THE most speculativ and highest Myster●●● 〈…〉 no incongruities to 〈◊〉 Moral conceptions , nor yet contradictions to Natural ratiocinations ( how unproportionat a knowledg , and how incomprehensibl soever in their intrinsic Nature , as being only out of Reason's Sphaer and the Reach of its Axiom ) but rather so many humiliations of our intellect , gracious astonishments and unconceivabl endearments of our Souls and Spirits to Faith , Love and Obedience , yea very conducive to the ends of Religion , viz. the Glorie of God , and the furtherance of tru Godliness , in the happiness of the Univers : and that with strong and Heroic Assent and the most vigorous Acts and Transports of Adoration and Devotion : Yet , without determining our Opinions , or Persuasions , or beeing ani of our Catechisms , Confessions , Creeds , or Public Service : much less any sort of Illusions , or Phanatacisms , from the heat , or sublimation of contemplativ , of Splenetic Heads ; but the Agreeabl Attestation and United Experience of mani chois Christians of more fixed and 〈◊〉 Brains●●o One of our datest Orthodox and Elegant Wri●e●● .

PRAY , in the supplies of the Good Spirit and peruse , without praejudice and partialitie , and ponder , with profound sobrietie , before you pronounce your final sentence , either on the praecedent Title-Page , or the subsequent TRACT of AETERNAL INVISIBLES ; but rather suspend ( at less'st , som small time ) your judgment , and let your Moderation be known not here and to me only , but elswhere and to all men

The Lord is at Hand .

Hora Novissima , Tempora pessima sunt : Vigilemus . Imminet , imminet : En venit ! O! venit Ille supremus Arbiter & Iudex ! Cujus nunc ante Tribunal Subsistens paveo . Tu Cavě , Lector , Ave. ě Sic apud Ovid de Tristibus : Erg● save●

FOR so in nature unfeignedly , as in Name professedly I wold have you to be . Miscalled you , I hope , I have not in this Compellation . If I have , then are you utterly incapacified as to the Concerns of these Mysteries and Sublimities . So bold am I to tell * * Sed antequam de re , paucula de te , itidem de me : quippe intra nos est , quod contra nos est . you , and such and Anointed one am * * Sed antequam de re , paucula de te , itidem de me : quippe intra nos est , quod contra nos est . I ; whatsoever Iudgment mai pass upon mee , or if I be not , yet do ●prai , resolv , endevour , or purpose ; or at les●'st , desire , or wish to be . No mo at all of this , yet this beleev wee all of us , that it is a most rare Thing in it self , were there neither Rewards , nor Punishments , to be realy and truly Religious in the Old waie , which is the Good waie , out of which there is no Rest. But you mai sai , who cometh here ? whence you ? what Religion are you of ? you are , I beleev , a pure one ! Wel for me if I be . However to the Quaestion ( not asking you who made you an Examiner ) and in Meekness and Fear , as I ought , I answer , and that in the Words of a Servant of God , and of the Lord Iesus Christ , viz. I am of that (a) (a) Iam. I. ver. last . Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father , which is , to visit the Orphans and Widows in their Tribulation , and to keep mi self unspotted of the World . Of which Faith , or Persuasion , Iudgment , or Mind , was blessed Paul ( in whom alone were evn the Apostles All ) who further acquainteth you that Christ Iesus his Master and Lord was of the same , as to the whol Church ; which Hee loved and gave himself for , that He mought sanctifi it , &c. not having spot , or wrinkl , or aught of such , but that it shold be holi and without blemish , or rather Amomous , so the (b) (b) Ephes● V. ver. 27. Word is , that is irrepre●ensibl , safeguarded from the bitings of † † Religion is no mormo , Mom●s , nor frowning Furie . Momus , one of the feined Gods among the Gentils , who wold be ever carping ( such was the suarl of his goodli Godhood ) at everi thing , and who is , I fear , worshipped evn among our own selvs . So Idolatrous , or superstitious are wee , all almost , becom . But more particularly , if that mai be more for your Satisfaction , and to let you know , by the waie , that neither the insinuating Iesuit hath deceived mee , nor perilous Books poisoned mee , nor fantastic Teachers seduced mee , nor corrupt Church-men carried mee away with everi Wind of Doctrine , I here , publicly , to the Interrogatorie about mi Religion , repli , Sir , I am of , that termed , the Reformed : but let mee tell you how : sciz . as Reformed not against either Pagan , or Papal Roam , and yet fairly and fully I mai safely affirm , from both : and this too without the dividing addition of that new cast Name , Protestant . To be ingenuously free , if I must protest against ani thing , it must be among other Matters , against (c) (c) 1 Cor. IV. ver. 1 , 3. Schismatic Names ( for those I (d) (d) As much as carnalitie : tho' had I been in the ARC ( a Type , supposed , of the visibl Church ) with cursed Cham , I shold hardly , for