Vituli labiorum. Or, A thanksgiving sermon, in commemoration of our great deliverance from the horrid Powder-Plot, 1605 And also of Gods merciful discovery of a bloody conspiracy against His Majesties Person, and the Protestant religion, 1678. Both intended by the papists. Preached at St. Peter's, Exon, Nov. 5. 1678. In prosecution whereof the Churches persecutions, foreign and domestick, by the hands of popish votaries, ever since the Reformation, are briefly recapitulated. Their charge of novelty on our church and religion is retorted. The absurdity of many of their doctrines and principles, and how destructive unto civil government, is detected. By John Reynolds, M.A.
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Title
Vituli labiorum. Or, A thanksgiving sermon, in commemoration of our great deliverance from the horrid Powder-Plot, 1605 And also of Gods merciful discovery of a bloody conspiracy against His Majesties Person, and the Protestant religion, 1678. Both intended by the papists. Preached at St. Peter's, Exon, Nov. 5. 1678. In prosecution whereof the Churches persecutions, foreign and domestick, by the hands of popish votaries, ever since the Reformation, are briefly recapitulated. Their charge of novelty on our church and religion is retorted. The absurdity of many of their doctrines and principles, and how destructive unto civil government, is detected. By John Reynolds, M.A.
Author
Reynolds, John, d. 1693?
Publication
London :: printed for Tho. Cockeril at the Three Leggs in the Poultry: and Walter Dight bookseller in Exceter,
1678.
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Subject terms
Gunpowder Plot, 1605 -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800.
Popish Plot, 1678 -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800.
Gunpowder plot -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800.
Popish Plot -- Sermons -- Early works to 1800.
Cite this Item
"Vituli labiorum. Or, A thanksgiving sermon, in commemoration of our great deliverance from the horrid Powder-Plot, 1605 And also of Gods merciful discovery of a bloody conspiracy against His Majesties Person, and the Protestant religion, 1678. Both intended by the papists. Preached at St. Peter's, Exon, Nov. 5. 1678. In prosecution whereof the Churches persecutions, foreign and domestick, by the hands of popish votaries, ever since the Reformation, are briefly recapitulated. Their charge of novelty on our church and religion is retorted. The absurdity of many of their doctrines and principles, and how destructive unto civil government, is detected. By John Reynolds, M.A." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A57190.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 10, 2024.
Pages
descriptionPage 1
A Thanksgiving Sermon in Commemoration
of our Deliverance from the Powder-Plot,
and of the discovery of the late Bloody
Conspiracy of the Papists.
Psal. CXXIX. 1, 2.
Many a time have they afflicted me from my
youth, may Israel now say.
2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my
youth, yet they have not prevailed against
me.
BAronius the great Annalist for the Church of
Rome, hath indeed made a very proud and
lofty claim on the Popes behalf, viz. That
Christ after his Resurrection translated up∣on
the Popes both Priesthood and Kingdom. But
by what a thin and faint argument doth he grasp at
so large a Jurisdiction? namely, That this was signi∣fied,
by that shadow of St. Peter, whereby the sick
were healed; that the Popes should always have the
same power, which Christ himself had, though ne∣ver
so far different from him in good life and man∣ners;
because they should ever at least retain the
shadow. But I pray what consequence is there from
descriptionPage 2
the shadow of St. Peter, unto the shadow, and from
thence unto the power of Christ? and that power
likewise that should not serve to heal the sick as did
St. Peter's shadow, but to destroy Kings and King∣doms?
for what other miraculous power have they
made proof of this thousand years? A cruel instance
thereof we had in the Conspiracy plotted against us
this day Seventy-three years ago, wherein the Pope
and his Agents taking counsel with the Prince of
Darkness, were agreed and sworn together, yea
and approached within a few hours of accomplish∣ing
their Hellish design, To blow up the King and
Royal Family, the Clergy, Nobles, Knights and Bur∣gesses
in Parliament; the very confluence of all the
Glory, Piety, Learning, Prudence and Authority in
the Land, with one sulphureous blast.
But because age and length of time generally
brings with it the oblivion and forgetfulness of the
most notable occurrences; and that we experimen∣tally
find our irreligious age to be grown so remiss
and negligent in the recognition and celebration of
this once renowned Deliverance: God is pleased
from time to time to awaken and rub us up by suf∣fering
this bloody brood of the Papacy to engage
upon such like attempts afresh; though (to his only
praise be it ascribed) hitherto without accomplish∣ing
their wicked aims and purposes. Such was the
traiterous design wherewith we have been alarm'd
this last month; the consequents whereof, had it taken
effect, I dread to think! In respect of both which,
and manifold other repeated occasions, our merciful
God having so often preserved and shielded our
Princes and their Kingdoms, our Church and Reli∣gion,
from their implacable rage and fury; good
descriptionPage 3
reason have we to make our hearts and spirits thank∣fully
to accord with this Psalm of praise, part of
which you have heard read in the words of our
Text. Many a time have they afflicted me from my
youth, may Israel now say; many a time have they
afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevail∣ed
against me.
This is one of the fifteen Psalms that is intituled
a Song of Degrees, a Song of Ascensions or of
Heights, either to note the excellency of the Song;
and without doubt much more sweet and cap∣tivating
would these Psalms appear unto us, if
the nature and reason of the Hebrew Musick and
Poesie were better known unto us than it is: Or
a Song of degrees, with respect unto the stairs or
steps which by degrees went up into the House of
the Lord, whereon the Singers should stand; or
in reference to the several Stages of their coming
from Babylon.
