and Declarations which you have filled with impertinencies calumnies and slanders against the people of this Nation obtruding without blushing objections formerly answered to abuse the simple and draw them into capital danger And indeed you should have don well to have spared this time from such imploiment and bestowed it upon that in which at present you are more concern'd And whereas you say The reformation of the Kirk of England wee suppose you mean it in your own sens the work of uniformitie c. was the great dutie that God called this Land unto c. Wee cannot but lament to see how miserably you are enchanted and imprisoned within your circle of forms so as you can neither speak nor think of anie thing but this nauseated stuff how great is the judgment of God upon your hypocritical formalitie that hee hath taken from you the sens of everie thing els Can you think that Presbyteries whether in Kirk-Sessions Classes or Provincial or General Assemblies is the great Work of Reformation that God call's men to and to the exercise of your effectless Discipline as to all true Reformation What is the uniformitie of Doctrine and Discipline you speak of is it that conteined in your Catechism and Directorie can you persuade us to believ there is such a perfection in these as there is no possible discoverie beyond or may none adventure to make it unless you bee the Pilots Wee like better St Paul's profession of his judgment and practice hee forgat what was behinde and pressed forward to what was before and did not think hee had yet atteined And upon that ground wee dare not think you have But you quarrel the light which you cannot comprehend and press for an Vniformitie of vvhich your selvs vvill bee the Measure and set the Rules lest if anie should presume to knovv more and hold it forth to the vvorld the appearance and Coruscation of these clearer Beams should demonstrate the light that is in you to bee Comparative darkness Wee rather believ the great Work that God call's everie Man unto is to bee holie as hee is holie in all manner of conversation And for an atteinment of it by a full and unreserved self-denial to go out of himself and all self-value and by a most intimate retirement into himself and impartial search of his own heart to take a view of his own corruptions and bee humbled at that sight and seek for pardon in the blood of that one sacrifice of Expiation and to bee clensed from filth by the sanctification of his spirit To have no further a vvill of his own but with an unrelucting Liquescencie to melt it down into the vvill of God mainteining still a filial implicit resolution to conform to all the revelations of that vvill searching the Scriptures vvith praier and humilitie for a discoverie of that will from those full and divine Treasuries and keeping the soul ever open and without prejudice for recieving in the divine Illuminations of the infinite Spirit to vvhatsoever measure of light and taking heed of clouding that light by indulging of Lust but vvith a resolved strife against all opposition walk up to that Light in all holiness of Conversation according to the Word of God This vvee think to bee the dutie of a Man and this is his happiness And hee that thus hath to him shall bee given and hee shall have abundance his talents shall bee multiplied and so shall his joie There are discoveries in divine things which the Eagles eie hath not yet made The divine and infinite goodness from whom are perpetual Emanations hath no where limited the shinings of his glorious Light It shine's in darkness though the darkness comprehend it not There may bee a veil upon the heart even of great Rahbies and that in reading the Lavv. Light and Truth is received by a principle of Light from the Spirit of Truth And vvho dare's saie hee hath clearly and without aenigma seen all the Treasures laid up in the Sacred Scriptures Doth not one daie add to another in the knowledg of particular men doth not this daie teach us even from the Scriptures the things that yesterday wee knew not Hee take's little notice of his own Progress or make's but little that dare at anie time of his life saie hee know's all or that som other may not communicate to him a light which hee hath not received wee could therefore wish you would once forbear these unsavorie words of Vniformitie in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Governments as beeing things not edifyng in these times especially to men whom the gracious flowing out of the Spirit of Light and Holiness hath qualisied as above If these things bee profitable in Scotland wee envie not your enjoiments though wee wish you better Truely wee have reason to suspect you have not the best waie of spiritual edification your people are generously so barbarously brutish in all moralitie and in so unthriving a condition in spiritual things theit leanness wherein make's it probable you feed them with shells and husks and deceiv them with formalities and Covenants and such outside-stuff and endeavor not to discover the Divine Beauties shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ and the glorious garments which they wear that are clothed with a Spirit of holiness who worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in the Lord JESVS and have no confidence in the flesh and who make no provision to fulfil the lusts of it If this Beautie were discovered it would irresistably draw a love for faculties are ever stronglyest carried to their more excellent objects they would then loath your Onions and Garlick after their relish of Manna in a spiritualized taste onely the danger is perhaps they would not so dreadfully adore you but look at you as their deceivers rather then their