covering of the head in the congregation where infirmity or sicknesse doth not plead for it tendeth to the dishonour of Jesus Christ whose servants we professe our selves to be especially at this time and to the contempt of his messenger representing the Office and Person of Christ before our eyes surely this is not to call the holy of the Lord honourable as we finde it Isa 58.13 Isa 58.13 but to make him a reproach A sixt instance we shal take from the Lords day by some called the Sabbath with a good meaning perchance but not without impropriety of speech because not known by this name either in the primitive times or in the ages immediately following for ought as I can learn but I shall not contend about words That which is observable of the day to our present purpose is the different esteem and observation thereof with the two adverse parties the one ascribing too much the other too little unto the same the one keeping it with almost Jewish rigour and extremity the other after a loose and formall manner at the best to omit their unchristian profanation thereof upon severall occasions and each walking contrary to other in their practise from the spirit of oppofition as well as from other principles For although it be no easie matter to assure our selves much lesse to convince others that this day is of divine institution as the sabbath was among the Jewes and we should be loth with many to give the strict outward observation of the time preheminence above all other morall duties and acts of Religion in which respect as I remember some have thought a slender trespasse or offence thereon worthy to be expiated by the death of the offender yet it cannot be doubted again but that there is a necessity of separating or setting apart such a day as this for the honour and publique worship of God as well in regard of humane wickednesse as weaknesse and of their pronenesse to superstition and Atheisme as well as of their worldly businesse and employment the which they would never intermit of themselves without the restraint laid upon them or else wholly bestow the remaining time upon the service of their own lusts and sinfull pleasures Wherefore they cannot be excused who in times past loosed the reins of discipline to the people yet more when God knows they were too remisse already and permitted them free liberty to spend a part and that not the least of this day in vain sports and pastimes scarse beseeming a brideale or marriage feast much lesse such a season as this of which abuse a Divine of the Northern parts sent thither by the King to preach the Gospell there doth greatly but justly complain in an Epistle to the Bishop of Chester as that which did exceedingly hinder the courses of Religion and frustrate the fruits of their Ministeriall labours and withall observes that they who did most abet and maintain publick piping and lascivious dancing on the Lords day were the open and professed enemies of our Religion Of so bad consequence are these merry sundaies as a profane person once affectionately called them saying that it was a good time when they did enjoy the former liberty but for whom I cannot tell except it were for him who is the author of all evill in which we sow unto the flesh and not unto the Spirit serve our own lusts and not the Lords will Wherefore it is needfull that this first day of the week be in due manner observed by us in all places especially considering that from the Apostles time hitherto it hath been consecrated by the Church of Christ to this holy use A seventh instance we shal borrow from the Lords Proyer the which we must acknowledge for the true and perpetuall pattern of our supplications unto the worlds end And yet how much hath it been of late decryed and vilified by some not as needlesse only but as hurtfull also Who have therefore rejected the use thereof in publick Assemblies and derided those who took pleasure therein and others have layed it aside for fear of displeasing the powerfull party however they still approve it in their judgement and have done by their practise heretofore Many pretend for the disuse thereof that the people did idolize it and impute a kinde of holinesse to the bare saying or repeating of the same the which supposing it to be true can in no wise warrant their omission of this form if it be good much lesse their preaching or speaking against it for if we may condemn every thing as bad in it self or noxious to us because it may or doth occasionally prove so through our perverse use or abuse thereof what can escape our censure be the thing never so good yea shall we not then very often call evill good Isai 5.20 and good evill put darknesse for light and light for darknesse bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter The patience of God we know is abused daily and his grace turned into wantonnesse by wicked and ungodly persons and yet it were the height of impiety to think the worse of either for this reason the fault solely resting upon man In like manner every creature of God which as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Tim. 4.4 is good 2 Tim. 4.4 and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving is made subject to our vanity and corruption and become the idoll of our pleasurable or of our profitable lusts How much better were it therefore for the Ministers in this case to shew the people their errour or failing in the