GEntlemen of England, who are of Right all free born Subjects; I am sorry that I have so black an Occasion of Addressing my self unto you in this following Di­scourse; in which I must of necessity lay Open and Expose some very horrible sinful Practices that has been among some who profess themselves to be Protestants; namely to them which pretend themselves to be the Most Infallible Sort too that are amongst us; or else that Practice and Principle of theirs, in making all other peoples Spiritual Sheaves bow down unto theirs, is very unjustifiable, and also unwarrantable from the Law of God, and the Law and Light of Nature.

Dear Friends, I humbly beseech you all to read what I shall here offer unto you without prejudice, and consider it without partiality, and apply it without delay; and I shall further more beseech you to hear the whole conclusion of the Matter, and do not take it up and read a little, and throw it away out of your hands in Contempt and Scorn, or with Malice and Rancour of Spi­rit, but be advised by the Wiseman, who hath said, That the lat­ter end of a thing is better than the beginning. And be not preju­diced against the Truth, because it cometh naked unto you, with­out the Garments of Rhetorical Expressions, or in the Orna­ments of Humane Learning: For if you be a Lover of the Truth, you will imbrace it and find Garments for it in your own hearts, you will take it in there and cloth it, for there is the best clothing for Truth when all is said and done that can be. O my dear [Page 2]Friends, set open the Doors and Windows of your Souls to receive this Blessed Light, and do not despise your own Mercy, because it cometh unto you by an Illiterate Hand, for it is said in Dan. 12.3, 4. And they that be wise, shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament; and they that turn many to Righteousness, as the Stars for ever and ever: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the Book, even to the time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

And also I precaution others, that shall read this Book, that they do not make so unchristian ill use of it as to take up any prejudice against any mans person, who through Inadvertency are tardy of what this Discourse will find out and lay open; for if you do, though I write thus against their Principles and Pra­ctices, yet I shall be a Witness against ye, for I write in Love to their Souls, and not in any prejudice to their Persons; for that is no contradiction, neither is it inconsistent one with the other, to love a mans Person, and yet at the same time to hate his Evil Principles and Practices: It is a great Duty Incumbent upon every Christian so to do, Matt. 5.44. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you. Here you see is an Express Command from our Blessed Sa­viour and Redeemer, to love the Persons of our Enemies, but yet we are not to love their sinful Practises and Principles, for we cannot do that, but in the very Act we must sin against God, for we are commanded to hate every abomination, and every false way.

We are to hate what is evil in our own selves, yet it would be a sin for us to hate our own Persons. If I had an own Father that was a Drunkard or Whoremonger, I ought not to love his Drunkenness and Whoredom, yet I must not hate my Fathers Per­son, though I hate his Practice: therefore I do not write this to incense people against any mans person, though I must con­tess this has been a Reigning Sin among the Persecuters. And indeed there is a proneness in the best of men to this sin: Christ's own Disciples themselves were not clear of this sin, when they would have prayed for fire to come down from Heaven to de­stroy the very persons of those churlish Samaritans that refused to give entertainment to our Saviour Christ; they were for de­stroying their Persons, and therefore Christ rebuked them, saying, Ye know not what spirit ye are of.

I bless God I have a higher and nobler End and Design in what I shall here write, than to draw out prejudice against any mans person; however I may be censur'd for it, I can appeal to God in sincerity and uprightness of Heart in this matter, for I would not that any man should be wronged of a Hair of his Head by what I shall here Declare to the World; but to awaken all to Repentance, For the Lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesie? Amos 3. I am not for Diminishing any Gentlemans Title of Honour or Dignity, where it is properly due; Fear to whom Fear is due, and Honour to whom Honour is due — Though I must confess my Ignorance in this Matter, at the same time I cannot understand the meaning of Spi­ritual Lords, because I can find no Scripture Authority for it at all, but rather against it, Matt. 20.25, 26, 27. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exer­cise Dominion over them, and they that are Great exercise Authori­ty upon them; but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be Great among you, let him be your Minister; and whosoever will be Chief among you, let him be your Servant. 1 Pet. 5.2, 3. Feed the Flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy Lucre, but of a ready Mind: neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage, but being exsam­ples to the Flock. Our Saviour Christ does singnifie unto us that this Lording Spirit did proceed from the Heathen Idolatrous Gentiles, and that it was a usage among them, and therefore in my Opinion it is pity that any Christian Ministers or Pastors should take it up, and exercise it among them. And the truth on it is — It is a very dubious point with me to determine or conclude, whether the true Ministers of Jesus Christ can be Spi­ritual Lords, or whether these Spiritual Lords can be true Mini­sters of Jesus Christ; because I cannot find that it was so from the beginning of Christ's Gospel-Church. But this by the by. But I am clearly for rendring unto Caesar the things that be Caesars, and also to render unto God, the things that are Gods.

My dearly beloved Countrymen, for so I will make bold to call you, because I am an Englishman man born, and therefore a Member of the Body Politick of the Nation — Forasmuch as there is a great deal of stickling, and strugling, and sending, and proving, pro and con, about these Penal Laws and Tests; and much has been said for the continuance of them, and much more [Page 4]has been said for the Abolishing of them; insomuch that it is not only become a Table-talk, but it is almost a National Text for all People to Comment and Preach upon; therefore I shall sin­gle out one of these Tests to speak somewhat unto. And that shall be the Sacramental Test; and let us bring that to the Touch­stone of Gods Word, and let us take notice for what end that Ordinance of God was Instituted and Appointed, and let us hear what God the Lord will speak unto us concerning this Sacra­mental Test; And let God be true, and every man a lyer, Rom. 3.4. Should not a people seek unto their God? To the Law, and to the Testi­mony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, Isa. 8.

Now Gentlemen, you shall have a Fair and Impartial Trial of this Test by the Word of God, and by one of your own Arti­cles of the Church of E. and there shall be none but clear and undeniable True Witnesses, and not one Knight of the Post, that swears for Bread, among them all; although their Late Fire of Persecution have bred whole swarms of those sort of Vene­mous Salamanders: And the God, who is Judge of all the Earth, shall be the Judge between us; which those that are Persecuters do own in Words, though in Works they deny him, Titus 1.16. They profess they know God, but in works they deny him, being Abominable and Disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. A Persecuter, while such, must be such a person, or else he can­not be a Judge and Lawgiver unto other Mens Consciences. Now, I say, I will single out one of these Tests to speak some­what unto, namely, the Sacramental Test, that is so Universal a Test amongst them: And let us try what that will afford us, that so we may measure Hercules by his Foot. Now this Test was chiefly made and intended against all the Protestant Dissen­ters.

And for the better coming at the making an Upright and Im­partial Judgment of this Test, I shall do three things.

1. The first thing shall be this, I will lay down the Words of Institution of this holy and blessed Ordinance, by our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

2. And secondly, I shall lay down the words of the Aposte Paul to the Church of Corinth; and let us see what Light and Know­ledge this will afford us in this matter, which is that which the Test-Makers, and the Test-Givers, and the Test-Takers themselves, [Page 5]do all profess to own and practice, as well Ecclesiastical as Civil, as well in their Church-Government, as in the Civil State.

3. And thirdly and lastly, I shall press into this service one of their own 39 Articles, wherein they give the Definition of what a true Church is; and then let us try this Sacramental Test by these Infallible Rules.

1. First by the words of Institution, by our Saviour Christ him­self, as it is laid down by three of the Evangelists, Matt. 26.26, 27, 28. And as they were eating, Jesus took Bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the Disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my Body; And he took the Cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them; saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins—Mark 14.22, 23, 24. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my Body. And he took the Cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Luke 22.19, 20. And he took Bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, say­ing, This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the Cup after supper, saying, This Cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Thus you hear what our blessed Saviour saith, by these three Witnesses in the words of Institution; He did not say, Do this to secure your selves in the Civil Government, while you do Rob and Rape, and Plunder, and Imprison, and Spoil your honest peaceable Neighbours— But, Do this in remembrance of me; Here is not one word of making it a Civil Test, to Insnare honest Men withall.

2. But secondly, Now we have heard the words of our blessed Redeemer; Let us also hear the words of the Apostle Paul, with a respect to the words of Institution of this blessed Ordinance of the Lord's Supper; And also the threatnings that are Annexed thereunto, against all Hypocritical unworthy Receivers, that Pro­sane this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. 11.23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you— (Hence you may observe by the way, that Pa­stors, or other Ministers of the Gospel, ought to deliver nothing to the People, but what they first Receive from the Lord, and have his Word and Authority for so doing.) That the Lord Jesus [Page 6]the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat, this is my Body, which was broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. It was bro­ken for you Believers, and for none else, but such as do believe, and that shall believe, as if the Apostle should have said. And for what end and purpose? why, to remember Christ's dear love and compassion, in Dying for poor sinners, and to feed and nourish the new Creature, and to stir up and excite all the Graces of the Spirit that is in the Believer, unto a holy Commemoration of the blessed Effects of his Death to the Believer; and also to comme­morate the transcendent Love and wonderful Wisdom and Grace and Goodness of God, and the great condescention of God, in which all his glorious Attributes were ingaged, in the contriving & bringing to pass this unparallel'd Merciful Piece of work, name­ly of Man's Redemption. But pray note by the way, that this is not a converting Ordinance, as some by mistake would have it to be, because no Man must partake of it before he is conver­ted, because that then instead of being converted by it, he eateth and drinketh unworthily, and so eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And therefore it is that we are commanded to Examine our selves before we partake of it, to see whether we be born of God, and so are in a converted Spiritual state of Grace; and also to try our selves, whether we be in a Spiritual frame of heart, that we may know whether Grace be in Act and Exercise in us or not—But to Return to the words of Institution—After the same manner also he took the Cup, when he had supped, saying, This Cup is the New Testa­ment in my Blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in Remembrance of me; for as often as ye eat this Bread and Drink this Cup, ye do shew the Lord's Death till he come. Here is not one word of making this Sacred Ordinance a Test to accommodate the Civil State withall, but on the contrary; as you shall hear by and by.

For the Apostle bringeth it in Argumentatively, with a Where­fore — Whosoever shall eat this Bread, and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord—That is, instead of commemorating Christ's Death and Sufferings, and all the Benefits that floweth unto us from that Fountain of his precious Blood—They do eat and drink their own Damnation, without unfeigned Repentance, and God's Infi­nite Mercy; for they do crucifie to themselves the Son of God [Page 7]afresh, and put him to an open shame; whosoever shall eat thus un­worthily, whether Lord or Commoner, let them look to it, for God is no respecter of Persons, for he that feareth God, and worketh Righteousness, and none but such, are, or shall be accep­ted with him; O that all they that are thus Guilty, may tremble to think what is a coming upon them for this great Abomination of profaning the Lord's holy Supper by a Law, which I had almost said is a National sin, because the major part of the Governing Party have been thus Guilty— Though I do hope and also believe, That there was many in both Houses of Parliament, both of Lords and Commoners, when this Snare was made, that had neither heart nor hand in it; But yet notwithstanding the major part of them must be for it, or it could not have been made, therefore I would not be found to grieve any of the Generation of the Righteous, without a cause, by condemning the Innocent with the guilty. But as the Apostle saith, Let every Man examine him­self whether he be guilty or not—But let a man examine him­self, and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup.

And here the holy Apostle is bringing it in again argumenta­tively, by way of precaution, for said he—He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth & drinketh damnation (or condemnation) to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body; for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep, that is, die—For what cause was it? why, for profaning the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper—And who was it the holy Apostle charged this Guilt upon? why, even upon some of the Corinthians, that believed in Christ, for he said some among you—They were converted, as to their Spiritual state, they were in a state of Grace— But yet notwithstanding that, they were in a very carnal, loose frame of heart: They did eat and drink worthily, as to their Spiritual state; but yet nevertheless they did eat and drink unworthily, as to their frame of heart; and therefore God punished them with corporal sicknesses and death, though they were free from Eter­nal Death and Condemnation, by vertue of their Union with Christ, and so in a state of Grace, which can never be broken, Rom. 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; that respects the Spiritual state of the Believer— who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; The former that respects the State, and this later respects the frame of heart; in the former they are alive to God, and in the later they walk with [Page 8]God; The holy Apostle Peter was in a very carnal frame of heart, when he would have disswaded our blessed Saviour from suffering, Matt. 16.22, 23. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not come unto thee.— But ne turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. That is, he was in a carnal frame of heart, in a sudden passion of misguided Love and Zeal; he was carnally minded, and our Saviour Christ said unto Peter, in another place of Scripture, When thou art converted, streng then thy Brethren; this could not be meant of his first conversion into a state of Grace; for so he was converted long before that time. But it is meant of his after-conversion, unto a more Spiritual frame of heart, which he should be in, after he had denied Christ.

And the Apostle Paul said, Are ye not carnal, and walk as men; when one saith, I am of Paul, and another of Apollos, and ano­ther of Cephas? That is, walk as men walketh in a carnal unregenerate state; not that they were so, but they were even like such. And the two Disciples were in a very carnal unbe­lieving frame of heart, even on that very Day that our Redeem­er rose from the Dead, Luke 24.21, 25, 26. But we trusted that it had been he, which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. They looked upon themselves to be deceived, in effect, but mind what our Sa­viour said unto them, and also to us in them; Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? As if he should have said, Did not all the Pro­phets prophesie of my coming in the flesh, and dying in the flesh, and rising again in the flesh, and did you not see it with your own eyes, or might have done it, and did not I tell ye so my self, that am the great Prophet, the head of all the Prophets, and will you not believe me, nor my Prophets, nor your own eyes neither? as if Christ should have said. This was a very carnal frame of heart indeed; and it is said, To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace; Now there is a great deal of difference between being carnally minded, and a carnal mind; as much as there is between Light and Darkness, or as there is between hardness of heart, and a hard heart; for the carnal minded­ness in the believer brings a death upon all his Graces and spiritual [Page 9]Comforts; he is as if he was in a carnal State, with a respect to the comforting Evidence of it, that all lieth dead, and all the Gra­ces of the Spirit lieth covered over with these Ashes of Carnality; and that fills the Soul of the Believer full of Doubts and Fears, with a respect to their spiritual State; and puts them upon questioning all the Work of God upon their Soul. This carnally-mindedness respects a Child of God in a spiritual State, but in a carnal frame of Heart; and a carnal Mind, respects a carnal dead Sinner, in a state of Sin and Misery; for it is said, The carnal Mind is Enmi­ty against God; for it is not subject to the Will of God, neither indeed can be.

There may be, and too often there is, an eating and drinking un­worthily at the Lord's Table, and that by two sorts of Per­sons.

First, There is many times an eating and drinking unworthily at the Lord's Table by Believers themselves.

Secondly, There is always an eating and drinking unworthily at the Lord's Table, by carnal prophane Hypocrites, as often as they do partake of that Ordinance, whether Ecclesiastical or Ci­vil; for so we must distinguish now it seems; for they have made it to have a double end, Spiritual and Carnal. There must ever be two things to make a Man a meet or worthy Partaker of this holy Ordinance; because it is a Spiritual Feast as much now, as it was under the Mosaical Law; for they ate and drank Christ under the Law, as well as we do now under the Gospel, if you will believe the Apostle Paul, who saith, Moreover, Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our Fathers were under the Cloud, and all passed through the Sea, and were all Baptized unto Moses in the Cloud, and in the Sea; and did all eat the same spiritual Meat, and did all drink the same spiritual Drink; for they drank of that spi­ritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ, 1 Cor. 10.

First, There must be a spiritual State; all the Subjects of this Ordinance must be born again; they must be born of Water, and of the Spirit, or else they cannot enter into the Kingdom of Hea­ven here below, which is the Church-Militant; and if they be not so born, they cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven above, namely, the Church-Triumphant in Glory, John 3. for until then, they be spiritually dead: And what shall a dead, stinking, rotten-hearted Hypocrite do at the King of Kings Table? For Gods Eye [Page 10]is upon all his Guest, his Eye is upon their very Heart; for God sees not as Man seeth, he can spy out any one Soul that comes to his Table without the Wedding-Garment; God sees what every ones end and aim is, in partaking of that Ordinance: He seeth them that come to eat and drink themselves into the Government, or into a good fat place of Profit and Trust; and sees them that come to eat and drink at that Ordinance, to sell Ale by vertue of it, or to bear Arms in the Train'd-Bands: And God saw them that were more guilty than they, namely, those that gave it unto them; for all men by Nature are dead in Sins and Trespasses, and all Children of Wrath, Eph. 2. And therefore it may be said of every carnal Sinner, as it is said of the carnal lewd Woman, in the 1 Tim. 5.6. But she that liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth. Now such as these be, can have no Right nor Worthiness at all in them to partake of the Lord's Supper, no nor to administer it un­to them neither; for they are none of Christ's Shepherds that doth thus, John 10.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Matth. 15.14. Isai. 9.16. Now all such as do exhibit this blessed Ordinance, and those to whom it is exhibited, that are not born of God, can be but a Congregation of Hypocrites at the best, Job 15.34, 35. and are as loathsome as a dead stinking Corps would be to be placed at a Kings Table, when he made a Royal Banquet for all his Nobles; and far more loathsome too: And therefore all such as these, eateth and drinketh Damnation to themselves, not discerning the Lord's Body. And pray what can a dead Man di­scern? And therefore all these do but make a Chain of that Or­dinance for Satan to bind them faster to himself, under the guilt of all their Sins, instead of receiving any good or benefit by it; whereas a Child of God that cometh in a right manner, and to a right end, goeth away from that Ordinance with all his Sins par­doned afresh, and his Covenant renewed with the Lord, and rati­fied and sealed in the Blood of Christ; the others they go away with all the guilt of their Sins faster bound, and his Covenant with Death, and his Agreement with Hell, renewed and ratified afresh, and sealed, Isai. 28.15. And is not this a dreadful thing, think ye? The Lord awaken all that are thus guilty, to unfeigned Re­pentance.

