is as fit for 1680 as it was for 1640. And we will not dissemble the truth of it but let it have its full Scope For this Text is part of the Epinicion or Song for Victory obtain'd by Deborah the Queen or Judge of Israel Judges 4.4 She Judged Israel at that Time and Barak her Captain General The Title of this Chapter wherein the Text is is The Song of Deborah and Barak after Victory obtain'd against the Queens Enemies the Captain of whose Host was wicked Sisera who with a Mighty Army came to Fight against Deborah the Soveraign of the Israelites of which her Subjects some Fought for their Soveraign Deborah as Zebulun and Naphtali some would not Fight for their Soveraign as Meroz Therefore Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord the help of their Soveraign there called the help of the Lord against the Mighty Enemies of Soveraign Majesty So that the help of the Lord in this Text is evidently the help of Deborah the help and assistance of the Soveraign Magistrate against the Enemy This is so plain and Evident from the Context that nothing can be more Intelligible Whence observe Doc. that to help the Soveraign Magistrate against the Enemy is to help God Or thus They that Fight not for their Soveraign Fight not for God And they that Fight against their Soveraign Fight against God Or the Kings Enemy cannot be Gods Friend Or He that Honors not the King Fears not God Or thus All Rebels and Disloyal Persons to their Soveraign are Cursed Rebels and Disloyal to God Truth 's so clearly deduced without any wresting from this Text as well as throughout the whole Scripture Canonical that we may well wonder that there could have been such Pulpiteers as to Cheat their Hearers with quite contrary Doctrines and Deductions from this Text or such easie Gulls amongst their Auditors that could be so grosly impos'd upon and be juggled out of their Lives their Money their Plate nay it is to be feared their Souls are accursed if this Text be true not only for refusing to Assist their Soveraign the Cursed Crime in the Text but much more for resisting him even to Blood and their own Damnation so easie are and so Damnable too many times those Juggling Tricks that Cheats the Vulgar Cheat the Vulgar Alas What is more Ordinary But this was the most Gross most Palpable and the most Fatal Cheat that ever was put upon them and from the Holy Scripture wretchedly wrested and from the Pulpit too Fatal to the People Fatal to the King and Kingdom With this Text that is the most Loyal Text in all the Bible was the Kings Army rooted our Blessed King Martyr'd and Murther'd and the Kingdom Ruined Which may teach Soveraigns by woful Experience that if they let loose the Reignes of Government especially in Ecclesiastical Affairs if they cannot or will not restrain the License of the Pulpit and Pulpiteers they loose the best Flower of the Crown and expose themselves and their People to the wild Expositions and Harangues of every bold Expositor and Boutifeau Where by the way note how necessary it is for a King as to outward Administration to keep the Key of David that Openeth and no man shutteth Isa 22.22 and shutteth and no man openeth and not to trust the opening the meaning and Interpretations of Scripture to his Adversaries or Rebells or such as he has no influence upon whether Pope or Presbyterian Popery or Foppery And have we not Laws enough and strong enough to bind the Bloody hands of both and hinder their growth if men have but honesty and courage enough to put them in Execution And this Doctrine so apparent in the Text that to help our Sovereign against his Enemies is to help God and not to help him is to be lyable to the Curse of God is founded upon these two following Reasons and infallible Arguments which I shall place in Answer to the third Quere why Meroz was accursed Reas 1st Because Disloyalty and Rebellion against the Soveraign Magistrate is a Sin of the same horrid nature with Disloyalty and Rebellion against God himself Nay the Holy Apostle does not say they are like one another as ever they can look but they are one and the same Rom. 13.2 Job 35.6.7.8 He that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God the Imperial Edict of God For if thou Sinnest what doest thou against God saith Eliphaz or if thy Transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou against him If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Thy wickedness may hurt a Man as thou art and thy Righteousness may profit the Son of Man Upon this account Jehoiakim who rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar contrary to his Oath of Allegiance and Covenant 2 Chron. 