with grief and sorrow of heart we do confess that we have sinned with our Fathers and with our Teachers that have mis-taught us to do amiss and to deal wickedly to prophane those thy Sanctuaries to destroy thy Temples and to make those houses of thee our God to become Dens of Thieves Cages of unclean Birds Stables for our Horses and the Receptacles of other bruit and fouler Beasts and as the Prophet saith of the Heathen so we may truly say of our selves Thy holy Temples have we defiled and made thy Churches heaps of Stones the Monuments of thy Martyrs we have thrown down and the dead Bodies of thy Servants we have given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Air and the flesh of thy Saints unto the Beasts of the Field And for this our great Wickedness we are become an open shame to our Enemies and a very scorn and derision unto them that are round about us and we do confess that we have justly and most justly deserved all the evils that are come upon us and we say with Ezra that thou our God hath punished us less then our Iniquities deserve Yet thou O Lord God like a most gracious Father didst not suffer thy wrath to burn like fire to encrease more and more and to continue as our Iniquities continued but in the midst of thy Judgments thou hast remembred thy mercies and commanded thy destroying Angel to put up his Sword and to punish us no more but to turn our heaviness into joy by rooting out our Oppressors and the Depravers of thy Service and restoring to us our most gracious King for which great Blessings and inestimable favours of thine O gracious God we laud and praise thy glorious Name and we will thank thee and magnifie thee for ever And now O Lord seeing we are taught by thy holy Prophet that Holyness becometh thy House for ever and thou hast commanded thy people of Israel that they should keep their Tents and Habitations holy and clean lest thou that can'st abide no impurity in thy sight shouldst depart from them which was a Type to signifie unto us how much more holy and clean thou would'st have us to preserve thy House where thy Service is celebrated thy Name magnified and thy Presence promised to be assistant unto thy Saints we do therefore in all humility beg of thee and from the bottom of our hearts beseech thee to blot out and pardon all the Abuses Prophaneness and Wickedness that hath been done in and against this House and we pray thee to accept of these our Prayers and Supplications unto thee to sanctifie the same and to make it a fit place for thy Service and so to preserve it an holy Tabernacle for thy Majesty to be present with thy Saints to have thy Name magnified thy people instructed and their Petitions presented unto thee and when they do pray unto thee in this place do thou hear them out of thy holy Heaven and let thine Eyes be open towards this House night and day even towards this place of which thou hast said My Name shall be there and thy dear Son and our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ hath said Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be there in the midst of them and this House being erected for the gathering together of thy Saints dedicated for thy Service and by our Prayers consecrated for thy Worship we do most humbly beseech thee to be present amongst us to hear our Prayers to grant our Requests and to give us strength and enable us through thy Grace to finish the Reparation of this House with Joy and to thy Glory which with such Alacrity we have begun and we pray thee likewise to guide us by thy blessed Spirit to walk according to thy Will that our sins may not provoke thee to suffer the Sectaries and the Enemies of thy truth and the Depravers of thy divine Service to prophane the same any more grant this O blessed Lord for Jesus Christ his sake to whom be all Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen
truth as the Poet saith of Ibis Tincta Lycambaeo sanguine tela dabunt Ovid. in Ibin Their sword is dipt in blood and â—ats the flesh of Innocents and they will give you poyson in a golden cup and deceive you even with Scripture Phrases when as Claudian saith de voluptate Stiliconis Blanda quidem vâ—ltu Claudian de volupt l. 2. Stilic sed qua non tetrior ulla Interius fucata genas amicia dolosis Illecebris So their Doctrine hath the Countenance of truth and the shews of a great deale of piety and charity but you can not see so far as the further end of their intention or at least of his intention that sets them on this course which is to divide the seamless coat of Christ to bring sects and divisions into the Church and to break the two staffes wherewith the Church of Christ is guided and subsisteth Beauty and Bands i.e. the pure Doctrine and the discreet Discipline of the Governors of the Church that these Governors being suppressed and their discipline destroyed and the bands which are the Fences of Gods Vine-yard being broken all to pieces the wild Bore out of the Forrest and all the Beasts out of the Field may destroy the Vine-yard at their pleasure and make the Church of Christ to become the Synagogue of Satan and the House of God a Den of thieves And therefore when any of these false Prophets should arise and seek to withdraw Gods servants from the Truth and true God Deut 13.5 1 Reg. 18.40 the Lord commands his people to put that Prophet to death and so Elias caused all the Prophets of Baal to be slain and Jehu did the like and though our Saviour Christ be not so severe in the New Testament as God was in the Old Testament to command us to put the false Prophets to death yet he doth most seriously advise us to beware of them Apoc. 22.15 and the Holy Ghost calleth them Dogs barking dogs of whom the Apostle biddeth us to beware lest they bite us And truely we have the greatest reason in the world to beware of them because these false Prophets that seduce the people with their smooth Preaching and with the Words of God are worse then any other wicked men that destroy none but themselves and they bring thousands after them out of the right way and from the right service of God And yet these false Prophets were the only Prophets whom the Jews magnified and the true Prophets of God they persecuted for Jezabel fed 400. of these false Prophets at her own Table which was a pretty company for one woman to maintain and for Elias which was the true Prophet of the Lord she swore that she would be the death of him as you may see in 1 Reg. 19.2 1 Reg. 19.2 And the rest of the People of the Jews walked in the same waies And therefore the Lord saith Micah 2.11 If a man walking in the spirit and falshood do lie or walk with the wind and lie falfly he shall even be the Prophet of this people And this hath been the Common course of the world in all ages For all wicked men and all worldlings that would notwithstanding seem to be Religious and pretend to serve God as well as the best and rather then the best will therefore have Preachers and Prophets to instruct them in the way of God as they pretend but it is indeed to cover and to cloak their Hypocrisie and therefore their Preachers must be like Jezabels Prophets Prophets like themselves that will Prophesie what they please and serve what god they please and with what service they like best And such Prophets and Preachers as will do so to follow their directory they shall want no preferment they shall have annuities and pensions and augmentations and eat at Jezabels Table Thus did the Jews lay down a pattern to magnify the false Prophets and now the Christians follow them But how did they deal with the other sort of Prophets that were the Prophets of the Lord the Prophet Esay tels you To the Seers they said see not Esay 30.10 and to the true Prophets they said Prophesy not to us right things and because the true Prophets that the Lord owned to be His Prophets would not dissemble and smooth them up by sowing pillows under their elbows and prophesying placentia deceits and pleasing things unto them therefore the Holy Ghost tels us they mocked these Messengers of God 2 Chr. 36.16 and despised his words that is the Words of God that were spoken to them by his Messengers and they misused his Prophets as you may see in 2 Chron. 