now faln 1. They had many of them a work upon their spirits and many gifts wherewith they were anointed 2. These works and gifts were but flesh but earthly but man after the image of the first Adam which is of the earth earthly and not the second Adam the Lord from Heaven Not the Lord nor from Heaven 3. As they were earthly and fleshly so they were private and personal servile and ministerial not the Lord no largeness to comprehend the whole nor authority to subject the whole nor wisdom to rule the whole either the whole Nation or their whole party 4. That they had Commission only to destroy subdue and punish the Church and Kingdom standing in darkness and corruption There never was in that party or people any union strength glory or success in any thing but in fighting and killing And therefore could never attain any Civil or Religious body either to be a Church or Kingdom but an Army to fight And for this work they were anointed and sanctified So was Cyrus and his Medes Isa 13.3 and 45.1 which is not only a Legal Ministry but a heathenish and bloody one 5. That when they had subdued and broken down they had nothing to build no new Law or Religion either from heaven or earth either for themselves only or for the whole Nation No man or sort of men did ever so much as pretend that they were Legislators nor did ever tender to the Nation a Law either from heaven or earth but after they had cursed and rejected the old state they dressed up the carkase of King Lords and Commons in a Protector another House and a Parliament and had more stability in it then in any of their inventions beside They never could produce any thing like unto the wisdom and reason of a Law but every bird would chatter its own note such broken stuff and absurd confusion never was 6. They never had a publick or healing spirit talk they did of the common good of all men But their spirit was not only narrow but stood in opposition to the spirit of the Nation They were alwayes bound up most firmly and strongly to a private and so to a selfish spirit and could never be perswaded to accept of any thing that was large Those miserable principles of Interest Self-preservation and Necessity began carried on and ended the War and Party 7. Their gifts and work being fleshly and earthly and having only figures and prophesies of the heavenly Kingdom of God â—nd not the nature and substance of that Kingdom with them they could not administer it but those prophesies and figures must cease and die before the truth of the Kingdom can come forth 8. Their gifts being only private and personal and their work only to subdue and â—ull down when they aspired beyond their â—bility and commission to reign and to make â—ew Common-wealths and new Churches â—hey corrupted into pride enmity opâ—ression covetousness self-seeking greedily â—evouring the wealth riches pleasures hoâ—ours and places which they had cursed and condemned and therein were more foul â—hen those that they cast out 9. And from corruption they fell into divisions jealousies persecuting others and â—ne another and so into destractions and confusions 10. And by that into their present reâ—ection from all power authority riches â—nd estates into contempt imprisonment poverty plunged into a deep Baptism of afflictions and disappointment 11. Into which if they can retire with meekness humility and repentance they will find rest safety and purifying A condition more sweet and clean and as to God and their souls more comfortable and profitable then their former greatness though it be to the flesh grievous 12. There the Book would leave them in quietness and cover them from the wrath of their enemies justifying them in the exercise of their private and personal gifts as honest men And promising them a resurrection in a more large pure spiritual and durable state Ministries and Dispensations of a far more excellent glory then this have perished and why there should be such unwillingness to bury this I know not It died to me and in me long since and hath been ever since corrupting rotting reeling and staggering till it fell in pieces It hath had its time done its work fulfilled its Ministry emptied and poured out all the wrath it had upon others and when it had executed others it was a torment and vexation to it self wanting other matter to work upon The Party it self was weary of it complained of the vanity corruption and filthyness of it were ashamed of it annoyed by it it stunk so in the nostrils of every ingenuous and enlightened spirit none pleased at it but for what they got and kept by it none easie under it but sick of it and it self sick and hated at last executed it self to fulfill that word He that taketh up the sword shall perish by the sword even by that sword they took up and by that force they fomed That Power that Army they raised against the King turns to the King and against them that raised it It was long dying and every Party watched to have had it themselves and were pulling and catching at it some had it one while and some another whilest quarreling amongst your selves it is faln into your Adversaries hands and that I suppose is the great trouble You would be content it should die and you would execute it but thought also it belonged to the Executor to have its riches honours power and success But it seems there was an elder Brother an heir alive that you did not dream of Though this work of yours with its power fall very contrary to your hopes designs purchases and carnal confidences yet not contrary to many hints of prophesies in their own spirits nor contrary to common justice and reason For first it hath been often said to you and in you Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit That an Army