Well-wishers to your Souls everlasting Happiness though we must with equal Pity and Detestation Declare against your Designs and Way A WORD for GOD. THe wise God that teacheth the fowls of Heaven to know their appointed times who directs his peoples work in Truth hath we hope Ier. 8.7 directed us after a long time of silence and carnest seeking the Lord to express and declare what we sinde in our consciences touching the transaction of this season and though some may think as we our selves have been tempted to think That this is a time wherein the prudent should hold his peace it being such an evil time that men are made Offenders yea Traytors for Words yet considring how the Lords Remembrancers should not keep silence Ier. 20.9 and fearing that if we should altogether hold our peace at such a time as this as Mordecai said to Hester Deliverance would come another way Isa 62.6 and we could expect no share in the inlargement of Gods people or safety in the day of trouble Hest 4.14 Withal sinding how Self would prompt us like Issachar to see that rest is good and outward prosperity pleasant Gen. 49. â—5 and how the same temptations which we sinde and fear many of our dear Brethren to be under have set upon some of us as to have mens persons in admiration because of advantage and by good words fair speeches and promises to be deceived and drawn away in simplicity Inde 16 especially by the example of some eminent in en like Peter insomuch that many Barnaba's are carried away with their dissimulation Rom. 16 18. and aswel Ministers as Military men willing to serve the King for his work and wages 2 Sam. 15.7 However seeing every man must give an accompt unto God for himself we have examined what particular duty was incumbent upon us Gal. 2.13 and how in faithfulness towards God and meekness towards Men 2 Chron 4.23 we should perform the same Moreover considering how the Saints did formerly bear their testimony not loving their lives unto the death and by the blood of the Lamb and their testimony did overcome Rom. 14.12 and how God did heretofore stir up some of his people both in England and Scotland to bear witness to the Truth and ways of God Rev. 12 7. against the ways and wickedness of Men as a Forlorn-hope though they were in comparison but a few Numb 14.6 7 8 9. like Joshua and Caleb two of twelve or li the two Witnesses a small yet suffcient number Observing also That there are present Truths and every work being beautiful in its season Rev. 11 3. as in the begining of the late Wars was the witnessing against the Book of Common Prayer Surplice Cross in Baptism 2 Pet. 1 12. and other Ceremonies being Superstitious things imposed by the Bishops and against Ship-Money Monopolies c Civil things imposed formerly by the King All which were afterwards declared protested and covenanted against which Protestation and Covenant are fresh in the memories and pressing the Consciences of some of us even unto this day besides the Engagement and the several Acts of Parliament made against Monarchy or Kingly Government All which now seem to be forgotten or neglected And those that spake or writ in defence of such things as the Parliament Army and the Godly people in the three Nations approved asserted and purchased at a dear rate are now accounted Fanatick Fools Disturbers of Civil State and Intermedlers in things that concern them not under which notion many suffer Imprisonment and other tryals as Evil-doers from those men who now build what they did once destroy and justifie what they did once condemn Aug. 1. 1650. p. 11 12 Witness their own Writings particularly The Declaratio of the Officers and Soldiers of the English Army whereof the Lord Cromwel was General The words whereof are as followeth We are perswaded in our Consciences That the late King and His Monarchy was one of the ten Horns of the Beast spoken of Rev. 17.13 c. And that we were called forth by the Lord to be instrumental to bring about that which was our continual prayer unto God viz. The destruction of Antichrist and the deliverance of his Church and people And upon this single accompt we ingaged not knowing the deep Policies of worldly States-men and have ever since hazarded our lives in the high places of the field where we have seen many wonders of the Lord against all the Opposers of the work of Iesus Christ whom we have all along seen going with us and making our way plain before us And having these things singly in our eye namely The destruction of Antichrist The advancement of the Kingdom of Christ The deliverance of his Church and the establishment thereof in the use of his Ordinances in Purity according to his Word and the just Civil Liberties of English mem These with many other expressions both in the Declaration and several other Papers of the Army Letters of the General cited both in the Declaration of the Members of several Churches and Petitions of the three Colonels Sanders Okey Allured besides several other Papers which might be instanced in which we leave to all unbyassed men to consider and compare with actions done by the sarne men since that time But in pursuance of our duty to God our fellow Members and Countrey-men as we are Christians having a right to the things of Christ and as we are men having a right to our Native Priviledges We do Declare our real Apprehensions and Consciences which to the great grief of some of us we have so long concealed waiting if God might by his providence alter our mindes I. That the Sins and present condition of this Nation holds paralel in many things with the old Israelites after the mighty wonders of God shewed unto them in their great deliverance out of Egypt For instance Psal 106.13 They and we have soon forgot God our Savior and the great works which he did we have not set our hearts aright and our Spirits have not been stedfast with God but have gone back and dealt treacherously Psa 78.9.10 and turned aside like a deceitful Bowe and not trusting to his salvation have provoked the Lord to anger with our invention Ps 106.28 29. so that men have dominion over our bodies and over our cattel at their pleasure 〈…〉 37. And we are in great distress for this is a day of trouble and of blasphemy for the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth II. That blessed Cause and those noble Principles propounded and prosecuted by the old Parliament and the Good people of this Nation in the maintaining of which God did miraculously appear are now altogether laid aside and lost and another Cause and Interest quite contrary as we conceive espoused and maintained for then the Advancement of
