THE TRIAL OF THE LADIES.  
HIDE PARK, MAY DAY.  
OR, The yellow Books Partner.  
LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold by Mr. Butler in Lincoln's field, near the three Tun Tavern, by the new Market place. May the first, 1657.   

THE trial OF THE LADIES.  
MADAM,  
MAY it please your Honour, you may well remember I was last May to wait upon you in the Park, there were many Gallants, and many lookers on, and many will be there again, but some of our old friends will scarce come by reason of the late Act, and the County Generals; but however if you please we will take the air, and the observation of the day once more; there will be old vying for the honour of it, but in my mind the silver Coach carried it the last year, however, we will be as plain as may be, and as private too: but do you hear the news about the late trial, and the Lords and Ladies that are likely to be damned, with other great Sinners; the Trial was at Hell all it is to be feared, there was at the Trial, twelve Apostles, four Patriarchs, four Prophets and Evangelists, in all twenty and four, these were of the Jury; Mercy and Justice sat that day: and it is well for some that Mercy sits every day, he waits and pleads too for the worst of Sinners, however take heed of abusing it: the Persons called to the bar, were, Mr. Wilful, and Mr. Careless, Monsieur Aulymoade de France, and Mr. New-come-over, Mr. Kill-devil that swears the new oaths, there was the Lady Hoyden, and Mrs. Looseness, Mrs. Tittle-tattle, and Mrs. Never-give-over, the Lord Never-be-good, and his Lady were both damned; Mr. Duel, the Lord Heathen, and the Lady Christless are in great danger, moneybag the Usurer, Hard-heart the Sinner, and Shine-shooes the Citizen, are all turned over; Mr. Inside, and Mr. Counter, and many rich Roundheads whose God is their Gain, their Shop, and their Belly; Alderman chink, and Deputy Tell-money, old Mr. Hugster, and old Mr. Starve-many, Mr. Swear and lie, and Mr. Cheat-many, Parson Flatter, and Parson Bitter, Doctor Nothing the Orthodox Divine, and many Common Prayer Men, are all upon their trial; Captain cutthroat, and colonel Get-all, late Mr. Wagstick, and Now-we-will-be-quiet; These and many Gallants are upon their Trial, and if they miss damning, they will be at Park the next May day. Mrs. Never-repent, will go as long as she lives, Mrs. Silver-stuff, Mrs. Jewel will be there, Mrs. Rant-about, swears, stares, and spends all, and the poor Man sells all for a Whore, the Lord Belly-god, the Lord lie-a-bed, Mr. Sack-pot, and Mrs. Lemmon, and Mr. Butterfly, Mr. Camester, and Mr. Gallop will be there, to the delight of many Ladies, but the Lord abhors them all in their present courses; but the Jury being called, and the Malefactors at the bar, Solomon made a great speech, the sum and substance was, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity: old Father Abraham that was called out of Ur, Gen. 11. 31. pleaded much for some of these, saying they might be his Seed notwithstanding all their wickedness, and that the promise was not to him as a single person, but even to as many as the Lord our God should call, and said he, I have called my son out of Egypt, and my servants from among the Heathens, Hosea 11. 1. But Elias cried out Fire, Fire, Fire, Luke 10. 54. Stay, stay, said Abraham, I waited long for the Promise, and God waits longer for the Sinner, Forty years he was grieved with one Generation, Psalms 95. 10. and many years he waits still, and if any of these will yet repent they may enter into his rest, Heb. 3. 19 True, his works were finished from the foundation of the World, but our Salvation is but then begun, when we once begin to look unto him, who cries, Look untome O all ye ends of the Earth, and be saved, for I God and not man, Isa. 45. 22. I cried out of the belly of Hell, says David, & I says Jonas out of the belly of the Whale, Io. 1. 17. 2. 2. and the Lord heard me, and peradventure Neneveth may be spared; and there may be a seed among this Generation of Vipers, yea who knows but some of these at the Bar, God will have mercy upon, and give them repentance never to be repented of, who are yet far from any thing of that nature: A Lord or Lady may as well be saved as another Man, it is true, the poor receive the gospel, and not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble, 1 Cor. 1. 26. but who will say that none do, that are mighty, rich, and noble; and if so, let us hope the best, O but says Saint Timothy, they that live in pleasure are dead while they live, 1 Tim. 5. 6. yea said St. John, but the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live, John 5. 25. There were other speeches, Isaiah made a long one, saying, God had laid on Christ the iniquity of us all, and received from Christ satisfaction for us all, but that will never do you any good says Peter, unless with me you do repent that ever ye crucified, or with me denied the Lord of life and glory, Acts 3. 19 Paul cried refreshing comes from repenting, and repenting from believing, and if you do not believe in the Son of God, and the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, Ioh. 1. 29. ye shall be all damned, saith John 3. 36. And said David I made hast to turn my feet unto thy Statutes; in some things there is more haste than good speed, but in believing and repenting there is great danger to delay a day: I delayed said Lot and I had like to have been burnt; it happens in an hour, what it doth not in seven years again: yea the flood came, and Christ will come in an hour when they look not for him, Matt. 25. 50. If Christ should come on a May day, there would be a brave show indeed, and a great scuffle, for all his holy Angels comes when he comes, and some Saints, Jude saith thousands, and I believe thousands of thousands, yea ten thousand times ten thousand, vers. 14. What do you talk of that day saith the old Worldling, and the young Gallant▪ God take me this is not a time to preach when we are in our sports, said a Spark the last year, and swore a great oath; be gone with your godly Book: but it is good preaching every day, and to be looking for his coming, long looked for will come, long looked for comes at last, and is nearer now than ever, Behold the judge stands at the door, James 5. 9 yea he comes as a thief in the night, blessed is he that watcheth, Revel. 16. 15. The Lord's Son hath been long in France, and the Lord Christ comes as a man from a far Country, so he saith himself, Luke 19 12. But these Princes of the world that hath power in their hands, and these Gallants that have pleasure in their eyes, wills that he would never come; but poor men look hard, and poor Saints pray hard, Come Lord Jesus, Revel. 22. 21. Make haste O my beloved, saith the Spouse, Canticles 8. 14. And saith David If I had the wings of a Dove, I would fly away and meet thee, O thou whom my soul loveth, Psalms 55. 6. But yet I am constrained to dwell in mesheck among wicked men and devils, that flutter up and down in Coaches some, and in poor attire others; but these golden Sparks whose eyes start out with lust and fatness, in their slippery parts, from whence they go down to Hell in a moment, Psal. 9 19 These are they that fill the World and defile the World by their examples, they rule the roast while the Saints turn the Spit, and Christ will turn them and the tide too: And then sneak Mr. Roundhead, and poor Mr. Goodman, with Conscience, and Honest the true Man, with thousands of believers more, will have a brave day, in the after part of the world's day: after some is good manners, and after your Crispin pins, Hoods, scarves, Vales, fine linen, Jewels, Chains and Bracelets, are all pulled off, as Isaiah speaketh, Chap. 3. 17. O Ladies read this prophecy, and see if it may not reach some of you; ye point at that very condition, which ye shall then be in, when God shall come to undress you by death and sickness, which certainly he will err long do, yea he will strip you to your skins, and leave no●hing but sin, guilt, shame, misery, and baldness on you, whilst he cloaths his servants as it were with Suns and stars, this will be a brave change, and saith John this change we all look for, 1 John 3. 2. and it is good to look forwards and backwards too sometimes. Do not tell me what I was but what I am, says some, but it is good to consider what we were, what we are, and what we shall be; I was conceived in sin saith David Psal. 51. And I a little spawn or lust in the loins of Mr. Such an one, saith another, still I am a shadow and an empty one; and so are most of you Gallants at the Park, you know not what you would have, or should have, you know not what to do, yea, you know not how to spend one day as you should, but are troubled and fain to send one to another, what shall we do? where shall we go? pray present my service to Mrs. such an one, and Mrs. such an one, and tell her that I am even sick until I go abroad; but my Lady takes physic, and the Devils go a Cat baiting when they get one of them: if a poor man be damned, the Devil is very glad; but if a Dives be, the Devils they cry one to another, make haste, make haste, great Orlando is coming, great Orlando is coming; and truly when your great ungodly Lords and Ladies come near to their confines, the Devils run and tumble, yea they scramble for a wanton, young and silken bit. But I remember about twenty years ago, I saw a puppet play, called the chaos or Creation of the world, but the ugly Devils made such hailing and hissing about the Lord Dives with their stub feet, and their short tales, that I was affrighted at the heart, however there was two or three peals, and the ringers they were very merry, and if a man were to be hanged, some would be so, but to see them that are likely to be damned, go singing up and down the stairs with their silk and silver Clappers, pit pat, yea in the streets and Coaches sometimes and never think nothing, is a very sad thing; but few of these can play at have at all, and yet teey'le leap from all in a moment, can you sing? leap soul, farewell world, have at all, O Christ I come, I come; I come to thee, for I know that my Redeemer lives, and I shall see him with these eyes, Job 19 25. But this posting for the Doctors argues fear, and this continual heighting up and down, guilt, yea fear, guilt, sin, and you always lie together, and whilst the Lord lies in the Lady's bed, the Devil lies in both their souls many times; but 'tis a thousand pities any sweet, young, and lovely good conditioned Lady, should be ever bedded with the devil, yet many times some sell as sweet conditioned Children to him for a little Money and Honour as any are in the World: I know the Lord Such an one, hath a Daughter that he will give ten, twenty, thirty, forty thousand pounds with, truly one is to much with such a man, though he be of great blood, good blood is better than great, and a good man is better than a heathen that knows not God nor the Devil; a good man with a bad woman, is in a bad case, but a good woman with a bad man, is in the devil's Pound: but how came you there? my Father (cries the poor Lady) and my old Aunt would have it so, yea and it may be you yourself were too forward; some mad scabs run away with a mad Rogue, and that is like to like, somesing, and see never a merry day, others cry, and know not what to say when they are to be married, but they that are put into such a Pound, or into the devil's palace, are very miserable, slaves to other men's lusts, though they have much money at command, yet some have scarce enough to pay a poor debt when once married; and others spends so much, that the poor husband fells all, while she plays all, and scarce pays in six months, or seven years sometimes, when poor honest men pay according to their words, and Tradesmen in three, six, or nine months' time. But unbelievers pay for all when they come to die, and that is soon enough to pay for the sweetest pleasures in the World, if our lives be but a vapour, as they are Iam. 1. 