not many Noble are called which was indeed a good way to suppress the danger of malignity that looks not so much after poor estates and a good way to increase their number and propagate their design with more safety And as by this means the Church began to take root and to grow stronger and the wealthier nobler and wiser men began to be in love with the Christian Religion So then they loved nothing more than to build Churches answerable for their beauty How zealously the fi st Christians were affected how bountifully they contributed towards the building of their Churches to the dignity of their Religion and for their greatness to the number of their Professors And the devotion of these Christians was so large and did so liberally contribute towards the erecting of their Churches as the Israelites in the dayes of Bezaliel did chearfully present their Gifts and Free-will-offerings towards the setting up of the Tabernacle no man was backward and no man a niggard in this work which they conceived to be so profitable and so necessary for them to do and that in two special respects 1. The good that is effected 2. The evils that are prevented by the publick meeting of the people in these Churches The double benefit that we reap by our coming to the Publick meeting in the Church 1. The meeting of the Congregation publickly in a lawful place and a consecrated Church assures them they offend not the Laws either of God or man and so secures them from all blame and prevents the occasion to traduce and to suspect the lawfulnesse of the holy Duties that we perform when as Veritas non quaerit angulos Truth and the performance of just things and holy actions need not run and hide themselves in private hidden 1. Benefit and unlawful places but may shew themselves and appear so publickly as they might not be subject to any the least unjust imputation 2. Benefit 2. The meeting in a publick consecrated Church and not in a private Conventicle escapes those dangerous plots and machinations that are very often invented and contrived in those Conventicles that are vailed for that purpose under the mantle and pretence of Religion And it freeth the comers unto the Church from those seditious Doctrines and damnable Divinity which the Sectaries and Hereticks do scatter and broach in those unlawful Conventicles which are the fittest places for them to effect their wicked purpose and must needs be sinful and offend both God and man because they are contrary to the Laws both of God and man Whenas the coming unto the Church quits my conscience from all fear of offending because that herein I do obey and do agreeable to the Laws both of God and man And who then that hath any dram of wit would not avoid private and forbidden meetings and go to serve God unto the publick Church which is the House of God erected and dedicated for his Service CHAP. X. The Answer to the Two Objections that the Fanatick-Sectaries do make 1. Against the Necessity And 2ly against the Sanctity or Holiness of our Material Churches which in derision and contemptuously they call Steeple-houses ANd yet for all this and all that we can say for the Church of God I find Four sorts of Objections 4 Sorts of Objections against our Material Churches that are made by our Fanaticks and Skenimastices against our Material Churches As 1. Against the Necessity 2. Against the Sanctity 3. Against the Beauty Glory 4. Against the impurity Impiety of them 1. They do object 1. Objection against the necessity that we have no need of Churches there is no Necessity of any Material House or Church of God for his servants to meet in to serve God because the woman of Samaria discoursing with Christ about the place where God would be worshipped Whether in that Mountain where the Fathers worshipped or in Hierusalem which as the Jews said was the place where men ought to worship Our Saviour tells her plainly They worshipped they knew not what for the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet in Hierusalem worship the Father but the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth because God is a Spirit John 4.20 23. and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth and such worshippers the Father seeks and such he loves And therefore so we have clean hearts and pure consciences and worship God with our souls and spirits faithfully to pray unto him and to praise his Name it is no matter for the place where we do it in a Church or in a Barn because God looks rather to the inward heart than to the outward place where we stand To this I answer Maledicta glossa quae corrumpit textum Sol. and our Saviours words gives them no colour to extort such consequences and to draw such conclusions from them for the words are plain enough that although formerly before Moses his time Jacob had a Well near Sichar and he with the other Fathers worshipped God in that Mountain and afterwards God required them to worship him in the place that he should chuse to put his Name there which after the time of David and the building of his Temple by Solomon was to be Hierusalem and no where else to perform the commanded Publick Service of God under the punishment of cutting off that soul from his people that should do otherwise Yet the hour cometh and now is that is coming or beginning to come that the partition-Wall betwixt the Jews and the Gentiles shall be broken down and the bounds and borders of Gods Church and the true worshippers of God shall be inlarged and they may lawfully without offence worship God not only in Jury where God was only formerly known aright but also in all the Nations and in any Kingdom of the World so they worship him in spirit and in truth as they ought to do But here is not one syllable intimating that they should not or needed not to meet to serve God in the Publick Church but that whensoever and wheresoever in any Kingdom of the Earth they should gather themselves together in the Publick Church to worship God they should worship him in spirit and in truth otherwise their worship is to no purpose and will avail them nothing though they should do it publickly in the Church This is the true meaning of our Saviours words Obj. 2 2. We have another sort of Sectaries that yield it requisite and convenient for the Saints and servants of God to meet and gather themselves together for the Service of God and do acknowledg the great benefits that may accrew and be obtained in a Congregation rather than by any single person but they think there is no necessity of their meeting in a Material Church or a Steeple-house as they call it rather than in a house or a chamber or a
that it was fit it should be so in respect of a double comparison 1. Of himself with God 2. Of his Court with God's Ark. Reason 1 1. I that am but a poor creature have an house to dwell in and God that is the Creator of all the World hath not an House to put his Ark in and for his servants to meet in to hear his Laws and to ' do him service Reason 2 2. My Court is stately covered over with Cedars but the Ark of God is but very meanly and basely covered over with a Canopie of skins to shelter it from the wind and the weather And therefore conceiving this to be very preposterous and a far unbeseeming thing for him to be better provided for than his God he conferreth with the Prophet and tells him he intends to rectifie this obliquity and to build God an House more agreeable to his Majesty These are the parts and parcels of the Kings deliberation and conference with the Prophet and his Bishop Nathan And 1. The time of this deliberation How Sitting Standing are commonly interpreted 1. For the time It is said when the King sate in his house and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies So you see 1. It was when the King sate in his house and these relative words sitting and standing are noted by Divines to have some difference of sense and acceptation As standing being commonly taken in good part and sitting in the evil and worser sense as in these places where standing is well spoken of Ezech. 