look not upon me; OR, The CHURCHES Request under Sequestration, Presented in A SERMON To all that pretend love to Sion; by E. F. Master of Arts, and the true Vicar of Wisbeech, in the Isle of Ely, and County of Cambridge. Boni laborant, quia flagellantur ut filii; mali exultant, quia damnantur ut alieni. Aug. in Psa. 33. Printed in the year, 1648. To the worshipful, and his singular good Friends, William Fisher, and Everard Buckworth Esquires Justices of the Peace, as also to his worthy Friend William Edwards Gentleman, with all the rest of his loving Friends, and de●re Parishioners, the Inhabitants of Wisbeech: E. F. Wishes grace and peace here, and glory hereafter. Honoured Gentlemen, and dear Friends: THat late learned Statesman Sr. Henry Wootton, ordered that his Epitaph should be only this, Hic jacet hujus sententiae primus Author, butted in eton college. Disputandi pruritus, Scabies Ecclesiae. I will change a word with him, and make another for our Common wealth now; Scribendi pruritus scabies reipublicae, never was the press so cloyed, and clogged with Clients as now: some I think writ more Pamphlets then they say Prayers; and yet among all, Sermons( I find) are the last served: I have been crowding for a place a long time( merely for cheapenesse sake) to get these few leaves printed. It is a thing which I thought once I should never have pride enough to aspire, nor povrety enough to constrain me to,( for these two are the ordinary Loadsmen to those Paper mills) but the latter of them hath forced me. For thus the link hangs: Spare time( too much God knows) bid me writ relation said to Wisbeech; my Function said a Sermon; thankfulness said to all; poverty my purse bearer cries( as the Disciples of the loaves) two hundred penny worth of paper will not suffice; necesssity( my counsel) saith print it, and the Printer again saith, let it be neither mine, nor thine, but divide it: So I have my number to give, which I aimed at, and he his to sell( if Sermons will sell) which he aims at. And new to whom should a suffering Minister sand a Sermon, but to his own sympathiz●ng people? and whose names should I shelter it under( Noble Friends if not yours, who did not( though being men of interest you might like Nicodemus own me by night only, but appeared for me, and with me in the heat of the day? St. Paul when he was to have a hearing, complains that no man stood with him; but that which is sweeter to me then my losses can be bitter, is, that you( my judicious and godly Neighbours) and many more of that kind Parish( even as many as were able to travel so many tedious miles) were not ashamed of me, and my cause; let the Lord at the day of true judgement, remember it, and requited you all. And it is your honour, and mine own comfort, that they who were against me, had nothing against me, worthy of these sufferings. For my living, though I be thrust out of doors; yet I came in at the door I thank God, and not at the w●ndow. For labours, I had not ten, or five, but that one Talent, or two which the Lord lent me, I did not wrap up in a napkin, but put them into the bank every Lords day. And for my life( Oh Lord forgive me my many sins!) It was far from scandal, I bless God though not free from offences d●yly. Twas( sure) for my Obedience to God and the King; and if for that, I would to God, not only I, but all that are Ministers were not only almost, but altogether so, except my persecutions. Gentlemen, and all my good Parishioners, I beseech you accept this little book from me, and for my sake. H●i mihi quod Domino non licet ire— read it as the broken Meditations of your poor Pastor, and receive as broken money from a poor debtor, who would do more, if he had it. Exchange prayers with me, though absent from me, I for you, and you for me in the Lord, to whom I commend you all, and rest, &c. Your Servant in the Lord Jesus, Edward Fornis. look not upon me, because I am Black, because the Sun hath looked upon me; my mothers children were angry with me, they ma●e me the Keeper of the Vineyards, but mine own Vineyard I have not kept. Canticles. 1.6. THE profound Prophet Ezekiel( chap. 47.) saw in a v●●●n waters running out of the Temple; healing waters all, but some ankle deep, some knee deep, Sic loquitur Scriptura ut altitudine superbos irrideat, profunditate superbos terreat, virtute magnos pascat, affabilitate parvulos nutriot. Aug lib. 2. Gen. c. 19. some to the loins, some to the neck, some over head and ears; and by interpretation, these wa●ers are the Scriptures, Dii caeptis; I am now leaped into the Elephants swimming pl●ce, the Leviathans of Learning may take their pastime 〈◇〉 Solomons Apocalypse, wherein are Riddles more knotty then Sampsons, but being dissolved, off●●d drops sweeter then his 〈◇〉 c●m●e. This is none of his Wallhysope, but a Cedar of his L bano●-like wisdom. O● all his treasu●e( vanished, as w●ll as his Temple) nothing abides the tyranny of Time, but three little books, and they are enough t● prove the royal pen-man in glory, maugre the cavils of those who doubt and dispute otherwise: In ●●s Proverbs he is an holy politician, in his Ecclesiastes an holy Preacher, and in this book a Prophet, and an Heavenly Poet. Procul hinc, procul item profani— Na●citur Poeta: His F●ther was excellent at composing holy rap●ures, and offering them to God upon we●l ●u●ed i●st●uments; but for ought I find, the son( as being a Prince of more peace) made more then the Father: A thousand and five are name upon record, but whether they were divine( as Davids were) I dare not say; 1. K. 4.32. among them all, the Holy Ghost( who is the best Supervisor of Libraries) thought none fit to bear the laurel but this, which wears on the head of it Cantica can●●orum; and this not being plain song, but sublime and sacramental( as containing Arcana Christi & Ecclesiae,) The Jews commanded not to be tuned by young voices, I mean, none under the yeeres of thirty might look in it, Pingue duos angues pueri, sacer est locus Persius. or read it, least( their thoughts not being seasoned with the salt of holy gravity) they should take advantage by the literal sense, to profane this 〈◇〉( as St. Paul calls it) of the marriage betwixt Christ and the Church. And though I do willingly vote with my betters, that this was curiosity without warrant in the Jews; and I bless God for English Bibles, and the plenty of them( pitty there should be a man, of whom it can be said, non legit, nay, non intelligit) yet certainly there are Labyrinths in the Scriptures, for which every one hath not a clue: Let him that readeth understand. None shall be found worthy( Rev. 5 7.) to sing the Lambs song, but his own Choristers; so, none can in a spiritual manner sing this song of my beloved touc●ing his Vineyard, Es. 5.1. but they who have tasted the wine of the true Vine. John 15.1. I intend not a Treatise, but a Sermon( and I would be red as well as heard by an hourglass) therefore I shall not go down into the field of Expositors, to glean after t em in their various bindings up of these sheaves: Allegori●s are m●st subject to the fancy of every W●iter, and every one subject ●o ●●●und in his own sense, and every sense to be the owners Diana; But in this all agree, that this book is an Epithilamium or marriage hymn, concerning, and between Christ and 〈◇〉 Sp●●se the Church: And it is sung in three parts: The Bridegro●●●s Base, the Brides triple, and now and then the children of the B●ide-chamber( called here the Daughters of