Council be to be believed that as he durst not before charge the indulged Ministers with a compact so here he only alledges a transaction but he is not sure as his Parenthesis imports As for his 4th he knows that Presbyterians make a great difference betwixt the Magistrate and a Prelate but of this before And then it 's false That the indulged Ministers looked upon themselves as Ministers of these Parishes upon the sole ground of the Magistrates Act. And thus we have done with his parallels which are meer Paralogisms If the matter could have afforded better Arguments the Author would have readily hit upon them but the subject-matter could not be formed in a Mathematical Demonstration ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius Pag. 110. we have his eleventh head of Arguguments in which he undertakes to prove That by the accepting of the Indulgence the meetings of Gods people are prejudged he means the meetings nicknamed Conventicles and he alledges That by the acceping of the Indulgence they have contributed to the suppressing of these Meetings and that interpretatively they may he charged in part with the severities exercised against the same He only pretends to make this probable and likely and that this head of Arguments deserves some consideration so that the Arguments under this head are not in his own opinion Demonstrations but only topical Arguments The Author speaks much more soberly here than he did in the Letters which he sent before this printed Book for in that Letter which he wrote to a young man who preached at Wamfroy he says That the accepters of the Indulgence could not but homologate before the Lord the Magistrates design to suppress these Meetings of the Lords people and contribute to the carrying on of that end and in another Letter he infers That seeing the Magistrate had the same design in the Indulgence that he had in the band that therefore the band and Indulgence are of a piece and that there is no difference as to kind betwixt the making use of the Indulgence and the taking off the band Though there be a magis and minus that may be yielded yet there is nothing that can alter the kind nor can he see how those who are favourable to the Indulgence can speaking consequently condemn the taking of the Band. Here is very great confidence but it 's very groundless for suppose the design of all that had a hand in the contriving of the Indulgence were as ill as he could imagine yet their design could not vitiate the acceptance of the peaceable exercise of the preaching of the Gospel nor vitiate the hearing of the Gospel to those who preach and hear the Gospel for that end for which God hath appointed it to be preached and heard 2. Whatever was the intention of the Contrivers of the Indulgence the preaching of the Indulged Ministers had no more tendency to hinder other Ministers to preach the Gospel than the preaching of one Minister who is not indulged hinders the preaching of another Minister and experience hath proven this That their preaching hindred others to preach for several Non-indulged preached more since the Indulgence than before 3. He gives a strange efficacy to the Magistrates intention in saying That it makes the making use of the Indulgence and taking of the band to be of a peice and of one kind for the band which he speaks of obliges to conform to Prelacy and to cast off the outed Ministers yea and shut up their bowels from them in their distress and the person who takes it declares Conventicles to be disorderly and the walking according to the Law which establishes Prelacy to be orderly walking They who think that the Magistrates intention can make these things contained in that band to be of a piece and of the same kind with the peaceable exercise of preaching the Gospel they give the Magistrate a power of working Miracles in changing the nature of things by his intention which is more than hath been given to Magistrates by those who talk highest of their Supremacy I wish he had forborn that expression of Homologating before the Lord for it seems to be a taking of the name of God in vain Pag. 111. he desires us to ponder some Particulars for the first about Magistrates design we have weighed it and found it light For his second he should have proven That it is the necessary work of the indulged Ministers who have Churches to preach in where the Meetings of the Lords people are not disturbed to leave these Churches and go to preach in mountains and needlesly expose themselves to hazard when they may have the same ordinances of God in the Church and with these advantages That they have the accommodation of a house to shelter them from storms that they are rid of the fears of Invasion by armed soldiers which do much disorder folks Spirits for the worship of God and the place of meeting being fixed and known peoples uncertain wandring upon the Lords day is prevented It hath been very sad to those who truly designed to sanctifie the Sabbath to wander on the Lords day to seek the word of God and not find it and when they had found it to be in a continual fear of violence or to be fleeing or to see some more taken up in drawing themselves up for fighting than for drawing near to God or to see or hear of blood mingled with Sacrifices He should have proven that God calls the indulged Ministers to quit the peaceable exercise of their Ministry in these Parishes where they are setled where they have opportunity to know the State Case and Way of the people and to apply their Doctrine sutably to the peoples Condition and where they have opportunity to make full proof of their Ministry in preaching and ministring Sacraments Catechising visiting exercising Church-Discipline The indulged Ministers are not convinced That it 's the greater good of the Church to cast these Congregations where they are desolate and leave them to be filled with Conformists He says the Indulged Ministers have given themselves to rest under the covering of the Supremacy This was an invidious and false aspersion if the giving of themselves to the work of the Ministry be a giving of themselves to rest then they have given themselves to rest Thinks he that men cannot labour in the work of the Gospel except they carry the Gospel from mountain to hill Instead of the covering of the Supremacy he should have said Under the protection of lawful Authority and as Mr. H. said before the Council The exercise of the Ministry under the protection of lawful Authority is one of the most desirable things on earth to Ministers of the Gospel To his third The case of these Ministers who were confined to Congregations where there were Ministers setled and permitted to preach â—n these Parishes was far different from the case â—f those who went to desolate Congregations â—f they had been permitted
would think it a disparagement to have their Act not only posterior to the Parish Act but also excepted against and casten till the Parish Act went before for the Council would have thought it as great a disparagement to their Act to be trailed at the heels of the peoples Act as he thinks it for the peoples Act to be trailed at the heels of the Councils Acts. This would have brought in a very odious question about precedency betwixt the Council and the Parish Or if the Council had determined to settle such a Minister in such a Parish and saw that he would not go without the invitation of the people this would have put them to urge the Parish as thinking it a disparagement to have their Act made void by the Parish-refusal If the Parish had refused to give a reason of their refusal they would have used them the more hardly If they had excepted against the Ministers Qualifications Doctrine c. this would have entangled the people to have pursued these matters before the Magistrate as the Judge competent These Ministers intending to make use of the Councils Act in so far as it was some relaxation of the restraint formerly laid on and as it did make way for the peaceable exercise of their Ministry in some Parishes and minding to have it free to those Parishes to invite and not to invite them as they saw fit and to themselves to go or not to go as they found it fit it was very convenient