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A17300 For God, and the King. The summe of two sermons preached on the fifth of November last in St. Matthewes Friday-streete. 1636. / By Henry Burton, minister of Gods word there and then. Burton, Henry, 1578-1648. 1636 (1636) STC 4142; ESTC S106958 113,156 176

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feare the other a Civill filiall feare The point in briefe is True Subjects beare to their King such a feare as children to their parents Not a feare with terror as the Apostle sayth to Parents Provoke not your children to wrath The name of a Father is a name of love and hath in it the bowels of a naturall affection which is above all other kinds of humaine affections Now a King is the Father of his Countrey and all his loving and loyall Subjects are as so many Children into him Hee is the Father of the great family of his Kingdome Hee is the great Lord Steward whom God hath set over his family to provide for them and to protect them He is the Shepherd of the people to feed them rule them as Dauid Psal. 78. 71. 72. Now the sheep are affrayd of the wolfe not of the Shepherd Therefore saith the Apostle If thou doest evill be affrayd So as a good Subject so feareth as hee is not affrayd because he lives in obedience to God and his King Againe this filiall feare in a Subject towards his Prince doth necessarily imply an excellent and eminent love towards the King yea greater love then naturall Children beare unto their Parents namely as they are members of the great politicke body united to the King as the Head There being a neerer tye of affection betweene the Head and the members then betweene a Father and his child And therefore it is worthily sayd by that faithfull servant of God M. Perkins A good Subject is more to love the life of his Prince then his owne life And great reason for the King is the breath of our nostrills Lam. 4. 20. Hee is more worth than ten thousand of us 2. Sam. 18. 3. Vse 1. Let this be for exhortation to all good Subjects to feare their King as Sonnes their Father as their carefull Shepherd to provide for them under God and to preserve them from wolves 2. This may condemne those that would perswade Kings to rule in a terrible and formidable manner as over a sort of slaves Contrary to the Apostle Rulers are not a terror to the good Rom. 13. 3. Such are dangerous persons that would turne filiall feare in Subjects to servile For according to the old saying Oderunt dum metuunt Againe hereunto wee may fitly joyne the next Point which is That the true feare of a King as it is a filiall feare so it is a feare of adherency a feare full of loyalty and fidelity which makes a true Subject to sticke so close to his Prince at all times and in all conditions as nothing can make a separation The King and his Subjects are united with strong ligaments as the head and body And this feare of adherency is a speciall gift of God as we reade 1. Sam. 10. 26. There went with Saul a band of men whose hearts God had touched But such as cleave not unto the King are branded for children of Belial who despis●d their King vers 27. So wee read also of David when hee was in great distresse and straits by reason of his unnaturall and traiterous Sonne Absalom and those many tribes of Israel that had revolted to him from their King yet some cleave unto him as 2. Sam. 15. 15. The Kings servants said unto the King Behold thy servants are ready to doe whatsoever my Lord the King shall appoint And vers 21. Ittai said to the King when hee went about to perswade him to goe back and to take care for his safety as verse 19. 2● As the Lord liveth and as my Lord the King liveth Surely in what place my Lord the King shall bee whether in death or life even there also will thy servant bee Here was a faithfull servant and loyall subject indeede And great reason every good subject should sticke close to his King in all difficulties First we are bound hereunto by a strong bond of conscience as before Rom. 13. 5. And this Conscience is grounded upon the true Religion and feare of God which is the surest bond of all obedience This was that bond which tyed the Christians of old to performe such faithfull military service unto the heathen Emperours and those also who where otherwise cruell persecuters of the Church and Apostates from Christ. As wee see in the Example of Iulian who when hee commanded his band of Christians to march against his enemies those of the heathen they straight obeyed and put their lives in hazard But if he commanded them to fight against the Christians their brethren then they layd downe their Armes and cast themselves downe at the Emperors feete and offered their naked bodies rather to suffer whatsoever torments A second reason why a good subject ought to sticke close to his King in all difficulties because this is the meanes to make a Kingdome invincible and terrible to the enemies Therefore it was an old saying Divide and Rule Divisions in a state expose it to forraigne enemies But unity of heart and affections betweene the subjects and their Soveraigne makes a Common-Wealth happy and perpetuall When my selfe was once at the High Commission falsly charged by a great Prelate of Sedition in that said hee I had dedicated a Booke to the Lower house of Parliament thereby to incense the Commons against the King I presently answered No my Lord I dedicated my Booke to the whole Parliament to wit to the King and both the Howses I doe not divide the head from the body my Lord but I pray God unite them together Hereat he