hopes are frustrate now they labor for a toleration of all Religions which both God noble Nehemiah and Ioshua all the Holy Prophets Christ and his blessed Apostles continually were displeased with and denounced judgements against all which holy Lawes now they desire may be dispensed with to gratifie them with a ful toleration of all religions or at least with an indulgence for their new-fangled Independency which by all their indeavours they make way apace for and howsoever it was thought a thing worthy of death in Strafford and the Prelate of Canterbury that they but laboured to alter the Lawes of the Land and the Religion that was established by publick authority and for the which they both suffered the very Sectaries and Independents themselves being the principall Agents to bring them both to their end who by their tumultuous and disorderly running up daily to Westminster were never satisfied in craving justice at the Parliament against them saying that as resolution was the life of action so execution was the life of the Law and justice and would never be contented and appeased till they had obtained their desires against them and only for this very cause as they pretended that they indeavoured to alter the Lawes of the Land and the Religion established by publick authority and many of our Fugitives were as eager in that busines as any of the rest some of them standing upon the Scaffold to see the execution of them and rejoycing at the justice done upon them and yet behold the very same men are all of them guilty of the very same crime that they dyed for yea of a farre greater for the Prelate and the Earle of Strafford were adjudged for but indeavouring to alter the Religion and Lawes established in the Kingdome but all the Sectaries and Independents they have really altered Religion and have set up many new Religions and that without any authority yea they have altered both Law and Gospel rejecting all the Holy Scriptures and making nothing of the glorious Word of God as can be proved and they have not only established by their sole authority divers Religions amongst us that were never knowne before but they proclame all the Presbyterians enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sons of Belial and esteeme of them as so many Infidels in no wise to be communicated with in holy things And for the fundamentall Lawes of the Land they not only speake against them as a yoake of tyrannie and bondage unsupportable to be borne but they write whole bookes against them desiring they may be altered notwithstanding all men injoy their lives and estates by them yea they write not only in general against all the laws of the land but against the very Ordinances of Parliament daily publishing Pamphlets against all their proceedings and especially they have taken great paines to dismount the Ordinance of Tythes established both by Law and a particular Ordinance of Parliament they would faine starve the Presbyterians preaching and practising hourely against the Covenant and many knowne Ordinances for whereas it was by Ordinances injoyned that none should preach publickly but such as were authorised and thought fit for the soundnesse of their Doctrine and for the sufficiency of their parts and abilities and that nothing should be printed but by authority notwithstanding these Ordinances the Sectaries and Independents both preach print whatsoever they please to the seducing of the people and for the perverting and corrupting of religion and disturbance both of Church and State and whereas by an Ordinance of Parliament the manner of government consisting of the three States King Peers and Commons hath been againe and againe confirmed established with the sitting of the Reverend Assembly of Divines and the ratifying of the Directory and for the establishing of the Presbyterian government neverthelesse they write against them all especially the King Peers and Assembly making nothing of them no nor of the â—ouse of Commons it selfe if at any time they displease them but they dash them all a peeces subverting the whole government at once proclaming the people the soveraigne Lords of them all and some of them have beene so temerarious as they have abused the whole Parliament to their faces first the King then the House of Commons and then the House of Lords slighting their authority and power affirming that they could not so much as commit any freeborne subject to prison which every Justice of peace or Constable may doe yea it is well knowne that in insolency they have exceeded all Delinquents that ever appeared before the great Councell of the Kingdome so that it may be spake to the honour both of Strafford and the Prelate of Canterbury that they both of them behaved themselves with far greater modesty and reverence towards both Houses then many of the Sectaries have done for they ever yeelded due honour and reverenciall respect unto them all both with bowed knees and gracefull and seeming language which those paultry Fellowes out of an insulting impudency denied them despising Dignities and Dominions and these creatures have had their complices to applaud them in these their Rebelliouspractises yea some of them have beene so bold as to petition the Parliament in their behalfe though they could not be ignorant how unchristianly unreverently and undutifully they behaved themselves before them which was the greatest affront that was ever offered to any Parliament and the greatest breach of the priviledge of Parliament that hath beene knowne in any nation and yet all these things have beene perpetrated by the Independents and Sectaries all which gracelesse proceedings the old Puritans of England abhorred as the way of unrighteousnesse This also can be proved that many of their Independent itinerary preachers run from place to place preaching against the Nobility and Gentry against the Citie and against the Reverend Assembly against the Directory against Tythes