that they should not make mention of the Parishes or their Invitations for this might have either needlesly irritated the Council and provoked them to undo what they had done or else have entangled themselves and the Parishes They declared before the Council that they had full prescriptions from Christ to regulate them in their Ministry and a violent obtruding themselves upon a people without their consent had been contrary to these Prescriptions and contrary to the known Judgment of Presbyterians 7. Nor saith he did they testifie their dissatisfaction with nor protest against the unlawful usurped interest of the Patron and his necessary pre-requisite consent Ans The Author would have had such formal Protestations because they would have marred all Indulgence I spoke of Protestations before upon the Epistle to the Reader The proper season of protesting against Patronages had been when they were to establish them by Law and it concerned all the Ministers as well as these Ten who were first indulged and it would have seemed impertinent enough for them to have protested against the Patrons for consenting to their coming to such Parishes if a Patron had been holding them out of a Parish they had right to be in it had been more pertinent in that case to have protested than in this When a Patron had given his consent without the Ministers knowledge could these Ministers hinder the Patron to consent or the Council to have regard to his consent but they declared their adherence to their known Judgments and consequently that they were not for Patronages 8. Did such saith he as wanted this unanimous call or consent of the People give back the Councils warrant as weak and insufficient Ans In the case supposed it was sufficient not to go and it had been very inconvenient to have given back the Councils Act as weak for this had been to set the Council and the Parish at variance and a temptation to the Council to reinforce their Act and make it strong seeing it was brought back to them as weak As for his Dilemma pag. 96. Sect. 2. It 's easily answered they look on themselves as having a relation to their former charges and would return if they could have a peaceable access to their Ministry there Until that be obtained the exercise of the Ministry is not the worse that it is fixed for as was said the fixed exercise of the Ministry hath many advantages which an unfixed exercise of the Ministry wants He seems to make unfixed Ministers to be Curates for saith he if they look not on themselves as fixed Pastors then are they Curates This is an injurious Inference to the Ministers who have not the fixed exercise of their Ministry But it may possibly be said that he calls them Curates because of the Councils Order and because the Council can turn them out when they please but I do not see how that makes them Curates more than it did under the former supposition of their owning themselves as fixed Ministers for whether they look on themselves as fixed or unfixed the Councils Act is the same and the Council can as easily turn them out though they suppose themselves fixed as they can when they suppose themselves unfixed so that this horn of his Dilemma hath no force except it be in that That unfixed Ministers are Curates which is a false and injurious assertion I see no necessary Connexion betwixt Curates and unfixedness for the name of Curate seems to import that they are fixed to a Cure And I do not remember that ever I heard unfixed Ministers designed Curates he might have bethought himself that some Ministers who went to Holland might be tossed betwixt the Horns of this horned Argument and if it have any force they cannot decline the force thereof For if they were fixed Pastors of that Congregation in Holland where they ordinarily preached what becomes of their relation to their former charges if they were not fixed then were they Curates the Magistrates in Holland could turn them out when they pleased as well as the Magistrates in Scotland They continued only during the Magistrates pleasure and when the Magistrate thought fit to turn them out of that place where they had the publick exercise of their Ministry they could not stay whether the Magistrate would or not The Indulged Ministers have often declared their relation to their former charges and their desire to return to them if they could have access and when they began to preach to the people among whom they labour for the present they declared they were ordained Ministers of other Congregations And neither by word nor writ did they engage themselves not to return to their former charges as they say this Author did and they did nothing which might obstruct their regress to these charges their fixed preaching in one Congregation so long as they have no regress is no more obstructive to their return than the preaching of other outed Ministers in many places is obstructive to their returning to their former charges And if the Author had considered what he himself writes afterward pag. 103. Sect. 8. he would have seen how unequally he deals with the Indulged Ministers He says In King James's days several faithful and honest Ministers were banished from their own Churches and confined in other places of the Land and seeing no hope of getting the Civil Sentence taken off were necessitated to accept of a call to serve the Lord in the places where
the Graces of the Spirit to glorifie God and enjoy him and to make sure their calling and election and to edify one another and put them to be wholly or mostly taken up about the managing of publick Affairs and to break out of their own place and pass the bounds of their Vocation that they may right all that 's wrong and what confusion this breeds both Reason and Experience may teach us If Professors had been earnestly exhorted to do the duties of their Vocation which the Lord calls them to and to be earnest in praying to God for those whom God hath called to be Magistrates and Ministers that they might be guided of God and inclined to those things that are right in the sight of God that they might under them live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty This had been to put them to their duty to walk in the way of God and to have shunned many disorders and confusions and to have obtained Israels mercy whom the Lord led like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron But when every private Professor is taught that he knows the Times and what Israel ought to do and that he is fit to guide the Shepherds and go before them in breaking the Ice what can be expected from such Antiscriptural Conceits but Confusion and Ruine He adds neither need I tell you how impossible it is to know what the present day and hour makes indispensable duty without a just reflection on what is past for the emergents of the present day can never be improved to the advantage of preventing the morrows Misery without this Now that you and I may be helped to a profitable reflection upon what is past and improve it to it 's just Advantage the Lord hath been pleased in this unconcerned Soper of many to put it upon the heart of a Servant of his to give you and me the following History c. Ans Doth he think that what he says here is so evident that every Christian Reader knows it without his telling them if he had only said that a just Reflection on what is past is useful for the Time present or if he had only said that this Reflection on what is past is useful for improving the emergents of the present day it might have passed without Animadversion but when he makes it impossible to know the present days duty without Reflection on yesterday when he says that the present days emergents can never be improved without reflection on yesterday He hath needlesly by winding up his Assertions as high as his fancy could twine them crackt their credit and disobliged his Reader and provoked him to stand out against his Assertions as injurious in bringing him under a new impossibility and impotency which he knew not of Now men love not to be brought under Impossibilities of knowing and acting for 1. It 's neither Time past nor present which makes duty or makes us know what is duty nor is it the remembrance of what