the Pasture and not permitted to make all Common or range into the Corn-Fields Though after all these brags I have not met with any person whose observation has found Money more plentiful or Trading a Farthing better even in the time of the Toleration But lastly By this Separation they are sure to undermine the foundation of all Government which is the principal thing they always aim at both in Church and State for by their departing from one and Disobedience to both they bring their Power into question and contempt and whilest they endeavour to render them odious tyrannical heathenish and persecuting superstitious and unlawful and yet escape unpunished by the hopes of the like impunity they encourage others to follow their example and insult over the Laws and to esteem of all Power as the Frogs in the Fable did of their Wooden King And this is all in order to the accomplishment of their ultimate Design which is the subversion of the present Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical in order to the setting up a new one according to their own Phancies and Humours Now to demonstrate the unlawfulness of this Doctrine it were enough to shew that in Publick they will rarely own it themselves and will never charge the reason of their Separation upon any of these ends but upon the Ceremonies of the Church to which they pretend their Consciences will not give them leave to submit I think we shall cut the Sinews of this pretence and shew how feeble and lame an Excuse it is If we consider That these Ceremonies by their own confession are acknowledged to be indifferent in their own Natures and the reason they give why they are unlawful is because they are Imposed the Liberty of Conscience being thereby taken away Now this is a most certain truth that an indifferent thing when commanded by a Lawful Authority ceases to be indifferent and becomes necessary for all the Authority of the Church to command or impose is only exercised upon indifferent things What is absolutely necessary is commanded by God whatever is unlawful is forbidden by him so that they must of necessity either take away all Liberty from the Church to impose indifferent things that so they may have their Liberty which is unreasonable to desire and if granted them would destroy that Liberty which they would have or they must deny the lawfulness of the Authority that commands and determines indifferent things otherwise let them confess that they seek for a knot in a Rush to maintain the Quarrel But the plain Truth is the Vse they have for this Engine of Separation is to shew by their Example that they believe the Authority which commands these things is no Lawful Authority that therefore the impositions are not necessary or Obedience to them a Duty for rtherwise I cannot think them so sottish but they know it is and I am satisfied if they were in Power they would use the same Arguments to persuade to Obedience which now we do though they have stronger in their Budget upon occasion than have been yet employed to make them obey But for a further manifestation of this Error we will bring it to the Doctrine of our Blessed Lord S. Mat 13.29 in the Parable of the Tares The zealous Servants were for a present Separation and Extirpation of the Tares from among the Wheat But the Wise Master was of another judgment Not so lest they should root up the Wheat also and certainly as before was shewn this Separation of theirs has not fail'd of that effect but has already rooted up much of the good fruits of Charity Peace and Vnity out of the Church and has left us the Tares of Dissention in their room of which we may well say an Enemy hath done this And whether this Doctrine is pursued to the uttermost would not lead them to Extripation of the Tares let their Holy League witness For they all hold that Dominium fundatur in gratiâ and the Wicked have only a borrowed Right to whatever they have of Life and Fortune And how easie it is for religious Covetousness to perswade them when in Power to invade the Rights of Sinners and spoil the Egyptians will appear if we call to mind former things which though the Gracious Act of Oblivion has pardon'd them for they will never pardon the forced Restitution of the Kings Bishops Dean and Chapter-Lands But this being only a Parable may not be sufficiently convictive Let us look therefore for Example St. Joh 13.15 Now the Blessed Jesus who tells us he was to be our Example was so far from Separation or making Communion with Sinners a Crime that it was one of the greatest Objections against him S. Matt. 2.10 11 12 13. that he familiarly converst eat and drank with them and was a Friend to Publicans and Sinners S. Matt. 11 19 which accusation he did not excuse himself of but justifie from the good designs of thereby calling Sinners to repentance Nor do we find that ever he separated Himself or his Disciples from the Communion of the Jewish Church though full of such Types and Ceremonies as he came by fulfilling to abrogate but as his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath-Days went up to Jerusalem to celebrate all the commanded Festivals even to the last Passeover at which he was betray'd And further to shew us that we ought not to break Vnity or Communion with those who continue in the Visible Church he was as conversant with Judas as with the rest of the Apostles and yet he knew from the beginning who it was that should betray him knew Judas to be a covetous Hypocrite and worse than that a Devil and it is more than probable