reioice and glory in ours O take heed of writing contrary to the Copy that Christ hath set you Did God destroy the Jerusalemites by their Divisions And do ye think that he will save us by ours Surely No For if Jesus Christ be the same yesterday and to day and for ever as certainly he is and he is a Deviâ— incarnate that denys it How then can we shelter our selves for safety under the shadow of his Wings that are at variance amongst our selves O take heed of entring into Judgment with Christ or holding an Argument against any thing that he hath spoken Are ye wiser and stronger then he is Is not he a consuming Fire and your selves but dry stuble Will ye contend with him â—or Mastery Can ye speak more for your Divisions then Christ hath already declared against them Do ye not hear what the Lord saith by the Mouth of the Prophet I say Chap. 27. 4. Who would set the Briers and Thorns against me in Battle I would go thorow them I would burn them together Did Christ ever exercise his Prophetical Office in vain Did his Words ever fall to the Ground without effect Did he not Prophecy that Judas would betray him and Peter deny him Did he not Prophecy that false Christs and false Prophets would arise and deceive many And are not his Sayings fulfilled Did he not Prophecy with Tears running down his Sacred Cheeks that Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed and the manner how For are not these his Words Luke 19. 43 44. For the Days shall come upon thee that thine Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side And shall lay thee even with the Ground and thy Children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one Stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy Visitation And were not these Prophetical Words of his fulfilled by the Roman Souldiers Did he not likewise fore-tel the spoiling of the Temple in these Words Mat. 24. 2 And Jesus said unto them i. e. his Disciples Se ye not all these things Verily I say unto you there shall not be left one Stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Was not this saying of Christ also sulfilled and verified at the same time that Titus Vespatianus took the City and the Souldiers burnt the Temple notwithstanding himself in Person intreated the Souldiers to quench the Fire newly begun in the Temple and used all means that possibly he could to preseave it bâ—t all to no purâ—ose The Prophecy of Christ must be fulfilled and therefore it was in vain for Titus to endeavour the quenching of those Flames which by a sure Word of Prophecy were kinded and fomented by the civil Discords Divisions and Dissentions of the Sâ—ditious Jews If God take away Peace from us who shall hinder the breaking â—orth of War amongst us If God whet the glittering Sword of War who shall let it rust in the Sheath If he takes away Kings from their Thrones who shall hinder him It was the Son of God that put that word into Balaam's Mouth Num. 23. 19. God is not a Man that he should Lie neither the Son of Man that he should Repent Hath he said and shall he not do it Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good and may not we say Hath not the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ into whose Hands the Order Rule and Government of all things in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and in all places is given by an eternal Decree of his Father said That a Kingdom divided is brought to Desolation And will he not make good his Word Yea certainly he will There is not one jot or tittle of his Words shall fall to the Ground till all of them are fulfilled Did ye never read and consider that word of the Lord by the Mouth of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 66 15 16. Behold the Lord will come with Fire and with his Chariots like a Whirl-wind to render his Anger with Fury and his Rebuke with Flames of Fire For by Fire and by his Sword will the Lord plead with all Flesh And the slain of the Lord shall be many The Prophet means that all sorts of carnal Men shall feel the smart Rod of God's Anger when he cometh forth of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their Iniquities Now our blessed Saviour tells us that every Trâ—e is known by its Fruit nor hath the Holy Ghost left us without a Testimony of what the Particular Fruits of the Flesh are whereby a Carnal Man may be discerned from one that is truly Spiritual The Test is written in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians Cap. 5. 19 20 21. Now the works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasâ—â—viousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Staifé Seditions Heresies Envying Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the whach I tell you before as I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not Inherit the Kingdom of God But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-Suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law Hence we are inform'd that Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditioâ—s Herisies Envyings and Murders are works of the Flesh as well as Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Drunkenness Revellings and the former more perniclous to the Soul than the later The great Phisician of Souls hath put this Question out of doubt in two several Discourses that he had with the Scribes and Pharisees The first in Mat 21. 