FVLFORDO ET FULFORDAE.  
A SERMON Preached at Exeter, in the Cathedral Church, the sixth day of August commonly called jesus day 1594. in memorial of the City's deliverance in the days of King EDWARD the sixth.  
Wherein is entreated of the goodness of God toward Man, and of the ingratitude of Man toward God.  
By JOHN CHARLDON, Doctor of Divinity.  
In which also some few things are added, then omitted through want of time.  Psal. 127.1. Except the Lord keep the City, the keeper watcheth in vain. 
LONDON, Printed by john Danter: and are to be sold by William Barley, at his shop in Gracious street. 1595.   

❧ To the worshipful Master Thomas Fulford Esquire, loved in the truth, of all that have known the truth, for the truth's sake: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied in jesus Christ.  
YOU had from me (which you desired) the Sermon preached at Exeter in commemoration of the cities deliverance, or at the least you received the very sum & substance thereof, which I supposed might have contented you, and the zealous Gentlewoman your wife, without further ado: but finding you and her greatly inclined to vulgar profit, and to make common unto many which was then uttered unto few, that so the benefit of it might redound also unto many: & knowing you both to be such as truly, and sincerely love and favour the holy Gospel of jesus Christ and the Ministers thereof, and seeing your request to stand with so good reason and Godly purpose, and that my Office and function bindeth me to do all the good I can to the Church of God, 
●. Pe. 5, 2  and that willingly & of a ready mind (to satisfy your honest desire and charitable meaning) have suffered that poor Exercise to be published which I do present unto you as a simple New-yeares-gift. Of which if any take benefit, let them first praise God, and next thank you, that (according to the rule of Christ) will have the meanest talents and graces of God, be they five, 
Mat. 25 15.  or two, or one; many or few, more or less, delivered his servants for the work of his service, to be well and profitably employed and occupied, that gain and increase may come thereby, 
Luk. 19.10.  and not to be laid up in a napkin, or hid in the earth to the good of none. And so beseeching the Lord to kindle daily more and more in you and in your good wife many such holy motions of his blessed spirit, and to establish you in every word and good work, I will commend you unto him and to his might, who is able both to fulfil whatsoever wanteth in you through his riches with glory in jesus Christ, and also of power to keep you that you fall not, to the very day that you shall be presented faultless and without blame before the presence of his Majesty with joy.  
In the mean while, quench not the Spirit, grieve not that holy of God by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption. I will pray always for you that GOD may settle and confirm you, and make you worthy of his calling, that the name of the Lord jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him. Pray you also for me: for I trust that through your prayers I shall the sooner be given unto you again. The Lord be with you, London the first of januarie: 1594.  
Yours in Christ, john Charldon.   


AD D. THOMAM FULFORDUM, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Non mea sunt quae nune mitto tibi, sed tua: quare,  
Ne tua detineam, quae tua mitto tibi.  
Quae mea si dicas; tua tanta modestia fulget,  
, cum parva feram, magna dedisse putes.   

AD EUNDEM TOTIUS CONCIONIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Die mihi; corda virum quae sic dementat Erinnys,  
Vt. spernant magni justa colenda Dei?  
Si poteris, narra; quali furor incitet oestro  
Pectora, quae perhibent nos ratione regi?  
Bos possessorem novit, cognovit asellus  
Praesepe et Domini (bestia tarda) sui.  
Fuste nimis rigido quanuis pulcetur asellus,  
Bosque sub immenso pondere pressa cadat,  
Terga gravata tamen praebent fericuda: magistri  
Vtráque seruitium bellua victa subit.  
Ast genus electum Christi, divina propago,  
Dura negat tenero colla premenda iugo.  
Aspectant coeli fastum tellusque fatiscens,  
Quae nostrae testes proditionis erunt.  
Aethereae volucres, ●eluti Grus, Turtur, Hirundo,  
Brumales norunt annumerare dies.  
At nos quos docuit patris Sapientia summi,  
Quos nutrit, pascit, sustinet, ornat, amat.  
Quos & ab immani Jethalis fauce Leonis  
servat, & hostiles dat superare manus:  
Nos (inquam) Domini praesagia non meditamut,  
Temnimus (ah) potius tradita scita Dei.  
Obtusasaures praecludimus Aspidis instar,  
Ne feriant sophiae ferrea corda soni.  
Vastorum solito bellamus more Gigantum,  
Déque sua volumus pellere sede iovem.  
Nunc ubi turgescit nimiá pinguedine corpus,  
Obruit & nostrum nulla procella caput,  
Bella damus superis: ventosus pectora fastus  
(Obliti veteris conditionis) agi●.  
Tu tamen (alme parens) hominum qui fecta gubernas,  
Suscipe quas moesto fundimus ore preces.  
Tu gemitus nostros, nostri suspiria cordis  
Exaudi solitâ pro bonitate, Deus.  
Pristina (chare pater) nobis peccata remit,  
Postmodo dáque tuis carnea corda, pater.  
Now caperis fuso vitulorum sanguine centum,  
Nec caperis longo thuris honore, pater.  
Te placare solet quoniam compunctio cordis,  
En: compuncta damus corda, benign pater.  
Ne nos abijceas igitur quos dextra creavit,  
Sit nobis charitum candida juncta cohors.  
Conseruet ma nos miseratio magna misellos:  
Ind tibi nomen mite parentis erit.   

AD EUNDEM.  
Discito (Fulford) Sit tibi Christus. jussa jehovae; Mens tua gestit● Fronte Serena, Scire laboras? Pectore puro Quomodo possis Discito Christum. Vivere sanctè, Anchora vitae, Sanctáque tandem Prora salutis, Tecta Superni Fons bonitatis, Cernere coeli? Vita perennis Voluito libri Dogmata sacri: Itur ad arces. Consule Christi (●andide ●homa) Dicta magistri: Temnito mundum, Consule Christum, Dilige Christum, Is tibi pandet Dilige Christos: Voce paterna, Praemia Christi Qua ratione Sunt diuturna, Cuncta gubernes: Praemia mundi Ille docebit Sunt peritura: Te pederecto Nunc tibi multa, Claudere cursum: Nunc tibi paucae Alta Sionis Singula nostra, Moenia saluo Singula nulla: Scandere gressu: Mors truculenta, Claustra ●onantis, Mors fu●ibunda Sydera laeto Auferet uno Visere vultu. Tempore, duro Est via Christus Parta labore. Vera salutis, Omne caducum. Est via salva, Quicquid habetur, Tuta, quieta: Concidit omne: Hâc licet ire, Floris Imago. Hâc penetrare Sole micante, Coelica magni Fulua recedit. Castra parentis.  fugit vmbre, Haec via munda, Lubrica transit Haec via sana, Gloria secli. Haec via certa, una manebit Haec via pastus Arx paradisi: Diriget omnes, Caetera fumus. Hâcque beatas   

AD VRSULAM THOMAE Fulfordiconiugem Orthodoxam.  
Ursula, funesto flerem tua carmina fata,  
Biblia si scirem te coluis●e parum.  
Ast munit contra falsi praeludia mundi,  
Messiae pectus pagina sancta tuum.   

AD EANDEM.  
Lesbian cantabat lasciva poemata Sapph,  
Ursula coelestis clara trophęa Dei.  
Lesbis amica chelyn Phoebo dedit: Ursula Phoebo,  
Vota feret fido pectore clausa suo.  
Ursula, Sola Deo tua sit servire voluptas,  
Gaudia vera putes: gloria sinis erit.   

AD EANDEM.  
Ursula, collectos cernis flaccescere flores,  
Et verno nit●das deperi●sse rosas?  
Anglorum spectas marcescere lilia pest,  
Quae fuerant oculis lilia digna tuis?  
Hinc subolere potes quaenam sit gloria mundi,  
Quae tacitè tenues soluitur in cineres.    
IT IS WRITTEN IN the first Chapter of the Prophet Esaie. 2. & 3. 
Hear, O heavens, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord hath said, I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled against me.  
The Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Master's Crib, but Israel hath not known: my people hath not understand.  
OF these you expect the interpretation and meaning: but first let us pray together that God, of whom is every good giving, and every perfect gift, may give unto you, ears to hear his word with fruit, & may open unto me the door of utterance, Coll. 4.3. to speak the mystery of Christ: that I may utter it, as it becometh me; to his glory, to your comfort, & to the increase of his church.  
O Eternal GOD and merciful father, we thy poor servants present ourselves before the throne of thy Divine Majesty, entirely desiring thy fatherly goodness to grant that thy word may take such deep root in our hearts, that it may fructify & bring forth an hundredth, sixty, or thirty fold, so much as shall seem best to thy heavenly wisdom. And next unto this, we pray thee (O Father) to be gracious and merciful to thy whole militant Church, dispersed far and wide upon the face of this earth; especially to the two principal members of the same, 
1. Tim. 2. 1.2.  England and Ireland. And whereas by thy holy Apostle Paul, we are willed to make prayers and supplications for all men, for Kings and Princes, and for all that are in authority, we humbly and heartily pray and beseech thee to bless and preserve thy chosen servant our dread Sovereign Elizabeth, by thy grace, of England, France and Ireland Queen, defendresse of the true, ancient and Apostolic faith; and in all causes, and over all persons within these her majesties Dominions, next and immediately on earth, under thee, supreme Governess. Bless (O Lord) we beseech thee, both her and all her most Honourable Councillors against all domestical and foreign foes, that thy Church so prosperously begun, may be builded and fully finished according to the platform of thy most sacred and holy word. And to this end we pray thee also (O Lord) to visit, comfort and cherish with the spirit of thy grace, the Archbishops, Bishops, and all other inferior Ministers to whom thou hast assigned the preaching of thy Law, and the charge of thy chosen, that they may be found good Steward's o● thy will, and true disposers of thy secrets; and that by their labours sanctified of thee, thy poor sheep which wander and go astray in the vale of darkness and shadow of death, may be brought home to thy sheep sold under one shepherd, thy son Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, and Bishop of our souls.  
We recommend likewise to thy favour and goodness (O Lord) all the Rulers and Commons of this Realm; that the Rulers with courage and in a reverent fear of thee (according to the trust committed unto them) may carefully and truly judge thy people at all seasons; and that the Commons in their several degrees may live and abide in Christian duty and obedience toward their superiors, and in Godly love and charity one towards another.  
We beseech thee (O Lord) that (in like measure of thy grace) thou wilt vouchsafe to water with the dew of thy blessing the two notable Universities of this Land, Oxford & Cambridge; that from age to age they may send forth Bezaleels and Aholiabs filled with the spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to work together, with all the wise hearted, all manner workmanship for the service of the Sanctuary, for the uniting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, and for the edification of the body.  
