We acknowledge the debt cancell therefore the Obligation let not the multitude of them preuaile against vs but where our sinne hath abounded let thy grace more abound and as we haue multiplyed our sinnes so wee pray thee to multiply thy mercies and although we haue by continuance in them so soaked our selues that thereby we are not onely lightly stained but also haue gotten as it were the Scarlet and Purple die of them yet let them all wee pray thee beeing washed in the blood of thy deare Sonne be made as white as the Snow in Salmon as the Woolle of the Sheepe which come from washing And to conclude as our sinnes haue magnified thēselues in an infinite length breadth depth and height so let thy mercies which passe all vnderstanding of all sides and all assaies out-reach them Therefore also wee most humblie desire thee ô Lord that the sinne being pardoned thy wrath which is alreadie declared may be appeased towardes all the Churches of our profession and especiallie towardes vs that the manifolde breaches of the Churches and Common wealthes may bee made vp that those being receiued into the bosome of the Church which belong to thy election the rest of the Papistes Heretikes may be vtterly rooted out and that the enimies in religion being slaine we may to the vttermost thinke all one thing in the honest and peaceable gouernement of the Common wealth Vpon which vniting of vs in all trueth and honestie the curses of the Plague and barrennesse being remooued a way may be made to thy blessinges which as the Hilles doe the Vallies may make our land holesomely fruitefull And that not onely the wrath which is alreadie kindled may be quenched but that which hath been lately threatened may be caused to retyre For the graunt wherof vnto vs we beseech thee to remember that how vnworthy soeuer yet are we thy people the Sheepe of thy pasture whō thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood watched ouer with a carefull eye defended with a mightie hand despise not therfore ô Lord the works of thy handes And seeing thou hast loued vs when we hated thee visited vs when we desired thee not then acknowledged vs when we knew not thee now that there be a number of vs which loue thee desire thine aboade and acknowledge thee hold on thy loue still depart not from vs deny vs not ô thou God of trueth which art the God that changest not And if thou wouldest or couldest forget vs calling vpon thee yet what should become of thy great name which is called vpon by vs And therefore for thy glories sake and for thy blessed names sake which in our destruction should be rent and runne through spare vs spare vs good Lord according to the vsuall dealing which thou hast euer kept with those which in prayer haue had recourse vnto thee and according to the old and vnchangeable nature of a mercifull kind sparing and long suffering God Which mercie wee doe not ô Lord desire to the end that wee should tumble and wallow our selues in our accustomed neglect and contempt of thy holy word but togeather with mercie for our sinnes and the rewarde of them wee most humblie craue vpō the knees of our heartes that for the time to come how long or how short soeuer wee with deniall and detestation of our selues and of our wicked lustes may offer vp vnto thee in Iesus Christ our selues our bodies and soules to be seruantes at thy holy commaundement in that reasonable seruice which the high reason of thy holy word doth prescribe and to be weapons or instrumentes of righteousnesse and holinesse as they haue been heretofore of the contrarie All which thinges as whatsoeuer thou knowest to be further needfull for vs or for any of the Churches we pray thee as our Sauiour hath taught c. A Confession of Sinnes with Faith and Repentance O Mercifull and heauenly Father we thy seruantes doe humbly prostrate our selues before thy Maiestie ackowledging heere in thy sight our hainous offences committed against thy Maiestie seeing beholding thy heauie wrath against them We feele our selues laden ô Lord our God with a huge companie of horrible sinnes wherof euen the very least being but conceiued in thought is sufficient in iudgement to throw vs down to the euerlasting burning lake Our owne consciences ô Lord doe beare witnesse against vs of our manifolde transgressions of thy blessed Law of our securitie and sencelesse blindnesse running headlong to destruction cōmitting sinne after sinne although not notorious to the world yet horrible before thine eye The thoughtes of our hearts rise vp in iudgement against vs the vanitie of our talke before thy Maiestie condemneth vs the wickednesse of our deeds from thy sight reiecteth vs all our wicked thoughtes wordes and deedes with the inwarde corruption of our nature doe altogeather as it were a whole lumpe and load of sinne lie heauie vpon vs and with their intollerable weight doe euen presse vs downe to Hell We doe daily grone vnder the burthen of them inwardly lamēting our owne follie so greedily running into them In heauen earth or hell we see none able to sustaine the weight of them but euen thy dearely beloued sonne Iesus Christ who in mercie infinite and compassion endles hath sustained and ouercome that endlesse punishment due vnto them in him therefore in him most mercifull Father and through him wee come to thee beeing fully assured according to thy promise