TO MY EVER most worthily honoured Lord, the Earl of NORWICH.  
My most honoured LORD:  
I Might not but tell the world, that this Sermon which was mine in the Pulpit, is Yours in the Press; your Lordship's will (which shall never be other than a command to me) fetches it forth into the Light before the fellows. Let me be branded with the Title of it, if I can think it worthy of the public view, in comparison of many accurate pieces of others, which I see content themselves daily to dye in the ear. Howsoever, if it may do good, I shall bless your Lordship for helping to advance my gain.  
Your noble and sincere true-heartednesse to your God, your King, your Country, your friend, is so well known, that it can be no disparagement to your Lordship to patronise this Hypocrite; whose very inscription might cast a blurr upon some guilty reputation. Go on still (most noble Lord) to be a great Example of virtue and fidelity to an hollow and untrusty Age: You shall not want either the acclamations or Prayers of  
Your Lordships ever devoted in all true duty, and observance. IOS. Exon.   

THE HYPOCRITE.  2. TIM. 5. 3. Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof. 
IT is an unperfect Clause, you see, but a perfect description of an Hypocrite; and that an Hypocrite of our own times, the last; which are so much the worse, by how much they partake more of the craft and diseases of age.  
The Prophets were the Seers of the old Testament, the Apostles were the Seers of the new; those saw Christ's day and rejoiced; these foresaw the reign of Antichrist and complained. These very times were as present to S. Paul, as to us; our sense doth not see them so clearly, as his revelation; I am with you in the spirit, (saith he to his absent Colossians) rejoicing and beholding your order, he doth as good as say to us, I am with you in the Spirit lamenting, and beholding your misdemeanours: By these divine Optics, he sees our formal piety, real wickedness; both which make up the complete Hypocrisy in my Text; Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof.  
I doubt not but some will be ready to set this sacred Prognostication to another Meridian; and indeed we know a generation that loves themselves too well, much more than peace and truth; so covetous that they would catch all the world in S. Peter's net; proud boasters of their own merits, perfections, supererogations; it would be long (though easy) to follow all: we know where too many treasons are hatched; we know who in the height of mind exalts himself above all that is called God; we know where pleasure hath the most delicate and debauched Clients; we know where Devotion is professedly formal, and lives impure; and surely, were we clearly innocent of these crimes, I should be the first that would cast this stone at Rome: but now, that we share with them in these sins, there is no reason we should be sejoined in the Censure. Take it among ye therefore, ye Hypocrites of all professions, for it is your own; Ye have a form of Godliness, denying the power thereof.  
What is an Hypocrite but a Player, the Zany of Religion? (as ye heard lately:) a Player acts that he is not; so do ye, act good, and are wicked; here is a semblance of good, a form of Godliness; here is a real evil, a denial of the power of Godliness. There is nothing so good as Godliness, yea, there is nothing good but it; nothing makes Godliness to be good, or to be Godliness, but the power of it; for it is not, if it work not, and it works not if not powerfully; now the denial of good must needs be evil; and so much more evil, as the good which is denied is more good; and therefore the denial of the power of Godliness must needs be as ill, as the form or show of Godliness would seem good; and as the power of Godliness is good: this is therefore the perfect hypocrisy of fashionable Christians; they have the form, they deny the power; here is then a direct and professed opposition betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the form, and the power, and no less, between the actions employed about them both; the one having, the other denying; having the form, denying the power.  
As all sin is originally from the Devil, so especially Hypocrisy; he is the father of Lies, and what is Hypocrisy but a real Lie? that is his Darling: and these two are well put together, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1. TIM. 3. 2. in Hypocrisy speaking Lies. Now as all things are more eminent in their causes and originals, then in the effects derived from them; so it must needs be said, that the greatest Hypocrite in the World is the Devil: I know he hears what I say, but we must speak truth and shame him: For Satan is trasformed into an Angel of light, saith the Apostle; not he was, but he is; so transformed that he never did, never will put off that counterfeit: and as all his Imps are partakers of the Satanical nature; so in every Hypocrite there is both the Angel and the Devil; the seeming Angel, is the form of Godliness, the real Devil is the denial of the power of Godliness. It must be in another sense that that father said, Innocentia tempore posterior est quam malitia, I am sure the Angel of light was before the Satan; and now because he is Satan, he puts on the Angel of light; such shall be our method in this Hypocrite we treat of: first we will begin with the Angel of Hypocrisy; and then show you the Devil in his true shape.  
First then, here is a form, and but a form of Godliness; A form does well, but if it be but a form, it is an immaterial shadow of Piety: such was this of these men; for they were unnatural, traitors, headye, highminded, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Surely, if they were unnatural, they must needs be unchristian; if they were traitors to their King, they could be no Subjects to God; if heady and highminded, they had nothing to do with him whose first Lesson was, Learn of me for I am meek; 
No Creature is more humble then God.  Nulla creatura humilior Deo, as Laurentius well; if they had pleasure for their Idol, they could not have the Lord for their God, so as even without God, they had yet a form of Godliness; Godliness is a thing much talked of, little understood; whiles the ancient School had wont to say, that it is not practical, not speculative, but affective; their meaning was that it is in all these; in the heart, in the brain, in the hand, but most in the heart; it is speculative, in the knowledge of God, practical in the Service to God, affective in our fear of him, love to him, joy in him: Shortly then, to apprehend God as he hath revealed, to serve him as he hath required, to be affected to him as we ought, is Godliness; and the outward expression and counterfaisance of all these is the form of Godliness. To this outside of Godliness then, belongs all that glorious Pageant of fashionable profession, which we see made in the World, whether in words, gesture, carriage.  