36.16 And as S. Stephen saith they persecuted them from time to time and from place to place And thus did the Jews use or rather abuse the true Prophets And have we not seen the like dealings in our own time and the people imitating these Jews to a hair Persecuting all the Reverend Bishops and all the grave Preachers and spoyling them of all their Livelihoods to make them the very scorn of the World as we have been above these two Lustra's of years and yet in a deep Hypocrisy to magnify and to advance the false Prophets and those young novices and Preachers that commended their waies and walked after their steps though now the tide being turn'd the most of them cry Peccavi and say with the Jews We have sinned with our Fathers we have done amiss and dealt wickedly to let you see what kind of Prophets they were and what you should conceive of their extorted confession but enough of this that sheweth you what Prophets and whose Prophets their Fathers persecuted the true Prophets of the Lord. Yet here is one point more and that is 3. The Generality of their persecution for Quem Prophetarum 3 The Generality of the Persecution saith the Martyr Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted Can you name any one of Gods Prophets that hath escaped their persecuting hands And is it not strange that there is no Bound nor Measure of their malice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Devil is Gods ape but it must extend and reach to all Gods Prophets Surely no For the Devil is Gods apâ—â—â—nd as in many things else so he would fain imitate God herein As God would have all the Prophets of Baal destroyed that there might not be a false Prophet left to seduce his people so the Devill would have all the Prophets of the Lord destroyed that there might not be one true Prophet left to instruct Gods people and therefore he crieth out unto his instruments Down with them down with them even to the ground and let the foundations be cast down that their building may be quite demolished like the re-edifying of Jericho whose builder should be accursed and should lay the foundation thereof in his First born Josh 6.26 and set up the gates thereof in his
King 21.8 false Prophets at her own Table and she vowed to be the death of Elias 1 King 18.4 and made a wicked King to become far more wicked by her continuall instigation of him to wickedness and therefore she was a very wicked woman vers 19 and the more inabled to be wicked because she was so Noble and so Witty when as there is no wickedness so great and so unavoydable as armed wickedness which is invented by Subtilty perpetrated by Power and defended by Authority for And how inabled to be wicked as Non nisi ex magnis ingeniis magni errores Great Heresies never spring from mean Schollers and great oppressions could never be acted by petty Landlords or mean Gentlemen so Jezabel could never have gotten Naboth's Vineyard if she had not had the wit to device this plot and the learning to write these letters for so the Text saith 1 King 21.8 That she wrote letters in Ahabs name and the power as being King Ahabs wife to seal them with his seal and send them as from him to the Nobles and Elders to execute her wicked will neither could she have maintained 400. false Prophets at her own Table if she had not had the wealth and power for to do it and so if Irene had not been an Empress she had never perswaded a whole Council to set up the worshipping of Images And therefore great Schollers ought earnestly to beg and to pray to God for grace to sanctify their learning that they may be retained within the sphere of truth and not to start aside like Arius Eutyches Nestorius and the like learned Hereticks that thought so well of themselves that they disdained to walk in the troden paths of Orthodoxall Divinity and therefore invented most wicked Heresies and so as the Lord saith of proud Babylon their Wisdom and their knowledge caused them to fall which hath been the practice of our Presbyterians and Jesuits in these very daies And in like manner Kings and Princes Magistrates and Judges Landlords and Great men ought to be very carefull of their actions and more carefull then any other men that are of a lower station because they are more inabled to do more wickedness For if a mean man wrong me I may perchance be able to right my self but if a Judge decree against me or a mighty man oppress me I must with patience be resolved to bear it or by strugling in all likelihood to be much more damnified And the Devill laboureth more to get a subtile Scotus or a learned Origen to become an Heretick a powerfull Nero to become a Tyrant and an Assembly of Senators and a choise Parliament to become Rebels and to bandy against their King as the Senators of Rome conspired the death of Caesar and the Jewish Sanhedrim the death of Christ and the grave Judges to become such Judasses as to sell the Truth or like the Judges of Susanna to condemn the Innocent and the rich Landlords to turn miserable Oppressors I say the Devill laboureth more and rejoyceth more to have one such than twenty other poor Snakes that want the abilities of Wit Learning Power and Authority to become his Instruments of wickedness And therefore I say to all such men of good parts and great power as the Prophet saith Psal 2â— for the same cause Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be Learned all ye that are the Judges of the Earth And do you follow the known common troden path of truth all you that are good Schollers And so much for the speaker Jezabel that was a noble witty and wicked woman 2. For the Speech of this wicked-wicked woman 2 The speech of Jezabel it is a most Excellent Speech worthy to be set in Letters of Gold inter dicta sapientum among the Aphorisms or Parables of the wise As I shall make it manifest unto you when I come to explain the same In the interim you may observe How that many wicked men and wicked women Hereticks and Tyrants have had many times some Excellent sayings and sometimes most worthy Acts have proceeded from them As the Papists and Presbyterians have made many good Sermons and written many Excellent Books and Treatises of Divinity full of Learning and great Piety and who better then Bellarmine his Meditations upon his Gemitus columbae How many wicked men have said and done many things well Soliloquies De ascensione animi in coelum per scalas rerum creatarum Septem verba Christi in cruce And his Comments upon the Psalms and the like And so Ferus Granatensis Drexelius and many more have done the like and we find divers others that have been great Hereticks to have done so likewise And in like manner we do read that many wicked men have done some speciall Acts of Virtue and Piety As Herod that sought the Life of Christ yet did he as Josephus relates it most Magnificently re-edify and beautify the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and the other Herod the husband of Herodias hearkened to John Baptist in many things and Pilate that condemned Christ to death did many things exceeding well as in the strict examination of Christ his Cause and justifying his Innocency when he delivered him to be Crucified and Claudius Lisâ—as though he would not release S. Paul from his bands yet he preserved his Life and delivered him out of the hands of his enemies and the unrighteous Judge that as our Saviour saith Luk. 18.5 feared not God neither regarded man yet did