16.13 with an Infidel King and is said to have broken Gods Covenant Ezekiel 17.19 by breaking the Covenant made to that Heathen King whose sworn vassal he was as appears also Ezekiel 17.13.18 Murmuring against Moses the Chief Magistrate is called tempting of God 1 Cor. 9.10 And the People in their Confession of the Mutiny say as much Numb 21.7 We have sinned for we have spâ—ken against the Lord and against thee where note that speaking against Moses is called speaking against God even as the Royal Ayd in the Text is called the help of the Lord. Is not the People's murmurings against Moses called murmuring against God Exod. 16.2 The Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him and what are we your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord which must be taken implicitely for expresly they murmured only against the Chief Magistrate and Chief Priest Moses and Aaron Exod. 16.2 Nay God himself calls the rejecting of Samuel the Chief Magistrate the rejecting of the God of Israel 1. Sam. 8.7 1. Thes 4.8 The Spirit of Loyalty which moved Amasa to help the King is called the Spirit of God 1. Chron. 21.18 From whence then came that Spirit that moved Sheba to Rebellion and made him therefore a Son of Belial 2. Cor. 2 15. 2. Sam. 20.1 What Communion has Christ with Belial If then the help of the Soveraign be the help of the Lord as it is styled in this Text by the Spirit of God that Nick-names nothing then who do they help that ayd Rebells against their Sovereign The Devil without doubt And how meritorious is it in the sight of Heaven to help our Sovereign upon Earth the Blessing of God goes along with these whilst the other are Cursed by God and his Holy Angel as Meroz was Cursed Meroz Disloyal Meroz Thus the Indictment had been rightly drawn up against Naboth 1. K. 21.10 for Blaspheming God and the King if but the latter clause could have been prov'd The Counsel in their addresses to the Emperors made use of
cry of the Rabble Crucifie him Crucifie him Why What evil hath he done They could tell none but cryed out the more Crucifie him Crucifie him I should be as Foolish and Irrational if I should decry and silence these Preachers if I could not Answer that Question What Evil have they done I 'le Answer it with another What Evil have they not done Did the People Rise in Rebellion till these Phanatick Preachers Rowz'd them from such Texts as this Alas People generally would be glad to be quiet and follow their business till Sunday come and then these Preachers set them agog and fright them out of their Wits with Fears and Jealousies of Popery and Arbitrary Government and I know not what Forgeries of their own making If there was not a Papist in England as I wish there were not yet they would fright the People with Fears of Popery From whence From France If there were not one Papist in France yet still these Boutifeau's would affright the Rabble with Fears from Italy or Spain or if not from thence with Fears and Jealousies of some Popishly affected amongst our selves that the Sheet Anchor that 's an Engine Popishly affected allways ready to do the business at a dead lift and Low Water when all other hopes are frustrate and desperate Let any Mutinous Contrivance or Petition be to strike terror to the Government to be Subscribed by Numbers though these Preachers and these Conventiclers differ and dissent from one another one Sect against the other even to Death yet like Herod and Pilate they shall joyn in Mischief and unanimously as one man Confederate against the Peace and tranquillity of Christ and his Church the Common Enemy If there be but Two or Three Phanaticks in a Parish observe it they shall make more a noise more a Disturbance more a do in the same then all the Rest they would do all and always do ill Let the Magistrate restrain their daring Conventicles here and there for it is but here and there if any be restrain'd Oh how the Country Rings of Persecution Persecution Let the Magistrate connive and wink at them and look through his Fingers and make as if he did not see them Why What then Why then they should be humbly Thankful No No Humility and Thankfulness are Graces not to be found in the Holy League and Covenant no they grow more Petulant and say of this merciful Magistrate God has put a Hook in his Nose Is 37.39 as he did in Senacherib's and a Bridle in his Lips So that a man knows not how to please them but we must say of them as Solomon sayes of his Fool Prov. 29.9 If a Wise Magistrate contend with a Foolish man whether he rage or Laugh there is no rest For whether they rage at the Magistrate for putting the Laws in Execution or whether they Laugh at him for neglecting still they are restless and unquiet They are a Plague and Disquiet to themselves and all the Kingdome which they have all most ruin'd once and themselves too which had not now been remembred but that the same men the same Principles the same Methods to embroyl us are again on Foot Bless us Good God! What is Religion if this be Religion And what is Religion good for if these be the Fruits What Shall Religion be good for nothing but to make us like Cocks of the Game which are good for nothing