prevail you may come forth to convince them and save us whereas in that blinde way in which you are you can do nothing but wound provoke build up Wrath harden and strengthen Sin amongst us As it is not my intent to condemn you so not to justifie them that you condemn The whole world cryes out against them I have not Love enough to wipe off all that is charg'd upon them they must therefore patiently bear their Reproach till God bring sorth their Righteousness I fear they are guilty it may be of more than you can accuse them of but certainly not of all you accuse them of It s a small thing to be judg'd of man If they have Innocency at home 't will make them think so Man judges by appearance God searches the heart They are upon their Tryal and will in time shew what is in them All that I desire for them is That they may not be disturb'd in their Work which is To Protect as in Peace and Safety till God bring forth some more excellent Glory amongst us They are a People that profess the Name of God and have appealâ—d to him and do daily 'T is much my minde That they might stand against Mans violence and that God would be pleas'd to judge their Cause himself To his Justice and Mercy let us leave them Friends Bear with me I am offended at them with you and at you with them and most of all at my self I 〈◊〉 â—â—stifie my self in what I do but am in fear lest while I â—â—â—â—rpose I may be guilty of greater Folly than either of you As I cannot justifie my self so can I not condemn my self as guilty of any known Evil in it for that Fear of the Lord that makes me doubt all my Actions makes me likewise careful to avoid Evil. What I offer to you is the frame of my Spirit concerning publick Transactions and the Observations that I have made upon things while I have been a Spectator Thus far I may commend them to you That what I administer to you if you can receive it will be more profitable and pleasant to you than that Spirit in which you act All that I desire of you is but that you would lay aside Wrath malice c. which darken the minde and that you would with Meekness admit them to a friendly and ingenuous Consideration If these Animadversions may but a little ease your troubled Spirits temper and alay your Anger 't will be an ease to you and a pleasure to Your unknown Friend The LETTER and PAPER inclosed Subscribed by certain Gentlemen and others in WALES and sent to His Highness viz. A WORD FOR GOD OR A Testimony on Truths behalf from several Churches and divers hundreds of Christians in Wales and some sew adjacent against Wickedness in High places With a Letter to the Lord General CROMWEL Both first presented to his own hands and now published for further Information Job 36.1 Suffer me a little and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on Gods behalf Isa 43.8 9. Fear ye not neither be afraid have not I told thee from that time and have declared it ye are then my witnesses Is there a God besides me Yea there is no God I know not any They that make a graven image are all of them vanity and their delectable things shall not profit and they are their own witnesses they see not nor know that they may be ashamed To OLIVER CROMWEL Captain General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland SIR Forasmuch as you have caused great searchings of heart and Divisions among many of Gods people by a sudden strange and unexpected Alteration of Government and other Actions to the great astonishment of those who knew your former publick Resolutions and Declarations considering also how contrary to foregoing Acts and Engagements you have taken upon you a Power by which you are utterly disenabled and if there were in you a heart to prosecate the good things covenanted and contended for with so many great hazards and the effusion of so much precious blood and by reason whereof you are become justly suspected in your Ends in time past and Actions for future to very many of those of whose Affections and faithful Services you have injoyed no small share in all the difficult Passages and Enterprizes of the late War These things considered by us as we know they are by many Churches and Saints and there being a deep sence upon our Spirits of the Odium under which the Name of Christ his Cause People and Ways do lie as it were buried as also of the exceeding Contempt which the wonderful and excellent Operations of God are brought into even those eminent Wonders which the Nations have been Spectators and Witnesses of and wherein your hands have been partly ingaged in We cannot after much serious consideration and seeking of the Lord many of us both together and apart but present to your hands the ensuing Testimony which however you may look thereon is no more than Necessity exacts from us for the clearing of our own souls from guilt and discharging of our duty to God and Men. Therefore we earnestly wish you to peruse and weigh it as in the sight of God with a calm and Christian-like Spirit and harden not your neck against the Truth as you will answer it to the great Judge before whose impartial Tribunal you as well as we shall be very shortly cited to give an account of things done in the body whether good or evil where the true Motives and Ends of all your Actions will be evident where no Apologie will be accepted of for your slighting and blaspheming of the Spirit of God nor for the hard measure you give his people by Reproaches Imprisonments and other Oppressions and where Pride Luxury Lasciviousness and Changing of Principles and forsaking the good ways of Justice and Holiness will not have the smalleft rag of pretence to hide them from the eyes of the Judge Which things whatsoever you say for your self are even at present to be read in your forehead and have produced most sad effects every where Especially 1 in filling of the Saints hearts and faces with an inexpressible grief and shame and 2 the stopping at least the strong current of their prayers which was once for you if not the turning thereof directly against you To these we might adde 3 the hardning of wicked men yea the refreshing and justifying of them in their evil doings and speakings against the Gospel Name and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ And lastly Gods signal withdrawing from you and your Designs Oh that then you would lie down in the dust and acknowledge your Iniquity and return unto the Lord by unfeigned Repentance doing your first work and that you would make haste to do so lest Gods fury break forth like fire upon you and there be no quenching of it This would rejoyce us much as being real
