to persecute Saints p. 37.38 c. that I humbly desire that we would all study how to make more Saints Oh it will be a comfortable work to gather and order Saints of our own making Nay though some of the Saints were froward and perchance unruly yet because they helpt to do the work of the Lord they were not to be blotted out of the Calendar for he saith a little before Saints must not be persecuted though they be peevish nay desperate I must not out of a sullen humour deny a peevish Saint the right-hand of fellowship But enough of this you shall find scattered up and down this Book Now as for your keeping of days for the old Saints I confess you are not for that neither do you keep any for Christ that would be you know what But you know also that when the designs of the new Saints were blest with success there was by Authority a day kept in remembrance of it with much solemnity So it seems the destroying of the Kings Forces was a mercy great enough to make a Holy-day of it but it would be Idolatry to do the same in remembrance of those precious mercies the Church receives from what Christ did and suffered for her and his holy Apostles after him As for praying to the ancient and despised Saints it would be to no purpose your new ones having got their place and belike their power too we have seen already that your prayers are effectual beyond what their intercessions could be which is the reason I suppose that when any amongst you is going a Journey or hath some other design in hand or feels the want of any temporal or spiritual thing he desires the prayers of the Saints in your Conventicles So there appears to me no other difference in the case but that our Saints are dead and Canonized by the Pope whereas yours for the most part are alive and of your own making Now I hope I have satisfied you and made it appear that you come much nearer to Popery than the Church of England which by your own confession hath nothing common with us that 's bad but a few Ceremonies and this of order which don't much concern Religion and which according to your Chronology were in the Christian Church long before Popery whereas you own both in belief and practice many of the Popish Doctrines which are counted the worst of our errours only you disguise them a little and put them in a Presbyterian Garb. Pr. Worthy Sir you might have spar'd your great pains for all you have said will not perswade any one man that we have any good will for the Papists 't is too well known that there is an irreconcileable antipathy betwixt them and us No we detest those opinions and practices of yours which you would perswade the world we approve and imitate and we agree with you in nothing that other Protestants disagree in Pa. Yes we do we both hate the Church of England I am sure we are agreed in that except you have gone beyond us as I remember Mr. Love said when there was an overture for peace pag. 42. At Uxbridge Is it likely to have peace with such men as these We can as soon make fire and water to agree I had almost said reconcile Heaven and Earth But there is enough said already to prove that As for your disclaiming friendship with us it only perswades me that you are of those generous Friends who oblige people behind their backs without desiring that any notice should be taken of it for to use Mr. Loves words pag. 22. When â—ou had put down the Pests and Plague-sores of the Kingdom Episcopacy and Common-Prayer Books you thereby advanced our interest greatly and did us a notable piece of service for then you left no visible Church no known Rules of Doctrines no set form of Government and Discipline so that whilst your tedious Rabbies were hammering in their brains the new form of a future Church according to their several fancies or according to the Pattern in the Mount the people were fain to betake themselves some to the Communion of our Church as not a few did and other some to Madness and Enthusiasm as did a great many more And besides the scandal which you brought upon the first Reformation by your fine doings was so great that thanks be to you it hath perswaded a great many that there is no safety but in the Church of Rome where there is a constant union and order So we find a Book printed in 1652. call'd A Beacon set on fire or an Information of the Stationers to the Parliament concerning the great advancement the Papists made and the many Books they printed as also the many blasphemous Books which others put out And in the seasonable Exhortation of the London Ministers 1660. they tell us pag. 10. That all manner of blasphemous and horrid Opinions were openly written and published that there was in many Atheism and contempt of Religion in others Scepticism and Irresolution in many and that some were grown to that heigth of wickedness as to worship the Devil himself And there they complain also That some by their back-sliding and apostacy fell from the truth to Popery as being the only Religion wherein unity and order was retained All which how naturally they issued from your late doings and how much the Pope and Devil were beholding to you for I leave to your own conscienciousness to consider And one thing more that makes me believe