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<DATE>2013-09-24</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<P>A SERMON PREACHED At the publike Fa&s;t Before his Maie&s;ty at Chri&s;t-Church in <HI>OXFORD.</HI></P>
<P>By <HI>William Chillingworth.</HI></P>
<P>Publi&s;hed by command &s;ince his death.</P>
<P>OXFORD, Printed by HENRY HALL. 1644.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
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<Q><BIBL><HI>2 TIM.</HI> Chap. <HI>3.</HI> v. <HI>1, 2, 3, 4, 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>This know al&s;o, that in the la&s;t dayes perillous times &s;hall come.</P>
<P>For men &s;hall be lovers of their owne &s;elves, covetous, boa&s;ters, proud, bla&s;phemers, di&s;obedient to Parents, unthankfull, unholy,</P>
<P>Without naturall affection, truce-breakers, fal&s;e accu&s;ers, inconti|tinent, fierce, de&s;pi&s;ers of tho&s;e that are good,</P>
<P>Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of plea&s;ures more then lovers of God.</P>
<P>Having a forme of godline&s;&s;e, but denyng the power thereof.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_TO a di&s;cour&s;e upon the&s;e words, I cannot think of any fitter introduction, then that where|with our Saviour &s;omeime began a Sermon of his, <HI>This day is this Scripture fulfilled.</HI> And I would to God there were not great occa&s;i|on to feare that a great part of it may be ful|filled in this place.</P>
<P>Two things are contained in it: Fir&s;t, the reall wicked|ne&s;&s;e of the generality of the men of the latter times, in the foure fir&s;t ver&s;es. For by men &s;hall be lovers of them&s;elves, covetous, boa&s;ters, proud, &amp;c. I conceive is meant, men generally &s;hall be &s;o, otherwi&s;e this were nothing peculiar to the la&s;t, but common to all times, for in all times &s;ome, nay many have been lovers of them&s;elves, covetous, boa&s;t|ers, proud, &amp;c. Secondly, we have here the formall and hypocriticall godline&s;&s;e of the &s;ame times, in the la&s;t ver&s;e, having a forme of godline&s;&s;e, but denying the power there|of;
<PB N="2" REF="3"> which latter ordinarily and naturally accompanies the former. For as the &s;hadowes are longe&s;t when the Sunne is lowe&s;t, and as vines and other fruit trees beare the le&s;&s;e fruit, when they are &s;uffered to luxuriate and &s;pend their &s;ap upon &s;uperfluous &s;uckers, and abundance of leaves: So commonly we may ob&s;erve both in Civill conver&s;ati|on, where there is great &s;tore of formality, there is little &s;incerity: and in Religion, where there is a decay of true and cordiall piety, there men entertaine and plea&s;e them|&s;elves, and vainly hope to plea&s;e God with externall for|malities, and performances, and great &s;tore of that righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e for which Chri&s;t &s;hall judge the world.</P>
<P>It were no difficult matter to &s;hew that the truth of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> prediction is by experience ju&s;tified in both parts of it, but my purpo&s;e is to re&s;traine my &s;elfe to the latter, and to endeavour to cleare unto you, that that in our times is generally accompli&s;hed: That almo&s;t in all places the po|wer of Godline&s;&s;e is decayed and vani&s;hed, the forme and profe&s;&s;ion of it onely remaining: That the &s;pirit, and &s;oule, and life of Religion, is for the mo&s;t part gone, onely the outward body or carca&s;e, or rather the picture or &s;hadow of it, being left behind: This is the Doctrine which at this time I &s;hall deliver to you, and the u&s;e, which I de&s;ire mo&s;t heartily you &s;hould make of it, is this. To take care that you confute, &s;o farre as it concernes your particulars, what I feare I &s;hall prove too true in the generall.</P>
<P>To come then to our bu&s;ine&s;&s;e without further comple|ment, let us examine our wayes, and con&s;ider impartially what the Religion of mo&s;t men is.</P>
<P>We are baptized in our infancy, that is, as I conceive, dedicated and devoted to Gods &s;ervice, by our Parents and the Church, as young <HI>Samuel</HI> was by his mother <HI>Anna,</HI> and there we take a &s;olemne vow, <HI>To for&s;ake the Devill and all his workes, the vaine pompe and glory of the world, with all the
<PB N="3" REF="3"> covetous de&s;ires of it, to for&s;ake al&s;o all the carnall de&s;ires of the fle&s;h, and not to follow nor be led by them.</HI> This vow we take when we be children and under&s;tand it not: and how ma|ny are there who know, and con&s;ider, and regard what they have vowed, when they are become men, almo&s;t as little as they did being children? con&s;ider the lives, and publique Actions of mo&s;t men of all conditions in Court, City, and Country, and then deny it if you can, that tho&s;e three things which we have renounced in our bapti&s;me, the profits, ho|nours, and plea&s;ures of the world, are not the very gods which divide the world among&s;t them, are not &s;erved more devoutly, confided in more heartily, loved more affectio|nately, then the <HI>Father, Sonne, and Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> in who&s;e name we are baptized: deny if you can the daily and con&s;tant imployment of all men, to be either a violent pro&s;ecution of the vaine pompe and glory of the world, or of the power, riches, and contemptible profits of it, or of the moment any or un&s;atisfying plea&s;ures of the fle&s;h, or el&s;e of the more diabolicall humours of pride, malice, revenge, and &s;uch like: and yet with this empty forme we plea&s;e and &s;atisfie our &s;elves, as well as if we were lively borne againe by the Spirit of God, not knowing, or not regarding what Saint <HI>Peter</HI> hath taught us, That the <HI>Bapti&s;me</HI> which mu&s;t &s;ave us, is, <HI>Not the putting away of the filth of the fle&s;h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3 21</NOTE> <HI>but the an&s;wer of a good con&s;cience unto God.</HI></P>
<P>When wee are come to yeeres capable of in&s;truction, many, which is lamentable to con&s;ider, are &s;o little regard|ed by them&s;elves or others, that they continue little better then Pagans in a Common-wealth of Chri&s;tians, and know little more of God or of Chri&s;t, then if they had beene bred in the Indies. A lamentable ca&s;e, and which will one day lye heavie upon their account, which might have a|mended it and did not. But many I confe&s;&s;e are taught to act over this play of Religion, and learned to &s;ay, <HI>Our Fa|ther which art in Heaven;</HI> and, <HI>I beleeve in God the Father Al|mighty:</HI>
<PB N="4" REF="4"> but where are the men that live &s;o, as if they beleeve in earne&s;t, that God is their Almighty Father? where are they that feare him, and tru&s;t him, and de|pend upon him onely, for their whole happine&s;&s;e, and love him, and obey him, as in rea&s;on we ought to doe to an Almighty Father? who if he be our Father, and we be indeed his children, will do for us all the good he can; and if he be Almighty, can doe for us all the good he will; and yet how few are there, who love him with halfe that affe|ction as Children u&s;ually do their naturall Parents, or be|leeve him with halfe that &s;implicity, or &s;erve him with halfe that diligence? And then for the Lords prayer, the plaine truth is, we lie unto God for the mo&s;t part cleane through it, and for want of de&s;iring indeed what in word we pray for, tell him to his face as many fal&s;e tales as we make Petitions. For who &s;hewes by his endeavours, that he de&s;ires heartily that <HI>Gods Name &s;hould be hallowed,</HI> that is, holily, and religiou&s;ly wor&s;hipped and adored by all men? That <HI>his Kingdome &s;hould be advanced and inlarged? That his ble&s;&s;ed will &s;hould be univer&s;ally obeyed?</HI> Who &s;hewes by his for&s;aking &s;inne, that he de&s;ires &s;o much as he &s;hould do the forgivene&s;&s;e of it? Nay, who doth not revenge upon all occa&s;ions, the affronts, contempts, and injuries put upon him, and &s;o upon the matter cur&s;e him&s;elfe, as oft as he &s;ayes, <HI>Forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es, as we forgive them that tre&s;|pa&s;&s;e again&s;t us?</HI> How few depend upon God onely for their <HI>dayly Bread, viz.</HI> the good things of this life, as upon the onely giver of them, &s;o as neither to get nor keepe any of them, by any meanes which they know or feare to be offen&s;ive unto God? How few de&s;ire in earne&s;t to <HI>avoyd temptation?</HI> Nay, who almo&s;t is there, that takes not the Devils office out of his hand, and is not him&s;elfe a tempter both to him&s;elfe and others? La&s;tly, who almo&s;t is there that de&s;ires heartily and above all things, &s;o much as the thing de&s;erves, to be delivered from the <HI>greate&s;t evill,</HI> &s;inne,
