there That were say our enemies to prophane Gods worship with the Imagery of musick and to introduce Heathenish usages into our Christian Temples I have always thought holy David as great a hater of Superstitious vanities as themselves and yet I have learned that it was his daily practise to worship God this way And if any think that the burden of the Jewish rites was so heavy that they had need of musick to cheat the wearisomeness of their service as we use to hang bells in the ears of our loaden horses let them know that the simplicity of our Evangelical worship admits of singing too if two Apostles be not mistaken And if any should pretend to the Spirit of Revelation to say that this was meant of Hopkins and Sternholds Psalms I would not credit him I have often admired at the Prophetick soul of our learned Hooker who many years since fore-told that if Puritanism should prevail it would bring in Anabaptism with it We have seen his words made good with the advantage of some score of sects besides which like young adders fearing some danger are crept back into the mouth of the old one and hid themselves And may they there finde an everlasting tomb and never come out again to bite venemously or so much as to hiss at those which are farther off from Images then they are from worshipping of Imaginations These odes were prepared for Chamber-musick which was admirably composed by that rare son of Art and Master in his faculty Mr. Jo. Jenkins that when we might not meet to chaunt holy Anthems in the Quire devout Christians might make their houses and their hearts too Temples of the Holy Ghost If any wonder at their Pindarick numbers he is desired to know that they were designed for vocal Musick and best fitted for it by often and uneven cadencies which would loose its Grace in equinumeral lines The Glory of God and Service of the Church is the onely aim of The unworthiest of those that wait at Gods Altars Tho. Stephens 1. Sunday in Advent Mat. 21. HOly procession from Mount Olivet The King of glory rides in state Upon an Asses back he 's set Passing from Bethpage to the Cities gate Ye winde-begotten gennets fly And turkish mules stand by He that bestrides the Cherubims will grace The silly Foal of an oppressed Ass The glad Disciples spread their robes upon her And all the way is straw'd w th clothes of honour They cast thick branches on the ground With which her Temples shall be crown'd And all the train Cry out amain And make one song Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna from the van we hear Hosanna's ecchoed in the rear Hosanna to King Davids son Collect. Lord we are silly heavy-laden asses But let thy holy Spirit rest upon us And cloath us with thy robes of heavenly graces Then nothing but Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna shall be heard among us 2. Sunday in Advent Luk. 21. PRodigious day a day of night Darkness surrounds the Orb of light The Sun his wonted beams forgets And muffled up at noonday sets The trembling Moon though wan and faint Her paler cheeks with blood does paint And all the Stars do sympathise I' th falling sickness of the skies Well may the nations roar and shriek When sea and waters do the like Mens hearts do fail for fear and why Na'ure her self begins to die But stay where thickest darkness crouds What glorie 's that breaks through the clouds Heav'ns eye did well to wink 't was fit For such a beam would dazle it 'T is he 'T is he The son of Man Ten thousand Angels bear his train His Trumpets sound so shrill and clear That quick and dead the noyse do hear When Iudah's Lion roars he 'l make The beasts of all the earth to quake Collect. Blest Saviour mayst thou be thus Lion to them but Lamb to us Lift up our heads now draweth on The time of our redemption Adopt us thine Make us thine own Joint heirs of promise with thy son Lions we know if we be such Will none of the blood royal touch 3. Sunday in Advent Mat. II. VVHat riddle 's this Does Iohn begin to doubt Do prisons shut him in shut faith out Or does Christs Herauld w th his finger point say Behold the Lamb of God and look another way Triumph Herodias He that did reprove Thy softer measures trod to please thy Love Now cannot keep his ground But he himself turns round The people troop to th' wilderness and finde Nought but a reed there shaken with the winde Pardon great Prophet this false theme Thy Sacred ashes does blaspheme Such temporizing in Kings houses dwells Not cloâ—h'd with Camels hair in Hermets cells Thou more then Prophet didst fore-see How thy Disciples faith would die with thee Unless the King of life and glory Would quicken it with a living story The blinde do see the lame do walk Lepers are cleans'd the dumb do talk Deaf hear the dead to life are brought The poor receive the Gospel taught Sense may instruct their faith and make it clear When Nature 's at a loss God does appear Collect. Lord we are leprous blind dumb deaf and lame But thy Almighty power is still the same Come Lord and work another miracle Raise our dead souls to life to heav'n from hell 4. Sunday in Advent John 1. IT dawns the day-star's up and hasts to greet The rising of the sun The Cryer calls the Court will straight be set The Iudge is coming on Strange Cryer this That chose a wilderness Before a populous town Was it because His Lord and master chose A manger for his Throne Oh no! The Ox and Ass have known Their masters crib to be their own But man alone Alas knows none Well suits a wilderness with beasts of prey When man has made himself more beast then they The foolish Iews blind with credulity Mistook this harbinger their King to