And here (O Lord) for as much as we are all thy children, & sheep of thy pasture, we call upon thee for all our poor and afflicted brethren, which by any means, any where, do groan under the Cross for the testimony of thy eternal truth, that according to thy promise it would please thee to give them the fullness of consolation, patience and constancy, that they may cheerfully abide whatsoever fiery trial it shall please thy heavenly wisdom to put them unto; that both by their life and by their death, thy truth may be sealed, Antichrist that man of sin ashamed, and the Kingdom enlarged of thy dear son jesus Christ. For these and all other thy graces what so ever, which thou knowest to be needful and necessary for us and thy whole Church, we make our humble & hearty prayer unto thee our God and father, which art the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, according to that manner and form which Christ thy son our Master in his Gospel hath taught us. Our Father, etc.   

A SERMON PREACHED AT EXETER.  Esaie, 1. verse, 2. & 3. 
Hear, O heavens, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord hath said, I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled against me.  
The Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Master's Crib, but Israel hath not known: my people hath not understand.  
THese words which I have read unto you (Men, Fathers, and Brethrens, beloved in the Lord) divide themselves into two parts: an exclamation, and a complaint. The exclamation is contained in the first part of this second verse, and is made not unto men, but unto the heavens above, and unto the earth beneath. Hear O heavens, (saith the Prophet) and hearken O earth. For because the jews refused to tread the paths of the Lord, and to walk in his ways: because they were like unto the serpent, the deaf Adder, that stoppeth his ear at the voice of the charm, rcharme he never so wisely, Psal. 58.4.5. Therefore now (by the Lord's appointment) he speaketh unto deaf and dumb creatures, and saith, Hear O heavens, and hearken O earth. As if he should have said, because the ingratitude and impiety of men is such, that they will not hear, nor hearken unto the voice of the Lord, I will speak unto the heavens and earth, and the heavens (though they be far off) shall hear, and the earth (though it be stony) shall hearken: for the ears of men that should hear and hearken indeed are out of course.  
The Prophet doth not this, as though the heavens and earth did understand: but to signify and express the abominable wickedness & impiety of the jews, he speaketh unto these insensible creatures, which did more obey the will of their Creator, than did they whom he had blessed with reason and understanding.  
Wherein the Prophet (as in this place) so in many other followeth the example of the true & trustlie servant of God Moses: who in the 4. of deuteronomy, against the Israelites, calleth heaven and earth to witness in these words: I call heaven and earth to record against you this day. Meaning, that if they would defile themselves with strange Gods, that then (if men would not condemn them) the very insensible creatures of God would bear testimony against them and their idolatry. So in the 32. of the same book, he maketh them witnesses against them of their ingratitude, and saith: Hearken (ye heavens) and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. In like manner, the man of God in the first of Kings and 13 when he saw King jeroboam to stand by the Altar in Bethel to offer incense, cried out by the commandment of the Lord, not against the Prince, or people, but against the Altar, and said, O Altar, Altar, thus saith the Lord: 1. Kings, 13.2.5. and immediately the Altar clave asunder, and the ashes fell out from the Altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the mouth of the Lord. So that our Prophet Esaie in this place intendeth no new thing, for he taketh Moses and others for example, who were wont to do the like: A kind of speech then most usual, when as iniquity hath gotten the upper hand, when it is grown to that fullness of measure, that it astonieth not only creatures sensible, but also insensible, and when the hearts of the ungodly are so hardened, that they cannot be softened, be the admonition never so gentle, or the correction never so fearful.  
But what doth the Prophet require of the heavens and earth? verily to hear and to hearken. Hear (saith he) O heavens, and hearken O earth. The Prophet requireth not a slack or a negligent hearing, but a diligent and careful hearing, fit and convenient for so great a cause.  
But wherefore would the Lord have the Prophet thus to exclaim and cry out to the heavens and earth? Doubtless for two special causes. The one was, that the heavens and earth might be astonished at the ingratitude and rebellion of his people. So in the second of jeremiah: because they were unthankful, because they made the Lords heritage an abomination, because the Priests taught not the people to seek the Lord, because the Prophets prophesied in Baal, and went after things that did not profit, because they had changed their glory, even their God which was their glory, and who had made them glorious above all other people, and to be short, because all estates were corrupt and out of course, the Prophet inferreth hereupon, O ye heavens, be astonished at this: he afraid and utterly confounded, saith the Lord, jere. 2.12. Hereby declaring, that the very insensible creatures of God did detest and abhor the sin of ingratitude & unkindness, and as it were did tremble at Gods most severe and bitter judgements against the same. The other was, that the heavens and earth (hearing the complaints of the Lord against his people) might judge and determine between him & them. So in the Prophet Micah, 6.2. the high hills and mountains, the hard rocks, and mighty foundations of the earth are taken to witness, and to decide betwixt him and his in this sort. Hear ye (O mountains) the Lord's quarrel, and ye mighty foundations of the earth, for the Lord hath a quarrel against his people, and he will plead with Israel. The sum whereof is this: that of the one part, the wickedness of the people was such and so notorious, and of the other, the cause and quarrel of the Lord so just, that if the case were to be decided of the heavens & earth, of the hills and mountains, of the rocks & mighty foundations of the earth, they would stand all together on the Lord's part against his people, they would give sentence with him against them, and (not without astoniednes) would judge and condemn them of extremest madness and impiety.  
But alas, that the heavens and earth, that the hills and mountains, that the rocks and mighty foundations of the earth, that such senseless creatures should condemn mankind of ingratitude and unkindness? That they should condemn Man, the most excellent creature of God, endued with reason & understanding? That the heavens should be summoned to testify against him, which are the Lords seat, and the earth to witness against him, which is his footstool. That dull and dumb creatures should be more prompt and ready to follow and obey the Lords will, than they his people, unto whom he had given eyes to see, ears to hear, and an heart to perceive. But so it is; they that should have lived best in order, are found to live most out of course. For if the world be considered together with the parts and portions thereof in order and as they lie, we by searching shall see, and by seeing shall confess every member thereof Man only excepted) diligently and truly to do his duty. (Saith David). The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth the works of his hands. Psa. 19.1. The Sun, Moon and Stars do keep their courses, the earth bringeth forth fruit, the Sea passeth not his appointed bounds, & in all other things a singular duty and obedience toward their creator, and yet they all without understanding: But Man for whose sake all things were created, and whom God hath enriched with singular gifts, far beyond any other of his creatures, and unto whom he hath given the use of his word, a lantern unto his feet, and a light unto his paths; Psa. 119.105. this Man will not be reclaimed; but walketh on still in the stiffness & stoutness of heart; that now the prophet is forced to appeal unto deaf and dumb creatures, and saith; Hear, O Heavens, and hearken, O earth.  
But what? Doth the prophet make this exclamation and outcry to the heavens & earth of his own mind? Not so; for he saith, Quoniam Dominus locutus est, for the Lord hath said. As who should say; I speak not this of mine own mind, I do not this of mine own authority, I came not before I was sent, I utter nothing of myself, but what the Lord did first reveal unto me, & which ye are bound to hear and hearken, believe, and obey; And therefore, Hear, O heavens, and hearken O earth.  
It might have seemed more methodically done, and fit for manner and order of teaching, if the prophet strait way upon this his vehement exclamation and outcry unto the heavens and earth, had showed them first, what they should hear, than whom they should hear. But it was more forcible and piercing, yea and more requisite too, that the prophet should first show them whom they should hear, than what they should hear. When Man doth speak, the word is not so well accepted & received as when the Lord doth speak. The message that is done from a Prince is more highly esteemed, than that which cometh from a Subject. When the Prince speaketh, let the Subject hold his peace; but when the Lord speaketh, let all flesh give ear. The Lion hath roared (saith Amos) who will not be afraid? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? Amos. 3.8. worthy is his Majesty to be reverenced and obeyed of all his creatures which are in earth, whose voice nothing, whether above or beneath, whether in heaven or in earth, sensible or insensible aught to disobey. Hear then, O heavens, and hearken, O earth: for the Lord hath said.  
In which latter words, for the Lord hath said) the Prophet commendeth unto us three special points.  
1 First the excellency and worthiness of the word of God, which David preferreth before gold, before much fine gold; which he counteth sweeter than honey & the honey comb, Psal. 19.10. For it is that honey, whose sweetness doth both delight the soul, and also temper the troubles of this life, that they become tolerable and easy. It is that fire which burneth up and consumeth the fig leaves of vanity, and wickedness of man's heart whatsoever. It is that which dropeth as the rain, which stilleth as the dew, as the shower upon the herbs, and as the great rain upon the grass. Deut. 2.2. It is the sword of the spirit, Eph. 6.17. Sharper than any two edged sword, entering through, even to the dividing a sunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints, and marrow. Heb. 4.12. It is that grain of mustard seed Math. 13.31. which at the first is very small, but taking root & increasing in the children of God, groweth to such an height, that it reacheth the very heart & mind of man. It is that seed, whose roots take such deep hold, & are so firmly fastened, that it never ceaseth from growing, till it bring the whole man into the quiet possession of the kingdom of God. It is the forcible seed of regeneration, by which (through the working of the spirit of God) all must be regenerate and borne a new, as many as desire to be made partakers of the eternal inheritance. It is that word of truth, by which God the father, the fountain and wellspring of all goodness, according to his free mercy, even of his own will begat us, that we should be as the first fruits of his creatures. ja. 1.18. So writeth Saint Peter in his 1. Epistle 1. Chapter & verse 23. Born a new, not of mortal seed, but of immortal, by the word of God, who liveth for ever. If I might stand upon this point, I could bring many most excellent places of Scripture for the worthiness hereof, and for the great benefits which Solomon describeth, and which David confesseth to have received by the same, as namely, that he had perished in the multitude of his sorrows, if the comforts thereof had not refreshed his soul. Pro. 4. Psa. 94.19.  
secondarily, the prophet in these words (For the Lord hath said) declareth in what estimation and reverence his word is to be had, & the ministers thereof: that his word is to be received, not as the word of men, but as it is indeed the word of God, which also worketh in them that believe; 1. Thes. 2.13. & that the Ministers thereof are to be esteemed, as the Ministers of Christ, & disposers of the secrets of God: 1. Cor. 4.1. whom he that contemneth, contemneth God himself. For as Moses said unto the Isralites; The Lord hath heard your murmurings which ye murmur against him: for what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. Ex. 16.8. Again (concerning them) the Lord from his own mouth saith unto Samuel: they have not cast thee away, but they have cast me away, that I should not reign over them. 1. Sa. 8.7. Our Saviour to the Disciples; he that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. Lu. 10.16. And the Apostle unto the Thessalonians, he that despiseth us, despiseth not man but God, who hath sent his holy spirit among us. 1. Thes. 4.8.  
