things but in shipwracks even of worldly things where all sinks but the sorrow to save them or especially upon the very first tempest of spirituall distresse they steere away before the Sea and Wind leaving him to sink or swim without all possibility of helpe or rescue even to the rage of a wounded conscience and gulfe many times of that desperate madnesse which the Prophet describes Isa. 8. 21 22. He shall fret himselfe and curse his King and his GOD and looke upward And he shall looke unto the earth and behold trouble and darknesse dimnesse of anguish and he shal be driven to darknesse By comfortable Provision therefore I meane treasures of a more high lasting and noble nature The blessings of a better life comforts of godlinesse graces of salvation favour and acceptation with the highest Majesty c. They are the riches of heaven onely which we should so hoard up and will ever hold out in the times of trouble and Day of the Lords wrath Amongst which a sound faith and a cleare conscience are the most peerlesse and unvaluable jewels able by their native puissance and infused vigour to pull the very heart as it were out of Hell and with confidence and conquest to looke even Death and the Devill in the face There is no darknesse so desolate no crosse so cutting but the splendor of these is able to illighten their sweetnesse to mollifie So that the blessed counsell of CHRIST Mat. 6. 19 20. doth concurre with and confirme this Point Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theeves breake thorow and steale But lay vp for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where theeues do not breake thorow nor steale By moth and rust those two greedy and great devourers of gay clothes and glistering treasures two capitall vanities upon which worldlings dote and two greatest inchanters of mortall men are insinuated and signified unto us all those iron teeth and devouring instruments of mortality by which corruption eats into the heart of all earthly glory wasts insensibly the bowels of the greatest bravery and ever at length consumes into dust the strongest sinewes of the most Imperiall Soveraignty under the Sun Somtimes A day an houre a moment is enough to overturne the things that seemed to have been founded and rooted in Adamant The LORD of Heaven hath put a fraile and mortall nature a weake and dying disposition into all worldly things They spring and flourish and die Even the greatest and goodliest Politique Bodies that ever the earth bore though animated with the searching spirit of profoundest Policy strengthened with the resolution and valour of the most conquering commanders sighted with eagle eyes of largest depths fore-sights and comprehensions of state crowned with never so many warlike prosperities triumphs and victorious atchievements yet like the naturall Body of a man they had as it were their Infancy youthfull strength mans state old age and at last their grave We may see Dan. 2. 35. The glory and power of the mightiest Monarchies that ever the Sun saw shadowed by Nebuchadnezzars great Image sink into the dust and become like the chaffe of the Summers threshing floores upon a windy day Heare a wise and noble writer speaking to this purpose though for another purpose Who hath not observed what labour what practice perill bloud-shed and cruelty the Kings and Princes of the world have undergone exercised taken on them and committed to make themselves and their issues Masters of the world And yet hath Babylon Persia Egypt Syria Macedon Carthage Rome and the rest no fruit flower grasse or leafe springing upon the face of the earth of those seeds No their very roots and ruines do hardly remaine All that the hand of man can make is either over-turned by the hand of man or at length by standing and continuing consumed What trust then or true comfort in the arme of flesh humane greatnesse or earthly treasures What strength or stay in such broken staves of reed In the time of need the Worme of vanity will wast and wither them all like Ionahs gourd and leave our naked soules to the open rage of wind and weather to the scourges and Scorpions of guiltinesse and feare It transcends the Sphere of their activity as they say and passeth their power to satisfie an immortall soule to comfort thorow the length of eternity either to corrupt or conquer any spirituall adversaries For couldest thou purchase unto thy selfe a Monopoly of all the wealth in the world wert thou able to empty the Westerne parts of gold and the East of all her spices and precious things shouldest thou enclose the whole face of the earth from one end of heaven to another and fill this wide worlds circumference with golden heapes and hoards of pearle diddest thou in the meane time sit at the sterne and hold the reines in thine hand of all earthly kingdomes nay exalt thy selfe as the Eagle and set thy nest among the starres nay like the sun of the morning advance thy Throne even above the starres of God yet all these and whatsoever els thou canst imagine to make thy worldly happinesse compleate and matchlesse would not be worth a button unto thee upon thy bed of death nor do thee a halfe-penny-worth of good in the horrour of that dreadfull time Where did that man dwell or of what cloth was his coat made that was ever comforted by his goods greatnesse or great men in that last and sorest conflict In his wrastlings with the accusations of conscience terrours of death and oppositions of hell No no It is matter of a more heavenly metall treasures of an higher temper riches of a nobler nature that must hold out and