that Greg. should so disquiet himself with Picques at the Privy Counsellors and Bishops who by their great places have greater cares and perils and are to be pitied rather than envyed And then for him to do all this with Politick-scraps gathered up when let fall at a Club in the Tavern or Coffee-house bound up with patches out of Diurnals old Parliament Army Declarations Mr. Hales of Eaton his account of Schism and Rushworth's orts is intolerable presumption through a ridiculous conceit of his own abilities by such improvements He had hit it and had more seasonably transcrib'd Rushworth if he had given us a report out of the speech of Mr. Glanvile a great Lawyer and excellent Orator which quadrates the March-Declaration to an inch in telling us how far the Prerogative may lawfully entrench upon an Act of Parliament p. 578. and 579. There is a trust inseparably reposed in the persons of the Kings of Euglond but that trust is regulated by Law c. Statutes incorporate into the body of the common Law over which with Reverence be it spoken there is no trust reposed in the Kings Soveraign Power and Prerogative Royal to enable him to dispense with them or to take from his Subjects that Birth-right or inheritance which they have in their Liberties by vertue of the Common Law and of these Statutes And I believe there is not a man in England but admires the goodness and wisdom of his Majesty and his Privy-Council in that March Declaration for Indulgence as a new experiment to make tryal upon the modern Orthodox once more how good so much goodness will make them who hitherto like clay in the Sun have been the more hardened by the Beams of Royal Bounty For sad experience has instructed us that the Head-strong Jade rides with the greatest grace when rein'd in with a Curb Yet for all this as if this Greg. our young Machiavel had the Law in his own hand he tutors our wise Princes shews the Sea-marks and reads Politick-Lectures 12 pages together The great design he promotes is to teach his Prince the art of forge-fulness not the art of memory but the art of Gentlemens memories by which he means if he have any meaning a loose flashy watery memory that will hold no Print nor retain impression And though to help the impression and memory of some things forgot he insinuate Sibthorpianism Manwaringism and Montagueism and Laudism yet to remember that ever there was a Rebellion or harm in Modern Orthodoxy then p. 253. believe him Kings as they have Royal Understandings so have Gentlemens memories Nay he will not suffer His Majesty our gracious Soveraign so much as to retain any good nature or gentle impressions of his Father's being murthered if he has Greg. makes him sorfeit his Gentility he ought to have a Gentleman's memory And is it so indeed good Greg Cannot a King be Gentile though he retain his nature And cannot he be gentile except he bid defiance to all good nature too And can a man retain any good nature if he quite forget he had a Father and murther'd too Or if he must be disciplin'd by you into that forgetfulness why should his memory be supplied with those ungrateful Resentments and Impressions of Sibthorpianism Manwaringism absolute Government the deformity of his Father's whole Reign Indeed Father Gray-beard you are a very hard hearted and cruel Tutour as ever Prince submitted unto for Pupillage and Instruction And why shall not his Majesty keep in memory except in Gentleman's memory that his Dear Father was murther'd Why do you say For a great many whyes J. O. for one can tell you a great many and his friend Greg. can also tell you a great many wherefores Not wherefores only why the King should not remember that his Father was murther'd nor only who plotted contrived and were accessories thereunto but also wherefore he should look to himself also for fear and take heed special heed of offending those that having been flesh'd and bloodi'd already in the Royal Chace are the more terrible This is Gregories Policy Whereas Almighty God teaches Princes who are Gods on earth by his own example with the froward to show themselves froward Psal. 18. 26. and as Job 29. 17. Break the Jaws of the wicked and pluck the spoyl out of their Teeth The Hebrew word there rendred Jaws signifies the Grinders or the Jaw-teeth and is an allusion to the practise men use to curst currs and mastives that are man-keen they break their Teeth their sharp Grinders a toothless Dog bites not much more than a dead dog as if Almighty God by these things should say to Princes Courage Regum est parcere subjectis debellare superbos Be not afraid of a Curr-dog or grinning Rebel knock their teeth out disarm them trust them and hang them or as our King 's blessed Father says as aforesaid If ever you trust them or must stand to their courtesie you are undone But comes me Greg. reads quite another Lesson and instead of breaking the Teeth of the ungodly and smiting his enemies upon the check-bone as God by King David's Army did the Rebels in Absalom's Army Psal. 3. 7. he would perswade the King into a Panick fear and to flatter the factious rabble as unmanly as unwise Nay not so much as to remember but quite forget his Father or that he was murther'd and since it is past so let it go This must be the meaning of p. 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 and 253. or else they are nonsence and have no meaning in reference to what he retorts upon the Ecclesiastical Politician p. 241. He goes a great way at first setting out for an Instance of this New Divinity and Policy and truly so he had need for such examples are rare in History wise Princes were wiser than so and though he finds one Prince in England since Modern Orthodoxy came up and got the upper hand Charles I. that had not been treated so ill if he had not been so good yet this supererogating goodness is seldom sound in story The first instance he fetches as far as Rome and 1700 years ago excepting two moneths and three days seven hours seventeen minutes to a second in Augustus Caesar whose Father too was murthered Too was murther'd This must relate and can relate only to the King whose Father too was murther'd But first I deny that Augustus Caesar's Father was murther'd and that it is as false as that King Charles I. his whole Reign was deform'd Now is Greg. gravell'd I feel him at the first step he takes and knows not how to go a foot further except lamely as he goes halting all along And if Augustus Caesar's Father was not murther'd though he had never so much a Gentleman's memory yet it is nothing to the case in hand Augustus Caesar's Father died in his bed the threed of his life was spun out as long as it would
require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And when the Pharisees that prided themselves so much in looking so carefully after Gods worship and Gods day were offended so highly with the liberty which our Saviour and his disciples took to themselves upon the Sabbath-day in not keeping it so strictly as these Hypocritical Puritans deemed they ought to have done our Saviour tells them of a superiour Law and of far greater concernment than the four first Commandments put together Mat. 12. 7. and that was the Law of charity and mercy which if the Pharisees had understood they would not have condemned the guiltless Even God himself dispenses with his own Law for worship in the old Law when mercy and charity plead against it for sacrifices and offerings were then part of Gods worship which were very chargeable therefore for mercys sake and charitys sake at the Purification whereas the woman by Law ought to offer a Lamb for her cleansing yet if she was a poor woman and not of ability Almighty God abates of his due and is content with what without any great charge or trouble she might easily get in that Country namely two Turtles or two young Pigeons So that the Question is not so much which are Gods Commandments as which are the greatest Commandments and best deserve preferment not the first Table but the second for to do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice Prov. 21. 3. and to obey is better than sacrifice 1 Sam. 15. 22. Therefore we must conclude That though the worship of God be good yet to do good and communicate good to others is better though to observe the four first Commandments be good yet to observe the six latter is better Though faith in God be good yet charity to our selves and others is better 1 Cor. 13. 13. and all faith and worship without this charity is not worth a pin nay is just nothing at all though a man preach like an Angel 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. This being granted for a great Truth and which all the whining Tribe though they lay all their heads together are not able to disprove or gainsay may silence the Non-conformists Prayers and stop their mouths more than St. Bartholomew yet has done For though to meet together to pray and preach and worship God according to the four first Commandments be good yet to obey the Commands of a Christian Magistrate and submit to his Laws according to the first Commandment in the second Table is better and ought to be preferr'd by every truly Conscienc'd Christian and in so doing he is safe in that submission and obedience But Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye saith St. Peter Acts 4. 19. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard This Text has been damnably abused and as the same Apostle says of other Texts of Scripture in St. Pauls Epistles wrested put upon the rack as the word signifies and made to speak what it never thought and will never justifie our Non-Conformists either before God or man in the least To whom does the blessed Apostle speak Act. 4. 5 6. to the Rulers and Elders and Scribes and Annas the High-Priest and Caiaphas c. who condemn'd our Lord Jesus to be crucified and if they might have had their wills would have been the death of all Christianity with him And is his Sacred Majesty and his two Houses of Parliament no better in your esteem than Annas and Caiaphas they are mightily beholden to you for your good opinion of them And if that be not your opinion that Text is nothing to your case nor to the purpose but point-blank against you For whether it be right to hearken unto God judge ye God had never given Laws for his own worship to mankind but for the good peace and welfare of mankind God had never made the first Table of the Law but in order to and for the better observance of the duties of the second Table If Subjects would never have been disobedient to their Prince and Governours nor children disobedient to their Parents nor servants to their Masters if men would never have coveted their neighbours goods nor their neighbours wife nor servant nor have rob'd and murdered one another but would have liv'd soberly righteously and therefore godlily in this present world the Allelujahs of Angels had been the great worship of men But since it is otherwise and that the wickedness of man is great in the earth and the imagination of the thoughts of his heart so bent to evil and that continually therefore God establish'd his Laws in the first Table by worship sacrifices c. Typically in the Old Testament for expiation of the guilt of sin and justification and sent his Son who was made a sacrifice for us antitypically in the New Testament for expiation of the guilt of sin and justification as our Priest and to show us how to live well as our Prophet and to exact our obedience as our King But none are benefited by his Priestly Office but such as obey his princely Laws according to his Prophetical Injunctions none are justified but such as are sanctified for this is the great will of God our sanctification Our Sanctification therefore is the grand design of the Law and Gospel Prophets and Apostles and that sanctification being summarily concluded by our Saviour in doing as we would be done by and all lesser holy duties of prayer praising hearing Sacraments being in order to the great holy duty of doing as we would be done by and particularized in and reducible to the second Table prove in all cases of conscience the truly godly must do the greater duty rather than the less and the duties of the second Table rather than the first so that he do but continue his faith in Christ the while and in so doing Now cannot the Non-conformist Preachers continue to be Christians though they do obey the fifth Commandment and submit to their Governors Injunctions nay can they obey God who is the author of the fifth Commandment if they do not obey their Christian Governors does not God prefer the peace and tranquillity and welfare of mankind before his own worship and will not you prefer it In obeying and submitting in quietness to the supream and Christian powers you obey God and that obedience is better than sacrifice and proves evidently that that which Greg. sets down p. 100. for Apochrypha in the Ecclesiastical Politician is an undoubted truth namely that moral vertue being the most material and useful part of all Religion is also the utmost end of all its other duties And all Religion must be resolv'd into Enthusiasme or Morality The former is mâ—…er Imposture and therefore all that is true must be reduced to the latter In an unlawful and forbidden Conventicle you may