But Secondly, There must not only be a spiritual State, but there must be a spiritual frame of Heart also; and this latter can­not be obtained before nor without the former: There must be a [Page 11]spiritual State, before ever there can be a spiritual frame of Heart; therefore every one that does not come to the Table of the Lord thus spiritually qualified, do come and eat and drink to themselves Damnation, or Condemnation; aye, though he be a Child of God, and in a spiritual State: Nevertheless it is true, he doth not eat and drink eternal Condemnation to himself, and that be­cause he is in Christ; yet he may eat and drink the Merit of it vertually; he may eat and drink temporal Condemnation to him­self, which may bring great temporal Judgments and Punishments upon him or them that thus do, even corporal Sicknesses and Death: Psal. 89 30, 31, 32, 33, 34. If his Children, that is, Christ's Children, forsake my Law, and walk not in my Judgments; if they break my Statutes, and keep not my Commandments; then will I visit their Transgressions with the Rod; and their Iniquity with Stripes: Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from them, nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail: My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips. God my pu­nish unworthy Receivers now, though in a spiritual State, as he did those unworthy Corinthians heretofore, with Sickness and Death, for their prophanation of the Lord's Supper, when he may spare his Enemies in this Life, to punish them in the World to come.

Thus I have shewed you briefly in part, what the blessed End and Design of this holy Ordinance is, and also the Nature and Ten­dency of it; and you may observe, that it is one of the great Tests that belongeth to the truly constituted Churches of Jesus Christ, which was made and provided in the Great Charter of Heaven, and lodged in the Church for all them, and them only, that belong to the spiritual Government of Heaven, namely, the true Mem­bers of Christs mystical Body the Church, whereof he is the Su­pream Head and Governour, namely, the Universal Catholick Church: And I have in the second place shewed what the Subjects of this Ordinance or spiritual Government must be, and how they must be qualified. And thirdly and lastly, I have shewed ye the danger that all those are in, that rush upon this Ordinance, with­out being dutly qualified and prepared for it; both of Believers in a carnal frame of Heart, and Hypocrites that are in a carnal dead state of Nature.

But it may be queried, Whether this sacred Ordinance of the Lord's Supper, may not be made a Civil Test also, to accommo­date [Page 12]Civil Government for the Admittance of Members thereunto, and for their Confirmation therein; and for a License to sell Ale by, and other secular things in this nature, as well as to be a Test for all them that belong to this spiritual Government? Unto this I will answer in the Negative, That it is not; for not one Soul that ever did, or that ever shall Receive this Holy and Blessed Or­dinance, out of such a base, secular, prophane end and design, to qualifie them to come into the Government, or to sell Ale, or any such thing, but what does highly provoke God, in prophaning that sacred Ordinance, not discerning the Lord's Body: And so they make themselves guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord; which is to Crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. They do eat and drink themselves into the very same Spirit with the unbelieving Jews, which they had in them, when they did literally, and actually, and maliciously Cru­cifie our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: So that according to this Testeering Law, there must not one Soul come into the Govern­ment, but what must first go and Crucifie to himself the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

God hath commanded People to Crucifie their Lusts, before they can be meet or worthy to come into this spiritual Govern­ment, and partake of the Lord's Supper, and all other Church-Pri­viledges thereunto belonging.

But these Penal Laws or Test, commands Men to go and Crucifie their Lord and Master, before ever they can be permitted to par­take of the Civil Government, or any of the Priviledges thereun­to belonging. And is not this a dreadful Law, think ye, and such a mystery of Iniquity, as is not to be parallel'd in all its Circum­stances?

Would it not be a dreadful thing, think ye, if there was a Law made, That no Man should come into the Government, unless he would eat so much Rats-bane, as would fetch off all his hair off of his head and face, and fetch off all the nails from off of his fingers and toes, and lay him under a declining, wasting, lingring Distemper, so that his Life would be but a burden unto him? Why, I will be bold to say, That infinitely worse is this Law of encouraging Persons to eat and drink Damnation to themselves, to qualifie them to come into the Government: For as the blessed Ordinance of the Lord's Supper is spiritual Food, and also whole­some Physick for the worthy Receivers; for in the former it [Page 13]feeds and strengthens the new Man, viz. all the Graces of the Spi­rit that is in him; and by the latter all his Sins are subdued and mortified, and his Soul purged, and so kept in spiritual health: And thus it becomes both Food and Physick to the true Believers; this is a branch of the Tree of Life, the Leaves whereof are for the healing of the Nations.

And so on the other hand, it becomes strong Poyson to spiri­tual Vermine, namely, Hypocrites: It is the worst Poyson that ever can be thought on to them. As it is the greatest Mercy, on the one hand, unto them that Receive it worthily, because then they are as sure to go to Heaven, as if they were there already, whe­ther they do know it or not know it themselves; so on the other hand it is the greatest Judgment under Heaven, for a Person to Re­ceive it unworthily, in a carnal unconverted state, because he eat­eth and drinketh Damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body. This that is the greatest Mercy to a Child of God, is tur­ned into the greatest Judgment to a carnal Hypocrite, that dare be so bold as to partake of this blessed Ordinance, out of any o­ther end and design, than what the Holy God in his Infinite Wis­dom has appointed it unto.

O dear Souls! Do you that have been Test-Makers, and Test-Takers, and Test-Givers, in this sinful way and manner, tremble to think what will become of your precious Souls, unless you do speedily vomit up again this deadly Poyson by unfeigned Repen­tance, and thorow Reformation. God hath said by his Servant St. Paul, Let a Man examine himself, and so let him eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup: That is, he must try himself whether God by his Holy Spirit hath made him meet and worthy to partake of this holy Ordinance; that he may know in himself whether he be one of the Guest that is invited unto this blessed Feast; where they are not only to feast with the Lord, but upon the Lord by Faith, John 6.47, 48, 50, 63. 1 Cor. 10.1, 2, 3, 4. And thereby are made worthy to take this spiritual Test of the Lord's own ap­pointment, in his own way and manner, and so to come into the spi­ritual heavenly Government, and be made Members thereof: For whosoever eateth and drinketh this Cup of the Lord unworthily, eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body. Here it is said, Whosoever; that is, High or Low, Rich or Poor, Priest or People, Lord or Commoner; this is the unalterable Law and Magna Charta of Heaven. God is no Respecter of Persons, [Page 14]therefore look to it, you that are great Ones. And Death is no Respecter of Persons also; for when he cometh with his Sythe, he outs down a Lord as soon as a Beggar,

Well, thus you do hear what the Law of Heaven saith unto all these things; and now let us hear what the Laws of Men saith unto it also: Why the Laws of the Church of England saith quite another thing; for they say tacitly and consequentially, Let them be examined whether they have eat and drank their own Damna­tion, and Crucified unto themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame; and so let them come into the Govern­ment both of Church and State: For whosoever, whether he be a Lord or Commoner, that shall come into the Government with­out being thus sinfully qualified, does incur to himself and Family, the Danger or Condemnation of 500 l. damage, not discerning or taking notice, that the Law of the Church of E— is against him; and that they shall pay it every groat on't, when she hath the Whip in her hand again, and the Nation under her feet.

Hence we may observe, That if any Persons will come into the Government duly qualified, according to the Law in that case made and provided, they must enter in at Hells Gate; they must pawn, or even deposit their very Souls, that precious Jewel that is more worth than ten thousand Worlds, in the hands of the Devil, by eating and drinking Damnation to themselves— And if our Saviour Christ does not Redeem it out of his hands again, by Par­doning-Mercy in his precious Blood, they will be undone and dam­ned for ever: And this is in effect to have the Government of the Nation lodged in the hands of the Devil; for according to this Law, none must come into it, but what must first resign up the Conduct of their Souls unto Satan, and so become his Subjects, or rather his Bond-slaves indeed.

So that instead of coming into the Government in Gods way, and to act for his Honour and Glory, and for the good of the whole Nation, to punish Sin and Iniquity, and to encourage Ver­tue; It has been made subservient to promote the Devils King­dom and Dominion, for him to Ride and Rule over Mens Con­sciences, and so to increase his Subjects, and to enlarge the Terri­tories of the Prince of Darkness, even in the Hearts of wicked Men: For as our Saviour Christ has a Kingdom in the Hearts of his Saints and Servants; and as a good Governour promotes and encourages that; why even so on the other hand the Kingdom of [Page 15]Satan is encouraged by an evil Government. And is not this a dreadful Judgment for any People or Nation to lie under? And are not these rotten Props, think ye, to support and uphold a Church or People withal? And is not this a sandy Foundation, on which these foolish Builders do Build this House of theirs up­on? Matth. 7.26, 27. But it may be some will say, I am of the Church of England, and it has been always my Principle thus to do, and therefore this does not concern me; but this concerns them that are of another Principle, that do take it only to come into the Government to save their Bacon. I confess this is a very sad deplorable thing, for any that are Members of private separate Congregations, that are guilty of such Hypocrisie; I do not at all justifie them, neither does their playing the Hypocrite justifie you; it may harden you, but it can never justifie you, no more than an erroneous Principle will; for Sin is nevertheless an Evil, because that your corrupt Principle does side with it. But you think you can sin Cum priviligo; and it may be you will say, That you never Received the Sacrament expresly upon this account, but as you do use to do at other customary times of the Year or Month: But I pray you give me leave to query with you a little upon this point: Did you never take a Certificate for so doing, to satisfie any that had power to scruple your coming into the Government, or into Places of Profit and Trust, that you were thus legally qua­lified? Yes, that I must confess I have done: Why then that is enough; for by that you do signifie that you did approve of the Project, or else you did do a thing against your own Conscience; and so you make your self guilty either way with the rest; and if you do approve of it, whether you had a Certificate or not, yet notwithstanding you are guilty by Approbation in siding with them, from Christ's own Words, Luke 11.23. He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth a­broad; as he that is not against Christ is for him, Luke 9.50. There must be no neutrality in this case; for Christ hates a di­vided Heart, viz. a Trimmer, Rev. 3.16, 17. I know thy Works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spite thee out of my mouth. As a broken Heart and a contrite Spirit is the Sacrifice that God is well pleased with; why even so on the contrary, a divided hypocritical Heart, which is that which the Sacrifice of the Wicked is always made up of, is that which is an [Page 16]Abomination unto the Lord, for God hates and abhors a divided heart; But you do say you are of the Church of E. and it has been always your Opinion: Therefore now in the third and last place, I will try you by one of your own 39. Articles, namely the 19th. Article, wherein it gives the Definition of a true Church, viz. "The visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful Men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly Ministred, according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things, that of necessity are Requisite to the same; Now bring this pretended Opinion of yours to the Tryal, by your own Article, and all the rest of your Hypocritical practices of this nature, and I am sure this Article condemns them all, and like Goliah's Sword, it cuts off the Neck of them all, namely of your Plundering, and Bribing, and Imprisoning, and forcing Mens Con­sciences, which practice of yours does better suit and agree with the Congregation of Hypocrites, in the 15 Job, 34, 35. than with the Congregation of faithful Men in the aforesaid Article.

Now shall any Persons even dare to make so bold with the Al­mighty, as to plead for the continuance of such Gates of Hell, as these are, that have been so long endeavouring to prevail against Christ's Church, though blessed be God, that That is founded upon a Rock, and his Promise is that they shall not prevail against it; And shall any chuse rather that we should continue fast Bound still under these Chains of Darkness, then to part with that Test, that is against the Romanists, the parting with which I cannot under­stand to be a sin, for at the worst that can be supposed by slavish fears and jealousies, it is but running the hazard of suffering by them, which is very improbable, if not impossible; for his Majesty has taken a very good course, to cure for ever that cursed old Cain-like spirit of Persecution, for has he not given such a testi­mony against it, and such a rebuke unto it, as the like has never been given by any Christian Prince before? Has he not most ge­nerously and freely declared unto all the World, unto God, An­gels, and Men, That Conscience ought not to be Restrained in Meer Matters of Religion, and that one Man ought not to Oppress ano­ther Man's Conscience, that is not of the same Principle with himself? For none but God ought to Rule there; And that we should do as we would be done by. And his Majesty hath been graciously pleased to say, that his Parliament, when convened, may make as firm Laws, as the Wisdom of the Nation can think [Page 17]on, for the present and future security and enjoyment of our Christian and Civil Liberty. And he will give it Royal Sanction; What can be said more? As for my own part, I am very well sa­tisfied, that God is in all these things, and that he has raised up his Majesty, and Anointed him for this Great Work, as he did Cyrus of old; And that he is Acted and Guided by the Spirit of God, to proceed in this untrodden singular way; and by a new Rule that is given Him from Heaven, the glorious Effects of which, the Generations to come, as well as this present Age, will have cause to Bless and Praise God for; and to honour his Maje­sties Memory. Who then need be afraid to trust God, and to fall in and comply with his Majesty, in promoting this Glorious Undertaking, to compleat the Restoring the Empire of Consci­ence; and to Retrieve this poor distressed Nation, that has Lain so long Bleeding under these intolerable Yokes and grievous Bur­dens of Oppression: Namely, all these Spiritual Penal Laws and Tests, which suits better with the Turkish Alcaron, than with the Christians Bible; or then with your own 19th. Article either: The two latter of which, I do own to be good & true. O my dear friends, Let us take up such a resolution, as the four Leprous Men did at the Siege of Samaria, that said one to another, Why sit we here until we Die? If we say we will enter into the City—then the Famine is in the City; and we shall Die there: and if we sit still here, we Die also. Now therefore, come, and let us fall to the Host of the Assyrians, if they save us alive, we shall Live; and if they kill us, we shall but Die. Even so let us say of these Penal Laws and Tests, if they are con­tinued, and that the National Church should get the whipping Power in their hands again, we are sure to be persecuted again, as Bad, if not worse than ever we were yet, for they will then bring all their Ecclesiastical Thunder upon us again, and Destroy us; though blessed be God their Advocates does not find that the Royal Thunder is so easily brought over the head of his Ma­jesties Gracious Declaration upon us, as they would have made the World believe it would; But if all the Penal Laws and Tests should be taken away and utterly abolished, we may never suffer again. But however we can but suffer. But remember how it sared with these Leprous men, they were not killed, no more do I believe that we shall suffer by it.

Now in the fourth and last place, I shall make Application of this Point in two Uses.

The First shall be an Use of Information.

And the Second shall be an Use of Exhortation.

In the first place, is it so, as you see clearly proved it is, that it is such an evil and dangerous thing for any Persons to come into the Government, loaden with all these abominable sinful qualifi­cations, then hence we may be informed what a mystery of Ini­quity all those Gentlemen are guilty of, that had their Heads and Hands, and Hearts ingaged in the making of this Test, and in Administring this Test, and Receiving this Test; Why, what were they guilty of? why, they were vertually and consequenti­ally guilty of horrible Murder; what Murder? why Murder of a double and treble nature, Mystically and Sacramentally.

First, They Murder the Eternal Son of God, 1 Cor. 11.27. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this Bread, and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. All Persons whosoever, whether Lord or Commoner, Spiritual or Temporal, for God is no Respecter of Persons—But he that feareth God, and worketh Righteousness shall be Accepted with him.

Secondly, They Murder their own Souls, vers. 24. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to him­self, not discerning the Lord's Body.

