anothers use who can deprive him of them without Intrenchment upon his just Right to whom they are given And then is not he guilty of †Mal. 3.8 Robbing of God which shall take away that and turn it to a secular Use for his own advanrage which was consecrated to Gods holy service Yea though a man that dedicates any thing to God should not do it with a Right intention yet is it the Lords Right after it is consecrated to a Religious Vse And therefore Christ calls the Temple built by Herod for vain glory his Fathers HOUSE and whips out them that profan'd it * 1 John 2.15 16. Much more will God scourge with his judgements those that under the pretence of Religion commit Sacriledge 'T was one of the Laws of the twelve Tables in Rome Sacrum Sacrove commendatum qui clepserit rapseritve Parricida esto †Cic. pro Rosc Let him that stealeth or violently taketh away holy things or things dedicated to a holy Use be reputed and punished as a Parricide And should Sacriledge be esteemed a lesse Crime amongst Christians then it was amongst Heathens shall we think it a lesse sinne to rob the true God the * Gen. 1.1 Ps 124.8 Creator of Heaven and Earth whose †Eph. 2.10 Workmanship we are for his * Psal 119.73 hands have made and fashion'd us then they did to rob their false gods which were so created by men to defraud their Idols which were the †Ps 115.4 work of mens hands being but * Ezek. 20.32 Wood and Stone or at the best but †Psa 135.15 Silver and Gold Surely if they to expresse the heinousnesse of this sin reckon'd it amongst the vilest murders of Bodies we shall want a sin with which to match it which is in effect a murder of souls It 's sad to think how many thousand souls were murder'd at one stroke when the Revenues of the Church were alienated in many places in England an act then which the Infernal Powers could hardly have decreed any thing more Diabolical and Destructive to the Kingdome of Christ however pretended for the purging of the Land from Superstition and spiritual Tyranny For have not many thousand souls by this means eternally perisht in their sinnes who for want of a competent maintenance for a sound and able Ministry have never enjoy'd the Means of Grace and Salvation but have sat down in Darknesse and the shadow of Death under an ignorant unprofitable and scandalous soul-murthering Ministry maintain'd by some broken reversions of those rich Revenues which were cut off from the Church by that cursed Sacriledge Doubtlesse the Blood of thousands of soules will give Testimony to the truth hereof at the Day of Judgement to the eternal confusion of such damned Sacrilegists who if they escap't punishment in this present Life shall be overtaken with the Wrath and Vengeance of God in the world to come Of this great evil does Calvin complain upon account of the Alienation of Abby-Lands and other depredations made upon the Churches revenues here in England in his Epistle to Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as a mighty obstruction to the prosperous successe of the Gospel and Hindrance of the flourishing of the Christian Religion For sayes he Id quo minus fiat occultis quidem artibus obsistit Satan Unum tamen apertum obstaculum esse intelligo quod praedae expositi sunt Ecclesiae Reditus Malum sane intolerabile That this might not be Satan by his secret slights prevailes to the raising of a strong resistance But one thing I understand is an open Obstacle and that is that a Sacrilegious Rape is committed upon the Churches Revenues This is indeed a mischief intolerable And therefore it was both wise and holy Counsel and worthy of a Christian Prince which Christopher of Wittenberg gave to Andrew an eminent Divine in his Dominion when he was sent for by Lodwick Count of Oeting for his advice in some special concernments in the Church that if Count Lodwick should set upon a REFORMATION that under the Pretence of Religion he might rob God and by seizing upon the Revenues of the Church under the pretence of suppressing SUPERSTITION because they were anciently given for the maintenance of Monasteries turn them to his own private use and advantage he should presently leave him as a SACRILEGIOUS Person and come back to his own Countrey How strange is it that such Sacrilegious Persons should go on secure in their sins without fearing the judgement of God which is at their heeles in pursuit of them What a sad end befel Cardinal Woolsey that first began to enrich himself by Lands given to Monasteries And what a revenging hand pursu'd his five chief Agents that were most serviceable to him in that Sacrilegious Enterprize One of them kill'd his fellow in a Duel and was hang'd for it a third drowned himself in a Welâ— a fourth fell from a great estate to extreame Beggery Dr. Allen the last and chiefest of them being made Arch-Bishop of Dublin was cruelly slaine by his Adversaries Whereupon sayes the * Scultâ—t Relator of this sad Story Utinam his similibus Exemplis edocti discant homines res semel Deo consecratas timidè attrectare O that these and such like Examples might teach men to be afraid to meddle with such things as have at any time been consecrated unto God But judgement does not alwayes fall upon the Person but is sometimes reserv'd for the Posterity of those who have stain'd their hands with the guilt of Sacriledge Dionysius of Syracuse was wont to make a Mock of Sacriledge a sinne he thought he might boldly jest with as having made it his Familiar Amongst the rest he took a golden Vestment from the statue of Jupiter Olympius and instead thereof put a Cloak of cloth upon it saying Gold was too heavy for Summer and too cold for Winter but this would suit well with either Season Some have pretended the Churches good in taking away her Gâ—â—ments of Gold as if while her cloathing is of wrought Gold she can never be all glorious within †Ps 45.13 Now might not all men expect some remarkable judgement should be inflicted upon this Sacrilegious Tyrant Yet herein were mens expectations frustrated For sayes Valerius he underwent not the punishment he deserved But take notice for its worthy our observation of the Divine Conclusion which the Heathen Historian makes hereupon Qui tametsi debita supplicia non exolvit Dedecore tamen Filii mortuus Poenas rependit quas vivus effugerat Lento enim gradu ad Vindictam sui Divina procedit Ira tarditatemque supplicii gravitate compensat * Val. Max. l. 1. c. 1. Though sayes he he suffer'd not the punishment due to his insolency during his Life yet was the DISGRACE of his SON a punishment of his pride and stain to his glory after his Death Thus Divine Justice
Practises and punishments are thus recorded by the same Historian Having spoken of the cruelty of sundry factious Spirits sayes he * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With all these did the Idumeans contend as it were for Priority in the expresses of an unbridel'd Fury For these being most desperately wicked murther'd the chief Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That so no part of Piety towards God might be preserv'd but that true Religion both root and branch might be destroy'd in the Land By them was the City despoyl'd of its just Priviledges and Immunities instead whereof they introduc't all manner of Insolencies and Enormities so far forth as there was not so much as the Face or Footsteps of any good Government left Now sayes he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herein was that Generation called the Zealots most vigorously active who justifi'd their Name by their Works verifi'd their Appellation by their Actions For there was never any wickednesse attempted in the memory of man but their Zeal carry'd them to the commission of it although they would needs call themselves by this Name as before was noted for their Zeale which they pretended to that which is Good And such was their savage disposition they either subtilely deceived them whom they injuriously opprest by their deluding pretences or openly triumpht in their Overthrow as accounting the chiefest virtue to consist in the highest Degree of Vitiousnesse But Divine Justice suffer'd not these cruel Cannibals to escape a deserved punishment No they dy'd as Wretched a death as they before had liv'd a wicked Life and their desperate Courses brought them to a dreadful Conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they came all of them to an end so agreeable to their enterprizes that the triumphs of the Divine Justice became illustrious in their deserved punishment For as great torments as humane nature can possibly undergo did altogether light upon them which burden of miseries they were forc't to bear to the very last stage of their Lives and so with the cruel pangs of manifold tormenting Agonies they were scourg'd into the house of Death But if any man should say that these sufferings were lesse then their deservings let him withall remember that such was the degree of their wickedness that no punishments could be found that might equalize their Deserts Thus we see that some men under pretences of Zeal have presum'd to act most horrible Villanies but that the Justice of God hath at length overtaken them and severely chastiz'd them for all their Insolencies and impieties with the sorest punishments However thus much light does clearly shine from this Observation that while such a cruel Faction of pernitious men prevailes the Times must needs be perillous The fourth Symptome Iniquity cloathed with Authority THey are dayes of Danger evil and perillous Times When violence usurps the Throne of Justice and iniquity is enacted by a Law Such were the times of which the Psalmist complaines and expostulates with God †Psal 94.20 21. Shall the throne of Iniquity have fellowship with Thee which frameth mischief by a Law They gather themselves together against the soul of the Righteous and condemn the innocent blood Now here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * the Throne of Iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Junius renders Solium aerumnarum i. e. Tyrannicum aerumnas aliis afferens immerito * Jun. in loc The Throne of misery and interprets it the Throne of Tyrants who oppresse others with causeless calamities freely bestowing upon them miseries without their merits Yea being ever Liberal in such Largesses they give men Death the Righteous mans best Reward when Rebels come to Reigne without Desert for so sayes the Psalmist in the next words They gather themselves together as to hold a cruel Court of high Injustice against the soul that is the Life of the righteous and condemne the innocent blood that is they passe an unjust sentence of condemnation upon the righteous in the execution