<PB N="5" REF="4"> I meane, and the anger of God? Now beloved this is cer|taine, he that imployes not requi&s;ite indu&s;try, to obtaine what he pretends to de&s;ire, does not de&s;ire indeed, but on|ly pretends to do &s;o: He that de&s;ires not what he prayes for, prayes with tongue onely, and not with his heart; in|deed does not pray to God, but play and dally with him. And yet this is all which men generally doe, and therefore herein al&s;o accompli&s;h this prophecie, <HI>having a forme of godline&s;&s;e, but denying the power thereof.</HI></P>
<P>And this were ill enough, were it in private, but we abu&s;e God Almighty al&s;o with our publike and &s;olemne formalities, we make the Church a Stage whereon to act our parts and play our pageants, there we make a profe&s;&s;i|on every day of <HI>confe&s;&s;ing our &s;innes with humble, lowly, and obedient hearts,</HI> and yet when we have talked after this man|ner, 20. 30. 40. yeeres together, our hearts for the mo&s;t part continue as proud, as impenitent, as di&s;obedient, as they were in the beginning. We make great Prote&s;tations <HI>when we a&s;semble and meet together to render thanks to God Al|mighty, for the benefit received at his hands;</HI> and if this were to be performed with words, with <HI>Ho&s;anna's</HI> &amp; <HI>Hallelujah's,</HI> and <HI>gloria patri's,</HI> and P&s;almes and Hymnes, and &s;uch like outward matters, peradventure we &s;hould doe it very &s;uffi|ciently: but in the meane time with our lives and actions, we provoke the Almighty, and that to his face, with all va|riety of grievous and bitter provocations; we doe dayly and hourely &s;uch things as we know, and he hath a&s;&s;ured us to bee odious unto him, and contrary to his nature, as any thing in the world is to the nature of any man in the world; and all this upon poore, trifling, triviall, no temptations. If a man whom you had dealt well with, &s;hould deale &s;o with you, one whom ye had redeemed from the <HI>Turki&s;h</HI> &s;lavery, and in&s;tated in &s;ome indifferent good inheritance, &s;hould make you fine &s;peeches, enter|taine you with Panegyricks, and have your prai&s;es al|wayes
<PB N="6" REF="5"> in his mouth, but all this while doe nothing that plea&s;es you, but upon all occa&s;ions, put all affronts and in|dignities upon you, would you &s;ay this were a thankfull man? Nay would you not make heaven and earth to ring of his unthankfulne&s;&s;e, and dete&s;t him almo&s;t as much for his faire &s;peeches, as his foule actions? Beloved, &s;uch is our un|thankfulne&s;&s;e to our God and Creatour, to our Lord and Saviour;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21 9. M rk 15.13.14.</NOTE> our tongues ingeminate, and cry aloud, <HI>Ho&s;anna, Ho&s;anna,</HI> but the lowder voice of our lives and actions is <HI>crucifie him, crucifie him:</HI> We Court God Almighty, and complement with him, and profe&s;&s;e to e&s;teeme his &s;ervice <HI>perfect freedome,</HI> but if any thing be to be done, much more if any thing be to be &s;uffered for him, here we leave him, we bow the knee before him, and put a reed in his hand, and a Crowne upon his head, and cry, <HI>Haile King of the Iewes:</HI> But then with our Cu&s;tomary &s;innes, we give him gall to eat, and vinegar to drinke, we thru&s;t a &s;peare in his &s;ide, naile him to the Cro&s;&s;e, and Crucifie to our &s;elves the Lord of Glory. This is not the Office of a friend to be|waile a dead friend with vaine lamentation. <HI>Sed quae volu|erit memini&s;se, quae mandaverit exequi,</HI> to remember what he de&s;ires, and execute what he commands; &s;o &s;aid a dying Roman to his friend, and &s;o &s;ay I to you, To bee thankfull to God is not to &s;ay, God be prai&s;ed, or, God be thanked, but to remember what hee de&s;ires, and execute what hee commands, to bee thankfull to God is certainly to love him, and to love him is to keepe his Commandements, &s;o &s;aith our Saviour, <HI>Ioh.</HI> 19. <HI>If ye love me keepe my Commande|ments:</HI> If we doe &s;o, we may ju&s;tly pretend to thankful|ne&s;&s;e, which beleeve me is not a word, nor to be perfor|med with words: But if wee doe not &s;o, as generally we doe not, our talke of thankfulne&s;&s;e is nothing el&s;e but meere talke, and we accompli&s;h Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> prophecy herein al&s;o: Having a forme of thankfulne&s;&s;e, but not the reality, not the power of it.</P>
<PB N="7" REF="5">
<P>If I &s;hould reckon up unto you, how many direct lies eve|ry wicked man tells God Almighty as often as he &s;ayes A|men, <HI>to this forme of godline&s;se,</HI> which our Church hath pre|&s;cribed. If I &s;hould pre&s;ent unto you all our acting of piety, and playing of humiliation, and per&s;onating of devotion in the P&s;almes, the Letanies, the Collects, and generally in the whole &s;ervice, I &s;hould be infinite: And therefore I have thought good to draw a vaile over a great part of our hypo|cri&s;ie, and to re&s;traine the remainder of our di&s;cour&s;e to the contrariety between our profe&s;&s;ion and performance, only in two things; I meane <HI>Faith</HI> and <HI>Repentance.</HI></P>
<P>And fir&s;t for Faith, We profe&s;&s;e, and indeed generally, be|cau&s;e it is not &s;afe to do otherwi&s;e, that we believe the Scrip|ture to be true, and that it containes the plaine and onely way to infinite and eternall happine&s;&s;e: But if we did gene|rally beleeve what we doe profe&s;&s;e, if this were the language of our hearts as well as our tongues, how comes it to pa&s;&s;e that the &s;tudy of it is &s;o generally neglected?</P>
<P>Let a book that treats of the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone, promi&s;e never &s;o many mountains of gold, and even the re&s;toring of the golden age againe, yet were it no marvaile if few &s;hould &s;tudy it, and the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e few would beleeve it. But if there were a book extant, and ordinary to be had, as the Bible is, which men did generally beleeve to contain a plain, and ea&s;ie way for all men to become rich, &amp; to live in health and plea&s;ure, and this worlds happine&s;&s;e, can any man ima|gine that this book would be un&s;tudied by any man? And why then &s;hould I not beleeve, that if the Scripture were firmly and heartily believed, the certaine and onely way to happine&s;&s;e which is perfect and eternall, it would be &s;tudied by all men, with all diligence? Seeing therefore mo&s;t Chri&s;ti|ans are &s;o cold and negligent in the &s;tudy of it, prefer all o|ther bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, all other plea&s;ures before it, is there not great rea&s;on to feare, that many who pretend to beleeve it firmely, beleeve it not at all, or very weakly and faintly? If the Ge|nerall
<PB N="8" REF="6"> of an Army, or an Emba&s;&s;adour to &s;ome Prince or State were a&s;&s;ured by the King his Ma&s;ter, that the tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ing any poynt of his Commi&s;&s;ion &s;hould co&s;t him his life, and the exact performance of it be recompenced with as high a reward as were in the Kings power to be&s;tow upon him: can it be imagined that any man who believes this, and is in his right mind, can be &s;o &s;upinely and &s;tupidly negli|gent of this charge, which &s;o much imports him, as to over|&s;ee through want of care any one nece&s;&s;arie article or part of his commi&s;&s;ion: e&s;pecially if it be delivered to him in wri|ting, and at his plea&s;ure to peru&s;e it every day? Certainly this ab&s;urd negligence is a thing without example, and &s;uch as peradventure will never happen to any &s;ober man to the worlds end: and by the &s;ame rea&s;on, if we were firmely per|&s;waded that this book doth indeed contain that charge and commi&s;&s;ion, which infinitely more concerns us, it were not in rea&s;on po&s;&s;ible, but that to &s;uch a per&s;wa&s;ion, our care &amp; diligence about it, &s;hould be in &s;ome mea&s;ure an&s;werable: &s;eeing therefore mo&s;t of us are &s;o &s;trangely carele&s;&s;e, &s;o gro&s;&s;ely negligent of it, is there not great rea&s;on to feare, that though we have <HI>profe&s;&s;ors</HI> and <HI>protestors</HI> in abundance, yet the faithfull, the truely and &s;incerely faithfull are in a manner failed from the children of men. What but this can be the cau&s;e that men are &s;o commonly ignorant of &s;o many articles, and particular mandates of it, which yet are as ma|nife&s;t in it as if they were written with the beams of the Sun? For example; how few of our Ladies and Gentlewomen do or will under&s;tand, that a voluptuous life, is damnable and prohibited to them?<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> Tim. 5.6.</NOTE> Yet Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith &s;o very plainely; <HI>She that liveth in plea&s;ure is dead while &s;he liveth.</HI> I beleeve this ca&s;e divinely regards not the Sex; he would &s;ay, <HI>He</HI> well as <HI>She,</HI> if there had bin occa&s;ion. How few of the gallants of our time doe or will under&s;tand, that it is not lawfull for them to be as expen&s;ive and co&s;tly in apparell, as their meanes or perhaps their credit will extend unto? which is to &s;acrifice