was mute and all his raylings and false charges were at an non-plus So it seem'd some there were not farre off who went about at that time to divide the King from his people And yet another of them said Amen to my prayer being convinced of this trueth that divisions or heart-burnings betweene the King and his subjects are most perillous Vse 1. Here then those are justly and severely censurable even as traytors to the King and State who play the make-baites betweene the Prince and people And these are the Iesuites and Seminary Priests or else those of their faction who herein combine with them as Samsons foxes tyed tayle to tayle with a fire-brand to set the whole State in a combustion by stirring up and fomenting the fire of dissention betweene our gratious Soveraigne and his loving and loyall Subjects And this they labour to doe two wayes either by incensing the King with a hard opinion of his best Subjects those especially that are most religious and pious humble and peaceable in his Kingdome or else on the other side by incensing the people with a sinister opinion of their Soveraigne thus playing lack of both sides being Ambidexters and know to make advantage every way The first of these wayes it hath beene an old practise of Satan the Accuser of the brethren to suggest and whisper into Kings eares evill and false
of my body which is every day threatned by Pursuivants to bee haled to Prison if Your Majesties Iustice and good Lawes doe not all the better safeguard mee But prison or not prison I heartily thanke my Lord Iesus Christ who hath accounted mee faithfull and called me forth to stand for his cause and to witnesse it before all the World by publishing my said Sermons in Print that thereby also I might cleere both the cause and my credit which they haue publikely before hearing branded with sedition All which I humbly commit to Your Majesties Royall Patronage as Who next under God are most interessed in the Cause Now the Lord Iesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords so unite and combine your heart unto Himselfe that You being guided by His Spirit of Wisedome and Vnderstanding of Councell and strength and of the feare of the Lord You may doe Valiantly and prosper in stopping the course of all Innovators and Backe-sliders into Popery that so with and under Christs Kingdome Yours may be established in Righteousnesse to You and your Royall Posteritie untill time shall be no more Which is the daily Prayer of Your Majesties dutifull Servant and Subject HENRY BVRTON FOR GOD AND THE KING PROVERBES 24. 21. 22. My sonne feare thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both THis time is a time of sorrow and humiliation but this day a day of joy and festivity to bee celebrated in this our anniversary thankfull remembrance of a great and memorable deliverance as on this day 31. yeeres agoe So as this day falling in so sad a season is like a starie peeping and shining forth through the cloudes of a dolesome duskie night and by and by ready to be overclouded againe Such is our joy such is our sorrow this long that short this a summer and a winter plague that a widowes joy a blaze and away Yet sith God is pleased in the midst of judgement to remember Mercy there is no reason that this calamitous time should so farre dampe us as to deprive both us of our comfort and God of his glory this day Therefore wee may say with David Why art thou cast downe o my soule I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Or as Psal. 101. I will sing of Mercy and Iudgement And surely that joy is soundest which is seasoned with some sorrow As saith the Psalmist Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling It 's good to be merry and wise as saith the Proverbe Sadnesse is as salt that seasoneth our mirth and preserues it from corruption Well blessed be God who in the midst of many sad dayes hath sent us this joyfull day to sing praise unto him for that mercy which hath made it a day of joy unto all good Christians and all good Subjects in this land Sutable therefore to the occasion of this day and season I have made choice of this Text It comprehends one of those wise Sentences Counsells or Proverbs which King Solomon a Preacher also inspired with the spirit of Wisedome from God hath left recorded for instruction of the Church of God in all ages If wee seeke to find the coherence or dependance of these words wee may quickly loose our selues and our labour For this Booke of the Proverbs is fitly compared to a bagg full of sweete and fragrant spices which shuff led and shaken together or taken single doe yeeld forth a most pleasant and comfortable odour Or to the Starres in the firmament each in itselfe glorious and independent of another yet all receive their light from the Sunne Like as Eccles. 12. 11. The words of the wise are as goads and as nayles fastened by the Masters of assemblies which are given from one Shepheard This one Shepheard is Christ the Sunne of Righteousnesse who inlightens all the Prophets Or heere are studds of silver in borders of gold Cant. 1. 11. Or apples of gold in pictures of silver Prov. 25. 