11. But their misery is, they are ever paying, and yet can never pay all, though they lie in fiery burning flames for millions, millions, and millions of years; as that young man an Apothecary once said: O consider this all ye that forget God, and what if some of you should come to pay so dear for your Maying and your gaying up and down, would it not be very sad, a man may better pay some debts in a week, than he can for some sins in an hundred thousand years, but of all sins of a kind, great men's sins are the greatest, a great Tree gives a great swap when he falls, and a great man makes a great spudder at his Funeral, but Lord whither doth that man fall? that falls from room to room, from the Coach to the Chamber, from the Chamber to the Bed, from the Bed to the floor, from the Foore to the Coffin, from the Coffin to Worms, and from the worms to the Devils at the last day, in the mean time the soul is there, while the body is lugging down the stairs: when a General leaves a field, there is so many at his heels, and something left behind, the slain, or the dead, the trampling of the grass, and the carcase of the beasts; but when the Lord leaves his house, there is triming up again for the new comer: the old mourning and the old master being laid a side, nothing remains but the name, the lusts, and the sins of the family, yea they run from Father to Son, and Son to Son, and the curse of God after them all: some men leave great possessions for all their Children, and great houses in good order, but if they go to the devil and leave a thousand houses to every Child, and a name to that which may last to doom's day, yet for all this, I would be loath to go along with them: some men take Gold in their boots when they go to France, and others money in their pockets when they go along journey, but I had rather take Christ with me for eternity, than all the Lords and Ladies in the world to my grave. If you stir an old Horse head, sometimes you shall see many flies; and if you stir an old Swearer in his sick bed, you shall hear many oaths. An old gouty and ungodly sinner, makes a great noise when he is punished for his sins, and a pocky Surgeon tells a great lie when he says he will cure that in a fortnight's time with his cursed Pills; but some would do well to hang them that put forth such Bills, they encourage many men to sin where the grace of God is wanting: if a man want a member it is a sad thing, but if a man be noisome or unwholesome it is worse; but Lord bring me to any shame or misery rather than to perpetual condemnation. When Ladies die of the Cancer or Ulcer in the belly, the best side is put outwards, but when Lords die of the Pox, it is an ugly business; the consumption of the Purse, is the want of take heed, and the consumption of the Lungs, is the want of good diet; but the consumption of the blood and bones, is brutish and immoderate love too, and foolish fondness of the wife many times: but if a man kill himself this way, or his wife with too many Children, he is near kin to a murderer, blood will be required if a man shed blood; but if the soul be lost this way, who shall make amends: 'tis not impossible that he may repent when he is old, and they that kill themselves this way when they are young, shorten the days of grace and of nature, when as he that never truly repents nor believes, shall be eternally damned, as sure as the Lord lives. When Mr. Kill-devil was called to his trial, he was taxed for Swearing, Lying, and Whoring; some men are guilty of these sins, and almost three thousand more, and yet all may be pardoned; but Lord have mercy upon me, if a man shall answer for every idle word, as Christ speaks in the day of Judgement, Mat. 12. 26. yea, and what shall then become of most of our mayor's, and others too, whose words and conversations are altogether so. But most men are wise when 'tis too late; O that God were mine, O that Christ were mine, O that Heaven were mine, O that I might live a little longer, I would never do as I have done, yea I would give for Heaven so much, when they are going to be damned; but if the Sun be going down or setting, it is in vain to cry hold Sun hold, good Sun hold; yet mercy, mercy may be found at the last minute, but to cry then Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, and not to think of God before, is a very sad thing; what a Gentleman and never think on God, and yet a Christian, for shame consider what you do and say sometimes in the open Sun; 'tis good to display your bounty, but to display your lusts and sins night and day, as Sodom, crying come, come, come Sir, let us go again, again and again to the mask, to the Ball, to the Tavern, to the Park, to the Fields, and delights of the World, never minding going out of the World, or how vain these bewitching things of the World are, until it be too late, is to imitate a fool: all men know they must die, and most men say they must be called to an account, but pray Mr. Graceless what can you say for yourself? to begin with one: O Sir you were at Church once, and it may be but once in a month, and yet scarce in many months did you mind what was said unto you, but to hear once of a Christ, and of God's love giving Christ for the worst of sinners is enough to stop thy mouth for an hundred thousand millions of years, take him devil cries St. Paul, if you receive the Grace of God in vain: Hard-heart cried he could not repent, but Peter asked him why so, because he sought it when it was too late, but whose fault was that, when God gives repentance never to be repented of, and mercies that should never be fotgotten; do not you remember Sir when you were sick? do not you remember when you were like to die, and what you promised then? when the Doctors gave you off, and the Lord took you up from the grave again, when the next news was; O Sir it was in my sickness that I said so and so, but if sinners, Lords or Ladies will promise unto God when they are sick, and forget him when they are well, they may be damned when they die, and that is time enough: If a man hath been twice or thrice at the bar, and is once burnt in the hand, 'tis ten to one but he hangs when he comes there again; yet a man may go many times to the throne of Grace for one and the same corruption; some go to Cheapside to fetch Flowers, and others hard by to get stuff, but few go to God when they are young, for grace to serve him in their generation; yea I think in my conscience some fine fools even think God is beholding to them, if they should say their prayers, go to Church as other ordinary people do. And because we cry to some, you are too fine forsooth to do this or that, they even think so too in relation unto God; when as I tell you God and Christ is more worthy of your service an hundred thousand times, than the best of you all, or the best of all the Princes of the world, are worthy of this honour; namely to be an unworthy servant of God, what do you condescend to serve a God? a God that can damn you, and yet a God that will not damn you, if you serve him in sincerity. Amongst many things, there are three great cares that lies on every wise married man; first to serve God in his generation, secondly to provide for his family, thirdly to get his wife well down without sinning, when she is on the top of the house, 'tis not good to be both in a passion at once; yea when either be, you are not fit (especially) to pray, or to do any thing else: if a Parent correct a Child in his anger, 'tis ten to one but he will do it foolishly or sinfully; half an hour after is best, and then with good words, and good counsel in a friendly way: but if any of you Gallants (though never so vain and profane) will yet serve God, he will save you and yours too, that so do, with an eternal Salvation: but for any mortals to think, it is a little below themselves to walk humbly with God, stooping down to the lowest things and Ordinances of Christ: yea to kiss the feet of Christ, is an honour too great for the greatest Potentate in the World. Mary washed them with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, but what was Mary's love to Christ, who loved her first and washed her soul in his blood. Some say washing in a Hart or Dears blood, will make the white hands whiter; I am sure washing in the dearest blood of all bloods, will make the foulest soul of any sinner in the World, whiter than the driven snow; yea there is none of you fair Ladies, that have commonly the worst souls, but it will do so. About a fortnight since I was going into the fields, to meditate about seven or eight of the clock, and that is the best hour, and the best time in the day, is the dusk of the even; but as I was going by yonder great house, I was thinking much upon the Lord that lives in it, and whether he or no must answer for all the sins in the Family, and though there be not half so many sinners there, as there used to be in the late King's days, yet I did conclude there were too many of one poor creature to answer for, who hath too many of his own, when as his whole estate will not make an amends for one: Lord thought I then, it is better a thousand times to be a poor Nit, Gnat, Worm, Nothing, than a great ungodly man or woman; but as I was thinking so, I heard the passing Bell cry, tongue tongue three times, yet some do not mind it once in twenty times when they hear it: if you hear a man swear, if you hear a man lie, if you hear a man rant too much, or a Lady compliment, crying Sir your humble servant, and your very humble servant sweet Madam, fetching curches upon curches down to the ground, 'tis no great hurt, but when they cry faith and troth, and as they live, and as they hope to live, as they are virtuous, and as they are vicious, Lord, Christ, God take me, and as I hope to be saved, nay God damn me, as I heard once a Lady should say, who was a great Lord's Daughter, which was a word from the Devil, and the devil's tale was in her mough when she said so, but the curse of God hangs over swearers heads and families, read this text, Zak. 5. 