turn nor suit with that ground of Method which not I make choyce of but the Perversness of Man proposes to me and compels upon me if he Fights with Wood and Hay 1 Cor. 3.12 and Stubble and I warr'd with Gold and Silver and Pretious Stones I shall not Componere but Dilatare his Obstreper as Fauces for want of a Reply ad Idem such a Goliah as this must have the Neck of his Objection cut off with his own though a Leaden Sword the Other and Better way would indeed satisfie Other and Israelited better and Un-Philistin'd men to Remember them that there is a God who already believe this Truth but not to make him Know that there is a God who as yet Denies it and doing that must by Miserable Undoing Consequence Deny this Book to be Made by him whom himself he Denies to Be. 2. Therefore by a Rational Physick against the Pestilence and Infection of so Ill an Air a Disease more dangerous than that other noysome Pestilence Psal 91.6 which walketh as this hath done though now it attempts to wast even at Noon-day in Darkness for That does testifie a God though an Angry one which This out-braves Psal 65.8 and the People were afraid of the Tokens of That as of God's Tokens whom This out-dares and with design that that Ill Air may not onely leave off to Poyson the Air next to it but begin to Purge it self I shall first Convince the Falshood of the Atheists more said and Divulg'd than Beleeved opinion out of those Principles which it is impossible for Themselves as they are what they profess themselves Meer Men to Gainsay and shall Secondly in Honour to the Scripture and the God of them either Convert Them who if they thrust not themselves without the Pale thrust the Pale from themselves or at least Confirm those who are within the Pale that they may not be seduc'd to Pluck One Stake out of it by a Mixt kind of Natural and Spiriâ—ual Argument from the general manner and Method and Stile Aim and sense and Purpose of the â—criptures that a God is the Auâ—hour of them 3. To apply my self First to the Quality of the Opponents Acts 5.3 4. whose Hearts Satan hath filled to Lye to the Holy Ghost not to Lye unto Men but unto God and is not â—his a Sacrilege in grain to withhold God from the People and beyond That of them who with-held the Gift of the People from God in Proving that there is a God out of such Evident and Created Principles which Themselves will be no more able to Disprove than a Dog to Bite the Moon at which He Barks and yet for the sake of Others I have heeded that Counsel of Putean Comus Cavendum est ne vel Ipso Latratu Mordeat 4. And did not God Himself and Moses Himself imply as much that God might be known though noâ— in His Simply-Intire essence eveâ— by Scriptures themselves or to Angels themselves for Nothing buâ— God can thus Comprehensively know God at least in His Existence and Being in a more Remote but Certain and Infallible though Confus'd knowledge eveâ— by the Light of Nature thougâ— there be more of Resplendency iâ— the Sun than in a Candle yet it is as sure that we Do See by a Candle as by the Sun When God Himself hath told us by Moses that Iâ— the Beginning Gen. 1.1 God Created the Heavens and the Earth in the very Beginning of the Word of God and hath not First Expresly told us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God Himself Is for it is never to be said He was of whom there is not Erat quando non Erat but in the same Line and Verse that He is too else Revel 1.4.8 Exod. 9.14 His Name I AM is brought into suspicion before that Beginning but hath left the Heavens and the Earth that He Made to tell us That 5. And do not the Apostles themselves do the same and upon the same Ground and perhaps in reference to that very First Verse in â—he Written Book of God being â—aught so to do by the Example of God and Moses as well as by Inpiration of God They do not tell â—s in Terminis that God Is much â—ess do they attempt that which They well knew to be a thing Imâ—ossible to Prove Him to Be à Priori such a very Proof as this besides the Arrogancy of it in taking upon them to be in greater â—avour with God and to see deeper into Him Exod. 33.23 than Moses did who saw Him but à Posteriori in His Back Parts would be but an Artificial a more Elaborate and subtle kind of Denying God They only tell us Involvedly that He is when they tell us that They Do and We should Believe in God the Father Almighty To Beleeve In Him He and They have taught us in Holy Scriptures but Credere Deum to Beleeve Him to Be the next Words after teach us That Maker of Heaven and Earth 6. Now if Any shall say a fresh as Galen once did Omnia Dicit Nihil Probat that Moses does but Say God did This and That Made Heaven and Earth He does not Prove it to Reply to all such who are themselves as Natural as was Galens Study let me take