away the greatest wrath of God from a people if it be generally and commanded by their King and Governours otherwise it will not avail for in King Charles his time by some the Sabbath was kept more exact then ever and specially more then it is now when Families are broken into several Opinions that there is hardly three in a great Family of one judgement and all might have so kept it for any thing that he declared against it but he did not declare for it soon enough and therefore wrath came from the Lord upon his people A man in King Charles his time could not pass along the streets morning evening or at night on the Sabbath but he should hear them in most houses reading repeating of Sermons singing Psalms and praying yea and every day they had prayers in their Families both evening and morning and now such things are out of use Also how beautiful a thing was it to see them go to Church in those dayes the Master went before the Mistress Children and Servants following with one consent surely then they were in the way of God if I can judge but now the Master goeth one way the Mistress another the Children and Servants another every one goeth several wayes and when they come home Mum is best for they can neither pray together nor speak any thing of God if they do there is a hot house presently with their damning and confounding one another God is not the Author of such confusion but of peace and concord 1 Chron. 14. 33. and how can there be religious Government or a keeping of the Sabbath in Families when the Church is without Government for if the Foundation or Church-Government be destroyed what can the righteous Masters of Families do Psal. 11. 3. they cannot say with Joshua 24. 15. We and our Families will serve the Lord for there is a power above them that will nor suffer them to bear a compleat rule in their own houses Esther 1. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22. The granting Liberty of Conscience was the overthrow of the late King for had he been severe to make all men keep holy the Sabbath he had not fallen and his tolerating men to use on that day their own Conscience and wills as they listed was his failing so that he and his lost all by it and now there is no way left to pacifie God's wrath but by fasting and prayer to seek the Lord in publick and private and specially to keep holy the Sabbath-day And to tell you which day is that day Bishop Bayley in the Practise of Piety doth witness from Scripture and Reason that it is the day commonly called Sunday and he gives you many instances of judgements on Towns and Persons that had profaned it And truely that Prophet for so I may call him foreseeing this judgement with an intention to prevent it directed his Book to King Charles But a lass that is nothing to what we can witness for the vindicating our Sabbath the Lord's day for we have seen since Kings and Kingdoms routed Parliaments and States destroyed and all for profaning that day Therefore now God hath resolved that Jews question so that it is without doubt our Sabbath and none but it is the Sabbath which God doth own Wherefore if you look to be saved of God strive and have a care to keep it holy and wait patiently upon the Lord we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6. 9. I know many good Protestant is now in Job's condition having his Family destroyed his House and Goods plundered and perhaps his Body smitten with sore Diseases besides his Friends being Independent Anabaptist or Presbyterian as Job's three Friends come to oppress accuse and condemn him falsly but Job for al this appeals to God for his integrity and saying through Faith that though his flesh should be destroyed and his body consumed yet that he did believe as many now in the same manner do believe that they shall see King Charles on his Throne and was assured that he should see his Redeemer in that very same body Job 19. 25 26 27. And you see God doth at last shew himself to Job and as his three friends were forced to have him pray for them Job 42. 5 6 7 8 9. so these that now condemn you as evil doers will be glad to lie at your feet and have you pray for them to God and also petition to the King for them But observe this vers. 10. that after Job had prayed for his Friends then and not afore God turned away his captivity and gave him twice as much as he had lost From hence learn thus much You that have suffered most are to pray earnestly to God for them that most wronged you then shall you be accepted of God for your selves and them Again you must likewise make their peace with the King for you onely are accepted fitted under God and none but you can do that and doing thus your captivity immediately upon it shall be ended and you shall have twice as much as you had before both of honour and riches I speak thus much in particular to you that were great ones if you do as abovesaid you will be far greater then ever you were And do this with all speed it will take but a little time if you be willing to do it but however do not despair wait patiently upon God until he frames your minde to do it for it is far from you to consent to what I say in these things David though anointed to be King of Israel notwithstanding the promise 1 Sam. 16. 1 13. it being deferred and he hotly persecuted he thought it would never be and that one day he should fall by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27. 1. and again said in his haste All men were lyars Psal. 116. 11. concluding that Samuel had erred in anointing him and in saying he should be King but at last when David came to be King indeed he confessed his error in being too hasty Psal. 31. 21 22 23 24. and exhorteth men in such cases not to be hasty but to wait patiently upon the Lord shewing that though sometimes he was hasty which was but folly yet most times he waited patiently upon the Lord Psal. 27. 13 14. Psal. 40. 1 2. A Reproof for Withers Walker and Lily THere hath been and there is certain ungodly men that devour this Nation by infusing into them the spirit of rebellion confusion and disorder Truely such men are no less then Witches 1 Sam. 15. 23. Gal. 3. 1. and of late yeers they have gained too much credit to the ruine of the Nation by setting the Subjects against the King the Church against the Bishops and Pastors the Wives against their Husbands the Children against their Parents the Servants against their Masters the Souldiery against their Commanders striving to set all in rebellion against God's Ordinances pretending to the