And thirdly and lastly, They do Murder their own Bodies ta­citly, vers. 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep, that is, die. And for what cause was it? why, for eating and drinking at the Lord's Table unworthily; as all them that take the Sacramental Civil Test, must unavoidably do, be­cause it is essentially sinful, in the very End and Design of it, for it was never Instituted and Appointed for any such base, low, se­cular End, by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, This informs us, that all them that are and have been Test-Givers, namely the Clergy, are guilty of a very hainous sin, that have given the Sop of qualification to them that come into the Government, and to Ale-house-keepers, for by that they eat and drink Damnation to themselves, and crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame; Pray, what opener shame could Christ the Son of God be put to, then to be put to the Ale-Tub, namely to make the Sacred Ordinance of the Lord's Supper a License to sell Ale by, which is more li­ker to commemorate Bacchus the God of Drunkards, than to [Page 19]commemorate Jesus the God of Believers; they must go and cru­cifie him that should be their Lord and Saviour, and eat and drink their own Damnation, before they could be duly qualified to the Justices humour, to sell a Cup of Ale. Mistake me not, I do not despise the Calling, but for the abuse of the holy Ordinance; for the Calling is as lawful as any other Calling is, if it be not abu­sed; for a godly Man or Woman that fells Ale, having the Grace of God in their hearts, have as good a right to that Or­dinance, as any other good People have, that are of any other Calling, for indeed none but good People ought to take up that Calling, such as will not suffer Men to drink and swill, until they are drunk, which is a horrible abuse to People in this Nation, when they shall make no Conscience of giving them drink, as long as they can go or stand, and longer too many times, but this by the by: I say again I do not despise the Calling, but I speak against the abuse of the holy Ordinance; for it would be as bad, if a Merchant were not suffered to trade, unless he did receive the Sa­crament, because the end is naught, which is confuted by the common Proverb among us, viz. the End crowns the Action, which is a great truth, for a bad end ever spoileth and marrs a good action, and I will not speak without Book, it is a very good thing to relieve the Poor, and it is a brave thing for a Man to give his Body to be burnt for his Religion; and yet these two brave things may be done, and for want of a right end, they are of no value, 1 Cor. 13.3. And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the poor, and though I give my Body to be burned, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing. You Gentlemen, that give the Sacrament to these base secular Ends, to qualifie Men to serve themselves of the Civil State, you can be none of the Ministers of Jesus Christ, you are but Mens Ministers at the very best that can be thought on. And I pray you to hear what the Apostle saith of this for­ked kind of medly-profanation of the Lord's Table, 1 Cor. 10.21. Ye cannot drink the Cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table, and of the table of devils. O Sirs! there is a dreadful Cup in the hand of the Lord, that is prepared for all you that have given the cup of Devils, or Damnation unto others, and so made the Table of the Lord the Table of Devils, for them to eat and drink their own Damnation upon it; What Cup you will say? why, look into the 75 Psal. 8. For in the hand of the Lord there is a Cup, and the Wine is red and full of mixture, [Page 20]and he poureth out of the same. Thus far it was to come upon God's own People, to purge and refine them, which is, Judgment beginning at the House of God, 1 Pet. 4.17. But the rest of the Cup is prepared for their persecuting Enemies; Pray Mind, But the Dregs thereof all the wicked of the Earth shall wring them out, and drink them: And in the 55. Isa: 22, 23. there you have this Cup again, with the character of the Persons that are to drink it: Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord and thy God, that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the Cup of trembling; Out of whose hand? why, out of God's Peoples hand, even the Dregs of the Cup of my fury thou shalt no more drink it again: But our Enemies say we shall drink it again; and Unbelief and slavish fears saith, we shall drink it again; but God saith we shall not drink it again; Nahum. 1.9. What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end, affliction shall not rise up the second time. And the Kings Majesty saith, we shall no more drink it again, whilst he lives—And God saith he will put this Cup in­to the hand of them that afflicted thee; which have said to thy Soul, Bow Down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy Body as the Ground, and as the Street to them that went over; this Bowing the Soul, was to have them prostrate their Souls, and Sa­crifice their Consciences unto their Lusts, to defile their Souls and Consciences, by a sinful complyance, by conforming to that Wor­ship, that has none of the Sanction of God upon it, nor none of God's Authority for it, by which they would sin against God, and provoke him to Anger; but they refused to do that, and did chuse rather to expose their Body, to lay that as the Ground, and the Street to them to go over; You know the Ground is trodden under foot, and it is passive, and the Street is common for all Passengers; Why so our Body, which comprehends all our out­ward Enjoyments, was laid as the Ground, and the Street, for them to go over; namely, Estates, Liberty, Relations, and the like, all was exposed to the Cruelty and Malice of our Enemies; Look back, and consider whether it has not been so? if you cannot tell, I can tell by woful experience; But we would not Bow our Souls, but did rather chuse to Suffer than to Sin, which was in obedience to that command of Christ, to deny our selves, and take up our Cross, and to follow him; But when was this Cup to be put into the hand of the wicked? why, after God had done punishing and purging his own People for their sins by them. It was to succeed [Page 21]this laying the People of God's Bodies as the ground, and as the street, unto them that went over: And another Character when it was to be is this, When God who is Judge of all the Earth, put­teth down one, and setteth up another, as you may see in the Verse before the Cup is prepared, in that Psalm, 75.7. O Sirs! you ought to have fed the Flock with wholesome Gospel-Food like good Shepherds; you should have preached the pure Word of God faithfully, and ministred the Sacraments duely, ac­cording to your Nineteen Articles, as I hope and do believe some did, for I will not condemn all, I hope some of you did separate the precious from the vile, Jer. 15.19. And if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my Mouth; let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them. Did you do so, Gentle­men? Did you take forth the precious from the vile? O no! But you have given the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to whole droves of the vilest of Men. Gentlemen, pray be not angry with me for dealing thus plainly with you; I am sure a good Man will not; for I cannot sew Pillows under your Elbows; for I can ap­peal to God, That I wish you no hurt in the least degree, neither will I give any worse Character of you, than the holy Scriptures does infallibly give to Men that are guilty of what you are and have been guilty of: And therefore if you will be angry, you would do well to be angry with your own sinful Practices, which have brought you and laid you under these black Characters; for it is only to such I now speak, and not to the upright in Heart. Pray hear what our Saviour saith unto you, and also of your Wor­ship, in Matth. 15.7, 8, 9, 14. Though this was spoken unto the Jews, yet it is applicable unto you that tread in their steps, Tit. 1.13, 14, 16. And hear what the Prophet Isaiah saith, Chap. 56, v. 10, 11, 12. and apply it: His Watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb Dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber; yea, they are greedy Dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds which cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his Quarter: Come ye, say they, I will fetch Wine, and we will fill our selves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abun­dant.

Thirdly, We may learn hence what a dreadful thing these Pe­nal Laws and Tests are: It is the very Ground and Foundation for Persecution; it is that which gives Being to the Spirit of Perse­cution; [Page 22]this Salamander is bred in this sire of Hell; it is that which gives life to the Image of the Beast, Rev. 13.15. It corro­borates and strengthens the hands of Persecuters, who are and have been in all Ages the vilest and basest of Men: Acts 7.5. But the Jews which believed not, moved with Envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a Company, and set all the City in an uproar; and assaulted the House of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the People. Why, what was the matter? why there had been a Conventicle at his House; and missing the most part of the People, (v. 6, 7.) they took Jason the Man of the House, and them which they took with him, and bound them over to An­swer at their Sessions. I suppose hence we may observe in the first place by the way, That Persecuters are the Tumult-Raisers and common Disturbers of Cities and Nations. Secondly, That the charging the peaceable People of God with Riots and Routs, and disturbing the Peace, is an old trick of the Devil. And thirdly and lastly, binding over Persons for Worshipping God, is a very ancient thing also.

A Persecutor is one that must abandon all moral Honesty; he must do as he would not be done by; he must sacrifiee his Conscience, and pawn his Soul, in the Hands of the Devil, for he must persecute Christ, Acts 9.4, 5. and fight against God, Acts 5.38, 39. A Persecuter is one that bids Defiance to Heaven, and is in open Hostility and Rebellion against the Almighty, and he is striking at the Apple of God's Eye; Zech. 2.8. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, after the Glory hath he sent me unto the Nations which spoised you; (do you hear, you persecuting Spoilers of the Nation) for he that toucheth you, toucheth the Ap­ple of his Eye, that is, of God's Eye.

Again, A Persecuter is worse than the Devil in some Respects; for the Devil cannot force a man to sin, he can but tempt and suggest to Sin; but the Per­secutor does both; he tempts them to conform to a Religion or Worship, that they are convinc'd in their Consciences is not right, because it has none of the Sanction of God's Authority upon it; and if they refuse, then he does what he can to force them, by Indictments and Fines, and Excommunications, and Plundering, and Imprisoning them, and the like: Now, this the Devil cannot do himself personally, therefore they are worse then the Devil.

Again, Fourthly, A Persecutor, or one that hath this Cain-like Spirit in him, every time he saith the Lord's Prayer, he speaks Blasphemy, for he does blas­pheme the Name of God the Father, the first Person in order in the Blessed and Glorious Trinity; for he begins it in Blasphemy; for he saith, Our Father which art in Heaven: And the holy Word of God saith, That no man can call God Father, but by his Spirit; for let him that taketh the Name of the Lord in his Mouth, Depart from Iniquity; and the Apostle saith, Know ye not that the Spirit of Christ is in ye, except ye be Reprobate? And our Lord Jesus Christ told the old Sect of Scribes and Pharisees that were Persecuters, as our New-Gospel-Sect [Page 23]of the same Leven are, in John 8.44. Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the Lusts of your Father ye will do: He was a Murtherer from the beginning, and abode not in the Truth. Why! So all his Children departs from the Truth; when they turn Persecuters, they do not do as they would be done by; they depart from that Truth, which the very light of Nature doth teach us, as well as the Word of God. Now can it ever be possible, that a Child of the Devil can call God Father, without being guilty of Blasphemy at the same time; for he saith, Our Father which art in Heaven, when as his Father is the Devil; so that by his Lye, he does tacitly and consequentially pull God out of his Throne of Mercy, and place his Father the Devil in his room, upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven, and puts up his Petition to the Devil, in­stead of Praying unto God his Maker: And is not this a dreadful Case?

Nay further in the fifth place, for I have not done with ye yet: When a Persecuter doth say the Lord's-Prayer, he doth say, Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven. And no Persons are so great Opposers of Christ's Gos­pel-Kingdom coming, as the Persecuters are; and none does oppose the doing of God's Will in Earth as it is in Heaven, like them of a persecuting Spirit; for in Heaven there God's Will is done uninterruptedly by Angels, and all other Glorified Spirits; there they Praise God in perfect Peace, Love, and Union; there is no Persecu­ter there, nor none to disturb nor make them afraid; for there they are all of one Heart, and of one Mind. But so it cannot be done in Earth by the Persecuters, who cannot sleep unless they do Mischief, and they do hinder others from doing the Will of God in Earth, as it is done in Heaven; therefore a Persecuter cannot be sincere and in good earnest, when he saith, Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven; Therefore all they of a persecuting Spirit, do but dissemble and mock God, and tell him a parcel of Lies to his very Face, for they do say in Words, that God's Will must be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven; but in Works they do utterly deny it; for they Dethrone the Almighty, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, as much as in them lyes. And the proud Persecuters do mount God's Throne here on Earth, namely, the Souls and Consciences of men, and say to their Souls, Bow down, that we may go over: They do rob God of his Sovereignty, and become spiri­tual Legislators to make Laws, and give Laws unto their Fellow-creatures to Worship God by, as they pretend, and so do wrest the Government out of God's Hand, over the Souls and Consciences of men, which is peculiarly belonging to the Great and Dread Sovereign Majesty of Heaven and Earth, which is to do their Father the De­vil's will on Earth, as it is done in Hell: And not to do God's Will in Earth, as it is in Heaven.

Again, Sixthly, A Persecuter, as often as he saith the Lord's Prayer, does in Effect Pray, that God would not forgive him his Sins; for he saith, Forgive us our Tres­passes, as we forgive them their Trespasses against us. Now a Persecuter cannot say this heartily and sincerely, because that instead of praying to God, he does imprecate the forest of Judgments upon himself; for he saith, Forgive us our Trespasses, as we forgive them their Trespasses against us, and the Persecuter did not, nor yet does not forgive the Dissenters, though but pretended Trespasses against them, when some Persons have fallen into their hands by their Nonconformity in the matter of Worship­ping of God, when they have desired them to be favourable unto them, and have told them, if they did proceed to the Rigour of their Law, they would ruine them, and their Wife and Children; they would not hearken unto them, unless they would bow down their Soul unto them, that they might go over, namely, to Conform, so that [Page 24]they must Trespass against God, or else they would not forgive them their pretended Trespasses against them, which made the Remedy infinitely worse than the Disease; and so they chose rather to lay their Bodies with the Ground, and as the Street for them to go over, then that they would sin against God, by conforming, which was passive Obedience of the right kind; therefore the Persecuters do Pray, that God would not forgive them their Sins; for Christ hath said, But if ye forgive not men their Trespasset, neither will your Father forgive you your Trespasses, Mat. 6.15.

Now, if the Persecuters did run their Hatred and Malice to the very uttermost Ex­tent of the Persecuting Laws, and further too; and are now contending to keep the said Laws for Persecution sake, in hopes to revenge themselves upon the Dissenters, by venting their Envy and Malice against them, who desires that no worse thing may come unto them, then that they may all turn to be honest Men and Good Christians, which while they are Persecutors, they are neither; therefore, while the Spirit of Persecution is in them, I would advise them to forbear saying the Lord's Prayer, which is too Ho­ly and Sacred a Prayer, for such profligate Wretches to take into their Mouths: But let him that taketh the name of God in his Mouth, Depart from Iniquity; for if God should forgive the Persecuters, no more than they forgive the Dissenters, then they must perish and be Damned for ever. Therefore instead of Praying to God for pardoning Mercy, they do imprecate the worst of Judgments to come upon them; namely, that God would not pardon them: Look to it all you Persecuters, for the Lord is at hand, and you will be the first that will be called to the Bar to take your Tryal, Luke 19.27. But those mine Enemies which would not that I should Reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. Ay! Christ will see the Execution done upon them himself, for they are the greatest Enemies that Christ has upon the Face of God's Earth.

Again, Seventhly, Persecuters are the very Pest of a Nation, or Kingdom; for they separate Subjects from their Prince, and from their Native Countrey; and so De­populate Kingdoms, and destroy Trade, and impoverish Nations; and they do sepa­rate Parents from their Children, and Husbands from their Wives, and causes Rebel­lion and Wars.

First, They do separate Subjects from their Prince, and Depopulate their King­doms, and Impoverish Nations by destroying Trade; for Persecution does always drive out, and drive away many of the Inhabitants of the Land into other Countries, besides what they ruine and destroy at Home in nasty Goals, and with Grief and Poverty; for when they are persecuted at one place, they fly to another: And the Wiseman saith, Prov. 14.28. In the Multitude of People is the King's Honour: But in the want of People is the Destruction of the Prince: And by this means Trade is destroyed, and the Peace disturbed, and the Treasure of a Nation or Kingdom is Exhausted and Dreined away, which is the very Sinews, and Veins, and Blood, ay, and the Life too, of the Body Politick of a Nation: And that Nation that giveth Liberty, is thereby Inriched; for by that means they become a Drein unto those Kingdoms or Nations that do persecute. For first, they drein away their People, which is the Honour, and Glory, and Strength of a King; For, what is a King or Kingdom, without People? It is like a Gentleman, without Means or Wealth.

Secondly, Those that give Liberty of Conscience, they drein away the Wealth and Treasure of a Nation that does persecute, which does mightily Inrich the former, and Impoverish the latter; and this is the very cause, that makes our Eastern Neighbours stickle so much as they do, against the Establishing of our Christian Liberty by a Magna Charta, and that is the Reason why that East-Wind does bring over so many [Page 25]Locusts and Catterpillers, to eat up every green thing of this our Christian Liberty. Namely, Their Pamphlets that are stuft with frighful Notions, to Create and Foment Fears and Jealousies, to infuse hard Thoughts into the Minds and Hearts of the Peo­ple, concerning his Majesties Intentions and Designs, in giving this Liberty unto us; I do not remember that ever they were so kind to the Dissenters, in the late horrid Persecution, as to interceed with the Church of England on their behalf, to abate their Rigour: O no, for that Northerly Wind blew them a great deal of Corn; for by this Craft, or rather Cruelty of the Persecuters here, they got a great deal of Wealth there, as well as our Crafts-men that belongeth to Diana here, and that maketh them and the other stickle, as they do at this time against the Abolishment of the Penal Laws and Tests; but it is my Opinion, that both the one and the other might be far better Im­ployed, in humbling themselves before the Lord for their own Sins; let them both look at home; let them pull the Beam out of their own Eye, before they go about to pull the Mote out of their Brothers, Matt. 7.5. Thou Hypocrite, first cast out the Beam out of thine own Eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the Mote out of thy Brothers Eye.

