cut off Laud is none of the Question All that I say was that Williams was an Arch-bishop and a Commander for the Parliament in Arms. § 31. When you turn me from Heylins Life of Laud to Heylins History of Presbytery you do but trifle and seek a Subterfuge I justifie not the Presbyterians in that he chargeth on them though you may know what Peter Moulin Prebend of Canterbury in his Answer to Philanax Anglicus hath said about the Forreign Churches But what 's that to the Question whether it was an Episcopal Parliament or a Presbyterian that began the English War will the fault of one excuse the other § 32. As to what you say of the Change of the Puritans since Jewel Andrews c. wrote for them and that they are not such as Ball c. I Answer 1. Is the Discipline changed which you speak of or the whole Chorus which you speak to Was there no Martin-Marprelates then Have we retracted our Doctrine or Consent to the Church Articles or to the Oaths of Allegiance or Supremacy Have we not in 1660. yielded to more than ever Ball or any of the old Non-conformists yielded to Deny it if you can 2. As for personal Charges others will be as ready to requite you with the like But neither you nor they should charge any more than you can prove guilty § 33. You tell me If Hooker were alive he would make such as me to quake so strong should we find his Breath in his deep close and strenuous Arguments I have read him over again and again yet I never observed him to be an Enemy to Monarchy You can find out if not New Worlds yet new Inhabitants and make strange Discoveries Answ A learned Confutator I say not that Hooker or Bilson were Enemies to Monarchy But I say that it was theirs and such Prelatists Principles that led me to what I did and wrote in the Book which I have retracted And must I be put to defend the King against such Men and Principles at the same time when we are charged with that which we oppose And will you indeed cry out of the Discipline of the whole Chorus of Dissenters as not Loyal and at the same time defend such Principles in the Prelatists Come on then I will cite you some of their words send me your defence of them in your next and you shall if I be able have my Reply and I begin with Bishop Bilson because he was the more Learned Man Difference of Christ. Subject c. Pag. 520. he saith Except the Laws of those Realms do permit the People to stand on their right if the Prince would offer that wrong I dare not allow their Arms I busie not my self in other Mens Common-wealths as you do neither will I rashly pronounce all that resist to be Rebels Cases may fall out even in Christian Kingdoms where the People may plead their Right against the Prince and not be charged with Rebellion If a Prince should go about to subject his Kingdoms to a Forreign Realm or change the form of the Common-wealth from Imperie to Tyranny or neglect the Laws established by common consent of Prince and People to execute his own pleasure in these and other Cases which might be named if the Nobles and Commons joyn together to defend their ancient and accustomed Liberty Regiment and Laws they may not well be counted Rebels I never denyed that the People might preserve the Foundation Freedom and Form of their Common-wealth which they foreprized when they first consented to have a King I never said that Kingdoms and Common-wealths might not proportion their States as they thought best by their publick Laws which afterward the Princes themselves may not violate And in Kingdoms where Princes bear Rule by the Sword we do not mean the Princes private Will against his Laws but his Precept derived from his Laws and agreeing with his Laws which though it be wicked yet may it not be resisted by any Subject with armed violence Marry when Princes offer their Subjects not Justice but Force and despise all Laws and practise their Lusts not every or any private Man may take the Sword to redress the Prince but if the Laws of the Land appoint the Nobles as next the King to assist him in doing right and with-hold him from doing wrong then be they licensed by Mans Law and so not prohibited by Gods to interpose themselves for the safety of Equity and Innocency It is easie for a running and railing Head to sit at home in his Chamber and call Men Rebels himself being the rankest Hooker Eccles Polit. lib. 1. § 10. Pag. Ed. ult 21. That which we speak of the Power of Government must here be applied to the Power of making Laws whereby to govern which Power God hath over all and by the natural Law whereto he hath made all subject the lawful Power of making Laws to command whole politick Societies of Men belongeth so properly to the same entire Societies that for any Prince or Potentate of what kind soever upon Earth to exercise the same himself and not either by express Commission immediately and personally receiv'd from God or else by Authority deriv'd at first from their consent upon whose person they impose Laws it is no better than meer Tyranny Laws they are not therefore which publick approbation hath not made so And lib. 8. Pag. 192. Unto me it seemeth almost out of doubt and controversie that every Independent Multitude before any certain Form of Regiment established hath under God Supream Authority full Dominion over it self And Pag. 193. In Kingdoms of this quality the highest Governour hath indeed universal Dominion but with dependency upon the whole entire Body over the several Parts whereof he hath Dominion so that it standeth for an Axiom in this Case The King is Singulis Major Vniversis Minor And Pag. 194. Neither can any Man with reason think but that the first Institution of Kings a sufficient Consideration wherefore their Power should always depend on that from which it did always flow by original influence of Power from the Body into the King is the cause of Kings dependency in Power upon the Body by dependency we mean sub-ordination and subjection ☜ A manifest Token of which dependency may be this As there is no more certain Argument that Lands are held under any as Lords than if we see that such Lands in defect of Heirs fall unto them by Escheat in like manner it doth follow rightly that seeing Dominion when there is none to inherit it returneth unto the Body therefore they which before were Inheritors of it did hold it in dependence on the Body So that by comparing the Body with the Head as touching Power it seemeth always to reside in both fundamentally and radically in one in the other derivatively In one the Habit in the other the Act of Power And The Axiomes of our Royal Government are these Lex facit Regem
The Kings Grant of any favour made contrary to Law is void Rex nihil potest nisi quid jure potest And Pag. 210. When all which the Wisdom of all sorts can do is done for the devising Laws in the Church it is the general consent of all that giveth them the Form and Vigour of Laws without which they could be no more to us than the Counsels of Physitians to the Sick well might they seem as wholesom admonitions and instructions but Laws could they never be without the consent of the whole Church to be guided by them Whereunto both Nature and the Practise of the Church of God set down in Scripture is found every way so fully consonant that God himself would not impose no not his own Laws upon his People by the Hand of Moses without their free and open consent O fearful Passage And P. 220. It is a thing even undoubtedly natural that all free and independent Societies should themselves make their own Laws and that this Power should belong to the whole not to any certain part of a Politick Body And P. 221. For of this thing no Man doubteth namely that in all Societies Companies Corporations what severally each shall be bound unto it must be with all their assents ratified Against all equity it were that a Man should suffer detriment at the Hands of Men for not observing that which he never did either by himself or by others mediately or immediately agree to And P. 205. If Magistrates be Heads of Church they are of necessity Christians as if no Magistrates but Christians were Chief Governours of the Church which is meant by Heads And P. 218 223 224. What Power the King hath he hath it by Law The Bounds and Limits of it are known The entire community giveth order c. P. 223. As for them that exercise Power altogether against Order although the kind of Power which they have may be of God yet is their exercise thereof against God and therefore not God otherwise than by permission as all injustice is P. 224. Usurpers of Power whereby we do not mean them that by violence have aspired unto Places of highest Authority but that use more Authority than ever they did receive in form and manner afore-mentioned such Usurpers thereof as in the exercise of their Power do more than they have been authorized to do cannot in Conscience bind any Man to obedience ☜ And Pag. 194. May a Body-politick then at all times withdraw in whole or in part the Influence of Dominion which passeth from it if inconveniences do grow thereby It must be presumed that Supream Governours will not in such case oppose themselves and be stiff in detaining that the use whereof is with publick detriment c. Sir I do not by reciting it dissent from every word that I cite but I am against Mr. Hookers Popular Fundamentals themselves and desire you to let me know whether these be the Prelates Principles which you defend And for an Exposition of Mr. Hooker remember that Sir Edwin Sandys was his Pupil and chief Bosom-friend But you say you have read his Book over and over and therefore it is not from ignorance of what he wrote that you become a defender of him I suppose you are not ignorant that these are the very Principles which I will not say the Long Parliament but the very Rump and Regicides went upon that Power is originally in the People and escheateth to them and that the King is Singulis Major but Vniversis Minor c. See Parkers Observations 1642. If I were writing to such as Mr. Walton who would tempt Men to question whether the 8th Book be not corrupted I would tell them 1. That the Passage in the first Book is the Sum of all the rest and sheweth that they came from the same Author 2. Dr. Spencer was not a Person so to be suspected as one that would befriend a corrupted Copy 3. I can yet give you the Testimony of one of the famousest Men in England for Learning in the Laws and Integrity who had long ago a Copy in M. S. agreeing with the printed Copy 4. Bishop Guuden dedicated it to the King and saith That even the eighth Book is interlined in many places with Mr. Hookers own Characters as owned by him and he proveth it by other Reasons And the same Bishop Gauden saith P. 18. He admirably expresseth the original of all Laws And yet Bishop Carlton Treat of Jurisdiction Pag. 12. saith This I observe the rather because some of the Popes Flatterers of late as others also to open a wide gap to Rebellions have written That the Power of Government by the Law of Nature is in the Multitude I conjecture that Mr. Hooker was the chief Man whom he meant by others And his foresaid Pupil and Friend was far from being a Presbyterian as his Europae Speculum sheweth and yet it 's well known how close he stuck to Abbot's Party and how great a Man he was in Parliaments for the Subjects Liberty and the restraint of Monarchy And even Bishop Gauden his last Publisher saith Pag. 4. of his Life This is certain that the strength of the Church of England was much decayed and undermined before it was openly battered partly by some superfluous illegals and unauthorized Innovations in Point of Ceremony which some Men affected to use in publick and impose upon others which provoked People to jealousie and fury even against things lawful every Man judging truly that the measure of all publick Obedience ought to be the publick Laws ☜ Partly by a supine neglect in others of the main Matters in which the Kingdom of God the peace of Conscience and the Churches Happiness do chiefly consist while they were immoderately intent upon meer Formalities and more zealous for an outward conformity to those Shadows than for that inward or outward conformity with Christ in Holy Hearts and unblamable Lives which must adorn true Religion To which he adds the Testimony of Dr. Holsworth So that it is a thing notorious and past contradiction that the Arminianism Innovations and supposed excesses and exorbitances of one part of the Prelatists gave occasion to the other part then accounted the Church and the more Protestant to vent their displeasure and fear in many Parliaments and at last to take up Arms and when they found themselves too weak to invite the Scottish Presbyterians to their Aid who fell at last into the Hands of the Sectaries And therefore I excuse or justifie none of the Parties but those that say that the beginners of the War against the King are guilty of his death as well as they that kill'd him must confess that it was the Prelatists or they must be impudent And therefore I again advise you to forbear the defence of Hooker and such Conformists and call them first to repentance who were first of the English in taking up Arms against the King § 34. It 's well you disclaim