3. In the mean time some pay to the poor two or three pounds at a clap upon this account, yea I know a she Rant that lately paid more; but 'tis well for some body and the devil's kingdom that such Sparks be, for one of these do him more grace, than a thousand poor sneaks: 'tis the Lords and Ladies, and the brave Sparks, that brings up all the fashions, and the new oaths; but new Devils, new Lusts, new oaths and new fashions, come all almost from one and the same place, and the devil's Children are as much in fashion almost as ever I saw. I heard three men swear, and I saw three men sit in Covent Garden Church, more like puppets than Saints or civil men; I wonder how they dare come so near Whitehall, or that any should venture to read there or elsewhere, a whole Sermon at a clap, as they do near St Giles and Covent Garden; I would go a hundred mile barefoot, that the Lord Protector would make one strict Act against this lazy kind of pocket preaching, there is no business in the World troubles me like this, that some should so much set by these Doctors, Parsons, Deans, triers and others, and so little by gifted Saints and Christians; when I think in my conscience some of them do more hurt than good in the Church of Christ, they are such bitter enemies to the spiritual appearances of Christ, especially the spirit of prophecy in the poor servants of Christ: I know a rich man in the new Exchange, that might do more good than twenty of your Parsons that have nothing in them, but civility, morality, and a few legal moral exhortations; but the man wants an heart, though his gifts and parts be great, and a clear intellect withal, but 'tis a poor business to be a poor Preacher until the thing be more set by; and yet 'twas once more set by among the soldiers than now it is by far, it may be they cannot so well tend it; some think there is too much light, and yet there is too little and too little practice; but more light, more love, and more living up to what we know would do well together. If a man should be a professor, or Saint as you call him, ten or twenty years together, and make it all his business to get money, money, money, the curse of money light upon him I cry, and all such professors that never have enough. I knew a Welsh woman, that was a very good and godly woman, worth a thousand pounds at least, and never a Child in all the World, and she cried what should she do with a thousand pound if she were a widow: truly a thousand pound will go a great way well husbanded; and a thousand Saints may do more than they do a thousand times for Christ, and the World than they do; they that do nothing are but Ciphers at the best, they that do little are but drones, they that do much are most their own friends; he that sins least, wrongs his ow● soul, but they that sin much are the devil's slaves: if a man drudge in the dirt for a little Cheese, or if a man plead much for a little Gold, or sin much for a little while, what will it avail, if he must lie in Hell an hundred thousand years: if a man go fine all the day long, and want a bed at night, or if a man go poor and have a bed at night, which is best; if a man play at Cards all Christmas, and lose all by Candlemas, he may chance to go beg all the year after: if a man play with a strange Lady's bosom or a Lord's locks, it is a ready way to go down to Hell saith Solomon, Prov. 2. 16. and 6. 26. And the only way to want in the Winter is to play in the Summer, but if a man play away, sleep away, or sin away one sermon, one Sabbath, and one season after another (as a man may do) until it be too late to get grace, Matt. 23. 38. Luke 13. 26. he may go like a wretch to Hell, and in Hell say would to God I were out; I see the emblem of a surety; a fool leaping with his head into the great end of an Horn, but being got to the little end, he could not get it back; how many such foolish ones are there now at Hide Park, that leap into the devil's lap of sinful pleasure, then into the pan of sufferings, sometimes in their bodies, and sometimes in their consciences, and lastly into the fire of Hell: I saw a brave Coach go up Ludgate-hill, with a golden Arse; and I saw them stand still at Saint Peter's Paul's wharf, but Saint Peter and Saint Paul were never troubled with such kind of hearers as go thereabouts. Three things spoil young Ladies, marrying too soon, ill edication, and such kind of Parsons that preach little or nothing to any purpose: let a heart be broken betimes for sin, and it will be saved in time from sin, death, hell, and eternal burnings; yea Christ will love that Lady with an everlasting love, that will love him when she is young and he poor; and poor Christ is as poor now as ever, and it is as poor a business to be a servant unto Christ as ever I knew it; if a man should pluck a Bible from his pocket among some, they would be ready to laugh, but if a man should look into a Bible and seriously consider what will become of them, it would make one weep▪ why weeps my Lord, cried Hazael to Elisha, 2 Kings 8▪ 12. to think what evil thou shalt do. And to think what some shall suffer for an hundred thousand millions of years for a moment's pleasure, and all your lives are no more; yea the longest life of you all is but a moment's time in comparison of eternity: O Eternity, Eternity, when I think on thee, how is time, ages, worlds swallowed up like tittle fishes by the Whales; here one Generation comes, whilst another goes, but all moulters into Eternity like flesh to dust: I truly says my Lady but all this we never think on; why then you think yourselves to Hell, or you go for want of thinking unto Hell; but can you think yourselves back: a man or woman never act so beneath themselves, as when they cry they did not think of it, or consider of it: non-consideration is the cause of most men's damnation; what should the Devil mind you of Hell as he does you of your lusts, sins and pleasures, it were the way to lose you and spoil his own Kinkdome, I am sure God minds you, Christ loves you, and hath washed or would have washed you in his own blood, Revel. 1. 6. and yet you mind not, the faithful Ministers tell you this, and every line in the Scripture tells you that unless you do believe, unless you do repent, unless you be regenerate, and become new creatures in some measure▪ you shall be damned with all the Devils in Hell, as sure as God lives in Heaven, John 3. 3. 36. and before next May day some of you may; yea it may be before next Christmas: and when men are serious be not you light and vain, I am upon damnation, and preaching damnation to the Gallants, yea and to all you careless Gallants in general, that are now in Hyde-park, in the midst of all your Gold and Glory, bravery and brave delights of the day, that ye remember the night wherein no manocan work, as Christ speaks John 9 3. And therefore for all this great boasting and vying for the honour and glory of the day, I say for all this, you must come to die and to judgement, and upon pain of damnation I tell you this, yea the Lord tells you, that if you still go on to neglect so great Salvation as is freely tendered to you, despising his Grace, his Love, and his Son and the delight of his soul, our only most and ever glorious dear and blessed Redeemer; God blessed for evermore, Rom. 9 5. who hath a thousand Crowns to give unto you, and a thousand pardons more than you need, or ten thousand sinners greater than you, were they in the world, yet I say Christ stands with these Crowns and Pardons for you: if a man should stand with a Rainbow round about you, yea if a God should stand with a Rainbow round about you, yea if a thousand Gods (although there be but one) should stand with a thousand Rainbows round about you all, it were not half so much as a God and Christ, and a God with Christ in his arms▪ a bleeding, dying, living, longing, loving Christ for some of your Souls; and although Christ would as fain have you as any in the world, and as much embrace you and reward you as any in the world, yet I say, that notwithstanding all this, if you shall despise him, and think to do below as Angels once did above, namely to be above God; he will fling you down to Hell, and the darksome holes and dens in Hell; do not deceive yourselves, you may seek pleasures here and find, ease in Hell but never find, sinners may find sinners, and old companions may find each other, yea some of you may do so, but the Devils will find you all torments, while God finds wrath and you guilt; yea the Devil will find power, though you cannot death; yea an exquisite torture to torment sinners for evermore: if an ugly Collier should but breath upon you, it would make you sick; but if the Devil come to sit and blow upon you, this will make great change, for some of you young Gentlewomen, that the Sun must now scarce shine on; and what a Hell will this be, to go from golden Coaches and beds of down, to fiery Litters and beds in Hell, to fry and roar with ugly Devils in burning flames for evermore; O for God's sake consider this all ye that neglect God, or despise God and Heaven for a moment's lust. And if there be not a Heaven and an Hell, a real place where Angels sing and Saints rejoice, Devils roar and sinners fly, yea something that is equivolent unto this in the other world, burn your Bibles for a cheating Book for they have deceived me and many thousand more: but if the Scriptures be a Truth, and the very words of God, as certainly they be, they are so searching into the consciences of every man that seriously looks into them, that he must needs confess this truth, Heb. 4. 12. then I say I know nothing of the Scriptures, if you are not much more likely to be with them, that fry, and cry and howl at the grates of Hell, than any sinners in the world▪ yea you and all you that do nothing but court sin, and compliment your time and days away. For of all sinners in the world, English sinners are the worst and the least to be excused, because they enjoy the most mercies, means, and light of any under Heaven; and of all sinners in England, you Lords and Ladies and you great Gentry have the most reason to be eternally damned: you go best, fare best, lie best, and have least to do of any in the world; you need not care for your honours, it will be honour enough for to serve Christ, and they that honour me, them (saith Christ) will my Father love and honour, John 12. 