THE TYRANNY OF SATAN, Discovered by the tears of a Converted Sinner, in a Sermon Preached in Paul's Church, on the 28 of August, 1642.  
By THOMAS GAGE, formerly a Romish Priest, for the space of 38 years, and now truly reconciled to the Church of England.  
LONDON, Printed by Tho. Badgor, for Humphrey Mosley, at the Prince's arms in Paul's churchyard. M.DC.XLII.   

To the Right honourable, ISAAC PENNINGTON Lord Major of the City of London, together with the Right worshipful the sheriffs, and Aldermen of the same City.  
SIRS,  
MAy it please you, Saul that great Persecutor of the new beginning Church of Christ, that enemy who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, after he was cast down from his horse, and his pride was quelled by the might and power of Christ, he was by the Lord's order committed to the care of Ananias, Acts 9 11. True it is, Ananias answered the Lord, that he was jealous and fearful of Saul, because he had heard by many, how much evil he had done to the Saints at Jerusalem, 13. v. But the Lord replied no more unto him, but that he should not fear nor mistrust him, because he had turned his heart, and made him a chosen vessel to bear his name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and children of Israel, & that he would teach him how great things he should suffer for his name's sake. Let it please your Honour and Worships to behold here my own case deciphered; for if Saul persecuted the Church of Christ; I myself have persecuted the same Church, by opposing the doctrine of it, by preaching and teaching contrary to it, by procuring to seduce souls from it, by writing against it. But now it hath pleased that mighty and powerful Lord; against whom there is no resistance, to cast me down upon the ground, to quell my pride, to lighten me round about with the beams and light of his mercies, to make me know how hard a thing it is to kick against the will & calling of God, and with trembling and fear to make me say, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? If Saul was sent to Damascus to Ananias, a chief and zealous follower of Christ, that by him he might be protected from the Jews and enemies of the Lord, who doubtless hearing of his change and conversion would have cruelly torn and slaughtered him if they could have found him. So I myself by a secret and inward order, which I have found by God delivered to my soul, have judged it meet and fit to search out in this City some zealous Ananias, some religious follower of Christ's pure doctrine, that I may be safely sheltered & protected from the violent attempts of the Lord's enemies the Papists, who I know will endeavour to do me all the mischief they can. Therefore let it please your honour and Wps. who are well known to be as Ananias in Damascus, zealous and truly religious followers of Christ's own doctrine, and favourers of the pure Word of the Lord, to cast your eyes upon me a new converted Saul, to shelter and protect me from those that plot my mischief. O when surest they are to hinder my perseverance in the truth, by plotting and studying my destruction, let them find me hovering under the wings of your protection. O fear not! nor say what Ananias said, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy Saints, but praise the work of the Lord in me, who hath opened now my eyes, who hath brought me now out of Babylon, who hath made me confess my sins and iniquities with a sorrowful and contrite heart. And as it pleased the Lord to show Saul, as soon as he was converted how great things he should suffer for his name's sake; even so be you confident, as I myself am that this my calling & conversion is purely & merely from above and from the Lord; from whom I have received this testimony, that he hath showed me already how great things I must suffer for his name's sake; for I must for him suffer many injuries and calumniations from the Papists, I must suffer the loss of all my kindred, I must suffer the loss of that maintenance, which I was wont to receive from them, I must suffer want and poverty. But for whom? For the Lord's sake; for the teaching and preaching the precise rule of the Word of the Lord, for abjuring all Popish errors, for renouncing all supertitions, for abhorring all idolatries. Let these my sufferings serve to your honour and Worships for a true testimony of my conversion; let these my sufferings remove from you all fears and jealousies of my perseverance, that thus with your favourable protection I may rejoice in my calling, I may freely teach the pure Word of the Lord, I may oppose all Antichristian doctrine, and by my example may draw many wandering souls to the true Faith & Church of Christ. And I shall always pray to the Lord to keep your honour and Worships in grace, and that you may so rule & govern this City by your conscionable and upright actions before God and men, that you may truly here be called zelotes of the Honour of the Lord, and afterwards you may have your seats above in the triumphant City of Jerusalem.  
Your Hon. and Wor. humble and faithful servant, in the things of God, and Christ. THOMAS GAGE.   

To the Right worshipful Sir SAMUEL OWFIELD, A Worthy Member of the House of COMMONS, now assembled in PARLIAMENT.  
SIR,  
IF my boldness may reach so far upon your patience, I shall briefly touch what John in the fift chap. of his gospel writeth of a pool which was in Jerusalem called Bethesda: About this pool were wont to lie a great multitude of impotent folk, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the water, which was done by an Angel, who went down at a certain time into the pool and troubled the water, and than whosoever stepped in, was cured of whatsoever disease he had. But one lying there 38 years, who in all this time could never be cured, because being of himself impotent (as he answered to our Saviour) he had no man, when the water was troubled, to help him or to put him into the pool. I will not stand to moralize this holy story unto you at large, lest you might justly say that I abuse to much your patience, by confounding the stile of an Epistle, which ought to be brief, with the division, parts and order of a Sermon. Only I beg your patience so far as to peruse this my ensuing Sermon, and in it you shall find an impotent man, not only blind, but deaf and dumb, and truly beaten by Satan, and by him expulsed out of the Church of Christ, and as I may truly say) lying in this misery near 3● years. The discourse of my ensuing Sermon will inform You that I myself have been this impotent man. Many times my Conscience hath been moved and troubled from above with good and heavenly inspirations (which God hath been pleased to send into my soul) by my considered aberration from the true Church, for which the waters of my tears and inward sobs from my heart have been also moved with the troubles of my soul. So that I would many times full fain have stepped and entered into the true Church of England, where all diseases of the soul are most surely healed. But alas! mine own impotency and weakness joined with my long blindness, hindered the execution of my good resolutions; temporal respects and fears kept back my steps. Many times I feared I should want a man and a friend (as the cripple at Bethesda did) to help me, to encourage me, and to further my good desires. I feared the high Assembly of Parliament would rather mistrust him, that so many years hath been an enemy to the State of this kingdom, than now in these times approve his penitency and contrition, which might rather have seemed unto them a feigned hypocrisy. All these fears kept back for a time the forwardness of my will and heart. Until at last I resolved to disclose and discover unto Your Worship, these troubles of my heart, these diseases of my soul, even the want of a man to help me. God whom I sought too pleased, with my request; I found that assistance from you, that I so earnestly desired, for, I found a man, I found a friend, I found a comforter, I found an Advocate to plead for my pardon before that high Court now assembled. For by Your means I have been quietly brought into the Church; by Your means also, I hope, I shall be henceforth protected against all slanderers, who will whet their tongues against me and seek to trouble me, and grudge at my good, as the Jews excepted against the Cripple and impotent man, who was cured by our Saviour. I shall always be ready to render due thanks to God, and next to You, for Your blessed help towards my Conversion, and first fruits of my Vocation, which in this humble. Work of mine, I have endeavoured to make known to the World, remitting my further expressions to better occasions. And in the mean time praying to God, that he will be pleased with his powerful hand to supply to You, and Yours what my heart can wish, but never will be able to perform according to the full measure of so glorious a work, which truly next to God the beginner and Author of all goodness, by Your means hath been accomplished.  
Your worship's humble and ever obliged servant in Christ THOMAS GAGE.   

The Tyranny of Satan, discovered by the tears of a converted Sinner, In a Sermon Preached in Paul's Church, on the 28 of August, 1642.  LUKE 22. 31, 32. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not. And when thou art Converted, strengthen thy Brethren. 
