Earth and carry their Bodies as upright towards Heaven as any of us and that showres of Hail and Rain in calm Weather fall upon any part of this Terrestial Globe directly towards the Center in a straight line He might very easily have judged that this Globe of Earth hanging in the expanse by nothing but the Almighties Word and Power has its own proper Center as all other Bodies of the same or greater Magnitude have and consequently that if underneath there were a great Cavity and that Cavity filled with a fluid body of Fire and Brimstone the convex Superficies of that globular fiery Lake would in every part of it be the uppermost and the parts adjoining to its Center would be the lowest and probably the Bodies of damned Reprobates being thrown into this Lake would sometimes float upon it and sometimes plunge to and fro in it But forasmuch as the Center of this globular Lake would be but an imaginary point those Bodies would plunge and move to and fro within it in Saecula Saeculorum without finding any solid Fulcrum or firm Bottom neither could the most learned Philosophers or skilful Geometricians in the whole World be ever able by contemplating all their Lives the Dimensions of that fiery Lake and its Center of Gravity to make any other thing of it then truly and properly a Bottomless-pit And if those learned Men should allow in that case the shell of this Terrestial Globe to be no more then 17 or 18 hundred Yards in thickness and then compute how many cubick Yards and Feet would be contained within its concave Superficies they would perhaps find room enough and to spare for all the Bodies of Human Reprobates from the first Creation to this present time and for some Thousands of Years to come As for the Devil and his Angels if above six Thousand of them were crowded into the body of one Gadarene a few thousands of cubick yards might very probably contain all his Infernal Legions And as for the Bodies of Human Reprobates they being once Spiritualiz'd may for ought any Man knows be pressed into a much less compass than ours that are of a grosser substance Besides all this who knows whether the Confinement of both Devils and Reprobates within a small compass and narrow space may not rather augment and encrease than any way lessen or diminish their everlasting Torments Ejaculation From being shut up with the Devil and his Angels in that dreadfull and bottomless pit and from so near a conjunction with those infernal Finds and Furies in the Blackness of Darkness Good Lord deliver us And methinks our Saviour's making so often mention of a Lake of Fire and Brimstone should strike all Atheists and Libertines with as great a dread and fear as the Hand-writing on the Wall did of old Belshazzar When they do but consider what vast quantities of sulphureous Matters have been cast out of the gaping Orifices of Mount Aetna and Vesuvius in Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples and what horrid Noises as Travellers report have been sometimes heard out of those burning fiery Furnaces like the howlings and skreeches of some miserable living Creatures Especially that prodigious Lake of burning Brimstone which a few Years since if we may believe Gazettes was vomited out of one of those Mountains and like a mighty Torrent run along upon the ground and so into the Sea a whole League in length before it was extinguished For my own particular if it were lawfull to make Conjectures in matters of that consequence I should be apt to believe that the Sun were a Body much more convenient for that purpose forasmuch as First It is a Body greater than the Body of the Earth by many Degrees as is plainly demonstrable by Ecclipses Secondly We have reason to believe from Sacred Writ that at the End of the World there will be no further use of the Sun 's light Thirdly According to the Opinion of the best and most accurate Astronomers of latter Ages the Sun is placed in the very Center of the World however in the Holy Scriptures that are written as is supposed ad captum vulgi it is expressed otherwise And therefore must be of all other Bodies the most infernal and then one would think that place is most likely to be Hell which is furthest off from Heaven Fourthly If the Rays of the Sun which are sent out from its lucid body at a vast distance being contracted here below and with the help of parabolical and eliptical Figures become in their Focus much hotter and sooner melt down Gold and Silver than any Culinar or indeed any chymical Fire How great must we then imagine the heat of that fiery Globe to be in its own proper body especially if the Sun were darkned and its glowing Rays turned inwards and those few Spots which we discern on its supersicies were multiplied till they should become an entire Cover and be made the Blackness of Darkness for ever and the body of the Sun made a fluid and eternal Fire by God's Almighty Power And now if all these things should be so the History of Abraham Dives and Lazarus would not be extream difficult to be explained by Interpreters If Telescopes help us to discover unknown Stars of different Lights If speaking-Trumpets or close Pipes may be so made as to conveigh Words several Leagues And if Stephen's mortal Eyes could look from Earth into Heaven and there see Jesus standing at the distance of no Man knows how many mvriads of Miles how easy had it been for the Maker of all things by his Almighty Power first to translate the Bodies of Dives and Lazarus after they were dead and buried as well as those of Enoch and Elias before they were interr'd the one to Heaven and the other to Hell And afterwards so to clear up all the Mediums between Heaven and the Center of the World as that the immortaliz'd Eyes of Abraham and Dives might plainly see one another's Persons and Postures and their Ears might hear each other's Voices at as great a distance as the length of the Semidiameter of the whole Universe But here I must put the Reader in mind that in truth all these things are meer Conjectures And far be it from such a poor Worm as I am to be the Broacher of new Opinions in Matters so far above the reach of my own Understanding and Conception For I must ingenuously confess once more That I am lost in a Labyrinth of Thoughts and should I go on further but a few steps I should lose both my Reason and Senses and never be able to finish this small Treatise And therefore all I shall here add is to beseech all Libertines to take heed and beware how they turn plain Scriptures into meer Metaphors or make a derision of the true Tophet or Vally of Hinnon least one day they hear the dreadful Voice Go ye Cursed into the place of Torments where the Worm of Conscience never
