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truth_n	church_n	doctrine_n	teach_v	6,712	5	6.4919	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43841	Fasciculus literarium, or, Letters on several occasions I. Betwixt Mr. Baxter, and the author of the Perswasive to conformity, wherein many things are discussed, which are repeated in Mr. Baxters late plea for the nonconformists, II. A letter to an Oxford friend, concerning the indulgence Anno 1671/2, III. A letter from a minister in a country to a minister in London, IV. An epistle written in Latin to the Triers before the Kings most happy restauration / by John Hinckley ...	Hinckley, John, 1617?-1695.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1680 (1680)	Wing H2046; ESTC R20043	157,608	354

the Lord and his Anointed Qui non vitat peccare c. And will any dare to run upon the thick Bosses of his Buckler There is a sad Text in the tenth of Hosea The Princes of Juda were like to them that remove the bound That is They neglected the Laws which were as bounds in matters of Religion Now it was a great Sin in the Law to remove the ancient Landmark Therefore it follows in that Text I will pour out my wrath upon them like water Josiah and Hezekiah Constantine and Theodosius have embalmed their Names to all Posterity The former by beating down Idolatrous Altars and Groves The latter by encouraging the true Christian Religion not only against its open Enemies the Heathen But defending it too against the Arrians and other dangerous Hereticks who endeavour'd in the very bosom of the Church to eat out the very Bowels of it Those Churches have been most commended which have been most Zealous for the Truth against those that have oppos'd it As the Church of Ephesus That she hated the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans The Church of Thyatira was condemned because she suffered the woman Jezebel who call'd her self a Prophetess to teach and seduce his Servants to commit fornication that is the impure Gnosticks The Lord had also a quarrel with the Church of Pergamus that she suffered them that held the Doctrine of Balaam And if these things be blameable in Churches it cannot be for the Honour of the chiefest Magistrates who are the Supreme Governors of them to suffer Jews and Gentiles Barbarians and Scythians Parthians Medes and Elamites Papists Arrians Independents Anabaptists Quakers to set open their Shops and expose their Trinkets in their Dominions for though these look several ways yet they are mov'd and carried about with one and the same Primum Mobile or Spring of Confusion Miserable are the People that are in such a Case As once it was in Israel when every one did that which seemed good in his own Eyes It shew'd the Impotency of Julian that when he saw his Cruelty would not abate the Zeal of the Christians He gave every one leave to follow his own Religion This is not the Case of our Constantine His Garments are not dy'd with the blood of his Subjects nor are our Streets prophan'd with the doleful cries of poor Orphans But by mildness clemency and gentleness both he and his Subordinate Officers had made such a Conquest upon the hearts of the People that even by the Cords of love they were drawn into an happy Harmony except some few Obdurate Caitiffs who can only be melted and softned by an hotter Element But alas There comes an unlucky wind out of the wilderness which on a suddain blasts all our Hopes and throws all our Doors from off their Hinges All the Bars of our Gates are broken Come Foxes Come Leopards Here 's a free and open passage we shall be an easie prey who will may sport themselves in our gore and lay wast our pleasant Plants Although our Laws were almost asleep before this Hurricano came yet the very Image and Picture of them did fright away the Birds of Prey The Woolf durst not Approach our Folds so long as there was but the Resemblance of a Mastiffe-Dog But now these Terriculamenta these Scare-crows being taken away the Laws being fallen into a Swoon I had almost said the Laws being extinct the Frogs Croak up and down in every corner I hope they will never be so impudent and saucy as those were in Pharaoh's days to hop or dance their Hays in Kings Chambers By this you will easily see that this Indulgence is not the way to procure God's blessed favour upon Magistrates and their Government nor does it tend to their safety for though these Dissenters seem to be Innocent harmless Creatures without either Tushes or Talons yet they have rooted and ayowed Principles in them against the Grandeur and Majesty if not the very Being of Kings and though they fawn at present and bless God who hath put such a thing as this into the heart of the King and are ready to say They have a greater share in David than we Yet let but a warm gleam ripen them into Maturity