Hooker Bilson and such Prelatists led me to what I did and wrote in the Book which I have retracted As for Bishop Bilson I have not his Book by me which you quote neither dare I take upon me to defend what all our Bishops have written I must either want Imployment or be very pragmatical to venture upon every Task you are ready to impose upon me If any of my Fathers discover their nakedness I will put on my Mantle and go backward I will not lick up their Spittle and say it is sweeter than Nectar and Ambrosia I will follow them only so far as they follow Christ I am satisfied that Bishop Bilson was willing to say something in behalf of our Neighbours of Holland in vindicating them from Rebellion against the King of Spain And so stretched the Doctrine of Subjection too far Whether this will satisfie you I know not I am sure multitudo pecantium non minuit peecatum If Bishop Bilson misled you in point of Subjection aud Obedience let him make you amends in setting you upright about Diocesan Bishops I said something upon your provocation in behalf of Mr. Hooker not intending to be drawn further into the Field I am jealous of my own failing and weakness and so am unfit to be anothers Second when I have enough to do to answer for my self I do still admire Mr. Hooker and I find my Betters have done so before me Cambden wish'd his Books had been turn'd into an universal Language Bishop Vsher Morton and Mr. John Hales had the same high opinion of him Bishop Gauden said he had been highly commended of all prudent peaceable and impartial Readers King James said his Book was the Picture of a Divine Soul in every Page of Truth and Reason The late King commended it to his Children next to the Bible And the same happy Pen which taught the Kings Book to speak as good Latin if possible as it had English had almost turn'd Mr. Hooker into the same Dialect for the benefit of the learned World Yet you say he led you into what you did and wrote in print you say the same you cite his 1. Book P. 21. Laws they are not which publick approbation hath not made They must be made by entire Societies What is this more than what some that wrote for the Kings Cause in the late Wars have confessed That quoad aliquid that is as to making of Laws our Kings have not challeng'd a Power without Parliaments though I find that the legislative Power of Parliaments is properly and legally in the King alone in Heylin And the same incomparable Hooker adds An Absolute Monarch commanding his Subjects whatsoever seemeth good in his own Discretion This Edict hath the force of a Law whether they approve or dislike it And else-where he saith Where the King hath Power of Dominion no Forreign State or Domestical can possibly have in the same Cause and Affairs Authority higher than the King Take heed you do not imitate him who only took what was for his purpose and left out the rest But you have found out other Doctrine in Hooker viz. That Power is originally in the People and Escheats to them that the King is Singulis Major Universis Minor I cannot subscribe to this for as by God Kings Reign their Power is from him so it Escheats to him No Ephori Demarchi or Tribunes can curb the Prince But Sir was you led aside by Hooker to what you did and wrote yet you quote these Passages out of his eighth Book Now you was led aside in what you did and wrote before that Book and his Fellows saw the Light perhaps you did and wrote and then after the Kings return you gathered up your Principles as it were ex postliminio as if you should first build the Roof of an House and then lay the Foundation or first possess your self of an Estate and then blunder for a Title Yet your Title is but crack'd if you have none but what you have from his third Book King Charles the first denyed them to be his If they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spurious or changelings yet they were so adulterated that they neither resembled Parent or Sisters My friend Mr. Walton did not guess amiss he had good Seconds Dr. Barnard says That Bishop Vsher noted that in these three Books there were many Omissions ex gr If a Private Man Offend there is the Magistrate that judgeth If Magistrates the Prince If the Prince there is a Tribunal in Heaven before which they shall appear on Earth they are not accountable to any Bishop Sanderson said That this Passage The King is accountable to the People was not in a Manuscript he had seen but he said the Copies had been interlin'd therefore he commanded nothing of his should be printed after his death And Dr. Spencer whom you recite said the perfect Copies were lost and that those which he saw were imperfect mangled draughts dismembred into pieces no favour or grace not the shadows of themselves remaining Had he liv'd to see them thus defac'd he might rightly call them Benonivs 35. I said I could not choose but nauseate that Discipline which startles at renouncing War against the King You ask Is it Prelatical Discipline No I acquit it Presbyterian No say you The present Non-conformists offered Episcopacy to the King You dare not undertake for all Some will startle as much at Episcopacy as they do at the Oath Except you castrate and qualifie it with your allays until you have made it quite another thing As Martial said of a Fellow who repeated his Verses amiss he made them his own The Poet would not own them So must you do with Episcopacy before it will slip down Indeed you puzzle me very much I am at a loss who these Non-conformists are When I write to them you tell me I traduce the Presbyterians But when you speak of them you say They are for Episcopacy By your words they are of a Motleylinsey-woolsey Kind Episcopal-Presbyterian-Nonconformists But what ever these Men are their Discipline must not be touch'd Neither the Chorus nor any Man of them startles at renouncing War against the King You have not prov'd their Practise such and is your printed Clamour come to this You say you know the Non-conformists better than I yet I know some that will not agree to the former part of that Oath about renouncing War against the King They have jealousies and fears almost about every word as if there were an Ambuscade to intangle them or to take away their Liberty What need I prove their Practise Is it not proof enough to point at those Men that flit their Habitations rather than subscribe to what I say Even as the Philosopher said nothing but walk'd up and down to prove that there was such a thing as Motion What if I should ask you whether you ever took that Renunciation I think I should stop
of stipulation betwixt us to let down the Flood-gates and shut the Gates of Janus yet as if to use his own words he had pin'd me fast to a Wall where he might inflict the Correction of as many Stripes as he pleas'd without either resistance or repercussion from me He tells the World in print what Toys I had written And in several other Books as also in the last I have seen for being immers'd in the Country and overgrown with Arcadian Moss I converse with few that are new he acquaints his Readers how unsatisfactory my endeavours have been though he answers neither one Chapter or Page in the whole Book that so much offends him Let equal Judges blame me if I have transgressed against his fourth Letter or my Answer to the same For he hath confuted his own Reasons and first brake the Condition of a Hypothetical Compact Since he goes on to reproach our Mother and all her dutifal Sons is not this enough to force a dumb Child to speak Semper ego Auditor tantum nunquamne reponam I must do him right He strikes 〈◊〉 through my Loins alone but with the same Dart wounds my Betters As if I should have this allay in my fall to have good company It matters not what we say for as if we were meer Shrimps and Striplings to this Goliah whiffling Currs to this Majestick Lyon he holds on his way without once stooping or looking aside to any Reasonings of ours And which is as great blemish to his Ingenuity he gathers up the vomit and Venom of all the male-contents and Incendiaries that have pestered the Church since the breaking forth of this Schism He puts his Paint and Varnish upon them and then obtrudes these weather-beaten Superannuated Wares for fresh Merchandise as if they had never been blown upon before He rallies those Troops which have been routed and baffled and furbishes those Arguments which have been answered again and again by the Divines and Worthies of our Church So that there will never be an end of these Disputes if there be such a Circulation in the management of them If they revive and rise again as oft as they are overthrown and disarm'd and with the Hydra's Head grow as fast as they are cut off No need of new Answers to such Books But as Dr. Whitby did prudently transcribe an Answer to Mr. Crescy's Exomologesis out of our own reformed Champions so 't is enough to confute and retund the force of such Rapsody's in opposing what others have said already Old Diseases must be rebuk'd and cur'd by old Remedies I fear that those who re-inforce old Cavils without taking notice what others have said to evade them do either delight in wrangling or which is worse with-hold the Truth in unrighteousness As for the Book it self I leave it to the Animadversions of those that are concern'd in an Answer if it deserve any yet I cannot forbear some few Strictures or Remarks 1. As to the Circumstance of time when it came forth even then when we were almost overwhelmed with fears from our common Enemies He had pleaded before for a License and Dispensation As if the printing such a Book would be against Law and Conscience But when he perceived an Interim the Laws were hush'd and silent Conscience with the Lord Chancellors Gown was quickly thrown behind the door And when we were weak and sore ready to fall a Prey to the Roman Fowler he help'd forward our misery by laying his Loyns upon us too So that if the King of Babylon be not strong enough The People of the Land are ready to weaken the Hands of the People of Juda Ezra 4. 4. He accorded with Mr. Hobs as to the occasion of the late War Both of them agree to father the Brat upon some speculative Disputes and Differences concerning some Doctrinal Points that they might the better undervalue the Vniversities and disgrace the Divines of those Times So he had rather promote the Interest of Rome by shattering our Power than miss of his Will in seeing our ruine I hope that God who has been a Bulwork to his People a Wall of Brass and a Wall of Fire about his Church will still infatuate the Counsels and Contrivances both of Manassey and Ephraim and preserve his own Juda. How can we depend upon their Kindness that with the Samaritans will carry it far in our Prosperity but if Antiochus set upon us will joyn their Forces with him and disown us in our extremity 2. He does not onely magnify the power of the People and this is ominous at least suspicious as if the Patronage of Churches and Bishopricks were wholly in them but he says too That neither Magistrates nor Bishops can silence Ministers once ordain'd What intrenching is this upon the Kings Ecclesiastical power as if it were less now than it was once in the Kings of Juda. This seems to me not onely to be contrary to Titus 1. 11. Whose mouths must be stopped but to Mr. Baxter himself in his Book of Confirmation pag. 87. Ministers cast out by the Magistrate are bound to obey him and to give place to others if his error tend not to the destruction of the Church and bestow their labours in some other Country or in some other kind at home His mind changes with the Moon yet he is constant to his first Hypothesis his endeavour to pull down the Fabrick of our Church which is so excellently built that it is the wonder of all Lands None can justly be offended at it only seditious and factious Sectaries at home Jesuits abroad and he that spawn'd them both are vex'd and gnash with their Teeth to see her prosperity But mauger all their attempts If our sins do not demolish the same it will appear to be rooted in Adamant and built upon such a Rock that neither the winds or tempests of those men united together nor the Floods and Waves from the Dragon himself shall ever overturn or drown it when we know not what to do yet we will trust on that God whose outgoings are seen in the Mount 3. How Tragically does be cry out against the Translation of some Texts in the Epistles Gospels and Psalmes as if they had never been observ'd before whereas he might also have taken notice that Mr. Hooker Mr. Nicholas Fuller and others have given a satisfactory Account how these places may be reconcil'd He that had one dram of Candor would have sate quiet at the seet of the Gamaliels without vexing the People with such needless scruples If he have a mind to trouble himself with more various Readings of Scripture his Friend Mr. Capell will lead him a dance thorow such Meanders that he will not easily extricate himself out of them What if Mr. Baxter had two Bibles In the one Job's Wife said Curse God and dy In the other Bless God and die In the one Christ said to the Fig-tree no man eat Fruit of thee hereafter for the