First, here is a world of good words, whether to God▪ or of him; here are words o● sacred compliment with God for the Hypocrite courts God in his Prayers; no man speak● fairer, no man louder than he▪ Here is Saul's Benedictus; here is the Pharisees, Lord I thank thee; here is the colloguing jews, Domine, Domine, Lord, Lord.  
And as to him, so of him; here are words of religious protestation for God, like to the jews Templum Domini, 
The Temple of the Lord.  or Herod's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, MAT. 2. 8. I will worship the Babe. The man's secret fire of zeal smokes forth into the holy breath of a good confession; here are words of fervent excitation to the frozen hearts of others; yea, if need be words of deep censure of the cold moderation which he apprehends in his wiser Brethren; 
Neat in words if foul in fact.  so as he is comptus in verbo, if turpis in facto, as Bernard.  
Yet more, here is a perfect Scoene of pious gestures; Knees bowed, hands erected, turned up eyes, the breast beaten, the head shaken, the countenance dejected, sighs ascending, tears dropping, the Bible hugged and kissed, the ear nailed to the pulpit; what formality of devout Godliness is here unacted? if the man were within, as he is without, there were no Saint but he.  
Yet this is not all to make up a perfect form of Godliness, here is a smooth face of holy Carriage in actions: Devout Saul will be saving the fattest of the Amalekitish flocks and herds for sacrifice to the Lord his God; good man, he will not have God take up with the worst; every man is not of this diet; too many think any off all good enough for their maker; but here is one that holds the best to be fittest for those sacred Altars; when in the mean time the Hypocrite had already sacrificed them to his own Mammon, and God must take up with the reversion: Shall I tell you of another as good, as devout as he? Do ye not remember that Absalon would go to pay his vow in Hebron? The fair Prince of Israel was courteour before, now he will be godly too. It was piety that he would make a vow to God; our Gallants have somewhat else to do, then to make holy vows; at every word they protest and vow, and perhaps swear, but all like themselves, vainly, and idly; but Absalon makes a solemn and religious vow; It was more piety that he would perform it; this is not every man's care; too many care not how much they run upon God's score; this man will pitch and pay. Unnatural parricide! first he had stolen the subjects hearts, and now he would steal his Father's Crown, and all this villainy must stalk under a beasts hide, a Sacrifice at Hebron; Blood was in his thoughts, whiles the Sacrifice was in his mouth: The old word is, full of courtesy, full of craft; when ye see too glittering pretences in unapproved persons, suspect the inside; Had you but seen a jews fast you would say so; Esa. 58. 6. here was nothing but drooping and ash-strawed heads, torn garments, bare feet, starved cheeks, skrubbed skins, pined maws, afflictive devotions; yet a jew still: But had you seen Herod's formality you would have said it yet more; mark a little and see Herod turned Disciple to john Baptist; What Saul among the Prophets, Herod among the Disciples? Surely so; for he hears him; Tush, hears him, what's that? There are those that hear and would not, forced to hear by compulsion of Laws; who may say to Authority, as the Psal mist says to God; Aurem perforasti mihi: mine ear hast thou boared; their ear is a Protestant, whiles their heart is a Recusant. There are those that hear and hear not; that come fashionably, and hear perfunctorily, whose ears are like the Psalmists Idols; for form only, not for use; There are those that hear and care not; who is so deaf as the wilful? there is auris aggravata, 
Heavy ear.  Es. 59 1. 
Deaf ear.  there is auris surda, Mic. 7. But Herod hears, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, gladly; with pleasure; he heard because he loved to hear; yea, so doth many a hollow heart still; ye shall have such a one listen as if he were totus auris, all ear, as if he would latch every word from the Preachers mouth ere it could get out: perhaps it is new, perhaps witty, perhaps elegant, or some way pleasing; yea there are some not only willing but greedy hearers, they have aures bibulas, they hear hungrily and thirstily, but it is but to catch advantages; somewhat they hope may fall to pay the Preacher; Herod is better than so, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he observed, he respected, he countenanced this rough hewed Chaplain; Yea, so doth many a lewd Patron for his own turn; either the easy passage of his simonaical subductions, or for a favourable connivency at his guilty debauchedness; good looks are good cheap; perhaps a meal's meat may come in for a further obligation too; but here is no good action the while; Herod is better than so, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he did too, and did many things; lo he are he doth not hear but do; and not some things but many; It may be this Camel-hayred monitor told him of some outrageous disorders in his Court, those he was willing to amend; perhaps he told him of some, bribery of his Officers, unjust or hard measures offered by oppressive Ministers to his poor Subjects, those he was ready to reform, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did many things; One would think Bernard should not need to brand his Hailardus, with intus Herodes, 
Herod within john without.  foris johannes, his very outside was generally good, else he had not done many things: Here was a form of Godliness, but let me tell you, and higher form than many of us (for aught I see) care to climb up unto; there is is hearing, and talking, and professing enough in the world, but where is the doing? or if there be doing, yet it is small doing (God wot.) Some things we may be drawn to do, not many; one good deed in a life is well; one fault amen ded meriteth: to do many is not incident to many; so as too many of us are upon a form of Godliness, but it is a lower form than Herod's; who heard, and heard gladly, & observed his teacher, and did, & did ma- things; yet a gross Hypocrite still because he did but many; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is God rule. 
Either all, or none all.   
