are now really and in truth delivered out of Babylon Admit that our Liturgy be found in the manner of some expressions and translation of it fit to be changed for the reasons of expediency and condescension wherein nevertheless we are for the churches sake to submit to the wisdom of those in whose power it is to order that change yet as it is considering the woful effects which the want of it hath produced and in regard of the reasons before specified it will well become all that fear God heartily to rejoyce at its Restauration Admit also which yet without contradicting the Holy Ghost cannot be granted that Episcopacy were as bad in its own nature as Schismaticks would make it yet it must be acknowledged to be far better then that Anarchy in the Church which was projected by the late Sect of Over-turners for their own sinister ends But it is now manifest that this despised persecuted Episcopacy is not an humane Ecclesiastical ordinance but Divine and therefore it is that Government under which we may have the greatest confidence that Religion may flourish and our souls may prosper Especially when we look upon those grave and reverend persons who are preferred to that office and charge and finde them according to his gracious MAJESTIES Declaration Concerning Ecclesiastical affairs men of learning virtue and piety such of whom the world is not worthy if it should still persist in enmity against them I name none for by their works and by their sufferings you may know them Onely let that free and faithful Speech uttered in a Sermon before his Majesty that now is whom God long preserve at the time of his Coronation shew what manner of spirit a Bishop may be of when he is employed in his Masters business in preaching the Gospel Apr. 23.1661 which was this Those persons meaning Kings and Princes that can be punished by none but God shall be sure to be most severely punished by God if because they can be punished by none but him they presume the more to sin against him What a thunder clap is this to be rattled in the ears of a King when he is in the height of his temporal glory Let any now or all of that sort of people who are apt to cry out Away with Bishops but try a little their own spirits and see whether at any time they have been or can be more faithful in speaking of Gods testimonies in such an audience and not be dismayed I say therefore again Let not the people of this Nation any more be such enemies to the Gospel of Christ and their own souls as to say Away with Liturgy and Away with Episcopacy rather we should say Away with Schisme and that virulency of spirit which hath too much prevailed upon us in these later times against those things that are so consonant to the holy Scriptures Away with pride which we have experimentally found to be the Mother of contention and the fore-runner of confusion whose swellings of late with scorn and contempt have superabounded Her Children pretending to tread down the pride of others Pro. 13.10 Pro. 16.18 have with the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah done it with a greater pride Away with hypocrisy and dissembling holiness which hath ever been accounted a double iniquity It is the best servant the Devil hath and shall have answerable wages above all the rest Mat. 24.51 This is that Crocodile that could weepe and houle when it had a design to destroy and swallow us up quick That Jezebel that could proclaim a fast when she projected cruelty and oppression That Pharisee that could make long prayers when poor Widows and Orphans houses were at the end of his devotion That Judas that would kiss and betray in the same breath cry All hail and in the very instant smite under the fift rib therefore Away with it Away with self-seeking that hath cramb'd the bags and fill'd the coffers of covetous earth-worms with the ruines of their Country Away with Heresie and Blasphemy The one cuts the throat of truth which should be dearer unto us then our lives And the other flies in the face of God Almighty and bids defiance against Heaven Both which I dare say have a deeper place in Hell then Superstition yet both of them rode circuit about this Nation while it stood un-Churched by our divisions and unkinged by our sins Away with that Image of Jealousie that Anti-Catholick and Anti-Christian Toleration which for politick ends and purposes hath cunningly yet most profanely been cryed up as the common interest of Sion that God takes care of as if an abomination of desolation were now become the Churches glory And the way to preserve truth in its purity were to blend it with Errour Had this cursed project continued as it began well might that Machiavellian principle in time have passed for sound doctrine viz. That all shall be saved in their own Religion though the Church of this Kingdom would as it was once said sooner have become the Devils dancing-schole then Gods Temple In the mean time those poor Superstitious Malignants that durst shew themselves in the behalf of Liturgy and Episcopacy must be sure above others to be exempted from this indulgence and so left to perish without any remedy doubtless this juggling did rouse up the jealousie of the Almighty and therefore it was high time to send it packing Away with Irreverence Profaness Looseness Sordidness in the Service of the Holy and Dreadful God which in the judgement of all that are truely pious is far worse then that other extreme of overmuch Curiosity and Superstition This in some kinde preserving supporting exalting Religion The other desacing suppressing trampling upon it Finally Away with Despising Dominion and speaking evil of Dignities Jud. v. 8. which Saint Jude condemneth v. 8. that is as it is probable by the purport of his Epistle such dominion and such dignities as were then settled in the Church against which Diotrephes and his crew would be still carping or as it is v. 19. Separate themselves Upon which despisers the same Apostle pronounceth Gods vengeance which hath a measure reaching even to all those who are this day guilty of the same sin Jud. v 2. Wo unto them saith he they have gone in the way of Kain persecuting Christs servants because they are preferred and accepted before them even as Cain did his brother Abel And ran greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward pouring out their curses upon the poor Church of God in hope to enrich themselves by the spoils of it And perish in the gain saying of Corah Their contempt of and insurrection against Church Governours Bishop Andrews thus argueth No man could perish in the gain-saying of Korah under the Gospel which St. Jude saith they may if there were not a superiority in the Clergy for Korahs mutiny was because he might not be equal to Aaron appointed his superiour by
