himself a French coat a French wit a French head a French wigg French legs French cringes French Tongue and all other members about him in apish and mimick imitation of the French frenchefyed thereby to be taken for a Gentleman whence the Proverb Jack would be a Gentleman if he could speak French At which so probably related by the old Gentleman most of the company laughed heartily and concluded that this new Author designing in his whole book to promote again the good old Cause which he calls modern Orthodoxy and sometimes the cause too good resolving right or wrong to plead the Cause of the Non-Conformists which since he has espous'd he is not asham'd of and therefore confesses p. 282. that if he can do the Non-Conformists no good he is resolv'd to do them no harm and we will believe him without swearing To carry on this goodly design he bespatters the present Government with unparallel'd malice endeavours to stain and blemish the late Kings whole Reign as deform'd rails at Bishops and evil Councellors dead and alive justifies Schisme as shall shortly appear cries up Indulgence and liberty Breda Breda Reformation Reformation and with bitter sarcasmes and invective taunts prosecutes the present Parliament Rallery being the most biting and insufferable Railing and all this with as little fear as wit Rather than not have a fling at the Parliament and pinch it till it recant all especially the Act for Uniformity or any Act against the good old Cause and Non-Conformists to twit it home as wittily and effectually as he can he p. 110. confounds nature to create a Joque turns the Parliament-men into a Parliament of women on purpose to break a jeast upon them which had otherwise missed them viz. Superfoetation of Acts. And new-mints a word Trinkle trinkle the members rather than his beggarly wit should have nothing currant It would make a man sick to see this little Tantalus catch and gape for a jeast and a little Rhetorick And alas it will not come And at other times to see him make a Lyons face and grunt and groan to send forth a little wit but it is right Presbyterian it will not come for the man is as costive as one of the old Assembly of Divines or Smec or Tom Dumby-low who dy'd because he was so And all this pother is for an old Cause that stinks above ground in the nostrils of every honest heart both here and all the world over Yet commend me to the men for one thing they are as restless and indefatigable in their endeavours to promote it though so often baffled by God and man that they still cease not to move every stone bribe and flatter threaten and frown fight and rayl cant and recant pray and lye preach and slander snivel and whine exhort and blaspheme in publique in private in City and Countrey in Churches in Conventicles with License and without License by your leave and in spight of your teeth As if old Knox himself was again metempsuchos'd in every one of them To this purpose in this Authour they assault the Church and State with the old weapons new furbish'd and to make you believe their old cause was good they make the old Kings cause bad and this bold man dares in this juncture of affairs with implacable inveteracy prey upon the dead not permitting to rest in the bed of Honour our gracious and blessed King Englands Martyr That sacrific'd his own life rather than to live in infamy by betraying his people the laws and his own just rights And though we can scarce believe our own eyes when we see the matchless Impudence of this Authour thus to traduce him and his whole Reign and the present Parliament with Taunts as bitter as bold yet to make all this seem but a jeast when he casts firebrands arrows and death like mad he seems to say Am not I in sport In an affected but taking and fashionable Drolling way insinuating into every mans humour to carry on the work Cajoling the Rabble with liberty Indulgence Breda Breda Cajoling the Yeomen and Corporations with Interest and Trade and propriety invaded with fears of Sibthorpianisme Ceremonies Arminianisme and Manwaring Cajoling the Gentlemen and noble men with the dangers that again threaten their Reputation and Honour and make them feel for their Cutto's and draw upon poor Cassock and Lawn-sleeves for fear it should come again to the Proverb of his own making Jack-Gentleman But I being suddenly call'd away was no longer happy with the further discourse of this Cabal of wits only I took notice before I parted that the Virtuoso's all this while made not one Repartee or if they did it was but one little one answering mostly with a countenance compos'd and made up of magisterialness and high conceit mixt with some pity but more scorn and a little smile now and then proceeding from both But with such a paltry and surly grace that I could scarce contain my self and I had much ado to forbear kicking the Coxcombs And they had certainly felt the Print of my toes but that I was not so angry as to hold from laughing right out at such affected gravity they look'd so scurvily With Head toss'd up but bridling in the chin As if with half cheek-bit and Curb reyn'd in Mumbling a little sometimes to themselves as the poor ass does when feeding upon Thistles the sharp pricks gawl his Chaps Whether like right-bred Cocks of the Game they kept their best strength for the Reserve and last Close or that they were good Husbands of their wits and would not spend it but in better company some Cabal of their own or thought that the Moderators place was their own by Patent and just right determining all at the last or did not at that time carry their wit about them as loth to wear it out or like old true hunted Hounds would not open but when the scent was certain or whether they had some peculiar endearances for the Authour I cannot decide But I was so netled with what I had heard of this new Author above all admiring the stupendious contradictions and double-Tongue of the man that though I had read in Diodorus Siculus of an Island in Arabia where the Inhabitants have two tongues in a head but loth to go so far to see them yet since I might see the Marvel at home more prodigious than the child at the Swan by Charing-Cross with two heads I was resolv'd though it cost me a shilling to see what I could find in this marvellous Book and readily finding one at the next Stationers the Bugg almost startled me at first it had such a Portenâ—…ous Title The Rehearsal Transpros'd The Rehearsal Transpros'd Some of the Common Herd of mankind that ne're paid six pence yet at a Club of the Virtuoso's nor so much as once got the word for that night would quietly if not frighted with the Goblin pass by this Title-Page when starch'd up with the
common Hangman or too good for the Rebel Saints I 'l assure you they did not think so nor yet would if it would please God and the King to entrust them with it once more no no that 's not this Authors meaning he says it is the Cause too good to be fought for Sure he thinks as his friends H. P. J. O. c. blasphemed in that horrid Rebellion begun by the Scots but occasion'd and caus'd by Bishop Laud and consequently the King That the battle was the Lords and that men should standstill I wish they had and see the salvation of God and that the stars in their Courses would fight against Sisera which they construed the King and Cavaliers Sure this Greg. thought the King and Arch-Bishop for sending the English Liturgy into Scotland did thereby involve themselves and the Kingdom in so much guilt that the Cry thereof would go to Heaven for less he cannot mean and that God ought in justice to have taken the cause into his own hand and destroyed us as he did Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and thereby have sav'd the Rebels a labour and the Scots a long march into England Greg. would have been an happy instrument to have perswaded the Scots to put up their pipes for the cause was too good to be fought for Yet it seems it is not too good to be writ for nor to good to be commended again to the world this mans a great friend to the King to the Bishops to the Government to the English Liturgy which he represents to have been so mischievous in former times and now he quarrels with the Letany because the word Schism is added he does not like that men should pray against Schism I am afraid one great quarrel and irreconcileable he has against the Liturgy is the same as of old because it makes men pray so oft for the King and his Family to which some mens hearts cannot say Amen He might as well have quarrelled the Letany for another word there added namely Rebellion But that had been to rob without a Vizard the Picque now is only against Schism And why and why he tells us It spoils the Musick and cadence of the Period Men that never intend to repent of their Crimes love not to hear of them sure I am Schism in the Letany there added spoils not the Musick so much as it does the Kingdom which by it alone has been quite out of tune I wish with all my heart though that the King and his two Houses of Parliament would take Gregory's advice p. 304. After all the fatal Consequences of that Rebellion which can only serve as Sea-marks unto wise Princes to avoid the Causes And what were the causes if you will believe his hint they were Arch-Bishop Laud and consequently and much more King Charles I. p. 302. the English Liturgy p. 303. and the zealous assertors of the Rights of Princes who are but at best well-meaning Zealots p. 303. Is 't not pity but this Gregory should be call'd to the Helm of Government 't is Pilots own self he shows wise Princes all the Sea-marks here 's Scylla there Charybdis here lies the flats there the Beacon here the Buoy there the Fire-house here lies Dogger-bank there the Galloper and that sand with the two horns is the spits that beyond Goodwin Sands but here here whoop holla holla whoop p. 150 151 152 153. the Kings Channel Good Skipper so much skill and so much pains