body to keep or recover life in it or are so lamentably angry for the loss of it I would have that charity to hope that it is because you think that holiness and godliness will be suppressed and prophaness and wickedness will get up To satisfie you know this assuredly 1. Iniquity unrighteousness had got a Sanctuary in and amongst you and was lodged more secure in your professions and gifts then in any company or state of men in the earth and therefore 2. It is a most holy and righteous God that hath pulled down or is pulling down that strong hold that spiritual wickedness in high places And 3. As God will not suffer iniquity to harbour under his own name and cause so he will not suffer it to rest upon the earth for the earth is the Lords and the creation is his 4. Sin and ungodliness got ground of you in your greatness and riches you know it did And while you thought to reform the world you were deformed by it and that the spirit that engaged for righteousness against the world betrayed that cause and fell into the unrighteousness and filth that it opposed The Lord rejects this pretender in great jealousie know assuredly God in this act is gone forth with vengeance against unholiness and will manifest himself in such holiness as you will not bear if you were not plunged into suffering 5. Know God hath set his holy Son upon his holy hill of Zion The Lord reigns in righteousness and in righteousness hath brought you down for your unholiness and if you have any true love to holiness but a spark of the truth of what you profess you will rejoyce more in these fires while they consume you and your dross then ever you did in your success and greatness because God is now avenging himself of his wicked enemies that lurked in the prayers preachings gifts prophecying of his kingdom and for the world trouble not your self with that he hath laid you aside as unworthy of and false to the work of reformation which you professed he that refuses that spirit because it was unholy and base hath a more excellent spirit which he will manifest to the purging of all things and all men I cannot without some indignation pass this point that men so palpably corrupt and unclean when under rebuke and judgement and that for their impurity yet should think that they are the only Champions of holiness as if the cause of holiness did die or fall with them No it is iniquity and hypocrisie that falls There is an incorruptible holiness that is mighty and will throughly purge away yours and others dross and cleanse the whole earth As to the things that I write in my Book concerning his Majestie and those principles of rest and grace laid in Noah and in that Covenant which God made with him and his seed for perpetual generations which I affirm to be the firm foundations of all the Kingdoms of the world that tried stone tried first in all Nations and then laid in Zion and is now the root of his Majesties restoration after his long sufferings I confess the things are deep and remote from common understandings What I feared and writ concerning these principles I find true that they are little understood being yet low and under a vail and therefore might appear remote and strange both to his Majestie and the Nation which way prolong our trouble c. They are so indeed understood neither by one side nor other Let them lie and sleep a while foundations must do so when shaking and troubles make us need them they will be enquired after if any do there they are But my friends let us reason a little together and lay aside all allusions and all passions and soberly consider what evil was offered to you in that book After the case of the prisoners and so of the partie was represented I still think to their advantage more then ever I yet met with elsewhere the desire was to wave that tryal and procure another Court that should try principles that might at least supersede or succeed that What the issue of that Court and tryal is we now see and had reason to foresee Supposing his Majesty and the Law of the Nation to be offended and provoked against them that took away the life of the late King what probable or rational way was left to save the Prisoners but by moving that they and their principles and so the principles of the whole party should be tried in a higher and more spiritual Court A trial must be the common Law and ordinary way certainly destroyes both life liberty and estate To avoid that another must be proposed What rests to be tryed but opinions and principles And how can that be done humanely but by such a Court and by such a Law as is there propounded If those principles are good they may not only be justified but prevail to rule if they be not found so then their deceit will be discovered your judgements delivered from them and the prisoners and Party in a fair way to be pardoned by and reconciled to the present power Or else a third and middle state would have appeared A large righteous and merciful Law might have been produced that might have united comprehended and saved both Parties I confess freely I do believe and know it is to be had and will come forth whenever the righteous and good Law of God may obtain among men and right reason may be heard I confess to obtain this I did declare to his Majestie my sense and judgement of your principles which I have long had and do still retain upon a judgement made by many and great trials in my spirit and confirmed by constant experience much examination and deliberation And being many years fully convinced of humbled and sore afflicted for that prophane carnal cruel and selfish spirit in which this work was begun and carried on I did and do still offer them up to trial and was and am still willing that his Majestie and the Nation might see that they need not seek the lives of men seeing they might have the principles which is the best satisfaction can be given It is that which I have long desired even of this Party when they were up That we might have a Bar of Religion and Reason where the right of all parties in the Nation may be fairly argued and heard but could never obtain it I do judge it the true and only Christian and humane way to come to Peace and therfore I shall and do earnestly desire it There is nothing in the earth that I do seek more then this That my mind and judgement may be tried by the Reason and Religion of the Nation or the Reason and Religion of the Nation tryed by my Judgement Had it been a known enemy that had propounded such a thing to you why should you be angry at it or why not embrace and
children If you see God going before you in restoring delivering forgiving and instead of following his example you be angry at it fret and curse and think that your wrath should lead him and your prayer call forth his vengeance This is not like the Gospel nor like his Sons There is another principle which I will set at the foot of this standard Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life in him John 3.15 He that hateth his brother is a murderer then he that murdereth his brother hates him why else doth he murder him He then that hates and out of hatred endeavours the destroying or removing by death them that he hates is a hatefull murderer And then to prepare war is hatred and murder by the Law of love It is not just or good because it is commonly done It is not good because it is done by many but worse If it be murder for one man to kill another it is more murder for one party to kill another party If it be done by a more religious party upon a more prophane party it is still worse Wars for Religion are worse then for Civil rights because by such wars not only men suffer death but the peace purity and love of Religion which is the Law of Christ is violated Wars raised by a better people upon a worse if we be Christians is still worse then for a worse to raise war upon the better For according to the Law and example of Christ The