<PB N="9" REF="6"> unto vanitie, that which by the Law of Chri&s;t is due unto Charity; and yet the &s;ame Saint <HI>Paul</HI> forbids plainely this exce&s;&s;e even to women&mdash;<HI>al&s;o let women</HI> (he would have &s;aid it much rather to the men) <HI>array them&s;elves in comely apparell,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>with &s;hamefastne&s;&s;e and mode&s;tie, not with embroidered haire, or gold, or pearles, or co&s;tly apparell;</HI> and to make our ignorance the more inexcuable, the very &s;ame rule is delivered by Saint <HI>Peter</HI> al&s;o, 1 <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 3, 3.</P>
<P>How few rich men are or will be per&s;waded that the Law of Chri&s;t permits them not to heape up riches for ever, nor perpetually to adde hou&s;e to hou&s;e, and land to land, though by lawfull meanes, but requires of them thus much charitie at lea&s;t, that ever while they are providing for their Wives and Children, they &s;hould out of the increa&s;e, wherewith God ble&s;&s;eth their indu&s;trie, allot the poore a ju&s;t and free proportion? and when they have provided for them in a convenient manner, (&s;uch as they them&s;elves &s;hall judge &s;uf|ficient and convenient in others) that then they &s;hould give over making purcha&s;e after purcha&s;e, but with the &s;urplu&s;|&s;age of their revenue beyond their expence, procure as much as lyes in them, that no Chri&s;tian remaine mi&s;erably poore: few rich men I feare are or will be thus per&s;waded; and their daily actions &s;hew as much; yet undoubtedly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.19.</NOTE> either our Sa|viours generall command, <HI>of loving our neighbours as our &s;elves,</HI> which can hardly con&s;i&s;t with our keeping vainely, or &s;pend|ing vainly what he wants for his ordinary &s;ub&s;i&s;tence, layes upon us a nece&s;&s;ity of this high liberality, or his &s;peciall command concerning this matter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Quod &s;uperest date pauperi|bus, that which remaines give to the poore,</HI> or that which S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;aith, 1 <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 3, 17. reacheth home unto it, <HI>Who&s;oever hath this worlds good, and &s;eeth his brother have need, and &s;hutteth up the bowells of his compa&s;&s;ion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?</HI> Which is in effect, as if he had &s;aid&mdash; He that kee|peth from any brother in Chri&s;t that which his brother wants, and he wants not, doth but vainely thinke that he
<PB N="10" REF="7"> loves God, and therefore vainely hope that God loves him.</P>
<P>Where almo&s;t are the men that are or will be per&s;waded the Go&s;pell of Chri&s;t requires of men <HI>Humilitie,</HI> like to that of <HI>little Children,</HI> and that under the highe&s;t paine of damna|tion? That is, that we &s;hould no more over-value our &s;elves, or de&s;ire to be highly e&s;teemed by others, no more under|value, &s;corn, or de&s;pi&s;e others, no more affect pre-eminence over others, then little children doe, before we have put that pride into them, which afterwards we charge wholy upon their naturall corruption&punc; and yet our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour re|quires nothing more Rigidly, nor more plainly then this high degree of humility;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>verily, &s;aith he, I &s;ay unto you,</HI> he &s;peakes to his di&s;ciples affecting high places, and demand|ing which of them &s;hould be greate&s;t, <HI>except ye be converted and become as little Children, ye &s;hall not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Would it not be &s;trange newes to a great many, that not onely <HI>adultery</HI> and <HI>fornication,</HI> but even <HI>uncleanene&s;&s;e</HI> and <HI>la&s;civiou&s;ne&s;&s;e;</HI> not onely <HI>idolatry,</HI> and <HI>witchcraft,</HI> but <HI>hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,</HI> and <HI>contentions,</HI> not onely <HI>mur|thers,</HI> but <HI>envying:</HI> not <HI>drunkenne&s;&s;e</HI> only, but <HI>revelling,</HI> are things prohibited to Chri&s;tians, and &s;uch as if we for&s;ake them not, we cannot inherit the Kingdome of Heaven? and yet the&s;e things, as &s;trange as they may &s;eeme, are plainely written; &s;ome of them by S. <HI>Peter,</HI> 1 <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 4. <HI>chap.</HI> But all of them by S. <HI>Paul, Gal.</HI> 5, 15. Now the workes of the fle&s;h are manife&s;t, which are the&s;e; <HI>adultery, fornication, uncleanene&s;se, la&s;civiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &amp;c. of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in times pa&s;t, that they who doe &s;uch things &s;hall not inherit the Kingdome of God.</HI></P>
<P>If I &s;hould tell you that al <HI>bitterne&s;&s;e</HI> and <HI>evill &s;peaking</HI> (nay &s;uch is the mode&s;ty and gravity which Chri&s;tianity requires of us) <HI>fooli&s;h talke and je&s;ting</HI> are things not allowed to Chri&s;tians, would not many cry out the&s;e are hard and &s;trange &s;ayings, who can heare them? and yet as &s;trange as
<PB N="11" REF="7"> they may &s;eeme, they have beene written well nigh 1600 yeares, and are yet extant in very legible Characters in the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Eph.</HI> the end of the 4. and the beginning of the 5 chap.</P>
<P>To come a little nearer to the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of our times, the chiefe Actors in this bloudy Tragedy, which is now upon the Stage, who have robb'd our Soveraign Lord the King of his Forts, Townes, Trea&s;ure, Ammunition, Hou&s;es, of the Per&s;ons of many of his Subjects, and (as much as lyes in them) of the hearts of all of them: Is it credible that they know and remember and con&s;ider the example of <HI>David</HI> re|corded for their in&s;truction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 24, 11.</NOTE> <HI>Who&s;e heart &s;mote him when he had but cut off the hemme of Sauls garment?</HI></P>
<P>They that make no &s;cruple at all of fighting with His Sa|cred Maje&s;ty, and &s;hooting Mu&s;quets and Ordnance at Him (which &s;ure have not the skill, to choo&s;e a Subject from a King) to the extreame hazard of his Sacred Per&s;on, whom by all po&s;&s;ible obligations they are bound to defend, do they know (think you) the generall rule without exception or li|mitation left by the Holy Gho&s;t for our direction in all &s;uch ca&s;es, <HI>Who can lift up his hand again&s;t the Lords Anoynted,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2 6 9. Prov. 24.21.</NOTE> <HI>and be innocent?</HI> or doe they con&s;ider his Command in the <HI>Proverbs of Solomon, My &s;onne feare God and the King, and meddle not with them that de&s;ire change?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccles. 8.2.</NOTE> Or his councell in the Booke of <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes, I councell thee to keepe the Kings Comman|dement, and that in regard of the Oath of God?</HI> or becau&s;e they po&s;&s;ibly may pretend that they are exempted from, or un|concerned in the commands of obedience delivered in the Old Te&s;tament, doe they know and remember the precept given to all Chri&s;tians by S. <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet, 2, 13</NOTE> <HI>Submit your &s;elves to every Ordinance of man, for the Lords &s;ake, whether it be to the King as Supreame, or unto Governors, as unto them that are &s;ent by him?</HI> or that terrible &s;anction of the &s;ame command,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13, 2.</NOTE> <HI>They that re&s;i&s;t &s;hall receive to them&s;elves damnation,</HI> left us by St. <HI>Paul</HI> in his Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Romans,</HI> who then were the mi&s;erable Subjects
<PB N="12" REF="8"> of the wor&s;t King, the wor&s;t man, nay, I think I may adde truly, the wor&s;t bea&s;t in the world, that &s;o all rebells mouths might be &s;topt for ever, and left without all colour or pre|tence what&s;oever to ju&s;tifie re&s;i&s;tance of Soveraign power. Undoubtedly if they did know and con&s;ider and lay clo&s;e to their hearts, the&s;e places of Scripture, or the fearefull judg|ment which befell <HI>Cora<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16.32.</NOTE> <HI>Dathan,</HI> and <HI>Ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ram,</HI> for this very &s;inne which now they commit and with a high hand &s;till proceed in, it would be impo&s;&s;ible but their hearts &s;hould &s;mite them, as <HI>Davids</HI> did, upon an infinitely le&s;&s;e occa&s;ion, and affright them out of tho&s;e wayes of pre&s;ent confu&s;ion, and eternall damnation. And then on the other &s;ide they that maintain the Kings righteous cau&s;e with the hazard of their lives and fortunes; but by their oathes and cur&s;es, by their drunkenne&s;&s;e, and debauchery, by their irreligion and prophanne&s;&s;e, fight more powerfully again&s;t their partie, then by all other meanes they doe or can fight for it, are not I feare very well acquainted with any part of the Bible; but that &s;trict caution which properly concerns them&s;elves in the booke of <HI>Deut.</HI> 23.9. I much doubt they have &s;carce ever heard of it, <HI>When thou goe&s;t to Wars with thine Enemies, then take heed there be no wicked thing in thee,</HI> not only no wickedne&s;&s;e in the cau&s;e thou maintaine&s;t, nor no wickedne&s;&s;e in the means by which thou maintaine&s;t it, but no per&s;onall impieties in the per&s;ons that maintaine it. Beloved for the former two, we have rea&s;on to be full of comfort and confidence; For what is our cau&s;e? What is that which you fight, and we pray for? but to deliver the King and all his good Sub|jects out of the power of their Enemies, who will have no peace but with their &s;laves and va&s;&s;alls? and for the meanes by which it is maintained, it is not by lying, it is not by calumnies, it is not by running fir&s;t our &s;elves, and then forceing the people to univer&s;all perjury; but by a ju&s;t war, becau&s;e nece&s;&s;ary, and by as faire and mercifull a Warre as if they were not Rebells and Traitors you fight again&s;t,
<PB N="13" REF="8"> but Competitors in a doubtfull Title. But now for the third part of the caution, that, to deale ingenuou&s;ly with you, and to deliver my owne &s;oule, If I cannot other mens, that I cannot think of with halfe &s;o much comfort as the former; but &s;eeing &s;o many <HI>Iona&s;ses</HI> imbarqued in the &s;ame &s;hip, the &s;ame cau&s;e with us, and &s;o many <HI>Achan's</HI> entering into Battel with us again&s;t the <HI>Canaanites,</HI> &s;eeing Publicans and &s;inners on the one &s;ide, again&s;t Scribes and Phari&s;ees on the other; on the one &s;ide Hypocri&s;y, on the other pro|phanne&s;&s;e, no hone&s;ty nor ju&s;tice on the one &s;ide, and very little piety on the other; On the one &s;ide horrible oathes, cur&s;es, and bla&s;phemies; On the other pe&s;tilent lyes, ca|lumnies, and perjury: When I &s;ee among&s;t them the pre|tence of reformation, if not the de&s;ire, pur&s;ued by Anti|chri&s;tian, Mahumetan, devilli&s;h meanes; and among&s;t us little or no zeale for reformation of what is indeed ami&s;&s;e, little or no care to remove the cau&s;e of Gods anger towards us, by ju&s;t, lawfull, and Chri&s;tian meanes; I profe&s;&s;e plainly I cannot without trembling con&s;ider what is likely to be the event of the&s;e di&s;tractions; I cannot but feare that the good|ne&s;&s;e of our cau&s;e may &s;inke under the burthen of our &s;inns: And that God in his ju&s;tice, becau&s;e we will not &s;uffer his Judgements to acheive their prime &s;cope and intention, which is our amendment and reformation, may either deli|ver us up to the blind zeale and fury of our Enemies; or el&s;e, which I rather feare, make us in&s;truments of his ju&s;tice each again&s;t other, and of our owne ju&s;t and de&s;erved confu&s;ion. This I profe&s;&s;e plainly is my feare, and I would to God it were likewi&s;e the feare of every Souldier in His Maje&s;ties Army; but that which increa&s;eth my feare is, that I &s;ee very many of them have very little or none at all: I meane not that they are fearele&s;&s;e towards their Enemies, (that's our joy and Triumph) but that they &s;hew their courage even a|gain&s;t God, and feare not him, whom it is madne&s;&s;e not to feare. Now from whence can their not fearing him proceed;
<PB N="14" REF="9"> but from their not knowing him, their not knowing his will and their owne duty? not knowing how highly it concerns Souldiers, above other profe&s;&s;ions to be religious, and then if ever when they are engaged in dangerous adventures, and every moment have their lives in their hands, <HI>When they goe to Warre with their Enemies, then to take heed there be no wicked thing in them.</HI></P>
<P>You &s;ee, beloved, how many in&s;tances and examples I have given you of our gro&s;&s;e ignorance of what is nece&s;&s;ary and ea&s;ie for us to know, and to the&s;e it were no difficult matter to adde more. Now from whence can this ignorance proceed, but from &s;upine negligence? and from whence this negligence, but from our not believing what we pretend to believe? For did we believe firmly and heartily, that this Booke were given us by God for the rule of our Actions, and that obedience to it were the certaine and only way to eternall happine&s;&s;e, it were impo&s;&s;ible we &s;hould be &s;uch e|nemies to our &s;elves, &s;uch Traytors to our owne &s;oules, as not to &s;earch it at lea&s;t with &s;o much diligence, that no ne|ce&s;&s;ary point of our duty plainly taught in it could po&s;&s;i|bly e&s;cape us. But it is certain, and apparent to all the world, that the greate&s;t part of Chri&s;tians, through gro&s;&s;e and wilfull negligence remaine utterly ignorant of many nece&s;&s;ary points of their duty to God, and man: and there|fore it is much to be feared, that this booke, and the Reli|gion of Chri&s;t contained in it, among an infinite of profe&s;|&s;ours, labours with great penury of true beleivers.</P>
<P>It were an ea&s;ie matter (if the time would permit) to pre&s;ent unto you many other demon&s;trations of the &s;ame conclu&s;ion; but to this drawn from our willing ignorance of that which is ea&s;ie and nece&s;&s;ary for us to know, I will content my &s;elf to adde only one more taken from our vo|luntary and pre&s;umptuous neglect to doe tho&s;e things which we know and acknowledge to be nece&s;&s;ary.</P>
<P>If a man &s;hould &s;ay unto me that it concerns him as much
<PB N="15" REF="9"> as his life is worth, to goe pre&s;ently to &s;uch a place, and that he knowes but one way to it, and I &s;hould &s;ee him &s;tand &s;till or goe &s;ome other way, had I any rea&s;on to believe that this man believes him&s;elfe? <HI>Quid verba audiam, cum facta videam?</HI> &s;aith he in the Comedy. <HI>Pote&s;tatio contra factum non valet,</HI> &s;aith the Law: and why &s;hould I believe, that, that man believes obedience to Chri&s;t the onely way to pre&s;ent and eternall happine&s;&s;e, when I &s;ee wittingly, and willingly and con&s;tantly, and cu&s;tomarily to di&s;obey him? The time was that we all knew that the King could reward tho&s;e that did him &s;ervice, and puni&s;h tho&s;e that did di&s;-&s;ervice, and then all men were ready to obey his commands, and he was a rare man that dur&s;t doe any thing to his face that offended him. Beloved, if we did but believe in God, &s;o much as mo&s;t &s;ubjects doe in their King, did we as verily believe, that God could and would make us perfectly happy if wee &s;erve him, though all the world con&s;pire to make us mi&s;e|rable, and that he could and would make us mi&s;erable if wee &s;erve him not, though al the world &s;hould con&s;pire to make us happy, how were it po&s;&s;ible that to &s;uch a faith our lives &s;hould not be comformable? Who was there ever &s;o madly in love with a pre&s;ent penny, as to run the lea&s;t hazard of the lo&s;&s;e of 10000 li. a yeare to gaine it, or not readily to part with it upon any probable hope or light per&s;wa&s;ion, much more a firme beliefe that by doing &s;o he &s;hould gaine 100000 li. Now beloved, the happine&s;&s;e which the &s;ervants of Chri&s;t are promi&s;ed in the Scripture, wee all pretend to believe, that it exceedes the conjunction of all the good things of the world, and much more &s;uch a portion as wee may po&s;&s;ibly enjoy, infinitely more then 10000 li. a yeare, or 100000 li. doth a penny, for 100000 li. is but a penny &s;o many times over, and 10000 li. a yeare is worth but a certaine number of pence; but betweene Heaven and Earth, betweene finite and infinite, betweene Eternity and a moment, there is utterly no proportion, and therefore &s;ee|ing