The design of the Psalm is to recount the Chur∣ches
past troubles and deliverances, occasioned by
some good success of Affairs, in evading the hands
of their enemies, then fresh in memory, Many a
time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel
now say.
From my youth] from the time of my being in
Egypt, from whence I came forth, when I grew
up to be a Church, or from my first Constitu∣tion.
The words do afford us three principal heads of
Discourse.
First, Here are the Persecuting attempts of the
descriptionPage 4
Enemies of Religion against the Israel of God, or
against Gods Church, which we have twice deli∣vered,
either by way of Poetical elegancy, or out
of a zealous affection to the praise and glory of
God in reciting it, or the better to express the
malignity and spight of the Enemies themselves:
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, &c.
Secondly, Here is the frustration of those mis∣chievous
attempts against the Church: Yet they
have not prevailed against me.
Thirdly, Here is the Churches bounden and
thankful reflection on her afflictions, and the hap∣py
issue of them, suggested by the Psalmist: May
Israel now say; which stands in the middle be∣tween
the Churches Persecutions and Deliverances
as respecting both; the misery and the malice of
the one excellently serving to enhanse the mercy
and the value of the other.
I. In the first of these Generals we have again
three Branches.
1. Here is the Churches Affliction or Persecuti∣on
by the hands of her Enemies: They have affli∣cted
me.
2. Here is the frequency of the Enemies infli∣cting
trouble and persecution on the Church: Many
a time have they afflicted me.
3. Here is the earliness of the Enemies spight
and malice against the Church of God, attempting
to blast it in the bud: Many a time have they afflicted
me from my youth.
descriptionPage 5
1. The first branch of this Division shews us
the ordinary case and state of the Church of God,
to be a state of affliction; being to grapple with
enemies, and that at first seeming with very great
odds and disparity; for thus you find the enemies
of the Church to be expressed in the Plural Num∣ber,
they; whereas the Church it self is simply spo∣ken
of in the singular Number, they have afflicted
ME. The Iews while they inhabited Canaan, the
land of Promise, how vastly were they out-num∣bred
by their enemies that surrounded and com∣passed
them on every side? On the East they had
the Moabites, Ammonites, Assyrians, and Chaldeans;
on the West the Philistines; on the North the Sy∣rians;
on the South the Arabians and Egyptians;
and these were all alike maliciously bent against
them. Compare but the Popish and the Protestant
interest in the world, how few are the Protestant
Kingdoms and Territories in comparison of those
large Dominions which do strike sail to the See of
Rome? and even amongst those who sculk under
the name of Protestants, how few are there who
would adventure any thing in a critical time upon
that Profession, which in a calmer state of things
they are ready to protest unto? now from these
their numerous enemies what can the Church of
God expect but affliction and trouble? Either,
1. By open force; as Cain did furiously imbrue
his hands in his brothers blood, and so Christened
the Church with her first Martydom. Or as Pa∣gans
and Infidels in the Primitives times of Chri∣stianity,
when they could not tell where else to
lay the charge of their publick calamities; that
descriptionPage 6
which was presently uppermost with them, was
Christianos ad Leones, away with the Christians,
let them be thrown to the Lions. And 'tis hard
to say in those first Ten Persecutions, which had less
remorse or more barbarity with them, either the
beasts themselves unto which the Christians were
frequently condemned; or their unjust Persecu∣tors,
who did sentence them unto such kind of
violent torments. 'Tis most probable that St. Paul's
fighting with beasts at Ephesus is to be understood
de hominibus ferinis, concerning those who had the
nature of savage beasts in the shape of men. And
we frequently find up and down the Scripture,
such kind of unrelenting blood-thirty persons me∣taphorically
called strong Bulls of Bashan, Leopards,
Leviathans, and what not? The Papists in their
intended Powder-plot had conspired to act such a
part, that would have convicted them to have been
more unnatural than the very wild beasts of the
desart. For to make this work of darkness sure,
they were content to have blown up some of their
own Friends, which they must have done to bring
it to pass. Like cursed Herod, who is said to have
murdered his own Son among the Infants of Beth∣lehem,
because he would be sure not to miss of
the new-born King of the Iews.
2. But if the Enemies of Gods Church cannot
bring to pass their spightful purposes against it by
open force, then they fall to work by subtile close
undermining practises; sometimes by their sophi∣stical
insinuations perverting the Church in point
of sound Doctrine, or soiling the Churches purity;
and surely this is enmity destructive enough. Thus
descriptionPage 7
the first Council of Nice had an Arrius to find work
for then; the first Council of Constantinople had a
Macedonius, if possible, to instill poyson into them.
The Council of Calcedon had an Eutiches to go a∣bout
to deprave them. Chrysostome had the Mani∣chees,
and St. Augustine had a Pelagius his Co∣temporary
to deal with them.
