Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	affection_n	evil_a	good_a	2,449	5	3.5172	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80782	An abstract of some late characters. Or, how the principall means appointed for our reformation is become the maine fuell of our wickednes. Laid downe in sundry characters of L. Bishops. Dumb dogs. Non-residenciaries. Men-pleasers. Unpreaching ministers, that edify to damnation, by their scandalous living. false wresting. mis-applying the Scripture. So turning the truth of God into a lye, that they may discourage the godly; incourage the wicked. In which the blind world may see, to their shame, how Satan guls them with a multitude of misprisions, and false surmises against the godly; that so he may barricado [sic] their hearts against all good. Necessary to be knowne in these times of discovery.	Cranford, James, d. 1657, attributed name.; Craufurd, James, 17th cent, attributed name.	1643 (1643)	Wing C6851B; Thomason E67_35; ESTC R7704	68,958	47

Whereas his Doctrines drive out the Truth as one naile drives out another and sticks fast in the roome Falshood after Truth is like Aloes strawed upon Hony a little whereof taketh away all the former sweetnesse Yea such a seducing Preacher shall be able with one Sermon to pull downe undoe and make void whatsoever a faithfull and powerfull Minister hath built up and established in the hearts of his hearers with great paines in many yeares And no marvell If we consider how averse we are from Good and how prone we are to Evil by nature As having the wind of Satans temptations and the tide of our owne affections to drive us forward A Ship at Sea is not carried on her voyage without great force of the wind whereas a little urchin fish call'd a Remora by sticking her horne into it will stop her though under saile in her full Careere Great trees which are long in growing may be rooted up in an instant Herostratus an Obscure and Base fellow could easily in one night burne the Temple of Diana at Ephesus which was 220. yeeres in building of all Asia at the cost of so many Princes and beautified with the labour and cunning of so many excellent workmen Indeed what things this Vn preaching Minister hath planted are like to last For he so rankles and festers the affections of his hearers that he leaves no possibility of their amendment They hatch Cochatrice egges saith the Prophet and weave the Spiders webbe He that eateth of their egges dieth and that which is trodden upon breaketh out into a Serpent Isa 59 5. His Sermons like Circes Potions are Too strong for all Antidotes And their condition like the Kings-Evill that none but GOD himselfe can cure For the parties hereby are so Metamorphos'd that either they become Stupid and Blind to all spirituall Objects like the spectators of Perseus when he put on Medusa's head for the redeeming of Andromeda resolving to cast off all care of their soules and never to heare other Preachers Forgetting that they vowed themselves to CHRIST in their Baptisme To be his Faithfull Souldiers and Servants unto their lives end And that if they keep not their Vow in doing their Vtmost their Sin is no lesse then perjury Or else in the next place they have the Tead of prejudice against all good ingendred in their braines which makes them see heare and take all things with the left eye eare and hand Act. 2. 13. 20. 9. Isa 5. 20. And then like a man out of his way The faster they runne the farther off And it becomes a greater worke to unteach them that then to teach them the whole duty of a Christian besides And indeed how should better cloath be made of such yarne Our blood cannot bee good if our diet be unwholsome Neither can our hearts or affections our words or our workes be good unlesse the milke be wholesome whereupon wee seed However their hearers learne this lesson from their Sermons to practise what they teach And Satan hath his ayme which is to make Sanctification an odious thing by fastning upon it out of the pulpit some vile reproach that men may be ashamed to serve GOD and be saved As for example Let a man but abandon his former foule sinnes live more circumspectly and warily then his neighbours about him Instantly this his holinesse growes very offensive to them and appeares to be but hypocrisie or at least idle scrupulosity Whereupon they brand him for a Puritan And this being the verdict of those who count themselves honest men and their neighbours thinke no lesse to whom civill men are almost Puritans like a Kennell of dogs they run away with the cry and barke out this terme against every good man they meet Whereby it fares with Religion and the professors thereof as it did with the Land of Canaan Numb 14. 36. Some wicked Ministers like the ten spies have brought up an ill name and report upon the way of truth and many of the people following their example increase the scandall See 2 Pet. 2. 1 2 3. 2 Tim 3. 3. So that the godly may take up Davids words against such a Minister and say Thou hast made us a strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laugh at us among themselves Psal 80. 