persecuted stand still keep an eye to the promise and be strong in the faith Art thou fortune-fallen become poor and through no default of thine cast into prison stand still remember the Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not his Prisoners Psal 96.33 Art thou ingaged in any combate at home with Monsters like Pauls Ephesian Beasts or in any desperate hazard of life stand still never forgetting who it is that hath calculated even the very hairs of thy head Thus what once Moses said to the unbondaged yet murmuring Israelites let me say to the Redeemed yet distrustful people of God when pursued by the heart-hardned Pharaohs of this age Fear ye not stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 Let me alone Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot c. Exod. 32.10 TO will and to do are all one with God it is the Prerogative-Royal onely of the Almighty to be able to do whatsoever he pleaseth to will whatsoever he will he doth but all that he can he doth not Now the power of the Creature flows from that in the Creator hence it is that the more we are formed into his likeness the more prevalency we have with him and the more victory over our selves A just man is a wonderful strong Creature I can do nothing to Sodom saith God to Lot till thou be gone thence Gen. 19.22 Thus the free condescendency of the Highest vouchsafes such a voluntary restraint of his Justice as the prevalent integrity of a righteous man in favor with God seems to over-power even the Almighty The faithful are Gods favorites rather then their Petition shall be laid aside his own Mercy shall say Amen unto their Prayers Faith is such a solicitous grace such an importunate beggar as it will never leave God alone yea the very wicked of the Earth fare the better for the Prayers of the godly see it in the case of Sodom Gen. 18. and here those Israelites might have been led to the slaughter like the Calf they worshipped had not this Moses refusing to be the Adopted Grandchilde of the King of Egypt though his Daughter might have challeng'd him by Providence Exod. 2.5 now become such a Favorite in the Court of Heaven that God himself must as it were importune him to slack his importunity and sue to him to withdraw his suit and say Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great nation Exod. 32.10 The right Interpretation of Scripture Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom Deut. 4.2 VVHen thou readest the Scripture let the Text interpret the Text and grope not to winde thy self out of the Labyrinth of those sacred Oracles by the clue of thine own private spirit nor conceit thy self wiser then the Omniscient To wrest Scripture is to father a lye on the Spirit of Truth and he that betrays the Word to a sense the Spirit never meant it Sophisticates the great Seal of Heaven and hath no share therein the Plagues therein denounced onely excepted Whether then thou readest to thy self or expoundest to others do not gloss the holy Text with unintelligible notions the Bastard-comment of a Weathercock-faith nor bespatter the splendor of such a glorious Light with the scarce vapor-proof atomes of an erroneous muddy judgement Many Revelations are arrived of late some no question came from beyond the world are Commissioned from Heaven have the Seal of the Spirit indeed whose authority admits not of dispute such onely are the faithful interpreters of the holy Language other Revelations there are which came from below the world are Commissioned from Hell have the Seal of the Beast on them these also pretend a title to our faith but believe not every Spirit 1 John 4.1 To take the crutch from the Lame by the impudent assertions of a blinde yet wilful judgement is the inhumanest piece of imperious ignorance in the world and to mis-guide the doubtful Pilgrim under pretence of a more compendious way to the New Jerusalem then was ever yet discovered is to incur the curse of Heaven the thanks of Hell and the blackest guilt of the highest murther No Scripture may be construed by the corrupt Dictionary of any ill-byass'd Spirit or according to the Analogy of private interests he that strains the Scripture to a note the Spirit never tuned it perverts it to his own destruction Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom Deut. 4.2 The Foundation of Knowledge The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 OF all creatures Sub-angelical Man is the noblest of all the parts of Man the Soul of all the faculties of the Soul the Understanding which if not exercised about her genuine object the Gospel-fear or true worship of her Creator merits not the name of Sense and he that bottoms his knowledge or lays the Foundation of his wisdom on any other Basis builds but on the sand with hay and stubble and shall finde the edifice soon prove more brittle then the shell of that brain which built it Christ the wisdom of the Father is the Corner-stone of ours and if other Foundation any man hath laid the structure if it prove not his Babel in this world will undoubtedly a