Divinity wherein the Sabbath was not press'd upon the Consciences of God's People with as much Violence as formerly with Authority upon the Iews and from the same Obligations To give one Instance of many how Prevalent this Humour was Mr. Breerwood a very learned and judicious Person Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College had the Charge of an Orphan his Brother's Son whom he plac'd Apprentice in London where he continued two Years with much Satisfaction both to himself and Master but then grew very uneasy and earnest to be discharg'd the Reason whereof after some fained Excuses his Uncle discovered to be for that his Master on the Lord's Day had sent him forth sometimes on Arrands as to bid Guests fetch Wine give his Horse Provender or such like light Business all which one Mr. Byfield a popular Preacher at Chester when lately there had inform'd him to be a Sin a Trangression of God's Commandment touching the Sabbath and that he was not bound to yield nay that he sin'd against God in yielding Obedience to his Master's Commands this produc'd a learned Letter from the Uncle to Mr. Byfield which is since Printed with an Answer and Reply wherein the whole Question is exactly Stated upon what different Obligations the Iews and Christians observ'd their different Days that theirs amongst other Rites as St. Paul terms it Col. 2. 17. Was but a Shadow of things to come whereof the Body was in Christ or as he express'd himself farther on Only a Tenure for term of Life namely that of the Ceremonial Law which Life ended in the death of our Saviour and the Lord's day succeeded thereupon As it was not known or practis'd before Moses so it ceased to oblige after Christ being one of the Shadows which the Evangelical Light dispell'd one of the Burthens which this Law of Liberty takes off From whence it follows according to what I propounded 2 dly That these Sabbatarian Speculations are inconsistent with the Nature and Practice of Christian Religion for the Priesthood being chang'd there is made also of necessity a change of the Law as the Apostle tells us different ends of Institution and different ways of Observation the Iews were more especially enjoyn'd a Corporal Rest in Commemoration of their Temporal Deliverance the Christians main regard must be Spiritual after the Power of an endless Life and therefore what the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah declares as to the Sabbath Isa. 56. 2. Blessed is the Man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his Hand from doing any evil hath by all the Fathers and from them most of the Moderns been understood by way of Prediction as to Gospel Times what at leastwise they ought to be St. Ierom is most express Alioquin si haec tantum prohibentur in Sabbato ergo in aliis sex diebus tribuitur nobis libert as delinquendi for otherwise if those things therein remembred are prohibited only on the Sabbaths then were it Lawful for us on the other Days to follow our own Sinful Courses speak our own idle Words and pursue our own Voluptuous Pleasures which were most Foolish to imagin And St. Augustine makes the 4th Commandment so far as it concerns us Christians to be no more than Requies cordis tranquilitas mentis quam facit bona Conscientia the quiet of the Heart and peace of Mind proceeding from a good Conscience and therefore it hath been well resolv'd by some that a Christian's Life should be one continued Sabbath he that lives every day as he ought hath little or no Obligation to observe one Day more than another but what between Idleness and Business Mankind was never Ingenious enough to be left at his own Freedom As for the Idle part God forgive them their many Extravagancies and more especially neglect of Holy Duties on the Six Days and let the severest Penalty attend their Violation of the Seventh And it were well if our Men of Business would consider how much that might be forwarded by sparing some little of their busy Time to implore God's Blessing upon their Business But to run into so gross a mistake as to think a strict Attendance upon Ordinances on the Sabbath Day may expiate for the Frauds Extortions and other Violations of the precedent Week is intollerable yet some are prone to suspect such a Delusion is not without Entertainment amongst many of the most seemingly Precise however 't is God alone and their own Consciences must judge herein it were well on the other side they would be less severe in Censuring others especially those we here plead for who are only the Drudging part of Mankind such Labourers Apprentices and other Servants as have let their other six Days time to Hire and are all that while at other Mens disposal that these after all due performance of Religious Offices should be allowed such innocent Diversions both of Body and Mind as their Inclinations tend most unto cannot but be thought reasonable and accordingly the Christian Church never interpos'd any Command to the contrary Here then come in their Majesties Declarations and more especially relate to the foremention'd Circumstances upon a prudent