<PB N="16" REF="10"> we are &s;o apt upon trifling occa&s;ions, to hazard this Heaven for this Earth, this infinite for this finite, this all for this nothing; is it not much to be feared, that though many of us pretend too much faith, we have indeed very lit|tle or none at al? The &s;um of all which hath bin &s;poken con|cerning this point is this. Were we firmely per&s;waded that obedience to the Go&s;pell of Chri&s;t, is the true and onely way to pre&s;ent and eternall happine&s;&s;e (without which faith no man living can be Ju&s;tified) then the innate de&s;ire of our owne happine&s;&s;e could not but make us &s;tudious inquirers of the will of Chri&s;t, and con&s;cionable performers of it: but there are (as experience &s;hewes) very few, who make it their care and bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to know the will of Chri&s;t, and of tho&s;e few againe, very many, who make no con&s;cience at all of doing what they know; therfore though they profe&s;&s;e &amp; prote&s;t they have faith, yea their prote&s;tations are not to be regarded again&s;t their actions, but we may &s;afely and rea&s;o|nably conclude what was to be concluded, That the Do|ctrine of Chri&s;t among&s;t an infinite of profe&s;&s;ors labours with great &s;carcitie of true, and &s;erious, and hearty belie|vers, and that herein al&s;o we accompli&s;h St. <HI>Pauls</HI> predicti|on, <HI>having a forme of godline&s;&s;e, but denying the power &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But perhaps the truth and reality of our repentance may make &s;ome kind of &s;atisfaction to God Almighty for our hypocriticall dallying with him in all the re&s;t; truly I &s;hould be heartily glad it were &s;o: but I am &s;o farre from being of this faith, that herein I feare we are mo&s;t of all hy|pocriticall, and that the generality of profe&s;&s;ors is &s;o farre from a reall practice of true repentance, that &s;carce one it an hundred under&s;tands truely what it is.</P>
<P>Some &s;atisfie them&s;elves with a bare confe&s;&s;ion and ac|knowledgement, either that that they are &s;inners in general, or that they have committed &s;uch and &s;uch &s;innes in parti|cular, which acknowledgement comes not yet from the heart of a great many, but only from their lips and tongues:
<PB N="17" REF="10"> For how many are there, that doe rather complaine and murmure that they are &s;inners, then acknowledge and con|fe&s;&s;e it? and make it upon the matter rather their unhappi|ne&s;&s;e and misfortune, then their true fault, that they are &s;o? &s;uch are all they who impute all their commi&s;&s;ions of e|vill to the unavoydable want of <HI>restraining grace,</HI> and all their omi on of good to the like want of <HI>effectuall exciting grace.</HI> All &s;uch as pretend that the Commandements of God are impo&s;&s;ible to be kept any better then they are kept, and thus the world, the fle&s;h, and the divell are even omni|potent enemies, and that God neither doth nor will give &s;ufficient &s;trength to re&s;i&s;t and overcome them. All &s;uch as lay al their faults upon <HI>Adam</HI> &amp; &s;ay with tho&s;e rebellious I&s;|raelities (whom God a&s;&s;ures that they neither had nor &s;hould have ju&s;t rea&s;on to &s;ay &s;o) <HI>That their Fathers had ea|ten &s;owre grapes, and their teeth were &s;et on edge.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 18.2.</NOTE> La&s;tly all &s;uch as lay all their &s;innes upon <HI>divine pre&s;cience,</HI> and <HI>prede|stination,</HI> &s;aying with their tongues, O what wretched &s;inners have we beene; but in their hearts, how could we helpe it, we were prede&s;tinate to it, we could not doe otherwi&s;e?</P>
<P>All &s;uch as &s;eriou&s;ly &s;o per&s;wade them&s;elves, and thinke to hide nakedne&s;&s;e with &s;uch fig-leaves as the&s;e, can no more be &s;aid to acknowledge them&s;elves guilty of a fault, then a man that is borne blind or lame, with the &s;tone or gout can accu&s;e him&s;elfe of any fault for being borne &s;o; well may &s;uch a one complaine and bemoan him&s;elfe, and &s;ay, O wretched man that I am who &s;hall deliver me from this un|happine&s;&s;e? But &s;uch a complaint is as farre from be|ing a true acknowledgement of any fault, as a bare acknowledgement of a fault is farre from true repen|tance: for to confe&s;&s;e a fault is to acknowledge that free|ly and willingly without any con&s;traint, or unavoydable nece&s;&s;ity, wee have tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed the law of God, it being in our Power by Gods grace to have done other|wi&s;e.</P>
<PB N="18" REF="11">
<P>To aggravate this fault, is to confe&s;&s;e we have done &s;o when we might ea&s;ily have avoyded it, and had no great nor violent temptation to it; to pretend any great difficultie in the matter is to excu&s;e and extenuate it: but to &s;ay that all things con&s;idered, it was ab&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible for you to a|voyd it, is flatly to deny it. Others there are that think they have done enough, if to confe&s;&s;ion of &s;inne they adde &s;ome &s;orrow for it; if when the pre&s;ent fit of &s;in is pa&s;t, and they are returned to them&s;elves, the &s;ting remaining breed &s;om re|mor&s;e of con&s;cience, &s;ome complaints again&s;t their wicked|ne&s;&s;e and folly for having done &s;o, and &s;ome intentions to for&s;ake it, though vani&s;hing and ineffectuall. The&s;e heat-drops, this morning dew of &s;orrow, though it pre&s;ently va|ni&s;h, and they return to their &s;in againe upon the next temp|tation,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word">. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>as a dog to his vomit,</HI> when the pang is over; yet in the pau&s;es betweene, while they are in their good mood, they conceive them&s;elves to have very true, and very good repen|tance; &s;o that if they &s;hould have the good fortune to be taken away in one of the&s;e <HI>Intervalla,</HI> one of the&s;e &s;ober moods, they &s;hould certainly be &s;aved; which is ju&s;t as if a man in a quartane Ague, or the &s;tone, or gout, &s;hould think him&s;elfe rid of his di&s;ea&s;e, as oft as he is out of his fit.</P>
<P>But if repentance were no more but &s;o; how could S. <HI>Paul</HI> have truely &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.10.</NOTE> <HI>that godly &s;orrow worketh repentance?</HI> every man knowes that nothing can worke it &s;elfe. The Architect is not the hou&s;e which he builds, the Father is not the Son which he begets, the Trade&s;man is not the worke which be makes; and therefore if &s;orrow, godly &s;orrow, worketh re|pentance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> certainly &s;orrow is not repentance: the &s;ame S. <HI>Paul</HI> tells us in the &s;ame place, <HI>that the &s;orrow of the world work|eth death,</HI> and you will give me leave to conclude from hence, therefore it is not death, and what &s;hall hinder me from concluding thus al&s;o? Godly &s;orrow worketh repentance, therefore it is not repentance.</P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e it is worth the ob&s;erving, that when the
<PB N="19" REF="11"> Scripture &s;peakes of that kind of repentance, which is one|ly &s;orrow for &s;omething done, and wi&s;hing it undone, it con&s;tantly u&s;eth the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, to which forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;innes is no where promi&s;ed. So it is written of <HI>Judas</HI> the &s;on of perdition, <HI>Mat.</HI> 27, 5. <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>he repented and went and hanged him&s;elfe,</HI> and &s;o con&s;tantly in other places. But that repentance to which remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins and &s;alvation is promi&s;ed is perpetually expre&s;&s;ed by the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, which &s;ignifies a through change of the heart and &s;oule, of the life and actions, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Mat.</HI> 3, 2. which is rendred in our la&s;t tran&s;lation, <HI>Repent for the King|dome of heaven is at hand:</HI> But much better, becau&s;e freer from ambiguitie in the entrance to our <HI>Common Prayer Book. A|mend your lives, for the Kingdome of heaven is at hand.</HI> From whence by the way we may ob&s;erve, that in the judgement of tho&s;e holy and learned Martyrs, <HI>repentance and amendment of life</HI> are all one: And I would to God the &s;ame men, out of the &s;ame care of avoyding mi&s;takes, and to take away oc|ca&s;ion of cavilling our Liturgy from them that &s;eeke it, and out of feare of encourageing carnall men to &s;ecurity in &s;in|ning, had beene &s;o provident, as to &s;et downe in termes the fir&s;t &s;entence taken out of the 18 of <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> and not have put in the place of it an ambiguous, and (though not in it &s;elfe, yet accidentally, by rea&s;on of the mi&s;take to which it is &s;ubject,) I feare very often a pernitious paraphra&s;e; for whereas thus they make it: <HI>At what time &s;oever a Sinner doth repent him of his &s;ins from the bottome of his heart, I will put out all his wickedne&s;&s;e out of my remembrance, &s;aith the Lord;</HI> The plain truth, if you will heare it, is, the Lord doth not &s;ay &s;o, the&s;e are not the very words of God, but the paraphra&s;e of men: the words of God are as followeth&mdash;<HI>If the wicked turne from all the &s;ins which he hath committed, and keepe all my &s;tatutes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 18.21.</NOTE> <HI>and do that which is lawfull &amp; right, he &s;hall &s;urely live, he &s;hall not dye;</HI> where I hope you ea&s;ily ob&s;erve, that there is no &s;uch word as&mdash;<HI>At what time &s;oever a &s;inner doth repent, &amp;c.</HI> and that there
