With an idle and ridiculous Fancy of an Apology they would bring me under a necessity of making my own Fervency of Zeal for the Glory of God is the first thing and in the first Line laid to my charge but this Paul brings me off when he said It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing And that the thing in question which I appear for is Good very Good I appeal not only to Scripture but also to the Testimony of the whole Primitive Church of all Christian Protestant Churches specially of our Church in this Kingdom and if according to their Principles of a private Judge I must have it within me I want it not for in my Conscience I am so fully satisfied it is Good that thorough God's Grace strengthning me I am ready to lay down my Life and that 's for the same Cause for which my blessed Saviour laid down his and so many more after him namely that he was truly that is in a true and proper sense God's own and only begotten Son and when upon this Cause of his Men are neither cold nor hot he spueth them out of his mouth After this out comes a volley of Trash the product of an elevated Fancy and inflamed Imagination whereby things of Moment are wrested and ridiculed tho' may be the Party takes it for a great piece of Wit and whether I will or not he would make me to say that which I never so much as thought upon and because he would make of it a Stage-Play tho' very insipid and profane he brings me in as Postponing the Glory of God as he saith to Temporal Concerns how this can agree with what he said just before of my fervent Zeal for that Glory let him declare I think by means of the word Postpone I may understand something of the Writers meaning and I believe some among them could tell News how it came to pass that my Book which was intended to have been published by Candlemas Term for all the endeavours used to hasten it out came forth only the day before the Prorogation I have cause to suspect there was some tampering by a sort of Men diligent in their Concerns and of unwearied Endeavours to promote their Cause for the Children of this World are in their generation wiser than the Children of Light I doubt some of them plowed with my Heifer however let none boast before the time for thorough God's direction that which last Year was not done as indeed for that reason it could not be may happen to be done this however to God we leave the Success Yet as in my Preface I gave an account of the effectual Care which the Parliament of Scotland had taken to put a stop to your damnable Heresies in that Kingdom so now I must tell that which ye know well enough but may be every one else doth not how in Ireland about the beginning of September last the Committee for Religion having examined the Carriage of one of your Gang M. Toland who no doubt was gone over to promote the Cause and made their Report to the House immediately they passed a Vote that his Book should be burnt by the hand of the Executioner and his Person taken into Custody to be proceeded against but he finding the Place too hot for him made a shift to escape and come over or else he had been laid up but we hope here he shall either be followed by divine Mercy or meet with human Justice for we have ground to think that the Parliament of England with as much Zeal as those of Scotland and of Ireland will appear for the Cause and Honour of God and as one of the Wolves hath been unkennel'd in Ireland so that same and others shall here be so too and 't is but what all obstinate Leaders of such miserable wretches who deny the Lord that bought them do justly deserve to be branded with B that every one might know them for Blasphemers by reason of the blasphemous heretical and impious Opinions which those despisers of God with impunity whereat they grow bolder do daily publish and spread abroad and that in so bold and licentious a manner as was hardly ever allowed in any Christian State The Emperor Theodosius left a Precedent in such cases for by a Law he ordered the fifteen Volumes which impious Porphiry had written against the Christian Religion every where to be burnt and destroyed And indeed 't is but what the Anti-Christian Writings of such Miscreants as were Celsus Porphyrius Julian the Apostate and the like deserve to be their Works were levelled against the true God in the most Holy Trinity and against the Person and Divinity chiefly of our blessed Lord and Saviour and are not the Socinian Books so too The like Crime deserves the like Punishment this I speak in commendation of the Zeal and Justice of the House of Commons in Ireland Something more I must say and tho' I am sure to be disowned by Socinians and Socinianizers yet I hope not so by those who are really concern'd for the Honour of the glorious Trinity and for their Religion 't is this It were but Justice and Christian Prudence if the Pen-men of the Antitrinitarian and Antichristian Doctrines were burnt at the Fingers end to disable them from dropping their Poison upon Paper if only paring their Nails could do 't it would be well but I am of opinion that alone will not do 't nor Gospel-Arguments but the Authority of the Law must and this the Parliament of Ireland in their Wisdom have found necessary and being satisfied how things of that nature come within the compass of their Jurisdiction tho' M. Toland in his Letter to a Member of the House of Commons there pag. 32. declares he is a perfect stranger to any such Power claim'd by that Honourable Body tho' in himself he was conscious he might not say so in the Original Copy and his Apologist is of the same opinion tho' he more cunningly meddles with it and brings it in as the Judgment as he saith of several Members of the Committee pag. 23. Which are but Reflections insinuated against the Right of Parliaments in general and so reaches every Parliament wheresover But there are several Flaws in that Apology Here I meet with some Apologist whom I know well by the Stile tho' others of the kind make use of the same Ink such are in jest Apologists for Parliaments but in earnest against indeed I think that to study that common place and to erect themselves into Apologists consists with their own Interest for on their side there is more need of Apologies than of Panegyricks But I must speak of other things Both Writers come upon me with a Charge indeed I am a Sanguinary Man a Brother to Papists a Bonner a Persecutor a bloody-minded Believer and such other words to the same purpose I shall not say this is much Dust but