6. And this is a sport to Satan who delights himselfe in setting us together by the eares Though indeed none but dogs by clapping of hands will be animated to fight Neither are these false teachers onely the cause of the peoples censuring and slandering the good But by their Serpentine preaching or not preaching faithfully they are the Sole cause of all the ignorance and prophanenesse in the Land As it hath fared in all former ages It is the LORD complaint by Isa 9. 16. And by Jeremiah 6. 13 14 15. and againe Chap. 8. 10 11 12. and Chap. 23. 9. to 22. Nor can we expect other in reason For when the Fountaine is troubled the streames will be muddy If the Spring be poisoned the waters are deadly He that would see whether a fish be corrupted doth look upon the head For this doth first putrefy So to know the state of the Flocke looke upon the Pastor And miserable is that people whose leaders in stead of discouraging and reproving plot and incourage wickednesse When a distillation of evill falls from the Head upon the Lungs of any parish there must needs follow a deadly Consumption What should direct the body but the head And what should direct the head but the eye Before Ahab would goe to Ramoth-Gilead to fall there he gathered of the Prophets foure hundred men who spake according to his owne heart 2 Chron. 18. 5. So when Herod thought to make fooles of the wise men and over-reach GOD himselfe he gathered all the chiefe Priests and Scribes together to heare their advice Matth. 2. 3. 4. The tides of the people move up and downe are rough or still according as the winds stirre more or lesse They have no other edge but what is given them by the whetstone of their Priests tongues And as from the heart all members have their life So from the ministery the people have their devotion The common people are so tractable that they will follow their leaders blindfold They practise an undiscreet surrendring of themselves up to the command of their superiours If Corah but kindle the fire of conspiracy two hundred and fiftie others will bring stickes to increase it Numb 16. 2. 3. If Sheba but blowe a Trumpet the rest are suddenly up in armes Like those beasts Deut. 14. They swallow and never chew the Cud. Therefore when Diogenes met a fellow that behaved himselfe ●udely he gave his Tutor a wherit on the care The kingdome is all overspread with Ignorance Atheisme and all manner of prophanenesse from the Court to the Cottage from the Robe to the ragged Coat Scarce one in ten of any degree or profession that is not Covetous

thou but One of the former Number viz. of Non-preaching Ministers who come farre short of thee and have much lesse to answer for whensoever thou shouldst heare the Bell toll for a wicked man Thou might'st cry out There is a Soule going to Hell whose bloud will be required at my hands because I was not faithfull and did not give him warning Ezek. 3. 18 19. 33. 7 8 9. Whereas Thou hast preached Lies in CHRISTS name and sought to winne as many to hell as thou couldst Consider of it I beseech you Thou art appointed a Spirituall Nurse to seed the people of GOD with the Two Breasts of the Old and New Testament and hast thy wages to that end Now if a Nurse should for Wages take in hand to nurse but one Child who having either no Milke or having Milk enough should give it None In so doing she were a Murtheresse much more if she should give it Poyson which yet would but Kill the Body But thou givest thy whole Flock Poyson in stead of Milk which is enough without GODS over-ruling Providence to poyson all their soules Thou art appointed by GOD the Spirituall Physitian of their Soules Now a Physitian that takes charge of a sick Patient may be guilty of his death either by giving him No Physick or Improper Bhysick or Poyson Every of which wayes thou art guilty though principally in the Last and Worst of them Yea thou givest Two sorts of poyson that if the one should not speed the other may The one is Flattering men in sinne a sweet poyson The other is Bitter Girding at holinesse the best and mildest whereof is Bad enough aad so thou wilt finde one day For in that thou Soothest them up in their sinnes thou makest them all thy owne Isa 9. 16. Heb. 13. 17. Beatificant populum istum Psal 10. 3. Nay That evill can scarce be named which thou art not the occasion of by thy thus preaching Yea which thou thy selfe dost not or hast not a will to doe were it in thy power For thou hast the same Heart-Burning against all the Religious that Haman had against the Jewes who would have cut them off from being a people Or Caligula against the Romans who wisht that They All had but one Head that so he might cut it off at a blow I have laid open some part of thy will and indeavour Satan who will one day be thy accuser knowes much more GOD that Searcheth the heart and trieth the reines knowes all who measures what we doe by what we desire to doe and punisheth the Action according to the Affection or Intention For Good or Evill Thoughts and Desires in GODS account are Good or Evill Works If thou wantest power it is enough thou Wouldst As I could largely prove