Greg. Epist lib. 6. cap. 3. know it he detested it as a Symptome of Antichrist and Phocas who bestowed it upon Pope Boniface did not doe it untill he had an occasion to bestow his Master the Emperour Mauritius in the other World But now said he you may plainly see it with your Eyes look you there there is the Globe of the whole Earth of which the Pope is the Lord and Governour 't is true you Hereticks wander in some little bye Places as in England and in some petty Hans-Towns of Germany but his Authority is extended over all the World all the Indies acknowledge him all Italy France Spain Poland Hungaria Transylvania Gallicia Valentia Granada Andalusia Hold Hold Sir cryed he if you should stumble o'er the Straits Mouth you will beat out your Brains against Hercules's Pillars Pray let us examine this Monster 's Noddle what a grievous bruise has Martin Luther given him with his High Dutch Knuckles he has broken I do not know how many Degrees of Longitude and Latitude all Great Britain is quite beat out and the Low-Countries are so sunck in that I believe he must be trepan'd before he can recover in short the Protestants are almost as numerous as the Papists But suppose we grant him that thumping Appellation why did Pope Paul the 5th in his Bull wherein he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth use that sneaking Title of Servant of Servants your Triple Servant He should have sent a good deep-mouth'd Nuncio that should have stretch'd his Muzzle to the uttermost and have roar'd like a crack of Thunder among the Alpes and have cryed Paolo quinto Papa Monarcha di Regno di Vaticano Segnor del mondo supremo santissimo Vmano magistrato c. This would have conjur'd down all the Protestants and have put them into such a trembling Fit that they would have shak'd all their Heresie out of the Knees of their Breeches this would have better suited him who is the most serene and invincible Sultan of Contradictions the Grand-Seignior of all Mental Reservations and Equivocations the Sophi of Legends and Romances the Great Mogul of Indulgences the Czar of Holy Impostures and Pious Cheats the Great Cham of the Inquisition c. Hold Sir cryed one of the Papists this is Railery and Abuse 't is as true replyed he as that the Pope is Vniversal Bishop let him but keep within his own Diocese and not meddle any more with the Rights of Sovereign Kings and Princes and there is no body that I know of will be so ready to complement him from the Artick to the Antartick Pole for the Future But we hope cryed several of them you will allow our Church to be the Catholick Church For this word Catholick there has been much scrambling these many Years replyed he and you have taken much pains to monopolize it to your See of Rome in order to which for the great number of humane Hereticks whom you excommunicate you take all manner of Beasts Fowles and Fishes into the Pale of your Church St. Francis first converted the Birds and then afterwards he fully convinc'd and satisfied a Wolf that had a very tender Conscience nor was he the onely Apostle to the Brutes but the Bishop Book of Conf. p. 114. of Canaglion managed as difficult a Diocess in the Year 1593 for he Catholickly accused the Fishes so that afterwards they without all doubt believed the Doctrine of Holy Water St. Bernard in a Fit of Popery is reported by * Pet. de Nat. in vit Bern. Petrus de Natalibus to have excommunicated the Flies and therefore several Species of Creatures observing that all Regular Orders had put themseves under the Protection of some considerable Saints have likewise listed themselves the Dogs under St. Hubert a Huntsman the Horses under St. Loys their Ostler-General and because the Geese once preserved the Capitol there was an Order from the Vatican that St. Feriol should take care of them And so said he I hope we are all satisfied as to the Vniversality of the Romish Church pray set forth the Antiquity of it Upon this all the Papists desired that they might save that Argument untill the last fancying that it gathered strength every Moment and desired the Assembly to take into their consideration the Vnity of their Church and the Supremacy of the Pope as for the Protestants cryed one of them they are divided into as many Factions as there are days in the Year and make an Anarchy of the Kingdom of Grace but the Roman Catholicks are all united under one Head the Pope so making the true Hierarchy of the Holy Catholick Church Upon this one of the Church of England stood up and said as for our Church it has no more to doe or answer for the Factions among Protestants than yours nor so much neither when did ever any Minister of the Church of England preach the Doctrines of Fanaticks to promote its Interest when did any of them ever preach that which in their Consciences they knew to be a Lye for the sake of the Truth and if you look into your own you will find those Divisions which never were in our Church as the differences betwixt the Dominicans and Franciscans betwixt the Jansinists and Mollinists which have been continued with the greatest heats imaginable 't is true the Pope hath sometimes interposed his Authority but to no great purpose but where was the Papal Authority in the days of the Anti-Popes or what will become of it if the Jesuits gain their designs will all other Orders acknowledge the Papal Authority if the Jesuits confine it to their own the Church of England can never be subject to such a Fatal Division so long as the King of England is acknowledged to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Supreme Governour As for the Pope's Supremacy that has been so sufficiently pelted with good Greek and Latin by many of these Learned Authours that I will onely humbly drop a few Queries concerning it at this time First then We desire to know Whether our Saviour ever granted it to St. Peter Secondly Whether the present Pope be his Successour Thirdly Suppose it was granted to St. Peter Whether there was any need of forging the Donation of Constantine afterwards Fourthly If it was granted to St. Peter because he first confess'd him to be Christ the Son of the living God Whether Pope Leo the 10th had any right to it for saying to Cardinal Bembo * Crispinus Quantum nobis nostrique ea de Christo fabula prosuerit satis est omnibus secuâ— notum Fifthly we desire to know whether any Bishoprick in Christendom remaining can shew a Succession so disordered and corrupted as that of Rome Not to mention their strange Schisms let any Person but consider the Stratagems and impious Intrigues of the Conclave the Factions of the Nepotism contrary to that Solemn Oath they take enough to make Angels tremble and he will conclude
