whom you load with so many sad aspersions as rending the Church and hindring of Reformation and of Schisme and warn your people to take heed of them and of their doctrine as being strict above what is written c. And does not all this shew what is formerly said is apparent the Lord help you to consider it that so you may take heed how you load others with such aspersions especially such as your owne conscience will tell you walke with God in uprightnesse Would it not be better for you to lay before them the truth of your waies by the word of God and confute them by the word of God if you be able so to doe But your taking this course will give wise men to thinke or at least to feare you are not able so to doe or else that you have not found by experience the power of the truth of God in your selves for if you had you should not need to feare but that it is of farre more power to convince and prevaile with persons then all such waies as you take for all arguments although they be according to the word of God are not able to convince any except the Lord go with it by his Almighty power and therfore not such kind of courses as these be which his word allows not of and therefore you cannot have the least hope to prevaile with persons by them but you may fear the Lord will appeare against you for them and so blast you and your wayes which you seek to set up by such kind of doings I dare not think you are so little acquainted with the Lord and his power that he puts forth in his word when it is purely and truly held forth as that he is not able and willing to vindicate his owne truth when it is held forth in an humble manner without such sinfull waies as you take nay assuredly he will never owne much lesse goe out with such waies I beseech you therefore feare and tremble to goe on in them for it is just from him that you should not onely lose your labour but should meet with disgrace and if not contempt for your so doing for God will resist you in such waies And beside the persons you write to exhort I hope have not lived so long within the bounds of the Province of London where the word of God hath been so long taught and in such a manner as it hath beene and is still taught by some faithfull Ministers of the word of God but they have learned to esteeme more of one Argument out of the Word of God then of thousands of such kind of expressions nay I hope they have learned to know the Lord above such kind of expressions in such a way and therefore all such who are godly will be so farre like unto him as they will doe the like especially when they are brought forth against the generation of the just as your owne Consciences cannot but tell you these be as hath been formerly said at least some of them and therefore you must not thinke to prevaile with any that feare God by such Arguments or rather by such revilings and I desire for your sakes you be not judged at the last day for Raylers and I feare you see so much your selves that if those you so speake against if they should speake so of you it would be esteemed rayling by you and that you would make the world take notice you did so esteeme them but blessed be the Lord they doe not so nor I hope wil not deale so by you but will rather say the Lord rebuke you or rather him that furthers such courses and also pray that the Lord would please to honour you so farre as to make you see the evill of such waies and be humble and also will bring the Word of God and such Arguments therefrom as the Lord may be pleased to goe with all as may convince you and all those to whom you write and all those that shall read what you write as you and they may have cause to blesse God for while they live in this world and to all eternity and be a meanes to make you and them to study and pray the Lord to bring your hearts into such a frame that you may be willing to finde and also to submit unto the way that the Lord Jesus Christ hath appointed his people to worship him in which I hope will be the end and â—yme of all such as take pen in hand to write to answer you in this Book that so truth and not victory and the glory of God and his Will may be submitted unto and not their owne wills may be obtained of all that love the Lord Jesâ—â— in sincerity and unity and love procured therein and contention and divisions may cease among us and that we may come to serve him and one another in love that so the Lord Jesus may take deliâ—ht in us and dwell with us and in us and among us while as he shall see we seeke not our owne ends but his glory walking in selfe deniall and humility and keeping to his truth exactly and not doe as you have done to wâ—rne people to reject such doctrines as hold forth a strictnesse above what is written and therein bring in all such as teach that whosoever will enter into Church Fellowship must first take a Church Covenant I pray consider if it be not necessary they should so doe for are not all men free where they will sit down and dwell and when they are set down are they not still free whether they will joyne to the Church or not and if they doe not if they offend you may tell them if they refuse to heare you goe and tell the Church and if they send for him if he refuse to come you can proceed no further against him by your Church-way and what is meant by joyning if it be not by covenanting to walke together with the Church in the waies of the Gospel and if a person so doe then you have power over him so as the Covenant gives you all the power you have over a person to exercise the Church Discipline upon him or else you have none and if you have not power over them that are in the Church then wherefore is Church Discipline and therefore the Covenant giving you that power it must needs be necessary for that the Church hath such a power is written and must exercise it upon the offending Brother and therefore by necessary consequence from Scripture-grounds there must be a Church Covenant which you may see far more at large and more clearly inreverend M. Hookers Book of the survey of Church Government and therefore it is not a doctrine above what it written and therefore not to be rejected but such as we must have an eare to heare and a heart to beleeve being agreeable to the Word of God and for what you speake of the Lords Supper that