against the Presbytery yea against all that is called authority and against all our gallant renowned and valiant presbyterian souldiers saying in their Sermons come out yee old base drunken whoremasterly rogues shew what you have done for the safety of the Kingdome ascribing all the glory of those noble victories to their owne party Truly if I should make but a repetition of the very contents of their prayers Sermons and diabolicall practises and set downe but the very heads of them it would fill a mightie volume by all which it would evidently appeare that they are greater Delinquents against the Religion and Lawes established by publicke authority then ever Strafford and the Prelate were and greater Malignants to the State then ever the Cavaliers were yea greater enemies to all Reformation in Religion then ever appeared in the world before they were hatcht and which is not the least thing of admiration and wonder in all these creatures they are fledge in wickednesse as soone as they are disclosed Truly these their practises manifest unto the whole world that they are
Presbyters together upon which all the Congregations and severall Assemblies under it are to depend and to which in all weighty businesses they are to appeal for any injury or conceived wrong or scandall or for redresse of any abuses in Doctrine or manners and for the exercising of Church-Discipline upon incorrigable and scandalous offenders as admonition for giving offence suspension from the Ordinances till amendment and reformation or if obstinate Excommunion Or whether every one of those particular Congregations or Assemblies be they never so small severally or considered a part and by themselves be Independent that is to say have full and plenary authority within themselves without reference to this or any other great Councell or Presbytery for transacting or determining all differences about faith or manners amongst themselves or for the redressing of any grievances or abuses or the exercising of the power of Discipline or jurisdiction and from the which there is no appeal for relief though the parties offended conceive they have never so much injury or wrong done them In a word whether two Presbyters with a slender Congregation have an absolute kinde of Spirituall Soveraignty among themselves in their own Congregation and as ample authority as was given to the whole Colledge of the Apostles Mat. 18. and to the whole Presbytery in the Church of Ierusalem And this is the first Question Which that it may the better be understood I will propound it in a simile and that in a matter well known unto all men The government of this famous City of London and of many other great Cities through the Kingdome are called Corporations that is to say majestracies and have in them a Secular or Civill Signory or Presbytry who are invested with Anthority to exercise all acts of Government amongst themselves as if they were an absolute Principality and this Government by which all Citizens and inhabitants within their Precincts and liberties are to be ruled and ordered as occasion and necessity shall require is committed to the Lord Mayors Aldermen and Common-Councell who onely by such other Officers as they shall elect and choose are to manage and exercise this government so that all particular Citizens and all the Companies of severall Tradesmen are in their particular Wards Precincts and Fellowships by their constitutions and Charter to depend upon the determination of that Counsell and are to make their addresses unto them upon any urgent occasion or conceived wrong or when it concerns the common good and for the time to stand unto their arbitrement Now then the question between us and our Brethren is as if there should arise a controversie in these severall Corporations Whether the Companies in each City where they all have their severall Halls and their severall assemblies and meetings upon all occasions and have all their Officers and exercise also a power of ruling and jurisdiction among themselves be independent that is to say have plenary authority within themselves without reference to the Lord Mayor or Aldermen or Common-counsell to determine of all things among their severall Companies and from the which there is no appeale for reliefe though one be never so much injured and damnified by any unjust act and whether these severall Companies and severall Assemblies be each of them a severall Corporation or Magistracy or all of them put together make but one Corporation under one civill Presbytery consisting of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-counsell This I thought fit to propound that every one may the better understand the question Now as this kingdome of England hath its severall Porporations through all Pounties and the which Porporations although they have their severall Pompanies in them yet are all dependent upon a civill Presbytery and Common-counsell and every Company in them makes not a severall Porporation or Magistracy or a severall City but are all dependent upon the Common-counsell or Presbytery for the better ordering and governing of them in all their common affaires and for the redressing of abuses and taking away and removing of common grievances and have their severall appeals to the Common-counsell the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and if they finde no justice there nor satisfaction have their redresse and appeal to some generall Court or some supreame judicature as to the Parliament of the Kingdome who redresse and determine all things according to the lawes and constitutions of the whole Kingdome So in the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus Christ which is his Church all these severall Churches which we reade of in the holy Scrupture of the New Testament are so many severall Corporations and Associations all the severall congregations and assemblies as so many severall Companies in them depending upon a