Dearly Beloved; These words I have chosen to declare unto you this day, as most fit to lay open before your eyes my own most wretched estate (wherein I have continued almost 40 years) the tyranny of Satan over my miserable and afflicted soul, as also by the sight of so hideous a sinner, as I have been, and by the knowledge of the slavery wherein a sinner groans under the power of the devil, to terrify you all that here are present from yielding to his crafty and subtle assaults.  
And secondly, to cherish and comfort all those that find themselves seduced by this mortal enemy of all man kind, with the mercies of a most loving and merciful Father above, who not desiring the eternal death and destruction of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live; when poorest we are and most in want, than doth he show and discover unto us the riches of his mercy for his great love wherewith he loveth us, as Paul witnesseth in the 2 to the Ephes. 3, 4. ver. When most dejected and comfortless we are, than doth he comfort us, and show himself a God of Comfort; as also Paul doth teach us in the 2 Cor. 4. Who finally when he seeth us most in darkness and in the night of sin, than doth he dissolve those mists of blindness and ignorance from the eyes of our understanding, an● shineth into our inward hearts, with the rays and light of his Grace and mercy.  
Blessed and praised be thy name, O Heavenly Father, that hast vouchsafed this day to lighten me in the horrid darkness of my sins, that hast visited me in my Egyptian slavery, and hast brought me out of that thraldom of Popery, into a land of milk and honey, abounding with the sweetness of thy Grace and Mercies. Continue, O Lord, these thy favours towards me so, that I may by my Conversion be an example to all sinners to forsake their wickedness, by laying open unto them this day two principal and essential points, to wit, the danger and horridness of sin, and thy unspeakable mercies, that thus I may perform what thou commandedst Peter; and that myself being converted, I may strengthen my Brethren, calling them from sin, and strongly settling them in the true, ancient, and Apostolic Faith.  
Dearly Beloved, The first point which is to be observed in the words of my Text, is the tyranny, which the devil practiseth over a Christian soul, contained in those words of Christ our Saviour spoken to Peter, Behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.  
The desire of Satan is not any way to do us good, but all the mischief he can. As soon as he hath got us into his claws, he produceth (as far as lieth in his power), Sentence of damnation against us, he prepareth us, and putteth us in readiness for the fire of hell.  
The first preparation which he maketh for our souls to burn everlastaingly, is the same which shall happen unto every damned, and cursed soul at the day of the last and dreadful judgement, when the Angels shall separate the wicked from the good, as Christ our Saviour foretold us by S. Matthew, in the 13 chap. in the Parable of the seed, in the 41 ver. saying, The Son of man shall send forth, his Angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity. As a so in the same Chap. of Mat●h. we read in the Parable of the net cast into the Sea, and gathering of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So (saith our Saviour verse 49) shall it be at the end of the world; The Angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. Behold how the nearest preparation for the fire of hell is the separation of the wicked from the just.  
And after this followeth immediately that dreadful sentence of damnation, which ye shall find in Matth. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his Angels. If this be a horrid thing to consider, and which ought to make our hair stand upright, and our flesh to tremble; let not us laugh, but fear and tremble to fall into Satan's hands, hearing out of the words of my Text, that his only desire is to sever us from the elect and godly, to prepare us for the final sentence of judgement, to make us ready for the curse of God and everlasting fire of hell. For what can more plainly be understood by these words of our Saviour to Peter? Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.  
What doth the Husbandman, when he sifteth his wheat, but with the help of the wind separate the chaff from the good grain? Even so the devil striveth and endeavoureth to sift us as wheat; which is as much as to say, to separate us from the Elect and chosen people of the Lord, from the good Laws of God, from the good and wholesome Doctrine of the Church. This was the only endeavour of Satan the night of the Passion of our Lord, to sever and separate not only Peter, but the rest of the disciples from the company of their master like chaff from the true grain: who said of himself, that he was the grain that was to be buried in the earth, that afterwards he might spring up again with great increase for all his Church. O if every Christian soul would take this point to consideration, how the devil desireth and endeavoureth to sever us like chaff, fit for nothing but for the fire, and for that dreadful sentence of damnation, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire; doubtless we would fear to commit the sins which daily we commit, doubtless we would tremble to yield to the power of such a tyrant; doubtless we would take no rest in sin as we do, if we did but consider that by it we are become dry chaff separated from the heavenly grain our Saviour Christ, severed from all those fruitful grains and members of the Church, who standing on the right hand shall through their fruitful Faith at last be laid up in that storehouse of everlasting bliss and felicity; when the sinner like chaff already severed from the grain by the devil's endeavours, expecteth nothing but death to burn for ever.  
In the 12 Chap. of Judges and 6 ver. I have observed a pretty History for this purpose, where the Scripture speaking of a battle fought betwixt the Gileadites and the Ephraimites saith, that the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, and put the Ephraimites to flight towards the river of Jordan, And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites; And it was so that when those Ephraimites which were escaped, said, Let me go over, that the man of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said Nay. Then said they unto him, say now Shibbobeth; and he said Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right; Then they took him and slew him at the passage of Jordan, and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.  
Dearly Beloved, two things I would wish you to note in this History of Holy Scripture.  
The first, that at the passages over Jordan these Ephraimites were examined who they were.  
Secondly, that because they could not say Shibboleth, but instead of it they said Sibboleth, therefore they were slain.  
Shibboleth, according to the true translation signisieth An ear of corn. And Sibboleth signifieth the chaff or the straw that remaineth when the corn is separated from it. So that we find that the sword killed all such as could not say Shibboleth or ear of corn, but instead of it pronounced Sibboleth, Straw or chaff separated from the corn.  
O Christian and devout soul, take out of this a lesson of morality, and judge thyself a rebellious Ep●raimite, always warring against thy God and Maker. When thou sinnest, what dost thou but rebel against thy Creator? who at last will be too hard for thee. But when? When he shall meet thee at the passage over Jordan, that is, when as water thou shalt slide away. Omnes morimur & quasi aqua dilabimur, we do all die, and like water slide and fall away. O what a day will that be, when thy soul is to pass away from thy body? When thy soul is to pass over from this world to the other yet never seen? O then shall meet thee the true Gileadite, against whom thou hast rebelliously fought with the Sword of justice in his hand; then shall begin thy trial for thy life or death of thy soul, then shalt thou be commanded to say Shibboleth, to say if truly thou be'st an ear full of weighty and fruitful grain of fruitful Faith: But if thou canst not say but Sibboleth, that thou art fruitless, that thou art a light straw, a little chaff separated from the true grain Christ Jesus; then expect the wrath of God, expect the the blood of his sword of justice, expect if he find thee among the wicked separated from the good, that this thy being sifted, this division and separation of thee from the just and righteous shall be a fore-running messenger of that final sentence of damnation, Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire. God forbid that in this Congregation there be any such chaff, any such dry straw separated from the fruitful grains of the Church, and fit only for the flames of Hel. I hope, the devil hath not so far prevailed with any. But of myself with shame (I may say) that I have been that rebellious Ephraimite, that have almost 40 years warred obstinately against my Lord and Maker. I am that wicked Ephraimite, not able to pronounce since my first use of reason this word Shiboleth, not able to say I had ever any fruitful Faith, or have ever been a f●uitful grain, but have always pronounced Sibboleth, have always been like bran sifted from the white flower, like chaff separated from the grain, fit only for the fire of Hell. For what fruitful Faith could be in me, that instead of worshipping only my God and Lord, have bowed my knee so often to worship for God a piece of bread, according to that damnable doctrine of the Papists (which now I abjure and renounce) who teach that in their Communion is no substance of bread or wine, but the true real and physical body and blood of Christ? A thing so against Scripture, which teacheth that Christ since his glorious Ascension can be no more upon the earth, much less in several places and several pieces of bread, but that he must be in Heaven, until that last judgement day, as ye shall find in the 3 Chap. of the Acts in the 20, 21. vers. saying, And he shall sena Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must receive until the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets, since the World began.  