3 Thirdly, out of these words (For the Lord hath said) we learn; that the Prophets of God were wont, as often as they published any thing worthy admiration, whether it were to set forth God's justice, or to recommend his mercy) to say; This saith the Lord or the Lord hath spoken it; thereby declaring that they uttered nothing of their own mind, but that which they had received from the mouth of the Lord. Which practice was usual not only with the prophets, but also with Christ and his Apostles. For Christ said unto the jews: I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, so I speak these things. Io. 8.28. Again, I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, & what I should speak. Io. 12.49. S. john his Apostle likewise: That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you. 1. Io. 1.3. S. Paul in like sort: That which I delivered unto you, I received of the Lord. 1. Co. 11, 23, So in his Epistle to the Romans (entreating of the manner and order of justification) he putteth this question: for what saith the scripture. Rom. 4.3. And in sundry other places, when he laboureth to prove what he had said, he citeth the Scriptures; given by inspiration of God, & therefore profitable to teach, to improve, to correct, and to instruct in righteousness, that the man of God, may be perfect and prepared unto every good work. 2. Tim. 3.16.  
Which divine and heavenly practice of the Prophets, of Christ and his Apostles, would God the Papists of our days: would once endeavour to imitate and follow. But they (still like unto their forefathers) plunged with them in the bottomless pit of ignorance, or rather given in the haughtiness and malice of heart to deceive, prefer the Pope's holiness before the Scriptures: and the Scriptures which our Saviour Christ used and confirmed with so many miracles, and at last sealed up with the effusion of his precious blood; which came by inspiration of God; 2. Tim. 3.19. which the Prophets, Apostles, & Fathers (as often as was needful) alleged for testimony and proof these men have used, and yet use to call a bare, dumb, unprofitable, and dead Letter, They tell us not what the Lord hath said, but what men have said, as Pardoners, Priests, Friars, and Popes themselves; as Alexander, Gregory, john, Clement, and others like.  
They note unto us what Counsels have decreed, what custom hath confirmed, and what the Pope his unlawful sovereignty hath established; which seemeth to us all one, as if he had said, The Scriptures are to no purpose; or as good as nothing. Of which opinion was Cardinal Hosius: who in his book. De expresso Verbo Dei, Fol. 242. in lit. F. writeth thus: Vanus est labour qui scriptures impenditur. It is but lost labour that is spent in the scriptures. Nos Dei de caelo sententiam potius expectabimus: We will rather expect God's pleasure from heaven. Scriptura enim creatura est, & egenum quoddam elementum. For the Scripture is a creature, and a certain needy element. And in conclusion he pronounceth Sentence definitive in this wise: in Epilogo ad Sigismundum regem Poloniae. Quod Ecclesia docet, expressum Dei verbum est: quod contra sensum, et consensum Ecclesiae docetur, expressum Diaboli verbum est. That which the Church teacheth (by the Church I trow, meaning the Pope and his Cardinals) is the express word of God: what is taught against the meaning and consent of the Church, is the express word of the Devil. And long before him Guido (editus, An. 1495.) he which compiled that sottish book, Manipulus curatorum, (to justify the whole matter & stuff of Confirmation) putteth this down for a Maxim & infallible truth: In Tract. 3.1. Par. 2. de mat. confir. Licet non inveniatur in canonicis epistolis Divi Petri, tamen Dominus Papa habet in decretis Romanae ecclesiae etc. That though it be not found in the canonical Epistles of S. Peter; yet our Lord the Pope hath it in the decrees of the Church of Rome; & this mounteth far above and beyond all other authority whatsoever. Thus Christ must Surrender to belial; the Spouse must give place to Babylon: Truth to falsehood, and the written word to unwritten verities: human traditions must be hot and lively letters, and the scriptures, cold & dead Elements; if we hunger, our meat must be chaff in steed of wheat; and if we call for drink, it must come from their broken and puddlepits, full of mire and filth, jer. 2.13. which neither have nor are able to hold the water of power to refresh the withered soul of man: for the veins of the fresh and clear springing waters they have stopped up: that by this drift, the sayings both of jeremy and Esaie, verified in the jews, as well poor as rich, have been brought on us. The Elders of the jews (saith jeremy) sent their little ones to the wells, and they finding no water, with shame and confusion returned with their vessels empty. The poor and the needy (saith Esaie. 41.17.) sought water, but no where found they any: their tongue was even withered with thirst. Even so these men, by breaking in pieces the pipes and conduits, and by damning and choking the fountains of living waters with dirt and mire, have brought the people of God into a pitiful thirst, and this was a misery and a rueful state: we have felt it, let us beware. We are counseled, if we will follow counsel, and we are warned, if we will take warning, to beware of such deceivers, lest otherwise it come to pass, that as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so our minds should be corrupt from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2. Cor. 11.3. If they bring with them Esaies' commission and cry as he doth: Hear and hearken, for the Lord hath said: Let us receive them as ambassadors sent us from God, and let us believe them. Otherwise, if they breed suspicion, let us make proof, as did those noble men of Beroea, noble not so much for birth, as for courage in embracing the word of God with all readiness, and as they did, Act. 17.11. let us search the scriptures daily and diligently, whether the things which they teach be so or not. And then if (upon due trial & proof) we find that they bring us counterfeit coin, that they come with the Revelations of men which flow not from the mouth of the Lord, what countenance soever they carry (where they Angels from heaven, that did us the message) by the commandment of Saint Paul to the Galathians, 1.8. let us hold them accursed.  
And yet there are that say, and will say; The Lord hath said it, when the Lord never spoke the word. Such are the Prophets of Antichrist, not unlike unto those of Israel, which Prophesied after their own fantasy, and said; the Lord saith it, albeit the Lord had not spoken. Eze. 13.7. But behold, what the word of the Lord is against such Prophets, which follow their own spirit, and teach the people the counsels of their own hearts. I am against them, mine hand shallbe upon the Prophets that see vanity, & divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of Israel, (Verse. 8.9.) to wit, in the book of life in which the true Israelites are written; neither shall they enter into the land of Israel: and that because they have deceived my people saying peace; which jeremy 6, 14. calleth a sweet word, but it was not so, for there was no peace: & one built up a wall and others daubed it with untempered mortar. Eze. 13.10. But saith the Lord, Ver. 13.14. I will destroy the wall which they have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, by a stormy wind which shall break forth in my wrath, and by a great shower in mine anger, and hailstones in mine indignation, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall & they shall be consumed in the midst thereof, and shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will the Lord accomplish his wrath upon the wall and upon them that daubed it with untempered mortar, even with their own devices, under the authority of God's word. If then the Lord will thus deal with the wall, and with the daubers that daubed it with untempered mortar, let the builders take heed how they build the wall, and the daubers how they daub it, lest the Lord pull down both wall and mortar; Ver 15. and they say, the wall is no more, neither the daubers thereof. And this much of the first part; namely, how Esaie (by way of exclamation) hath enjoined (by the commandment of God) the heavens to hear, and the earth to hearken, unto the message which he is willed to do unto them from the mouth of the Lord.  
Now the Prophet goeth onward with the Lords most lamentable complaint concerning the ingratitude of his people, for whom he had done many and great good turns. The complaint is this: I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled against me. A most grievous complaint, which consisteth of two parts. In the first, he expresseth his benefits bestowed upon them. In the second, he declareth their ingratitude and rebellion against him. He expresseth his benefits towards them in these words; I have nourished and brought up children. He declareth their ingratitude & rebellion against him in these; but they have rebelled against me. This their ingratitude and rebellion he amplifieth in the verse following by way of comparison, or example of brute and dull beasts. The Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Master's Crib, but Israel hath not known: my people hath not understand.  
Thus you have the sum of the complaint; by which almighty God, as a most unhappy father, with lamentable voice doth deplore and bewail the unkindness of his people, and withal doth recite what & how great benefits he had bestowed upon them, but to no purpose. The complaint is very short if we mark the words, but very heinous and weighty if we diligently weigh and examine the thing itself. For the Lord seemeth thus to say; Oh what an unhappy father am I to have such unthankful children, whom I neither could, nor aught more to have loved, than if they had come forth of mine own loins. For behold; he brought them out of the iron furnace of Egypt, Deu. 4.20, where their lives were bitter unto them by sore labour in clay and brick. Ex. 1.14. He went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might go both by day and by night. Exod. 13.21. He divided the red sea in two parts, and made Israel to pass through the midst of it, which when the Egyptians attempted to do, they were drowned, Exod. 14.21. Psa. 136.13. At their desire he brought Quails, and filled them with the bread of heaven; Ps. 105.40. in so much that (as David saith.) Man did eat the bread of Angels. Psal. 78.25. When they were thirsty and had no water to drink, Psal. 105.41. he opened the rock, and the waters flowed out, and ran in the dry places like a river. For their sakes he smote divers nations, Psal. 135.10. and slew mighty kings, Psal. 136.19. as Sihon king of the Amorites, & Og king of Basan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, Num. 21.33. and gave their land to be an heritage, even an heritage unto Israel his people. He made them a mighty nation, a fearful, and a terrible to all the princes and potentates of the earth, Deut. 32.10. He found them in the land of the wilderness, in a waste, & roaring wilderness: he led them about, he taught them, and kept them as the apple of his eye. As an Eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her birds, stretcheth out her wings, taketh them, and beareth them on her wings; So the Lord alone led them, and carried them up to the high places of the earth, that they might eat the fruits of the fields, and suck honey out of the stone, and oil out of the hard rock; Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of the Lambs, and Rams fed in Bashan, and goats, with the fat of the grains of wheat, and drink the liquor of the red grape. So in the second of jeremy, the Lord ringeth in the ears of jerusalem the sum of his benefits in this sort; Iere. 2.2. I remember thee, with the kindness of thy youth; and the jove of thy marriage, when thou goest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was a thing hallowed unto the Lord, and his first fruits, chosen above all other to serve the Lord only, and the first offered to the Lord of all other nations. And by Ezekiel (amongst other his benefits toward jerusalem) thus saith the Lord: Ezech. 16.6. When thou wast polluted in thy own blood: to wit, when thou wast in thy filthiness and forsaken of all men, I took thee and gave thee life, for I said unto thee, thou shalt live. I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou hast gotten excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, thine hair is grown. verse. 11. I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thine hands, and a chain on thy neck. I put a frontlet upon thy face, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work: thou didst eat fine flower, and Honey: and Oil, and thou waste very beautiful and thou didst grow up into a kingdom. And to be short; what benefit was there, which the Lord bestowed not upon his people? What could he have done more unto his vinyeard, Esay. 5.4. which he did not do unto it? He planted it in a very fruitful hill, he hedged it, and gathered out the s●ones of it; he planted it with the best plants, he built a tower in the midst thereof, and made a wine press therein. This did the Lord for his Vineyard.  