with my self if these be the people of God who the Devil will have for his people I cannot tell for in all my travails upon earth I never met with such villains and wretches amongst Turks or Indians praying as the Indian did when the Friar told him to what place after this life the bloody Spaniard went that my soul may never go to that place whither those bloody villains go except they repent of their deeds For thought I how can these people be the godly party whose deeds are blacker than hell more bloody than those of that roaring Lion as great Lyars and Slanderers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father of Lies can be or make them to be one may know by their Looks what breed they are of they are so Father-like as like him as ever they can look ' And tell them of these things instead of giving you thanks or repenting and amending they rage and rail slander like mad or the Devil himself Therefore finding them characterized and prophesied of in the latter days by the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4. Oh! thought I now I have found you Traitors heady high-minded c. Lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying the Power thereof c. Indeed and indeed will they say have you found us Traitors heady high-minded c. but I pray who is characterized by the next words lovers of pleasures mark that more than lovers of God having a form of Godliness who is sor forms I pray come tell us that are we for forms c. Now the poor souls think they have hit it Alas poor souls the characters of Traytors and the rest of them do not seem to fit these modern Orthodox altogether so well as these two last for they seem to be made for them for the very nonce on set purpose nothing can be more apposite or proper for them Lovers of pleasures the Apostle says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voluptuosi Lat. voluptueux French voluptuous voluptas comes from voluntas and sounds thus much Lovers of their own wills and pleasures a people that will have their wills and pleasures to be done as if they were Kings or more than Kings a wilful generation that what they list to have they will have or they will mingle Heaven and earth ruffle Kingdoms turn all to blood and ruine Kings shall stand upon the stool of Repentance Kingdoms shall be laid waste millions of men and moneys lost and the best of Kings if they stand in the way of their wills and pleasures down they must let God and Laws say what they will for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more in love with their own good pleasure than Gods good pleasure God says Fear God Honour the King Submit to every ordinance of man for Gods sake be subject you must needs be subject for conscience sake or you shall be damn'd no matter for that let God and man say what they will they will have their wills yet these wilful people never want woe nor those Kingdoms that are troubled with them they misersably disquiet themselves as well as others But these Modern Orthodox are not more signally describ'd by that character than the next Having a form of godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated here the form is of the same signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence the Latines by way of Anagram have their word forma and the English do nearer anagrammatize the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our word here form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the face of any thing exterior rei facies the Vizor the Mask the Image the resemblance of a thing So that the form of godliness here is the face of godliness the Vizor or Mask of godliness the resemblance or Image of godliness but denying the power thereof Such a Mask as Jezabel put on when she proclaimed a fast but denyed the power of godliness when she murthered Naboth to get his Vineyard And thus these Modern Orthodox put on the Vizor and Mask of godliness in their Old Parliament fast-days their noise of Reformation multiplicity of Sermons yet these zealous Sermon-mongers these gifted-praying men these Jewish Sabbath-men if they had had the power of godliness they had not durst not have run into Rebellion Blood Schism Robberies called Plunderings and Sequestrations Murder Oppression Lyes Slanders Blasphemies Pride Malice Envy Hatred and all uncharitableness and murder which makes them odious to all mankind but themselves namely King-killing But not a word of this as you love me this must not be remembred learn herein to get Gentlemens memories but if you will remember remember Schism in the Letany extinguish it Letany and Liturgy the cause of all the wars together with the King and Council that imposed it remember that but as for the poor harmless Lambs if it were a failing to murther the King and his friends come it was but a failing an infirmity in the Saints be Gentlemen and forget it Yet for my part in the most impartial scrutiny that I can make I do not perceive that these Modern Faux's had their Vizors truly on when they went about those deeds of darkness I do not find that their way of Sermons Prayers Jewish Sabbathizings deserves so much Honour as to be called the true face form mask vizor or resemblance of Religion it is so far from true that it is not so much as like the true way of godliness and Gospel discoveries by Christ and his Apostles First for their way of Sermons Preachments two three four or ten times a week the running of an hourg-lass or two at a time in Lectures on Sundays and week days Lectures in the morning Lectures at noon and afternoon Lectures Lectures Sermons Sermons Oh Sermons I am sure it is not a Gospel way nor so much as the true face form or semblance of the preaching of our Saviour and the Apostles Our Saviour in his first Sermon upon the Mount in the 5 6 and 7 Chapters of S. Matthew all not half an hour long yet speaketh of twenty or fourty several subjects not confining himself to one subject one Text Doctrines Inferences and Uses but thought he should not need to beg pardon though he went from one subject in discourse to another of a Random nature which our modern Divinity men would have call'd Râ—…mbling at least and 't is well if it scap'd so our Blessed Saviour speaking what was most useful and seasonable for his auditory at that time and more than ever he spake at any other time in one continued discourse To say that all his Sermons are not set down is bold impudent precarious and daring the Apostle John saith the signs or miracles he did are not all set down but for his words as they were all saving so we have cause to think he did not grutch them to posterity for certainly novelty in religious worship and
himself a French coat a French wit a French head a French wigg French legs French cringes French Tongue and all other members about him in apish and mimick imitation of the French frenchefyed thereby to be taken for a Gentleman whence the Proverb Jack would be a Gentleman if he could speak French At which so probably related by the old Gentleman most of the company laughed heartily and concluded that this new Author designing in his whole book to promote again the good old Cause which he calls modern Orthodoxy and sometimes the cause too good resolving right or wrong to plead the Cause of the Non-Conformists which since he has espous'd he is not asham'd of and therefore confesses p. 282. that if he can do the Non-Conformists no good he is resolv'd to do them no harm and we will believe him without swearing To carry on this goodly design he bespatters the present Government with unparallel'd malice endeavours to stain and blemish the late Kings whole Reign as deform'd rails at Bishops and evil Councellors dead and alive justifies Schisme as shall shortly appear cries up Indulgence and liberty Breda Breda Reformation Reformation and with bitter sarcasmes and invective taunts prosecutes the present Parliament Rallery being the most biting and insufferable Railing and all this with as little fear as wit Rather than not have a fling at the Parliament and pinch it till it recant all especially the Act for Uniformity or any Act against the good old Cause and Non-Conformists to twit it home as wittily and effectually as he can he p. 110. confounds nature to create a Joque turns the Parliament-men into a Parliament of women on purpose to break a jeast upon them which had otherwise missed them viz. Superfoetation of Acts. And new-mints a word Trinkle trinkle the members rather than his beggarly wit should have nothing currant It would make a man sick to see this little Tantalus catch and gape for a jeast and a little Rhetorick And alas it will not come And at other times to see him make a Lyons face and grunt and groan to send forth a little wit but it is right Presbyterian it will not come for the man is as costive as one of the old Assembly of Divines or Smec or Tom Dumby-low who dy'd because he was so And all this pother is for an old Cause that stinks above ground in the nostrils of every honest heart both here and all the world over Yet commend me to the men for one thing they are as restless and indefatigable in their endeavours to promote it though so often baffled by God and man that they still cease not to move every stone bribe and flatter threaten and frown fight and rayl cant and recant pray and lye preach and slander snivel and whine exhort and blaspheme in publique in private in City and Countrey in Churches in Conventicles with License and without License by your leave and in spight of your teeth As if old Knox himself was again metempsuchos'd in every one of them To this purpose in this Authour they assault the Church and State with the old weapons new furbish'd and to make you believe their old cause was good they make the old Kings cause bad and this bold man dares in this juncture of affairs with implacable inveteracy prey upon the dead not permitting to rest in the bed of Honour our gracious and blessed King Englands Martyr That sacrific'd his own life rather than to live in infamy by betraying his people the laws and his own just rights And though we can scarce believe our own eyes when we see the matchless