But I am prompted to contract many things Onely take notice of this That every Sermon thou preachest will become one day a Bill of Enditement against thee And every soule that perisheth by meanes of thy Flattering sinne and Flouting holinesse will adde to the Pile of thy unspeakable torments For in that thou damnest many soules besides thine owne thou Super-erogatest of Satan and he shall give thee a Treble Portion of Hell-fire for thy paines They shall Perish for yeelding But thou for Tempting shalt be Punished farre above them As we read that when John A Camber was executed at Yorke it was in great stare For he was Hanged upon a Gibbet raised a Stage higher in the midst of a square Gallowes as a Traitor Paramount and a number of his men that were his chiefe Compl●ces were Hanged upon the Lower Story round about him True it is The Seed of the Woman is able to Bruise this Serpents head And we are in the hand of a Cunning Workman that of the Knottiest and Crookedst Timber can make Rafts and Sieling for his owne house That can square the Marble or Flint as well as the Freeststone Yea the GOD whom thou hast thus provoked is so abundant in grace and so great in Power and so expert for skill That as with a word of his mouth he Can create in thee a new heart for it is as easie with him to make a man righteous as to bid him be such So he is no lesse Willing As his entertaining of the Prodigall Sonne in the Gospel showes Luke 15. 20. If thou canst see how Desperate thy condition is Accuse and Condemne thy selfe Seriously Repent what thou hast done and never more doe what thou hast repented If thou canst lay hold upon CHRIST by a lively faith and manifest the same by a change to the contrary Isa 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 21 22 23. 27 28. 33. 11. Luke 15. 20. Joel 2. 12. 13. 14. which Scriptures shew That if the Summons of vengeance shall waken us to repentance we shall no sooner change our minds but GOD will change his sentence And though I read not of One like thee except Manasses that ever returned home by Repentance Yet it may be presumed That as many a man sends others to Heaven and yet goes to Hell himselfe So not a few having drawn others to Hell yet themselves returne by a late repentance to life So that there is a faire possibility of thy escaping that judgement which thy sinnes have deserved and nothing can hinder but thy want of accepting the free offer of mercy upon the conditions before exprest Which is worth thy speedy resolving For how justly might GOD have bereaved thy body of a soule thy soule of understanding thy understanding of all possibility of comfort long before this That thou hast space to repent a Tongue and Time to Call upon GOD for Mercy is a Blessing and farre more then he owes thee Which being so and that a Plaister is of no use unlesse it be Applyed Let my counsell be acceptable as Daniel said to Nabuchadnezzar And be intreated by the Mercies of GOD as Paul speaks Rom. 12. 1. As you would please him pleasure your self to redeem the time past with Serious Repentance the time present with Religious Diligence the time to come with Carefull Providence And when the LORD shall have accepted thee thou shalt have no cause to repent that thou took'st my counsell in preferring Heaven to Hell Otherwise when that fearfull houre comes which I before spake of then you would faine goe to Heaven by CHRIST But Alas as that Despairing Pope said The Crosse could doe him no good because he had so often sold it away So How should CHRIST doe you good who have Railed him away You have Vexed him so long as you lived and his justice shall Vexe every veine of your heart when you are dead The next to Not doing wrong is To make Amends And the only Amends we can make to GOD when we have not had the grace to avoyd sinne is To confesse and Forsake the sinne we have not avoyded To be as True servants to GOD as we have been Enemies and performe

be Vox Dei The voice of GOD and not of man Acts 12. 22. For it is strange to see how such an Orpheus by his Melodious harping will draw these stones Birds and Beasts after him it being their manner to arrogate to the Instrument and derogate from the Agent Indeed they have small cause to joy in it For though they gaine this applause from men as carnall and gracelesse as themselves who are spiritually blind yet the solid and more judicious know that a Minister with a female wit is the worst Hermaphrodite and that these are no more like Sermons then Michals image of Goats-haire was like David Which yet is to be understood of the best of their Sermons For it 's possible some of them may be harmlesse though unprofitable resembling the herb John which being put into pottage gives no taste at all good or bad but an excellent colour whereas too often in stead of discovering of and rebuking for sinne Lam. 2. 14. which is the first step tending to edification and conversion they flatter the people in their sinnes as those Confederates of Corah did Israel The Congregation is holy enough Num. 16. 3. Or preach peace unto them as the Serpent to Eve Yee shall not die at all Gen. 3. 