Ezra 5. 1 2. Consider Beloved God did let none of my words fall hitherto 1 Sam. 3. 19. but all that I declared is come to pass as I shewed above and if you had sought the Lord and forsaken your sins as I did exhort you to do in all my Books the King had been on his Throne afore now for men must look upon God's Commandments and keep them if they look to have his promises of mercy fulfilled to them for his mercy is to them that love him and keep his Commandments Exod. 2. 6. Israel in their captivity sate down and wept and threw away their Harps Psal. 137. 1 2. so should you leave your pleasure and mourn for your sins by fasting and praying in private and publikely associate your selves together to seek the Lord that he may be merciful to you And above all things keep the sabbath-Sabbath-day he that keepeth the sabbath-Sabbath-day of the Lord holy and wholly as the Prophet saith Isaiah 58. 13 14. he shall never do amiss for the Lord Jesus will bless him prosper him and make him honourable so that he shall ride upon the high places of the earth and the seed of God shall be in him to preserve and protect him all the weeks of his life from Sabbath to Sabbath until at last he come to glory in Heaven with Christ at the right hand of God for if you will remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day God will not suffer you to forget any of his Commandments but your delight will be in them to keep them and do his will but if you forget to keep the Sabbath holy by praying reading hearing speaking God's words meditating in it doing deeds of charity for bearing all works or words touching worldly affairs then God will not bless you and you shall fall from one misery to another and never have rest to your souls The Lord will reign and execute judgement for the Sabbath therefore he is called the Lord of the Sabbath and judgement will come upon the world chiefly for their not sanctifying the Sabbath and if you take notice of Psal. 92. intituled A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day which Psalm continueth until you come to Psalm 98. so that Psalm 92 93 94 95 96 97. is but one Psalm by the Author's account for you have no title until you come to Psalm 98. I say if you take notice of Psalm 92 93 94 95 96 97. you shall finde how God will come to judgement and to reign and of his triumphing over his enemies which enemies are similated by a flood of waters Psal. 93. 2 3 4. Pfal 96. 10 13. Psal. 97. 1. and the contention must needs be about the Sabbath for this Psalm is for the Sabbath-day and hath begun with us already King James destroyed his Throne by making a Law to profane the Sabbath truely there was no need of such a Law to give liberty for outward sports on the Sabbath-day the people were too forward in profaning it so that if he had made a severe Law to restrain them yet would they have taken too much liberty to break the Sabbath and I wonder that the King and his Counsel were so blinde as to countenance the Sabbath-breakers since the Prophet sheweth it clear that the promise to Rule is founded upon the exact keeping holy of the Sabbath-day of Christ Isa. 58. 13 14. so that he that keepeth the Sabbath shall ride upon the high places of the earth and what is meant by riding upon the high places of the earth but to have the rule and power over it and govern it Deut. 32. 12 13. Judg. 5. 9 10. compared with Isa. 58. 13 14. will shew it And when the masking-bouse in 1638. was erected at White-Hall purposely to profane the Sabbath then sin went in the Court with an open face though in a mask yet so without a mask that he which had but half an eye might easily have seen it and say God will not suffer this Court to stand long Whosoever advised the late King to set up that house he was his greatest enemy He that envieth a King or Prince need no other way to overthrow him then to perswade him to profane the Sabbath neither can a man shew his love to his King by any means more then by advising him to keep holy the sabbath-Sabbath-day of the Lord Jesus And believe it God will speedily have a quarrel with the Kings and Princes of the earth for breaking his Sabbath The long Parliament got much footing against the late King upon that score for reforming what he suffered to be deformed by restaining the profanation of the Sabbath they went up and he went down but when they likewise began to take the liberty to profane it so that when no Boat on the Thames durst stir on the Sabbath the Lord Bradshaw's Boat may and when other men must go afoot on the Sabbath a Parliament-man sends his ticket for a Coach and will have it then God brings them down also I do not speak this of the Parliament-men without ground for being in 1650. at a Parliament-man's house in White-hall who pretended to be one of the most religious of them there was some Friends of his there that were to come