swadling band Iob 26.11 breakes up for it his decreed place and sets barrs and gates and saies Hither to shalt thou come no farther and here shall thy proud waves bee stayed Iob 38.9 10. Shall we yet step a staire lower and opening the Jawes of the bottom lesse pit see how powerfully hee displayes his Eanners in the dreadfull dungeon below Behold Hell is naked before him Iob 26.6 and destruction hath no covering This made our Prophet sing more generally The Lord is above all Gods whatsoever pleased him that did He in Heaven and Earth and in the Sea and in all deepe places Psal 135.6 Psal 135.6 Thus you heare God is in the world as the Soule is in the body life and government And as the soule is in every part of the body so is God in every part of the world No Quarter-master nor Vice-gerent He but universall Monarch and Commander Totus in toto Totus in qualibet parte A God every where wholly a God and yet one God every where onely One whom the vaine conjectures of the Heathen dreaming to be moe gave in the Skie the name of Iupiter in the Ayre Iuno in the Water Neptune in the earth Vesta and sometimes Ceres the name of Apollo in the Sunne in the Moone Diana of Aeolus in the windes Ex D. August Hot kerus Eccles pol. l. b. 1. Sect. 3. of Pluto and Proserpine in Hell And in fine so many guides of Nature they imagin'd as they saw there were kinds of things naturall in the world whom they honour'd as having power to worke or cease according to the desires of those that homaged and obey them But unto us there is one onely Guide of all Agents naturall and he both the Creator and Worker of all in all alone to be bless'd honour'd and ador'd by all for evermore And is God the Lord indeed Is he chiefe Soveraigne of the whole world Hath his Power so large a Jurisdiction Doth it circuit and list in Water Earth Aire Fire nay the vaster Territories of Heaven and Hell too How then doth this fraile arme of Flesh dare list it selfe against Omnipotence Why doth it oppose or at least incite the dreadfull Armies of him who is the great Lord of Hosts Why doe we muster up our troupes of Sinnes as if we would set them in battel-aray against the Almighty Scarce a place where he displaies the Ensignes of his Power but man seemes to hang out his flag of Defiance or at least of Provocation and though he hath no strength to conquer yet he hath a will to affront If he cannot batter his Fort he will be playing on his Trenches anger his God though not wound him In the earth he meetes him by his groveling Sinnes of Avarice oppression violence rapine Sacriledge and others of that stye and dunghill In the Water by his flowing sinnes of Drunkennesse Riots Surfets Vomitings and what else of that frothy Tide and Inundation In the Aire by his windy sinnes of Ambition Arrogance Pride Vain-glory and what vapour and exhalation else his fancie relisheth In the Fire by his flaming sins of Lust Choller Revenge Bloud and what else sparkles from that raging furnace In Heaven by his lofty Sinnes of Prophanation Oathes Blasphemies Disputes against the Godhead and the like And lastly as if Hell were with man on earth or man which is but Earth were in Hell already by his damned sins of Imprecations Curses Bannings Execrations and others of that infernall stampe which seeme to breath no lesse than Fire and Sulphure and the very horrors of the burning Lake Thus like those Monsters of old wee lift our Pelion upon Ossa Tumble one mountaine of transgressions upon another no lesse high than fearefull as if they not onely cryed for thunder from above but also dar'd it But wretched man that thou art who shall deliver thee from the horrour of this death 2 Thes 1.8 When the Lord shall reveale himselfe from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that feare him not what Cave shall hide 2 Sam. 22.9.16 or what Rocke cover them At his rebuke the foundations of the world are discovered even at the blast of the breath of his displeasure Out of his mouth commeth a devouring flame and if he do but touch these mountaines they shall smoake Psal 104.32 if he but once lift up his iron Rod he rends and shivers and breaketh in pieces like a Potters vessell he heweth asunder the snares of the ungodly and his enemies he shall consume like the fat of Lambes Psal 37.20 O then let all the earth feare the Lord let all the Inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him let Kings throw downe their Scepters at his feet and the people their knees and hearts at those Scepters from the Cedar of Libanus and the Oke of Basan to the shrub of the Valley and the humble Hysope on the wall let all bow and tremble Princes and all Iudges of the Earth both young men and Maidens old men and children let