Samaritanism Revived.  
A SERMON Preached at the PARISH CHURCH OF Great Yarmouth, Upon the Ninth of September; BEING THE DAY Appointed for a Solemn THANKSGIVING FOR THE Discovery of the late Horrid PLOT, against His Majesty's Person and Government.  
By LUKE MILBOURNE.  
LONDON, Printed by Samuel Roycroft, for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1683.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM EARL OF Yarmouth, BARON PASTON of PASTON, HIGH STEWARD OF HIS MAJESTY'S BURGH OF GREAT YARMOUTH.  
MY LORD,  
THe Innocence of the Clergy of our Church, as by Law Established, whatever their Pretences are to the Contrary, is indeed the greatest Scandal and most real Offence to the several Dissenting Parties.  
While the Vices of a Clergyman are Notorious, Hypocrites have somewhat to amuse the Vulgar with, when they live within the Rules of the Church, those of the Contrary Parties are consequently ashamed, as having no Evil thing to say of them.  
But that Shame soon breaks out into a Malicious Rage, and where the wished for Crimes are not to be found, some employ themselves, under the Prince of Hell, to forge Lies, and affix them boldly, sewing up Men in the Skins of Bears and Wolves, and then exposing them to be torn in Pieces by Dogs.  
The Blessed Jesus met with this Dealing from Obdurate and Hypocritical Jews, the Christians of the First and Purest Ages, from Pagans, and the Lawful Clergy to this day, and in our Reformed Church meet with it from pretendedly Pure and Moderate, but really Apostate Protestants.  
That Veneration with I, upon the most unprejudiced and deliberate Study, have entertained for the Church of England, has made me too a Sharer in that Glory of suffering by the Words and Actions of Ill-Men, whose greatest Pique against me is, That Bad as I am, I am not yet Bad enough to Associate with them.  
Ill Will therefore employs all its Care to trace my Errors, and besides the Dull and Bashful Scurrility of Senseless Libels, and the utmost force of Belins-gate Rhetoric, it has betrayed itself so far, as to declare, that nothing but the Fear of Humane Laws secured my Life.  
This is indeed a very odd Method of Refining upon Religion, and persuading any that Men of such Warm Tempers have attained to Extraordinary Degrees of Spirituality; there was so little of this in the Practice of our Saviour and his Apostles, and the best Christians in all Ages, that for my part, I count it a real Breach of Charity and an Affront to the Gospel, to reckon such among the Proselytes of Christianity.  
I have to the utmost of my Power endeavoured to advance such Principles as were most necessary to make Men Truly Good in their several Relations, Devout and Pious towards God, Obedient and Submissive to their Lawful Superiors, Uniform and Reverend in their Public Church Services, and Charitable and Peaceable one among another.  
Others have done this better, having carried on that Great Work with Greater Abilities, but none with Greater Sincerity or under Greater Discouragements than myself.  
Had these Doctrines been universally entertained, we should have heard of no Separatists or fanatics, no Plotters, no Traitors, no Rebels.  
My Lord, He deserves not the Name of a Minister of the Gospel, who is afraid to speak in the Cause of his God and of his King. Never was any Prince the Subject of so many Miracles, as Ours; and were not the Sons of Separation Mad as well as Blind, He, whom God has so oft and wonderfully preserved, might at length be free from the Plots of Traitors, and among the most desperate Villains be believed Invulnerable.  
The Preachers of Loyalty might prosecute their Great Master's Work in Peace; and if the Affection of the Dumb Son of Croesus was to be loved and admired, for setting his Tongue free to save his Royal Father's Life, the meanest Gospel Minister might expect some Favour for speaking Plain, when the Cruel and Barbarous Hands of Traitorous Hypocrites are lifted up against the Dear and Sacred Life of his Sovereign.  
Such an Occasion gave Being to this Discourse which now puts itself under your Honour's Protection, and that which bears so Great a Name in its Front, must be by All concluded Loyal: The Author owns the Weakness of the Undertaking, and therefore the Boldness of the Address; but is so well acquainted with your Goodness, that he dares not doubt of Pardon for  
My Lord, Your Honours most Obliged, Most Faithful and Obedient Servant, LUKE MILBOURNE.   
EZRA IU. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 
Now when the Adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the Children of the Captivity builded the Temple unto the Lord God of Israel,  
Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the Fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do, and we do sacrifice unto him, since the days of Esarhaddon King of Assur, which brought us up hither.  
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the Fathers of Israel said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build an House unto our God; but we ourselves will build together unto the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the King of Persia hath commanded us.  
Then the People of the Land weakened the hands of the People of Judah, and troubled them in Building.  
And hired Counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose.  
SOLOMON tells us, that there is no new thing under the Sun, 
Eccles. 1.9.  for the thing that hath been it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done; which may give us a good reason of what he instructs us in elsewhere, Say not thou, 
Eccles. 7.10.  What is the cause that the former days were better than these, for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. Which may serve as a Check to those who are always complaining of the Times, whereas did they but prudently examine the Records of past Ages, they would find the same Evils prevailing in some places heretofore, which they now wonder at as such new and unheard of things.  
The Word of God itself, as it gives us Examples of the greatest Piety and Holiness, so it gives us Instances of the most horrid Sins, such as may seem impossible to be exceeded by the most reprobate Villains under Heaven; and 'tis our unhappiness, that the Patterns of the first kind are generally passed by and slighted; but even those who make some slight pretences to goodness, are very solicitous lest by their Predecessors they should be outdone in Wickedness. So miserably is the intent of all Records Sacred and Profane perverted, for they are both written for our Examples, to teach us, that we should not lust after evil things, as we sinned some in story have done, and that we should look upon such History as written for our Admonition upon whom the Ends of the World are come, 
1 Cor. 10.6.  as the Apostle advises.  
Among the several Sins Copied out from those Enemies of Religion who lived in former Ages, we find none more exactly imitated than those of Malice, Falsehood and Treachery under the Veil of Zeal and Piety.  
Pretended Religion, in its strongest pangs of Zeal, has so incorporated those Sins into itself, that if Men truly wise and pious watch not the more carefully against the Stratagems of Hell, they may in time be so far imposed upon as to believe it, at least possible, for Religion and the most abominable Villainies to meet together easily in one Subject; and others to the Scandal of Christianity may be ready to imagine Deceit and Baseness the very Characteristical Notes of it, and so that all the Ill practices charged upon that Profession by the Heathens of Old, were indeed but plain and undeniable Truths. Such a Reputation did the Scribes and Pharisees, those Monopolizers of Piety among the Jews, bring to their Profession, allowing none but the followers of their blessed Examples a portion in the future World, 
Matth. 2 3.  whilst our Saviour so largely discovers what prodigious Impieties their gay Profession was attended with.  
If we go further backward we may take notice of these Adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, the Subjects of the Text, whose Memory and whose Practices we see surviving to this day in our own Nation, which that we may do the better, I shall in my discourse upon these words follow this plain and easy Method.  

1. I shall explain the History of the Text.  
2. I shall make Observations from it.  
3. I shall apply all to our own present Case.   
First, For the Explication of the History of the Text, I shall,  
1. Tell you who these Adversaries of Judah and Benjamin were, with their Conditions, so far as Scripture or other History has informed me.  
After Salman●ssar King of Assyria had carried the Inhabitants of Israel into Captivity, that the Country might not lie wholly desolate, he placed in it several Colonies, drawn from other places of his Empire, viz. from Babylon, 
2 Kings 17.24.  and from Cutha, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim. From Babylon, the Capital City of his Empire, came the Babylonians, from Cutha the Cuthaeans, so called from the Region of Chut, of which name also, according to Josephus, 
Joseph. Antiq. lib. 9 c. 14. Selden. Synt. 2. c. &. Bochart. Phal. lib. 3. c. 5.  there is a River in Persia: These Cuthaeans, as Bochart asserts, are the same with the Cissii of Ptolemy, the Inhabitants of the Province of Susa, formerly called Susiana, now Chusistan on the East of Babylon. Those from Ava, called here the Avites, the same who are elsewhere called Avims, dwelling in Hazerim, 
Deut. 2.23.  from whence being driven by the Caphtorims or those who came out of Caphtor, long before the Israelites entered Canaan, 
Bochart. Phal. lib. 4. c. 36.  they passed the Euphrates, where they found a Seat till this time, when some of them were transplanted from thence into the former Territories of the Ten Tribes. The next named are the Men of Hamath, of whom it may be doubted whether they came from the Ancient Riblah, 
Amos 6.2.  called by Amos Hamath the Great, out of the Ruins of which the famous City of Antioch was afterwards raised; 
Heylin's Cosm. lib. 3. Syria. Zach. 9.2.  or which is the more probable from Epiphania, called also Hamath a City of Syria, not far from the Land of Palestine, from whence a Colony might be more conveniently sent; it was seated according to Ptolemy about 80 Miles from the greater Hamath, 
Ptol. Geogr. lib. 5. c. 15. Bochart. Phal. lib. 4. c. 36. Ferrarius in voce Epiphaniâ.  and as much from Damascus; both of them stood on the River Orontes, Epiphania near Larissa in the Province of Cassiotis, and was afterwards the Seat of a Christian Bishop under the Patriarch of Antioch. The last mentioned in the Text are the Men of Sepharvaim, of whom I doubt not but they came from the Sipphara of Ptolemy, 
Ptol. Geogr. lib. 5. c. 18.  situate on the Euphrates between Naarda and Seleucia, where it divides, into two branches, sometime before it meets with the Tigris, and so not far from Babylon itself: And so much may serve to inform us whence they came.  
For their Religion, by which their temper may be very well guest at, it was various according to the Custom of those places from whence they came; Scripture informs us that The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, 
2 Kings 17.30, 31.  the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibchaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their Children in Fire to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the Gods of Sepharvaim. What these Idols of theirs were may be worth our enquiry.  
The Men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, that is, they erected Fanes or Chapels to Venus Urania, as Selden informs us, 
Selden. Synt. 2. c. 7. Beyerus in additamentis ad cap. 7. p. 314.  to which Beyerus adds what Selden before had rejected, out of the Jewish Writers, that they worshipped a Hen and Chickens, by which they figured the Pleyades, and they were (as he tells us) the Ancient Symbol of the very same Venus Urania; which fancy of theirs he supposes taken from that passage of the Spirits moving upon the face of the Waters, as we translate it; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Moved is a Metaphorical word, taken from the female Bird covering her Eggs and Young ones gently with her Wings, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Buxtorf. in voce.  whereby she secures them and nourishes them: so the Spirit of God covered the Terraqueous Mass, and by that gentle incubation made the whole Mass prolific, and nourished and fomented those Being's which were then in production; and so the female Bird makes the Eggs by her incubation fruitful, and afterwards by the same guards and cherishes her Young ones.  
The Men of Cuth made Nergal, by the same Authors concluded to be Fire, the worship of which sacred and ever burning Fire was notorious among the Persians from whose Country the Cuthaeans came; 
Selden. Synt. 2. c. 8. & Beyerus in addit.  a kind of Idolatry it was which those People were so addicted to, that it was no uncommon thing for their principal Devoto's to cast themselves into the same Fire there to be consumed, as an extraordinary and very pleasing Sacrifice.  
The Men of Hamath made Ashima, by which the Jewish Rabbins commonly understand an He-Goat. 
Synt. 2. c. 9  Selden rejects that Notion of theirs, but declares his own Ignorance what it was. Elias Levita, as cited by Beyerus, supposes Ashima to have been an Ass or Monkey, to which he adds the Custom of some Egyptians and Arabians to worship that Creature; an Idolatrous practice, as some say, 
Beyerus in add. p. 319. & Linschoten ibi citatus cum aliis.  still followed in the Kingdoms of Pegu and Bengala in the East Indies. But most probably it was the figure of Pan, horned, hairy, and cloven footed, and so not very unlike an Hee-Goat. This Idol was worshipped by the Egyptians in the same manner as among the Grecians, 
Chartanus de Antiq. Deorum Imaginibus, p. 96.  and was by some adored as the Symbol of the Sun, a common Deity.  
The Avites made Nibchaz and Tartak, Gods very obscure. The Jewish Writers make Nibchaz to be a Dog, a Creature worshipped by the Egyptians in their Anubis, 
Selden Synt. 2. c. 9 & Beyerus in add.  to whom though they give a humane Body they assign the head of an Hound. By Tartak they understand an Ass, of which we meet with no worshipper in those Ages unless the same Egyptians, who did Tota Portenta colere, might rank it among their Deities. In after times indeed we find Caecilius in Minutius Felix charging the Christians with worshipping the head of an Ass; 
Minut. Felicis Octavius.  a Slander raised against them from the Doctrine of the Gnostics, of whom Epiphanius tells us, that giving the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to one of their Celestial principalities, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epiphanius adv. Haer. Gnost. p. 91.  some of them described him under the figure of an Ass, and some under that of an Hog, either of them Deities suitable to the Doctrine and Practices of those Pseudo-Christians; but for their monstrous Crimes, the true Christians (such was the injustice of their Pagan Adversaries) were forced to suffer.  