I say again, Let them both begin at home, for God hath a Controversy with them both; against the one, for their Bloody Persecution and prophaning the Sacred Ordi­nance of the Lord's Supper, and their grievous Oppression: And God hath a Contro­versy against the other, for Prophaning the Lord's Day, and for Swearing Sacra­mento, and for their Drunkenness; and let them repent of it all, and of their great Un­heard-of Epicurian Abominable Gluttony; and let them repent of their Whoredoms and Uncleanness, and all other Abominations, that is to be found amongst some of the Magistrates themselves, which should be the Reformers of a Nation; unto whose Care the sanctifying and keeping holy the Sabbath is committed, Jer. 17.20, 21. Neh. 17.18. I have been Credibly Informed, That the Magistrates themselves do countenance and indulge men to work upon their own Ships, to fit them to Sea, on the Lord's Day, and to do any other Work, or to Feast and Riot on that Day, without Countroul; and will not God Visit for these things, think ye? Notwithstanding the great stickling of the North Country Gentlemen, that has formerly been of another Religion.

Surely, if Noah, Daniel and Job could not prevail with the Lord to turn away Wrath from a People, I cannot think that he can be very acceptable with the Lord, who hath put off his Coat and grasp'd another Religion, then what he was Born and Bred to, Rev. 2.4, 5. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first Love; remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first Works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. And what is said here of a Church, and to a Church, is applicable also to particular Persons: And let him return to his first Love, and not stickle so much against our present Liberty, least he and all that taketh that course, be found even to oppose or fight against God: Mind what Counsel that honest Man Gamaliel gave to the Old Persecuting superstitious Jews, in almost a parallel case, Acts 8.38.39. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone, for if this Counsel or this Work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, least haply ye be found, even to fight against God. O! that we might all repent, and return to our Allegiance to God, especially such as have and are yet still taking wrong steps out of Gods way, for God is a coming to call us to account for what we have been doing, Amos 3.8. The Lyon bath Roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but Prophesie? And although I am not a Prophet, nor the Son of a Prophet, yet this I will boldly Assert, That without a spee­dy [Page 26]Repentance; and a thorough Reformation of these two sorts of People at home and abroad, that are so much against this our Christian Liberty, that God hath sent us from Heaven by the Hands of his Gracious Majesty, God will bring some tremendous Judgment upon them both, for they have no other solid Reason for it at the bottom, but because it does seem to interfere with their Worldly Secular Interest, as if their happiness did lye wholly in our Misery; they had rather that we should lye under the heavy Burdens of Oppression of Conscience, then that they should be prevented of making themselves Rich and Great, by our Inevitable Ruine and Destruction. And is this to walk according to the Golden Rule of Christ, to do to others as we would be done by? It is true, our East Countrey Neighbours do give Liberty of Conscience; and the thing is very well, and it is good in it self; but yet I must tell ye, they could do no less in point of Prudence to themselves, for by that Liberty and their Neighbour­ing Peoples Captivity, in a great measure, they stand, and grow Great and Potent, which is honest Policy I must confess: But I am apt to think it is not much more then Hu­mane Policy, as you shall hear, if you do weigh and consider the thing well in its full Latitude, for they do owe much of their Greatness to the Spirit of Persecution and Oppression: But if the rest of the Neighbouring Princes do but follow the Example of His Majesty of Great Britain, in giving and establishing Liberty of Conscience in meer Matters of Religion, upon lasting Foundations, which I hope, and am very inclinable to believe they will in a short time, Rev. 17.16, 16. which would make their Crowns sit faster and firmer upon their Heads, and the Jewels thereof to shine more conspicuously in the Eyes of God, and in the Hearts of their best Subjects, which is far more pleasing to God and all good Men, then to have it wreathed about with the Oppressed Consciences of their Subjects; like unto a Crown of Thorns, to scratch the Souls of their People; why then our East Country Neighbours might rest satified, and sit down in Peace under their own Vine, and under their Fig-Tree, and be contented with what they have got­ten, for they have catcht a great deal of Fish in our troubled Waters, which I do not begrudge them in the least: But yet notwithstanding, I would not have them endeavour to Undermine and do what in them lyes, to overthrow our Christian Liberty by their Pamphlets; and especially as they have done by that specious Letter, wherein they cunningly insinuate a pretence of being willing to afford us a Liberty of Conscience, which is but just next door to a greater Captivity, or a Shooing-Horn unto it, which any Man almost, though he had never been at the University, nor yet at the Inns of Court, might see through and through it, without the help of a pair of Spectacles: The worthy Getleman prescribes a Liberty for the Exercise of our Religion, it is true; but if you look into the bottom of it, you will find that it is but Durante beneplacito. It shall be but as long as our Enemies pleases; for as I take it, he saith it is fit that all peo­ple should have the Liberty of Worshiping God according to their several Perswasions, which is very good so far; but says he, It is not fit or safe, that the Legislative Power should be lodged in any other Peoples Hands, but theirs of the National Church; or Words to that effect: As if the Worthy Gentleman should have said, That all the Dissenters of all sorts, are either Knaves or Fools, or Children under Age, and there­fore not worthy or fit to be trusted with their Inheritance, namely, Liberty of Con­science, and the Security of it, but must be under Tutours and Governours, and chuse themselves Guardians: And it is not fit that they should intrust themselves with their own share of the Government, according as his Gracious Majesty would have them, which is to have them that hate us to have the sole Rule and Government over us, which is Ranked in the holy Scripture, among the greatest of Judgments that God does bring upon a People or Nation.

And who is so blind as they, that will not see into this Intrigue or Wheedle? Sure­ly, this great Man takes the Dissenters to be very great Fools, or very little Children; Pray, What kind of Security can such a kind of Security give us? And what can any such kind of Liberty afford us Dissenters, of all sorts, in Terra Firma, where we are not under an absolute necessity to give Liberty of Conscience, for to get Bread for the Nation? If it were so, then the Parallel with their Government, would hold Water in some Measure. But as the Case and Circumstance with us, is far otherwise then that with them, therefore the Gentleman measures by a wrong Rule, and is out, there­fore as we say, he must begin again, and go upon another Topick; for this will not do with us, as not being laid under a general necessity of giving Liberty of Conscience, as they are: for here, if the Church of England have the sole Legislative Power in their Hands, they may give us Liberty one Sessions of Parliament to quiet us, and to serve a Turn; and the next Sessions, they may take it away again, and ruine, and undo us; and such a kind of Liberty as this, would not be worth two years Purchase of any Man's Money in England: Pray, What is the Reason that the People of England, that are of the same Rellgion with the Church-of-England-men in London, do not suffer them to choose all their Burgesses, and Knights of the Shire, in London, for all the rest of the Nation, being they are so near to the Parliament-House, and all of one Religion, ra­ther than to put the Counties and Corporations, to so much trouble and charge? What an unreasonable strange Question is this? Why! Pray what is the Reason? Why, It is because they will have some of their own Neighbours and Friends there, that are in­teressed Men in the Countrey, to Represent their Neighbours, and to Redress their A­grievances, and to Defend and Secure their Priviledges, and to Prevent others for lay­ing more Taxes upon them than their share. Well, if the Church-of-England-Men will not trust one another in lesser matters, who are all of one Religion, how much less Reason have all sorts of Dissenters to trust them? And how much more Reason, have all sorts of Dissenters, to have their Proportion of Representatives in the Parlia­ment-House, to defend and secure them, in all their proper Rights and Priviledges be­longing unto them, both as Men and Christians; that they might not be ruined and undone, by cruel oppressing Laws, and have no Party in the House to oppose them, and to speak a Word for them? How unreasonable a thing is it, that such a vast body of People, as the Dissenters of all sorts do make in England, should be Excluded the Government? I will appeal to God, Angels and Men, of the Injustice and In-equality of the thing: And thus you do see the Scope and Drift of the Letter, and how this great East-Countrey-Gentleman has trick'd upon us.

Therefore I am apt to think, and am jealous, that they themselves do not give Li­berty, for Christian Liberty's-sake; that is, they do not give it so much for God's sake, as for their own. For if they give Christian Liberty for God's-sake, or for Christian Liberty's-sake; then to be sure, they would be as willing to have it granted in other Countries as in their own; and if so, then they would not fill our Ears with din as they do; but they give Liberty of Conscience out of civil Policy, and not so much religiously, or for Religion's-sake; for the end and design Crowns the Action; for a Man may do a good thing, but yet it may be to a bad End, and that marrs and spoils all, not that civil Policy is to be condemned, if it be to a civil End. And the Truth on it is, whether this Liberty they give, may be properly called Christian Liberty, or whether it may not as well be called Licentiousness, is a great Question with me? Or, Whether it may not fall much about equal between both? Whether there be not as much Liberty and Indulgence, given to Sin and Lust, as there is given to a well-ordered Christian Liberty of Conscience? For I cannot tell, whether they ever told the [Page 28]World, that Conscience ought not to be restrained in things that relate to Matters of meer Religion and Worship, as his Gracious Majesty hath done. Thus you see in part, how Persecuters do Depopulate Kingdoms and Nations, and Destroy Trade, and Com­merce, and Impoverish the People; and are the Dogs that hunts the Burroughs, and brings out the Game for others to take as well as themselves; and are the greatest E­nemies, that Princes and their good Subjects have under the Sun. They may mock and scoff at poor Captives, that are willing to have their Yokes and Snares broken off, and taken away, by accepting of Christian Liberty, while we are labouring in the Fire to accomplish it, when God in his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, by the Hand of his Gracious Majesty, does offer it unto us, to compleat it, by their Exposing of us, by their Ridiculous Painted Chariot: But they may assure themselves, that there is a fie­ry Chariot hangs over their Heads, and will certainly come down upon them, without a very speedy, unfeigned Repentance, and thorow Reformation: As safe and secure as they think themselves to be, they may sport and play like Leviathan with Painted Chariots, and slight and despise the great and wonderful Providences of God; but they will have other Apprehensions of things in a little time: Look for it, Expect it, and Prepare for it, and that quickly too.

Again, Secondly, Persecuters separates the tender Parents from their beloved Chil­dren, and the affectionate Husband, from his dearly beloved Wife: It may be the Father, or Husband is in a stinking nasty Prison, and his House Rifled and Plundered, and his poor Wife laid upon a fick Bed, if she have one left, with Grief and Sorrow, occasioned by these Cruelties; and the poor Babes crying for the absence of their Im­prisoned tender Father, and for the Affliction of their grieved Mother; and it may be, the poor Children are crying for Bread also; And what Heart, but that of Stone, will not relent and be grieved at this? O Sirs! I would have all you that are of a persecu­ting Spirit, amongst us here, and also those East-Countrey-Gentlemen, that are stickling against our Christian Liberty there, for they are all of a persecuting Spirit, with these here, even tremble to think what will become of you; for though they brag of giving Liberty of Conscience at home, yet they are against it abroad, which is an infallible Argument with me, that they do not give Liberty of Conscience upon a right gene­rous Christian Principle: That is thus, They do not give it so much for God's sake, as for their own, as I said before.

Thirdly and Lastly, Persecution is the Father of Rebellion, and the Mother of Wars, James 4.1, 2, 3. From whence comes Wars and Fighting among you? Come they not henèe, even of your Lusts, that war in your Members? Ye Lust, and have not: Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: Ye Fight and War, yet ye have not, be­cause ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your Lusts. And Solomon saith, That Oppression maketh the Wise Man mad. And no Man can be said, to be truly wise, but him that is really good; and they are generally such, as are the Subjects of this kind of Oppression, which is the greatest Oppression of all; for there is nothing dear­er in the World to a good Man, than Liberty to serve and worship God, according to his Light and Knowledge that God has given him: But here is a wise man, and there­fore a good Man, and yet a mad Man; And what made him so? Why, the Text tells us, that it is Oppression: Well! And what is a mad Man? And what does a mad Man do? Why! First, A mad Man is one that is besides himself, he hath lost his Reason, as to the Exercise of it, which ought to be his Rule to walk by; that is with­drawn, and he does that which he would not do, if he was himself. And Secondly, He grows resolute and desperate. And Thirdly, and Lastly, He betaketh himself to undue Means for his Relief, perhaps he flies to an arm of Flesh, for to ease himself, [Page 29]instead of flying to God, and relying upon him; and this is the Fruits and Effects of Persecution; and therefore all the Wars and Rebellions that have been among us, ought to be charged principally to the foot of the Persecutors Account.

Fourthly and Lastly, A Persecutor is one, that is an incarnate Devil; for this is that Devil, that doth cast the Saints and Servants of God into Prison, that we read on in Rev. 2.10, Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison. Shew me a Person that is a Persecuter, and at the same time, I will shew you an Incarnate Devil.

Fourthly, This great Truth informs us, that all those that are afraid to part with all those Penal Laws and Tests, that keep men out of Government, upon account of Re­ligion, and that for fear of Popery, are more afraid of uncertain future suffering, then of continuing under certain present sinning against God; for they do tacitly and con­sequentially, and unadvisedly choose, rather that Christ should remain still Crucified, by this horrible Law of the Sacramental Test, which obligeth a Man to Crucifie his Redeemer that should be, and that before he can be duely qualified to come into the Government, then they will part with the Test, that is against the Romanists: These be the 19th Article-men of the Church of England, and some other good Men who are afraid to part with the Test upon another account, then that of the Persecuting part of the said Church are; for the Persecuting part of it cannot think of being satisfied and content to enjoy what is their own proper Right and Priviledge, but are like wicked Ahab, they must be coveting their Brothers Vine-yard, they cannot submit willingly to part with their Domineering Prelatick Lording Power over their Fellow-Subjects, they must be Lording it over God's Heritage, though we bring them the great Charter and Canon Law of Heaven that forbids it. Pray read this part of the Charter of Heaven, and there you may find Liberty of Conscience asserted, without any Humane Test to prohi­bite it, in the 1 Pet. 5.2, 3. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. Do you hear, Gentlemen, what your Duty is? And also you may see what your Sin hath been, you that have not kept to your 19th Article: But stay, the Apostle hath not done with you yet, for as you must not be constrained to do your Duty, but you must do it willingly; so it must not be done in covetousness; Not for filthy Lucre, but of a ready Mind; Neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage, but being Ensamples to the Flock. Thus you hear what St. Peter saith; but it may be, they may say of St. Peter as the Jews did say of him (and St. John) That they were Ʋnlearned and Ignorant Men, Acts 4.13. And as they do Cavel and Quarrel with all them that Write Books, or Preach the Gospel, that do not understand Hebrew, Greek and Latin well; therefore let us hear what Learned St. Paul saith, and hear whether he was for Liberty of Conscience or not; and whether he was for having or appointing any Humane Test, to secure our Christian Li­berty unto us; pray mind 2 Cor. 1.24. Not for that we have Dominion over your Faith. Here the Apostle disclaims all Lording Soveraignty over Men's Consciences; there is your Liberty, But are helpers of your Joy; But they that are against Liberty of Conscience, that Oppress the Consciences, are the greatest Enemies to Joy in the whole World, be they who they will, For by Faith we stand. Where was the Apostle when he said this? Why even in the midst of all his Enemies. Why surely St. Paul and our Humane Projecters were not of one and the same Opinion; for they say, That by the Test against the Romanists they stand: But the holy Apostle, when he was in Ten times more danger then we are, said, By Faith we stand: There was his Test which he Relied on under God, when he had not a Prince to stand by him, and tell him, that Conscience ought not to be restrained. And it is said in the holy Scripture, That the [Page 30]Liberal Man deviseth Liberal things; and by Liberal things he shall stand.

Now can the Test against the Romanists be properly called a Liberal thing, when it is a thing that keeps them out of their share of the Government, on the account of Conscience? Here is neither standing by Faith, nor standing by Liberal things: Which is the most Liberal thing, think ye, a firm Magna Charta to secure every Man in his Christian and Civil Liberty, which his Majesty does propose to be devised by the Wis­dom of the Nation in Parliament, or this Old long Parliamentary Test? Truly for my part, I cannot see any kind of Liberality in the Test; and I can see no kind of nigard­ly Churlishness that there can be in a firm Magna Charta for our Christian Liberty: Thus you see these two holy Apostles were both for Liberty of Conscience, and to make Faith their Test to stand upon, and so am I; not but that I am for all the Civil Securi­ty that can be made, which does not tye up Mens Consciences in point of Christian Li­berty: I am not for knocking men in the head, or ruining them, because they are not of my Principle; but let the Tares grow with the Wheat, until the great Harvest; and whosoever is not of this Mind, is no Christian, let him call himself what he please: And I do not doubt, but there are Honest, Able Heads and Hearts at work, a draw­ing up to themselves Propositions for the Establishing of our Christian Liberty, against the time that the Great and Honourable Counsel of the Land shall meet together, that will be satisfactory to all the honest Hearts that are willing to be satisfied: Thus you see also, that those that had rather that all the Penal Laws and Tests should be continu­ed, then that one Test against the Romanists should be taken away and Abolished, do choose rather to sin against God now, then to venture to suffer hereafter, because the Penal Laws and Sacramental Test are Essentially sinful in themselves, as you see clear­ly proved.

