it is namely his Workmanship yet he boweth to it O sad They have not known nor understand For he hath shut their Eyes that they cannot see and their Hearts that they cannot understand v. 18. My second Instance to shew he goes upon a wrong Principle when he saith Do you think there is in us such an Ignorant Rusticity that we should bow either to King Charles's Carcase or to the Altar We have no such Design or Intention I will believe it in the mean time they bring those Carcases into the Church which you are forbidden to do and bow to that Altar 't is no matter what your Intention be whilst you perform External Acts of Worship Do you think the Children of Israel in the Wilderness could believe the Golden Calf to be the God that brought them out of Egypt no certainly for they had given Aaron the Golden Ear-rings of their Wives Sons and Daughters out of which the Calf was made yet for all this they worshipped it not terminatively for they said These be the Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt and there was a Proclamation to morrow is a Feast unto the Lord they worshipped God under the Figure of a Calf yet 't is known what an Abominable Idolatry it was and this was by Jeroboam followed when he made the two Golden Calves O let us keep to the Rules in a Religious place as is the Church or upon any Religious Account not to bow to an Altar Matter of God's Worship is a nice thing his Directions must be followed and nothing of Man's devising brought in As good to bow to him that made the Altar as to the Altar it self for it may be accounted a Civil Respect but to the Altar 't is a Religious one yet there is as much reason to bow to the Pulpit as to the Altar for from thence the Word of God is preached to us herein we are not to give the Altar the Preference except with Papists we believe there is the true Body of Christ either kept under a Wafer or made at the pleasure of a Priest I would willingly know wherein the Reverence we pay to the Altar doth differ from that which Papists with bowing their Heads and putting off their Hats do render to the Cross If upon or under those Altars there were Relicks they might say that Honour of Bowing is directed for the Relicks but by good chance they have not the Relicks of many Saints and Martyrs to place there or else they might happen to do it Some of their Authors do not disapprove of Relicks for Dr. Burgess upon the Argument out of a Carthaginian Council how certain Altars erected for the Memory of Martyrs should be abolished and all Monuments of Idolatry be utterly destroyed he with his Friend answereth because those Altars were noted to be destitute of the Relicks of Martyrs but addeth that by those Altars destitute of such things the Church was mocked Would not a Papist give the same Reason Well the same cause though by different Persons must be defended by the same Reasons Thus provided there be Relicks according to his Opinion things are well enough How far into Dirt and Mire do Men tumble themselves over Head and Ears when once they are engaged in the Defence of a Cause not mattering whether or not it be Good True and Just. I hope none will deny that God's Precepts ought to be the Rule and Measure of our Obedience what God immediately commanded must be obeyed though it should seem unreasonable and contrary to his other revealed Will I mean in Man's Apprehension as in the case of Abraham to Sacrifice his Son of Ezekiel to make himself Bread with Man's or Cows Dung and of Hosea to take unto him a Wife of Whoredom so must that be obeyed which the Lord hath immediately commanded by the Ministry of his Servants and as he likes the Service we render him with Heart and Sincerity with a willing Mind in obedience to what he hath commanded and this indeed in St. Paul's words we may call our reasonable Service so he likes none of the Services he hath not commanded but are only a Production of Man's Brain and Fancy so are all Ceremonies in question and this in particular whereby the Upholders of them give Papists so great an Advantage even against themselves as we see in a Book I was lately reading wherein the Author doth Handsomly and Ingeniously handle the Charge of Idolatry against the Church of Rome but the Papist-Priest doth intangle him in this Point of Bowing to the Altar with this Argument The Church of England-men do Bow to the Altar and yet they say they Worship not the Altar but God before the Altar So say Papists We worship God before Images but not Images What an intricate Labyrinth doth this bring him unto only to defend an Idle and Superstitious Ceremony not to speak worse Papists and they do the same thing for both bow to the Altar and both give the same Reason They do not bow to the Altar but to God so their case is but one and the same This