Intemperance Uncharitableness Covetousness Uncleanness c. which should not be once named without Horrour among Saints what shall we then say but that we are too much infected with a Laodicean Temper accounting our selves to be rich and increasing in goods and have need of nothing when indeed we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked We make our boast often of the great knowledge and understanding that we have in the mystery of the Gospel above all others that have been before us and that we are as Children standing upon the shoulders of Giants and therefore we can see further then they a childish Conceit and an absurd Crotchet wherewith many please themselves being ready to say not from the Humble Spirit of God but from a strong opinion of their own weakness and a weaker Judgment of the strength of others we are wiser then our Teachers we have more understanding then the Antient ever had but can they or any else tell us what Holiness there is more now then there hath been in the Saints of old What Brotherly Love What zeal for the Truth what contempt of the World what mortification of inward Lusts and crucifying of the Flesh with the Affections thereof is now to be seen in this Generation more then hath been formerly If we know more then others that have been before us and yet come short of them in the power of Religion what a shame is it At Saint Margarets Westminster It was an ingenuous Confession made by one of late times in their greatest Assemby though he mistook in his Paralel We were best saith he in worst times we held our Cloak in the winde and now are laying it off in the Sun A miserable declination from the Life and Power of Godliness is come to pass within these few years our practicals our inward and close ways of walking with God in Faith and Love are sublim'd into fancies and vapour out into Fumes of new opinions and which is worst of all we take this Dropsie to be growth and conceive our selves to be more spiritual and refin'd because more Aiery and Notional The Lord humble us for our declensions and swervings from the end of the Commandment which is Love out of a pure Heart and of a good Conscience and Faith unfained and for our turnings aside to vain Janglings And now if the example of our Lord Jesus Christ as it hath been before presented unto us together with his immutable constancy in being still the Same in the Dispensation of his Gospel it being never yet wholly retracted since it was first made known unto the World for it was once and but once delivered unto the Saints will not move us to give a due Veneration to the Holy Antients and Fathers that have gone before us who have been partakers with us of the same precious Faith and have laboured with indefatigable pains in the Lord's Vine-yard their workes praising them in the gates let the consciousness of our own unworthiness under that glorious Light unto which we do pretend perswade us thereunto But if any shall say quorsum haec To what purpose is all this earnestness about antiquity I may answer Is there not a cause when the Glory of Christ is diminished by our detraction from it and when a common violence is done to the Holy Scripture in limiting the Accomplishment of sundry Prophecies to these times and those that come after us It being most certain they have been already fulfilled even in those elder days of the Gospel that are made of small reckoning by us Thirdly This may serve to satisfie all the World that the Religion which we profess is the onely true Religion we I say that have separated from Rome as it now standeth or rather as it is fallen from what it was before that depraved and deplorable Corruption which it hath contracted by the intrusion of many and sundry superstitions upon it through the subtlety of Satan and the cunning crastiness of men of corrupt minds who have sought themselves and their own interests more then the things of Jesus Christ If Antiquity must needs be a mark of a true Church then can we make our boast of it as much as any The rock of Ages is our foundation and the gates of Hell shall never drive us from it We disdain to hold of Luther and Calvin or any man els how eminent soever he might be for Piety in his Generation A tenure indeed that the recent Conventicle of Rome hath devised which because it pretendeth to Peter as its Founder and Authour Paramount will therefore obtrude upon others the like Weak and Upstart originals and if they cannot compare with them as they conceive in such a Claim they are ready to cry them down for Novelists and intruders as utterly unworthy to have any society with the Churches of Christ But far be it from us to build upon any such foundations And for any Novelty in our Profession as concerning the substance of Religion we can maintain it against the World that we are in no wise Guilty thereof It must be acknowledged on all sides that the old way is the onely right way and that that is most consonant to Truth which is of greatest Antiquity But then the Question will be where our Computation shall begin Surely it must not be at some Centuries of years that have been lately before us but rather we are to look for the first beginning of this way from the beginning of the World otherwise it will not in this sense Merit the Title of Antiquity but that Gospel exception will be of force against it Non fuit sic ab initio Mat 19.8 It was not so from the Beginning A singular and compendious Gradation of the rise and progress of Truth is that which is given by a certain Antient Id verius quod prius id prius quod ab initio id ab initio quod à Deo That is truest which was first that which was first is from the beginning that which was from the beginning was of God And truely as it was said before so may we say it again our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ according to the order of the foundation laid in God's eternal decree and as the faithful people of God have had theirs in all the Ages of the Church that have been before us If we vary from others in outward formes or if there be variances amongst our selves about them as alas there are too many the more is the Pity and when was there a people of God constituted into a Church that were wholly free yet this will not conclude us to have taken up a new Religion no more then the several Fashions in our Attire do deprive us of the antient Priviledges of our Country and make us another Nation To conclude we are of Yesterday and know whom we have believed and are known of him viz. Jesus Christ
