of Nature did warrant them But it stopt not here for the Lord Mazarine and others of Ireland did so far prosecute the Cause as that the Marquess of Antrim was forced to produce in the Parliament of England in the House of Commons a Letter of King Charles the First 's by which he gave him Order for his taking up Arms which being read in the House put them into a silence But yet so egregious was their Loyalty and Veneration of Majesty that it put them not at all one step out of the way which they had gone in But the People without doors talked strangely Some said Did you not perswade us that the King was against the Irish Rebellion And that the Rebels belied him when they said they had his Warrant or Commission Do we not now see with what mind he would have gone himself with an Army into Ireland to fight against them A great deal more not here to be mention'd was vended seditiously among the People the sum of which was intimated in a Pamphlet which was printed called Murder will out in which they published the King's Letter and Animadversions on it Some that were still Loyal to the King did wish that the King that now is had rather declared that his Father did only give the Marquess of Antrim Commission to raise an Army as to have helped him against the Scots and that his turning against the English Protestants in Ireland and the murdering so many hundred thousands there was against his will but quod scriptum erat scriptum erat Although the old Parliamentarians expounded the Actions and Declarations both of the then King and Parliament by the Commentary of this Letter yet so did not the Loyal Royalists or at least thought it no reason to make any change in their Judgments or stop in their Proceedings against the English Presbyterians and other Non-conformable Protestants Mr. Baxter adds in the Margin We are not meet Judges of the Reasons of our Superiours Actions p. 83. part 3. of Mr. Baxter's Life By which he seemeth to intimate that the Matter of Fact how odiously and maliciously soever reported by him is true but he leaves it to others to consider and judge of the Reasons of it He might with much more Ingenuity and Candor have practised himself that Advice which he gives to others in the second part of the Non-conformists Plea for Peace p. 16. That if Subjects saw a Commission under the Broad Seal to seize the Guards destroy the Kingdom or deliver it to Forreigners they were bound to judge that the King was not the Author of that Commission Subjects should not have ill thoughts of Kings though they be sinful their Faults are neither to be aggravated nor divulged This is good Advice and would have utterly destroyed the pretence of Sir Phelim O Neale and those bloody Papists that joyned with him in that execrable Massacre for which they pretended a Commission under the Broad Seal whereas it appeared that the Broad Seal then in Scotland See Burlace's Hist of that War p. 29. part 2. had not been applied to any Commission or Patent in some months before the date of that pretended Commission And the Forgery plainly appeared at the Trial of Sir Phelim O Neale who at his Trial and also at his Execution though he was offered Pardon for Life and Restitution of his Estate if he would own that he had a Commission from the King to Authorize what he had done he affirmed constantly That he had no such Commission from the King nor was his Majesty privy to their Insurrection This Relation is attested by Dr. Ker Dean of Ardah who was present at his Trial and Execution and affirms the same in a Letter printed Febr. 28. 1681. a Copy of which I shall give you when I have told another part of his Confession viz. That he having found a Patent of the Lord Caulfield's when he seiz'd on Charlemount-Castle to which the Broad Seal was annexed he caused a Commission to be drawn agreeable to his own purpose and caused that Broad Seal to be affixed to it and so gave it out that he had the King's Commission for what he did Now for the further clearing of the Royal Martyr from this foul Imputation it will appear that he had Intelligence from abroad that great Companies of Priests and Soldiers were from several Countries hastening into Ireland and that others from Ireland held Correspondence with divers Soldiers of that Nation then in Forreign Service which gave Suspicion that there would be some Trouble in that Nation whereupon his Majesty in a Letter drawn by Sir Henry Vane and sent to the Lords Justices in that Kingdom charged them with great Care and Diligence to secure themselves against what was likely to happen a Copy whereof is subjoyned DR John Ker of Ardagh being present in the Court in Dublin when Sir Phelim O Neale was Tried and Examined about a Commission which as was said he had from Charles Stuart for levying the War in Ireland did testifie that the said Sir Phelim O Neale answered That he never had any such Commission and that it being proved in Court by Joseph Travers and others that the said Sir Phelim had such Commission and did show it unto the said