the Government to carry on their Designs at present and infinitely pleased to think that they had left their Deputies in an uproar to make them more easy and successfull for the Future But because they perceiv'd that their rude Clamours grew distatefull to the Generality of People they began to be more calm upon which a Reverend Divine stood up and turning to them Can ye Brethren that dissent from us imagine said he that we can either redress your Grievances or answer your Writings whilst they thus fly in Swarms about us No certainly unless we had as many Ears as Argus had Eyes Let one or two of your select Champions now stand forth and we will give you all possible Satisfaction by answering all their Objections To this they all willingly agreed and after a short Debate pitch'd upon the Authours of Melius Inquirendum and of Julian the Apostate so Proclamation was made and the first of them cited to appear in their Defence As he was coming the same Person stood up again and said this Person has wrote a Book entituled MELIVS INQVIRENDVM OR A SOBER INQUIRY INTO THE REASONINGS OF THE SERIOUS INQUIRY WHEREIN The Inquirer's Cavils against the Principles his Calumnies against the Preachings and Practices of the Non-conformists are examined and refelled c. In which Book he shews himself the most dangerous and implacable Adversary of the Church of England abusing our Reformation and establish'd Government with all the unsanctified Buffoonry his Wit and Malice can invent and pretends to superinduce a Thorough Reformation of his own which for all his confident Varnish and pious Pretences would subject us to all the Calamities and Villanies we have already seen and felt Now although the sober part of this pretended Sober Inquirer is already sufficiently answered and refell'd by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Laurence Womock in his Verdict upon the Dissenters Plea c. Yet since he is maliciously pleased to swell into a third Edition with Additions we will e'en let loose a small Country Curate at him to trifle with him in his own way and to give him some gentle Corrections he cannot find fault with his Antagonist or despise him 't is but to fulfill his own Quibble * Pag. 110. Parvae Loquuntur curae ingentes stupent I paid for my peeping for immediately I was commanded to come into the Theatre where I stood trembling as if I had been to kick and cuff with Colbron the Gyant or to fight and scratch with some Wild Beast whenas a good brisk Fellow with a loose Coat hanging upon his Shoulders came in and turning to a Gentleman You Sir said he The ever and much honoured Epist Ded. S. K. Esquire Do you think that these Dissenters Court their Miseries with the same Passionate Caresses that other Inamorato's do their Mistresses that they should run over one anothers Heads for the first grasp of Destruction as if they rode Post all upon the Switch and the Spur for a Presentation to a warm Parsonage Hold Friend said I curb in your Pegasus or he will run over some of the Company by and by Inamorato's are as very Fanaticks as ever doted upon Chains and Fetters and have as wrong a Notion of Persecution and I do not know why the Circumcelliones might not pretend as many Charms for courting the Gallows as some of them have for whining after an Insolent and Squabbling Dowdy but your Miseries are so well qualified with the Liberality of the Holy Sisters that you can merrily bear them you never meet with so many Golden Mines as in the Torrid Zone of your Sufferings and can pleasantly endure to be smoak'd a little in Terra del Fogo so long as 't is by the way of Potosi this makes you so flippant under Tribulations and crackle like Bayes in the Flames of Martyrdom 't is certain that as Jack-Pudden gets most Money when he is briskly kick'd about the Stage so does Jack-Presbyter when the Penal Laws are pretty nimble upon him Well Sir since You and I must have a Tryal of Skill for the Diversion and Good of the Company pray tell me your Name Melius Inquirendum by Ignoramus what 's the meaning of this R. W. your Name begins with a W. and therefore it shall be Whiggus mine with a P. any one will do mine for once and away shall be Pamphilus But what are your Miseries you were speaking of What is the Matter with you Whig Why there is a certain Compassionate Enquirer lately come to Town with a great deal of Passion that would set us together by the Ears with Uniformity but why cannot we love a Christian as he is such though differing from us in Innocent Accidents as well as a Man because he is a Man though his Hair be of another Colour his Face of another Symmetry and Complexion than our own Pamph. If you cut off the Man's Head or lop off his Arme you cannot say you love him if you doe it willfully 't is no Innocent Accident you think the Supreme Magistrate who is a Man and a Christian too a great deal too tall for you you wilfully take his Authority down lower by the Head 't is no Accident and when he was made the Head shorter in his