THE profound Prophet Ezekiel (chap. 47.) saw in a v [...]n waters running out of the Temple; healing waters all, but some an­cle deepe, some knee deepe,Sic loqui­tur Scrip­tura ut al­titudine superbos irrideat, profundi­tate su­perbos terreat, virtute magnos pascat, af­fabilitate parvulos nutriot. Aug lib. 2. Gen. c. 19. some to the loines, some to the neck, some over head and eares; and by interpretation, these wa [...]ers are the Scriptures, Dii caeptis; I am now leapt into the Elephants swimming pl [...]ce, the Leviathans of Learning may take their pastime ther [...] [...] Solomons Apocalypse, wherein are Riddles more knotty then Sampsons, but being dissolved, off [...]d drops sweeter then his [...] c [...]m [...]e. This is none of his Wall­hysope, but a Cedar of his L bano [...]-like wisdome. O [...] all his trea­su [...]e (vanished, as w [...]ll as his Temple) nothing abides the tyran­ny of Time, but three little bookes, and they are enough t [...] prove the Royall pen-man in glory, maugre the cavills of those who doubt and dispute otherwise: In [...]s Proverbs he is an holy Politi­tian, in his Ecclesiastes an holy Preacher, and in this booke a Pro­phet, and an Heavenly Poet.

His F [...]ther was excellent at composing holy rap [...]ures, and of­fering them to God upon we [...]l [...]u [...]ed i [...]st [...]uments; but for ought I finde, the Sonne (as being a Prince of more peace) made more then the Father: A thousand and five are named upon record, but whether they were divine (as Davids were) I dare not say;1. K. 4.32. among them all, the Holy Ghost (who is the best Supervisor of Li­braries) [Page 2] thought none fit to beare the Laurell but this, which weares on the head of it Cantica Canticorum; and this not being plaine song, but sublime and Sacramentall (as containing Arcana Christi & Ecclesiae,) The Jewes commanded not to be tuned by yong voyces, I meane, none under the yeeres of thirty might looke in it,Pingue duos an­gues pue­ri, sacer est locus Persius. or reade it, least (their thoughts not being seasoned with the salt of holy gravity) they should take advantage by the literall sence, to prophane this [...] (as St. Paul calls it) of the marriage betwixt Christ and the Church. And though I doe wil­lingly vote with my betters, that this was curiosity without war­rant in the Jewes; and I blesse God for English Bibles, and the plenty of them (pitty there should be a man, of whom it can be said, non legit, nay, non intelligit) yet certainely there are Labyrinths in the Scriptures, for which every one hath not a clue: Let him that readeth understand. None shall be found worthy (Rev. 5 7.) to sing the Lambs song, but his owne Choristers; so, none can in a spirituall manner sing this song of my beloved touc [...]ing his Vineyard,Es. 5.1. but they who have tasted the wine of the true Vine. John 15.1.

I intend not a Treatise, but a Sermon (and I would be read as well as heard by an houre-glasse) therefore I shall not go downe into the field of Expositors, to gleane after t em in their various bindings up of these sheaves: Allegori [...]s are m [...]st subj [...]ct to the fancy of every W [...]iter, and every one subject [...]o [...]und in his owne sence, and every sence to be the owners Diana; But in this all agree, that this booke is an Epithilamium or marriage Hymne, concerning, and betweene Christ and [...] Sp [...]se the Church: And it is sung in three parts: The Bridegro [...]s Base, the Brides Treble, and now and then the children of the B [...]ide-chamber (called heere the Daughters of Jerusalem) being the Chorus, put in their meane. The Spouse leads the way [...], and begins in this first Chapter, breaking forth some [...]hing abruptly, and as one taken unawarres with an holy ravishment.

To bring you from the top, to the Text briefely, and the better; imagine, you saw her (like Mary at the Sepulcher weeping, and with those teares blear-eyed like Leah) standing in a very pensive posture, her haire, (like Mephibosheths Loyall slovennesse in his [Page 3] head and beard) loose, and unkemmed, her garments poore and untrimmed, her beautiful [...] sh [...]oes pulled up from her feet, and modest v [...]ile from her head. Jewells, Bracelets, Ornaments plundred and all gon [...]; and lastl [...]) her faire face (the glory of h r pers [...]n) [...]u [...]ied, taw [...]y, and Sun-burnt; withall, before you begin [...]o reade the C apter, suppose at two severall doores her onely bel [...]ved, and a company of friends (little better then Stranger [...]) comming in; she es­pies them both; but him first (f [...]r ubi amor ibi oculus) and resolves to salu [...]e both; but in a holy ravishment as being sick of love, she runs and cries [...]ut as she runs osculetur me osculis, Oh my Lord receive me wi [...]h more intimate embra­ces: Not thy hands, or thy feet, which yet I am not wor­thy, but thy lips, thy m [...]u [...]h Lord! &c.

Then presently, as j [...]alous those standers by, being Vir­gins themselves, might (seeing her present meanesse, and outward deformities especially) censure her, if not cry out of her for too much impudence; she steps to them and (as one that longed to go back to her discours [...] with Christ againe) in an Ap [...]strophe of two verses only the 6. and 7. salutes them, giving them (as Job doth of himselfe, being a pearle still, though on a dunghill, cha. 29) a modest, yet state­ly character of her person, and boasti g (as St. Paul of his infirmities) of her afflictions, she answeres the ob­jections which they seemed to speake with their eyes to this purpose.

‘'Tis true (Ladies) you have seene and heard that at which y [...]u m [...]y m [...]rvell:The Spouses speech to the Virgins. Well may you wonder that a Virgine should wooe, and contrary to civillity and cu­stome runne after, and cry out for a Lovers embraces; bu more wond [...]r at the m [...]tch, that such a faire, rich, no­ble, divine Lord sh [...]u [...]d cast an eye, much lesse himselfe, and all he ha h away upon me, in whom you see so lit­tle of allurement, and so much of am [...]z [...]ment; that I whose black and pale lips should talke of a Funerall ra­th r then a Wedding, should utter what you have heard: But know (my Friends) that I know my selfe, and he [Page 4] (whom my soule loves) knowes me, but yee doe not; he will embrace me with my black maske of miseries on, for his love lies more then skin-deepe, and I, though I be now low and meane, tanned and disguised, abused and turned out of all by mine owne Kindred, yet am the Kings Daughter all glorious within: my outside is but black haire-cloth like Keders Tents, but my soule is come­ly, and rich as Solomons curtaines, ne expectetis (ergo) me, quia nigra sum &c.’