whereof they shed innocent blood And this mischief which they thus frame against the righteous they do as Junius translates it Praeter statutum id est contra jura leges Besides the Statute that is as he interprets it against the just Rights and Laws The Will of a Tyrant is his Supreame Rule and even in matters of Life and Death his Lusts are his Laws Neither is there a discrepancy in our Translation which sayes he frameth mischief by a Law for we may well unite them both into a sound sense These Tyrants making Lawes against the Lawes that so the highest Acts of Injustice and Iniquity may be coloured with a pretence of Equity and Justice do frame mischief by a Law contrary to the Law And much to this purpose doth the Judicious Calvin interpret this Place Solii autem consulto meminit quia non accusat vulgarios ficarios vel fures quorum infamia passim nota sit sed contra Tyrannos invehitur qui fallaci juris praetextu opprimebant Ecclesiam Perstringit igitur Propheta improbos Judices qui per omne Oppressionum genus grassando simulabant tamen se tenere rectum Officii cursum Sic enim perfidi Judices ut possessionem honesti speciosi Tituli retineant varios colores accersunt ad tegenda suae Tyrannidis flagitia †Calvin in loc Mention says he is here on purpose made of the Throne because the Psalmist does not here draw up his accusation against common cut-throats or pilfering Thieves there being no need to blazon their Infamy but he is inveighing against Tyrants who under a fallacious pretence of RIGHT do oppress the Church The Prophet therefore herein sharply reproves wicked Judges who though they violently prosecuted men with all manner of Oppressions would yet make show of holding a right course in the execution of their Office For so perfidious Judges are wont to make use of many faire colours to give a beautiful embellishment to the deformed face of their horribly wicked Tyranny that they may the better maintain the possession of a faire and specious Title Thus that Power and Dominion which is gain'd by wicked Policy is maintain'd and preserv'd by oppressive Cruelty and this is oft cover'd under Pretences of Law and Equity These are evil and perillous Times And therefore does Calvin justly complain of these sad Disorders in his Explication of the next words before rehearst which represent the unjust processe of these wicked Judges in conspiring against the Righteous and condemning the Innocent to Death Triste quidem ac etiam â—urpe Exemplum fuit in legitimo conventu ita regnare improbos Collegium Judicum nihil aliud esset quam latronum Turba Nam hoc bis indignum est ubi oppressi fuerint innoxii homines simul cum injuria probrum sustinere Deinde quid minus consentaneum quam
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A WORD in SEASON FOR A Warning to England OR A Prophecy of Perillous Times Open'd and Apply'd Wherein the Signes of Bad Times and the Means of making the Times Good are represented as the great Concernment of all good Christians in this present Age. First exhibited in a SERMON preached in the Abby at Westminster July 5. 1659. and since enlarged and Published By THOMAS VVILLES M. A. Minister of the Gospel in the City of London Seal not the Sayings of the Prophecy of this Book For the Time is at hand Rev. 22.10 How do ye say We are Wise and the Law of the LORD is with us Lo They have rejected the Word of the LORD and what Wisdom is in them Jer. 8.8 9. Tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sIC transIt gLorIa MVnDI LONDON Printed by Tho. Ratcliff for Tho. Underhill at the Blew Anchor in Pauls Church-yard 1659. TO THE SENATORS SOULDIERS CITIZENS STRANGERS To whom This SERMON was As to its main SUBSTANCE EXHIBITED FROM THE PULPIT IT 'S NOW WITH MUCH ENLARGEMENT PRESENTED FROM THE PRESSE FOR THEIR SERIOUS PERUSAL By A MESSENGER from CHRIST A MINISTER of the GOSPEL THOMAS WILLES Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it Luk. 11.28 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 From the KING of SAINTS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST To his Faithful and Well-beloved Servants and Subjects that shall live in the latter Dayes TAke heed that no man deceive you For many shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many And ye shall hear of Warres and Rumours of Wars See that ye be not troubled For all these things must come to passe but the End is not yet For Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdome against Kingdome and there shall be Famines and Pestilences and Earthquakes in divers Places All these are the Beginning of Sorrows Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all Nations for my Names sake And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another And many false Prophets shall rise and shall deceive many And because Iniquity shall abound the Love of many shall wax cold But he that shall endure to the End the same shall be saved By the Hand of his Trusty Servant and Secretary * Chap. 24. v. 4 -13 MATTHEW Publicano-Christianus To the SACRED MAJESTY OF HEAVEN THE KING of KINGS AND LORD of LORDS The Supream Governour of the whole World The Humble Address and Representation of the Gratitude Requests of many Thousands of the Well-affected People of the Land who desire to approve themselves Faithful to the Cause of Christ and to be found walking in the Good Old way Most Mighty LORD WHereas it hath pleased thy glorious Majesty out of the exceeding riches of thy Free Grace and thy tender compassions in Jesus Christ to call us thy poore unworthy Servants out of the World to the Profession of thy truth and Gosspel and the Participation of thy saving Grace when out of thy infinite Sovereignty and Justice thou hast past by Millions of men and left them to perish everlastingly in their sinnes we humbly desire in a deep sense of our own utter Unworthiness to express our free and hearty Acknowledgement of that infinite Obligation which thou hast hereby laid upon our soules to perpetual Gratitude Love Honour and Obedience to thy Glorious Majesty for so invaluable a Mercy And we cannot but with sorrow of Heart confesse that we have by our unsuitable Walkings shew'd our selves very Unworthy of such rich Discoveries of thy Love unto us But we humbly implore thy Mercy in the forgiveness of our many Miscarriages and beseech thee to give us Leave with all Humility to present thy Majesty with these few Petitions to which we earnestly beg a Gracious Answer That it will please thee to grant preserve and establish a Righteous and Religious Magistracy a Faithful and painful Ministry in the Land with that Blessed GOVERNMENT which is most agreeable to thy holy Word and Will both in Church and State That it will please thee who hast the Hearts of all men in thy Hands to put it into the Hearts of our Counsellors and Governors to study and endeavour the Advancement of thy Glory and thy Churches Good by the suppression of Errour and Profanenesse and the Promotion of Truth and Holinesse in the Land That where thou seest those Persons in Places of Power and Trust who by their pernicious Principles and Practises make the Times Perillous thou wilt Graciously be pleased by thy Hand of Power to remove them and to set in their room men truly fearing Thee and hating Covetousness who may cordially seek and endeavour the Peace and Welfare of thine English Zion That thou wilt pour down on thy Servants a Spirit of Humiliation for the sins of the Land that thou wilt graciously pardon the Transgressions of thy People and purge the Land from its Abominations that thou mayest dwell amongst us That thou wilt break the wicked Designes and dissolve the cursed Conspiracies of those that under Pretences of thy Name Cause and Glory violently prosecute their Pernicious Purposes for the satisfaction of their Ambition and Covetousness and the Introduction of Errours Heresies and all manner of Licentiousness into the Land to the Hazard of many thousand souls and the dishonour of thy Glorious Name That it will please Thee to heal the Breaches of thy own People and to establish these three Nations England Scotland and Ireland in Peace and Love upon the sure Foundations of Religion and Righteousness and crown them all with thy Loving-kindnesse and tender Mercies And to this End that thou wilt awaken the spirits of thy Saints from their security in an unsettled and distracted condition to a serious minding of the great Concernments of thy Church and People their own Souls and this sinful Nation That thou wilt be graciously pleased speedily to change the Perillous Times that are or may come upon thy people according to the Predictions of thy holy Prophets into those Glorious Times which thou hast raised the hearts of many of thy Saints in Expectations of by thy Precious Promises However be pleased to preserve thy People in times of Peril and Persecution and to carry them as on Eagles Wings by thy Spirit of Grace through all Difficulties and Dangers till thou shalt receive them up into thy Kingdome of Glory So shall we thy poore unworthy Subjects and Suppliants as in Duty bound celebrate thy Glorious Name with everlasting Praises The Names of the Petitioners are written in Heaven A PROPHECY OF PERILLOUS TIMES Open'd and Apply'd 2 TIM 3.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This know also that in the last dayes perillous times shall come The Introduction THe knowledge of the Times and Seasons is very useful for all men Without
