deceive themselves with the shadow of faith namely a vain and causelesse presumption which they embrace for the substance in the mean while giving no evidence thereof to the world and hating those that call upon them for the practice of repentance and good works yea and persecuting them sometimes as we have found by experience But to slight admonitions of this nature is almost every mans guilt however scarce accounted of as a crime by any The truth is ye would fain have and some openly declare as much a religion exempt as well from duty as from charges and expence ye would goe to heaven and yet stirre not one foot in the journey receive the reward of glory but do no work of grace for it And notwithstanding your frequent confessions and protestations of faith in God many are yet found among you who give more credit to the sayings of Diviners and Astrologers though seldome but false and ever uncertain then to the writings of the Prophets and Evangelists and more seek unto such as these then to their Maker in the time of their distresse Now how far ye are from obeying the precepts of the Gospell or the commands of that Lord to whom ye have given up your names and vowed your selves to be his faithfull servants unto death let your own works witness against you and your conscience judge of you according to this evidence for Isa 9.17 every ones heart is set upon their covetousnesse every one is an hypocrite and an evill doer and every mouth speaketh villany Ye idolize wealth in all your habitations set up this stumbling block of your iniquity in your heart and before your face for the many which ye have removed out of the way serving this mammon of unrighteousnesse more then the true living God To gain riches ye generally speak not what you think do not what you speak and neither speak nor do as ye know and ought To retain your ill gotten goods ye dispense with your selves for swearing what you list breaking oathes at pleasure violating covenants made with God or man no tye so sacred or solemn which can hold you against your profit or to your present disadvantage It is your received principle that ye may get wealth at any hand for your selves and children Si possis recte si non quocunque modo rem And your measure is as much as ye can by all means possible how base soever Insomuch as your trades as they are now commonly used seem to be but so many mysteries of iniquity or deceitfull baits for sinfull gain Pro. 21.6 The getting of treasares by a lying tongue being a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death For the restitution of ill gotten goods whether by violence or by deceit is a thing not thought upon in these daies wherefore men usually dye in this sin without recognition much lesse repenting of what they have done amisse Nay some there be so vain in their conceits so corrupt in judgement and depraved in their will partly by education partly by the custome and manners of the age that they imagine it no sin at all to defraud or go beyond their brother in any matter taking this to be a warrantable principle in all matter of contract and bargaining with others that they may make as much of their goods as they can without any respect had to the benefit and advantage of the buyer a thing most opposite to justice and charity and as if this were not enough they glory in their deceit and over-reaching one another especially of the Clergy and University men whom all deceive with one consent abusing their simplicity and want of experience in the things of this life to the dammage of them and to their own unjust profit In like manner they do without equity or measure exact upon strangers wheresoever they come in the price of all commodities notwithstanding men of the same countrey and religion with themselves little considering to what exigences men of this condition may be reduced on the way and are subject at all times Others there be that entertain this opinion or perswasion in their mindes that they may wrong and deceive as they lift or as far as they are able any man who is of a different judgement or faction from them in religion whom they call the wicked and ungodly and look upon as them that have no right to the creature by reason of their unregenerate and unsanctified estate of life whereby indeed they get and lay up treasure for themselves Luk. 12. but are not rich towards God Thus do fools make a mockaâ—sin Prov. 14. and it is a sport to them to do mischief And like the Florentine each one getteth his wealth by carrying about with him a dogs soul as he said to make no conscience of any thing so it might be for his gain And from whence proceedeth this immoderate desire of worldly wealth Doth it not from hence that you may consume it upon your lusts Jac. 4.3 or heap it up to no use and purpose but to seed your unsatiable avarice or to reserve it for your children though little wanting it against the time to come This indeed is the vulgar pretence and common excuse for all that ye do whether right or wrong ye must provide for your children and families they that come after you must not want in any case And indeed so ye leave them a temporall inheritance or a good portion in this life you care not what may become of them hereafter in another world wherefore as well by your precept and by your example which is continually before their eyes ye teach them to be hypocrites and deceivers like your selves and applaud them for their covetous practises and every course they take be it good or bad to preserve or encrease this worlds good not caring in the mean time whether they be godly and vertuously educated or no This is the