Person I wish you were Innocent Whig But you Church-men make the Breach so wide by endeavouring to reduce the World into a strict and precise Uniformity in every minute Punctilio Pamp. How come these Punctilio's to grow so fat and burly on a sudden that you durst not swallow them for fear the Devil and all his Works should crowd in after them for before the next full of the Moon you will be complaining that they are bigger than Camels and won't go down How can you love or agree with another Man that do not agree with your self but in this Book you have not shewn your self either a Man or a Christian but rather a prophane Satyr of another symmetry being a Composition of Man Beast and Devil that can blow hot and cold and Contradictions with the same Breath And now you have the Heels of a Goat can clamber over the most craggy Consequences I shall not trouble my self to trace you in all the bye-paths wherein you are wanton and rampant upon the Compassionate Enquirer but since you are broke loose upon the Reformation of the Church of England if I can come handsomely at you I will put a Curb in your Mouth that you shall be more sensible of than of the Axes and Halters you talk of Whig I see I cannot avoid the lash of virulent Tongues but I tell you I design nothing but a Reformation to the Primitive Institutions of Christ and his Apostles I would have no Inventions of Men but perfect Evangelical Purity and Simplicity and that 's the Design of my Book Pamp. But the strain of your Book shews little of the Evangelical Gravity or Modesty I doubt you will find a great many Idle
words in it and besides what is worse you will be found in your Plea for the Dissenters to defend the Actions of the Scribes with the Language of the Pharisees though by the way you may chance to meet with the Whip for them that prophane the Temple and as smarting Correction for those that are Hypocrites in the Corners of the Streets But Sir did you ever reade any Punns or Quibbles in the Evangelists Did the Apostles Ridicule and Burlesque the Ceremonial Law though abolish'd Did they Droll upon or make sport with Kings or those that are in Authority under them Hermias a Christian Philosopher was the first that wrote Gentilium Philosophorum Irrisio a Book so called but is there no difference betwixt the Diabolical Magick of Heathenish Institutions and the decent Ceremonies of a Christian and Reformed Church No so it seems by you whilst those that constitute them are made no better than Numa Pompilius the first Roman Ritualist as you call him and the Orders appointed by them with whom Christ by the Blessed Spirit is promised to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end of the World than the Palladium of Troy or the Image of Diana Thus you shew your Malice more than Wit in your disproportionable Similitudes and Examples whenas to expose a Child for its indifferent Innocency you might as well dress him in the Armour of one of the Titans and then frighten all Nations with him Your Instances Rejoynders Quotations are all the way of the same Nature which though at first glance they may seem to some to look upon the Church yet like the Parthians shoot another way yet you draw them in by the Head and Shoulders dress them up with Daisies and Primroses to amuse and cheat the easie Reader whenas a Judicious Eye that pierceth through the Buffoonry of such a Scribler will no more mistake him for a good Casuist than a Morrice-Dancer for a good States-Man had you like Janus look'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you might in the prophane abuse of all things Sacred in the late Blessed Reformation of the Dissenters have met with ridiculous Impieties that rather require the severe Lashes of a flaming Wit if Blasphemy Sacrilege and Treason do rather deserve them than Peace and Order But now to the purpose what do you in particular object against our Reformation Whig I tell you I clear the Articles of the Church of England from the Rubbish of Popery and Arminianism and since the Compassionate Enquirer has made a Syncope of the Name and Fame of St. Augustine alias Austin for confuting the Pelagian Heresie and since he pretends to rout him and the whole Synod of Dort that was of St. Austin's Mind with a whole long row of Fathers Greek and Latin then and there quoted I think I was no less bound after the Examples of our own Kings and Parliaments and many Writers of the Church knowing this Arminianism to be an inlet into Popery to oppose and expose it Pamp. Here is indeed the whole matter in short from Page 45 to 65 Onely Sir by the way there was no need of half that noise about it with all that ruffling of flanting Metaphors and learned Out-cry the design is to lay a new Indictment for the pretended Crime of Arminianism against the Church to help to run it down as in the late Rebellion but you want an Oliver Cromwell to make Evidence It had been as witty since you are got to Dort to say that St. Augustine's Name is begun in the Middle like an Holland Cheese as that a Syncope was made of it and much more to the Capacity of the Phlegmatick Tribe but Sir though he did not very well agree with Pelagius yet he would never have set up his Horses at Hippo with Aerius much less at Dort with any of his Successours therefore I do not know why the Church of England which is as considerable as the Church of Africa was should receive Ecclesiastical Government from Dort or Civil from Amsterdam We are neither Calvinists nor Arminians nor Pelagians nor Novatians but of the truely Ancient Catholick and Apostolical Church of England we have our own National Convocation And as for our Articles pray let them alone you have already filch'd away one of them viz. the 20th as the Papists have done the second Commandment But what was you going to say about Ceremonies and Reformation Whig For your