Communication be Yea yea Nay nay For whatsoever is more then these cometh of evil The Apostle James * Chap. 5. ver 12. further backs this Injunction and earnestly presses this Prohibition But above all things saith he my Brethren Sweare not neither by Heaven neither by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your Yea be yea and your Nay nay lest ye fall into Condemnation How strange it is that men should delight to pollute their own soules and pull down judgement on the Land by the Customary Commission of a sin so strictly prohibited under the Pain of Damnation This is a sin which hath in it no Profit no pleasure no not sensual sweetnesse enough to bait a temptation How does this argue a Devilish Disposition in men that they will do a thing so much abhord of God so strictly forbidden in the Word so certainly Destructive to their souls when they cannot tast so much as a seeming sweetnesse nor see so much as an appearing Goodnesse in it to be any ground of their Allurement thereunto or occasion of their frequent Commission thereof when such a fin abounds must not God needs be provokt to plague and punish such a desperately wicked People So for the sin of cursing a sin of the same Hellish nature a fruit of the same root of bitternesse how hath the Lord manifested his Displeasure against it by the punishment which he ordained to be inflicted on such as were guilty of it in his holy Word We reade †Lev. 24 10-16 of the Son of an Israelitish woman whose Father was an Egyptian that went out among the Children of Israel in the Camp And this Son of the Israelitish woman blasphemed the Name of the LORD and cursed And they brought him unto Moses And they put him in Ward that the mind of the LORD might be shew'd them And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Bring forth him that hath Cursed without the Camp let all that heard him lay their hands upon his Head and let all the Congregation stone him And hereupon the LORD made it a Statute in Israel that whosoever should be found guilty of this sin whether Israelite or Stranger he should surely be put to Death And therefore however amongst men this sin may go unpunished yet seeing the Name of God is hereby profan'd the LORD will not hold them guiltlesse * Exo. 20.7 that are guilty of it nor suffer them to escape his Righteous judgement That Imprecation of the Psalmist is Prophetical and hath the force of a Commination †Psal 59.12 13. For the sin of their Mouth and the words of their Lips let them even be taken in their Pride and for Cursing and Lying which they speak Consume them in wrath consume them that they may not be and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the Ends of the Earth Doubtlesse the Curse of God hangs over the Heads of those that are given to Cursing Dreadful is that Jmprecation of David of the same Nature with the former * Psal 109 17 18 19. As he loved Cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in Blessing so let it be far from him As he cloathed himself with Cursing like as with his Garment so let it come into his Bowels like Water and like Oyle into his Bones Let it be unto him as the Garment which covereth him and for a Girdle where with he is girded continually Woe be to him whose Body Belly Bones are thus cloath'd fill'd consum'd with Cursing This is doubtlesse worse then the most deadly Disease and will prove more intolerable then the torturing Wracks of the terriblest Tyrants in the World Cursing will surely fill the awaken'd Conscience of the guilty sinner with tormenting Agonies which shall last to Eternity Oaths and Curses are as Arrows shot up against heaven which at length fall down upon the Heads of them that shot them Yea they are sparks of Hell-fire or rather Firebrands of Hell which are thrown into the Aire and may if timely Repentance with speedy Reformation and infinite mercy prevent not kindle a deadly burning in that City or Nation wherein they abound unpunished And yet is not this the sinne not onely of the basest sort but of many of the great Gallants of the Times Oathes are the Sause of their Mirth and Curses are the Stings of their Anger Oathes are in Fashion amongst them and to rap them out roundly is a piece of their Gallantry Curses still wart upon their commands and whosoever or whatsoever doth but a little crosse them they wish all the Plagues of hell to light upon them Surely the Devil himself cannot speak more desperate language and utter more damnable speeches then these horribly Profane Gallants If any where there be a Hell upon Earth 't is where these Children of Hell these first-born sonnes of the Devil that have Damnation written in their Foreheads are met together and sit the Devil being doubtlesse in the Head of the Company Bowzing Swearing Storming Cursing Blaspheming as if they would tear Heaven to let down flaming Vengeance and rend the earth to the Bottom of Hell that they might go down quick into that fiery Prison fall down headlong into the burning-Lake A wonder it is of the Divine Patience that when they are rending the Sacred Name of God with Oathes Blasphemies Cursings God doth not give them up into the hands of the Devil to tear them instantly in pieces as we read he hath dealt with some and carry them Body and Soul into Hell But God in Justice lets them live for the Aggravation of their sins and the encrease of their Torments in Hell-fire to Eternity For how can they hope for any salvation by Christ or benefit by his Blood who desperately wrap up his wounds and blood in their Oathes and Curses and so as it were throw them in God Almighty's Face whence is it he doth not with some dreadful Thunderbolt instantly smite them into Hell How should they expect that God should save them in the Day of their Death who disperately bid God damne them every day How can they escape Hell and Damnation who are still bidding the Devil take them upon every slight occasion O desperately Profane Wretches O Devilish wicked Creatures Is it possible there are such to be found under the Sunne Is it possible there should be such Monsters found within the Pale of the Church such Incarnate Devils in a Land enlightned with the Gospel of Christ and honoured with the glorious Profession of Christianity O that the tingling Ears and trembling Hearts of many of Gods children who have occasionally heard this Language of Hell though never privy to the thousandth Part of these Hellish Impieties were not too sad an evidence of these Abominations abounding in the Land Now shall not the Lord visit for these things Shall not his soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Is it not a wonder Heaven
Delicacies of Earth and Sea O the Pride of Epicurism The Glory of Gluttony But alas what is it but a shining but soon-vanishing Meteor exhaled from the Fumes of a pompous Feast brighten'd a little with the Beams of the Royal Favour which in the Revolution of a few years we may see with Astonishment in the Eclipse Even so it fell out here For not long after the King out of some Jealousies of State caused this Bacchanalian Bishop to be apprehended seized upon his whole Estate to the value of twenty thousand pounds and sent him over Priâ—oner to Callis in France where suffering a strict Imprisonment he lay languishing in Misery and Want †Victus jacuit in summa inopia Godw. Thus were the Plumes of his Pride pluckt off by the Power of his Prince and his excessive Prodigality was punisht by extreame Poverty by the Justice of God Punishment still follows at the Heeles of sin and yet sinners will be still following their sinful Pleasures until they are overtaken by their justly deserved Punishments How desperately wicked a wretch was that rich Citizens sonne presented to us in * Part. 2. p. 110 111 the Theatre of Gods Judgements who to please all his five senses at once allow'd to the delight of every several sense an Hundred Pounds For which purpose he provided a Roome richly hung and beautifi'd with the most curious Pictures to please his Eye There he had the rarest Musick to delight his Eare the richest Perfumes to ravish his Smell and the choicest Dainties to content his Tast and to gratifie his Feeling Sense he wanted not a beautiful Harlot for his wanton Embraces All this sensual Pleasure he drunk as it were at one draught while he thus feasted all his five senses in one day Neither was he herewith satisfi'd but three years did he spend in the pursuit of his sensual Pleasures and loose Delight wherein he wasted his Estate having in this short time spent no lesse then thirty thousand pounds And yet after all this he swore that if he had three times more then ever he had he would spend is all to live one weâ—k like a God as he accounted it though he was sure to be damn'd to Hell the next day after Desperate Profanenesse But to what Extremity of Torments will men at length be carry'd by such an unbridled Excesse Dives fared deliciously every day while he was here on Earth but he could not get one Drop of water to coole his flaming tongue in Hell †Luk. 16 19-26 Now this sin is one of the Cords by which a Nation plucks down Judgement upon it self The fiercest and cruellest Plagues are often let loose for the Punishment of the sinne of Luxury It was the Gate of Intemperance by which Death at first entred into the World with his whole Army consisting of many Millions of Miseries which are continually warring against miserable man-kinde Through Intemperance Adam lost his Paradise and cast his Posterity in an undone condition Fulnesse of Bread was one of the Sins of Sodom for which God destroy'd that wicked City with a dreadful destruction * Ezek. 16 49 And to this Day Fulnesse of Bread is the ordinary forerunner of Cleannesse of Teeth A Glutton is an extreamly pernicious Person He ruines himself and his Posterity and besides contributes much to the ruine and Destruction f the whole Nation For the Glutton entombes his Ancestors in his Bowels and devoures his Posterity as Saturn was said to do his Sons and by his provoking of God becomes a Plague to the present Generation Slanderers make a sword of their Tongue and Gluttons dig their Grave with their Teeth †Adag Gallic yea hereby also they dig a Pit for the Destruction of the whole Land And is not this among many others the Sin of these our Dayes surely some there are that with the Sea-Asse * Arist Hist Animal l. 9. c. 17. have their Hearts in their Bellies yea some that with the gormandizing Cretians †Tit. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Aphaeresin pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poet. pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gulosi helluones Ventri ad Insaniam usque indulgentes Pas Phavorin Drus Praeterit in loc make their Belly their God to which they sacrifice the best part of their precious Time and Treasure These are they of whom the Apostle tells us weeping * Phil. 3.18 19 that they are the Enemies of the Crosse of Christ whole End is Destruction whose God is their Belly and whose glory is in their shame who minde earthly things How many are there that will needs live above their Ranck and spend above what their estates will bear till they have at once undone themselves and many others If they have but occasion of Feasting their Friends every thing must be set off with such a Princely Magnificence as if they were Lords of such an Ocean of wealth as knew neither Bounds nor Bottome Thus Nabal upon whose Name that Folly was engraven which was rooted in his Nature upon the Occasion of shearing his sheep †1 Sam. 25 36 held a Feast in his house like the Feast of a King wherein he himself was as drunk as a beggar Thus Luxury halted not in his House but went upon both its legges Gluttony and Drunkennesse But whoever they are that take this course will at length find that Riot is the Road to Ruine and that Poverty is the next neighbour to Prodigality It s therefore the Wisdome of such to hearken betimes to the Counsel of the Wise man * Prov. 23.19 20 21. Hear thou my Sonne and be Wise and guide thine heart in the way Be not amongst Wine-bibbers amongst Riotous Eaters of Flesh For the Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to Poverty and Drowsinesse the ordinary companion of Drunkenness shall cloath a man with ragges Dreadful are the Woes which the Lord in his Word hath pronounc't against Drunkards Woe unto them sayes the Lord by the Prophet †Isa 5.11 12. that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong Drink and continue until Night till Wine inflame them And the Harp and the Viol the Tabret and the Pipe and Wine are in their Feasts But they regard not the Work of the LORD neither consider the operation of his Hands And no wonder For * Hos 4.11 Whoredom and Wine and new Wine take away the heart Drunkennesse makes men so sottish and senselesse that they take no notice of Gods Dispensations till they are overtaken with his Judgem nts Thus it s said of Nabal after his Drunkennesse †1 Sam. 25 37 38. that his Heart died within him and he became as a stone And it came to passe about ten dayes after that the LORD smote Nabal that he died Again sayes the LORD * Isa â— 22 Woe unto them that are Mighty to drink Wine and men of strength to mingle strong Drink