Sometimes the Enemies of Gods Church subtilly
compact the loose pieces of some pernicious enter∣prize
against her, by matching great relations and
interests with those that are of principal note and
renown in the Church; Facile is exambit filiam qui matrem
habet propitiam. Thus our Ecclesiastical Hi∣story
telleth us of Valens the Emperour, when he,
first took upon him the Empire he was an Ortho∣dox
professor, a man well-furnished and accom∣plished
with the Principles of Apostolical Doctrine;
but being once married to an Arrian Lady, she
soon acted the part towards him, that Eve did un∣to
Adam, insnaring and captivating him to the
same heresie; insomuch that he afterward became
a most bloody Persecuter of the Orthodox Church
of Christ. But besides this of making affinity with
some of the Churches worthy Patriots, they can
otherwise slily pretend themselves her friends for a
time; hanging out false colours till they see their
own opportunity to change the Scene. After this
manner came many of the Scribes and Pharisees,
and Lawyers to our Saviour, like so many De∣vils
in Samuel's mantle, silvering their viperous
tongues with fair language; but in the mean time
the odious device of their hearts was how to en∣trap
him in his words. Such there were who
descriptionPage 8
crept into the Church under the benign aspect of
Constantine the Great, hypocritically putting on
the Christian name, though they were nothing
such. Another such race of these two-faced men
we have Ezra 4. who delighted in the ruins of the
Temple, and fretted with indignation of heart a∣gainst
Zerubabels endeavours to rebuild it; and
to the end that they might effectually hinder the
work, they subdolously offer their service to pro∣mote
it, Let us build with you, for we seek your
God as ye do. Thus as in the building of Solo∣mon's
Temple, all things were before hand so fra∣med
and fitted in Mount Lebanon, that not so
much as the sound of an Axe or Hammer was
heard in Ierusalem, when it came to be erected:
So on the other hand, those desperate destroyers
of the Temples of the living God, have their hid∣den
ways of executing their purposes, without be∣ing
obstreperous to an open discovery till the
blow be given. They work in the fire with Ero∣stratus,
but it is a fire like that of Hell, that yields
no light before it blow up and consume. Neither
is it to be wondered that our Popish Incendiaries
are so expert this way, forasmuch as they dare
wholly mancipate and sell themselves to the Devil,
for the compassing of their horrid ends. Even of
the Popes themselves some have reckoned up a
Catalogue of twenty four, others more, who have
been practitioners or Masters rather of the Black
Art; as if they had resolved upon this for their
principle, that if God will not help, the Devil shall.
How much of the Devil was in the Conspiracy of
this Fifth of November! as if from the Lake that
descriptionPage 9
burneth with fire and brimstone, this Master of the
damned crew had opened a running spring of fire and
brimstone in the hearts of those Traytors. And as for
the Jesuitical Conspiracy which is the matter of our
present heart-aking, and which deservedly checks our
rejoycings with trembling, what the just depth and
extent thereof was, and might have proved, must be
the business of many Months further search and disco∣very,
if as yet through the great mercy of our God, it
may be happily frustrated.
The ground of all those troubles and afflictions
under which the Church of God labours by the
hands of her Enemies is the contrariety of tem∣per
and spirit between them, the antipathy sown
in the natures of the seed of the Woman, and of
the seed of the Serpent towards each other; in
respect of which they can no more be reconciled
than light and darkness. And this is very much
fomented and stirred up on the one hand by the
Devil, in order to the enlargement of his King∣dom:
and yet on the other hand doth God see
fit to permit it as most congruously suiting with
the Militant state of his Church here on Earth;
unalterably forewarning us to expect that through
much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom
of God, Act. 14. 22. This hath been the common
lot of the Church Militant from time to time,
Elijah-like to be always ascending to God in its
own flames; taking up her Cross to follow Christ,
and to become conformable to her head; hereby
also approving her integrity unto God and the
world: for the real Saint would not be distin∣guishable
from the false and rotten Hypocrite, at
least unto the eye of the world, did not a tem∣pest
descriptionPage 10
of Persecution sometimes arise and blow off
the Hypocrites Mask. Besides, the Church of
God never gains more assured proofs of Gods
Power and Providence over her, than when the
exigency and necessity of her condition drives
her to lay hold on him. As the Stars shine brigh∣test
in the night, so in the blackest night of the
Churches troubles and adversities kind Heaven
opens so many the more eyes to watch over her
and guard her.
In respect of those Spiritual and blessed ends
and advantage of the griefs and troubles of the
Church we may well say with St. Augustine, In∣faelix
Ecclesiae faelicitas, the outward felicity and
prosperity of the Church would be one of her
greatest infelicities, as that which would rob her of
much of her best interest.
And yet this will not in the least excuse or ex∣tenuate
the crying guilt of those who are the In∣struments
of the Churches Persecution and blood∣shed.
No, let them look to it, if the fire of
Persecution be permitted to try the Gold, surely
the fire of Hell it self shall burn up the dross. If
the green tree that hath both his sap and fruit
may sometimes be roughly shaken with a violent
storm, what shall be done in the dry? If the
Saints must drink of the bitter cup of affliction,
surely the unjust tormenters of the Saints may ex∣pect
a cup of the Wine of astonishment, and that
they should have the dregs thereof wrung out
unto them: yea that this Cup should be compoun∣ded
with so many the more bitter Ingredients of
wrath, by how much the oftner they have afflicted
descriptionPage 11
Gods Israel. Which brings us to the second
Branch.
