lift up his Rod over the Sea and promised the Sea should be divided Exod. 14.16 so that the children of Israel might go on dry ground through the midst of the Sea and so likewise when he commanded him to smite the Rock of stone and promised that the waters should flow thereout which had no possibility with all the power of nature to be done yet Moses never doubted of Gods Promise but presently did what God commanded both in the one and the other Even so when God commands us to do any thing and promiseth we shall have such and such blessings by doing it as to have our sins remitted by being baptized in a little water and by the worthy receiving of a little Sacramental Bread and Wine to injoy all the benefits of the body and bloud of Christ and by a stedfast faith in the death of Christ to be assured of eternal life how unlikely soever they may seem to be we ought with Abraham and Moses and the rest of Gods faithful Servants most readily do what God biddeth us and undoubtedly believe what he promiseth And though it may seem a strange wonder that cannot sink into worldly mens heads that Christ his death should procure to us eternal life and therefore the preaching of this doctrine is to the Jews that looked for such a Christ that should abide alive for ever a stumbling-block and to the Grecians that gloried only in their eloquence and ascribed all things with Aristotle to their natural causes meer foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 as the Apostle testifieth Yet if you truly weigh this doctrine of our deliverance from eternal death How just it is that the death of Christ should free all men that believe in him from eternal death and obtaining of everlasting life by the death of Christ we shall find it very consonant to just reason and no wayes to be doubted of and that in a twofold respect 1. Because that although we for our sins deserved most justly to die the death that is to suffer the eternal wrath of God whom we have and do so highly offend yet seeing it Reason 1 pleased Christ out of his great pity to our miserable condition and his infinite love to mankind to become our Surety and to die and so satisfie the wrath of God for us Is it not agreeable to reason that Christ paying our debt and suffering for our sins as the Prophet testifieth he hath done we should be discharged and have our lives spared For so when the Officers came to apprehend Christ and to arrest him and he asked them Whom seek ye And they answered Jesus of Nazareth And he said I am he and if you seek me then let these that are my Disciples and do believe in me go their way It is apparent by these words that Christ held it agreeable to all reason that if he paid the debt the debtor should be free and if he suffered death for us we should be delivered from that death which we deserved Reason 2 2. Because that although the death of Christ was but the death of one man and we that sinned and deserved death are many thousand millions of men even all the posterity of Adam yet the death of this one man Propter unionem hypostaticam by reason of the hypostatical union of the Godhead with the manhood in the person of that one man whereby he is not only man but also God himself his death being the death of God must needs be of sufficient worth and value to satisfie God and be more satisfactory to his justice then the death of all Men on Earth and all the Angels in Heaven in as much as the death of the Creator is of more infinite value then the death of all creatures And therefore well might Christ say and happy are we that he said it That the Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And I if I be lifted up or being lifted up will draw all men unto me that is all which will believe in me And so you have seen what was typified in the Wilderness unto the Jews by the brazen Serpent was presented and performed to us by Jesus Christ to whom for his infinite love and favour towards us and his bitter Passion and death when he was lifted up and crucified for us to deliver us from eternal death be all honour and glory and thanks and praise for ever and ever Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT THE PUBLICK FAST The eighth of March in St MARIES OXFORD Before The Great Assembly of the Members Of the HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS There Assembled By GRYFFITH WILLIAMS L. Bishop of OSSORY And Published by their Special Command JOHN 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life London Printed by J. Hayes 1664. Die Sabbati nono Martii 1643. ORdered that Mr. Bodvell and Mr. Watkins give the Bishop of Ossory thanks and desire him to Print his Sermon Noah Bridges THE ONLY VVAY TO PRESERVE LIFE Amos 5.6 Seeke the Lord and you shall live LIght is the first born of all the distinguished Creatures The excellency of the light the first word that the Eternal Word after so many ages of silence uttered forth was Let there be light Gen. 1.3 light that giveth life to all Colours that is the mother of all beauties which hath no positive contrary in nature which maketh all things manifest to the detestation of all evil and the crowning of every good and which is a creature so beloved of the Creator that he calleth himself by this name saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 1.5 and he makes it