racketed from one temptation to another till at last he hazard eternal ruine reeling from one extreme to another untill he fall into perpetual misery Therefore to conclude let me implore every soul that expects and looks for eternal life as who doth not to get cleansed from all your iniquities whether secret or open latent or revealed before you come unto the brink of misery from whence is no return before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains wherein is no security let no iniquity ever have any more dominion over you get all your actions salted with true grace that God may smell a sweet savour in your holy devotions and pious services knowing that your best performances are but gilded appearances and glittering abominations if God should with severity inspect them so that we must all say with holy David in the words of my Text If thou Lord shouldst be extreme c. FINIS SERM. III. LUKE 2.7 And she brought forth her first-born son and wrapped him in swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne Introduction GOd is a most pure Act never was he idle but alwaies in being even when this world was not in being he was in himself love and nigh enough to himself yet when he was so he thought of some eminent act of bounty wherein to produce an Idea of his goodness and accordingly wills thoughts to himself of shewing mercy to mankind for yet he would do good to all therefore all his wayes are good his being and well-being envied as yet by none no not by Satan the first parent of malice and grand enemy both of Gods unspeakable glory and mans eternal felicity not enduring to entertain the least thought of seeing humane nature deified yet God to shew the freedome of his love in rich mercy stamps his own Image upon man for it was his goodness as well as his power that he made us good as well as men but what was at first made good we soon made sin for God made man upright but he hath sought out many inventions so that had not God redeemed us we had been miserable to all eternity much rather had our souls not been then not be happy When man was made holy and had sinned though such iniquity deserved the ruine of what he was before having defaced that image yet God is prone to mercy when provoked goodness would rescue that part of himself from ruine for scarce one had sinned but one was promised to save the Son of God was promised and presented to the Patriarchs being revealed to them by his promises and foretold by his Prophets that God would send his Son he saw a fit vessel wherein he would inclose his son viz. the Blessed Virgin and therefore he sends his Angel to provide a lodging telling her that she was highly honoured of God Luke 7.3 and she shall conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son and shall call his name Iesus that God would give him a name above every name and of his kingdom there shall be no end she examined and believed the Angels Message and and was found with child of the holy Ghost Luke 1. the power of the highest over-shadowing her But loe she is summoned to another travel for there is a decree from Augustus Caesar and behold she takes no small pains to obey for though her appearance might have been excused yet she would not disobey the lawful magistrates command the custome of women is on Mary but alas desolate Virgin she is driven to that pass that having no room in the inne necessity compels her to make a chamber of the stable and to turne the manger the place wherein is laid the food of beasts into a Cradle the now onely receptacle for the bread of life and at once both mother and midwife for she brought forth her first-borne son and wrapt him in swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne In which words consider with me these four general parts 1 A Virgins travail 2 A mothers tenderness 3 A childs poverty 4 The peoples inhospitality 1 A Virgins travail She brought forth her first-borne sonne 2 A mothers tenderness She wrapped him in swadling-clothes 3 A childs poverty laid in a manger 4 The peoples inhospitality There was no roome in the Inne I begin with the first 1. The virgins travail she brought forth her first-born son Wherein consider 1. The person she 2. The birth brought forth 3. The fruit her first-born child 1. For the woman she was a virgin but what a virgin to bear to bring forth a son a wonder and she her self cryes out I know not a man well might the Prophet Ierem. say Behold a Virgin and the Prophet Isai likewise yet she is the same Isa the 7.14 vers but that Christ was conceived of the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary is an article of our faith not of our understanding best known is the manner to him that hath the power virgins are not usually pregnant yet the spirit ingenders flesh we take it not from his nature but power the Holy Ghost produces the man Christ not of himself but by his power Christ begotten of himself as one with the Father sending him on the great errand of mans salvation for all the three Persons in the sacred Trinity have a share in this great work the Father begetting the Son begotten and the Holy Ghost produced him at the fulness of time I call the Holy Ghost Father as his shadow the virgin his mother as his substance or the matter of his person whereby he is called the son of man that by this means he might be joyned to our nature and so become surety for us as for example we christians are born of water of the