What should I weary you with instances? Do ye see an Ananias and Saphira making God their heir of their halfe-shared Patrimony? Do you see a griping Usurer build Schools and Hospitals with ten in the hundred? Do you see a man whose stomach insatiably craves new superadditions, upon the indigested morsels of his last hour's Lecture, and yet nauseates at the public prayers of the Church? Do you see a superstitious votary looking ruefully from his knees upon his adored Crucifix; and as Isaac the Syryan prescribes, living like a dead man in a solitary Sepulchre, yet making no bones of kill Kings?  
Nay, to ascend unto an higher key of pretended holiness▪ Do ye see some of the elect Manichees lying upon hard mats, which S. Austin says were therefore called Ma●tarij? Do ye see the penances of the three super-mortified Orders of the Mahometan Saints? Do ye see an illuminate Elder of the Anabaptists rapt in divine ecstasies? Do ye see a stigmatical Friar lashing himself to blood, wallowing in the snow naked, returning the louse into his bosom? Do ye see a nice humorist, that will not dress a dish, nor lay a cloth, nor walk abroad on a Sunday, and yet make no conscience of cozening his neighbour on the workday.  
All these and many others of the same kind are Swans, which under white feathers have a black skin; These have a form of Godliness, and are the worse for it; for as it is the most dangerous and kill flattery that is brought in under a pretence of liberty, so it is the most odious and perilous impiety that is hid under a form of Godliness.  
These men, I say, have a form; and nothing else save a form of Godliness, But withal, let me add, that whoso ever makes a good profession hath this form; and is so far commendable, as he professes well: If there be not matter to this form, the fault is in what is not, and not in what there is. Certainly Religion is not Chaos-like without form; As not Civility, so Godliness cannot be without due form; ye cannot think God's Service to be all lining, no outside; A form there must be. It was a Law written in Greek and Latin Letters over the gate of the first peculiar partition of the Temple, which was atrium judaeorum; Every stranger that passes into the holy Place must die; if he had not the mark of a jew upon his flesh, it was capital to tread in those holy Courts: The Temple was the Type of the Church; if we have not so much as a form of Godliness; procul, o procul; without shall be dogs; and if a Beast touch the Mount, it shall dye. What shall we say to those gallants that hate to have so much as a form of Godliness? there cannot be a greater disparagement cast upon them, than the very semblance of Devotion; To say Grace at meals, to bow a knee in prayer, to name God other then in an oath, to once mention Religion, is a base, mortified pusillanimous tenderness. What talk ye of a Sermon? a Play if you will; what speak you of weeping for sins? talk of drinking healths, singing of rounds, courting of Dames, revels, matches, games, any thing save goodness; what should we say of these men? even this; He that hath but a form, is an Hypocrite; but he that hath not a form is an Atheist; I know not whether I should sever these two; Both are humane Devils well met; an Hypocrite is a masked Devil; an Atheist is a Devil unmasked: whether of them shall without their repentance be deeper in Hell, they shall once feel, I determine not; Only let me assure them, that if the infernal Topheth be not for them, it can challenge no guests.  
Thus such for the form of Godliness, which is the Angel of Hypocrisy; our speech descends to the Devil in Hypo- which is the denial of the power of Godliness: but whiles I am about to represent unto you the ugly face of that wicked one; God meets us in the way, and stays my thoughts and speech upon the power of Godliness, ere we fall upon the denial of that power. What power then is this of Godliness? what doth it? what can it do? The weakness of it is too apparent: If we look to the Author of it Christ jesus; alas, he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Butt or mark for opposition to shoot at; whereas true power is an Al-chum, that bars resistance, Prou. 30. if to the means of Godliness, here is the foolishness of Preaching, 1. Cor. 1. 21. if to the effects of Godliness, here is weak grace, strong corruption, Ro. 7. if to the opposites of Godliness, here is a Law fight; fight? perhaps so it may be, & be foiled; nay, but here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; a conquering and captiving Law, Ro. 7. 23. whereby I am not only made a slave, but sold for a slave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 7. 14. So then here is an opposed Saviour, a foolish preaching, a feeble grace, a domineering corruption; and where then is the power of Godliness all this while. Know O thou foolish man that God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the strong God; and yet there is a Devil; He could call in the being of that malignant Spirit; but he will not; he knows how to magnify his power by an opposite. Christ will be spoken against, not for impotence to resist, but for the glory of his prevailing; so we have seen a well tempered Target shot at to show the impenetrablenesse of it.  
Preaching is foolishness, but it is stultitia Doi; and the foolishness of God is wiser than then the wisdom of men. Grace is weak, where corruption is strong, but where grace prevails, sin dares not show his head; sin fights and subdues his own Vassals, but the power of Godliness foils it in the renewed; so as if it live, yet it reigns not Great then is the power of Godliness; great every way; great in respect of our enemies, great in respect of ourselves; of our enemies, The Devil, the World, the Flesh.  
So great first, that it can resist the Devil; and this no small matter to resist the powers and Principalities of Hell; whom resist, steadfast in the faith.  