strong ought to bear the infirmities of the Weak and not to please themselves Rom. 15.1 and the just to suffer for the unjust It follows no murderer hath eternal life in him For if any man have eternal life in him he need not he cannot out of fear that another will take away his life destroy him Neither can he prey upon anothers life to maintain his own Nor can he take away the sinfull life of another to secure his eternal life it is contrary to divine reason and goodness But he that hath eternal life will be enabled to lay down his life for others because he knows his life is eternal and cannot be lost This is according to our pattern ver 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren By this we perceive that his love was the love of God that he could lay down his life for us and that his life was the life of God that it could lay down it self for us And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren If this be truly and only the nature of the love and life of God and a rule to us Then that only is true godliness that answers to this pattern And what is contrary to it is of the wicked one You cannot you must not think to slight and scorn the authority and Majesty of this standard if ever you be saved you must come to it if you be saved by it you must also be judged and ruled by it I am able to say it doth save and shall judge and rule you and all men and therefore by this I must and will try and measure your present state and cause You profess in this state of opposition and enmity wherein you have been and are still engaged the cause of God and godliness Is there a cause of God that differs from himself from his life and love or another godliness then that which is born of him and conformed to him Doth he lay down his life for us that are sinners and enemies and give the same life to us which he laid down for us that we might be like him and shall we because we are his children destroy others that are not so If this be light and a rule then your enmity in which you stand is darkness and you are lead into it by a false God by an evil spirit and by a crooked rule SECT X. ALL enmity is betwixt two parties this enmity being in darkness there is a false judgement of both He that hates is ignorant of himself and of him or them that he hates in both respects the darkness of malice blinds his eyes and he knows not whither he goes In your present enmity you are guilty of both mistaken and deceived 1. In your selves And 2. In your enemies If there be these two errors there must be a third also ignorance of the way that you are in in prosecuting these enemies You think you are engaged in the cause of God and that you move in the way of God against the enemies of God But you will find that you are blinded by the enemies in all three and that you are not what you think you are nor are your enemies that which your hatred suggests they are nor is the way of opposing and destroying what your enmity imagines it is In all your eyes are blinded and you know not whither you go It will be a mercy to you if God please to open your eyes and to turn you from this way of wrath into the Way of peace we shall endeavour it First for your selves you take it for granted 1. That the cause in which you stand is the cause of God 2. You conclude that that religion and holiness in which you live is the only godliness and Christianity I doubt you are deceived in both For the first of these the cause it is cryed up among you as the Jews cried up the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord I fear your cry hath less ground then theirs However while the sound of it lives in your spirits it is no wonder if it over-powers you For there is certainly nothing more high and honourable then to be engaged in the cause of God to be his friends and champions and to be imployed in recovering of a Kingdom for Christ and setting him upon the throne All that are called to this work may well be zealous in it and freely adventure their lives for it knowing they shall have a great reward for it and whatever their lives or sins are they shall at least go to heaven if they dye in the quarrel the service is enough to answer for all Besides what we have said in the seventh and eighth Section That this cause as you have managed it agrees to no rule or example of Scripture Not to the way or work of God in delivering Israel out of Aegypt nor to that of bringing them out of Babylon much less to the way of the Gospel in Christ and the Apostles nor to the prophetical Scriptures nor to the thing it self which you profess as we have I think convincingly shewed And besides that standard of the love and life of God set up in the last Section all which you must either overthrow or subject to I shall now desire you more particularly and closely to consider First Whether this
the intent of this Treatise to bring you off from that and to shew you a more excellent way Your former ministry is finished that state is perished you must have a new one Read diligently and you will find here is an entrance into that which will not fail I know the prejudices you have against me I know that there is weakness in what I write both may disadvantage my work I leave it to the Lord of all hearts and spirits The things I have written are I think just and it is just I should publish them The Law of love and truth in my mind led me to it and upheld me in it and therefore I am satisfied in my self And in the righteousness truth and faithfulness of God in whom I live and rest Yours W. S. The Contents SECT I. SHews the nature of the offences taken at the Inquisition and the Authors sense of them SECT II. Shews the justice due to them and the friendly way of dealing with them SECT III. Censures the Book and first for its unseasonableness with the cause of it and the Authors suffering for it SECT IV. Censures the multiplicity of things in the Inquisition and the sharpness of its reproofs Of several kinds of reproof SECT V. Opens the Allegories in the Inquisition and shews the thing intended in it A tryal of principles in order to peace SECT VI. Prosecutes the same thing of peace and shews the necessity and possibility of it And examines the ground upon which the opposition stands SECT VII Compares the Old Cause 1. With the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt 2. Out of Babylon 3. With the ministry of Christ and the Apostles SECT VIII Measures the same cause by the Propheticall Scriptures and compares it with Zion her self SECT IX Further examines the ground of the enmity and advances a standard of love SECT X. The original cause of the war it ceased SECT XI Hatred blinds the eyes else we may see that there is good in enemies with which we may agree There is good and evil in both Parties SECT XII Shews the root of enmity is the Devil How opposite it is to the Kingdom of Christ SECT XIII War and enmity are not for but against holiness SECT XIV Common liberty not to be in nor to be attained by war and opposition SECT XV. Liberty of Conscience animadverted Not to be obtained but by agreement with the Magistrate SECT XVI Animadverts the late sufferings and shews the nature and kind of them SECT XVII Considers the late Insurrection with respect to what hath been written and the use of it to both sides SECT XVIII Shews a rational and easie way for all opposite Parties to obtain a Treaty and by it an Agreement with his Majesty both for his security and their safety ANIMADVERSIONS Upon a Book entituled Inquisition for the Blood of our late Soveraign c. AND Upon the offence taken at it Sect. I. THat I did deny my name to go forth with that Book when it was first published was I think a foolish or weak niceness Possibly the want of that courage and confidence that was due both to my self and it may expose both to the greater contempt But I did resolve in my mind and promise that if ever it came to be questioned I would own