is a harsh cruel worldly brutish self-seeking power and that while it stood it was a burden to all but them that received pay in it or by it And secondly if it doth fall as you thought and desired what must necessarily follow The antient Government of the Nation was suppressed by force if it had been by Light and Reason that Light that removed one would have shewed us a better but that we could never see The old one being suppressed and only suppressed for all you could do could not root it out and no other prepared if that force that suppresseth it be weary sick forsaken and spent whether should it go but to its center to the standing foundation If the force ceales that suppressed what can be expected but that the old suppressed Government should rise When therefore either the purity or truth of your spirits or the power of your reason shall prevail over your passions and losses you will rest satisfied That you still arc chafing and rubbing this dead
it hath its own destruction in it yea not only it s own but of other evils also T is certainly true to the godly Dan. 11.35 And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white And therefore I shall learn and get experience by this weakness I now see plainly the Scripture may be and is a vail in some it is made use of to cover filthiness others make use of it out of fear to hide the truth of their hearts It serves sometimes to reveal and sometimes to conceal the mind But withal I see there is no hiding place for me I am necessitated to forsake my coverts and come forth naked Many have hid their poyson of error and enmity under Scriptures by them conveyed their deceit lyes neatly wrapped up in similitudes allusions and that to destroy I would convey peace and truth by it and it will not be endâ—â—ed I am beaten from these bushes and necessitated to all kind of openess and plainness I was unwilling to come to it I confess but I see I must say aside the Velvet scabbard and draw the naked sword or else must be content with such shamefull usage as no man can bear As sin so shame hath its own cure because its curse with it He that obscures himself for shame or from it and for fear of it is driven into a hole must suffer double And there is reason for it because first he is weak and then a coward and so deserts himself his name his mind his cause and betrayes his life and righteousness if he have any in him If a man be upright he need not go into a corner if he do he cannot stand upright in that hole and corner holes are for Bats and Moles for dark creatures the light is for truth and the open heavens for uprightness I hope I shall find room and place abroad I cannot hodestly abide any longer at home sure the open heavens and earth are made for me as well as others why should not I enjoy them As I see a necessity and my duty to cast off all coverings so I now experimentally find how little you have of the Spirit of God or of true reason and that both these are exceeding low in the minds of men at this time If not quite slain yet very feeble weak and ready to die imprisoned also and shut up under false imaginations and fancies of things And therefore if we think to instruct men it must be not only by truth but with that evidence and demonstration that may heal and recover mens spirits arid understandings I profess this that the same eternal Spirit that wrought those things in Adam and Noah and writ them by Moses keeps that image in himself and by it contains and upholds the Scripture the outward image of his eternal mind and the same spirit working according to himself produces the same works now from the same foundation and from the same light gives forth a discovery of them yet because the works were wrought long since and in a remote part of the earth from England as in Paradise in another world and at Mount Ararat therefore they are to us strange and forraign things or at best but allusions Whereas to a spiritual man all times and places are present and all things in heaven and earth and under the earth are gathered into one even into Christ In whose spiritual person we at once see and measure all things and ages because they are all in him and made by him I am sensible that there is as much shortness of reason in men as want of the Spirit For we are the natural children of Adam and Noah and do as truly derive our natures from them as we do from our Fathers or Grandfathers yea we derive our selves more from them because they are heads roots and common or publick Fathers or Stocks of mankind our immediate parents are but means branches or conveyances of life from those roots to us And we are more certainly and infallibly the children of Adam and Noah then of our later Ancestors And do receive greater benefit from them Moral Natural and Personal blessings from Adam these renewed by Noah and conveyed to us by him with the addition of civil and politick blessings And these given by Covenant for ever establisbed with him and his seed for perpetual generations Gen. 9.11 Me thinks it shews great shortness if not sensuality and slavery in mens minds that will enquire after every foot of Land that was their Fathers and Grandfathers and boast of their descent if they have it from a Lordship in England or a Mountain in Wales and not enquire after their natural or moral properties civil and religious priviledges which they do derive and may challenge by descent from these Ancestors yea not only not enquire and search for this royal and noble pedigree but reject it when produced as if they were beasts not men and rose out of the earth and Sea as the beast in the Revelations and as if we were sons of the earth that came into the world in some by-way and were of another case then that which