poor Plowmen understood but little of these Matters but a little would stir up their Discontent when Money was demanded But it was the more intelligent part of the Nation that were the great Complainers Insomuch that some of them denied to pay the Ship-money and put the Sheriffs to distrain the Sheriffs though afraid of a future Parliament yet did it in obedience to the King Mr. Hampden and the Lord Say brought it to a Suit where Mr. Oliver St. Iohn and other â—Lawyers boldly pleaded the Peoples Cause The King had before called all the Judges to give their Opinions Whether in a Case of need he might impose such a Tax or not And all of them gave their Opinion for the Affirmative except Judge Hatton and Judge Crook The Judgment passed for the King against Mr. Hampden But this made the Matter much more talk of throughout the Land and considered of by those that thought not much of the Importance of it before § 25. Some suspected that many of the Nobility of England did secretly Consederate with the Scots so far as to encourage them to come into England thinking that there was no other way to cause the Calling of a Parliament which was the thing that now they bent their minds to as the Remedy of these things The Earl of Essex the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Bedford the Earl of Clare the Earl of Bullingbrook the Earl of Mulgrave the Earl of Holland the Lord Say the Lord Brook and I know not how many more were said to be of this Conâ—ederacy But Heylin himself hath more truly given you the History of this That the Scots after they came in did perswade these Men of their own danger in England if Arbitrary Government went on and so they petitioned the King for a Parliament which was all their Consederacy and this was after their second Coming into England The Scots came with an Army and the King's Army met them near Newcastle but the Scots came on till an Agreement was made and a Parliament called and the Scots went home again But shortly after this Parliament so displeased the King that he Dissolved it and the War against the Scots was again undertaken to which besides others the Papists by the Queens means did voluntarily contribute whereupon the Scots complain of evil Counsels and Papists as the cause of their renewed dangers and again raise an Army and come into England And the English at York petition the King for a Parliament and once more it is resolved on and an Agreement made but neither the Scottish or English Army disbanded And thus began the Long Parliament as it was after called § 26. The Et caetera Oath was the first thing that threatned me at Bridgenorth and the second was the passage of the Earl of Bridgwater Lord President of the Marches of Wales through the Town in his Journey from Ludlow to the King in the North For his coming being on Saturday Evening the most malicious persons of the Town went to him and told him that Mr. Madestard and I did not sign with the Cross nor wear the Surplice nor pray against the Scots who were then upon their Entrance into England and for which we had no Command from the King but a printed Form of Prayer from the Bishops The Lord President told them That he would himself come to Church on the morrow and see whether we would do these things or not Mr. Madestard went away and left Mr. Swain the Reader and my self in the danger But after he had spoken for his Dinner and was ready to go to Church the Lord President suddenly changed his purpose and went away on the Lord's Day as far as Lichfield requiring the Accusers and the Bailiffs to send after him to inform him what we did On the Lord's Day at Evening they sent after him to Lichfield to tell him that we did not conform but though they boasted of no less than the hanging of us they received no other Answer from him but that he had not the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and therefore could not meddle with us but if he had he should take such order in the business as were fit And the Bailiffs and Accusers had no more wit than to read his Letter to me that I might know how they were baffled Thus I continued in my Liberty of preaching the Gospel at Bridgenorth about a year and three quarters where I took my Liberty though with very little Maintenance to be a very great mercy to me in those troublesome times § 27. The Parliament being sate did presently fall on that which they accounted Reformation of Church and State and which greatly displeased the King as well as the Bishops They made many long and vehement Speeches against the Ship-money and against the Judges that gave their Judgment for it and against the Et caetera Oath and the Bishops and Convocation that were the formers of it but especially against the Lord Thomas Wentworth Lord Deputy of Ireland and Dr. Laud Archbishop of Canterbury as the evil Counsellers who were said to be the Cause of all These Speeches were many of them printed and greedily bought up throughout the Land especially the Lord Falklands the Lord Digbies Mr. Grimstones Mr. Pims Mr. Nath. Fiennes c. which greatly increased the Peoples Apprehension of their Danger and inclined them to think hardly of the King's Proceedings but especially of the Bishops Particular Articles of Accusation were brought in against the Lord Deputy the Archbishop the Judges Bishop Wren Bishop Pierce and divers others The Concord of this Parliament consisted not in the Unanimity of the Persons for they were of several Tempers as to Matters of Religion but in the Complication of the Interest of those Causes which they severally did most concern themselves in For as the King had at once imposed the Ship-money on the Common-wealth and permitted the Bishops to impose upon the Church their displeasing Articles and bowing towards the Altar and the Book for Dancing on the Lord's