it and either correct and amend it if it needed or else justifie and defend it if it deserved it What I promise is ordinarily required of me and if it be I am bound to perform it There is a justice due to things as well as to persons If to any thing then certainly to a mans own works which are his children and therefore he ought to Father them and either to call them home or maintain them abroad A mans Spirit Religion and Name are all tender things if I have any sense of any of them or of my self and what I have done I cannot but resent the grievous offence that is taken at that book and at me for writing of it The minds of many are exceedingly disturbed at it and the censures run as high against it and me as possibly they can It is judged the very Spirit of Antichrist and of the Devil the sin against the Holy-Ghost Apostacy Persecution Treachery Bloodiness and Cruelty And the condemnation is answerable the curse of horrour despair and self-destruction which are not only threatned and expected but reported to be already upon me These things are in their own nature weighty and they come thick upon me from all sects and sorts of people from friends and strangers and discharged at me from their very hearts with all the strength of their Religion with all their might in a bitter and angry Spirit sharp and fierce and in some with great seriousness and gravity yea in love to me And most of them solemnly in the name of God and for his cause as against an enemy to God to godliness and to his people This is the sense I have of them and I think the description is just and true These things being breathed forth from men friends Christians professing godliness and the Spirit of God besides the common rage that foames out Rogue Jesuite hang him c. They do requite and justly challenge from me that I should Animadvert and duly consider what these things are whence they come What they would have and what I am and have done to deserve them As these things drive me in to review both my self and book so they do peal and call me forth to shew in what Spirit and Light I live from what root this work came and upon what foundation that and my self stand so that I now count my self bound not only in honour and justice but in love freely to open and discover my self and my mind and spirit concerning my self my book and the great offence taken at it I confess I do feel that these censures are high and that men are hearty and serious in them and do lay them on with all their strength and with a sharp spirit angred and provoked And that they do sometimes sting and twinge a little and consequently stir some choler in me that I could be as heartily angry at others as others are at me But as yet I do not find that they go deep or abide long in me But on the contrary I have been well able to bear them yea to slight and neglect them as sick and sore passions which cannot live long and although they stumble at me and bruise me yet if I did but lie still I should quickly see them faln in their own dirt by their own darkness and weakness For that I find constantly to be the nature of Passion it is a blind thing that runs it self into ruin and needs no enemy to destroy it it is the Gunpowder of the mind while it is shot at another it doth crack stink and vanish As I must confess they do sometimes sting a little so I must
that good in the office and institution of a King and that good in the nature and person or his Majestie as a man and a Prince if we consider no more that you may live under him with more Peace spiritual comfort more holiness and godliness and with less sin and evil then you have done all these wars or since This I affirm upon knowledge of a sure root and foundation laid by God and Jesus Christ in the beginning of the world now manifested and revealed so firmly and strongly that no humors passions or lusts of men nor any spirits and powers of darkness can overthrow so that what ever men say or do the foundation is sure they may prejudice themselves and deprive themselves of the comfort and benefit of it but the foundation remains firm for it is that tried stone that hath born all Nations in all ages I have likewise affirmed to his Majestie concerning you and your way and work that the spirit of that Ministrie in which you acted against him is dead that your power both Civil and Military hath resigned to him and that the principles or opinions being proper only for that work of destroying and of their own nature weak and short are reducible And then that there are in you those gifts and abilities that may be of singular use to him and the Kingdom So that upon a good understanding between you the King may be happy in you and you in him As the thing propounded is not only just and honest in the sight of all men but also good and profitable for all Parties To you no less then saving of life liberty and estate To his Majestie security honour and the great advantage of the hearts affections and judgements of a great and considerable people And to all the Nation that rich blessing of Peace in knowledge and right understanding So the means propounded to this end is as innocent and safe That wise sober and spiritual men of large hearts and indifferent in their judgements should have the hearing and trying of mens principles and opinions The end being unquestionably good peace and love and the means to that end proportionable a trial of mens opinions before the wisest and best in the Church We cannot reasonably doubt of a good effect except we conclude one of these two things that there is not with men or in the Church that Grace and Spirit of Christ which is able to judge and lead into a way of Peace or else that men are not willing to receive that blessing of Peace though it should be manifested No man can conclude the first without the guilt of unbelief and denying the truth of the Promise of God that his spirit shall abide with his people for ever nor the second without great injury and uncharitableness to mankind But if his word and Spirit be with us and that Word and Spirit be sufficient for that end whereunto it is given which is to purifie enlighten heal and unite the body of Christ to deny it is blasphemy against that Spirit then walking according to the rule of that Word and Spirit we need not doubt of obtaining that end which is so much according to his own nature which is love peace and salvation Why you should think that such a proposal should come from an enemy I can impute it to nothing but this the extremity of your anguish under your fore and grievous loss and disappointment which makes all things seem harsh while the mind is drowned in that sense It is true you meet with sharp reproof there but you must come to find true love in the severest reproof before you can be soundly healed Proposals of a Treatie and Peace for the preventing of present and imminent danger use not to be the way of enemies If such things should come from a professed enemy I think the nature of the things deserves acceptance and not scorn or reviling I confess I think you have wronged me and the Book and I therefore might require reparations of you I know in time you will give it There is that right and reason in you which will give me satisfaction when it shall recover it self from the passions of fear grief and anger which now darken and suppress it In the mean time let us consider whether there be not something in the Book that is yet improveable for the good of the whole Party that stand in opposition to the present Government and so are in danger to be destroyed by it We hope his Majestie and in him the Law is satisfied and by that sacrifice of blood that hath been shed is attoned as to past things yet the breath is not healed but your spirits are still set in opposition to the power of the Nation and the Law and Power of the Nation looks upon you with jealousie and an evil eye thinking that yet you may