God made in Adam or saved and Covenanted with in Noah For truly if the same life be in us that God made in Adam and saved blessed and covenanted with in Noah it will as naturally lead us to its outward and visible head by a line of reason as our spititual life leads us to Christ by a line of faith For all ages times and states of things wrought in our nature are the proper objects of our understandings and reason and we if we were not captivated to foolish and brutish darkness and silly conceits might as freely converse with them as with present sensible things yea we cannot discern any present thing if we know not the reason and principles of it and they are only to be seen in the first founding and forming of them men are therefore drunk in fancies and are not yet come to the exercise of reason which fathoms and measures all the things of man from the beginning to the end indeed he is not truly a man that comprehends not in some measure his own nature in all ages For the whole history of the world and all the parts acted in it are but the things of a man and so pieces of our selves if we are men Every thing is beautiful in his time also he hath set the world in their heart Eccles 3.11 But saith he I know that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever ver 14. There is under these things which you call Allegories real substantial Truth if you will not crack the shell to have the kernel accept of my help I will give forth that which is there writren concerning your selves at least in a few plain affirmations I have and do affirm concerning that party that acted against the life and power of the King and are
heaven c. This was the Law of his whole Life and Death He that will be my Disciple must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Alas alas how can you look into this glass and not blush to see the deformities of your whole work how directly contrary yours is to this Instead of blessing you have cursed What he blessed you reject the meek the mourners the merciful the peace-makers the persecuted you begun this war because you would not endure persecution Instead of not resisting evil you have inflicted evil and would not be resisted in it Instead of loving enemies you have hated and destroyed them Instead of blessing them you curse as bitterly as you can Instead of bearing persecution you persecute Instead of denying self you sight for self Instead of taking up the Cross you flie to force to avoid it and load others with it make others bear it So hath the blessed God set things that they that are not with him are against him And they who refuse to bear the Cross must become Crucifiers of others All men that will not endure persecution they will persecute they that cannot or will not be killed will kill So have you done and therefore been enemies to the Cross of Christ and so enemies to Christ himself for he is crucified in all crucifying And they that hate the flesh of the whore and burn her with fire they make war with the Lamb also Rev. 16.14 So have you made war with the Lamb with his doctrine nature life and death 2. Christ our Lord humbled himself and became a servant to others you have exalted your selves as far as you could into all kinds of places of honour He became poor that he might make others rich you have made others poor that you may be rich He suffered the errors and contradictions of sinners but sinners those that you have judged sinners have suffered your contradictions in your several Oathes and Impositions He bore the infirmities and diseases of the whole Nation the whole Nation have born your infirmities and diseases your blindness haltings and staggerings He bore the sins and curse of the people The poor people have born yours both sin and curse He died that others might live You kill others that you may live your selves He suffered the just for the unjust but others have suffered from you because they resisted your unjust power and will I believe you have been misled by an evil spirit and therefore I pitty you Alas you have walked in darkness and not known whether you have gone You did not think your way and work had been so contrary to the way of Christ you found it weak and short but now you will see that it is in the whole from the rise of it to the end of it contrary to the nature and spirit of the Lamb and to his Law and Doctrine 3. Christ in the Gospel brought forth a new Creation a new and Spiritual Kingdom a new Law new Ordinances new Ministers new Worship And this not in opposition to nor to the destruction or disturbance of any authority either of the Jews or Gentiles but he taught and practised obedience to both But you have only disturbed and destroyed what you could of the Government of the Nation but have brought forth no better no new Kingdom or new Law for the people and what forms of worship you have made for your selves and several Parties are but some broken pieces of the letter of the old Apostolical frame set up in another spirit Let us compare your work and way with the Spirit and his holy and pure Ministrie He came from Heaven himself cloathed with an outward and visible appearance in great Majestie and Power openly manifesting himself to all Nations in mighty signs and wonders that were his own and not anothers He did truly glorifie Christ and set him up above his enemies making them know that Jesus was the Son of God and that the Kingdom of God was with men And this to the face and in the consciences of all the powers of the earth He formed and built a Church upon the rock from the heavenly pattern He came from heaven and carried the Saints into heaven and made them sit down together with Christ in the heavenly He led them into the holiest and brought them