Presbytery or Common-counsell and Colledge of Pastors and Rulers all making up but one Church in every one of their jurisdictions and severall Precincts though they be consistent of never so many severall Assemblies according to the greatnesse of the Cities or Townes wherein they are or according to the severall Hundreds or Divisions assigned to each Presbytery and all these severall associations to be groverned by their severall Presbyteries for the better ordering and preserving of the same to the which every particular man as well as any Assembly or Congregation may have their appeal for the redresse of any abuses or enormities and if they finde themselves wronged there then they have appeals to some other higher Presbytery or Counsell of Divines for relief and justice and both they and all other of the severall Corporations to be governed and regulated by the Laws and Statutes given by Christ himself the onely Head and King of his Church according onely to whose laws they are to be governed and ruled for the common good and preservation of the whole Church divided into those severall Jurisdictions Corporations or Precincts in imitation as neer now as may be of the Churches of Ierusalem Ephesus Corinth and Galatia c. and whose lawes alone must be the rule for the ordering of all their government doctrine and manners I have premised this I have now said that all men may the better understand the state of the Question and controversie in hand Now then if it shall be made appear out of the holy Scripture That all the severall Churches we have mention of in the New Testament were all particular corporations or associations and governed by a Common-Councell of Presbyters or by a Presbyteriall government in each of them and that there were many assemblies and congregations in those severall Churches and all of them had their distinct Officers amongst themselves in the which likewise they had all the Acts of Worship amongst themselves and did partake in all ordinances of Church-fellowship especially in the preaching of the Word Prayer in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords Supper and yet made but one Church and were all governed by a common-counsell of Presbyters or by a common Presbyterie within their Precincts then it must
they allow of that doctrine proclaming themselves to be the only Saints the holy people and the godly party the generation of the just and separate from their brethren as impure creatures Therefore the Independents do not walk in that old way of righteousnesse the old Puritans of ENGLAND walked in who made no separation in the worst times from the publike Assemblies or ever refused to pray with their Christian brethren and therefore in this point they have not outstripped them nor overgrown them from which I boldly conclude that herein that Predicant did abuse the world in saying that there is no difference between the Independents and the old Puritants of ENGLAND For the old Puritans were humble self denying men and the Independents are pharisaicall boasters of their own holinesse and sanctity and therefore in this their way is not the way of righteousnesse but a great aberration from it Again the old Puritans of England though never so learned and never so sufficiently furnished with all accomplished abilities of divine knowledge which many of them by their indefatigable pains study and industry and by their prayers unto God night and day and by their continuall waiting upon the Ordinances and Gods blessing upon all their endeavours had attained unto so that they were taken notice of by all men both in the Universities and amongst all the learned to be incomparable men many of the which I could name yet not any one of them ever preached either in publike or private without great study and prayer yea and without a speciall call and they alwayes with Saint Paul exercised their Ministery in fear and much trembling 1 Cor. 2. ver 3. saying with him 2 Cor. 2. 16. Who is sufficient for these things Those holy and godly Puritans though transcendently learned yet were always conversant in all holy duties especially in preaching and prayer with fear and trembling thinking themselves never sufficiently enough provided for for those duties And truly Saint Paul's example is worthy alwaies to be looked upon who though he were immediately inspired by God himselfe and had alwayes the assistance of his spirit and ten thousand times more learning then all the Independents put together yet he preached alwayes with fear and trembling and cryed out who is sufficient for these things Now if we compare the Independents and their Predicants with the old Puritans of England we shall find the old Puritans alwaies and in all things imitating the example of holy Paul and the other Apostles in their Ministery which they had a command to follow Phil. 3. ver 17. who intruded not themselves rashly upon the Ministery as the false Apostles and Seducers usually did and as all the Independents and Sectaries daily do they cryed out who is sufficient for these things and how can any preach except he be sent Rom. 10. saying No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as Aaron Hebr. 2. 