Fifthfly, Is it so that Men must Eat and Drink their own Damnation to qualify them, before ever they can be admitted to come into the Government, or any place of Trust and Profit? Why then this clearly Informs us, that poor Deluded Men, that do Obey these Laws, do pawn that precious Jewel, even their Souls, in the Hands of the Devil; and do choose rather to trust the Devil with their Souls, then to trust God with their Estates, or to give Wicked Men an advantage against them, of bringing them into 500 l. Damage; and none but Christ, whom they do thus Crucify, can Redeem them out of Satans Hands; and that by his precious Blood, in appeasing the Wrath of God, and attoning them to God, by giving them Unfeigned Repentance and Faith in him; for none can come to God, but in and through him alone; the Lord of his Infinite Mercy awake ye all to Unfeigned Repentance, before the Decree bringeth forth; for if Death cuts you down in this Impenitent Condition, you have no better hopes of Escaping the Damnation of Hell, nor of Enjoying Eternal Happiness in Heaven, then this, which is a Dreadful deceitful one, as you will find when it is too late.

Namely, That the Word of God is not true; which is in plain English, without the help of Hebrew, Greek or Latin, to hope that God is a Lyar; but let God be True, and every Man a Lyar, 3 Rom. 4. O Horrible! Horrible! Poor Deluded Sonls! That ever there should be such a Device of the Devil promoted by Men, for to Damn Men's Souls by Law! What will after Ages think of such a Generation of Men as this? O! that ever it should enter into the Hearts of Rational Men, to make such a Hea­ven-Daring Law as this! And that which encreaseth the wonder, is this, That there should be so many Pillars of their Church, which are called Spiritual Lords; and that ever they should consent to it, that ought to have told those Gentlemen that promoted it, the Danger and Evil of it, for had they had any Honour for God, and Value and Esteem for Christ and his Ordinance, and Pity for Men's Souls, they would never have [Page 31]made their Church Door so much wider then our Saviour Christ and his Apostles made it, or then their own 19th Article made it; to make the Church of God not only a Den of Robbers in his sight, but also to make it a Herd of Swine: And is this to separate the Precious from the Vile? I think the Church of England ought not to va­lue her self upon such Laws as these are, above their Neighbours; and truly she hath little cause to make her boast of these Laws and Tests, which should rather be matter of shame unto them indeed, Jer. 23.14. I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusa­lem an horrible thing; they commit Adultery, and walk in Lies; they streng then also the Hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all unto me as Sodom, and the Inhabitants as Gomorah: Therefore the same Judgments that God brought upon these Prophets that was so guilty then, may be expected to come upon those Prophets among us now, or an Equivalent, who are guilty of the same sins, if not worse; for if the Body of Sin and Iniquity now, be of the same shape and big­ness as it was then, why then a Garment of Wrath and Vengeance of the same size now, will fit it as did then, therefore look for it, and expect it; without a speedy Repentance, there will be a speedy Riddance, Jer. 6.13, 14. For from the least of them, to the great­est of them, every one is given to Covetousness; and from the Prophet, even unto the Priest, every one dealeth falsly. They have healed also the Hurt of the Daughter of my People slightly, saying, Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace. Were they asham­ed, when they had committed Abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, nei­ther could they Blush; Therefore, They shall fall among them that fall, at the time that I visit them: they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Thus you see what a dread­ful Condition all they are in, that are thus guilty now among us; they are nothing of Kin to their own 19th Article.

Seventhly, This informs us also, that all those that do thus come into the Govern­ment, Invested with these God-provoking, most abominable Qualifications, do Trea­sure up Wrath against the day of Wrath, and Revelation of God's Righteous Judg­ments, without a speedy and unfained Repentance, and turning to God; They do eat and drink their own Spiritual Bane, and poyson and destroy their own Souls. And, What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? Or, What shall be given in Exchange for his Soul? Saith our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pray Gentlemen, try your selves by these things.

Again, Eighthly, Is it so, that all those that come into the Government, Qualified according to the Sacramental Law, Do Eat and Drink their own Damnation; then this informs us, that this Law, is against the Statute, standing, unalterable Law of Hea­ven: And our own Fundamental Law of the Land saith, That whatsoever Laws are made against the Law of God, are ipso facto, void and null in themselves, and therefore not to be regarded, nor taken notice of, no further than to loath it, and to abhor it, and destroy it: And those Spiritual Gentlemen, that had their Hands and Hearts en­gaged in the making of these Laws, are the most to blame of all, and the Blood of their Souls, that have perished upon this Account, will be required at their Hands; Ezek. 3.20. Again, when a Righteous Man doth turn from his Righteousness, and commit Iniquity, and I lay a stumbling Block before him, he shall die in his Sin; and his Righteousness, which he hath done, shall not be remembred: But his Blood will I require at thine Hand.

But some will Object, That no Man is forc'd to come into the Government, and so no man is forc'd to receive the Sacrament on this Account. But if they will come into the Government, they must receive it: You say, no body is forc'd to come in­to the Government; though, if I mistake not, as I am confident I do not, there is a [Page 32]Law in being, to force all Adult Persons to the Sacrament, once a year at least, at their Parish-Church; or else, Pray, Why do they receive Three pence a Head, for every Adult Person in your Family, and have put Persons in the Exchequer, for not paying of it? But that by the By.

Pray tell me, Is there not an absolute necessity of Government? Why, yes; no Man denies that, for it is an Ordinance of God; why, if so, then it follows, that there is as absolute a necessity, for Persons to come into the Government: Here you do own, that there is an absolute Necessity of Government, and that from the most solid Ground and Reason that can be; namely, because it is an Ordinance of God; and therefore it follows, that there is an absolute Necessity of Persons, to govern well: What then? Can it ever be imagined, that God hath Ordained, that any Man should Damn his Soul, to partake of this Ordinance of God, namely, the Civil Government? For you see clearly, as this old way of governing by Penal Laws and Tests, now stands, no Man can come into it, nor be rightly qualified for it, before he hath been and Crucified to himself, the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame: And also, Eat and Drink Damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body; so that this is the ne­cessary Consequence of that Argument, viz. That whosoever will partake of God's Or­dinance of the Civil Government, must first, Murder our Saviour Christ Sacramen­tally; and also, Murder his own Soul Hypocritically: And also it follows, That there is an absolute Necessity of it too, by the former Assertion; namely, the Laws and Ordinance of God, and the Laws of Men; or else Persons must sin against God, by not obeying that Ordinance of his Appointment: And then, the Consequence that would follow, must be this, That there must be no Government at all: So that it is brought to this Point, either they must Crucifie Christ, and Eat and Drink their own Damnation, or else there must be no Government among us at all. And what would the World be without Government? It would be a meer Shambles: For there is a great deal of Difficulty, to keep People to rights, where there is good Government; and how much more difficult would it be, to keep themselves within bounds, if there was no Government? Who should keep them? Or say, to him that is stronger than himself, What dost thou? Now the Merciful God, who delighteth in Mercy, who is a God of Order, and not of Confusion, that hath ordained Civil Government, never ordained such a cruel, base, foul way, to come into it: You do tacitly make God a cruel Task-Master, severer than Pharaoh, that would make the People to make Brick without Straw, and yet abate nothing of the Tale, which is, to make God the Author of Evil, and so charge God foolishly: Surely God that made this Ordinance of Civil Government, never did shut it up, and inclosed it, so as there is no coming at it, or into it, without Crucifying his own Eternal Son afresh, and putting him to an open Shame; and to Eat and Drink their own Damnation, which is, to make God the Au­thor of one of the greatest Sins that ever was committed, and so to charge God fool­ishly; for by this Crucifying Soul-Damning-Law, they inclose God's Field, namely, his Ordinance of Civil Government, and stop up the way to it, and will not allow God a way to his own Ground: The Law of the Land, alloweth every man a way to his ground, and will you not allow God a way to his? And is not this a miserable Case & Condition, for a People or Nation to be in, that you must either have no Government at all, or else it must be made up of a Company of Men, that have pawned their Souls in the Hands of the Devil; one or the other it must be? And which is the worst of these, I will leave the Reader to Consider; whether to have no Government, or to have it made up of such desperate Hypocrites as all they must be, that cometh into the Government, in the full Latitude of its Required Qualifications? They must be the Enemies of God, and of all good People, and their own Enemies also; For must they not be God's [Page 33]Enemies that do vertually Murder his own Son; when it is said in Scripture, He that hates his Brother, is a Murderer. And must they not be good Mens Enemies, that would compel them to do the like with themselves? And must they not be their own Enemies, that Destroy and Murder their own Souls? And all this is done in the very Act of Quali­fication; so that you see this Objection is altogether groundless, as well as very dangerous; for when our Enemies shall have the sole Legislative Power lodged wholly in their own Hands, what is it that they may not do? If God does permit them, they may make Laws to cut the rest of the Subjects Throats, and yet not so Cruel as this Law is, to Crucifie the Son of God, that should be their Redeemer, and Eat and Drink their own Damnation; which is to destoy their own Souls, without God's Insinite preventing Mer­cy, before they can be duly qualifyed to come into the Government; Aye, or to live in the Nation, if they are Adult Persons, because there is a Law in being, that for­ces all so to do it; but indeed, many Persons does do by our Lord and Saviour, as Pha­raoh's Butler did by Joseph, when the King restored him again to be his Cup-bearer, he soon forgot Joseph's Kindness, and Joseph's Affliction too: Why, even so it is now with some few of the Multitude, that have been Sufferers and Prisoners with Christ in the late Horrible Persecutions: Now they are set at Liberty, and are at Ease, they for­get the Blessed Jesus, as the Butler forgot Joseph, until he had occasion to make use of him, for Christ is still in Sufferings Vertually, and lieth Crucified among us, and will be, until these Crucifying Laws be Abolished; which if they be continued, will indanger the Destruction of the Nation, by some Tremendous Sweeping Judgment, from the im­mediate Hand of God; and therefore it is the Duty, as well as the Interest of all Peo­ple, good and bad, of what Perswasion soever, to joyn Heart and Hand with his Graci­ous Majesty in the Repealing of them, that those Judgments may be Diverted, that seems to threaten us, and will Inevitably come upon us.

Again, Ninthly, Is it so that these Laws, while they are in being, do Crucifie Jesus Christ, the Son of God, afresh, and put him to an open shame? Then this may inform us, That the Nation lieth now under a worse Plague, then the Plague of Pestilence; for a Nation or People may have the Plague of Pestilence, which the Lord keep from us, which I fear will come without Unfeigned Repentance, where they may not be guilty of so great a Sin, as to have Christ Crucified among them, and Exposed to an open shame by them. His Gracious Majesty, by his Healing Declaration, has Cured his Poor Subjects of this Contagious Disease, the Plague of Suffering: As to the effects of it, by these Penal Laws and Tests, it is Cured as to what is in our Flesh and Clothes, Levit. 13. But yet it is in the Plaistering and Stones and Timber of the House still, Levit. 14.44, 45. Then the Priest shall come and look, and behold, if the Plague be spread in the House, it is a fretting Leprosie in the House; it is unclean, and he shall break down the House, and the Stones of it, and the Timber thereof, and all the Morter of the House; and he shall carry them forth out of the City, into an unclean place: So let every Man, good and bad, say of all these Spiritual Penal Laws and Tests, that are made against Mens Principles; Let this Unclean House, that has this fretting Leprosie in the very Plaistering and Walls and Stones and Timber thereof, all be broke down and carried out into the Body of a Bill of Abolition, and Buried in the Grave of Abho­rence for ever. O! Sirs, leave not a Horn nor Hoof of this Unclean Beast behind, do not plead for this, or that, or t'other, to be continued; but if you will prevent the Judg­ments of God from coming unto you, why then take Christ down from the Cross, and be reconciled unto him, and make your Peace with him, for it is he that you have been Crucifying all this while, that must save you if ever you are saved. O! Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little; bles­sed are all they that put their Trust in him, Psal. 2.12.

Again, Tenthly, Is it so, that none can come into the Government, unless they be qualified according to the several Unjust Laws in that case provided, although they be against the great Charter of Heaven, and against the Fundamental Laws of the Land, and against their own 19th Article of Definition, and against the Principles of the very Light and Law of Nature, but that they must first Crucifie their Maker, that should be their Husband and Redeemer, Isa. 54.5. For thy Maker is thine Husband [the Lord of Hosts is his Name] and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel; the God of the whole Earth shall he be called. Do you see, my Friends, what a Friend to Mankind you do thus abuse? The best Friend that ever Sinful Man had. And they must Pawn or Mortgage their Souls into the Hands of the Devil, before they can be admitted there­unto; then this Informs us of the Absolute Necessity, and the Indispensible Duty, for honest good Men of all sorts to come into the Goyernment, and to destroy all the Works of the Devil. Namely, To Abolish for ever all these Sinful Laws and Tests, that are against all Mens Consciences in meer Matters of Religion; and let us all do as we would be done by; is it ever to be imagined, that men of such Vicious Profligate Lives and Ungodly Plundering Principles, which cannot govern their own Consciences, can be fit to govern other Peoples, who stick at nothing, but will Crucifie their Maker, if he stands between them and Worldly Preferment.

Eleventhly and Lastly, Is it so, that Persons must Crucifie their Maker, the Son of God, and Pawn that Precious Jewel, their Soul, by Eating and Drinking their own Damnation in the Hands of the Devil? Then hence we may be Informed, that this old Government, which is founded upon Penal Laws and Tests in meer Matters of Religion and Conscience, lieth in the hands of the Wicked One, namely, the Prince of Darkness, as the old Wicked World before the Flood did, and therefore the Destruction of it in some sence will be like unto that; for mind Psal. 11.6. Ʋpon the Wicked he shall Rain Snares, Fire and Brimstone, and an horrible Tempest: This shall be the Portion of their Cup. God Rains down a Flood of Snares of their own making upon them, they have been making of them, off and on, about 120 years, a little more or less; and now God is Rain­ing their own Snares upon them; that is, upon the old Government, and the old Spirit of Persecution, as Gods Spirit did strive with the old World; and as God, provided an Ark by Noah to save all his Family, why even so God, by his Majesty, has provided an Ark for all his Good Subjects: For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great Mercies will I gather thee; in a little Wrath I hid my Face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting Kindness will I have Mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer, for this is as the Waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the Waters of No­ah should no more go over the Earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor Rebuke thee; that is, for the Preservation of Gods People. And here is the Destruction of the Snare-makers, aluding to Noah's Flood, also, Isa. 24.17, 18, 19. Fear, and the Pit, and the Snare are upon thee; O Inhabitant of the Earth: And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the Pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the Pit, shall be taken in the Snare; for the Windows from on high are open, and the Foundations of the Earth do shake; the Earth is utterly broken down, the Earth is clean dissolved, the Earth is moved exceedingly. Now in the 7 Gen. 11.12. there you have this 11 Psal. 6. and this 24 Isa. 18. taken by way of Allusion, 2 Pet. 3.10. This is Metaphorically, and not Literally and Pro­perly meant; nor of the End of the World, for the 13 Verse may convince any man of that; but this old way of Governing will pass away with a very great Noise, and this Element wherein the Spirit of Persecution does live and breathe, will be melted, and the Generation of Persecuters must pass away; this old corrupt Leven, both in [Page 35]Church and State, must be Purged out; All Old things must be done away, and all things must become New; Psal. 102.25, 26. Yea, all of them shall wax Old like a Gar­ment; as a Vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Thus you see this old way of Government, so far as it consisteth in Sinful Penal Laws and Tests, lieth in the Hands of Satars; and these poor deluded Souls, that are contending for it, for Persecutions sake, are his Bond-slaves; they are taken Captive at his Will, and the Dissenters are in Captivity to them, and these Laws also. So that in Effect, we are all in Captivity; and them that are for this Sacramental Test, by which they must Eat and Drink Damnation to themselves, are in the greatest Captivity of all: So that it will be a greater Mercy to them, for to have all these Yokes and Snares of the Devil broken, than to any other Persons whatsoever, though indeed it will be a very great Mercy to the whole Nation.

But Secondly and Lastly, I am come to an Ʋse of Exhortation, which shall be un­to two sorts of Persons: The first shall be, unto all them that were Sacramental Test-Makers, and Test-Givers, and Test-Takers.

The second sort of Persons, that I shall direct my Exhortation and Counsel unto, shall be, unto all them that are for the continuing of these Penal Laws and Tests, for fear of Popery prevailing upon us: And these are such, as are not of a persecuting Spirit.

You see, I have searched into this desperate Wound, or Plague of Leprosie; and I find it to be very dangerous and contagious. It is gotten into the Plaister and Stones, and into the very Timber of the House; and therefore under God, I will prescribe a Healing Plaister, and a Sovereign Antidote, for the making it a perfect Cure; I would not leave your Wounds open, and a bleeding. Now they are searched into, I will not leave the worst of you, without Hopes of obtaining Pardoning Mercy, in the Blood of Christ.