That Heaven and That Earth themselves into my Discourse whereby to Prove their Maker I begin with Part of That which God Made and out of which He Made Us the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof Take the Whole of it or take it in Pieces either Way there is a God 7. All of it and the Glory of it all the Vrbes and the Civitates the stately Buildings and the societies of Men whence were they the Cities did not Build themselves the Russet Coontryman knows as much as this comes to that not Orpheus â—idle Musick but the Hands of Laborious Men have done all this but whence then were Those Men He in the Woods and Fields and He in the Grove of City-Houses knows that too that as some of them have Children so All of them have had Parents but whence those Parents they know that too that as some of them Are Grand-fathers so All of them have Had Grand-fathers but whence still came they from their Fore-fathers and Those from a First of all As certainly as you cannot tell Any man alive Shall have a Future Child for the same Power Jer. 22.30 that said Write ye This Man Childless may if He please for God and His Power Attribute and Person are Convertible and thâ— same say Write ye This Woman untimely Is 37.3 for the Children are come to the Birth and there is no Strength to Bring forth so certainly you may know that there was a First Man of all that had no Man at all to his Father Orbe Novo Juven Sat. 6. Caeloque Recenti Vivebant Homines qui Rupto Robore Nati Compositique Luto Nullos habuere Parentes
whose Honour He was made If He can tell Thee neither this nor that believe Him in Nothing else and if He can tell Thee believe a God For if He deale plainly with thee Why He denyes a God His only and Bosome Reason is this that He would not have a God to Punish Him and such a Reason as this does not Deny but Confess God nor does only Confess God but Prove Him too Whence came this Fear of After Punishment which stands at the elbow of every desperately-bad Attempt but that it was †Non solum Innatum sed etiam Animo Insculptum esse Deos. Cicero l. 3. de Nat. Deorum Laertius in vita Zenonis imprinted with indelible Characters into the Soul of Men who may sooner wash away His own Soul than wash these signatures out of it by that God who would be Known and Acknowledg'd when Protected Man Will not do it by due by Fear of being Out-Lawd from that Protection and Providence by which He Rules and governes the Whole Great World and that Prowd little-Great World Man who thinks Himself to be Bigger and of more Consideration than the Whole 19. Which last Epithetes of Ruling Protection and Governing Providence casts me upon a fift Argument by which Nature Herself in the Best desires even of the Worst of Men does testify that there is a God Of Nature a God Above Nature And that is the Naturall Inclinations and Propenseness and even-Beseechings of Man to partake in the Blessings of God 20. That there is such a Naturall inclination in Man in the whole Species because in every Individuum of it will appear most dilucidly and uncontradictorily when Any That Man is surpriz'd and beset with a Weight of Suddenness of Danger and Death which He would escape out of which He cannot Extricate Himself by all the Wit of Man so that He will even Faile rather than Faile Mori ne Moriatur Mart. so that He will make Choice of one kind of Death without any †Hic rego non Furor est id Fury or Preposterousness since His designe is not simply to avoyd Death but Comparatively a worse and more formidable kind of it so that to Him the less painfull Death has some proportion and Analogy to Life it self in respect of those fiercer anguishes which He thus avoyds and in some sense escapes Death by Incurring it Bring we to such a Test that most daring Atheist who all His Life Deny'd God and see if His Practice in that eruption and Uncounseldness be not somewhat Godly in defiance of His Opinion At That Instant you shall hear Him both Confess God and Invoke God Invoke God that He would not Vicem rependere and Deny Him also Matth. 4.5 6. Lege Talionis Walk up with Him to the Brow of a Hill suppose it like that Pinacle upon which the Devill set our Saviour Himself Tempting One Person of the God-head to make Him Deny Another by Tempting God His Father where all the way He sees nothing else but Hill at that Instant and on that Top and Brow of the Hill do Thou Stand and suppose Him to Fall to See nothing into which He must Fall but Pitch and Brimstone and Flames of Fire tell me now Didst thou not hear him Cry out with as much Acknowledgment as with horrour God Bless me God Protest me God Deliver me Such a Cry when he had not Leisure to be ill-advis'd by his deprav'd Corrupted Reason must needs flow out of a Naturall Inclination to believe that there is a Supreme Invisible