attempt against the Peace of the Kingdom Great discontent appears in you it cannot be hid all endeavours are used to uphold and revive the cause and consequently that enmity and war that hath formerly been acted against his Majestie and Party This is seen known and felt and doth undoubtedly provoke the Power of the Nation to endeavour the suppressing the Party for preventing future inconvenience It cannot be otherwise all men do it When you had the Power you did as they now do you interrupted their meetings and required Oathes of them This now fills the prisons ruines many Families exasperates mens Spirits into bitterness and wrath which destroyes the sweetness and comfort of religion wounds the life and power of godliness and grieves the good spirit of love and peace in Christ What ever you think of it now I know it is in it self a good and mercifull work and will be so acknowledged by you in time to reconcile a poor broken people guilty by Law and their own consciences to the authority and power of the Nation in which they live For a naked people to be in their judgements and affections zealously set against the Law and Government of a Nation which is provoked and enraged newly recovered and restored experienced fore-warned and fore-armed against them what ever may be expected hereafter there is in it apparent ruine for the present Alas a Law and Power is an Iron Scepter and in the hand of a self preserving spirit such as was in you and is in all men yet must needs be hard to them that are professed enemies to it The consideration of it wounds my soul and affects my bowels of compassion to you which urges me to do what I can to prevent misery to your persons and families And therefore I do earnestly entreat you to consider seriously whether your botom upon which you stand in this divided and opposite state to the present power and Government of Church and Kingdom be sufficient to bear you up against what you are likely to suffer if you persist The foundation upon which you
stand is this You presume and conclude First That you are the select and only people of God his Zion and Israel the true and only Gospel Saints And those that you oppose are Aegypt Babylon the World and Antichristian Secondly that your way in which you have and do walk and the works that you have done and would do again are according to the pure word and Law of God and that which you oppose is all Wickedness Superstition and Idolatry Thirdly That the war in which you have been engaged and upon which you stand is the way of God according to his will and word and therefore hath been and will be owned and justified by him Supposing all this that you are the people of God and Zion in Gods way and word engaged in his cause against Babylon and Antichrist there is then an unquestionable ground and assurance of a blessed success from the manifold promises of the Scripture But if this be not true and that you in this state and in this opposition are not that body that shall attain those promises And this be not the only way of God in which you walk and this war and engagement be not the means appointed by God to attain that glory you expect then be your intentions never so good and zealous your prayers never so fervent your gifts never so many your constancy never so great yet you will fail and the further you proceed in it the greater your loss will be If all this should be true that you should be the people yours the way war the means yet if you fail but in the circumstance of time if this be not the time determined for the fulfilling of what you expect there is righteous and mercifull reason for your retreating from such an opposition and engagement To have faith exercised about the promises of God to be fulfilled in these latter dayes to his people is an excellent thing whereby God will have glory his people deliverance and the whole earth peace But you may have a sight of this at a distance and know assuredly you shall have your share of it and be entertained with great joy concerning it have strong perswasions about it and yet may not attain it in that state of enmity and opposition in which you stand but in another more large holy and spiritual way Or the whole Church may enjoy it here and your souls for ever and yet your bodies may fall as carkasses in the wilderness for the impurity carnality uncharitableness frowardness and enmity of your way and spirits in your present state And therefore it is love and mercy to you to put you upon a thorough tryal and examination of your bottom spirit and way I consider not now your particular forms of Worship which are various and opposite one to another Nor your private and personal holiness fear of God conscience of his commands obedience to his word so far as you know which are not only to be admitted but approved and encouraged in a right way and in a right spirit but I would consider the way actions and work of the whole body in this publick engagement against the Government of the Nation and your private forms gifts and godliness as they have acted and still continue in the same opposition in order to turn your minds towards that which else is like to ruine your selves and families If this great affair and cause in which you have acted and do constantly persist in be the right and that you are the people yours the way this the means and time to attain the glorious things expressed in the Scripture then you must have these two things for your foundation strength and rule the Word and the Spirit of God If you are led by them and stand in them you will certainly prevail if not you will fall and must repent We may consider them either joyntly or severally for though they are two yet they are one also and never separated Let us consider the word of God the Scriptures There are three great works of God declared in it The deliverance of the children of Israel from Aeypt The redeeming of them out of Babylon And the grace and salvation revealed in the Gospel We have built our work upon all these and do think that our cause is the same with them all and therefore we have been fed continually with strength which we got as we could from them all But whether our work do justly evenly square to any of them is the question I am fully satisfied in my self that it doth not And that you if you will be ingenuous and in any measure of uprightness examine what you have done you will quickly find that you have not in your whole business come near your foundation and pattern I shall only hint some few things to you as they do occurr and leave you to consider the rest Only by the way be perswaded to think and feel that you are but men and may err many may err many good men may err actually you have erred though you be much better then others yet you may err and err greatly sometimes the best people err most Israel sinned beyond all the Heathen God will shame and humble all and make first last and the last first the best worst and worst best The Jews that seek shall not attain the Gentiles that sought not shall attain You differ one from another and so must err one against another you have all sinned and come short of the glory of God And therefore you may have erred as to this business fundamentally and either not know your bottom or be upon a false bottom And so through loss and missing come to attain a true right bottom If once you be but willing to be tried you will quickly see much SECT VII COnsider first Whether this great business you have and are engaged in do justly and evenly square to the first foundation Israels deliverance out of Aegypt It hath been so believed so prayed preached and praysed but not so done For 1. Israel was visited by God he came expresly to Moses spake to him in the bush when he had called him he sent him to Israel to lead them forth they stirred not till he had proved his commission But we can boast of no such visit the troubles of the Nation gave us opportunity to deliver our selves the necessities of the Parliament made us usefull whereby we got power and so by degrees broke the yoke that was upon us 2. Isratl had a King and High-Priest given of God to be their Leader and Guide he was also himself their Leader he went before them in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night and never left them We had neither King nor Priest no Guide nor Leader but left to shift for our selves and wander from one thing to another as our own crooked and blind reason led us 3. They had Officers sent by