Joseph and others in the beginning of the Irish Rebellion the said Sir Phelim confessed That when he surprized the Castle of Charlemount that he ordered one Mr. Harrison and another Gentleman to cut off the King 's Broad Seal from a Patent of the Lord Caulfield's which he found in Charlemount and to affix it to a Commission which Sir Phelim had ordered to be drawn And the said Mr. Harrison did in the face of the whole Court confess that by Sir Phelim's order he did stitch the silk Cord or Label of that Seal and fixed the Label and Seal to the said Commission And the Court urging the said Sir Phelim to declare why he did so deceive the People he answered That no Man could blame him to use all means to promote the Cause he had so far engaged in And upon the second day of his Trial some of the Judges told him That if he could produce any material proof that he had such a Commission from Charles Stuart to declare and prove it before Sentence had passed against him that he the said Sir Phelim should be restored his Estate and Liberty But he answered That he could prove no such thing Nevertheless they gave him time to consider of it till the next day upon which day Sir Phelim being urged again by the Court he declared again That he never could prove any such thing and that he could not in Conscience calumniate the King though he had been frequently sollicited thereunto by fair Promises and great Rewards while he was in Prison And proceeding further in this discourse he was stopt before he had ended what he had to say And the Sentence of Death was pronounced against him And
be whether it were morally possible for such a Person who so passionately and for many years till his very death almost daily bewailed his constrained and unwilling assent to his death to have a Conscience so seared and void of all sense as in case he had been wilfully and designedly guilty of promoting and maintaining that barbarous War wherein as well the Blood of those that fought under my Lord Ormond by his undoubted Commission as of those that fought against him by a falsly pretended one might justly have been charged on him if that pretence had been true to have lived about Seven years and died without any regret of Conscience for so much Blood-guiltiness Bishop Hacket's Testimony on July 24. 1654. AT Rigate in Surry I had conference about this Defamation with that excellent Primate of Armagh saith he Stop their mouths with this that I shall faithfully tell you Sir Will. Parsons our Chief Justice was much intrusted with the King's Affairs in Ireland he deceasing his Friends sent his Papers to me In his Cabinet I found a Letter written by the King to warn him to look well to the meetings of the Popish Irish for he had received certain Intelligence out of Spain that they were upon some great Design of Blood and Confusion c. I was so scrupulbus saith Bishop Hacket to forget nothing of this Relation that before I stirr'd I wrote down the speaker the words the place the year and day Page 197. part 2. of Archbishop Williams 's Life There needs nothing more to be said of Mr. Baxter's being past doubt that Antrim had the King's Commission for the Irish first Insurrection than what the King replied to that virulent Remonstrance of no farther Addresses p. 289. of the Kings Works printed 1662. That if the Irish Rebellion can be justly charged on the King then I shall not blame any for believing all the rest of the Allegations against him The Regicides in the last Charge against the King did not impute to him any hand in the first Insurrection in Ireland but only his continuing Commissions to the Prince and other Rebels and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him Mr. Baxter it seems could have proved much more that he gave a Commission to Antrim for that War wherein two hundred thousand Protestants were slain I am not so well read in the managing of that War as to find Antrim named either as Commander Counsellor or Confederate until the Cessation was treated of July 19 1643. and the first publick Imployment of Antrim was his being sent with Muskerry into France to the Queen when the Confederate Papists were in a low Condition to desire her and the Prince to compassionate them and restore them to their Protection making many Protestations of their Duty and applying themselves to his Majesty's Service but this was when the King was in Prison and what rhey promised for the King's Service or what they performed we find not See Burlace's Hist p. 119. His Majesty's Answer to the two Papers concerning Ireland delivered by the Parliaments Commissioners at Vxbridge which is to be seen p. 553. in his Works do abundantly justifie the Cessation of Arms made with the Irish by Ormond The Letter of Charles the Second printed in the Pamphlet called Truth brought to Light which I suppose is the same in that other Pamphlet called Murder will out says Our Referrees report that they have seen several Letters of our Royal Fathers hand writing and several Instructions to the said Marquess