the most worthy associate of Truth when he saith Send forth thy light and thy truth therefore Light is a Jewel Psal 43.3 not to be valued by the judgment of man And yet the sight by which we partake of all the benefits of the light and without which the light will avail us nothing nor yield us any comfort as good old Toby sheweth saying Quale gaudium est mihi qui in tenebris sedeo is but one sense and but scarce the fifth part of the happiness of the sensitive Creature a small thing in respect of that most invaluable good which is termed Life Life how precious and which is of more worth to every living creature then is all the world for the Father of Lies spake Truth herein though to a lying end That Skin for Skin and all that ever a man hath Job 2.4 he will give for his life Therefore as the greatest threatning that God laid upon Adam to deter him from Rebellion and to detain him within the Compass of his Obedience Gen. 2.17 was In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death so the greatest Blessing that he promiseth to any man for all his Service is Life or to live â—s The just shall live by faith Hab.
these wonderful Beasts in my Text repeat this Attribute three several times saying Holy holy holy Lord God almighty which we do not read of any other Attribute of God the Spirit of God to whom this Attribute is specially appropriated by the name of the Holy Ghost having a special regard to preserve this Attribute of all his Attributes inviolable because he foresaw that through the malice of Satan against God and the froward disposition of corrupt men this Attribute of all Gods Attributes should be most of all contradicted murmured against and traduced as if God were not so pure just upright and holy Especially 1. In the election of his Servants 2. In the distribution of his Graces 3. In the remuneration of our Deserts For 1. If he hath created the wicked for the day of wrath Proverb 16 4. Job 21.30 and for this cause hath raised up Pharaoh and hardened his heart to make his power known and hath from all eternity by his irrespective Decree before the Children had done either good or evil loved Jacob and hated Esau and determined the preterition of those whom he reprobateth How can the Reprobates otherwise choose but walk in the paths that leads them to destruction when the Apostle tells us plainly It is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy and God by his unchangeable purpose to pass by them and to deny that mercy unto them whereby they should will to answer when he calleth and to lay hold of his Grace when he offereth it How can he be so holy so pure and so free from accepting of persons and of being some wayes the Author of the damnation of all Reprobates that as he saith of Pharaoh both his Justice and his power might be known To those rigid Presbyterians that make this indirect Objection to the great dishonour of God and the wounding of his chiefest Attribute we say That although God hath Jus absolutum in Creaturas an absolute power over all his Creatures so that he may do with them what he will Rom. 9.13 Even as the Potter hath power over the clay to make a vessel either to honour or dishonour as the Apostle speaketh Yet because it seemeth to be cruelty to make a Creature purposely for his own pleasure to be miserable and especially eternally miserable God doth not use this his power nor Preparare filios ad patibulum Sap. 1.13 14.6 for he made not Death neither temporal nor eternal but he made all things that they might have their Being and he takes no pleasure in the destruction of the living but through the malice of the Devil and mans own wilful frowardness death and damnation came upon us And Gods Decree of Preterition is but the just punishment of our transgression for God that had decreed our creation foresaw our transgression and the frowardness of the one and the readiness of the other that is of the elect and reprobate to recede from that condition and both of them being alike wrapped in the mass of corruption which came so by Adams transgression and neither of them could challenge any thing at the hand of God from whom both of them had alike receded God sheweth mercy upon whom he will and whom he will he leaveth still in that state wherein he was not created by him nor intruded by his means but most miserably fallen in the loyns of Adam and this he doth most justly too because he foreseeth that when he calleth he will not answer and though he should stretch forth his hand all the day long yet this froward wilful man will not regard it And therefore certainly Culpa non est vocantis sed renuentis there cannot be laid the least blame on God that in the election of the one whom he foreseeth will answer when he calleth he sheweth Indebitam misericordiam more then deserved mercy and in the preterition of the other whom he foreseeth will refuse his mercy he doth nothing else but render unto him debitam justitiam what he most justly deserveth And whereas the Scripture saith That God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and that it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth and that the vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction and the like some of them are not rightly understood when they are spoken in one sense and are applyed by our