helpe in the distresses of soule in the anguish of conscience in the houre of death against the stings of sinne wrath of GOD and last Tribunall Do you think that ever any glorified soule did gaze with delight upon the wedge of gold that tramples under foot the Sun and lookes All-mighty GOD in the face No no It is the society of holy Angels and blessed Saints the sweet Communion with its dearest Spouse that unapproachable light which crownes GODS sacred Throne the beauty and brightnesse of that most glorious Place the shining Body of the SONNE of GOD the beatificall fruition of the Deity it selfe the depth of Eternity and the like everlasting Fountaines of spirituall ravishment and joy which onely can feed and fill the restlesse and infinite appetite of that immortall Thing with fulnesse of contentment and fresh pleasures world without end Thrice blessed and sweet then is the advice of our Lord and Master IESVS CHRIST who would have us to turne the eye of our delight and eagernesse of affection from the fading glosse and painted glory of earthly treasures wherein naturally the worme of corruption and vanity ever breeds and many times the worme of an
countenance so finely tempered with gravitie and austerity that hee in a manner commanded respect from others insomuch that many forbare to speake or act unseemely things in his presence that would not have beene so modest in other company Such a Majestie doth grace imprint upon the countenances of holy men that they draw respect from the greatest this made those persecuting Emperours to feare the verie faces of those poore Christians that appeared before them And this caused Constantine the Great so to honour the countenance of Old Paphnutius though disfigur'd by the losse of his eye that he did often for his delight kisse the hollow of that eye which was lost for the cause of CHRIST So true is that of Salomon wisedome causeth the face to shine and the rigour of the countenance to bee changed 3. He was very Zealous for GOD not onely by the power of his Ministery in converting many wherein GOD had wonderfully blessed him but in any publike or private good that tended to the honour of GOD to whose glory he wholly sacrificed himselfe and all his studies which I can the more safely affirme in that I know he hath divers times refused preferment from some of the Nobility and Prelates of this Kingdome and for no other cause in the world but that hee might not be divorced from that countrey where his Ministery was so much embraced and wrought so good effects 4. But zeale is oft of such violent motion that as the antient Philosophers supposed of the primum mobile that if the motion thereof were not finely cooled and allayed by the coelum Christallinum next to it it would set all the Orbes on fire and therefore the zeale of this Reverend man was alwayes tempered with singular Wisedome and discretion for though in all his Sermons he prest mightily upon the conscience of his hearers who many times like babes childishly wrangled at the breasts which should nourish them yet were they never able to resist the authority by which he spake so that for the space of 22 yeares being the whole time that his Lamp of light shined in Northampton Shire his doctrine was never drawne into question either for error or schisme so studious was hee ever of the unity and peace of the Church of ENGLAND which hee dearely loved that none could justly quarrell with him but Papists and other Sectaries as also others that were corrupted with error or evill life 5. Lastly for his Charity hee was ever universally bountifull but especially he exceeded in those publike distresses of Germany France Bohemia c. and to those that stood in true neede for the enabling of himselfe hereunto I have heard him often say he made it evident to me that ever since he was Minister of Broughton he spent every yeare all the revenewes of his Parsonage which was of good valew in the maintenance of his family and acts of hospitality and charity And that the estate wherewith GOD hath blessed him otherwise was meerely raised by that temporall estate hee had at first Let them therefore of his owne coate from henceforth cease to traduce him whom they never did nor dare to imitate I am sure the Towne of Broughton will ever blesse GOD for his charity for when that lamentable fire was among them September 21 Anno Dom. 1626. besides the many pounds he spent out of his owne purse he was a chiefe meanes that by the only supply of the country without any Letters Patents from above their houses which were burnt down unto the ground were all new built and their outward estates liberally sustained and upheld Nay such was his charity that though some of his owne towne had not onely slandered his Ministry but wronged him in his tithes yet he put it up and never called them to question as he might nor ever had any suite with them So that I may for conclusion summe up this in that wittie commendation of Nazianzen on Basill the Great He thundered in his Doctrine and lightned in his conversation This inestimable treasure it pleased GOD to put in an earthen vessell and about the beginning of September last began to breake it by visiting him with a Quartan ague a disease which brought Calvin to his end and by the judgement of the best Physitians by reason of the long grievous paroxysmes whereby it afflicts is ever deemed mortall vnto old men and so it appeared to him for perceiving after two or three sits that it mastered his strength he patiently submitted to indure what by strugling hee could not overcome And called for his