What fruitful Faith could be in me, who so often have kneeled to Images, worshipped them, burnt frankincense before them, and prayed unto them, so contrary to the commandments of God?  
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above. Thou shalt not bow down unto them? So contrary, I say, to holy Scripture, which teacheth that no Saints are to be called upon, no Saints are to be Mediators between us and God, but only Jesus Christ, as ye shall find in the 1 Epistle of Paul to Tim. in the 2 Chap. and 5 verse, For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.  
What fruitful Faith hath been in me, who have believed and taught a Purgatory, a place of satisfaction for sins, derogating by this most damnable doctrine from the infinity of Christ's satisfaction, who had not abundantly nor infinitely satisfied for us, if we ourselves ought in fire and torments to add satisfaction to the satisfaction made by his most precious blood. O good God, how do I now perceive myself to have been sequestered from thy just and righteous believers! to have been sequestered from thy true Apostolic and Primitive Church, to have been sifted like bran from the flower, like chaff from the corn. O most merciful Father, if in these 40 years, I had met with thee at the passage of Jordan, at the passage of my soul from my body, not being able to say Shibboleth, what could I have expected but to feel the smart of thy sword, to receive the wound of everlasting death, to hear that dreadful curse of thine, Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire?  
But think not, dearly Beloved, that Satan's cruelty is satisfied with thus separating a sinner like chaff from the corn, by making him ready for Hell fire; O yet his cruelty goeth forward, yet he sifteth further a soul. Though properly to sift in our English tongue, be to sift the flower from the bran; Yet this word sifting, in Greek is more emphatical, for the true word, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, in Greek, according to M. Cameron's explication, signifieth Cribrare, which as he saith, containeth two things, to wit, illa concussio & agitatio, that thrashing and beating of the wheat; and also illa divisio & separatio, that division and separation of the chaff f●om the corn. So by Satan's sifting a soul as wheat, we must know, that he is not contented to separate a soul from the Church, and the fruitful grains and members of it, yet his cruelty goeth forward, for he knoweth God's mercies are great, and touch the soul of a sinner daily to bring him to repentance; therefore he desireth our perseverance in sin, our obstinacy and hardness, that we may no way return unto our Lord. He useth yet more tyranny over us by sifting us; he beateth us yet with blows, even as the corn is beaten with the flail; with one blow he beateth out our eyes, that we may not see the hideous estate we are in. With another blow he striketh at our tongues, and breaketh the mouths of our hearts, that we may not call upon God for help and succour; with another blow he shuts up our ears, that we may not hear nor give ear to the truth when it is preached. Even as a captain when he besiegeth a Castle, taketh up all the high ways, whereby any maintenance or provision may come to these within the Castle; So doth this cruel enemy of ma●kind, when he hath separated a soul from the good and righteous, he shuts up all the high ways, which are the mouth of the heart, the hearing of it, the eyes of the understanding, that so no maintenance, nor spiritual food may enter into it. This was figured in Mark 9 17. 18. where it is said that one of the multitude brought unto our Saviour, his son which had a dumb spirit: And he said, Whersoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, & gnasheth with his teeth and pineth away. By this dumb devil spiritually is to be understood the effect which the devil worketh in a soul, which he hath once possessed, making it dumb and speechless, that it may not cry out to the Lord, nor acknowledge its sins with one peccavi. And many of the Fathers upon the explication of this dumb Spirit, say that it was also deaf and blind, to signify the two other effects, which the devil worketh in a soul, which he hath once got into his power. This same destruction of a soul according to the father's exposition was signified by that deaf and dumb man, whom our Saviour cured, as ye may read Mark 7. 33, 34, 35. And he took him aside from the multitude; and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to Heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, ephphatha, that is, be opened. And strait way his ears were opened, & the string of his tongue was loosed, and he speak plain. In the 7 of Dan 5 ver. you shall find a like figure of this cruel tyrant, where Daniel declaring a dream and vision which he had, faith, And behold another beast, a second like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth between the teeth of it, And they said thus unto it, arise, devore much flesh. Although S. Hierom by this ugly beast doth understand the Kingdom of the Persians, and by those 3 ribs and 3 set of teeth between rib and rib, expoundeth the 3 Empires of the Babylonians, Persians and Medes; Yet Richardus de Sancto Victore, and many Fathers in a spiritual sense, declare this ugly bear to be a true portraiture of the malicious spite of the devil, who with 3 set and orders of teeth devoureth and destroyeth the three noble powers, wherewith the soul doth spiritually speak, see, and hear.  
And truly in my mind, no Beast is a more proper emblem of the devil, than the bear, if we consider well what Aristotle in his 7 Book De Histor. Animal. and 17 Chap. writeth of this beast, which is that he eateth of all things▪ of the fruits of trees, of herbs, of Bees and Honey, of little Amits, and their eggs, yea of your shell fishes, and also of flesh. A strange quality, proper only to this Beast! For if the lion eat flesh, he eateth not hay, grass nor herbs; and the ox that eateth hay and grass eateth not flesh, Only the bear eateth of all sorts, and with this quality resembleth the devil more than any other Beast. For the devil devoureth and eateth of all; If a man be given to the flesh, there is the devil sporting also himself with those fleshy thoughts: If like an Eremite one feed of herbs only; there also will Satan be endeavouring in the wilderness to overthrow those that hide themselves there, flying from the vanities of the world, as he hath tempted and overthrown many such. If one say, he is so abstinent that he will not eat any flesh, but feed only upon fish, as some monks and friars do amongst your Papists; O how freely doth the devil feed also with them, and for all their boasting of their Abstinence, blindeth them and maketh them commit most horrid and enormous sins of the flesh and Idolatry, as mine own sight and knowledge can testify. If one like a little Amit in the earth, humble himself so deeply as to confess and acknowledge himself dust and clay, and to conceit most lowly of himself; there also will Satan feed, until he make him proud of his own low and humble conceit. If like a Bee feeding upon the sweetness of honey any one be in the Church feeding upon sweetness of Prayer and Contemplation, delighting with the sweetness of singing praise and psalms unto the Lord; there also will this bear the devil strive to feed, until he tempts with some foolish and idle thoughts. In all like a bear feeding of all sorts, and therefore may well be compared to that bear which Daniel saw, rising up to devour much flesh. And as that bear had three set or sorts of teeth to devour the three Empires of the Babylonians, Persians and Medes; even so hath the devil three several sorts of warlike engines to destroy and overthrow those three Forts and Castles of our soul, to wit, the Sight, speech and Hearing, that so no relief may come from God to that wretched sinner, whom he hath once possessed.  
