A SERMON PREACHED The last Fast day in Leaden-Hall Street, in the house of one Paamore, a Cheesmonger, by one of the zealous brethren, being a Shoemaker, to the fraternity and holy Sisters assembled together in a chamber.  
●eing such another as Toby's Dog was. The Text was thus, And Paul opened his mouth, ana said, Men and Brethren what shall we do.   naked figures engaged in discourse 
What? Shall we do.  
〈…〉  
March. 4. 1642  
Printed in the Year of private instructing, for John Lovel, 1643.   

And Paul opened his mouth, and said etc.  
THis Text hath as many sentences in it as words, and as the waves of the sea beating on a rock make a great noise, so this Text doth perfume this chamber wherein we are assembled together; Therefore harken and you shall hear me speak, not as if I were full of new wine, but as it were (as indeed I am) replenished with that Spirit where by we can do all things, and even to a hair cut out and divide unto you all portions of Scripture, but not as the profane men of Athens in their long studied Sermons in Oxford and Cambridge, but as our spiritual brethren in London do declare the word in their zealous exhortations to godly assemblies, privately gathered together as we are now; and that is to run over the words as they lie in their natural order, And Paul opened his mouth, and said, etc.  
In the first place this word And comes to be considered, it may be rendered by other words, but not so properly, for Also doth sometimes express as much as And, but it may be compared to the spiritual profession of Religion now amongst us, for and doth always join words and sentences together, and so the unity of the Spirit that is amongst us hath brought us all together into this chamber, both me to preach, and your neighbour Ananias, and you goodman Brightman, and you brother Abraham, and you sister Dorcas, and you sister Rebecca, to hear me teach and instruct you according to the Spirit which moves in us continually in several places, mark therefore this word and, for unless you have the true form of godliness, and do read Scripture diligently, and do exhort one another mutually, and do attend to the hearing of Sermons carefully, and do despise the profane wretches of this world, and do separate yourselves from the ungodly, and be pure and holy, and faithful Psalm singers, and good Christians and zealous in defence of our doctrine, and resist all Authority, nay even the King himself, and strive to be all Kings, and to reign in this life, and finally to be sure of your salvation and election, and of your certain places in heaven, you shall never come thither, therefore remember this and, and to be zealous and spiritual, and so and so as I said before, than Earth and Heaven and Hell, and all shall be yours, and subject to the power of your Spirit, and so I have done with And.  
Now what should I say of Paul? Plain Paul without welt or guard, the Scripture gives him no other title but Paul, he was not called Bishop Paul, Doctor Paul, nor Sir Paul, as Bachelors of Art are in the profane Universities, & this may give encouragement to me (by profession a Shoemaker) and to my brother the J●yner that taught in the forenoon, not to be discouraged for our mean gifts in learning, for we may have the light of spiritual knowledge at our finger's ends, as Cobblers, Feltmakers, and other Tradesman have in London; O therefore you my zealous brethren and sisters, esteem of me and my brother, we are as two Paul's sent unto you by the Spirit, and we say unto you, and all our beloved sisters, If we sow unto you spiritual things, may not we reap your carnal th●ngs? we are call●d from our trades, to become Teachers and Preachers, and to make you know what belongs unto salvation, and whereas Paul wrote a great many Epistles, we spend our breath continually, and waste our spirits in opening unto you the holy Scriptures, We preach to you in season and out of season, that you might be saved by the foolishness of our preaching: And so we proceed from Paul to the following words, expressing the action of Paul, and that was he opened his mouth, And Paul opened his mouth and said.  
Opened his mouth: Speech is an evident sign of the inward man; for as a piece of gold is of more worth than a brass token; so holy and gracious discourse is as necessary as salt at our tables to season our talk to the edification of others. Beloved, we may here discover the boldness of Paul, who had a mouth not to eat and drink, only as some have, or to keep silence when they ought sharply to reprove the iniquities of the times, and to cry down sin with a strong voice, and to be heard preaching in the garret, or on the house top, no Paul was none of the fat Priests that open their mouths oftener to feed themselves then to feed their flock, But he opened his mouth, as my brother in the forenoon did, and as myself now does, that is to expound the Scriptures, and as he opened his mouth, so with his mouth he opened the Scriptures; now there be divers sorts of opening the mouth. A man may open his mouth to slander and backbite his neighbour, and to disgrace us of the elect, and children of predestination, and because we deal roundly in opening our mouths in the reproof of the wicked, and of their profane long locks, therefore they open their mouths against us, and in a disgraceful manner calls us Roundheads: But beloved, let not these words which malignants have devised, stop our mouths any more than butter can stop an Oven, but as the heat of the one doth melt the butter and keep the oven open, so let our spiritual heats melt their malice like butter while we constantly keep our mouths still open in private preaching and exhorting one another. I pray mark the simile or comparison, being very worthy of your observation, and remember always to keep your mouths open by praying and singing of Psalms; we cannot salute a friend or one of the sisters, but we must do ●t with open mouth, that is by speaking unto them in a religious manner at our holy meetings; therefore be sure that whether you pray or sing, or speak or confer together, do it with open mouth, and with much Christian boldness, and that aloud too, for Paul opened his mouth, and said.  
