that we are ripe for Gods Sickle to reap us I dare not say with St. Paul that I could wish my selfe Anathema or separated from Christ for my Country-men But I can say with a sincere heart that I could be content my life were given in a Sacrifice so that could procure the peace of the Church redeem his Majesties honor which is so deeply wounded and preserve my native Country from destruction And therefore I beseech all you who bear good will unto Sion that you would apply all your indeavours for quenching of this fire especially labouring to reclaim them who are committed to your charge And of some have Compassion Iudâ— vers 22.23 making a difference and others save with fear Pulling them out of the Fire And let all of us be instant with God in Prayer lifting up our hearts and our hands to the heavens and beseeching him who is the Author of peace and lover of Concord that he would be pleased to open the eyes of that people and turne their hearts that they may acknowledge their duty to God and to his Vice-gerent Amen FINIS