A81254:217
A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at Westminster, August 22. 1645.…
A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at Westminster, August 22. 1645. Being the day appointed for their solemn thanksgiving unto God for his several mercies to the forces of the Parliament in divers parts of the kingdom, in the gaining of the towns of Bath and Bridgewater, and of Scarborough-Castle, and Sherborne-Castle, and for the dispersing of the Clubmen, and the good success in Pembroke-shire. By Thomas Case, preacher at Milkstreet, and one of the Assembly of Divines.A sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons at Westminster, August 22. 1645. Being the day appointed for their solemn thanksgiving unto God for his several mercies to the forces of the Parliament in divers parts of the kingdome, in the gaining of the towns of Bath and Bridgewater, and of Scarborough-Castle, and Sherborn-Castle, and for the dispersing of the Clubmen, and the good successe in Pembroke-shire. By Thomas Case, preacher at Milkstreet, and one of the Assembly of Divines.
London: printed by Ruth Raworth for Luke Fawne, 1645
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Tell me, I beseech you, what have you got by Delays? Who hath been a gainer by them? Not Jesus Christ, not you, not the work of Reformation. I know none that have gained by these unhappy Obstructions, but Heresy, profaneness, division, and in all these the devil.
Tell me, I beseech you, what have you got by Delays? Who hath been a gainer by them? Not Jesus Christ, not you, not the work of Reformation. I know none that have gained by these unhappie Obstructions, but Heresie, profanenesse, division, and in all these the devil.
You cannot but know how it is in the City, and it would make your souls bleed to look into the Country, even those that are under the Parliaments command (not to speak of those that lie under the Villainies and Violences of the enemy) I say it would make your bowels ache, and your hearts grieve, to see what a face of things there is in the Country; not so much truly as the face of a Church, a Garden of God; but the face of a Wilderness; not a faithful Minister perhaps in twenty Congregations; and where there is, they know not what to do with their Congregations, for want of a Government: So that in the mean time the greatest part turn profane; and if one or two here and there peep out of the dungeons of Ignorance and Atheism, to enquire after the ways ⟨p. 29⟩of God, presently they are snapped up, and seduced into some way or other, of Heresy or Schism, because there is neither hand nor instrument to take these Foxes, 1the little Foxes that spoil the Vines, that now begin to have tender Grapes. If you mean that England shall be turned into a wilderness, and be over-run with Atheism, and Heresy, and Profaneness, and Blasphemy, you may hold your hands; and you need not do it long: But better it were, that England should be overrun with fire and sword; better it should be devoured by plague and pestilence; (the Arrows whereof fly so thick abroad, that they darken the very Heavens over our heads) till man and beast were destroyed off the face of this good Land, rather then this should come to pass: Better judgement should turn us into a Wilderness, then sin should do it; better welter in our blood, then wallow in our lusts.