Surely the vinyeard of the Lord of hosts, was the house of Israel, and the men of judah were his pleasant plant. verse. 4. Then the Lord looked that his vinyeard should bring forth sweet Gr●pes, but it brought forth wild and sour grapes: he looked for judgement, but behold oppression, verse. 7. for righteousness, but behold a doleful crying: for obedience, but behold a rebellion. I have nourished & brought up chillldrens (saith he) but they have rebelled against me. I have nourished and brought them up; I have done the duty of a father, I have performed what was required of my part; I have carried them out of all danger, I have made them the lot and portion of mine inheritance, I have fed them with the best and chiefest things of the earth, I have bestowed many and infinite good turns upon them (as before expressed) and yet see: this is the recompense which they yield unto me for all that I have done; They have rebelled against me.  
But it may seem that the Lord doth not justly charge his people with ingratitude and disobedience; for they offered many sacrifices: Esa. 1.11. they offered the  offerings of rams, the fat of fed beasts, the blood of bullocks, of Lambs, and of goats; They did what the law could require. They observed the new moons, vers. 13. Sabbaths and solemn days. They had their assemblies, and appointed feasts: they stretched out their hands, and made many prayers. And yet for all these (which they did, or could do) they are counted a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of the wicked, corrupt children, which had forsaken the Lord, & provoked the holy one of Israel to anger; ver. 4. and in such sort, as that he hated & abhorred their feast days, & would not smell in their solemn assemblies, Amo. 5.21. nor accept their  offerings, meat offerings, nor regard the peace offerings of their fat beasts: and all was, because they did these and such like without faith and mercy, even in the full measure of hypocrisy and dissimulation.  
King Vzziah himself, called also Azariah 2. Kin. 15.1 (in whose time this our prophet begun to prophesy) after that God had blessed him marvelously, & had given him many notable victories, & thereby was grown to be strong, lifted up his heart, and usurped the priest's office, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense, and when he was willed to leave off, would not, but waxed wroth, as it is in the second of Chronicles and 26. chap. v. 19 jerusalem a faithful city, and which had promised fidelity unto God, as a wife to her husband, is now become a common harlot, and a filthy strumpet, Esa. 1.21. She was once full of judgement, and justice was lodged within her breast: but now she is full of raven, cruelty and deceit. verse. 22. Her silver is become dross, and her wine is mixed with water. The testimonies of the Lord which sometime were pure and without dross, like unto silver that is tried with fire, are now defiled with pharisaical traditions and doctrines of men. The commandments of the Lord which were like unto pure wine rejoicing the heart, through watery dregs, have lost their strength, colour and beauty, verse. 23. The princes of the people were rebellious and companions of thieves: they loved gifts, and followed after rewards, they judged not the fatherless, neither did the widows cause come before them. jerem. 2.8. The Priests said not so much as, where is the Lord? and they that should minister the law, knew not God. Deut. 32.15. He that should have been upright, when he waxed fat, and gross, and was laden with fatness, spurned with his heel, and forsook the Lord that made him, & regarded not the strong God of his salvation. And therefore the state and condition of judah & jerusalem being thus corrupt, whom neither the benefits of God could win, nor his punishments amend, the Lord by his Prophet, doth justly charge them with ingratitude and disobedience in this sort: They have rebelled against me.  
Wherein they did rightly imitate and follow their forefathers, Psal. 78.8. a stubborn and rebellious generation: a generation whose heart was not aright, and whose spirit was not faithful unto God. For no sooner had God brought than out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, with a mighty hand and stretched out arm, Psal. 106.7. but they forgot his great goodness, and rebelled at the Sea, even at the red Sea. Exo. 16.3. In the wilderness of Sin they grudged for bread and flesh, Exod. 17.2. and in Rephidim for water. They made a calf in Horeb, Exod. 32.4. & worshipped the molten image. Psa. 106.19. They maliced Moses & Aaron, the holy one of the lord v. 16. They would have stoned Caleb and joshua. Nom. 14.10. They joined themselves unto Baal peor, & did eat the offerings of the dead Psa. 106.28. They sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils, & shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan; Deut. 32.17. gods whom they knew not, new gods that came newly up, & forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, as Baal and Ashtaroth, the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed unto them. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoilt them, and sold them into the hands of their enemies round about them. Notwithstanding, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hands of their oppressors, ve. 16. but they would not obey their judges, for they wet a whoring after other gods and worshipped than: judg. 10.6. as the gods of Aram, Zidon, and Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, & forsook the Lord God, and served not him. And thus they rebelled and their posterity to the days of john the forerunner, & of Christ and his Apostles, insomuch that of Christ, & (before him) of john the Baptist they are called, Progenies viperarum, the generations of vipers Mat. 3.7. And because they were the children of them which murdered the prophets, & fulfilled the measure of their fathers Mat. 23.31, the lord upbraideth & casteth in their teeth not only their own, but also their father's malice. Many a time would the Lord have gathered them together, Matt. 23 37. as the hen doth her chickens under her wings, but they would not: And therefore did Stephan to their faces charge them with stubborness and rebellion, calling them Act. 7.51. stiff-necked and of uncircumcised hearts, and ears always resisting the holy Ghost, as their fathers did. So that, though Israel and judah, after a sort, could colour their rebellion and stiffness of heart against the Lord, and against his anointed, with the multitude of sacrifices, Esa. 1.11. with the  offerings of Rams, and fat of fed beasts, with the blood of bullocks, of Lambs, and of goats, with the observation of new moons, Sabbaths, and solemn days: with the stretching out of hands, and making many prayers: yet, we see what they are, and the Lord (who alone looketh into the hearts of all) by the prophet here chargeth the very Rulers to be rebellious & companions of thieves: ve. 23, yea, and the whole pack of them (for their impiety and wickedness) to be like unto the princes of Sodoma and people of Gomorah.  

The application.  
And now (to apply these former points unto ourselves, before we come to the exaggeration of this people's ingratitude and unkindness) let us take some short view, whether our condition be the same with the condition of Israel and judah, or whether ours be better than theirs was.  
The Lord our God (as ye all know) hath nourished and brought up us his children, in as good and ample manner as ever he did the jews his elect and chosen people. He hath given us for our comfort, Psa. 8.7.8. the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea. He brought us out of the iron furnace of Romish Egypt, at what time the Egyptian tyrants made us weary of our lives, with sore labourin the clay and brick of hellish superstition, and with all manner of bondage, which they laid upon us most cruelly. Hitherto, the Lord hath gone before us by day, in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, to lead us the way, and to give us light, that we might go both by day and by night, out of all danger. He hath given us Manna from heaven: not Manna, of which the Fathers did eat in the wilderness, and are dead; but a living Manna, a Manna that giveth life unto the world; a Manna, of which he that truly eateth, shall live for ever. joh. 6 38. The Israelites (after they had drunk of the water out of the rock) thirsted again: but of the water, which he shall give us, if we once drink, we shall never be more a thirst; Joh 4.14. for it is the water of life, even the grace and love of God in his son Christ, shed abroad in our hearts, by the holy Ghost, unto eternal life. This our God (for our peace) hath smitten of late years Sihon of Rome; and Og of Spain, who sought to make the Lords heritage an abomination: that so (to this very day) the heritage standeth as it did, it is as it was, and in as good plight, if not better; it remaineth in the hand of the right owner, & we trust that it shall still remain, even in the hand and possession of Israel his servant; for which we do, and shall praise his holy & blessed name for ever. This our God the lord God of hosts, hath made us a mighty nation, a fearful, and a terrible to all the Princes & Potentates of the earth. He conducteth us, not by josua, but by a jesus: not to a terrestrial, but to a celestial Canaan, the land of eternal felicity, whose brightness is God, whose light is the lamb: the lot of the faithful, and the possession of the saved. The Lord finding us in this vale of misery (as he found jaacob in the land of a roaring wilderness, Deuteronomie 23.9.10.) hath led us by his spirit, taught us by his word, governed us by his grace, and kept us as the Apple of his eye. As the Eagle, he stirreth up his nest, he fluttereth over us his young ones, stretcheth out the wings of his mercy, taketh and beareth us on the same to the best and surest places of the earth: that so we eat the fruits of the fields, and suck honey, not from the stone, as did the jews, but from the Bee: and oil not from the rock (as they) but from the Olive: we eat the butter of kine, and the milk of sheep, with the fat of Lambs and Rams; fed, not in Bashan, but in England, with the fat of the grains of wheat, and for good and perfect digestion, we draw from the enemy the liquor of the red grape. This our good and gracious God hath caused us to multiply as the bud of the field. We are (to the knowledge of the nations round about us) increased and waxed great: many of us have gotten many goodly and excellent ornaments. Our breasts are fashioned, our hair is grown. The Lord hath given us rich and precious jewels: bracelets for our hands, chains for our necks, frontlets for our faces, earrings for our ears, beautiful things for our heads; in which, would God we did not delight and rejoice so much as we do. The Lord hath decked us with gold and silver: our raiment is of the finest linen, and silk, and broidered work: we eat fine flower, and honey, and oil: yea, better things than ever did the jews; and thus we become beautiful, more than the sons and daughters of Zion; and we are grown into a kingdom, God grant not into pride. The jews in the first of Haggei, vers. 8. are commanded to go up to the hill Lebanon, which was not within the borders of jewry, but of Zidon & Tyrus, Ezra. 3.7. & from thence to bring home Cedarwood for the building of the Temple. Truly a figure of the Lords abundant mercy, and most comfortable for us Gentiles; that albeit we be not borne of jews: yet we are trees meet to build God's house with, and God willeth us to be brought home unto him by the preaching of his word, that we may be planks or boards, bases or props, sides or posts, pillars or beams, rafters or tenons, one thing or other of that house, wherein himself will dwell, and he delighted with us, and among whom he will declare his glory.  
Beside all these (which hath been already observed for a blessing upon Israel and judah) Esa. 5.1.2. the Lord hath planted his vineyard in a very fruitful soil; he hath given it a skilful vinitor, one endued with all gifts and qualities necessary for regiment; even a learned, religious, gentle, merciful, gracious and loving Prince, by name Elizabeth, the rest of God, the seventh of God, and fullness of the oath of God: a great blessing, the Lord continue it, and make us thankful for it.  