written in this Book shall lie upon him and the LORD shall blot out his Name from under Heaven If then multitudes of People shall be thus obstinate in their evil wayes is it not enough to bring down the most dreadful judgements of God upon the whole Nation So the Prophet Hosea having reproved the People of Israel for their multipli'd Abominations does thus represent their Refractorinesse and prophecy their Ruine yet saith he †Hos 4.4 5 let no man strive or reprove another q. d. let not men contend with them any longer with the Words of Reproof for God himself is now coming to plead his Cause against them with the Sword of Justice For this People are as they that strive with the Priest Opposition of Ministers as it proceeds from obstinacy in sinne so does it prognosticate Destruction from God For Therefore shalt thou fall in the Day and the false Prophet also shall fall with thee in the Night and I will cut off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * or destroy thy Mother the whole Kingdom succidâ—m or the body of the Nation And when Impudency is joyn'd with obstinacy it aggravates the sin and more strongly sollicits the Justice of God to the speedy execution of Judgement upon such sinners For this does the Lord complain of the People of Judah and threatens a confounding Judgement †Jer. 3.3 Thou hadst a Whores Fore-head thou refusedst to be ashamed * Jer. 22.21 22. I spake unto thee in thy Prosperity but thou said'st I will not hear this hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyest not my Voice The Winde shall eat up all thy Pastours and thy Lovers shall go into Captivity Surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy Wickedness But this sin is yet capable of a higher aggravation when men are so farre from being asham'd of their sin that they glory in their shame and boast themselves in their Impieties as the Thief in his cunning craftinesse to deceive and the Drunkard in his †Isa 5.22 strength to poure in strong Drink and bear it without distemper and the impious Politician in the successfulnesse of his wicked Designes But we know that the Judgement of God is just against those that do such things and that their * Phil. 3.19 end is Destruction whose glory is in their shame The fourth Case Remisseness of Magistrates and Officers in Punishing Offendors VVHen there is little or no Care taken for the Punishment of such prevailing Impieties by those that are intrusted with Authority and Power for this Purpose they must needs be evil and perillous Times When the Magistrate who is by his Office †Rom. 13.4 the Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil shall bear the Sword in vaine and not draw it out for the execution of Judgement in the Punishment of sin and vice When the sins of Israel were multipli'd how oft doth God complain of the Defect of Justice in the Execution of Judgement how oft is this mention'd in that one Charge which is drawn up by the Prophet Isaiah against them * Chap. 59. None saith he †v. 4. calleth for Justice * v. 8. and there is no judgement in their goings And again †v. 9. Judgement is farr from us neither doth justice overtake us to vindicate us from the violence of our Oppressors and deliver us from the injuries of the wicked as it follows * v. 11. We look for Judgement but there is none for salvation but it is far from us And again †v. 14. Judgement is turned away backward and Justice standeth afar off * v. 15. And the LORD saw it and it displeased him that there was no judgement So God himself takes his Sword of Justice and comes forth for the Execution of Judgement upon these unjust Judges and this perverse and wicked People †v. 17 18. So also the Prophet Jeremy declares that it was because there was not any man that did execute Judgement * Jer. 5.1 2 c. that the wrath of God was kindled against the wicked Jewes to their utter destruction Whereas on the other side when the Israelites had provoked God to Anger with their Inventions and the Plague brake in upon them insomuch as there died in one Day three and twenty thousand †Num. 25 9. with 1 Cor. 10.8 Phineas stood up and executed judgement in slaying Zimri and Cozbi in the very act of uncleannesse and so the Plague was stay'd And that was counted to him for Righteousnesse unto all Generations for evermore * Psal 106 29 30 31. with Num. 25 6-15 And therefore does the Lord by the Prophet call the Judges Magistrates of Judah to the Execution of Judgement upon evil Doers in the Land for the Prevention of their utter Ruine and Destruction which was now ready to come upon them for their abounding sins and unpunish't Provocations And sayes the LORD to the Prophet †Jer. 21.11 12. touching the House of the King of Judah say Heare ye the Word of the LORD O House of David Thus saith the LORD Execute Judgement in the morning which was the Time of the Convention of their judiciall Assemblies when also the People were wont to repaire for Justice to the Places of Judicature * Exod. 18.13 Do it also as the phrase may import †See Psal 101.8 Seasonably Speedily Constantly and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the Oppressor lest my Fury go out like Fire and burne that none can quench it because of the Evil of your Doings For * Jer. 21.14 I will punish you according to the Fruit of your Doings saith the LORD Certainly when all manner of sinne and wickednesse abounds and yet Law Justice and Judgement is not executed in a Land it s a sad Symptome of some sore approaching Judgement if not of the utter Destruction of that Nation So the Prophet Habbakkuk complaines †Hab. 1.4 the Law is slacked and Judgement doth never go forth whereupon follows a terrible commination of a dreadful Judgement whereof the cruel Chaldeans should be the bloody Executioners to whom the Kings and Princes of Judah should become miserable Captives * ver 5-10 Now when Iniquity thus abounds and Judgement is not executed in the punishment of those Persons that are found guilty of such Enormities this makes these sinnes to become National sinnes which provoke the Lord to scourge the whole Land with National judgements as the Plague Famine or War Surely When sin reignes without Restraint Judgement must be expected without Relief But the Case is yet worse and the Provocation higher when Magistrates and Rulers that ought not to be a terrour to good works but to the Evil †Rom. 13.3 do tolerate the Evil and become a Terror to the Good That Nation is sure ripe for
destruction when such bitter and cursed fruits grow upon the top-most Branches of the tallest Trees in the Land So likewise when those that should punish sinne in others are themselves guilty of those sins which do deserve the sharpest Punishment When those that are intrusted with power for the execution of Justice upon Swearers Drunkards Adulterers Sabbath-breakers and such like are themselves guilty of these fearful sins and God-provoking Abominations This speaks the state of such a People to be desperate the disease of such a Nation to be deadly When there is Poison in the Plaister and the Physician himself hath the Plague upon him what hope of cure can there be for the Patient If those that should be the Healers of the Nation do wound it by their transgressions what can be expected but a sudden and inevitable Destruction Certainly corrupt Magistrates and Ministers of Justice are the Lands sharpest Scourges and the chief procurers of its sorest Judgements The fifth Case Incorrigiblenesse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVHen men are not amended by Corrections but grow worse and worse under all the Dispensations of Divine Providence it 's a sure and sad Symptome of perillous Times a clear and undeniable evidence that the last dayes are come upon us and the Evil of them hath overtaken us For the Apostle fore-warning us that in the last Dayes perillous Times shall come tells us that in those Dayes †2 Tim. 3.13 Evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived It 's a sad signe that judgement is at hand and Destruction is at the Doore when men grow worse and worse under all the meanes of making them bettâ—r When they are not reclaim'd by Judgements reduc'd by benefits reform'd by all the meanes of grace and Salvation Surely Incorrigiblenesse under judgements and customary continuance in Sin and a continual progresse in impiety from one degree to another notwithstanding all the meanes and mercies vouchsaft for their amendment is a Fore-runner of their inevitable ruine If the Tree be prun'd and digg'd about and dung'd and water'd and yet notwithstanding all this cost and paines after long waiting does not onely bring forth no good Fruit but much evil and every yeare worse and worse it shall certainly be cut down that it no longer cumber the ground * Luk. 13 6-9 If when the Lord might justly expect good Grapes from his Vineyard it bring forth nothing but wilde Grapes and these every Vintage worse and worse its just with him to pluck up the Fence thereof and lay it wast †Isa 5 1-6 God is wont by his Word his Rod and his Sword to proceed against sinners By his Word he calls them to repentance but if they will not be reclaim'd by that with his Rod he chastises them for sin he exercises them with several Afflictions if they will not hereby be amended he is ready with the Sword of his Justice to cut them off in the execution of his Judgements So by the neglect and non-improvement of the two former a sinning People