2. And that is the frequency of the Enemies
inflicting trouble and persecution on the Church:
Many a time have they afflicted me. We are to
look for afflictions and troubles as familiarly as for
our bread: for as we are taught to pray for our
daily bread, so we are taught to buckle to our
daily Cross too,Luk. 9. 23. Had our Reformed
Church of England no other Enemies in Hell, or
upon Earth besides the Papacy, their incessant
rage, like a fiery Aetna continually belching out
new flames, and smothering exhalations out of its
bowels against us, were enough to warrant our
ingeminated moans and complaints unto God and
man with a MANY, MANY a time have they
afflicted me. Did they ever forbear to strike when
they had their opportunity? Not to trace their
bloody footsteps in foreign Countries, in their
Butcheries committed upon the poor Waldenses,
whom they so hotly pursued for many years toge∣ther
with Fire and Sword, and all kinds of Ho∣stility,
as that they reduced them to their Ma∣ster's
own forelorn case, not to have any corner
or hole in the whole world granted them where
to lay their heads. Not to mention how many thou∣sands
have been swallowed up in that gulf of
cruelty, that Hell upon Earth, the INQUISI∣TION.
To say nothing of the outragious In∣humanity
of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands.
Nor with what prodigious Massacres the Prote∣stants
have been surprized in Germany, Paris, Ly∣ons,
descriptionPage 12
Piedmont, and many other places; what cri∣ticisms
of Cruelty have been invented and exer∣cised,
and all upon the quarrel of the Reformed
Religion. I say, not to lead you any farther by
the way of this Red Sea; let us a little consider
what Tragedies have been acted, and what De∣solations
threatened and endeavoured by the
same sort of men nearer home in our own
Israel.
No sooner had King Henry the Eighth allowed
the Bible to be read in English, and enjoined the
Lords Prayer, the Decalogue, and the Articles
of the Christian Faith to be Translated into En∣glish,
and taught the People; but as if those
things had had the force and power of a Conju∣ration
to raise evil spirits by, presently hereupon
the Monks in Lincolnshire blow the Trumpet to
Rebellion. Insurrections are made in divers other
parts of the Nation, to the number of Twenty
thousand, and Forty thousand in bodies; no less
than six or seven such swelling waves of the mul∣titude
fell in, one upon the neck of another,
enough to have utterly ingulphed and swallowed
up the little Ark of Gods Church amongst us,
had not the Heavenly Pylot lent it his Stee∣rage.
In the Reign of King Edward the Sixth, the
Religious Iosiah of our Israel, besides the Rebelli∣on
that brake out in several other Counties,
instigated by Popish Priests and Friers, for the
setting up of their fond Idol of the Mass again;
descriptionPage 13
This very City hath a Reckoning with the Papists
not yet fully satisfied for, for the long distress of
Siege and Famine by Arundel and his Confede∣rates,
wherein besides the eating of Horse-flesh,
the Inhabitants were forced to make bread of
coarse Bran moulded in rags or clothes, because
it would not otherwise knead together, as our Chro∣nicles
report.
The Reign of Queen Mary was such a continu∣ed
Bonefire, not of dead mens bones as were the
Bonefires of old, but of living Saints and Prote∣stants,
that one would think the memory of her
flames should still enkindle and heat our spirits with
indignation against the name of Popery. For in her
short reign (the shortest of any since William the
Conquerour, except that of Richard the Tyrant)
no less than two hundred seventy-seven, suffered
Martyrdom upon the cause of Religion.
In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Pope Pius the
Fifth Excommunicated the Queen, absolved her
Subjects from their Allegiance, and Oath of Fide∣lity,
and gave away her Kingdoms unto the Spani∣ard.
In pursuance of which High-way title, that
which they called the Invincible Armada was set
out with the Popes Benediction to invade this poor
Nation. At which time they boasted that they
would carry away our Land in Turfs; an arrogant
flaunt! Much like that of Benhadad, and follow∣ed
with much alike success and event, who swore
(1 King. 20. 10.) that the dust of Samaria should
not suffice for handfuls for all the people that were
descriptionPage 14
to follow him. Almost innumerable other were the
Plots attempted against her state and person by Po∣pish
Votaries and Adherents.
In King Iames his Reign the Conspiracy of the
Gun-Powder Villany will be enough to brand the
damned principles of this kind of men with ever∣lasting
odium and infamy, in the account of all
true Gospellers. If Religion can produce or hal∣low
such hideous projects, one may certainly expect
Religion among Devils.
In the Reign of King Charles the First, who but
this miscreant brood contrived and acted the Mas∣sacre
in Ireland, wherein about Three hundred
thousand were starved, pined, and murthered. And
without doubt although men of other Professions
too shamefully imbrued their hands in the execra∣ble
murther of King Charles the First, yet the Ie∣suits
and other Papists also needed more than a
sprinkling to clear them from being partakers in
that crying guilt. Neither do I question but that
the unhappy Toleration was an Egg of their lay∣ing;
and that these Furies spit forth the sparks
that fired the famous City of London; and turned
it into a kind of dismal Colepit. Although but
one French Papist were at that time executed up∣on
that tremendous occasion, yet perhaps more of
them may be raked out of their dark Cells by
the search that is and will be made after the Com∣plotters
of this new grand Treason and Massacre;
which is yet but in the dawn of a perfect and full
discovery. And here we have matter of horror
descriptionPage 15
and astonishment unto every soul amongst us! Who
can tell what an universal sweeping calamity the
forcing open of one principal Sluce would have
let in upon us? What, more murdering of Kings
yet! Nay then pray we with pious Mr. Herbert,
GOD HELP POOR KINGS. We this day
find new Argument to excite us to pray for the
life of the King, as the Primitive Christians were
wont in their ordinary Liturgy to pray pro morâ
finis; namely, that it would please God to defer
the end or fall of the Roman Empire, thereby to
put off the lamentable times of Antichrist from
their days, very well apprehending the Apostles
meaning in 2 Thess. 2. That that wicked one could
not be revealed until the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that which with∣holdeth
or letteth were taken out of the way: and
what that was which letted, the Apostle durst not
speak out, for fear of incurring the rage of the
Romans on their new planted Churches; but the
thing that letted was the Roman Empire, the de∣cay
of which the Apostle foresaw, and that Anti∣christ
would build up himself upon the ruins of
it. Accordingly, when the Empire came to be
broken into various Kingdoms, by the coming
down of the Northern Nations, and by other in∣testine
occasions; then did the Pope with all his
Creatures invade the vacant seat of the Empire.