not to destroy but to save But poor Israel that needs so many Rods needs some Pity too ver 17. Him that escapeth the Sword of Hazael shall Iehu stay and him that escapeth the Sword of Iehu shall Elisha slay Slain and slain yet at last he that saves slays most slays himself to slay Self Death and Enmity Yet saith God ver 18. I have left me seven thousand in Israel the knees that have not bowed unto Baal c. A compleat number a sufficient Army to carry on his work These are reserv'd to me kept by God in secret whose hearts were inwardly and truly reserv'd to the Lord so safe that they could not depart from him Now in all this it appears That this Man of God was in a dark Spirit for the present in a high discontent for he thought he had been f r God but was not Those things wherein he had been exercis'd he over-valued them and his Ministry with them for God was not in them but in the still voice He was much out also concerning Israel he thought they had been utterly lost no good lest amongst them but was seven thousand short in his measure Lest you think I have misrepresented this Case of Elijah you shall see it censured in the Gospel Rom. 11.1 Hath G d cast away his people God forbid Some that measure things by their own private and separated Spirit think he hath but God forbid that there should be no more Mercy nor Patience in God than there is in the best of men ver 2. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias how he makes intercession against Israel saying ver 3. Lord they have killed thy Prophets digged down thy Altars and I am left alone He though a Prophet was in a great error in stead of interceding for he intercedes against Israel it mindes me of a Clause in this Letter The strong current of their Prayers which was once for you the turning thereof against you But this is not Prophet-like 't is rather like the worst malignant Spirit like the Accuser And observe That such declaring against Israels sin is plain interceding against them 't is indeed to be instant and earnest for their destruction This I desire the Subscribers to mark And this Judgment made upon some evil actions and outward appearance by man darkned with passion was very far from God and the Election of his Grace A humane and Legal Spirit under a Covenant of Works provok'd into Enmity is the nature of this Spirit and so Paul brings it in here whatever it pretended to be zeal for God yet 't was against God himself and against the liberty of his Election and the Freeness of his Grace I 'll but apply the words of the Apostle ver 5. Even so then at this time also c. It may be you will deny the Application of Elijahs Case to yours and will not admit your Adversaries to be Israel and I may also deny you to minister in the Holiness Power Truth and Evidence that Elijah ministred in Therefore I chuse rather to wave the paralel onely let this Case of Elijah be consider'd absolutely by it self and it doth sufficiently evince these Conclusions I 'T is very common for humane Passion to intrude it self into Gods service yea 't is very ambitious of being his Attorney to speak for God and while he seems to advance God 't is to prefer it self For who would not be on his side where he may Spoil Plunder Revenge freely II. If God be but angry a little he will not want some to help it forward he needs not now the Devil nor Egypt or Babylon to minister Wrath he may finde enough Ministers or Prophets in Israel will sue for the imployment specially if it be against Iob he will sinde Religious Friends that will handle him cruelly enough III. That if Man be imployed in any Ministry wherein there seems to be any light or power as coming from God he is apt to magnifie it above measure and to account of it as God himself to expect the same Honor and Subjection that is due to the Lord though it be but a Whiffler one that goes before to make way for him IV. If this Ministry obtain not and his way be refus'd he is apt to be highly displeas'd and be foolishly angry beyond all reason though all the works of man are to vanish and to give place to that which is perfect yet man commonly is so angry that he will not out-live his Ministry V. But foolishly adhering to his Ministry though it be of Sin and Condemnation when God repents of his anger as ordinarily he doth he over-eagerly ingaging himself is left behinde and so lost in it Fleshly Zeal is of a very slight and combustible nature and if it get into the fire of Gods anger against Sin rarely comes off but over-acting in it is commonly scorch'd and burnt up by it and so may happily get to Heaven in a fiery chariot as Elijah did but is altogether unfit for any saving or healing work When Mans Enmity and Passion hath gotten into Gods Name and Cause if God should not withhold Spirit and Power from it and render it vain it would make mad work destroy all but themselves and therfore there is a necessity of turning it home upon it self that it may hurt none but it self which is a good and just end of it These things well consider'd might make men afraid to intermeddle with Divine displeasure against others Sins in which men are ordinarily so busie as if there were no other Religion But sure there is a more excellent way When God was very angry and justly with Israel Exod. 32.10 Let me alone says he to Moses that my wrath may wax hot against them this was a good Spirit to interpose and to offer to be blotted out of the book of God ver 32. rather than God should destroy his people Thus Christ doth for us all he is willing to become a sinner with us and there suffer the displeasure of God as the worst of sinners rather than suffer the wrath of God to break forth upon us If he should take part with God against sinners what would become of you If he be an Advocate for God and his Justice and not for Transgressors alas how miserable were we all This might a little incline mens hearts and bend them towards thoughts of Love Pity and interceding for others though transgressors You superscribe your Letter To Oliver Cromwel Captain General of all the Forces of England Scotland and Ireland This Title is a fair one and so different from that which is ordinarily given him that it cannot escape my Animadversions and it contains in it the head of the Quarrel Whether Captain General of the Forces of England Scotland and Ireland or Protector of the Commonwealth of England c. If we could finde one the true nature and inward reason of both these we might clear your understandings