that you have more kindness for us than you own by words is that you destroy'd the King and the Church of England by the same means that were appointed by Campanella a cunning Politician and a great Enemy to Protestants pag. 160. The English Bishops it should have been Puritans are to be exasperated and put into fears and jealousies by telling them that the King of Scotland King James turned Protestant out of hope but that he will quickly return to the former Religion when he is establisht in the English Throne The same advice is also lately given by the Marquiss de C. in his Politique de France in that Chapter that treats of England That counsel was followed by you and prov'd successful the outcry whereby you rais'd the people against our late martyr'd Sovereign was Popery Rome Babylon therefore after all this judge you whether we must not be very ungrateful if we did not ingenuously acknowledge that we are highly beholding to you Pr. All that signifies nothing for we differ from the Church of England only in some few Ceremonies being agreed as to the Essentials both of Doctrine and Discipline We honour the first Reformators of this Church and we are perfectly agreed with the reformed Churches beyond Sea which we love and reverence and desire to imitate and when you have said all you can this will be truth still and I am sure will be believ'd so to be by all rational
1644. 22. Who is on my side let him cast down Jezabel of Rome down with her Idolatries and Superstitions down with her Altars and Images down with her Rags and Reliques they be but Jezabels fragments let them be used as Jezabel was used Help Royal Sovereign to throw her down help to throw her down more and more ye that are of the Honourable Court of Parliament Every one that loves the Lord Jesus Christ help to throw her down never let us halt as we have done betwixt God and Baal 'T is probable that had Royal Sovereign helpt to pull down Jezabel you had not pulled him down with her being he proved refractory to the Church you judged it requisite in ordine ad spiritualia to make him feel that Power of yours he would not acknowledge Nay when there were some hopes of an Accommodation Christopher Love who died a Martyr for your Kirk was so afraid the Holy War should be ended and Christ not set upon his Throne you know what that means that Preaching at Vxbridge before the Commissioners he made use of another mans words as he said to exhort them to go on in fighting for God 'T is the Sword saith he not Disputes nor Treaties must end this Controversie therefore turn your Plowghshears into Swords to fight the Lords Battels to avenge the Bloud of Saints which hath been spilt Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently and cursed is he that keepeth back his Sword from Bloud Jer. 48.10 Some silly Cavaliers thought indeed that the War betwixt the King and Parliament was about matters of Priviledges but S. Marshall told them soundly of their simplicity in a Sermon before the Parliament and Mayor and Aldermen S Marshal 1643. p. 21. Noble and resolute Commanders fight the Battels of the Lord Jesus Christ All Kingdoms except the Malignants in England do now see that the question here is Whether Christ or Antichrist shall be Lord or King Go on therefore couragiously you can never venture your Bloud in such a Quarrel Christ shed his Bloud to save you from Hell venture yours to set him up upon his Throne So Jos Boden told the Kentish Committee pag. 11. Jos Boden 1644. That they were fighting for the Lamb against the Beast And at the 13 pag. Besides their wondring after and worshipping the Beast Rev. 13.4 Have they not gathered together in Arms and Armies against the Lord and against his Christ belike they did not give that name to their Parliament Priviledges Nay are they not daily more and more mad and desperate in their mischief conceived against the Church Do they not daily beat up their Alarms and bid defiance to the people of the most High I would have every Christian stand upon his reputation and not discover pusillanimity after such proud Challengings What hath Antichrist done for them that they dare be so bold And what hath not Christ done for us that we should now in these days of daring be dastardly hen-hearted and effeminate This Sermon was called An Alarm beat up in Sion to War against Babylon and it well deserves to be transcribed but that it is too long In all these you see we hear of nothing but the Whore the Beast Babylon and Antichrist which were to be destroyed not one word of any Civil matters or differences if there was any it was forgotten your Church-Champions were so intent upon the Lords Work and it prospered so well in their hands that they could think of nothing else Joh. Bond 1644. p. 59. As Sampson with the Philistines saith one of the Saints so let us die with Babylon if we cannot out-live Antichrist and the Enemies of Reformation let us adventure our selves to death in the Cause yea let us take hold of the Pillars of the Church of Dagon of the Temple of Antichrist and say Now let me die with Antichrist Rome and Babylon The War was so wholly and intirely upon Gods account as you said that though betwixt the Inhabitants