rooted her Churches must be sackt her ancient glorie must end in shame In stead of the sacred Bible she must roue at the way to Heauen in an vnhallowed and blasphemous Alcoran and in stead of skilfull Pilots and Christian guides she shall bee vtterly mis-led by an Ignis fatuus I meane Turkes and Infidels reade now vnto me what might be the cause of this Laodicea was much of Ephraims temper in the seuenth of Hosea like a cake vpon the hearth but halfe baked Laodicea was like the people of Meroz in the fifth of the Iudges nothing forward Laodicea was like those shrinkers in the ninth of Ieremy that had no courage for the truth shee wanted heate in her profession shee wanted life and spirite in Christs cause she most of all wanted that which hee most of all required and that was zeale nullum enim Deo gratius sacrificium quam zelus animarum saith Saint Gregorie in the twelfth homily vpon Ezechtel Which poynt will one day naile the heart and cut deep into the conscience of all those that haue so much to doe in the Lords cause but doe either little or nothing for it And shall I without offence make bolde to tell you that which I haue receiued from the Lord and doe the message for vvhich I came hither Then let me first begin with the fairest It is you right Honourable into whose hands the Lord hath put his Sword for no other purpose but to strike at the roote and to draw at the face and to ayme at the heart and strength of sinne if you suffer your Sword to rust in your sheathe and your Arrowes to rot in your quiuer if you haue a faire profession and yet we finde no good you haue done if you carry a Sword and yet we heare tell of no sinne you haue wounded be a souldier of Christ to quarrell vvith sinne and yet wee remember no field you haue pitched if God haue honoured you and you not honoured him by baiting and hazling of sinne by cooling the heate and breaking the heart taunching the violent issue of vngodlinesse Where then is your zeale If God be dishonored and you not reuenge it if vertue discouraged and you not defend it if religion be outfaced and our land endangered by the inroades and incursions of sinne and you shall not help it where then is your zeale If Sabboths bee broken and you haue authoritie and yet not suppresse it If swearing and drunkennesse be accounted but complement and you haue authoritie and shall not oppose it If sinne may sit in your shope and feed at your boordes and jette in your Markets and you haue a Sword and yet will not strike it If God say strike or else thou dishonorest mee strike or else I will take the sword from thee strike or else thou fighte against me strike or else I will strike at thee yet no punishment but you will reprieue it where then is your zeale Let me not offend I condemne you not Qui monet vt facias quod iam facis ipse monendo laudat I am only your remembrancer to put you in minde of whetting your sword for a sword without an edge may fright but woundeth not to put you in minde of heating and warming your profession For profession without zeale is but like the snuffe of a candle that smoketh and stinketh but neyther warmeth nor lighteth the house to put you in minde of that courage which you should beare and of that conscience which you should make of the curbing of sinne of the honouring of God of aduauncing Religion lest the sword which you beare prooue a naile vnto your heart and the honor which you beare a dishonour to your Maker to put you in minde that a Christian profession that a high and honourable calling should still bee beautified and graced with zeale and attended with christian resolution If then you be willing to fight for your Master if willing to honour and credit your maker if you would haue Religion thanke you and the world to thinke well of you good men to praise GOD for you Gods people to pray for you the heauens to blesse you and all mouthes to commend you all hearts to loue you then must you adde zeale to your profession then string vp your bowe make your arrowes swift and keene your sword sharpe and glistering and I beseech God to strengthen both your heart and hand to sharpen both your Arrowes and Sword to blesse you and your good endeuorus that you may bring much honorto his dreadful name many blessings to this famous Cittie much peace and comfort to your soules And seeing I am thus farre proceeded let me haue leaue to adde a word or two to the wise and reuerend Iudges of the Land you are they whose profession it is to free the weake impotent from the yoke and seruitude of greater personages who would swallow them vp to loppe and prune the corrupt and rotten branches that infect and pester the Land to cut off the trayterous heads of Priests and Iesuites that hinder the peace to whip and censure our besotted Recusants that repine at the growth of the Gospell yet if this godly profession want zeale in performing if our laws be soueraigne but want execution if you be good mē but want resolution if the poor client sollicite that his cause may be ended if the country beseech that offenders may bee punished if the Preachers entreate and beseech you for the glory of God for the honour of our Land for the peace of our Church for the safetie of his Maiesties royall person that you would weaken the forces and abate the pride and frustrate the counsell and eyther