no obligation on me or any other person to endeavour alteration of the Government If any fault be found in subordinate Governours we may in our places and callings endeavour a Reformation of them but the Government is a noli me tangere we may not undermine foundations But Mr. Baxter proposeth another question whether the Covenant as a Vow to God bind to things necessary Answ To all necessary things we are pre-ingaged by the Command of God and extraordinary means must not be used when ordinary may serve Mr. Baxter § 43. of his Directory says A Vow is as Null when the matter is morally or civilly out of our power as if a Child or Servant Vow a thing which he cannot do lawfully without the consent of his Parent or Master though the thing in it self be lawful for God having bound me to obey my Superiours in all lawful things I cannot oblige my self by my own Vows § 79. of his Directory Make not a Law and Religion to your selves which God never made by his Authority nor bind your selves for futurity to all that is a duty at present where it is possible the changes of things may change your duty And § 3. p. 19. The true nature and use of Vows is but for a more certain and effectual performance of our duties not to make new Laws and Religions to our selves From which concessions it will follow that the power of Reforming c. being in the King the Vow was Null And it is morally impossible for them to do that in their places and callings which they cannot do without Invading the Place and Office of their Superiours And therefore notwithstanding the pretence of a Vow yea though it were for things lawful which the alteration of the established Government is not we may declare that there lyes no Obligation c. P. 216. § 13. Mr. Baxter insists on the Declaration concerning taking Arms against the King c. Where he says the question is not of the first clause of taking Arms c. For he grants that a Popish King is to be obeyed in lawful things p. 77. but of the 2 d. viz. I abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his person or against those that are commissioned by him This as the Law of the Land hath declared to be Traiterous so hath the Law of God 2 Pet. 2.13 requiring submission to the King as Supreme and unto Governours sent or Commissioned by him The ground of this Declaration was for the security of the Kings Person against such as distinguishing between his publick and private capacity under pretence of his Authority detained his Towns and fought those Armies where the King was in person but when they had Conquered him they declared the Supreme Authority to be in themselves But Mr. Baxter pleads that Ministers are mostly ignorant of the Law not knowing what is called a Commission and what Seal makes it such and they dare not think that a Lord Chancellour or Keeper hath Power at his pleasure to depose the King by Sealing Commissions to any to seize on his Forts c. Nor yet to destroy the Kingdoms Cities Laws and Judgments and seize at pleasure on all Mens Estates or Lives This had been good Doctrine if Mr. Baxter had taught it when the Kings broad Seal was broken and by Virtue of a counterfeit one the Lives and Estates of the best Subjects were destroyed the Act of Parliament hath declared the Supreme Authority to be inseparable in the Kings Person so that we cannot doubt of the Legality of Commissions granted by him and his pretended ignorance against the known Laws being that Block on which the best of Kings fell I hope no good English-Man will stumble at it again But Mr. Baxter complains that these words against those that are Commissioned by him are unexpounded and have no limitations or exceptions It is not fit for private men to distinguish where the Law doth not or that an Usurper or Protector pretending Reformation and Liberty and that abused Maxim of Salus populi Suprema Lex should rather be obeyed than such as Act regularly by the Kings Commission and according to the known Laws Wherefore to seek evasions and to suppose extraordinary Cases that may never happen against plain and necessary duties ought not to be a Bar against this Declaration That which followeth § 14. Of deserting their Flocks and keeping Conventicles and § 15. of not residing within Five Miles of Cities and Corporations are not conditions of Conformity but consequences of their Non-conformity And I leave them to be read and considered by others who will perceive how well Mr. Baxter deserves the Character which the Reverend Bishop Sanderson gave of him That he never knew a Man of more pertinacious confidence and less abilities in all his Conversation A double minded Man is unstable in all his Ways An Answer to some passages in the Second Part of the Non-conformists Plea for Peace HAving reflected on as much of the First Part of the Non-conformists Plea as concerned the Ministerial Conformity I thought it not material to answer the many Impertinencies Printed in that Book But finding a Second Part extant published as the Authors say to save their Lives and the Kingdoms Peace from the false and Bloody Plotters who would first perswade the King and People that the Protestants and particularly the Non-conformists are Presbyterians and Fanaticks And next that it was such Presbyterians that killed his Father and next that our Principles are Rebellious and next that we are Plotting Rebellion and his Death c. On which particulars he enlargeth in the Preface where I find him thus to justify his party I desire those that seek our Blood and Ruine by the false accusation of Rebellious Principles to tell me if they can what Body or Party of Men on Earth have more sound and Loyal Principles of Government and Obedience and p. 109. of that Book We are far from designing any abasement of the Clergy nor do we deny or draw others to deny any due reverence or obedience to them I considered that very many of Mr. Baxters Readers are apt to believe him and therefore must needs be greatly incensed against those whom he accuseth to be the Persecutors of such a pious and peaceable party viz. the Bishops whom he calls Thorns and Thistles and the Military Instruments of the Devil p. 122. of the Book of Concord and p. 247. of the first part of the Plea and complains Popish Clergy-Men as if he were in Egyptian Bondage or the Popish Inquisition of tearing Engines Goals Starving and Bloody Persecution Ruine and Death Every good Man is sensible what Indignation such Cruelties practised upon innocent persons may raise in the hearts of our English Nation who are noted for their compassion to their Brethren in misery against the Authors of it and I suspect these suggestions are published to inrage them against their present Governours
sole Command and disposition thereof is and by the Laws of England ever was the undoubted right of His Majesty and that both or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to pretend to the same c. How then did the controversie between the Bishops and Conformists begin the War when the dispute of the Militia did it In truth there were as Wilson in his History of King James confesseth Regians and Republicans and the dispute in several Parliaments was between the Prerogative and Priviledges and as Mr. Baxter says where other Parliaments ended that of 40. began And is it not strange that there should be so few Non-conformists in 41. and 42. and yet in 43. when the Covenant was brought in all the Parliament and Assembly and Officers in any Court in the Army and in the Navy should generally take the Covenant for that was made the Test of all such as should be intrusted and we hear of very few that refused and I think there is no great difference between a Covenanter and a Presbyterian who still cry up the Scottish Discipline as the very Scepter and Kingdom of Jesus Christ to which all Kings and Scepters must bow or break The Third Accusation is the death of the King of which Mr. Baxter says that he proved in times of Usurpation that the Presbyterians detested it and that it was done by a Proud Conquering Army Answ Who rose that Army and carried on that War wherein the King perished it was not the last stroak given by the Independents that felled that Royal Oak there were many repeated blows at the very Root of Majestie given by others which cut all the Ligaments of his Power and Authority in sunder chopt off all the Branches his two great Ministers as