Now whether or no we have not a like parity
of reason, earnestly to pray pro vitâ Regis, that
they had to stir them up to pray pro morâ finis,
I leave to your selves to judg.
And thus having shewed you the frequency of
Babylon's troubling or afflicting Zion; I am sensible
descriptionPage 16
that I have herein somewhat anticipated my self in
the third Branch.
3. Branch of this part of my Text, and that is
the earliness of the Enemies spite and malice a∣gainst
the Church or Israel of God: Many a time
have they afflicted me from my youth. Yea, this is
their sagacity and wicked policy to take the first
advantages, and if it were possible, not to suffer
the Church to grow up to strength and stature,
but to oppress and crush it betimes, while it is
tender and least able to resist. This was the mer∣ciless
policy of Pharoah and the Egyptians to drown
the Hebrew Children as soon as the tender Mid∣wifes
hand had received them into the world:
To doom them to die in Water as soon as they
began to breath in Air. This was the bloody
subtilty of Herod, to cut off him that was born
King of the Iews (if he could) as soon as the very
name of him began to be noised. And this was
the vigilant policy of the grand Professor of all
such destructive arts, Revel. 12. 4. The Dragon
stood before the Woman which was ready to be de∣livered,for to devour her child as soon as it was
born. Oh, how implacable is the malice of the
Churches enemies! that although the Church could
not be supposed to do any thing to exasperate
and provoke them in its early minority and youth,
yet unprovoked they have afflicted me from my
youth. What, could nothing of her youthful pret∣tinesses
and beauties charm their pitiless Adaman∣tine
hearts to spare the Church in this her so plea∣sant
age? no, not infancy or tenderness, not in∣nocency
descriptionPage 17
or causelesness; nor all her insinuating
excellencies besides are able to make an Oratory
perswasive enough unto the Enemies of the Church
for one drop of compassion, but notwithstanding
all this, have they many times afflicted me from my
youth. What meekness so great that can forbear
at least to chide with this kind of Ruffian Ad∣versaries?O Daughter of Babylon, happy shall he be
that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall
he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against
the stones, Psal. 137. 8, 9.
Object. But what, shall we yield our Popish
Enemies so great an advantage to acknowledg that
our Church is so young and so late a thing?
that our Protestant Religion is but of yesterday?
our supposed Novelty is that which they do in∣cessantly
charge us with: Sarcastically demanding
of us, Where was your Religion before Luther.
Sol. No, no, with respect to our Adversaries
of Rome, we say, Many a time have they afflicted
us from our youth; not meaning the youth of
our Church, but only from the youth of our Re∣formation.
And in answer to the Question, Where
our Religion was before Luther? we boldly af∣firm,
where-ever the Christian Religion was im∣braced,
and the holy Scriptures were received,
there was our Religion. And as it bears the De∣nomination
of the Reformed Religion, although
Luther were a very happy Instrument in the Re∣formation
(the meanness of the Person so much the
more commending the power of God that accom∣panied
descriptionPage 18
the work) yet there were clouds of Wit∣nesses
in all ages of the lapsed state of Rome that
bare Testimony against that spreading canker of
her corruptions, before Luther was in being. Our
own King Edward the first, four hundred years ago
in Session of Parliament, under the subscription of
the Peers, utterly renounced the Popes supreme
Authority. No less man than Lewis the Twelfth
of France, in defiance of the Pope, coyned money
with this Inscription, Perdam Babylonem, I will
destroy Babylon; several years before Luther began
to stir. But suppose we date the beginning of the
Reformation from the rise of Luther's name in the
Christian World, which was in 1517, may we not
retort their question, Where was your Religion be∣fore
Luther, with another more significant? Where
was your Popish Religion before the Council of
Trent? which commenced not till at least six or
seven and twenty years after Luther entred upon
the Reformation: until which Council there was
never such a body of Popish Doctrines or Heresies
intirely and professedly owned and received in the
world, as now there is. For that Council of Trent
decreeing many things to be Points of Faith which
were not so accounted before, hath made no small
distraction among the Papists themselves. Before
this time we can calculate unto them out of the
best Historians, when and how their several Here∣tical
Innovations and Idolatrous abuses crept
in.
