covering of the head in the congregation where infirmity or sicknesse doth not plead for it tendeth to the dishonour of Jesus Christ whose servants we professe our selves to be especially at this time and to the contempt of his messenger representing the Office and Person of Christ before our eyes surely this is not to call the holy of the Lord honourable as we finde it Isa 58.13 Isa 58.13 but to make him a reproach A sixt instance we shal take from the Lords day by some called the Sabbath with a good meaning perchance but not without impropriety of speech because not known by this name either in the primitive times or in the ages immediately following for ought as I can learn but I shall not contend about words That which is observable of the day to our present purpose is the different esteem and observation thereof with the two adverse parties the one ascribing too much the other too little unto the same the one keeping it with almost Jewish rigour and extremity the other after a loose and formall manner at the best to omit their unchristian profanation thereof upon severall occasions and each walking contrary to other in their practise from the spirit of oppofition as well as from other principles For although it be no easie matter to assure our selves much lesse to convince others that this day is of divine institution as the sabbath was among the Jewes and we should be loth with many to give the strict outward observation of the time preheminence above all other morall duties and acts of Religion in which respect as I remember some have thought a slender trespasse or offence thereon worthy to be expiated by the death of the offender yet it cannot be doubted again but that there is a necessity of separating or setting apart such a day as this for the honour and publique worship of God as well in regard of humane wickednesse as weaknesse and of their pronenesse to superstition and Atheisme as well as of their worldly businesse and employment the which they would never intermit of themselves without the restraint laid upon them or else wholly bestow the remaining time upon the service of their own lusts and sinfull pleasures Wherefore they cannot be excused who in times past loosed the reins of discipline to the people yet more when God knows they were too remisse already and permitted them free liberty to spend a part and that not the least of this day in vain sports and pastimes scarse beseeming a brideale or marriage feast much lesse such a season as this of which abuse a Divine of the Northern parts sent thither by the King to preach the Gospell there doth greatly but justly complain in an Epistle to the Bishop of Chester as that which did exceedingly hinder the courses of Religion and frustrate the fruits of their Ministeriall labours and withall observes that they who did most abet and maintain publick piping and lascivious dancing on the Lords day were the open and professed enemies of our Religion Of so bad consequence are these merry sundaies as a profane person once affectionately called them saying that it was a good time when they did enjoy the former liberty but for whom I cannot tell except it were for him who is the author of all evill in which we sow unto the flesh and not unto the Spirit serve our own lusts and not the Lords will Wherefore it is needfull that this first day of the week be in due manner observed by us in all places especially considering that from the Apostles time hitherto it hath been consecrated by the Church of Christ to this holy use A seventh instance we shal borrow from the Lords Proyer the which we must acknowledge for the true and perpetuall pattern of our supplications unto the worlds end And yet how much hath it been of late decryed and vilified by some not as needlesse only but as hurtfull also Who have therefore rejected the use thereof in publick Assemblies and derided those who took pleasure therein and others have layed it aside for fear of displeasing the powerfull party however they still approve it in their judgement and have done by their practise heretofore Many pretend for the disuse thereof that the people did idolize it and impute a kinde of holinesse to the bare saying or repeating of the same the which supposing it to be true can in no wise warrant their omission of this form if it be good much lesse their preaching or speaking against it for if we may condemn every thing as bad in it self or noxious to us because it may or doth occasionally prove so through our perverse use or abuse thereof what can escape our censure be the thing never so good yea shall we not then very often call evill good Isai 5.20 and good evill put darknesse for light and light for darknesse bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter The patience of God we know is abused daily and his grace turned into wantonnesse by wicked and ungodly persons and yet it were the height of impiety to think the worse of either for this reason the fault solely resting upon man In like manner every creature of God which as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Tim. 4.4 is good 2 Tim. 4.4 and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving is made subject to our vanity and corruption and become the idoll of our pleasurable or of our profitable lusts How much better were it therefore for the Ministers in this case to shew the people their errour or failing in the use of that wich is good then to possesse them with a false opinion and wrong conceit of the thing it self as evill and to be avoided of them the which they use not dexterously and as they should But such is and ever will be the force of faction and schisme in the heart of men to make them opposite one to another in judgement and in practise without and against all reason whatsoever The which also we may further discover in the length and brevity of their prayers in the manner and matter of their praying in the affected difference of tone and voice of words or formes of expression of gesture and behaviour in the acts of solemn worship and such like with easie observation And so far hath their malice proceeded one against another that neither of them would by any means admit so much as praying for the adverse party though expresly commanded by the precepts of the Gospell but openly cursed each the other as desperate enemies of God and of his cause And now I shall crave leave to addresse my words unto thy sons according to their severall orders and degrees entreating them all to bear with the rude plainnesse of my counsell and not to be offended at the liberty of my reproof being free from malice and bitternesse of spirit from partiality from guile and hypocrisie And first I shall direct my speech