concerning his treating and joyning with the Irish in order to the King's Service by reducing them to their Obedience and by drawing some Forces to them for the service of Scotland and that besides the Letters under the King's hand they had sufficient Evidence and Testimony of several private Messages and Instructions from our Royal Father and from our Royal Mother N.B. This was probably in 1648. when the King was like to be murdered for then we find Antrim and Muskerry were with the Queen and Prince in France with the privity and direction of the King our Father So that this was done to reduce the Papists to Obedience and to draw some Forces for his Service he being then in Extremity Supposing then that all this were true of which I doubt because Antrim still adhered to the Pope's Nuncio and opposed Ormond who can justly blame the King for imploying and interfering one Rebel against another to save his Life To conclude although the Protestations of Sir Phelim O Neale Muskerry and Mackguire at the time of their deaths denying that they knew of any Commission of the King 's for raising or countenancing that Irish Insurrection when if they had owned it they might have saved their Lives and Estates and the Regicides could not mention it in their Charge at his Trial be a sufficient Evidence of the King's Innocency yet his Majesty's frequent Asseverations solemn Imprecations and dying Protestations make it past doubt that Marquess Antrim had not a Commission from Charles the First for raising or encouraging that bloody War wherein Two hundred thousand Protestants were murdered When I first read this Relation of Mr. Baxter's it called to my mind that which the present Bishop of Worcester said concerning him That he would die leaving his sting in the wounds of the Church which he hath verifed in the History of his Life And I may add That he hath poured forth the very bottom of his Gaul to blacken the Memory of the Royal Martyr I cannot therefore let it pass without some Remarks upon it And first I considered what Authority he had for this Report and I found in the Margine that he quoted only a Pamphlet called Murther will out which was a scurrilous Libel written as is believed by the infamous Ludlow who was one of the King's Judges Now to give some colour to this Pamphlet Mr. Baxter bestows Notes of Admiration as that it is of great remark and put him into Amazement and he seems to wonder how he should forget it in his former Relation of that War The Substance of the Relation is That Antrim's Estate being sequestred when Charles the Second was restored and that having applied himself to Ormond and the Council in Ireland they judged against him as a Rebel so that in all probability he had no Order or Commission from Charles the First to produce but coming into England he pleads to Charles the Second that he had his Father's Consent and Authority For proof whereof the King referred his Cause to some of his Privy Council who on Examination found that he had his Fathers the King's Consent But none besides Mr. Baxter says the Letters were a Commission for the first rising and probably the Plea which Antrim then made was grounded upon some Order which he had received from Charles the First while confined or from King Charles the Second whilst he was yet but Prince of
as their Leaders with their united Force beset him and railed lowdly against him yet durst not Attack him but evaded his weighty Arguments And Mr. Sylvester in his Preface tells us That the present Archbishop the Bishops of Worcester and Ely their greatest Antagonists were expresly mentioned by Mr. Baxter as Persons greatly admired and highly valued by him and of their readiness to serve the Publick Interest both Civil and Religious he doubted not Yet such is the Hypocrisie of these Men that they will openly Scandalize and Defame such Persons for the Edification of their Party whom they inwardly approve of and admire for their Personal Vertues and constant Endeavours to serve the Publick Interest of Church and State And though I despair of meriting their good Opinion by what I have done yet I have learnt to care less for their Calumnies and Reproaches which though plentifully and with great vehemence thrown out will not stick And now my Lord begging your pardon for this tedious Address and too confident Interruption of your more important Affairs I bless the good Providence of Almighty God who under Christ the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls hath placed me under the Tuition and Patronage of a Person of such Primitive Courage and undaunted Resolution as hath constantly and successfully stem'd that Spring-Tide of Popery and Socianism which was violently overflowing of us and I trust will as effectually withstand those raging Waves of Fanaticism which so impetuously assault the Ark of God on every side that we being delivered from the Hand of all our Enemies may serve God with one Consent in Righteousness and Holiness all the Days of our Life is the earnest Prayer of Your Lordships Dutiful and Devoted Servant Tho. Long. Exon Jan. 1. 