come to experiment the severity of the last and sorest of these dispensations Thus does the Lord complain of Judah * Zeph. 3.2 She obeyed not the Voice she received not Correction and so hereby she provoked the wrath of God to her own Ruine and Destruction When men do commonly cast contempt upon the Word and Ordinances of God and are generally unprofitable under the meanes of grace its just with God to give them up to Blindnesse of Minde and hardnesse of Heart and then according to the ordinary Methods of his Justice to second these Spiritual Judgements with a Temporal Destruction and so for the Vnprofitablenesse of the People to lay the Land desolate Of this Import is that dreadful commission which the Lord gave unto the Prophet Isaiah concerning the People of Israel Go sayes He to him †Isa 6 9-12 and tell this People hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this People fat and make their eares heavy and shut their Eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their Eares and understand with their Heart and convert and be healed Then said I Lord how long And he answered Untill the Cities be wasted without Inhabitant and the Houses without man and the Land be utterly desolate and the LORD have removed men far away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the Land Of the very same import is the Criminatory Complaint and Prophetick Commination of the Prophet Jeremy against the men of Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem in the Name of the Lord. This thing commanded I them saith the LORD * Jer. 7 23-29 concerning their Fathers whom he had brought out of the Land of Egypt saying Obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my People and walk ye in all the wayes that I have commanded you that it may be well unto you But they hearkened not nor inclined their Eare but walked in the Counsels and in the Imagination or stubbornnesse of their evil Heart and went backward and not forward Thus they became worse by the meanes used to make them better Since the Day that your Fathers came forth out of the Land of Egypt unto this Day I have even sent unto you all my servants the Prophets daily rising up early and sending them Yet they hearkened not unto me nor inclined their eare but hardened their Neck they did worse then their Fathers Therefore thou shalt speake all these words unto them but they will not hearken to thee Thou shalt also call unto them but they will not answer thee But thou shalt say unto them this is a Nation that obeyeth not the Voice of the LORD their God nor receiveth Correction Truth is perished and is cut off from their Mouth Cut off thine Hair O Jerusalem and cast it away and take up a Lamentation on high Places for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the Generation of his Wrath. And what follows †ver 34. Then will I cause to cease from the Cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the Voice of Mirth and the Voice of Gladnesse the Voice of the Bride-groome and the Voice of the Bride for the Land shall be desolate But yet before the Lord proceeds to the utter Destruction of a People he is wont to try them by lesser Judgements lighter Afflictions whether they will return to Him by Repentance or no. These lesser Judgements are his Warning peeces which he shoots off to see whether they will make their Peace with him before he levels against them his Battering Ordnance and discharges upon them his Murdering Cannons his dreadfull destroying Judgements Lighter Afflictions therefore are to be improved for the Prevention of heavier Judgements For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nocumenta Documenta
meeting Your New Moons and your appointed Feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Why did the Lord thus disregard all their Ceremonial Services and sacred Solemnities which in the time of the Old Testament he had commanded them Surely for no other reason but because they rested in them and neglected the great and weighty Things of the Law Judgement Mercy and Faith these ought they to have done and not to leave the other undone †Mat. 23 23 So the Lord elsewhere reproves them for their formal Devotion and hypocritical Fasting because they were extreamly defective in that which was the principal Part of their expected Obedience and the choicest Fruit of all such Religious Performances namely Reformation Justice and Charity For sayes the Lord to the Prophet Isaiah * Isa 58.1 2 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my People their Transgression and the House of Jacob their sins Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they ask of me the Ordinances of Justice they take Delight in approaching to God Who would not judge these to be a very Holy People that should but take notice of this their Diligence in Duties Desires of direction and Delight in drawing nigh unto God But alas how soon may we hear them murmuring against God for not having respect to their services nor regard to their Solemnities as if they had received wrong from God by his not granting what they conceived their Right to them so highly were these proud hypocrites conceited of their poore Performances †v. 3-7 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge But the Lord replies to their demand and reproves them for their Deceit and Hypocrisie and so instructs them in their Duty Behold sayes the Lord in the Day of your Fast you finde Pleasure and exact all your Labours Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the Fist of Wickednesse ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your Voice to be heard on high Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a Day for a man to afflict his soul Is it to bow down his head as a Bul-rush and to spread sackcloth and Ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the LORD Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of Wickednesse to undoe the heavy Burden and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every Yoke Is it not to deale thy Bread to the Hungry and that thou bring the Poore that are cast out to thy House When thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Thus without charity the Master-wheele of good Works the most specious Acts of Religion are unacceptable to God Formality in religion is a kind of spiritual Falshood and Dissimulation 'T is but a Mocking of God a presenting him Leaves for Fruits or Lies for Devotion To offer up unto God formal Performances is to become guilty of real Provocations When the heart is wanting in Duties of Divine Worship men do but offer dead sacrifices to the living God and so provoke the pure Eyes of his Glory When the Glory of the Lord leaves the inward Sanctuary it s a signe of his departure from Jerusalem and a sad Presage of its utter Destruction * See Ezek chap. 1. 11. When the Spirit of God is in a great measure gone from the Hearts of men in the duties of his Worship it s a sad Symptome of perillous Times with the Church of God Before the persecution of the Christians in Africa by the brutish Vandals the Church of God in those Countreys was much degenerated from its ancient Purity and declin'd as to the Power of Godlinesse as Salvian Bishop of Massilia complaines †Vict. Epist Utic So a little before the Massachre at Paris it was observ'd there was such a general stupidity seiz'd upon the Protestants that few of them seriously minded the things of God or were zealously affected with the matters of Religion but were wholely taken up with their worldly Businesses and secular Concernments If Religion amongst men be once degenerated into Farm as a fruitful into a barren Vine what can be expected but that the Righteouâ—nesse of God should be arm'd with Power for the punishment of such an unprofitable People We know The * Mat. 21.19 barren Fig-tree being curst by Christ presently withered away When a Nation flourishes in the Leaves of Formality without the Fruits of solid Piety who knows how soon it may be cast into a withering condition Surely Formal Services will at length procure real Sufferings The third Symptome Impiety vail'd with Hypocrisie THe Times are perillous When under glorious pretences of Religion and Gods glory men studiously prosecute secular designes When men seek themselves under plausible Pretences of doing Service to God When men that pretend Piety and a Publick Spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †2 Tim. 3.2 * v. 4. Such as do in deed preferre their private Interests before the Publick Good with whom Silver is of more value then Sanctity and who pursue their own Honour and Advancement wherein they would seem to promote Gods Glory Hi sunt qui boni videri non esse Mali non videri sed esse volunt †Bernh Serm. 66. in Cant. Thâ—se are they who as Bernard speaks would be thought good but care not to be so who care indeed bad but would not be thought so They are such as in their Designes row towards Hell while in their Pretences their Faces are towards Heaven They speak of beautifying Sion when at the same time they are Building Babel But now the Times must needs be perillous when men thus pretend Godlinesse and Gods glory for the more easie accomplishment of their own works of Wickednesse to his Dishonour When men Prostitute Religion to their own base Lusts and so vitiate her Virgin-Honour When they cast a vaile of Hypocrisie over the vilest Acts of Impiety Hypocrisie is sin gilded with pretences of Sanctity This outward Gilding makes them not so glorious in the Eyes of men as their inward Guilt m kes them odious in the sight of God Thus the Cloud which arm'd with the Bowe challenges all the world to a Combate for the Beauty of Colours is not more bright to the Earth then its black to Heaven Simulata Aequitas non est Aequitas sed duplex Iniquitas quia Iniquitas est simulatio * August in Psal 23. Equity pretended or