<PB N="20" REF="12"> is a wide difference betweene this (as the word <HI>repent</HI> u&s;ually &s;ounds in the eares of the people) and turning from all &s;innes, and keeping all Gods &s;tatutes, that indeed having no more in it but &s;orrow and good purpo&s;es, may be done ea&s;ily and certainely at the la&s;t ga&s;pe, and it is very &s;trange that any Chri&s;tian, who dyes in his right &s;en&s;es, and knowes the difference betweene heaven and hell, &s;hould faile of the performing it: but this worke of turning, keep|ing, and doing is (though not impo&s;&s;ible by extraordinarie mercy to be performed at la&s;t) yet ordinarily a worke of time, a long and a laborious worke (but yet heaven is very well worth it) and if you meane to goe through with it, you had need goe about it pre&s;ently. Yet &s;eeing the Compo&s;ers of our Liturgy thought fit to abreviate, <HI>Turning from all &s;inne, and keeping all Gods &s;tatutes, and doing that which is law|full and right,</HI> into this one word <HI>repenting,</HI> it is ea&s;ie and ob|vious to collect from hence, as I did before, from the other place, that by repentance they under&s;tood not only &s;orrow for &s;inne, but conver&s;ion from it. The &s;ame word <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Mat.</HI> 12, 42. is u&s;ed in &s;peaking of the the repentance of the <HI>Ninivites,</HI> and how reall, hearty, and effectuall a conver&s;ion that was, you may &s;ee <HI>Jonas</HI> 3, from the 5 to the la&s;t ver&s;e: <HI>The people of</HI> Ninive <HI>beleeved God, and put on &s;ackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them, for word came to the King of</HI> Ninive, <HI>and he aro&s;e from his throne, and he cast his Robe from him, and covered him with &s;ackcloth, and &s;ate in a&s;hes; and he cau&s;ed it to be proclaimed and publi&s;hed throughout</HI> Ninive, <HI>by the decree of the King and of his nobles, &s;aying, Let neither man nor bea&s;t, heard, nor flock, ta&s;te any thing, let them not feed nor drinke water, but let man and bea&s;t be covered with &s;ackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea let every one turne from his evill way, and from the violence which is in their hands; who can tell if God will turne and repent, and turne away his fierce anger that we peri&s;h not?</HI></P>
<P>Which words containe an excellent and lively patterne
<PB N="21" REF="12"> for all true penitents to follow, and whereunto to conform them&s;elves in their humiliation and repentance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ionah 3, 4.</NOTE> And truly though there be no <HI>Ionas</HI> &s;ent expre&s;&s;ly from God to cry unto us, <HI>Yet forty dayes and Nineveh &s;hall be de&s;troyed;</HI> yet &s;eeing the mouth of eternall truth hath taught us, that <HI>a Kingdome divided</HI> is in &s;uch danger of ruine and de&s;truction, that, morally &s;peaking, if it continue divided it cannot &s;tand, and &s;eeing the &s;trange and mi&s;erable condition of our Nati|on at this time, may give any con&s;iderable man ju&s;t cau&s;e to feare, that as in <HI>Rehoboams</HI> ca&s;e, &s;o likewi&s;e in ours,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King 12, 24.</NOTE> <HI>The thing is of the Lord,</HI> intending to bring his heavy judgement upon us, for our great &s;innes, and our &s;tupid, and &s;tupendious &s;ecurity in &s;inning, and to make us in&s;truments of his de|&s;igned vengeance, one upon another, peraduenture it would be a &s;ea&s;onable and nece&s;&s;ary motion to be made to our King and his Nobles, to revive this old <HI>Proclamation</HI> of the King of <HI>Nineveh,</HI> and to &s;end it with authority through His Maje&s;ties dominions, and to try whether it will produce &s;ome good effect: <HI>who can tell if God will turne and repent, and turne away from his fierce anger, that we peri&s;h not?</HI> Who can tell whether he that hath the hearts of King and people in his hand, and turneth them whither&s;oever he thinketh be&s;t, may not upon our repentance take our extreamity for his opportunity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Kuk. 19, 42.</NOTE> and at la&s;t open our eyes that we <HI>may &s;ee tho&s;e things that belong to our peace,</HI> and &s;hew us the way of Peace, which hitherto we have not known: but this by the way, for my purpo&s;e I ob&s;erve that this repentance, which, when the &s;word of God was drawne, and his arme advanced for a blow, &s;tayed his hand, and &s;heathed his &s;word againe, was not a meere &s;orrow for their &s;innes, and a purpo&s;e to leave them, nay it was not only laying a&s;ide their gallantry and bravery, and putting on &s;ack-cloath and &s;itting in a&s;hes, and crying mightily unto God, of which yet we are come very &s;hort: but it was al&s;o and that chiefly, their uniuer&s;all tur|ning from their evill way, which above all the re&s;t was pre|valent
<PB N="22" REF="13"> and effectuall with God Almighty, for &s;o it is writ|ten. <HI>And god &s;aw their works that they turned from their evill way,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">nah 3.10.</NOTE> <HI>and God repented him of the evill that he &s;ayd he would doe, and he did it not.</HI></P>
<P>In the go&s;pell of S. <HI>Luke,</HI> cap. 24. The condition of the new Covenant, to which remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes is promi&s;ed, is expre&s;&s;ed by the word <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Thus it behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer and to ri&s;e from the dead, and that</HI> (<GAP DESC="foreign">) <HI>Repentance and re|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes &s;hould be preached in his name,</HI> which place if ye compare with that in the Go&s;pell of S. <HI>Matthew.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.29.</NOTE> <HI>Go teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Sonne, and of the holy Ghost, teaching them to ob&s;erve all what&s;oe|ver I &s;hall command you.</HI> It will be no difficulty to collect, that what our Saviour calls in one place <GAP DESC="foreign">, repentance, that he cals in another ob&s;erving all that he hath comman|ded; which if repentance were no more but &s;orrow for &s;in, and intending to leave it, certainly he never could nor would have done. And as little could S. <HI>Paul Act.</HI> 20.21. profe&s;&s;e that the whole matter of his preaching was nothing el&s;e but <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> It being manife&s;t in his Epi&s;tles, he preaches and pre&s;&s;es every where, the nece&s;&s;ity of mortification, re|generation, new, and &s;incere obedience, all which are evi|dently not contained under the head of <HI>Faith,</HI> and therfore it is evident he comprized all the&s;e under the name of <HI>Re|pentance.</HI></P>
<P>In which words moreover it is very con&s;iderable, as al&s;o in another place, <HI>Heb.</HI> 6. where among the fundamentalls of Chri&s;tianity the fir&s;t place is given to <GAP DESC="foreign"> I &s;ay it is very con&s;iderable, that though the word may not very ab&s;olutely be rendred repentance, yet we &s;hall doe much right to the place and make them much more cleare and intelligible, if in &s;tead of <HI>Repentance</HI> we had put <HI>conver&s;ion</HI> as it is in &s;ome of the be&s;t Latine tran&s;lations: &s;o for example, if in&s;tead of <HI>repentance to God Act.</HI> 20. and <HI>re|pentance
<PB N="23" REF="13"> from dead works</HI> in the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Heb.</HI> which our Engli&s;h tongue will hardly beare; we &s;hould reade <HI>conver&s;ion to God, and conver&s;ion from dead workes,</HI> every one &s;ees it would be more per&s;picuous and more naturall, whereas on the o|ther &s;ide if in &s;tead of repentance we &s;hould &s;ub&s;titute &s;orrow (as every true and genuine interpretation may with advan|tage to the clearene&s;&s;e of the &s;en&s;e be put in place of the word interpreted) and read the places <HI>&s;orrow towards God, and &s;orrow from dead workes,</HI> it is apparent that this reading would be unnaturall, and almo&s;t ridiculous, which is a great argument that <GAP DESC="foreign">, to which forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;innes is pro|mi&s;ed in the Go&s;pell, is not only &s;orrow for &s;inne, but conver&s;ion from &s;inne.</P>
<P>And yet if it be not &s;o, but that Heaven may be purcha|&s;ed at ea&s;ier, and cheaper rates: how comes it to pa&s;&s;e that in the new Te&s;tament, we are &s;o plainly and &s;o frequently a&s;&s;u|red, that without actuall, and effectuall amendment, and newne&s;&s;e of life, without actuall, and effectual mortification, regeneration, &s;anctification, there is no hope, no po&s;&s;ibili|ty of Salvation?</P>