26. but Lords and Ladies look for shadows and neglect the substance, the substance of honours is to honour Christ, and to be a servant to Christ, yea this is honour indeed a Crown to your honour, and that little thing you call your honour. And therefore David cried, thy servant Lord, thy servant Lord, making that and that alone his joy and glory▪ but for a man to be the Son of such a Swearer, liar, Belly-god, Heathen, or Idolater; yea to be the Son of such or such a Flatterer, moneyed, rich or landed man, in comparison of being the Son, the Saint, and the Servant of God, a faithful Covenant keeper, and a man 〈◊〉 of God in his Generation. But as for those that have God in their mouths, power in their hands, only honour and profit in their eyes, let them and their names rot, yea let the next Generation utterly forg●● those that love not our Lord Jesus▪ but seek themselves, and have no heart to do to the uttermost for God, Christ, Saints, Souls, and Nations, but of all Nations I still say this is the sinfullest; if you consider the love, light, means, and mercies, which still we sin against, and of all sinners in this Nation, great men and great professors that are nought, are the greatest sinners, and of all professors the richest are the greatest; and yet of all rich and great professors, gifted professors (in some sense) are the greatest that do nothing in the Church of Christ, but bury their talents and their souls also in the World, the love, lusts, and pleasures of the World; nevertheless many of these may and shall be saved, because his mercy endureth for ever, and his Covenant he will and shall keep, with all the seed of Abraham and David, Psal. 88 3. 4. But O ye seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, mind this text, and what your duty is to such a living, loving, giving, faithful, Covenant keeping God, But when moneybag the Usurer was called to the Bar, it was asked him what he thought of Money, and what was the best improvement of it; he cried eight, eight, or six in the hundred now as things stand, 'tis better than to buy Land, for that is never paid for so long as the world lasts, if the the Tax so long continue; a penny well got, and a penny well spent is better than a pound of another man's, he that gets a little by birth right, moderate industry, faith and prayer, gets well, but he that gets much by right or wrong, or continual setting his heart upon the world, is but a fool or worldling at the best. I knew a man that got a great estate, and he go● it from a small and low beginning, but he got nothing but money, for few loved him, and as few missed him, and when he died he gave but one grunt, and cried I am sick, and by and by died with the Curtains drawn to him, and he that 〈◊〉 (as is likely) besides what the Devil had, gave two or three mourning Suits, and so buried him handsomely: but if a man bury himself or soul, with these self soul deceiving cares and pleasures of this cursed and bewitching World, which lies altogether in wickedness and under condemnation; yea the whole World doth so upon the matter, 1 John 5. 19 he may be raised again though not to glory, that which every man sows be shall reap, here or hereafter. When Dives was in Hell, he thought upon his brethren: but when a citizen's Heir comes to be a Spark, he seldom thinks upon the old fool that goes there, for the money which he so profusely spends, or the portion of his daughter, yea few of these upstarts think upon the old folks that go to the Devil; if a man should be hanged for another's man's stealing, it would be sad; but if a man be damned for another man's vain glory, pride, gaming, carding, ranting, or whoring, it is much more: truly some make no better use of that estate than this, or to piss again the wall that for which many are damned; I will not say how many, but I believe above an hundred every year within the walls of London. If a man steal for another, suffer and be hanged, it is sad as I said before, but to be eternally damned is much more; and it may be only to make him a fine Gentleman, a fine Fool, a swearing Gentleman and a brave Spark, but the old fool hath no carriage in him, and the old mother must scarce be known where she lives by the fine daughter: if the Ministers of London could preach themselves, and many of their hearers, out of this cursed damning sin of Covetousness, it were a gallant thing; some talk was of the Jews, and the coming in of the Jews, but if the Devil be more covetous than many Gentiles, Priests, and Citizens I am mistaken; for a Belly god to mind his gut, and a filthy swearer his ungodly lust, is a common thing; but no Swearers, Drunkards, Whores or Harlots in the World, have their hearts so much going after any sin in the World, than some noted Ministers, and professors that are called Saints, have after this cursed sin of Covetousness; they talk of Faith, and preach you must live by Faith; others write Sermons all the year about, frequent meetings, and enter into fellowships many of them, but Money, Money is their God, and for Money they will chop and change, cheat and lie, and make any man a Saint. I knew two great men that were about last year near St. Martin's canonised for Saints; one was worth forty thousand Pounds, and the other an hundred, but the Devil is Money, and in Money if that will make a Saint; I will never believe he goes to Heaven that does no good, gets a great estate and makes no profession at all of Christ, the ways, Saints, and servants of Christ, say you what you will to please fools, friends, and kindred, yet a little money and it may be mourning. If a man should look into the sepulchre of a man newly buried it would be a loathsome business, but if a man look into the lives of many rich men which Ministers make Saints in their funeral Orations, it might be said the man was more a fool, a beast, a muck worm, or at best a civil Gentleman, or an ignorant Christian, rather than a Saint: truly I know nothing so much as three things that make a Saint, faith in the blood of Christ, union with the person of Christ, and received measure of sanctification from the Spirit of Christ, and these three things with cheerfulness, thankfulness, fruitfulness or holiness, make a brave Saint indeed: if my Lord or my Lady had such an only daughter, and a lovely Lady also, she were a match for the greatest Prince in the world, and were Angelical Spirits capable of marrying or giving in marriage, as they are not, Mark 12. 25. they would come to such virtues, but when blossoms, birth, and beauty have nothing to ado●ne them, but spangles, gold and outward glory, they are far short of the Church of Christ, the King's daughter who is all glorious within, Psal. 45. 13. Inward glory is true glory, outward glory is false, inward glory is pure, light, life, and heart purifying, but of outward honour, glory, beauty and esteem, a man may have a great deal, and a great deal of Gold, with caps, knees, and bowings to him for his portion, and go to the Devil when all is done, but the Lord is my portion says the Church, Lament. 3. 25. And truly it were a Lamentation well worth the taking up, to think how many brave Sparks and Ladies that are now in midst of all their gold and glory, displaying of themselves, and glories as it were for the glory of the day in Hyde-park with leaping, lightsome hearts and souls through the pleasures of it; yet that the night should and suddenly will come, that all these must undress and go away hence to the darksome cold earth; yea to the darksome dens, or darkest dungeons of Hell, if they have nothing but outward glory for their portion; and then they will be more miserable than they that are acquainted with a kind of Hell beforehand, Some say when they make a Nun in another Country, first they make a feast as rich and noble as may be, than they invite their greatest friends, yea they entertain all of quality with the greatest delights that this earth can afford, and she herself to espouse herself to Christ as she thinks, is dressed with all that youthful, virgin, rich and princely attire that is possible to be thought on or adorned with, but the feast and the mask, the music and the singing being over, the poor Lady is 〈◊〉 to the skin, yea she burns in the presence of them all, (her greatest ornament and glory) her hair, and all for the kingdom of heaven's sake, sequestering herself from all the pleasures of this life for another, which she ignorantly hopes to find in a wrong way: but sure I am you wilfully lose that which you may easily find in a way of believing, though not in a way of working; and this is a lamentation; and a thing to be taken up for a lamentation, that you the Lords and Ladies of England, the Gentry and the greater part of the Gentry, and glory of the Nation in a common sense, forgo for a present Heaven, which yet is but a Hell to a heavenly man and an heavenmind, the true Heaven, and the God of Heaven whose loving kindness is better than life, so saith David, Psal. 63. O Madam home is home (as we use to say) though never so homely, and Heaven is Heaven when all is done, but there is no home like to Heaven, and the God in Heaven, which you forgot for a moment's lust; were your pleasures as his are for evermore, it were something, but for moment's joys to lose a Heaven, the joys of Heaven and Heavenly glories for evermore, is a loss indeed. And now I am speaking of Heaven, let me give you one touch of that and I have done; only I shall make your Funeral Sermon in conclusion, for I think verily you will be damned, and never come there, yea most of you will be so, and though I am but a poor man, yet I would not be in some of your conditions for an hundred thousand Worlds: heretofore when I have been going to bed, I have thought when I saw my sins, before I came to see them all freely done away and pardoned by the blood of Christ, if I should have been sick in my bed and die, what a miserable creature should I be, sure I am in danger to be damned thought I; and yet there is no man living but he may be easily saved, if he looks to God, and believes in God in time, yea if a man believes in God and lives to God really, he shall as certainly be saved, as ever any sinner in the World was damned, John 3. 36. But now if some of you should go home and consider a little in the night, what you have been doing all the day; yea what you have been undoing all your lives along, it would make you sad indeed; some men live long enough to get Heaven for their souls, and an estate for their Children, but if they get nothing but an estate for their relations, let them have this for an Epitaph upon their graves, here lies PENNY WISE, but POUND FOOLISH: and let them have a little thatch in their hands also, for that will do them as much good as the welfare of their wives and children, if their souls do miscarry in the other World; but for a man to live ten, twenty, forty years or upwards, to undo his relations, and his own soul as some do, yea most of you fine folks do little else, but sin a great deal, and live a little while to undo and damn yourselves for ever and ever; some fill the bag or bushel in a little time and are carried away into the Land of Shinar, Zaph. 5. 5. and we remember them no more, when they are once gone to the Devil: I believe you yourselves have almost forgot forty brave Sparks as heretofore used Hyde-park: Christ was thirty three years old before he thoroughly saved one soul, and then he died and saved all the world, John 1. 