home to London Said his Wife When my Husband comes in we will have a Coach for you to go home How said the Man we cannot have a Coach to day Yes said she a Parliament-man may send his Ticket and have a Coach at any time none dare deny him Another Sabbath a while after I was at a Sermon in White-hall and in the middle of the Sermon I was forced to go to the stairs when I came there I beheld a Boat coming up from the bridge What said I to one that stood there do the Boats go abroad again on the sabbath-Sabbath-day No said he Why said I what is yonder Said he That is my Lord Bradshaw's Boat coming from Greenwich What said I then he takes upon him to be Lord of the Sabbath Yes said the man he may do what he please now But consider how soon God rooted the Parliament out for such presumption and now the Boats and Coaches go abroad on the Sabbath again without any molestation judge you what will be the issue of it Therefore let none presume to break the Sabbath be he never so high I dare say God will bring him low enough that doth it pick what you can for that out of Heb. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 10 11. And the Prophet tells the King and people of Judah that though their sin was written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond and doth say that they should go into captivity yet a little after that he tells them also That if now they would turn and keep holy the Sabbath they and their city should remain for ever Jer. 17. 1 2 3 4 14 15. Therefore you see that the keeping holy of the Sabbath will turn
THE VOICE OF King CHARLS the Father to CHARLS the Son And the Bride say Come Being An Invitation of King Charls to come in peaceably and be reconciled to his Kingdoms according to his Father's minde and shewing the integrity of his Highness OLIVER CROMWEL Also That the Author's Prophesie is fulfilled in part and shall perfectly be verified in 1655. The Sabbath straightly to be sanctified kept The Vindication of Infant-baptism and re-baptizing proved by Scriptures and Fathers to be a Truth With an exhortation to the Royalists And many other discoveries of Truth Noble Royalists this is your way of advancement By ARISE EVANS Heb. 4. 7. To day if ye will hear bis voice c. Printed at London for the Author 1655. To the most glorious King CHARLS of Great Britain ARISE EVANS wisheth that Grace Truth Peace and Glory may come to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Most illustrious King I Am not fitted to direct a Speech unto so great a Majesty being not vers'd in Courtly Complements or acquainted with Princely Titles I hope your Majesty doth not expect such Language from me nor yet that you will despise the simpleness of the Stile but seriously consider and regard the matter of this mean Method I presume the more to present your Majesty with these few Lines after sorude a manner yet so well dressed as I am most able to pen them because I have heard of your vertuous Clemency and Humility towards such as were of so low a Rank as I my self am even of the poorest of men Therefore I beseech your Majesty likewise to bear with my boldness and presumption in speaking the Truth to you for it will be the glory of your Royal Patience not to look upon it contemptibly but rather give ear to it for that it cometh from the pure affections of a true heart towards you If I know my own heart Jer. 17. 9. which speaketh unto you wishing you eternal happiness both for your Soul and Body and that your glorious splendor may shine in Power and not in Words onely which are like vain shadows without the substance as some perhaps would have themselves so exalted yea too many are apt to flatter Princes with hollow Titles which are as empty shells or nuts without kernels yet with such vain-glory earthly Princes whose mindes are ridiculous afore God and godly men too too much delight to be applauded So that it is now and it was ever so with God and good men That he which humbleth himself and slighteth such earthly pomp though an honour truely belonging to him is of God and good men counted most worthy of Honour Favour and Exaltation And I hope your Majesty doth and will observe this Rule and not fix your self upon such rotten branches which promise much yet let you sall but upon God the sure Rock and the Community of those that love him and keep his Commandments so shall you be surely fixed and established And not to trouble your Majesty with too long a Prologue I shall now God willing speak to the purpose Judges 6. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21. When the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Gideon he saluted him thus The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour And when Gideon answered If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us that we are delivered into the hand of our enemies And then the Lord looked upon him and said Go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel from the hands of his enemies mark it have not I sent thee And when Gideon said Wherewith shall I save Israel my family is poor in Manasseth and I am the least in my father's house The Lord said I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the enemy as one man Moreover the Angel gave him a sign by touching his present that was upon the rock with the end of his cane or walking-staff until the fire came out of the rock and consumed his present And something to that purpose was done to your Majesty by this last rising at Salisbury as you may see by my book called The Iron Rod And after that Gideon sought to know thr Lord by Sacrifice and Prayer and the Lord made himself known unto him by Signs and gave him Wisdom and prospered him