Jerusalem) being the Chorus, put in their mean. The Spouse leads the way●, and begins in this first Chapter, breaking forth something abruptly, and as one taken unawarres with an holy ravishment. To bring you from the top, to the Text briefly, and the better; imagine, you saw her( like Mary at the sepulchre weeping, and with those tears blear-eyed like Leah) standing in a very pensive posture, her hair,( like Mephibosheths loyal slovennesse in his head and beard) loose, and unkemmed, her garments poor and untrimmed, her beautiful● sh●oes pulled up from her feet, and modest v●ile from her head. jewels, Bracelets, Ornaments plundered and all gon●; and lastl●) her faire face( the glory of h r pers●n) ●u●ied, taw●y, and Sun-burnt; withall, before you begin ●o read the C apt, suppose at two several doors her onely bel●ved, and a company of friends( little better then Stranger●) coming in; she espies them both; but him first( f●r ubi amor ibi oculus) and resolves to salu●e both; but in a holy ravishment as being sick of love, she runs and cries ●ut as she runs osculetur me osculis, Oh my Lord receive me wi●h more intimate embraces: Not thy hands, or thy feet, which yet I am not worthy, but thy lips, thy m●u●h Lord! &c. Then presently, as j●alous those standards by, being Virgins themselves, might( seeing her present meanness, and outward deformities especially) censure her, if not cry out of her for too much impudence; she steps to them and( as one that longed to go back to her discourse with Christ again) in an Ap●strophe of two verses only the 6. and 7. salutes them, giving them( as Job doth of himself, being a pearl still, though on a dunghill, cha. 29) a modest, yet stately character of her person, and boasti g( as St. Paul of his infirmities) of her afflictions, she answers the objections which they seemed to speak with their eyes to this purpose. 'Tis true( Ladies) you have seen and heard that at which y●u m●y m●rvell: The Spouses speech to the Virgins. Well may you wonder that a virgin should wooe, and contrary to civility and custom run after, and cry out for a Lovers embraces; bu more wonder at the m●tch, that such a faire, rich, noble, divine Lord should cast an eye, much less himself, and all he ha h away upon me, in whom you see so little of allurement, and so much of am●z●ment; that I whose black and pale lips should talk of a funeral rath r then a Wedding, should utter what you have heard: But know( my Friends) that I know myself, and he ( whom my soul loves) knows me, but ye do not; he will embrace me with my black mask of miseries on, for his love lies more then skin-deepe, and I, though I be now low and mean, tanned and disguised, abused and turned out of all by mine own Kindred, yet am the Kings Daughter all glorious within: my outside is but black haircloth like Keders Tents, but my soul is comely, and rich as Solomons curtains, ne expectetis( ergo) me, quia nigra sum &c. In which words wee have an umbraticall, and a substantial sense. In the first, behold( as it were) a chast, comely, sweet woman, making her complaint to her Lovers and acquaintance, of the wrong and violence done to her by some of her Kindred, from whom sh● looked for better usage &c. and begging of them to think near the worse of her, for her present poor condition. In th second, behold( indeed) the Church Militant declaring her afflictions to be the more black and formidable, because laid upon her by those who are seeming brethren, & ●. The Text in the logic of it lies thus. Here are two general Parts. A Civil● Req●est. A Sad Relation. In the first wee may take notice of these three things. 1. Her case confessed, I am black. 2. The supreme cause of that case, The Sun, &c. 3. The Request from thence, look not &c. In the second wee have also three parts. First, the offenders discovered, My Mothers Children. Secondly, the ground of the wrong they did to her, Their anger, Excanduerunt. Thirdly, the effects of their wrath, and that two fold. 1. Sequestration. 2. Subjugation. 1. Sequestration, And that as rigid as might be, Being Ab Officio, and— Ab Officio non Custodivi, A Beneficio, A Beneficio. For it was a Vineyard: And who keeps a Vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? 2. Subjugation, posuerunt me &c. They put me to a low, slavish, miserable way of getting my livelihood; so the sense of the phrase Keeping of Vineyards, is rendered by the learned, and by the Scripture itself, as appears in 2 King. 25.12. in the captivity of Babylon the poor and base people of the Land were left to be their Vine-dressers and Husbandmen, and God promiseth, Esay. 61.5. that the Church should have sons of the Alien to be her ploughmen and Vine-dressers. These are the parts both general, and special: I shall begin with the first, and therein take her at her word in the Text, habemus confitentem ream, and herein dispatch four things. 1. Examine what she means by black. 2. inquire how she comes so. 3. Why she would not be look't at; and lastly, apply all as safely as bad times will give leave. Black.] Sables ever went in the heralds Office for a Mourners coat; Or and Argent were for the rich and honourable: In the Scripture wee find white to be the colour of Princes, Judges, Conquerors, crwoned Virgins, bu● black( God help the coat) being contrary, signified contraries, and was the hue of one under deep afflictions; sometimes, of one sick and languishing under noisome diseases: So Job look't, Job 30.30. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burnt with heat: Sometimes, of one starved, and pined away with Famine; so the religious Nazarites who( as Jer. 5.) being white as snow, and whiter then milk, more ruddy then Rubies, and smother then polished sapphires, had their visage blacker then a coal &c. Lam. 4.7.8. Sometimes, sadness and true Sympathy for others calamities hath not only put men into black clothes, but into a melancholy countenance: True sorrow makes the heart, the heart the blood, and the blood makes the face a Mourner; thus Jeremy himself had a black visage; for the hurt of the Daughter of my people I am hurt, I am black, Jer. 8.21. Three Expositions( and all sound and proper enough) Divines give me warrant for, concerning the Churches blackness; I shall speak to them in order. 1. Nigrasum.] I am a woman of many infirmities, which fully and soil me, Sin. of many sins which defile and foil me. Sin. And in this sense she saith truth, she were not a woman else, nor the virgin Mary neither, though the Papist off rs himself her compur●ator from even O●iginall sin, and Gunpowder Garnet at tyburn; for one miserere Domine, The relation of his trial, and death. had his dou●le matter Dei &c. No, let God be true, and all men liars; there is not one that do●h good, no not one, and in many things wee off●nd all; all singly, and all altogether. That soul, ●or that Church of souls( if they were bodies) who s●y they have no si●ne, deceive themselves, and dare not look in the true gl●sse of Gods word, for that discovers spo●s in the fairest face. The Papist would be loth to think any other, bu● the Spouse in the Canticles, may serve for their Mother: N●w I find that Christ( who in that book courts her, and ad●ires her) in one verse( chap. 6.10.) gives her four charact●rs together, and in none, innocency and infallibility, who is she that looketh forth as the Mo●ning; the morning( ●uddie as she looks) blushes at h●r night-cap of clouds in which the Sun spies he●; faire as the moon, and is not the moon