29. but it is that World that believes in him, repents and lives to him: But of the world of Gallants that I saw the last year in Hyde-park, I did not see above half a dozen of my acquaintance that looked any thing saintlike, or zion-ward; some look as if they would never pray, others as if they would never swear or sin they are so handsome; and yet they do nothing else but sin and swear, or tittle tattle all the day long; for my part I did not hear one word of Christ, and yet I was in the Park all the afternoon, but it was upon a good account, and for my part I am resolved (for aught I know) never to go again after this bout: I have witnessed twice against them, and once against the Tryr●s at White-Hall, and I believe they will make but a blind business with the keys of David now in their hands, which should be in the hands of Christ alone, Isa. 22. 22. Nor will they ever put the power of Preaching, for fear of spoiling their trade, into the hands of any in the world, but they that will make an absolute trade of it; when as I am confident an ugly knotty stick, being hewed and plained a little, will make a better piece of timber, than some of them that they set up, will ever be builders in the Church of Christ: But Mr. such an one, and Mr. such an one's Letter must pass him, especially if he comes with a little of the old Synods catechism in his mouth, and some of them will so kon it upon the stairs when they are going to be tried: but there is a young Gentleman that makes a sweet trade in getting money for Passes and I know not what, yea one told me of a Parson Solicitor that gets more than I can by my trade, by rerommending, helping, and putting young Priests in a right way to obtain their business, and ye know he must be a good man, such a Tryer commends him, and twenty more, and you know he is a great triers friend, Country man, or cousin, and therefore he must pass; and there was old passing when the great scuffle was (as a door keeper told me) but let them try, and try, and do what they will, for my part I profess in the presence of God, I had rather preach, or be in the public speaking a word to Christ for sinners, or a word for sinners to Christ in a way of prayer, than eat my meat though never so hungry, and yet I would work for my living: yea thousands in this Nation thirst after this liberty; who are holy, humble, knowing, godly, blameless, self denying, gifted Christians; yea equally gifted with most Ministers: things might be done in decency and order, and yet the Minister never the worse, Christian liberty well used doth not abuse or justle out the Ministerial calling in the least, 'tis strange there cannot be a medium found out by those that hold the helm, but for my part I am resolved not willingly to pay one penny, until I have liberty to pray or some body else, who is godly, in the room of most Clarks and Readers that are stark nought; a good Minister and a good Christian, two or three would do more good in a Parish, than he and an old sleepy Reader can or will do in many years. We have a good Benefice, and a Minister will come there whether we will or no I think, and yet he is beloved where he is, and we had pitched upon another that is godly and blameless. But I fear I shall do little here this day, the Lords and Ladies are resolved to go home, and so will I, yea I resolve to go home, and mind home, death, grave, and eternity more than ever I have done, and yet I have vowed much & writ vows, but a thousand vows will do no good unless God give a man strength to live to him; and for you great persons, you can as well come out of you skins as out of your sins and snares; yea if God Almighty do not pluck you out of your present conditions all the Men on earth cannot help you, no nor all the Saints on earth; O pray, pray, yea at night go home and say, Lord Jesus help me, Lord Jesus look upon me, and make me now to apply my heart to wisdom after all my former folly. A man may easily pull a man down hill, or down to Hell, but he can hardly pluck him up to Heaven or Heaven-ward: yea I find it very hard to come to the certainty of Heaven, and to be looking off from working for Heaven, notwithstanding the promise is not to him that worketh, but to him that believes in him that justifies the ungodly; a golden text: O read, read Rom. 4. 5. and upon this account the ungodliest man in England may be justified, and to be justified, you know is to have all a man's sins pordoned, hid and done away; O the blessedness of that man whose sins are so done away, Psal. 32. 1. And now if one of you Gentiles, or genteel sinners, would go home at night and really believe them pardoned, they would be so; 'tis but believing or not believing that makes a man to be saved or damned, yea really it is no more, John 3. 36. yea 'tis believing, and believing more than any thing that makes a man live to God and love God. I will warrant if one of you Gallants could now but really believe God would love you and save you, notwithstanding all your former sinfulness, you would be gallant Christians indeed, and God loving Christians instead of the devil's slave: well there is a new way to Heaven, or a nearer way I am sure than most men have hinted at, and that is by believing before repenting, yea by fetching repentance and reformation from believing God's love in Christ to poor sinners, as sinners, that is, while yet they are in their sins; when a Leapors leprosy is washed off, he is as lovely as another man, when a sinner is reformed, he is as lovely as a Saint in his conversation, but before God reforms, he loves, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, saith God; He is nothing but Love saith John, 1. 4. 10. yea he is ever living, loving, and giving good things to you the worst of sinners; else why are you out of Hell and here this day, out of sickness, out of misery, out of want, though all these things come in love to his Children; O for God's sake love God, & if indeed you do but mind him a little in his Son, you cannot but love him; He is the Fountain of Love, and a loving Fountain, that hath a thousand Seas of sweetness and divine delights, for all those that come unto him, with the is the well of life saith David, Psal. 36. 9 and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore: but 'tis Christ that is this pleasure, and that right hand that God stretcheth out to you the worst of sinners, and if you will take hold of his strength upon his word, you shall make peace with him, Isa. 27. 5. and he will make peace with you and your souls, yea Christ will make peace between you both, yea to them that are afar off he maketh peace, and preacheth peace by the blood of his cross, Rom. 5. 1. Peace be unto you in this room saith Christ, John 20. 19 And peace be to you in Hyde-park say I, and if you will harken to it there is peace in the blood of Christ for you all, for that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel; and I beseech you to mind this night what it speaketh: I know what your ranting, and vaunting in a thing of nought speaks, namely Hell all 'tis to be feared; but the blood of Christ speaks yet peace to the worst of you all: take heed again, and again take heed, ye refuse not him that speaks from Heaven, that which few of the Princes of this World which come to nought, do know, or have known for many hundred of years, 1 Cor. 1. 18. But to you is it spoken, not in a voice of thunder like God in Mount Sinai, where no man durst come near for fear of death, Exod. 19 15. but in a love and dovelike spirit, the spirit of love, and the Dove that is speckled with the blood of Christ, is yet at some of your windows hearts and souls with an Olive branch an emblem of peace, from the God of peace and our Lord Jesus Christ to some of your souls; O taste and see that the Lord is gracious: blessed is the man that puts his trust in him, and if you will trust in him now and at all times, yea trust you in the Lord Jehovah for ever, for in his arms there is everlasting strength to save you and your souls for evermore, Isa. 26. 4. but if you make (as the manner of you gallant is) a push of God, he will make a mock and a laugh at you when you come to die and be damned; so saith this Scripture, Prov. 1 26. Most men say, O that God were mine, O that Christ were mine when they are dying, and O that I might live a little longer, I would never do as I have done; truly some of you have lived too long already, and it were to be considered, whether it had not been better for some of you to have been damned ten or twenty years-ago, then to be heighting up and down in Coaches still, for if you will to Hell, the sooner the better, the greatest surfeit begets the greatest fever, and the longest sinner the greatest Hell, for I am of this opinion, that God is to most men as they apprehend him to be, and a man's Hell, shall lie most in his bowels, and come most from his own sins: so that the more light the more sin, and the more sins against light, the more Hell still says Christ, if I had not come unto them myself, they had not known sin, that is they had not known or committed so much sin, or been guilty so far as now they are, John 8. 19 Some ranting sinners will swear so lustily when they are well, and speak so whiningly when they are sick, spent and even dead in a Consumption and likely to go to the Devil; and some Saints look so cheerfully through the sense of God's love, when they are even loaded with afflictions, that it would do a man good to see them. I saw an old beggar with a dish on his back, and a Lord with a bunch on his, and two great Saints with the world in their mouths; one was talking of this estate, and the other of that man's estate, and both of them had too much, and care enough with what they had: there is none so merry as fools, nor any so foolish as wise men that can never tell when they have enough, nor how to do good with what they have: my Lord Needy and my Lord Greedy, will never be good, nor satisfied though they have the Devil and all: and it is a strange thing that a poor man and a Saint, can hardly satisfy himself in the love of God, so as to look a little cheerful and walk very thankful in all changes: let a man sneak through the world with a patched arse, or flutter thorough with a golden train, it is much a like, provided they be both damned; for to be hanged in halters, or to be hanged in golden chains, is much alike, if he must be hanged: and if you will be damned and go to the Devil, go how you will it is all one, and to one purpose: but I know how poor Saints should go to Heaven, and that is by singing and dancing, and ever having the high praises of God in their mouths, and a two edged sword of zeal in their hands, to cut down all ungodly lusts and Kings in their souls, Psal. 149. 8. yea to hew them in pieces, for the spirit of God and the word will spare none, as Samuel said to Agag, 1 Sam. 15. 33. nor be at peace with the least traitor, when Jesabell looked out of the window, she cried what peace, 2 Kings 9 30. and when you look out of your Coaches with your ugly faces, I cannot tell what to make of you, you are so patched and peec'd with old taffeta and taffety patches, yet some of you young Ladies, would look like little Angels almost if it were not for these sins, and some ugly things that you are guilty of. But to be guilty of nothing is a gallant thing, and if any of you will be guilty of no sin when you come to die, look to Christ while you live, and live to God till you die, and you shall have a better husband than any Lord of them all. Strange Lords and strange lusts have ruled you hitherto, Isa. 26. 