In which words wee have an umbraticall, and a sub­stantiall sence. In the first, behold (as it were) a chast, comely, sweete woman, making her complaint to her Lo­vers and acquaintance, of the wrong and violence done to her by some of her Kindred, from whom sh [...] looked for better usage &c. and begging of them to thinke neere the worse of her, for her present poore condition. In th se­cond, behold (indeed) the Church Militant declaring her afflictions to be the more black and formidable, beca [...]se layd upon her by those who are seeming brethren, & [...].

The Text in the Logick of it lies thus. Here are two Generall Parts.

• A Civil [...] Req [...]est.
• A Sad Relation.

In the first wee may take no­tice of these three things.

• 1. Her case confessed, I am black.
• 2. The supreme cause of that case, The Sun, &c.
• 3. The Request from thence, Looke not &c.

In the second wee have also three parts. First, the Of­fendors discovered, My Mothers Children. Secondly, the ground of the wrong they did to her, Their anger, Excandu­erunt. Thirdly, the effects of their wrath, and that two fold.

• 1. Sequestration.
• 2. Subjugation.

1. Sequestration, And that as rigid as might be, Being

• Ab Officio, and — Ab Officio non Custodivi,
• A Beneficio, A Beneficio.

For it was a Vineyard: And who keepes a Vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? 2. Subjugation, posue­runt me &c. They put me to a low, slavish, miserable way [Page 5] of getting my livelihood; so the sence of the phrase Kee­ping of Vineyards, is rendred by the learned, and by the Scrip­ture it selfe, as appeares in 2 King. 25.12. in the captivity of Babylon the poore and base people of the Land were left to be their Vine-dressers and Husbandmen, and God promiseth, Esay. 61.5. that the Church should have Sonnes of the Alien to be her Plowmen and Vine-dressers.

These are the parts both generall, and speciall: I shall be­gin with the first, and therein take her at her word in the Text, habemus confitentem ream, and heerein dispatch foure things. 1. Examine what she meanes by black. 2. En­quire how she comes so. 3. Why she would not be look't at; and lastly, apply all as safely as bad times will give leave.

Black.] Sables ever went in the Heraulds Office for a Mourners coate; Or and Argent were for the rich and ho­nourable: In the Scripture wee finde white to be the co­lour of Princes, Judges, Conquerors, crowned Virgins, bu [...] black (God helpe the coat) being contrary, signified contraries, and was the hue of one under deepe afflictions; sometimes, of one sick and languishing under noisome di­seases: So Job look't, Job 30.30. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burnt with heat: Sometimes, of one starved, and pined away with Famine; so the religi­ous Nazarites who (as Jer. 5.) being white as snow, and whiter then milke, more ruddy then Rubies, and smoother then polished Saphires, had their visage blacker then a coale &c. Lam. 4.7.8. Sometimes, sadnesse and true Sym­pathy for others calamities hath not only put men into black cloaths, but into a melancholy countenance: True sorrow makes the heart, the heart the bloud, and the bloud makes the face a Mourner; thus Jeremy himselfe had a black visage; for the hurt of the Daughter of my people I am hurt, I am black, Jer. 8.21. Three Expositions (and all sound and proper enough) Divines give me warrant for, concerning the Churches blacknes; I shall speake to them in order.

[Page 6]1. Nigrasum.] I am a woman of many infirmities, which fully and soyle me,Sin. of many sinnes which defile and foile me.Sin. And in this sence she saith truth, she were not a wo­man else, nor the Virgine Mary neither, though the Pa­pist off rs himselfe her compur [...]ator from even O [...]iginall sinne, and Gunpowder Garnet at Tyburne; for one mise­rere Domine, The relation of his triall, and death. had his dou [...]le Mater Dei &c. No, let God be true, and all men lyars; there is not one that do [...]h good, no not one, and in many things wee off [...]nd all; all singly, and all altogether. That soule, [...]or that Church of soules (if they were bodies) who s [...]y they have no si [...]ne, deceive themselves, and dare not looke in the true gl [...]sse of Gods word, for that discovers spo [...]s in the fairest face. The Papist would be loth to thinke any other, bu [...] the Spouse in the Canticles, may serve for their Mother: N [...]w I finde that Christ (who in that booke courts her, and ad [...]ires her) in one verse (chap. 6.10.) gives her foure charact [...]rs to­gether, and in none, innocency and infallibility, who is she that looketh forth as the Mo [...]ning; the morning ( [...]ud­die as she lookes) blushes at h [...]r night-cap of cloudes in which the Sun spies he [...]; faire as the Moone, and is not the Moone clogged with an inmate cloud? Doth she not looke pale, wan, faint, and change of e [...]? Cleare as the Sun; can more be said of a creatu [...]e? Yet the Sun [...]ath Ecclipses: and lastly, Terrible as an Army with Banners. An Army with Banners may have the black colours, and no Regiment of Saints Militant can weare a milke white feather, but must have a tip of staine: Sure therefore the Whore of Rome paints too much. The most g [...]orious fea­thers are borne upon black feete: Shal [...] I repeat you some of their pride and blasphemy? I am almost afraid to say it after them. They doe arrest the Almighty of an action of debt for wages, even as much as Heaven comes to. ‘It is most cleare (say the Rhemish Divines in their notes upon Heb. 6.10.) That our good workes be meritorious, and the very cause of salvation, so farre that God should be unjust if he rendred not Heaven for the same. Nay, the [Page 7] just mans workes doe merit eternall life, not only because of Gods Covenant of grace mercifully to accept them, but because of the workes themselves; and our good workes are equall and proportionable to eternall life,’ saith boasting Bellarmine. Yea Vasquez the Jesuit with them in the Gospel smites Christ himselfe, for which God shall smite him a whited wall. ‘Our good workes (saith he) doe more for us, then Christ is able to doe, for they make us formally righteous, and worthy of life, but Christ on­ly by imputation.’ But what neede I go to Tiber for such Swannes, when our owne Thames will afford as some of their brood, though hatcht by a fowle of another name, the Anabaptist? Scarce a Sunday (if you lived where I doe) but I can have you to a prayer, where the good man (for so his Disciples call him, though Christ said otherwise) stands up with the Pharisee,Non dolere, qui peccaveris, magis indig­nari at{que} irasci facis Deum, quàm illud peccatum, quod antè per­petraveram. Chrysost. in Math. Lord I thanke thee I am not like other men (he saieth truer then he is aware) drunkards, swearers, &c. Cries loud for daily bread, bu [...] not a word of forgive us our trespasses, as wee forgive &c. No sorrow, no confessi­on, no smiting on the thigh, or the brest, no crying I am black: And then for preaching, O [...] my soule! How are people pillowed! ‘God sees no sinne in you, lookes for no sor­row from you. The Law? away with it, what is the old Testament, that it should command us? To your Tents O Israel, wee have no portion in Moses &c. Yee disho­nour free grace, God lookes for no confession &c.’ No friend (thinke I?) He did from Job, David, Mary Mag­dalen, Peter, Paul? Till now, the Saints in all ages when they have spoke of their white, Oh what extenuations, what am I, saith one? I am a worme saith a second; a dead dog saith a third; lesse then the least of all thy mercies a fourth; but when they speake of their black, Oh then! all aggravations are brought in, they weigh sinne with the graines of all circumstances, so foolish was I, and a very beast before thee saith one, and he a King; when thy ser­vant Steven was stoned, I held the clothes of them, who did it, saith another. Indeed St. Pauls Motto by his owne [Page 8] consent to all ages, should have beene, Apostolorum mini­mus, Peccatorum maximus; see how he hides his Lawne, and showes his Cipres: Surely our Saints are Antipodes to those P [...]imitive Professors, by their contrary walking; had they the spirit indeed, they would fight against the flesh, and cry for ayd to Heaven, and when they were worsted, and led captive, mourne; and that leades mee to a second rea­ding.