but to Fight Or like Salamanders to live no where so well as in the Fire of Contention Or Pirrhus like to delight in War If these be the secrets and Mysteries of their Religion let every good man say Gen. 49.6 5 7. as Jacob of his Bloody Sons Oh my Soul come not thou into their secrets unto their Assembly mine Honor be not thou united Instruments of Cruelty are in their Habitations Cursed be their anger Rex bominum Hispanus Asinorum Gallus Diabolorū Anglus Regū ego Max Imp. Dor. in Syn. for it was fierce and their Wrath for it was Cruel Time was when Regnum Angliae was called Regnum Angelorum but these Disturbers would verifie the Diverb of the Emperor Maximilian the Second and make it Regnum Diabolorum Omnium Provinciarum prima publicitus Christi nomen Recêpit Anglia saith Sabellicus Regnante Lucio saith Eusebius England received the Christian Faith Anno 44. by Simon Zelotes saith Dorothaeus Octob. 28. Imperatore Claudio c. Baronius All agree that England was the first Christian Kingdom and happy might we yet be if not disquieted by this Man of Sin and Sons of Perdition the Spirit of Antichrist namely the Spirit of Popery and the Spirit of Foppery And both of them have seen their best days because though both of them yet set in the Temple of God both Papist and Fanatick the spawn of a Jesuit yet the Cloven-foot is discovered by the most of Mankind that have any eyes or understanding A Man might in the days of Yore with a Knapsack full of Pardon 's and Indulgences under the Seal of the Fisher have fill'd it in one day with good Money for them But now a Pardon-seller may walk over all Italy and cry Indulgences Indulgences Pardon 's come buy and scarce get Money to pay for his Supper and if into Germany or France he Travels over the Alpes 't is not worth the while all his Pack will scarce buy him a pair of new Shooes why I told you the cheat is discover'd the Cloven-foot is apparent though this Anti-christian and Devillish Spirit sit in the Temple of God What did this Spirit of Anti-Christ do then what but that Satan always does when he appears as an Angel of Light if he be discovered he shifts himself and appears in another shape but still with the same Black Hellish and Devillish Design seeking whom he may devour So that from the Spirit of Popery he Metamorphos'd himself into the Spirit of Foppery and instead of the old Cheat of Popery he Plays the same game with the new cheat of Sects and Foppery and gain'd wonderfully at first thereby Rebellion and Murder and Treason and Mischief that 's the Principle Foundation and Main Design of Hell but how to make Mortals so much against Nature and humane kind to perpetrate such Hellish Facts there 's the craft Why Religion not true Religion but the Hypocrisie the Face of Religion the Ape of Religion shall Play the Beast and make Men Play the Beasts nay be more Brutish than the Beasts to one another Cain had never kill'd Abel as I said before but for this Devillish Religion Absalom could never have Rebell'd nor got a party against his Father and King but for this Devillish pretence of Religion and Justice Jeroboam could never have usurp't the Crown but for his Devillish new Religion an easie and cheap Religion that would save the Peoples Purses and their Legs too from a tedious and chargeable long Journey to Jerusalem when the business was done more cleverly
by a couple of Calves in Dan and Bethel Instances of this Nature are endless to come nearer home a new new Religion a new new light fresh and new at least an old Heresie new broach't in the Spirit of Foppery did the Business the Devillish business of Murder Blood Ruin and Treason in the late Civil Wars when the Spirit of Popery had run its race and run it self out of Breath and off its Legs In Seven Years the Spirit of Popery could scarce get Seven Proselytes whereas a new light a new Sect a new exposition of Holy Scripture like that of this Text should fetch in Proselytes by shoales nay the Fishers could not throw out their Netts so fast as the Gudgeons came gaping and willing to be taken though to their own destruction But alas alas even this Cheat is also quite discovered I wonder into what Shape this Spirit of Foppery will next appear for the Devil hath no great success with it at this day no more than with the Spirit of Popery A Holder-forth may Yawle and Yarne Snivle and Whine Thump and Bawl 'till his Lungs and his Heart ake and yet neither make open hearted nor open handed their close-fisted Disciples Nay he shall now turn up the white of his Eyes and play as many tricks as Hocus Pocus at a fair and yet not get so much Money at Night as a Common and Profane Hocus But instead of giving them any thing Men are grown to subtle and the cheat so stale that when they begin their tricks and they hear them cant Men are apt to clap their hands upon their Pockets as when Gypsies are near them And know the meaning and aime of the