such a Politician and a Virtuoso to boot thou shalt have a new Perry-wig and once more another Gratuity sent thee from J. O. and a new Thanks-giving-day appointed by the Churches with another gathering at the end on 't to that purpose beshrew me it came seasonably for an use of great comfort after you had been chouc'd at the ordinary and plaid pieces Is it not meritorious enough he super-erogates gratifies the Churches by shriving them and laying all the blame upon that odious and hated thing the Liturgy that was the cause of all the blood-shed all the wars and ruine that the rock on which we split mind the Sea-marks wise Princes avoid the causes if you will avoid the sad and fatal consequences 'T is but lost money now to fee any Courtiers to put in a seasonable word for Indulgence and modern Orthodoxy Father Grey-beard for all Is there never a Corporation that sends Burgesses to Parliament that upon a vacation the late member being dead may cry up Greg. and get him into the House The Cabala cannot but approve the plot Greg. is greater than a second Moses he 's a second Samson can carry the whole house afore him Methinks I see him at it and addressing himself to the Speaker makes this following speech in the Parliament House composed out of his own book for I scorn foul play nor will I adde one material word of mine own to make him look more ridiculously or seditiously than he has already with his own hand pourtrayed himself in his book only to make it to look more handsomely I have dress'd it in the fashion in this following Droll a la mode in forty pages of his incomparable book like that self-conceited bookish Philosopher that undertook to read Lectures to Hannibal puff'd up with the beloved esteem he has for himself takes upon him the Pilot's place directing wise Princes how to govern the Helm stear their Course and observe the Sea-marks And I have stinted my Muse to his very words in all particulars that come most home to him chusing rather to injure my fancy than him or lay to his charge more than what is prov'd to his face under his hand Mr. Speaker I that spoke here but once before Must now speak though I ne'er spoke more When the Seas swell high as the Poop Shall not your Pilot holla whoop And rowze Tarpollians that lye sleeping Ne'er dreaming what cause there 's for weeping Fasting and Prayers of the Churches Now Orthodoxy left i' th' lurch is And swallow'd up for ought I know Prick up your ears I 'll tell you how There is one Bayes and shall I tell ye He has a thousand Seas in 's Belly Another Hobbs Leviathan Swells and will drown us if he can The Netherlands and Hungary Are under water already p. 43. And so is France Bohemia Sweden and Transilvania Denmark and Savoy that by 'th' Alps is All Scotland England ' xcept a small piece Geneva by Lake-lemane Poland I think at last he 'll leave us no land Look to your Ship then hard at Helm Starboard or else we overwhelm Ease the Shrowds there Breda Breda There ne'er was such a flood since Noah Take th' Topsail in do what you may The Mizen on the Prow gives way Down with the Kings flag you nere mind And let her spoon before the wind All stands aloft swack swack no near For we have sprung a Leak I fear There'r Goodwin Sands Tom and John too W'have
endless questions disputes glosses controversies Lectures whimsees stories and Harangues set off with antick twangs of the nose wry faces mops mows split jaws sparrow-mouths grunting lyons faces hems haws yawnings gapings snivellings whinings and mock-gypsee cantings and juglings by spiritual Hocus Pocus and Oliverian Orthodox being Traytors heady high-minded lovers of their own wills and pleasures more than Gods will and pleasure having a form or face of godliness and that no good one neither but denying the power thereof For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sint led away with divers lusts c. Now will they have the impudence to say I rayl and reproach them in this reproof no matter so said their Predecessours to my Saviour when he denounc'd a wo to these Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites Besides they are not my words so much as the words of the Holy Ghost 2 Tim. 3. What can be said too smartly and home to such malignancies as these Foppish stories Lectures whimsees wrestings of sacred Scripture by Hugh Peters and the rest of the Tribe which has undone us once already he that cheats once 't is his fault but if I am cheated twice with the same Juggle Interpretation and Legerdemayn though from another Hocus or pick-pocket I may thank my self no matter Look better to the pocket another time Aftertimes for envy like hollow friends accompanies every man that is worth any thing till he comes in his Grave and then it leaves him when prejudice and passion does not bribe the judgment will best determine which of these three Greg. Trinkles or Hugh Peters thus in their colours pencill'd have the best Physnomy Indeed they all three face one way go one way and follow one and the same Modern Orthodoxy but with a different style and under a different name Hugh Peters held forth manag'd Modern Orthodoxy under the name of the good Old Cause but Father Gray beard follows it under the name of the Cause too good Hugh Peters rendred the good Old Cause good enough to be fought for but Greg. has a higher value for it at least seems to be so chary and tender over it that he says it is too good to be fought for But both of them agree in fundamentals and with joynt forces inveigh against the King our late Sovereign and his whole Reign rendring it and him despicable and deform'd all over with Ceremonies Arminianism and Manwaring Both of them agree against the Common Enemy Bishops and Evil Councellors both of them quarrel with the Cross after Baptism and kneeling at the Sacrament Only Hugh Peters does more tolerably pretend to Controversies in Divinity as not being out of the Road of his Profession But certainly this same Greg. whatever he be is no Divine It would almost tempt Charity to very hard thoughts of him whilst he like Julian the Apostate prosecutes so vehemently and maliciously Religion and all religious men If Plato's transmigration of souls were true I should conclude that Cham was again in him Metampsuchos'd he does so turn up the Fathers of the Church and exposing their nakedness to his Power slashes them for their worthy Cares But his Rod does most wound his own face and his own malice and betraying its self becomes his own Executioner For certainly if his conscience were awake it would fly in his face and make him recant with St. Paul for a less defamation unawares I wiâ—…t not Brethren that it was God's High Priest God's High Priest and yet a wicked man and then too going about a wicked action and yet St. Paul does ask forgiveness But Certainly Greg. can have no call to pass a censure upon either Ministers of State Councils Fathers of the Church their Actions Councils or Books sure if the way were good and the good Old Cause never so good yet certainly Greg. it is not your Road and therefore if for no other cause you are out of the way as much you are when you talk Politickly of Augustus Caesar Hen. IV. c. Your Policies are like your Divinity but neither of them taken out of the Bible which you say will teach a man the best Politicks You might learn other measures of Government out of the Bible then displeasing or pleasing the People Herod to please the People killed James and because he saw it pleased the People he put Peter in Prison also Acts 12. 3. Pilat to do the Jews a pleasure delivered our Saviour to be crucified and Foelix willing to do the Jews a pleasure left Paul bound Argumentum turpissimum est Turba faith Seneca These soft and unmanly Rules of Government and Policy may perhaps agree with your own effeminate temper but they are not grounded upon Reason nor Religion Indeed when the light of these are obscured and Hood-wink'd with fear and cowardise the man is no more a man much less a Governour nor with these circumstances capable of direction for fear frights ' hâ—… out of his wits and how can he govern others that cannot govern himself But Almighty God does usually give large and noble souls to them that are design'd for Government and not capable of such puny impressions of fear that mollifie and unman vulgar and narrow spirits The threatning â—…llows daunted and amaz'd Julius Caesar's waterman till the great courage of Caesar reviv'd the poor spirited man with Caesarem fortunes and fetch'd him to life again and made him tug it out This noble spirit of Government is called in Holy writ the spirit of God which came upon Soul when anointed to be a King and upon the seventy Elders Numb 11. 17. when they were appointed to be Councellors of State Indeed those Independents Numb 16. 3. Korah Dathan Abiram and their Crew thought themselves as good as the best and as holy as the best and as good as their Governours but Moses presently shew'd them the difference on 't There are many incomparable instances in the Bible which will teach Governours better policy than puny and narrow hearted Greg. dares think on for all the commendations he gives the Bible for the most absolute accomplishment of a Politician The people mutiny'd were displeased with Moses their Governour and rebelled Exod. 32. now if Greg. had been at his elbow how would he with fearful S. Peter have advis'd Moses as S. Peter did our Saviour Master spare thy self how would Greg. have read politick Lectures to him and have entreated him to look to himself and shift for himself and not hazard himself among the Rebels and tumults Hell was broke loose the people swarming in uproars and terrible in threatnings or if he could not have perswaded Moses to run away he would as he does to our Governours insinuate the Wisdom and necessity of pleasing the people coming with cap in hand rather than sword in hand and beg of them for Gods sake to be quiet and they should have any thing But Moses Gods servant was not