Ceremonies I say they were left as a Key to Let in Papists and now they are a Lock to shut out Protestants Thus Indulgences and Remission of Sins were granted to all that would engage in the Holy Wars but in process of time were dispensed to them that would Massacre the Waldenses and Albigenses Thus the Inquisition was first set up to discover the Hypocritical Moors of Spain but the edge of it since turn'd against the Protestants Pamph. Here are two more Instances that have been upon the Tenter-hooks these hundred years but when will you prove the Ceremonies of the Church comparable to Romish Indulgences or the Penal Laws to the Inquisition when the Moon has Calv'd and left you her horns for a Legacy But that is not the End why they are retain'd and if they were Abolish'd you would discover your selves to be worse than Hypocritical Moors by a Rebellion of which neither the Waldenses Albigenses or Protestants in Spain were ever guilty Whig I say they are Popish and therefore your Reformation wants a Reformation for as one said The English have driven the Pope out so hastily that he has left his Garments behind him And therefore we desire a Reformation of what is necessary and as often as is necessary Pamph. I will make bold with an Answer from Bishop Sanderson It were good saith he for your own selves that you may not Rove in infinitum and in compassion to us that you would give us a perfect Boundary of what is Popery now with some Prognostication or Ephemerides annex'd if you please whereby to conclude what will be Popery seven years hence Therefore propose what you would have Reform'd Whig Before I come to particulars I must say what honest Gerson said of old There can be saith he no General Reformation without the Abolitions of sundry Canons and Statutes which neither are nor reasonably can be observed in these times which doe nothing but ensnare the Consciences of men to their endless perdition no Tongue is able to express what evil what danger and confusion the neglect and contempt of the Holy Scriptures which doubtless is sufficient for the Government of the Church else Christ had been an imperfect Law-giver and the following of Humane Inventions hath brought into the Church Serm. in die circ Pamph. Truly friend this is too long-wasted and looks as you say like a Shrimp in a Lobster's Symar What does this signifie to us you might as well have scrape'd an Objection out of the Minor-Poets for he neither talks of our Canons nor
above those who design mischief when they are awake and dream of nothing that is good when they are asleep above Popish Priests up to the Ears in Legends Fanaticks in Pulpits or Witches upon Bromstaves for his fancies are for the real good of others as well as for to please himself Parables are lively Pictures of significant truths and Morality was excellently described in Fables by a Heathen but it does not a little trouble me that the Beasts in Aesop should shame some men now a days who will not be convinc'd of the Errors and Mischiefs they are engaged in when they have the opportunity of being better taught by the truly ancient and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of England but her Adversaries the Jesuits and Fanaticks who deny the King to be Head of the Church do likewise reject the Reformation by his Authority the Papists Sham it and would make it a ridiculous Schism the Presbyterians though they renounce the Pope yet retain to themselves that Usurpation which was above 500 years a gaining by the Popes finding that such a Discipline was not consistent with the Doctrine of the Church of England Preach't up a Reformation more pure and primitive as they pretended the reasons we shall know afterwards Therefore the Emblem of the Church we saw in the last Vision having vanquish't and discovered the unjust Stratagems both of the Council of Trent and of the Assembly of Divines ordered her own Convocation of Orthodox and Learned Church-men to defend her for the future against both Papists and Presbyterians They were no sooner fat but in came Harding and boldly told them That they were a small obscure meeting of Calvinists that reformed the Church As soon as Bishop Jewel espied him That is very false said he I will tell you the truth and tell you otherwise in the Epistle I wrote concerning the Council of Trent to a Venetian Noble man my words relating to our Reformation are these For our selves we have done nothing but with very good reason nothing but what we saw to be lawfull and to have been practised by the Ancient Fathers without any reprehension at all wherefore we called a full Synod of Bishops and by common consent of all estates purged our Church as it were Augeas 's Stable of all superfluities which either the negligence or malice of men had brought in this was justly in our power to doe and because we could doe it we did it faithfully At this I was so encouraged as to ask Harding whether or no they were Calvinists or a small obscure meeting that signed the Judgment of the Convocation that the Pope cannot call them without the King's consent in the year 1536 there being present the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London 13 Bishops 49 Abbots c. Now the fatal blow was given to the Papal Authority in England and yet these could not be Calvinists nor were they few or contemptible indeed you Popish Writers are great adversaries to National Councils because they will look after the Civil Rights that the Court of Rome do not encroach upon them which a General Council wherein the Pope is what he pleases cannot therefore Cardinal Palavicini profoundly tells Lib. 14. cap. 12. us that Concilio Nazionale sempre abhorrito dà Pontifici That the Pope did always abhor a National Council and good reason because it sometimes stops that Torrent of Money which he says is so necessary to