to Mount Zion indeed the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly c. Have you had the substance and truth of any of these things with you You have been able to talk of them to notion fancy or prophesie something of them which others could not But had you had this heavenly glory you needed not your earthly Armies nor worldly Polities nor the help of profane and loose people and practices to save you The Spirit had his own manifestation his union his own tongues interpretation of tongues his own signs and miracles his own power and glory pure holy and clear his own anointing was sufficient to lead into all truth But instead of manifesting you have by your wayes extreamly darkened others your selves and the name of Christ and Religion which you professed Instead of tongues and interpretation to others you were in such confusion that you could not your selves understand one another you pretended to signal mercies and successes but they are not spiritual but such as are common to others so is victory in battle Instead of being led into all truth alas you were led into all kinds of contradictions and into many erroneous wayes which proved to be lyes and delusions to you And therefore you must not any longer boast of the Spirit of God You cannot shew that he is descended upon you or that he hath led you as he did the Apostles into a heavenly state You are still in the world in the gross uncleanness of the world in the wrath malice destruction pride covetousness deceit of the world You are and have been under the Ministrie or Judgement of the Spirit In his giving you up to corruption that you may be manifest to be but men and not born from on high In blowing upon and infatuating your Counsels In scattering and dividing your spirits In rejecting your work and way as not his own as abominable to his purity goodness truth and righteousness In judging of you in the sight of all the world for abusing his name and in kindling a sire upon all your riches honours and works a fire of jealousie that burns like an Oven which will purifie you And therefore you are in this day nearer to the Spirit of God then you were from the first day you engaged Consider now what ground you stand upon in your present opposition to this Power and Providence You cannot stand up with Moses and Aaron in their Office for you have not led us out of Egypt into Canaan but have been intangled and fettered in Egyptian darkness Nor can
another which is planting your selves in the place of them that you thrust out exalting your selves and Ministry upon their ruines Pray observe First That the great things now boasted of the Kingdom of Christ and reign of the Saints which are indeed eternal truths and sure things but the application of them to your persons gifts and Ministry and apprehending of them to your selves in your lace work are things that are sprung up since the beginning of the wars and are the children or idols of the success you have had in the wars these notions were not known at first the war was betwixt King and Parliament opportunity advantage and success made you bold to assume these titles Secondly you could not claim this title to the Kingdom of Saints till Babylon was destroyed In assuming of it your own works declare that ministry of wrath to be finished you did believe profess praise and practice accordingly And therefore you cannot return to it again without contradicting your own judgements and opinions yea those very judgements and opinions in which your strength lies Observe it well The present Governors and Government of Church and Kingdom are say you Babylon and the enemies of God and his people You therefore did execute the wrath of God upon them to destroy them Was that justice or wrath perfect full and compleat or no If it was it finished and you have no more to do of that kind you certainly thought it so perfect and sufficient and so believed praised and lived Babylon being destroyed Zion comes forth you own your selves to be Israel Gods people and that the Kingdom is the Saints which you could not do till Babylon was destroyed for Israel cannot come forth nor have her liberty till then This ground you now stand upon not upon the Parliament as at first but as Zion and Gods people and this title stands only upon the ruines of Babylon Therefore either you must hold to this that you are Zion and then Babylon is destroyed and then you are not to engage again in a war against her Or else if you think Babylon yet stands and is not destroyed you must relinquish your confidence and title of the Kingdom of Saints and go back again to begin a new heathenish work and war But you have been the ax wherewith Christ hath hewed and the saw that he hath shaken and as foolish proud man uses to do you have boasted and magnified your selves and ministry into the place of Christ and so against him that heweth therewith and for that you suffer so great shame and rebuke I have endeavoured to let you see that that which is the most of the cause of God that ever you had which is the execution of his justice is now finished and ceased And that in love both to your souls lives liberties and families that I might withdraw you from this way of enmity and opposition in which you stand and in which you will suffer if you do not retreat The true ground of our war ceasing which is the administration of an outward punishment the cause of God as to that point ceaseth And therefore you are deceived in your cause passion having blinded your eyes The second thing that strengthens you in your enmity is your holiness religion and godliness This must be tryed whether you be not deceived in it also It consists much in Religious duties performed by gifts as praying speaking