[ 1222] Sloathfulnesse and luke-warmnesse in Religion, fore∣runners of evill to come.
IT is said of Alexius Comnenus,* 1.1 that when upon the day of his Inauguration, he subscribed the Creed in a slow trembling manner; it was an ominous sign to all, What a wicked Man he would prove, and, how nigh the ruine of the Empire was at had: And when Philip, the last King of Macedon, a little before the great battle which he fought with Flaminius,* 1.2 stepped up upon the top of a Sepulchre to make an Oration to his Souldiers, it foretold a sad event of the issue of the battle: Thus we which have violated the faith, and are come to such a sloathfulnesse and lukewarmnesse in performance of Religious duties, it doth presage that our very inwards are corrupted, and the foundations of our Welfare shaking; We that have trod upon the heads of so many famous Martyrs, which first conveyed unto us our faith and worship,* 1.3 it is a kind of Prediction, that this at last will be fatall to our Church; There is time yet to amend, but how long God knows; It is to be hoped that our sinnes have not yet made God to abhorre the excellencies of Iacob, nor left us naked before the Lord: We have yet much in our keeping, all is not gone; let it be our care to preserve what is left, and be thankfull for what we have in the present enjoyment.