teachers while you have put your own Dixi in the place of the Scriptures or of the self-evidencing discoveries of the Spirit of God But you heavily complain that these your formalities which you say are so much desired and longed for by all the lovers of Sion and all that concern's Religion lie's in the dust altogether forgotten and despised by these men Wee know not well whom you mean by the Lovers of Sion but it seem's by your description they should bee som that are in love with your outside Worship nor what you mean by that Religion which lie's so forgotten and in the dust Wee desire to bless God that through his goodness and free discoveries of himself there are great numbers among us that are lovers of the beautie of holiness and by the power of that love carried out to the contemplation of that glorie of him who is glorious in holiness shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ so as they are transform'd into the Image of it from glorie to glorie by the Spirit of the Lord and by this means they give up themselvs to a willing subjection to the power of
Religion and godliness and are not indeed much taken with your forms which in competition with power they think may bee little esteem'd and do believ they are much to bee pittied whose most spiritual contemplations have no sublimer object Wee acknowledg with you there should bee beautie and order in the Hous of God and so there will bee where none but stones elect and precious are built upon the foundation and when those are formed and fitted by that Spirit who onely hath the clear view of that Archetypal Idea the pattern in the mount according to which the Hous you speak of is to bee modell'd And certainly if you had not taken a vast libertie to affirm boldly of what you know not and to accuse upon hear-say those with whose conversation you were never acquainted you would not thus lash out into these exorbitant generalities by which you get little credit to your selvs or to your caus unless with those who dare not say they believ you not least they should incur the Churches Censure the consequence whereof is more then they are willing to lose But wee cannot let you pass thus with this calumnie why did you not assign a catalogue of these errors or at least som of the grossest for your generals signifie nothing till then wee may with much more charitie suspect you are of those that call the good evil and the evil good that put light for darkness and darkness for light If you did believ them errors why did you not name them perhaps other men would not have been full of your minds but if wee conceiv them to bee errors wee shall confess them such and bee verie willing to bee convinced for wee profess Our selvs to bee lovers and followers of truth onely wee can take nothing for such upon your word that is onely your prerogative on the other side of Tweed where the people believ you possess the infallible chair Wee shall not impute it to the tenderness of your charitie that you spare us the particulars while you load us with your generals interpretable to whatever your credulous Reader pleaseth which cannot bee small matters when they are called gross errors monstrous blasphemies and strange opinions in Religion such as hath not been heard of almost in anie generation Wee think it strange none of them are named certainly you might have spared a line for it from som of your following impertinencies if you had not thought this cours would have served your turn better But that you may not mistake us wee denie not there may bee and doubtless there arc errors among us wee are not perfectists wee see but in part much truth may bee beside our observation and beyond our measure and what is affirmed that is not truth is error error being nothing els but a deviation from truth But where is the toleration for this all this while what mean you by the allowance of them If you mean wee do not hang up all that do not believ as the Kirk of Scotland believ wee confess wee do not so practise and think wee ought not and are content they stigmatize this for one of our errors and let it lead the Van in the Catalogue Wee think wee ought not to punish men becaus they are no wiser then God hath made them and for that they do not profess they know and believ things which flesh and blood cannot reveal unto them But is this to tolerate them Wee profess all fit means should bee used to give them light by holding forth the truth in love and in evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and wait with patience till God shall reveal the truth to them But wee conceiv that neither the gallows nor the whip nor a mulct nor their Church-censure are instituted Ordinances or sanctified means for conveying and evidencing of truth and convincing and eradicating of strange opinions But for the blasphemies wee know not what they mean by them If that cursed wickedness of prophane swearing bee the thing they mean wee have certainly Laws for the punishment of that which if they were in force in Scotland and daily executed where Oaths and Execrations are the Schemes and Elegancies of their Idiome it would bring a good part of the Revenues of most among them into the Exchequer of the poor mans box who would bee better relieved by their blasphemies then by their charities you cannot but take notice that this wicked custom is among you and that there are verie few free remember what the searcher of hearts said Thou hypocrite first pull out the beam out of thine own eye and then thou shalt see more clearly to full out the mote out of thy brothers eye But for what follow 's the Commissioners of the Kirk would bee asked if they bee not beside their Commission 'T is verie much doubted