Povver vvhich is the Preserver of Men Job 7 2◠and to Believe such a Preserver such a Governing and Providentiall Power is to believe a God in vvhom such a Povver does Reside and Dvvell And that This is a True Belief does follow out of the Convinc'd Truth of the Naturall Inclination and the Naturality of the Cry for Nature herself will bear witness that no Inclination and Desire which proceeds meerly and Directly firstly and Originally from Her was ever in vain 21. And then why does the Atheist Rashly deny him from whom at his Most Need by an Innate Impulsion he does Soberly begg Ayd Thou knowst that there is a God and thou hearst That Denying Man when He is Ready to Perish cry out God save me Remember then that Thy God hath said said and sworn As I live Rom. 14.11 saith the Lord Every Tongue shall Confess to God Every Tongue the most Blasphemous Tongue Shall do it when you hear such a Tongue Deny God with the same Oath with which God hath sworn It shall Confess him when you hear It swear by the very Name of Him whom it Denyes to be think that Matth. 21.16 as Christ hath said Out of the Mouth of Babes and Sucklings thou hast perfected Praise so God hath perfected Truth out of the Mouth of them who are but Once Born and are not New-Born Babes who either have not suckt the Sincere Milk of the Word 1 Pet. 2.2 or else by a Divellish Assmilation for they themselves are Satan Manifested in the Flesh and like Spiders turn what they feed upon into their vicious selves have converted That Milke into Poison Beseech we God that as All things even Persecutitions and Miseryes of All sorts do work together for Good Rom. 8.28 to them that Love God so All things even Atheismes and Blasphemyes of all sorts Believed and Done may work together to the Magnifying of God by all Saints so much the more as He is Vilify'd by a Desperate Few of this Untoward Generation Thus the whole Earth does attest that God who Beares up the Pillars of it Psal 75.3 And the whole Heavens do so too 22. I must not now rest upon That Text of David The Heavens Declare the Glory of God Psal 19.11 and the Firmament sheweth his handy-worke I must not stay to Disprove the God-Confessing though the Christ-God Denying Socinus in His Comment upon that Text that the Heavens declare the Glory of God only by a pre-supposition that God was known to be before the Heavens were seen for That Text Clears it self and saves me the labour God was not only known Before but Made known by them the Firmament sayes David sheweth his handy-work sheweth by the very Prospect of it self that it self is the handy-worke of God Here I must not stay but as to Christiaus the right Method is to Prove and Confirme Any Truth in Nature by the Greater Truth of the Word of God so to the Atheists we must Prove the very Truth of God himself in his Word by the lesser Truth because more evident to them in Nature the Good Christian I know will Pardon me for his sake Aesop who is so Cockish as to Preser One single Grain of Corn above that Rich Jewell which might Purchase to him an intire harvest 23. And yet in This that I may not only dwell upon Nature or rather
Circumstances you cannot choose but Grant ' that such an Argument had great Weight and Power in it or else you must Condemn those two Great and Greatly-Illumin'd Doctors to have been unskilfull Divines 2 Tim. 2.15 and Workmen that had need to be ashamed in that they did not Rightly Divide that very word of Truth which the God of Truth spake in Nature her self The Occasion which brought them to such a Proof and Conviction of an Eternal All-seeing and Un-seen God was This When St. Paul by a word onely Act. 14.10 V. 8.10 had Recover'd the Impotent Man who was a Creeple from his Mothers womb and so Recover'd him that he Leaped and Walked the People lift up their Voyces and said V. 11. The Gods are come down to us in the Likeness of Men This * God does some Miracles to Shew his Omnipotency and to Prove his Doctrine Jo. Huart Examen de Ingeniis c. 2. Miracle was enough to make them Confess One God at least and what is there in Nature that is not a Miracle but that it is Ordinary and yet as Ordinary as it is is above the Self-Power of Man to produce Now when they were so far prepar'd as to believe that there Is a God that they might not Honour Men as Gods but Believe and Worship the True God This was the Proof V. 15 He is the Living God which made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things that are therein who in Times past suffer'd all Nations to walk in their own waies and we may Grievingly apply Who at this present Time hath suffer'd Some Men in This Nation to walk Peculiarly in their own waies the Atheist's waies are more Peculiarly than any Mans alive His own and therefore I said Some Men for whatever else were the Sins