Presbyterians to another sense as those that are fitted or prepared for destruction are not so fitted and made up by God for that end but by their own sins that do fit them for their damnation some other speeches are spoken of God ad captum nostrum not properly to be understood as they are spoken but in that sense which the holy Ghost meaneth as God sware in his wrath when as God saith In me non est furor and he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye when as God hath neither feet nor hands nor eyes So when it is said Whom he will he hardeneth it is not meant that he hardeneth any man Efficiendo duritiem by working any hardness or stubbornness in him but Non molliendo per gratiam by not softening it by his Grace which he justly denyeth unto him when like Pharaoh he doth stubbornly refuse to obey his Voice And therefore seeing that in the proper sense God hardeneth no man and rejecteth or reprobateth no man but for his sins and wickedness but professeth As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner And again Perditio tua ex te Thy destruction is from thy self and not from me If men will rob God kill their Brethren oppress their Neighbours and so damn themselves let them thank themselves and not lay the blame on God who is most just in all his wayes and holy in all his works 2. For the unequal distributing of his Graces we say that this inequality as of glory in the Stars and the Orders of Angels and so of all other Creatures maketh the better harmony and sheweth more of the Wisdom and Power of God then if all of them were equal Matth. 25.15 and though he giveth to one five Talents to others but one and to some none at all and that he exalteth some and make them rich and Lords and pulleth down others to make them poor and Beggars and so distributes all his gifts and graces diversly yet herein we say there is no ataxie no disorder nor injustice in Gods doing nor any wrong done to him that hath but one gift or to him that hath none at all Quia non tenetur Creator creaturae because God is debter to none and he is not bound to give any thing to any one and therefore he may lawfully and justly do what he will with his own as our Saviour sheweth most excellently in the Parable of the Labourers Matth. 20.15 hired into his Vineyard 3. For the remuneration of deserts we say that in
giving unto them which by continuance in well doing seek glory and honour and immortality eternal life he sheweth himself most gracious and merciful in bestowing upon them what they could not challenge from him and in rendring vengeance to them that obey not God and in plaguing them both in this life and in the life to come he doth but what is most just and upright and therefore the Prophet Esay after he had set down many of Gods Judgements against the wicked addeth That the Lord of Hosts should be exalted in judgment Esay 5.16 and the holy God should be sanctified in justice that is that he should be acknowledged by all men to be most pure and holy and commended for his justice in punishing the wicked according to their deserts And this doctrine of Gods holiness and purity should put us in mind of our duty to be not as the Devil corrupt and unjust but as God commandeth us to be holy as he is holy and to be as he is if we desire to be where he is where no impure thing shall ever come And so much for the first Attribute here expressed 2. Attribute is Gods rule and authority 2. The next Attribute is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord and he is said to be the lord of any thing Qui jus autoritatem dominium habet in aliquam rem which hath right authority and rule over any thing and whose own proper thing is that of which he is said to be lord for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Authority Zanc. de nasura dei l. 1. c. 17. saith Pasor and the Latine word Dominus dicitur à domo saith Zanchius because the Master of the house was wont to be called the Lord of it And this name Lord saith he in the Writings of the Apostles is ascribed to Christ idque millies about a thousand times because he ruleth and governeth not only the little house of his Church Heb. 1.2 3. but also the great house of this whole World as the Apostle sheweth Reason 1 Why the Father is stiled God and the Son Lord. And the reason why the name of God is usually attributed to the Father and the name of Lord commonly ascribed to the Son is twofold 1. Because the Father is the fountain of the whole Deity therefore is he usually termed God and the Son is termed Lord because he is appointed of his Father to be Lord of all things John 17.2 and all power is given unto him over all flesh Reason 2 2. The Father is called God most usually because that in the mystery of our redemption the Father remained still in his Majesty and gave his Son only to be our Redeemer and the Son though he was in the form of God yet was he content not to remain with his Father in that equal Majesty Phil. 2.7 which he had with him from all eternity but He made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and so with the laying down of his Glory he laid down also the Name of God and by taking unto him the form of a servant he took also the name of a servant that is in respect of his Father to whom as a servant be became obedient in all things unto death and therefore the Father calleth him his Servant saying Ecce servus meus Behold my servant Esay 42.1 Matth. 