banish or binde to allegiance our hollow-hearted and popish fondlings and you shall not heare the suites nor satisfie the hopes of our Church and State that crie and call for the sweeping and purging of our land of all noysome and infestious weedes which the enuious man of Rome hath sowen and planted then you doe more dishonour God by want of zeale then euer you can honour him by your profession If therefore you desire to make your profession glorious your graces eminent if you desire to make Religion beholding to you good men to blesse God for you our Land to thanke and reward you the Church to pray for you all hearts to loue you all mouthes to commend you and Gods blessing vpon you then must you adde zeale to profession Bee zealous like Iehu for the glory of God 2. Kings 10. Bee zealous to breake the threed of contentions without demurres and delaies Bee zealous to ease the Church of those that contend and wrastle in her wombe to ease the Land from Dan to Beersheba from the one end to the other of all such spitefull miscreants as desire and long to see the Scepter remoued from Iuda that speake of vs as Scipio in Polibius did of Rome Polibius apu Curionem lib. 3. at
the burning of Carthage Illadies veniet cum flamma hac templa peribunt who haue hope that they shall one day see our Churches burned our Cities sackt our courage daunted our State subuerted our Religion altered our Soueraigne buried the Gospell silenced and our light remoued But ô thou wise and immortall God that sittest vpon the circle of the heauen and seest what these bloud-sucking and deplored wights are deuising against Thee and thine annointed Seruant against thy poore Church and true Religion against our State against our Kingdome fill the hearts of our Magistrates with zeale strengthen their hands with resolution and courage to cut them off infatuate the counsell of these Achitophels but grant ioyand peace vnto thy Church long life and happinesse to our gratious Soueraigne puritie and continuance of true Religion growth and passage to the Gospell glory and immortall happinesse to this State and Kingdome Lord say Amen to our requests and let euery one that loues this Nation that cares for Syon that fauours Religion that wisheth well to our Soueraigne helpe mee with their prayers hold vp their hands and lift vp their voyces to heauen and say Amen Amen And seeing I am thus farre proceeded deny mee not your attention till I haue left a word of exhortation to my brethren of the Cleargy You are they whose breasts should bee signed with Vrim and Thummim and your fore-heads marked with this inscription Holinesse to the Lord Exod. 28.36 your profession is the winning of soules your charge weighty if you win them great is your glory if you loose them your danger intolerable But if your people lie at the side of Bethesda and you will not trouble the water for them if they long for the crums of your spirituall benediction and shall not obtaine them if they would sit at your feete to heare your Preaching if they gaspe for this heauenly bread and cry for the waters of comfort and yet must starue and die for want of them then your want of care makes your profession odious your want of zeale makes your profession dangerous your want of forwardnesse in Religion makes Religion be termed but policie you can neuer gaine so many soules by your profession as you may destroy and murther for want of zeale Iohn was not onely a lampe shining in his Sermons but a torch burning with zeale Nam qui non ardet non accendit saith S. Barnard nec lucere potest nisi priùs ardeat saith Aquinas vpon the fifth of Iohn If your selues burne not with zeale how can you enflame the hearts of others If you burne not your selues then can you giue no light to others You are Lucernae quoad officium but extinctae quoad effectum like snuffes in the midst of a golden Candlesticke Suffer mee then to exhort and charge you all that looke for ioy and comfort on the bed of your sicknesse that look for a gracious welcome to the Supper of the Lambe that wold haue your heads crowned and your soules saued at the last day that now in the prime of your life and the light of the Gospell you would adde burning zeale to Christian profession for then wold good Lawes be strictly executed then wold sinne be sharply punished then would our Recusants be roundly censured then would the Gospell bee frequently Preached then would Religion flourish and God be highly honoured But alas for vs all where or in whom shall we find it where is the glowing of the eares where is the wringing of the hands Where is the beating of the breasts Where is the sparkling of the eyes Where is the yearning of the Bowels The shaking of the flesh The panting of the heart The thriftlesse Gallants are out-vying of oathes and our bearts are not wounded your obscoene and Whorish stages bereaue this Land of many hopefull sprigs depriue the Gentry of many hopefull stemmes fill this Citie with prodigious vices turne good and ingenuous and hopefull natures into prodigall and dissolute and lewde professors and yet our hearts are not nailed where then is our zeale God is dishonoured Recusants are and will bee suffered sinne is and will be maintained zeale is and must bee taunted a good conscience is must be laught out of countenance Religion is and must bee