hidden Treasures which he found and when he had taken all away he went into his own Land having made a great Massacre and spoken very proudly But after seven yeares respite we find Justice calling him to account and severely scourging him with those Scorpions which by this sin he had fed in his own conscience and this which is very remarkable at the same Time that he sought to possesse himself of a rich Booty by a second Sacriledge For sayes the story * 1 Mac. 6 1-16 About that Time King Antiochus travelling through the high Countreys heard say that Elemais in the Countrey of Persia was a City greatly renown'd for Riches Silver and Gold and that there was in it a very Rich Temple wherein were Coverings of Gold and Breast-plates and Shields which Alexander sonne of Philip the Macedonian King who reigned first among the Grecians had left there Wherefore he came and sought to take the City and spoile it but he was not able because they of the City having had warning thereof rose up against him in Battel So he fled and departed thence with great heavinesse and returned to Babylon Moreover there came one who brought in Tidings into Persia that the Armies which went against the Land of Judea were put to flight and that Lysias who went forth first with a great Power was driven away of the Jews and that they were made strong by the Armour and Power and store of Spoiles which they had gotten of the Armies whom they had destroy'd Also that they had pull'd down the †See ch 1.54 Abomination which he had set up upon the Altar in Jerusalem and that they had compassed about the Sanctuary with High Walls as before and his City Bethsura Now when the King heard these words he was astonished and sore moved whereupon he laid him down upon his Bed and fell sick for Grief because it had not befallen him as he looked for And there he continued many dayes for his Grief was ever more and more and he made account that he should die Wherefore he called for all his friends and said unto them the Sleep is gone from mine Eyes and my Heart faileth for very Care And I thought with my self into what Tribulation am I come and how great a Flood of Misery is it wherein now I am For I was bountiful and beloved in my Power But NOW I remember the Evils that I did at JERUSALEM and that I took all the Vessels of Gold and Silver that were therein and sent to destroy the Inhabitants of Judea without a Cause I perceive therefore that for THIS Cause these troubles are come upon me and behold I perish through great Grief in a strange Land Then called he for Philip one of his Friends whom he made Ruler over all his Realme and gave him the Crown and his Robe and his Signet to the end he should bring up his son Antiochus and nourish him up for the Kingdome So King Antiochus died there in the hundred fourty and nine yeare Thus Conscience though stifled for a time will not alwayes lie asleep Thus the proudest presumptuous sinner carries his Accuser Judge Witnesses and Executioner in his own bosome Thus Sacriledge though for a time carried out with successe shall at length recoile upon the head of him that committed it to the Astonishment of all beholders Surely when mens Hearts and Hands are engag'd in this sin what ever thei◠Pretences be they take the ready course to pluck the Judgements of God down upon their Heads which may involve the whole Nation in many woful calamities and so bring upon the Church of God very sad and perillous Times And are there not too many in these Dayes that under the Pretences of Piety which makes the Provocation higher are guilty of this sin of Sacriledge We read when the City Carthage was taken by the Romanes the rude Souldiers rushing into the sacred Temples stript the Image of Apollo of a golden Robe but sayes the History the Sacrilegious hands of them that took it were found amongst the Fragments of that sacred Vesture * Val. Max. l. 1. c. 1. If the like Judgement should befall those that have stript the Church Christs Monument on Earth of her Golden Robe or at least attempted such a Sacriledge how might we say in the words of the Psalmist †Psa 76.5 a little varied Many of the men of Might have lost their Hands But perhaps what I call the Churches Golden Robe some may stile a Babylonish Garment and what I esteem sacred as her Dowry they may call accursed Gold But let them remember all Israel smarted and the Troubler of Israel Achan with his Family and Cattle dyed in a showre of stones and were wrapt up in a Sheet of flames for plundring the Golden Wedge and Babylonish Garment * Josh c. 7. The Phocian Generals who paid their Souldiers with the Gold of the Temple of Apollo came all to untimely deaths †Diod. Sic. Gold the sick mans Cordial is the sacrilegious mans Poyson It s a snare saith Solomon * Prov. 20.25 to the man who devoureth that which is holy and after vows to make Enquiry So likewise the Souldiers which under the Conduct of Quintus Caepio a Roman Consul having taken the City Tholouse in France by storm rifled the rich Temples there carrying away all the Gold and Silver out of them were all overtaken by those Judgements which are in pursuit of such daring Sacrilegists and came to a miserable end †Corn. Tacit. Thus they that enrich themselves with Sacrilegious hands do but therein pluck down the Judgements of God upon their own heads And when Towers fall the Under-Buildings must needs be batter'd The commission of this sin therefore especially under Pretences of Religion must needs speak the Times perillous When Calvin understood how the Senate of Geneva was about to imploy part of the Revenues formerly pertaining to the Monasteries to Civil Uses he told them in his Sermon that he could not endure such Sacrilege which he knew God in the end would punish most severely What is given to God though out of a blind Devotion may not again be taken from God but ought to be imploy'd for God in the Maintenance of his Worship and the Exercises of true Religion There 's surely a Moral Equity in that Levitical Law Notwithstanding saith the LORD to Moses * Lev. 27.28 no devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath both of man and beast and of the Field and of his Possession shall be sold or redeemed Every devoted Thing is most holy unto the Lord. And therefore the Theft of Achan in stealing the Golden Wedge †Josh 7.1 21 was the Sin of Sacriledge because the Gold of Jericho was consecrated to the LORD * Josh 6.19 For if a man that hath a true Propriety in his own Goods shall alienate them to
despised and whose COVENANT he brake even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty Army and great Company make for him in the War by casting up Mounts and building Forts to cut off many Persons Seeing he despised the OATH by breaking the COVENANT when lo he had given his HAND and hath done all these things he shall not escape Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD As I live surely mine OATH that he hath despised and my COVENANT that he hath broken even it will I recompence upon his own head And I will spread my Net upon him and he shall be taken in my snare and I will bring him to Babylon and will plead with him there for his Trespasse that he hath trespassed against me And all his Fugitives with all his Bands shall fall by the Sword and they that remaine shall be scattered towards all windes and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it Thus will no Force no Confederacy availe for the securing of that person from a deserved Punishment who by this sin of Perjury and Covenant-breaking is become obnoxious to Divine Justice An OATH is a sacred thing it bindes in the Name of God if it be violated it provokes God to arme his Justice with vengeance against the Violator The LORD will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his NAME in vain †Exo. 20.7 Perjury * A pejerando fit Vox pejor quod perjurio nihil pejus is a desperate and damnable sin It proceeds from Atheism the mother of Abominations and produces Rebellion with a thousand impieties It s a sin which the Heathens have not onely justly condemn'd but also severely punished The Egyptians and Scythians punish't Perjury with Death The Romanes censure of it in the Law of the twelve Tables was this Perjurii Poena divina Exitium humana Dedecus †Cic. l. 2. de Legibus Though Perjury have no punishment amongst men but Disgrace it 's punish't by God with Destruction That which was thus detestable amongst Heathens should be much more abominable amongst Christians However God hath declar'd his Wrath against it from Heaven as some remarkable Passages of the Divine Providence do fully declare whereof we shall mention two out of the Turkish History The Emperour Albert had made a Truce with the great Turk and solemnly ratifi'd the same with an Oath But Pope Eugenius the fourth sent him a Dispensation from his Oath and excited him to renew the Warre against the Turk Thus does the man of sin make void the Law of God But in the first battel wherein the Emperour engaged he was discomfited and slaine Thus he that with his Sword cut in two the sacred Band of his Oath had his Perjury written by his enemies Sword with his own Blood whereas had he kept his Oath he might have sav'd his Life But the Infidels hereupon took occasion to cast reproach upon Christianity as a Religion that gave Patronage to Perjury and Covenant-breaking when the most solemne Obligation had been sealed with the Name of Christ Thus Covenant-breaking brings the most blessed Religion in the World into contempt and makes Christianity the scorne and reproach of Heathens Uladislaus King of Hungary having for a time manag'd his War with Amurath the great Turk with good successe at length brought him to conditions of Peace which were to himself sufficiently advantagious For upon this Agreement certaine Provinces were to be restored to the Hungarians which otherwise could not have been recover'd by the sword without the losse of many Lives But a Peace being concluded betwixt them a solemne League and Covenant for the confirmation thereof was interchangably sealed with an Oath taken by both Parties But the Pope whose Holinesse was thought sufficient to sanctifie the sinfulnesse of the vilest Perjury sent a Letter of Dispensation to his son Uladislaus as a Key of his Cabinet to unlock those Bonds and Fetters wherewith he was bound hand and foot from the further prosecution of the Warre with the Turks And to promote the Popes designe the Cardinal of Florâ—nce See the Hungarian History Admiral of the Navy on the one hand and Cardinal Julian the Popes Legate in Hungary on the other hand help to lift him up out of his Honourable Restraint the Liberty of Warre being barr'd up to him by a League of Peace into an infamous Freedome by strong sollicitations to the renewal of the War with Amurath Hereupon staining the glory of his Crown with the breach of his Covenant he assaulted the Turk unawares with a great Army who yet rallying his Forces with all the speed and vigour he could Dubiis victoria pennis Inter utrumque volat gave him Battel The Victory for a good while together hanging in an equal Ballance enclin'd to neither side But at length the Scales began to turne and Victory forsaking the Army of Amurath seem'd now ready to alight upon the Standard of Uladislaus Amurath perceiving this and withal seeing a Crucifix in a displayed Ensigne of the Christians Army advanc't against him pluckt the Writing wherein the late League was contain'd out of his bosome and with eyes and hands cast up to Heaven said O thou crucifi'd Christ Behold this is the LEAGVE which thy Christians made with me and seal'd with a solemne OATH swearing by thy Name and this have they without cause this day violated If thou be a GOD as they say thou art Revenge the wrong done unto thy Name and the injury offer'd unto me upon thy perjur'd People who though they honour thee in their Words do in their Deeds deny thee Immediately hereupon the battel turn'd and thâ— Turks prevail'd mightily against the Christians The King himself was slaine by the Janissaries and fell in the midst of his Enemies though not so much by their hands as by a stroke of Justice from heaven The Christians fled before the Mahumetans and perish't by a miserable slaughter eleven thousand being slaine in the place very few escaping with their Lives Thus hath the Blood and Lives of many slaughter'd Christians given testimony to the Justice of God triumphing in the punishment of Perjury and the violation of Covenants This is that which according to the intent of the wicked counsel of Balaam * Rev. 2.14 engages God himselfe against his own People Xenoph. Agesilaus general of the Grecian Army returned this answer to Tissaphernes Lieutenant to the King of Persiâ—'s Army when contrary to his Oath he had levy'd an Army and denounc'd War against him That he gave him no small thanks for that by his Perjury he had made the Gods angry with the Persians who he hoped for his Fidelity would be favourable to the Grecians And the Event answer'd the Omen for joyning Battel he gave the Persians a great overthrow Pausanius notes this to be one chief cause why Philip King of Macedon with all his Posterity were so quickly destroy'd because
Zion is left as a Cottage in a vineyard as a Lodge in a garden of Cucumbers as a besieged City Thus though justice have leaden feet and be slow in coming yet it hath iron hands to crush the rebellious and break in pieces a provoking people Impunity is a sad signe of God's implacable wrath against a people that notwithstanding many warnings are become stubborne in their sinnes Hereby they are but reserved for some greater Judgement fitted for a sorer punishment God never spake with a more wrathful voice to the people of Israel and to the children of Ephraim then when he said * Hos 4.14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredome nor your Spouses when they commit Adultery for themselves are separated with whores and they sacrifice with Harlots therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall or be punished †Margin And again * v. 17. Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone When God thus permits particular persons especially such as are set in high places and so are the more Exemplary in their abominations to proceed without punishment in their sins it s a fearful presage of some General Judgement to be inflicted upon the whole Land Thus it was in the case of Ephraims and Israels sin I know Ephraim sayes the Lord †Hos 5.3 4 5. and Israel is not hid from me for now O Ephraim thou committest whoredome and Israel is defiled They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God for the spirit of whoredomes is in the midst of them and they have not known the LORD And the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their Iniquity Judah also shall fall with them When great persons escape punishment from God in the guilt of flagitious enormities and fearful Provocations let the whole Land tremble for fear of Gods judgements The eighth Symptome Toleration of Errors in Religion THe Prediction of perillous Times is certainly accomplish't When the simplicity of the TRUTH and true WORSHIP of God is out-fac't by the impudency of ERROUR false WORSHIP and profanenesse When Errour shall set up its Throne in the Temple of God a Christian Church and Truth shall be set at the footstoole When false worship shall lift up its head and true worship shall hang the Wing When Profanenesse shall proudly presse into the Sanctuary and humble Piety shall either be excluded or derided When the ancient and venerable Truth and true Religion shall grow out of Credit and Errour false worship and Profanenesse as a new upstart clad in a glorious Disguise and waited on by his insolent Atendants on either hand shall be all in Fashion and favour When the latter shall be suffer'd to brow-beat and justle out the former in many places of the Land When the Vultures shall drive the Doves from their Houses and the Wolves shall contend with the Sheep for the Fold they must needs be perillous Times When false Teachers the Captaines of the Train-bands of the Prince of Darkness who for the carrying on of this designe transformes himself into an Angel of Light * 2 Cor. 11 14 shall by their Satanical stratagems so far prevaile against the Kingdome of Christ as to carry away Captive many of his Subjects who in their Baptisme receiv'd their Press-money to fight under his Banner the perillous Times prophecy'd of by the Apostle are come †See 2 Tim. 3. v. 1. with v. 6 Doubtlesse the Times are perillous when Saints shall be rejected as sinners and Seducers shall be received as Saints though they daily grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived * 2 Tim. 3.13 When Religion shall be derided as superstition and humane inventions shall be obtruded upon seduced Christians as the Ordinances of Christ When the proud Philistines shall defie the Army of the Israelites the Hosts of the Living God and Saul with his men of War shall stand and look on if David or rather the sonne of David come not to succour us we must needs be in a dangerous condition When Dagon is brought into the Temple of God and set above the Ark when Jeroboams Calves have more Worshippers and Followers then the God of Israel when Christ in his Ministers is set at naught by Herod and his men of War When true Christianity is crucifiâ—d betwixt two thieves Erâ—or on the one hand and Profanesse on the other do not the People of God know and feel that these are evil and perillous Times When Idolatry shall justle out true Christianity the Times must needs be perillous To set up Iâ—ols in the Temple of God what is it but the Abomination which maketh desolate Now error and Heresie is a kinde of spiritual Idolatry Multi haeretici cum Paganis alios alios Deos ipsi sibi finxerunt alios alios Deos sibi ipsi fecerunt eos etiamsi non in Templis tamen quod est pejus in suo corde posuerunt falsorum ridendorumque simulacrorum Templa ipsi facti sunt †Aug. in Enarrat Psal 80. Many Hereticks sayes Augustine as well as Pagans have themselves feigned and formed many Gods unto themseves and though they have not set them up in Temples yet which is worse they have enshrined them in their own hearts and so they themselves have become the Temples of false and foolish Images Now when Christians that have been consecrated by Baptisme to be Temples of the Holy Ghost shall turn themselves into Temples of such phantastick Idols of their own Invention this must needs be a sinne highly provoking the Lord to Jealousie and so speak the Times perillous But for the further clearing up of this Symptome I shall do these two things viz. 1. Lay down the Characters of Erroneous Persons 2. Shew the Cases which upon this Account constitute perillous Times The Characters of Erroneous Persons ERroneous persons when they appeare do as Comets portend great Calamities to the Church of God the Kingdome of Christ And if we search the Prophecies of the New Testament we shall finde that the arising and abounding of false Teachers Hereticks and Seducers is expresly foretold to be in the last dayes when the Apostle hath told us perillous Times shall come False-Fires are not wont to appear till the approach of Night and these misguiding New-lights shall appear in the evening of the world and great is the danger of those that are misled by them Our Saviour in his discourse of the end of the world and Prophecy of those things which should come to passe in the last dayes forewarns us of such deceivers Then sayes he * Mat. 24.23 24 25. if any man shall say unto you Loe here is Christ or there believe it not For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. Behold I
of the House of God and in bringing in their Powder and March to blow it up When those shall be admitted Stewards of Divine Mysteries who put Poyson into the meat of the Kings children the Times must needs be sad and perillous When illiteraâ—e Mechanicks shall be allow'd to be publick Preachers who shall confidently vent the grossest Errours for glorious Truths When those that publickly cast contempt upon the Call of the Ministry upon that Ordinance of God which is the onely Gospel-way for the Investment of fit persons with Ministerial Authoritie ORDINATION shall be suffer'd to usurp the Ministerial Office and impudently to challenge the Churches Dowry meerly so violating of her Chastity or if that faile for falsely accusing her to be be a Harlot When so wide a Gap shall be cut out by the Sword into this sacred Function that Popish Priests and Jesuites in a Disguise may enter in and have as much Countenance and Encouragement as the ablest Orthodox Minister of the Gospel When a Schismatick shall be the onely Chirurgion allow'd to heale the Churches Breaches and a Wolfe shall be set over the Flock of Christ and the Souls of men shall be committed to the charge of one of the chiefe Agents of Satan are not these Dayes of Danger and Distress perillous Times When multitudes of discordant opinions and Diversities of Religion or wayes of worship are tolerated by the Civil Magistrate in his Dominion the Church of Christ is turn'd into a Chaos of Confusion This indeed was a piece of the Pagan-Policy of the * Vid. Dio. Sicul. de Egypt Reg lib. 11. Egyptian Kings for the prevention of whatever Conspiracies might prove prejudicial to their Establishment in their Kingdome For with what Rigour soever they rul'd over the People subjected to their Scepter while they kept them at a Diâ—â—ance one from another by Diversities of Religion they judg'd there was lesse danger of their conspiring together or uniting their strength to cast off the Yoke and Burden laid upon them For still one Faction would be jealous of another and so while they were divided by different designes they could hardly be ever united in one Common Interest But it must needs go ill with the Church of Christ when such carnal and cursed Policies have place in a Christian Common-wealth Hereunto therefore we shall oppose what we finde in the learned and judicious Casuist Baldwin upon this Question Num consultum est Conscientiis saluti publicae plures quam unam in bene constituta Republica admittere Religionem †D. Baldwin de Cas Conse l. 2. c. 6. cas 