3.24 1 Cor. 10.12 2 Cor. 1.24 Ephes 6.14 1 Pet. 5.12 Ps 135.1 2. Ps 122.2 2 Reg. 3.14 The Spirit entred into me and set me upon my feet and he that thinketh he standeth let him take heed lest he fall and stand in the Lord as dear children and by faith ye stand and stand having your loynes girt about with truth and this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand and praise the Lord all ye his servants ye that stand in the courts of the Lords House and our feet shall stand in thy gates O Hierusalem and the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand In all which quotations and the like the word standing hath reference unto good and is taken in the better sense and so to be interpreted And in these places and the like where the name of sitting runneth into obloquie and is attributed to iniquity Iniquity sitteth on a talent of lead Zach 5.7 Ps 119. Ps 1. and Princes sit and speak against me and Blessed is the man that hath not sate in the seat of the scornful and the ungodly person sitteth lurking in the theevish corners of the streets and so in may other places it is interpreted in the worse sense How the word sate is here takeâ— But here the word sate in his house is of a milder meaning and of indifferent acceptation and rather to be interpreted in the better sense as betokening the government of the King for so the King sate in his house signifieth that he sate in his Seat of Government and this sense hath been ancient and obvious in our reading as where the Poet saith Celsa sedet Aeolus arce King Aeolus fitteth in his high Tower and manageth his State-matters and in the Germane speech they say that to sit signifieth to reign as the Emperour sate that is reigned so many years And this is the moderne meaning of this phrase even amongst us for when we would shew how long any one hath exercised the Office and discharged the Place of a Bishop Judge or Prefect amongst us we are wont to say he sate in that place so long And to sit commonly signifieth to be in rest and quiet and is opposite to affairs and businesse As where it is said Shall your brethren go to battle and you sit still And where the Poet saith Sedeant spectentque Latini Let the Latines sit still and look on And in both these sences King David may be said to sit in his house without any great matter in which sense we understand the word though I rather take it in the later way because that 2. The next adjunct of the time is 2. When waâ— the time that David had rest from all his enemies when the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies for this varieth little or nothing from the former when he sate in his house And therefore we may very well compose them and confound them together and put than to signifie the same thing But about this rest that is here spoken of the Expositors cannot all agree when it was whilest they do consider the many Battels that he fought after this conference that he had with Nathan and therefore though some take it for the peace he had at this present time yet others of a quicker sight do assign it after the second Victory he had against the Philistines when he was such an hammer so terrible to all the neighbour-Nations as that the very name of David and his doings made them afraid and glad to sue unto him for peace and to take bands of resolution with themselves to be of good behaviour towards him and never to provoke him any more And of this we read in 1 Chron. 14.11 when the Philistines came up to Baal-Perazim and David smote them and said God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters and afterward when they spread themselves abroad in the valley 1 Chron. 14. v. 16 17. and David smote them from Gibeon even to Gazer and the fame of David went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 2. For the persons that are here conferring together 2. The persons deliberating and conferring together they are said to be David and Nathan the King and the Prophet two great Persons and high Offices that formerly were contained in one Person as Melchisedech was the Priest of the Most High GOD and King of Salem And as the Poet saith Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos Virgil. l. 3. And when God divided and distributed these several Offices to several persons he conferred them upon two brothers that is Moses and Aaron that so the King and the Priest might live and love one another like brethren as I have more amply shewed in my Treatise of The Grand Rebellion And so King David here dischargeth that his duty accordingly And so likewise not only the Heathen Kings but also the Jewish Kings the Kings of Israel and all good Christian Kings disdained not the friendly familiarity and conference with their Bishops and Priests The greatest Kâ—ngs and Pâ—inces were most familiar with the Priests Oâ—â—tors and Philosophers especially when they consult and deliberate of Religion or any point that concerns the Worship and Service of God For as King Croesus conferred with Solon the Philosopher and
Superstitious said of that place where God shewed his presence to him This is Gods House and the gate of Heaven Gen. 28.17 and the Lord said unto Moses Put off thy shooes from thy feet for the place where thou standest is Holy ground Exod. 3.5 and why was that ground more Holy than any other ground Not in respect of any innate holiness but because the Lord reveiled himself there to Moses more visibly and more graciously than in any other place And I pray you look what the Spirit of God adviseth and injoyneth us to do when we come into the House of God To keep thy foot Eccl 5.1 For this phrase is a Synechdoche of the part for the whole of the foot for all the members of the body which in the Church of God ought to be framed to a Religious decency as to bend the knee lift up our eyes uncover the head and the like and much more thy heart and thy head as thou oughtest to do decently and Reverently when thou goest to the House of God and therefore much more Reverently when thou art and standest in Gods House And be more ready to hear then to give the Sacrifice of Fools which they do that despise this House of God which none but fools will do for if we make no difference of these things but that every man that will may intrude himself to do the service which God requireth to be done by another and he may do that service any where in any one place as well as in another in a common barn as well as in an Holy Church then surely we need not observe any time when any one day is as good and as Holy as another the Munday as well as the Lords-day and so confounding persons times and places we shall confound all Religion and we shall suddenly bring Atheism and all Prophaneness among the people CHAP. XI The answer to another Objection that our Fanatick-Sectaries do make against the Beauty and Glorious Adorning of our Churches which we say should be done with such decent Ornaments and Implements as are besitting the House and Service of God The reasons why we should Honor God with our goods and how liberal and bountiful both the Fathers of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New Testament were to the Church of God Obj. 3 Against the beautifying of our Churches THirdly There be another sort of close-handed and covetous-hearted Fanatick Sectaries that are much offended at our Beautifying and Adorning our Churches so as is fitting and meet for the Houses of God And they do Object that God is a Spirit and will be served in spirit and in truth and therefore he requireth not our goods our gold and our silver which he hath no need of Psal 50.10 or our Cattle when as all the beasts of the Forrest are his and so are the Cattle upon a 1000. hills and he delighteth not in burnt offering and so the Prophet sheweth when he demandeth Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl No no the Lord careth for no such things we may keep them all to our selves Mich. 6.7 for he hath Shewed thee O man what is good and what the Lord doth require of thee and that is To do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And therefore the Lord saith not Give me your gold to make me Palaces or your silver to adorn my house wherein I dwell not but give me your hearts wherein I delight to dwell if they be pure and clean and void of the filthiness of sin and corruption Quia deliciae meae cum filiis hominum because my delights are to be with the sons of men and I desire no more of them but To fear the Lord their God to walk in all his waies Deut. 10.12 and to love him and to serve the Lord their God withall their heart and withall their soul And from these and the like premises our Fanaticks do conclude that as God was never better served then when his Churches and Oratories were no better then poor mens Cottages and when the Christians answered their persecuters in the time of Julian who said their service was not so Solemn nor their Temples answerable to the Majesty of God that the best Temples which they could dedicate unto God wer their Sanctified souls and clean hearts so they would have our times to be the like and our Churches to be no fairer nor any otherwise beautified then they were in those times of poverty and persecution Sol. To this I answer and confess that God delighteth more in the Holiness of the hearts of them that serve him then in the honor and beauty of the place where he is served In the time of necessity God accepteth our service any where But though Moses in the mountain Job on the dunghill Jeremy in the mire Daniel in the Lions den Ezechias in his bed and the Apostles in the stocks called upon the name of the Lord and he heard them and so Christ preached on the Mount and in the Valley on the Sea-shore and in the Ship and Saint Paul did the like in an upper Chamber and the people heard them as well then as in the Temple and God accepted of their service Yet as Saint Paul demands of the Corinthians whether they thought it seemly that a woman should be bare-headed in the Church so I demand of these men as the Prophet Haggai demandeth of the Jews Is it fit that you should dwell in sieled houses and let the House of God lye wast or is it meet and Religious that the Church of Christ should be no better beautified then a husband-mans barn And I may ask of any rational man if the Sanctity and Celebrity of the place where God is usually and publickly served doth not animate the devotion and stir up pious thoughts in all good Christians Psal 56.9 when they come there to Worship their Saviour in that beauty of Holiness as the Prophet speaketh Therefore the good and godly King David when he intended to build God an House saith That because the Palace was not for man but for the Lord God I prepared with all my might for the House of my God 1 Chron. 