31 32. Verily I say unto you that the Publicans and the Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you For John came unto you in the way of Righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and the Harlots believed him And ye when ye had seen it Repented not afterward that ye might believe him And in Chap. 23. 15. He pronounceth a Wo against them saying Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye compass Sea and Land to make one Proselite and when he is made ye make him twofold more the Child of Hell then your selves Ask the Apostle St. Paul and he will give you a further account who is a Carnal Man 1 Cor. 31 2 3 4. And I Brethren could not speak unto you as unto Spiritual but as unto Carnal even as unto Babes in Christ I have fed you with Milk and not with Meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able For ye are yet Carnal for whereas there are among you Envying and Strife and Divisions are ye not Carnal and walk as Men For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not Carnal Consult likewise and consider what the Apostle St. James hath written to this purpose Chap. 3. 13. Who
Heresie and Scisme and so undiscernibly maâ—age their Crafty Devices that the very elect choise and eminent Christians will hardly escape from being entangled with such Deceits Now then seeing that these things are certainly true it cannot but be dangerous and unsafe for the best of Christians to venture themselves into any such Congregations as have made a causeless Separation from such a Church where the the Word of God is truely taught Publick Prayer in a Form of sound Word suitable to every State and Condition of Men answerable to all their wants both for Soul and Body and all put up to God in the Name of his only Son Jesus Christ And all this Confirm'd and Establish'd by the Successive Royal Laws and Sacred Statutes Acts and Ordinances of the most Christian Kings Princes and Parliaments that ever were since the Reformation as the Church of England is in Statu quo Our Blessed Saviour hath assnred us by the words of his Sacred Lips That many will come in his Name and deceive not a few but many And the Apostle St. John saith That there are many Antichrists and exhorts them not to believe every Spirit because many false Prophets were gone forth into the World Seeing then that the number of Deceivers are many and the Deceived a Thousand times more I hold it the greatest Wisdom that can be in a Christian to take heed how he adventures into every Congregation of People least he become one of those many that Christ fiath foretold will certainly be deceived for want of this special Gift of the Holy-Ghost to discern Spirits Reason 2. A second Reason is because such Mens Principles will leave a black Brand of detestable hatred upon their very Names amongst the Generations of the People of God that shall Survive them For tho' they may prosper for a time and take their swinge for a time and run their Wildgoose chase for a time and tho' they take liberty to kindle these Fires and compas themselves about with such Sparks and tho' they walk in the Light of these Fires and Sparks of their own kindling yet this shall they have at the hand of the Lord they shall lie down in Sorrow and leave a Curse upon their Names amongst the Surviving Genâ—rations And this was verified on these very Men in my Text for when the Geneologies of the Surviving Tribes were Numbred and Recorded there lieth a Bloâ— of Disgrace upon their Names so that in plain Terms their Names stunck after they were dead The Record is to be seen in Chap. 26. of the Book of Numbers ver 7 8 9. the Words of the Record are these These are the Families of the Reubenites and they that were Numbred of them were Forty and three Thousand and seven Hundred and Thirty And the Sons of Pallu Eliab And the Sons of Eliab Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram This is that Dathan and Abiram which were Famous in the Congregaâ—tion who strove against Moses and against Aaron in that Company of Corah when they strove against the Lord. And the Earth opened her Mouth and swallowed them up together with Corah when that Company Died what time the Fire Devoured two Hundred and Fifty Men and they became a Sign Nor did their Names stink only upon Record but in the Memories and Thoughts of the Surviveing honest Hearted Israelites as appeareth by the Words of the Plea of the Daughters of Zelophehad made in open Court for Inheritance of their Fathers which Plea was also Recorded aud continueth to this Day Num. 27. ver 1 2. Ver. 1. Then came the Daughters of Zelophehad the Son of Hepher the Son of Gilead the Son of Machir the Son of Manasses the Son of Joseph And these are the Names of his Danghters Mahlah Noah and Hoglah and Milcah and Tirzah And they stood before Moses and Eliazar the Priest for Aaron was then Dead and before the Princes and all the Congregation by the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation saying Our Father Died in the Wilderness and he was not in the Company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the Company of Corah but died in his own Sin and had no Sons 