Mr. Baxter calls them the whole Order of Bishops His power of the Militia Forts Garrisons and Navy and exposed the declining trunk to the fury of a Rascal party whom themselves had Armed to the Kings ruine I shall freely give you my thoughts of it in an answer to another writing of Mr. Baxters where he seeks more at large to excuse the Presbyterians from this horrid Crime Mr. Baxter says were it not for entring upon an unpleasing and unprofitable task I would ask you who that Juncto of Presbyterians was that dethron'd the King Answ The question I confess is very unpleasing for Infandum renovare jubes Baxtere dolorem Yet because it may be profitable to know the truth I say that the dethroning so good a King was a fact of an unparalled nature to which the Sins of the whole Nation contributed as well as yours and mine and whereof we ought still to repent and beg pardon notwithstanding the Act of Oblivion Yet there was a Select Juncto that had a more immediate influence into it and you ask me who they were though I believe you know them better than my self I will tell you my thoughts freely First they were the Men whom Mr. Baxter Canonizeth for Saints in his Everlasting Rest p. 83. in my Edition viz. Brook and Prin and Hambden and White c. For I suppose you could have named many more of your own Coat as precious Saints as they of whom you say with an Asseveration Surely they are now Members of a more knowing unerring well-ordered right-aiming self-denying unanimous honourable Triumphant Senate than this from whence they were taken or ever Parliament will be But what if they are gone to another place than what your Everlasting Rest intended have you not made a scurvy Reflection on your long beloved Parliament and some Men do fear they were never admitted into Gods everlasting rest because you that fancied them there were ashamed to continue them in yours being left out in your latter Editions Secondly I say it was that Juncto who procured great numbers of factious and tumultuous people in a rude and illegal way to affright the Loyal and most considerable part of the Parliament from their duties and trust reposed in them by God and Man such were the Kings Majesty and the Prince the Loyal Nobles the Bishops and chosen Gentry posting them up as Malignants and exposing them to the fury of the Rabble of which tumults one of your Saints Mr. Pym by name said God forbid that the House of Commons should dishearten their people to obtain their just desires in such a way Exact Collect p. 531. Mr. Baxter p. 474. of the Holy Common-wealth makes this Objection The tumults at Westminster drove him away to which he answereth Only by displeasing him not by indangering or meddling with him and another eminent Man of Mr. Baxters acquaintance in his Jehovah Jireth p. 65. says the Apprentices and Porters were stimulated and stirred up by Gods Providence Thousands of them to Petition the Parliament for speedy redress Whereas the Five Members and their favourers had inraged the multitude not so much to Petition the Parliament as to affront the King Thirdly It was that Juncto who against His Majesties Crown and Dignity against the known Laws and his express Proclamation to the contrary did contrive and impose under heavy penalties the Solemn League and Covenant upon the Nation whereby they did justify the Rebellion and avow the maintenance of it against the King and his Forces And having first vowed with their Lives and Estates to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament they add and to preserve the Kings Majesties Person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom Which experience sheweth they no more intended though it be here put in as it was in Essex's Commission than it was in Fairfax's where as I am informed they left it out and if they meant as they speak they had no great care of his person having actually deprived him of his Authority And besides that limitation they preserve the Kings Person in defence of the true Religion Covenanted to introduce another Religion in Doctrin and Worship in opposition to that which was established by Law and resolutely defended by his Majesty and to root out Episcopacy which as he had sworn to support so had it been a great prop to the Throne and therefore his Majesty declared concerning the 19. Propositions that he could not consent unto them without violating his Conscience and a total extirpation of that Government whose Rights they had a mind to invade and which was necessary to the well being of His Majesty as by many Arguments in the Chapter concerning Church Government it appears This certainly was one of the keenest Instruments that hewed down the Throne For the Speech without Doors defending Mr. Challoners Speech within Doors tells the Parliament that they are bound by their Covenant for bringing evil Instruments to Condigne Punishment to destroy the King and his Posterity and that they cannot justifie the taking away of Strafford's and Canterbury's Lives for Delinquency while they suffered the chief Delinquent to go
a rate as is the return of these to have the Soul-burd'ning Anti-christian Yoaks reimposed on us And if any such there be I am sure their desire is no part of their godliness From this Mans principles one hath observed That whoever are of this perswasion do wish this King on the Scaffold too provided that would free them from our Episcopacy and think it lawful to Rebel again and destroy as many Families more to shake off that Yoak Again Mr. Jenkins in his Conscientious questions concerning submission to the then present power 1651. Asks whether the stupendious Providences of God manifested in the destruction of the late King and his adherents in so many pitcht Battles and in the Nations Universal forsaking of Charles Stuart God hath not as plainly removed the Government from Charles Stuart and bestowed it on others as ever he removed and bestowed any Government by any Providence in any age And whether a refusal to yield obedience and Subjection to this present Government be not a refusal to acquiesce in the wise and righteous providence of God and a flat breach of the Fifth Commandment See his Petition And now I cannot but wonder why Mr. Baxter should move this question who that Juncto of Presbyters was c. Unless he took as much pleasure and glory as others do shame and sorrow in the repetition It is a sad Observation which some have made That not one of the Regicides manifested his Repentance for that impious Act for which they were Executed The Lord give all guilty persons more Grace Mr. Bagshaw says that Mr. Baxter was guilty of stirring up and fomenting the War as any one whatsoever p. 1. And my Lord of Worcester says that he had done what he could to make this King odious to his people p. 2. Of his Answer and that he Sowed the Seeds of Schisme and Sedition and blew the Trumpet of Rebellion among them at Kidderminster p. 4. And adds I my self have heard him at a conference in the Savoy maintaining such a position as was destructive to the Legislative power both in God and Man and produced the Assertion under his hand and when Mr. Baxter reported that the Bishop had defamed him to prevent that report the Bishop collected some of his Political Theses or Maxims of Government the repetition of a few whereof will be too many He tells us the War was begun in their streets before the King and Parliament had any Armies p. 457. of H. Common-wealth He confesseth that he was one that blew the Coales of our unhappy Divisions and that if he had been for the King he had incurred the danger of condemnation H. Common-wealth p. 485. And should I do otherwise I should be guilty of Treason or disloyalty against the Soveraign Power of the Land He holds that the Soveraignty is divided between King and Parliament and that the King invading the other part they may lawfully defend their own by War and the Subject lawfully assist them yea though the Power of the Militia be expresly given to the King The Law supposing that the Militia is given the King against enemies not against the Common-wealth Thes 358. he saith its true that now that the Parliament hath declared where the Soveraign Power is he should acknowledge it and submit to it where he supposeth that the King oweth his Soveraignty to the Parliament and if they should again challenge it to themselves he would rather obey them than the King Bishop of Worcesters Letter p. 8. 