least thing you minde in all your thoughts for them Neither will your fond and overweaning affection many times suffer you to have them brought up after a sober and austere manner lest forsooth they should too much lay it to heart and pine away with secret discontent Now this soft and remisse education of them in your own houses and under your own wings or by such as know and are willing to serve you herein according to desire that they may serve themselves of you for their own advantage hath taught them almost every where to be rebellious against God against you their parents and against their governours also to despise their superiors and betters and to be impudent in their behaviour towards all And you either not at all or else but sparingly reprove them seldome or never correct them for these exorbitances yea some of you stick not to uphold and encourage them therein Thus do ye honour your children above the Lord as Eli did 1 Sam. 2.29 1 Sam.
in a moment in one day the losse of children and widow hood and both in their perfection for the multitude of her Sorcerers and for the great aboundance of her enchantments v. 13 14. Her Astrologers Star-gazers and monthly prognosticators could not stand up and save her from those things that were to come upon her but became as stubble themselves for the power of the flame neither shall thine be able to celiver thee nor their own souls by all their wisdome and knowledge from the evill which the Lord hath determined against thee vers 13 14. Wherefore O Jerusalem London wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee There is but one way left of escape for thee The Lord shew it thee and direct thy steps therein for his sake who is the way the truth Joh. 14. â— and the life To whom with the Father and with the blessed Spirit be ascribed all honour glory might majesty and dominion now and for evermore Amen To the seduced of this nation and to as many as have separated themselves from the Communion of our Church WEre I now to addresse my speech to an humble though deceived people I might the better hope to prevail with them but I am to deal with men who generally are proud as well as ignorant and have added to errour in judgement obstinacy of will and a strong presumption of truth arrogating to themselves immediate assistance and infallible direction from the divine Spirit in what they maintain for the undoubted Gospell of Christ Jesus And who can shake this your considence Neverthelesse I shall endevour as powerfully as I can to convince you of your self deceit and falshood and perswade you to another but sounder mind leaving the successe to him with whom all things are possible and easie to be done First then let me enquire of you why ye did so long adhere unto this Church in times past and why ye are so soon removed from it as in a moment What is the cause of your forrner communion with us and your sudden departure from us Surely the first must needs argue great weaknesse of judgement and want of consideration in you and how ye can defend the last from the just imputation of unstablenesse in religion and levity of mind is more then I can learn you If your new pretended Pastours and as you deem them extraordinary Teachers in respect of their calling deliver you the same truths which ye received or might have received from the old why are they better accepted with you now then heretofore or why are they better taken at the hands of the former then of the latter Is it for the grace and manner of delivery or for their persons who commend the same unto you If either or both of these be the cause of this change do ye not look on things after the outward appearance 2 Cot. 10.7 Joh. 7.24 and not judge righteous judgement You will say perchance that the power of the Almighty doth manifest it self unto them because though ignorant and unlearned men they pray and preach with the same facility or with more dexterity sometimes then men of learning and parts But can ye shew us that God did ever work a needlesse miracle either in revealing his truth or witnessing it to the world Hath any man spake with tongues or done mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God since the Gospel was preached to all * See 1 Cor. 14.12 nations If ye know such a one produce him without delay that we may see also and beleeve him with you But this is not likely to come to passe however as I am informed some have gone about though in vain to perswade us the truth of things as incredible as these to justifie their cause Besides this who will take you to be competent judges of those gift in other men whereof ye have so small a portion your selves or perchance no share at all Lastly the means of knowledge in this nation have been so plentifull and common every where for many years together Blessed be the Lord for this his unspeakable gift partly by the teaching and partly by the writing of the learned that it is an easie matter now for men of good naturall parts with ordinary inclustry used in hearing and observing what is taught them by mouth or in reading what is published from the presse to gaine enough whereby to set themselves forth with credit and repute of knowledge for a time in the mystery of preaching especially if confident and bold above measure amongst the ignorant and vulgar sort of which note ye are and to delude your simplicity while they boast of things without their measure that is of other mens labours or in another mans rule and line of things made ready to their hand â— Cor. 10.16 repeat unto you in one place those Sermons which they have heard before in another from men called to the