Argument of the Papist doth ingage them in so many Distinctions as are Superfluous and not directly to the Point if they would but part with that Ceremony that Objection would soon fall and cease but they have rather to bring upon themselves nettling Difficulties than to part with an unwarrantable Ceremony The Wisest amongst the Heathen pretended they look'd not upon their Images as Gods but as Symbols of that Being to which they gave Divine Worship our Church-men will not own they render the Altar any Worship this would be openly to declare themselves Idolaters to worship the Creature as none can deny an Altar is as they after the Roman Stile are pleased to call it or the Communion-Table nay 't is less for 't is but the work of the Creature so a Creature in the lowest Degree by the Bowing down forbidden in the second Precept is signified any manner of Religious Worship or Service to any Creature whatsoever The distinction of Civil and Religious is Idle and Superfluous for here the question is about Religious Worship The Altar is in the Church which is God's House the place appointed only for his Service To say not the Altar but God before the Altar is worshipped and to give for reason they believe not the Corporeal Presence are but bare Shifts As well as they we know how Reverence is due in going in and coming out of God's House but if every time one passeth before the Altar though never so many as sometimes there is occasion for some of them to do it is not that to have a special regard to that very place For else why not as well to bow to the Pulpit except they would make the Holy Word of God that makes the Sacrament to be less than the Sacrament for the one is preached from the Pulpit the other
take Advantage of my Senseless and Breathless Discourse but sometimes Men are mistaken in their Notions as of two Men fighting one having an high Opinion in handling of his Weapon is so intent upon the Ruin of his Enemy that he neglects his own Preservation and therein gives an Advantage against himself laying his Body open to his Enemies Sword or rashly running upon the point of it Let not him that girdeth on his Harness boast himself as he that puts it off let no Man sing a Triumph before he hath gotten the Victory so let none say he hath the better before the Dispute be ended Habemus fatentem reum for in your Postscript you say you leave it to some Persons more Hawk sighted than your self This Extraordinary Man I would endeavour to please but 't is a hard thing and I cannot tell how to effect it I said I believe no Anniversary should be kept for King Charles then he flies at me and would tear me to pieces if he could and when I affirm on the other side that the Fact or putting him to Death was Unlawful and Horrid Murther c. then for my Pains I hear this from him That what I say is Dissembling Innuendo's of my Charity p. 6. he doth protest I am an ugly squinting wide-mouthed Fellow how long a train of Titles he gives me well my Mouth and Face are as God pleased to make them therewith I must be content I own 't is better such as it is than I deserve at God's Hands afterwards p. 6. he doth quote my words how I believe God shewed him Mercy that the taking away of his Life was an ill thing c. This as he saith is as good as if I had called him a Rogue and a Rascal and arraigned him for a Malefactor What can we say or do to this Well as I hinted something a little before here he gives me a very great Advantage against himself which I must not lose for 't is of too high a Concernment for me he quoteth my words in Page 1 3 5. about the Fact which though they be as positive as can be yet in his Page 43. he affirmeth I say The Martyr was Guilty and that Justice was executed on him How can these two things agree the former words I own the last I never said or thought It is Matter of Fact and what would it be if it was upon Matter of my Life or Death Well I shall unriddle the business and shew where the Mistake lies Mistake I call it or Over-passionateness for I thank God I have for him more Charity than he hath for me others would call it a Rank Malice but I call it a Mistake but a very gross one for what in my Book I say of Justice executed upon the Guilty of his Death that is upon his Judges he would in his Book make me speak it of King Charles at this let him blush and be ashamed Now we may see who he or I be guilty of Imputations as Scandalous as False as he expresseth p. 43. God forgive him And to declare my Mind more in general upon such Points I say two things First When a Man suffers though never so unjustly yet in relation to God he hath nothing to complain of for as David saith God is Just in all his Ways and Holy in all his Works Secondly I say the Righteousness of God never excuseth the Wickedness of