Consideration as King Charles saith of his Father That if these Times were taken from them the meaner sort who labour hard all the Week should have no Recreations at all to refresh their Spirits neither was there less of Prudence and Consideration in the several Limitations of this Innocent Freedom as First that no lawful Recreations be us'd as the Laws of the Kingdom and Canons of the Church prohibit for some such it seems there were as particularly Bowling to meaner sort of People 2dly That this Liberty be not taken till after Divine Service nor 3dly That any enjoy it but such as are present at the Performance thereof We may here likewise add the reasons given why the Declarations came out at those particular Times which if well weighed cannot be excepted against As first the Advantage the Papists took thereby to discourage People from coming into or continuing in our Church by perswading them that no honest Mirth or Recreations were tolerated in our Religion And this indeed gave the first occasion to King Iames who in his Progress through Lancashire received several Complaints thereof and having inform'd himself how justly gave a Check to the precise Humour of such Iustice over-does as stretched the Laws beyond their proper Intent and true Reason of the thing whereto likewise agrees what the judicious Sanderson tells us that in Lancashire more especially the Rigid froward Disposition of the Puritans oblig'd many of the Common People to continue if not turn Papists between which two Parties that County was mostly divided Another Reason given is for that this Prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of People from using such Exercise as may make their Bodies more able for War when we or our Successors shall have occasion for as it goes on When shall the Common People
the End of the World We are next to enquire how this Fag End of a Parliament behav'd it self having got the Power into their Hands or rather were the Substitutes the Properties of the Army for that is their truest Character And here to let the Nation see their Business should not be done by Halves they began with these Resolves 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the People have the supream Authority of this Nation 3. That whatsoever is enacted and declared for Law by the Commons hath the Force of a Law 4. That all the People of this Nation are included thereby although the Consent of the King and House of Peers be not had thereto 5. That to raise Arms against the People's Representatives is high Treason 6. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament and upon that account is guilty of the Blood shed through the Civil War and that he ought to expiate the Crime with his own Blood Whose Tryal they fell to immediately and with an unparallel Impudence founded their Dominion in the Blood of the Lord 's Anointed and their Liege Sovereign whereas granting their Position of the People's Right to be true as it is abominably false there was not the tenth Part of the Commons at the making that cursed Ordinance nor would one in a thousand of the People have assented thereunto and this the Lady Fairfax told them at the Tryal from an adjoyning Scaffold Had that Tool her Husband shewn the like Courage it might have turn'd to Account but Men that have a long time habituated themselves in Mischief God seldom permits to be Instruments of any Good To be sure as this cursed Fact rendred the Rump most infamous to all Degrees thoroughout the Nation so the Grandees of the Army after they had traiterously serv'd their turn paid them as little Respect and thought they were too contemptible a Body to manage so great a Trust to which purpose the Agitators as soon as they had first purg'd the House declared it was requisite to have a more equal Representative and accordingly printed a Model which they called The Agreement of the People and so continued frequently harping upon the same String and pressing to have it taken into Consideration which forc'd them upon what our Author declares Page 313. And now the Parliament being desirous to let the People see that they design'd not to perpetuate themselves after they should be able to make a compleat Settlement of Affairs and provide for the Security of the Nation c. Resolv'd that the House would upon every Wednesday Morning turn themselves into a grand Committee to debate concerning the Manner of assembling and Power of future successive Parliaments the Number of Persons to serve for each County that the Nation might be more equally represented c. And thus they continued two or three Years and would have till Doomsday according to their own Vote since they resolv'd not to rise till a compleat Settlement of Affairs and the Nation 's Security provided for But Cromwell was resolv'd they should not stay till then yet having a different Design from all his Fellow Rebels kept them in till that was ripe in Order whereunto Ireland must be first brought into perfect Subjection And then the Scotch gave him an Opportunity of retaliating their many Outrages Invasions and such like Covenant