Resist? Alas, what is this? The weak may perhaps resist the strong; the Whelp the Lion; We may resist the spirit of God himself, semper restitistis, saith Saint Stephen of the jews; Lo here is resistance to God; and not for a brunt, but perpetual; ye have always resisted, so the ship resists the Rock against which it is shattered; so the crushed worm turns towards the foot that treads it; Yea, but here is a prevalent resistance, Resist the Devil and he shall flee from you, jam. 4. 7. Lo, Godliness can make a Coward of the great Prince of Darkness. He shall flee; but, if Parthian-like he shall shoot fleeing, as he doth; Lo, this shall quench all the fiery darts of Satan. Ephes. 6. If he betake himself to his hold; this can bater, and beat down the strong holds of sin about his cares; this can enter, and bind the strong man: Shortly, it can conquer Hell, yea make us more than Conquerors; Lo, to conquer is not so much as to make another a Conqueror; but more than a Conqueror is yet more; Is there any of you now that would be truly great and victorious? it is the power of Godliness that must do it: Pyrrhus his word concerning his Soldiers, was Tu grandes, ego fortes; Surely, if our Profession make us great, our faith must make us valiant and successful: I tell you the conquest of an evil spirit is more than the conquest of a world of men: Oh then, what is it to conquer Legions?  
And as it foils Satan, so the world: No marvel, for if the greater, much more the less. The world is a subject, Satan a Prince, the Prince of this world: The world is a bigot, Satan is a God: The God of this world: If the Prince, if the God be vanquished, how can the subject or suppliant stand out? What do we talk of an Alexander, or a Cesar conquering the world: Alas what spots of earth were they which they bragged to subdue: In so much that Rome which in two hundred forty three years had gained but some fifteen miles about, in Seneca's time, when her Dition was at the largest, had the neighbouring Germany for the bounds of it: Lo here a full conquest of the whole world, 
The whole world is set in evil.  Mundns totus in maligno: To conquer the whole material world is not so happy, so glorious a work, as to conquer the malignant, and this the power of Godliness only can do, this is the victory that overcomes the world; even your faith. And now what can the flesh do, without the World, without the Devil? Surely, were is not for the Devil: the world and the flesh were both good; and if it were nor for the Devil and the World, the flesh were our best friend: now they have debauched it, and turned it traitor to GOD, and the Soul: now this proud flesh dares war against heaven Godliness doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beat it black and blue: Yea, kill it dead, Martifie your earthly members, Colos. 3. So as it hath not a limb to stir, not a breath to draw. Anacharsis his charge was too hard for another, but performable by a Christian, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He can rule his tongue, his gut, his lust: Samson was a strong man, yet two of them he could not rule: the power of Godliness can rule all: Oh than the great power of godliness that can trample upon the flesh, the World, the Devil: Super aspidem, upon the Asp, the Dragon, the Lion: Or as the Psalmist, Psal. 91. Upon that roaring Lion of Hell, upon that sinuous Dragon the World, upon that close biting Asp the flesh.  
And as great in respect of our enemies, so no less great in respect of ourselves, Great, and beneficial: What wonders are done by Godliness? Is it not a great wonder to make a Fool wise, to make the blind see? This godliness can do: Psal. 19 7, 8. Let me be bold to say; we are naturally like Salomon's child; Folly is bound to our heart, Prou. 22. 15. in things pertaining to GOD; (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) We were foolish, saith Saint Paul, Titus 3. Would any of us that are thus borne naturals (to God) be wise to salvation? That is the true wisdom indeed, all other is but folly, yea, madness to that: The Schools cannot teach us this; Philosophy, whether, Natural, or Moral, or Politic can do nothing to it; if ye trust to to it, it is but (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) vain deceit, as Saint Paul, Coloss. 2. 8. Triobularis & vilis, as Chrysostome; It is only Godliness must do it: Please yourselves, how you list, without this, ye great Politicians of the world, the wise God hath put the pied coat upon your backs, & passed upon you his (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) Rom. 1. 22. If ye were Oracles to men, ye are Idiots to God: Malitia occaecat intellectum, 
Wickedness blinds the understanding.  as he said, ye quicksighted Eagles of the world, without this ye are as blind as Beetles to heaven: If ye would have eyes to see him that is invisible; the hand of your omnipotent Saviour must touch you, and at his bidding you must wash off your worldly clay with the Siloam of godliness.  
Is it not a wonder to raise the dead? we are all naturally not sick, not qualming, not dying, but dead in sin, Colos. 2. 13. Yea▪ with Lazarus quatriduam, and ill scenting; yea (if that will add any thing) as S. judes' trees, or as (they say of) acute Scotus, twice dead; would ye arise? It is only godliness that can do it: Ye are risen up through the faith in the operation of God, Colos. 2. 12. This only can call us out of the grave of our sins: Arise thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life: Christ is the author, godliness is the means. All ye that hear me this day, either ye are alive, or would be: Life is sweet: every one challenges it; Do ye live willingly in your sins; Let me tell you, ye are dead in your sins: This life is a death: If you wish to live comfortably here, and gloriously hereafter, it is godliness that must mortify this life in sin; that must quicken you from this death in sin: Flatter yourselves how you please ye great gallants of both sexes, ye think yourselves goodly pieces; without godliness ye are the worst kind of carcases: for as death or not being is the worst condition that can befall a creature: So death in sin is so much the worst kind of death, by how much grace is better than nature: A living Dog, or Toad is better than a thus-dead sinner: Would ye rise out of this loathsome and woeful plight, it is godliness, that must breathe grace into your dead limbs, and that must give you the motions of holy obedience.  
