mercy to the Adversaries of this Church God hath filled their faces with shame that they might be induced to joyn with the Church in a due and decent conformity to seek his Name And so let all the Combinations of thy Churches enemies perish O Lord but let them that love thee and thy Church be as the Sun when he goeth forth in his might Judges 5.31 that our Land may be filled with piety devotion and glory and so have rest to all generations God hath done great things for us already whereof we rejoyce and what he hath done he is pleased to make his ingagement to do more if we do not render our selves utterly unworthy and forfeit our Tenure by our obstinate perversities This is one ground of our hope And there is A 2d. The Church of England hath a praying people a people whose devotions are solid and fervent regular and constant a people that do frequent the Publick Prayers of the Church out of humility and obedience out of judgment and prudence and yet do importune God in their Closets day and night too though they love not so much to play the Hypocrite as to sound their Trumpet to tell the world they do so You know the interest of ten righteous persons was so considerable to Almighty God that it should have prevail'd with him for the preservation of five most lewd and vitious Cities and God be blessed we have that number I trust many hundred times told over But because if we continue in sin the Epha a Zach. 5. will be full at last and if we neglect so great salvation and the things that do belong unto our peace those things will be hidden from our eyes and we shall bring upon our selves swift destruction b 2 Pet. 7.2 and then the devotions of holy Prophets will be injoyned silence by Gods own Order Jer. 7.16 Pray not thou for this people for their good c Jer. 14.11 c. 11.14 neither lift up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee And though they should pray earnestly and continue their importunity receiving no such express Order as that Prophet Jeremy had to the contrary yet their prayers in this case in this juncture of affairs when the harvest of sin is ripe how effectual soever for themselves would not prevail they would be fruitless as to the generality of persons and the calamity of the Nation for when I bring my sore judgments upon the Land though these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it as I live Ezek. 14.14 10. saith the Lord God they should deliver neither son nor daughter they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness Therefore to prevent this dreadful severity of Almighty God give me leave to propound some few Caveats and Directions to you touching your behaviour in reference to the Ark of God by which I understand his sacred Ordinances and so I shall conclude When God was about to descend upon Mount Sinai at the promulgation of the Law Exod. 19. he commanded Moses to set bounds to keep off the people that they might not press upon so dreadful a Majesty to their own ruine The presence of God with his holy Ark in his holy worship is no less sacred no less dreadful than it was on Mount Sinal I must therefore draw a line and set up rails about it as well to secure your interest in it as to preserve that respect and veneration that is due unto it These shall be made up of a six fold Caveat You must 1. Not over value or deifie it 2. Not undervalue or blaspheme it 3. Not invade or profane it 4. Not slander or belye it 5. Not intrude or pry into it 6. Not rifle or plunder it 1. You must not over-value or deifie it A very high esteem and reverence you must have for tthe Ark of God and you may relie upon Gods promise and confidently expect what God hath engaged to do for you by the Ministry thereof But you must not turn the Ark into an Idol exhibere cultum Dei creaturae est Idololatria saith Aquinas if you devote that service to it and place that affiance in it which is due to God alone you do then make an Idol of it You make the Type of Christ to become his Rival you make him jealous of his own Representative and you eclipse his honour by that shadow that was design'd to illustrate and set it off And yet there are some that do more then this worse then this amounts to they do Hyper-deifie it advance it above God yea against God for God will not patronize the guilty Christ will not save the impenitent 't is a desperate presumption to think they will if you expect this from the Ark you do not only turn it into an Idol set it up in Gods stead but you do more then so you exalt it above God you pretend to make it do what God will not do what Christ cannot do you make it a real Antichrist For Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil and to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself And if you make the Ark a Sanctuary for Malefactors you set it up in opposition to Christ and provoke him to Arm himself as it were against it in vindication of his own glory Upon this very account it was that he delivered the Ark under the Law into the hands of the Philistines 1 Sam. 4. and Jer. 7.3 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place but trust ye not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord as if that had been a threefold fortification to secure them against all possible calamity But ye trust in lying words that cannot profit will ye steal murder and commit adultery and swear faâ—sly and burn incense unto Baal and waâ—k after other gods whom ye know not and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say we are delivered to do all these abominations is this house that is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes Behold even I have seen it saith the Lord But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I put my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel c. That Ark which was the visible Symbol of his presence and the especial Instrument of his worship and service they set it up in opposition to his glory they would have it patronize their sin and protect them in their impenitâ—ncy against Gods severe judgements and this provokes God to give it up to be defiled by reproach and prophanation Let this be a Caveat to you therefore not to over-value or deifie the Ark of God 2. And yet