work yet so that you must take them to be theirs and as the sudden issues of their invention not second accounts of their memory which they have immediately received from the Lord and not from man Ibid. But he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Again if they commend unto you contrary doctrines to those that ye formerly received or new and strange of which ye have not heard in times past be wary and well advised how you entertain them lest they feed you with chaffe in stead of wheat give you a stone for bread or a serpent in stead of a fish or present you with a draught of deadly poison while they promise you a cup of pure wine To this end take heed I pray you of their spirituall flattery whereby they secretly insinuate into your mindes an high but groundlesse and false conceit of knowledge and Saintship not only above but also with exclusion of other men not agreeing with you in opinion or faction from these supposed priviledges For besides that this pride of spirit doth lay you open to their slie and dangerous insinuations of heresie and every false doctrine whereby they do impose upon your faith it is an abomination in the sight of the Almighty as appeareth from Luk. 18.9 c. Luk. 19.9 c. And surely it is almost beyond all belief how far this tympany of spiritual pride hath swoln in many of you or that they have imagined themselves to be in a state of perfection above divine ordinances namely prayer preaching Sacraments and if there be any other act of duty pertaining to the worship of God notwithstanding the Apostles and Jesus Christ himself doe every where commend and command the use of these to the Church not by their precept only but by their example also for how often doe we finde it testified of the Lord by those who were from the beginning eye-witnesses and Ministers of the word as
Officers mutually conspiring together in the same work to reform a city or town as they list and proportionably a whole nation under the chief Magistrate if he interpose not against it Therefore it is reported of Queen Elizabeth that in her progresse visiting the county of Suffolk and seeing every Justice of Peace with a Minister next to his body said she had oftentimes demanded of her Councell why her County of Suffolk was better governed then any other County but never understood the reason thereof till now It must needs be so said she where the Word and the Sword goe together But what may we expect when both these comply not or jarre one with another wherefore had this one course alone been taken for the suppressing of common and odious sins there needed not to have been so loud a cry for a reformation in the midst of thy people nor so much of thy childrens bloud shed like water round about thy cities and within the gates and also on the furrowes of the field in prosecution of this specious design which can hardly be compassed if at all in any wise by means so unproportionate as these to the end for which they are appointed by those who would be master builders in this work Lastly the great and common neglect of teaching the younger sort and educating them in a Catecheticall way of doctrine and instruction as it occasioned at first the blinde ignorance open profanenesse and meer formality in this Nation so it hath still continued and fomented the same unto this present day And from hence we shall draw another instance to shew the great force which enmity and opposition do gain in the mindes of men to hinder a mutuall consent and joynt concurrence together in those waies which tend to life and godlinesse For what could more conduce to the furtherance and encrease of sacred knowledge to the effectuall planting and growth of piety in the hearts of Christian youth then this necessary and profitable means of institution so much commended by the divine Spirit of God to our imitation and practise * see Gen. 18 19. Train up or chastise a childe in the way he should goe and when he is old he will not depart from it Pro. 22 6. Neither was there wanting the advice of a prudent and learned Prince for the setting on foot this practise with us by changing the afternoon Sermons into this more usefull exercise And yet the Ministers of the opposite party could never for ought as I can learn be induced to entertain a good opinion of it at least so far as cordially to embrace the counsell and submit to the judgement of their superiors therein notwithstanding the visible and apparent benefit thereof and nothing might be reasonably said against it And what was the cause of this Surely in all probability the ill affection and hatred which they bore against the Bishops who did also commend and preferre it to their inseriour brethren in the Ministery as more needfull and profitable for the people then their claborate and painfull preaching so much magnified by their Disciples above other Ordinances and who could not be pleased without a double portion thereof every Lords day although as some object against them with too great limitation and restraint but however better thus then not at all For as a chief Ruler well observed of thy children the omission of this sundamentall way of instruction and the custome of notionall teaching in which was more plenty of words then of matter have given occasion to the Apostasie or falling back of so many from thy Communion some to Popish superstition others to Monasterian confusion while after many years groundlesse and therefore unprofitable institution they were like rasae tabulae or unsealed wax apt to receive any impression or forme of doctrine whatsoever The truth whereof hath more then enough been confirmed