that he himself at the first Institution gave the Holy Communion to Judas as will appear to any that reads that place of St. Luke Chap. 22. from the thirteenth Verse to the two and twentieth And for the lawfulness of Separation let us hear St. Jude who having given us such a Character as I shall hereafter shew exactly fits these men lest their fair pretences should still endanger our mistake he concludes it with this distinctive Note of Separation These are they if you know them by nothing else you shall be sure to discover them by this These are they that Separate themselves S. Jude 19 Sensual or Animal having not the Spirit for all their great pretences to it unless Sedition Faction and Rebellion be Fruits and Effects of it as before has fully been made appear Could they prove us guilty of Idolatry or that we erre in any Substantial Fundamental point of Religion then their Separation would not only be lawful but necessary but till they can do this and convince us that we are not a true Church their Separation from us is unchristian and unlawful condemned by Christ and his holy Apostles But all this is nothing Their Religion must be such as
which by experience are found so dangerous to the Souls Bodies and Estates of Men both in their Private and Publique Capacities It is their idolizing of Preaching making it the Golden Calf of Beth-el the House of God and exalting it above all other means of Grace It is their justling with it for precedency and not that only but the All of Godliness or at least the sine qua non without which according to their Measure and Manner there can be no true Religion which the Church condemns in them and with very good Cause for it is a most manifest falshood and the Bishops are so far from being against Preaching that many of them are very eminent and constant Preachers themselves to the Confusion of this notorious Slander notwithstanding that which as Saint Paul sayes of himself comes upon them dayly the Care of all the Churches in the heavy as well as honourable Charge of Government But the plain truth is This is so necessary a Tool that if it be taken away they cannot go forward with their Babel without this they could not be able to Caress the People or conveniently to disperse their Opinions nor indeed make any tolerable advance in their Grand Design and therefore Silencing Godly Ministers of which Number they only account themselves is one of the most horrid Cruelties that Perfection can invent though unless their Tongues were out it is as easie to Silence a Thunder-clap and they are all like the Aspen-leaves of which the Story sayes a Wicked Womans Tongue was made the more the wind of Persecution blows upon them the faster do they wagg To conclude it is not for their preaching of Christ or the Gossel but for their prating with such malicious Words against Kings Prelates Magistrates Prayers and all Government Ecclesiastical and Civil for which the Laws as well as out Church condemns them and is against their Preaching CHAP. XV. A short View of some other of their Doctrines Of their Judaizing the Lords Day Of their censuring all their Ancestors and even their own Children to Damnation Their subtilty in denying all these Accusations and disowning the Actions of the late Rebels when yet they tread in the very same steps That they have the same Design manifested from their great Industry in all late New Elections of Members of the present Parliament to get Voices for such as will be favourable to their interest A probable Conjecture that they have had a principal hand in the late unhappy Differences betwixt the Two Houses and of the great Desire they have of a New Parliament and their hopes when that shall happen THere are several other Doctrines of theirs which I shall only briefly touch upon in order to a Discovery of what is their Design in maintaining them though they may deserve a just reprehension from some other Pen. One of them is their teaching the People to Judaize by making a Sabbath of the Lords Day not that I believe with all their turning over they can find any thing in the New Testament for countenancing their New Opinion or for the Institution of it And though possibly the Disciples might have some intimation from our Lord about it Yet having not left any thing upon Holy Record that they had the more probable Opinion is that in Commemoration of the Glorious Resurrection they keep it as a Festival and that it is to the Ancient Vsage and Command of the Church that it ows its Institution and that they never intended it for the Sabbath in a strict and Jewish sense we have the same Ancient Vsage to testifie and it was and still is the Ancient and present Quarrel of the Jews against the Christians that they break the Sabbath not only as to the Day but as to the strict Observation of it even on the Lords Day which they take for the Christian Sabbath And methinks that is strange that these men should cry out so against us for observing Dayes and but using the name of ALTAR Heb. 13.10 We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the Tabernacle for both which we have Scripture and Authority to justifie us should yet think it is no Crime in them to seek for a refuge for their Error by being obliged to the Sanction of the Law for a Sabbath And how they will make one part of the Commandment mutable by changing the Day from Saturday to Sunday and the other part eternal and unalterable without an express Warrant from him who is Lord of the Sabbath I confess it poses my Vnderstanding for as