A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE honourable House of COMMONS: At Margaret's Westminster, upon the 26. day of August 1645. being the day of their solemn monthly Fast. By JOHN LIGHTFOOT, A Member of the Assembly of Divines. London Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crook, and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the green Dragon in Paul's Churchyard, 1645. A Catalogue of such books as have been published by Mr. Lightfoot. OBservations on Genesis. — On Exodus. Harmony of the four Evangelists. Elias Redivivus. A Sermon on Luke 1. 17. at a Fast before the Commons House of Parliament, March 19 1643. A Commentary on the Acts, with an ecclesiastic History. TO THE honourable House of COMMONS Assembled IN PARLIAMENT. IF ever Sermon met with disadvantages whereby it might be made unacceptable to an Auditory, this was it. For besides mine uttter disabilities to prepare any thing fit for so learned and discerning ears and Judgements; the two things that might spoil delivery when the child, such as it was, was come to the birth, were come upon me, and those were straightness of time, and perplexity of spirit; for the fear of stopping your other occasions did so still lie before me, and the fear of mine own poor Family in the inundation of the Enemy in the Association at that very instant, did so follow me, that in this strait between these two, I stood your Orator at that time. Yet I see it is not in vain, but a comfort and happiness to labour to serve and obey you, seeing your acceptance cherisheth and encourageth such poor endeavours. The subject I fixed upon, I purposely chose, that the Millenary Opinion, which I cannot but judge erroneous, might not go on altogether uncontrolled, and one man take it at another for a truth without gainsaying; but that it might receive some check by the way, and it might be showed, that Posse vinci Hannibalem, that there is a fair possibility that that Opinion is but a falsehood. Errors sometimes, and uncertainties often, do get the repute of undoubted truths by going too long uncontradicted. As I cannot but challenge that opinion which is so current and common, and hath so long run from hand to hand for an unquestioned certainty, that now it is become unquestionable, and that is, that the supper mentioned in the 13 of John's Gospel was the Passeover supper, and that Judas his going out after the sop, was his departure away before the Sacrament: where as if it be not certain, which to me it is, and I conceive may be very well proved to others, that that supper was not the Passeover, but a common supper; and that it was not at Jerusalem, but at Bethany fifteen furlongs off, and that it was not on the Passeover night, but two nights before: If this I say, be not absolutely certain at the first sight, as to convince of its certainty, yet is it very well worth the weighing, and the contrary opinion not to be suffered to go unexamined, which among the most men it doth. Your Honourable House weighteth all things, the Lord hold out and reveal his will to you more and more, and crown all your undertakings and Consultations with all prosperity and success. Septemb. 12. 1645. Your servant in the Lord, John Lightfoot. A SERMON PREACHED To the Honourable House of Commons, at their monthly Fast, August 27. 1645. Rev. Chap. 20. Vers. 1, 2. And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And be laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. NOw I would this angel would bow the heavens and come down, and bring his chain with him and bind the devil now, for never was there more need, never was it more time: for if ever he were loose he is loose in these times, and if ever he raged he rageth in this nation: Alas for the inhabitants of England, for the devil is come down among them, having great wrath, and yet we know not how long his time is; how lamentable and doleful is it, that that prophecy should ever be so true of us (which is uttered against Babel) as it is proved to be at this day, that Zijim and Ijim and Obim, satyrs and fiends and devils should dance and domineer, and rage and ravin as they do in this nation, and when and how they shall be restrained, we cannot tell? Only there is some comfort in the text, and this indeed is all the comfort we have, that the angel in the Text can master the devil if he will but do it, and he hath a chain in his hand that will bind him, if he will but tie him in it. The Text is held to be the hardest piece in all the Bible by many degrees: For as prophetic writings are the difficultest pieces of all the Scripture, and the Revelation of all prophetic writings, so is this Chapter of all the Revelation, and these Verses of all this Chapter; and so doth a learned country man of our own censure upon this place, that it is Res omnium totius Scripturae Propheticae abstrusissima maximeque admiranda: Mr. Mede in loc. A matter the most abstruse of any part of the prophet's writings, and the most to be admired. I might spend the time that is allotted me to produce the opinions and the arguments to prove those opinions that are given upon this place. But I shall but tell you that some Popish writers apply this prophecy and victory of the Angel in the Text to the Pope, some to Pope Calixtus the second, who bound the Dragon, say they, when by an Vid. Marlorat. in loc. Anathema he caused Henry the fourth to renounce the custom of installing Bishops and Abbots. Others to Pope Innocent the third, who bound the devil by approving the orders of the Dominicans and the Franciscans. I need say no more, such expositions as these, it is more then enough to have but named them. I shall but tell you neither that some expositors of a better school, apply this victory of the Angel over the Dragon to Brightman. Constantine's conquering of Maxentius Herculeus and Lieinius those persecuting Emperors, and that he bound the devil when he ended tyranny and persecution, which had continued against the Church so long: and so they will have the thousand years to begin from him. But I must do more then barely tell you, that the gloss and exposition upon this prophecy which hath got the deepest root and the highest seat in the hearts and estimations of very many in these times, and carrieth the greatest cry with it, is the opinion of the Chiliasts of old, refined by the Millenaries o'late, which take this matter about the thousand years, strictly and exactly according to the very letter. An opinion so strange to me that I must confess I could not but make it a sad omen and presage a good while ago what opinions we should fall into in time, when such an opinion as this could be so swallowed down and entertained as I saw it was. I say such an opinion as this. That when Antichrist is destroyed the Jews shall be called, their calling shall be home to the land of Canaan, (for let me take up all the shreds of this opinion that I find scattered in the writings of the abetters of it) that Christ shall have a glorious reign here upon earth, that himself shall personally and visibly dwell here among his Saints: that this glorious time shall last a thousand years, that Satan all this while shall be bound, so that there shall not be the least disturbance or trouble in the Church, but all prosperity and Sunshine. That these thousand years are that that is called the day of judgement: that this day of judgement of a thousand years long shall begin with a bodily resurrection of the martyrs only, and shall conclude with the resurrection of all the dead: and the beginning of these thousand years is conceived by some to be but about one and twenty years off: Thus the exposition of this place according to that opinion. I shall not trouble nor tire your patience with the examination of the truth of these particulars; I shall only lay before you six groundless and mistaken principles as I conceive, from whence I apprehend this exposition and opinion to have risen, and refer them to your own censure and judgement; three from this Chapter that is before us, and three from other places in the Scripture. First, the maintainers of this opinion, seem not to have taken proper and serious notice of one phrase in this Chapter which the holy Ghost hath twice mentioned, that it might be be sure to be taken notice of, and that is, that Satan is bound for a thousand years that he should not deceive the nations: for so it is expressed in plain terms in the third verse upon his binding, & so is it hinted and intimated in the eighth verse upon his losing▪ now this