is past that makes men know what is their present duty it 's the will of God and not Time which makes this or that our duty and it 's the Revelation of the Will of God that makes us know what 's our duty the day and what was our duty or error yesterduy Adam knew the duty of the day in which he was created but he had no yesterday to reflect upon Suppose a man lose all memory of what is past yet he may by taking heed to his way according to the word know his present duty I have known some Persons have that weakness of Memory that they did not remember that they themselves had spoken but a little before and yet they made Conscience of speaking right when they spoke It 's a hard thing to bind a man who hath lost his Memory of things past up under an Impossibility of knowing his duty in things present Again he makes a just Reflection not only upon a mans own actions which he may more certainly know but also a Reflection upon the Actions of others which he cannot know but by the relation of others and written Histories absolutely necessary for knowing the duty of the present day Now this is yet a more intolerable Impossibility to make our necessary present duty dependent upon uncertain Relations and it may be false stories how can men be assured that their reflections upon these past things are just when they know not whether the things be truly and justly related As for Exemple this History of the Indulgence hath many falshoods in it and these falshoods are not fit to instruct any what is the present duty but are apt to deceive the Readers and induce them to sin and not direct them to their duty But I see if I stay thus with the Author of the Epistle it will be long ere I can come to the Historian and therefore I shall only take notice afterward of these things which concern the Indulgence in this Epistle But ere I go further I cannot but here remember what I heard a Judicious Gentleman say of the Author of this Epistle viz. that he used to get as high in his expressions as his fancy could reach this is ordinary in Romantick Writers but it 's a great fault in any who pretend to write Truth especially in Divines And this puts me in mind of what I heard that great judicious and acute Divine Mr. James Wood say that the study of the flourishes of Oratory was dangerous in a Divine because as these flourishing Rhetorications do divert the Hearers or Readers from the simplicity of the Gospel so they who follow them are in hazard in that pursuit to run over the bounds of truth and to fly higher than Scripture and solid Reason do allow The Author of the Epistle hath frequently in these few lines flown higher in his fancy than Scripture or solid Reason will allow 1. In making the knowledge of the Times to know what Israel ought to do the Cognizance and Badge of the Professors of the Church of Scotland 2. In making it impossible to know the present duty without Reflection on the Time past 3. In making our necessary duty depend upon humane Stories which are often false and at best very uncertain 4. In saying that the emergents of the present day can never be improved without this Reflection on Yesterday Seeing the Author of the Epistle hath assaulted the Indulged Ministers with Questions I shall make use of the same Weapon that he may have fair play and my first Question is Whether he hath any Scripture or Reason to prove these four Assertions last mentioned My next Question is what Warrant hath he to say so confidenly that the Lord put it upon the Heart of the Historian to give us this History Does he think that the History was inspired by the Lord into the Heart of this Historian In this History there are many falshoods in matter of Fact many
answer its Reason but by clamour as unanswerable I answer If he had been pleased to have read what the Indulged Ministers and others have written in answer to what the Author of this History sent before this History in Letters and Questions he might have seen any thing that this Author hath said against the practise of the Indulged Ministers very rationally and solidly answered As for his first reason for the seasonableness of this I answer The evil which is in the Magistrates actings which relate to the Indulgence have been more solidly discovered than this Author doth but this Authors great design is to fasten all the Magistrates faults in this matter upon the Indulged Ministers And if this last be the Testimony which the Author means in his second Reason it 's a false Testimony and of no value and worth and worse than nothing In his third he is mistaken for several who are dissatisfied with the Indulgence are much more dissatisfied with this History as a Book which they think will do much mischief among ignorant and profane people in hardning them in a careless neglect of the Lords Ordinances and profaning of the Sabbath and jumble many weak and well-meaning people and confound them with things that they do not understand His fourth Reason for the seasonableness of it is because the Indulged Brethren had been threatning and boasting with a Vindication of the lawfulness of their acceptance I answer The Author either saw these Vindications for there were many of them or not if he saw them not might he not have had patience till he had seen what they had to say for themselves it was injustice to condemn men unheard who were offering a Vindication of their Practice but it seemed he had a mind to give them Couper Justice But it may be he thought he could imagine all that they had to say but this was rashness and too much self-confidence he should have heard them before he had answered seeing he knew they had spoken for themselves If he saw any of these Vindications as some think he did why did he not examine them it may be he found them too hot for his handling If he had sent this History to the Indulged Ministers privately that they might have given him a return this had been fairly done but to print it and publish it to the World at the very first was not fair non amice factum ab amico His first Reason for the seasonableness of it is because the Non-indulged Ministers had done somewhat to strengthen the hands of the Indulged by giving them new confidence in their course in obliquo covering all aid carrying towards them as if they had done nothing amiss but upon the the matter by a direct Homologatry of the Indulgence for now silence as to all speaking against this evil is made the very door and porch through which all entrance to the Ministry must pass And therefore saith he it 's now simply necessary and more than high time to discover and detect the blackness of its Defection when the Church is thus brought in bondage by it Ans I did not think that the Author though he be very confident upon small evidence had so far passed the bounds of modesty as that he durst in Print have avowed and justified the deed of two young men who contrary to Presbyterian Principles did set themselves to counteract the judgment and sentence of the suffering Ministers of the Church of Scotland for their way did manifestly tend to the subversion of the very foundation of all Government and Order It 's a strange Reason that because the Non indulged Ministers endeavoured to strengthen the hands of the Indulged Ministers that therefore it was seasonable to put out a Book condemning all together and what else was this but for two men living at a distance to take upon them to condemn the whole Presbyterian Ministers of the Church of Scotland and to encourage two unruly youths in their contempt of any remnant of Authority that that poor remnant had What sober person who hath any Judgment in matters of that nature can but commend the Practice of these Non-indulged Ministers who laboured to prevent the breaking of the Church by that Question about the Indulgence by restraining these young men who made it their great work to cry out against the Indulged Ministers and the hearing of them and yet this Author is so far from having that reverence that he ought to have had to the Judgment of the generality of the Ministers of the Church of Scotland that he thinks because they agreed together to endeavour to prevent the renting of the Church therefore it was seasonable to