in the fountain to him who seeth and knoweth the hidden things of darknesse but in the streams also which flow from thence I mean the externall actions and courses of your life to men who judge according to the appearance and sight For he that narrowly considereth and examineth without prejudice the usuall motion and carriage of things in these times shall finde very few at least not any considerable number of men in comparison of the rest who have not sided with the severall unhappy divisions or factions of the nation according as they were led by private interests of dependance gain honour liberty and such like personall advantages notwithstanding their fair pretences of conscience and religion in reference to the cause which they did maintain Under the same colour do you still as formerly bite and devour one another as if that religion which teacheth mercy and enjoyneth the exercise thereof even towards the worst enemies both of its professors and of it self could any way countenance before God or discerning good men proceedings of this nature so contrary to the precepts thereof and although according to the custome of hypocrites you pride your selves in this that you are not so debauched in your life and loose in your manners as those are known to be who are opposite to you yet ye cannot quit your selves of that imputation which the Lord doth fasten on the Pharisees and Scribes of his time namely that they did strain at a gnat Mat. 23.24 and swallow a camell for as they then were double diligent as we say in observing what the Law did require in point of ceremony and circumstance of divine worship as also every vain tradition received from their foresathers but omitted the weightier matters of the Law Vers 23. judgement mercy and faith forbearing to est with unwashen hands lest they should transgresse Chap. 15.2 Luk. 11.39 and yet desiling their conscience with ravening and wickednesse and afterward with the bloud of the Son of God so ye with whom an innocent ceremony would not go down heretofore and is an abomination unto this day now can swallow down all manner of injustice without remorse or distaste thereof in the least measure Mat. 23.14 and devour widowes houses as they did under the same pretence also of prayer and devotion But some of you place all the duty of a Christian or Saint in the externall observation of those things that pertain to the worship of God or in a professed zeal for the Sabbath as they term it and hearing of the word as opportunity is given them others in the mortall performance of what the Law prescribes in point of justice and common honesty both with like deceit and danger setting these two at oddes one against the other which by the will and commandement of God are to be inseparably joyned together in our Evangelicall obedience and cannot be parted without practicall apostasie or manifest for saking of Saintlike integrity necessary in order to salvation for every man that will be a disciple and follower of Christ Jesus Now what more evident sign of hypocrisie then such partiall respect as this to the Commandements of the Lord whereby we pick and chuse some refuse and reject others according to our own pleasure or as they best sute with or disagree from our corrupt affections and sinfull lusts To which we may adde also your non-proficiency under the means of grace for never had a nation more plentifully sowen among them the incorruptible seed of the word that yeelded so bad or sparing increase thereof as ye have done Never any yet who know so much and practise so little as your selves on whom greater light have shone and yet more love and walk in darknesse then you of this untoward stubborn Psal 78.8 and rebellious generation a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit is not stedfast with God Insomuch as it is an aspersion cast upon you by your adversaries and I would to God without ground or just cause that our fore-fathers in this land under their religion were faster tyed by their bare word and promise then Protestants at this day by their most solemn oathes a charge indeed against us never more verified by our practise then at this present time but little making for them or for their cause whose leaders have taught them to erre more concerning this thing then any in the world besides framing mischief by a law or art of dissembling unknown to men in times past and to be abominated throughout all ages Be ashamed therefore O ye English people and confounded in your selves because of all your transgressions And fear him who hath so often turned his anger away Ps 78.38 and not stirred up all his wrath Lest he at length cast upon you the fierceness V. 49. of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble and as he hath begun so accomplish is fury in the the midst of you or behold ye have already seen the tokens of his displeasure against you in that he hath taken from you those ill gotten goods by the hand of violence and rapine which ye procured to your selves at the first by oppression or by deceit having given your substance and your treasures to the spoil without price and that for all your sins even in all your borders And because you have not believed the Lord speaking unto you early and late by his spirit in the Ministers of truth and righteousnesse he hath in his just judgement sent the spirit of delusion and errour among you in those that preach unto you without calling and commission from him the imagination of their own heart not his word Now these with the like proceedings of the righteous Judge against thee in judgement are so many gentle forewarnings to thee O Nation not desired of timely repentance and conversion to thy God but in case of impenitency and obstinacy against the gracious counsell of his will certain forerunners of greater plagues both upon the bodies and also upon the soules of thy children Fear therefore that if thy vain thoughts still lodge within thee and thou haste not to appease the wrath of thy Maker Zeph. 2.2 before the Deeree bring forth before the day passe as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you before the day of the Lords anger come upon you Fear I say lest your houses shall be turned unto others Jer. 6.12 with your fields and wives together and the whole land be devoured by the fire of his jealousie Zeph. 1.18 The Lord hath planted you in a good land flowing with milk and honey like that of Canaan but your unthankfulnesse for his blessings and abuse of them to sin and provocation of the eyes of his glory when the measure of iniquity is already full as it seemeth now to be may soon cause him to cast you forth of this goodly inheritance as he did them that were
judging them most averse from faction who were least conscious of preaching to the people and fuirest friends to the present government who were loose enough God knoweth in respect both of their office and also of their conversation whence it came to passe that very many who professed themselves for you in the time of triall were ignorant and dissolute men dishonourable to your party and Indeed to Christian Religion the which they did continually profane by their words and works so unsuteable is humane policy with Evangelicall simplicity and unsuccessefull when it is used at any time to support and uphold the regiment thereof And in stead of sending forth meet Labourers into the Lords harvest fit Pastors into his flock you dismissed those who were idle shepheards loving to slumber given to sleep altogether like your selves carelesse of the Lords heritage either unwilling if able or if willing unable or neither willing nor able rightly to divide the Word of Truth giving them their portion in due season As for those to whom God had given both ability and will to preach the Word ye permitted them not the free use and exercise of their gifts but forbade them to teach the people as often as they saw it convenient or necessary for their edification and though yee did at first commend unto them the way of catechising the younger sort as best beseeming their want of yeares and experience in the word of righteousnesse allowing them some liberty latitude herein yet afterward I know not upon what grounds or for what reason ye so far limited and restrained the Minister in this pious and profitable practise that ye did in a manner take away the key of Knowledg from the people Luk. 