Earl of Tyrone the Irish Rebell Whose Mouths and Lungs blew up the Fire of contention in our late Civil Broiles but the Presbyterians and Covenanters Surely Kings will be warn'd by such Fatal Examples from trusting their Supremacy the Choicest Flower of the Crown out of their own keeping either to Popes or Presbyters that will not be subject to them I mean the exposition of Scriptures and Power of the Keys For all English Bishops and Ministers that are not the Kings Ministers are Emissaries and Ministers of the Devil or the Pope at least grand Impostors Enthusiasts and Cheats For at the upshot all men's Faith must bottom upon some humane Authority or other except what the Prophets and Apostles had which was more properly knowledge than Faith but our Faith and all Faith ever did and ever must rest in humane Authority Indeed all true Faith is the Gift of God as all other Gifts and Graces are for without Gods special Grace no man can believe the truest humane Authority or Church upon Earth to be true But still I say all but Enthusiasts and Papists who believe the former at Random and at all adventures and they know not wherefore the latter by implicit Faith I say all others that are true Believers their Faith is through Gods grace grounded upon some humane Authority or other When therefore any Man believes his Duty to God and the King he must acquiesce either in Enthusiasme or Popery or in the voice of God which voice of God is infallibly to us only in the Holy Scriptures expounded and declared in the Voice of the Laws our Sacred and Christian Laws so admirably contriv'd from the Old and New Testament comprehending all our duty to God to our selves and to our Neighbors that we are the Envy of other Nations happy English-men if they knew their own happiness more happy in our Laws then in our Land and Scituation being an Island without Paralel in the whole World exempt and free from the Arbitrary Government Tyranny Oppression Delusion and Blind Devotion that other Nations groan Under And if it were not that the Wisedom of our Ancestors knowing their own Felicities had not made an Act that no Alien should purchase or inherit Lands in England the goodness of our Laws and Religion as well as the conveniency of our Scituation and Soil had expos'd us to be overstock't with strangers without Room sufficient for the happy Natives But some will hear object and say what if the King and his Laws should command us to do somewhat that at least in our opinion is contrary to Gods Law to obey assist and help him herein can this possibly be called the help of the Lord or meant in this Text as for Instance there is a Law that no Minister who does not conform shall not Preach within Five Miles of a Corporation Town or City or within Five Miles of the Benefice he left and lost through Non-Conformity the Law and the King says do not Preach there but say they wo be to us if we Preach not the Gospel for we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard and whether it be right to obey you rather than God Judge ye as said St. Peter and St. John This is no wild chymerical supposal and objection of my own making but it is the known and common Apology of the Non-conformists to justifie their disobedience and vouch their confidence in standing it out and bidding Defyance to the King and his Laws nor is it less useful then necessary to give a plain and full answer to this objection under which all Disobedience Disloyalty and opposition of Authority does lurk and shelter to this Day The King and his Laws give the word of Command bids them March and be gone at your Peril but they rejoyn we are Preachers of the Gospel 1 Cor 9 16 necessity is laid upon us and wo be to us if we Preach not the Gospel as said St. Paul Acts 4.19.20 and whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Ans 1. This is an excuse that abominably aggravates the Crime to all knowing Christians Oh Impudence and Imposture not to be named amongst sober and modest Men and Christians What shall these Wretches that truckle and drudge for a few Pence and a gathering amongst the Silly Men and Women shall these Preachers that with such a Text as this have against the plain and easie sence wrested the same to the ruin of their Auditors Body Soul and Estate shall these Posci nummia these Crumeni mulgae these Pick-pockets and Petticoat Preachers that lead Captive silly Women compare themselves with St. Peter and St. John and St. Paul That which was from the beginning which we have heard 1 Jo. 1.1 3. which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Saith St. John Now no Man can in truth and in sober fence without Raving Cheat Imposture and palpable Enthusiasme say these words at this day and apply the same to himself as that which he hath seen and heard and handled St. John St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles nay St. Paul in a Vision and an Apostle and witness as well as the rest though born out of due time saw and witnessed what they saw namely our Saviour's Resurrection the great Seal and Confirmation of the truth of the Gospel and wo be to them if they had not told the World what they saw and heard and felt and handled and knew that we might have Faith the evidence of things not seen but believing their Testimony and Witness through the Grace of God enabling us to believe what such good Men and true did depose upon their own Knowledg Faith is the Life of a Christian but how few understand it To say with the Pharisees that we know that God spake by Moses 't is false we do not know it nor they did not know it It had been modestly and more truly said we believe that God spake by Moses Jo. 9.29 for Knowledge is the Evidence of things seen Faith the Evidence of things not seen Knowledge is the Grace and Glory of the Church Triumphant Faith is the Grace and Glory of the Church Militant and therefore let us not like those silly conceited Pharisees or good Mr. Calvin say we know a thing to be true when we only believe it to be so For Calvin like those Pharisees and the Presbyterians that follow him defines Faith 2. lib Institut 16. Sect. 7. a stedfast and an assured knowledge of Gods kindness c Why should Men cheat the World and themselves too by pretending a Religion that God never made nor does not require God requir'd no more of the Jews than that they
Curse ye Meroz OR THE FATAL DOOM IN A SERMON Preached in Guild-hall-Chappel LONDON BEFORE The Right Honorable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen May the 9th 1680. By EDMOND HICKERINGILL late Fellow of Gonvil and Cajus Colledge in Cambridge and Rector of the Rectory of All-Saints in Colchester LONDON Printed by J. R. for J. Williams at the Sign of the Crown in St. Pauls-Church-yard 1680. To the Most Illustrious PRINCESS ELIZABETH DUTCHESS of ALBEMARLE c. May it please your Grace TO take this occasion to Blazon and Publish your Virtues would be an employ as needless as his that Lighted a Candle to the Sun And if I should here declare how much I am Obliged to your Grace and how good an Opinion you have had of my Endeavours in this kind Envy perhaps would Construe it in me Ambition rather than Gratitude And if by the Formality of a Dedication I should thus engage you to Countenance or perhaps blush for my escapes it would not only be a Presumption but a Trappan None of these were Motives to perswade to this address but the Truth is Religion in this Age is so much out of Fashion amongst the Men some of them at least looking upon all Religion but as the needless Parenthesis of Life that if I take all occasions to give your Grace opportunities to encourage any Loyal and Religious attempts 't is the greatest honour I can do you or can be done to you For which cause no doubt St. John Dedicated one of his Epistles to the Elect Lady And with the same or the like methods the Apostles did so Court the great Ladies in the Court of Rome that they Proselyted to Virtue and Christianity of Honourable Women not a few Nor can I better evidence my Devotion to your Grace or more approve my own Judgment to the World than by this Dedication in making Choice of such a Protectoress to favour that Loyalty and Religion that is Retrieved in this Sermon from a Text by the perverse Interpretations of some Men almost lost and forlorn Religion I say and Loyalty I put them together for they are Twins that in our Christian Kingdom are born and Live and Dye together 〈…〉 Man in England at this day can be 〈…〉 Religious that is not truly Loyal nor any Man truly Loyal that is not truly Religious Not only I mean in the Sence of that great and good German Emperour that turned away his Prophane Servants with these words How can he be faithful to me that is not faithful to his God But chiefly because true Loyalty as well as true Religion are nothing else but an Obedience to God and the King in the Observance of the Christian Laws of the Land Any other account of Religion is Superstititious and any other account of Loyalty is Factious or Parasitical In our Age no Rebells ever disturbed the Government and England's Peace 〈…〉 such as marcht in a Religious Dress and â—…y Masquerade and therefore the most dangerous And though I cannot but have great Compassion for misguided Zeal yet I have sometimes in this following Sermon followed St. Paul's advice against my natural tenderness and inclination in reproving them sharply and giving the Devil his due None was so mild and compassionate to Publicans and Sinners as our Blessed Saviour yet when he had to do with Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites he denounc't as many Woo's as Verses against them and called Judas the Traitour plain Devil But to enlarge this Epistle would but