Countries We thought Abana and Parphar Rivers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel Men grew precise and squeamish they would not wash and be clean unless they might have Cisterns of their own hewing out nor drink of the water of life though it ran never so freely unless it were conveyed to them in new Pipes of their own casting Some there were that did strictly hold themselves to the Form of godliness the Solemn Worship of God established in the Church who notwithstanding in the looseness of their lives did shamefully deny the power thereof Others there were that did pretend to be so over-born with the power of godliness that they would allow no Form at all for the regulation and exercise of it All the innocent Ceremonies that had constantly attended the solemn devotions of pious Antiquity were look'd upon as the very dress and trimmings of Hypocrisie Reverence in Gods Worship was accounted superstitious and the holy Incense of Morning and Evening Prayers no better then abomination Even such of the people which make up the greatest number of its adversaries as never had judgment or wit enough to understand it had yet malice enough infused into them to deride and scorn the Holy Service of the Church And as an evidence that this disease was grown desperate our greatest quarrel was at those Physitians whose practice and prescriptions were the most probable means to reduce us to our Christian temper When I consider the carriage of the people Israel under Gods gracious dispensations 2 Chron. 36.15 16. methinks I see the Character of our English Nation in these late years The Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place But they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his Word and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy For when the Patient grows so raving so out of temper as to strike his Physitian and throw away his Antidotes there remain no ordinary methods that can cure him And then the Bedlam and the chain the whip and the skrews all the violences of a severe discipline are the best instances of our kindness Such was the condition of Israel Hosea 4.1 2 4. The Lord hath a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and bloud toucheth bloud Therefore shall the Land mourn Yet let no man strive nor reprove another for this people are as they that strive with the Priest When sin begins to spread amongst a people what remedy does Almighty God use to apply to heâ—l and stop it there is the Authority of a Judge to oppose it and the Reprehension of the Priest to give a check to it But when God does inhibite these his Officers from using their Authority and exercising their Jurisdiction 't is a sign that people is grown obstinate shameless and incorrigible When they grow so insolent as to contradict the Priest in his own office wherein doubtless he is Gods Vicegerent that people is past Grace as it runs in the ordinary Channel and unless God useth some other methods of Discipline there is no hopes of their amendment So it follows in the Prophet Hosea 4.5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day When they had the clear light of heaven shining round about them the light of knowledge and the light of comfort and prosperity in this noon day Thou shalt stumble and fall faith the Lord and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night the false Prophet shall be benighted and lose himself in the darknesse of his own vain imaginaâ—ions and I will destroy thy Mother saith the Lord the Church and Nation from whose womb thou hast had thy birth in whose bosome thou hast had thy breeding and to whose blessings thou owest the procurement of thy prosperity We may mâ—ke England the Scene of that Prophesie as well as Jerusalem for the whole Tragedy hath been acted over in all its parts amongst us with a full solemnity God he took notice of our misdemeanours under his most gracious dispensations towards our Superiours his Vicegerents both Civil and Ecclesiastical and he was wroth and upon so great provocations as we were guilty of he did to us as he had done to Israel He delivered our strength into Captivity and our beauty into the Enemies hands That Ark that Form of Gods Worship that had procured such miracles of mercy for us in 88. and at the intended powder-plot That Ark whose virtue had been so often tryed to good effect in times of war pestilence and famine And our Beauty that Form of Solemn Worship which rendred the Church of England amiable above all the Reformed Churches and a true Copy of that Holy City that New Jerusalem which S. John saw coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband Rev. 21.2 For our many provocations He delivered This our strength into Captivity and This our beauty into the Enemies hands The glory was upon departing from our Israel and I had almost said That the abomination of desolation was set up in the holy place When the most magnificent House of God that we had in our Land was turned into a stable and many men yea many Priests such was their Apostacy had no more reverence for it then the very beasts that perished by a strange vengeance inflicted without doubt upon that sort of Cattle for that Sacrilegious prophanation That Faction which had tyred out the patience of two great Princes * Queen Elizabeth and K. James with Petitions solliciting to have those Walls of Church Government levelled that Garrison dismantled wherein the Ark of God was in safe custody amongst us They that so often attempted to fire it out with their Squibs of scoffing Pamphlets and to batter it down with their paper-bullets for want of better Arguments At last assoon as opportunity and advantage favour'd them for their rage could stay no longer they assaulted it how unlike Christs Lambs and the Servants of the Prince of peace I need not tell you but with Swords and Pistols Pikes and Cannons they assaulted it And because this Ark could not otherwise fall into their hands the chief Priest yea and the Prince too must fall before it as a Sacrifice to their fury And which is more that they might utterly extinguish our hopes and cut off all possibility of its Restitution as much as in them lay they did cut off the Royal line that should protect it and the succession of a regular Priesthood that should minister unto it And now might the devout soul that was pregnant with the passions of grief and love fall in travel and for want of other issue give birth to