First of all, In the first place, I Exhort you all, in the Name of my Great Lord and Master, By whom Kings Reign, and Princes Decree Justice; especially, you that have been Sacramental Test-Makers, and Test-Givers, and also Test-Takers, that are guilty of Crucifying the Son of God afresh; and putting him to an open Shame, and Eating and Drinking your own Damnation, or Condemnation, to repent from the bottom of your Hearts: Look upon him whom you have Crucified, and Mourn over him, and be in bitterness of Soul, as one is in bitterness for his First-born. O Sirs! Be per­swaded to expel the deadly Spiritual Poyson, which you have swallowed down; name­ly, the Sacramental Test, by Ʋnfained Repentance, or it will kindle a Fire in you, that will burn to the lowest Hell; for there is a Death and Damnation too, in that Cup, for all the impenitent Partakers of it; for as it is a Cup of Consolation, and Salvation to the People of God; so it is a Cup of Spiritual Poyson and Damnation, to Carnal Prophane Hypocrites, which are but Spiritual Vermine.

Secondly, I Exhort you, to Repent of all your ill-gotten plundered Goods, and vo­mit them up again also, by restoring it again unto them, from whom you took it: I mean, in that way that His Majesty hath appointed under God; and God hath said, Ye shall do it, Job 20.15, 18. He hath swallowed down Riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God shall cast them out of his Belly. That which he laboured for, shall he Restore; that is, they laboured for it, in a wrong illegal way; as we use to say, Prank more labour than Thank, who required it at their Hands; according to his Substance, shall the Restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. It may be you will say, You had a Law on your side: Why! So the old Gang of Scribes and Pharisees, could boast of a Law, they had on their side, by which they did literally and wickedly Cru­cifie [Page 36]our Lord and Saviour. We have a Law, and by our Law, this Man ought to die: And here is a Law of the very same Complection of yours, if not Prophetically spoken of the same, in Isa. 10.1, 2. With a Wo pronounced against the Legislators thereof, Wo unto them that Decree Ʋnrighteous Decrees, and that write Grievous­ness, which they have Prescribed: To turn aside the needy from Judgment, and to take away the Right from the, poor of my People; that Widows may be their Prey, and that they may Rob the Fatherless, Here you see a Law made against God's People; And those that make such Laws as these are, are Persons that have no Communion, or Fellowship with God, Psal. 94.20, 23. Shall the Throne of Iniquity have Fellowship with thee, which frameth Mischief by a Law? Pray mark, What will be the End of such? And he shall bring upon them their own Iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own Wickedness: Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. Psal. 7.15, 16. He made a Pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the Ditch which he made. His Mischief shall return upon his own Head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own Pate. That is, God does bring it down upon them, which is a fulfilling the Words of our Saviour, who hath said, That the same Measure ye make, shall be made unto you a­gain: O Sirs! I beseech ye to take shame to your selves, before the Lord, for all your Abominations; that you may not be put to shame by the Lord: Eye the just Hand of God in all these Great Providences: Humble your selves in Dust and Ashes, Acknowledge and Confess all your Sins, and break off from Sin by Righteousness; and cry mightily to God for pardoning Mercy, in the Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ.

But it may be, or I hope at least-wise, that some of ye will say, I am guilty of all these Abominations, and of Multitudes more; I have been a sierce Persecuter, a Blas­phemer, and an Injurious Person; I have been a Whoremonger, a Drunkard, and a Lier; and I have often Crucified the Son of God, and made his Wounds bleed afresh, and put him to an open Shame, by Eating and Drinking unworthily at the Lord's Ta­ble; and I have had a hand in Imprisoning, and Impoverishing the Saints and Servants of God, by which means, some of them have perished in stinking nasty Goals; and is there any Hopes of pardoning Mercy, for such a horrible Sinner as I am? Yes, I tell thee in the Name of God, who is a God that delighteth in Mercy; if thou dost ask this Question in good earnest, I tell thee from God's own Word, that there is hopes of Mercy for thee, Dear Soul, if thou do from the bottom of thy Heart, confess and for­sake thy Sins, and turn to God, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ: Kiss the Son least he be angry with ye, and ye perish from the Way, when his Wrath is kindled but a little. And Pray for your Encouragement, Read and Consider well of the 1st of Isa. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. And Isa. 55.6, 7, 8.9. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near, Let the Wicked forsake his way, and the Ʋn­righteout Man his Thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have Mer­cy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon: For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts, neither are your Ways, my Ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my Ways higher than your Ways; and my Thoughts, than your Thoughts: With Reverence be it spoken, What can the Lord say more unto you, for your Encouragement, to cast your selves upon his pardoning Mercy, and Free Grace? For there is more Vertue and Merit, in the least drop of Christ's Blood, to pardon and save you, then there is Malignity in all your Sins, to damn and destroy you, if you will but believe in Christ, and come unto him, and resign up the Government and Conduct of your Souls unto him; for he calls the weary and heavy-laden Sinners unto him, and promises to give them Rest, Matth. 11.28, 29, 30. Nothing but Un­belief and Despair can with-hold God's Merciful Hard, from Extending Pardoning [Page 37]Grace unto you. It is not the Greatness, nor the Hainousness, nor the Multitudes of your Sins that can hinder Pardoning Mercy from you, if your own Unbelief do not: And I will not speak without Book, but I will give you several Instances of as Vile Persons as ever you have been, if not Viler, that have been Pardoned and Saved, that are left upon Record in the holy Scripture, as Monuments of Gods Infinite Mercy and Free Grace. But let me give you this Precaution, that you do not presume upon Gods Mercy, to go on any longer and further into Sin: You must not continue in Sin, that Grace may abound; God forbid, that ever you should make such an evil use of it, to turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness; but it is that you may not despair and pine away in your own Iniquity, nor go any further on this Black Score. And the first Person that I shall Instance in, shall be Manasseh, who was a Cruel Bloody Idolater, as you may read, 2 Kings 21. and yet notwithstanding all that, Manasseh Repented, and was Pardoned and Saved, 2 Chron. 33.12, 13. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers, and prayed unto him, and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom; then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God. He never knew God until he was Converted; no nor no other Sinner does neither, let him have what Notional Knowledge he will in his Head, if he have not Sanctifying Saving Grace in his Heart. It is said, That Manasseb made the Streets of Jerusalem to run with Blood as Water, and caused his own Children to pass through the Fire, and was guilty of Witchcraft and Idolatry, and other Hainous Sins; his Sins reached as high as Heaven, yet Gods Mercy being higher than the Heavens, that over­looked all his Sins, and God cast them behind his Back, and blotted them out of his Book, and drowned all his Spiritual Aegyptians in the Red-Sea of Christ's Blood, and did pardon and save him. What dost thou think now, Dear Soul? Hast thou any room left to despair of the Mercies of God?

A second Instance is that of Persecuting Saul, whom God in Infinite Mercy Pardon­ed, and made a Preaching and Praying Apostle Paul afterward, Acts 9.3, 4, 5, 11. 1 Tim. 1.13.14, 14, 15. There Paul acknowledged the free Grace of God, in Par­doning of him who was before a Blasphemer, and a Persecuter, and an Injurious Per­son, Acts 22.4. There he confessed himself a Bloody Persecutor; yet as Vile as he was, all his Sins were pardoned in the Blood of Christ. A third Instance of Gods free Grace and Pardoning Mercy in the Blood of Christ, was that of the Cruel sturdy Jaylor, Acts 16. And a fourth Instance of Gods Pardoning of most notorious Vile Sinners, that was found Guilty of that filthy notorious Bed-Roll of the Sin of Sodomy and Ido­latry, and Whoredom, and Drunkenness, and Theft, is in the 1 Cor. 6.9, 10, 11. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. And there was Mary Mag­dalen, a very hainous Sinner, yet she was washed in the Blood of the Lamb of God, that taketh away Sin, and she was made a precious Saint. And there was some of them very Persons that had their Hands Imbrued in Christ's Blood, we read on in the Acts of the Apostles, yet they were washed in Christs Blood, and pardoned in his Merits, and saved by his Grace: Thus you see, here is encouragement enough for the Vilest of Men, that have been Sacramental Mystical Crucifiers of Christ, and Persecuters, and Whoremongers, and Drunkards, and Thieves, and Idolaters, to come unto Christ for Pardoning-Grace and Mercy. And whosoever doth so come to Christ while he is upon the Mercy-Seat, He hath said that He will in no wise cast out.

Secondly, I Exuort all you that were Test Makers, and Test Givers, and Test Ta­kers in this Sacramental way and manner; not to flatter your selves with the hopes of [Page 38]ever getting that Predominating Persecuting Power again: But be contented with your share and proportion of the Government, with all other free Dennisons of En­gland, that have every whit as much and just Right unto it as your selves; remember Covetouseess is the Root of all Evil, God will not trust you with the sole Manage­ment of the Government of the Nation any longer, to be a Scourge to your honest peaceable Neighbours, Nahum 1.7, 8, 9. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him; But with an overflowing flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and Darkness shall pursue his Enemies. What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end, affliction shall not rise up the second time. God is speaking this unto us at this time, as I Humbly con­ceive, by his Anointed Servant, the Kings Majesty; for he saith, That he is resolved to make an utter end of all Persecuting Penal Laws and Tests whatsoever; and that they shall not rise up a second time to afflict his Subjects any more. And God is a pur­suing his Persecuting Enemies at this time, in this dark Providence and Dispensation to them, by the Just Proceedings of his Gracious Majesty, in calling them to an account for all the Moneys and Goods which they have taken from the Dissenters of all sorts, of late years; and he is giving them a Purge and a Vomit too, which God hath prepared in his Word for all them that have this foul Stomach. O! Sirs, do not strive to be Rampant, and Exalt your selves above your Neighbours, and to get the Whip in your hands again, for God will not trust such Unjust Stewards as you have been, with so great a Betrustment; But God is a calling you to an Account for your Stewardship, for you may no longer be Stewards, for now your Stewardship is ended, as to Perse­cution, your Account for Plundering beginneth; the Robbery of the Wicked shall destroy them, because they refuse to do Judgment. O! Sirs, do not Delude your selves, for it is the Just Lord, that loveth Righteousness, and that hateth Robbery for Burnt-Offe­ring, that does all these things; Do you not see that God is calling you to an Account for your Violence done to himself; for as he that Persecutes Christ's Flock, Persecutes Christ himself; so also they that Rob God's People, Robs God himself, Mal. 3.9. Ye are Cursed with a Curse, for ye have Robbed me; even this whole Nation. This was spoken to the Jews; for he that toucheth Gods People by Violence, doth touch the Apple of Gods Eye by Wickedness, Zech. 2.8. And God hath sent his Servant unto you that spoiled his People, to call you to an Account for it. O! Friends, I beseech ye to Eye the Just Hand of God in all this, for until then you cannot make a right Im­provement of these great Providences, as you ought to do, and Justifie God, and Con­demn your selves; and do not entertain hard Thoughts of his Servant, which is the Instrument in his Hand by which he doth it, for it is. God that does all these things; it is he that putteth down one, and seueth up another: These great things does not come by luck or chance, Affliction it self does not rise up out of the Dust; for if a Sparrow that is but of half a Farthing Price, cannot fall to the Ground without Gods Providence, Mat. 10.29, 30, Much less can such wonderful great Providences and Dispensations as we have seen, and yet shall further see come without the Hand of our Heavenly Fathers putting it into the King, his Servants Heart, to do it among us, Psal. 75.6, 7, 8, 9, 10. For Promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South; But God is the Judge, he putteth down one, and setteth up another; for in the Hand of the Lord there is a Cup, and the Wine is Red, and full of Mixture, and he poureth out of the same; but the Dregs thereof, all the Wicked of the Earth shall wring them out, and Drink them. But I will dealare for ever, I will Sing Praises to the God of Jacob; all the Horns of the Wicked also will I cut off. That is, All their Persecuting Power and Strength. But the People of God, viz. That is, [Page 39]all them that truly feareth God, and worketh Righteousness, their Horn shall be Exal­ted. O Sirs! Do not you that are of a persecuting Spirit, imagine, that God will ever permit you to get up unto your Old Trade of Plundering, and Spoiling, and ma­king Havock of the Churches again; after so great a Rebuke from Heaven, for those many Heaven-daring Abominations, that you are, and have been Guilty of; do but consider well, what you have been doing: For you have been Plowing Iniquity, and sowing Wickedness; and therefore, now you must Reap Shame and Contempt: For the Hand of the Lord is lifted up against the Spirit of Persecution, and is falling upon it, whether you will see it or no. But the Word saith, Isa. 26.11. Ye shall see, and be ashamed, for your Envy at the People.

Thirdly, I beseech you not to murmur, nor Repine against God, for all his Provi­dential Dealings towards you; neither do you entertain a hard Thought of his A­nointed Servant the King, for his Obedience to God, in giving and granting this Glo­rious Christian Liberty unto us all, without Exceptions, or Restrictions in Matters of meer Religion and Conscience, which is such a Jewel, that it is a none-such upon Earth: It is the justifiablest thing that ever was done by any Earthly Prince, the Bles­sed Effects of which, the Generations to come will richly share in, and have Cause to Bless and Praise God for it: Let all the Enemies to it, say what they please, there can be no President found for this Gracious Proceedings of His Majesty, from all former Ages, cloathed with all its Circumstances; therefore let not our Enemies murmur at it, but be perswaded to submit unto God, and lay their Mouths in the Dust; and ac­knowledge that their Punishment for their Persecution, and all other Abominations that does attend that cursed Spirit, as Servants to it, is less then they deserve: But now God's Righteous Judgments are in the Earth, a reckoning with the Men of Earth­ly Persecuting Principles, let the Inhabitants thereof learn Righteousness, and do not be thus striving against the Stream; for I will assure ye, with Submission to God, it will be but in vain.

Fourthly, I Exhort all you of the Church of England, to be satisfied and willing that all other Free-born English-Men should enjoy their Birth-rights in common with you in the Government; and do not think, that you have any wrong done ye; I know no such excellent Vertue that there is in you, above all other English-Men: Indeed it is said, That the Righteous Man is more excellent than his Neighbour: But I cannot think, how such as have been Persecuters and Snare-makers can be such; but say they, We have the Laws of our side: Why, that is true; but I hope by this time you are convinced, that you have little cause to boast of them, or value your selves upon them Laws that you have on your side, that Exalts you above your Neighbours, they being the most of them of such a Nature, as the Devil himself, if he had any shame in him, would even blush, and be ashamed of them. For my part, I know not one Righ­teous Law that the Church of England hath, above all other People; for they have Laws to persecute Christ tacitly and consequentially, and fight against God: Ay, and they have a Law to Crucifie Christ too, Mystically and Sacramentally, as has been proved: And shall any sober Man of Sence value himself, upon such God-provoking Laws as these are, that the Turkish Alcaron can no way match?

Fifthly, My Dear Countrey-Men, pray be perswaded not to value your selves upon a Law that is the Mystical Cross, on which our Lord and Saviour is Sacramentally Crucified: And do not make a God to rely on, of such Diabolical Stuff as these per­secuting Crucifying Laws are: But be perswaded to part with these, and get better in the room of them, in a Bill of Abolition; for worse you cannot have; And then you may expect God's Blessing upon them, and God's Protection by them, when [Page 40]they are according to God's Appointment; yea, and then we may pray for God's Bles­sing upon them: But you can neither pray for a Blessing upon these Laws, that are now in Being, nor expect a Blessing upon them; but that at the same time, you must sin against God: Because the Laws in themselves are Essentially sinful, therefore, we can no more pray for them, so as to be heard and accepted with God, than the Jews could pray for a Blessing upon that Bloody Law of theirs, by which they Crucified our Saviour Christ, the Eternal Son of God, without the Gates of Jerusalem.

Sixthly, I Exhort you all to return to your 19th Article, which said Article alone, condemns all your violent Practices, and also your wicked Laws; and let all the Na­tion Unite in Love, and in the fear of the Lord, and let every man live peaceably, and let us all be subject to the higher Powers; for the Powers that be are of God: And let every man be perswaded in his own Mind; for every man must give an Account of himself to God: Let us study Peace with all men; let us devise liberal things, for by liberal things we shall stand; the Word of God saith it. Let us mind the Law and Light of Nature, which our Blessed Lord and Saviour Christ did Honour and Sanctifie, and gave Heavenly Sanction unto: Matth. 7.12. Therefore, all things what­soever ye would that Men should do to you, do ye even so to them: For this is the Law and the Prophets. All things whatsoever: Here the Royal Command of the King of Heaven, is, All things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you; and not in this or that thing, and not in the other, but in All things whatsoever. Our Saviour Christ bringeth it in Argumentatively, therefore, All things whatsoever: It is both Argumentatively, and Universally, and therefore, Penal Laws and Tests must be in­cluded; for they are things that produceth great Mischief to be done, against all sorts of Dissenters, such as without any forcible Arguments, besides what it carrieth in its own Bowels, I believe no Church-of-England-Man would be willing to have done unto him. Now, if you that are for the continuing the Test against the Romanists, and other Dissenters, would not that they should get into the Government, and Exclude you, and make Laws against you, to keep you out of the Government; and not only so, but ruine you and your Families: Then why do you do so unjustly by them? For Christ saith, This is the Law and the Prophets; he you contented with your equal Pro­portion of the Government, in common with other Free-born English Men, and fellow Subjects; for the Law of God is for Justice; and the Prophets of God are for Justice: For one of them hath said, Do Justice, Love Mercy, and walk Humbly with the Lord thy God.

