The steadfast and Unwavering Christian.   

Imprimatur hic Tractatus( cvi Titulus Jachin and Boaz) in Heb. 
Jan. 20. 1675.  10. v. 23. gull. Jane Reverend. in Christo Patri Dno. Henrico Episc. land. à Sac. Dom.   

JACHIN and BOAZ: OR THE steadfast and UNWAVERING Christian: BEING A Serious persuasive to Constancy in the FAITH, and to Perseverance in the true PROTESTANT RELIGION, against all Objections, Temptations, Oppositions and solicitations to the contrary.  
By JOHN HUME M. A. Rector of Yelling in Huntington-shire.  Tenendum est, quod Ecclesiae ab apostles, Apostoli à Christo, Christus à Deo suscepit, tertul. de praescrip. advers. Heret. cap. 6. 
LONDON, Printed for Simon Miller at the Sign of the Star at the West-end of St. Paul's. MDCLXXVI.   

To the Right Honourable, Thomas Lord Fauconberge, Viscount Henknowle, Baron of Yarum, Lord Lieutenant of the North-riding of the County of York, Captain of the Royal Band of Pensioners, and one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council.  
MY LORD,  
YOur Lordship is not ignorant of my late severe Dispensation, how I lay under the fury and triumphs of a Chronical Distemper, by which I was brought to the brink of the Grave, and the confines of the House of darkness and silence, and every Toll of our Bell was a seeming Proclamation to the neighbourhood of my Translation to another State: but Almighty God was pleased to vouchsafe kindness( as sometime to Epaphroditus) by a strange and almost miraculous Recovery. Hereupon I resolved, to do something by way of Gratitude, to the Glory of my Preserver, who kept my Soul in life and suffered not my feet to be moved.  
Now seeing, my Lord, we have the best and most excellent Religion, and are engaged in a Profession every way both amiable and advantageous; yet( such is the looseness and sensuality of the Times) that many either Atheistically deny the Fundamentals of Christianity, or suffer themselves to be drawn away and removed from the Hope of the Gospel, by sensual Allurements and gross Delusions. I concluded therefore( considering the Scepticism and apostasy of this Age) I could not do a piece of more acceptable Service to the Lord Jesus, than to persuade those who have solemnly engaged themselves in this holy Religion, to observe their primitive Vows and Obligations, and maintain the Doctrine of Faith once delivered to the Saints.  
When the Levite in the Book of Judges saw his Concubine abused to death, he cut her in pieces, and sent her amongst the Tribes of Israel: so seeing the affronts& defamations passed upon Religion,& the cunning contrivances of Atheists, Romanists, and Enthusiasts, either to make us wholly renounce our espoused Evangelical Verities, or else to imbibe impure Doctrines, Streams of Abanah and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus; I thought it necessary to sand these Papers abroad to vindicate the Divine Majesty, to excite men to a holy Perseverance, and to importune them by the most forcing Motives, not to forsake our Church, and the Doctrines taught by her; which, provided men join practise to profession, will infallibly led them to a glorious Eternity, and the Enjoyment of that Beatifical Vision, which is the expectation of the Saints. And by the Rules of Justice your Lordship may challenge a Title to this Dedication; first from that relation I stand in to your Honour, seeing you have ranked me( though unworthy) in the number of your Chaplains, as also from the consideration of those signal and transcendent Favours conferred upon me; which great Obligation, seeing my Meanness cannot discharge, I hope your Candour and Ingenuity will accept the common Interest of a thankful Acknowledgement and Commemoration. Besides this is none of the least Motives of this my obsequious Address, that what I hearty desire of others is happily fulfilled in your Lordship, viz. a firm Adhesion to the Church of England, and her Doctrines, grounded upon Divine Revelation; and I request your Lordship to give me lief to acquaint the World, how rare an Example and Monument of Christian steadfastness you have been. 'tis well known you have visited remote Regions, you have seen the Magnificence of the Roman Church, the Glories of the Triple Crown, &c. yet you have retained your first received Principles, and not deserted our Communion: therefore I make no question but God has honoured your Lordship with additions of earthly Grandeur even here, made you a Star of the first Magnitude, and the Glory of our Northern Climate. May your Lordship still proceed to be a lively mirror of Constancy, Virtue and Sobriety to this wavering and impure Generation, and may others by the conductive rays of so Noble a Guide and Pattern, be directed into the strait paths of a holy and laudable Conversation.  
I have no more but to bow my knees to the Father of Lights, that he would bless your Lordship with all manner of Blessings in Jesus Christ; that his Candle may shine upon you, and his due lye upon your Branches; that your Peace may be as the River, and your Glory as the mighty Streams; and after a long and prosperous abode in this Sublunary Region, you may be received into the Glorious Number, and Blessed Company of Overcoming Saints, who shall sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; And this shall be the continued Prayer and fervent Option of  
( MY LORD) Your Honour's most Humble and ever obliged Servant and Chaplain JOHN HUME. Jan. 28. 1675/ 6.   

THE steadfast AND Unwavering Christian.  HEB. 10.23. 
Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering:  

AS to the Author of this Epistle it has not been a little controverted amongst the Learned; 
Extat titulus Barnabae ad Hebraeos.  Some think it was Clement: 
tertul de pudicit.  Tertullian and others suppose it was Barnabas; Grotius and others, by reason of the style. conjecture it was St. Luke: But the general stream of Interpreters and the ancient Greek Expositors, 
In praefat. ad Hebr.  such as Oecumenius, Theodoret, Theophylact conclude it to be St. Paul; so St. Chrysostome takes it for undeniable. 'tis questioned why he did not prefix his name: Some say that it was for the avoiding of Scandal; for many of the Jews were not a little scandalised at St. Paul, because he turned to the Gentiles, and deserted the Twelve Tribes: he foreseing therefore that the odium they bare to his Person, would reflect upon his Doctrine, and so make it unacceptable, he prudently conceals his name. Others say he did it out of Modesty; for though out of the exuberancy of his Love, he desired with all zeal and earnestness the salvation of his kindred according to the flesh, yet the Jews being then the peculiar Charge of St. James and St. Peter, 
A Lapide.  he would not be seen openly to writ unto them, lest it should be thought he played the Bishop in another man's diocese, and put his Sickle into another man's Harvest.  
This Epistle was early received into the Canon by the Greek Church, but not in the Latin till after the time of Tertullian and Cyprian, after the Third Century; but then it was embraced as authentic, and has very good authority both by Canons of Councils, 
De authoritate Epist ad Hebraeos vid. Canon. apostle. ult. Conc. Laodiceae Canon 60. Conc. Carthag. 3. Can. 47. Euseb. Ecclesiast. Hist. Lib. 6. cap. 13.& 24. Aug. lib 2. de Doctr. Christiana, Hieron. in Epist. ad Dardan. & others of the Latin Fathers.  
'tis further questioned to which of the Hebrews he writ; for there were the true and native Hebrews, and the Hebrews of the Dispersion: The native Hebrews dwelled in Judea and about Jerusalem, the dispersed in several quarters and regions of the World; for many of them were carried captive by the Kings of Assyria to Babylon, and from thence 'tis reported Antiochus carried 2000 Families into Asia, Lydia and Phrygia to awe the Greeks which were prove to rebellion: Others were spread abroad in Europe, and had their chief Assembly at Alexandria, and made use of the Septuagints Translation, where we red they were called Hellenists, Acts 6.1. and the dispersion of the Gentiles, Joh. 7.35. St. Chrysostome thinks that he writ to the Jews in Judea and Palestine. Dr. Hammond guesses he writ to the Jews Christian which the Author had known in Judea and Syria, all which belonged to Jerusalem as the chief and principal Metropolis; who being persecuted by the unbelieving Jews, by the infusions and persuasions of the gnostics, were wrought upon to forsake the Christian Assemblies. 
Scripta est haec Epistola quasi circularis ad omnes Hebraeos toto orb dispersos, maxim ad Hebraeos in Judaea degentes, A Lapide in praefat. Epist. ad Hebr.  A Lapide judges that he writ to all the Christian Hebrews, whether inhabiting Palestine or wherever dispersed, and with him I close, as being most likely and probable.   

The End and Scope of this Epistle is two-fold; 1. Information, to inform them of the Excellency of Jesus Christ; as to his Eternity making him co-eternal with the Father, investing him with a true Divinity long before the Assumption of our human Nature, in opposition to that heresy of Cerinthus that began to bud, and afterwards came to more maturity in the days of Arius and his followers, and the Socinians in these times, who deny his eternal Existence, and make him a God improperly and analogically. Afterwards he informs them of the excellency of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ above that of the Judaical and Ceremonial Law; for he shows that he is not so much a Priest of the Aaronical as of the Melchisedechian Order: the first of which consisted in the offering up of Sacrifices, viz. of Bulls and Goats, which were typical, figurative and temporary, and now had their due and full accomplishment by the once offering up of the immaculate Lamb, even Christ himself; whereas the Melchisedechian Priesthood consists in Benediction Gen. 14.18 and 19. and this Christ especially performs; for 'tis said He blesses us in turning us from our iniquity, 
Acts 3.26.  that is, uses all possible and powerful means by his Word, 
Dr. Hammond in locum.  Spirit and Intercession to bring us to Repentance and newness of Life. And this Priesthood is not to give way to another dispensation, as the Aaronical, but is to be perpetual, and everlasting, that is, till the consummation of all things, and till he deliver up the Kingdom to the Father.  
Again another End of this Epistle is confirmation, to establish them in their espoused Religion; and to this purpose he all along exhorts them to strengthen the feeble knees, and lift up the weak hands, and not to throw away their confidence, which has great recompense of reward; he sets before them a multitude of holy Saints, a Cloud of Witnesses, which all looked to Jesus, and died in the Faith, and embraced the Promises of a future Messiah, and he entreats them in like manner( seeing Christ is now revealed) they have cognizance of his Doctrine, are assured of his Mission from the Father, and so have owned him and believed on him, as the great Prophet foretold by Moses their ancient Lawg-giver, to hold fast this their profession without wavering, without declining to judaisme on the one side, or Gentilism on the other, or the persuasions of the sensual gnostics, whose neutrality and indifferency in religion was remarkable and conspicuous.  
Some conceive, that because it is said in the Verse before, having your bodies sprinkled with pure water, and now it following, hold steadfast your profession, that he intimates thus much, That the profession of Faith, owned and rehearsed in Baptism( understood by the pure water) should be strictly and inviolably adhered to; for it is certain that the Church at the first was made up of persons adult, and as certain it is, that when such persons were baptized they made a Confession of their Faith: For Philip asked the Eunuch before his Baptism; Believest thou? and he gave this answer, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Acts 8.37. and St. Cyprian tells us, 
Cypr. Epist. 70.  that in his time they asked the baptized, Believest thou Remission of sins, everlasting Life, &c. and he said, I do believe. So Theophylact upon the place says, We confessed in the beginning of our faith( that is, 
{αβγδ}, Theophyl. in loc.  in Baptism) the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life to come, and such like; this is the Confession we are to hold fast without wavering: So that to hold fast our Profession is nothing else but firmly to adhere to the fundamental Truths of the Gospel, which we or our Sureties for us did promise and engage we should observe in our Baptism; and this we must do without wavering 
Professionem non vacillantem, neque huc& illuc m●tant●m, said firmam& immotam, Erasm. in loc. ita Grot. C●nfessionem firmam& inconcussam, quae non vacillet huc& illuc, vel declinet à recta fide, etiam urgentibus& imp●llentibus persecutionibus A Lap. in loc. , without doting upon some new-cried-up Mystery or pretended Revelation, or shrinking by reason of the impendent dangers and disasters, with which the first times of the Gospel were amnoyed and afflicted.   

The Subject of the ensuing discourse shall be even the words themselves as they are presented to us in the apostles Dress, That Christians are to hold fast their Profession without wavering.  
He that gives up his Name to Christ must not quit his Profession, as Esau did the blessing: The Christian Soldier must not leave his Station, nor the devout Spouse forsake her first Love; a Believer's Motto must be Semper idem, always the same: having put his hand to the Plough he must not look back.  
The Emblem of a Disciple must not be a wandring Planet, or a pendulous Meteor, an Elementary apparition, an unsettled Wave, or an impostumated Bubble, which have little or no consistence, firmness or stability; but he must be as the fixed Earth which God has settled upon his basis, that as the Scripture says, 
Psal. 104.5.  it may not be removed for ever: The Christian must not be hot and fiery to day, making vows and protestations with Peter, cool and cowardly to morrow, or lukewarm with Laodicea; he must not imitate the changeable Moon, now full, glorious, luminous, within a while sharp, waning and scarce discernible; or like the River Novanus in Lumbardy, 
Plin. Hist. Natural. Lib. 2 cap. 103.  of which Pliny tells us, that at the Summer Solstice it overflows the Banks, but in the Winter 'tis clean dry and fordable: No, he must be of a constant temper, at all times and seasons owning the Truth, and being in a readiness to give an account of the hope that is in him with meekness and fear. God's followers must go on like Hannibal when he made his passage over the Alps, though they meet with untrodden paths, rubs and opposition; they must not only now and then have sone pious motions, holy dispositions, weak acknowledgements, but a continued resolution to serve and adhere to the Lord Jesus; like Sanctus and Blandina in the Ecclesiastical History, 
Euseb. Hist Eccles. Lib. 5. cap. 1.  who though they were upon the Rack in torments, yet always uttered these words, We are Christians, and with us there is no evil.  
Thus the holy Scriptures with an unanimous voice call upon us to this duty, Heb. 4.14. Seeing we have a high Priest that is passed into the heavens, even Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. So Heb. 13.9. Be not carried away with divers and strange Doctrines. As you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, 
Coloss. 2.6, 7.  so walk in him, rooted and built up in him: in like manner we are exhorted not to be removed from the hope of the Gospel. 
Coloss. 1 23.  We should not imitate the Galathians, who did run well and gave over, but like the Colossians, 2. chap. 5. of whom St. Paul said, that he was joying and beholding their order and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ. We should not be like Ephraim and Israel, of whom the Prophet gives this Character, Ephraim compasses me about with lies and the house of Israel with deceit; 
Hosea 11. ult.  but we should endeavour the qualifications of Judah, who ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.  