so that with three hundred chosen men he overthrew the numerous host of the Midianites Here your Majesty may see what it is to seek the Lord And these things are as properly spoken to your Majesty now as they were then to Gideon and they will be as effectually performed to you if with faith you receive them as Saint Augustine did as they were then to Gideon or as if the same Angel had spoken them unto you yet the case is not the same for Gideon used his Sword onely but you are to use first your Word and if that will not your Sword then will prevail I have as you shall finde in this ensuing little Book set down to you if happily from your Subjects after a propitiatory manner something to ingage your Soveraign Majesty for your own good and their desire and good of all if your Majesty please to comply with it which Subjects I finde if they be real are willing to prostrate themselves before you as soon as you shall hold forth your golden Scepter of mercy unto them as Ahasuerus did to Esther Esther 6. 2 3. And I beseech your Royal Majesty though you may well think me inconsiderable to intercede between you and your People yet hear the voice of your Royal Father of famous memory saying Son for so he beginneth I have offered Acts of Indempnity and Oblivion to so great a latitude as may include all that can but suspect themselves to be any way obnoxious or liable to the Laws and which might seem to exclude all future jealousies and give securities I would have you alwayes propense to the same way whenever it shall be desired and accepted let it be granted not onely as an Act of State-policy and necessity but also of Christian charity and choice All I have now left me is a power to forgive those that have deprived me of all and I thank God I have a heart to do it and joy as much in this Grace which God hath given me as in all my former injoyments for this is a greater Argument of God's love to me then any prosperity can be Be confident as I am that the most of all sides who have done amiss have done so not out of malice but out of mis-information or mis-apprehension of things none will be more loyal and faithful to me and you then those Subjects who sensible of their errors and our injuries will feel in their souls most vehement motives to repentance and earnestly desire to make some reparations for their former defects As your Quality sets you beyond any duel with any Subject so the nobleness of your Minde must
you had come in to them that rose the work had soon been done and if you bring in a forraign Nation it is like all will rise yea many of your Friends will rise against you for the terror of CROMWEL and his Army is upon the people here and abroad also because they see him prevail and that every work devised against him comes to nought but if your Majesty slight this motion it is propable in a short time that his Highness may obtain these three Kingdoms and have them put upon him for his own inheritance and then the best Prince in Europe will think himself happy to have his Daughter to Wife For my own part there is none can do for you more then I have done for I have maintained your Cause in the highest manner before your reputed greatest enemies and have propounded this way of union between your Majesty his Highness to them and it was well resented by all insomuch that his Highness himself came to speak with me and used me very favourably and I set them a time that the union should be afore Midsummer I pray God it be not too long afore these writings come to your Royal Hands But some of them said They feared your Majesty would not consent to so good a motion for all sides and the Kingdoms happiness And once as I was propounding these things the Ladies and Daughters of his Highness being present I was demanded whether I had any commission from your Majesty to do such things I told them No but said I had Visions and a commission from God to propound such things and that I believed your Majesty would allow of what I did and consent to so reasonable an agreement which if you do that high dignity which God by me said should be yours shall undoubtedly rest upon you but however it is necessary for your Majesty to offer freely from your heart to all a general pardon and remission and if that be refused God that knoweth the integrity and secrets of your heart will raise you Friends unexpected so that you shall prevail and it must be so because justice is but the hand-maid of mercy and she may not go before her mistress but if her mistress be affronted she immediately followeth to avenge her and then the mistress rejoyceth at it James 2. 13. There is a party that are bloody men of no Religion who would have you come in by the Sword not for any good they wish you but thinking thereby to encrease their sins for now they look upon themselves as in bondage first because their means is taken from them so that they cannot commit such sins as they would do if they had plenty of money Secondly because they are restrained from their courses of sins by these men now in power more then they were formerly and kept out of power being looked upon as abominable creatures which have not the fear of God in them and they care not much who is on the Throne so that sin and open profaness may be in esteem and favour again and they to have their means and power again to be its favourites Against such a sort of men many took up arms against such the Army now stands and such bloody irreligious men will never consent to have you pardon all them now in power and come to such an agreement as abovesaid for if you do agree their hope is frustated so that then sin shall domineer no more in this Kingdome I pray God change their