9. And this appears clearly by what followeth p. 486. That having often searched into his heart whether he did lawfully engage in the War or not and lawfully incourage so many Thousands to it the Issue was he could not see that he was mistaken in the main cause nor dares he repent of it nor forbear doing the same if it were to do again in the same state of things though the Power of the Militia be given to the King He tells us indeed says the Bishop that if he could be convinced that he had sinned in this matter that he would as gladly make a publick Recantation as he would eat or drink which seeing he hath not yet done it is evident he is still of the same mind and consequently would upon the same occasion do the same things viz. fight and encourage as many Thousands as he could to fight against the King for any thing that calls it self or which he is pleased to call a full and free Parliament As likewise that he would own and submit to any Usurper of the Soveraignty as set up by God although he came to it by the Murder of his Master and by trampling upon the Parliament Lastly that he would hinder as much as possibly he could the restoring of the rightful Heir to the Crown And now whether a Man of this Judgment and of these affections ought to be permitted to Preach or no let any Man but himself Judge And may we not reasonably think that those Men did approve of that Hellish Fact who did post factum tell the World of his Tyranny and Male-administration of Government and inclination to Popery And applauded the grand Regicide as one that did piously prudently and faithfully to his immortal honor exercise the Government I conclude this with the words of a worthy Person who Printed a view of the Life and Reign of King Charles the First even when the Faction was in Power p. 94. The Presbyterians carried on the Tragedy from the beginning to the end from the bringing in the Scots to the beginning of the War from thence till they brought him Prisoner to Holmby House and then quarrelled with the Independents for taking the work out of their hands and Robbing them of the long expected fruit of their Plots and Practices The Independents confessed they had put Charles Stuart to death but that the King had been murthered long before by the Presbyterians who had deprived him of his Crown Sword and Scepter of his Sword by wresting from him the Militia of his Scepter divesting him of his power of calling Parliaments they deprived him of his natural Liberty as a Man of the Society of his Wife and Children and attendance of Servants and of all those comforts which might make his Life valuable so that there was nothing left for the Independents to do but to put an end to those Calamities into which this miserable Man had been so accursedly plunged by the Presbyterians And so much for the Juncto of Presbyters that dethron'd the King The main Battalia being thus discomfited the little reserves will be more easily defeated Mr. Baxt. Was it they that Petitioned and protested against it Answ Who ever Petitioned or protested against the proceedings against the King until the Army took him out of the Parliaments power and was he not dethron'd before that time afterward perhaps some of them did as the Hiena that hath destroyed a Man and gorged himself weep and
from these words until he come to the period where he says As I have here described the Judgment of such Non-conformists as I have Conversed with I do desire those that seek our blood and ruine by the false accusation of Rebellious principles to tell me if they can what body or party of Men on Earth have more sound and Loyal principles of Government and Obedience And if any person can extract any such principles within all that period I will say he hath turn'd Mr. Baxter's Whetstone into the Philosophers Stone He says indeed we are all bound if it be possible and as much as in us lyeth to live peaceably and follow peace with all men But how have they followed this principle We have he saith many years beg'd for peace of those that should have been the Preachers and wifest promoters of peace and cannot yet obtain it nor quiet them that call for fire and sword not knowing what spirit they are of This is the Presbyterian way of Petitioning for Peace to rail against their Superiours charging them with persecution fire and sword and asserting that there can be no peace until the Laws for Conformity be all reversed the Bishops Authority and the Kings too in Ecclesiastical affairs taken away the Liturgy exchanged for Mr. Baxters new Directory as he hath at large declared in the first part and such a desolation as this they call peace solitudinem volunt pacem vocant He says the Declaration about Ecclesiastical affairs telleth us that the King would have given the people peace Answ And there were a sort of men whom the King for peace sake desired to read only so much of the Liturgy as was beyond exception and they would not did not these tell the World they would have no peace but victory So true it is as Mr. Baxter says with unpeaceble Clergy-men no Plea no Petition no not of the King himself could prevail but the things that have been are and the Confusions of our age come from the same causes and sorts of men as the Confusions in former ages did for which we need not go to Mr. Baxters Church History the Men and methods of 41. and 42. are well nigh revived They told His Majesty in their second Paper for Peace That if he would grant their desires it would revive their Hearts to daily and earnest Prayers for his Prosperity But what if he deny them Then p. 12. it astonisheth us to foresee what doleful effects our Divisions would produce which we will not so much as mention in particular lest our words should be misunderstood And it is obvious enough to whom they would apply that passage p. 117. of their reply to the Exceptions As Basil said to Valens the Emperour that would have him pray for the Life of his Son If thou wilt receive the true Faith thy Son shall live which when the Emperour refused he said the Will of the Lord be done So we say to you if you will put on Charity and promote peace God will honor you but if you will do contrary the Will of the Lord be done with your honors Amen say I Let them fall into the hands of God who is still exceeding gracious to them and not into the hands of such cruel men who have War in their Hearts while they Petition for Peace And will Mr. Baxter still demand what party of Men on Earth have more Loyal Principles Our English Papists who as Mr. Baxter grants adhered to the King would be offended if I should say they that fought against the King were more Loyal than they who with Lives and Fortunes fought for him dares he compare with the Church of England who lived and died and rose again with their King to the great regret and envy of those Men I will not say only that the Primitive Christians but even the Old Greeks and Romans had better Principles than any you practise by and will rise up in Judgment against such a Generation How vainly do you inquire what Hottoman or Bodin have written Consider the Precepts of our great Lord and the Practice of the Primitive Christians for the first 600. years and how night the true Members of the Church of England followed those Principles and Examples for Twenty years together and how far the Presbyterians Acted contrary to them and then convince the World whether the party you Boast of or these were most Loyal But Mr. Baxter demands Must this Age answer for their Fathers deeds what is all this to the present Non-conformists Answ If they follow the deeds of their Fathers we cannot deny them the reputation of being their Children who without controversie begat and Nurtured them And though I have not the opportunity to ask those Noble Lords and Gentlemen whom Mr. Baxter names concerning the Conformity of their Fathers yet I can give you their Sense and the Opinion of the whole Nation concerning the behaviour of their Children who have as great a mind to begin a second War And take it in the best English Dialect i. e. in the Acts of Parliament And first in the Act against Conventicles 16. Car. 2di N. 2. For providing of further and more speedy remedies against the growing and dangerous practice of Seditious Sectaries and other disloyal persons who under pretence of tender Consciences do at their