<P><HI>Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and ca&s;t into the fire,</HI> So S. <HI>John</HI> Bapti&s;t preaches repentance; it is not then the leaves of a faire profe&s;&s;ion, no nor the blo&s;&s;oms of good purpo&s;es and intentions, but the fruite, the fruit on|ly that can &s;ave us from the fire, neither is it enough not to bear ill fruit, unle&s;&s;e we bring forth good. <HI>Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and ca&s;t into the fire.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Not every one that &s;ayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, &s;hall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven, &s;o our Saviour Matth.</HI> 7 21. And againe after he had delivered his mo&s;t divine precepts in his Ser|mon on the mount (which Sermon contains the &s;ub&s;tance of the Go&s;pell of Chri&s;t:) he clo&s;eth up all with &s;aying: <HI>he that heareth the&s;e &s;ayings of mine</HI> and doth them not) and yet the&s;e were the harde&s;t &s;ayings that ever he &s;ayed (<HI>I will liken
<PB N="24" REF="14"> him to a fooli&s;h man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7, 26.27.</NOTE> <HI>which built his hou&s;e upon the &s;and, that is, the hope of Salvation</HI> upon a &s;andy and fal&s;e ground; <HI>when the rain de&s;cended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that hou&s;e, it fell, and great was the fall of it.</HI></P>
<P><HI>They that are Chri&s;ts have crucified the fle&s;h with the affections and lu&s;ts.</HI> So S. <HI>Paul.</HI> Gal. 5.24. they then that have not done &s;o, nor crucified the fle&s;h with the affections and lu&s;ts, let them be as &s;orrowfull as they plea&s;e, let them intend what they plea&s;e, they as yet are none of Chri&s;ts, and good Lord what a multitude of Chri&s;tians then are there in the world that doe not belong to Chri&s;t?</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.19.20.21.</NOTE><HI>The workes of the fle&s;h</HI> &s;ayeth the &s;ame S. <HI>Paul, are manife&s;t, which are the&s;e, Adultery, Fornication, Vncleanne&s;se, La&s;civiou&s;|ne&s;se, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Here&s;ies, Envyings, Murthers, Drunkenne&s;se, revellings, of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in times pa&s;t, that they which doe &s;uch things &s;hall not inherit the Kingdom of God.</HI> He doth not &s;ay, they which have done &s;uch things &s;hall not be &s;aved, but manife&s;tly to the contrary&mdash;<HI>Such were &s;ome of you, but ye are wa&s;hed, but you are &s;anctified:</HI> but he &s;ays; they <HI>which doe</HI> &s;uch things, and without amendment of life &s;hall continue doing them, &s;hall not be excu&s;ed, by any pretence of &s;orrow and good purpo&s;es. <HI>They &s;hall not inherite the Kingdome of Heaven.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6, 9.10.</NOTE>And againe in another Epi&s;tle, <HI>know ye not that the unrigh|teous &s;hall not inherit the Kingdom of God? be not deceived; nei|ther fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor abu&s;ers of them|&s;elves with mankinde, nor Theeves, nor covetous, nor Drunkards, nor revilers &s;hall inherite the Kingdome of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.15.</NOTE></P>
<P><HI>In Chri&s;t Ie&s;us</HI> (&s;aith the &s;ame Saint <HI>Paul</HI> in other places) <HI>nothing availeth but faith: nothing but a new creature, nothing but keeping the Commandements of God;</HI> it is not then a wi&s;hing but a working faith, not wi&s;hing you were a new creature; nor &s;orrowing you are not, but being a new creature, not wi&s;hing you had kept, not &s;orrowing you bare not kept, nor purpo&s;eing vainly to keepe, but keeping his Comman|dements
<PB N="25" REF="14"> mu&s;t prevaile with him.</P>
<P><HI>Follow peace with all men and holine&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.14.</NOTE> &s;aith the Divine Author of the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Heb.) without which no man &s;hal &s;ee the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Saint <HI>Peter</HI> in his 2. Epi&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.5.6.7.8.9.</NOTE> commends unto us a golden chaine of Chri&s;tian perfections, con&s;i&s;ting of the&s;e linkes, <HI>Faith, vertue, knowledge, Temperance, patience, godline&s;&s;e, bro|therly kindne&s;se, charity: and then addes&mdash;He that lacketh the&s;e things is blind, and knoweth not that he was purged from his old &s;innes,</HI> Let his &s;orrow be never &s;o great, and his de&s;ires ne|ver &s;o good, yet if he lacke the&s;e things, he is blind, and <HI>was purged</HI> from his old &s;innes, <HI>but is not.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly Saint <HI>Iohn, he that hath this hope purifieth him&s;elfe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 3.3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> <HI>e|ven as he is pure,</HI> the meaning is not with the &s;ame degree of purity, for that is impo&s;&s;ible, but with the &s;ame kind, the &s;ame truth of purity, he that doth not purify him&s;elfe, may, nay doth flatter him&s;elfe, and without warrant pre&s;ume up|on Gods favour, but <HI>this hope</HI> he hath not; and againe, <HI>Lit|tle Children, let no man deceive you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 3.7.</NOTE> <HI>he that doth righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is righteous, even as he is righteous;</HI> And thus you &s;ee all the divine Writers of the New Te&s;tament with one con&s;ent and one mouth proclaime the nece&s;&s;ity of reall holine&s;&s;e, and la|bour together to di&s;inchant us from this vaine phan&s;y, that men may be &s;aved, by &s;orrowing for their &s;inne and inten|ding to leave it, without effectuall conver&s;ion and reforma|tion of life, which, it may well be feared, hath &s;ent thou&s;ands of &s;oules to hell in a golden dreame of Heaven.</P>
<P>But is not this to preach workes as the Papi&s;ts doe? no certainly; it is not; but to preach workes as Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles doe it is to preach the nece&s;&s;ity of them, which no good Prote&s;tant, no good Chri&s;tian ever denied, but is is not to preach the merit of them which is the error of the Papi&s;ts.</P>
<P>But is it not to preach the Law in time of the Go&s;pell? no certainly it is not: for the Law forgives no &s;innes but requireth exact obedience, &amp; <HI>cur&s;eth</HI> every one which from
<PB N="26" REF="15"> the beginning to the end of his life, <HI>continueth not in all things which are written in the Law to do them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.10.</NOTE> but the Go&s;pel &s;ayes, &amp; accordingly I have &s;aid unto you, that there is mercy alwayes in &s;tore, for tho&s;e <HI>who know the day of their vi&s;itation,</HI> and for|&s;ake their &s;ins in time of mercy, and that God will pardon their imperfections in the progre&s;&s;e of holine&s;&s;e, who mi&s;call not pre&s;umptuous and deliberate &s;ins by the name of imper|fections; but &s;eriou&s;ly and truly endeavour to be perfect; onely I forewarne you that you mu&s;t never looke to be ad|mitted to the wedding fea&s;t of the Kings Son, either in the impure rags of any cu&s;tomary &s;inne, or without the <HI>wedding garment</HI> of Chri&s;tian holine&s;&s;e; onely I forewarne you that who&s;oever lookes to be made partaker of the joyes of hea|ven, mu&s;t make it the chiefe, if not the onely bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of his life, to know the will of God and to doe it; that <HI>great violence</HI> is required by our Saviour for the taking of this Kingdome, that the race we are to run is a long race, the building we are to erect is a great building, and will hardly, very hardly be fini&s;hed in a day, that the worke we have to doe of mortifying all vices; and acquiring all Chri&s;tian ver|tues, is a long worke; we may ea&s;ily deferre it too long, we cannot po&s;&s;ibly begin it too &s;oone. Onely I would per&s;wade you, and I hope I have done, that that repentance which is not effectuall to true and timely conver&s;ion, will never be a|vailable unto eternall &s;alvation. And if I have proved unto you that this is indeed the nature of true repentance, then certainly I have proved withall, that that repentance where|with the generality of Chri&s;tians content them&s;elves, not|with&s;tanding their great profe&s;&s;ions what they are, and their glorious prote&s;tations of what they intend to be, is not the <HI>power</HI> but the <HI>forme;</HI> not the truth but the &s;hadow of true re|pentance, and that herein al&s;o we accompli&s;h Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> prediction, having a <HI>forme of godline&s;&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And now what remaines but that (as I &s;aid in the begin|ning,) I &s;hould humbly intreat and earne&s;tly exhort every