hearts and let them see that God will never suffer such mindes to prevail here again I know there is many eyes looking upon your Royal Fathers last Speech to your Majesty expecting dayly when will your general pardon come out to all according to it which specially is expected by these to whom it chiefly belongs who also have power to establish you in your Fathers Throne and judicious men may think hard of your deserring to obey the Christian command of so good a Father which might prove so much advantageous to his glory and your own glory and prosperity here and hereafter in Heaven Be not perswaded by any contrary to your Father's last Speech unto you for you have none so wise nor none so faithful to you as he was and therefore trust not to their wisdom nor their fidelity in this thing and if you have them about your Majesty that hindreth to send a general pardon put them away from your presence It is the wisdom of a Master to turn away all his Servants if they are grown evil ones lest they consume his estate and take other Servants and to be sure to keep them in better order The Court of England as most Courts are was grown very corrupt when Vice was more in esteem then Virtue and he that wilfully brake God's Commandments had in honour while he that strove to keep them was despised so that men took sin for a pleasure deceit for wisdom and folly for foelicity and as the richest meat or best fruit is most jubject to putrifaction and therefore ought to be well seasoned and preserved else it will turn to noysome worms so it is in the King's Court by reason of the fatness that attends it that except there be a straight rule of sobriety and the love and fear of God be fixed in the Courtiers hearts that they may endeavour to walke in all the Commandments of God without reproof they shall surely become unsavory in the nostrils of God and he will raise of the vulgar sort of men them that shall cast the Courtiers out and trample upon them as upon dirt for who will take water from a corrupt fountain The Court is the eye of the Kingdom and If the eye be evil the whole body will be full of darkness Mat 6. 22 23. and if the darkness be so great what can follow it but confusion and destruction We are not strangers to these things for that we have seen these consequences too much verified in our dayes and yet there is many among us stands to vindicate themselves and will not believe their own eyes nor acknowledge the just judgements of God upon them for their sins But I beseech your Royal Majesty to lay these things to heart and to acknowledge by confessing it before the Lord that a great many of sins were harbored in the Court under your Grand-Father and your Father also and there were four capital Causes which broke out into judgements The first was in the Case of Essex and Overbury when Essex's Lady was too much favoured for though there might be just cause for her to put away Essex yet she should have suffered as an adulteress when she married Carre Mark 10. 12. so that we see that for that injustice and disobedience to the word of Christ Essex having this grudge still in his minde at last is made the chief Instrument to destroy your Father's Court when no man else could do it The
the death witness Saint PAUL who did all this insomuch that Saint PETER at last calls him Our beloved brother PAUL 2 Pet. 3. 15. Wherefore nowithstanding they have so violently persecuted your Royal FATHER to the death most glorious Soveraign upon their repentance receive your Subjects in love and mercy as your FATHER hath commanded you who went beyond any one Martyr because of his power and dignity and therefore his sufferings were greater and are morefull of glory which is to you an unspeakable joy full of glory through Jesus Christ who did enable him To the Son JESUS CHRIST be all Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen In long-Ally at the entrance of Crown Court in Black-fryers March 23. 1654. Your faithful Servant in the LORD Arise Evans To the Reader Beloved THese things had been out in print before the last Christmass but that I had Visions to the contrary which shewed me that the King's party then had high hopes to prevail another way so that these things then would have been rejected but now I hope they are satisfied and see no good can come to them that way and that they will look upon this to be the most probable and the most excellent way for the King to come in and that this for that end comes out seasonably now and the Lord send his presence and blessing with it to his glory and our comfort So be it To the ROYALISTS Reloved YOU see in my little book called Voice of Michael the Arch-angel what Lines I have presented to his Highness the Lord PROTECTOR to shew him how God is for us And I believe and so doth his Highness give credit by all that I can gather from his deportment toward me He believeth also that what I shewed him came to pass On last Saint Michael's â—ay was the appearance of God for you and since the Almighty hath appeared for us insomuch now that his Majesty CHARLES STEWARD upon good terms may come to his Throne when he please And God forbid but that the QUEEN DUKE of York DUKE of Glocester and all the late KING's Children should come in upon the same Agreement and be highly honoured by this Nation if her Majesty leave Idolatrous Superstition and all other sins attending Courts in our days behinde her which the Lord of Heaven and Earth that beareth rule in this Nation cannot a bide I know nothing that hinders the KING at this time but a seeking of his Kingdom and shewing himself willing to agree with his Highness the Lord PROTECTOR and his Party Then let us praise God to whom onely be