meetings contrive insurrections as late experience hath shewn c. And in the Oxford Act they say of those that Preach in unlawful Assemblies Conventicles or Meetings under colour or pretence of the Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom have settled themselves in divers Corporations of this Kingdom three or more in a place thereby taking opportunity to distill the poysonous principles of Schisms and Rebellion into the hearts of His Majesties Subjects to the great danger of the Church and Kingdom c. Now how little difference there is between such Seditious tumults and meetings the late Rebellion in Scotland doth demonstrate where the chief Masters of those Assemblies Preached an Evangelium Armatum and having in cold Blood barbarously murthered the most Reverend Arch-Bishop drew many Thousands into the Field and would have done the like by the King himself had he been in their power as by their Declarations we may guess I do not accuse their Brethren of England of Rebellion the Parliament says their actions tend to it and that is Tantamount to a Plot. Sedition and tumults open and professed disobedience to the Laws adhering to a Rebellious Covenant refusing the Tests of Obedience which require only the disclaiming of Rebellious Principles and Practices Preaching and Printing what is actually Seditious and tends directly to Rebellion and all this when our Parliament hath declared that there is an horrid Plot on foot for the destroying of the King and established Religion to the latter whereof you are avowed Enemies this may draw at least a suspition on you that you are in the Plot whether
against the Oath of the Bishops to their Metropolitan and p. 199. the Oath of the Priests and Deacons for Canonical Obedience to their Diocesan against which he gives no reason but argues negatively that it was not Instituted by Christ or his Apostles But Mr. Baxter having granted a like Sub-ordination of Offices in the Church as in an Army I see no Reason but that when authority injoyns it as a Captain may swear Obedience to his Colonel and he to his Lieutenant General or Major Generals so may the Presbiter to his Diocesan and the Diocesan to his Metropolitan But Mr. Baxter hath more plainly resolved this doubt in answer to Q. 152. in his Directory part the 3d. p. 181. the Question is May we lawfully swear Obedience in all lawful things to Vsurpers or to our lawful Pastors To which under N. 3. he thus answers The old Non-conformists who thought the English Prelacy an unlawful Office yet maintained that it is lawful to take the Oath of Canonical Obedience because they thought it was imposed by the King and Laws and that we swore to them not as Officers claiming a Divine Right in the Spiritual Government but as Ordinaries or Officers made by the King N. B. to exercise so much of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under him as he can delegate And if Prelacy were proved never so unlawful no doubt but by the Kings command we may swear or perform formal Obedience to a Prelate as he is the Kings Officer Of the Non-conformists Judgment in this read Bradshaw against Canne This concession of Mr. Baxter will overthrow that wherein he placeth the force of the Objection viz. That the Ordinary is not only the Bishop but also the Chancellour Officials c. because they are the Kings Officers And if the Chancellour do invade the Office of the Ministry in Excommunications and Absolutions Mr. Baxter well observes p. 202. It is not justifyed by the Bishops themselves I wonder how any right Presbyterian can except against one Lay-Chancellour in a Diocess who would set up one or more Un-ordained Ruling Elders in every Parish and though Mr. Baxter be not thorow Paced in this point yet in his Tract of Ordination he would have the Magistrate to authorize a Lay-Officer well like to our Chancellours p. 299. He directs the Magistrate to appoint an able Godly moderate Minister in each County or half or quarter to see the Pastors do their duty not having Episcopal Power to suspend or excommunicate them but let every Visitor have an Agent of the Magistrates joyned with him Armed with Authority to convent the Ministers and examine Witnesses and to do what more the Chief Magistrate shall see meet so that still these two Visitors go together and let the Civil Visitor have all the Coercive Power This comes home to our Lay-Chancellours who being the Kings Officer we may by Mr. Baxters permission swear Obedience to him And other Non-Conformists as wise as Mr. Baxter think that the Apostles Wise Man spoken of in 1 Cor. 6. to be a President for our Chancellours And it is strange that they who would set two Lay-Ruling Elders in every Parish should not admit one in a Diocess Mr. Baxters last quarrel against the Rubrick is that it obligeth the Minister who repelleth any from the Sacrament to give an account of the same to the Ordinary within fourteen days after Answ He that hath no notorious scandalous persons in his Parish is free from this trouble and so is he that hath such if they do not press themselves on that Holy Communion If any such do the Minister having timely notice of his intention as is required may send for him and privately admonish him that the Congregation are much offended by his disorderly Conversation especially by such or such a Crime whereof by common Fame he is reported guilty and therefore desire him to forbear that Sacrament till such time as he have given Testimony of his Repentance and Reformation to the satisfaction of the Congregation In this case the party forbearing on a private Admonition there is no need of informing the Ordinary But if such a person still press on the Minister ought to refuse him and it will much abate his trouble and the Odium which otherwise might lye on him to refer the Case to the Ordinary to be determined by him These are the great number of Sins hindring Conformity so hainous as that Mr. Baxter was afraid to name them lest he should displease and provoke the Conformists which even in the judgment of Mr. Baxter himself and other serious Non-conformists will scarce amount to an appearance of evil As for the Objections against the Declarations and Oaths required by Act of Parliament seeing he acknowledgeth that it is not the sense of the Liturgy but of a Statute of Parliament which the Non-conformists doubt of and that it would be impertinent for us to tell them what is the sense of the Church the doubt being what is the sense of the Parliament p. 191. I shall not add much more to what I have spoken on those Subjects but refer them to those to whom the Execution of those Laws are committed for their better Instruction And I shall only observe that the complaint against the Law-givers p. 204. n. 3. is that they will not otherwise expound their own words after seventeen years waiting for it under compulsive executions By otherwise he means against the sense of the plain words as appears n. 2. in which the Non-conformists there profess to understand them but cannot Assent to them and therefore they think they may be excused if by mistake they think some of those passages to be unlawful that are not or to have a worse sense than indeed they have This mistake will appear to the Judicious Reader to be wilful and an Act of pure malice and revenge For the plain English of it is this That because the Parliament will not in favour to the Non-conformists alter their Laws and dispense with the Oaths of Obedience and renouncing of the Covenant and reforming every thing in the Liturgy which they have fancied to be sinful and thereby justify the Non-conformists and confess themselves to be the cause of our present Divisions They are still resolved to pronounce the Liturgy to be sinful the Laws Tyrannical and such as would force them to perjury And though they want power for the present to help themselves yet if you will not hear those will whom God will use to the healing of his Churches as he says in his Preface the meaning whereof is too plain By this time the Reader may discern how vain-glorious his boast is that he hath shewn us a righter way of Concord more Divine Sure Harmless Comprehensive fitted by Christ himself to the interest of all good Men yea of the Church and all the World Would you know what that grand discovery is he tells you p. 36. of his Plea which is the Sum of his five first