spirit are not called the sons of water but of the spirit because of the spirit we are made one with Christ and are thereby become the sons of God that Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost and of Mary is most certain but for our sakes called the son of Mary and not of the Holy Ghost yet hath the son an equality with the spirit and is perfect God as well as man therefore is it that the Holy Ghost concurs with Mary in the conception both agree to make Christ but not one way for t is his the shadow hers the substance hers the carkase his the quintessence how could it be but a holy thing being of the Holy Ghost though she had sin yet Christ took none from her because he would expel it from her for had Christ been born of an Harlot of Mary Magdalen yet she could not have contaminated his integrity but commended his power and mercy he could have sanctified the most sinful person and unhallowed womb Being conceived of the holy Ghost he took our flesh but not our corruption can the sun shine untainted on the
Cherubims seated upon the Ark of Gods glory cast continually their unspotted eyes upon the rotten raggs of Humane frailty aiming still at mans felicity How else could dust and ashes expect continued life from such dry bones as was and is still the foundation of mans body for should Heavens propitious eye glance forth nothing but renewed smiles upon our actions and mercy alwayes sit hovering over our Tabernacles we should quickly ingulf our spirits in the bottome of miserable security or on the contrary should but the direful hand of Omnipotency it self draw forth his glittering sword against our weak resistance unto what a paralytick posture would such an appearance strike us as coming from him whose very breath can speak us into nothing Oh then with what bowed knees and humble hearts should every soul of us kiss the very remembrance of a Iesus coming not onely to save them that believe but to work a present reconcilememt betwixt the Justice and Mercy of God the Father that now the one as well as the other or rather with united consent both together may conspire and joyn issue in the great work of mans redemption for could your drowsie spirits but lend an ear to the pleasant dialogue that continually passes betwixt these glorious Attributes now you should hear Justice calls for the Sanctuaries ballance to weigh all the actions of the sons of men and with a Mene Mene Tekel c. finde such dusty performances of no validity in Heavens account and so poor we being in Adam wilfully lost are now necessarily fallen short of immortal bliss Thus is our sentence irrecoverable and no door of hope left for our escape till Mercy that eternal beam of love stand forth and present the all-sufficient merit of a dying Saviour as full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world pleading that faithful covenant made by Justice it self that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life Which faith is the golden pillar that bears up the stately structure of mans everlasting glory the only hand by which the promises of a better life are made ours the sure entail by which the inheritance purchased in common is become mine in particular it is the onely voice by which holy David could make an echo that would reach from the lowest deeps to the highest Heavens Out of the deeps have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice as you may see verse the first of this Psalme nay it is the very nerve and sinewe of all pious Devotion for if you peruse the whole Psalme you will find it is nothing else but a rehearsal of religious petitions and serious exhortations In his petitions you 'l find his soul big with holy affiance spiritual confidence grounded on Gods word promising and his own Experience tasting In his Exhortations like a faithful Physician he prescribes nothing but what is attested to with his own and others Probatum est making mercy both the beginning and the end the principal and the final cause of Happiness but in both he keeps the eye of humility placed upon the raggs of mans unworthiness as justly demeriting eternal wrath were God exact in remunerating our actions for so he closes up the summe of his requests in the words of my Text If thou Lord wilt be extreme to marke what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words please to consider two general parts 1 An antecedent in these words If thou Lord be extreme to marke what is done amiss 2. A Consequent in the other words who can abide it Or if you will look on them 1 In the Thesis 2 In the Hypothesis 1 In the Thesis wherein you have Gods extremity in punishing 2 In the Hypothesis There you have mans misery in suffering And now my Text in its situation is not unlike a pleasant Grove presenting to your view variety of pleasant Trees each bough thereof being richly laden with delicious goodly fruit not onely delightful to the eye but beneficial to the Taste or if you will your Conceptions may behold most costly Arras enriched with the lively story of Gods bounty and mans felicity mutually interwoven in the same peece but if you list to change the scene and have the true parts more neerly acted you may gain a precious enterview of Gods omnipotency displayed in its several Dispensations and management of Humane affairs where Justice and Mercy the twins of royalty discovering on the one Hand Gods free benevolence in bestowing and mans utter unworthiness for so