of Nations whatever else were the Sects of Schismaticks whatever else were the Societies and Combinations of Men there * Apud nos Veritatis Argumentum Aliquod Omnibùs videri tanquam Deum esse in ter alia sic colligimus quod Omnibus de Numine Opinio Insita est nec ulla Gens unquam adeâ— extra Leges Moresque projecta ut non Aliquos Deos credat Senec. Ep. 118. Nemo Barbarorum ad Contemptum Deorum excidit unquam neque in Dubium Vocant Illi sintne Dii an non sint curentne Res Humanas an non Aelian l. 2. dé Var. Histor c. 31. never was an Entire Nation there never was a Characteris'd Sect there never was a Profess'd Society and Combination of Atheists so Ridiculous as well as so Irrational it has ever been and will alwaies be to Deny a God and yet though God has Permitted some Nations and Sects and Societies to Commit such Distinguishing Sins whereby they might be Known and some Few Atheists different from the Guise of the whole VVorld to be Guilty of a Monstrous and Dis-own'd Unconfederated and Unsociable Sin yet saith St. Paul God left not Himself without Witness to either of them the Several VVhole Bodies or that Small Handfull of Men * Illud Prâ—fecto quod Precamur non fieret nec in Hunc Furorem omnes Mortales Concensissent alloquendo Surda Numina Inefficaces Deos nisi hoc in Aperto foret Ipsos Benefacere Senec de Benef l. 4. c. 4. Deus est cui Nomen Omne Convenit Vis Illum Fatum Vocare Non errabis Hic est ex quo Suspensa sunt omnia Causa Causarum Vu Illum Providentiam dicere Rectè dices Estenim cujus Consilio huic Mundo Providetur ut Inconcussus eat Actus suos explicet Vis Illum Naturam Votare Non Peccabis Est enim ex quo Nata sunt Omnia cujus Spiritu Vivimus Id. Natural Quaest l. 2. c. 45. in that He did Good after he had first made the VVorld by his Power and ever since Govern'd it by his Providence the very Being and Orderly Being of the VVorld was in St. Pauls account a Witness-bearing to the God that Made it and Keeps it He goes on to Instance in the most Discern'd and Popularly-Known acts of his Providence In giving Rain from Heaven v. 17. every Globular Drop of which does in some faint manner Resemble and Attest that Eternal Circle which God Himself Is and the Fructification the Plenty which follows those Drops does Evidence and Manifest the Goodness and Bounty of that God That 's his second Instance the second Link of that Chain of Providence the second Branch of that Accumulative Argument whereby he proves a Deity In giving fruitfull Seasons upon Earth every Least Grain of which to use his own expression elswhere 1 Cor. 15.37 It may chance of Wheat or of some other Grain does Convince a Providential God against the Atheist as well as a Raising God to the Christian and then he drives his Proof home to the very Heart and Soul of Man in that God does by these as the Effect of these Fill our Hearts with Food and Gladness He had need be a Blind Man not to see Rain a Tastless Man not to Eat Bread that is resolv'd to be an Ungratefull Man in being Fed and Glad by These and not giving God the praise for These He that does not this at least by acknowledging God to Be for That it self is some slender part of our Sacrifice of Thanksgiving takes himself to be more wise and learned than the most wise and most learned of all Christs Disciples for here it is not a beseeching and you are Inexorable if you grant it not 't is not a persuasion and you are Unkind if you yield not 't is not a Counsel and you are Self-will'd if you obey not nay 't is not bare Doctrine neither and you are Ignorant if you believe not but it is Doctrine Argu'd and prov'd powerfully evinc'd and even sensibly demonstrated that there is a God and you are maliciously stupid wilfully Blind if your solitary testimony runs-cross to that of all the world besides that a God there is 36. And did not Holy Job teach St. Paul or rather did not the Holy Ghost teach Both of them that such an Argument as This was ungain-sayable that the Contrary to This was undisputable so far from being Thetical and Dogmatical Evident Truth that it was not so much as Hypothetical and Problematical suspicious Truth when Holy Job proves the validity and sufficiency of that Aggregate Universal Argument by Proving that Universal Argument by Induction by Enumeration of all Particulars not only that All the World together does Argue a God but that every Particle and Fraction of it severally does do as much Quaeque Probant strictim singula Juncta Magis and does effectually do it even in answer to the most Colourable Objection that ever was against the Being of God The Tabernacles of the Robbers Prosper Job 12.6 and they that provoke God are secure When we name a God we Mean a Duty of Piety from Man to God