Day and the Liturgy on Scotland c. and to Suspend or Silence abundance of Ministers that were conformable for want of this Super-canonical Conformity so accordingly the Parliament consisted of two sorts of Men who by the Conjunction of these Causes were united in their Votes and Endeavours for a Reformation One Party made no great matter of these Alterations in the Church but they said That if Parliaments were once down and our Propriety gone and Arbitrary Government set up and Law subjected to the Prince's Will we were then all Slaves and this they made a thing intolerable for the remedying of which they said every true English Man could think no price to dear These the People called Good Commonwealth's Men. The other sort were the more Religious Men who were also sensible of all these things but were much more sensible of the Interest of Religion and these most inveyed against the Innovations in the
Church the bowing to Altars the Book for Sports on Sundays the Casting out of Ministers the troubling of the People by the High-Commission Court the Pilloring and Cutting off Mens Ears Mr. Burtons Mr. Prins and Dr. Bastwicks for speaking against the Bishops the putting down Lectures and Afternoon Sermons and Expositions on the Lord's Days with such other things which they thought of greater weight than Ship-money But because these later agreed with the former in the Vindication of the Peoples Propriety and Liberties the former did the easilier concur with them against the Proceedings of the Bishops and High Commission Court And as soon as their Inclination was known to the People all Countreys sent in their Complaints and Petitions It was presently known how many Ministers Bishop Wren and others of them had suspended and silenced how many thousand Families had been driven to flie into Holland and how many thousand into New-England Scarce a Minister had been Silenced that was alive but it was put into a Petition Mr. Peter Smart of Durham and Dr. Layton a Scotch Physician who wrote a Book called Sion's Plea against the Prelates were released out of their long Imprisonment Mr. Burton Mr. Prin and Dr. Bastwick who as is said had been pillored and their Ears cut off and they sent into a supposed perpetual Imprisonment into the distant Castles of Gernsey Iersey and Carnarvon were all set free and Damages voted them for their wrong And when they came back to London they were met out of the City by abundance of the Citizens with such Acclamations as could not but seem a great Affront to the King and be much displeasing to him The Lord Keeper Finch and Secretary Windebank fled beyond Sea and saved themselves The guilty Judges were deeply accused and some of them imprisoned for the Cause of Ship-money But the great Displeasure was against the Lord Deputy Wentworth and Archbishop Laud Both these were sent to the Tower and a Charge drawn up against them and managed presently against the Lord Deputy by the ablest Lawyers and Gentlemen of the House This held them work a considerable time The King was exceeding unwilling to consent unto his death and therefore used all his skill to have drawn off the Parliament from so hot a Prosecution of him And now began the first Breach among themselves For the Lord Falkland the Lord Digby and divers other able Men were for the sparing of his Life and gratifying the King and not putting him on a thing so much displeasing to him The rest said If after the Attempt of Subverting the Fundamental Laws and Liberties no one Man shall suffer Death it will encourage others hereafter to the like The Londoners petitioned for Iustice And too great numbers of Apprentices and others being imboldened by the Proceedings of the Parliament and not fore-knowing what a Fire the Sparks of their temerity would kindle did too triumphingly and disorderly urge the Parliament crying Iustice Iustice. And it is not unlikely that some of the Parliament-men did encourage them to this as thinking that some backward Members would be quickned by Popular Applause And withal to work on the Members also by disgrace some insolent Painter did seditiously draw the Pictures of the chief of them that were for saving the Lord Deputy and called them the Straffordians he being Earl of Strafford and hang'd them with their Heels upward on the Exchange Though it cannot be expected that in so great a City there should be no Persons so indiscreet as to commit such disorderly Actions as these yet no sober Men should countenance them or take part with them whatever ends might be pretended or intended The King called these Tumults the Parliament called them the Cities Petitioning Those that connived at them were glad to see the People of their mind in the main and thought it would do much to facilitate their Work and hold the looser Members to their Cause For though the House was unanimous enough in condemning Ship-money and the Et caetera Oath and the Bishops Innovations c. yet it was long doubtful which side would have the major Vote in the matter of the Earl of Strafford's Death and such other Acts as were most highly displeasing to the King But disorderly means do generally bring forth more Disorders and seldom attain any good end for which they are used § 28. The Parliament also had procured the King to consent to several Acts which were of great importance and emboldened the People by confirming their Authority As an Act against the High Commission Court and Church-mens Secular or Civil Power and an Act that this Parliament should not be dissolved till its own Consent alledging that the dissolving of Parliaments emboldened Delinquents and that Debts and Disorders were so great that they could not be overcome by them in a little time Also an Act for Triennial Parliaments And the People being confident that all these were signed