29.1 2 3. the Gold for the things that were to be made of Gold the Silver for things of Silver and the Brass for things of Brass the Iron for things of Iron and Wood for things of Wood Onyx stones and stones to be set How liberally King David gave to build and beautify Gods House glistering stones and of divers colours and all manner of Pretious-stones and Marble-stones in abundance moreover because I have set my affection to the House of my God I have of mine own proper goods of Gold and Silver which I have given to the House of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy
House even three thousand Talents of Gold of the Gold of Ophir and seven thousand Talents of refined Silver to over-lay the walls of the house withall The Gold for things of Gold and the Silver for things of Silver and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of the Artificers And so the chief of the Fathers and Princes of the tribes and Captains also offered most willingly and gave for the service the building and beautifying of the House of God of Gold five thousand Talents and ten thousand drams and of Silver ten thousand Talents 1 Chron. 39 7 and of Brass eighteen thousand Talents and one hundred Talents of Iron And not only this good Kings heart and his people The Fathers before Davids time did the like were thus inlarged so freely to offer their goods for the building beautifying and adorning of Gods House but also all other faithfull servants of God that were zealous of Gods Worship both afore and after Davids time did the like for if you consider the building of the Tabernacle and the furniture that belong'd unto it in the time of Moses you shall find that although the people were but wanderers in the wilderness and therefore could not be very wealthy nor have any more riches but only what they brought out of Egypt yet this was the free and voluntary dedication of the Altar in the day when it was anointed by the Princes of Israel Twelve Chargers of silver twelve silver Bouls twelve Spoons of Gold each Charger of silver weighing one hundred and thirty shekels each Boul seventy cicles or shekels all the silver vessels weighed two thousand and four hundred shekels after the shekel of the Sanctuary the golden Spoons were twelve full of incense weighing ten shekels a piece after the shekel of the Sanctuary Numb 7.84 85 86. All the Gold of the Spoons was one hundred and twenty shekels every shekel weighing half an ounce Whereby you may perceive what care they took in that infancy of the Church to have all the appurtenances of the House of God so fair and so specious as they could possibly make it even to the uttermost of their abilities And so after Davids time besides the foresaid moneys that David left for the use of Gods House which came to the rate of eight thousand Talents of Gold and of Silver seventeen thousand chikars and every chikar containing one thousand and eight hundred cicles and weighing nine hundred ounces King Solomon was so bountifull and his donation so exceeding large that it can very hardly be valued for besides the stuffes that he laid in of Timber Marble Stone Brass Iron Copes and Pretious-stones he overlayed the greater House which he sieled with Firr-trees with fine Gold and the garnishing of the House with Pretious-stones for beauty and the Gold was the Gold of Parvaim and he overlayed the House the beams the posts and the walls thereof and the doors thereof with Gold and graved Cherubims on the walls and he over-laid the most hoâ—y House with fine Gold amounting to six hundred Talents and the weight of the nailes was fifty Shekels of Gold and he over-laid the upper Chambers with Gold and the two Cherubims he over-laid with Gold and he made ten Candlesticks of Gold and a hundred Basins of Gold and the Flowers and the Lamps 2 Chron. 3. 4. and the Tongs made he of Gold and that perfect Gold and the Snâ—ffâ—rs and the Censers of pure Gold and the Entry of the House the Inner-doors and the doors of the House of the Temple were of Gold And when all these unvaluable Treasures and Furnitures of this House of God were ransacked and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and Cyrus after their 70. years Captivity gave the Jews leave to Return and gave them power and licence to re-edifie and to build the House of God again these captive Jews newly returned out of bondage beyond their ability were most bountiful in their contributions for the setting up of another Temple which though for Beauty and Majesty it was not correspondent to the former Temple yet was it very glorious and finished most readily and the free Donations of the people were so large that when all the work was finished the surplusage of their Gifts that remained to beautifie the same and provide ornaments for it and to defray other future reckonings amounted to 650. Chichars of Silver and a 100. Chichars of Gold And to this Nehemias the Tyrshatha gave to the Treasure a thousand drams of Gold Nehem. 7.70 fifty Basins and five hundred and thirty Priests Garments And so likewise some of the chief of the Fathers and Heads of houses were not behind Verse 71.72 to build and beautifie this House of God but gave to the Treasure of the work twentie thousand drams of God and two thousand and two hundred pound of Silver and that which the rest of the people gave was twentie thousand drams of Gold and two thousand pound of Silver and sixty seven Priests Garments Thus you see how the Jews both in the time of David and before David and after David and both in their prosperitie and in their adversitie when they were full in the dayes of Solomon and when they were emptie and weak after their return from Captivity were most zealously affected to build and beautifie the House of God and to spare neither Gold nor Silver to adorne the same as it ought to be And what do we Surely change the case instead of giving to build and beautifie the Church and the maintenance of the Service of God's House we take away the states and timber and all the Furniture of the Church and as the Psalmist prophesied of our times all the carved works thereof and the goodly Monuments of our pious forefathers we break down with axes and hammers and instead of providing the Priests Vestures for the Church-service we are more ready to take their garments from their backs and their bread out of their mouths Obj. But you will say they were Jews which so adorned their Temple as you shewed before and their Religion consisted in outward pomp and carnal Service whereas we are Christians and the Kings Daughter which is the Church of Christ is all glorious within and her service to God consisteth not either in carnal Ceremonies or external Glory but as Christ faith in spirit and in truth Sol. I answer That I confess the chiefest Glory of the Kings Daughter is within in a pure heart and a sanctified soul but her clothing is of wrought Gold and her outward rayment is of needle work and her vesture is of pure Gold wrought about with divers colours very fair and glorious to behold So our Religion and our zeal to God's Worship must not only rest and reside in the heart but it must bud forth and appear in all our outward actions and God will be served not only inwardly with our hearts but