whether these things bee cognoscible at their Tribunal or whether they com under the power of the keys What hath the Kirk of Scotland or the people of Scotland to do with the Civil Government of England And certainly as to them this piece of their book might pass without anie further answer but onely to undeceiv som among our selvs and to discover the tendencie of this their hypocritical Paper wherein they would espous the quarrel of all the discontents and with their emptie blown bladders offer their assistance to buoy up everie sinking interest They will bee the defenders of Monarchie complain of the removal of the Hous of Lords of the pretended injurie don to the secluded Members take upon them to determine what are foundations and bewail their renversment Tender they are also and sensible of the yoak of oppression upon the necks of their Brethren in England by the Engagement By all this they hope to draw all these parties to join with them for recoverie of what they have been justly devested of and to have a partie corresponding with their motions the better to effect their design upon us But all these points have been so largely handled and objections answered in several Tracts that wee shall not here epitomize or recapitulate Onely wee must ask whether they bee fit to object these things if they were otherwise of their cognizance Wee shall ask them a few questions anent these particulars and by their answers if they will make anie see how much of this is practised in Scotland and whether they do not condemn in us what they allow and approve of in themselvs Wee shall first ask them how much the late King was a Monarch among them after the beginning of these troubles how far his commands had place among them whether Parlament and General Assemblies were not called without his Autoritie and held without the presence of his Commissioner whether this were wont to bee so with them whether this bee not an innovation and where is their Charter of privilege that they onely of all other Nations when they finde it good and necessarie for them may
as Carolus or Jacobus Dei gratiâ and as effective of peace and justice Is there anie thing in it like your Covenant there is nothing in the declare's a judgment there is onely a promise of practice of what is in the power of the partie promising and hee that will not promise to bee true and faithfull to the power under which hee live's will not bee extremely persecuted if hee bee denied the benefit of that Autoritie which hee will not acknowledg But let us ask whether your Covenant was not a greater imposition was there nothing in that which came neer conscience Wee have not time to enlarge onely let us enquire as to Estates what the sweet and meek proceedings amongst us were upon that thing the Covenant worthie to bee had in everlasting detestation wherein the great Name of God who is goodness and sweetness and love must usher in an ugly persecution How manie were turn'd out of Fellowships in the Universitie of Cambridg and out of Livings in the Countrie for no other fault but refusing the Covenant men of great learning and unreprovable life were removed and men of signal duncerie and ignorance and som sufficiently debauched put in denie not this for your friends sakes least I give you a Catalogue both of them and who prefer'd them whom at present I will spare It was put on by your Commissioners when here and pressed by them on all occasions as earnestly as the mark of the Beast no man might have command here nor in Ireland might keep anie Office exercise anie Magistracie unless hee had subscribed that Covenant of a far other nature both in regard of its doubtfulness and its tendencie then this Engagement And certainly with such violence was this thing carried on that had not the good providence of God discovered to our good Patriots here the foul hypocrisie of the Scots Commissioners and their designs to the execution whereof they went furiously on under the veil of this stalking-hors the Covenant it had been imposed with as much Autoritie as the said mark of the Beast that no man should either buy or sell or live who had not taken the Covenant and 't is a mercie worth all it cost that their Invasion delivered us out of that snare And yet these hypocrites complain of offering the Engagement compare them and see the difference And once again remember Thou hypocrite to pull out the beam out of thine own eie c. And for a close of this Paragraph bee persuaded to remember daily before the Lord in your praiers that hee would deliver you from the fascinations of Interest that hee would give you single hearts and fill them with candor and free you from this gross hypocrisie and from those temptations that are suggested to you from the pride of your own spirits and impotent desires of Domination that hee would discover to you the extreme ignorance and darkness you lie under and that hee would give you hearts to love the truth and embrace it by whatsoever means it bee offered to your apprehension And if you will do this and do it with humilitie and resignation The Lord who is long suffering and verie ready to forgive full of goodness and mercie and love and that wait's that hee may bee gracious may pardon the Errors of your blinde zeal and all those things that you have don in ignorance and unbelief and deliver you from these temptations of darkness The Warning 3 This partie after that they have acted such things in England and also sore afflicted and oppressed our brethren in Ireland now conceiving that they cannot bee established and that they cannot eat the fruit of their own devices without contradiction as long as the Kirk and Kingdom of Scotland stand's in their waie threaten