clogged with an inmate cloud? Doth she not look pale, wan, faint, and change of e●? clear as the Sun; can more be said of a creature? Yet the Sun ●ath eclipses: and lastly, Terrible as an Army with Banners. An Army with Banners may have the black colours, and no Regiment of Saints Militant can wear a milk white feather, but must have a tip of stain: Sure therefore the Whore of Rome paints too much. The most g●orious feathers are born upon black feet: Shal● I repeat you some of their pride and blasphemy? I am almost afraid to say it after them. They do arrest the Almighty of an action of debt for wages, even as much as Heaven comes to. It is most clear( say the Rhemish Divines in their notes upon Heb. 6.10.) That our good works be meritorious, and the very cause of salvation, so far that God should be unjust if he rendered not Heaven for the same. Nay, the just mans works do merit eternal life, not only because of Gods Covenant of grace mercifully to accept them, but because of the works themselves; and our good works are equal and proportionable to eternal life, saith boasting Bellarmine. Yea Vasquez the Jesuit with them in the Gospel smites Christ himself, for which God shall smite him a whited wall. Our good works( saith he) do more for us, then Christ is able to do, for they make us formally righteous, and worthy of life, but Christ only by imputation. But what need I go to Tiber for such tens, when our own Thames will afford as some of their brood, though hatched by a fowle of another name, the Anabaptist? Scarce a Sunday( if you lived where I do) but I can have you to a prayer, where the good man( for so his Disciples call him, though Christ said otherwise) stands up with the Pharisee, Non dolere, qui peccaveris, magis indignari atque irasci facis Deum, quàm illud peccatum, quod antè perpetraveram. Chrysost. in Math. Lord I thank thee I am not like other men( he saieth truer then he is ware) drunkards, swearers, &c. Cries loud for daily bread, bu● not a word of forgive us our trespasses, as wee forgive &c. No sorrow, no confession, no smiting on the thigh, or the breast, no crying I am black: And then for preaching, O● my soul! How are people pillowed! God sees no sin in you, looks for no sorrow from you. The Law? away with it, what is the old Testament, that it should command us? To your Tents O Israel, wee have no portion in Moses &c. ye dishonour free grace, God looks for no confession &c. No friend( think I?) He did from Job, David, Mary Magdalen, Peter, Paul? Till now, the Saints in all ages when they have spoken of their white, Oh what extenuations, what am I, saith one? I am a worm saith a second; a dead dog saith a third; less then the least of all thy mercies a fourth; but when they speak of their black, Oh then! all aggravations are brought in, they weigh sin with the grains of all circumstances, so foolish was I, and a very beast before thee saith one, and he a King; when thy servant Steven was stoned, I held the clothes of them, who did it, saith another. Indeed St. Pauls Motto by his own consent to all ages, should have been, Apostolorum minimus, Peccatorum maximus; see how he hides his lawn, and shows his Cipres: Surely our Saints are Antipodes to those P●imitive Professors, by their contrary walking; had they the spirit indeed, they would fight against the flesh, and cry for aid to Heaven, and when they were worsted, and lead captive, mourn; and that leads me to a second reading. 2. Nigrasum.] I go mourning and in heaviness, sad I am and sorrowful because of my sins, Sorrow. and those relics of nature which remain in me, if I were once thoroughly sanctified; If I could quiter cast off this speckled skin of the old Adam, I would no more m●urne, but put on my wedding garment of joy for the spirit of heaviness; but Ah wretch that I am, I find a Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my mind, and the evil I would not do, that do I, and therefore wonder not if my face( which is Index animi) wear the livery of my captivity, and I( with Joseph under age) go in a particoloured coat of white and black, joy checkred with grief, hope woven with fear: My beloved( and he only) is white and read, altogether lovely: But I, at least am but white and black: Whi●e I am, and so he made me, but black still, for so I smu●ch myself daily. And it is with me and my sins( poor soul) as with the feathers upon birds, cut them, they grow, turn them, they grow, pull them out, still they grow again; but when the bide dies, then, and not till then, will they cease to grow; till therefore this corruptible, shall have put on incorruption, I must go mourning, and not pu● off my black; and in this sene she speaks the truth also. Sion was never without mourners, Lachrymas n/a lego, satisfactionem non lego; said quod defendi non potest, ablu potest. Ambro. Sup. luke. l. 9. nor the Church o● God beyond repentance. Lachrymae is a le●●on never out of tune. Christ dyed to take off my sufferings, but to increase my sorrows; so it is written, They shall look upon him they have pierced &c. and indeed it is hard, if I canno● afford water for blood. sin( even since damnation, for it was taken off) is in the eyes of the godly, as fitly as ever, as illegal as ever, as unnatural( and more) as ever, and as sinful as ever; and shall I look upon it with dry eyes? 〈◇〉. Yet( mistake me not) we weep not, to wash out Ethiopspots with our own tears( our water will bear no such soap) No, we weep at his feet, the blood of whose head and heart could onely make us clean: We repent( not to be forgiven) but because forgiven, and yet running on the score afresh. Thus Mary wept much, because shee loved much, and shee loved much, because much was forgiven her. Oh, love of God, Gen. 26. and sense of our own unworthiness will make even a Rheoboth in a religious heart. The wicked make a mock at sin, and cry Ha, ha; but the holy man finds it a burden so heavy, that it presseth out liquour, and makes him roar as David did for disquietness. The plaster of sorrow will not fall off( oh let us not pull it off) till the infection of sin be quiter drawn away, Mat. 5. which must not bee here while wee are in Bochem. Blessed are they that thus mourn, for they shall be comforted, and so I have done with the second sense. 3. Nigra sum] I am black with lying among the Bricks and the pots of Egypt; with crosses, poverty, persecution, Sufferings. famines, and Warres; my sons are slain and my Virgins deflowered— Quis talia fando Mermydonum Dolopumve? &c. And this I judge to bee the most Genuine reading, being the complaint of the distressed and dispersed, afflicted and abused Church, turned out, persecuted, and Sun-burnt, as shee saith here; for that phrase( in the sixth of Matthew) of the Sun scorching the seed, &c. is construed by Christ himself, to be persecution of the professors for the Words sake. In the proving the 〈◇〉 of this plain point, that Gods people are always a persecuted people: I will not hold a candle to the Sun, Deus unum habuit Filium sine peccato, nullum sine Flagello. Bern. nor so much as sand out the Jury to find it, there are such a cloud of witnesses in the Scriptures and ecclesiastical histories. The read Dragon will lie in wait to destroy, so long as the woman is in travel or teeming. Take single Saints or collective Churches among the Jews, or the Gentiles, before Christ, or since, and if you find they be always well-favoured and ruddy like David, and have not their Agues( Quartans, if not Quotidians) and Feavor-spots, then red me no further, or believe not what you have red already. Nay, whoever reads this( if he be a true son of this black woman and no Bastard) either hath been or must look to bee smutcht with slanders, or dirted with disgraces, or blacked with sickness, sooted with the smoke, it may be scortcht with the flames of persecution for conscience sake. Let us therefore pass by the Quod sit, and peruse the Quomodo sit, 22. pars primae. how shee comes so, and leaving her a while mourning, let us make out our Hue and Cry who hath done this wrong. And behold, she points to him, he is one out of our reach, and above our power to examine, quia sol aspexit me. And herein two things are remarkable. 