but also for conscience sake In Tit. 3.1 Put them in mind saith the Apostle to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be subject to every good work You see that good works and obedience to Magistrates are joined together and appointed to be equally prest upon the people by the Exhortations of Christs Ministers In the 1 Pet. 2.13 c. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of men for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God Fear God honour the King You see it is the will of God that with well-doing that is by obeying the King and his Governours we should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men who thought that Religion freed them from the yoke of subjection and that we should not make Christian liberty a cloak of maliciousness a pretence of Disobedience and Rebellion but as servants to God honour the King and submit our selves to him for the Lords sake Therefore it is a great impiety and hypocrisie to pretend Gods cause and interest for rebelling and disobeying when he bids us for his sake to obey and to be subject 2. That none must presume upon any account whatsoever to rebel against the Sovereign or Supreme Governour read Num. 16. at the 3. v. you shall find that Korah and his rebellious crew pleaded that the people was the Lords people and that they were holy every one of them and therefore say they to Moses and Aaron Why lift ye up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord But at the 32. v. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all that appertained to them And by that dreadful and unheard-of judgment God manifested how much he detests Rebellion that following Ages might beware of the heinousness of that crime So in 1 Sam. 24.5 and 6. Davids heart smote him because he had cut off Sauls skirt and he said to his men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords Anointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the Lords Anointed And c. 26. v. 9. David saith unto Abishai Destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless David was then Anointed King he was persecuted wrongfully by Saul Saul was rejected of God and he had most barbarously put to death the Priests of God and their whole families and yet because he was King over the people Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless God as you see allows no pretence at all for Rebellion for that as I have shewn you Kings have their Authority from him By me Kings reign saith the Divine Wisdom Prov. 8.15 and therefore Solomon joins God and the King together as the objects of our respect and obedience Prov. 24.21 My son fear thou the Lord and the King and so Eccles 8.2 I counsel thee to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God 3. We are not to speak evil of the King but rather to pray for him in 22. Exod. 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods that is Supreme Magistrates nor curse the Ruler of thy people Job 34.18 Is it fit to say to a King Thou art wicked and to Princes Ye are are ungodly So it was witnessed against Naboth by his false accusers That he blasphemed God and the King 1 King 21.13 and then he was stoned to death Whereby it appears that in Israel it was one of the greatest impieties to speak ill of the King As also it is commanded by Solomon Eccles 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thoughts c. And you may see what a black character the Apostles set upon those that despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities in the Epistle of Saint Jude and in 2 Pet. 2.10 Now that it is our duty to pray for the King we have these examples 1 Sam. 10.24 when Saul was anointed the people cryed God save the King and so likewise when Solomon was anointed 1 King 1.39 But what need any more than this precept of St. Paul 1 Tim. 2.1 and 2. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority for it is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Lastly That we are to pay Tribute to Kings and Sovereign Princes read Rom. 13.6 and 7. For this cause pay you Tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour If the Heathen Emperours were Gods Ministers and therefore to receive Tributes and Customs much more the Christian Kings that now reign over us Moreover we have the example of Christ himself who when he had not wherewithal to pay that Tribute which the Roman Kings had imposed upon the Jews was pleased to work a miracle for to get money to pay it withal Mat. 17.24 c. He that was and is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the God of Heaven and Earth pleaded no exemption from paying Taxes but bound this duty upon all his followers by his own example and thereby confirmed also that precept which he gave us when the Jews asked him whether it was lawful to pay Tribute to Caesar Mat. 22.21 of rendring to Caesar the things that are Caesars as well as to God the things that are Gods Now therefore let no Christian dare to go against these so many and so plain and express Scriptures in disobeying or resisting his King and Sovereign under pretence of Religion or of removing evil Councellors or of fighting for the Kings Authority against his Person or because the Pope or the Presbyterian Synod enjoin him so to do for the good of souls for the cause and interest of Christ and the Gospel for you see that God makes no reservations and allows of no distinctions or equivocations but bids every soul to be subject and threatens damnation to any that shall not And now Sirs I leave you to meditate upon what you have heard and I heartily wish it may do you good FINIS