2. Nigrasum.] ‘I go mourning and in heavinesse, sad I am and sorrowfull because of my sinnes,Sorrow. and those reliques of nature which remaine in me, if I were once through­ly sanctified; If I could quite cast off this speckled skin of the old Adam, I would no more m [...]urne, but put on my wedding garment of joy for the spirit of heavinesse; but Ah wretch that I am, I finde a Law in my m [...]mbers rebelling against the Law of my minde, and the evill I would not doe, that doe I, and therefore wonder not if my face (which is Index animi) weare the livery of my captivity, and I (with Joseph under age) go in a party-coloured coat of white and black, joy checkred with griefe, hope woven with feare: My beloved (and he only) is white and red, altogether lovely: But I, at least am but white and black: Whi [...]e I am, and so he made me, but black still, for so I smu [...]ch my selfe daily. And it is with me and my sinnes (poore soule) as with the feathers upon birds, cut them, they grow, [...]urne them, they grow, pull them out, still they grow againe; but when the bird dies, then, and not till then, will they cease to grow; till therefore this corruptible, shall have put on incorruption, I must goe mourning, and not pu [...] off my black; and in this sene she speakes the truth also. Sion was never without mourners,Lachrymas Petri lego, satis­factionem non lego; sed quod defendi non potest, ablu potest. Ambro. Sup. Luc. l. 9. nor the Church o [...] God be­yond repentance.’ Lachrymae is a le [...]on never out of tune. Christ dyed to take off my sufferings, but to encrease my sorrowes; so it is written, They shall looke upon him they have pierced &c. and indeede it is hard, if I canno [...] afford water for bloud. Sinne (even since damnation, for it was taken [Page 9] off) is in the eyes of the godly, as fitly as ever, as illegall as ever, as unnaturall (and more) as ever, and as sinfull as ever; and shall I looke upon it with dry eyes? [...]. Yet (mistake me not) we weep not, to wash out Ethiop­spots with our owne teares (our water will beare no such sope) No, we weepe at his feet, the blood of whose head and heart could onely make us cleane: We repent (not to be forgiven) but because forgiven, and yet running on the score afresh. Thus Mary wept much, because shee loved much, and shee loved much, because much was forgiven her. Oh, love of God,Gen. 26. and sence of our owne unworthinesse will make even a Rheoboth in a religious heart. The wicked make a mocke at sinne, and cry Ha, ha; but the holy man findes it a burthen so heavy, that it presseth out liquor, and makes him roare as David did for disquietnesse. The plaister of sorrow will not fall off (oh let us not pull it off) till the infection of sinne be quite drawne away,Mat. 5. which must not bee here while wee are in Bochem. Blessed are they that thus mourne, for they shall be comforted, and so I have done with the second sense.

3. Nigra sum] I am blacke with lying among the Bricks and the pots of Egypt; with crosses, poverty, persecution,Sufferings. famines, and Warres; my Sonnes are slaine and my Vir­gins deflowred — Quis talia fando Mermydonum Do­lopumve? &c. And this I judge to bee the most Genuine reading, being the complaint of the distressed and disper­sed, afflicted and abused Church, turn'd out, persecuted, and Sun-burnt, as shee saith here; for that phrase (in the sixt of Matthew) of the Sun scorching the seed, &c. is construed by Christ himselfe, to be persecution of the pro­fessors for the Words sake. In the proving the [...] of this plaine point, that Gods people are alwayes a persecuted people: I will not hold a candle to the Sun,Deus unum habuit Filium sine peccato, nullum sine Flagello. Bern. nor so much as send out the Jury to finde it, there are such a cloud of witnesses in the Scriptures and Ecclesiasticall histories. The red Dragon will lye in waite to destroy, so long as the woman is in travell or teeming. Take single Saints or col­lective [Page 10] Churches among the Jewes, or the Gentiles, before Christ, or since, and if you finde they be alwayes well-fa­voured and ruddie like David, and have not their Agues (Quartans, if not Quotidians) and Feavor-spots, then read mee no further, or beleeve not what you have read already. Nay, whoever reads this (if hee be a true son of this black woman and no Bastard) either hath beene or must looke to bee smutcht with slanders, or dirted with disgraces, or blackt with sicknesse, sooted with the smoak, it may be scortcht with the flames of persecution for con­science sake.

Let us therefore passe by the Quod sit, and peruse the Quomodo sit, 22. pars pri­mae. how shee comes so, and leaving her a while mourning, let us make out our Hue and Cry who hath done this wrong. And behold, she points to him, he is one out of our reach, and above our power to examine, quia sol a­spexit me. And herein two things are remarkable.

1. This Eagle-eyed Spouse (though in their place shee name the instruments of her sufferings) first humbly owns God in her afflictions:Amos. 3.5. Is there evill in the City, and I have not done it, saith the Lord? Her mothers sonnes were the rods, but the hand was Gods: for so is meant by the Sun in the Text. Divinitùs haec inflicta sunt mihi, nihil hic fortu­itum, Brightman in locum. &c. She saith not with the Patriarchs of Joseph, Some evill beast hath done this; but with Pharoahs Wizards of the Lice, Digitus Dei est hic. A divine hand hath pleased thus to touch me. Sol aspexit. No creature so excellent to ex­presse God by in his operations and dealings in the World, as the glorious Sun, and that hath made it such an Idoll as it is in many places unto this day. Shall I name a very few? The Sun gives light to the Planets above him as well as be­low: and God is he that gives Being to Angels as well as inferiour creatures. The Sunne is the naturall fountaine of life, light, and heat; God the supernaturall, in whom we live, move, and have our being. The Sun is the search­er of things hid in darknesse; and God is [...] in the firmament of his omniscience; the day and the night [Page 11] are all alike unto him; sooner mayst thou with thy short arme, and weake hand, pull that eye of heaven out of his orbe, then remove Gods from thy reynes. The Sun shines on gardens, and they smell sweet, on dunghills with the same beames, and they returne a stinke: and God is good to all, the holy receive mercy, and give forth the savour of praise; but the wicked turne grace into wantonnesse: what should I multiply allusions further? the Sunne arises upon Sodom, and it burnes; darts on Jonas and he saints; scorches the harvest and it dyes; parches the earth and it gapes for fresh ayre, dryes up the Rivers and they fayle; and God our God, who is the sunne of that sunne, and can onely command him, doth all these things and the Sun is but his shadow.