use of that wich is good then to possesse them with a false opinion and wrong conceit of the thing it self as evill and to be avoided of them the which they use not dexterously and as they should But such is and ever will be the force of faction and schisme in the heart of men to make them opposite one to another in judgement and in practise without and against all reason whatsoever The which also we may further discover in the length and brevity of their prayers in the manner and matter of their praying in the affected difference of tone and voice of words or formes of expression of gesture and behaviour in the acts of solemn worship and such like with easie observation And so far hath their malice proceeded one against another that neither of them would by any means admit so much as praying for the adverse party though expresly commanded by the precepts of the Gospell but openly cursed each the other as desperate enemies of God and of his cause And now I shall crave leave to addresse my words unto thy sons according to their severall orders and degrees entreating them all to bear with the rude plainnesse of my counsell and not to be offended at the liberty of my reproof being free from malice and bitternesse of spirit from partiality from guile and hypocrisie And first I shall direct my speech
great shame that men of ingenuous education sometimes not inferior to your selves in birth and scarce ever not above you in respect of intellectuall parts and indowments of the soul should neverthelesse be constrained to stand as servitors at your tables or to sit in the meanest place belonging thereunto scarse daring to peep or mutter without a brow-check or controul from their fastidious patrons and all this to serve your state to which also their praying preaching and other acts of their Ministeriall Office must submit both for the maner extent and other circumstances pertaining to the action or else there is no long abode for them with you To omit the many scoffes verball and reall indignities they are fain oft-times to put up with patience not onely at the hands of children but of servants also for quietnesse sake if not rather for their present necessity unlesse they purchase respect from them with a good part of that stipend which they receive from you Insomuch as one not unaptly as the case stands now termed a Chaplain in a Noblemans house a black serving-man Wherefore God hath justly given you up unto contempt and reproach so that the vilest of men are become Lords over you because ye have thought light of his Worship and the Ministers thereof and have made both it and them contemptible in the sight of others by your example Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 that hee may exalt you in due time Jac. 4.9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep for the sins of your Fathers the which ye doe inherit as well as their lands for your own personall sins which are great and many for the sins of your families for the sins of the people which they have been bold to commit through your connivance or after your pattern for all but chiefly and above all for your glorying in sin which is your shame and the reproach of your Maker the height of impiety and deepest stain of sinfull guilt And learn henceforth to honour that Religion which ye have hitherto despised to be zealous for the truth of God to reverence and support the Ministry of Christ to call the Sabbath a delight Isa 58.13 14. the holy of the Lord honourable that ye may delight your selves in the Lord and he may cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth To countenance and encourage all that live according to the Gospell and not prefer vain and scurrilous persons before them Esteeme not of men as your custome is more by their outward garb and apparell then by their inward worth but respect them in the first place for this and shew it by your carriage toward them There is a sort of men in the world who for pride or upon pretence of noble birth though of decayed families or in a remote distance from those that are flourishing follow your mode and fashion the which are the most foolish dishonest and many times the poorest as well in purse as in conditions that are in the Nation doe not favour or uphold them in their courses lest they prove mischievous to your selves and others Banish far from you all flattering Parasites and those whom yee liberally feed with your meat because they feed you with the corrupt air of their vain discourse or of their false slanderous reports Be carefull to maintaine and execute justice impartially where you have authority Bee moderate and abstemious in your pleasures use them as condiments of study and labour as refreshments of life not make them the business and end thereof For is it not a foul shame for a Gentleman or Noble Person while he is yet alive to be so buried in pleasure and sloth as to deserve an Hie situs est and yet as the Apostle teacheth us 1 Tim. 5.6 Such a one that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth And when he is dead no better Epitaph upon his monument then Fuit non vixit Be industrious therefore and active in your life that ye may be honourable while ye live and also after death Let your communication be without the impiety of swearing and impurity of lust Be humble in your carriage towards all men remembring the common originall of all and the grace of God free