large a guerdon on the reverse parts your sight is presented with the Almighties just severity in punishing together with mans reaping misery the true fruit of his sin In fine that I may unbowel this sacred writ take the substance thereof distilled into these four observations 1 It s the Corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwaies extreme to marke and punish what 's done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in marking and punishing what is done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering These are the four streams that naturally run their division from this pleasant spring that voluntarily tenders its silver drops to refresh the heart of every pious Christian which makes me beg your patience and zealous attention whilst in order I make these glorious truths to pass before the spiritual eye of your intelligent souls And first of the First namely It s the corrupt nature of man to do amiss As its the nature of man to be doing so it s the corruption of that nature to be doing amiss and though God see and observe all the actions of discomposed and distempered man yet it s onely the obliquity of those actions his severity intends to reward with punishment for every action simply considered in it self is good and no way meriting unspeakable torment but every such action contracts eternal guilt as performed by and prersisted in of sinful man whose customary nature and naturall custome is to do evil for as things are in being so they are in operation Can a man gather grapes of thornes or figgs of thissles saith our Blessed Saviour Or can any man bring a clean thing out of an unclean was the question put by holy Iob. Ever since man eat the forbidden fruit man himself hath become a barren tree and cumbred the ground for ever since man voluntarily fell man hath been under a necessity of sin a necessity I say proceeding not from Gods peremptory decree but his feeble and corrupted will for its a voluntary necessity should I set open the door of this defiled cage and present to your view the misery lapsed mans unhappiness hath reduced him to or give you but a glimpse of those polluted birds whose habitation is in the house of every soul by nature or but read a Lecture of mans depraved condition I could do it in no other language then that of
Word that gave the world a being can carry her again to the grave of destruction leaving her in the same confused Chaos which his merciful goodness at first found her in and the same six dayes which past away in building of her up if it so please him with as much facility may take it down though his excellent Mercy will have no less then six thousand years to bring a period to the same as most learned interpreters expound the words of Saint Peter 2 Pet. 3.8 So that a priori you see there is power enough in God not only to be angry with but infinitely to punish the sinnes of his people 2. A posteriori Who sees Nebuchadnezzar grazing like an Ox and acknowledges not Gods Power to be Infinite and can do with ease what seemeth good in his sight who sees Belshazar in the midst of his carousing cups weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuarie and found too light and acknowledges not his Justice who sees Goshen full of light and Egypt covered with thick darkness and acknowledges not an Infinite Deity Examples are most profitable illustrations of his power in dealing with the sonnes of men and in this case are almost infinite What son of Adam is there that knows not of his fathers fall and the dreadful curse the just consequent thereof In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 and it was surely performed witness Cains inability to bear the loud cry of his brothers blood C ham justly cursed by his Father as the reward of his shameful action Esau sadly and too late seeking a sold Blessing the flames of provoked fire licking up sinful Sodom the earth of her self making a grave for Corah and his wicked Complices the great deeps swallowing up Pharaoh and his Host as the just avenger of his intolerable Persecution But these are but temporal evils but there are eternal miseries for when he is extreme his eyes shall not spare his enemies But you 'l say what means this Can God destroy that which he hath made Can he that delights in man destroy or despise the works of his hands Will he pluck down with one hand what but now he built And can he laugh when their fear comes who hath sworn he delights not in the sinners death Nothing less yet we must not say with Iob I am righteous though he hath condemned me for shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right and glorifie himself in and upon his Creatures For if we go astray he must and will hedge up our way with thornes Though it is true God afflicts not willingly yet he doth and will punish the sonnes of men when they sinne and wilfully go astray and that for these reasons 1. To remove that grand idol which men make and set up in their own hearts that God is all mercy and will not punish or all love and cannot endure to afflict his people deceive not your selves with such vain delusions for the soul that sinneth that soul shall surely die Ezek. 18.4 As sure as there is a God that mercifully saves them that repent so sure will the same God infinitely punish them that continue in sin as it is his Mercy that offers and invites us to accept of Salvation so also will it be the office of his Justice infinitely