4 5. Or promise them good successe in an evill way as those foure hundred Prophets to Ahab Goe up and prosper for the LORD shall deliver it into thine hand 2 Chron. 18. 11. Which the Holy GHOST cals Dawbing with untempered morter Ezek. 22. 28. Yea they will taxe another of indiscretion that preacheth the plaine truth and applies it home So that sinne is rather increased then curbed and their hearers rather infected then instructed by their preaching being good onely to insect young mens wits as Plutarch speaks of the Poet Tirteus For as Spiders with a wonderfull Art spin out of their breasts curious threads and cobwebs So these beget and weave subtile snares with their wit whereby their people fare as one that whets his knife upon a chalkstone which doth not sharpen it but rather make it more dull and blunt True They perceive it not because these Melodious preachers like some curious Cook that by variety of sauces to please the tast marres wholsome meates and helps unwholsome They can please sensuall hearers better with flattery then others can doe with truth Who of all enemies are the deadliest For 1. Either in furthering sinne or in smoothering it they betray the peopl●● soules Or 2. In stead of edifying to salvation they edifie to damnation being very rhetoricall to discourage the godly and incourage the wicked For all their excellency of eloquence is used not in adorning good but in colouring that which is evill in putting hatefull matter into good language for the same discourse like the same meat may be delicious to the palate and to the stomach deadly and wit and learning if it be not seasoned with humility and love is but Armata Injustitia as Aristotle speakes like a sword in a mad mans hand or like a flowing Edde or high-spring tide without bankes to limit the water And doe not many of these Preachers resemble Curio who was most wittily wicked and most singularly eloquent in mischiefe against the good being like an Over-grown-Toad which carries a jewel in her head but poyson in her heart which makes their mouths so overflow with pride and choler against the good 3. Or if they preach not wickedly in flattering or furthering of sinne yet as before they preach unprofitably as if they were resolved to connive at sinne as feeding their flocks rather with words then matter as caring onely to please not to informe forming their voice to the liking of their hearers not their hearers judgement to the voice of CHRIST in the Gospel and striving more to make them in love with the Teacher then with the Lesson Because they stand more upon their owne credit then their peoples benefit 4. Or if they labour to fill the head with knowledge they leave the heart empty of grace spending their time either in Curious Questions and vaine speculatious which kind of preaching tends rather to mirth then godly edification as it is observable that that age of the Church which was most fertile in Nice Questions was most barren in Religion The reason is It makes people thinke Religion to be onely a matter of Wit as Tying of Knots and unlying them Wherein the braines of men given this way are usually hotter then their hearts 5. Or if their preaching be more solid they rove altogether in Generalities which are no more ayding to practise th●● an Ortelius Vniversall Map is to direct the way betweene London and York 6. Or in case they descend to Particulars They passe over the Grounds of Religion the most usefull part of all Divinity For this laies the Foundation the other raiseth the Wals and Roofe This informes the Judgement that stirres up the Affections And what good use is there of those Affections which run before the Judgement 7. Or lastly If they give you the Grounds of Religion and preach wholsome truths yet they bring forth their Doctrines as some women doe their Children Still-borne for want of application without which the former seemes to be no better then a Faire Image or Statue which is beautifull to Contemplate but is without Life and Motion It being the soule of preaching when the Word is brought home to mens Consciences and applied close For whereas those other Divine discourses inrich the braine and tongue This settles the heart changes the will and workes upon the affections But the Devill is wise In the time of superstition he put out Verbum Aedificatum the Word preached that men did scarce know sinne in generall In these dayes of Profanenesse he puts out Verbum Applicatum the Word Applied that few consider what sinne is in practise But neither Doctrine without Application nor Application without Doctrine makes a Christian And so long as the soule is not converted Satan eares not how or how many men preach And so you have the severall kinds of Non-preaching Ministers That you may the better discerne how GODS people are gulled and Satan advantaged thereby who deales with the Church as Vespasian dealt with Rome who intending to invade the Empire first made sack of Alexandria where were all the Granaries That so he might make them yeeld for want of food and become his vassals Wherefore take but a serious vew First of the Number of these Fruitlesse Preachers all the Land over Secondly Then of the Mischiefe they doe For though they seeme to be Neuters in comparison of those which remaine to be spoken of as doing neither good nor hurt yet they are Traytors to GOD and his Kingdome and guilty of the peoples bloud whom CHRIST the chiefe Shepheard hath committed to their charge Yea They are the sole Cause of all the ignorance and profanenesse in the Land As tell me If a man will take