by the King full sore against his will and that he abhorred what was done did think that the Parliament which had constrained him to this much could carry it still in what they pleased and so grew much more regardful of the Parliament and sided with them not only for their Cause and their own Interest but also as supposing them the stronger side which the Vulgar are still apt to follow § 29. But to return to my own matters This Parliament among other parts of their Reformation resolved to reform the corrupted Clergy and appointed a Committee to receive Petitions and Complaints against them which was no sooner understood but multitudes in all Countreys came up with Petitions against their Ministers The King and Parliament were not yet divided but concurred and so no partaking in their Differences was any part of the Accusation of these Ministers till long after when the Wars had given the occasion and then that also came into their Articles but before it was only matter of Insufficiency false Doctrine illegal Innovations or Scandal that was brought in against them Mr. Iohn White being the Chair-man of the Committee for Scandalous Ministers as it was called published in print one Century first of Scandalous Ministers with their Names Places and the Articles proved against them where so much ignorance insufficiency drunkenness filthiness c. was charged on them that many moderate men could have wished that their Nakedness had been rather hid and not exposed to the Worlds derision and that they had remembred that the Papists did stand by and would make sport of it Another Century also was after published Among all these Complainers the Town of Kederminster in Worcestershire drew up a Petition against their Ministers The Vicar of the place they Articled against as one that was utterly insufficient for the Ministry presented by a Papist unlearned preached but once a quarter which was so weakly as exposed him to laughter and perswaded them that he understood not the very Substantial Articles of
advantage to violate that which he is forced to and to be avenged on you all for the displeasure you have done him He is ignorant of the Advantages of a King that cannot foresee this These were the Reasons of many that were for pleasing the King But on the other side there were Men of divers tempers Some did not look far before them but did what they thought was best at present whether any designed the subduing of the King and the change of Government at that time I cannot tell For I then heard of no notable Sectary in the House but young Sir Henry Vane whose Testimony was the Death of the Earl of Strafford when other Evidence was wanting and of whom I shall say more anon But the leading and prevailing part of the House were for the Execution of Strafford and for punishing some Delinquents though it did displease the King And their Reasons as their Companions tell us were such as these They said If that be your Principle that the King is not to be displeased or provoked then this Parliament should never have been called which you know he was forced to against his Will and then the Ship-money should have gone on and the Subjects Propriety and Parliaments have been overthrown And then the Church Innovations should not have been controuled nor any stop to the Subverters of our Government and Liberties attempted then no Members should speak freely against any of these in the House for you know that all these are very displeasing And then what do we here Could not the King have pleased himself without us Or do we come to be his Instruments to give away the Peoples Liberties and set up that which was begun Either it is our Duty to reform and to recover our Liberties and relieve our Country and punish Delinquents or it is not If it be not let us go home again If it be let us do it and trust God For if the fears of foreseen Oppositions shall make us betray our Country and Posterity we are perfidious to them and Enemies to our selves and may well be said to be worse than Infidels much rather than they that provide not for their Families when Infidels have not thought their Lives too good to save the Commonwealth And as for a War the danger of it may be avoided It is a thing uncertain and therefore a present certain Ruine and that by our own hand is not to be chosen to avoid it The King may fee the danger of it as well as we and avoid it on better Terms Or if he were willing he may not be able to do any great harm Do you think that the People of England are so mad as to fight against those whom they have chosen to represent them to destroy themselves and the hopes of their Posterity Do they not know that if Parliaments be destroyed their Lives and Estates are meerly at the Will and Mercy of the Conquerour And do not you see that the People are every where for the Parliament And for Revenge what need we fear it when the Parliament may continue till it consent to its Dissolution And sure they will not consent till they see themselves out of the danger of Revenge Such as these were the Reasonings of that Party which prevailed But others told them That those that adhered to the Bishops and were offended at the Parliaments Church Reformations would be many and the King will never want Nobility and Gentry to adhere to him and the Common People will follow their Landlords and be on the stronger side and the intelligent part who understand their own Interests are but few And when you begin a War you know not what you do Thus were Mens minds then in a Division but some unhappy means fell out to unite them so as to cause them to proceed to a War § 39. The things that heightned former Displeasures to a miserable War were such as follow on both Parts On the Parliaments part were principally 1. The Peoples indiscretion that adhered to them 2. The imprudence and violence of some Members of the House who went too high 3. The great Diffidence they had of the King when they had provoked him On the other side it was hastened 1. By the Calling up of the Northern Army 2. By the King 's imposing a Guard upon the House 3. By his entring the House to accuse some Members 4. By the miscarriage of the Lord Digby and other of the King's Adherents 5. But above all by the terrible Massacre in Ireland and the Threatnings of the Rebels to Invade England A little of every one of these § 40. 