Impudence of this Authour thus to traduce him and his whole Reign and the present Parliament with Taunts as bitter as bold yet to make all this seem but a jeast when he casts firebrands arrows and death like mad he seems to say Am not I in sport In an affected but taking and fashionable Drolling way insinuating into every mans humour to carry on the work Cajoling the Rabble with liberty Indulgence Breda Breda Cajoling the Yeomen and Corporations with Interest and Trade and propriety invaded with fears of Sibthorpianisme Ceremonies Arminianisme and Manwaring Cajoling the Gentlemen and noble men with the dangers that again threaten their Reputation and Honour and make them feel for their Cutto's and draw upon poor Cassock and Lawn-sleeves for fear it should come again to the Proverb of his own making Jack-Gentleman But I being suddenly call'd away was no longer happy with the further discourse of this Cabal of wits only I took notice before I parted that the Virtuoso's all this while made not one Repartee or if they did it was but one little one answering mostly with a countenance compos'd and made up of magisterialness and high conceit mixt with some pity but more scorn and a little smile now and then proceeding from both But with such a paltry and surly grace that I could scarce contain my self and I had much ado to forbear kicking the Coxcombs And they had certainly felt the Print of my toes but that I was not so angry as to hold from laughing right out at such affected gravity they look'd so scurvily With Head toss'd up but bridling in the chin As if with half cheek-bit and Curb reyn'd in Mumbling a little sometimes to themselves as the poor ass does when feeding upon Thistles the sharp pricks gawl his Chaps Whether like right-bred Cocks of the Game they kept their best strength for the Reserve and last Close or that they were good Husbands of their wits and would not spend it but in better company some Cabal of their own or thought that the Moderators place was their own by Patent and just right determining all at the last or did not at that time carry their wit about them as loth to wear it out or like old true hunted Hounds would not open but when the scent was certain or whether they had some peculiar endearances for the Authour I cannot decide But I was so netled with what I had heard of this new Author above all admiring the stupendious contradictions and double-Tongue of the man that though I had read in Diodorus Siculus of an Island in Arabia where the Inhabitants have two tongues in a head but loth to go so far to see them yet since I might see the Marvel at home more prodigious than the child at the Swan by Charing-Cross with two heads I was resolv'd though it cost me a shilling to see what I could find in this marvellous Book and readily finding one at the next Stationers the Bugg almost startled me at first it had such a Portenâ—…ous Title The Rehearsal Transpros'd The Rehearsal Transpros'd Some of the Common Herd of mankind that ne're paid six pence yet at a Club of the Virtuoso's nor so much as once got the word for that night would quietly if not frighted with the Goblin pass by this Title-Page when starch'd up with the
met Also I deny that it is unlawful for me but rather a duty incumbent upon me to give my servants lieve to play and recreate themselves with any honest sport upon the Sunday or any other Holy-day at convenient times for I ought in mercy and charity to be merciful to my beasts my oxe or my ass in watering them which is not necessary but only expedient for life Much more ought I to be merciful to my poor Prentice my servant my Hand-maiden that have drudg'd and trudg'd to slave and work for me on working days when Sunday or any other Holy-day comes if I be of Christs true Religion and do as I would be done by Nay I ought if I am able to let them drink better liquor and eat better meat eat the fat and drink the sweet as Nehemiah speaks and send portions thereof to the poor according to my ability on those festivals at least give them what I give my beast ease and rest on those vacation-days a penny-worth of ease is worth a penny And the contrary opinion is hypocritical pharisaical hard-hearted apocryphal and prophane and contrary to the great Law of charity and mercy and contrary to those infallible and unanswerable reasons rendred excellently in that proclamation for lawful sports on Sundays and all other Holy-days published by the Command and well setled judgment of King James King Charles I. to that purpose And agreeable with the opinion and practice of all Christians Nations and Kingdoms in the world and even of Geneva it self and contradicted by none but our senceless hypocritical modern orthodox Rebels that write in this particular after nobody but Knox that grand Rebel and Innovator Oh but did not these fellows arm the rabble against the King and Bishops upon this very account They did so the more prophane wretches they by laying a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which God never imposed through their own superstition or rather perverseness Wheedling the silly rabble with pretence of Religion and Gods-day which is not a day that the Lord has made more than any other day nor more holy than so far forth as the King and Parliament have made it and set it apart for holy uses as they have done other Holy-days namely vacation-days from servile and worldly toil that men might be now at leisure for Gods worship merciful and charitable works to our selves our neighbours our servants our handmaidens our Ox and our Ass and the like which are the proper duties for a Sunday and other holy-days And because we are a trading covetous having worldly minded people if the King and Parliament think fit to allow us no other Holy-days but Sundays and half a dozen more in a year I am content And the late wrethced Rebels might with more right and good reason have taken occasion to rebel as Massinâ—…lla and his mutineers in Naples did by the spilling and overturning of a basket of Apples than from that honest Proclamation for sports published by King James and King Charles I. of blessed memory for lawful refreshments and recreations on Sundays and Holy-days after Divine service So consonant to the doctrine and practice of all Christendom and so agreeable with the great Law of doing as we would be done by And there is never a one of these spleenatick peevâ—…sh morose unsociable and hypocritical Pharisees but in their practice do as much contradict their own doctrine for the Sabbath as that so much talk'd of Proclamation has done every Sunday when they leave their maid at home carefully to look to the pot and the spit that all be ready piping hot precisely against the time that Lungs comes home when his Auditory is tyr'd perhaps more than himself Binding heavy burdens and grievous to be born and laying them on other mens shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers and saying as John of Leyden did upon the rack confessing the true cause of his Fanaticism and Impostures The people love to he cheated with Superstition and love them hâ—…st that gull them most Thus have I as briefly and as fast as my pen could write given an honest and down-right account why and how true Christians should keep a Sunday or other day holy though not according to the hypocritical and modern orthodox but consentaneous with all the truly Orthodox Christians in the world And in answer to what Father Grey-beard in a different character sets down as the Apocryphal opinion of the Reverend Bishop Bramhall but is an infallible truth p. 38. namely he maintains the publick Sports on the Lords day by the Proclamation to that purpose and the example of the Reformed Churches beyond Sea and for the publick dances of our youth upon Countrey-Greens on Sundays after the duties of the day he sees nothing in them but innocent and agreeable to that under-sort of people And he takes the promiscuous License to unqualified persons to read the Scriptures far more prejudicial nay more pernicious than the over-rigorous restraint of the Romanists And he took it well in so taking it For though no man can have a more sacred esteem and value for the holy Scripture and Gods word than I have knowing that it is profitable for instruction and to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good work Yet this good work of instructing out of it properly belongs to the man of God it is his province not incumbent upon every man nor possible to be undertaken by every man Because our English Bibles are not in every particular the word of God nor in any one thing the words of the Prophets of Christ and the Apostles who not one of them spoke English except perhaps S. Bartholomew and the modern Orthodox have no great kindness for that Apostle because of a certain Reason But chiefly because neither he nor any other Apostle delivered the mind of God and holy writ in the English tongue The English Bibles in the Translation at best being but a paraphrase or Homily of the word of God nor all that neither for these reasons that are unanswerable and infallible First because the English Bibles are in some places erroneous Secondly They are in some places scarce sence and of dangerous consequences when every pert bold and conceited fellow that only understands English takes upon himself to raise doctrines and opinions thence contrary to the sence and meaning of God in his holy word contrary to the mind and meaning of the Holy-Ghost as well as contrary to the sence of the Church and truly Orthodox I love not this discourse and could wish it were any bodies task and employment rather than mine it is so ungrateful and generally displeasing yet since this bold Greg. has given the occasion by reflecting upon the honest words of the most Reverend and learned Bishop Bramhall in these odde animadversions in things far above his shallow pate apprehension and reach Therefore now my hand is in
baptizing them c. but said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in English Disciple all nations or make Disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father c. then follows teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you So that now baptizing goes before teaching how do you answer this Mr. Black-coat Chimney-sweeper your Idol cannot save you now for it is the workmanship of mans hands and subject to corruption But perhaps you 'l say were not the Translators of the Bible as good Scholars as I am and as honest First I answer I am glad you see there is an absolute necessity of Schollarship more than a bare understanding and reading of English an absolute necessity to keep up and give encouragements to a Learned Clergy and that you lose your own eyes at least your own spectacles your own lights when you contemn them despise them it is as the blind man despises his guide but if he were gone he would be glad to call him again if not for love of him yet for the need he has of him he cannot get home without him nor keep out of the pit without him Or if he should call his guide again and instead of him one as blind as himself should happen to be near him they might talk a little together but this other blind man could not help his fellow home nor keep out of the ditch nor avoid the stumbling-blocks although this same or both of the blind men were bedaub'd with gold and silver lace or if their heads were adorn'd with a huffing Peruke but wanting eyes and a guide they must necessarily both fall into the ditch And if any think that this reflects upon Gentleman himself indeed I say it does and is intended against those upstarts which are Jacks rather than Gentlemen for true bred English Gentlemen use to love and practise