he once justice to the importunate Widow and Am. Marcellinus tels us that even fulian the Apostate and the bitterest persecutor of the Christians was adorned with many singular properties as being an Excellent Schollar bred in Athens at the same time with Greg. Nazian and writing many Epistles Orations and Morall sayings and behaving himself most mildly and courteously towards all men but the Christians and so we read that Vespasian Titus Nerva Trajan Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius and many others of the Roman Emperors had many good parts in them and did many singular acts of Virtue though they were no Christians but some of them very Evill men and great persecutors of the Christians And I could instance in many Tyrants and other great Oppressors of Gods people and wicked men even in our own Kingdom that have done some Acts of Virtue and Piety And I could name you the men that have been very Turbulent in Gods Church and mis-led abundance of the people and yet have made some good Sermons and written some good Treatises of Divinity And what then Shall we therefore adore them and follow them in their factions and evill waies because they do or have done some good By no means For as thou shouldest not drink the Wine that is mingled with some Poâ—son though the Wine be never so good so it is not safe for thee to hear that Sermon that leads thee to Sedition though
the words of God And It should teach the people to esteem of their Preachers as of the Ministers of Christ and as Legati à latere the Embassadours of Christ and the dispensers of the manifold mysteries of God and it should likewise move them to hear our words not as the words of men but as the words of the true Preachers are indeed the words of God Therefore Christ saith to his Disciples that while the Scribes and Pharisees do sit in Moses chaire and so teach the doctrine that Moses taught all whatsoever they bid you observe Aug. advers lit Petil. l. 2. c. 6. that observe and do but do not ye after their works Dicunt enim quae Dei sunt faciunt quae sua sunt for they say the words of God while they teach the Doctrine of Moses but they do the works of their own Wills when they do what Moses forbids them saith Saint Aug. And that should perswade the people to hear the Preachers words with more reverence and to believe them with lesse doubting 2. 2 God himhelf As the Prophet is Gods Herald and Embassadour to proclaim Gods will so God himself is the chief Authour of this Proclamation and the principall proclaimer of this war against the wicked for there is no peace to the wicked Psal 62.2 saith my God And God hath spoken it once and twice and the Prophet heard the same That power belongeth unto God and he hath said it once and twice that there is no peace to the wicked as you see here in this Text Aug. ad Pollent l. 2. c. 4. and in c. 48.22 Et verba toties inculcata vera sunt viva sunt planae sunt therefore we may be sure we need not doubt it there is no peace unto the wicked because God which proclaims this war is able to make it good against them because he is as he is stiled the Lord of Hosts And his Host is both 1. Celestial And 1 Part of Gods Host threefold 2. Terrestrial And 3. Infernal And 1. 1 Regiment of Gods Army Aietie His Celestial Host is threefold 1. Aiery And 2. Starry And 3. Glorious And By the first he drowned and destroyed the world for the Windowes of heaven were opened Gen 7. c. 19 24 Josh 10. and by the same Host he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and the Ammorites with hail-stones and we see great winds destroyed many on the Seas and great frosts do devour many on earth Psal 147.17 for if God sends forth his Ice like morsels the Prophet demands Who is able to abide his frost The second part of his Host is the starry heaven 2 Regiment starry that is called Caelum quasi caelatum engraven and enamel'd with such glorious aspects And this Host as it speaks for God and declares the glory of God as the Psalmist saith so they fight for God Psal 19.1 as the stars in their order did fight against Sisera and the Sun stood still at Gibeon and the Moon in the valley of Aialon to assist Joshua to overthrow Gods enemies Josh 5.20 c. 10.13 3. Regiment glorious which is threefold The third and most powerful part of Gods Host which is most glorious resideth in the Empyreal heaven and they are 1. Saints And 2. Angels And 1. 1 The Saints blessed souls Raynold de Idol l. 2. c. 1. The Saints and blessed souls departed saith Raynold De sua faelicitate securi de nostra salute solliciti sunt and without question they do pray for the Church in Generall against the wicked and their prayers are very available 2. The Holy Angels are instruments of Gods love and mercy 2 The Holy Angels Act. 5.19 to help the faithfull servants of Christ as you may see how the Angel helped Tobias and brought the Apostles out of prison and they are the executioners of Gods justice against the wicked as you may find how an Angel slew all the first-born in Egypt and an Angel of the Lord went out Exod. 12.19 and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning Behold they were all dead Corps 2 King 49.35 And if one Angel was able to slay so many what cannot millions of Angels do And we read what a glorious King was Herod and how he was magnified by the people as a god and not as man but because he gave not the glory unto God the Angel of the Lord smote him Act. 12.23 so that he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost and our Saviour testifieth unto us Math. 24.31 what service the Angels shall do to God and for his servants at the last day 2. Gods terrestriall Host is both 2 Part of Gods Host two fold 1. The Sea 2. The Land And all that are contained therein and you know 1. How the Sea drowned Pharaoh and all his mighty Army and drowned many thousands since and you cannot forget 2. How the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah and his companions So the frogs flies and worms do fight for God Num. 16.32 against the wicked and as the Prophet saith The stone shall cry out of the wall Ps 106.17 and the beam out of the timber shall answer it Wo to him that buildeth his house with blood Hab. 2.11 and so all the parts of the earth shall fight against the wicked 3. Gods infernall Host are the very Divels and damned spirits 3 Part of Gods Host that can do nothing without Gods leave and must do all that he commands them For so we read that an Evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul 1 Sam. 16.14 and vexed him for his wickedness And so they will do to all wicked men vex them and plague them for their wickedness And so you see how it is impossible for any transcendent wicked man Murderer Rebel Idolater or the like to have any peace either with himself or his neighbour or especially with God that is so powerfull a God so able to destroy all his wicked enemies And therefore let all such wicked men repent and all others take heed of being wicked because my God which is the true God and the God of truth proclaims this truth unto the world that There is no peace unto the wicked THE FOURTH TREATISE Jer. 14.10 Thus saith the Lord unto this people Thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their feet therefore the Lord doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins WHAT our Saviour saith of the Prophesy of Esaias Esay 61.1 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears which was a very joyfull fulfilling of it indeed Luk. 4.21 so I am affraid I may say of this Prophesy of Jeremy that in these daies you may see this Scripture fulfilled amongst us because