The Popes Usurped Supremacy took place in
Boniface the third, which was above Six hundred
years after Christ, though Gregory the next imme∣diate
descriptionPage 19
Pope save one before him, earnestly declared
against Iohn of Constantinople, that whosoever should
claim to himself the title of Universal Bishop was
the immediate forerunner of Antichrist: and urg∣eth
this good argument against it, If there be one
called Universal Bishop, then must the Universal
Church go to the ground, if he which is Universal
happen to fall. Before these times, instead of the
Blasphemous titles of your Holiness in the abstract;
The most great and excellent God on earth; The in∣vincible
Monarch of the Christian Commonwealth,
&c. The Popes were then content with the sober
stile of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Your Gravity.
The setting up of unwritten Traditions in equali∣ty
with the Sacred Oracles, as it were the bring∣ing
of another Trojan Horse into the place of our
Palladium, the Word of God, came to be ratified
in the Seventh Age.
The use of Images in Churches grew up into an
occasion of Idolatry about the same time; although
the first suggestion thereunto was only by a pictured
table of some of the chief of the Fathers that assist∣ed
in the sixth General Council, hung up in the
Porch of St. Sophia in Constantinople.
Both the name and Doctrine of Transubstantiation
was no earlier broached than in that Laterane
Council that convened in the year 1215. And how
well (think you) did Bernard the Dominican be∣lieve
this Doctrine of Transubstantiation (and the
Popes Legate that instigated him thereunto) who
about the year 1309 poysoned the Emperour Henry
the seventh with the consecrated Host? or the sub-Deacon
that poysoned Victor the third in the Cha∣lice?
descriptionPage 20
or Hildebrand, alias Gregory the seventh, that
threw the Consecrated Host into the fire, because it
answered not his demands (as the Heathen gods did)
concerning his success against the Emperour? I
could further open this pack, and shew you much
more of the same stuff: but these are instances enough
without an induction of more particulars, to war∣rant
our inference from thence, that the Popish
charge of Novelty on us is justly to be recriminated
upon themselves. And as for the Antiquity of our
Religion, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, we appeal un∣to
the holy Gospel, and the four first General Coun∣cils.
But so much for the prejudice and the spite of
Israels enemies against her, even from her youth. I
must forthwith betake my self unto the second prin∣cipal
part of the Division of my Text: And that
is,
II. The frustration of the Churches Enemies in
their mischievous attempts against her: yet they have
not prevailed against me. Whatsoever probability
of success may appear for a while on the Adversaries
part, there shall be no final or total prevailing
against the Church. Haman for a while seemed to be
in a fair way to have prevailed against all the Iews,
when he had the Letters of Execution sealed with
the Broad-seal, and Posts sent forth; whereas in the
mean time he was but twining a Rope for his own
neck. The Enemies confidences and insultings may
grow high, but such kind of heights can serve for
no other purpose, than like the silver and golden
Precipices, which the Emperour Heliogabalus devised
and would have prepared for himself, to make his
descriptionPage 21
ruin to be the more observed and taken notice of.
Sennacherib may boast that with the sole of his feet
he would dry up the rivers of the besieged places;
but God was able to make the hearts of his Soldiers
as water to fill up the Channels. God disappointed
the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot
perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their
own craftiness, and infatuates their counsels when
they are carried headlong in a bad cause: he makes
them to lose themselves in the Labyrinths of their
own wily brains; and their crafty policies so intri∣cately
woven, serve oftentimes but as a key of many
Wards to open the Chambers of Death unto them∣selves:
as is famous in his rendring this days Conspi∣racy
fatal unto its own Authors. On the other hand,
on the behalf of those whom God undertakes to
protect and shield; he hath infinitely more ways and
methods in the course of his wise Providence to se∣cure
and preserve them, than their most deadly
lurking enemies can find how to hurt and injure
them. Gods Israel have the Captain of Salvation on
their side, the Lord Jesus Christ who so leads on
the army of Saints against their enemies, as that you
may be sure he will bring them honourably off again.
We have in him not only the vertue of his Death
and Resurrection, but also the benefit of his Inter∣cession,
supplying us with invincible strength to
overcome our enemies; we have with him also le∣gions
of powerful Angels to fence and guard us,
one of whom in one night smote in the Camp of the
Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand. So
that whatsoever enemies think effectually to prevail
against the Israel or Church of God, must first make
descriptionPage 22
account to cancel all the Promises that are given for
Israels security; he must first overcome God himself,
his Power, his Wisdom, and all his other Attributes
concerned for his People; he must subdue the Cap∣tain
of our Salvation, storm Heaven, and put all the
glorious Host of those Guardians of the Saints there
to the rout, before he can perfectly and fully pre∣vail
against Gods Israel. Bravely therefore doth the
Prophet in an Ironical Apostrophe upbraid the ene∣mies
of Ierusalem upon this very consideration, Isa.
8. 9, 10. Associate your selves, O ye people, and ye shall
be broken in pieces;and give car all ye of far Coun∣tries,
gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pie∣ces.
Gird your selves and you shall be broken in pieces.
Take counsel together and it shall come to nought; speak
the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us.
Yet here I must caution you, That you do not
imagine by what hath been said, that you have any
absolute security given unto any particular Chur∣ches
but that they may be prevailed against. This
attestation of Gods Providence for Israels safety in
the Text, and that other promise of our Saviour in
Mat. 16. 18.Vpon this Rock I will build my Church,
and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it; are
to be understood to speak of the Church universim,
and not partitim, any farther than particular Chur∣ches
do still stand firm upon the rock of sound Faith,
and a good Christian life, on which Christ hath foun∣ded
the whole. We know particular Churches have
been broken off, as that of Ierusalem, Corinth, the
Seven Churches of Asia, &c. and yet Christ hath
still his Church in the World, and will have till time
shall have an end. As for the Church of Rome it
descriptionPage 23
self, it was long since forewarned (though she take
but little notice of it) that she should not be high∣minded
but fear, lest she her self were cut off after
the severe Example of the Iews before her, Rom.