they are whom we honour the greater regard we should make of the gifts and oblations that we offer unto him As it is unseemly and a shame for us to present unto our Kings and Princes or any other person of Honour any poor mean base or paltry present So it is if we do the like to God And therefore the Prophet Malachy demandeth If you offer unto God the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil and if you offer the lame and the sick Malach. 1.8 is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee saith the Lord of Hosts So the Lord was no wayes pleased with Cains offering because that having enough and all good things from God he kept the best for himself and gave a little of the meanest and worst unto God And you know what God saith Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing and so like unto Cain keepeth the best for himself for I am a Great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen Verse 14. and therefore you should not offer unto me the poorest and the basest things you have but the best and the greatest of all your substance Therefore the Gentiles by the light of nature and the Jews How that the Heathens Jews Christians eâ—ected great and glorious Houses for the Gâ—eat Glorious God And Plutarch setteth down what an infinite charge it cost Tarquinius Sylla Vespasian and Domitian to build the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome Plutarch in the Life of Publicola pag. 107. 108. by the example of Moses David Solomon and the rest of Gods Prophets that were inspired by Gods Spirit and all the godly and zealous Christians that were illuminated by the light of truth considering the greatness and the glorious Majesty of our Great God that is Optimus Maximus The Best and the Greatest of all the things that you can imagine and is most wonderful in all his Works conceived it fitting to erect and build such great magnificent and most glorious Temples and Churches as might seem fitting and so far as they were able to make them correspondent to the Greatness and the Glorious Majesty of that Great God for whose Honour Worship and Service they erected and dedicated the same And such were the Temple of Apollo at Delphos of Diana at Ephesus of Amphiaraus and Jupiter Olympus and the Temple of Solomon in Hierusalem and the Churches of S. Paul in London and S. Peter in Westminster and abundance more which you may see in these Kingdoms that our most zealous religious and godly forefathers built and spared no cost nor charges to adorne and beautifie them most gloriously with all necessary Furnitures for the Honour and Woâ—ship of their God and the Service of Jesus Christ And shall we throw down these Houses and lay waste these Temples of God or think much to bestow a little of our wealth that God hath so liberally bestowed upon us to keep them up and to have them competently trimed and beautified God forbid that our love to God's Honour and our thankfulness to Jesus Christ should be so little as to do so CHAP. XII The Answer to another Objection that our brain-sick Sectaries do make for the utter overthrow of our Cathedrals and Churches as being so fowly stained and prophaned with popish Superstitions and therefore being no better than the Temples of Baal they should rather be quite demolished than any wayes adorned and beautified FOurthly 4. Objection against the being of our Churches Psal 137.7 we have some other Sectaries more brain-sick than the former and these under the pretence of zeal to the purity of Religion do hotly plead for the destruction of our Churches and cry out in the language of the Edomites Down with them down with them even to the very ground for they have been defiled and prophaned by the Idolatries and superstitions of the Popish Bishops and their Mass-Priests and therefore as the Lord by a flat Precept commanded the Israelites saying You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the Nations which ye shall possess served their gods upon the high Mountains and upon the Hills and under every green Tree and you shall overthrow their Altars and break their Pillars Deut. 12 2 3. 2 Chron. 17 6. 2 Reg. 18.4 and burn their Groves with fire and you shall hew down the graven Images of their gods and destroy the names of them out of the place And as Jehosaphat according to this Precept took away the High-places and Groves out of Juda and Hezechias also removed the High-places and brake the Images and cut down the Groves and brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made because the children of Israel did burn incense to it So should we subvert and throw down all the Monuments of Idolatry and Superstition and all the places where the true Religion and the Service of God have been abused And accordingly these frantick Zelots have wheresoever they came and could do it thrown down many of our Churches and brake in pieces the Fonts wherein they were Baptized and threw down the Tombs and Monuments of their Fore-fathers and made such havock of Gods Houses and destroyed all Holy places so as is lamentable to consider it And they tell us most impudently that to hold up such places to serve God therein is nothing else but with King Saul to reserve the execrable and accursed things for Gods Worship which is abominable in the sight of God Sol. 1. To this I Answer 1. That it is better to serve God in those places that have been superstitiously abused as formerly all places were Idolatrously defiled by the Heathens than not to serve him in any place for as when certain Christians found a vacant and a voyd place in the City of Rome where they thought they might conveniently build a Church and certain loose companions that were Victuallers made claim and pretended a Title unto it and told Alexander Severus it was not so fit to make a House to serve God in as it was for them to sell and vent their commodities the Emperour The discreet answer of Alexander Severus led by the light of nature being no Christian answered most Christian-like that he thought it better God should be Worshipped any way and in any place rather then that they should have their way to make it a place for their shambles so say I that it is a great deal fitter to serve God in these Houses that were so Zealously erected and so Religiously Consecrated for Gods service howsoever they were afterwards soyled with some vanities and perhaps defiled with some Idolatries then that they should be thrown down or be made a Stable for their Horses or a Kitchin to dress meat for their tables as some of these Sectaries have made these Houses of God to be
Country-men should be such as rather to spend our selves to relieve them then by lewd practices to destroy them when by our dissolute debauchment we have destroyed our selves 2. Of the same Tribe 2. These Rebels were of their own Tribe of the Tribe of Levi and so knit together indissolubili vinculo with the indissoluble bond of blood and fraternity and therefore they should have remembred the saying of Abraham their Father unto his Nephew Lot Let there be no dissention betwixt thee and me for we be brethren a good Uncle that would never drive his Nephew out of his house and home And we read that affinity among the Heathens could not only keep away the force and suppresse the malice of deadly foes but also retain pignora juncti sanguinis as Julia did Caesar and Pompey and as the Poet saith Lucan Pharsal l. 1. Vt generos soceris mediae junxere Sabinae And therefore why should not consanguinity and the bond of flesh and blood suppresse the envy of friends and retain the love of brethren But these prove true the old saying that Fratrum irae inter se inimicissimae the wrath of brethren is most deadly as it appeared not only in Cain against Abel Romulus against Remus and all his brethren against Joseph but especially in Caracalla that slew his brother Geta in his mothers armes and therefore Solomon saith A brother offended is harder to winne then a strong City Prov. 28.19 and their contentions are like the barrs of a Pallace not easily broken Nam ut aqua calefacta cum ad frigiditatem reducitur frigidissima est For as water that hath been hot being cold again is colder then ever it was before and as the Adamant if it be once broken is shivered into a thousand pieces so love being turned into hatred and the bond of friendship being once dissolved there accreweth nothing but a swift increase of deadly hatred So it happened now in the Camp of Israel that the saying of Saint Bernard is found true Omnes amici Bern. in Cant. Serm. 33. omnes inimici All of a house and yet none at peace all of a kindred and yet in mortal hatred And as Corah and his companions were so nearly allyed unto Moses of the Tribe of Levâ— so Dathan and Abiram were men famous in the Congregation noble Peers and very popular men heads of their families of the Tribe of Reuben A subtle practice of that pestiferous Serpent to joyn Simeon and Levi Clergy and Laity in this wicked faction of Rebellion the one under colour of dissembled sanctity the other with their power and usurped authority to seduce the more to make the greater breach of obedience And so it hath been always that we scarse read of any Rebellion but some base Priests the Chaplains of the Devill have begot it and then the Nobles of the people arripientes ansam taking hold of this their desired opportunity do foster that which they would have willingly fathered as besides this Rebellion of Corah that of Jack Cade in the reign of Henry the sixth and that of Perkin Warbeck in the time of Henry the seventh and many more that you may find at home in the lives of our own Kings may make this point plain enough But they should have thought on what our Saviour tells us that Every Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every City or House divided against it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not stand What a mischief then was it for these men to make such a division among their own Tribe and in their own Camp Nondum tibi defuit hostis