I take it they can shew no Deputation to be his Vice-Gerents But if there were nothing worse though I think this an Error I should not deny them my Vote to be Jewes and enjoy their Sabbath and think it as great a Sin to dress a good Dinner on that Day as to commit Murder or Adultery Provided they would keep it a Day of Rest from those ill Employments they have so often and still do abuse it to as well as their Fasts which were always observed to be the Prologues to Mischief or raising of Money They who are for Liberty let them not condemn the Lawful Liberty of others nor impose what they have neither Warrant nor Command for upon mens Consciences as absolutely necessary to Salvation But the truth of the Business is as they have no Doctrine without an Vse so they have severall very ill ones for this for besides that it adds not a little to that opinion of Sanctimony which is so necessary for them to cover their Black Designs by the rigid Austerity they this Day impose upon themselves and others The great Vse they make of it is to lessen the Esteeem of the Holy Fasts and Festivals of the Church which they say are mere Superstitious inventions of Men forbidden by Saint Paul where he tells the Galathians he had bestowed upon them Labour in vain if they observed days and years but the Sabbath is of Gods own appointment and to be Sanctified according to their Doctrine So long therefore as they put it to these Employments as they do in their frequent Preaching upon it to make a Distinction of a PARTY and to bring not onely our Christian but Politique Liberty into Bondage I think it is not without Danger as well though not so much as the rest As for that strange Doctrine which I have heard several of them maintain That all their Ancestors and even their own Children who dye in their Infancy are damned because they have not actual Faith or had not the true Faith as they have it is a great Uncharitableness but no injury to the Dead who are never the further off from Heaven for their saying so But this is a necessary Corollary to their former Doctrine or Predestination and of their being the only Elect for not only all Heathens but all others who are not of their Faith and Perswasion are damned and that till
all the whole Party are managed by Interest or guilty of Hypocrisie I am clearly of another Judgment and do believe it is a want of ability or means to discover those Dangers which are closely concealed from them by the cunning Ring-leaders of Faction which is the true Reason why they do so much admire and adore the fair outside and specious appearances of these Men who are like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Luke s. 11. v. 44. those dangerous vaults under the Painted Sepulchres at whose outward Beautie and Garniture whilest Men do with wonder gaze they are not aware of the Dangers of their inward hollowness till they are irrecoverably fallen into it THERE is no question but Goodness and Piety do command an Universal Love and Veneration insomuch that even those persons whose constant Debaucheries declare them open Enemies to all Virtue cannot yet forbear to pay a secret Homage to those Men with whom they see her dwell And this is the Lure which these cunning Falconers know so well how to manage and by it to reclaim the greatest Haggards But it is but a Lure and would they well consider when they have with so much eagerness stoopt upon it that it is only a few Gay Feathers and not a real Quarry they would not so tamely take the Hood and give themselves up to that blind Faith and Obedience which is expected from them I would willingly believe that it is not the Wills but the Understandings of these Men that are to blame and as I desire it were so I should extreamly rejoyce to be convinced that their Piety were real But I shall never be capable of entertaining the Perswasion That any Person can truly Fear God who does not Honour the King or that he can be a good Christian so long as he continues to be an ill Man Nor can I be brought to believe that he is a Child of God and loves God as he ought to do who hates his Brother unless they can convince me that it is not Canonical Scripture which tells me In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whoso doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother And I am very well satisfied that it is no Work of Righteousness to refuse to obey God in those lawful Magistrates and Ministers who arc of his especial appointment and his Vicegerents and Representatives and to whom therefore he commands all Obedience and Subjection should be given DID they lie under the hard Circumstances of invincible Ignorance of their Duty they would deserve Pity and Pardon both from God and Men but being prest on all sides with such clear and irresistible Arguments from undeniable Scripture Law and Reason that they owe all Duty to their Soveraign and all Obedience to their Superiours in the Church there is no colour or pretext left them under which they can shelter themselves from the unavoidable guilt of wilful Disloyalty and Obstinate Schism I have often wondred to hear with what Veneration they will speak of the Holy Scriptures and to see how constantly they retreat to them as the most impregnable Fortress for the Defence of their Opinions and Perswasions how peremptorily and frequently they appeal to them as the only indifferent Judges and Arbiters of all Controversies and Differences in Religion how zealously and earnestly they plye the People with the great Duty of searching the Scriptures for in them they have Eternal Life St. Joh. c. 5. v. 3â— and yet all the World cannot perswade them either to believe or hear those Scriptures though speaking never so plainly against their Erroneous Practices I know no Commands more Positive than what our blessed Lord himself and the Apostles of our Lord have given for their Obedience to Kings even Heathen Kings St. Marâ— c. 12. v. 1. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars as well as unto God the things that are Gods And let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Rom. 13. v. 1. saith St. Paul And he enforces the Command upon them with the most dreadful of all Penalties Not imprisonment of their Bodies confiscation of their Goods or Death in all which they pretend to glory and be more than Conquerors but with Damnation of which if they suffer it they will have no cause to Boast And as if he had foreseen what shield they would oppose against such a mighty Blow as comes from the all-powerful Arm of Divine Vengeance he takes away even that Defence and tells them it is a folly to pretend the Obstacle of Conscience since they must needs be subject not only for * The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Poena vindicta as well ac Ira. So. Rom. c 3. v. 11. Is God unjust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who taketh vengeance Wrath or fear of Punishment but also for Conscience sake NOR is the other Command less plain and positive Obey them that have the Rule ever you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account That there are such Persons who have a just Authority over them by the Fundamental Laws of the Land is matter of undeniable Fact and these very Men having given their coâ—â—â—â—t to those Laws by their free Representatives in Parliament stand bound to the observance of them by their own Act and Deed. Which manifestly shews the unreasonableness of their disobedience But further that these Governours of the Church have that Authority vested in them and derived upon them by a continued succession from Christ and his Apostles is a Truth which though they may stoutly deny yet they will never be able with all their skill to disprove without a new Index Expurgatorius and such a one as must purge not only all the writings of the Ancient Fathers all the Records of time all the Acts of the allowed General Councils but even the Bible or at least some part of it out of the World ALL that they say for themselves to palliate such Notorious Disobedience is That they ought to obey God rather than Men which is undoubtedly true and necessary in all such cases as that for which it was first urged where the Commands of Men are contrary to the Express Laws and Positive Will of God But a most impertinent and frivolous Evasion where the Impositions of Men are either agreeable to the Will of God or by being by him left altogether undetermined are therefore absolutely in the Power of his Deputies the lawful Magistrates to determine this way or that way as to them shall seem most expedient And therefore the Apostle commands 1 Pet. 2. cap. ver 13 to 18. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake SOMETIMES they will tell us especially those whole Reason convinces them of the impotency of the former Plea that they are obedient so far as the Impositions are lawful that is warranted
from the Express Word of God which is amongst all Dissenters the most Universal Sanctuary where their Disobedience seeks and as they think finds a most certain Refuge and sure Protection LET them now shew us for the proof of this new Tenent any one place of Scripture where all Obedience is limited only to what is expresly commanded in the holy Canon If they can they have better Eyes than all the rest of the World and if they cannot why do they destroy their Maxime by their own Practice by yielding Obedience to a Doctrine no-where warranted by express Words or Commands of Scripture and this impregnable Fortification in which they think their Disobedience so securely retrench'd will like the Walls of Jericho fall flat in an Instant if we consider FIRST That the Members of the Church ow'd all Obedience to their lawful Superiours both in Church and State before some parts of the Scripture were committed to writing and long before they were collected into one Volume and so communicated to the dispersed Church Now before they were either written or published they could be no Rule for their Obedience which nevertheless was a Duty which they were obliged to perform both as Men and Christians SECONDLY If we consider That though the Scriptures are sufficiently able to make the Man of God wise unto Salvation in point of Faith and Doctrine yet they are altogether silent as to the particulars of Discipline and Government Some general Rules are laid down as That every thing must be done with Decency and in Order 1 Cor. c. 14. v. 26 40. Now the Question is what is Decent what Orderly and what Edifying The Scriptures cannot be the Arbiters of what they leave undetermined nay not so much as mentioned Who must then be Judges Surely those Powers and that Authority which are ordained of God and established by the Fundamental Laws and Constitutions of our Nation and not these Men nor indeed any private Persons who can shew us neither Mission nor Commission Succession nor any other Authority more than they may have obtained by Usurpation to be Judges over the Church of God And their own Practice when they were in Power shews the unreasonableness of