let their Fangs and Sampson's Locks grow out again or let them be cross'd in their darling Dalilah by brideling them up from then beloved liberty and then will they not lift up their heels or Curse him to his Face Looking backward in this Case will be looking forward And History will be down-right Prophecy Pelle sub agninâ latitat mens saepe lupina You Remember that when the late King Declar'd That the Right according to Law was in him to Arrah his Subjects for the Defence of his Person and Government And accordingly He did Commissionate many worthy Persons to put the same in Execution that not one of these Dissenters would Comply with that Declaration When also He Prohibited any to take the Covenant by his Royal Proclamation Do you call to mind any one of these new Royalists that did obey it But now there comes out a Declaration Mouth-meet which throws the Reins upon their own Necks and permits them like unbroken Colts to go whither they will and now who better Subjects than they What Not obey the King's Declaration It is their Duty So that should the King rule by Edicts as our Stories tell us His Predecessors have done before the Reign of Henry the First who began the Foundation of Parliaments these men are like to be his most sequacious and obsequious Followers Ready fixt to make him an Absolute and Glorious Prince Some it may be will be ready to add Yes as they did his Father before him For I much fear That if it should please His Sacred Majesty to set forth another Declaration to try the temper of their Obedience to Reinforce the Laws concerning Episcopacy and the Liturgy that these Men would not then obey the same for Conscience sake It is strange to see what queazy Stomachs these men have one Morsel which is Cook'd to their Palats they will swallow without chewing And at another which is every whit as wholsom they will sputter as if it were Poison Mr. Baxter himself has had Experience of this Inconstancy If he call upon them to Confederate and associate themselves in Private Meetings they say he is return'd to his first love and his old Principles But if he tell them of his receiving the Sacrament on his Knees and call on them to stand up at the Hymns in the Common-Prayers then they say he is an Apostate It may be this Indulgence like a thick Gobbet may stop their mouths at present The King may sleep securely for a time whil'st Jacob and Esau are struggling in the Womb whil'st York and Lancaster are in Aequilibrio poised in an even Ballance But alas this would be but a serene Calm before a Tempest The drinking a Cup of Wine before a Feverish Fit or

to be truth which you call so When I see Scripture and reason for them let me be accounted stabborn or stupid if I either shut my Eyes or cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hold them steddy enough to discern them in their genuine Colours Before this be done you cannot be assured that you are a true Prophet in judging and condemning me afore-hand Are you Secretary to him who at one glance sees them who have Eyes and see not or else see but perceive not You know who it was that boasted that his Eyes were open Numb 24. 3. I wish you knew me better and then you might have abated these severities How can you hope to heal our Divisions and to wooe our English World into mutual love when your own Gall runs over with such large Effluviums and your thoughts are so over-weening as if you did comprehend all Knowledge Truth and Light and we poor Wretches were groping in Cimmerian darkness or grovelling in some narrow Ditch But if you will not hold up your Taper and help us forth reserving your Antidote against our sin and error in your own Breast take heed you meet not with the same doom as he in Cardan who knew how to cure the Stone and dyed without revealing it It is well that you are pleas'd to prolong your Answer until I procure you a License for so you may spare your own trouble usque ad Cal. Graec. For who would unmuzzle a fierce Panther that would worry him that sets his Chops at liberty Although another Man would tell you Herein you deal like the Papists who tell us they can prove us all Hereticks if they might have liberty to dispute and write without the hazard of the Law Yet when it pleases them they take liberty more than enough Sir if ever you comply with my sober Request you need not direct it to me but to the Common-wealth of the English Clergy As for those four Lines 2. Part. Pag. 8. spend your second thoughts upon them and see whether you can make sense of them There you serve in again the same Dish of Coleworts but you leave out the Author and name the Book yet in your Grammar the Book is a Person This is no Solacism with you who can make one Disparatum to predicate of another for in the same Part Pag. 92. you categorically affirm