4. Those old Puritans were all men of Saint Paul's spirit they durst do nothing without a call nothing without great study nothing without their parchments and books imitating Saint Paul in this who would alwaies have his parchments with him that is his books bring me my parchments saith he they preached not without fear and trembling this was the continuall practice of the old Puritans they could never be seen in a Pulpit before they had some dayes prepared themselves by prayer and study and yet after all this they would then cry out Who is sufficient for these things Whereas all the Independents and Sectaries assert that every man may preach and every man of them is sufficient and many also hold that women may preach yea and to manifest that they are all sufficient for these things and for the dispensing of the great mysteries of Heaven which the very Angels desired to pry into they run through Town and Country and wheresoever they come get up into the Pulpits and preach with such impudencie impiety and blasphemy as it is not lawfull to name their very doctrines being so destructive to all piety goodnesse and good manners and Ruffian like they go in their hair and apparrel and so insolent and proud they are that one would rather take them for Luciferians then Saints and such unbeseeming expressions they have in their prayers to God as would terrifie a truly consciencious and godly man to hear them as not long since one of them in London publickly speaking unto God in his prayer said Right Honorable Lord God which kind of expressions as they are blasphemous so ridiculous exposing Religion and the sacred Ordinances of God to ludibry and derision But yet this is the dayly practice of the Sectaries through the Kingdome far different from that of the old Puritans of England and therefore in this point of fear and reverence and of an holy awe of Gods divine Majestie and a reverend adoring of the ministery and mystery of the Gospell the way of the Independents is not that either of the holy Apostles or of the old Puritans there being as vast a difference between them as between light and darknesse and therefore the way of Independency in this particular also is not the way of righteousnesse but the way of rebellion and impudency Againe the old Puritans of England had all of them a reverend opinion of all in authority and did ever beleeve that there was no power but of God and that all powers were ordained of God Rom. 13. and they beleeved that every soule ought to be subject to the higher power and that whosoever resisted the power resisted the Ordinance of God and for that their Rebellion they should receive to themselves damnation and they ever believed that every soule ought to be subject unto authority not onely for wrath but also for conscience sake this was the Doctrine of the old Puritans of England and their practice in yeelding continuall obedience to them and praying for them is knowne to all men yea they did acknowledge that as all power was given unto Jesus Christ in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28. Psal 2. so they did beleeve that all power in Church and State was derived from him as the head of all Principalitie and power who had said Prov. 8. 15. 16. By me Kings raigne and Princes decree justice by me Princes rule and Nobles yea all the Iudges of the earth c. this doctrine the old Puritans of England had learned and taught and were obedient unto as having precept upon precept for it as from the words above quoted out of the thirteenth of the Romans so out of 1. Pet. chap. 2. verse 13 14. who said submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supreme or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evill Doers and for the prayse of them that doe well for so is the wâ—ll of God that with well doing yet may
remove mountaines and have not charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burnt and have not charity it profiteth nothing So that by the doctrine of Saint Paul all gifts are nothing without that grace of love And Saint James in the second chap. ver 17. saith That faith without works is dead and that such as shall not relieve and helpe their Christian brethren in their necessities their Religion is not so good as that of the devills for they beleeve and tremble for pure Religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherlesse and the widdow and to releeve them in their necessities J am 1. therefore they that are so far from relieving their brethren and doing good to them and loving of them as they do them all the evill they can pretend they what they will they are no Saints Yea Saint John also in his first Epistle saith ver 10. In this the children of God are manifes t and the children of the devill whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another not as Cain who was of that wicked one slew his brother All they therefore that work not righteousnesse towards their neighbors but do them evill and slâ—y murther them in their reputations and honour they are no Saints but such are the Il-dependents notwithstanding all their gifts as all their practises declare for they do all manner of evill in word and deed against their neighbours in persecuting them continually with their tongues and pens and by all reproachful actions as dayly experience teacheth all men And here I shall take an occasion to bring to the memory of the Il dependents some passages of their uncharitable dealing towards my selfe lately that all men may see how unjust and partiall judges they are and how they upon all opportunities will condemne any Presbyterian for that which they count a pleasantery and an elegancy or matter of mirth in their own mouthes The story briefly is this When the Earle of Strafford was in question before the great Councell of the Kingdome the high Court of Parliament as if that supream tribunall had wanted either judgement or prudence and sufficient understanding and knowledge for the tryall of a Delinquent or had wanted courage or resolution or a minde to execute justice against so eminent an offender as he was who notwithstanding carryed on the whole businesse with such wisdome and moderation and in so fair a way as by which the Parliament hath gained an immortall fame to the worlds end yet at that time those of the Il-dependent party were the chiefe agents of all those tumults at Westminster who made it their imployment dayly to run thither to cry for justice against the Earle abusing him though then in the hands of authority with all the reproachfull words that with the tongues of men could be uttered as all the standers by can witnesse describing him from all the parts of his body and from every one of them gathering some presage of