I have Believed What is a little Blood-shed I have empty'd a Vein to Recover from a Sickness and was well again Shall I not empty them All for Christ and Heaven Say to any Epicure to any He that would be more Crane than he is Philosopher that bids you to be Happy to become a Dog and a Sow to wallow in your own Myrie Vomit to allow of nothing but Sensual Pleasure I will none of that since I have heard not onely that a Friar Erasmus in his Ecclesiastes to Torment a Drunkard bade him be Drunk again as Conceiving no Torture to be equal to an Over-charg'd Stomach nor the Rope it self more Cruelly to stretch a Throat than a Loathsome Yawning but that at God's Right Hand there are Pleasures for Evermore Ps 16.11 Innocent and Un-satiating Pleasures a whole and a clear River of them not onely a River but the Spring-head too All my Springs are in thee O God Psal 87.7 Say to any Livy who calls VVorldly Honour and Earthly Soveraignty Happiness I will none of that since I have heard There is no Honour like to that L. Hatton's Preface to the Psalms of serving God in a Great Capacity that this is the onely Lawfull VVay by which to set up a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 Exod. 19.6 a Kingdome of Priests even amongst the Laity also when God shall make them indeed to be what in both those Scriptures they are call'd a holy Nation Say to any Horace who to be Happy bids you be VVordly-wise and Wise in your Generation I will none of that since I have heard of Another a Heavenly VVisdome a VVisdome to all Eternity and to Salvation in it This if compar'd to the Worlds is not Another but an Onely Wisdome the Worlds if compar'd to this is not Another Wisdome but an Onely Folly Madness Desperation VVhat is my Generation but a Point a Nothing to God's Eternity My Daies are but a Hands Breadth Psal 39.5 Diogenes's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of some Longer Liver in the first of Ages and mine Age is as nothing before thee O God Might I be as Happy Latum Unguem and one Day of my Life as all this World could make me and wretched the whole hand-breadth and all the Life besides I would not make so Indiscreet and Unpolitique a Choyce All this Life to all Eternity is infinitely less than a Day to all this Life and shall I choose the Greater Evil and forfeit the Greater Good when I have skill enough to refuse the Lesser Good because of a Lesser Evil Say to any Aristotle who comes nearest the Mark when he bids you be Happy in Well-Doing and in the Satisfaction which arises from thence I will more than that since I have heard that though a Good Conscience Prov. 15.15 and a Merry Heart because of That is a Continual Feast yet the Reward of that Good Conscience is a much Better and Merrier Feast and that therefore I look up to that Jesus Heb. 12.2 who as he is the Author has appointed unto me a Kingdome and when he is the Finisher of my Faith will Crown me in it that I may Eat and Drink at his Table Luk. 22.29 30. in his Kingdome 100. And yet though this Jesus be Another Notion Examinatio Portugalli Atheis 1617 or rather Another Person for there was a Portugal Atheist who being ask'd what he thought of the Trinity answerd Examinatio 3. quaest 6. Se adorare Trinitatem sed per alâ—as Notiones non sub Nominibus Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti yet it is but One and the Same God who makes this Feast of Happiness and fils the Table with all these and many more Several and Precious Messes and who by his Vnity with the Father and the Holy Ghost to which Unity in Trinity be all Prayer and Praise for ever calls upon me for my Promis'd Disquisition and Determination That there is One already Argu'd and But One God to which I proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polytheismus Vapulans OR THERE IS BUT ONE GOD. Greg. Nazianz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1654. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE L. VISCOUNT TRACY My much Honour'd Lord and Patron MY Honour'd Lord Since by some Unhappynesses which have made Long Furrowes upon your Back though they could not Psal 129.3 upon your Face and by your unmatcht patience have left That as they found it and have not writh'd nor Afflicted One wrinckle more upon your constant Brow I cannot as the Duty of my Place obliges me Preach to your Ear give me leave to do it to your Ey and to be your Chaplain from the Press when you cannot Hear unless by others that I am so from the Pulpit I may remember your Lordship that the ONE GOD of whom I treat though He binds Himself to None does usually observe this Method in repairing worldly Adversities with spirituall Advantages and as it is His Generall design to better That man by any Cross which He layes upon His shoulders and to bring him neerer to the Favour of That Christ who bore the Cross for Him by the similitude of sufferings so in your Lordship's Case he does not only Prescribe but Confect too tells you what is best and prepares those Ingredients for you in removing you from him who has less of skill in the Cure of Souls to him who has more of it and who would not bless God the more for such a Medicinall and Healing Tribulation As All eyes see your Patience Luke 21.19 Dionys Areopag in which you Possesse your Soul though not very much besides so I beseech That God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sees All things that the things which have Happen'd unto you Philip. 