that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Verb. These are but trifles yet if a Man be put to sencing he will take all advantages As for the bulk and scope of your Book concerning healing Church Divisions Cum sis mortalis c. The Scene is laid in Heaven and the design is Generous Noble and Christian It is great pity that you should Ausis excidere tam magnis Yet consider whether the aim and level be both right If you would have us joyn together with one Heart and Shoulder in the Worship of God as now constituted which you allow P. 38. me thinks you should not I will use as much softness as I can have spoken so sleightly of Conformity As if you should conform it would neither be a little or single sin Pag. 26. This must needs weaken our Hands prejudice our Ministry and make the People cold in joyning with us Will those words of Mr. Dod hold weight in the Ballance of the Sanctuary who thanked God for the Churches sake that some Men conform'd and for the Truth sake that some conform'd not Can that be for the advantage of the Church which is not according to the Truth Does God stand in need of our Lies should we speak wickedly for God or talk deceitfully for him Job 13. 7. 2. Though in some places you speak honourably of our Liturgy Pag. 38. 59. 88. yet you dash all again by complaining of its imperfect mode and fashion of words Pag. 59. And that you joyn with us meerly by force for want of a better for were you in New-England you would not joyn with our Prayers 2. Part P. 176. Is this your Balm of Gilead for our Wounds Are you like to prove a good Samaritan to our bleeding Church What lowring and longing must there be after another mode of Worship if ours be so imperfect and that of other Churches so far beyond it You do well Go on that you joyn with the Prayers of the Liturgy and in the Celebration of the Sacrament P. 34. 40. yet you will not touch either as to an active Administration of them with the least of your Fingers And herein you resemble the present Jews who hire Christian Servants to kindle their Fires and to dress their Meat on the Sabbath-day They care not what is done so they do it not themselves 3. Was it a right course to cement us and cure our Divisions by alienating the Minds of Men from their Governours and that Government which is established by Law amongst us As if it were not lawful by your Doctrine to own Diocesan Bishops and to hold Communion with a Diocesan Church P. 75. Nay we must not communicate with a Parish Minister who concurreth with the Bishops P. 77 The Government is such as God will not accept Part 2. P. 3. And to take off the Stomachs of Subjects the more from their present Governours you have found out a Forreign Government for them though not in Rome yet in Bohemia Pag. 46. which in your Judgment does far surpass ours Sir I thought it had been far better for you and I to obey old Establishments than to invent or prescribe new ones If we set the People a gadding after Innovations we neither perform our own Duties nor go the right way to cure the Peoples Divisions Now Sir I have given you these Strictures not out of any desire to reciprocate the same with you any farther than a private Letter but only to prepare you for what you may expect from your Antagonist and to shew you how dangerous it is to recede from the good old Paths and allowed Principles and to bewilder our selves and others with new and rash contrivances of our own Heads As for any thing which upon just and proper Grounds shall have a tendency to the advancing of Love and Peace I shall always be your Second and your Fidus Achates whilst I am John Hinckley Northfield April 11. In Worcester-shire Mr. BAXTER'S Third Letter SIR THough you foretel me how little good my writing will do you in which I presume not to contradict you yet the vindication of Truth is an end sufficient to invite me to bestow a few more Lines in detecting your unworthy opposition against that Object of the intellectual Nature Truth and Repentance are the things which you vehemently militate against under pretence of skirmishing with my words and that by no better Weapons than a wrangling Wit Rhetorical diversions which you use like one unwilling to understand the truth or to confess an Error or injurious Deed. § 1. You tell me I am a treacherous Watchman if I suffer sin