cast in a new fire-ball of Contention among the people and so render all their endeavours of Unity ineffectual and what more effectual way would he have taken to render all the suffering Ministers of the Church of Scotland contemptible in the eyes of all who will believe him than to charge all the Indulged Ministers with so black and fearful a defection and all the rest of the Ministers with a direct homologating of the Indulgence In this he hath done service very acceptable to Prelatists Papists and Quakers though I believe he designed no such thing His sixth taken from the severe insulting over some of the poor remnant who could not forbear to witness their abhorrency of it flows from misinformation the insulting was among some of those who quarrelled with the Indulged Ministers and who took occasion from the Indulged Ministers forbearance to meddle with that matter in their Sermons to say that they had nothing to say for themselves and thus their silence for peace sake was turned into a prejudice against them They who live in these parts where Indulged Ministers are can bear witness how much forbearance and tenderness hath been used towards the poor people who were confounded with these doubtful Disputations and frighted with unknown words of Homologations and Homologatings and imposed upon by strong alledgencies and parables and allegories without Scripture or solid Reasons This way of witnessing which he means the withdrawing from the Lords Ordinances to which they formerly resorted and in the use of which they profited is a way of witnessing that if they who take it have little cause to be ashamed of it as he says I am sure they have as little cause to glory in it for there needs no more to qualifie folk for giving this Testimony but laziness and gross profanity and contempt of Ordinances There can be no great matter in that which any profane man as he is profane and because he is profane can do As for his seventh neither this Author nor he hath proven that the Indulged Ministers entring into these Parishes was a coming in not by the door but a climbing up another way His last consists of hopes That some of these godly men Indulged may be by this History taken off and that the Non-indulged will
6. Some things become necessary or the more necessary to be done because of those who urge the forbearance of them out of some erroneous principle or for establishing of some error And thus Mr. Rutherford sheweth in the forecited Treatise That to forbear the cating of Swines-flesh before a Jew who alledges that it is a sin or breach of the Commandment of God to do so to forbear it now when we are fully possessed in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free were to harden the Jew in his Judaism and the way to bring us again under the yoke of the Ceremonial Law Now 1. seeing God hath ordained Magistracy for protection of his servants and people and for protecting them in the exercise of his worship it was expedient and necessary to accept of this Protection when offered and not to refuse it for the acceptance of the effect and product of the exercise of that Authority which is Gods Ordinance was an acknowledgment and owning the Ordinance of God a honouring of those to whom by Divine appointment honour is due And this was a contributing to render the Ordinance of God effectual for that end for which he had instituted and ordained it and upon the contrary the refusing of this relaxation and of the protection of lawful Authority would have been a slighting and despising of the Ordinance of God and a doing of that which tended to render the Ordinance of God ineffectual for that end and use for which God ordained it Now the relaxation of this restraint which had been long upon the publick exercise of their Ministry and the protection of lawful Authority which Mr. H. accepted of was the very exercise of that Authority which is the Ordinance of God 2. Seeing the Magistrate in loosing that restraint which hindred the peaceable exercise of the Ministry did his duty he did somewhat of that which he was obliged to do it was necessary that the Ministers whom they were willing to loose from the restraint formerly laid on and whom they were willing to protect in the exexcise of their Ministry should in their place and station further and promove the Magistrate in any good which he was willing to do as when a Minister is willing to do his duty in preaching and Catechising the people should be willing to hear and be Catechised so when a Magistrate is willing to permit or allow Ministers to preach in his Dominions and to protect them in the exercise of their Ministry it 's the duty of Ministers who have the access to the peaceable exercise of their Ministry under the protection of lawful Authority to accept of the peaceable exercise of their Ministry and to refuse this offer were the way to mar and stifle the good which the Magistrate was willing to do Now when the Magistrate is willing to do any thing which is right and his duty it 's a sin to mar impede and stifle any good that he is willing to do 3. Seeing peace and the protection of lawful Authority and the peaceable exercise of the Ministry under the protection of lawful Authority are great blessings of God and God promises and gives them to his people as great benefits and his people are obliged to pray for them Isa 48.18 Isa 60.15 16 17 18. Isa 11.6 7 8 9. 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Therefore it 's necessary to accept these mercies and benefits when the Lord in his Providence offers and gives them and to refuse them when they are offered were to slight the mercies of God and to refuse what we are bound to seek and to be thankful for when we get it 4. Seeing the fixed setled and peaceable exercise of the Ministry is so necessary as appears from the Lords taking care that Ministers might be setled in Cities and Churches and from the many conveniencies of a setled Ministry which are wanting in an unfixed Ministry for they who may not stay among a people cannot so know their state and case and so cannot apply their Doctrine sutable to their case and cannot make full proof of their Ministry among them in laying the foundation in all the principles of the doctrine of God and then leading the people forward unto greater perfection in knowledge in declaring the whole Counsel of God and they have not access to Catechise and visit c. as those who have the setled and fixed exercise of their Ministry have and then peace and quietness in preaching and hearing the Gospel hath many conveniences people not only know whither they shall go to hear but they may come seasonably without hazard by the way and without fear of disturbance when they are come so that they may more compose themselves for hearing than they can who are in a continual apprehension of a hostile Invasion and often alarmed with hearing or seeing some noise or appearance of armed soldiers These fears and confusions are great Impediments of the sanctification of the Sabbath Now the setled and peaceable exercise of the Ministry which is so many ways expedient and necessary cannot be had but by the Magistrate and therefore to have refused to make any use of the Indulgence had been to refuse the setled and peaceable exercise of the Ministry 5. This acceptance was useful for preventing many evils of sin and calamity The indulged Ministers could not see how they could without sin refuse to make any use of the Indulgence and they conceived their refusal to take the benefit of the peaceable exercise of their Ministry would have given occasion of offence and provocation to the Magistrate and to the destitute Congregations who desired their help the desire of a people who are wandring as sheep without a Shepherd had a cry that they could not see how they could slight without sin The acceptance prevented the filling of the Kirk with a Conformist whom the people would not have heard and freed those Parishes of the quarterings plunderings imprisonments which they were formerly obnoxious unto it prevented their uncertain wandrings on the Sabbath their disquieting and confounding fears their running and fleeing on the Sabbath which is such a calamity that our Saviour directs the Jews to pray that their flight might not be in the winter neither on the sabbath-Sabbath-day Matth. 24. and prevented rendevousing and fighting and mingling blood with Sacrifices on the Lords day The many disorders and confusions and sad sufferings the imprisonments and finings and banishments and the great effusion of the blood of the people of God which have followed upon the hostile clashings betwixt Magistrates and people may teach us how necessary the peaceable exercise of the Ministry under lawful Authority is and how necessary it is to take and seek and follow after peace with all men especially with the Magistrate The Indulged Ministers cannot nor could not see how a refusing to have any making or medling with the Magistrate which these Authors urge could consist with the respect due to Authority or with