of the same Kingdom yet you would not have it to be a Civil War It is not a Kingdom divided against it self J. Arrowsmith 1643. p. 69. saith Mr. Arrowsmith to the Parliament but one Kingdom against another the Kingdom of Christ divided against that of Antichrist and this Antichristian Kingdom will rage as much as they can to their power to shed Bloud but the Lord hath them in this Chain and hath sent forth his host against them They were not the Parliaments Forces but the Host of the Lord sent against Antichrist Therefore they were so earnestly exhorted never to shrink but joyfully to lose their very lives in so good a cause Mr. Midhope at the Funeral of Colonel Gold exhorted the Militia thus St. Midb 1644. p. 24. Noble Commanders be active for Christ ye cannot do or suffer too much in his Cause Lay out your Time Strength Parts your All for Christ fear no loss here ye cannot drive a more gainful Trade Could any thing more have been said to the blessed Martyrs Or did ever the Pope recommend his Croisadoes more highly What hath been said proves it to the full that you valued your intended Reformation more than Christianity it self which 't is no thanks to you if it was not quite destroyed by these most nefarious and unchristian actings Now two Witnesses more will make it altogether unquestionable that from the beginning to the end that cursed War was raised and fomented to maintain your new-fashioned Religion and to bring about your Reformation Mr. Cheynell told the Parliament F. Cheynel 1646. p. 32. Consider the cries and out-cries of the Godly Party of this Kingdom for a Reformation they speak plain and tell you that they have fasted prayed and wept for a Reformation they have exhausted their Treasures many of them ventured their Lives lost their Limbs their Bloud their Friends for a Reformation you have promised us a Reformation N. B. we have paid for a Reformation you are therefore indebted to us of a Reformation we are bound to challenge such a Reformation as will quit cost and answer the price we have paid and the pains we have bestowed c. And Mr. Jenisson a Scotch-man in a Sermon at New-castle Rob. Jen. 1648. p. 29. The late designs of the Popish and Malignant Party tending to the utter subversion of our Religion and of our Liberties occasioned the National Covenant between England and Scotland and the joining in Arms for the defence of their Religion N. B. Now I hope it is clear enough that it was you chiefly if not alone that raised and fomented that execrably Holy War to establish your projected Religion and Discipline And if you dare say to the contrary you must give the lye to your own Fellow-labourers for you see I have it from them So I humbly conceive that you and I have made it appear that you are not only not subject to Kings and Princes
but ever in some sort their Superiours and that when you judge Religion concerned you will lose the bonds of Allegiance make Subjects to rebel against their Sovereign and be as active for the Kirk as ever the Pope was for the Church so that in this you wanted nothing of being right Catholicks but that you did not fight to advance the holy See but the holy Classis Pr. 'T is well you can make an end at last I could find in my heart to let you talk alone you are so infinitely tedious especially in your Citations Pa. Sir I know that such grave and serious men as you are are gifted with a great deal of patience but yet let me tell you that I could be a great deal more tedious you have made the subject in hand so copious that one must write Volumes that would treat it in its full Latitude But what have you to say next Pr. I say being we are discoursing of War that you Papists are cruel and merciless to those that differ from you in Religion as appears by your Massacres and Inquisitions abroad and your Persecutions and Plots here at home and you make people believe that in their bloudy cruelties against Protestants they do God great service I am sure we are quite of another temper for we preach meekness and forbearance of one another and are for Liberty of Conscience Pa. Nay I know you shall never lack commendation for want of speaking well of your selves your words then are all honey honey-sweet but the mischief is that your actions are in the other extream as bitter as gall 'T is true you are now for forbearance and Liberty of Conscience but when you had the Power in your hands no men ever more strict and severe You tied your selves by a solemn Oath Faithfully to endeavour the discovery of all Malignants and evil Instruments that should hinder the Reformation of Religion that they might be brought to publick tryal and receive condign punishment in the fourth Article of your Solemn League and Covenant for the Reformation and defence of Religion as you call'd it and so whereas there are but few Inquisitors in the Church of Rome you had thousands of them among you every man that had taken the Covenant was bound to be one bound to accuse his own Brother if he were not of your party And so 't is said of Mr. Case that he performed this part of his Oath very conscientiously as indeed it was his Doctrine in his Sermons on the Covenant Case p. 56 If any one persist