1. This Eagle-eyed Spouse( though in their place shee name the instruments of her sufferings) first humbly owns God in her afflictions: Amos. 3.5. Is there evil in the City, and I have not done it, saith the Lord? Her mothers sons were the rods, but the hand was Gods: for so is meant by the Sun in the Text. Divinitùs haec inflicta sunt mihi, nihil hic fortuitum, Brightman in locum. &c. She saith not with the patriarches of Joseph, Some evil beast hath done this; but with Pharoahs Wizards of the Lice, Digitus Dei est hic. A divine hand hath pleased thus to touch me. Sol aspexit. No creature so excellent to express God by in his operations and dealings in the World, as the glorious Sun, and that hath made it such an idol as it is in many places unto this day. Shall I name a very few? The Sun gives light to the Planets above him as well as below: and God is he that gives Being to Angels as well as inferior creatures. The sun is the natural fountain of life, light, and heat; God the supernatural, in whom we live, move, and have our being. The Sun is the searcher of things hide in darkness; and God is 〈◇〉 in the firmament of his omniscience; the day and the night are all alike unto him; sooner mayst thou with thy short arm, and weak hand, pull that eye of heaven out of his orb, then remove Gods from thy reins. The Sun shines on gardens, and they smell sweet, on dunghills with the same beams, and they return a stink: and God is good to all, the holy receive mercy, and give forth the savour of praise; but the wicked turn grace into wantonness: what should I multiply allusions further? the sun arises upon Sodom, and it burns; darts on Jonas and he saints; scorches the harvest and it dyes; parches the earth and it gapes for fresh air, dries up the Rivers and they fail; and God our God, who is the sun of that sun, and can onely command him, doth all these things and the Sun is but his shadow. The word Aspexit speaks this to be easy to God. 'Tis no more but looking, and the stoutest Cedars tremble: Seeing, speaking, touching, are actions which imply ease: Touch the mountaines and they smoke; Moses was fain to smite the Rock, but it was Gods looking on that dissolved it. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire, &c. Dixit & factum est, he did speak, and it was done. Men in even small matters toil all night( as Peter saith) and take nothing; they sweat and dig, and moil, Luke 5. and yet are but in the beginning: Master say they in the gospel to Almighty Christ, we came to thy Disciples to cast him out, and they could not; stand by ye Fumblers saith he, and doth it, ictu oculi: Oh, it is no more to God to scorch men, Angels, Churches, kingdoms, and to melt them, then to look. mere vidit id & fugit, what id, but Gods presence and power? who can dry up the deep, and put a hook into the nose of the unruly Ocean, and say, Thus far, and no further: 'Twas not then any Culinary smoke, any distempered air, any blasts of lightnings, any malignant influence, or malevolent aspect of inferior planets, that the Church looks on, as able to have blacked her, if the Sun had not done it. Men talk of lucke, and fortune, and chance, either fearing or worshipping and adoring prevailing parties; as if Shimei could curse his King, or touch the Lords Annoynted without Gods le●ve: The Lord( saith David) hath bid ( i.e.) suffered Shimei to curse me. We say in the Orthodox points of God, Providentia divina contingit ad minutissima, and the Creatures are but dead instruments in his hand, Jer. 2.13. broken Cisterns, as jeremy calls them, and there is not much comfort in those words: cistern, and broken too? ò quantum est in rebus inane! It is written of the Eagle that when shee hath hatched her young ones, to try whether they be birds of her own eggs, and not bastards, she carries them in her talans up into the sky, holding their eyes to the sun in his heat and brightness; if they dare behold him, well; if not she lets them fall and perish, as not hers: Oh tis rare and religious to work up our eyes( like our mother in the Text) heaven-ward in all our sufferings, and mounting with the lark, to sing as we soare; Deus dedit, & Deus abstulit, benedicatur nomen Domini. And let losers in England( though they have leave to speak) speak well of God, who for our sins hath humbled us, and( which is worse) his Annoynted, the breath of our nostrils. I will end this with that of Austen, Deus aliquando obscurus est in judiciis, nunquam injustus. God is the sun, who if he should, not onely black us, but burn us to ashes, hath a sovereignty over us; his ways are past finding out. Yet secondly, 2. The word Aspexit hath an eye of mercy in it, as well as fury, brightness as well as blackness; blessed be God it is at the worst, but Aspexit, it is but an angry look: A look is as easily and as soon taken off, or changed, as set on. For a moment he may bee angry, but( let sufferers red and rejoice) in a moment he can change his face, and make the bones which he hath broken to rejoice; Psal. 51.8. his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, and though heaviness may endure for a night( and the longest coldest night is but a night) yet joy comes in the morning. Lift up your heads, ye captived, prisoned, plundered, sequestered, banished, son of this black Mother, In vitâ Jewelli. Haec non durabunt aetatem( as Bishop jewel said in the l●ke case) 'tis too hot to hold, as the crackling of thorns under the pot, so shall he make them in time of his hot displeasure. The Lord who hath looked on his Church and shee was troubled, will ere long say of her under her cruel Taskmasters, I have seen the affliction of my people: Even so Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, and we shall be whole. And so I come to the third thing in the first general. Ne spectetis me, quia, &c. look not upon me; 3. Part. those are all her request in the letter, but I dare venture to speak her mind further, and in four particulars to bee her Interpreter. 