The word Aspexit speakes this to be easie to God. 'Tis no more but looking, and the stoutest Cedars tremble: See­ing, speaking, touching, are actions which imply ease: Touch the mountaines and they smoake; Moses was faine to smite the Rock, but it was Gods looking on that dissol­ved it. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire, &c. Dixit & factum est, he did speake, and it was done. Men in even small matters toyle all night (as Peter saith) and take nothing; they sweat and dig, and moile,Luke 5. and yet are but in the beginning: Master say they in the Gospell to Al­mighty Christ, we came to thy Disciples to cast him out, and they could not; stand by yee Fumblers saith hee, and doth it, ictu oculi: Oh, it is no more to God to scortch men, Angels, Churches, Kingdomes, and to melt them, then to looke. Mare vidit id & fugit, what id, but Gods presence and power? who can dry up the deep, and put a hooke into the nose of the unruly Ocean, and say, Thus far, and no further: 'Twas not then any Culinary smoake, any di­stempered ayre, any blasts of lightnings, any malignant influence, or malevolent aspect of inferiour planets, that the Church looks on, as able to have blackt her, if the Sun had not done it. Men talke of lucke, and fortune, and chance, either fearing or worshipping and adoring pre­vailing [Page 12] parties; as if Shimei could curse his King, or touch the Lords Annoynted without Gods le [...]ve: The Lord (saith David) hath bid (i. e.) suffered Shimei to curse me. We say in the Orthodox points of God, Providentia divina contingit ad minutissima, and the Creatures are but dead instruments in his hand,Jer. 2.13. broken Cisterns, as Jeremie calls them, and there is not much comfort in those words: Ci­sterne, and broken too? ò quantum est in rebus inane!

It is written of the Eagle that when shee hath hatcht her young ones, to try whether they be birds of her owne Egges, and not bastards, she carries them in her talans up into the Skie, holding their eyes to the Sunne in his heate and brightnesse; if they dare behold him, well; if not she lets them fall and perish, as not hers: Oh tis rare and re­ligious to worke up our eyes (like our mother in the Text) heaven-ward in all our sufferings, and mounting with the Larke, to sing as we soare; Deus dedit, & Deus abstulit, benedicatur nomen Domini. And let loosers in England (though they have leave to speake) speake well of God, who for our sinnes hath humbled us, and (which is worse) his Annoynted, the breath of our nostrills. I will end this with that of Austen, Deus aliquando obscurus est in judiciis, nunquam injustus. God is the Sunne, who if hee should, not onely black us, but burne us to ashes, hath a Soveraignty over us; his wayes are past finding out. Yet secondly,

2. The word Aspexit hath an eye of mercy in it, as well as fury, brightnesse as well as blacknesse; blessed be God it is at the worst, but Aspexit, it is but an angry Looke: A looke is as easily and as soone taken off, or changed, as set on. For a moment he may bee angry, but (let sufferers read and rejoyce) in a moment hee can change his face, and make the bones which he hath bro­ken to rejoyce;Psal. 51.8. his wrath endures but the twinckling of an eye, and though heavinesse may endure for a night (and the longest coldest night is but a night) yet joy comes in the morning. Lift up your heads, ye captived, prisoned, [Page 13] plundred, sequestred, banish't, Sonne of this black Mother,In vitâ Jew­elli. Haec non durabunt aetatem (as Bishop Jewell said in the l [...]ke case) 'tis too hott to hold, as the crackling of Thornes under the pott, so shall hee make them in time of his hott displeasure. The Lord who hath looked on his Church and shee was troubled, will ere long say of her under her cruell Taskmasters, I have seene the affliction of my people: Even so Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, and we shall be whole. And so I come to the third thing in the first generall. Ne spectetis me, quia, &c. Looke not upon mee;3. Part. those are all her re­quest in the letter, but I dare venture to speake her minde further, and in foure particulars to bee her In­terpreter.

1. Looke not upon me] that is, Be not amazed, or asto­nisht, as if some new thing and strange had happened to me; Yee daughters of Jerusalem, you are but young Chri­stians, and not knowing the wayes of the Lord, may star­tle at this sad sight, to see me thus used, and God looking on, nay laying on himselfe, and so like those faint hearted people, who mad [...] a halt when they saw Amasa lye slaine before them, or like those cowardly Spies, who brought an ill report upon the land of Canaan; you may retreate from the good cause you have listed your selves in; but be not out of heart, for this is the Method of the Churches march through many tribulations to enter, &c.Acts. 14.22. Excellent Counsell this and worthy of acceptation. Good men are not so much sensible of what they suffer themselves, as fearefull and jealous over others with a godly jealousie, lest they should by their sufferings be dismaid. And sure feare of persecution (a base feare which God hates) made men at first fight for their Religion,Ecclesia Or­thodoxa ho­mines p [...]rse­qui non solet. Socra. Eccl. hist. lib. 7. and for feare of persecution turne persecutors of others. Of all the twelve Apostles, eleven were Martyrs, and sure Peter lost twice as much credit and comfort too, by denyall, and re­fusing to suffer for Christ, as he got by cutting off Malchus eare. After the rate Religion goes now, the Primitive [Page 14] Church could have raised an Army of Saints, but how should God then have had a Noble Army of Martyrs? It was not want of men among them, nor armes; they were not in Israels case of whom 'tis said, there was not a sword nor speare to be found, nor a smith in all the Land: No, no,Heb. 11. Jam sumus Christiani, was their cry at the stake; they chose to suffer, their flesh was a free will offering as well as a burnt off [...]ing, or else they had offered nothing, they scorned any defence but Gods and his lawfull Magistrates, and thought the word Legion to be a name for Devills, not Christians. The Application shall be only thus much: Let no man that suffers, judge his cause bad by the successe, nor thinke the Gospel a Rose lesse sweete, because it growes on prickles,Cant. 2.2. as a Lilly among Thornes, so is my Beloved saith Christ. Looke not you pale, yee Sonnes of an afflicted Church, because your Mother lookes black, but looke at Jesus the Author and Finisher of your faith,Heb. 12 2. who endured the Crosse, and despised the shame, &c.