11. And these things belong to the wise v. 23. The words recited containe three things in generall 1. an Exhortation 2. an Admonition 3. a reason of the admonition The Exhortation in these words My son feare thou the Lord and the King The admonition in these words And meddle not with them that are giuen to change the reason of the admonition in these words For their calamity shall arise suddenly and who knoweth the ruine of them both In the Exhortation these particulars are considerable 1. The Person Exhorting and that is King Solomon instructing the people as from Gods owne mouth 2. The persons exhorted to wit all Gods people represented heere in the singular number under the name of one sonne and this by a neere bond of relation by a strong cord of affection distinguishing him from others and appropriating him as Gods owne peculiar My Sonne The duty exhorted unto is feare the object of this feare is twofold 1. The Lord. 2. The King In all which we are to observe three things 1. The order of this feare first the Lord and secondly the King 2. the connexion of these two as things inseparable in this duty of Feare Feare the LORD and the KING 3. The speciall property of this duty as peculiar to the child of God above all other Mysonne feare THOV the Lord and the King as if Solomon should have said My sonne how ever the sons of Belial the men of the world cast off all feare both of God and man yet feare THOV the Lord and the King This is the resolution of the Exhortation 2. In the Admonition wee are to note three things 1. The admonition it selfe meddle not 2. Who they be of whom Gods children are admonished namely such as are said here to be giuen to change 3. The antithesis or opposition betweene these changlings and them that truely feare God and the King 3. In the reason of the admonition annexed which is taken from the dangerous condition that these who are given to change are obnoxious unto wee observe 1. The matter of their danger in these words Calamity and ruine then the manner of their calamity and ruine set downe 1. In it's suddennesse and 2. in its certainty It shall rise suddenly and lastly the unexpected meanes of their ruine contrary to all outward appearance And who knoweth the ruine of them both That is though there be no outward appearance of ruine to these men but that all things prosper with them and seeme to be on their side yet their ruine shall be from both these as wee shall further open by and by Now having distributed the words into their severall parts and that without curiosity taking them as they lie naturally in the text come wee briefely to give you the sence of the words First My sonne a compellation frequent and familiar
thy f●are will I worship towards thy holy Temple So Psal. 2. 11. Serve the Lord in feare Which I say is such a feare as hath in it faith love affiance and other graces 5. Lastly wee are bound to performe all obedience to God in a holy feare by vertue of the Word of God as the rule and of the Covenant God hath made with us in his Word and we with him Gods Law is so the rule of our feare and obedience to God as it is death to feare or obey him otherwise then hee hath commaunded us in his Law Els it is rebellion not obedience will worship not service to God And this wee are bound to by mutuall Couenant 1. God binds himselfe to be our God and King by Covenant in his word as Exod. 20. Secondly wee bind our selves by a reciprocall Covenant as in our Baptisme to bee his Servants and to serve him as hee hath commaunded in his Law Vse of this point is first for reproofe and conviction of the whole Romane Synagogue as being altogether devoyd of the true feare of God and consequently is no true Church of Christ ●…one of the Kings Daughter none of his spowse Why For all her feare towards God is taught by the precept of men her service of God is a Masse of Idolatry and Superstition Will-worship of mans invention and therefore though they draw neere to God with their lipps yet their hearts are farre from him And so in vaine they worship him nay they worship the Devill and not God as the Apostle sheweth 1. Cor. 10. 20. For all Idolatry as that of the breaden god in the Masse is the worship of the Devill They will say they worship God in the Host So did the Pagans plead for themselues that they worshipped God in their Idols Yet saith the Apostle I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devills and not to God And God disclaimes all worship of Him that is not according to His Word and He abhorres such presumptuous worshippers as those that doe not feare him So as secondly heere are justly reprooved those men as wanting the true feare of God who in these dayes shew themselves Antichrists Factors both in teaching practising and pressing new Formes of worship Secundum usum Sarum and setting them up againe in Churches as Altar-worship Iesu-worship Image-worship Crosse-worship and the like A plaine evidence that these men what ever they most hypocritically pretend and would bee accounted as a new kind of Saints dropped downe out of the cloudes as most holy and devoute persons have no true feare of God in them Yea their hearts are far from God Their feare is more towards an Altar of their owne invention towards an Image and Crucifix towards the sound and sillables of Iesus then towards the Lord Christ. For did they truely feare Christ they would not as they doe so desperately and furiously persecute him in his faithfull Ministers and members and make havocke and turne upside-down the very glory of Christ's Kingdome in the Ministery of His Word and power of Religion and purity of his worship which they altogether trample under and defile with their Wolvish feete Therefore forasmuch as they set up and teach a false feare and worship of God in the Churches I saith the Lord will proceede to doe a marvellous worke among the people even a marvellous worke and a wonder for the wisedome of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid And v. 16. Surely your turning of things upside-downe shall bee esteemed at the Potters clay But of these more in their proper place A 2. 