that thou wilt accept and take that full recompence which hee thy deare Sonne hath made for vs as a iust ransome for all the sinnes of all those who with a true fayth take hold on him In him therefore we see thine anger towardes vs appeased thy wrath satisfied our debts paied Increase in vs good Lord we beseech thee this liuely and feeling Fayth for we feele it oftentimes in vs very weake and troubled with many doubtes increase it in vs ô Lord that we may through thy holy spirite be assured that the punishment of our sinnes is fully in thy Sonne discharged Make vs ô Lord our God to feele this same in our soules and consciences that Iesus Christ is ours and all that he hath done that we are grafted into his body and made one with him and therefore fellow heires with him of euerlasting life Let vs not onely haue these wordes in our mouthes good Lord but through thy holy spirit let vs feele the comfort of them in our heartes fully sealed and setled in vs that wee feeling our selues inwardly before thy iudgement seate discharged and our consciences towardes thee appeased may be swallowed vp with an vnfaigned loue toward thy heauenly Maiestie and towardes our breathren for thy sake Make sinne to die in vs dayly more and more that wee may hate detest and vtterly abhorre all sinne wickednesse in all men but especially in our selues that we may strongly through thy holy spirite set our selues in open warre
the eye of mans reason and vnderstaÌ„ding yet we know that this is sensibly set foorth vnto vs by seuerall meanes and instrumentes some outward as the Elementes in the Sacrament and some inwarde as the spirituall Grace represented thereby For we are not Angels but men consisting of bodie and soule and therefore the Lord by the vse of his Word and Sacramentes hath prouided for both partes as the Word for our Eares and our Eares for hearing of the same that so Fayth might be wrought in our heartes Rom. 10.17 and the Elementes in the Sacramentes for our taste sight feeling c. and yet our soules to be nourished not with any or all of these outward thinges for how can outward and corruptible things nourish inward and immortall substaunce but onely with the spirituall graces offered vnto vs therein this also to be wrought in vs though our Sauiour be in Heauen in respect of his body and wee heere as Pilgrimes and Strangers on the Earth by the wonderfull vnsearchable working of his holy Spirite in vs and by the meanes of a liuely and assured Fayth both which being knit togeather doe easily ioyne togeather things that be as farre asunder in respect of distaunce of place as one ende of the earth is from the other and as farre asunder as heauen and earth them selues are or else how could we either beleeue the holy Catholike Church and feele the communion of Saintes seeing it commonly falleth out that the members of that holy fellowshippe are sundered one of them from an other in respect of great distance of place or be assured that Christes righteousnesse is become ours seeing he is in heauen wee on the earth if by Fayth we did not take hold of the same and apply it vnto our selues Besides if men should imbrace this sacramentarie opinioÌ„ what were it but to euert as the trueth of Christes promises so the certaintie and assurednesse of his word who in plaine tearmes calleth this holy Sacrament His bodie 2 The second extreamitie is that of consubstantiation some affirming that there is deliuered to the people and they receiue togeather with the substance of Bread the yery substance of Christes very naturall body so that there is as it were an intermingling of both the substaunces in the action of the Supper This opinion is iustly to be disliked and reproued not onely because of the absurdities which it hath common with the heresie of transubstantiation whereof wee will speake in the next place but also because it is quite and cleane contrarie to common sense and reason confounding and iumbling togeather two seuerall and distinct substances and making the lesse to witt the substance of bread to comprehende the greater that is Christs humaine body yea euen his verie Godhead which heauen and earth is not able to containe Besides it doth vtterly take away an essentiall propertie of Christes body for if Christ in respect of his humanitie be like vnto vs in all thinges sinne onely excepted and we know by the light of reason and vnderstanding that God hath bestowed vpon vs yea by verie experience that our bodies are circumscriptible and tyed to a place it must needs follow that Christ in respect of his Manhood or Christ as he is Man is and must be tyed to a place and not be in euery place as he must be if these mens assertions be true which is nothing els indeed but vtterly to destroy Christes body which I proue against them thus Whosoeuer taketh away the essentiall propertie of any thing taketh away the thing it selfe this Proposition is prooued by this Maxime in Logike If the definition of a thing which chiefly consisteth of the essentiall propertie of euerie thing be taken away then the thing defined it selfe also falleth As for example If a reasonable liuing creature which is the definition of a man be taken away what shall become of man or where shall he appeare which is the thing defined But these men take away the essentiall propertie of a thing to witte of a body