and so in time compose the difference I shall a little consider the Person and then his Place or Title 'T is better dealing with Things than Persons they are so nice and curious that a man can hardly handle them without offending especially if they be Great ones for there is a double temptation attends one in it 1. To Flattery to please the Court and 2. Of Detraction to please the People However this Person the Protector being the chief subject of the Letter and Paper I cannot avoid speaking my Apprehensions of him and being sensible of some ingenuity and equality of minde in it I shall do it without Apologie I shall onely give you my Observation of his Original what he was before these times and then what share he hath had in these late publick Transactions I. First this great Man is risen from a very low and an afflicted condition one that hath suffer'd very great troubles of soul lying a long time under sore terrors and temptations and at the same time in a very low condition for outward things in this School of Afflictions he was kept till he had learned the Lesson of the Cross till his Will was broken into Submission to the Will of God c. Religion that is thus laid into the soul with the hammer and fire is ordinarily more solid more useful than what comes in onely by Light into the Understanding I have had opportunity to measure as well as I was able most men that have appear'd in any eminency in these times and have always observ'd his Spirit as to the active or practical part of Religion as through as full as sound and as hearty in it as any yea more it may be what I have now to say is but my Fancy but take it amongst other things That the time of his extreme suffering was when this Cause of Religion in which we are now ingaged was at its lowest ebb and that when he came forth into comfort of Spirit and inlargement of estate Religion began then to spring forth into an interest divided from the Kingdom and Nation though it was low yet it began to look abroad and to seek either a new state here or in other Regions and so he suffer'd and rose or sprung forth with this cause as if he had one life with it II. Secondly His maner of appearing in publike Imployment hath been visible to all publike work seem'd to be exceeding natural to him his soul was one with it which made him act with more vigor than other men and so constant and steddy to it as not to be discouraged by difficulties nor taken off either by offence or by opinions of other ways as many eminent men have been a main pillar of the strength of it in all its changes I must be excused if I tell my thoughts of him I am the freer in it because they have continued with me in a long time of offence and prejudice concerning him There hath to me appear'd in him a singular spirit of Brightness Clearness Largeness and Self-denial of care for and love to the cause of Religion and honest men as much above other men as Saul was higher than the people in stature of body for which I did conclude before ever he had any Command in Chief that if ever this Cause did succeed he would be the Head of it He had an honesty an integrity a nobleness in him which did attract and unite honest men to him a love and loveliness in which affections of good people did concenter and a largeness to receive and comprehend all honest men of differing judgements and this He did by the vertue and dignity of his Minde long before he had the advantage of Supream Command to do it which was a proof to me that his inward worth not any outward accident hath given him his preeminence To his great industry faithfulness and wisdom in business he hath been always attended with a singular blessing of Success in all his Affairs and that constant both in the Field and Council and often times in some great works the Word and Arm of the Lord hath been reveal'd to him and with him according to the maner of Gods speaking to his people in these days by giving in to the heart some Scriptures with great power and spirit whereby his Faith hath been strengthned to attempt great things As he hath been often guided by the word of the Lord in his great Undertakings so I do think and have particular reason to believe that in that which is so much offensive to men viz. The breaking of Civil and Worldly Powers he hath had the same Authority and Word of Command Consider now such a person rising from great afflictions from whence he comes sanctified by grace called forth into pablique action and therein appearing in largeness integrity and courage assisted with the presence and blessing of God guided and strengthned by the arm and word of the Lord which above all sets the clearest stamp of Majesty upon a man according to the words of Christ John 10.35 If he called them gods to whom the word of the Lord came These things together are certainly a foundation yea the substance of greater and truer Honor than these last Ages have had experience of Yet he hath no reason at all to be proud nor we much reason to boast of him for though these are excellent things yet they have been shadowed and sullied with very great weakness that doth much eclipse their lustre for besides the dirt that malice cast upon him and the pollution contracted from the nature of his work which hath been destroying work and so impure besides these I say there is personal weakness rash passions sudden ingaging for and as sudden turning from things which shews want of fore-sight incontinency and inconstancy of minde some violent strains and leaps which have stretch'd conscience and credit large promising to oblige parties and persons and too short performance to give satisfaction which shew a minde not standing firmly upon its own basis of truth but carried off into looser ways of policy And though the tottering state of things may seem to excuse it yet certainly such actings so disproportionable to the truth and faithfulness of God do more shake him and with him the publique peace than any thing in the world But notwithstanding these or if not these what ever other weakness may cleave to him I must prefer Oliver Cromwel in querpo with the stamp of God upon him before Oliver Protector and all His train of Greatness and that His naked person with what God hath done in him and by him hath really more dignity majesty upon it than if he had with his Protectorship fetch'd from Westminster all the Honors and Titles of all the kings of England and therefore I think what ever may be fancied the Subscribers have done him no real injury in writing To Oliver Cromwel I have done with the