the Church live like fiends abroad Teach the words of God and doe the workes of the devill Secondly Who will not loath the good light of such candles for the stinke which the tallow yeelds As it fared with the Cardinall of Cremona and Popes Legate sent from Rome to London especially for this end to remove marryed Clergy men from their Cures who after he had made a long speech in disgrace of honourable marriage was found the same night committing folly with an whore And Honorius the second Pope of Rome who condemned of adultery all the English Clergie that had Wives and was taken himselfe the same night committing adultery Which made him scorned of the meanest as Jupiters adultery did discredit his thunder even among children The Romans laughed Sylla to scorne for that he being a man most intemperate did notwithstanding exhort and compell others to sobriety temperancy and frugality And the Venetians their Cardinall when in the time of their troubles he would earnestly exhort them in the Pulpit to Peace and concord but when out of the Church he sowed nothing but sedition and strife If we heare a Mountebanke undertake to cure the distempered heat of the liver whiles himselfe hath a fiery face will we beleeve him when one forewarnes others of that pit whereinto himselfe runs headlong Points others the way to Heaven but will not move a foot in that path himselfe excessively loves the world while he teaches others to contemne it Commends the crosse to others which himselfe abhorres What can we thinke but that he exhorts others to contemne riches and pleasures that he might be rich and voluptuous alone As the Foxe dispraised the Grapes he would keepe for his owne tooth Yea Thirdly Who will not both twit the man and scorne his counsell as that Citizen of Rome did Pope Innocent the third who perceiving him to make faire weather with Otho the fourth and Fredericke the second contending for the Empire and in a solemne and eloquent Oration hearing him speake much of the agreement and unity which ought to be among Christian Princes when privately he laboured nothing but to make enmity and strife betweene them Answered him boldly thus Holy Father Your words seeme to be of GOD but your deeds are thereto so contrary that they surely proceed from the Devill We may spend our spirits and Preach our hearts out to disswade mens affections from the love of this world if we imbrace it our selves they will never beleeve us For thus they will argue Certainely If these Ministers did speake as they thinke they would doe as they speake If they did thinke their doctrine were true and good they that preach it would live thereafter Wherefore in vaine doe we rebuke those sinnes abroad which we tolerate at home That man onely makes himselfe ridiculous that leaving his owne house on fire runs to quench his neighbours For which read Rom. 2. 19. to 24. 1 Cor. 9. 27. I know these men have a distinction a scurvy one to helpe themselves withall For if you seeme to mislike their doings they will answer You must doe as wee say and nor as wee doe Which is a bad excuse fit for so bad a cause As if they should say Wee would have you to be Godly but we will not be godly we would have you to be saved but wee our selves will not be saved An Argument more like to confirme them in Atheisme then to cleare their doubts For what will they thinke These and many more pretend it is good being religious and holy and presse others to it But they have some other by-ends in it for they are not ignorant of what they doe Therefore whatsoever they say we will not beleeve them But as they doe so will we doe and we hope to speed as well as they Not that it ought to be so For simply considered the confession of vertue is of no lesse consequence in his mouth that hateth the same for as much as truth by force doth wrest it from him And though he will not admit it in him at least to adorne himselfe hee will sometimes put it on Secondly neither are the people more prone to despise what they say then to imitate what they doe Like sheepe we are apt of our selves to erre Esay 53. 6. But if the Bell-Weather or Leading-Sheepe takes a vagary all the flocke will follow him Whence it hath ever beene the dangerous policy of Satan to assault principall men both in Church and State knowing the multitude as we say of Bees will follow their Master The facts of eminent persons become Examples Those Examples Lawes and it is naturall to men to follow the Law of fact before the Law of saith A visible patterne rather then a meere audible Doctrine Yea we refuse to be led by precepts but are easily overled by presidents My people saith GOD are lost like Sheepe Jer. 50. And what followes Their Shepheards have caused them to goe astray they have turned them away from me vers 6. From the Pastors example they all take fire as one Torch lights many Thus the multitude took fire from the chiefe Priests and Elders to Crucifie CHRIST and the souldiers likewise Matth. 