This skilful vinitor (our gracious Sovereign) comparable for fortitude with josua, for magnanimity with Gedeon, for victories with Macchabeus, for wisdom with Solomon, for zeal with Hezekiah, for deutoion with David; hath caused the stones that pestered the vineyard to be gathered out; the briars and thorns to be grubbed up; rubbish and whatsoever was noisome to be removed; 2. Thes. 2.3. Antichrist the man of sin with his trash and traditions, to be exiled: that now the field is cleared, the vineyard cleansed, the Church purged, and all this concluded and more, without any great sedion or tumult at all. It was the Lords doing, and it is wonderful in the eyes of as many as do truly behold it. No vineyard, no Church, no people under the heavens more enriched with the blessings of God: so that the Lord may justly say unto us, as he did unto his people of old, Es. 4.5. what more could I have done unto my vineyard which I have not done unto it? The Lord have the glory for it: and he in his mercy, preserve, keep and maintain the vinitor our gracious queen, in health, wealth, peace and prosperity, that (to the joy and comfort of all her loyal, hearty true & trusty subjects) she may long continue, live and reign an old mother in Israel; & he that from the very bottom of his heart doth not so wish and pray, and say Amen, the ravens of the valley pick out his eyes, and the young Eagles eat them up. Pro. 30.17.  
This vineyard so planted in a most fruitful ground, cleansed from stone, thorn, & brier, watered with the dew of God's truth, cherished with his Sacraments, pruned with the two edged sword of his most holy spirit, under propped with the authority of zealous magistrates, fortified with good and godly laws, to keep both root and branch in order; hath brought forth many a goodly and pleasant grape: amongst others, peace spiritual and peace civil: peace toward God, peace amongst men, and amongst ourselves; and so the peace of conscience, which passeth all wisdom and understanding: pleasant grapes, and a rich blessing. He that hath felt the evil of war, can best speak of the good of peace. War, as a Locust, maketh scarcity; but peace, like unto the morning and evening dew, worketh plenty, as Eras. Apo. lib. 6. noteth; Croesus king of Lydia by this only argument preferred peace before war; Quòd pacis tempore filii sepelirent patres, in bello contrà patres sepelirent liberos; that in the time of peace, children did bury their fathers; contrariwise in war, fathers did bury their children. So contrary is the fruit of war to the fruit of peace; which we (through the benefit of God under his Anointed) have enjoyed long time without any effusion of blood to speak of, except of a sort of Archtraitors, who received but the reward they deserved, and which I pray God all traitors with their adherents may receive hereafter, if they practise, conspire, and rebel as they did.  
This flourishing peace hath made not only this City, but also the whole land to flow, like another Canaan, with milk and honey. The God of peace hath done this for us; he be praised therefore, and prosper her majesty, by whom it is governed and maintained.  
Whereas the Nations about us struggle in the field, tumble in war, and wallow in blood, expecting no end of their miseries, but utter ruin and desolation; we in the mean while sit at home by our fires in our furred gowns, corked slippers, trimmed buskins, and warm mittens. Am. 4.6. We lie upon our costly beds, and stretch out ourselves upon them; we eat the Lambs of the flock, and the Calves out of the stall. verse. 5. We sing to the sound of the Viol, the Harp and Pipe, and wine are in our feasts, and the wine we drink in bowls: Esa. 5.12. Am. 6.6. In which great peace and plentifulness, God make us worthily to consider the works of his hands, and to be sorry for the affliction of joseph and his brethren, Vers. 6. of which now many are slain in France, Flanders, and else where, in defence of the Gospel, propagation of the truth, and safety of this Land. Moreover (whereas the nations & people about us do eat in fear, and drink in dread, and like fearful hares do flee away at the wagging of every leaf) we sit quiet and safe, as did Israel and judab, 1. King. 4.20. like unto the sand of the Sea in number, eating, drinking & making merry; every man under his vine, and under his Boothe, from Dan to Beersheba; to wit, from the one end of this land to the other. For God hath made the bars of the gates of our jerusalem strong, Psa. 147.5. and hath blessed our children within her. He hath set peace in her borders, and satisfied her poor with the flower of wheat. His word is come from jaacob, and his statutes from Israel unto us; the best and greatest blessing that may be. He hath not dealt thus with every Nation, vers. 20. as he hath dealt with us, the least Nation of all: Our punishment and fall will be the greater, if we be not thankful. It must be confessed that some stonnes have been raised in her majesties days; & before time in the days of her dear brother King Edward the sixth, which somewhat disturbed our happy rest. But the Prince of peace, & sovereign Lord of our tranquillity, soon ceased the waves of the sea, stilled the fury & madness of those heathen, miraculously prevented their wicked devices, and confounded the devisers of them. Thus was the Lord of Hosts jealous for his Zion, with great jealousy, he was jealous for her with great wrath, Zach. 8.2. He was not unmindful of his people, nor forgetful of his inheritance. A mother may forget her child, and take no compassion on the son of her womb; Esay, 49.15. such stepmothers there are. But though such (unnaturally given) forget, yet will not the Lord forget Zion: for he hath graven her upon the palm of his hands, and her walls are ever in his sight. Christ the shipmaster (our salvation) Matth 8.24. slept in the ship on a pillow, the ship covered with waves: the Disciples, Mar. 4.38. with no little diffidence and distrust awoke him, they put him out of his nap: A faithless and needle's labour. For he that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep: Psal. 121 4. we have felt the experiment. For the Lord in our City's distress, in the time of Commotion, (as we call it) or insurrection, awaked as one out of sleep, and as a Giant refreshed with wine. Psal. 78.65. He smote his enemies and ours in the hinder parts, and put them to a perpetual shame, verse, 66. They ran about us like Bees; but they were extinct suddenly as a fire of thorns. Psal. 12. Our soul escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fouler; the snare was broken, and we delivered, Psal. 124.7. The Plowers would have ploughed upon our backs, and made long furrows at their pleasure, Psal. 129.3. But the righteous Lord took in hand the two edged sword of his justice, and hewed the snares and cords of those wicked in pieces: (vers. 4.5.) He in like measure reward as many as have evil will at Zion. This was the Lords work, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Psal. 118.23. This is the day which the Lord made. we will rejoice and be glad in it, verse, 24. This is the day which you call jesus day, whether because it is so fixed in the Calendar I know not; but sure I am, that it was jesus day unto you, a day of salvation. For if jesus the Lord had not been on our side, Psal. 114.1. (may not Israal, but Exeter now say) if the Lord had not been on our side, when men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick (so unable were we to resist) when their wrath was kindled against us. The waters had drowned us, the stream and swelling waters had gone over our soul, verse, 4. But praised be the Lord, who gave us not over for a pray unto their teeth.  
And thus hath our good & gracious God continued his favour toward us to this present day, that there is no leading into captivity, nor any complaining in our streets. Psal. 144.14. Blessed are we that be in such a case: yea blessed are we which have the Lord for our God. For this great calm, for this miraculous peace, let us thank the Lord.  
But what? are we thankful unto him for these and other his blessings? or live we as children obedient to a father? If we do not, would we did; all do not. For behold, how many of us (like unto Israel & judah) are turned back, and started aside like a broken bow? Psal. 78.57. The Lord looketh that we should bring forth sweet grapes, but we bring forth sour ones. There are at this very day in our streets, usury, deceit, cruelty, and oppression. We have (as the jews had) our Sabbaths and solemn days, our assemblies and appointed feasts; we stretch out our hands and make many prayers as they did: and yet see (as theirs were) our hearts (if not our hands) are full of blood. Esa. 1.13.15. Now that we are waxen fat and gross; now that we have what we would have (as did Israel) we spurn with the heel, we forsake the Lord that made us, and regard not the mighty and strong God of our salvation. Deu. 32.15. We begin to loath Manna, and to long for the flesh pots of Egypt. Num. 11.6. We profess that we know God; but our works testify, that we deny him. Exo. 19.3. As for the word of the Lord, we count it vain: Tit. 1.19. we can be content to say to the S●ers, see not, and to the Prophets, prophesy errors. Esa. 36.10. Like unto the men of Anathoth we desire to be flattered and soothed in our sins. Ier, 11.17. The Lord hath set watchmen over us that cry take heed of the sound of the Trumpet; but we say, we will not take heed. jer. 6.17. He hath commanded us to ask for the old way, which is the good way; the way wherein the patriarchs and prophets have walked, directed by the word of God: ver. 16. but we say we will not walk therein; we will go rather the broad way that leadeth to destruction. Mat. 7.13. we drink iniquity like water: we have as great a desire to sin, as they that are thirsty have a desire to drink. job. 15.16. We draw wickedness unto us with cords, and sin (as it were) with cart ropes; Esa. 5.18. we use all the allurements and provocations that canbe, to freeze together the conscience in sin and impiety. And yet we can speak of truth and of verity, of justice and mercy, of the knowledge of God and his laws, and of sundry other high points: but when we are brought unto the balance, we are found too light, & when we are drawn unto the touchstone for trial, we prove dross. For what do the Suns of men find in our shops & shop-houses, in our wares and warehouses, but fraud and deceit, if not worse? Truly said Tertullian, Lib. de patientia, pag. 13. sect. 7 Lata atque diffusa est operatio mali.  
The operation, or handicraft of mischief is wide and diffused all abroad; more now than ever it was.  
john the Apostle left written many years past, that the whole world lieth in wickedness: First john, 5. Chapter and 19 verse, which if it lay buried in wickedness then, how may we think it to lie buried in wickedness, now being old, bowing and winding itself even for age to the pit of destruction?  
Hosea must be just, and his prophesy cometh homeward to our doors, and the Lord as then with the inhabitants in Israel, so now with us in England, hath a controversy, because in Hos. 4.1.2. there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land; but swearing, and lying, & killing, and stealing, and whoring, they break out, and blood toucheth blood; mischief upon mischief, one still falling on the neck of another; and all these with many more committed without any dread, or fear of God at all. For so man doth not see us, we pass not; fearing more the face of man, than the wrath of God; insemblance the very sons of Ammon, who coveting to force his sister Tamar, 2. Sam. 13. caused every man to go out from him, as ashamed to work that villainy before men, which he feared not to commit in the sight of his God. This Ammon (wicked Ammon) hath left Ammon's in great store behind him, as much forgetful of God and his laws as ever himself was, if not more. For as he feared, so do we the eyes of men: and thus, and thus, we think in our hearts, Eccle. 23.18. Who seethe us? we are compassed about with darkness; the walls cover us; no body marketh us; whom need we to fear? the most High will not remember our sins; albeit he remembreth them well enough, and still looketh down upon them from his holy Mountain, and beholdeth them in the most secret parts; his eyes being ten thousand times brighter than the sun beams, beholding all the ways of men, and the ground of the deep. And therefore such imaginations of the thoughts of men's hearts shall perish, and they in them: such shifts and turning of devices shall be esteemed as the Potter's clay, Esay, 29.16. For (notwithstanding all their craft) they shall be able to escape the lords wrath no more than the clay that is in the Potter's hand of power to deliver itself. But so long as men will dwell in this mind and opinion that he that planted the ear doth not hear, and that he that form the eye, doth not see; what marvel is it, if they give themselves unto wantonness, to work all uncleanness, even with greediness? Eph. 4.19.  