did to a greater perfection making this day to be more abundant then what hath been before for in so doing we shall also resemble Jesus Christ who made his work which the Father had given him to do to appear this day under the Gospel in a more spiritual glory then it did yesterday under the Law But my meaning is that we be still the same not forsaking our first love as the manner of some is nor declining from that close and sincere walking with God whereunto we have happily by reiterated vows and solemn engagements devoted our selves after we escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ A needful warning it will be to us for the truth is mans nature is a wondrous masterpiece of inconstancy No creature under the whole heaven being so variable as man is Nay it is a matter of some difficulty as the world goes amongst a multitude to finde a Man that is One who for a Masculine spirit indeed may deserve the name of a Man or as some render the original word in Scripture A Man A Man Lev. 15.2 Ps 49.12.20 that is A Man both wayes in regard both of the outward and inward man For there are some Men-Men and some Men-Beasts which made the Cynick at noon-day to go up and down in a throng of people with a Lanthorne and Candle in his hand searching as he said for a Man that is A Man for Constancy and Prudence as well as in outward appearance and Seneca also in his time counted it a great rarity Sen. Epi. 128. Magnam rem puta saith he unum hominem agere It is a hard thing to Act a Man kindly meaning to be alwayes One and the Same For one that doth so How many are there that disfigure themselves with diversities of shapes One while they will be frugal and grave another while prodigal and vain Such levity Holy Bernard sweetly taxeth Non paucos frequenter experimur c. We oftentimes meet with many who scarcely one houre continue in the same minde but are like drunkards nodding and reeling too and fro changing their judgment yea without judgment wavering still from what they had determined Semper quod non habent cupientes quod habent fastidientes Alwayes desiring what they have not and loathing that which they have This inconstancy speaks men to be like unto Reuben Vnstable as water Gen. 49.4 Far unlike this our Heavenly Pattern who was alwayes the same No nor like that honest Roman of whom it was said that it was as easie to turn the Sun out of his course as to make him go from his Word or change his resolution But especially in the high and weighty matters of Religion to be wavering and inconstant argues too much feebleness of spirit unbecoming those that are separated from the world to be the followers of Jesus Christ the Rock of ages who never changeth As Nehemiah said Is it for such a man as I to flee So say I for such to fall from their stedfastness One-while to be Zealous and forward in the wayes of Holiness another while backward and indifferent taking up a Form of Godliness according as their humour and fancy leads them like unto those of old whom Hilary speaks of that had a Monethly or a Yearly-Faith what a shame is it Sunt qui menstruan vel annu m fidem habent Yet alas too many there are in these dayes among us of this halting Generation who are apt to turn with every winde of temptation I speak not here with a reference unto changes in point of external order in the Church which may sometimes be excusable as we shall shew hereafter though there be a sort of dissolute and debauched people who can finde no other change to spend their invectives upon the better to palliate their own wickedness but when the life and power of Religion is so far neglected as that we can recede from those engagements and resolutions wherewith we have solemnly devoted our selves to God To turn aside after Vanity walking according to the course of this world in wayes of Licentiousness and Profaness this surely is matter of just complaint Alas we consider not it seemes what a dishonour we bring upon our holy profession How much we grieve the spirit of God nor what advantage we give unto Satan to encroach upon us when we are not Godly and Religious in a constant and continued Course but off and on fast and loose in the Covenant of our God which we made in our Baptisme When with Pilate we are inquisitive after Truth but presently as he did turn our backs upon it seeme to consult with God and his word about our spiritual estate and in the same breath many times cast him quite out of our thoughts as if we could do well enough without him Like unto Saul who in all haste calls out Bring hither the Ark But then go to it skills not greatly Socrates lib. 3. cap. 13. carry it back again Such unsavoury Salt as Ecebolius for his treacherous halting in Religion justly stiled himself can have no rellish in it acceptable to God or his Church Away therefore with this spirit of giddiness which hath too much prevailed in these dayes and let us quit our selves like men in being still the same When we have a Rock appointed for our standing by the wisdome and Faithfulness of the Almighty whereon we may be safe against all the stormes and tempests of the Prince of the power of the air shall we turn away from it and in our Conversation swim with the stream of this present evil world or in our judgement roll our selves upon the waves of new-fangled opinions where we may be tossed to and fro and carried about with every winde of Doctrine and where nothing is to be expected but to be swallowed up at last in the bottomless gulfe of errour and confusion Oh shall we thus dally in a business of so great moment Far be it from us Rather let us Look unto JESUS and follow his Example in being still The Same And now that we may deal impartially herein Let it be a Word in season to us of this Nation who have not like our Pattern been the same of late what we have formerly been We have made it our boast since we separated from Rome and cast off the Yoke of Anti-Christ that we have received Christ Jesus the Lord professing his Gospel to be a Law unto us But how we have walked in him and been Obedient unto it as we have been taught yea taught of God in the Ministery of his faithful servants our deeds may declare Time was when truth was of so high account with us that if it had been possible we would have plucked out our own eyes rather then to have parted with it But we have seen the time wherein Servis dormientibus The Lord pardon us in this Truth was fallen in our Streets and