us with a War by drawing their Forces Northward and sending them in smal parties towards the Border that it may the less bee discerned what they intend to do And if the Lord in his righteous and wise dispensation shall suffer them to invade this Land as it is to bee feared that the Gangrene of their errors may take hold upon men of ignorant and unstable mindes who have not received the love of Truth so may wee if they prevail look for confusion and desolation and that the Pillars both of Religion and Government shall bee ruined and razed in this as well as in our neighbor-land It doth therefore in the first place concern all the Inhabitants of this Nation to draw near to God and to mourn for their own iniquities and for all the ignorance and prophanitie and backsliding that is in the land and to studie to make peace with God in Jesus Christ The continuance and increase of many of those sins for which formerly wee seemed to have been humbled doth doutless greiv the spirit of God and may if they bee not speedily and sincerely repented of and forsaken provoke him to give us over to the lust of our adversaries Our King our Princes our Nobles our Pastors teachers and people have sinned Let us therefore search and trie our waies and turn again to the Lord Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens that hee may spare and save his people that they bee not a prey to the enemie The Answer 3 What the things are that wee have acted in England wee hold out to all the world and with humilitie rejoice that God hath owned us in them and given success to our endeavors and made us the Instrument in his hand even as a threshing Instrument having teeth whereby hee hath cast down Tyrannie and established to us the just libertie of the Sons of Adam And hath shewed us so far his face and favor in it as wee are confident that hee will not onely not pull down what hee hath begun to build but given therein a specimen of that libertie which his goodness will bless the world withall as a fit state wherein that Justice and Righteousnes shall excuse it self which shall bee set up as a triumphal Arch through which the King of glorie and the King of peace shall enter into The administrations of the Kingdoms of the world which wee exspect shall becom the Lords and his Christs in the which hee shall reign while the earth shall bee full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea while you object those things wee glorie in them and shall wear them as our Crown As for the affliction and oppression of their Brethren in Ireland wee know of no such oppression Wee have indeed endeavored to reduce that Island as having a just claim to it and to chastize the Irish Rebels whom wee think they will not call Brethren And wee have also made som of the Scottish Rebels to taste of the fruit of their doings in rebelling against this Common-wealth in whose pay some of them were at the instigation of their wofully ignorant and petulant Presbyterie at
were sure you meant to keep wee might believ your musters would not exceed in numbers Gideon's lapping Armie and one Regiment of Hors and one of Foot might serv our turns If the minde of God bee so clear unto you in this point take heed of going against it this book of yours will bee a witness against you before the world as your consciences will bee before God take heed of your apostacie after your so solemn engagement hazard not your selvs and bee not desperately pervers You confess the Malignants have often fallen before the Sectaries and you would not give them viz. the Sectaries encouragement by your junction deceiv not your selvs hypocrisie provoke's the all-seeing Majestie as much as open profaneness and perhaps the Sectaries may receiv in their spirits a great encouragement that they are sent by God against an hypocritical Nation Deceiv not your selvs with the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord manie so exclaim and boast who are not that Temple Your selvs in this paragraph confess you have a great scarcitie of men rightly qualified and can hardly expect a blessing in the fellowship of anie other take heed you do not as well procure as proclaim a judgment against the Land which shall consume it without remedie Wee earnestly wish the Estates of Parlament would bee ruled by you and purge your Armie of all scandalous men sure you would have verie thin Troops and Companies Wee would ask you if manie have not given scandal by their drunken-healthing thanks-givings for your Kings arrival or whether drunkenness bee not a scandal there in the Sectarian Armie 't is counted one and through the mercie of God is not frequently committed and when it is is duly punished The close of your paragraph is verie orthodox which wee close with and embrace as a savorie truth But before wee leav you seeing you are so tender of closing with Malignants let us ask you how came you to woo the King so earnestly to agree with him and bring him among you and make such great demonstration of jole at his arrival with more drunken bone-fiers then ever were seen there before Is not hee a Malignant sure hee was one when hee gave Montross his Commission to subdue you his Rebels of Scotland wrote his Letters of special favor and gave him that Order of the Garter how corn's hee to bee purified since can you persuade your selvs the taking of the Covenant will do it have you not found by great experience it doth hot cure but palliate why els such frequent Recidivations It is not well understood why yee should with so much furie and indignation execute Montross the servant and that becoming your selvs somthing barbarously for making a war upon you and then immediately embrace him for your King by whose