Learning themselves did study to adorn their heads with brains rather than a strumpets hair and lov'd and honour'd Learning and Learned men But our frothy Upstarts want wit and manners too know no Gallantry but what I can adorn mine Ass withal when I list only here 's the difference mine Ass is good for something gives good milk for a Consumption and is a repairer and restorer of the wasted body and the Pockey Bones whereas your Ass-Gentleman is good for nothing but is a waster instead of a repairer does no good in his generation so much as the beasts seeming to be born for no other end but to run squeaking up and down like the Rats and the Mice and to gnaw cheese and Parmasin and eat up the victuals Yet he shall catch at a phrase chew to a Crumb some chymical term of Art or a new-coin'd word pick'd up at a club and away he struts repeats to himself admires his own Improvements laughs at the Clergy dictates policy talks of a new woâ—…ld in the Moon and about goes the earth with a whip in a trice Aristotle a Block-head to Copernicus his Politicks dull to Machiavel-Greg Galen a fool rather than a Physician then nothing less contents him than to sublimate his silver into vapour and smoak to be a Virtuoso and with new experiments confound all Order Government and Policy and thereby commence new Politicoso and wast body and bones with a Pockey Ingenioso And there 's your Gentleman a la mode And if I might perswade the Clergy if it were not to do good in their Generation and serve it and keep it from the ruine such as these like Father-Grey-beard do threaten it with these fellows should have Elbow-room and have rope enough to scope as they list in Church and State and Court and Councils why should you be their Cooks since they rule the roast when there is scarcely the worst of you but is more useful than a hundred of them For as when there was no King in Israel in England every man did that which was right in his own eyes their liberty they long'd for reduc'd them to such confusions and streights that they were forc'd for their sakes and benefits to call in the King whose own right it was So let but these new Politicians play their pranks with their new Experiments of Licentiousness and in Church and State and Court and Councils do all as far as his Majesty will suffer them as well as do ill and we shall soon see them bring such confusions upon the Kingdom and such streights upon themselves they will be glad to call Clergy into favour again for their own sakes as well as for the sake of their Posterities Which certainly will suffer if these mens folly be suffer'd and indulg'd for who will bring up his son to be a Clergy-man when Gregory Grey-beard shall be more countenan'cd than the best of them it is a shame to tell but it is too true and a greater shame it should be so than to say so Omnia cùm liceant non licet esse pium For though no Clergy-man gets either love or thanks more than any other Minister of State by concerning himself in the great affairs of State those that inhabit the temperate Zones having more ease and less sweat and danger though not so near the Sun and his directer Beams yet certainly it is good for the King and Kingdom that they should have as by Law their due a considerable influence upon and inspection into the great affairs of State And I am of Gregories opinion in that p. 301. That they make the best Ministers of State in the world if they keep them to their Bibles 't is true all men have errours but they are in probability more like to keep to their Bibles than any other sort of men God therefore at first gave the Government to Priests and Prophets and Preachers such as Moses was and Samuel David and Solomon and made the Kingdom happy under their oversight as England has been made as happy by their influence in Government as by any other sort of men whatsoever till the Kingdom 's happiness fell with them by the advance of modern Orthodoxy And it is worth the remembring that when the House of Lords voted the Bishops out of the House and from the seats to which they had as good right as themselves they did but thereby become their own Cryers and made Proclamation to dissolve their own Court the Spiritual Lords only first going out at the door and showing the rest of the Lords the way down stairs and the most of the House of Commons followed soon after But my pen runs like Mr. Prin's I have almost forgot where I was Oh! at the objection why did not our Translators of the Bible render the Original more exactly into English To which I answer the Translators in King James his time did well and learnedly mended many things that were amiss and deserve great Honour and thanks but they did but cobble some things Bernardus non videt omnia and some inconveniences
scap'd them tho' with much ado Rummage the Ship throw overboard What in the Ship may best be spar'd There y'have done finely have you not Thrown away th' best the worst forgot The Masse-Book there do you not see With th' Act for Uniformity Lying i' th' Chaplains Cabbin there Founder the Ship they will I fear The Surplice too I think y' are blind You always leave the worst behind Orthodoxy's gone already W' are sunk if you do not steer steady There Grandeur lies you are so dull Hand all the Sails and let her hull Keep your Loof Hold w'have sprung a Mast This 't is to bear more sail than Ballast Ply the Pump there for I am told Five foot of water 's in the Hold. Now Master Speaker if there be Within you so much Repartee As to ragoust now what I mean By this Harangue tuant and clean This English Ship of the first Rate The Hieroglyphick of the State Is sav'd from wrack by Virtuoso Ingenioso Politicoso Thus have I taught you in Parable Now for the Moral th' other was fable I meant plainly to say Wise Princes Viewing the fatal Consequences Of the Rebellion look out spye Where the Sea-marks and Buoys do lye That ye may guide us right and even Not tost and wrack'd as we have been For to say truth 't was Bishop Bramhall Laud and King Charles who did deform all With Ceremonies Arminianism Manwaring and Sibthorpianism Also the English Liturgy And Schism in the Letany May grieving th' Saints again put soon Us and the Musick out of tune p. 306. Put out that word then as is fit Or put it all out every whit And if y' are wise all th' Liturgy It makes some Saints in prayer to lye And against conscience say a thing That checks them Praying for the King These made the whole Reign ugly look I dare be sworn Give him the Book Saith Master Speaker kiss it so on But presently as in a swoon Or Planet-struck poor Greg. was dumb He hawk'd and hum'd nothing would come At last said I 'll not break my Oath Further to lye I would be loath For never I since I was born Did break my Oath or was for sworn Nor since I took the Covenant Can for my heart or blood recant Therefore now I 'm upon my Oath Not one word will I speak but troth The Good Old Cause should bear the blame Where the sin lyes lay there the shame 'T was neither good nor yet too good Nor so ought to be understood Charles the best Prince was truth to say That erâ—… did English Scepter sway Arch-Bishop Laud was wise and pious And learned too and vertuous Who dares charge him with Popery His learned Book gives them the lye Nor is it just he should be blam'd Nor without Honour due be nam'd Who study'd alwayes what he cou'd For God the King and Kingdom 's good Therefore deserv'd a better fate Than he good Martyr did come at And he that dares these truths deny Is a bold Villain and doth lye Only I could wish that there were p. 187. Some honest Laws made more severe Against such Villains who do raise Such false reports and do dispraise With Scandals worthy Gentlemen Either alive or dead And then We should not helpless thus grieve when We such Assassinats do meet In Garb so confident i' th' street As if no harm at all th' had done Murdering Reputation Why should the Wolf be hang'd up when The Jaccal Scot-free goes Poor men That for necessity do prey And take a purse on the High-way Your Law hangs up but he that does Like Staphyla rob Graves he goes Without controul because the Laws Are dumb and silent in this cause To you it therefore does belong To keep the Tombs secure from wrong Lastly 't is known to all the world This Realm was blest till overhurl'd With the now Modern Orthodox That Gull'd this Land with Calvin Knox. And But here I fancy he is interrupted speaking so maliciously and inveterately against the blessed memory of King Charles and saying his whole Reign was deform'd in so great a Presence as this Parliament which be it spoken as far from envy as flattery yields to no preceding Parliaments for Eloquence as well as Loyalty and therefore commands Mr. Greg. to the Barr not questioning him for the good he had spoken but for the evil For he that spit in the face of that blessed Martyr did not thereby do him the hundredth part of that ignominy and harm nor shew'd half so much venome harbour'd within This Father Grey-beard not contenting himself with what our late Soveraign in vindication of his peoples Laws and Liberties more than his own has suffered from the hands of tyrannical and blood-thirsty men but as in the Enditement against him he charges him again with deforming his whole Reign and by Sibthorpianism affecting an absolute Government upon which rock he is bold to say we all ruined p. 302. It seems then this rock of absolute Government which the King surely affected if he countenanc'd it so much as this audacious man would make us believe for which the Rebels in no worse but plainer terms call'd him tyrant and lay to his charge the guilt of all his innocent blood shed in England and Ireland I am sorry this man should again rip up the old sores which we thought had been cicatrized without any deformity on the Kings part And therefore he does with unparallel'd confidence attempt to talk so much of Sibthorp Manwaring Montague c. It is the business of many pages from p. 285. to p. 304. And to evince all this the first and choicest weapon he brings upon the stage is as unresistable as terrible there 's no fence against a flail he falls in pell-mell without giving one volley to close fight Handy-gripes and Butt of Musquet which he calls p. 281. the Butt-end of an Arch-Bishop that was Abbot of Canterbury Now think I wo worth the day look to thy hits poor Bayes and beat but this Butt-end of an Arch-Bishop about his ears and I 'll warrant him spoil'd for a fencer whiles he lives again To make room and heighten the expectations of this matchless onset he would make men believe p. 280. that the wounds that shall be given to his Majesty Arch-Bishop Land and the Government at that time by proving against them the guilt of Sibthorpianism and absolute Government are the wounds given by a Friend Against which there is no fence we keep no guard against him and being secure on that side the thrusts like that of Joab's into the heart of Abner and Amnen are certain and deadly as being made with as little difficulty as truth and as easily and readily as basely and treacherously And such is this Butt-end of an Arch-Bishop it admits no answer cannot possibly be warded 't is the testimony of Arch against Arch the testimony of a friend And I confess the testimony of a mans friend though but his