〈◊〉 ●s for instruction to teach us wherein the true filiall feare of God consisteth namely in the true worship and service of God internall and externall according to the exact forme and prescript of his Word Not to swerve one haires bredth from it Againe that true feare of God stnads in an universall obedience to all and every of his Commandements not onely those of the first Table but those of the second nor onely those of the second but those of the first So as Thirdly this may condemne two sorts of grosse Hypocrites 1. Those that seeme exact and punctuall in observing the Commandements of the second Table they are no Adulterers no Drunkards no inordinate livers they are not notorious offenders and what then Hereupon they applaud themselves and would be esteemed of the World good Christians and with the Pharisee thanke God that in these things they are not as other men Extortioners Vnjust c. They live peacably with their Neighbors they pay every man his owne and the like But what 's all this without the feare of God Where is their Piety and Love to God expressed in the duties of the first Table Are they willingly and grosly ignorant of the knowledge of God Doe they hate contemne neglect his words Doe they despise his faithfull Ministers Doe they speake evill of the Way and Profession of Godlinesse Doe they profane the Lords Sabbaths Yea doe they comply with Idolaters in their Altar-worship and Iesu-worship and the like and yet would they bee accounted good honest men Can they be honest and good men that are enemies of God and of the Profession yea and name of holinesse and of the power of Religion and of the true Saints and servants of Iesus Christ Can they be good Christians which are enemies to the Crosse of Christ whose end is damnation whose God is their belly and which minde earthly things On the other side there is another sort of Hypocrites who place all their Religion in the outward performances and duties of the first Table professe a great deale of Religion would seeme very devout but yet are like the Pharisees who under a colour of long prayers devoure Widowes houses Of these Hypocrites there are two sorts 1. Of them that are all for outward formality but their hypocrisie bewrayeth it selfe two wayes First in that though they seeme very devoute in frequenting the Church yet it is in a false way mingling mens devices of will-worship with Gods Ordinance in dividing the Lords day betweene God and the Devill allowing to God onely two houres of the day for his publike worship and the rest of the day to the lusts of men Secondly in that they place all the service of God in reading of long Prayers and thereby exclude Preaching as unnecessary And yet they make no bones of oppressing Gods people and the Kings good Subjects with burthens intollerable to bee borne The second sort is of them that will seeme Religious and to give God his due but make no conscience of giving to all men their due they will make no scruple of Lying of over-reaching in bargaining of living in some secret raigning lust of oppressing of defrawding and the like These are so much the more to be abhorred because by their meanes Religion and the name of
the pranks that they play in many places of the Kingdome are by speciall warrant from the King or whither the King by some generall warrant dormant hath given them this unlimited power which they at their pleasure doe exercise For instance Will Mathew Lord Bishop of Norwich say that hee hath any warrant from the King speciall or generall for making such havocks and hurliburlies in those two great Counties of Norfolke and Suffolke to the intollerable dishonour of God injury to his Ministers and people and tending to most dangerous consequences If hee have not any warrant but doth it of his owne head or by the instigation of any other Arch-Prelate then let him looke to it least he come to suffer as an usurper a bringer in of a forraigne power an Innovator Oppressor Persecutor and troubler of the peace of the Church and Kingdome If he say he hath warrant for 〈◊〉 let him 〈◊〉 it But I hope hee will not father his desperate courses upon the King What will hee say that the King gives him a power to exercise such unheard of tyranny and injustice upon the Kings peaceable Subjects and Christs faithfull Ministers and that against the Kings Lawes and peoples Rights all which the King hath sworne againe and againe and solemnly protested to maintaine inviolable as his owne Crowne Never therefore let any man dare to pretend any such thing so dishonourable to his Majesty Againe suppose which yet is not to bee supposed that the Prelates should so farre prevaile as to procure a grant from the King to doe all those things which of late they have done tending to the utter overthrow of the Religion by Law established Yet whatsoever colour pretext or ●ow could they make for this the King to speake with all humble reverence cannot give that power to others which hee hath not himselfe For the Power that is in the King is given unto him by God and confirmed by the Lawes of the Kingdome Now neither God in his Law nor the Lawes of the Land doe allow the King a power to alter the State of Religion or to oppresse and Suppresse the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell against both Law and Conscience For Kings are the Ministers of God for the good of his people as wee shewed before But what doe I speake of this If all the Prelates in England did never so