Tower of Shilo in that to come Whose wisdom begins not with the fear of God ends in his eternal displeasure If our wisdom commence with the fear of the Lord his grace will accompany the progressions thereof and his glory crown the event Without this fear there may be wit not wisdoâ—… the gravest Sages without 〈◊〉 are but the most decent fools and the choicest extractions of their unsanctified brain but the Chymistry of vaporing prophaneness or at best the high Magick of most learned Lunacy For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 The poor Mans Advocate Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to do it Prov. 3.27 ROb not the Poor of the Tribute of thine Alms lest at the general Assize or Grave-delivery they indict thee of Sacriledge The poor mans Box is Gods Exchequer and he that adds not to it takes from it There is not a mite given in charity on earth but is recorded for a pound in Heaven yea a Cup of cold water flowing from the bowels of Compassion may so swell that out of his belly shall flow even Rivers of Living water There 's not a poor man that asks a peny of thee but thou art so much indebted to him that in case he commence his Suit in Forma Pauperis and prefer a Bill in the Chancery of Heaven by way of Petition against thee it may be feared an Ite Maledicti may issue forth to thy everlasting and inevitable ruine Thou owest God more for the
his Profession was when he parted from sober company he asked leave of his father to take leave of himself and parted from himself when he bad reason adieu That charity begins at home was the first thought that came to the Prodigal after the Prodigal came to himself and it was a happy escape that during his desperate Lunacy for want of Acorn husks he had not made use of an Oaken bough He began to go out of himself when first he would fain be his own man but when he came again to himself he was half way home to his own happiness He begg'd heartily for his own curse when he first asked his Fathers blessing and had not the swine fared the better of the two the herd should be drowned ere himself would cry Peccavi Swine and Drunkards meet Companions Swine and Lustmongers very fit Sty-fellows Hogs and Epicures Boars and Hell-Stalions Sows and Harlots Pigs and Prodigals pity such proper English that runs so naturally should ever know any other construction then what the nature of the beast admits Though this be but a Parable yet here 's a Parent and a Prodigal a Blessing and a Curse an elder and a yonger brother a faithful and unfaithful servant a penitent childe and a pardoning Father a self-justifying servant yet a wise rewarding Master indeed the whole mystery of mans Salvation In which Parable He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto his Conscience and unless he resolves to dye in this Bedlam and perish in the other he will be of this Prodigals minde When he came to himself and said c. Luke 15.17 The true Ornament Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair c. But let it be the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.3,4 HOw is not plaiting the hair a commendable Ornament with what deformed beauties then is this Age disfigured how handsomly it makes it self ugly what pains it takes to be ridiculous better the brain were out of his place then the excrescency thereof or the whole head ake then one hair not well How many happy Good-morrows might the soul bid it self by asking blessings of her heavenly Father whilst she stands sacrificing the precious Morn to the Idol in the Looking-glass how many Virgin-Oraizons might be early up at heaven whilst the ingenious fancy is so zealous at new-modelling that careful careless Love-lock or the Woodcocks snare as if there were some Gordian Magick in each curl But doth this refer onely to the Feminine then is this Age Hermophrodited is not he the most admired Comet that can be most fantastick Some are so well read in the Glass and Comb as to divide a hair and again reconcile them with a wet finger others curl them with a powder doubtless both these do stand very much on their heads no wonder their Brain-shell is so addle when the choycest of their Intellects walk with its heels upward that the whole Microcosm can espy no other Horoscope then that of the Antipodes You may guess the substance of what 's within by the dust of what 's without and if ever a Wit did put a Solecism upon his own brain 't was when he first went to School to adorn his head on the outside for every sober man wears his head with the wrong side outward but he whose head came newly out of a Mill-sack makes more of the offals of his Cranium then the brain it self is worth And is this then the grave Christians Ornament Away you that profess piety blazon no more vanity such dusty cob-webs are no mettal for the Helmet of your Salvation be not so vainly ingenious in dressing but a Virmins Forrest with such odoriferous curls 't is but a spans length off and other Virmin by the dust and oyncture of your own rottenness shall do it for you Shall not he