1696. THE Introduction I Think it reasonable to give the Reader an Account how I became obliged to ingage in this troublesome Adventure and for his Satisfaction and my own Justification I shall declare the first occasion of my Contest with Mr. Baxter It is generally known how many Books Mr. Baxter hath written to justifie that Separation which he and others of his Perswasion had printed some of which he called elaborate and unconfutable and as another Goliah despised all the Hosts of Israel whoever appeared against him was presently born down with such a Flood of Gaul and bitter Language whereof he had an inexhaustible store that it was enough to affright any considerate Man from approaching near him he was resolved to have the last word to every Opposer and his word was as Law and Gospel to all his Party These Considerations occasioned me to think of dealing with Mr. Baxter in some other Method and having read something and heard more of his ingaging in our late War in which he continued well-nigh from the beginning to the end about 71 years and had been present at most of the great Fights and Sieges in that war as you will find hereafter from his own relation I resolved to be at some pains to trace his progress throughout the War and because I wanted opportunity to enquire it from others and partly because I might neither be truly or fully informed either from some of the Party with whom he was or the Party against whom he was ingaged I thought it much more safe and unquestionable to relate such of his Actions and his Principles and Reasons on which he acted as I could glean up from his own undoubted Writings which being done though I now perceive I were in the dark as to many other considerable Passages recorded by himself in his Life at large I caused my Collections to be printed in the Year 1682. while Mr. Baxter was living upon which he Reflects as followeth Mr. Long of Exeter if Fame misreport not the anonimous Author wrote so fierce a Book to prove me out of my own Writings to be one of the worst Men living on Earth full of Falshoods and râ—…fred Lines and half Sentences that I never saw the like of it and being overwhelmed with work and weakness and pains and having least zeal to defend a Person so bad as I know my self to be I yet never answered him it being none of the matter in Controversie whether I be good or bad God be merciful to me a sinner P. 188. of his Life Answ I will not gainsay his Conjecture of the Author of the Book in question which was intituled The second Part of the unreasonableness of Separation which was printed 1682. The Book could not seem to be so fierce being an account of his own Relations concerning his Actions and Writings which if they represent him to be one of the worst Men living upon Earth I could not help that Mr. Baxter himself in his History of Bishops pleads for his justification That he made use of their own words In the Preface to that Book he says in a Parenthesis That the Book was full of Falshoods retracted Lines and half Sentences but that he never answer'd it which is very strange seeing he lived above 9 years after he had perused the Book in which interval he wrote several large Treatises which less concerned him than that wherein he says he was so much mis-represented And in all probability if the Book which he reflects on had been so full of Falshoods retracted Lines and half Sentences he might during that interval have found leisure enough to have given some Instances of what he pretended against with his Plea of being overwhelmed with work weakness and pains appears to be but a vain Excuse for he had zeal enough to defend himself against several others that charged him with much lesser Miscarriages And it was very considerable to the Matter in Controversie whether the Person so fiercely accused were good or bad whether he were an honest and peaceable Man one wholly devoted to serve a private interest against the publick welfare Mr. Baxter thought this a Reason why so many adhered to the Parliament That though the King had the Cause the Parliament had the better Men Mr. Baxter's Life p. 37. For my part I should have been extreamly confounded if either Mr. Baxter whilst he was living or any one since his death could have discovered an hundredth part of that Fierceness Falshood or imperfect Sentences in my Book which Dr. Maurice hath observed in Mr. Baxter's Church History of Bishops wherein he strikes at Christianity it self by the Reproaches which he casts on the Primitive Bishops calling them A few turbulent Spirits p. 46. silencing and destroying Prelates p. 73. proud contentious ambitious and hereticating Bishops p. 77. firebrands of the world p. 98. merciless furious and confounders of Churches p. 183. Nor doth he deal more mercifully with our Diocesan Bishops whom he calls Silencing damning Prelates Bryars and Thorns and Military Instruments of the Devil Though in a good mood he saith That none of the Bishops had silenced them unless by voting as Peers in the House of Lords for the