Will which he had made long before and perfecting some things in it he caused it to be laid up and afterwards wholly retired into himselfe quitting the world and solacing his soule with the meditation of the joyes of heaven which he had provided to preach to his people for having compiled an elaborate discourse de quatuor Novissimis of the foure last things DEATH IVDGEMENT HELL and HEAVEN an argument that some Iesuites and Friars have bungled in and having finished the three former told them that the next day he would treat of Heaven But the day before being Saturday he was visited with sickenesse and never preached after GOD then preparing him for the fruition of those inexplicable joyes which hee had provided for his people in contemplation His sickenesse though it was long and sharpe yet he bare it with admirable patience for he saw Him that was invisible and his whole delight was to bee with Him often breathing out such speeches as these whiles the violence and frequencie of his fits gave him any intermission Oh when will this good houâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall I bee dissolved when shall I bee with CHRIST Being told that it was indeed better for him to be dissolved but the Church of GOD could not misse him nor the benefit of his Ministery To which he thus sweetely replyed with David If I shall finde favour in the eyes of the LORD hee will bring mee againe and shew me both it and his habitation but if otherwise loe heere I am let him doe what seemeth good in his eyes Being asked by another whether hee could not bee content to live if GOD would grant him life he thus answered I grant that life is a great blessing of GOD neither will I neglect any meanes that may preserve it and doe heartily desire to submit to GODS will But of the two I infinitely desire to be dissolved and to bee with CHRIST In the time of his sickenesse there came many to visit him but hee admitted none but his intimate friends using a speech of Saint Augustine who desired ten daies before he died none might come to him that he in that time might the better fit himselfe for GOD. But to those that came to him he gave very godly and wise exhortations suting to their callings and conditions for although his
evill conscience attends the one of which eats out their heart when we expect an harvest The other seizes upon the Soule in the time of sorrow and sinks it into the lowest hell And as Men of GOD and Sonnes of Wisdome to mount our thoughts and raise our spirits and bend our affections to things above which are as farre from diminution and decay as the Soule from death and can be no more corrupted or shaken than the Seat and Omnipotency of GOD surprised For besides that they infinitely surpasse in eminency of worth and sweetnesse of pleasure the comprehension of the largest heart and expression of any Angels tongue they also out-last the dayes of heaven and run parallell with the life of GOD and line of Eternity As we see the Fountaine of all materiall light to powre out his beames and shining abundantly every day upon the world without wearinesse emptinesse or end so and incomparably more doth joy and peace glory and blisse spring and plentifully flow every moment with fresh streames from the face of the Father of Lights upon all His holy ones in heaven and that everlastingly O blessed then shall we be upon our beds of death if following the counsell of our dearest LORD who shed the most precious and warmest bloud in His heart to bring our soules out of hell we treasure ap now in the meane time heavenly hoards which will ever happily hold out a stocke of grace which never shrinks in the wetting but abides the triall of the spirit and touch-stone of the Word in all times of danger and Day of the LORD even that accurate circumspect and precise walking pressed upon us by the Apostle Eph. 5. 15. Though pestilently persecuted and plagued by the enemies of GOD in all ages And that purity which Saint Iohn makes a property of every true-hearted Professour 1 Iohn 3. 3. So much opposed and bitterly opprest by the world and yet without which none of us shall ever see the face of GOD with comfort If while it is called To Day we make our peace with His heavenly Highnesse by an humble continued exercise of repentance by standing valiantly on His side by holding an holy acquaintance at His mercifull Throne with a mighty importunity of prayer and godly conversation above by ever offering up unto Him in the armes of our Faith when he is angry the bleeding Body of His owne crucified SONNE never giving Him over or any rest untill He bepleased to register and enroll the remission of our sinnes in the Booke of Life with the bloudy lines of CHRISTS Soule-saving sufferings and golden characters of His owne eternall love If now before we appeare at the dreadfull Tribunall of the euer-living GOD and little know we whose turne is next we make our friends in the Court of Heaven the blessed Angels in procuring their joy and love by a visible constancy in the fruits teares and truth of a sound conversion The Spirit of comfort by a ready and reverent entertainment of His holy Motions and inspirations of grace the Sonne and Heire of the King of glory the Foundation and Fountaine of all our Blisse in this world and the world to come from whose meritorious bloud shed and blessed mediation arise all those flouds of mercy and favour which refresh our Soules in this vale of teares and also those unknown bottomlesse seas of pleasure peace and all unspeakable delights which will superabound and overflow with new and fresh