past did both women that trusted in God attire themselves and were subject to their husbands Yet these were many of them very holy women and come of good stock and families such as Sarah Rebecca Rachel and the like If these with a good conscience might safely have worne all the apish toyes and out-landish fashions that were then to be found in other nations and countries we know that they have beene able to have compassed them but you heare that they were subject to their Husbands no doubt in that particular as well as others to weare such apparell as they in their wisdome and discretion thought most fit for them but that was in those dayes when Sarah called Abraham Lord yea but since that time many of the daughters of Sarah will needs Lord it over Abraham and carry themselves as if they had beene made for nothing else but painted stoops to hang new fashions on what France what Spaine what Polonia what Italy can invent or what these foure Nations can devise only the apish English will have for a guise wherein every one sinfully transgresse their ranke and doe not modestly apparell themselves according to their callings and stations but every one will array themselves in as high a manner as they can reach as though it were lawfull for a man to doe all that hee might doe such people will be sure then to doe somewhat which they should not doe We have many Yeomen in England who have better estates then divers Esquires have yet it is ridiculous in these men to be habit themselves equally with Esquires I might instance in many others but of all the rest these two especially may be instanced in I have lately in England observed two great plenties common Atturnies and common Ale-houses but mee thinkes I perceive also two great dearths that is of worthy and ancient Esquires and of substantiall and ancient Yeomen For the former are almost all crambled up to be Knights O how glorious a land of Ladies then have wee For the latter the most of them will needs befoole themselves into Gentry and so beget a nick name before the time that becomes them not And as for great ones some of them also vainely lay out more upon new fashions in one six moneths then perhaps would maintaine an Hospitall for twice as long after they have forgotten it seems or else make nothing of it that God will visit those that weare strange apparell But what should I exempt the pride of mens heeles any more then that of their heads or any other part of the body surely no what shall I say then of gingling and tinkling spurs which are as nothing in these dayes Why because custome has made them commendable Well but seeing it is the fashion â—â—ill not excuse a man if it be a sinne was the tinkling with the feet with such thin curious plate as the daughters of Sion had upon their shooâ— sin with them And is their tinkling with the heeles none in ours It s true I grant it such may for necessities sake be had without affection or priding a mans selfe therein hee whose heart can answer thus much for him is well but I seare mee where one can doe thus if the Conscience be asked five cannot And if they be worne Extra necessitatem and with affectation and pride then surely whether we will or no Wee must in reason acknowledge it a sin permit me mine from and then I say thus It may be some graceless Heir of some grave Impropriator who was willing to out himselfe of what his Father left him not out of conscience but being out of coyne was the first Inventour of this fashion who having laid the price of the steeple upon his backe was ever after content to weare the bels at his heels customary sinning is an old fashion yea so old that I wonder that new fashion Mongers leave it not off and take up a better 7. Was it loathing of Manna or wearinesse in Gods heavenly Ordinances Mat. 1.13 Yee have said what a wearinesse is this and yee have snuffed at it saith the Lord of Hosts oh have not wee done so and beene so And have wee not said as much in our hearts as the Iewes did Amos 8.5 When will the New Moon be gone that we may sell corne and the Sabboth that we may set forth Wheate and make the Epha small and the Shekell great the measure too little and the price too great Thus have wee said oh when will this day be ended The Lords day is a long day the worldling is out of his Element till his Nose be over his dung-hill And what dulnesse and wearinesse have wee found in our selves at Sermons Sacrifices Sabboths when but a reasonable portion of time hath beene allotted to us Surely if wee had any delight in these things wee should soone have shaken these off for trahit sua quemque volnptas that which a man hath pleasure and delight in takes away the tediousnesse of it Eighthly and lastly was it stubbornnesse and hard-heartednesse in an impenitent state under so much variety of mercies and judgements Jeremiah 18.12 Notwithstanding Gods proclaiming of mercy verse the eighth and threatning judgement verse the tenth yet they said they would walke every man after his owne