1. Those that desired the Parliaments Prosperity were of divers sorts Some were calm and temperate and waited for the Fruits of their Endeavours in their season And some were so glad of the hopes of a Reformation and afraid left their Hearts and Hands should fall for want of Encouragement that they too much boasted of them and applauded them which must needs offend the King to see the People rejoyce in others as their Deliverers and as saving them from him and so to see them preferred in Love and Honour before him But some were yet more indiscreet The remnant of the old Separatists and Anabaptists in London was then very small and scarce considerable but they were enough to stir up the younger and unexperienced sort of Religious People to speak too vehemently and intemperately against the Bishops and the Church and Ceremonies and to jeer and deride at the Common Prayer and all that was against their minds For the young and raw sort of Christians are usually prone to this kind of Sin to be self-conceited petulant wilful censorious and injudicious in all their management of their Differences in Religion and in all their Attempts of Reformation scorning and clamouring at that which they think evil they usually judge a warrantable Course And it is hard finding any sort of People in the World where many of the more unexperienced are not indiscreet and proud and passionate These stirr'd up the Apprentices to joyn with them in Petitions and to go in great numbers to Westminster to present them And as they went they met with some of the Bishops in their Coaches going to the House and as is usual with the passionate and indiscreet when they are in great Companies they too much forgot Civility and cried out No Bishops which either put them really into a fear or at least so displeased them as gave them occasion to meet together and draw up a Protestation against any Law which in their Absence should be passed in the Parliament as having themselves a place there and being as they said deferred from coming thither by those Clamours and Tumults This Protestation was so ill taken by the Parliament as that the Subscribers of it were voted Delinquents and sent to Prison as going about to destroy the power of Parliaments and among them even Bishop Hall
by the Sword if they pleased not the Court So that they presently voted it a Breach of their Priviledges and an Effect of the King 's evil Counsellors and published their Votes to awaken the People to rescue them as if they were in apparent Danger The King being disappointed publisheth a Paper in which he chargeth the Members with Treason as stirring up the Apprentices to tumultuous Petitioning c. But confesseth his Error in violating their Priviledges § 46. 4. And another thing which hastened the War was that the Lord Digby and some other Cavaliers attempted at Kingston upon Thames to have suddenly got together a Body of Horse which the Parliament took as the beginning of a War or an Insurrection and Rebellion But the Party was dissipated before they could grow to any great Strength and the Parliament voted him a Delinquent and sent to apprehend him and bring him to Justice with his partakers But he sled into France and when he was there the Parliament intercepted some of his Letters to the King advising him to get away from London to some place of Strength where his Friends might come to him which they took as an Advise to him to begin a War Thus one thing after another blew the Coals § 47. 5. But of all the rest there was nothing that with the People wrought so much as the Irish Massacree and Rebellion The Irish Papists did by an unexpected Insurrection rise all over Ireland at once and seized upon almost all the Strengths of the whole Land and Dublin wonderfully escaped a Servant of Sir Iohn Clotworthy's discovering the Plot which was to have been surprised with the rest Octob. 23. 1641. Two hundred thousand Persons they murdered as you may see in the Earl of Orary's Answer to a Petition and in Dr. Iones's Narrative of the Examinations and Sir Iohn Temple's History who was one of the resident Justices Men Women and Children were most cruelly used the Women ript up and filthily used when they killed them and the Infants used like Toads or Vermin Thousands of those that escaped came stript and almost famished to Dublin and afterwards into England to beg their Bread Multitudes of them were driven together into Rivers and cast over Bridges and drowned Many Witnesses swore before the Lords Justices that at Portdown-bridge a Vision every Day appeared to the Passengers of naked Persons standing up to the middle in the River and crying out Revenge Revenge In a word scarce any History mentioneth the like barbarous Cruelty as this was The French Massacree murdered but Thirty or Forty Thousand but Two Hundred Thousand was a Number which astonished those that heard it This filled all England with a Fear both of the Irish and of the Papists at home for they supposed that the Priests and the Interest of their Religion were the Cause In so much that when the Rumour of a Plot was occasioned at London the poor People all the Countries over were ready either to run to Arms or hide themselves thinking that the Papists were ready to rise and cut their Throats