Kindnesses which he did to purpose And having gain'd the Crowning Victory as he term'd it at Worcester thought it then a fit Time to pull off his Vizard and send that Pack of Rascals as he call'd them at a Nobleman's Table a Grazing the Account whereof as our Author gives it from the 447th Pag. forward is very pleasant and shews that though they were every one profoundly practised in those Hellish Arts of Treachery and Dissimulation yet Cromwell infinitely outdid them all They were but petty Devils in Comparison with him that true Lucifer incarnate But what our Author saith of their being supported by the Affections of the People Pag. 459 because acting for their Interest is so gross so palpable a Lye as sure he could not believe his Memoirs should be printed till every Man then living was dead Next the Restauration I never knew any thing more grateful the whole Kingdom thorough than their Dismission it was the only popular Act wherein Cromwell oblig'd all Parties and made his Usurpation more tolerable by ridding us of the most contemptible Set of Men that ever sat at the Helm of any Government But 't is the common Cant of our Commonwealth Coxcombs and 't is us'd as much by our Author as any of them to give that Handful of Fools and Knaves which adher'd to them the Title of the Godly Party and all the good People of England Well now they are gone and had six Years time to fret and bite their Nails for we may guess at their Regret by the Spite and Revenge they were guilty of when got again in play which they could never do as long as Cromwell trod the Stage but when he was carried off the Army resolv'd to revenge his tricking them upon Richard who succeeded him and could think of no better Tools to effect that Work than by setting their old Iournymen the Rump about it in order whereunto they plac'd them in the Workhouse and set them to the Business which they soon dispatch'd although they had much ado to find a Number sufficient for however our Author pretends he gave Dr. Owen a List of 160 which had sate since the Year 48 they were forc'd to send for Munson and Harry Martyn out of the Goal to make up a Quorum of 40. from which time forward to their final Expiration there can be nothing more comical in any History Romance or Play than the several Transactions Caballings and Intrigues amongst them as related all along by our Author what Iealousies and Distrusts they had of one another what Plots and Counterplots Turnings out and in Quarrels Treaties and Patchings up wherein our Author tells us what pains he took and with what Moderation he proceeded to little purpose God be prais'd One thing more especially they could never get over and that was a settled well fix'd Form of Government The Army were resolv'd upon a standing Senate of their own Body I presume to over-awe the civil Representatives The Rump on the other hand thought themselves so much their Masters as to vote the Speaker General and order that all even the most supream Officers should have no Commissions but from him whereupon what passed between Sir Arthur Haslerig and Lambert pag. 677 may be thought worth relating Lambert complain'd how that Act left them at Mercy only said Sir Arthur at the Mercy of the Parliament who are your good Friends I know not reply'd the other why they should not be at our Mercy as well as we
have leave to Exercise if not upon the Sundays and Holy Days seeing they must apply their Labour and win their Living in all working Days All which in no more than their Common Practice at Geneva as hath been already mention'd and it ought further to be consider'd so strict a Confinement from all Diversions of Body and Mind cannot but by degrees oppress and darstardise Men's Spirits of English Mastiffs make them in the end become Setting-Dogs to some Foreign Power To these King Charles adds a 3d. The rather because of late in some Counties of the Kingdom we find that under pretence of taking away abuses there hath been a general Forbidding not only of ordinary Meetings but of the Feasts of the Dedication of the Churches c. which besides preserving the Memorial thereof as he was certainly inform'd tended very much to Civilising the People composing of Differences by the Mediation of Friends encreasing Love and Unity by those Feasts of Charity with Relief and Comfort to the Poor the Richer part in a manner keeping open House Although what is mention'd just before in this Corroborating part of King Charles might probably prevail more with him than all the rest viz. Out of a Pious Care for the Service of God and for suppressing any Humors that oppose Truth being too sensible how those judaising Dogmatists by inculcating to the People a strict and sole Observance of this Legal Institution design'd thereby to exclude all those Christian Feasts and Festivals which have been constantly Commemorated ever since the Gospel was Preach'd to Mankind as the Birth Passion Resurrection and Ascension of Christ with the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles by which Miraculous Gifts Almighty God impowr'd them to Preach the