1.12 v. 13. Ibid. may fall out to the furtherance of the Gospell in you that as your Bonds are Manifest in All the Palace and were they not manifest I would not have nam'd them so they may be Bonds in Christ that even This also may turn to your salvation through your and our Prayer and the supply of the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST V. 1â— These my god Lord and many more Inconveniencies and Incumbrances of life and fortunes with which you struggle or to speak more properly which struggle with you have made me believe that such a dedication as This upon which your life is Comment and your Fortunes Notes would be not an unacceptable piece of service in recalling to your Lordships Consideration That which all the Circumstances of all your Affaires do daily Mind you of that there is but One Heaven That Above Job 22.14 but One God He that Walks in the Circuit thereof When you Tasted and Try'd All the Happinesses of the Earth together you were even Then too wise to
Sacrifise not unto them Literall and proper Sacrifices they must mean for those Other Sacrifices of Praise Thanksgiving they offer to Saint and Angell and those other Sacrifices Heb. 13.1.6 with which God is well pleased of doing good and Communicating they offer even to Men to their God and Christ what do they offer they offer even Christ Himself will they thus Pay Him with nothing els but his own Coin Heb. 10.14 will they multiply the offerings of Christ notwithstanding He by ONE Offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Will they multiply Christ himself whilst every one that Receives has All Christ and yet All Christ is still in Heaven too and all this Bodily notwithstanding that assertory Truth of the Heathen Man Matth. 5.17 In Plauto Amphytrio Sâ—siâ—m alloquitur qui se Domi ait esse cum peregre sit Copus Christi Domi in Coelorum Coelo tamen peregre in terrâ in Hac Terra in Illa in Hac in Illis in Hoc ore in Illo in Hoc in Illis founded upon the unalterable Principles of Nature which as the Law Christ came not to destroy but to fulfill Tun ' id dicere audes quod nemo unquam Homo antehac Vidit nec Potest fieri Tempore uno Homo Idem Duobus Locis ut Simul Sit Quae neque Fieri Possunt neque Fando unquam accepit quisquam Profers Were their Christ not yet ascended were He still Bodily upon earth though without any Consecration of theirs which as the Poet sayes his verses can bring down the Moon DeCoelo possunt deducere Christum Had he erected almost All of Christianity had and not yet Instituted the Holy Supper they would then have nothing at all to Offer to their Christ and to His Father but of the same kind Prayer and Praise which they offer not to Him alone but to him and to Angell and to Saint too unless they would relapse into abolisht Judaism and Sacrifise a Bullock still since therefore we cannot be perswaded to worship Saint and Angell as they do though in an Inferiour yet in a Spirituall degree since we cannot be wrought upon to Sacrifise as they pretend to do Really but only in Commemoration as Christ hath taught Luke 22.19 Do this in Remembrance of me I must take leave in one word more to take off this worship from Saint and Angell in that very word upon which they Found their Mistaken Duty by which it may appear they worship God amisse in giving that worship which is Peculiarly His to that which is not He and we worship God aright by the peculiar debt of Invocation though not by the Impropriety of Sacrifice Heb. 10.18 since it is as true as Gospell There is no more Offering for sin which will make way into the Inquiry after those which they cal the Authenticall examples in Scripture 20. Amongst the Rest it seemes to be warily done that they Name not the 148. Psalm the Psalm begins Praise ye the Lord from the Heavens their Note upon that is All ye Heavenly Spirits praise God V. 2 the Psalm goes on Praise ye him all His Angells though in the form of the words David Here seems to speak to Saints and Angels yet Intentionally He speaks and prayes only to God that Saints and Angels should praise Him and expects no more to be heard by Saint and Reply'd to by Angell then he believes Sun and Moon Heaven and Waters can grant a Request V. 3 V. 4 or that Fire and