The last are the Sepharvaites, made Adrammelech and Anammelech, which again the Jewish Writers, that they may the better expose the Samaritans, tell us were an Horse and a Mule, others a Peacock and a Quail. 
Synt. 1. c. 6.  Selden takes them to be but two Names for one things, and both to be the same with Moloch the Abomination of the Ammonites, under which name the Phoenicians worshipped Saturn. Concerning the Humane Sacrifices to which Idol there are different Conjectures, for some from the stories of Ahaz, 
2 Kings 16.3. Ch. 17.17. RR. Salom. Jac. D. Kimchi. Moses Mikotzi apud Seldenum.  and others making their Sons and their Daughters pass through the Fire, conclude that the sacrificing their Children, was only a Consecration of them to that Idol's service by such a lustration. But others, amongst whom Selden himself truly agree, That they burned their Children to Moloch in good earnest, and with that the Israelites are charged, that they sacrificed their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils, 
Psal. 106.37.  and shed innocent blood, even the Blood of their Sons and of their Daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the Idols of Canaan; and in the Book of Wisdom, the Reasons being summed up why God had driven out the Ancient Possessors and settled the Israelites in Canaan, among the rest 'tis added, They were merciless murderers of Children, devourers of Man's flesh and feasts of Blood; 
Wisdom of Sol. Ch. 12. v. 6, 7.  The Priests out of the midst of their Idolatrous Crew, and the Parents killed with their own hands, Souls destitute of help. Such a sacrifice as this the King of Moab offered in his extremity, 
2 Kings 3.27.  he offered his eldest Son who should have reigned after him for a burned Offering upon the Wall. Other Relations we have of the Brazen Image of Moloch with its seven Cells, wherein the fine Flower, the Turtle Doves, 
Selden ubi supr.  the Sheep, the Ram, the Calf, the Ox and the Child were severally put, and all consumed together by a Fire kindled underneath. But so much may serve to confirm us, that all these Nations after their settlement in the Region of Samaria, were abominable Idolaters; from the place they were now settled in, they took the general Name of Samaritans, by which they were known in the stories of succeeding Times.  
These, the next Neighbours, lived in continual Enmity with the Jews, pretending indeed Relation and Friendship to them when in prosperity, but expressing the greatest hatred to them when misfortunes fell upon them, 
Joseph. Antiq. lib. 9 c. 14.  as Josephus informs us. On whose side the quarrel began may be dubious; but it was grown to a great height in our Saviour's time, when the Woman wondered at our Saviour's ask water of her, 
John 4.9.  since the Jews had then no dealing with the Samaritans. The Jews themselves derive it from this very time to which the Text relates, and it may be that very opposition which they made to the building of the Temple, might be the Cause of it; for they tell us, that When Esdras and Nehemias' had assembled the People in God's Temple, and had convocated 300 Priests, who brought with them 300 Trumpets, and as many Copies of the Law, the Levites sounding out aloud the fatal form, they cursed the Samaritans with every kind of Excommunication, by the secret and ineffable name of God, by the Law of the two Tables, and by the Excommunication of the upper and lower Courts of Judgement (i. e. the Curse of God and Man;) so that no Israelite should dare to eat Bread with a Samaritan, it being a Crime unpardonable as eating Swine's flesh, 
Drus. de 3. Sectis lib. 3. c. 11.  no Samaritan should be admitted to Proselytism in their Church, nor have any part in the Resurrection of the dead; if this were true, it was no wonder there should ever be a mortal Enmity and an irreconcilable feud between them.  
2. We must note the forwardness of these People to assist in building the Temple of God, to join with the declared People of God in that great Work; the Jews themselves were scarcely more early or forward than they, so soon as they once heard that the Children of the Captivity builded the Temple unto the Lord God of Israel, 
Ver. 1, 2.  they came to Zerubbabel and the chief of the Fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you; and questionless this might appear to some a great Evidence of devout minds. Nothing could seem more reasonable, than that the House where God's Honour dwelled should be raised apace, no help sure could come amiss to hasten that; And how much more suitable undertakers of such a work, might that People be, who had lived in peace in their Country for many years, and so were likely to abound in all things, than a Company of poor Exiles, driven many years since from their Native Land by a victorious Tyrant, and who now when they returned home, had no Fields to reap, no Revenues to receive, no Houses to hid their heads in, but lay open and defenceless to all the Storms and Tempests that might be expected from the Rage and Malice of their Idolatrous Neighbours.  
This offer of the Samaritans looks yet more generous in that it seems to tend more to the Honour of the Jews, than their own, the Temple being to be built at Jerusalem, and likely to add much of splendour to that City when rebuilt, but sit only to give themselves many tedious Journeys to come up thither to worship; so that the whole design had at first view no appearance but of Religion for Religion's sake, an eager and a pious forwardness to dedicate somewhat of that Abundance he had blest them with to the Honour and Service of God; And yet further they proceed very Regularly in their Motion, they court not the Mobile, the poor unthinking Vulgar, who perhaps might easily have been imposed upon, they looking more at gaudy outsides than at inward Sincerity; this would have looked like unfair dealing, as if they had designed to put a slur upon the Jewish Chiefs by raising a faction against them, but they very fairly make their application to Zerubbabel their Leader, and the Chief of their Fathers, and there make their Offers, and such as very probably in a time of need would have been accepted. Which Offers of theirs looks yet better, if we consider,  
3. Their Plea for admittance to this work, For we seek your God as ye do, and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar Haddon King of Assur, 
V●●. 2.  who brought us up hither. Unity in Religion certainly recommends Men to one another above all other Relations whatsoever, and what could bring more comfort to a Company of poor restored Exiles, than to meet with Neighbours worshipping the same God, offering the same Sacrifices, and instructed in the same Divinity with themselves, tendering withal their friendly Assistance to carry on the most weighty and most Religious Work? And it may be further observed this Profession of theirs was not altogether false.  
For, though we are told of the several Idols these People had made to themselves, yet in the same Chapter we find, That in the beginning of their dwelling there, 
2 Kings 17.25.  they feared not the Lord; therefore the Lord sent Lions among them, which slew some of them, the reason of which being supposed to be because they knew not the manner of the God of the Land, the King of Assyria at their request sent them one of the Priests that had been brought from thence, who came to them accordingly and dwelled in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord; and it follows, 
Ver. 32, 33, 41.  So they feared the Lord God of Israel. 
Epiph. adv. Haer. l. 1. p. 22.  Of which Epiphanius gives us a larger account, very remarkable, but full of miserable Anachronismes, of which Scaliger takes some notice: 
Scal. Animad. in Euseb. Chron. p. 74.  Thus God's Judgements made them learn something of Righteousness, and by the process of the Story we may conclude, that upon this account, of the fearing him, God removed that Judgement of the Lions from them.  
But their Plea was nevertheless deceitful, they name what was good in themselves, but take no notice of the Crimes the Text Charges them with, 
Ver. 33, 41.  That in the service of God, they made themselves Priests of the High Places of the Lowest of the People, which sacrificed for them in the Houses of the High places, which was one of Jeroboams great sins, and for which Wrath came upon Israel; 
1 Kings 13.33, 34.  they take no notice, that as they feared the Lord, so they served their own Gods, their Graven Images, their Children, and their children's Children unto this day. A Passage doubtless added after the Return of the Jews from their Captivity. Thus their Religion was of a Mongrel kind (however it might be refined afterwards) part Jewish, part Heathenish, and consequently of no real Value.  
The Jews, out of that inveterate Hatred they have against these Samaritans, load them still with all the Crimes imaginable, and their Priesthood with all the Contempt possible, but not altogether truly, they were as Eusebius calls them, Aemulatores Legis Judaeae, 
Eusebii Chro. p. 26.  Imitators of the Jewish Model; that little Instruction they had from their single Priest brought them to entertain the Books of Moses, of which indeed they were more exact and faithful Preservers, 
Voss. Is. de 70 Interpr. c. 29.  both as to Words and Letters, than the Jews themselves were. Out of Envy for this, the Jews brand them for Calf-worshippers; to clear them from which, I must put in my own Conjecture concerning a Passage of the Nubian Geographer, observed by Scaliger and Selden: The Geographer tells us, That, among many others, there is one Isle in the Red Sea called Samerei, inhabited by Samaritans, descended from Sameri the Framer of the Golden Calf in the time of Moses, 
Selden Synt. 1. c. 4.  on whom be Peace, Scaliger translates it, It is inhabited by Samaritans, the Associates of the Calf-worship in the time of Moses, etc. About which Passage whilst they dispute, the Geographers Mistake is not observed, Samaria was so called from Shemer, of whom Omri King of Israel bought the Hill upon which Samaria, as he called it, 
1 Kings 16.24.  was built; and this was that Sameri named as living in the time of Moses, by a vast Anachronism of which this seems to have been the Occasion.  
The Jews reported the Samaritans for Calf-Worshippers, they ground their Report upon that Priests settling himself at Bethel, who first instructed them, Where Jeroboam had set up a Golden Calf for Worship, as a Representative of the True God, one of whose Worshippers this Priest had formerly been. Jeroboams Calf unquestionably took its Original from that made by Aaron in the time of Moses, which former Calf being the more notorious, the Geographer jumbles the two Stories together, and to make the Samaritans Calf-Worshippers ind●ed, being ignorant of the Latter, reduces them to the Ages of Moses.  
This Conjecture I am the more satisfied with from that Tradition I meet with in the Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin the Jew, 
Nubien. ●lor. ann. 1151. Tudelensis morann. 1173. Ferrarius.  who was contemporary with the Nubian Geographer, and which being the common boast of the then surviving Cuthaeans or Samaritans, it might be equally known to both. Rabbi Benj. giving the Site of Neapolis, anciently called Sichem, adds this; There live about 100 Cuthaeans Observers only of the Law of Moses, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi Benj. Tud. Itin.  the same whom they call Samaritans; they have Priests of the stock of Aaron the Priest, who rests in Peace: and these they call by a peculiar Name Aaronaeans, who marry not among the rest of the Samaritans, but with those of the same Sacerdotal Line, to prevent confounding their own with the Common Race yet they are the Priests of their Law, and prepare Victims and offer Burnt-offerings in their Congregation, and that upon the Mountain Gerizim. This Pretence of theirs to the Stock of Aaron, might easily lead the Nubian into that Error. And here we may observe, that though our Author afterwards adds many things to the disgrace of these Samaritans, and those spiteful enough, yet he makes no mention of any Calf then, or formerly worshipped by them.  
4. We may take notice of the Answer given to these Samaritans by the Jewish Rulers, Zerubbabel and the rest of the Chief of the Fathers of Israel said unto them, You have nothing to do with us to build an House unto our God, but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the King of Persia hath commanded us. The Chiefs knew very well the Fallacy of that Assertion of theirs, they knew they feared the God of Israel, but not as themselves did. The Jews were commanded not to intermingle themselves with any of their Neighbours for fear of Idolatry, much more were they to avoid complying in Worship. They had the Form of theirs prescribed by God himself, which could no way admit of those Errors the Priests of an Idolatrous Kingdom had introduced. The Samaritans might fear the same God and offer Sacrifices to him, but so long as they did it not according to the Order prescribed, and followed by the whole Jewish Nation as United in one Ecclesiastical Body, so long they were not to be received as Partuers in so Sacred a Work, as the Building God's Temple was. For if Intermarrying with Idolaters was of dangerous Consequence, 
Deut. 7.3, 4 5, 6. Deut. 12.29, 30. Exod. 34.12.— 16.  no doubt but Communion with them in the most solemn parts of Divine Worship, which was the thing the Samaritans aimed at, would be much more pernicious; so that in rejecting this offer of theirs, they exactly followed God's Law, and withal expressed a punctual and due Submission to the Decree of their then Lawful Prince. We are to build it together, say they, according to the Command of Cyrus' King of Persia: 
Ver. 3.  You have no Commission to join with us; the Predecessors of the Samaritans had no Hand in raising the former Temple, they were not of the Seed of Jacob, and therefore had no right to build a Temple to the God of Israel; Cyrus had chosen these Exiles to perform what God had commanded, 
Ezr. 1.3, 4  and it became not those who were Subjects to the same Prince to Cross his Design, or to stretch his Commands beyond their first Intention.  
