and by consequent more to be regarded then the preservation of their bodies because it is the most necessary Grace for Christians to attain to eternall blessednesse for upon their perseverance in the wayes of righteousnesse or the neglect and intermission of it depends their eternall woe or their eternall blisse And this supernaturall grace is as free a gift of God as faith and repentance is and not incident to naturall or unregenerate men but only peculiar to the true children of God and is as it were the very seale of their Election Adoption Calling and Justification and a true earnest of their future Glorification For except they persevere in the wayes of Piety and Righteousnesse from their first Calling to their end in mortifying their corruptions carnall desires the lust of the flesh and live religiously and soberly in this present world they will utterly fall away from the faith as did a Hymeneus and Philetus and loose all that they have wrought Now the greater this gift of Perseverance is the more are they to be earnest and diligent by fervent and continuall prayers and humble Supplications to God to obtaine it and the greater is their obligation to him when they have received the same This excellent Grace is compared to a Race where all run but none obtaines the prize but such as persevere to the end for it is nothing for men to begin well and to be fervent and active in all the duties of Piety for a moment of time or to cast forth flashes of zeale to seeme to advance the Glory of God and their owne private or the generall Reformation that is now in hand except they continue till the worke be done that they may so run that they may b obtaine The Architector that begins an excellent structure and does not make an end of it nor finish it after that exquisite Symetry that it was begun but for want of patience or to save charges leaves it unperfected or changeth the forme or composition of the first erection from a Corinthian forme to the Toscan or Jonique that are inferiour to it in charges beauty and excellency doth diminish his reputation and not increase the same for it is not the beginning but the compleating of a work in all perfection that honours and recommends the workmen Even so will it be with private men that begin well and walke fervently in the wayes and duties of Piety but doe not continue to the end And also with our Worthies if they should not porsevere to the end in this blessed worke of the true Reformation they have begun For as the Apostle saith concerning our Christian Calling That there are not many wise nor many mighty nor many noble after the flesh called Even so among so many millions of men of all degrees that inhabite these three Kingdomes there are but some few hundreds that have been called to this blessed worke of the Lord And this extraordinary grace and honour they have received of him should in my opinion induce them to persevere in this great worke till it be perfected for the lesser the number is the greater will be their honour because their unparalelled labours will be the greater And as for those that out of that small number have deserted the work preferring like c Demas and Alexander the love of this world before the glory of God let not their Apostasie be a motive of discouragement to the faithfull Ones but rather of a greater assurance of their perseverance in grace from which the others are fallen off as I will endeavour to make it appeare by instances 1. They began to run in the race but they continued not for as the Apostle saith If they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made d manifest that they were not of us c. 2. They had but a generall and superficiall calling and not the eternall nor speciall personall and peculiar calling For the gifts of God saith the Apostle are without e repentance c. 3. Nor the patience to run the race that was set f before them c. 4. Nor the grace to consider that the prize of this race was not to be obtained by the swift nor the victory of the g battell by the strong but by the grace of the Lord of Hosts c. 5. Neither did they by prayers and supplications nor by h watching and reiterated petitions require this grace of Perseverance of God c. 6. Nor considered that the Laodiceans and faint-hearted men cannot obtain the Kingdome of God but onely the fervent and the i violent carrie it away c. 7. and such that presse toward the k marke for the price of the high calling in Christ Jesus c. O what a measure of supernaturall Grace hath been then infused into those members of the Honourable Houses that have remained constant untill this day and that shall by the grace of God persevere unto the end and finish and compleate upon the immoveable Rocke of the Word of God this excellent Fabricke of the true Reformation already begun The greatest worke that ever was done in Christendome considering the potent and numerous opposers they are like to have that like so many Giants will with all the malice and power of the agents of the Prince of darknesse endeavour to