all this deformity was his own doings and that though his Reign was deform'd it was himself his own Inclinations and bent which contriv'd at least concurr'd in making his whole Reign deform'd then and even then it is the old cry of the Rebells who when they had got their wills of the Earl of Strafford and Arch-Bishop Laud and left the King no Councellors nor Kingdomes nor so much as liberty then changed their note and justified the Evil Councellors more than the King himself saying he himself was his own wicked Councellor and a Tyrant and ought to die And though their words like these of this Authour were devillish and malicious yet they were as good as their words and condemn'd him for a Tyrant and cut off his head 'T is indeed answered another all you say is infallibly true and undeniable to a Tittle but that which is admirable and a greater Marvel is the skill and cunning of the man He does the feat so cleaverly as if he shot with white Powder did execution indeed effectually but makes no noyse or evil Report like other unskilful and bawling Phanaticks for though you stare about you shall not see the Executioner nor know whence the shot comes or if you do he puts his vizard on presently and looks like Faux in disguise Or as the Mountebank keeping a man who is content to be slash'd and cut that his master may thereby show his Dexterity and skill in the Cure so this Virtuoso wounds and cuts but indeed with design mortally and with matchless courage and boldness disdaining trivial force fights neither with small nor great except they lye in his way and detard Royal assassination but only the King of our Israel against whom when he has spit his venome and with bold and home thrusts assaulted his Innocence and honour Yet he has his Playster at hand though it be without vertue and would seem to make all whole again with crying Oh Lord Sir I beg your pardon and then as you were All is well again The Playster which he would make Alexipharmacal for the wounds with which our late Soveraign is attempted and made together with his whole Reign deform'd is the neatest of all and clapt on as soon as the blow is struck p. 301. deform'd the whole Reign of the best Prince that ever wielded the English Scepter A contradiction in terminis and as barbarous as absolute For how could he possibly be the best Prince that ever wielded the English Scepter except all the Princes that ever wielded the English Scepter had their whole Reigns deform'd either by their carelesness or folly or which is the less affront to be call'd Knave rather than fool because one may be help'd the other is remediless by vileness and wickedness doing the work themselves and deforming their whole Reign Again if he be the best Prince that ever wielded the English Scepter and yet either did deform his whole Reign or suffered it to be deform'd with Ceremonies Arminianisme and Manwaring Then these three Reign-deforming Buggs Ceremonies Arminianisme and Manwaring are very consistent with the best Prince that ever wielded the English Scepter And if so then these three Reign-deforming Buggs are indeed but Buggs and fright men more than burt them and can scare none but children and fools For that the best Prince that ever England had owns cherishes them or at least permits them to be own'd and cherish'd above all other things and owns above all other men the man that seemed to know nothing else but these Ceremonies Arminianisme and Manwaring with which he begun and with which he ended And all this must necessarily follow or else those good English Princes that kept off or expelled out of their Kingdomes these same three ugly Reign-deforming things were better Princes than He that either brought them in kept them in or suffered them to stay in and thereby deform'd his whole Reign And if they in doing so well and much better than he were better Princes than he how could he be the best Prince that ever wielded the English Scepter So egregiously confident and self-conceited is this Virtuoso Authour this new Politician that through the high value he has for himself together with the mean and low esteem he has for all others thinks so slightly and easily to Gull them and casting a little mist before their eyes hopes to lead them about like fools by the nose Otherwise this fool-hardy man would never have been so lost to all modesty and discretion as to think to impose upon men and be juggle them by such transparent mists and easie Legerdemain namely plain down-right Non-sense and Contradiction Alas the man is not master of his Trade And yet as if he onely and the rest of the new Politicians and Virtuoso's were like the Chinenses and had two eyes in their heads but all the rest of the world blind or at least the best of them but single-ey'd men who with but one eye are not so very quick-sighted especially if you come upon them on the blind side The Company seem'd wonderfully well pleas'd with this discourse all of them but the Virtuoso's and Ingenioso's who were but four in all and they too answered not one word whether troubled with the Fret and at the heart too mad and enrag'd to utter a word hearing themselves thus check'd to the face and their Brother Virt who but a little before they had cry'd up for such a Prodigie and Marvel of wit should so suddenly be charg'd home with so unavoidable a shock whilst they stood by and idly looking on had neither ability nor wit enough to make resistance nor knew how to help themselves nor Him yet to see how soon the wind turns and how suddenly smiling Dame Fortune can knit her brows if he had but come into the Room one half hour before the whole Clubb had rouz'd at the happy surprize of this wonderful wit and had carried the Bugg upon their shoulders like the Knight of the shire on Election-day in Triumph about the Room and had given him as many thanks for his great pains in this admirable Book as the Authors friend I. O. and the Conventicle did when they sent him for these his happy endeavours the Gratuity gather'd amongst the Churches as a due offering with all hearty Acknowledgments and the Thanks of their house especially for promoting the good old Cause modern Orthodoxy Liberty Indulgence and Reformation but particularly for setting the old Cry against Bishops and evil Councellors to a new Tune not the old whining snivelling canting Leer-away now somewhat stale detected and out of fashion but the fashionable that most taking and admired new new Tune the pleasant Droll-away The Brethren and Black-caps fac'd with white having not vivacity nor wit enough for that way the vertue of Sack-possets having not hitherto prov'd effectual nor spritely enough to raise their Phlegmatick and insipid Tempers to any semblance of elevated and Mercurial Style
in wittily enough for those times for then keeping to the Letter and Latine scrapt were not cry'd down by the wits Primi Pravi Episcopi Aposcopi Cardinales Carnales Canonici Cenonici Praepositi praeposteri Oh Monachi vestri Stomachi I know not what a kind heart to the Nuns Greg. might have prov'd but I am confident he would have made no bones on their Lands and all this picque at the Clergy is not without design Is not the band of with thee in all this Is there never a fat Mannor of the Bishops-Lands next Hedge to his little field I mean it would help the Prospect a little better in his own ground if he could perswade to another dissolution Beshrew me he has done fair to put in for a share and to be remembred in the dole Besides his necessities may possibly plead for him for great Gamesters such as he makes himself p. 283. playing no less than Pieces at Picquet and haunting the Ordinaries are usually great losers which unhappy chances if they fall out to be Gregories Lot and blank him and bilk him then sui profusus must be alieni appetens And of whose goods then can this Free-booter make a prize on more lawfully and with more justice than upon the Churches Dignities a Dignitory of Lincoln he tells us p. 282. having cheated him already of his Pieces and fingred his money Is 't not pity his Majesty does not give him a Letter of Mart to reimburse himself upon that people by some of whom he was rob'd Is not his Book a Prologue to his Revenge foaming and raging against the people of God as proud Homan did and vowing their destruction and total extirpation of all the dignities in the Church only for the affront of one Mordecai alledging as wicked Haman did that it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them For render but the Bishop's office useless especially as to Episcopal Grandeur useless as indeed it is if there be no discipline all indulgence Then praestò comes me in Judas with his old speech made just 1640 years agoe To what purpose is this wast Had not these fair Manors and Bishops Lands better have been sold and given to the Poor Poor Soldiers or poor Courtiers rather than fail If a Gentleman has consumed his body or wasted his estate with gaming riot and wenching would not it wonderfully comfort his bowels refresh and chear up the man's drooping spirits and despair To have all heal'd again with the Lands of the old Bishops or Prebends that ne'r knew how to lead a Dance hand a Mistress tread in a Masque or pick the teeth with bonne Grace nor so much as knew how to set the Periwig and Galloshoes much less the true timing and accenting of a Rapper and double swinger And though these accomplishments not to be despised are worthy consideration and may plead some merit yet an Hospital one would think should be the height of such mens ambition and if it were not for charity-sake more than their due But if their merits were never so impulsive and supererogating yet good men like God should hate robbery for an offering When the Levellers in the late times set up their Standard at Burford-heath and also erected a Court of Chancery so