supposed friend against him shall find credit though false whilest the evidence given in by an enemy through true is not believed like words of a frequent liar though he tell truth sometimes because all is construed the effects of practice malice or design And if this Butt-end of an Arch-Bishop be indeed Abbot's Butt-end which is not credible as I 'll shew by and by where indeed it was forged and out of what Armory Greg. fetches this unavoidable dead doing tool it is a hundred to one that we find that it came out of the Arcenal of Modern Orthodoxy because Greg. who is skilful and learned in nothing so much as that way does bring it on to the stage with marvellous prowess to this Encounter yet the blows it can possibly give will neither bring smart nor infamy either to his Majesty or Arch-Bishop Land in the judgment of any By-stander that knows but the temper of Arch-Bishop Abbot what he was and also the nature of this weapon this same Butt-end I need not give you the History here nor is this a place for it of the plottings and contrivances of the modern Orthodox in King James his time from whose wardship though the King was set free by the privilege of his English Crown yet he was never emancipated from the importunities of those busie and unweariedly troublesome spirits and tâ—…ough he condescended to the Conference at Hampton-Court where they as well as his Majesty saw themselves baffled Yet these are not men that will give over so but King James would many times whether for old acquaintance or not quite forgetting his former pupillage under their imperious and pedantick tuition nor altogether at all times clearly remembring that now he was quite free and sui juris or whether as indeed very often he did to be rid of them and their busie intrusions grant them very great favours which he seems to repent of in his Basilicon Doron when it was too late Such was this advancement of Abbot to the Arch-Bishoprick voic'd and carried up so high by the Cabal of the Puritans or Modern Orthodox who were gratifyed herein by that good natur'd King not without too late repentance though Abbot frustrated the expectations of both parties for when he was got into Gods Blessing and the warm Sun and so near the Court he grew an absolute Courtier yet not altogether forgetting his friends and Creators in the height of his fortunes King Charles did not make him but found him Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the place being for term of life and both the King and he had too much innocence to shorten it before God and nature had put it to an end Yet the Arch-Bishop by reason of age and the many infirmities and diseases of his mind and body was very unmeet for Council or Court being very way-ward peevish morose and unsociable for the reasons aforesaid His Majesties affairs no more than nature could admit of this vacation occasion'd chiefly by his decrepit age and diseases it was thought fit therefore that his place should be supplyed by others of more health and ability both of mind and body to do his Majesty service This prepared the way to Laud's advancement who then was but a young Courâ—… and in no great esteem either with the King or Duke of Buckingham though before the unhappy blow given that Favourite at Portsmouth he was high in his favour as well as his Majesties King Charles Who notwithstanding whatever Greg. does all along suggest was no fool but had the most piercing eye and judgment of any mans parts and behaviour about the Court. And therefore Laud Doctor of the Laws yet no Civilian but a Priest could not long at Court be neglected or obscure being so vertuous so pious so wise a man that his Majesty could not but discern his Accomplishments fitted for the greatest conndence of his Prince and to which he arriv'd after the death of the Duke of Buckingham but not before and therefore if King Charles his whole Reign was deform'd it was not by him all the while here if I durst I had told Greg. hoc est falsum or restat probandum or-in phrase of He he lyes but I am more modest at least more wise out of fear rather than ingenuity he makes himself such a terrible Hector p. 153. and p. 210. But certain it is the Duke of Buckingham whilest he liv'd bore all the blame if any was due as well as the shame But after his death what should be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour but make him chief Favourite and who more deserving than Laud who studied to do both God and his Majesty good service and was so pious and wise as aforesaid But envy envy the shadow of greatness inseparably attending those most who live in the brightest beams of Royal Bounty soon found out this great Minister of State And envy it is more than miscarriages to which all mortal men are subject which either shortens or miserably disquiets the favourites of Princes nor was ever any man therefore known to be a Favourite to two Kings immediately succeeding one another but the Duke of Buckingham which he did owe to himself more than his fortune of which he was a miracle indeed but a greater miracle of nature and seem'd to be made for the very nonce in so incomparable a complexion of mind and body which seem'd to disagree in nothing but a happy contention for precedency the beauty of his large mind seeming to strive with that of his incomparable body which should be more amiable and sweetly ravishing his prudence and gravity being adorn'd with a ready wit and command of his tongue which never had a denial of what it crav'd even when he was by resolv'd and combin'd impeachments prosecuted in Parliament where he had more admirers than friends But a wiser than he has told us who is able to stand against envy It is probable the Duke of Buckingham and Arch-Bishop Laud after him did some things as well as the Earl of Strafford that were not altogether approveable or in strict account justifiable induc'd thereunto rather by necessities than any evil disposition of their own Nor do men of inferiour rank know the reasons of State and necessity of affairs which might plead for Loans and Ship-money too as our Saviour does for David in his transgression of the Law by vertue of a greater Law than Magna Charta or the Petition of Right and necessity Have you not read what David did when he was an hungred and they that were with him how he entred into the house of God and did eat the Shew-bread which was not lawful for him to eat neither for them which were with him Nor do these bold men know what are the pressures and urgent straits of a Kingdom that cannot stay sometimes without apparent ruine the due redress of a Parliament Especially when our wise King Charles could not but foresee by former
But unluckily in this fatal year of Seventy two amongst all the Calamities that Astrologers foretel this also hath befallen us And p. 68. Which meeting with the former fracture in his Cranium and all the concurrent accidents already mentioned has utterly undone him And so in conclusion his madness hath formed it self into a perfect Lycanthopy He doth so verily believe himself to be a wolf that his speech is all turn'd into howling yelling and barking and if there were any sheep here you should see him pull out their throats and suck their blood And does so verily believe himself a Jaccal that if there were any dead Corps here interr'd you should see the beast scratch up their graves and tear them out to inâ—…omb them again ignominiously in his nasty Guts And p. 77. That after they have done or suffered legally and to the utmost they must still be subjected to the wand of a Verger or to the wanton lash of every Pedant that they must run the Gantelope or down with their breeches as oft as he wants the prospect of a more pleasing nudity And p. 85. Speaking to the little comfortable importance call'd for variety of phrase p. 12. closer importance Parthenope whose mother Sir sells Ale by the Town wall as you love your self Madam let him not come near you he hath been sed all his life with vipers instead of Lampreys and Scorpions for Cray-fish and if at any time he eat Chickens they had been cramb'd with spiders till he hath so invenom'd his whole substance that 't is much safer to bed with a Mountebank before he has taken his Antidote And p. 136. For I am weary of noting the stabs he gives himself as much as possible I would not expose the nakedness of any person so eminent formerly in the Church And p. 139. Perhaps he said so only for evasion being old excellent at parrying and fencing And p. 139. He has face enough to say or unsay any thing that 't is his privilege what the School-Divines deny to be even within the power of the Almighty to make contradictions true And p. 155. Whereby you may see with what Reverence and Duty he uses to speak of his Superiours and their actions when they are not so happy as to please him And p. 164. But of all his three bolts this was the soonest shot and therefore it is no wonder if he miss'd his mark and took no care where his arrow glanced But what he saith of his Majesty and his Council And p. 146. He confounds himself every where in his reasonings that you can hardly distinguish which is the whoop and which is the holla and he makes Indentures on each side of the way wheresoever he goes And p. 275. But such as you it is that have always strove by your leasing gently good Hec. as you love me to keep up a strangeness and misunderstanding betwixt the King and his people and all the mischief hath come on 't doth much lye at your doors And whether all the invectives against the whole Reign of King Charles I. deform'd as he says with Sibthorpianism absolute Government the rock on which we split the imposition of the English Liturgy the cause of the Rebellion Ceremonies Arminianism Montague and Manwaring libelling the Reverend Bishops for their worthy cares sentencing Ministers of State Privy Counsellors jeering the present Parliament with being trinkled and bringing forth Superfetation of Acts as if he had a Commission to be chief Censor prying into all Offices and Officers and condemning all that stand in the way of Mâ—…dern Orthodoxy and the Good Old Cause and Nonconformists without mercy or fear dead and alive and all this in seventy two and with as many self-contradictions as impertinences can have any other meaning than by such Leasing to keep up a strangeness and mâ—…sunderstanding betwixt the King and his people judge you Is 't not pity but he should have his own wish p. 187. Only I could wish there were some severer Laws against such villains who raise such false and scandalous reports c. Sure I am he gives himself often enough to his shame the Bâ—…stinado and if they are not all Butt-ends yet they are dogged Counter-buffs with the least whereof he hits himself a vile box on the ear And instead of encountring the enemy le ts fly at all adventure and the random shot rencounters his own party and being overcharg'd the Butt-end of his Gun bumps his own breast and fells him with the Recoil A sad accident like that but much more fatal than that which befel an honest well-meaning Zealot our friend and acquaintance W. S. Who good man conceited of his own Prowess and Gallantry and taking â—…he Alarm at The Contempt of the Clergy musters up presently all his force in a Letter to a Friend with design to vindicate the Clergy from Contempt and the fury of that Charge But in his wrath and rage mistaking his way and to oblige his friends by the next Term makes more haste than good speed and missing also his Rest in the height of his Career coming to the Grapple fights in the Shock hand over head for the enemy against his own party In an Answer so incongruous to the design confessing all asking forgiveness and crying for quarter before the enemy had any thoughts of hurting him and all this in language so insipid and ridiculous that he made the Clergy they thank him so much the more contemptible and both himself and the Clergy the more laugh'd at Producing nothing but a mere black Patch aim'd indeed against and clap'd on too upon the face of his adversary but only thereby rendring the enemy so much the more a Beauty who indeed was lovely enough before So that my dear friend if ever the mad hair-brain'd humour of Scribling possess you as it has done Greg. and W. S. so that nothing can hold you but you must needs come out in Print tempted by the Dog-Star the Stationer or the near approach of the next Term In a Letter to a friend let me beg of you as you tender your Reputation and Honour that you take care not to subscribe it of all the Letters in the Cross-Row with those in the Fag-end of it W. S. And be sure you put not in the Superscription one syllable of The Rehearsal Transpros'd Lest thus mark'd the Hue and Cry pursue you upâ—…n suspicion of folly and self-conceit for the former and upon suspicion of folly self-conceit and sedition for the latter and punish you as self-condemn'd by your own gross self contradictions for both But especially take heed that you have not the least resemblance of Greg. who does so often with his own hand foil and baffle himself and the cause he designs to promote The man 's a Fanatick and by certain Paroxyâ—…s as pleases the Planet that governs him Lunatick with Modern Orthodoxy and talks like Oliver's 〈◊〉 now in Bedlam craz'd with a notion on that side