the common Justice and Honesty that is amongst men 'T is a great abomination though commonly practis'd amongst Professors rashly to receive and give credit to evil and false Reports of them they hate or that are of an opposite party and that too in a way of Religion which if examin'd will be judg'd by the common Light of Nature to be not onely Ungodly but Unreasonable Q. 4. Whether do you think that the great Iudge will judge according to that appearance wherein you now behold the Protector and his actions which is not so good as by the sight of the Eye and by the hearing of the Ear but by others seeing and hearing Q. 5. Whether though you are now admitted to be Witnesses against the Protector as innocent persons in the judgments of your selves and your own party it may be to none but your selves yet when he and you now two parties shall stand before the impartial Tribunal of the great Iudge whether then you will be able to lift up your heads to accuse him and will not rather be found as guilty as he and to stand in need of the same mercy with him Q. 6. 'T is true God will judge the Protector for any rash and unseemly word or act against any persons or things that do but pretend to God and for every motion and expression of Pride Falshood or vain Pleasures But do you not think that this Eye of God will pierce through this Mist of Calumny that is upon him Through this thick clay of worldly Greatness with which he is now dawb'd over and oppress'd and through the vail of Flesh which makes him walk unevenly and search his Heart whether it be Obedient and Upright or true to God and his work or false in it and seek to set up himself God will certainly prove and try him the secret spirit of his minde what it is in his work and when he hath done that do you not think he will search deeper than his Spirit in his work which may be weak and mixt and at last judge him according to the seed of Election the seed of Christ and his Righteousness in him And then let me ask you whether God will not so judge you Look through your vail of Duties Profession and Ordinances and try your Heart with what Spirit of Love Obedience and Truth you are in your work and whether will you stand to this judgment Or rather that God should judge you according to Grace to the Name and Nature of Christ written upon you and in you Sure the great Iudge will thus judge us at last by his great judgment or last judgment not by the outward Conversation nor inward Intention but finally by his eternal Election according to the Book of Life When you have consider'd these Questions let me desire you to reade the thoughts of my heart concerning the particulars of your Charge which thoughts are not upon knowledge of Fact but what account my Experience and Reason gives me of such things For if I do meet with such Reports as these as sometimes I do and swallow them down without trying of them and do bring them out again in Discourse I finde they do pollute my soul and that it is a very naughty Spirit that made me either Receive or Report them But when I have the exercise of any kinde of Judgment concerning them I finde cause to reject them the grief that I have receiv'd by them makes me more expert in trying of them Slighting and Blaspheming the Spirit of God I suppose some men bring to the Protector things in the Name of the Spirit that he judges weak and foolish Fancies those he slights others bring him things that he judges Vngodly and that as they think from the Spirit these he blasphemes or speaks evil of And this he may do in Passion and fleshly hardness not in tenderness to him that utters them who being grieved in his spirit says the Spirit is slighted There is Blasphemy in one man against another wherein both may pretend to the Spirit and this is too common There is Blasphemy against the Son of Man I know not that any amongst us are guilty of this Blasphemy because I see none come forth in the power and purity of his Spirit and if they do Christ saith It shall be forgiven them But for Blasphemy against the Spirit in that sence wherein Christ expresses it I dare not think any man guilty of it because the Spirit it self in his own majesty doth not to my sence appear but vail'd with humane weaknes Reproaching and Imprisoning his people We commonly call our selves and our party Gods people but that you are so excluding them or that they are so excluding you no third party or person can admit And for Reproaches you are even with them if not beforehand and I doubt would be in Imprisoning also if you had power The conclusion that I make is this Some of Gods people may for their weakness deserve and others in their weakness may inflict Reproach and Imprisonment upon Brethren Pride Luxury Lasciviousness I suppose you intend onely his high living though your words seem to charge his person with very foul abominations I am no Courtier and therefore know not what his Conversation is in private But in the times of my acquaintance with him I did not observe any such temper in him and in Reason Age and multitude of Business if not Vertue should keep him from such Sensuality now I have heard also some that have been his Servants near to him and strict observers of him report That his frequent Praying Fasting and Watching with other conscientious and strict Observances shew'd him inclin'd rather to turn Quaker than to loosness His way of living I confess I have sometimes grudged at as too Kingly and not proportionable either to his late condition or to the present condition of his Brethren or to his own affairs being in such want of Money But upon further examination of this Censure I do finde that such as you and I are living at distance from such Greatness our Mindes and Breedings being as mean as our Conditions and our Spirits narrow and rigid being outcasts also from this present Glory are troubled with a little Envie and so not at all fit to judge of it I finde others that have known what Greatness is of nâ—bler and freer mindes and live nearer to it say That there is nothing but what hath been ordinary amongst noble Persons not the tenth of what Expence hath formerly been and no more than is necessary for the Honor of the Nation This I am sure 't is a mean and low Spirit this that doth at once envie and over value uch Greatness Solomon that lived at another rate than the Protector gives us a true accompt of such mens conditions Eccles 5.11 When goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good is there to the owners thereof saving the beholding them with their