And in the first place hold fast your Profession against Atheistical persuasions.  
But some may say, what, have we any Patrons for such an Enormity?  
Answ. I am sorry my pen must brand the Times, and stigmatize with infamy those who have been nourished with us in the bosom of the same Church, and washed with us in the same Laver of Regeneration. Time was when a Wolf in England and a venomous creature in Ireland were not more rare than these profane wretches and first born of Satan; and if there were any, they usually were like Moles and Bats and Birds of the night seldom seen, but covered both their Persons and Doctrines with the Canopies of darkness and silence. Atheism that was before but a pitiful Embryo, is now grown up to the stature of a man, a bare-faced enemy, like Saul, higher by the head than the most pestilent Heresies: 'tis now a vaunting goliath, and bids defiance( as the Giants of old) to God and Heaven, to Reason and Religion, and the whole Armies of Israel; and if you will believe these bold assailants, all these things are as so many slighted Forts, ready to be calked on us the glorious trophies of their unsearchable Wit and unparalleled Ingeny. And, as many of the great ones amongst the Jews espoused Sadducism; so( the greater may be the lamentation) many of noble Extraction are so intoxicated with this poison, that with many'tis accounted but half-dyed Gallantry, if it have not a handsome tincture of Atheism.  
It was of old one of the Laws of Numa Pompilius, that a Strumpet should not touch the Altar of Juno, such a reverence they had for a feigned Goddess; but 'tis nothing for the wanton tongues of these pert men to strike at the divine Essence, at him that draweth out the Heavens like a Curtain, and holdeth the waters in the hollow of his hand, and in comparison of whom the Inhabitants of the Earth are as so many grasshoppers: 'tis nothing with them to revile the Divine Oracles, to vilify the Laws of Moses with the title of Solemn Fooleries, and the Institutions of Christ as pieces of Pageantry; to brag they have only an outward man to look after, which requires their care and solicitude; that style the Lord's Ambassadors, the Lights of the Earth, as so many glaring Exhalations, State-puppets, that speak only the sense of a Law giver, and awe men into a Decorum: And these are accounted men of Learning and of the greatest accomplishments, witty to a miracle; unanswerable, because whatsoever they writ is a perfect miscellany of nonsense and Obscenity, and 'tis a shane for a Christian and a man of Sobriety to make a rejoinder. These are also stout and valiant in their own imaginations, like that effeminate Courtier Proculus in the days of the Emperour Probus, Qui inter forts se habere credens, si criminum densitate coalescat, Who thought that the multiplication of Vices was the way to make him valorous: and thus like Cocks of the game they crow, flourish and bravado; not that they are unconquerable, but that modest men and pious Souls will not step up on to their dunghill( for fear of defilement) to cope with them: and indeed these men are not fit to be meddled with, that bring Oaths for Arguments, scurrilous Jestings for sober Reasonings, and a piece of obscene Ribaldry for a Demonstration.  
But let us hold fast our Profession against these persuasions. And to this purpose, 1. Consider, what were all the World out of their wits, under mists and deliriums, clouded in their Intellectuals, benighted in their Judgments, till these Cato's dropped out of the Clouds, and these novel Pedagogues gave the World a new Information? What were all the Persian Magi, the sophis of Greece, the Indian Gymnosophists, the Roman Augurs, the Jewish rabbis and the Christian Doctors, who had several apprehensions of a Deity and various Modes of Worship, all pur-blind and doltish, till these youngsters appeared? Was there ever a Race of men did sympathise with them in their Sentiments? 'tis true here and there we may find one or other speaking contemptuously of their Deities, as Diagoras, Pherecides and Protagoras, whom the Athenians banished as Criminals in this particular. But you never heard of a Community or Society of men agreeing in these Principles, which are asserted as the greatest and most unquestionable topics. Once a Philosopher affirmed Snow was black; but must all the World be his Proselytes, because he maintained such a equivocal Assertion? So possibly we may in this Age or the other Century meet with an Atheist, but mankind in the general has had other Conceptions; 'tis an error Humanity never consented to; and if in these days it be as an Epidemical disease with which several are infected, we must remember we live in the dregs of time, and the Devil is as busy to make all sin as spreading and prolifical as he can, because he knows his time is but short. For if we cast our eyes abroad and consider the inhabitants of the great and spacious world, you will find none but they own something or other as a supreme being, though they are mistaken through ignorance or misperswasion. For most true it is what Cicero and many more beside him have affirmed, Intelligi necesse est esse Deos quoniam insitas eorum vel potius innatas cognitiones habemus; 
Cicero lib. 1. de natura Deorum.  We must needs believe that there are gods, because the opinion of them is so generally engrafted or rather inbred in our minds: And the Idolatry continually practised was a certain demonstration of a Deity; and the great thing which made the Heathens so much detest the Christians was, because they looked upon them as broaching injurious Doctrines to their received Gods, which made them cry out to the Emperour ever and anon, Tolle Atheos, Takeaway the Atheists, that is, the Christians, as Tertullian says. And when the Christian Religion had run through the several regions of the World, as the foresaid Tertullian tells us, viz. 
Tertul. lib. adv. Jud.  the Moors and Getes, the Roman Precincts, the Spanish borders, the gallic Provinces, and the unaccessible places of Britain, it was closed with upon this account that it was the most excellent way of worshipping and adoring the Divine Majesty. Therefore those that come with their new and impious Lessons and Arguments against the glorious God, never learned them from the Creeds and Confessions of their Progenitors; but as Herostratus to be famous fired the Temple of Diana; so these, that they may be cried up for men of rare Parts and reaching Capacities, forge these irrational Conclusions out of the shop of their depraved Understandings, which at one and the same time show the Author's Ignorance and Impiety.  
But Secondly, Consider all Nations have not only had some transient Notions of a Deity, but have outwardly evidenced it sufficiently by Worship, Homage, Obedience, Duty and Service which they have yielded to their respective Gods; which absolutely shows that they looked upon themselves, as under an indispensible necessity of performing such and such Rites, as testifications of a divine Dominion and their Subjection. And this is so known and publicly notorious, that I need not instance in any of the particular Rites which were used in honour of Jupiter, Bacchus, Minerva and the rest, but may remit the capacious Reader to the Heathenish Theology, where he may receive sufficient information. But to this the Atheist replies, That the Notions and Service of a Deity are not genuine and connate Impressions, but the prints of Education and the politic contrivance of cunning Legislators and Divines, on purpose to promote their Interest and to keep men from Rebellions and Conspiracies. To this I answer, These ways I grant, that the Notion of a Deity and the conviction of service to it is much improved by good Nurture and the infusion of wholesome Precepts in the Infancy and Minority; but that the Soul has no Notions or Ideas of those things but what is obtained by this traditionary way, is highly absurd and ridiculous, and repugnant to all received Maxims and Testimonies. For I argue, Suppose that this and the foregoing Generation taught their Children a mode of Worship, yet let us run it up to the Fountain, who taught the Sons of Adam, Cain and Abel to offer Sacrifice? either they had some divine Revelation so to do, or were prompted to it by the Law of Nature, or were taught so to do by their father Adam: Now the Atheist will not say they were incited to sacrifice by the two first, for then the Plea is unquestionable on our side; It remains therefore as a Conclusion, That Adam instructed them in this Duty: If so, then I further argue, that certainly he saw some reason or supervening necessity for such a Duty, or else he would neither have done it himself nor have required the same of his posterity: For what man will oblige his Heirs or Successors to pay a Pension or yearly Rent, suppose to a King or Lord of a Mannour, except it were just and legal and upon good considerations. Now Sacrifice is that Homage which we owe to God, whose Creatures we are and upon whom we have our dependence; would Adam therefore the wisest of men, have entailed this upon Cain and Abel and succeeding Generations, as a sign of their obedience and subordination to a Deity, if there had been no such thing existent? Either they must make Adam a very Ignoramus; or confess themselves a company of presumptuous brain-sick Animals, in skrewing their Wits and mustering up of Arguments to dethrone that God in whom they live, move and have their being.  
But again, whereas they say, that the owning of a God is merely upon the account of Education, let me present them with an Observation of Elian, who shows in one of his Chapters that few or none of the Barbarians ever were Atheists, and those were the people that wanted Education: Now if these had not Arts and Sciences as many Grecians and others had to civilize them, and yet were so great adorers of a Deity, then this Objection falls to the ground; for if the Celtae, the Indians, and several others whom Elian reckons up, 
Elian lib. 2. pag. 43.  did observe divine Rites and Ceremonies, and had but bad Tutors or Instructors, then 'tis certain they did them by the dictates and impulse of the Law of Nature which we contend for. And indeed 'tis most probable that all the Atheism in those times came from some conceited and pragmatical Athenians, who did it to get the reputation of excellent Wits and bold Adventurers, that scorned to walk in the common Road of received Maxims; and we may rationally conclude that 'tis so with us in these days, for you do not find a sorry labourer, or a herdsman of Tekoah a defier of the ever blessed God, but only some petty Wits that would have the Titles of great Philosophers, learned rabbis, profound Naturalists, who broach these impious and desperate Conclusions; for the meanest of the poor and most barbarous Savages( if men will not believe the Records of former Ages, 
Hackluit's English Voyages, volume 3. pag. 737 and 819.  yet according to the attestation of our own Travellers) have been devout and obsequious to their assumed Gods; for Captain Drake who in his furthest travail to the North-west, taking land in Nova Albion, found the Natives about a Sacrifice; and Captain Candish in his furthest travail to the South-East, taking land in the iceland of Capul, observed the Inhabitants to be worshippers of that which he imagined to be a Devil: Now these people had not the benefit of any good Education, having no excellent Laws, Pedagogues or sophis amongst them to instruct them, as the other part of the civilized world; which is a plain Demonstration that the Notion of a Deity does not totally or primitively result from Education and the Instructions and Infusions of Ancestors and Forefathers.  
Now as to the Second Part of the Objection, That the apprehensions of a Supreme Power are only the Contrivances of Law-givers and Divines, to promote their Interest and facilitate their Regiment among the unwary multitude, I shall, I hope, infringe it sufficiently by showing that the two Legislators Moses and Christ and the holy Apostles did not in the least act out of such pretences, but resolutely followed a divine Revelation and Commandment. And first for Moses, who was the Leader of Israel out of Egypt and afterwards was their principal Ruler, I shall I hope evidently demonstrate, that it could not be done upon any politic account for him to attempt so great a Design, as to endeavour the reduction of Israel from the Egyptian Bondage and Servittude. If we consider first, there was no Policy for Moses to return to Egypt, having been declared formerly by one of their holy Scribes( as Josephus informs us in his Antiquities) to be one that would be the ruin of that Monarchy; for the above name Author Mentions, that an Egyptian that had a prophetic Spirit, declared to the King of Egypt, that one of the Israelitish Off-spring would be their ruin. And the same Josephus brings in this Story; That when Moses was a Child, and the King's Daughter Thermutis had brought him into the presence of Pharaoh, that the King put his Crown upon the Child's Head, and the Child in a seeming passion threw the Crown upon the ground and trampled upon it; and this prophetical Scribe being present,  told the King in positive terms, this Child was the person that would do that fatal evil, he had predicted, to the Egyptians; and he counseled the King to make him away. And he had been sacrificed as a victim to their fury if Pharaoh's Daughter had not interposed: now for Moses lying under such a prejudice to think to go into Egypt again where he might imagine he would be ensnared and made away as an enemy to Monarchy and the Peoples safety, was a most ridiculous contrivance, if divine Revelation had not superseded all such conceptions.  
Besides Moses had killed an Egyptian, and it was known, and he was glad to flee for it into the Land of Madian; now for him to return thither where as soon as he came he might have been arraigned for murder or Homicide, was a journey which no intelligent man would have undertaken: better to Keep sheep in Madian then to be executed in Egypt.  
Again, suppose that Moses had not been in the former Circumstances; yet considering his Quality, and the usefulness of the Israelites to the Egyptians, it was the most improbable Design to undertake that ever was heard of: For Moses was but a sorry Shepherd, and so looked on at best as a mean Plebeian, no Orator as himself acknowledged; yet for him to go to a great King, to persuade him to let six hundred thousand men depart his Dominions, who did all the slavery of Egypt, and made the Bricks for Pyramids, and the Walls against the inundations of Nilus, as Josephus tells us; what an unlikely design is this? For suppose that when the King of France is warring against Holland and the Confederate Armies, and labours to get all the men he can to promote his great Designs: Now if so be that an inconsiderable rustic, such an one as we conjecture Moses was, should come to him and tell him, that he desired him in the Name of God to disband the Armies, to let all his Forces and Auxiliaries go home and serve God quietly, and so persuade him to let all these great undertakings be broken off; would not the King and Courtiers be ready to kick him out as a foolish Enthusiastical Ignoramus? This was the case of Moses; yet he went confidently to Pharaoh, overlooked all objections and impossibilities that might have been pretended; which shows that not human Policy, but divine Revelation, was his Pole-star and Director.  
Farther, I pray consider when Moses had got lief of the King for their dismission, how gigantic is he in the leading of this great Army: For if he had been a cunning Geographer, and had observed the position and situation of Ways and climates, he would not have lead them thus to be entangled by the Mountains and read Sea, which did obstruct their passage, and would infallibly have caused him to have been an unavoidable prey to the pursuing Egyptians, if a Miracle had not made way for their deliverance. Besides, when they had mastered that difficulty, and had got into the Wilderness, was it policy to keep them wandring there forty years, where there were such mean conveniencies for so numerous a multitude? Why did he not go on with speed to the Land of Promise and the desirable Canaan, but only that he observed the divine Injunons, who swore in his wrath that Generation should not enter into his rest, because of their aggravating and reiterated Impieties with which they had provoked the eyes of the Lord's jealousy: Besides, let it be considered in the last place, that Moses acted not as a Politician; for he did not design to make the Government hereditary, neither did he seek the advancement of his own Off-spring, as we see the wise men of the World do, but delegated his Power and Jurisdiction to Joshua his Minister, according as the Lord had appointed: see Deut. 34.9. and so he succeeded him in that Magistracy. All which things being duly pondered, show that Moses did not in the least consult flesh and blood, or acted out of rational& politic Principles, but in all his Actions was guided by that Supreme Mover, who put him upon this strange and stupendious errand and Employment.  
Next let us consider whether our Blessed Lord and Saviour and his Apostles acted upon any of these prudential accounts,( which they suppose them to do) on purpose to gain that Secular Interest, Advancement or Royalty which they conjecture, they might aim a● in these Designs and Enterprizes.  
First, It was impossible Christ could have any design of Self-promotion in this juncture of time, when the Roman Empire might be said to shine in its greatest Lustre and Glory that ever it did; when as a great part of the habitable World put its neck under that Imperial Yoke: Africa and Syria and other places had been subdued, and now the Germans, the Gauls, the Britains and what not? all made Tributary, and Jerusalem and Palestine governed by the Roman Procurators, Consuls, tetrarches, Kings and others, Substitutes appointed by the Emperour and Senate.  
It appears that Christ had not the least thought to infringe the Liberties and Prerogative of Caesar, both because he publicly proclaimed his Kingdom was not of this world, commanded to give to Caesar things that were Caesar's; 
Matth. 22.21.  wrought a Miracle, 
John 6.15.  rather than not pay the exacted Tribute, that so they might not have any suspicion of any disaffection to that Monarchy. And when the people upon the view of his Miracles, supposing him to be the promised messiah would have made him a King, then was the time for the Politician to have made his Market; but he was not ambitious of that temporal pre-eminence, but absented himself, delaring his dislike of such Regality and Preferment; which shows that here was nothing of human policy, but only that he came( as he said) to do the will of his Father, and to fulfil the great work of Redemption, to which from all Eternity he was designed. Besides, the Apostles were never animated by such a Spirit as sought Earthly Grandeur; for who can imagine that Twelve naked men should ever reduce Cities, Forts and Castles to their obedience: they seemed rather to run upon the Swords points, by reproving the Sins and Vices of the times, aspersing the espoused Deities of the World, preaching a Religion contrary to the humour and Genius of the Kings and sophis of that Generation; so that they were whipped, beaten, stoned, imprisoned, made the dross and off-scouring of all things: and to be sure if they had not had the Warrant and Express of Heaven, they would never have ventured upon these formidable Encounters. None ever heard of an Apostle that secretly promoted feuds betwixt Kings and Potentates, that busied himself about warlike affairs and military preparations, that ever gave a word of advice how to manage such and such Hostilities, or to get these and the other Auxiliaries, which are the business and employment of Politicians: But they preached Christ and him crucified, Self-denial, Patience and Resignation, Love and Unity, heavenly Mindedness, Industry after an Eternal Kingdom and Inheritance,( as might be shown at large:) Therefore it is a more Sophism of the Atheist, to say that Religion is the contrivance of wise and sagacious men; for we see Moses, Christ and his Apostles did not act upon such a ground or Basis as these conjecture, but followed the Dictates of the over-ruling God, who prescribed them their Duties, and commissionated them to follow the Rules of his own Wisdom and Counsel.  
I shall not stand to furbish the various Arguments which may be used against the Atheist; as those from the fabric of the World, whose proportion of parts and Symmetry bespeak an excellent Architect, from Motion which presupposes a Primum Mobile or First Mover. From Arts and Sciences, which cannot be supposed to be the fruits of our Ingeny, without the help of divine Infusion, as is plain in the case of Bezaleel and Aholiab, Exod. 36.1. Or from the Consideration of Spirits and Demons, which led us up to one Supreme, Infinite and Immaterial Being; for this is sufficiently done to my hand by the Learned; but I shall speak a little to those prodigious Acts which have been done upon the Stage of the World contrary to the course of Nature sometimes, and other things which can by no means be done by the Agency of Natural Causes, which plainly demonstrate there is a Divine power which supersedes all ordinary and physical Operations, and does whatsoever pleases it in Heaven, and in Earth, and in the Sea, and in all deep places. I shall begin with the stupendious Acts recorded in Scripture; And the first thing which presents itself to our consideration is the Deluge in the days of Noah, which was long before and much exceeded the Ogygian and Deucalionian Floods, than which the Heathens usually rise no higher for want of History; and was not this a strange thing that the Water which had kept within its ordinary precincts for the space of 1656. years should break its bounds, and put a period to the Life and Being of the then surviving Mortals; surely there was a supernatural power which had a hand in this doleful Tragedy.  
Some foolish Atheists say, that this was effected by natural Causes, seeing( as they affirm) they find by computation that there was at that time a Conjunction of the moist Planets in the watery Trigon, the effects of which are usually Deluges, Inundations, &c. But this has an easy answer; for it may be shewed, that there has been a like Conjunction of the watery Planets, and yet no such Tragical Effects have ensued. Such a Conjunction there was in the time of Moses, 
Alsted. Chronol.  another about the Babylonish Captivity, another fifty one years after Christ, another in the days of Charles the Great, another in the year 1524. which made all the Astrologers predict fatal consequences, insomuch that many in the lower Germany left their houses which were in the Valleys and retired to mountainous places,; and one Dr. Tholosanus( or Insanus rather) made himself a Ship or an Ark for his security against the suspected Deluge: but the Event shewed these Predictions were ridiculous, for it proved a pretty dry Winter. Therefore we say, If natural Conjunctions had such effects the World had again and again been destroyed: we conclude therefore that herein was seen the power of an Omnipotent Agent, who brought this miraculous judgement on purpose to punish the Crimes and Exorbitancies of that impious Generation.  
But the Atheist laughs again and says, How was it possible that such a quantity of waters could be gathered together, as to over-top the highest Mountains? To this we answer, That in order to the Deluge not only the Sea was let out, the Fountains of the great Deep being broken up, but also the Windows and Cataracts of Heaven were opened, that is, that stock and congeries of waters above the Firmament, mentioned Gen. 1.7. was poured down also: For this gathering of the Waters above the Firmament was not the Moisture in the Clouds, as some imagine; for we red of these Waters before the Creation of the Sun, which is the producer of such Exhalations. Now then the Sea being let loose, and the Waters in the Veins and Caverns of the Earth; together with that Treasury above the Firmament being all called upon the surface of the Earth, what a rise of waters must here of necessity be? and to help which, the waters in the Clouds also and middle Region joined forces, which is very considerable, God calling them in Job, the Treasures of Snow. And this I know by experience, that by fall of one Snow and a Thawe upon it, a small River which I myself have gone twenty times over in Summer dry-shod, yet this River did rise perpendicularly about fourteen or fifteen foot, as I took notice by the Trees on the Bank side, which had their bark peeled off by the pieces of Ice which floated upon the Superficies of the waters: and if the waters rise so high by the fall of some Rain or Snow, what is to be expected when lief is given to the waters to overflow, and the water in the Clouds and those other above the Firmament to be united and jointly poured upon the Earth: I do not in the least scruple the Truth of Scripture as to the Altitude of the waters, having such rational and concurring Causes.  
Secondly, Others say it was not necessary that all the Earth should be overflowed, but only the inhabited part of it: For the Deluge being a punishment for the Sin of Man, there was no need for the water to cover the uninhabitable part of the World, but only those territories where the Sons of Adam were situated, which are supposed not to be much above the Confines of Syria and Mesopotamia, 
Dr. Stillingfleet.  and so not over the hundredth part of the Earth was drowned; which if it be so, that inlet of waters which we have above mentioned might easily cause such a high inundation as Moses asserts. And if the Atheist object against this that place of Scripture which says that all the fowls of the air died, 
Genes. 7.21.  and shall argue thus; That grant the Deluge to be only in Asia, the Fowls by their flight( suppose into the European Regions) might evade destruction: We answer, That all the Fowls within the limits of the Deluge could not thus save themselves, because the Rain came with that force and violence that they were not able to bear wing against it; for it is the Opinion of some Divines, that the water from the Clouds came not then per stillicidia, by drops and small parcels, but was poured out as out of Spouts and Conduits, which could not but hinder the flight and motion of the agile and winged Creatures. Others bring strenuous and cogent Arguments to prove that the Sea is higher than the Earth, which they demonstrate from drops of water on a plain Table, which riseth to the eye and has a globular figure; and thus they suppose the Sea to be. They argue also from Springs in the tops of Mountains boiling continually, the cause of which they imagine to come from the Sea, the proper Cause of these Emanations, and so they conclude by Reason and Experience, that the water could never ascend thither, except the Fountain and Original were equal and parallel in height with these Eruptions; which if it be, then 'tis no news to have the Earth, even the mountainous part of it covered with waters; especially when God relaxes his power, by which the Sea is miraculously kept within its stated bounds and dimensions: And thus we labour to evince that this Overflowing in the days of Noah was extraordinary and supernatural, caused by the power and Almightiness of that divine Being which we undertake to demonstrate.  
Another Prodigy was the dividing the read Sea before the Children of Israel, when they fled from the face of Pharaoh; that the water which is a fluid Element, should part asunder and remain as a Wall on the right and left hand, afford a passage to these pursued Sons of Jacob, and drown their implacable enemies was altogether preternatural, and could not be done without the operation of an Omnipotent Agent. Some to evade this are ready to say, That Moses was an expert Artist and enquirer into Natural secrets, lead the people over at an Ebb or low water, and the Egyptians not understanding the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, went so far after them till they were overtaken with the returning Tide, and so were drowned. But this is a vanity, to think that the Egyptians whose Empire reached to the Sea, did not understand the ebbing and flowing thereof; and that amongst an Army of fifty thousand Horsemen and two hundred thousand Footmen, none should know the Motion of the Sea. Besides, Moses being brought up in the Learning of the Egyptians, it must be granted that Pharaoh had some sophis and Wise men with him which understood greater Mysteries than this; when as every ordinary Fisherman in England, by his natural Experience and Observation, can tell you to an hour or less of the putting in of Tides, and Fall again of the water.  
But again, this is a piece of nonsense to think that this passage of Israel was at a reflux or low water; for at the returning of Tides( 'tis true) some of the Verges about the Sea as to a little space or compass are left bare: But what is this to the Journey of Israel, who from the Borders of Egypt to the opposite Banks on the Arabian side passed the Sea to the length of three Leagues, a thousand paces or nine miles, as Geographers observe; and that the Sea recoils at any time for the space of nine miles let any produce a precedent. But the Scripture is plain, that the Sea was divided, Exod. 14.21. and so they went not over at a low water.  
But it is objected again, Would the Egyptians be such Fools as to enter the Sea after Israel, and hazard their safety? To this we answer, That Darkness might hinder the perception of the way they were in, and the Cloud which gave Light to Israel was dark to the Egyptians, Exod. 14.20. and so they could not so well discern this miraculous passage. Secondly, the earnestness of Revenge might cause them inconsiderately to follow Israel, as we see many Creatures will follow the prey through all difficulties: Thus Shimei pursued his servants, and rashly passed over the Brook Kidron; so the Egyptians in their heat and hast made no difference of paths, but directly followed the Israelites. Thirdly, their Confidence which was increased by Almighty God, made them thus hazardous; they concluded they might well go where Israel did, like a Boy that will venture on a piece of Ice which bears his companion: and this boldness was augmented by Almighty God, who did harden their hearts, Gen. 14.17. that is, did take away from them the sense of Fear, as hardening usually signifies in Exodus: And so it remains for a Truth that the waters of the Sea were separated and divided by a miraculous force and virtue; the Language of this and such like Dispensations evidently showing that there is a God.  
From hence we pass to the standing still of the Sun in the time of Joshua, a strange and extraordinary Act, in which no doubt Omnipotency was the Cause and Author. But says the Atheist, this is contradicted two ways: First. By some of the Jewish rabbis, who say, that the Sun did go down as at other times; but this was a Globe of Light like one of the Parelii or Mock-Suns, which gave light in the Horizon till Joshua discomfited his enemies. Answer. We are to believe Scripture rather than the Cabalistical dreams of many Jews. But suppose it more a Globe of Light, it was very miraculous and unparalleled, and shows the assistance of Divinity in making such a diaphanous and transparent Brightness, which supplied the place of the Sun and gave Light to Joshua. But say they, this Miracle is gainsaid by the new Philosophers of the Copernican and Cartesian Party, who boldly affirm that the Earth moves. Answer. In case it were so, yet as to Motion in general there was a Miracle; there was such an alteration in the Measure and Method of Time as could not have happened without a divine Efficiency, all Created Powers not being able to make Additions or Diminutions as to times and seasons. And notwithstanding all this noise about the Motion of the Earth, yet many of the Learned will not own it for a topic or veracious Doctrine: For first they say that Miracles being the great Seals and Confirmation of our Religion, and testifications of a Deity, it is dangerous to assert any thing which may make them invalid or insignificant: Besides they say Argumenrs from Sense are not to be slighted; and whereas these Opinionists object, That Sense is not a competent Judge because of distance, they reply, That though Sense be not a competent Judge as to perfect and Mathematical strictness and exactness at such a distance, yet it can judge in a good degree; if otherwise, why should we believe any thing that is reported of the Heavenly Bodies, or give credence to those things which are discovered by the help of Tubes and Telescopes, seeing the Eye of Man is the main and Principal Agent in the finding out these Secrets and Rarities? They say further, that if Arguments from Sense be not authentic, then possibly martion and other heretics might be in the right, who affirmed that Christ had only an imaginary Body, whom Tertullian and others laboured to convince by sensible Demonstrations. And Transubstantiation also might be a more credible Doctrine, if Sense may not be believed, the Papists asserting that though we see the plain and palpable Elements of Bread and Wine, yet they are properly and really the Body and Blood of Christ.  
But leaving these things to those that will trouble their Heads with Philosophical Notions, we are satisfied that the Christians, whether they own the old or new Philosophy, jointly aclowledge a Miracle as to the standing still of the Sun in the time of Joshua. And if it be objected, Why did none of the Heathens take notice of this remarkable Day? We say, that their Histories not beginning till about the Trojan War, and this happening many Centuries before, they had no intimation of it; only the Learned think, that when God brought back the Sun so many degrees in the time of Hezekiah, they had some rude Notions thereof, when they report how Jupiter prolonged the night when he committed Adultery with Alomene the Wife of Amphytrion, upon whom he begot Hercules, which is the cause of a long Romantick Fable in their Mythology.  
Proceed we further to consider the Cause of the Darkness of the Sun in the day of Christ's Crucifixion, which was against all Rules and Orders of Nature whatsoever; for it was no Eclipse, because the Moon was in the full, and Eclipses happen not then naturally, and the East-part of the Sun was first obscured and first restored, which, as they say, happens not in ordinary Eclipses. And this was particularly taken notice of by Dionysius the Areopagite, a man skilful in Astronomy, who being at Heliopolis in Egypt and beholding this Miracle, cried out, Either the God of Nature suffers, or the Frame of the World is to be dissolved: All which may be seen in his Writings, to wit, in his 7. Epistle to Polycarp, and in his 11. Epistle to Apollophanes. And as these Miracles, so all the others acted by Christ in the Gospel do fully show a divine Energy; as to cure the Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, the lunatic and paralytic, the Ejection of Devils, &c. more particularly, that of Lazaruss is truly notable, who having been dead four days was certainly corrupted; for the Physicians say that seventy two hours are allotted for the Revolution of Humours, and the Body that remains so long dead naturally putrefies. Now the Scripture says of Lazarus, John 11 39. {αβγδ}, that he was dead four days, to the Resurrection of whom a Divine power must of necssity contribute. How strange a Relation is that of Mr. meed, quoted in his works from good Authority, 
meed pag. 767. Vol. 1.  That in the Country of the Omerites, the Jews and the Christians having a Disputation for three days without hope of conquest on either side, at last there happened a terrible Thunder, and Christ himself appeared upon a rorid Cloud and uttered these words in an audible voice, Ecce ego appareo vobis qualis à patribus vestris fui crucifixus; Behold I appear to you in the same form I was in when I was crucified by your Fathers; the Christians cried Miserere, Lord and Christ have mercy upon us; the Jews were struck with blindness which could not be removed till they were baptized. I shall also insert here that wonderful discourse of Camerarius counsellor of the Common-wealth of Nuremberg in the 73. Chapter of his Historical Meditations, concerning the Resuscitants of Grand Cairo in Egypt. Not far from that City there is a little barren Mountain, where, according to Tradition, a company of Christians met together in order to Divine Worship, but being set upon by their Enemies, were hewed in pieces and covered with Earth; since which time in March every year for three days together may be seen a perfect Emblem of the Resurrection: for there you may behold Legs, Arms, Thighs and other Members of the Body arising out of the earth, and are touched by several of the Spectators, and by little and little they hid themselves in the ground again. This is confirmed, as my Author says, by Felix a Jacobine of Ulmes, in his History of the admirable things of Palestine and Egypt; and several other Eye-witnesses are brought in attesting the truth of this History; all sober persons concluding that it is no Satanical Illusion, but an omnipotent Act of God, to convince the impious Idolaters of Egypt that there is a Resurrection and Life to come.  
What strange discoveries of Murders and punishments upon the Authors do we find; which can be nothing else but the Acts of God and the Effects of his Providence, which the very Heathens were convinced of. Plutarch tells us concerning Mitius the Argive, that being slain in a Sedition, a brazen Statue which stood up in the Market-place fell upon his murderer before a great concourse of people. The like he relates of Bessus the Pannonian, who having killed his Father, and keeping the murder secret, being invited to a Feast there was a Nest of Swallows, which made a great chattering in the Chimney; he arose from the Table in great anger, and with the end of his Spear threw down the Swallows Nest: his Friends asking him the reason of that furious act; said he, Do you not hear what the Swallows said, viz. that I killed my Father: Tidings of which being brought to the King, and Circumstances examined, he was found to be the Criminal, and received condign punishment.  
A Lucknois Merchant residing in England, sent word to his friends he would be with them within six weeks, and accordingly takes his journey; his Man who was with him murders him in his way to Paris: While he was committing this villainy, a blind man lead only by a Dog asks who it was that groaned? the murderer replies, it was a sick man that was easing himself. The Servant getting his Master's Bills, takes up great sums of Money and sets up a new shop at rouen; the Merchant's friends making enquiry for him, and a Carcase being found in the Vines half eaten they suspect his Murder: hereupon they make enquiry what strangers had lately come into those parts, and who had set up a new shop, and the murderer is taken and examined upon suspicion, which he stoutly denied before Bigot the King's Attorney: they being at a loss for want of Evidence, accidentally the blind man comes to the House where Bigot was, and tells them what a groaning he heard upon the way, which he suspected might be the voice of the murdered Merchant; they asked the blind man if he could know again the voice of him that spake to him, he said he believed he could; then they made twenty men successively to speak before him, but he said none of those voices were such as he heard; then they made the murderer speak, and he presently cried out, That is the Voice I heard on the Mountain where the road lay. This was reiterated three or four times,, and still he challenged none but the murderer, whom they condemned, and he before execution confessed all, and acknowledged he was detected by a special Providence: So Pasquier in his Book of French Remarks.  
At Itzhow in Denmark a man was found slain in the field, the murderer fled, but the Magistrate made one of the hands of the slain man be cut off& hung in a string in one of the chambers of the Town-prison; ten years after the murderer coming into the Prison, the dried Hand dropped Blood upon one of the Tables underneath; hereupon they stayed the man, he confessed the fact, and gave glory to God: all which things do show an over-ruling Power. To which I might add all the notable Prodigies during the first and second punic War, and others which happened in like manner in the time of the Civil jars betwixt Marius and Sylla, others before the death of Galba, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the like about the end of the Valerian Persecution; 
Vide Evagr. Hist. Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 17. de terril illius temporibus Attilae, 451.  all which were so remarkable that the very Heathens themselves looked upon them as Effects proceeding from incensed Deities; to appease which they had Lustrations, Prayers, Offerings, popitiatory Sacrifices, and the Novendialia Sacra or the Expiations for nine days, were instituted by the Romans upon this account; All which show their belief of a Supreme Being, which for us to contemn bespeaks us the most notorious examples of Ignorance and Infidelity.  
But consider again,( and though it be but an old, yet) it remains an unanswerable Plea, If there be no such thing as a God, and if Religion be a Vanity and a Chimera, how comes it to pass that Conscience checks, and the thoughts of a future State amaze us? What need men be under this corroding Worm, when they have committed some horrid Crime and Irregularity, if so be there is no superior to whom we are to be accountable? Surely it was a strange Pusillanimity in Felix to tremble at that discourse of the great Apostle, when he preached of Righteousness, Temperance and judgement to come, as 'tis Acts 24.25. But it was the consciousness of his own Impieties which made him be under such a commotion, when he heard of the doom and fate of such Exorbitances; for he was culpable in all the particulars St. Paul preached on: First for Justice, 
Dr. Hammond in loc.  he had exercised much Cruelty, and undue Administrations had taken place in his government; and for Temperance he had trangressed the Rules and Laws of that virtue, by taking his Wife Drusilla by the force of Enchantments from her Husband's Bed, and hearing there would be a time of account, and a day of reckoning for such misdemeanours he was concerned; and whatever Paul preached, Conscience made application of it, which put him into no little palpitations and confusion. 
Tacitus.  What made Tiberius, as the Historian tells us, be so troubled, that all his Fortunes and the Divertisements of the Empire could afford him no tranquillity? We find Cain running about like a trembling Vagabond after his Fratricide; Nero frighted with the Ghost of his Mother Agrippina; Caligula fearing Jupiter, and running under his Bed when it thundered( though at other times he derided his Supremacy:) Now if so be that there were no revenging God, but that men when they were resolved into dust never were to rise and act another part, and their Souls vanished into soft Air, what need Conscience be under these disquietings and vexations, these fears and haunting jealousies? Might not a man shake off such perplexing thoughts as samson the Cords, and St. Paul the Viper? And the truth is, Cicero largely explains what the Furies were which the Poets feigned tormented these and the other; 
Cicero in Oratione contra L. Pisonem.  he plainly says, Sua quemque fraus, suum facinus, suum scelus de sanitate& de mente deturbat; haec sunt impiorum furiae, flammae, faces; that is, Every man's fraud, and sin, and wickedness is the great disturber of his comforts; these are the Furies, the flames, the firebrands which do affright and scar us; which certainly could not be, except we were to appear before a Tribunal where Rewards and Punishments shall be administered according to the actions and conversations either of deserving or delinquent Mortals.  
Lastly, Let us consider, if there be no Deity or aweful God, how come men to be so startled and amused when they come to die, and to lay down this earthly Tabernacle? For take a Gallant that drunk Scorning like water, that was like Behemoth in Job, that laughed at the spear and habergeon, that was as a brazen Wall against all the essays and assaults made by the Ambassadors of Heaven; yet when a Disease comes and brings a message( as to Hezekiah) Set thy house in order, thou shalt die; when the Blood boils, the Head achs, the Pulse irregular, and all the internal operations disorderly; when there is no other way but one, linquenda domus,& tellus,& placens uxor; when all their Enjoyments are to shake hands with them, then they are tame, gentle and meek to a miracle; then they can be content to talk with a man in black, whom they so lately laughed at; then God and Christ, formerly despised, are solemnly invocated as appears from these ensuing Examples: First, of Tullius Hostilius, who succeeded Numa in his Kingdom, and being a marshal man, made a scorn of Numa's Religion and holy Rites, as if they tended to nothing but the effeminating and weakening of mens minds; but afterwards ( morbo gravi,& multiplici) by a strange and dangerous Sickness he had, and smitten with the stroke of divine Justice, 
Plutarchus in vita Numae.  he repented himself of his profaneness, and as another relates, was the most servile afterwards and slavish to all the gentle Superstitions, 
Liv. lib. 1. pag. 12.  and transfused the same into all his Subjects: So that he who formerly had derided all Religious services, as so many ridiculous Observances, now for fear of an approaching wrath( which his Soul did apprehended) grew, as I may say, a pious Zealot and devout Practitioner of all those Rites and Adorations with which they did accost their respective Deities.  
Another Story we have of the Philosopher Bion surnamed Boristenes, who( as Diogenes Laertius tells us in his Life) all the time of his health he was a most obdurate Atheist and opposer of the Gods; 
Diog. Laert. in vita Bion.  but afterwards when he was attacked with a most tormenting malady, he was thereby induced to repent him of the Impieties he was guilty of as to the Gods; and we do not hear him any more a Criminal in that particular: now he was about to leave these terrestrial Mansions, his timorous Soul fearing he should have bad entertainment in other Regions, relented, and so was drawn to a Recantation. Neither is it to be passed by which is reported of those Persians, who being pursued by the Greeks, and being forced to try a passage over the River Strymon, which was but moderately frozen, then those that the day before had talked lavishly and contemptuously of a God, with prayers and tears and a signal affectionateness implored the Divine bounty, that the suspected Ice might not break, but that it might bear them now when they were pursued by an implacable Enemy. And if so be that any question these Authorities, as far fetched and possibly invented to credit the design of a Deity, I shall conclude this with a remarkable Narration of as learned a Physician as the University of Cambridge affords, who is no fanatic I am sure, and  told me this following Story of a Gentleman( whom I myself knew) which was to this purpose. Says he, This Person of Quality was oftentimes in my company, and was ever inveighing against these silly Notions of a God, which people had espoused: The Doctor was ready upon all occasions to undeceive him, being a person able to argue with the best of these Antagonists. At last this Gentleman fell sick not far from Cambridge, sent again& again for this Doctor; but Providence so ordered it, that this Doctor was taken ill himself, and could not take a journey to the patient whose Distemper proved mortal; and the Doctor assured me, that he was informed by a nigh Relation where he died, that during the time of his sickness he pathetically invocated God and Jesus Christ, and requested their favour and mercy: which was an evident Demonstration, that the slumbering Soul was now awakened, and that he looked upon the existence of a divine Being and a future Estate as a certain Reality, which before he had scorned as a fabulous Legend and a Romantick Forgery.  
Therefore Christian hold fast thy Profession against these foolish Cavils of debauched men, Satan's Emissaries, who labour to advance the interest of the Prince of Darkness; and if we will give more credence to the vain janglings of these Sciolists, than to the holy Scriptures, given by divine Inspiration, confirmed by most remarkable Miracles, received by persons of the greatest Parts and Ingeny, and subscribed to by natural Conscience, we are fitter to be purged with hellebore, and confined to a Bethlem, than to be Members of a Civil Society. And this I will affirm( not in the least to tax the Wisdom and Gravity of my superiors, or that I delight in the Execution of sanguinary Laws) that 'tis a hard case that a poor indigent Villain should be whipped at a post, or burnt in the hand for petty Larceny, and another climb the Gallows three for stealing of some trifles, not much surmounting the value of Thirteen pence half penny, which are but slight trespasses against our Brother; and a Feather-Gallant shall openly blaspheme his God, rail at the sovereign Majesty of Heaven, who breathed into him the breath of Life, bespatter the Word of Truth, and the Gospel of Salvation; and yet pass untouched by him that ought not to bear the Sword in vain, but be publicly applauded as a man of a great Spirit, rare Adventurers, a Prodigy of Wit and Learning: as if England were a Sanctuary for Blasphemy; I say, as in the case of the Levite's Concubine, Consider of it, take advice, 
Judges 19.30.  and speak your minds.  
And one thing more I would have taken into consideration: If a Jesuit be such a dangerous person in a Common-wealth, by reason of a pre-engagement to his Lord the Pope, and which by virtue of an Equivocation can swear, forswear and unwind himself from all Oaths, Covenants- solemn Vows and Protestations; what a person is the Atheist, and how can a King be sure of his Loyalty and Allegiance? For the greatest security he can have is by the imposition of an Oath, as David did to Shimei; but now if the Atheist be convinced that 'tis only a nominal and fabulous Divinity that he has invocated, and that there is no such thing as a Perjury-revenging God; and that( if with Zimri he should slay his Master) there is no divine Power would ever take cognizance of the Crime; I pray of what validity is the assurance that he has given? And what villainy is not this person fit for, if he have but power and opportunity to put his black designs into execution? May not I in this case say, Cavete vobis Principes, Look to yourselves you Kings and Grandees of the world: For truly I should look upon them with the same Eye of suspicion that Caesar did upon Brutus and Cassius, and Mauritius did upon that murderer Phocas; especially if they be observed to make it their business to be rising, great and popular.   

Secondly, Hold fast your Profession against old Pleas and Superstitions, especially those of the Church of Rome.  
Christian Religion has ever had the fate to be counted a Novelty; as the Heathen Symmachus said, Nunc dogma nobis Christianum nascitur, post evolutos mill demum consuls; Now Christian Doctrine begins to spring up after the revolution of a thousand Consulships, but( praised be God) it has run down its Adversaries, and retorted their weapons upon their own breasts, and these sooleries in practise heretofore by ethnic Rome, and other Pagans, are so obsolete in this clear day of the Gospel, that Gentilism especially in the European World has very few Advocates. The Fathers of the Church, and the Primitive Defenders of Christianity, such as Minutius Felix, Arnobius, Tertullian, Lactantius, Justin Martyr, Saint Augustine in his Book de Civitate Dei, Origen and others have ruined their Opposers, by showing that though Idolatry be old, yet the Truth is of a longer date; that all the gentle Theology in respect of Antiquity comes short of the sacred Records, that their eldest Poets are Upstarts in comparison of Moses, 
Quis poetarum? quis sophistarum? qui non omnino de prophetarum font potaverit? ind philosophi sitim ingenii sui rigaverunt, &c. Tertullian. Apolog. advers. Gent. cap. 45.  that Orpheus one of the ancientest of them was four hundred years after Moses, their Law-giver Lycurgus six hundred years after Moses, also Solon in the time of Cyrus, and Homer in the dayes of Solomon, and that their Poets steal a great deal out of the Books of Moses, as Ovid, Phocylides, Virgil and others; so that we have no need to grapple with them, neither do we fear to be nonplussed by a Heathen, having had his superstition silenced by irrefragable Arguments for many Centuries. But now the Church of Rome comes and takes up the gauntlet against us, and tells us they walk in the good old way, upbraid us as neoterics in Divinity, for thus the Historian brands Calvin, 
Johannes Bushiers.  Luther, and the first Reformers, as if they brought new Systems and Modes of Worship, to which the Primitive Church was a stranger; and they obtrude upon us a company of ancient obselete Ceremonies and Observances, as authentic proofs of their Antiquity, that so all people might come over to them as the true Asserters of the most ancient and fundamental Verities: But that we may take of these and the like pretences, we will examine some of their pleas which they use in the beguiling of the simplo and credulous multitude: First, they say they have the name of catholics, which was always espoused by the Ancient Orthodox Church, and brag with it, as if it were as proper and applicable to them as risibility to a man; they are just like Thrasillus( of whom Elian tells us) who being vitiated in his Intellectuals, thought all the Ships that came into the Harbour were his own, and at their approach rejoiced as if the chief traffic of the Indies had been conveyed to him; so the Papists crow with the word catholic, as if it entirely belonged to them and their party, but we must consider that every one that espouses a Name is not really so as the name importeth. Simon Magus styled himself the great power of God, but he was only a petty Magician for all that: Alexander gave it out that he was the Son of Jupiter, but he was mortal, and the wound which he got in a battle shortly after convinced him of his folly: The Jews had many pretended Messiahs who vaunted they would do great things in order to the restitution of Israel, as Judas and Theudas of Galilee( mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles) then they had Benthodad, then Moses of Crete, then the King of Thabor, then David Elroy; but they all proved Impostors, as the event shewed. And Paul the Fifth notwithstanding the stately Inscription of Paulo-quinto, Vice-Deo, that is, Paul the Fifth the Vice-God, yet wise men looked upon him as an ordinary Bishop for all this swelling appellation; for indeed many assume names of Grandeur and Dignity, and others out of flattery fasten them upon them, and yet the persons remain still in the same predicament and state they were in before, but every Sophister can detect that fallacious way of reasoning, and show that à nomine ad rem non valet consequentia, that from the name to the thing is a lame, and oftentimes an untrue consequence; but the Papists in this particular imitate Jacob who got on his Brother Esau's Garments, and so came to his aged Father Isaac and got the blessing: thus they cloath themselves with the specious Titles of catholic and holy Church, thinking upon this account to have the blessing and primogeniture. But suppose a man should get another man's testimonial, and come and show it to a superior, surely it would be looked on as a trick and piece of gross collusion; so God will own none for true catholics but those who walk according to the Doctrines of the true Church, which is founded upon the Foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles, Christ being himself the chief Corner-stone.  
But let us consider further, that the greatest heretics have called themselves catholics, and inscribed most glorious Titles upon the most damnable assertions; the Arians said they were the only catholics, and called the other Orthodox Christians Homousians, and Athanasians; thus in like manner did the Novatians and Donatists, if we consult History, Manichaeus writ himself Apostolus Jesu Christi, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, the Macedonian heretics bragged, nos rectâ fide incedimus, we walk in the right faith; Celsus gave his defence of Paganism this Character, The Word of Truth: and seldom do we meet with a heretic but assumes great swelling Titles, and labours to varnish over his unsound Doctrines with the garish paint of Truth and Purity, and if names make Apostles then they may easily be inserted in the Catalogue. True Religion looks not at more outsides, terms and titles, at the form and figure of the Cup, but what is within it, and a genuine Christian is not so because men thus nominate him, 
Ille est verus& Germanus Catholicus qui veritatem Dei qui Ecclesiam qui Corpus Christi diligit, qui divinae Religioni, qui Catholicae Fidei nihil praeponit, non hoins Cujuspiam authoritatem, non am●rem, non ingenium, non eloquentiam, non philosophiam. Vincent. Lyrinens. libro advers. profan. Novat. cap. 25.  but because he walks in obedience to that Universal Doctrine of Christ, which the Saints in all Ages have assented to; thus Vincentius Lyrinensis tells us, that he is a true and undoubted catholic, who loves the truth of God, the Church the body of Christ, who does not esteem or prefer any thing above Divine Religion, and the catholic Faith, not any man's Authority, Wit, Eloquence or Philosophy: And we must take this for granted, that as the calling of Jesus Christ, a man gluttonous and a Wine-bibber, a Friend of Publicans and Sinners, a Confederate with Beelzebub, as it did him no harm, nor ever stained his blessed and divine purity; so our styling ourselves catholics or Cathatists, or Saints will avail us nothing, except we add to the name the thing, and to the form the power of godliness.  
And if yet they will be so imprudent as to make a noise with Roman catholic, as if the Church of Rome infused Catholism into other places( as some of them say) let them know that we account this as trifling, childish and nonsensical, to pair a particular and universal together, as the ploughing with an ox or an Ass, a pretty Wedding of contradictions by the Pope's Omnipotent Licence, which things will easily sue out a just Divorce in any Court of Judicature, where Reason and Equity may give a free Vote and a Definitive Sentence.  
Secondly, Another Plea of theirs is this, the old Succession of Pastors, of Popes, for they tell the World that Saint Peter was at Rome and was made by Christ the Head of the Church, and he delegated this power to his successors to be the Head of the Universal Church in future Ages, and they say that from the said Saint Peter they have a continued Series or Succession of Pastors, which no Church but they can show, therefore they are in the right, and 'tis safest to be of their Communion.  
But first we have Objections against this Assertion, 
Epiphan. 27. Heres. advers. Carpocrat.  as that Saint Paul was as much a Bishop at Rome as Saint Peter, for so Epiphanius and Irenaeus tells us, and declare that he was one of that See, 
So the Church of Rome is styled {αβγδ}, the Plantation made by Peter and Paul. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. 2. cap. 25.  and much probability is here of this thing, for that Saint Paul was here is warranted by the Divine Writings; but as for Saint Peter it is doubted whether ever he were at Rome, or no, for learned men have made several Geographical Descriptions of his Peregrinations, and yet find not any shadow or footstep of his residence there or foundation of a Popedom; and though they pretend his sepulchre is to be seen, yet some of the Ancients attest that Peter died at Jerusalem, and the Pontificians themselves are uncertain what year to fix him there after his removal from Antioch, and are mightily divided in their Computations.  
But suppose that Saint Peter sat in the Chair there, they stumble in the very threshold, for they are at difference as to his successors, and the Ancients themselves are divided, for whosoever reads Irenaeus, Epiphanius, Optatus, 
Ireneus lib. 3. cap. 3. Epiphanius ibid.  Saint Austin, and of later times Platina and others, 
Optatus lib. 2. contra Parmeni.  shall find different Opinions concerning the first six immediate successors of this supposed Prince of the Apostles, 
Augustin. 165. Epist. ad Genero.  for some will have Linus, others Cletus, some Clement to succeed, and if they be uncertain in the first Series or Order of Succession, why may we not conclude the like failures in other Centuries, especially if we consider again that there have been so many Schisms in the Roman Church, that 'tis a difficult thing to find a true and a right Succession; for by the confession of our Adversaries there has been no less than twenty six Schisms in the Roman Church, some of them lasting for a long time: And not only so, but two or three Popes have been at once, as in that great Schism in the thirteenth Century, when there was Gregory the Twelfth, Benedict the Thirteenth, and Alexander the Fifth, and questionless all these competitors pretended a due and a regular Election, Nomination or some right to the Dignity. And as for these Schisms they happened very early, and continued long; the first began in the year 253. when Novatianus stood up as an Anti-Pope against Cornelius, and these frequent Schisms held on till the year 1439. when Felix was competitor with Eugenius the Fourth; and further their Succession may be proved not to be so regular if we take notice of the controversy which has been amongst several of the Learned concerning Pope Joan or John the Eighth, Onuphrius, Bellarmine, Baronius, and Florimundus, do look upon such a person as a thing altogether vain and fabulous, although there be a cloud of witnesses that do attest the certainty of the thing, as Platina the keeper of the Library in the Vatican, Theodericus de Niem one of the Popes Secretaries, Trithemius the Abbot, Caranza that writ the sum of the Councils, Rantius, Jacobus, Bergomensis, Mantuan, and several other Historians, who have in express terms recorded the Truth of this Story; besides the Monument of the aforesaid person was to be seen in Rome itself in the time of pus the Fifth, and another at Siena thrown down by the command of Clement the Eighth, with the assistance of Baronius, and whosoever desires further satisfaction in the premises, I remit him to the Learned Dialogue of our own Country-man Mr. Alexander Cook, wherein he manifestly proves against all the surmises and objections made to the contrary, that there was a Woman called Joan Pope of Rome, about two years and odd moneths, &c. in the time of Lotharius, Anno 860. Now if there be such a difference in the finding out such an one as this John the Eighth, may we not rationally conclude there may be strange miscarriages as to other Successions, which might be evidently demonstrated, if it were worth my pains, and the Readers trouble. Moreover let us deal with the Romanists according to their own principles, which if we do we shall truly show that neither they nor we can certainly tell whether they have a right Priest or consequently a right Succession in any degree, for, according to their own conclusions, to the making up of Sacraments there must go the intention of the Priest; now suppose that when this or any other Pope was made a Priest, 
council. Trident. Sess. 7. Cant.  if the ordainer had not in that juncture of time a right intention, then there was( if not a nullity) yet a defectiveness in that Order and Sacrament, and consequently the ordained was more or less under the efficacy of that Mystery, and invested more or less with a right mission or authoritativeness.  
Now they do not know the intentions of hundreds of Ordainers in their Church, and so cannot tell whether the ordained participate of that indelible character conferred by Holy Orders, except they did know the secrets of men's hearts, and the internal consonancy of the mind with the outward imposition of hands: And so it follows that no Pope or Priest of theirs can be satisfied in his Call or Mission, except they got a Testimonial of the Bishop that ordained, that his intention was right, pertinent, and correspondent to the institution, which I suppose they have not, and so 'tis very doubtful whether they have at any time a legal ministry, or an Apostolical Succession.  
But more to the purpose, a local or a personal Succession from the Apostles is nothing, unless their be a doctrinal too, and that is the main Succession, when men in their principles and practices are just and strict imitators of Christ and his Disciples: The Mariners at Sea of old had this observation, that if both Castor and Pollux appeared, it was a good Omen of a prosperous Voyage, but if one of them singly shewed himself they judged it fatal; so if those that are to steer and guide the Ship of the Church, can show a personal and a doctrinal succession from the Apostles, then we may comfortably hope that the Church having such Pilots will safely arrive at the scape of good hope, and the desirable port of happiness and felicity; whereas on the contrary if these Spiritual Guides shall boast of an affinity with Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and yet in their Doctrines and Sermons broach things directly contrary to these Apostolical Determinations, 'tis to be feared that the Vessel of the Church will be in danger of shipwreck, and splitting itself upon the destructive Rock of human follies and inventions; therefore in the making up of a right Succession from Christ and his Apostles, there must be a doctrinal agreement, otherwise Succession without Truth is Vetustas erroris, a piece of erroneous Antiquity, as Saint Cyprian observes, so Irenaeus tells us it is our duty to adhere to those who keep the Apostles Doctrine; 
Adhaerere iis qui Apostolorum doctrinam custodiunt,& cum Presbyterii ordine sermonem sanum,& contemplationem sine offensa praestant. Irenaeus lib. 4. cap. 44.  this he calls the principal Succession. In like manner Saint Ambrose, They have no right to Saint Peter's Inheritance that have not Saint Peter's Faith, and Tertullian's Rule is excellent in this particular, the Faith must not be approved on for persons sake, 
Non habent Petri haereditatem qui non habent Petri fidem. Ambrose lib. 1. de poenit. cap. 6.  but persons must be looked to and approved upon the account of Faith: Wherefore we must of necessity join the Truth of Doctrine to Succession, 
Non ex personis fidem, said ex fide personas probari op●rtet. tertul. de prescript.  or else 'tis nothing but an empty Chimera and a mere formality.  
For the Papists themselves know that Samosatenus was an arch-heretic, and yet he was Successor to Saint Peter at Antioch, and the Greek Church was judged irregular in several things and was excommunicated by Victor, and yet they pled a Succession from Saint Andrew to Alexander of Constantinople, by whose prayers Arius was removed: So that Succession of Pastors without Succession of Doctrine is vain and frivolous, and as the Romans would not allow the Son of Scipio to wear a Ring with his Father's Picture, because he was debauched and did not imitate his Father's Virtues, so no more do we allow the Papists a right Succession from Saint Peter and the Apostles, except they did embrace Saint Peter's Truths and the Evangelical Doctrines.  
Another Plea of the Papists is this, they say they have the old Mass which we have not, and this Mass they tell us is the Host, or unbloody propitiatory Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, offered up by a Priest as a pleasing Sacrifice to Almighty God, for the atonement of sins for the quick and the dead; and this they say they have for a long time been in the possession of, which we of the new Religion have not.  
As for Mass we must first consider the name, and we find the Scripture silent as to the mentioning any such word, neither was it ever used by Christ or his Apostles; only an ignorant popish Priest by good luck found it in a Postscript, Missa fuit haec Epistola: As to the beginning and rise of it, the Learned give us this account, In the Greek Church when the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was ended they sang the Song of Simeon, Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, &c. and because the people after it were to break up the Assembly, it was called {αβγδ} the dimissory prayer, and the Minister was said {αβγδ}, missam facere, to make an end of the work, or sand away the people, hence the Latin Church had their missa or dismission, 