It was then acknowledged by the Jews to be their own proper Work, and they had the Prophets of God to excite them to diligence in that Work, 
Ezr. 6.14.  and they were to build together united among themselves, with one Heart, and with one Mind, if they resolved to admit of no Fellow Undertakers, their own whole Strength was but little enough to perform so vast a Work; a few of the other Tribes had joined themselves with those of Judah and Benjamin, such as set their Hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, 
2 Chron. 11.13,— 16.  and those were but few, the whole remnant of the twelve Tribes, but inconsiderable, to what they had been heretofore, and their Enemies ready to take all Advantages against them: Upon which account, as also to show their Gratitude to that Prince who had restored them to their Native Country, and their Zeal for the Glory of that God, who as he had punished them for their Sins, so had told them before by his Prophets of this Happy Change upon their sincere Repentance, it was incumbent upon them altogether, as one Man, to begin and to carry on this Work of God, and so the Adversaries themselves might be convinced, That the Temple of the True God might be built according to Command, without their Help.  
5. In the Text we are to observe the Behaviour of the Samaritans upon the Answer given them, They weakened the Hands of the People of Judah, 
Ver. 4, 5.  they troubled them in building, and hired Councillors against them. They weakened their Hands by endeavouring to create Jealousies and Suspicions one of another among them, they were newly recovered out of a Miserable Captivity, and the present Openness and Defencelesness of their Condition made every Idle Rumour terrible to them. One while they try to entrap the Governor; 
Neh. 6.2.  then they charge the Jews with a Design of Rebellion, 
Ver. 6.10.  and hire Prophets to discourage the People in the Work; but, as the last Effect of their Malice, they writ their Letter to the Persian King, 
Fur. 4.9.21, 23.  to inform him of the danger of the Jews fortifying themselves, and so procure a Stop to be put to their further Procedure; Where observe further the Policy of these Adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, They owed Revenge to the Jews for refusing their Help to build the Temple, the Building of which they resolve to Hinder. But in their Letter to Artaxerxes they take no notice of that, lest perhaps, Cyrus his late Decree being found, their Design should have been defeated; but they complain of former Rebellions, and they fear they would be renewed, if the Jews had leave to build their City Walls, and here the Persian Records might pinch them. And by this Art they gained their End, they having a General Command, 
Ezr. 4.21, 22.  to see that no Damage might grow to the King; took it in the largest sense, and caused the building of the Temple as well as the re-edifying their City to cease, and thus the Poor Builders, who had so lately felt the Smart of a severe Captivity, were afraid of opposing their Malicious Neighbours, lest an Ill Interpretation should have been made of it.  
To make their Malice the more Effectual, they hired Councillors against the Jews, such subtle Persons who knew all the Tricks and Quirks of Law, and so could fright the poor Jews into a Belief that they incurred great Penalties, when indeed they had broken no Laws, and these could point to the Jews Enemies the most certain and secure ways of taking Advantage against this poor Helpless People; or the Councillors they hired might be such great Persons as attended the King of Persia, whom they, as a wealthy sort of People, Bribed largely to assist them with their Interest at Court, while the Jews, who had no Stock to carry on such Designs, went by the worst, And to this we in some measure may attribute the Success of the Letter to Artaxerxes, for had the Jews retained a Friend at Court, who could have put the King in mind of his Father Decree in Favour of them and the reason of that Decree, that it was in Obedience to the Commands of the Most High God, 'tis very probable the Penners of that Mischievous Epistle had lost their labours. And so much may serve for Explication of the Text.  
The Text being thus explained, the Observations I shall reduce from it, are these.  
That every Deliverance from great and general Calamities ought to be celebrated with a Restauration of God's 
Obs. 1. ●  Public, Ancient, and Solemn Worship. There can be no end put to Public Calamities but by the Hand of God; we may seek for remedies elsewhere, but to no purpose, to him therefore the first of our Praises ought to be returned. It was here the Jews work; no sooner were they resettled in the Land of their Fathers, but they apply themselves to build again the Temple of God that had been formerly burnt; and when they afterwards neglected that pious Work, God by his Prophet checks them severely: Is it time for you, 
●●gg 1. 〈◊〉  Oye, to dwell in ceiled houses, and this House lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways, ye have sown much and bring in little; ye ear, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye cloth you, but there is none warm, and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a Bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways, Go up to the Mountain, and bring Wood and build the House, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. That whole Book indeed is nothing but a reproof for Neglect, a command to Industry, and a promise of Blessings upon their Care and Industry in building the Temple of God. The Author of those Golden Verses, commonly ascribed to Pythagoras, advises well, To honour and adore the Gods in the first place, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pythag. Aurea Carm. Carm. 1.  for all other lawful undertake can prosper only when that foundation is laid. This was well apprehended by Numa Pompilius the second King of Rome; 
〈◊〉 S●●● & C●●r●monias omn●●●que 〈…〉 immortalium docuit. 〈…〉 Populum redegit, ut quod vi 〈◊〉 injuriâ occupaverat impe●●●● 〈◊〉 atque Justitia guberna●●●. ●●or. in Numa. 
〈…〉 multitudi●●● 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 seculis rudem 〈…〉 Deorum m●tum injicien●●● 〈◊〉 est. Liv. l. 1.   It was not the valour and conduct of Romulus, nor the sturdiness of a few rough and ill-tutored Shepherds that could secure an Infant State; therefore he first inrroduced Religion among them, taught them to worship the Gods, and gave them a stated Form and Method for the performance of all Divine Offices; and it was a Remarkable Custom among the Romans, that when they set down to besiege any City, they first tried to anon the supposed Tutelar Deity of the place, endeavouring, with many Ceremonies, to call him out of the beleagued places, with promises of better entertainment among themselves; so necessary did they conclude Heaven's Blessing to make all their designs successful. 
Macrob. Sa●●u●n. l. 3. c. 9   
But if in the first beginning of affairs this Religion be so necessary, Devotion in Extremities is so too, and much more thankfulness for Deliverances. The same Romans, when Hannibal approached their Gates, used means extraordinary to reconcile their false Gods to them, 
Undique Matronae in publicum effusae circa D●um delubra dis●urrunt, Crinibus passis aras verrentes n●●a g●●●bus supinas manus ad c●●um tenden●e●, orantesque ut Urb●m Roman è manibus Hostitum eriperent, matresque Romanas & liberos parvos inviolatos servarent. Liv. l. 36.  that they might divest that terrible En●my, and in the time of War, though all things were yet in suspense, the whole Senate, at the General's request, repaired to their Temples to supplicate Heaven for a Victory, and always in gratitude consecrated some of the Spoils gotten in the Field to their Gods; 
Rosm. Ant. Rom. l. 10 c 2●.  nor was this the practice only of Heathens, though by their Actions we may learn what Nature teaches; but Almighty God himself prescribes it to his own People by his Prophet. And afterwards, Blow the Trumpet in Zion, sanctify a Fast, call a solemn Assembly, gather the People, sanctify the Congregation, 
Joel c. 1.  assemble the Elders, gather the Children and those that suck the Breasts; let the Bridegroom go forth of his Chamber, and the Bride of her Closet; Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar, and let them say, Spare thy People, O Lord, and give not thine Heritage to reproach, 
Joel 2.15. ●●. 17.  that the Heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the People, where is their God?  
This extraordinary earnestness of the Devotions of those that are in distress, is a strong evidence of that extraordinary gratitude due to that God, who on such occasion hears and answers our Prayers; and he that minds but what Vows Calamitous persons always make on condition of Heaven's assistance, may learn from thence, that Thankfulness for deliverances received, is a principle Originally so sixth in the Heart of Man, that the most careless and stupid of Mankind know not how to elude it. 'Tis certain, that coldness in the exercise of Religion is the grand Excitative of Divine Anger, the ultimate cause of those Punishments which the hand of God inflicts upon us; for though Profaneness, Drunkenness, Whoring, Covetousness, Theft, Murder, Malice, Treachery, Disobedience, Rebellion, and the like, are all Crying Sins, and of themselves merit Vengeance, yet they are always accompanied with some considerable defect, in the outward Solemnities of Religion: so that let men suffer by us what way soever, God will be sure to have a share in the dishonour. An Hypocrite I know may go far, but one way or other, even in outward performances he must fail; for those Scruples, that nicety he must necessarily pretend to for the Credit of that he calls his Conscience, and to persuade Men of his exactness in Religious matters, those very Scruples will betray him into that Sin of dishonouring God in his Public Worship; for in that he will either not be constant, or not early, or not be have himself reverently or devoutly in it; or not Regularly, according to what is prescribed by Lawful Authority in the Church; or he will evidence and avow his greater respect to some peculiar Fancies and Enthusiasms of his own, than to what is prescribed. Every one of which 'tis impossible for the subtlest Hypocrite to avoid, and every one of which is looked upon with another Eye by Almighty God, than ordinarily it is by us: And all, or any of these, as adding perfection to Sin, at the same time aggravate God's displeasure, and bring down the heaviest of his Judgements upon Men.  
But where Vice in General overflows a Nation or Country, there God's Worship must as generally be disrespected, all Form and Order in it be destroyed. He that is unjust to Man will be unjust to God. 
1 John 4.20.  S. John's Argument holds good here, He that loves not his Brother whom he has seen, how shall he love God whom he hath not seen; and where that lurking Vice resides that puts on Scrupulous Religion for a Cloak, there above all, that Beauty, Decency and Order that ought to be in God's Service is contemned and subverted, and his House esteemed no more than the Commonest or the vilest Place. This Truth the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviour's times give testimony to; none cried out louder of the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, and none abused that Temple more; they profaned it so far as to make the meek Jesus severely to tell them, My House should be called the House of Prayer, 
Matt. 21.13.  but ye have made it a Den of Thiefs. In such cases, if God be angry who can wonder? If God confound that People who labour to cloud his Glory, and to render his Service sordid and nauseous, he must then be justified when he speaks, though in anger, and clear when he is judged.  
That Public and Solemn Worship of God, the Contempt of which has such dreadful effects, ought first to be regarded when the Almighty sheaths his Sword again, and restores Peace and Prosperity to a People. So soon as the Israelites were freed from the Egyptian Bondage, and but yet on their way to the Promised Land, they were called upon by God himself to build a Tabernacle and Ark with all their Furniture, before which they might offer their daily Sacrifices. David, when he fled from Absolom, 
Exod. 25.  was careful lest this Ark should suffer by being carried with him in his flight; Carry it back, says he, into the City, if I shall find favour in the sight of the Lord, 
2 Sam. 15.25.  he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation. When he returned indeed, he presently was for raising a Temple to the God of Israel his Redeemer; and since God permitted him not to build it, he provided Treasure for his Son to build it with; He prescribed the method of Divine Service, 
1 Chron. Chapters 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, etc.  and fixed Orders for its exact performance in that Temple. As for the Temple itself, where this cost was to be bestowed, and these Orders observed, David declares, The House that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all Countries; 
1 Chron. 22.5.  and the Reason he gives is remarkable, The work is great, 
1 Chron. 29.1.  for the Palace is not for Man, but for the Lord God. And this care of David's was so just and ●ffectual, that in Hezekiah's time we find the Priests and Levites obeying the past Commands of David, using the Instruments of David, 
2 Chron. 29.25,— 30.  and praising God in the Words of David; and he that shall but read profane Story, 
Multa & epulenta ibi Regum populorumque visuntur munera quaeque magnificentiâ suâ reddentium vota gratam voluntatem & Decrum responsa manifestant. Justinus de templo Delphico. Lib. 24. c. 8.  and see what large Donaria all Countries appropriated to their Sacred Temples, upon Dangers escaped or Victories obtained, or the Sacred History, and view the prodigious Liberalities of David, Solomon, and the Nobles of Israel to the Temple of God, must needs conclude, the Service of God was by that means rendered glorious and beautiful, the gratitude of Men to God very commendable, and that those who left us those great Examples were not all of them either Madmen or Fools.  
And indeed Men may pretend what they will, they'll never persuade any in their senses to believe them thankful to God for removing Common Judgements, who do not repair the decays of Divine Worship, and endeavour to restore its pristine exactness and splendour, and an uniform celebration of God's Praises is the best proof of an agreeing sense of his infinite Goodness. And thus the Christians of old in each Distinct respectively were United in the same Forms of Worship, and the Universal Church Concordant in the same matter, and the whole World convinced of the Beauty and Harmony of that Religion, whose Professors addressed themselves to God, so Vnitedly for Matter, and with so little disparity in Words and Methods, even that disparity confirming the truth of Christianity, the greatness of the true God, and the Divinity of the Man Christ Jesus, whom, though Crucified, the Christian World with the greatest fervour and devotion adored and invocated.  