brought vnder hatches and sent a begging and yet our hearts are not moued where then is our zeale And because there is no point wherein a man may sooner ouer-shoote himselfe then in this I will in a word or two deliuer some plaine and easie rules whereby a man may iudge whether his zeale be currant or counterseit Markes of true zeale 1 The matter must be good Gal. 4.18 The 1. or else it is not zeale but deuillish and fleshly heate a frenzie and madnesse counterfeiting the name of zeale like the zeale of those Idolater that mangled and cut them selues 1 Kings 18. Like the zeal of the Scribes and Pharise who compasse Sea and Land to make Proselites Like the zeale of Paul before his conuersion Like the zeale of ignorant Papists and Brownists at this day who are hot indeed for they must needes runne whom the deuill driues Sed incalescunt in re frigida They are like bittes of lime neuer so hot and smoaking as in cold water neuer earnest but in euill canses Which may bee hence conuicted because they vse no weapons but such as the deuill puts into their hands to wit rayling and detracting and rotten speeches the onely Patrons for such bad causes 2 Zeale must beginne at home The 2. for they are most skilfull Phisitians and best able to deale with others that haue first wrought a cure vpon their owne soules to checke all those that wade deep into the soules and bloudily go are the consciences of other men but haue not purged their own vncleane sinkes at home no not drawne one droppe of menstruous bloud out of their owne corrupt and rotten hearts Like Pharises who censured Christ but not themselues like Brownists who stretch their veines and make their bowels swell with crying Disorder Disorder amongst vs but leaue sinkes of sinne vnpurged cages of sinne vncleansed bands and troupes of sinne vntamed and vnvanquished vnder their owne roofes 3 True zeale will looke as carefully to the heart before God The 3. as the behauiour in the sight of men and make a man as fearefull to sinne when hee is alone as when hee is in company of men Thus it wrought with Iob chap. 31. And thus with Ioseph Gen. 39. A check to those that would not bee accounted ill but make no conscience of doing ill that would bee called good men but haue no heart to good actions 4 If it bee true zeale it will make thee more strict to thy selfe then to others The 4. and giue more liberty to another then thou wilt take thy selfe Abraham was so strict to himselfe that he would not take of the King of Sodome so much as a threed
in our hope to alter the gracious aspect of the heauens to stint the influence of Gods gracious fauour to procure our woe and to giue our whole State our whole Kingdome a blow that can neuer be healed Giue mee leaue therefore for closure of the point to exhort you Right Honorable and all the rest in the name of God now at last to bethinke your selues of some remedy God hath put a sword of authority in your hand for no other purpose but to strike at sinne if yet you suffer it to rust in the sheath I am not afraid to tell you that either you are afraid to quarrell with sinne or else you be are it some good will your selfe or else you haue but malt hearts and white liuers and cold constitutions ready to faint and shrinke in the Lords cause and so by your meanes sinne shall haue a continuall Spring no Autumn not one leafe of it fall but our Land shall feele a continuall Autumne and falling from its ancient glory but see no Spring and a continuall Winter vexed with the stormes and shewers of heauens displeasure but neuer see nor feele the warmenesse of Summer Strike then at the root of sin for sin striketh at the root and shaketh the foundation of our Land But if our reuerend Iudges suffer him that sitteth vpon the Bench to wrong him that standeth below the Barr waiting for iustice thē let him know that he maintaines a sin and then we all know that he doth his best to ruinate our Land If the Gentry grow rich and potent by turning Tenants out of dores by depopulation by clipping or selling the Leuites portion then let them know that they maintaine a sin and then wee all know they doe their best to ruinate this Land If Merchants and men of Trade grow rich and powerfull by fraud and cheating these also be vnderminers of our State they do their best to ruinate this Land Good Lord what will become of vs when foule sinnes in this Citie become rich professions and yet they are the Mothes that are eating they are the Cankers that are fretting they are the Vermine that are vndermining both our Church and Kingdome The summe of all is this if wee continue in our ancient course and trade of sin it is as sure as if God had sealed it we shall be either made a prey vnto our enemies or haue our flesh so full of Gods poysoned arrowes that it were better for vs to die then to liue Let it then bee our ioint and greatest care to empty our houses to cleanse our streets to weede the cockle and darnell out of this Land that God may bee pleased long and long to continue his true Religion our peerelesse King this little Kingdome in peace and happinesse Remember what I say and I say it againe Let it be your care Right Honorable to strike at the roote of sinne in the Citie Let our reuerend Iudges strike at the roote of sin in the Courts on their Benches in their Circuites Let my