considered that if the war was unjust yet as S. Augustine saith Aug. contra Manich. Reum facit regem iniquitas imperandi innocentem militem ostendit ordo serviend the iniquity of commanding makes the commander guilty and the order or duty of serving sheweth the Souldier to be innocent because that being commanded he may not refuse and he must not resist nor lift up his hand against his Governour but tolerate whatsoever is inflicted upon him unlesse he can by a fair and lawful means prevent it because it is far better to be a Martyr then a Traytor and as the Prophet saith Obedience is better then Sacrifice and Rebellion it is as the sin of Witchcraft And if the Apostles and Martyrs and the Primitive Christians were thus dutiful obedient and loyal subjects to such Tyrants and Usurpers and Persecutors as the aforesaid wicked Governours were how much more dutiful and obedient and thankful to God for him ought we to have been to such a loving mild and godly Christian King as wronged none of us but did preserve peace in these dominions and upheld Justice and Judgement among us untill that Antichristian long-Parliament rebelled against him And so the premises being well considered to the boyling spirits of discontented persons that distast all meats that sute not with their palats and have not the patience to tarry Gods leisure and to espic a convenient opportunity to do the work that is just and ought to be done in its due time but will inconsiderately and unseasonably like Brutus and Cassius attempt to do good service uuto the Common-wealth by taking the usurper out of the way I say their intention is very good and their desire most laudable yet lest with Brutus and Cassius they disturb the Common wealth and lose their own wealth and destroy themselves by their unseasonable prosecution of their commendable design I would advise them and all of their mind in all places where such Vsurpations are maintained to follow the example of Jehoiada to watch their opportunity and then to do it throughly and not to fail which as I conceive is both a just and a wholesome counsell But this people whereof this our Prophet speaketh murmured and spurned and like our Parliament rebelled and kicked not against an Vsurper which had been commendable in them but against their own lawful king which was most displeasing unto God And therefore these Jewes and all that imitate these Jewes are here justly threatned to be rejected and cast off by God for their stubbornesse 1 Sam. 15.22 disobedience and rebellion against their lawful King For as Samuel saith that obedience is more acceptable to God then sacrifice so I say that obedience to our lawful King and his Magistrates is the best thing that we can do to procure the peace and tranquillity of the Common-wealth 3. The last branch of their wandring from the right way 3 Branch of their wandring three-fold was their injuries and oppressions against their neighbours and this was three-fold 1. The robbing of their goods 6 Robbing their neighbouâ—s of their good Jerem. 22.17 2. The imprisoning of their persons 3. The taking away of their lives 1. The Prophet tells us the heart of this people was for covetousnesse and for oppression and for violence they builded their houses by unrighteousnesse and their chambers by wrong C. eode v 13. they used their neighbours service without wages and gave him not for his work and this they did saith the Prophet that they might build them wide houses or stately Palaces V. 13. with large chambers and great windowes cieled with Cedar and painted with Vermilion They cared not what wrongs they did to others so they might get it unto themselves they had no regard to justice as you may see it in the 15. and 16. verses but whatsoever they did to inrich themselves and from whomsoever they took it it must be reputed just and none dare speak against it And yet the Prophet tells us that as a Cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceits Jer. 5.27 and therefore they are become great and waxen rich yea they are waxen fat and shine and do overpasse the deeds of the wicked And Amos 8.6 as the Prophet Amos saith they bought the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes So greedy was this people to scrape together the wealth of this world and had no regard to equity honesty or good conscience And which is more wonderful from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet even to the Priest Jerem. 6.13 Esay 56.1 every one dealeth falsely and the Prophet Esay calleth them greedy dogs that could never have enough And whether any such covetousnesse and oppression be amongst our men and especially amongst our Levites in these dayes let them that are oppressed with over-heavie Taxes Customs Excise c. judge I leave it to you that have best experience of these times to determine and I will not be the accuser of my brethren as some Duns Scotus of them have been of me though to no purpose But whether it was the love of Justice to punish us for our sins or covetousnesse to inrich themselves and their associates that made our Grandees of late years to take away the reward of our labours even of all our labours from our very youth to our decrepit age I leave it to the Judge of all the world to detetmine for they have done it and he knoweth best why they did it onely we professe it to all the world that our consciences cannot tell us of any thing that we have done to deserve to be deprived of it And therefore we presume to pray to God though we taxe them not that the woe which the Prophet denounceth against this people Jerem. 22.13 for their covetousnesse and injustice may not light upon any of them that took away the bread out of our mouthes and our childrens and left many of the most painful labourers in Gods Vine-yard to dig or beg or starve 2. 2 Imprisoning their persons Jerem 5.26 This people laid wait as he that setteth snares to catch men i.e. they had spies in every corner and if they found any that spake any thing against them or against their covetousnesse or injustice though it were never so true then as they did with Jeremy they would throw him into the dungeon so Herod did with John Baptist and with S. Peter and with the rest of Gods Servants that reproved their injustice and spake the truth to them And do I say that any of our men in these day es did so or doth the like But as when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord in the dayes of Job Satan came also among them so I fear that when the children of God do now come to present themselves in his
ut bene agerent they will not understand the truth that they might do well 2. 2 The Hypocrites The next sort of bad hearers are the hypocrites which for a while will seem to be Saints and in the end will prove Apostata and an hypocrite is a Greek word that was used to signifie a Stage-player who for a time weareth the habit and carrieth the stile and title of a King An Hypocrite what it signifieth or acteth the part of some valorous Knight when as indeed he is but a Peasant and a Coward of no resolution and being applied to matters of Religion it signifieth such a one whose mouth ears and face and all other his outward deportment do make shews of great piety and Religion when as really he is nothing of what he seems to be but as the Watermen do look one way and row another way so doth the hypocrite pretend one thing and aim at another thing as those Spyes that were sent by the chief Priests and Scribes to watch our Saviour Christ did feign themselves just men but it was to this end saith the Evangelist that they might take hold of his words Luke 20.20 that so they might deliver him to the power of the Governour So here is a fair pretence to be just and honest men and yet a most wicked purpose to intrap and betray our Saviour Christ And have we no such Spyes in these daies that come to hear us that they might take hold of our words and pervert our words too that they might accuse us Res ipsaloquitur and I have found them And