promiscuously divulg'd and spread Among approved Verities that some Are in those Labarinths amaz'd become And such a contradiction is in that Which their confused Pamphlets doe relate That common Readers known not which to leave Nor which the Church of England doth receive And from this mischiefe many others flow Which will in future times more harmfull grow This spins vaine Controversies to their length By this most Heresies receive their strength And what distraction it already makes Our grieved Mother wofull notice takes In stead of active knowledge and her fruit This filleth men with itching of dispute And empty words wherby are set abroach A thousand quarrells to the Truths reproach The Sectaries the Munkeyes and the Apes The Cubs and Foxes which doe mar our Grapes The Wolves in sheep-skins and our frantick rable Of VVorship-mongers are innumerable And as the Churches quiet they molest So they each other spightfully infest We have some Papists some that halfe way goe Some Semi-puritans some wholly so Some Anabaptists some who doe refuse Black puddings and good porke like arrant Iewes Some also term'd Arminians are among Our Priests and People very lately sprung What most so call'd professe I stand not for And what some say they teach I doe abhor But what some other so misnam'd beleeve Is that whereto best Christians credit give For as we see the most reformed man By Libertines is term'd a Puritan So by our purblinde Formalist all those Who new fantasticke crotchets doe oppose Begin to be mis-term'd Arminians now And hence e're long will greater mischieves grow Then most imagine For the foolish feare Lest they to be Arminians may appeare Or else be termed Puritans will make Great multitudes Religion quite forsake And I am halfe perswaded this will one Of those great Schismes or earthquakes cause which John Foretold in his Apocalyps and they Are blest who shall not thereby fall away Some Brownists and some Famalists hove we And some that no man can tell what they be Nor they themselves Some seeme so wondrous pure They no mans conversations can endure Vnlesse they use their plaistrings and appeare In ev'ry formall garbe which they shall were There be of those who in their words deny And hate the practice of Idolary Yet make an Idol of their formall zeale And underneath strict holinesse conceale A mystery of evill which deceives them And when they thinke all safe in danger leaves them Their whole Religion some doe place in heating Some in the outward action of forbearing Ill deedes or in well doing though the heart In that performance beare no reall part Some others of their morâ—all actions make Small conscience and affirme that God doth take No notize how in body they transgresse If him in their inward man confesse As if a soule beloved could reside Within a body quite unsanctifide Some not contented in the act of sin Aare growne so impudent that they begin To joustifie themselves in wickednesse Or by quait arguments to make it lesse And by such Monsters to such ends as this The Christians liberty deâ—amed is Newfanglednesse Religion hath o'rethrowne And many as fantasticall are growne In that as in apparell Some delight In nothing more then to be opposite To other men Their zeale they wholy spend The present government to reprehend The Churches discipline to villifie And raile at all which pleades antiquitie They love not peace and therefore have suspition Of Truth it selfe if out of persecution And are so thankelesse or so heedlesse be Of Gods great love in giving such a free And plenteous meanes of pulishing his word That what his Prophets of the Iewes record Some verefie in us Much praise is given To that blinde age wherein the Queene of Heav'n Was worship heare And falsely we extoll Those dayes as being much more plentifull Some at the frequency of Preaching grutch And tyred with it thicke we have too much Nay impudently practise to suppresse That Exercise and make our plenty lesse And that their doing may not want some fayre Or goodly coulor they doe call for Pray'r In stead thereof as if we could not pray Vntill our Preaching we had sent away As these are foolishly or lewdly wise We have some others wantonly precise So waywardly disps'd amidst our plenty And through their curiosity so dainty That very many cannot well digest The Bread of life but in their manner drest Nor will Gods Manna or that measure serve Which he provides But they cry out they starve Vnlesse they feed upon their owne opinions Which are like Egypts Garlike and her Onions Some like not Prayer that 's extempory Some not any that set forme noth cary Some thinke there 's no devotion but in those That howle or whine or snuffle in the nose As if that God vouchsafed all his Graces For fained gestures or for soure faces Some thinke not that the man who gravely teacheth Or hath a sober gesture when he preacheth Or gentle voyce hath any zeale in him And therefore such like Preachers they contemne Yea they suppose that no mans doctrine saves The soule of any one unlesse he raves