we have been such strangers unto it by giving entertainment to Errour in the most ugly appearances thereof that we might well have asked as he did what is Truth True it is there was a certain Covenant made whether according to truth and righteousness somewhat may be said hereafter but made I say for the extirpation of Heresie and Errour c. But it is as true which was once freely spoken at a Monethly-fast in Saint Margarets Westminster If we had sworn to the utmost of our power to have advanced Errour and Heresy Feb. 24. 1646. they could not well have grown and encreased more then they did when we swore against them There was a time also when we took sweet Counsel together under the peaceful Government of a Religious King and the vigilant inspection of Grave and Orthodox Bishops walking to the house of God in company where we had full Congregations the office of the Ministery Honoured the Word faithfully preached Sacraments duely administred c. And have not Sacraments of late been laid aside as useless and unnecessary The Ministery cryed down as AntiChristian Congregations scattered Churches put to profane and sordid uses to the shame of Religion and the scorn of our Adversaries round about us The Word indeed was preached and we do with all due thankfulness acknowledge it to God's glory for though some did preach Christ of envy and contention not sincerely yet some did it of good will and therefore seeing Christ was preached whether in pretence or in Truth Phil. 1.18 therein with St. Paul we did rejoyce yea and will rejoyce Notwithstanding it was both our sin and our shame that that Holy and Divine Ordinance was I say not with impunity but with publick approbation so much profaned when the pulpit was too often made a Tub for Mechanick praters to pour out their Blasphemies or turned into a Theatre by others to promote carnal interests and to strengthen the Schisme that was the set up And if any honest Orthodox Ministers durst be so bold according to their commission given them of Christ to manifest their zeal in preaching against these impostours and their abettours as some there were who could not forbear It was not their Gravity Learning Piety Fidelity to their Countrey nor ability to promote the glory of the Gospel that could be a sufficient safeguard unto them But they must be branded with the odious mark of Malignancy and even in the very execution of their office affronted interrupted contradicted yea sometimes laughed to scorn I instance not in particular persons His Majesties gracious Act of indulgence forbidding it But hence it was that many faithful Ministers were so much despised throughout the Nation sometimes called Legalists otherwhiles Formalists yea reviled with the most opprobrious terms that Malice it self could invent To some they were too plain to others they were too eloquent one while tax'd for not preaching Christ another while for not holding forth the Doctrine of Free-grace But if in their Sermons they happened to make mention of those Holy Antients whom the Church hath honoured with the Name of Fathers they were presently by some temerarious Head or other censured for Bablers or at the best but low-spirited Men that would be padling in the shallows of Antiquity not fit forsooth to be named with the profound knowledge of these dayes So imperious were people grown in their superintendency over their Teachers yea though they were illiterate Mechanicks yet being the Darlings of the Schisme they would presume as being allowed to be Dictatours to the most grave and learned Ministers that were not of their Faction not considering what the Apostle saith that The spirits of the prophets are subject to the Prophets implying doubtless that it is the Ecclesiastical Senate that should take cognisance of Preachers Doctrines so as to regulate whatsoever may be found amiss in them not the Company of spear-men or calves of the people as the Prophet calleth the rude malitude But such was the impiety of those times that the poor Ministers of Christ though by the Holy Ghost accounted the Prime Masters of the Assemblies did commonly stand in their Pulpits like Prisoners at the Bar when their Hearers Ec. 12.11 how ignorant soever sat like so many Judges round about them Again As preaching was prophaned so in like manner was prayer too much perverted and depraved Whereas in our approaches to God we were wont to fall down upon our knees adoring the Divine Majesty with the humbling of our bodies to the very dust according to the religious example of the devout servants of God in Scripture Luk. 22.41 Mar. 14.35 Mat. 26.39 yea of the Son of God himself of whom Saint Luke saith that He kneeled and prayed Saint Mark that he fell to the ground and prayed Saint Matthew that he fell upon his face and prayed What an Unreverend insolency hath the late times produced when this humble gesture was in many places wholly neglected as being forsooth below the Saintship of our Upstart Reformers who possibly might pretend to have more familiaritie with the God of Heaven then those could be allowed to have that had been before them And therefore they might now serve him without fear though the truth is they did it not in righteousness nor true holiness Was not the spiritualness of prayer confined to the suddenness of conception and volubility of utterance qualities not incompossible with a spirit of opposition to all that is good and holy which also were accompanied too frequently it is to be feared with a vain ostentation of mens abilities for invention and with such expressions many times that no honest heart God knoweth could say Amen unto them When a Set-form though compiled according to the warrant and pattern that Christ hath given us and used with a pious and sincere devotion was contrary to the rules of Christian Charity contrary to the judgement of the best Divines both Antient and Modern forein and domestick yea contrary to the general practice of the Reformed Churches condemned and rejected as unsutable to the spirit of Adoption and unacceptable to the God of Heaven as if the Almighty were more to be taken with the variety of words then with the groans of the spirit which may assoon ascend up into his ears in the Religious use of a form as in the uttering of the best conceived prayer in the World But it is no marvel that set-forms of prayer were so much decryed when the Lords prayer it self was sleighted yea so despised that if according to the good antient Custome among us prayers were concluded with a rehearsal of it Such was the horrible profaness of some who yet pretended to a Seraphical strain of Holiness above others that they would thereupon most unreverendly in the face of the Congregation put their hats on their heads that they might thereby throw contempt upon that prayer and those that used it Which disdainful posture if they did