〈◊〉 52. or make it uselesse for them so that they could not enter in thereby And herein remarkable is the judgement of the Almighty towards you in that he hath made some of those unworthy members instrumentall to your downfall whom contrary to reason and conscience yee authorised for a work to which God never called them promoted to that honour of which they were uncapable either for your own gain or to gratifie your Officers and domestick servants or your friends and favorites or for other ends as bad as these best known unto your selves For who have more raised and maintained a party against you then such as these or have been more subservient to the ring-leaders of faction then they or more diligently scattered abroad the seeds of schism and opposition against government in the Church of Christ of which they have seen plentifull increase and have found successe of this their labour if not above their desire yet surely beyond their expectation notwithstanding it be hard to say whether their indigency of parts or want of subsistence was the greater which no doubt at first made them so plyable as they were to popular will and humor But ye will reply that the Canons of the Church were not strict or straight enough to debar unworthy persons especially in point of learning from the Office of the Ministry besides that you admitted none unto the work but those who were commended unto you for their sufficiency and ability in all respects for this service by letters Testimoniall from the University or from Ministers well reputed and reported of in the Diocese from whence they came or where they lived in former time But who knew not and your selves more then any how invalid and weake this testimony was being now reduced to a meer formality by the custom and manners of the times as corrupt in this particular practice as in any other whatsoever Again did â—ye ever apply your selves to the Supreme Power of the Nation for the rectifying of these Canons or at any time sought to reverse or alter them in your solemn Convocations Whether ye did thus or no I cannot well tell but of this I am assured that nothing was reformed afterward in your Ordinations it being as free and indifferent for all who came as ever And supposing that those testimonies might probably cary with them some right and credit were ye therefore to forbear your own search into the parts and gifts of those men whom they did commend to your approbation and not rather to enquire more narrowly into the Truth and see how far the commendation did agree with the Person of whom it was made or how well it did sute with his learning and life Considering that the account hereof was chiefly to rest on you when the generall Day of reckoning did come before chief Shepheard and Bishop of our souls 1 Tim. 5.22 The like excuse some frame for the grosse corruptions of your Pâ—erogative Courts for commutations unjust partiall and unreasonable censures of excommunication issuing forth from thence upon offenders for unlawfull to say no more suspension of the meaner and poorer sort from the Ordinances of Christ Jesus for non-payment or rather disability of paying pecuniary mulcts and fees imposed on them and without equity exacted of them by your profane and greedy Officers They pretend the power of the Chancellour to be distinct and separate from that of the Bishop in many points of spirituall jurisdiction and therefore exempt from it or uncontroulable by it however proving illegall and exorbitant in the proceedings thereof whether use and custome had thus determined of the matter or no I am as yet to seek but this I take for certain Truth that the Chancellors power at the first was in every respect derived from the Bishop and afterward wholly depended on his will notwithstanding it is otherwise come to passe in following ages by the negligence or absence of the Bishop from the seat of his Diocese And in case they had in process of time thus incroached upon the Episcopal Sea it had been an easie matter for you the Bishops to have reduced again confined them to their ancient legal bounds upon complaint thereof made unto the Prince shewing the great necessity and common benefit of such a change and also in your Synods as occasion served and so have freed the Church from this iniquity and oppression of men And surely it may seem strange to any considerate person that yee who did so much strain your authority for the introducing of new ceremonies into the Church of Christ savouring of superstition and begetting jealousies in mens mindes of Popish innovations intended by you without prudence or conscience and used it so rigorously rously for the enforcing of the old upon many ill-affected to the observation of them absolutely requiring conformity to the Church Liturgy in every point of al men notwithstanding rebus sie stantibus profligata Disciplina some forms thereof were not applyable to diverse persons would not extend it to the utmost measure for the ratifying of those great abuses which had by the insensible degrees crept in corrupted the true primitive Discipline that every transgressor might have bin censured according to
thus to resent your errours is to gain by your losse and to bone it by your pain I have but a word more to speak unto you and I shall conclude It is concerning your lives The which I would to God were not so well observed and known of the people to your prejudice and dishonour as generally they are throughout the whole land for then should I with reverence to your calling gladly passe by your failings in silence But the dimnesse of light cannot be concealed Mat. 5.14 and a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid Ye every where complain and not without cause that scorn and reproach are cast upon you by the basest of the people that men detain your right from you contrary to Law and conscience But consider with your selves whether ye have not excessively deserved this usage from them at the hands of God For what do they yet see or have seen heretofore in many of you worthy of imitation or honour Have ye lived after the pattern of your own doctrine and not rather destroyed by your example what ye built up by your teaching For ye who preached holy contempt of the world unto others were your selves lovers of the world ye who exhorted others to self-deniall and obedience of the Gospell did your selves lead lives unbeseeming the Gospell of Christ Jesus ye that were above others in respect of your office and place in the Church of God did ost times live beneath the meanest of them who were committed to your charge being infamous for your pride of lise lightnesse and loosnesse of behaviour excesse of wine and strong drink and for other crimes dishonourable in the life of the meanest person professing the Gospell much more in the conversation of a Pastour Now what in all probability could be expected from these courses but that the people would at length entertain a low opinion of your selves and calling yea and of Religion it self as we see it come to passe this day Forasmuch as they live after your example and make no account of your precept be it never so well grounded on the word of truth or powerfully laid home to their conscience by the passion and eloquence of the speaker so little regard have men for the most part to the words of their spiritual leaders and so much to their works especially when agreeing with that carnall disposition or corruption which is predominant in the mindes of the major and worst sort of the world Although not only the leaders of the people which cause them to erre Isa 9.16 but they also that are led of them shall certainly be destroyed in the end These things I write not to shame you but as my beloved brethren I warn you not as an instructer but as a follow-disciple with you of that one and only Master Christ Jesus And witnesse the common Father of us all in meeknesse and sincerity of love Accept therefore I pray you my plain but wholsome counsell seasonable