Repentance with a stedfast and firm Resolution to reform and amend our Lives Bless us in our going out and our coming in when we are upon the Way when we lay us down and when we rise up When we are in our private Closets lend an Ear to our Prayers and answer the Desires of our Souls When we are employed about our Lawful Callings give success to our honest Labours and Endeavours When we are conversing with others let us behave our selves with all humility and meekness in all our Words and Actions esteeming others better than our selves and doing to others what we would be willing they should do unto us Being patient gentle and easy to be entreated slow to wrath and ready to forgive all those who have trespassed against us until seventy seven times Loving our Enemies doing good and shewing kindness as we have opportunities to those who hate persecute and despitefully use us Living in humble Obedience to and heartily praying for Him who hath the supreme Power over us together with all those who are related to Him or who are in Authority under Him Being no Busy-bodies in other Men's Matters no Whisperers Tale-bearers Slanderers or Back-biters No Deceivers or Covenant-breakers but sincere and upright in all our Dealings and Transactions No lovers of Earthly Treasure no Worshippers of Gold or Silver or greedy of filthy Lucre. With all chearfulness and alacrity dealing our Bread to the Hungry giving Drink to the Thirsty Clothing the Naked visiting the Sick relieving Prisoners redeeming Captives helping the Fatherless and Widows comforting and assisting the Desolate and Oppressed and never shutting up the Bowels of our Compassion from any who want our Help or Assistance And forasmuch as we are here but Strangers and Pilgrims let thy good Spirit guide and conduct us in our Way to our long Homes through the vast and wide Wilderness of this sinful World where there are so many Turnings and Windings Cross-ways and By-paths Thorns and Briars Pits and Precipices Traps and Snares laid for us by the Devil and his Emissaries to entice us to Sin and Wickedness and then to plunge us into endless Woe and Miseries Where there is no true content or Satisfaction to be found and where the most refined of Human Pleasures and Delights are allayed with the mixture of Cares and Troubles Fears and Jealousies Sicknesses and Diseases Crosses and Disappointments where Love and Kindness is often repaid with Hatred and Malice and the most bountiful Actions with ungrateful Returns Where the Poor are oppressed by Men of Power and innocent Lambs made a prey to ravenous Wolves where our Eyes are too often entertained with doleful Spectacles and our Ears filled with Sighs and Groans and bitter Lamentations And therefore Gracious FATHER be thou pleased to give us such a measure of Faith Hope and Patience as may bear us up in all the Changes and Chances of this Mortal Life and enable us in whatever State or Condition we are therewith to be content as well to be abased as to be exalted to want as to abound to have nothing as to possess all things And though the Fig-tree should be withered and no Fruit be found on the Vine the labour of the Olive fail and the Field yield no increase though there should be no Sheep in the Fold or Herd in the Stall no Cattel in the pasture or Stores in the Garner no Water in the Bottle or Oil in the Cruce yet still to trust in that GOD who feeds the Ravens and the young Lions when they call upon him who can make Rivers to flow out of hard Rocks and furnish a Table in the Wilderness With whom the very Hairs of our heads are all numbred and in whom none ever trusted and were confounded That so having finished our Course and run our Race and lived the Life of the Righteous our last END may be like unto his And whenever these Houses of Clay shall be dissolved our Souls may be safely conveyed by some blessed Guardian Angels to the place appointed for the Spirits of GOD's Elect there to wait with patience for a joyful Re-union with their respective Bodies at the Resurrection and second coming of CHRIST in Glory with all his holy Angels in whose Name and Words we farther desire to call upon Thee Saying Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy NAME thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us and lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen AN EVENING-PRAYER FOR Every Day in the Week MOST Glorious LORD GOD and merciful Father in Christ Jesus who inhabitest the highest Heavens and yet art pleased to dwell in the lowest Hearts and hast graciously promised That where-ever Two or Three are gathered together in thy Name and Fear Thou wilt be there in the midst of them Look down in mercy upon us who are now before Thee and dare not give sleep to our Eyes or slumber to our Eye-lids till we have renewed our Covenant with the GOD and FATHER of Mercies and have humbly offered unto Him our Selves our Souls and Bodies as a reasonable service Be therefore pleased O Lord to forgive all the Sins of our past Lives particularly the Omissions and Commissions of this Day for which alone shouldst Thou enter into Judgment with us Thou mightst justly condemn us to the lowest Hell and give ns our portion with Hypocrites in utter Darkness Blessed LORD we desire from the bottom of our Hearts to be sensible of our manifold Frailties and Infirmities and of that Law in our Members that is always Warring against the Law of our Minds so that whenever we would do Good Evil is present with us and intermingles with our very Prayers and disturbs our most religious Duties and Performances And therefore it is that utterly renouncing our own Righteousness as Dung â—nd Dross we fly to Him who is our Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous to wash away our Sins with his own precious Blood and to present us unto Thee our GOD pure and spotless And for his sake we humbly beseech Thee O LORD to lighten our Darkness and by thy great mercy to defend us from all perils and dangers this Night giving us a moderate and refreshing Rest free from frightful Dreams and sinful Imaginations which are the evil Effects of our corrupt Natures When we awake let our Souls be filled with heavenly Thoughts and pious Meditations always remembring That we are in the presence of a God who knows our down-sitting and our up-rising who understands our Thoughts a farr off and is acquainted with all our ways If we should be so vain and foolish to believe that the Darkness would cover us the Night shall be light about us the Darkness hideth not from Thee but