God Num. 16.10 shall suddenly bring certain ruine upon them as the like sin did on Korah and his Complices therefore Away with it Lastly Away with that evil spirit of Rebellion against Regal Authority which eminently possessed that decemvirate of Traitours who have been justly executed for their Treason A Spirit that appeared like an Angel of Light but proved as black and ugly as any that came out of the bottomless pit A Spirit that hath brought such a stench and smoke with it that the Sun and the Aire of the Gospel is even darkned thereby Yea let all Ages be examined there shall never be found in any Nation such a black vaile drawn over the face of true Religion since it was established in the World as hath been by the treachery of those Persons that were fascinated with this Spirit When a Christian Prince as well deserving of the Church as ever any that sat upon a throne the most able Protectour of the Protestant Profession hath under a pretence of Religion been barbarously murdered by them and made a prey to their ambitious lusts and impious designes Yet these are the men whose example our objectours propose as a pattern of courage and constancy for their imitation If indeed to encourage themselves in an evil matter so as not to be terrified in the prosecution of it by the approaches of death and their appearance before the great God hath made them fit to be exemplary to those that undertake to be their Advocates let them be canonized for Saints whom the World not onely Christian but Heathen hath hitherto abhorred as bloud-thirsty and deceitful men But so long as the Word and Statute law of the most high God is in force and remains unretracted it is not their constancy in their treason to the death nor their smooth language how spiritual soever it seemed to be wherewith they left the World that shall come up in remembrance before God at the last day to their comfort if they died in the justification of that guilt for which they were condemned No unclean thing saith the Holy Ghost must enter into Heaven And amongst all pollutions that of bloud upon the conscience is in the sight of God most filthy True it is they neglected the body to use the Apostles word but what advantage will that be to them if they likewise neglected the soul History will tell us it is no newes to hear of a resolved obstination and obsirmation of mind in the suffering of death There was Attilius Regulus and Cato Vticensis and Anaxarchus and many more who for their Countreys sake or some such worldly respect Tunde tunde Anaxarchi fellem non enim tundis Anaxarchum have been very prodigal of their lives Some of them with admirable patience contented to endure most exquisite torments Of them we may say in the words of our Saviour they had their reward Their highest aime was to be reckoned good Patriots or men of valour and accordingly hath same fixt upon them a marke of renown to this very day But what reward shall be given unto these who cannot be reputed by any that are rational fit to triumph in their death upon any honest account in the least degree What I say shall be done unto such false tongues and false hearts and hands full of bloud We must leave the determination thereof to the righteous judge who will render to every man according to his doings We should not I confess have thus stept aside to make this rehearsal of the flagitious wickedness of such unworthy persons whose memory will be odious to all Generations had it not been necessary to undeceive others who are prone to applaud and justifie them because of their seeming fortitude at the time of their death In which regard neither will it be amiss to minister a little eye-salve to such poor deluded people that their eyes may be opened to see their folly and to convince them by some clear demonstrations of the falsehood of those men whom they so highly magnifie I called it a Seeming Fortitude which these Traitors shewed at their death and well I might For notwithstanding all the vainglorious flourishes of holiness and constant perseverance in their Cause reall it could not be Besides the failing of virtue in it which is essential to all true Fortitude and which the very Heathen have judged to be inseparable from it Plutarchus in vita Coriolani insomuch that they conceived there could be no Virtue without Fortitude nor no Fortitude without Virtue What constancy or Christian fortitude could be in them when after they perceived that the Law did take hold upon them to bring them to their condign punishment they would then all on a sudden pretend to an undantedness of spirit in their justification whereas some few dayes before while they were upon their Trial the greatest number of them did sue for mercy pretending a claim to his Majesties pardon which must needs carry with it an Implicite acknowledgment of guilt With what face could Axtell at his death make his boast of the Cause professing that if he had a thousand lives he could lay them all down for it when at his tryal as he said he had endeavoured to obtain the mercy and favour of his Majesty And that when some witnessed against him that he did beat the souldiers because they did not at his bidding cry out against the King for justice and execution he shifted it off thus saying That it was more probable because they did cry out for justice and execution he did therefore strike them using these words I 'll Justice you I 'll Execution ye And what constancy did appear in Cook the most zealous of them all when the words he uttered at his death contradicted his pleadings at his tryal for his life as the book set forth with too partial a respect unto him doth relate At his death he exprest himself in this manner I am satisfied that the Cause that is that which was maintained against the King is the most noble and glorious Cause that hath been agitated for God and Christ since the Apostolical times Such a Cause that the Martyrs would gladly come again to suffer for if they might And though too many object against me that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4 15. Let none of you suffer as a murtherer yet I look upon it as a most noble and high act of Justice that our Story can parallel And so far as I had a hand in it never any one action in all my life comes to my minde with less regret or trouble of conscience then that doth Now compare this with what was sworn against him at his tryal and those excuses and evasions he then used to shift off his Charge One of the witnesses that appeared having been of his intimate acquaintance affirmed upon oath Mr. Natley That when he understood that the said Cock was employed as a Solicitour against the King he desired
