A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at their late solemn fast…A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at their late solemne fast…

I cannot leave this application to the Kingdom, till I enlarge ¹it a little further. There are four considerations which may make England ashamed and confounded before the Lord.

I cannot leave this application to the Kingdome, till I inlarge ¹it a little further. There are foure considerations which may make England ashamed and confounded before the Lord.

1. 1Four considerations, for Englands humiliation. 1. For the great blessings it hath long wanted.Foure considerations, for Englands humiliation. 1. For the great blessings it hath long wanted.

1. Because of the great Blessings which it hath so long wanted. Your flourishing estate in the world, could not have countervailed the want of the purity and liberty of the Ordinances of Christ. That was a heavy ^xword of the Prophet, Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching Priest, and without Law. It hath not been altogether so with this Land, where the Lord hath had not only a true Church, but many burning and shining lights, many gracious Preachers and Professors, many notable defenders of the Protestant cause against Papists, many who have preached and written worthily of practical Divinity, and of those things which most concern a mans salvation. Nay, I am persuaded, that all this time past there have been in this Kingdom many thousands of his secret and sealed ones, who have been groaning under that burden and bondage which they could not help, and have been ^ywaiting for the consolation of Israel. Nevertheless, the Reformation of the Church of England hath been exceedingly deficient, in Government, Discipline and Worship; yea, and many places of the Kingdom, have been without a teaching Priest, and other places poisoned with false Teachers. It is