you stand up with Joshua and Zerubbabel they scattered confusion and brought Israel out of Babel you have led us and your selves into a Babel of confusion Nor can you stand before the son of man and his Spirit alas you are faln before him judged and rejected by him for ever never to he restored in that vile and abominable way in which you stood and still are I desire you to remember what is my intent in this present discourse it is to undeceive you and to bring you off from those unsound principles in which you are engaged and in which you will ruine if you be not delivered out of them And to shew you good reason for inviting you as I did in my Book to offer up your Principles to a fair tryal in order to satisfie his Majestie and reconcile you to his Government And if you consider what I have said here it will be found no wicked design but righteous and merciful Counsel both to your selves and to the Nation SECT VII BEsides the three former great dispensations in Scripture which you have seemed to make the bottom of your Cause and Way There is one thing more which sometimes you have glanced at with your eye as a rule to you and that is the Prophetical Scriptures yet unfulfilled and especially the Revelations You have sometimes harped at them and catched hold of some broken pieces of them But you never could attain such a knowledge of them as to make them either a foundaâ—ion or rule I do believe and know that the Revelation is a line drawn from Christ his first appearing quite through that state unto his second appearing and leads the Church both into her suffering and captivity and out of it into glory And therefore doth discover the state of the Gospel-Church from the beginning to the end from Christ his Ministrie to the glorious and eternal Kingdom of God And so all the works of God in these times both in Churches and Nations come under the Law or Line of that Book And therefore those revelations rightly opened will extricate the Church from her Babylonish enemy confusion and enable her to build up her self again in glory peace light and love That line will also measure the late revolutions in this Nation For I am fully satisfied that so considerable a work as this hath been in and about both Church and Kingdom was certainly in the Council of God and also expressed in his word But this much I know that you have been as ignorant of that book as you have been of your own work and that you have not had nor yet have a reed to measure either the one or the other by neither can you rationally six your work upon any one part of that book Nor have you had light to make that or any part of it or of any Scripture a Law to you in your work but have been driven on by snatches without any rule or judgement or any dependence of one thing upon another Which is not the understanding of a Man or Christian but in plain terms it is the beast Being led and leading by impulses or by present sensible and occasional things and not by any certain rule If the beast and his mark image and name be not yet overcome in your spirits as certainly he is not then though you had power and a kingdom it was but with the beast and but one hour What that means read and you may understand Having faln upon the Prophesies and Revelations which are the only written rule of the dispensations of God to his Church and people in these dayes for your better instruction hereafter know these three things 1. It is not wise or saâ—e to appear in any publick business before you understand clearly by the unsealing of that book where you are what you are to do whether you are to go and what will be the end For if that be the only declaration of Gods mind concerning the government of his Church and Kingdom in these latter ages we are not to stir either upon guesses presumptions or broken hinâ—s nor to be moved by a crowd a noise a multitude which are uncertain and deceitful things and will fail any people that follow them but upon clear knowledge of that only rule 2. That ignorance of a rule to act by and forwardness to attempt without a rule in such great and weighty matters do declare that there is yet an enemy among you the Prince of darkness which hinders you from seeing your rule And also much fleshly unmortified worldly matter that dares move without the knowledge of that rule And where these two are an enemy that blinds and a bold impatient unmortified mind to follow him blindly no wonder if both fall into the ditch 3. You are and have been fulfilling some part of that book it is no question if you know not what part of it it is but reasonable that you should fear that it is an evil part you little think how bad it is Where there darkness there is also a lye Therefore seeing you know not nor can say what it is I may say it is far worse then you imagine you shall know more hereafter if God please We have tried your state work and spirit First by the Law of Moses and his Ministrie Secondly by the Prophets and the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon Thirdly by the Gospel and the Ministrie of Christ and the Apostles Fourthly by the Prophetical Scriptures to be fulfilled since Christ and the Apostles and do find that neither of all these are your foundation because you have not kept to them nor made them your rule Before we give a final judgement I shall shew you the thing it self that you have professed and pretended to that Zion and that Jerusalem which hath been so much talked of I will a little unvail her to you as she is with me and stands before me and at this time going out of Babylon 1. She is an holy Nation City or Kingdom Holy and righteous not by gifts notion purpose and prophecying but by nature and in the matter and substance of her being being one with the Lamb and so in her nature patient innocent meek She is from heaven Jerusalem that is from above comes from God out of heaven and is of the same nature with him and therefore hath his name written upon her which she could not justly wear if she have not his nature likewise 2. She is an holy City or Nation built and formed according to the eternal Law or mind of God in most excellent union beauty and order and not a confused heap of prophane and filthy matter She hath both Magistracy and Ministry in equal and proportionable parts all in order She is built both according to the Law and Gospel and hath the beauty of both and sings the song of Moses and the Lamb in excellent harmony 3. In this state she is joyned to the Lord her head in