though rude advice affectionate though not affected according to the fashion of the times Be henceforth pure and uncorrupt in your doctrine speaking not what humane passion may suggest unto you but what ye have learned from the word of truth not crying down the Law as the manner of some is under pretence of advancing the Gospell as though the Law were against the Promises of God and not rather subservient to them Gal 3.21 but discreetly handling both accordingly as ye meet either with proud and obstinate or with humble and broken hearted sinners that the gate of mercy may not seem shut up towards these nor a way laid open for Libertinisme to them Do the work of the Lord neither deceitfully nor negligently be unblamable in your life austere and grave in your conversation just and peaceable in your actions and dealings with men peace-makers and peace-keepers moderate and abstemious in the use of bodily refreshments not addicted to pleasures liberall and charitable in ministring to the necessities of the Saints where ability is present not covetous or greedy after this worlds good when it is wanting much lesse when it doth abound Be as far eminent above the vulgar sort for holinesse of life as ye are already for dignity of place in the House of God Be admonished and reclaimed from your sins by past and present sufferings lest a worse thing come unto you and iniquity prove your ruine In a word so live for the time to come as it behoveth those who are now if ever 1 Cor. 4.9 made a spectacle to the world and to Angels and to men that they whose eyes are upon you may no longer think the profession of Christ to consist in a meer formality or bare shew of holinesse without the substance thereof but judge it as it is indeed a matter of greatest difficulty and nearest concernment to themselves of any thing in the world That the reproach which is cast upon you may cease and turn to your adverfaries that ye may be blessed in the work whereunto the Lord hath called you not in respect of others only but of your selves also and not complain as one of your brethren not many years agoe did unto his servant at his death who representing to his master at his earnest request for comfort from him in the midst of despair the same consolations which according to his office he usually ministred to others in his life time that had been in the same condition with himself now ready to breath out the last the poor disconsolate man replyed that he well remembred what was suggested to his minde But alas saith he I did not my self then beleeve those things to be true which I preached unto others and therefore cannot now finde any comfort in them when I most stand in need thereof Finally my brethren whatsoever things are true Phil. 4.8 whatsoever things are honest or venerable whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise Rom 15.5 6. think on these things Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one minde and one mouth glorifie God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ To him be glory Amen To the Nobility and Gentry I Shall not divide you in my reproof and counsell however the Law and custome of your nation hath made a wide difference between you forasmuch as ye both are the Nobility of the land though with great inequality of power place and honour in the Common-wealth especially in former times But the similitude or rather parity of your sins hath brought you into a farre nearer distance one from the other or indeed made you one and the same for guilt and crime both in the sight of God and before men Wherefore I also shall addresse my
then to behold evill and canst not look on iniquity wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he Therefore as ye multiplied oaths to sin so God make oathes a snare or bait of judgement unto you that he might cast you forth of those goodly habitations and possessions which ye enjoyed but were now become altogether unworthy any longer to continue in them by reason of your sins wherewith you had for many years before provoked the eyes of his glory And oh that ye had truly repented of them even at this day I but alas the excesse and riot of many of you with other crimes do still testifie against you not as yet relinquished by them in any measure no nor concealed from the eyes of the world though hatefull to your adversaries and opprobrious to your selves except necessity doth sometimes lay a restraint upon your power where will is present and ready at all times Learn therefore I pray you though late for the Lords sake for your own sakes for the Churches sake to be more temperate in your lives more austere in your behaviour more vigilant and sober in all respects then ye have hitherto been And now since that the Almighty hath in his providence and justice scattered you as with a-whirle-winde amongst this other nations also Zech. 7.14 beware that ye do not publish your own shame and the confusion of your mother to them by the lewdnesse of your example For what is this but to justifie as much as in you lieth the proceedings of your enemies against you and to stop the current both of divine and of humane pity towards your calamitous sufferings But be seasonably admonished by Gods fatherly rebuke reformed by his loving and gentle correction And let your repentance be as remarkable as your sin yourholinesse of life as eminent as your knowledge of the truth 1 Pet. 1.15 that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men and not the ignorance only but the malice also of your enemies Then hear the word of the Lord Isa 66.5 ye that tremble at his word your brethren that hated you that cast you out fornny-names sake said Let the Lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed To the new Academicks I Shall not question your title at this time to what ye do possesse let your own awakened conscience judge thereof in this world because there is no other Tribunall and God the supreme Judge of all examine the matter at the last day In the mean time they who have suffered by you ought patiently to wait for this generall Assize at which all causes that have passed mans censure and determination in this life must receive an after triall and sentence not to be revoked again Now it may justly raise the wonder of any indifferent man not interested with you nor yet a friend of the other party to consider what a low and vile esteem ye have of the ejected members by whose losse you have gained and upon whose ruines you have raised your present flourishing fortune Forasmuch as ye account of them no better then of the Canaanites and those other nations whom the Lord cast forth of old before his chosen people to plant them in their stead your selves being in your own eyes at least the only true Israel of God in this whole nation and thus as I have been credibly enformed by them which are conversant with you have ye termed them in your hasty devotions to the Almighty yet withall more truly acknowledging that not for your own righteousnesse but for their wickednesse he was pleased to bring you into houses which neither ye nor any of your families built before you and into gardens which neither you nor they planted to possesse them as your own and I may adde with truth that many of you came not hither for your learning as ye did not for your goodnesse their ignorance in this respect be as notorious as their guilt in other matters Let 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 explained and prosecuted in that sense by a worshipfull Doctor before the learned multitude Heb. 5.11 give in publique evidence of what hath been spoken in this particular Now as touching the former consider I pray you how much conceits and speeches of this nature do savour of the leaven of the Pharisees Luk. 12.1 with 18.9 c. with 16.15 the which is hypocrisie mixed with pride and vain-glory whence we may perceive the nature and quality of this sin which oft-times maketh so glorious a shew in the eyes of the world and how odious it is in the sight of our maker Besides let him that standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 Gal. 6.1 and he that is spirituall consider himself lest he also be tempted But are ye indeed