Is it not a wonder to cast out Devils? I tell you the corporal possession of ill spirits is not so rare, as the spiritual is rife: No natural man is free: One hath the spirit of error, 1. Tim. 4. another the spirit of fornications, Ose 2. another the spirit of fear, 2. Tim. 1. another the spirit of slumber, another the spirit of giddiness, another the spirit of pride: all have Spiritum mundi, the spirit of the world, 1. Cor. 1. 12. Our story in Guliel. Neubrigensis, tells us of a countryman of ours, one Kettell of Farnham, in King HENRY the Seconds time, that had the faculty to see spirits: by the same token, that he saw the Devils spitting over the Drunkard's shoulders, into their pots: the same faculty is recorded of Anthony the Eremite, and Sulpitius reports the same of Saint Martin, surely there need none of these eyes to discern every natural man's soul haunted with these evil angels, Let me assure you, all ye that have not yet felt the power of Godliness, ye are as truly (though spiritually) carried, by evil spirits into the deeps of your known wickedness, as ever the Gaderen hogs were carried by them down the precipice, into the Sea; would ye be free from this hellish tyranny? only the power of Godliness can do it. 2. Tim. 2. 23. If peradventure God will give them repentance, that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the Devil; and Repentance is you know a main part of Godliness; If ever therefore ye be dispossessed of that evil one, it is the power of Godliness that must do it.  
What speak I of power? I had like to have ascribed to it the acts of omnipotency; And if I had done so; it had not been much amiss; for what is godliness but one of those rays that beams forth from that Almighty Deity? What but that same, Dextra excelsi, 
The right hand of the most high.  whereby he works mightily upon the soul? Now, when I say the man is strong, is it any derogation to say his arm is strong? Faith and Prayer are no small pieces of Godliness, and what is it that God can do, which Prayer and Faith can not do? Will ye see some instances of the further acts of Godliness? Is it not an act of omnipotence to change nature? jannes' and jambres, the Egyptian. Sorcerers may juggle away the Staff, & bring a Serpent into the room of it; none but a Divine power (which Moses wrought by) could change the Rod into a Serpent, or the Serpent into a Rod: Nothing is above nature, but the God of nature; nothing can change nature, but that which is above it: for nature is regular, in her proceedings; & will not be crossed by a finite power; since all finite agents are within her command. Is it not a manifest change of the nature of the Wolf, to dwell quietly with the Lamb, of the Leopard to dwell with the kid, of the Lion to eat straw like the Ox, of the Asp to play with the child? How shall this be? it is an idle conceit of the Hebrews, that savage beasts shall forgo their hurtful natures under the M●ssias; No, but rational beasts shall alter their dispositions: the ravenous oppressor is the Wolf, the tyrannical persecutor is the Leopard; the venomous Heretic is the Asp; these shall turn innocent, and useful by the power of Godliness, for then the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, Esay 11. 6, 7. Is it not a manifest change of nature for the Ethiopian to turn white, for the Leopard to turn spotless, This is done when those do good which are accustomed to evil jer. 13. 23. and this godliness can do: Is it not a manifest change of nature for the Camel, to pass through a needle's eye; this is done, when through the power of godliness ye great and rich men get to heaven. Lastly, it is an easy thing to turn men into beasts (a cup too much can do it) but to turn beasts into Men; Men into Saints; Devils into Angels; it is no less than a work of omnipotency, and this godliness can do.  
But to rise higher than a change; Is it not an act of omnipotency to create? Nature can go on in her track whether of continuing what she actually finds to be; or of producing what she forbids to be potentially in pre-existing causes; but to make new matter, transcends her power; this god linesse can do; here is (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) a new creatre, 2. Cor. 5. There is in nature no predisposition to grace; the man must be no less new, then when he was made first of the dust of the earth, & that earth of nothing; Nows homo, Eph. 4. 21. How is this done by Creation, and how is he created? In righteousness and holiness; holiness to God, righteousness to men; both make up Godliness, A regeneration is here a Creation, Progenuit is expressed by Creavit, jam. 1. 18. and this by the word of truth. Old things are passed, saith the Apostle, all must be new, if we will have aught to do with God; our bodies must be renewed by a glorious resurrection ere they can enjoy heaven; our souls must be renewed by Grace ere we can enjoy God on earth: Are there any of us pained with our heart of stone? We may b●e well enough, the stone of the reins or bladder is a woeful pain, but the stone of the heart is more deadly; he can by this power take it out, and give us a heart of flesh, Ezec. 12. Are there any of us weary of carrying our old Adam about us? a grievous burden I confess, & that which is able to weigh us down to Hell; do we groan under the load, and long to be eased? none but that Almighty hand can do it; by the power of godliness creating us anew, to the likeness of that second Adam, which is from heaven, heavenly; without which there is no possibility of salvation: for flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God: In a word, would we have this earth of ours translated to heaven, it is only the power of godliness can do it:  
And as this power of godliness is great, so no less beneficial; Beneficial every way, both here, and hereafter; Here, it frees us from evil, it feoffs us in good; Godliness is an Antidote against all mischief, and misery; yea, such is the power of it that it not only keeps us from evil, but turns that evil to good: All things work together to the best to them that love & fear God, saith the Apostle; lo, all things; Crosses, sins; Crosses are blessings, sins are advantages; Saint Paul's Viper befriended him, Saint MARTENS Ellebore nourished him; Saluti fuere pestifera, as Seneca speaks; And what can hurt him that is blessed by crosses, & is bettered by sins? It feoffs us in good; Wealth, Honour, Contentment; The Apostle puts two of them together, Godliness is great gain with contentment, 1. Tim. 6. 6. Here are no iffs, or and's; but gain, great gain, and gain with self-sufficiency or contentment; wickedness may yield a gain, such as it is for a time; but it will be gravel in the throat; gain far from contentment. Length of days are in the right hand of true wisdom, and in her left hand riches and honour, Prou. 3. 16. Lo, honour & wealth are but gifts of the left hand; common and mean favours; Length, yea, eternity of days is for the right, that is the height of bounty; Godliness hath the promises of this life, and of that which is to come, saith the Apostle; the promise, that is enough; God's promises are his performances; with men to promise, and to pay are two things; they are one with God; To them that by patient continuing in welldoing, seek glory and honour and immortality, eternal life, Rom. 2. 7. Briefly (for I could dwell here always) it is godliness that only can give us, the beatifical sight of God; the sight? yea, the fruition of him, yea, the union with him; not by apposition, not by ad haesion, but by a blessed participation of the divine nature, 2. Pet. 1. 4. I can go no higher; no the Angels and Archangels cannot look higher than this.  