War I cannot say of a multitude a few only were ingaged for there was then no multitude in England of Nonconformable Ministers Little did I think to have ever been put to dispute such a Cause about open matter of Fact I know not your age but being a Preacher near four years before the Wars I was old enough to know that in all the Counties that I was acquainted in there was not above one poor obscure Nonconformable Minister in a County taking one with another nor I think past one for two Counties Poor old Mr. Barnet in Shrop-shire Mr. Langley in Cheshire none in Worchester-shire Mr. Atkins in Stafford-shire Mr. Angier in Lancashire and how few more in all England and which of these medled with the Wars § 26. And here you say I had thought currente rota while your Hand was in you would have said that the Regicides were Episcopal too c. Sir I now perceive Cateline was a Fool c. Answ And is there any sense or strength in such an Answer Do such words satisfie your Conscience for the falsifying of such notorious matters of Fact Is there any room for a doubt in the Business except to Strangers or those that were unborn or Children Would you make me believe that I saw not what I saw and heard not what I heard You say If Episcopal Men began and carried on the War and Presbyterians were free c. Answ Did I say that they were free or that they joyned not in the Progress How could a non-ens be free or guilty There were very few Presbyterian Ministers then in England the Scots did bring in Presbytery afterward You add § 27. You were too credulous c. were they Episcopal Men that cryed To your Tents O Israel that preached Curse ye Meroz first voted and then fought against the King Answ Is there one Man named here as an Instance to Confute me Is this Evidence fit for such a Contradictor of notoriety it self When you have named me the Men that used those words I will answer you whether they were Episcopal I think Dr. Burges was one of the most accused Preachers being Assessor in the Assembly and Chaplain to the Earl of Essex's own Regiment And he was one that protested for a Salvo for Episcopacy when the Covenant was taken in the Assembly as he hath told me with his own Mouth and wrote to me with his own Hand and none deny And Dr. Downing of Hackney was one of the next Chaplain to the Lord Roberts's Regiment who being Dr. of the Civil Law hath Writings yet visible in print for Prelacy and Conformity Mr. Marshal and Mr. Obadia Sedgwick were two of the next one Chaplain to Essex the other to the Lord Hollis's Regiment both old Conformists Of all the Chaplains of Essex's Army I knew not a Non-conformist and Presbyterian but Mr. Ash and I think I knew them almost all And for the Parliament I said enough before The Members yet living say that Mr. Tate of Northampton-shire was the only Presbyterian then in the House of Commons and I never yet knew one among the Lords § 28. You say If they were they were degenerous from the English Episcopacy they did not keep close to our Church which were my words to our Articles our Canons our Lyturgy our Homilies 1. Answ Your words were also Who can choose but nauseate that way of Discipline c. 2. Speak out then and confess that they were degenerous Episcopal Men and call them to repentance as the Raisers of the War and deceive not Posterity by telling them the contrary 3. But Sir what mean you by your Church which they kept not close to Doth not the Canon Anathematize them that deny the Convocation to be the Representative Church And must not the main Body of the Clergy then be your Church And doth not Dr. Heylin largely shew you that there were but five Bishops joyned at first with Bishop Laud and that Abbot had the rest with him in so much that they durst not commit their Cause to a Convocation And that Arminianism new Ceremonies with Matters of Propriety and Prerogative were the Matters then of the Contention which made Heylin say That he knew not whether the Church could have a greater plague than a Popular Prelate because of Abbots Interest in the Nobility Gentry and People How should one then have known which of the Parties was the Church and who shall be Judge which Party it is that keeps close to the Articles Canons Lyturgy and Homilies Whitgift with Dr. Whitaker thought that the Anti-Arminian Lambeth Articles were the sense of the Church and Articles George Abbot Arch bishop and Robert Abbot Bishop of Salisbury with Davenant Hall c. thought the middle Augustinian way was the true sense of the Articles Lyturgy c. which is the plain truth Bishop Laud with his four Partners Neile Buckeridge Howson and Corbet thought as Heylin saith that the way called Arminian was the true sense of the Articles and Church Overal and Mountague kept with them of the middle way in the main yet were more averse to the Calvinist Prelates than the rest These fall out among themselves The Arminians being few are born down by the rest in Parliaments and Convocations The Duke of Buckingham and as Heylin saith the King favoured the five dissenting Bishops When favour strengtheneth their Party they call themselves the Church accordingly one part of them pleadeth for His Majesties Prerogative c. and the other are for Parliaments and cry up Propriety and Liberty At last the Scotch and Irish Bussles prepare all for a War and these two Episcopal Parties sight one Party