cry of the cause be not only a great sound or more sound then substance Empty vessels give the greatest sound Most noise least truth and substance is very common Or things when they go off make the greatest report This I have observed of this cause it floats like Wine in mens heads fills mens Prayers and Sermons flies about in Books and Discourses and so raises a smoak of talk zeal and affection But in all this time First It never attained or gathered a body into any consistency but mens minds are still blown about like dust one people talk this and another that but there never was any consent or agreement about it 2. As it never could gain a body so it never had any form it was never yet stated by any man or by any company of men only confused thoughts and talks there are about it Thirdly it never yet attained any power in the Nation it never was owned as the cause of God by either Parliament or Army Men in their private prayers and Sermons talk of the Kingdom of God of the fall of Babylon and building Zion but those powers owned nothing but necessity safety interest of the people and such like things And therefore you may well think what a bottom it is that you adventure your selves in or rather how bottomless it is Many words many affections many duties multitudes of sacrifices many Scriptures quoted preached on But what power and substance is there in these What heavenly glory is there in them or among you that is able to convince your enemies Or what earthly strength is there in them that can defend and support a poor naked people against a strong and mighty Prince against a standing Law and Authority My reason experience and knowledge tells me that as you are so you will be left in confusion in any engagement for such a cause that hath no more solid body state or power in it And therefore be perswaded to retire from the noise that you make in each others ears and affections and enquire within in your own reasons and memories And remember if you can where had you this Cause from whence came it where and when was it born in what year of these late changes in which of them was it brought forth Or from what Scripture do you derive it is there such a thing spoken or named there as the Cause of God God pleads the Cause of his people by outward Judgements and by his Spirit the Advocate and by Christ their Counsellor But his Cause is not now at the Bar no he hath set Christ upon the throne and he is exalted far above all principalities and powers He is now actually judging and ruling the world he pulleth down and setteth up whom he will You may feel his power and authority he judges you for your unrighteousness and sets up your enemies above you What is it that thus blinds your eyes that you should contend or that which is already done for Christs Kingdom doth not the enemy abuse your understandings and perswade you it is the Cause of God and his Kingdom when indeed it is your own honour dominion and greatness But hath there not been a cause of God in this Nation Yes there hath been that which we may call so and it was this The Church and Kingdom of England stood in a very dark fleshly and corrupt state and the Governors of it were also corrupt and had sinned against God For which God had a Controversie both with their persons and standing And therefore sanctified you with a fleshly holiness against their fleshly corruption and called you forth for the executing of his judgement upon them And therein you were justified being engaged to speak in your language in the cause of God or being employed to administer that judgement which he had given in the cause Thus much I can grant to you and it will be found the right of the case But if the Judgement decreed be executed and the measure of outward punishment be fulfilled then your cause ceases If this kind of wrath by war blood and spoil be finished why should not you be content to be discharged from this employment First it is a mean service to be the Executioners of an outward destruction It is O Assyrian the rod of my anger and the staff in their hand is my indignation I will send him against an hypocritical Nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him change to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread down like the mire of the streets Isa 10.5 6. Secondly as it is a vile service so it hath been vilely polluted It is a filthy thing to destroy and the filthiness of it is manifested It is Babylonian and the confusion is sufficiently discovered The brightness and cleanness of it and all the honour and glory of it was the wrath and justice of God when that was finished then it presently shewed its vile nature covetousness self-seeking pride and cruelty Nothing but ignorance or a love of the prey and spoil can make men to doat upon it and desire to continue in it Thirdly being it self unclean it cannot purifie nor reform the Nation It reaches but to the out-side to the outward life honour and greatness It never touches the spirit and therefore may waste and spoil and so restrain for a time the fleshly part but the nature and spirit of the thing still remains yea confirmed and strengthened It may tread down in the mire but its unclean feet of wrath and pastion pollute more then purge and so make worse Fourthly to purifie is left to the fire of of his own Spirit which will thorowly purge with the spirit of judgement and burning You administred 1. without judgement you could not discern between the gold and the dross And 2. without burning for if the dross be not separated from the gold it cannot be consumed as yet we have had neither separation nor burning for want of both these their dross still remains after all the wrath administred But doubt not the holy purpose and power of God He will certainly purge both you and them by the breath of his mouth and the brightness of his appearing This pure heavenly fire is descended is kindled is set as a refiners fire and no iniquity shall escape the flame of it For it is holy mighty effectual and eternal it doth and will burn for ever You have heard the sound of it in your spirits ye are in the smoak of it and so is the whole Nation which is the reason of the present blackness darkness and confusion But when the evil is brought forth and discovered he will certainly destroy it yea it is actually destroying and in destruction in being brought forth Fifthly That outward wrath which you administred you could nor but execute it you could not cease from it till it was finished but you have since turned from that cause and made
another which is planting your selves in the place of them that you thrust out exalting your selves and Ministry upon their ruines Pray observe First That the great things now boasted of the Kingdom of Christ and reign of the Saints which are indeed eternal truths and sure things but the application of them to your persons gifts and Ministry and apprehending of them to your selves in your lace work are things that are sprung up since the beginning of the wars and are the children or idols of the success you have had in the wars these notions were not known at first the war was betwixt King and Parliament opportunity advantage and success made you bold to assume these titles Secondly you could not claim this title to the Kingdom of Saints till Babylon was destroyed In assuming of it your own works declare that ministry of wrath to be finished you did believe profess praise and practice accordingly And therefore you cannot return to it again without contradicting your own judgements and opinions yea those very judgements and opinions in which your strength lies Observe it well The present Governors and Government of Church and Kingdom are say you Babylon and the enemies of God and his people You therefore did execute the wrath of God upon them to destroy them Was that justice or wrath perfect full and compleat or no If it was it finished and you have no more to do of that kind you certainly thought it so perfect and sufficient and so believed praised and lived Babylon being destroyed Zion comes forth you own your selves to be Israel Gods people and that the Kingdom is the Saints which you could not do till Babylon was destroyed for Israel cannot come forth nor have her liberty till then This ground you now stand upon not upon the Parliament as at first but as Zion and Gods people and this title stands only upon the ruines of Babylon Therefore either you must hold to this that you are Zion and then Babylon is destroyed and then you are not to engage again in a war against her Or else if you think Babylon yet stands and is not destroyed you must relinquish your confidence and title of the Kingdom of Saints and go back again to begin a new heathenish work and war But you have been the ax