Commission hee did it There is som mysterie in this if you would tell us what but perhaps it lie's deeper then your own knowledg why may it not bee that your own hypocrisie growing ripe for judgment providence hath ordered that by his permitting you one signal act of it more you should thereby espous the Interest and fate of that familie which lies under the wrath of God and which you will needs take upon you to defend though you see none have prospered that do so that even by your hypocrisie your hypocrisie might bee punished from the just hand of him who searcheth the heart and take 's pleasure in uprightness Though you are yet hee is not a respecter of persons no difference of degrees is anie thing to him who set's up and debaseth whom hee pleaseth hee somtimes give 's a King in wrath and perhaps when you well consider all things you may have som strange opinion that hee hath don so to you you have wooed and married an Interest attended with a Curs which will undo you It is no great trouble to us to hear from you the name of Sectarie having been long acquainted with the Titles and Attributes which the civilitie of your language hath been pleased to honor us with and wee bear it with the greater glorie for that it seem's there are few of them of your Nation and so may serv for a distinguishing Character that vvhere wee are not known vvee may not bee mistaken for Sots The Sectarie therefore wee take up for a glorie as imposed by you and shall labor to bring the Name beyond reproach not by masking under a veil of seeming holiness which wee wonder by what special guift they have discovered especially in those vvhom their consciences have compelled to confess that they walk circumspectly but by putting on the Lord JESUS CHRIST and beeing made conformable to the Will of GOD through the sanctification of the SPIRIT living in that Spirit wee desire to vvalk in it approving our hearts to God and our waies to Men desiring you would not go beyond your line and step into the Throne of God and judg hearts vvhere you cannot blame actions And wee must again desire you to laie down that your Antichristian practice of propounding your selvs as the Rule of Truth and judg of Error How com you to know truth better then other men to the Law and to the Testimonie for that Rule is common to us and you you must take a little more pains to satisfie us then you do your Scots you shall put it among our Errors that vvee hold if you will that wee ought to trie all things that wee may keep that which is good you are not sure but som of those things that you count Error may bee the Truth and why may not som among us have had the boldness or the happiness to know that to bee true which is not the opinion of the Church of Scotland And least you should claim a privilege for the vanitie of boasting give us leav to use it for once as well as you and to tell you that wee have reason to believ that there are som on this side Tweed to whom the Father of Lights by the Word and Spirit of Truth hath made as full and glorious manifestations of himself as hee hath don to you who dwell beyond And though you are pleased in your wonted usurpation of the Throne of God wherein you will sit and judg our affections to tell us wee love to walk in the imaginations of our own hearts and in the light of our own fires and the rest that follow 's wee tell you you should do better to leav our hearts to God but withal wee must walk according to the light that God is pleased to give us as it is in us it is our own light and if wee should go from that to follow your light becaus it is yours wee should sin against our light and against God and this wee are content you shall note for another of our Errors That wee dare not believ that either the dictate of anie of your Ministers or ours either nor the
this honor and for this Kingdom According as wee have been taught of God wee believ that herein is our heavenlie Father glorified that wee bear much fruit and become the Disciples of our Lord Jesus and for that purspose that wee nourish the springings up from that root of life which of his Free grace by the Spirit hee hath planted in our souls and ever keep them open to receiv in those divine influences and emanations of life and light that flow forth from him for the irrigation of that root of life when once planted whereby hee prepare's further communications of truth and light in which everie soul is capable of an increas and ought not to bee stinted by anie humanely imposed forms The Kingdom of Jesus Christ which hee exerciseth in this state of things for of that which is to com there is no occasion here to speak is not of this world nor after the pattern or manner of administration of the Kingdoms of the World which lye in the evil one and are acted by the prince of the power of darkness but it is altogether spiritual managed by the irresistible power of his Spirit in the hearts of men according to his manifold wisdom and the various proportions in several subjects that hee hath conceived in the eternal Idea's according to which that work proceed's by his own efficiencie even according to that way of working in which hee invisibly effect's and work 's all things in the visible Physicall world which is a thing known onely to a few of the children of wisdom unknown to you and therefore you will blaspheme it and put that also into the Catalogue of Errors as you use to do all things that either pass your understanding or cross your carnal Interest But those who are thus made the subjects of Christs Kingdom are enabled with a principle to walk worthie of it in all wel-pleasing They have received an unction even the falling down of that Spirit which was shed upon their