Brethren of the Ministerie strike at the root of sin in their charges Let euery man that cares for Sion that loues our Nation that fauours Religion that wisheth the glorie of our Lord to be immortall that hath a true English and a Christian heart fling one stone at the face make one wound in the fore-head of sin and I beseech God that the heauens may giue you good successe and that the Lord may be with you all you valiant men And so I should come somewhat to the particular crimes whereof Israel is accused All which sinnes are reduceable to two heads some are priuatiue in the first viz. Want of Mercy c. some positiue in the second verse viz Swearing c. But before I aduenture this maine Ocean obserue by the way Neglect of duties enioyned is no small sinne That the neglect of a duty commanded displeaseth God as well as the committing of sins prohibited seeing this controuersie betwixt God and Israel arose not onely from the positiue sins wherein they committed things forbidden but from the priuatiue also wherein they were carelesse of duties enioyned God cursed Meroz not for fighting against the people of God but because they did not assist them against the mighty Iudg. 5.23 Diues fryed in hell not for robbing but for not releeuing Lazarus Luke 16. The vnprofitable seruant was cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into vtter darknes not for spending but for not bestowing his Maisters talent The siue foolish Virgins were shut out of dores not for abuse in wasting but for wanting of Oile And the wicked shall bee condemned at the last day not for reauing the meate from the hungry but for not feeding them not onely for dislodging the stranger but for not entertaining him not onely for stripping the naked out of his clothes but for not clothing him not onely for wronging the sick comfortlesse but for not visiting and for not comforting of him Mat. 25. Vice Vertue are contraries which want a Medium therfore the absence of the one in subiect◠capaci argues the presence of the other so that if we be destitute of vertue then are wee attended with troopes of vices If our houses be cleane swept and empty of spirituall graces then they are conuenient lodgings for vncleane spirits If wee bee not graced with knowledge then are we mufled and blinded with ignorance If voide of faith wee are clothed with infidelity If once wee giue ouer doing good then we prostitute our selues to all ungodlinesse And therefore the neglect of a dutie which is enioyned being alwaies accompanied with some bolts and scarres of fouler sins is sufficient matter both of enditement and of iudgement whensoeuer the Lord shall summon vs to appeare before him A speciall caueat for vs Vse 1 not with simple Ideots to blesse our selues because we are harmlesse and doe no man wrong or because wee are not tainted with the continuall fluxe or bloudy issue of such sins as would make vs odious in the world or because wee breake not with violence into the outward act of such sins as are monstrous and deserue the cēsure of the Law For God hath not onely forbidden the euill but commanded the good What if thou steale not from thy brother yet if thou open not thy hand to succour him thou art a robber What if thou dost neither lienor sweare yet if thou make not thy mouth a glorious Organ thy tongue a golden Trumpet to Preach and proclaime his loue and mercy thou art a deepe and a round offender What if no man can condemne thee for any euill yet vnlesse God and thy own conscience shall commend thee for some good thou haste wrought I tremble to tell thee how far thou art from the Kingdome of God The Iudge may not blesse himselfe in this that hee neuer hindred the poore for if he haue not furthered thē nor in this that hee neuer kindled suites
a conscience to bait and to dog him If the wanton bee attended and cloathed with darkenesse and yet haue a God to see and reuenge him then where is his comfort or how is he safer for sinning in secret Remember this corrupt Gehazi that pocketest bribes in priuate Remember this great Plotter of the world that reachest at a hungry preferment with more haste then good speed by giuing and taking of pledges to binde and confirme vnlawfull promises that are made in secret and let vs all remember this that our hearts must needes bee shamelesly sinnefull and our cases vtterly desperate and our end vndoubtedly miserable if wee dare flie in the face of God and grieue his holy Spirit and rip our Sauiours wounds and stabbe his blessed sides because we haue the darknesse for a maske and the night for a couering and the wals for a defence and God hath none to beare him witnesse It was a good Position of Boetius Boaetius de consolatione Philosophie lib. 5. last prose de consolatione Philosophiae his fifth Booke and last Prose Magna est necessitas probitatis cum agitis ante oculos iudicis cuncta cernentis A man cannot chuse but bee good who remembers that hee stands alwaies in the sight of God And therefore Prudentius in one of his Hymnes giues this good memorandum Prudentius Himnorum l. 1. quicquid ages furtimuè palamuè memento inspectatorem semper adesse Deum And heere would I gladly make a stop and stint my meditations in this point but that I finde two of the best sorts of men that may iustly waite and expect some further vse The one would haue