called for the Equity of its design inviting all Christian people to the Confederacy for is there any equity or good Conscience said they that a Lord or Gentleman should have 5000 10000 or 20000 pound per annum when 20000 men have not so many pence Oliver thereat took so hot an Alarm that he never did either more or better bestir himself saying If these men be suffered there will be no living by them either for Gentlemen yeomen or tradesmen But it is written thou shalt not steal When the dumb beast opened his mouth saying Am not I thine Ass He did thereby in right and good reason stop the mouths of all those that should gape after the goods belonging to the Prophet though a wicked one And this Ass shall serve to reprove the madness of this Father-grey-beard who p. 309. by trampling on the fathers of the Church and rendring them useless as wantonizing away their time and opportunities to do good and as Tyrants chastising them for their worthy cares and afterwards striking at those of them that are privy Councellors with unparallel'd pertness and daring would thereby render them uncapable of and unfit for their great places and revenues And all this in so palpable and signal a manner that every vulgar eye may readily see through his design and guess at the success if his Book had come out in 1642 as it does in 1672. Yet the Government being so well setled it is evident he labours in vain and Balaam's Ass may silence him these Places and Revenues belonging to those Prophets are their own And by as good Right Reason and Law as any other men can shew for their estates Indeed it is as needless as difficult for one of my quality to pass a judgment upon the merit and worth of the present fathers of the Church and much more insignificant is any Testimonial of mine to vouch them Yet in despight of Father Grey-beard or Envy it self and as far from flattery we must say that there are none that are honess sons of the Church and legitimate that have any cause to be asham'd of the present Fathers of the church of England which Clâ—…ros inter habet nomina clara viros Still as of old makes good the Proverb currant all the Christian-world over Clerus Britaunious stupor mundi The English Clergy are the worlds wonder Worthies we have many of whom this ungrateful and frothy age of the world is not worthy But granting what Greg. endeavours should be taken for granted that some of the Fathers of the Church were good for nothing but to fill and keep the Bag must all the Apostles be decry'd for one Judas Nay granting that all the Lords spiritual minded nothing but wickedness yet they have as good right to their Estates as any wicked temporal Lord of the laity or prophane Gentleman can have to his And they must be very bad indeed if they deserve not their places as well as the most others do or even as well as this Father Grey-beard himself does merit his places or Lands if he ever had any or has any yet left since he begun to frequent the Ordinaries and play pieces And if he do not look well to his hits it is more than an even lay that I shall beat him out of his play before I have done Yet I would have had more wit in mine anger and favour'd him the more if he had not so unmanly and disingenuously play'd upon the dead Not to mention again here those already mentioned our late Soveraign Arch-Bishop Laud Arch-Bishop Usher and Bishop Bramhall to his own eternal reproach already by him violated but most to his own shame I cannot but here take notice
Manichees and Severians Trithem de Eccles. Scrip. Bulling contr Arnab l. 2. c. 14. Did they not learn that the Jewish Sabbath was none of the Ceremonies abrogated by the Apostles of Christ but moral and perpetual from the Sabbatharians Doc. Sab. l. 1. Did not some lie and say they had no sin as did the Adamites Pelagians and Donatists Aug. Cont. Petil. l. 2. c. 14. c. 19. and also the Carpocratians Iren. l. 1. c. 24. Who taught them to cry up the Pulpit and Sermons only and decry Sacraments and Prayers and Charity but the Eutichites Theodoret Did they not deny Infant Baptism and some the Baptism of those Infants whose Parents would not be examin'd by the lay-Elders nor take the Covenant I mean such as were not of their fraternity and Gang as did the Heraclians Henricians and Pelagians Magd. Eccles. Hist. Cent. 12. c. 5. Aug. de verb. Apost de bapt parv Did they not declare that private men have Authority to order and reform the Church call Assemblies and Councels and need not tarry for the Prince and Magistrate as did the Monetarians Test. Rhem. Annot. Hebr. 13. 17. and the Cresconians Aug. cont Cresc gra l. 3. c. 51. Did they not declare it unlawful for the Magistrate to punish hainous offences with Death or to go to War whether offensive or defensive as did the Manichees Aug. cont Manich. l. 22. c. 74. Did they not declare that no man has proprietary in Goods Lands or Wife but all should lie common and without Inclosure as did the Pelagians and Apostolicks Magd. Eccles. Hist. Cent. 5. fol. 586. and the Manichees Aug. de mor. Eccl. Cath. l. 1. Would they afford either an Alms or Charity or so much as a good word or look to any but their own Sect and Faction so neither would the Manichees Aug. de mor. Manich l. 2. Were they not pure in their own eyes but abominated as Dogs all but themselves and their friends so called in Enmity to all others as did the Pharisees Luk. 18. 11. Is. 65. 5. Prov. 30. 12 13 And the Donatists Optat. de schism Donatist l. 4. Did they not count it unlawful to swear though in truth in righteousness and in judgment As did the Essenes the Jewish Puritans Philo Judaeus Thus old Heresies long ago condemned and dead and buried by the Indulgence of our late licentious times have found an unhappy Resurrection And cannot these evil spirits be bound down again to the infernal Pit from whence they came to deceive the Nations as formerly they were by the wisdome of our Ancestors when Hell broke lose Simon Magus and his followers the Gnosticks which in English signifies the People of light as they proudly enough call'd themselves came at last from one errour to another indifferenter utendi foeminis And do not our Gnosticks that pretend to all the light fall away from one delusion and Enthusiasme to another till they come to be Ranters Atheists and what not Is there no eye to pity these nor house of Correction to be found words are lost upon them they are possest and prepossest We we have liv'd to see that all this noise for the Gospel Reformation modern Orthodoxy liberty primitive simplicity and abatement of Episcopal Grandeur does but bluster on purpose to blow down Church and State upon pretence to new-build them better and more fashionable after the Geneva-frame Thus the Kite flies up to Heaven but her design and eye is upon the Prey and but that the Buzzards like thieves fell out amongst themselves true men had not so soon come to their own But his Majestic promis'd Indulgence I am sure saith Father Grey-beard in his Declaration from Breda Let honour for ever wait on his Majestic and his Royal word but know that the best honestest and most learned Casuists will tell us that if Thieves and Robbers take a mans purse and rob his house and not herewith satisfied but they threaten also to kill him and every mothers son there if the honest man do not promise and vow nay swear to give them more yet when he 's got out of their clutches he 's also free of his oath In the name of God what would this people be at Is 't not enough that they got his sacred Majesties Father and all his loyal friends body and goods that they could get into their clutches and have they not done unto them whatsoever they would Is 't not enough that they rob'd him of his Kingdomes and drive him to straits that he had not where to lay his head And have they not cause to bless God and the King every day they rise that they are not hang'd drawn and quarter'd as was Baanah and Rechab But must they capitulate setting down a stool of Repentance for him to sit on whilst they expostulate the matter Oh but Indulgence and Liberty liberty of Conscience By liberty of conscience must be meant either a liberty to do what we should do or a liberty to do what we would do If they mean a liberty to do what they should do spur on up and be doing in the name of God The Reins of Government will neither check nor curb you take my yoak upon you and learn of me saith our blessed Saviour for I am meek and lowly and came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me That 's it saith Greg. the Non-conformists would be at they desire only liberty to do the will of God not their own wills and to worship God in his own way in Gods own way though it be not the Kings high-way But what if the Kings High-way be not out of Gods way will you be so wretchedly unsociable and singular as to separate and go out of the way when it is the Kings High-way The truth is I have no great skill in Divinity my Education not designing me that way yet as the times are in a mans own defence of his Christianity for to be sure now if he walk but out as far as a Club or a Coffee-house he shall be sure to be assaulted on that side so much Divinity to defend it always in readiness becomes as necessary for a Gentleman as the little Tool behind to save reputation and much more honourable and without any great accoutrement I may soon have Divinity enough to try it out with Father Grey-beard I. O. and the rest of his friends and can easily prove that the worship of God so much prated of and contain'd in the first Table the four first Commandments is in order and made for the very nonce and for no other thing or end but that men might obey the second Table and six last Commandments Start not for I 'le prove it as clear as the Sun at Noon-day And that though sometimes comparisons are odious yet between Gods commandments to weigh and compare which is the greater and which is the lesser is of absolute necessity to every godly man