2. Looke not] with scorne and disdaine upon me, be­cause I am thus. Despise me not now I am low; and this was Davids complaint, they stand staring and looking upon me, and mine acquaintance stood a farre off; and Jobs with an­guish and bitternesse of soule in his 30 chapter:Job 30. I was (saith he in the nine and twentith) once when Gods candle shi­ned upon my head &c. a rich man, for I wash't my steps in butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oyle, v. 6. an honourable man. The young men saw me, and hid them­selves, and the aged stood up, v. 8.9. Nay more a good man, a brave Patriot (O that Nobles and Parliament men would read and doe) I delivered the poore that cryed, and made the Widdows heart sing for joy, v. 13.14. &c. yet in the 30. 1. But now, They who are yonger then I, whose Fathers I would have disdained to have set with my shepheards dogges have me in derision. And this is a sore affliction under the Sun, which e­ven great ones groane under, when they are downe. Saul (though a King begged by the people, and given them by God, because poore, there were many who despised him, [Page 15] and brought him no Presents, and wee our selves see a bet­ter then Saul (since the Sun hath looked upon him) made a byword,1 Sam. 10.27. and the Sonnes of Belial have not only crow­ned him with thornes, but would put a Reed into his Roy­all hand insteed of his golden Scepter. Thus when Cedars fall, doe the baser brambles put up their heads, and aspire government, and say, let us take the houses of God in pos­session. Oh the wretched extreames of deceitfull man! when thou art on a Mountaine (with Christ) they will spread their garments under thy feete, but when at the bar, then crucifige, tolle, away with him, this fellow is not fit to live. Well therefore might David pray, save me from re­proach and contempt, Psal. 119. and Mary sing her magni­ficat to God, for none but he will regard the low estate of his Servants: The Sonnes of men will wi [...]h Gods Vine­gar mixe their owne gall, and give thee, when thou criest sitio: this is the second branch of the Churches request; but the worst is not yet.

3. Looke not.] with delight; let not my paine prove your pleasure; rejoyce not O mine enemy, when I fall, I shall rise againe. There is a generation who are so farre from Davids spirit, who mourned & sympathized when his enemies were sick and in distresse, as if they had beene his Mothers Sonnes, and from Jeremies watry head, which ran streames for the miseries of his Countrey, that they laugh, and cry so, so wee would have it, and with Davids hard hearted mockers rejoyce to see the Church mourne, and when her Sonnes haue falne by an unnaturall sword,Nil habet In­faelix Pauper­tas dutius in se. Quam quod ri­diculos homi­nes facit. have cryed out with Hannibal (when he saw a ditch full of mans bloud) O dignum spectaculum! This is a sinne as unnatu­rall, as unmanly a sinne as can be; for a man to clap the wing and crow (like Peters Cock) at a poore Peters fall, and as Vermine live upon sore places.

It is a sinne which Sathan hath kept as his last and shar­pest arrow, as having more poyson in it then death. [...]. Menander. If e­ver he emptied his deadly Quiver, it was when our bles­sed Lord hung as a marke for every shooter: First he [Page 16] spends lies, slanders, false witnesse at him; then the whip, the purple, the spittle, the vineger and gall; then the nailes, the speare, the thornes, and last of all he brings out his forked tongues while his Mother, and Mary Mag­dalen, and John, and a few more stand below weeping; some cryed out, so ho, you King of the Jewes, come down now if you can, you sir that saved others, now save thy selfe: Eloi, Eloi, cries the Lord of Glory (such words as the Angels trembled at) they scoffe and quibble at the word; he calls Elias, say they. And of these arrowes (even bitter words) the world is full; but let them laugh on,Prov. 1.26. he that sits in Heaven will laugh them to scorne, the Lord shall have them in derision: Let such Ismaels know, that David could not forgive this, see how his soule rises, Psalm. 69. from the 20 to the 28. The Church in Babylon could not forgive this, Psalm. 137, and if the oppressed, and scorned in England be still derided, and made a by-word: Take heede yee that stand lest you fall, be not high minded, but feare; there are grieved spirits in the Land, (and store of them too) who though they have no armes, horses, men, money; yet can bring revenge by cries, the Lord will heare the oppressed, and avenge him: this is the third, the last and worst followes.

4. Looke not.] Yee, yee of all others, my friends of my Sexe, of my Kindred, of my Religion, who ever doe, doe not you despise or rejoyce to see me. Above 20. wounds Caesar had in the Parliament at Rome given him; but none fetcht teares from him to mingle with his bloud, but his Sonne Brutus his ponyard. [...]; What my Son? What my Brother? Me thinkes I heare Abels speaking bloud say so. And David, what my Absolon rebell? My Michal mock me? And Job, what my Kinsmen, my Cou­zen Elephaz against me? And (to name no more) Jesus to Judas! What my Friend, my Treasurer?

It was not mine open enemy; but it was thou mine Ac­quaintance, my familiar friend &c. Among the worst of Heathens and sinners are reckoned [...], men without [Page 17] naturall affection, that shall in despite of nature and grace both (breaking the bands of one, and casting a way the cords of the other) make way through bowells, veines, bloud, Religion, all, to laugh at a Brothers ruine: thus doe people at their Ministers, Servants at their Masters, nay Children at their Fathers sufferings in these our flinty dayes: Oh thou Dove of Heaven, which camest downe upon meeke, mercifull, compassionate Jesus, descend once more up on hard hearted Christians; melt them, mollifie them, thaw their affections, make them to condole, and feele, and lament for the afflictions of Joseph. Lord make our English people at length to doe, as the Tribes of Israel did concerning their brethren the Benjamites, whom they had almost utterly cut off by an unnaturall though lawfull warre; they spent a whole day (when they saw such ha­vock made of precious bloud) in weeping religiously, Judg. 21.2.3. And they repented themselves for Benjamin, that the Lord had made such a breach among brethren, and there was not only an Act of Oblivion, but a restoring them to their Inheritance, whom formerly they had wa­sted:Judg. 21.25. These things were done also when there was no King in Israel, verse the last. And so I have done with the branches of the Churches request: Let me offer a few ar­guments in behalfe of Gods people; why others should not looke at them with any of those evill eyes which I have named, and briefely apply a few words, and that shall terminate the first Generall of the Text.