though I find nothing for it in Scripture had I not found that he hath really erred and that very grosly whence I infer that therefore his Infallibility and supreme Authority are Chimeras mere devices of his own brain the which I am in no wise bound to obey being they pervert and oppose the plainest truths in the New Testament As that Christ is now in heaven by his bodily presence and not on the Altars as it is in the Creed he is ascended into heaven from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead and in Acts 3.20 Whom the heavens must contain until the restitution of all things That we are forgiven and cleansed by the death and merits of Christ not by Purgatory and Indulgences 1 Joh. 1.7 And the bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sins ibid. 2.2 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world That the offering of himself on the Cross hath fully satisfied for sin and that his sacrifice needs not be renewed daily and be offered corporally in the Mass for the sins of the living and the dead as you teach and do Heb. 9.26 But now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself c. In those things that are evidently against the Word of God we are resolv'd to follow Scripture rather than the head of your Church and we 'll rather for ever break with him than to suffer him to put out our eyes that so he may guide us at his own pleasure P. Yea those be the fruits of translating the Bible and performing Divine Service in the vulgar Tongues every one of you can find fault with the Doctrins and Constitutions of the Church and talk Scripture from morning to night we see among your selves what Disorders it hath caused If your Clergy had been wise enough to have still retein'd the Latin Tongue in all their Ministrations the people could have dislik'd and censur'd nothing 't was sufficient for them to have light enough to follow their guides more submission and obedience with less knowledge had done better Bellar de Verbo Dei l. 2. c. 15. That hath been the wisdom of our Church to keep the Scripture and the publick prayers of our Church out of the peoples reach by forbidding them to be read in any vulgar tongue Catholica Ecclesia prohibet ne in publico communi usu Ecclesiae Scripturae legantur vel canentur vulgaribus linguis ut in Concilio Tridentino SS 22. Can. 9. Sed contenti sumus tribus illis linguis quas Dominus titulo crucis suae honoravit G. Because some men stumble and fall at noon-day must the Sun be charged with a fault that proceeds from their heedlesness and would it become one to say that therefore 't is safer to grope in the dark because then people tread more warily Or must therefore mens eyes be put out because then they shall be willing to be led and to follow their guides S. Peter saith that the unstable and unlearned in his time wrested some difficult things written by Saint Paul and other Scriptures to their own destruction Yet he doth not say therefore let not the common people read them but rather dedicates his Epistle to all those that were partakers of the Christian Faith and exhorts them to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ibid. v. 18. S. Paul reckons Idolatry Heresies and Schisms among the fruits of the flesh Gal. 5.20 but doth not any where impute them to the reading of Holy Scripture and it hath been observ'd that the perversness of men of great Learning hath been the cause of Heresies and not the mistakes or ignorance of ordinary people in reading the Bible However we have a whole Chapter in the New Testament against the speaking in an unknown tongue as you do in all your Churches 1 Cor. 15.11 If I know not the meaning of the voice I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me that 's the relation betwixt your Priests and your people they are Barbarians one to another the whole Chapter is to that purpose and would be too long to be transcrib'd But if Scripture had been silent in this one would think that common Reason would have kept men from a practice so absurd and ridiculous that a man should present a petition and know not what he asks and be taught his duty by words he doth not understand is a strange and incredible thing which Reason alone confutes most strongly And yet for all this I do hugely commend the wisdom of your Church in this particular for that hath maintain'd the Popes Religion and Credit for some hundreds of years the understanding of Mass and Scripture hath already prov'd fatal to his authority and should once the rest of his flock be able to compare both together 't is to be fear'd he that hath rewarded many of his friends with the gift of titular Bishopricks might come to be himself a titular Bishop P. I see you value an universal Council as little as you do Bellarmin alone and have as many things to object against it I wonder how you dare in any wise oppose the authority of such an Assembly and think your Judgment is to be prefer'd