aggravate the trouble of this interruption I shall therefore now as I daily do Conclude with my earnest Prayers for the Temporal and Eternal Prosperity of you and yours as the bounden Duty of Illustrious Madam Your Grace's most Humble and obliged Servant and Chaplain Edm. Hickeringill Colchester May 14.1680 Judges 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mighty I Have chosen a Text very seldom if at all insisted upon in these Times and never before by me at any time But yet about Forty years ago this Text I have heard was the Common Theam in Pulpits and Usher'd in as well as promoted the late Bloody Civil Wars In this Text some sagacious men could find Horse and Armes and hence Raise and Muster Battalia's against Soveraign Majesty nay here they could find Commissions too to vouch the Quarrel And why should this Text of Holy Writ now like a piece of Apocrypha be laid aside Antiquated and out of Date Shall this Portion of Holy Scripture never appear but like those ominous flames call'd Castor and Pollux by Marriners that sometimes precede but always presage a Storm Shall this Text of Curse ye Meroz c. never be handled but as a Sheet Anchor never made use of but in a Stress of Weather I am resolv'd to endeavor whatever be the Consequence to bring again into Reputation this Text Curse ye Meroz c. And because this Text will direct me necessarily to Treat of no vulgar Truths nor every days Discourse I will therefore for your sakes and mine own do what I never did before Read my Sermon upon this Text Curse ye Meroz c. The true and genuine meaning whereof will appear if we enquire 1. What is meant by Meroz 2. What is meant by the help of the Lord 3. Why Meroz was accursed 4. Why a good Angel the Angel of the Lord did Curse Is this the Language of a good Angel or rather the Language of a staring Hector to Curse and Damme The Language of a Popes Bull to Anathematize and Curse is this the Dialect of Heaven or the Dialect of Hell That the Fourth and last Quere why the Angel of the Lord did Curse Q. 1. First What is meant by Meroz Ans 1. Meroz is a Name not found in any part of Scripture except here but by the following words is imply'd that Meroz was one of the Associated Counties the Inhabitants whereof were Israelites Cursed Israelites Cowardly Israelites a pack of Neuters at least Judg 5.18 that whilst Zebulun and Naphtali were a People that being good Subjects Jeoparded their Lives unto the Death in the High Places of the Field to help their Soveraign Magistrate Deborah against the Enemy The Inhabitants of Meroz either out of Cowardize or Disloyalty or both staid at home and would not stir a Foot nor contribute Hand nor Heart nor their Purses neither to Royal Aid therefore Gods Angel does Anathematize and Curse them Q. 2. Secondly What is meant by the help of the Lord Ans 1. By the help of the Lord surely is meant the help of Rebels Aiding and Assisting them against the Soveraign at least men have been taught so and made to believe it and have ventur'd all their Estates nay more Body and Soul upon the truth on 't If this be the true meaning of the Words the Text
should believe Moses and the Prophets handed to them by Tradition and Humane Authority Ay but the Pharisees the Puritan Party of the Jews they must have a surer Card for their Religion then other Jews and therefore they were not content with Faith though the Prophet Habakkuk had told them that the just should live by it Hab. 2.4 no they must have more Religion and a better ground for Religion then the other Jews or then God required or did expect which was Faith only And would make the World believe that as if they had been as old as the first Mutineers and Ambitious Puritans Corah Dathan and Abiram and had seen Moses Face to shine like the Face of an Angel when he came from speaking with God in the mount they do not only by Tradition of their Fathers believe no but they knew that God spake by Moses Mr. Calvin I confess for him and his followers that he was forc't to give a Definition of Faith contrary to that in Heb. 11.1 for fear the Papists had run him a ground For if he believed Christ and the Gospel upon humane Authority or the Authority of the Popish Church which he renounc't he knew not well how to answer the renouncing the Tradition of that Church without also renouncing Jesus Christ and his Gospel therefore which he should not need he was glad to define Faith to be a stedfast and an assured knowledge of Gods kindness c. and this by a certain witness of the Spirit within a Man By which secret perswasion if he means Gods Grace to make a Man believe Humane Authority Christian and Humane Tradition and Laws whereby we believe the truth of the Holy Scripture he is in the right but he is evidently out of his Story in calling this Faith an assured Knowledge For alas the best of us except we Lye and