about Discipline Put out your other Clauses and let us have no more Oaths of Allegiance or Fidelity to Diocesanes or Lay-Chancellors put upon us than were imposed on Christs Churches for 600 or 800 years and then try who will refuse to swear a Renunciation of War against the King 7. But I admire how you came to such an obdurateness as to talk of nauseating that way of Discipline which startles at renouncing War against the King Is it Episcopal Discipline that you mean If not what way of Discipline is it that startles at it unless you mean Military Discipline Read over the Confessions of the French Belgick and all other Presbyterian Churches and see whether there be any thing in their Discipline that startles at it What if it had been the Presbyterians and not the Episcopal that in England raised the War Doth it follow that their way of Discipline was for it Name us that Form of Discipline and tell us where to find it which you mean that is guilty of what you charge on it Doth he that saith Every Church should have a Bishop and not only a thousand or 600 in a Diocess hereby say we may not renounce War against the King Do not so wrong God as to think him so unjust as always to suffer such as you thus to abuse the Innocent 8. And you that talk so malepertly of the Savoy Papers it 's like know that it was not Presbytery nor any other than Arch-Bishop Usher's Form of Episcopacy in terminis in his own printed Paper which we offered the King and Bishops as the Medium of our Concord in 1660. And when that would not be received see in the Kings Declaration about Ecclesiastical Affairs whether it was not the down-right Prelacy that was submitted to with only the additions of some Pastoral Power in a Rural Deanery And I never heard Presbytery pleaded for by Word or saw it by Writing in all that Treaty but only Vshers Episcopacy Why then do you talk of the Discipline of the Chorus unless you mean the Episcopal Discipline And do you not know that write about the Cause that the War was not founded in Theological Differences but in Law Differences and that it was Statesmen and Lawyers that made the difference by their Political and Law-Controversies Not but that Divines on both sides were too guilty if not the forwardest But my dull Brains could never find out any one Point of difference in Theology about the Power of Kings and the Duty of Obedience in the People between the Divines called Presbyterians and Episcopal If you know any name them me and tell me your Proof I know that they medled too much with the Political and Law-Controversies of Lawyers and States-men for there lay the difference as I did my self in my Pol. Aphor. of which I unfeignedly repent though I thought then that Oceana forced me to do it 10. It 's not probable that so Learned a Man is ignorant what Bishop Jewel Bishop Bilson Bishop Andrews in Tortura Torti and many more such have said to prove that Calvin and the Presbyterians and the English Puritans differ not in these things from the Theology of the Church of England taking the same Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance c. And how come you to be wiser than they and to prove the Discipline Interest in the disagreement And when you have taught the Papists to say that Andrews c. spake falsly how will you prove it I know that there were many Sectaries and some individual Persons of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Judgment that erred in Law and Politicks and perhaps in Theologicals too But what 's that to a difference between the Parties in their Religious Principles 11. For can you be ignorant that it is the grand Champions for Prelacy that have written for the Principles of the Long Parliament by which they pleaded for their War Do you not know to pass by Bishop Jewel what Bishop Bilson of Subjection hath said and what Rich. Hooker in his Eccles Pol. L. 1. 8. hath said higher than those Parliament Soldiers that I was most acquainted with I have now written a Book Licensed which containeth a Defence of Monarchy against R. Hookers Popular Errors Why then do you not call the Episcopal Party to repentance or why do you insinuate such suspitions into Mens Minds that the Discipline is it that startles at renouncing War against the King You know I suppose what Grotius de Jure Belli also hath said in his Enumeration out of Barclay of Cases in which it is lawful to take Arms against Kings Even that Grotius who was the Master of the late Game and boasteth of the approbation of the English Prelates Was Arch-bishop Abbot a Presbyterian who saith he was suspended for refusing to License Dr. Sybthorpes Book see his Narrative in Rushworth Did he and all the Clergy and Parliaments that went his way forsake the Church of England Who then were the Church Yet you can add P. 125. And since the Lines of our Peace and Happiness as to Church and State do meet and concenter in him as our common Father is it unreasonable for Subjects to swear they will not endeavour the alteration of Government in the Church and State who would think that any Natives of a Land professing themselves the Followers of Christ and expecting protection from a lawful Prince should once demur whether they should make this Declaration or take this Oath O easie happy Swearer Qui deliberant desciverunt Such as doubt of this have even shak'd off the Yoke of Subjection unhappy Doubters 1. Here They will not endeavour the alteration of Government is put in stead of will not at any time endeavour any alteration of Government 2. In Church and State is put instead of in Church or State 3. Not one Man of my acquaintance of them you question refuseth to swear that he will never endeavour any alteration of the Church Government as it is in the King according to the Oath of Supremacy 4. They that offered Bishop Vshers Form of Episcopacy are not for altering Episcopacy as such 5. The Oath of the Canons 1640. put we will not consent in stead of endeavour And a Parliament condemned that Oath and no Parliament since thought meet to justifie or restore it 6. We know that Lay-Chancellors exercise the Power of the Keys by decreeing Excommunications and Absolutions And we believe that exercising the Power of the Keys so is Church-Government And we are all agreed that yet no reforming alteration is to be attempted by Sedition Rebellion or unlawful means but only by Subjects petitioning Parliament-mens speaking c. And if you think to come to Heaven by swearing that we may not petition against Lay-Chancellors use of the Keys cannot you go quietly your own way and let others alone that trust not to such means 7. We believe that Ignatius his Episcopacy every Churches unity being known by one Altar and one
in this neither own them for my Fathers nor my Brethren They were Monsters sure for would Episcopal Men conspire to root up Episcopacy The only Arch-bishop in England say you Williams was in Arms against the King pudet haec But if he was the only Arch-bishop in England more shame for some who had remov'd a better out of this World The best use we can make of his miscarriage is to take heed of pride and discontent lest God should give us over to the Byas of our own Hearts and so we should also fall into the condemnation of the Devil What you say of Arch-bishop Abbot out of Dr. Heylins Life of Arch-bishop Laud as if he began the Quarrel about the Subjects property Do but read the Drs. last Book concerning the History of Presbytery and then you may see who have been the best Subjects to Princes Bishops or Presbyterians As for Bishop Jewel and Bishop Andrews Defence of Calvin and our Puritans do not wrest their Charity as the Romanists do ours when we say they may be saved I much fear lest the Complexion of those Men be much altered since the days of those famous Prelates So that could they start out of their Graves and see how their Claws are grown what havock they have made in this Church they would like the Partus Saguntinus for very grief and shame retire into their former Dormitories Or were they to write more Polemicks they would scarce write Apologies for some amongst our selves So unlike are they to such as Mr. Ball who wrote so nervously for stinted Liturgies and Communion with our Church Mr. Hooker you say is under your exagitation I pray use him kindly trample not on a dead Lyon For were he alive he would make many such as you are to quake So strong would you find his Breath in his deep close and strenous Arguments As those that disputed with Stephen were not able to resist the Wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake Acts 6. 10. I have read him over again and again yet I never observ'd him to be an Enemy to Monarchy You can find out if not new Worlds yet new Inhabitants in the upper part of this in the Stars and Planets and if you can look beyond Galileo's Glass it may be with your Lynceus Eyes and strange Telescope you may make strange Discoveries Though I honour the Memory of Learned Grotius yet 't is not a Duty incumbent on me to defend his ipse dixit I have a Tract by me wherein are collected some Political Aphorisms out of him and others which I have not examin'd by his Writings but if truly his I do as little approve them as I do yours You would have me read the Confession of the French Church and of others and see whether they allow of taking up of Arms. Sir this is not to do I have also read Davila concerning their practise And if he be impartial I cannot boast The unlawfulness of the Arms of the French Protestants in several Risings cannot be denied Du Moulin P. 28. And how it was with the Disciplinarians in Scotland I have learned sufficiently in Spotswood Neither can you be ignorant what the Grand Master of the Discipline ascribes to English Parliaments against Kings if you read his fourth Book of Institutions What need we speak of Mens Confessions and Declarations Have not we seen their Actions quite contrary Until the Scottish Presbyterian Covenant be utterly renounced and forgotten it will stand upon Record what is to be expected from those of the Discipline All the Foam you can gather in your angry Fits will never obliterate this or wash such a Blackmoor white When you challenge me to shew from the Confessions of any Presbyterian Churches that they allow the taking up of Arms against Princes you deal just as the Papists do when we urge them with that odious Doctrine from Mariana and others of their Jesuits and also with their practise in this case they say as you do Shew us any Decree of the Church shew us any Canons of Counsels wherein the Doctrine of Killing Kings is allowed What shall we say I can find no such Canon in the Counsel of Trent I know no such Edict of the Church Nay the Counsel of Constance condemneth the Doctrine of killing Tyrants as erroneous yet indirectly and obliquely they do maintain the same by giving the Pope a Power to exexcommunicate Heretical Princes and to absolve their Subjects from