cryeth down Arminianism Innovations Altars favour to Papists Ship-money c. the other Party cryeth out against absolute Reprobation Calvinism Puritanism c. the one Party cryeth down the Papists and calleth the Scots Presbyterians to their help the other Party cryeth down the Presbyterians and calleth the Papists to their help Which of these is the Church which keepeth close to the Articles Canons c. for my part I am none of the Judge between them in that Point And I think if you call one side the Church it will be never the more the Church for that unless the King doth make it so but surely they were both Episcopal though one Party after fell in with the Presbyterians and the Presbyterians were conquered or cast out by the Sectaries and the other Party kept with the King § 29. You say Would Episcopal Men conspire to root out Episcopacy Answ At first they conspired but to restrain and regulate those that they thought Innovators and Arminians c. I speak only of Church Matters but after they were too weak to defend themselves without the Scots and Sectaries and were content to take down Episcopacy to please their Helpers rather than to be overcome themselves § 30. Whether Williams or Laud was the better Arch-bishop or whether they did well that

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

it is the best and most wonderful effect it is like to work for I perceive by sad Experience That it is as difficult a work thorowly to Convert one of these Dissenters as to carry Mount Caucasus upon one's back I will assure you I have laboured much in convincing and perswading some of them to be true Members of our English Church The work was done in appearance They seem'd to be not only Proselytes of the Gate but of Justice too In every thing submitting to and approving our orders Yet when liberty of Meetings was proclaim'd off flies these Demases like a company of Ducklings hatch'd under an Hen They follow her and she Hives them under her wings but if they come near their own Element the water the Hen may cluck her heart out They are turned Renegado's and will have none of her company And no wonder for one of the Bel-weathers of this Flock bleated formerly like an harmless Sheep as if he intended Unity and the healing Church-Divisions But when there was tidings of an Indulgence He turns his style and strikes up an Alarm for Separation and Schism His word is As you were He pushes again with his old Horns which had been hid for a time under wool as the Viper covers his teeth under soft flesh Sir I fear this melancholick Discourse has made you sad And indeed who can be otherwise that sees the sad fate of Religion How it is gone backward more degrees than ever the Sun did in the Dial of Ahaz Not only the disguised Sectaries who were perswaded to be almost Christians have returned to their former Vomit They are as busie as ever in undermining our Walls widening our closing wounds and pouring in Wine without any Oyle into them But the prophane Gallio's have their Conventicles too The Ale-houses strut with these Companions why say they may not we meet and have our liberty as well as every Faction has leave to bandy together and gratifie the Itch of th●ir several humours The very Peasants can tell us if we give a check to their Extravagancies That now they have liberty of Conscience And this is not strange in them when some Lawyers have mooted the Case Whether there be any Penalties remaining for Drunkards and Whoremasters Thus the meer Moralist and Natural man who is inclin'd to Atheism is hardened against all Religion And that Sect amongst us who seem to be most Zealous for Religion in observing the Christian Sabbath as if on a sudden they were become Ranters do's most scandalously prophane it I know this word will be swallow'd with much Kecking and reluctancy yet let the best of their Casuists state and determine it otherwise if they dare After they have considered with themselves impartially Whether it be not a breach of the Sabbath to Run or Ride six or seven miles on that Day to hear a gifted Preacher when they might have heard the word of Truth and Salvation rightly divided and applied at home Is not this to play the Wantons with those things which are most Sacred Is not this to slight contemn reproach and discourage their own painful Ministers who watch for their Souls and to teach others to do so by their example when God himself has Commanded to reverence and honour him with double honour Nay let them say it close to their hearts Whether these Transactions do not savour of the Mystery of Iniquity I know they are forward enough to lay this Brat at the doors of Rome And for me let it lye there yet 't is worth their second thoughts Whether such dealings are not Iniquity yet a Mysterie because they are crusted and cover'd over with a pretence of