1. Looke not upon me; for I am but Blackish; the old Latin translates it browne, the Greeke, made black, by ac­cident not willingly or naturally, as it is said the Creation is made subject unto bondage, Rom. 8.21.) not borne so; the Hebrew reades, somewhat black: And this is not a Gramaticall Criticisme; but it pleased the Holy Ghost to take a word (a [...] our Ainsworth observes) differing from that in the 5 verse, on purpose to diminish the signification, [...] [...]e should say, you that looke on me, I pray looke well o [...] and you will finde I am not so black as othres make [Page 18] me, and I am glad it is no worse with me: so saith the Church even under the Iron yoke: It is the Lords mercy wee are not consumed. The Lord in the midst of judge­ments remembers mercy: The Church is often (alwaies indeede) sickish, faintish, feavourish, blackish, but still God deales in Diminutives, as dying, yet never dead, troubled on every side, yet not distressed, perplexed, yet not in de­spaire, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast downe, yet not de­stroyed: The Lord, saith the Psalmist, suffered not his whole displeasure to arise, if he lay one hand on us, the other is under us; if his children must take Physick, he writes the ounces, drammes, graines, scruples; puts in oyle to supple, as well as wine to search their woundes: He executes not the fiercenesse of his wrath: But when his enemies come forth, the Lord mixes a red, black, bloody, hellish potion for them, the ungodly shall not only drinke, but drinke it off, and suck the dregges, Psalm. Heere is the Churches glory, and Gods grace; that though the world looke on their sinnes as beames,Deut. 32.5. God lookes on them as moates: for their spots are not like the spots of others: And though the world looke on them as undone, lost, dead, gone quite black; yet they are indeede but browne, and if it were worse with them, yet never the worse for them, and that helps me to a second Argument.

2. Looke not upon me; for a [...] worst I am but black so the 5 verse, comlinesse makes amends for my colour; 'tis the blade not the hilt, that commends the sword; the Con­tents, not the cover that preferres the Bible, the Kirnell, not the shell that sells the Almond: The Ring is not worse gold, because it weares a Deaths head; and for this cause wee faint not (saith the Apostle) because though ou [...] out­ward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, 2 Cor. 4.16. A rich soule is better then a faire skinne, and the wise men thought not Christ the worse for lying in a manger, but fell downe and worshipped, Math. 1.13.

Sepulchres may be painted, so may Harlo [...]; dead signe-posts may have more oyle, and varnish; but the growing [Page 19] Oake though his coate be rough, hath native s [...]n: Dives is clad in purple. Lazar [...] in [...]ores, which thinke you is the better man?Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit, sed in Dogmatum veritate. Je­rom. in Ps. 33. Well may the true Church want the pompe, the state, the revenues, the Altars, the Crucifixes, &c. Our mother is comely, fruitfull, whole, sound; hath all the Essentials, and Integrals of a Spouse, Beares chil­dren, preaches the word aright, no adulterate or cripled Sacraments, her faith sound, her worship true: In these things she is comely, though shee of Rome lookes at us and laughes at our blacknesse, as not a Church, because poorer, and chaster then her selfe. The same may be saide of any Saint. My brother art thou poore in estate, sickly in body, smutcht in thy name, crost in thy children, meane in thy gifts, called to the barre, sent to prison, appointed to death? O [...]! such a black-bird may sing in a Cage, when Peacocks shall shrike onely; thou art at the worst, all this is but a blacke skin; He that is holy and upright, that hath the eyes of faith, the eares of obedience, the mouth of praise, the hands of charity, the feete of perseverance, the strait shoulders of patience, the back of humility, &c. is no cripple, defiled hee may, deformed hee cannot bee. Afflictions may make him stoope, but crooked they cannot make him; the deepest Dy he can be dipt in, is but a black visage of death, and there is a Ne plus, O death where is thy sting?

3. Looke not upon mee, &c. For I would be so. It is good for me that I was afflicted. The Church like a shippe had rather be weather beaten at Sea, then wind-bound at shore.1. Profit. Hoc habet proprium Ec­clesia, dum per sequitur, flo­ret; dum op­primitur, cres­cit, dum con­temnitur, pro­ficit &c. Hil. de Trin. 2. Honour. Though like the Merchants vessell shee come from farre, yet the dangerous voyage brings her in laden with profit and honour: profit, the blackest soyle is the richest, the blackest fruit the sweetest; the afflicted man gaines know­ledge, knowledge experience, experience hope, hope patience, patience pitty, pitty charity, and a neck-lace of Diamonds more, which as they are found in the tawny Indies of troubles, so they shine most in the darke of di­stresse. And as it is profitable, so oftentimes honourable; [Page 20] the Militant Church are Christs life-guard, and therefore the Apostle saith it is a glorious thing to be made confor­mable to the sufferings of Christ, and Vobi [...] datum est, to you it is given not onely to suffer but dye, and a guift of ho­nour too, to have a wound in Gods cause, to drinke of Christs owne cup, to weare his livery, to be of his for­lorne hope. It is sayed, Heb. 11. of such that the World was not worthy of them; yet they went up and downe in sheep-skins and goats skins, &c. This, this made the Martyrs of old endure the spoyling of their goods with joy, this made them embrace the faggot, as their first borne, and kisse the fl [...]me with shouting, Nec hoc fecit stu­por sed Amor, non decrat dolor, sed contemnebatur, saith Saint Bernard. Acts and Monuments. This made Martyr Hunters mother kneele at her sonnes burning, and blesse God that he had honour­ed her to give her a Sonne, and take him againe for a sa­crifice: Yea, as Lactantius reports, this made even women and children to dare and defie their persecutors, as being Volunteers under the standard of the crosse.

4. Looke not upon mee, &c.] For I must bee so: There is no going neare, or by, but through many tribula [...]ions, &c. The cup of afflictions is in Gods hand, there is no a­voiding it, Christ the head began to his followers, and it must go about. 2. Tim. 3.12. By the mothers side I must be Ben-oni before the Father make me Benjamin. Would you know why? The palme-tree must have weights laid on, to make it fruitfull; the Camomile must be troden, to make it thick; the Torch must be knockt to make it blaze; Frankincense must burne to make it smell; spices broken to give their sent; the earth broken to give her fruit; the Vine cut to make it beare; Linnen washt and beaten to make it cleane; the Sea tossed and troubled, else it would stinke; Noahs Arke must be lifted nearer Heaven by wa­ters; your children must goe to the schoole, else no learn­ing; and the Church of God now under age, must have the rod of afflictions for her good.