imagination and doe every man after the stubbornnesse of his owne wicked heart Thus againe it was with the Iewes Psalm 78. almost throughout with interchanges of judgements and mercies and hath it not beene so with us with how many mercies hath God wooed us from our wickednes and by how many judgements would he have terrified us from them by Plague Pestilence Famine Pox cold Springs late and rainy harvests decay of trading and the like but we still remained with dry eyes and hard hearts before him and now he hath sent the heaviest of his judgements the sword so that for all this his anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still and if wee should thus doe still wouldst not thou be anrgy with us yes surely And because of these and the like offences of our Land is Gods wrath broken out upon the nation Secondly as these sinnes have beene grievous so to adde to Gods judgements they have not beene punished For if so by man they might have saved god a labour Numbers 25.8 compared with the eleventh when the people of Israel committed whoredome with the daughters of Moab 1 and amongst them one more impudent than the rest would sinne more openly Phineas tooke a Iavelin and ruâ—ne both the man and the woman through and by this executing of justice he turned away Gods wrath from Israel seeing he was zealous for Gods sâ—ke amongst them And Psalme 106.30 Phineas stood up and executed judgement and the plagne was stayd but this added to Englands misery that though her sinnes were grievous yet notwithstanding they were rather countenanced thanâ—â—nished Men durst have beene drunk in the open Sun-shine and have
shalt glorifie me O consider what God hath done for us and shall we againe follow our drunkennesse our covetousnesse our oppression our partiâ—ll dâ—aling with deli quents our trespasses in doing Gods work negligently our prophanation of the Lords day and the like Shall we thus requite the Lord for what hee hath done for us oh no lest as Joshua said Josh 24.20 to the people of Israel If yee forsake the Lord and serve strange Gods then he will returne and bring evill upon you and consume you after he have done you good So if we returne to these or the like former sinnes God also will returne to plague us after hee have done us good Therefore take heed that we againe break not his Commandements And shall we againe break his Commandements I now come to the third part the particular explication of the former Interrogation and joyne in affinity with the people of these abhominations In which words we have three things to observe and explain First what is meant by these people Secondly what by joyning in affinity with them Thirdly and lastly what these abhominations were First what by these people I answer first generally Secondly More specially Generally this was common to them with the Ephesians and all other Gentiles Ephes 2 12. That they were without Christ being aliants from the common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and Without God in the world That is without the knowledge of God in the world neither knowing what be was in himselfe nor what he would be to them without the comfortable feeling of Gods spirit within their Consciences without the right rule of service and obedience to him following dumbe Idolls as they were led For Psalme 96.5 All the Gods of the Nations were Idols And Psalme 115 4. Their Idols are silâ—er and gold the worke of mens hands There was but one true God and they were all ignorant of him In Jury is God well knowne faith the Psalmist his Name is great in Israel sed non fecit taliter omni nationi he hath not dealt so with every nation neither have the heathen any knowledge of his Lawes 2. More specially What these people were you may see Ezra 9. latter part of the first verse they were Canaanites Hittites Perezites Jebusites Amorites Moabites nay yet more the Egyptians the Amorites Lord how fowly was this people gone wide of thy way with which of the abominable Idolaters amongst the Nations had not they transgressed First observe what God had commanded them Thou shalt have no other Gods but me And some of the learned think that because the Iewes were so prone to Idolatry above all other sinnes that the Lord put this Commandement in the first place and how often doth God inculcate this in Scripture shewing them the vanity rediculousnesse and insufficiency of all other Gods Secondly God had given them expresse charge concerning the most of those nations in particular that they should not meddle with them for Contracts Covenants marriages or the like Deut. 7.3 First when God shall bring thee into a land which thou shalt possesse and cast out many nations before thee Hittites Girgashites Amorites Canaanites Perizites Hivites Jebusites seven Nations greater and mightier than thou then were they to smite them and utterly to destroy them to make no Covenant with them nor shew mercy unto them nor to make any marriages with them c. And yet you see how poynt blanke