he doth by the whole Order of Church Governours that he may make ours the more odious He says as in divers places p. 252. 253. of Saints Rest That the first rage of the Prelates in silencing as learned able Ministers and incessantly persecuting as godly Christians as the World enjoyed was just before the War begun increased an hundred fold P. 251. As I am certain by sight and sense that the extirpation of Piety was the then great design which so far prevailed that very many of the most able Ministers were silenced Lectures and Evening Sermons on the Lord's-day suppressed Christians imprison'd dismembred and banished He speaks as if it were done by Heathen for no other cause but as being Christians That it was as much at least as a mans Estate was worth to hear a Sermon abroad when he had none or worse at home to meet for Prayer or any other godly Exercise and that it was a matter of Credit and a way to Preferment to Revile and be Enemies to those that were most Conscientious and every where safer to be a Drunkard or an Adulterer than a painful Christian and that multitudes of Humane Ceremonies took place when the Worship of Christ's Institution was cast out besides the slavery that invaded us in Civil respects So I am most certain that this was the Work which we took up Arms to resist and those were the Offenders whom we endeavour to offend You see Mr. Baxter is armed with Prejudice and Zeal Cap-a-peé for a War wherein to resist his Superiours under a pretence of Reformation though to that Resistance the Word of God threatens Damnation Yet Mr. Baxter p. 271. says As I cannot yet perceive but that we undertook our Defence upon warrantable grounds so I am most certain God hath wonderfully appeared through the whole Success was the great Argument of which p. 250. Having been an Eye-witness of a very great part of the eminent Providences from the first of the War I have plainly seen something above the common Course of Nature in almost every Fight that I have beheld The War saith Mr. Baxter was begun in our Streets before the King or Parliament had any Armies between the Puritans and drunken Rabble that hated the Parliaments Reformation and so I was forced to be gone before the Wars And a Man that was more pious and devout than the Multitude could not live by them in most places but were forced into Garrisons and Arms to save their Lives p. 252. of Saints Rest i.e. in plain English Mr. Baxter with the other Reformers put themselves into Arms and seized the King's Forts making them Garisons against the King I desire the Reader to reflect on this part of the Narrative Mr. Baxter often accuseth the Conforming Clergy with deliberate Lying and Perjury What was it in Mr. Baxter being prejudiced against the Bishops at Nineteen yea against Bishop Morton at Fourteen being familiar with Non-conformist Ministers and knowing their Minds yet to submit to Episcopal Ordination and Subscribe and Swear to obey the Bishop in licitis honestis and presently omit the Cross and Surplice and dispute openly against Bishops and prosecute and defend the War against the King against the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and when his taking of Holy Orders seems to be for no other end but to inable him to do the more mischief Was not this to be deliberately perjured But to go on he says in cold blood His engaging in that War was the greatest outward Service that ever he performed to God That Neutrality had been sinful and to have been against the Parliament in that Cause had been Treachery p. 481. of H.C.W. And p. 480. If I had known that the Parliament in that Cause had been the beginners and in most fault yet the ruine of our Trustees is a punishment greater than any fault of theirs though it were the cutting off his Head against a King can deserve and that their faults cannot disoblige me from defending the Commonwealth I knew the King had all his Power for the Common Good and none against it and therefore that no Cause can warrant him to make the Commonwealth the Party which he shall exercise Hostility against and that War against the Parliament especially by such an Army in such a Cause is Hostility against them and so against the Commonwealth All this seemed plain to me and especially when I knew how things went before who were the Agents how they were minded and what were their purposes against the People Would not this Man have made a better Solicitor against the Royal Martyr than Cooke who said he was another Solomon for his parts Did Cromwel or Bradshaw ever object such things against him as Mr. Baxter hath done Who could think that Mr. Baxter who pretends for so much Peace was ever a Man of such a Temper With what heart could he be an Eye-witness of the Humane Butcheries that were made in almost every Fight from the beginning of the War or with what Face could he say there appeared more of Christ's Interest on the one side than on the other as in the first occasion so in the Prosecution