altogether free from the just imputation of those crimes which you lay to the charge of your adversaries 2 Chr. 28.10 or are there not with you even with you sins against the Lord your God your levity and pride of apparell no obscure sign nor fallible testimonie of your vanity and sin exceedeth by far that of your predecessors and would better become the place which you so much abhorre I mean the theatre or stage then the University where ye thus flaunt it out contrary to former statute and custome of civill and sober men And here observable is the strange impudence of the junior sort towards their elders and betters whom they durst affront openly by the boldnesse and imimmodesty of their carriage whereas in times past a junior did scarce presume to look stedfastly upon any that was much his senior in the house so far were they from behaving themselves contemptuously or unseemingly in their presence as now they do an argumen no doubt of remisse or of ill-managed government And for this cause the youth as I have been informed were bold to supplicate the Parliament that they might be exempt from the usuall respect which was formerly given to their betters in the Colledge and still required of them as too much entrenching forsooth upon their liberty A Petition I beleeve of which nature the like was never before framed and presented to that Assembly Neither can ye for ought as I can hear acquit your selves of their excesse however secresie be joyned with sin and domestick privacy makes the crime lesse clamorous to the world though perchance alike hainou◠before the Almighty But for mine own part I cannot lay this sin to your charge and well it is if ye are clear in your own conscience from this bestiall pollution of humane nature Ye much boast of your dexterity and frequency both in preaching and unpremeditated praying a novell rarity in that place wherewith it was not acquainted in times past or else so closely lockt
as being overswayed by them whose creatures you are who think it reasonable that as ye have served your selves of their power when time was so you should by way of compensation now serve their will and obey their commands and surely however the case standeth thus much they do expect and require at your hands as might appear by severall instances But enough of this I have but one word to say more and it is by way of admonition to the ingenuous and well minded among you who have been carryed away by errour of the times an errour discernible by the fewest of men that live in them unto those practises which they would loath and detest if they saw the true shape of them which is ugly and deformed and were not deluded by false glasses and counterfeit representations of them in the disguises of justice and honesty but as yet allow because they are not conscious to themselves of any malice or evill intention in what they do that they would devoutly implore the grace of the Almighty for illumination to see and direction to follow those things which make for their peace lest otherwise they live and die in their sin and what will be the sequell thereof they cannot be ignorant who know the truth and terrour of God In the mean time let them and all take heed how they manage their present fortune lest they also become a prey to others as others have been made a prey to them For it is to be seared that your gaudy prosperity is an eye-sore unto them who have power over your estates and lives and will finde matter enough of quarrell against you if there be not a change of manners and this wrought with discretion and speed Neither will this happily serve the turn to prevent those designes which as we hear are now on foot to alienate the Colledge-lands from publick use for the maintenance of learning to the propriety of private men the dangerous effects whereof both to Church and State not in this present age only but also in the generations to come I tremble to imagine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Judges Lawyers c. I Have but little to say to you being altogether unacquainted with your profession and your wayes For I never as yet sued any man at the Law and was never sued by any for trespasse or wrong done unto them wherefore experience cannot teach me what to speak of you Neverthelesse there hath been a generall complaint of the people in the land for some years past and as lowd as it durst break forth against the iniquity and oppression of your Courts of Judicature as if might or favour or money could more prevail in them then equity or law neither is it silent unto this day Whether your sin were according to the clamour of the people or no I cannot tell But of this I am assured that God will require much at your hands in the last and generall day of Judgment there being no men alive who have more frequent and signal remembrances of their duty or alarms of their account before the Almighty then you besides the speciall Obligations of solemn Oaths and common ties upon your conscience to doe the thing which is lawfull and right Happy is it for you now and for the State in which ye live and much more happy will it be for you hereafter if ye lay these things to heart and practise as you learn and know Judgement and Truth on which as on the the basis the Peace and safety of every Common-wealth doe rest and thrust aside war calamity and ruine doe ensue without remedy Your proceedings are many times intricate and dark not to be traced by popular and ordinary sent There be many windings and turnings in the Law which few can finde out mazes and almost inexplicable labyrinths to those who are not guided by your clew But still remember who standeth in the midst of you even a God that seeth in darknesse to whom the darknesse and light are both alike secret and hidden things are open and manifest Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom they have to doe Let therefore the eighty second Psalm be your mirror wherein to behold what you are what ye should be if amisse and not upright according to the minde and will of God And not hear only but obey also his commands in the Ministry of the Word A time there was when the sober admonition and milder reproof of the Preacher would not goe down with some of you but were distasted by your corrupt palates And therefore a Minister was warned of his Diocesan being then to preach before the Judges not to touch upon this string it liked them not forsooth to hear that which did pertain to their office and duty or rather did tacitly check their omission and transgression thereof so often repeated in their eares Who were most faulty in this particular the Judges that did refuse to be admonished the Bishop who advised the Minister to gratifie them in their desire or the Minister if he did obey the will of his superiour in this thing let God judge But I presume it was not after this manner every where nor with all persons neither did it as I suppose continue thus long And God forbid this usefull and necessary liberty should be diminished or restrained in any part thereof For can men too often hear of that which they are to doe at all times and which is of everlasting concernment to them Bee instructed therefore ye Judges of the earth Psal 2.10 11. serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Now these are the things that ye shall doe Zech. 8.16.17 speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of Truth and Peace in your gates And let none of you imagine evill in your hearts against his neighbour and love no false Oath for all these are things that I hate saith the Lord. To the City of London I Am to speak now to a very great body of people yea the greatest in this Nation considering the narrow compasse of your abode and would to God I were able to speak unto you all at once by the vocal sound of my mouth that I might the better testifie the inward affection of my minde towards you and not be constrained to bespeak you severally by the whispering language of my pen. But what voice can be sufficient for the audience of so vast a multitude wherefore accept my reproof and counsel as it is tendred unto thee Thou art the largest City in this Island for the extent of bounds the fairest for magnificence of structure more populous rich and mighty by far then any of thy other sisters But according to the usuall and unhappy sate of great Gities and famous Empories thou hast not more abounded with people then