which is to be circumscriptible or tyed to a place which is indeed an essentiall propertie of the body of man and therefore of Christes body as he is man If any will denie this it may easily be prooued both by the definition of a body which is a quantitie that may be deuided according to the threefold measuring receiued amongst men that is length breadth thicknesse and also by the description of a place which is defined to be a nighnesse or touching of the thing containing and the thing conteined The conclusion therefore is that in taking away place from the body of Christ which they doe whilest they place it in euerie place whereas in the nature thereof it can be but in one place at one time they doe vtterly destroy the body or humanitie of Christ or at the least confound it so with the Godhead as Eutyches did that they make a confusion whereas in all trueth and vprightnesse there should remaine a distinction of the proprieties of either nature in his blessed person But of this ynough in this place because it is somewhat philosophicall and because also in the next â—ection we shall haue occasion to deale with the like 3. The third extreamitie is that of transubstantiation maintained altogether by the Romish Catholikes which hold that the Bread and Wine the substance thereof vanishing away and nothing being left but the accidentes or qualities thereof as roundnes whitenesse rednesse moysture c. are changed and that by the power of certaine wordes spoken by the Priest as they cal him ouer the Elements they are turned into the verie naturall body and bloud of our Sauiour Concerning this point and the branches thereof I will speake particularly and first for the name Transubstantiation I fear not to affirme that it is verie new and neuer heard of before the dayes of Pope Innocent the third who was about the yeare of our Lord 1205. much lesse was it confirmed as an article of faith before the Councell of Constance a Citie so named in Germanie in the dayes of Pope John the xxiii which was about the yeare of our Lord 1415. and therefore by the Popish reason of reiecting new thinges easily ynough reiected for the noueltie thereof 2 That there is a change I doe not deny but this is not in respect of the nature of the thinges themselues but in respect of the vse and ende whereunto they are applyed because that they are by the Lordes institution separated from the common vse yea and from common Bread and Wine and applyed not onely to a holy vse but dedicated also to a holy ende that is to be sure seales and pledges of holy things to witt of Christs body and bloud and of the effectes that by his death and passion we receiue But that this change should be wrought by any wordes I am so farre off froÌ„ allowing it as true that I am verily perswaded
time extending this exercise at the least to some part of the night When notwithstanding it is to be noted that as wel in the former abstinence from meate as in this withdrawing of some part of sleepe that neither is so streightly required of the Lord but that those whose either disease or other infirmitie will not beare this abstinence without hazard of their health may vse so much libertie as shall serue for the preseruation of their health so they take heed they vse not this gentle dealing of the Lord as a cloake to hide the lustes of their flesh withall A third kind of abstinence is in the apparel that albeit they put not on Sackcloth and Ashes as the holy Fathers did in times past yet that they content thē selues with a common kind of attire auoyding all such costlinesse curiositie whereby in tricking trimming vp them selues the flesh may take occasion of being proud Thus the Lord whē he would haue the children of Israel to humble them selues before him spake to Moses saying Exod. 33.5 Speake vnto the children of Israel that for the present time they lay aside their Iewels and Ornamentes that I may know what I shall doe with them And thus farre hath it been spoken of the outward Exercises which are generall and to be done of al which make this solemne profession of repentaunce There is one yet which is more speciall belonging vnto married persons alone which is that they for the time 1. Cor. 7.5 should with consent abstaine from the mutuall felowship one of an other which is so straitly required Ioel. 2.16 that euen the Bridegrome the Bride which of all other ought to haue the greatest priuiledge in that poynt are bidden at such times to come out of their chambers Rom. 14.17 But for as much as the kingdome of heauen standeth not in these thinges and the Lord being a Spirit will be worshipped in spirite and trueth either these exercises must lead vs to some farther thing or else the same accusation will lie against vs wherewith the Prophet charged the Israelites who contenting them selues with the outward ceremonie of abstinence Esay 58.3 were sent home as emptie as they came And indeed vnlesse we bring more with vs then this our abstinencie our Fastes may be matched with the Beasts Fast of Niniuie Ionas 3.7 for they also both eate nothing and were couered with Sackcloth yea the Beastes Fast may be so much better then ours as there be some kinds of Beastes that can longer endure without meate and sleepe then we Where the Papistes fast which was shewed before to be childish may heere be prooued to be beastly and