be A burning and a shining light was John They straightway thought this light to be the sun Thus children bow To th' Heraulds gilded coat And do not know The Prince behinde does ow't John was not the Messias Nor was he that Elias Nor Moses's Prophet which they long expected In power and word though he Elias well might be And more a Prophet then e're Jew rejected Those prophesied upon the earth He prophesied before his birth They things to come did teach He present truths did preach By faith they saw Messias to adore him But none beheld him cloath'd with flesh before him Collect. Lord may his shining make us burn His burning make us shine in turn Let us prepare thy ways by him made known And smooth thy paths by making straight our own Christmass day John 1. THe shortest day has found the longest morn Which dawn'd in Abrahams days but now is born A day so glorious that the backward sun Seeing such lustre thought his work was done And rose so late As out of date The feather'd Quire
that he had appeared as the Son amongst the Iews that in Samaria he appeared as the Father and in other nations came as the Holy Ghost And truly although the works of the spirit differ from the works of the flesh as much as heaven and hell as much as light and darkness yet many times they are drest up in such properties that they aremistaken one for another How often doth sensual lust mask it self under a pretext of love voluptuousness be reputed joy carnal security be accounted peace a waiting for a more sure and severe revenge be called long-suffering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tiberii a politick declining nay weeping to accept that which we do most ambitiously affect as the late Usurper did his Protectorship be esteemed meekness and moderation But however we may be deceived God is not mocked Whatever outward adornments there be there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man within a hidden man of the heart which God sees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is precious in Gods sight 1 Pet. 3. 4. For however the leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie may puff up some make them swell a Christians vertues must be like his charity good measure pressed down shaken together and running over In a word to the form of Godliness he must add the power thereof Hitherto we have shot at rovers let us now take aim in the application and see whom this Doctrine hits And here give me leave to free my text from the injuries of those who make it a Mount from whence they bâ—tter all Christian Liturgies and established services of the Church and very zealously without knowledge from hence rail at all forms of Godliness as if they were inconsistent with the power thereof sure if the study of the Oriental tongues had not made these Rabby's forget Greek and all politer learning they would have known that there is a vast difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form or an appearance and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form or established order But indeed by mistaking this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have brought in a strange Metamorphosis a confusion and disorderly transformation in the Church of God crying out of Babylon they have builded another Babel where hearts and mindes as well as tongues have been divided in Gods service whilst one is for a powerfull Paul another for an eloquent Apollos another for a confessing Cephas who is for Christ For Christ is not divided 1 Cor. 1. 13. Nor must his service be For Christians must endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4. 3. I should write Iliads after Homer should I go about to plead for that excellent and devout form of worship established in the Church of England which hath found such eminent and learned assertors both in the last age and this that should I presume to add any thing I must needs make it go less and derogate from it by falling short of what hath been published by others Onely I beseech those men which are oppugners of all set forms seriously to consider that since the first Chaos of confusion when darkness covered all nothing hath been or can be absolutely without a form not an unlick'd bears whelp not their own conceiv'd ex tempore prayers not their very directory but hath a kind of form such as it is And I dare appeal even to the interested parties themselves whether such forms as are shuffled together by chance or such as are most refined and polish'd do best become the beauty of holiness Add to this who prays most believingly and with a fullest assurance of obtaining what he prays for whether he that hath deliberated upon and ponder'd with his heart the petitions which he offers with his mouth or he who must either by an implicite devotion give assent to all that comes from the mouth of a gifted brother or suspend his Amen when he hears any thing that is inconsistent with reason or the rule of faith Whilst still the gaping hearers are as much nay more stinted by such conceived prayers then they are by any printed forms before them So that 't is not a form that can be cavil'd at but because it is commanded when that very command lays the highest obligation upon us to that form Obedience says Samuel is better then sacrifice 1 Sam. 15. 22. The Levitical law commanded that the firstling of an ass should be redeemed with a Lamb shall we in the contempt of this command break the lamb's neck and think that an ass is a more proper offering for the Temple When the Temple of Ierusalem had been shut up and the establish'd worship forbidden there whilst the high-way religion of Dan and Bethel was onely countenanced God by the prophet Ieremy in the days of good Iosiah indeavours to reduce these wandring sheep Ier. 6. 