sense of Scripture tho' never so contrary to the intention of God's Spirit therein and as said before never so Erroneous and Heretical only because it is according to a man 's own private Opinion and deluded Imagination which is to take away the Obligation whereby Conscience and the whole Soul are bound to believe the Truth of Scripture only and not false Interpretations Besides there is in Scripture some matters of Faith which are not so obvious to the Soul and to Reason as matters of Fact are to the Eye and Ear as also there are others not to be Interpreted according to the plain and literal sense as they seem to be Out of the number and variety of such afforded in the Word I shall bring only two Instances Can they think that this Consequence by our Saviour God is the God of the living and not of the dead therefore there shall be a resurrection of the dead is plain and obvious to any man or that this is true Paul is a robber of Churches because he said I robbed other Churches Hence appeareth the danger and inconvenience of allowing of such a particular free liberty of Interpreting Scripture seeing it can be and is so much abused We are taught in the word that we have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God and which the Holy Ghost teacheth if human Reason were a sufficient Light for a Man to enable him to interpret Scriptures then Paul's Prayer that God would give the Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledg of him the eyes of their understanding being enlightned c. The like for the Colossians were in vain for 't is frivolous to ask what one hath already and wants not at all this Liberty which they allow themselves every day to search and find out new Interpretations whereby the Minds of Men are tossed and never to be setled cannot consist with the true Faith revealed in the Word of God which we are commanded to be stedfast in and to be rooted and built up in Christ and stablished in the Faith and not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines Certainly that freedom of interpreting is herein forbidden and so are we forbidden to believe those false Glosses and Interpretations for saith the Apostle Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God the reason is this Because many false Prophets are gone out into the world who allow themselves a freedom of interpreting Scrpiture according to their own humour and fancy no ways allowed by the Laws of God and should not be by the Laws of Men a Curb ought to be put upon such wandering profane Thoughts at least upon the publishing of them The Adversaries who are so fond and conceited of their human Reason Learning and Wisdom might take notice how the Apostle hits them when he calls those who give false interpretations of and wrest Scriptures both unstable and unlearned certainly those Men are unstable who make use of a pretended Liberty ever to give Scripture new interpretations as suggested by their Reason so to day they may give one and the next another different from and contrary to it and is not this Change a Fickleness and Unstableness These unstable Men would make those different interpretations to be a part and proof of their Learning but far from that for Peter calls them unlearned whereby he gives a great blow to that Diana-Idol of theirs But as I hope hereafter by the Grace of God to have an occasion of enlarging upon this I shall for the present forbear saying any more to it What he brings in of Bonner and Latimer about the Interpretation of the Words This is my Body cannot answer his purpose that Instance indeed can shew how a Text may differently be interpreted and that one may happen wrongfully to suffer for a good Cause and how the strongest side and most supported is not always the best But this cannot prove that because one has unjustly suffered the other may not justly suffer that sort of Men who are always wholly bent to provide for their safety would infinuate how no Man should be called to account for any wresting of or putting false interpretations upon Scripture tho never so false blasphemous impious and heretical because he who doth so believeth them not to be such which is their own case it doth not follow that a Truth tho made doubtful because to day 't is supported and to morrow shall be oppressed must not be owned and a Restraint put upon those who oppose it The Merit of the Cause is impartially to be enquired into and when Truth is found out not only it must be exalted but also its contrary is to be kept under Tho Queen Mary supported a bad Cause and suppressed a good one it doth not follow but that Queen Elizabeth did well to suppress a bad Cause and support a good one Tho an innocent be brought to suffer yet the guilty must not go free for all that Because formerly innocent Blood was shed must not Justice now be executed upon Criminals 'T is not the Opinion of Men but the Truth of the Thing which makes any one guilty or innocent the Law is judge of it So in Matters of Religion 't is not the Interpretation of the Text nor the Opinion which the Interpreter hath of the Soundness of his Interpretation that makes it Orthodox and sound but the Word which explains it self for what in one place is dark is plain in some other and when some Men contrary to those Lights will set up heretical and blasphemous Opinions and therein grow obstinate only because they think to be in the right upon such account the Word of God authoriseth Men to enact such penal Laws as they shall think most conducing for the glory of God and to have them put in execution chiefly when the Parties against the known Laws of the Land do publish and in defiance of all at the Parliament Doors offer their heretical Books with words to this purpose I put a most excellent Book into your hand pray read it with attention and when you are Converted strengthen your Brethren thus profanely abusing God's most holy Word They are by no means pleased with my way of Writing but I like it the better for their disliking it They find fault first with the Matter Order and Expression secondly with my often using Scripture thirdly with my Sallying as they call it into sundry Metaphors The first of the two ironically talks of depth of Learning height of Fancy c. which is proper to Fantastical Men who would transform Fancy yea all Religion into Reason The other calls it A World of School Cant which now adays goes for deep Learning So both tho' in a different way talk of depth of Learning that People would have others like themselves to build upon