and he made it his business to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named Rom. 15.20 24. lest he should build upon another mans foundation So that if one of these Itinerants could run over so great a part of the world we may well suppose that the other twelve might with ease divide the rest of the world among them And now what alas were we mad and desperate Idolaters that God should bring us hitherto That the Lord should say to us who were not his people You are my people and that we should say O Lord thou art our God O what a mercy is it that we the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blinde Mat. 22.9 Luk. 14.21 23. who abode in the streets and lanes of the City yea that we who wandred about in the high-wayes and amongst the hedges should be called to the Wedding-Feast of the King of heaven That unto us who sate in darkness and dwelt in the region and shadow of death Light should spring up Let therefore the name of the Lord be magnified by us poor sinners the Gentiles as the Prophet soretold it should from the rising of the Sun Mal. 1.11 unto the going down of the same And since we are through grace become children of Sion let us take the liberty here to sing one of the Songs of Sion so far as we may be concern'd therein O give Thanks unto the Lord for he is Good For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the God of gods For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the Lord of lords For his mercy endureth for ever To Him who alone doth great wonders For his mercy endureth for ever Who remembred us in our low estate For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the God of heaven For his mercy endureth for ever Let the Redeemed of the Lord among the Gentiles say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered them out of all lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South not onely to dwell in the house of the Lord here and to see his goodness in the land of the Living but to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of God to all Eternity And let us of this Nation among the rest and above the rest as it is our duty give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name acknowledging his great mercy in that his unchangeable love hath had an extraordinary measure reaching even first unto us Oh how hath the Lord been pleased to send his Gospel upon the wing unto this Nation So wonderfully here prevailing that England hath had this honour in an eminent manner to be the first-born of grace among the Nations Here reigned the first Christian King that ever was in the world King Lucius who submitted to the Law of Christ confirming it by a civil sanction From hence went the first Christian Emperour that put an end to the bloudy persecutions of the primitive Christians Constantine yea and after the general defection from the purity of the faith made by the Romish Church which like the tail of the Dragon threw down to the earth a great part of the Stars of Heaven Here the Reformation of the Christian Religion began first to be established by a Law by the first King that ever cast off the yoke of that Anti-Christian Usurper King Henry the 8. Wherein whether his design was to promote any sinister interest of his own as some imagine or to advance the Kingdom of Christ is not much material for us to know The arme of the Almighty hath hitherto been stretched out for the preservation thereof counter-working all the Machinations of Hell which have been and still are upon the Devil's forge against it Rejoyce therefore in the Lord O England and again I say rejoyce But as it is our bounden duty to ascribe unto the Lord the glory of this mercy and to rejoyce that we are no more strangers and forreiners as the Apostle tells the Ephesians but fellow-citizens with the Saints Eph. 2.19 that is the Jews and of the house-hold of God So we cannot but abhor the treachery of those false brethren among us called Anabaptists who like a brood of Vipers would if it lay in their power but that Gods mercy towards us triumphs over their falsehood disfranchise us of our liberties in the house of our God and rob us of those priviledges wherein the Lord Jesus Christ hath made us free giving us therein equal right with his Israel that was before us because he is still the Same I might instance in sundry of their Anti-Christian tenents tending hereunto But for brevities sake will make mention onely of one that is their Antipaedobaptisme not allowing the Infants of Believers to be admitted into the house-hold of faith by the Sacrament of Baptisme It is not my purpose here to dispute this point at large being out of my way enough hath been written of it already And it hath been found by experience to be a toylsome task to run the wilde-goose chase as a learned divine now with God once phrased it after a well breathed Opinionist they delight in Vitilitigation Mr. Nath. Ward It is an itch as he said that loves a life to be scrubb'd they desire not satisfaction but satisdiction whereof themselves must be judges I shall not therefore say much to this quarelsome people Let them consider how they will answer the Apostle here who avoucheth Jesus Christ to be thee Same to day which he was yesterday Certainly if the infants of the Jews were by virtue of Christs mediatory office to be received into the bosome of the Church and distinguished from those that were without by a Solemn Sacrament of initiation but the infants of Christian parents to whom belongeth the Kingdom of God as as well as to the Jews before must not be allowed to partake of a like priviledge but be reckoned still as dogs as the Scripture calls all that are without Jesus Christ is not the Same according to the Apostles word Neither is his office now of so much use unto his Church as it hath been formerly Of such blasphemy as this not to be mentioned without horrour must this cursed errour be the foundation But let me ask of these deceivers How came it to pass that Christ hath not obtained this priviledge for our Infants as well as he did for the Jews seeing God is not now the God of the Jews onely but of the Gentiles also Surely it must be either because he would not or because he could not To say he would not doth plainly demonstrate his love of us to be less then it was of the Jews which agreeth not with that abundant grace that hath been now revealed in the time of the Gospel To say he could not contradicteth that universal power which the father had given