3. Whether it be consistent with Peace of Conscience publick safety to admit of more then one Religion in a well-constituted Common-Wealth Having mention'd the Opinions and Judgement of some others in this matter he thus concludes Idcirco apud omnes in confesso est Magistratum illum graviter peccare in DEUM subditos qui Religiones varias quas praecavere potuisset in Republica voluntarie admittit recipit fovet aut absque ulla necessitate retinet Is enim nihil aliud facit quam quod confusam Dei ignorantiam Opinionem quam * Lib. 19. de Legibus Plato summam omnium rerum publicaâ—um Pestem appellavit introducit siquidem omnis humanae Societatis Fundamentum convellit qui Religioni est noxius Qua propter †Lib. 2. de Eunomia Tholosanus censuit Magistratum si adventitias Religiones admiserit tanquam Rei publicae eversorem clancularium Patriae Proditorem privandum esse Authoritate Dignitate gubernandi non tantum sed si Rex fuerit Regno ac Ditionibus suis quae in praedam Possessionem eorum veniant qui eas illa lue liberaverint idque per novam constitutionem Friderici Imperatoris fieri adserit It is therefore confessed on all Hands that that Magistrate does grievously sin against GOD and his Subjects who voluntarily admits receives cherishes or without any necessity retains divers Religions in the Common-Wealth which he might have made Provision against For he does no other then introduce a confused ignorance and opinion of God which Plato call'd the chiefest Plague of all Common-wealths forasmuch as he destroys the foundation of all humane society who is injurious to Religion Wherefore Tholosanus judged that if a Magistrate should admit of whatsoever Religions should arise he was proceeded against as an underminer of the Common-wealth and a privy traytor to his Countrey and so not only to be deprived of his Authority and Dignity of governing but also if he was a King of his Kingdome and Dominions which should become a prey and possession to them which should have freed them from such a plague and this he asserts to be done by a new constitution of the Emperour Frederick This resolve I shall leave to the censure of them that shall peruse it only this I shall say that I conceive upon a sufficient ground that an Authoritative Allowance and publick Protection of diversities of Opinion Practice about the Fundamentals of Doctrine and Worship in the same Religion is every whit as pernicious as the Toleration of different Religions For as in the liberty of different Religions People are in danger to be drawn off from the true Religion to a false so does the allowance of different opinions and practices about fundamentals tend to the utter subversion of the true Religion to the manifest and inevitable Ruine and Destruction of mens pretious and immortal soules The Magistratical Protection then of Errours in Religion and different ways of Worship swarving from the rule of the Word of God must needs speak the times perillous especially when this LIBERTINISME shall be establisht by LAW reckon'd amongst the just rights and Priviledges of the People of God and accounted a GLORIOUS LIBERTY When the Plague is thus far broke out amongst us we may all write upon our Doors LORD HAVE MERCY UPON US The third Case Misusing Gods Ministers VVHen men shall mock Gods messengers and abuse his Ambassadours the times are evil and perillous This is a sad Symptome of approaching judgements God is infinite in Patience but this is a sinne so highly provoking that God can bear no longer he cannot I may well say with Scripture-warrant with-hold his hand from punishing such a people For 't is the highest abuse of his richest Mercy and gracious condescention to the children of men Shall the Lord send his Messengers with messages of Love his Ambassadours with Embassies of Peace to a sinning a provoking People that deserve to be visited with Judgement and destroy'd in his Wrath and shall those vile sinners dare to affront and abuse them yea deal with them as Malefactors rather then the Lords Ministers must not this needs provoke the Lord to arme his Justice with vengeance against such a people and to punish them without Mercy in the execution of his sorest Judgements This was the sinne which
animos * Livy d. 1. l. 3. Civil Dissentions animate Forraigne Foes to a hostile Invasion It s the Devils maxime in the Church and a principle of Machiavillian Policy in the State Divide Impera Rend and Rule Divide a People into Fractions and then they are easily subdu'd by a forraigne Power who are already weaken'd by their own Divisions Woe be to the godly when they are divided amongst themselves and the wicked are combin'd against them When Herod and Pilate who before were at enmity between themselves †Luk. 23.12 were made Friends Christ was soon after condemn'd and crucifi'd Certainly for the Divisions of Brethren there is cause of great Thoughts great searchings of Heart and the Combinations of the Churches Enemies are by all good Christians to be resented as the sad Symptomes of perillous Times The tenth Symptome Security in a State of Uncertainty THe Times are then least free from perill When there is a general Security upon the Spirits of men without any regular settlement of Church or State When all things are much out of Order and yet all sorts of men sit down secure in their present state and condition When notwithstanding the great changes wrought by the Divine Providence in the world men are generally so secure as if they had never seene or were sure they never should see any change Strange it is that a ship newly tost with a Tempest and very lately like to have been swallow'd up by the Seas should saile securely among the yet unquiet Waves when the cloudy heavens threaten a new storme Though the storme be past it 's no wisdome while men are yet at sea to be secure in a Calme Men are oft in most Danger when they are in least fear of Danger Do not your Mariners observe that the greatest Calme is oft the Forerunner of the greatest Storme And have not the most dangerous Earth-quakes come unawares after a still and quiet season and suddenly swallow'd up men and beasts Houses and Cities â—owever security especially in an unsetled state of things is a Symptome of great Danger a Prognostick of perillous Times How easily may a sleeping man be slaine as Alexander slew him whom he found asleep on the watch and well he deserved so sudden a Death who was so secure in a Time of Danger Strange it is that men should sit still in a mindlesse security notwithstanding the great mutations unexpected emergencies various turnings of the wheeles of the Divine Providence which call aloud upon them to minde what great works God is doing in the world and to meet him by Repentance lest he should suddenly destroy them in his wrath Strange it is that men should be secure when contrary winds blow hard upon the great Sea of the world and the mighty Waves dash themselves in pieces one against another When twins do strangely struggle together in the teeming womb of Time and Providences seeme to carry in them Contradictions to the beholders eye When the Times are such as that which the Father describes if we take his Observations in a Political sense For sayes he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Greg. Naz. Orat. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Time is full of Contrarieties of Births and Deaths of the flourishing and plucking up of Plants of curing and killing of building up and breaking down of Houses of weeping and laughing of mourning and dancing Now when the Times are such that the Rise of some is the Fall of others the Glory of some is the Disgrace of others the Joy of some is the Grief of others is it not strange that men should be secure Yea when the Rising of a few shall be the Ruining of many the Enriching of a few shall be the Undoing of many and the Rejoycing of a few shall cause the Lamenting of many are not the Times perillous and is it not strange that men can be secure When the Strong shall be made Weak and the Rich shall become Poore and the Honourable shall be esteemed Base while those that were poore and weak and base shall become Rich and Strong and great in the World are not the Times perillous May we not then say †1 Cor. 10 12 Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall Is it not strange that at such a Time men can be secure But then does Security much encrease the Danger and make the Times the more perillous How oft have great Armies and Cities living in security been suddenly surprized and destroy'd by a small handful of men Thus Gideon with three hundred men weary hungry and faint went up against the two Kings of Midian Zebah and Zalmunna and their Hosts about fifteen thousand men and vanquisht them and took the two Kings prisoners Thus they discomfited the whole Host for it s said The Host was secure * Judg. 8.11 12. Thus when the Danites spies came to Laish and saw the People that were therein how they dwelt carelesse after the manner of the Zidonians quiet and secure and there was no Magistrate in the Land that might put them to shame in any thing †Judg. 18 7 they made the Report hereof to their brethren that sent them and encouraged them to attempt the Invasion of them saying Arise that we may go up against them for we have seen the Land and behold it is very good and are ye still Be not slothful to go and to enter to possesse the Land When ye go ye shall come unto a People secure and to a large Land for the Lord hath given it into your hands a Place where there is no want of any thing that is in the Earth * Judg. 18 9 10. So six hundred men of the Danites took to them their Armes and came unto Laish unto a People that were at quiet and secure and they smote them with the Edge of the Sword and burnt the City with Fire †Judg. 18 11 27. and so they took their Land unto themselves for an Inheritance Thus security exposes men naked to Danger and opens a wide door to destruction For when they shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with Childe and they shall not escape * 1 Thes 5.3 And therefore sayes the Lord Woe to them that are †So the Marg. Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SECURE in Zion and trust in the mountaine of Samaria which are named chief of the Nations to whom the House of Israel came as to places of Worship Seats of Justice Courts of their Kings Passe ye unto Calneh and see and from thence go ye unto Hemath the great then go down to Gath of the Philistines all of them once great and mighty Cities but now for their sinnes destroy'd and ruin'd so that whatever they sometimes were behold them now and see be they better then these Kingdomes of Judah and Israel or their Border greater