had they not the Egyptians and the Canaanites and the Amalekites and enow besides to fight against but they must raise a civil discord in their own house Could not their thoughts be as devout as the Heathen Poet 's which saith Omnibus hostes Reddite nos populis civile avertite bellum Lucan Pharsal lib. 1. And therefore this makes the sin of home-bred Rebels the more intolerable because they bring such an Ilias malorum so many sorts of unusual calamities and grievous iniquities upon their own brethren 3. These Rebels were of their own Religion 3. Of the same Religion professing the same faith that the others did Et religio dicitur à religando saith Lactantius and therefore this bond should have tyed them together firmer then the former For if equal manners do most of all bind affections Et similitudo morum parit amicitiam as the Orator teacheth then hoc magnum est hoc mirum that men should not love those of the same Religion And if the profession of the same trades and actions is so forcible not onely to maintain peace but also to increase love and amity JACOB REX in Ep. to all Christian Monarchs as we see in all Societies and Corporations of any mechanick craft or handle work they do inviolably observe that Maxim of the Civill Law to give an interest unto those qui fovent consimilem causam so that as birds of the same feather they will cluster all in one and be zealous for the preservation of them that are of the same craft or society why then should not the profession of the same Religion if not increase affection yet at least detain men from dissention For though diversities of Religion non bene conveniunt can seldom contain themselves for any while in the same Kingdom without Civil distractions especially if each party be of a near equall power which should move all Governours to do herein as Hannibal did with his army that was a mixture of all Nations to keep the most s spected under and rank them so that they durst not kick against his Carthaginians or as Henry the fourth did with the Brittains to make such Laws that they were never able to rebell so should the discreet Magistrate not root out a people that they be no more a Nation but so subordinate the furthâ—st from truth to the best professors that they shall never be able any wayes to endanger the true Religion yet where the same Religion is universally profâ—ssâ—d excepting small differences in adiaphoral things quae non diversificant species as the Schoâ—â—s speak it is more then unnatural for any one to make a Schism and much more transcendently heynous to rebell against his Governours But indeed no sin is so unnatural no offence so heynous but that swelling pride and discontented natures will soon perpetrate no bonds nor bounds can keep them in and therefore Corah must rebell And ever since in all Societies even among the Levites and among the Priests the d sordered spirits have rebelled against their Governours fecerunt unitatem contra unitatem and erecting Altars against Altars as the Fathers speak they have made confederacies and conspiracies against the truth and thereby they have at all times drawn after them many multitudes of ignorant soules unto perdition This is no
for all this lift up his hand against the Lords annointed but refused their gold Jâ—h Servinus pro libertat Ecclesiae statu Regni tom 3. Monarchia Rom. p 202. rejected their conditions and dismissed the Embassadours as witnesses of his faith to God his fidelity and allegiance to his King and peaceable mind towards his Country Where you see this prudent and good Prince had rather patiently suffer these intolerable injuries that were offered both to himself to the inferiour Magistrates and to many other good Christians for his sake then any wayes undutifully resist the Ordinance of God And surely this Example is most acceptable unto God most wholesome for any Common-wealth and most honourable for any subordinate Prince for I am certain this is the faith of Christ and the religion of the true Protestants Not to offer but suffer all kind of injuries and to render good for evill and rather with patience love and obedience to study to gain the favour of their Persecutors then any ways with force and arms to withstand those that God hath placed in authority which must needs be not onely offensive unto God whose Ordinance they do resist but also destructive to the Common-wealth which can never receive any benefit by any insurrection against the Prince 3. Not for any tyranny that shall be offered unto us 3. Though the King should prove to be Nerone Neronior worse then Phalaris and degenerating from all humanity should prove a Tyrant to all his people yet his subjects may not rebell against him upon this pretence for if any cause should be admitted for which subjects might rebell that cause would be allwayes alledged by the Rebels whensoever they did rebell and whom I and many others should deem a good Prince and most pious the Rebels would proclaim him tyrannical and idolatrous And therefore in such a case The difference betwixt king and people to be determined onely by God when some men think their King most gracious and others think him vitious some believe him to be good others believe him to be evil shall we think it fit that the disaffected party shall presently with arms decide the controversie and not rather have the accused the accuser and the witnesses before a competent Judge to determine the truth of this question Surely this seems more reasonable and more agreeable unto the rules of justice when as The Law condemneth no man much lesse the King before his cause be heard And seeing such a competent Judge as can justly determine this controversie betwixt the King and his People or rather betwixt one part of his people and the other cannot be found under Heaven therefore to avoid civil warres and the effusion of humane and Christian blood and the prevention of abundance of other mischiefs both the Scripture teacheth That we ought not by any means to resist our kings Proved and the Church believeth and Reason it self sheweth and the publique safety requireth that we should transmit this question to be decided onely by him which is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will when he seeth good bind evil Kings in fetters and their Nobles with links of iron CHAP. V. Sheweth by Scripture the Doctrine of the Church humane Reason and the Welfare of the weale publique that we ought by no means to rebell A threefold power of every Tyrant Three kinds of tyrannies The doubtful and dangerous events of Warre Why many men rebell Jehu's example not to be followed 1. THe Scripture saith I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement 1 By the Scriptures and that in regard of the oath of God that is the oath whereby thou hast sworn before God and by God to obey him Be not hasty to go out of his sight that is not out of his presence but out of his rule and government and stand not in an evill thing that is in opposition or rebellion against thy King which must needs be evill and the worst of all evils to thy King for He doth whatsoever pleaseth him that is Ecclesiast 8.2 3 4. he hath power and authority to do what he pleaseth Where the Word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thou or Why dost thou so And Solomon saith A Grey-hound an Hee-Goat and a King Prov. 30.31 against whom there is no rising up there ought not to be indeed I will not set down what Samuel saith but desire you to read the place 1 Sam. chapter 8. verse 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. where you shall see what the King will doe and what remedy the Prophet prescribeth against him Not to rebell and take up arms but to cry unto the Lord that he would help them And Saint Paul saith Whosoever resisteth the power Rom. 13.1 resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And S. Peter saith that they which despise government 2 Pet. 2.10.12 and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities are presumptuous and do walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleannesse and as natural brute beasts that are made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and therefore they shall utterly perish in their own corruption And Saint Jude in like manner calleth those that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities the very phrase of Saint Peter filthy dreamers Jude 8.10 11. that defile the flesh and therefore shall perish in the gainsaying of Corah This is the doctrine of God therefore Saint Paul exhorteth us not to rebell nor to speak evil of our Kings be they what they will but first of all 1 Tim 2.2 or before all things to make prayers and supplications for our Kings and for all that are in authority And I wonder what spirit except it were the spirit of hell it self durst ever presume to answer and evade such plain and pregnant places of Scripture to countenance disobedience and to justifie their rebellion And therefore 2. By the Doctrine of the Church 2. The Church of Christ believeth this Doctrine to be the truth of God for no man saith Saint Cyril without punishment resisteth the Laws of Kings but Kings themselves in whom the fault of prevarication hath no place because it is wisely said It is impiety therefore against the will of God to say unto the King Cyrill in Jâ—han l. 14. c 56 Iniquè agis Thou dost amisse for as God is the supream Lord of all which judgeth all and is judged of none so the Kings and Princes of the earth which do correct and judge others are to be corrected and judged of none but onely of God to whose power and authority they are onely subject and therefore King David understanding his own station well enough when he was both an adulterer and a murderer and prayeth to God for mercy saith Against thee onely have I sinned because