12.18 Whom I have chosen whom I uphold which is interpreted of Christ But in respect of us the Son is said to be our Lord and so he is called every where because we are given unto him for his inheritance that we should serve him and acknowledge him for our Lord and Master and so as he is made our Lord the name of Lord is given unto him of his Father And therefore though Christ indeed remained alwayes God and in the form of God wherein he was from all eternity yet because he was appointed by the Father Christ laid aside the Name of God and took two other names The first in respect of his Father and contented himself to be the Saviour of all mankind he humbled himself unto death and unto death he laid down the Name of God and took unto himself two other names As 1. The name of a Servant in regard of his Father to whom he was made obedient as a servant and for which cause he alwayes calleth upon him as a servant calleth upon his Master and referreth all things unto him as to his Lord and Master 2. He took upon him the name of Lord The second in respect of us in regard of us and that is due unto him in a foursold respect that is By right 1. Of Inheritance Christ is our Lord in four respects 2. Of Redemption 3. Of Wedlock 4. Of Creation For 1. He is the Lord our God 1. By right of Inheritance and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands and the Father said unto him Psal 2.8 Dabo tibi gentes in haereditatem tuam I will give the Gentiles for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession And therefore St. Peter saith Let all the house of Israel know for certain or assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus Act. 2.36 whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ And in this respect also he is Lord of the wicked Reprobates though they will not obey him for the Prophet David saith Psal 8.5 6. Heb. 2.8 Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet and the Apostle saith this was spoken of Christ And again the same Prophet speaking of him Psal 110.1 saith that the Lord said unto him Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool Yea more then this he is the Lord of all things whatsoever for Him hath God appointed and made heir of all things Heb. 1. as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews teacheth and our Saviour himself saith Matth. 28 18. John 18.15 All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth And again All things that the Father hath are mine Whereby you may see that Jure haereditario by right of inheritance as his Fathers Heir he is the Lord 1. Of the Elect. 2. Of the Reprobates And 3. Of all the things in the world 2. By right of purchase 1 Cor. 6.19 20. 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 2. He is our Lord by right of redemption or of purchase for so the Apostle saith You are not your own because you are bought with a price And St. Peter sheweth what price it was that redeemed us and was paid for us No corruptible thing as silver and gold but the pretious bloud of Jesus Christ And therefore seeing Christ hath bought us and redeemed us out of the hands of our enemies he may
soon have put down their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries the haters of the Lord should have been found lyars but their time should have endured for ever 3. Because he is able both to performe his promise and to satisfie Reason 3 our desires which our Prophet sheweth at large saying Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion Ver. 8. and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the Sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth that is as St. Hieron sheweth Fortificare debiles seek him that is the Creator of all things that is mighty to save and able to do whatsoever he pleaseth to strengthen the spoyled Ver. 9. as Vatab. and Arias say or as Aquila turns it subridere potentiam potentium to scorn the strength of the mighty and to destroy the destroyer And therefore if God be with us though we be weak and our enemies strong we few and they many yet we need not fear them because we rely not upon our own strength but upon the assistance of our God qui dividit contritionem super fortitudinem which casteth abundance of destructions upon the mighty as the Septuagint render the words of the Prophet and though we be simple and our enemies subtle and crafty full of all politique devices to raise men and to get money and to unite their strength by wicked Covenants Oaths and Associations yet we need not fear because we relye not upon our own wit but upon the wisdom of God which can destroy the wisdom of the wise 1 Cor. 1.19 and cast away the understanding of the prudent and turn the counsel of Achitophel to his own destruction Prov. 21.30 non est concilium contra eum and therefore O my beloved Brethren seek the Lord and fear not but as Moses saith stand still that is Exod. 14.13 constant in your resolution for the service of your God and the King and behold the salvation of the Lord which he will shew unto you this day or at this time 1 Sam. 14.6 2 Chro. 14.11 For there is no restraint unto the Lord to save by many or by few as both Jonathan and Asa testifie 2. The promise 2. The promise as