thereof may justly expect to fall under the lash of such a Woe and Curse And our Lord denounces a Woe against all such as offend against his Church or any of the smallest Members of it and offer them any injury and wrong Matth. 18.6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones saith he which believe in me It were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Wo unto the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come but wo to that man by whom the offence cometh And to this purpose Mar. 9.42 and Luk. 17.1 The Church is the Spouse of Christ and all the true and faithful Members thereof are dear to Almighty God and whosoever offereth any injury and violence to them will fire the wrath of Almighty God against himself and bring a Woe and Curse upon his own head When Saul breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Church and Disciples of our blessed Saviour and went to Damascus to bring them bound from thence to Jerusalem to have them imprisoned and punished our Saviour told him that in so doing he persecuted him and let him know that he should find sharp service in so doing Acts 9.3 And as he journeyed he came near to Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from Heaven And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And he said who art thou Lord And the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks This was the persecuting of Christ himself as we see it was resented and in such high provocations we must expect to bring the wrath of God upon our selves And saith St. Paul to the Galatians concerning those that troubled their Church Gal. 5.12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you This heavy wish doth he utter against such as troubled and molested the Church of the Galatians And saith he to the Thessalonians 2 Thess 1.6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you This is like to be their Doom that trouble the Church and are Enemies to it and do any violence to it or the faithful Members thereof And we may see that Elymas the Sorcerer was struck with blindness for withstanding the Apostles and seeking to turn away the Deputy of Paphos from the faith Acts 13.8 By these and such places we may see what a sinful and evil thing it is to do any injury and harm to the Church of God or to any of the faithful Servants of God And what sharp punishment they are to expect that do so And according to our great Wickedness must we now expect to be punished if we help to destroy the Protestant Church and to set up Popery or join with those that do so and give encouragement to such an unrighteous and hellish work And we are not to expect to go unpunished in our follies and sinful ways if we go about to overthrow the good Government of our Kingdom or any ways to disturb the Peace and Quiet of it All such offences are of a publick and high nature and those that are guilty thereof must expect to be dealt with accordingly And we are also to have a great care that we do not disturb the Peace of our Jerusalem by making any causless Divisions and Schisms in the Church to rent and tear it to pieces and to destroy all the Peace and Quiet thereof And we are to make no Factions and Parties in the Kingdom to make any confusion and disorder therein All causless Divisions in the Church are very sinful and strictly forbidden in several places in the Word of God Rom. 16.17 saith the Apostle there Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them With great earnestness doth he dissuade them from following all such as make any causless Divisions among them And saith St. James 3.14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lye not against the Truth This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work Envying and strife and divisions are productive of nothing that is good but of all confusion and disorder and destroy all the Peace and Happiness of the Church and Kingdom And these bring ruin and destruction in the end as our blessed Lord hath taught us Mat. 12.25 And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against it self shall not stand Hence we see a Land and Kingdom is like to be brought to desolation and ruin If we would study and seek the Peace of our Jerusalem our Church and Kingdom we must create and promote no Divisions and Factions therein And that we may be wholly innocent herein and not instrumental in overthrowing and disturbing the Peace and Happiness of our Church and Nation we are to have a care that we do not help to bring down the judgments of God upon them by our own sins and wickedness That we do not hereby help to cause the Light of the Gospel to be taken away from us and justly cause the Lord to visit our Nation with the Sword or Pestilence or some other sore and terrible judgment If we bear true Love to our Jerusalem to our own Church and Kingdom and would seek the Good and Welfare of them we are then to take great care that we our selves do no injury and harm to them and no ways disturb their Peace and Quiet That we help not to destroy and overthrow them and to bring in Popery and the Romish Yoke into this Nation That we help not to bring disquiet and misery upon them by creating and promoting of Divisions and Factions therein And that we help not to pull down the heavy judgments of God upon them by our sins and wickedness If we are true Lovers of our Zion we are carefully in the first place to avoid the doing of any injury and wrong thereto Secondly We are to be highly concerned for our Jerusalem and to endeavour to prevent and to keep off all the evil and harm that may befal our Church and Kingdom at any time what we can in a good and lawful way but things unlawful must not be attempted such as the taking up of Arms against Authority That little Power that we have we are to use to a good end and to stand up for the good of the Church and Nation to oppose all the violence and injuries that may be offered to them what we can and when we can do no more to shew our dislike of such things as are evil and hurtful to them and to have