27. 20. c. That many-headed Monster the Mutinous rout resemble Claudius the Emperour who as Tacitus observes did neither Love nor Hate but as he was provoked and induced thereunto by others d ee any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees beleeve on him John 7. 48. Pastors are the Glasse the Schoole the Booke Where peoples eyes doe learne doe read doe look GOD sets them for Copies of Sanctification unto their flock wherein every fault is both notable and dangerous For what scholar will not think himselfe excused in following his copy If the Rule or Square be crooked it cannot be expected the things that are applied to them should be streight 1 Cor. 8. 10. 11. 13. But we need no better proofe of this then our owne experience Doe not we see in most Parishes especially in the Countrey that of the Prophet fulfilled Like Priest like People Hos 4. 9 6. 9. Esay 24. 2. Doth it not commonly fare betweene the Pastor and his Congregation as it doth betweene the Figtree and the Vineyard wherein it is planted which if it be fruitfull it selfe all the whole Vineyard is fruitfull too but if it be barren it maketh all the Vines barren with it If the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch Luke 6. 39. that is If the wicked lead the wicked both goe to hell together The vicious life of a Pastor is like an excessive Rheume which rising from the stomach to the head doops down upon the Lungs and fretteth the most noble and vitall parts till all the members languish into corruption Men will follow their guides untill they have lost themselves 3. Neither is this all the mischiefe these Ministers doe for the people will not onely think their Pastors hypocrisie a sufficient warrant

promising to bad attempts good events in stead of reproving and punishing vice they cherish it and in lieu of correcting and convering their hearers they corrupt and pervert them As the Pharisees were wont to serve their Prosylites making them Twofold more the Children of Hell then themselves if it were possible For this hardens them in sinne rather then reclaimes them from it Yea by flattering the guilty and forbearing to reprove even the foulest crimes they Authorize their defects and sooth up their vices not onely by approbation but also by imitation Their principall care being how to dawbe with the world and their owne consciences But chiefely doth this appeare when they have to doe with Great Ones that are Gracelesse as often they have For when Judas is the Patron Simon-Magus must be the Priest For their sinnes they will be sure to hide by concealement as the Painter hid the Scarre in Agamemnons face to which purpose they have salves for every sore I meane to Hide them not to Heale them And it is a very foule clout which they will not helpe to wash For as that shamelesse Sycophant licked up the Emperours Spittle So these will lick the sores and ulcers of their Maintainers by flattery Neither doe they more stroke them with faire promises of peace then they humour them with invectives against the godly being Chaplaines of Amaziahs humour That with blanching vices and branding graces at the table spoile their grace before dinner dealing with their Patrons or Benefactors as those Foure-hundred False Prophets which fed at Jezabels table did with Ahab 2 Chron. 18 Who cared not so much to inquire what GOD would say as what Ahab would have them say They saw what way the Kings heart was bent and that way they bent their tongues Neither is there any so great misery in Greatnesse as this That it conceales men from themselves except they consult more with GODS Word and good bookes then their Chaplaines whose best service is either to further guiltinesse or smoother it For as the herb Heliotrophium or the Planet Mercury alwayes moveth and turneth after the Sunne So which way soever their Patrons incline thither they bend their wits Whereas every true Nathan or faithfull Micajah or holy John Baptist or zealous Paul without fearing the faces of any will faithfully discharge their consciences in speaking home against sinne whatsoever shall come of it be their hearers never so great well knowing that whether they be Commoners or Commanders high or low none so meane that is Lesse not are any so Mighty that are More then a Subject to GOD and his Ordinances Nor should any obligation so inthrall us as that our tongues should not be free to reprove faults where we sinde them They are Base and Servile spirits that will have their tongues tied to their teeth And were their Patrons wise in stead of being taken with they would even breake those false-glasses that present them faces not their owne We know what Fig-leafe-defenses are made by Meal-mouthed Ministers in this behalfe and how they can alleadge Scripture for it drawing conclusions thence which the Spirit of GOD never imtended But what place doe they cite Acts 2. 