Vide Abrah. Scultet. Exercitat. Evangel. lib. 1. cap. 64. And that so the word missa is used by Cassian even in his time for the dismission of the Congregation.  
Hence it was that the whole Service from the beginning of it till the time the Hearers were dismissed, came to be called Missa Catechumenorum, as that which was afterwards performed at the celebration of the Eucharist was called missu fidelium the Mass of Believers, because none but they were present at it. But was never used in that sense which the Romanists put upon it now, by any approved Writer of the Church for the first 400. years.   so that missa is no more than missio, which is a sending away, as remissa in the Fathers is the same with remissio; now hence the Latin Church after Sermon when the Lord's Supper was to be celebrated, and the Catechumeni, demoniacs, and the penitents were to retire, the Deacon cried item, missa est, that is, you may be gone, or there is a dismission of you, and thus it was only a valedictory expression as it was then used: But afterwards when Superstition prevailed, and men began to fall into the dotages of the real presence, whereby they thought that the Bread and Wine were transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ, then this Sacrament of the Altar with all its Offices and Observances got the name and title of Mass, which they retain at this day: That there is no such thing as this Mass or propitiatory sacrifice we do declare that the Lord's Supper is a commemorative Act of Christians, whereby according to Christ's Institutions by the breaking of Bread and the drinking of Wine, they show forth the Lord's death till he come, and we know no Sacrifice here but what is Eucharistical and gratulatory, whereby the Church gives unfeigned thanks to the eternal God for the Redemption of the World by the Blood of the immaculate Lamb Jesus Christ, but that here is a real propitiatory sacrifice we deny.  
For first all expiatory sacrifices being typical and figurative of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, had their completion and dismission when he through the eternal spirit offered himself up to God, as a Lamb without spot or blemish, see Heb. 10. vers. 6.  
Secondly, this sacrifice of Christ being once offered 'tis no more to be repeated, there was virtue enough in that one act and no need of reiteration, as it is Heb. 7. vers. 27. and Heb. 9.28. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, where the Holy Ghost lays an Emphasis upon the singularity or oneness of Christ's sacrifice, as comprehending all the ends for which it was intended, and so no need of a repetition.  
Thirdly, all expiatory sacrifices required the shedding of blood, the killing of some living creature, so Christ our sacrifice was slain, and the ninth of Heb. 22. without shedding of blood was no remission of sins; now here is no shedding of blood in the Mass; for Christus( as they say) incruentè immolatur, 'tis an unbloody sacrifice which is contradictory to the notion of all expiatory Rites whatsoever.  
Fourthly, Christ upon the across cried out 'tis finished, that is, that the work of Redemption was completed by the sacrificing of himself, and so God's Justice appeased, and man put into a state of reconciliation; but now if it be needful every day for a Priest to offer up a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead, then the work of Redemption was not finished, but was to be working out by piecemeal in all the succeeding Ages of the Gospel; and thus they will rather give a manifest lye to Jesus Christ, and openly contradict his affirmation, than abjure their beloved Idol.  
Therefore instead of the Mass we have the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, a Holy Rite according to Christ's Institution, as a memorial of the sacrifice of the death of Christ that blessed victim, who once offered up himself; and no sacrifice know we of here but that gratulatory one of praise and thanksgiving: Hence we leave them to their own superstitions to worship a breaden God, whereby they are a scorn and reproach to Jews, and Turks, and so lay stumbling blocks in the way of their conversion.  
Another plea of the Romanists is this, they say all the Ancients are on their side; and here they make a flourish and affirm that the Holy Apostles, the blessed Martyrs, the glorious Confessors, the Learned Fathers, and Christian Doctors all teach as they do; and that the Protestants follow their own private Inspirations, scorn Antiquity, dote on Novelty, and have never a Patron for their new Divinity.  
Now alas what shall we do, if the case be as they pretend, 'twere the best to pack away to Rome, to crave Absolution for our long espoused Schism and heresy, to get the benediction of the Holy Father, and to enter the Lists of their Communion: But I make this Remonstrance both for myself and other Protestants, that our Writers have fully shown, and yet we can make it appear, that the whole current of Antiquity runs our way, and their own Cassander could not but aclowledge, that as to Marriage, the Lord's Supper, and several other controverted things betwixt them and us, that anciently they were practised according as they are in use in the Reformed Churches; and for the voluminous Writings of the Fathers, those who have been most studied in them, such as Bishop Jewel, field, Whitaker, Willet, Bishop Laud, Birbeck, and several others have shewed that the Fathers unanimously have given their testimony for us; so that 'tis needless to quote Authorities: but however that the ordinary Reader may have something by him to stop the reproachful mouth of a scandalising Priest or Jesuit, I shall not think much to set down a few remarkable testimonies out of the Ancient Fathers, which may be as so many smooth Stones taken out of the Brook Kidron, to throw at these vaunting Goliahs who defy the Armies of Israel.  
And first for the Popes Primacy, let us consider that of Saint Cyprian in his Book de Unitate Ecclesiae, 
Cyprianus de unitate Ecclesiae, pari consortio honoris, &c.  where he affirms, that the rest of the Apostles were the same, that Saint Peter was endowed with the same equality of honour and jurisdiction; 
Ubicunque fuerit Episcopus sieve Romae, sieve Eugubii, sieve Constantinopoli, sieve Rhegii, sieve Alexandriae, sieve Tanis, ejusdem meriti, ejusdem est Sacerdotis; potentia divitiarum,& paupertatis humilitas, vel sublimiorem vel inferiorem Episcopum non facit, omnes sunt Apostolorum successores. Hierom. ad Evag. Epist. 85.  so Saint Jerom in his Epistle to Evagrius maintains, that wheresoever a Bishop is, whether at Rome, or Eugubium, at Constantinople, or at Rhegium, whether at Alexandria or at Tanis, he hath the same merit& the same Priesthood; the power of riches, and the meanness of poverty do not make a Bishop higher or lower, but they are all the successors of the Apostles.  
Nay, which may may put this out of dispute, when John of Constantinople affencted a primacy over other Bishops, because it was the Seat of the Emperour or new Rome; 
trust tamen valde est ut patienter feratur, quatenùs despectis omnibus praedictus frater Coepiscopus meus solus conetur appellari Episcopus; said in hac ejus superbia quid aliud nisi propinqua jam Antichristi tempora designatur, Gregor. Mag. ad Constan. lib. 4. Epist. 34.  Gregory the Great then sitting in the Chair at Rome chides him severely for it, and gives him no better a title than the fore-runner of Antichrist, and complains sadly both to the Emperour Mauritius and Constantia the Empress, and makes it a piece of Luciferian pride, as may be seen at large in his Epistles; and the said Gregory in opposition to the pride of the said Bishop of Constantinople, 
O Tempora! O Mores! quis est iste qui contra statuta Evangelica, contra canonum decreta, novum sibi usurpare nomen praesumit? Gregor. ad Maurit. Epist. 32.  was the first Bishop which took this title of Servant of Servants, which his successors out of a feigned humility retain till this day.  
Against the Pope's Infallibility we need go no farther than their own Author's Curanza, Spondanus, and others, who tell us Marcellinus was an Idolater, Liberius an Arian, Honorius a Monothelite, John 22. For the soul's sleeping till the day of judgement, lo the 10. a notorious Atheist; and if there be such an unerring power with which the Popes are invested, why did Pope Stephen rescind the Decrees of Formosus his predecessor, and John the Ninth the Decrees of Stephen? surely one or other of these failed in their conclusions and determinations.  
Against Images what more plain than the words of Epiphanius to John Bishop of Jerusalem? 
Inveni ibi velum tinctum atque depictum,& habens imaginem quasi Christi, vel sancti cujusdam, non enim satis momini cujus imago fuerit; cum ergo hoc vidissem in Ecclesia Christi contra authoritatem Scripturarum scidi illud, Deinceps praecipere in Ecclesia Christi istiusmodi vela quae contra religionem nostram veniunt non appendi, Epipha. Edit. Lat. in fine oper. ad Johan. Hyaerosol.  says he, in the Church of the Village of Anablatha I found a Veil, hanging at the Door, painted and having the Image as if it were of Christ or some Saint, for I do not well remember whose Image it was; when I saw therefore that contrary to the Authority of the Scriptures, the Image of a man was hanged up in the Church of Christ, I cut it, and gave counsel to the Keepers of the place that they should wrap some poor dead man in it, and he desired the Bishop of the diocese that such Veils as these which are contrary to our Religion might not be hanged up in the Church of Christ.  
Against prayer to Angels we may take notice of that of Origen to Celsus, whereas Celsus had said that they belong to God, and in that respect we are to pray to them, that they may be propitious to us; Origen answers, Away with the advice of Celsus, who says we are to pray to Angels; 
{αβγδ}, &c. Origen. contr. Celf. lib. 8. pag. 406.  we must pray to him alone, who is God over all, and to the Word of God his only begotten, and the first born of all creatures, that he would present our prayers to his God and our God.  
Against prayer in an unknown Tongue, St. Basil in his Homily upon the 28. Psalm, where he says, 
{αβγδ}, Ba●l. Homil. in Psal. 28.  Thou hast a Psalm, thou hast a prophesy, thou hast the Evangelical Declarations: Let thy Tongue sing and let thy Mind search the meaning of what is spoken, that according to the Apostle thou mayest sing with the spirit and sing with understanding.  
Against Transubstantiation what can be more plain than that of Saint Augustine, where speaking of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of man; he saith, 
Facinus vel flagitium videtur jubere: figura est ergo, praecipiens passioni●us Domini esse communicandum atque suaviter& utiliter recondendum esse in memoria quod pro nobis caro ejus vulnerata& crucifixa est, August. de Doct. Christ. lib. 3. cap 16.  Christ here seemeth to command some heinous act or gross wickedness, he answers, It is a figurative Speech, requiring us to communicate with Christ's sufferings, and sweetly and profitably to keep in memory that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us: 
Non dubitavit Dominus dicere, hoc est corpus meum, cum signum daret corporis sui, August. contrà Adimant. cap. 12.  Nay in another place he saith, the Lord doubted not to say, this is my body, when he gave the sign of his body.  
Against unwritten Traditions, that of Tertullian is most remarkable; for having to do with Hermogenes, he says, Let Hermogenes and his Adherents prove this from the written word; 
Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis officina, si non est scriptum, timeat vae illud adjicicntibus vel detrahentibus destinatum, Tertul. contra Hermog. cap. 12.  if it be not written, let him fear that wo which is against them that add to, or diminish from sacred Truths.  
And what more plain than that of Saint Augustine? Let us not hear, thus say I, 
N●n audiamus haec dico, haec dicis, said audiamus haec dicit D●minus, auferantur illa de medio quae adpersus nos invicem, non ex divinis canonicis libris, said aliunde recitamus. Nolo bumanis documentis, said divinis oroculis sanctam Ecclesiam demonstrari, August. de unitat. Eccles. cap. 3.  thus sayest thou; but let us hear, thus saith the Lord: Let those things be removed out of the way which we allege one against another, otherwise than from the Books of caconical Scripture; I will not have the holy Church demonstrated by human teachings, but by divine oracles.  
Against the Doctrine of Merit, Saint Chrysostom has given his testimony fully; 
{αβγδ}, Chrysostom. de compunct. cordis, Tom. 6. Edit. Savil. pag. 157.  Although we die a thousand deaths; although we did perform all virtuous actions, yet should we come short by far of rendering any thing worthy of those honours which are conferred on us by God.  
Against the half Sacrament, or the denying the Cup to the laity, what more punctual than that of Justin Martyr, 
{αβγδ}, Justin. Martyr. Apol. 2. in fine pag. 162.  who declaring the customs of the Church in his time, says, they that are called Deacons amongst us, give to every one that is present of the consecrated Bread and Wine, and after adds, as Christ commanded them.  
Against Purgatory Saint Cyprian is most positive; We are contained for a while both good and bad in one house, 
Intra unum domum boni& mali interim contin●mu●, quicquid intra domum ●v●nerit pari sort p●rpetimur, donec aevi temporalis fine completo, ad ad●●ernae vel mortis vel immortalitatis hospitia dividamur, Cypr. ad Demetrian.  whatsoever doth happen within the house we suffer alike, until this Temporal life being ended, we are divided to the Habitations either of eternal death or immortality.  
Against that forced Celibacy which they impose upon the Clergy, what more plain than that Speech of Gregory Nazianzen's Father, who is brought in thus speaking to his Son: 
{αβγδ}, Greg. Nazien. Car●●. in vita sua Edit. Morel. Paris. Tom. 2. pag. 9.  Thou art not so old as I have waited or served at the Altar, which is an undeniable testimony that he was begotten after his Father was in holy Orders.  
Concerning the number of caconical Books we need not go far for Testimonies, for the marquis of Worcester in his Conference with the late King, says, that Hierom was the first that ever picked a hole in the Scriptures, and cut out so many Books out of the word of God with the penknise of Apocrypha; so that Saint Hierom is on our side, and if it were to our purpose we could show other Learned Men and Councils before him, that gave the same account of them which we do.  
Thus we have brought in these several Testimonies, which sufficiently demonstrate that this Plea of theirs is nothing but a false insinuation, and the Fathers have not given in Evidence according to their tenants and Surmises, and so their Assertion in this particular is a gross and manifest untruth and forgery, which by hundreds of other Quotations might be confirmed if it were needful and pertinent to my business, which is not to meddle so much with polemical and controverted Points, as to persuade that which has relation to conversation and practise.  
Another Plea of theirs is the continuance of Miracles in their Church, whereby 'tis( as they say) evidenced from Heaven to be the true catholic Church, and this is one of Bellarmine's Notes; and I had taken a little pains in showing their incredible, ridiculous, irrational fooleries in the premises, both from the Legend and other of their approved Writings, but it is so learnedly and satisfactorily done already by the Reverend and never enough to be honoured Doctor Edward Stillingfleet, that I may spare my pains in this particular, referring the Reader to that Excellent Treatise of his, entitled, A Discourse in the Vindication of the Protestants Grounds of Faith, and an Enquiry into the Miracles of the Roman Church.  
And now after their Pleas behold their numerous Superstitions, a Babel and rhapsody of confusion, which never entred into the heart of the blessed Jesus, or were practised by him or his Disciples.  
And first come to the Lord's Supper, the Mass( as they call it:) Their must be a stately Stone-Altar, abundance of Trinkets; then comes the Priest with a multitude of Conges, Crossings, Kissings, Adorations, Exaltations, and other antic Gestures, that an ignorant person would believe either he were acting the part of a Conjurer or a juggler, or else were to manage a company of Puppets to make the Spectators some pretty pastime or diversion.  
Go we from hence to Baptism, where we shall find a numerous company of Observances; the Priest must use Salt, and that signifies spiritual seasoning forsooth; it is a wonder they did not add a little Pepper too, that so the Ceremony might have been more significant.  
Cream was another thing in use, some say because it was a little too phlegmatic, they have omitted it, and I much wonder at it; for, me thinks, it might have been of notable use in this piece of spiritual Cookery.  
Then comes in Spittle: Well, if it be fasting Spittle, I have heard Old Women say it is Medicinal; but King Jame's Mother spoyled this Ecclesiastical Rite, when she said she would have never a pocky Priest of them all to spit in her Child's Mouth.  
After this he blows upon the Child, that he may receive the Holy Ghost: Ay, and this blast drives away the Devil, and sends him as far as the Banks of the read Sea, and the deserts of Arabia, better than the smoke of the Fishes Liver in Tobit; but I cannot stand to reckon up all the fooleries here, much exceeding a Baker's dozen, by Bellarmine's confession.  
Observe the Priest farther, and he is sprinkling and dashing the people with holy water, excellent for those rhat have forgot to wash their Faces in a Morning, and the Devil is as much afraid of it, as of scalding led when 'tis thus hallowed and sanctified; you shall see also a printed Indulgence with the five wounds of Christ, and some other pretty Knacks; and if you observe it devoutly, and say the prayers there enjoined, by virtue hereof you shall be released from the pains of Purgatory, and 'twill prove a notable pass whereby you may go directly from these chimerical Lodgings, to the aetherial and celestial Regions.  
Then comes the relics of a Saint, Saint Thomas his Shoes, and Garnets Straw, 
Sc. missal Roman. second. council. Trident.  and these are partly for raising of devotion, and partly for getting of money, and sometimes they cure diseases( but very seldom for fear of losing their virtue) if you will believe experience and candid Authors. 
Praxis Caeremoniar. in Eccles. Roman. per Andream Piscar about all their Ceremonies.   
Another he is mumbling over a few Latin prayers, and has his Beads whereby he reckons the number, would he but change his Beads for Counters, he might be well set up, not only for his Devotions, but also for his Recreations, for when the first were over he might then be fitted for post and pair, the old Game of England which pleads Antiquity as much, and is as harmless, for ought I know, as any of their Devices.  
Sometimes again you shall see them light abundance of Candles on fair day light, especially on the day of Purification in honour of the Blessed Virgin; just as the Heathens did at the same time in honour of Proserpina, which discovers nothing more than the darkness and blindness of their understandings, who are ready to imitate the purblind Gentiles sitting in darkness and under the region of the shadow of death.  
Sometimes you shall find them at a rare piece of spiritual Pageantry, and that is baptizing of Bells, which is done with many Ceremonies, and the reading of several Psalms, and the Bells must forsooth have Godfathers and Godmothers, who promise, I suppose, not that they shall keep the Faith, but time and tune, and they give them Christian Names; I remember there is John of Lateran, Tom of Lincoln; and that you may not think but there be Females also, in Queen Mary's dayes there was a great Bell of Christ Church called Mary solemnly baptized; and if this be not done, the Papist thinks it can never give a caconical sound, nor fright away evil Spirits as 'tis pretended.  
Again, you shall find the Pope sending consecrated Roses to Kings and Princes, though made in Lent, yet better than those that grow in June; these are sent only to his Holinesse's special Friends, and though they neither have any sweet smell, or are purgative as the natural, yet under them are comprehended rare catholic Virtues and secrecies, which heretics are not fit to be acquainted with.  
The Pope also sends out hallowed Flags and Banners, to those that fight as he would have them, making the credulous believe, that by virtue of these the Pope's Champion shall become one of the enchanted Knights, absolutely invincible, and so he may assault and encounter Lions, Dragons, Mormors, Wind-mills, and I know not what.  
But the most notable and remarkable piece of Foolery and Idolatry was that of the Rood, acted by Bishop Bonner in the time of Queen Mary, which was( as Doctor Heylin tells us) in this manner: 
Dr. Heylin's History, Reformal Reign of Queen Mary, pag. 32.  They made a fair Image of our Saviour( for this they call the Rood) and they brought it most devoutly into Saint Paul's choir, and laid it upon the Pavement,( for it was as many of the like are a little gouty in the feet, and could not stand) then they said divers prayers over it( but I suppose it scarce said Amen▪) then they anointed it with oil, very proper( for it may be this might suppling the stiff and inflexible joints;) then they crept to it, most fit for it could not come to them; and if the Mountain will not come to Mahomet, then let him go to the Mountain; then they kissed it, well, every one as he likes, and then they got cords, not to tie him as the Tyrians did their gods,( for their was no danger of starting) but to draw him up, and then all the choir sung Te Deum: O a joyful sight! and here they set him to keep sentry, and he stirred not for three or four could Winters, till Queen Elizabeth came and gave him a dismission, and bid him go warm himself at the fire which was performed.  
Now I appeal to an imprejudiced Reader, if that the 44. of Isaiah, where God complains of Israel, that they worshipped the stock of a three, composed by Smiths and Carpenters into the shape and representation of an Idol God, do not as much strike at these Idolatrous Romanists, as ever it did against the superstitious Israelites,& shall they escape the fury of the divine threatenings any more than they; no surely, for God is as jealous of his glory now as ever he was in the dayes of old.  
But now I shall pass these gaudy trifles and obtruded observances, which have nothing of the superscription of Caesar, which these like their Brethren the Pharisees of old lay so much stress upon, as if they were the very soul and life of Religion; and if any seem to oppose them in these ridiculous practices, they pour out whole Floods of Curses and anathemas upon him, as if he made it his business to dethrone the Lord Jesus, and evacuate the Gospel of Salvation; and let me entreat all pious souls to hold fast their Profession against such delusory Pleas and ceremonious Customs, by which these false Teachers delude the simplo: for truly they cause the ignorant to be much like the famous Mathematician Archimedes, who when at the sacking of Syracuse he should have endeavoured the preservation of himself and Family, he busied himself with making Circles in the Dust, and so was slain by a soldier; thus they cause the unwary multitude to spend their time in simplo imposed fooleries, and ceremonious trifles, white Faith in Christ, repentance towards God, and other Christian virtues and exercises are neglected, and so their eternal safety is much endangered; be we therefore so wise as to follow the steps of Christ and his Apostles, those Infallible Directors, leaving these blind Guides and their Followers who are like to fall into the Ditch, seeing they wilfully shut their eyes against the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.   