And when they saw the English Papists join with the King against the Parliament it was the greatest thing that ever alienated them from the King Hereupon the Parliament was solicitous to send help to Dublin lest that also should be lost The King was so forward to that Service that he prest the Parliament that he might go over himself The Parliament liked that worst of all as if they had been confident that ill Counsellors advised him to it that he might get at the Head of two Armies and unite them both against the Parliament and by his Absence make a Breach and hinder the Proceedings of the Houses Those that came out of Ireland represent the woful Case of it and the direful Usage of the Protestants so as provoked the People to think that it was impossible that any Danger to them could be greater than their Participation of the like The few that were left at Dublin got into Armes but complained of their Necessities and the multitude of their Enemies So that an Hundred were used to fight against a Thousand And to increase the Flame some Irish Rebels told them that they had the King's Commission for what they did which though the soberer part could not believe yet the credulous timerous vulgar were many of them ready to believe it And the English Souldiers under Sir Charles Cootes the Lord Incheguin c. send over word that it was the common Feast of the Irish that when they had done with the handful that was left in Ireland they would come over into England and deal with the Parliament and Protestants here These Threatnings with the Name of Two hundred thousand murdered and the Recital of their monstrous Cruelties made many thousands in England think that nothing could be more necessary than for the Parliament to put the Countrey into an armed Posture for their own Defence And that side which the Papists of England took they could hardly think would be their Security § 48. Things being thus ripened for a War in England the King forsaketh London and goeth into the North in Yorkshire he calleth the Militia of the Country which would join with him and goeth to Hull and demandeth entrance Sir Iohn Hotham is put in trust with it by the Parliament and denieth him entrance with his Forces The Parliament nameth Lord Lieutenants for the Militia of the Several Countries and the King nameth other Lord Lieutenants by a Commission of Aray and each of them command the said Lord Lieutenants to settle the Militia The Parliament publisheth their Votes to the People That the King misled by evil Counsel was raising a War against his Parliament The Lord Willouhby of Parham in Lincolnshire the Lord Brook in Warwickshire and others in other Counties call in the Country to appear in Arms for the Parliament The King's Lords call them in to appear for the King both King and Parliament published their Declarations justifying their Cause The Parliament chooseth the Earl of Essex for their General and resolveth the raising of an Army as For the Defence of the King and Parliament and the Liberties of the Subjects against evil Counsellors and Delinquents They publish a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom first and a Declaration of the Causes of their taking up Arms afterward which two contain most of the Reasons of their Cause The King answereth them and goeth to Nottingham and there setteth up his Standard to Summon his Subjects to his Aid The Lord Brook and the Earl of Northampton had some skuffling in Warwickshire The Earl of N. with some Forces assaulted Warwick Castle kept by Major Iohn Bridges and Coventry City kept by Col. Iohn Barker and was repulst from both A Party assaulted Mr. Puresoyes House and burnt the Barns where Mr. George Abbot with a few of his Servants repulst them At Nottingham there were but about Two thousand came
in to the King's Standard whereas the Londoners quickly fill'd up a gallant Army for the Earl of Essex and the Citizens abundantly brought in their Money and Plate yea the Women their Rings to Guildhall to pay the Army Hereupon the King sent to the Parliament from Nottingham the Offer of a Treaty with some General Proposals which in my Opinion was the likeliest Opportunity that ever the Parliament had for a full and safe Agreement and the King seemed very serious in it and the lowness of his Condition upon so much Trial of his People was very like to have wrought much with him But the Parliament was perswaded that he did it but to get time to fill up his Army and to hinder their Proceedings and therefore accepted not of his Offer for a Treaty but instead of it sent him Nineteen Proposals of their own viz. That if he would Disband his Army come to his Parliament give up Delinquents to a Legal Course of Justice c. he should find them dutiful c. And the King published an Answer to these Nineteen Propositions in which he affirmeth the Government to be mixt having in it the best of Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy and that the Legislative Power is in the King Lords and Commons conjunct and that the Lords are a sufficient skreen to hinder the King from wronging the Commons and to keep off Tyranny c. And he adhereth only to the Law which giveth him the power of the Militia Out of this Answer of the King 's to these Nineteen Proposals some one drew up a Political Catechism wherein the Answers of every Question were verbatim the words of the King's Declaration as if therein he had fully justified the Parliaments Cause The great Controversie now was the present power of the Militia The King said that the Supreme Executive Power and particularly the Power of the Militia did belong to him and not to the Parliament and appealed to the Law The Parliament pleaded that as the Execution of Justice against Delinquents did belong to him but this he is bound by Law to do by his