traverse this spirituall building But let them not be discouraged for since they have God on their side none shall be able to oppose nor hinder the perfecting of it If they doe but persevere as they have begun and tread for the time to come under their feet all carnall policies although they seeme according to humane reason necessary and much conducing to that end but truly and really most destructive to it as I have noted in my first Chapter for the true Worship of God is to have the precedencie in all Reformations for the delayes of it that are grounded upon Civill Politicke or Military respects doe but spinne out this warre and make all other endeavours fruitlesse and the very worke it selfe more difficult as we have had woefull experience of it since this warre begun And will alwaies be so untill it be prosecuted before all other affaires by an unanimous Perseverance and integrity of heart by them in Authority that God out a speciall mercy to this Nation hath elected and preordained by his eternall purpose out of so many millions of men to doe this worke before the beginning of the Creation and to be the faithfull Reformers of the abuses and Innovations that were crept into the Church of England and the famous Restorers of the Purity of the true Worship of God in all the Dominions of his sacred Majestie as it is now in Scotland and in all the best reformed Churches of Christendome That the mindes and affections of the people of England Scotland and Ireland may be for the future united and bound with the strongest links and bounds that be under the Sunne that is by a spirituall Conformity of Doctrine and
THE SIX SECONDARY CAVSES OF THE Spinning out of this Vnnaturall Warre By D. P. P. JEREMIAH 8. 20. The harvest is past and the summer is ended and yet we are not saved Octob. 19. 1644. Imprimatur JAMES CRANFORD LONDON Printed by George Miller 1644. To the Reader IF a small Sparrow cannot fall to the ground nor a haire from our head without the will of our Heavenly Father we may be the more confident that nothing shall nor can be fall to us in this unnaturall Warre except it be by the speciall providence of God for it is he only that disableth or inableth the secondary Causes according as his will and pleasure is to humble or to blesse us And therefore if it doth seeme to some that I impute the spinning of this Warre more then I should to the secondary Causes I intreate them to be more charitable in their constructions for my only aime is to show that the first and essentiall Cause is our sinnes impenitency and ingratitude for mercies heretofore received of our gracious God that hath been inforced by them to disable the secondary Causes from executing that as they might otherwise have done if he had not intended to humble us for the aforesaid transgressions Neither doe I as they may suppose expose these secondary Causes to the publique view out of any private ends or Cynick humour to barke at on to consine the actions of these times though I may boldly say that it is not by our wisedome policy or experience in Warre that we are in so good a condition but by the meere mercy of our gracious God but out of a desire to contribute my mite to the advancement of the true Reformation begun and to lend a weake helping hand to draw this Civill warre with the helpe of God to a blessed and a more speedy end that is spinned out by these secondary Causes And so Prest Thy humble servant in the Lord D. P. P. The Contents I. THe retarding of the true Reformation II. The delay of Justice III. The neglect of occasions opportunities or advantages IV. The divisions and contentions that are among us V. The strange Method of our Warre VI The want of perseverance THE SIX Secondary Causes of the Spinning out of this Vnnaturall Warre The first Secondary Cause is The retarding of a True Reformation ALl the faithfull Ministers of God that were resident in this famous City and that are come to it from all the parts of the Kingdome as into a Sanctuary to preserve themselves from the cruelty of the Cannibals of these dayes or that have been summoned to settle the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church according to the Word of God and the forme observed in the best Reformed Churches of France Germany and Scotland Have not yet been able by their infatigable labours fervent prayers orthodox Doctrine profitable exhortations and loving admonitions to mollifie our hearts or worke in us a true and a cordiall Reformation but rather like a stiffe necked people we are growne more licentious in our lives and conversations then we were before this great light of the Gospell did appeare to us as a morning Sunne which impenitency and hardnesse of heart should be lamented if it were possible with teares of blood because it is not to be parrelled for it doth exceed that of Nineveh for they converted themselves unto the Lord and turned from their a wicked wayes by the preaching and the the threatnings of the Prophet Jonah But alas the preaching of all these faithfull Messengers of