brutish For if they did onely abstaine from Meate they iudged them selues to haue holden a good Fast vnto the Lord. There follow the inwarde vertues helped forward by the bodily exercise which in the number * Ezdra 6.21 two The one is the humbling and casting downe of our selues before the high Maiestie of God with sorrow for our sinnes The other is the assuraunce that we haue that with forgiuenesse of them we shall obtaine the thing that we stande in need of and make suite for Here therefore first commeth to be considered our hūbling casting downe which is a vile esteeming of our selues answering to the outward exercise For therfore doe we abstaine for a time that we might thereby haue a quicker feeling of our owne vnworthines Therefore we bring downe the body that the minde may be likewise brought downe Therefore we crucifie the flesh that the deserued death of the spirite may be the better knowen Therfore we abstaine from our pleasures and commodities Mark 2.20 Luk. 5.35 Math. 9.15 that through conscience of sinne and feeling of the wrath of God either present or to come for the same we might draw our selues to a greater sorrow In which respect the exercise which the other Euangelistes call Fasting Saint Mathew calleth Mourning Herevpon it commeth Ioel. 2 17. 1. Sam. 7.6 that weeping which is a witnesse of our sorrow is annexed vnto the Fast which the children of God haue done so plentifully in this exercise 2. Sam. 7.6 that they haue bin sayd to haue drawne whole Buckets of Water which the deapth of the sorrow for their sinnes and the anger of God against them hath ministred And as these outward exercises are commaunded to draw vs to a feeling of our vnworthines so in the feeling thereof by them wee make a solemne confession of the same For the children of God in time past by their abstinence from meate drinke confessed them selues vnworthy so much as of a crumme of bread or drop of water by putting on Sackcloth vnworthy of the worst rag to couer their shame with So that if common honestie and health would haue suffered they wold haue stripped them selues starke naked The same is to be vnderstanded of the benefite of Sleepe and company of Mariage as also of all other the commodities of this life whereof they did not onely confesse them selues vnworthy but in that they put Dust and Ashes vpon their heades they gaue to vnderstande that they were vnworthie of the life it selfe and that they deserued to bee as farre vnderneath the ground as they were aboue it yea if there had been any thing apter to haue set forth their euerlasting condemnation in Hell of that also would they haue borne the marke thereby to declare their guilt desert of the same So that hereby they do iustifie the Lord in that vengeance against thē whereof by this humbling of thē selues they seeke redresse If then we keepe a holy Fast vnto the Lord wee must thereby be humbled in our selues before the Lord but if vpō confidence of our fasting Luk. 5.33 Luk. 18.11 wee waxe bolder to sinne in a perswasion that through obedience giuen vnto him in this one poynt we may be bolder to be disobedient in others or if the vse hereof do make vs swell against our brethren and after the example of the Pharisees despise thē which doe not Fast as wee doe then is the Fast appoynted of the Lord for our medicine become our bane and poyson And therefore here now we giue a new charge vpon the Popish Fast a great deale more hotte then the former For seeing that they with the proude Pharisee boast of the merite of their fastes setting these fastes as other workes in the place of the Blood of Christ It is manifest that their Fastes are so farre from humbling them that through the opinion of them they rise vp against the Lord and doe their best to set them selues euen in the throne of God so that vnto the childishnesse and brutishnesse of their Fast abouementioned heere they haue added an horrible and blasphemous sacriledge To the compassing of this true humbling of our sinnes is annexed necessarily an information and meditation of the filthinesse of our sinnes and of the iust
vengeance of the Lord against them declared in the threatninges of the Law and execution of the iudgements of God against the wicked and namely against our Sauiour Christ who putting vpon himselfe our wickednesse suffered Hell paines for it and specially an information and meditation of those both sinnes and punishmentes which the present time and persons doe giue occasion of And thus farre touching the first part of the inwarde vertues in Fasting standing in the casting downe of our selues before the Lord. There followeth the other part which is a profession of our Fayth that wee shall be lifted vp as high through the grace of the Lord our God in Iesus Christ as the conscience of our sinnes doth cast vs downe and that wee shall obtaine the remoouing of the euilles tending to our destruction through the woorthinesse of our Sauiour Christ which either presently presse vs or hang ouer our heads through our owne vnworthinesse For as true repentance casting vs downe with one hand both in sorrowe for our sinnes confession of the same leaueth vs not in our downfal but through faith reacheth vs the other hand to lift vs vp againe so this solemne profession of our repentance carying vs first to the valley of trouble afterward bringeth vs backe againe to the gate of hope In which respect wee alwayes finde in the holy Scriptures * Ezra 9.5 Nehe. 1.4 Dan. 9 3. Iudg. 20.26 Luk. 5.33 1. Cor. 7.7 that Fasting is ioyned with praier * 2. Chron. 