to theirs G. And I wonder how you can call the Council of Trent universal when there was none in it of the Clergy of the Reformed Churches which are almost as large and populous here in the West as those of the Roman Religion But especially because none of the Christians of Aethiopia nor of those that are subject to the Patriarchs of Antioch and Constantinople whose Jurisdiction is of a far larger extent than that of the Bishop of Rome were present at it Pray did you never hear that a great Company of Arrians met once together and confirmed their Errors and cursed all those that would not embrace it and call'd themselves an Universal Council just so did that Company of Papists that met at Trent But had they been twice as many more you should not wonder how I dare oppose them but rather consider whether what I say be rational or no and whether what you call my private judgment be not rather the express words of Scripture But pray proceed and tell me what your Church thinks of Images and Saints for we are told that you worship them P. Yes Bellar. de San. beat l. 1. c. 19. and that very devoutly and to our great advantage by making religious Invocations to them whether they be men or angels Sancti sive angeli sive homines pie atque utiliter invocantur G. Now I wonder too how you dare do that for I find that when Cornelius would have worshipped S. Peter the holy Apostle took him up saying Acts 10.26 Rev. 19.10 that he himself was a
Malignants that it was the praise of a dead Saint S. Midhope p. 22. Colonel Gould That he had been impartially active in punishing Malignants against the cause of Christ and therein another Moses And indeed who would have shewed any love to those ugly Cavaliers who were Gods Enemies Remember saith Mr. Leech before he exhorted those that were on Gods side to throw down Jezabel that we cannot be rightly for God Jer. Leech p. 21. if we be not against those that are against God Gods Friends must be our Friends and Gods Enemies must be our Enemies Therefore it was I suppose that your minds were so imbittered against the Malignants that you breathed cruelty against them in your very Prayers Mr. Tesdale one of your holy Synod exhorting the House of Commons to pray for the peace of Jerusalem which was the words of his Text out of Psal 122.6 Israel saith he and Amalek join Battel daily should not therefore Moses hands be lift up in prayer and Aaron and Hur help to sustain them until the Lord hath avenged us of our Enemies of pray for the peace of Jerusalem But for a conclusion hear what Mr. J. W. Batchelor in Divinity preacht upon a Thanksgiving-day for your Victory at Hessammoor p. 10. Most of them Cavaliers are desperately wicked whom Satan hath principled to make haste for Hell there is no design so desperate as some of them will not attempt though usually they be bulletted and sent out of this life for it and sent to meet with such Matches as will keep fire for ever It seems their souls found no more mercy at your hands than their bodies did you sent them straight to Hell Whence by the way it is observable that your Power reacheth downward further than the Popes for his as yet goeth that way no further than Purgatory But what a pity 't is that you were not of the Church of Rome VVhat brave Champions should we have had And what a loss is it that such fervent Zeal was spent upon a wrong Cause But however right or wrong it appears that you made the people believe that cruelty to your Enemies was an excellent piece of Religion and most acceptable to God and so dear Sir in this we may also shake hands Pr. You are a lying Calumniator and it is your custom to load with reproaches and the blackest of crimes those whom you are not able to encounter with Reason and Arguments whoever will not dote upon your follies you 'll be sure to defame and slander with your virulent tongues and you make the vulgar abhor your adversaries by representing them as monsters Pa. Well I assure you for all your anger I had the very same thing to say to you and if you speak truth in this we are really Brothers in iniquity for you also clapt a most ugly Vizard on your Enemies face and then brought them out to be worried by the people Wicked Accursed Popish Babylonish Antichristian these were the colours you drew them in as you may see in what follows There was a Book printed 1643. by Thomas Watson call'd The Cavaliers Catechism so foul that I should be asham'd to mention it but that you was not asham'd to print it or at least to suffer it to be made publick It was thus What is your Name Cavalier Who gave you that Name My Seducers and Deceivers in mine Innocency wherein I was made a Member of the Church of Rome and consequently a Limb of Antichrist an Enemy to all Godliness the Child of the Devil and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Darkness c. What Commandments have you learned and will you keep These following To observe the Will of his Holiness of Rome To commit Treason against Kings that oppose him and To commit Adultery Rapine c. But there was as bad as this spoken out of the Pulpit Steph. Marshal in a Sermon to the Mayor and Aldermen S. Maâ—shal 1044. These are miserable and accursed men these men are Factors for Hell Satans Boutefeus and as the true Zealots are