therefore seeing such hearers of Gods Words have but the shews and shadows of Religion and no substances they are fitly compared to those falling stars which the Phylosophers do call assub for as these in the night time do seem to be truestars in the Firmament and yet they are nothing else but certain fat exhalations of the earth which being lifted up through the upper Region of the ayr and kindled through the heat and force of the upper Element which is the fire do suddenly fall again into nothing So these hypocritical hearers of Gods Words that are Catones foris and Nerones intus as upright as Cato and as zealous as S. Paul without and as deceitful as Tyberius and as cruel as Nero within do for a while seem to be good Christians in the Church of God but because the Words that they hear take no root in their hearts that are canales non conchi like Sluces and Channels to convey it through them and not pools or vessels to retain it still within them when the fire of affliction and persecution and the fear of losing their honours and preferment cometh they fall away saith our Saviour even as the falling stars and they are ready to turn with every wind as you may note in your books the many multitude of Professors both Clergy and Laity that have done so since 1641. I pray God it be not laid to their charge 3. 3 The worldling The last sort of bad hearers are those worldly men that would gladly come to the Kingdome of heaven but they cannot be perswaded to relinquish and forsake the things of this world but they are so far addicted and so much in love with the pleasures and vanities of this present life that as Christ saith the cares and riches of this world do so choak them Luke 8.14 4. The good Christian that they bring no fruit unto perfection But the sheep of Christ with an honest heart and a simple desire to understand the will of God and know the truth that they may believe the one and obey the other do hear the voice of Christ And therefore as when Moses called the people of God to hear the words and Commandments of God and told them how the Lord willed them to sanctifie themselves the day before to make clean their apparel and to keep themselves from their wives Exod 19.10 4. 15. v. How men should prepare themselves to hear Gods Word that they might with the more purity and sincerity hear his words So the sheep of Christ considering that this outward sanctification and preparation of this people to hear Gods Word was but the type and figure of that inward purity and due preparation that they should make when they come to hear the voice of Christ do earnestly pray to God that they may come to hear with a good intent and not for fashion sake or with a prejudicate conceit of the Preacher or an obstinate mind to perfist in their own erronious Opinion whatsoever they hear to the contrary or especially to catch at some things from the Preacher to accuse him but to be truly edified in the Faith of Christ and rightly instructed for the true service of God These be the true sheep that do rightly hear the voice of the true Shepherd and all other hearers that do call for preaching and run after preaching and seek for singular Preachers of their own Faction are but wicked or formal hearers of the voice of Christ and such as the Prophet Esay speaketh of which follow after the Word and gather precept upon precept and word upon word and line upon line here a little Esay 28. 10.13 and there a little and are never the better but fall backward and grow worse and worse because these hearers do resemble the Inhabitants that are about the fall of the river Nilus which is very great and the fall thereof so exceeding high The customary hearers like the Inhabitants about the fall of Nilus Macrobius and the noyse of the fall so violent and so loud that at the first it astonisheth the hearers so much and maketh them in a manner sensless and to hear nothing else by reason of the violence of the noyse yet at length saith Macrobius when they are accustomed with the noyse thereof and that it becomes habitual to them it seems as nothing to move them to astonishment even so is the Word of God to these hearers At first it seems to quicken and make some impression in them but the same being so often sounded and the voice thereof so familiar to them and so often heard of them it moveth their hearts no whit at all but it passeth so smoothly through them that it maketh no operation within them which makes the Apostle tell us 2 Tim. 3.7 that they are ever learning and so ever hearing and yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2. Having heard the act which my sheep are to do that is 2 The object my voice to hear as they ought to hear attentively reverently and religiously to be edified and bettered thereby we are now to consider the object of this act what they are to hear and that is not the Turks Alcoran nor the Popes Traditions nor the Jewish fables but my voice saith Christ And this voice of
and other places round about and that only for Religion and not for worldly Dominion which is the suffering of the Christians under the Turk that permitteth any profession so they yield themselves to his subjection He must ingenuously confess this truth of Isidorus that the greatest of all Persecutions is that which is prosecuted by the Ministry of Antichrist that now raigneth in the world But if you would desire to know who is this Antichrist that now reigneth and thus rageth in the world I answer VVho is the Great Antichrist divers opinions That although many good Arguments are produced to prove the Great Turk to be that Great Antichrist and Constantinople to be that Babylon which is the Throne of that bloudy beast and as many good Arguments are alleadged by Powel Whitaker Downham Thompson and others of our Protestant Writers to prove that series paparum from Boniface in Phocas time to this present Pope is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken of by St. Paul 2 Thes 3. and that Rome is his proper seat and so called Babylm by St. Peter Yet divers others of no small Learning do avouch That as Ecclesia credentium corpus cum capite the whole Catholick Church of Christ head and members is said to be and is so termed unus Christus one Christ as in Joh. 3.13 And Christ saith unto Saul Why persecutest thou me when he persecuted his Church So Ecclesia malignantium the Congregation of the wicked or especially Senatus consultus the great Sanedrim of the people the supream Counsel A pack of wicked men is termed the Antichrist and the highest Court of any Nation which is the representative mystical body of that dispersed and nefarious Synagogue is oftentimes for their unanimous consent in all wickedness spoken of quasi unus homo as if they were but one man because they all have but one head one will and one end to destroy the truth and the true Church of Christ And this supream stool of wickedness that establisheth mischief by a Law 2 Thes 3.8 doth now appear to many men to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That man of sin and the child of perdition whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming because they say First There is neither Note Argument Saying nor Testimony of holy Scripture that doth competere antichristo and is sutable unto Antichrist but it is most properly found to agree with that Cumulus Senatorum the representative Council of all wickedness As 1. They have seated themselves in a mystical Babylon the Amsterdam of all confusion where you may easily find almost all Heresies maintained that have been invented and any Religion used but the true Religion that dares not be professed 2. They do sit in the Temple of God as God that is they do possess the truest Church of God that we know to be on earth and as God they establish Worship and Religion and