gracious King and I believe the best Protestant King that ever England or Ireland saw neither Popishly affected nor Schismatically led to disaffect but most constantly resolved to be a true Defender of that true Protestant Faith which is established by Law in the Church of England and he is such a King of so unblameable a life so spotlesse in all his actions so clement and so meek towards all men and so merciful towards his very enemies that the mouth of Envy cannot truly taxe him nor malice it self disprove him in any thing Yet we know that as Moses the meekest among men and David the best of Kings were sore afflicted slandered and persecuted not a little by many of their own obliged subjects yea and the best Kings have had the greatest troubles so this good King hath had for his trial a great part of the like usage I know not by whom neither do I intend here to accuse others but to instruct you and by what I shewed out of this Text to teach you above all to take heed of disobedience and Rebellion towards your King and to let you understand that what priviledges in the New Testament are acknowledged to be due to Heathen Princes and what prerogatives the spirit of God hath in the Old Testament warranted unto the Jewish Kings and what the universal Law of Nature hath established upon all the supreme Governours do all of them appertain by unquestionable right unto his most sacred Majesty and yet His Majesty out of His incomparable goodnesse insisteth not to challenge all these but vouchsafeth to accept of those Rights and Prerogatives which are undoubtedly afforded him by the Lawes of His own Lands and these come farre short scarce the moity of the other because we know if our Historians have not deceived me how many of them were obtained by little better then by force and violence compelling Kings to consent unto them whereas Lawes should be of a freer nature And therefore of all the Nations round about us besides that God hath intrusted Him with us all we have most reason to intrust him and to give credit unto his Majesties many Protestations too high to be forgotten by him or misdoubted by us for his resolution to maintain the Liberty of his Subjects the just Priviledges of Parliaments and the true established Religion in the Kingdome of England and likewise to rule over us according to our Laws in this Realm of Ireland And we have least reason to rebell and take arms against him and therefore let us not be perswaded by any means by any man to do it because God will preserve his annointed and will as you see plague the Rebels but let us pray for our King and praise God night and day that he which might have given us a bramble not only to tear our flesh but also to set us all on fire hath given us such a Cedar such a gracious and a pious King and if either forreign foes or domestique Rebels do presse him so that he hath need of us let us adde our help and hazard our lives to defend and protect him that protecteth us and suffereth all for the protection of Gods service as it was established in the purest time of Reformation and for the preservation of our Laws from any corrupt interpretation or arbitrary invasion upon them by those factious men that under fair yet false pretences have with wondrous subtilty and with most subtle hypocrisie seduced so many simple men to partake with them not onely to overthrow the true Religion to imbase the Church of Christ that hitherto hath continued glorious in this Nation and by trampling the most learned under feet to reduce Popery into this Kingdom and to bring in Atheism or Barbarism into our Pulpits when they make their Coach-men and Trades-men like Jeroboam's Priests the basest of the people to become their Trencher-Chaplains and the teachers of those poor sheep for whom the Son of God hath shed his precious blood but also to change the well-setled government and to subvert the whole fabrick of this famous Common-wealth either by their tyranny or bringing all into an Anarchie for if we have any regard of any of these things either true Religion or ancient Government a gracious King and a learned Clergy a glorious Church and a flourishing Kingdom we ought not to spare our goods or be niggards in our contributions to help his Majesty yea as Debora saith To help the Lord against the mighty Or if we be cold and carelesse herein penurious and tenacious of our worldly pelfe preferring our gold before our God or fearing gracelesse Rebels more then we love our gracious King It may fall out as Saint Augustine saith Quod non capit Christus rapit fiscus or as it did with the Carthaginians who because they would not assist Hanniball with some reasonable proportion of their estates they lost all unto the Romans and with the Constantinopolitans that for denying a little to Paleologus lost all unto the Turkes so we may be robbed and pillaged of all because we would not part with some and I had rather the King should have all I have then that the Rebels should have any part thereof Therefore I hope I shall perswade all good men to honour God with their riches and to assist His Majesty to the uttermost of their powers even to the hazard and to the losse both of liberty and life And doing this our God which is the King of Kings will blesse us and defend us from all evill and make us Kings and Priests to live with him for ever and ever through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all praise and glory and dominion from henceforth for evermore Amen Amen Hester 4.16 If I perish I perish Yet Esdras 4.41 The truth is great and will prevail Jehovae Liberatori TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY Most Gracious Sovereign THough the wisest man in all the Kingdom of Persia saith Great is the truth and stronger then all things Yet the father of lies hath now plaid his part so well that as the Prophet saith Truth is fallen in the Street and Equity cannot enter in And your Majesty whom the God of Truth hath anointed his sole Vicegerent to be the Supreme Protector of them both in all your Dominions hath accordingly lifted up your Standard against their Enemies and I may truly say of you as Menevensis saith of that most Noble King Alfred Si modò victor erat ad crastina bella pavebat Si modò victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Neither do I believe that Lucan's Verse can be applied to any man better than to your Majesty Non te videre superbum Prospera fatorum nec fractum adversa videbunt As the height of your glory and prosperity never swelled your Pious heart so your greatest crosses and adversities never dejected your Royal spirit But as the Prophet saith of
inwardly in their hearts not onely the Epicures The many worldly professours of the Christian Religion do believe neither the immortality of the soul nor the resurrection of their bodies nor any other life after this life and the Hereticks aforenamed and the Sadduces the greatest Lords of the Jews that did not stick with open mouth to deny it but also the greatest part of these our Christian Professours as I fear do believe neither the immortality of the soul nor the resurrection of the dead nor any other life after this the short life of their vanity For is it possible that men should be so haughty and so proud so covetous and such oppressours of their Neighbours so sacrilegious and such robbers and spoylers of God himself as we see men are so as the Poet saith Vnde habent cura est paucis sed oportet habere Is it possible I say they should be such if they did believe that their souls are immortal that after this momentary life of their vanity their bodies shall awake and rise out of their graves and that Christ shall come to judge them according to the works they have done in this life and as he saith himself To render unto every one as his deeds shall be No surely it cannot be that they do believe these things but as the Fool whatsoever he profest with his mouth to deceive the world yet said in his heart There is no God so they whatsoever they say in words yet factis negant their deeds tell us to their faces that they do but dissemble and deceive themselves but they cannot deceive God nor all wise men that will rather believe their own eyes in what they see them