Gospel to the whole World bringing Life and Immortality to Light and the Church accordingly hath ever pay'd a thankful Acknowledgment of those their indefatigable Labors Exemplary Lives and Cruel Deaths till these Enemies to all Antiquity as well as Order and Gratitude must have them superseded by such Iewish Observances as neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear And it was much to my Surprise that when some late Acts pass'd for the more strict observing the Lord's Day the Fathers of our Church when it came into their House did not endeavour at least that some little regard might be had to the foremention'd Fasts and Festivals the Canon took care to joyn them all together for due Celebration of Sundays and Holy Days and God forgive those who conniv'd at a Separation such an Omission could not have pass'd in Charles the 1 st Time and one would think their proceedings then should be Matter of greater Caution now for having dar'd to lift up their Hands against that true Defender they stuck at nothing which might hinder a thorough Reformation began indeed at the Holy Days but Liturgy and Bishops soon follow'd To give one Instance of many how cursedly they affected to run Counter against whatever our Church did practise when in the Heat of the Rebellion Christmas Day fell on a Sunday as it must in Course every four or five Years that Coryphaeus of the Faction old Calamy lest he should be thought to regard the Festival of our Saviour's Nativity preach'd upon a Passion Text. Eli Eli Lamasabachthani How violent a Current we have bene dar'd to Stem is neither our Ignorance nor our Fear Truth is a Rock which repels the Force at the same time it causes their Noise and Foamings Yet not to be mistaken herein which is very Natural for them to do I shall most readily comply in the strictest Observation of the Lord's Day they can think fit to prescribe provided it be upon a Christian not Iewish Bottom and with a due Deference to what the Wise and Good have in the best Ages of the Church resolv'd therein Otherwise to make Exclamations and enveigh against every one who will not walk by their killing Letter of the Law hath too great Affinity to those Pharisaical Rigours which were continually carping at and Censuring our Saviour for the many Miracles he wrought on the Sabbath Day whilst their hard and impenitent Hearts could not understand what that meant I will have Mercy not Sacrifice as likewise that the Sabbath was made for Man not Man for the Sabbath And that the many Reproaches rais'd against the two forementioned Princes upon their sincere Endeavours for a right Information herein as well as their other good Deeds for the House of God and Offices thereof proceeded from the like perverse Disposition of Spirit can be little doubted by any one who reflects how exactly they parallell'd the Iews in Murdering the one and continue still most implacable against the Memories of both CHAP. XI Of Ship-Money WHen a Man hath a Subject will bear an Argument and is sure of an easy and ready Attention to run out into bitter Invectives and false Suggestions argues as great a defect of Judgment as good Nature to be sure nothing has rais'd a stronger Suspicion of this Prince's sincere Intentions amongst the soberest and best disposed People in the Nation than his Levying Ship-Money which therefore Ludlow might have kept close to without continuing his Excursions against the Clergy but they must answer for all to which end he tells That divers of them entred the List as Champions of the Prerogative asserting that the Possessions and Estates of the Subjects did of Right belong to the King and that he might dispose of them at Pleasure thereby Vacating and Annulling as much as in them lay All the Laws of England that secure a Propriety to the People p. 5. Now to prove or make appear one Syllable of this Virulent Charge is beneath the Authority of his Memoirs 't will pass with the Party upon his Word and whoever affirms nay proves the contrary shall be no more credited by them than they will be at the Last Day The Iesuits where they have Power are not more severe in their Inquisitions than our well-scented Demagogues upon all Transactions of the Loyal Clergy yet excepting those few indiscreet Expressions of Sibthorp and Manwaring which has been already spoke to they could find nothing else worth catching hold of otherwise we should not have been so often hit in the Teeth with them two 'T is true the Clergy all along stood firm to the Prerogative and thought themselves bound both in Duty and Interest to support it's just Rights against the many Invasions every Day attempted to that and the Kingdoms Ruin which Steadiness and Resolution of theirs was the pretended Crime and grand Motive for those little Crorespondents with the Prince of the Air to raise and procure so many Storms against them But that they had any Thoughts of stretching the Prerogative beyond its due Bounds much less of Annulling all nay any of the Laws of England none but a Republican Confidence could affirm and hath no more of Truth than that Ludlow was an