3. Hold fast your profession against Enthusiasms, new Revelations, or pretended spiritual Doctrines so much cried up by many.  
'twas an old but a true observation of Saint Cyprian, that if the Devil cannot beguile us with an old Superstition, 
Quos non detinere potest in viae voteris caecitate circumscribit& decipit novi itineris error, Cyprian. de Unitat. Eccles.  he will seduce us with a new Revelation, if he cannot keep us within the confines of the Romish Church to be abused with their old ceremonious observances and impositions, then he is for making us ramble into new and uncouth paths, catching at shadows, affecting novelties, hankering after high Seraphical Doctrines and Spiritualities, which in the end prove like Oramazes his Egg, wherein he bragged the felicity of the World was contained, but being broken there was nothing besides wind and emptiness. Hence you shall see in these dayes many who under the notion of forsaking Forms, antiquated Ceremonies, Traditions, beggarly Rudiments, and the like, quarrel even with the holy Scriptures, the Form of Sound Words, the everlasting Gospel; and nothing will serve them but immediate Dictates, new Enthusiasms, holy Raptures, strange Inspirations, and being under a spiritual frenzy they look upon these alone as the rare qualifications of a grown up Christian, and a perfect man in Christ Jesus; they laugh at our Ordinances of Baptism, Supper of the Lord, outward Teaching, as if we were under the yoke of Bondage, and the Jewish Pedagogy; Faith in Christ, good Duties, Moral virtues are all superanuated stuff and Rubbish; they havè far more immediate divine Teachings, the Personality of the Spirit, &c. Their Souls are the Pool of Bethesda, where a Spirit or Angel Stirs; their Soul is a Ship, the Spirit the Rudder and Pilot; their Soul depends upon the immediate suggestions of a Heavenly Monitor, and according to this Intelligence, and the direction of this heavenly Cynosure, they pretend they order and square their Actions and Conversations; when as others are but underling Bible-carriers, having the history not the Mystery. Hereupon every Dream has had a divine Stamp, every thought sacred, mystical, enigmatical, every imagination the Counsel of the Holy One; and they with no small measure of confidence, as the Prophets of old, say, Thus saith the Lord: and if any will not go at the word of Command, and receive their Injunctions as caconical, they pour out whole Showers of anathemas upon them, declare them stiff-necked, rebellious, uncircumcised, and by the Decree of Heaven, which they are privy to, they are devoted to the nethermost Hell for their Obstinacy and Incredulity. This has been the fate of our Times, the bold Enthusiast has mixed his Dreams, his base Allays with the Scriptures given by divine Inspiration, given the lie to the Word of Truth, and has been as positive in his Assertions, definitive in his Conclusions, and and magisterial in his Impositions, as if with Moses he had been in the Mount, or with St. Paul had come with Letters Patent from the Third Heaven; and by this means the Gospel has got a fatal blow, Religion a mortal wound, Truth discredited; and we have had new modes of Worship, unwonted Services, various Altars, strange Fire, new Creeds, a Faith of a Month or a years standing, squared according to times and seasons, but not according to the Gospel( as Tertullian speaks.) In the mean while the people have been under miserable Dotages, Delusions, Circumventions, unstable as Water, or as Ixion's turning Wheel, when they knew not where to repose their fluctuating Spirits, seeing they were made out of love with the good old way, wherein they should have found rest for their souls, Jer. 6.16.  
Cons. 1. But let us hold fast our Profession against these; considering, That after Jesus Christ there is not to be another Dispensation, as to matter of Doctrine, and Revelation of the Mind of God: Indeed in extraordinary cases, as about Murder, special Providences, strange prognostics, God is pleased to reveal himself in a miraculous manner, and many Saints have been Prophetical; but a Revelation as to the setting up of a new Canon of Scripture after Christ is not to be expected. The Jewish Doctors tell us, that after Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi were dead, the Holy Ghost ascended into Heaven and departed from Israel, and all extraordinary ways of Gods Revelation ceased, save only the daughter of a voice, or a voice that came with Thunder, which was a presignification of that true Voice or Eternal Word, who was to be the Interpreter of his Fathers Will, whom we are to harken to; and all other Prophetical Lights, and Revelations or Communications of God's Will, were to yield to that of the Messiah. For 'tis supposed, that in the Transfiguration of Christ, 
Matth. 17.3.  when Moses and Elias appeared to him, they both struck sail to Christ and submitted to his economy, Moses for the Law, 
☜  and Elias for the Prophets; as if all their Oracles were completed in him, and were as so many Glimmerings and borrowed Beams from this Sun of Righteousness; and a Voice from Heaven bid, Hear him, who was to be chief and principal Prolocutor.  
And 'tis further to be considered, that what the Lord Jesus has delivered, is to be authentic Canon for the last dayes; so Heb. Chap. 1. Ver. 1. In these last days he spoken to us by his Son: And in the Parable, Matth. 21.37. Last of all he sent his Son; and Revelations 14.16. 'tis called the everlasting Gospel, as not to give way to any other introduced Doctrine( as that of Moses did) but to remain as the standing Rule by which God will guide his Church, till Time aclowledge its period, and Eternity take place; upon this account Tertullian was bold to affirm that we need not employ our time in curious searches after Truth, 
Nobis curiositate non opus est post Jesum Christum, Tertul. de praescrip. advers. heretic. cap. 8.  since Christ has done it to our hands. Therefore if any will come, and with Mahomet pretend great Revelations from the Angel Gabriel; with Dr. d'ye shall talk of, converse with Spirits and strange discoveries; or with H. Nicholas shall bring a new Gospel, our Duty is to anathematize all such proud invaders of the Royalty of Jesus Christ, and defamers of his settled Truth and established Gospel.  
Considerat. 2. For men to neglect the Canon of Scripture for these Suggestions it much reflects upon the Wisdom and Goodness of God, as if he had given us some incomplete and defective Light, not able to guide our feet in the ways of Truth and Peace; as if the Father of Lights had vouchsafed us only a dark Lantern to walk by, and the Sun of Righteousness afforded us an imperfect Beam, and the Law which is a Lamp, were only an Ignis fatuus, a glaring uncertain Meteor, which could not direct the clouded and benighted Soul; and so it would make God to leave the sons of men as so many Travellers out of their road without the benefit of a comfortable Guide, except some sudden irradiations now and then break in, which are contingent and arbitrary, according to the pleasure of the expected Spirit; but this cannot be presumed; for the Almighty deals benignly and graciously with the sons of men, and gives them a perfect Law, full Directions, and bids them walk accordingly, and not to be as the horse and mule in whom there is no understanding.  
Considerat. 3. Again, by adhering to new Revelations, we seem to invalidate two great Offices of Jesus Christ; his Prophetical Office, as if he had kept back something of the mind of God, as if he had fed our souls with some small Clusters of Canaan, and left the Vintage behind; as if he would only let us see our Beloved through the Lattice, and keep the open manifestations behind to be experienced in ecstatical Visions and Raptures; as if he had only taught us the Rudiments, and Revelations were to make us Perfectionists; whereas we are plainly  told, Christ brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel, that the Scriptures are able to make us wise to salvation, and the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work. Besides this strikes at the Kingly Office of Jesus Christ, as if the Laws of this King were dark, cloudy, Enigmatical, as if the Smoke of Sinai clove to the Doctrine delivered by Christ on the Mount, as if he exacted strict obedience, and had given us but weak Manifestations of our Duty; this would make our blessed Saviour a rigorous Tyrant, rather than any thing else: whereas if we rightly consider, the Lord Jesus in the making of Gospel-laws, has done as much as can be required of any good King or Law-giver whatsoever; for we are  told that to the making of all good Laws there be these requisites. 1. There is to be Intentio boni communis, 
☞  a looking at the general good and welfare of the people for whom the Laws and Institutions are provided; so the blessed Jesus ordered all his Laws, that they might be subservient not only to the great End of God's Glory, but also of our Salvation; and all his aim in the promulging of these excellent Statutes was, that man might perfect Holiness here, in order to Happiness and Felicity hereafter.  
2. To the making of a Law there is required Judicium or Prudentia Architectonica, as they usually phrase it; that is, much Wisdom and Prudence in order to the adapting of Commands according to the Genius and Temperature of the people; so Jesus Christ who is the Wisdom of his Father, has framed these Evangelical Laws so prudently, that they have a natural tendency not only to our future Bliss, but our temporal Well-beings; and ordinarily he that disobeys these Precepts, not only violates the holy Injunctions of Heaven, but trespasses even upon his own Conveniences, as might be shown at large.  
Again, there is required the Sigillum, the Seal or Ratification of all, the Ordainment or fixed Resolution of the King that such and such a thing shall be binding and obligatory; so we find in the Gospel the Volumus or Statuimus, the will and pleasure and positive determination of the Law-giver. He that believeth shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. 
Mark 16.16.  I tell you nay, 
Luke 13.5.  but except ye repent, you shall all likewise perish. 
Heb. 12.14.  Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Be not deceived, wrath comes upon the children of disobedience.  
Lastly, to the making of a Law there is required Vox Tubae, the Proclamation of that Law, that every one may be warned of the Law-giver's Mind and his own Duty: so Christ has sent out his Ministers, Preco's and Ambassadors, who entreat us to be reconciled unto God: Thus he has appointed in the Church some Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists, in all the Centuries since his blessed Incarnation, to reveal the Truth to the dim-sighted Sons of Adam, that so ignorance might not eternally blind them. Now when Christ has taken all this pains, for a Revelation to be superinduced, directly contrary to these ratified and promulgated Laws of Christ, it must needs be a great violation of his Kingly Office, when another shall enforce other Injunctions than were proposed by the rightful Prince: For would not his Majesty of Great Britain take it as a great Usurpation of his just Rights, if France or Spain, Pope or Emperour, should obtrude their Laws upon the English Natives? So those that bring in their fanciful and Enthusiastick Notions against the settled Decrees of the Lord Jesus, we cannot choose but look upon them as opposers of his Royalty, and so enemies to Caesar.  
Considerat. 4. Those that dote upon pretended Revelations, do ordinarily a great wrong to the holy Spirit in a Three-fold way.  
1. By belying it: Do not many, as Zedekiah and other false Prophets, pretend a Commission from the Lord when they have none; laying the B●ats of their distempered Brains at the Spirits Door, as if it were the Parent of these monstrous and untimely Births and irregular Conceptions; as if their Copper and Alchimy-coyn came out of the Spirits Mint, or that the Spirit of Truth had given an Imprimatur to their delusions? I could tell you Stories from the mouth of an honest person( yet living as I suppose) a Sea-man, 
William Heron of Stockton in the bishopric of Durham.  to whom first one Quaker addressed himself, and  told him he was sent to him from the Eternal God, who commanded him to carry him beyond Sea, to Hamburgh or some other Town about the Coasts of Holland, that he might declare the things of God: the Seaman concluded( as he  told me) if he were sent from God, either God would enable the Dutch to understand English, or else would enable the Quaker to speak to them in their own Dialect. Well, the Prophet is shipped, landed at the great Town; away he hastens to the Market-cross, makes a long Harangue( as their way is) to bid the people mind the Light within, forsake the Priests that misled them, to whom a mul●itude resorted; but not being able to understand him, they departed from him as a distracted person: The Quaker seeing they could not understand his Language, repairs to the Seaman, desires him to bring him back to England, and he would do any servile office in the Ship for his meat; which was accordingly performed.  
Well, but another, full of the Spirit as he thought, comes to the aforesaid Seaman, and commands him in the name of Almighty God to carry him beyond Sea, and withal in the name of God promises him a safe and a prosperous Voyage. This Prophet was shipped in like manner, from Tinmouth( as I remember;) the Seaman set out with a fine Gale of wind, and put to Sea. Not many Leagues were they gone, but on a sudden a great Storm arises, the Waves beat, all fear present death; they tell this Prophet that he had prophesied lies to them in the name of the Lord, that they were never in such danget( as the man protested to me) concluded he was another Jonah: after much labour and tugging they recovered Tinmouth-Harbour again, turned out the lying Prophet, hoist up sail the next fair wind, and had a prosperous Voyage.  
Another I might add, viz. one William Pearl of crack in York-shire a Quaker came to me in the year 1659 a( as I remember) and he  told me God had plainly revealed it unto him, that I and all other Priests in the Nation should now go down, for our time of downfall was come, with many such like Expressions; I  told him that I did believe he did belie the Spirit of God and was an Impostor, and whether he were an inspired man or no by the true unerring Spirit, the Event did sufficiently declare. Therefore those that run after these Revelations and lay stress upon them, oftentimes give the lie to the good Spirit of God, making themselves to be taught and instructed by it, whenas the Devil and their own credulous hearts hurry them on to these delusions: to whom we may apply that in the 14. of Jeremiah, Vers. 14. They prophesy lies in my name, I have not sent them, neither did I command them, neither spake I unto them; but they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own hearts; and the judgement follows, which I wish they would consider.  
2. They make the Spirit guilty of Contradictions: And this appears, if we consider, that the Scriptures are the inditement of the holy Ghost; for the Prophets of old spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost, as St. Peter declares, 2 Pet. 1. ult. Now if the same holy Ghost spake in the Four Evangelists, in St. Paul and the other Apostles, and they have left it to us upon record in the sacred Oracles, that the Church shall use Baptism, Lords Supper, Ordination, public Assemblies and other Christian duties there inserted, for an Enthusiast to come up publicly and declare that Baptism is childish sprinkling, the Lord's Supper a carnal Ordinance, Ordination by man insignificant( which I have too often heard) and protest God has revealed this to them: Does it not make the Spirit disagree with itself, speaking one thing in St. Paul, another thing in these upstart Prophets, and so guilty of Contradictions, which borders upon the territories of Blasphemy; which all sober Christians should loathe and abhor, as a thing highly wicked and Diabolical.  
Again, these Revelations, if we rest upon them, leave Christians upon the greatest uncertainty imaginable, for they take away the Basis and Foundation of our Faith. In the holy Scriptures we find solid substantial fundamental Verities, all ratified and confirmed by the finger of God in the operation of Miracles, that so they might be credible and gain approbation; these are a good Bottom or Substratum for us to fix our Belief upon, and the Scripture bids us rest here; and if an Angel should come from heaven, 
Galat. 1.8.  and preach Doctrines contrary to these settled Truths, we are to set him away with an Anathema and Execration. Now these Enthusiasms and Suggestions are so various, uncertain, contradictory, that the Soul, like Noah's Dove, can find no place for the sole of her foot to rest on, till she retire to the Scripture-Ark. Thus you shall see one thing revealed to day, but another pretends a brighter Beam, and to morrow that is contradicted: As in the case concerning the immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, St. Katharine, a holy Woman, declared it was revealed to her, that the Mother of our Lord was conceived in sin, as we are; but St. bridget, another Saint in the Romish Church,  told a Story quiter contrary, viz. That she had a Revelation that she was not conceived in sin, but was privileged from that hereditary pollution; thus Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus: The Soul knows not to what to give assent and credence, but is tossed with doubts and anxieties betwixt Scylla and Charibdis, and is in danger of making shipwreck of Faith and a good Conscience. Therefore, Christian, trust not thy Soul with those Vanities, but submit to the Guidance of the good Word of God, this sure word of prophesy; mind none of those uncertain, though so much applauded, discoveries; but as our blessed Saviour declared, the old Wine was the best, so the old Wine of Scripture is the best and most cherishing; whereas the new Wine, new fancies, Visions, Revelations are windy, flatulent, puffing men up, making them high, swelling, vain-glorious, Pharisaical, and what not? therefore for fear of being deceived, let the balance of the Sanctuary weigh all, the Oracles of God decide all, the Rule of God Word be the Square of all thy actions, the Scriptures the Touch-stone of all thy espoused Doctrines; as for Revelations they are so uncertain, that upon them at least I fear thou wilt be forced to writ with Solomon, Vanity of vanities all is vanity.  
Considerat. 5. Further let us observe, that resting upon Revelations makes us rather like the Heathens and superstitious Papists, than true Christians; for of old those that attended the gentle Oracles were exstatick, as the Pythoness of Apollo, and others, and then they gave out strange enigmatical and confused Responses; and Mahomet made use of his paralytic fits, and pretended that then God revealed to him the Mysteries of the Alchoran, and that at other times he had converse with the Angel Gabriel. Licurgus pretended Apollo at Delphos revealed to him the Laws he brought the Lacedemonians; Meno had his from Mercury which he gave to the Egyptians. Numa Pompilius said the Goddess Egeria taught him the Roman Institutions, and Zaleucus feigned that he had correspondence with Minerva, which taught him those Statutes which he imposed upon the Locrians.  
And the most most of the Roman Fopperies, especially Purgatory, are founded upon such like Revelations; abundance of such like you may find in Gregory's Dialogues, in the Legend, in Vitis Patrum, in the Books of Marcus Maurulus dedicated to the Jesuits, comprehending memorable actions and sayings; there we find that it was revealed to Odilo, that Prayers and Supplications for the Dead were very necessary and advantageous, and a Day was appointed for such Commemorations, viz. the day after the Feast of All Saints, still continued in the Roman Church; and afterwards Pope Benedict appeared to Eldebert a Monk, and  told him, that by the Prayers of Odilo he was released out of Purgatory.( 'tis a wonder that the Pope who helps others out could not do the feat for himself.)  
And if you will peruse a Book styled the Moral Practices of the Jesuits, set out by the Doctors of the Sorbon; 
Pag. 379.  there you will find that this is one of their Maxims, That 'tis the Perfection of a Christian to keep himself indifferent to what God shall reveal, and not to determine himself to what is revealed in the Gospel, a rare Position! They further maintain, That a professed Friar may dispense with his Vow upon account of a Revelation; Pure Trouts! 
Pag. 237.  what words shall hold them? Not Scriptures, not Vows. If the Jesuits have a strong impulse or suggestion to kill Kings, to raise Conspiracies or Rebellions, or promote as great wickedness as ever the Devil can prompt them to, they must gird up their loins and to it; a Revelation is warrant enough, though God and Christ have threatened the Crime with no less then eternal and irreversible damnation. In the same Book we are  told, how a jesuit pretended to a virtuous Matron, that God had revealed it to him that he should privately take her to wife, which was accordingly believed; and so a Revelation was the best Spokesman and rhetoric to win his Mistress. Nay many of their Orders have had their rise and progress from these things, especially the Order of the Jesuits: for we red that Ignatius going to Rome, in order to the erecting of this Society, had a Vision wherein God appeared to him and recommended him and his two associates to Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus assured him that he would assist him, and that all should go well with him at Rome, which proved accordingly. Therefore good Christian whoever thou art, to the Law and to the Testimony, and let not the book of the Law depart from thee, but take advice there, as to all thy spiritual Enterprizes. Let Heathens and Papists feed upon Dreams and fancies, but the good Christian Palate should relish nothing but the Word of Truth, the heavenly Manna; this is the proper wholesome nourishing food for our immortal Souls.  
Considerat. 6. Lastly these pretended Revelations lay us open to all the delusions of Satan, 'tis his great cunning to draw us from the good Old Way, that being as so many bewildered Travellers we may follow every Light presented to us, causing us to believe we are at Dothan when we are at Samaria, at Sion when we are at Sodom, at Bethel when we are at the Altar of the god of Ekron. 'tis reported of some savage people that border upon the Sea-costs, to promote their gain they make fires in the night upon the cliffs of some dangerous Rocks, on purpose to draw thither unwary Mariners, who thinking to find an harbour, meet with an unexpected shipwreck; so the Devil to satisfy his envy, and to enrich himself with the ruins of our immortal Souls, sets out these false Beacons of pretended Revelations, which the simplo Multitude embracing as so many divine rays, are miserable lead to the dangerous Gulf of eternal ruin.  
This piece of policy Satan made use of very early in the beginning of the Third Century, when Montanus and his two Minions, Prisca and Priscilla bragged of their immediate acquaintance with God, converses with Angels, great Impulses and Spiritualities, with whose Enchantments Tertullian himself was so deluded, that in after-times he got the brand of an heretic by some: and the Devil prompted them to such horrible wickedness upon the account of divine persuasions, that some of them ended their days in a Halter, being instigated so to do by the Spirit of Error, that they might, as 'twas pretended, sooner take possession of the heavenly Mansions. More especially that remarkable Story recorded by Eusebius, 
Euseb. Hist. Lib. 5. Cap. 16.  of one Theodotus a Montanist, is not to be passed by, who had a Vision that he should be taken up into Heaven as Enoch and Elias, and by a kind of Diabolical power suffered himself to be hoist up into the Air, but was let fall again by this Prince of the Air, and so miserable ended his wretched life.  
And those great heretics in Germany were all for these Enthusiastical Dreams and Visions, as may be seen at large in the Tragedy of Munster, and in the Stories of John of Leyden, David George, Herman the cobbler, and others; more particularly in Switzerland there was one Thomas Scucker by name, a great Enthusiast, that had a Revelation to cut off his Brother Leonard's head, which he did openly with a Sword in the presence of his Parents and others; and when he was haled away to prison, he said he did nothing but what God commanded him, and therein obeied the Divine Power. What, I pray you, became of all that Converse with Spirits by Dr. d'ye, was not Delusion at the bottom of all? Though his Spirits pretended Sanctity, yet at last they  told him and his Partner, That it was the will of God that they should promiscuously use one anothers Wives, and seemed to justify it by the Example of Abraham: Did not they acquaint him as if there should be another Dispensation, another Gospel, and talked strange things about Government which were but Fables? And many Grandees and Kings and Princes were cozened by him; only Queen Elizabeth and the Pope looked on him as deluded, as the event proved. In later times did not two or three kill their Mother in the Moors in Yorkshire; and had a strong suggestion they could raise her to life again? Did not one Mr. Brough's Son, who turned a Quaker, one Sunday-morning revile his own Father, who was Minister of Norton in the bishopric of Durham? and  told his Father that he was sent from God, and he was like the Apostles, that if he should touch poisonous things he should not be hurt; and moreover said, that if he put his hand into the boiling Pot upon the fire, it would not burn him; and when his Father's back was turned, he slipped up his sleeve, and put his hand into the boiling water, and was miserable scalded. I might add many more of this nature, whereby we may see how by adhering to these Enthusiasms and Revelations we are a prey to the Deceiver of Souls: therefore let every good Christian stick close to the holy Scriptures, and not be carried away with every specious vanity. Children in great Cities when they stray from home are oftentimes caught up and spirited away; so when we leave the Church and Scriptures, no marvel if we be a prey to the evil Spirits, who go about seeking whom th y may devour: Let us hold fast therefore the Word of Truth, and let none take this Crown from us. 'tis said of Gregory Crow a Seaman, that when his Ship was split and all his goods lost, he saved nothing but his New Testament that he tied about his neck, and was found swimming with it; so let us not part with the holy Scriptures, the heavenly Pole-star, the Treasury of Virtue, the displayer of Vanity, the balance of Equity, and the perfect Rule of Truth and Honesty.   