Sections and this is the result of all If every Pastor might be a Bishop in his Parish Independent and free from any Superiour to controul him if he may have an arbitrary power if they may be arbitrary in exercise of the power of the Keys without appeal such as he says p. 265. the Jews had where there was a Village of Ten Persons there was a Presbyter that had power of Judging Offenders Then we should be so far says he from using the controversie about the Divine Right of Episcopacy as a distinct Order from Presbyters to any Schisme or injury to the Church as hitherto they have done that we should thankfully contribute our best endeavours to the Concord Peace Safety and Prosperity thereof i. e. they would give the Bishops leave to exercise their Authority in Vtopia having provided that they shall have nothing to do in England But the Magistrates must yield to them also Might we be freed from Swearing Subscribing Declaring and Covenanting unnecessary things which we take not to be true and from some few unnecessary practices which we cannot justify And if they might have power of Ordaining such as they please and of Confirming the Adult not according to the Order of the Church of England for that comes too near to Popery but according to Mr. Baxters or Mr. Hanmers Model that is May the power of altering the Laws in Church and State then and not till then when these necessary terms are granted they will serve the Church so modelled in poverty and raggs But of so great a mercy says he experience hath made our hopes from Men to be very small and the Reason of the thing makes our hopes as small of the happiness of the Church of England till God Unite us on these necessary terms To what great streights do some Men reduce themselves that they cannot live unless they Rob and ruine their neighbours subvert whole Churches and Kingdoms and grasp all Power and Authority over the Bodies and Consciences of their Brethren into their own hands Did ever any Bishop aspire to such Tyranny as this the Pope only excepted is not the King and whole Nation greatly Culpable not to trust themselves with the Ingenuity of this people of whose Loyalty and Charity they have had such experience and is it not pitty that they should be constrained to attempt these things against Law when they so humbly desire to have them established by Law and when the reason of the thing i. e. their resolution to have it so it being their great concern as he calls it makes the hopes of the happiness of the Church of England to be very small which Men so resolved as they are may foretel as Mr. Baxter doth without a Spirit of Prophecy Sect. 2. p. 207. Mr. Baxter proceeds to the second part of Conformity which he calls Re-ordination and says it was either intended as a second Ordination or not If yea it is a thing condemned by the ancient Churches by the Canons called the Apostles c. If not then they take such Mens former Ordination to be Null and consequently all such Churches to be no Churches their Baptizings and Consecration of the Lords Supper c. to be Null Answ Although the Ordination by Presbyters alone especially when it hath been done in opposition to * P. 237. of the five Disputations We Ordain not presente but Spreto Episcopo and Contempt of Bishops hath been ever condemned in the Church and the validity thereof is still questioned yet granting it to be valid a Submission to Episcopal Ordination is no renouncing of that which was performed by Presbyters no more than the submission of the Disciples of John who had been Baptized by him with the Baptism of Repentance to the Baptism of Christ Nor doth the Law any where require them to declare that their former Ordination was Null because then it would have pronounced their Baptizings and other Ministerial Offices to be Null if therefore we did juge as charitably of our Legislators as we ought and Interpret the Laws by the practice we cannot find any such thing as Re-ordination intended For first the word is no where mentioned but the Ordination required is to qualify them for the exercise of their Ministry in the Church of England and to capacitate them for it Thus in the Preface to the Book of Ordination it is said None shall be taken as Ministers of the Church of England but who are so Ordained It denyeth not but they may be Ministers elsewhere and the Act for Vniformity renders them uncapable of any Parsonage Vicaridge c. in the Church of England But the same Act allows of the Ministers Presbyterially Ordained in other Reformed Churches to exercise their Ministry here by His Majesties Authority Yea the same Parliament permits them to meet and exercise many Ministerial duties so that the number above that of their own Families do not exceed Five and Mr. Baxter knows that the most eminent Divines of our Church ever held the Ordination by Presbyters in forraign Churches to be lawful 2. It is Mr. Baxters Opinion that the outward part of Ordination may be repeated Directory l. 3. Q. 21. And that the Ordainer doth but Ministerially invest the person with Power whom the Spirit of God hath qualified for it by the Inward Call now the Inward Call being the Essential part as he accounts and the Ministerial Investiture of the person with power being the outward part P. 311. of the Plea I see no reason why one Ordained by Presbyters may not submit to Episcopal Ordination by his own Argument Yea Mr. Baxter there affirmes That the mutual consent of the people and themselves may suffice to the orderly admittance into the Office especially if the Magistrate consent and the Ordainers should refuse For which see more in his Dispute of Ordination from whence I propose this case suppose a person fitly qualified for Parts and Piety Chosen and Ordained a Minister by an Independent or Anabaptistical people should afterward submit himself to Presbyterial Ordination I doubt not but the Presbyters would think it lawful to Ordain him and I believe they would not admit him into their Churches without such Ordination which may justifie our Superiours in requiring that they who will be admitted Ministers of the Church of England should be Episcopally Ordained For here is nothing repeated but the outward part or Ceremony of Investiture which by Mr. Baxters Confession may be repeated and is no more than the Marriage of such by a Minister who had been Married before by a Justice of Peace Or as he makes another Comparison it is no more than if a person very expert in Physick should practice without a License Upon which he tells you a story of his great success in Physick which he practiced many years gratis and saved the Lives of multitudes p. 78. of the Third part of the way of Concord and yet he there grants that it
is meet for the safety of Mens Health that none practise Physick but a Licensed Physician And until there be a greater want of Divines or Physicians than now there is it is pitty that such as are not Licensed should be permitted The Third part of Conformity begins p. 208. concerning the Renunciation of the Covenant whereof he treats § 11. and 12. Ministers saith he must onely subscribe that there is no Obligation on me or any other person from the Oath c. to endeavour any change or alteration of Government in the Church to which he adds the Oxford Oath That we will never endeavour any alteration And the Articles for Prelacy the Ordination promise and Oath of Canonical Obedience Against all which he Objects that even those Non-conformists that are for the lawfulness yea the need and desireableness of Bishops and Arch-bishops are unsatisfied in these things That some Hundred of Parishes are without any particular appropriate Bishops and consequently are without the Discipline of such Bishops and so are no Churches but only parts of a Diocesan Church that the Bishops have more work than they can do and the Keys are to be exercised by Lay-men Answ I have already shewed Mr. Baxters judgment of Bishops and Lay-Chancellours and shall only add that the Laws which Impower the Ministry with the Exercise of Discipline are so full and exact that if each Minister did faithfully perform his duty there would be no need to complain for want of work or of authority to do it effectually Every Minister is to admonish his Parishioners not to delay the Baptism of their Children whereby they are entred into a Covenant with God and by their Sureties ingaged to Faith Repentance and new