13. but Christ is always young and lovely; yea to look to, to lean on, to hope in, and to follow after he is altogether so; and he died for you when he was thirty three years of age, and yet lives and ever lives to make intercession for you; for God sake court or think on him a little: here is old courting ill condition Mrs. such an one, and Mrs. such an one, and she hath so many servants, and so many servants, and all it may be for the money, and nothing but the money: but Christ hath few enough, and yet he is as rich as ever, and will give more than ever any of you yet enjoyed, for a dram of his grace is more worth than thousands of your estates, who have nothing but a little dirt, and a little Gold, with a little lace, and a little thing called Honour; but Christ hath the dew of his youth, and the youth of his age, Psal. 110. 3. yea eternities is in his hands as well as the keys of death and Hell, or the power over Hell, sin, death, men, and Devils, Revel. 1. 18. and in his hand he holds a ring, a golden ring or a reconciled God; yea and God holds him to the worst of you all, but you have no mind to marry and be the sons of God, but to be the Children of the Devil still, and his you are sure enough, John 8. 44. When God was on the earth Moses had a great mind to see his face, Exod. 33. 18. would you had so to see his Son; when the Lord General came from Worcester, there went many thousands to see him, and when Christ shall come to England, I hope to see him and more done for him than yet there is; but will you love him or will you not, he is altogether lovely in his names, in his natures, in his person, in his promises; yea and in his Kingdom which I hope is nearer than some men imagine: Mr. Tillinghurst told us strange things in his Book, called the Key to mystical Numbers, the man may be right in some things, and I believe he is; twenty Shops in London have these Books of his, would as many of you had Christ in your hearts and in your lives; but will you marry or will you not, will you marry or will you burn, will you burn in Hell an hundred thousand years, or will you take Christ for better or worse, nay 'tis worse to refuse Christ, than to take all the shame in the world with Christ; and what a shame is this, that you should be too fine for poor Christ, when poor Christ makes you rich and gives the best of riches to you, yea durable riches. See page 11. of the yellow Book, or the last May days Letter. But take my word if you do not take Christ; the Devil will take you and tear you worse than poor Cocks are torn or Bears bated, yea you shall tear yourselves in a thousand pieces if it were possible, and yet not destroy yourselves; great Malefactors are hanged alive in Hell, and their misery is they cannot die, nor get the fire out, Mat. 25. 41. This shall be done to the man whom God will honour; he shall live with God and reign (as it were) with Christ in the eternity of God, but all you that hate the Lord shall be consumed as the fat of Lambs, Psal. 37. 20. yea let them all be consumed and confounded together that will not marry Christ, or ever hear of being the servants of Christ; there is such a deal of service among you, but pray what have you done for Christ any of you genteel heathenish sinners, yea or any of you professing Saints; truly you that have done most, have done nothing to any purpose, and you that have done nothing, have done enough to have damned you in your best action that ever you did, if you were to be tried by the Law or the purity of God's Justice out of Christ; but the business is, who almost doth any thing, or doth not at all mind every thing, and no man minds the things of Christ, Phil. 2. 21. Truly Christ hath a great many enemies and a great many friends, and a great many lookers on, some men look which way the tide runs, and some which way the gain comes; but godliness with content is great gain, 1 Tim. 6. 6. and still I say the great stain of godliness is, they are so greedy after it; but greedy lovers of profits, and greedy lovers of pleasures, are little better than greedy dogs both, and will be shut out of the new Jerusalem that cometh down from God, or is above with God, Revel. 21. 2. And now if some of you Ladies after all this brave dressing of yourselves, should be shut out of Hyde-park, and made to stand in the ditch whilst all the Nobles and rest of the Gallants were admitted in to take their fill of pleasures and the pleasures of the day, it would be a great vexation; but if thousands of you should be shut out of Heaven and the kingdom of Heaven, as Christ speaks Luke 13. 27. for minding nothing but pleasure, the pleasures of the day and the pastimes of the night; how will you then weep, when you yourselves shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with thousands more sitting down there, but you yourselves shut out, ver. 28. Christ wept bitterly for Jerusalem, Luke 13. 34. and if he were on earth, I think he would weep for you, for you are the most to be pitied, for all your laughing and your singing one unto another of any people; yea of any creatures in the world: yea I in my conscience do verily think so, for a man to sing to a bird and catch him in a net, or harken to a Syrryan as they say, and be catched by a song, is a misery▪ and a cheaty misery; none gets so much by gaming, as the devil does by playing his cards in some of your laps, and truly you frequently commit adultery when you look so lustfully as you do Mat. 5. 25. on one another's faces, yea you make yourselves Whores and Harlots by your talk many times: Christian talk and Christian name, with Christian life and conversation would do well together, and if Christ be your Master let him be your Copy, for I will not give a farthing for that Christian, that is little better than an old common Protestant: an old Protestant and an old Papish will agree better, than either can with an honest Roundhead; and yet the old Religion is the true; ask for the good old way and follow that says the Prophet, Ier. 6. 16. and not these new lights and fangles, and now I am resolved to be half a Quaker to a hair, but not a whole one for a thousand worlds; I resolve to be less complemental, less a flatterer, more an inward and an outward Christian; yea a circumspect Christian in all things: but to deny Jerusalem's Christ, God's exalted, dear and only Son who is God over all blessed for evermore, Rom. 9 5. that hath washed me in his own blood, Revel. 1. 5. saved my soul from Hell, and reconciled me unto God; for a whimsy, I never will; nor shall they ever pick my comforts by a many new words, forced humility or reformation that ariseth out of self, and leads man to rest on self, a broken Reed a muddy cistern, and all that do so will lie down in sorrow; yea this is all you shall have at my hands saith the Lord: yea all you that compass yourselves about by your own sparks, Isa. 50. 11. for other foundations can no man lay than what is laid Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. 3. 11. O foundation, foundation, time and age outlasting foundation, Heaven, Earth, Saint and angel burying foundation, how art thou neglected by Generations of self righteous men on the one side, dogs, careless sinners, loose Christians, and despisers on the other, and yet thou art all in all in life, death, and eternity, Col. 3. 11. yea thou art God's all in all, and our all in all, who have all our hopes, helps, and mercies in and from thee, yea in thee and in thee alone is all our justification, sanctification, and hopes of glorification; and yet how little do we live unto thee, do or speak for thee, our dearest dear before the Sons of men: but O Christ's time will come, and certainly come that we shall wish a thousand times, that the best of us all had said more, and done more a thousand times for thee than the best of us all have done: And therefore to you the powers of this Nation, I humbly give this advice, (knowing good men in prosperity may easily forget the vows in adversity) that you remember as long as you live the cause for which so many tuns of blood were spilled, and millions of souls sent to Hell sooner than ordinary; yea the cause of our ever blessed, dear, and glorious Redeemer, and what ever men say he certainly once had, and still has a cause and controversy to plead with the Natitions; however he will err long certainly come and call all men to account: and then you the dry skulls, heads and bones of the cavaliers shall rise together; yea with their dead bodies shall you arise, or they with yours as the Prophet speaks in another case, Isa. 26. 19 In the mean time know the night is at hand wherein no man can work, John 9 3. And as Owner said of Ireton, so I say to all you; go your way and take your lot, and at the end of your days you shall stand up again, Dan. 12. last. And to all under you I give this advice, study to be quiet and at peace in your own spirits; God's ways are in the deep, and his designs take place in all ages, yea they never slack nor stay. Children obey your Parents, Servants your Masters, not with eye service, but in singleness of heart as serving the Lord. To all good married men I give this, first to love your wives as Christ loved his Church, if it were possible, and in loving, love their souls as much above their bodies, as you do their bodies above their clothes; it will do the wife the husband good to think the soul is in Heaven smiling, when absent here on earth or present in a coffin; 'tis the condition of friends, that is more than any thing, the true cause of joy or grief; if a friend be in prosperity, you only mourn for his absence, but if in adversity you mourn double: and truly there is a vast difference between a wife gone to Hell, and a husband gone to Heaven, or a wife gone to Heaven and an husband gone to Hell, and so for any other friends, now when we do what we can to go ourselves and draw others we have done our duty; but for you great ungodly Gentry, you draw all almost to Hell that come near you; and yet I think it is a greater comfort to bury two good wives than one bad: who would have a side of his house or body burnt, yea his bedfellow go to Hell; and yet most of you and your Children will go thither by reason of your examples. Whither do you think the Lord such an one is gone that died lately, nay in your conscience speak as judging by the rule of God's Word, and Mr. such an one that kept his brave Coach and six Horses, and never went without: but to your Children I give this advice, first to read over the families they came of, what sins they have been guilty, and what judgements have fallen upon Father, Grandfather, and great Grandfather; one broke his neck, another his heart, a third lost his head, a fourth made a miserable end in his bed, yea died suddenly and never said Lord have mercy on me: it is good to observe these things, and it is easier to love, repent, or begin to live to God before twelve or twenty years of age be past than after, and so again before thirty than forty; but if a man mis forty years before he begins to look to Christ, it is an hundred to one but he goes to the devil; yet hundreds turn civil and morally honest, and so go civilly to the pit: there is four or five turnings before a man turns into the right way for Heaven, and yet some hit on it at the first, and that is by throwing themselves upon God's love in Christ in a way of real believing, and that barely upon the account of the promise, which is yea and amen without any qualification, Rom. 4. 13. but some turn from wildness to sobriety, and so from bravery to plainness, from Papistry to Protestantism, and yet are little the better, and so back again without being much the worse; and some turn from the ordinary protestants to be Professors, and yet are ten fold more the child of the Devil than before. Every turn is a turn from God, if the heart be unturned to God; and the white Devil is the worst, and will carry a man to Hell when he thinks he is going to Heaven▪ & persecute another only for a Gospel spirit, and a Gospel light, without a Gospel life, will certainly rise in judgement against any man in the world; and so will all your ladyship's sins if you do not take heed in time: moles see and Swans sing a little before they die, and it may be then most of you will be wise, and till then few are so: do you think Christ made you so fine and so handsome, so rich and so noble for nothing; yea do you think he made you Christians as you say, and brought you forth in England the Garden of the world, and in some sense you the Flowers of this Garden, for nothing but to sing and dance, make a French Courchy, compliment for a husband, and height about with a Servant, truly Christ will have little reason to damn heathens and save you; 'tis true you are called by his name, but that should teach you good manners and good lives; I believe some would be ashamed if we should tell of a Cromwell that would not fight, or a Fayrfax, whose name I hope will never be forgotten; and truly Christ will be ashamed of you, that will not live to him as well as be baptised; and if you were not baptised, there is no man living but would take some of you to be the devil's children you are so wicked. But the end of all things is at hand, and that is your funeral text with which I shall conclude, 2 Pet. 4. 7. But you will ask me what end, not the end of God's Mercy, for there is no end thereof, that is from everlasting to everlasting, to them that fear him, Psal. 103. 17. Nor is there any end of his love, or the promises of his love, for they are numbe●less from one end of the Bible to the other, and so is his providence to his Children, even from the womb to the grave; yea that never leaves them till they come to Abraham's bosom, and then God is all in all to them, 1 Cor. 15. 19 But there is an end of your sinning, and Saints sorrowing, of your living, and the kingdoms of the world reigning; yea there is an end of this suns shining, the reins fulling, the winds blowing, and the spirits breathing: yea that breaths where, when, and as long as it listeth, take heed of grieving and resisting that, for if ever that finally leave you, and come no more to your consciences, beds, and elbows, saying go to Pelham, go to Pelham, go to God, go to Christ, look to God, look to Heaven, Hell, mind both, for all these bewitching things and fooling up and down, or else thou art undone for ever: Soul hast thou ever another if thou losest this; have a care of losing all for a moment's lust, but there is an end of all this kind of breathings, and your singing, yea there will be no more May days after a few days more; I think you had best take your solemn leave, and weep over one another's backs, necks, & shoulders, and say farewell Ladies, farewell Lords, farewell Coaches, farewell bravery and brave delights, birds, fields, hedges, bed, Sun, Moon, Saints and sinners, farewell all for ever, and farewell all for evermore, for I must now be damned for ever, or I go I know not whither, as that great man said to his soul, when he cried soul, soul, whither art thou now going, and then the fine fare, and the good cheer, and the fine linen, with the Lemmon sauce, must have an end, and the sweet singing; but the howling, that must be for evermore. But take a touch of Heaven or about Heaven, though you never intend to come there, and I have done: And for Heaven; first it is a place for divine discoveries, secondly of divine rest, thirdly of divine joys, fourthly of divine glories; and in it God discovers four things; the secrets of his heart, the fullness of his glory, the nearness of relation, and greatness of his love: we shall know as we are known, God's decrees, purposes, and secrets, his glory, the fullness of his glory, and nearness of relation; yea we shall come from the East and from the West, the North and the South, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of our God and Father, and know him to be our Father even from everlasting, Isa. 63. 16. Luke 13. 29. God shall so abundantly discover his love unto us, calling of us by his own name; O Ephraim, Ephraim, my dear child thou art mine: yea Lord God and Father I am, and so is all that glory that thou hast given me, as Christ speaks in another case. God gives to Christ, Christ gives to Saints, and Saints gives to God all again: and so God is all in all and ever shall be, 1 Cor. 2. 9 But secondly, Heaven is a place of divine rest, from sorrow, sin and labour, tumults, noises, fears, and troubles: in this world you shall have trouble, but in me ye shall have peace saith Christ, John 16. 33. internal, external, and eternal. A man's enemies shall be at peace with him sometimes, and yet his friend's war against him if his ways please God. And so the soul is like the needle on the point, the Ark or Dove upon the waters, she wants footing for the sole of the foot, and God is often wanting to the soul of a Saint, thou didst hide thy face saith David and I was troubled; and the greatest trouble in the world is God's hiding of his face; but time shall pass and time will come, that Israel's God will be no more a hiding God, Isa. 45. I5. nor they a wandering people in the barren wilderness of this world, for in their Country which is Heaven, there is rest without weariness, for the wavering Man and the wearied Saint; and the bed and pillow is not half so sweet to the wearied man, as is this rest. And the Saints rest is God, yea God is their sweetest, true, and lasting rest and home, and so is Heaven: yea this is the Land of Canaan indeed, and that Canaan which every one would land in when they come to die. I knew one of you the other day, that always wore a feather in his cap, but being sick, he sent a Bill to beg that he might be pardoned and go thither: yea there is none of you all but would fain lay your bones, and lodge your sinning souls in Canaan when you come to die; Oh but you must live in Canaan, or go the way to Canaan if ever you mean to come thither: 'tis not an old fashioned priests benediction or absolution, with a little Common Prayer, a sup of Wine with a bit of Bread, will lodge you there, this may seal your damnation, but it will never bring you to salvation, no, no, these low things shore none upon the Land of Canaan; it is God's love, Christ's merit, and regeneration of the spirit, a thing ye never knew what belongs to, John 3. 5. that sets the soul there. But to go on, Heaven is a place of divine joys, and they that live in Heaven live in joys, and yet the joys of Heaven can never live in them, they are so great: Enter into thy Master's joy saith Christ. Light may enter in the eye, but not the body of light, joy may enter into the heart, but not the body of joy: Men and Angels are but finite creatures, but the joys of Heaven are infinite, unspeakable, unconceivable; earthly joys are but shadows of spiritual, the joy of the Harvest is nothing to the joy of the Elect, and the sweetest joys of the spirit is nothing in comparison to the joys of Heaven: ye shall rejoice saith Christ, and no man shall take your joy from you, John 16. 22. and this is that joy which Christ speaks of: some Fountains have their mouths or pipes by which they continually send their crystal streams into the artificial Wells with pleasant noises; God hath his continual joys and glories, which he always sends forth by discoveries from himself into the souls of his, which they being filled withal, sends forth (as it were) from other golden pipes his continual praises; and herein lies the joys of Heaven, and the Heaven above which you scarce believe: Angels and communion with Angels are not the joys of Heaven, Saints and communion with Saints are not the joys of Heaven, these may sing, and joy, and play together, yet are they not the joy of Heaven, 'tis the music rather than the string, that is the melody of music, and it is God rather than the creature, that is the joy of Heaven, and hence it is that their joy is always fresh and green, music dulls, beauty fades, yea the Sun appears sometimes darker than at other, at leastwise unto apprehension, but this joy is always rising, more and more delighting, now where there is a continual rising of divine joys & glories, there can be no ebbing of divine delights, the echo rises with the voice; the music with the string, joys by discoveries do the like, yea they rise unanimously in all the Saints, and being risen in them, Heaven is made a double Heaven, shout O ye Inhabitants of Jerusalem, for great is the Holy One in the midst of thee, Isa. 12. 6. But howl ye Ships of Tarshish and pleasant pictures; yea let the ungodly and rich howl together, Isa. 2. 16. Iam. 5. 1. But shout O Inhabitants of Jerusalem, above, the City of the great King; this shouting denotes the highest pitch of joy that Saints shall be filled with, when they shall come to sup with God and Christ, by feeding on divine delights, rays, joys, and glories, which are the dishes of that wedding Supper, where every Saint shall feed his full, Revell. 19 8. 3 26. his full of joy, his full of praise, and sing his part, yea every angel his, and all shall try their skill and strain their voices to make one melodious song of praises unto God, and the Lamb for evermore, Revell. 7. 10. 15. 3. Some say that a Syrrian or the song thereof, will so enchant a man, that irresistibly it shall draw him to his fatal ruin; confident I am were one Saint or angel to sing from Heaven this day to you in Hyde-park, but one quarter of an hour, it would kill all other delights, and make you mind the God of Heaven, and the joys of Heaven for evermore; and all your former sinful sweetest pleasures, would be but as the Asses braying, to the most melodious music in comparison of that. But Heaven is a place of divine glories, and glorious things are spoken of thee O city of God: all manner of precious stones are fetched to set up thy glory, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Revell. 