the Night shineth as the Day The Darkness and the Night are both alike to Thee And forasmuch as the closing of our Eyes to Rest so nearly resembles Death and our Beds are but models of our Graves out of which we must one Day be called by the sound of the last Trump to Arise and come to Judgment Let this and every Evening and every Morning of our Lives put us in mind of our dying Hours And let no worldly Affairs hinder us from being always in a readiness for our last and final Conflict with the Prince and Powers of Darkness who knowing their time is but short will be sure to make their fiercest Assaults upon Departing-Souls when they find them struggling with Bodily pains and sharp Diseases and drawing nigh to their last Agonies And sometimes to terrify them with frightful Dreams and Visions to make them if possible utterly to despair of God's Mercies and to let go their hold and quit their Hopes of Eternal Life and Happiness Make us therefore sensible how highly it concerns us while we have Health of Body and soundness of Mind to arm our selves like good Souldiers with Christian Courage and Resolution for those Death-bed Combats and critical Hours Minutes and Moments of our Lives And because we are to wrestle with invisible Enemies of mighty Power and wonderful Knowledge great Subtilty and long Experience who know too well our Tempers Inclinations and Infirmities and where and how to set upon us with the greatest Advantage Be pleased to send thy blessed Angels and Ministring-Spirits to comfort and assist us in all those siery Tryals and Temptations That so Death which is to so many others the King of Terrors may be to us a kind Friend and a welcome Guest and we may with all cheerfulness quit these Houses of Clay and fleshy Tabernacles and exchange the Troubles and Sorrows of a painful Pilgrimage in a Valley of Tears for the Joys of Heaven and Everlasting Happiness with blessed Saints and Angels in the highest Heavens All which with whatever else Thou knowest to be needful either for us or for any of ours or for any of Thine we humbly beg in the Name and for the sake of the blessed Jesus who in compassion to our Infirmities has taught us thus to pray Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy NAME thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us and lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen A MORNING-PRAYER FOR Sundays Fasts and Festivals LET us now fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker Most Holy Blessed Glorious and incomprehensible Triniry Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God Almighty Maker of all Things and Judge of all Men Have mercy upon us miserable Sinners who are by Nature Children of Disobedience and by our actual Sins every Day and Hour of our Lives liable to Divine Wrath and Vengeance Remember not O Lord the many Follies and Vanities of our Child-hood and Youth nor the innumerable Transgressions of our riper Years and how we have always erred and strayed from the Ways of Truth and Righteousness and trod in forbidden Paths through the several Stages of our Lives leaving undone those things which thou hast absolutely commanded and doing those things which thou hast exprelly forbidden and many times drawing upon our selves the guilt of other Men's Sins by our Encouragement Connivance or ill Examples breaking the solemn Vows and Promises either made for us by others in Baptism or by our selves in Times of Danger or Sickness unthankful for Mercies and incorrigible under Judgments rejecting the Motiors of thy blessed Spirit and following the Devices Desires and vain Imaginations of our own Hearts and so running the hazard of losing our precious and immortal Souls for the enjoyment of a few sinful and short-liv'd Pleasures Blessed LORD we cannot but confess and acknowledge with shame and confusion of face that it is a wonder of thy patience and forbearance that we are yet alive and that thou hast not cut us of in the midst of our Sins and Doom'd us to dwell with everlasting Burnings among damned Souls and Spirits But this is our hope and humble confidence that we have to do with the God and Father of Mercies who takes no delight in the death of Sinners but is slow to Anger and ready to forgive all those who sincerely repent and truely believe in our blessed Lord and Saviour CHRIST JESUS for whose coming into the world to save lost Sinners and to open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy great and holy NAME as we likewise do for thy other Mercies and Favours daily and hourly bestowed upon us We bless and praise Thee for giving us a Being in the World for that admirable Frame and Structure of our Bodies while we lay inclosed in our Mother's Wombs for breathing into us the Breath of Life and enduing us with reasonable Souls after thine own Image and Likeness for being Born where the Gospel of thy SON is openly preached and professed and not among Heathens Turks or Infidels For the unparallel'd Pattern of all Goodness in the Life of the holy JESUS and for the pious Examples of the blessed Patriarchs Prophets Apostâ—â—s and Martyrs who are gone before us and with their own Blood have traced out for us the true Way to Life and Happiness beseeching thee that we following their good Examples may with them be made partakers of Everlasting Life in the World to come We thank Thee LORD of Heaven and Earth for the wonderful Works of the Creation of which we all enjoy our shares and proportions for the Sun that shines by Day and for the Moon and Stars That rule by Night and by their regular Motions and sweet Influences serve for Signs and Seasons Days and Years for the Clouds that give Rain and drop Fatness upon our Fields and Pastures and for the Springs that go up by the Mountains and run down among the Vallies for reserving to us the appointed Times of Harvest and giving us the kindly Fruits of the Earth in their due and proper Seasons for our Food and Raiment and all the good things of this Life and our manifold preservations from sundry Dâ—â—â—â— and Dangers ever since we hung upon our Mother's Breasts for protecting us this last Night from many calamitous Accidents which in a Night might have befallen us and bringing us safely to the light of another Day and so giving us a longer time and space for Repentance and Amendment of our Lives most humbly beseeching Thee to continue these thy Mercies and Favours to us and to keep us the remainder of this Day and of our Lives from