encouragement the other would haue comfort from my doctrine and I haue sufficient to content them both The one is hee that spendeth his breath and spirits in doing of good The other is hee that is breathelesse alreadie being almost disconsolate and out of heart by sustaining of euils each of them shall haue a taste lest if I send them emptie home the one should bee discouraged the other discontented in the way Giue mee a man that hath coped and buckled with the sinnes of the time An incouragement to doe good Giue mee a man that hath studied the aduancement of Religion Giue mee a man that hath pleaded the Lords cause against the fauourites of Baal as Elias did 1. Kings 18. That hath prouided for the Prophets as Elisha did 2. Kings 6. That shewes himselfe zealous for the Lord of Hosts as Phineas did Numbers 25. at the 11. That hath encouraged those that fight the battels of the Lord as Abigail did the first of Samuel the 25. That hath reformed the contempt of the Sabboath as Nehemiah did Nehem. the 13. the 22. and then tell mee what can be more auaileable to enflame his zeale to set edge vpon his affection to make him Christianly ambitious in striuing for heauen to make him out-vie and outstrip his brethren to make a man sweate and tugge with more eagernesse and feruencie of spirit in building of the house or prouoking the Gospell of Christ then this one that God sees him that the heauens applaude him that God and Angels are spectators God and Angels attendants to grace and honour him Was there euer spirit so degenerous and base that will not stirre and strike with violence when the eye of his Coronell is fixed full vpon him And is there not as good reason that the Christian warriour should march with a courage against sinne because his Maister and Captaine Iesus Christ neuer casts his eie of him If Elias bee pleading against Baal this should make him more hot and vehement If Elisha bee prouiding for the Prophets this should make him more carefull and sollicitous If Abigail bee encouraging and releeuing those that fight the battels of the Lord this should make her more cheerefull and magnificent If the Preacher bee hewing and slashing at sinne this should make him more industrious and resolute considering that there hath not beene so much as a good purpose in thy heart thou hast not once opened thy mouth in the Lords cause thou hast not gluen a droppe of water to one of his Disciples thou hast not releeued one of his members thou hast not preferred one of his Prophets thou hast not broken the heart nor wounded the head nor staunched the passage of any one sinne but God hath seene it and penned it downe and doth remember it and will reward it Goe on then in the name and blessing of God and if thou haue goods releeue Christ Iesus in his afflicted members with it If thou haue learning make the Church of GOD thine adopted heire and leaue some remembrance in it If thou haue authoritie shew it in cutting off sinne that endangers the Land in giuing of life to Religon which now lies in a swoone shew it in scourging and whipping of vice bring glorie to thy God comfort to thy soule honour and immortalitie to thy Countrie by it If thus thou haue behaued thy selfe then goe on and the Lord bee with thee And as thou goest thus cheere vp thy heart Great was the good I entended though I haue not performed it Laboured I haue though not much preuailed I haue coped with sinne though I could not discomfite it I haue snaped the growth of some vngodlinesse though I could not digge vp the rootes of it I haue done my best though that which is best I haue not done Shall I bee discouraged because I can but doe my best and not so much as I should Surely no. I will still bee doing some good and striuing to doe better if I mend and doe neuer so much I will striue to doe more If I preuaile God shall haue glorie if I preuaile not yet still I will striue because there is nothing that I doe or purpose but my God doth see it writes it in his booke doth remember it and will reward it Thus hee that doth good hath had his encouragement The next is hee that endureth afflictions If I may beg your attention till I haue reached him but a morsell of comfort I will presently proceede to that which followes Giue mee a man hath not liued so many minutes of time as hee hath reade and perused whole decads and volumes of woe or a man that hath not eaten so many morsels of bread as hee hath digested whole loades and burthens of griefe or a man that neuer tasted so many droppes of drinke as hee hath shedde streames and riuers of teares or a man that hath no follower but paine no retainer but discontent no companion but griefe of heart that pennes no songs but sad complaints and mournefull Elegies that endites no descants but sighes and groanes that sings no tunes but Lachrimae giue mee such a man as this and you shall see that this little sprigge of balme which I pluckt from my Text will make him whole and sonnd againe And this is it The Lord sees thee