2 3. where the Holy GHOST descended from Heaven in the likenesse of Cloven Tongues and of Fire with the sound of a rushing and mighty wind To signifie a zealous and hot preaching Ministery No. But 1 King 19. 11. 12 13. where say they when GOD himselfe appeared to Elijah and spake to him He was neither in the Wind nor in the Earthquake nor in the Fire but in the Still and Small voyce A solid proofe like those the Pope gives for the warrant of his actions whereof one instance or two GOD made Two Great Lights That is saith Innocentius Two Great Dignities The Papal to rule the Day of the Spiritualty And The Emperiall to rule the Night of the Laity And as the Sunne is Greater then the Moone by Fifty-seven degrees as saith a Glosser So the Pope forsooth far exceeds the Emperour in Greatnesse Againe Peter said unto CHRIST Here are two Swords and CHRIST said It is enough Hence Boniface the Eighth argued thus CHRIST said It is enough He said not It is Too much Ergo The Pope which is Saint Peters Successo●● may manage both the Swords and be a Temporall Prince as well as a spirituall Pastor Againe A voyce from Heaven Acts 10. 13. said to Peter Kill and Eate Ergo The Pope may designe the Killing of any Prince Depose them and Dispose of their Scepters With an hundred the like But as these Scriptures will not free the Pope from being That Great Antichrist no more will the former free these from being Little Antichrists There be Many Antichrists saith Saint John 1 John 2. 18. There is nothing easier then to perswade men well of themselves Even the best men are apt to beleeve they are better then they be But when a mans selfe-love meets with anothers flattery in such as are strangers to GODS Word They cannot be perswaded to the contrary but they are good and in GODS savour Experience teaches that be men never so wicked They can apply CHRISTS Passion and GODS me●cy as a warrant for their Licen●i●usnesse or at least live they how they list they Can Repent at the last hou●e as the Theife did Therefore adjourne they their Repentance from Youth to Age and from Age to Sicknesse Yea it is the generall case of all Libertines never to prepare for their End till Death assaults them Conscience ●ings them Sinne accuses them the devill seares them and GOD forsakes them How much more when their Ministers shall Preach this dangerous liberty whereof they too too freely carve themselves It is the fashion of our bold nature upon an Inch given to challenge an Ell. If the Minister from GOD allow an handfull men are apt and bold to fathome an Armefull Briefly naturall men are so incouraged by these Preachers that whereas at first they knew not when they sinned now they know to justifie their sinnes and defend that wherein they offended And yet you must take them for mercifull Preachers who thus spate and forbeare their flocks Indeed there is a cruell mercy And the mercies of the wicked are cruell Prov. 12. 10. Most of all this which proceeds from false Prophets when they shall deale by their people as a Physitian by his Patient when in the Symptomes of a Plurisie or Lunacy he will not bee so hard hearted as to let him blood which is the onely way to recover him But gives him Iulebs to drinke or Cordials to comfort him whereby he suddenly dies or which is little better falls starke-mad Which is mercy with a witnesse like that of Hazael to his Master who having fed the hopes of his Soveraigne with expectation of recovery the next day smothers him with a wet cloth 2 King 8. 15. Secondly and as they imitate the false Prophets of old in incouraging

as zealous obe-dience to him hereafter as we have done to Satan formerly Which is the way to Cheat the Devill And thus did Paul who when his zeale was turned the right way did not so much hurt before as now he did good Indeed Notorious offenders may not thinke to sit downe with the task of ordinary services but the retributions of their obedience must be proportionable to their crimes As was that of Saint Pauls Who as he had done more evill to the Saints then all the rest of the Apostles So He Laboured more then they all in adding to the Church such as should be saved Yea saith our Saviour speaking of him to Ananias I will shew him how many things he must suffer for my names sake Acts 9. 16 Which was much the case of Arch-Bishop Cramner who could never satisfie his conscience after his Recantation till he had burnt that hand to ashes with which he had subscribed So taking an holy revenge of himselfe by suffering in a manner Two Martyrdomes one whereof he put himselfe to by burning his right hand the other which the Papists put him to by burning his whole body True It is one of the Madde Principles of wickednesse that it is a weaknesse to relent And rather to die then yeeld yea even the worst causes once undertaken must be upheld to the Death But a Gracious heart when it shall find its owne mistaking will not only remit an ungrounded displeasure but studies to be revenged of it selfe and to give satisfaction to the offended Wherefore art thou a Wise man or a Foole Yea a Man or a Beast For shame either be a Man or confesse thy selfe to be a Beast A Wise man or acknowledge thy selfe a Foole. If thou beest a Wise man it will be seene by this He that is Wise saith Solomon is wise to himselfe He is not Wise against himselfe as thou hast beene hitherto And in another place A prudent man seeth the Plague and hideth himselfe that is Flieth to GOD for succour But the foolish goe on still and are punished Prov. 22. 