viz. Three Men stood by him 18 Gen. 2. Behold two Men stood by them in shining Garments 24 Luke 4. And there came two Angels to Sodom and Lot went out to meet them 19 Gen. 1. And the Angel of the Lord found her by a Fountain of water 16 Gen. 7. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him viz. Abraham 22 Gen. 11. And Jacob went on his way and the Angel of the Lord met him 32 Gen. 1. The Angel of the Lord went out c. and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians 185 Thousand 2 Kings 19. 31. And there died c. 70 Thousand And when the Angel of the Lord stretched forth his hand upon Jerusalem the Lord said to the Angel Hold now thine hand 2 Sam. 24. 15 16. You shall see the Heavens opened and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man 1 John 51. I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speak to thee 1 Luke 19. And the Angel ministred unto him 1 Luke 13. And the Angel of the Lord came down from Heaven and rolled away the Stone c. 28 Matth. 2. He knew of a surety that God had sent his Angel Acts 12 11. Who received the Law by the Disposition of Angels 7 Acts 53. Are they not ministring Spirits for the good of c. 11 Hebrews Ejaculation King of Kings and Lord of Lords about whose Throne are always attending Thousands of Thousands and ten Thousand times ten Thousand blessed Angels be graciously pleased to give Charge to some of those ministring Spirits to guide and conduct me throughout my whole Pilgrimage in this Valâ—y of Tears and at last to convey my departing Soul to the place of Everlasting Rest and Happiness What were and are the fatal Consequences of the Disobedience of our First Parents we too well know and find by woful Experience And had not their heavy Sentence been allayed with a happy Promise of a Messias both their and our Condition had been altogether hopeless But what had been the Consequences in case they had remain'd in that purity in which they were created As namely to what Numbers they had increased and multiplied in what parts of the World they had inhabited And if in colder Climates their Bodies had required Covering and Vestments Whether Flesh had been allowed them for Food as well as Fruits and Herbs And the Earth brought forth its Encrease without any Labour or Tillage And lastly if they had never died but after a certain Term of Years had been Translated from Earth to Heaven as Righteous Enoch was and afterwards Elias Are all Questions more curious than necessary as the Case now stands with us And such as I believe the wisest Man living had he all imaginable Helps of Humane Learning and acquired Knowledge would never be able with any certainty to determine Thus much we may reasonably believe and safely conclude That as they were at first created by the wonderful Contrivance and Mechany of the blessed Trinity and made after G O D's own Image and Likeness they were truly Noble and Excellent Creatures Of their Bodies we have a Specimen by the Dissection of one of our own they being undoubtedly the same with ours as to the Figure Number and Uses as well of their Exterior as their Interior parts though extreamly different in Perfection and Durahoâ— those lasting more than twice as many Hundreds as ours do now Scores of Years even after they were mortified by their Fall and were Condemned by G O D himself the one to daily Labour and Tillage and to eat his Bread by the sweat of his Brows and the other to be subject to the Laws and Will of a Husband to struggle with the sharp Pains and Throws of Child-bed and to have her Griefs and Sorrows greatly multiplied In the Dissection of Humane Bodies what thinking Men can take a serious view of the Skin the Membranes the Flesh the Fibers the Veins the Arteries the Nerves the Ligaments the Cartilages and the Bones as likewise of the three Cavities or Venters of the Trunk namely the Abdomen the Chest and the Head with all things therein contained as also the Arms Thighs and Legs with their different Positions Compositions and admirable Use without being struck with great Wonder and Astonishment and crying out with good King David Behold I am fearfully and wonderfully made When he considers how closely the Stomach with the help of its Fibers embraces the Meat that is chewed in the Mouth and the Drink that is received in and swallowed down and mixeth therewith specifick fermentatious Juices bred in its inner Coat and impregnated by the Saliva till the finer parts by a convenient heat become a white milky Cream after which together with the thicker Mass with which they are as yet involved by the Constriction of the Stomach they pass down to the Guts where by the mixture of the Bile and the pancreatick Juice they are by another manner of Fermentation quite separated from the thicker Mass and so received of the Lacteal Vessels as the thicker is ejected by the Stool When he rightly considers the Figure and Motion of that admirable Machine the Heart and how it is suspended in the Body by the Vessels that go in and out of it and that as an ordinary Forcing-Engine being placed in the middle of a City or Town draws the Water of an adjoining Source or Fountain into its own Bowels by one Motion or stroak of the hand and the help of a Valve to keep it from returning back again and then thrusts or forces out the same Water by another stroke of that hand and the help of another Valve into another Pipe which is afterwards distributed into smaller Branches to supply the Uses of the several and respective Houses So the Heart receives the Blood out of the Vena Cava into its Ventricles by a Djastole or Dilatation and then thrusts or forces it out again by a Systole or Contraction into the Arteries and out of these into the parts that are to be nourished from whence it is to be resolved by the Capillary Veins which conduct it back through the larger Veins into the Vena Cava again and this by the help of divers Semi-lunar or Semi-circular Valves curiously and conveniently placed in the aforementioned Vessels and Passages and thus is made the admirable Circulation of the Blood But how or by what secret Power the Heart receives its Motion and makes its constant pulses is known to God alone the Maker and Searcher of all Hearts We are apt to admire the Skill of an Artist who can make us a Pendulum-Clock of the choicest Brass and Iron to vibrate with a just and equal Motion for the space but of one Year and that with the help of a suspended Weight What shall we then think of a Movement composed of fleshy Muscles and Fibers suspended in Methusalem's body and continuing its Pulses without
that it was but to Sow in the Morning and Reap at Night That the same Angel taught Adam to plant and sow and all other necessary Sciences Moreover That the same Angel made the Seven lower Spheres the least whereof reaches to the Center of the World in the same manner as the Heavens do all continued one within another and that all these Spheres are of different Mettals That next the Center of Iron the Second of Lead the Third of Brass the Fourth of Laten the Fifth of Silver the Sixth of Gold and the Seventh of Earth which contains all the rest They believe that over every Heaven there is Water and that the Sun swims in a Ship upon that Water and that the Mast of that Ship is a Cross and that there are a great number of Boys and Girls to guide the Ships of both Sun and Moon Besides they have the picture of a Bark which they say belonged to the Angel Bachan whom God sends to visit the Sun and Moon to see whether they move exactly and keep close to their Duty In reference to the other World and Life to come They believe there is no other World but where Angels and Divels