though I could fill a Volume upon this excellent subject so needful to be explain'd in these times when people have run a madding with the English Bible in their hands and brought to vouch their Exorbitances and horrid villanies I need say nothing of the mischievous consequences of this promiscuous License of reading the Bible those that thumb'd it so much having prov'd themselves the most execrable Villains and Hereticks that ever the Sun shone upon but shall only give two or three instances for what I have said Which when people have weighed and seriously consider'd they will not so stare and stamp and cry out Oh this man would rob us not of our goods our wives our good names and our lives but that which is dearer to us than all these he would rob us of our dear English Bibles then come the days of darkness again and of ignorance oh look to him he robs us of our Bibles is not here a Popish plot And you will have cause to thank him for it more than all the Sermons that ever you heard from modern Orthodoxy for this has ruin'd everlastingly the souls of millions of poor people guided with that frenzy and zeal and has also shortned their days by duckquoying them into Rebellion and blood blood being therefore given them to drink for they were worthy But the trepanning Priest deserv'd the greatest punishment here and hereafter by drilling them into Rebellion and blood by wresting and misapplying of Scriptures such as those Curse ye Meroz Bind your Kings with chains and your Nobles with fetters of Iron such Honour have all the Saints Babylon the great is fallen and a hundred of the like temper Whereas all that I say makes righteousness and peace to kiss each other makes useless Swords and Guns brings again the golden age where every man sitting under his own Vine and fig-tree leads a holy and happy life here and hereafter has a Heaven upon earth breaking their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning Hooks there being no use of Armory if the world were of my Religion herein contained or rather of the true Christian Religion the summ and scope whereof our Blessed Saviour delivered with his own mouth and epitomiz'd in one verse and sentence Mat. 7. 12. as abovesaid But some instances I promis'd to give to evidence that the English Bible is in some particulars erroneous scarce sence and of ill consequence As in part of our Saviours first Sermon is rendred Mat. 5. 41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain From this story and fiction by our English Bible father'd shamefully upon our Blessed Saviour a Christian is bound if he meet with any man that being stronger than he forces or compels him though he be in post-hast or going for a Mid wife a Doctor or Chirurgeon upon life and death or whatsoever occasion yet he must go another way quite out of his way a mile and may not call for the help of the Constable or neighbourhood or other good body to defend him from this violence but in a quiet submission and obedience he must thus compell'd go a mile which way soever the compeller pleases he must make no resistance but that 's not all he must go another mile of his own accord and being thus easie to be fool'd at the two miles end if the man compel him again further another mile away he must trudge and so along all England over and the world over for there 's no end of this obedience if a Christian meets but with any compeller or freed from him happens upon another that leads him about and about like an ignis fatuus and all this by vertue of your English Bible and in as plain words as any that are in 't and as easie to be understood without Metaphor Allegory figure or parable What do you say to this now you with your English Bible Whereas I say it is false and untrue and our Saviour never spoke such a senceless word in his life For all that he said as to this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Theodore Beza a better critick than a man renders truly Et quisquis te angariabit ad milliare unum abi cum eo duo that is in English Whosoever by vertue of an order or warrant from the Magistrate under whose Jurisdiction thou livest shall compel thee to go with him a mile go with him twain And signifies no more than that ready and cheerful obedience that is due to Authority from every Disciple of Christ who himself not only thus preach'd but practis'd there was no rebel Christians heard on that fought their Christian Kings nor so much as Heathen Kings or Heretick Kings till Calvin Knox Hugh Peters Richard Baxter J. O. Father Grey-beard and modern Orthodoxy Constantius Valens Valentinian Anastasius Justinian Heraclius were all Arrian Hereticks and Emperours yet the Christians their Subjects never confederated in a Holy League and Covenant to reform by arms in spite of their teeth the Church militant in those times did not prove their Texts with Sword and Gun The Good Old Cause was not then in those days old enough for the swadling clouts nay afterwards when Julian the Apostate was Emperour there was no army of Saints nor holy Redcoat-Christians that pull'd off his Crown or cut off his head Perhaps you 'l say thank them for nothing their wills might be good but their arms were too short or perhaps they had no skill in their weapons and though Christians and Saints yet not Army-Saints Yes that they were Army-Saints but not Rebel-Saints Army-Saints they were and there were more Christians in Julian the Apostates Army than all the Heathens and himself put together As is evident by their chusing his successor Jovinian to be their Emperour because he was a Christian but not till the Apostate was dead saying one and all one and all Jovinian Jovinian for we are Christians And our Blessed Saviour as he preach'd this cheerful obedience and also his Apostles Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. 1 Pet. 2. 13. 1 Tim. 2. 2. so did our Saviour practise There was a Holy-day made by the Chief Priest who then was Chief Jewish Magistrate and no mention of it in Gods Law but he declaim'd not against it but quietly observ'd it himself namely the feast of the Dedication Joh. 10. 22 23. He did indeed miracles to get better drink and meat when poor people wanted it but he never did a miracle to get money or Coin but only to pay his Assessment Royal Aid or Poll-money call it which you will for it was each of them and all of them Mat. 17. 27. And all this only by his example to shew true Christians that they ought to make no resistance nor give offence Thus you see I have made very good sence and good use of Mat. 5. 41. which your English Bibles make ridiculously useless and no sence consistent or compatible with
same methods now as in 1640 Did they not then as he now endeavour to enrage the people and rowze them again when they are tyred and willing to be quiet with new jealousies and fears fears of Ceremonies fears of losing their Bibles and their Sabbaths rendring the Eminent Bishops dead and alive friends in their hearts and doctrines too to Popery but for a certain reason rather making love to it than espousing it He sets not down these opinions of Bishop Bramhall's with an intent to confute them 't is beyond his ability but only notes them with an Asterism as bordering upon Popery as pernicious to the Laity to beget in them new heats against the Church by exposing the deformities of King Charles I. and all his choicest Bishops for the love they bore to Ceremonies and Arminianism and making all their Religion both of those deceased and of those yet in power and alive to be wholly trivial if not prophane Which brings to my mind that observation of his Sacred Majesties in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 15. concerning the same practices that now this Greg. does again renew It was a great part of some mens Religion to scandalize me and mine they thought theirs could not be true if they cryed not down mine as false It has always been the method of Atheists and Hell by scandalizing the Clergy and bringing them into Contempt thereby to foil all Religion and bring God into Contempt He that violates the Embassadour is not afraid of the King that sent him Plato was of an opinion that no man that went into a dark dungeon an Atheist and staid there two hours alone could come out an Atheist Because though company and frolicks may drown the secret whisperings of the soul that the natural instincts of the truth of the Deity cannot be heard yet when the soul is left to an undisturbed conference with and reflexions upon it self an opportunity it seldom wants when the hour of death is at hand it must needs determine in the behalf of God Almighty and against its own vanity As that Scotch Secretary of State that liv'd Atheistically died more wretchedly with these last words Heu miser aeternos vado damnatus ad ignes Muzzle the Conscience some men can and keep it from loud barking but the longest practice upon it cannot altogether so stop its mouth but it will make them hear sometimes if not gnaw them yea enough to make them weary of life to be rid of such a troublesome companion but neither live nor dye can they with comfort such a precious life leads an Atheist his head is at variance with his heart his wicked life and fears of an after-reckoning make him wish there was no God but cannot long make him believe there is no God Tantùm optat nullos esse putare Deos. For this reason it is that their words and actions fall out by the way and are so often contradictory sometimes laughing at all Religion and then presently apologizing for it sometimes railing and then immediately condemning all railng commending what they condemned and condemning what they did commend like brothers of the blade that when they have rob'd in one disguise change their Vizards and shift themselves into another shape for â—…ear of the Hue and Cry which puts me in mind of this Gregor Who did