with sins And thy sins have not been more pernicious to thy self then hurtfull to this whole Nation by exeraplary contagion much like thy plagues in former times For thy pride deceit hypocrisie faction and other spirituall maladies have breathed forth that poison from thee the which hath transused it self through the politick Body leaving no part thereof free from infection and sicknesse thy heresies and schisms have corrupted and divided or rather torn in pieces this Church which was once pure in Doctrine sound in the Faith entire in it self and at peace with all her neighbours Micah 1.13 Thou wert the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion for the transgressions of Israel England were found in thee as it is said of Lachish for how lofty is thy pride notwithstanding all thy sufferings unto this present Day Isa 9.9 10. yea the pride and stoutnesse of thy heart hath been like that of Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria encreasing in thine affliction and arising yet higher from thy fall forasmuch as thy vain but costly garments instead of those of widowhood are still upon thee and thy children are become more gorgeous in their apparell and loose in their behaviour then in preceding times thy daughters also like those of Sion Isa 3.16 are haughly and walk with stretched forth neeks and wanton eyes walking and mineing as they goe Likewise disfiguring their countenance with spots of immodesty and impudence thereby publishing their own shame Yea thy servants and handmaids do now challenge the Nobles of the more remote Countrey for pride of clothing and bravery of attire if not out-strip many of them And what will ye doe in the end thereof Now touching thy deceit let the subtle contrivance of thy shops or dark situation of them for the delusion of all eyes that behold the baits of thy profit and gain witnesse against thee and thy children who generally and with one consent say concerning evill it is good put darknesse for light Isa 5.20 and bitter for sweet though never perchance guilty of inverting the practise as the Jews then were unlesse the scene be altered and in stead of selling to others they buy of others those commodities whereof they may make advantage for the suture for then as it is Prov. 20.14 they say of every thing Pro. 20.14 It is naught it is nuaght but when they are gone their way then they boast Thus they bend their tongues like their bow for lies Jer. 9.3 or as it is v. 8. Jer. 9.3 Their tongue is an arrow shot out it speaketh deceit each one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth but in heart hee layeth his wait vers 8. Take ye heed therefore every one of his neighbour and trusi ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly supplant And they will deceive every one his neighbour and will not speak the truth they have taught their tongues to speak lies and weary themselves to commit iniquity v. 4.5 And not content herewith themselves they also train up others after the same manner from their tender years Zophan cap. 1.9 who like those in Zephan cap. 1.9 leap on the threshold and fill their masters houses if not with violence yet surely with deceit abusing the ignorance and credulity of the simple and unexperienced in their fallacious wayes of dealing to the sinfull advantage of those whom they serve and cannot please without iniquity And all this they fairly disguise with the mask of seeming sanctity in profession in word in gesture in conversation in pretences promises asseverations Oathes every way But more especially and solemnly is this appearance made on the Lords Day wherein the dresse of their apparel and the shew of their devotion are both alike the former above their outward rank and quality the later exceeding their inward affection For what eager concourse then of all sorts to the Church what thronging and thrusting for places and seates approximate to the Preacher what earnest attention to the Sermon what demure carriage all the while is seen in the Assembly how many diligent notaries are present to receive whatsoever droppeth from the Ministers lips what sighing may you hear oftentimes and groaning of the Auditours what expressions may we behold almost in every countenance of sorrow and remorse what elevation of the eyes to heaven And yet alas how soone is all this vanished and forgotten For after one nights sleep notwithstanding repetition in private houses of what was publiquely delivered in the Church and other acts of duty proper for the season there performed by them they return with all greedinesse to their wonted courses of unjust dealing and unlawfull gaine by lying falshood perjury deceit equivocations mentall reservations meerly Jesuiticall and almost to as bad a purpose though not upon so great necessity Thus like the Gallant they seem at the Church porch to bid Religion stay there for them untill they come thither again as often as they depart from the house of God or at the most retain but a weak and faint relish thereof untill the day be over past so little doe they practise of what they learn in their life all the week after as if the whole business of Christianity did consist in nothing else then in hearing or talking of what we ought to doe and not in obedience of the Truth But they will be ready to say we have private and constant devotions at home as well as those we use in the Lords house and therefore all our Religion doth not rest on publique duty I answer That which they alleadge in their own defence doth make the more against them for what is this your daily exercise of devotion but an hypocriticall profanation of holy duties when you use it for a pretence onely of Religion for a shew of piety or rather for a veil of iniquity Surely such seigned holinesseas this is as distast full to the Almighty as open profanenesse Mat. 23.14 And indeed no service of God can profit us or stand us in the least stead without justice and mercy towards man as appeareth from Prov. 15.8 Isa 1.15 and from many places more of holy writ which plainly tell us that where innocence and integrity are wanting in the Person there can be no acceptance of the Action before God whatsoever it be for the naure and quality thereof In a word the substance of our Christian Profession consisteth in obeying the practicall precepts of the Gospell from faith unseigned 2 Tim. 1.5 And this to obey is much better then any sacrifice and oblation of prayer or praise we can offer to the Divine Majesty Now concerning the faction of thy children proceding from thy pride and aboundance of all things to which some impute the common sufferings of thy Nation it is strange to consider by what slender wiers and subtill motions it hath been conveyed through thy whole corporation and though it be more then