this Plea since what they deny to others they did then arrogantly challenge to themselves viz. To determine the Times and Modes of Worship and in their worthy Directory they did impose many things not expresly commanded in Scripture nor so much as incouraged by any ancient Usage or Custome in the Church of Christ Nay the very making and imposing such a Directory was by this Rule absolutely unlawful as being no-where commanded in the Word of God And what were all their Exercises publick and private Fasts and days of Thanksgiving for their prosperous Wickedness but Times of Worship Prosperum scelus virtus vocatur I dare not say of God of their own not the Scriptures appointment So that it makes it very suspicious that they are of the same spirit with Diotrephes and that their prating with such malicious words against their Lawful Superiours 3 S. John v. 9. proceeds from that Ambitious Love which they have to Preheminence themselves which gives them such an aversion to those Humilities and due Submissions which they owe to others THIRDLY the impotency of this Evasion will most fully appear if we consider the Nature of Obedience which is hereby utterly destroyed for the very Essence of Obedience does consist not in disputing the lawfulness of the Commands but in a willing and ready putting those Commands in Executions provided they are such as are not directly contrary to the plainly understood and Positive revealed Will of God or to the Universal and Common Laws and Dictates of Nature and Nations which none of those to which Dissenters are disobedient can be proved to be And the Subject of all Obedience either to the Laws of God or Man usually consists in such things as are expedient to be done in order to the publick good rather than agreeable to our inclinations which though under the specious Name of Conscience if they may be permitted to be Judges will emancipate all Mankind and set them free from that Duty which they owe to their Superiors and it would be no more but pleading this Corban against whatsoever is expected from them and all the Obligation to Duty is immediately cancel'd And I would gladly be satisfied if this Doctrine were Universally received and put in Practice Deus fecit omnia pondere mensurâ Sap. c. 11. v. 20 and therefore saw that every thing was veery good Gen. 1.31 whether it would not quickly turn the whole World upside down and in a few Moments destroy that Beautiful Order of which Almighty God was the Primitive Author in Nature and as St. Paul tells us is no less in the Church for God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints and that Peace is never to be hoped for had or enjoyed without Order and Obedience to those Decencies which by a Lawful Authority are commanded and which therefore the same Apostle absolutely and universally enjoins Let all things be done decently and in order BUT to shew the impracticableness of this Opinion in the common concerns of Life and much more therefore in the Religious we will suppose that one of these precious Men has Children and Servants whom he has educated in the fear of the Lord and instructed in the Way of Righteousness according to his own Principles He calls for his Son and tells him Son such a Man owes me a considerable summe of Money this is the day for payment pray go and receive it for me to supply my present urgent occasions But replies the Son Sir how do I know whether this be a just Debt and unless I be satisfied in Conscience that 't is so I dare neither demand nor receive it of him Oh Son says the Father Remember your Duty and the Commandement Honour thy Father c. and from that Text he preaches him a long Lecture of the Necessity of Obedience and the many advantages both Temporal and Eternal which do attend it Sir answers the Son All this is true and I am Obedient to you and Honour you so far as the Scripture warrants me but I can find no express Command in the Word of God for this you would have me to do and unless I can my Conscience will not give me leave for I must obey that and God rather than Man Having such ill success with his Son whom he has made so good a fencer as to beat him at his own Weapon he betakes him to his servant who has been sufficiently taught that he must not be an Eye-servant but serve with singleness of Heart as unto the Lord Pray says he to him go to my Grounds and take up such a Horse carry him to the Fair or Market and sell him but not under such a Price Oh Sir
evident I desire all such whose Age will give them leave to call to mind whether they have never seen or heard that Salus Populi est suprema Lex publiquely asserted in Print and abused to countenance the most Villanous Actions that the welfare of the People of which these Men are the only competent Judges is above all Laws Persons and Considerations whatsoever and that Kings whose only true Title to their Crown Contrary to Scripture By me Kings Reign Proverb The Powers that be are ordained of God Rom. 13. is the Peoples Election and Approbation and neither Succession nor ordination and appointment from God and Kingly Government if prejudicial to that Fundamental Law may by the People be abolished deposed nay and punished for such Delinquencies even to the loss of Crown and Life Have we not seen all this done as well as said Have you never heard that a King is Major Singulis but Minor Vniversis a little better man than Dick or Tom or Will if you take them barely by themselves in a Frock with a Cart-whip but by your Majesties leave good Sir King you are not