for all Bee good to your Tenants as those who labour for your pleasure sweat for your repose and dayly disquiet themselves for your ease Let them not be slaves to you that you may become more servile slaves to your own lusts Bee bountifull to the poor and given to hospitality * See 1 Pet. 4.9 10. desiring rather charitably to improve that aboundance which ye have then covetously to get that which ye have not and need not to have Beware of idlenesse and vacancy of employment to prevent sin to escape judgement For can you think it reasonable with men much lesse with God that all should labour for you and ye alone be idle The Minister in his study at his Book the husbandman in the field at his plough the tradesman or Artificer in his shop especially while ye defraud the first of his Tithes oppresse the other in his vent and despise the last for the meannesse of his calling Mat. 20. Did any receive the Lords penny who did not at all labour in his Vineyard much lesse may they expect it who in stead of working therein lay it wast or gather the grapes thereof Mat. 22. Give therefore unto God the things that are Gods For if ye have not been faithfull in that which is another mans Luk. 16. who shall give you that which is your own Lastly provide your selves of able and pious Chaplains and respect them according to their Office and worth Give them liberty to admonish you of your duty both in publique and in private to reprove you with freedome when you speak or doe amisse use them for the good of your souls for the vertuous and godly education of your children for the instruction of your Families in what they ought to know and doe not for the pride or state of your persons nor yet to gratifie your spirituall ease and sloth For we are all partiall judges of our selves and therefore need the continuall censure of other men who are for the most part diligent enough to discharge their duty and conscience in this particular where they know they may be bold without offence As for those who think themselves too good to doe God service them will he count not good enough to receive his reward Thus shall God establish you upon the earth and your children after you make you truly happy in your life blessed in your death and after death blessed for evermore Amen To the expulsed Members of the Vniversity and to those now abiding therein 1. To the expulsed Members I Doe not undertake to reprove or admonish you as one more knowing then your selves far be this arrogancy and self-conceit from me but
in a moment in one day the losse of children and widow hood and both in their perfection for the multitude of her Sorcerers and for the great aboundance of her enchantments v. 13 14. Her Astrologers Star-gazers and monthly prognosticators could not stand up and save her from those things that were to come upon her but became as stubble themselves for the power of the flame neither shall thine be able to celiver thee nor their own souls by all their wisdome and knowledge from the evill which the Lord hath determined against thee vers 13 14. Wherefore O Jerusalem London wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee There is but one way left of escape for thee The Lord shew it thee and direct thy steps therein for his sake who is the way the truth Joh. 14. â— and the life To whom with the Father and with the blessed Spirit be ascribed all honour glory might majesty and dominion now and for evermore Amen To the seduced of this nation and to as many as have separated themselves from the Communion of our Church WEre I now to addresse my speech to an humble though deceived people I might the better hope to prevail with them but I am to deal with men who generally are proud as well as ignorant and have added to errour in judgement obstinacy of will and a strong presumption of truth arrogating to themselves immediate assistance and infallible direction from the divine Spirit in what they maintain for the undoubted Gospell of Christ Jesus And who can shake this your considence Neverthelesse I shall endevour as powerfully as I can to convince you of your self deceit and falshood and perswade you to another but sounder mind leaving the successe to him with whom all things are possible and easie to be done First then let me enquire of you why ye did so long adhere unto this Church in times past and why ye are so soon removed from it as in a moment What is the cause of your forrner communion with us and your sudden departure from us Surely the first must needs argue great weaknesse of judgement and want of consideration in you and how ye can defend the last from the just imputation of unstablenesse in religion and levity of mind is more then I can learn you If your new pretended Pastours and as you deem them extraordinary Teachers in respect of their calling deliver you the same truths which ye received or might have received from the old why are they better accepted with you now then heretofore or why are they better taken at the hands of the former then of the latter Is it for the grace and manner of delivery or for their persons who commend the same unto you If either or both of these be the cause of this change do ye not look on things after the outward appearance 2 Cot. 10.7 Joh. 7.24 and not judge righteous judgement You will say perchance that the power of the Almighty doth manifest it self unto them because though ignorant and unlearned