or shoe-latchet and yet would not deny to Aner and Eschol and Mamre their liberty Gen. 14.23 and therefore it must bee termed rather pride then zeale to bee too tetricall and rough that whosoeuer is not in euery point so precise as ourselues should bee turned out as dogs or prophane persons vnworthy of our account and countenance 5 True zeale feareth not the faces of the mighty The 5. when we must beware of their precipitancy who will charge the Minister to bee of a cold constitution if hee break not abruptly into open reprehension men in authority which 〈◊〉 to reproue without the spiâ—â—â— of meeknesse to exasperate ther then to humble the part admonished Lastly The 6. if it bee true zealed wil make thee brook and poâ—â— many priuate wrongs done thy selfe but hot and impatiâ—â—â— of any dishonour vnto Gâ—â— When the Israelites offered 〈◊〉 â—uate wrongs to Moses hee was wont to speak mildely and pray earnestly for them but when they fell to Idolatry a matter which concerned God then his fire was kindled then hee breakes the Tables and stampes the Calfe to powder and casts the ashes into the water and makes them to drinke vp their God Exod. 32. I feare I haue dwelt too long vpon the point the closure is but this Let vs all bestirre our selues when Gods cause is a judging and bee earnest when his glory is in question bee zealous to strike when hee himselfe puts the sword in our hands be calous to speake when himselfe puts the word in our mouthes let euery one that weares the coate and liuery of Christ write â—eale vpon his breast And ô thou holy and blessed Spirit come vnto vs as thou camest to thine Apostles in shape of fierie tongues that our tongues may bee tipt and enamuled our hearts seasoned our soules enflamed our profession graced with zeale of thy honour and worship that sinne may bee shaken thy Name exalted thy Truth embraced our Church continued our Land blessed our soules saued when these few and miserable daies shall be ended And so I come from the crime obiected The crime obiected against Laodicea Thou art neither hot nor cold to see how the sinne is aggrauated in the next words Would God thou wert eithor hot or cold Which words are not so to be vnderstood as if they should haue pleased him well enough had they bene either hot or cold or any thing but luke-warme Non ostendit quid probat sed quid praefert but his meaning was to let them know that hee so disliked luke-warmenesse in Religion and indifferencie in profession of Christianitie that he should haue liked them better and their condition should not haue bin so desperate had they made no conscience or had no knowledge as now it was by their hypocrisie and want of zeale so that the point which by the Holy Ghost is heere deliuered may bee comprised in these tearmes It were better to bee of no Religion at all Better to bee of no Religion then to be luke-warm then to diuide our loue betweene God and the world and our seruice betweene God and Baal and our attendance betweene God and Mammon or to embrace Religion no farther then Religion serues our turne to gaine withall Which Theoreme howsoeuer it be the deduction of Ambrose and of the whole current both of Moderne and Ancient Interpreters yet shall it bee no waste of time to support and fence it by copying a place or two out of Gods Writing-booke turne but your leafes vnto the 9. of Iohn the 41. and view our Sauiours answere to the Pharises question Had you beene blind you should not haue sinned That is say Bucer and Musculus and Aquinas agreeing with the glosse Your sinne had not beene so exceeding sinnefull as now it is as if our Sauiour had thus enlarged his speech There is no man that hath not gone astray euen from the wombe The most righteous before men is defaced and speckled in the sight of God and may go crying all the day long with the Leper Leuiticus the 13. chapter and verse 45. I am vncleane I am vncleane but you dissembling Pharisees are more deepely stayned then anie other your sinnes are high coloured like crimson vvhich as Lipsius obserueth is twice dyed other men haue Moats Lipsius de Constantia libro 1. but you haue Beames in your eyes other men haue Scratches but you haue Wounds and Scarres in your Faces others may swallow sinnes as bigge as Gnats but you can digest sinnes as bigge as Cammells and how is it that your sinnes are more inexpiable then other mens it is because you serue mee not in sinceritie and professe religion onely for your profite and diuide your loue betvvixt mee and your ovvne Mammon it had beene better for you to haue worshipped onelie Mammon and neuer to haue heard of me it had beene better for you to haue trusted onelie to your owne wits and neuer to haue trusted mee vnlesse you trust onely mee and better for you to haue beene starke blinde then onely to see how you may turne your backs and looke a-squint at Heauen it were better to haue been cold dead then to be as it were in an Istmus Heinsy Poem Vt tundat mentem fluctus vterque tuam to bide betwixt life and death to haue thy Religion ebbing and flowing Plutarch de Socratis Genio Hesych de vita Philosophorum thy profession like the soule of Hermotimus in Plutarch and of Epimenides in Hesychius coming and going Let thy Religion be eyther pure and sound or none thy profession eyther entire and sound or none thy zeale eyther burning hote or none to be blinde to be of no profession to make no conscience of Religion is verie damnable but to see the way and not to follow it to professe Religion and not to be zealous for it to weare CHRISTS Liuerie and serue anie other besides the Master that gaue it is intolerable Adde vnto this that clause of the