Obedience as soon as they come to years of Discretion they are to be instructed out of the Church Catechism every Sunday which Catechism Mr. Baxter himself commends to be better for its Method than most others Then upon their knowledg of the Principles of Religion and owning their Baptismal Vows whereof the Minister is to take cognizance and certify to the Bishop they are to be Confirmed and none but such are to be admitted Communicants and none but Communicants to be admitted as Godfathers c. The Minister ought both publickly and privately to admonish such as are scandalous and to deny them the Communion until they manifest their Repentance which is a kind of Excommunication He is constantly to Celebrate publick Worship to Preach the Word of God and Administer the Holy Sacraments frequently to visit his Parishioners that he may know the State of his Flock to instruct the Ignorant rebuke the Wicked incourage the Good to visit the Sick absolve the Penitent and to strengthen them by the Word of God and the Comforts of the Holy Sacrament against the fear of death If these things were duly done as they might and ought to be there would be no cause to complain either that the Bishop hath too much or the Pastor too little work the fault is not in the Laws or Constitution of Government but in the want of due Execution To omit the many impertinencies in the 12. § there are Three things only on which he grounds his Plea for the Covenant The First is p. 214. Whether when Charles the II. had though injuriously been drawn to take the Covenant it doth not oblige those that took it afterward and whether the King having taken it no one person be bound by it p. 143. Answ Mr. Baxter leads me by this Question to consider how His Majesty was dealt with by the Scots in this matter how they tortured him with various temptations of hopes and fears and so affronted him with many horrible Reproaches of his own Sins as well as of the Sins of His Father and Grandfather that he often attempted to leave them what Provocations he met with in private may be guessed at by their publick Actions The Thursday before the Coronation was set apart as a Solemn day of Humiliation throughout the Land for the Sins of the Royal Family Robert Douglas in the Coronation Sermon told the King That His Grandfather King James remembred not the kindness of them who had held the Crown upon his Head yea he persecuted faithfull Ministers he never rested till he had undone Presbyterial Government and Kirk Assemblies setting up Bishops and bringing in Ceremonies In a word he laid the foundation whereupon his Son our late King did build much mischief in Religion all the days of his Life 73. P. 52. He tells the King to his Face That a King abusing his Power to the overthrow of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the fundamentals of that Covenant may be controlled and opposed And if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms they who have power as the Estates of the Land may and ought I suppose by obligation of the Covenant to resist by Arms because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthrow the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may serve says he to justify the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a Hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties Thus was the Kings Crown lined with Thorns and he had Gall and Vinegar given him to drink instead of the Royal Unction which that prophane Scot thus derides p. 34. The Bishops behoved to perform this Rite and the King behoved to be Sworn to them But now by the Blessing of God Popery and Prelacy are removed let the anointing of Kings with Oyl go to the door with them and let them never come in again If the King ought by the Laws of the Kingdom to have been Sworn to the Bishops this may make void the Obligation of the Covenant for the Coronation Oath is a right of the Subject and concerns their interest and security and the King as Heir to the Crown is obliged to that Oath and if any subsequent Oath may violate that in one particular it may also in others and then farewel to Magna Charta the priviledges of Parliament and Liberty of the Subject See more in the Review of the grand Case p. 139. 140. P. 92. He tells the King That God in his Righteous judgments suffereth Subjects to conspire and rebel against their Princes because they rebel against the Covenant made with God and adds I may say freely that a chief cause of the Judgment upon the Kings House hath been the Grandfathers breach of Covenant with God and the Fathers following steps in opposing the work of God and his Kirk within these Kingdoms and probably too many do still think they may rebel again in Defence of the Covenant But I argue from the manner of the Kings taking the Covenant as it is related p. 75. c. that the King is not obliged by it to make any alteration in the Government of our Church for thus it is related That the National Covenant and the
Solemn League and Covenant being read the King Swore that for himself and successors he should consent and agree to all Acts of Parliament injoyning the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant c. in the Kingdom of Scotland as they are approved by the general Assembly of that Kirk and Parliament of that Kingdom And that he should give his Royal Assent to Acts and Ordinances of Parliament passed or to be passed injoyning the same in his other Dominions And in the Declaration set forth at Edinborough in His Majesties name 1650. But penned as it seems by the Covenanters He declares That if the Houses of Parliament of England sitting in freedom shall think fit to present unto him the propositions of peace agreed upon by both Kingdoms he will not only accord to them and such Alterations there anent as the Houses of Parliament in regard of the Constitution of Affairs and the good of his Majesty and his Kingdoms shall judge necessary but do what is further necessary for the Prosecuting the ends of the Solemn League and Covenant Especially in those things which concern the Reformation of the Church of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government And p. 107. He doth also declare his firm resolution to manage the Government of the Kingdom of England by the Advice of his Parliament consisting of an House of Lords and an House of Commons there All which His Majesty hath punctually performed and the Parliaments of both Kingdoms having rescinded the Covenant and condemned it as an unlawful Oath and settled the ancient Government of the Catholick Church I speak with all humble submission His Majesty is not at all obliged by that Covenant thus taken much less to make any alteration in the Government of the Church of England unless he would act not only contrary to the established Laws but contrary to that very Oath and Declaration by which the Non-conformists suppose him to be obliged which oblige him to agree to such alterations as the Houses of Parliament in regard to the Constitution of Affairs and the good of His Majesty and his Kingdoms should judge necessary and to manage the Government of the Kingdom of England by advice of his Two Houses of Parliament And this will answer the first Question in the Negative that neither the King who was injuriously and unlawfully as is acknowledged drawn to declare for it and consequently no other person that took it afterward are bound by it to make any alteration c. If any alteration be found necessary there are lawful means to be used for that end But there is no obligation from this Covenant being so repealed to use even lawful means much less such unlawful ones as the Covenant implies i. e. for Subjects to reform without and against the Magistrate and his Laws By this also a second question is resolved p. 215. which Mr. Baxter calls the main question Whether every Minister must or may become the Judge of all other Mens Consciences and Oligations in three Kingdoms For let it be remembred that the case is only whether they are obliged by the Covenant to endeavour any alteration c. Any lawful endeavours are not denyed but the Covenant being Condemned as an unlawful thing cannot lay an obligation on any to act against the Laws whereby the Church Government is established Against this a third question is urged whether this League and Covenant were a Vow to God and not only a League and Covenant with