them all seare and in searing praise and in praising sing of the Name and Power of the Lord God for his Name onely is excellent Psal 148.13 and his power and Glory above Heaven and Earth On the other side is the Lord Omnipotent indeed Hath his Power so wide a Province and extent Is the glory of his mighty Acts thus made knowne to the sounes of men Is his Kingdome not onely a great but an everlasting Kingdome His Dominion through and beyond all Generations Psal 145.13 Doth hee plant and root up prune and graft at his owne pleasure Psal 147.6 Doth hee raise the humble and meeke and bring the ungodly down to the ground Is he with his Ioseph in the prison with Eliah in the Cave with Shadrach in the Furnace with Daniel in the Den Doth hee deliver his anoynted from the persecution of Saul His Prophet from the fury of Iezcbel his Apostle from the bonds of Herod His Saint from the Sword and Fagot of the Insidell Psal 104.21 Doth hee cloath the Lillies of the field Have Lyons roaring after their prey their food from him Doth he give fodder unto the Cattell quench the wild Asses thirst feed the young Ravens that call upon him Doth he stop the mouthes of wilde beasts Quench the violence of fire Abate the edge of the Sword Shake the very powers of the Grave and all for the rescue and preservation of his servants his faithfull his beloved servants Why art thou then so sad O my soule why so sad and why so disquieted within thee Trust in God Psal 147.3 he healeth those that are broken in heart and giveth medicine to heale their sick enesse Though thy afflictions be many thy adversaries mighty thy temptations unresistable thy grievances unwieldie thy sinnes numberlesse their weight intollerable yet there is a God above in his provident watch-Tower a God
maintenance and support of these fleshly tabernacles thou shalt eate and drinke ad necessitatem and the church to take downe the frankenesse of nature and tame the wildnesse of the flesh for in point of fasting there is as well a religious as a civill or politicke respect saies thou shalt not eate and drinke ad intemperantiam let us so eate and drinke that we may live and not lust and so live that thus eating drinking we care not if we die to morrow The cause why Moses so long fasted in the Mount was meere divine speculation the cause why David did humiliation so that the way to mortify the flesh and to advance the spirit is by the doore of abstinence whereby wee may undermine the pallaces of lust and wantonnes plant parcimony as nature where riotousnes hath beene study Hooker Eccles pol. lib. 5. that whereas men of the Flesh eate their bread with joy and drinke their wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 The man of the Spirit may be contrite and wounded and so humble his soule with fasting Psal 35.13 Beware then of this Ingenuosa Gula this kick-shawed luxury when the braine turnes Cooke for pleasing both of the eye and palate let 's not court appetite when we should but feed it not feed excesse when we should strangle it Moderation and sobrietie are the best Governours of our meetings and where these are as they are not too often in the meetings of a multitude the example of our Saviour will allow us to turne Water into Wine and the advice of his Apostle to drinke it also for our stomacks suke and doubtlesse sometimes for our mirths sake too if we exceed not the bounds of temperance nor flye out into superfluity or Epicurisme which are the blot and staine of Societie and a hinderance of that true joy and comfort which otherwise might smile in our publike meetings when invitations are turned into riots feeding into suffocation clogging the body and damping the spirits and thereby those blessings which else happily might have shower'd upon us A Soule drown'd in meat as the Father phraseth it can no more behold the light of God than a body sunk in puddle can behold the light of the Sun For as fogs and mists arising from the Earth and hiding the light of the Sunne from us debarre us for the present of the vertue of those heavenly influences which otherwise we might partake of So the fumes and vapours of an over-charg'd stomacke ascending to the brain cause a cloudinesse in the soule hindring and darkning those heavenly speculations which the Spirit would else mount to in God and his Son Christ Iesus To conclude then it should be our principall care to keepe the whole man brush'd all sluttishnes swept-of as well within as without not only those outward spots and blemishes which bestain the flesh but even those smaller dusts and atomes which over-spred the soule Remember it is the white robe which is the dressing of the Saint and that the hand which is wash'd in innocency is accepted at Gods Altar The haire that is unshaven is not for his congregation nor the fowle and uncleane thing for his kingdome We read that Solomons Temple had two altars the one without Vbi animaliū caedebatur Sacrificium 1. Kings 6.20 22. where the bullocke was flaine for sacrifice The other within Vbi Thymiamitis offerebatur incensum where incense and perfumes were offered the best mirrhe and the onyx the sweet storax Ecclus. 