to punish all those that refuse to come when called by his Word and Spirit Remember the story of the great Supper and Gods severe answer to them that would not come when invited I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall tast of my Supper S. Luke 14.24 though God spare us for a time yet he will send forth Iudgment unto victory 2. To remove the Atheism that lodges in mens hearts of no revenging Justice that men live and speak as if there was no God uttering that in words and actions which holy Davids fool entertained in his heart that men being to think there is no God because they see no fearful examples of his Justice set before them in the destruction of his enemies that the wickeds prosperity in evil makes him boast himself and despise his Maker I remember Saint Austin brings in the proud man speaking thus when he was at peace and no disturbance injured him saith he of himself if I had nothing worth despising I should be a God blasphemously imagining God were ignorant of that which men call contempt but faith the Father It was not long ere I saw the same wretch cast down with utter amazement by a small clap of thunder when God did but seem to clothe himself with the garment of vengeance he presently fell down with humble obeisance Therefore God will sometimes be extreme in punishing that he may rescue the glory of his justice out of the hands of the wicked 3 Such is the nature of sinne it justly provokes God to be extreme because 1 It s a transgression of his righteous law and if earthly Monarchs punish their rebels with temporal well may the Lord of Heaven and earth reward his traitors with eternal death if temporal magistrates are so tender of their precepts that they esteem each breach thereof as an injury done to their persons well may the Father of spirits cast away with scorne all those that are found fighters against his commands .. But that 's not all for 2 Every sin is not onely a transgression of Gods law but it s an injury offered to his sacred person there being no act of evil wherein our whole man deliberately concurs but it is as much as in us lyes to dethrone the Majesty of heaven and if it lay in our power also to ungod the sacred Trinity an action which my soul trembles to think of much more to utter and were it not that I might leave the impression thereof so deep as to imbitter sinne unto you I should not have named it But that 's not all for 3 Every sin is so much the greater because it is committed by persons that have received all sorts of kindness and are under all manner of obligations to the contrary therefore well may God be extreme for sin when found in them that are engaged to the contrary 4 Such is the nature of Gods justice that it requires exact and equal proportion of punishment to the sinnes that have been committed now every sinne is of an infinite duration for did the sinner alwayes live he would for ever be guilty of sinne therefore it is but just the punishment should be infinite also for if God reward us with glory if we serve him above our deserts can we condemn him for but rewarding us according to our faults and if he do spare us and not inflict the extremity of his justice it is because his mercy intercedes that glorious attribute wherein is his chief delight but God will sometimes be extreme to punish because the nature of his justice is such as that it will proportion its punishment
not the soul of a man but the affections thereof for faith that proceeds from hope and hope that relies on righteousness not that our unrighteousness can expect any thing from God this would include presumption or merit but by it we wait for the Righteousness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord who is the object of our hope two ways 1. Iâ—clusively 2 Exclusively 1. Inclusively and that two ways 1. Including as the end all the persons of the sacred Trinity and 2. All the Attributes of God 2. Including the less principal objects of our hope the graces of the Holy Spirit by which salvation is revealed to the soul 1. Including as the end all the persons of the sacred Trinity for Christ is called the Hope not of parts but of persons all those acts of grace that are from God returned are terminated in the Essence of the Sacred Trinity as we believe in God and we love God and hope in God without determining any person or secluding any though the soul look diversly as in himself and so loves God because he is the chief good and faith unites the Soul to God as the principle of good hope the souls anchor depends on his purity though all seem diversly yet they all meet in this God therefore he is called the God of hope Rom. 15.13 Jer. 14.8 and that not as the efficient cause working this grace in our hearts only but as the final cause to which it moves expecting to enjoy the presence of God which is the fulness of joy for evermore Psal 16.11 2. Including all the Attributes of God for these are they on which our hope takes hold nay they are his very being which we may safely flie to and that for any good we expect to receive from God he having put them as the horns of the Altar for hope analogically takes in all the attributes of God and is the Horns of that holy Altar which by grace is erected in the heart of every true believer as holy David said God is his shield his fortress and deliverer yea and the Horn of his salvation also Psal 18.1 For you may in sacred Writ find pregnant examples of