4. Hold fast your Profession against vain Traditions.  
In all the Ages of the World men have been ready to espouse a company of traditional Precepts, which serve in some measure their carnal aims and interests, and are as authentic with them as the divine Institutions. The Jews of old had abundance of such like Injunctions, as the washing of Pots and Cups, and vain Doctrines about the Corban, Swearing, Adultery, &c. and were come to that height of doting impudence, that this was one of their Positions, Qui illotis manibus edit, aequè peccat, ut si cum meretrice cubaret, That to eat with unwashen hands, was as great a crime as fornication; and they preferred these Traditions of the Elders before the Law of Moses: Hence we hear this as a Maxim amongst them, That Verba Scribarum sunt amabiliora, quàm verba Legis; the words of the Scribes( that is, these introduced Precepts) were more excellent than the written Law: All which our blessed Saviour reprehended with all possible z●al and fervency, and laboured to reduce men to the standing Rule of the Moral Law, as that which was most necessary and obligatory. But still people are of this Pharisaical strain, that they must invent and practise new-minted Doctrines, the Divination of their own Brains, which are not of the Form of sound words, but have in them the mixture of the poisonous coloquintida; and as the Fly in the pot makes the Apothecarie's Ointment unsavoury, so these take off the edge of the divine Commandment and destroy the practic virtue of our Religion.  
I shall name a few, often used by ignorant persons among us, which directly strike at industrious Piety, diffusive Charity, holy Preparation for our latter end, &c. which I shall desire the good Christian to avoid as dangerous and destructive Shelves and Rocks in his passage to the Harbour of Eternal Rest.  
The first vain Tradition that men espouse is this, That the Sins and Crimes into which they fall, are the acts of Fate and Destiny: They vainly imagine that God has preordained and appointed them to such and such fortunes, which they cannot avoid. Thus a reverend Divine( now with God)  told a friend of mine, That in his Parish there was a woman which was brought to bed of a Child which had been basely begotten, and at the time of her Delivery she was lamenting her sin and wickedness; but the good( or rather bad) Women that were about her,  told her, she might be content, it was that fortune was allotted for her, a thing which she was destinated to; and with such words as these they laboured to solace and cheer up the simplo Criminal.  
Now this evil surmise, that a man is under a fatal necessity of sinning is a most vile Assertion; as being, 1. Most heathenish, and so not fit to be owned by Christians: The old Philosophers called it a strong and over ruling Necessity, as Thales; Pythagoras said the World was surrounded with it; 
Plutarch. de Placitis Philosoph. 3.  the stoics styled it an Order and Series of Causes, and Possidonius gave Fate the third Seat after Jupiter; and this Destiny did usually bear the blame of all the Irregularities they committed: So Agamemnon is brought in by Homer as pleading guiltless, 
{αβγδ}, Hom.  and laying the fault on Fate, and Jupiter. Hence we see that this is an old heathenish Lesson learned out of the School of Zeno, and not delivered by Christ on the Mount. The Manichees also seemed to concur with these Heathens, who had their two Principles, their good and evil God, which prompted men either to virtuous or sinful Actions. 2. All the Fathers of the Church have decried this unsavoury Position, as very wicked and diabolical. St. Augustin begins his 5. Book de Civitate Dei, with inveighings against such a Doctrine, and will not have the divine Will called by the name of Fate or Destiny, but wishes that those who speak after this fashion, 
Irenaeus contra Florin. Justin. Mart. Apolog. 2. Epiphan. lib. 1. advers. haeres. 16. pag. 35. Greg. Magn. Hom. 10. supper Evang. Chrysost. in Epist. Tim. cap. 3. Hom. 10.& in 1 C●r. cap. 1. Hom. 4.  would correct themselves, and place their words better: with him agree Minutius Felix, Irenaeus, Epiphanius, St. Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, and several others. It was the determination also of the first Bracaran Council; If any one shall affirm the Souls and Bodies of men to be guided and bound up by fatal Stars, 
council. Bracaren 1. Canon. 9.  as the Pagans and Priscillianists determine, let him be accursed. And the words of the second Arausican Council are to this effect, 
council. Arausic. 2. canon. 25.  That some are predestinated to evil by the Divine power, we do not only deny it, but if there be any that embrace so evil an opinion, we pronounce them accursed. We could add several more Authorities, if it were needful, and show that the catholic Church has never in the least owned such spurious Doctrines; and if any will be contentious, we must tell him, we have no such topics, nether the Church of God; but if he will find a Patron for such Assertions, he must run to the stoic and gentle Pedagogues, who broached such fictitious dotages and deluding forgeries, because they wanted the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ. 3. This makes God the Author of Sin, which is a most damnable Position, contrary to the plain words of St. James, 1.13: 
Non idem habendus est delicti author qui invenitur inter●●ctor& condemnat●r. tertul. cor. Mar. cap. 9.  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. That of Tertullian is most true, He is not to be esteemed the author of Sin who is the forbidder and punisher of it: Such would make God like unto Satan, first to tempt, and then to destroy, making him to deal with man, as the Devil with the Swine, to run them violently down the hill, and then drown them in the waters; so they would make God hurry men by an irresistible Fate to commit this and the other wickedness, and then to punish them in Hell for these unavoidable Crimes: which thing absolutely razes and destroys two of Gods most glorious Attributes, to wit, his Goodness and his Justice. 1. It eclipses his Goodness, and makes him to do that which he swears he will not do, viz. 
Ezek. 33. ver. 11.  desire the death of a sinner; it would make him as tyrannical as Tiberius, who having a purpose to put certain Virgins to death, because it was not lawful by the Roman Laws to strangle Virgins, first made them to be deflowered by the Hangman, and then strangled them; and who used also cunning contrivances to make the sons of Germanicus revile him, that he might take an occasion to put them to death: This is far from the Mercy and Goodness that is in our God, 
1 Tim. 2.4.  who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Again it clouds the divine Justice; can I honestly punish him for acting that which I forced him to? Is the ston to be blamed for running down the hill, when it is thrown by an impetuous hand? So if the Will of Man be superseded, and he made like a Clock or Jack, that has the weights of Necessity and Fatality put on him, how can such an one be accounted a Trangressor? Shall we make our God do that which the Heathens scorned? The Athenians were  told by Themistocles, that he knew a thing would make much for their advancement, but it was not fit to be declared to the people; the Senate bid him communicate it to Aristides, and if he approved it, they would receive it: the Counsel was to burn the Naval Stations and Haven-docks of the Grecians, and by this means they should be their Masters presently; Aristides tells the Senate, that the Counsel of Themistocles was profitable, but very dishonest, upon this they refused it, and charged Aristides secrecy. If they had so much uprightness and honesty as not to hurt a few Ships, shall we think that the holy God will make Souls, necessitate them to be immersed in 'vice and turpitude, and then bundle them for hellfire? No surely, shall not the Judge of the World do righteously? 3. It destroys the Nature of the Reasonable Creature. God has taken a great deal of pains in our curious and exact Formation, giving us those noble Faculties which he has denied the generality of his Creatures: There is the Understanding surrounded with Beams, crwoned with Light, able to comprehend in some good measure the most glorious and excellent Mysteries: There is the Will, like the Queen upon the Throne, with the affections as so many Handmaids attending her. And as he gives us these Endowments, so he bids us make use of them; one while he bids us consider our ways, to choose the good and hate the evil; to fear lest a Promise being made to us of entering into rest, we come short of it; exhorts us not to be as the horse and the mule in whom there is no understanding; complained of the Jews, that they were worse than the Stork, Crane and Swallow, and taxed Jerusalem for not minding the time of her visitation. Now to what purpose have we these noble Faculties, if Destiny overswayd all? this takes away all care and solicitude, vigilancy and circumspection, deliberation and advisement, as a Privy counsellor sometimes  told Queen Elizabeth, when he supposed some to countenance this Opinion. That Repentance and Conversion can be managed without these internal Powers, none I suppose can imagine, and that an irresistible force should set the Wheels a going, and order all without our volition or compliance, is judged by many as irrational: not that the Will can really close with the invitations of the Gospel without the assistance of Grace, yet Man still remains a free Agent and self-determining Creature notwithstanding all the divine aids and auxiliaries, and Mr. Baxter himself in his Call to the Unconverted, 
Pag. 151.  seems to censure such Conclusions as these that attribute all to a supernatural Efficiency, having no regard to our own Will and Determinations.  
This Fatality evacuates the Gospel and Ministry thereof, the ends of which are to inform us of our duty, and to persuade us to the practise of it; and this is done by the proposal of Rewards and Punishments, by threatenings and Promises, in order to the Reformation of the Sons of Adam. But if Necessity guide all, Instruction is inavailable. What is it to inculcate Lessons to him that cannot take them out, but must necessary writ after that Copy which Fate and Destiny have prescribed him; all that a man should learn here is only submission to unalterable Decrees, patience and contentation to be hurried as the Chariot of blind Fortune pleases; besides, what signifies persuasion? would it not be a madness to importune the Sun to have a retrograde Motion, to post backward from Capricorn to Aries; to invocate the Stars, not to have such ominous Conjunctions; to request the Moon not to suffer her self to be eclipsed by the opaque shadow of the Earth; to desire the rapid Torrent or Euripus to turn its course, when all these things go orderly according to the Method prefixed by the great Creator? So would it not be a madness to say to the ungodly, Turn, to pray the Sinner not to do so wickedly, to brandish the Spear of Reprehension, and to bring Suada's and Promises to those that are under uncontrollable Determinations? all this will be to as little purpose as Caligula his courting of the Moon to be his Paramour, or the Cockle-shells which he set a great Army to gather, as the spoils of the conquered Ocean.  
Again, this Fatality destroys Prayer and shuts out Repentance; to what purpose is it for a man to bow his knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to desire good and deprecate evil, if all things be thus preordain'd by Fortune? the good that is to come, and the evil that is to be suffered, will certainly present themselves without orisons and passionate Entreaties, and so that Precept of the Gospel of praying continually would be a troublesome and insignificant Duty. Either how can that man fall upon any duties of Repentance and Humiliation, that overlooks his own Corruption, the propensity of his Nature to do evil, the slighted and neglected helps of Heaven, and merely eyes a forcing Necessity, which like an ignis fatuus has lead him into the Labyrinths of Sin and wickedness? He will not be ready to cry out, Ille ego qui feci, I have done very foolishly, I have sinned and what shall I say unto thee, O thou preserver of men; but he will rather cry out of a supreme Power and fatal Stars, which have made him take the way to Sodom and the Chambers of death.  
This Doctrine of Fate takes away all the Process of a judgement: to what end shall the Almighty sit on his Throne, the Books be opened, Christ and his assessors take their places, and call the kindreds of the Earth, to answer the Interrogatories of the Gospel? all these Trials and Examinations would be as so many petty cheats and hypocritical formalities, if a man were a perfect Weather-cock that must turn only as the wind of Fate and Fortune blows him. It annihilates also in a great measure the torments of Hell, which are presumed to be very pungent upon the sense and consideration of misspent time, unregarded opportunities, neglected Grace, making light of Christ; from hence proceeds that which we call the punishment of loss, the corroding and gnawing of that Worm which dies not, which as an acute sting shall torment the wicked to all Eternity. Now if it were so that a forcible Destiny( maugre all their care and industry to the contrary) had violently detruded them into these infernal Dungeons, this would take away the foregoing Sentiments, and they would bewail only such a thing as a Manichean Deity, or a Planetary Influence, that had subjected them to these transcendent calamities; they would not condole their own viciousness, but cavil at an insuperable power that had plunged them into this state of Damnation. In a word, this Doctrine of necessity would totally deface a holy Conversation, and the practise of respective Duties to God and man; as it is recorded of Tiberius, that he was most negligent as to the Gods and Religious observances, because he was fully persuaded that all things came to pass by Fate and Destiny. But we might fill a Volume with cogent Arguments against such a nonsensical Doctrine, rather than a few Paragraphs; all that we shall further say, is only to answer that Objection founded upon Acts 2.23. where it is said that Christ by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God was delivered up to the Jews, and so it was impossible but that the Jews should crucify the Son of God, to execute and bring to pass the divine Fiat and Ordination.  
Amongst the several Glosses of Expositors I cannot choose but close with that Note of Mr Calvin upon these words( though I must confess in other places he seems to be altogether of a different judgement) but here he saith, 
Calvin. in locum.  Ut concilium Dei ratione non career doceat Petrus, praescientiam ei adjungit sociam; which is, That God's Counsel or Decree may not want some good ground or reason, behold his Prescience is here annexed as a certain concomitant; wherein he seems to make the Foreknowledge of God, if not an antecedent yet a social Cause of his Decrees: which indeed was the ancient Theology of Jerome, Prosper, Fulgentius and all the Fathers in a manner before St. Austin, who jointly affirmed that Predestination was built upon foresight of good and evil; and with them do agree many of our Modern Divines, as Sanctius, A Lapide, Grotius, and then the sense of the place will be this; That Almighty God, when there was no Ransom for Man, resolved to give his own Son a Propitiation for us, and at the same time he foresaw, that when he should sand his Son the impious Jews would bring him to an untimely death; yet he was willing to sand his Son, to suspend his protection over him, and let him be a prey to their malice and fury, in order to the perfecting the great work of our Redemption; and so here was no Causality or Efficiency from God in order to this wicked Crucifixion, but the Jews acted voluntarily and incompulsively in the management of this Crime; he did not necessitate their Wills, but only foresaw the malicious product thereof, he did not make them wicked, but foresaw their prevarication. And whereas many lay a great stress upon the Prescience of God, as if, because things cannot be otherwise than God sees them, therefore they are ready to talk of a certain Theological Fate, as some more nicely determine, yet we may safely and soberly conclude, that this foresight doth not in the least necessitate to Crimes, disturb the order, method and actions of the rational Creature, or do violence to our Faculties; for if God see Judas to be a traitor and a final impenitent, he sees in like manner all the Intrigues tending that way, the covetous bent of his heart, the desire of gain, his base ingratitude, and all other things subservient in that Conspiracy; and all the assistance he has from God is no more than that of ordinary Being and Conservation, God not forcing him beyond the bent of his natural Temper. If I look out at a window, and see a Ship violently tossed with winds, and a Rock hard by, I know by the Rules of Reason and Experience, that if she once come to dash upon the Rock, a shipwreck will follow, yet my foresight has no causality in the Tragedy, but the boisterous winds and raging waves are mainly to blame: So it is in this case, as to God's Prescience and Man's Sin,; if he takes the way to the bottonles Pit, and dashes upon the Rocks of eternal ruin, he may thank the Waves and Winds of his own impetuous Passions, which have hurried him to this misery, and acquit God who is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works: For those that lay a forcing necessity upon the Prescience of God, draw undue Corollaries from God's Perfection and Omniscience; as if because he knowing how things will be, he must necessary make them so; when as we have an hundred examples from Astronomers, Mathematicians, &c. whereby we can see things manifestly to happen and ensue, and yet we are no way assisting or contributing to such Productions, but they spring from the energetical force and virtue of their own proper natural Causes.  
Therefore, Christian, hold fast thy Religion, which commands thee to work out thy salvation with fear and trembling, do good, hate the appearances of evil; stand upon thy guard against thy beloved Lusts, neither embrace unlawful presented pleasures, as if God had designed thee first to sin and then to punishment; he that says, Turn you, turn you, has not determined that thou shouldst take the broad way that leads to perdition: He that says, Why will ye die, O house of Israel, has not by an arbitrary power ordered that thou shouldst lye first in sin, and then in eternal Flames: He that hath given thee so many promises and threats, so many helps and advantages, so many calls and invitations, does not secretly purpose that thou shouldst first drink iniquity with greediness, that thou mightest afterwards drink the wine of his wrath and fury for evermore. Look therefore to thyself, stand upon thy watch; Sin may be conquered, the devil repelled, a Victory obtained; beg the assistance of the Spirit of Christ, and fight the Lord's Battels, and accomplish a holy Warfare; there is no Decree, I warrant thee, that thou shall be a Reprobate, and take up thy lodgings in mansions of Fire and Brimstone, except thou desert the Lord Jesus, and despise the Gospel of Salvation; thou servest a God that will by no means ruin thee if thou be not sinful, nor condemn thee except thou be guilty: believe his Oath when he swears he delights not in the death of a sinner, he cannot give thee a greater assurance than when he swears by his own Life and eternal Being; 
O beatos nos quorum causà Deus jurat, O miserrimos si nec juranti credimus, tertul de poenit. cap. 4.  banish therefore from thy heart these thoughts of Necessity and Fatality, which supersede thy spiritual Activeness; but gird up the loins of thy mind, serve thy Creator in required Duties, break the bands of sinful Customs, imploring the help of Grace that thou mayst run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Thou art not as the fallen Angels, sealed up under wrath and woe, or bound up by secret and invisible Chains, thou mayst be a Citizen of the new Jerusalem, Life may be obtained by Jesus Christ; therefore arise, be doing, and the Lord be with thee.  
2. Another vain Tradition is this, Every man for himself; that is, every one is to mind his own concerns, to do good to himself; and as for others who it may be stand in need of that Charity, Civility and Acts of kindness, to which by the Law of God and Nature we are obliged, they slight and look a squint upon them; this Self-care and provision is the excellent topic, and rare Maxim which they embrace; and if with the Jews they were to have Phylacteries and Scrolls with some noted and observable Doctrines inscribed on them, you should find these Nabals set down such Sentences as this, Shall I take my bread and my water, and give to those I know not?  
This is that which makes so many Christians close-handed, and narrow-hearted, and go contrary to the great Injunctions of our Religion, which bids us cast our bread upon the waters, 
Eccles. 11.1.  give a portion to seven and also to eight, 
Hebr. 13.16.  do good to all, distribute and communicate, to be much in acts of mercy, and to make to ourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnoss, that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitatiens, Luk. 16.9.  
Now this evil Contractedness amongst Christians makes us very unlike to the glorious God, who is pleased to do good continually, and to make use of all his Attributes for the good of mankind. At first he was pleased to make use of his Omnipotency, in the producing all those noble and incomparable Forms which our eyes behold; he could have been ●●ppy in himself, but it pleased him to exert his power, first in making the Angels those Sons of the morning, as Job speaks, who continually attend the Throne of his Glory; then by the same Omnipotency out of the dust of the Earth did he raise Man, 
{αβγδ}, Clemens Alexand. in pedagogue.  that great world's wonder, that piece of rare Workmanship and Embroidery, in which God took more pains, as Clemens Alexandrinus observes, than in the making of other Animals; then appeared also the several Ranks and Orders of Creatures with which the Universe is stored. If the Almighty would have kept his Power to himself you had not heard of Angelical Beings, human Existences, the Legions of various Creatures, the myriad of Stars and Luminaries; but he was willing to show his Almightiness in such stupendious productions, which to the strict Observer of natural Curiosities,( as sometimes Galen was) may raise no little wonder and astonishment.  
Remember we also how Almighty God lays out his Wisdom in the regulating and ordering of all things, so that there is nothing but a sweeet Harmony and Concord in the Creation, all things observing their Stations, and those Decrees he has appointed them: If God should but one day give over the guiding of the World, the Universe would be an absolute Chaos, and Monument of confusion, the Sea would transgress its bounds, the Stars glide out of their several Orbs, the Elements would jar and quarrel, and the whole fabric of the Creation miserable be displaced; nay the divine Wisdom is so assistant, that the wisest of men could not sway the Sceptre, rule Commonwealths, and order the several Societies and Communities of men without it; which made the Emperour Maximilian in the days of Pope Julius the Second confess ingenuously after this manner; 
Aeterne Deus, nisi tu vigilares, quam malè esset huic mundo! ego miser venator,& ebrius atque sceleratus isie Papa Julius: Sic Jacob. Revius de vitis pontiff. Roman. pag. 259  Eternal God, if thou should not watch and take care, how ill would this World be governed; I a miserable hunter on the one side, and the wicked and drunken Pope Julius on the other side; hereby intimating that the divine Wisdom and Providence was admirably seen in the management both of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity.  
Consider we further the great Acts of God's Bounty and Goodness every day manifested and displayed; he is the great Housekeeper of the World, and gives every one his portion in due season; he gives the former and the latter rain, 
Hosea 2.22.  makes the heavens hear the earth, the earth to hear the corn and wine, and those to hear Jesreel.  
'tis said of God, that he gives the young lions meat, 
Psal. 104. ver. 21.  that he strangely provides for them: For whereas the Lion has not swiftness, nor that accuracy of Smell to take his prey, God orders it, say some, so, that there is a certain kind of Fox which is his hunter and Caterer, 
Psal. 147.9.  and when they are at a loss for sustenance this Creature runs about and finds out provision for them: He also feeds the young Ravens. 'tis reported by the Naturalists, that the Raven seeing her young ones white and unfeathered, 
Vis Deos Propitiari, bonus esto, satis illos colunt quisquis imitatus est, Sen. Ep. 95  for the space of seven days leaves them, and till they begin to grow black will not own them, and in the mean time Providence, either by a due from heaven, or Flies that are thereabouts, or by a Worm arising out of their own Dung, nourishes them strangely, and so they are preserved: And Pliny and Elian affirm that as soon as the young ones can fly, they banish them the cost where they were bread, and they are put to great hardship; only God is pleased providentially to order some thing for their support and maintenance. And I cannot but insert Luther's Conjecture, 
Luther. Colloquiis mensal.  who supposes that it costs God more in one year in meat for the Sparrows, than the Revenues of the King of France come to.  
Now for a Christian to do good to none, but to consult only his own private Interest and Fortunes, makes him in his carriage to have no suitableness, proportion and conformity with that sovereign Majesty that gave him a Being, and who has left us this Precept upon record, 
Sicut hoc loco non est aquiparationis, a● similitudinis, non aequalitatem declarat, at qualitatem vel sinalitudinem, quantum viatores assequi possunt,& hic proponit Christus signum ad collimandum &c. Sic Critici in loc. viz. Grot.& alii.  To be followers of him, and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, Matthew 5. Ver. 48.  
2. This narrow Principle in Christians makes them unlike to the Lord Jesus, who was kind to a Miracle, and communicative of Goodness; what did he not do for the saving of lost man? He did not consult his own ease and private welfare, but left the Presence chamber in Heaven, the Bosom of the Father, the Chorus and Troops of Angels, and came into these lower Regions, and took on him the Nature of Man, and the Office of a Mediator; and 'tis expressly said of him, that {αβγδ}, that he went up and down doing good, Act. 10.38. One while you shall see him sitting upon a Mountain teaching the people, feeding their Souls, delivering such excellent Precepts as Numa, Lycurgus, Solon and the noted Legislators could never invent: Sometimes you shall see him helping Bodies, opening the blind Eyes, curing the paralytic, making the dumb to speak, 
Dedit n●bis Christus corpus in cibum sanguinem in potum, animam in pretium, aquam lateris in lavacrum, Bernard.  dispossessing Devils who had taken mens Bodies and made them their Lodgings and Repositories, and at the last he gave his life a ransom for us, in order to the completing the great work of Redemption.  
Now, thou stony-hearted Christian, who wilt not lay out thyself for the good of thy Brother, see how contradictory thou art in thy carriage to this holy and divine,( the ever blessed Jesus;) therefore if thou expectest to reign with him when Time shall vanish and Eternity enter, go thou and do likewise.  
3. We find all the Saints of God have been made up of Mercy and Kindness; Abraham run to meet the Angels and was glad of his unknown guests. And 'tis a pretty Observation from Luke 16.22. 
Appeliatur Sinus Abrahoe ob hospitalitatem ejus, bonis suae virtutesmanent, sic Abrahano ejus hospitalitas Vide M●ldon& Grotium in Locum.  that those blessed Regions where the Saints lodge after their Souls quit these earthly Tabernacles, are styled Abraham's Bosom, by way of allusion to his Hospitality as the Learned observe. Lot also was of the same Temper: Job made the loins of the poor to bless him, and clothed them with the fleeces of his wool; Dorcas made Garments for the Widows, and Onesiphorus refreshed Paul and ministered unto him at Ephesus, 2 Tim. 1.16, 18. And if we consult Histories we shall find the same abounding Charity in others. 
Dr. Fuller's Ecclesiastical History.  'tis reported of King Oswald, that having given all the meat he had left upon an Easter-day to indigent people, made the Plates of Silver to be cut in pieces and given to those that wanted the due Alms. Edward the Confessor gave a Ring to one that desired his Charity; my Author says it was St. John who sent it him again by a Pilgrim from Jerusalem. Paulinus Bishop of Nola gave away all his goods to redeem Captives, and a poor Widows Son being left unransomed, and she making great lamentation, he redeemed him with his own bondage, and became a Vine-dresser. I might be too large if here I should record the several charitable actions of the Primitive Saints, as of St. Cyprian, of whom 'tis said, that after he was converted by Caecilius, he gave the most part of his estate amongst the poor, that he never turned the Widow or fatherless empty from him, having this golden Sentence in his mouth, Nè dormiat in thesauris tuis quod pauperi prodesse potest; Let not that sleep or rust in thy treasury, which may help a distressed man. The like is reported of Chrysostom, that even in his banishment when he was an Exile at Cucusus in armoniac, he employed the money sent him by his friends in redeeming of Captives. The like I might relate of Basil, Cyril, Epiphanius, and others; but these may suffice to let us see the gracious Temper of the Saints, who pitied Humanity, cast their bread upon the waters, valued not the wedge of Gold, full Coffers, the guilded dust of the Earth; but had an Eye to the exceeding eternal weight of Glory laid up for the Righteous. I shall say no more of this, but only present you with that Observation that was often in the mouth of a Reverend divine( my dear friend, now with God) who frequently would say, that amongst all the Sins the Saints of God were guilty of in Scripture, 
Agreeable with that saying of Luther, That he never found in himself a temptation to be covetous.  he never red that ever any of them was a covetous person; as if this Sin were directly contrary to a regenerated and renewed Nature.  
And to give the noble Heathens their due many of them were exceeding open hearted and merciful: When Cyrus came to die he said, I have been a lover of man and merciful, and now I go to that Eternal Being that will reward me. Vespasian counted that day lost in which he had not done good to his friends. How divinely, may I say, did Seneca give his advice in order to Mercy and Charity in his 95. 
Seneca Epist. 95.  Epistle he says, We are all Members of one great Body, and Nature has made an alliance amongst us, seeing we are all made of the same Matter, and to the same ends and purposes, and has implanted in us natural sympathies and commiserations; so that according to its constitution, he seems to be more miserable that hurts, than he that suffers. And to give Julian his right praise in this particular, 
Sozom. Histor. Ecclesiast. Lib. 5. cap. 15.  we find him giving instructions to Arsacius one of the chief Priests of Galatia, that he should build Inns and places of refreshment for the poor and strangers, and in a time of famine provided great store of Wheat for the necessitous Inhabitants; all which Examples like the men of Ninive to Israel, will rise up in judgement against us, if we think much to do good when 'tis in the power of our hand to effect it. And to say no more of this, do not all the Creatures of God, which ever and anon are subservient to our necessities, teach us this great Lesson of Mercy, Kindness and Humanity; the Sun affords Light, and Heat, and comfortable Influences, the Earth yields her fruits both for delight and necessity, the Springs of water affords us their refreshing streams; the Sheep cloth us with their Wool, the Birds lend us their Plumes, the Plants their Medicinal virtues; all which seem by a silent kind of rhetoric to commend this to us, to do good while we have time, not to monopolise the blessings of Heaven, 
Demus Christo vestimenta terrena indumenta coelestia recepturi, demus cibu●●& potum secularem, cum Abraham, isaac& Jacob ad convivium venturi, Cypr. de opere& eleemos.  or to hid our Talent in a Napkin, but to lay ourselves out for the advantage of our Brethren, that our good Works may follow us to that awful Tribunal, and be Testimonials of our integrity, and evidence that we are not nominal Christians, but sincere practisers of our Lord's Injunctions.  
Therefore good Christian, hold fast thy Profession against such Conclusions, and do good as much as in thee lies to all, especially to those of the household of Faith; let thy Prayers go up to the Throne of Grace for thy Brethren, and let thine alms refresh them; have not a confined narrow Soul, but be as Solomon, whose heart was as large as the sand of the Sea: Lay down this as a certain Maxim, Good deeds will never make thee poor. 'twas a true observation of S●●●mon, 
Prov. 11.24.  There is that scattereth and yet increaseth: God by so doing is made thy Debtor, and thou layest up a Bank in Heaven, and by such liberality in all probability shalt meet with a reward in this Life: Hence it is that some have found Charity the best Policy to be rich, a Speech often used by a noble Person in this Nation, who said there were two ways likely to advance a man, either to get a good place at Court or else to be Charitable. To confirm which, I shall set down a Story cited by Pontanus, 
Attica Bellar. part. 1, pag.  which he says he had out of Sophronius, Patriarch sometimes of Jerusalem, to this effect: There lived at Nisibis a City in Asia, not far from the River tigris, a Christian woman that was married to a gentle, and their whole Estate being Fifty Crowns, says the man to the woman, Let us put out this to Usury, that so we may reap a little gain for the relief of our poverty; the woman replied, With all my heart, but pray take my advice, and let us put it out to use to the God of the Christians, and he will repay us, he asked her where he might meet with him, she  told him, that he had abundance of poor Servants standing at the Church-porch, and if he gave it them, God would take it as done to himself: upon this account he gave the best part of the little Money he had to those poor and indigent people. After three or four months they spent the remaining money they had reserved, and being necessitous, quoth the husband to the wife, I have followed thy Directions, and have given away my goods, and yet the Christian God does not repay me; she answered, Wait with patience a little, and walk up to the Church, and see if any good may happen to thee: He walked about the Church, and amongst the poor, but none said any thing to him, only at his coming away he found a piece of money lying upon the ground; back he comes, and said, Dear Sister, I have done as thou commandedst me, but I have no answer, only I have found one piece of money; she replied, well, go buy us something, and God will provide for us: To the Market he goes, and buys a little Fish, a Loaf and some Wine, and brought them home; as the woman was a cutting up the Fish she finds in it a precious ston; it was very bright and transparent, and they concluded to go to the Jeweller with it; the man brought it, the Jeweller looked on it, and  told him he would buy it: Well, said he, give me what you will for it; then, quoth he, I will give thee five Crowns for it; the poor man overjoyed, what! five Crowns said he; the Jeweller thought he spoken Ironically and understood the worth of it, Well, says he, then I will give thee ten Crowns for it, the Seller was silent, and thought he was still mocked; the Jeweller offers then twenty Crowns for it, the man was still astonished, the Buyer comes up to thirty, forty and fifty Crowns; the Seller then begins to think this was a ston of great value and prized it highly( as well he might) at last the Jeweller  told him out three hundred Crowns for it: Home he comes in a rapture of joy to his Wife,  told all that had happened, and says, O how grateful, how liberal is the God of the Christians! I lent him fifty Crowns and he has given me three hundred for it; upon this account he turned Christian and was baptized. But suppose a man shall not meet with such a reward in this life, yet he shall be well paid in the world to come; Christ who cannot lie hath  told us, we shall meet with a recompense at the Resurrection of the Just, and the 25. of Matthew gives us sufficient assurance in this particular. I shall not think it unworthy my pains to set down that memorable Narration of Synesius Bishop of Prolemais, recited by the same Author This Synesius had a friend a Philosopher name Evagrius, the Bishop labours his Conversion; he scrupled many things in our Religion more especially, could not be persuaded to believe that Promise of receiving a hundred fold for what a man lays out for Christ; Sinesius laboured to satisfy him, persuaded him to become a Christian, and was baptized: After this Evagrius brings three hundred pounds to Sinesius, and tells him he was willing to give it to the Poor, if Sinesius would be bound for Jesus Christ that he should repay it him in another World, Sinesius sets his hand to a Bond and undertakes Christ should be his Pay-master. After a few years the Philosopher dies, and commands them to bury the Bond with him: Three days after the Philosopher appears to Sinesius, and bids him take in his Bond, for Christ had given him full satisfaction; they open the Grave, take the Bond, and find at the bottom of it a Confession newly writ as it were with the hand of Evagrius, that Christ had fully recompensed him for his 300 pounds. This is also confirmed by Cedrenus.  
If any shall think these unlikely and incredible Stories, though reported by men of worth and credit, they may as well quarrel with all Relations and Hear-says: God is marvelous in his works, and often now and then in an Age does some strange and remarkable Acts for the conviction of an incredulous World; but I suppose in the first Times of Christianity such things might be more frequent, and I find Divines of very good note fully persuaded of the Relaters Fidelity in these Commemorations. I could add several other things for the confirmation of this, viz. The certainty of a Reward that accompanies Charity in divers other Instances, as that noted one of Gregory the Great, 
Photii Bibliothec. in excerptis Greg. pag. 484.  which Photius tells us of, who one day had invited Eight poor persons to dinner, and when they were set down there proved Nine; the Bishop was very willing and desirous to know who he was, and conjured him after dinner to declare the truth; he  told him at last that he was the Beggar who was relieved by him three times in one day without grudging; but verily( quoth he) I am an Angel, and Almighty God for thy Charity has commissionated me to be thy Guardian and Attendant while thou shalt have an abode here below. 
Eccles. 9.7. Dicit Solomon per Spiritum propheticum futurum est ut sic dicet Dominus mundi omnibus justis ante se constitutis, Vade, gusta vinum quod repositum est tibi in horto Eden, i.e. in Paradiso, pro pane& vino quae dedisti pauperibus, Drusius.  The Jews in the Targum expounding that place of Ecclefiastes, where 'tis said, Go and eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart, say that Solomon here by a prophetic Spirit speaks the language which God will say to the just at the last day, viz. Come ye just ones, and refresh yourselves with delights which I have laid up for you in the Garden of Eden, or in Paradise, for your bread and wine which you have given to the poor and needy. I shall conclude this with the Observation of St. Jerom, 
Non memini me legere malá morte mortuum, qui libenter opera charitatis exercuit, multos habet enim intercessores,& impossibile est multorum preces non exaudiri, Hieron.  who publicly avouched that he never knew a man die an ill death that exercised works of Charity; for, quoth he, there be many intercessors to God for him, and 'tis impossible that the prayers of multitudes should not find acceptance. Let us therefore do good and communicate, knowing that with such sacrifices God is well pleased.  
3. Another vain Tradition is this, That if a man repent a little on his Death-bed, do a charitable act or two( if he be able) go away quietly he shall be undoubtedly saved. And with this cheat thousands beguile themselves, take not care to leave their habitual wickedness, or addict themselves to the service of the great Creator; but vainly hope, that though they be notorious Criminals, Traitors to the Divine Majesty, yet at the last they will throw down the Arms of their Rebellion, beg pardon, pled the Merits of Christ, and so they question not but to escape the stroke of the destroying Angel, and the second Death.  
But for a man thus to encourage himself it gives a lie to the whole Book of God, which entails Happiness upon practical and habitual Holiness, telling us in express terms, That if we mortify the deeds of the flesh we shall live, 
Rom. 8.13.  if we do the contrary we shall die; that God is the author of eternal salvation to all those that obey him; 
Hebr. 5.9.  that God will be revealed from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
2 Thess. 1.8.  Now if the Scriptures be the unchangeable Decree of the glorious God,( like the Decrees of the Medes and Persians irreversible) if what is said here be an unmovable Verity when Heaven and Earth shall pass way, and confess their ashes at the general Conflagration, then these are vain Fancies of presumptuous and credulous Souls, elusory Opinions which assert future Happiness, without the practise of Piety and Holiness. The Burgundians( as an Historian tells us) were miserable mistaken, 
Philip de Commin.  when they took a Field of tall Thistles for an Army with launces and Spears; and Aldana a Spanish Captain took a Herd of Cattle for the Turkish Troops, gave fire to a train of Gunpowder, 
Goulart.  and blew up the famous Castle of lip, with Towers and Cannon and Magazine, and gave by this means liberty to the Bassa to enter Transylvania: Such and worse mistakes will they have at the last, who bottom themselves upon such airy hopes and unwarrantable assurances, that they shall come well off when they act the last Scene, though they have served Satan and a commanding Lust in their healthful days; such persons will I fear prove like the mother of Sisera, who, when 'twas asked why Sisera stayed so long, they hopefully answered viz. her Ladies, and she in like manner, that it was because they had taken great spoil, and were busy in the division of it; 
Judges 5.30.  whereas Sisera was dispatched with a Nail and Hammer in Jaels Tent; So these who think handsome Excuses and Evasions, a little Contrition or forced Humiliation will bring them off, will find( I fear) a Nail and a Hammer, the just severity and indignation of an angry God, because they have loitered away their precious time and golden opportunities.  
2. Such vain Resolutions are altogether inconsistent with the nature of true Repentance; for I do not fully correspond with that Definition of Repentance which some give, who say 'tis a hearty sorrow for Sin, though I truly aclowledge that such a kind of Sorrow is an effect, result or concomitant of Repentance; but Repentance in its true Notion is, a Change of the whole man, when, as the Soul( upon a serious conviction and deliberation) likes the Ways of God and Religion, as adapted every way to its temporal and eternal Happiness, and upon reasonable Motives dislikes the ways of ungodliness, as destructive every way to its attainable and desired Felicity, and so it takes in all the Faculties of the Soul; the Understanding judging the Laws of Christ as most rational and equitable, the Will submitting to Christ's Regiment and Sceptre, and owning him as its Lord and governor, and the Affections in their proper places, showing themselves interested and concerned in this holy Regeneration; Love and Desire is no more worldly, carnal, sensual, but holy, spiritual, refined, fixed upon the most excellent Objects of God, Christ, Saints and those unconceivable Pleasures which are at God's right hand: Our sorrow is not some worldly misfortune, miss of preferment, a sudden casualty or an accidental disadvantage; but that we have provoked the eyes of the Lord's jealousy, and have so late entred into the Lord's Vineyard: Our fear is not some frail mortal potent Adversary, a future Disappointment; but we fear him who sits upon the circled of the Heavens, and whose Kingdom and Supremacy is over all. Thus Repentance and Conversion are synonymous and coincident, and presuppose one and the same thing in Scripture-notion, according to that in Acts 3.19. Repent and be converted, &c. where Repentance and Conversion have one and the same signification; and if Repentance be such a Change of the whole Soul( as we have declared) then we ought to remember that it is not an instantaneous Act, a work suddenly performed, but a Disposition requiring long time and serious reflections; the Understanding must have time to judge and contemplate, the Will consult and ponder before it comply and embrace, and the Assections see complacency in the Object before they exercise their respective Passions: but how can this be done in so short a space as is oftentimes betwixt sickness and death; the Cunctation of Fabius and not the Celerity of Caesar is here required. Therefore those that think Conversion can be performed suddenly( extraordinary cases excepted) must not command my belief; for God usually goes gradually to work in this great enterprise, and rashness and precipitancy in this case, too often ends in deceit and hypocrisy.  
But further, when men pretend to repent at the last or in a time of sickness, I presume 'tis rather an act of Fear than any thing else; for men usually hear and are under Convictions even from natural Conscience, that at the last day of Death a man must play his last Game; they have sentiments and apprehensions of appearing before an awful Tribunal, a severe Majesty, who will require of us an account of our Stewardship, and make us answer to abundance of Interrogatories concerning our former Conversation; and this startles even the best of men, except God strike in and clear up some special Evidences in this dark night of Dissolution. Now a Sinner coming to meditate of these things, That God will call all before his Throne, that neither the greatness nor meanness of Mortals shall be an Argument for an Exception or Non-appearance, that 'tis not the cliffs of the Rocks, the depths of the Sea, the vaults of the Earth, or the thickness of Carmel can shrowd a man from this Examiner: then great are the thoughts of a mans heart, his lips tremble, his belly quivers and rottenness is ready to enter into his bones, and he then cries out with the jailor, What shall I do to be saved? How shall I escape everlasting burnings? and then his startled Soul would gladly fall upon something which may keep off feared wrath. Thus 'tis reported of Galerius, who had been an enraged Enemy against the Christians; yet at the last, when he was invaded by a verminous Ulcer in his secret parts, which did evaporate so contagious and pestilential a smell, that his Physicians, not being able to endure the Stench thereof, fell down dead before him: he, apprehending this to be a judgement of God upon him to retaliate the Tortures he had inflicted upon the innocent Christians, began to relent, gave commandment for the cessation of the Christian Persecution, and confessed the Equity of divine Justice in these proceedings. But I may say, Is not the hand of Joab here? is not this the effect of Fear rather than any thing else? Persons in this case and circumstances are like men ready to drown, that catch at every small twig; so now, being ready to drop into the infernal Pit, they fall upon some petty duties of Humiliation and Contrition. Such are like Pharaoh, who when the rattling Hail and terrible Thunder was abroad, then he called for Moses and Aaron. But how much such general acts of Repentance will be accepted I shall not be bold to determine, the Scripture seems to require not a necessitous, but a free and voluntary Service, and would have us not to resemble the Horse and Mule, to whom the Whip and Lash are the only motives and incentives to obedience.  
Again, at Death and Sickness men leave not Sin out of choice, but necessity, they are not able to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof; the Hand that removed the ancient Land-mark, that smote the Neighbour secretly, that with Ephraim held the Balances of deceit, is now trembling, unactive and paralytic; the Eyes, that looked upon no other objects but celebrated Beauties, or gazed upon the neighbour's Vineyard, and were the Windows of the Soul to let in Sin, are now heavy, dusky, clouded with fumes and vapours, dim with the shadow of approaching Death; the Ears that delighted in music and Harmony, Consort and melodious noises, are deaf and unapprehensive, and if he hear any thing, 'tis as Jerome thought he usually heard sounding in his ears, Surgite mortui, Arise you dead and come to judgement; the Palate, that could so well relish Dainties, taste the generous Wines, that was critical as to sauces and other subservient appendices of Riot and Luxury, now has lost the discerning Faculty, the digestive Vigour is abated and depraved, and Nature is in such an inverted posture, that what before it earnestly embraced, is now perfectly loathed. The Tongue that uttered the ranting and daring Expressions, now cleavs to the roof of the mouth; and he whose Feet were swift to  shed blood, lies like a lame Mephibosheth, so that he is not able to go to his haunts of pleasure, as in the days of Vanity. Now this is not a leaving of Sin, but rather Sin leaves us, because we are not in a capacity to give it entertainment, and our Lusts are like those that remove from an old crazy falling Cottage, and seek a better Habitation: This parting with sin is not an act of choice and voluntary, but violent, forced and constrained from bodily weakness and natural impotency.  
3. A Disease often comes suddenly, and gives no warning, and makes Repentance impossible; one is swallowed up with a violent Wave, another perishes like the Children of Job by a Contignation, a sudden Stab sends another into the Regions of separated Souls; 
Plin. natural. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 7& 53.  Anacreon dies by the Kernel of a Grape, Fabius by a hair in draft of Milk; some die for joy, as Chilon the Lacedemonian when his Son was Victor at the olympic Games; some by shane and sorrow, as Diodorus, not being able to solve a lusory Question: The legate of Rhodes having made a curious Oration, fell down and expired immediately, and Aulus Pompeius died as he saluted the Gods in the Capitol. Thousands of such Examples may be produced, which plainly show, how that a man that intends to be a future penitent may be prevented. A man thinks on his Death bed to pray and importune Heaven, and a Disease, as an Apoplexy comes, and ties the Tongue, spoils the Senses, preys upon the Intellectuals, and with this rapid Torrent men are carried into the dead Sea, and so perish presently, finally, and irrecoverably. Or it may be, if the Disease be not so quick and acute, yet the pains are so strong and violent, that Prayers are turned into Complainings; a man by increasing dolours is full of tossings from the time of repose to the dawning of the day, so that when he should sand up prayers and supplications, by reason of the predominancy of the Distemper, he makes a wailing like the Dragons, and a mourning like the Owls; with the Shunnamite he cries, My head, my head, or with the Prophet, My bowels, my bowels: O, says he, Is there no Balm in Gilead? Is there no Physician can prescribe a Remedy? Was there ever any sorrow like to my sorrow? I am the man that has seen affliction, and all thy waves and storms have gone over me; and as he is not fit at this time to discourse concerning Bargains, sealing of Contracts and Evidences, so 'tis not a fit time to give diligence to make calling and election sure, or to strike a Covenant with the holy One of Israel: All that a man can do then is only to have some slight desires, transient wishes with Balaam, bemoaning Ejaculations, and those take up the little time usually we have till Death close our Lips with silence, and put a period to Life and Motion. Therefore Christian, whosoever thou art that readest these Lines, be not so unwise as to neglect the season of Grace and time of Visitation, proffered opportunities, with vain hopes that these great achievements shall be done when thy days hasten to a Conclusion and Death approaches. Alas! this Destroyer comes unawares often, marches furiously like Jehu the Son of Nimshi, gives no warning, sends no summons, uses no Capitulations; but like a violent Hurrican throws down these Clay-cottages: So that a man posts away into the Confines of Eternity, and is at Heaven's Tribunal, when( it may be with the Fool) he thought to have spun out many years upon the Stage of the Earth. Now therefore fall upon the great Duties of Faith and Repentance, mortify thy Lusts, abandon thy sinful Associates, hoist up Sail for the Haven of eternal Rest; give no sleep; to thy Eyes, nor rest to the Temples of thy Head, till thou be reconciled to God through the Blood of Jesus: Go and take words to thyself and say, Turn thou me and I shall be turned; take away all mine iniquity and receive me graciously; remove my sins as a thick cloud from before thy face, and do not, O Lord, execute against me the fierceness of thy wrath, neither return to destroy me, because thou art God and not man. pled the Satisfaction of Christ, the Merits of the great Reconciler, the kind deportment of the Father to the dissolute Prodigal, and leave not wrestling, with Jacob, till thou obtain a blessing: Let these things be first headed and timely regarded, lest thy Sun do set suddenly and thou lye down in sorrow, and shalt be forced in the infernal Vault to wish, O mihi praeteritos, &c. O that I had time again; O that I were upon terms of Reconciliation with God once more, O that I were again a Probationer for Heaven, and had but the least of my neglected Privileges, when alas, it is too late, the Decree is past, the Doom irreversible, the Door shut and the Bridegroom gone in, and the Angel sworn that time shall be no more, and a never-to-be-retrieved Eternity has taken possession of our Time, Seasons and Opportunities. Be wise therefore on this side Hell and the Grave, and mind the things that belong to thy peace before they be hide from thine eyes.  
Though this I will add in the last place, I will not say whatsoever the Sinner does on his Death-bed is useless and insignificant( as I am not for Origenian Fancies, as that there is so much Mercy in God that he will be kind to the Devils after certain Periods of Time, so no more do I desire to speak of the Naturalness of God's Vindictive Justice;) For who has known the mind of God, or who hath been his counsellor? his mercy reacheth to heaven, and is like the great Deep bottonles and unfathomable; only according to Scripture we cannot promise Happiness and a freedom from the Second Death where there has not been a holy Life preceding, and the practise of Christ's Institutions; only that God who has set Laws to the reasonable Creature, may dispense with them or put them into execution as he pleases. And the Ancients( except those that were of the Novatian way) were very charitable when they saw men repent at the last, 
Nec serum est quod verum, nec irremissibile quod voluntarium& quaecunque necessitas cogat ad poenitudinem, nec quamtitas criminis, nec brevitas temporis, nec horae extremitas, nec vitae enormitas,( si vera contritio, si pura fuerit voluptatum mutatio) excludit à veniâ, Cyprian. lib. de Coen. Dom.  and hoped the best; and in articulo mortis, when men were ready to leave their stations here, did relax Church-Censures and punishments, and received such into their Communion( some special Cases only excepted) as may be seen by those that will peruse the Canons of Councils and the Fathers Writings. Therefore if there be any that in extremis, at or near the hour of his departure, is much grieved for his sin and trespasses, and with the Ninivites cries mightily to God, and importunes with more than ordinary ardency the favour of a provoked God, far be it from me( notwithstanding all this) to rank him among the Reprobates; neither according to the Rules of Scripture, or the nature of Repentance, dare I say he is certainly saved, but shall wave all definitive Sentences in this particular, desiring every good Christian to mind the time of his own Visitation, and leave such an one to stand or fall to his own master.  
4. Another Vain Tradition is, That when a man begins to be Religious then he grows melancholy; he must bid adieu to all his pleasures and contentments, led a doleful and disconsolate life, like the Owl in the desert or the Pelican in the wilderness.  
But this is a notorious falsehood, our Religion does not hinder our joy and tranquillity, for it bids us rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation, and one of the fruits of the Spirit is Joy, and Peace, which usually are a Believer's concomitants. 'tis true indeed Religion limits that carnal Joy, those sensual Pleasures, those unlawful dilatations of the Soul, but sober refined mirth and gladness it promotes and furthers; and what is there no joy but what proceeds from Masks and Balls, from Riot and Luxury, from midnight Revels and profuse banquetings? Is there no pleasure but what Epicurus likes, as Wine and wanton Dalliance, curious Dishes, generous liquor, jovial Company? Yes surely, there be intellectual Joys which are fit for Souls and spiritual Essences, which are much more sprightly and vigorous than these faint and short-lived Comforts which arise from Lust and Sensuality. Does not a Philosopher take more satisfaction, as a Platonist in his Ideas and Speculations, and Archimedes in his Mathematical Rarities, than ever Sardanapalus, Philoxenus, Anacreon did in their Bowls of Wine, Beds of Roses, multitudes of Concubines, and such like corporeal Delights? A contemplative Athenian has a more lasting Joy than a delicate Sybarite, and he would not quit his speculative Solaces, for the blandishings of Sense, the Musical Airs, and the embraces of Venus, which the more dissolute graecian prizes and extols: So a Christian, he can meditate upon the Divine Majesty togegether with his glorious Attributes, his Acts of Omnipotency, his providential Dispensations, his superexcellent Goodness, his exact Justice; he can with the longing Angels prie into the Mystery of Redemption, and behold the depths of God's Love and Wisdom, the Emanations of his Grace and bounty, the sweet Contrivances of Heaven in order to the saving of sinking Mortals: He can meditate upon the excellency of Commands, the sweetness of Promises, the strictness of Threats, the Sabbatical Rest and the pleasures of Eternity, which the Epicurean Sect never comprehended; here he can please himself and recreate his comprehensive Soul; these are Nectar and Ambrosia, when these earthly pleasures are gross and feculent, which the Soul looks upon as Husks and courser fare, in respect of these Viands of Rational and Noetical delights, these are the garlic and onions in respect of these spiritual and Angelical dainties.  
That a Christian is a joyful man, let us first consider, who is it that can cheerfully behave himself in a cloudy day? Let a disaster happen to a carnal Worldling, he hangs down his head like unto a Bulrush, he grows faint and pale, pensive and melancholy, like a disappointed Ahab when he could not have Naboth's Vineyard; but the Servant of God is lively and joyful under the greatest pressures. Saint Paul knows that bonds and afflictions abide him at Jerusalem, but he matters not; the perils of the Sea, the perils of Robbers, shipwrecks and Conspiracies all tend to make him miserable, but his vigorous Soul contemns and triumphs over them: These are the Eagles that confront Tempests and Thunders, Storms and Commotions; Come, says Luther, when all went wrong and he heard of mischievous contrivances against the Church, let us sing the 46. Psalm, The Lord of hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our refuge. Paul and Silas sung in the prison, and hawks clapped his hands in the flames. Wicked men are like the sensible Plant, which, if touched by external force, contracts its leaves and shrinks considerably; so let them be touched with some casual disaster, their music is turned into howling; and their organ into the voice of them that weep, but a true Christian can lift up his head with joy, sing like the Nightingale, though thorns be at her breast, si fractus illabatur orbis, if nature be inverted, and the pillars of the earth tremble, if the fig-tree do not blossom, and there be not fruit in the vine, 
Habakkuk 3, 17.  the labour of the olive perish, &c. yet with Habbakkuck he can rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation.  
Who is it also that can be merry at death? take the Gallant that has gratified his Lusts, that has crwoned himself with Rose-buds, that has ransacked the Creation to please his luxurious Appetite; let Death come, then he shrugs and trembles, his guilty soul dreads an arrest, and nothing is so dismal and ominous as an approaching dissolution; then you shall see a Saul aghast and dispirited, when he is  told by the Phantasm, raised up by the Witch of Endor, that he shall cease to be; this is as the Mene-Tekel to Belshazar which makes the joints of his Loins to be loosed, and his Knees to smite one against another; but to a Saint of God the thoughts of his departure are not troublesone and vexatious, he kindly entertains this Angel of death, as Lot those that came to Sodom; though I walk, says David, through the Region of the Valley of Death, yet will I fear no ill; Moses never muttered when God said go to Mount Nebo and die there: I thank God, said the Martyr, when he approached the Stake, I am not far from my Father's House; in like manner Rivet when he came to die, affirmed cheerfully, though I lay down this Tabernacle for a while, yet it shall be raised again in glory; out of an holy longing to be with God such persons cry, come Lord Jesus come quickly, why do the Wheels of his Chariots stay so long? the true believer says of death as David of Ahimaaz, he is a good man and brings good tidings, his message is, that now I shall be freed from care and solicitudes, from troublesone Neighbours and dangerous temptations; now shall I have my Nuptials celebrated, and take possession of the Inheritance of the Saints in life; now shall my sackcloth be turned into Robes of glory, my Complaints and Elegies into Hallelujahs and Gratulations; I shall not taste any longer of the waters of Marah, but have the blessings of the upper Springs; I shall not be fed any more with the bread and water of affliction, but shall eat of the three of life in the midst of the Paradise of God, and drink of the new wine of the Grape with my Saviour in his Kingdom: Hence they say with Hylarion, Egredere anima mea egredere, go out with cheerfulness, O my soul, and take possession of the purchased Inheritance; they sing and rejoice speaking thus as it were to their flitting souls, awake, awake, Deborah awake, awake, utter a song, arise Barak, and led captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam; and as they are not terrified with the thoughts of death, so neither are they afraid of judgement, they dread not the Revelation of Christ, the sound of the last Trump, or the voice of the Arch-Angel, the valley of Jehosaphat, the opening of the Books, and the irreversible Dooms: For then their happiness shall be completed, then shall they be solemnly cleared and acquitted, and shall shine like the brightness of the Firmament, and like Stars for ever and ever.  
But further the true Christian has cause to rejoice, if we consider a fourfold advantage that he has above the wicked and profane, viz. he has the smile of God, the sweet of the promises, the sealings of the Spirit, and the solaces of a good conscience.  
1. He has the smile of God, the Almighty looks upon such an one with a cheerful aspect and a pleasant brow, he lifts upon such the light of his countenance, and this does wonderfully ravish the soul; O the light of the earthly Sun how does it guild and varnish the Creation, raise up the dampish plants, and revive all sublunary Beings; but what is this to a Ray of Heaven, to a glance of God's Eye? this banishes a disconsolate Night, clears up a gloomy Morning, and as the little infects sport themselves in Sun-beams, so the soul is full of joy upon these irradiations; give me this says the soul, and take you the numerous Flocks, the increase of the Fields, the loaden Clusters, the fat and thriving Olives, the Kidneys of Wheat, and the pure blood of the Grape; take you, says the Spouse, the Gardens of Spices, the Rose of Sharan, and the Lilies of the Valley, Lord lift upon us the light of thy countenance, and this is more than if Corn and Wine increased: And who can be sorrowful or dejected when the great Potentate of Heaven is so favourable and propitious? Can the Courtier be melancholy when the King makes him an object of his love and complacency? Can there be an Egyptian darkness when the Sun of Righteousness sends out such pleasant rays? Can the soul be pensive when the God of comfort and consolation does accost her? No surely, this is a joy exceeding sensual Recreations, more florid and blooming than the joy of Harvest, and greater than that of those which divide the Spoil.  
2. They have the sweet of the promises, the Gospel is like unto Solomon's Bed paved with love, full of sweet and consolatory promises. the word of life is interwoven with these Flowers and Gems; the Scripture is a Shop furnished with such rich and inestimable Cordials, these promises are as the due of ●eaven, and the drops of Hermon, the distilling Honey-comb, and the Grapes of Escol; here is the balm of Gilead against the stings of the fiery Serpent, the Water-brooks for the panting Hart, the heavenly Manna for the hungry soul, and what not? Now the soul can go from promise to promise, as the Epicurizing Bee, from Flower to Flower, and satiate itself with delight and sweetness: The Naturalists tells us of several Creatures that in any Maladies apply themselves to various plants, 
Plutarc. de Solert. Animal.  Nature playing the Physician and appointing a prescript; so when the soul is under any evil dispensation or sad providence, a Christian can apply himself to the promises for support and refreshment; Is Satan busy? Doth he shoot his fiery Darts? Doth the great Leviathan threaten? Doth he labour to winnow us like Wheat with St. Peter, or to buffet us with St. Paul? then the soul hastes away to the promise, The God of peace shall shortly bruise Satan under your feet. 
Rom. 16.20.  What, does an Enemy invade the pleasant Land? And are they ready to turn the Garden of Eden into a desolate Wilderness? Are the Chaldeans and Sabeans upon their march? Do mens hearts fail for fear of a people of a strange language and fierce countenance? Are their Horses hoofs like unto flints? And does the dread of them cause men to run to the cliffs of the Rocks, and the tops of the ragged Rocks? Then a believer can stay his soul upon that promise to Jeremy, Verily it shall go well with thee and thy seed, 
Jerem. 15.11.  and enemies shall use thee kindly in the Land of Captivity: What, is thy Family but poor in Manasseh? Is there but a little Meal in the Barrel, and oil in the Cruse? Hast thou a numerous Issue? And is thy careful soul under doubts and anxieties how they shall be provided for in future times? Well there is a promise which the fluctuating Christian may fix himself upon, made to Abraham the Father of the faithful, I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee: 
Gen. 17.7.  What do Friends and Relations forsake thee? Do Acquaintance cast thee off like a smitten and a wounded dear? So that thou lookest on the right hand and there is none to help thee, and on the left hand and there is none to take thy part, then a believer applies himself to and embraces that promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee: 
Hebr. 13.6.  What does thy outward man decay? Dost thou find thyself ready to go to thy long home, to the house appointed for all the living? Do the strong men bow themselves? The Daughters of music cease, and the noise of the Grinders grow low; so that a man says with Job, my breath is corrupt, my dayes are extinct, and the Grave is ready for me: Then the good Christian reaches these promises against these death qualms; We know if the earthly house of this our tabernacle be dissolved, 
2 Cor. 5.1.  we have an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens; 
Revel. 14.13.  Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for( so saith the Spirit) they rest from their labours, and their works follow them. I will raise him up at the last day: 
John 6.39.  And can that Spirit be melancholy that has these precious promises? Can that soul be parched that thus draws water out of the Wells of Salvation? Can that Spouse faint that has these flagons and apple to refresh her? No surely.  
3. They have the sealings of the Spirit, and as a seal is used several ways; so many and singular advantages do they reap by the spirit: 1. A seal is used by way of impression; 
Ephes. 1.13.  so the Holy Spirit in some degree doth imprint the love of God upon the soul, that as the spirit of bondage does stamp and apply wrath and curses, so the spirit of adoption does stamp and imprint grace, mercy, remission of sins, and acceptation with God: A seal is used by way of appropriation, goods sealed are set apart for the use of the owner; so God does appropriate and set apart believers by his blessed spirit as his own Heritage, as a Royal Priesthood, a chosen Generation, a peculiar People, he seems to speak that language; These shall be mine when I make up my Jewels, and thus believers are sealed by it unto the day of redemption, Ephes. 4.30.  
A seal is used again by way of evidence and demonstration, it shows and bears witness that such a thing was our act and dead; So the spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God; 
Rom, 8.16.  and this I make no question may be asserted without the least bordering upon Enthusiasm or fantastical Dreams, and no doubt but those who are the devoted servants of Christ, and make it their business to glorify God in their Generations, in the discharge of their respective duties, do feel the comforts and breathings of this divine Paraclete, raising up their dampish souls, and filling them with joy unspeakable and full of glory; and how is it possible for him to be in heaviness who has made his soul a Temple of the Holy Ghost, that spirit of peace and joy? of this man we may say he carries his Comforter always with him.  
4. They have the solaces of a good Conscience, they have a calm and serene spirit without storms and commotions, like the smooth Pacifick Ocean, which is a stranger to waves and turbulencies: Conscience is like the temperate Zone, where the Elements have an handsome Harmony; it is like the Angel that spoken to Zachary with good and comfortable words: Hence there is a perpetual sabbath, a continual Festival, a year of Jubilee; a man eats his bread with joy, and drinks his wine with a merry heart, the Tabret, Harp, and Viol is in their Feasts, and the Instruments of music like to David yield not a more melodious Echo; This is our rejoicing( says St. 
2 Cor. 1.12,  Paul) even the Testimony of our Consciences; and when Satan accuses, and men condemn, and Shimeis curse, and the World strives to blast our reputations, and cast us down to hell, this raises us up on Eagles wings, wipes off calumnies, and by a secret Apotheosis does make a Malefactor a Saint and a Martyr; 
August. Epis. Con. second. Manic●ae.  Thus Saint Austin when he was accused by Secundinus the Manichee, made this reply, Let my Adversary think or forge what ever he please against me, yet I have a quitting excusing conscience, which internally cheers me, and so makes reparation.  
A wicked man if he have no external disasters, yet is Magor-Missabib a terror to himself, like the raging Sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt, Judas runs up and down with his thirty pieces of silver, distracted and discontented; Cain flies as a Vagabond from the presence of the Lord: 
Vide pag. 29.  Dionysius so fearful that he burnt off his hair with Nutshells set on fire, because he durst not trust a Barber to shave him; Domitian so timorous that he walked almost continually in his Gallery, which he caused to be set with the ston Plengites, that by the brightness thereof( as in a Glass) he might see what was done behind him: theodoric thought he saw in a Fishes head the Visage of one Symmachus, whom he had most unjustly murdered, Conscientia peccati est formidinis matter, conscience of sin is the mother of fear: But an holy man who pleases God, and has got his sin pardonned by the blood of Jesus, has no such frights nor dismal representations, but has a peaceable soul, and a quiet and sedate conscience, and can dolours arrest such a person who entertains so pleasant a Guest? Such a bosom Friend, such a delightsome Consort? no surely, darkness may as soon overtake the Sun, and cloudiness dull the twinkling Stars, and Luminaries of Heaven, as pensiveness and horror can fasten on such a soul: Therefore Christians be not persuaded that Religion is an Introduction to woes and heaviness: No, the ways thereof are ways of pleasantness 
Prov. 3.17.  and the paths thereof are paths of peace, be but God's Servants and I dare promise you in the words of the Prophet, Your peace shall be as the River, 
Isaiah 48.18.  and your joy as the mighty stream, your boughs shall be green, and the due shall lye upon your branches. You shall have a new name and a white ston which no man knows but he that has it. 
Revel. 2.17.  And your song shall be this, 
Isaiah 25.9.  lo this is our God we have waited for him, and he will save us, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.   