But there is another sort of us, who though we perceive and will confess that there is nothing so hid which God seethe not; that he knoweth our down sitting and our uprising, Psa. 159.2.3.4. that he understandeth all our thoughts long before, that he is about our paths and about our beds, and spieth out all our ways, that there is not a word in our tongues, which he knoweth not altogether: yet we rest persuaded that God hath feet of will, and will punish slowly, or never. As for the deserved tokens of his wrath, now hanging over our heads, and ready to be powered upon us, for our manifold sins and damnable iniquities, what of them? We count them as bugs; bugs to fray children. The Lord our God hath gone by us in a mighty strong wind: but we say the Lord was not in the wind. After the mind came an earthquake: but we say the Lord was not in the Earthquake. After the Earthquake came fire: but we say, the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a still and soft voice: and yet we will not obey.  
If God withdraw his heavy hand for a time, to try if we will amend with a gentle correction before he lay on us a sharper: we fall to our old fashions, we forget God, his rod, our duty, and his reverence, attributing his plagues to unseasonable weather, pestilent airs, or to some unhappy chance, as though they were not sent of God to nurture us rightly in the duty and obedience of Children to a father.  
So in the days of most cruel Popery and bloody persecution, we cried; O Lord our God, deliver up this once, and we will ever take heed hereafter how we fall to Apostasy and offend thy divine Majesty.  
But now being delivered, we are worse; more unthankful and disobedient than ever before; which apparent wickedness, surely the righteous God in his due time, will not suffer to escape without some manifest token of his high indignation and most heavy displeasure.  
When Prince Edward the sixth, was taken away for our unthankfulness, there ensued Mariana tempora, Lamentable times: and then too, this was the wish of many one, bounded with a vow: O that the Mass Book were burnt, & the Communion book restored again. O that these mitred Bishops were sent packing, & zealous Pastors placed in their rooms; for then (said they) We will enter into the house of the Lord, and in his fear will we worship toward his holy Temple. The Lord in his great mercy pitied their desire and heard their moan. Queen Marie died: Our gracious Lady and Queen Elizabeth succeeded, (whom almighty God long preserve, with all health, wealth and peace to govern) and the book, in better sort than in former days through God's goodness and hit majesties carefulness (was restored again. But of it now? A book (saith one) blown up (like unto a bladder) with the wind of confusion and profanation. The orders (saith another) prescribed earthly, beggarly, dungy, drossy, lousy, Antichristian. The frequenting of the lords house, and worshipping in his holy temple in his fear, vowed with the lips and promised with the mouth; what of it? Christ if he were here on earth, should not need so much a whip to drive them out of the Church (so few come there) as he should need a great sort of whips, and that good ones to drive them thither. As for the Bishops which they wished to be removed; mitred ones were thrust out of their holds sooner than they thought; and exiles and other very zealous men placed in their steads. But what of those then, and of their successors now? Even as of the Bishops and Elders of the Churches in saint Paul's time: Reviled, evil spoken off; made, Os pericatharmata tou cosmon, as the filth of the world, 1. Cor. 4.13. Panton peripsema the ofscowring of all things; unto this time the very practice of ancient Sectaries, who by dispraising and reviling others, sought to purchase fame and glory to themselves. But this is not all; for Captain Cuffe of the bouncing band of all Surebies, the old sheep ebiter, (which pricketh at the body and spareth not the fleece) will have their Manors and lands to make his brats Gentlemen. Their houses must go down their livings must be clipped, or clean taken away, and they set to petrie pensions. The Captain with the help of his surebies (like an other Xerxes) will sup up whole countries before him, and snatch up houses and woods dales and mountains, valleys and hills, people and all into the budget of his wrath. Havoc must be made of the Church's inheritance, without contradiction either of Prince or people: else the trumpet soundeth à stylo ad macheram; Tertul. de prescrip. pag. 110. Sect. 15. Sirs, no more words but blows and all for Church patrimony, under the colour of religion. Captain Cuffe (belike in his Itinerario, or Calendar of miles) smelled that Abbey lands, etc. so well pretended to be employed to the enriching of the King, maintaining of schools, and relieving the poor, were unto some very sweet, and the best feather of their tail; who perhaps having spent the better part (if not the total) upon back and belly, himself could be content to consume in like proportion the remnants that are left.  
Hear ye this (O Elders) and hearken ye all inhabitants of this City, whether such a thing hath been in your days, or yet in the dares of your fathers. The Palmer worm hath his part, and so hath the Grasshopper, and canker worm; and now residuum erucae the residue of the canker worm 〈◊〉 the Caterpillar eat if he may. Such is the thankfulness which these and others yield both to the Lord, and also to them, who have ministered and to this day do minister in his sanctified labours.  
It is presupposed that some Clergy men have too little, some too much, and some nothing at all to live by; and therefore very requisite that just and equal division were made, that all might be sufficiently provided for. A deep charity, dipped in as deep hypocrisy. But (Sirs of the corporation of Mal-contents) who shall make the division?  
There is just cause, why we may stagger at putting the Church patrimony to arbitrement; lest (while division be pretended) some Quintus Fabius adjudge the better part thereof to the Senate of Rome, Cicero office li. 10. Et ita erit novissimus error peior priore; And so shall the last error be worse than the first, Matthew Chapter 27. verse, 64.  
But all this is the wicked working of Satan the moulder of mischief, whose drift hath been evermore to decay learning that there should be none learned in the Scriptures, to commit the flocks unto, which he attempted to accomplish; First by seducing spirits; Secondarily, by force of tyrants; and now lastly, by impairing the livings of the Ministers of the word to the intent that they (oppressed with poverty) should forsake the ministery, & so the little & miserable flock of jesus Christ (left destitute of the food of life) should become in time, like unto the horse and mule which have no understanding, Psal. 32.9. In regard whereof, what good Christian is there, which may not (upon so just occasion) justly cry out in the bitterness of his heart? O tempora! O mores! O times! O manners! seeing the times so dangerous, and men in their manners so monstrous, whom the Lord notwithstanding hath nourished and brought up as his children, and yet doth, but they rebel. For in what one point can they more significantly express and make known their rebellion against the Lord, than by battering the walls, and shaking the foundations of his Church? than by annoying his servants the Prophets, contrary to his commandment; touch not mine anointed, and do my Prophets no harm? Psal. 105.15 than by dividing, mangling and impairing the portions of the Levites, as in the da●●s of Nehemiah? cap. 13. vers. 10. which caused them (for that they received not according to the Law provided in that case) to forsake the house of God, as not able to execute the work any longer, and to flee every one away to his own Land. This it was and will be when the Lords portion is pinched, & the mouth of the Ox muzzled that treadeth out the corn; it must needs breed and bring Anarchy and confusion, even the riune & utter overthrow of all good learning and true religion. For take away once the patrimony and maintenance of the Church (at which that Axe of theirs striketh especially, as at a sweet and pleasant root) and entreat the Lords Ambassadors as Hanun did David's messengers, 2. Sam. 10.4. & ye take away learning; take away learning & ye take away teaching. David's messengers sent to comfort Hanun, must of forc tarry at jericho with shame enough, vers. 5. until their garments be lengthened and their beards grown; & when will that be? when the children of Ammon, vers. 6. band themselves, and hire other to work them (if they may) some further despite? And so you may lightly conjecture what will become of the Church of Christ. For, where no vision is, the people decay, Pro. twenty nine Chap. and 18. verse. Howbeit (beloved) we hope better & trust that the Lord of Hosts in his accustomed mercy will continue a strength unto Israel, and a defence for judah, yea, we trust that jehovah will so bless us out of Zion, Psal. 128.5. that we shall see our jerusalem to flow with prosperity, peace, plenteousness, and true religion all the days of our life; & that the destroyers of the vineyard Psal. 80.13. and young Vine which the Lord hath made so mighty and strong for himself, shall perish in their appointed time, at the rebuke of the countenance of our God,  
But if so be the Lords arm be stretched out toward us, if his wrath be kindled against us; if matters fall out in the end otherwise than well, let us burden and blame no man but ourselves; for we are a crooked and rebellious nation, as bad as ever were the jews, if not worse; and look what sins reigned among them Ezec. 16.49.50. and we have exceeded them; yea, and have justified them, as did jerusalem her two sisters Sodom and Samaria, verse, 51. in all the abominations which we have done.  
The piety and godliness which many of us pretend, when it is at best, is but jewish hypocrisy, or some sudden passion of the mind, or violent motion, and therefore endureth but a while; soon hot and soon cold, as was Esau's to jaakob, Goe 33.4 27.41. 32.6.36.6. saul's to David, 1. Sam. 24.5.17.18. 1. Sam. 26.2. and the peoples to Christ, which spread their garments in the way that he went, which cut down branches from the trees, which greeted him with Hosanna, Mat. 21.8.9. and shortly after cried, Crucifige, crucifige eum; Crucify him, crucify him, Luke, 23.21.  
So inconstancy in brotherly love, gentleness, tender mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and other such lively fruits of faith (which S. Paul biddeth us, Coll. 3.12. as the elect of God, to put on) betrayed these, and so it betrayeth us. We (as these men and people were) like unto Clouds without water, jude. verse, 12. are carried about of winds, having no continuance in that which is good. We think that we have done God good and great service, when we have left some pretty shows of Christianity; though within a while after, with the Dog we return to the vomit, 2. Pet. 2.22.  
We deal with the Lord, as Israel did with joshua. How was that say you? Surely thus. We give out many fair and large promises; as that all shallbe amended which is amiss; that we will do so and so no more; that we will wax better and better every day. God forbidden (say we) that we should forsake the Lord our God, who delivered us when we were in misery, and scattered our enemies round about us: therefore the Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. This was Israel's vow and promise then, Ios. 24.16.24. and the same is ours now; though quickly forgotten, as theirs was. For as they (not long after that the covenant was made, and written by joshua in the book of the law of God, and a great stone pitched in the remembrance and testimony thereof) provoked the Lord to anger, so do we. And as did Israel, we have said and sworn that we will serve the Lord only, but yet mark & behold, there are of us that serve and follow other Gods as bad in effect, as the Gods of Aram & the Gods of Zidon, & the Gods of Moab, and the Gods of the children of Ammon, and the Gods of the Philistines, judg. 10.6. Wherhfore, as joshua said unto the Israelites, so give me leave to say unto you, that say and do such things: Ye are witnesses against yourselves, Ios. 24.22. The stones of the street, which the Pavier pitched shall testify against you; for by trampling & treading on them with your feet, they are wakened, & have hard the words which ye have spoken concerning the Lord.  