Gods Saints which have particularly committed themselves to his severall properties as Jacob to his Truth Gen. 32. the three Children to his Omnipotency Dan. 3.17 the two blind men to his Goodnesse St. Mat. 20.30 the father of the Lunatick to Christs Power St. Luke 9.38 the Leper to Christs Will St Mark 1.4 2. Including the lesse principall objects of our hope by which salvation is declared to the Soul Threefold hope so it flies to God with a threefold hope 1 With hope in the promises of Christ 2. Of the Graces of Christ 3. In the merits of Christ First in the promises of Christ for in him they are yea and amen 2 Cor. 1.20 and these promises of Christ may be considered two manner of wayes 1. Absolutely 2 Conditionally 1. Absolutely as the promise of the Messias Isai 28.16 Or 2. Conditionally and that Legally and Evangelically 1. Legally as the promises which annex eternall life to the condition of perfect Obedience which was at first made with Adam in a covenant of Works under the Law but here 2. Evangelically we have annexed Hope of entring Heaven as our Fathers entred Paradise and that to the Evangelical condition of Faith for it is a far greater priviledge to be brought like sons into the fathers house only upon such conditions as we know are already performed by our Surety and wants only the act of Faith to make them ours then with a servile spirit continually to be enslaved to that bondage from which we can never free our selves which is much more likely a beggerly receiving then a working hand But 2. Hope in the Graces of Christ 1 Pet. 13. Hope that 's the grace that is offered to you and brought to you for by grace ye are saved Ephes 2.8 Nor doth this diminish any thing in Christ when the object upon which our Anchor layes hold is onely Christ Jesus our Lord for we can do nothing by our act of hope but only when grace is propounded as subordinate and the means to the other we may fix both in Christ the principal help to attain Eternal Life it is Christ that can bring a Soul to that happiness he desires and grace that is the instrument and agent towards attaining it 3. Hope in the Merits of Christ whereby to attain Heaven prayer is hope interpretative this hope is the root of prayer but the Merits of Christ is the ground we pray for what we hope and hope what we pray for shall be granted through the Merits of Christ without this Faith would be deperateness and hope presumption our prayers without the eye of faith would be but blind though we had this hand we should but be weak without this staff of hope the merits of Christ would be but to us as unrighteousness prayer is the Dove sent out of the Ark hope the wings that help her in her speedy flight and both return empty except they come with a leaf from that branch that is pluckt from the merits of Christ faith is the hand of the soul prayer the sinews and hope the nerves that act in this conveyance but without the merit of Christ all will be but like a brandish'd weapon clashing against the brazen pillars of our own created confidence this verily must be the support of our devotions that we may pray for what we hope Christ hath merited which consists in justification sanctification and glorification 1. In hope of justification viz. pardon of sin remission and freedome from punishment 2. Hope of grace for sanctification whether it be the inward favour of God as the Apostles blessing when he saith the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with them or the habitual grace of Gods spirit which is dayly given us till we become perfect men and the hope of glory answerable to glorification 3. Hope in glorification where we expect to be made happy in that estate where shall be no intermissions of joy or periods in our felicity where faith shall triumph in vision and hope in fruition and that to all eternity Thus Christ is the object of our hope inclusively 2. Exclusively Christ the obect of hope and that 1. In respect of the creature 2. In respect of our selves 1. The creature for what good is there in the creature without or our selves within for do men gather grapes of thornes or figs on thistles What folly were it for him in the next danger of drowning to catch hold of a twig that might get to the rock or the shore which might secure him yet such is the folly of vain hope that neglects the rock of salvation and trusts to the creature that is but as a rush and a flag within the water 2. Excluding what good there is in our selves for though in regard of naturalls
so prepared for him that he himself was a witnesse of himself for so he saith I am one that bear witnesse of my self St. John 8.18 The way to the truth and the truth of the way and the life of all came to witnesse to them both yet you finde him saying If I bear witnesse of my self my witnesse is not true St. John 5.31 Places seemingly contradictory and yet easily reconciled if truly considered for in the one he spake to those that acknowledged no more in him then Humanity in the other he discovers his Deity and equality with the Father shewing his submission to him as man that though in the one they would not yet by the other they may be convinced And since Christ as man was without errour and could not be guilty of falshood then it is not true to affirme Christs witnessing to the truth is invalid as the Iewes supposed for though what he spake was truth in it self yet in their acception it was not so accounted and though