First he maketh us dumb, that we may not open our mouths to confess and acknowledge before God the grievousness of our sins, nor cry out for help with our hearts to our only mediator Jesus Christ. Have not ye observed a wolf, when he hath seized upon a little lamb and sequestered it from the flock and shepherd; how the first thing he doth, is to strangle it in the throat, that it may not bale nor cry out and be rescued by the shepherd? Even so doth the devil, when he hath got a soul from the flock of Christ: the first thing he doth is to strangle it, that it may not speak, nor cry out to him that said by S. John, Ego sum Pastor bonus, I am the good Pastor and shepherd: For he knoweth there is no better way, no surer remedy for us, than to acknowledge and confess to God our grievous sins; as David saith in the 32 psalm and 6 verse, I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; And so thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin. He knoweth that God will have a sinner accuse himself, confess his sins before him, and that this was one of the first lessons that ever God taught in this world, as ye may observe in the third chapter of Genesis and 9 verse, where we read that when Adam had sinned, God came down into Paradise, and called upon him, saying, Where art thou? Not that God was ignorant where Adam was, nor that Adam could hide himself from the sight of God: But God called him and asked him, where he was, because he would have Adam accuse himself, confess and acknowledge his nakedness, and the sin he had fallen into; for to teach all wretched and miserable sinners to confess and acknowledge their sins and miseries before their Lord.  
O this Satan knoweth to be the chief remedy, the beast ease for an afflicted soul! therefore he striketh his first blow at the mouth of the heart, that there may sound no act of repentance, nor the sinner may have a tongue to confess and acknowledge himself to have wickedly offended his Lord and Maker.  
O the devil knoweth that nothing endangereth more a soul in sin than dumbness and silence! as David also testifieth in the same 32 psalm and 3 verse, saying, For while I held my tongue, my bones consumed away.  
O how doth a sinner pine and consume away for want of crying out to the Lord, for want of acknowledging his own wretched estate!  
O dearly Beloved, make use of this Doctrine, and whensoever ye find yourselves to have been carried away by Satan, forget not your tongues, be not dumb, acknowledge presently your iniquities before the Lord, touch with your tongues the leper and sores of your souls, let not them fester for want of a tongue to heal them. Remember when ye are in sin, ye are as the Psalmist saith, like Beasts without reason.  
O show at least to have that small sense and reason, which many Beasts and a Dog hath, who when he is bitten and full of sores, with his tongue only preserveth his sores from festering. Even so do thou poor and wretched sinner, when thy soul is bitten with the first set of teeth of this cruel bear, lift up thy heart unto thy Lord, acknowledge and confess thy sins before him, with thy tongue preserve thy soul from inward festering. Remember that God will have thee confess thy iniquity and ask pardon of him. Be not therefore dumb, O sinner I (if any there be besides myself in this Congregation) say with David, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; Cry out with the prodigal son in the 15 Chapter of Luke and 18. Verse, Father I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee. Remember thou hast a Heavenly shepherd above, Jesus Christ: Bale and cry out unto him like the little lamb, that is set upon by the ravenous wolf. Be sure thou be'st not mute nor dumb: be sure the devil take not from thee the use of thy tongue.  
O a man that is fallen into a deep water, hath hopes of life if the water reach but to his knees, or to his breast, or to his shoulders; but if once it reach to enter into his mouth to choke him, eminent is the danger he is in. Even so if a sinner be plunged and drowned so deeply into the depth of sin, that it hath reached to his mouth, that it once hinder his tongue from confessing his wickedness, and from crying out to God; great danger is he in. Fear this danger, O Beloved; fear that the mouth of your hearts be not stopped by Satan, that by this high way which leadeth to the inward Castle of your soul, all Ammunition, all help and succour from above be not stopped and robbed for want of acknowledging your sins, and crying out unto your Lord for present aid and relief. And so much for this.  
The second blow which the devil striketh at a sinner, is to beat out his eyes and to blind him, that he may not see the danger he is in, nor his own wretched and miserable estate, as David affirmeth in the 38 Psal. and 10. verse, saying, My heart panteth, my strength hath failed me, and the sight of mine eyes is gone from me. And again in the 40 psalm and 15 verse he saith, Innumerable troubles are come about me; my sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up. O the Devid knoweth very well, that if a sinner did but see the miserable and wretched estate his soul is in, he would make haste to return unto his Lord; therefore he blindeth him that he may run headlong down to Hell. He dealeth with a sinner as cruelly as Nabuchadnezzar King of Babel dealt with Zedekiah, as ye may read in the 2 of Kings, 25 Chapter and 7 verse, And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains and carried him to Babel. Even so doth the devil with a sinner, he beateth out his eyes, bindeth him in chains, and so carrieth him to Babel, to a Chaos of confusion.  
This a sinner will not believe, but runs forward with more and more delight in his iniquities; he thinks, because he enjoyeth his corporal sight, that his soul is not blinded. Tell me then, if a man should be in so desperate a case, as running a long a street, and all crying out unto him and saying, O man art thou mad, dost thou not see such an one thine enemy standing before thee with his sword drawn to kill thee? If nevertheless and for all these cries, this man should run towards the sword; would not we say that he is mad, or rather blind and not able to see the sword before him?  
O dearly Beloved▪ this is no sporting matter; when we offend the Lord, we are surely blind; If we were not, how would we dare to run upon the sword which the justice of God hath drawn against us? If we will not believe this, let us but turn to the 7 psalm of David, and read there the 12, 13, and 14 verses, where we shall find these words, God is a righteous Judge, strong and patient, and God is provoked every day; If a man will not turn, he will whet his sword, he hath bent his bow, and made it ready; he hath prepared for him the instruments of death. Behold a sword a whetting for us to run us thorough, a bow bent to shoot at us, other instruments prepared only for our death and destruction. And yet we will not see them, we run upon them: Why? Because we are blind, the devil hath deprived us of our spiritual sight: We are like that wicked and disobedient Prophet Balaam, of whom we read in the 22 Chapter of Numbers and 23 Verse, that he was so blind that he could not see the angel of the Lord standing in his way with a Sword drawn in his hand; the words are these, And when the ass saw the Angel of the Lord stand in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, the ass turned out of the way, and went into the field, but Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way. Lo here, how a simple and silly ass by God's permission, espyeth the sword of the Lord drawn against a sinner and wicked Priest, to teach us, how those that are simple and humble in their own conceits, see the dangers that a sinner runs into by sin: But the proud and stubborn Delinquent against God's Laws, will not see these dangers. Because alas he is blind, the devil hath pulled out the eyes of his soul, the windows whereby the light and beams of God's mercy were wont to shine into his heart, are ●ow rammed up with lime and stone▪ that no light may come in for a sinner to see those horrid Aspids, Basilisks and Adders, which lie lurking and taking their repose in the close and secret chamber of his Conscience.  
O Pity! O Compassion! If any be to be had, when a sinner is come to this misery. O dearly Beloved, make good use of this Doctrine, and fly from sin all your lives; s●are to be thus blinded: Pray to the Lord, that though through man's frailty ye do commit a sin: O yet your sight may be left ye: One eye at least may remain to lift up to God, to look up to him.  
Remember how that poor and lame cripple, of whom we read in the 3 Chapter of the Acts, and 4 Verse, received bodily health and strength, having no limb to help himself, but was daily carried and laid at the gate of the Temple; And Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, look on us. Nothing was demanded of him but only the use of his eyes; for looking only up upon Peter he was cured.  
O dear soul, Moralize this healing of this Cripple and the manner of it, and take out of it a lesson how to obtain more easily the health of thy diseased soul. If with no limb thou be'st able to help thyself: look up at least to God, lift up the eyes of thy heart to thy Lord, pray daily to him that thy sight may not fail in thy inward man; Pray that the devil may not blind thee howsoever, but that thou mayest see the enormity and hideousness of thy sin, the instruments of death which God hath prepared against thee, the Sword of his justice drawn, the Bow of his wrath and anger bent; that thus having eyes left thee to see those dangers, thou mayest like this Cripple, as he looked up to Peter and John, and received bodily health: so thou also by casting an eye up to the Lord, by opening the the window of thy heart mayest let in the light of God's mercy to shine within thee, and mayest receive the spiritual health of thy leprous and diseased soul. And so much for this.  