by the experience of succeeding time in which we meet every where with aged Infants I mean such who when for the time ought to be teachers Heb. 5.12 have need that one teach them again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat who notwithstanding have been constant hearers of Sermons for divers years together some twenty others forty and some perchance more that we may justly admire and be even astonished at their dulnesse and stupidity in learning Doe we not consider how unsutable this kinde of teaching is with the mindes of the rude and unprincipled multitude to make them skilfull in the word of righteousnesse it being all one in effect as if a man should seek to raise a frame of building where no foundation is laid before or to nourish an infant with strong meat in stead of milk which is proper for him because unable to bear the other 1 Cor. 3.2 Heb. 5.14 as belonging to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evill Wherefore in them also is fulfilled the Prophesie of Isaiah which saith By hearing ye shall hear Mat. 13.14 and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive For this cause so many of the Nation at present being children in understanding Eph. 4.14 are tossed to and fro and carryed about with every winde of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive fixing on nothing long through the weaknesse of their judgement to discern what they hear and want of reason to maintain what they embrace as truth although upon tryall we have found some of their deceivers or false teachers like those 2 Pet. 2 Pet. 3.16 3.16 Vnlearned and unstable themselves while they boldly took upon them to instruct and guide others wresting the Scriptures both to the destruction of their Disciples and of themselves or like them of whom the Apostle S. Paul speaketh 1 Tim. 1.7 1 Tim. 1.7 Desiring to be teachers of the Gospell as they then did to be teachers of the Law and yet understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm But indeed their pretence of an immediate calling from God by the motion of his Spirit to the work of the Ministery and gathering of Churches here on earth like that in heaven glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but holy and without blemish Eph 5.27 together with their strange outward considence and presumptuous ostentation of themselves in a businesse of this high nature far exceeding the measure of their inward parts or gifts of minde easily begat in the weaker sighted and unsetled brethren an answerable opinion or erroncous belief of them that they were such in truth as they were in shew or professed themselves to be who therefore received them as Angels of God Gal. 4.14 even as Christ Jesus When as they were indeed no
to those who were the chief Rulers of thy people and acknowledged by many for the same unto this present day The time was when no man durst mutter against you much lesse reprove you openly for what you did amisse the height of your honour the intimacy of grace and favour ye had with the Prince and that which doth for the most part ever accompany so great felicity an answerable opinion of your own vertue and worth would by no means admit of this boldnesse and presumption in inferiour persons how well meaning soever and devoted to the service of your power and place in the Church of Christ As for others there was cause enough perchance why ye might except against their reproof as proceeding from pride faction hatred or contempt of your persons and government tending to the reproach of your authority exercise thereof or directly intended to defame and make odious both your selves and administration with the people And as it was no small crime in these men to kick against your authority when it was at the highest pitch so it would be no lesse if not greater in any to spurn at it now when it is at the lowest ebbe much more to trample upon it lying as it were in the dust For what could savour more of inhumanity and cruelty then thus to deal with a professed enemy Wherefore far be it from me to insult upon your faln dignity or to use this freedome towards you with any private sinister respect unto my self All that I aim at God knoweth is this with filiall reverence and love to admonish you of what you seemed formerly to be ignorant at least not observant according to your Fatherly duty and for which we ought now to be humbled that God may be glorified And indeed how happy had it been for your selves and likewise for the flock of Christ committed to your charge if ye had in times past duly laid these things to heart which I shall at this present offer to your view not from any confidence of reason and knowledge in my self more then in you or in any measure equall unto that which remaineth with you but from an assurance that ye were then blinded with worldly interest and therefore could not so clearly see as was needfull your many failings or may at this day since the hand of the Lord hath been very heavie upon you to chasten and try you and as we hope not only for your own private instruction and benefit but for the common good of his whole Church and people also in time to come who wait with patience upon him who hath promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love him to them that are called according to his purpose And now with what depth of sorrow ought we to recount your past errors partly through neglect of duty partly through abuse of power God the wise disposer of all things in the world was pleased to set you as so many greater Luminaries in the firmament of his Church there to shine forth by the raies of pure