Principles the Famine in David's days of three Years Year after Year came meerly according to a general course of Nature without a particular Cause and special Providence certainly when David inquired about it the Lord assigned the particul Cause and answered It is for Saul and his bloody House because he slew the Gibeonites The Sin with the Punishment and by whom inflicted were all named and expressed yet against all Right and Reason they would not have this Case to be a special Providence for they say there is no such thing in the World But why should I bring a Candle to light the Sun and in a thing which God's Word doth so plainly and fully demonstrate how to punish National Family and Personal Sins God sends the Plague Famine the Sword venomous Beasts the Locust the Canker-Worm the Catterpillar and the Palmer-Worm which the Lord calls his great Army which I sent among you Did the Plagues of Egypt come at a venture or were they inflicted by God to punish that Nation for their Sins God threatned the Children of Israel for their Disobedience to send upon them Cursing Vexation and Rebuke the Pestilence a Consumption a Fever an Inflamation an extreme Burning the Sword Blasting Mildew the both of Egypt the Emerods with Scabs and Itch Madness Blindness Astonishment of heart c. as expressed in Deut. 28. Are not all these Judgments of God upon Men for their Sins Have I then spoken any harm that you should Cavil at what I say that to the Toleration of Blasphemy and Idolatry we may chiefly attribute the cause of the Chastisments which make the Nation uneasie through losses by Sea by Land by Fire or any other way you named or can name Blasphemy and Idolatry 't is a sad truth do abound in the Land and a flood of all Evil in Doctrine and Practise hath overflowed it and tho' it be against Gospel and Law yet no visible effectual care is taken to suppress it Can we be unconcerned when we hear God by his Prophet speaking thus Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not I be avenged on such a Nation as this Jer. 5. 29. With such a Warrant in my hand I am neither ashamed nor afraid openly to declare that winking at Blasphemy and Idolatry we may well reckon among the chief Causes which have drawn God's Rod upon the back of the Nation and the more because the Sins which there move God to speak by his Prophet are against Men but these we now complain against are directly against God And if God be angry for their not judging for Men will he not be so if Men neglect to Judge for him Do but read the last Verse of the same Chapter where mention is made of Distempers if not exactly the same in relation to Persons yet in Nature much like ours and take notice of God's Expostulation there What will ye do in the end thereof Now the Misdemeanour they would wrongfully charge me with I may justly retort upon them With all due Respect I addressed to both Houses and humbly represented things as 't is usual in points of Grievances whereof some are of a Spiritual as others of a Temporal nature I then said and now say it again that according to Divine and Humane Laws Blasphemy should be rooted out and Blasphemers punished To ask for Justice is not to prescribe the Judges any thing what they ought to do and there is nothing like this in my whole Epistle as these words of mine which the Author of the Letter hath taken notice of do evidence Thus having laid open the Disease I leave it for your Piety and Christian Wisdom to find out and apply the true and proper Remedy We know 't is for the Supreme Judges to do Justice in what manner and degree they please no Man of sense will deny it to be in the power of and to belong to the Magistrates Office to punish Delinquents against God as well as those against Men of the first as well as of the second Table Blasphemers Idolaters Profaners of God's Holy Name as well as Murtherers Adulterers and Thieves S. Paul was no sanguinary Man yet in one place after an enumeration of several things whereof some are less grievous than Blasphemy concludeth That they which commit such things are worthy of death For my part I neither in my Epistle nor in the Preface have said or designed to say so yet if I had without being a Sanguinary Man I here have a Warrant for it But having spoken of my self I now must come to you and say Ye both have been much wanting in your due respect for that Illustrious Assembly of Parliament For one humbly to Address or Petition the Supreme Judges to redress things which are amiss is no disrespect but to pretend to be their Apologist and make use of their Name in an Ironical way as ye I may say saucily have done in the Title of your Pamphlet is certainly to want a due respect and to deserve Punishment To call a Libel against the Doctrine of the Religion by Law established by the name of An Apology for the Parliament most humbly representing c. is a great Abuse and a piece of high Impudence in you which hangs together with your whole Carriage for contrary to the known Laws of the Land and in defiance of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions you do print publish and most insolently go about to Vindicate your Heretical and Blasphemous Opinions in opposition to and the disturbance of the Church by Law established And when ye are not able to defend your bad Cause to give the thing a wrong side the Superior Power to be your drudges must by you be brought in but 't is in you a high presumption to think you can impose upon them Now for my part I must tell you that when I am engaged in any Controversie I stick to the Point beg for no Foreign help and Answer not with Injuries but with good Arguments ye do the contrary But over and above what I have said to shew how with humbly Addressing my self to the Parliament to ask Justice against you and towards preventing the growth of Socinianism I did nothing but what is according to Law I here lay down an undeniable proof of it with a Copy of the Presentment of the Grand Jury of Middlesex on the last day of the last Easter Term 1697 and this according to directions given by the Judges who must know the Law The Names of the worthy Persons that were of it do for their Piety and Zeal deserve to be recorded in Letters of Gold and 't is hoped this may be a Precedent for others to do the like in other parts of the Kingdom A Copy of the Presentment of the Grand Jury of Middlesex the last day of the Term at Westminster viz. WE the Jurors sworn to enquire on the behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King