head abundantlie for hee received not the Spirit by measure this annointing teacheth them all things even all things necessarie for everie calling degree state of life or condition whatsoever either as single men or as they constitute Common-wealths or Governments And when they meet quatenus Christians which are called Churches in all these conditions they who are subjected to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ are instructed how to walk in the beautie of holiness The first lesson taught them by this annointing is to denie themselvs and not seek their own things but those of Jesus Christ and to walk in love becaus God is love This is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to which wee desire to subject our selvs and wee long for a further manifestation of the power of it appearing in all fruitfull productions in the eyes of men to the prais of God Wee hope there are manie who propound this end and press on to this mark and through mercie wee hope wee may say manie among us have atteined som weak degrees of it But indeed wee confess wee do not strive to advance your forms in which wee can discover no beautie but everie day doth more and more discover to us your gross hypocrisie under them and their rank savor of the flesh and carnalitie And wee doubt not but the Lord will go on to perfect both what hee hath begun to do in us and work by us and to make a more full discoverie of the unprofitableness of your Forms by the dailie increas of new light to those who have been nuzl'd in darkness and shortlie abolish them all at the brightness of his coming And indeed though wee dare not denie but several among you have the seed of God in you and a foundation laid through grace whereby you are in a salveable state yet you have built so much hay and straw and stubble upon that foundation and so choaked the work of God by your self-superstructions and exaltations and so grieved that good Spirit of God by which you were to bee built up by your pride and hateful hypocrisie that the effects thereof do not very beautifully appear in you so as those who shall compare your proceedings with the word of God for your ensnaring and Apocryphal Covenant wee shall not admit to fit on the same seat as a co-judg with the sacred Scriptures and look to the effects that thereupon have followed especially as to the souls of men must needs notwithstanding anie of your pretences abhor and abominate your hypocritical formalitie And God will execute his judgments too upon those who imprison and obstruct the free passage of truth as wel as upon those which corrupt it How far som of you have been heretofore Seducers in England wee well remember know also the tendencie of this your seasonable warning that way Remember too when men will not love truth becaus it crosseth their carnal Interest they are given up to the worst practice and certainly the practical abominations of Antichrist as you call it I would rather say that the state of the Apocalyptical Beastianism are among them by them by just judgment of God for a punishment of their persecution of truth for Interest sake God branding them to all the world for none of his because holiness is not written in their fore-heads and engraven upon the palms of their hands and held out to the world in profession and practice but they have a spot which is not the spot of his children Hee that saith hee remaineth in him ought so walk even as hee hath walked And indeed wee must tell you you are justly subject to a jealousie that there is somthing of Antichrist among you there is such an universal wickedness among you prophane swearing is your dialect and lying hath put you into a Proverb uncleanness blusheth not in your Stools of Repentance perhaps an ill remedie for that sin to expose them to view that unclean and wicked persons may know and learn where to finde one another have not the spuings of your Bacchanals lately flowed in your streets And whether they do not yet run down wee know not But 't is like there will bee a Coronation-Torrent as well as an arrival-puddle Your Armie had one other singular good qualitie when they were in England by virtue of the Covenant that nothing could escape their fingers at the remove of a march but what was too hot to handle or too heavie or troublesom to carrie or drive away For your telling us of the manie Antichrists in England wee shall return you this Wee have in England som new lights concerning Antichrist which you are not acquainted with there are several things in which you know vvondrous little becaus you shut all nevv light out of Scotland it 's too large to bee told you in a digression and wee shall not go so far out of our cours to make you at present that discoverie onely let us give you a seasonable warning to
look well to your selvs and see if there bee not a great deal of that same thing among you that you take not notice of certainly 't is not confined to Rome and Romane vvorship 't is everie where more or less and grosly and formally where 't is little taken notice of Wee denie not but much of it is in England but you have taken your marks about it much amiss and know not at all wherein 7 The success of that partie provs not the goodness of their caus or that they shall prosper still Warning The Lord who it wonderful in counsel and excellent in working hath been pleased to put the rod of his anger and the staff of his indignation in their hand for executing of his wrath against Malignant becaus of the enmitie and opposition of that generation unto the caus and people of God But if they shall invade this land and exalt themselvs against the Lords inheritance and the people that are in Covenant with him For whose sake