to defile himself by making use either of the sins of his Adversaries or the lying reports of the world to help his Cause or hurt his Enemies III. Pride raises Reports for were a soul truly sensible of his own and others miserable captivity in this world and under this body of death he would not take pleasure in speaking of other mens evil actions or the fame of them but his soul would be bow'd down into secret mourning for the body and root of Sin and Death in himself and others 'T is indeed a cruel kinde of prido either to make men sinners if they are not or to make them worse than they are or if they be indeed fallen to trample upon them and insult over them by bitter and publique Accusations or for men to exalt their own seeming Religion and Righteousness by that which is an offence to God and a wound to his name and their brethrens souls II. We see what is the root of reports whence they come Let us consider in the next place that the Text calls them false reports They are generally so they can't be true that are the children of such parents as Hypocrisie Malice and Pride Man is a lye he is so vain a thing that he can hardly be true in the best temper he is a false and broken glass that gives very imperfect representations of things Put a straight stick into the water and it will seem crooked especially if the water be moved with the wind so are the mindes of men naturally as water and at this time water agitated by several winds of Passions Faâ—â—ions Discontents Jealousies Prejudices and Enmities so that 't is impossible to meet with a right representation of any man or his actions in the world All sorts of men good and bad have been abused by reports I have observ'd it from the beginning of these times we never could have a just and true accompt of our Enemies but very bad men have been made much worse by reports if I finde a man delighting to censure them he dis-affects though it be mingled with a demure look and Scripture language yet if it come onely as news behinde mens backs to stir up rage against their Enemies I conclude 't is false either totally or in part a thing not done or not done with that minde as is reported or in that maner And if any will trouble himself to examine such a report to the bottom I do not doubt but he will finde it so but for my part if I finde him out of his way in publike when it should be in private and behinde the back when it should be to the persons face or if I finde him angry and biting or idle jeering and quibling I conclude him a Vagabond and count it more safe and easie to shut the door upon him for if I do but give him a nights lodging he leaves the sting wherewith he wounded anothers name in my spirit to my great pain and this I often finde by experience III. Therefore a third observation have I lean'd from the Text and experience not to receive such false reports The Receiver is guilty as well as the Reporter He that loveth and maketh a lye Rev. 22.15 they are thrust out together for he that loves entertains and rejoyces in a lye is of the same nature with him that made it 't is no excuse therefore I heard it and I heard it of many honest men A lye is a base void foul thing which a heart that loves truth may discern and reject what ever tongue brings it but hereby men are cheated if a friend bring it and it be against an Enemy we think we shall do it wrong to question or suspect it whereas we may justly suspect every man Man and Lye being so much allied Parties are never free from malice nor malice free from lyes and therefore men had need take heed what they receive in these days A second Branch of this Observation is By receiving men raise a false report it may be from a disturb'd passionate tongue into a more serious minde and from common idle talk into devout and religious Considerations and from them into Pulpits into praying and preaching and at last 't is rais'd as in this Letter to the impartial Tribunal of God so that which at first is either nothing or some humane frailty it may be some rash word or action from a temptation is made a great wickedness for which the person and his way or work is condemn'd and Religion Scripture and the Name of God brought in to execute it What follows in this Scripture I would have the Subscribers and all discontented people consider Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness The same things that you in this Letter and Paper testifie against our Governors the common people of the Nation which you judge wicked and profane do exclaim against them Change of Government destroying the Foundations of a Commonwealth pulling down others to set up themselves Taxes upon pretence of necessity These things are charged upon them by your and their Enemies which if you had considerâ—d you would not have put your hands to the Paper neither will you any longer joyn with your wicked Enemies to destroy your Friends Verse 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil c. All forts of people almost are against the present Power Cavaliers Presbyterians Levellers Anabaptists reproaches are so general and come so thick upon us in all places that 't is a kinde of a crime not to comply A man can hardly keep the liberty of his own judgement to think or hope well of the present Government without the censure of being a Courtier to dislike Government is counted a vertue 'T is true some of your Exceptions and the weakest of them are proper to you and your party but the most and the strongest are Vox populi Therefore your witness doth either follow or lead a multitude to do evil which if it doth not condemn your Cause it renders it foully suspitious Verse 3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause This discovers a subtile temptation which draws men into the snare of injustice while they seem to exercise mercy there is a shew of righteousness in Suffering which is very attractive to poverty and move the Affection if not the Judgement to their Cause be it right or wrong Good men were lately low and evil men high people are apt to think 't is so still and that Greatness is oppression and all suffering righteousness I doubt many are seduced by this in these times wherein there is so much of blind affection and so little of judgement 'T is surely good to be caution'd against the confidence of the wicked the strength of the multitude and the insinuations of the poor 'T is not amiss to read and consider what follows If thou meet thine enemies ox or ass going astray c. If thou