24.15 And we know that this temple of the holy Ghost hath two altars also the one without in the flesh where the bullocke should bee slaine the Hecatomb of our hundred beasts offered our beastly lusts and corruptions which fight against the soule The other within in the minde where the fumes of mirrhe and frank incense ascend the incense of prayer and gratulation that spirituall holocaust that viall of the Saints full of odours which reacheth the very nostrils of the Almighty On these two altars D. Aug. 256. serm de temp God requires a two fold sacrifice munditiem in corde cleanesse in the heart which David so vehemently desired create in mee a cleane heart O God Psal 5 1. and castitatem in corpore chastity in the body S. Bern. inter sententias which S. Bernar calls martyrium sine sanguine a martyrdome without bloud where there is a death of the flesh without the death of the body a death of her lusts and a death of her corruptions by mortifying and subduing all carnall rebellions And this martyrdome of the flesh S. Paul glories in I keepe under my body or as the Greeke hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus contundo Paulin. Ep. 58. et Lividum reddo soe Paulinus reades it to S. Augustine I Bray as it were and macerate my body and marke what followes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In servitutem redigo I bring it into subiection 1. Cor. 9.27 And in subjection indeed it must be brought in subjection to the soule which as it gives the other forme so it should steere and master it Vnumquodque sicundum hoc vivat unde vivit saith S. Augustine let every thing live according to the rule and platforme of that by which it lives Vnde vivit caro tua De anima tua unde vivit anima tua De Deo tuo unaquaque harum secundum vitam suam vivat Whence lives thy body from thy soule whence lives thy soule from thy God Let both then live according to that Life which gave them life The world was made for man and man for his soule his soul for God Tū rectè vivit carosecundū animā D. Aug. Serm. 13. deverb Dom. cùm anima vivit secundum Deum The sweet Saint Augustine still then the body lives rightly according to the soule when the soule lives rightly according unto GOD. Let the body then so live after the soule and the soule after GOD that both body and soule may live with God in his eternall kingdome and that for his deare Sons sake Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father the holy Ghost bee all honour and glory ascrib'd both now and for ever Amen Gloria in excelsis Deo FINIS Jehovah-Jireh GOD In his PROVIDENCE And OMNIPOTENCE Discovered A SERMON PREACHED Ad Magistratum at CHARD in Sommerset 1633. By Humphrey Sydenham Laudate Dominum de omnimoda potentia ejus Laudate eum secundum multitudinem Magnitudinis ejus Psal 150.2 LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE for Humphrey Robinson at the Signe of the Three Pigeons in PAULS Church-yard 1637. TOMY HIGHLY HONOUR'D FRIEND Sr. JOHN STAVVELL Knight of the BATH THIS SIR IUST promises are just debts and debts though delayed ever come acceptably if they come with advantage I long since promised you a transcript of this Sermon which was the Principall and now I send it you with a Dedication which is the Interest and such an Interest I
for instead of those Magnificats and Hosannahs which were proper onely to the true God Act. 19. v. 28. 34. Great great is the Lord and worthy to bee praised how excellent is thy Name in all the world Psal 8. Here the unruly shout of Crafis-men and Shrine-makers so busie are Mechannicks still in matters of Religion are loud for a more glittering Deity and cause both the streets the Temple to ring Act. 19.26 Great is Diana of the Ephesians Great is Diana of the Ephesians Saint Paul therefore pittying their blindnesse and willing to reduce them from darknesse unto light tells them that they were no Gods which were made with hands but the braine-sicke sancies of those that made them and withall acquaints them with a new Divinity which they had not heard of and hearing perhaps could not well understand opens to them the mystery of a Trinity tells them of Three Persons in one God nay that three persons were but one God and yet every one of these persons a true God that there was a Father from everlasting