the Lord did cloath them with power for a time for taking vengeance upon his enemies Then shall they stumble and fall and bee broken in pieces Though the host of Senacherib did prevail against Samaria yet did they fall in Judah and hee did return with shame and was slain with the sword in his own land That partie hath as yet no caus to boast that God bath prospered them in Arms against the Covenant or against a praying people stedfast in the Lords caus following his way and waiting upon him for help and success All their encounters have hitherto been against Malignants and now the Lord having performed so much of his work against that generation who know's but the Sectaries day may also be coming and that when the state of the question shall bee changed God may turn his hand upon them and bring upon them the judgments of a broken Covenant as hee hath ever don to all that look that way 7 Wee acknowledg that greatness of success neither evidence's the goodness of a Caus Answer nor give 's assurance of its own continuance What success the merciful providence of God hath given to the Armies of this Nation we desire humbly and thankfully to acknowledg and rejoice in and rejoice not an our selvs or arrogate anie thing of prais or honor which is onely due to the Lord of hosts in whose hand wee were Instruments and of our selvs are nothing The Lord who is indeed wonderful in counsel and excellent in working hath been pleased to execute his wrath by us against Tyrannie and against that caus which you have now espoused And having now called our Armies also to go against an hypocritical Nation Wee shall proceed with confidence that wee shall also bee inabled to chastize their breach of Treaties and most wicked and perfidious Invasion of this Nation And do not think your distinguishing your selvs from Malignants will bee your shield against Divine justice as if there were none but that generation against whom his wrath were kindled And indeed should they prevail onely against and destroy that sort of people among you it would leav your poor land verie much unpeopled for wee verie well know you have fortie Malignants to one that is devoted to your Kirk You say that partie hath not yet prospered in Arms against the Covenant Wee need not fight with the Covenant it is com to nothing without it it was brought a little too near the Ark and 't is faln like Dagon and there let it lye But were there no Covenanters in Hamiltons Armie Was not that Parlament that sent them a Covenanting Parlament Can there bee such a thing in Scotland as a Parlament not Covenanting yet Dagon was then faln and had neither head nor hands it could neither advise nor help which hath Divine Ordination and Institution when it shall bee idolized provokes to jealousie him that will not give his glorie to another The Brazen Serpent was set up by Divine command and more wonderful effects wrought by looking upon it at Gods command then wee ever yet saw your humane invention of the Covenant produce where it hath been imposed yet when 't was made an Idol hee is commended that brake it in pieces and called it Nehushtam The Temple was astructure of Gods own contrivance and prescription and built and furnished with no small charge and there was in it greater mysteries then are perhaps of all men understood yet when the people made an Idol of it and put their confidence in it crying out The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord while they committed all abomination God gave up to destruction both it and them You have too much cryed up the Covenant and the Kirk of Scotland and taught the people to trust too much in them for the continuance or safetie of either of them And while you talk of a praying people wee are not much scar'd at it consider whether your prayers have not been your provocations wee mean not those onely which were offered up with your drink-offerings for the health of your King when you kindled so manie fires all over your streets if not to the Host of Heaven yet to Liber Pater and for the Heathenish celebration of those Lyaean Mysteries But wee mean also even those hypocritical houlings of your ignorant crouds when they keep time to your passion and the ebullitions of your dark zeal invoking vengeance from Heaven with a spirit of love and meekness no doubt becoming Gospel-administrations against the Sectaries who are men you know not onely your selvs have painted them black that you might with the more intention of heat and malice hate them These your horrible mis-carrings have quite lost you with all wise and good men onely with such Papers as these you still baffle your own people and keep them under slaverie and subject them to a danger which is by everie compassionate spirit to bee much pittied If you bee angrie at this plain dealing you may thank your selvs if you care not what you say to delude the people wee must tell ours the truth to undeceiv them And let not those few in Scotland who truly fear God for wee have heard there bee a few such though but a verie few bee kindled at this plain dealing which the pride hypocrisie of this Paper hath necessitated not least they should still bee wise not onely in their own conceits for of that cure wee have no hope but least they should still appear what they are not to the judgments of others and thereby dangerously deceiv them 8 Wee desire that not onely others Warning but the Sectaries themselvs may consider that when England was verie low and well nigh brought under the feet of the Popish Prelatical and Malignant Partie That this Nation was then much solicited for their assistance and relief and even by som of these who have since that time been verie active and instrumental for