opinion of the Millenaries speaks much of Satan's binding, so that there shall be no persecution nor offensiveness in the glorious Church they dream of, but all peace and happiness, and tranquillity and glory, whereas this prophecy speaks of no such matter. It speaks not a word of Satan's binding, that he should not persecute the Church, but it speaks of Satan's binding, that he should not deceive the nations. And how vast a difference there is betwixt persecuting and deceiving, and betwixt the Church and the nations, may be referred to any one to judge: And the missing to observe pressely, this phrase and this difference, is to miss of the very key that letteth in to the understanding of this prophecy. Secondly, as this doubled phrase is little observed, so another doubled one is much observed, but as much misinterpreted, and that is of the first resurrection of which there is mention in the fifth and the sixth verses. For though they will not deny the Apocalyptick to speak in borrowed phrases, and figurative speeches all along his book hither, yet here they will have him to speak nakedly and literally without any such borrowing, and to mean the very bodily rising of the martyrs from the dead: whereas in all this Chapter there is not one word of their bodies arising, but of their souls living, nor one word of their living on earth, but of their reigning with Christ. Thirdly, they conceive that the very method and place of this Chapter in which it lies, doth infer their gloss and interpretation; for that mention being made of the ruin of Antichrist in the next Chapters before, and of Christ's kingdom for these 1000 years, so immediately after, in this they think it must not be denied, that these 1000 years must not be begun till Antichrist be ruined: whereas the method of the Evangelist if it be pressely followed will appear of a clean differing scope. For as Moses in the book of Exodus, hath three times described Exod 25. &c. and 36. &c. and 40. Exod. 35. the fabric and fashion of the Jewish Tabernacle, in the pattern, in the making, and in the setting up: and hath made a fourth summary of all the materials that went to the making of it, though they were named in the other: Even so hath the Evangelish done by the description of the Christian Church in this book: From the beginning of the fourth Chapter to the end of the eleventh he hath described its state and persecution, but the persecutor not named: From the beginning of the twelfth Chapter to the end of the nineteenth, he hath described its state and persecution, and pointed the persecutor out; in this Chapter he sums up in brief what he had spoken in the two other parts at large, and in the two Chapters following he sets his Tabernacle up in her perfection, and describes the Church in her holiness, and communion, and participation of Christ. It is not proper for this time and place, to insist upon the proof and confirmation of this to be the Evangeliffs meaning and method, which might clearly be done, I refer it to your own thoughts and consideration. And as the parties that we are dealing withal, do thus mistake and misconstrue upon this Chapter, so do they also upon other places of the Scripture. For fourthly, they hold that Rome is the fourth beast, or monarchy or kingdom in Daniel: and because that Daniel hath told in his second and seventh Chapters, that after the destruction of the fourth beast or kingdom, Christ's glorious kingdom shall be set up, they therefore imagine that this kingdom of Christ is yet to come, and yet shall not come, till Antichrist shall be destroyed, which they hold to be a part of the fourth monarchy: whereas, to let pass divers other reasons, which might sufficiently prove the contrary, Daniel himself in his seventh Chapter at the eleventh and twelfth Verses, does show most plainly, that it is impossible that the fourth beast should mean the Romans: for he there telleth expressly, that even when the fourth beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame, the rest of the beasts had indeed their dominion taken away, but yet their lives were prolonged: Now what sign of life shall be to be found of the other three Monarchies, when Antichrist shall be destroyed, it is utterly unimaginable to apprehend. Fiftly, and which is much agreeable to the former, they conceive that Daniel prophesieth of Antichrist: of whom he speaketh not one word, nor treateth of any particular times or stories of the Gospel, but only holdeth out that gerall prophecy which all the Prophets did, with one consent of the calling of the Gentiles, and of Christ's glorious kingdom among them in the gospel. For it is a groundwork necessary to be laid by him that will make any thing of the book of Daniel and of the Revelation; That where Daniel endeth John beginneth and goeth no further back, and where John beginneth Daniel endeth and goeth no further forward. For Daniel showeth the state and the persecutors of the Church of the Jews, from the building of Jerusalem by Cyrus to the destruction of it by Titus, and he goes no further. And there where the beloved Prophet concludeth the beloved Disciple beginneth and taketh at him in this book, and showeth the state Dan. 10. 11. John 21. 20. and the persecutors of the Christian Church, from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world, and revealeth a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven when the old one on earth is destroyed, and one persecuting monarchy and state of Rome equalling in mischief and cruelty against the Church all the four that had gone before it. Sixtly and lastly, they hold that Antichrist shall be destroyed, before the Jews shall be called: which is not only not to be proved by any Scripture throughout all the Bible, but easily to be disproved both by Scripture and reason, and it were no hard task to show, if it were seasonable, that the eleventh Chapter of this book, by the killing of the two witnesses intendeth persecution against the two Churches Jews and Gentiles, when they shall be knit together at the Jews calling. Upon these six foundations is that opinion built which in itself is so exceeding strange, and yet (which is as strange) is so exceedingly entertained; I leave the balances in your hands to weigh the weight or the lightness of them: and now crave a little leave, to present you with six other particulars on the other hand for the clearing and explaining of the Text before us. First therefore, by Satan's deceiving of the nations (from which he is bound up in the Text that he shall do so no more) is to be understood that blindness and ignorance in which he kept the heathen for so many hundreds of years, before the appearing of the Gospel, deceiving them with strong delusions to believe lies, especially with his two great cheats and cousenages that misled all the world, Idols and Oracles: And that this is the meaning of that phrase deceiving the nations may be concluded upon, not only by the term nations, nor only by the truth of the thing itself, for that was the great deceiving of the world, nor only by the phrases of the Scripture that express the errors and delusion of the heathen, but even by the very tenor and scope of this Chapter itself, for it setteth down the two great cozenings and deceivings of the world by the devil, the one under heathenism before Christ bound him, and the other by Antichristianism when he was let loose again. Secondly, by the Angels binding the devil in the Text, is to be understood Christ's overthrowing the power of the devil among the Heathen, (for I suppose it needless to prove that the angel is Christ) his casting down those strong holds of Satan, Ignorance, Idolatry and lying Oracles, by the light and power of the Gospel preached among the Gentiles, his bringing them home to the knowledge of the truth, and his curbing of Satan, that he should no more cozen the world with those delusions and heathenism as he had done. Thirdly, this change of the Heathens condition, from the darkness of Ignorance to the knowledge of the truth, from worshipping of Idols to the worshipping of the living God, from seeking after lying Oracles to the studying of the holy Scriptures, from the power of Satan to the glorious kingdom of the Lord's dear son, this change I say out of that condition so sad, and that condition in which they had lain above 2000 years, was as their changing from death to life, and as it were a resurrection from the dead. And so is it called in the six and twentieth of Esay and the nineteenth Verse, and most expressly by our Saviour in John 5. 