So that rather than man's dissimulation, man's ingratitude, man's unkindness, man's rebellion and Apostasy shall escape unpunished, the very stones of the street (deaf and dumb creatures) shall call and cry for vengeance against it: and who so is wise, will ponder this in his heart.  
Brethren, with the Apostle I will show you this secret, of which I would not that ye should be ignorant, lest ye should be arrogant. Although it hath pleased God in his abundant mercy to make us his people, which in time past were not a people; 1. Pet. 2.10. to graff us, a wild olive tree, wild by nature, contrary to nature in the right olive tree, Roman. 11.17. let not the wild olive (though some of the branches be broken off) grafted in for them, and made partaker of the root, and fathes of the olive tree, boast itself against the branches. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not us. Wherefore, let us not be high minded, but fear: let us behold the boundtifulnes & severity of God, and ponder well the one & the other: toward the jews (which have fallen) severity; but toward us, bountifulness, vers. 22. if we continue & abide therein. Beloved, these and such like are written to warn us, that we should beware of the like sins, lest we feel the like plagues. Let us remember then what manner of people we were in time past, and what we are now in Christ jesus. Let us consider that we have had & yet have, a God that is gracious and merciful, long suffering and of great compassion, no otherwise affected toward us than a father toward his own children; for he hath nourished and brought us up, though we have rebelled against him, and yet do. But if we continue and go onward, walking in the ways of our hearts, he will call us to a sharp account, even to the balance of his judgement Eccles. 11.9. and because he will make due and just proof of our guiltiness, he will summon the heavens and earth to witness against us, and the brute and dumb creatures of the world to condemn us. For so doth the Lord here against his own people the jews; calling to record against them, first the heavens and earth; and now (to aggravate their ingratitude and rebellion against him, their father) the ox & the ass, in this form and manner of speaking. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel hath not known, my people hath not understand. By which kind of comparison, or example demonstrative, the most just God (so justly provoked) doth declare, that the most brute and dull beasts did more acknowledge their duty toward their masters (which notwithstanding pressed them down with sore & heavy burdens) than did his people toward him, of whom they had received benefits without comparison.  
In like sort, the Lord in the eight chapter of the prophet jeremy and the sixth verse complaineth of the jews that turned back by a perpetual rebellion, and saith.  
I harkened and heard, but none spoke aright, no man repent him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to their race, as the Horse rusheth into the battle.  
Verse 7. Even the stork in the air knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord.  
He accuseth the jews, because they were more ignorant of the judgements of their God, than were these birds of their appointed seasons to discern the cold and heat. But a strange thing and a wonderful. They that should have been like the Angels in heaven, that should have expressed, and that most lively, the similitude and likeness of God, are not to be preferred to the brute creatures of the earth. Israel the Lord's people, Israel the Lord's inheritance, Israel the lot of his inheritance, Deu. 32.9. Israel the Lord's servant, Esa. 44.21. Israel the Lord's portion, Israel a thing hallowed to the lord, jer. 2.3. Israel the first fruits of the Lord, Israel the first offered to the Lord of all other Nations, Israel the beloved of the Lord, Esa. 5.1. is rebellious, and as an unruly heifer; nay more than the stork and the turtle, than the crane and the swallow: yea than the ox and the ass: for the one sort knoweth the appointed times, and the other his owner, and his master's crib; but Israel hath not known, his people hath not understand. The ox and ass are loved, esteemed and praised, not as children, but as beasts: for beasts they are, brute and dull. They are not preferred to any dignity or promotion, but laden and pressed down with great and weighty burdens: and yet see, the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel, unto whom pertained the adoption, Rom. 9.4. and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; of whom were the Fathers, and of whom (concerning the flesh) Christ came, who is God over all, blessed for ever: this Israel hath not known, his people hath not understand.  
If it had been a strange people, another people, a bastard people, a people unknown, a people none of his; it had not been so great a matter: but (saith the Lord) Populus meus, my people: a people proper and peculiar unto myself, mine own people hath not understand. Mine own people, which I have chosen of old, precious in my sight and honourable in my eyes, Esa. 43.8. whom I have tenderly cherished & brought up, not for their sakes but for mine holy Names sake, Ezek. 36.22. whose fathers I led by the shadow of death, jer. 2.6. by a land that no man passed through, to a pleasant and plentiful country, which I gave unto them and their posterity: even the glorious heritage of the Armies of the heathen, jer. 3.19. This my people hath played this prank; It will not hear nor hearken, but rebel. As a woman rebelleth against her husband, so hath my people rebelled against me, jer. 3.20. My people knoweth nothing, it hath not understand my righteousness, nor walked in the ways of my commandments, nor entered into the paths of discipline, through my righteousness. Therefore now the Lord sendeth juda his chosen and Israel his inheritance, to the brute and dull beasts of the earth, to the Ox and Ass to learn of them knowledge, duty, gratitude, and obedience; which yet had the law of God to teach them, but would not learn; and his Prophets to call them, but would not come; and his watchmen to blow the trumpet in Zion, jer. 6.17. but they would not hear. Which unreasonable, brute and dull creatures of God, as the Ox and Ass in this chapter of Esay; and the Stork & the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow in the eight of jeremy, shall one day give sentence not only against them, but also against us and our blindness, except we amend; which having not the benefit of reason (but guided and governed only by the instinct of nature) do that which we that have the law of God, and teaching, & discipline, and understanding, and reason, and memory, to conceive, judge and bear away, will not do.  
We are therefore earnestly and heartily to pray and beseech the Lord our God to banish far from us the sins of ingratitude and unkindness. For (beloved) the only recompense which the Lord doth require at our hands for his sundry gifts & manifold blessings bestowed on us, is this: to be thankful unto him for the same, to fear him, to walk in his ways, to love & to serve him, with all the heart, and with all the soul, Deu. 10.12. This is the very true & perfect way to make ourselves thankful. This hath been, is, & must be the sacrifice of all true & perfect Christians, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, & in all things to be thankful, & such is the will of God in Christ jesus toward us; which will of his we ought & are bound in all duty and reverence to embrace & obey. For let us mortal men & worms meat, weigh well and consider with ourselves what God hath done for us, as Cassiodus noteth upon the Psalms, & how great and good things he hath given us for sustentation, preservation, erudition, consolation and delight; & all these & more than these in his free mercy without merit: & quid ni gratias agamus? and what may we do but give him thanks? Thanksgiving is named of Bernard (sermon 54 super cant.) Balsamum purissimum, the purest balm, and sweetest savour in the nostrils of our God. The Prophet Ose cap. 14. ver. 2. calleth it Vitulos labiorum nostrorum, the calves of our lips: which, by the spirit of God Heb. 13. we are exhorted to offer always unto God; the sacrifice of praise, the fruit the lips, which confess his name. Now then (as Hugo exhorteth) Si sentis beneficium, red debitum: si accipis benignitatem, red charitatem. If thou feel a benefit, pay thy debt: if thou receive liberality, deliver home charity. This we ought to do, and this we may do. For (as S. Austin in ps. 27. saith, Gratias agere Deo possumus, refer non possumus, We can give thanks to God, but we cannot recompense him. If we might die (saith chrysostom) a thousand deaths, and power out all the faculties and powers of the soul, we can do nothing worthy of such and so great benifence, favour and grace, which we have received of God; and therefore it only remaineth that we be thankful. Let us not flatter ourselves lest we deceive ourselves: let us not (under the veil of hypocrisy) ask with the jew Micah. 6.6. the manner and way to please the Lord? which was content to offer sacrifice, but would not change the custom of his life. Let us not contend with him, whether God will be worshipped with bare ceremonies, without the heart? Let us not grieve the Lord with that jewish motive: wherewith shall I come before the Lord, & bow myself before the high God? Mic. 6.6, 7. Shall I come before him with Calves of a year old? Will he be pleased with thousands of rams, or with streams of oil? Thou fool, all these are his, both of the forest, mountains, and field, Psal. 50.10, 11, 12. If he be hungry, he will not tell thee: for the world is his, and all that therein is. Offer then unto God with David Psa. 116 17. the sacrifice of thanksgiving. For who so offereth him thanks and praise, he honoureth him, Psalm. 50.23. Israel (to please God) would sacrifice the first borne for his transgression, even the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul, Mich. 6.7. But the Lord's voice by his servant the prophet Micah, calleth and crieth better than so, and showeth thee (o man) what is good and what he requireth of thee, vers. & surely to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble thyself, and to walk with thy God, in truth, and in a perfect heart, in duty and obedience without hypocrisy: for the Lord hath not as great pleasure in sacrifices, as when his voice is obeyed, 1. Sam. 15.22. To obey with him is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams. Rebellion (in his sight) is as the sin of witchcraft, and transgression is wickedness and idolatry. Whereby we are taught, that the Lord hateth nothing more than the sins of ingratitude & disobedience; which in his own people he punished divers and sundry ways, that they might know and acknowledge the God that had made them, and the mighty one of Israel that had redeemed them.  
The Lord give us grace to amend the like faults by the correction and punishment of them. Happy were we, if by their harms we could learn to beware.  
For (beloved) the workings of God, whether in blessing or afflicting, present or past, to ourselves or others particularly, well and carefully examined, would learn us many a fruitful lesson, if we had the grace to consider them. S. Paul feared the Corinthians (in his first Epistle written to them, the tenth chapter and the sixth verse) with the examples of the jews passed long before, that they should not use the like vices which they did, lest they should be destroyed as they were.  
Now let us make those examples ours: for (as the same apostle saith in the eleventh verse of the forementioned chapter) they are written to admonish us also, whom the ends of the world are more nighly come upon: that we lust not as they lusted; that we be not idolaters, as were some of them; that we commit not fornication, as some of them committed fornication; that we tempt not Christ, as some of them tempted him; that we murmur not, as some of them murmured; & to be short, that we rebel not, as some of them also rebelled, least following the like impieties we incur the like punishments; and (to our manifest and just condemnation) cause and procure the heavens and earth, the hills and mountains, the rocks and mighty foundations; yea, and the beasts of the land and the fowls of the air (before mentioned) to testify against us and our obstinacy.  