21. 19 and in the lies a Sun for every eye, a Crown for every head; yea a Crown that fadeth not away: Crowns are the highest pitch of glory that the aspiring soul of man can work unto, but the lowest shadow of divine glory. Crowns and kingdoms are but fading things, yea they are now fading, while the glory of Christ is rising in our Land: yea in Ireland which the Devil and the Pope thought once to have had for their share; but blessed shall they be, who have been most instrumental to plant the Gospel there, and some body here have been very much instrumental that way, and many to pull down you and the Crowns of some of your families; yea the Crown of these Nations, all which lie in the dirt: and yet you go on to sin as much as ever, and never think how many was sent to the Devil in the late war standing up for the Crown, yea how many great ones were sent in a day in some great fights, (to wit) Naseby, York, Newberry, or Spinham land: and yet these kind of crowns are not worth contending for, they are such light, foolish, fading things; But Saints Crowns are exceeding weighty, heavy, and massy; yea there is an eternal weight of glory that attends every Saint, 2 Cor. 4. 17. An eternal weight of glory can never be poised or fade away, but a present earthly glory every age can discover to be light and vain; yea within these few days I have discovered much myself, and many vain men (as David says) which now are not: and where is Mr. such an one with his brave feather, and Mr. such an one with his golden back: alas, alas, 'tis a thousand pi●tles their Heaven was so short. And for your stately laying out the carcase at the last that is much more, I saw the fragments of a silly Bird which a ravenous Fowl had prayed upon, and all that was left by the hedge, was a leg and a wing, and a few loose feathers, may be the Surgeon brawns up the whole body bowels and all, with a great deal of beating by his huge sledges, after which nasty and noisome work, the Harril dresses that and a room, three or four some dark and some light one within another, before you come where the Body lies in a thick sheet, with a many popish Candles, Candlesticks, great Standards, Silk and Silver scutcheons, half a dozen in the nature of weepers, to see who comes to stare, and some are even ready to say their prayers, but the spiritual man mourns, others crying they never saw the like, nor shall they ever see more what's become of the wing and the leg, the life and the soul, whilst death and rottenness sleeps in the feathers; and is this all you call the laying in state, Solomon sales, vanity of vanities all is vanity: and would this text was ever sounding in your ears, and written in your foreheads, as well as in your lives: but what All doth the wise man mean, questionless this and all below the Sun, and that is all indeed, but what's reserved for the Saints whom you now despise and count fools, and their ends to be without honour, wisdom 5. 4. O read, read this text though it be apocrypha, We fools counted his life madness, and yet his lot is among the Saints, we wearied ourselves in wickedness, but what hath pride profitted us, and what hath vaunting and riches profitted us, all is passed away like a shadow, p●st, or ship that passeth over the waves, ver. 10. But their portion is above the Sun and yours below, theirs where no moths, thieves, or rust can come, Ma● 6▪ 9▪ but at all these things they can and do come; yea they will come at all your glories▪ and there is a secret worm at the roo● of every glory, yea your sweetest pleasures have a thousand snares, envy, pride, malice, and covetousness are always eating, always stealing and staining earthly glories: this way Nation eats up Nation, and Time them again: but time, death, grave, nor eternity itself can ever fade, steal or eat away the least bit of a Saints glory, no, no, death and time puts them in, and locks them safely up for that glory which eternity is always opening and unfolding▪ but for all your earthly glories they are soon opened, one man and one age opens anothe●s glory; pride and envy ●olds up that again to show it self, but death folds up all, yea all the sorrow, shame, and sufferings of the Saints and glories of the world: yea it will fold up all your Maying and your gaying▪ and your present glories, so that that which is the outlet, is the inlet both to one and the other: darkness, hell, sin, shame and sorrow is the inlet of death to such as you: yea this breaks in like mighty seas upon the strokes of death and so doth rest, peace, joy, and glory to the Saints: but what is the glory of Heaven and the Sains in Heaven may some say: alas it is a question out of question, or a question for eternity, but this may and hath been said already: God is the glory of and the Heaven of Heavens both to Saints and angels: but how much of 〈◊〉 Heaven every single Saint shall have for his share, is a question never to be answered: this we know a Crown shall be on every head, and a Sun on every face, and the least Saint shall shine as the Sun in the kingdom of his Father, Mat. 13. 43. and Christ as a Sun to all: yea Christ human shall do so, and if so, what shall Christ divine and the Father in the Spirit do, that is the question out of question, and beyond all answer: the eye that made the eye, the ear that made the ear, the snn that made the Sun, the Heaven that made that Heaven which is called Heaven, cannot be spoken to: Men may look into the beam●s, but not into the Sun it is so glorious; the rays of glory, on the backs of the glorified may be looked into and spoken of, but not to one thousand part, as once Queen Sheba said to Solomon, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, that which thou O God hast prepared for them that wait for thee, Isa. 64. 4. Nay it never entered into the heart of any man to conceive saith St. Paul, what God hath prepared for them that fear him, 1 Cor. 2. 9 O how great is that Goodness saith David. But something is revealed by the Spirit, yea so much that many wiser than any of you, have despised with disdain and detestation all yours and this world's glory for it, and others have desired to die that they might be at it▪ when as all as you desire to live for, is only to sin, or be a little longer out of Hell; but I believe many of you are Sadduces, which scarce believe there is a Heaven, a Hell or Resurrection: but fain would Paul die upon this account, and who would not do so and be unclothed, that he might be clothed upon with this house from Heaven and glory of Heaven, yea crowd thorough and through the gates of death, for the Crown of Crowns, this wreath of life and glory: O ●ut where is the Christian that can say so now, and unstrip his doublet and affections to the creature, freely laying down all that is near and dear at the feet of Christ, for love to Christ, the joys of Christ, and glories of Heaven; the Saints cannot see now as in Stevens time, the glory of God, and Christ at the right hand, nor the immortal things that Paul speaks of, ● Cor. 2. 9 And hence it is they cannot desire to unstrip and be dissolved: O but were the least glimpses of immortal Crowns and glory clearly in their eyes, they would leap into the grave and call for death, as a man for a friend in a great distress: we have heard of some that have thrown themselves into the Ocean for to catch the shadow, I am sure the God of Heaven and the joys of Heaven are the substance which all men should catch at, but the shadow most do; yea the Saints themselves are l●w and dungy, sishing for the creature rather than immortal glories: But were they minded as in former times, I make no question but the Saints of this age would (Imperious like) as much scorn the dungy chaff, stubble, straw, and vanity of this world, as the lofty Eagle doth the poorest prey when she is flying towards Heaven, yea were our thoughts upon our father's house, our father's home, our father's glory; yea and our glory which is laid up for us where all our faithful friends are gone, and longs for our communion, methinks the pavement and curtains of Heaven, the place where Sun, Moon, and Staries are pitched, tells us 'tis a glorious place: yea if the outside of this Ark above the water be so speckled and spangled, what is the inside where God and all the saved creatures are; Sun, Moon, and stars are but the 〈◊〉 of Heaven, the 〈◊〉 beaten garmen● which must pass away, and be folded up as an old thing, Psal. 102. 26. And when this old thing shall be done away, God and the Lamb become a new Heaven to the Saints; yea when God and the Lamb shall compass them, and be their Temple, and they his Pillars in this Temple, bearing up his everlasting praises, Revell. 3. 12. Then shall the glory of the Lord and the Lamb be for Sun and Moon, Revell. 21. 23. Here Gospel, Spirit, Ordinances are in the Church and Temple, the Sun Moon, and glory of it, and would it were so in all, and not form and formality, but God shall immediately one day himself become their Sun and glory, Isa. 60. 20 And the Lamb shall personally lead them to the fountains of living waters; not to sup a little as now, but to bathe and tumble in those everlasting streams and Oceans of divine glory: yea when every Saint shall have a Temple, Sun, and Sea of glory to himself, walk hand in hand as it were with the Lamb, Revell. 7. 17. thorough and through the glorious high discoveries of God, which are the Seas of glory, and the glorified Seas wherein their souls shall always tumble, never sounding any bottom in those boundless glorious banks, carrying them by gales of divine joys further and further, from all bounds and bottoms, rocks, and dangers. And now I conclude with this advice, if you indeed think there is a Heaven, look for that, or if indeed this be a fancy, And all that you call Divinity be a mere piece of knavish Policy, to make fools and asses of honest men, then take your pleasure still, and let the days of darkness never come near you nor your thoughts, or families, which do but spoil your pleasures, for if you affright a child with a bugbear, you may make him fearful all his life, and if you yourselves will fancy that which is not, It will be great loss and trouble to the minds of such as you, who yet want more pleasures, or time to pursue after more; nay do you not: O but if after all there should be a God, O but if there should be a Heaven, and a God better than Heaven a thousand times, or a thousand Heavens, which should at last be lost for want of thinking or believing; what a sad case will you then be in; yea I say what a sad case will you then all be in, when God is lost, Christ, Heaven, Soul, Body, and all is lost for a moment's lust: O Madam consider this in time; yea this night, lest the night of nights overtake you, which that it may not, it is and ever shall be, the hearts desire and prayer of him, who with St. Paul wisher● from his soul that you and your Children, with the whole Israel of God, may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 10. 1. And so I rest,  
Your humble Servant, W. B.  
FINIS.