thou wouldest desire of God an humble and meeke heart to read withall that he may teach thee for he hath promised to teach the humble and guide the meeke to glorie and that hee may deale so by thee shall be the prayer of him who is Thine in the Lord Jesus NEHEMIA CENT Reader BY reason of the Authours absence many grosse mistakes have escaped thâ—â—â—esse therefore thou art intreated in the reading of this little booke to have recourse to this Errata which will rectifie the sense Farewell ERRATA Page 2 line 16 read unto l 38 r commend p 4 l. â—1 r abhor l 15 after course adde in you p 5 l â—â— after you adde â—onsider p 10 l 25 afâ—er bloodâ— coâ—â—â— â—â—d â—dde blood p 1â— l 18 at the â—â—d r that is p 16 l 12 r might p 18 l. 38 l break not the Covenant p 19 l. 1â— r hearers p 20 l 5 dele formerly p 22 l 19. â—nd the begiâ—â—ing of the 20. â— dealt with in justice p 31 l 27 r they begin in their way p 27 l 35. at the begâ—â—â—â—â—◠〈◊〉 bâ— p 31 l â—0 〈…〉 and lâ—â—â—â—â—â—t in l 36 r Jehue's p 34 l 21 after thâ—â— adde they p â—7 l 〈◊〉 câ—â—â—â— after opposing and r 2â— p. 39 l 5 r that God p 40 l 1 r reall evill insteâ—d of as wel l 33 r tremble p 42 l 38 r that A VVORD to LONDONS Provinciall Assembly I Have lately seene a Booke called A Vindication of the Presbyterian Government and Ministery with many exhortations to Ministers and Elders and people joyning with you or separating from you which I took and read over and that without contempt mocking or scoffing which when I had considered I saw no cause I should for I saw more cause of mourning then of scoffing and of pitying of you then of contempt and of praying the Lord to bring your hearts into a better frame then of mocking And therefore I could but wonder whence such suspicions should arise in you and when I had a little considered I could not tell except it were from your own experience in your practices for when I considered the substance of the Booke I saw that which did make me thinke you had not read the Booke of that Reverend Mr. Hooker about Church-government or if you have you have slighted it at the best for had you read it with a sound and serious spirit weighing well what he hath said it will fully answer many of your allegations and take away many of your foundations you seeme to build upon in your Book And for scoffing and contempt I should have wondred whence you should have such thoughts but that I consider your frame of spirit in your former Booke from which it must arise or else from the guilt of your owne consciences of what you then did which you may feare will render you justly contemptible at least you might feare it could not be esteemed there being so much of that spirit that did shew it selfe in the former Booke for although there be many good things in it and many glorious expressions yet there is so much Collaquintida in it mixed as may make it very dangerous to the takers if they take not good heed And the truth is it came out unseasonably for if you intended to set out a Vindication you should have stayed untill you had first set out a book of your acknowledgement and humiliation for what you had formerly so sinned in that so you might have given satisfaction to those that you had offended and then vindication might have come in season for you must think it is not forgotten and if you had done so it would have been past over and forgotten of those that are the people of God whereas now they see there is cause still of applying of more of what you had formerly that if it be possible you may at the last come to see your sinne and mourne and give satisfaction for it which is one end of the writing of this booke or at least in committing it to the Presse and another end is to undeceive the people in that strong hold which you thinke you have against them at least you have made many beleeve so which is the breach of Covenant for it may hold forth a little light to cause them to see the Covenant is not broken so as you would make them beleeve especially not by those persons that you so cry out against for breaking of it but that the breach will returne upon your selves although in all your writings still you flye upon that it being one main thing you center upon in this booke of yours and by which and in which you take occasion to set up your selves and to fling filth upon others And indeed you had more need to have condemned your selves then to set up your selves and it would have beene more for the glory of God and the peace and comfort of your owne soules and more to the furtherance of the worke you are going about which you would have all to conforme unto you in for all wise humble men will thinke the worse of your way or at least suspect the more because you seeke so much to set up your selves for they may feare and that justly the Lord will not honour you so much as to shew you the patterne of his house for they can see what the Lord sayes Ezek. 43.10 11. If they be ashamed of all that they have done then shew them the patterne of the house the in-goings and the out-goings and the whole fashion thereof and all the Ordinances thereof and the figures and all the Lawes thereof c. So if you had published your shame for what you had so sinfully done before then you and we might have had hope the Lord would have shewed you the patterne of his house for as you say of your Presbyterian way may be truly found of a Church way it is hard to finde and more hard to follow for it is very difficult and the Lord must shew it us or else we can never finde the right way for I feare your way is too easie and broad to be the right way and hee hath made no promise to shew them the way that seeke to command and set up themselves I hope you have not forgotten that exhortation Let another praise thee and not thy owne selfe and you know what our Saviour faith of him that sets up himself above others and who it was that said Come see my zeale and is thy heart right as mine is it had beene well for him if his heart had beene so right as his was which he spake to the Lord give you hearts to examine if there be not too much of that spirit in you it doth so much shew it selfe in the other booke and this also And may not the former instances suit you between you and those at least some of them whom you so much condemne and count so dangerous persons