ordain Laws for the Government of that Church and root out that Worship and Government which God himself hath ordained 3. They exalt themselves above all that is called God i.e. Above Kings This point of the Great Antichrist is fully and at large handled in my Book of The Great Antichrist revealed of whom the Scripture most properly saith Dixi Dii estis I said you are Gods because they are in Gods stead and do exercise Gods Power here on Earth and yet this grand Council of the Great Synagogue would not only be worshipped themselves as Kings but will suppress Kings deny any service to be done to them and suffer none to do them Worship which is properly to exalt themselves above Kings when they keep Kings so low 4. When by their false assembled Prophets they deny the Notions whereby we understand the Father and the Son to be the true God as they plainly do by the cashiering of the words Essence Person Trinity and the like words which the Church of God penes quam norma loquendi hath ever used to bring her Children thereby to some sure knowledge of that great mystery of godliness and to inable them to confute those wicked Hereticks that denied the same they do manifest themselves to be that Antichrist who as St. John saith denieth the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 2.22 which neither Turk nor Pope as yet ever did 5. The unfolding of that great mystery of the Beast Aug de Civitat Dei l. 20. c. 9. 14. which Beast St. Augustine understandeth of the Society of wicked Christians and the City of Satan that is signified by that Beast and the mystery which the Holy Ghost setteth down to be observed as the most proper Note of the Beast is that it containeth 666. touching which if you omit one thousand which is a full and perfect number and which is not an unusual thing in the Scripture to do to make the other the more mystery and consider that in 646. this great Sanedrim or superlative Council demanded the Militia or soveraign rule over the King for twenty years which being added to 646 do make up the just number of 666. This they say is a strong Argument to prove the grand Council to be that Great Beast 6. And lastly The unspeakable unparalelled persecution of this Antichrist above all the persecutions that preceded it either of Pope Turke or heathen Tyrants do plainly prove them to the judgment of some men to be the greatest Antichrist that as yet is revealed unto the world though some think that a greater may yet come before Christ does come to judgment which I do not believe But though I say as St. Augustine doth in the like case Alii atque alii aliud atque aliud opinati sunt Divers men have divers opinions about the time place and person of Antichrist which neither my Text nor my time will give me leave either to discuss or to disprove any of the same now Yet thus much I dare boldly say that letting pass the persecutions of the Preachers not to be paralelled in any History if you consider first the number of them all the Reverend Bishops all the Deans all Prebends and all the best Divines in the whole Kingdom And 2. the misery that is imposed upon them worse than death Quia dulce mori miseris To be spoyled of all their means banished from all their friends wife children and Parents and exposed to all wants and contempts so that neither Nero Domitian Dioclesian nor Julian brought such a storm upon the Church of Christ as is now brought upon the body of the whole Clergy within these five years and omitting the many thousands of good Christians No Historian can shew me any king that hath suffered more indignities at any â—nchristian hand than King Charls hath suffered from the Long Parliament that for their Religion and good conscience have lost their lives livings and liberties I say letting
are not able to seed the poor ' nor scarce our selves and some for other longer time reserving onely some small rent for the succeeding Bishops as in my Diocess theat Lordship was set for 10. l. yearly that is well-nigh worth a 200. l. and that was set for 4. l. that is worth a 100. l. and the like And therefore seeing the Bishops themselves did so unjustly destroy their succeeding Bishops what wonder is it that the just God should suffer the haters of the Bishops and the Enemies of all goodness to destroy them And therefore not to do my self what I blame in others lest God should justly condem me out of mine own mouth I have resolved and do pray to God continually to give me the grace to perform it and do hope that God will grant it me That I will take no Fine for any Lands or Lordships belonging to my Bishoprick while I live that I may not wrong any of my succeeding Bishops nor lessen the Revenue of the Church of Christ but to take heed and beware of covetousness which is the cause of much and many evils especially in all Church-men as you see it was the root that sprang to the destruction of Judas and to cause Demas to apostatize from the Ministery of Christ Secondly For the discharging of the Episcâ—pal duties which is a very great charge onus Angelicis humeris formidandum as a Father calls it if Revelat. ii 14. with the Church of Ephesus we have not forsaken our first love and grown cold in our care to promote the gospel of Christ yet I fear the Bishops had amongst them those that held the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to set a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel that is as the Apostle expoundeth it to love the wages of unrighteousness and for the love of worldly honour wealth and other sinister respects to grow cold in the love of truth which made a Preacher at Paul's cross to pray that God would be pleased to make the Lords Temporal more spiritual and the Lords Spiritual less temporal and it grieves me much to set down how the Bishops Courts were generally complained of how justly or how unjustly I cannot tell as the greatest Oprressours of the People and the publique grievance of the Kingdom their delays unsufferable their excommunications unreasonable Corn. Agâ—ippa De vanitâ—ue Scientâ—arum cap. 61. their Fees intolerable and often times their injustice no ways to be excused which made the Lay people to exclaim against the Bishops and their Courts as much and in like manner as Cornelius Agrippa and our Presbyterians do against the Romish Bishops And if they say as they do the Courts belonged to their Chancellours that were learned men Doctours of the Civil and Canon Laws and of honourable repute among all Nations and what they did should not be imputed to the Bishop's fault It may be answered Qui facit per alium idem est quasi faceret per seipsum he that offends by his Proctor shall suffer by himself And we must confess the Courts were the Bishops Courts and the Chancellours were but their Deputies and they should have rectified the Abuses of their own Courts Yet I must ingenuously confess that I can accuse none of the Bishops for this fault but that this is the complaint of the People how truly I know not unless the Chancellour might say to the Bishop as it was said to the Pope of the like Officer Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius He had paid him dear for his place therefore he must take great Fees and sell justice or he shall lose much by the Bargain for indeed he cannot sell cheap that buyeth dear and be a saves thereby nor can he prove but very seldom an upright Judge that hath bought his office and by corruption obtained his place and therefore this selling of the Chancellour's office and other places in the Bishops Courts was the root of all the corruption that were of those Courts and so the Bishops that did this even for these faults besides the neglect to redress their other abuses can not in my judgement be any ways excused But I will shew you yet To ordain unworthy persons to be Priests