men they pray and preach with the same facility or with more dexterity sometimes then men of learning and parts But can ye shew us that God did ever work a needlesse miracle either in revealing his truth or witnessing it to the world Hath any man spake with tongues or done mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God since the Gospel was preached to all * See 1 Cor. 14.12 nations If ye know such a one produce him without delay that we may see also and beleeve him with you But this is not likely to come to passe however as I am informed some have gone about though in vain to perswade us the truth of things as incredible as these to justifie their cause Besides this who will take you to be competent judges of those gift in other men whereof ye have so small a portion your selves or perchance no share at all Lastly the means of knowledge in this nation have been so plentifull and common every where for many years together Blessed be the Lord for this his unspeakable gift partly by the teaching and partly by the writing of the learned that it is an easie matter now for men of good naturall parts with ordinary inclustry used in hearing and observing what is taught them by mouth or in reading what is published from the presse to gaine enough whereby to set themselves forth with credit and repute of knowledge for a time in the mystery of preaching especially if confident and bold above measure amongst the ignorant and vulgar sort of which note ye are and to delude your simplicity while they boast of things without their measure that is of other mens labours or in another mans rule and line of things made ready to their hand â— Cor. 10.16 repeat unto you in one place those Sermons which they have heard before in another from men called to the work yet so that you must take them to be theirs and as the sudden issues of their invention not second accounts of their memory which they have immediately received from the Lord and not from man Ibid. But he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Again if they commend unto you contrary doctrines to those that ye formerly received or new and strange of which ye have not heard in times past be wary and well advised how you entertain them lest they feed you with chaffe in stead of wheat give you a stone for bread or a serpent in stead of a fish or present you with a draught of deadly poison while they promise you a cup of pure wine To this end take heed I pray you of their spirituall flattery whereby they secretly insinuate into your mindes an high but groundlesse and false conceit of knowledge and Saintship not only above but also with exclusion of other men not agreeing with you in opinion or faction from these supposed priviledges For besides that this pride of spirit doth lay you open to their slie and dangerous insinuations of heresie and every false doctrine whereby they do impose upon your faith it is an abomination in the sight of the Almighty as appeareth from Luk. 18.9 c. Luk. 19.9 c. And surely it is almost beyond all belief how far this tympany of spiritual pride hath swoln in many of you or that they have imagined themselves to be in a state of perfection above divine ordinances namely prayer preaching Sacraments and if there be any other act of duty pertaining to the worship of God notwithstanding the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself doe every where commend and command the use of these to the Church not by their precept only but by their example also for how often doe we finde it testified of the Lord by those who were from the beginning eye-witnesses and Ministers of the word as
had almost buried in oblivion were revived again by you to the infamy and damage of your Pastors as if they were not men compassed about with infirmity as well as others or your selves free from all iniquity not needing the mercy of him who is the common Redeemer of you both and though ye need it how can ye with confidence expect it if that be true as ye finde Jam. 2.13 Jam. 2.13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy For neither your words nor deeds have been such toward them as doe become men that shall be judged by the law of Liberty Vers 12. because ye have used rigour and extremity in them both not advising in the least measure with the Law of Christ For otherwise ye would not have aggravated after this manner every small matter which might any wayes tend to their prejudice but rather have passed by such as these and either concealed the greatest where there was hope of repentance and amendment or followed the same with all meckness and moderation considering the persons whom ye did pursue and the sad calamities which were likely to befall them and their families if judgement should proceed against them And surely it is strange that the painfull industry of many years in the work of the Ministry could not prevail either with you who did partake thereof to conceal or with those that were their Judges and without doubt knew as much to pardon one or a few errours of their life upon promise of more strict conversation for the time to come Ye did pretend indeed that zeal for the Truth onely and love of Gods people did set you thus in opposition against the scandalous Ministers or those whom ye were pleased to term so but I fear your own conscience will one day tell you plainly and I pray God not too late that private quarrels personal