they did quite the contrary with these nations For first they destroy them not and therefore God used them ever after as instruments to plague them and in great danger to have destroyed them Secondly they made marriages with these very nations of which they were so expressely forbidden Thirdly not with one or two of them onely but with all about them 2 Kings 17.15 having once broken the hedge of modesty and obedience they sinned without limit committing wickednesse even with greedinesse And when the great men or the Princes and Rulers had once made it an example who had the chiefe hand in it Ezra 9.2 the inferiours made bold scon the follow till it grew so common that no great matter was made of it for communes and custome of sinne out-faces the cry that is made against it Fourthly observe that these severall nations served severall gods some one Idoll some another so that Israel was now for as many severall gods as they had marryed wives of severall Nations and what now becomes of Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Fiftly and lastly observe that Israel had knowne that God had cast out these severall nations for such like sinnes as they were now fallen into for as the Psalmist saith They were mingled amongst the heathen and learned their workes they joyned in affinity with the people of these abhominations And should we againe breake thy Commandements and joyne in affinity with the people of these abhominations So much for the first poynt Secondly let us see what is meant in joyning in affinity with them Answer It is to make marriages with them and to be linked to them in kindred giving their daughters to the sonnes of the Heather and intaking of the daughters of the heathen to their sonnes which affinity god had forbidden and abhorred it and yet this had over-spread almost the whole face of the people Ezra 10.12 Wee are many that have transgressed this way yea Princes Priests Rulers Levits Commons and almost all Ezra the 10. from the eighteenth to the end And Nehem. last Chapter from the three and twentieth Verse to the seven and twentieth Verse I saw Iewes saith he that marryed wives of Ashdod of Ammon and of Moab and their children spoke halfe in the speech of Ashdod and could not speake in the Iewes language but according to the language of each people And I contended with them and cursed and reviled them plucked off their haire and made them sweare by God yee shall not give your daughters unto their sonnes nor take their daughters unto your sonnes or for your selves Did not Solomon King of Israel sinne by these things yet among many nations were there none like unto him but he grievously offended in joyning in affinity with severall and many of the people of these abhominations And shall we againe break thy Commandements in joyning in affinity with the people of these abhominations In affinity there cannot be affinity between them but the sequells will be disadvantagious to the people of God for they will induce them to more familiarity than can well stand with their integrity and by faire words worke weake and unstable soules from the way of God Numbers 25. the three first verses When Israel was inticed by the beauty of Moabs daughters to commit whoredome with them having no such abode as with those they had married and dwelt with Yet from this they are inticed further to spirituall whoredome they called the people to the sacrifice of
them weary of Preaching and for feare that they should urge some Law to curbe men from sinning they let them have liberty as by Law that they might sinne without curbing and as if the corrupt nature of man were not apt of its selfe enough to sinne the winde of such wickednesse hath blowne in the sayles of it Blessed be the name of the Master and Lord also of that day that we have lived to see a godly direction for the reformation of it Thirdly was it shamefull swearing and swinish drunkennesse wee have herein exceeded our neighbouring Kingdoms and other Countries The Belgian Souldiers and the Indian Pipers shew'd us but the way the Disciples have exceeded their Masters Drinke and Tobacco are become almost as relatives Posito uno poniter etiam alterum or like body and shadow they sollow one the other I may safely say no two creatures in England have beene more abused of latter yeares especially Tobacco many give fire here that will not charge an enemy and if you aske most of them why they take it being young and in perfect health and strength they will say they can give you no reason for it but because others take it surely they sinne in so needlesse mispending of that creature which hath its naturall and medicinall effects as other Herbes have being rightly used this is like the answer of a no Religion Gentlewomen I have heard of in Lancashire who saying her Husband was a Protestant was asked the reason why she also went not to the Church to whom shee would give no reason but this Because it was not the fashion of the Gentlewomen in that Countrey to