ever see so much railing in so little a book as his was ever any man prosecuted as he does the Ecclesiastical Politician with such variety of style in such prodigious rayling as we have already noted in part what can be said more to defame the memory of King Charles I. Than to say his whole Reign was deform'd with Ceremonies Arminianism and Sibthorpianism and Manwaring Has not his present Majesty our Gracious Soveraign as high interest in and concern for his Blessed Fathers honour as his Crowns can any violate the Majesty of the Father and the Son be untouch'd and unconcern'd and if this be true that Greg. suggests That the whole Reign of King Charles I. was deform'd the Duke of Buckingham stab'd by Felton had a great hand in that deformity and then does not this malicious invective seem to plead for the justice and equity of that horrid violence that depriv'd his Majesty and the Duke of their lives Could they fall desired and beloved for their innocence that liv'd for nothing but to deform the whole Reign Father Grey-beard reads his own sentence against himself the same Book that evidences his villany craves justice against it any I 'll join with him in his wishes p. 187. I could wish that there were some severer Laws against such villains who raise such false and scandalous reports of worthy Gentlemen and that those Laws were put in Execution and that men might not be suffered to walk the streets in so confident a Garb who commit those Assassinates upon the reputation of deserving Persons That King Charles I. was a deserving person he confesses when he calls him the best Prince in the world that Arch-Bishop Laud was a deserving person he confesses when he says he 's confident he studied nothing more than to do his Majesty and God Almighty good service and withal was so learned so pious so wise a man and that he ought not to be mentioned without due honour and that he deserved a far better fate than he met with and yet notwithstanding all this merit and honour due to him he makes him the cause of the Rebellion begun in Scotland as he would make us believe by imposition of the English Liturgy p. 303. And surely the King had a hand in 't too or else he makes him a cypher rather than a King sure this man was by when the Inditements were contrived and drawn up against our Blessed Soveraign and Arch-Bishop Laud for then they lay to their charge all the innocent blood as they call'd it shed in England and Ireland and who could expect any better should come on 't when they seem'd to know nothing but Ceremonies c. with that begun and with that ended till the whole Reign was deform'd And yet for all that this Gregory double tongue makes one a Pious Learned wise man and the other the best Prince that ever wielded the English Scepter Was not this Greg. begot by some Proteus of a Camaelion an Oedipus cannot riddle him he fights backward and forward sometimes for the King and sometimes for modern Orthoxy he slashes with a two edged Sword and cuts both ways brandishes against the enemy and then falls foul on his own party and the Good Old Cause but it is with pickeerings and flourishes rather than close fight and good earnest and therefore he gives the Good Old Cause a good new name and because the old one is odious he calls it sometimes Primitive Simplicity sometimes modern Orthodoxy and p. 303. the Cause too good A Cause too good too good for what too good to be burnt does he mean as it was by the
But unluckily in this fatal year of Seventy two amongst all the Calamities that Astrologers foretel this also hath befallen us And p. 68. Which meeting with the former fracture in his Cranium and all the concurrent accidents already mentioned has utterly undone him And so in conclusion his madness hath formed it self into a perfect Lycanthopy He doth so verily believe himself to be a wolf that his speech is all turn'd into howling yelling and barking and if there were any sheep here you should see him pull out their throats and suck their blood And does so verily believe himself a Jaccal that if there were any dead Corps here interr'd you should see the beast scratch up their graves and tear them out to inâ—…omb them again ignominiously in his nasty Guts And p. 77. That after they have done or suffered legally and to the utmost they must still be subjected to the wand of a Verger or to the wanton lash of every Pedant that they must run the Gantelope or down with their breeches as oft as he wants the prospect of a more pleasing nudity And p. 85. Speaking to the little comfortable importance call'd for variety of phrase p. 12. closer importance Parthenope whose mother Sir sells Ale by the Town wall as you love your self Madam let him not come near you he hath been sed all his life with vipers instead of Lampreys and Scorpions for Cray-fish and if at any time he eat Chickens they had been cramb'd with spiders till he hath so invenom'd his whole substance that 't is much safer to bed with a Mountebank before he has taken his Antidote And p. 136. For I am weary of noting the stabs he gives himself as much as possible I would not expose the nakedness of any person so eminent formerly in the Church And p. 139. Perhaps he said so only for evasion being old excellent at parrying and fencing And p. 139. He has face enough to say or unsay any thing that 't is his privilege what the School-Divines deny to be even within the power of the Almighty to make contradictions true And p. 155. Whereby you may see with what Reverence and Duty he uses to speak of his Superiours and their actions when they are not so happy as to please him And p. 164. But of all his three bolts this was the soonest shot and therefore it is no wonder if he miss'd his mark and took no care where his arrow glanced But what he saith of his Majesty and his Council And p. 146. He confounds himself every where in his reasonings that you can hardly distinguish which is the whoop and which is the holla and he makes Indentures on each side of the way wheresoever he goes And p. 275. But such as you it is that have always strove by your leasing gently good Hec. as you love me to keep up a strangeness and misunderstanding betwixt the King and his people and all the mischief hath come on 't doth much lye at your doors And whether all the invectives against the whole Reign of King Charles I. deform'd as he says with Sibthorpianism absolute Government the rock on which we split the imposition of the English Liturgy the cause of the Rebellion Ceremonies Arminianism Montague and Manwaring libelling the Reverend Bishops for their worthy cares sentencing Ministers of State Privy Counsellors jeering the present Parliament with being trinkled and bringing forth Superfetation of Acts as if he had a Commission to be chief Censor prying into all Offices and Officers and condemning all that stand in the way of Mâ—…dern Orthodoxy and the Good Old Cause and Nonconformists without mercy or fear dead and alive and all this in seventy two and with as many self-contradictions as impertinences can have any other meaning than by such Leasing to keep up a strangeness and mâ—…sunderstanding betwixt the King and his people judge you Is 't not pity but he should have his own wish p. 187. Only I could wish there were some severer Laws against such villains who raise such false and scandalous reports c. Sure I am he gives himself often enough to his shame the Bâ—…stinado and if they are not all Butt-ends yet they are dogged Counter-buffs with the least whereof he hits himself a vile box on the ear And instead of encountring the enemy le ts fly at all adventure and the random shot rencounters his own party and being overcharg'd the Butt-end of his Gun bumps his own breast and fells him with the Recoil A sad accident like that but much more fatal than that which befel an honest well-meaning Zealot our friend and acquaintance W. S. Who good man conceited of his own Prowess and Gallantry and taking â—…he Alarm at The Contempt of the Clergy musters up presently all his force in a Letter to a Friend with design to vindicate the Clergy from Contempt and the fury of that Charge But in his wrath and rage mistaking his way and to oblige his friends by the next Term makes more haste than good speed and missing also his Rest in the height of his Career coming to the Grapple fights in the Shock hand over head for the enemy against his own party In an Answer so incongruous to the design confessing all asking forgiveness and crying for quarter before the enemy had any thoughts of hurting him and all this in language so insipid and ridiculous that he made the Clergy they thank him so much the more contemptible and both himself and the Clergy the more laugh'd at Producing nothing but a mere black Patch aim'd indeed against and clap'd on too upon the face of his adversary but only thereby rendring the enemy so much the more a Beauty who indeed was lovely enough before So that my dear friend if ever the mad hair-brain'd humour of Scribling possess you as it has done Greg. and W. S. so that nothing can hold you but you must needs come out in Print tempted by the Dog-Star the Stationer or the near approach of the next Term In a Letter to a friend let me beg of you as you tender your Reputation and Honour that you take care not to subscribe it of all the Letters in the Cross-Row with those in the Fag-end of it W. S. And be sure you put not in the Superscription one syllable of The Rehearsal Transpros'd Lest thus mark'd the Hue and Cry pursue you upâ—…n suspicion of folly and self-conceit for the former and upon suspicion of folly self-conceit and sedition for the latter and punish you as self-condemn'd by your own gross self contradictions for both But especially take heed that you have not the least resemblance of Greg. who does so often with his own hand foil and baffle himself and the cause he designs to promote The man 's a Fanatick and by certain Paroxyâ—…s as pleases the Planet that governs him Lunatick with Modern Orthodoxy and talks like Oliver's 〈◊〉 now in Bedlam craz'd with a notion on that side