evill that should first be acted by him that should finally bring him to an evill and untimely end and this for the most part was the theam of all their spitefull discourse concerning him as he was carryed both to and from the Parliament Amongst other of their expressions they said he looked like the belly of a toad and that his teeth stood in his head like a pot-fish and that he was so rotten with the poxe that if they could not by their clamours procure justice against him yet they comforted themselves in this that he could not continue long for said they he will fall apeeces he is so rotten with that noysome disease These and many other expressions they dayly and openly uttered against the Earle ever affirming that he was the ugliest man that ever they beheld This language I can depose I learned amongst them as never having heard it in all my life from any man before that time and they took no small pleasure in venting these words upon all occasions and they used them as the flowers of their rhetorick and it was thought neither blasphemy in them nor a lie nor any scurrility neither were there any then of that fraternity so severe as to think that any that used such words could not have the least dram of grace in them But upon their clamours and through their exorbitant insolencies against him I being one day at Westminster waited for his passing by that I might see what a hideous creature he was that I might at another time say I had seen him and in beholding of him I heard their uncivill and reviling speeches against him but observed nothing in his looks and person but had his actions been as serviceable to the Kingdome as they were destructive to all the Kings Dominions and to himselfe there was nothing wanting in the man either for person or courtship or any other accoutrements that might not have made him lovely and venerable in any part of the world And I may truly say this of him that he had more generosity in his look then halfe the Il-dependents that ever I saw were they put all together but thus they did asperse him for his very looks and complexion And in the same manner they spake of those Cavaliers that accompanyed the king when he came to the House of Commons to demand the five Members of all the which they said they looked like so many devills furies and feinds from Orco and Hell it sefe and used all the odious expressions people could imagine to set them forth And of all the ministers of the Church of England they say they are belly-gods and such as run from one end of the Kingdome to another to get preferment and to do mischiefe Now upon an occasion not long since of a mutinous company of Il-dependents that sought the life and blood of many honourable Members in the House of Commons and had entred into a wicked conspiracy to that end whose immaculate reputation notwithstanding they could not with all the breath of their calumnies in the least thing blast I say upon this occasion being cited and commanded to appear at the Committee of Examinations about that businesse and coming thither I found such a rabble rout of odd fellows that for the illnesse of their looks and the badnesse of their complexions and the manner of their behaviour I never saw the like or any man that was there that I talked with as they are all ready to witnesse they being so rude and uncivill towards all especially towards my self they being also such a company of squanderling fellowes not one of six of them having a cloak to his back as if they had come only to make a tumult or an uprore and therefore had laid aside all impediments that might
have hindred their activity as those that stoned Stephen that they might be the more nimble left their garments in other mens keeping When I saw so â—ude a company and hearing withall that they were of all Religions and that they had combined themselves together by swearing to take away the life of many in the House of Commons and that their businesse might go on the better and with the greater success that whiles some of them were there acting of their parts in a disorderly and tumultuous manner others of them were in the city at a private Humiliation a speciall day being set a part to seek God as they said that they might have justice done against some of the Members of Parliament that were not favourers of the Il-dependents as Jezabell caused the Elders of Jezreell to call a Fast when shee took away the life of poor innocent Naboth This that I now say was related unto me by one of that company that not long after went out of the room who was the onely person I knew amongst them all But I not knowing the cause of such a concourse of uncivill people demanded the reason of it and it was replyed that there was not a third part of those that were to come up for the whole city would appear there in that businesse the day following to demand justice against such and such as guilty of High Treason but that now they were seeking God and in private Fasts and that some were assembled in such a mans house naming the party In this formall manner things were related unto me as the righteous Judge of the whole world knoweth all which proceedings I suppose was to do evill to their neighbours Now when I had well viewed and considered all these men and saw their complections â—arre worse then that of the Earle of Strafford and beholding all their behaviour and seeing their incivility towards all men and especially towards my selfe whom they causelesly reviled saying that they had kept mee from hanging not long since and that I had lived on their almes and that they had prayed for my deliverance out of my troubles and that now I was come home with a vengeance unto them for I was turned an Apostate and a Persecutor of the Saints so that they could not in their hearts pray for mee and many other reviling speeches they used in the presence of many honourable Gentlemen as they can all witnesse and that without giving them any occasion in word