the next Verse by this remarkable acclamation Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Upon the whole matter therefore it is evident that it is not an Hierarchy that is a sacred Government consisting of Bishops Priests and Deacons setled in a state of inequality and subordination nor an establish'd Liturgy consisting of set Forms for the administration of the several parts of the holy Office nor a linen Ephod or Surplice nor a Quire with a pair of Organs nor reverend gestures in our attendance upon it it is none of these that will overthrow our present Church or drive away the Ordinances of Gods worship from us no more then the like did drive that Ark and Tabernacle from the people Israel If these be the gray hairs which some that pretend to be more quick-sighted discern upon the Gospel upon the matter Christ himself hath stuck them there and if the Bridegroom himself be pleased to see his Spouse wear these marks of Antiquity it becomes us who are her Children to reverence such for her gray hairs rather then reproach her for them Certainly whatever that means this is not a setting up of Gods Ark in the House of Dagon but in that decent Tabernacle which David out of a true devotion and by the direction of Gods Spirit hath pâ—epared for it 2. But have we not other Prognostications of our approaching ruine and the removal of Gods Ark as a prolusion or preface to it what think you of the discontentments and divisions that are in the Nation is not that an Omen that does boad as much for Christ himself hath said That a Nation divided against it self cannot stand But let me awaken your attention to consider how unjust how unreasonable some men are in their complaints and accusations First they themselves raise the discontentments make and foment Divisions in the Kingdom and then they make those Divisions the Prognostications of the ruine of it This is just like the practice of Barabbas make the insurrection first and then commit Murder in that insurrection * Mar. 15.7 Here lies all the difference there the Felony was committed but upon a single person here 't is upon Christs Church and three whole Kingdoms But if men were wise Ibid. Vers 11. if they would not cry out to have Barabbas acquitted and Jesus delivered up to be crucified if they were considerative and would obey the voice of God and hearken to their lawful Guides and Governours they might easily with Gods blessing prevent this mischief Take away the tale bearer saith Solomon and strife will cease you have heard of Sanctuary-sins of Church and Sermon-sins and such there are indeed there are Pulpit-tale bearers too that make it their design and practice to raise and foment jealousies to sow the seeds of discontent and sedition and if they may not be allowed to Act this part upon the publick Stage then they creep into houses and find it a matter of much advantage though of no great difficulty to triumph over such silly souls as are willing to be led captive But God hath provided for his Church a sufficient remedy against this mischief an Antidote against such infusions Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.17 18. it is your part and duty as far as in you lies to apply this remedy and make use of the Caution 3. But is not the Ark in great danger of being lost amongst us upon another account is not that an unchurching of a people when they want the power of the Ministry a soul-searching Ministry when we want a faithful Minister to go before us I must confess we have extream need of such a Ministry such as will not draw a fair skin over our old sores but will take pains and be faithful to launce our impestum'd Ulcers and Probe them to the very bottom for there lies very much Pride and Hypocrisie Schism and Sedition Malice and Treason in our hearts it lies so neer unto our eyes we cannot see it it is so natural so customable to us we have no sense or feeling of it Away then with those false Prophets that have dawbed so long with untempered morter that have strain'd at a Gnat and swallowed Camels that have preach'd Placentia and sew'd Pillows under mens Elbows and cry'd peace or go up and prosper when the design was flat Rebellion and yet they humour'd the inclinations of the people calling them blessed †Isa 9.16 and a godly people that by such flatteries they might seduce them to run on in errour with them wo unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Corah Jud. ep v. 11. if they repent not away with them And give us and God of his mercy continue to us such a disingaged ingenuous Ministry as may resemble his own incarnate Word Heb. 4.12 one that is quick and powerful sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart God grant us such a Ministry that there may follow the like conviction of sinners to that mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.25 If all prophesie and there come in one that believeth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all he is judged of all and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth God knows this Kingdom in general hath need of such a faithful soul-searching Ministry as this is But there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers as St. Paul tells Titus whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucres sake Tit. 1.10 11. the silencing or degrading such popular Priests and seditious Levites will not indanger the Ark of God at all And if Abiathar does complot with Joab to promote the intended Usurpation of Adonijah as great a Priest as he is it is fit he should be sent to Anathoth and confined to his Country Village lest he make the City by his Conspiracy too hot for Solomon and in his absence as well the Ark of God as the person of the King will be so much the more in safety 1 Kings 1.5 7. with Chap. 2.26 4. But there is a fourth Prognostication of this sad Calamity that is the abundance of Popish Priests and Jesuites that are in the midst of us the