Seventhly, I Exhort all you, That were Test-makers, and Test-givers, and Test-takers, to have a care; and do not oppose the King's Majesty in His Gracious Declaration, and fixed Resolution, to Abolish and utterly Destroy both one, and all these Yokes and Snares from His People's Necks and Feet; and to make his People, a free and happy People: For if it be of God, it will stand: Ye cannot over throw it, least haply ye be found even to fight against God. His Majesty does not act alone in this Matter; but he is Influenced by an Omnipotent Arm: I dare, with humble Submission to God, say by these Penai Laws and Tests, as the Prophet did of the Destruction of Jerusalem, Jer. 37.10. Although His Majesty had none but a Company of Wounded Men on his side; yet His Majesty with them, should Abolish, and for ever Destroy all these Snares and Snakes, that are apparently so; and make better Laws for the Security of our Christian Liberty, in the Room of them.

Eighthly and Lastly, I Exhort all you of the Church of England, that have been at the Sacrament formerly or latterly, to Examine your selves, what you went to the Lord's Table for? Or, if you please, give me leave to ask you a few Questions: 1. What was [Page 41]your Business at the Lord's Table? 2. Pray, What Condition did you go unto this Holy Ordinance in? 3. Who did you expect to meet with there? 4. And lastly, What Be­nefit did you receive, or expect to receive at this Holy Ordinance?

First, What Business had you at the Sacrament? Did you go there, for fear of Dis­pleasing the Parson? Or, Did you go there, because your Neighbours should have a better Esteem of you, that they should think you are a good Christian? Or, Did you go to satisfie the Laws of Men, that binds ye so to do? Or, Did you go there to quali­fie your selves to come into the Government? Or, Did you go there to satisfie and qui­et a Natural Conscience? What was your End and Aim in going there, and partaking of that Sacred Ordinance? Was it in Obedience to Christ's Command? Pray, do you give the Answer unto God, and your own Consciences.

Secondly, In what condition did you go unto the Lord's Table? Were you born of God? For this is the Children's Bread, and for none else. Or, Did you go and rush upon this Blessed Ordinance in your Sins? Were you Regenerated and born of God before e­ver you came there? For the same Graces that fits a Person for Eternal Salvation in Glory, fits him for a Right Worthy Receiving of this Holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper; therefore those do run a desperate Hazzard, that do drive off Repentance, and the getting all other Graces of the Spirit, until they come to lye on their Death-bed; when pale Death looks them grimly in the Face, and is ready to launch them out into the Ocean of Eternity: And then to expect, that this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper shall bring all these Graces along with it, to fit them for Heaven and Eternal Glory; whenas, they must have the same Graces to fit them for this Holy Ordinance, which is lodged in the Kingdom of Heaven below, as is to fit them for the Kingdom of Hea­ven above; this being no Converting Ordinance: For the Text in 1 Cor. 11.29. tells us plainly, That he that Eateth and Drinketh Ʋnworthily, Eateth and Drinketh Dam­nation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body: Therefore, I beseech ye all in the Spirit of Meekness, and in the fear of the Lord, that are of this Opinion, to consider seriously of it; because Consideration is a good Hand-Maid unto Reformation; for this Ordinance does not bring one dram of Grace along with it unto any Soul, but un­to such as have Grace in their Hearts before receiving this Ordinance: It is like the pouring of Water into a Pump, that standeth in a Well that hath Water in it, to fetch the Water: But the giving this Ordinance to any Person that hath no Grace, is like the pouring of Water into a Pump, that standeth in a Well, that hath no Water in it: It is as Water spilt upon the Ground, nay it is infinitely worse. But then, did you ever feel the powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost, dart spiritual Light into your Souls, where­by you come to see that which you never see before, and feel that in your selves, which you never see nor felt before? Have your Souls been raised out of the Grave of Unbe­lief? Out of a carnal, corrupt, dead State, by the mighty Power of the Spirit? And has it infuled Spiritual Life into you? Hath that Almighty Power that raised a dead Saviour, raised thee that was a poor dead Sinner? Have you ever found and felt Sin to be an intollerable Burthen unto your Souls, so as you have apprehended your selves to be in a lost and undone Condition? Have you ever been made sensible of the want of Christ, who calleth the Burthened, Weary, and Heavy laden Sinner unto him, for Ease and Relief? And has it made you forsake all your Sins and Lusts, and all other things that come in Competition with Christ, to follow him fully? Have you been throughly convinced, that nothing could Redeem you from Wrath and Hell, and At­tone you to God, and Purchase Eternal Life and Salvation for you, but Christ; and that by and through his Righteousness and Merits alone? Did you cry to God, and say, Lord give me Christ, or I die, and shall be Damned, and never enjoy God; nor have [Page 42]any Benefits by his Death, and Blessed All-sufficient-Merits, and Copious Righteous­ness? Had you the Kingdom of God within ye, before you came into that, which you apprehend to be the Kingdom of God without ye; namely the Church? Did you know what you were to take it for, before you came to the Lord's Table? And Pray, What frame of Heart did you go to the Sacrament in? Were your Graces in a lively Exercise? Did all those sparkling Jewels that adorn the Soul of the Believer, shine forth in their Vigour and Lustre; which is the Trimming that belongeth to the Wed­ding Garment? And did you see him whom your Soul loved, and longed for? And did you discern the Lord's Body by an Eye of Faith, through the Elements? And re­ceive him by a Hand of Faith, and feed upon him with the Mouth of Faith? Did you go to the Table of the Lord, even sick of Love to Christ? And could nothing satisfie your Hungring Thirsty Soul, but Communion with Christ in that Ordinance? And did you Exercise saving Faith, and Spiritual Light and Knowledge, and godly Sorrow for your Sins, which was the Cause of Christ suffering and dying? And did you receive him with Praise and Thanksgiving, and with a Holy Vehement Desire?

Thirdly, Who did you expect to meet withal at the Lord's Table? Did you expect to meet with a Crucified Saviour there, and to have Communion with him in that Blessed Ordinance? Or, Did you go only to meet with the Parson, and others of your Neighbours there? Did you see him by an Eye of Faith, that should be your Re­deemer, and the beloved of your Soul? Or, Are you wholly ignorant, of what Com­munion with God in that Ordinance meaneth?

Fourthly, What did you expect to receive at the Lord's Table? Did you expect to receive the Bread and Wine only, and to feed upon that? Or, Did you expect to re­ceive Christ, which is the spiritual Bread and Drink of your Souls, into your Hearts; and so to receive a fresh Pardon, sealed unto you for all your Sins? Did you go away thence, with God's Broad Seal Impressed afresh upon your Souls? And your Covenant-Interest with God, Ratified and Confirmed unto you in the Blood of the Lamb? And your Eternal Salvation made sure unto you? But if on the contrary, you went to that Ordinance in a Carnal, Unconverted, Dead State; you came away with the Guilt of all your Sins faster bound and sealed up, than they were before you came there; and instead of diminishing and weakning your Sins, you went away with your Sins increa­sed and strengthened. Now, Pray Examine your selves; Do you know what these things meaneth? Or, Are you wholly ignorant of them, as old Nicodemus was, when our Blessed Saviour Preached unto him the Mysterious Doctrine of Regeneration; when he thought, he must Re-enter into his Mothers Womb, and be born again? Joh. 3.4. Are all these things Riddles and Fancies unto ye? Do you know nothing of this Matter? Are you a stranger to it? And are you wholly ignorant of it? If you are, I tell you plainly, that you are no fit Subjects of this Blessed Ordinance; but you did come unto it, and partake of it unworthily; therefore I will refer you, to the Apostle Paul's Censure in this Case; 1 Cor. 11. If you had not your Mind savingly Enlightned, nor your Will Renewed and Changed, nor your Affection Rectified and set upon right Objects, viz. upon God in Christ: And if you had not sanctifying saving Faith fixt upon Christ, the only Mediator and Redeemer of Mankind; 1 Tim. 2.5. And if you did not come with your Hearts broken for Sin, and from Sin, and behold a Cru­cified Saviour, with all your Sins Crucified; not one spared or Indulged: And if you did not come there, with a New Spiritual Understanding, nor the whole Man sancti­fied throughout, in Body, Soul and Spirit. But if you came to the Lord's Table, ig­norant of all this, and in all your Sins; then instead of receiving any Benefit by, or from this Ordinance, you do Eat and Drink Judgment, or Condemnation to your selves, not discerning the Lord's Body.

But it may be some will be so bold and hardy, as to say, This is very severe, harsh Doctrine: Why, this is nothing but what I looked for and expected; for it is what car­nal Hypocrites, and proud Persecuters do always judge of God's Holy Word, and Righteous Laws, and Pure Ordinances, Institutions and Worship: They judge that to be too strict, and his Holy People to be too precise. But if you will quarrel at the Severity and Strictness of this Doctrine, you must quarrel with the Apostle Paul, and the rest of the Apostles and Prophets: Nay, let me tell ye, if you will quarrel with this Doctrine, you must dispute the Cause with our Saviour Christ himself, if you dare. What dare not they do, that dare to Crucifie their Maker, that should be their Re­deemer? For the Apostle Paul, delivered nothing of this severe, harsh Doctrine, but what he received first from the Lord, 1 Cor. 11.23. There is his Mission; and the Prophets spake as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost; 2 Pet. 1.21. For the Prophecy came not in Old time by the Will of Man: But Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You do find fault with the Severity of God's Laws against Sinners; but you do not find fault with the Severity of your own Laws against his Saints and Servants, and against your selves also: For there the Severity of it will center at last; for you have Laws in being, which you are now contending for, to have continued with us, which are to force men to break and violate all these severe Laws of God, as you count them, and thereby to incur all the Penalties of them: And who is severest, the God of Mercy, or you that are Men of this Cruelty? There are very severe Laws made against any that should even dare to Counterfeit the King's Broad-Seal, or to fix the Impress of it unto any thing, which they have not His Maje­sty's Command, and Authority for so doing; it is punishable with Death by the Law, for it is High Treason; or if they should fix it to Blank Papers, whereby Enemies might write what they please, and so abuse and betray the King's Authority: Why! This Ordinance of the Lord's Supper, is the Broad-Seal of Heaven, it belongeth to the King of Kings, and must not be affixed to, or impressed upon any thing, but what they have God's Authority for so doing. Now, for any Persons to take this Sacred Broad-Seal of Heaven, and make it a common Seal; namely, to affix it to the civil State, to Seal Men Commissions and Warrants for Places and Offices, in the Govern­ment, Civil, Military, and Ecclesiastical; this is to make this Blessed Ordinance a com­mon Seal. 2. It is a making this Sacred Broad-Seal of Heaven a common Seal, when they Seal a Licence to sell Ale with it by. And Thirdly and Lastly, They make this Blessed Ordinance of the Lord's Supper, which is the Broad-Seal of Heaven, a common Seal, when at Festival Times, as Christmas and Easter, when whole Showles of poor ig­norant Creatures comes to the Lord's Table, that know not their Right-Hand from their Left, in spiritual Things; and have no saving Work of God wrought in their Souls, by the powerful Operation of his Holy Spirit; but are all it may be, as ignorant as the very Parson that Exhibits it unto them: These are all Blanks, so they impress the Broad-Seal of Heaven upon Multitudes of Blanks; so that the Evil One may come, and write what he pleases after them. O sad deplorable Condition, for any poor Souls to be in! And although you count this Doctrine severe and harsh, yet no man can be ignorant of it; because it is written in the Great Charter of Heaven, 1 Cor. 11. He that Eateth and Drinketh unworthily, Eateth and Drinketh Condemnation, or Judgment to himself. God hath threatned to execute severe Judgments and Punishments upon all Propha­ners and Abusers of this Holy Ordinance: And God hath Four Gracious Ends in threat­ning these Transgressions. 1. It is to Deter and and Affright Sinners, from violating these severe Laws, as they call them, that Persons should not be ignorant of them. 2. God threatens, because that Sinners might repent, and prevent the Execution of those severe Laws. 3. God threatens, because he will leave the Sinner wholly without Ex­cuse [Page 44]or Plea; Every Mouth shall be stop'd. And 4. and Lastly, God threatens, because the Glory of his Attribute of Justice shall appear to all the World, when he Executes his Threatning upon the Guilty Impenitent Sinner, every Mouth will be stop'd; and all shall justifie God, and say, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and Just and Holy in all thy Ways: Thus you see what a dangerous thing it is, for poor, ignorant, carnal, uncon­verted, dead Sinners, to rush upon this Ordinance Hand over Head, without due Con­sideration, of what they are going about to do.

But Secondly, My Second and last Exhortation, and Counsel shall be, unto all sober Protestants, both of Dissenters and others, that are still hankering after the Onions, and Garlick, and Flesh-Pots of Egypt, that are yet staying upon them that smote us.

And my first Exhortation unto all you, shall be this, namely, Be not afraid to part with the very Cause, or present state of Suffering, for fear of future Sufferings; for the Cause is worse than the Effects of Suffering: For while the Cause is in being, the Ef­fects may soon be produced again: For to be afraid of future Suffering, is to remain under present Sin. What Sin, you will say? Why, Christ is still Crucifying upon the Cross of the Sacramental Test, and ever will be, until that Law be Abolished and De­stroyed. O Sirs! I beseech ye, do not deal by your Blessed Saviour, as Pharaoh's Butler did by Joseph,; when he had gotten his own Elargement, and was at Ease him­self, he soon forgot the Afflictions of Joseph, whom he promised to remember, when he came before the King. O! Do not you deal so unkindly by our Saviour Christ, now you have gotten your Liberty, and are at Ease your selves: Do not forget that Christ our Blessed Jesus is in Sufferings still; he is still upon the Cross of the Sacra­mental Test; for if you do, you may provoke God to bring you into greater Suffer­ings, than ever you have been yet in, and that from the immediate Hand of God; for though the Lord B—s have discharged all their Artillery against ye, yet God may discharge his against ye; and you cannot shift nor shun that: as perhaps most of you of this Leven, formerly have done. In time of actual Persecution and Sufferings, you could go to the Outward-Court-Worship one part of the Lord's Day, and to a private Meeting to Worship, at Night; which was grievous Hypocrisie, and down-right mock­ing of God, and a Halting between two Opinions: If the Lord be God, follow him; if Baal, then follow him. The Lord give Repentance unto all that were thus guilty; for now it is a special time for all men to be serious.

Secondly, Study your present Duty, and do it, let it be what it will; follow God in the Footsteps of his Providence, and be not afraid to lay your Hand on the Cockatrice Den, to destroy it; namely, the Penal Laws and Tests, for fear of an uncertain Snake in the Grass: Let this legal Old House, which the Plaister and Stones, and the very Timber of it is infected with this fretting Leprosie, be pulled down and utterly de­stroyed; or else this Plague of Persecution, which is the worst of Plagues, will never be stop'd: Do not think of Preserving this Stone, or that piece of Timber, but down with it all; raze the very Foundation of it, and build a better House in the room of it: For the very End and Design of these Laws, was but to strengthen the Hands of Evil doers: And shall any sober man of any Perswasion, even dare to be for the continu­ance of them? And should consequentially choose rather, that Christ the Son of God should remain Crucified, and bleeding under them, than to part with them, for fear of the Snake in the Grass: It is a sign of but little Love to Christ; they love their own present Ease, and prefer that before the Sufferings of Christ.