1. look not upon me] that is, Be not amazed, or astonished, as if some new thing and strange had happened to me; ye daughters of Jerusalem, you are but young Christians, and not knowing the ways of the Lord, may startle at this sad sight, to see me thus used, and God looking on, nay laying on himself, and so like those faint hearted people, who mad● a halt when they saw Amasa lie slain before them, or like those cowardly Spies, who brought an ill report upon the land of Canaan; you may retreat from the good cause you have listed yourselves in; but be not out of heart, for this is the Method of the Churches march through many tribulations to enter, &c. Acts. 14.22. Excellent counsel this and worthy of acceptation. Good men are not so much sensible of what they suffer themselves, as fearful and jealous over others with a godly jealousy, lest they should by their sufferings be dismayed. And sure fear of persecution( a base fear which God hates) made men at first fight for their Religion, Ecclesia Orthodoxa homines p●rsequi non solet. Socra. Eccl. hist. lib. 7. and for fear of persecution turn persecutors of others. Of all the twelve Apostles, eleven were Martyrs, and sure Peter lost twice as much credit and comfort too, by denial, and refusing to suffer for Christ, as he got by cutting off Malchus ear. After the rate Religion goes now, the Primitive Church could have raised an Army of Saints, but how should God then have had a Noble Army of Martyrs? It was not want of men among them, nor arms; they were not in Israels case of whom 'tis said, there was not a sword nor spear to be found, nor a smith in all the Land: No, no, Heb. 11. Jam sumus Christiani, was their cry at the stake; they choose to suffer, their flesh was a free will offering as well as a burnt off●ing, or else they had offered nothing, they scorned any defence but Gods and his lawful Magistrates, and thought the word Legion to be a name for Devills, not Christians. The Application shall be only thus much: Let no man that suffers, judge his cause bad by the success, nor think the Gospel a Rose less sweet, because it grows on prickles, Cant. 2.2. as a lily among thorns, so is my Beloved saith Christ. look not you pale, ye sons of an afflicted Church, because your Mother looks black, but look at Jesus the Author and Finisher of your faith, Heb. 12 2. who endured the cross, and despised the shane, &c. 2. look not] with scorn and disdain upon me, because I am thus. Despise me not now I am low; and this was Davids complaint, they stand staring and looking upon me, and mine acquaintance stood a far off; and Jobs with anguish and bitterness of soul in his 30 chapter: Job 30. I was( saith he in the nine and twentieth) once when Gods candle shined upon my head &c. a rich man, for I waked my steps in butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil, v. 6. an honourable man. The young men saw me, and hide themselves, and the aged stood up, v. 8.9. Nay more a good man, a brave Patriot( O that Nobles and Parliament men would red and do) I delivered the poor that cried, and made the Widdows heart sing for joy, v. 13.14. &c. yet in the 30. 1. But now, They who are younger then I, whose Fathers I would have disdained to have set with my shepherds dogges have me in derision. And this is a sore affliction under the Sun, which even great ones groan under, when they are down. Saul( though a King begged by the people, and given them by God, because poor, there were many who despised him, and brought him no Presents, and wee ourselves see a better then Saul( since the Sun hath looked upon him) made a byword, 1 Sam. 10.27. and the sons of Belial have not only crwoned him with thorns, but would put a Reed into his royal hand instead of his golden sceptre. Thus when Cedars fall, do the base brambles put up their heads, and aspire government, and say, let us take the houses of God in possession. Oh the wretched extremes of deceitful man! when thou art on a mountain( with Christ) they will spread their garments under thy feet, but when at the bar, then crucifige, tolle, away with him, this fellow is not fit to live. Well therefore might David pray, save me from reproach and contempt, Psal. 119. and Mary sing her magnificat to God, for none but he will regard the low estate of his Servants: The sons of men will wi●h Gods Vinegar mix their own gull, and give thee, when thou criest sitio: this is the second branch of the Churches request; but the worst is not yet. 3. look not.] with delight; let not my pain prove your pleasure; rejoice not O mine enemy, when I fall, I shall rise again. There is a generation who are so far from Davids spirit, who mourned & sympathized when his enemies were sick and in distress, as if they had been his Mothers sons, and from Jeremies watery head, which ran streams for the miseries of his country, that they laugh, and cry so, so wee would have it, and with Davids hard hearted mockers rejoice to see the Church mourn, and when her sons haue fallen by an unnatural sword, nile habet Infaelix Paupertas dutius in se. Quam quod ridiculos homines facit. have cried out with Hannibal( when he saw a ditch full of mans blood) O dignum spectaculum! This is a sin as unnatural, as unmanly a sin as can be; for a man to clap the wing and crow( like Peters Cock) at a poor Peters fall, and as vermin live upon sore places. It is a sin which satan hath kept as his last and sharpest arrow, as having more poison in it then death. 〈◇〉. Menander. If ever he emptied his deadly Quiver, it was when our blessed Lord hung as a mark for every shooter: First he spends lies, slanders, false witness at him; then the whip, the purple, the spittle, the vinegar and gull; then the nailes, the spear, the thorns, and last of all he brings out his forked tongues while his Mother, and Mary Magdalen, and John, and a few more stand below weeping; some cried out, so ho, you King of the Jews, come down now if you can, you sir that saved others, now save thyself: Eloi, Eloi, cries the Lord of Glory( such words as the Angels trembled at) they scoff and quibble at the word; he calls Elias, say they. And of these arrows( even bitter words) the world is full; but let them laugh on, Prov. 1.26. he that sits in Heaven will laugh them to scorn, the Lord shall have them in derision: Let such Ismaels know, that David could not forgive this, see how his soul rises, Psalm. 69. from the 20 to the 28. The Church in Babylon could not forgive this, Psalm. 137, and if the oppressed, and scorned in England be still derided, and made a by-word: Take heed ye that stand lest you fall, be not high minded, but fear; there are grieved spirits in the Land,( and store of them too) who though they have no arms, horses, men, money; yet can bring revenge by cries, the Lord will hear the oppressed, and avenge him: this is the third, the last and worst follows. 4. look not.] ye, ye of all others, my friends of my sex, of my Kindred, of my Religion, who ever do, do not you despise or rejoice to see me. Above 20. wounds Caesar had in the Parliament at Rome given him; but none fetched tears from him to mingle with his blood, but his son Brutus his poniard. 〈◇〉; What my Son? What my Brother? Me thinks I hear Abels speaking blood say so. And David, what my absalon rebel? My Michal mock me? And Job, what my Kinsmen, my Couzen Elephaz against me? And( to name no more) Jesus to Judas! What my Friend, my Treasurer? It was not mine open enemy; but it was thou mine Acquaintance, my familiar friend &c. Among the worst of Heathens and sinners are reckoned 〈◇〉, men without natural affection, that shall in despite of nature and grace both( breaking the bands of one, and casting a way the cords of the other) make way through bowels, veins, blood, Religion, all, to laugh at a Brothers ruin: thus do people at their Ministers, Servants at their Masters, nay Children at their Fathers sufferings in these our flinty dayes: Oh thou Dove of Heaven, which camest down upon meek, merciful, compassionate Jesus, descend once more up on hard hearted Christians; melt them, mollify them, thaw their affections, make them to condole, and feel, and lament for the afflictions of Joseph. Lord make our English people at length to do, as the Tribes of Israel did concerning their brethren the Benjamites, whom they had almost utterly cut off by an unnatural though lawful war; they spent a whole day( when they saw such havoc made of precious blood) in weeping religiously, judge. 