which was Divine and a Sonne so too very God of very God begotten before the world and before all time and yet brought forth after there was a world and in the fulnesse of time This could be no lesse than a Riddle to Flesh and bloud and more apt to stagger a naturall understanding than informe it But that God who wrought miraculously in the Creation of man doth also in his Conversion His Apostle here shall doe that by the secret operations of the spirit which the subtle powers of Art and reason with all their acutenesse and sublimity cannot possibly aspire unto And now he begins to preach unto them Christ Iesus and him crucified 1 Cor. 1.23 a matter of folly unto some of stumbling unto others but of salvation here and this great worke is not to be done suddainely or with a flash but requireth both time and teares diligence and compasaion as if in matters of spirituall imployment God not onely expected the tongue or hands of his Ministers but their eyes also for so Saint Paul tells the Elders of Ephesus at Myletum Acts 20. that Hee ceased not to warne every one night and day with teares And this he did for the space of three yeeres untill a commotion being rais'd against him by Demetrius the Silver-smith one that more lov'd his owne gaine than Religion as most mercenary men doe hee departed into Macedonia leaving Timothy at Ephesus for the farther growth of that Doctrine which hee there seeded Not long after going bound in spirit to Ierusalem and from thence to Rome where he was in bonds and fearing that the Dog might againe to his old vomit hee writes this Epistle to Ephesus by Tychicus the Deacon 2 Tim. 4.12 not to the dispersed Iewes there or Iudais'd Christians as some conjecture for these had formerly revolted 2 Tim. 1.15 Phygellus and Hermogenes being chiefe but to the converted Gentiles for so he himselfe profess'd Ego Paulus vinct us Iesu Christi pro vobis Gentibus in the 3. chapter of this Epistle In which he is not onely carefull for the suppressing of Heresies which were like to rise or else already growne principally those of the Symonian Sect and the Schooles of the Gnosticks Epiph. lib. 1. contra Haeres as Epiphanius notes but also for the perfecting of that great worke of Christianity which hee had with such danger begun and with such difficulty proceeded in And therefore here like a discreet Monitor he first puts them in mind of their primitive condition what they formerly were Yee were sometimes darknesse Then of their present state and happinesse what they now stood in Ye are light in the Lord And lastly of their conversation in the future what a holy strictnesse should carry them in after-times Walke as children of light These are the branches the Text naturally spreads unto and because they are large ones and each particular full enough for the whole body of a discourse I shall pitch my meditations for the present on the former onely and so confine both my selfe and them to the very front of the Text Eratis olim Tenebrae Ye were sometimes darknesse And here lest we fall a stumbling in the darke and with the Israclite wander up and downe under the Cloud let us inquire a little what darknesse is or rather what it is not then what it is or is not in the Text here and so make up the Analogie betweene both Now darknesse is nothing else but Absentia luminis a Non-residency if I may so stile it or vacancy of light Qui diligenter considerat quid sint tenebrae snil aliud invenit quam lucis absentiam D. Aug. lib. de Gen. ad lit imperfecte And to this purpose Moses tells us that in the beginning when the earth was without forme and void Tencbrae erant super Abyssum Darknesse cover'd the face of the deepe which is all one saith Saint Augustine with Non erat lux super abyssum There was no light upon the face of the deepe So that the Father would have darknesse there to be onely Informitas sine lumine A prodigie without light blemishing and dimming that rich beauty and lustre which should radiate and enlighten the whole world And indeed if we critically enquire into the originall of things wee cannot bring darknesse within the verge of Creation wee reade of a Fiat lux let there be light but no where of a Fiant tenebrae let there be darknesse as if with darknesse God had nothing to doe nothing indeed in respect of Creation but of Ordinance or Administration For God made the Species of things Nè vel ipse privat ones non haberent suum ordinem D. Aug. ut supra not privations not made these but dispos'd them least privations themselves should not have their order God managing though not creating them who is the God of Order Now light you know is a created quality not made as I told you but ordain'd onely like a rest in a Song