that covereth himself with a cloud Lam. 3.44 that putteth on the garments of vengeance for clothing and is clad with zeal as with a cloak Isa 59.17 send baldness in stead of well-set hair Isa 3.24 and smite with a scab the crown of the head ver 17. he that clothes the grass of the field shall strip thee naked If ever therefore thou hopest to put on the garments the four and twenty Elders wear about the Throne Rev. 4.4 or if ever thou expectest to be clothed with immortality of bliss away with the bravery of your tinckling Ornaments with the wimples and the crisping pins Isa 3.18,22 the Prophet there compares your Cauls and Tyres to the Moon no wonder sober mindes conclude you Lunatick And you that are the Amazons of the Age but of the Masculine-Gender that take your pastime in War yet walk as if shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace if you must needs wear Arms in Halcyonian days put on the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness and the Helmet of Salvation Belt your selves with the Girdle of Truth but do not draw the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God out of any other Scabbard then the Scriptures This is that true Ornament which becomes every sober wise grave modest and true Christian Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair c. But let it be the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.3,4 News from the Grave They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him John 20.2 TAken him away did the high Priests bribed Soldiers tell her so what incredible News is this none but a Sadduce will believe it Thou art mistaken Mary the Lord was never there there 's no circumscription by a Sepulchre of him that fills Heaven and Earth though a Manger cradled the Babe no Grave can comprehend the Lord was this Sepulchre larger then Solomons Temple or will he whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain 1 Kings 8.27 be confined by a few clods of earth Indeed the Angel bad the two Maries See the place where the Lord lay Matth. 28.6 but the Lord himself told the Thief To day shalt thou be with me in Paradice Luke 23.43 Thus the body of the Lord was in the Grave but not the Lord of the Body If the Resurrection be such a mystery of Faith to such as were Co-temporaries with the First-fruits thereof Acts 23.26 no wonder now 't is such a miracle of Grace to practice the Faith thereof If the case of non-Resurrection doth undistinguish the reasonable soul from Bruits no marvel the Sadduces of this Age are such beasts to deny it yet if Christs own Disciples in this high point of Faith could scarce believe their eyes 't is more then an O Altitudo of Mercy if the news at Jerusalem pass for currant at the other end of the world 'T is an unsavory Quaere to ask with what body Lots wife shall arise and but a shallow Hypothesis whether Aarons Rebels or Aarons two Sons shall rise first He that surfets himself to death with the luscious Mummia of another mans Corps shall doubtless bring out of the Grave as much as he carried in yet the other rise never the leaner Though he surfeted with the others Epigastrium or happily dyed with a piece of his belly in his mouth yet do not think that he shall rise with two Diaphragmes or the other be answerable as a Murtherer for the body he destroyed after he was dead The veriest Cannibal in all Tartary shall rise but with one body though a thousand be incorporated with him and if ever there come any Feminine Mummia out of Egypt to the Drugsters shambles thou mayest eat it without the least danger of rising an Hermophrodite That such Parables are incredible with the highest meer Naturalists is no news to the weakest Christian who hath more grace then to doubt what he hath no reason to believe If there be such a Sadduce in England as to deny the Resurrection he must needs be beholding to a Pythagorian Metempsycosis to bespatter one Heresie with the dirt of another for admiting that ridiculous old Fable of the Souls progress from one body to another by Traduction from such absurd premises might possibly follow the conclusion of the worlds non-conclusion to the perpetuation thereof to prevent a Resurrection It is not without all controversie whether the Christian demi-Jews of late or the Jewish demi-Christians of old are deepest buried in the Ignorance of a Resurrection they took our Savior to be John the Baptist or Elias or one of the Prophets as if one of their souls were passed by a kinde of Transmigration into our Saviors body these take Paul or Apollo or Cephas to be our Savior as if his very Personality were passed by a Mystical Union into one of their Souls Thus the naked Ignorance of any Fundamental Truth ever ends in Heresie which Heresie persisted in ever concludes in blasphemy It was Mary's complaint here upon a mistake That they had taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre and she knew not where they had laid him Me-thinks I hear Mary's eccho at this hither end of the world may it be but the like mistake resounded by many of us that pretend to look so much after him viz. That they have taken away the Lord out of the Sanctuary and we know not where they have laid him FINIS Imprimatur 1º Martii 1649. Joseph Caryl