the glory of our Salvation by Jesus Christ and truely as you see by the above said book I have not spared them but roughly shewed them the Truth which albeit his Highness received not in wrath but as it is a sharp loving reproof to his and their honour be it spoken they received it with all readiness mildness meekness and clemency shewing to a discerning eye a willingness in them to perform what is required on their part provided that they have an Agreement suitable to their Worth and Valour of which Demands in reason they ought not to be denied by his Majesty CHARLES STEWARD Therefore having through God's assistance brought it to this pass left I should be unfaithful I shall God willing now speak a word of reproof unto you of the KING's party and chiefly to you who have not hitherto changed your habit of sin and cause of your misery yet you would have the Kingdom come with all haste and some of you are so violent that nothing will satisfie you but blood and treading down of such parties and especially upon such and such men as you fancy to be guilty you would have no mercy shewed And in all these things you are mistaken for they are so willing to do righteously and to have peace that they please God thereby And therefore neither you nor all Europe shall not be able to bring them down by force Truly let me tell you I think it is in vain for any to fight with these men in the field I know none that did attempt to fight them which got any thing by them but the humbling of their high and lofty Spirits And his Majesty the late KING was sensible of it and knew that he had chosen the wrong people for his Souldiers when he said of them Sect. 26. pag. 209. of his Book as followeth For the Army which is so far excusable as they act according to Souldiers principles and interest demanding pay and indempnity I think it necessary in order to the publick peace that they should be satisfied as far as is just no man being more prone to consider them then my self And though they fought against me yet I cannot but so far esteem that valour and gallaâ—try they have sometimes shewed as to wish I may never want such men to maintain my Self my Laws and my Kingdoms in such a peace as wherein they may enjoy their share and portion as much as any men And truly the King had great reason to wish such a wish when he had considered the carriage of both Armies for as the King's Army were generally given to swearing drunkenness whoredom with other such vain sinful lusts which to maintain such a course of life no small means will serve turn so that to maintain such lusts they wronged the Countries where they came which Countries observing the different dealing of both Armies and that the KING's Army made them who afore were really for the King to abominate such doings so that they all did joyne with the PARLIAMENT's Party against the KING which thing proved both his and his Armies ruine and indeed the ruine of all his Party Besides such men were the worst men for Souldiers as could be imagined for when they should be watching and alwayes in readiness one party was with their whores another drunk a third gaming a fourth plundering a fifth swearing and fighting one with another which things are destructive to an Army who should sanctifie themselves specially at such times Deut. 24. 9. but when they were got together though they would fight most gallantly at a single duel or at an Ale-house yet such men are never good in the field specially when they come to encounter with a people whom they think do seek the Lord and fear him and live civilly then the fear of God's wrath and of death commonly makes them run away or else their ambitious Commanders strive for honour till time be past when indeed they should go on by lot Judg. 1. 1 2 3. and if they chance to do an exploit they too soon fall a plundering that seldom but at the last they come to lose all again These things the late KING understood and experience did witness it to him But the PARLIAMENT-Souldiers were men of another temper and though of divers Opinions yet they went out of zeal in rage and fury to fight against
1 Esdr. 5. 37. surely this Prophesie is for us for they were hindred for a longer time And this sheweth you That since the Foundation was laid in 1653. you shall be perfectly delivered afore 1655. be expired and King Charles will be on the Throne by then provided That you unfaignedly turn to the Lord by fasting praying and reforming your wayes according to Gods Commandments and specially in not profaning but keeping holy and sanctifying the Sabbath day for therein lieth the promise of glory Isa. 58. 13 14. here and for ever Isa. 56. Now you will ask me How was the Foundation laid and wherein had the King's party any freedom in 1653. or in what manner doth it resemble Cyrus his decree for the Jews First I answer That in 1653. by all accounts the Foundation was laid for whereas before the power was in the State Parliament or People or where we knew not now it is in one single person again so that the Foundation of Monarchy which was destroyed is laid again in the Protector I hope for King Charles Secondly In 1653. the Ingagement was so taken off that the King's party that took it not now have the benefit of the Law from the which benefit by the Ingagement they were utterly excluded so that if one that had taken the Ingagement had robbed and killed one that had not taken it it had not been a Crime in those times for we have right to nothing but by she Law Thus you see what God hath done for you to fulfil my Propoesies in 1653. you must not despise the day of small things Zach. 4. 