interests and self ends carried you all along in these unwarrantable courses of mischief and persecution for some of you to our knowledge who have been most forward to thrust forth of the Lords inheritance them that for many years together had ministred unto you in holy things have been the first that fell into dislike of their owne new choice and refused to give them maintenance according to the Law So weak and unstable is your judgement so sickle your affection so immoderate your desire of novelty so blinde your conscience in discerning your own hearts so squeamish your mindes to receive truth if it doth any wise make against your worldly advantage or touch upon your sins the which though never so grievous and manifest Hos 4.4 no man must strive or repove another for thy people are as they that strive with the Priest Neither are ye offended onely with the Minister for open but also for secret rebukes yea and for private admonitions and correptions sometimes be they never so necessary and gentle withall as I have seen it by often experience verified in many one more especially a very lewd person indeed who being mildly reproved by a Minister in my hearing for some scandalous sin replyed again It were better for us if ye Ministers held your peace because then we might sin with the lesse guilt and punishment To whom then shall I speak and give warning that they may hear Behold Jer. 6.10 their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight in it Wherefore he that doth not please your humour or advance your faction or gratifie you in your beloved corruptions or sparing you strikes at your adversaries in a word will not be partakers of your sins by connivence or practise straight ways grows out of request with you as an unprofitable teacher or rather one not fit for your purpose however he be accomplished in all other respects and thus he is by little and little abandoned of you and another sought out more agreeable to your fancy and mind for a short season untill the date or time of pleasing you be expired also Insomuch as one Parish not many miles distant from the University of Oxford hath been known since these Times of trouble and distraction to have disliked and changed their Ministers as often if not more often then there be seasons in the year and yet scarce afford maintenance for a single man to live with them It is past belief what foolish exceptions they have had against those men who have upon triall or other occasions preached before them besides many against severall Ministers this they had against one not unknown to my self if I am not misinformed that he preached too long upon the same Text. I pray God this spirituall delicacy doth not presage a spirituall famine in the end whereby men may hunger and thirst after that Word which they despise and loath now because of the plenty and fulnesse thereof And here I may not passe by in silence a common but very dangerous errour that possesseth your mindes whereby ye fondly and falsely imagine that the successe of the Ministry doth depend upon the personall gifts of the Minister and not wholly upon the ordinance of Christ for which cause yee magnifie some above measure and despise others in comparison of them calling the first powerfull Preachers and not acknowledging the last for such because not men so well qualified for the work of the Lord as they The which conceit if I mistake not is not the least cause of your non-prosiciency by the meanes of grace For how can ye reap benefit from the Ordinance if ye come not duely prepared to it and how can ye come duly prepared to it if ye have not a just esteem of it that ye may answerably submit unto it For 1 Cor. 3.7 neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease Let men therefore learn to have greater respect to the blessing from above then to the means below to the grace and gift of God then to the abilities and endowments of men in the great busmesse of their conversion and edification Again ye English people are generally indifferent or luke warm in Religion and so ye may enjoy the worlds good care not what doth become of the Truth of God the which ye hear indeed but learn and know not like those of whom we read 2 Tim. 3.7 ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth or if ye know it receive it not neither beleeving it with your hearts nor obeying it in your lives for although ye all professe faith and pretend to it as the main ground and pillar of your hope in God yet it is but a bare profess on and meer ostentation of that which ye have not in truth a few excepted who testifie the same by their innocent and holy conversation Jac 2.26 without which faith is dead being alone The rest