in the fountain to him who seeth and knoweth the hidden things of darknesse but in the streams also which flow from thence I mean the externall actions and courses of your life to men who judge according to the appearance and sight For he that narrowly considereth and examineth without prejudice the usuall motion and carriage of things in these times shall finde very few at least not any considerable number of men in comparison of the rest who have not sided with the severall unhappy divisions or factions of the nation according as they were led by private interests of dependance gain honour liberty and such like personall advantages notwithstanding their fair pretences of conscience and religion in reference to the cause which they did maintain Under the same colour do you still as formerly bite and devour one another as if that religion which teacheth mercy and enjoyneth the exercise thereof even towards the worst enemies both of its professors and of it self could any way countenance before God or discerning good men proceedings of this nature so contrary to the precepts thereof and although according to the custome of hypocrites you pride your selves in this that you are not so debauched in your life and loose in your manners as those are known to be who are opposite to you yet ye cannot quit your selves of that imputation which the Lord doth fasten on the Pharisees and Scribes of his time namely that they did strain at a gnat Mat. 23.24 and swallow a camell for as they then were double diligent as we say in observing what the Law did require in point of ceremony and circumstance of divine worship as also every vain tradition received from their foresathers but omitted the weightier matters of the Law Vers 23. judgement mercy and faith forbearing to est with unwashen hands lest they should transgresse Chap. 15.2 Luk. 11.39 and yet desiling their conscience with ravening and wickednesse and afterward with the bloud of the Son of God so ye with whom an innocent ceremony would not go down heretofore and is an abomination unto this day now can swallow down all manner of injustice without remorse or distaste thereof in the least measure Mat. 23.14 and devour widowes houses as they did under the same pretence also of prayer and devotion But some of you place all the duty of a Christian or Saint in the externall observation of those things that pertain to the worship of God or in a professed zeal for the Sabbath as they term it and hearing of the word as opportunity is given them others in the mortall performance of what the Law prescribes in point of justice and common honesty both with like deceit and danger setting these two at oddes one against the other which by the will and commandement of God are to be inseparably joyned together in our Evangelicall obedience and cannot be parted without practicall apostasie or manifest for saking of Saintlike integrity necessary in order to salvation for every man that will be a disciple and follower of Christ Jesus Now what more evident sign of hypocrisie then such partiall respect as this to the Commandements of the Lord whereby we pick and chuse some refuse and reject others according to our own pleasure or as they best sute with or disagree from our corrupt affections and sinfull lusts To which we may adde also your non-proficiency under the means of grace for never had a nation more plentifully sowen among them the incorruptible seed of the word that yeelded so bad or sparing increase thereof as ye have done Never any yet who know so much and practise so little as your selves on whom greater light have shone and yet more love and walk in darknesse then you of this untoward stubborn Psal 78.8 and rebellious generation a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit is not stedfast with God Insomuch as it is an aspersion cast upon you by your adversaries and I would to God without ground or just cause that our fore-fathers in this land under their religion were faster tyed by their bare word and promise then Protestants at this day by their most solemn oathes a charge indeed against us never more verified by our practise then at this present time but little making for them or for their cause whose leaders have taught them to erre more concerning this thing then any in the world besides framing mischief by a law or art of dissembling unknown to men in times past and to be abominated throughout all ages Be ashamed therefore O ye English people and confounded in your selves because of all your transgressions And fear him who hath so often turned his anger away Ps 78.38 and not stirred up all his wrath Lest he at length cast upon you the fierceness V. 49. of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble and as he hath begun so accomplish is fury in the the midst of you or behold ye have already seen the tokens of his displeasure against you in that he hath taken from you those ill gotten goods by the hand of violence and rapine which ye procured to your selves at the first by oppression or by deceit having given your substance and your treasures to the spoil without price and that for all your sins even in all your borders And because you have not believed the Lord speaking unto you early and late by his spirit in the Ministers of truth and righteousnesse he hath in his just judgement sent the spirit of delusion and errour among you in those that preach unto you without calling and commission from him the imagination of their own heart not his word Now these with the like proceedings of the righteous Judge against thee in judgement are so many gentle forewarnings to thee O Nation not desired of timely repentance and conversion to thy God but in case of impenitency and obstinacy against the gracious counsell of his will certain forerunners of greater plagues both upon the bodies and also upon the soules of thy children Fear therefore that if thy vain thoughts still lodge within thee and thou haste not to appease the wrath of thy Maker Zeph. 2.2 before the Deeree bring forth before the day passe as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you before the day of the Lords anger come upon you Fear I say lest your houses shall be turned unto others Jer. 6.12 with your fields and wives together and the whole land be devoured by the fire of his jealousie Zeph. 1.18 The Lord hath planted you in a good land flowing with milk and honey like that of Canaan but your unthankfulnesse for his blessings and abuse of them to sin and provocation of the eyes of his glory when the measure of iniquity is already full as it seemeth now to be may soon cause him to cast you forth of this goodly inheritance as he did them that were