Courts of Justice and their Executions are to be in his Name and by a Stat. Edw. 3. if the King by the Little Seal or the Great Seal forbid a Judge in Court to perform his Office he is nevertheless to go on Also that for the Defence of his Kingdoms against their Enemies the Militia is in his power but not at all against his Parliament and People whom Nature it self forbiddeth to use their Swords against themselves And they alledged most the present danger of the Kingdoms Ireland almost lost Scotland disturbed England threatned by the Irish and the Ruine of the Parliament sought by Delinquents whom they said the King through evil Counsel did protect And that they must either secure the Militia or give up the Protestant Religion the Laws and Liberties of the Land and their own Necks to the Will of Papists and Delinquents § 49. And because it is my purpose here not to write a full History of the Calamities and Wars of those Times but only to remember such Generals with the Reasons and Connexion of Things as may best make the state of those Times understood by them that knew it not personally themselves I shall here annex a brief Account of the Country's Case about these Differences not as a Justifier or Detender of the Assertions or Reasons or Actions of either Party which I rehearse but only in faithfulness Historically to relate things as indeed they were And 1. It is of very great moment here to understand the Quality of the Persons which adhered to the King and to the Parliament with their Reasons A great part of the Lords forsook the Parliament and so did many of the House of Commons and came to the King but that was for the most of them after Edghill Fight when the King was at Oxford A very great part of the Knights and Gentlemen of England in the several Counties who were not Parliament Men adhered to the King except in Middlesex Essex Suffolk Norfolk Cambridgeshire c. where the King with his Army never came And could he have got footing there it 's like that it would have been there as it was in other places And most of the Tenants of these Gentlemen and also most of the poorest of the People whom the other called the Rabble did follow the Gentry and were for the King On the Parliaments side were besides themselves the smaller part as some thought of the Gentry in most of the Counties and the greatest part of the Tradesmen and Free-holders and the middle sort of Men especially in those Corporations and Countries which depend on Clothing and such Manufactures If you ask the Reasons of this Difference ask also why in France it is not commonly the Nobility nor the Beggars but the Merchants and middle sort of Men that were Protestants The Reasons which the Party themselves gave was Because say they the Tradesmen have a Correspondency with London and so are grown to be a far more Intelligent sort of Men than the ignorant Peasants that are like Bruits who will follow any that they think the strongest or look to get by And the Freeholders say they were not enslaved to their Landlords as the Tenants are The Gentry say they are wholly by their Estates and Ambition more dependent on the King than their Tenants on them and many of them envied the Honour of the Parliament because they were not chosen Members themselves The other side said That the Reason was because the Gentry who commanded their Tenants did better understand Affairs of State than half-witted Tradesmen and Freeholders do But though it must be confessed That the Publick Safety and Liberty wrought very much with most especially with the Nobility and Gentry who adhered to the Parliament yet was it principally the differences about Religious Matters that filled up the Parliaments Armies and put the Resolution and Valour into their Soldiers which carried them on in another manner than mercenary Soldiers are carried on Not that the Matter of Bishops Or no Bishops was the main thing for Thousands that wished for Good Bishops were on the Parliaments side though many called it Bellum Episcopale And with the Scots that was a greater part of the Controversie But the generality of the People through the Land I say not all or every one who were then called Puritans Precisions Religious Persons that used to talk of God and Heaven and Scripture and Holiness and to follow Sermons and read Books of Devotion and pray in their Families and spend the Lord's Day in Religious Exercises and plead for Mortification and serious Devotion and strict Obedience to God and speak against Swearing Cursing Drunkenness Prophaneness c. I say the main Body of this sort of Men both Preachers and People adhered to the Parliament And on the other side the Gentry that were not so precise and
but the Earl was a Person of great Honour Valour and Sincerity yet did some Accuse the Soldiers under him of being too like the King's Soldiers in Profaneness lewd and vitious Practices and rudeness in their Carriage towards the Country and it was withal urg'd that the Revolt of Sir Faithful Fortescue Sir Richard Greenvile Col. Urrey and some others was a satisfying Evidence that the irreligious sort of Men were not to be much trusted but might easily by Money be hired to betray them 2. And it was discovered that the Earl of Essex's Judgment and the wisest Mens about him was never for the ending the Wars by the Sword but only to force a Pacificatory Treaty He thought that if the King should Conquer the Government of the Kingdom would be changed into Arbitrary and the Subjects Propriety and Liberty lost And he thought that if he himself should utterly conquer the King the Parliament would be tempted to encroach upon the King's Prerogative and the Priviledges of the Lords and put too much Power in the Gentries and the People hands and that they would not know how to settle the State of the Kingdom