24, 25. And this is that first resurrection that is spoken of in this prophecy in the fifth and sixth Verses: and when the Jews shall be called, which now lie in a condition much like to the old Heathens, that shall be as another resurrection, for so it is also called, Rom. 11. 15. Fourthly, if I should make a chronology of these 1000 years, I should date the resurrection of the Gentiles and their calling in and Christ's setting up his kingdom among them from the destruction of Jerusalem, from which time John also dateth his revelation. For although the Gospel were preached to the Heathen abundantly before Jerusalem were destroyed, and almost all the world was brought in, to the knowledge of the Gospel, and obedience of the faith before that time, yet is the date of these things more especially from that, because that then Judaism was wholly ceased, and Christianity only set up, the old people of the Lord cut off, and the Gentiles chosen and taken into their stead. And hence it is that so great things are spoken of the day of Jerusalem's destruction in the Scripture: as that it is called the great, and terrible, and notable day of the Lord, Joel 2. 31. Acts 2. 20. as if it were the day of judgement and the dissolution of the old world: and our Saviour discourseth it and the end of the world so mixedly together that you cannot know them asunder they are so like, Matth. 24. And to this purpose is the Masoretic note upon the first of Genesis and the second of good use, which telleth us that the phrase Haarets tohu Vabohu, The earth was without form and void, is never used again in Scripture but once, and that is in Ier. 4. 23. where the Prophet is speaking of Jerusalem's destruction, as if then the world were ended and returned to its Chaos again. For here it was that the old world of mosaic rites, the old heavens and the old earth of the Jewish Church and State ended and came to ruin, and hence it was that the new heavens and the new earth, the new world, the new Jerusalem, the new state of the world, and the new Church of the Gospel began, and then it is no wonder if this be called the first resurrection: Here properly began that which in Scripture is so renowned and called the kingdom of heaven: that is, Christ's kingdom in the Gospel set up among the Gentiles when the earthly kingdom of Rites and Ceremonies among the Jews, the kingdom of hell in ignorance and Idolatry among the Gentiles was now finished, and the kingdom everlasting of righteousness and holiness set up. And at this time it is that the thrones are said to be set up in Dan. 7. and in the fourth Verse of this Chapter, and as our Saviour expresseth it, the Apostles sitting on twelve thrones judging the 12. Tribes of Israel, that is, the Apostolic doctrine judging and condemning that unbelieving nation, and showing their rejection to be most just because of their unbelief: This period of time thus observed and taken notice of would help to facilitate and clear many things in Scripture, which for want of observing this, do fall under misprision and misinterpretation, as instance in that in Act. 2. 17. It shall come to posse in the last days, &c. Conceits are taken up by divers in our times upon this place, as if visions and prophetic gifts, and I know not what should be poured upon men toward the end of the world, misconstruing the phrase of the last days to mean the later end of the world, whereas it meaneth the last days of the Jews world or state, and misconceiving the term, the great and terrible day of the Lord, to mean the day of judgement, whereas it meaneth nothing else but the day of Jerusalem's destruction. Were I then to Chronicle these 1000 years in the Text, I should begin them from this date: but I shall not be punctual to determine that at this time: Begin them whether you will, either there, when the Gentiles only began to be the Church, or begin them when first the Gospel came among the Gentiles, either by Peter to Cornelius or by Paul to the Western parts of the world, (for the publishing of the Gospel to the heathen was the binding the devil that he should no more deceive the nations) begin at whether date you will, it is easy to cast where the 1000 years' end, according to your choice of their beginning. Fiftly, from either beginning, the end of them will fall in the very pitch of the kingdom of Antichrist as I may so call it, when now the world began to be in deepest darkness again, & to become heathenish anew, and then is Satan in justice loosed again, and deceiveth the nations a fresh by Antichrist, and for a season the world becomes no better than the old heathens for Ignorance and Idolatry. Sixtly, in this thousand years' space, persecution haunted the Church in a most miserable extremity: partly by the Heathen Emperors, partly by Antichrist when he appeared, and many thousands were put to death for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which neither worshipped the beast of the Empire nor his Image Antichrist when he was risen up, and these though they were miserably tortured and slaughtered in regard of the body, yet their souls reigned with Christ and were in happiness. And the Evangelist in the fourth Verse, speaketh but in the tenor that Daniel doth in his twelfth Chapter and second Verse: where treating of the miserable afflictions to be caused by Antiochus, he comforteth those that should fall under them with assurance of the resurrection and eternal felicity: So the Apocalyptique here, being to discourse of the persecution that should befall by Rome, first heathenish, and then papal, he solaceth and incourageth all chose that should suffer it, with this assurance, that though their bodies should be destroyed, yet their souls should reign with Christ: and as for the others that worshipped the Beast and his Image, they never obtained the first resurrection of recovering out of their heathenish and blind estate into the embracing of the light, but they continued dead in ignorance and error till even after these thousand years, and then the world slipped into the darkness and delusions of Antichrist as into heathenism again. And so I have given you the sense of this place, and as I conceive the very sense of the holy Ghost: If I have been a little overlong in it, it is but according as the difficulty of the thing itself requires, and I hope you will pardon me. Before I come to take up the words, I cannot but observe this to you, from what hath been spoken last, namely that error and deceivedness in the things of God is a verier devil and Doct. more dangerous than open persecution. For the Text accounts the devil bound, when he is tied up from deceiving, though he be at liberty for persecuting, I do but name this here, I shall have occasion to make use of it hereafter. And now in the Text you may observe two things; first, a description of Christ and a description of the devil; and secondly, a mastery of Christ over the devil. The description of Christ in the first Verse, a description of the devil in the second, and the mastery of Christ over the devil in the conjunction of both. I might observe many things out of the words in either verse, but I shall only take up that which both the Verses conjoined do mainly and clearly hold out unto us, and that is: That, be the devil never so devilish, Christ hath power to overpower him. Doct. It is worth your observation, that the Text seemeth to be at strife with itself, whether to set out the devil in his devilishness, or Christ's power over him, in the higher expressions; for as on the one hand it hath set out the devil in five of his attributes, if I may so call them, as that he is a Dragon, a Serpent, an old Serpent, the devil, Satan; so in as many terms on the other hand hath it set out Christ's power and victory over him, namely that he lays hold on him, binds him, casts him into the bottomless pit, shuts him up, seals him up for a thousand years, as if it purposely intended to proclaim this to us, which I cannot but repeat again, That be the devil never so devilish, Christ hath power to overpower him. The truth of this doctrine was the very first thing that was held out in the world, after sin came into it: and as soon as the devil had showed his devilishness in the overthrow of Adam, the Lord proclaims the power of Christ to conquer the devil, and that before ever any censure or sentence be passed upon Adam, Gen. 3. 