11. 20, 21, 22. Nay, the words sound like a clap of
Thunder, Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Un∣doubtedly
God might have cut off this Church of
England with the cursed Powder-Plot, or with the
dreadful stroke which was intended us in this new
forged Conspiracy, and yet have been justified in so
doing: especially considering how highly we have
provoked him thereunto, by the prophane and cu∣stomary
neglect of most of the duties of Religion,
and Divine Worship among the general sort of men;
by the uncharitable factions and divisions of others,
by the loose Drunkenness and the loud Swearing;
by the gross Whoredoms and Uncleanness; by the
universal lukewarmness that is amongst us. But per∣haps
God foresaw that our ruin had been a mortal
wound to the Protestant Religion throughout Chri∣stendom,
or might have set the whole true Church
of God in the world a-bleeding, in such an hope∣less
manner, as would not have been easily stanched
again: and so considering his Church amongst us
as so main a part of the true Catholick body, per∣haps
God hath spared and delivered us who were a
part in faithfulness to the whole.
III. And now let me obtain a little of your Pati∣ence
for the third thing remarked in my Text, and
that is the Churches thankful Reflexion on her affli∣ctions
and the happy issue of them, suggested by the
Psalmist, Let Israel NOW say. Just the same trium∣phing
descriptionPage 24
Epenthesis in the midst of a sense, that we
find Psal. 124. 1, 2.If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side, now may Israel say: If it had not
been the Lord, who was on our side, when men rose
up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick,
&c. Let Israel NOW especially say and glory here∣of,
in that the Lord hath been pleased to warm our
hearts a-new, with the fresh sense of a discovery, per∣haps
of little less moment than that which this day
commemorates unto us. Let Israel now say, yea and
as our Psalmist descants upon it, Let us say it over a∣gain
and again, MANY, MANY a time have they af∣flicted
me, yet they have not prevailed against me.
You come home to the very heart of God by a grate∣ful
acknowledgment of his mercies; you set him up
a new Pearl in his Crown; for thus we sometimes
find God himself, as it were, decking his name
with new Titles, taken from the Mercies and Deli∣verances
which he hath wrought for his People, I
am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the
Land of Egypt,out of the house of bondage;and the
Lord which brought up,and which led the seed of the
house of Israel, out of the North-country, and the like.
In Psal. 22. 3. he is elegantly said to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉in∣habiting
the praises of Israel, that is either dwelling
in and among the Tribes of Israel who celebrated
his praises, or inhabiting the place, the Tabernacle,
the Ark, whither they brought and rendred his prai∣ses
to him. But why inhabiting the Praises of Israel?
Were there not many other sorts of offerings which
the Devotion of Israel prescribed him besides Prai∣ses?
yes, but praises carry the garland from them all,
because he should not so soon be dislodged out of
descriptionPage 25
them, but should longer inhabit Praises than any le∣gal
services whatsoever: according to that saying a∣mongst
their Iewish Writers, that every Corban or
Sacrifice should cease, but that the Sacrifice of Praise.
Therefore with all the most signal Praises, let Israel
now say, and say aloud too, that, if possible, the ec∣cho
of our rejoycings might carry terrour and trou∣ble
over all their Papal Monarchy, that although
they have many times afflicted us, yet they have not
prevailed against us. Can you do less in zeal for
your Religion, than celebrate the praises of God for
the preservation of it? especially when the safety of
your persons, your lives, and all that is near and dear
unto you is concerned equally with your Religion?
But unto you that are in Authority above others, I
humbly remonstrate, Doth not the blood of that
Worthy Knight, and Justice of the Peace, Sir Ed∣mundbury
Godfrey, unto whose Title we may now
superadd the Martyr (a thousand times more deserved∣ly
than the Romish Party do Canonize for Martyrs,
Garnet, Winter, Digby, and other instruments of the
Powder-plot), I say, Doth not his blood cry loud e∣nough,
to rouse and awaken all your Zeal, Care,
and Courage against those Catholick Murderers?
Are not his wounds so many mouths to bespeak you
plain enough, that he hath but acted that part which
you all must do, if you ever come to lye at their
mercy? I do believe indeed that this County of▪
Devon is as clean and free of this sort of Locusts,
as any one shire in England; yet had this late Con∣spiracy
taken effect, you would have found by this
time such numberless swarms of them filling the City,
and the whole Country about, as if the Marian
descriptionPage 26
Generation had risen out of the Earth again. And
had this come to pass, then instead of an opportuni∣ty
to celebrate our Deliverance from the Treason of
this fifth of November, it would have been account∣ed
on the other hand, a new fifth of November's
Treason, only to dare call it such. We could not
have adventured here to meet together, for the of∣fering
up our sacrifice of praise to God, without the
danger of the Galileans fate to have our blood ming∣led
with our sacrifices; and for you in special that
wear the badg of Magistracy on you, to have your
scarlet-Gowns dipt afresh in your own gore. Now
therefore to excite you to vigilancy, against the seed∣ing
of any of those evil tares amongst us, I shall on∣ly
present you with two Considerations:
1. The Absurdity of their Doctrines (I mean
their Doctrines distinctive and characteristick of Pa∣pists,
as such) even to common sense and reason, and
much more to become matters of Faith. For exam∣ple,
as to their Doctrine of Indulgences, which
gave the first offence unto our Reformers, what more
ridiculous than to believe what the Preachers of
Pope Leo the Tenth, published out of their Pulpits;
that at the sound of the money, as it was cast into the
Bason, those souls whom they intended to buy out
of Purgatory, skipped and leaped for joy amidst
the flames, and presently mounted out of Purga∣tory?