5. Lastly, Looke not upon mee; For your selves may bee [Page 21] so; and that probably, whether yee be friends or enemies:

1. If Foes judgement begins at the house of God, but it ends not there, but as the streames of the River, it takes in more as it glides, till it drowne Babylon, which did but wash Sion. If the greene tree be lopt, the dry one may feare to be cut downe: If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? shall the chil­dren weepe and the slave not bleed? yea rather, shall not the Judge of all doe righteously? The wicked (saith Da­vid, Psal. 37.13.) laugh at the righteous, but the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming; it seemes he hath his day, a whole one, a long one, a black and gloomy day. In one Chapter and in one verse I finde, The Begger dyed, the rich man also dyed and was buryed, Luke 16.22. Say therefore unto the enemy walk not so proudly,

2. And say also to prospering Friends, walke not se­curely. Hodie mihi, cras tibi, point not with the reproach­full finger, nor looke with a scornefull eye. Affliction is the portion of Gods Children, let every childe looke for his share, every one shall have his messe, though perad­venture, Benjamin may have two. As the Apostle saide to Saphira (Acts 5.9.) behold the feet of them which bu­ryed thy Husband are at the doore, and shall carry out thee; So say I to all thriving, rich, pleasant, proud Chri­stians, who as the Prophet complaines, Kill Oxen, and Sheepe, and Wine is in their feasts, but they forget the af­fliction of Joseph; behold, the feet of judgement at the doore to seise on you also: methinkes I heare the Spouse in my Text, giving counsell to those standers by; My friends, have pity upon me, have pity, for the Lord hath looked upon me and I am sore afflicted; and if no other argument will move you, let this: [...]. Adagium G [...]aec. I see now your Rosie cheeks, your Rubie lips, your sparkling eyes, your polisht browes, your azure temples, your Ivory neck, your deli­cate breasts, your whole skip beautifull: Thus, thus was I [Page 22] not long since when the Sun smiled upon me, but beauty is fading, ere long those Roses may be blasted, which now but budded,Timendum est, n [...] nobis cadentibus surgat, qui no­bis stantibus irridetur: quamvis stare j [...]m non no­vit, qui non stantem novit irridere. Greg. lib. 15. Mor. those lips may, bee blew and cold which now are warme and ruddy, those eyes may have drops of water which have now sparkles of fire in them, your fore­head may be s [...]rrowed, your temples wasted, your neck humbled, your breasts have a wolfe in them, and your whole skin the black Jaundis, as well as mine; and there­fore looke not on me strangely, and at a distance, scorne­fully and with disdaine, voluptuously, and with delight; for the same measure which you mete to others, shall be measured to you againe. And this aptly invites mee to a word of application in behalfe of all the distressed, and oppressed Children of this our now blacke Mother, the Church of England. 1. Application.

Our Country man Brightman (one much admired by this age, for his rare gifts of Exposition on the Revelati­ons, for which he is styled according to his name, as Na­zienzen was by Theodoret, [...]) in his Com­ment on this Booke, travells alone in a new way, differ­ing from all others, and will have it to be a darke History of the state of the Church from Davids time, all along till Solomons end, and then a Prophesie of it till Christs time, and againe from thence to the Worlds end: and this verse and the fift he makes use of, to signifie the state of the Jewes under Rehoboams time, when ten Tribes had revol­ted from their King, and two onely remained under his Scepter: Those tenne (called here my Mothers sonnes) who deposed their Soveraigne for his evill Councellours sake,1 Kin. 11. did not onely make havocke of Gods Church and true worship by Idolatry, and a tolleration, but they turnd flat enemies to Judah and Benjamin for their Loyalty, and there was most bitter Wars among Brethren many yeares; That peacefull, and glorious Kingdome under Solomon, being now made the seate of civill Warre, and the stage of fraternall fury, and in stead of Reverend Priests and Levites,1 King 12. Jeroboam their new Governour made any body a [Page 23] Priest that would, &c. Thus he expounds my Text, as if those two poore Loyall Tribes being now under their true King, though he but a petty one having lost ten Tribes of twelve and lying under the spoyle and rage of their angry bre­thren; and being now meane and miserable both in Church and State, should cry out, O looke not upon me, upon me poore Judah, because the Lord hath rent the Tribes off from me, and made me blacke with the afflictions, which my brethren of Israel have afflicted mee with, but rather mourne with me and for me, &c.

But methinks if that learned man could make the words serve the Church of the Jewes under Rehoboams raigne, even I that have no learning may safely make them hold too true now under King Charles his raigne,1. In the State. as the lively character of Englands case both in Church and Sate. In our State, which sometimes was esteemed as compleate, proper, rich, beautifull a Queene, as the Sunne shined up­pon, for lyneaments and proportion of exact Symmetry, no head too great for the body, as under Tyrants, no body for the head, as under Anarchists; no monstrous excres­cency of Nobles, nor deficiency of Commons, but admi­rable well mixt Monarchy; for Wealth and plenty, beyond parallell, shee might sit and say with her in Esay 47. I am, and there is none besides mee, rich in man, money, Merchandize, corne, cattell, fieldes, houses, our fleeces being as wealthy as the golden one; City, Court, Coun­try, yea cottage, had his owne Vine or Figg-tree: For Lawes honoured, for Liberties envied; But now, alas! alas! Quia sol aspexit nos: Looke upon Magistracy, and behold the face of Majesty and true Royalty besmeared,Lam. 4.20. our King the Lords Anoynted, the breath of our nostrills, is led cap­tive, his sacred person detayned from the Firmament of his Throne, the Sunne is eclypsed, and the Starres onely give a duskie light, nor can it be day in England, till our Phae­bus (who is the Fountaine of light) sit againe in the midst of the inferiour heavens, and by his beames of So­veraignty, quicken and revive this be lighted and benum­med [Page 24] Island. Casare venturo, phosphore redde diem. Behold blacknesse and thick clouds have carryed him away, and the faire Albion is not, cannot bee Olbion without him. The Queene the second great Luminary, is turned into darknesse; the Illustrious Prince our morning star shines in another Hemisphere; the royall Children (our bright Charles-Waine) obscured, and is not this blacknesse? The Kings Speare (the Militia) the Kings cruse of wa­ter (the Revenue) are not onely taken away, 2. Sam. 26, But the skirts of his Royall Robes are cut off, and hee left as a Prince in querpo, without his native Le-Roy lavisera, and which is worse, no mans heart is smote for this, as Davids was. 2. Sam. 24. But those whom the Law brands with Treason for clipping him lesse, but in a piece of silver, the Age allows to loppe him in his branches, and strike at in the root. O more then Indian blacknesse! the Hea­then are more obedient. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon, lest the World forsweare Chri­stianity for our sakes,