5. Hold fast your profession against worldly temptations.  
The World is a cunning Dalilah, it entices us with its lusts and allurements, and like the young man in the Proverbs, we are overcome with the enchantments of this Jezabel; when our souls should take the wings of a Cherub and mount Heaven, and with the soaring Eagle take our flight to the celestial Habitations, this poizes us down and clips our wings, impedes our motions and pious attempts. O thou Mammon of unrighteousness, how many Proselytes hast thou? O thou fawning Jael, how many turn into thy Tents? O thou woman of Tekoah, what alluring Parables dost thou propose? Hence a numerous company of unwary mortals are ensnared and seduced, sleep securely under thy shade, and cry out bonum est esse hic, it is good for us to be here, as if the footstool were more excellent than the Throne, our short conveniencies more desirable than the pleasures at God's right hand for evermore; thus we find Demas forfaking Paul, others counting gain godliness, the Mammon of unrighteousness the most adorable Deity, which while they pursue they oftentimes make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience; nay some are so bewitched with these sublunary trifles, that give them but a Vine, or a Figtree, or an outward accommodation here below, and they will peremptorily disclaim and give up their right and title to the New Jerusalem which is above; witness that Atheistical Speech of one of the Dukes of Bourbon in France, who openly said he would not give his part in Paris for that in Paradise.  
Now the World in order to the ensnaring of us, presents these two Objections against the practise of Religion: 1. It tells us that if we make Religion our business, we shall be but poor, low, indigent, and fall into contempt and infamy; it is wealth gains men credit and respect, and sets them up above the Vulgar: To this I answer.  
1. This is an untruth to say that all religious persons are poor and meanly provided for in the World; God is pleased to give to many of his servants the due of Heaven, and the fat of the Earth, the blessings of the upper and of the nether Springs: What should I tell you of Abraham's herds, of Jacob's Flocks, of Isaack's Hundred fold in the Land of Abimeleck, of Job the most righteous and most rich man in the Land of Uz; and I doubt not but that Cornelius and Dorcas, Gaius, and Onesyphorus whose charity and communication to the Saints was so remarkable and exemplary, had a good share of these earthly enjoyments; we can produce many holy men that have had Vines and Fig-trees, numerous Flocks and Cattle upon the Mountains, whose Valleys did laugh and sing, and whose Presses did overflow with Wine, and have had that confluence of temporal blessings, that men with Balaam have been ready to say, How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob, and thy Tabernacles O Israel? As Gardens by the River sides, as Trees of Lign-Aloes which the Lord hath planted, as Cedar trees besides the Waters.  
Besides( suppose thou shouldst be poor) was not Christ and other brave men in the same condition? the blessed Jesus came not into the World as a secular Prince, shining with Pearls, glittering with Silks, overlay'd with Gold, and hemmed in with a crowd of attending servants; he had no stately Palace, no curious Viands, no musical Consorts, no odours of Arabia wherewith to perfume his Nostrils, but laid in a Manger, conversing with Publicans and sinners, begging a little water of the Woman of Samaria, eating barley bread, feeding on a few fishes, riding on an Asse's Colt; nor were many of the Primitive Saints in a better state, wandring oftentimes up and down in sheeps-skins and goat-skins; Peter acknowledged Silver and Gold he had none, Paul working with his hands, many of his Disciples ordinary Fisher-men, and many of the famous Heathens have been in a necessitous estate: Publicola butted by a Contribution of money gathered for him; Regulus his Wife and Children maintained by his Friends, and the Daughter of Scipio had a Dowry given her out of the Chamber of the City of Rome: And if such high and excellent persons had such low and mean Fortunes, be thou content; Non cuivis homini, &c. It is not for every man to climb Mount Pisgah, and to have his lot in a plentiful Canaan, to lay up Gold as Dust, to have the Riches of the Indies, and the Fortunes of Caesar; for according to the methods of general providence, there must be high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, the lesser Sporades as well as the Stars of the first Magnitude, the small Ant as well as the great Behemoth, the Thistle as well as the Cedar in Lebanon, the small Rivulets as well as the comprehensive Ocean.  
Again, God keeps many a Saint sharp, for excellent and advantageous ends; fullness and plenty oftentimes usher in neglect of God, and security: when Jeshurun is fed to the full, then he lifts up his heel against his Master; and we are ready to slight Heaven, to pitch our tents on this side Jordan; supposing Jazer and Gilead to be more commodious, than the Land of Promise. Therefore God gives Meat to satisfy Hunger, not to gratify thy Curiosity; Drink to quench Thirst, and not to please thy affencted Palate; clothes to cover thy Nakedness, and not to be Promoters of Pride and Vanity. If thou hadst plenty,( ten to one) thou wouldst begin to Epicurize, to wax fat, to forget the God that made thee, and to neglect the Rock of thy Salvation, therefore God doth moderately diet thee, that thou mayst not grow a wanton Sodomite, or a lazy Sidonian; but an abstemious Reckabite, and temperate Christian: and so mayst be more fit for the service of him that gave thee a Being, and sent thee to labour in his Vineyard. To this purpose the story of Eulogius is remarkable, in the days of Justinus, about the Year, 528. He was a Stone-cutter in Thebais, 
Paul Syll. lib. 3. cap. 48. Quot by Caus●h c.  but very Charitable and Religious: Upon a time a Hermit came to his house, whom he most kindly entertained; to make him some recompense, the hermit was very importunate with Almighty God, that he would make Eulogius a rich man; which was granted: And upon a time, as Eulogius was digging stones, he found a great Treasure. After this, he leaves his Trade, and goes to Constantinople; and in process of time, gets to be Captain of the Guard to Justinus: There he addicts himself to all Riot and Luxury. The hermit was commanded by God to go to him, and to see if he could reform him: Away he goes to Constantinople, and after a long and a tedious attendance, speaks with him; but was requited with blows for his admonitions. Afterwards Justinus dies, and Justinian succeeds; Hypatius and Pompey raise a Conspiracy against the new Emperour: Eulogius takes their part; but at last they were all conquered, so that Eulogius was glad to run for his life; and all his Goods were confiscated: He retires to Thebais again; and being in great Poverty, falls to his old Trade: The hermit comes again to him, and found him cool, more mildred and patient, than he was at Constantinople: He entreats the hermit, once more to implore God for an amendment of his Estate: The hermit refuses, and tells him, he plainly saw Poverty was the fittest condition for him; for if it were otherwise with him, he would suddenly fall into his old Extravagances and Debauchery.  
But further, Another reason why God gives many of his people mean Enjoyments here, is to endear Heaven to them, and to make them willing, quietly to depart from this Vale of misery. A man of pleasure cleaves to the World, as Ruth to Naomi; there is a sad parting betwixt them, a passionate farewell, to bid adieu to rich manours, delicate, fair, numerous Attendants, stately Palaces: Haec sunt quae fac●unt nos invitos mori; These make us unwilling to die; as Charles the fifth sometimes answered. Whereas the Christian that has been kept mean and low here, patiently retires and lays down this earthly Tabernacle, knowing that he has been only a Sojourner and a Pilgrim, that he never was Fortunes Favourite, or the World's Darling, and so he lies down in hope and expectation of better Enjoyments than he has met with in his Pilgrimage her below.  
And it may be remembered how pleasant will Heaven be to the afflicted Christian, like Sun-shine after Rain, like the desirable Port to the weather beaten Ship, like the Father's House to the wearied Prodigal, like the Wells and Palm-trees at Elim, like the clefts of the Rocks and the secret places of the stairs to the pursued Dove: O how will the soul be transported, to exchange a poor Cottage for the glorious Jerusalem, ragged garments for robes of glory, a sheep-hook for a sceptre, waters of Marah for the fountain of life, Vultures and birds of prey( bad Neighbours) for an Angelical Retinue, Mournings and Threnodies for Songs of Sion: O the ecstasy of such a soul! will it not cry out with Esau, I have enough, come unto me all ye that fear God and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul; therefore Christian do not thou shrug at affliction and poverty, or the dayes of adversity, at across dispensations, and mean treatment in the World; others have been in the same circumstances with thee, and ere long thou shalt be better accommodated, therefore close up thy lips with silence and exercise contentation.  
But the World objects to Christians in the second place, and says, what my Favourites have, is in fruition; but the Riches and Advantages which you are likely to have, are only in expectation; and 'tis good to be sure, &c.  
We answer, Christians have not all Reversion, but we have part in hand: God provides for believers Meat to eat, and raiment to put on; and feeds them as Agur prayed, with food convenient for them. Is Eliah glad to flee? A Raven, though an indocible Creature, shall bring him meat. Is Israel in straits? rather than they shall starve, Manna and Quails shall descend from Heaven upon them; and the stony Rock shall sand forth Streams in a parched Wilderness. Rather than Lot shall perish, God will provide a Zoar for him. The Meal in the Barrel, and the oil in the Cruse, shall be miraculously multiplied to the Woman of Sarepta, till there be plenty in Israel. God raises up his people many unexpected friends, and they have unhoped and unlooked for Provisions. We red of Musculus, that he was brought to those straits, that he was glad to join himself to a Weaver, and work with him, for the support of his indigent Family; but they not agreeing in their Principles, the Weaver turned him off; not knowing what course to take, and hearing that the Town-ditch of Strasburgh was to be scoured, and many Labourers there employed; thither he goes, intending to fall upon that work; but Providence so ordered it, that Buser was acquainted with his arrival; and a Church falling voided in the Town, he was called by the Magistrates, to be the Preacher, and so had a comfortable subsistence. But the most famous Narrative that I have met with in confirmation of this, is the History of Mr. John Craig of Scotland. 
Arch Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland.  He was sometimes of the Dominican Order, and was by Cardinal Pool commended to the Dominicans in Bonony; where he was first made instructor of the Novices, and then Rector of their School: by chance he light upon some of Calvin's Writings, and so was drawn into a secret liking of the Reformed Religion; which he communicated to an old man of the Monastery, who  told him privately that he also was of the same judgement; but if it were revealed their lives would be in danger; but Mr. Craig being too bold in Discourse was taxed for heresy, committed to the Inquisition at Rome, examined and condemned to be burnt the nineteenth of August 1600. the Night before his intended death, Pope Paul the fourth dies, the people in a tumult break open the Prisons, so that Mr. Craig had liberty to escape, he was not got far from the City when he was met by a company of the Bandetti, or Thieves with which those parts are molested, who apprehending him, and being in danger of his life; one of the Rogues looked steadfastly upon him, and asked him if he had not been at Bononie, he replied yes; quoth the other I very well remember that it was you that relieved me there, and now I will requited your kindness, so he sets him at liberty, and gives him some little money to bear his charges; after this Mr. Craig goes to Bononie, where all his Friends knowing him to be convicted of Hersie forsook him, so that he is forced to shift for himself, and wander in uncouth paths, at last sitting down in a solitary posture, and not knowing which way to steer his course, a Dog comes fawning to him with a purse in his mouth, and lays it down at his feet,( but how much money there was in it is not set down) up he gets and follows the Dog a little way, and falls into a Road, and meets with passengers going to the Emperour's Court at Vienna, to them he joins himself, coming to Vienna he preached before the Emperour with very good liking and approbation; but pus the Third being got into the Chair, sends Letters to the Emperour to return Mr. Craig to Rome as one condemned of heresy; but the Emperour loathe to prejudice a stranger in his circumstances, gives him leave to depart, and so home he came to Scotland, was Colleague with Mr. Knox, one of the King's principal Ministers, and was 88 years of Age when he died: Thus we see how marvelous God is in his providences towards his people, and how he takes care of the outward man.  
But suppose that what Christians have be in reversion, 'tis but exercising patience for a while: Is it not ordinary to wait here till a Lease be out, till an apprenticeship be expired, till an Heir come to age? Does not the Husbandman wait for the precious Fruits of the Earth? How long stayed Jacob, and endured the heat of the Day, and the could of the Night for his beloved Rachel? nay come to some sins, what solicitudes and watchings are about them, before they have their accomplishment? the eye of the Adulterer waits for the twilight; the lurking Thief stays till the midnight darkness takes place; the zealous Amourist what anxieties and cares, and ominous disapoointments doth he meet with before his desires be accomplished? What trouble has the man of honour before he reach the top and pinnacle of preferment? What toils has the covetous man before he can get such a petty enclosure, such a neighbouring pasture, such an adjoining Vineyard? And take men such pains,& have they such delays, about the bread that perishes? And wilt not thou wait for the grace brought to thee at the revelation of Jesus Christ? Are those flitting and transitory joys more excellent and blooming than eternal pleasures? As the divine Poet said, 
Herbert.  weigh both, and so if rottenness have more, let heaven go; therefore let not a Christian be disheartened if he have not present enjoyments, the time will come and the day will down when he shall be possessor of these long looked for blessings; 'tis like the vision of Habakkuk, it is but for an appointed time, and we have the fidelity of God engaged for performance, Be patient brethren, 
James 5.7.  as Saint James speaks, till the coming of the Lord: Hold fast your profession against these worldly temptations; Let not the garlic, and onions, and Flesh-pots of Egypt, estrange your Souls from the Land of Promise; let not these little Glow-worm comforts dazzle our eyes, and ravish our souls, but let us look up above, and have often in our remembrance the Glories of the New Jerusalem, the prepared delights for the Saints, the Crowns and Robes, the Palms and Hallelujahs reserved for the faithful, and so let this be the victory whereby we overcome the world even our faith. 
1 John 5.4.    