'Tis easy to Object, That though great thankfulness is really due to God after great Deliverances, yet 'tis indifferent in what place, by what person, in what order God's praise in his Worship is declared. 'Tis true, a Man may be heard with Job from a Dunghill, with Jonah from the Ocean's bottom, with Jeremiah from the miry Dungeon, or with Daniel from the Lion's Den; but scarce any wise Man would choose those places for his Devotions, if he were at Liberty: And my Groom or Scullion may be heard in their Prayers as soon as I; but it would show little respect to God's Service, should I call them to officiate in the Head of my Family in a Scullery or Stable, with their Horse or Kitchen Habiliments about them. Days of deliverance are days of Joy and Feasting, and the garments of Gladness ought then to be worn, and our gratitude to put on the fairest face of Order, Loveliness and Beauty; those Sins for which we suffer should be forsaken, our thankful Resentments of God's Goodness should be exposed to the World's view, and that so, that Religion for its deformity may not be made a Scarecrow, nor Slovenliness the measure of Divine Worship, nor Enthusiasm the Essence of Devotion.  
From the practice of the Samaritans in the Text we may Observe, 
Observ. 2.  That the Enemies of Religion always apply themselves to hinder the Restauration of God's Solemn and Public Worship. The Charms of pure and undefiled Religion, and the Worship attending it, are terrible and odious to the Prince of Darkness, he renders it a Mormo or Bugbear to his wretched Slaves, and cannot endure its allurements should reach the Souls of thinking persons; and therefore as by his Wiles and Policies he endeavours to put a slur upon Piety, to render it ugly and ridiculous in the sight of Men, that so it may crouch to growing Impieties: So when men formerly mad after Sin, begin to return to their almost lost Wits again, he tries all ways to hinder the good Effects of Repentance, that so professed Penitents may return with the Dog to his Vomit, and with the Sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire. That Sin should abound, and that Vengeance should once more deluge the World is his aim, and therefore he studies to obstruct whatsoever tends to Reformation in those things that are really amiss. Whatsoever mischief the Devil designs, his busy Agents here on Earth, who think scorn to be damned alone, carry on with the greatest vigour, and labour to engage all whom possibly they can pervert into the same Service: so the People of Israel of old, when God had scourged them frequently for their Sins, and by his punishments reduced them to Reason, though their Vows and Resolutions were never so many of reforming themselves to the Pattern God had prescribed them, their Resolutions all vanished into Air, and easy Temptations drew them to dangerous relapses, as we read in the Book of Judges.  
Manasseh King of Judah was eminent in wickedness, as his Father Hezekiah had been in piety; He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like to the Abominations of the Heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the Children of Israel; nay, he made Judah and all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem to err worse than the Heathen whom the Lord had destroyed; for which God delivered him a Captive to the King of Babylon; where, when he humbled himself, God was entreated of him, and returned him to his Kingdom. This Mercy made him know that the Lord only was God; but though he endeavoured afterwards in Gratitude to his Deliverer, to clear God's Temple, to repair his Altar, and to reduce the Temple Service to its Ancient Glory, it was but in vain; His Son, the Heir of his Crown, the Witness of his Repentance and the Reasons of it, was upon his Death too easily seduced, and instead of perfecting the good work begun by his Father, he only outstripped him in Sin, He sacrificed to all the Carved Images which Manasses in his folly had made, 
2. Chron. 23.2, 9, 13, 16, 22.  but humbled not himself as Manasses had done, but trespassed more and more.  
If we examine the Case of these returned Exiles, we shall see, that notwithstanding Gods and the King's Favour to them, the excellent Examples of Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, and the other Chiefs, and the Divine Excitatives of Haggai and Zechariah; notwithstanding the forward Zeal they showed at first to repair the sacred Ruins of the Temple, they were so unhappy, that even some of their own Nobles, for whom, as well as the rest, God had done such great things, held Correspondence with the Enemies of their Church, 
●●hem. 5.17, 18, 19  to the notorious hazard of their Religion; but when all these obstacles were passed over, when the House of God was built, the Ancient forms of Worship were reestablished, and their complete Joy outwardly expressed by that Care, for that the Lord had made them joyful, 
E●●●. 16, 〈…〉 22.  and turned the Heart of the King of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the House of God, the God of Israel. But, alas! Wickedness too too soon prevailed again, and the profaneness and contempt of God's Service, grew intolerable; on which account God made the Kings of Syria their Scourge, that Temple, their Pride and Glory, was defiled by their Enemies, as it had been by themselves, and Judas Maccabeus once more compelled to a Reformation; but still Wicked men were busy and active. And when our Saviour came into the World to rectify the Errors of mistaken Mankind, the opposition he found was so strong as seemed, and was indeed to Humane powers irremediable. And Lastly, Let us view those Laws and Rules prescribed by the Apostles themselves, for the settling Unity and Uniformity in the Church of Christ, and we shall see so many Schisms and Heresies raised by the Devil and wicked Men to pervert and disannul them, that nothing less than an Omnipotent Power could have preserved them to this day.  
And yet that due and regular Veneration of the Divine Majesty, is so naturally fixed in the minds of Men, that the most resolved Enemies of Goodness are frequently balked themselves, and downright Opposition to Public, Solemn and Decent Worship, ofttimes disgusts both themselves and others; Hell, in this case, drives them to the other Extreme, and makes them overdo what God and the Circumstances of his Public Worship require, as if there could be no Mean between the sluttery and nastiness of a Common prostitute and the garish Extravagance of a gentile Harlot. And thus did Ill Men prevail formerly upon the Jewish Church, and taught them by this means to preach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men; and thus the Christian Worship in the Church of Rome was perverted, where so many things, not only unnecessary but inconvenient, not only superfluous but ridiculous, have been introduced, that Paganism in its greatest Wildness could not outvie them; and by this means the very Substance of true Sacred Worship has been exposed to contempt, and some have been so far bewitched with an empty show, as to rest in that without examining the real weight of things.  
These have been the sad Effects of that Opposition which the Enemies of Piety have made to the resettling God's Worship in a Public solemn Way; and that they should not always study for and effect thus much, there can be no reason given but from the infinite Divisions among these very Adversaries themselves, from whence 'tis hoped that, according to our Saviour's expression, the Kingdom of Satan divided against itself cannot stand. 
Matt. 12.26.   
'Tis true, were Piety once totally banished the World, those intestine Feuds among the Slaves of Hell would soon grow irreconcilable; Sin would make them, like those who sprung from the Dragon's Teeth sown by Cadmus, to draw their Swords in an immmediate War, till they had ruined one another. But alas! the Case is nothing so happy here, while God has any Servants, though their Quarrels are never so great among themselves, they unite but too too close in persecuting and afflicting them: So these Samaritans, though of so many different Countries, and engaged in such disagreeing Idolatries, yet could all join to hinder the building the Temple of the true God; for though wicked Men of all kinds are at never so great a distance among themselves, yet Truth being equally an Enemy to them all, it moves their Hatred so much against itself, that other Di●gusts and Broils are soon forgotten: 
Matth. 16.1. Ch. 22.16.  So the Pharisees, Sadduces, and Herodians, laboured at all times to undermine each other, but readily combined together to destroy our Saviour. The more vigorous and bright Truth's Lustre is, the more violent will the assaults of its Opposers be: So it proved in the Primitive Church, many and absurd Heresies sprung up in it, the Breaches between the different Heretics were irreparable, and yet they lived almost in a constant Conspiracy against the true Catholic Church of Christ, and he that examines Church History will find, that when Peace gave the greatest Ornaments to Christianity, the Mushroom Heresies and Schisms grew up the fastest; as on the contrary, when Religion grew indifferent, and the Professors of it Lukewarm, Heretics and Schismatics seemed to lay down their Weapons, as if Hell had then no more employment for them.  
But when those who adored the true God, to maintain his Honour, judged no Cost too great to adorn his Temples, and the Devil found it impossible to eradicate that Principle out of men's minds which taught them to do so; he tried another way, and resolved himself not to be inferior to his Sovereign, no Temples should be raised more magnificent, no Utensils more costly, no Sacrifices more expensive to the Supreme Deity than those he assumed to himself, and the worst of Men, in this respect, seemed emulous of their Bounty who expended most for the Ornature of a Christian Oratory; a thing which observed, but not well understood by many, made them afraid of even a decent Beauty and Magnificence in the House of God, as if approaching too near Paganism or Superstition; as if because some Heathen Tyrants had formerly asserted to themselves Divine Honours, therefore now no Honour at all aught to be given to Christian Kings and Princes; or as if because some Usurper formerly had lived in a Royal Palace, therefore a Lawful Prince must settle his Throne no higher than a Dunghill. But he who truly loves God will reverence his Sanctuary, and he who loves a neat Service and Attendance in his own House, will never endure meanness or slovenliness in the House of God; and he who can be content to dwell himself in cieled Palaces, will not be willing the Ark of God should remain among Curtains, whilst the Samaritan strives to overthrow it, and when once overthrown to keep it down.  
That the Enemies of Religion find no surer way of obstructing the grateful Restauration of God's Service, 
Obser. 3.  than an Hypocritical Pretence to join in the Work: The Devil is never so truly Dreadful as when he puts on the Shape of an Angel of Light, otherwise every one stands upon his Guard, but then the Subtle Serpent insinuates himself into the Bosoms of those who least suspect his Poisonous Nature. And wicked Men can never possibly do such mischief, as when they put on the Visor of Piety; the Servants of God avoid them when they appear like themselves, but when the Sheep's Clothing has invested the Wolf, even He may pass for a very Innocent Creature: This therefore is the last Result of Hellish Policy, That roaring Lion, who walks about continually seeking whom he may devour, makes use frequently of the Foxes, the little Foxes, to ruin God's Church; to that end the Samaritans here desire to build God's Temple with the Jews, they declare their Reverence to the same God, their offering the same Sacrifices, a very fair Conformity, as they pretend, and which undoubredly in a short time would have purchased for them the Title of The Church of the Jews.  
It is not to be questioned, but that the acknowledgement of the True God, and the offering due Sacrifices to him as God, is the main Foundation of true Religion, but a bare Foundation without a Superstructure is of no worth, for upon these Principles, plainly and evidently depend a great Number of other things, which, if not observed, prove that the Foundation was never truly owned: For if a Man believe indeed that there is a God, and by offering Sacrifices acknowledges there is a Duty owing to that God, nothing can be commanded by that God, nothing forbidden, but the Man, if he hopes for Salvation, must sincerely, and to the utmost of his Power obey it; in which point the Samaritans failed foully. St. Paul's words were true of them, 
Rom. 1.21.  When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their Imaginations, and their foolish Heart was darkened; they feared God, but worshipped their own graven Images: Upon account of which though it be said that they feared the Lord, 
2 Kings 17.33. Ver. 34.  yet 'tis asserted again, Unto this day they do after the former manners, they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their Statutes or after their Ordinances, or after the Law and Commandments which the Lord commanded the Children of Jacob; inferring plainly the same from their Practice, which I would do, that though for fear they acknowledged God, yet so long as they obeyed not the Injunctions of that God, their Profession was but False and Vain. And it's to be noted, That all the Commands of God must be punctually obeyed; 
Smith's disc. p 346.  Men may not cull out this or another according to their own Fancies, and as the Jews themselves have practised since, the Rule being infallibly Authentic, That whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point, 
Jam. 2.10.  he is guilty of All; the Reason is because he breaks that very Foundation he builds upon, the Confession of a God, and our Duty to him. The Apostle makes the Inference, For he that said, Do not commit Adultery, said also, 
Ver. 11.  do not Kill; now if thou commit no Adultery, yet if thou Kill, thou art become a Transgressor of the Law: So then, if any man pretend, out of a sense of his Duty to God, to do one or more things, and yet minds not some other things which God has commanded as well as those, his whole Obedience is nothing, and his whole pretence a Lie, he really, with the Fool, says in his Heart, 
Psal. 53.1.  there is no God.  
Nor will Cavils or Excuses be admitted here, or the Obscurity of our Duty in any Part be a sufficient Plea; for every Christian is bound, as far as possible, to inquire into the Word of God as left written for his Instruction, and to do of himself what he finds expressed as his Duty there: and further, I'll grant him, that where there is no Law, there can be no Transgression; where men cannot know of any more to be done by them, they shall not be condemned for not doing more. But since God has appointed persons lawfully called to study the Scriptures, and to instruct the People in his Church, what those Persons so appointed learn and deduce truly from Scripture is to be attended to; and whereas all Divine Commands have a certain Connexion one with another, so that there can be no clashing or contradiction between them, though such things be not in terminis commanded, yet if they be found so concordant to the explicit and plain Rules, such things are to be universally submitted to and obeyed: And hence it was that since among the Jews the Priests Lips were to preserve knowledge, 
Mal. 2.7. Deut. 17.8, 13.  and the People were to address themselves to them for information in the more doubtful parts of their Duties; These Samaritans were to have applied themselves to those Priests, and to have conformed in all things to their Prescriptions, if they intended really to become Partners with them in one Common Church Society.  