God nor the Judgements that have been inflicted these three yeares upon this Nation cannot move us to feare and apprehend the last b viols of the wrath of God that are ready to fall upon our heads so insensible and stupid are our hearts that they seeme like Nabals heart to be turned into c stones And yet there never was more Fasting nor more dayes of Humiliation nor prayers addressed to the Throne of Grace in this Kingdome then there is at this present time and since these warres began What may then be the reason that our prayers are rejected at this time by our gracious God It must assuredly be this That our Fasts our humiliations and our prayers are all formall and not sincere and that we applaud the d forme but deny the power of godlinesse and that we serve God with our lipps and deny him in our hearts we bowe downe our heads for a day like a * bulrush but all the moneth after instead of mortifying our lusts we inflame them by our carnall cogitations Instead of examining our selves and diving into the secret corners of our deceitfull hearts we censure and reprehend the carriage and actions of others instead of being lowly and humble in our own eyes we are swollowed up with pride and selfe-conceitednesse we can see a straw in our brothers eye but we cannot see a beame in our owne We are apt with our father Adam to transfer our own sins upon others or like the hypocriticall Pharisie blesse our selves when we are worse then Publicans we can say such a one is this and such a one is that or these mens sins are the cause of our present miseries but we doe not put our hands upon our brests and confesse ingeniously Lord my sins have a greater share in these publike calamities then any other mans sins O let us then in the Name of God returne unto him judge our selves that we may not be judged let us sweep before our own doores and the streete will be soon cleansed I meane let us every one in particular mortifie our own corruptions reforme our lives manners and conversations and abhorre formality the k Laodicean temper and be fervent sincere and zealous in the wayes of righteousnesse and not seeme only to be righteous but strive to be really so for by this spirituall dissimulation we may deceive others and our selves but we cannot deceive God that searcheth the hearts and will reward us not according to our faire showes but according to our reality or hypocrisie And this personall Reformation will be a good step to the Generall which will never be attained if every one of us doe not endeavour in particular to reforme our selves And as concerning the Generall Reformation of the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church we are all bound to petition to the Honourable Houses of Parliament that they would be pleased to make the same the first worke of their unparrelled labours And that it may have the precedency of the Civill Politick and Military Reformations because the blessed issue of these last depends altogether upon the setling of the first as I will endeavour to make it appeare by these reasons following 1. Our gracious God is a jealous God that abhorres all mixtures of Religions and hath been pleased to teach us to prefer his Glory before all other respects And that all other ends set
apart we are to give in all our consultations and reformations the precedency to the purity of his service as he hath given us a president for it in the first Table of his l Commandements wherein the Spirituall duties have the precedency before the Morall that are contained in the second Table And this order hath been religiouslly observed by the Prophets and the good Kings of Iudah and out of a certaine instinct of nature that teacheth men to reverence the Deity by the very Heathen as it may be collected out of the lives of Lycurgus Solon and m Numa Pompilius the Legislators of the Lacedemonians Athenians and Romanes Now if we omit out of carnall ends to render unto our gracious God that reverence that is due to him from us in regard of his glory and worship his jealousie will be so speedily inflamed and his wrath so kindled against us that we shall rather draw his judgements upon our heads then blessings upon our Civill Politique and Military enterprises 2. As the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome even so the reestablishing of the purity of his service in the Church is the first meanes to obtaine from him in time of distresse and affliction store of mercies and deliverances this point may be proved by may instances out of the Book of Iudges when the children of Israel were presently delivered from great servitude and tribulations that were fallen upon them for neglecting the purity of the service that God had appointed them to goe a whoring after Idols and strange Religions as soone as they set a reforming hand to the Church abuses and returned and cryed with sincere hearts to the Lord their God The incomparable Mercies and deliverances that God was pleased to give to n Hezekiah King of Iudah may also be a speciall Instance for the