Piety and Devotion I know you will wonder that they are so forward to leave wholsom and solid meat to run after Kickshaws Will you give me leave to divine They are in pain and do Penance in keeping off their hats and kneeling in the publick They are of Judas his mind that all is wasted which is spent in an outward Reverence and a bodily honour upon their Maker They must be more familiar with God sit cheek by Jole with him and be hale fellow well met with the Almighty that they may reason the Case with him if need be upon even terms As when they said Lord why did'st thou leave us in the West Why did'st thou forsake us at Leicester But whil'st our Religioso's are thus traversing their ways it is pretty to observe how the Presbyterians and Independents do salute and embrace each other who could scarce agree together in our Remembrance in the same College City or Kingdom yet now they throng together into the same Parlour Hall or more ignoble Apartment Herod and Pilate Manasses and Ephraim have joyn'd hands against Christ and Juda. And that you may see what Wonders this Indulgence worketh Those that pretended weakness and disability of Body to go a stones throw to their own Churches They would sigh as if they were ready to expire if we desired their Company there yet now they can rise early in the morning and Gallop several Miles to a Meeting The King you see is a most Sovereign Physitian He can heal all Maladies and Distempers He can make an old decrepit Sectary to find new legs and new strength and to grow young again all over Before you lay down your Admiration concerning these Aenigmatical men tell me if you can how those that have lifted up their hands to Heaven in the solemn League and Covenant against a toleration of other Religions can kiss the golden Calf of a Vniversal Indulgence and yet tell us we go about to wound their Consciences and perswade them to be perjur'd If we perswade them to declare There is no Obligation in the Covenant let the next Age expound these prevaricating Riddles I know they say we value our Reputations so much that we are loth that others should share with us And have we not a Cause If our Credit be stain'd our Preaching will be of little moment Alexander got most Victories by the glory of his Name Did not St. Paul complain of those who would exclude him out of the Affections of the People Therefore to keep our names intemerate and free from the sullying breath of calumniating Traducers 't is not a vain affectation of Honour but a necessary means to make our Ministery effectual They tell us too that we have our Tithes allow'd us still we may gnaw our Crust in a corner without snarling at others True if our aims in taking on us this Angelical Office were so low as only to look after the Loaves and the Milk without any care of the Flock As if a man should marry a Wife meerly for Portion and then suffer her to be prostituted to the Lusts of other Men. Nay It is the ready way to expose us to the Scorns and Affronts of our People to give us their Tithes and yet to allow them liberty to choose their Ministery for the

go to every Feast and place where he is invited If his lips preserve Knowledge the People are to seek the Law at his Mouth Christ taxes the People that they would not come to him Though sometimes He was found of them that sought him not He that teaches School does not go to several Houses where his Scholars dwell but thinks he discharges his Duty if he teach them when they meet in the place appointed for them If we should go to all Houses and deal with the People there in private how soon might we wound our Names and bring a Scandal upon our Persons Besides other Reproaches This would too much resemble false Teachers who had only a Form of Godliness without the Power thereof who crept into Houses and led Captive silly Women This Practice has been very serviceable to such as have made it their Business to set up for themselves and to make Parties in the Church Great has been this Diana of the Independents and other Sectaries But we have not so learned Christ Wo be to us if we preach not the Gospel publickly when we may Such Assemblies are most for God's Honour And Wo be to them that attend not at the Posts of Wisdom's Temple when there is no invincible Impediment to keep them back and prefer Pest-Houses before the Gates of Heaven You know who set up an Exercise of Prophecying among Ministers This was very plausible in its time yet afterwards there was Cause to discontinue the same And if this Preaching from House to House has ever been useful to the Church of God there may be Reason enough now to forbear the Practice of it since it is not of Divine Institution when so many speak in the Language of Ashdod and under this Pretence may easily Insinuate their Hetrodoxies into the minds of weak but Well-meaning