To sum up all then; Godliness can give wisdom to the fool, eyes to the blind, life to the dead; it can eiect Devils, change the course of Nature, create us anew, free us from evil feoff us in good, honour, wealth, contentment, everlasting happiness. Oh the wonderful, Oh the beneficial power of Godliness! And now, what is the desire of my soul, but that all this could make you in love with Godliness; that in stead o● the ambitions of honour, the trade for wealth, the pursuit of pleasure, your hearts could be set on fire with the zealous affectation of true Godliness; Alas, the least overture of any of these makes us mad of the world; if but the shadow of a little honour, wealth, promotion, pleasure be cast before us, how eagerly do we prosecute it, to the eternal hazard of our Souls? behold, the substance of them all put to together offers▪ itself in Godliness; how zealously should we embrace them: and never give rest to our Souls, till we have laid those true grounds of hapnesse, which shall continue with us, when all our riches, and earthly glory shall lie down with us in the dust: Alas, noble and Christian hearers, ye may be outwardly great, and inwardly miserable; it was a great Caesar that said, I have been all things, and am never the better; It is not your bags ye wealthy Citizens that can keep the Gout from your joints, or Care from your hearts; It is not a Coronet, ye great Peers that can keep your heads from aching; all this earthly pomp and magnificence cannot keep out either death, or conscience; Our prosperity presents us as goodly Lilies, which whiles they are whole, look fair and smell sweet, but if once bruised a little, are nasty both in sight and sent; it is only Godliness that can hold up our heads in the evil day, that can bid us make a mock at all the blustering storms of the world, that can protect us from all miseries (which if they kill▪ yet they cannot hurt us) that can improve our sufferings, and invest us with true & eternal glory; Oh then be covetous, be ambitious of this blessed estate of the Soul; and as Simon Macchabeus with three years' labour took down the top of mount Acra in Jerusalem, that no hill might stand in competition of height with the Temple of God, so let us humble and prostrate all other desires to this one, that true Godliness may have the sway in us.  
Neither is this consideration more fit to be a whetstone to our zeal, than a touch stone to our condition; Godliness? why it is an herb that grows in every soil; as Platina observes, that for 900. years and upwards, none of those Popes of whom sanctity is ascribed in the abstract, were yet held Saints after their death, except Celestine the 5. which gave up the Pontifical Chair, after six Months weary sitting in it; so on the contrary, we may live Ages ere we hear a man profess himself godless, whiles he is abominably such: He is too bad, that will not be thought godly; as it is a brazen-faced Courtesan, that would not be held honest.  
That which Lactantius said of the Heathen Philosophers, that they had many Scholars, few followers, I cannot say of the Diviue; we have enough to learn, enough to imitate, but few to act; Be not deceived, Godliness is not impotent; where ever Godliness is, there is power: Hath it then prevailed to open our eyes, to see the great things of our peace? hath it raised us, up from the grave of our sins? ejected our hellish corruptions, changed our wicked natures, new created our hearts? well may we applaud ourselves is the confidence of our godliness; but if we be still old, still corrupt, still blind, still dead, still devilish; Away vain Hypocrites, ye have nothing to do with Godliness, because Godliness hath had no power on you: Are ye godly, that care to know any thing rather than God and spiritual things: Are ye godly, that have neither ability nor will to serve that God whom ye fashionably pretend to know? Are ye godly, which have no inward awe of that God whom ye pretend to serve? No government of your Passions, no Conscience of your Actions, no care of your Lives? False Hypocrites, ye do but abuse and profane that name which ye unjustly arrogate; No, no; Godliness can no more be without power, than the God that works it; Show me your Godliness in the true fervour of your Devotions, in the effectual sanctification of your hearts and tongues; in the conscionable carriage of your lives. Else lo the wicked, saith God, what hast thou to do to take my Covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest to be reform, PSAL. 50. 16.  
Ye have heard the power of Godliness; hear now the denial of this power: How then is it denied; Surely, there is a verbal; there is a real denial; & rebus & verbis, as Hilary, It is a mistaking of Logicians, that Negation is the affection of a Proposition only; No; God and Diviuitie find it more in Practice; This very power is as stoutly challenged by some men in words, as truly denied in actions; As one says of the Pharisees answer concerning john's calling, verum dicebant & mentiebantur; 
They told truth and yet lied.  so may I of these men; It is not in the power of words to deny so strongly as deeds can; both the hand, and the tongue interpret the heart, but the hand so much more lively, as there is more substance in acts, then sounds; As he said Spectamur agendo; we are both seen and heard in our actions. He that says there is no God is a vocal Atheist; he that lives as if there were no God is a vital Atheist; he that should say Godliness hath no power is a verbal Atheist; he that shall live as if Godliness had no power, is a real Atheist: they are Atheists both. We would fly upon a man that should deny a God with Diagoras, though (as Anselm well) no man can do this interius, from within; we would burn a man that should deny the Deity of Christ with Arrius; we would rend our clothes at the blasphemy of that man, who with the Epicures and Apelleians should exempt the cares and operations of God from the things below; we would spit at a man that durst say, there is no power in Godliness: These monsters (if there be such) hide their ugly heads, and find▪ it not safe to look on the light; Faggots are the best language to such miscreants: but these real denials are so much more rife, and bold, as they can take the advantage of their outward safety, and unconuinciblenesse.  