16. Ask for the old paths says he where is the good old way and walk therein also he set watchmen over them saying hearken to the sound of the trumpet that trumpet which was of Gods appointment Numb 10. but they said we will not hearken And what was the event but in the next generation they were swept away in the Babylonish captivity much of this storie is ours We have heard the calfs of Dan and Bethel bleat lowder then the milch kine which drew the ark could low and the trumpets of war have drowned the silver trumpets of the Sanctuary But now by the infinite goodness of God we hear in the days of our Iosiah those trumpets sound again and this is the tune they sound Ask for the good old way and walk therein If we like Israelites obstinately refuse to obey this call and voyce of God take heed of a final captivity For believe it Brethren none run faster to Rome then those that seem to make most hast from it And gross Idolatry may and I fear is then committed when we cry out most zealously against it There may be worshipping of imaginations as well as images and as they break the second commandment who do worship false Gods so do they likewise who worship the true God in a false manner The one setting up idols give them part of Gods worship the other keeping back a part of that which the Church requires make idols of themselves As for that pitifull objection that our English service is a collection out of the Popish ritual or Mass-book I beseech you know that there were Liturgies in the Church of God before ever the Mass had a name or being and there was Rome Christian the Church of Christ before there was Rome Papal as ye count it the seat of Antichrist Now when the mystery of iniquity did begin to work the old Liturgy was not abolish'd but interlined and blotted with new corruptions which stains being wiped off the frame and body of it was as beautifull as ever This then
as they call it and a cursed neutrality or lukewarmness and such motes as these are knock'd down in every Sermon with much zeal and devotion but the beams of sacriledge and rebellion and murther have layn untouch'd for many years these have been prosperous and thriving sins and almost adopted into the number of vertues Thus do the prophets prophesie falsely and the people love to have it so But consider it I beseech you seriously that religion ties you up to an equal observation of all Gods Commandments And if you finde a convenience in the sixth seventh and eighth Commandment for the preservation of your persons and your proprieties all the reason in the world obliges you to obedience to the fifth to honour the King under whom you have that protection Consider withall that holiness and righteousness never are disjoyned And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Godliness in the text cannot consist without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sacred adoration and reverence before him in a religious observation of his holy days and awfull respect to his holy places and a reverential esteem of holy things Whatsoever is once made an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an oblation to the Lord such as Church-lands Church-stock Church-utensils leaves the person that shall so sacrilegiously prophane it an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed an accursed person And they that thus make much of Godliness that is much gain by it make but little of themselves For though they rob God they cannot rob the Devil he will claim his due he is that merciless servant that will one day take them by the throat and claim the utmost farthing Neither will one single act of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Godliness serve the turn there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power of it a power of doing it and of continuing so doing too The lamps of the foolish Virgins made as great a blaze and burnt as clear as the wise ones did But they would soon go out they wanted oyl in their vessels Oh Sirs labour to get oyl the oyl of Gods Holy Spirit labour to fill your vessels your hearts the seat of life your heads the seat of reason fill up your wills and your affections with it so will your light shine before men This oyl will blaze in your eyes 't will be dropp'd into your ears 't will flow out of your mouthes 't will supple your tongues that asking you may receive 't will supply your lamps that seeking by that light ye may finde and it will make glib heaven gates that knocking they will be opened unto you In a word if you thus put your power of Godliness into a form and actuate your forms of Godliness with the power you will proceed from one degree and measure of Godliness to another till you be made perfect in that state where there is all form and comliness all power and vertue of it in the highest heavens The last use should be St. Pauls words which follow in my text From such turn away Touch not such pitch lest thou be dâ—filed But for as much as onely our High Priest hath been separate from sinners Heb. 7. 