set on fire from Heaven so these mens fire is kindled from Hell whither also it carries them So Mr. J. Vicars p. 6. Vicars in his Jehovah-Jireh I mean to make the godly Reader to see the distress and danger we were plunged in by the nefarious Plots of Jesuitical Priests and perfidious Prelates for I may most justly link them together like Simeon and Levi brothers in iniquity combining and complotting to reduce us to the accursed Romish Religion the whole Book is full of the same stuff And there were Centuries of scandal us Malignant Priests printed by the order of the Committee of the House of Commons wherein the Episcopal Clergy was charged with the most detestable crimes and abominations that could be invented And Mr. White saith of them in the Preface That they were dumb Dogs Jo White 1643. against whom God had protested for their ignorance men swallowed up with Wine and strong Drink whose Tables were full of vomit and filthiness Whoremongers and Adulterers who as fed-Horses neigh'd after their Neighbours Wives Buggerers that changed the natural use in that which is against Nature men unfit to live or to preach among Christians Priests of Baal of Bacchus of Priapus Pray what could you have said worse not only of us but even of the lewdest Turks and Heathen So Mr. Gill. at Edinburgh in his Sermon to the House of Commons on Ezck. 43.11 And if they be ashamed of what they have done c. saith at the 13 pag. Gillesâ— 164â— The first Application shall be to the Malignants enemies of the Cause and people of God at this time who deserve to have Jeremies black mark to be put upon them Jer. 6.15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination Mr. Tesdale likewise in his fore-mentioned Sermon Tesd p. 8. Balaam may engross the Promotions of Moab as the temporizing Clergy of late the Dignities of our Church but upon sawey terms they must come then and curse Israel And before at the 6 pag. he had joined together the Atheists Papist Priests the Prelates Irish Rebels and the English Traitors as Sampsons Foxes to destroy the Church and Commonwealth Mr. Calamy himself that man of moderation told the Commons E Calamy 1645. p. 26. If there be any amongst you that favour Malignants because they are your Friends though Enemies to God and his cause this is a great sin to be repented on greatly I say to such as the Prophet to Jehoshaphat 2 Chr. 19.2 Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord Any body whom you knew to be a Friend or an Helper to the King was sure to be a wicked man for his pains and to have fine Epithets bestowed upon him as these Beech 1645. p. 10. Have not our new Midianites Assyrians taking to their assistance the French Philistines Welsh Egyptians Cornish Hungarians the degenerate Ishmaelites
and the Renegado English have not these wrested our lives c. Nay the Magistrates themselves were not exempt from the sting of your poisonous tongues Mr. Case told the Court-Martial Th. Case 1644. p. â— That for many years Robbery Violence Murther and Treason had sate on the Bench and not stood at the Bar c. And your tongues were so inur'd to slander that you could not so much as spare the first Christian Emperours and Bishops who had been the great Propagators of Christian Religion T. Palmer 1644. p. 19. The wicked saith Mr. Palmer and the Popes and Roman Emperours have agreed all along to persecute Gods Saints that hath gone on for above 600 years they have been getting upon the Saints almost all this while and therefore now 't is no more but just with God to bring their time of losing c. Thus you see the conformity between you and us holds still in this particular of slandering our enemies or rather to give you your full due you have out-done all Precedents by far if not Diabolos himself the Father of Lyes Pr. I know not whether your Quotations be true but this I am sure of that there is no men under the Sun so humble as the Presbyterians none acknowledge themselves so vile before God and make such soul-humbling confessions of sin whereas you magnifie your selves as the only people of God you think there is no goodness to be found but only amongst you therefore you exclude all that are not of your Church out of Heaven and so puft up you are with pride that you dare talk of your merits as though you were more than perfect Pa. Of Merits and Perfection another time if you please for the present let us inquire whether you do not value your selves as highly as we do and also shut out of Heaven those that are not of your holy Sect. As for your long confessions of sins I confess that I have sometimes admired how they could be consistent with the good opinion you have of your selves At first I thought that you took a pride in professing much humility and possibly I was not much out for you know you call him the Son of Pride who calls himself Servus Servorum But I remember that heretofore you kept days of humiliation for the sins of others Mr. Coleman in a Sermon to the Parliament after he had told them how that sins may be punished long after their commission T. Coleman p. 14. adds This particular was taken to heart when by an Ordinance you call'd upon the Kingdom to be humbled for the Bloud shed in the Marian persecution if such an Ordinance was reprinted with some