do than their words in what they say they do believe What a persidious fellow Carbo was And therefore as when Carbo swore any thing in the Senate the Senators and the people of Rome presently sware they did not believe him So when these sacrilegious persons and thefe grievous oppressours of the poor and the rooters out of the innocent from their possessions do profess that they believe these things What Apolloâ—orus dreamed I do profess unto you that I believe them not But as Apollodorus the Tyrant dreamed that he was taken and flead by the Scythians and his heart thrown into a boyling Caldron should say unto him I am the cause of all this mischief so I say The hearts of these men deceive them for as the Wise man saith The heart is deceitfull above all things and for a man to deceive himself is the worse deceit in the world for excepting the worst of thoughts which is the thought of the Fool that said in his heart There is no God there cannot be a more brutish and perverse thought than to imagine that the soul perisheth when the body is dissolved for what need we care what evil we do what need we fear what Judge condemn us or why should we abstain from any of our desires if our souls dye when our bodies are dead But to shew you that whatsoever they say yet they do not believe in any eternal being either of body or soul after the end of this their vanity The former point proved I pray you look into an excellent Book though sleighted by some Fanatick spirits where the Wise-man sheweth how the prophane worldlings and the worldly Atheists do make this conclusion of their incredulity to be the ground and foundation of all their impieties for they say but not aright Our life is short and tedious and in the death of a man there is no remedy neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave for we are born at all adventure and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been for the breath in our nostrils is as smoak which being extinguished our body shall be turned into ashes and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air Sap. 2.1 2 3. This is their saith and therefore they make this conclusion saying Come let us injoy the good things that are present and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth Cap. eod v. 6 7 8 9.10 11 let us fill our selves with costly Wine and Oyntments and let no flower of the Spring pass by us let us crown our selves with Rose-buds before they be withered let none of us go without part of his voluptuousnesss for this is our portion and our lot is this Let us oppress the poor righteous man let us not spare the widow nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged let our strength be the Law of Justice and let us lye in wait for the righteous And this was the very reasoning of Sardanapalus Ede bibe lude post mortem nulla voluptas There is no felicity after death therefore soul take thine ease sit down and be merry and I fear it is the occasion of so much wickedness in many men and of such a deluge of sin in these dayes that doth overflow both the Church and Commonwealth to the destruction and ruine of many thousand souls that in their hearts they scarce believe their souls to be immortal or that there shall be ever any resurrection of their bodies or any account to be given for what they do for so you see the reason why they oppress the poor and rob both God and man and satisfie themselves with all kinde of delights because their breath in their nostrils is as smoak which being extinguished their bodies shall be turned into ashes and their spirit as they suppose shall vanish as the soft air And truly I think the conclusion very good if there were any truth in the premises for though Plato and Socrates and Seneca and the like vertuous men did so much love vertue for the very beauty of vertue and did hate vice onely for the ugliness of vice and Anselimus is reported to have said he had rather to be vertuous though severely punished for it than be vicious though never so highly rewarded yet because these Ejaculations spring from more than ordinary knowledge no less than some sparks of the motions of Gods Spirit which God sometimes wrought in the hearts of the Heathens and much more in Anselimus that was a Christian It is contrary to all shew of reason that a man The incredulity of the life to come the cause that men commit much wickedness which believeth the mortality of the soul should have any desire to be vertuous or any fear to be most vicious unless it be onely for fear of some Temporal punishment For if our time be but a very shadow that soon passeth away and after that our end there is no returning why should I endure so much labour and suffer so much want or want so much pleasure as the reach of my wit or the laws of my strength can any wayes afford me or why should I abstain from any vice from any villany and fast and weep and
to be Moses and Elias did then appear unto the Apostles 5. David saith I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord and yet David is dead and was buried therefore it is his Soul that liveth 6. The wise man saith that when a man dieth then shall the dust that is Eccl. 12.7 his body return to the Earth and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it and being with God it cannot be dead but remain immortal for ever 7. When Lazarus died he is said to be carried up by the Angels into Abrahams bosom i. e. in respect of his Soul Luke 16.22 for his Body was not carried up into his Bosom And so Dives being in torments must be understood in respect of his Soul for it is said that being dead he was buried in respect of his Body and therefore the Souls both of the good and of the bad do still remain immortal 8. Our Saviour saith Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul therefore the Soul is immortal whenas all the strength of man Mat. 10.28 and all the power of Hell is not able to kill it 9. The hope of Glory and Reputation and the desire that every man hath of the continuance and perpetuity thereof how vain soever it be yet doth it carry a great evidence of the Immortality of our Soules 10. The impression of that vice which robbeth a man of the knowledge of humane Justice and is alwaies opposite to the Justice of God and indelibly imprinted in every mans Conscience doth infallibly conclude that the Justice of God requireth the same should be chastised after death and therefore that our Soules must needs be immortal 11. In the Book of Wisdom it is most plainly said the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God and there shall no torment touch them Sap. 3.1 2 3. in the sight of the unwise they seemed to die but they are in peace A place so plain that sense can desire no plainer And many more Reasons might be produced to confirm this Truth but these are sufficient demonstrations to shew unto you that although man in respect of his being in this life is altogether Vanity yet simply considered he is to be eternal and to have a perpetual Being because God never made man to have an end and to be reduced to nothing but as the wise man saith he created all things and much rather man that they might have their being Sap. 1.14 And what madness is it therefore that men will not believe this Truth especially considering it is most certain that the remembrance of their end and the shortness of their time here how their dayes do pass away like a Weavers shuttle or like a Post that tarrieth not will alwaies be such a corrasive to their Souls as will put an end to all their earthly Comforts whenas nothing in the world is left us to rejoyce in but in that thing only which is perpetual and remaineth ours for ever But then here you must understand that besides the prime Eternity which is God there is a twofold perpetuity of men That all men both good and bad shall remain and be perpetually 1. The one by our Unition with God which is perfect felicity 2. The other in our Separation from God which is the Extreamest Misery And Seeing the Souls of men are immortal and do naturally affect Eternity as not only Divinity sheweth but also the soundest Philosophers have sufficiently attested and every mans Conscience in the expectation of his reward for his Actions be they good or bad perswadeth him to believe it is most certain that those wicked worldlings which desire nothing but the Honours and the Prosperity of this present Life and those incredulous Hereticks both of the former times and of this present Age which against their Consciences do withstand this Truth shall notwithstanding be perpetual either in their Union with God or in their Separation from God and as it is the greatest Comfort of a Christian man to believe that he shall be everlastingly with God in all happiness so it is not the least torment unto a damned soul to consider that he shall be for ever and ever in Torments separated from God And therefore the Errour is not that men do seek for perpetuity which they shall be sure to have but that they seek the same amiss The twofold