prophecying and an outward conformity to the Gospel For the power and Spirit of Christ and the Apostles is not manifested in you by any signs or fruits or not more in you then in others There is nothing singular produced but what is common to others only your manner of speaking praying worshipping which is affirmed to be 1. nearer to the rule and 2. of more power then others And that the worship of your enemies is superstition and humane invention and hath no life in it It is most certain that this kind of Religion and Holiness is not with God what you esteem it You do highly yea too highly value it But it doth not it cannot stand in the presence of God not in his own immediate presence but is of a worldly nature and stands only in the world It is not the worship that is in the Temple of God before the throne of God and of the Lamb I hope you will confess it For you know there is no such contention war blood cursing nor such mixtures of uncleanness can or dares come before him And therefore though it stood awhile as a Ministry yet it is faln and that before him For what cannot stand before him falls before him The reason of his dislike of it is First It is not of a right kind It is not a new nature not a nature but a gift not a divine nature but a humane thing not from heaven and in heaven but in the earth and from the earth Secondly Because it is not a nature it is not deep solid and lasting it washes the outside of the platter makes new words gestures expressions but your confessions say the heart is still a most vile and filthy thing and that your natures are still corrupt If the heart be unclean Religion is but a shadow and cannot please him who is truth and substance He requires a good man that hath a good treasure in a good heart and a good tree of a right kind that brings forth good fruit not briers and thorns of contention and violence Thirdly Being not from heaven it corrupts and decayes it is not an incorruptible life Actually it hath foully corrupted into the grossest pollutions that any people did ever commit Into gross covetousness ambition and self-seeking into absurd and palpable errours lies and delusions And into that most which is the worst enmity cruelty and persecution and that generally and universally of all both friends and foes and in all in the highest most And therefore observe it with a special observation First That the several parties Presbyterian Independant Anabaptists and fifth Monarchy-men have all one life of holiness one peace one righteousness one hope one heaven Of each sort some died in the late execution and they all breathed out their souls in one and the same faith and hope Secondly Yet these had been not many Moneths before mortal enemies one to another and attempted war one against another some of them were for the Rump against the Army and some of them for the Army against the Rump and the fifth Monarchy-men would gladly have fought them both and have offered at it and yet they appeared at last Brethren And if they were restrained from fighting and drawing blood yet their prayers faith and religion were set against one another which hath been the constant practise of all these Parties they have discharged bitter curses and judgements against each other which is the greatest corruption even to a dissolution Thirdly And therefore if men allow of enmity against any
that can be accursed for them It is his way it is his nature he dealt so with Christ and therefore must be justified and honoured for it And so I do with my soul And desire office and employment in his Church upon no other terms Blessed for ever be his holy name for it in my heart And blessed be his name in this Church and Nation And let all his people say Amen For he will establish only such ministers over them in his house as are of his and his Sons mind and spirit God may and doth for a time employ other spirits to do baser services to break afflict and punish so long as there is proud flesh to be subdued But none shall be admitted to minister healing life and salvation but such as are of this spirit The form or title is title and the question is not great who or which But this is the Nature and Spirit chosen of God to rule his people Lastly Let me assure you under the word and oath of Jesus Verily verily except you be born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.3 Except you be born out of this earthly sensual darkness into heavenly light out of this heathenish or legal spirit into the largeness of heaven you cannot so much as see the Kingdom of God so long as you think that it consists in a multitude of prayers in the opening of Scriptures in fleshly striving for earthly liberty and earthly power you do not you cannot see the Kingdom of God Alas you admire your selves your zeal and intentions your gifts and notions But what are those to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is over all things in heaven in earth and under the earth Over all things first in heaven He employes innumerable Angels and all their holiness power and light in distinct ages and places And brings them forth successively to act their parts and to shew the utmost of their strength and wisdom in governing the world And when he hath done with them folds them up as a vesture layes them aside and changes them for others Possibly all that you have attained to may not amount tb one Angel Be it what it will you cannot but confess one Angel may do as much and more know as much and more speak as much and more then all you have done And that in greater holiness purity brightness and majesty And when he hath done it must bow down and be dismissed Why then should you be troubled at the fall of your works Secondly Christs Kingdom extends