in name Jewish but now in their use Moral and Christian as subservient to mercy in relieving hundreds of poor families And these upheld not in opposition to light nor in a superstitious love to the things but because they yet know not nor do you instruct them how to take them away without great injury to many people that have no other livelihood in the earth Love is the royal law the fulfilling of the law it may and must rule all things yea both Law and Gospel too it makes that lawful which were otherwise unlawful and that unlawful if against love which were other wise lawful And therefore a man may be a Pharisee in contending against Tythes as well as in a rigid observance of them if he either omit or oppose the weightier matters of the law judgement and mercy such a spirit seems to carry you in this zeal to sacrifice Tythes and First-fruits without either judgement to shew how it may be done in justice and righteousness and without mercy in considering the poor Ministers that live onely upon them III. Thirdly The next branch of abominable and horrible Impieties is The exalting of Sons Servants Friends c. though some of them known to be wicked men to the highest places c. What Servants or Friends are preferr'd that are suspected to be wicked I know not being no Courtier but for Sons they stand higher and are obvious to most mens knowledge or observation I dare not say neither do I know that any of them are wicked they are yong men and may have weakness but wickedness is a malicious opposing of good and practising evil But would you consider the Protectors family as an object of greater Envy and subjected to more danger and malice than others are may they not deserve a little more favor than ordinary and what great matters have they The eldest son is a Justice of Peace in the Countrey the second son commands the Forces in Ireland wherein there may be some favor shew'd to him being an Imployment possibly beyond his years and experience I doubt this is the Offence and the rather because the fame goes he inclines to a differing party For his sons by marriage The Deputy of Ireland is a friend to the Subscribers and may help to ballance some kindness that goes another way For the Master of the Horse if he do but perform that part of a righteous man to regard the life of his beast you will not judge him a wicked man nor unworthy of his Preferment But if the Protector should be an indulgent father and erre in an excess of natural affection in preferring his children it may finde a better name than abominable and horrible impieties For Gideon and Nehemiah 'T is not said expresly that I know in Scripture what they did for their children but there was as a good man and as good a Governor Samuel who had but two sons and he made them Judges in Israel and yet very ill men that were covetous took bribes perverted judgement 1 Sam 8.3 and yet he was not thus upbraided IV. Fourthly The last particular of these horrible and abominable Impieties is so many Officers in the Army and both Officers and Soldiers to receive their pay in a time of peace c. What number of Officers what their Pay is and how they spend it I do not know being a stranger to all these things onely I would advise you of a mistake to call this a time of peace for though the Enemy be not in the field he is in the house The enemy is broken and scatter'd but you can't say he is not if he were not we are enemies one to another there is war in every mans heart tongue and would be in the hands if they were not bound by an Army There is nothing at all done in the Nation towards a civil or religious Peace or Accord nothing declar'd wherein we agree either in Church or State This very Paper of yours cannot but be interpreted War for so great a number of people a little Welsh Army to declare against the present Power to disswade the people from their obedience to endeavor to set up another and that upon fighting principles is undoubtedly War therefore if you would have the Army reduc'd study to be quiet and to follow your private occasions for these insurrecting practises to disturb the people and molest the present Government do necessitate and establish the sword amongst us and therefore we that do desire Peace and an Ease of our Burthens have cause to complain of the unquietness of your spirits and of all that go fretting and rayling about to raise up strife and War The seventh Testimony mentions the sad effects of the secret Design of Hispaniola c. I am not able to judge absolutely of the good or evil of this Work but this I know 't is not safe to judge by the Success especially at first for we our selves succeeded but ill in the beginning of these wars I fear you do but take advantage of our loss to express your enmity for if we are not mistaken in you you are for war with all the world and therefore can't be against the Design though you grieve for the Success and 't were well if you don't mis-call the Affection and say 't is Grief fox the Loss when 't is anger or enmity at the persons and then you do not grieve but rejoyce at the evil that befals your brethren What ever the nature of the Design be or what ever the Success may be this I have observ'd that this Quarrel with Spain and about the West-Indies hath been long in the hearts of many honest people and that the well-affected of England have had a greater antipathy to this proud cruel and most antichristian Nation the Spaniard than to any Nation in Europe Though the Design was laid in private yet the publick Declaration shews a true English and Protestant spirit rather to ingage in war than to submit to the Inquisition and the usurp'd Tyranny over the West-Indies I confess I much desire and love a General Agreement of Godly men in publick and great Affairs but if there be the spirit reason and justice of the good party I cannot but alow it though it want the vote and outward suffrage Your last Witness is various consisting of divers parts I confess I do not well understand all things in it First you testifie for your selves with what hearts you joyn'd with the Parliament and Army against the King and his Party that you had no other design save as they were enemies to our Lord Christ c. I know your spirits are at a very great distance and enmity against the King and his Party and therefore cannot think you intend to bespeak their good thoughts of you yet your declaring onely against the enmity not against Office or Person and your care of the general good of the Nation particular benefit and just liberty