maintain the carnal felicity of the Church therefore we know why you stickle so much against the Methods of our Reformation which Mr. Shaw has well justified and Origo Protest which Dr. Burnet says was advanced with such deliberation in King Henry the Eight and King Edward the Sixth's time as is as great an evidence of the ripeness Part 1. Pag. 289. of their proceedings as can be shewed in any Church in any Age So that we were Reformed without that violence the German Divines were as the Letters between Osiander and Cranmer testifie or without Rebellion which is always the consequence of Popish Reformations At this he march't off and made room for Raynolds a Rhemish Renegado who came Busling up And although said he ye have fob'd off Mr. Harding yet I suppose I shall prove your Reformation to be a wicked Separation from the Roman Communion which the irreconcilable divisions among you testifie for hear what I say to Whitaker Pag. 481. Have you not at this present among you a great murmuring even amongst the Protestants against the communion-Communion-Book and State of Religion which in the beginning of her Majesties Reign was Queen Elizabeth brought in If the Catholicks said nothing have you not the Puritans detesting your Faith and were it not for the Prince's Sword ready to dispossess you of Chairs and Churches I was mightily amazed to hear this for 't is 99 years ago since these words were Printed which a Gentleman observing See you not said he what a scandal these rascally Schismaticks are to our Reformation indeed the man foretold what too certainly came to pass but he must know that we do not acknowledge that any of their Principles had any share or part in it any more than they had in bringing in the King for in the days of Queen Mary Knox that peevish Puritan was as malicious towards the Orthodox in Francfurt as the Papists were to them in England And moreover 't is no wonder that they agree not with us for they disagree among themselves and are not the same they were Those in King Edward's time scrupled only some Ceremonies as Bucer Rogers and Hooper those in Queen Elizabeths time excepted against some Prayers Canons and Articles but now they are for Abolishing Supremacy and Episcopacy they have lay'd the Ax to the root and are gone so far from the Church of England that they are come round about to the Church of Rome and are worse Papists than any before the Reformation We perceive by Raynolds that the Jesuits very well knew this and therefore whilst the Presbyterians were busie to advance their Discipline they thought them fit tools to carry on their Fifth Monarchy their Principles being both alike destructive both of Church and State in order to which they quarrel with our Reformation and as the Pope and the Devil would have it Cry up a thorough one of their own Of which I will give you such a full sight if you will go along with me that you shall never forget it untill you are in heaven Pray Sir said I before you doe that let me know by what methods they brought their Discipline to that perfection in 48. I will not trouble you said he with a long relation of their several Cabals they had all King James his Reign he himself was sufficiently sensible of their restless humour and said What his Son King Charles found by experience that there were not greater thieves and cut-throats among the Highlanders and Borderers for as soon
the Poor-mans-Box with a Back-Sword lifted up over the Effigies of a Cripple standing upon it I was resolved if possible to hear what he had to say to it when I was got close to him Thou lame Idol quoth he that haltest betwixt two Opinions that hast Feet and walkest not I will hew thee in pieces as Samuel did Agag before the Lord in Gilgal At a few Strokes he cut it down and had so split the Box that out flew several pieces of Brass and Silver which he greedily catching thou art said he like the Image in Aesop's Fables which did the Man no good whilst he worship'd it but now being broken thou sheddest thy Mammon like Bloud I left him to observe a Tribe of Quakers who were got to the Steeple and seemed so mighty Zealous against it that they would have pulled it down about their Ears had they not feared it might have beaten off their Hats but nothing more offended them than the Bells and their great Fault was that they called others to Church although they never came in themselves so that whatever was said to prove them true Protestant Bells that they had never been baptized as Popish * As the great Bell in St. John Lateran Bells used to be though they had neither God-Fathers nor God-Mothers yet down they must because said they The Babylonians had an Idol called Bell. Thus the Reformation was carried on according to the various Frensies and ridiculous Humours of the jangling Rabble who agreed in nothing but Mischief and Desolation not sparing the very Monuments of those first Reformers whom in the * Pag. 6. Preface to the Directory the Presbyterians acknowledged as excellent Instruments raised by God to begin the purging and building of his House and desired they might be had in everlasting Remembrance with Thankfulness and Honour for they pull'd the Brass off their Tombs and defac'd every thing that was curious for Workmanship or Venerable for Antiquity under the pretence of Popery when as indeed their Covetousness which was worse than Idolatry was the chiefest Motive that they scratch'd up the Names of worthy Benefactours for the Brass they were engraven upon that they rak'd up the very Dust of their Ancestours and would have sold the Bones of their Grandsires if any would have bought them but this was not all their brutish Zeal carried them to greater Extravagances as to thrust their Swords through and mangle the Corpses of the deceased a piece of Romish Fury now turn'd into Protestant Piety Whilst I observed