Men. After he hath as it were tired himself upon me and may be in his Opinion made me very Sore Black and Blue he leaves me for a while as it were to feel my Pains Sentiat se mori for Variety sake like a Famous Runner at Tilt having disabled one he is ready for and falls upon the next so the next turn is Mr. St ns to whom he imparts some of his Caresses in the same kind as to me But the Tender Mercies of some are Cruel He begins with taking notice of much Dust like a Cloud beat out of the Cushion at St. Mary leBow and doth not mind the Dirt and Dung of his which he is in over Head and Ears we could say more if we did but see him thoroughly that Spring must be very Corrupt whence proceed such stinking Streams the very Breath whereof is so Loathsome Pray let us hear his Rhetorick upon the Subject His Sermon 's foul and false Aspersions sound more like the Accents of Rotten Eggs What Eggs in a Sermon and Rotten too they stink away with it I think Mr. St ns will say nothing but what he can justifie but is withall too Wise to trouble himself with answering a Giddy-brain'd Fellow who would have every one else to Weep or Laugh when he doth or else will be very Angry if they will not Fast on the Thirtieth of January and Feast on the Twenty ninth of May and would upon those days Force Men to Church whether they will or not only because he goes himself We read of one who always Laughs and of another who ever Wept this Man would act both parts and be one day Democritus and on the other Heraclitus Others look for better grounds than he hath to do so he speaks unworthily of that Person when he saith I leave him to play Fast and Loose with his Function perhaps may be his Interest p. 9. This Man is very little or not at all acquainted with Wise Solomon for he breaks many of his Rules one of which is this Strive not with a Man without cause if he hath done thee no harm He is of a provoking Spirit I would have him give a good Reason why he thinks such a one is lead by Interest and not by Conscience and p. 25. he declares he is of Opinion that we might stop any of their Nonconformists Mouths with a Bishoprick I shall not say he is mistaken in all but I dare say in some he is this interested People are apt to judge of others by themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves are not Wise So against the Rules of Prudence and Charity this Man judgeth rashly of others though our Blessed Saviour said Judge not that ye be not judged Of David did his Brother Eliab judge unjustly when he said to him I know thy Pride and the Naughtiness of thine Heart That same was a Man according to God's own Heart and yet his Brother pretended to see into and be the Searcher of his Heart a Right which God hath reserved for himself when God at that time had sent him to destroy the Philistine and be an Instrument of Deliverance to Israel was not this a very hard and an unjust Censure and that from a Brother To make Application of this I leave it for those whom it may concern Si accusare sat est quis erit innocens Who can be Innocent if to accuse be enough to make one Guilty This I must say the Man hath
so hath nothing to do in it 'T is not any thing I have against that King that makes me dislike the keeping that Day but only because we believe God is thereby offended Now I thank God he begins to draw towards an end and then one would think his Venom should be somewhat spent but upon the account of the other Anniversary which he doth begin to speak of pag. 34. we find the contrary as foolish and violent as ever but we are already well used to his ways nay we observ'd it from the beginning for in him hath been verified Solomon's Saying A fool's Wrath is presently known Here he continues his old way of arguing first as good as this Except this Birth and Restoration be kept all Proceedings in Westminster Hall as the Act for the Attainder of several Persons guilty of his Father's Death are repealed and reversed A rare Consequence from the Premises then he is very liberal as usually of his ill Language against Parties and Persons all which we might forgive him if he would stop there and not Spue out his Venom against Heaven which certainly shall fall upon his Face and arraign God himself for his Decree and ridicule that adorable Counsel of his Predestination as he doth in the same Page and which I took notice of before seeing he hath a mind to be Unjust and Filthy Let him be Unjust and Filthy still but upon his account with David we must say The Works of God are very great and his Thoughts very deep a brutish Man knoweth them not neither doth a Fool understand this 'T is not I but the Spirit of God that saith so For a further Ornament of his Discourse and setting forth that rational Argument of his just now mentioned he brings in one of his usual