power nay what is there said further He that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God nay he that so doth shall receive damnation What will you say and how will you answer it before the Lord at the last day and how can you answer Conscience at present when it gripes you with it what can I say why I should not receive damnation if I continue still in this condition especially when you think you made use of it to make others troublesome and may not that text be applied to you Ezek. 17.14 15.18 19. He that hath broken the Covenant shall he prosper he shall not prosper the Lord shew you in mercy how much and how often you have broken the Covenant and doe still especially you crying so as you doe against those that so doe and doe you not heare the voice within Shall I prosper I shall not I cannot it is the Lord that hath spoken it and I my selfe have applied it to others and say further surely the Kingdome hath no cause to say We blesse you in the name of the Lord or the blessing of the Lord be upon you nor to bid you good speed in this you have done wherein you have done so manie evill deeds but to follow your counsell that you give others against the Armie that so we may not be partakers with you in those evill deeds and that in Jude doth come fully upon you for you have spoken evill of dignities and have despised their dominion and therefore all that text belongeth to you and have you not run after the error of Balaam and I wish it be not for a reward and therefore persisting may you not feare you shall perish in the gaine-saying of Corah and also have not you followed and so may apply that text to your selves for have not you cried out the Parliament and Armie have taken too much upon them and is not this act of yours in gathering together so many of you is it not against the Lord while you gather together against them that are acting for the Lord and may not that text in the same sence you apply it to others be applied to your selves while you goe on in the same way and there were a considerable companie of them eminent men and famous in the Congregation and would not you be thought to be so and are not there manie of you in this and you have in some sence exceeded them for they did but speake against Moses and Aaron but you have not only spoken but written and caused it to be printed that so it might be sent all over the world and therefore consider how fitly that text Rom. 1.32 Are not you the men that have done such things that have condemned that in others that you doe your selves and therefore we cannot but thinke that you apprehend it to be a vertue and doe not you delight in them that doe as you have done and if so then aske your Consciences if you be not the men that have done things worthy of death and also that Rom. 2.13 And thinkest thou oh man that judgest and doest the same things that thou shalt escape the Judgement of God but you have done that you have judged others for as contemning powers and Magistrates and vers 2.6 11. we are sure the Judgement of God is according to truth to them that doe such things who will render to everie one according to his workes and there is no respect of persons with God except it be you that have more meanes by your parts gifts and places God will looke for more from your hands as is said of Corazin and Bethsaida in another kinde and may not that text in Ecclesiastes be applied to you because sentence against an evill worke is not executed therefore the hearts of the children of men are set in them to doe evil You have spoken largely before and no body opposed you and now you have not only spoken but written and so the world may take notice of it and is noâ— this a great evill And further I beseech you to consider if you have not mis-applyed those Texts 1 Samuel 14.4 and 1 Samuel 26.8 9. and Job 13.7 For wherein have they done wickedly for God or have not you done so and that flying Rowle you speak of may it not be more truly applyed to you then to them as hath been formerly said who have been breakers of that Solemne Oath and Covenant And although you have not done violence to the Parliament and Armie in their persons yet have you not offered violence to their names witnesse what is in Print in Mr. Prices book in answer to your Letter And have not you accused them falslie that have laid so many false things to their charge as is formerlie shewed And it were to bee desired you would be as wel content with your wages as they have bin consider if they have not gon beyond you in being so content as they have been for they have not only been content with their wages but they have been content to be without their wages which if it had been your case it is to be feared the Citie and Countrie should have heard of it by you as injustice and justlie you might have don so but where or when have you spoken for this on their behalf although it hath bin the cause of many evills as discontents discouragement in the Souldier and oppression of manie by free Quarter and so to raise up the spirits of the Countrie to hate them and despise them whom they have so much cause to esteem and honour for what they have so faithfully done in defending the Countrie and offending their enemies and if the labourer be worthie of his hire for a daies worke when he may worke without danger is not he much more that goes in danger of his life evâ—rie daie and houre in defence of his Countrie and the Cause of God especiallie and yet it seemes that you have not taken so much notice of it as you should because you have spoken no more in their behalfe and may you not fear if you persist in your way still that which is said in Numb 32.23 You have sinned your sin will find you out And whereas you say you have beene threatned if you persist in stirring up sedition among the people the Lord helpe you to consider if it be not so But whereas you say your bewayling their sins before God is accounted so it may be feared you speak against your own consciences in saying so if you speake not against conscience you speake against charity I intreat you aske conscience if you think that hee that you say threatned you did thinke that bewayling of sinne before God bee sedition But it may be in that time when you say you bewayle your sinnes before the Lord and among your bewaylings you might have some or many seditious expressions or expressions tending to Sedition And I beseech you aske conscience