The last and deadliest blow, which the devil with his heavy stale striketh at a soul, is in the ears, wherewith he fells him quite down and lays him flat to the ground, taking his hearing quite from him, and making him deaf, that he may not hear the word of the Lord, nor harken to any comfortable tidings of his Salvation.  
Of the wretched sinner's deafness against the Word of God, Paul spoke in the second Epistle to Timothy in the 4 Chapter and 4 verse, saying, And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Of this sort of sinners, an Ancient Father, Clenent Alexandranus in his exhortation to the greeks and Gentiles speaketh thus, Coelum fecistis Scenam, & Deus factus est vobis Actus: Ye have made a sport and play of Heaven, and God himself is become at Act or Comedy unto ye.  
But you will say, dearly Beloved, what meaneth this ancient Author by these words? An example will declare his mind better. Have not you marked in these plays here about the City? How sometimes one cometh out upon the Stage, with a crown and Kingly Diadem upon his head, and with a sceptre in his hand, granting Princely favours, and highly rewarding those that have been dutiful and loyal Subjects unto him? Another you shall see come out upon the same Stage with a sword drawn, all bloody, with streams of blood trickling down from his head to his feet, as if he had been wounded in some fierce and desperate combat. Then you shall see sometimes over the Stage the heaven's open, great glory of Angels appearing, and one descending in a cloud. Sometimes you shall see from under the Stage ascend a smoke of Fire and Brimstone, and a devil leap up in such a shape as may suffice to terrify you. At all this you laugh, you hold it but a fable. The King you see come out, you respect not, because you know he is none. The other that is wounded and all bloody, you pity not, because you know that blood is not true but painted blood. The glory you see and the Angels in it, do no way entice you to it, because you know it is but feigned: The Fire and Brimstone, and ugly sight of Devils that come upon the Stage do nothing terrify you. Why? Because you know all is self, that there is no Hell, nor any true devil, but only a representation of it: So that you sport and laugh at all.  
Now then let us apply these words and this similitude of Clement Alexandrinus to those deaf sinners, who, as Paul saith, Turn away their ears from the truth, and are turned unto Fables. These when they come to hear the word of the Lord, will not hear it with their hearts, but make a play sport of it. When they hear the Preacher set forth the might and power of that King of Kings, and Creator of all things, who will glorify his elect servants with everlasting bliss and happiness; Like Atheists they laugh at it, and judge of this eternal King as of a King in a play.  
When they hear the Preacher teach, how Jesus Christ was whipped, reviled, strooken, smitten and crowned with thorns, nailed with nails, pierced with a spear for their sins; their hearts will not hear it, they make sport of it, they are not moved to love so loving a Saviour and Mediator who with the price of his own blood, made an abundant and copious satisfaction for our sins.  
When they hear the Preacher teach the glory of Heaven, the Quires of Angels there, that everlasting rest without any sob or tears, without any cold, hunger, or thirst, they will not hear it to believe, they judge of it, as of the glory in a play upon a Stage, and like Epicureans eat, drink and riot saying, — Post mortem nulla voluptas.  
They think that their souls after death like Beasts shall be dissolved into the air to nothing. When they hear a Preacher bring out upon the Stage in the Pulpit, and set before a great assembly the deep pits of Hell, the Legions of fierce and cruel devils there, the always burning fire and Brimstone, the everlasting broiling there, the horrid gnashing of teeth, the pains and torments due to their sins, if they turn not to God; Alas they will not hear it with their heart, they think it is but a Hell of a Play, they are turned unto Fables, they make a sport of all, they make an Act or Play of God, they think all feigned, they hear it with their corporal ears, but with the cares of their soul, they will not harken unto it; they make themselves the Actors of the fool's part in this sport and play, which they make of God and Heaven. Why? Because the devil hath made them deaf. This is his chief way, he knoweth, though it be damn or blind, yet by hearing the Word of the Lord with a well dis●●sed heart it may receive some seed of a fruitful Faith, as S. Paul taught the Romans in the 10 Chap. and 17 verse. saying, So then Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This is the devil's fear, and therefore he shutteth up their ears, that no maintenance that way, no succour, no relief may come unto the soul. With this he maketh them groan under his yoke, with this he maketh them slaves unto him. In Deut. 15. 12. you shall find that God gave a Command of release, saying, And if thy Brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And lower 16, 17. v. God commanded thus; And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee. Then shalt thou take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever.  
In a moral and spiritual sense, Learn here, dear Brethren, how as God commanded a release for debts and for servants, so doubtless he expecteth that thy soul shall not be always under any other master but himself. If therefore the devil have been thy Master for some time, think for a release, think of releasing thyself from him; do not say, dear soul, unto the devil, I will not go away from thee, because I love thee, because I am well with thee; which if thou dost, then will Satan make use of this Law of God for himself and for his own en●s; then will he mark thee in the ears for a perpetual slave, with an awl he will boar thine ears thorough, and fasten them to a wall, to that wall which thy iniquities have put between thee and God; he will keep thee for his slave, if ever he mark thee in thy ears, he will take thy hearing from thee, that thou mayest not hear any goodness, nor make good use of any. O what misery is a sinner in, when he cometh to lose his hearing! Abhor from sin, dearly beloved, lest ye fall thus into slavery under the tyranny of Satan; if ye have not found yourselves so far gone, nor so far ensnared by the devil, as he doth ensnare others, renounce him at his first assaults, lest he encroach upon the mouth of your heart and soul, upon the eyes and ears of it, making ye dumb, deaf and blind. O take example by me, who have had experience of these 3 blows, who have been flailed, beaten and thrashed by this cruel enemy; with one blow I have been left speechless and dumb almost 40 years; I have not had a tongue till this day, to confess before God my iniquities, my idolatries, my superstitions, my disloyalties to my King, the Lord's anointed. O I have been blind, & wilfully blind, and would not see my errors, the errors of the Whore of Babylon. True it is, many years ago by reading Authors and the grounds of our true Protestant Religion; I did see the light of it, the truth of it, the sincere, pure and candid doctrine of it: but yet with the eyes of my soul I would not see it. I was like a foul and ugly monkey, who when he chanceth to see his foul shape, his deformed feet in a pure and crystal looking-glass, rageth, and flingeth at the glass and teareth it in pieces, because it representes unto him his own deformity. Even so have I done, dearly Beloved, these many years. When I read the pure and crystal doctrine of our Church, which teacheth even what Christ taught Peter and his Disciples to acknowledge a Supremacy next to God to Caesar, by taking money out of a fishes belly, and sending it for trib te to Caesar, a lesson for all Subjects (yea for the Popes themselves who can be no better than Christ and Peter) to acknowledge their duty and Allegiance next to God unto their Kings, and Princes. But when I saw by this clear doctrine my ugly shape of a disloyal, disobedient and treacherous monster, nourished with the venomous and poisoned milk of the Whore of Babylon, which teacheth her Popes to be above all temporal Princes, and no ways bound to pay them tribute; O how would I fly and fling like a monkey at the crystal glass of the Protestant doctrine, that thus represented unto me mine own monstrous shape. O when I used to read & study the grounds of the Popish Transubstantiation, and found them groundless, saying, that one body may be in 2 places, nay in a 1000 And upon that self ground proving that Christ's body may be really present in the Sacrament in a thousand places at one time, & at the same time also in Heaven: How clearly did I see the contrary in the crystal glass of our church's doctrine? For if Christ's body being a natural and physical body can be at one time in several places; then at one time also it may be subject to several and contrary accidents, it may be hot and cold at once, for it may be in a hot and cold place at one time, it may be also stabbed in one place (as the Papists confess it hath been by Jews) and in another place at the same time it may not be stabbed; so than 2 contradictories simul & semel are true, and truly verified of the same body, It is stabbed and it is not stabbed. Also in one place it may be be gnawn and devoured by vermin, mice or worms: and in another place at the same time it may not be gnawn: As myself can witness, who saying mass one day in the West India's, in a town called Portabel, 6 years ago, after I had consecrated the Bread or Wafer host upon the Altar, making a short mental prayer with mine eyes shut, which they call the Memento for the Dead, suddenly came upon the Altar a Mouse, and stole away the Sacrament. I opening mine eyes, and missing it before me, began to be troubled, and looking about on one side, I saw the vermin running away with the Bread. I stirred up the people of the Church, who running to me caused candles to be lighted, and with another Priest searched all the holes that were in the wall behind the Altar, and at last found the Sacrament gnawn, and half eaten up. The half part of it the Priest took out and carrying it to the Altar in Procession, lifted it up to be adored, with knocking of breasts by the common people. Behold here according to the damnable doctrine of the Papists, Christs body is gnawn by a creature, and it is not gnawn; for they say that the body of Christ is truly and really tetus in toto & totus in qualibet parte, all in all, and all and whole in every little part. Then if this be true, Christ was whole and entire in that part which was devoured, and he was also whole and entire in the part which was left; so he was eaten and gnawn, and he was not eaten and gnawn. Here are two contradictories truly verified at one time against the light of reason and philosophy: Besides the absurdity which followeth, that Christ should leave his body to be so devoured by vermin and dumb beasts All these absurdities and monstruous shapes of Popish doctrine, I well perceived and viewe● in the pure crystal glass of our Protestant doctrine: And yet like a beast I would fling at this clear glass, that thus represented my Popish errorus unto me; I would spitefully oppose the true sense and figurative meaning of our Saviour, when he said, This is my body.  