probable that worldly interest is most predominant in the severall opposite parties yet every one is taught to open his mouth wide for the cause and truth of God and none more then they who most blaspheme his name by their impure doctrines which they commend to the world for those of Christ Jesus though as contrary to what he spake as darknesse is to light And because these are the fruits of faction and schism sometimes as it is now apparent with us as well as the causes thereof at other times I wish men all to remember how deep and sad their accounts will one day be who have any wayes procured these dangerous maladies to the State and Church or fomented the same by word or deed For wee plainly see to what condition both are reduced at this present and every man may be so far a Prophet as to soretel yet greater calamities like to come upon us except the Almighty doth wonderfully appeare for us and that speedily but I for bear neither shall I stirre the coals of their lusts nor strike the drunkards cup in indignation out of his hand nor rowse thy delicate Dames from their bed of pleasure and sloth whose life is nothing else but sleep and lust and putting on of apparell not becomming women professing godlinesse and costly fare with ease and sport 1 Pet. 3.3 with 1 Tim. 2.10 according to the severall varieties of them all Nor shall I labour to dissolve the Adamantine hearts of thy creditours into humane pity towards their poore obnoxious debters For have not these been the frequent and faithfull endeavours of thy learned and pious Ministers from time to time for many years together Jer. 9. â— But their habitation was in the midst of deceit Zech. 7.11 through deceit they refused to know the Lord yea thy children refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear Or were like those of whom the Lord complaineth and describeth to the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 33.31 32. who with their mouth shewed much love to the Prophet and to his message but their heart in the mean while went after their covetousnesse to whom he was as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument for they heard his words but they did them not In like manner thy sons and daughters were onely hearers of the Evangelicall word but left the doing thereof to others who were better affected with the same then they contenting themselves with this empty shadow of godlines that they were continually present to the outward Ordinance of the word did countenance or favour the messengers thereof wherefore hath the Lord of hosts melted them and tryed them Ier. 9.7 for how should he otherwise doe for the daughters of his people And oh that thy children had been admonished and reformed by the corrections of their heavenly Father Isa 59. But alas their transgressions are multiplyed before the Lord and their sins testifie against them for their transgressions are with them and as for their iniquities they know them In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from their God speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood And judgement is turned away backward and justice standeth a for off for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evill maketh himselfe a prey or is accounted mad yea they proceed from evill to evill and they know not me saith the Lord. Shall he not therefore visit for these things and though he defer his wrath for a season expecting with patience their repentance and conversion unto him will it not break forth at the last to consume his adversaries as in a moment For while they be folded together as thorns Nah. 1.10 and while they are drunken as drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry Thou hast occasioned and seen with mercilesse hearts and eyes the grievous sufferings of thy countrey and shalt thou goe altogether together unpunished is thy sinne lesse yea is it not much more then theirs have not thy lampes shined forth most gloriously to thy selfe and others when they have sate in darknesse And yet thou hast loved darknesse rather then light because thy works were evill For thou dost represent unto us the wickednesse of the whole Nation contracted indeed into a lesser volume but more polished and refined by the art of thine iniquity overlayed with the faire gilt of hypocrisy but underneath more foule and ugly then that of the people both in the sight of God and of those who know his wayes a right Thus deceit is with thee more elegant and smooth in expression but more dangerous and dark in the mystery then it is with those of the Countrey In like manner other sins goe more fine and trim in their dresse here then in the rurall Townes or inferiour Cities but the skin underneath is much blacker and the shape more deformed then it is with them Only impudence is more daring in thy children then in any of the Nation who generally are as yet uncapable of that immodesty which is every where common with thee And may they never learn more of that from thee of which perchance they have too much already Now as thou hast in thee the sins of those ample and glorious Cities which the Lord destroyed in times past for their wickednesse but are still set forth for example of his Divine justice to us that are alive this day as well as to them that have gone before us and to all generations to come so fear and expect their judgements and the more because his mercies of all sorts have been greater towards thee then them and thy warnings also of approaching vengeance more frequent signal then theirs and yet behold their memorial is perished with them Psal 3.6 But the Lord shall endure for ever the same in justice as in mercy to all men throughout all ages Take heed therefore lest with an overflowing floud he make an utter end of the place thereof Nah. 1.8 9. so that affliction rise not up the second time Security is the daughter of sin but the mother of danger Prov. 16.18 Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall Thou maiest happily as thy elder sisters did before thee dream of perpetuity when desolation is at hand But oh remember that there is no stability with iniquity no safety in sin no peace to the wicked Babylon thou knowest that was heretofore given to pleasures as thou art now dwelled carelesly as thou dost said in her heart as thou perchance speakest to thy self Is 47.8 9. at this time I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a widow neither shall I know the losse of children But these two things came to her as the Prophet foretold
in a moment in one day the losse of children and widow hood and both in their perfection for the multitude of her Sorcerers and for the great aboundance of her enchantments v. 13 14. Her Astrologers Star-gazers and monthly prognosticators could not stand up and save her from those things that were to come upon her but became as stubble themselves for the power of the flame neither shall thine be able to celiver thee nor their own souls by all their wisdome and knowledge from the evill which the Lord hath determined against thee vers 13 14. Wherefore O Jerusalem London wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee There is but one way left of escape for thee The Lord shew it thee and direct thy steps therein for his sake who is the way the truth Joh. 14. â— and the life To whom with the Father and with the blessed Spirit be ascribed all honour glory might majesty and dominion now and for evermore Amen To the seduced of this nation and to as many as have separated themselves from the Communion of our Church WEre I now to addresse my speech to an humble though deceived people I might the better hope to prevail with them but I am to deal with men who generally are proud as well as ignorant and have added to errour in judgement obstinacy of will and a strong presumption of truth arrogating to themselves immediate assistance and infallible direction from the divine Spirit in what they maintain for the undoubted Gospell of Christ Jesus And who can shake this your considence Neverthelesse I shall endevour as powerfully as I can to convince you of your self deceit and falshood and perswade you to another but sounder mind leaving the successe to him with whom all things are possible and easie to be done First then let me enquire of you why ye did so long adhere unto this Church in times past and why ye are so soon removed from it as in a moment What is the cause of your forrner communion with us and your sudden departure from us Surely the first must needs argue great weaknesse of judgement and want of consideration in you and how ye can defend the last from the just imputation of unstablenesse in religion and levity of mind is more then I can learn you If your new pretended Pastours and as you deem them extraordinary Teachers in respect of their calling deliver you the same truths which ye received or might have received from the old why are they better accepted with you now then heretofore or why are they better taken at the hands of the former then of the latter Is it for the grace and manner of delivery or for their persons who commend the same unto you If either or both of these be the cause of this change do ye not look on things after the outward appearance 2 Cot. 10.7 Joh. 7.24 and not judge righteous judgement You will say perchance that the power of the Almighty doth manifest it self unto them because