where though there be an intermission of voyce for the present as if there were neither voyce nor Song yet if it be rightly tim'd and order'd makes the Song more melodious and the art fuller Or like shadowes in wel-limn'd Pictures which give the other life and excellence but in themselves Non specie sed ordine placent their shape is not pleasing ' but their order Wee say not nor dare not say that God was the causer of this Ephesian darknesse but doubtlesse he was the Disposer of it otherwise it had never beene advanc'd to this Lux estis in Domino yee are now light in the Lord. God is not the Authour of any obliquity or crookednesse in our wayes but he is the Orderer and turnes them oftentimes to our punishment and his glory Nay oftentimes O the depth and riches of his mercyes ' from our punishment to our owne
glory converting this Eratis olim tenebrae to a Lux estis in Domino making that which was sometimes darknesse to be now light in the Lord. Quaedam sunt quae Dens ordnat facit quaedam quae ord nat tantù D. Aug. ut sup There are some things which God both makes and ordaines and some which he ordaines only The just which are as light as the shining light saith Solomon which shineth more and more unto the perfect day God not only makes but ordaines The wicked which are as darknesse and a continuall stumbling he ordaines only not makes not makes them wicked but men So that although both are not made by him both are disposed of though in a different manner disposed of The one Ad dextram Dei On the right of God with a venite Benedicti Come yee blessed The other Ad sinistram On the lest with an Ite maledicti Goe yee cursed And indeed whither should light goe but to him that is Pater luminum The Father of lights Iames 1.17 Or whither should darkenesse tend but to him that is Princeps tenebrarum the Prince of the power of darkenes Mat. 9.34 You heare then that where light is there is life too and where there is darkenesse death And these two are as distant as the two poles as opposite as two contrary winds or tydes differing sicut nuditas vestimentum as nakednesse and a garment doth D. Aug. lib. de Genes ad lit imperfect Now as in scripture there is some Analogie betweene light and a garment so there is betweene nakednesse and darkenesse The Psaimist describing the majesty of God saies that he was Amictus lumine sicut vestimento cloath'd with light as with a garment Psal 104.2 Here garment and light shine both together and with them life Iob typifying unto us the fleeting and unstable condition of the Rich under the sudden losse of his goods and children with his mantle rent and his head shaven at length prostrates himselfe with a nudus exibo Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked I shall returne And what of this nakednesse what nay whither Ecce in tenebris instruo Cubile meum Behold Iob. 1.21 I have made my bed ready in the darkenesse Job 17.13 Here nakednesse and darkenesse sleepe together and with them death And hence I suppose it is that the Evangelist calleth darkenesse Vmbra mortis The shadow of death Luke 1.79 And the Prophet whence he had it Regionem umbrae mortis the Land of the shadow of death Isay 9.2 Death and shadow of death and the land of the shadow of death and of all these Darkenesse is an Hieroglyphicke or Embleme or both as if there were no other misery to expresse them by but darkenesse And indeed Darkenesse is a great misery and seldome mentiond in sacred story without intimation of some curse or punishment So for the unprofitable servant Math. 25.30 wee finde that the doome is Vtter darkenesse And for the Angells that fell Chaines of darkenesse Iude 6.13 And for the wandring starres Blackenesse of darkenesse for ever Nay when God himselfe speakes in terror to the world the Earth trembling and the foundation of the Hills shaking because he is wroth A smoake out of his nostrills and a devouring fire out of his mouth are not astonishment enough but as if there were nothing else to ripen horrour Hee makes darkenes his secret place his Pavilion round about darke waters and thicke cloudes of the skie Psal 18.11 And therefore in mount Sinay at the promulgation of the law lightning and thunder and the noise of the trumpe and the smoaking of the mountaine like a furnace were too light it seemes to cause a generall palsie and trembling in the campe of the Israelites But to make terror solemne and compleate and set her up in the chaire of state there must be a thicke cloude also and to make that thicknesse more dreadfull Thicke Darkenesse too Exod. 20.21 And lastly on mount Calvary at the satisfaction of the law when part of the world seemd to dye and part to resurge in the death of her Saviour the Temple cleaving the Earth quaking the Rockes rending the Graves opening and many Bodyes of the Saints which slept arising Yet in this there was not a full pompe either of forrow or wonder not mourning or miracle enough for the tragedy of a God But the heavens must be cloath'd with blacknesse and sackcloth shall be a covering And as if one light languish'd for the extinguishing of another The Sunne it selfe shall blend and looke heavy to see her maker eclipsed and Darkenesse like a sad manile shall over-spread the whole land from the sixth houre unto the ninth houre Matth. 