together with the Souls of Good and Bad reside That in that World there are Cities Houses and Churches and likewise that the Evil Spirits have their Churches where they pray singing and rejoycing upon Instruments and feasting as in this World That when any one lies at the point of Death three hundred and sixty Demons come and carry his Soul to a place full of Serpents Dogs Lions Tigers and Devils who if it be the Soul of a wicked Man tear it in pieces but if it be the Soul of a just Man it creeps under the Bellies of those Creatures into the presence of God who sits in his Seat of Majesty to judge the World That there are also Angels who weigh the Souls of Men in a Ballance and those who are thought worthy are immediately admitted into Glory That Angels and Devils are Male and Female and beget Children and that the Angel Gabriel has a Daughter called Sâ—â—ret who has two Sons That the Angel Gabriel has several Legions of Demons under him who are instead of Souldiers and others that are his Officers of Justice whom he sends from Town to Town and from City to City to punish the wicked They hold that Christ left 12 Apostles to preach to the Nations That the Virgin Mary is not dead but lives somewhere in the World though no body knows where and that next to her St. John is to be the chiefest Saint in Heaven and next to them Zacharias and Elizabeth of whom they recount several Miracles and Apocryphal Tales That when St. John came to be of Age his Father and Mother married him and also that he had four Sons which he begat upon the Waters of Jordan and not upon the Body of his Wife That he died a natural Death but commanded his Disciples to Crucify him after his death that he might be like Christ and lastly that he died in the City of Fuster and was buried in a chrystal Tomb brought to that City by a Miracle and that this Sepulchre was in a certain House near the River Jordan They highly adore the Cross because say they we have a Book wherein it is written That every Day early in the Morning the Angels take the Cross and put it in the middle of the Sun which receives its Light from it as the Moon does also hers And that without these Crosses neither Sunnor Moon would give any Light and the Ships they were in would suffer Shipwrack Their Festivals are Three the one is in Winter that lasts three Days in memory of our First Parent and the Creation of the World The Second in August and called the Feast of St John The Third lasts five Days in June during which time they are all Re-baptized On Sunday they do no work They neither Fast nor do any Penance They have no Canonical Books but a great number of others that treat of nothing but Witchcraft in which they believe their Priests to be very crafty and that the Devils are at their beck They suffer no Women to go to Church nor any of the Laity to kill a Hen or any Fowl They eat of nothing drest by the Turks and after a Turk has drunk in one of their Cups they break it to pieces and picture Mahomet and four of his Parents as shut up in Hell and say That all Turks are carried to the same place to be devoured by wild Beasts They all pretend to Salvation by a Promise made by God to Gabriel on their behalf when he framed the World They have a great Antipathy against the blew Colour called Indigo which they will not so much as touch For say they certain Jews dreaming that their Laws should be abolished by St. John told it their Country-men which they understanding and seeing that St. John prepared to baptize Christ in a great rage fetch a vast quantity of Indigo in their Language Nill and flung it into Jordan which continued unclean for some time and had hindred the Baptism of Christ had not God sent his Angels with a large Vessel of Water which he caused them to fill out of Jordan before the Jews had defiled it with Indigo and that for the foresaid bold Attempt to defile the River God particularly cursed that Colour Ejaculation How long O Lord Holy and True wilt thou cease to be avenged of that Prince of Darkness for tyrannizing and triumphing over the poor Heathens and beguiling them with his Sorceries Witchcrafts and Enchantments for so many thousand Years How long wilt thou suffer that Enemy of Souls secretly to divert and please himself by seeing such vast numbers of his Slaves and Vassals to take more pains undergo more hardships and to endure more exquisite bodily Torments in travelling along the Broad way and passing through the wide Gate that leads to endless Woes and Miseries than thou sufferest a great number of thine own Elect and chosen Servants to meet with in the Narrow Way and in their passage through the straight Gate that leads to Eternal Life But to return to my Observations of the Devil's practices When God had covenanted with Abraham that his Seed should be multiplied as the Stars of Heaven and inherit the Promised Land What Stone did Satan leave unturn'd Or what Opportunities did he ever lose of attempting to frustrate God's gracious Designs His first Atchievement was to exasperate Esaâ— to murder his Brother Jacob upon whose individual Person his aged Father had so lately fixt a Blessing and out of whose Loyns were to come forth 12 Tribes whose Posterity were to be as innumerable as the Sands of the Sea hoping that he being once removed the blessed Effects of all God's promises would be utterly vacated and disappointed When Jacob's Family were kindly received by K. Pharaoh and the Egyptians How
the pious Examples of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and others of God's chosen Saints and Servants But above all of our blessed Saviour Jesus In the next place a great number of passionate and earnest Exhortations to incite us to fight manfully as valiant and good Souldiers under Christ's Banner all our Lives to which are annexed large Promises of spiritual Graces and Comforts to support us during our Pilgrimage in this Valley of Tears and after this painful Life ended Crowns of Glory and Everlasting Happiness with blessed Saints and Angels in the highest Heavens But on the other side to deter us from continuing in Sin and Disobedience we have in the last place not only Threats but also Examples of God's dreadful Judgments here in this Life upon wilful Offenders and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire denounced against all impenitent Sinners in the World to come with the Devil and his Angels Ejaculation and Prayer O blessed JESUS whose coming down from Heaven to take upon Thee our Nature for the Redemption of lost Sinners was the true foundation of the Holy Scriptures and of the Promises therein contained of Eternal Life and Happiness to all true Penitents and Believers Let therefore O Lord this holy Word of Thine be from henceforth a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my Paths And O that my ways were so directed that I