And 'tis Folly to believe that God gave greater Power or Privileges in these Cases to the Jewish, than to the Christian Teachers; for whereas among the Jews, the Prince and the Priest were joined together in the Maintenance of God's True Religion, so wheresoever the Prince and People profess Christianity, their Work is the same, the Prince defends, and with the Priest declares the true Catholic Faith. And upon this account it is, that the Burden that lies upon the Teachers of the Church is the greater, where the Preacher delivers apparent Falsehoods and the People are seduced by him, the Fault is divided between the Instructor and the Instructed, it being his work to preach the Truth sincerely, and the People's to search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things be so; but in Obscurer cases if the people be seduced, 'tis wholly their Teacher's Fault, he being more knowing than they, and being bound not to teach others at random, but what he knows certainly and necessarily true; and for such Errors, not the People, but the Preacher, shall be condemned at last.  
This Universal Obedience being so indispensibly necessary to make a really Pious Man and a Good Christian, and those who submit not to it, being consequently no Christians, whatever they call themselves, but downright Pagans and Infidels; nothing can be more plain, than that such can desire an Interest or Concern in the Church with no other Design but to Ruin it: 'Tis no hard matter to blind the Eyes of Men, so that ordinarily they may suspect no harm, but 'tis not so easy for Men to forsake their own Natures, or to design the Conservation of those Laws they never design to submit to. The Samaritans had they been entertained by the Jews, would have pried into their most retired privacies and intendments, Sacred or Civil, that they might so have counterpoised their Counsels and have betrayed their Designs to their Enemies, and others who fear the Lord, and yet follow their own base and lewd Imaginations, being so many Pensioners of Hell, i. e. assisted by the Devil for their faithful Adherence to his Designs, so far as his Interest goes in this World; those Persons would by all means get admission to Employment in the Church, that so they may Cross the great Design of Undeceiving and Reforming Mankind; and by introducing, abetting and encouraging Atheism, Profaneness, Schism and Disobedience, under a show of Zeal for Trifles, may betray it to all its most dangerous Enemies: So Men of Factious and Discontented Spirits, by eager pretences to Loyalty, labour hard to be trusted with Arms, that with them in their Hands they may at once ingratiate themselves with Rebels, and assist them. Which Mischief, that it may be the better avoided, we must proceed to  
Obs. 4. That the true Servants of God can never without danger, 
Obser. 4.  and therefore in prudence never will admit such Persons at their request to join with them in restoring God's Service and Worship, seeing their design must be so fatal to the Church itself. This we learn from the wise behaviour of the Jewish Chiefs in the Text, who would not upon any account receive assistance from the Samaritans in building God's Temple; You have nothing to do with us, say they, but we only will build together. I readily yield, that the Governors of Gods true Church ought to make and admit as many Converts to the Truths of the Gospel as they can, and to reduce as many Heretics and Schismatics as may be to Catholic Communion; but to admit them further than bare Church Membership, without long trial of their sincerity, would be little else than madness. A Heretic, a Schismatic, though they profess Christianity, are no more Christians indeed than Pagan's; as he is no more my Friend who engages himself in my acquaintance to ruin me, or who endeavours it after my acquaintance, than he who every where publishes himself my Enemy. Our Saviour determines it so when he tells us, He that is not with me, that is, 
Matth. 12.30  he that is not sincerely and wholly on my side is against me. Now that such Persons who are not true Christians should be concerned in edifying or defending the Church of Christ, is extremely unreasonable, this were to make the Wolf the Shepherd of the Sheep, and would soon render the Church of God sentinam malignantium, the very Sink or Common Sewer of all the Ill the World contains, and the Scoff which Julian the Apostate, by the Mouth of Constantius, puts upon the Christian Doctrine would be a real Truth, Whosoever is an Adulterer or Sodomite, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jul. Caes.  whosoever is a Murderer, whosoever is polluted or under the greatest Curse, let him come boldly; for washed once with this Water, (meaning that of Baptism,) I'll present him instantly pure and clean from all his Crimes: nay, should he again relapse into his former guilty state, let him but beat his Breast, and knock his Head, and he shall presently be holy again. So easy would an admittance into the Church be, none could possibly be found so bad, but he would be received into one Society or another; and this would be the effect of that which some persons seem so eager for, and that is Indulgence or Toleration.  
Toleration, known sometimes by the names of Liberty of Conscience and Indulgence, the thing which in effect these Samaritans desired, seems to have been very odious to those who some Years since held the Pulpit in our English Congregations, as appears by the united Votes of a considerable number of them; We are struck with horror and astonishment, say they, at the endeavours of many for it, 
A Toleration would be putting a Sword into a mad man's hand, a Cup of Poison in the hand of a Child, a letting lose of mad Men with Firebrands in their hands, an appointing a City of Refuge in men's Consciences for the Devil to fly to, a laying a stumbling Block before the blind, a proclaiming liberty to the Wolves to come into Christ's Fold to prey upon his Lambs, a Toleration of Soul Murder (the greatest Murder of all other,) and for the establishing whereof damned Souls in Hell would accurse men on Earth; Neither would it be to provide for tender Consciences, but to take away all Conscience; if Evil be suffered, it will not suffer Good; if Error be not forcibly kept under it will be Superior, which we here the rather speak of to undeceive those weak Ones, who under the specious pretext of Liberty of Conscience (being indeed liberty of Error, Scandal, Schism, Heresy, Dishonouring God, Opposing the Truth, hindering Reformation and seducing Others) are charmed by Satan into a better liking of an unconscientious Teleration. We dread to think what horrid Blasphemies would be belched out against God, what vile abominations would be committed; how the Duties of nearest Relations would be violated; what differences and divisions there would be in Families and Congregations; what heart-burnings would be caused; what disobedience to the Civil Magistrate, that might be palliated over with a pretence of Conscience, as well as other Opinions and Practices; what disturbance of the Civil Peace and dissolution of all Humane Society and of all Government in the Church and Commonwealth, if once liberty were given by a Law for men to profess and practise what Opinions they pleased, etc. Harmonious consent of Lancashire Ministers with those of London, p. 12, 13. printed 1648.  it looks as if men could not sin fast enough unless they were bidden, as if God were not already enough dishonoured, except the Throne of Iniquity were set up framing Mischief by a Law; or as if men were afraid Error (a goodly Plant to be cherished) would not grow fast enough except it were made much of. We have searched the Sacred Records, and yet we cannot find that ever such a thing was practised with approbation from God, from the time of Adam's Creation to the sealing up that Sacred Volume, and the ceasing of Visions and all new Divine Revelations. And again, It would be no part of England's Thankfulness, after so many Deliverances and Mercies received from God, to grant men Liberty openly to blaspheme him, at their pleasure to wrest the Scripture to their own destruction; to trample upon his Holy Ordinances, slight and contemn all Ministry, despise his Messengers, commit all manner of abominations, and for every one to go a whoring after their own Inventions, 
Harm. cons. p. 10, 11.  which yet would be the Effects of a lawless Toleration. This was subscribed by the Ministers of a whole County. If then it be (as they truly assert) a thing so extremely ill to indulge persons of different Persuasions at all; much more is it so, to let them be engaged in the greatest and noblest work the Church of Christ undertakes. Schism and Heresy are Crimes of so bewitching a Nature, as we find by Experience, that those Leaders of either kind, who happen to renounce their Errors, are unable to reduce those unhappy Souls they had formerly led astray; and 'tis but too common, that such Converts relapse themselves into those very Errors they had abjured, and then having by pretended Repentance insinuated themselves into the Church's bosom, they have the better opportunity to scatter their Poison every where.  
Those who plead for this Liberty of Conscience, for the better stopping of men's mouths, are generally wont to distinguish between Errors tolerable and intolerable; but which are so, or which are not, who shall be judge? The Answer is presently by themselves returned, To the Law and to the Testimony. 
Isa. 8.20.  Let God's Word decide the Controversy, and this is indeed a certain way. And yet Experience tells us, that almost every Party pretend the Scripture is on their side, and allege it in defence of their own Opinions, when yet 'tis impossible it should he for them All, and every one acknowledges that impossibility. What then is to be determined in this case? must every one be indulged in their own way? That is indeed to give them leave to damn themselves without control, and is so contrary to Christian Charity, that no Party when in power was ever yet bad enough to agree to it, and when in their depressed Condition they cry out loudest for Toleration, they are then active and busy to draw men over to their different Parties out of tenderness, as they allege, to their Souls; Therefore the exactest Rules of all true Policy, whether Ecclesiastical or Civil, forbids all kind of Indulgence, even to those Errors that seem in themselves the most tolerable; the Church and State are so united in their Interests in this Case, that what ruins the one must certainly confound the other: The Word of God is a Rule to Princes as well as others; and Princes, if inquisitive, having better opportunities for Instruction, and Souls more vast and capable than other Men, may soon understand what Principles have a due agreement with the Tenor of Holy Writ, and what have not, That Chain of Principles which leads men through all the Actions of Life without opposition to any Dictates there, is that to which a Christian Prince is obliged to bring men for Gods and for his own sake, with all that power God has entrusted him with. And unprejudiced Men by consulting this Word of God, and by applying to it the practice of the Prophets and Apostles and the whole primitive Christian Church, as upon Record, may easily find out these saving Principles; Thousands, whose Souls are now at rest, have done it before us: And it is a most infallible Truth, that wheresoever a Principle disagreeing to the general scope of Scripture is entertained, that very Principle will rend the Church, and have an unhappy influence in due time upon the State, nor will the honest intention of the Person advancing such a Principle be any security either to the one or the other.  
That one Maxim, That the foundation of Power is originally in the People, seems at first very little to concern Religion, yet 'tis directly opposite to that assertion of God's eternal Wisdom, 
Prov. 8.15.  By me King's reign, and Princes decree Justice; 
Rom. 13.1.  and to that of S. Paul, that there is no power but of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God; and this Tenet, as proper for their turn, Schismatics in general own. Now, though I doubt not but many Persons of very sober and innocent tempers have entertained that Notion, and d●ed in the Belief of it; yet there is no Rebellion or Insurrection carried on by Man professing Christianity, but has been grounded upon and asserted from that Principle; and indeed Crowns are very insecure things if that be true. But every one knows, that by how much the more Innocent the first Movers or the great Promoters of such Doctrines are, so much the greater is the Danger, and the weakness of careless and uninquisitive Persons the more easily imposed upon.  
Again, That Opinion that denies any Power in Church Governors to impose indifferent things upon those under their Charge, seems to hold forth a great deal of Charity, and yet it's directly contrary to the Practice of the Apostles, who made Indifferent Things, 
Acts 15.29,  viz. Abstinence from things offered to Idols, from things strangled, and from Blood, absolutely necessary by their Command. But certainly every truly compassionate Heart must bleed to see what miserable Fractures and Divisions this has made in the Church, how it has been the Common Plea of Sectaries, and has almost vacated all the Laws of God and Man; For whilst men oppose their immediate Church Governors, if Princes who are to be nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to the Church interpose, as their Power and Duty engage them, Ignorant Zeal presently breaks out into a raging Fire, and creates Tumults and Disorders for Conscience sake, and every one who dies in so cursed a Cause, looks upon himself, and is esteemed by too many, as a Martyr suffering for the Common and dearly purchased Liberty of Christians.  
The Government of the Church by a mixed Body of Clergy and Lay Elders, though it be Novel and Absurd, must needs be very plausible to the vulgar, when every Cobbler in the Parish may hope in time to mate his Landlord or the proudest of his Superiors, and yet Popery has nothing in it more fatal to the Thrones of Princes, than this. Those of the Church of Rome suppose the Bishop of Rome Infallible, and from that Supposition laid as a Foundation, they rightly enough conclude, he may depose the Highest Magistrates: For if the Bishop of Rome be indeed Infallible, he cannot charge a Prince with any other than a real Sin; He cannot be mistaken in his Judgement, and of necessity he must be Superior to the greatest Kings and Emperors under Heaven; in opposition to all this, confute but their primary Erroneous Hypothesis, and the Blindest Romanist will be sensible that all his Conclusions are foolish and unwarrantable. But with those who are for the Other Government the Case is very different, They declare, No one Man, 
Assemb. adv. concerning Conf. of Faith, 〈◊〉 1. par. 4.  No Body of Men whatsoever to be Infallible, and yet though they acknowledge they may err and be mistaken in their Apprehensions and Decisions of things, they are resolved to maintain their Superiority to all Powers whatsoever; 'Tis a standing Rule with them, To Discipline must all the Estates in a Kingdom be Subject, 
1 Book of Discipline c. 7. ● Book c. 13.  as well the Rulers, as they that are Ruled: And this, Princes and Magistrates not being exempted from Discipline, 
A third Means whereby they have ●verted our People, has been the range and damnable Positions, such as, that Subjects do of their own Heads, 〈◊〉 much better, than what they do in Obedience to Authority. The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church, but only Ratify what the Church decreeth. It is lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant without the King, and to enter into a Bond of mutual Defence against the King and all Persons whatsoever. An Assembly may ●brogate Acts of Parliament if they reflect upon Church Government. The Protestation of Subjects against Laws established, frees them from all Obligation of Obedience to those Laws. Kings Declar. Annals of Ch. 1. p. 760.  and those that are placed in the Ecclesiastical Estate, rightly ruling and governing, God shall be glorified: So that though we convince them of never so many Errors and Corruptions, and prove their Judgements never so much mistaken, there's no Remedy, they are in the Chair, and Right or Wrong they will Govern. Now where such fallible Persons can Excommunicate the Supreme Magistrate, and warrant the Disobedience of Subjects, 'tis in vain to teach Submission to Civil Authority, ev●ry one looking upon himself at such a time as dispensed with for all Vows and Oaths whatsoever.  
I need not instance in any thing more of this Nature, these to unprejudiced Persons are enough to convince them of the danger of Indulgence. Can it have had a good Influence up●n Piety, Julian the Apostate, that subtle and inveterate Enemy to Christianity, would never have granted it; 
Dissidentes Christianorum Anti●●●● cum plebe disci●●● pal●●●● intro●●●●es me●●bat, ut Civilibus discordiis C●nsopit●s ●uisque nullo vetante Religioni sue serviret intrepidus. Quod agebat ●d●ò obstinate, ut dissensiones augente licentiâ, non timeret unanimantem postea plebem: Null●s 〈…〉 bes●ias, ut sunt sibi fera●es plerique Christianorum expertus Amnian. Marcell Lib. 22. cap 5.  nay his own Historian assures us, That be recalled those Christian Bishops from Exile who had been banished by his Uncle Constantius, advised them to live peaceably, and every one else to exercise their Religion freely, hoping that the Christians by that Indulgence, being animated one against another, that Heathenism which he designed to restore, would meet with the less Opposition; And the same is confirmed by the Church Historian in his Account of julian's Revocation of the banished Bishops. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sozomeni Lib. 5. c. 5. 
Denique tunc ●●ddidit Basileias Haereti●is quando Templa Daemoniis, eo medo putan Christianum nomen posse perire de t●rris si unitati Ecclesiae, de quâ lapsus fuerat, invideret & sacrilegas dissensiones liberas esse permitteret. August. Epist. 166.   And whereas the Donatists as well as others had their Share in julian's Liberty of Conscience, St. Augustine tells them, That Julian opened Temples to Heretics and Devils at the same time, hoping by that means so far to encourage and foment Dissensions in it, as thereby at last totally to ruin the Church of Christ. And whereas we find Themistius applauding Jovian the Christian Successor of Impious Julian, for his Gentleness in permitting every one to serve God according to his own Conscience, a Policy very necessary in that sudden Revolution of Affairs upon the Apostates Death. A Learned Man of our own observes, That when the Gentiles were under Hatches, 
Caves Eccles. 2 vol Introd. See. 4. p. 51, 52.  they knew no Means so effectual for the keeping Paganism alive, as frequent Intercessions for a Toleration.  
But supposing it fit an Indulgence should be granted to all persons of what Profession soever, I would fain know why the Extravagancies of Morality as well as Divinity should not be allowed, why should not Vice be publicly and legally allowed and protected? Every one, I know, will exclaim against that, and yet more may be said for that, than the other. In Relation to the Church Vicious Men are scandalous, yet they never quarrel about Circumstances, or study to set people together by the Ears. If they give Offence in participation of Divine Ordinances, let them but alone, and they'll never trouble you; they have, as Vicious, no Piques against the Pastors of the Church for doing their Duties; nor do they trouble themselves in controverted Doctrines whose Arguments are the strongest, so that in the Church, if tolerated, they create no Disturbance nor begin any Heresy or Schism. In relation to the State, Let but the Adulterer enjoy his Whores, the Drunkard his Cups, the Covetous Man his Tre●●●sures. etc. and, as such a one, he'll never engage himself in Plots: ●g●●●●st the Established Government, nor pry too busily into the Miscarriages of Superiors: But indeed when Men of these Trades, to cloak their Vices, espouse the Interests of a Religious Party, than they grow dangerous; for since nothing but their furious Zeal for a Faction, hinders the World from making Remarks upon their Shameful Debaucheries, 'tis their greatest Policy to show enough of that; by this means, after their firm Closure with Malcontents and Schismatics, how many soft and gentle Words are found out to extenuate their Crimes! So that He that is loaded with all the Wickedness Hell can furnish for him, while he Heads a Party, shall be accounted, though a frail and frequently tempted, yet a very sincere and well-meaning Brother.  
But if at last we look into the Word of God, we shall find that as he has commanded us to abstain from all Immoralities, even from whatsoever has the least appearance of Evil; so he has by the Apostle enjoyed us To mark, to set a Brand of Infamy upon those which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine we have learned, 
1 Thes. ●5. 22.  and to avoid them, for they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own Belly, and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 
Rom 16.17, 18.  It is not the openness of a Sin that makes it comparatively the greater; Malice is as bad as Theft, yet it lies close concealed within the dark Recesses of the Soul: Witchcraft, is an obscure Sin, few know what it is, yet every one believes it worse than Drunkenness, Adultery, Covetousness, etc. And Treason, though it hates the Light, is as bad as Profaneness: To curse the King in our Hearts, though never so secretly, is a damnable Sin, and 'tis the same to contrive Tumults and Rebellion in the State; but these last admit of one particular Aggravation beyond all bare Immoralities whatsoever: and it's this, Every one who pretends to Conscience acknowledges his Duty to abjure all Immoralities, while many pretend to be active in the other only for Conscience sake, and when Sin is once abetted by that which Men call Conscience, the mischievous Effects of it know no Bounds.  
Let us then suppose these Samaritans had been so far entertained and indulged by the Jews, as to have built the Temple with ●hem, to have set up their Synagogues, gathered their Congregations, and preached their own Doctrines among them without Control, what must have been the event, would not God's Law have soon been thrust out of doors? Truth indeed is the most Ancient, but Novelty is the most pleasing to Itching Ears, and therefore those Jews who would have been frequent Spectators of the Samaritan Rites, would too easily have been drawn to approve and practise what they had seen; the Jews had proved this before to their Smart, when a bare permission of some of the Old Canaanites to live among them, drew themselves, the Lords peculiar Inheritance to Abominable Idolatries. But since their Law gave no such Liberty to the Jews, we may assure ourselves our Saviour came not to purchase any such Liberty for us; a Redemption from the slavery of Sin God shadowed out in the Mosaic dispensation; and our Saviour with his own most precious Blood purchased for us Christians a freedom from Sin, but no Toleration to do what we please, or to Worship God according to our own Fancies. I doubt not but God has permitted pretences to Liberty of Conscience to end generally in Insurrections and Rebellions, to render the pretenders to it odious to all considerable persons, and to compel Civil Magistrates, if not for Gods, yet for their own sakes to suppress them. I shall conclude this Observation with the words of the Assembly of Divines; They who upon pretence of Christian Liberty, shall oppose any lawful Power, or the Lawful Exercise of it, whether it be Civil or Ecclesiastical, resist the Ordinance of God; and for their publishing such Opinions, and maintaining such practices as are contrary to the light of Nature, or the known Principles of Christianity, whether concerning Faith, Worship, Conversation, or the power of Godliness, or such erroneous Opinions or Practices, as either in their own Nature, or in the manner of publishing and maintaining them are destructive to the External Peace and Order, 
Assembls. adv. about Confession of Faith, c. 20. par. 4.  which Christ hath established in the Church, they may lawfully be called to Account, and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church, and by the power of the Civil Magistrate, & therefore not to be indulged.  
That a Refusal of the Assistance exasperates the Church's Enemies, and puts them upon all, 
Observ. 5.  even the most desperate Courses to hinder that good work which by other means they could not. This we learn from the practice of the Samaritans here in the Text, Because their Offer was rejected, they weakened the hands of the People, and troubled them in building, and hired Councillors against them. And here the Hypocrite shows himself, he cannot bear a Repulse, especially such a one as entrenches upon his high flying Piety, without a Revengeful mind. 
Matth. 15.21,— 28.  The poor Syrophoenician Woman in the Gospel could endure it from our Saviour, and very severe Language with it, and yet would not leave him till she obtained her Request, and it was because she was sincere and honest in her heart: But some pretending Disciples of our Saviour, who thought highly of themselves, when they heard but one hard Saying, and that spoken that every one might be able to distinguish between those that believed, 
John 6.64, 66.  and those that believed not, they took Snuff at it, went back and walked no more with him. Hypocrisy always flies out upon the least suspicion into extravagance, ' it's too tender to endure a severe touch, and it yet wants no Impudence on its part; for take persons guilty of it in a declining state, nothing concerns them then but the great and general decay of true Piety (to which yet they themselves above all others contribute) the impending ruin of Religion, the Coldness, the Formality, the Superstition of Professors; and who would not think at such a time that their tongues were touched with a Coal from the sacred Altar? who would not be ready at first to believe such Persons rather rejected for their Innocence and out of Envy, than for any just or real Cause? Thus does Hypocrisy rise high in the Vogue of the People, and the worst of men pass for the most zealous Christians; and thus do State Politicians thrown from the management of public Affairs for their Ill deserts, as if yet all depended upon their concern in the Government, make their loud Complaints among such as are willing to be deceived, of Tyranny, Oppression, Arbitrary and Illegal Impositions, as if none but themselves had been the true Patriots and Assertors of their Country's Liberties.  
Put the same Persons into another state and presently they run into another strain, let them have the Power and down go all their Opponents right or wrong; what, are they not sure they are in the Right way to Heaven? are not all things among them formed according to the pattern in the Mount? And can they to whom God has committed the management of Affairs see Men running headlong into the Methods of Error and Eternal ruin without Compassion, or without endeavouring to compel Men to come in and be saved? And must not the multitude of Dissenters in Religious matters weaken the hands of the People of God, hinder the Exaltation of Christ upon his Throne, and expose that Commonwealth to innumerable hazards, whereof Providence has made them the Fathers and the Governors? None but Atheists certainly can deny this, or Men of their own temper, when by driving Phaeton like they have precipitated themselves from their abused Command, for then, perhaps, they begin to relent, to acknowledge themselves to have been but men, and so by reason of their carnal mindedness to have miscarried foully in these things; but still they plead that others ought not to follow their unhappy Examples, but the rather to insist in the Methods of Charity and Moderation.  
Thus the wretched Hypocrites twist and wind themselves every way, yet by all their struggling do but entangle themselves the more; and yet by such thin and silly Arts as these they creep into the Affections of the rash and inconsiderate, by these means they manage Parties in Religion and Policy, and in the midst of Divisions reign Triumphant; by these means they find opportunities to instil Fears and Jealousies into the minds of Men, and by the numbers of their Admirers to terrify the bvilders of God's Church: thus Religion itself is by degrees destroyed, and the designs and endeavours of Gods most faithful Servants frustrated. These Enemies of Truth know well, that fear is a betrayer of all Counsels, and makes men unfit for any work; the Samaritans tried the Experiment, Nehemiah was told concerning them, 
Nehem. 4.12.  From all places whence ye shall return to us, They will be upon you; They set a Prophet to persuade Nehemiah to fly into the Temple for his security, whose fear would have discouraged all the rest, and plied him with Ill news and scandalous stories. He gives the reason of their acting thus, For they All made us afraid, saying, 
Nehem. 6.9.  Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be not done.  
Were but Men so good as they should be, the Artifices of God's Enemies could not have such mischievous effects upon them, they would not be afraid of any evil Tidings, 
Psal. 102.7.  their hearts standing fast in the Lord. This great defect makes every Idle rumour, every vain fancy terrible, so that the most steady, the most deliberate and rational Methods of Honouring God may by malicious Men be traduced, and they by careless persons believed; and so those come to be charged with Innovating Humours, who above all oppose Innovations; and those who cannot relinquish that Religion they have taken up upon infallible grounds, are styled Apostates, Fear representing every object contrary to what indeed it is, and bringing us within danger of their Curse who call evil good and good evil; 'tis counted Madness for a man to kill himself for fear of dying, such a Madness those fall into who lose their Religion for fear of losing it, who are solicitous about it till they forget what it really consists in, and then engage in endless quarrels about Circumstances, as if the Shadow were of any value, when the Body, or when the solid Substance is gone.  
Those Men yet who are pure Politicians, who aim at their own profit or grandeur, without respect to Religion or the Honour of God, prove excellent Instruments to carry on their designs who study to disturb God's Church. If those Enemies be few and inconsiderable, they may perhaps let them alone; but if they be many and persons of Interest or Wealth, the appearing in the head of them, and whispering stories on their behalf in the Ears of Princes engages the whole Party on their side, who trouble not themselves so much about Faith as about Practice, and therefore believe the greatest Atheist that is but on their side to be a Child of Light though walking in Darkness: And indeed the only certain means for Capital Debauchees to get any Reputation for goodness, is to close with disaffected and malicious Hypocrites, which (if many persons are not in a very gross Error) does, like that true Christian Charity recommended to us by the Apostle, 
Jam. 5.20.  cover a multitude of Sins.  
And 'tis remarkable, that when Princes out of Zeal for Religion make the best provision for its defence that Humane Providence can reach to, some are so curiously subtle, as to endeavour at least, to make their Laws like Spider's Webs, so tender, that every daring Spirit may, without danger, break through them; and sometimes they try to turn their edge from those they were designed against, to those in whose favour they were made, and many more Devices are daily found out to the terror of Well-doers, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hesiod● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, lib. 1.  but to the praise of them that do evil; such shall never want employment; for those who when they are angry at Heaven, would go to Hell itself to prosecute their Revenge, will never miss any help they can find on Earth. But while wicked Men enraged at their disappointments turn every way to work mischief, they fall upon the Poet's Truth †, They draw the greatest mischiefs upon their own heads, by their own contrivances, and ruin themselves with their own Arts; for those who move in an higher Sphere, though wicked as themselves, regard their Faction but as Steps to mount by, which may afterwards be burnt, and therefore those Leaders thrust them upon all desperate Actions, till from Malice, Murmuring and Sedition, they rise to Riots and Rebellions, trying so to wrest that by force out of the hands of their Superiors, which by subtle Flatteries they cannot attain to; wherein if they succeed, though they make themselves perfect Slaves by the bargain, yet the Church, the great Object of their Spleen, must be sure to suffer, and while their Leaders triumph, the Temple's building must cease, and Jerusalem continue but an heap of Stones.  
Having laid down these Observations, 
Applic.  I shall at last for Application show the unhappy Parallelism between the Jewish and the English Church, in respect of the Practices of the Samaritans against theirs of the Dissenters of all sorts against our Peace, and the Restauration of God's ancient, solemn, and public Worship among us: To this end  
Let us look back to the first Reformation of Religion in this Kingdom, when it was laid for a sure foundation, That we should forsake the Church of Rome only so far as that had forsaken the Rule of God's Word. And it's notoriously evident, That whosoever out of one pretence or other should go further, must instead of opposing real Popery close with it, running himself upon the same Crime of bidding defiance to, and superseding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When God of his infinite mercy was pleased after that long and dismal Night of Popish Ignorance and Superstition to give us a Prince who favoured the pure and undisguised Truth, those whose Hearts God had touched, set earnestly upon that great work of Gratitude, the restoring Gods sacred Temple, or the settling God, Worship within these Kingdoms; not according to the Pattern of other Reformers, but that of the truly Ancient, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, which they had a greater advantage of doing than others, for that the lawful Supreme Authority of the Kingdom concurred with and encouraged them in their endeavours. And they proceeded in their work with such care, that Dr. Taylor, a Martyr in Queen Mary's days, declares of the Church Service as then reformed, that it was so fully perfected according to the Rules of our Christian Religion in every behalf, 
Acts and Men, Tom. 3. p. 131.  that no Christian Conscience could be offended with any thing contained therein.  
When a new Cloud of Popery raised by a bigot Queen was by God's goodness dispelled, and Queen Elizabeth peaceably settled upon the Throne, the Purification of Divine Worship from those foul Accretions which had fastened on it in her Sister's days, was one of the first things they set upon; and whereas K. Edward 's Act of Uniformity had been by Q. Mary repealed to the great decay of the true Honour of God, 
Act of Uniformity, 1 Eliz.  and discomfort to the Professors of the truth of Christ's Religion. She again by Act of Parliament resettled that almost lost form of Worship, 
Calv. Cecillio Anglo.  and to this very work Calvin himself excites, as he tells Sir W. Cecil afterwards Lord Burghly, whom by an Epistle he persuades to advance the same Work with all his power; and he that shall compare that Epistle of his to the Duke of Somerset when Protector, with this, will find him a strong approver of that very Method our English Prelates insisted in in their Reformation: The maintaining of God's Worship so settled has been the work of succeeding Princes, wherein CHARLES the Martyr of Glorious Memory was Inferior to none.  
More Black, more Bloody and terrible yet was that gloomy Night of Confusion and Rebellion that ensued; but it pleased God, the great worker of Miracles, to produce Light once again out of horrid Darkness, to restore our Sovereign to his Throne, and our Bishops and Curates to the Church as at first. A task they had no less hard than that of Judas Maccabeus of old, 
1 Mace. 4.36.— 61.  to purify those Temples once dedicated to God's Honour; but then miserably profaned by the impure devotions of time-serving Enthusiasts and Rebels, than was the Nation's Gratitude to God for that never to be forgotten Mercy, duly expressed by renewing the Uniformity of Common-Prayer and Service in the Church, 
Act of Uniformity, 14 Car. 2.  and Administration of the Sacraments, for the better securing divine Blessings to us for the future: And this Order is now settled among us by so good Laws, confirmed by so irrefragable Authority, secured by such excellent Rules and Canons, 
Corbets and Okeys Speeches in the Account of their Deaths, p 54▪ 56. See Burnet's Hist. of Ref. v. 2. Preface, p. 16, 17.  that even by the Confession of our greatest Enemies, our Church and Nation is the Envy of our Neighbours, the Bulwark and glory of the Reformation. And the Regular and Instituted Clergy, are generally so faithful to the Interest of the true Religion as established among us by Law, and so well able to assert it against all Gainsayers, that while any regard is had by the People to them we need not run out of our Wits for fear of Innovations.  
In three Revolutions then our case has been parallel with that of the Jews; we have been Captives to our insulting Enemies as well as they, and every return from Captivity has been celebrated with the Restauration of Gods truly Ancient Worship and Service. But we have had Samaritans too, Persons who have by all the Methods of Subtlety and Violence opposed that Glorious Work; That the Zealots of the Church of Rome should espouse her Interest, & endeavour to reenslave these Churches to Superstition and Idolatry, is no wonder; but that Persons who pretend the greatest Hatred to that Religion should join with its Favourers, should promote and extend its Doctrines, should imitate its worst and most Unchristian Practices, was very strange! But again, to abate of that wonder, it was impossible that those Persons who concluded every thing unlawful and execrable that had been used in the time of Popery, and consequently to be rejected, should have any real good will to the Reformation; Reason tells us, That the abuse of a thing, though never so gross, cannot alter its first or Original nature. Our Saviour himself submitted to the Jewish Rites that he might fulfil all righteousness; though Moses' Law had been as much adulterated among the Jews, 
Matth. 3.15.  as that of Christ among Papists: And the Apostles did not reject every Ceremony or Circumstance that had been abused by the Heathens. All which may inform us, that those who use such Arguments against Constitutions lawful in themselves, as their former abuse, can aim at nothing by so doing, but only a general Disorder and Confusion.  
It was indeed the Masterpiece of Roman Policy, to scatter the Seeds of Division and Separation among us, and to bring men into conceit against all public Order and Uniformity; and they began this Practice betimes, some few there were that from prejudices contracted by foreign Conversation opposed some appointments of the Church in K. Edward the 6ths' days; but their Scruples were of little concern, & the Effects of their opposition were prevented by Qu. Mary's Persecution: But it was an ill Omen of what might follow, that the English Exiles at Frankford should quarrel about the form of God's Worship, and Knox, the Head of the Schismatical party, be so early and yet justly accused of Treason against the Germane Emperor: When those who had created disturbance there returned home in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign, they brought so much of a pervicacious humour along with them, that though they fell not themselves into direct separation from the established Church of England, yet they laid the cursed foundations of those fatal differences we have ever since groaned under; the Parties were but few in those days, but that prudent Queen was so well convinced of the Influence their Novel and disorderly conceits then vented, must have upon the State, that no persuasions (though from her greatest Favourites) could reconcile her to them; and yet the Dissenters, their Successors, in these days, proclaim her no friend to Popery. He that reads the Authentic story of Faithful Commin the Romish Priest, the great Patron of Phanaticism in those days, 
Foxes and Firebrands by Nalson. Camden's Ann. Eliz. 1588.  and of Heath the Jesuit afterwards, with the Principles they acted upon, and observes the practices of Hacket, Coppinger, Arthington and others, with the boldness of Barrow, Penry, and other furious Factors for Puritanism in that age, will be easily convinced, that a well regulated Monarchy can never prosper where such Incendiaries are indulged; Incendiaries I may well call them, for in the Reign of CHARLES the First their seditious Opinions and Practices, propagated to their Posterity, prevailed so far as to set Three flourishing Kingdoms in a flame, to the ruin of Law, Liberty, Religion, and whatsoever could be dear to Men or Christians.  
The several Plots and Conspiracies, the Pretenders to tender Consciences in former days were engaged in, received their Consummation at last in that great and tragical Rebellion; and it was no wonder that Rebellion should follow upon that Doctrine, That Princes were accountable for their miscarriages to their own Subjects; 
Dangerous Positions, p. 14.  That their Subjects in case of their Neglect might reform Religion, without and in opposition to them; and that the Church of England was then so miserably corrupted both in Doctrine and Discipline, that a Reformation was absolutely necessary. Doctrines which the Apostles and Primitive Christians were absolutely unacquainted with, and which the wisest Men saw no necessity of, which Doctrines were all of them confirmed in that cursed Covenant 
† The Covenant was received by Papists with infinite Joy, as hoping that now the time was come in which both we and our Successors might be brought to abhor and detest that Religion, whose professed Zealots had been the Authors of such an unsufferable Covenant, which could not consist with Monarchy, which appeared to us most evidently by the Advertisements sent up to us by some of our Council of Scotland, that the sudden and frequent arrival of Priests and Jesuits from Douai, and other Seminaries beyond the Seas, was so great in hope of their welcome to us, because of this Seditions Covenant, etc. With Protestants abroad it was received with most offensive scandal and infinite grief, which appeared to us by advertisement from some of our Public Ministers abroad, who certified us that both the Ministers and others of their Consistory at Charenton, and of other refomed Churches in France, as also the Professors, Ministers and Consistory at Geneva, and of other neighbouring reformed Churches in those Parts, were so scandalised with this prodigious Covenant, as that they were afraid of nothing more than this, That it would bring an indelible Scandal upon the reformed Churches, and alienate the Minds of all the Princes of Christendom from ever entertaining a good thought of their Religion. His Majesty's Narrative of Scotch Tumults, 1683. , scandalous to all persons of all Religions, and the Effect of such Doctrines laid open to the astonished World. Then it was that Indulgence indeed prevailed, and the Papists in those Days with reason enough pleaded for themselves, That all Persecution for Religion was clearly repugnant to those Principles of Freedom so often and solemuly declared by the Parliament and Army, 
Christ. Modern. par. 2. p. 2.7.  and universally received by all the moderate and well tempered People in the Nation; and than it was propounded to the remnant of the Commons at Westminster, That all such as profess Faith in God by Jesus Christ, however differing in Judgement from the Doctrine, 
Ess●●'s Watchmens Watchword, p. 8.  Worship and Discipline publicly held forth, should not be restrained from, but protected in the profession of their Faith, and exercise of their Religion according to their Conscience; according to which Proposition all kind of Heresies were to be maintained and defended by Public Authority. And thus God's solemn Worship was overturned, and the Liturgy of the Church of England laid aside; about which I may use our Church's words, By what undue means, and for what mischievous purposes the use of that Liturgy (though enjoined by the Laws of the Land, 
Preface to Common Prayer.  and those Laws unrepeal'd) came during the late unhappy Confusions to be discontinued, is too well known to the World, and we are not willing to remember; But when upon his Majesty's happy Restauration it seemed probable, that among other things the use of the Liturgy also would return of Course (the same having never been legally abolished) unless some timely means were used to prevent it; those Men who, under the late usurped Powers, had made it a great part of their business to render the People disaffected thereunto, saw themselves in point of Reputation and Interest, concerned with their utmost endeavours to hinder its restitution. Hence it came that the Pamphlets of former days, were seconded by Petitions for Peace, Necessity of Reformation, etc. Our public Forms of Worship exposed to contempt with all the Scurrility and Satirical Virulency imaginable; their Books of Prodigies, parallel to the Romish Golden Legends, stuffed with Lies prodigious as the Stories related, and all printed but to make the Vulgar run mad; and all other insinuating Arts were made use of, that even the great Council of the Nations might be made Abettors of an Infamous and multiform Faction, and those Laws, whereby the true Religion is secured to us, be repealed.  
While those Devices have sailed, they have tried another way; and as if the Nation had nothing to fear but Popery, they have declaimed loudly against that: and as if the Legal Clergy were too weak to cope with the Goliaths of Rome, they forsooth, have been very forward to lend their helping Hand, where indeed they could only prove, as Rabshaketh told Hezekiah the King of Egypt would do, A mere staff of a bruised Reed, 
●. King's 1●. 21.  on which if a man leaned, it would go into his hand and pierce it; or as the Samaritans to the Jews, Betrayers, not Assistants. To prove which in its largest sense, I shall only give you the Character of the Presbyterians, one principal Party among the Adversaries of the Church of England as by Law established, drawn by a Prophet of the Dissenting Tribe, Treason, says he, never walks so secure as under the Cloak of Religion, hence it is that the Pope makes use of those Reverend Foxes the Jesuits to disguise and agitate his Affairs: But what a misery is it that the Jesuits, spewed out of other Nations, seem to have taken Sanctuary in ours, walking up and down with the Garb and Title of Protestant Ministers? For the carrying on their Traitorous Designs they have far outstripped the Jesuits both in Practice and Project, they have not only tampered with men's Consciences in private, but they preach open Rebellion and Treason with a full Mouth in the Pulpit; they hold Correspondence with the Enemies abroad and with Associates of their own Humour and Faction at home, acting their Conspiracies in the form and authority of a Body Politic, presuming to Commissionate Agents, give out Instructions, treat with the Public Enemy, raise Money to carry on the Confederacy, to which end they have their private Consults Easts, and Contributions, which in case of Discovery, they say were intended for the Good of the Nation and for Charitable Uses. This, though written 30 years since, looks like the History of Separatists at this time: but he adds further; The manner of breeding up their Proselytes is far more serpentine and subtle than that of the Jesuits for qualifying their Novices; For 1. They initiate them with Fast, solemn Vows and Promises, Sermons and Sacraments, and so all the Ordinances of God are prostituted with the greater Reverence to enchant and bind their Confederates. 2. They are instructed in the most refined Mysteries of Equivocating and Mental Reservation. 3dly. They are taught never to Confess when Examined, or to elude their Confession; which Principles being allowed, it's impossible for any Commonwealth to be secure, 
Mercurius Politicus, June 19 1651.  or that Justice can have its Course against Conspirators and Traitors; Thus far that Author, a Prophet indeed. He that shall compare this with Oates' Narrative and The Peaceable Design Renewed, must needs conclude these would be excellent Champions against Popery; And whosoever will take the pains to read his late Majesty's Narrative of the Scotch Tumults, 
Paragr. 1.35, 43.  and the Scotch Protestation against Marquis Hamilton his Majesty's Commissioner, will find that is the business of the leading Dissenters, not to beat down but to confirm and aggravate the grossest Errors in Popery, as I intimated before. To confirm which, I shall add that Monstrous Position laid down in the forenamed Protestation about Oaths, viz. That the swearer is neither bound to the meaning of him that exacts the Oath, nor to his own meaning who takes the Oath, but to the reality of the thing sworn, as it shall be afterwards at any time explicated by the Competent Judge: which Position once granted, 
Annals of King Charles p. 726.  it's impossible for any one to know what he swears to in the most Solemn Oath he takes.  
So unfit are these Persons to be admitted to build with us the Church of God, Yet the Dissenters of all Sorts plead their Agreement with us in Religion: 'Tis often urged by their Agents, that their Religion is the same in Substance with ours, they receive our Articles, own our Doctrines, receive God's Word, etc. And College, the late Protestant Martyr, as he is esteemed by some, expresses himself very like the Samaritans in the Text, I have been a Lover of the Church of England, 
Trial of Coll. p. 79.  says he, and of all the Fundamental Points of Doctrine believed in it, I own the same God, the same Saviour, the same Faith, the same Gospel. But Pleas of this Nature would not serve turn, Our Sovereign and the Fathers of our Church could not in prudence admit of such Petitions for Peace, as were indeed the loud Alarms to War, nor receive those whose hands had been so deep in the Blood of the late Wars, to join in the Restoring Gods Holy Worship without such an Abjuration of their former Errors, as might give the World some reasonable satisfaction, which they knew not how to submit to: They foresaw their Fanatic Design well enough, and that all the World might see it too, since our Sovereign's Miraculous Restauration, themselves have laid it open enough.  
They have since that Time made it their Business to instil the  Principles into the Minds of Men, and have added others of the same dangerous Nature: No Popery, no Slavery, has been the Common Cry, they acting therein like those Subtle Villains, who when they have killed a Man themselves, are the most busy to find out the Murderers. Numberless have the Pamphlets Invective against the established Government both in Church and State been; The King, his Council, the Clergy have been continually exposed to the hatred and scorn of the People; and some have ventured boldly to charge their Representatives in Parliament to turn all things Vpside-down: 
Vox Pat●iae. Addresses to the new chosen Members. Colleges Trial p. 82.  Nor have Seditious Satyrs against the present Government sufficed, but the late Horrid Rebellion has been justified, & Plots and Conspiracies for a new Rebellion formed.  
Presently after the Restauration of his Sacred Majesty before things were sully settled, Tong, Phillips, Stubs, Hind, Sallers, Gibbs, all Men pretending to tender Consciences were executed at Tyburn Dec. 22.— 62. for no meaner a Design, than Cutting off Root and Branch, Kings, Queens, Dukes, Bishops, all were to go one way; That there should be no Running beyond Sea, or Parle is there, but a Total Destruction of Kings, Lords, Bishops and Gentry; the Plot when effected, to be Charged upon the Papists, and the People to be excited to rise in Arms under pretence of a Popish Massacre, 
See the Trials printed 1662. Narr. p. last. Trial p. 12.  and that by means of a Seditious Letter designed to be dispersed in the Country, the Copy of which was then produced in Court; and 'tis remarkable that all Interests, Fifth-Monarchy-Men, Fight Quakers, Anabaptists, Independents, were easily agreed in this Glorious Attempt, and the Grime was confessed by them all at the Place of Execution. But the Godly Party were not so to be frighted, the Year following they were plotting again in the Northern Parts, to carry on the same Work their Brethren had failed in before, of which Treasonable Plot his Majesty tells the two Houses, That it was of a large Extent and very near Execution, 
King's Speech March. 21. 1663. 4.  had not He by God's Goodness come to the Knowledge of the principal Contrivers, and so secured them from doing their intended Mischief. But still the Evil Spirit was not quite laid, in the year 1666 the several Parties ventured once more upon a Plot, to murder his Majesty, Overthrow the Government, surprise the Tower, kill the Lord General, and to Fire the City of London; which Plot was to have been executed September the 3d of that year; Money was distributed to the Conspirators, and a Council of the Heads settled at London for the management of Affairs; for which Hellish Plot Rathbone, Saunders, Tucker, Flint, Evans, Miles, 
London Gazet, Apr. 26. 1666.  Wescot and Cole, were Arraigned, Condemned and Executed. And though so many suffered, one part of the Plot was unhappily effected in that dreadful Conflagration wherein the great Metropolis of the Kingdom was laid in Ashes. This disappointed, the Devil of Sedition flew into Scotland, where in the same Year the Old Covenanters broke out into a Rebellion at Pentland Hills, 
Ravill. red. p. 3.  but were soon happily disperssed by his Majesty's Forces; soon after James Mitchel, a Covenanting Minister, attempted the Assassination of Dr. Sharp, the most Reverend Archbishop of St. Andrews, and in the attempt mortally wounded the Bishop of Orkney, 
p. 33.  for which Fact confessed and proved he was deservedly Executed Jan. 18. 1677. But the poor Archbishop escaped not so, implacable Fanaticism pursued till he was effectually Murdered by some of the Crew with the most inexpressible Barbarity, May 3. 1679. The same Month a new Rebellion under the Banner of the Covenant broke out at Bothwell Bridge, where their Powers were crushed once again; from which blow God grant they may never more recover: But all these Ill successes have not yet it seems so rammed our numerous Sectaries and their Favourers; but that Religious Treason has once more made its Entry among us, The King himself, the Duke, the great Officers of State, the Loyal Magistrates of the City of London, all doomed to Slaughter, and the Government both in Church and State to Ruin. I may use the Words of his MAJESTY's Declaration in the case, 
Kings Declar. p. ●.  It's hard to imagine how men of so different Interests and Opinions could join in any Enterprise; but it is certain they readily concurred in the Resolution of taking Arms to destroy the Government, even before they had agreed what to set up in the place of it. But the Samaritans in the Text would serve for a Pattern, who though Idolaters of very different kinds, could all agree in the design to ruin the restored Jews.  
Now if we reflect upon those desires of admittance to public Preaching in the Church of England, which being rejected produced these violent effects, though they more basely than the Samaritans, Courted the meanest of the of the People, endeavouring to inveigle them into their Party; yet if we remember, that the Fathers of our Church had lived in a long Banishment from their Charges, or under the Cruel influences of rampant Rebellion and Hypocrisy, whilst these false Prophets, these ravening Wolves had enjoyed the fat of our Land, and had engrossed to themselves the Estates of other men, it seems as if they were in the Samaritans condition, more fit to manage the Chargeable design of reinthroning God in his Church than these poor and necessitous Exiles; they offered largely for liberty to confound us once again, and to enjoy their lawless Usurpations, no less than 500000 l. at once to an empty Treasury, 
Mystery of Nonconformity, p. 5●  with which Sum, since 'twas not accepted, they might easily hire Councillors of all kinds against the Church of England, to obstruct its settlement; all which failing, Arms and Treason were the last means left, of which, as I have showed you, they have made frequent Trials.  
See here then the Result of tender Consciences, as they are styled, and a Jesuitical pretence to Moderation; I have heard it objected by Dissenters, That the Persons concerned in the present Plot were all Churchmen, but the Plot itself confutes the Fancy, it being to destroy the Church, as now settled, as well as the State. But I know many pretend to the Church, frequent Prayers, receive Sacraments, who yet can readily Vote, That the Execution of Penal Laws against Schismatics is a grievance, 
Kings Declar. Apr. 8. 1681. p. 5.  and lay a good foundation for a future Schismatical Plot, by resolving, That if His Majesty should come by any violent Death, it should be revenged upon the Papists. That Assertion of Colledge's looks very oddly, That the last Parliament at Westminster— in— 81, was of the same Opinion with that in— 40: 
Colleges Trial, p. 81, 82.  Some tell us, that the Members of that Parliament were all Churchmen too: but what they were their Horrid Actions declared, and their Mortal Hatred to the Government of the Church evidences the falsehood of that Opinion, Such Churchmen the true Church of England will always disown, as only fit Associates for Conspirators and Rebels.  
Thanks be to God the Snare is now broken, and we are thus far delivered; God has watched over us when we were too secure, and by his Providence has laid open the Mystery of that Hypocrisy which has so long imposed upon us. Would not any sober Dissenter, when he sees those who are of his own Persuasion run into such Scandalous Crimes, begin to question the Principles he himself acts upon? Is this the True Protestancy some have boasted so much of? or are all Popishly affected who declare an Hearty abhorrence of all such Devilish Principles and Practices? May we all bear that reproachful Character, rather than for a Popular Title run headlong to the Devil; Let us never be gulled into a persuasion, that such Persons are fit to build up our Church against the Assaults of Ignorance, Idolatry, Profaneness or Superstition; but rather let us unite closely among ourselves. Let all Persons who profess Loyalty to their Sovereign, be truly Loyal to that God who is the great Preserver of Princes; Let the World be convinced, that even those seeming Virtues which render Schismatics plausible, are solid and real in all those who maintain God's Ancient, Solemn and Regular Worship; Let us Fear God, and Honour and Trust our Sovereign; Let no subtle Emissaries of Faction make us Suspicious of our Superiors or of one another; That so we preserving the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and righteousness of life, the work of God may prosper in our hand; That all Plots and Treasons may for ever be execrated, and all England may hear and fear, and no such Wickedness may be heard of among us any more.  
Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be rendered as is most due, all Honour, Glory, Praise, Power, Majesty and Dominion, from henceforth and for evermore. AMEN.  
FINIS.