these things with Grief and Wonder the Clergy-man pulled me by the Sleeve and look you yonder quoth he is fine work at this I espied a mixt Multitude of the wildest Machines that ever I beheld some tooting with the broken Pipes of Organs others dancing in Hoods Copes and Surplices some Smoaking others Swaggering with lewd and bloudy Oaths and all of them pulling down the King's Arms calling them the Colours of the Dragon and the Ensigns of Antichrist and saying that the Vnicorn was the very White Horse in the Revelations with a blazing Star upon his Forehead Then a great number of Levellers great Enemies to Angels and Arch-angels cutting in pieces the Images of the Apostles After them a Troop of Antinomians fell foul upon the Ten Commandments and carried out the Pictures of Moses and Aaron vowing to make his Incense blaze as well as smoak and so burnt them with the Rails before the Altar Whilst the Rout were thus revelling in their lewd and diabolical Triumphs I wondred to hear on a sudden some howling and mourning very lamentably but was much more astonished to see Greenhill weeping as if he had been sorry for what the People by his Instigation had done and therefore going up to Edwards who wrote the Gangraena Pray good Sir said I What ails Mr. Greenhill what is the Matter What! said he * Edwards Catalogue of Errours pag. 25. an Anabaptist and a great Sectary came to him and said he might as safely Baptize a Dog as a Believer's Child At this I looked towards the Font and espied a Company of Villains †In Lichfield Cath. Sir William Dugdale 's Hist baptizing a Calf wrapt in Linnen Edwards seeing them at the same time cryed out From all these Errours Heresies and Practices of the Sectaries you may see what a great Edward 's Further Discourse p. 195. Evil and Sin Separation is from the Communion of the Reformed Churches and how highly displeasing to God for Men to make a Schism and Rent in the Church of God in time of Reformation God punishing the Schism and Separation of our Times with so many Heresies Blasphemies and wicked Practices Very true replyed the Orthodox Clergy-man Knox and some of your Predecessours made a Schism in the Church of God in the very time of the Reformation and because your Separation from the truly Reformed Church was unreasonable the Pretences frivolous and the Methods of your Super reformation Impious and Ridiculous therefore does God justly punish your Schism and Separation Impious and Ridiculous cryed 40 or 50 of them at once was the visible growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government a frivolous Pretence Yes marry was it replyed he 't was what the Papists themselves suggested and was rather therefore the Invisible Growth of Popery under the Visible Growth of Knavery And since you talk of God's Punishment for Schism surely the World may now trace the Guilt of your pretended Reformation in the Consequences of it 'T was ye set the People above the King and now every Individual usurps a Supreme Equality a nonsensical Confusion not to be found among Cannabals 't was ye abolish'd Episcopacy and now every one makes himself a Priest with as much Authority as one Presbyter makes another 't was ye taught the People to sit irreverently at the Sacrament and now ye may see some of them laying their Tails at the Communion Table ye took away the decent Ceremonies in Baptism and now they prophane that Sacrament with Diabolical ones ye brought the Catechumeni to the Desk and 't is not long e're they are chirping in the Pulpit Thus like so many Judas's have ye betrayed both Christ's Vicegerent and his Church too with glorious Pretences and then left them to the mockery of Men worse than Jews who have now made the Temple of God a Den of Thieves which ye denyed to be the House of Prayer Prayer cryed one of them Was not the whole Book of Common-Prayer Popish and Superstitious Are not Bishops Antichristian And did not that Arch-Prelate Laud design to bring us into right down Popery That you shall know by and by replyed he but in the mean time 't is remarkable that the Arch-Bishop was condemned upon an Indictment of the Scots for obtruding the Book of Common-Prayer and you imposed the * Title Page of the Directory Directory upon them and the Irish too a little after That Bishops are not
Antichristian neither Name or Office one Instance for a thousand and that from the Reformed Churches Oecolampadius who Reformed the Church of Basil is stiled Bishop upon his Tomb which your Reformation had certainly demolish'd That Arch-Bishop Laud had no such Design as you speak of your Brother Fisher that Trent Presbyter can testify although he smiles to think that after you had confuted him with the Axe you should reform Lambeth-House into a Prison and a Dancing-School at once representing a Popish Inquisition and a Carnival too But since your main Argument that moved the People to assist you in your blessed Reformation was that the Liturgy of the Chuch was Popish I will tell you if you 'll keep it to your self that you either knew not what Popery was or else had a mind to bring it in the Fool and the Knave are both in the Case chuse which you will 't is certain that by the great number of Papists that were in the Parliament Army by the long delay of Assistance to be sent to the distressed Protestants in Ireland you were more intent upon the ruine of the Church of England than of Rome But pray what is Popish in the Liturgy All of it replyed they and therefore ought to be reformed * Preface to the Directory All the several burthensome Ceremonies 't was made a mere Idol lip-Labour and a great Hinderer of the preaching the Word Pray Gentlemen said he again since you quote the Publick Faith let me ask you one question Are the Responses in the Liturgy Popish and may not the Church of England enjoyn them No no replyed they they are