had power over the Angel and prevailed Gen. 32.28 A Caveat for Charity Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them Matth. 6.1 VVHen thou castest thy bread on the waters let thy right hand conceal it from the left for a good work ill done belies the intention of the Spirit and scandals the truth of holiness He that gives his alms to be seen of men sells the reward of piety to purchase the curse of pride the sure promises of God for the vain applause of men that the poor are more beholding to his vanity then his charity whose bounty they highly gratifie if they pray God to forgive him his hypocrisie In a fit of good nature if nature can be so a man may drop an alms or two but this is meer moral charity the wretched Canker-worm of man-kinde may in hope to do his Coffers right by taking Gods promise for their security lend the poor an alms upon pawn of his Prayers Interest but this is mercenary Charity The gluttonous Epicure that in his jollity denyed the Poor the crums he gave his dogs may on his death-bed erect them an Hospital but this is thanks-worthless charity the prophane person in his gallantry may be very noble to the poor but this is vain-glorious charity the Hypocrite may embrace the Poors necessity as his alms opportunity yet have but Pharisaick charity the good meaning man may give liberally to the sound Criple but this is blinde charity the heart-melting yet purse-frozen Christian may give large and fair words but this is cold charity and all these shall have their reward Take heed therefore how ye do your alms Matth. 6.1 The Pharisees Prayer God I thank thee that I am not as other men are c. Luke 18.11 A Proud Prayer is a blemish'd Sacrifice and he that with this Pharisee justifies himself as righteous when he should confess his sins worships the unknown God of his Merits sacrificing his brain to the Calf of his lips and his Auditors ears to the Dagon of his brain Self-idolatry is a most exquisite piece of Spiritual witchcraft it changes the Pulpit to a Stage at the turn of a hand the breathings of a Spirit into strange Convulsions of Wit it makes but one thing of Idol and Idolater but one thing of every vain Babler and this Pharisee In this Prayer yea in these few words thereof where are no less then three lyes and another sin in each God He meant nothing less therefore lyed and took the Name of God in vain I thank thee gratitude implies some humility therefore lyed and dissembled that grace which he wanted I am not as other men are another lye accompanyed with Spiritual Pride and Arrogancy beside a runing vein of hypocrisie throughout the whole hence it is that Simulata Pietas becomes Duplex Iniquitas What a most gross Pharisee was this and can any in this age be so ridiculous in the sight of God or rather superlatively odious to the most High as with the damned Angels and this Pharisee to usurp more holiness then God vouchsafes them and dissemble more then ere was in them Such an Hypocrite is a Proteus in Religion that would fain be Canonized for his Tongue-devotion A fair blazoned Catalogue of good works is not the Argument of Prayer nor a long Prayer the infallible Argument of a good work Let the Proud Pharisee court Heaven with his complement and accost the Lord with thanks that he is not as other men are but let my Prayer be Lord be merciful to me a sinner Luke 18.13 The Key of the Grave And when he thus had spoken he cryed with a loud voyce Lazarus come forth John 11.43 NO wonder he should open anothers grave whilest himself lived that could unlock his own when himself lay dead and buried in it If Peter can by the power of Christ speak men dead with one word Acts 5.5 no question but himself can speak them alive again by another He that hath prevailed o're the gates of Hell may easily command the door of the grave the power that opened the earth to let Corah in may well open it again to let Lazarus out The Resurrection shall be anticipated the Graves shall yield their dead before the time rather then the power of Christ shall admit dispute for the want of a miracle Draw the Curtain Art not thou this Lazarus Lazarus dead and buried or Lazarus raised and revived Lazarus had been but four days in the grave and Martha concludes him to stink and objects it in bar to Christs proceedings How many times four years hast thou layen dead and buried in the grave of sin which may conclude thee also exceeding noysom in the nostrils of God yet he never objected it as a bar to thy faith Is not every faculty of thy soul as well as each member of thy body by reason of a long continuance among the dead become all putrified and nothing but corruption Is not every sin a grave for one faculty or other hast thou not as many graves as sins is there no corruption in thine heart none in the will none in the affection none in the judgement nay would you think this Land and Nation