additions concerning mixtures in Gods service and violence against Gods servants under the Prelatical Tyranny it might possibly do much good whereby it may seem probable that in your long confessions you mean other mens sins and not your own However it appears by what I have said already that you think your selves the best of men or to speak more properly the holy ones the elect and chosen people you engross to your selves the names of precious Saints and Godly others go under the notion of vile Looking-Glass for Malignants p. 2. ungodly reprobates It grieves the Saints saith Mr. Vicars to see those miserable Malignants to be so godless and graceless so bitingly and bitterly to flout and affront the Lord Christ himself in his holy Members and his most glorious Cause And in his Jehovah-Jireb speaking of Bastwick Burton c. brought out of prison p. 13. he saith Did not the Lord shew himself most strangely in the Mount for the redemption of all these his beloved Isaacs and cause his wrath to lay hold on those Romish Rams who were intangled in the bushes of their Bishoply abuses to Gods children and so by his admirable Providence to make them a prey to his just indignation in stead of his innocent his tenderly affected Isaacs his beloved Lambs I believe the Jews never put so many affronts and indignities upon the accursed posterity of Cham as you did upon those that were not enrol'd among your Saints Jer. Bur. 1643. p. 20. The Lord hath raised up saith Mr. Burroughs the worst the vilest upon the face of the earth and they have possest the houses of many of his Saints the dearly beloved of Gods Soul Is not this to the purpose Nay it seems the blessed Apostles and first Christians were inferiour in Saintship to your most incomparable selves saith Mr. Goodwin to the Parliament Look upon this Isle wherein we live Th. Good 1645. p 51. as it is the richest Ship that hath the most of the precious Jewels of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in it Let me use the same Expression as I did in publick twenty years agone That if we stood at Gods elbow when he bounded out the Nations and seasons that men should live in we should not have known unless in Christs in what Age or in what place we should have chosen to have lived in in respect of the enjoyments of the Gospel and the Communion of Saints more than in this Kingdom wherein we live Now my loving Friend don't you think that we are also well agreed in this in esteeming our selves highly and condemning others that ar not of our side as impious reprobates fit only for Hell All the difference lies in this that we think well of our selves in that we obey our Church and hold Communion with her and you contrariwise make your excellency to consist in forsaking your Church and endeavouring to destroy it Pr. You shall repent by and by of the great pains you take for nothing mean while I 'll give you leave to talk of what Master such an one and such an one saith and pray can you find by those your Authors you have so ready at your fingers end that we have merits of congruity and merits of condignity and that we can give Pardons and Indulgences if so be we can get money for them Don't we teach that all our righteousness is as a defiled Rag and that our best works are rather sinful than meritorious Pa. It may be so but for all that I can tell you of one thing that is hugely meritorious among you and that is the advancing of the Cause the time was when you exhorted the people to spend all upon so good a work S. Marshal 1644. p. 41. Lay out your strength and hearts and affections for the Lord go on with all your might with all your estates with all your treasure whatever you have let God have it all in his Cause if he need it And pag. 43. Who knows how far the Zeal of any one man may prevail therefore go on in it to the utmost let Offices go let Wife and Children go let Estates go be wholly for the Lord and say What may I do wherein may I be imployed and laid out what is there in my
that there was an unlucky Equivocation in the case The Scripture saith he pag. 28. bids us to be subject to the Higher Powers it doth not bid us to be subject to the will of those who are in highest places But two or three specious words serv'd the turn this was chiefly to seduce the Kings own Friends if it were possible Those that had a Loyal Soul here was a bait for them you were fighting for to make the King great and glorious though 't was against his will and for his Authority against his Person and he was on your side in his Pelitical though not in his Personal capacity and so if they lov'd the King they might join with you and no doubt but those goodly pretences deluded then many a well-meaning Soul But then if people were not for the King to be sure they would be for the Lord and upon that account they might and they must join with you for you were fighting the Lords Battels warring for Sion against Babylon this was the grand cheat whereby the Nation was deluded Had the Parliament-Officers gone about and told the people that the King encroacht upon their Priviledges and acted against the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom the generality of men was not so well read in the ancient Statutes and Charters of this Realm as to know whether