Peripateticks what they that wearied two Kings and one Queen Queen Elizabeth King James and Kng Charles now themselves weary Are they that would travel as far as Holland Savoy Piedmâ—…nt nay to New England rather than not have their wills now weary Are they that are so incessant to this hour in their Cabals meetings sending out Spies and Intelligencers into all Quarters now on a sudden weary Are these modern Pharisees that compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when he is gain'd make him more a child of Hell than he was before now weary Does the Father of lies walk to and fro through the earth and like a roaring Lion seek whom he may devour and yet is never tyred with doing mischief and can the children of lyes so degenerate can those evil speakers lyars and slanderers in the French and Greek Languages Devils now be weary and shame the stock they came of I should not believe this fair tale Greg. tells though I did not by sad experience know to the contrary for though I did not live among such men nor know the men and their communication yet I know the nature of the men the Devil must be weary of tempting before such natur'd men be weary of acting If Greg. did but know the boldness impudence confederacy contrivances designs of these men so well as I do he could not with such impertinent and ridiculous Lullabees pass his word for the Nonconformists how much soever he loves them if his word be any thing worth Not that I think truly that they either can or will bite but thanks to his Majesties vigilancy they dare not the wolves in Ireland assault not nor attempt upon any man that is well arm'd for them but his nature is nevertheless as rapacious and wolfish Nor can he be a friend to publick tranquillity that by perswading to too much security renders all unsafe I am sure King Charles I. never gave them an Inch but they took an Ell and found too late and to his cost how irreconcileable to all gratitude and good nature that sort of men continue and says in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To which Book as Greg. says of the Bible whatever Englishman keeps for this generation at least makes the best Politician without Controversie and of that happy and holy Book I 'll say Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperêre librum saecula nulla parem In one Edition Printed in Octavo 1649. and in page 204. c. 27. to the Prince of Wales I cannot yet learn that Lesson nor I hope ever will you that it is safe for a King to gratifie any faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrap'd up the publick interest and the good of the Community I have offered all for Reformation and safety that in Reason Honour and Conscience I can reserving only what I cannot consent to without an irreparable injury to my own soul the Church and my people and to you also as the next and undoubted Heir of my Kingdoms Never repose so much upon any mans single counsel fidelity and discretion in managing affairs of the first magnitude that is matters of Religion and Justice as to create in your self and others a diffidence of your own Judgment which is likely to be always more constant and impartial to the Interests of your Crown and Kingdom than any mans Next beware of exasperaring any factions by the crossness and asperity of some mens passions humours or private opinions imployed by you grounded only upon the differences in lesser matters which are but the skirts and suburbs of Religion Provided the differences amount not to an insolent opposition of Laws and Government or Religion established as to the essentials of them such motions and mincings are intolerable Time will dâ—…ssipate all factions when once the rough horns of private mens covetous and ambitious designs shall discover themselves which were at first wrap'd up and hidden under the soft and smooth pretensions of Religion Reformation and Liberty None will be more Loyal and faithful to me and you than those subjects who sensible of their errors and our injuries will feel in their own soul most vehement motives to repentance and earnest dâ—…sires to make some reparations for their former defects Keep you to true principles of Piety Vertue and Honour you shall never want a Kingdom And p. 35. c. 7. But common civility is in vain expected from those that dispute their Loyalty And p. 21. c. 4. as swine are to garden and orderly Plantations so are Tumults to Parliaments and Plebeian Concourses to publick Councils turning all to disorders and sordid confusions And p. 201. So order affairs in point of Power that you shall not need to fear nor flatter any faction For if ever you stand in need of them or must stand to their courtesie you are undone The Serpent will devour the Dove you may never expect less of Loyalty Justice or humanity than from those who engage into religious Rebellion their interest is always made Gods under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the populacy you may hear from them Jacob's voice but you shall feel they have Esau's hands These indeed are Politicks fit to be read to wise Princes that observing the Sea-marks they may avoid the fatal consequences that excellent Prince experimented to his cost It is pity goodness should ever prove evil or that the Sun-shine of Royal Bounty should the more harden some sorts of men Who like true Sheba's sons of Belial that will endure no yoke no restraint of Laws no Reins of Government grow head-strong and getting the bit in their teeth away they run neck-break over hedge and ditch till they throw themselves and their rider both into the ditch And then not till then at their wits end tyred with their own licentious wantonness they entreat their rider to get up again and guide them and govern them For indeed the Crown is more beneficial to the people than to him that wears it for he has more cares more hazards more perplexities and yet neither eats drinks nor sleeps better than millions of the people nay sometimes as much in debt as any of them So that I have sometimes wondred with my self that ever any man who had wit enough to be a knave and was knave enough to be an Usurper should have so little wit as to wade in blood so deep only to get the pleasures of a Crown Which how steddy soever it sits on any Kings head is yet weighty and more troublesome than gay and thousands that behold him have less cares and hazards and yet wear as good cloths and eat and drink as well as he or any man can for to swoop like the Gipsie-Queen a dissolv'd Jewel worth ten thousand pound for a mornings draught is not now deem'd a Cordial And if Ambition and Faction were not Monsters one would marvel
so was Hen. IV. of France the former by Clement a Monk either in revenge of the death of the Duke of Guise and other the confederates in the League whom that King having once catch'd them in his net put them to the pot or whatsoever other bloody motion animated this cursed Monk to that horrid Deed. Hen. IV. his Successor and next Kinsman with much ado and by the help of his Protestant Subjects and our Queen Elizabeth conquered all opposition and was happily crowned but leaving the Protestant Religion wherein he was educated but not altogether his affection and kindness to the Protestants Ravilliack stabs him to the heart at one blow as he sat in his Coach and the Villain being put upon the Rack to the very last denled that he had any Consederates in that bloody assassination but of his own accord and design alone was moved thereunto by reading of a Book writ by a Spanâ—…sh Jesuit called Mariana Both these murderers were tortured their flesh by piece-meal nip'd off with red hot pincers and lastly drawn in pieces with four Horses Ravilliack had a Father and a Mother alive but not the least suspicion of confederacy with their Son in that fatal stroke could be laid to their charge but in detestation of such a monster brought forth into the World his parents were for ever banish'd and the house wherein the villain was born and brought forth into the World was pull'd down and made a Dunghill unto this day This is the truth of the story if it be not let Greg. if he can or has impudence enough deny it and if so then Mr Greg. must either conclude that his Majesty and Cabinet Counsel are very shallow and meanly conversant in the History of his Progenitors and Neighbour Nation and so believe the groundless insinuations of this impertinent man or else he falls upon the party he has espoused with another terrible but-end and counterbuff by perswading his Majesty to follow the example of his Kinsman Hen. IV. of France and his Cabinet and not leave one of our King-killers alive or if there be any on whom the innocent blood of his Father still calls for vengeance that he would first put them upon the Rack and make them confess who it was besides the Devil and their own wicked hearts that did instigate them to so horrid a villany and then pinch off their flesh from their bones with burning pincers and pull their four quarters asunder with wild horses and make their names as hateful as themselves banish their parents and make their houses a perpetual dunghil in example of Henry IV. of France and for an everlasting pattern to all King-killers unto the end of the world And this is all that our Nibler at History gets hitherto by his sly insinuations and indigested impertinencies in the behalf of his minions Now let us proceed and follow him to his next instance for I am resolv'd I 'll take a brush with all the Butt-ends in his book if 't be but for curiosity to try the metal of this vapouring Huff as well as to prove what metal his weapon is made of And now stand clear the next is a none-such a Goliah's Sword They Kings observe how the Parliament of Poland will be their Kings Taylor c. For which unsufferable affront to his Majesty our Gracious Soveraign his Crown and Dignity Hereditary and not Elective and at the good will either of people or Parliament as is the Polish-Crown I leave him to be chastised by those whom it does so highly concern Leaving the consideration to their Comments upon this bold intrenchment and invasion of our Kings Prerogative and Title to his Crown by a comparison so odious as well as false And so much the rather do I wave any enlargment upon this and the rest of his ridiculous instances which would tempt any man alive if he has any laughter in him to laugh and droll upon this foppish Greg. the most impertinent thing that ever offered to tell a story but that I know he must shortly be disciplin'd for them by another hand which by turning up all