in general is called to nor could he in Reason think that the withholding of this light could have so many inconveniencies following upon it as the venting of it would have by an unseasonable awakening and keeping up of Divisions and all the mischiefs which follow upon Divisions 3. If he would needs vent this Light of his and press others to do the like he might have done it in the way which Mr. Durham points out viz. with that meekness tenderness and respect towards his Brethren who differed from him that the difference might make no Division nor marr Union But he is so far from this that he will have this Light and those who bring it made welcome though it be brought for this very end to make Division and to distract and rent the Church But 4. The worst of all is this Light of his is not Light but Darkness a confused mass of false Calumnies published to scatter the poor sheep and drive them away from their faithful Pastours who fed them with knowledge and understanding If they who will not forbear to vent Truths which are not necessary when the venting of them is unseasonable or if they who will vent such Truths in a factious and divisive way be justly censurable O! how hateful is their temper or rather distemper who cannot be perswaded for Peace-sake to with-hold their Lies and Calumnies but will vent them upon design to rent the Church in drawing away the People from the Lords Ministers and the Lords Ordinances They who come to publish untruths to make Discord and Division come not by the Commission of the God of Truth and Peace I shall again transcribe some of Mr. Durham's words in his excellent Exposition of the Song of Solomon Chap. 1. v. 8. pag. 91. 6. Believers would make use of publick Ordinances and Christs Ministers especially in reference to snares and errors and they would take their directions from them and their Counsel would be laid weight upon 7. Allowed dependance on a Ministry is a great mean to keep Souls from error whereas on the contrary when no weight is laid on a Ministry unstable Souls are hurried away 8. Christ hath given no immediate or extraordinary way to be sought unto and made use of even by his Bride in her difficulties but the great mean he will have her to make use of is a sent Ministry and therefore no other is to be expected It 's no wonder then that the Devil when his design is to cry down Truth and spread Error seek to draw the Lords People from the Shepherds Tents and no wonder that Souls who do cast off respect to their Overseers be hurried away with the temptations of the times as in experience hath often been found a truth 9. Ministers should have a special eye on the weakest of the flock their care should be that the Kids may be next them Our blessed Lord doth so When the Lambs are carried in his own bosom Isa 40.11 And therefore seeing weak Believers have most need of Christs oversight if they begin to slight the Ministry and Ordinances they cannot but be a ready Prey and the Devil hath gained much of his intent when he hath once gained that O! that men would try whose voice it is that saith Come back from the Shepherds Tents when Christ says abide abide near them it 's as if a Wolf would desire the Lambs to come out from under the Shepherds eye And lastly when Christ gives this direction to his own Bride we may see he allows none to be above Ordinances in the Militant Church it will be soon enough then when they are brought to Heaven and put above the reach of Seducers In these words that Holy man of God who was a burning and shining light who had the mind of Christ and the bowels of Christ doth clearly from the words of Christ warn us that the voice which saith Come back from the Shepherds Tents is not the voice of Christ this is not light from the Sun of Righteousness from the face of Christ but darkness from the Prince of darkness who can transform himself into an Angel of Light Obj. 4. All or most of the Non-indulged Faithful and Zealous Ministers in the Land are for hearing of the Indulged and onely a few and those of the younger sort with the ignorant People are against it He Answers That he would hope few should lay weight on this Objection and thinks it enough to refer any such to consider John 7.47 48 49. with Mr. Hutcheson's Notes especially 7 and 9 and then tells us that in all the parts of our Tryal God hath made use of the nothings to break the ice to others And in the Introduction to his 28 Questions he says That in all our carriage that is this day approveable as to the grounds of our Suffering the Lord hath for the most part made the poor flock go before the Shepherds and lead the way to them rather than the Guides to break the Ice and lead the way to the flock as might have been expected I reply His hope is as groundless and reasonless as his imaginations but he would hope his affection guides his hope Credimus an quia amant ipsi sibi somnia fingunt And indeed it seems he was dreaming when he hoped that more weight would or should be laid upon the Opinion and Practice of a few young Preachers and of the ignorant People than on the judgment and practice of all not onely Indulged Ministers but of all or most of the Non-indulged Faithful and Zealous Ministers And I know none who will joyn with him in this Dream except it be such who love to be singular and hope to be more noticed and talked of when they take odd and singular ways and who lay down that for a Principle that the fewest number especially if they be in greatest hazard and danger must certainly be right and all others wrong And when their party grows numerous they grow suspicious that all is not right and so they break again as the English Separatists did at Amsterdam Any may see how strongly this Historian hath been Acted by a spirit of Division seeing he with a few young men take upon them by themselves without the knowledge and concurrence yea contrary to the known and declared mind of all or most of the Non-indulged Faithful Zealous Ministers to drive the poor People upon the Rock of Schism contrary to the Word of God and to the Covenant Many of the Non-indulged thought it fit to forbear to move that Question about the acceptance of the Indulgence in their Sermons to the People they knew weak People though they be well inclined yet having as Children strong Passions and little knowledge and less prudence to direct their affections can hardly differ and not divide Some others who did touch upon that Question yet were against Separation but now perceiving that the People have gone further than they intended are I suppose