it was so or no and so 't is likely they had been very slack in engaging in a doubtful general But you knew well enough that the people would right for God therefore you made him a party in the case and then called upon them to help the Lord against the Mighty to help to throw down Antichrist and to set up Christ and those that came to your call were rewarded besides the holy Plunder with good words flatteries high and lofty titles they were the Saints the Godly the Chosen the Lambs Followers and the precious Ones and so you made them active in their wickedness by making their deluded Consciences to warrant their accursed doings Though the way was besprinkled with bloud yet that the people might not be deterred from doing Gods work â— Palmer p. â—3 they were told that God had seen it good to bring Christ into the Kingdom that bloudy way and then who would be afraid of bloud-shedding upon such an account But this hath been sufficiently proved when I spoke of your cruelties and made it appear that the War was Religious and not Civil and that for the good of Souls you may do what you lift as well as the Pope Now I desire only to mention a few more of your juggling tricks and then I shall endeavour to say somewhat in defence of those Authorities I have cited out of your Books Mr. p. 1â— 13 Palmer resolves that grand Query How shall I know that the Parliaments Cause is Gods Cause and those that join with them more Gods people than on the other side in this manner Alas it is the plainest thing in the world look to the words of Christ John 10.5 and 44. My Sheep know my Voice c. Now do but consider which of the new-raised Forces come nearest to this Rule who is it that submits to the Word and Rule of God who set up the work of Reformation who is desirous to preserve the people of God Was not he an excellent Casuist to make your pretences and doings an argument to prove that your War against the King was just Much like him that said it is and hath been the design and practice of Jesus Christ to break all Kingdoms that oppose him Th. Good 16â—â— p. 1â— and oppress his Saints As much as to say that God pulled down the King because he opprest Christ and did not favour the Saints by which Rule the best cause is condemned if it be unsuccessful and well-fare the Turk and all the wicked as long as they prosper according to this we have seen before that Providence was your Guid and Captain it led you and did all things for you and so it came to pass that the worst of your doings were charged upon God Jehovah-Jireh pag. 65. The Prentices and Porters were stimulated and stirr'd up by Gods Providence thousands of them to petition the Parliament for speedy redress And Mr. Will. Jenkins in his Conscientious Queries and Submission to the then present Power 1651. useth only the Turkish Argument of good success to prove that the prosperous Rebels were to be obeyed as lawful Superiours and that by charging all that had been done upon God and Providence pag. 2. Whether the stupendious Providences of God manifested among us in the destruction of the late King and his Adherents in so many pitcht Battels and in this Nations universal forsaking of Charles Stuart and the total overthrow of him and his Army whether by these Providences God hath not plainly removed the Government from Charles Stuart and bestowed it upon others as ever he removed and bestowed any Government by any Providence in any Age Whether a refusal to yield Obedience and Subjection to this present Gouernment be not a refusal to acquiesce in the wise and righteous pleasure of God and a flat breach of the fifth Commandment Therefore he saith in his Humble Petition That he looks upon it as his duty to the then Authority to yield all active and cheerful Obedience in the Lord even for conscience sake as though their prosperous wickedness could give them a just title to their Usurpation Another would have it believed that the Saints were victorious Joh. Owen 1659. p. 22. because of Christ being with them and their having a Commission from him to act as they did saying That the Saints and the secret ones shall work destruction and that this feeble Generation shall be as a Lion from the presence of Christ amongst them Christ saith he assigns that to them which is his own proper work let men take heed how they provoke this Lion for then he will not lie down until he eat of the prey and drink of the bloud of the slain As though it had been by the order and power of Christ that the Lion or the wild Beasts had filled all the Nation with bloud and slaughter Then in stead of teaching the people to obey the Precepts of the Gospel Charity Humility Meekness Obedience to the King c. you would have them mind the secret intentions of God and set forward that work which his Providence had begun as you said which was called Generation-work a phrase and a Doctrine still in use amongst you It is the duty of the Saints saith one to observe what the way of God is in the time of their Generation Jer. Burr 1643. p. 2. to see what Name of God is most conspicuous in his administration and accordingly to sanctifie that Name of his Nothing can be more pregnant with delusions and evil consequences than this Afterwards when in the carrying on of the designs in hand the