15. And this truth shall be one of the last things that shall be held out in the world, when the devil shall receive the reward of all his devilishness; when he, his Angels, and his instruments shall receive this sentence from him, go yet cursed, &c. And as for the space betwixt these two periods, or from the beginning of the world to the end of it, the Scripture is so full of testimonies, and the world so full of experiences of Christ's power and mastery over the devil, that it is needless to prove it, the devil himself dare not deny it, Matth. 8. 29. I shall confine my discourse upon this subject unto these particulars. Namely, to show you how the power of Christ meets with the devil to master him; first, in the utmost evilness of his nature, as he is a Serpent: Secondly, in the utmost vigour of his power, as he is a Dragon, the greatest of Serpents; thirdly, in the utmost practice of his subtlety, for he is an old Serpent; and fourthly, in the utmost exercise of his malice, for he is a devil; and lastly, in the utmost violence of his cruelty, for he is Satan; the utmost of any of these, the utmost of all these either in himself, or in his instruments or members, all the devils in hell, all the wicked on earth, Christ is too big for them, he can, he doth master, quell and conquer them at his pleasure. The first thing to be considered in the devil to our purpose in hand is the evilness of his nature, and that the Text intimates unto us, when it calls him a Serpent, a beast that carries poison within him, death comes from him, and a curse is upon him: we may say of his nature as he is a devil, as the Scripture speaketh of the frame of man's heart, as it was unframed by the devil, he is wholly evil, only evil and evil continually. There is a question among Divines whether there be a summum Aquin. part 1. quaest. 49. Art. 3. malune as there is a summum bonum, a chiefest evil, in that sense that there is a chiefest good: They hold it negatively, and there is good reason for it, but certainly if any thing come near to the pitch of such a thing as a summum malum, it is that evil one we have in hand. For first, look upon him in his being evil, he is absolutely so, he is intentionally so, he is irrecoverably so, he is maliciously so. Secondly, look upon him in causing evil, and he was the father of sin, the first cause of God's dishonour, the voluntary cause of his own ruin, the malicious cause of the ruin of mankind. And thirdly, look upon him in his acting of evil, and he did it at first without a tempter, he doth it since as a tempter, he committed it then at the height of sin, he doth it now as a depth of sin and punishment. I might enlarge myself in all these particulars, but I shall only recommend to you the consideration of these two things, the perverseness of his will incorrigible; and the desperateness of his condition, irrecoverable: And thus is he most truly and primarily that which Jude speaketh of some of his children and members, twice dead, to be plucked up by the Jude vers. 12. roots. Mankind, though it fell into the hands this thief, and were stripped, and beaten, and wounded and undone by him, yet left he him but half dead: not in the sense that some would make of it, as if some power and moving to grace Luk, 10. 30. were in his nature when he was fall'n, but in a sense contrary to the desperate estate of the devil, that man's will was curable, and his fall recoverable. So was not the devils, either the one or the other. The devil is in this in a direct diameter or contrariety to the good Angels that stood, that as they cannot sin, so can he do nothing else: and as they can will nothing but good, so can he will nothing but evil; and as they shall never fall, so he shall never recover. First, the incorrigible perverseness of his will is intimated in these expressions of Scripture: There is no truth in him, and when bee speaks a lie he speaks of his own, John 8. 44. And the devil sinneth from the beginning, 1 John 3. 8. And your adversary the devil walketh about seeking whom he may devour, 1 Pet. 5. 8. And others of the like tenor concluding to us that the devil is in a continual motion and practice of sinning, and can do nothing else because there is no truth or goodness in him, but he is spiritual wickedness itself, as he is called, Ephes. 6 12. Now this obduration of the devils will in evil, proceedeth not only from the justice of God, reserving him in such chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day, but from two cursed principles within himself. First, whereas the evils that men fix their affections upon, are chosen by them as appearing to them to have good in them, as pleasures, profits and the like, and so poor men are deluded by shadows: the devil in his fall chose evil even under the notion of evil, he being of a knowledge that could not be deluded, and being in a state that could not be bettered. And secondly, because he doth adhere unto the choice of that evil that he first made, and that not only in regard of the fixedness of an angel's choice, which as the schools tell us, cannot change his choice which he hath once made, quia apprehendit immobiliter per intellectum, but also in regard Aquin. part 1. qu. 64. art. 2. of that maliciousness that poisoned his first choice, and hath venomed his whole will, and cannot be wrought out of. And thus is the Devil incorrigible in regard of his cursed will, and then it is no wonder if he be irrecoverable in regard of his cursed estate: for if any wicked one deserves that sad doom of he that will be filthy let him be filthy, this wicked one deserves it, and it is laid upon him. It was once indeed the conceit of some that the Devils should in time repent and be saved, but the Devils themselves are of another opinion, as it may be seen, Matth. 8. 29. for God and their own conscience hath told them so, James 2. 19 and the Scripture telleth us so, Jude Vers. 6. Now two reasons may be given of this besides these two mentioned before, God's justice, and their own obduration, and these are, first, in regard of the heinousness of their sin, for it was against the Holy Ghost; and secondly, in regard of the height of their happiness, for they were in termino viae, at their journey's end. First, not to trouble you with any large discourse what the sin against the Holy Ghost is, if ever it were committed, no doubt it was committed in the first sin of the devil. Secondly, when Adam sinned he was but setting forth on his journey towards heaven, and that eternity that God had appointed him unto: for his happiness in paradise was not the utmost happiness that he must look after, but an happiness in heaven whereof that in Paradise was but a type and pledge, and so poor man he stumbled and fell at the very threshold as he was setting out on his journey, and God out of pity set him on his feet again, or else mankind had never tasted of that infinite good for which God created it. But the devil, as soon as ever he was created, being created an Angel of light, he was already in the utmost happiness he must ever attain unto, he was in heaven, he was in eternity, already he was with God, and what would he, what could he have more? And therefore for him in portu impingere, to shipwreck himself when he was got into the Haven, for him to despise God, heaven and eternity when he now enjoyed it, it hath made him utterly desperate in regard of his condition, and never to be repaired or recovered. And thus have you seen something of the devil's nature and constitution: And I have been the briefer in the treaty of it, because I would not keep your patience too long upon such a discourse, and yet have I taken up such a discourse because I know it would be exceeding profitable if it could but bring us to see the devil in his own colours indeed. For if to behold God in his essence doth fill the will so full of divine contentment, as that (as the schools speak) it can never turn again from God to delight in sin; then certainly on the contrary, to behold the devil in his colours and complexion, would so fill the will with the abhorring and detestation of him, that it would not readily turn again to the devil to forsake God: And therefore if I were to make a threefold wish as Austen once did, I cannot tell what to wish for to more profit and advantage then to know God as he is, the devil as he is, and ourselves what we are. But to pursue what we are about. As you have seen the evilness of the devil's nature especially in these two particulars, in the incorrigible frowardness of his will and the irrecoverable cursedness of his condition: So now look how the power of Christ meets with him and over powers him for all this his crooked and cursed disposition. And this is considerable also in two particulars. First, in that though the will of the devil be thus desperately and precipitately bent upon evil, yet Christ doth so overpower him as that he produceth good out of the devils actions to his own people. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth, much more can any good thing from the devil? can any bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one, but one; he that brought light out of darkness at the beginning, fire out of water at the sacrifice of Elias, sight out of blind eyes stopped up with clay, the same can bring good out of evil, good to his people even out of the wickedness of the devil, by that mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things, even the devil to himself. I might be copious in showing what good the Lord produceth out of the devils temptations practised by himself, what good out of the devils persecutions practised by his instruments: even honey for Samson out of the very carcase of the devouring Lion, and meat for Elias out of the mouth of the carrion Raven. I might show you, how Adam had a better condition, Job a better estate, Joshua the high Priest better clothes gotten, out even of the assaults of the devil; I might show you what carefulness is wrought in the people of God, what clearing of themselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea what zeal, yea what holy 2 Cor. 7. 11. revenge, as the Apostle speaks in another case, and all this even from the very devils temptations. I might show you how the Church hath been increased, the Gospel propagated, God glorified, Atheists converted, and the enemies confounded, even by the devil's persecution: But I need not to go far for examples and experiences in this kind: look at home, in these times and distractions where the devil is so busy, and as we may sadly see him raging, and let loose in these doleful wars, so may we as visibly see Christ doing good to this poor kingdom out of this his evil. For, First, how many rotten hearts, and how many rotten members hath the devil, or God rather out of the devil's activity discovered in this nation in these troubles, which like a moth and corruption were devouring a poor kingdom, and she knew not who hurt her: What Junctoes of hell have been found out, what plots discovered, what Cabinets of letters detected, what actions described, what hearts anatomised? Popery, Prerogative, Protestations, Plotters, Prelates, all come to light and found desperate and devilish, and all this done by the great business of the devil, God overpowering him, and making him to prove a tell-tale of his own counsels, and as it were a false brother to his own hell and fraternity. Secondly, how have these troubles beaten men and the kingdom out of their fooleries and superstitions, their trumperies and ceremonies, customs and traditions? which how hard it would have been to have got off from them, if they had not been thus brayed in this mortar, the great tenaciousness of them with divers even in this mortar is evidence sufficient: This dross would never have been got away if it had not passed such a furnace: and our Israel would never have shaken hands with Egyptian Idolatry, if it had not been beaten out of it by Egyptian affliction. So that let me take up the manner of speech of our Saviour with some inversion; Oh England, England, Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat, and he hath winnowed away a world of his own chaff. Thirdly, how many profane and ungodly wretches hath this war cut off, Papists, Atheists, Epicures, devils incarnate, that would not only have lain in the way, as so much rubbish to hinder the work of the Temple, but that would have proved Sanballats, Tobiah'ss, Geshems, and such Samaritans, utterly to oppose it with all their might? It is a sad thing to see so many of Israel perish in the matter of Baal Peor; yet there is this comfort in it, that the entering into the land of promise will be the speedier when these untowardly and ungracious ones are taken a way. Fourthly, how many prayers and petitions at the throne of grace hath he pressed out in these extremities? the fool making a whip for his own back, for so prayer is styled, flagellum Diabolo, and helping forward his own destruction. And thus all things, even the very evilness of the devil himself, work for the good of God's people, and he that would have run Phereus' thorough; cures his impostume and kills him not, and all through the overpowering power of Christ, who is able to subdue all things unto himself, and doth dispose all things for the good of his. Secondly, Christ's mighty power meets with this evilness of the devil's nature and overpowers it, when he delivers men out of the very same evilness of nature, and works it out of them, by the work of grace and renewing, and brings them to become new creatures: we have heard a sad story of the doleful nature and constitution of the devil, we may say each one to himself as Nathan once to David, by thy natural condition thou art the same: As one Blackmore may see his complexion in another Blackmores face, so may we our own nature in the devils; he is our father by nature, & we as like him as we may look; and the two Sosiaes' in the comedy were not liker one to another, than we to him in our original temper: God at the first made us like himself, but our degeneration hath made us so like to Satan, that all the evilness, perverseness, cursedness that we hear or read of of the devil, is all our own, and who shall deliver us from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord: he hath a power that can pull and redeem us out of this estate; and surely this power is not small. And therefore the Apostle speaking of this work wrought upon a poor soul, he calls it the exceeding greatness of his power to them that believe, Ephes. 1. 19 1. This is the next work of wonder and power to the work of the Incarnation, for as in that God became man, so in this man becomes like God. 2. It is a work beyond that of the creation, for in that there was no resistance in the subject wrought upon, in this there is. 3. It is a change beyond all changes, for a devil to become a Saint, a child of Satan to become the child of God, and a man from the very nature of the devil, to become partaker of the Divine nature: And 4. it is a greater work then casting out seven Devils or a Legion of Devils, for it casteth out even all the Devils of hell out of a man, for the nature of them all is in him: And then how great is this power of Christ that can thus change our devilish nature to become like his glorious nature through his mighty working? A second thing considerable in the Devil, and to which Christ's power is more diametrically opposite in overpowering him, is his power, even that great and wondrous power of the Devil, for so I may call it, that no bodily creature is able of itself to resist, and no man almost able to express or apprehend: he carrieth power in his name, he carrieth power in his nature, he carrieth power in his number, and he showeth power in works. 1. He carrieth power in his name, for he is called a Dragon here; A strong man armed, Matth. 12. 29. The Prince of the power of the air, Ephes. 2. 2. The God of this world, 2 Cor. 4. 4. Principalities and powers, Ephes. 6. 12. 2. He carrieth power in his nature, as being an Angel, and so he is called even in his devilish estate, 1 Cor. 6. 3. Know ye not that we shall judge the Angels, that is, the Devils? and so should I understand that in 1 Cor. 11. 10. A woman ought to have power on her head because of the Angels, that is, a woman ought to have a covering on her head in the public meetings, lest the devils should tempt men with the exposal of her beauty: Now Angels excel in strength, Psal. 103. 20. as being spirits, which are of an activity incomparably beyond bodily creatures. Nor hath the devil lost his power by his fall, since that was not so much any part of his holiness and happiness as it was an essential faculty of his nature. 3. He carrieth power in his number; there being a numberless multitude of devils that fell together. Some Divines of old have held that they are equal in number to all the people of God that shall be saved from the beginning of the world to the end of it, and that God in eternity did decree: to make up the number of fallen Angels, by an equal number of elect men. Whether this be so or no, and whether the air be full of devils, as others have conceived, we will not examine; certainly it is that we read of a Legion in Mark 5. 