eyes Changing of Principles Your way of Writing shews you as unable to judge or Principles as I am our mindes are so short and distemper'd by passion that we cannot give a Rational accompt of the series of Actions If any cross our wills and opinions we are so much disturb'd at the sence of the present evil done to us that we cannot consider the good that such persons have done or now do for us All former things are forgotten and we are nothing but Anger and think them nothing but Mischief or Wickedness And when we are inraged we let fly at mens Principles being not satisfied to rebuke mens Actions Opinions and Works but would be aveng'd of their Principles too as if we would kill them at very heart pull them up by the roots and leave them in an incurcable condition Rotten in their Principles Mens Actions are crooked and various Mens Opinions or Understandings weak and uncertain Affections change as the wind yea we may see the Heart waver and stagger sometimes Evil sometimes Good carries it away But how far goes Man in the trying of these things Can he search the Heart to know what it is But Principles lie deeper than the Heart and are indeed Christ who is the Principle and Begining of all things who though Heart fail and Flesh fail yet he abides the root of all 'T is worth considering whether the Serpent may not in directing the blindeness of Man to charge all the weakness of their Brethren upon Principles intend to grieve and wound Christ himself I do but propound it to consider because this kinde of Uncharitableness is common most men thinking they do'nt charge home nor speak to the purpose if they do'nt reach mens Principles which indeed are safe enough from all mens Enmity But alas what a pitiful thing it is for us because by our expressing of our selves in words or actions in this mist of Confusion we justle one against another and offend one another our impatience presently rises high and we quarrel with the Principle and would indeed if we durst be angry at God that he leads not all men the same way with us For the Protector we do see plainly there is in him various Thoughts and Counsels sometimes he looks this way sometimes that way tossed about into several stations and postures of Affairs but of the Principles that move these things what they are and how they work I know not nor dare judge Forsaking the good ways of Justice and Holiness His way is in the wilderness and 't is crooked and hath not our course been so from the begining reeling and staggering this way and that way And this shews there is Vnjustice and Vnholiness amongst us which cannot be excus'd but must be bewail'd But whether our late turns which have been from your mine and many mens judgments have been a forsaking the good ways of Justice and Holiness I know not In the way of Justice and Holiness perfectly I fear we never yet were we may have mistaken it now but may I hope gain by mistake and be led into it by a way we know not For your confident affirming to the Protector That these things are even at present to be read in his forehead and your citing him to answer it before the great Judge c. 'T is such a high strain of Confidence that I am not able to deal with it You write as if you never intended to question your selves or be question'd by any other But I beseech you consider if there should be found under these high Expressions a Spirit of Enmity and Uncharitableness If you should present before the Lord the common dirt of Report which you gather up in the streets of the World and with it your own blinde Passions and Discontents what cause of sorrow and shame will there be for mingling such prophane stuff and such highly holy things together I 'll tell you what I think That you will repent of this business if you live and that long before you shall come nigh the impartial Tribunal of God and not onely repent of this Spirit but of your great confidence in it Blessed is the man that feareth always had you fear'd more you would have been more happy My Soul trembles at it not daring to come or to think that you should come to the Altar much less to the impartial Tribunal of God with such a Spirit There is much of this Trade abroad in the world men make it their work to take up Reports against them they are disaffected to and dress them up with Religion Scripture a shew of Zeal for God and then cry them abroad either in Pulpits or in private Discourse ordinarily mingled with either a bitter curse or a taunt and scorn So that it is a very great part of the Religion abroad to defame their Adversaries and this with great pleasure and a shew of Godliness I do desire that you and others would seriously weigh these Considerations upon Exod. 23.1 2 3. Thou shalt not raise or as in Marg. receive a false Report Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment 3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause Let us consider what Reports are generally They are the eccho or reflection that mens persons and actions make upon Empty Malicious and Proud mindes I. Empty and hollow mindes make a Report or noise The solid Christian his voice is not heard in the streets his work is inward at home upon his own soul and his conversation is in heaven with the glorious works of Christ But the formal Hypocrite is a Busie body exercis'd in the base and vile things of other mens iniquities or in the Report of them which are vain and impure things like himself II. Reports are brought forth by Malice did men love they would cover iniquity Charity thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity 1 Cor. 13.5 6. If a man did either love God or his Brother he would abominate evil not take it into his thoughts nor rejoyce to hear or speak of iniquity because iniquity is an enemy both to God and to his Brother But Malice which is the height of sin and wickedness makes a man love sin and delight in it because it serves him to pull down them that he hates So that he joyns himself to Sin and is Coâ—federate with it because it doth mischief to his Adversaries and therefore it is that though he seem to dislike it yet he gives it the advantage of his gifts his Zeal and Language to inlarge and advance it Malice is a very base thing but this kinde of malice is the worst A noble enemy trusts to the righteousness truth and justice of his own Cause and being satisfied with that can wait with patience till God bring forth his righteousness but scorns