that Greg. had not said trinkle Trinkle it does so run in my mind like a new tune that I cannot write one jot more till I have eas'd my hypochondriack sides and laugh'd at this same Trinkle a little with my little Droll A Mistress I lately made love to only for the sake of her dress 't is so much in fashion and looks prettily But I ne'er entertain her above half an hour at a time having better employ and alwayes after dinner And that 's the reason my Minerva is Crassa and my wit so gross yet it is but little neither for its age For which cause my little Mistress Droll does not much care for me for fear I should get nothing but a race of Pigmies and therefore coy and seldom comes at me Her Iodgings are in the Middle Temple there she keeps with the ingenuous Hudibras and in good earnest I think she loves him above all English men Holla nine Sisters you Clio Melp Thal. and th' rest come hither Ho! But stay of late you 're grown so common Send little Droll your waiting woman You get the Hiss but She the Hum Droll then my pretty Houswife Come What is 't if thou be Oedipus To Trinkle Members of the House Come scratch thy noddle Girl and guess Riddle me riddle me what it is To trinkle members is meant here To round the members in the ear No no for they 've thrown off their Round Heads And now got Perukes and more sound beads To trinkle members is perhaps To cure the members that have Claps Yet now that cannot be meant here For Harry Martin sits not there To trinkle members then must be Some new new term of Alchymie And does in phrase of Virtuoso Speak Royal Aid supply or so so Then trinkle members is get Glasses Limbecks Charcoal Stills Furnaces To crock your faces be not sorry Turn the house to a Laboratory Bring Luna Venus Quick-silver Mars Saturn Sol and Jupiter Sulphur Salt-Peter and Petrol Bole-Armonack and Vitriol Ceruse Minium and Red-Oker Pitch Chalk Ars'nick and Synoper Allum and Salt and Antimony To find the Mine where does lie Money Casting off Caput mortuum Try for the Stone if it will come So trinkle members as I 've heard Is nothing else but what I fear'd Fire the House with honest Fellows Trinkle the members blow the Bellows Thus trinkle th' members as I am told Is turn the members into Gold And so those Bishops were Midas's And some o' th' members golden Asses Or trinkle members is Get on Hey for Superfetation These two last sences th' meaning is Or Trinkles is non-sence I wis And Greg. had better far been hang'd Than thus with lasting Droll be bang'd And if Greg. takes it in Dudgeon that I thus set my little Droll upon him and soil him let him the next time bring either better weapons skill and strength or more humility submission and manners Lest she that has now bang'd him in Metre give him the next time no more Quarter than the old Irish Rimes do their Rais. But indeed it would be better on all hands if he would keep him quiet and within doors and not as now so weakly and and wickedly Rhodomantade for a baffled cause By challenging his Betters whether dead or alive to come if they dare whether King or Parliament Fathers of the Church or Privy Counsellors to play the prize over again once more at the same old weapons jealousies and fears vile aspersions crying down with the evil Counsellors and the Liturgy to fight for Reformation Liberty Indulgence modern Orthodoxy and the Covenant Thus far I thought the design of the man was to fight neither with small nor great but only with the King and Parliament But now his hand 's in he 'll play at small games rather than sit out if 't be but for lâ—…oksake and to that purpose in the next page 311. makes one step to the Ordinary Have you never a little Clergy-man here for a Gentleman to play with never a Droll or boon companion with a Cassock on that forgetting his serious office will make a Gentleman merry rather than fail with a Joque upon Scriptures make a little Play that I may pass upon him once or twice and with a lucky hit or as he phrases it p. 312. with an unlucky Repartee jear the Parson make him a scorn a tail and contempt to the people His words there are But his the Eccles-Politician's zeal spends it self against the Atheists because they use to jear Parsons That they may do and no Atheists neither For really while Clergy-men will having so serious an office play the Drolls and Boon Companions and make merry with the Scriptures not only among themselves who neither having Perukes on their heads nor Swingers and Repartees at their tongues end cannot possibly be Gentlemen but in Gentlemens company 't is impossible but that they should meet with at least if not a swinger and a rapper two or three yet an unlucky Repariee oh I thought it would come sometimes and grow by degrees to be a tale and contempt to the people or as it is in the Original Our people namely the modern Orthodox do make themselves a taile of an old Orthodox Divine And p. 314. I know not by what fate every day one or other of the Clergy does or saith some so ridiculous or foolish thing or some so pretty accident befals them that in our Authors words a man must be very splenetick that can refrain from laughter it should have been quite contrary A man must not be very splenetick that can refrain from laughter for Splen ridet It is the seat of laughter always while you live so much spleen so much laugh But it would make a man laugh spite of his teeth though he had scarce any laugh to spare at what To see how every day one or other of the Clergy does or saith or some accident befals him that a body can't câ—…use but laugh Thus the Tassil-gentle once upon the wing for lack of a Heron or some noble prey rather than fail makes a stoop at a Jack-daw or a Mag-pye 'T is a merry world with Greg. he says every day some one or other of the Clergy either by word or deed done by him or done upon him is as good to Greg. as Jack-pudding himself or Wild or Merry Andrew to make him laugh When will 't come to my turn think I to wait and make the Gentleman sport I am afraid he will not like my Droll I shall ne'er please him or if he do laugh I shall with some unlucky repartee make him laugh but on one side of his mouth Let me see give me mine Almanack since that Greg. has his every day sport and laughing and jesting at one or other of the Clergy How long will it be before it comes to my turn For you know my dear friend Father-gray-beard will find no great comfort in me excâ—…pt to laugh at
with my self if these be the people of God who the Devil will have for his people I cannot tell for in all my travails upon earth I never met with such villains and wretches amongst Turks or Indians praying as the Indian did when the Friar told him to what place after this life the bloody Spaniard went that my soul may never go to that place whither those bloody villains go except they repent of their deeds For thought I how can these people be the godly party whose deeds are blacker than hell more bloody than those of that roaring Lion as great Lyars and Slanderers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father of Lies can be or make them to be one may know by their Looks what breed they are of they are so Father-like as like him as ever they can look ' And tell them of these things instead of giving you thanks or repenting and amending they rage and rail slander like mad or the Devil himself Therefore finding them characterized and prophesied of in the latter days by the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4. Oh! thought I now I have found you Traitors heady high-minded c. Lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying the Power thereof c. Indeed and indeed will they say have you found us Traitors heady high-minded c. but I pray who is characterized by the next words lovers of pleasures mark that more than lovers of God having a form of Godliness who is sor forms I pray come tell us that are we for forms c. Now the poor souls think they have hit it Alas poor souls the characters of Traytors and the rest of them do not seem to fit these modern Orthodox altogether so well as these two last for they seem to be made for them for the very nonce on set purpose nothing can be more apposite or proper for them Lovers of pleasures the Apostle says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voluptuosi Lat. voluptueux French voluptuous voluptas comes from voluntas and sounds thus much Lovers of their own wills and pleasures a people that will have their wills and pleasures to be done as if they were Kings or more than Kings a wilful generation that what they list to have they will have or they will mingle Heaven and earth ruffle Kingdoms turn all to blood and ruine Kings shall stand upon the stool of Repentance Kingdoms shall be laid waste millions of men and moneys lost and the best of Kings if they stand in the way of their wills and pleasures down they must let God and Laws say what they will for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more in love with their own good pleasure than Gods good pleasure God says Fear God Honour the King Submit to every ordinance of man for Gods sake be subject you must needs be subject for conscience sake or you shall be damn'd no matter for that let God and man say what they will they will have their wills yet these wilful people never want woe nor those Kingdoms that are troubled with them they misersably disquiet themselves as well as others But these Modern Orthodox are not more signally describ'd by that character than the next Having a form of godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated here the form is of the same signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence the Latines by way of Anagram have their word forma and the English do nearer anagrammatize