this it appears that the People are none of the best Guides in the matter of hearing seeing they have been so far from breaking the Ice in the right Foord that they have broken it above Whirlpools and have plunged themselves so palpably that the Historian himself could not follow them And I am so far from seeing sufficient Evidences of the Peoples good guiding of their Guides that I am very hopeful that all sober People will upon serious consideration of the Errors and Confusions that some People who would needs guide matters have run unto will acknowledge that it is the good and acceptable will of God that every one should keep within the bounds of their own vocation and not take upon them that which the Lord hath not called them to and that the sheep should not lead the Shepherds but be led by them And I suppose that several Ministers have by sad experience found that they have been indeed led upon the Ice by following the humours of some head-strong leading People who were fitter to break themselves and the hearts of their Ministers than to break the Ice to make safe passage for their followers The 5th Object Now when we are in hazard to be over-run with Popery is it seasonable that such Questions should be started to break the remnant in pieces and thereby to make all a Prey to the man of sin Were it not better that we were all united as one to withstand the Inundation He Answereth That he fears that the Lord by Popery and Blood will avenge the quarrel of his Covenant and the contempt of the Gospel I Reply He should have remembred that we did covenant to extirpate Schism which he endeavours to plant and water in this History And hath he not exposed the Gospel to contempt in tempting the People to cast off all the Indulged Ministers as no Ministers of Christ and all almost who are not Indulged as acted by the spirit of Supremacy the spirit of Anti-christ He could not have taken a more compendious way to render the Preaching of the Gospel contemptible than to render the Ministers of the Gospel contemptible Then he Advises That we should acknowledge our selves the basest of sinners This Advice is good but his Schismatick directions are contrary to it A Schismatick Spirit is a proud and self-conceited Spirit They who see themselves the basest of sinners would if they could rather separate from themselves than others they will in lowliness of mind esteem others better than themselves they will acknowledge themselves less than the least of mercies unworthy of any remnant of the Lords Ordinances unworthy to whom the Lord should send any of his Messengers such will be far from casting at any of the Lords Servants or Ordinances Then he says Union so long as the accursed thing is amongst us is a Conspiracy I suppose the Indulgence is the accursed thing which he means but the Magistrates permitting and allowing the peaceable exercise of the Ministry is a good thing This is a curse of his own making a causeless curse this is one of the tricks of the Devil to divert People from taking notice of the sins they are really guilty of by bogling them with imaginary sins alledging that there is sin wrapped up in hearing the Ministers of the Gospel Preach the Gospel and so he turns Duty to sin and by making them take up the peaceable exercise of the Ministry under the protection of Lawful Authority as if it were a curse or cursed thing and so flegging poor People that they flee from and forsake their own mercies and it 's a dreadful delusion to mistake blessings as if they were curses He adds If we be not tender of Christs headship and of what depends thereupon and of the least pin of his Tabernacle pitched among us I Answer If he had been more tender of Christ as head of his Church he would have been more tender of the Union of the Members of his Body and would have been afraid to have rent the members of that Body asunder His divisive Doctrine looses all the pins of the Tabernacle he hath cast fire into the Lords Tabernacle which if the Lord prevent not may burn up the Synagogues of God in the Land His Doctrine tends to dissolve all Meetings for the publick Worship of God except these who meet at the Separate Meetings moulded after his conceit He Prophesieth That they who follow his way shall find a shelter and a Chamber of Protection But he hath been so far mistaken in taking up things past and present they are not wise who will believe him when he Prophesies of things to come a false Historian is not an Infallible Prophet He is so far wrong in his Precepts for Direction that I have no Faith to believe his promises of Protection He recommends Union upon the old grounds of our received and sworn Principles and Maximes But they who know these old grounds see his grounds to be the grounds of the English Brownists which were solidly refuted by the old Non-Conformists Next He threatneth That if there be not an Union in the way that he prescribes that is if there be not a Separation from these Congregations where Indulged Ministers are and also from these Meetings where Non-indulged Ministers who are for hearing Indulged Ministers Preach for he Reproaches these Ministers also as Acted by the Spirit of Supremacy the Spirit of Anti-christ that then this Division from his Separated party will be the certain fore-runner of a dark and dismal Dispensation And then he Advises every man that would have Peace in the day of Gods contending against these back-sliders and revolters to mourn for this Abomination of the Indulgence among other Abominations and to adhere to the Lord and to our Principles which the Lord hath owned and countenanced though he should be in a manner left alone Answ This Division and Schismatick renting of the Lords People this driving of them away from the Lords Ordinances is more than a fore-runner of a dark and dismal Dispensation it 's an Evidence of the continuance of the Lords Anger and that his hand is stretched out still Schism is a grievous sin a dreadful plague which uses to end in ruine and desolation and they who drive on this vile and destructive Schism and scare the Lords People from joyning together in the Worship of God they are back-sliders and revolters from the Principles and Covenant of true Presbyterians They adhere not to the Lord who hath commanded his People not to forsake the Assembling of themselves together and hath promised to be with them when met in his Name and to come and bless them where he Records his Name and to be with his Servants Preaching and Baptizing in his Name to the end of the World They who forsake the Ordinances in which the Lord hath trysted a meeting betwixt himself and his People they who will not come where the Lord comes they who will be
sins beyond the bounds of Truth and Soberness But they must also magnifie and multiply them above the multitude of the great Mercies of God Who can limit the Sovereign grace of God who hath Mercy on whom he will have Mercy The example of Manasseh's Repentance might have restrained them from this bold encroaching upon the Sovereignty of Free Grace 12. It 's a terrible stretch that they say they have shewed their enmities against all Righteousness this is a part of the Description of Elimas the Sorcerer Acts 13.10 They cannot but be exceedingly blinded with prejudice against the Magistrate who sees not some Righteousness in the exercise of their Government 13. If Private Persons may take upon them because of the sins of their Superiours to disown their Authority and take Power to themselves and execute Judgment upon these who are their Parents Masters Magistrates this would overturn the Foundations of all Humane Society and fill the World with Confusion Though Saul was an ungodly man and Persecuted David without a cause and drove him out of the Land from the Ordinances and exposed him to the hazard of serving other gods Though he unjustly and very summarily slew eighty five Priests of the Lord and contrary to the manner of the Kingdom which obliged him to maintain Religion and Righteousness did put the Foundations of the Earth out of course yet David did not think himself obliged to disown Saul to be King nor did he think himself obliged to kill Saul when he had Power and Opportunity to do it he will not suffer his Men to do it 1 Sam. 24.6 7. 