Evangelicall doctrine and by the glorious example of holinesse for the illumination and direction of his people you he appointed as grand Instructors and Teachers in the Schoole of Christ Jesus to inform his Disciples concerning his Law and will to reform them when need did so require by the rod of his discipline But were ye faithfull in your trust did ye diligently instruct the ignorant severely punish the disobedient endevour to reclaim those who walked disorderly and contrary to the Gospell Did ye reprove all indifferently censure all impartially not respecting or considering the persons but the crimes of men delinquent That ye were violently bent against faction and schisme against singularity and non-conformity all confesse a few excepted who thought nothing too much yea nothing enough in this kinde how opposite soever to Christian mildenesse prudence or conscience But in the mean while by reason of your connivence or supinenesse in the Episcopall office ignorance and superstition every where misled the people and caused them to wander in darknesse not knowing whither they went Profanenesse like a rank pernicious weed overspread the field and vineyard of the Lord and as it fares with plants of different nature and quality growing in the same soile which oftentimes thrive the better one for another because the one sucketh that moisture and nourishment from the earth which are improper for or perchance destructive to the other so it came to passe here for the profane and vicious lives of those who stood up in defence of your government occasionally gave encrease and added strength to the opposite factious party who alleadged this as one main ground of their separation from the church that those who adhered to it were for the most part unworthy to have communion with any orderly well governed Congregation of Believers because of their loose and scandalous manner of living the which for that they could not redresse they did pretend at least they were bound thus to shun and avoid as hatefull to God and to good men Wherefore ye did not carefully separate between the precious and the vile but consulting with flesh bloud what ye were to doe in this case thought in humane policy to break the power of one party by strengthening the hands of the other or not binding and restraining them with the cords of Ecclesiasticall Discipline Thus while you opposed profanenesse against schism or did let that loose at this or secretly favoured and upheld it in hope to suppresse the later by the former the one grew too strong by the violence of opposition for your selves and both for the Church in order to peace and holinesse As for your labour in the work of the Ministry how little it hath been for many years together it is even a shame to mention some of you wholly exempting themselves from this necessary burthen of their calling for ease and pleasure others supposing it a task and imployment too low and inferiour for them as men intirely addicted to the government of the Church and of another sphear farre above the labouring Minister the rest for the most part slightly or seldome heaving it with their shoulders and laying it aside presently as that which concerned other men and not themselves any longer then they listed or their superours imposed the same upon them And thus far it had been or perchance might have been pardonable with men had care been taken by you to see this work duly performed of the Clergy in your severall Dioceses and Cities of Residence or to provide able and sit Pastors for the people throughout your particular Congregations or parochiall charges within the limits of your jurisdiction But alas there were not wanting of you who did not onely wink at the wilful neglect of their inferiour brethren in this main point of Ministerial duty but did countenance and savour such as were most peccant therein
probable that worldly interest is most predominant in the severall opposite parties yet every one is taught to open his mouth wide for the cause and truth of God and none more then they who most blaspheme his name by their impure doctrines which they commend to the world for those of Christ Jesus though as contrary to what he spake as darknesse is to light And because these are the fruits of faction and schism sometimes as it is now apparent with us as well as the causes thereof at other times I wish men all to remember how deep and sad their accounts will one day be who have any wayes procured these dangerous maladies to the State and Church or fomented the same by word or deed For wee plainly see to what condition both are reduced at this present and every man may be so far a Prophet as to soretel yet greater calamities like to come upon us except the Almighty doth wonderfully appeare for us and that speedily but I for bear neither shall I stirre the coals of their lusts nor strike the drunkards cup in indignation out of his hand nor rowse thy delicate Dames from their bed of pleasure and sloth whose life is nothing else but sleep and lust and putting on of apparell not becomming women professing godlinesse and costly fare with ease and sport 1 Pet. 3.3 with 1 Tim. 2.10 according to the severall varieties of them all Nor shall I labour to dissolve the Adamantine hearts of thy creditours into humane pity towards their poore obnoxious debters For have not these been the frequent and faithfull endeavours of thy learned and pious Ministers from time to time for many years together Jer. 9. â— But their habitation was in the midst of deceit Zech. 7.11 through deceit they refused to know the Lord yea thy children refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear Or were like those of whom the Lord complaineth and describeth to the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 33.31 32. who with their mouth shewed much love to the Prophet and to his message but their heart in the mean while went after their covetousnesse to whom he was as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument for they heard his words but they did them not In like manner thy sons and daughters were onely hearers of the Evangelicall word but left the doing thereof to others who were better affected with the same then they contenting themselves with this empty shadow of godlines that they were continually present to the outward Ordinance of the word did countenance or favour the messengers thereof wherefore hath the Lord of hosts melted them and tryed them Ier. 9.7 for how should he otherwise doe for the daughters of his people And oh that thy children had been admonished and reformed by the corrections of their heavenly Father Isa 59. But alas their transgressions are multiplyed before the Lord and their sins testifie against them for their transgressions are with them and as for their iniquities they know them In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from their God speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood And judgement is turned away backward and justice standeth a for off for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evill maketh himselfe a prey or is accounted mad yea they proceed from evill to evill and they know not me saith the Lord. Shall he not therefore visit for these things and though he defer his wrath for a season expecting with patience their repentance and conversion unto him will it not break forth at the last to consume his adversaries as in a moment For while they be folded together as thorns Nah. 1.10 and while they are drunken as drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry Thou hast occasioned and seen with mercilesse hearts and eyes the grievous sufferings of thy countrey and shalt thou goe altogether together unpunished is thy sinne lesse yea is it not much more then theirs have not thy lampes shined forth most gloriously to thy selfe and others when they have sate in darknesse And yet thou hast loved darknesse rather then light because thy works were evill For thou dost represent unto us the wickednesse of the whole Nation contracted indeed into a lesser volume but more polished and refined by the art of thine iniquity overlayed with the faire gilt of hypocrisy but underneath more foule and ugly then that of the people both in the sight of God and of those who know his wayes a right Thus deceit is with thee more elegant and smooth in expression but more dangerous and dark in the mystery then it is with those of the Countrey In like manner other sins goe more fine and trim in their dresse here then in the rurall Townes or inferiour Cities but the skin underneath is much blacker and the shape more deformed then it is with them Only impudence is more daring in thy children then in any of the Nation who generally are as yet uncapable of that immodesty which is every where common with thee And may they never learn more of that from thee of which perchance they have too much already Now as thou hast in thee the sins of those ample and glorious Cities which the Lord destroyed in times past for their wickednesse but are still set forth for example of his Divine justice to us that are alive this day as well as to them that have gone before us and to all generations to come so fear and expect their judgements and the more because his mercies of all sorts have been greater towards thee then them and thy warnings also of approaching vengeance more frequent signal then theirs and yet behold their memorial is perished with them Psal 3.6 But the Lord shall endure for ever the same in justice as in mercy to all men throughout all ages Take heed therefore lest with an overflowing floud he make an utter end of the place thereof Nah. 1.8 9. so that affliction rise not up the second time Security is the daughter of sin but the mother of danger Prov. 16.18 Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall Thou maiest happily as thy elder sisters did before thee dream of perpetuity when desolation is at hand But oh remember that there is no stability with iniquity no safety in sin no peace to the wicked Babylon thou knowest that was heretofore given to pleasures as thou art now dwelled carelesly as thou dost said in her heart as thou perchance speakest to thy self Is 47.8 9. at this time I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a widow neither shall I know the losse of children But these two things came to her as the Prophet foretold
had almost buried in oblivion were revived again by you to the infamy and damage of your Pastors as if they were not men compassed about with infirmity as well as others or your selves free from all iniquity not needing the mercy of him who is the common Redeemer of you both and though ye need it how can ye with confidence expect it if that be true as ye finde Jam. 2.13 Jam. 2.13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy For neither your words nor deeds have been such toward them as doe become men that shall be judged by the law of Liberty Vers 12. because ye have used rigour and extremity in them both not advising in the least measure with the Law of Christ For otherwise ye would not have aggravated after this manner every small matter which might any wayes tend to their prejudice but rather have passed by such as these and either concealed