all mi hatred , I beleev , have leaped out : except I had been out of mi wits , as out of the waters . hate with a perfect hatred ) which so basely , thro' the iniquitie of the Times , to the grand disservice , damage and disgrace of the Christian Religion , at praesent abound . Nai , I cannot pati●ntly enough bear , or hear such Names ; no , not evn then , when those be used , or rather abused , only for Distinction's sake . Certs , at the very best , these can be no better than Nic-names , I was about to call the same , for the sake of the mani , Old Nick's names . The consideration and ponderation of which verily maketh mee not so promptly to approve , or thorowly like , evn that Name it self of Reformed , either Catholic , with Mr. Perkins ; or Church , or Churches , with most , if not all : All the name I desire is an honest good Fellow ; Or a pure pu●e Christian , inoffensively mellow : V●hyp●chondriacous , or toucht with the yellow . Son of a Church , or Son of a Chappel , if there be no more in it than the mere Name , is alike to mee . Member of this , that , or the other Classis , Congregation , or Bodie , is all one and the same thing , if ani thing at all , to mee . Nai , Plainly , a like to mee , ( or rather unlike to mee ) is a Friend with Thou and Thee , and Hat on Head , and that Supererogation of the demure look , or long Gaze , and of the formal putting forth of the Hand , which appeareth , to such a Mortal as mee , a deceptio visûs ; and tho' pretti ; yet not half so fair , or neat , ( mi-thinks ) as the Trics of Legerdumein . I care no more for Luther , or , that Patriarch of Presbyterie , Calvin , Cramner , or Hooper , Iewel , or Hooker , Perkins , or Preston , Huit , or Love , one , or other , courteous Reader , than for thee , that is , to pin mi Faith upon ani Man's Sleev ; for fear he mai carri it I know not whither : yet I care not if I tell you , nai , I dare not but tell you , that , of a truth , I am no Respecter of Persons , at less'st in this respect , and that I own and love you , as I do mi own self ; and if that be not fair , hang fair : I dare not say yourself , if you will : which saieing is commended , forsooth , for a great Piece of Wit and Law as it were , nai , it is avouched to be one of the best that ever was , wil , or can be made . But all this while I can discern therein neither Law , nor Love , Wit , nor so much as good Manners ; I am so dull and dim too . * * Whilst Hypecrisie lieth under the cloudi Brow of a Pharisee : a ●heerfull countenance is the Emblem of Innocence , which excl●d●th as wel Moreseness , as Madness . I never hitherto could understand , see , or hear , that Christianitie and Civilitie have at ani time given the less'st bad , or unbecomimg Word , either before the Faces , or behind the Backs of each other : much less faln out , or gon together , as w●e phrase it , by the ears . I must acknowledg mi smal self greatly engaged to both for their teaching mee better Manners , and a more genteel Mode than that of making personal Quarrels , or Reflections . Nor have I onely of the two , abovenamed , learned , but of other , too . I learn somtimes somthing of ani thing , or Person , yea , or Word . Word ? O brave ! Word ? what do words signi●i ? what ? in the ●udgment of wise Men , much ; and in the Daie of Iudgment more : much more than I need , or can indeed tell you . But a word to the Wise-Wel , I have heard of a certain Word , O! it is Aposiopesis . That is , truly , a strange Word , for it speaketh by holding its Toung . Peruse that Vers of the Evangelic (e) (e) Isaiah XXII . 12. Prophet , if this iniquitie be purged from you , til you ( or rather yee ) di — thus dreadfully in the Original , and nothing after it , but a silent Punctum . There is another too , ( and but two shal I name in all ) . This is Prosop●poeia , which is a wondrous Word , as strange as the former . This speaketh to things void both of Reason and Sens and Life . Consult with the same (f) (f) Chap. I. ver. 2. 1 Kings XIII . 2. Prophet , and that Man of God mentioned in the Book of Kings . Nai , it frequently among the best of Orators bringeth up the veri Dead , and when so raised and fetcht up , maketh them alive , and next to speak , and that articulatly and distinctly , mightily wel , and both audibly and laudably . Have a care now of your Words , mind wee , all and everi of us , all and everi of our Words . You know who said , Man shal not liv by Bread alone , but by everi (g) (g) Matth. IV. 4. Word that procedeth out of the Mouth of God , was it not our Lord Christ ? Told he not the Devil that ? Quoted Hee not the Scripture too for it ? If I shold sai the Toung is a (h) (h) Iam. III. v. 6. World of iniquitie , wold not St. Iames be mi Compurgator , if ani shold tax , blame , or quaestion mee for so saieing ? Mo , I dare venture to sai , there is a World in a Word : yea more than that , vouch , that this whol World , and the other likewise , were both made by one (i) (i) Ioh. I. v● 1 , 3. Word . Mai be , you wil beleev not one Word of all this ? Wel be it so , or not : of this not a word more , than said , of this matter from mee ; who yet dearly love words in their proprietie : I wish it prove not to an excess , which I mai justly fear ; seeing , that Great Linguist and Apostl evn of the Gentiles , reproveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (k) (k) Eph. V. v. 4. it self . What ? Good words quaestioned , prohibited , spoken against ? Urbanitie it self ill-thought of , or , at best , a vanitie ? What shal wee sai then , or think of Cramp-words , or Criticisms , Iocs , or Witticisms , Railleries and Drolleries , Quirks and Quillets , Trics and Trangams , Kniff-knaffs , Bimboms , & c. ? What of Whims and Shams , Punns and Flams , Stultiloquious Dialogs ? What then of Obscoenities and Scurrilities , Huffings and Dingings , AEquivocations and Lies , Invectives and Satyrs , base Railings and malicious Detractions , Accusations , Condemnations ? But what of common Oaths , cursed Dejuries , monstrous Perjuries , damnings most dreadfull , Imprecations innumerous , Execrations horrendous , Blasphemies stupendous ; to pass by their Autors , the infamous Inventers ; their Vtterers , the villanous Venters ; their * * We all mai ●igh to sai , what wee sadly see , o●r Rents like to prove our Ruine , our Distractions our Destruction . Abetters , the odious Fomenters ? Why ? were none wiser than I , with the Man after God's own Heart , I shold refrein from evn good words , in their praesence , and be silent ; or with the Arch-Angel , disputing about the Bodie of Moses , onely say , (l) (l) O what a Rout There is about Roam's Outward Man of sin ! Look into self , What , art an Elf ? Rout Anti-Christ within . Bona verba , quaeso . E. H. ( tho' thei were Devils I contended with ) The Lord rebuke you . But the new Mode is quite of another guise and other , far other-gets , Words , are the Couránt , pass for current Coin , and the newer-minted the more curious counted , yea , laid up in store to be brought forth upon som public , or special occasion evn som thereby worded to death by the learned anger of the Archilochus's of the Age. What words can utter the Devilish Nois wee make and that one against the other ? But what a confounded Bomb about the Pope ? I know not the Man , ( as Peter said in another case , and a sad one we know it was ) and , sure I am , I ow him nothing but as he is , I suppose , a Man : so , I confess , I do the dutie of Civil Language . Mai I not say , I honor him as ( if hee be as thei sai ) a Temporal Prince ? If this mai offend ani of the littl ones of Christ , I can forbear : yet these littl ones mai , and ought , to bear a littl with me likewise : forasmuch as I speak (m) (m) 2 Tim. I. v. 13. sound Words , yea the veri Words of the great God , as delivered by an Apostl , who commandeth mee to [n] [n] Tit. I●I . 2. speak evil of no man , yea more ( and as to love the Brotherhood so ) to [o] [o] I P●t. 2. 17. honor all men , and then — And so much for this pra●sent of this particular Point . Not meddling with Popish Doctrines and Policies , by which the veri Pillars and Foundations of the intellectual World , Reason , Moralitie , Civil Government and Religion are all not onely out of cours , disordered and shaken , but undermined , removed , rased down and digged up . Nor take I ani delight to relate what is credibly reported , if not recorded , of Pope Paul the third , who as he lai on his Death-bed was heard to sai , hee shold shortly be resolved of two Things , Whether there were a God and a Devil , an Heven and a Hell ? Less'st of all shal I have a Rencounter with the Apocalyptic Beast ( mark that ) from which , O God , keep Thou us ; els all our watching , warding , training , guarding and the best of endevours wil be in vain . For , as one divinely , it is the immediate Praesence of the Lord , that must ( not that in the inter , wee mai not interpose and oppose with tru Courage and Zeal , as wel as renounce and abhorr with heart and soul all man●er of † † A Priestl● Brat , by them engendred on Ignorance , Fear and Sup●rs●it●on . These three completly maks the triple Crown ; And stil support old Rome's Imperial Throne . How stily do the Priests by help of these Make men beleev and then do what the● pleas . Papism foisted in among us ; not barely that Poperie which is openly and publicly professed and propagated in their known and common Positions and Principles , but that likewise , which is more un●●soernably , yet not less dangerously , masqueraded and disguised in Sects ; whether under the Name of Faction , or Conscience ) yet stil , as above , it is the immediate Praesence of the All-wise and the All-might● that must both conduct us and secure us Victorie : by this alone wee can hope to withstand the Furie of the Nations , the Gates of Hell , and Plots of * * Papism that 's a secular Devise , Meer Trick of State in Reverend Disguise , Th' ambitious Spawn of later Centuries . Papists .