as being overswayed by them whose creatures you are who think it reasonable that as ye have served your selves of their power when time was so you should by way of compensation now serve their will and obey their commands and surely however the case standeth thus much they do expect and require at your hands as might appear by severall instances But enough of this I have but one word to say more and it is by way of admonition to the ingenuous and well minded among you who have been carryed away by errour of the times an errour discernible by the fewest of men that live in them unto those practises which they would loath and detest if they saw the true shape of them which is ugly and deformed and were not deluded by false glasses and counterfeit representations of them in the disguises of justice and honesty but as yet allow because they are not conscious to themselves of any malice or evill intention in what they do that they would devoutly implore the grace of the Almighty for illumination to see and direction to follow those things which make for their peace lest otherwise they live and die in their sin and what will be the sequell thereof they cannot be ignorant who know the truth and terrour of God In the mean time let them and all take heed how they manage their present fortune lest they also become a prey to others as others have been made a prey to them For it is to be seared that your gaudy prosperity is an eye-sore unto them who have power over your estates and lives and will finde matter enough of quarrell against you if there be not a change of manners and this wrought with discretion and speed Neither will this happily serve the turn to prevent those designes which as we hear are now on foot to alienate the Colledge-lands from publick use for the maintenance of learning to the propriety of private men the dangerous effects whereof both to Church and State not in this present age only but also in the generations to come I tremble to imagine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Judges Lawyers c. I Have but little to say to you being altogether unacquainted with your profession and your wayes For I never as yet sued any man at the Law and was never sued by any for trespasse or wrong done unto them wherefore experience cannot teach me what to speak of you Neverthelesse there hath been a generall complaint of the people in the land for some years past and as lowd as it durst break forth against the iniquity and oppression of your Courts of Judicature as if might or favour or money could more prevail in them then equity or law neither is it silent unto this day Whether your sin were according to the clamour of the people or no I cannot tell But of this I am assured that God will require much at your hands in the last and generall day of Judgment there being no men alive who have more frequent and signal remembrances of their duty or alarms of their account before the Almighty then you besides the speciall Obligations of solemn Oaths and common ties upon your conscience to doe the thing which is lawfull and right Happy is it for you now and for the State in which ye live and much more happy will it be for you hereafter if ye lay these things to heart and practise as you learn and know Judgement and Truth on which as on the the basis the Peace and safety of every Common-wealth doe rest and thrust aside war calamity and ruine doe ensue without remedy Your proceedings are many times intricate and dark not to be traced by popular and ordinary sent There be many windings and turnings in the Law which few can finde out mazes and almost inexplicable labyrinths to those who are not guided by your clew But still remember who standeth in the midst of you even a God that seeth in darknesse to whom the darknesse and light are both alike secret and hidden things are open and manifest Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom they have to doe Let therefore the eighty second Psalm be your mirror wherein to behold what you are what ye should be if amisse and not upright according to the minde and will of God And not hear only but obey also his commands in the Ministry of the Word A time there was when the sober admonition and milder reproof of the Preacher would not goe down with some of you but were distasted by your corrupt palates And therefore a Minister was warned of his Diocesan being then to preach before the Judges not to touch upon this string it liked them not forsooth to hear that which did pertain to their office and duty or rather did tacitly check their omission and transgression thereof so often repeated in their eares Who were most faulty in this particular the Judges that did refuse to be admonished the Bishop who advised the Minister to gratifie them in their desire or the Minister if he did obey the will of his superiour in this thing let God judge But I presume it was not after this manner every where nor with all persons neither did it as I suppose continue thus long And God forbid this usefull and necessary liberty should be diminished or restrained in any part thereof For can men too often hear of that which they are to doe at all times and which is of everlasting concernment to them Bee instructed therefore ye Judges of the earth Psal 2.10 11. serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Now these are the things that ye shall doe Zech. 8.16.17 speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of Truth and Peace in your gates And let none of you imagine evill in your hearts against his neighbour and love no false Oath for all these are things that I hate saith the Lord. To the City of London I Am to speak now to a very great body of people yea the greatest in this Nation considering the narrow compasse of your abode and would to God I were able to speak unto you all at once by the vocal sound of my mouth that I might the better testifie the inward affection of my minde towards you and not be constrained to bespeak you severally by the whispering language of my pen. But what voice can be sufficient for the audience of so vast a multitude wherefore accept my reproof and counsel as it is tendred unto thee Thou art the largest City in this Island for the extent of bounds the fairest for magnificence of structure more populous rich and mighty by far then any of thy other sisters But according to the usuall and unhappy sate of great Gities and famous Empories thou hast not more abounded with people then