doe so Many take it onely to keep them from being idle and I have knowne divers to have brought such a necessity upon themselves hereby that they could not be without it If an old fire-house and common Tobacco-taker be but without smoke a moneth together they are both in danger to fall in pieces In the dayes of yore England was the most temperate of all the Northerne Countries and in the dayes of our fathers it was as great a wonder to have seene a man drunke as it was of late upon a market day to have seene a man with mony sober The Apostle tells us in his time that those that were drunke were drunke on the night but in our times they were drunk on the night and all the day too It was our honour when it was but said the drunken Dutch it was our shame when it might have beene sayd the drunken English Before the phrase runne as drunke as a Begger but now of late Beggers could get no roome to be drunke in for swarmes of Gentlemen Of late our land was over-flowne with drinkes but woe unto us that we have sinned now it is as over-flowed with bloud Oh a drunken devill is hard to cast out this kind indeed will not out without fasting and prayer Fourthly was it swearing or blasphemy it was so common in Israel that the Prophet complained that the Land mourned because of Oathes And in England Oathes have striven with words and our children have no sooner learned to speake than they have learued to sweare Bravadoes thinke that they cannot be terrible enough without swearing Joshua wonne farre more battailes with fewer Oathes nay some gracelesse gentlemen have thought it a grace to their speech it may be so for they often use it before they dine and as if old oathes were out of date and had worne away their vigour they have devised new ones to helpe them on with more expedition towards the Brimstone mines Tavernes Tipling-houses Courts Countreys Cities Towns Chambers streets have all of them abounded herein Lord how many oathes have beene sworne in one town upon one market day how many in a weeke then how many thousand thousands in a year and we have used it in all these places many yeares how should the Lord chuse but be angry with us Fiftly was it whoredome or all manner of uncleannesse Thus was it in Israel Jeremiah 5.7 Though I fed them to the full yet they committed Adultery and assembled themselves by companies in Harlots Houses They frequented Stewes and whore-houses and spent their strength in the houses of Strangers and hath not this beene a great part of our gull-gallants practice in the time or the apprentiship of their folly and what have they more to boast of than their uncleannesse I have with much griefe observed it to have beene the customary and almost continuall discourse of these men at their Tables and have boundred their discourse give me leave to say within the compasse of these four H. H. H. H. A Hound an Horse an Hawk and an Whore God hath taken up their mindes now with somewhat else and what fruit have they now of such passages concerning these as of which they may bee ashamed how freely would these spend their blouds in needlesse and rash duells Let us see how much of it they will now spend to succour the Land of their nativity Sixtly was it pride Isaiah 3.16 The daughters of Zion were haughty and walked with stretched out necks and wanton or wandring eyes walking and mincing it as they went and made a tinkling with their feet Are the daughters of England behinde with them in this And was it pride in the daughters of Israel and no pride in the daughters of England Was it sinne in them and none in these or is not the God of Israel the God of England Yes but was there ever peccatum sine palio a naked sinne that had no excuse to cover it I thinke not The first sinne that ever was committed was no sooner in the world but our first Parents had provided a cloake too of excuse for it but it could not hide it from God no more than fig-leaves could their shame Oh alas in ours it is but the posture of good breeding it is but a comely framing of their pace and a carrying of their bodies with a grace For answer I say they may be postured in humility paced without affected nicity and apparrelled in modesty But when these are done affectedly to set themselves out for the applause of Popularity we know certainly that it s none of the least impiety and will bring the like plague to these that he did to those Doe they thinke that this Scripture is out of date 1. Tim. 2.9 10. Wherein they are taught to array themselves in comely â—pparell with shamefastnesse and modesty Now all sorts of apparrell are not comely for all sorts of people Neither can every one with shamefastnesse and modesty weare so good or such and such as God hath made much above them in Birth Worth or Calling though they were able to get it not with broyded Haire or Gold or Pearle or costly apparell See the Geneva note upon that place but as becometh women that professe the seare of God with good works 1. Pet. 3.5 After this manner in time