not of Apostolical Institution How then cryed he came it to pass that the Assembly should order * Of Singing of Psalms Directory pag. 83. the reading the Singing Psalms Line by Line to the People Is that of Apostolical Institution Or are Sternhold and Hopkins of greater Authority than all the Fathers of the Church There is enough written by learned Pens to prove the Significancy Usefulness Innocency and Antiquity of the Ceremonies of the Church to satisfy every Objection and Scruple of yours before-hand but if that cannot doe you might a little reflect upon what followed your Reformation of them You abolish'd all those excellent Prayers for the King and the Church but how did yours you put in the room of them prevail to procure either his Honour or its good Estate You pretended to reform the Sabbath to a Pharisaical Strictness but the first general Battel was fought on the 23 d of October at Edghill on the Sunday wherein with five shot made at the King's Army you bid him Battel and then having abolish'd Holy-days even Christmas day it self which you made a Fast you sanctified your own first Thanksgiving-day with a leud Lie You took away the Order of Christian Burial and indeed there was little occasion for it when you preach'd so many at a time to the Sword that it could be no more used than in a Pestilence and moreover you being to set Christ upon his Throne on Earth could not comply with that Prayer that He would hasten the Kingdom of Glory Item You took away the Cross in Baptism and afterwards sold your Fellow-Christians to Turks and Barbarians among whom they must receive either the Badg of Slavery or Infidelity You altered the Form of Marriage and afterwards 't was solemniz'd by a sort of Bassa's in the very Livery of the Scarlet Whore In short you debauch'd the People with Superstitious Fears which made them fly into a wicked Rebellion and they were afterwards as unjustly hang'd up in Bundles for the Sin of Witchcraft Thus did ye involve the Nation in infinite Guilt and they were punish'd with Judgments shadowing or reflecting their Sins nor did ye your selves escape a retaliating Justice being severely chastised by that very Cromwell whom ye first set up in the House of Commons to be such a Stickler against Dr. Neal for a Defender of Arminianism and Popery At this they all fell a crying Ah Lard Lard 't was Covenant-breaking that brought all these Evils upon us and upon this Nation 'T was so indeed replyed he ye broke the first Covenant with your Prince in the oath of Allegeance by introducing the Solemn League which brought in the Engagement which brought in the Devil and all his Works He had no sooner spoken but there was a Fellow in a Red-Coat got into the Pulpit and playing as many Tricks as a Turkish Dervice upon a Moschite railed against the Presbyterian Reformation calling it * Goodwin 's twelve Cautions pag. 5. Rough Froward Peremptory Imperious c. which †Discovery of Sectaries pag. 26. Edwards observing All sorts of Mechanicks said he take upon them to preach as Smiths Taylors Shoemakers Pedlars Weavers A peculiar People truly replyed he you complained that the Liturgy of the Church of England was a great Hinderer of the preaching the Word I hope you have now enough of it But why should you find fault with a Red-Coat when as your warlike Doctrine could not endure a White one and besides these are but your Journey-men in Divinity your Scribes and Amanuenses whom you have taught all the Tricks of Sanctified Legerdemain and if they have out-done you in your own Trade you know that all Arts improve What and if they have not so much Learning as you yet they are arrived to such a pitch of Mystical Gibberish and Edifying Nonsense that they are more powerfull with the People than your selves although you first taught them to justle out the Prayers in the known Language by your unintelligible Cant and cramp Exorcisms and this was driving away Popery But Gentlemen let me ask you a question Is it not a main Artifice of the Popish Priests to keep the People zealously ignorant Is it not as easy to compose a thing in English of which the common People shall understand every single word and yet not know the meaning or Connexion of any whole Sentence as 't is to make some Lines in Spanish words which put together shall be true Latin the very Language of the Beast 'T is certainly as easy since ye have mix'd and balderdash'd the sacred Style with barbarous Expressions and made every thing ye do not like to be either Antichrist or the Whore of Babylon But moreover 't is very remarkable that ye had a fine way of amusing the Rabble with ends of Hebrew let me tell you that Mr. Herbert Thorndike as learned a Rabbi as any of you observes in his Book of Religious Assemblies from the Commentaries under St. Ambrose's Name that those who would needs speak in strange Languages Pag. 351. in the Church were of the Hebrews and Irenaeus Lib. 1. c. 8. tells that the Marcosians at the Ministration of Baptism used some Hebrew words to astonish the Minds of the Ignorant I cannot say that you directly design'd to bring in flat down right Popery as you call