the greatest where there was hope of repentance and amendment or followed the same with all meckness and moderation considering the persons whom ye did pursue and the sad calamities which were likely to befall them and their families if judgement should proceed against them And surely it is strange that the painfull industry of many years in the work of the Ministry could not prevail either with you who did partake thereof to conceal or with those that were their Judges and without doubt knew as much to pardon one or a few errours of their life upon promise of more strict conversation for the time to come Ye did pretend indeed that zeal for the Truth onely and love of Gods people did set you thus in opposition against the scandalous Ministers or those whom ye were pleased to term so but I fear your own conscience will one day tell you plainly and I pray God not too late that private quarrels personal interests and self ends carried you all along in these unwarrantable courses of mischief and persecution for some of you to our knowledge who have been most forward to thrust forth of the Lords inheritance them that for many years together had ministred unto you in holy things have been the first that fell into dislike of their owne new choice and refused to give them maintenance according to the Law So weak and unstable is your judgement so sickle your affection so immoderate your desire of novelty so blinde your conscience in discerning your own hearts so squeamish your mindes to receive truth if it doth any wise make against your worldly advantage or touch upon your sins the which though never so grievous and manifest Hos 4.4 no man must strive or repove another for thy people are as they that strive with the Priest Neither are ye offended onely with the Minister for open but also for secret rebukes yea and for private admonitions and correptions sometimes be they never so necessary and gentle withall as I have seen it by often experience verified in many one more especially a very lewd person indeed who being mildly reproved by a Minister in my hearing for some scandalous sin replyed again It were better for us if ye Ministers held your peace because then we might sin with the lesse guilt and punishment To whom then shall I speak and give warning that they may hear Behold Jer. 6.10 their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they have no delight in it Wherefore he that doth not please your humour or advance your faction or gratifie you in your beloved corruptions or sparing you strikes at your adversaries in a word will not be partakers of your sins by connivence or practise straight ways grows out of request with you as an unprofitable teacher or rather one not fit for your purpose however he be accomplished in all other respects and thus he is by little and little abandoned of you and another sought out more agreeable to your fancy and mind for a short season untill the date or time of pleasing you be expired also Insomuch as one Parish not many miles distant from the University of Oxford hath been known since these Times of trouble and distraction to have disliked and changed their Ministers as often if not more often then there be seasons in the year and yet scarce afford maintenance for a single man to live with them It is past belief what foolish exceptions they have had against those men who have upon triall or other occasions preached before them besides many against severall Ministers this they had against one not unknown to my self if I am not misinformed that he preached too long upon the same Text. I pray God this spirituall delicacy doth not presage a spirituall famine in the end whereby men may hunger and thirst after that Word which they despise and loath now because of the plenty and fulnesse thereof And here I may not passe by in silence a common but very dangerous errour that possesseth your mindes whereby ye fondly and falsely imagine that the successe of the Ministry doth depend upon the personall gifts of the Minister and not wholly upon the ordinance of Christ for which cause yee magnifie some above measure and despise others in comparison of them calling the first powerfull Preachers and not acknowledging the last for such because not men so well qualified for the work of the Lord as they The which conceit if I mistake not is not the least cause of your non-prosiciency by the meanes of grace For how can ye reap benefit from the Ordinance if ye come not duely prepared to it and how can ye come duly prepared to it if ye have not a just esteem of it that ye may answerably submit unto it For 1 Cor. 3.7 neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease Let men therefore learn to have greater respect to the blessing from above then to the means below to the grace and gift of God then to the abilities and endowments of men in the great busmesse of their conversion and edification Again ye English people are generally indifferent or luke warm in Religion and so ye may enjoy the worlds good care not what doth become of the Truth of God the which ye hear indeed but learn and know not like those of whom we read 2 Tim. 3.7 ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth or if ye know it receive it not neither beleeving it with your hearts nor obeying it in your lives for although ye all professe faith and pretend to it as the main ground and pillar of your hope in God yet it is but a bare profess on and meer ostentation of that which ye have not in truth a few excepted who testifie the same by their innocent and holy conversation Jac 2.26 without which faith is dead being alone The rest