or deed as the standers by are ready to depose I say I seeing this their disorderly behaviour and withall hearing them with open mouth traduce the great Councell of the Kingdome and accusing them all of injustice affirming that their proceedings were as tyrannicall as those of Strafford and the Prelates and not onely saying it but printing it in a Pamphlet in the which they had most shamefully and falsely belyed mee as the whole Parliament knew in all which they did evill to their neighbours I in replying to that Pamphlet in my just defence thought it an abuse of gravity to use it upon such whibling Fellowes and chose rather by way of merriment to answer them then seriously to spend time about them and therefore calling to mind some of their owne expressions against the Earle of Strafford as that hee had got a blow with a French Coulstaffe and that hee looked like the belly of a Toad and remembring also what they had spake of the Cavaliers that came with the King to the Parliament that they looked like so many Furies and Fiends out of Hell and recollecting withall what they had often spake of the Ministers of the Church of England how that they ran from one part of the Kingdome to an other to get Church preferments and regarded nothing but their bellies and sought nothing but the inslaving of the King himselfe and all the Gentry and Nobility of the Kingdome that they might the more tyrannically domineer over all the people and how they had polluted all the Church of God with their idolatries and superstitions and with all manner of heathenish and antichristian defilements and abominations and remembring also many of Martins expressions against the Presbyters of the Church of England in his blasphemous Pamphlets as that of the Arraignment of Mr. Persecution and his Eccho and his Hue and Cry the which Bookes were entertayned amongst all the Independents and read with great delight they making themselves upon all occasions merry with them and especially with those expressions wherein hee bringeth in all the Presbyters and Master Simon Synod with great ironteeth and such luxuriant tushes as one might picke them with a Rowling-pin and I say I calling to my remembrance all these their expressions in which they greatly delighted and pleased themselves when at any time they inveighed against the Presbytery and studied to make them all odious to the people as they have done in all which they have done evill to their neighbours thought it not amisse to make choyce of some of their owne Rhetorick which I did purposely to find out the humour of the Cattle and that all men might see the partiality of the Independents and indeed the vanity of all unstable men in generall who are won with an apple and lost with a nut and will prayse and disprayse they know not for what and one day commend that in themselves which an other day they will condemne in any of a contrary mind and at one time extoll a man for that which upon an other occasion they will censure him for with all manner of aggravations The consideration of these things and with what disguised aspects and hideous lookes and odde complexions they appeared in all the roomes about the Committee and how they grinned at mee with their teeth made mee in the description of them use the same expressions that they had formerly done of Strafford and the Cavaliers and the Presbyters of the Church of England when both in their countenance and actions they paralleld them and say they looked like so many furies and like the belly of a Toad and as if they had got a blow with a French Coulstaffe and that one might picke some of their teeth with a Bedstaffe all which were their owne expressions and as they accused the Presbyters for belly gods so they also were very sensible of good cheere and that as the Presbyters had with their superstitions polluted the Church so they did pollute them with their scummering and pissing in them and that as they sought to inslave the Gentry and Nobility and the whole Kingdome so the Independets if they could but once attaine the mastery would doe no lesse and for this my so speaking I had very good reason being well acquainted with their language and dialect having often heard some of them say that the Gentry and Nobility had beene the cause of all the miseries of the Kingdome and that if they continued in their greatnesse
all resolved to have the liberty of their consciences or else they would make use of their swords which they have already in their hands So that most certain it is the Religion of too too many of them is a meer faction c. Now what these two have affirmed can be corroborated by other witnesses and if in your account he be an Incendiary that in detestation thereof hath set down their words by way of repetition to discover the danger of permitting such lawlesse spirits to go on in their unwarrantable wayes what great Incendiartes are they that have imagined such things in their hearts and boldly spoken those words with their mouths For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matth. 12. 34. Luke 6. 