9 and doubtless it is, that the number of them is exceeding many. 4. And lastly, as he carries power in these respects, so he showeth power in his works and actings, in so much that his power hath been mistaken for the mighty power of God, Act. 8. 10. I shall not need to insist upon it to show you how he can, 1. Hurry bodies up and down in the air, Matth▪ 4. 5. Luk. 8. 29. 33. 2. Raise tempests, Job 1. 16. 19 3. Bring diseases both of body and mind, Luke 13. 16. and Luke 9 37. compared with Matth. 17. 15. 4. Overthrow houses and buildings, Job 1. 19 5. Break chains and bars, Mark 5. 4, &c. It is our comfort Christ hath a chain in the Text will hold him: And be his power never so great and wonderful in itself and in the eyes of men, yet Christ hath power beyond him and over him, and this he exerciseth partly immediately by himself, partly mediately by his instruments. 1. Christ overpowereth the devil immediately by himself: for, 1. He suffereth him not to do his own will: This day is this truth fulfilled in our eyes, and in our persons, it is written even on these walls, as holiness on the bells of the horses, Zach. 14. 20. for if the devil might do his own will, where had we been by this time that are here now alive and safe before the Lord? If his power were as large as his malice, no flesh should be saved, but for poor man's sake that chain is shortened. 2. He maketh him to do his will: as the Commander in the Gospel, he saith to one go and he goeth, and to another come and he cometh, and to a third, do this and he doth it, and they cannot, they dare not but obey him. 3. He can do nothing without his will: As 1. not walk further than he gives him chain; for as in the Text Christ hath a chain in his hand, so in Jude vers. 6. he hath the devil in a chain, and he cannot go an inch further than he gives him liberty. 2. He can tempt no man without his permission, as in the case of Job, Job 1. and 2. of Ahab 1 King. 22. 21, 22. no not enter into the heard of Swine without licence, Matth. 8. 31. 3. He cannot recover himself out of his desperate condition into which he is fallen. 4. He can as little recover his servants and agents from any misery into which they fall. 5. He cannot take off any plague that the Lord layeth on. 6. He cannot force any man's will to evil; for if the devil could carry the will whither himself would, he would carry all flesh to hell. These particulars I might enlarge, to show the weakness of the devil for all his great power, and Christ's power over him infinitely greater; but that may best be seen, by that power of Christ over the devil, which he showeth in, and by his servants, over him. As, 1. Christ's power in a poor believer: a spectacle for men and Angels to look upon and to wonder at: That a poor lump of clay, a worm, a moth, a nothing, yet drawing power by faith out of the everlasting fountain, should conquer him that can remove mountains: tread under foot the great Dragon, and through Christ be more than a Conqueror over him; and this we see by constant experience. 2. Christ's power which he hath committed to Ministers and Magistrates; the two hands of Christ whereby he visibly conquers the devil in the fight of men: the Jonathan and and his armour-bearer: the Priests with trumpets, and the gathering host, that one after another destroy these Philistines, and that both together help to lay the walls of the city of hell flat. Upon this object do I specially look in the exercise of these two offices; that they have not to fight against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and powers: and this consideration is some satisfaction to me, and helpeth to settle me about that matter which is now so much controverted, namely about Church power; for to me it seemeth, the acting of these two offices to be thus, the ministry to cast the devil out where it may be done, and the Magistrate to bind the devil where he cannot be cast out: and ubi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Medicus: where the power of the one ceaseth the other taketh at it and finisheth the work: The ministry by the preaching of the word, and by prayer, striveth to cast the devil out: and if it do it, well, but if it cannot do it, it can go no further; and than the Magistracy cometh in and bindeth him that he trouble not others, though the ministry cannot cast him out from vexing the party himself. It is needless to show how Christ overpowereth the devil by both these: the matter is so apparent and conspicuous I shall not need to go about to show it: It is enough to say that the ministry of the Gospel overthrew the Idolatry of the Heathen, and that the Magistracy can hang a Witch. And so have we done with a second particular, the Text hinteth unto us, the devil's power, and Christ's overpowering it. I should now take up the other considerations concerning the devil that the text holdeth out: and first I might show his subtlety, from that title that it giveth him, an old Serpent: A Serpent, the craftiest of all beasts, Gen. 3. 1. and an old Serpent of 5573. years' continuance and experience within one month or thereabouts. I might have showed how in all this time, 1. He hath observed the course of nature: 2. The course of God's providence, and 3. the temper of men, and hath reaped policy and experience from all these. How, 1. He playeth God's Ape, in having his miracles and oracles as God hath his, and how he imitates his works. 2. Can transform himself into an Angel of light: as he did to Eve who took him for a good Angel. 3. Baiteth his hooks with the good things of God, as with show of Religion, with God's mercy and patience, to entice to presumption, &c. 4. Changeth his temptations as occasions change, as he did by Christ: one while tempting him to a great work of power, to turn stones into bread: and another while to a work of the greatest weakness, to worship the devil. 5. Deceiveth men with kid's flesh in stead of Venison, and fixeth them on the creature in stead of the Creator. 6. Kills men with love of themselves as the Ape doth her young ones with embraces. I might also have showed the subtlety and policy that he exerciseth by men, as well as he doth to men: and here might I take up the master pieces of hellish policies practised by our enemies in these times. And I might show how Christ overpowereth the devil in regard of this his subtlety, in 1. Giving strength to his people to overcome his temptations. 2. In discovering his plots. 3. In defeating of them. 4. In bringing them on his and his instruments own heads. Secondly, I might likewise have showed some glimpse of the malice of the devil, as he is named in the Text, Satan or an enemy. As, 1. That he fell through malice to man: and this the most proper cause of his fall, though pride were mingled. 2. That he continueth in the same malice by which he fell, and cannot do otherwise. 3. That it hath no bounds either in regard of himself, or of the object, but he is ever malicious, and malicious to all extremity; and that both against God, and against all men, and against all men alike, though in regard of external persecution he showeth some difference. I might show withal how Christ overpowereth him in regard of this maliciousness. 1. By bounding the execution of his malice, though his malice itself be not bounded. 2. By loading him with the greatest condemnation, even hatched and generated by his own malice. And lastly, we might have considered the cruelty of the devil, as he is a devil: as 1. That he is cruel even to himself that he may mischief others: and brings the more condemnation upon his own head, by bringing men into condemnation. 2. That his cruelty is his only comfort, and that he hath no solace at all for his own destruction, but merely this cursed one, to bring men into the same case with him. But Christ overpowereth his cruelty: 1. By the Saints patience. 2. By his own providence. All these things would require a large discourse to illustrate and comment upon them, but in regard of the time they must be passed over: I shall now only crave leave to have a word or two of application of what hath been spoken and so have done. use 1 This shows us where to get strength against the devil's temptations, or his instruments. use 2 And answerably it may comfort every poor soul that lieth under the violence of the one or the other. use 3 And thirdly, it may set us a-work to labour for a great faith, since there is so great a power to fix it upon. I am God all-sufficient, saith God to Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect, Gen. 17. 