Cheat and Vapor as those Puritan Pharisees did we must say with the Apostle we see but in part as in a glass Darkly and not with stedfast and assured knowledge as the Saints Triumphant do and as did the Apostles who saw and knew our Blessed Jesus and Saviour in the Flesh But hence comes all the mischief from this Vapor and Lye in making our Faith just like St. Thomas his whose seeing was believing and the rest of the Apostles what ever was true of the Apostles must be true of us which is an abominable Cheat and Imposture They were Witnesses of Christs Resurrection we only tell what they said or did Witness at the second or third hand said I no at the Thousand'th hand and at long run by the Tradition of the Christian Church and Laws of the Land he that pretends other ground for his Faith either believes he knows not wherefore and is a Fool or Enthusiast or Fanatick which is all one and a Cheat and Impostor or else is a Papist and has an Implicite Faith in the Church of Rome or else by doing Miracles as the Apostles did can and must give a Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power In the Name of God what would these Disturbers of Man-kind be at Here 's ado with their Religion their Religion and there 's not one of them knows where he got it except from the Church of England or the Church of Rome And yet they disclaim both these and consequently can demonstrate nothing nor rationally convince any Man of the Truth of their Faith except by their own secret perswasion which though it may be of God yet they cannot shew and prove but that it may be a Lye a Cheat and from the Father of Lyes Are they Ordain'd to Preach the Gospel Let us see their Commission and Ordination They answer they are Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by them that were Ordain'd by those that were Ordain'd by the Papists c. I knew whether they would come at long Run Nor can they justifie to the World that that English Minister of Gods word that is not the Kings Minister Ordain'd according to the Sacred and Christian Laws of England is any other then a Minister of the Pope or the Devil either a Papist or an Enthusiast and possest with the Spirit of Popery or the Spirit of Foppery Religion true Religion our Saviour says like a Tree is known by the Fruits consult all Histories antient and modern view the present posture of Affairs if ever this Hundred Years there ever was any Rebellion Massacre Tumults or Treasons Blood Rapine and Murder but either Papist or Fanatick or both had the great hand in it To look no further back then the Reign of King James who dethron'd his Mother and made a Slave and property of him in his Infancy but that Bloody Knox Buchanan and the rest of that Puritan Presbyterian brood by woful experience he tells his Son our late Martyr'd Sovereign in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That under pretence of Religion he should find Alas alas He did find it by sad experience no such Barbarous and Bloody Villains in the World When King James came into England they still made him weary of his Life and the Papists on the other hand endeavor'd to take away his Life by the Gunpowder-Treason But Blessed be God unsuccessfully all his Reign but what the Plots the Popish Plots could not accomplish against his Son the Presbyterian Plots did perfect Crowning their Villany with the Blood and ruin of the Kingdom bringing the Blessed King to the Bloody Scaffold and our Gracious Sovereign to the more Ignominious Stool of Repentance And is this your Religion where did they learn it not from God from Holy Scripture nor from this Text but from the Devil who was a Murderer from the beginning and a Lyar like these his Children and the Father of Lyes These things are plain and palpable and had not now been remembred but that Men tread the same steps follow the same methods may we not Fast and Pray say they sad oh sad may we not Preach wo be to us if we do not Preach the Gospel and wo be to you good People if we do not Preach as if the Gospel were confin'd and Monopoliz'd to a Crew that can show no Authority no Commission no Call no Warrant for what they do except from the Pope and Jesuits who I fear have a great Influence among them The King and his Laws Ordain and constitutes in England the only true Christian Bishops Priests and Deacons as he does the only true Judges and Justices of the Peace and he may deprive all of them equally And therefore if they cannot justifie there Ordination and Commission their Warrant and their Call in an Ordinary and orderly way nor yet by Miracles in an extraordinary way let them no more so idly so impudently and so vainly apply the Apostle's sayings to themselves but contrarily wo be to them if they Preach the Gospel without sufficient Call Warrant Ordination and Lawful Authority Pilate rationally and honestly subjoyn'd to the