earnestly and useth such variety of Arguments to secure them from giving place any further to those false and pernicious Teachers and to convince them of their errour and fault in giving way unto them at all Amongst other Arguments he urgeth the different state men are in when under the Gospel from that they were in when under the Law And that the Law was primarily designed only to prepare and fit men for the Gospel but not to continue in the same Place and Power after as before no more than he that being arrived to ripe and full years is bound to continue under their Tutorage who had the care of him in his Minority Gal. 4. 1. He afterwards proceeds to argue with them from the Nature of that Law they are so desirous to be under v. 21. And then explains himself by a Similitude of Abraham's two Sons shewing there is as great a difference between those who are under a Gospel State and them that are under the Law as between that Son which was his natural Child and that which was conferred on him by the special Promise and powerful Interposition of God's particular Blessing And thus he takes occasion to reflect on the great Alteration that was wrought amongst them since they did histen to and entertain these false and deceiving Apostles And does as it were tell them it was no wonder they should thus vary and that they should now approve ways of Severity towards Christ's apostles and Followers seeing they did receive and adhere to them that were directly contrary to Christ's Ministers and Servants Compare Gal. 4. 14 15. whith this 29. v. It is no more than what hath fallen out in all Ages of the World The Servants of Sathan and Enemies of true Godlyness have always bin for persecuting the faithful and obedient Children of God And it seems by this Epistle to be the especial and peculiar Character of them that are irreligiously and immoderately hot and zealous about Ceremonies to be the greatest Persecutors of those who are most Pious and Conscientious Look through all the Scriptures nay look through all the Ages of the Church you shall generally find that those who were most for the Persecution of others on the account of some indifferences relating to Religion were very wicked superstitious men Men that were inordinately Zealous for and fond of some outward Ceremonies Now if a fondness for any Ceremonies would maintain and justify Mens Persecution of others who cannot approve their Fopperies one would think these Teachers who were crept in amonst the Galathians should be excused because they prest only those things that had formerly bin of Divine appointment For He that came to take away the insupportable Yoke of Jewish Ceremonies certainly did never intend to gall the Necks of his Disciples with another instead of it But here we see how dangerous it is to give our selves too great a Liberty in admiring any bare external and accidental Appendage to Religion Sathan doth suddenly strike in on such Occasions and doth so powerfully affect mens Minds with some strange Apprehensions of the Beauty Excellency Usefulness and Necessity of these things they are quite taken off from minding the inward Part and Soul of Religion And by this means they come to lay out all their Zeal about these trifling and worthless Parts they even starve their own Souls by a constant feasting on these meer Husks and do what they can to destroy others Souls at least their Bodies by persecuting them if they will not conceive and believe as well of these things as they do It is a very shrewd Sign and token that a Man is a wicked unregenerate Man if he be of a fierce and persecuting Temper if he be prone to endeavour to Ruine and Trouble or further the Vexation and Disturbance of serious pious People only because they cannot be as Ceremonious as he is He that was born after the Flesh c. The Words do immediately relate to the Sons of Abraham Ismael is He that was born after the Flesh viz. in a meer natural ordinary way Now as he did Persecute and Mock and Deride and Insult over Isaack who was born after the Spirit viz. who was the Son of the Promise and in order to whose Birth there was the Exerting a Divine Power in the accomplishing of that Promise which was made to Abraham when both he and Sarah were past Hopes and naturally uncapable of having Children so it is now viz. Even so those in these Days who are of the Seed of Abraham that pretend they have him for their Father and are outwardly Jews or that pretend themselves so out of servile Compliance do persecute them that are born after the Spirit that is those who are the Children of the Promise the Seed of Abraham truly so called in a religious Sence who succeed him in his Faith The Jews did very much boast of and lay an extraordinary stress on their being the Seed of Abraham they placed most of their Religion on this and thought it a sufficient Plea for themselves on all Occasions and an effectual Security from those Judgments that were sometimes threatned against them and therefore we find the Holy Men in Scripture often labouring to Convince them what a sandy Foundation they did build upon Mat. 3. 