their Allegiance And as Bellarmine says though the Pope does not teach Men to disobey their Kings yet he makes them who were their Kings to be their Kings no more So though this Doctrine be not expressed in the Confessions of Disciplinarians yet if it be suitable to their practise and follows a posteriori from their Covenant and other Principles by a parity of Reason it is enough to prove them guilty However the War was managed yet the Divines whether Presbyterian or Episcopal medled little with it If I know any you bid me name them Your dull Brains could never find out any Point of difference in Theology about the Power of the King or the Duty of Obedience in the People This is strange you liv'd in England as you often tell me And were you such a Stranger in our Israel that you heard nothing of the clashing of Pens as well as the brandishing of Swords Was the Controversie only betwixt Lawyers and Statesmen I have much ado to forbear an allusion to the words of Job to his Wife Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women speaketh So you speak of these things like some rude and ignorant People in the Country Did you never hear of Dr. Ferne Mr. Dadley Diggs and many others who wrote in behalf of the King against the lawfulness of taking up of Arms And did you never hear of Mr. John Goodwin Mr. Bridges Mr. Calamy's Speech in the City of London What was the great design of most Sermons preach'd at Westminster for some years by the Smectimnians but to tell their Auditors that the Ingagement of that War was pro aris as well as focis for the Cause of God and of Christ against Idolatry and Superstition as well as for the Priviledges of Parliaments and against Monopolies The King and Martyr suffer'd for his Religion says your Du Moulin P. 110. Did you never hear what pains Mr. Vines and Mr. Marshal took to prove that the higher Powers Rom. 13. were to be understood of the two Houses of Parliament The Scottish Douglas says plainly The Hostility against the King was from his setting himself against Religion I do not so much wonder at this your inadvertency since you affirm That Dr. Manton never wrote upon Jude but only upon James Will not the Doctor take it amiss that you take no more notice of his Labours And as for Dr. Burges it is now in the Hand of a Friend Are you such a walking Library Such an Heluo Librorum especially
of those that are Modern and English And yet had you no acquaintance with these You say and you ingeminate it That there is not any Non-Conformist but is ready to swear he holds it not lawful to take up Arms against the King Why did so many of them then flit their Habitations five Miles from any Corporation or their own ancient Homes What was the Sum of that Oath was it not plainly and directly against taking up Arms Did it any way hinder Parliament Mens speaking or others peaceable petitioning for such Reformation as is necessary were not those who were commissione'd to administer it ready to declare the sense of it yet down it would not go with many latet aliquid But I find it is with many of you as I have found it experimentally with some who have been troubled in Conscience When I have apply'd the best Balm I could to these tender Souls so that they had nothing to say against their own Peace yet still they would be starting some black doubts against themselves turning their very Shadows into Gorgons that so they might continue in the Valley of Baca. Just so will you find knots in Bulrushes Mysteries in Cabbalistical Titles and Anexes spin Webs to intangle your selves out of your own Imaginations and with Thrushes pinion your own Wings that so you may scrupulously vex your selves You say well in your Book of Conscience That Melancholy is often mistaken for Conscience So I fear this shieness and skittishness of these Men is rather the result of an hot and feavourish Brain than any well-weighed conclusion of a sound Heart But put out the other Clauses out of the Oath let us have no more Oaths of Allegiance to Diocesans or Lay-Chancellors put upon us than Christs Churches had for six or eight hundred years imposed upon them Why do you lay this Injunction upon me and others in my Sphere Are we the King and Parliament Have private Men a Legislative Power Can they reverse and retrench Laws It is very plausible in you to bring all things to the Institutions of Christ and in things doctrinal 't is also necessary But as to what concerns all the Modes of External Policy and Administrations it is not only difficult but impossible Nay I think he may be impleaded of Schism and Singularity that stands up too stifly for the immediate Dispensations especially where they are so uncertain in opposition to the Instrumental teachings and directions of Men. You may find my Ground 1 Cor. 1. 12. It seems you are much troubled at Lay-Chancellors as if they hindered your Conformity by exercising the Power of the Keys in decreeing Excommunications and Absolutions Me thinks a Person of your ingenuity should rest satisfied with that modest declaration of our Rubrick concerning the Censures of the Church in the Preface to the Communion But since you say That Lay-Chancellors exercise the Power of the Keys in Excommunications do they do this of themselves as Lay-men or do they not You see 't is easie to push with your Horns and to evince that you are either ignorant or absurd But I shall only remember you what you cannot but know already That Lay-Chancellors though commonly very knowing in the Civil Law which is an excellent Hand-maid to Divinity yet they excommunicate not as Lay-men but by vertue of those Surrogates who are delegated for this purpose originally by the Bishop himself This Abstraction is not too hard for you to conceive But why are you so incens'd against Lay-Chancellors I 'le warrant you have more kindness for Lay-Elders if they were joyn'd with you in things Sacred as Catechising admission to the Sacrament and the Censures of the Church But as Luther distinguishes of little and great Devils so I think this of Lay-Chancellors is but a Gnat in your way The Camel or Belzebub is Diocesan Bishops The Episcopacy of Bishop Usher you are for and the Episcopacy of Ignatius you say is lawful I am glad you grant this for one of your Brethren maintained to my Face That there is no difference betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter in Ignatius But you are kinder to Bishops for where there is one I suppose you wish there were many hundreds And if this were allowable we that are minorum gentium as to our own Interest have no cause to oppose it For then it may be you and I might in some time of our Ages commence Bishops But me thinks we should now agree especially if you would call to mind that Maxim in Logick Magis minus non variant speciem If Bishop Vsher were now alive he would give you but small thanks for pressing his Model of Episcopacy if his now the King and Laws are restor'd which he only calculated as that which could be born by the iniquity of the latter times Sequestered Ministers who would gladly then have received a fifth part out of their Revenue would be loth now to be bound up to the same terms The Counsel Bishop Vsher gave to the late King Rather to part with his Life than Episcopacy And his Notes upon Ignatius concerning the division of Asia confuting Dr. Meric Causabon affirming that Episcopacy crept into the Church in the second Century do sufficiently discover his Judgment If Thieves should strip me of all my Cloths I I will rather accept from them my old Coat than go naked yet if the time come that honest Men may come to their Goods I would have all again to a very Shoo-string Let us not take up the old trick and method of the Papists they have given out that some famous Men who liv'd Protestants dyed Papists So let not us extract Presbyterian Government out of the dead Trunks of Episcopal Cedars Calvin seems to excuse his New Government at Geneva Habemus qualecunque Presbyterorum Judicium formam qualem ferebat temporum infirmitas What is there any Sorcery or Necromancy in the word Diocesan As Tertullian once jested De nomine Chameleontis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a modest word in Greek and is it become Babylonish by being rendred into English Beza was more propitious than you are to the Diocesan Bishops of England Fruatur says he ista singulari Dei beneficio quae utinam sit illi perpetua But you think they have too many Parishes under their Inspection and Jurisdiction This is but obliquely to reflect upon former Kings and Statesmen who have allowed such large Provinces Some of them have been much canton'd in latter Ages if we look into our own Stories What think you of Crete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephesus Rome were there not many Parishes in these And I cannot think but as Jerusalem had her Daughters the Cities and Towns adjacent So many Regiones suburbicariae did belong to the Bishops of those great Cities ergo they had their Chorepiscopi to assist them Tell me true were there not Bishops before there wery any Parishes If so Christ never ordained they should be Parochial Do
not you know that the Bishop of Alexandria had all Aegypt Lybia and Pentapolis under him And that Thebais and Mareotis were afterward added to his Diocess But you will be guided you say by Cyprian and Ignatius Well! Agreed yet these were Diocesans Cyprians Diocess was Africa over great part of which his Power did extend Ignatius was Bishop of Syria Coelosyria and Mesopotamia If you doubt of this I can shew my Authority But why should we swear Allegiance to Bishops Till the Roman Tyranny invaded the Church the Clergy was not to swear to the Bishops This is to twist them into the Constitution of the Kingdom say you Is it unlawful to promise or swear to be obedient to Bishops in rebus licitis honestis Yet this is the sum of our Canonical Obedience By your leave Sir de facto Presbyters have been obedient to their Bishops under the Penalty of an Anathema and Excommunication long before the Roman Tyranny invaded the Church I could tell you of the Apostles Canons and Decrees of Councils for this But since you have such a kindness for Ignatius see his Epistle to the Ephesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And to the Magnesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in his Epistle to the Philadelphians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is not this Canononical Obedience But this intrenches upon the King and twists Bishops into the Constitutive part of the Kingdom I am glad you are so tender of the Kings Honour and Power Mr. Cartwright wrangled himself at last into Conformity And if you have arriv'd to a just Latitude of Allegiance in giving unto Caesar the things that are Caesars I think you have shot the Gulph and may at last per tot discrimina rerum tendere in Latium I will secure you that what we swear to Bishops does not twist them with a Coordinate Power with the King no more than when I sworesidelity to the University at my Matriculation When a Soldier takes a Sacrament to be true to his General and Tradesmen do the like to their several Corporations I say no more do we set up an Aemulous confronting Power with the King in subscribing to Bishops which he does not only allow but authorize than I made the University or they their Generals or Corporations to have divisum cum Jove Imperium When I quote your words We must not communicate with a Parish Minister who concurreth with the Bishops you say I should have added In consenting to our silencing Indeed I thought those words needless and superfluous For what Parish Ministers had any hand in your silence If as being Subjects virtually in the Parliament so you were accessary your self If as approving and rejoycing at your silence you will find this very diffcult in any good Parish Ministers especially since we cry aloud for your Ministerial Assistance You tell me You can as soon drive the People through a Stone Wall as bring them to Communion in our way You bid me do it my self if I can Sir Had they not been distracted distorted and poisoned by other Tutors much might have been done perhaps we might have taken such stragling Sheep upon our Shoulders and have brought them to their proper Folds But since they have been taught like Wolves not to value the Scepter I have small hopes to prevail with my Shepherds Crook If they will not now hear your Voice and be obsequious to your Whistle they will like Corah's Company tell me to my Face They will not come up or like Mastiff Dogs will worry me to pieces Those that are lately perverted any way are most heady and sierce The Revolters are profound to make slaughter Hos 5. 