to all men in all Nations He hath power to spirit and anoint all men with what spirit he please to sanctifie them and gift them either as heathens so he did Cyrus and his Medes or as Jews so he did Saul or as Christians so he did the Saints of old And yet none of them must raign only minister and serve in those spirits He hath laid infinite variety of gifts in mans nature and knows how to use them all and will have a time for every purpose And as he will draw out the good of every man of what degree soever so the evil of every man All mens lusts and corruptions must be drawn out and judged In one state of things mens Religion and Gifts lie uppermost and cover their sins that Religion must have a time to work and have honour or reward for that work and when it is worn out it must as an old garment be laid aside And then that evil that is under that form of Godliness must be seen shewed forth and punished In another state the good may lie under the evil God hath a work and an object prepared for that evil when its work is done then the good will rise and have its time and place Thirdly As Christ rules all Angels and men so all Devils all infernal spirits and will bring them forth out of the bottomless pit into his own House and City and give them their time and place to shew forth all the evil that is in them And thereby judge them and then cast them into the Lake of fire for ever And there are various sorts and kinds of flesh or humane weakness for them to feed upon in the nature of man What is theirs they do challenge and must have first for words and actions and then for shame and punishment And if we do in the least see the Kingdom of Christ we shall be content to take our lot in any of these or in all of them as it pleases God to dispose of us If your minds were enlarged into the sight and view of the greatness of the Kingdom of God and the continuance of it in all ages everlastingly you would with submission and joy consider and behold the present works of God upon your selves and upon the Nation But so long as you are shut up in that narrow spirit and limit the Kingdom of Christ to such a poor inconsiderable temporary thing as your present dispensation and service you cannot understand any thing of it Therefore know that you are in darkness and know not whither you go you are quite out of the way to Christs Kingdom SECT XIII WE will suppose likewise that you do desire holiness and that your trouble is either that you or the Nation is no more holy And therefore in zeal for reformation you go forth against the present state of things as unholy denouncing wrath against it and seeking the destruction of it Herein likewise you are extreamly blinded by enmity For First That holiness which you profess and in which you live is not the holiness of Christ you are not holy as he is holy and therefore it cannot stand before him it neither is nor shall be accepted to raign with him It may do him service be a scourge in his hand it may stand before men before worse men in the field it may stand before mens worldly passions and lusts before the Laws of men and their punishments It may stand before prisons and chains yea before death it self And so will the holiness of moral men heathens or Jews and of all sorts of Christians But it cannot it shall not stand before God 1. It is impure 2. It is imperfect in its kind 3. It is fleshly and fading 4. It is not an holy nature 5. It is not holiness that can take away sin 6. It is not holiness that can take away the sins of the world And therefore not the holiness of God and Christ Secondly As it is short in its kind and insufficient to answer the perfect and good will of God either in your own souls or upon the Nation so it is corrupted openly defaced and for guilt rejected Because it is polluted it is not your rest To abide and persist in a way and state disowned and refused by God is not only sloth and ignorance but unbelief and disobedience God never pulls down one dispensation but he provides another If you were
and fill the mind with more enmity and consequently with more blindness How much is poor man to be pittied whose zeal for God and the worship of God is so miserably distracted and misled as to be made use of only to destroy one another And that Religion which is the Law of love peace and salvation should become the great engine of death wrath and destruction and no remedy against it Sure it will be considered That truth is one in Christ That Jesus is the head of man and that mans nature reason and understanding is his own body and spouse That Religion unites and binds this head and body in a Covenant of marriage That love life and truth are only in this union And that therefore truth life and love are together and they that leave one they leave all If so then they that love not err from the truth and they that by their opinions are taught to hate and kill live neither in love nor truth but in death and darkness Error and enmity do destroy and they that do destroy are most in destruction because to them may be applyed that title given to Satan Heb. 2.4 he that had power of death for they that in malice inflict it have power of it All truth is most beautiful and lovely even unto the reason of man and all errour is a lye and monstrous even to the mind of man both in it self and in the foul and devilish effects of it When the light shall shine forth to manifest this men will of themselves fly from errour avoid hatred and love the truth Satisfie your selves therefore you that seem to be zealous for truth of any side or party and know That as mens souls and consciences are the body and Spouse of Christ so they are his care and charge He hath with him a Law wherewith to govern this body and