6. Hold fast your profession against fierce persecutions, in case they happen.  
These make many to leave the Field, forsake their Colours, and bid an adieu to the Captain of their Salvation; many get into the Ship of the Church, and the Seas grow rough, the Winds high, and the Waves beat, and out they get again, they are for a haltionian calmness, for gentle gales, and not for tempestuous Euroclidons: They will follow Christ to the Mount of Olives, but not to Calvary; they will go with him to a Marriage in Cana in Galilee, but not to Herod's Judgment-Hall, or Golgotha: Many are like the Samaritans, If Israel prospered, then they pretended an alliance with them, and that the patriarches were their Ancestors; but when a potent Enemy came up against Jerusalem, then they disowned kindred with them, and said they were Cutheans: So while Religion prospers it finds many Friends and Proselytes, but when persecution arises for the name of Christ, then too many with Demas forsake their Saviour, and embrace this present World, but hold fast your profession against these, for all that a violent Adversary can do, is either to take away thy goods, or thy life, to which I oppose these considerations.  
Considerat. 1. If thy Goods be gone, 'tis no new thing under the Sun to see a man divested of his enjoyments, prosperity and adversity have their alternate revolutions: We see many flourishing and rejoicing like a company of merry Comedians, and one disaster or other comes and smites them ( as the Worm did the gored of Jonah) sometimes an enemy takes the pleasant portion, and seizes upon our painfully gotten wealth; thus Israel had spoilers, and the Kings of Assyria that came up against them; sometimes our own riches procure our ruin, as Quintus Aurelius in the dayes of Sylla, had a handsome Farm at Alba,( not far from Rome) which being coveted by a potent senator, a crime was forged, and he indicted and condemned amongst other criminals, who when he was lead to execution, cried out, Fundus Albanus me perdidit, the little Land I have at Alba has undone me( and such was Naboth's fate, as the Scriptures tell us) sometimes the Elements combine and make us poor to a Proverb; the fire consumes, the water overwhelms, the earth swallows up, the wind overturns,( as Job experienced) and so man is left in his naked and primitive posture; sometimes the Creatures wage war against us, and exercise Acts of Hostility, the Locust, the Caterpillars, and the grasshoppers, the Lord's great Army( as he calls them) have made havoc of plentiful Countries, as Historians tell us; thus Pliny relates of a Town in Spain undermined by Conies, 
Plin. Histor. natur. lib. 8. cap. 29.  of a Town in Thessaly by Moles, the City Amycle in Italy destroyed by Serpents, a City in France wasted by Frogs, another City in afric by grasshoppers, the men of the iceland Gyarus compelled to leave their Country because of Scorpions, and the Trerienses driven out by the Scolopendra a sort of Caterpillars, such great damages have arisen from such small and inconsiderable Creatures; oftentimes also the Clouds deny their Showers, the Heaven is Brass, and the Earth is Iron, and then the Gates are black with Famine, and the Wells are dry without Water, and so we see that of the Apostle fulfilled {αβγδ} the fashion of the World passeth away, 
1 Cor. 7.31.  'tis no new thing also to see that which Solomon sometimes observed, Princes on foot and servants on horseback; 
Eccles. 10.7.  to see Crowns and sceptres laid in the Dust, a Crassus to become a Codrus, Belizarius to beg, and Dionysius to turn Pedagogue; and if thou be in the same condition with them, remember that thou hast but the ordinary lot of suffering mortals.  
Considerat. 2. But what if men take away thy Goods( while thou stickest close to Jesus) God can give thee more; when Amaziah said to the man of God, What shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the Army of Israel? The man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this: 
2 Chron. 25.9.  So if men do take away, the Lord can restore again; Seneca  told his Friend that he needed not complain of Fortune so long as Caesar was safe, intimating that he could easily make up all his Losses; so our God is able to supply all our wants, thou servest him that has in his hands the Earth and the fullness thereof, the Beasts upon a thousand hills are his, and the round World is the least part of his Dominion; he can take the Beggar from the dunghill, and set him with the Kings of the Earth; he can bless with Job thy latter end more than the beginning, and after an Egyptian bondage and servitude settle thee in a Land flowing with Milk and Honey: After the taking of Jerusalem the King of Babylon gave charge to Nebuzarradon Captain of the Guard to look well to Jeremiah the Prophet, and to tell him that all the Land of Israel was before him, and where it seemed good and convenient for him to go thither he might go, Jerem. 39.12. and 40.4.  
David after all his flittings and peregrinations( occasioned by Saul's cruelty) sate quietly upon the Throne of Israel; Jovianus after he had quitted the Military Employment, because he would not deny his profession in the dayes of Julian, afterwards wore the purple: Endoxia a poor Philosopher's Daughter coming to Constantinople to complain of her two Brothers, who would not give her any portion of her Father's Goods, was unexpectedly taken in to be Wife to the Emperour Theodosius, and we are informed how in the dayes of Henry the Eighth Robert Holgate who was sometimes Archbishop of Canterbury, because he could not peaceably enjoy his small living in Lincolnshire, by reason of the litigiousness of a Neighbouring Knight, came up to London to right himself, got into the King's favour, and so by degrees ascended the highest step of Ecclesiastical promotion; therefore Christian rest thyself upon an all-sufficient God in the midst of these totterings here below, lean upon the Rock of Ages, fear not, that the great House-keeper of the World will let thee go without a Dole; who can tie the hands or lay shakles upon providence? 'tis said in Job, Canst thou shut up the Sea with doors, 
Job 38.31.  or bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades? Canst thou hinder the refreshing showers or the gentle gales which cool the Earth, and make the Gardens sand out their grateful Odours? Then may you prevent Heaven, and contract the hand of everlasting bounty; fear not therefore, O pious soul, what thou canst lose on Earth, seeing thou hast so rich and so good a Master in Heaven, or suppose thy losses be not made up here, yet Heaven will make amends for all hereafter: God only defers thy retributions, till thou enter the confines of eternity, and then thou shalt be sufficiently recompensed; wast thou turned out of thy quiet dwellings and peaceable Habitations? Well, thou shalt be received into everlasting Mansions, and have a House not made with hands, much exceeding the Temple of Diana, or the Tower of Pharos, or those Buildings which have looked so big in the Records of famed; hadst thou a spot of Ground like Naboth, of which some covetous Ahab deprived thee? well thou shalt enjoy large Territories for it one day, so that thy Song shall be, The Lot is fallen unto me in a fair Ground, I have a goodly Heritage; hadst thou a well of water violently taken from thee?( as the herdsmen of Lot did that of Abraham's) Thou shalt have a right and title to the Fountain and Springs of the new Jerusalem, and draw water out of the wells of Salvation: Heaven will repay all thy losses, and reimburse thee for all thy damages, Then will thy beloved spread thee a Table, make thee a feast of fat things, of Wine upon the Lees, &c. and say, Eat and drink, O Friends, eat and drink abundantly, then shall thy cup overflow, then shalt thou wash thy steps in butter, and satiate thy soul with fatness, thou shalt know no more want or poverty, straits, famine, or the dayes of adversity, but shalt sit under the shadow of thy beloved with great delight, and his fruit shall be pleasing to thy taste.  
Considerat. 3. Moreover in case persecutors should take away our lives; alas we can but live a few dayes according to the course of nature, and so lay down this earthly Tabernacle a little the sooner; there is a Decree of Mortality which will be executed one day upon the best of us; What man is there that shall not see death? Where is samson that could break Cords and carry away Gates? Azahel that could equalize in swiftness the Roes and the Hinds of the Field? Where is Solomon that Master of physic and Sentences, that could discourse from the hyssop on the Wall to the Cedar in Lebanon? Where are the long lived patriarches who passed over their several Centuries? Did not death cut them down at last, and they fell down by the stroke of this Engineer? And though Methusulah's Age in our apprehension was Cousin-German to Eternity, yet he gave the Grave a visit as well as his Forefathers; we are composed and made up of the same materials with them, and must in like manner pass the dark shadow of the valley of death: Hence if our life be taken away by the hand of an Enemy, 'tis but a small anticipation; if the Fruit be not plucked it will fall off the three ere long; if you do not crop the Rose of Sharon it will welk and fade within a few dayes; if you do not mow the Grass of the Field, it will pine and whither of its own accord, and be converted to rottenness and putrefaction; our life is like unto a Candle, if it be not put out by an extinguisher, it will wast of itself, sink in the socket, and disappear: Thus Socrates being  told that the Athenians had condemned him to death: Well( quoth he) so hath nature done them, if I die now it will not be long ere they bear me company; what makes matter said Saint Austin, 
August. Epist 122.  An febris an ferrum de corpore solverit, whether a disease, a fever, a sword sand us to our long home: Oftentimes the {αβγδ}, a quick and violent death and removal( which Caesar choose) is less painful than those conflicts and agonies which we encounter with arising from ordinary distempers; therefore Christian dread not the stroke of a persecutor, if thy life be not taken away by the hand of violence, thou must ere long forego it, for the Decree is irreversible.  
Considerat. 4. Consider again if thy life be taken from thee, thou wilt sooner be at thy Father's House, sooner be at Heaven, and so they will do thee a kindness; Then shall this mortal put on immortality, and this corruptible incorruption, then thou that seest through a glass darkly, shalt see face to face, thou that dwelled in Egypt and Zabulon, in a Land of darkness and dimness, shalt be translated to Goshen, to that City whose light the Lord is; then shall the sprightly soul take the wings of the Morning and attack the Empyreal Heaven, where thou shalt reside with 〈◇〉 God the Judge of all, with Jesus the mediator of the new Covenant, with an innumerable company of Angels, with the spirits of just men made perfect, and how wilt thou be harmed? Cleombrotus after he had red Plato of the immortality of the soul threw himself from a Rock into the Sea, desirous to enjoy that blessed state, and many of the primitive Christians( upon this account) had such a proneness to Martyrdom, that they exceeded bounds a little, and were too prodigal of their blood, which shewed fully the Sentiments they had of a heavenly welcome. The Romans being full of sorrow for the death of Romulus were  told by Proculus that he saw him ride triumphantly into Heaven; thus shall it be with thee, when thy soul is dislodged from this earthly Tenement, thou shalt ride as it were upon the wings of a Cherub, and shalt be conveyed to better Regions than the Elysean Fields, which the Heathens dreamed of; thus the cruelty of men is in some measure beneficial to the Saints, which Saint Basil knew well enough; hence when Modestus Captain to valemce threatened death to him, he said, death shall be to me advantage, and will sooner sand me to God to whom I live, whose work I perform, and to whom I am continually hastening; the consideration of this made Saint Cyprian affirm, that we are not to put on black habit and mournful attire for our departed godly friends, who are clothed with white Robes, certain Emblems of perfect Joy, Conquest and Victory: Let him fear death that has not set his House in order, that has been as a brazen pillar against the invitations of the Gospel, that has trampled under foot the blood of the Covenant, that has promoted Satan's interest: 
See that excellent piece of St. Cyprian de mortalitate. Lugeatur mortuus, said ille quem Gehenna suscipit, quem Taertarus devorat, incujus poenam aeternus ignis aestuat, nos quorum exitum Angelorum turba comitatur, quibus obviam Christus accurrit, gravamur magis si diutius in tabernaculo isto mortis habitemus, Hieron. Epist. 25. ad Paulam.  Let him fear death whom the Legions of darkness wait for, whom Hell is likely to receive, whom the ever gnawing worm shall eternally corrode, but for the Saints who shall rest upon beds of glory, who shall be conveyed by officious Angels into Abraham's bosom, let not them fear a dissolution; but as Socrates sometimes said, Anytus and Melitus may kill me, but they cannot hurt me; so they may say, the persecuting Nero's may deprive us of being here, they may think to cut us down and destroy us, but we shall prove like transplanted trees, who shall flourish and revive again, sand out our branches unto the River, and our boughs to the mighty stream.  
Considerat. 5. Remember Christian also how the Heathens have scorned death for a little popular air and glory, that future Generations might extol their valour; and if they upon such accounts could grapple with death and tortures, overlook and contemn the most across dispensations, should not the expectation of Heaven and eternal life, infuse magnanimity into the most timorous and pufillanimous souls? Rather than Regulus would have the Romans loose by an exchange, he was content to suffer most exquisite tortures, by being put into a barrel with nails, and rolled up and down, and having his eye lids cut off had a sad and a dolorous departure; Mutin● Scaevola burnt off his hand before Porsenna, that he seeing such an Emblem of the Roman Valour, might leave besieging the City; Curtius to appease the raging pestilence leaped into a gulf in the Market-place, riding upon his Horse cap-à-pie, charging death( as it were) and defying the assassinate of mankind; how did the Decii devote themselves to ruin, and run upon the Enemies swords in the latin and Etrurian Wars, that so their Country might enjoy its desired Liberty? and Marcus Pulvillus rather than want the glory of the Dedication of the Temple of Jupiter and Juno, when it was  told him that his Son was dead, did not desist but went on with his holy Rites. And did they endure so much for an empty name and vanishing titles, for a swelling Reputation, which are little more than an impostumated bubble presently blown away; and wilt thou think much to endure a little momentary pain for an immarcessible Crown, and the joys of Paradise? Yes surely, methinks thy soul upon the account of Gospel-promises, may be encouraged to as great designs, as difficult adventures, as valorous exploits and achievements, as ever those Heroes undertook, seeing we may writ this upon our Banners, I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed. 
Rom. 8.18.   
Consider lastly, if thou shouldst die for the profession of Christ, thou shalt wear the Crown of Martyrs; 'tis taken for an undoubted Maxim, that in Heaven there are degrees of glory, that as there are Stars of a greater and lesser magnitude; so in Heaven some shall have a greater eminency than the rest, not but that every Saint with Esau shall say, I have enough, but yet some shall be dignified with more Emblems of glory according to their laborious industry, and amongst the rest the Martyrs are presumed to led the van, to have the most polished Crowns, and splendid Robes, the {αβγδ}, the chief Seats in the superior Mansions: Polycarp that was burnt to ashes, and many of the Saints whose bodies were made night torches, shall be flaming Seraphins( as it were) in that celestial Kingdom; such as Paphnutius that had his Eye bored out for the cause of Christianity, shall be requited with an excllent ray of the beatifical Vision, those that had the pitchy coat put on and were besmeared with unctuous liquors, that their bodies might be more ready fuel for the merciless flames, shall be anointed with the oil of gladness above their fellows.  
Those that in sweat and sorrow carried their burdensome crosses to Calvary, and there were fixed to them, shall have an exceeding eternal weight of Glory, shall be fastened as a nail in a sure place, never to be removed from their seats of rest and glory.  
Those that bore in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus, lost their complexions by tormenting dolours, shall appear fair as the Moon, clear as the Sun, like the ruddy Morning and curtains of Solomon, 
Omnia ista deformitas detestabilis& tetra gentilibus, quali splendore pensabitur, secularis haec& brevis poena, quam c●●ri& aeterni honoris mercede mutabitur, Cyprian Epist. 77.  the Martyrs( no question) shall be the Benjamins, the sons of the right hand, the Jedediahs, the Josephs who shall be known by their particoloured robes.  
Every Saint shall rejoice, but the Martyrs shall triumph, as those that have born the burden and heat of the day, and have lead captivity captive, and been more than Conquerors through Christ assisting them; therefore as Agrippina when she was  told that she should bring forth a Son that should rule the Roman empire, but would slay her that gave him breath, she magnanimously replied, let him kill me so he may but govern; so Christian thou mayst confidently say, let them destroy this Temple, let them reduce this carcase to its primitive dust, and put a period to the dayes of my pilgrimage, so I may but reign with God, reside with Christ, be crwoned with the Martyrs, echo out Anthems with conquering spirits, and wash my robes in the blood of the Lamb.  
Considerat. 6. To conclude, if persecutors be violent and furious, let us take this for granted, either God can calm them or remove them, either he can plane and level the Mountain, or throw it into the Sea: God can calm, he can make a lion a Lamb, a Vulture a Dove, he can put a hook in the nose of Leviathan, and make Behemoth tame and flexible; God, is that cunning Lapidary that, can make a rugged ston a curious Gem, Laban thought to have done great things to Jacob, but God met him by the way, superseded his passions, and gave a charge to him to speak to Jacob neither good nor bad; Israel feared the Persian as well as the Babylonian Monarchy, would have hindered their return to the Holy Land, when lo a Decree comes from Cyrus,( like Noah's Dove with an Olive-branch) and gives leave to re-edify the Temple, and then were the Vessels of the Sanctuary restored, and thus the Mountain in Zachariah became a plain in the way of Zerubbabel; Saul was by nature hot and fiery, consenting to the death of Steven, one that made it his business to keep down growing Christianity, but God met him in the way to Damascus, humbled him, took away( as I may say) his Commission, gave him a new patent, and made him an Apostle of the Gentiles; and now behold a change, he that was a persecutor is now a preacher; he that anathematized Christians, now preaches peace by Jesus Christ; he that was as the wild Boar of the forest, fiery and raging, is now like his new Master, meek and lowly; he that was an ominous and portentous Comet, now sends out sweet, heavenly and Evangelical Influences, who but Saint Paul? Now the weapons of his warfare are not carnal, but mighty and spiritual; he is not harassing the Christians, but fighting against principalities and powers; he is not beating the servants of Christ, but beating down his own body and bringing it into subjection, and captivating every thing to the obedience of Jesus Christ; he that vomited out flames and fury, comes as a peaceable ambassador, bringing with him the ministry of Reconciliation, and entreating men for Christ's sake to be reconciled unto God: Whereby we see what God can do, the power of Divinity, and the operations of an Omnipotent Agent, God has a hammer for an adamantine heart, and can make a flinty soul flexible, and receive the divine signatures and impressions: Thus God sweetened Trajan who stirred up the third persecution, and stilled his rage upon the mediation of Plinius Secundus; and Aurelian being about to sign an Edict against the Christians, God hindered his purpose by cramping his knuckles, and by the fall of a Thunderbolt which had like to have slain him; therefore Christian, wait patiently, God can calm the passions of men, and smooth their rough and uuhewen natures; so that thou shalt see a Tyrant become a Patron, and a Nimrod a nursing Father to the Church.  
But if a persecutor will not melt with a beam, God can crush him with a Thunderbolt, if he will not be moved with soft persuasions, with a compassionate Suada, God can ruin him with a revenging Nemesis; he can pour a viol of wrath upon the Sun, throw down Crowns and sceptres, humble the greatest Monarchs of the Earth, and let them know they are but worms and dust in comparison of the lofty one that inhabits eternity: How many of the Roman Emperours came to untimely ends after they had been so vexatious to the Christians? 
Seventy three perished in the space of an hundred years, whereof only three dyed a natural death.  Nero that lead the van after he had slain many of the servants of Christ, was forced to be his own Executioner; Valerian taken by Sapores King of Persia, flayed and salted with Salt, and so felt in person some of the punishments the Christians endured; Decius warring against the Barbarians, fell into a pit and was swallowed up and entombed in mud; Julian that cunning Enemy of Christ threatened when he came from the Persian War, that he would sacrifice to the Gods in Christian blood, and erect the picture of Venus in all their Temples, but God smote him with a Dart, which whether it came from Heaven, or the Persian Army is yet undecided; and Felix one of the Captains to Charles the Fifth, swore that he would ride up to the spurs in the blood of the Lutherans, but God cooled his courage, for that very night he was choked and strangled in his own blood; such like things have happened, God has broken the teeth of the wild Boar that destroyed the Vineyard, and then have the Churches had rest, and flourished like the Garden of the Lord; fear not therefore Christian, there is a moderator above that can order the most potent Mortals, and over-power the Grandees of the Earth, and if they will not bow to his Golden sceptre, he will make them feel his Iron Rod, and let them know by woeful experience, that there is as much difference betwixt him and them, as betwixt the Potter and the day, a head of Glass and Brass, unable altogether to hold a contest with the holy one of Israel.   

One thing more, good Christian, I would desire of thee, not to be courted out of thy Religion, by those( who it may be to draw thee to their lure) will make thee great promises, as Antigonus to his Friends, Satan to Christ, or Balak offering Balaam no small promotion; many of the primitive Christians have been offered great preferments if they would gentilize and deny the Faith; Histories tell us of some that have been taken from their doleful prisons, from the bread and water of affliction, and have been laid upon downy beds, 
So Saint Jerom relates of a young man in the time of the Decian Persecution, that being laid upon a bed of down in a pleasant Garden amongst Lilies and Roses, whither presently comes a beautiful Strumpet, that used all the abominable tricks of her impure art to draw him to her desire, which to prevent he bit off a piece of his Tongue, and in defiance spit in her Face, Vit. Paul. Eremit. Tom. 1. p. 237.  feasted with delicate Viands, presented with gallant Ladies, which proffered their embraces, all which they have rejected as the baits of Satan who laid siege to the immortal soul, and as lime-twigs to ensnare the rational part, and make them like the beast that perish.  
But scorn preferments and the favour of men, in comparison of God and Christ, to whom thou art devoted, keep thy Virgin soul pure and chased like the spotless brow of Heaven, and do not prostitute it to these Enchantments, stop thine ears against these Syrens, and turn away thine eyes that they behold not vanity; what is a great Estate, earthly Riches, secular Advancement? Things from which thou mayst be snatched in the twinkling of an eye, and then thou that wast Fellow with Nobles and Heroes, hast nothing but the Worms and Moths of the Grave for thy Companions; suppose thou shouldst be a Favourite of a King, or Person of Honour; alas these high places are slippery, and the tide of Princes favours ebbs and flows like the unconstant Ocean, such seem to stand upon the floating Islands, and repose themselves upon turning wheels, where they can promise themselves little settlement or stability; what fate had Pharaoh's Butler, Haman in the time of Assuerosh, Secanus in the dayes of Tiberius, clytus in the Reign of Alexander, the renowned Boethius in the time of theodoric; omitting domestic Examples? such often climb the Stairs that their downfall may be the greater: Be true therefore to God and thy Religion; let not the glisterings of Crowns and sceptres ravish thee, the sugared words of great Ones 'allure thee, or the expectation of swelling Titles, Coronets, or mitres cause thee to quit the Truth and to forsake thy first Love; but as Saint Ambrose said unto Valentinian, he would submit to him in any thing that was reasonable, but would never forsake the Nicene Creed; so resolve( with the grace and strength of Christ) to keep thyself an unalterable Friend to God, a Loyal Spouse to Christ, that when others are melting, flexible and condescending, calling this and the other Rabbi, and shaping their Religion according to the humour of the Grandees of the World; be thou like the solid Earth, like Mount Sion, like Jachin and Boaz, the Pillars of the Temple steadfast and immovable, and so triumph against the frowns and smiles of Fortune, expecting a recompense at the Resurrection of the Just.    

Directions in order to the holding fast our Profession, and the keeping of us from wavering.  
Direct. 1. Labour to be convinced of the excellency of that Religion you have espoused, both as Christians in general, and reformed in particular; nothing makes people waver more and be so much sceptics as neutrality and indifferency in Religion; they think God will be served with any form or mode of Worship, and that any embraced Religion will bring them to the desired Port of happiness and felicity, and so they make no matter of stepping from one Religion to another, from one Opinion to another, thinking what ever guide they have, they shall at last be brought to the Horeb of God, and the New Jerusalem; but Christians should labour to find out the best way, and to prove all things, trying with the Bereans and being like the prudent Merchant, that when he found an excellent and invaluable Pearl, then did not make any more Markets, but bought that as a piece of inestimable Treasure; thus we, having entred upon our profession should be convinced of the excellency of it as Christian, and here we are to consider that no Religion is so excellent as ours, as having clear testimony from Heaven, being the most excellent mirror of divine Revelation, that ever was in the World, and as we embrace the old and the new Testament, both of them had such a solemn confirmation from Heaven, as no other obtruded Religion can glory in; 'tis true the ancient Legislators pretended a divine Authority from some particular Deities, but this was, gratis dictum, they never proved their assertions by extraordinary acts; you hear of no Miracles wrought by Egeria, Apollo, Mercury, or Minerva for the ratification of their Institutions, like those the two Testaments can produce; with what pomp and stateliness was the Law delivered upon Mount Sinah, thunderings and lightnings, the Mount smoking and quaking, When God came from Teman, 
Habakkuk ult.  and the holy one from Mount Paran, the everlasting Mountains were scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow, as Habakkuk speaks; such transactions there were as might satisfy any that these things were the Acts of Omnipotency.  
Come to the Gospel, was not Christ declared from Heaven to be the {αβγδ}, the Interpreter of the Father's Will by Thunder, or the Daughter of a voice three times? A thing to which the Jews were used under the second Temple; did not the unclean spirits unanimously confess him to be the Son of God? Did not his repeated Miracles evidence a Divine Mission? Such as the raising of the dead, opening the blind eyes, dispossessing Divels, and curing Diseases, which could not be perfected by human remedies; these were other kind of things than the Heathenish wonders, such as cutting a whet-stone, fetching water in a Sieve, drawing a Ship with a Girdle, and the pranks of Apollonius Tyanaeus, which might be done by the agency of Spirits or Demons; which Miracles of Christ were so remarkable, that Pilate sent a Catalogue of them to Tyberius, and he was earnest with the Senate at Rome for the deifying of our Saviour: Did not at the same Oracles begin to fail? the Idols of Egypt vanish? the Statues of Romulus and Quirinus fall? and though Julian after would have consulted the Oracle of Apollo at Daphne in the Suburbs of Antioch, 
ruffian. lib. 1. cap. 35.  yet he could say nothing by reason of the body of Babylas the Martyr that was butted there.  
Are not these Demonstrations of the truth and excellency of our Religion; Which cannot be matched either by gentle, Mahometan, or any other that have pretended received Dictates from above, for the ordering and regulating the communities of men?  
But again the excellency of our Religion appears as it is a rational Religion, suiting with those faculties which the Supreme Moderator has bestowed upon us, and so is most fit both for the governing the private conversations of men, and the more public Societies of the World; some Religions are ridiculous, as granting Polytheism or multitudes of Deities, conniving at sins, having such notions of God as are unbecoming so sacred a Majesty, enjoining such fooleries as are fitter to be laughed out of the World than command obedience, and thus many toys in Gentilism I suppose of old were derided by Socrates and some other more knowing Athenians.  
But nothing does our God require but it commands the assent and closure of right reason; our Worship of God is called {αβγδ} a reasonable service, Romans 12.1. and God himself puts the question to the Jews, who had injurious and suspicious thoughts of him, are not my ways equal, O house of Israel? And all those little Objections against the Resurrection, the eternity of punishments, about the taking up the across, and such like things are so fully answered by the learned of our own Nation, that it is in vain for me to launch out into a long and tedious discourse, to show how they are consistent with the Rules of Reason, which made the great Apostle confidently to argue with the Jews in the Synagogues, with the Epicureans and stoics, making his Religion far more consistent with reason, and clearly demonstrative than that of his Adversaries, and so looked upon the contemptuous Scorners, as {αβγδ} men of no Reason and topics, 
2 Thess. 3.2.  whether they were unbelieving Jews, deriding Philosophers, or sensual gnostics.  
2. But in the second place, our Religion as reformed is most excellent, of which we may easily be convinced, because of the congruity which it has with the holy Scriptures. For let us take either the Greek or the Romish Church, and we shall find, that though they own the Christian Religion in general, yet they have abundance of Observances and some dogmatical Points also, which are beside the Canon of the holy Writ. The Russians equalize Traditions with the Scriptures, affirm that the holy Ghost proceeds not from the Son; that the Books of Moses except Genesis are not to be red; that Christ is the only mediator of Redemption, but not of Intercession, they also swear by the across. The Armenians are partly of the Eutichyan heresy, which seemed to make a Coalition of the Two Natures of Christ into one compounded Nature; they give the Eucharist to Infants; they count several Beasts unclean, and have inserted several things into their Creeds not ordinarily maintained either by the Greek or Latin Churches. The Jacobites hold that there is in Christ but one Nature, Will and Operation, imprint on their Children before Baptism the mark of the across with an hot Iron; they say that Angels are made of Fire and Light, and that the Souls of men remain in the Earth till the Resurrection. The Abyssines use Circumcision, abstain from several Beasts as unclean, keep the sabbath and the Lord's day both alike, receive the Wine in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in a Spoon, and must not spit that day they take it; they hold traduction of Souls, and admit of painted Images. The like we might show of the Cophti, the Maronites and Melchites, and others in those Eastern Countries, who have introduced things never so much as hinted in the blessed Gospel. And if we come to the Roman Church, we shall find it asserting apocrypha for caconical Scripture, the Pope's Supremacy, Invocation of Saints, Adoration of Images, Transubstantiation, Latin Service, Indulgences, Purgatory, Extreme Unction, monastic Vows, Traditions( and such like) which have no warrant from the divine Records, but are the Doctrines of men, and the Divination of their own Brains, sympathising with their predecessors the Pharisees, who brought in abundance of usages and observances, never prescribed of God in the Mount to Moses; so neither were these ever made authentic by Jesus Christ, the Basis of which Doctrines being only human Authority; and so they may pass as the Calves of Dan and Bethel, the politic contrivance of Jeroboam, who stands branded in Scripture with this note of infamy, who made Israel to sin. But now the Reformed Religion, especially as 'tis established in this Nation, doth not enjoin any Doctrinal point, matter of Faith, or command any necessary Duty, but what is positively declared, or at least undoubtedly proved from the written Word: Consider I pray our Creeds, our Catechisms, our Articles, our Confessions, our Determinations, and see if we make any thing a fundamental Point which is not severely imposed by the holy Scriptures; which being rightly considered, cannot choose but be an excellent Antidote against Scepticism and apostasy. For what man will part with Truth for Shadows, the pure Wheat for the Chaff of Vanity, with generous Wine for impure Dregs and insignificant Lees, with the Gold of Ophir for drossy Metals, with the sparkling Diamond for the glittering Bristol? None surely will be so much infatuated. God said once to his people, Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon and the water that comes from the rock of the fields? no certainly; 
Jerem. 18.14.  so he that sees what a Religion he hath embraced, taking a right Estimate of its Excellency both as Christian and Reformed, in comparison of those Fancies and obtruded Delusions which the World groans under, cannot choose( if he have any understanding) but say, here will I take up my rest, here will I fix my Hercules Pillars; surely the Lord is here, this is Bethel, and here be the words of Eternal Life.  
Direct. 2. If you would not waver, be fully assured of the Fidelity of God in performing and making good the Promises of the Gospel. There is nothing moves men like Interest, and prompts them to labour, diligence and perseverance so much as this; this oils all the wheels of the Soul, and makes us quick and nimble like the chariots of Aminadab: This makes the Labourer endure the heat of the day, the master to grapple with storms and waves, the Soldier to encounter death and bloodshed. How do men tug upon the hopes of advantage! How did they sweat at the olympic Games for rewards and Garlands! What did Jacob endure for his beloved Rachel, promised to him by her Father Laban? The Disciples said to Christ, What shall we have? and Moses himself had an eye to the recompense of reward; and once take away Gain and the hopes of Retribution, and mens Spirits flag, Rust seizes upon their industrious Spirits, and they drive heavily like the wheels of Pharaoh, and like a becalmed Ship they cruse about here and there making no speed or riddance. Hence it is that many hearing the Atheist on the one side, pertly deriding both a Deity and future Rewards and Punishments, and the Papist on the other hand, to boast of temporal Felicity, as a Mark of the True Church,( several I say) especially the afflicted Christian begins to stagger, and sometimes thinks, if there be no rewarder then 'tis in vain to be so religious, and if temporal Prosperity be a note of the Church, then ten to one but these pressures attend me because I am not a right catholic; and so a man is in danger either of being of no Religion or else a Romanist, and that upon the hope of an earthly blessing or Secular advantage. But the right consideration of the Faithfulness of God, in rewarding especially hereafter, will be a sufficient counterbane against these Objections and Scruples; for the Apostle lays down this as a cogent Motive, Argument and persuasive why we should hold the profession of our faith without wavering, viz. because he is faithful that hath promised; as if he should say, God will fully make good whatever is recorded in the sacred Oracles, every Promise shall have its due impletion and accomplishment; the heavens shall pass away like a scroll and the earth shall wax old like a garment, but his counsel shall stand, and he will perform all his pleasure. And indeed God has never broken his word hitherto, all his promised blessings have manifested themselves according to his predictions: That great Promise of the coming of the Messiah was made good in the fullness of time; that of bringing Israel out of Egypt was also verified, for after four hundred years, 
Exod 12.41.  the self same day, the hosts of the Lord came out of the land of Egypt; that Cyrus should favour the captivated Tribes of Israel was also truly accomplished, 
Isai. 44.28.  and do we think that he will be slacken and remiss in performing the great Promises of the Gospel, which chiefly concern a future Estate, and tell us of a rest that remaineth for the people of God? Those that think otherwise have worse apprehensions of God than the Heathens of their Jupiter, for this they did vaunt of their God that he did {αβγδ}, speak truth and do good, and that he would reward good men hereafter they had sufficient convictions. 
In Phaedon.& Gorg.  Plato speaks to the purpose and tells us, that good men going to the Elysian Fields fill themselves with Nectar and all delights, banquet upon immortal pleasures, and what not? And Seneca writing to his friend, 
Sen. Epist. 86.  says after this manner, The place from whence I date my Letters to thee is the reputed Village of the famous Scipio, whose Ghost and Altar I reverence, but for his Soul I persuade myself 'tis gone to heaven from whence it came; not because he lead great Armies, for this the furious Cambyses fortunately did, but because of his excellent Piety and Moderation, which were visible and conspicuous in him, as well in his Exile as in his Triumphs and Glory: And did the Heathen see so much by the Candle of the Lord, and should not we believe the heavenly Declaration of Scripture, which assures us that God will not be unrighteous, and forget our work of faith and labour of love, which tells us, though clouds and darkness be round about him, yet that righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his throne; which assures us that he will requited the meanest acts of kindness, and that a cup of could water to a Disciple shall not go without a reward; which fully sets down the proceedings of the last day in Matth. 25. showing us, that for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and doing such like acts of Mercy, the Saints shall be recompensed with unspeakable joys in the Kingdom of their Father. Therefore Christian be of good courage, thou servest neither an indigent nor a dishonest Master, and so shalt not go without thy wages; and as for Temporal Felicity it is not always the portion of the Saints. David eateth ashes like unto bread, while Nabal feasts; Belshazar quaffs while such an one as Michaiah is fed with the bread and water of affliction: the Sinner crowns himself with Rose-buds, while the Godly are torn with the Briars and Thorns of the Wilderness; the ungodly range in the fruitful Valleys, while the righteous man's lot is only the barren Mountains of Gilboah; the Sinner is clothed in Purple, when as the attire of the Saints is Sackcloth and Mourning Weeds: not but that God cares for the Righteous, but he suspends the dispensation of his Blessings till time be expired, the Archangel sound the Trump, and Eternity be introduced; then shalt thou have a Retribution, then shall be thy Coronation-day, and thy Temples adorned with a Crown of Righteousness; then shall be the year of Jubilee, when thou who wast a servant of servants shalt be made free Denizen of the new Jerusalem; then shall the Marriage-solemnities be completed betwixt thee and Christ thy beloved Bridegroom; then shall the everlasting sabbath be ushered in, when those that die in the Lord shall rest from their labours; then shall every servant of God have the {αβγδ}, the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. All the gifts bestowed on the Roman conquerors, the Crowns and Garlands, all the Prizes of the olympic Games, will be poor insignificant trifles to these heavenly Ornaments: The Glory of Solomon, the Bravery of Herod, the Pearls and Gems of Cleopatra, if they were united and concentred into one individual, would be but a mean Emblem and petty Synopsis of the Saints Glory; which made Fulgentius have this following Meditation. Being at Rome, and seeing the triumphant Pomp of theodoric; the Glory of the Nobility, and the splendour of the City; How beautiful may the celestial Jerusalem be( said he) when the terrestrial Rome shineth thus! If such honour be given to lovers of vanity, what shall be imparted to the Saints, who are lovers and practisers of Holiness and Piety? cheer up therefore, O Christian Soul, anchor thyself upon the Faithfulness of the Almighty, who will give thee one day good measure, pressed down and running over, into thy bosom; stick to the Gospel, and then thou mayst hope that all the promises thereof shall be yea and Amen to thee in Christ Jesus, then mayst thou confidently say with St. Peter( when he foretold that pale Consumption that was to overspread the face of sublunary Beings) Nevertheless we, 
2 Pet. 3.13.  according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. As the men of Israel followed Saul, because he  told them of Vines and Fig-trees, the Lacedemonians Cyrus, because he bragged he would give them money by weight and not by measure; so do thou stick close to thy Profession and depend upon the Truth of an immutable God, who will not prove a perfidious Carthaginian, serve thee as Antigonus did his Friends with delusory promises; or Nebuchadnezar the Tyrians, but will fulfil the least iota, pay the utmost farthing. So that thou shalt find by good experience, that God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart; That the Righteous shall flourish like a Palm-tree, and grow like a Cedar in Libanon; That light is sown for the Righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.  
Direct. 3. If you would not waver, then labour to get the Grace of Patience; for this is an excellent qualification of a Christian in order to the settlement of him in his Religion: Impatience makes men fret and give up the cause, especially if the weather be bad, the way foul and Religion under the hatches. What shall I wait for the Lord any longer, says the King of Israel, 2 Kings 6.33. When there was a Famine in Samaria, he was the very next door to Atheism; when the gourd was gone, and the parching Sun beat upon the head of Jonah, O how peevish& intemperate was he! and the potsherd was ready to contest with the Potter; So it is in the practise of Christianty, when as the Doctrine of the across comes to be managed, resisting to blood and losing all for Christ's sake, it makes many give over, then they say with the Sluggard, There is a Lion in the way; when the winds whistle, and the waves rise, and shipwreck likely to happen, then they begin to say, O that we had not taken this troublesome Voyage, O that we were on shore again; what is there never a more safe passage than this dangerous Irish Ocean? The impatient Christian says, what is this my Portion for my fear of God, and love to Christ? I looked for Roses and Lilies, and behold a Crown of Thorns, I hoped for Sun-shines and Halcyonian-days, but I fail of my expectations; I see I do nothing but encounter difficulties, and grapple with disasters which like succeeding waves do overtake each other; will nothing serve but my blood? must my Estate be confiscated, and I with Job made poor to a Proverb, Wo is me that I am constrained to dwell in Meshech, and to have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar; wo is me that with simon of Cyrene, I am compelled to take up this burdensome across, and to have my Lodging appointed in Golgatha, to be a Spectacle to the World, to Angels, and Men: And thus the Christian is ready to throw down his arms, quit the field, and turn Renegado. But when the God of Patience infuses this Virtue into the Soul, it calms men's spirits, stills the passions, cools the heats, and allays the storms and commotions we are incident to; it makes men flexible and submissive to all the acts of Divine Providence; it makes a man to be dumb with David, or to say with Ely, It is the Lord, let him do what seems good in his eyes. Thus our blessed Saviour, that great Pattern and Exemplar of Patience, spake very little at his arraignment before Pontius Pilate, but fulfilled the prophesy, He went as an Ox to the Slaughter, and as a Sheep before the Shearer is dumb, so he openend not his mouth. And he bids us in Patience, possess our souls, 
Luke 21.19.  and the Apostle requires, 
Heb. 6.12.  That we should be Followers of those who through faith and patience are inheritors of the promises; 
Rev. 13.10.  and in the Revelations, Behold the patience of the Saints. It is reported of heal, the Mother of Constantine the Great, that having found the across of our Saviour, she caused one of the Nails to be taken out and thrown into the adriatic Sea; and there is a Tradition, says a late Cosmographer, 
Heilin.  that that Ocean is not so raging and furious as before. Now the Soul of man may be compared to the unsettled waves, till Patience come which allays the unquiet passions, fixes the turbulent humours, and puts the whole Soul into a sedate& peaceable temper, so that he that was like an angry Lion ready to tear himself, and the Author of his Tragedies, is willing to endure hardship for the cause of Christ, to let the Plowers plow upon his back, and make long furrows.  
When Israel came to Marah, they could not drink of the Waters because they were bitter, but Moses by the Divine appointment, put a certain Wood into them, which made them sweet and potable: So we meet here with many a bitter draft and brackish Potion, like to our Saviour's Cup that was mingled with gull& vinegar, but Patience sweetens them, and so we take them off; it takes away the Acrimony and sharpness of these unpleasing liquours, and makes them( though disastful) yet Medicinal. How did the primitive Christians bear up both against the reproaches and persecutions that befell them? They were called Pisciculi, Fishes, not only from the first Letters of the Sybilline riddle, but because of their going into the Water when they were baptized; when they celebrated the Lord's Supper, and took Bread and Wine according to his Institution, they were called Worshippers of Bacchus and Ceres; their Night-worships were called Revellings and Debaucheries, yet they regarded not reproaches and calumnies; bonds and burdens, fire and faggots, the rage of Men and fury of Devils, Patience made them still, and was as cool water to alloy the heat and inflammation of this fiery trial. How remarkable was the last act of Polycarp! he feasted the men that came to apprehended him, and gave them good cheer, and when they brought him to the stake, he quietly said, Let me alone, you need not nail or fasten me, for he that brought me hither will give me patience to endure these Torments. Ignatius did not rail against his Adversaries when they were ready to throw him to wild Beasts, but said, I care neither for things visible or invisible, so I may gain Christ. When Galienus Maximus sent for St. Cyprian, and red the Sentence of his condemnation, which was that he should be beheaded, he patiently said Amen, let it be so, put of his cloths, gave the Executioner the little gold and money that he had, and submitted his neck to the stroke of the sword. And the same St. Cyprian tells us a story of one of his Presbyters of Carthage, 
Cypr. ejusd. 35.  Qui laetis oculis uxorem suam non tam concrematam quam conservatam aspexit, Who with a joyful countenance beholded his wife for the cause of Christ exposed not to the consuming but preserving flames( as he stiles them) Thus Hormisda, a Nobleman in the Persian Court, rent his silken garments, and suffered himself to be clothed with rags rather than abjure the Gospel of Christ; and Auxentius rather than offer a bunch of grapes to Bacchus, quitted all his Military Dignities by the command of Licinius. But the most remarkable piece of patience was that of the Theban Legion in the days of Maximian, who because they would not sacrifice to false gods, he put them to a decimation, causing every tenth man to be murdered, then again commands the rest to sacrifice, who refusing as before, are all immediately put to the sword with Mauritius their Colonel, not in the least making any resistance upon the account of self-preservation. Thus we see how patience had her perfect work, and thus still will have the same effect upon genuine Christians, it will make them speak such language as this; 'tis true the sky is lowering and the Heavens frown, Ishmaels scoff and Nimrods persecute, but we must endure and put up affronts, because we are Strangers and Pilgrims as all our Fathers were; yet a little while and the Sun will show his clouded head, the shadows will disappear, the spring will put in, the course will be over, and we shall reach the Goal; then shall the tired Horse be disburdened, and the weary Ox repose himself in his Master's stall; he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry; they are ready to say to God as the Slave of Antistenes to his Master, Nullus bacculus tam durus, &c. No staff shall be so hard as to beat me from thee; And with St. Paul, 
Acts 21.13.  I am not ready only to go to Jerusalem, but to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus; and to utter the language of the Psalmist, 
Psal. 44.17, 18, 19.  We have not forgot thy Name, though thou hast smitten us into the place of Dragons, and covered us with the shadow of Death. Impatience makes men rage at disasters, and like the Dog bite the ston, not considering the hand that threw it, and fall upon acts of revenge which are sometimes not more furious than ridiculous: Thus Xerxes, receiving a loss by Hellespont, caused fetters to be thrown into it,( the like did Darius to the River Gynde, because it drowned him a beloved Horse) and the same Xerxes sent a threatening Letter to the Mountain Atho, 
Plut. de Ira Cohib.  menacing that if it did not afford handsome stones for Building, he would throw it into the Sea; and a People in Africa went out to fight with the North wind, because it drove heaps of sand upon their Habitations. But the Christian that is furnished with the grace of patience puts up injuries and misusages, and takes all dispensations in good part, as proceeding from the great Comptrouler of all things. Excellent was that speech of Anna Boullen to Henry the VIII. a little before her death, she thanked him that he had made her from a private Gentle-woman, a marquis, from a marquis a Queen, and so a Martyr. O the prevalency of this virtue! it makes punishment preferment, persecution an honour, the across a Crown, misery a dignity, and like the Philosopher's ston converts all to gold, this being the Motto upon Standard or Banner, The Will of the Lord be done: Therefore, Christian, labour to be possessed of this, and then thou wilt be likely to hold fast thy profession and war a good warfare; Fear and trouble, griefs and dolours, misfortunes and afflictions make many Christians deny their Faith and forsake their first Love; but Patience digests all, bears up against storms and tempest, and ushers in that blessed perseverance to which the Lord has promised a Crown of Righteousness.  
Direct. 4. If thou wouldst hold fast thy Profession, be earnest in prayer to God for spiritual Confirmation and Establishment. Almighty God by his power doth keep the Earth on its basis, the Sea within bounds, the Stars in their respective orbs; so in like manner he keeps the Feet of his Saints from backsliding and apostasy, as preventing Grace preserves some from abominable practices, as Abimelech; so in like manner it secures others from corrupt principles, which made the Apostles so often bow their knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the Churches committed to their charge, 
1 Pet. 5.10.  That he would strengthen them, keep them from falling, and secure them by his mighty Power to Life Everlasting. To this purpose our blessed Saviour also was earnest for his Disciples, That he would keep them whom he had given him. 
Joh. 5. ●7.  If the Nurse take away her hand from the Child, it falls presently; If the Ballast be taken from the Ship, it is unsteady and unsettled: So( such Weaklings are we) that if God withdraw assisting Grace, we should set our faces towards Sodom, and leave the paths of Righteousness; the best of us would quit our Stations, tumble like Lucifer and his Apostate Train; the best of us would have irregular and excentrical Motions, the best of us would be ready to leave the way to Sion and take the broader path with the numerous multitudes of an infatuated World. Therefore we ought affectionately to implore the Assistance of Heaven, the Company of the ever blessed Spirit, to keep us from a sad apostasy and Recidivation. Notable to this purpose is that which is recorded of Dr. 
Fox Acts& Mon.  Pendleton and Mr. Sanders, in the beginning of Queen Marie's Reign, the Persecution beginning to rage, and these two having much discourse concerning it, Mr. Sanders shewed much weakness and many fears, Dr. Pendleton said to him, Why dost thou fear? there is more cause for me to fear than thee, for I have a big and a fat body, but( quoth he) thou shalt see the utmost piece of this grease melted away, and the last gobbet of this flesh of mine consumed to ashes, before I will forsake Jesus Christ, and his Truth which I have professed; but afterwards when it came to the trial, faint hearted Sanders burned, and presumptuous Pendleton turned Papist and recanted. In like manner Peter was brisk and jolly, and he would die with Christ, but denied him thrice that Night before the Cock crew, according to our Saviours prediction. Therefore. Christian, if thou wouldest not waver, make thy constant Addresses to the God of the Spirits of all Flesh, for Spiritual Confirmation, and if thou thinkest good, mayst present thy Supplication in this, or some such like expressions of Devotion, as these following, or what other thou judgest suitable and pertinent to thy condition.   