4 Why then should the Name of our Father be done away from amongst his Family because he hath no Son give unto us therefore a Possession amongst the Brethren of our Fathers 5. And Moses brought their Cause before the Lord and the Lord spake unto Moses saying 6. The Daughters of Zelophehad speak right thou shalt surely give them a Possession of an Inheritance amongst their Fathers Brethreu and thou shalt cause the Inheritance of their Father to pass unto them By the Contents of which Record it is evident that the Remembrance of these Mens Doings was Odious to Posterity more Instances we have as in Simeon and Levi Simon Magus Thudas Judas of Gallilee Nicolitans c. Reason 3. Is because the Breath of such Mens Doctrine is infectious to a sound Judgment the Sons of Men are as really snbject to Spiritual Infection as the Body is to that which is Carnal the Body is not more liable to the Infection of the Plague of Pestilence than the Judgments of the Sons and Daughters of Men are to the Plague of Spiritual Delusions And this my Assertion I ground upon Reason drawn from the Testimonies of Sacred Writ besides Woful and Daily Experience There are three Diseases amongst Men notably Infectious above others viz the Leprosie the Pestilence and the Cancer all whieh three Diseases of the Body do paralell the three grand Infectious Diseases of the Soul viz. Disobedience Heresie and Scisme The first whereof is Epidemical and hath Infected all Mankind with the Leprosie of Original Sin The second is more Secret and indiscernable falling upon sound Constitutions when they think least on 't even whilest they are Talking and Drinking with their Friend and concerning this Disease it is observable that the Party Infected hath a desire to Infect others tho' never so near and dear to them the like desire have all Scismaticks The third Infectious Disease viz. the Cancer hath its Residence for the most part in the Mouth or Tongue that they who drink of the same Cup with them are in danger of Infection For Confirmation of this Assertion I shall give you a Precedent and Precept from the Sacred Scriptures The Precedent is double and of Lamentable Memory because the Sin appeared in the Punishment of those that Committed it The Precept is alone yet worthy of a serious notice because it was Transmitted by an Epistle from an Universal Apostle to a Bishop of a particular Charge 2 Tim. 16. 17. 18. The first Precedent or Example is Recorded in Numb 12. where two prime Servants of God are found Tardy in their Obedience to him which shewed it felf in the Malignant Humour of Miriam and Aarons Murmuring against Moses who tho' their own Brother yet under God their Supream Governour nevertheless they could say
proud but giveth Grace to the Humble James 4. 6. But the Apostle St. Peter is much larger in this point 1 Pet. 5. 5. Likewise ye Younger submit your selves unto the Elder yea all of you be subject one to another and be Clothed with Humility for God resisteth the proud and giveth Grace to the humble Both of these Apostles have their Quotation from Solomon who in the Original is larger then both Proverbs 3. 33. 34. 35. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the Wicked But he blesseth the Habitation of the Just Surely he scorneth the Scorners but he giveth Grace unto the lowly The Wise shall inherite Glory but shame shall be the promotion of Fools Spiritual Pride tho'it be an horrible Sin yet it is very hard to be discerned The Apostle St. Paul was very near falling into this Sin and very likly he was for it as he Testifies himself 2 Cor. 12. 7. Least I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of Revelations there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me The pricking Briers of Hunger Cold Nakedness Reproaches Necessities Distresses for Christ ver 9 10. O my Friends with Grief I speak it it was spiritual Pride that laid the Corner-Stone of England's late and Lamentable Miseries Acted by a Company of Pretended Saints who never left exalting themselves till they had trod upon the Crown and Dignity of the Lords Anointed and at that time with him the true Protestant Religion and all the Devout and Sincere Professors thereof and at last Murdered him at the Gates of his own Palace and trampled his Sacred Blood under their base and dirty Feet All this the Pride of their Spirit carried them forth to Enact against as sweetly qualified and as bravely an accomplished Prince as ever breathed upon the face of the of the Earth still I say Jesus Christ excepted Nor is it to be doubted but these spiritual proud Men in my Text had not God by a sudden overthrow prevented them would have served Moses and Aaron with the same Sauce having already drawn up a Charge against them as implacable Enemies to the Liberty they aimed at and Murdering so many of the People of the Lord. as they call'd themselves altho' they were Eye Witnesses that it was the immediate Hand of God that struck some of them Dead with Fire and that the Earth of her own accord opened her Mouth and swallowed up the rest O Lord for thy Mercies sake save us for the time to come from such evil proud Spirits And I beseech you my Brethren and Friends hear and receive King Solomon's advice Prov. 25. 21. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their Calamity shall rise suddenly For every one that is proud in Heart is an abomination to the Lord tho' hand joyn in hand he shall not go unpunished The Lord will destroy the House of the proud Prov. 16. And elsewhere he saith A Mans pride shall bring him low but honour shall uphold the humble in Spirit Prov. 29. 23. There is a Day of Account coming and it draws very near it is called The Day of the Lord of Hosts And the Prophet Isa saith That the Day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is pròud and lofty and they shall be brought low And again in Chap. 28. 1. he crieth out against this Sin in denouncing a Woe against it saying Wo to the Crown of Pride the Crown of Pride shall be troden under Foot We cannot read of proud Persons in the Scripture but we shall read of their downfall 2. They were of a self-conceited Spirit they thought none better nor Holyer then themselves for if they would have given the preference to any they would surely have given it to Moses whom the Son of God thought worthy to keep him Company fourty Days and fourty Nights at one time And afterwards on the Mount at his Transfiguration Mat. 17. And this they knew full well as the Sacred Record assures us in Exo. 24. 1. 2. 3. And he said unto Moses come up unto the Lord thou and Aaron Nadab and Abihu ánd seventy of the Elders of Israel and Worship ye afar off And Moses alone shall come near the Lord but they shall not come nigh neither shall the People go up with him And Moses came and told the People all the Words of the Lord and all the Judgments and all the People answered with one Voice and said All the Words which the Lord hath said will we do It doth not appear that at this time there was one Dissenter or Nonconformist amongst them And yet within a little time after afew seditious Israelites whereof Corah was chief had so seduced the Church of God in Israel that if God had not appeared himself with a mighty Hand and stretched out Arm of Heavenly Power they would not only have denyed Moses the Supremacy over them but have brought his Neck to the Block or otherwise have ended his Days by some violent Death for they often spake of Stoning him Thus you see that for all their pretended Holyness they shut their Eyes and will not see nor open their Ears to Hearken to God nor the Rulers of his Church For Instance take the Word of God Num. 12. 5. And the Lord came down in the Pillar of the Cloud and stood in the Door of the Tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam and they both came forth And he said Hear now my Words if there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a Vision and will speak unto hìm in a Dream My Servant Moses is not so who ìs Faithful in all my House With him wîll I speak Mouth to Mouth even apparently and not in dark Speeches and the Similitude of the Lord shall he behold wherefore then were yé not afraid to speak against my Servant Moses And thé Anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed There are seven things to be enquired into from this Proof 1. Which of the three Persons in the God-Head it was that came down from Heaven in the Pillat of the Cloud the Son of God it was no doubt 2. What his business was that he came about viz. to Examin two Criminals to Arraign and Judge them 3. What their Crime was viz. Speaking against Moses 4. Aarons Penitency and the benefit of his Clergy 5. Miriams Impenitency and Punishment 6. Moses's Pitty and Prayer for her which voided the perpetuity of the Sentence 7. The fairness of the Tryal he stood in the Door of the Tabernacle that all Israel might hear and see and take warning God might have spoken so loud that Heaven and Earth should have heard it so as they should not have need to come forth for Audience but now he calls them out to the Bar that they may be seen it did
to you to see so populous so famous and so antient a City as Bristoll is on a light Flame Your Hands bound with Cords and your selves hall'd along the Streets like Fellons and delivered into the Custody of cruel and hard-hearted Men with infinite more mischievous and unknown Miseries that attend Wars whither civil among our selves or Foreign by Invasion of Strangers Are there none of you left alive in this City that can testifie what the unspeakable Miseries were which this distracted Kingdom endured in the time of that Scism that so grievously wounded and disturbed the Peace of the Church in the Reign of that pious Prince King Charles the I. if there are as doubtless there are many ask them and they will tell you what horrible Confusions there were both in Church and State and the Government of both utterly subverted till God in Mercy restor'd them to us again and will continue so till the same Spirit of Faction and Scism do for our Sins give us another overturn Oh England England once the Mistress of Islands if a true list and number of those thy Natives which most cruelly slew one another in thy late civil Wars should be brought to thy view And if all the Christian Blood then shed to satisfie the Factious Humours of some Men had been exhall'd by airy Vapours and now shour'd down upon thy fertile Fields and populous flourishing Towns and Cities thou wouldst see strange and prodigious Sights If those deep