and us therein That he would look down from Heaven Psal 80.14 and behold and visit this vine and the vineyard which his right hand hath planted that it may not be cut down and burnt up with fire That he would set watchmen upon the walls of our Jerusalem Is 62.6 which should never hold their peace day nor night but always give warning at the approach of any evil that it might be prevented and to make supplication to the Lord that he would defend our beloved City therefrom And now are we earnestly to pray unto Almighty God for the preventing as much as may be such judgments and calamities as do now hang over our heads and which we have justly deserved That our Candlestick may not be totally removed and that God may not send such a famine upon us as he threatens by the Prophet Amos 8.11 Behold the days come saith the Lord God that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord Such a spiritual famine of the word of God are we to pray to be delivered from and that God would preserve his pure Religion to us and keep us from all idolatrous practices and sinful errors in Religion That we may be delivered from the devouring Sword and that our Land may not be turned into a field of blood and a valley of slaughter That we may not hear the sound of the Trumpet and Alarm of war and be commanded as it is Joel 3.10 to beat our plowshares into swords and our pruning hooks into spears That our corn may not be given to be meat for our enemies and the Sons of the stranger may not drink our wine for which we have labored but that they that have gathered it may eat it and praise the Lord Is 62.8 That we may not as it is Is 65.22 build and another inhabit and plant and another eat the fruit thereof and that we may not labor in vain and bring forth for trouble That violence may not be heard in our Land Is 60.18 wasting nor destruction within our borders but that our walls might truly be called Salvation and our gates Praise To God are we to make supplication that he would not cause the Pestilence to cleave unto us nor smite us with any consuming sickness and disease That he would not send a famine upon us and cause us to be smitten with blasting and mildew and make the Heaven that is over our head as brass and the Earth that is under our feet as Iron nor give our substance and labor to be consumed by the locusts and caterpillers and such Armies of his That our Church and Kingdom may be preserved from these and from all other Plagues and Judgments that we have justly deserved are we to make supplication to Almighty God that we may endeavour to prevent them as much as may be We are also to make our humble and hearty prayers to Almighty God for the removing and taking away of such Calamities and Evils as our Church and Kingdom now do or at any time hereafter shall ly under That he who is the God and Father of mercies would at all times look down in mercy upon them and in his good time deliver them from all their distress and misery That there may not be such a time when the children shall be come to the birth and there shall not be strength to bring forth 2 Kings 19.3 when we shall call upon God for succour and help and he will not hear us but that according to Solomon's prayer 1 Kings 8.52 his eyes may be open unto the supplication of his servants and of his people to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto him That his Church and Faithful Servants may be preserved in this and in all other fiery Tryals that shall befal them and from falling away from him and that they may not be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow and misery but may find help and comfort from above when they can meet with none here below That God would remove from us all spiritual blindness and carnal security that we may know and mind the things which belong to our Peace before they are quite removed from our eyes and it be too late That we may not be like the Church of the Laodiceans of whom it is said Rev. 3.17 Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked that we may not be in such an insensible and miserable condition as this but may see what great need we have to repent and amend That God would do good in his good pleasure unto our Zion Psal 51.18 and build the walls of our Jerusalem That he would heal all our dismal Breaches and Divisions and reconcile all our Dissensions which so much disturb our Peace and threaten us with farther misery That he would not prepare more work for the greedy and devouring Sword but that we may all study and practise his Gospel of Peace and Love and that every man may dwell safely under his vine and under his Fig-tree as it is said that Judah and Israel did all the days of King Solomon 1 Kings 4.25 For the removing of these and all other afflictions and miseries that we are sensible that our Church and Kingdom do now or hereafter may ly under are we to make supplication to Almighty God and to intreat him that he would look down in mercy upon them and heal all their wounds and maladies in his good time And these things we are to pray for according to the Prophet's form Jer. 14.7 O Lord tho' our iniquities testify against us do thou it for thy Name 's sake for our back-slidings are many we have sinned against thee And not for our own sakes but for his great mercy's â—ake and for his dear Son Christ Jesus's sake are we to intreat him for the preventing of Judgments and for the removing of such miseries and and sufferings as do at any time befal our Church and Kingdom We are also to supplicate the divine Goodness of Almighty God for our Church and Kingdom that he would be pleased to continue to them such Mercies as they enjoy and that he would grant to them such Blessings and good things as they want and stand in need off That our Church and Kingdom may enjoy all manner of Peace and Prosperity in such a full manner as I have before described That God would make good to the Christian Church that in the Prophet Isaiah 62.1 That for Zion's sake he would not hold his peace and for Jerusalem's sake he would not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth That the Gentiles might see the righteousness thereof and all Kings it's glory That it may be a Crown of Glory in the hand