were quite rotten dead and buried and that it were now but the disturbed ghost of a body Politique that came to an untimely end by being her own Executioner would you think that Judicatories Pulpits Magistracy and Ministery were all dead buried rotten and full of corruption I conclude nothing onely offer these things to thy consideration yet this I say That supposing a verity in all this yet if there be faith enough to believe there is some hope yea an assurance That though the soul even-stink again by reason of Custom in sin yea though the Devil himself roll a stone at the door of thy heart not onely to bolt in the corruption that is already there but also to harden it against the very means of Vivification yet Christs blood having cryed with a loud voyce Lazarus comes forth John 11.43 Judas his Epitaph From the Ministery and Apostleship Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place Acts 1.25 THe saddest Epitaph that ever enshrin'd the memory of a dead Apostle it seems he was degraded from his Apostleship before he went to his own place What had he a propriety in that place by purchase doubtless even in this life he had the Livery and Seisin thereof in his conscience though he were not put into actual Possession till the Conveyances were sealed with his own blood But what call you this place where was it seated how scituated whose was it anciently was Judas such an eminent person in his countrey that Peter could possibly imagine that there could be no man ignorant of that Place which was so properly his own no question but the temper of that Expression hath more of the Spirit in it then a thousand of those uncharitable Ignorations
heart cashier all cowardly thoughts and such as hold correspondence with the Enemy let not Hypocrisie as a Spy sneak in and out thy Garison let the Watchword be Emmanuel and let a party of faithful Prayers be ever sallying out till Relief be sent from Heaven with a supply of Grace in a Sufficiency thereof Resist the Devil and he will flee from thee James 4.7 Balaams Ass The dumb Ass speaking with mans voyce forbad the madness of the Prophet 2 Pet. 2.16 COvetousness is sufficiently detestable in such as wait but on their private callings far more odious in those that on State-Affairs but most abominable in those that on the Altar To dishonor that God which made the earth for the dross of it is the ignoblest of ingratitudes and for the menial servants of the high Lord of heaven and earth to become the mercenary slaves of men to discredit that Master whom they pretend to serve is the inexemplariest president of the horridst rebellion Some have had a strange dream of the Resurrection of Beasts and thence most grosly held that Creatures meerly Sensitive shall rise again truly I know no better Argument to back this beast with then to interpret that opinion to be understood of this dumb Ass to rise in judgement against the madness of many the supposed Prophets of our days for though as the tree falls so he shall lie yet I cannot say That he that lives and dyes a beast shall rise so Time was I spare the present tense when many learned Prophets for a mess of pottage sold the truth to Anathematize the pillars thereof me-thinks they are somewhat excusable for they were mad the silliest of all Animals here wonderfully qualified at once both to publish and reprove their Lunacy Beware then thou that art in the Lords Embassie or oftner in thine own service under that notion make not a trade of that which may and should be bought without money neither set the gifts of God to sale be not tempted by the baits of men to tempt the Almighty to counterdict his determinate purposes neither let the rewards of the wicked ensnare thee to the prejudice of the faithful servants of God lest they condemn thee of less understanding then the Horse or Mule for The dumb Ass speaking with mans voyce forbad the madness of the Prophet 2 Pet. 2.16 The Spirits Touchstone Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no 1 John 4.1 LOok well to thy faith there are many false Prophets risen up amongst us Anchor it on firm ground Religion blows too many ways All Prophets are not Michaiahs believe them not one Doctrine the sooner for circumcising the Text to come to the Cushion ere the matter beating it down in stead of sin and pressing it more then the Point they handle All Prophets are not Micaiahs believe them not one Corollary the sooner for Metaphisicking the Temples into Schools and learnedly confuting their own Objections to salve their own Credits more then their Auditors souls All Prophets are not Micaiahs believe them not one Sycophantick lye the sooner for their multitude or the high qualifications of their Chaplainship King Ahab had four hundred and a lying Spirit in them all Gods word is the Spirits Touchstone thereby thou mayest distinguish the Wolf from the Lamb and the Serpent from the Dove Commit not thy souls fraight to the faith of every wind nor thy faith to the wind of every Doctrine lest thou make Ship-wrack of both Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no 1 John 4.1 Simon the Cross-bearer And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name him they compelled to bear his cross Mart. 27.32 VVE read of no less then four Simons in the Gospel Simon Peter firnamed Bar-jona Matth. 