10. There came unto me a Gentleman a great Historian about two yeers agone who did affirm that Cromwel was Cyrus and that he would restore both our Liberty Church and King to us again This Gentleman was a West Country-man who had Commanded in the late King's Army and had suffered much I could wish all the King's Party were of his temper and minde Truely I believe That Cromwel is not onely Cyrus but will also prove Zerubbabel that did not onely lay the Foundation but will also finish the work of God and bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings I mean King Charles crying Grace grace unto him Zach. 4. 6 7 8 9 10. And not onely so but that Cromwel will be Darius that shall curse and bring a curse upon all whether they be Kings or whatsoever they be that hinder the work of God in establishing the King again and the true worship of God Ezra 6. 11 12. Therefore be not like the Jews that said Can there come any good thing out of Nazareth John 1. 46. for you see Jesus the most blessed came from thence John 19. 19. Wherefore let not the Independent think but that much good may come to them from the King Charles Steward and let not the Kings Party think but that great good may come to them from Oliver Cromwel now Protector who will restore the King and hath done as you see something already in order to it and more I could shew you Therefore I say to you again of Oliver Cromwel as the Prophet said Zach. 4. 9 10. to the Jews of Zerubbabel He hath laid the foundation of the work for the King's restoration he shall also finish it do not despise the day of small things that is do not despise what he did in 1653. when he turned the State into a Monarchy and freed you from the Ingagement that is somthing though it be but small in your eyes Oh that you had abated in your sins so much as that doth add to your deliverance You know the people of God fasted and prayed oft when they were in distress and that not onely privately but also publikely And you see the Independents and Sectaries do so though they be not yet the people of God and why do not you so seek the Lord that he may be merciful to you I am ashamed of you what can I say to God or Man for you when you neglect these things Once not long since as I was at Mr. Peters's Chamber on a Sabbath-day in the evening after Sermon he was disputing Cases of Conscience when all was done and the people gone except some few Gentlemen that staid to talk with him He asked me How I liked such meetings I said I liked it well if it had been done in and for the Church of God He said If you do not count us the Church why do not the Cavaliers use such holy meetings among themselves we should be glad to see them do so Said I The reason is because you will not suffer them to do it for fear they should plot against you as you formerly plotted in such meetings against them Said he we never hindred them to meet in this manner I answered That you did to my knowledge for not long since at a house in Coven-Garden there was a company of devout Cavaliers met to serve the Lord and you sent a company of Souldiers upon them for no other cause which took many of them prisoners to St. Jamses Then Mr. Peters remembring it had not a word more to say to that But he might have answered That was in the long Parliaments time the Lord Protector since he came in power did allow of no such thing for now you have the Church-door open you need not go into houses you may fast you may pray you may preach provided it be for peace and I am sure his Highness will rejoyce to see it yet if you fast for strife and debate as the Presbyterians did all for blood giving thanks when they kill'd many and fast to the end that they might kill oppress the more as the Prophet sets them out in their colours Isa. 58. 1 2 3 4 5. if you cause your voice to be heard on high and fast as they did then God and man will not allow your deeds but if you fast innocently being without malice and pray the Almighty God to send Truth and Peace to all Nations Zach. 8. 19. and specially to give a good understanding between the King and Protector and their Councels that they may make peace and confidently believe one the other and keep faith and a good conscience toward God and with one another for the time to come then will God grant your desire and no man can hurt you for so doing And the main cause why you are not delivered is because you have not a good opinion of Oliver Cromwel the man under God that is appointed to effect it by restoring your King and Church again If you look upon me as one sent of God you should hearken to me and obey my voice and and not tax me for things not coming to pass for your good when you would not believe and obey me for so the good people obeyed the Prophets of old and prevailed 2 Chro. 15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. 2 Chron. 20. 14 15 16 17 18.
in his infancy he had had John's baptism and confessing when he was sick what then he had done saith confes. lib. 1. ch. 11. Thou sawest O my God! for thou wert my Keeper with what earnestness of minde and with what faith I importuned the piety both of my own mother and thy church the mother of us all for the baptism of thy christ my Lord God Mark the baptism of thy christ And observe for here he makes a distinction betwixt John's Baptism which he had received when he was an infant and the baptism of Christ which now being sick he would have had for he thought it not meet to term that Baptism which infants receive It was a wonderful providence that brought me to maintain this point by any thing out of S. Aug. and it was thus When I was about to write this two learned men the one a Minister the other a great student being at my house together and I perceiving they would be my great antagonists