9. John 8. 39. Rom. 4. 12 13 14. It is indeed a great Mercy to be Born of Pious and Religious Parents Those Parents that have a great Familiarity and Interest with God have usually a great Treasury and Portion of Blessings laid up with God for their Posterity Exod. 20. 6. But People may lay too great a stress on this outward Priviledge And if Children do not labour to walk in the Steps of Religious and Gracious Parents but depend wholly on their Predecessors Holyness they will be fearfully mistaken at last He that was Born after the Flesh c. He that is a loose wicked Unregenerate Carnal Person is for Persecuting and Undoing him that is Born after the Spirit him that is Serious Holy Strict and Conscientious thus it has bin and thus it is I will sum up all into this Proposition Wicked Unregenerate Men always have bin and still are for Persecuting Holy Religious Spiritual Men. Look through all the Books both of Old and New Testament nay look through all History and you will still find where ever you meet with Persecution that it was carried on by the Devil's Agents by Wicked Lewd Men against Holy and Righteous Men. Observe the Characters every where of Informers and Persecutors and see if they have not bin branded with some notorious and hateful Wickedness Indeed Men can scarce arrive to such a height of Wickedness as this is till they have by the habitual Exercise of other Crimes feared their Consciences and are become so insensible that all the commendable Notions and Sentiments that do usually accompany Mankind are lost and eradicated out of their Brests Consider these few Instances of
A SERMON Against PERSECUTION PREACHED March 26. 1682. Being the 4 th Sunday in Lent on Gal. 4. 29. Part of the Epistle for that Day and the time when the Brief for the Persecuted Protestants in France was Read in the Parish Church of Shapwicke AND Now Published to the Consideration of Violent and Headstrong Men as well as to put a stop to false Reports By Sa. Bolde Vicar of Shapwicke in Dorcetshire LONDON Printed 1682 and Published by Richard Janeway To the Reader Reader IT hath bin my constant Course for some Months to Preach every Sunday either on the whole Epistle for the Day or some part of it And finding I was commanded in the Brief for the Persecuted Protestants in France which was brought me in the Week before the 4th Sunday in Lent to publish it the next Sunday I found there was no need to alter my wonted course in order to my pitching on a Subject which might suit with that Occasion The famous Dr. Patrick in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Sermon Preached before the Lord Major c. the 21st Sunday after Trinity 1680. ascribes his being directed to the Subject he then Preached on not so much to his own Prudence as a Kind of Divine Providence because having observed this same Course that Year he did not on that Occasion go out of his way to meet with a sitting Argument Whether People will put the same Construction on this Discourse or not I neither know nor care But I think I may truly say I have discoursed on this Text with a Freedom which becomes a Christian and particularly a true Son of the Church of England It may he some who pretend to the Church will take Exception at this Sermon for there are some so shallow and of so short Discourse they cannot understand how a man can except against their violent Proceedings against some Dissenters and yet he himself a thorough Conformist Indeed it is not of any moment what such may either say or think but yet to give them some Satisfaction if they ever happen to be favoured with any sober and lucid Intervals I will amongst the many Instances I might mention for this end offer these few to their Consideration 1. I could never yet understand that Conformity did oblige any man to lay aside all Bowels of Compassion Nay I am sure to Convince and Satisfy Men with Reason and by Humility Gentleness and Meekness is most Christian and tends most to the Honour of particular Persons and whole Churches How much of Fierceness and Violence there is in any Party especially if countenanced by the Principles of that Perswasion so much there is of some Infernal and Devilish Mixture in it 2. Those who do generally Decry and Prosecute Dissenters with greatest Passion and Virulence are greatest Strangers unto them They usually know no more of them than they learn from some false and scandalous Observator or other 3. They are commonly Ignorant of the State of the Controversy betwixt us and the Dissenters The true Reason why Judicious and thinking Conformists do use those particular Ceremonies which are enjoyned is because they are satisfied they come under the general Rule given by the Apostle VIZ. that all things be done decently and in order And the Reason why they observe no other Rites and Ceremonies whil'st it must be acknowledged there are others every whit as orderly and decently in themselves as these is because these alone are enjoyned by an Authority they are perswaded