But all this while setting aside the Whore , or Beast ; how visibl are the nasti and beastli sai-ings and dooings that are amongst , nai against our † † The Church is wounded and rent most desperatly by the ev●● Spirit of Division . Remember wee all the Apolog of Bessarion● So humbly r●q●esteth E. H. selvs ! What an Age , O! Oo ! oh , ah , wo and aloss ! do you the Reader and I the Scribler liv in ! How am I † † After all that can be writ , or said , this same motto mu●● be subscribed , Peccatur , plu● quàm exaratur ; in●● vereor quàm ●● intelligatur . E. H. nonplust for Expressions ! Is it not ( to synchronize and symphonize a little ) an Anti-Ecclesia●tic , Anti-Fanatic ( and to mouth out more ) an Anti-phrastic and Anti-Christian ( or more mildly , and where best ) an Hyper-Caco-Critic Age ? so ●illed and over-grown ( not to mention speculativ Infidelitie , practicous Atheism , horrid (p) (p) Lewis King o● France severely punished Blasphemies , searing their Lips with an hot Iron . And becaus by his comin ●nd it was executed on a great rich Citizen of Paris , ●m said 〈◊〉 w●s a ●viant . Hee hearing it , said before mani , I wol●●●●o●● by searing mi own Lips , I could banish out of mi Realm all abuse of Oaths . Blasphemies , and all manner of Diabolism ) with so much peevish passion and pestilent pride ( by which onely a Man becometh contentious ) that men wil not yield one gry , iota , jod , or Chirik parvum ( bit , or whit , is a thing too big ) one unto the another . I wold not be understood , or conceived , Candid Reader , ( if so you can be ) to speak this of wise men ( wheresoever those be ) who albeit ever so much contended with , yet never so much as contend : well knowing , that tho' men mai have the right on their side , yet , for want of having their Spirit right , be very erroniously censorious , short breathingly nosi , superstitiously supercilious , immoraly obstreperous and most inevangelicly malevolous , vitious , vitilitigious ; wronging both themselvs and other thei convers with : beeing mani parasangs ( in regard of their , so paratragaediating , mani Degrees ( in respect of their so domineering with Rodomontado-language , brandishing , as it were , with the Sword of their Mouth , as wel as the Mouth of their Sword ) not only from the lowliness and meeknes of the Holi Lamb , but evn from the harmlesnes , or hornlesnes of the common Dove , yea from the noted commendableness of the English good Nature ( so proper to our Nation , that no other Language can tell what Good Nature in Terminis , what the same verbatim translated , what the Idiotism of it neaneth ) nai , further , from the fair serenitie , fine sedateness , charming sweetnes , obliging candor and conquering Patience , notoriously famous in meer Ethnic and Pagan Constitutions and Tempers . But a littl to imitate Ahimaaz and to go , as hee , by the waie of the Plains . In these our daies everi man is for himself , is not then the Devil for him ? Or , is God for us all , when wee are * * Dum singuli pugnant , universi vincuntur . all one against another ? Yet so it is . Everi man's Hand against Adam , and Adam's against everi man . N. B. All more Ismaelites , than Israelites , or Iesuelites . Loving Brethren are as rare Birds , as black Swans : not to talk of remote Relations , Acquaintants , or Strangers . A Brother's Knife , Sword ; against a Brother's Throat , Heart . Iniquitie aboundeth ( I fear to sai , yet I mai ) with a Vengeance● There are as mani Sins , as Saints , as Men : What prate I ? Men ? were men ever so mani , one man mought reckon all the rest ; but the Sins of one Man are more than he can count ; how much more then , for which he can giv account ? No man's Head can number his Sins , beeing far more than the Hairs of it . Assuredly in these [o] [o] 2. Tim 3. v. 1. last Daies there wil hang over us , or stand upon us periculous tempestivities , hard [p] [p] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Seasons . Nations are becom Abominations . Since the World was , never was the World so wicked as now . It was in old times the wickednes of the World , but in our , it is ( the Tabls being terribly turned ) a world of wickednes . I shold shamelesly , said I otherwise , li. What saith the Apostl [q] [q] 1 Ioh. 2. 