45. as it can be proved Independents have done and so much the two witnesses you spake of said and no more for they accused not that Army which God hath honoured with many Crowns of admirable Victories c. But you say they cast fiery flashes and flames which do fly in the face of that Army c. Truly this is no other but a false Comment made by your selfe from which you draw an evill inference and then you cry out as a man overcome with passion saying these words are not to be born but I leave say you the judgement thereof to the wisdome and justice of the Parliament whose former freeing of you extends not to cleare your words from being Incendiary Thus farre you Brother I professe I am heartily sorry to see that you my Quondam Fellow Sufferer should so much forget your selfe as not only bitterly unworthily and most falsly thus to inveigh against mee but also to insinuate into the Parliament as if they could not manifest their wisdome and justice except they passe their judgement and censure me according to your bill of Information This violent prosecution and your Canterburian expressions make not me alone but all other solid Christians wonder at your spirit for you may please to call to mind how one once professed he would not passe any sentence against You my Brother Prynne and My selfe but left us as he said to the wisdome and justice of the Court which was in the judgement of all that heard his whole speech to pronounce us so highly guilty that if the Lords there present did not severely censure us they would shew themselves neither wise nor just This president you have exactly followed against me but it will never Crown your head with honour and for the Parliament it is their glory to slight troublesome informers for should they hearken to every information invented and drawn up by the unsatisfied and turbulent spirits of some Independents it would cloud their wisdome and totally eclipse the shining of their Justice in our Horizon But you cannot there obtain an Order to have your Bill taken pro confesso and gain so much of the Parliament that I should not answer for my selfe therefore I may and will speak for my selfe in my just defence and shew how unjustly you have accused me And here I deny your Charg in every particular circumstance But before I returne my answer thereunto you having given me such a Theam to speak upon as the due acknowledgement of Gods goodnesse in raising us up deliverers when City and Country were sorely afflicted and heavily oppressed on every side in speaking of Gods providentiall care and severall actings in way of mercy to his people I cannot omit by way of thankfulnesse to God and men to declare how that in the first place City and Country are deeply ingaged for ever next unto divine goodnesse to honour and highly esteem those Lords Knights Gentlemen and Citizens who in the beginning of the Kingdomes troubles like the Governours of Israel and the Princes of Issachar did offer themselves willingly among the people Judges 5. 9. 15. whos 's very appearing in the cause was then of such concernment that as it made the hearts of all who were truly godly to praise God for them so thereby God made them the preservative of City and Country Insomuch that upon serious consideration we shall find that those Noble Lords and all those brave Commanders that adhered to them who as Zebulon and Napthali jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field and exposed themselves to reproach Judges 5. 18. are not to be over lookt and their gallant undertakings obscured under a Sable cloud of unthankfulnesse nor to be buried in the grave of Oblivion For when the Kingdome was in greatest danger then God made use of them to preserve Citie and Countrey raysing an Army by Land and setting forth a Navie at sea under the commands of the Right Honourable thrice Illustrious Faithfull Valiant and for ever to be highly honoured Lords Robert Earle of Essex and Robert Earle of Warwicke whom hee made by sea and land instrumentall for the good and welfare of the Kingdome and the truth is at this day neither preservation nor safety could have beene expected in Citie and Countrey as things then stood had not these two Renowned Lords and Heroes so nobly and undauntedly appeared in the cause undertaken the charge and care upon them one to be Admirall of the Navie at sea the other to be Generall of the Parliaments forces by Land For this their undertaking was in such a juncture of time that had they out of selfe respects declined it unlesse the Lord by a miracle had withstood and over-throwne our enemies Citie and Countrey in all probability long before this time would have beene over-run and possessed by them and no man should now have had peace in his going out or comming in But by the valour vigilancie and faithfulnesse of our then Noble Admirall our Seas were safe-guarded by which meanes forraine enemies were awed home-bred enemies weakened by surprizing many Ships Armes Ammunition Instruments and Preparations for warre which were sent over into England for the destruction of Citie and Countrey besieged Townes were by him relieved as Lyme Plymouth c. So that God made that Noble Lord by Sea the preservative of Citie and Countrey which lay open ready to be destroyed by cruell and bloody enemies And as the Earle of War wicke by Sea so had not the Earle of Essex being Generall of the Parliaments Armies by Land beene an experienced Commander faithfull to their cause and with a most Heroick and undaunted courage stood to the Battle at Edge-hill when by report whole Regiments ran away and through feare deserted him there now would have beene no safety in Citie and Countrey What had become of Citie and Countrey when Bristow was lost aud Gloucester closely besieged which though it was a long time even beyond expectation valiantly maintained by Colonell Massie the then Governour thereof that ever to be honoured Gentleman had it not by the care and valour of that Noble Lord beene seasonably relieved it could not possibly have held longer out