1 Sam. 26.8 9. He did not think that his killing of Saul was the way to free the Land from Guiltiness yea his heart smote him for cutting off the lap of his Garment He judged Abner worthy of Death because he had not been careful to preserve Saul's Life And though David was appointed of God to be a blessed Instrument of Reformation and Saul stood in his way yet he will not destroy him but waits Gods leisure There were many ill Kings in Judah but the Lord never directs private Persons to disown them and dethrone and kill them Ahaz is frequently called by the Lord King Ahaz notwithstanding of all the ill he had done and was doing Daniel calls Darius King after the Blasphemous Decree which he had Signed Christ directs to give Tribute to Caesar and gives it himself And Paul owns Nero's Judgment-seat and Appeals to Caesar and what Monsters Tiberius and Nero were is known to all who know the Histories of the Roman Emperours If this Device of nullifying the Authority of Rulers because of their faults real or alledged were put in practice it would quickly turn the World upside-down For though Magistrates as Gods Vicegerents be singularly obliged to represent the Holiness and Righteousness of God in the exercise of their Government yet if we consider that they have the same Corruption by nature which others have and that they have greater temptations than others and that there are often with them men who for their own ends will tempt them to sins which they would never have thought upon As for Example That abominable Decree which Daniel's Enemies cheatingly obtruded upon Darius as a great Complement and when they have gotten them to Enact any thing that is not right they will alledge they are in point of Honour bound to maintain their own deed And seeing there are many Flatterers who will praise all that great Persons do as if it were right And seeing faithful Counsellors who singly design the Glory of God and the true Happiness and Interest of Rulers are very rare Dum non vult alter timet alter dicere verum Regibus And considering how many provocations Rulers use to get by bitter invectives and scurrillous Pamphlets which tend to render them contemptible and by slighting and misconstruing their favours and by affronting of their Authority These things being considered I mean their inward Corruption and allurements to sin upon the one hand and irritating Provocations upon the other hand it 's like enough that they who will nullifie their Authority because of their faults will not want pretences and they who are of this humour of Deposing Rulers if they find not faults enough they will make where they want or they will magnifie their faults and make them worse than they are If Men of this disposition made Insurrection against Moses and alledged upon him who was the meekest man upon Earth and whom God had extraordinarily raised up That he lifted up himself above the Congregation of the Lord and that he had brought them out of a Land flowing with Milk and Honey to kill them in the Wilderness and made himself altogether a Prince over them and had not brought them unto a Land flowing with Milk and Honey nor given them Inheritance of Fields and Vineyards And that he would put out or bore out their Eyes If they found or made so many pretences against Moses who was so blameless O! how many faults would they find in the Persons and Government of the generality of Rulers through the World in these last times in which Iniquity does so much abound in Persons of all ranks Preach But if Kings and Rulers do not what they ought to do but do the contrary then the Subjects are free from any Oath of Allegiance and from any Covenant made to preserve their Persons and Authority In the National Covenant we swear to defend the Kings Person and Authority with our Goods Bodies and Lives in the defence of Christ his Evangel Liberties of the Countrey Ministration of Justice and Punishment of Iniquity against all Enemies within this Realm and without as we desire our God to be a strong and merciful defender to us in the day of our Death and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And in the Solemn League and Covenant we swear to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties Person and Authority in the Preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms And thus our Promise to preserve and defend his Person and Authority is restricted and when he does not what is his part we are not bound to own or defend him and his Authority As when two agrees that the one shall pay so much money upon the others delivering so much Corn or Meal if the Victual be not delivered by the one the other is under no Obligation to pay the Money Min. That comparison may beguile simple People but it 's strange that any Preacher should be deceived with it for this is clear that there is no other ground upon which the one is obliged to pay the Money but the delivering of the Victual by the other according to their agreement But all Inferiours Servants Children Subjects are bound by the Law of God and Nations to honour their Superiours Masters Parents Magistrates although their Superiours be undutiful as appears from 1 Pet. 2.18 19
their strength and equity from it By that Law Fornication in the Priests Daughter was Capital and so was the gathering of sticks upon the sabbath-Sabbath-day and this seems to be a lesser breach of the Sabbath than the mispending of a great part of the Lords day in drawing up Men and Horse and learning them how to handle their Arms as if the Lords day had been a day of Rendevouz or Weapon-shewing The restoring of four or five-fold would not sufficiently restrain Theft in this Nation The Judicial Law was not given to other Nations See Confes of Faith Chap. 19. Art 4. To them also as a Body Politick he gave sundry Judicial Laws which expired together with the Estate of that People nor obliging any other now further than the general equity thereof may require Our Saviour and the Apostles never offered to impose the Judicial Law upon the Gentiles The Apostle Paul submitted to be Judged by the Roman Law at Caesar's Judgment-Seat and exhorts Christians of all Nations to submit themselves to the Government and wholesom Laws of the Nations in which they lived There have been Hereticks who were for restoring of the Judicial and Ceremonial Law and some wild Persons in the Netherlands have of late written for this Error and there is the more need to take heed of restoring the Judicial Law because of its connexion with the Ceremonial Law This is a strange Age some are seeking to draw the World by Pelagianism and Quakerism to old Paganism and some seeking to draw men under the shadow and vail of Judaism They are not very much concerned though they be called Fifth-Monarchy-men But this contrivance of theirs is so strange that it is hard to find a name for it it 's rather an Anarchy and Confusion than a Government And it 's hoped that it will never have any such proportion to the four Monarchies as to get the name of a Fifth-Monarchy And it is fit that such a Monstrous thing die ere it get a Name I know nothing so like to it as the Insurrection of the Boors in Germany who believed Thomas Munster and Nicholas Stork that God was setting up a new Kingdom in which the Saints should Reign and that the present wicked Magistrates were to be killed and Godly Magistrates set up in their stead These Teachers pretended Revelations and Christian Liberty The poor People believed these delusions and rejected the wholesom Instructions of Luther and Melancthon and in their Fury which they imagined to be true Zeal they would needs fight but when it came to fighting they could neither fight nor flee and in one Summer fifty thousand of them were killed Munster at his Death confessed his Error and exhorted the Princes to use more clemency towards poor Men and so they needed not fear any such hazard and withal exhorted them to read diligently the Book of the Kings If they who contrived this Bond of Confusion had considered the Confession of Faith and the Questions in the larger Catechism which explain the fifth Commandment and the Scriptures confirming the Articles of the 23d Chapter of the Confession and the Answers of the fore-said Questions it might have prevented this furious and mad design Confes Chap. 23. Art 1. God the Supream Lord and King of all the World hath ordained Civil Magistrates c. Rom. 13.1 2 3. 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 c. 1 Pet. 2.13 14. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supream c. And Art 4. It 's the Duty of People to pray for Magistrates to Honour their Persons to pay them Tribute and other dues to Obey their Lawful Commands and to be Subject to their Authority for Conscience sake Infidelity or difference of Religion doth not make void the Magistrates Just and Legal Authority nor free the People from their due Obedience to him from which Ecclesiastical Persons are not exempted much less hath the Pope any Power or Jurisdiction over them in their Dominions or over any of their People and least of all to deprive them of their Dominions or Lives if he shall judge them to be Hereticks or upon any other pretence whatsoever 1 Tim. 2.1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all Men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Pet. 2.17 Rom. 13.6 7. For this cause pay you Tribute also c. Titus 3.1 Put them in mind to be Subject to Principalities and Powers to Obey Magistrates 1 Pet. 2.13 14. 16. As free and not using your Liberty as a Cloak of maliciousness but as the Servants of God 1 Kings 2.35 Acts 25.9 10. Then said Paul I stand at Caesar's Judgment-seat where I ought to be judged I Appeal unto Caesar 2 Pet. 2.1.10 11. But there were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the dust of Uncleanness and despise Government presumptuous are they self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil of Dignities whereas Angels who are greater in Power and might bring no railing accusation against them before God Jude 8 9 10 11. Likewise also these filthy Dreamers defile the Flesh despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said the Lord rebuke thee But these speak evil of these things which they know not but what they know naturally as brute Beasts in these things they corrupt themselves Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and run greedily after the Error of Balaam and perished in the gain-saying of Coâ—e 2 Thes 2.4 Rev. 13.15 16 17. In the larger Catechism Quest Who are meant by Father and Mother in the fifth Commandment Answ By Father and Mother in the fifth Commandment are meant not only Natural Parents but all Superiours in Age and Gifts and especially such as by Gods Ordinance are over us in place of Authority whether in Family Church or Common-wealth and they cite Isa 49.23 And Kings shall be thy Nursing-Fathers and Queens thy Nursing-Mothers Quest Why are Superiours stiled Father and Mother Answ Superiours are stiled Father and Mother both to teach them in all Duties towards their Inferiours like Natural Parents to express love and tenderness to them according to their several Relations and to work Inferiours to a greater willingness and chearfulness in performing their Duties towards their Superiours Quest What is the Honour that Inferiours owe to Superiours Answ The
the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains and while ye look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness When folk will follow their own imaginations and will not walk in the light of the word of God the Lord fills them with drunkenness and leaves them to dash upon one another and destroy one another like drunken men fighting in the dark But neither words nor rods will be rightly understood or laid to heart till the Spirit be poured from on high If the Lord would pour out his Spirit we would not only be brought to see our sins but to be ashamed of them to take shame and confusion of face to our selves we would sorrow and mourn and lament after the Lord we would turn from our sins to the Lord and joyn our selves to the Lord and we would joyn together in seeking the Lord in his Ordinances then the Wilderness would be a fruitful field the dead and scattered bones would be joyned together and live then Judah and Israel would be one stick in the hand of the Lord Ezek. 37. Then the Children of Israel and Judah would come together going and weeping seeking the Lord their God asking the way to Sion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves unto the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten Jer. 50.4 5. When the Spirit is poured out from on high upon his people then the Lord turns to them a pure Language that they may call upon the Name of the Lord to serve him with one consent then they turn humble Suplicants and pour out their hearts in groans and sighs that cannot be uttered then Pride and Haughtiness is taken away and people become poor in Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh but trust in the Lord and rejoyce in the Lord Jesus Zeph. 3.9 10 11 12. Rom. 8.26 27. Phil. 3.3 Till the Lord come till he return with mercy and loving-kindness and turn us again and cause his face to shine and see our ways and heal us we will but wax worse and worse there is no remedy for us but in his Sovereign Gracc and those mercies that have been of old and endure for ever Let us look to him who is exalted to give Repentance to Israel and Remission of sins that he would turn us that we may be turned and heal our backslidings and heal our breaches that he may utter that quickning word Ezek. 37.9 Come from the four winds O breath and breath upon these slain that they may live O Lord come and overcome our evil with thy goodness for who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression of the Remnant of thy heritage and retains not anger for ever because thou delights in mercy who will turn again and will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins in the depth of the Sea thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the days of old Micha 7.18 19 20. We have not remembred our Covenant but have spoken words falsly in making a Covenant Nevertheless O Lord remember thy Covenant and establish to us an everlasting Covenant that we may remember our ways and be ashamed Establish thy Covenant with us that we may know that thou art the Lord that we may remember and be confounded and never open our mouth any more because of our shame when thou art pacified toward us for all that we have done O Lord Righteousness belongs to thee but unto us confusion of faces as it is this day to all of us to our Kings Princes Fathers Ministers people of all ranks belongs Confusion but to the Lord our God belongs mercies and forgiveness tho' we have sinned against him Lord give us Repentance and turn us and we shall be turned Let thy power be great according as thou hast spoken saying The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression Lord humble our uncircumcised hearts that we may take with our sins and accept of the punishment of them that we may remember them with shame and sorrow but do not thou remember against us former iniquities but according to thy mercy remember us for thy goodness sake O Lord remember for us thy Covenant and repent according to the multitude of thy mercies and for thy names-sake pardon our iniquities for they are many and great And when Wisdom and Council and Strength when Light and Life is gone and when Unity is gone when there is none to help and none of the Sons of Zion to take her by the hand in her distress when there is none to make up the breach no Intercessor let thine own arm bring salvation When all earthly Glory is stained blasted and gone appear in thine own Glory in the glory of thy wisdom power and Sovereign grace in building Sion build the house and bear the glory that when thou hast done the work by thy Spirit grace grace may be glorified and that this may be written for the Generations to come that the people which shall be created may praise the Lord. We do not present our Supplications before thee for our righteousness for we are all as an unclean thing and our righteousness as filthy rags but for thy great mercy O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thy own sake O our God! for this people are called by thy Name O Lord the hope of Israel the Savior thereof in the time of trouble though our iniquities testifie against us do for thy name sake if thou mark our iniquity we cannot stand but there is forgiveness with thee that thou may be feared there is mercy with thee and plenteous redemption and thou redeemest Israel from all his iniquities and troubles O remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low help us O God of our Salvation for the Glory of thy name and deliver and purge away our sins for thy name sake save this people bless thy Inheritance feed them also and lift them up for ever Save us O Lord our God and gather us to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. Unto the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and and ever Amen FINIS