2. And after the Scribes and Pharisees had compass'd pass'd Sea and Land to make one Proselyte when he was made he was two-fold more the Child of Hell than themselves Mat. 23. 15. Now Sir Since you do both in print and in your Letters so scorn at my absurdity in desiring your Reasons for Nonconformity whereas it would hazard your safety if you should do it without a License which is not to be expected If you have such strong Arguments in store which may prove Conformity to be simply and absolutely sinful An avowed and deliberate sin what think you of transmitting them to me I will do my best to Midwife them into the Light without any commerce with the Huxters you reproach me with Indeed I did send an Epistola veridica to the Tryars in the Usurper's days without an Imprimatur You end as it were glorying That you have not given me a lenifying Answer or spoken me fair You might have said If you are so naturally addicted as you say to speak plain truth That taking your Rod into your Hand you have slash'd the Malepert Levite Well! I will get some good by you whether you will or no I will think more humbly and meanly of my self than you can speak And though you say I am so blinded with self-love that I neither know what I say or do yet I will not pay you in your own Coin but pray for you as I do for my self That wherein you or I erre that God would even reveal this unto us and reduce us into the Way of Truth If your habit of severity and keen edge of fastuous contempt may be abated and you may be happily mollified into more kindness If you shall then vouchsafe to write to me in a more favourable smooth and obliging Strain you shall not overcome though you conquer me In the mean time you may call me a Levite but I will take the boldness to subscribe my self Your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jo. Hinckley Northfield May 23. A LETTER Written to Mr. Baxter After his BOOK of Church Divisions came forth SIR I Perceive that my Answer to your Letter was not satisfactory since I find in your late Book not only oblique Reflections but direct and down-right Expressions wherein without any Ambages you articulately signifie your discontent both with me and my Book Who would have thought that a word or two of advice and seasonable counsel should have merited such harsh and Passionate Censures or should not escape branding with the black Theta of a Challenge Ambuscade and an intimation of Defamation and Blood Herein me thinks considering the Premises you shew as great a defect of Logick as of Charity To what purpose is your Tragical out-cry of provoking you to gape against an Oven and making your Name a Stepping-stone to those Ends I aspire after Alas what advantage will it be to me to see you in the flames or your Name sullied That 's barbarous and this ambitious I am in the Zenith of my preferment whilst I am a constant Preacher of the Gospel How are you sure that I am not able to endure the light of the Truth If the Organs of my Eyes are indisposed at present I will borrow some Spectacles or procure some Eye-salve to clear them before you can prove those things
the Politicks of Grotius But what abundance more Authors of Politicks could I name you that make the Majestas Realis to be in the People yea and the Power of judging Kings Such as Willius he whom Bishop Hall wrote his Epistle to in his Remains Alstedius c. Besides the Papists and if you agree with me in disliking those do not own the same in Hooker or other Prelatists § 35. Because you said Who can choose but nauseate that way of Discipline which startles at renouncing War against the King I desire you ro tell me what Discipline you mean You will not say Prelatical Discipline If you mean Presbyterian 1. I told you it was Episcopacy which the present Non-conformists offered to the King and Bishops 2. I desired you to peruse the Confessions and Descriptions of the Discipline of the Forreign Churches and to tell me which words do deny renouncing such War And what say you to this why first you deride the motion as a thing not to be required of you and say their Actions are quite contrary to their Confessions Will not your Conscience mark here 1. How your own Pen doth acquit their Confessions and yet you nauseate the way of Discipline that startles c. And where is the way of Discipline to be found but in those Confessions which even the Accuser now absolveth 2. And now you lay it on Practice and what 's that 1. to the way of Discipline 2. or to the whole Chorus which you speak to or any one Man whose Practice you have not proved such as you accuse And is your printed Clamour come to this § 36. And what say you of the Practice now 1. You tell me of Davila I pray next go to Parsons Image of both Churches and to Philanax Anglicus where you shall find the Prelatists as deeply charged And must Davila a Papist be credited against Bishop Jewel Bishop Bilson King James and many other on the other side And is not Davila a false Historian For instance he falsely saith That Carpenter was kill'd in the Massacre who dyed of the fright and that Peter Ramus the Father of the Independents was a Papist c. And is a false Forreigner and a Papist to be believed against the French Protestants I again refer you to the late notable Vindication of the Forreign Presbyterians in France Holland Embden Geneva c. by Pet. Moulin Jun. in his Answer to Philanax Anglicus And yet his Father might well blame them for some Instances as you cite him For as to the last Business at Saumurs and Rochel he was a noted and suffering Dissenter from that Party and so were other Protestants as well as he But one would think by your Progress that I had justified all the Wars or Actions of the Presbyterians because I told you that the Prelatists begun the English War which if you would insinuate or else you speak not sense you want either that understanding or that sincerity which beseemeth a Historian and a Divine But if really you will stand to it that their way of Discipline is to be nauseated who are guilty in practice of resisting Kings who do you not speak out then that the Prelatical Discipline is to be nauseated when you have not spoken a word of sense to disprove the aforesaid Charge against the Prelatists As to your Margin 1. I have no more to do with Martyn than you have 2. If you had any thing to have justifyed your Calumny out of T. C. or Travers you should have cited it for it 's but a silly shift to set down their bare Names 3. And I will no further believe Bancroft or Sir Th. Aston than they prove what they say no more than your self And I have reason for so saying § 37. Next you feign me to say That the Divines Presbyterian or Episcopal medled little with it whereas I had no such word but on the contrary told you That the Divines on both sides were too guilty if not the forwardest And are you a fit Man to state these matters in print for Posterity and pour out such Invectives against other Men that have not so much patience or care as to heed what you read in a Letter or what you write in answer to it What use can such Writings as these be of but to abuse the simple I only told you the differences were Political and Legal and not Theological but I said not that Divines medled not in them § 38. I did as you say desire you to name the Theological Differences if you know any for I never did And what say you to this would not any Reader here expect that you should have named some one difference But instead of that you exclaim This is strange and you ask me Did I never hear of Dr. Ferne Mr. Dudley Digs yes and of Mr. Weldon and Michael Hudson and Sir Francis Nethersole and more and have long ago read them all And what of that And I have read Jo. Goodwin Mr. Bridges Mr. Calamy c. And what of all that Why did you not name the Theological Difference You say That it was called the Cause of God Religion c. Did you think that you spake to the purpose when you said this It was Gratia materiae finis effect us that they accounted it the Cause of Religion They thought it had been the liberation of their Church and Country and the defence of Religion against Innovators But what 's that to the lawfulness of taking up Arms Is any Man so mad especially an Episcopal Parliament as to think all War lawful against the King which is for Religion Will a good end justifie ill means Your own Instance of Mr. Vines and Mr. Marshal to prove that in Rom. 13. by the higher Powers was meant the Parliament-houses c. if you had been a Man of consideration would have clearly shewed you how it confuteth your self That and many Texts of Scripture were agitated by Dr. Ferne Mr. Digs and those that answered them Upon all which it was agreed as far as I know that the Higher Powers were not by Arms to be resisted And this is all the Theological part But did you think that they thought that Rom. 13. or other Scriptures did tell the World whether Caesar or the Senate was the higher Power or which is the higher Power in Venice Germany Poland Hungary France England or any Country in the World Will you put the King to prove all his Power from Scripture What ever you take it I and all that ever I met with that were above the Rank of those you describe by Jobs Wife did take this to be a Point of Policy and Law and not of Theology and that Scriptures tell us not who is the Supream in every Republick but supposing that known commands us not to resist them And then comes in Bishop Bilson and saith what is before cited for Lords and Commons vindicating their Librerties and then comes in
Hooker and tells us That by the Law of Nature Legislation belongeth to the Body and that the King is dependent and subject to the Body and such like And many Divines took up those Opinions and Dr. Ferne and others were against them But what of all this Are not these Controversies in Law and Politicks though handled by Divines § 39. Your next say That Dr. Manton wrote on Jude and note my in-advertency that take no more notice of his Labours And I marvel more than you can do that I never heard of that Book before Nor could hear of it from any one till he told me himself that he had long ago published some Sermons which he preached very young c. on Jude And that I was hereof ignorant I confess § 40. You say of your Citation of Dr. Burges That the Book is in the Hand of a Friend and you add Are you such a Helluo Liborum and yet had you no acquaintance with these Answ I have read I think all Dr. John Burges's Writings except those against Conformity before he turned And I read Dr. Cornelius Burges Book of Baptismal Regeneration about 36 years ago and I after wrote somewhat against it and Dr. Ward and Mr. Bedford on that Subject and since I was familiar with the Author till near his death therefore I believe not that it was John Burges that wrote that Book but suppose you to be much liker to be mistaken than I. And unless Dr. John Burges wrote another Book of the same Subject which I shall also wonder that I never heard of I am as sure you are mistaken as my Eyes and Acquaintance can make me § 41. I told you I knew not one of the Ministers that was not ready to swear that which you feign the Discipline of the Chorus to refuse And you ask me Why then did they flit their Habitations Answ Did I not expresly tell you why and was your disingenuity at leisure to fill your Paper with the recital of an answered Question that you might have opportunity to vent your Latet aliquid And here you begin to dispute the Case Platonically But I cannot perswade my self to dispute it with one that no better understandeth it or careth what he saith only I answer your Questions Q. 1. What was the sum of that Oath was it not plainly and directly against taking up Arms Answ 1. And is that all the Oath or is there not a Clause for our Church-Government 2. If so why is the first Clause the Sum of the whole 3. Or need my Conscience stick at nothing in an Oath but what you will call the Sum O happy quieter of Consciences that fear an Oath Q. 2. Did it any way hinder Parliament Mens speaking or others peaceably petitioning for such reformation as is necessary Answ 1. You shall not draw me to