1. be perfect, that is, in this doctrine of my al-sufficiency, or all-powerfulness (for so the word means, and not that perfection that some dream of, as if Abraham kept the whole law) and then faith will gather strength and extent, because the power upon which it anchoreth is Omnipotent. But these things I do but touch. use 4 bless God for the experience of this truth in our own particular preservation, and in the general preservation of the kingdom; And truly this is gloriously and graciously verified before our eyes at all times, in regard of the former, and in these times, in regard of the latter. For first, if we consider the power of the devil, and the weakness of ourselves, and yet our preservation in both these circumstances, we have great cause to admire and adore that power that doth preserve us. The safety of the three Princes of Judah in the furnace, and of Daniel in the lion's den, and Jonah in the whale's belly, is hardly a greater wonder, than is our constant and continued preservation: so many Devils to be hovering about us, as is their number, so much power to be in them, as there is in them, both in regard of their number and their nature, so much malice to be in their Spirit, and so much cruelty in their acting as there is, and yet we preserved in the midst of all this, I want words to express the mercy; let us never want hearts to observe that power that doth preserve us. The devil can remove mountains, overthrow towers, rents rocks, tear up trees, do almost any thing, and yet our poor lump of dust is preserved: acknowledge the power, be thankful for the mercy. And secondly, in regard of the kingdom: Let us but turn aside and see this great wonder, how it comes to pass that this bush that hath burnt so long is not yet consumed that this poor carcase of a Nation, like that of the Prophet, though it be even killed by this lion, yet is it not quite torn to pieces: that the fury, and policy, and mischievousness of Satan hath hurried it to the very precipice of confusion, as Christ to the pinnacle of the Temple, and yet it is not thrown down into it. Certainly it is no strength nor power of our own that doth preserve it, for who is able to resist the violence of this enemy? but it is the great power of our dear Saviour, which I leave to your own thoughts, for I do but touch here neither. use 5 But lastly, and where I desire to stay a little: If Christ be thus able to overpower the devil, and to master him at pleasure, then how is all this befallen us that is befallen us, through the fury of the devil, & how doth it thus continue on us? As it is worthy our considerations that we are so happily preserved by the power of Christ that we are gone no further in our misery, so is it seriously to be thought upon, how it comes to pass that his power hath suffered us to go so far as we have done, and to continue so long in it as we do. Surely his hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear, but it is some thing that hath separated betwixt us and our Saviour, and that makes him to stand as a stranger that looketh on, and works not for us whilst the power & fury of the devil doth thus tread upon us. It is easy to answer that our sins have done it, and methinks God hath dealt with England much like as he did with Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the book of Exodus, when admonition upon admonition was given to them, and exhortation upon exhortation was pressed upon them to harken to God and to let Israel go and they would not do it, than God lets the devil loose among them in visible shapes, as they sat in the three days' darkness to terrify and perplex them, as it is apparent by Exod. 10. & Ps. 78. 49. compared together: In the very like manner is it now with us: the Lord hath long been treating with this nation for her conversion, by precept upon precept, line upon line; precept upon precept, line upon line, by exhortation, admonition, mercies, judgements, all things; what could have been done more than hath been done to England? but when still we are as unreformed & unconverted as ever, and when nothing that the Lord hath done to us will amend us, the Lord hath now at last turned Satan lose among us with all his power and all his fury: our sins have as it were broken the chains, and now he rageth without restraint, as never did he more in any nation. But this is not all I have to say. It is most undoubted indeed, that our former sins have brought us and our p●esent sins continue us under this rage and insultations of Satan that we now feel in all these miseries that lie upon us, but if I may freely speak mine own thoughts, I do verily believe that a main reason why the devil is no more bound among us, is, because he is not bound; my meaning is this: that God hath put into our own hands exceeding much towards the binding of the Devils that do undo us, and we do not do it. It is in our own power to curb and quell the devil that forageth and ruineth us, and we curb him not, and then it is no wonder, nay it is but justice if he worry us, if he destroy us. I will not speak of that devil that spoils all before him, the fury of our enemies, nor will I examine whether it may be restrained any more than it is, your wisdoms best know what you have to do in that particular. But it is not the Enemy only that hath done us this displeasure that we feel, for than we could better have borne it, or hid ourselves from him, but it is some of our own party, some of our friends, of our familiars, with whom we have taken counsel together, and have gone with them to the House of God as friends, which do prove Devils to us, or at least raise up Devils among us, that ruin and undo us, that help on our sorrows, augment our miseries, bind on those plagues that the desert of our sins hath brought upon us. Our own Quarters are become as the Land of the Gadarens, where two possessed Parties, as I may so say; or rather two possessing Devils, are so exceeding fierce that none may pass by them, none can be quiet near them. And these two are, Injustice in oppressiom, and erroneousness in Opinion. These are they that lose you friends, procure you enemies, and keep off Neuters, that undo at home, and exasperate abroad, that lose you more hearts, than all your Armies can subdue Persons; and do more mischief to your Holy and Honourable Cause, than all the other Devils of hell can do, than all your enemies on earth have done. Our sad case at this time is like the case of the four Lepers under the walls of Samaria in the book of Kings, if they went into the City, they went upon famine, if they went from the City, they went upon the enemy: If we go to the enemy's Quarters, there the devil of their cruelty devours us; if we abide among our own, one or other of these Devils is ready to destroy us; so that as it was with them of old, it is with us at this day, Abroad the sword devoureth, and at home is death. First, we looked for Justice, but behold a cry, (for give me leave to use the words of the Prophet, and to speak of bitter things in the bitterness of my spirit) the people of your own party expected Judgement, Equity, and Comfort from your Sitting, and from your counsels, and they concluded with themselves, much like as Micah did in another case, Now will it be well with us, now we have such a Parliament to take-care for us, to defend us, and to advice in our behalf; but behold, instead of their expectation, injuries, oppressions, wrongs, injustice, violence, and such complaynings and cryings out in all Quarters and Parts even of your own party, that let it not be told in Gath, nor published in the streets of A●kalon, lest the circumcised triumph and exalt over us in it. Mistake me not, it is far from me to charge your honourable Court with any such thing, for I may say in this as he and she did in another case, my Lord David knows it not, 1 King. 1. 11. 