Men which cessante occasione and by consent of Parliaments doth cease Mr. Baxter affirms that it was a Vow to God and a League and Covenant of Men with one another that they will perform it and instead of Proof he says it is notorious to any Man that readeth it with common understanding Answ 1. The Title of it is a Solemn League and Covenant there is no mention of a Vow to God And in the Preface a mutual League and Covenant 2. And in the Renunciation it is to be declared that there lyes no Obligation from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant If any part of it be a Vow to God that is not mentioned to be disclaimed for 3. The particular Case wherein its Obligation is to be disclaimed is to endeavour any alteration c. Now how can it consist with the nature of a Vow to God to make unnecessary alterations against the Laws of the Land Would not this cause the Christian Religion in a short time to be exploded out of all Kingdoms 4. It is notoriously known that the few things that make the Contract as Mr. Douglas calls it or Covenant between the Rebel Scots and English to seem as a Vow to God were used only as a pretence to draw on that part of the Covenant which is acknowledged to be unlawful and which is the greatest part of the Covenant the intent whereof was to strengthen the Rebellion against the King as by the negative Oath and the general actings of both Nations which followed doth evidently appear And what Rebellion or Heresie may not be Covenanted for under pretence of such Vows If therefore there had been any thing of a Vow to God in the Covenant it was a horrid Profanation of Gods name to make it subservient to such unlawful ends And it is rightly observed that it binds to the Extirpation of Bishops out of other Churches as well as out of ours alone 5. The most part of those who took the Covenant when it was first imposed had declared their approbation of the established Government and sworn Obedience to the Bishops so had generally all the Assembly and fixed Ministers and as I presume Mr. Baxter himself and whatever contrary Oaths they took afterward are rightly esteemed to be as Null the pretence of a Vow notwithstanding 6. It is inconsistent with the nature of a Vow to be forced as the Covenant generally was as hath been observed from Mr. Baxter That the Scots taking advantage of the straits to which the King had reduced the English Parliament brought in the Covenant as the condition of their help and that the House of Lords complained of the Parliament as Mr. Baxter calls the House of Commons which tyed them to meddle with nothing but what they offered to them And though the Covenanters pretended for this Vow the Example of Gods people in other Nations and the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times yet there never was the like Oath for matter and manner taken by any people fearing God in any Age of the World I conclude with a Concession of Mr. Baxters p. 213. of the Plea It is not in the Subjects power by Vows to withdraw themselves from Obedience to Authority which is proved from Numb 30. And the Reason of it is because Obligatio prior praejudicat posteriori God hath first injoyned Obedience to our Superiours They therefore lawfully requiring our submission to the established Government there can lye
The Cure of Church Divisions which were all written long since the Prognostication This extraordinary diligence about so inconsiderable a Circumstance made me suspect that it was a Soar place upon which he rubbed so frequently and that it was an itch of vain glory that occasioned it And I believe when I have imparted my second thoughts to the Reader he will be much of the same mind with me For First I considered that there needed no spirit of Prophesie to foretel what effects Non-conformity had produced many years before 1661. when he pretends this Prognostication was written nor yet to foretel what the Non-conformists were resolved as much as in them lay to attempt with all their might Wherewith I find they were not afraid to threaten the King and the Bishops as I have elsewhere observed But secondly He tells us P. 28. N. 105. That where Papists or Hereticks are shut out by Laws they will secretly contribute the utmost of their endeavours to make the sufferings of Dissenting Protestants as grievous as possibly they can that in despight of them their own necessities may compel them to cry out for liberty Till they procured a common Toleration for all and op'ned the Door for Papists and Hereticks as well as for themselves Where N. B. Mr. Baxter speaks of a Toleration which had been procured and a Door opened for Papists and Hereticks which must needs look back to the time past and in all probability he intended that indulgence which upon the Non-conformists Cries for liberty was granted by His Majesty about Seven years since and if so then this Prognostication was written some time after that common Toleration which was of a much later date than 1661. And so some Words and Phrases seem to be as new Impositions Subscriptions and Oaths and serving the Bishops in Jayles but I lay no stress on these 3. Mr. Baxter tells the Reader the Prognostication was written 1661. Except the Sixteen last Lines which Lines P. 66. begin thus I say all this is c. Now it is obvious to every Reader that there is a necessary connection and dependance between these Sixteen Lines and that which precedes for in the preceding Paragraph which he calls a Consectary you have these Nominative Cases which have no Verb to answer them until you take in part of these Sixteen Lines viz. All the Romish Dreams and all the Plots c. I say all this is whereby it appeared to me that the Sixteen last Lines were of the same contexture and written at the same time as the rest was which could not be in 1661. For those Three Books of his mentioned in the Sixteen Lines were not then extant So that I doubt not but he that Reads the whole Consectary will be of my mind that it was written at the same time as the last Sixteen Lines were And if so the Prognostication was written since the Book called the True and only Terms of Concord Printed 1689. I perceive by Mr. Baxters Contextures that he hath not well learnt the Art of Weaving Spiritualized 4. I suspected also the Reason which Mr. Baxter gives why though it were written in 1661. yet it was cast by viz. Lest it should offend the guilty Now it is notorious whom Mr. Baxter condemns as guilty throughout the whole Prognostication namely the Bishops whom he accounts Enemies to the Non-conformists And it is as notorious what little care he had of not offending them which I have observed from the Petition for Peace the Reply to the Bishops exceptions and other Printed Papers wherein Mr. Baxter had a chief hand Besides in 1661. Mr. Baxter was on more equal terms with the Bishops with whom he was joyned in Commission by the King and the Bishops were not warm in their Chairs nor did the Act for Vniformity take effect until Bartholomew day 1662. And the Sectarian Spirit which then prevailed among the people was as Mr. Baxter observes p. 40. of his Prognostication like Gunpowder Errat p. 32. it should be n. 120. ready to take fire upon such injuries as he there mentioneth So that certainly that was a fitter season for the publishing of this Prognostication had it been then Penned than this present juncture of Affairs in 1680. when the Bishops and Conformity are injoyned and Confirmed by Law and so the offence is much greater and less like to have its desired success But if all these Conjectures should be groundless yet the very publishing of a Prognostication of things to come after they are come to pass carrieth with it the Suspition of a Cheat the pretence that it was written long before notwithstanding But whether it were written in 1661. or which I rather think in 1680. the second thing which the Reader may observe is that Mr. Baxter by publishing this Prognostication hath rendered himself obnoxious to those Laws which are still in force against the spreaders of false News under which the Authors of pretended Prophesies are included And it will be hard to find any Pamphlet that offends more against those Laws being directly intended to infuse into and incourage in His Majesties Subjects a Seditious Factious and Implacable Spirit as well against the known Laws of the Land as against the established