to hinder Reformation be it the man of thine own house the husband of thine youth the wife of thy bosom c. thou must with all faithfulness endeavour the discovery thine eye must not pity nor spare Deut. 13.6 7 and 8. But I wonder you would speak of cruelty my last Quotations of your Authors being so full of it It seems you would have me make it out that there is a perfect resemblance betwixt your Church and ours in our Zeal for God and Religion Well you shall be satisfied You know the first thing we do to Hereticks is to Excommunicate them so Mr. Cheynel would have those of the Church of England serv'd in the Epistle Dedicatory of his forementioned Sermon he desires the Parliament That if bloudy Delinquents come to compound their Composition may not authorize them to communicate at the Lords Table And he tells them at the 44 pag. There are some sly Malignants who are too wise to be scandalous they do not roar like a Lion but fret like a Moth you will be importun'd that those men may be spar'd because they are not scandalous in their lives have you not read of one Qui sobrius accessit ad perdendam rempublicam Must men be spar'd because they do not fiercely assault Church and State It seems their honesty would signifie nothing to excuse them from your persecution as long as they were not of your party Mr. Coleman had found a way of punishing the Bishops in case they should escape with their lives which I don't remember to have ever been used amongst us T. Coleman 1644. p. 16. Look to all degrees saith he to the Parliament and spare none and amongst the rest the Prelates whose offences in case they should not be found capital that device of sending them to new-New-England transcends all the inventions I ever met with as good have cast them with Daniel into the Lions Den. Nay it was so much a duty to God to shew no mercy to any of the Kings Party that he had told them before pag. 15. That their ill success in the West was because of their carelesness in keeping and dealing with Delinquents and proves it by this Scripture 1 King 20.42 Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people So Mr. Case in a Sermon to the Court-Martial at the 13 pag. There is no dealing with God now T. Case 1644. God is angry he seems to ask this once more Will you stâ—â—k will you execute Judgment or will you not Tell me for if you will not I will I will have the Enemies bloud and yours too if you will not execute Vengeance upon Delinquents At the 16 pag. he tells them That God would have Judges to shew no mercy when the Quarrel is against Religion and the Government of Jesus Christ Those men that would rise up in cursed practices to bring in Idolatry and false Worship to depose Christ from his Throne and set up Antichrist in his place c. such a Generation hath Christ doomed to execution Luk. 19.27 Those mine Enemies that would not have me to reign over them bring hither and slay them before me And at 18 pag. What severity will God expect from you in these cases who are call'd this day to judge for God between the sons of Belial bloudy Rebels and an whole Christian hurch and State now resisting unto Bloud for Reformation Let me say to you as God to Moses concerning the Midianites Vex these Midianites and smite them for they vex you with their wiles Numb 25.17 and 18. Behold how the Godly sanctified their cruelty with pieces of Scriptures and thereby prest it as a most indispensable duty Mr. Joseph Boden also in his forecited Sermon pag. 16. and 18. exhorts the Committee to do the utmost as they could against the Malignants God arms them saith he with strength against his people because heretofore and now also they have and do find too much favour at our hands I am confident the next time the Devil gets into the Pulpit he 'll preach as good Divinity upon this subject as this man and many of his Brethren did It was so essential a part of your Godliness and such an acceptable piece of service to Christ to shew no mercy to the
Kingdom was filled with bloud and confusion that the people might not see how they were gull'd you fell to prophecying promising them much happiness with many secret and glorious things after all their trouble so saith the same Author ibid. pag. 6. We shall see at last that the mercy God intended for us was worth all the troubles and bloud c. God hath many Promises to his Church to accomplish many Prophecies to fulfil many glorious things to declare many Mercies for his Saints to bestow and these stirs among us will make way for all And so Mr. Joh. Bond 1644. Bond tells the Parliament That the present work of Salvation and Reformation they had in hand was carried on in a mystery was a shadowed master-piece altogether made up of stratagems paradoxes and wonders and so the comfort is it shall be a great Salvation a Salvation from Babylon But this will suffice at present to shew that the people was deluded more ways than one and to give a warning to the following Generation that so they never be drawn into Rebellion by the same arts and pretences as their Fathers were It would be endless to rehearse all the equivocations jugglings and deceits as were used to seduce the people next time we meet perchance