27.45 By this time you may conceive what Darkenesse is and the miserable estate and condition of those that lye captiv'd under her bands and fetters Now 't is time to reflect more particularly upon the text and enquire what the darkenesse was that is there complain'd of what that which of olde so manacled the Ephesian Yee were sometimes Darkenesse Darkenesse here Beza Cornel alap in locum hath a metonimicall sence and is if you wil take the word of a Iesuite or if not his Beza's more then ordinarily emphaticall Tenebrae being vs'd for renebricosi Darkeues for those which are in the darke as wickednesse is oftentimes taken for those that are wicked but darke or wicked in a superlative way Now as before Darkenesse was an absence or privation of the light naturall so it is here of the light spirituall and is a type or figure of man in naturalibus a representation of the state of nature before grace and such a state is a very darkenesse in which there is not so much as a glimmering of this Lux estis in Domino yee are now light in the Lord But rather a blind relique of this olim tenebrae in the text here that darkenes which of old so be sotted our Ephesian And what is that darkenesse but ignorantia veritatis an ignorance of divine truth Aret. in locum and imports only caecitatem innatam caliginem mentit de Deo Divinis an inbred blindnesse cast as a mist upon the soule a mentall dimnesse and obscurity in respect of God and things divine So that where such ignorance dwelleth there is no light at all but darkenesse hangs like a thicke fog about it First Darkenesse in the eyes Psal 69.23 Then Darkenesse in the heart Rom. 1.21 And at last Darkenesse in the understanding too Ephes 4. And why this threefold darkenesse Darkenes in eye in heart and understanding why Because alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them at the 18. verse of the same chapter And here if we had neither light of Father nor In terpreter Scripture would comment upon scripture Palpvviūs sicut coeci parietem We groape for the wall like the blinde weè stumble at noone day
chapter Well then is Ignorance a Darkenesse and that Darkenesse tending unto Death Doe sinnes of affected weaknesse and simplicity leade man blinded to the ditch and there grovell him not only dangerously but without an infinite compassion Irrecoverably too What shal we thinke then of those that dwell in the light that have the golden candlesticke before them the knowledge of Christ and his Gospell shining cleerely and yet both they and all their practises driving amayne to the Land of Darkenesse and the shadow of Death Surely there is a Vaetibi Corazim recorded against such and the Tyrian and Sydonian in respect of divine justice have a more colourable Plea than those Woe unto thee Chorazin wee unto thee Bethsaida It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Iudgement than for you Luke 10.14 Againe are Iustice Temperance Sobriety Patience Chastity and the rest of those morall Rarities in the Heathen because not divinely illuminated as they should now swimming in the burning Lake And doe we thinke which daily heare the voice of the Turtle in our Land that Corruption and Dissolutenesse and Riot and Lust and Bloud shall without de epe Repentance passe by that Floud of Brimstone those Coales of Iuniper the flaming of that Tophet which was prepared of Old Doe our ignorant mistreadings drag us to a strict Arraignment And shall those of Premeditation and Will and Malice and Presumption escape the Tribunall of the Great Iudge Hearke the dreadfull Thunderelap of the Apostle Voluntariè peccantibus non relinquitur Hostia If any sinne willingly after they have received the knowledge of the Truth What then What Horrenda quaedam expectatio Iudicij There is no more Sacrifice for sinne remaining but a fearefull expectation of judgement and fiery indignation Heb. 10.27 A place I confesse loaded with Terror and as with terror so with Obscurity and Doubt enough to strike the presuming Sinner into a Sound or a cold sweat 'T is a Hammer for the breaking of the Stone an Iron rod for the bruizing of the mountaine able to batter and beate into