there is more required then freedome from ignorance and scandall if you meane grosse ignorance and scandall it is a truth and such a truth as is written and the Lord hath a mouth to speake and therefore we must have an eare to heare and a heart to beleeve and therefore it ought not to be rejected for are we not bidden to examine our selves and is it not necessary to discerne the Lords Body and also to know the danger if we doe not come worthily all which persons grosly ignorant or grosly scandalous cannot nor will not doe and if you meane by freedome from these that we should be wholly free then except you be able to prove what you say against any that they teach so it is a slander and that which you have cause to acknowledge and repent of especially you having put it in print that it may come abroad in the world for we know none require any qualifications above these and therefore I pray consider if beside the slander of that you hold forth be not dangerous to your selves and those you have written to and also to as many as shall read your Book and which is worse derogatory to the glory of Gâ—d And then consider how you will answer for it before him at that great and dreadfull day when you shall be called forth and must appeare to answer for all you have done in the body And whereas you speake of persons casting reproaches upon the Ministers of Christ I beseech you by this little that hath been said if you may not feare it may be a just hand of God against you that people should so doe as also if you doe but look whether you have not gone before them by your owne example to lead them so to doe for have you not done so witnesse what hath been already said of your dealing with others and then is it a wonder you should meet with it your selves nay have you not reproached them with unseemly names as calling them Sectaries and Schismaticks nay have you not gone against the light of your owne Consciences in what you have done while as they walke peaceably and conscientiously among you in the waies of God and so you have done worse then those you condemn which have spoken so of you for although it be not to be approved of that any should reproach you but condemned yet consider if you have not given them just cause so to doe which I hope by that time you have read this Book and considered you will smite upon your owne hearts and confesse you have and then I hope you will take the counsell is given you elsewhere in this Book and learne better language hereafter especially to publish it to the world for I cannot but beleeve you are convinced not only they are the Sâ—rvants of Christ but the Ministers of Christ especially some of them and what a sad thing it is that Ministers should so speake of Ministers if this be not rending of the Church and if it may not be called Schisme yet if it be not very like it let the judicious conscientious and impartiall Reader judge as also what hurt this may do in every place where it shall come especially it being in print and I beseech you consider what root this came from if it be not from pride as hath been formerly said for why should you thus cry out and speake so much evill of them because they will not stoop and come in to you and be of your judgement and goe on in your way why may they not as well finde fault with you because you doe not condiscend to them especially if you consider what hath been said and what is in reverend Mr. Hookers Book and we may the rather beleeve they are in the right way then you because they hold forth most selfe deniall and I beseech you therefore again and againe take heed you be not found raylers at the Churches and people of the living God and such as he will owne at the last day and bring them in Judgement against you for you know what became of him that railed on the Hoast of the living God there was a stone came and made him fall upon the earth and he was destroyed But yours being not only of the Hoast but also of the Ministers of the Lord Christ that stone that is spoken of which is hewn out of the Mountaine will fall upon you and crush you if you be found such for the Church is compared to an Army with Bannors and the Lord Christ is their Generall before whom you will never be able to stand if he come against you which the Lord in his abundant mercy give you hearts to consider of together with all the arguments besides that are written in this book and also al that hath bin or shall be written in any other book that some or all of them may be so gon along withall by his blessing the powerfull working of his Spirit as that it may throughly convince you of your sin that he may follow it on to bring you to true humiliation and acknowledgement of it in such a publike way as may be to hiâ— glory and your owne peace and true comfort that so it may be pardoned and your soules everlastingly saved and that it may doe good and keep from evill all those to whom it shall come whom he shall give a heart to read it impartially which is the whole aime and desire of him who caused it to be printed and to that end shall follow it with his prayers so farre as the Lord doth assist I should have written much more in answer to your Vindication but that I having written so much in answer to your former Booke and not doubting but that others farre more able and fit will give you full answers unto whom I shall willingly leave it and pray they may doe it effectually and with such ends and aimes as the Lord who is the searcher of all hearts may be pleased to goe along with them and it as it may become effectuall to his glory the peace and comfort of their soules and the good of all the Church and people of God and so for this time I shall commit it to him and wait and expect his gracious answer by his blessing upon it The Covenant vindicated against all Intruders and Opposers Gentlemen YOu have in a Letter of yours to the Generall and his Councell of war laid many things to the charge of the Army and so as you make them great offenders which you and all others have cause to consider of because the things therein contained do concerne the Parliament and many of the godly party in the Kingdome they having been such as have been approved of by the one and petitioned by the other and therefore it will be good to consider them againe and againe before we censure them for God does usually reveal his mind to them that feare him and therefore if it