you shall hear more of them What I have said now is enough to prove that your words signifie nothing but what you please that your dissimulations are deep and specious and that you never want arts and evasions to plead innocency and salve your credit after the foulest doings and miscarriages Now you differ but a very little from the Church of England and you are for Obedience to the King whatever some of you may have said or done heretofore Very good That 's as much as to say That do you what you will you are resolved ever to be in the right and never to acknowledge your selves faulty in the least for fear of losing the repute of Infallibility But let it be considered 1. That I have proved what I charged upon you not by the words of the obscure and ordinary but of the most famous men of your Party who must needs have known the Tenets and Doctrines of your Sect and who were then and are still now cryed up and followed by your Disciples and Admirers 2. That those words of theirs I have cited were not taken out of Libels or prophane Books nor were spoken heedlesly in the heat of dispute but are to be found in their Sermons and were delivered out of their Pulpits in the powerfulness of Preaching as being the Word of God 3. That those Sermons were not preached in Country-Towns or to ordinary Congregations where any stuff preached after the tone and manner in use among you had been as good as the best but almost all of them before the Parliament where none but great men were admitted to preach and where to be sure they preached none but their best Sermons and moreover that those Sermons were printed with the names of the Authors and with License and Approbation 4. That 't is more likely they would then deliver their true Opinions and speak out what was in their hearts when they had the power in their hands and were free to speak what they pleased than now they are under fear and restraint and are fain to conceal or dissemble what they would then openly preach and proclaim 5. That they not only preached Sermons but they and their Disciples lived Sermons also your practice and Doctrine agreed excellently well what was preach'd was acted there was none of their good Instructions lost you approved what they said by doing accordingly and you generally own'd by a practical belief those Doctrines I have set down as yours out of your most approved Authors Lastly It is manifest by my Quotations that your Ministers rendred the last King odious to his people and preacht him out of his Throne and Kingdom but 't is no where to be seen that they ever preach'd this King into the favour of his people again or used their powerful eloquence to have him restor'd to his Right And since his return though you have given over printing yet most of you have kept up the Faction and in stead of crying peccavi have still endeavour'd to weaken the Church and draw Disciples after you and your Synods have never disclaimed those men who by their Preaching had kindled up the late Rebellion and the Preachers have never recanted their former Opinions but either justified or disguised them nay many of them own still the Obligation of that infamous Oath call'd the Covenant whereby they acted and warranted all their wickedness Therefore though the people may be excused having been deluded and imposed upon yet you the Ministers and Heads of the Faction can never with all the wit you have plead any thing that can justifie you from owning the worst of Popish Errours Now let our Judge speak if he pleaseth G. I confess I am somewhat amazed at what I have heard I never thought so much could be said for proving a Conformity betwixt Papists and Presbyterians in so many points but yet I will decide nothing nor make any reflections upon what you have said I 'll rather transcribe and print your discourse and leave the Reader to think and to judge as his own discretion shall advise him Only seeing that you are most chiefly agreed in denying the King that Supreme Authority which God hath given him and pretending a certain Power and Jurisdiction over him in ordine ad spiritualia for the good of souls or to phrase it aright for to advance Gods Cause and to set up Christ I shall set down some Texts of Scripture which plainly evince the contrary and then desire all Christians to yield a chearful and loyal Obedience until they have been told from Heaven that the Pope or Classis are impowered from God to act contrary to his Word in this particular First For the Authority of the Supreme Magistrate over all that live in his Dominions read Rom. 13.1 and 2. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation v. 5. Wherefore ye must be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Here you see that neither Pope nor Puritan is excepted but every soul is to be subject this was written when the Higher Powers were Heathen bloudy Persecutors of Christianity who endeavoured to destroy the Gospel and yet for all that they must not be rebelled against and their Authority must not be resisted Whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation and therefore we must be subject to them not only for fear of their anger but also for fear of Gods not only for wrath