Jugler as at long run they did of a Long-Parliament Fast when every Boy could thereby Prophesie the Ensuing Tax And such Villain Murderers and Traytors have appear'd in the Likeness of this Spirit of Foppery that worse did never appear in the Spirit of Popery You may wink and chuse a Bravo in Spain a Bandito a High-way-man Kill Men and Rob for Money 's sake so do those Murderers and Traytors and Rebells under the Cloak of Religion in the Spirit or guize of Popery and Foppery all this is for Moneys sake though the Vizard pretends for God's sake A Rebel 's a Rebel and a Trayters a Traytor and a Robber's a Robber though he Rob in a Fryar's weed or a Buff-coat or a Presbyterian Jump Vaux is Vaux though he carry a Dark lanthorn and wear a Vizard Object Oh! but Conscience Conscience is a tender thing Ans I grant it Conscience is a tender thing and a Devillish hard thing as any thing in the World The Holy Ghost compares it to the hardest things in the World to the Adamant stone Zich 7 12 what harder than the Adamant or the neather Mill-stone Why Conscience is harder and feels no more 1 Tim. 4.1 2. relents no more than if it were feared with a hot Iron 1. Tim. 4.2 And who are they that carry these seared Consciences that can swallow Oath upon Oath Kill and Rob Plunder and Steal Sequester and Behead and still their Consciences blunk no more than a piece of Brass Why the same Apostle tells us they are such as shall appear in the latter days that in the Spirit of Foppery shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4.1 And in the Spirit of Popery Forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from meats c. 1. Tim. 4.3 I tell you nothing herein but plain Scripture truth's easily applyed and yet I am sensible it is like to cost me dear This Spirit of Popery and Foppery that I have rais'd and discover'd and shown to you this day is a fierce Devillish Bloody Spirit 't is easily rais'd but hard to allay two Arch-bishops one of England the other of Scotland irritated this Spirit but this Fierce and Bloody Spirit fell upon them and Kill'd and Murther'd them many thousand such Bloody Instances there are oh this Spirit has Talons sharp and Keen I know it experimentally nor durst I provoke it as I have done but that I trust in God through Jesus Christ being as willing to suffer as they are to make me suffer in so good Cause Object But some may say we are bound to help and Obey the Sovereign Magistrate against our Consciences Or when he Persecutes men for their Consciences are we bound to help him and is this help the help of the Lord Ans To which I answer first that no man on Earth can meddle with mens Consciences I 'le think in my Conscience what I list and be of what Opinion I list and none upon Earth can hurt me for the same though never so flagitious 'T is Gods Prerogative alone to be the only Searcher as well as Converter of Hearts and Consciences For man sees only the outward Appearance but the Lord Vieweth the Heart or Conscience And as the Magistrate cannot so he does not pretend to meddle with mens Consciences if Two Robbers or Two Murderers come to be tryed before a Judge the one Robber is perhaps a Leveller or a Covenanter and thinks in his Conscience he may take the Goods of a Rich man or a Lord especially of a Prelate or Spiritual Lord till he has pull'd him down nay pull'd him up Root and Branch as he has Sworne in his solemn League and Covenant till he has at least Rob'd him Plunder'd and Sequestred him of his Estate so that he has rais'd his own equal and Level with him The other Robber is a down-right Thief and never aggravates his Crime with Hypocrisie but both are Convicted of the Felony Does the Judge or can the Judge search into the Heart and Conscience of the Men and dive to find whether it be their Conscience or Religion to Rob or Steal be their Consciences what they will he is not concern'd but finding them Malefactors and Transgressors of the Law he Condemnes the Godly Thief and the Ungodly Thief to the same Gallows Yet how gently how favorably and Religiously has our Laws provided for tender and dissenting Consciences and Religions Men may Preach that will when they will what they will and where they will at this day in England provided they do not Randevouz above Five strangers to the Conventicle least they Fight the Neighbor-hood with their Old tricks of making a Long Prayer and a long Sermon the Prologue of some ensuing mischief And also provided the Non-conformist Preacher do not Hold Forth within Five Miles of the Parish he Deserted I had almost said Deluded and also not within Five Miles of a City or Town-Corporate How would the Apostles have Blest God for this Liberty if they might but have Preacht from House to House they would have Blest God and the Magistrate for the Grace and Favor But our Spirits of Foppery will not be Fob'd off so they must and will have Numbers Glory in their Numbers