And rores aloud and flings and hurleth so As if his armes he quite away would throw Or over-leap the Pulpit or else breake it And this if their opinion true may make it Is to advance their voyces Trumpet-like As God commands yea this they say doth strike Sinne dead Whereas indeed God seldome goes In whirlewinds but is in the voyce of those Who speake in meeknesse And it is not in The pow'r of noyse to shake the walls of sinne For clamors antique actions writhed lookes And such like mimmick Rhetoricke none brookes That hath discretion neither doth it move The heart of any when we so reprove Excpt it be in some contrary motion Which interupts the hearts good devotion The well affected Christian pitties it It makes prophanest men at naught to set Gods Ordinance Meere morall men despise Such affatection much it terrifies The ignorant but very few from thence Receive sound knowledge or true penitence Some relish nothing but those points that are In controversie some would nothing heare But songs of Mercy some delight in none But Songs of Thunder and scarce any one Is pleas'd in what he heares Nay of their Preachers Mechanicks arrogate to be the teachers Yea most of us what e're our Pastor shyes Keepe still our owne opinions and our wayes To heare and know Gods word to some among Our Nation seemeth onely to belong To Clergymen and their implicite Faith Is built on what the common rumour saith Some others fill'd with curiosity Affirme that ev'ry sev'rall mystery Within Gods Booke included doth concrne Ev'n each particular Christian man to learne Whereas they might as well affirme each guest That is invited to each Feast Is bound the sev'rall dishes there to heed And upon every meat before him feed Nay some have almost this imagination That there is hardly hope of their salvation Who
To make our outward hearings profitable We must not thinke that all which fancy saith In termes obscure are mysteries of Faith Nor make the hearers want of pow'r to reach Their meanings to be proofes of what they teach There is twixt men and that which they are taught Some naturall proportion or t is naught The deepest mystery of our profession Is capable of literall expression As well to Reprobates as men elected Or else it may of error be suspected Yea wicked men a power granted have To understand although they misconceive And can of darkest points make plaine relations Though to themselves they faile in applications God never yet did bid us take in hand To publish that which none can understand Much lesse affecteth he a man should mutter Rude sounds of that whose depth he cannot utter Or in uncertaine termes as many doe Who preach Non-sense and oft non entia too For those which man to man is bound to show Are such plaine Truths as we by word may know Which when the hearer can expresse againe The fruit hath equalled the Teachers paine Then though the soule doth many times conceive By Faith and by that Word which we receive Deep mysteries and that which farre transcends A carnall knowledge though she apprehends Some glimmerings of those Objects that are higher Then humane Reason ever shall aspire Though she hath tastings of that blessednes Which mortall tongue could never yet expresse And though the soule may have some earnest given On earth of what it shall enjoy in heaven Though God may when he list and now and then For cause not ordinary to some men Vouchsafeth for their secret satisfactions A few reflections from eternall actions Though this be so let no man arrogate That he such secrets can by word relate For they are things of which no voyce can preach High flights to which no mortall wing can reach T is Gods owne worke such raptures to convay To compasse them there is no other way But by his blessed Spirit And of those Most can we not some must we not disclose For if they onely touch our private state They were not sent that we should them relate But daigned that the soule they strengthen might Amid the perills of some secret fight When men to honour God or for their sinne The terrours of this life are plunged in And as it is reputed of those things Which foolish people thinke some Fairy brings So of Enthusiasmes speak I may Discover them and straight they fly away For thus they fare who boast of Revelations Or of the certainty of their Salvations Or any ghostly gift at times or places Which warrant not the mention of such graces Yea by revealing things which they should hide They entrance make for over-weening pride And that quite marres the blessing they possest Or for a while obscureth it at best And yet if any man shall climbe so high That they attaine unto a Mystery Conceiv'd by few they may if they be able Disclose it where it may be profitable But they must know that if it be indeed Of such transcendency as doth exceed Meere naturall reaches it should be declard To none save unto those who are prepar'd For such conceptions and more apt to know them By their owne thoughts then are our words to show them Else all they utter will in clouds appeare And errors men for