3. Thou hast deferred it too long already Thus having made a Discovery of thy sinne together with the infection and dispersion of it I should proceed to the Meanes of thy Recovery But I spare my Reader Besides should Suada the reputed Goddesse of perswasion never so much admonish thee It were in vaine For thou art like the Deafe Adder that stops her eare and will not hearken to the voyce of the Charmer though he be most excellent in charming Psal 58. 4. 5. And thy heart is like a stone which being throwne up ten thousand times will never learne to ascend Or Iron quencht often in Vineger which will not yeeld to the hammer nor be forged to any good use or once change its fashion Saul was so eager in the pursuit of David and thirsted so after his bloud that having sent first one company to apprehend him then a second after that a third It being told him That GOD had changed every of their hearts and turned them into Prophets that he might be prevented He could not cease but goes himselfe 1 Sam. 19. 20. 23. The Jewes would not Beleeve in CHRIST after so cleare predictions of the Prophets after so miraculous demonstrations of his Divine power after so many graves ransackt Dead raised Devils ejected limbs and eyes new created after such testimonies of the Star Sages Angels GOD himselfe after such triumphs over death and hell But obstinately reject him for their Messias So shouldst thou see some of thy fellowes struck dead in the Pulpit as they are belching out their spleen against Religion and goodnesse as it sared with Nitingall Parson of Crondall in Kent All were one As when the neighbouring Ammonites heard of GODS fearfull vengeance upon the Philistims they could not be warned but must be taking up the quarrell against Israel 1 Sam. 7. 11. chap. Nothing but Grace can teach us to make use of others judgements And shouldst thou like those Sodomits be struck blind in thy pursuit of some Lot thou wouldst still persist Though they gnaw their tongues for paines yet they repent not of their Deeds Revel 16. 8. 9 So Hard a Task is Repentance And the reason is Custome is not onely a Grave to Bu●y the Soule in But a Stone rolled to the mouth of it to keep it downe Wherefore I leave this Moth labouring to extinguish the light of other mens goodnesse I know in the end he will singe his owne wings Onely remember that Warning not taken is a certaine Presage of Destruction A Man that hardneth his necke when he is rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Prov. 29. 1. 1. 24 to 32. The sonnes of Eli would not hearken unto nor obey the voyce of their Father Why Because saith the Text The LORD was determined to destroy them 1 Sam. 2. 25. I know saith the Prophet to Amaziah That GOD hath determined to destroy thee Because thou hast done this and hast not obeyed my counsell 2 Chron. 25. 16. 20. But in the meane time many suffer the Godly are discouraged the wicked are hardned by thy false wresting and misapplying the Scriptures Wherefore GOD of his goodnesse grant that all false Prophets may be either inwardly Lambs as they are not or appeare outwardly Wolves as they are Either to turne their hearts from their Wolvish condition or to pull their Sheepskin over their eares That no Juglers may privily by their mists and mysteries pervert the flock of JESVS CHRIST Nor let any that feare GOD or care for the welfare of his Church in the least measure further their bringing in nor hinder their Casting out of the Ministery Be they Brethren Children or Nephewes No vouchsafe not to open thy lips for these Marble-hearted and Savage-minded men saying How shall they and theirs live if they be turned out of their Livings For better Starve then be Fed with the Bloud of Soules Neither did the Prelates thinke this Argument of either Force or Weight when they turned GODS Faithfull Ministers out and put these Ministers of Satan in Besides there is no Safety for the Lambs but by the Death or Removall of the Wolves And when the Seed of the Serpent fight against the Seed of the Woman That which helps the one must needs hurt the other He Threatneth the Innocent who Spareth the Delinquent Which made GOD to reject Saul and take away his Kingdome for shewing mercy to Agag 1 Sam. 15. I know it is not honest to use armes as the Bishops did where the controversie may be ended with Treaties But there is no hope of their reclaiming or amendment as we have found since the Parliament by an hundred For you can hardly name one of the generation that have changed their minds though they feared every day to lose their means I confesse they have a Strong Hope that if they stand out the losse of a Vicarage