Yea coming into England with a purpose to conform myself to the truth, & having met here with a learned Treatise of one Master Stephen Vassal against this damnable doctrine of Transubstantiation, which he directed to one Mistress Bury a Gentlewoman, seduced and blinded by a Popish Priest; I took upon me for some worldly and temporal respects to some friends, to answer his learned grounds and reasons against mine own conscience: And though in his clear doctrine I well perceived the ugly and monstruous shape of mine own idolatrous and defiled soul; Yet did I fling and fly at the glass like a monkey. Why? Because I was blinded by Satan, the window of my soul was rammed up by the Devil, that no light might enter into it. I have been that false and disobedient Priest Balaam, so blind that I would not see the dangers of my soul near 40 years: But though the sword of God's justice hath-beene drawn against me, though his bow hath been bent to kill me, and many instruments of death prepared against me, yet would I wilfully run on my ways to curse the good and elect People of the Lord, to oppose the true, ancient and Apostolic Church of England. True it is I have heard much good doctrine preached, repre●enting unto me these dangers which my soul was in; I have heard that if wilfully, I should have died in that wretched estate, my soul would have been plunged into the deepest and bottomless pits of Hell; I have heard much pre●ching of the me eyes of God, of the glory of Heaven, of the pains of Hell: Yet all this I have heard as a Play and sport of pastime, not hearing it with my soul inwardly, but only with my outward ears. I have heard that for God we must leave all in the world, both kindred, father, mother, preferments and wealth: yet I would not hear this to any purpose: I was loath to forsake all my kin●ed, who are Papists: I was loath to forsake that means which I have had from them, and now must lose it: I was loath to see myself in want and poverty. O I knew, my kindred and best friends would cry out, shame upon me, and would threaten to kill me: All these worldly and temporal respects shut up my ears and made me deaf against the truth, which teacheth that it is better to live here in want and poverty, than to broil for ever in Hell; that it is better to forsake here and abandon all flesh and blood, Brothers, Sisters, and kindred, than to go with them to everlasting pains and torment.  
Christ himself teacheth us that we must not fear them that can hurt out bodies, but can do no harm at all unto our souls, and that we must fear only him that can cast our souls into the fire of Hell. This it is, O Lord! which now maketh me fear; thy might, thy power and wrath I fear: My soul it is that hencef●rth I will tender; for this jewel I for sake this day all the world, for my soul's sake I take my leave this day of all my kindred and dearest friends. Awake, awake my soul, and like Abraham leave now thy flesh and blood, that thou mayst become rich and great in the sight of thy Lord. Away all fears, away all human and temporal respects, away to much love of worldly pelse.  
O Lord I for thy sake I hate and leave this day that means, which hither to from Papists I have received.  
O Lord! I know they threaten my destruction, but into thy hands do I this day commend my spirit. O let that be safe I though here my body be mangled and torn into thousand pieces, do thou protect me, and I will fear no enemies; do thou continue thy mercies to me, and I with David will sing and teach them for ever.  
Now, dearly Beloved, I have disclosed unto you the miseries of a wretched sinner; the cruelty and unsatiable tyranny of Satan over those that he sifts away from the fruitful grains of Christ's Church; I have discovered unto you the heavy blows he giveth them, and have made myself a precedent of so miserable and wretched an estate. Now give ear, I beseech you, to the second poi●t of my Text, where Christ having told Peter, how Satan desired to have him, that he might sift him as wheat, Christ comforted him presently, saying, But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not:  
For to teach us, that though we be never so tyrannised by Satan, never so abused and beaten, never so dumb, so blind and so deaf; Yet the mercies of God are able to relieve us: And God himself would not be merciful and omnipotent, if any miseries of ours, (how great soever) should prevail or exceed the power of his mercies: Nay when by sin we are most wretched and most forlorn, then doth God show most the power of his sweet and comfortable mercies, and forgetteth not 40 only, but a 1000 years ill spent in sin and iniquity, as David teacheth us, Psalm. 90. 3, 4. saying, Thou turnest man to destruction, Again thou sayest, Come again ye child en of men, for a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday. Behold, though a man be turned to destruction, though a soul be quite lost, utterly defaced and spoiled: Yet Come again ye children of men, Let but these destroyed and forlorn soul●s turn again unto the Lord, and a thousand years ill spent in sins and iniquities shall be pardoned so easily, that they shall seem but as one day ill spent; for God is merciful and will make the least that may be made of our sins, if from our hearts we turn unto him. Nay when most we offend him, then chiefly doth he strive with his mercies to allure us unto him. By the greatness of his mercies he striveth to show himself our God and Saviour, as I have observed in that answer which he sent unto John in the 11 of Mat. where John sent two of his Disciples to know of him, if he were the Messiah and Saviour of the world whom they expected; To which message our Saviour made no other answer, but that of the 5 verse, saying, The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them. The only way to know that Christ is a Saviour, is by seeing his works of mercy, either spiritual or corporal; for by the blind which he corporally and spiritually cureth, by the leprous souls and bodies which he cleanseth, by the deaf to whom he restoreth corporal and spiritual hearing, by the dead in soul and body whom he raiseth up; he is sufficiently known to be a true Messiah, a true Saviour, a most loving and merciful Father. And much more by using these mercies, when least we deserve them, when furthest we are from him, when most grievously we offend him; for than it is that he striveth with the power of his mercy, to prevail against the power of Satan. In the 12 Chap. of Matth. 14. & 15 verses, this may casily be observed, where it is said, than the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. Behold here wretched sinners, the instruments of the devil, united and confederate against our Saviour. What doth he unto them? Doth he destroy them? Doth he pour down fiery darts upon them? No. What then doth he? Read forward the 15. verse, and ye shall see what he doth, And when Jesus knew it he withdrew himself from thence, and great multitudes, followed him, and he healed them all. When most they strive against him to offend him, than both he cure and heal their infirmities; for to reach us that he is so merciful a Father, that he holdeth it a disparagement to his great goodness, that our wickedness should be greater than his mercies, that when most we offend him, than doth he most mercifully cure and heal the lepers and diseases of our afflicted souls. So in the 32 of Exodus, you shall find the mercies of God striving with the wickedness of men; for whilst the Israelites withdraw themselves from God at the foot of the mountain, worshipping a golden Calf●… God on the top of the mountain is ordering a Law for them to bring them to righteousness and to the port of true Salvation. In the 9 Chap. of the Acts there also ye shall find a strong encounter between the malice of a wicked finner and the kindne●…e and mercy of God; for whilst Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord goeth to the high Priest and desireth of him letters to Damascus to the Synagogues, that if he sound any followers of Christ, men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Then at that very time strives God with his mercies for the upper hand, as you may read in the 3 verse, And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And God's mercies prevailing against Saul's stubbornness from a wicked sinner, from a wicked Persecutor he was made an Apostle, and a chosen vessel to bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles, the Kings, and the Children of Israel. O how doth the Prophet Hosea in the 2 Chap. of his Prophecies in the 13 and 14 ver. teach the truth of this doctrine! saying, And I will visit upon her the days of Baal●m, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her carrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord. Behold here a Harlot, a soul most abommable, given to idolatry, burning incense before her Idols, following her pleasures, the vanities of the world, decking and trimming up herself to entice and allure her