ready to do all the good offices for it that they could they were assured from hence that the blessing of Prosperity should come upon them and that they should be well rewarded for all the good acts that they should do for it And the Royal Psalmist King David himself is an eminent Instance of this For he was inflamed with a very great love towards this place which God had chosen to record his Sacred Name there and for the true Worship and Service of Almighty God and for the promoting of true Religion among men And we see that he was abundantly rewarded with prosperity and good for all the acts of piety that he shewed herein procuring hereby the blessing of God both upon himself and upon his Posterity too And we may see that others also have been prosperous and happy that have had great Love and Zeal for the true Religion and pure Worship and Service of Almighty God And ftom hence may we be assured that the Blessing of God will come upon all those now that love our Jerusalem and seek the Peace and Good thereof That they shall be sure to be well rewarded that have hearty Love and a pious Zeal for the Protestant Church and seek the Peace and Welfare thereof and of our Kingdom and Nation From these words of the Text we may be assured that a blessed reward doth await all such as shew a pious care and do any good deeds towards the Church of Christ and in the word of God we have more promises to this effect assuring us of a reward both in this life and that which is to come And the true Christian Church being the Heavenly Jerusalem and the City of God and the Spouse of Christ the Bride the Lamb's wife Rev. 21.9 We may be sure from hence that all the pious acts that are done towards it will not go unrewarded For God saith the Apostle Heb. 6.10 is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have shewed towards his Name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister All acts of piety and love shewed towards the Saints and Servants of God or any other ways towards his Name will not be forgotten but be surely and abundantly rewarded Our Lord doth assure us that such as seek the Kingdom of God shall have a good portion of the good things of this life Matth. 6.33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God saith he and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Such as seek the Kingdom of God and yield any succour and help to it are like to have no want of earthly comforts and enjoyments but are assured of them so far as shall be good for them And those that suffer upon the account of the Gospel our Lord tells us are like to be rewarded both here and hereafter too Mar. 10.29 And Jesus answered and said verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospel's But he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal Life The parting with any thing for the sake of Christ and the Gospel will be abundantly recompensed both here and hereafter too And so saith our Lord concerning those that part with any thing for the sake of the Kingdom of God Lu. 18.29 And he said unto them verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left house or parents or brethren or wâ—fe or children for the Kingdom of God's sake who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come Life everlasting And saith he Mar. 8.35 But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gâ—spel s the same shall save it These places do shew that what is done and suffered for the sake of the Gospel shall be well rewarded and so is all like to be that is done for the Protestant Church wherein the pure Religion and Worship of God are preserved And our Lord doth shew that he will account all the pious acts that are done to his disciples as done to himself and accordingly will reward them at the day of Judgment Matth. 25.34 And saith he Matth. 10.41 He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward And so Mar. 9.41 For whosoever shall give yâ—u a cup of water to drink in my Name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward This assurance doth our blessed Lord give that those shall be well rewarded that shew kindness to his disciples in all their wants and distressed conditions And from these and such places we may be sure that all acts tending any ways to the good of Christ's Church or to any part or member thereof shall be well taken and abundantly rewarded And a good and praise-worthy thing it is to do good in a righteous way towards the Peace and Welfare of one's Kingdom and Nation and will not wholly lose it's reward The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me saith Job 29.13 And the blessing of a Kingdom and Nation is like to come upon such as do good thereto in a lawful way and seek to preserve the Peace thereof and offer up their hearty prayers to Almighty God for it The Jews became advocates to our blessed Lord for the Centurion that had deserved well of their Nation and besought him to heal his servant and our Lord hearkened to their request Lu. 7.4 And when they came to Jesus they besought him instantly saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this For he loveth our nation and he hath built us a Synagogue Then Jesus went with them The praying for and shewing of love and piety towards the Christian Jerusalem is like to be abundantly rewarded And in doing of pious acts towards the Protestant Church of England we may be sure that we shall do so towards an eminent part of Christ's Church and shall be sharers in the great rewards of all such acts of piety towards the Church of Christ But as a blessing is like to come upon such as love and do good to the Christian Jerusalem So on the other hand we may see that great judgments and miseries are like to befal all those that have evil will thereto and offer it any Injury and Wrong This the Psalmist hath not asserted here in the Text but it is shewed by several other places