<PB N="27" REF="15"> man that hath heard me this day, to confute in his particu|lar what I have proved true in the generall. To take care that the &s;inne of formality, though it be the &s;inne of our times, may yet not be the &s;in of our per&s;ons, that we &s;atisfie not our &s;elves with the &s;hadowes of Religion, without the &s;ub|&s;tance of it, nor with the <HI>forme of godline&s;&s;e</HI> without the <HI>power</HI> of it.</P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e I &s;hall be&s;eech you to con&s;ider, that though &s;acrificing, burning incen&s;e, celebrating of &s;et fe&s;ti|valls, praying, fa&s;ting, and &s;uch like, were under the Law, the &s;ervice of God commanded by him&s;elfe, yet when&s;oever they proceeded not from, nor were joyned with the &s;inceri|ty of an hone&s;t heart, he profe&s;&s;eth frequently almo&s;t in all the Prophets, not onely his &s;corne and contempt of them all, as fond, empty, and ridiculous; but al&s;o his hating, loath|ing, and dete&s;ting of them as abominable and impious.</P>
<P><HI>The Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to God,</HI> Prov. 15, 8. <HI>What have I to doe with the multitude of your Sacrifices? &s;aith the Lord,</HI> E&s;ay the fir&s;t, <HI>I am full of the burnt offerings of Rams, and of the fat of fed beasts, when ye come to appeare before me, who requi|red this at your hands? Bring no more vaine oblations: Incen&s;e is an abomination to me, I cannot &s;uffer your new moones, nor &s;abbaths, nor &s;olemne dayes, it is iniquity, even your &s;olemne a&s;&s;emblies: My &s;oule hateth your new moones, and your appoynted feasts, they are a burthen to me, I am weary to beare them; and when you &s;hall &s;tretch out your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, and though you make many prayers I will not heare, for your hands are full of blood.</HI></P>
<P>And againe, <HI>I&s;a,</HI> 66, 3. <HI>He that kills an Oxe is a if he &s;lew a man, he that &s;acrificeth a Lambe as if he cut off a Dogs necke, he that offereth an oblation as if he offered Swines fle&s;h, he that burned incen&s;e, as if he ble&s;sed an Idoll;</HI> and what's the rea&s;on of this &s;trange aver&s;ion of God from his owne Ordinances? it fol|lowes in the next words, <HI>they have cho&s;en their owne wayes, and their &s;oule delighteth in their abominations.</HI></P>
<P>Terrible are the words which he &s;pe keth to the &s;ame pur|po&s;e
<PB N="28" REF="16"> in the prophecie of <HI>Amos,</HI> chap. 5. v. 21, 22, 23. <HI>I hate, I de&s;pi&s;e your fea&s;t dayes, and I will not &s;mell in your &s;olemne a&s;&s;emblies, though you offer me burnt offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your peace offerings.</HI></P>
<P>Now beloved, if this hypocri&s;ie, this re&s;ting in outward performances, were &s;o odious to God under the law, a reli|gion full of &s;hadowes, and ceremonies, certainely it will be much more odious to do &s;o under the Go&s;pell, a religion of much more &s;implicity, and exacting &s;o much the greater &s;incerity of the heart, even becau&s;e it disburdens the out|ward man of the performance of Legall rites and ob&s;ervan|ces. And therefore if we now under the Go&s;pell, &s;hall thinke to delude God Almighty, as <HI>Michall</HI> did <HI>Saul,</HI> with an Idoll hand&s;omely dre&s;t in &s;tead of the true <HI>David.</HI> If we &s;hall con|tent and plea&s;e our &s;elves, with being of &s;uch or &s;uch a Sect or profe&s;&s;ion, with going to Church, &s;aying, or hearing of Prayers, receiving of Sacraments, hearing, repeating, or preaching of Sermons, with zeale for Ceremonies, or zeale again&s;t them, or indeed with any thing be&s;ides con&s;tant pie|tie towards God, Loyalty and obedience towards our Sove|raigne, ju&s;tice and charity towards all our Neighbours, tem|perance, cha&s;tity, and &s;obriety towards our &s;elves, certain|ly we &s;hall one day find, that we have not mocked God, but our &s;elves, and that our portion among hypocrites &s;hall be greater, then theirs.</P>
<P>In the next place let me intreat you to con&s;ider the fear|full judgement which God hath particularly threatned to this very &s;inne of <HI>drawing nigh unto him with our lips, when our hearts are farre from him:</HI> It is the great judgement of being given over to <HI>the &s;pirit of &s;lumber and &s;ecuritie,</HI> the u&s;uall fore-runner of &s;peedy de&s;olation and de&s;truction, as we may &s;ee in the 29 <HI>chap.</HI> of <HI>E&s;aiah,</HI> from the 9 to the 14 <HI>ver&s;e, Stay your &s;elves and wonder, cry ye out, and cry, they are drunken but not with wine, they stagger but not with &s;trong drinke: for the Lord hath powered out upon you the &s;pirit of deepe &s;leepe, and
<PB N="29" REF="16"> hath clo&s;ed your eyes. The Prophets and your Rulers, the &s;eers hath he covered,</HI> and after, at the 14 <HI>ver&s;e, The wi&s;edome of their wi&s;e men &s;hall peri&s;h, and the under&s;tanding of their prudent men &s;hall be hidde.</HI> Certainely this judgement if ever it were up|on any people, we have cau&s;e to feare it is now upon us. For if the &s;pirit of <HI>deepe &s;leepe</HI> were not upon us, how could we &s;leepe &s;o &s;ecurely, even upon the brinke of the pit of per|dition? how could wee proceed on &s;o confidently in our mirth and jollity, nay in our crying &s;ins and horrible impi|eties, now when the hand of God is upon us, and wrath is gone out, and even ready to con&s;ume us? And if the wi&s;e|dome of our wi&s;e men were not peri&s;hed, how were it po&s;|&s;ible they &s;hould &s;o ob&s;tinately refu&s;e the &s;ecurity offered of our lawes, liberties, and religion by the Kings Oath, by his execrations on him&s;elfe, and his po&s;terity, in ca&s;e hee &s;hould violate it, by the oathes of all his Mini&s;ters, not to con&s;ent to, or be in&s;truments in &s;uch a violation, by the &s;o much de&s;ired <HI>Trienniall Parliament,</HI> from which no tran&s;|gre&s;&s;or can po&s;&s;ibly be &s;ecure; and in&s;tead of all this &s;ecu|rity, &s;eeke for it by a civill warre, the continuance whereof mu&s;t bring us to de&s;truction and de&s;olation, or el&s;e he hath deceived us by whom we are taught,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.25.</NOTE> <HI>That a Kingdome divi|ded again&s;t it &s;elfe cannot &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>Now what was the &s;inne which provoked this feare|full judgement? What but that which I have laboured to convince you of, and to di&s;&s;wade you from, even the &s;in of hypocri&s;ie? as we may &s;ee at the 12 ver&s;e: <HI>Wherefore &s;aith the Lord, fora&s;much as this people draw neare me with their mouth, and with their lips doe honour me, but have removed their hearts farre from me; and their feare towards me is taught by the precepts of men, therefore behold I will proceed to doe a mervailous worke a|mong&s;t them: for the wi&s;edome of their wi&s;e men &s;hall peri&s;h, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Con&s;ider, thirdly, what woes, and woes, and woes, our Saviour thunders out again&s;t the Scribes and Phari&s;ees for hypocri&s;ie, <HI>Woe be unto you Scribes and Phari&s;ees, Hypocrites,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.25.27.29.</NOTE>
<PB N="30" REF="17"> and again, and again, <HI>Woe be unto you Scribes and Phari&s;ees, Hy|pocrites:</HI> Beloved, if we be hypocrites as they were, <HI>Tithe mint and Cumin, and neglect the weighty matters of the Law, judge|ment and ju&s;tice, and mercy,</HI> as they did: <HI>Make long prayers, and under a pretence devoure Widowes hou&s;es,</HI> as they did: <HI>Wa&s;h the out&s;ide of the di&s;h and platter, while within we are full of ravening and wickedne&s;&s;e,</HI> write Gods Commandements very large and faire upon our <HI>Phylacteries,</HI> but &s;hut them quite out of our hearts: <HI>Build the Sepulchres of the old Prophets, and kill their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors,</HI> in fine, if we be like <HI>painted Sepulchres</HI> as they were, <HI>outwardly garni&s;hed and beautifull, but within full of dead mens bones and rottenne&s;&s;e,</HI> we are then to make accompt that all the&s;e woes belong to us and will one day over-take us.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider, la&s;tly, the terrible example of <HI>Ana<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">s</HI> and <HI>Sa|phira,</HI> and how they were &s;natcht away in the very act of their &s;inne, and that their fault was (as the Text tell us) that they lyed unto God. Beloved, we have done &s;o a thou&s;and thou&s;and times: our whole lives (if &s;incerely examined) would appeare, I feare, litttle le&s;&s;e but a perpetuall lye; hi|therto God hath beene mercifull to us, and given us time to repent, but let us not proceed &s;till in imitating their facts, le&s;t at length we be made partakers of their fall.</P>
<P>God of his infinite mercy prevent this in every one of us, even for his Sonne our Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t's &s;ake; by whom and with whom, in the unity of the holy Spirit, be all honour and glory to the eternall Father, world without end: <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
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