the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our word here form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the face of any thing exterior rei facies the Vizor the Mask the Image the resemblance of a thing So that the form of godliness here is the face of godliness the Vizor or Mask of godliness the resemblance or Image of godliness but denying the power thereof Such a Mask as Jezabel put on when she proclaimed a fast but denyed the power of godliness when she murthered Naboth to get his Vineyard And thus these Modern Orthodox put on the Vizor and Mask of godliness in their Old Parliament fast-days their noise of Reformation multiplicity of Sermons yet these zealous Sermon-mongers these gifted-praying men these Jewish Sabbath-men if they had had the power of godliness they had not durst not have run into Rebellion Blood Schism Robberies called Plunderings and Sequestrations Murder Oppression Lyes Slanders Blasphemies Pride Malice Envy Hatred and all uncharitableness and murder which makes them odious to all mankind but themselves namely King-killing But not a word of this as you love me this must not be remembred learn herein to get Gentlemens memories but if you will remember remember Schism in the Letany extinguish it Letany and Liturgy the cause of all the wars together with the King and Council that imposed it remember that but as for the poor harmless Lambs if it were a failing to murther the King and his friends come it was but a failing an infirmity in the Saints be Gentlemen and forget it Yet for my part in the most impartial scrutiny that I can make I do not perceive that these Modern Faux's had their Vizors truly on when they went about those deeds of darkness I do not find that their way of Sermons Prayers Jewish Sabbathizings deserves so much Honour as to be called the true face form mask vizor or resemblance of Religion it is so far from true that it is not so much as like the true way of godliness and Gospel discoveries by Christ and his Apostles First for their way of Sermons Preachments two three four or ten times a week the running of an hourg-lass or two at a time in Lectures on Sundays and week days Lectures in the morning Lectures at noon and afternoon Lectures Lectures Sermons Sermons Oh Sermons I am sure it is not a Gospel way nor so much as the true face form or semblance of the preaching of our Saviour and the Apostles Our Saviour in his first Sermon upon the Mount in the 5 6 and 7 Chapters of S. Matthew all not half an hour long yet speaketh of twenty or fourty several subjects not confining himself to one subject one Text Doctrines Inferences and Uses but thought he should not need to beg pardon though he went from one subject in discourse to another of a Random nature which our modern Divinity men would have call'd Râ—…mbling at least and 't is well if it scap'd so our Blessed Saviour speaking what was most useful and seasonable for his auditory at that time and more than ever he spake at any other time in one continued discourse To say that all his Sermons are not set down is bold impudent precarious and daring the Apostle John saith the signs or miracles he did are not all set down but for his words as they were all saving so we have cause to think he did not grutch them to posterity for certainly novelty in religious worship and
so he was faithful to himself and the true measures of Government and knew if he had rendred himself to their mercy and yielded to their rage it had been but offering his throat to be cut a sad instance whereof I could give you in these late times But what does Moses in this case Exod. 33. 26 27. who is on the Lords side whose for me let him come to me There came none to him but Gown-men neither only in those days the sons of Levi wore swords and it seems knew how to handle them as well as bluffer Gallants for Moses had no sooner given them the word of Command but they fell upon the rabbble cut and slew till they had left three thousand dead upon the spot and this the Holy Ghost calls the consecrating or sanctifying of a mans self by slaying the Mutineers and there is a Blessing from Heaven promised to be bestowed upon them for their valour and good service in the â—…9 v. Such a white-liver'd Politician as Mr. Greg. durst not receive such measures of Government as these into his breast for fear they should fright him out of his wiâ—…s and if Englands Martyr Charles I. had hearkened to his own courage so much as he did to softer Councils if some Pantaloon Muâ—…se Courtiers that had better courage to lead a dance or a young Lady than head a Troop had been away if in their stead he had had a Company of Swiss for his Courtiers or gallant English Gentlemen with English Courages and with them sallyed out upon the Tumults which flock'd about his Gate he had in all probability crush'd the Cockatrice in the Egg and sent the Prentices home as O. C. did to their shop-boards with a vengeance to them However it could not possibly have fared worse with him than it did those softer Politick Lectures bringing the good King in conclusion to die afterwards at the same place the more 's the pity and pity it is that mercy and kindness are not always good nor fit as that good King found to his cost and therefore tells his son If ever you trust to them meaning the factious Rebâ—…ls or must stand to their Courtesie you are undone To manage the Reins of Government thus with a steddy hand and to ride with a Hank is the best of all both for King and people as we have found head-strong Jades would kill themselves if you lay the Reins upon their necks it is their happiness and ease to be rid with a Curb a licentious Government is no Government it is contradictio inâ—…adjecto or as Greg. phrases it p. 83. it is another J. O. an He Cow that is to say a Bull. And it is worth the while here to remember the clean fancy of that incomparable English Poet A King by yielding does like him and worse That sadled his own back to shame his Horse And because Mr. Greg. has put me upon 't to answer his Politick Lectures out of the Bible I 'll but give two Instances out of it not to instruct my Governours and tutour Kings I thank God I was never such a conceited thing nor so lost to all modesty and sense of humility But it is in my Sphere to instruct people what a blessing attends their Obedience to their Supreme Governours if when they command some things in Religion which in Circumstantials of Religion are poynt-blank against God's own Law and yet God likes it well blesses the people for such obedience though the Command of their Governours perswaded thereunto out of good Reason some great convenience or Necessity was directly different from the Command of God When the King and his Council made an Order to keep the Sacrament of the Passeover 2 Chron. 30. 2. together with the advice and concurrence of the Parliament therein called there all the Congregation it must be meant in their Representatives for all the People nor the thousandth part could not come to hear or know what was done at the great Council much less give their votes I say this King Hezekiah with his Council and great Council of the Congregation made a Decree to keep the Passover in the second Month. This is worse than the Cross after Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament for we can find no beginning when they entred into the Church and therefore have as much cause to think it was the posture of Christ and his Apostles and their constant practice if not more cause than to think the contrary But here in 2 Chron. 30. 2. is an Act of Parliament I 'll call it so for the better understanding of it in English phrase for it is of the same nature quite contrary to the Law of God concerning the Sacrament as to one Circumstantial of Time God commands to keep it in the first Month and positively reiterates the Command and bids them keep it in that appointed season Num. 9 2 3 5. The King and Parliament say to the People we command you for certain good reasons and motives to observe the Sacrament in the second Month. Now saith Modern Orthodox hang me draw me quarter me imprison me fine me do your worst I defie the Dâ—…vil and all the Laws of men contrary to God's Law here I 'll live here I 'll die So you may say I and be damn'd too in all probability lose your Soul as well as your Life Liberty and Estate as wise as you are and as wilful as you are And you may go on railing your Governours and the Fathers of the Church and tell them they sit in the seat and temple of God and as if they were God nay above him make Laws different from God's Law and therefore call them Antichrist the Be ist and the false Prophet and whether it be right to obey God or man judgeye Thus accepted was that Law of the Kiâ—…g and Parliament in Hezekiah his time by the Zealots that had more heat than light and more passion than knowledge and true spiritual wisdom For if our Governours be never so bad they cannot be so bad as the Devil himself and Michael the Arch-angel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was not so impudent or audacious as to rail at the Devil when contending about an honest Cause with him nor was the Devil his superior but because a Dignity a Principality an Angel though a black one St. Michael was not so audacious as to blaspheme the Devil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What desperate wretches then are those devillish people that pretend to the greatest sight of Religion and Knowledge of God and yet censure rail blaspheme lie slander revile and speak evil of Dignities and their Superiours without any remorse or check of Conscience and these people will talk of Consciences Consciences and liberty to tender Consciences then the nether Milstone the Adamant the Rock is tender if these men have tender Consciences that make their faces harder than a Rock impudent foreheads hard hearts hearts of stone consciences