What greater violence to Reason than to believe
their Doctrine of Infallibility? Place it where you
will, either in their Popes or in their Councils; of
both which, there have been manifold instances of
their contradicting and nullifying the acts of each
descriptionPage 27
other, and yet both must be held infallible.
Can you reconcile it unto any honest mind and
understanding, that the common people should be
able to serve God acceptably in a publick worship
sealed up in an unknown tongue?
That Doctrine of Transubstantiation, what is it but
an opium that stupefies all the senses of a man? For
a man must belye not only his own, but the senses
of all the world besides, whereby we know bread
to be bread, and wine to be wine, because we see it,
and taste it, and feel it, before we can receive this
gross Tenet.
What an unreasonable thing is it to have their
not-written Traditions imposed upon us for a rule of
faith equally with the holy Scriptures, and yet none
of them in the mean time vouchsafe to inform
us how many these Traditions be? or to be conti∣nually
forging new Articles of Faith as indispensa∣bly
necessary to Salvation, and yet never tell us
when there will be an end of coyning any more?
Who that hath but well learnt his Primer, or can
turn to the second Commandment there, can brook
their worshipping of Images? The publick scandal
of which is more than any one thing besides, to
prejudice both Iews and Turks against their imbra∣cing
of the Christian Religion; neither of whom can
indure the use of Images in their Oratories or places
of Worship.
As for the various measures of the Taxes of the
Apostolical Chancery, as they call them, where you
may have dispensations and absolutions of all kinds,
and which are no less commonly used amongst the
Popes brokers, then the books of Customs and En∣tries
descriptionPage 28
among Merchants. What strange traffick is that
by which the absolution of Impoysonings, Sacriledg,
Simony, Fornication, Adultery, Incest, nay Sodomy,
Brutality, and other the most horrible and enormous
crimes are rated at a less price, than the least Dis∣pensation
of eating of flesh on days forbidden by
the Pope. Now if a man can utterly abdicate na∣tural
Reason, let him give himself up to believe such
strange incongruous lies.
2. My second Consideration is the dangerous∣ness
of their Principles unto Civil Government, and
unto the peace of States and Kingdoms; such as
are their dispensation with Oaths, their allowance of
breaking faith with those whom they are pleased
falsly and abusively to call Hereticks; their Excom∣munication
of Kings and Princes, and then despoi∣ling
them of their Kingdoms, and murdering their
persons by any that can first come at them, if they
refuse to own fealty to the Pope, or are not obse∣quious
to all his placita. Tell them of giving unto
Caesar the things that are Caesars, Pope Vrbane the
sixth hath an excellent Evasion for that, viz. that those
words of Christ, Give unto Caesar the things that are
Caesars, took place only till his Ascension, but after
his Ascension they were of no moment, seeing that
Christ himself saith,Ioh. 12. 32. If I be lifted up from
the earth, I will draw all men unto me; that is, all
Kings and Kingdoms under the Empire of the Pope:
whom he therefore concludeth to be King of Kings,
and Lord of Lords: thus abusing the Sacred Word
of God, as if it were no better than a meer Pasquil
or Burlesque.
descriptionPage 29
But may it be ever hoped that this proud Apo∣calyptical
Beast will yield himself to be cicurated and
tamed? Alas, his lofty claim of Infallibility renders
him too stubborn and untractable for that. Yea, it
hath long since been believed by many; that so
great is the pestilent infection of this Chair of Rome,
that with the contagion thereof it instantly infected
him, whosoever sat in it.
I conclude therefore unto you as Luther, when in
a great sickness he made his Will, bequeathing his
detestation of Popery to his Friends and Pastors. Or
as the Reverend Dr. Holland for twenty years toge∣ther
Regius Professor of Divinity in Oxford, when
he went any Journey, he is said to depart with this
Valediction unto the Fellow of the Colledg (which
is all I have to say) Commendo vos Dilectioni Dei &
odio Popatus & superstitionis: I commend you to
the love of God, and to the hatred of Popery and
Superstition.
FINIS.
Notes
Baron. Annal. Tom. 1. Ann. 34. Art. 275. Ann. 57. Art. 39.
Dempsterus ex Walfilda refert eodem die quo ille in Angliâ na∣tus, tenebras errorum toti mundo effu∣dit, summum Ecclesiae lu∣men Augusti∣num in Africâ emicuisse.
Ego fidenter dico, quisquis se universalem sacerdotem vocat, vel vo∣cari deside∣rat, in elatio∣ne suâ Anti∣christum prae∣currit, quia superbiendo caeteris se pre∣ponit. Greg. I. 6. Epist. 30. So Constantine saluted Milti∣ades Bishop of Rome, as also Chrestus Bishop of Syracuse. Euseb. l. 10. c. 5.