though ignorant and unlearned men they pray and preach with the same facility or with more dexterity sometimes then men of learning and parts But can ye shew us that God did ever work a needlesse miracle either in revealing his truth or witnessing it to the world Hath any man spake with tongues or done mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God since the Gospel was preached to all * See 1 Cor. 14.12 nations If ye know such a one produce him without delay that we may see also and beleeve him with you But this is not likely to come to passe however as I am informed some have gone about though in vain to perswade us the truth of things as incredible as these to justifie their cause Besides this who will take you to be competent judges of those gift in other men whereof ye have so small a portion your selves or perchance no share at all Lastly the means of knowledge in this nation have been so plentifull and common every where for many years together Blessed be the Lord for this his unspeakable gift partly by the teaching and partly by the writing of the learned that it is an easie matter now for men of good naturall parts with ordinary inclustry used in hearing and observing what is taught them by mouth or in reading what is published from the presse to gaine enough whereby to set themselves forth with credit and repute of knowledge for a time in the mystery of preaching especially if confident and bold above measure amongst the ignorant and vulgar sort of which note ye are and to delude your simplicity while they boast of things without their measure that is of other mens labours or in another mans rule and line of things made ready to their hand â— Cor. 10.16 repeat unto you in one place those Sermons which they have heard before in another from men called to the work yet so that you must take them to be theirs and as the sudden issues of their invention not second accounts of their memory which they have immediately received from the Lord and not from man Ibid. But he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Again if they commend unto you contrary doctrines to those that ye formerly received or new and strange of which ye have not heard in times past be wary and well advised how you entertain them lest they feed you with chaffe in stead of wheat give you a stone for bread or a serpent in stead of a fish or present you with a draught of deadly poison while they promise you a cup of pure wine To this end take heed I pray you of their spirituall flattery whereby they secretly insinuate into your mindes an high but groundlesse and false conceit of knowledge and Saintship not only above but also with exclusion of other men not agreeing with you in opinion or faction from these supposed priviledges For besides that this pride of spirit doth lay you open to their slie and dangerous insinuations of heresie and every false doctrine whereby they do impose upon your faith it is an abomination in the sight of the Almighty as appeareth from Luk. 18.9 c. Luk. 19.9 c. And surely it is almost beyond all belief how far this tympany of spiritual pride hath swoln in many of you or that they have imagined themselves to be in a state of perfection above divine ordinances namely prayer preaching Sacraments and if there be any other act of duty pertaining to the worship of God notwithstanding the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself doe every where commend and command the use of these to the Church not by their precept only but by their example also for how often doe we finde it testified of the Lord by those who were from the beginning eye-witnesses and Ministers of the word as
had almost buried in oblivion were revived again by you to the infamy and damage of your Pastors as if they were not men compassed about with infirmity as well as others or your selves free from all iniquity not needing the mercy of him who is the common Redeemer of you both and though ye need it how can ye with confidence expect it if that be true as ye finde Jam. 2.13 Jam. 2.13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy For neither your words nor deeds have been such toward them as doe become men that shall be judged by the law of Liberty Vers 12. because ye have used rigour and extremity in them both not advising in the least measure with the Law of Christ For otherwise ye would not have aggravated after this manner every small matter which might any wayes tend to their prejudice but rather have passed by such as these and either concealed the greatest where there was hope of repentance and amendment or followed the same with all meckness and moderation considering the persons whom ye did pursue and the sad calamities which were likely to befall them and their families if judgement should proceed against them And surely it is strange that the painfull industry of many years in the work of the Ministry could not prevail either with you who did partake thereof to conceal or with those that were their Judges and without doubt knew as much to pardon one or a few errours of their life upon promise of more strict conversation for the time to come Ye did pretend indeed that zeal for the Truth onely and love of Gods people did set you thus in opposition against the scandalous Ministers or those whom ye were pleased to term so but I fear your own conscience will one day tell you plainly and I pray God not too late that private quarrels personal interests and self ends carried you all along in these unwarrantable courses of mischief and persecution for some of you to our knowledge who have been most forward to thrust forth of the Lords inheritance them that for many years together had ministred unto you in holy things have been the first that fell into dislike of their owne new choice and refused to give them maintenance according to the Law So weak and unstable is your judgement so sickle your affection so immoderate your desire of novelty so blinde your conscience in discerning your own hearts so squeamish your mindes to receive truth if it doth any wise make against your worldly advantage or touch upon your sins the which though never so grievous and manifest Hos 4.4 no man must strive or repove another for thy people are as they that strive with the Priest Neither are ye offended onely with the Minister for open but also for secret rebukes yea and for private admonitions and correptions sometimes be they never so necessary and gentle withall as I have seen it by often experience verified in many one more especially a very lewd person indeed who being mildly reproved by a Minister in my hearing for some scandalous sin replyed again It were better for us if ye Ministers held your peace because then we might sin with the lesse guilt and punishment To whom then shall I speak and give warning that they may hear Behold Jer. 6.10 their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight in it Wherefore he that doth not please your humour or advance your faction or gratifie you in your beloved corruptions or sparing you strikes at your adversaries in a word will not be partakers of your sins by connivence or practise straight ways grows out of request with you as an unprofitable teacher or rather one not fit for your purpose however he be accomplished in all other respects and thus he is by little and little abandoned of you and another sought out more agreeable to your fancy and mind for a short season untill the date or time of pleasing you be expired also Insomuch as one Parish not many miles distant from the University of Oxford hath been known since these Times of trouble and distraction to have disliked and changed their Ministers as often if not more often then there be seasons in the year and yet scarce afford maintenance for a single man to live with them It is past belief what foolish exceptions they have had against those men who have upon triall or other occasions preached before them besides many against severall Ministers this they had against one not unknown to my self if I am not misinformed that he preached too long upon the same Text. I pray God this spirituall delicacy doth not presage a spirituall famine in the end whereby