sweetnesse for ever and ever in the Paradise of GOD. Blessed are they that ever they were borne who have already got Him their Advocate at the right hand of His Father For besides many other glorious priviledges thereby in all their exigents and extremities they may be ever welcome to the Seat of mercy and be sure to speed If a man had a suit unto the King it were a comfortable and happy thing to find a friend in Court But if the Kings speciall and choisest Favourite nay His own only Son were his Intercessour how confident would he be to prevaile and prosper to conquer his opposites and crowne his desires Why then should any poore Christian be discomforted and cast downe nay why should he not be extraordinarily raised and ravished in spirit with much joyfull hope and sweet assurance when he throwes himselfe downe at the Throne of grace sith the dearest Sonne of the eternall GOD the Heire of heaven and earth the Mediator of the great Covenant of endlesse salvation is his Advocate at the hand of His All-mighty Father in the most high and glorious Court of Heaven Wherefore when an humbled soule and trembling spirit is sore troubled and almost turned backe from his purpose of prayer and prostration at the foot of heavenly Majesty by entertaining before hand a feeling apprehension of his owne abhorred vilenesse and the holy purity of GODS all-seeing and searching eye which cannot looke on iniquity let this consideration comfort and breed confidence that IESVS CHRIST the Son of GODS love doth sollicite and tender the suit who out of His owne sense and sympathy of such like troubles and temptations doth deale for us with a true a naturall and a sensible touch of compassionatenesse and mercy Shall that blessed Saviour of ours call and cry for a pardon to His Father for those which put Him to death who were so farre from seeking unto him that they sought and suckt his bloud and shall He shut His eares against the groanes of thy grieved spirit and heavy sighes of thy bleeding soule who values one drop of His bloud at an higher price than the worth of many worlds It cannot be Thus that saying of Salomon and this counsell of CHRIST makes good the truth of the Point which may further appeare by these Reasons 1. Taking this counsell betime and hoarding up heavenly things in this harvest time of grace mightily helps to asswage the smart mollifie the bitternesse and illighten the darknesse of the evill Day It is soveraigne and serves to take the venime sting and teeth out of any crosse calamity or distresse and so preserves the heart from that raging hopelesse sorrow which like a devouring Harpie dries up dissolves and destroyes the bloud spirits and life of all those who are destitute of such a divine Antidote What vast difference may we discerne betweene Iob and Iudas David and Achitophel in the daies of evill The two men of God being formerly enriched with his favour and familiarity so behaved themselves the one in the ship-wracke of his worldly happinesse the other in the hazard of his Kingdome as though they had not beene troubled at all The LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away saith Iob when all was gone blessed be the name of the LORD If I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD saith David He will bring me againe and shew me both it and His habitation But if He thus say I have no delight in thee behold here
honours offices extraordinary advancements and royall favours into gall and wormewood And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the Princes and servants of the King Haman said moreover yea Esther the Queene did let no man come in with the King unto the Banquet that she had prepared but my selfe and tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the King Yet all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Iew sitting at the Kings gate Whereas now David a King as I told you before by the benefit of this blessed grace did not suffer his Princely spirit to be un-calmed at all no not by the traiterous and most intolerable reviling of a dead dog and his baseft vassall 2. Keepe off thy heart from the world in the greatest affluence of wealth and worldly prosperity Earthly-mindednesse ever sharpeneth and keenes the sting in all distresses It gives teeth to the crosse to eat out the very heart of the afflicted Had not Iob beene able to have professed that in the height of his happinesse he was thus affected If I have made gold my hope or have said to the â—…ine gold Thou art my confidence If I rejoyced because my wealth was great and because my hand had gotten much Here say Divines somthing is understood as dispeream then let me perish or the like If I beheld the Sun when it shined or the Moone walking in brightnesse And my heart hath beene secretly entised or my mouth hath kissed my hand Then should I have denied the GOD that is above If I grew proud puft up or pleased my selfe with the glistering brightnesse of my earthly abundance let it be so and so with me I say except Iobs heart had beene thus wained from the world when as yet he wallowed in wealth he had never been able to hold out in the evill day and to have borne so bravely the ruine of so rich a state without repining But now churlish Nabal whose affections were notoriously nail'd to the earth though perhaps once or twice a yeare he made a joviall and frolicke feast as other cunning worldlings are wont to their good-fellow-companions upon purpose to procure and preserve a Pharisaicall reputation of bounty with some flattering dependants and for a cloke to colour their