or the Church without injuring others and running into Extreams and falling into Divisions among themselves Therefore he was not for a Conquest of the King But they saw the Delay gave the King advantage and wearied out and ruined the Country and therefore they now began to say that at Edghill at Newbury and at other times he had never prosecuted any Victory but stood still and seen the King's Army retreat and never pursued them when it had been easie to have ended all the Wars 3. But the chief Cause was that Sir H. Vane by this time had increased Sectaries in the House having drawn some Members to his Opinion and Cromwell who was the Earl of Manchester's Lieutenant General had gathered to him as many of the Religious Party especially of the Sectaries as he could get and kept a Correspondency with Vane's Party in the House as if it were only to strengthen the Religious Party And Manchester's Army especially Cromwell's Party had won a Victory near Horncastle in Lincolnshire and had done the main Service of the day at the great â—ight at York and every where the Religious Party that were deepliest apprehensive of the Concernment of the War had far better Success than the other sort of Common Soldiers These things set together caused almost all the Religious sort of Men in Parliament Armies Garrisons and Country to before the new modelling of the Army and putting out the looser sort of Men especially Officers and putting Religious Men in their steads But in all this Work the Vanists in the House and Cromwell in the Army joined together out-witted and over-reacht the rest and carried on the Interest of the Sectaries in Special while they drew the Religious Party along as for the Interest of Godliness in the general The two Designs of Cromwell to make himself great were 1. To Cry up Liberty of Conscience and be very tender of Men differing in Judgment by which he drew all the Separatists and Anabaptists to him with many soberer Men. 2. To set these self-esteeming Men on work to arrogate the Glory of all Successes to themselves and cry up their own Actions and depress the Honour of the Earl of Manchester and all others though Men of as much Godliness at least as they so that they did proclaim the Glory of their own Exploits till they had got the fame of being the most valiant and Victorious Party The truth is they did much and they boasted of more than they did And these things made the new modelling of the Army to be resolved on But all the Question was how to effect it without stirring up the Forces against them which they intended to disband And all this was notably dispatcht at once by One Vote which was called the Self-denying Vote viz. That because Commands in the Army had much pay and Parliament Men should keep to the Service of the House therefore no Parliament Men should be Members of the Army This pleased the Soldiers who looked to have the more pay to themselves and at once it put out the two Generals the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Manchester and also Sir William Waller a godly valiant Major General of another Army and also many Colonels in the Army and in other parts of the Land and the Governour of Coventry and of many other Garrisons and to avoid all Suspicion Cromwell was put out himself When this was done the next Question was Who should be Lord General and what new Officers should be put in or old ones continued And here the Policy of Vane and Cromwell did its best For General they chose Sir Thomas Fairfax Son to the Lord Ferdinando Fairfax who had been in the Wars beyond Sea and had fought valiantly in Yorkshire for the Parliament though he was over-powered by the Earl of Newcastle's Numbers This Man was chosen because they supposed to find him a Man of no quickness of Parts of no Elocution of no suspicious plotting Wit and therefore One that Cromwell could make use of at his pleasure And he was acceptable to sober Men because he was Religious Faithful Valiant and of a grave sober resolved Disposition very fit for Execution and neither too Great nor too Cunning to be Commanded by the Parliament And when he was chosen for General Cromwell's men must not be without him so valiant a Man must not be laid by The Self-denying Vote must be thus far only dispensed with Cromwell only and no other Member of either House must be excepted and so he is made Lieutenant General of the Army and as many as they could get of their Mind and Party are put into Inferiour Places and the best of the old Officers put into the rest But all the Scotch-men except only Adjutant Crey are put out of the whole Army or deserted it § 70. And here I must digress to look back to what I had forgotten of the Scots Army and the Covenant When the Earl of Newcastle had over-powered the Lord Fairfax in the North and the Queen had brought over many Papists Soldiers from beyond Sea and formed an Army under General King a Scot and the King had another great Army with himself under the Command of the Earl of Forth another old Scottish General so that they had three great Field Armies besides the Lord Goring's in the West and all the Country Parties the Parliament were glad to desire Assistance from the Scots whose Army was paid off and disbanded before the English Wars The Scots consented but they offered a Covenant to be taken by both Nations for a resolved Reformation against Popery Prelacy Schism and Prophaneness the Papists the Prelatists the Secfaries and the Prophane being the four Parties which they were against This Covenant was proposed by the Parliament to the Consideration of the Synod at Westminster