p. 252. of Saints Rest. And again Whatever the end may prove I am sure I have seen the Lord in the means p. 251. And That as we undertook our Defence on warrantable grounds so I am most certain God hath wonderfully appeared through the whole ibid. He says in the Epistle he was wonderfully rescued from many dangers in four years Wars and after many tedious nights and days and many doleful sights and tidings he and many of his Kederminsters whom he it seems had led on to the War were returned in peace that he was twenty several times delivered when he was near to death O the sad and heart-piercing Spectacles says he p. 115. that mine eyes have seen in four years space In this Fight a Friend fall down by me from another a precious Christian brought home wounded or dead precious Christians no doubt that died in such a horrid Rebellion scarce a Month scarce a Week without the sight or noise of Blood Surely there is none of this in Heaven our eyes shall then be filled no more nor our hearts pierced with such Fights as at Worcester Edge-hill Newbury Nantwich Montgomery Horn-Castle Naseby Langport c. it seems he was present in these Fights For he adds Mine eyes shall never more behold the Earth covered with the Carcasses of the slain And he saith He had travelled over the most part of England to pursue the War Illi robor aes triplex circum praecordia Mr. Baxter says the War began first in their Streets at Kederminster between those that would have pull'd down Painted-glass and Pictures and the People that opposed them which Parties were so violent against each oother that he was forc't to fly for his Safety And having been a while at Bridge-North 〈◊〉 Parties of the King's Soldiers
he be impartial a lover of peace and not ingaged in a faction a sober calm considerate man not one that is passionately rash that shews a malignant spirit one that extenuates or denies all the good that was in his Adversaries and fastneth on them all the Odium he can without proof one that is not deeply ingaged in a party one that is of manifest honâ—… 〈◊〉 conscience c. For want of which qualifications it is truly observed by Dr. Maurice that as his Church History was designed to disgrace Diocesan Bishops so the Preface looks as if it were intended to disgrace his History Nor must we believe our Senses if we must believe that they were Episcopal men that begun the late War when the contrary appears by many other acknowledged Proofs and continued visible Effects related by Mr. Baxter himself The Parliament having had long and late experience how troublesome and implacable such as Mr. Baxter were proceeded to the establishment of the Church and publick Worship excluding none but such as would exclude themselves And as a signal of his Majesty's impartial favour he offered Bishopricks to three Deanries to two or three more and other Dignities were given to several sober Persons that had been of another Perswasion One Bishoprick was accepted one which I suppose was Mr. Baxter refused it See p. 134. of First Plea His reason I suppose was the same that he gave for not reading Common Prayer p. 105. of Sacr. Desert Should the Ministers that have suffered so long but use any part of the Liturgy and Scripture Forms though without any motive but the pleasing of God and the Churches good it seems these Motives would not prevail for this Reason what muttering and censuring would there be against them This bold Man was afraid of the People And in truth he has made it morally impossible for him to accept a Bishoprick having often declared by word and published it in print That the Office of a Bishop as exercised in the Church of England was Antichristian And saith in his Method for peace of Conscience p. 389. We had taken down the superfluous honour of Bishops as Antichristian upon which N.B. the Devil set them to cry down also as Antichristian Tythes Maintenance Priests and Ministers And moreover that the return of such Men would be a great Plague to the Land in Postser to the True Catholick p. 335. And Mr. Baxter knows there is an ancient Canon That a man that had his hand in blood might not be a Bishop See p. 213. of his History And p. 36. A Government which gratifieth the Devil and wicked Men. And now he begins to defame the Laws as he had formerly done the Liturgy and not having other means he discovers his impotent malice in writing a Prognostication dated when by the King's Commission we in vain treated for Concord 1661. He observed p. 40. That the Sectarian Spirit was like Gunpowder ready to take fire on such injuries And Mr. Baxter with his Prognostication like Guy Faux with his Dark Lanthorn is ready for the Exploit and sorry only that it is not done He intimates the Clergy to be proud worldly covetous domineering malignant lazy the plague of the world troublers of Princes dividers of Churches that will being Hypocrites as to Christianity and Godliness like Judas that loved the Bag better than Christ make themselves a Religion consisting of meer Corps and the dead Image of