might keep thy Statutes and never more turn aside unto lying Vanities Honnēni elohim keckhasdēkah kerov Rahamēka pheseangāi kerov kabbesseni mengavoui ou meckhatāti taharēni Have mercy upon me O God according to to thy loving Kindness according to the Multitude of thy tender Mercies do away my Offences wash me throughly from mine Iniquities and cleanse me from my Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forsake me not O God in mine Old Age now that I am gray-headed and my Strength faileth me and the Light of mine Eyes is gone from me Now that I am as a Pelican in the Wilderness as an Owl in the Desert and as a Sparrow upon the House top Behold thou hast made my Days as an hand-breadth and mine Age is as nothing before Thee O spare me a little that I may recover my Strength before I go away from hence and be no more seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In thee O Lord I have trusted let me never be confounded And here I crave leave before my Departure out of this World to leave behind me a friendly Caution to all young Gentlemen and Students to beware of a certain pernicious Treatise which does in effect make a Jest of the Holy Scriptures and turns Angels and Spirits into Phantasms and Heaven and Hell into meer Metaphors It is a Book that very well deserves a Noli me tangere or a Caveat Emptor to be stamped in Capital Letters upon its Cover I am very tender of naming the Author who now stands or falls to his own Master and hope that he made his Peace with Heaven by a sincere and hearty Repentance before he went from hence besides that Christian-Charity obliges me to make very soft and gentle steps over dead Men's Graves though at the same time Christian-piety prompts me to declare to all the World That had I the vanity to think my self equal to him both for Natural Parts and acquired Learning I would not have been the Writer and Publisher of such a Discourse to have gained the Wealth of both the Indies The Company of Stationers may do God and their Country very signal Service and possibly not at all impair thereby their private Fortunes if instead of applauding and vending that impious Treatise they would join together in buying up all the Copies and converting them to Ashes The Psalmist speaking of the vast and wide Ocean tells us of a Leviathan that God had made to play therein But sure I am that God could never be pleased that any Man should make a Leviathan here upon Earth to play with his Divine Attributes and Holy Scriptures This Treatise may not be improperly called the Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or The Sinner's Common-Hall where all Persons concerned may be furnished at very easy Rates with new invented Mattocks Spades and all other Instruments and Utensils of politick Pioneers to undermine Civil and Church-Governments I must needs acknowledge That the Method of this Treatise is very pleasant the Stile elegant and the Expressions very proper and significant and is interlaced with specious Touches of Learning and that of divers kinds politely extracted and wittily digested but let me tell thee mi figliolo mi Jovane and timely forewarn thee Guardati d' aceto di vin dolce It is only to beguile the Readers and ere they are aware to lead them into Labyrinths and make them swallow down most pernicious Principles Thus the skilful Angler covers the fatal hook with a pleasant Bait and the cunning Fowler carefully hides the Snare from the unwary Bird. Thus the appearance of a Sepulchre is oft times very glorious when the inside is full of Rottenness dead Men's Bones and all Uncleanness Thus a lewd Strumpet being adorned with gay Cloths and set off with rich Jewels false Teeth Hair and Eye-brows and a painted Face seems beautiful to the beholders who if she did but once lay aside those Ornaments and Disguises would soon affright her most voluptuous Lovers and become a Soveraign Remedy for their incontinence Leviathan It is the Devil 's Alcoran Beware ingenious young Men There 's Death in the Pot There 's Poison in the Cup There 's a Snake in the Grass You are near the Hole of an Asp And the Den of a Cockatrice Leviathan It s the Author's imaginary Golden Image set up in the Year 52 in a place which he then lookt upon as the English Babylon whose height of Impudence was much more than thirty Cubits to which he did then really believe that both the Leaders and the Populace of those Times being wonderfully charm'd with his witty Fancies and pleasing Novelties would as readily fall down and do Obeisance as Nebuchadnezzar's Subjects did of old to his real Golden Image at the sound of the Sackbut Psaltery Dulcimer and other Musical Instruments Reflection How apt are frail Mortals on whom God has at any time bestowed some extraordinary Gifts of Nature to be transported with their own wild Fancies and to be drunk with the New Wine 't is what the Author calls his own Treatise of their vain and foolish Imaginations and then How ready is Satan at hand who too well knows their Nature and Constitutions their Tempers and Dispositions with their Inclinations and Infirmities to improve those humane Frailties and to push and drive them to all manner of extravagant Actions and presumptuous Undertakings Ejaculation King of Kings and Lord of Lords Who pullest down the Mighty from their Seats and exaltest the Humble and Meek whenever Pride and Vain-glory puffs us up and makes us become wise in our own Eyes Let the remembrance that we
of what he teaches he commits a Crime and may be justly punished for the same now this Lobster-like-argument of his being artificially thrown forward does again naturally crawl backwards His meaning is as he has too plainly exprest in many places That if a Man go from hence and preach a New Doctrine in Africa he commits a Crime and consequently St. Jude did very ill after Christ's Resurrection to take a Journey from Jerusalem into Persia and there to take upon him to rebuke the Superstition of the Magi and to preach a New Doctrine and so was put to death deservedly The like may be said of St. Paul for his making a Mutiny and Uproar at Athens and disturbing the Worship of the great Goddess Diana of the Ephesians And in fine both he and all the Apostles committed great Crimes in presuming to preach New Doctrine amongst all Nations where Idolatry was Established and owned by publick Authority for says the same Author page 152. To maintain a Doctrine contrary to the Religion Established is a greater Fault in an authorized Preacher than in a private Person And therefore they all suffered condign Punishments and were accessary to their own cruel Deaths But now this reflects more severely upon our blessed Saviour who gave his Disciples their Commissions Matth. 28. 