21.2.3. And they repented themselves for Benjamin, that the Lord had made such a breach among brethren, and there was not only an Act of Oblivion, but a restoring them to their Inheritance, whom formerly they had wasted: judge. 21.25. These things were done also when there was no King in Israel, verse the last. And so I have done with the branches of the Churches request: Let me offer a few arguments in behalf of Gods people; why others should not look at them with any of those evil eyes which I have name, and briefly apply a few words, and that shall terminate the first general of the Text. 1. look not upon me; for I am but Blackish; the old Latin translates it brown, the greek, made black, by accident not willingly or naturally, as it is said the Creation is made subject unto bondage, Rom. 8.21.) not born so; the Hebrew reads, somewhat black: And this is not a grammatical criticism; but it pleased the Holy Ghost to take a word( a● our Ainsworth observes) differing from that in the 5 verse, on purpose to diminish the signification, 〈…〉 ●●e should say, you that look on me, I pray look well o● and you will find I am not so black as othres make me, and I am glad it is no worse with me: so saith the Church even under the Iron yoke: It is the Lords mercy wee are not consumed. The Lord in the midst of judgements remembers mercy: The Church is often( always indeed) sickish, faintish, feverish, blackish, but still God deals in Diminutives, as dying, yet never dead, troubled on every side, yet not distressed, perplexed, yet not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, yet not destroyed: The Lord, saith the Psalmist, suffered not his whole displeasure to arise, if he lay one hand on us, the other is under us; if his children must take physic, he writes the ounces, dooms, grains, scruples; puts in oil to suppling, as well as wine to search their wounds: He executes not the fierceness of his wrath: But when his enemies come forth, the Lord mixes a read, black, bloody, hellish potion for them, the ungodly shall not only drink, but drink it off, and suck the dregs, Psalm. here is the Churches glory, and Gods grace; that though the world look on their sins as beams, Deut. 32.5. God looks on them as moats: for their spots are not like the spots of others: And though the world look on them as undone, lost, dead, gone quiter black; yet they are indeed but brown, and if it were worse with them, yet never the worse for them, and that helps me to a second Argument. 2. look not upon me; for a● worst I am but black so the 5 verse, comeliness makes amends for my colour; 'tis the blade not the hilt, that commends the sword; the Contents, not the cover that prefers the Bible, the kernel, not the shell that sells the Almond: The Ring is not worse gold, because it wears a Deaths head; and for this cause wee faint not( saith the Apostle) because though ou● outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, 2 Cor. 4.16. A rich soul is better then a faire skin, and the wise men thought not Christ the worse for lying in a manger, but fell down and worshipped, Math. 1.13. sepulchers may be painted, so may Harlo●; dead signe-posts may have more oil, and varnish; but the growing oak though his coat be rough, hath native s●n: Dives is clad in purple. Lazar●● in ●ores, which think you is the better man? Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit, said in Dogmatum veritate. Jerom. in Ps. 33. Well may the true Church want the pomp, the state, the revenues, the Altars, the Crucifixes, &c. Our mother is comely, fruitful, whole, sound; hath all the Essentials, and Integrals of a Spouse, bears children, preaches the word aright, no adulterate or crippled Sacraments, her faith sound, her worship true: In these things she is comely, though shee of Rome looks at us and laughs at our blackness, as not a Church, because poorer, and chaster then herself. The same may be said of any Saint. My brother art thou poor in estate, sickly in body, smutcht in thy name, crost in thy children, mean in thy gifts, called to the bar, sent to prison, appointed to death? O●! such a black-bird may sing in a Cage, when Peacocks shall shriek onely; thou art at the worst, all this is but a black skin; He that is holy and upright, that hath the eyes of faith, the ears of obedience, the mouth of praise, the hands of charity, the feet of perseverance, the straight shoulders of patience, the back of humility, &c. is no cripple, defiled he may, deformed he cannot bee. Afflictions may make him stoop, but crooked they cannot make him; the deepest Dy he can be dipped in, is but a black visage of death, and there is a Ne plus, O death where is thy sting? 3. look not upon me, &c. For I would be so. It is good for me that I was afflicted. The Church like a ship had rather be weather beaten at Sea, then wind-bound at shore. 1. Profit. Hoc habet proprium Ecclesia, dum per sequitur, floret; dum opprimitur, crescit, dum contemnitur, proficit &c. Hil. de Trin. 2. Honour. Though like the Merchants vessel shee come from far, yet the dangerous voyage brings her in laden with profit and honour: profit, the blackest soil is the richest, the blackest fruit the sweetest; the afflicted man gains knowledge, knowledge experience, experience hope, hope patience, patience pitty, pitty charity, and a neck-lace of Diamonds more, which as they are found in the tawny Indies of troubles, so they shine most in the dark of distress. And as it is profitable, so oftentimes honourable; the Militant Church are Christs lifeguard, and therefore the Apostle saith it is a glorious thing to be made conformable to the sufferings of Christ, and Vobi● datum est, to you it is given not onely to suffer but die, and a gift of honour too, to have a wound in Gods cause, to drink of Christs own cup, to wear his livery, to be of his forlorn hope. It is said, Heb. 11. of such that the World was not worthy of them; yet they went up and down in sheep-skins and goats skins, &c. This, this made the Martyrs of old endure the spoiling of their goods with joy, this made them embrace the faggot, as their first born, and kiss the fl●me with shouting, Nec hoc fecit stupor said Amor, non decrat dolor, said contemnebatur, saith Saint Bernard. Acts and Monuments. This made Martyr Hunters mother kneel at her sons burning, and bless God that he had honoured her to give her a son, and take him again for a sacrifice: Yea, as Lactantius reports, this made even women and children to dare and defy their persecutors, as being Volunteers under the standard of the cross. 4. look not upon me, &c.] For I must bee so: There is no going near, or by, but through many tribula●ions, &c. The cup of afflictions is in Gods hand, there is no avoiding it, Christ the head began to his followers, and it must go about. 