boldly affirme that what they doe in these extravagant courses of theirs it is by warrant from the King I would be so fat from giving any credit unto them herein that I should be the first that should addresse my humble complaint to his Majesty of such dishonour done unto him and humbly petition his Majesty to vindicate his honour from the least suspition of his giving way to or countenancing the Prelates in such their practises as cry up to heaven for vengeance upon their heads This I have urged the more both in reverence to his Sacred Majesty whose honour I cannot indure should receive the least blemish and also in reference to the point in hand because such usurpation of the Prelates cendeth directly to make a division betweene the King and his subjects cantrary to that which we teach here that good Subjects must cleave to their God and King without separation and defection which is by the ligaments of good Lawes which being broken they are as the resolution of the nerves in the naturall body or the cutting in sunder of the sinewes whereby the head and members are united and compacted in one intire body And therefore this claime which the Prelates make of their Prelation and Iurisdiction over Christs Ministers jure divino being repugnant not only to the cleare Scripture forbidding all such domination as they practise as Math. 20. 25. c. Marke 10. 42. c. 1. Pet. 5. i. c. for which they have neither the example of Christ nor of his Apostles nor of any ancient Bishops but principally of Diotrephes 3 Iohn 10. whom they imitate in affecting of preeminence in opposing Iohn the Apostle in exommunicating the Preachers in prating against them with malicious words and the like but also to the Kings Crowne to the Lawes of the Land and consequently to the Liberties of the Subjects I know not with what warrant or Conscience any Minister of Christ can submit to the Practises of these men tending to the ruine of the Kingdome of Christ in this Land and consequently of the whole Kingdome and State Now all these instances alledged are so notorious some of them fresh in memory and many witnesses of them yet living being done but the other day and others yet present before our eyes that they cannot bee denyed and their notoriousnesse makes them the more pernicious as tēding to corrupt the Kings good peoples hearts by casting into them feares and jealousies with sinister affections towards their King as if hee were the prime cause of all those grievances which the Prelates in his name doe oppresse the Kings good Subjects withall But Trust in the Lord as it is my dayly prayer that hee will preserve the hearts and affections of his people closse and intire to their King and that he will discover both to the King and his people these treacherous practises of the usurping Prelates that so neither the King may thinke evill of his good people nor they have the least jealousy that his Maiesty approveth and countenanceth much lesse willeth and commaundeth his Prelates to cōmit these their intollerable outrages Well come weenow to a second use which is of Exhortation and admonition to all good Subjects above all things to beware of those that cunningly insinuate themselves betweene the barke and the tree that labour to divide the head from the body and the body from the head by casting bones betweene the King and his good Subjects And here Beloued let me in the name of the Lord admonish you that whatsoever passages or outrages you see to bee done by the Prelates although they doe never so boldly pretend the Kings name for it yee believe them not Let never any Sinister opinion concerning his Sacred Majesty creepe into the closset of your brests and as a Snake either sting or poyson your true loyal hearts towards him And therfore beware of all those Factors for Antichrist whose practise is to divide Kings frō their Subjects subjects from their King that so betweene both they may fairely erect Antichrists throne againe where it had beene in a good measure throwne downe and cast out yea by this time utterly rooted out of this Land if he had not had such strong Sticklers as his Iesuites and Priests yea the Prelates themselves as their practises plainly show to keep him in life and to set him upon his feet againe But yee Beloved abhorre these Factors And if ever they should so farre prevaile as to open a wide breach to let in a forraigne enemy which these their practises and proceedings pretend and tend unto then
this Kingdome that they may never prevaile against us and triumph in the ruine of thy Church and give us grace to avert these and the like judgements from us This Lord wee earnestly crave at thy mercifull hands together with the continuance of thy powerfull protection over our dread Soveraigne the whole Church and these Realmes and the conversion or confusion of all implacable enemies and that for thy deare Sons sake our onely Mediator and Advocate Thus the conclusion prayer of the Homily this Prayer of the 5. of Novem. being well weighed together we see unlesse in so praying we play the most notorious hypocrites dissemblers before God and men in what a sacred bond all the Magistrates in the Land from the highest to the lowest do ingage thēselues unto the great God of heaven earth to roote out the whole Babilonish Sect of Iesuites and Seminary Priests out of these confines limits of these Kingdomes and not to suffer them to roost here to the great dishonour of God scandall of our Religion danger to the State destruction of the soules of Gods people and of the Kings Nor this onely but if our