of sundry famous and mighty Nations that were of old contemporary with the Jews whose height was like the height of the Cedars and their strength like unto that of Oakes yet hath God destroyed their fruit from above Dan. 2. and their root from beneath We read of a goodly Image that represented the world in its various and successive gallantry by the advancement of its choicest favourites whose head was of gold his breast and his arms of silver his belly and his thighs of brass and his leggs of iron the gold was precious the silver pure the brass glittering the iron strong yet all of them are broken to pieces and become like the chaffe of the summer-threshing floor carried away with the winde that no place can be found for them What is now become of all their policy magnificence prowess which for the time did so ruffle in the world far and near Where are all their Laws that have been so much extolled and their Law-makers to whom wisdome it self was esteemed but as a dutiful hand-maid Why do not the Romans now appear in the vindication of their Numa Pompilius that mirroir of Princes as Plutarch describes him in his dayes Or the Athenians for their Solon Or the Lacedemonians for their Licurgus Or the Cretians for their Minos Or the Carthaginians for their Charondas Or the Egyptians for their Osiris Or the Sâ—ythians for their Zamolxis All famous Law-givers in the several confines of their times and places If the sword of their Law hath lost its edge is not the Law of their sword able to set it again Are all the stout-hearted among them utterly spoiled and can none of their men of might sinde their hands Tenent omnino reliquias Legis suaâ— circomciduntur sabbata observant pascha immolant Azyma comedunt Aug. in Ps 59. No verily for at the rebuke of the God of Jacob have the Chariots and Horse-men of these Nations been cast into a dead sleep Onely the Jews that were the dearly beloved of his Soul who are scattered about in the World notwithstanding all their troubles captivities dispersions Massacres do every where grow rich and populous keep themselves their Laws and Customes unmixed from all others can still deduce their Original and History by infallible testimony from the beginning of the World which no Nation that now is can do the like A very pregnant proof that they are kept by a special providence according to what the Lord hath said of them by the Prophets as namely by Jeremy Jer. 30.10 11.46.28 Fear thou not O my servant Jacob neither be dismayed O Israel for I will save thee from afar Jer. 30.10.11 Jer. 46.28 Amos 9.8 and thy seed from the Land of their captivity though I make a full end of all Nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee And by the Prophet Amos Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinfull Kingdome meanning whatsoever Kingdome it be continuing in its sin and I will destroy it from the face of the Earth saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob saith the Lord that is their sins though they be never so great shall not provoke me to root out their name from under Heaven Amos. 9.8 Answerable hereto is that of the Prophet Jeremy whose testimony once more let us hear Jer 31.36.37 Where the Lord useth as vehement asseverations as any we shall likely sinde throughout the whole Scripture If these Ordinances that is of Heaven and the Sea depart from before me saith the Lord Jer. 31.36.37 then the seed of Israel shall cease from being a Nation before me for ever Thus saith the Lord if Heaven above can be measured and the foundation searched out beneath I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord. Observe though their doings which in an ordinary course of divine justice would certainly bring on their utter undoing and would be enough inevitably to ruine all the Nations else in the World besides if they should at any time be guilty of the like yet shall not the anger of the Lord be so enkindled because of them as to cut off the seed of Israel for ever A high expression of an extraordinary favour which nevertheless will exactly be made good to a tittle even to the end of the World because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And here before I come to infer my intended conclusion from the premises Mr. Thâ— Wilton on the Romans give me leave to super-adde the testimony of a faithful interpreter of the minde of God in Scripture concerning this matter who hath written of it within this present Century whose words are these The counsel of the most wise and mighty God in the wonderful preservation of the Jews ought diligently to be considered whereas sundry very ancient people and famous as Persians Chaldeans Trojans Vandals Lombards Gothes Saxons Picts Hunns c. are either quite extinct and destroyed or else being severed and scattered have not so held their own as to keep still their own ordinances and to be able to shew their Original and History in sure record or to preserve themselves for their civil life and religion unmixed with other people whither they came yet behold a strange thing and remarkable the Jews onely notwithstanding their great and long dispersions and manifold calamities desolations and death in sundry Countries where they have been butchered like sheep as in England here at London and Yorke by hundreds and thousands Judaei sunt Librarii nostri Ne forte Pagani dicant nobis vos Christiani literas istas composuistis proserimus codices a Judaeis inimicis ut confundamus alios immicos Codicem portat Judaeus ut idem credat Christianus Aug. Loco Sup. In Graeco quodam codice Basiliensis editionis Object and elsewhere in other Countries knocked down upon heapes and others cruelly spoiled do for all this not onely remain in very numerous multitudes chiefly in Asia and Africa as Master Beza and Grynaus upon certain knowledge do report but do keep their Tribes distinct and unconfounded and their Religion all without commixtion as much as they may reading and searching the Scriptures but with very corrupt construction yet with this fruit and commodity that both their pedegree and descent from Abraham and the Patriarchs may appear and eke by the witness of our books out of which we derive our holy Christian Faith may be justified and cleared from suspicion of imposture and fraud which the Heathenish Philosophers and other prophane atheistical persons cannot now charge us with seeing the people still remain as preservers of those Oracles of God which be the Fountains of our Religion of all which what other thing are we to deem and judge but that they are reserved thus miraculously of God against the time of their conversion and salvation to come hereafter in Gods determinate