26. that is from the corruption of their manners not the conversation with their persons For as much as the wheat and tares must grow together in the field of the world till the day of harvest whatever was dream'd by the Catharists of old or the Anabaptists of late I shall therefore forbear that and close all with a word of concernment to this days solemnity And here ye reverend and learned fathers of the law I shall be as brief as the knowledge of mine own weakness and your worth does oblige me It may be expected that out of my text I should prepare you a Calendar of prisoners of such as are proud blasphemers disobedient truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce traitors high-minded heady and he like But this were to tell you what others are not what you ought to be your selves And there is something in the words which doth more immediately concern you which at first ingaged my meditations upon this text It was said of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all vertues are complectively in justice and the hinges upon which the two tables of the Covenant hang are so jointed and riveted into one another there is such a connaturality between holiness to God and righteousness to man that they are inseparable If so that exhortation follows as a naturall corollary to my text Take heed of using a form of justice but denying the power thereof It was the prophetical complaint of the greatest sufferer by the malice of Devils and wicked men that ever was murthered since our Saviours passion that blessed Martyr our late dread Soveraign L. the King that his enemies to appear more solemnly cruel would in those greatest Formalities seek to add as those did that crucified Christ the mockery of justice to the cruelty of malice For that he might be destroyed as with greater pomp and artifice so with less pity he foresaw that it would be but a necessary policy to make his death appear as an act of justice done by subjects upon their Soveraign who being sworn and bound by all that was sacred before God and Man to endeavour his preservation must pretend justice to cover their perjury And some of us may remember that in those prodigious tribunals erected in despight of all Law both Sacred Common and Civil called the High Courts of Iustice after the nigrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Clancular Chamber-vote of who should be offered up and who acquitted there followed the solemn pageantry of bringing the accused person upon the Stage as if the merits of his cause should impartially be heard and he be judicially proceeded against Ahabs coveteousness and Iezabels cruelty had appeared too open and unmask'd had there not been a solemn fast proclaimed in which Naboth must be set on high and false witnesses sought out to accuse him And this proved so thriving a wickedness that it hath been too much practised ever since But my Lords as you tender your immortal souls take heed of making justice do the drudgery of private revenge However ye are called Gods remember ye shall die like men And whilst you live take not Gods work out of his hands vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. 'T is Seneca's rule non ex formula sed ex aequo justo judica the scoles which hang upon the beam of justice are equity and right A judge must be swayed by no by-respect He must be like Melchizedeck not onely in name the King of righteousness but in nature too he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without father without mother without descent with Saturn the first Law-giver of Crete he must eat up all his children not out of cruelty but impartiality he must know no relations Plutarch tells us of a Statue of Iupiter without
controversie were brought before the Priests and Levites who must shew them the sentence of judgement And this was practised in David's days 1 Chron. 26. 29. when Chenaniah and his sons of the tribe of Levi were set over Israel for all outward business in omni negotio divino humano says Vatablus for officers and Iudges The same we shall finde in the days of good Iehoshaphat who set of the Priests and of the Levites for the judgement of the Lord and for controversies between blood and blood between Laws and Commandments between Statutes and Ordinances 2 Chron. 19. 8. And if the Embassey of the Gospel be more honourable then that of the Law let not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Embassadours be more dishonoured Our Samuels are bred up in Ramah-Sophim too in the Schools of the Prophets and at the feet'of Doctors And as their education may intitle them to some talents of knowledge some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so pity it is that they should want the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they should be excluded those offices in which they may improve them Samuel's first title I know was to be set apart for the service of the Tabernacle and he did not seek his temporal power by any indirect ambitious or preposterous courses but being called by God he judged Israel all his life time And if the favour and grace of the Supream Magistrate which indeed is Gods call shall call any Clergy man to the exercise of any temporal power let us not quarrel at the preferment of a Priest as in contempt we use to call them for in such oblique descants we glance at the royal prerogative and either ty up the hands or question the discretiō of our Soveraigns And so much for the Person of Samuel which judged Israel all the days of his life 2. We have seen the Judge and his commission proceed we now to his Circuit He went from year to year in Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh Indeed Josephus adds to the story and says that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Twice every year passing through the cities he sate in judgement there I confess the temper of the Jews was so turbulent and their nature so seditious that without two Assizes in the year their prisons would swarm and like the Colledge of the sons of the prophets be too little for them Witness