Prelates as they plainely shew by their open practises be found to be fast friends to Rome confederates with Iesuites Priests active Agents factors for the rearing up again of that religion which is rebellion that faith which is faction cōsequētly that practise which is murdering of soules bodies for the advancing of that Babilonish antichristian sect which say of Ierusalē down with it down with it even to the ground while they labour by all wayes and wiles yea by an open Lawlesse force to beat downe the Kingdome of Christ in the Ministery of the word as too lamentable experience can witnesse and to destroy all true religion holinesse piety then how doth it concerne our Gracious King our Nobles and Magistrates of the Land to strengthen their hands with judgement justice to cut off these workers of iniquity to root them out of the confines limits of this Kingdome that they may never prevaile against us and triumph in the ruine of the Church by reducing vs under the Babylonian and Antichristian yoake againe which they labour with might and maine to effect as their notorious practises plainly tell us And how should all the Kings good people in the Land make this their dayly prayer which is publickly used once in the yeare teach it to their children that so at the least wise it may be propagated intire to all posterity so vindicated from the injury of time which our Innovators would bring upon it and never give over thus praying till it shall please God to returne a gracious answere in the fulfilling of it Yet are they not cōtent herewith but like themselves they practise the like in the last Fast-booke that contrary to the Kings expresse Proclamation which ordereth the booke for the former Fast to be reprinted and published as it followeth The third Prayer Booke which they have pitifully mangled is that which was set forth by the King for that Publick Fast in the first of his Raigne for the averting of the great Plague of Pestilence that thē devoured many thousands in this City elswhere in our Land which his late Proclamation commaundeth to bee reprinted and published and so read in Churches every Wednesday But doe they or durst they alter that Booke which the Kings Proclamation hath so lately commaunded to be reprinted and published Yes even that and that in such wise as I see not with what warrant any Minister may read it as being not according to the Proclamation Now the Alterations in the new Booke bee these In the first collect is left out this remarkable pious Sentence intirely Thou hast delivered us from Superstition and Idolatry wherein wee were utterly drowned and hast brought us into the most cleere and comfortable light of thy blessed Word by the which wee are taught how to serve and honour thee and how to live orderly with our neighbours in truth and vertty Lo here these men would not have Popery to bee called Superstition and Idolatry nor would they have the Word of God to commended as that cleare and comfortable light which teacheth us all duties to God and man Secondly that collect which begins thus It had beene the best for us c. is wholly left out in the new Booke And wot yee why Alas therein is commended the profitable use of continuall preaching the Word of God So as this collect would not have suited well with such a Fast wherein all preaching is prohibited in all places infected And in the very last page Order for the Fast these words are left out in the new Booke To avoid the inconvenience that may grow by Fasting Some esteeming it a meritorious worke others a good worke and of it selfe acceptable to God without due regard of the end c. What Doe they esteeme their Fast a meritorious worke Must the condemnation hereof bee expunged And doe they account their Fast a good worke and of it selfe acceptable to God without due regard of the end It seemes so too For the end of a true Fast is reformation of our evill wayes as the King of Nineveb proclaimed and which hee and his people performed But these men it seemeth have no such purpose propound no such end to themselves as the reformation of all their violent oppressions and outragious tyrannizing over Gods Ministers and people to the utter overthrow of Religion and setting up of Idolatry and Superstition in the worship of God which one sinne alone is enough to bring the Pestilence and all other plagues upon a Land Beside these they have guelded the Booke in sundry other particulars as in the Collects and Prayers for the Royall Progeny they have left out the mention of the Lady Elizabeth and her children expressed in the former booke They have left out the collect for the Kings Navy and for seasonable weather whereas there was never more need to pray for seasonable weather than since this fast beganne when so many tempestuous stormes and immoderate raines have beene as have indangered Ships in the very harbour Shipwrackt some of great price and caused great Floods threatning a Famine by drowning the Seed under the clods Also sundry Psalmes and Collects besides are omitted and a whole passage in the Exhortation applyable enough to the present occasion Now whither it bee for these alterations wherein both the Kings Order in his Proclamation is not observed and God is dishonoured by leaving out such our humble acknowledgements both of his mercies in delivering us from Superstition and Idolatry and bringing us into the cleare and comfortable light of his blessed Word and of our sinnes in not hearkning to His Word continually Preached unto us and the like and Gods Ministers and people are abused by having such Bookes