wherewith Christ hath hewed and the saw that he hath shaken and as foolish proud man uses to do you have boasted and magnified your selves and ministry into the place of Christ and so against him that heweth therewith and for that you suffer so great shame and rebuke I have endeavoured to let you see that that which is the most of the cause of God that ever you had which is the execution of his justice is now finished and ceased And that in love both to your souls lives liberties and families that I might withdraw you from this way of enmity and opposition in which you stand and in which you will suffer if you do not retreat The true ground of our war ceasing which is the administration of an outward punishment the cause of God as to that point ceaseth And therefore you are deceived in your cause passion having blinded your eyes The second thing that strengthens you in your enmity is your holiness religion and godliness This must be tryed whether you be not deceived in it also It consists much in Religious duties performed by gifts as praying speaking prophecying and an outward conformity to the Gospel For the power and Spirit of Christ and the Apostles is not manifested in you by any signs or fruits or not more in you then in others There is nothing singular produced but what is common to others only your manner of speaking praying worshipping which is affirmed to be 1. nearer to the rule and 2. of more power then others And that the worship of your enemies is superstition and humane invention and hath no life in it It is most certain that this kind of Religion and Holiness is not with God what you esteem it You do highly yea too highly value it But it doth not it cannot stand in the presence of God not in his own immediate presence but is of a worldly nature and stands only in the world It is not the worship that is in the Temple of God before the throne of God and of the Lamb I hope you will confess it For you know there is no such contention war blood cursing nor such mixtures of uncleanness can or dares come before him And therefore though it stood awhile as a Ministry yet it is faln and that before him For what cannot stand before him falls before him The reason of his dislike of it is First It is not of a right kind It is not a new nature not a nature but a gift not a divine nature but a humane thing not from heaven and in heaven but in the earth and from the earth Secondly Because it is not a nature it is not deep solid and lasting it washes the outside of the platter makes new words gestures expressions but your confessions say the heart is still a most vile and filthy thing and that your natures are still corrupt If the heart be unclean Religion is but a shadow and cannot please him who is truth and substance He requires a good man that hath a good treasure in a good heart and a good tree of a right kind that brings forth good fruit not briers and thorns of contention and violence Thirdly Being not from heaven it corrupts and decayes it is not an incorruptible life Actually it hath foully corrupted into the grossest pollutions that any people did ever commit Into gross covetousness ambition and self-seeking into absurd and palpable errours lies and delusions And into that most which is the worst enmity cruelty and persecution and that generally and universally of all both friends and foes and in all in the highest most And therefore observe it with a special observation First That the several parties Presbyterian Independant Anabaptists and fifth Monarchy-men have all one life of holiness one peace one righteousness one hope one heaven Of each sort some died in the late execution and they all breathed out their souls in one and the same faith and hope Secondly Yet these had been not many Moneths before mortal enemies one to another and attempted war one against another some of them were for the Rump against the Army and some of them for the Army against the Rump and the fifth Monarchy-men would gladly have fought them both and have offered at it and yet they appeared at last Brethren And if they were restrained from fighting and drawing blood yet their prayers faith and religion were set against one another which hath been the constant practise of all these Parties they have discharged bitter curses and judgements against each other which is the greatest corruption even to a dissolution Thirdly And therefore if men allow of enmity against any
become our advantage if we be made wise by our failings Let us first observe the process of things After his Majesties return there was by the sweetness and gentleness of his Government a great calmness and stilness in the Nation and in a degree in the most opposite The trying condemning and executing of the prisoners for the death of his late Majesty stirred a new passion in the spirits of many people And the execution together with the resolution of the sufferers revived a zeal confidence and boasting of their cause and an extraordinary earnestness in their minds which was expressed in incessant meetings discourses and prayers day and night These passions and religious exercises boyl up their minds into new heats which kindled this wild-fire and at last blowed it up into this open Insurrection That you may understand the reason of these things let it be considered what I have expressed in this and the former Treatise 1. That God had a controversie with this Church and Nation because of its sins and its sinful state and standing not with the things themselves only as they stood in darkness and weakenss 2. God must have some to plead this controversie with the Government and Governors of Church and State 3. Those that he called forth for that purpose he inspires and impowers with spirit for that work 4. The seat and subject of this spirit and ministry is the judgements and consciences of men For men by being inspired and led into opinions and judgements contrary to the received Law of the Church are thereby fitted to be instruments in Gods hand of his displeasure to the Church For the Church cannot be tried but by such spirits and judgements which differ from it and are contrary to it 5. They that are thus impowered for such a service so far as they do the will of the most high Lord in it are to be owned and justified Though the office be never so mean and never so contrary to â—he honours wills and wayes of States and Kingdoms yet it is the rod of God and must be kissed 6. These ministers of this displeasure have transgressed exceeded â—heâ—r Commission and exalted themselves in their service And so corrupted themselves and defiled their work This also is true Therefore there is in them that have executed this displeasure and in their consciences and work something that is just and something that is unjust and unrighteous Till these are distinguished there is no right judgement of them It must also be considered and it is granted by all Divines That the works of divine Providence and Government are executed by the administration of Angels Both the standing and changing of Governments is by the ministry of these principalities and powers Therefore in the great revolutions of this Kingdom both good and bad Angels have been employed They being spirits their proper sphere in which they move is the spirits and consciences of men Therefore it follows that as there hath been in these great Providences a righteous work of God and with it much unrighteousness so there are both Angels of light and of darkness inspiring the minds and consciences of men Now to administer justice upon men that have acted in these things without any judgement made of the principles and spirits that have moved in them cannot be thought to be perfect nor a right way to cure our distractions For outward punishments upon the body will not remove the evils that are planted by spirits in the consciences and judgements of men 1. For all men know First That if