Thirdly, Let not any Sober Man be afraid to come into the Government, nor let not them be Uneasy that are in it, whom God by his Majesty hath or shall call into it, because they have not, nor cannot take the Sop of Qualification, which is a very great Sin in them that have thus Sinfully qualified themselves; they that have not thus [Page 45]Unworthily complyed, will have the most Peace and Comfort: Shall any man be afraid to do good, for fear of evil coming on it? For these Insnaring Laws are against the Great Charter of Heaven, and therefore it is that Persecuters are so much for them, and so ready to Obey them, and to Comply with them; and therefore good Men all along have refused to yield Obedience unto them, but have chosen rather to Suffer, and be Ruined by them, then Sinfully to Comply with them; because that Wicked Perse­cuting Men, and Good Men, are of two contrary Principles, Prov. 29.27. An Ʋnjust man is an Abomination to the Just: And he that is Ʋpright in the way, is an Abomi­nation to the Wicked. O my Beloved! As you do value the Honour and Glory of God, and his Majesty's Kindness, and the Peace and Tranquility of your Country, and the Good of your Posterity, come into the Government, and put your Hand to this Plow of God, and do not look back, but follow God in his Footsteps of Providence; hear what that Gospel Prophet saith, which seems to be very apposite to this purpose, Isa. 26.20. Come my People, enter thou into thy Chambers, and shut thy Doors a­bout thee, hide thy self, as it were, for a little moment, until the Indignation be over­past, I take this to be the same with the Great Voice that came from Heaven, which brought us our Christian Liberty; that said, Come up hither, Rev. 11.12. That is, Come into your Chambers, Meet publickly, for all the Glorious Attributes of God are en­gaged for your Safety, which are the Chambers of Heaven: Well, but what is these Doors, and the shutting of that? Why, I humbly conceive these Doors to be some­thing which exposeth us to danger while it stands open; these Doors that are open up­on us, may be meant of the Penal Laws and Tests; which all the Persecuting Thieves and Robbers, who are the Enemies of Christian Liberty, do always enter in at, and Rob, and Rape, and Spoil all that are not of their Party, that their Law or Lusts can reach: Therefore as God by his Gracious Majesty's Declaration, hath called ye up into Heaven, into your Chambers, so God by his Majesty, is now further calling upon ye to shut the Doors about ye, to keep out the Thieves and Robbers, that they may not come in to Rob and Spoil ye, for until that be done, you are not safe; neither can you, for though we have this Christian Liberty, Blessed be God for it, yet the Doors stand open upon us, and the Thieves may come in again.

But Secondly, What is this making fast of these Doors round about us? Why, here is two things to be done, I humbly conceive.

The First is, You must destroy and take away all the Keys, or rather Legal Pick-Locks, which these Legal Thieves have; with which they can open your Doors at their pleasure, and come in and Rob you of your Substance, and of your Christian Liberty; Ay, and they Robbed some Men of their Consciences also: And these Le­gal Pick-Locks that let them in, was the Penal Laws and Tests.

And Secondly, You must make fast these Doors of Christian Liberty, by making Just and Righteous Legal Locks, and Keys, and Bolts, and Bars unto them; even as his Majesties most Generous Gracious Unshaken Resolution is for having this Christian Liberty made into a perpetual Magna Charta, that may be more Unalterable then those Laws of the Medes and Persians were: And this is to shut the Doors round about us, to secure our Christian Liberty unto us. And pray Observe, how well the Text and his Majesty's Resolutions for these Doors being shut doth agree, as well as in many other things which I could Observe concerning this Christian Liberty, which he hath given us, or restored unto us out of the Hands of them that had Usurped it, and Detained it from us; and that is this, Enter thou into THY Chambers: Which notes unto us, that it is the Christians Right, as his Gracious Majesty hath well Observed, That Conscience ought not to be Restrained in meer Matters of Religion, which is the same thing in effect. Whence we may Observe, from the Word of God, and from the [Page 46]the Kings Declaration, That Christian Liberty is a Man's own property. My Beloved, be not afraid to come into the Government upon this Topic, and act Couragiously with his Majesty, for Establishing of this our Christian Liberty, which you see is our own property; I do not doubt, but his Majesty is Acted by the Divine Over-Ruling Hand, which Directs him to take such just Methods, as never any of his Predecessours did in this nature; he is acted by a new Rule, given him down from Heaven; he Treads in an Uncouth Path, that never was Troden before by any Prince of the World, and therefore the Glory of the Wisdom of God, the Efficient first moving Cause, does shine forth the more Splendidly and Conspicuous; even him, by whom Kings Reign, and Princes Decree Justice; in whose Hand the King's Heart is; and as the Rivers of Waters, he turneth it wheresoever he will. And what a brave Confession did Darius make of the Soveraignty of God, Dan. 6.26, 27. I make a Decree, that in every Domini­on of my Kingdom, men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. Why, what was the matter? Why, their Penal Laws and Tests had cast Daniel into the Lyons Den, fore against the Kings Will; his Nobles had got his Royal Assent unto it, under a spe­cious Pretence of Loyalty to the King; which was only to make a Snare to catch Da­niel in; for they had no way to Insnare him, but in the matters of Religion and Con­science, Dan. 6.3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Hence we way Observe, that pretended Loyalty has been a Cloak of Old to Hypocrisie; they got a Law made, viz. That if any Person should put a Petition to any God or Man for thirty days, save of thee, O King, he shall be cast into the Lyons Den. They knew this would do Daniel's business for him; and de­stroy the best Subject or Slave that the King had, as by their own Confession. V. 5. Then said these men, We shall not find any Occasion against this Daniel, except we find it a­gainst him concerning the Law of his God. Hence we may observe by the way, that Men of Principles has been very faithful to Princes, when they have imposed any Trust in them; as Joseph to Pharaoh; and Obadiah, and Nehemiah, and these Three Wor­thies in Daniel; and Mordecai, who saved King Ahasuerus Life, though all of them Dissenters from the National Worship, but this by the by.

But to return to Daniel in particular, They had nothing against him to fasten any Snare upon him, but for praying to his God. And for that he was cast into the Lyons Den; but God shut the Mouths of the Lyons, so that they did not hurt him. But the King caused the Executioners of that Law to be cast into the Lyons Dens themselves, and then the Lyons Mouths was opened, and they Devoured them, Verse 24. So that it is no new thing for Persecuters to be taken in their own Snares: But to return to the Kings Confession of the Deity, for says he, He is the Living God, and stedfast for ever, and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed; and his Dominion shall be even un­to the end; he Delivereth and Rescueth; and he worketh Signs and Wonders in Heaven, and in Earth; who hath Delivered Daniel from the power of the Lyons. And yet this King was not of Daniels Religion, notwithstanding all his Love and Kindness unto him, but he was acted by the Divine Influence of Heaven; his Heart was in God's Hand, as all Kings Hearts are, and that was the reason on it. O Sirs! Do not think that these great Providences and Dispensations cometh out of the Dust, or by Luck or Chance, or men's Projects: These great things that we have seen, do not come of themselves; neither do they come in vain, or to little purpose; but as they are Influenced by the Almighty Hand of God, who hath the Reins of all Power and Government his own Hand, and turneth them this way or that way, or which way soever he pleaseth, for the fulfilling of his Predeterminate Counsels and Glorious Designs in the World, and for the bringing forth of his Eternal Decrees, which the Womb of Providence is now Traveling with, and will bring forth; and our present Providences are as so many Blessed Harbingers and fore-runners of Glorious things, that are yet to be accomplished in [Page 47]this latter Age of the World, that is even at the Door, both at home and abroad; look for it, and expect it, and also prepare for it.

Fourthly, Let us all be of a forgiving Disposition, and frame of Heart: Let us be ready and willing to forgive our Enemies. But yet notwithstanding, we must do it ac­cording to the Rule and Way which our Saviour Christ himself hath prescribed in his holy Word, Mat. 18.21, 22. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my Brother Sin against me, and I forgive him? Ʋntil seven times? Jesus saith un­to him, I say not unto thee, Ʋntil seven times: But until seventy times seven. Here is the Duty; but in Luke 17.3, 4. there our Saviour hath laid down the manner and conditions on which it must be done, therefore pray mind it narrowly—Take heed to your selves, if thy Brother Trespass against thee, Rebuke him; and if he Repent, For­give him; and if he Trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day return unto thee, saying, I Repent; thou shalt forgive him. Here you see is the Duty, and on what Conditions this great piece of Christian Duty must be performed in a right Gospel manner; even to an Offending Brother. But some will say, That we ought to forgive our Persecuting Enemies; which is true, I am clearly for it, pro­vided they come within the Verge of Christ's Command. But I do not find that we ought to forgive them, if they do not Repent, and Confess, and make Restitution for the Wrongs and Injuries they have done us. It is true, We are to Love our Ene­mies, and Bless them that Curse us, and to do good to them that Hate us, and to pray for them which Despightfully Ʋse us, and Persecute us, Mat. 5.44. We must not en­tertain any Personal Prejudice against them, we must so Forgive them in our Hearts: But some pretend to forgive our Persecuting Enemies, though we do not see at all, that they do Repent and Turn to us by asking of Forgiveness of us, though they have Rob­bed many of us of our Goods, and Abused us otherwise; but I can find no Warrant at all in Scripture for so doing; but this is to make the Door of Forgiveness wider then the Wisdom of God hath made it: Nay, it is against the very Tenour of the Gospel, for there must be a turning to them whom they have Offended, and an acknowledging their Fault, and a Humbling themselves for it, and a making all the Satisfaction they are ca­pable of, to the party wronged, which is but Just; for Mercy and Justice are joyned together by God, and let no man part them asunder; God never destroys his Justice, by extending his Mercy: I do not find that Persecuters have a priviledge above any o­ther Persons; nay, then a Child of God himself, viz. an Offending Brother, for there must be a Restitution, or else you overthrow the Scriptures, Job 20.15, 18. Pray look into the ground-work and plat-form of Repentance, and there you shall see that one great part of Repentance is clearing, 2 Cor. 7.11. as a man clears his Stomach, when he Vomits up something which lay heavy and ponderous upon it, by which means he is eased; so here there must be Restitution, or there can be no true Repentance; as you may see in that Instance of Zaccheus, Luke 19.8. who had been a great Extortioner, he was for Restitution. I am clearly for forgiving our Persecuting Enemies in Gods way; but yet I do not think it is my Duty, if a Thief has Robbed me, and is carrying away my Goods, to run after him and cry, I pardon you Sir: When he neither regard what I say unto him, nor returns me my Goods: I think it is rather my Duty to Ap­prehend him, and bring him to Justice, then to follow him with a Pardon: Which lat­ter is like unto consenting to a Thief, or at least to encourage him in his sinful course of Life, which is forbidden in Scripture—When thou seest a Thief, consent thou not: or supposing it to be a Company of Legal Religious Thieves, such as are in Dan. 11.14. Also the Robbers of thy People shall Exalt themselves to Establish the Vision, but they shall fall. These are the worst of Thieves, that Rob, as they pretend, for Gods sake: Now is it a reasonable thing, that we should run after these men that have done until [Page 48]this Milchief and Spoil, and pray them to accept of Pardon from us, without their first seeking and turning unto us by Repentance, and acknowledging their Crime, and resto­ing what they have taken from us again, according to their Substance or Ability, as God hath Ordained? O no; for it is contrary to Scripture.

But some People are apt to say, That this bringing the Persecuters before the Com­missioners, looks like Revenge; and we ought rather to forgive them. But one thing I mind, It is those assert this, that have not suffered much by them themselves; such as perhaps could tell how to shift their Tides, that are so Merciful and Wise above what is Written; but I am apt to suspect these kind of Peoples new fashioned Clemency, that pretend to so much Mercy above their Neighbours in this case; I fear this Charity is not grounded upon a solid Foundation, I doubt we shall find but a sandy Foundation at bot­tom; I could find in my Heart to try whether it be so or no, because it doth not look well. To the Law, and to the Testimony: If they speak not according to this word, it is because they have no Light them, Isa. 8.20.

In the first place, you that are so full of Charity, that are for forgiving those Wicked Persecuting Spoiling Thieves, before they ask ye, or make any restitution; when God hath said, That there must be a Restitution of all things; which is to overthrow that Word of God by not having it fulfilled, and so tacitly to make God a Lyar, Acts 3.20.21. Job 20.15, 18. Now let us Examine whether this proceeds from pure Le­nity and Clemency, or whether it does not proceed from Slavish Fears and Cowardly Spi­rits. First, If it proceeds from pure Lenity, then it must be Universal, and extended to all that cometh within that Circle of Mercy and Clemency; and especially in things that more immediately concerns a mans own self, than this, and is more at a mans own disposal, than these things are. First, If you be a Usurer, or if you be a Land-Lord, or a Tradesman, that are so full of this new fashioned Charity; why now, if you be in good Earnest, let the Usurer go home, and take all his Bonds and Cancel them, and forgive them both Principal and Interest; and let the Land-Lord forgive all his Tenants; and let the Tradesman Cross out all his Debtors out of his Book, and forgive them all, and then I will believe you are in good earnest; for it is more in your power to do so, then to forgive your Enemies without Satisfaction, according to Gods Ordi­nance, although it was you your selves that they had Robbed and Plundered: Do you forgive that which is your own to forgive, first, Before you do forgive that which is Gods or another Mans; or else I will never believe that you are in good Earnest, but that it is rather the Product of Slavish Fears, and of a Carnal Cowardly frame of Heart; for God is more concerned in all the Wrongs and Injuries which is done to his People on the Account of Religion and Conscience, then his People themselves are; for as they that Persecute them, do fight against God, and Persecute Christ, so they that do Rob them, do also Rob God himself; so that you have more power to give away, or to for­give them Honest Debtors of yours, that are Indebted unto you upon the Account of Trade, then you have to forgive the Persecuting Robbers and Spoilers, because all the damage that is done to Gods People, God takes it as done to himself, Zech. 2.8. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, After the Glory, hath he sent me unto the Nations which spoiled you; for he that toucheth you, toucheth the Apple of his Eye. My Belo­ved, now I have tryed you by the Word of God, do you try your selves, for these be trying times: I hope you do not count it Revenge, when you seek for your own, what a Man justly oweth you, although you should be forc'd to make use of the Law to get it.

Fifthly, In the fifth place, my Advice and Counsel to all you that are Sober Honest Men, is thus, That you would not Fear, Trust, nor hearken to the Threats nor Coun­sels of these your Persecuting Enemies. Do not say a Confederacy with them, let them [Page 49]speak you never so fair or foul; and remember it is bad following the Counsel and Ad­vice of an Enemy; but when they threaten, say with good Nehemiah, when he was un­der the like Circumstance with us, Neh. 6.11. And I said, Should such a Man as I flee? And who is there, as being as I am, would go into the Temple to save his Life? I will not go in, He would not give way in the least Degree to Unbelief and Slavish Fears: Brethren, let us all do so too, for Nehemiah had God and the King on his side, and so have we; And when they cog and flatter ye, then hearken to what is said in Jer 12.6. For even thy Brethren, and the House of thy Father, even they have dealt trea­cherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: Believe them not, though they speak fair Words unto thee.

Sixthly and Lastly, My last Advice and Counsel unto you all, shall be this, Cast all your Care upon God, for he hath promised to take Care of you; God is never wanting on his part to them that put their trust in him; God hath made it our Duty to cast our Care upon him; and he hath made it his own Work and Business to take Care of us, 1 Pet. 5.7. Psal. 55.22. But we are very apt and prone to take Gods Work out of his All-sufficient Hand, and to be Pestering our selves with Anxious Cares, and so de­stroy the very Vital Comforts of a Life of Faith, by Slavish Fears and Jealousies; for the Counsel of the Lord, that shall stand, and cannot be altered by all the Powers in the World; and God is never at a loss in his Work, nor out of his way in his Provi­dence; the Lord hath his way in the Whirl-wind, and in the Storm, and the Clouds are the Dust of his Feet, Nahum. 1.3. O trust in the Lord! For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength! Make God your Rock and Refuge, put your trust in him alone, and Bless and Praise God for putting it into his Majesty's Heart, to give and grant unto us this Christian Liberty, and make a Sanctified improvement of it, for Gods Glory, and our own Souls Good; and be thankful to his Majesty, and shew it by your endeavouring what in you lies, to contribute to the Establishing and Fixing of it into a firm Magna Charta.

Thus you have seen, That this Sacramental Test hath had a fair Tryal by the plain Written Word of God, it has been weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary, and it is found lighter then Vanity; and it has been tryed by the Law of the Land, and that has found it Guilty of being Repugnant to the Law of God: And also it has been tryed by the 19th Article of the Church of England, and that condemus it also; which saith, That the Sacranents must be duly ministred, and that only to a Congregation of Faith­ful Men in a Religious way and manner. And this Test you see is Arraigned, Cast and Condemned by them all, and wants only a good Parliament to do Execution upon it, and make better Security in the room of these Sinful Penal Laws and Tests, which I Hum­bly leave to the Great God, the Soveraign Majesty of Heaven and Earth, to direct his Majesty and the great Council of the Land, when he shall see it convenient to call and convene them together; and also to all Sober People, to be Careful and Wise in choo­sing their Representatives, to choose Sober, Wise, Discreet Men, of Honest Principles, and good Estates, that we may be freed from the Dreadful Spiritual Plagues and Judg­ments, which the Nation lieth under, and is Ingulfed into, and the dreadful Wrath of God, that hangeth over our Heads: God of his Mercy Awaken England to Repent before it be too late. I shall Conclude with these two Scriptures, 1 Pet. 2.17. Ho­nour all Men. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. The other shall be with the Wise mans Conclusion of the Book of Ecclesiastes 12.13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his Commandments, for this is the whole Duty of Man; for God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every Secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.