has Power to interpose in these things And now if others do not break the general Rule given by the Apostle but apprehend that a Freedom from Impositions in these things is one part of the Liberty they are commanded to stand fast in why should we quarrel with and prosecute them especially whil'st they acknowledg that it pertains to Authority to take notice of them who are Indecent and Disorderly in their Worship Is it not enough that we may act according to our own more minute Perswasion and have the Countenance and Incour agement of those in Power but we must ruine and oppress them who will not truckle to our Fancies 4. I have had the Opportunity to be acquainted both with Conformists and Nonconformists And as I acknowledg I have great cause to bless God for the worthy Labors and exemplary Lives of very many in the Church of England so I ought to give others their due And this I must say that those of the Dissenters whom I have bin acquainted with have bin men of great Learning exemplary Piety strict Devotion and extraordinary Loyalty Men who have bin diligent Attenders on God in his publick Ordinances eminently Religious in their Families who have had a great regard to Conscience in all the parts of their Conversation with Men. They have neither bin Haunters of Taverns nor obscene and loose in their Discourse nor have they bin guilty of sitting Days and Nights at Cards and Dice Indeed they have bin Persons that could not be justly blamed for any thing but that they had straighter Notions concerning humane Impositions in the Service of God than we Conformists have And a very learned Gentleman had upon Consideration given a very just and good Reason of this He expresseth himself in these Words I think this their Scrupulosity may be of God and that some men are by him framed to it that he hath provided it as a Bar and Obstacle in the Natures and Complexions of some devout Men against any Innovations whatsoever that dangerous ones may not steal upon the Church for the better maintaining the Simplicity and Purity of Christian Religion and Worship If after all this any remain unsatisfied they may seek Satisfaction where they please 〈…〉 Sa. Bolde A SERMON Against PERSECUTION c. Galatians 4. Verse 29. But as then He that was born after the Flesh persecuted Him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now THere were some even in the Apostles days who laboured what they could to hinder the progress of the Gospel by Preaching up the necessity of the Jewish Law These having insinuated themselves into the Churches of Galatia had infected many of those Christians with their poysonous and false Doctrines For though they did not openly declare themselves enemies to the Gospel yet they did supplant it as to its power and efficacy by alledging its insufficiency alone and the necessity of their being circumcised and embracing those old rules God had anciently inforced under the former dispensation They knew if they could leaven and corrupt them with these Principles they did at first so speciously display it would not be long before they should entirely undermine that foundation the Apostles had laid amongst them For however innocent their pretences might seem at first it is clearest Paul perceived the consequence would be dangerous Christ will not profit you at all Gal. 5. 2. For this cause it is he doth labour with them so
things that are at best but bare humane Inventions many times pure Diabolical Suggestions and then Sathan to ingulfe them further doth so excite and irritate them they contend and strive for these things as if Heaven Soul and Eternity were all at Stake hence it is they represent all that are not of their Way and Mind as the greatest Criminals and Malefactors No sooner do Men place Religion where God placeth none but Sathan obtains a great Power and Influence over them and at last hurries them headlong into strange and wild Extravagancies in the Defence and for the Propagation of those Points These are usually the most fierce and barbarous of all other People For it is usually observed that Superstitious Men are very Fearful and that the greatest Cowards are most Revengful and Cruel if they can obtain an Advantage Paul's blind Zeal made him a Persecutor He did it Ignorantly And our Saviour tells us of some that would kill and murder Men and flatter themselves with a Perswasion that they were therein doing God and Religion good Service 2. They are Men of insufferable Pride and Malice there is an absolute Necessity that some degree of that Popish Conceit of Infallibility should prevail in all that are Persecutors to reconcile themselves to their own Practices For who can be so absurd and foolish as to endeavour to ruine others because they will not Believe or Practise what they themselves do acknowledg they are not so certain concerning but that it is possible they may be in an Errour and Mistake Those who are Persecutors do expect all should yield to them and take them for Oracles and if they be not thus received they think the Affront is too great