Hayle Snow and Vapours have eares or that Beasts and Cattell V. 8 Creeping things and flying Fowle can understand V. 10 or that Kings and Princes and Judges V. 11 are to be Worshipt more than Civilly or that People are to be worshipt at all V. 11 and the Reason why all these should Praise the Name of the Lord as doubtless they all doe Omnia precantur hymnosque Proclus l. de Sacrif concinunt ad Ordinis sui Ducem alia Intellectuali modo alia Rationali alia Sensitivo alia Naturali is exprest verse 13. for His Name Alone is Excellent which though they Render Is Exalted it matters not since every Exaltation is Excellent in suo genere and every excellency exalted and if thus to be excellent super omnia to have His glory above the Earth and Heaven be the Partiall cause of spirituall praise for the Adaequate Cause is that excellency and the Declaration of it and the Command upon it then nothing els must at all partake of that kind of Worship though in an Inferiour degree all eis being excluded by that Alone-Excellent to signify that whatever els it be which has an Inferiour Excellency t is not excellent at all as to the Claim of this praise for throughout the Psalm David does only say and often say Praise him and Praise him and not Praise Him thus and thus in summitate whereby he asserts to God not only the Chief but the All of Praise and in that word The prayse of all his Saints or as They a Hymn to all his Saints is only meant that God is the Praise of theÌ„ al that God Verse 14 who Inhabiteth the Prayses of Israel takes possession of them all Psal 23.3 and will not divide stakes with an Inmate Saint not that the Saints should be a Praise and Hymn and Song one to the other els if their degree of Excellency be Title enough to a Degree of Spiritual praise if That should chance to be true which Macrobius out of Plato tells us Plato cùm de Sphaerarum Coelestium volubilitate tractaret singulas ait Sirenas singulis orbibus Insidere significans Sphaerarum motu Cantum Numinibus exhiberi Macrob in Somn. Scipion. l. 2. cap. 3. and a Councill should tell us so too that there is a severall Siren sitting upon each severall Heaven and singing praise to God we must sing Spirituall Praises not only to God though only to God we must not only to Saint and Angell to whom we must not at all but to that New Society of Sirens too But let us examin their grounds in Scripture Gen. 32.24 There wrestled a Man with him Their Note sayes this Man was an Angel and this wrestling Spiritual as appears by Jacobs earnest prayer and the Angels Blessing but whence comes this Man to be an Angel the Text Sayes not so why is not this Man the second Person in the God-head who vouchsaft to appear to Jacob in he would that man-hood which he would after Take why may not Jacob V. 29 when he sayes Tell me I pray thee thy name seem to desire a further and plainer knowledge of this Mystery and why may not the answer wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name intend that Jacob should be Thankfull for so much Revealing of the Lord unto him and that the plainer evidence of the second Person was reserv'd to after Ages what
who do it not from whom by such a Continu'd Omission she may hope that in time they may forget they ever were Commanded to call upon God onely for by this as God is in himself so we acknowledge him to be our God our God in that we pray to him and our God in that we pray as he hath commanded us and is not this Treason against the Divine Majestie when by our Disloyal Prayers we give those Acknowledgements to another whereby he that did make and should rule us is testify'd to be our God and our King does not this seem to make him either a Nescient God that cannot understand our Requests unless they are convey'd to him through the Intercession of others or else a Proud God that will not admit of an Immediate Access unto himself as if he that humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in Earth Ps 113.6 would for all that take so much State upon him as not to take notice of the Best things that are in Earth and Heaven besides those things which are in God himself and which are God himself Humble and Faithfull Prayer God hath never told us that Saimt or Angel does hear the words of our Lips if any of them do this at any time yet who can tell that this or that Saint or Angel does hear at this time when that Letany is pray'd Holy Mary Manual pag. 422. Pray for us St. Michael Pray St. Gabriel Pray St. Raphael Pray And not onely St. John and St. Peter and St. Paul Pray but St. Agnes and St. Cecily and St. Anastasia Pray nay when some pray to this or that Forged Saint which are so far from being now in Heaven that we have no assurance they ever were on Earth Yet for those Real and Un-doubted Saints far be it from me to fasten a Shame