I told you at first is the best of all desires you shall live the former part was like the toylsome labour of the Inhabitants of Persepolis when they cut the wood with their axes but this latter is like the feast that Cyrus made unto them Justia l. 1. hist when they had finished their Labours durus labor sed merces dulcis though the labour is hard yet the reward is sweet and it never troubles us to take great pains where we shall be well paid but to labour all night with the Apostles and to catch nothing How ill some masters reward their servants durus est hic sermo this is a hard saying after a hard labour but it is not so in Gods service for though in following the lusts of the flesh and the vanities of this World excessit medicina modum the reward that the Devil gives us shall be a great deal sorer than all the pain we have taken in his service for he deals with uâ— Val. Max. l. 9. c. 3. Curtius hist l. 3. as Alexander did with Clitus Calisthenes and other of his chiefest Captains or as Darius did with Eudemus to expose him unto death when he forsook his own native Country and deâ—icated his whole life to his command yet in the service of Christ it is far otherwise whatsoever a man doth for him he shall be rewarded a hundred fold How abundantly Christ rewardeth his servants and though he gives but a cup of cold water for his sake yet for this he shall not lose his reward And therefore this should incourage us to seek the Lord because our reward doth so far exceed our work Mat. 10.42 But let us consider the nature of this promise thou shalt live that is live long live well and live for ever For 1. The seekers of God shall live long Psal 37.2 1. Though the bloud-thirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their daies and the ungodly shall be soon cut down like the grass gemit sub pondere tellus when the earth is weary to bear them on it yet if we seek the Lord our daies shall be long in the Land which the Lord our God given us and though the pestilence that walketh in darkness Psal 91.6 and the arrow that flyeth in the noon day do threaten our death at every hour yet when a thousand shall fall besides us and ten thousand on our right hand it shall not come nigh us such is the reward of serving God 2. They shall live well Isa 3.10 2. They shall not only live for a miserable life is not so good as a happy death but they shall live well and happily while they live for surely it shall go well with the righteous saith the Prophet and King David saith the Lions may want and suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good and the reason is rendred by the Apostle Psal 34.10 because godliness hath the promise both of this life and of the life to come And 1 Tim. 4.8 3. They shall live for ever Psal 37.27 3. If we eschew evil and do good we shall live for evermore gloriosum imperium sine fine dabit and God will give us a Kingdom without ending And therefore seeing this promise is so plentiful it is worth our labour that we should seek the Lord. Object But here it may be some will demand how doth he performe his promise for did not the Prophets the Apostles and all the Martyrs of the Primitive Church seek the Lord and believe in Christ with all their hearts and yet was not Zachary stoned in the Courts of the house of the Lord Micheas killed by Joram Amos knockt in the head with a club Isaiah sawed in pieces by Manasses John Baptist beheaded How they that sought the Lord were used in this world St. Stephen stoned James killed St. Paul beheaded St. Peter crucified St. Thomas killed with a Javelin St. Mark burned and what shall I say of Simeon Polycarpus Justinus Attalus Marcella Apollonia and abundance more of holy Saints Alii ferro perempti alii patibulo cruciati Euseb Ec. hist whereof alii flammis exusti some were burned others beheaded and all deprived of their life for seeking the Lord and confessing Christ And for any happy life the servants of God do lead doth not St. Paul say that all which will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and afflictions do wait for them in every place 2 Tim. 3.12 Acts 20.23 Psal 37.36 Luke 16. and when the ungodly flourish like
a green bay tree cloathed in scarlet and fine linnen and fair deliciously every day the poor Saints even in their bonds are glad to eat ashes as it were bread and to mingle their drink with weeping I confess this hath been ever a sore objection that disheartned many men and made King Davids feet well nigh to slip Sol. but if I shall obtain your patience to stay with me a little in Gods Sanctuary I shall soon unty this Gordian knot or so cut it to pieces that it can no waies be any hinderance to our progress For 1. Seneca proveth Seneca de brevit vitae c. 8. that long life consisteth not in the great number of years but in vertuous actions and the wise man saith an undefiled life is the old age for God esteemeth of no time but what we spend in his service Sap. 1. All time lost that is not spent in Gods service and therefore they that lived 100 years in pleasures have but lost all their time and been as dead all that time which they lived and those holy Saints that were cut off in the midst of their daies have lived longer because they spent their whole time in Gods service the other lost their time and lost their life as Titus was