gallants, following her gallants and lovers, and quite forgetting her Lord and God. But what will God do now with this lewd harlot, with this abominable soul? Will he d●stroy her? Will he show the strength and power of his justice against her? O no! hear what followeth in the 14 verse, therefore, Behold, I will allure ●●r, and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her. She shall not think that her wickedness can be greater than my mercies: When she most flies from me, then will I most allure her. Behold here, dearly Beloved, the good nature of our good God, who like unto a su●er and wooer, when his Mistress most disdaineth him, wooeth her more, allureth her with fair and courteous promises. Even so doth God with a soul, when we follow most the vices of our heart, the vanities of the world, seeking to please our senses and bellies, more than the Lord, disdaining and contemning our God and Maker; then doth he woo our souls, then doth he allure them, then doth he bring them into the wilderness from all occasions of pride, of self-love, of vanities and pstimes: There when he hath got them from the worldly pleasures, doth he speak comfortably unto them. O soul! saith he, why dost thou follow any lovers but me? there is none loveth thee better than myself: I have bestowed more upon thee than any adulterous lover of thine. The beauty of thy face which thou so much esteemest, is my gift. The dainties of fowl and fish, which so voluptuously thou bestowest upon thy belly, I first bestowed them upon thee. The riches of pearls, rubies, rings and diamonds, wherewith thou showest thyself so fair an object to thy lover's eye, are all my gifts. The flowers of all sorts and best perfumes, wherewith thou delightest so much thy senses, I gave them to thee. Why then dear soul, dost thou turn from me? Why dost thou shun me for other lovers? They carry thee to perdition, but I to bliss and happiness; They seek thy pains and torment, I thy rest and glory: They fall away like a flower which to day is, and to morrow will not be, but I shall remain for ever.  
Thus, O dearly Beloved, doth God speak comfortably to a Soulel thus doth he allure her, thus doth he woo and entice her, thus doth he, when furthest she flies from him, discover the riches of his mercies to her. An ancient Doctor called John Raulinus Cluniacexsis saith, what by experience we daily know, Quanto magis srigus viget, tanto magis videtur Coelum stellatum, The greater the frost and cold is, the m●re bright do the stars appear and show themselves in the darkness of the night. Lauretus, who borrowed his doctrine out of Thomas Aquinas and Austin, saith also of the stars in a moral explication, Stellae productae in Coelo designare possunt dona Spiritus Sanctir, That they may be a symbol or figure of the favours and gifts of the Holy Ghost. What then meaneth it that these stars which are symbols of God's favours, shine brightest, when the frost and cold is greatest? O it signifieth, that when a heart is most cold and frozen, most void of the heat of the love of God then doth the Lord strive to shine brightest into that heart, than doth he most discover the glittering spangles of his mercy, than doth he manifest the glorious stars of his Heavenly comforts; for to teach us that none shall despair, though never so deeply plunged into sin, though never so cruelly tyrannised by the devil: for God with his mercies can and often hath changed a wicked sinner to a holy life, and of a persecut●r and e●emy hath made a holy Apostle. I cannot here pass over with silence a witty observation of Chrysostom upon those words, which the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph, Mat. 2. 13. saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and fly into Egypt, and be thou there, until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child's to destroy him. upon these words, Chrysostom groundeth great admirations, wondering that God would send his only begotten Son into Egypt, a country that above all countries misused and kept under hard slavery God's own chosen people, not suffering them to go out, till God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and Moses after many wonders showed with the hand of the Lord, took them out of bondage. Now than if this country was first so rebellious against God himself and his Commands, how cometh it to pass, saith Chrysostom, that God will trust his dear and only Son Jesus Christ with so perfidious and disobedient a Nation? Could not there be Order given, that Christ might be kept from the fury of Herod in any other country and not in Egypt, so stubborn an enemy to God and his Elect People? Chrysostom answereth, O commutatio dextrae excelsi, ut popului qui a tefuerat persecutor populi primogeniti, postea sieret custos unigeniti● O wonderful change and alteration of the right hand of the Lord, saith Chrysostom, that that people which before had been a persecutor and enemy of the first chosen People of God, now should be trusted with God's only Son, and should be made keeper of him to descend him and protect him from the wicked plots of Herod! What is this? But to magnify and set out the great mercies of God, who so strangely worketh alterations in Nations and in particular souls, making those his dearest friends, which were his greatest enemies and persecutors. This is the power of the mercy of God, which can prevail against all the strength of Satan, who can deliver a soul possessed by the devil and bring it to a state more happy than ever miserable it was in Satan's power. This the Prophet Micah prophesied in the 4 Chap. of his Prophecies, and 10 ver. saying, Be in pain and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion! like a woman in travel; for vow shalt thou go forth out of the City, and thou shalt dwell in the field, & th●u shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered, there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. What greater confusion was there ever than in Babylon? What greater blindness than there? What greater or crueler slavery than there? Yet saith Micah, there shalt thou be delivered, there the Lord shall redeem 〈◊〉 from thine enemies; for to teach us, that there is no sinner so deeply drowned into the depth of sin, so bitterly beaten by Satan, so hardly captivated and bound with the bonds and fetters of his iniquities, but yet the mercy of the Lord is able to take him out. Therefore, O dearly beloved! make use of this doctrine & never despair of God's savours, though (as Christ said in my text to Peter) Satan sift you as wheat, separating you from the white flower of the elect and chosen p●ople; though he separate you like chaff from the corn, from the sin●…full grains and members of the Church, by beating you as corn is beaten with the flail, by striking out your eyes, that you may not see, by making you dumb, that you may not speak nor cry unto the Lord; by making you deaf, that you may not hear any goodness: yet despair not of his mercies, for out of Babylon, the place of greatest confusion, there shalt thou be delivered, saith the Lord. Let my Conversion be a precedent to you of this truth, and strengthen you, that you may not despair of God's mercies. For if I who have sucked my first milk of the Whore of Babylon, of the most erroneous Popish doctrine, who have worshipped creatures and Saints instead of my Creator, who have been disloyal and treacherous to my King and country, who have believed a damnable doctrine of Purgatory, derogating thereby from the infinite merits of the satisfaction of Christ's Passion, who have superstitiously offered up a sacrifice of the mass for the quick & dead, as if the Sacrifice which Christ himself offered of his own body upon the cross were not a sufficient Sacrifice for a whole world, yea and many more worlds: if I who erroneously have believed that by my own works I might merit de condigno, the glory of heaven, as if any human or natural works may work a thing supernatural and merit a glory, which required the means and satisfaction of Christ, not as man only, but as God and man. If I who have been almost 40 years thus blinded, who have so many years persecuted the chosen, elect and Protestant people of the Lord, who have so many years been frozen and void of all heat of the love of God, who have so many years been in Babylon, in confusion, and slavery; there have been delivered, there have found the mercies of God, like stars in a winter night shining most confortably into my cold and frozen soul! O let none despair of the mercies of God, nor willingly fall into sin by my example, lest their coming out of Babylon be as hard to them as my conversion hath been to me; But how great soever your miseries be, trust in the Lord, that as he prayed for Peter, that his Faith might not fail, as he hath pleaded for me before his ●…ernall Father: So he may also be an Advocate and only Mediator between God and you, when deepest you are in sin, and according to man's judgement, hardest to be brought out of it.  