so good a man as Mr. Multitude Have you never known the Time when the Commons of England were white Boyes and stroak'd over the Heads with the tickling Imagination That all the good People of the Nation were a free born People and I know not how many good morrows with which they were wont in those Dayes to cologue the World with a Bait of a pretended Liberty into the Trap of a real Slavery What they then thought they boldly writ and spoke and what they dare not now Speak yet they dare as boldly think that being a freedom which they cannot be deprived of and undoubtedly they do so and it is still their Judgment their Actions speak it most distinctly and plain It is not this or that King but Monarchy in general that they are against as not being a Government for their Turn nor any kind of Government by a Single Person and I am confident they did as much hate Oliver after he took upon him to be a Single Protector as before they lov'd him whilst he was only his Excellency and their Renowned and Victorious General It is a Common-wealth that is their Darling where every one is not without hopes of his being uppermost and that it may come to his Turn to have a Share in the Government And where amongst so many Elective Heads they are sure to make a Party and it shall go hard if not the Major whereas one single Person can be but of one Perswasion at one Time and it is a thousand to one never of theirs if he consults his own Security Settlement Safety Interest or Glory which because it is Natural for all men to do they cannot believe but he will And this is the reason of their Hatred of Monarchy because they fear it and knowing how inconsistent their Principles are one with another and that they cannot both have the Government they are afraid lest Soveraign Princes awakened by their Danger should by the most Rigorous Methods ease themselves of the Jealousie they justly entertain of such desperate Rivals and Competitors and this makes them likewise so industrious and restless in their Endeavours by making a Party to overbalance the power of the Prince and if possible by force to wrest his from him by which means they think it is only possible to secure themselves from Ruine Nor will they ever quit these Persuasions so long as they hold to their Principles which for ought I see is like to be as long as they live For if they be the Elect People of God and in the Right Way of true Worship and Religion they are bound in Conscience to promote and propagate it with or without the consent of their King 't is all one As we daily see they do by all their Actions and Indeavours And they who in his Royal City and before his face are not affraid to Violate his Laws and Proclamations will never fear the sword of Justice if once they are assured that their own is longer And though the Apostles teach no such Doctrine nor the Holy Martyrs ever propagated the Christian Faith or Church-Government with any other Blood but their own or with any other Weapons but Prayers and Tears these men are of another Opinion and can fight the Lords Battels and Curse Meroz as bitterly as the Angel did if they come not to help the Lord against the Mighty And for encouragement to fight I know no Doctrine like this and that of Mahomet which whatever they may do in others agree in this point that the Terminus vitae est immobilis Every mans Fate is in unalterable Characters written in his forehead Those feeble and effeminate Asiaticks had never carried their conquering Armes so far amongst the Hardy Europeans if they had not been inspired with this Doctrine of Fatality and that if it be decree'd that they must Dye in this Battel or in that Assault it is impossible for them to prevent it and if they must escape and overlive it they shall though they run upon the Mouth of the Roaring Cannon And in which likewise they agree and have a further Harmony if they fall by the Fatal Steel or undistinguishing Bullet they do not only die in the Bed of Honour but step immediately into Paradise which is but the just Recompence of those who sacrifice their Lives to propagate the Alchoran or the Good Old Cause I do not now wonder to have heard those of the Royal Party say so often that the Rebels fought like Turks since in this Opinion they were such Besides being the Elect and fighting Gods Cause they acquire a new Courage from the hopes they entertain that he is obliged to protect them and to fight from them that the Stars in their Courses shall fight against Sisera And how far such thoughts did Encourage our English Rebels a people naturally bold enough to attempt the most hazardous Enterprises Let those Loyal Gentlemen testifie who yet wear the Honourable Scars which they purchas'd in the defence of their King Country Laws Liberties and Religion against those desperate Villains Let the many Cruel Battels and desperate storms hard marches and hot Engagements they underwent let these be Witnesses it was not all for Pay and Plunder though these were good Encouragements But the Main of the Quarrel was pro Aris in their English against Altars for Religion and Reformation the Liberty of the Subject which if any thing can will inspire a Coward with Courage and make him Valiant And that the Cause was Gods they never then made any doubt nor yet make any more scruple of it than they do of their Election And what kind thoughts they have of the present Magistracy you shall ghess if you have any skill Ex pede Herculem to take the proportion of Hercules by the print of his foot One of these and a Teacher