their prayers were answered of God by those my books and that if they did not believe what I said and do the same speedily that God would send them strong delusions and bring sudden destruction upon them Isa. 65. 12 24. Isa. 66. 3. 4. 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. so I say unto you now that if ye will not be answered by the same things of God in my aforesaid Books God will likewise send you strong delusions and bring sudden destruction upon you for your contempt of his truth in not believing it ye cry against the late Parl. because they cheated the people of their monies and blame also these men now of Westminster as you call them for treading their steps and not calling the other to an account for all the injustice they did alas do ye think that these or the like men will ever call them to an account Nay we must think these will rather be more chargeable to the people then they were For do ye think that such mean men raised to such high places who not having means of their own sufficiently to maintain their greatness will not have it out from the people over whom they have now the power and command And will they not raise their children friends and relations to all places of profit Truly it were a shame for them if they did it not and I am confident that if ye were in their place ye would do no less although the Countrey should still suffer by it yea and its like to suffer untill the King Nobles and Gentry of England injoy their rights again for they having great revenues of their own by which they are able to bear such places of Authority and govern the people at their own proper charges Therefore I say unto you if ye would have men in places of lawfull Authority that are not self-ended and covetous why do not ye bend the strength of your prayers for CHARLS your right King and his party that they may enjoy their rights again And then ye may be sure that he will call your late Parliament to an exact account for all those monies ye speak off and ease the people of their heavy taxations and doubtless ye shall prevail with God in prayer for him and have all your desires accomplished I beseech you to consider the difference between this State-Government and a Monarchy Queen Elizabeth had Wars with Spain and Wars in Ireland and also assisted Holland all which was done with her own revenues and without any Taxations from the subjects but now where are the Crown Lands What 's become of the Bishops Deans and Chapters Lands and Delinquents Estates and many other things that are gone I know not where And do ye think that the people are ever like to be eased from the abundance of Assessments and Taxes whilest the great revenues belonging to the Crown are gone which saved the people from such heavy and continual Taxes and by which large revenues Queen Elizabeth did such great things and yet left behinde her abundance of Treasures So that you may clearly see that there was a great part of the Kingdome juggled away from the Nation by the late Parliament when the new State was set up because what was the Kings was theirs for the saving of their own goods bearing their charges and so was the Church-Lands also appointed to ease the people that they should be free from being at charge to pay those that were the Chief rulers of the Church and took care for their Souls And now if ye would have God to hear you why do not ye hear him by doing justly to the King and Kingdom that righteousness may run down as a River Amos 5. 21 22 23 24. or else all your seeking of the Lord will be in vain for if ye will still have your prayers granted according to your own sense and will that is for you to prevail kill and slay all that will not submit to you then the Lord will shew your folly to all the World And do not you boast as some of you do that ye have had the Spirit of Prophesie these seven years that your Armies over-coming their Enemies is the fruit of your prayers Alas it is but your pride for it was Gods decree to deliver his people into your hands for a time to punish them for their sins and he revealed it unto me 20 years ago that your party should prevail as they have done and then come to a miserable end as I have declared Thus ye may see that it is not your spirit of Prophesie which you deceiving your selves do imagine to have nor yet is it the fruit of your prayers that hath done it for if ye had never opened your mouthes such things had come to pass you shall see within a short time that God will deliver you into the hands of his people to be utterly destroyed and all your Prophesying and praying shall not deliver you in that day Then leave off sacrificing to your Calf for it is no more then if the Egyptians should have sacrificed to their false gods for giving them power to overcome the Israelites and keep them in bondage but God had shewed to Abraham long before that his seed should serve the Egyptians Gen. 15. 13. 14. and when the time of the Israels deliyerance came then neither the Egyptians nor all their gods could keep them one day longer Exodus 12. 40. 41. so likewise the Babilonians might have gloried as you do and attributed their success to their own parts or to the power of their gods when they had overcome Israel but they were more modest then so And knew very well that they could not detain them any longer then God had decreed whereby you see that they in the very nick of Gods time set down by the Prophet Jeremiah 2 Chron. 36. 21 22 23 Ezra 1. Did send them home and restore all which was theirs to them aagain Here I have taken an occasion by the way to speak a word also to Mr. Feake Mr. Simpson and others of their party meeting in Black-Friers not doubting but when God shall arrest them saying 1 Kings 21. 19. hast thou kild and taken possession in that place where King Charls and his people lost their bloud in that very place shall thy bloud be spilt even thine and set their bloudy deeds to Cry unto their Consciences saying we are thine we will not leave thee untill thy Judgment come then their courrage will be abated and they shall know that they are not for the Interest of Jesus Christ as they falsly affirm But are for the Interest of the Devil who was 2 murtherer from the beginning John 8. 44. 1 John 3. 8. and when Nathans Ridle is opened unto others saying thou art the man 2 Sam. 12. 7. 14. For thou hast given great occasion to the Papist to Blaspheme saying these are the works of such as would be altogether Ruled by the