men may hunger and thirst after that Word which they despise and loath now because of the plenty and fulnesse thereof And here I may not passe by in silence a common but very dangerous errour that possesseth your mindes whereby ye fondly and falsely imagine that the successe of the Ministry doth depend upon the personall gifts of the Minister and not wholly upon the ordinance of Christ for which cause yee magnifie some above measure and despise others in comparison of them calling the first powerfull Preachers and not acknowledging the last for such because not men so well qualified for the work of the Lord as they The which conceit if I mistake not is not the least cause of your non-prosiciency by the meanes of grace For how can ye reap benefit from the Ordinance if ye come not duely prepared to it and how can ye come duly prepared to it if ye have not a just esteem of it that ye may answerably submit unto it For 1 Cor. 3.7 neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease Let men therefore learn to have greater respect to the blessing from above then to the means below to the grace and gift of God then to the abilities and endowments of men in the great busmesse of their conversion and edification Again ye English people are generally indifferent or luke warm in Religion and so ye may enjoy the worlds good care not what doth become of the Truth of God the which ye hear indeed but learn and know not like those of whom we read 2 Tim. 3.7 ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth or if ye know it receive it not neither beleeving it with your hearts nor obeying it in your lives for although ye all professe faith and pretend to it as the main ground and pillar of your hope in God yet it is but a bare profess on and meer ostentation of that which ye have not in truth a few excepted who testifie the same by their innocent and holy conversation Jac 2.26 without which faith is dead being alone The rest
2.29 while you transgresse his covenant to gratifie and please them in their lusts and more deny the faith by your sinfull caring and carking for them then they that do not at all provide for their families whom notwithstanding the Apostle doth count worse then Infidels 1 Tim. 5.8 Wherefore ye generally neither get riches as ye should nor use them as ye ought but get them either by violence or by deceit and when you have them consume them on your lusts so that ye are cursed both in the purchase and in the possession and your posterity for your sake to whom is entailed as well the curse as the reward of your unrighteousnesse because of their inseparable union To your corrupt waies of getting riches ye have added one above many as bad as these of spending what ye have gotten I mean your excesse of wine and of strong drink For there is hardly any bargain or contract now which is not begun and finished at the cup no meeting no fellowship in these times without this evill custome of drinking and swilling when nature as well as grace prescribes moderation and sobriety in the use of these creatures ordained for the necessary comfort of the body not for the superfluous appetite of the soul From whence it is that those Pestes reipublicae I mean your tipling house are encreased to so vast a number every where in the land and do yet encrease daily as so many snares spread in the way of those that passe by and are about their lawfull employments and the masters of them by their subtilty and base complyance with every mans humour that spends his money and time with them draw more expense from them and suck more of their labour and substance then many honest callings in the nation put together Neither is this all but they usually are the nurseries of idlenesse prosanenesse and all manner of vicious living and indeed what can we expect besides such fruits as these from that sin which is the mother of all uncleannesse and of whatsoever is displeasing unto God or hurtfull to man as the common and sad disasters occasioned hereby both to private persons and to whole samilies do more then sufficiently witnesse and though an instance of the profanenesse at such meetings may seem altogether unnecessary because nothing more usuall then this yet I cannot forbear to repeat a speech which I lately heard from the mouth of an ungodly companion drinking with his fellowes on the Ale-bench who said If all the Devils in hell stood round about me I would drink my cups Oh the sleepinesse and deadnesse of Magistrates the remisnesse of government the want of care and conscience in the inferiour Ministers of justice to execute their office and discharge their trust For otherwise how easily might many of these houses be suppressed that without license sell this abusive commodity how many more that sell it indeed with license but suffer all licentiousnesse to passe in the use thereof uncontroled through concealment at least if not encouragement of what is done in contempt both of divine and also of humane lawes by lewd persons who make these places their daily or continuall hunt And both in short time reduced to a much smaller and more necessary number Remeraber therefore oh ye Justices of the peace and you likewise who receive warrants from them how much it concerns the welfare of the nation and the quietnesse of your own conscience to enquire after and rectifie these disorders as speedily as you may let not an omne bene be brought in upon oath at your sessions in stead of an omne male as the custome hath a long time been and is still in use or if it be not finde so easie admission as as it hath heretofore done But what hope of reformation surely If a man walking in the spirit and falshoed doe lye saying Mic. 2.12 I will prophesie unto thee of wine and of strong drink he shall even be the Prophet of this people Now though that the Almighty hath for many years together admonished you of these and other your great and hainous sins by the messengers of his word and of late severely chastised many of you for them with his rod who is there among you that repenteth of the evill of his doings Jer. 8.6 7 8. I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into the battell Yea the Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. How do ye say we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us Nay do ye not rather adde to the iniquity of your sins and are ye not become more vile and abominable in the Lords sight by your lewd practises then before For behold your injustice is more exorbitant every where now then in times past your covetousnesse more close and sharp of appetite your pride of apparell more gorgeous the Hinde now exceeding the Farmer that was heretofore in the trimnesse and cost of his habit the Farmer the Yeoman the Yeoman the Gentleman and the Tradesman all these in bravery every one mounting above his degree and going beyond his estate in this sumptuous vanity your hypocrisie more profound then ever your contempt of Gods worship never so open and apparent as now so that ye seem generalry to be incorrigible like those in the Prophet Jer. 5.3 For though God hath stricken you yet have ye not grieved he hath consumed you but ye have refused to receive correction ye have made your faces harder then a rock ye have refused to return As long indeed as the dissolute plundering party were abroad in the countrey and were a terrour and scourge unto you ye appeared as men mortified and weaned from the world but no sooner was the rod laid aside then ye returned every one to his former waies more strongly grasping and closely emoracing this world then before as it comes to passe between friends after a long or dangerous parting one from the other like the people of Israel of whom the Prophet witnesseth Psal 78.34 c. that when God slew them then they sought him and returned and enquired early after him and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant So ye after the same manner did but dissemble in your hearts both with God and with man in the time of your distresse notwithstanding all the shew and profession you made of repentance and turning unto him who smote you for your transgressions And to say the truth your hypocrisie is not tranparent only