Sighs and Groans which thousands of excellent and vertuous Ladies and Gentlewomen utter'd from their afflicted Souls and standing with Petitions in their Hands at the doors of a company of Thieves that called themselves Committees praying from day to day from week to week and from month tomonth to buy their own Estates their lovely Cheeks bedew'd with a flux of brinish Tears from their tender Eyes If such things as these can be pleasing to any sort of profest Christians surely they are void of a right Understanding they are led not by Reason but by a Spirit of Madness which hath very little fence in what it acts Consider these things my Brethren in time lest ye repent it when it is too late And now lastly I pray you seriously to consider that there are no greater Enemies to the service of God in our Church Assemblies than the Apostate Church of Rome consisting of Monks Fryers Jesuits and Mass-Priests Can ye then do them a greater pleasure than to joyn with them in Hatred and Contempt of it Did they not burn both the Book it self and the choicest Persons of those that composed it and will ye throw their Ashes into the River they tied them to Stakes and will ye shoot at their Hearts with bitter words Next unto the sacred Scriptures I am bold to say that our Common-Prayer Book is the surest visible Bulwark to keep out Popery from ever being established by Law in this Kingdom any more for ever and will ye persevere in throwing dovvn such a Fortification and so let in again the Antichristian Beast of Rome to ruin and destroy us and to make us and your selves an everlasting Reproach and a perpetual shame O do not rob those Martyrs of that Honour vvhich they purchased at so dear a rate for the Benefit and Good of their surviving Brethren and Friends that then vvere or thereafter should be made Members of the Body of Christ O do not disgrace their Labours by blotting and staining them vvith scurilous Language and thereby expose the Protestant Faith to the Scorn and laughter of a cruel Adversary for over your Shoulders do the Blood-thirsty Papists shoot at our Hearts O that ye vvere vvise that ye vvould consider these things and return to the high way of Salvation again What joy would there be in our Churches What loving Embraces What mutual Society What Gladness of Heart What inward Comfort and Consolation to our Immortal Souls What reviving of Spirits How sweet would such Unity Peace and Concord be to the whole Kingdom How mediately-secure should we be not only from all fears of a Foreign Invasion but from all doubts of a Civil War amongst our selves Then should we offer our daily Sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one Shoulder and one Consent Thus have I discharg'd my duty to all that profess the name of Christ in this Kingdom wherein I was born What the effect of it may be God knows for I do not I leave the issue of it to the only wise Saviour of the World in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge whose poor weak and unworthy Servant I am and hope to persevere therein Dum Spiritus hos Regit ortus And lest any Reader should here and there meet with a word or two in this Postscript which he may happily think hath a tang of Acerbity I have thorowly season'd and sweetned it with the judgment of a Martyr'd Monarch a Stedfast and Faithful Defender of the truly antient Catholique and Apostolick Faith Upon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer-Book IT is no News to have all Innovations usher`d in with the name of Reformations in Church and State by those who seeking to gain Reputation with the Vulgar for their extraordinary Parts and Piety must needs undo whatever was formerly settled never so well and wisely So hard can the pride of those that study Novelties allow former times any share or degree of Wisdom or Godliness And because matter of Prayer and Devotion to God justly bears a great part in Religion being the Souls more immediate converse with the Divine Majesty nothing could be more plausible to the People then to tell them They served God amiss in that Point Hence our public Liturgy or Forms of constant Prayers must be not amended in what upon free and publick advice might seem to sober Men inconvenient for matter or manner to which I should easily consent but wholly cashiered and abolished and after many popular Contempts offered to the Book and those that used it according to their Consciences and the Laws in force it must be crucified by an Ordinance the better to please either those Men who gloried in their extemporary Vein and Fluency or others who conscious to their own formality in the use of it thought they fully expiated their Sin of not using it aright by laying all the blame upon it and a total rejection of it as a dead letter thereby to excuse the deadness of their Hearts As for the Matter contained in the Book sober and learned Men have sufficiently vindicated it against the Cavils and Exceptions of those who thought it a part of Piety to make what prophane objections they could against it especially for Popery and Superstition whereas no doubt the Liturgy was exactly conformed to the Doctrin of the Church of England and this by all Reformed Churches is confessed to be most sound and Orthodox For the matter of