those unparalleld riots which we read of in the latter end of the Iudges where in the short inter-regnum of judiciary power they fall to Idolatry in families Burglaries in Counties and Rapes in cities And would to God England were so well tempered that the justice and righteousness of the inhabitants did not call for judgement as often But the Original is from year to year whether once or twice is not determined The places whither he went were Bethel and Gilgal Mizpeh Bethel signifies the house of God Gilgal Revelation Mizp Intention From whence Rabanus makes this observation that judgement in the house of God is to be pronounced not indiscreetly or with a malevolous soul but as Scripture reveals and with a good intention and brotherly love and so we must return to our own house at Ramah to the closets of our breasts and there give up our selves to Meditation All this is very true but too much forced 'T is ultra sobrietatem sapere to be too wise in fixing such sence upon holy Scripture as the Spirit of God never pointed at Lyra's short gloss is much more significant that he went per loca ad judicandum idonea to places most fit to hold Assizes in and such were these whether we consider the Situaation or the capacity of them Look upon the site and you will find Bethel upon mount Ephraim the navel of the Country Gilgal and Mizpeh in the middle of the Longitude So placed that Mizpeh was on the west side of the Latitude and Gilgal on the East In the middle and on both sides of the Country were the Courts of judgement erected Again look to the receit of the places and ye will finde that Bethel after it was honoured by Iacobs pillar became populous and large At the return of the Israelites into Canaan it had a King of its own was of so great a strength that the children of Joseph were constrained to take it by Stratagem not by force Judg. 1. 21. As for Gilgal it was the constant head-quarters where Joshua pitched his camp And Mizpeh was the place where all Israel randezvous'd to expiate the Idolatry of Baalim and Ashtaroth They must needs therefore be large and capacious towns fit for the reception of all that repaired to the Courts of Iustice there Appointed no doubt for the ease and benefit of the inhabitants whose charge and pains would have been too great to have repaired to Ramah the common seat of judgement Upon which precedent no doubt our King Henry the second by the counsel of his Son and Bishops which was afterward ratified by Parliament authority under Ed. the third appointed Iustices of Eyre justiciarios itineris that is Judges itinerant to hear and deterwine Pleas of the crown and pleas between party party in the several Counties where the facts are committed That so the notoriety of them may appear and the chargeable attendance upon Law-Suits at Westmin may not make men think the remedy worse then the disease And now I should have done with the Places the Parallel that is run between them and us if I were not assured that there is something Emphatical and extraordinary in them to intitle them to the seats of Justice Bethel was at first called Luz Gen. 28. 19. which signifies an Almond a rod of which tree God made to flourish miraculously to shew the preheminence of Aaron in the Priesthood It was by Jacob dedicated to God and called the house of the Lord and the gate of heaven because of Gods gracious appearance to him at that place After the return of the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage it was set apart for the worship of God For there was an Altar and thither went men up to sacrifice and to pray even at this very time as will appear 1 Sam. 10. 3. by the three men which Saul met there upon that occasion A place consecrated by Gods especial presence and manifestation of himself there according to that of the Prophet in Bethel invenit eum He found him in Bethel then he spake with us Hos. 12. 4. Yet Bethel the house of God is made choice of by Samuel for the seat of justice Gilgal was remarkable for the twelve stones which Ioshua pitched there in remembrance of the twelve Tribes w ch at that place passed over Iordan It is called the hill of fore-skins Iosh. 5. 3. from the circumcision which by Gods command was renewed there upon all the children of Israel There the camp continued till the Passover was celebrated Nay so convenient Quarters it was that for
distinguish between them some that get into the train and the retinue of Godliness as hatred to our brother attends upon zeal to Gods honour vain glory waits upon hospitable charity So that when we open to entertain the one the other too often creeps in with it which make a Christians life checquer'd Sables and Argent are quartered together Seeing then that malum est ex quolibet defectu bonum non nisi ex causis integris whatsoever is good must be intirely so when any evil circumstance is enough to deprave an action and weaken the power of Godliness no marvail if throughout the world we see so much shâ—w and so little substance And truly most men make it their work to live up to opinion not to reality They come unto thee as my people cometh says the Prophet Ezek. 33. 