a great fault to the shame of some greater Abomination which I have often bemoaned when I considered how some of the Bishops not following Saint Paul's counsel in the ordination of Priests and Deacons to lay hands on no man rashly but to see the Persons to be admitted to Holy Orders should be no Novices and no ways unworthy of that high Calling but every way qualified both for life and doctrine so as the word of God doth require have notwithstanding Vide Englands Reprover pag. 67. either by the solicitation of friends or for some other respects and perhaps worser corruption many times made young Novices illiterate men and which is worse men of corrupt minds and bad life the Priests of the most high Gods to wait at his Altar that were not worthy to wait on our Tables and therefore as the Bishops that did this did herein falsifie their faith to God and betrayed his Service to these unworthy men so the just God hath most rightly suffered these perfidious men to betray their Makers to spit in their Father's faces and to combine with the Enemies of God to destroy the Bishops of Christ and so as the Poët saith in another kind Ignavum fucos pecus à praesepibus arcent Neither was this all the Bishops fault to ordain these to drive away themselves but as it was said of old Rector eris praestò Men obtained their livings four manner of ways de sanguine Praesulis esto or as another saith Quattuor Ecclesias portis intratur in omnes Prima patet magnis nummatis altera tertia charis Quarta sed paucis solet patere Dei So to put weapons into their hands to enable them to war with their Bishops it was the practice of some of the Bishops if we may believe the common report of the Country Mercury to bestow Livings Rectories Prebends and other preferments not on such worthy Scholars and Academicks as best deserved them but either upon their own Friends Children Kinsmen or Servants or on such as according to the old riddle could tell them who was Melchisedec's Father and his Mother too and could say Saint Peter's Lesson Aurum argentum non est mihi the clean contrary way And this very practice of those Bishops that did so bred ill blood and many corrupt humours against the Episcopal function as especially First A disdain of them amongst those worthy men that were so carelessly neglected Secondly A neglect of God's People and leaving them untaught and unguided by those unworthy men that were thus promoted Thirdly A general distast of the people against all the Bishops when they resented these distempers that were onely caused by very few And all these things cryed to God for redress and
righteous and just Secondly I say that there is crudelitas parcens misericordia puniens a sparing which is cruelty and a punishment that is a great mercie and such are the troubles pressures and punishments of God's Children mercies rather then judgments because they proceed not from God's Wrath but as the chastisements of a Father to his Children so do these come from the love of God towards his servants for their good whom he afflicteth here for a moment that they should be bettered and not be condemned with the Wicked hereafter for ever Thirdly I say that the Miseries Crosses and Calamities Reason 1 that the Faithfull suffer in this World are not always so much a punishment for their Sins Reason 2 though their Sins deserve much more Reason 3 and Sin is the root from whence all miseries do spring as trials and probations of their Faith and Constancie in God's love and service for so the Scripture saith that God tempted Abraham not temptatione deceptionis to deceive him as Satan tempteth us but temptatione probationis to try him whether he would obey the Commandment of God or not when he commanded him to offer his Son his onely Son Isaac for a Sacrifice unto God and so he tried the Israelites at the waters of Strife and as Moses saith in their Fourty years wandring through the Wilderness to see whether they would love the Lord their God and cleave unto him and continue faithfull in his service and so he doth plainly tell the Church of Smyrna that the Devil should cast some of them into Prison that they might be tryed and they should have Tribulation ten dayes and that is either ten years as Junius expounds it or else several times as others think yet all to this end that they might be tryed whether they would continue faithfull unto death or not and such were the afflictions of Job and of many other of the Saints of God they were justly deserved by their Sins and God in mercie sent them for their trial What the former Doctrine teaching the us And therefore whatsoever and how great soever a measure of Miseries Crosses and Troubles we have or shall suffer yet let us not faint nor be affraid of them and let not the Children of God be like the Children of Ephraim that being Harnessed and carrying Bows and so well prepared for the fight yet turned themselves back in the day of Battaile when there was most need of their assistance but as we have loved our King and have suffered all the calamities and burthens that are layd upon us for our faithfulness to him and the preservance of a good conscience so let us continue unto the end and never comply with any of the King's Enemies in the abatement of the least jot of our love and good opinion of the deceased King or with the Factious Non-conformists in the dis-service of God and the new invented Religion of our upstart Schismaticks let neither weight of trouble nor length of time change our minds because perseverance in Faith and Virtue is that which crowneth all the other Virtues and if at any time even at the last we forsake our first love and change our Faith we lose all the reward of all the former good that we have done and do by our revolt testifie that we were not good for the love of goodness nor adhered to the truth for righteousness sake but for some other by-respects for our own ends that never brings any to a good end and therefore the primitive Christians could never by any means be drawn to alter the least point of their Faith Prudent De Vincéntio and the right service of God but as Prudentius saith Tormenta carcer ungulae Stridénsque flammis lamina Atque ipsa paenarum ultima Mors Christianis ludus est All the Torments and Terrours of the World could never move them to change their mindes But some man may say Objection Providence hath decided the Controversy the King is dead Victrix causa Dits placuit and the Parliament hath prevailed against him and all his Friends and therefore what should I do now but comply with the stronger side and use that religion which they profess and that form of worship which they prescribe and so redeem the time that I have lost and repair some losses that I have sustained I answer Solution that our Saviour Christ to prevent this very Objection that the Jews might make to terrifie the Christians and to with-hold them from the faith of Christ because they had killed him and he was dead and therefore to what purpose should they adhere to a dead Saviour and hazard their lives and their fortunes to maintain the honour of a dead man that could not preserve his own life because a Living Dog is better then a dead Lion saith unto his Servant John I am he that liveth and was dead and behold or mark it well I am alive for evermore Amen and therefore let not my death deterr any man from following me or believing in me so I say that faith and truth are still alive and though oftentimes suppressed and afflicted yet not killed and therefore the Poet saith Dispaire not yet though truth be hidden oft Because at last she shall be set aloft And as another saith Terra fremat regna alta crepent ruet ortus orcus Si modo firma fides nulla ruina nocet And for King Charles I say though he is dead yet he is still alive many ways and that his blood like