say that an alteration of Diocesanes or Lay-Chancellors is necessary no not ad bene esse Ecclesiae for I know the Law is against it But if I thought so is Petitioning no Endeavouring Say so and shew that you care not what you say to draw down an Oath And must not I swear That I will not any time endeavour any alteration And shall I swear universally against all endeavour and mentally reserve excepting petitioning speaking c. Are Oaths things to be swallowed thus in sport And will wiping my Mouth thus make me innocent Q. 3. Were not those who were commissioned to administer it ready to declare the sense of it Answ 1. Where did the King and Parliament give them power to declare the sense 2. Is it not all the Justices in England that are authorized two at once to administer it And do you know what all the Justices in England are ready to do 3. Are you sure they will all agree in the sense or must we take it in several senses if several Men severally expound it 4. What Law or Divinity teacheth you to take an Oath in the sense of an inferior Magistrate that offereth it you who is not by the Law impowered to interpret it nor is so much as made a Judge of the sense but of my Fact of taking or refusing it If this way be lawful what if a Papist could find a Justice that would expound the Oath of Supremacy for the Pope May he therefore take it Is not the Law-maker the universal Expositor of his own Law except for the Judicial decision of a particular Case which he committeth to his Judges or can a Justice dispense with equivocation in Oaths and not a Pope 5. I was but once yet sent to Goal for refusing that Oath and then I told them that I refused it not but desired the Justices to tell me the sense of it which they refused and said I must take it according to the plain words or importance of the Phrase which is the truth And yet you say Are they not ready c. What wonder if Oaths go smoothly down where there are such Resolvers and it Books revile them that will not swear But here ensueth as confident a Rhetorical Invective against those that scruple this kind of swearing as if Logick first had done its part or at least one word of sense had been spoken to satisfie the Conscience of a Man that would not be stigmatized with PER. And we must swear without any smoother Oyl to get it down than such talk as this or else we must go with you for Men of hot and feavourish Brains But Swearers we find have a Heat of their own kind transcending others Such as your Book and other Mens Actions have declared § 42. I told you If you would put out the other Clauses of the Oath c. you should see how few would stick at that of taking Arms against the King Here you say Why do I lay this on you c. Answ But Sir you might have understood my Inference Why then do you pretend a false Reason of our refusal when we tell you the true Reason If you cannot put out the Clause which we refuse you could forbear to Calumniate us of Traiterous Meanings as if we stuck at another Clause § 43. When I desired the imposing of no other Oaths on us to Prelates or Chancellors than were imposed or used for many hundred years in the Church you tell us That it may be schismatical to stand up too stifly for immediate Dispensations as to the Modes of External Policy c. Answ 1. As some things not commanded in Modes of Church Policy are lawful so some things are unlawful or else you may swear to the Pope as well as to Diocesanes And is it lawful to swear to the unlawful part think you what that is I will not dispute with you 2. All that is lawful to be done is not to be sworn to and made so necessary as that a Church or Nation shall swear never to endeavour any alteration of it when a Change of Divine Providence can turn
named them in that whole Book Yet if they be guilty of Non-conformity and Disobedience in our Case I make but little difference 'twixt these I mean them However your Application to a particular Rank of Men of what was spoken to the Non-conformists in general is a transgression from the Laws of Discourse Who gave you Commission to make an Inclosure of that which lay in Common or to limit my meaning without Authority from my words You cannot be ignorant that there are other Non-conformists besides these that are Classical and such that not long since were the more predominant and such that will not conform now to the Church of England yet could then dance after the Pipes of those grand Masters There were but few who were not then tantum non Independents and are they all now of a sudden become Presbyterians sure they are like the Elements which agree in second qualities they are easily exchanged one into another § 3. When I had opened your strange dealing in calling for our Reasons of Non-conformity which you knew we must not publish you can neither hide your disingenuity nor well confess it Conviction you know must go before Confession you say indeed you have opened my strange dealing but if what you hitherto said be called opening 't is like the publishing of Aristotles Physicks Editum non Editum What you have opened is still abstruse and mystical to me Is it strange dealing and disingenious to call for the Reasons of Non-conformity since you say you cannot conform without sin Is it disingenious to learn of you where the sin lies that we may avoid it I know not to this day why you may not publish such Reasons I am sure you take liberty to publish things of as dangerous consequence yet you would make Men believe that you must not write on this Subject lest you should traduce the Government yet you dare traduce the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo in the difference 'twixt the Magistrates and the Church-Pastors P. 19 27 39 40 41 c. Alas the Church-Censurers without the Civil Arm are but Brutum fulmen yet that Writ is incorporated into our Law Is it not better that the Civil Magistrate should take the excommunicated Person in hand than that he should be delivered over unto Satan and visible Judgments which in the Primitive Times followed Anathema and Maranatha Before King Charles the first High Sheriffs took an Oath to assist and be helpful to all Ordinaries and Commssioners of Holy Church as often as should be required You dre affirm that Pastors have the sole power of Discipline and he that exercises an Authority over his Neighbours Churches is an Vsurper Is not this to traduce Government You dare say that Kings may not be excommunicated unless perhaps in some rare Case pray who shall be Judges of that Case You rightly observe the tendency of the Romanists Doctrine in that Particular I will not say you leave a gap open for the same end You dare say that Magistrates forbidding faithful able Ministers to preach the Christian Faith where there are not enough more to do the Work sin hainously against Christ and the Souls of Men. You dare say that Lay-Chancellors are such a sort of Church-Government that you will never swear not to endeavour to alter it yet I am disingenious to call for your Reasons of Non-conformity Once more you dare joyn Popery and Church-tyranny together and ' its easie to discern who you mean by Church-tyrants You dare speak against a lofty Faction that perswade the People that there must be no King any longer than their Dominion is upheld Such as shall twist the very grandure of their Function by Oaths into the Constitution of the State Tell me no more that I am disingenious in desiring your Reasons of Non-conformity for then you should traduce Government § 4. In my last I nam'd some palpable Contradictions but you pass them by in silence Had you shewed me one Contradiction properly called so you should have seen I would not have wasted my Ink in any other things before I had acknowledged my inadvertency 'T is like a Female Impotency to resolve to have the last word with whom soever we contend This is like Valentine and Orson and Knights Errant that boast of Battels and Victories in such Fields where they never drew Sword and slew such Enemies who never were in rerum natura 'T is true I did contradict you but this must not pass for a culpable Contradiction shew me any one and you shall have another Answer in the mean time your Atchievments shall pass for a Rodomantado Ostentation You deal craftily in speaking interrogatively for a Question cannot be false Some Lines before you accus'd me of Ignorance and now of Craft Are not you often guilty of the same Craft by arguing frequently by way of Question But Sir consider your Dogmatical Aphorism Cannot a Question be false What think you of this Will you cease to preach false Doctrine and slander your Brethren Are not negative and affirmative Interrogations in Scripture equivalent to plain Negations and Affirmations nay do not they vehementius negare affirmare If you will be coining more Aphorisms you should examine them better before you obtrude them on others § 5. I had said that of those 1800 silent Ministers how many of them have much more learning than your English Books have taught them You reply Do you mean good Mr. Sam. Hildersham Mr. Fisher Mr. Brian Mr. Wilsby Mr. Reignolds Mr. Baldwin Sen ' or Mr. Spilsbury You have reckon'd up several of my Neighbours but not all if you would put me upon the proof of my words you should have given me leave to be my own Accountant It is Answer enough to your arguing you have rekon'd without your Host I could give you another List of such Men that have leap'd out of their mechanical Shops into the Pulpit If these had learning enough to pass your Hands in Ordination yet were they well examin'd they would scarce befound fit to teach a petty School or be Interpreters to some Latin Mendicant As for those Persons you mention I have as much esteem for them as you can have but not for their Non-conformity yet for their gravity sobriety learning peaceableness May not I say that Abraham was the Father of the Faithful and David a Man after Gods own Heart though the one was pusillanimous in Aegypt and the other had his falls May not I say that Venus was beautiful though she had her Mole But this is a usual Stratagem with you to possess particular Persons with an opinion that I detract from them though I named them not As this is bad arguing Syllogizare ex particulari so 't is worse Morality Those which I intended have your suffrage You had rather hear a meer English Divine than an Hebrew or Syriack Sot You are I see for the liberty of prophesying 't is
your career that you would not act the part so jovially Militis tam gloriosi You say there is something else in that Declaration as not to endeavour alteration of Government in Church c. But this makes me to nauseate your Principles as much as the former What Peace can be expected whilst Men in effect tell their Governours they will let them alone whilst they can do no otherwise but when they have an opportutunity they 'l throw them out of the Saddle Shall you not say you endeavour the alteration of Government by Lay-Chancellors Yes by petition as becomes Subjects if you do not bring a Sword in the other hand But you must do it in your Places that is in your Ministry You must pray and preach them down If you turn Soldiers you must fight them down So the old Covenant Evasion will stand you in little stead You sent me to the Confessions of Forreign Churches to learn what their Discipline was I gave you some Instances of their practise and I could have given you many more as in Prague and other Places Are not these the best Commentary on their practise Sir what think you of these disciplinarian Principles If Princes hinder the Discipline they are Tyrants and may be depos'd The Supreme Magistrate must have no place in Synodical Meetings unless he be chosen for an Elder You know then what follows So that it has not been suggested amiss That the Genevian Principles make those in whom they are rooted Enemies to the Power and guidance of all Sovereign Princes That the Principles of Presbyters are Tyranical and Antimonarchical That Puritans and Sectaries though two of them scarcely agree in what they would have yet they are haters of Government and they would have the Kings Power extinguish'd in matters Ecclesiastical and limited in Civil I shall the less value publick Confessions since I call to mind what a glorious King the Long Parliament promised to make our late blessed Sovereign If any should deny now that this King was fought against by the same Men and murdered and for a