Stories of a Surly Rogue that hath been lick'd c. If he would and could he might well have observed in my Page 11. and other places we are not against but for days of Humiliation and Thanksgiving attended with such due Circumstances as are consonant with the Word of God wherein these Thirtieth of January and Twenty ninth of May in my Observations I proved to be deficient I love not to rake out things for I made it appear I am for Acts of Oblivion specially relating to Dead Men for I know it to be contrary to the Will of God and to the Rules of Charity and Prudence I meddle not with Persons only I speak of things I know King Charles II. had some good things in him and as the good things that are in a Man shall never make me to approve of or commend the Evil that is in him so the evil things that are in a Man never make me condemn the Good that is in him let Blame and Praise attend their due Objects but withall the greatest Admirers of that King must own that as he was a Man so he had his Failings those that arise out of Humane Infirmity may be excused if they are of such a Nature as to admit it or at least to be pittied but truly those that are effects of a strong Corruption in Nature Presumptuous Willful and contracted into an Habit must no ways be approved flattered or commended these last things I speak of as modestly as can be and the whole Nation knows what I mean but those strong and different Streams of Vice which I complain to have overflowed the Nation are not Slander nor meer Fancy being obvious to the Eyes of all People and I think it to be no Sin to desire it may be restrained and suppressed as I do again and again I do not as he falsly accuses me Libel that King at random God forbid if that had been my design which never was I had gone on in a contrary way to that I have taken but I have forborn naming so much as one Instance of many which several in the Nation know of If our Author's edge had been turned another way then indeed we could have heard of many things with Enlargements but the World may know he and I go upon different Ground and opposite Principles for as far as God is pleased to enable me I follow good Examples and avoid bad ones But because he presses me so much with blackest Scandals c. he forces out of me a thing which I was willing to be silent in though so publick as the whole Nation knows that he stained the latter end of his Reign with shedding Innocent Blood which perhaps for I adore all Dispensations of Divine Providence was the cause of his days being shortned As to what he saith of his great Clemency and Kindness after his Restoration to those who had been against his Interest who he slanderously saith Hypocrited their Actions and Dissimulated a Joy I must tell him he is grosly mistaken for his own Friends before he was restored dared not to appear if I may so say they might not lift up their Hands any where but at the Bar those who had been for the Parliament were the great and chief Instruments to bring him in whose Names are well known and we very well remember that which those of his Party may not forget of the Attempt to bring him in not long before he was wherein many ventured their Lives and some lost them which at that time in the Printed Gazettes was to my certain Knowledge called Bellum Presbyteriale the Presbyterian War and that King himself after in one of his first Speeches in Parliament inviting them to settle things said thus My Lords and Gentlemen Except ye help me to disperse the Fear which possesses the Hearts of People you will hinder me from performing my Promise without which neither you nor I had been here wherefore let us not deceive those that brought us together or suffered us to meet here This Authority is authentick for the Man and I know where that Speech is to be seen After this I shall not trouble my self with the very few foolish Lines remaining of his Pamphlet nor with his Impertinent new Discovery or Vision he hath enough surfeited up another way only I add Let him if he can disprove what in my Pages 13 and 14 I say of Charles II. As to the Point of Anniversaries I shall very briefly bring in a new Matter to the Charge 't is about a third Anniversary which once we had and should have had continued if one Man now in France and been here still that is the Sixth of February called the King's-day or King James's Coronation day a Man who being a professed Papist was thereby become a declared Enemy to our Religion it was attended with the same Materials and Workmanship as the other two that is Collect Epistle and Gospel as we have it in the prayer-Prayer-books Printed in his time these Anniversaries are of a good Breed of a multiplying Nature within thirty Years or thereabouts we had three and no doubt if things had held in that Channel a