And shall the Disciples fare better then their Lord? can the Fountaine be disturbed and the streames cleere? Looke upon the face of Nobility, and you will see what Solomon sawe among his vanities and vexations, Servants upon Horses, and Princes going on foote, Eccles. 10.7. Nobles in disdaine, and Judges despised, and they who were clad in Scarlet, doe now imbrace dunghills; and is not this a grosse blacknesse? A sore affliction, to see the eyes of Ju­stice with Sampsons put out, the lockes, the curled lockes cut off, and the Worthies of the Land, not onely grinde in the Mill of the multitude, but sometimes fetcht out to make sport. Looke upon the face of Merchandize, and behold yet more and more blacknesse; pale Famine will doe as much in the Reer, as blacke Warre hath done in the Van; how doth the City sit solitary,Lam. 1.1.2. how is shee become as a widow? she that was great among the Nations and Prin­cesse of the provinces, how is shee become tributary? Her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become [Page 25] her enemies, the Thames languishes, the Sea mourneth, because of the Merchant, the Exchange is as little Royall as her King, and the splendor of Shops is vanisht. Dis­content dwells within the house, and distresse sits at every threshold; while oppression Coaches it in the streets; and is not faire London become black? O very black, scorne and reproach and shame hath seized upon her suddenly. And lastly, Looke upon her Handmaid, the Countrey, and behold she sits as poore Hagar (Gen. 21.15, 16.) in the wildernesse of misery. Her bottle of plenty is spent, and she sits weeping for her children ready to dye, and can get no more for them: the Gentry decay and pine away, all hospitality is gone; the blessing of the poore is gone, the Husbandman sweats first a hot fit in plowing and sowing, and then a cold sweat of feare, lest the horse and his Rider should come and devoure his and his childrens bread; bar­barus has segetes? Alas! whither shall the inhabitants of the Land flye? abroad the robbers spoyle, at home taxes doe eate like a Canker, what the Caterpillar leaves, the Locusts devoure, and is not this blacknesse? Surely the Land languishes.

2. And if our earthy part were onely desolate, wee might say, Ear [...]h to earth, that which is mortall must dye; but our Heaven is darkned at noone day, our Temple (the glory of Jerusalem) is laide waste: Gods house is made a den of theeves as well as our owne: As the Father threw away his Booke of humane learning,Austen. Quia nomen Jesu non erat ibi, so for the losse of temporalls, rush? But Reg­num Caelorum vim patitur, in a different sense from Christs speech: Christs kingdome suffers violence, not to get in­to it as of old, but to get out of it. It is said when Christ was borne, that Augustus by a decree layd a Tax on all men; 'tis no bad newes to pay silver and finde a Saviour, but to lose goods and Gospell both, O intollerable! This is smutting, yea smiting God himselfe, and sure the rending the Temple and crucifying Christ were both in one day? But some may say, Quorsum haec? how prove you this? O [Page 26] friend, I answer thee in the words of Cleophas (Luke 24.18.) Art thou onely a stranger in Israel, and hast not knowne the things which are come to passe? Thousands of the Churches eldest sonnes (the Clergie) are utterly undone, and the rest defrauded and debased by the basest of the people, even to astonishment; blacknesse hath seized on their persons, calling, patrimony, and above all, Gods Ordinances, and true worship.

1. For their Persons, that of the Apostles is now in its fulnesse, 1. Cor. 4.9. We are a spectacle and a gazing stocke unto Angels and men.

2. For their Calling (high and heavenly as the Embas­sadors of Christ) O my God heare and helpe,) Away with these Black-coats, these troublers of Israel, &c. This is the outcry of the multitude and their Leaders. Their charge is a Vineyard to be kept, as my T [...]xt saith, even the Lords owne Vineyard, an imployment of skill, of indu­stry; for which Saint Paul cryes, [...], Who is sufficient? But now from the ship, from the shop, from the stall, from the Awle, men, boyes, women, step up and Talke in the Congregation, as if Gods house (like the Capitoll) must be preserved by Geese; and in the interim learned and laborious men stand idle in the Market place against their wils God knowes, and goe not into the Vine­yard: Quia nemo conduxit, &c. because none call them.

3. For their Patrimony (Popish onely because rich) Oh, it is too too convenient a Vineyard as Naboths was; it is the Benefice hath put many out of thei [...] office: the plumpe and ripe Grapes which have made so many Foxes preach in other mens Vineyards: Ask at po [...]r Vicaridges for a Sequestration, and finde one if you can; No, no, pe­riissent nisi periissent, many men keepe their Livings, be­cause their Livings cannot keepe them; and if the aimes of many men can hit, they may invert the saying of our Lord, and in stead of The zeale of thy house hath eaten us up, s [...]y Ou zeale hath eaten up thy house: Speake Saint Paul, Is Sacriledge no sinne? Yes, worse then Idolatr [...], [Page 27] Rom. 2. O Land more unjust then the raging Sea, who allowes her Fluctus decumanus, the Tenth wave bigger then the other nine.

4. Last and worst of all, even Gods Ordinances and worship is blackt, not only with the coals of negligence, ignorance, lukewarmenes, profanenes;Vide Mr. Ed­wards Gan­grena. but with the hellish soot of Blasphemies. The blessed Trinity, the holy Bible, the Law, the G [...]spell, the Sacraments, the Decalogue, the Lords owne prayer, are smeared with the venomous Inke of Pamphlets, and the poysons of Tongues in many Pul­pits.

Arise O Lord, arise in thy jealousie, and let not thy Ark be carryed captive, nor thy golden Candlesticks bee re­moved from us.

One thing more, and no more; If yet you aske, Quis haec, as well as Quorsum? Who hath made our faire Land so deformed? I must answer with the Spouse here; The Sunne, and the Sonnes in the Text, have done all this: For the Sun, the Lord of hosts is his name, he hath justly look­ed upon us, because we looked not up to him; and I dare take the boldnesse (da veniam Caesar imperator) in the name of our King, Nobles, Judges, Gentry, City, Countrey, whom the Lord hath so sorely afflicted, to stand up, and with humble Nehemiah (Chap. 9.34.) confesse: O our God, thou art just in all that is brought upon us, &c Nei­ther have our Kings, ou [...] P [...]inces, our Priests, our Fathers, harkened unto thy Commandements, &c. Wee have sin­ned, what shall wee doe unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Yet even in midst of judgement, thou remembrest mercy. But for the Sonnes in the Text, Our Mothers sons (Christians, Protestants, Countreymen, Kinsemen, Bre­thren) have done it, quia Excanduerunt, &c. Because they were angry with us. Englands Wars and Ruins, have been fathered upon Religion, Liberty, P [...]iviledges, Reformation and I know not what, but as Homer begins, Ile end.

'Twas anger, wrath, pride, revenge, which kindled these fires, whose smoake hath not onely blackt, but flames scortsht our Mothers face: 'Twas ager, 'tis anger (chiefly) hath done all this. O water, water, bring teares, you that stand by and see children distracted, not onely black­ing, but burning their Mother that bore them, bring teares of repentance, pity, charity, mercy, to wash off her staines and quench her flames; above all, Lord wash thou the Land in the blood of the Lambe, that so at length the rage of man may turne to thy praise; and thy Church now Mi­litant may be made Tryumphant, and after all her black­nesse by sins and sorrowes, appeare before thy Throne, as white as snow. Amen.