there be but a little truth and uprightness in any conscience it will bear up the person in the greatest outward suffering Neither death nor hell are able to over-power the least grain of honesty in the poorest wretch that ever lived That which is sincere is able to live and triumph under many sins and sufferings and will never yield till right be done to it 2. Mens spirits and consciences and the spirits that inspire and lead them are above the reach of the secular sword and only subject to the Scepter of Christ in his Church to the sword of the Spirit 3. Conscience though erroneous and seduced will enable men to suffer bodily punishment imprisonment and death with great chearfulness And if they are laid upon men without the means of conviction they do harden men in errour And therefore legal proceedings only to bodily punishments are not sufficient remedies to cure these distempers The case of the Nation under its present distempers is certainly extraordinary and far different from what it was an hundred or fifty years since Great variety of spirits are gone forth which have raised up the minds of men to a greater height of reason religion and resolution And old ordinary remedies will not cure new and extraordinary diseases If the Physick be not proper to cure and remove the disease it will by stirring the humours and enraging of them make dangerous commotions in the body For if men either from some measure of simplicity be it in the least degree and much mixed or from some spiritual operation be it of what kind it will or from an erroneous conscience If from any of these the sufferer be able to repell the Sentence of the Judge and to glory in his suffering and in a shew of righteousness to triumph over death he doth notably affront and wound that authority and judgement under which he suffers A man and his cause when he comes to judgement is brought out into the open view of all men and not only made publick but he and his cause is exalted to endure a conflict and tryal with the Law If the Law comes forth with that brightness and majesty that it ought the man is condemned in his own conscience and so justifies the Law and submits to his sentence and by this the Law and Authority is honoured But if the person judged stands clear in his own conscience upon any account and acquits himself in the face of dead when all men ordinarily yield such have a kind of conquest and do seem to overcome the sentence which must needs have an effect upon the people For people do naturally mind dying men death is King of terrours and it is a great thing to die it raises men on high And therefore in them that can die comfortably and confidently there is a great appearance of righteousness and worth which doth much affect the minds of people some are moved to pitty the sufferer and thereby his words and cause steals into their minds Others are convinced and drawn to the Party Others are hardened and strengthened by it For men think with themselves I cannot live comfortably bur here is that which will make me able to die comfortably and that is worth embracing That which makes the Magistrate to be feared and reverenced is his power of life and death That which makes men able to overcome death secretly overcomes the Magistrate
matters promised in the Scriptures and drunk into your thoughts should cause you to adhere to your former opposition and so divert you from the plain path of peace and safety To answer you in this Know 1. The things that you expect both are and will be manifested and far more and greater then you imagine 2. But never to be obtained by enmity and wrath but by love peace and by the good Spirit of Christ 3. It is a false Prophet that holds forth greater and future things to restrain from an exercise of present and plain duties 4. I desire you to consider and remember that though these high strains have got up into your prayers and private discourses yet they never were of any power in your great business You will find that the strength of your cause as it was urged by the Parliament against the King and the Army against the Parliament lay in these low and common things of safety necessity and the interest of the honest Party and at the highest providence and success Consider now Whether the same principles do not now urge you to peace that carried you to war and more strongly and justly For safety and necessity it is both seen and felt that if you persist in an opposition to the present Government you will ruine your selves and families except a miracle appear for you You have no true ground nor faith for miracles if you have any you may sooner expect them in a Gospel way of peace reconciliation and perswasion then of war And for Providence it now directs you to agree with his Majesty For the great Providence of his restoration hath eaten up all your lesser Providences as Aarons rod eat up the Egyptian Magicians rod And all your success is now in the belly of this If then safety necessity interest and providence could then lead you to make war and the same things cannot now prevail with you to seek peace it will seem a dangerous and foul spirit To delight in war that is bloody and spoyling unclean and filthy and to decline the humble and meek way of reason and treaty is not Christian The second thing I doubt is your confidence in the multitude and earnestness of your prayers And to that I propound the words of our Lord which are of eternal authority Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there rememberest that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift The divine reason of it is this God is the Lord and Father of all men they are all his family if any one of his children or servants injure another and the injured person cry to him this cry comes up to him and is there put in as a bar or plea against that mans prayers till he make satisfaction For God is just and doth right to all men Now you know there is a cry gone up against you for the oppression of the Nation All Parties as well as your adversaries have something yea much against you And therefore mark what I say I speak it as a Priest unto God that do minister in his presence and as a Minister of the Word of Jesus till you can do these two things First forgive your enemies as heartily and truly as you desire God to forgive you And secondly ask forgiveness of them wherein they have ought against you Till these two things be done I put in a bar against all your prayers were they ten thousand times more then they are they shall not prevail Read but what follows ver 25 26. Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way Lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast in prison Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing Your adversary is your judge the more reason to agree with him You must either agree compound or stand it out If you stand out you must pay for all those years of trouble and vexation that you inflicted upon your enemies for all the poverty ruine and destruction you laid upon them and their families If you stand upon your righteousness all must be paid to the utmost farthing It is a great debt Except by forgiving and seeking forgiveness you agree troubles and disturbance will offend the Nation and then jealousies bonds and imprisonments will attend you Till satisfaction be made for former injuries to the last farthing If you desire peace and safety read this last Section diligently till you have made it your own If you desire either further satisfaction or my assistance I am ready to serve you Reader I Promised thee in the beginning of this Treatise a discovery of my life and state Thou hast some parts of it scattered here and there But the whole I must reserve to some further opportunity Because this hath swelled into a greater bigness then I did at first intend it And the matter of it is such that I judge it necessary to be first published FINIS