18. but it is too many that act under you, that cause this complaining and that do this mischief, yet I cannot but say withal that the injustice will become yours if it be not remedied. Now oh that England's grief in this particular were thoroughly weighed, and her calamity and complaints were laid in the balances together: Oh that the cries of all the oppressed in this kind might meet here this day together in your ears, as we desire our cries and prayers might meet this day in the ears of the Lord: what sad complaynings, lamentings, grievings and cryings out, would come almost from all parts and places in your own quarters? I will not take upon me to particularize in any, only, might I have but the quarter of that time and patience at your bar that I have here, and but some preparation for it as I had for this exercise, to do the message of mine own Country, as I now do the message of the Lord, I doubt I could tell you so sad a story as would make your ears to tingle. It is well observed by Divines, that though God for man's redemption, could have conquered the devil by power, yet did he rather choose to do it by justice: he that spoke the word and brought light out of darkness, and the world out of nothing, could by the same powerful word have commanded mankind out of the jaws of the devil, and it had been effected: but his wisdom rather chose, that his own son should take flesh, perform the Law, and suffer death, and so that the devil should be conquered by very justice; and not only his power quelled, but his mouth stopped. This is the way for you to conquer and no way like it: A little execution of justice is of more victoriousness, than a great deal of military preparation: the stoning of one Achab doth more good toward the taking of Ai, then three thousand trained men could do. By this way must you either quell and conquer this devil of injuriousness and oppression, or he will spoil your cause, he will overthrow your armies. And you cannot get so much ground abroad as this will lose you ground at home if it be not prevented. I do most humbly recommend it to your most serious thoughts, and conclude this matter in the phrase of the Prophet: Do judgement and justice, judge the cause of the poor and needy, of the wronged and oppressed, and then may you eat and drink and prosper, and it will be well with you and with your cause, as Jer. 22. 15. But secondly, there is yet a second devil that undoes us, and worse if worse may be; a white devil, that changeth himself into an angel of light, and so destroyeth the more, by how much he is suspected the less, and that is, erroneousness in opinion, too common, too violent among us at this day. I told you erewhile, that error and deceivedness in the things of God, is a verier devil and more dangerous than open persecution, and here I cannot but take it up again: And I may give you some arguments to prove it: as, 1. I may use the stile of our Saviour, fear not that devil that can kill the body, but when he hath done that, can do no more, but fear that devil that can cast both soul and body into hell: persecution can only destroy the body, but error destroys both body and soul. 2. I believe that persecution never destroyed a Church since the world stood, I am sure errors have done divers: Nay I question whether corruption in manners can nullify the being of a Church, I am sure corruption in doctrine hath done. The seven Churches of Asia though some of them were exceedingly corrupt in point of conversation, and so corrupt that they had left and lost their first love, yet are they all golden candlesticks, because for the general they retained the purity of doctrine. The open persecution of our enemies hath not nor cannot do that destruction and mischief to us that errors do and have done among us; and my heart doth never sink so much in fear of our cause, as when I consider the growth of these in the midst of us, for these threaten ruin to the very being of the Church and of Religion. How sad and doleful a thing is it to consider, and for God's sake take it seriously to heart, that so glorious a Church as this was but a while ago, should now be so overgrown with these cursed weeds as it is, and is more and more every day, as is no reformed Church under heaven: That God should be so blasphemed, his truth so polluted, the moral Law so despised, repentance and begging pardon for sin, so pleaded against, the immortality of the soul written against, duty cried down, and I know not what so cried up, as is in the erroneous opinions that are among us, what a misery is this in the midst of our other miseries! A Canker, a Gangrene hath seized upon the land, and devours unsensibly, but it devours desperately and devilishly, and Aut tu illum, aut ille te, either bind this devil, or this devil will have all in his power and kingdom of darkness before we are aware: How he gets ground, and grows and devours and destroys, who is there that sees not? and for Siont sake who can hold his peace? Souls lie ableeding by this as well as bodies by the enemy, the Church is undone by this, as the land by them, this spoils our truth as they do our peace, and when these are gone, whither shall we go? I shall not take upon me to be your director or instructor for the manner or means of stopping of this mischief that it grow no further, and for the suppressing of that growth which it hath already made, it is above my skill, your wisdom will best contrive that; but I shall humbly crave leave to be your remembrancer of some thing that may tend unto it. 1. There is great talk of, and pleading for liberty of conscience, for men to do in matters of Religion, as Israel did in the book of Judges, whatsoever seemeth good in their own eyes; and how that proved there, there are sad stories that relate: I shall not go about to determine the question, whether the conscience may be bound or not, though for mine own satisfaction I am resolved it may, and do hold it a truer point in divinity that errans conscientia liganda, then ligat, but certainly the devil in the conscience may be, nay he must be bound, or else you act not according to that vigour that Christ hath put into your hands: nor according to that exactness that Christ requireth at your hands. It is true indeed which is so much talked of, that Christ alone must reign in the conscience, but it is as true also, that he doth so by the power that he hath put into the hands of the magistrate, as well as by his word and spirit. 2. I hope you will find some time among your serious employments to think of a review and survey of the translation of the Bible; certainly that might be a work which might very well befit a reformation, and which would very much redound to your honour. It was the course of Nehemiah when he was reforming, that he caused not the Law only to be read, and the sense given, but also caused the people to understand the reading, Neb. 8. 8. And certainly it would not be the least advantage that you might do to the three nations (if not the greatest) if they by your care and means might come to understand the proper and genuine reading of the Scripture, by an exact, vigorous, and lively translation. I hope (I say it again) you will find some time, to set a foot so needful a work: and now you are about the purging of the Temple, you will look into the Oracle, if there be any thing a miss there and remove it. 3. I shall not beg of you to cherish learning, for that hath no enemy but ignorant ones, nor shall I beg, that you would cherish a learned ministry, for that may challenge cherishing: but I beseech you take care that none intrude upon the ministry or to preach the word that have not a calling to it, and some competent ability for it. This is a main wellhead from whence flow all the errors that are among us, when mechanics, unlettered and ignorant men will take upon them to be preachers, and to instruct others when they need teaching themselves; and this if it be not stopped, will overflow all with a puddle of errors and heresy: you have made good orders for the stopping and preventing of this, but execution is all. 4. I beseech you hasten the settling of the Church: These weeds grow, while government groweth not; I rejoice to see what you have done in platforming Classes and Presbyteries: and I verily and cordially believe it is according to the pattern in the mount. The Lord speed and prosper you in working up the furniture for this fabric. Especially he be your director in the two great things that are now under your agitation, Church-power and suspension from the Sacrament: I am most unable to hold out to you any thing, that may direct you in matters of such weight: And if my judgement were any thing, yet should I be sparing to show it, because I must confess that about these matters I differ in judgement from the generality of Divines, and I hold it not any happiness to be singular in opinion, nor do I hold these to be times to broach differences, I shall ever follow you with my desires and prayers, and write the success of the good hand of our God upon you. FINIS.