People Those that are so minded may bring in damnable Heresies and countermine all our Labours by this Jesuitical Stratagem So that we shall weave Penelope's Webb Besides some there are who will have none of our Divinity They will even thrust us out of their Doors others are poor and must maintain themselves and their Families by a diligent following of their Callings And no doubt but they may serve God on the Week-days as well in their honest and conscionable labours as if they should every day hear a Sermon Therefore to tender our selves to interrupt them in their Vocations by our Preaching unto them in such a Land of light under the very Tropick of the Gospel will either beget in them a Nauseating of God's Word or else it will be as unseasonable unto them as Singing the Songs of Zion to those that sit by the waters of Babylon Every Master of a Family is a Priest in his own house And after we have done our Duty in the Church we must leave something for him to do at home otherwise it may be he may become a Drone and devolve his whole care upon us At least he will be slack and sluggish as to the Publick He will not care to go to the Market If others must Cater for him and bring his Meat to his own Doors We our selves also shall have but little time to study in if we must be Domestick Chaplains to every House within our Precincts Our Breasts will quickly be dry if we do not supply what is exhausted and give Attendance unto Reading as well as to Exhortation There had need be as many Ministers as there were Dii penates among the Heathen And the Doctrine of these Men doth suppose the Lord's Vineyard so furnish'd with Labourers that there may be one allotted to every Tree A Guardian Angel to every House But there lurks a Serpent under these Verdant Leaves They would set up Preaching from house to house either that there may be matter of ostentation to glory in their singular diligence How often have we heard this from the Press And the Actors themselves have been the Trumpeters or else there are some who under this Umbrage would sow Tares in the furrows of our Field and give a vent to their own Singularities and Discontents May we ever give thanks unto God in the great Congregation May Jerusalem be as a City that is at Vnity in it self and may the Tribes have liberty to go up thither to worship that so Those evils which the craft and subtilty of the Devil or Man worketh against us may be brought to nought that we his Servants being hurt by no Persecutions may evermore give thanks in his Holy Church through Jesus Christ our Lord. CAP. VII A Toleration of all Religions is not like to contribute to the welfare of the King himself THe true glory of Princes said the Royal Martyr consists in advancing God's glory in the maintenance of true Religion and the Churches Good And as it is a Prince's Glory so it is his Safety and Security to Countenance the truth and to discourage Error When the People chose new Gods we presently read That war was in the Gate By me said God do Kings Reign And as they Reign by his powerful Assignment so they should Reign for the glory of his Name and the Comfort of his Houshold the Church here they must be Nursing Fathers the Guardians of his Spouse And the Keepers of the first Table which concerns Religion towards God as well as of the second towards Men. Christ is no Polygamist He has not a Wife in every Corner Unity is an Essential mark of the true Church It is a sign of the last times to say Loe Christ is here or loe he is there It argues no less than proud Donatism to say the true Church is in this Conclave or the other Town-Hall exclusively to other places The Papists are not the only Usurpers and Ingrossers in the World consining the Church within the compass of the seven Hills Every Sect is guilty of the same incroachment And though some of these are contrary one to the other yet every one will lay claim to some kind of Infallibility They would be look'd upon as the peculiar Darlings and chosen People of God almost to the dispaleing and Reprobating all the rest Now It is the Honour of Magistrates first to discern what is the Catholick and Apostolick Faith and then to Shield and defend the same lest if they should suffer God to be Blasphem'd by various and contrary Modes of Worship they should not only not shew themselves to be God's Vicegerents and Defenders of the Faith but provoke his wrath against themselves for the not keeping up the Mounds of his Vineyard I had almost said for laying it wast The breaking down the Hedge and the not maintaining it is almost Tantamount And the Hogs that root up the Garden are not more Accessory to the defacing of it than those that let them in Where God's Honour and the Churches Peace and Unity are not asserted There it will be interpreted little less than taking counsel against