of these times nor have you who live in them any reason to complain of the neglect and contempt of the Holy Scriptures which are order'd to be read in the Church by the Rubrick in better order and more frequently than ever they were in any Conventicle But as you shew your self an excellent Artist at the Hocus-Pocus of Systole and Diastole so by sleight of hand you have scrub'd up a new-fashion'd Hypotyposis a figure of Rhetorick in which you Conjure up together Things Places Persons Times that little thought of meeting one another in this world Now if a true Syllogism in Logick should but flush in the Pan they would disperse like wild-fowl to their several quarters You talk earnestly for a Reformation but make a great many Cramp Quibbles about the Remedies for healing our divisions as if you had plundred a Druggist or cull'd the hardest names from the Gally-pots of an Apothecary's Shop But Sir to be short I demand of you that you plainly tell us in order though your grievances lye scatter'd up and down your Book like the Sporades or darkest specks in the Chaos what you would have Reformed in the Church of England and to what Model you would have them Reformed Whig I Will Sir And first for your sake I would have the Gouty Benefices reduced to the Modicum of Meagre Vicarages or that Lean Curats should have more of the Fat Parsonages if we be for Moderation in Reformation why are we immoderate for Revenues but instead of that nothing but laying Steeple upon Steeple like Pelion on Ossa and such Riding to Constantine o'er hedge and ditch for a thumping presentation Pamph. Ho Pegasus ho what is he broke loose again Pray stop a little and let me tell you Sir That if all the Gentlemen of England would follow the example of our good Constantine who refused the Impious request of your Brethren to make them a Lease of Bishops Lands for 99 years the consequence would be this That few men of Worth and Parts would be almost starv'd with want or ruin'd with discontent whilst heavy Block-heads waddle with plenty But there are a sort of Mongrel Heteroclites of your Faction that Gallop over the head and shoulders of Simon Magus into the Church doors that they may throw it out at the Windows these make the inequality by jumping o'er the Barrecadoes of Oaths and Sacraments who have found out a Salvo with which if they do but anoint their Mouths they can take an Episcopal Oath though hot as melted Lead without scalding their Chaps But hark you Sir One of your Friends at Sudbury was so deadly trepan'd the last Assizes at St. Edmunds-Bury that that Trade since you are such an Advocate for Trading is in danger to be lost But pray what makes you laugh Whig Why to think that you Church-men should hazard such Substantial Preferments for such Circumstantial Fopperies as Ceremonies are as the Sign of the Cross the Surplice and Organs c. Pamph. What say you to the Sign of the Cross in Baptism Whig I say they may as well put a finger in the Child's Ear in token that it shall hereafter hearken diligently to the Word of God or lay a little Salt upon the Child's Tongue in token that its Speech shall be season'd with Salt as make an Airy Cross over its Forehead in token that it shall confess a Christ crucified Pamph. Good morrow Mr. Udal I thought you had been hang'd fourscore years ago in token that you should not hereafter have talk't so prophanely if I be not mistaken you may find a great many of your squirting Jests in his or Penn's Writings But how comes it to pass that you who at other times make the Sign of the Cross such a stout over-grown humane Sacrament such a huge symbolical mystical Ceremony as to be more dreadfull to the Saint than raw-head and bloody-bones should now make it onely an airy vanishing Phantasm But I 'll tell you a piece of news Sir I have been told that when Sir William Waller that great Apostate-Gold-finder burn't the Picture of the Cross that His Majesty should say That although he would not Worship it yet he would not Burn it And all his good Subjects will tell you that you should not contemn and scoff at it Why should it not be a token that I should manfully fight against sin the world and the devil under Christ's Banners as when in the late Wars pulling out the lappet of a Shirt or some such device was a token that your Dissenters should perfidiously fight under the Banners of a Rebel against their Lawfull Sovereign You have had Reasons enough for the Ancient use of the Sign of the Cross but I will be bold to add That because the Church has retein'd it as a pious custome in opposition to the scurrilous Malice of Heathens Jews and Mahometans who would seem to affront the Christians with that Sign so ought the Church still to continue it so long as among your Dissenters as you call them there have been lately found * Dissenters Sayings that have denied to put their trust in a Crucified Saviour One word more of this and I have done If symbolical signs and tokens will move your Anger why not if they be Analogous my Devotion I do not think running for Fritters on Shrove-Tuesday a symbol of the Christian Race nor drawing Valentines in the Ash-heap of Mortality Yet I say again that tokens or symbols that bear a true Analogy will stir I hope my Devotion and I fear your Anger for should I point at your fore-head with two fingers and make Horns as they call it you would go near to hit a man a substantial Cuff for such a symbolical affront and although it did not make you a Cuckold any more than the Sign of the Cross makes a man a Christian yet 't would be a token that you shall hereafter be asham'd to confess it But go on to the next thing that must be Reform'd I think you spoke of the Surplice Whig Ay I say 't is strange that you Church-men must have your Summer-Ceremonies and your Winter-Ceremonies sometimes you are in White and then again in Black Pamph. Are not you in both when you have a black and white Cap on but I thought you had been for variety by the flourishing Harangues you make upon it in your Preface and besides you say Let the Worshippers of Mahomet quarrel about their Green and Red Turbants may not a man agree with another though his suit be not of the same colour How is it that you so disagree with your self But I can tell you Sir that for all the Clamours against Symbolical Colours when the Green Ribond was made a note of distinction to know those of your Faction by none of you ever spoke against it although it was the colour worn by the Leaguers in France and although such an Historian as you are cannot be ignorant of the great deflagration