that That day should not come before such and such things which he there mentions were first come to pass He feared not it seems lest he should give occasion of a carnal security to presumptuous sinners as it is here objected to us by his writing of the protraction of the great day but leaves that to their peril who will pervert his words and turn them to such a sinister sense declaring the minde of God clearly without casting such scruples as these Objectors have causlesly devised to stop the current of this Doctrine And this may be a sufficient warrant unto us to speak freely of that which the Scripture holds out unto us in this particular not regarding what wicked persons deluded by the devil may suggest unto themselves thereby And yet as Calvin well observeth upon the place Neither doth this word of the Apostle about the deferring of the great day contradict other Scriptures which speak of it as being at hand Instat enim saith he Dei respectu apud quem mille anni sunt tanquam dies unus It is at hand in Gods account with whom a thousand years are but as one day though to us it may seem long being lengthened out for many generations unto the time appointed of the Father that so the great work of God in this world decreed from Eternity might be fully finished In fine Whatsoever is or can be objected against this doctrine we may safely conclude it to be of no force But for it self it shall stand and prove infallibly a victorious truth in the Church because Jesus Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Same yesterday to day and for ever Let all therefore that wish well unto Sion lay it close to their hearts that they may now more then ever seeing the time approacheth lay out their utmost strength and zeal in the promoting thereof praying earnestly constantly unto God that this ancient beloved people may once again finde grace in his sight casting away those sins which may probably be a hinderance to the bringing on of this glorious work And amongst them all let us abandon the Idolatries and Superstitions of the Romish Synagogue which will certainly be a very great obstacle to the Jews conversion though God will also in his own time make this great mountain of opposition to become a plain Thus I say should this doctrine be promoted by us and whatsoever else Divine Providence may put into our hands to do in order to such an excellent end O let us do it with all our might It is doubtless a most Catholike doctrine as tending to an universal Union under Christ our Head it is the most noble and Divine doctrine next unto that of the great work of eternal Salvation wrought by Christ that is revealed unto us in the Gospel and it is most advantageous to us Gentiles of all other Doctrines therefore we should promote it It is that which openeth to the Church the bottomless and inexhaustible treasures of the Wisdome and Knowledge of God to look with admiration as the Apostle did into the depth thereof And though neither men nor Angels can be able of themselves in this or any else of the Arcana Coeli the counsels of the most High to know the minde of God yet since as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2.16 We have the minde of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 who is in the bosome of the Father and hath declared him unto us we may with confidence make our boast and speak of that which he hath revealed And because God hath an absolute Sovereignty over all his creatures not bound unto them with any Popish or Pelagian thongs of Necessity Congruity or Condignity but is free to do what he please by the liberty of his own will to cast off the Jews and receive the Gentiles in their stead and restore the Jews again to his grace and favour that both Jews and Gentiles may together rejoyce in his Salvation For of him and through him and to him are all things Let us therefore with the Apostle applaud and magnifie him saying To him be glory for ever Amen FINIS An ALPHABETICAL TABLE A. ADam's standing in the state of Innocency was longer then it is commonly conceived to be Page 105 Adeption or progressive agitation of the Creatures not the original or primary efficient cause of their continuance p 53 Abuses of the late Times detected p 223 Afflictions are ordained and ordered by God p 80 Ages before us not to be despised p. 166 Ambitious persons enemies to Christ's Sovereignty p. 76 A Story of Amphilochius p. 22 Of Alphonsus the Atheistical King of Spain p. 74 Anabaptists great enemies to the Church p. 270 How and wherein the Angels shall be employed in the great day p. 90 What Antiquity in print of Religion is to be regarded p. 169 Arianism an abominable Heresie p. 12 Arius his death by the just hand of God p. 35 Consulting with Astrolegers about future events unlawful p. 72 A notable saying of Augustus Caesar p. 81 B. Of the nature of Bees in having a Government p 58 The Believers Roâ—k p. 81 Blaspemy of Socinus p. 26 Blaspemy of Paul Beast p. 38 Blaspheming Hereticks must not go unpunished ibid. Of bowing at the Name of Jesus See the word Jesus Of bowing at the entrance into and departure from the Congregation p. 235 C. How Cain was cast out of the Church p. 147 Of Ceremonies p. 234 Cerinthus an enemy to Jesus Christ p. 34 Though Christ be the first begotten of every Creature it followeth not that he is therefore a Creature p. 16 Christ hath raised up our nature to the highest elevation p. 32 Jesus Christ is the first begotten intellect in reference to the Angelical Nature p. 17 Jesus Christ is the first-begotten reason in order to the rational ibid Christ is to be honoured in the hearing of his Word p. 28 Christ is the bringer forth of every Creature p. 18 Christ giveth the earth to whom soever he will p. 50 In what sense Jesus Christ is Creatour p. 42 Christ is the Preserver of all p. 52 Christ will restore all things p. 82 The form of a servant in Christ did not obliterate the form of God p. 20 Christ is to be worshipped with divine adoration p. 21 Christ a Prophet from the beginning p. 136 Christ a King from the beginning p. 138 Christ a Priest from the beginning p. 149 Christ the Same to his Church in this day of the Gospel which he was yesterday to the Fathers of old p. 212 Christ will be the Same to his Church for ever p. 273 What manner of change there shall be of the Heavens c. at the last day p. 98 The Church shall be continued to the end of the World p. 275 The folly of ignorant people in imputing all extraordinary tempests to conjuring p. 73 Contemplation of God through the Creatures p. 48 Covetous persons enemies to Jesus Christ p. 76 Of the late