Proofe of this point for they proceeded from the zeale he had at the beginning of his raigne to reforme the Church of God of all the abuses and Innovations that were crept in the same in the time of Ahaz his Father And the great Love and Mercies that the Lord shewed unto o Iosiah may be another fit Instance for the proofe of this point for they sprang from that unparalelled zeale he had to reforme the abuses and idolatrie that was crept in the Church and had defiled the Purity of the Service of God in the time of Amon his Father for in zeale and diligent love and affection to purge the Church and to establish a true and cordiall Reformation in Judah he exceeded all the other good Kings of Judah And therefore the Lord did for his sake delay and retard the judgements that he had long before intended to send upon Jerusalem and granted him that mercy as they happened not in his dayes nor was not afflicted with the sight of the lamentable desolation and destruction that befell presently after upon the Citie the Temple and the whole Nation of the Jewes Out of which Instances may be collected That there is nothing more acceptable unto God then when Kings and Princes or Magistrates doe begin their Reformations and dedicate the Precedencie of it to the affaires of the Church in case of reestablishing the true Puritie of his Service and Worship 3. The retarding of a true Reformation and reestablishing of the Purity of Gods worship is dangerous in three manner of wayes to a Kingdome or Common-weale 1. Because diversitie of opinions in Religion breeds contentions for alienation of affections are most apt to proceed from the contrarietie of opinions in points of Religion as there is no greater bond to linke mens affections together then an unanimous assent of judgement in matters of doctrine and discipline of the Church and of that Religion they openly professe And therefore it is no wonder if contentions and divisions doe abound among us since every one is suffered to entertaine what opinion he pleases in points of Religion Now publike contentions breed mutinies combustions and at last factions and an intestine warre for the proofe of which point we need no other instance then our owne miseries for if the Popish Religion had been kept under in the Raigne of King Iames and in the Raigne of his Majestie that now is our Soveraigne this unnaturall warre of ours might according to humane reason and probabilities have been prevented for by the raising of some of that profession to great honours and preferments they have to subsist and strengthen themselves withdrawne the Person of his Majestie and alienated his Love and his affections from his most faithfull Parliament and from the rest of his most Loyall Subjects whereby jealousies have been fomented two parties formed and this intestine war procured 2. The retarding of a true Reformation in the Church makes this Reformation more difficult to be performed for since this warre begun and this licentious libertie of opinions in Religion hath been connived at the one partie is increased in Poperie idolatry superstition Profanenesse Atheisme Impietie and Crueltie and the other in Separatists Independents Brownists Anabaptists Antinomians Socinians and Libertines that like so many Giants oppose Godlinesse and a true Reformation for a Civill warre and a licentious liberty of erroneous opinions is Satans harvest and the time that he soweth his pernicious seed in the field of p Wheat of the painfull husbandman and makes it increase as the weeds doe in a garden after a soaking showre of raine or multiply like a swarme of Bees in the beginning of the Summer And we see by experience that these Sectaries are not onely multiplyed into incredible multitudes but are become also so impudent and bold as to expostulate and make Apologies for to obtaine a free Liberty of Conscience as they terme it to cover their licentious and impious projects that is to doe all manner of evill and to teach all manner of heresies and unheard of opinions And that they may say and act what seemeth good in their owne eyes As if there was neither King nor a Parliament nor any Magistrates in this Kingdome to suppresse and keepe them in awe As there was none in Israel in the time of q Micah that made a molten image and worshipped the same in stead of the living God Even so if their request were granted which God forbid we should have more sects among us then the Egyptians had deities And such an Olio Podrigo of Religions as never was in any Nation which would speedily produce a confusion and this confusion would immediately after bring forth a generall desolation upon the land in lieu of a true Reformation 3. The retarding of the reestablishing of the Purity of the Service of God in our Church makes many to stagger not knowing on which side to stand when they consider the one side infected with profanitie and impietie and the other with Sectaries and Libertines whereas if the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church was published and settled