unto the Lord. By this and other places in Deut it is plain that God would chuse a place for his sacred Name and that they were to resort thither to perform their more solemn Worship and Service to him there And here at this place were all their Males to appear three times in the year Deut. 16.16 Three times in a year shall all thy Males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose in the feast of unleavened bread and in the feast of weeks and in the feast of tabernacles And the Lord did signify to David that he had chosen Jerusalem for this place where he would put his holy Name And so he saith Psal 132.13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it And Zion was a part of Jerusalem and seems to be put for the whole And unto Jerusalem had David brought the Ark of God and put it in the Tent which he had there made for it until the Temple was builded 2 Chr. 1.4 And here had he prepared a place for the Temple of the Lord and did intend to build it but God would have Solomon his Son to build it and he builded it in the place that David had prepared 2 Chr. 3.1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah where the Lord appeared unto David his Father in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite And not only the City and the place but the very draught of this house of God was shewed to David and God himself seems to order the fashion of it as he did of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and David delivered the pattern thereof to his son Solomon 1 Chr. 28.11 And according to these divine Instructions did Solomon build this extraordinary Temple of the Lord and as soon as it was finished the glory of the Lord appeared in it 1 Kings 8.10 And here was he to be more solemnly worshiped than any where else a great part of his Worship and Service being appropriated to this peculiar Temple of his In Zion it was that praise waited for him and in Jerusalem was the vow to be performed to him Psal 65.1 and 116.18 19. And saith the Psalmist Psal 48.2 Beautiful for situation the joy of the whole Earth is mount Zion on the sides of the north the City of the great King The Temple here was God's peculiar house and to be an house of Prayer to all people Is 56.7 And upon this account of Religion and of God's Worship and Service it is that Jerusalem is called the holy City the City of God the City of the great King and God said to love it above all others Matt. 4.5 and 5.35 And Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God Upon this account especially it is that the Royal Psalmist requires them to pray for Jerusalem because it was the capital City of Religion the City of the Lord of hosts that he had espoused to himself above all others and his great Temple of Worship was to be here for upon this house of God had the devout Psalmist set his heart and affections though it was not then built as he sheweth 1 Chr. 29.3 Moreover because I have set my affection to the house of my God saith he I have of mine own proper good And upon this account it is that he is so much concerned for Jerusalem And this he declareth himself in this psalm 122.9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good This is the great reason why he would seek the good of Jerusalem and doth exhort others to pray for it because God's House and solemn Worship was to be here and his heart was set upon them In praying then for Jerusalem he doth exhort and require them to pray for the good and welfare of the Church of God that it might enjoy all Peace and Quiet and that his Worship and Service might here at Jerusalem be performed in a due and publick manner to his great Honour and Glory and to the real benefit and comfort of his Worshippers and Servants That his Sanctuary and holy Place there might not be polluted and profaned by Heathens and unhallowed Persons and his Worship and Service corrupted or quite neglected and cast off and Religion driven to hide her head but that Jerusalem might be as a City upon an hill taken notice of and admired by all the World for the solemn Worship of Almighty God that should there be performed That they might unanimously Serve and Worship God there and that all Nations might flock thither to his Solemnities and to join in his Worship and Service That many Nations might come and say as it is Mic. 4.2 Come and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths That God's Ordinances and Worship should there be duely celebrated and kept where they ought and with that purity and devotion and splendor that they ought too That true Religion might be advanced and in esteem among them and that God's Honour and Service might be set up and exalted above all and that it might be joy and gladness of heart to them to see it so In praying for the Peace of Jerusalem he seems to do no less than require and enjoin them to pray for the good and welfare of their whole Nation which depended hereupon and especially that they should pray for the Good and Prosperity of the Church that it might flourish and enjoy all manner of Peace among them and that God might be duely served at his Temple the place that he himself had chosen And now from this Text we may see that it is our duty to be much concerned and to pray for our Jerusalem in this manner That we should bear hearty good-will to our own Land and Nation and the Israel of God among us and especially to our own Church and that pure Religion among us That we should be very zealous in our Prayers for them and endeavour to preserve them and to do them all the good we can in a lawful way This we are taught by this Text For the Psalmist spake by the Spirit of God and what he hath said here is to be an Instruction to us as well as it was to the Jews Rom. 15.4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime saith the Apostle were written for our learning And we may see that under the names of Jerusalem and Zion the Christian Church seems often to be meant or at the least to be included therein Jer. 33.15 In those days and at that time will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto
David and he shall execute Judgment and Righteousness in the Land In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is his Name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness And by this Branch of Righteousness is meant our blessed Saviour and therefore under Jerusalem is comprehended the Christian Church And saith the Prophet Isaiah 2.2 And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow unto it And this seems to be a prediction of the times of the Gospel and this Mountain of the Lord's house to be the Christian Church And saith the Prophet Micah 4.7 And the Lord shall Reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever But this cannot well be understood of any other Reigning over them than in the Christian Church For there is no appearance of God's Reigning over them now in Mount Zion taking it literally for that place in the Land of Judea And that this Legal and Temple-worship of the Jews at Jerusalem was to cease and that God was then to be worshiped after a Spiritual manner even our Blessed Lord sheweth Jo. 4.21 Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in thâ—s Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father And Ver. 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to Worship him The Jewish way of Worship at the Temple was then to cease and Jerusalem literally taken was no longer to be God's peculiar place of Worship above all others after the Gospel was published and after the death of our Saviour Nor is it that City litterally taken that we are now obliged to pray for above all others But it is the Christian Church which is now to be accounted the true Israel of God and to come in place thereof and is oft comprehended in the name of Jerusalem and meant by it and for this are we now to pray And we may see that Jerusalem is used in a figurative manner for the Church of Christ Gal. 4.26 Saith the Apostle But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all And saith the Apostle speaking of the Christian state of the Church Heb. 12.22 But ye are come unto mount Zion and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven The Christian Church which is in Society with the Saints and Angels above is the Jerusalem that we are now to be so much concerned for and especially for that part of it among us By this exhortation and precept then of the devout Psalmist though it doth primarily respect the Jews are we also taught to seek and pray for the Peace and Prosperity of the true Church of God especially of that part of it that is amongst us and for the Good and Welfare of our own Kingdom and Nation upon which our own Peace and Happiness do depend and to do all the good Offices for them that we can For in such a general sense are we to understand the exhortation and precept here in the Text as I have shewed And First We ought to have a great care that we do no injury and harm to them and no ways disturb the Peace of them In being required and enjoyned to pray for our Jerusalem for the Church of God and for the good of our own Nation and People we are hereby plainly forbid to do any Injury and Wrong to them And it is our Saviour's command that we should be harmless and innocent in all respects Mat. 10.16 Behold saith he I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves be ye therefore wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves And herein especially are we to be so in committing no publick Offences and Crimes against the Church or good of the Nation We are to be very cautious and circumspect that we do not wilfully offend against the common Good and Welfare of the Church or State and to have a great care that we commit no wilful Acts of Violence and Wrong against them and that we lend no helping hand to destroy and overthrow thâ— Protestant Church and our Good Laws and well-establisht Goâ—â—â—â—mâ—â—t There is no doubt to me but that the Protestant Church of England is a true and eminent part of the Church of Christ and therefore every Man ought to have a very great care that he doth not any ways help to destroy and pull it down and to introduce Popery in the room of it The Protestant Religion is agreeable to the pure Word of God but Popery is flat contrary to that sacred Word in a multitude of places as you may see in the Protestant's Letter and the Book called the Contrariety of Popery to the blessed Word of God and every good Protestant then ought to chuse rather to die at the Stake than to help to make this change in Religion And those that do so may justly expect the Woe and Curse of God to come upon them for helping to destroy such an eminent part of his Church And we are to have a care that we offer no Wrong and Violence to any of the Members thereof that we no ways annoy and injure the very meanest of them Nor must we help to overthrow our laudable and good Laws and well Establisht Government and to bring the Kingdom under the Popish Yoke and Bondage again If we bear that good will that we ought to our Jerusalem and would observe this precept of the Devout and Royal Psalmist we must refrain from the doing of any of these things and offer no Violence nor Injury to our beloved City or any of the Members of it And to deter us the more from doing any Acts of Violence and Wrong to the Church or any of the faithful Members thereof we may see that Woe and Misery is threatned to such and like to come upon them Our Saviour pronounceth a Woe against the Pharisees for obstructing the Kingdom of Heaven and hindering the progress of the Gospel Mat. 23.13 But woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites saith he for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men For ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in And saith he Luc. 11.52 Wo unto you Lawyers for ye have taken away the key of knowledge ye entred not in your selves and them that were entring in ye hindred This wo is denounced against them for opposing the Kingdom of Heaven and hindering the increase and advancement of the Church of God And all those that shall now help to destroy the true Church of Christ or to do any wrong to any part