covetousnesse and cruelty yet he was of a â—…linty bosome in respect of doggednesse and extreme niggardise especially towards GODS people and his heart by excessive rooting there was turned wholly into earth and therefore in the evill day it died within him and he became as a stone To keepe off the world in a fit distance that it do thee no deadly hurt and undoe thee quite keepe still fresh and strong in thy thoughts a true estimate and right conceipt of the mutability of all things here below and thine owne mortality In their best condition and highest confluence they are but 1. Vanity We shall never â—…ind in them any solidity or that good or comfort which we still with much eager pursuit and thirst expect and labour in vaine to extract from them but upon triall and trust in them they will ever proove empty clouds broken staves of reed Appâ—…s of Sodom Wells without water And when we graspe them most greedily we embrace nothing but smoke which wrings teares from our eyes and vanisheth into nothing 2 Vexation of spirit Besides the emptinesse and absence of that imaginary felicity which we hunt after in them there is also the presence and plenty of much 〈◊〉 and hearts griese which the slaves of pleasure and lovers of the world little looke for when they at first resolve to sell their soules for such transitory trash Divitias invenisti saith one Requiem perdidisti Hast thou found riches Thou hast lost thy rest A man that will be rich takes no more rest than one upon a racke or bed of thornes like Anacreon with his five Talents still distracted with worldly thoughts and continually prickt with cares and feares 3. They cannot satisfie the soule Gold can no more fill the spirit of a man than grace his purse Betweene heaven and earth spirits and bodies soules and silver there is no proportion And therefore no earthly excellencies no carnall pleasures no worldly treasures are fit matter or a full object for such an immateriall immortall and heavenly borne-being to feed upon with any proper delight true comfort or sound contentment Not all this great materiall world or greatest masse of gold can possibly fill the mighty capacity and immeasurable appetite of this little sparke of heaven breath'd into us by the infinite power of an Almighty hand A man may as well fill a bag with wisedome as the soule with the world a chest with vertues as the mind with wealth 4. They cannot helpe in the evill day Their bloud saith the Prophet shal be powred out as dust and their flesh as the dung neither their silver nor their gold shal be able to deliver them in the day of the LORDS wrath Put a man into a pang of any painefull maladie and bodily torture as into a fit of the Stone Strangury deepe Melancholy Gout Cholicke or the like let some incurable devouring Ulcer Canker Elephantiasis the Wolfe the Plica c. take hold upon any part of his Body and let him tell me then what account he would make of all the Imperiall Crownes upon earth attended with the height and utmost of humane felicities Or what comfort could he take in the riches glory and pleasures of the whole world Or what ease and refreshing can large possessions sumptuous buildings pleasant walks princely favours dainty fare choisest delights or any thing under the Sun afford in such a case The very pricke of a needle or paine of a tooth for the time will take away the taste of all carnall contentments and pleasure of the worlds Monarchy If the LORD should let loose the cord of thy conscience and set His just and deserved wrath a worke to enkindle flames of horrour in thy heart what helpe couldest thou have in heapes of gold or hoards of wealth Remember Spira They would be so â—…rre from healing the wound or allaying the smart that they would yet more horribly afflict thy already enraged spirit and turne them even into fiery Scorpions for thy further torment Let thy last sicknesse seize upon thee and then say for the houre of death as they say is the houre of truth whether all the gold and goods in the world can any more deliver thee from the Arrest of that inexorable Serjeant than can an handfull of dust Nay whether then the extremity of thy spirituall affliction and anguish of soule will not be answerable to the former excesse of thine inordinate affection to earthly things and delights of sense Or suppose thou shouldest be
in their new purchased place And we must know there is too much truth in that principle of policy in Tacitus Never any came to an high roome wrongfully and unworthily but he exercis'd his power and authority wickedly and unjustly They therefore pitch presently upon such conclusions as these We will pleasure our friends though we prey upon the publike or pinch some peevish precise fellowes which can well beare it we will plague our enemies we must above all manage matters with a fit correspondency to accomplish our owne ends especially to enrich our selves raise our kindred make way to rise higher and greaten our posterity we must looke big and sometimes amaze the multitude with some acts of awfulnesse and terrour to procure and preserve respect feare and all attributions proper to our place and let me tell you by the way He that suspecteth his owne worth or other mens opinions thinking that lesse regard is had of his person than he believes is due to his place holds it good policy to spend all the force of his authority in purchasing the name of a severe man For the affected sowrenesse of a vaine fellow doth many times resemble the gravity of one that is wise and the feare wherein they live which are subject to oppression caries a