Abel's blood being dead yet speaketh and speaks aloud not onely to God These things were written and preached by the Author in the time of Oliver but also to every one of them that loved him that they should not so soon forget their faith and love to him that lost his life for their defence and the defence of the true Catholick Faith and though he be dead he is still alive alive with Christ in Heaven for evermore and alive with us on earth in the good that he did bring to us in the love that he shewed towards us and in the good that he left amongst us and shall we leave him and leave our love to him and our remembrance of him and forsake our faith and prove perfidious both to God and to the honour and to the memory of our deceased King and cleave to them to say and do as they say and do that have bereft us of him and would have destroyed us with him No no let us abhor them and their evil doings detest their false Faith and hate their Wickedness with a perfect hatred And though we have suffered much and may suffer much more at the hands of these Tyrants that are our new Masters yet let us submit our selves unto them but as Daniel and the rest of God's people did unto the Chaldeans full sore against their wills Iames v 11. Job lxii 12. and let us yield none otherwise to this present Government
Punishment which should be a warning to all Transgressors to fear the Vengeance of Allmighty God Thirdly The Lord Brooks The next Member of the Long Parliament that I shall set down in my Catalogue of disloyal Subjects is the Lord Brooks a man whose former life and Conversation which I knew by his own penitent Epistles and Letters that from beyond the Seas he wrote to his Unckle Sir Fulk Grevil afterwards Lord Brooks who shewed them unto me was very loose and dissolute and how in a short time by some strange Conversion far unlike Saint Paul's he passed from one extream to another Four remarkable things concerning the Lord Brooks from a very dissolute Youth to a most resolute Saint I know not but out of many remarkable things written of him immediately after his death I shall onely set down here these few particulars First That as in his former looseness he wholly neglected the Commands and grave Counsels of his Unckle Sir Fulke Grevil that was his Governour loco Parentis his Maintainer and upon my Knowledge a very bountiful Maintainer of him too so afterwards in his too much preciseness he did in like manner wholly reject his Duty and Obedience to his King that was Pater Patriae and a very gracious King to him too yea he became a very obstinate violent and a most virulent Opposer of his King as if he could not be a Saint in the Service of God except the became as a rebel to oppose his King but so it is most commonly seen that they which are undutyful to their Parents and Governors will seldom prove faithful to their Kings or Princes Secondly I observed that our of his superabundant zeal which he pretended to God's Honour he extremely hated and persecuted the Governours of God's Church and the chief Upholders of God's Service the reverend Bishops and and all the grave and learned Doctours of God's word and he was no less a Profaner of God's House which is the material Temple and the place where God's Honour dwelleth while the Saints are Pilgrims in the Wilderness of this World Thirdly It is not unknown to most that knew him that he could not endure to have this Epithete and Title of Saint to be given either to Evangelist or Apostle and especially to any other departed Saint or Servant of God as Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose and the like though he could not deny them to be with God in Heaven as if the Saints in Heaven for fear of Idolatry or Superstition were not to be acknowledged for Saints now on earth but that this Sanctity must be appropriated onely to themselves that are such furious Zelots against the reverend esteem we bear to the Saints in Heaven though we neither invocate them for help nor adore the best of them with the Church of Rome no more then they but knowing that not one is in Heaven but he is a Saint we give this Title of Saint to them of whom we doubt not of their being blessed with God Fourthly He had another property no less injurious to himself and the Servants of God on earth then the former was to the Saints in Heaven for that excellent Prayer in our Letany and the holy desire of God's Servants that it would please God to deliver them from sudden Death which all good Divines and faithfull Servants of God did ever acknowledge for a temporary Judgement of God and therefore prayed that whensoever it pleased him to call for their Souls out of this earthly Tabernacle he would be pleased to grant them some time and space to call upon him for the forgiveness of their Sins and to commend their Souls into his Hands and so forth Yet this Lord could not away with the Prayer nor abide to hear of this Petition but would have every man at all times to be so prepared for death that he needed not at any time to pray against sudden death and we say likewise that every man ought to expect death in every place and to do his best endeavour to be prepared for death at all times yet that neither this Lord nor the best Saint on earth can be so well prepared at any time but that he ought as he hath need to pray for pardon of the Defects and Imperfection of his Preparation and therefore to pray for time to make that Prayer and then as for time to dispose and fit himself for God and to make his peace with him through Christ so to set his House in order as the â—rophet saith to Ezechias and to settle his Estate among those that depend upon him which hath been ever held to be as it is indeed a Blessing and a great favour granted from God to preserve love and to continue peace and amity amongst a man's Children and the rest of his Friends and Posterity But here in this Lord we may behold and adore the Judgment of the just God how that as Goliah's Head was cut off with his own Sword so Judicium suum super caput suum this man's Judgment and his practice fell upon his own head and the Stone that he threw at another lighted upon his own Pate for in the Prosecution of his hate against his King as a just reward of that Service his Lordship being in Litchfield on Saint Chad's day the Founder of that Church while he viewed the College or Close as they tearm it and Church of Saint Chad to batter them down with his Canons for the Fideliy and Allegiance of that Fraternity unto their King being all harnessed Cap-a-pâ— from top to toe as he lifted up his Helmet to see the same more clearly behold you and see the just hand of God directing the hand of a youth that was a Prebend's Son with a Fowling-Piece to hit him just in the eye that as formerly he could not see the truth so now he could see nothing but fell suddenly dead and never spake word no not so much as Lord have mercy upon me so the Lord God shewed himself just and righteous in his Judgments and holy in all his ways and let all the Sons of men acknowledge the same and all wicked men fear his Justice Fourthly The next man Fourth Man that I shall bring upon the Stage to answer at the Bar of Justice is Master John Pym a man that was in an Office of great trust and of much profit and gain under the King and because as the Proverb goeth Much would have more his Covetousness egged forward by his Ambition to be great snatching at more then was just laid him open to lose what was due and to be deprived of his place that was so good Then he like the unjust Steward spoken of in the Gospel took unjuster Courses against his Master for he not onely advised with himself to detain more of his Master's goods in his hands and to deceive him of so much as might well enable him to live well and in good sort as his false fellow-Steward