proof should send me to their Declarations how Posterity may be cheated by this way of arguing I know not I shall never so far baffle and hoodwink my own knowledge and sad experience as to believe them I took the same way to convince you That Episcopal Men being faithful to their Principles could not be the beginners of the late War because our Liturgy Catechism Articles Homilies are against such practises Then you even pitied my poor silly kind of defence You send me often to Rushworth Heylin and lay much stress on Du Moulins Answer to Philanax though I have read him all over yet I find not that he does patronize your Cause at all His design is and he makes it out that Popish Tenents lead to Rebellion but may not other Men have that Fire-brand in their Tails though they look quite a contrary way But see your own partiality when I refer you to Sions Plea Travers Bancroft Sir Thomas Aston that you might see the Discipline and nauseate it as well as I You check me and reject them I may allude to the words of God himself I hope without offence Is your way equal is my way unequal Our own Brats it seems are beautiful and others of the same Symmetry are deform'd 37. After you had said the War was not founded in Theological differences but in Political and Law-Controversies I inferr'd that you intended to excuse the Divines If this was not suitable to your mind pray pardon me But since you say the difference was not Theological pray review your own words The extirpation of Piety was the great design Many able Ministers silenced Lectures suppress'd the Lords-day reproach'd and devoted to pastimes a multitude of Humane Ceremonies took place This was the Work which we took up Arms to resist Those that scruple the lawfulness of our War did not scruple the lawfulness of subverting our Churches among us Were not these things Theological Yet for these you took up Arms speak no more of Political Lawdifferences As if States-men were only in the fault Did not you say before that the Quarrel was begun by Episcopal Men whereof some were Arminian Anti-Arminian and were not these differences Theological Should I insult now and say Are you fit to torture the Press and make it groan with so numerous a Progeny of Books and yet do so grosly contradict your self 40. You confess your Error in denying Dr. Manton to have written upon Jude and I confess my misnomore of John for Cornelius Burges I was a stranger to this Cornelius until these latter days and could scarce believe he could be the Author of so Orthodox a Book If we be thus ingenious we shall come near together at last 41. This Section is spent about taking up Arms but the latter Clause of the Oath does most stick with you and the word endeavour much troubles you but if we look upon it in reference to former Transactions it must be reasonably understood of a tumultuous and arm'd Endeavour and this has as I am inform'd been declar'd by the Judges who are the true Interpreters of the Law As King Charles the first told them Anno 1628. and may not the Justices in the Country declare what was the sense of the Judges If every word in an Oath must be strain'd to the most unfavourable sense and no Interpreters be allowed to explain it it is the best way for us to turn Quakers and not to swear at all Not in Christs sense but theirs for 't is easie to turn the plainest Oaths into Snares How shall it be known that Men by vertue of the Covenant do not hold themselves oblig'd to subvert Ecclesiastical Government by Bishops if it be unlawful to swear not to endeavour the Alteration of the Government Then they may lie at catch to play their former Game over again and who knows but there is so much pleading to keep this Sally-port open to this purpose This bogling makes me think your Retractation is not so sincere as St. Austins and then 't is no wonder you fall short of his Glory As for those Titles of want of ingenuity not understanding what I say O happy Quieter of Conscience They are so common that like those that live near the falling of Nilus though it roar never so much they take little notice of it so I am inur'd to your Buffetings that I am almost turn'd into a Callum 44. Your refusal of that Oath it seems is bottom'd on this That Lay-Chancellors make up the Church-Government which is not to be altered I think it will not be easie to prove this and I am sure I never yielded it to you They may be appendants to which are not the essential parts of a Government If you peruse the Oath 1640. which occasioned so much dust at that time you will find the Church-Governours set down at large Arch-bishops
Bishops Deans and Arch-deacons there is no mention at all of Lay-Chancellors except you will play the Chymist and extract them out of the rest c. and then you may make Registers Proctors Apparators to be the Government But Sir remember your self you tell me you must not give the Reasons of Non-conformity because this would be a traducing the Government Why do you print against Lay-Chancellors then if they be the Government Learned Men have maintained both in the Schools and from the Press a Divine Right of the Government of the Church by Bishops But who ever did so in behalf of Lay-Chancellors Is not this to have hot and feaverish Heads when you will startle at every Leaf as if it harboured a Serpent and turn every Bush in your way into a Gorgon Men will never want woe that are such pregnant Contrivers how to puzzle and intangle themselves When you seem'd perplex'd about Lay-Chancellors I did say Me thinks a Man of your ingenuity should rest satisfied with that modest Declaration before the Commination in our Liturgy concerning the Censures of the Church Have I done you any wrong in appealing to your ingenity who have so often caled me disingenious In that Declaration there is an acknowledgment That in the Primitive Church there was a godly Discipline which it is wish'd might be restored It is granted then that our Discipline is imperfect and though there is no mention of Lay-Chancellors yet Excommunication being a part of Discipline and belonging to Penance I thought you might be so ingenious as not to exagitate what is confess'd to be imperfect Poor impotent Flies stick upon Sores but generous Spirits are satisfied with an acknowledgment satis est prostrasse leoni You might perceive I had no mind to draw the Saw about Lay-Chancellors and Excommunication I had not mention'd them in my Book or asserted any thing about Excommunication but 't is your manner to draw any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into your discourse And then if I do but touch upon it 't is enough you will presently pour forth a whole Volume Just so when I was a Puny-Sophister in the Schools If I could catch an advantage from any word that fell from my Antagonist I would hold him there and pass by the merits of the Cause It may be I could wish that Excommunication were reduc'd into a more Scriptural Apostolical and Primitive Channel as much as your self but I never look that the Church below should be without spot or wrinkle I said what could be said that Lay-Chancellors do not excommunicate as they are Lay-men but by their Surrogates O quam vapulo I am push'd to a Stone-wall and pin'd up fast there and then I am bound to your Chariot whilst you sing Iö Triumphe Come on say you you speak just like an Hector Horns against Horns They excommunicate as Lay-men or as Clergy-men but not as Lay-men ergo as Clergy-men And upon this you ground many subsequent absurdities as Vno absurdo dato c. I shall break your Chain in the first Link for I deny your division Your major is imperfect for Excommunication is not from them either as Lay-men or as Clergy-men formally or by any proper Causality but from the Surrogates Say not our Articles the same Vnusquisque Vicarius Generalis Officialis seu Commissarius qui Ordines Ecclesiasticos non susceperit eruditum aliquem Presbyterum sibi accerset associabit qui sufficienti authoritate vel ab ipso Episcopo in jurisdictione sua vel ab Archidiacono Presbytero existente in Jurisdictione sua munitus idque ex praescripto ipsius Judicis tunc praesentis excommunicationis sententiam pro contumacia pronunciabit Inter Articulos Anno Domini 1584. Regnique Elizabethae vicessimo septimo Anno 1571. Nullus Cancellarius nec Commissarius nec Officialis procedet usque ad ferendam sententiam Excommunicationis sed sententiam deferent tantum ad Episcopum camque aut ipse per se pronunciabit aut gravi alicui viro in Sacro Ministerio constituto pronunciandum committet Anno 1597. Quotiescunque censura ista Excommunicationis in poenam cujusvis haereseos schismatis symoniae perjurii usurae incestus adulterii seu gravioris alicujus criminis venerit infligenda sententia ipsa vel per Archiepiscopum Decanum Archidiaconum vel Prebendarium modo sacris Ordinibus Ecclesiastica Jurisdictione praeditus fuerit in propria persona pronunciabitur Canon 13. in the sixteenth of Charles the first No Excommunication or Absolution shall be good in Law except they be pronounced by the Bishop in person or by some other in Holy Orders in whom is the Power of the Keys You did not do well to overlook what I said about the Lay-Chancellors being expert in the Civil Law and so were competent Judges about Intricacies arising about Spiritual Affairs and so might have a Superintendency and a Juridical Inspection over this Particular of Excommunication Tell me Sir May not a Man be said to do that vertually which he does not act immediately The King does neither preach nor administer the Sacraments yet has a Supremacy of Power in all things belonging to the Church Are not many things in Parliament ascrib'd to the Lords Spiritual which were transacted by their Proxies Did you never read that the Nobles of Jehosaphat went about all the Cities of Juda and taught the People Was not Teachings proper to the Priests Levites Prophets as Matters of Discipline were to the Apostles Why do you not quarrel with these Nobles for being Usurpers If you say as some Commentators that they taught the People in that they incourag'd the Levites to do so Why in this sense may not Lay-Chancellors act about Excommunication by informing and directing the Surrogates how to carry themselves in doubtful Cases as Jetho advised that Matters of the greatest concern should be brought to Moses Although all this while the original Authority is in and from the Bishop and we are all but his Curates as to the exercise of it I find that if you may be permitted to fix your Engine upon a false ground and begin your Building upon a precarious Foundation you will do wonders and raise a Babel as high as Heaven But remove this Sand and you come tumbling down like Lucifer You may please your self in comparing us to Cryers because we act subordinately to our Superiors I think as we are Gods Ambassadors we are no better Our Commission is limited and we do but Cry what is enacted above Nothing below an Independent Absolute and Autocratical Power will serve your turn Nobis non licet esse tam potentibus If the Presbyterians should succeed they would assume a Power to excommunicate Kings and then Men are not like to take much care what becomes of them Is it this you would have I dare not but name my Author it was the Lord Digby 45. I told you that if Lay-Elders medled in Excommunication you would not be offended at