for want of the Prospect of a more pleasing nudity will make us as good sport with Greg's following Stories that were Nuts to Mother-midnight Go say thy Prayers Greg. and tremble at the rod that is coming upon thee except thou thinkest the wisest way in brief is some way or other to save the Hang-man a labour and so be as insensible of the blows that are coming upon thee as is thine old Masters head Bradshaw's or Father Grey-beard's your name-sake as well as Fellow-sinner's heads when the Jack-daws sh upon them and be thankful likewise that thou hast escap'd my fingers too whose Dexterity in flashing more than any of the former Pedants to your smart you may yet further feel when you give me far less provocation than in these idle instances of your Politick Abilities I tell you true I do not think it was worth your while to go so far as France nay as Italy for a sample of a King that had a Gentlemans memory and could not so much as remember that ever his father was murthered our King-killers for whom you plead so heartily might have made better escape if you had never gone beyond Sea to find out Kings to be for the murtherers of a King Royal Advocates viz. Henry IV. of France and Augustus Caesar whose Father too was murthered And now am I so weary with following this Wild-goose-chace thus long that if I would be knock'd on the head I cannot write one Page more till I throw my pen away and laugh a little at one pretty word he has many on them but this pretty word does so jear the Parliament and flear in their face for the Act of Uniformity and the superfetation of that Act p. 310. I cannot but admire the sagacity of his Raillery It hath been observed that whensoever his Majesty hath had the most urgent occasions for supply others of them Fathers of the Church have made it their business to trinkle with the members of the Parliament for obstructing it unless the King would buy it with a new Law against the Fanaticks And this is that which of late years hath caused such a Superfetation of Acts about the same business Modern Orthodoxy still tooth and nail fly at King and Parliament all dead and alive that have a hand or has had an hand in the Act of Uniformity that bane of the Good Old Cause but quite desperate by the Superfetation-Acts about the same business But this is no laughing matter that which does tickle me spite of my teeth is the word the new coin'd word by Greg. his own self minted is Trinkle trinkle with the members of the Parliament some of the Fathers of the Church when his Majesty hath had the most urgent occasions for supply did make it their busisiness to Trinkle to trinkle with the Members I wish for all
honest words like the Divel in Samuels Cassock 1 Sam. 28. 14. And the weeds that may now annoy the Churches Garden may yet prove medicinable virtute officii though not virtutis officio Galba Otho and Vitellius as our Richard the Third were good Emperours though bad men and 't is possible bad men may yet sometimes be good Preachers Yet we may say as of weeds they do more harm than good in the Garden of God they make the way of Truth to be evil spoken of and stain the Surplice they wear Being the Churches Opprobrium Rom. 2. 23 24. the scandal of their Profession and high Calling putting Religion to the Blush For when we compare their prophane lives with those of the good Apostles whom they succeed we may say as that Painter replyed to a Cardinal who was angry with him for painting the faces of St. Peter and St. Paul so red I do it saith he for the very nonce that they may be thought to blush at the lives of their Successors He was in the right on 't that of old complain'd that formerly the Church had wooden Chalices and golden Ministers but now saith he we have golden Chalices and wooden Ministers Such Drones so they get the Honey care not who labour or under what discouragements they labour that 's work for the poor Bee Thus Damasus the Scholar to St. Hierom stept up into the Infallible Chair whilst poor St. Hierom ended his days in a Cell at Bethlehem Yet it is more true Honour to deserve Honour and want it than by Simony or smock Simony to bluster in swelling Titles without merit Cato had rather men should question why he had no statues erected in honour of his great worth than why he had any True Piety and Vertue is vera nobilitas it s own ornament and needs not the varnish of dear-bought Heraldry to set it off And if true Piety be required in any man much more in a Clergy-man whose escapes like a City upon a Hill and the oyntment of the right hand cannot be hid especially in these times when men watch for advantage against them and like the Divels rejoyce in iniquity A little spot is seen in white in a Swan not so in Swine fine Lawn is sooner stain'd than course Canvas every little flaw spoils a Diamond The people are affected opere more than ore exemplis plus quam verbis more with Examples than Precepts more with deeds than words except they be very flattering words and pronounc'd by such glozing Parasites as will lick up the peoples spittle in hopes of gain or fame humoring them to the life but to their own and the peoples everlasting death like Demas that forsook St. Paul to be further preferr'd to the favour of the rabble and in the Idol Temple at Thessalonica They therefore that tread in high places had need look to their steps that they walk uprightly especially when they have many followers and dependents lest they be accessary to other mens fall as well as principally to their own As the due place of the Clergy sets them above many others Heb. 13. 17. 1 Thes. 5. 12. so should they be more eminent than others in Learning and Piety Gods high Priest of old had Pomegranates for smell as well as Bells for sound King Solomon the Preacher call himself Koheloth the Preacheress of the feminine gender and Preachers are called wisdoms Maids Prov 9. 3. And the Apostles are called Joh. 3. 29. Christs Nymphs to teach the Clergy purity as Virgins The longer their Gowns and Robes are the more apt to contract dirt and therefore the more carefully to be holden up lewdness in a Virgin is insufferable Epicurism and Libertinism prevail'd in the World not for the goodness of the Doctrine but because of the sober and austere life of the Doctor that brought it Epicurus And I am confident that rebellion and schism which is factions libertinism had never prevail'd so far in the hearts of the people of England against so righteous a King and Laws but for the austerity of many of the most vile incendiaries and the loosness and remissness of others who went not so steddily though walking upon better ground Thus you see my friend I am not possest with a spirit of contradiction right or wrong to oppose all that Greg. does say I can be content to accept truth even when it comes from the father of lyes and all I have now writ toyou upon this occasion given me by Greg. is only out of my hearty well wishes to the Clergy that the enemy by standing on their ground may have no advantage over them for we are not ignorant of his devices endeavouring to foyl and always twitting a good cause where he finds the least resistance and defence Though in the greatest latitude of Charity no man can imagine that Father-Gray-beard exposes the loosness of any of the Clergy for any love he has to a more strict conversation either in himself or them That which is most admirable in the man is the pregnancy of his fancy in only one Art to wit the superfetation of wit in all the kinds of railing the worst Butter-whore is to seek and may well go to school to Trinkles he and she both being so sertile sure the brood they ingender will all be Marvelous railers With what exuberancy of stile and variety of invectives does he prosecute the Ecclesiastical Politician Bishop Bramhall Arch-bishop Usher Bishop Sparrow Bishop Andrews deceased Arch bishop Laud deceased King Charles deceased with many sinister reflexions upon his gracious Majesty and this happy Parliament How falsly does he charge the Church of England when he says it admits none to Baptism without the sign of the Cross whereas the sign of the Cross is not the Cross in Baptism by her Constitutions But the Cross after Baptism when the God-fathers and God-mothers vouch for the visibility of the Childs profession and education in Christ's Religion and is a practice as ancient as innocent amongst Christians who being scofft by the Heathens for believing in Christ crucified on a Cross they did ever since the Apostles time thereby testifie and openly and couragiously justifie to the World that they were no Gnosticks but like St. Paul not ashamed of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And whereas he makes it such a horrid thing to keep men from the other Sacrament of Christ viz. the Lords Supper because they will not kneel and stoop to a Ceremony let him know they do justly and warrantably in so doing granting there is such an Humane Law and Ordinance for the same which ought to be lest men left to their liberty some would out of novelty singularity or capriciousness loll or lye upon the ground in unseemly if not in immodest postures and consequently tempt some to abhorr the offering of the Lord. And whether we stand or keep walking all the time as many Calvinists do or sit as do some other Calvinists
so he was faithful to himself and the true measures of Government and knew if he had rendred himself to their mercy and yielded to their rage it had been but offering his throat to be cut a sad instance whereof I could give you in these late times But what does Moses in this case Exod. 33. 26 27. who is on the Lords side whose for me let him come to me There came none to him but Gown-men neither only in those days the sons of Levi wore swords and it seems knew how to handle them as well as bluffer Gallants for Moses had no sooner given them the word of Command but they fell upon the rabbble cut and slew till they had left three thousand dead upon the spot and this the Holy Ghost calls the consecrating or sanctifying of a mans self by slaying the Mutineers and there is a Blessing from Heaven promised to be bestowed upon them for their valour and good service in the â—…9 v. Such a white-liver'd Politician as Mr. Greg. durst not receive such measures of Government as these into his breast for fear they should fright him out of his wiâ—…s and if Englands Martyr Charles I. had hearkened to his own courage so much as he did to softer Councils if some Pantaloon Muâ—…se Courtiers that had better courage to lead a dance or a young Lady than head a Troop had been away if in their stead he had had a Company of Swiss for his Courtiers or gallant English Gentlemen with English Courages and with them sallyed out upon the Tumults which flock'd about his Gate he had in all probability crush'd the Cockatrice in the Egg and sent the Prentices home as O. C. did to their shop-boards with a vengeance to them However it could not possibly have fared worse with him than it did those softer Politick Lectures bringing the good King in conclusion to die afterwards at the same place the more 's the pity and pity it is that mercy and kindness are not always good nor fit as that good King found to his cost and therefore tells his son If ever you trust to them meaning the factious Rebâ—…ls or must stand to their Courtesie you are undone To manage the Reins of Government thus with a steddy hand and to ride with a Hank is the best of all both for King and people as we have found head-strong Jades would kill themselves if you lay the Reins upon their necks it is their happiness and ease to be rid with a Curb a licentious Government is no Government it is contradictio inâ—…adjecto or as Greg. phrases it p. 83. it is another J. O. an He Cow that is to say a Bull. And it is worth the while here to remember the clean fancy of that incomparable English Poet A King by yielding does like him and worse That sadled his own back to shame his Horse And because Mr. Greg. has put me upon 't to answer his Politick Lectures out of the Bible I 'll but give two Instances out of it not to instruct my Governours and tutour Kings I thank God I was never such a conceited thing nor so lost to all modesty and sense of humility But it is in my Sphere to instruct people what a blessing attends their Obedience to their Supreme Governours if when they command some things in Religion which in Circumstantials of Religion are poynt-blank against God's own Law and yet God likes it well blesses the people for such obedience though the Command of their Governours perswaded thereunto out of good Reason some great convenience or Necessity was directly different from the Command of God When the King and his Council made an Order to keep the Sacrament of the Passeover 2 Chron. 