Their words are honey, their life poison, as Bernard said of his Arnoldus: And these actions make too much noise in the world; that which Saint Chrysostome says of the last day, that men's works shall speak, their tongues shall be silent; is partly true in the mean time; their works cry out, whiles their tongues whisper: There is then really a double denial of the power of Godliness; the one in not doing the good it requires, the other in doing the evil it forbids: The one a privative, the other a positine denial.  
In the former, what power hath Godliness if it have not made us good? a feeble Godliness it is that is ineffectual; if it have not wrought us to be devout to God, just to men, sober and temperate in the use of God's creatures, humble in ourselves, charitable to others; where is the Godliness? where is the power? If these were not apparently done, there were no form of Godline, if these be not sound & heartily done, there is a palpable denial of the power of Godliness. Hear this than ye ignorant and seduced souls that measure your Devotions by number not by weight; or that leaning upon your idle elbow yawningly patter out those prayers, whose sound or sense ye understand not; ye that bring listlesse ears severed from your wand'ring hearts, to the Messages sent from Heaven; ye that come to God's board, as a surfeited stomach to an Honeycomb, or a sick stomach to a Potion: Shortly, ye that pray without feeling, hear without care, receive without appetite; ye have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it.  
Hear this, ye that wear out the floor of God's house with your frequent attendance; ye that have your ears open to God's Messengers, and yet shut to the cries of the Poor, of the Orphan, of the Labourer, of the distressed Debtor; ye that can lift up those hands to heaven in your fashionable prayers, which ye have not reached out to the relief of the needy members of your Saviour; (whiles I must tell you by the way that hard rule of Laurentius, Magis delinquit diues non largiendo superflua, quam pauper rapiendo necessaria; the rich man offends more in not giving his superfluities, than the poor man in stealing necessaries) Ye that have a fluent tongue to talk unto God, but have no tongue to speak for God, or to speak in the cause of the dumb: Ye have a form of Godliness, but deny the power thereof.  
Shortly, ye that have no fear of God before your eyes, no love to goodness, no care of obedience, no conscience of your actions, no diligence in your Callings, ye have denied the power of Godliness; This very privative denial, shall without your repentance damn your souls: Remember, Oh, remember that there needs no other ground of your last and heaviest doom, than Ye have not given, Ye have not visited; But the Positive denial is yet more irrefragable; If very privations and silence speak, much more are actions vocal: Hear this than ye visors of Christianity, who notwithstanding all your civil smoothness, when ye are once moved, can tear Heaven with your Blasphemies, and bandy the dreadful name, of GOD in your impure mouths, by your bloody Oaths, and Execrations; ye that dare to exercise your saucy wits in profane scoffs at Religion; ye that presume to whet your lawless tongues, and lift up your rebellious hands against lawful authority whether in Church or State; ye that grind faces like edge-tools, and spill blood like water; ye that can neigh after strange flesh, and upon your voluptuous beds act the filthiness of Sodomitical Aretinismes; ye that can quaff your drunken carouses till you have drowned your reason in a deluge of deadly Healths; ye whose foul hands are belimed with bribery, and besmeared with the price of blood; ye whose sacrilegious throats have swallowed down whole Churches, and Hospitals; whose maws have put over whole Parishes of sold, and affamished souls; ye whose faction and turbulency in novel opinions rends the seamelesse Coat, not considering that of Melancthon, that Schism is no less sin than Idolatry; and there cannot easily be a worse than Idolatry; either of them both are enough to ruin any Church under Heaven: Now the God of Heaven ever keep this Church of ours from the mischief of them both; ye whose tongues trade in lies, whose very profession is fraud and cozenage; ye cruel Usurers, false Flatterers, lying and envious Detractors. In a word, ye, who ever ye are, that go resolutely forward in a course of any known sins, and will not be reclaimed, ye, ye are the men that spit God in the face, and deny flatly the power of Godliness: woe is me, we have enough of these Birds every where, at home. I appeal your eyes, your ears, would to God they would convince me of a slander.  