power over all conscience and severe punishment for them that are proud and rebellious He hath a spiritual Court and a spiritual Law with power and authority to execute Spiritual judgements And conscience is most sensible of his strokes and most easily subjected to him and therefore will be ruled by him To him it doth belong to do it and to him alone and he will do it Upon these grounds I do in my spirit give liberty to all perswasions having a perswasion and reason that comprehends them all in one And knowing that one mercy and goodness upholds saves and forgives all and that one truth and one Gospel is under all and in all And being sensible of that one enemy that doth abuse all by engaging them in zeal for some part of truth against their brethren knowing likewise that light that will scattter this darkness and unite all in one in one heart and in one way These things being true there is reason all should have liberty to challenge and plead their right in order to agreement Which must as certainly have its time as confusion hath had his time There is order in and under this confusion and will arise out of it yea this confusion is to this end that a more large and excellent love and light might come forth to reduce all this into order and harmony And when it doth manifest it self it will not only joyn some parts that are nearest one to another but will unite all I absolutely think it impossible to make any true union betwixt any two or three parties or sects in the Nation leaving out the rest as it is impossible to build an house of some parts of the frame of some posts and pillars excluding and denying other parts There is a Church of England or in England it is I think all one If ever there was one there is still one if there be among us the profession and Faith of Jesus Because the Church is built upon a rock and the Gates of hell cannot prevail against it If hell should take it captive and either carry the Church into hell or hell come forth and possess the Church with all its filthyness wickedness darkness and confusion Yet it would be still the body of Christ and therefore it still is not only safe in all this but beloved and honoured by him Antichrist may and doth sit in the Temple of God and defile this temple of God but it is still the temple of God And the Gentiles may enter into the holy City and trample it underfoot but it is still and ever shall be the holy City If we deny there is or was a Church I am sure no man among us hath power to plant a Church For no Church of God was ever planted in the earth but by power and authority from heaven and by a pattern from the Mount Men cannot so much as repair a decayed Church without an heavenly annointing Therefore if there was no Church there is none For our new Churches challenge not from heaven but from the letter If there be a Church of England then all English men that profess faith in Jesus are members of it Till this Church cast them out till they be judicially proceeded against by the Church her self Be they never so corrupt they are corrupt members of her corrupt body till she recover her power to cast them out And she and all her parts must own them and bear them and all their filth and guilt till they be cut off It is not in the power of any parts except they have the power of the whole to cast out any It is much less in the power of any parts to cast out the whole Church or to unchurch the Church Nor is it in the power of any to dismember himself they may like froward children run away when they are ill used but that doth not dissolve the relation betwixt parents and children nor acquit either from their duty All the separations and abjurations of all the Independants Anabaptists and Quakers doth not make them no members of the Church of England Neither are they thereby no children of the true Fathers of the Church Nor must we therefore cease loving of them instructing of them because they have like the prodigal got a portion and gone from their Fathers house If the relation holds the duties of that relation will be required of Fathers authority wisdom justice and love and of children obedience and subjection And no ill affection or desposition can dissolve a relation An ignorant weak decayed old man is a Father and a forward bold rebellious Son is a Son The way to bring wandring sheep to the fold is to seek them out And the way to reduce prodigals is to suffer them to want There are both these simplicity to be sought out and conceited prodigality and this will starve and come to great want And then if there be bread in our Fathers house they will be compelled to seek it I know certainly they will be in great necessity of spiritual food that spend so prodigally in harlots houses in
of our nature there is still with us that reason prudence and faith that is common with the most heathenish or barbarous Nations in the earth It may be thought rather there is too much subtilty and policy and that this may hinder an accord There is more danger of it But surely if there be much Serpentine cunning there is more true wisdom for the good is stronger then the evil and will prevail I am sure there is more light and stronger reason in love then in hatred Thus far we are gone Two opposite Parties in the Nation both so firmly rooted in the earth and in heaven that it is an unreasonable thing to think that one should remove the other by force without destroying the whole and themselves also And these so considerable that they may confer upon each other the greatest blessings that belong to humane society Both want what each other have to give neither can rationally have it elsewhere Both willing to communicate and able to communicate The question now is how we shall begin and