wont to say diem perdidi I lost the day wherein I did no good and these have gained every hour And 2. Afflictions not so esteemed by the Saints as they are by the worldlings 2. Whatsoever afflictions the Saints do suffer we must not account them so great miseries unto them as the world takes them for the Philosopher tells us that quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis and they esteem them not as the world doth but they count them as the fatherly chastisements of Gods love and not any arguments of Gods hatred and as the Poet saith How God sweetneth the afflictions of his servants Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit the same hand which layed on their stripes will heal their sores Way 1 1. By giving them that invincible gift of patience which doth more iurage their tormenting persecutors Tert. in apolâ—g then themselves are in suffering torments Way 2 2. By filling them with true content that is in any estate to be contented Phil. 4.11 which is far better than to abound with wealth and to want this heavenly gift for he is most rich that desires nothing and he is best pleased that is never discontented And Way 3 3. By making them to rejoyce in tribulation and to account it all joy James 1.2 Rom. 8.31 Ver. 37. when they fall into divers temptations a strange thing that they should rejoyce in that which the world doth most fear yet such is the case of the righteous that neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor any other thing shall be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus but they abound in want they are content in Prison they rejoyce in death and in all things they are more than conquerours for his sake that loved them And therefore to conclude let us seek the Lord and we shall live and we shall be happy because he never faileth them that seek him but he will hear their prayers and will help them so that they need fear neither the scarlet gowns nor the sharpest swords neither their dissembling friends nor their greatest enemies for that God is with them in Prison as with Joseph in the Sea as with Jonas in the fire as with the three Children and in all places to preserve them from all evil here and to bring them to all happiness hereafter to live for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be all praise and dominion for ever and ever Amen Jehovae Liberatori FINIS How the Rebels dealt with the Bishop while he was Preaching this Sermon VVHile Archimedes was very studious in the framing of his Mathematical proportions the enemy saith the Historian was sacking the Town and pulling him out of his house or ready to pull down his House about his ears and not much unlike That very day the 8th of March when I was as Religious as I could I am sure with an unfaigned heart Preaching this very Sermon in S. Maries the Rebels out of Northampton seized upon my House took away all my goods and Cattel and as I am informed by a Letter from a faithful Preacher the Committee concluded to sequester all my Estate and all that I purchased for my Wife and Children by the indefatigable pains of 17 years service in an honourable house to the use of the Parliament so that now the poor Bishop of Ossory Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charibdins Or as Lucian saith shunning the smoak of the Irish insurrection that only withheld all that they should pay unto him he fell into the fire of the English Rebellion that thus took all that he had from him for which I pray God to forgive them it doth no waies trouble me when I know that he which lent me all may justly send whom he will to fetch all away from me and I do Profess before my God if I had all the Rebels Estate yet I should freely without the least dispute leave it lose it and part with it rather than I would take their wicked Covenant prove disloyal unto my King depart an inch from the truth of God or any waies defile my conscience for any worldly wealthy and I do heartily thank my God that he hath given me this resolution to rejoyce more in the sincerity of this my Prosession than any waies to grieve at my losses afflictions or persecutions and therefore the taking away of my Estate moves me to nothing else but to pray to God to give them grace to repent them of their sins committed against God and their Rebellion against their King whom God hath commanded them to honour and to obey so I leave them that left nothing besides Loyalty to his King and fidelity to his God unto their Oratour still remaining Gr. Ossory Though the Lord slay me yet will I trust in him saith holy Job and though the pretended Parliament should rob me to my very shirt yet will I both Preach and write and pray against their wickedness this will I do so help me God who is my God in whom I trust Amen THE EIGTHTH SERMON MATTHEW 17.21 This kind of Devils goeth not out but by prayer and fasting THe holy and blessed Apostle S. Paul being a stout Champion of Jesus Christ saith He hath fought with beasts at Ephesus which was a great City full of Great men and of great wickedness and he overcame them and I have fought with beasts in London not inferiour to Ephesus any ways and with the limbs head and tayl of the great Antichrist the members of the the long Parliament and as yet I praise Jehovah my Deliverer I escape invulnerate and now I am