upon any of them whom God hath Glorify'd I onely wish they may not Rival their God in Honour and I am sure themselves wish the same with me nor be over-charg'd with Reverence more than themselves Desire or God Appoints who can tell that their Present Employment when Busy Man invokes them is not design'd to them by their God elswhere and then take we heed that we do not apply that Ubiquitariness to be Everywhere at once which is properly attributed to God to Saint or Angel but then for the especial part of Prayer that of the Heart without which the Lips do onely Mutter they do not Pray and that of the Heart onely if the Heart prays to Saint or Angel does not that Heart make Saint or Angel God though unmeaningly whose Property alone it is to search the Heart Rom. 8.27 and the Reins Deos qui Colit Ille Facit Martial He that worships Religiously makes that a God which he Ignorantly Worships and Prayer is an Especial part of Worship and that of the Heart an Especial part of Prayer And if Any thing else but God must be Religiously Invok'd if any thing else but God can pry into the Hearts notwithstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does acknowledge that he can do it and 〈◊〉 Act. 1.24 that he onely Thou Lord which knowest the Hearts how little Honour is there of which we leave God the Sole Proprietary though the Angels and Saints in Heaven know themselves cannot honour him enough much less we if as From us and To us we may invoke others besides God others besides God may search into our Hearts and what though they of Rome often say and often in a day and in that Variation throughout those three Creeds the Apostolical as Text the Nicene and Athanasian as Commentary and perhaps in one more and larger than all these the Tridentine all the Deliberations and Conclusions of that Councel being sworn to as if they were all one Creed that they Believe in God Almighty the Maker of Heaven and Earth of all things Visible and Invisible that they worship God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity yet whil'st they worship Saints and Angels too and imbase the Honour of God down to them in their several Confessions of Faith they do not what they say they do but rather acknowledge what they ought to do entirely to worship God which it is the whole purpose of this Discourse to Argue and Perswade and upon the Knees of my Soul to Beseech them to do I shall conclude with that Advice of holy David Give unto the Lord 1 Chron. 16.28 29. ye Kinreds of the People give unto the Lord Glory and Strength Give unto the Lord the Glory due unto his Name even this Come before him Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness To worship any else Religiously is to Rob God of his due it is unbeauteous altogether deformed in his Eyes and in the Eyes of all his Saints and Angels Therefore onely To him who is the Blessed 1 Tim. 6.16 Rev. 15.4 and onely Potentate To him who is Onely Holy To God Onely Wise Be Honour and Power Everlasting Rom. 16.25 Be Glory through Jesus Christ for ever Amen APOSTROPHE To my Honour'd Patron The LORD TRACY My good Lord HOW your Noble self and my other dear Lord Newport will excuse me to both of whom I have not perform'd all that I have promis'd to either though as to me the Performances of both your Lordships have exceeded the Reality of your own and the Vanity of other mens Promises which were spoke into the Air and writ upon the Water I cannot tell and I have but these two empty Reliefs that my Breach is but a Delay Et mea sit solo Tempore lapsa Fides And that there is less of Affliction to either of your Honours whil'st such Trifles as these do less swell and perhaps a little more consideration may make amends in the Substantialness of the rest for the Froth of these Give me leave I beseech you to acquaint your Lordship why I insist so much against Doway-Rome and why in that particular against their Worshipping of Saints and why too I intermit my Advertisements to the English Opinionist and ill Liver I have done the first because in a late Disputation held at Winchcombe some of my Brethren Nov. 9. and my self have been accus'd for Romishly-affected in the Good Will we are thought to bear to Holy-dayes how unjust this Imputation was did then appear how Rash and Unadvised G. Goodman Bishop late of Gloucester I collect out of my Ordinarie's Dedication to the Lord General and by the way the Civil Supremacy was asserted by us whom some will traduce as guilty of Dis-affection against the Allowance of those who though by a new kind of Popery would be accounted the main Pulpit-Champions for it to whom he intimates some holy Thanks for the expected Reviviscency of Festivals I have done this against Doway-Rome because I have Rational Presumptions some of them may be my Early Readers and