before you and give it for a possession unto strangers whom ye have not known in times past and whose language ye cannot understand The best tenure of your land is the gracious will of God and the condition of his will your obedience If ye be willing and obedient Isa 2.19 20. ye shall eat the good of the land But if ye refuse and rebell ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And if this thought may not startle your mindes sleeping on the bed of sinfull sloth and carnall security let that I pray you of a far greater and more destructive evill awaken you from sleep the removing of the candlestick out of his place after that the star is vanished away or set in obscure darknesse never to rise again For ye have a long time turned the grace of your God into wantonnesse and you plainly see that the light beginneth now to shine much more dim then formerly and not at all in many corners of the land and is there not just cause to fear Mat. 21.43 lest that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And the rather for that the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to hear * Mic. 9.7 the rod and who hath appointed it unto this day vers 6.10 11 12. For are there not yet the treasures of wickednesse in the house of the wicked and the seant measure that is abominable shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances and with the lag of deceitfull writs For the rich men thereof are full of violence and the Inhabitants thereof have spoken lies and their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth Jer. 9.3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies but they are not valtam for the truth upon the earth for they proceed from evill to evill and they know not me saith the Lord Ch 5.29 Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord. shall not my soule be avenged on such a Nation as this Ye are guilty of the sins of Israel and can you hope to escape the judgements of Israel you have seen what heavy judgements have been executed upon them from time to time by the hand of Divine Justice for the same sins which you dayly commit and not upon them alone but upon the neighbouring Nations round about you the war pestilence and famine which wasted and consumed thero and is there not cause why after so many warnings by the sad examples of others you should exspect greater judgements or the same in greater measure then did light upon them Luke 13.3 Jam 4.8.6 9 10. Surely except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Draw nigh therefore to God and he will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded Be afflicted and mourne and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heavinesse Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up Believe and obey those Ministers that most powerfully dehort from sin and exhort you unto righteousnesse both by their preaching and by their living and not them which decry duty and secretly perswade you to libertinism and licentiousnesse of life or who flatter you in your sins bearing you in hand that ye are better then you are or not so bad as some account of you for though this be pleasing and plausible yet God knoweth and you will finde so at the last it is pernicious doctrine whereby ye are brought into the snare of the Devill Neither rejoice to hear the sins of other men reproved as the costome is but truely grieve for them and much more for your own when they are represented to your conscience by the Lords Messenger not storming at his rebuke or having indignation at his person as the manner is by which means he is often discouraged in his Office and you ever hardned in your sins In a word let it be the faithfull endeavour of you all as much as in you lyeth to reform your own lives and the lives of other men O ye Ministers of the Lord O ye Magistrates of the land O ye People both small and great minde this one needfull matter and no longer dote upon private personall interest with the neglect of the publick and to the ruine of the whole prefer not any more the State to the Church the world to Christ gain to godlinesse 1 Pet. 1.15 and earth to heaven But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation suffer him once to rule in your hearts who hath so often been in your mouths and of whom ye have made so frequent mention with your lips Mat. 7.21 saying unto him Lord Lord but not doing the will of his Father which is in heaven Be his servants in deed and not in word onely his Disciples in truth as well as in shew and in outward profession not for what ye may gain here but for what ye shall enjoy hereafter If ye know these things happy are ye if ye doe them Now that ye may be able to doe them by him who can doe all things Phil. 2.13 and worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen FINIS A Post-script to the Reader HE that undertaketh freely to reprove the faults of many must expect the various censures of many and so do I but fear them not and trust I have no cause much to passe by them my conscience bearing me witnesse that I have had a tender respect in what I write to the glory of God unto truth and to the spirituall good of my brethren 1 Cor. 74.25 as one that hath obiained mercy of the Lord to be saithfull yet as a man compassed with infirmity and subject to many failings though in the present businesse free from malice or desire of revenge neither do I plead guiltlesse my self while I thus seem to accuse others Far be this from me as already it is I know and acknowledge my own sins in those of other men with whom God knoweth I have been in too great a measure guilty of the common errors of the times whereby we have mutually drawn downe the past and present judgements which the Lord hath executed and doth still execute upon this sinfull nation Psal 51.3 and my transgression is ever before me But blessed be his name for that I have learned by his fatherly rebukes and chastisements both to loath and to leave the follies and iniquities of my youth And oh that I were as free from the inbred corruption of my heart But alas it still cleaveth very close unto me and I have found