true Religion See p. 12 13. He cries out of New Impositions Subscriptions and Oaths words and Actions which they believe to be against God's Word Doth not this aim directly at the Laws P. 14. he says Their Sufferings will make many otherwise sober Ministers too impatient and to give their Tongues leave to take down the Honour of the Clergy And this will stir up the People and make them pray for the downfal of the Clergy which they take to be Enemies of God and Godliness and that to speak easily or charitably of such Men is but to be lukewarm and indifferent between GOD AND THE DEVIL p. 20. Some of the Non-conformist Ministers will think these Passions of the People needful to check the sierceness of the Afflictors Some of the more injudicious hot-brain'd sort who are the greatest number will put them on and make them believe that all Communion with any Conforming Ministers or Parish Churches is unlawful and that they are all Temporizers and Betrayers of Truth and Purity that communicate with them and carry about among themselves false Reports and Slanders because they will think that the upholding of their Cause which they think is God's doth need the suppression of these mens Credit and Reputations p. 25 26. The godly and peaceable Conformists will get the love of the sober by their Doctrine and Lives but will be despised by the Sectaries because they conform and will be separated by the proud and persecuting Clergy as leaning to the Dissenters and thereupon will be under continual Jealousies and Rebukes And perhaps new Points of Conformity shall be devised to be imposed on them which it is known their Consciences are against that so they also may be forced to be Non-conformists because secret Enemies are more dangerous than open Foes and so part of them will turn downright Non-conformists and the other part will live in displeasure till they see an opportunity to shew it And these are the likeliest to cross and weaken the worldly persecuting Clergy This is such a Prognostication as that for which Mr. Baxter observes Mr. Vdal was condemned in Queen Elizabeth's Reign in an Assize-Sermon on Psal 2. And it is no otherwise a Prognostication than Astrologers observe of Blazing-stars they do irritate and dispose the Humours and Spirits of Men to disorderly Actions to which the event shews that this Prognostication and Mr. Baxter's influence on the People hath had a malign Aspect not unlike the Prophesie of Nostredamus's Son That a certain great City should be burnt and to fulfil his Prophesie did procure it to be set on fire My next Remark is on Mr. Baxter's behaviour at Kedderminster where the Bishop of Worcester publickly declared That he made the People believe that it was lawful for them to take up Arms against the King and suffered or made them to scruple at those things which were lawful which he himself confesseth to be lawful and that he himself heard him to maintain such a Position as was destructive to the Legislative Power both of both of God and Man viz. That the enjoyning of things lawful by lawful Authority if they might by accident be the cause of sin was sinful This was the chiefest Argument urged against Kneeling c. by Mr. Baxter See the Bishops Letter p. 4. and 6. Now though the known integrity of the Bishop is enough to make all good Men believe this Relation yet the consideration of the Premises puts the truth of it beyond all doubt or exception Was this behaviour
of them which the Collector hath not done by him The best is the words of such a scandalous Person will not be taken as a blot And I desire my conforming Brethren not to be troubled at the Railings or Reproaches of this Zealot and that they would forbear troubling him who as he saith hath been a dying Man almost these forty years And though I never spake nor thought half so ill of him as he hath recorded of himself yet I shall charitably hope and pray That if he live to see himself in this his own Glass he will yet at last repent of those Sins which he cannot but condemn as very heinous and dangerous in the sight of God and Man I shall be so charitable as to propose a method to ease him from one great fear Mr. Baxter seems much troubled to think that his Adversaries may have the last word of him Now I perceive that Mr. Hicringle by opposing the Bishop of Worcester hath ingratiated himself with Mr. Baxter Preface to Second Defence of whom he doth not come much short in confident boasting of himself It is a difficult matter to infuse to him the Art of Defining and Distinguishing by which Mr. Baxter is able to evade any Argument But this defect may be supplied if Mr. Baxter bequeath him his Eighty Books and enjoyn him especially to study his Arguments for Separation and the heinous sins of Conformity which he shall find often repeated and to apply them on all occasions But let him not do as in his Naked Truth conceal the Name of his Benefactor but quote him totidem verbis and so Mr. Baxter may have the last word as long as the Faction continueth But if this fear be thus