For what was Uzzah's crime Oz a percussus est quòd attigisset arcam Domini Id enim ne Levitis quidem fas erat Arcam enim ab illis tantùm gestari non contingi aut spectari oportuit saith Peter Martyr Uzzah was smitten In 2 Sam. 6.6 7 8. because he touch'd the Ark of God for the Levite's Office was to carry the Ark but they were under a severe prohibition neither to touch it not to look into it for so the Lord had ordained Numb 4.15 When Aaron and his Sons have made an end of covering the Sanctuary and all the vessels of the Sanctuary as the Camp is to set forward after that the Sons of Kohath shall come to bear it but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die and Ver. 20. They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered lest they die But it might have been alledged on the behâ—lf of Uzzah that what he did was upon an extraordinary occasion in a case of necessity and out of zeal to save the Ark from falling Ibid. but as Peter Martyr hath very well observed his touching the Ark is assigned by many as the cause why he was so suddenly smitten Sed erat alia causa prior major quòd ille arcam imposuisset in currum dedisset causam huic necessitati But there was another a former and a greater cause for it his putting the Ark upon a Cart and so betraying it to that danger and necessity So the English Annotations The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah because he had caused his holy Ark to be carried in a Cart which they should have born on their shoulders and for touching it with his hand being but a Levite and no Priest On 2 Sam. 6.7 The Levites might not be their own Carvers in the holy function might not invade what part of it they had a fancy to no Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden †Numb 4.19 If they had an ambition to usurp any other part of the sacred Office that was not so assigned them by their Superiours though they did create a present necessity for it yet that necessity of their own making could not justifie them in such their Sacrilegious Usurpation And this is directly the Case of the Presbyterians It was their duty we confess to bear the Ark of God to Minister unto it in some parts of the sacred Office such as were assigned them by their Superiours but they could not keep their hands off the Ark their ambition spur'd them on to Usurp other parts of that Office to lay on hands for the Ordination of others lest forsooth the Ark of Gods worship should fall to the ground for lack of a Ministry to attend it which they had no Commission for no Warrant at all but a pretended necessity of their own making by pulling down Aaron and his Sons the holy Order of Bishops who alone were invested with that power So that these Presbyterians have followed Uzzah in the imitation of his errour and temerity and hath not a suitable judgment overtaken them a punishment Analogical to that of Uzzah are not those hands that were stretched out without any Authority to perform this Office are they not withered hath not the anger of the Lord as Mr. Calamy in part confesseth smitten them for this Sacrilegious Usurpation we see they are dead before the Ark in this capacity and therefore you must not invade and profane the Ark that is the third Caveat 4. You must not slander and belie the Ark. There are and have been in all Ages false Prophets who have suggested their own Dreams Fancies and Designs for the Oracles of God The Prophets Prophesie lies in my name as the Lord himself complains by the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 14.14 I sent them not neither have I commanded them neither spake I unto them they prophesie unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart Jâ—r 14.14 and Chap. 23 16 17. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts hearken noâ— unto thâ— words of the Prophets that prophesiâ— unto you they make you vain they speak a vision of their own heart and not ouâ— of the mouth of the Lord they say still unto them that despise me the Lord hath said ye shall have peace and they say unto every one that walketh after the stubbornness of his own heart No evil shall come upon you And hath not the lying spirit given out his Oracles by the mouths of a multitude of such Prophets amongst us in these times of our distraction One of them gâ—ve out this for an Oracle * Mr. John Goodwin's Anti-Caval See Dr. Ham. of Resisting the lawful Magistrate c. pag. 22. c. about 18 or 19 years ago that the King though Head of all and singulis Major yet he was universis Minor though above all single persons yet inferiour to the body of his people that they have a power and right to resist him And because this is contradicted expresly by the lively Oracles of the holy Scripture and the writings of all the primitive Fathers therefore that lying bloody Oracle said further in effect that God did hide this liberty from the primitive Christians lest the use of it should cause an abortion in the birth of Antichrist God caused a dead sleep saith he to fall upon these truths the hiding of them being necessary to help Antichrist up to his throne yea he saith that God by special dispensation suffer'd him the said Antichrist to make such truths his footstool till he had advanced himself to his highest pitch in the world But now that this Antichrist is to be destroyed and cast out and the Commonalty of Christians as he pretended being the men that must have the principal hand in executing Gods judgments upon the whore for bringing this to pass now saith he in these our times God hath given out this Revelation to us he hath manifested the Doctrine of Resistance and Christians may act contrary to the will of their Superiours And for this you have Mr. John Goodwins asseveration To a like effect you have another that blows the Trumpet of Sedition and to raise up the people in Arms against their lawful Sovereign He does shamefully pervert and blaspheme the sacred Text Judg. 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty And this was Mr. Marshal * See Mr. Ed. Symons Confutation of that Sermon A third tells some of the House of Commons in a Sermon at Westminster 1641 that now is the time that God is beating down the walls of proud Babylon Mr. William Bridge Babylons downfall pag. 10. Pag. 33. that are raised up in every Kingdom