shivers a rockie and Adamantine Heart Againe Is there such vengeance due to those that know not God and his Son Christ Iesus What is there then to those that know him and yet crucifie him Nay what to Vs that crucifie him afresh daily That kisse him by our treacherous sinnes of Disloyalty and Revolt That Sell him by our greedy sinnes of Rapine and Avarice That spet upon him by our scornefull sinnes of Pride and Contumelie That Mocke him with our cogging sinnes of Hypocrisie and impure Purity that buffet him with our churlish sinnes of Rigour and Incompassion That Scourge him by our bloud-fetching sinnes of rigid malicious uncharitable censures That crowne him by our thorny sinnes of Oppression Depopulation Sacriledge That Revile him by our foule-mouth'd sinnes of Oathes Prophanations Blasphemies That Naile him to his Crosse by our implacable sinnes of Choler Revenge Fury And lastly that pierce him to the very heart by our javeline sinnes of Cruelty Rebellion Patricide and the like which cry louder now against the Christian than that Christi-cidium of old against the Iewes because the heinousnesse of their fact was somewhat abated by the Ignorance of the Agents And so insteed of the rushing of that mighty winde Confunde Domine confunde Let them be confounded and brought to nought They meete with the whisperings of the soft and the gentle Voyce Pater ignosce ignosce Father forgive forgive for they know not what they doe And indeed if they had knowne him truely as many amongst us Glory that they doe what could be the Reward of their matchlesse Butchery but the Hailestone and the Coale of fire the Lightning and the hot Thunderbolt Once more if ignorance of it selfe had such a priviledge that it could totally excuse yet as the times goe there is no plea for ignorance I confesse there was a time here to fore both of ignorance and bloud when superstition hang dilike a darke Cloud over us and Martyrdome at the heeles of it as a fatall Comet I meane those Mariana tempora when there was no other Dilemma for a distracted Church but either Rome or the sury of her fagot but those times are gone into Ashes and some of those Ashes I presume into Glory and no ground lest us now either for ignorance or feare Our Church is full cramm'd with Pastors and our Pastors with the Word and our Congregations with both and our Parlours sometimes with all three more Preachers now a dayes than we have either Churches or Pulpits our Shops and Cloysters and Barnes ring aloud of them Insomuch that for some of these there is still a full maintenance in the Church and that as they pretend Iure Divino only the poore Pastour instead of cramming others hath scarce a competence to feed himselfe and that's no doubt Iure humano where Sacrilege hath got the authority to flay that revenue which the other in all equity should fleece But notwithstanding the rapine of such Corâ—â—orants our Lampe is still burning in the Tabernacle and magnified bee the great GOD of Israel still like to burne burne like a vestall Flame that will never out and cursed be they that labour to extinguish it or not labouring cursed be those which mutter that they would 'T is a kinde of rifling of the Arke or at least a busie prying into it to meddle with those Arcana Religionis imperii Mysteries of Religion or State are not a businesse for the multitude to champe on who because they cannot have a Church and Common-wealth at their owne fancie will be a Church and Common-wealth to themselves and so lift the heele against an Old England for a New But ô height of folly and presumption Nay of madnesse What hath Vzzah to doe with the touching of the Arke What a Lay-Schismaticke with the Hierarchy of a Church Obedience of old was better than Sacrifice and now then saucinesse And therefore let such looke home to their Axe and their Hammer to their false Ballance and the unjust measure to the factious Loome and Shuttle let not the Cobler out-goe his Last nor the Tinker his Budget But Tractent fabrilia fabri To shut up all you must know that every corrupt Conversation is a darknesse the continuing in any customary sinne a great darknesse Seeing then that the night is past and the day is at hand Let us therefore cast off the workes of darknesse and put on the Armour of light even that Arniour which Saint Paul in the close of this Epistle prescribeth his Ephesians that Girdle and Breast plate and Shield and Sword and Helmet Truth and Righteousnesse and Faith and Salvation and the Spirit and then no doubt wee shall be able to withstand all the fiery darts of the wicked And to this purpose let the incontinent make a covenant with his eyes the proud man with the loftinesse of his looke the over-credulous with his