20.6 Iames. 1.6 Iohn 16.23 which can neuer be truly made without hope of obtaining the grace that is praied for But for as much as prayer is a dayly and ordinarie exercise of Gods children it is manifest * Ionas 3.8 Esay 58.4 that by the prayer which is coupled with Fasting there is vnderstanded a speciall or peerelesse kinde of Prayer both in zeale and strength of Prayer as also in continuance of the same Whereby appeareth that here is an other vse of the outwarde abstinence that it might be as it were a wing wherewith the Prayer that otherwise through earthly affections creepeth vpon the ground might the easier flee vp into heauen and that it might be a Grindestone to make a poynt of it that it may pierce and to set an edge that it may cut both the visible and inuisible enimies which wee pray against And therefore the outward abstinence that pulleth downe the body helpeth to lift vp the minde and crucifying the flesh it quickneth the spirite and maketh it more liuely to this exercise Where yet againe the Popish Fast is founde insufficient which vpon the dayes of their Fastes had no extraordinarie exercises of prayer more then other dayes which were not fasted To the better performance also of this part is annexed an information and meditation of the gracious promises of God especially such as may serue for reliefe of the present occasions Wherein the better to correct our dulnesse heauinesse to this so holy an exercise let vs remember that it is to obtaine some speciall grace at the hand of the Lord. Whereby it is giuen vs to vnderstand that vpon due holding of this Fast vnto the Lord there be excellent promises and a most singular rewarde Ioel. 2.13 19.20 Whereof the place of Ioel as it spake before for the commaundement of all the Fastes which the people of God vsed so will it vndertake for the promises which the Lord hath made to all those which submit thē selues to the obedience thereof The truth of which promises is so manifest in the Scriptures as the Sunne at noone dayes can be no clearer For let all the Fastes of the holy Churches and of godly men layd out in Scripture both of the old and new Testament be * Iudg 20.23 Ezra 19.6 Hest 4.16 2. Chron. 20.3 turned ouer and it shall be seene that the ende of their Fast which kept it in any measure of trueth and simplicitie was a Feast and the issue of their mourning great reioycing Dan. 9.20 Ionah 2.10 For albeit the ordinarie Prayers of the faithfull returne not empty vnto them againe yet hauing regarde vnto these which are ioyned with this Exercise Act. 12.5 Act. 13.2 they may worthily seeme to be barrē which are otherwise fruitfull and to be blasted which otherwise seeme full cared Yea the Fast of the wicked king Achab 1. Regū 21.27 ioyned with no true repentaunce nor so much as with any true knowledge how to serue the Lord but performed in some sort onely in keeping of the outward and bodily ceremonie went not vnrewarded from the Lord. For euen by the very shadow of his exercise the execution of that iudgment which was awarded against him touching his vtter rasing from the kingdome of Israel was deferred vntill his sonnes dayes Now if the comming within the shadow of this exercise doth heale some diseases what will it doe if wee come to touch the body thereof And if the leaues of it haue some vertue to preserue men from the vengeance of God how soueraigne is the fruite to deliuer vs from the wrath to come And if the ordinarie obedience of the children of God goeth not emptie and vnrewarded from the presence of God this extraordinarie obedience exercise in the worshippe of God must needes receiue speciall and extraordinarie blessinges from his hand 1. Regum 20.29 When Benhadab the Syrian King ouercome by Achab king of Israel was out of hope of any safety at the length by the aduice of his seruantes he put him selfe and his company in Sackcloth 1. Reg. 20.31 to 35. with Ropes about their neckes thinking by humbling themselues before the King to obtaine pardon which came to passe accordingly If therefore men in hope of obtaining pardon will humble themselues to them of whom they haue no promise that they shall obtaine any thing how much more ought wee to doe it which haue so sure Promises of good successe And if mercie was obtained of men in whom there is scant a droppe of that pittie and compassion which is sea-full in the Lord we may be well assured that wee shall not misse of it at his hand And if one enimie can looke for it at the hand of an other wee may with greater assuraunce looke for it at the hande of the Lord to whom we are alreadie reconciled by the blood of his Sonne Therefore if the authoritie of the Lord should not compell vs yet the most liberall and certaine promises should allure vs to this exercise Which if wee doe not what remayneth but that such as will not Fast with the children of God must eate and drinke of the furious wrath of God with the wicked they that will not weepe with the one must howle with the other And finally they that will haue no part in the obedience of the commaundement giuen hereof to both the peoples vnder the Law and vnder the Gospel must haue no part in the