corrupt Courts in the Kingdome yet even in those Courts there was an appearance of justice in this kind so that if any man had any just exception against any mans testimony if it did not totally overthrow their witnesse which it many times did yet it so enervated their evidence that it was never so valid and prejudicall to him as otherwise it would have been as you your selfe can witnesse it was in my cause in the High Commission Court where I making it appear by sufficient witnesse that Thomas Newcomin and John Danet and Richard Daniel had formerly been expunged in the Chancery for Knaves and had for that out of malice put me up into it were all my adversaries and perjured varlots their testimony by the whole Court was rejected and they were by them all accounted a company of Knaves all over soul and body for so some of the Court said of them and I was onely condemned for my book And this part of Justice in many causes remained even in those Courts in the worst of times in all Courts of the world there was ever leave and liberty given unto the accused to make his just defence and bring in the evidences of his own innocency and non-guiltinesse his just exceptions against both his accusers prosecutors and witnesses and this by the very law of nature for so said Festus that it was not the manner of the Romans to condemn any before they had been brought face to face with their adversaryes and that they had bin fully heard what they could speak for themselves for otherwise if they had condemned any without either of the former conditions they had not proceeded according to law nor condemned them judicially Fourthly those that are judged judicially and according to the Lawes of God and nations they must ever be within the jurisdiction of that Court and of those that judge them and under their Lawes Neither doe any wise Judges take any cognizance of things without their jurisdiction and if any should bee so unjust or unadvised to attempt any such thing the party accused hath the benefit of his Appeal as wee see in the cause of Paul when hee appealed from the Tribunall of the Jewes to Caesars Barre And all men know that the Courts of one Countrey doe not judge and condemne the subjects that dwell in an other and that are under an other government yea the Courts secular and the Courts Ecclesiasticall even in the same Kingdomes and Common-wealths doe not intermeddle with one an others imployments except it be by speciall appeale which is granted unto them by some caution upon just occasions but they leave each Court to the managing of those causes that are of speciall cognizance there and within their jurisdiction for otherwise it would breed confusion speedily in a Country and therefore those distinct Courts and Jurisdictions take the cognizance of those things onely that are peculiar and proper to themselves and within their spheare and never intermeddle and exercise any power over others that are out of their jurisdictions be they never so facinorous or accused of never so high a crime yea if any information or accusation be put up against any man into any Court be it true or false if the Judges conceive that the parties impleaded against belong unto an others jurisdiction they will send them thither to be judged and decline sentencing of them and this method of judgement the very Law of nature teacheth all men yea Pontius Pilat though a most wicked and unjust Judge yet understanding that Christ was of Galilee of which Herod was the Tetrarcke or Governour and conceiving him to be under Herods jurisdiction he sends him forthwith unto Herod intimating that the examination and tryall of his cause peculiarly belonged unto him if Christ were judicially to be proceeded against Yea Paul himselfe saith What have I to doe to judge those that are without Those that were without in Pauls opinion and under an other jurisdiction hee professed that hee had nothing to doe with them The fifth thing required for the judiciall proceeding and handling of any cause is this that they that are to be Iudges may not be both parties witnesses prosecutors Iury and Iudges in the same cause for it they be they cannot be said judicially to give sentence All that I now write unto you Brother I am confident your conscience tels you is just and true Now in all nations and well governed Kingdomes and countries if there have beene any faylings in either of these conditions and requisites the subjects have the benefit of the Law against both their Prosecutors and Iudges and may appeale unto the King or supreame Court of judicature in the Kingdom crave justice there against such Iudges and such proceedings and if they cannot obtaine justice there God will call them to an account one day for it for in the judgement of all men such proceedings have ever beene counted illegall and unjust and all those Iudges that have at any time given sentence without observing those rules and conditions did never censure any man judicially neither can their judgement be said to be judiciall in any just mans understanding Now Brother if your proceeding against mee be examined by these rules and by such men as are judicious and truly godly without faction you will not be thought judicially to have censured condemned me for it is most certain you have not in all the carriage of this busines beene a judiciall Iudge for in this your sentence you have gone against all the Lawes of God and nature yea against the practice of the most corrupt Courts in the world in that you have accused me arraigned me and condemned mee without either Articles Bill Libell saving your owne Booke allegation or information and without any lawfull citation into your Court or any Court you have also condemned mee before I knew who were my Accusers and that without hearing mee ever speake for my selfe yea you have condemned and adjudged me an innocent man withou any lawfull witnesse for as I am not conscious to my selfe of ever having done any thing that deserves convention before any Court of Iud icature in this world much lesse to have sentence given against mee so I am most assured that if ever these your dealings against mee shall be brought to a tryall and a judiciall hearing indeed as they may be if the time once grows more quiet I shall make it clearly and evidently appeare that the ground of this your beastly accusation brought against me viz. that I am a scandalous Walker to the shame of the very name of Christian Religion did first arise from one of the most infamous notorious creatures though an Independent that now lives upon earth for all manner of villanies a shame dishonor to her name kindred known to be one of the most prodigious impudent Whores that is this day in the world except the Whore of Babylon and yet