you let me freely speak unto you in the language of the Apostle Acts 2. 25. How be it as his speech was distastefull then so I doubt mine will be to many Palets now but I hope such as fear the Lord will hear and be pricked in their hearts Acts 2. 37. Truly though I have received his spirit for my directions herein 2. Cor. 3. 17. Eccles. 12. 10. Yet if it were possible I would not displease you I confess my matter or message is contrary to most of your judgements but for all that as I shall endeavour to deliver the same in as fair terms as I can so I hope ye will accordingly take the same in good part surely I look upon your Declaration to be your real intention and take it as a great mercy of God that ye are such men as be able to hear reproof Prov. 13. 18. Prov. 15. 5. 10. 31. And of such qualifications to fulfill such terrible places of Scripture whereas if it had been the lot of some proud hot intemporate men who would not endure to be told of what they were by their station they might have gone to Hell without mollestation or any to pity them It is averred by some that a Cockatrice seeing it self in a glass and by beholding its own deformity immediately dieth I do not wish you should do so But I wish that when I shew you by the Scripture what ye are now that ye would become what you should be to your eternal happiness I know God can turn a Saul to Paul Acts 9. 4 5. and I hope no less of you for God can turn the shadow of death into a morning Amos 5. 8. he can make darkness light and crooked things straight Isai 42. 16. so that there shall be no shadow of death nor darkness where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Job 34. 22. all these things are possible with God for them that believeth Mark 9. 23. Matth 19. 26. Indeed my main matter is both hard for me to utter and for you to understand Rom. 16. 25. 26. John 6. 27. 1 Timoth. 5. 17. Heb. 5. 11. Nahum 1. 1 2. Habaâ— 1. 1 2. for I am under a burthen which presseth me sore and have been twenty years under the same and though many think it but an easie thing to declare the minde of God and to open the mysteries of his word as they are fulfilled yet I tell you it is so hard and requireth so much courage strength and labour that none knoweth it but such as are exercised therein Jer. 9. 3. Jer. 23. 16 17. But it is an easie thing to be a flattering false Prophet who swim always with the stream crying peace where there is no peace and the World follow such Jer. 6. 14. for we see the true Prophets were generally men of sorrows condemned and persecuted by the World because they did not flatter nor spare men in Authority but told them their sins for which cause they were so rejected that some of them wished to die or that they had never been born to see the truth and their love slighted and the people ruined Jer. 20. 18. Jer. 22. 3. 4 5 6 7 8. 1 King 19. 4. and men in Authority never wanted false Prophets to flatter and destroy them by perswading them to go on and prosper 1 Kings 22. 12. until their sins were ripe and no remedy left Therefore it is better for you to hear me now while the Sun of prosperity shineth upon you then to hear those thousands who tell you the World is yours and cause you to bless your selves in the imaginations of your own hearts Deut. 29. 18 19 20. as if God were pleased with injustice bloud shed tebellion robbery opression spiritual pride drunkenness and a many other abominable inormities which the late Parliament countenanced among us for I am assured that what I do now tell you is true and will as certainly come to pass as those truths have done which I foretold to those that were in Authority before you It is certain that you do by your Declaration require a worship and acknowledgement of your power as if you were a Parliament why should I wrong and flatter you by giving you a false Title ye cannot be ignorant that according to the Laws of England ye are not a Parliament And I wonder much that ye did take that name upon you ye being so unlike to it for ye know a Parliament consists of Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons called in by the Kings Writ and chosen by the people but the generality of them as one said to me do not look upon you as a Parliament though many be forced to lie against their consciences by calling you so Is it not therefore best that I tell you the truth which is that the people do not own you as a Parliament which I fear ye will finde when they see a fit opportunity which they wait for to rise up against you whereof if I should not warn you and tell you the truth which is so clearly revealed unto me I should be a murtherer and bring your bloud upon mine own head Ezek. 3. 4 5 6 7 8 9 17 18 19. then how can I rest or hold my tongue seeing no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him 1 Joh. 3. 15. and sure it is that there is a heavy judgement to come upon you unless by repentance and amendment ye speedily prevent it And now me thinks I hear some of them in power say what shall we do to prevent this judgement I answer give that unto God which is his due and unto Caesar what is due unto him and unto all people thier just rights and Liberties 1. Do right unto God and that is restore to God all those things which were taken from the Church by the late Parliament or any other in Tithes and offerings Malach. 3. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Ye know well enough what the Tithes are and for the offerings first they are the praises of God which were sung and said dayly in our Churches both Cathedrals and others throughout the Kingdom which singing and praising of God with instruments of Musick in Scripture is called the daily sacrifice Daniel 8. 11 12 13. Daniel 12. 11. Psalm 150. Psalm 50. 14 15. Rev. 5. 8 9. Rev. 14. 2 3. All which praises being his due ye ought to restore unto him again and for other offerings belonging to God they are all those things which have been given by our fore-fathers for pious uses whether to the Church to maintain Ministers in in several places or to the maintainance of poor Orfants and aged people or any other ways left to be disposed all which ye are to restore and dispose off according to the minde of those good people that gave them for those things were sacrâ—ficed unto God who taketh care for his Ministers and for the poor and acknowledgeth that what was given to them Matt. 25. 40.