that truth most times is suspected which barely testifies of it self yet it could not be so imputed unto Christ because he is light it self and light helps to discover both it self and others and therefore it must remain a truth that Christs coming into the world was to bear witnesse to the truth both In Words and Works Christ Jesus our Redeemer bare witness to the truth 1. In Words his words were such as the Iewes were convinced by them For they conclude never man spake like him St. John 7.46 his words were of such energy as that they proved all his actions authentick 2. In his works he testified of the truth in so much that his very enemies said when Christ comes will he do more miracles then those which this man hath done St. Joh. 7.31 and since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind Saint John 9.32 33. for if this man was not of God he could do nothing therefore when St. Iohn Baptists Disciples came with this message art thou he that should come or do we look for another he saith no more then Go tell Iohn what things you have seen and heard how that the blind see the lame walk c. Saint Luke 7.22 and presently that precursor knew by his works that it was no other then the Messias nor did he onely testifie by saying and doing but also by suffering and dying for rather then truth shall suffer he will die and not one drop of blood shall be left in his veines rather then the least part of truth shall want a testimony for he came to bear witness to the truth and by dying gave testimony to the truth And so I have done with the first namely the end and I come to the second thing viz. 2. The object the truth To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world to bear witness to the truth Truth is threefold 1. There is the truth of Gods promises concerning the Messias 2. The truth of the Substance whereof the Types were but shadowes 3. The truth of the Doctrines delivered to the people 1. The truth of Gods promises concerning the Messias he was promised in the beginning of time to him that was to be the Father of all living for when God had made man a living Soul and man by sinne had made himself a dying body then was the promise of a quickning spirit Gen. 3.15 She that was accursed for eating the forbidden fruit shall now be blest in the fruit of her body 2. As God promised him to the father of all living so to the father of the Faithfull Gen. 15.18 and it was to procure our good For in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed Gen. 18.18 In him we have freedome from misery and fulness of glory and by him we have interest in glory and comfort in calamity 3. God promised Christ by the Prophets and not onely that he should but how he must be borne Behold a virgin shall conceive bear a Son and call his name Emanuel Isa 7.14 How he should die After threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off but not for himself Dan. 9.26 How he should rise again for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption Psal 16.10 Thus the Prophets foretold the incarnation of Christ together with the several gradations thereof but if you please we will once more consider the Messias as chalked out in the Old Testament you find him promised Gen. 22.18 then promised to be of the tribe of Iudah Gen. 49.10 his conception birth death and passion at large set down by the Psalmist in the 22. Psal his being derided at and lightly esteemed his being a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence expressed in the 118. Psa nay foretold to be of the body of Mary Isa 7. c. Hath God spoken and will he not do no he spake that he might do it yea he came to bear witness of his promises that they might have a consummation not a consumption for as God promised and the Prophets foretold so he was looked for in the beginning and in the fulness of time he came beeause so promised for the promises are the most and best part of his word we expect nothing but promises and of all the promises none but Christ for it is his mercy not our deserts that all the promises are in Christ yea and amen Thus you see the first truth demonstrated the truth of Gods promise in sending the Messias 2. The truth of the substance whereof the types and figures under the law were but shadowes how many things were there that presented Christ nay in every thing where and when was not Christ prefigured each promise and prophecy speaks nothing foretold which he did not fulfil and do that the shadowes might yield to the substance that the types might have accomplishment as well as abrogation Christ came into the world all the types end in him He came to witness to the truth 3. The truth of doctrines of faith and manners 1. For the doctrine of faith take this instance the Prophet Isa hath foretold that those that sate in darkness have seen a great light Isa 9.2 and Saint Iohn saith this is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world St. John 1.9 indeed concerning the doctrines of faith there were divers in the world some were false and some likely but the most true the first two were they of the Philosophers the third of our Saviour and how false they of the Philosophers were is obvious to most for they often changed the truth of God into lies and truth was vanished from those children of men some of them fancied many gods some believed no God at all some granted an eternal being but no providence and some a providence and yet did attribute