Sa●d: What said Paul? Brethren, it is a common matter amongst many to say more than they understand, and to say that we are ignorant in the holy Scriptures, but it was only the fool that said in his heart there was no God, and so it is only with worldly fools, and the foolish malignants that have said there is in us no godliness, but we have often said enough to approve ourselves the elect children of predestination, and therefore we will now see what Paul said, and that was Men and brethren what shall we do?  
What shall we do? This indeed (Beloved) was a hard question when the Lordly Bishops did reign over us, for then many of our holy brethren were compelled to fly over to Amsterdam and New England, and there become Weavers and Buttonmakers, and Feltmakers, and the like, and were sane to leave our wives and children to be maintain's by the Parish, so that then we might well say, What shall we do? But now we have got to live in the free liberty and sunshine of the Gospel, and to reign like Kings and Prophets in our own families, and to open our mouths in Psalme-singing, and preaching in chambers, so that what shall we do? may be now turned into, We shall do what we list, and preach where we list, to the spiritual edisying of our dearly beloved brethren and sisters in the new Jerusalem of this elected City.  
But suppose that the Cavaleroes (who are most of them Papists) should come and take us here as we are together assembled, than we might say, Men and brethren what shall we do? We are Christ's little flock, and therefore if the Wolf come to the door they would not spare to suck our blood, and drink it down as they do sack, and then it were too late to say, What shall we do? Beloved, this is a very considerable question in these times which begin to frown upon us, for if we lose that opinion of holiness which we and none but we deserve, being all children of the elect; we shall be sure to suffer persecution, and be once more compelled to fly over with our wives and children to Amsterdam: you see how our Conventicles were despised amongst the wicked, and in a notorious Ballad they call us Rogues, Rascals and Traitors, and therefore what shall we do? We know what we did before with our holy sisters, and our spiritual brethren, which was to expound, exhort and admonish them to stand stiff for the cause, crying aloud, Bring in all your plate, and be not damned for a spoon, or a silver whistle, or such like things of small value; for better it is that you should enter into the kingdom of heaven without a penny, then to be cast into hell fire, and there be consumed, because you would not let your plate be melted and coined into money, that we might defend ourselves, the laws, liberties and privileges of the Gospel preached only in our Conventicle. Therefore, if you ask me as Paul asked them in the Acts, Men and brethren what shall we do? I answer, beloved brethren and sisters, we must cleave fast to the infallible opinions which we have hitherto maintained, and which indeed have maintained us our wives and children, by the mutual support which we have received one from another; so that we eaten, drank, and feasted, and none of us had any need to say, What shall we do? But it is thought by some wicked malignants, that there will be a peace brought about, and then we shall be compelled to hold our peace, and have no liberty to preach any more in Tubs, unless we will disturb the peace of the kingdom, as we have already sufficiently done, and therefore if there be peace, and such a peace as is likely to be made with the wicked, this peace will be past our understandings, contrary to our dispositions, and a Tub full of our Religion will not be worth a barrel of Poor-John, will stink in the nose and judgements of the people, and then we may very well say, Men and brethren what shall we do? Or if the King's Majesty whom we have so much opposed, desiring to be under the obedience of no Magistrates; if his Highness, I say, should come to London with his Army, or make peace with Parliament, what a Case were we in then? Our heads would tremble for fear, and our hearts quake in our bodies, and when we see Gibbets set up to hang us in every corner of the streets, than we may cry out, What shall we do? Therefore let us make long prayers that there may be no peace, that the King may not come to London, and that we may preach still in Tubs, and never see that day when with trembling fear we shall open our mouths and say, Men and brethren what shall we do?  
No sooner had the Tub-Lecturer cried out these last words, but they had occasion to make use of his edifying Doctrine, for his audience issuing out of the chamber where they were assembled, the boys beat his Doctrine into some of their heads, rend others clothes, and plucked the black bags from the holy sisters dissembling faces, so that they would fain have hid their faces but could not, and still they persecuted them, crying, The Tub-Lecturers, the Tub-men and Tub-women, while they replied not a word, but comforted themselves afterwards at home with good cheer at supper, saying one to another, Master such an one was surely a Prophet, and this forenoon he found it true that we have now and shall have hereafter more just cause to cry, Men and brethren what shall we do? Thus you have the Text, the Sermon, and what followed the Sermon faithfully delivered, according to the attestation of many witnesses.  
FINIS.