and lost the kingdom 1. Sam. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aspin wall concerning your throwing away of our Laws therein you talk idly for do you think that your generation who are of no such wisdom and learning as our former Parliaments were can make better Laws in one year then out Laws be which were in making and â—â—â—â—…ing above five hundred years and had not our former Parliaments the word of God for their direction therein as well as you or any now a daies and were they not more sober and prudent in the understanding of those Lawes I pray entertain no such foolish conceit And you tell us likewise of the Statutes of Omri Mica 6. 16. that is even such things as you set up for if you observe Jeroboam Omri and Ahab though they had many sorts of worship yet any one abject of the people served to be a Priest or a Teacher of them 1 Kin 12 31. 2 Chro. 12 8 9. 1 Kin 16. 25 26. And must the statutes of David be cast away because the statutes of Omri be nought must the statutes of K. Hen. 8. K. Edw. 6. and Q Eliz. which are against popery be cast away because other Kings statutes are Idolatrous and for popery And further you tell us an untruth That Jehojada the Priest having the supreme authority in his hand took men recommended to him by some others whom you call the Church to put them in civil authority No Sir Jehojada had not as you affirm the supreme Authority then for it is evident Athaliah did reign that six veers while he was guardian to the Kings Son 2 Kings 11. 3. But in the seventh yeer he being the Priest of God God stirred up the Spirit of Jehojada to do right to the King Princes and Levites so that he sent to bring the Princes who by right were rulers over hundreds and took an oath of them to be true to the King and presented him before them and they by his command gathered the faithful Levites to come to their charge neither took he anv mans advise in the businesse nor was any upon the attest of others received by him and put into Civil Authority as you falsly assert for he had the Spirit of God to direct him as our every one to his charge and place and directed them in what they should do as from the mouth of God and all of them did so obey Jehojada that the work was perfected even the King set on his Throne as you may see 2 Kings 11. 2 Chron. 23. But you seem by such falâ—e grounds to set up the tenent of the Romish Church which is if a man by birth be Heir to a Kingdom and ought there to rule yet if the Church of Rome do not approve of him they will deprive him if they can and give his right by their attest unto another whereby to enjoy that Civil power so that their Church do unjustly in this thing Thus there will be brave stir when your divided Churches which are part of Iron part of clay even the toes of the Image Dan. 2. 33 34 42. go about to set up men by their attest to govern in Civil Authority Then Jack Straw is set up by one Congregation and Hob. Carter by another to throw him down so that there shall be an endlesse war among them until the Stone cut out of the mountain without attest of hands to justify it smite the Image upon the feet and break it to shivers Dan. 2. 34 35 45. for the King needs not the attest of men because all know him to be the Ruler by right Another untruth you would force upon us on that Text in Gen. 49. 10 which saith The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet untill Shilo come from Judah many Kings have sprung who gave good laws kept the Scepter what say you of David and Salomons writings are there therein no Laws given out by them sure they had power from God to do it and Iesus Christ himself alloweth of their Laws insomuch that he somtimes defends himself thereby against his enemies and did not Jesus himself come of Iudah who removeth that earthly Scepter from Iudah according to the word and gives it to Shiloh which Shiloh we must understand to be another Tribe come from Japhets loyns and not from Sem Gen. 9. 26 27. yet you say the kings of Iudah gave no laws nor could any give laws till Iesus came How contrary to the truth even to Christs own words this your assertion is is manifest by the Scripture Christ would noâ— be troubled with such outward things for when the people would have enforced him to be their King he absolutely refused it Joh. 6. 15. neither would he be so much as a Iudge in a civil cause Luk. 12. 13 14. nor would he take but rather give tribute Mat. 22. 17 to 22. 17. 24. to 28. Therefore your assertion is utterly false and you force the Text to a quite contrary sense as you do in all the rest of your Pamphlet wrest other Scriptures Now for the law of Christ it is altogether a spiritual law which serveth not for any particular Country but for all in general as a rule whereby to frame laws Therefore saith Christ By me kings reign and Princes decree justice by me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Pro. 8. 15 16. that is what laws they make according to his word are made by him For this cause the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake first to the king as supreme then to them that are sent by him And why because whatever is done by the king and his nobles or judges is done by the Lord Iesus for they being his ministers Rom. 13. 4 5 6. are directed by him and the kings heart is in the hand of the Lord Pro. 2â— â— therefore his mouth cannot err in judgment Pro. 16. 10. Now to leave Gods rule and set up silly mean fellows to be judges they to search for precepts that are as you say scattered up and down the scripture whereby to rule all Countries in all causes and then be subject to their wresting those Scriptures what way they please would be a brave way of judging the people who having no known laws whereby to walk must be alway waiting what scripture the Iudge will make use of to please his fancy either to make them offenders or to favour them and if you say the Iudge must allow a dispute then may the greatest offender beat him with his own weapon and escape no Christ hath not promised to rule by such vile persons but by men of eminency viz. by kings princes nobles judges who decree justly Pro. 8. 15 16 and if that land be blessed whose king is the son of Nobles Eccl. 10. 17. then that land is cursed whose rulers are sons of clowns that