O Lord and merciful Father in Jesus Christ, I bless, magnify, and adore thy sacred Majesty, for revealing to me the glorious Gospel of thy dear Son, the Mystery hide from Ages, which the Angels themselves desire to prie into: I praise thee that I dwell in Goshen, in a Land of Light, where the Sun of Righteousness doth arise with healing in his wings, that I was washed in the Laver of Regeneration, educated and instructed in the Mysteries of thy Kingdom, taken into the Fellowship of the Saints and Communion of thy Church, O grant that as I have received the Lord Jesus, so I may walk in him, rooted and grounded, and may not be removed from the Hope of the Gospel, O let me hold fast this Profession of my Faith without wavering, and stick close to Jesus; Let me not be as a wandring Star, or Clouds carried away with the wind, let me not forsake my first Love, or make shipwreck of Faith or a good Conscience, let me not turn aside from the Holy Commandment, begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh; let not the deceitfulness of Riches, the frowns of Men, or the temptations of Satan, cause me to deny the Lord that bought me, or forsake the Captain of my salvation; but let me be faithful to thee, my God, till death, that I may receive a Crown of Life; keep me in thy Favour, stablish me with thy Grace, make my heart sound in thy Statutes, and preserve me pure and spotless, holy and unbleamable to thy Heavenly and everlasting Kingdom. And though many disesteem the God that made them, deny the Saviour of mankind, and scandalise their Holy Calling, yet( blessed Father) grant that I may never be of the number of these Atheistical and brutish, sensual and profane Libertines, but may with all vigour and earnestness, zeal and steadfastness, contend for the Doctrine of Faith once delivered to the Saints, and serve thee, my God, in the way of thy Precepts, till the earthly House of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved, that I may at last with the Prophets and Apostles, with the Martyrs and confessors, and with the Spirits of just Men made perfect, be received into those Celestial Mansions of Eternal Bliss, purchased for us by the Blood of Jesus, my blessed Saviour, Redeemer, Mediator, and Advocate, Amen. Thus address thyself to thy heavenly Father, he is like to be in the greatest safeguard and security, that has the everlasting arms under him,& for his keeper the Watchman of Israel. I shall now by way of Conclusion to this discourse, add a few persuasives& enforcements to this great Duty, which we have been pressing, viz. the holding fast the profession of our faith.   


First therefore hold fast the Faith, because it is the pledge of Heaven to you; 'tis the most blooming and rich Mercy that God can bestow upon thee, 'tis one of the most orient Pearls in Heavens Cabinet; 'tis true, Vines and Fig-trees and Olive-yards and outward accommodations, are all products of Mercy, left hand Blessings, for which the Father of Lights is to be adored; but the bequeathing of the Gospel is a transcendent and superlative Favour: What a mercy is it that with Gideon's Fleece thou shouldst be watered, when others remain dry; that thou shouldst drink in the due of Heaven, when others are thirsting for the Waters of Life; that thou shouldst have the refreshing Beams of the Sun of Righteousness, when others have but the transient glarings and shinings of natural Light; what a mercy that thou shouldst be taken within the Veil, when other stand in atrio Gentium, in the outward Rooms of the Sanctuary, and are not admitted to thy Privileges: what a mercy is it that thou understandest the mysterious Doctrines, the Evangelical Counsels, which many wise men and Prophets have affectionately desired to be acquainted with, and have not obtained. Consider further thy Happiness as being a Member of the Reformed Church, which has not( as the Roman and others) by detracting and augmenting, by feigning and adulterating( the tricks of Antichrist) offered violence to the sacred Writings; where thou drinkest in the pure Crystalline streams of holy Scripture, and not muddy Traditions, implicit Notions, the dangerous Philtrum and Potion of the Whore of Babylon: what a blessing that thou art not a Member of that bestian Empire, where the Pope should be thy God, his Decrees thy Canon, the Scriptures a sealed Book, thy Faith arbitrary, according to the Constitutions of men; and in case thou be scrupulous and unresolved, fire and faggot shall be demonstrations in order to thy compliance and conviction. Hold fast therefore that Doctrine thou hast already embraced, and do not exchange Canaan for the Land of Moab, the temperate and habitable Climate for the torrid Zone, the Wells and Palm-trees of Elim( where thy station is) for the untrodden Wilderness: But since Gad has brought thee to Bethel, long not for Bethaven; since thou hast the Grapes of Escol, long not for the garlic and onions of Egypt; seeing thou hast Jordan and the Pool of Siloam, hanker not after Abanah and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus, but keep thy ground, fix here thy residence,& with Abraham erect thine Altar to the Lord God everlasting.   

Secondly hold fast thy Profession, it is the Legacy of thy Forefathers, they have instructed thee in the same Faith, seasoned thy young years with the knowledge of these fundamental Verities, with Lois and Eunice they have taught thee this pure Religion and undefiled: they have not only left thee their Lands, Fortunes and Inheritances, the product of heavens blessing and their industry; but they have left the Doctrine of Faith as a Depositum, a Pledge to which thou art to give a careful observance as thou tenderest eternal Happiness. Do not thou therefore with Esau exchange thy Birthright for a Mess of Pottage, or prostitute the Religion of thy pious Ancestors to any of those cheats before name; but as Naboth said, God forbid I should part with the inheritance of my father, so thou, part not with that Truth and holy Doctrine thy Fathers espoused, but say, Thou art my God and I will serve thee, my father's God, 
Exod. 15 ver. 2.  and I will exalt thee. It was the voice of a Heathen ( utar caeremoniis avitis) I will use my Forefathers Rites. Israel would bake Cakes to the Queen of Heaven ( as they and their fathers had done in the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem.) 
Jerem. 44.17.  The Gentiles objected this to the Christians, That they did apostatise from their old religious Customs, and embraced a new Superstition( for so they styled Christianity) and Radbodus King of Phrygia being about to be baptized, asked what place his Ancestors were gone to, being imprudently  told they were gone to Hell, he withdrew his foot from the Water, and said, I will bear them company though it be to the Stygian Lake. If these were so zealous for delusions and vanity, how much more should we have a tender regard of Truth and Piety. Moses observed the counsel of Jethro, and the Rechabites minded the injunctions of their Father Jonadab, and so would not taste the fruit of the Grape, nor be persuaded to live out of Tents; in like manner Clodia carefully received the Lectures of Modesty and Temperance, which the Orator Cicero pretended were enjoined her by Appius Caius her deceased Father: How much more should we mind the Institutions of the Gospel, which our careful fathers have laboured not only to put into our hands, but instill into our hearts, when they have said with David, Come ye children, harken unto us, and we will teach you the fear of the Lord. And if it be true what some affirm, that the Saints above see things here below in Speculo Trinitatis, in the Glass of the Trinity, as they phrase it, then certainly they cannot but take it ill( if dolours can happen to glorified Spirits) lament thy fall and condole thy prevarication; and if at last they do not disown thee, though Abraham be ignorant of thee, and Israel aclowledge thee not, yet they will no doubt condemn thee before Christ and his glorious assessors, thus complaining, Lord, we did so and so, we charged them to walk in the good old way, we revealed the Truth to them as it is in Jesus, we gave them Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept, and conjured them by all that was dear and sacred, not to break the Covenant of their God; but they have been deceitful like Ephraim, started aside like a broken Bow, forgot the word of Exhortation and scorned their faithful Monitors: therefore let them reap the fruit of their doings, and let the reward of their hands be given them. Remember also how black and clouded your names and reputations will be in succeeding Ages, when posterity shall insert you in the infamous Catalogue of Apostates and renegadoes, as degenerate Plants, Branches of the wild Olive, spurious Children, who did deviate from the righteous path of their holy Ancestors; then, of each of such, time will give this report and character, the Father was a true Nathaniel, an Israelite in whom there was no guile, but the Son a treacherous Judas, a turn-coat Demas, an unstable Weather-cock, a glaring Meteor in Christianity; the Father a devout worshipper of the true Jehovah, the Son one that bowed in the house of Rimmon: The Father one that prized the Book of the Law as the Apple of his eye, and meditated therein day and night; the Son a brutish Atheist, a wild Antiscripturist, that with the Swine was ready to tread underfoot these Jewels and Pearls of Salvation: The Father like to a Cedar in Lebanon, the Son not so much as a bruised Reed; the Father, like John the Baptist, a shining Light in his Generation, the Son not so much as a smoking Flax; and so when thy pious Progenitors are taken up to mansions of Bliss, to fountains of Joy, to everlasting Smiles and perpetual Embraces, thou shalt be under clouds and shadows, veils and curtains; thou, with the Apostate Legions, shalt be sealed under wrath and woes, conflicts and paroxysms, tumultuation of Soul, and torments of Body for evermore.   

3. Thirdly, Hold fast your Profession, for it is sealed to you with the Blood of Martyrs, and so warranted as a certain and infallible Verity. First the holy Jesus lead the Van, confirmed the new Testament with his Blood, and the Truths he had published to the straying World; then followed the holy Apostles, who all( in a manner) drunk of the same cup, and gave the same testimony with Christ their Leader; then in successive Ages behold Gad, a troop of Martyrs, who laid down their Lives and were prodigal of their Blood, rather than deny one Iota of the saving Gospel. Look into the Martyrologies of every Nation and there you shall find them fighting with Beasts, conflicting with flames, 
Vide Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. 8. cap. 6, 7, 8, 9, &c.  stretched on Racks, broiling on Gridirons, hanging on Gibbets, thrown down from Mountains and Precipices; so that Phalaris his Bull, the Bed of Procrustes, the Roman Digladiations, and the olympic Agonies, 
O beatam Ecclesiam nostram, quam temporibus nostris gloriosus martyrum sanguis illustrat! Erat antè in operibus fratrum candida, nunc factum est in martyrum cruore purpurea, floribus ejus nec Rosae nec Lilia desunt, &c. Cypr. ad mart. epist. 9.  are but mean representations of their Sufferings: and all this was to make good this maxim that Christianity is the true and most acceptable Worship with which we can serve a Deity: Surely therefore, Christian, thou art in the right, or else these foregoing Saints would never have sacrificed their Lives, their greatest blessing, for a spurious and erroneous Doctrine. Did you ever hear that the Heathen Gods had such resolute Proselytes; were there ever Martyrs for Jupiter, or confessors for Juno, who endured half so much as the Christian Agonists? can Apollo or Mars, Bacchus or Minerva show the bloody coats of their votaries? No surely; but Christians can show thousands and ten thousands, who with the Souls under the Altar cry, How long Holy, and Just, and True, will it be ere thou revenge our Blood? And if we take a view of the Reformed Churches, how many shall we find there that have stood up for Truth against error, for Purity against Idolatry, for Christ Jesus against the scarlet Whore: red the Histories of Popish cruelty in Bohemia, Piedmont, the Parisian Massacre, Queen Marie's flames, and the Irish Rebellion, how many did there accompany their Master the Lord Jesus to the dismal Cavalry! endured the across and despised the shane, and witnessed a good Confession against the Antichristian Babylon? And one principal cause of these undertakings was to give testimony to the Truth of Jesus, that so the Gospel might be received by following Generations, and might run and be glorified in the World. Therefore, Christian, seeing thou art incomp●ssed with so great a cloud of Witnesses, be steadfast and valiant, and run with patience the race that is set before thee; and as Anti●chus( to provoke the Elephants to fight) shewed them the blood of Grapes and Mulberries( the 1. of Maccab. 6.34.) so be thou encouraged to stand up for thy Religion, to fight the good fight of Faith, seeing to incite and provoke thee to this holy warfare, thou mayest behold not only the blood of myriad of Martyrs, who dyed in the same cause and attested the same principles, but the blood of Jesus, that blood of sprinkling, that blood of the everlasting Covenant,  shed to confirm this Doctrine of Faith once delivered to the Saints.   

Fourthly, hold fast your profession, because you engaged so to do when you were baptized into the Congregation of Christ's Church; when you were washed in the sacred Laver of Regeneration, then did you solemnly vow to renounce the Devil and all his works, and to continue Christ's faithful Soldiers and Servants to your lives end. Now to quit your profession, is to give the lie to Christ, to evacuate your serious engagements, to throw back God's prest-money, to be Desertores Militiae, Such as fly from their Colours, and lie under the disgrace of cowardice and apostasy; Besides remember in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper you did ratify your Baptismal vow, perform federal rites again, and seal the Covenant, formerly made with your Redeemer; be not so wicked therefore as to shake off these Spiritual ties( by a shameful revolt) as samson his cords and fetters, let not thy promises be, like Satan's to Christ, vain and deluding; let not thy promises be gold and thy payments dross and Alchumy; let not thy vows be like britle glass and crumbling sand, or like to Abortives that seldom come to ripeness or maturity, but faithfully perform what thy lips have uttered, and observe thine Allegiance to thy God. 'tis said of one Andreas, a King of Hungary, that he bound himself by Oath to go to the Holy War, but he went and bathed himself only in a River not far from Jerusalem, and so returned: but let it not be enough for thee to do some small ceremonious acts, and trifles in Religion, but hearty espouse the whole Cause of God,& contend for that Doctrine of Faith. 'tis not enough for thee to go to the Church,& take the Bible in thy hand,& lift up thy eyes to Heaven, but thou must stand up for these sacred Truths, resist unto Blood( through the help of Christ)& be faithful unto death, thy word is past, and the Covenant is sealed. The Romans had a Military Oath, the young Men of Persia the like, and the youth of Athens when they were inscribed in the City Rolls, swore to this effect, I will never disgrace my Arms, nor forsake my Fellow Soldier in danger, I will fight alone and with others for God and my Country, 
Julius Pollux, Lib. 8. cap. 9.  I will obey the received Customs, and ever have in reverence the Religion in which I was born. The Gods are Witnesses of these things. And how careful the Heathens were in performing the things they had covenanted, might be showed at large: Do not thou therefore deny that Faith which thou hast owned and approved, that Lord Jesus to whom thou hast promised Allegiance, lest Tyre and Sidon, the Africans and Romans, and all the Heathens rise up against thee and condemn thee before God, Angels, and Men for Collusion and apostasy, and so thou have a more severe punishment and a larger vial of wrath than ordinary Criminals.   

Lastly, To hold fast your profession; And to this purpose think often of the doom of Apostates, and of the glory of overcoming Saints. Seldom has a man turned a Renegado but a Divine Vengeance hath pursued him; God has marked such with his Judgments like Cain, and with Uzziah they have carried their punishments in their forehead; those that with Lot's Wife have looked back, God has made them formidable Examples of his Justice and Severity to future Ages; the fate of Julian was mentioned before, and 'tis needless to transcribe the story of Spira, who after his revolt to the Romish party, dyed blaspheming under such horrid desperation that it cannot be paralleled. Our own King John of England is not to be passed by, who( being in his Troubles) sent to one Mirammula, a potent King of Africa, requiring his assistance, and withal telling him he would renounce the Christian Faith, and be of his Religion; few had a more fatal Reign, or a more untimely exit; he that would have poisoned his Soul by taking in the Mahometan Doctrine, had a dose of poison which destroyed his body, given by a Monk of Swinsted Abbey. But the most remarkable punishment of backsliders is recorded by Luther, whose words I shall not think amiss to transcribe: Albertus, Bishop of Ments, had a Physician attending upon him, who was a Protestant, this man in hope of more gain and favour fell to the Romish Religion,& used such words as these, I will for a while set Christ behind the door till I be rich, and then I will take him again; but that very Night he was found in his bed with his tongue torn out of his mouth, as black as any coal,& his neck wrung in twain in a most fearful manner; I myself, saith Luther, coming from Frankfurt to Ments, 
Luther's Colloq. Mensal. p. 79.  was an eye-witness of that just judgement of God.  
Like to which is this, One name Urbane in the City of Magdeburgh fell from the Gospel, and voided of all God's fear and shane he uttered blasphemous words against the Gospel, he bound himself under a curse, and said, If I receive the Protestant Faith again I pray God that the Thunder may destroy me; even the same day happened a fearful Tempest of Thunder and Lightning, he calling his words to mind ran to the Church, and caused the bells to be rung, thereby to drive the Tempest over, and kneeling before the Altar he was struck by the Tempest into a trance or swoon, after they had cooled him and refreshed him, 
Luth. ibid. p. 413.  they lead him homeward between two men, but in going he was struck again( between those that lead him) in at the crown of the head, and out again at the privy parts, scalding him fearfully, burned& consumed him to death. Here was a most prodigious punishment for apostasy: but alas! what are those temporal woes to that future wrath to be revealed. Let us red S. Peter and S. judas, where for such( we are  told) is reserved the blackness of darkness, that their damnation slumbereth not, that Lucifer and his Legions must be Confederates with these Demasses, who must all, as joint Copartners in sin, be thrown down into the dark Abysses of everlasting wo; Then shall they wail and lament their folly and prevarication, that they for-fook the Fountain of Living Water, and trampled under foot the Pearls of Salvation; that they slighted Christ for Mammon, preferred Sodom before Jer●salem, the pleasures of sin before the glories of the other World. O the grief that shall ensue to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, multitudes of Holy Men, and myriad of Saints, reposing themselves in Mansions of bliss, and they shut out and confined to Dungeons of wrath and misery; then will they bemoan with tears of blood their folly and imprudence, and in vain desire the Rocks and Mountains to fall upon them, and secure them from the approaching wrath. Think of this you that are ready to wave the truth, deny the Faith, and postitute your Religion; as sure as the Sun shines and you have a being, I shall be too truly Prophetical, and this shall be your irreversible fate, because you have turned your backs of Christ, and scorned the paths of his Commandments.  
Whereas, O how great will the joy of overcoming Saints be, if I had the Tongue of Men and Angels I were not able to describe their happiness and felicity; the joy of harvest and the gladness of them that divide the Spoil, is but a mean representation of their delights and solaces. O how pleasant will it be, when Christ( to whom you have been true and loyal) shall call such before the Throne of his Father, and thousands of ministering and attending Angels, and shall say, These are they that have continued with me in Tribulation, that have passed the read Sea and tedious Wilderness, that have stuck close to me in a cloudy day, scorned Riches and secular Grandeur, dreaded not the angry blow of a persecuting Furio, that refused to strike sail to the humours of men, or worship the golden Image, but owned my Truth in those dayes when such as Antipas were my faithful Martyrs: Therefore well done, good and faithful Servants, enter into Joy and rest from your Labours, come and sit under my shadow with great delight, behold here be pleasures to counterpoise your woes and dolours, here be Crowns& Robes, Smiles& Embraces, for racks and Gibbets, for Fire and Faggot, for threats and persecutions; now take the Timbrel, and Harp, and Vial, and utter your Songs of conquest and victory; Heaven is before you, and the delights thereof are yours; solace yourselves in everlasting Bliss and let your Cups overflow, now receive the fruit of your Faith and Constancy, the sweets of the Promises and the rewards of your perseverance. This shall be the Language of the blessed Jesus to faithful Christians, after which shall follow an Investiture with all the Privileges of the Saints in Light, a sweet Reposal in Abraham's bosom, a tasting how good the Lord is, eternal contentment and satisfaction. This is the Heritage of the Servants of the Lord, and their portion from the God of Jacob.  
Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding Joy: To the only wise God our Saviour be Glory& Majesty, Dominion& Power, now and ever, Amen. judas 24.& 25.    
FINIS.   

Books Printed for, or Sold by Simon Miller, at the Star, at the West-end of St. Paul's.  

Quarto.  
BIshop White upon the Sabbath.  
The Pragmatical Jesuit, a Play, by Richard Carpenter.  
The Life and Death of the valiant and renowned Sir Francis Drake, his Voyages and Discoveries in the West-Indies, and about the World, with his Noble and heroic Acts; by Samuel clerk, late Minister of Bennet-Fink, London.  
The Life and Death of William the conqueror, King of England and Duke of Normandy; by Samuel clerk.  
Bagshaw of Christ and Antichrist.  
Astrology Theologiz'd: showing by the Light of Nature what influences the Stars have upon Men's bodies, and how the same may be diverted and avoided.   

Large Octavo.  
The Right of the Crown of England, as in established by Law; by E. Bagshaw, of the Inner-Temple, Esquire.  
An Enchiridon of Fortification.  
The English Horseman and complete Farrier; directing all Gentlemen and others how to breed, feed, ride and diet all kind of Horses, whether for War, Race, or other service; with a discovery of the causes, signs and cures of all Diseases both internal and external incident to Horses, Alphabetically digested, with the Humours of a Smithfield Jockey; by Robert Almond, a well known and skilful Farrier of the City of London, practising therein above 45 years.  
The Loyal Prophet, a Sermon preached at the Summer Assizes at York in anno 1668. by William Bramhall, Rector of Gouldsbrough, and one of His Majestie's Chaplains.  
Jachin and Boaz, or the steadfast and unwavering Christian, being a serious persuasive to Constancy in the Faith, and to perseverance in the true Protestant Religion, against all objections, temptations, oppositions, and solicitations to the contrary; by John Hume M. A. Rector of Yelling in Huntingtonshire.   

Small Octavo.  
The Midwives Book, or the whole Art of midwifery discovered, directing Child-bearing Wo●●n how to behave themselves in their Conce●● 〈◇〉 ●●●ring, Breeding& Nursing of Children, in six Books, viz. 1. An Anatomical Description of the parts of Men and Women. 2. What is requisite for Procreation: Signs of a Woman being with Child, and whether it be Male or Female, and how the Child is formed in the womb. 3. The causes and hindrance of Conception and Barrenness, and of the pains and difficulties of Child bearing with their causes, signs and cures. 4. Rules to know when a Woman is near her Labour, and when she is near Conception, and how to order the Child when born. 5. How to order Women in Child-birth, and of several Diseases and cures for Women in that condition. 6. Of Diseases incident to Women after Conception: Rules for the choice of a Nurse; her Office, with proper cures for all Diseases incident to young Children. By Mrs. Jane sharp, practitioner in the Art of midwifery above 30 years.  
Merry Drollery complete, in two parts; or a Collection of Jovial Poems, merry Songs, witty Drolleries, intermixed with pleasant Catches, collected by W. N. C. B. R. S. I. G. Lovers of Wit.  
Natural and artificial Conclusions.  
The Roman History of L. J. Florus, made English, beginning with the Life of Romulus the first King of the Romans, in 4 Books.  
Daphnis and Chloe, a pleasant Romance.  
butler of War.  
Ramsey of poison.  
Shepherd of the regulation of the Law.  
Knowl's Rudiments of the Hebrew Tongue.  
Herbert's Child-bearing Woman, or Devotions, Meditations and prayers for Women in that condition.  
The Rebellion of the Rude Multitude under Wat tiler, paralleled with the late inhuman Rebellion against K. Charles the First.  
The Rebel's Arraignment, Conviction and execution in three Sermons; by J. Brookblanke.  
The Death of Charles the I. lamented, and the Restauration of Charles the II. congratulated by William Langley.  
The King of Spain's Cabinet Council divulged.  
A description of Jerusalem as it flourished in the time of Christ.  
Observationes& Experientiae de Febribus, Authore Gulielmo Drageo, Medico.  
Nonnihil de Febribus, Authore Statholmo, Medico.  
Divine Poems, by A. Nasmyth.  
The Life of Dr. Tho. Morton late Bishop of Duresme.  
A Discourse of the piety and charity of elder times and Christians, paralleled to the Members of the Church of England, by E. water-house Esquire.   

Large Twelves.  
The English and French Cook, describing the best and newest ways of ordering and dressing all sorts of Flesh, Fish, and Fowl, whether boiled, baked, stewed, roasted, broiled, frigassied, fried, souced, marrinated or pickled, with their proper sauces and garnishes together with all manner of the most approved soops and pottages used either in England or France. By T. P. I. P. R. C. N. B. and several other approved Cooks of London and Westminster.  
The Moral practise of the Jesuits, demonstrated by many remarkable Histories of their Actions in all parts of the World; collected either from Books of the greatest authority, or most certain and unquestionable Records and Memorials; by the Doctors of the Sorbon.  
Oxford Jests refined and enlarged.  
Smith's practise of physic.  
The Duty of every one that will be saved; being Rules, Precepts, Promises and Examples, directing all persons of what degree soever, how to govern their passions, and to live virtuously and soberly in the World.  
The Spiritual chemist, or six decades of Divine Meditations on several subjects, with a short account of the Author's Life, by William Spurstow, D. D. sometime Minister of the Gospel at Hackney, near London.  
Witty Apothegms, delivered at several times by K. James, K. Charles, the M. of Worcester, the Lord Bacon, and Sir Thomas Moore.   

Small Twelves.  
A new method of preserving and restoring of Health by the virtue of Coral and Steel.  
A Help to prayer.   
FINIS.