16.17 the Fisherman-Apostle Matth. 4.18 Simon Magus the Samarian Sorcerer Acts 8.9 Simon Zelotes Luke 6.15 the Canaanite Matthew 10.4 and this Simon of Cyrene Matth. 27.32 who bare that Cross which bare that Christ who bare our Sins Isa 53.11 what a heavy weight was that were there as many worlds as atomes in this and each of them multiplyed by the highest of numbers they were all too light to ballance the least chip of this Cross To stile him the Gospel Atlas is too diminutive an Epithite What did Simon bear Christs Cross a load that would have made the very Pillars of Heaven and Earth to crack agen No Christ bare his own Cross none but himself could bear that Cross and our Curse indeed Simon bare that wooden Cross the stony Jews prepared out of Jerusalem's Oaks and Simons Apes at this day bear that Golden Cross the leaden Priests or Demetrian Romanists prepare for the Worship of their Ave-Diana If Simon had born Christs Cross he should have been Simon the Martyr of Gyrene Simon may be said to bear the Cross of Christ but not Christs Cross Thus many are erroneously supposed Christs Cross-bearers when oft-times they are no better then Christs Crucifiers And thus if a covetous wretch that is a Piety-pretender be summoned to disburse for Christs State-service he will suffer in person by imprisonment rather then in his bounty by enlargement and submit himself to be shut fast rather then his Coffers to be opened yet plead Conscience as if it were that onely which is so straight-laced whereas indeed his purss-strings are shrunk yet then proclaim himself as one of Christs Cross-bearers when mean while like Covetous Judas he is but his own Budget-bearer Monsters in nature there are if there could be Monsters in Grace the Hypocrite must be one of the ugliest All sufferers are not Christs Cross-bearers nor all dyers for Religion Martyrs But if thou suffer not in but for a good cause and for a good conscience then art thou one of Christs happy Cross-bearers if thou patiently bear reproach contempt and the scorn of men for the Gospels sake then mayest thou more properly be said to bear Christs Cross then the Man of Cyrene Simon by name whom they compelled to bear his Cross Mar. 27.32 The Soldiers Mistake They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots Mat. 27.35 VVAs there ever a fairer distribution of such sacrilegious plunder yet who but a Prophet could have thought that those Robes which apparelled the Son of God should ever have cloath'd such impious varlets They parted his garments among them There may be Rents Sects and Divisions in the Church among the visible members thereof but the seamless Vesture Truth the Churches pure and unblemishable Ornament maugre the prophanest violence of the rudest Soldier shall ever remain inviolably whole perfect and intire Naked wretches what covert gave these Ornaments to your shameful infidelity what beauty to your deformity what lustre to your ugliness you embrace a Shadow and let the Substance vanish No wonder the members are left naked when the body is devested But
are these ignorant Soldiers the onely mistaken creatures are there not others who wear Christs Livery yet crucifie their Savior none who put him to death that they may part his garments among them none that wear the costly Ornaments of Ceremonial Worship yet are naked in regard of the true Ornament of Faith and the living object thereof Are there none that rest upon duties yet murther their Christ in their daily practice no hypocrites that put on the outside of Religion yet line it with Martyr-Scarlet none that garb themselves according to the season of the times and temper of Promotions Clime wearing that Religion which is most in fashion though never so unbeseeming the quality of a true Christian or unfit for the soul that wears it cutting the size of their Conscience by the measure of their ambition not their Religion by the rule of Gods Word Are there none who seem to put on Christs Livery at every duty at every Sermon on every Sabbath yea at every meal yet devest themselves of the garments of his Righteousness Thus all the world 's mistaken The Soldier 's was an ignorant mistake but ours a wilful they left the substance for the shadow we take the shadow for the substance What 's the difference they crucified one Christ we new make another they out of the rude deportment incident to their profession part among them his garments whom they crucified we by the dirt of our hypocritical performances bespatter his garments whom we profess to hallow All which is now come to pass that it might indeed be fulfilled what was spoken by the Prophet They parted my garments among them and on my vesture did they cast lots Psal 22.18 The learned Babler Then certain Philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoicks encountred him and some said What will this Babler say Acts 17.18 VVHat makes Paul at Athens knew he not that the Inscription of Antiquity on the one side and the Teste of the Learned stamp'd on the other makes a currant Religion of the grossest Superstition knew he not that he was to buckle with a whole Academy of Idolaters and that nothing obstructed the propagation of the Gospel in the purity and simplicity thereof so much as the unsanctified superfluities of Humane wisdom Grant this yet were there any Lectures of Jesus in the Attick Schools or had the body of Philosophy any knowledge of a Resurrection or could it Syllogistically conclude a Trinity of Persons from the premises of one most absolute pure simple undivided Divine Essence This was a mystery too Metaphysical for the profoundest Sophies in Athens thence say they Let us hear what this babling fellow will say And are there no English Athenians that hold the spirituality of Gospel-discourse to be meer babling the preaching of Jesus to be the setting forth of some strange God or some new Doctrine little dream our Holy-day Formalists that there is any Athenianism in their Devotions whilst they value the sincere plain and uninticing words of the wisdom of God but as the preterfluous evacuations of overcharg'd clouds and the demonstrations of the Spirit but as the Ignis Fatuus of a Superzealous Comet Little dream our Eutychian Sermon-sleepers that they are guilty hereof when they nod it as plainly and distinctly as ever any Athenian spake it Little think our Philosophical Longobards our universal Scholasticks Learnings Standards that their self-elation contracts this guilt when Idolizing their own endowments Herod-like they sacrilegiously rob God of that honor which is his by casting the Cob-web vail of their usurped Hosanna's over Natures more refined qualities to detract from the Fountain of Wisdom from the wisdom of the Highest insomuch as were Paul himself to be sent in a second message they would boldly accost him with this Salutation What will this Babler say Acts 17.18 The Athenian Inscription As I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an Altar with this Inscription TO THE UNKNOVVN GOD whom ye ignorantly worship Acts 17.23 THis nigh seems no less Atheistical then Superstitious To disacknowledge the known God may stand as a Maxime in Atheism to acknowledge the unknown God as a Paradox in Superstition To worship we know not what is the center of all Idolatry and as Atheism stands at the right hand of Prophaneness so Superstition on the blinde side of Ignorance No wonder Ignorance is held the Mother of Devotion when any thing becomes the Idol of Ignorance Ask the meer nominal Christian the morally religious man that to gain heaven will not have his Religion tread out of his Ancestors steps for fear of prophaning their Canoniz'd dust nor that heaven should suffer the least violence by him lest himself suffer the stigm of Sect or Schism in the Pot-opinions of his right-elbow friends that will not omit morn or evening prayer for fear he should not with a quiet conscience use his accustomed liberty in the intervals ask this mans Prayer whose Superscription hath it if the God were Known I doubt we might read Duty on the Altar and Infidelity in the Heart Ask the Ignorant soul what Inscription is on his Altar whence so much strange incense is vanish'd into smoak he knows not whither and you will finde this Inscription TO THE UNKNOVVN GOD on the altar of his heart or David was no Prophet Psal 14.1 Who thought the fool such a cordial Atheist or Ignorance such a zealous blinde devotist it seems Superstition and Atheism are very near allied O that the Lord when he passeth by and beholds our Devotions may not finde Altars with this Inscription TO THE UNKNOVVN GOD whom we ignorantly worship Acts 17.23 The Female-Preacher Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives 1 Pet. 3.1 THe Female-preacher what new preposterous Doctrine is that doth not the Apostle writing to the Corinthians silence that Sex in the Church 1 Cor. 14.34 and thence issue a peremptory inhibition saith he not in the following verse that It is a shame for women to speak in the Church how stands it then with the modesty of their Sex are there in these latter days such effusions of Spirit as women may now wear a Pulpit to make that their glory which primitively was their shame 't is so without a paradox in the Oeconomicks of Divinity a sweet and gracious conversation doth Preach most excellent Gospel-Doctrine a vertuous life is a visible word of truth it takes God for the Text Truth for the Doctrine and Holiness for the Use it doth Preach in its practice yea so powerfully that oft-times faith cometh by seeing The vertuous conversation of the wife doth sometimes prove a happy Sermon to the husband modesty in her will Preach chastity to him her saying little reproves his rage her wise home-keeping is an use of conviction to his sociable profuseness her charity condemns his Nabalism her circumspection doth