error of men in seeking perpetuity 1. Seecking it too late Either not that which is with their Union and Fruition of God or if that then either not as they should or not where they should seek it that is either not in the due time or nor in the right place where it may be found as 1. For the time many seek it but too late and so they miss it because that now is the time acceptable ex hoc momento pendet aeternitas and our perpetuity either with God or without God either in Joy or in Torments dependeth upon our demeanour in this present and little short time that we have here to live 2. For the Place you may see how most men purchase Lands build Castles gather Riches 2. Seeking it in the wrong place heap up Treasures and so lay down such Foundations of perpetuity here on earth as if they were to live here for ever and they do so rely upon these transient things and mortal men as if they were immortal Gods and so they seek for their perpetuity in the Regions of Vanity and they would find perfect Felicity in this Valley of Misery but as the Israelites by joyning themselves to Baal-peor separated themselves from El shadai the Almighty God so these men by seeking Eternity in these vanities shall never be able to find it and to be united with it because Eternity and Felicity are not to be found here on earth For as the Apostle saith we have here no continuing City and we are but as Pilgrims and strangers here in this world and our perpetuity is to be expected not in this life but in the life to come And so by this large Introduction that I have made you see that these words of the Prophet are not to be understood of man simply considered but of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of his State and Condition in this life for though man be to abide for ever yet as he is in this life verily every man And to prove this unto you you shall find the wisest King and the most learned Preacher that aver Israel had assuring you that there is nothing here in this world but vanity and vexation of Spirit and that you might the sooner believe this Truth he doubleth and trebleth his words saying Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity that is nothing else but meer vanity And lest proud Man should think that this is meant of Gold and Silver and the like inanimate things of this world or
the Captain of the hoast of the Lord so I say to you that are his Lieftenant Ride on with your honor or ride prosperously Because of the word of truth of meekness and righteousness the people shall be subdued unto you and because the King putteth his trust in the Lord and in the mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry especially while he fighteth as he doth the battail of the Lord in defence of the Church of Christ who hath promised to be his shield and buckler which is the daily faithful prayer of Your Majestie 's most loyally devoted Subject and most faithfully obliged servant Gryffith Ossory THE DISCOVERY OF MYSTERIES OR The Plots and practices of a prevailing Faction in this present Parliament to overthrow both Church and State CHAP. I. Sheweth the Introduction the greatness of this Rebellion the Original thereof the secret plots of our Brownistical faction and the two chifest things that they aymed at to effect their Plot. I Have long wandered in a region of Rebellion among seduced Subjects and discontented Peers and now at last after I had passed the raging Seas and very hardly escaped the storms and dangers of the surging waves I am arrived in my native soyle where I find my self incompassed with far greater storms and more violent winds then ever I thought could be on any Land for though that Grand Rebellion which you may find lately described was both magna mira very great and very grievous such as I supposed could not be exceeded by any humane malice yet now me thinks I hear the Spirit saying unto me as he did unto Ezâ—kiel Son of man stand up and I will show thee greater abominations and a Rebellion far greater and more odious then either Popish Irish or any other Sect or Nation of the World hath hitherto produced and therefore I may now say with the Poet Barbara Pyraemidum sileat miracula Memphis Let proud Babylon cease to boast Of her Pyramid's stately spires This Rebellion is more strange Surmounting all infernal fires No age the like hath ever bred Nor shall when these Rebels be dead The seed and original of this Rebellion The seed of it was unseasonably sown in the Northern storm and the Original of those Boreal blasts either why or by whom those spirits were raised is not so well known to me therefore how justly the King did undertake the quarrel I will not at this time determine or with what equity the Scots made their approach into England it is not my purpose to discuss yet I must needs say that our English Sectaries and Amsterdam Recusants which hated our Church and loved not our King justum quia justum only because he is so good too good for them did from hence arripere ansam take hold of this opportunity by procuring those to proceed that were coming on and discouraging the others of the Kings side that were Cowardly enough to say no worse of themselves to betray both King and Kingdom into the hands of the Invaders So the good King was now with King David brought into a strait either to take counsel and follow the advice of those secret Sectaries So now I fear more the secret enemies both of Church and State that may luâ—k in Court then those that lie in the Earl of Essex his Camp and the masked enemies both of the Church and State that as yet insensible unto him were such in the bosome of his Court and most slily aymed at a further mischief then his Majesty could have imagined as now it appeareth by the consequences of this Parliament or else to hazard the dangers that his then open foes were like to bring upon his people And I assure my self eyes of flesh that cannot pierce into the mysteries of the hearts and our secret thoughts could see no further nor make any better election then His Majesty did that is to call a Parliament which the hearts of all the Kingdom called and cryed for and which in former times by the wise institution and right prosecution thereof was found to be the Pancreston or as the Weapon salve an antidote to cure all the diseases and to heal all the bleeding wounds of this Kingdom though of late we have sensibly felt the unhappy ending of some of them which perhaps may be some accidental cause of some part of this unhappiness here was His Majesties fair mind and an act of special grace for which all His Subjects ought most thankfully to shew themselves Loyal unto Him when He preferred their safety before the prosecuting of his own resolutions But Decipimur specie recti we are many times deceived by the shadow of the truth and betrayed under the vizard of virtue for as God produceth light out of darkness and good out of evil so wicked men like the spiders do suck poyson from those flowers whence the Bees do extract honey and these subtle-headed Foxes whereof many of them had unduly got themselves elected into the House of Commons and there factiously combined themselves together to do their great exploit to overthrow the Government both of Church and Sate and minded to make the Parliament-House like Vulcans Forge where they intended to contrive their Iron-net that should be able to hold fast all sorts of people from him that sitteth upon the Throne to him that wallowed in dust and ashes turned the hopes of our redresses to our extream miseries when in stead of rectifying our abuses they intended principally to work our ruine in our just apprehension though perhaps our happiness in their own mistaken conception And as the Apostle saith Known unto God are all his works from the beginning and he hath eternally decreed how and by what means to bring them all unto perfection so the Devil being God's Ape and the wicked treading in his steps do first mold their designs and intentions in the Idea of their own brains and conclude the works they would have done in their own conceits and then they frame to themselves the means and wayes whereby they are resolved to produce and perfect all those mis-shapen embryoes that they conceived and so these factious men this brood of vipers that would gnaw through the bowels of their mother from the first convention of this Parliament had resolved upon their plot and contrived among themselves what great good work they would by such and such means bring to passe And that was as I hope this subsequent discourse will make it plain to all The design 〈◊〉 plot of the faction of Seâ—aries that will not be wilfully blind the subversion of the ancient government both of this Church and Kingdom and to introduce a new Ecclesiastical Discipline and to frame a new Common-wealth much like if not worse than that of our neighbours in the Low-Countries Gratum opus agricolis a brave exploit and a great work indeed beyond the adventure of Junius Brutus that expelled the Kings but left the Priests