shew of reverence to him that does the wrong at least it serves to dazle the eyes of underlings keeping them from prying into the weakenesse of such as have jurisdiction over them c. Beside all this men in great place are liable and expos'd daily to moe and stronger temptations than men of lower ranks Honour wealth worldly reputation earthly favours c. are Satans snares to entangle and tie them faster to their fooles paradise and admired folly and as golden fetters to chaine them unmooveably to their noble slavery Secondly great men are for the most part and it is one of their greatest miseries so enclosed and beleager'd with flatterers the basest of slaves with sycophants false-hearted followers selfe-seekers c. that very hardly if at all can any honest man or faithfull Micaiah have accesse come neare them or at any time be heard with patience especially either to tell them the truth or wisely and humbly reprove them for their faults Thirdly those that are verst in story shall find many and many a time this property put upon men in high place to be throwne into the grave or from their greatnesse is both one to them For first they so delight in domineering and dote upon their high roome as their dearest Idoll And withall they know full well that as in naturall privation there is no returne to habit so it is very rarely seene in the privation politique and point of preferment that they would even rather die than be dejected Lay now these two points together and count all the snares from which poorer and private men by reason of their meaner condition are happily exempted And no marvell though not many mighty either in heapes of wealth or height of places be converted or go to heaven In the fourth place what a strong hold for the powers of hell and mighty barre to keepe out grace worldly wisdome is may appeare by taking notice of the nature of it and so of its notoriously pestilent properties This wisdome of the flesh springing from the principles of carnall reason and precepts of humane policie and receiving continuall influence and instigation from that old wily serpent to go on still in his and the worlds waies doth with a proud disdainfulnesse and imperious contempt scorne the great mysteries of godlinesse foolishnesse of preaching simplicity of the Saints and society of the brotherhood crosseth directly and contradicts the counsell and commands of GODS Spirit in all motions to good and matters of salvation accounts in good earnest holinesse hypocrisie sanctification singularity profession and practice of sincerity precisenesse the great things of GODS Law as a strange thing In all its consultations concludes ever things pleasing to flesh and bloud and ends at last with extremest folly and utter confusion Witnesse Achitophel who was wise enough to set his house in order and yet wanted wit to rescue his owne life out of his owne hands he was curious to provide for his family after his death and had no care at all to preserve himselfe from eternall death was not this a madnesse even to miracle as Divines speake He got him home to his house put his houshold in order and hanged himselfe and is hanged up in chaines as a dreadfull spectacle to all posterity for all worldly-wise men to take warning by to the worlds end The Spirit of GOD intimates unto us the pestilency of its properties Iames 3. 15. It is First Earthly Secondly Sensuall Thirdly Devillish Devillish for it imitateth the Devill in plotting and contriving mischiefe and ruine against the glory of GODS Majesty and Ministry of His Word It tasts of his hellish wilinesse in close conveyances and secret infidiations for the undermining supplanting and confounding of the passage of the Gospell and plantation of grace in the hearts of men Satan you know is ever fierce and furious when he spies but the least glimpse of GODS truth or sparke of grace to peepe our and breake forth at any time or in any place When the glorious sun-shine of the Gospell did in these latter times of the world according to the Prophecie in the Revelations arise out of the darksome night and dangerou fogs of Popery and begun graciously to inlighten many thousand soules which lay in darknesse and under the shadow of death with what strange and prodigious rage did the great Dragon presently ascend out of his bottomlesse pit Since that time what furious martyring of the Saints what horrible murthering of Kings what bloudy massacres what invincible Armadoes what hellish powder-plots what devouring of Martyrs by that bloud-thirsty monster the Spanish Inquisition what hatefull imprisonings what desperate conspiracies what a deale of hell hath vext and rent the face of Europe and shaken the pillars of this part of the world as though all the fiends in hell and whole armies of those damned spirits were broke loose to cast the Christian world into a new Chaos of darknesse combustion and confusion And all this hath beene the Devils doings of pure spite and malice against the light of the Gospell and power of the Word The Pope Iesuites and their wicked adherents have beene indeed the instruments and executioners of all these bloudy miseries but Satan himselfe was the principall agent The cursed influence of all this wrath and rage was inspir'd from him and every particular and circumstance of all these mischiefes was first plotted in hell before they were acted upon earth 2. In our owne kingdome also his spite and malice against the light of the Gospell hath beene notorious and transcendent since the Word of truth hath growne powerfull amongst us With what strange fury and