prey. God calls with open mouth upon you, and upon all the saints in England, to live to him who hath with his glorious arm saved you, when your proud enemies had passed the sentence of death upon you. God has therefore given yoii your lives for a prey, that you may no longer live to yourselves, nor to the lusts of the flesh, but to him who lives for ever, as the apostle speaks in tliat 2 Cor. i. 8-12 ; Deut. x. 12, ' And now, 0 Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul ?' The Hebrew word that is rendered ' require,' ' What does the Lord thy God require of thee,' signifies to ask, to request, to petition. Oh ! God does ask, and request, and as it wTre petition men that they would live out all his goodness, and live up to all those glorious things that he has done |or them. Cyprian, Jerome, and others, complained of the Christians in their time, that they were angels to see to, but wolves in their conversation. No7i in verbis sed in factis res nostra religionis consistunt, saith Peter Martyr. Oh that we had no cause to complain of such in our days ! Noble Mirandola said, it were great madness not to believe the gospel, now it is everywhere believed ; yet a greater matter it is not to doubt of the truth of the gospel, and yet to live so as if without all doubt it were false. Plutarch laughed at the folly of such in his time as would be accounted as wise as Plato, and yet would be drunk in the comjiany of Alexander. But oh that our eyes were a fountain of tears, that we might weep for those that pretend to be Christians, and yet live like heathens. Seneca, a heathen, gave this advice to his friend Lucilius, that he should live with men as if God saw him, and pray to God as if men heard him. He liked not such as are always about to live better, but never begin to live better. I shall conclude this with that counsel Periander king of Corinth gave : Live in such sort, saith he, that thou mayest have honour by thy life, and that men may count thee happy after death : Semper richer i.
[10.] The tenth thing that the glorious. appearances of God for you do bespeak of you, and that is that you be constantly careful to decline those sins ivhich was the Scots' overthrow and ruin ; and I think that all those that are got above their pride, and passions, and envy, <fec., will judge the sins that did usher in their ruin to be these: — (1.) Hypocrisy ; (2.) Resting and boasting in an arm of flesh ; (3.) Their sinful compliances with those against whom wrath is gone forth : as Isa. xiv. 19-22; Jer. xxxi. 2; (4.) Their hatred and malice against tho.se that in an outward form did differ from Ihem, though they were never so precious to Christ, and eminent in the power and practice of godliness, which sin shall not go unpunished, Isa. Ix. 14, Ixvi. 5, and xxvi. 10, 11 ; (5.) Their self-love and covetous desires to en- rich themselves, and make themselves great in others' ruins, and under the pretence of being the king and covenant ; ((i.) Their ingratitude to God, and to the })arliament and conuuonwealth of England, who have so many ways shewed their love to them in the days of their distress, and to that army who Avas formerly instrumental to pull them as brands out of the fire. As you would avoid their judgments, take heed of their sins. I hope that none of you that hear me this day are
ISA. X. 5.] DETECTED, ANATOMIZED, ETC. 385
of Radbode (?) king of Phrisia's mind, who, coming to the font to be baptized, asked what was to become of all his ancestors ? Answer was made, that they died in a fearful state, unbaptized. He replied, that he would rather perish with the multitude, than go to heaven with a few. You are wise, and know how to apply it.
[11.] The next thing that the glorious appearances of God for you do bespeak of you, is to endeavour ivith all your might to make a conquest of all those e7iemies that he within you. Now the Lord has made so glorious a conquest over those proud enemies that rose up against you, I beseech you consider, of all conquests the conquest of enemies wdthin is the most honourable and the most noble conquest ; for in conquering of those enemies that be within, you make a con- quest over the devil and hell itself Of all conquests that is the highest and the greatest that is ,over enemies within you : Prov. xvi. 32, ' He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketli a city.' The word that is ren- dered ' ruleth,' signifies to ' conquer, and overcome,' (S^irQ, mashal.) It is this conquest that lifts a man up above all other men in the world. And as this is the most noble conquest, so it is the most necessary conquest. You must be the death of your sins, or they will be the death of your souls. Sin is a viper, that does always kill where it is not killed. There is nothing gained by making peace with sin, but repentance here, and hell hereafter. Every yielding to sin is a welcoming of Satan into our very bosoms. Alexander and many of the Persian kings conquered and commanded the whole world, and yet were commanded by their concubines, and by enemies within, which was the ruin of their souls, i Valentinian the emperor said upon his death-bed, that among all his victories, one only comforted him ; and being asked what that was, he answered, ' I have overcome my worst enemy, mine own naughty heart.' Ah ! Right Honourable, when you shall lie upon a dying-bed, then no conquest will thoroughly comfort, but the conquest of your own sinful hearts. None were to triumph in Rome that had not got five victories ; and he shall never triumph in heaven that subdueth not his five senses, saith Isidorus. Ah, souls ! what mercy is it to be delivered from an enemy without, and to be eternally destroyed by an enemy within ?
[12.] The next thing that the glorious aj)pearances of God for you do bespeak of you, is to persevere and hold on in locll-doing. As God holds on in doing you good, so you must hold on in well-doing for his glory: ' Be faithful to the death, and you shall have a crown of life,' Rev. ii. 10. Vincejiti dabo. ' To him that overcometh will I give to sit down with me in my kingdom: as I overcame, and am set down with my Father in his kingdom,' Rev. iii. 21. It is said of Sccva, that he so long resisted Pompey's army, that he had two hundred and twenty darts sticking in his shield, and lost one of his eyes, and yet gave not over till Ceesar came to his rescue. So, beloved, you must never leave standing for God, and contending for God, and acting for God, who still stands and contends and acts for you against all those that rise up against you. It was a good saying of Mr Bucer, Pietas qim fnem novit, non est vera pietas, That piety that has an end is no true piety. He that
1 Hor., lib. ii. VOL. VI. 2 B
386 THE HYPOCRITE DETECTED, ANATOMIZED, ETC. [ISA. X. 6.