removed I question whether a greater will not follow viz. of being like Jeroboam who having set up Calves at Dan and Bethel in opposition to the established Worship is recorded to have made Israel to sin not in his life-time only but long after his death and how dreadful the final Sentence of such a one may be I commend to Mr. Baxter's most serious Meditations But if Mr. Baxter who so solemnly cites others to Judgment continueth to go on impenitently to that dreadful day I shall yet pray for him as he doth for the Conformists Lord have mercy on him And because I doubt not but his Friends and Disciples will raise a Monument to perpetuate the Memory of their Master I shall commend this Characteristical epitaph Hic jacet RICHARDUS BAXTER Theologus Armatus Loiolita Reformatus Haeresiarcha Aerianus Schismaticorum Antisignanus Cujus pruritus disputandi peperit Scriptitandi Cacoethes nutrivit Praedicandi zelus intemperatus maturavir ECCLESIAE SCABIEM Qui dissentitab iis quibuscum consentitmaximè Tum sibi cùm aliis Nonconformis Praeteritis praesentibus futuris Regum Episcoporum Juratus Hostis Ipsumque Rebellium Solennae foedus Qui natus erat per Septuaginta Annos Et Octoginta Libros Ad perturbandas Regni Respublicas Et ad bis perdendam Ecclesiam Anglicanan Magnis tamen excidit ausis Deo Gratias REFLECTIONS ON Some Material Passages First concerning the Marquess Antrim MR. Baxter had related in his Penitent Confession N. 22. That he had read the King's Letter in Spain to the Pope promising to venture Crown and Life for the Union of Christian Churches including the Roman and whether it be true as the Scots say That the King put the Broad Seal to a Commission for the Irish Rebellion he determines not but it 's past doubt that the Marquess of Antrim had his Commission if Mr. Baxter means that he had a Commission for the Irish Rebellion in the first Insurrection yet he himself says That if a Subject had seen such a Commission he was bound not to believe that the King was the Authour of it p. 16. of second Plea for Peace What ground then had he for his confidence that Sir Philem O Neale had such a Commission as was boasted of But the Cheat was undeniably proved but Antrim's Commission was not heard of till after the end of the War and then there appeared no Evidence of it nor do we find it mentioned in any History of that War I shall therefore set before the Reader Mr. Baxter's Relation of that pretended Commission and then shew that his presumption could have no other ground but his vile Opinion that the Royal Martyr was a Papist as he maliciously represents him or from the Relation of Ludlow or some other of the Regicides in that Scandalous Pamphlet which is Mr. Baxter's chief Authority called Murder will out That I may clear the Prejudice of such Readers as are too ready to give Credit to this Relation of Mr. Baxter I desire them to take notice that this Commission to Antrim is pretended to be granted to authorize that Insurrection of the Irish wherein Two hundred-thousand Protestants were massacred which if it had been true how vainly and foolishly did Sir Phelim O Neale act in Counterfeiting another Commission and pleading that to countenance their Rebellion if they had an Authentick one Had Antrim such a Commission and never made it known to Sir Phelim O Neale or to the Lord Muskerry and Mackguire Or if these Men had known of such a Commission would not they or one of them at least have confessed it when their Lives and Estates were offered them upon that Condition before their Execution And did not all three deny that they knew of any Commission from the King or that he was privy to their Rising How then is Mr. Baxter past doubt that the Marquess of Antrim had that King's Commission which he aggravates as followeth I had forgotten one Passage in the former War of great remark which put me into an amazement Part 3. of Mr. Baxter's Life p. 83. The Duke of Ormond and Council had the Cause of the Marquess of Antrim before them who had been one of the Irish Rebels in the beginning of that War when two hundred thousand Protestants were murdered His Estate being sequestred he sought Restitution of it when Charles the Second was restored Ormond and the Council judged against him as one of the Rebels He brought his Cause over to the King and affirmed that what he did was by his Father's Consent and Authority The King referred it to some worthy Members of his Privy Council to examine what he had to show Vpon Examination they reported that they found that he had the King's Consent or Letter of Instructions for what he did which amazed many Hereupon his Majesty Charles the Second wrote to the Duke of Ormond and Council to restore his Estate because it appeared that what he did was by his Father's Order or Consent Whereupon the Parliaments old Adherents grew more confident than ever of the righteousness of their Wars And the very Destroyers of the King whom the first Parliamentarians called Rebels did presume also to justifie their Cause and said That the Law