19. Iohn , confirmeth hee not what I have affirmed ? The whol World , saith hee , lie's in wickednes ; not wickednes , only , in the World . The case I take to be damnably base , no less than abominably different , and such , as confoundeth ( however in mi thoughts ) Philosophie it self : beeing in a Diameter and absolutely opposit to the Rule of all Reason , Right Reason ; for the Accident to be recipient of the Subject . I know not , I speak solemnly , how to call the wickednes of these last daies ; mai I not write , according to all Chronologic computation , the last hours ; considering the time now and reflecting on that past when those words were penned ? I resume and acknowledg miself wofully at a loss , so ineffably comprehensiv is the iniquitie of this Centurie , that it self alone conteineth the whol World : which heretofore was called a Seat of Wickednes ; nai all the Wickednes that was in it , was once concluded within the compass of one Gardin . To make the best of a bad matter , wee the most degenerate Of-spring of the first Adam ( let us not name , for shame , without better Manners , the name of the Second ) have farr ex●●●ed our Fore-father's evil , and for and in our time have set up Sin at such a pitch , rate , height , that it is moraly ( shal I sai , or immorally ? ) impossibl to imagine , how Posteritie shold add to our iniquitie ! Sin is not only now customarily , obstinatly and obduratly , in private , connived at , consented to and committed ; but autoritativly , exemplarily and Diabolicly , in public , countenanced , encouraged , taught and ( what is our wo and worst of all ) men are becom ( to add one drop of Mercie more to our Miserie ) irrevocably and irrecuperably and impudently impious . In plain English wee are from the Crown of the Head to the Soal of the Foot , not barely wounded , bruised and putridly sore , but mortaly Sick , senlesly diseased , and , as I dread , gasping and dieing , if not dead and gon , without all Remedie : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * * Vnless the Almightie appear in the Majestie , as originaly , a Fiat and create Salvation for us . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . O' Great B●●●ain ! how litl art Thou dwindled to ! O England , the Land of mi Nativitie , once the Terror and Wonder of forein Nations , now maist Thou , with dread and shame too , wonder at thiself ! Within thi Walls and Palaces Goodnes and Truth have not more Praecepts and Counsils than Contradictors and Adversaries . Religion ( aloss ) is but taken up ( I wish I were mistaken in what now I write ) under-hand , while Pietie and Honestie li under-foot , and what more foul Iniquitie than feigned Sanctitie ? the old Proverb proclaimeth , † † NB. Ta●e heed of those Serpents that are of the color of the ●ro●nd . Holi Paul doth beseech you to mark them : Rom. 16. ●7 . Lam misin●orme● if the same , rendred contrari mai not as ●el be readd nigh . There are no Doctrines so perilously r●p●g●ant to the Truth , as th●se that nearest resembl it . E. H. dissembling Pietie to be double iniquitie . NAI , How mai wee lament , to see the loathing of Manna , evn among Israelites ! But if wee look into the World : Oh ●he monstrous Havock that is made of Moralitie● The manners of Men ( out of which beeing bad , good Laws were bravely made ) have now brought the veri Laws theirselvs , most basely , under their Subjection . Never more Laws than at this Daie , never ani more lawless than at this Daie . The Laws which men , suffering wrongfully , run to for succour ( as silli Sheep in a Storm for shelter to Briars , or Brambls ) prov littl better than those and serv but to tear off their Skins ; or , at softest and fairest , to turn their Fleeces all to tatters . Yea , a pau'r man hath now enough offended , if hee be not abl to defend himself . Nai , what one man doth now , is an hainous crime , huge transgression and severely punished : when what mani doo is thought and judged wel of , tho' m●ch wors and farr more abominably base : provided it be done by Great Ones● To stabb and kill are both valour and skill . Men perish merely for and at Men's pleaceurs . It is both the Rule and Practice to repell and repa●● force with force and fraud with fraud , most un-Christianly . The Christian's Laws are bought and sold : the Christian Chraritie dead and buried , if not stinkingly rotten too . Lusts now are become Laws ; or if ani venture to make these Sins , be bold to sai those must be , very venial : and yet , which is strange , a man shal be made a preie for a word .