Constitutions of the Church by suggesting groundless fears and jealousies of things that are not and false and slanderous representation of things that are as in P. 32. He intimates the Clergy to be Worldly Vbi suprd N. 120. Proud Covetous Domineering Malignant and Lazy The Plague of the World the Troublers of Princes and Dividers of the Churches And P. 9. That they will please the great Men of the World for Lordships Wealth and Honour to be Rulers of their Brethren and to have their Wills And P. 12. Being Hypocrites as to Christianity and Godliness like Judas that loved the Bag better than Christ they will make themselves a Religion consisting of the meer Corps and dead Image of true Religion And P. 13. The powerful Worldly Clergy will think it their interest to devise some new Impositions which they know the other cannot yield to to work them out Whether they be Oaths Subscriptions Words or Actions which they believe to be against Gods Word Here I suspect that Mr. Baxter had respect to the Oaths and Subscriptions required by the Act of Conformity and by Words those of Assent and Consent which were not injoyned until 1662. and therefore probably this Prognostication was written afterward And P. 14. Their Sufferings will make many otherwise sober Ministers too impatient and to give their Tongues leave to take down the Honour of the Clergy And this will stir up in the people an inordinate unwarrantable passionate zeal which will corrupt their Prayers and make them speak unseemly things and pray for the downfal of that Clergy which they take to be the Enemies of God and godliness and that to speak easily or charitably of such Men is but to be luke-warm and
find answered by the University of Oxford and seconded by the University of Cambridge The King told his Parliament March 19. 1603. The third which I call a Sect rather than Religion is the Puritan and Novelist who do not differ so far from us in points of Religion as in their confused forms of Polity and Parity being ever discontented with the present Government and impatient to suffer any superiority which makes their Sect unable to be suffered in any well governed Common-wealth And it is one reason why Grotius was so condemned for a Papist among this people because in his Book de Anti-Christo he hath left this Character of them Circumferamus oculos per omnem historiam quod unquam seculum vidit tot subditorum in principes bella sub religionis titulo horum concitatores ubique reperiuntur Ministri Evangelici ut quidam se vocant quod genus hominum in quae pericula etiam nunc opti mos Civitatis Amstelodamensis magistratus conjicerit videat si cui libet de Presbyterorum in Reges audacia librum Jacobi Britanniarum Regis cui nomen Donum Regium videbit eum ut erat magni judicii ea praedixisse quae nunc cum dolore horrore conspicimus I will give it you presently in that Kings English But the King giving them a fair hearing in the conference at Hampton Court partly by his Arguments and partly by his Authority suppressed them for that time Yet this restless people so incensed him by their murmurings and reproaches that he frequently in his Writings and Speeches in Parliament professed both his jealousie of them and caution against them in his Preface to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These rash heady Preachers says he think it their honour to contend with Kings and perturb whole Kingdoms and p. 41. 42. Take heed my Son to such Puritans very Pests in the Church and Common-weal whom no Desert can oblige neither Oaths nor Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own Imaginations without any warrant of the word the square of their Consciences I protest before the great God and since I am here as upon my Testament it is no place for me to lye in that ye shall never find with any Highland or border Thieves greater ingratitude and more lies and vile perjuries than with these Fanatick-spirits and suffer not the principles of them to brook your Land if ye like to sit at rest except ye would keep them for trying your patience as Socrates did an evil Wife The good King Charles found this Prophecy to be true for notwithstanding all the care that himself and Arch-bishop Laud who apprehended the approaching danger to suppress them in so much as that Mr. Baxter says in that 7. § That the old Non-conformists being most dead and the latter gone most to America we cannot learn that in 1640. there were many more Nonconformists Ministers in England than there be Counties if so many the Wolves be like had got on the Sheeps Cloathing and not being able to ruine the Church by open force seek to undermine it by secret Arts being got within the Pale In 37. says Mr. Baxter Arch-bishop Laud using more severity than formerly and the Visitations inquiring more after private Fasts and Meetings and going out of their Parishes to hear And in many Places Lectures and Afternoon Sermons being put down which was done only where Faction and Sedition were Sown and there Catechizing a much more useful exercise was injoyned in its room by these things and some other which he there mentioneth the minds of Men were made more jealous than before and fears and jealousies were made the grounds of the War the King and Arch-bishop being reported to be Popishly affected though they both as well in their Life time as at their Deaths gave irrefragable Arguments for the contrary sealing the truth of their Professions with their Blood And after the Imprisonment of some the stigmatizing of others and the removal of many beyond the Seas all which both many and some amounted not to above Three or Four whom though the Parliament received in Triumph and plentifully rewarded yet they found them to be turbulent Persons viz. Prin Burton and Bastwick for I hear not of any removed beyond the Seas by authority these were the causes of Alienating the peoples Minds from the Bishops and made them afraid of Popery more than before and so it is still any restraint from Faction is Condemned for Popery Mr. Baxter tells us there of another Intregue Then was the New Liturgy imposed on the Scots with other changes there attempted which were the resuming of some Lands belonging to the Church and Crown which had been Sacrilegiously withheld during a great part of King James and King Charles's Reign with the fear of losing the Tithes that some great Men there detained from the Clergy whereupon the Scots Armed and Invaded England and some English Lords saith Mr. Baxter took advantage to prevail with the King to call a Parliament once again And here doubtless was the beginning of the War the Scots and such English as were in confederacy and had agreed upon a Covenant for Reformation being the first Aggressors But let Mr. Baxter proceed The Irish observing it is like how the Scots thrived in their Rebellion on Oct. 23. 1641. rose and murdered 200000. Persons and Mr. Baxter is not ashamed to say the News was here reported that they said they had the Kings Commission just as much as the Parliament had to fight by his Authority against his Person whereupon the Parliaments Declarations raised in multitudes of the people a fear that they had partakers in England and when they had done their work there they would come hither And mark the consequence there was no way of safety but to adhere to the Parliament for their own defence i. e. to strengthen the War against the King And in 42. says he the lamentable Civil War broke out but between whom did the Bishops fight against the King or against one another or against the Parliament no such matter How began the War then Mr. Baxter says the Houses of Lords and Commons consisted of such as had been Conformists except an inconsiderable number Some number then were apparently Non-conformists and it seems they had infected many others for Mr. Baxter says they were such as had been Conformists they were not so when the War began and N.B. their fear of being over-powr'd by the Loyal party of whom they thought themselves in sudden danger caused them to countenance such Petitionings and Clamours of the Londoners Apprentices and others as we think disorders and Provocations of the King This doubtless was a beginning of the War of which see the Kings complaint in his Ch. of Tumults Mr. Baxter says farther the first open beginning was about the Militia which by an Act of Parliament is thus determined That the