But what of all this now, the power of Godliness is denied by wicked men; How then? what is their case? Surely inexplicably, unconceivably fearful; The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness▪ saith the Apostle; How revealed, say you? wherein differ they from their neighbours unless it be perhaps in better fare? no gripes in their conscience, no afflictions in their life, no bands in their death, impunitas ausum, ausus excessum parit, as Bernard, Their impunity makes them bold, their boldness outrageous: Alas, wretched Souls! The World hath nothing more woeful than a Sinners welfare: It is for slaughter that this Ox is fattened; Ease slayeth the simple, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, PRO. 1. 22. This brasteata foelicitas, which they enjoy here, is but as Carpets spread over the mouth of Hell; For if they deny the power of Godliness, the God of power shall be sure to deny them: Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I know you not; There cannot be a worse doom, then Depart from me; that is depart from peace, from blessedness, from life, from hope, from possibility of being any other then eternally, exquisitely miserable; Qui te non habet Domine Deus, totum per didit; He who haith not thee, O Lord God, hath lost all, as Bernard truly; dying is but departing, but this departing is the worst dying; dying in Soul, ever dying; so as if there be an Ite, depart, there must needs be a maledicti, depart ye cursed; cursed that ever they were borne, who live to dye everlastingly: For this departure, this curse ends in that fire which can never, never end. Oh the deplorable condition of those damned souls that have slighted the power of Godliness? what tears can be enough to bewail their everlasting burnings? what heart can bleed enough at the thought of those tortures, which they can neither suffer, nor avoid; Hold but your finger for one minute in the weak flame of a farthing Candle, can flesh and blood endure it? With what horror then must we needs think of Body and Soul frying endlessly in that infernal Topheth: Oh think of this ye that forget Got, and contemn Godliness; with what confusion shall ye look upon the frowns of an angry God rejecting you; the ugly and merciless Fiends snatching you to your torments, the flames of Hell flashing up to meet you? with what horror shall ye feel the gnawing of your guilty consciences, and hear that hellish shrieking, and weeping, and wailing, and gnashing? It is a pain to mention these woes, it is more than death to feel them, perhorreseite minas, formidate supplicia, as Chrysostome. Certainly, my beloved, if wicked sinners did truly apprehend an hell, there would be more danger of their despair, and distraction, then of their security: It is the Devil's policy, like a Raven, first to pull out the eyes of those that are dead in their sins, that they may not see their imminent damnation. But for us; Tell me, ye that hear me this day; Are ye Christians in earnest, or are ye not? It ye be not, what do ye here? If ye be, there i● an hell in your Creed. Ye do not less believe there is an Hell for the godless, than an Earth for men, a firmament for stars, an heaven for Saints, a God in heaven▪ And if ye do thus firmly believe, it cast but your eyes aside upon that fiery gulf, and sin if ye dare▪ Ye love yourselves well enough to avoid a known pain; we know there are Stocks, and Bride-wells, and jails, and Dungeons, and Racks, and Gibbers, for malefactors, and our very fear keeps us innocent; were your hearts equally assured of those hellish torments, ye could not, ye durst not continue in those sins, for which they are prepared.  
But what an unpleasing, and unseasonable subject am I fallen upon, to speak of Hell in a Chrstian Court, the Emblem of Heaven: Let me answer for myself with devout Bernard Sic mihi contingat semper beare amicos terrendo salubriter, non adulando falaciter; Let me thus ever bless my friends with wholesome frights, rather than with plausible soothe. Sumenda sunt amara salubria, saith Saint Austin; Bitter wholesome is a safe receipt for a Christian; and what is more bitter, or more wholesome, than this thought. The way not to feel an Hell, is to see it, to fear it▪ I fear we are all generally defective this way; we do not retire ourselves enough into the Chamber of Meditation: and think sadly of the things of another world: Our Self-love puts off this torment, (notwithstanding our willing sins) with David's pla●ue, non oppropinquabit, It shall not come nigh thee; if we do not make a league with hell and death, yet with ourselves against them; Fallit peccatum falsa dulcedine, as Saint Austin, sin deceives us with a false pleasure, the pleasure of the world is like that Colchian honey, whereof Xenophons' soldiers no sooner tasted, than they were miserably distempered; those that took little were drunk, those that took more were mad; those that took most were dead: thus are we either intoxicated, or infatuated, or killed right out with this deceitful world, that we are sensible of our just fears; at the best we are besotted with our stupid security, that we are not affected with our danger; Woe, is me the impenitent, resolved sinner is already fall'n into the mouth of hell, and hangs there but by a slender twig of his momentany life, when that hold fails, he falls down headlong into that pit of horror and desolation; Oh ye my dear brethren, so many as love your souls, have mercy upon yourselves; Call aloud out of the deeps of your sins, to that compassionate Saviour, that he will give you the hand of faith, to lay hold upon the hand of his mercy, and plenteous redemption, and pull you out of that otherwise irrecoverable destruction; Else ye are gone, ye are gone for ever: Two things, as Bernard borrows of Saint Gregory, make a man both good, and safe. To repent of evil, To abstain from evil; would ye escape the wrath of God, the fire of hell? Oh wash you clean, and keep you so; There is no laver for you, but your own tears, and the blood of your Saviour; bath your Souls in both of these, and be secure; Consider how many are dying now, which would give a world for one hour to repent in; Oh be ye careful then to improve your free, and quiet hours, in a serious and hearty contrition for your sins; say to God with the Psalmist, Deliver me from the evil man▪ that is, from myself; as that Father construes it; and for the sequel, in steed of the denying the power of Godliness, resolve to deny your selves, to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world; that having felt and approved the power of godliness in the illuminating our eyes, in raising us from our sins, in eiecting our corruptions, in changing our lives, and creating our hearts anew, we may at the last, feel the happy consummation of this power, in the full possessing of us, in that eternal blessedness and glory which he hath prepared for all that love him to the perfect fruition whereof he bring us that hath dearly bought us jesus Christ the righteous, to whom, etc.  
FINIS.   

Errata.  
FOr Scene read Scene, pag. 12. l. 2. Haillardu●. r. A●●●lardus p. 18. l penult. none 〈…〉 marg p. 20 such. r much p. 25. l. 19 for aids r finds pa. ●4. 20 p. 27. l 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p 34. 5. or as in steed read as.