30. 2. together with the advice and concurrence of the Parliament therein called there all the Congregation it must be meant in their Representatives for all the People nor the thousandth part could not come to hear or know what was done at the great Council much less give their votes I say this King Hezekiah with his Council and great Council of the Congregation made a Decree to keep the Passover in the second Month. This is worse than the Cross after Baptism and Kneeling at the Sacrament for we can find no beginning when they entred into the Church and therefore have as much cause to think it was the posture of Christ and his Apostles and their constant practice if not more cause than to think the contrary But here in 2 Chron. 30. 2. is an Act of Parliament I 'll call it so for the better understanding of it in English phrase for it is of the same nature quite contrary to the Law of God concerning the Sacrament as to one Circumstantial of Time God commands to keep it in the first Month and positively reiterates the Command and bids them keep it in that appointed season Num. 9 2 3 5. The King and Parliament say to the People we command you for certain good reasons and motives to observe the Sacrament in the second Month. Now saith Modern Orthodox hang me draw me quarter me imprison me fine me do your worst I defie the Dâ—…vil and all the Laws of men contrary to God's Law here I 'll live here I 'll die So you may say I and be damn'd too in all probability lose your Soul as well as your Life Liberty and Estate as wise as you are and as wilful as you are And you may go on railing your Governours and the Fathers of the Church and tell them they sit in the seat and temple of God and as if they were God nay above him make Laws different from God's Law and therefore call them Antichrist the Be ist and the false Prophet and whether it be right to obey God or man judgeye Thus accepted was that Law of the Kiâ—…g and Parliament in Hezekiah his time by the Zealots that had more heat than light and more passion than knowledge and true spiritual wisdom For if our Governours be never so bad they cannot be so bad as the Devil himself and Michael the Arch-angel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was not so impudent or audacious as to rail at the Devil when contending about an honest Cause with him nor was the Devil his superior but because a Dignity a Principality an Angel though a black one St. Michael was not so audacious as to blaspheme the Devil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What desperate wretches then are those devillish people that pretend to the greatest sight of Religion and Knowledge of God and yet censure rail blaspheme lie slander revile and speak evil of Dignities and their Superiours without any remorse or check of Conscience and these people will talk of Consciences Consciences and liberty to tender Consciences then the nether Milstone the Adamant the Rock is tender if these men have tender Consciences that make their faces harder than a Rock impudent foreheads hard hearts hearts of stone consciences
seared with a hot iron that though the poyson of Asps is perpetually under their lips and they spit their venom against their Superiors yet recant not repent not nor do their tender Consciences feel any remorse or regret Thus Ver. 6. when the Post went out with the Letters from the King and his Princes throughout all Israel and Judah and according to the Commandment of the King requiring the people to Conform and not to be stiff-necked v. 8. as their fathers were but yield themselves unto the Lord so is the Law of the King and Council there called But what entertainment did the people give it This is the question at this day Truly the people were then as now some of them Conformists and some of them Non-conformists The Nonconformists were Ephraim wholly and part of the Tribe of Manasseh and part of Zebulon v. 10. The Conformists were all Judah part of the Tribe of Ashur part of Manasseh and part of Zebulon v. 11 12. Here stand the two Pparties the Non-conformists jearing and laughing and scorning and mocking at the Messengers or Ministers of the King declaring the Kings pleasure and the Law v. 10. And the Ministers were right serv'd I am sure Father Gray beard will say he would have chastised them for their worthy eares nay I fear he would have cried out ruine and desolation all Scotland and part of the Church of England c. is quite undone Here is man's Post against God's Post man's Threshold against God's Threshold Antichrist against Christ and the King's Law against the Positive words of God's Law But perhaps some will say Hezekiah though a good King yet had his faults and so might his Council too tell us not what they did but tell us how God did approve and like of what they did in making a Law against his Law who did God own the Conformists or Non-conformists can you tell us that Yes that I can 2 Chron. 30. 12. This commandment of the King and the Princes against the positive rule of God's Law being made for a good reason moving the King and his Council thereunto is not withstanding called the Word of the Lord and the band of the Lord was with the Conformists God is on our side may they say For the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the Commandment of the King and of the Princes by the word of the Lord. Thus tempting of Moses is called tempting of Christ 1 Cor. 10. 9. This I had not now urged but that Greg. and such fellows as he will take upon them to read Politick and Divinity Lectures to the World in Print when they know nothing but Modern Orthodoxy read Books and hearken to Preachers of their opinion wherein thus confirm'd they admire their Gigantick Improvements and then bid defiance like furious Orlando's to all mankind when indeed they are big with nothing but a soft pate huft and blown up with their own dear humours of self-conceit Nor do I think Governours have warrant from that instance to disannul Gods Sacraments but as to Circumstances and Ceremonies of time place habits gestures and the like according to their Judgement and necessity or conveniency moving them have an unanswerable Right Let Greg. and his Modern Orthodox men mitigate this too I fear them not nor all their snivellings and whinings which no body admires but blew and white aprons and the more ingenious Tankerd-bearers And let them consider without prejudice and in the fear of Almighty God that when the Sons of Jonadab the Sons of Rechab in obedience to him their Superiour submitted to his Humane-law in drinking no Wine nor building Houses nor planting Vineyards which certainly are all very good things and God likewise tells man that all the good creatures he made on purpose for him and his use every herb bearing seed and every tree bearing fruit commanding it should be to mankind for meat c. yet in obedience to the first commandment with promise they would not take the liberty and priviledge warranted to them by God and his Word but would obey the commandment of Jonadab their father and keep all his precepts And God did so love them for it that he blesses them for it saying Jer. 35. 18 19. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he hath commanded you Therefore thus saith saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever Happy would it be for the people of England in soul and body and estate here and hereafter on earth and in heaven if they would observe these thing rather than the wily wrestings of Holy Writ by crafty Seducers that have no way to cheat the people and be admired by them but by such Artifices as cheat them of their souls too and make the Kingdom so disturbed and their followers too and the bottom of all these juglings is but to get a paltry sneaking livelyhood and a little popular applause And then must our Governours and the King in especial be therein happy too and verifie every way the Anagram of his name in Latine Carolus Stuarte Anagr. Clarus sorte tua When Nero set Rome on fire he played upon the Ho-boy all the time and laid the blame on the Christians and thus Greg. J. O. and the rest of his friends the Modern Orthodox set these three Kingdoms on a flame with a brand fetch'd from Geneva and the Covenant and yet they make themselves merry with our misery lay all the blame upon King Charles Arch-Bishop Laud Ceremonies and Imposition of the Liturgy assassinating again those two glorious Martyrs in their Honour and Innocence and endeavouring to justifie the bloody Villains that murthered them Nor must his Majesty so much as think of their bloody and unparallel'd Cruelty because Augustus Caesar's Father too was murthered and his Kinsman Henry IV. of France likewise and Henry III. and such Gentlemens Memories had their Successors and the Cabinet-Council that they let the murderers escape scot-free and if piety and good nature would move for a stricter vindication of his Fathers death yet in Policy have a care displease not the Villains as you love your Kingdoms for a sturdy Swiss and a malepert Fisher-boy in Naples overturn'd all by a basket of Apples With such stuffe as this does Father Grey-beard and his Modern Christians wipe their mouths with the whore in the Proverbs and say they have done no wickedness but all the fault is in thine own people in King Charles I. Arch-Bishop Laud Fathers of the Church Superfetations Parliaments and evil Counsellors And if I have beat all these Butt-ends of his upon his own Pate and vindicated King Charles I. his Reign from that deformity wherewith both it his Majesty and Arch-Bishop Laud are by this bold Author as falsly and maliciously as well as most unseasonably in this Juncture maligned I have my end But who this Malignant is for my part I am not solicitous nor did I ever see any man that was taken for him upon suspicion I have dealt with him all along as is prescribed in the method for cure of unruly and vain talkers and deceivers Tit. 1. 13. namely rebuk'd him as sharply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cuttingly to the quick as near as I could with honest design by such harmless incisions to let out the impostumated Quitter and prepare for his cure odi vitium non virum And now I have done and to write after him p. 325. but withall to set him a better Copy I shall think my self largely recompen sed for this trouble if Greg. and others shall learn by this Example that it is not impossible thus long to be merry and angry as he was but to be merry and angry and yet not sin by traducing the most innocent and honourable Persons dead and alive by such superfetation of Rayling as he has done I am Your servant Edm. Hickeringill FINIS Dr. Bruges