a lightning before Death for whoever either by Power or Policy can get ground of his Fellows and leave them in the Valley will be sure to shew their predominant Power not only to their Competitors but to the Government it self It hath been a fallacy which some have put upon themselves that pity and gentleness will indear and oblige these Dissenters But he that calls to mind how dear one Prince has paid already for his lenity to them may have a Clew wherewith to extricate himself out of that Error and may also undeceive others It is pity that Kindness as we say of fair Weather should do harm But as Panthers are choak'd with Perfume so Mercy it self degenerates into Cruelty and sometimes brings Ruine after it St. Austin confesses it was once his Judgment That no Compulsion should be us'd in matters of Religion Yet he lived to see his great mistake For he found by Experience that by punishing one Offender who was Refractory and turbulent in his Diocess He did more good than by all his wooing Orations Such Libertines are like Birds put into a Cage They flutter at first but when they see themselves coop'd up they 'l struggle no longer to get into the open Air roosting quietly in their narrow Confinement I have not wonder'd a little to read some of their Books wherein they complain Tragically of Prisons and Gaols Three Persons are named who have suffer'd in this kind for their Disobedience Mr. Calamy Mr. Baxter and Dr. Manton But if we would go about to requite them with our Arithmetick we could reckon for every one of them an Hundred who were in the time of their Tyranny clap'd under Shipboard or strarv'd But what did those three men lose by their Imprisonment What Ignatius said of his Fetters He look'd upon every link as made of precious Stones So may these men glory in their golden Chains Some of them got more by a Weeks Imprisonment than we get by Preaching a whole year so that a Gaol was as beneficial to them as a Bishop's Palace and to Confine them was to set a Fine upon the Heads of the Zealous Citizens Those that know the Idiotism or proper language of these times can tell that by doing of good works is understood Liberality to Dissenting Ministers I condemn no man's Charity yet I should be loth to be an Object of theirs Therefore may our tranquillity be lengthened and the King's Throne Established in Righteousness by the due Execution of Laws which are both our Birthright and Security lest we be constrained at last to beg in vain for that Indulgence which they now Injoy The neglect of a speedy Reforming and effectual Suppressing of Errors and Schisms will both encourage and increase them for though at first they may seem like that Cloud in Scripture of an hand breadth yet by Seditious Spirits they will soon be blown up into so large Dimensions that they will darken the whole Heaven It has been accounted a great oversight in Q. Elizabeth of Blessed Memory that she gave too much liberty to Foreign Divines to Preach in London and other places until they had leaven'd the minds of her Subjects with prejudice against her own Government and had almost introduc'd the Platform of Calvin into the room of it The smell of those mistaken flames of Charity are upon us until this day So many Iliads of mischief are contained in the little compass of an unseasonable Connivence It does not only Ruin Churches but Princes too As Impunity is the Mother of Impiety towards God So tolerated Libertines will quickly prophane the Hallowed Diâ—dems of Kings They are all hot as an Oven and have devoured their Judges All their Kings are fallen Hosea 7. 7. Habent hoc Proprium Calvinistae ut statum in quem irrepserunt evertant neque antè ipsi Conquiescant quà m rerum potiuntur These men nibble already at the very root of the Royal Cedar By telling the King's Subjects in Print That they are not oblig'd in Conscience to obey Magistrates and their Laws An ill requital sure for the King 's gracious Indulgence What Do you thus requite the King O Ingrateful and unkind If Conscience be once debauch'd with such Principles as these the Throne will lose its principal Pillar and the King will find himself weakened by these treacherous Priests and undermining Popelings who go about to Absolve his People from the very Ligaments and Sinews of their Obedience which is never more genuine generous and lasting than when it is for Conscience sake This is all one as to tell the King to his face that it is his safest course to guard himself with the Power of Arms For if ever he be so unhappy as to take a measure of their Consciences they will make no more scruple to Dethrone him than they did to Depose his Father Men without Conscience are like Mastiff-Dogs when they grow mad or Lions which have been tamed when they recover their natural fierceness They shake off all awe to their Masters and Keepers neither will they boggle at taring them into Pieces How turbulent these Men are when they are let loose may easily be gather'd from some few smattering Dissenters of this kind in our own Parishes who are errant Firebrands where they live There is not a Difference betwixt Neighbours but they are at one end of it blowing up and inflaming Contentions by their Whispers and Nods and by their Pragmatical Intruding into other Mens matters As if they were injur'd if they are not look'd upon as the only Competent Judges and Umpires of all Contests where any place is bless'd with sound peace and quietness there these Men are un-elemented They starve and pine away unless they can make what they do not find And since one or two of these Innovators are so pregnant with quarrels in our narrow Precincts what Earthquakes what a Conflagration will these vapours these sparks raise when they are encourag'd to Conglomerate and to Unite their Forces in the Bowels of a Church or Kingdom There is a Tradition of some Parliament-men when it was disputed whether Priests should Marry They cry'd out yes by all means It was better they should have Wives of their own than be too busie as they had been with other Mens So It were better these Dissenting Brethren had Diocesses of their own than that they should be such busie Incendiaries in other Mens Bishopricks If they say Nolumus Episcopare It is because they desire to be Archbishops I had almost said Popes and Overseers of the whole Church CAP. VIII A Toleration does not tend to the Happiness of the Kingdom HE that has time to Ransack Stories will find how fatal small and inconsiderable Meetings have been to the downfall of States and Kingdoms either in letting in a Foreign and professed Enemy as it was in that Conventicle met together in the Trojan Horse or by mastering and bringing under the Governours of them by devillish
of Pulpits to increase the Flame Young Men that were sent by their Friends to be disciplin'd and train'd up in honest Callings were debauch'd in their Duties to their Superiours and inchanted with Sheba's Trumpet As if it were not enough to Poison one Generation Sir It is not long since we were affrighted in the Countrey as if the like times were Revolving upon us As if your London were catching again the same Wildfire and like Aetna were breaking forth into another Conflagration Every man we met talk'd of little else but the rising of the City Such especially as are given unto Change and have the Leprosie of Sedition and Schism running upon them that think to get that in a Scramble which they can never attain by their own Merits These shak'd their Heads made ghastly Faces as if another Dooms-day of Insurrections were coming upon us and the fatal Period of our Tranquillity was approaching This Alarm did so far amaze me that I dreaded the Fire that had scorch'd me I wrote Letter after Letter to my Son an Apprentice there to Charge and Command him by virtue of my Paternal Authority not to enter into their Secrets or Conspire with those Catalines that desire to disturb our Peace or oppose our Government It is better we should all suffer than Carve out our Fortunes and divert suppos'd Calamities by lifting up an hand against the Lord 's Anointed God commonly turns the Projects of Achitophels into Folly for though precipitate actions are pleasing in their beginning yet they are difficult in carrying on and disapprove the Success But blessed be God! London is not London now The Magistrates and Citizens are Men of another Spirit and better acquainted with their Duty to God and Men. They are too wise to be cheated over again with Jesuitical I had almost said Devilish pretences whereby they were formerly deluded Their Repentance cost them too dear so soon to traverse the same ways wherein they have been betray'd to Robbers and Thieves I am almost afraid to hear Subjects cry up Religion and Property lest they should again strip us of both To cry down others Miscarriages with Absolom or with Cham discover their Nakedness lest they should Usurp the Fasces into their own hands and whip us again with Scorpions It is almost enough to make men Jewish Infidels to compare some Mens former Actions with their own Declarations Their hairy Hands with their Jacob's Voice whatever we feel whatever we fear is the dismal Effect of that Hypocrisie The Jews thought there were some grains of the Golden Calf in all their Sufferings and whatever Ghost haunts and affrights us now was rais'd by our own Malignant actings in the days past Of whom shall we Complain If our Dangers are great our Sins have been so too let us no more prevaricate let us be Israelites indeed and then those unhappy vapours which threaten to Eclipse our Prosperity will soon vanish No need of being Jealous of our Governors or for them to be distrustful of us For then they may sleep safely in the Laps of their People and we Rejoyce under their shadows Good Sir Pardon the Indecorum of this Letter For I write to an Eminent Shepherd just as I treat my Countrey Flock yet I cannot forbear to transgress whil'st I deprecate my Fault I sometimes Ruminate with my self How our Tribe is assaulted from several Coasts It shakes and totters with Impetuous Volleys from all parts of the Circumference Manasseh against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh and both against Levi. These Rocks are even ready to grind us to Powder And as the Earth hangs upon nothing but the Word of God's Power so we only subsist and are preserv'd by the powerful Providence of the same God and by the gracious Favour of his Vicegerent Let us be Faithful and Diligent in our Places and those billows shall be so restrain'd that they may roar but shall not swallow us up Whil'st these Contemplations take up my Thoughts there are other Sentiments rush in upon me Alas How cold and perfunctory are many of us in our Ministerial Imploys As if we were not only Regardless of the Souls committed to our Charges but of our own As if Ease Gain and Grandeur were the great designs of our Functions Nay Has not the Altar it self been formerly polluted Has not Religion been prostituted to the Lusts of Men Has not the Diana of Disobedience been cry'd up by Preaching and Prayer Is not the same Fervent Swelling still among us The same Jonah in our Ship The same Achan in our Camp Shall not the Lord visit for these things If any Complains that such Men are silenc'd who for their Parts may be useful to the Church I answer with M. Curius in a like case The Church has no need of such as have not learn'd to obey But I am carried I know not by what Genius out of a Fragrant Garden into a stinking Golgotha I was commending the present Constitution of your City beyond what it has been in our Memory to the intent that God might have the Glory and the Sword of Gideon too might have that praise which is due unto it I mean your self and other Regular Ministers of the Gospel there who have far transcended many of those that went before you by infusing better Principles Planting and Preaching more sound and peaceable Doctrines among the Inhabitants of that place so that the Glory of this second Temple has quite outstrip'd the Rubbish that went before it yet whil'st I was thus musing solacing my self and sweetning this Solitude with the Platonick Pleasure and sensuality of these Idea's In came a swarm of Thoughts what a confused heap that famous City has been under the Conduct of false Lights and unlucky Pilots And whil'st I was thus possess'd and transported I have convers'd with Tombes and Charnel Houses But waving these unpleasant Reflections I shall fix my Eyes upon your London as it is Inform'd and Reform'd by happy Teachers Not only Glorious and Stupendious in Structures and Merchandize but also for her Religion to God and Fidelity to the Prince In a body of such Dimensions there 's no wonder that there are some excentrical Motions Some Excremental Excrescencies Wens and Botches Our little Parishes are not free from Heteroclites irregular and disorderly walkers There are some Dregs and Reliques of the late Times We can easily divine who went before by the Impression of those crooked and distorted Foot-steps they have left behind Though we constantly Pray Preach Catechize and Instruct our People publickly and privately yet the hand of Joab still appears and those Tares which Inimicus homo sow'd in the Furrows of our Fields are not yet rooted up There are there must be Heresies in the World until we come to the Unity of the Faith and all our Chaff shall be winnow'd out at the Day of Judgment The Harvest will come when vile Weeds shall be separated from the precious Corn. In the