31. and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them They come and sit and hear here 's formality enough and thus far we are for them And yet they are not Gods people And would to God all would follow them thus far There are too many amongst us that will not sit as Gods people sit with reverence and adoration and fear before the Lord their King Marlorat interprets the Formalists in my text by a Metaphor fetch'd from images and idols which have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the resemblance but want the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life of what they represent which have eyes and see not which have ears and hear not But these do sit and hear that is the voyce of man with the ears of their body not the voyce of God with the ears of their soul. Indeed we live in age when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole body of devotion and religion is hearing like Pliny's monsters whose ears cover all their bodies It is worth observing here that the Prophets complaint is not they kneel and pray but they sit and hear although I know there is too much formality even in our devotions too yet because Gods house is emphatically called an house of prayer a devout deportment of our body there carries much of good example with it were it they sit and pray they would finde too many followers amongst us who dare present themselves before God in our most sacred and mysterious parts of publick worship in that unmannerly posture Our Saviour forwarning us of the practise of Hypocrites which are chiefly designed here in reference to the duty of prayer Mat. 6. 5. describes them by two notable circumstances The first is peculiar to them they pray standing in the Synagogues or publick assemblies The second they borrow from the heathen in using vain repetitions and many words And hath not this age justified their practise where kneeling in the Church of God hath been changed to standing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in comitiis in assemblies and committees where tautologies of Lord Lord have been repeated as long as Baals worshippers cried out O Baal hear us 1 King 18. 27. from morning unto noon Mistake me not I know a devout repetition in publick prayers does inflame our devotion but to lay hold of the sacred name of God till they can take surer footing and know what to speak next if this be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confess I know notthemeaning of the phrase The next duty w ch our Saviour pitches upon is that of fasting ver 16. and although the adjunct to Hypocrites there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a sad countenance be fully made up in our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fierce men as I lately interpreted the word yet Isaiah leavs these religious duties more directly at our doors Chap. 58. ver 4. ye fast says he for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness We may all remember what horrid murthers and prodigious rapines have been ushered in by this religious pageantry so that if once they came to an in nomine Domini a seeking of the Lord the people were taught to expect an inundation of mischief overwhelming them It were no difficulty to run a parallel between Hypocrites practises and our own in all those circumstances mentioned by our Saviour But in one we do apparently fall short of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this shew of Godliness even of the Pharisees themselves For they hold it as a tradition of the Elders not to eat nor drink nor sacrifice with unwash'd hands which was so general a practise among the heathen that I finde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 washing the hands in Lycophron put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for sacrificing But God knows we do too often approach Gods altars without washing our hands in innocency nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Poets language besmear'd with gore and blood as if we were going to lay a bloody sacrifice upon Gods altar And indeed so great enemies to innocency are we grown of late that we cannot indure any thing that is a badge of it A Surplice affrights us more then garments rolled in blood And if any Minister now should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a custome says the learned Grotius among all nations for those that officiate in holy offices to be clothed in white I say if any should appear like the angel at our Saviours sepulchre Mat. 28. 3. with raiment white as snow we are ready to cast durt upon it and make it as black by our reviling as the Prince of darkness as if the power of Godliness consisted in opposing all shews and appearance of it The ambition of Satan at first was to be like God Now although he hath lost his happiness yet he retains his vice still he is as ambitious as ever to appear to be like God The sons of God cannot present themselves before the Lord but Satan will crowd in amongst them Iob 2. 1. And this Prince of darkness will work as wonderously in his new lights as Manoahs angel did in the flame Iudg. 13. 19. Eusebius tells us that Simon Magus the first Antichrist appear'd in all power and signes and lying wonders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doing strange miraculous works by the power of the Devil So that he was reputed a God and had a statue erected to him by Claudius in Rome with this inscription Simoni magno deo to the great god Simon And no wonder that superstitious Rome should do this when even in Samaria where a Church was now planted he was called the great power of God Act. 8. 11. Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Eusebius the principal God as his strumpet Helena was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first cogitation the first Minerva of this Iupiter This great Impostor to make his inchantments gain credit without control makes a shew of Christianity was baptized by Philip desires to buy from the Apostles the power of the Holy Ghost Nay boasted says Irenaeus quod in geÌ„tibus quasi spiritus sanctus adventaverit