Apostle cited to this very purpose by Gregorie in the third of his Pastoralls out of the second Epistle of Peter chapter 2. and the 21. verse It were better neuer to haue knowne the way then after knowledge to turne out of it Which one place by generall consent is sufficient to make good our poynt the ignorant which in the Apostles stile knows not is like the colde man in my Text that cares not for Religion the backe-slider in the Apostles stile that turneth aside is like vnto the Luke-warme Christian in my Text that careth not whether Religion sinke or swimme whether his profession doe stand or fall who like to Metius Suffetius in Liuie Liuy in his first Decade and first Book will strike or speake for neyther side vntill one side bee downe and then ioyne to that which is best for their commoditie A thing odious amongest Heathens and therefore prohibited by Solon That anie man should stand as a neuter betwixt two
brought you within the view and sight of our iournies end I hope it will make you cheerefull in hearing while I am briefly opening my last conclusion viz. God is highly pleased God highly pleased with purging the Church of luke warm Professors when his Church is eased and emptied of hollow professors Let them take Ionas and cast him into the sea Et facto citius tumida aequora placant the windes will hold their peace and bee still the waues will giue ouer boyling and make their crests as flatte and leueli as a floore and the Maisters of the shippe must needs haue ioyfull hearts to see how merily she cuts the waters so soone as shee hath pickt vp her troublesome loade and emptied her wombe of Ionas whom shee was not able to digest I know that amongst the wheate there will be chaffe yet if the chaffe were burned I know that amongst the beds of Lillies there will be weedes yet if the weedes were rooted vp I know that within the pales and hedges of Gods owne vineyard there will be stones yet if the stones were gathered out the burning of the chaffe would rellish like a burnt Sacrifice the rooting vp of the weeds would sauour as the smell of Incense the ridding of the stones would be as welcome as a free will offering vnto God Did not the Starres and the Heauens applaude Elias in the first booke of Kings chapter 13. for reclaiming them that halted betweene two opinions for setling them that were like to fall downe between two professions or was it not a labour well bestowed whereby hee cured the Land that vvas sicke and wearie not able to beare them and purged their Soules that were sicke and ready to die within them and highly pleased his GOD who was so deepely offended with them The griefe of the head can no way be better cured then by purging the stomach and scouring the bodie of such infestuous humours as fume vpward and disquiet the braine and if Christ bee our head and the Church his bodie how should you imagine that his spirite can be better pleased or our blessed Sauiour delighted with any thing so much as vvith the sweeping out of Luke-warme professors and the paring away of aequiuocall members with the healing if they bee cureable or else the cutting off if they be hopelesse and incureable neutralls Were it not that the time were now ready to impose mee silence and commaunded mee to let you see the farthest period I could verie hardly part so quickely with so good a point I winde vp all in one word of exhortation I should thinke my breath and trauell happily bestowed my Ministerie and seruice richly blessed my paynes and labour highly honoured and revvarded if I might preuaile with authority to prouide som strong purgation to scoure out of the sicke bodie of this Land some vnwholesome Tenants who Ianus-like haue two faces Ouid. Fast libr. 1. the one to looke demurely vp to heauen the other wantonly to smile vpon an Idol and come to our Churches only to saue charges If I might preuail vvith the Clergie to prouide some powerfull and passionate exhortations to settle the hearts of their hearers vpon one God renouncing Idols vpon one Sauiour abiuring this sinfull trash and deceitfull riches The world knoweth it full well that our Land was neuer so sick that our Church neuer groaned so loud neuer mourned in such a passion nor neuer trauelled of these Hermaphrodites with halfe so much paine and griefe as novv â—he doth she hath already bred and at this day shee both feedeth and clothes a numberlesse swarme of our-cast professors I meane Church papists and rotten Protestants who sometimes like vnto Iudas pretend to kisse but if they can come neere enough intend to kill her and sometimes salute her Porches but it is as Ioab saluted Abner 2. Sam. 3. with a dagger in their pockets she may conclude a peace with other enemies but these will cut her throat by way of friendship she sighes so deepely and shee groaneth with so much anguish that her cries are heard her griefe lamented beyond the Seas It is no whispering rumour your selues haue often heard it cried here at the crosse that they are warmely lodged and richly friended and costly fed with the marrow and fatnesse of our owne Land who the middest of our Iubilies doe make flawes in our peace and in the middest of our ioyes endaunger our liues and if anie forrener shold inuade the land wold leÌ„d their kniues to cut our throates and be the formost men to beare armes against vs. This alas this is the maladie that maketh the visage of our Church so wan and her face so full of wrinckles and her backe so ful of furrows and her eies so ful of teares and her heart so ful of sorrowes that though many good Phisitians will speake her faire and wish her health yet they lance not the Impostume yet they purge not the fretting humor that consumes and grieueth her you may reade in her face that her gripings and conuulsioÌ„s be insufferable you may heare by her groanes that her paine is intolerable you may presage by her pulses the signes and symptomes of desolation and death and vvhen these Catholike vipers haue broken her heart what will become of vs who suffer such Professours as will neuer prooue good Subiects to varnish their neasts and make their bowers within her it would doe them good to do vs hurt it would lengthen their liues to shorten ours it would bring them halfe way to Heauen to burie their ponyards in our breasts it would make a new Feast and another Holy-day in the Roman Kalender if they might but smell the burning and heare tell of the smoke and ashes of our Churches they are alreadie become so bolde their number is so exceeding great their Religion is so exceeding bloodie their malice so inueterate that if no sharper course be taken to represse and smother them they will aduenture within a while to try whether wee or they shall be the masters and if either malice or multitude can do it they wil make bone-fires of our flesh they will cut off our liues and confiscate our liuings and set fire on our Churches and martyre our Cleargie and massacre our Iudges and murther our Princes and say of England as Edom sayd of Ierusalem Downe with it downe with it euen to the ground And if euer this day of mourning come vpon vs which I pray God may neuer come yet if it should come wee may thanke our selues for keeping Romish Wasps in our English Hiues It were happy for our Land if we now at last began to pittie and bemone our selues and be somevvhat sharpe in keeping them vnder while we haue the sword in our hands rather then to suffer them to grow so long vntill they be able to treade vpon our Religion or to vaunt or triumph ouer vs. And if any amongst vs can prepare an offering of peace now or neuer let him bring it hee that can vtter or conceiue a prayer now or neuer let him offer it Let vs moue the Heauen with crying spare thy people O God spare thy people giue not our church into reproach Let not the Antichristian hoste be our masters Let not the blasted Catholikes be our commaunders Let not the workemen of Babel be our confounders Wil you haue your farewell and heare what I le say at your parting Let mee exhort you reuerend Iudges who walke heere in Scarlet robes and sit on seates of Iustice to be zealous for the truth to pitty and compassionate our Church to settle your ovvne hearts to bevvare of Luke-vvarmenesse in your religion that when you shall leaue these Benches and put off these robes you may sit on Thrones amongst the foure and twenty Elders and be clothed with the long white Rayment of Saints and follow the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth Let me exhort you godlie and religious Citizens to bee zealous for the truth to vphold maintayne the Gospel to take heed of coursing and wandring amongst religions to take heed of luke-warmnesse in your christian profession that when you shall be put out of these houses you may be receiued into euerlasting habitations when you shall leaue your trading in this Citie you may bee fellow-Citizens with the Saints in glory when these rotten posts and worme-eaten timber of your bodies shall be broken downe your soules may bee carried on Angels wings into Abrahams bosome and you also may follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goes And let vs all begin this day to make our eyes riuers and our heads springs and our hearts fountaines of teares And let this riuer neuer giue ouer running let this spring neuer giue ouer swelling let this fountaine neuer giue ouer flowing vntill this riuer of teares become a sea and this spring of teares become a floud and this fountaine of teares become an Ocean to wash our beds to water our couches to make our chamber swimme for the miserie that wee are like to bring vpon our selues for the desolation and woe which wee are like to bring vpon our Churches for the solemne destruction and finall subuersion which wee haue laboured to bring vpon our whole land and vpon our kingdome by palpable luke-warmenes in our Religion and by our want of godly zealein our Christian profession And when this riuer of teares shall bee dried and these fountaines stopt that wee cannot weepe Let vs fill the aire and beate the heauens with our prayers and though sicknes may put our tongues to silence that we cannot speake yet let our hearts breath our soules enforce vpon the heauens some earnest and powerfull supplications that the dreadfull God whom wee haue offended may be pleased to blesse our Church to prosper our Soueraigne to protect our Kingdome to aduance the Gospell to encrease our zeale to cloath ourenemies in mourning weeds to open the windowes of Heauen crowne vs with his blessings to cure all our soules to forgiue all our sins to saue all our soules for his Sonne Christ Iesus his sake Amen Amen FINIS