to be endured and therefore must be Revenged Malice and Revenge hath generally a very great Influence on all Persecutions Your Persecutors are usually People of a Haughty Curst and Poisonous Nature they love to be doing Evil Their Delight is to Hurt and Offend them with whom God is Pleased They are canker'd and ill natured and never pleased but when they have an opportunity to intrap and make the Innocent fall They cannot bear Contradiction Zedekiah was so impatient of Contradiction he no sooner hears Micaiah bring a different Messsage from his and discover how a lying Spirit was in the Mouths of the other Prophets but he falls upon Micaiah and Buffets him 3. They are Men of desperate and broken Fortunes or else great Worshippers of Mammon They do commonly take up Informing and Swearing and Persecuting as a Trade to live by They scarce know how to subsist but by Preying on the Wealth and Estates and Goods of those honest sober religious People they do Inform and Swear against Men that are so lazy they cannot Work so luxurious they have not where withal to maintain their Lusts and of so ill and blasted a Fame and Reputation none dares trust them These are indeed a fit sort of People to Persecute the Righteous They cannot Live unless some or other fall by their means There are two sorts of most abominable and wicked Ways Men have found out to maintain themselves and feed their Lusts by The one is Robbing on the High-way and the other is Informing against and Persecuting the Righteous Now those that apply to the latter Way are the most Infamous of the two for as they are wicked enough to commit as great Villanies as the other dares so they have not Courage to adventure on such dangerous Courses and to expose themselves to so much Hazard for a Livelyhood as the other do They think it easier to Swear than Hector and afright Men out of what they have The wise Man seems to give a very lively Description of these People in Prov. 4. 16 17. They sleep not except they have done Mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall for they eat the Bread of Wickedness and drink the Wine of Violence If there be any Persecutors whose Fortunes are not altogether so despicable and small they are such as make a Mammon their God The Hopes of getting Wealth doth very powerfully irritate them to what they do Was it not thirty pieces of Silver that made Judas betray his Master What is the Reason Sinners do excite one another to wait for Blood and to lurk privily for the Innocent without Cause Is it not because they hope they shall find all precious Substance and shall fill their Houses with Spoil 4. They are extreamly profligate and scandalous in their Lives Men that are very loose prophane and every way debauched Such as are common Swearers Drunkards Whoremongers and professed Enemies to every thing that is Serious Holy and Good Men that have prostituted themselves to every Lust and Wickedness that have no more of Religion than an outward Name being Atheists in their Hearts and many times so in their Profession Such as think there is no Happiness but what agrees with Epicurus's Conceit making their Belly their God and minding nothing but the things of this World Your ordinary forsworn and perjur'd Wretches are the People that do most commonly seek a Livelyhood by being suborn'd to Swear against them that fear the Lord. They that never scruple to tear the Name of God in Pieces and to affront their Maker on every turn by taking his Name in Vain who emboss every Word they speak with some dreadful Oath or other who dare impudently swear a hundred Oaths in an Hour without any Provocation these are the fittest Men to Inform and Swear against and endeavour their Ruine who have a Religious and truly Conscientious regard to the Name of God and every thing on which he hath stampt his Image No wonder such as these should solemnly devore and prostitute their Souls to Hell by swearing even falsly against others when they have the Temptation and Incouragement of getting Wealth and Riches since they are so accustomed to affront their Maker they think they never speak gentilely unless they set their most high God at utmost Defiance and do in Words at length challenge him to Damn them He that sets himself apart to Sathan's Service by indulging to all the Lusts of the Flesh that can boast of his Drunkenness and Uncleanness of his frequent Excesses and every Days Debauch that can unconcernedly or rather with Triumph speak of his Hopes and Desires of being Damn'd for ever that Defiles the Air he speaks in and offends all he comes amongst with his prodigious Oaths and Execrations This Man is ready prepared if an Occasion do offer it self or can by any means be obtained to Swear a Conscientious Religious Man out of his Right and himself into it That Man that will ordinarily indanger his Soul and Swear for nothing will much more do so be it right or wrong when he hath the Temptation of Wealth and it may be the Applause and Commendation of great Men for his Incouragement Having given this account of