19. Go yee and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And which is yet more it reflects upon God the Father who sent his Son into the World for that end and purpose and also the Holy Spirit which was sent down from Heaven after our Saviour's Resurrection to inspire those Apostles with diversity of Tongues and such other miraculous Gifts as might rightly qualify them for the preaching the Gospel throughout all the Nations of the World So that this last Assertion is in effect Blasphemy against the Three Persons of the sacred Trinity Our blessed Saviour 10 Matth. 33. Says Whosoever shall deny me before Men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven And in another place By your Words you shall be justified and by your Words condemned So that to deny Christ before Men is our Saviour's sense in a Crime that excludes and shuts a Man out of Heaven But this Author affirms positively page 271. That the denying of Christ before an Infidel Prince is not a Christian's Act but his Soveraign's Act and consequently no Sin And so he plainly gives the Son of God the Lye Our blessed Saviour when he sent out his Disciples 10 Matth. 15. Tells them That into whatsoever City they entred and were not received it should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that City That is to say the refusing to receive and hear the Doctrine of Christ's Disciples was a greater Sin then that of Sodom But this Author tells us page 286. That those who refused so to hear and receive them did not Sin in so doing And here we see again the Arrogance and Impudence of the same Author in giving the Lye to the Lord Jesus Our Hebrew Masters do indeed teach us to read the Words and Sentences of part of the Scriptures but this politick Pedagogue would instruct us to read not only the Words and Sentences but the true Sense and Meaning of them backwards Our Saviour Christ in divers places owns his casting out Devils and unclean Spirits and sometimes these unclean Spirits owned him to be the Son of the most high God as did the Legion of Devils with which the Man was possessed in the Country of the Gadarenes 5 Mark 7. and divers others And the Pharisees the worst and most malicious of his Enemies acknowledged his casting out Devils Yet notwithstanding the composer of this Treatise had the Confidence to affirm page 354. That no Man was ever possessed with any other Spirit than that by which his Body was naturally moved And so gives the Lye not only to our Saviour but to all the Four Evangelists who have left upon Record most remarkable Instances of those Miracles In page 62 63 and 64. this Author tells us That Man by Nature is in a State of War every Man against every Man and every Man has a right to every thing over the Goods and Body of his Neighbour And yet in his next Chapter which is not above eight pages further he sets down Ten Laws of Nature which Laws of Nature are immutable and eternal and stamped upon Men's Souls and every of them tends to Peace and Quietness Love and Kindness Gratitude and doing to others as we would be willing they should do to us and these two Assertions are as contrary one to the other as Light is to Darkness however it is much more modest to give himself the Lye then to give it so often as he has done to the Saviour of the World and the second Person of the Trinity In page 88. he acquaints us That by the People assembled are transferr'd all their Right on him whom they chose their Soveraign which Soveraign can do no Injustice though at his pleasure he take away any of their Lives And yet page 152. he asserts That no Man in the institution of their Soveraign can be supposed to give away the Right of preserving his own Body And page 112. If an Assembly meet and agree together they may rebel and make War against their Soveraign And I affirm that no Man of Sense or Reason can be supposed to defend the Authors reputation in so notorious a Contradiction In page 285. and divers other places he affirms That Christ's Kingdom not being of this World he left the Jews to the Law of Moses and other Nations to their respective Soveraigns and yet page 106. he plainly affirms That Christ acted in this World as King of the Jews and by his Soveraign Power and Authority sent two of his Disciples to untie and bring away the She-ass and her Colt on which he was to ride into Jerusalem Page 62. He affirms That the Desires and Passions of Man are no Sin though it be an absolute Breach of the Tenth Commandment Our Saviour forbids swearing by Heaven Earth Jerusalem or a Man 's own head 5 Matth. 34 35 36. but this Author asserts page 71. That such kind of Oaths is no swearing and so makes our Saviour guilty of Lying Page 152. he says That every man is supposed to know the Law of Nature it being so plain and yet pag. 141. he avers That the Law of Nature is of all Laws the most obscure Pag. 261. he says Christ s death did not satisfy God 's justice and yet pag. 356. he acknowledges That the Passion of Christ is a full Ransom for all manner of Sins Pag. 272. he affirms That there were no true Martyrs but those who conversed with our Saviour while he was here upon Earth and that he who is no Minister can be no Martyr Now if so all other Martyrs have
all Things that may be hurtful either to our Spuls or Bodies From all Evil and Mischief from Sin from the Grafts and Assaults of the Devil from thy Wrath and everlasting Damnation Good LORD deliver us From saying in our Hearts that there is no God or openly denying the Divine Essence and glorious Attributes of which either the highest Presumption or utmost Desperation are the usual and woful Effects Let the visible things of the Creation and the Restections of our own Consciences in our Solitudes and private Retirements be sufficient to disswade and restrain us Against Idolatry and having other Gods besides Thee and from bowing down to and Worshipping either Idols made with hands or those of our beloved Lusts Lord strengthen us by thy Grace To keep us from taking the NAME of the LORD our GOD in vain in our ordinary Discourses or prophaning it with wicked Oaths on bitter Curses Let us remember that the same LORD hath assured all such Offenders that he will in no wise hold them guiltless To observe religiously the Lord's Day and all other Times solemnly set a part for Divine Worship and Service not following our own Ways nor speaking our own Words nor thinking our own Thoughts Let thy good Spirit dispose and encline our hearts Let us never attempt to sow Discord and Divisions in the Church or to offend our blessed Saviour's Little Ones or any way to disturb the Communion of Saints as knowing who hath told us That it would be much better for us to be thrown into the midst of the Sea with Mill-stones hung about our Necks than to be guilty of such Offences Let us always be conscientiously careful to Honour and Obey our Parents and all others under whose Rule and Government thou hast placed us behaving