truths away will beare Would this had beene observ'd a little more By some who in our Congregations roare Of Gods unknowne Decrees Eternall-Callings Of Perseverance and of Finall Fallings And such like Mysteries Of else I would That they tâ—eir meanings better utter could If well they meant For though those points afford Much comfort and instruction as Gods word Hath mention'd them and may applyed be And opened when we just occasion see Yet as most handle them who now adayes Doe passe for Preachers with a vulgar praise They profit not for this ripe age hath young And forward wits who by their fluent tongue And able memories a way have found To build a house e're they have laid the ground With common places and with notes purloin'd Not well applyed and as ill conjoyn'd A garb of preaching these have soone attained Which hath with many approbation gained Beyond their merit For they take in hand Those mysteries they neither understand Nor studied on And they have much distracted Some hearers by their doctrines ill compacted Yea by enquiring out what God fore-sees And medling much with his unknowne Decrees The Churches peace so much disturb'd have they So foule and crooked made Faiths plainest way Such scandals rais'd and interrupted so By doubts impertinent what men should doe And their endeavours nullifide so far That many of them at a nonplus are I am not of their minds who take from this And other things that are perform'd amisse Occasion to disparage frequent preaching Or to abate our plentiousnesse of teaching For of our Harvest Lord I humbly pray The store of Labourers continue may And I could also wish that none were chose To be a seed-man till he truly knowes The Wheat from Tares and is indu'd with reason And grace to sow in order and in season And that those artlesse workmen may be staid Who build before foundations they have laid Lest when our Church well built suppose we shall It sink and overwhelme us in the fall It pities me to marke what rents appeare Within our Sion and what daubings are To hide the ruines and I feare the frame Will totter if we long neglect the same Our Watchmen for the greater part are growne Lesse mindfull of Gods honour than their owne For either almost wholly we omit That worke or undiscreetly follow it Some speake the truth without sincere intention As they who preach the Gospell for contention Some by their wicked lives doe give offence And harden men in their impenitence As if nor hell nor heav'n they did beleeve They ryot game drink drunk and whore and theeve For avarice and envy none are worse They are malicious and blaspheme and curse As much as any others None are more Regardlesse of the soule that 's meane and poore Among their neighbours none more quarrelsome Or that more hardly reconcil'd become Then many Clergie-â—en And as we see They are the best of men when good they be So there are none that wander more astray When they have left a sanctified way Some Pastors are too hot and some too cold And very few the golden temper hold Some at the Papist with such madnesse fling As if they could not utter any thing Of them too vile though ne're so false it were And we so used by their Jesuits are Some others at the Puritan doe strike So furiously that they are often like To wrong the Protestants for men impose That name sometime upon the best of those Yea they who are prophane that name mis-lay On all who make a conscience of their way Some Shepheards on
degrees A Clergie that shall more desire to fleece Then feede the flocke A Clergy it shall be Divided in it selfe and they shall thee Divide among them into sev'rall factions which rend thee will and fill thee with destructions They all in ourward seeming shall pretend Gods glory and to have one pious end But under colour of sincere devotion Their study shall be temporall promotion Which will among themselves strange quarrels make Wherein thy other children shall peâ—â—take As to the Persons or the Cause they stand Affected even quite throughout the Land One part of these will for preferment strive By liâ—ting up the King's prerogative Above it selfe They shall perswade him to Much more then Law or Conscience bids him do And say God warrants it His holy Lawâ—s They shall pervert to justifie their cause And impudently wrest to prove their ends What God to better purposes intends They shall not blush to say that ev'ry King May doe like Solomon in every thing As if they had his warrant and shall dare Ascribe to Monarches rights that proper are To none but Christ and mixt their flatteries With no lesse grosse and wicked blasphemies Then Heathens did yea make their Kings beleeve That whosoever they oppresse or greive It is no wrong nor fit for men oppressed To seeke by their owne Lawes to be redressed Such councell shall thy Princes then provoke To cast upon thee Rehoboams yoake And they not caring or not taking heed How ill that ill-advised King did speed Shall multiply thy causes of distraction For then will of thy Priests the other faction Bestir themselves They will