2. Tim. 3.12. By the mothers side I must be Ben-oni before the Father make me Benjamin. Would you know why? The engraff must have weights laid on, to make it fruitful; the Camomile must be trodden, to make it thick; the Torch must be knocked to make it blaze; Frankincense must burn to make it smell; spices broken to give their sent; the earth broken to give her fruit; the Vine cut to make it bear; linen washed and beaten to make it clean; the Sea tossed and troubled, else it would stink; Noahs ark must be lifted nearer Heaven by waters; your children must go to the school, else no learning; and the Church of God now under age, must have the rod of afflictions for her good. 5. Lastly, look not upon me; For yourselves may bee so; and that probably, whether ye be friends or enemies: 1. If Foes judgement begins at the house of God, but it ends not there, but as the streams of the River, it takes in more as it glides, till it drown Babylon, which did but wash Sion. If the green three be lopped, the dry one may fear to be cut down: If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? shall the children weep and the slave not bleed? yea rather, shall not the Judge of all do righteously? The wicked( saith David, Psal. 37.13.) laugh at the righteous, but the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming; it seems he hath his day, a whole one, a long one, a black and gloomy day. In one Chapter and in one verse I find, The beggar dyed, the rich man also dyed and was buried, Luke 16.22. Say therefore unto the enemy walk not so proudly, Quem dies vidit veniens superbum, Hunc dies vidit rediens jacentem. 2. And say also to prospering Friends, walk not securely. hody mihi, cras tibi, point not with the reproachful finger, nor look with a scornful eye. Affliction is the portion of Gods Children, let every child look for his share, every one shall have his mess, though peradventure, Benjamin may have two. As the Apostle said to Saphira( Acts 5.9.) behold the feet of them which buried thy Husband are at the door, and shall carry out thee; So say I to all thriving, rich, pleasant, proud Christians, who as the Prophet complains, Kill Oxen, and sheep, and Wine is in their feasts, but they forget the affliction of Joseph; behold, the feet of judgement at the door to seize on you also: methinks I hear the Spouse in my Text, giving counsel to those standards by; My friends, have pity upon me, have pity, for the Lord hath looked upon me and I am sore afflicted; and if no other argument will move you, let this: 〈◇〉. Adagium G●aec. I see now your rosy cheeks, your ruby lips, your sparkling eyes, your polished brows, your azure temples, your Ivory neck, your delicate breasts, your whole skip beautiful: Thus, thus was I not long since when the Sun smiled upon me, but beauty is fading, ere long those Roses may be blasted, which now but budded, Timendum est, n● nobis cadentibus surgat, qui nobis stantibus irridetur: quamvis stare j●m non novit, qui non stantem novit irridere. Greg. lib. 15. Mor. those lips may, bee blew and could which now are warm and ruddy, those eyes may have drops of water which have now sparkles of fire in them, your forehead may be s●rrowed, your temples wasted, your neck humbled, your breasts have a wolf in them, and your whole skin the black Jaundis, as well as mine; and therefore look not on me strangely, and at a distance, scornfully and with disdain, voluptuously, and with delight; for the same measure which you meet to others, shall be measured to you again. And this aptly invites me to a word of application in behalf of all the distressed, and oppressed Children of this our now black Mother, the Church of England. 1. Application. Our Country man Brightman( one much admired by this age, for his rare gifts of Exposition on the Revelations, for which he is styled according to his name, as Nazienzen was by Theodoret, 〈◇〉) in his Comment on this book, travels alone in a new way, differing from all others, and will have it to be a dark History of the state of the Church from Davids time, all along till Solomons end, and then a prophesy of it till Christs time, and again from thence to the Worlds end: and this verse and the fift he makes use of, to signify the state of the Jews under Rehoboams time, when ten Tribes had revolted from their King, and two onely remained under his sceptre: Those ten( called here my Mothers sons) who deposed their sovereign for his evil councillors sake, 1 Kin. 11. did not onely make havoc of Gods Church and true worship by Idolatry, and a toleration, but they turned flat enemies to Judah and Benjamin for their Loyalty, and there was most bitter Wars among Brethren many yeares; That peaceful, and glorious kingdom under Solomon, being now made the seat of civill war, and the stage of fraternal fury, and in stead of Reverend Priests and Levites, 1 King 12. Jeroboam their new governor made any body a Priest that would, &c. Thus he expounds my Text, as if those two poor loyal Tribes being now under their true King, though he but a petty one having lost ten Tribes of twelve and lying under the spoil and rage of their angry brethren; and being now mean and miserable both in Church and State, should cry out, O look not upon me, upon me poor Judah, because the Lord hath rent the Tribes off from me, and made me black with the afflictions, which my brethren of Israel have afflicted me with, but rather mourn with me and for me, &c. But methinks if that learned man could make the words serve the Church of the Jews under Rehoboams reign, even I that have no learning may safely make them hold too true now under King Charles his reign, 1. In the State. as the lively character of Englands case both in Church and Sate. In our State, which sometimes was esteemed as complete, proper, rich, beautiful a queen, as the sun shined upon, for lyneaments and proportion of exact Symmetry, no head too great for the body, as under Tyrants, no body for the head, as under Anarchists; no monstrous excrescency of Nobles, nor deficiency of Commons, but admirable well mixed Monarchy; for Wealth and plenty, beyond parallel, shee might sit and say with her in Esay 47. I am, and there is none besides me, rich in man, money, merchandise, corn, cattle, fields, houses, our fleeces being as wealthy as the golden one; City, Court, Country, yea cottage, had his own Vine or figtree: For laws honoured, for Liberties envied; But now, alas! alas! Quia sol aspexit nos: look upon Magistracy, and behold the face of Majesty and true Royalty besmeared, Lam. 4.20. our King the Lords anointed, the breath of our nostrils, is lead captive, his sacred person detained from the Firmament of his Throne, the sun is eclipsed, and the stars onely give a dusky light, nor can it be day in England, till our Phaebus( who is the fountain of light) sit again in the midst of the inferior heavens, and by his beams of sovereignty, quicken and revive this be lighted and benumbed iceland. Casare venturo, phosphore red diem. Behold blackness and thick clouds have carried him away, and the faire Albion is not, cannot bee Olbion without him. The queen the second great Luminary, is turned into darkness; the Illustrious Prince our morning star shines in another Hemisphere; the royal Children( our bright Charles-Waine) obscured, and is not this blackness? The Kings spear( the Militia) the Kings cruse of water( the Revenue) are not onely taken away, 2. Sam. 26, But the skirts of his royal Robes are cut off, and he left as a Prince in querpo, without his native Le-Roy lavisera, and which is worse, no mans heart is smote for this, as Davids was. 2. Sam. 24. But those whom the Law brands with Treason for clipping him less, but in a piece of silver, the Age allows to lop him in his branches, and strike at in the root. O more then Indian blackness! the Heathen are more obedient. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon, lest the World forswear Christianity for our sakes, And shall the Disciples fare better then their Lord? can the fountain be disturbed and the streams clear? look upon the face of Nobility, and you will see what Solomon saw among his vanities and vexations, Servants upon Horses, and Princes going on foot, Eccles. 10.7. Nobles in disdain, and Judges despised, and they who were clad in Scarlet, do now embrace dunghills; and is not this a gross blackness? A sore affliction, to see the eyes of Justice with Sampsons put out, the locks, the curled locks cut off, and the Worthies of the Land, not onely grind in the Mill of the multitude, but sometimes fetched out to make sport. look upon the face of merchandise, and behold yet more and more blackness; pale Famine will do as much in the rear, as black war hath done in the Van; how doth the City sit solitary, Lam. 1.1.2. how is shee become as a widow? she that was great among the Nations and princess of the provinces, how is shee become tributary? Her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies, the Thames languishes, the Sea mourneth, because of the Merchant, the Exchange is as little royal as her King, and the splendour of Shops is vanished. Discontent dwells within the house, and distress sits at every threshold; while oppression Coaches it in the streets; and is not faire London become black? O very black, scorn and reproach and shane hath seized upon her suddenly. And lastly, look upon her Handmaid, the country, and behold she sits as poor Hagar( Gen. 21.15, 16.) in the wilderness of misery. Her bottle of plenty is spent, and she sits weeping for her children ready to die, and can get no more for them: the Gentry decay and pine away, all hospitality is gone; the blessing of the poor is gone, the Husbandman sweats first a hot fit in ploughing and sowing, and then a could sweat of fear, lest the horse and his Rider should come and devour his and his childrens bread; barbarus has segetes? Alas! whither shall the inhabitants of the Land fly? abroad the robbers spoil, at home taxes do eat like a Canker, what the Caterpillar leaves, the Locusts devour, and is not this blackness? Surely the Land languishes. 2. And if our earthy part were onely desolate, wee might say, earth to earth, that which is mortal must die; but our Heaven is darkened at noon day, our Temple( the glory of Jerusalem) is laid waste: Gods house is made a den of thieves as well as our own: As the Father threw away his book of human learning, Austen. Quia nomen Jesu non erat ibi, so for the loss of temporals, rush? But Regnum Caelorum vim patitur, in a different sense from Christs speech: Christs kingdom suffers violence, not to get into it as of old, but to get out of it. It is said when Christ was born, that Augustus by a decree laid a Tax on all men; 'tis no bad news to pay silver and find a Saviour, but to lose goods and gospel both, O intolerable! This is smutting, yea smiting God himself, and sure the rending the Temple and crucifying Christ were both in one day? But some may say, Quorsum haec? how prove you this? O friend, I answer thee in the words of Cleophas( Luke 24.18.) Art thou onely a stranger in Israel, and hast not known the things which are come to pass? Thousands of the Churches eldest sons( the clergy) are utterly undone, and the rest defrauded and debased by the basest of the people, even to astonishment; blackness hath seized on their persons, calling, patrimony, and above all, Gods Ordinances, and true worship. 1. For their Persons, that of the Apostles is now in its fullness, 1. Cor. 4.9. We are a spectacle and a gazing stock unto Angels and men. 2. For their Calling( high and heavenly as the ambassadors of Christ) O my God hear and help,) Away with these Black-coats, these troublers of Israel, &c. This is the outcry of the multitude and their Leaders. Their charge is a Vineyard to be kept, as my T●xt saith, even the Lords own Vineyard, an employment of skill, of industry; for which Saint Paul cries, 〈◇〉, Who is sufficient? But now from the ship, from the shop, from the stall, from the awl, men, boyes, women, step up and talk in the Congregation, as if Gods house( like the capitol) must be preserved by goose; and in the interim learned and laborious men stand idle in the Market place against their wils God knows, and go not into the Vineyard: Quia nemo conduxit, &c. because none call them. 3. For their Patrimony( Popish onely because rich) Oh, it is too too convenient a Vineyard as Naboths was; it is the bnfice hath put many out of thei● office: the plump and ripe Grapes which have made so many Foxes preach in other mens Vineyards: Ask at po●r vicarages for a Sequestration, and find one if you can; No, no, periissent nisi periissent, many men keep their Livings, because their Livings cannot keep them; and if the aims of many men can hit, they may invert the saying of our Lord, and in stead of The zeal of thy house hath eaten us up, s●y Ou zeal hath eaten up thy house: speak Saint Paul, Is sacrilege no sin? Yes, worse then Idolatr●, Rom. 2. O Land more unjust then the raging Sea, who allows her Fluctus decumanus, the Tenth wave bigger then the other nine. 4. Last and worst of all, even Gods Ordinances and worship is blacked, not only with the coals of negligence, ignorance, lukewarmenes, profanenes; Vide Mr. Edwards Gangrena. but with the hellish soot of Blasphemies. The blessed Trinity, the holy Bible, the Law, the G●spell, the Sacraments, the Decalogue, the Lords own prayer, are smeared with the venomous ink of Pamphlets, and the poisons of Tongues in many Pulpits. Arise O Lord, arise in thy jealousy, and let not thy Ark be carried captive, nor thy golden Candlesticks bee removed from us. One thing more, and no more; If yet you ask, Quis haec, as well as Quorsum? Who hath made our faire Land so deformed? I must answer with the Spouse here; The sun, and the sons in the Text, have done all this: For the Sun, the Lord of hosts is his name, he hath justly looked upon us, because we looked not up to him; and I dare take the boldness ( da veniam Caesar imperator) in the name of our King, Nobles, Judges, Gentry, City, country, whom the Lord hath so sorely afflicted, to stand up, and with humble Nehemiah( Chap. 9.34.) confess: O our God, thou art just in all that is brought upon us, &c Neither have our Kings, ou● P●inces, our Priests, our Fathers, hearkened unto thy Commandements, &c. Wee have sinned, what shall wee do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Yet even in midst of judgement, thou remembrest mercy. But for the sons in the Text, Our Mothers sons( Christians, Protestants, countrymen, kinsmen, Brethren) have done it, quia Excanduerunt, &c. Because they were angry with us. Englands Wars and Ruins, have been fathered upon Religion, Liberty, P●iviledges, Reformation and I know not what, but as Homer begins, Ile end. 〈◇〉, 〈◇〉, &c. 'Twas anger, wrath, pride, revenge, which kindled these fires, whose smoke hath not onely blacked, but flames scortsht our Mothers face: 'Twas ager, 'tis anger( chiefly) hath done all this. O water, water, bring tears, you that stand by and see children distracted, not onely blacking, but burning their Mother that bore them, bring tears of repentance, pity, charity, mercy, to wash off her stains and quench her flames; above all, Lord wash thou the Land in the blood of the lamb, that so at length the rage of man may turn to thy praise; and thy Church now Militant may be made triumphant, and after all her blackness by sins and sorrows, appear before thy Throne, as white as snow. Amen. FINIS.