in it to hear what they would say I broke my minde unto them they began to oppose me in it with might main I held it forth against them both so that at last the student said Now I call to mind I think S. Aug. speaks of such a thing And he having the book in his pocket drew it out and it silenced them very much yet they would give me no encouragement nor would they tell me plainly what S. Aug. said in it Upon this I went into Pauls Church-yard to see if I could finde S. Aug. and hear him speak by means of some Latine Scholar but being there I found him to speak English and I brought him home with an intent that before he and I part to be better acquainted with him Thus Gods providence helps forward his own work that men may see that the practice of the ancient Church was agreeable to the New Testament and that by their practice we may the better understand the Scripture specially in the mysterious great Controversie about Baptism the foundation of Christianity to end and reconcile the difference of Christendom in that point of Rebaptizing commonly called Anabaptism which opinion being weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary hath as much truth in it yea more then the contrary yet the Ana baptists follow not the footsteps of the Ancients in Christning their infants and acknowledging the holy Spirit in their infants baptism to be of value but seeking another spirit in baptism and not the renewing of that holy Spirit which they had in their infants baptism for their punishment and to bring them home God sends them an evil spirit 1 Sam. 16. 14. that puffeth and vexeth them and sets them one against another so that there is no peace among them and though they do mighty things for a time prevailing yet at last they come to nothing because they deny and pitifully reproach the breathing of Gods Spirit upon them in their infancy On the other side because the Church of Engl. at the first appearing of the Anab. did not admit Rebaptizing it being Gods way take those people into the Church they confessing the Church and their infants baptism as the most eminent part of it the difference grew greater and they became a scourge so that all Heresies broke out in the Church upon its refusing condemning such a truth warranted by Scripture and Fathers which truth is the means appointed to bring men into communion with God for none ought to come to the Lords table before they themselves being at yeers of discretion do confess their sins repent and be baptized upon their own score And good reason for we see if a man himself be bound to pay a debt he oweth he will take special care to pay it lest his adversary cast him into prison but if sureties be bound for it the principal careth not but lets them suffer this is common among men So infants in baptism are not bound but their sureties and as they are bound to or promise nothing so they are as careless to perform any thing promised for them or in their name for pray where is any doth forsake the devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of the wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh that doth believe all the Articles of the Christian faith that doth keep Gods holy will and commandments all the days of their lives Here are mighty things promised who performeth them Take heed God will not be mocked Gal. 6. 7 8. Now if Ministers had prest men to renew their Covenant with God and caused them with their own mouthes to promise such obedience as above said and rebaptized them upon that account shewing such as would not come in upon such terms their damnable condition and that their infant-baptism was but a figure to save them if they had died in the time of their ignorance surely men would not have been so careless in keeping Gods Word as now they are Therefore I give this as a Rule of truth to the Church for time to come which Rule is grounded as abovesaid on Scripture the best Fathers practice Reason and on the confession of our Church of England in the book of Common-Prayer as you have it afore Baptism in the Rubrick 1. I say that Infants ought to be by their sureties baptized in water as we formerly did in the church of England 2. That they should be catechized and educated in the faith and by all means perswaded to leave their sins 3. That they being come to the age of discretion should repent and confess their sins and shew their resolution to amend their lives before they come to renew their baptism 4. That they be re-baptized in water and then the Bishops to lay their hands upon them and all this to be done to them afore they be admitted to come to the Lords Table 5. That those Heathens or Jews that are perswaded to the faith converted and baptized they being of full age refraining from sin and stedfast in the faith need not be rebaptized but if they have young children or servants that are subject to youthful vanities notwithstanding they be baptized with their masters or fathers they ought to be rebaptized as abovesaid 6. That whosoever after re-baptizing opposeth the faith or breaketh the commands of God be excommunicated and not received in again until he repent and be willing to suffer a shameful penance If he will not come in but goeth about to seduce the people of Christ then shall the King put him to death speedily that others may fear the Lord and King 7. That the King and all keep holy the Sabbath not onely by forbearing servile work but by praying reading bearing speaking Gods word meditating on it and deeds of charity And let me tell you in the name of God that Gods Covenant in baptism is that perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten Jer. 50. 5. It is the quarrel of that Covenant