how mannage this Treaty so as to effect and perfect this disposition I have hinted in the Inquisition that the divided Parties of this Nation are distinct bodies The Presbyterian Independant Anabaptist c. these are formed by distinct Laws and Doctrines And have some principal men that are their heads and leaders these do comprehend their several Parties It was ill taken that I should mention them in my former Alas that divine justice which my soul would have prevented hath it self now hunted them and they are earthed now in holes It is necessary that these should stand forth for themselves and Party to treat for them and to bring forth the principles and state of the Party for them Consider now the equity and reason of this offer First You that are the heads of the people have led them into war and consequently into these miseries in which now they lie And by your evil conduct they and the business have miscarried And therefore in reason and conscience you ought to appear for them If there be any thing of courage justice or love to the people or any thing of a publick spirit in you you are bound to do the utmost you can to deliver the poor sheep out of these brambles into which you have led them Secondly such is the state of things that if there be any disturbance made in the Nation though you are not in it yet you will be ever liable to be suspected and imprisoned Till you have done something towards peace and securing the Government answerable to what you have formerly done against it Thirdly His Majesty cannot have any rational security either from particular persons or from broken pieces or Parties but from the whole Party united and that cannot be rationally done but by them that are the heads of those Parties who do probably contain the whole Party in them Fourthly The people are certainly willing both to receive protection and to acquiesce in the present Providence of God And therefore there wants nothing but some prudent and publick persons to form them and lead them into it And if there be compassion in you to them as I believe there is that will put you upon this honourable and Christian work We are now come I think by the conduct of honest and sound reason to the thing to be practised which I hope is safe and just and every way rational and Christian It is but this If any two or three eminent and known men of any Party either from conviction of what is here written or from their own dispositions and from a knowledge of the minds of their Party or a probability of their consent shall be willing in order to their own safety and the peace of the Nation to satisfie his Majesty concerning their intentions to live peaceably under his Majesties Government They may in a Petition humbly represent it to his Majesty and may beg that his Majesty would be pleased to appoint certain Commissioners and impower them to treat with them and with all others that shall desire it concerning these two things First Upon a full consideration of what hath passed in the Nation what satisfaction or security his Majesty may rationally demand and they as rationally give for their Allegiance and peaceable subjection unto his Majesty and Government and Secondly Upon satisfaction and security given how that liberty of conscience graciously declared by his Majesty may be stated and confirmed to them that so they may enjoy the benefit and comfort of it free from disturbance from the people or inferiour Officers Both these are honest reasonable and profitable things and no man of truth or integrity can be ashamed or afraid to appear in them publickly They carry their justification in their face A Treaty betwixt opposite parties after a long and great division and war is ordinary And if the difference be not only in affection but judgement and opinion it is necessary because otherwise they cannot come to an understanding of one another and consequently never come to a hearty agreement It is also probable that the desired end peace and safety to both parties will be attained by it For it is apparent that his Majesty wants and seeks security and rest in his Government after his long troubles an sufferings And after so great wars made against him and so great violence done to him he may justly require good security for the future Nothing yet hath been done towards it by the party that acted with vigor against him But on the contrary have manifested great displeasure and dissatisfation at his return to his Government As his Majesty cannot but seek security so the ordinary old established way of Oaths enjoyned by Law and the penalties annexed seem to be very insufficient remedies For they have been found by sad experience too weak to bind men to their allegiance Oaths though they are sacred in themselves yet we have found them very invalid in this Age and strangely violated on all sides If they are not ligaments sufficiently strong to bind the parts together and prevent a fraction when the fraction is made they are less able to heal it Besides at this time they are offensive to many that are otherwise willing to give full security and satisfaction for their subjection Neither can it be thought that a bare verbal declaration for Magistracy though it be honest and so accepted that it alone should be sufficient to give full case to his Majesties mind Such confessions I doubt are too weak to heal wounds made by long wars and disaffections To profess for Magistracy is not a sufficient satisfaction or reparation for a war against a Magistrate because he is an enemy or of another way of worship For the question is not nor never was Whether a Magistrate or no But there is an enmity begotten and propagated by long war which requires more then a verbal profession to heal