The last Point which is plainly to be observed in my text, is a precept and command of our Saviour to Peter, contained in those words; And when thou art converted, strengthen thy Brethren.  
This Peter did, and this all they are bound to do, who are truly converted from sin and from a wicked estate to the true knowledge of God's Laws. True it is Peter did fall, and did most cowardly thrice deny his Master: But after our Saviour looked upon him, and with one look turned his heart, than Peter went out and wept bitterly. And he did not only weep and repent within himself, but most zealously endeavoured to strengthen his Brethren, as you may observe Acts 2. when having received the Holy Spirit himself, he preached courageously unto the Jews to convert them and strengthen them in the true Faith, as you may read from the 14●. to the 38 verse, and forward, where publicly he said unto them, Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. O he was a true converted man, and thought he must not be contented to be himself converted only, but that he was bound to convert and strengthen others. So did Saul, who had been so great a Persecutor, when he was truly converted, presently he strived to do good to others, as you may read Acts 9 19, 20. verses, And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the Disciples, that were at Damascus; And strait way he preached Christ in the Synagogue, that he is the Son of God. And further in the 22 ver. But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelled at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. Behold how this converted Apostle is not satisfied with his own conversion, but presently burneth with an inward zeal of communicating unto others that good which he had received from God by his Conversion. Your Divines say, that Bonum est diffusivum sui, that which is truly good in itself, is with a natural inclination to impart itself, yea prodigally to pou●e itself out to others. This doctrine also David teacheth us in his 51 Psal. where he repenteth himself for the Adultery which he had committed, and having begged of God, that he would create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him, Then saith he in the 13 verse, will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Lo how David doth not only repent himself, and manifest his conversion by words of sorrow and bitter compunction, but promiseth God, that he will strengthen others, by teaching them the ways of God, that also they may come to be converted.  
In the first Chapter of the Canticles ver. 4. You shall find a few words easy in this sense, but hard to be understood in any other, where the Spouse speaking to her Beloved, saith, Draw me, we will run after thee; The King hath brought me into his Chamber, we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will remember thy love. Me thinks, the Spouse should have said, draw me, I will run after thee, The King hath brought me into his chamber. I will be glad, I will remember thy love. If one be drawn, why do many in the plural number run? If one be brought into the King's chamber, Why be many glad and rejoice?  
O dearly Beloved, it is to teach us how we ought to be have ourselves, when we are truly converted. The Spouso signifieth a soul wedded by Faith to God the true and heavenly bridegroom; The Chamber whereinto this foul is brought, is the true Church. Therefore if one soul be drawn by God, many must run after this one, if one soul be brought into the true, Ancient and Apostolic Church, many must be glad and rejoice. Why? B●cause we must not be contented to be drawn alone from our iniquities, we must not be contented to be brought alone into the Church; we must also draw others, we must make others also rejoice by strengthening them, by teaching them, by converting them by our words, works and good example. This is the command and precept of our Saviour to Peter, in the words of my text, And when thou art converted, strengthen thy Brethren.  
This command of Christ, I that am this day converted & brought into the Heavenly Bridegroom's chamber, into his true Church, must also obey. O I must not be contented to be drawn alone, I must be the cause that many may run after me. This, dearly Beloved, I have begun to perform already, having brought one from the snares of Popery, & strengthened one soul in the true Protestant & Apostolic Religion of this Kingdom. This by the Grace of God, both by preaching, writing and printing, I will endeavour all my life to perform by discovering and laying open to the world those Rocks and quick sands of Popish doctrine, whereupon so many souls do run and are daily cast away by the ignorance of foolish and unskilful Pilots O dearly beloved! never were you in greater danger than at these times; for in Ireland you see how the Papists threaten us with their erroneous doctrines; here at home they secretly plot to bring in their superstitions; therefore let me warn you this day to hoist up your sails and top masts, and with the gale of that heavenly Spirit, of that Divine blast save your souls from being splinted upon these Rocks of Popish superstition from being swallowed up with the quick sands of Antichristian doctrine. O beloved abhor all your lives the chief and principal point of all Popery, which is that false authority that Supremacy which the Papists give to the Pope above all the Church, O never admit this erroneous doctrine, nor ever think that Christ left Peter or any other to be supreme head, and only head over the Church, but this authority was given equally to all the Apostles as ye may gather out of Matth. 28. & 3 last ver. where our Saviour equally and with equal authority sent all his Apostles to preach and teach, saying, Go ye therefore and teach all Nations. And further he saith, And lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Behold how Christ sendeth not only Peter, but all his Apostles to preach and teach: And saith he will be not only with Peter, but with all his Apostles inspiring spiritually and instructing them all, and not Peter alone, to rule and govern & feed with spiritual food his flock. If this be so, dearly Beloved, never believe that the authority which the Pope challengeth to himself over all the Church is due unto him, who usurpeth his authority & seeketh by it to encroach upon Kings and Prince's Crowns, as I shall in some other occasion more largely declare. Fly therefore dear souls from this chief and most dangerous Rock of all Popery; and having once discovered the dangers of this false doctrine, abhor then all other erroneous doctrines of Rome, which come from him that usurpeth Christ's own power, and challengeth it to himself alone. O let my conversion be your strength and comfort! O believe an experienced and skilful Pilot, who hath travailed almost over all the world, and hath by experience of almost 40 years discovered all those rocks and quick sands of Popish errors of Antichristian doctrines and superstitions, which threaten the loss and utter overthrow of your souls. O that this day I may perform what Jesus said to Peter, And when thou art converted, strengthen thy Brethren.  
O let my example, dearly beloved, strengthen you all in the true Protestant Religion, that so I may say with the spouse, draw me and we will run, that I being drawn this day unto the true Faith, ye may all run more hastily and speedily to the same; that I being brought this day into the King's chamber, that is, into the true Church, ye may all be glad and rejoice, finding in your souls a new & greater strength to continue and die in this ancient and Apostolic Church, that so we may all meet and rejoice together after this life in another chamber of our Heavenly bridegroom, in the triumphant Church of Heaven. Amen.  
FINIS.