in outward showes Those whom I last have mentioned oppose But in thy ruine they will both agree As in one Center though farre off they be In their Diameter With lowly zeale An envious pride they slâ—ly shall conceale And as the former to thy Kings will teach Meere Tyranny so shall these other preach Rebellion to the people and shall straine The word of God Sedition to maintaine They shall not feare to say that if thy King Become a Tyrant thou maist also fling Obedience off or from his Crowne divorce him Or by the terror of drawne swords enforce him Which false Divinity shall to the Devill Send many soules and bring on thee much evill Oh! be thou therefore watchfull and when e're These Lambs with Dragons voyces doe appeare Repent thy sinne or take it for a token That some great Bulwarke of thy peace is broken Which must be soone repaired or else all The greatnesse of thy glory downe will fall Take heede of those false prophets who will strive Betwixt thy Prince and people to contrive A disagreement And what ever come Thy due Allegeance never start thou from For their oppressions though we may withstand By pleading Lawes or Customes not a hand Must move against them save the hand of God Who makes a King a Bulwarke or a Rod As pleaseth him Oh! take ye therefore heed Yee People and ye Kings that shall succeed Of these Impostors Of the last beware Yee Subjects for their Doctrines hellish are And though they promise Liberty and Peace Your Thraldome and your Troubles they 'll increase Shun oh yee Kings the first for they advise What will your Crownes and honors prejudice When you doe thinke their Prophecies befriend you They doe but unto Râ—moth-Gilead send you Where you shall perish and poore Micahs word Though lesse esteem'd more safety will afford They will abuse your piety and all Your vertues For their wicked ends they shall Apply the Sacred Story or what ever May seeme to further their unjust endevor Ev'n what the son of Hannah told the Iewes Should be their scourge because they did refuse The sov'raignty of God and were so vaine To aske a King which over them might raigne As heathen Princes did that curse they shall Affirme to be a Law Monarchicall Which God himselfe established to stand Throughout all ages and in ev'ry land Which is as good Divinity as they Have also taught who doe not blush to say That Kings may have both Wives and Concubines And by that Rule whereby these great Divines Shall prove their Tenet I dare undertake If found it hold that I like proofe will make Of any Iâ—wish Custome and devise Authority for all absurdities But false it is For might all Kings at pleasure As by the right of royaltie make seasure Of any mans possessions why i pray Did Ahab grieve that Naboth said him nay Why made he not this answer thereunto If what the Prophet said some Kings would do Were justly to be done Thy vineyards mine And at my pleasure Naboth all that 's thine Assume I may like a Turky-chick Did he so foolishly grow sullen-sick And get possession by a wicked fact Of what might have beene his by royall act If such Divinity as this were true The Queene should not have needed to pursue Poore Naboth as she did or so contrive His death since by the Kings Prerogative She might have got his Vinyard Nor would God Have scourg'd that murther with so keene a rod On Ahab had he asked but his due For he did neither plot nor yet pursue The murther nor for ought that we can tell Had knowledge of the deed of Iezabel Till God reveal'd it by the Prophet to him Nor is it said that Naboth wrong did do him Or disrespect in that he did not yeeld To sell or give or to exchange his Field The Iewish Commonwealth did so instate That their possessions none could alienate But for a time who ever for his mony Or in exchange desir'd their patrimony And doubtlesse we offend who at this day Those fredomes give or lose or sell away Which were in common right possest of old By our Forefathers and continue should To all their after commers For altho We may dispose of what pertaines unto Our persons yet those dues which former ages have left unto us for our heritages And whereunto the child that borne must be Hath ev'ry whit as good a right as we Those dues we should preserve with all our might By pleading of our just and ancient rgiht In humble wise if so the Sov'raigne state Our freedome shall attempt to violate But when by peacefull meanes we cannot save it We to the pleasure of the King must leave it And unto God our Judge for all the pow'r In us consists in saying This is our A King is for a blessing or a curse And therefore though a Foole he were or worse A Tyrant or an Ethnick no man may So much as in their private closets pray Against his person though they moy petition Against the wickednesse of his condition Nor is this suffrance due to those alone Who subject are unto a Monarchs throne But from all those who either subjects are To mixed Government or popular For though irregularities appeare In ev'ry State because but men they are Whom Gods exalts to rule yet it is he By