As for the heavens and earth, they in great measure have already witnessed Gods most heavy wrath and indignation against us, & that in regard of the violating of his law, & contempt of his word. If these may not serve, yet than greater tokens of his wrath than these, in his creatures about and under us, shall appear toward us: and finalnally, (unless we repent) we shall perish in his justice utterly, that in his mercy refused to embrace him and his truth obediently. For if we regard not the bountifulness and love of God our Saviour toward us; if we despise the riches of his goodness, patience and long sufferance, Rom. 2.4. if we contemn his word, the word of salvation; if the seed thereof shall not fructify in our hearts; if the peace which we have with God, engender impiety; if our civil peace breed nothing than beastly security; if plenty work pride if with Israel, Num. 1●. 6. we loath Manna; if we fall a lusting after flesh, and set a nought the food of angels; if we tempt God, as weary of our profession; i● we be waterless clouds, carried about of winds Jude ver. 12. if we be corrupt trees without fruit; if we despise government, and speak evil of them that are in authority, Jude 8. if we live as a people caring neither for God, law nor religion; if we forsake Christ, and bid him farewell; if we sit down and fall asleep in the seat of the scornful, Psal. 1.1. if with the deaf adder we stop our ears at the voice of the charmer, Psa. 58 4.5. then shall all the blessings of God be turned into curses: the message of life shallbe unto us a savour of death unto death: our vineyard shallbe laid waste Esa. 5.5 6. the hedge thereof shallbe eaten up, and the wall broken and trodden down; it shall not be cut nor digged, but briars and thorns shall grow up, and the clouds shall not rain upon it. Deutronom. 28.37. we shall be a wonder, a proverb, a common talk, a reproach, an astonishment, an hissing, jer. 24 9 a curse in all places, jeremy the five and twentieth, and the ninth & tenth verses: a just reward of our unkindness and rebellion against the Lord, there shallbe taken from us the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness: our laughter shall be turned into mourning, and our joy into sorrow: our former wealth and pleasure shall but add a greater burden unto our woe. Thus shall all the curses of God come upon us, & shall pursue us, and overtake us, till we be consumed; and that because we would not obey the voice of our God, to keep his commandments and his ordinances, which he commanded us, Deuter, 28.45. For, would the Lord plague the City, where his Name was called upon, jerem. 25.29. and should we go free? But (o Lord God, and Father of mercies) this be far from us and our posterity for ever.  
And so (brethren) I will commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, Act. 20.32. which is able to build further, and to finish his work in you, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. And withal, I give you that exhortation which joshua gave to the Children of Israel, in the three and twentieth chapter and eleventh verse, Take good heed unto yourselves that ye love the Lord your God. And in the seventh verse, join not yourselves to the Gentiles; company not with the Nations, which wander in and out among you. I mean not Perizzites, but Papists; not jebusites, but jesuits: for, as did the Scribes and Pharisees, Matth. 23.15. they compass sea and land, to make one of their profession; and when he is made, they make him twofold more the child of hell, than they themselves are. Wherefore (dear Brethren) beware of them: for as Saint Paul warned the Galathians in the fourth chapter and seventeenth verse, of the like sort of men) Depereunt vos non benè, they are jealous over you amiss, even to serve their own turn; they would exclude you from the love that you bear to GOD & his truth, from the love that ye bear to his Ministers, who preach not themselves, 2. Corinth. 4.5. but Christ jesus the Lord, and themselves your servants for jesus sake; to this end, that ye should altogether love them and follow them.  
But beloved, do not so. Stick fast unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day. Ios. 23.8. Ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls what and how great things the Lord hath done for ye.  
Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in uprightness and in truth, and away with those Gods, which your fathers served beyond the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord, Ios. 24.14. Be not unequally yoked with the infidels. 2. Cor. 6.14. the match is unequal. Come out from among them, vers. 17. and separate yourselves, & touch no unclean thing. The fruit will be this: You shall eat your bread in plenteousness, and dwell in your City safely, Leuit. 26.5, 6. God will send peace in the land, and ye shall sleep, and none shall make you afraid. He will cover you under his wings, Psal. 91.4. and you shall be safe under his feathers: his truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the fear of the night, nor of the arrow that flieth by day: for he shall give his Angels charge over you, vers. 11. to keep you in all your ways. And this will the Lord do for you and much more, if you fear, love, serve & obey him. For he will receive you, he will be a father unto you, and you shall be his sons and daughters, 2. Corinth. 6.17, 18. he will dwell with you, and walk among ●ou; he will be your God, and you shall be ●●s people, Leu. 26.12.  
Finally (that I may conclude with the Prophet, with whom I began) if ye consent and obey, ye shall eat the good things of the land, Esaie. 1.19.20. But if ye refuse and be rebellious, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  
This same our Lord & God, who alone pondereth, 2. Chron. 6.30. trieth & ruleth the hearts of the sons of men, Pro. 21.2. guide us & our hearts to the love of him, 1. Thess. 2.4. mollify and soften us, Act. 1.34. and them by the gracious and mighty working of his holy and blessed spirit, 2. Thess. 3.5. that we may sensibly feel & perceive how good and loving a God and merciful father he hath been and is unto us, and that we may show ourselves thankful and obedient unto him, living unto his laws, and embracing his word, and obeying his commandments? so doing, we shall be the Lords chief treasure above all people; ●he will fight for us as he did for the Israelites his elect & chosen children; he will carry us on eagle's wings as he did them, throughout the dangers and troubles of this woeful Egypt, till we come to the haven of perfect rest, to the land of the celestial Canaan, where we shall have the fruition of endless joys 1. Cor. 2.6. which eye hath not seen, neither e●re hath heard, neither have entered into the heart of man prepared of God for them that love him. Of which joys God of his infinite mercy grant us all to be partakers, through the merits and death of jesus Christ his son, our Lord and saviour; to whom with the holy Ghost, triple in person, but one in substance, be praise and glory, and wisdom, and thanks, honour, and power, and might, for evermore, Apoc. 7.12.   

Now let us pray.  
O Lord, thou that livest for ever, which beholdest from thy holy hill the things that are done upon earth, hear and hearken we beseech thee, unto the Prayers of thy servants, and receive into thine ears the petitions of thy creatures. Look not (O Lord) upon the multitude of our iniquities, and have no respect to the number of our sins: let it not be thy will to destroy us which appear worse before thee than the Ox and Ass; for the Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his Master's Crib: but we thy children (whom thou hast nourished and brought up as a most loving father) have not known: and we that in time past were not a people, but now thine own people, have not understand. We must acknowledge and confess unto thee our Lord and God, that even the birds of the Air, as the Stork, and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow do better know and observe the times of their coming, than we the judgements of thee our God. Our misdeeds are great, and they press us down as an heavy burden: Our iniquities are as the sand of the sea in number before thee. Thou hast (O Lord) many and just causes to do with us according to our offences, because we have not kept thy commandments, neither have walked in duty and obedience before thee, but have rebelled as did thy people the jews. We have the sickness of our Fathers, we have done amiss, and dealt wickedly. Notwithstanding (O Lord) we trust that thou wilt be favourable and gracious unto us. In a contrite heart and an humble spirit let us be received.  
Deal with us thy servants which put their trust in thee, after thy loving kindness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies: so shalt thou be called merciful, and we shall have great cause to praise and glorify thee, both for this and all other thy former benefits: specially for that (as upon this day) thou didst deliver us and our City out of the hands of our wicked enemies and hateful foes; which said, that they would burn our dwelling places, and kill our young men with the sword, & dash our sucking children against the ground, and make our infants as a pray, & our virgins a spoil: which also said, we will divide the booty, our lust shall be satisfied upon them, and then we will draw the weapon, and our hand shall destroy them. But thou the Lord of Hosts, which art great and glorious, marvelous and invincible in power, whose voice no creature can abide, didst soon bring them and their devices to nought. Thy right hand was glorious in power; thy right arm bruised the enemy. In thy great glory thou didst overthrow them that rose against thee: thou didst send forth thy wrath, which consumed them as the stubble, and by the blast of thy nostrils the waters came, which ran mightily through the channels of our streets, & so drowned the labours of their hands. And so from that day to this (as the Eagle doth her young ones) thou hast carried us upon the wings of thy mercy out of all dangers: for which and all other thy blessings (most gracious and loving father) we shall from age to age remember thee and thy goodness; this shall be a feast day unto us and our posterity; we that are now, and they that are to come shall sing praises unto thee & exalt thy name. Thou (O Lord) waist and art our strength and power, thou wast and art our salvation; thou hast been and art our refuge, our defence, our castle, and the rock of our might: thou art our God; thou art the God of our fathers, we will magnify thee. And here also we are bold to make our devout and hearty prayers unto thee Lord almighty and father of us all, that thou (after thine accustomed mercy) wilt vouchsafe continually to remember us, & from thy holy mount to look down upon us. Keep us (Lord) as the apple of thine eye: grave us as another Zion, upon the palm of thine hands, and let our walls be ever in thy sight. When men shall rise up against us, and shall be wrathfully displeased at us; if we turn to thee with all our hearts, and with all our souls and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house, hear thou then (O Lord) in heaven, in the dwelling place of thy habitation, what prayer and supplication so ever shall be made of any man, or of all thy people, and pardon the sin of thy servants and be merciful to the transgressions of thy children; punish us not according to our deserts; deliver us not whom thou hast purchased, for a spoil unto captivity and death; sell us not into the hands of our enemies round about us; give us not over for a pray unto their teeth; make us not for a Proverb of reproach to the Nations far and near, lest they ask, where is now their God? Let not the Heathen say which have heard the fame of thee; because the Lord was not able to save this people in the land that he gave them, or because he hated them, therefore he hath left them in the hands of spoilers to spoil them, and of the Nations to reign as Lords over them. (Lord) we are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou deliveredst of old by thy mighty power, and preservedst by thy stretched out arm, Let this greatness of thy power continue; withdraw not thy accustomed favour from us; hide not thou thy face from us in the time of trouble, but be thou merciful unto us, according to thy great mercies: Let all the earth be filled with the brightness of thy glory; let all such that bear evil will at Zion, which seek to lay thy vineyard waste which thou so graciously hast planted & fortified on every part, & to bring thine heritage to confusion, be confounded by thy great force and power, and let their strength be broken, that they may know that thou, which art called jehovah, art alone, even the most High over all the earth. Finally, (O Lord) carry us thy people by thy great mercy, whom thou deliveredst; bring us (we beseech thee) in thy strength unto thy holy habitation; plant us in the mountain of thine inheritance, which is the place that thou hast prepared for to dwell in, even in the Sanctuary (O Lord) which thine hands shall 'stablish; make us joyful Citizens of thy holy City Jerusalem, which is above; go before us both by day and by night in the pillar of thy favour and goodness to lead us the way, that we may safely pass through this vale of misery and wretchedness, and finish this our pilgrimage with joy: And lastly, that (through the aid and assistance of our true joshua, thy son jesus Christ) we thy children having passed all difficulties, may rest and dwell with thee our father in the Kingdom of all happiness and felicity: Even so Lord jesus.   Nomb. 6.24. The Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be merciful unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace to your City and yourselves now and ever, Amen. 
Soli Deo Gloria.  
FINIS.