ourselves with all humility and singleness of heart not as Eye-servants or Men-pleasers And whenever Pride and Vain-glory would puff us up and make us become wise in our own Eyes let the remembrance that we are but Dust and Ashes and born like the wild Asses Colt pull down our haughty Looks and abate our swelling Thoughts From sinful Anger and unbridled Passion from provoking Language and reviling Speeches from Envy Hatred and Malice and all the mischievous and fatal consequences that may thereby happen either to our selves or others LORD ever keep us by thy restraining Grace From Rioting and Drunkenness from Chambering and Wantonness from Adultery Fornication and Uncleanness or living in any known Sin Let the fear of thy Wrath and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire deterr us To wrong our Neighbours by open Violence or by Secret and fraudulent Practises Let it never enter into our Thoughts That we may never Slander speak Evil of or rashly censure others or bear false Witness against them Let us set a watch before our Mouths and strictly guard the Doors of our Lips Let us be afraid of oppressing the Poor and Needy in the Gate or ploughing in the field of the Fatherless because their Redeemer is mighty or of devouring Widow's Houses lest the Stones out of the Walls should one Day be our Accusers and the Beams out of the Timber make Answer and testifie against us To covet our Neighbour's House to covet our Neighbour's Wife his Man-servant his Maid-servant his Ox his Ass or any thing that is his Let no worldly Advantage or carnal Delight be ever able to tempt or allure us From Thieves and Robbers from the Hands of bloody Men and Murderers from Invasion of foreign Foes from the Conspiracies of Domestick Enemies and Treachery of false Friends do Thou O LORD to whom alone all Hearts are open all Designs known and from whom no Secrets are hid defend us by thy good Providence confounding their Counsels and bringing to nought their Devices From Plague Pestilence and Famine from bodily Torments Tempests and Earth-quakes and all the sad Accidents of Fire and Water for thy Mercies sake save and protect us Neither do we pray for our selves alone but for the whole Race of Mankind now living upon or working within the Bowels of the habitable Earth or else floating upon the face of the deep Waters and particularly for the Church Militant where-ever scattered or dispersed that the Gates of Hell may never prevail against it Look down with the Eye of pitty upon all who in this transitory Life are in Trouble Sorrow Need Sickness or any other Adversity more especially upon those thy Servants on whom thou hast laid thine afflicting Hand either for a Tryal of their Patience or a Punishment of their Disobedience Make them sensible that Affliction comes not forth of the Dust neither doth Trouble spring out of the Ground but that the Hand of the LORD hath done it to whom alone belong the Issues of Life and Death and who doth whatever pleaseth him in Heaven and in Earth but never willingly asslicts or grieves the Children of Men and then Why should we receive Good Things at the hands of the LORD and not Evil things And Why should a living Man complain for the punishment of his Sins In the mean time be thou graciously pleased who art the great Physician of Soul and Body to mitigate their Pains and to asswage their Griefs and to lay no more upon Dust and Ashes than thou enablest them to bear with Christian patience and a lively Faith in the Merits and Mediation of JESUS CHRIST the Righteous for the Remission of their Sins and the Salvation of their Souls That so thy Fatherly Chastisements may have their blessed Effects and those thy Children may come out of the Furnace of Affliction like Gold and Silver that hath been tried in the fire and purified seven times Be merciful to these Kingdoms and avert those heavy Judgments which we have done as much as in us lay by our crying Sins and Provocations to pull down upon our Heads Let the choicest of thy Blessings descend upon the Head and Heart of Him whom by thy especial Providence thou hast placed in supream Authority over us together with all His Royal Relations Give Grace and Wisdom to all the Senators and great Counsellors in all their Debates and Consultations Clean Hands and clear Consciences to the Judges and chief Magistrates that so they may help the Fatherless and hear the Cause of the Widow and upon all occasions act in their several Places without the least partiality or respect of Persons Spiritual Gifts and Graces to the Ministers of thy Word and Sacraments however Dignified or Distinguished that they may truly and faithfully feed the Flocks committed to their Charge Sobriety and Godliness to the Governors and Inhabitants of foreign Plantations that by their good Conversations and Examples they may convert Pagans and Insidels to the Faith of JESUS and turn many Souls to Righteousness The Dew and Blessing of Heaven to Schools and Universities that out of those Seminaries and Nurseries may grow up Plants that may be useful both to Church and State in their several Capacities and Generations Health and Happiness here and the Joys of Heaven hereafter to our Parents Brethren Sisters Kindred or Christian Acquaintance and to all our Friends and Benefactors who have at any time generously and readily shewed us Kindness in our Distress and when we truly stood in need of their Aid and Assistance A Spirit of Reformation to the whole Commonalty within these Realms and Dominions that so they may live in the true Faith and Fear of Thee our GOD in humble Obedience to their Superiors and in Brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Finally we beseech Thee to be present with us and all those who shall this day meet in any of the publick Assemblies to assist at thy Divine Worship and Service Let our Prayers come up before thee as Incense and the lifting up of our hands as an acceptable Sacrifice Touch with a Cole from thine Altar the Tongues of those who are to speak that they may not spare but cry aloud and lift up their Voices like Trumpets and shew the People of England their Transgressions and tell every Congregation their Sins And let us and all their Hearers receive the Word with meekness and pure Affections laying it up in our Hearts and bringing forth the fruit thereof in our future Lives and Conversations All which with what ever else thou knowest to be needful for us we humbly beg in the Name and for the Sake of JESUS CHRIST the Righteous concluding these our imperfect Prayers with that absolute Form which he himself while he was yet upon Earth taught his Disciples saying Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy NAME thy Kingdom come thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us and lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS and