Concionem hanc in 2 Reg. 18. 22. viri pietate & eloquentia praestantis, atque Ecclesiae Anglicanae Confessoris; cum Reformationis nostrae defensionem, brevem quidem, sed luculentam exhibeat; atque autoris etiam contra malevolorum hominum de Grotiana, nescio qua Religione Calumnias, causam agat strenue, dignissimam quae Iterata jam Editione prodeat Judico.  
Dec. 19 Hen. Maurice RR. in Christo P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris.   

A BRIEF BUT Full Vindication OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, FROM THE Romanist's Charge OF SCHISM.  
LONDON, Printed, and are to be Sold by Randal Taylor, near Stationer's Hall, 1688.   

A PREFACE.  
SOme Truths, as some Excellencies, are so much beholding to their own Light, that the shortest and most transient glimpse can command our Assent to the one, and give us a sufficient knowledge of the other. Such is that of the inward worth of this Author, who as he was many ways qualified for that piece of ancient character, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Eunap de Alypio in vit. Jambl. p. 29. (nature and austerity afforded him so small a portion of body, and God's blessing on great faculties and equal diligence, so rich endowments of Mind, that he approached to some nearness to be all Soul) so will he be most fully portrayed on the least Table. Any thing that was truly his, that past under his last hand in his maturer Age, carries those Signatures on it, whereby being dead he yet speaketh, articulately to those that knew him, and intelligibly, if they please to believe it, to those which knew him not. And this single Sermon of his, which is here offered the Reader, undertakes to make good what hath been said. Others have been willing to gather up all his Relics, which they can retrieve from any Coast, that nothing which is so well qualified to receive, may want its due veneration; And the public is much obliged to this their diligence. But for the complete Image of this true Son of the English Church, his temper, and the reasons of his unmoved constancy to our Persecuted Mother, it will be competently drawn from this one appearance of him.  
Conformable is the frame of the English Reformation, so strongly guarded and secured inwardly from its own Principles, Antiquity and Purity, of so strait and so clean, so plain and unintricate a making, so clear and crystalline both in its spring and streams, that the simplest colours and the quickest hand will give us the justest prospect, the vitallest picture of it. This one parallel of Hezekiah's taking away the high-places, etc. (being here perspicuously brought home by an uniform concurrence of suitable circumstances to the English Platform) superseding the Readers solicitude, by supplying the want of any larger collection of discourses and vindications in the point of Schism, or Heresy, or Non-Communion with the Catholic Church.  
Thus much was useful to he premised of the intrinsic value of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to engage the indifferent Readers survey, not to anticipate his judgement of it. But the more extrinsic circumstances of the Place, and Preacher, and Auditory, and Design of it, may deserve some farther reflection, in order to those which were not foreseen, nor consequently at all considered by the designer. The Scene was Paris, and if I mistake not, L' Hostel de Blinville there, the place whither the most Illustrious, than Prince of Wales his Highness, with his Family, assembled for the Divine Offices of the Lords day. The avowed Design, for the fortifying of all his English Auditors, against the infusions, to which that Clime (not the remoter of Rome or Madrid) might possibly subject them. The Preacher, as great a Prelatist as any whom unkind or jealous Brethren have ever blasted under that title.  
His love and desire of the Peace of the Church so ardent, and his Intercessions so constant for the Return of it, that he was unwilling to be known to posterity by any other monument than this, that He daily prayed for the peace of the Church.   
2 Kings XVIII. 22. But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he whose high places, and whose Altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this Altar in Jerusalem? 
YOU may please to observe, that Detraction sometimes mistakes her aim, and by a weak assault commends that good which it intends to vilify. Thus this Commander was here sent to rail down Hezekiah, that his cruel Tongue might make, as 'twere, the Preface unto his Master's Sword. But so fond was his attempt, that no studied Parasite could have more flattered him. So that methinks this Prince's Worth ne'er seems more fair, than in the mouth of Rabshakeh. He's there taxed for demolishing the High Places, and for the Subversion of so many Altars; Actions that were enjoined him by Moses: as if a Man should accuse Henoch of Godliness, or Abraham of his Belief: who would not take such Accusations as these for no less than artificial Praises, as if some Orator had laboured to commend these by an Irony: Henoch a good man, but godly; Abraham holy no doubt, but that he was faithful; and Hezekiah a virtuous gallant Prince, were't not he's so Religious?  
I could in Charity thus interpret these Words of Rabshakeh, were he not a Servant unto the King of Ashur: but to speak truth, His Commission makes it plain that he came to Rail: only his more friendly malice objects goodness instead of Sin, as if here Detraction had been suborned to commend an Enemy. You may thus far trust Rabshakeh: for in my Text he speaks exact Truth, to spite the poor King of Judah. This you'll easily find in the precedent parts of this Chapter: and withal you'll there see the Hebrews in a lamentable estate, and yet indeed not so sad as ours. Their fenced Cities all taken by the Arms of Assyria, vers. 13. The Treasures of the King, and of the Temple too, all consumed, vers. 15. Jerusalem itself, the City Royal, besieged ('twas not yet lost, 'twas not so bad here), vers. 17. and now Rabshakeh is sent to persuade the King into Chains. He tells him, there was no hope in his own strength: for though Assyria itself should be so kind as to lend him Horses, yet (so low was he brought) he could scarce find so many Troopers. No hope in Egypt; his old known Confederates, they were a mere broken Reed. Nay, he dares add more, No hope at all in God neither: for though Hezekiah had indeed but reform the Old Church, yet in Rabshakehs sense he had set up a New one, he had forsaken God, and thrown down his Altars, and removed his High Glorious Places: and upon this false Supposition, what a Rise is here taken by this fight Orator? But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God, is not this he? etc.  
You see then 'tis no strange thing at all to find a Reformed Church oppressed by Arms, or by Orators. But since my Text here is a part of Rabshakehs speech, I shall leave the Soldier, and only follow him in this part of his Oration. Where, for my more clear proceeding, I shall a l●ttle invert the order of the words, and shall beseech you to observe with me these Particulars.  
First, You may behold the Church of Judah corrupted, in these words, High places and altars, (i. e.) Altars in high places: Secondly, these Corruptions reform, whose high places, and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah, etc. Thirdly, the Reformation censured; But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God, is not that he, etc. Where it's silently taxed of Novelty and of Schism, indeed of no less than Apostasy itself, and that for this cause they had no hope at all left in God. Of these in their order. First, of the Corruptions, [High places and altars.]  
Were bare Reason put to visit the Church of Judah, her Obliquities in the conceit of most men, might well perhaps pass for Trifles. For so God have his due Worship, a man would think, what great matter is't where't be done: The High Places may be as serviceable as the Court of the Temple: and why may not his Sacrifice be slain as well at Hebron as Jerusalem? But Israel must be judged by the Laws; and in Points of so high coneernment must learn to do, not what she fancies, but what that Text hath enjoined; Take heed thou offer not, etc. Deut. 12. at the 13. Thus Moses words were plain, That God hath enjoined but One only Altar, but only one for Burnt Sacrifice. And lest the violation of that Sacred Law should seem some slight trivial thing, do but hear the Tenor of those severe words in the 17th of Levit. What man soever there be of the house of Isroel, that kills an Ox or a Lamb, etc. and bringeth it not to the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, unto the altar that is before the Tabernacle, to offer an offering unto the Lord, before the Tabernacle of the Lord, Blood shall be imputed unto that man; he has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people, in the 4 th' vers. of that Chapter. And in the same place, vers. 9 it's again repeated, and extended too, that it may gain the more hold and reverence: Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, (it must extend to Jews and Proselytes) that offers a burnt offering, or sacrifice, and brings it not to the door of the Tabernacle, even that man shall be cut off from among his people. A Law sharp and terrible, fit indeed for Mount Sinai, and to be delivered in the voice of a Thunder: who would not tremble at that Offence, in the Revenge whereof Beasts shall be esteemed as Men; to kill a Lamb, as to commit a Murder: that man shall be cut off from among his People; such Devotions are no less than Capital, nor will God be satisfied for such Offences as these, till both People and Priest become a Sacrifice.  
If you ask the Ground of this severe Edict, I might well reply, That to yield a Reason, doth not still befit the Majesty of a Law. Yet Josephus tells us, That God therefore enjoined one only Altar, that thence it might become the Sacred Emblem both of his Church's Unity, and his own. We have, saith he, but one altar, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. For our great God is but One, and our twelve Tribes make but one People only. There are Interpreters more home, that plainly tell us, this Law was made for two Reasons: First, to prevent Schism; and Secondly, to prevent Idolatry. First, Schism: For had leave been given to this heady wrangling People, to do Sacrifice in many several places, the Diversity of Rites such men would have soon fallen into, might ere long have brought them into more several Factions, than at that time they had Tribes. Secondly, to prevent Idolatry, a Sin which for a long time seemed natural to the Jews; and what so fit course to keep it off, as to admit of Sacrifice, but only in that Place where the High Priest himself must look on, whom it so much concerned both in point of Conscience, and of Interest too, to serve no God at all but the true One.  
And 'tis worth observing with what height of Zeal this strict Law was kept whilst the Hebrew Church remained yet Primitive. You may read the Story in the 22d of Joshua. An Altar was set up on the other side Jordan by the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half Tribe of Manasses, their lot falling in those parts. News of this strange structure is soon brought to Shiloh, where it found at once both the Tabernacle, and the High Priest: The People murmur, the Army is strait drawn together; so that the Forces prepared against Cananitish strangers, are now designed to defend Moses Law against more than Two Tribes of Israel. But prudently first an Embassy is designed, Phineas is sent, and with him Ten Princes more to expostulate with these men, with what intent they had set up such an Altar as this, which must needs lie so openly exposed unto that great height of Misconstruction. Their answer you may find, verse 22. The Lord God of Gods, The Lord God of Gods he knows, and Israel shall know, we have not built it in Rebellion, to offer there any Sacrifice, but only to be a Witness betwixt us and you, that though divided by Jordan, we have yet a share in the self same Altar with you. For God forbid, say they, that we should Rebel against the Lord, and turn this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for Burnt-offering, or Sacrifice, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before the Tabernacle, in the 29th verse of that Chapter. You see of so foul a Nature was this Offence then esteemed, that by more than Nine Tribes 'twas held cause enough of a War, and that a Civil War too, wherein Jews were to fight with Jews: and, but to take off the suspicion where no such crime was, it brought more than Two Tribes to the Apology you have heard, so high, and so pathetical.  
And yet in succeeding times how constantly did they violate this most severe Sacred Law? Mountains, and Woods, and Plains, they would needs turn each place into a Tabernacle. 'Twas then you would think the Holy Land without doubt, whose more frequent Buildings were Altars: but Palestine indeed was then farthest from God, when she all thus seemed a Temple; and there was no greater sign of Judah's Apostasy, than too many such signs of Religion. Nay, so largely spread was this grand Corruption, that you'll easily find there was scarce a Man did avoid it. Kings, and Priests, and People; some were Agents, others Spectators, and all bore a part in this forbidden Sacrifice. Thus Solomon, and the whole People are taxed, 1 Kings 3. 2, 3. And you need not doubt the Priests were there too; for be the place where it would, none by Moses Law could sacrifice but the Priests. Nay, not only Solomon's, but the succeeding Records of all their good Kings still runs with this abatement; He walked in the ways of David his Father, but the High Places were not taken away, the People still offered Sacrifice in the tops of the High Places. It's thus said of no less than Seven: Solomon, and Asa, Jehosaphat, Jehoash, Amaziah, Azariah, and Jothan. Cardinal Cajetan thinks this gross Corruption was as general, as if the Jews resolved to make null Moses Law by an Hebrew Custom to the contrary: and they had done't without doubt, were our Sins as well able to abrogate a Law, as we well know they are to break it. This is plain, that the Cardinal conceived this Abuse was grown into a Custom National, which had there spread itself over all sorts and kind of Persons: So that it found no open, no constant Opposition at all from any body of men then considerable: Had it, 'tis clear enough, That Customs thus opposed, can put Humane Laws in no danger. But I need not quote such Authorities, the very word there used, where the Text speaks of those Kings, infers this Truth strongly enough. But the High places were not taken away, the People still offered Sacrifice in the High Places. For that Word, the People, when it's put singly, and without opposition, implies, without doubt, the whole Nation which it points at. Thus when God commands Moses; Speak now in the ears of the people: Or in those Words to Pharaoh, Let my people go: No doubt but that Word did point at each several Jew; and though sometime it may well bear a sense less general, yet it then implies so much the far greater Number, that commonly what remains, is neither a part eminent nor considerable. Nay, to go no farther than my Text, 'tis plain enough from these Words of Rabshakeh (who having taken so many Cities, had now spent some good time in Jewry), that this Corruption was so universally spread, without any visible, any noted part to oppose it, that he conceived it the only true Service of the God of Israel: With what Face else could He have told the Jews, They had no hopes in their God, because their King had quite overturned his Religion? Had there indeed been any Number of Note that had opposed this Corruption, is't at all probable it would have been concealed in these Hebrew Histories? Their Penmen, we know, were all Zealous enough to preserve the Honour of Judea; and yet in this particular we find a still total silence: And if any man will needs hold the contrary, they who call so much for Catalogue of Names, might in Justice demand of this grand Undertaker, to show a List of those Jews, who from Age to Age, whilst this Corruption held, did not at all worship in High Places.  
But you'll demand perhaps, For how long a time was the Hebrew Church thus corrupted? And indeed Learned Men differ here. Some think this abuse began in the times of Othoniel and Ehud, Judges: Others placed it in the days of Gideon; admit either of these conjectures, and 'twill be plain in Chronology, that this forbidden worship held no less than six hundred Years; for all agree, Hezekiah was the first who durst be so good, in those bad times, as to reform this corruption. But grant we do abate of this, since great Clerks conceive, that from the time that the Ark was parted from the Tabernacle, which was no less than ninety years, from the days of Eli the Priest, when the Ark went Captive to Philistia, until they both met again in the Temple of Solomon, 'twas lawful to sacrifice at more than one only altar, because God had promised his more immediate Presence as well before the Ark, as before the Tabernacle. For this reason I say (though perhaps it hold not) grant we abate of that time; what I find established by common consent, will prove large enough to support all my whole intention. For no man dares deny, the Text is so plain, in that Catalogue of Kings I related, that this corruption held from the days of Solomon unto the Reign of King Hezekiah, and so no less than upon the Point of three hundred years, as is plain, by the computation of Arias Montanus, and by the most exact in Chronology.  
So then, three things are here very considerable; first, the Nature of this Corruption, 'twas in the Censure of God's Law no less than the sin of Murder; and in the Censure of the Jews, it deserved no less than the Revenge of a plain Civil War. Secondly, the Extent of this Corruption; it had spread itself throughout the whole face of Judea; so that all that was at that time, God's Visible Church, was at once involved in this Error. For I need not now speak of the Ten Tribes; their high places were made waste, as is plain enough from the Calves of Dan, and of Bethel. Thirdly, the Continuance of this Corruption; it held probably for six, but no man can deny, that it remained in the Church of Jewry upon the point of three Centuries of years.  
Hence 'twill follow clearly; The whole Visible Church may be so far corrupted, that though she forsake not God, and so run in Non Ecclesiam, to be no Church at all, yet for a long time she may do Public Worship in a most gross forbidden manner; and this kind of Abuse may be so dangerous, that upon its full discovery, both Prince and People may be in conscience bound to embrace Reformation.  
Has God's Church of the Law been so foully blemished? and may that of the Gospel boast of a more constant Beauty? Are the Promises of this kind more large to us, than they were to that Church wherein God's own Son was born? She in as plain Terms was then called the Spouse of God: I will betrothe thee unto me for ever, saith the Lord, Host 2. His People and his Flock: We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hands, Psal. 95. Yea, his Sons and his Daughters; Thou shalt call me, my Father, saith the Lord, and shalt not depart from me, (Jer. 3. 19) True, the Gates of Hell shall not so prevail, but Christ will still have a Church; and could the Gates of Hell prevail against her that was betrothed God's own Spouse for ever? That is, at least till Christ came. No, they could not prevail to make her run in non Ecclesiam, to become no true Church at all; and yet they might prevail to make her run in Corruptam Ecclesiam, into a Church so much corrupt in her Public Worship, that she might much need a Reformation. And indeed, 'tis a strange thing that any Christian Church which God has placed among Gentiles, should be so puffed up with a thought of her own strength, that she cannot fail in this particular. For 'tis a Truth clear in the Text, that there's no Church of Gentiles, but like a Branch from the Vine, it may be quite cut from Christianity. And which is worth observing, St. Paul has indicted this selfsame Truth to the Romans, in the 11th chap. verse 21. Be not high minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he spare not thee. And that this Text implies the Christian Gentiles may be all cut off quite from Christ, is here the Conclusion of Stapleton, and of the Remists' Notes on that Text, and of divers of their way.  
And to say the plain truth, that Text I named can well bear no other comment, unless we'll fond affirm, that St. Paul warns the Gentiles to take heed of that mischance, which yet indeed could not possibly fall out. And then I beseech you observe, if that same Church which boasts most of strength, may yet run in Non Ecclesiam, may become no Church at all, she may much more run in Corruptam Ecclesiam, into a Church so corrupt in her Public Worship, that she may now need a Reformation.  
I say, she may run into a corrupt Church: and do but consider her new claim of Infallibility, and you'll easily yield, 'tis a Victory to prove, that Rome may be conquered: to make this appear, She may err, is enough to convince her of no little part of her Errors. If you ask me to show more, I shall beg leave to reply, That 'tis an Argument I affect not; for I had much rather be employed in discourses of good life, than in these of controversies; as holding that, in all kind of Contentions, to be the most fit Christian Prayer, Give peace in our time, O Lord. Yet since I here meet with such Disputes and Waver; in some I'll think out of Conscience; in others, either out of Vanity, to entertain their time, or that under pretence of searching Christian Truths, they may indeed drive a Trade; I must hence hold it a Duty I owe unto most of those that now hear me; yea, a Duty I owe to that venerable Church that baptised us all, though our now poor afflicted Mother, to keep the Fruit of her own Womb from thus trampling on her; to keep them, as much as in me lies, from being gulled and cheated from her Unity, and withal from communicating too deeply in sin with those who have now cast her on the ground.  
If you ask then for the corruptions of the Western Church: suppose I instance but in one alone, She took the Cup from the People: An Abuse set up against as clear Text as e'er the High Places were. Drink ye all of this, saith our Saviour, St. Mat. 26. And again (as they interpret that Text), Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you, in that 6 th' chap. o St. John. Mark [ye have no life in you]; I know they defend this, and make no question at all, but some witty Scribe might have been as well able to defend the Jews; who, for aught I know, might have said, as they do, That the Hebrew Church had power over the Sacraments, (and Sacrifices are no more) or by their new Doctrine of Concomitance, they might maintain much more probably, that their High Places and Altars were but only used as Parts, as Appurtenances, as Concomitants of the Tabernacle, than these, that Shed-blood lies in the Host. For Shed-blood it must be; This is my very Blood which is shed for you: So that to tell us of Blood in the Body, of Blood running in the Veins, is indeed to show forth the Lord's Life, but not, as he commands, to show forth his death till he comes. N●y, admit the Doctrine of Concomitance, (which yet in this point is but a mere perfect fiction) yet Christ enjoins; Drink ye all of this. And I appeal to your own Senses themselves, whether to eat Christ's Blood, be to drink it.  
Their Public Service in an unknown Tongue, is it not as clearly against the Doctrine of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 14. How, saith he, shall the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understands not what thou sayest? in the 16 th' verse of that chapter. Two things you see the Apostle there takes for granted; first, that the unlearned aught to say Amen at God's Public Service: Secondly, they cannot join that consent of theirs, but to those words they understand.  
I might instance in many more particulars; as in the Adoration of Images, of Saints, of the Eucharist, in the Doctrine of Purgatory, and those other Articles of the New Creed of Trent; whereof some are of dangerous practice; nay, (as Learned men amongst themselves have confessed, Gerson, Espensaeus, and many others) they are of practice, among the Vulgar at least (some doubt not to add, and among the Learned too) no less than Idololatrical. Others again are made Articles of Faith, which yet for aught appears either in the Text, or in Antiquity, are indeed not so much as probable Opinions: So that to say truth, there are store of men who have not Ignorance enough to believe such Articles. And yet the Western Church has forced many Souls into the Faith of this New Creed, both by the Prison and the Stake: And in this Tyranny hath showed herself far worse than e'er old Judah did. For though we read of no visible conspicuous number that did avoid the High Places, yet in Charity we may think there were some few that did so, and yet in this regard we read not so much as one either punished, or disgraced by an Hebrew Magistrate.  
'Tis true then, that God's Church, yea, his Christian Church, may be stained with some gross foul Corruptions▪ But what? Because she may thus err, shall each giddy Brain be allowed to control, or each private Hand to reform her? Admit this Disorder once, and let a Church be indeed most Apostolic, yet you may be assured she shall ne'er want Reformers, if she have either Sons to be employed in Rebellion, or Lands to be enjoyed by Sacrilege. A Corah then will dare to tell Moses to his face, That all the Congregation is holy, as holy as himself, or the best employed in the Tabernacle; all Kings and Priests then; and all this stir is raised, not so much that he dislikes the Order of Aaron, but that indeed he likes his Revenue. And therefore in my Text there's care had of this. A Reformation follows; but you'll find it brought in by no less than by the Power Royal, whose high places, and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah, etc.  
This part affords Varieties; and I must therefore divide it. Here's then first the Prime Agent in this Reformation I named, Hezekiah the King. Secondly, the Extent of the Reformation, 'twas only brought into his own Territories, Judah and Jerusalem. Thirdly, the manner how he settled it; 'twas done as well by teaching truth, as by reforming corruptions: He took away the High Places, and he said, Ye shall worship before this altar at Jerusalem. First, of the Prime Agent, Hezekiah the King.  
But to remove these Abuses here, did not this Prince first abuse himself, to fit his hands for this work? Did Hezekiah the King make his Person no less than plain Head of the Church of Judah? Were some Modern Tongues to have supplied Rabshakehs place, this is the Theme, and this is the Phrase they'd have chosen. And yet I assure myself this pious Prince would have stood to't, that he was supreme Governor, in all Causes, and over all Persons; so that upon provocation given, he could no doubt have deposed the High Priest, as Solomon once did Abiathar. But yet (I beseech you observe) 'tis one thing to burn Incense, another to enjoin that this Service be still duly done: One thing to offer Sacrifice, another to command that no Sacrifice be offered, but on that one Altar at Jerusalem; The first of these belonged unto Aaron's Sons, the other to the Heirs of David. To bar Hezekiah this Power in the Church, were to impair his Royalties, and to deny that to the Crown of Judah which all Princes have still challenged; yea, those without the Church, the Kings of Nineveh, and Monarches of Assyria; Their Swords were Ecclesiastical. Thus that King proclaims a Religious Fast, Jon. 3. And Nebuchad Dan. 3. 29. Thus from the beginning Christian Princes have still done the like, and have let us see by their Laws, that in point of Coercive Power they still kept the Church-supremacy, as clearly appears in the Theodosian Code, and in that of Justinian in the Capitulars of Charles the great, and such other collections. Justinian, in an Ecclesiastical Novel, comes fully home in this point: Jubemus beatissimos Archiepiscopos & Patriarchas, (i) Senioris Romae, & Constantinopoleos Novae Romae; We command, saith he, (and as some Copies have it under the pain of Deposition too) the most blessed Archbishop, and Patriarches (i) of Old Rome, and of Constantinople, then called New Rome, etc. If that Emperor might command all the Patriarches themselves, and that in a business Ecclesiastical too, where then lay the Church-supremacy? And these Novels of his were in so high esteem with St. Gregory the great, that 'tis plain in his Epistles, he decides Church-causes by them, and that with an Ita decrevit Dominus noster Imperator; Our Lord the Emperor hath thus ruled it in his Laws.  
Besides, most plain it is, that the Old Hebrew Kings held the Work in my Text to belong to them as in chief. And this Opinion God himself confirmed; for throughout their whole story you'll find, that Kings only are checked when the Church was corrupt, and they only praised when she mended. In those Scriptures we read but of Three Noted Reformations, and they were all done by their Kings. By King Asa, by this King in my Text, and the last by King Josiah. Those High Places alone were pulled down by Asa which were set up to the worship of a false God. Hezekiah goes farther, and destroys them too, which were set up for the false worship, though of the true only Deity. Josiah goes on, and removes the Groves, and such devices as those which Solomon, and other Kings, having of old set up, they were again renewed in the wicked Reign of Manasseh.  
But grant a Christian Church to be indeed corrupt, or that really men think it is so, is't not allowed by Christ's Law, either for Subjects, or others, against the Will of the King, into whose care she's put, by force of Arms, to constrain, or beat her to a Purity? A case of conscience you'll find, whereby to resolve this, decided by our Saviour's own Mouth, in the 9th chap. of St. Luke; where entering, saith the Text, into a Village of Samaria, the Inhabitants were so far from receiving the Doctrine he intended to preach, that indeed they endured not his Person. Hence James and John, the Two Sons of Thunder, begin strait to show their Temper; What! not receive Christ, nor the Christian Faith! Master, shall we command fire from heaven? For if Persuasion will not draw men unto the Gospel thou bring'st, it must be done by Fire, or by Sword. Our Saviour replies, Ye know not of what spirit ye are: Ye understand not at all what thing 'tis to be a Christian. I came not to destroy men's Lives, but to save them; I came not to plant a Religion in Blood; no, I leave that to Turks, and to Mahomet: Had that been my Intent, you James and John had been no Apostles for me: I would then have made choice of Commanders from an Army, not of Fishermen from their Nets. And yet in these times have not we the like Sons of Thunder? What I will they not receive the New Holy Discipline, the very Sceptre of Christ, the Throne of his Mediatorship (and indeed they could do little, if they knew not how to clothe their new Fancies in good Words), Lord, shall we command Fire from Heaven? or if you will, Fire from Hell? Shall we raise a Rebellion? Shall we by a Covenant swear Christ into his Throne, or forswear the King out of his? What think ye will be replied to these, and the like kind of men, but ye know not of what spirit ye are? It's not lawful by Blood to bring in Christian Faith; and is it lawful by Blood to bring in that thing which they of late call a Christian Government? It's not lawful to plant a Church by such Force; and is it lawful thus to reform it? They who think it is, truly for my part, I neither at all know of what spirit they are, no, nor of what reason neither; This I well know, of what spirit they are not; they are of no spirit Evangelical.  
So then, to attempt to reform a Church in despite of the Prince whom God has now placed her under, is to invade Royal Power, and can be indeed called but a more zealous kind of Rebellion; since tôs cure a Church by such drenches as these, is, no doubt, at the same time to give Poison to a Kingdom: and 'twas therefore decreed in that most ancient Council of Eliberis (twenty years before that of Nice), That if in hatred to Idolatry if self, a private man would needs pull down Images, he should by no means be esteemed a Martyr, if he lost his life in that service. And the Fathers there give their Reason, because we have no example for this either from Prophets or Apostles. No, 'twas their part to preach down High Places, or Idols, but they well knew 'twas the Duty of Kings, of Supreme Powers to remove them: And he can be no Martyr for the first Table of the Law, who is in the same deed a Transgressor of the second: nor will God at all thank him as a Reformer of his Church, who in the selfsame Act is no less than a plain Traitor to his Deputy. So that as for Subjects to take up Arms against their Kings, is by the Doctrine of St. Peter and St. Paul, in all cases damnable: so specially to do this in point of our Religion, which so much commends and blesseth Patience, and Sufferings, and Martyrdom, either upon pretence to plant it where it now is not, or to reform it where it has been planted, is of all other kinds of Contentions or Wars, the most Turkishly Antichristian.  
And therefore to avoid Quarrels and Blood, 'twas Hezekiah the King who here reforms the Church of Judea; But yet, durst he adventure alone upon an attempt so sacred and so great? No, you'll easily find in the circumstances of the Text, that he had both a Council, and withal a Rule to direct him; for if you read the 30, and the 31, of the 2 d of Chron. you'll see this Reformation was made in the time of a most solemn Passover, where the Priests and Levites, the Princes and the People met; and when, saith the Text, chap. 30. ver. 30. Hezekiah had spoke comfortable words to all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord. Yea, Josephus seems to put into this King's mouth a Synodical Oration in the ninth of his Antiquities. I say, when upon the King's encouragement the Levites had once taught that good Knowledge, then upon such counsel, such direction as this, than came the Reformation; For so Moses was plain in the blessing he gave upon the whole Tribe of Levi: They shall teach Jacob thy judgements, and Israel thy Law, Deut. 33. at the 10. And as he had a Council, so 'tis as plain by the selfsame words he had a Rule too to go by, 'twas the good Knowledge of the Lord, which is in Moses phrase his Judgements and his Law: And lest he should perhaps err in the Interpretation of that sacred Text, he had the help of the best Comment too, as you but now heard from the 22 d of Joshua, 'twas the sense and practice of the Hebrew Church, whilst she was yet Primitive.  
That the Church of England was reform by the Power Royal, by a Power that made use of the like Counsel, and like Rule, is a truth I think none here doubts of; if any do, 'twill be soon cleared both from our Stories and our Laws; that first Our Liturgy which Reformed Gods Public Service, was composed by Bishops and others others of great Knowledge in Antiquity, many whereof attained the Honour of Martyrdom: And then the Book of our Articles which reform the Theological Tenets, the common Doctrines of our Church, were Compiled by Synods, by Convocations, by the two Solemn Provincial Councils of London, or if you will, the two National, because both our Provinces concurred in the same truth, in the years 52 and 62. And that our Rule was the same they here used in Jewry, God's word interpreted by the Sense and Practice of the Ancient Church, appears in the next Synod after, where 'tis decreed in plain words, That whosoever undertakes to teach any truth as necessary to salvation, which he is not able to make good by Text, as 'twas understood by the Fathers, and the Ancient Church, shall be exposed to Ecclesiastical Censure, and Canonical Correction. And we cannot think our Church would enjoin a Rule to her Sons, which yet she had not kept herself. In this Point than we are hand in hand with Judah; the same Power, the same Council, the same Rule. I go to the next following, The Extent of the Reformation: 'twas only set up in his own Territories, Judah and Jerusalem.  
Indeed Hezekiah wrote Letters, and sent to the remains of the Ten Tribes, to join in this great Action with him; but they, for the most part, contemned his Message, and slighted his Attempt, 2 Chron. 30. The King did exceeding well: For 'twas to be much wished, that in a Design so highly pious as this, all Israel would have been unanimous: But yet if Ephraim, and others, will refuse to hear, Judah must mend alone. How generally a Reformation was desired in these parts of Christendom, by men of the choicest Note, both for Learning and Piety, 'twere no hard Task at all to show you. Nay, in the very Council of Trent, Ten several Kingdoms and States desired the Cup for the People, both by their Ambassadors, and their Prelates: Many pressed for a Redress of Service in an unknown Tongue; many for many other particulars: All were refused, and the Reason plain; Order was there taken (you may guests by whom), that there were more Italian Prelates, sometimes by Twenty, sometimes by an Hundred, than there were of all the World besides; so that in effect all this Christendom would have reform herself, had not Italy opposed it. Nor can that be called a General Council, ('twas but Patriarchal at the largest) since the Bishops of the East, and other great Churches, were not there, no, nor those Three long since so most famous Patriarches of Constantinople, and Alexandria, and Antioch, who though they may be deceived in that Tenet of the Procession of the Holy Ghost, yet whatever Error they are in, in that point, they are in no Heresy, as is confessed by P. Lombard himself, and has been oft made unanswerably good, by Men as well versed in controversal Points, as any Christendom has bred. But 'tis the Artifice of the Western Church, to persuade the World, that those ancient parts are now fallen from the Church, that so within the Curtains of their own Patriarchate she may have General Councils, and an universal Church; and so though she now make not near a Third part of the Christian World, yet with the Donatist, she dares profess herself the only Catholic Church, and so damns all Mankind without her. Neither yet do I deny, nay, I affirm it rather, That a true General Council could best prescribe Remedies unto so large a Disease; but to convoke that, was extremely difficult, and we are all sure 'twas not done. For what Christian Princes can now give safe conduct to the Bishops and Patriarches of those remoter parts of the Church? So then, if neither a true General Council, nor free Patriarchal, could be had, were't not strange Imprudence to refuse a Cure, because we could not use the best Physicians? In this case no doubt it unquestionably holds, what Gerson, the Learned Chancellor of Paris, has spoken out without Limitation, and he (as Bell. affirms) was, Vir doctus & pius; he was a learned and a good man too; and you shall hear that good man's words; Nolo tamen dicere, etc. I will not say, saith he, but the Church may be reform by parts; yea, this is necessary, and to effect it Provincial Councils may suffice, and in some things Diocesan: 'tis in his Tract. de Gen. Con. unius obed. And indeed Particular Churches have gone farther in this kind than our dear Mother e'er dreamed of. For four things there are chiefly of Synodical Cognizance, Articles of Faith, Forms of Divine Worship, Theological Conclusions for the Peace of each Church, and the points of Ceremony. Only these Three last were the Subject of our Reformation, we still adhering unto the Three Creeds, which are the Faith of the Church Catholic. But whence came Filioque in Two of these Three Creeds, if not in a Provincial Synod? In a General, no man thinks it did: And some Learned men ascribe that Addition of Faith to the Eighth Synod of Toledo. And if a Provincial of Spain may thus decide Points of Faith, I understand not why a National of England may not be heard in far less matters. Nay, in the Fourth of Toledo 'twas challenged by the Fathers, as the proper Right of a National Synod, that it might decide Points of Faith, as clearly appears in the 3. Can. of that Council.  
You see then the Parallel still holds; Hezekiah reformed but his Two Tribes, and our English Princes but their own Territories. I come to the last of this Second General. The manner of the Reformation; He did as well teach the truth, as reform the corruptions: He took away the high places, and he said, Ye shall, etc.  
Ye shall worship before one altar; so his words are set down, 2 Chron. 32. at the 12 th'. He did not only remove their Errors, as if that past Triumph might suffice them; but for the future he enjoined the People to employ their Devotion according to God's sacred Law. And did not we so too? Witness our Catechisms, and our Liturgy, our many Forms of Devotion to God, and our many enlargements of those Moral Duties we owe to the several ranks of our Neighbours. 'Tis then but a Calumny, and a fond one too, to call our Faith a Negative Religion, as if to believe that some Men are erroneous, were the sole Article of all our Church's Creed. Truth is, we may thank them for it, that 'tis with us as with Judah; our Profession must needs now contain some Negatives: High places are not allowable, maimed Sacraments must not be suffered, nor Images adored; but yet they may soon see our Positive Tracts are more large than our polemics, and that we have taken more pains to make men good, than to make them Learned or Judicious.  
I heartily wish I could in this regard as well defend some Sons of our Church, as I am sure I can our Church itself. For many men's ill carriage seem to divide the two clauses here, which are so nearly joined in my Text. They, like well to remove High Places and Altars, in this regard, none shall show more Zeal than they; nay, under pretences of such corruptions as these, if you please, remove Church and all. But when we once come to this, Ye shall worship before one altar; ye shall bow down, ye shall bend yourselves (for so the word here imports), ye shall be devout, and religious; and this not only in your inmost thoughts, but in your outward Forms of Deportment; they like no such Reformation; 'tis enough to save them, that they have learned to hate Rome, and that they are no superstitious Persons. Let not such men deceive themselves. 'Twill one day rise up in Judgement, 'twill plead against them, and severely too, that they have been bred Members of such a reformed Church, and yet neither in their Devotions, nor their Lives themselves, have they showed the least Reformation: What good will it do these to have been so Christianly allowed the Blessed Cup in the Sacrament, when yet either they come not at all, or come in their sins to receive it? What will it avail thee to have God's Service performed in a Language thou understand'st, when either very seldom thou hearest it read, or dost not heed at all, though thou hear it? How will that poor man, whom perhaps thou now pitiest, plead against thee at that Last Bar of Christ's Judgement? I indeed came seldom, and with small Devotion to that Sacrament, because I was there robbed of that sacred Cup which I know Thou thyself hadst left me. I seldom came to God's Public Service; and being there, I fixed my Mind on some secular Lusts, because I could not understand it: And in punishment shall I be equalled to him who was allowed the Cup, and in Divine Service might have understood both all Hymns and Prayers? Believe it, the Reformation was made not to boast of, but to use: And he who shall declare, that he likes the thing, and yet is no whit the better for it, runs at the best but into a kind of Covetousness, (a sin St. Paul called Idolatry) for with such miserable Churls, he loves indeed to have the power of this great Wealth, and yet he doth ne'er mean to use it. But we ought to know, that when Hezekiah has once removed these High Places here, 'tis to this great end especially, that thenceforth we should be the more carefully devout before that allowed Altar at Jerusalem: And yet when we have done this, we must look for Scorns and Reproaches; For if Judah, or any Child of hers, be grown good, you may surely expect there will be strait work for Rabshakeh, as you'll see in my last part, The Reformation censured, it's taxed of Novelty, and Schism, and the like. But if ye say, We trust in the Lord our God, is not that he, etc.  
'Twas in St. Hierom's time, an Hebrew Tradition, that this Rabshakeh was born a Jew; so that Father upon the 36 th' of Esay. Indeed so it often falls out, that Judah has no man a more bitter Enemy, than when one of the Circumcision becomes a Fugitive. Nor has our Mother-Church been by any more violently opposed, than by the hands who have left her, by the hands of those fickle men, whose persons she did once baptise.  
But leave the Man, come to his Words; If ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord, etc. You see Rabshakeh himself was grown so much a Divine, as to aver openly, That he who puts his Hand to overturn that Religion he professes; yea, that puts his Hand to overturn it too at the same time while he likes it, pretend what he will, he trusts not in God, he trusts perhaps in the Syrians, or in Egypt.  
He goes on, Is not this he whose altars, etc. He, Judah's old God; and therefore 'twas no less than plain Novelty to leave him: These High Places and Altars, as he conceived, were his too: And to leave off to communicate in that Service they once used, what can this be less than a Schism? And have not we been long since; nay, are we not reproached even unto this day with the very selfsame Imputations? They have set up a new Church; they are wicked Schismatics: So that should the most modest man entertain that Dream of Pythagoras, of the transmigration of Souls from one body to another, he would not stick at all to affirm, that he who was once Rabshakeh, was since some tart Penman of this latter Century.  
I'll speak first of that Tax, the reproach of Novelty: And I beseech you mark how Rabshakeh has here framed his Words. He strives to lay all upon this Present King; Hezekiah took away, and Hezekiah said; No mention that this Fact was enjoined by Moses; and practised too by the Hebrew Church, whilst she was the Primitive. Thus let but Rabshakeh once tell the tale, and a Church larely reformed shall indeed appear to be but a late founded Church. Ignorance may perhaps excuse this Commander here in my Text; but some Learned men in our times are more extremely to blame: for you'll soon see how fond are their main Exceptions, do but suppose their Words put into the Mouth of Rabshakeh, when as here in my Text, at Jerusalem he bespoke the besieged men upon the Wall; Hear, O ye Jews, will your aged Synagogue at length turn Novelist? Your Fathers worshipped in these High Mountains; but ye now say, Jerusalem's the place; where was the Church before Hezekiah? Was't no where, or invisible? Were your Predecessors blinded with one joint consent? Or are ye only become more clear of sight, what! than Solomon the wise, or Asa the religious? Does your God sometime forsake his Church, or will for Hundreds of Years suffer it to be so constantly obscured? Let not this pure Prince deceive you still with these fond upstart toys; for 'tis your Judah's greatest Fame that she's thought very Ancient.  
What Jew, I wonder, could this speech move, unless 'twere to laughter? Where was their Church before Hezekiah? In the same place, and among the same People, and 'twas still the very selfsame Church: I say, the same in truth of essence (for so's a Thief a True man) but not in condition or in quality: for formerly it was corrupt, now reformed by the Law of Moses; formerly it had heen dangerously diseased, but 'twas now cured by Hezekiah. Let them ask Naaman too, where was he before Elisha had healed him? Would he not divide the Question, He was long before, but he was withal Leprous: And Palestine had still a Church, but God knows 'twas a corrupt one. So then he who calls a reformed Church new, because 'tis newly reformed, might as well call Naaman a child too, because after his cure the Text plainly says his flesh came again like a child's. But in earnest, is our Age to be accounted from our recovery? Or is a man no Older than his Health? By this Philosophy they might persuade the Leper, that he bore Office in the Syrian Court before he was a year Old. Let therefore the Modern Rabshakehs cease to upbraid us with such known petty Cavils, our Church was no more invisible than that of Judah, and might as well be before Luther was, as theirs before Hezekiah.  
Secondly, They tax us of Schism; which is questionless a great sin, being in frequent Texts very sharply condemned in Scripture. 'Tis then committed when there is a Scissure, a Breach, an uncharitable Division made, betwixt those men especially, which in point of Religion were once joined and linked together. So that where this Rupture is, there is sin without doubt; all the Question is, on which side the Crime must lie; sometimes it may lie on both, but it ever lies on him that gives just cause of Division, not ever on him that divides. Abraham did divide from his Idolatrous Kindred, and so did St. Paul from his old friends the Jews. The Orthodox Christians were forced to do the like when Arrianism did prevail: and yet in the opinion of these Rabshakehs themselves, neither Abraham, nor St. Paul, nor those old Christians were Schismatical. Thus when Hezekiah once had reformed the Church of Judea, no man can think a Conscientious Jew would at all communicate in the service of these High Places; he did divide from it without doubt, although before, either by custom or ignorance, or the like, he did it frequently without Scruple. And yet might such a Jew be held guilty of Schism? no more sure than Hezekiah, who both did and enjoined the like; and yet the Holy Ghost in this History here does in express terms commend him; in the fourth verse of this Chapter he commends him as much for reforming the Church as he does for being like David. So that to tax him, were indeed to affirm, that the Spirit of God commends a Schismatic himself for the very act of his schism.  
Thus than they are not still they who divide, but they who give or continue the just cause of Division, who are guilty of that sin we speak of. But yet since in Church-controversies 'tis not so easy to judge what makes that just cause I named, and that no wise man can think it fit it should be left to each private judgement: since in such divisions as these, men are extremely apt to forget all bonds of Peace, and for possession sometimes of a little supposed truth, quit indeed their whole Estate of Charity: therefore the Ancients do oft define schism by these two grand notes or Characters.  
First, when men make Divisions in point of Religion against the consent of their lawful Pastors: 'tis so defined by St. Cyprian, and St. Jerom, and others, Secondly, when men cast out of the Church Catholic, and so damn to Hell all that hold not their opinions. And this St. Austin doth oft times call schism in the Donatists.  
And now take Schism in what sense, under what note you please, our Mother Church is guiltless of that imputation. First taken it for a Division in God's public Service; She did no more in that point than what was here done by Hezekiah: since she had as clear Text, and so as just cause, To give the Cup to the People; to turn their Devotions into a language they understood, as this King here had, to bring the Jews from their Old Mass in high places, unto that one Altar at Jerusalem. Nay the cause we had, was more just than that of Judah: because the corruptions of the Western Church were all backed by Tyranny, Men were constrained into Errors; when yet we read not at all that if a pious Jew would have kept himself unto that one Altar at Jerusalem, he was either checked by their Kings, or oppressed by their Priests, or condemned to Tophet by their Sanhedrim.  
Secondly, Take Schism for an opposition made against our lawful Pastors: and our Church you'll find was not guilty in this matter neither. For at that time when the Reformation was made, we were under our own Synods only, and with what readiness they joined in this grand Work, you have heard in my second General. 'Tis true, that for some hundreds of years we had been under a known Foreign Power (but yet such a Power as came not amongst us but by the breach of a great General Councils, as is clear from the last Canon of the first of Ephesus) A Power, I say, Patriarchal, and so merely of Ecclesiastical Right, not of Divine Institution. A Power which in the Ancient Church had been set up by Emperors, as that of Justiniana prima by Justinian in his 11 th' Novel: Nay 'twas openly maintained in the great Council of Chalcedon, that all the Patriarches had gained their Power merely by Custom, and by Imperial Countenance: So that 'tis a Power that may be taken away, without all doubt taken away, otherwise Gerson the wise Chancellor of Paris would not have written in France, De auferibilitate Papae. England went farther, and did indeed remove that, which others did but say was removable: but removed it was before the Reformation; that removed it not, as men well know that know our Laws; and so we were left but under our own Synods only; so that now besides a General Council which we are willing to hear, we can resist no lawful Pastors but our own.  
Lastly, Take Schism for that monstrous height of uncharitableness, when with the Donatists those men who are but a part of the Church, dare call themselves the Church Catholic, and so dare damn all the rest of Mankind, who refuse to embrace their opinions. I could name you those who are guilty of this, but I am sure our Dear Mother is not, who has been so mild to those that have most highly opposed Her, that besides the Reproaches of Novelty and Schism, you all well know she hath been long reproached for her Charity. And yet when St. Cyprian being Primate of Carthage, did in his full Synod against the sense of the whole Church set up plain Rebaptisation, St. Austin defends him from the Tax of Schism, only because he began that Provincial Council with this charitable Clause, Neminem damnantes, nec a jure Communionis quempiam, si diversum senserit, removentes, We decree this, saith he, but yet we damn no man, nor do we bar any from the Communion of afric though he think the quite contrary. And how punctually have we observed this Rule of good old St. Cyprian? In these late Church-Controversies, Opinions indeed, and Actions we condemn (and so did that Father too) but yet we damn no man's Person. For 'tis he Tenor of God Laws, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour, his Person, as thyself; but 'tis not said, Thou shalt love his Deeds or Opinions. For though what men act or opine may be in itself damnable, yet (where they are not wilfully perverse) customary breeding joined with ignorance or the like, may excuse the men from damnation. And how far we have been, in such differences as these, from debarring any Man or Communion, yea, even those that heretofore did oppose, and now perhaps do disdain us, I appeal to the first twelve years of Queen Elizabeth, where men apparently known to have kept their old opinions, were not only received into the Service of our Church, but were admitted to the Eucharist itself, the very highest act of Communion.  
And now I have gone through my Text, and shall only add, That I scarce know any Scruple, any Query they make, that may not well be solved from this Parallel. They ask why their opinions should be condemned for Errors, if we know not the precise time when they rose? yes, the High Places here were gross Errors, and yet the most learned dare not say, whether they rose in the time of the Judges, or in the days of King Solomon. They ask whether our Forefathers were damned, who, we grant, died in their Religion? And we demand, whether for so many hundred years were all the Jews damned that did worship God in High Places? I think they were not, if they lived pious lives, and kept themselves from all wilful ignorance. For then, though the Errors of both Churches, the Hebrew and the Christian too, were in themselves no less than damnable; yet by ignorance, or by the like Apology with this, though they made no express repentance for a sin they knew not; yet by the ordinary dispensation of Divine Grace, the men, we think, escaped damnation. But I have one Query more, a Case of Conscience to leave with you. Suppose a Jew that had been rightly bred in the Reformation of King Hezekiah, should at length fall back to do Sacrifice in the High Places, upon confidence that his Forefathers might well be saved in that Service, whether were not this man indeed guilty of murder, (Leu. 17. 4.) and so not in state of Salvation, unless by express Repentance he turn back to God, for this very Apostasy? The Resolution is easy, it scarce needs Levi's help: and I beseech you let it be thought on, and then I hope, to turn Apostate from a true Reformed Church will be held no slight trivial matter.  
All this is to let you see the great Likeness betwixt the two Churches I have named, Judah and England, both, were reformed, by a Power, by a Council and Rule most approvable, without Schism, without Rebellion; in both the Ceremonies remained decent, the Service of God daily, and honourable, and which is more than this, though they both removed the forbidden Altars, yet both kept the old Priesthood too. And since God in so clear Text did approve the one, why should any man ever doubt the other? And yet Judah in my Text was almost eaten out by the Sword: Alas, we are in this but too like her. Although perhaps we are more like this poor Church, when she was yet more miserable, when she mixed her tears with the sad tenor of those words: Ps. 13. 7. By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Zion. For let me assure you, 'twas a distressed reformed Church they there remembered, and no marvel then if that memorial were in tears: either in tears of Repentance, that their own foul sins had brought on this great Desolation: or else in tears of longing to see that famous Church once restored, to see God again served in the beauty of holiness, that their Ravished Souls might once more ascend in Prayers and Hymns, or Hallelujahs, in one of the Old Songs of Zion. Let us but sow in such tears as these, and I should certainly hope we should e'er long reap in joy; in joy temporal, to see our King and ourselves in Peace; and in joy spiritual, to see that Church of God reestablished. Which God, etc.  
FINIS.