to preach before the Judges because I preached against the State But afterward they excused it as done meerly in kindness to me to keep me from running my self into danger and trouble § 106. Not far from this time the London Ministers were called Traitors by the Rump and Soldiers for plotting for the King a strange kind of Treason because they had some Meetings to contrive how to raise some small Sum of Money for Massey's relief who was then in Scotland And some false Brother discovered them and eight of them were sent to the Tower Mr. Arthur Iackson Dr. Drake Mr. Watson Mr. Love Mr. Ienkins c. and Mr. Nalson and Mr. Caughton fled into Holland where one died but the other returned and lived to suffer more by them he suffered for Mr. Love was tried at a Court of Justice where Edm. Prideaux a Member and Sollicitor for the Commonwealth did think his Place allowed him to plead against the Life and Blood of the Innocent Mr. Love was condemned and beheaded dying neither timerously nor proudly in any desperate Bravado but with as great alacrity and fearless quietness and freedom of Speech as if he had but gone to Bed and had been as little concerned as the standers by An honest Gentleman was beheaded with him for the same Cause And at the time of their Execution or very near it on that day there was the dreadfullest Thunder and Lightning and Tempest that was heard or seen of a long time before This Blow sunk deeper towards the Root of the New Commonwealth than will easily be believed and made them grow odious to almost the Religious Party in the Land except the Sectaries Though some malicious Cavaliers said it was good enough for him and laught at it as good News for now the People would not believe that they sought the promoting of the Gospel who killed the Ministers for the Interest of their Faction And there is as Sir Walter Rawleigh noteth of Learned Men such as Demosthenes Cicero c. so much more in Divines of famous Learning and Piety enough to put an everlasting odium upon those whom they suffer by though the Cause of the Sufferers were not justifiable Men count him a vile and detestable Creature who in his passion or for his interest or any such low account shall deprive the World of such Lights and Ornaments and cut off so much excellency at a blow and be the Persecutors of such worthy and renowned Men. Though the rest of the Ministers were released upon Mr. Ienkins's Recantation and Confession that God had now convinced him that he ought to submit to the present Government Yet after this the most of the Ministers and good People of the Land did look upon the New Commonwealth as Tyranny and were more alienated from them than before § 107. The Lord Fairfax now laid down his Commission and would have no more of the Honour of being Cromwell's Instrument or Mask when he saw that he must buy it at so dear a rate And so Cromwell with applause received a Commission and entered upon his place And into Scotland he hasteneth and there he maketh his way near Edinburgh where the Scots Army lay But after long skirmishing and expectations when he could neither draw the Scots out of their Trenches to a fight nor yet pass forward his Soldiers contracted Sicknesses and were impatient of the Poverty of the Country and so with a weakned ragged Army he drew off to return to England and had the Scots but let him go or cautelously followed him they had kept their Peace and broken his Honour But they drew out and followed him and overtaking him near Dunbarr did force him to a Fight by engaging his Rere in which Fight being not of equal Fortitude they were totally rowted their Foot taken and their Horse pursued to Edinburgh § 108. Ten thousand Prisoners of the Foot were brought to Newcastle where the greatness of the Number and the baseness of the Country with their Poverty and the cruel Negligence of the Army caused them to be almost all famished For being shut up in a Cabbage-Garden and having no Food they cast themselves into a Flux and other Diseases with eating the raw Cabbages so that few of them survived and those few were little better used The Colours that were taken were hanged up as Trophies in Westminster-Hall and never taken down till the King's Restoration § 109. Cromwell being thus called back to Edinburgh driveth the Scots to Sterling beyond the River where they fortifie themselves He besiegeth the impregnable Castle of Edinburgh and winneth it the Governor Coll. William Dunglasse laying the blame on his Souldiers that else would have delivered It and him but his Superiors condemned him for the Cowardly Surrender After this Cromwell passeth some of his Men over the River and after them most of the rest The King with the Scots Army being unable to give him Battle after such Discouragements takes the Opportunity to haste away with what Force they had towards England thinking that Cromwell being cast now some Days March behind them by Reason of his passing the River they might be before him in England and there be abundantly increased by the coming in both of the Cavaliers and the rest of the People to him And doubtless all the Land would Suddenly have flockt in to him but for these two Causes 1. The Success of Cromwell at Dumbarre and afterwards had put a Fear upon all Men and the manner of the Scots coming away persuaded all Men that Necessity forced them and they were look'd upon rather as flying than as marching into England and few Men will put themselves into a flying Army which is pursued by the conquering Enemy 2. The implacable Cavaliers had made no Preparation of the Peoples Mind by any Significations of Reconciliation or of probable future Peace And the Prelatical Divines instead of drawing nearer those they differed from for Peace had gone farther from them by Dr. Hammond's new way than their Predecessors were before them and the very Cause which they contended for being not Concord and Neighbourhood but Domination they had given the dissenting Clergy and People no hopes of finding favourable Lords or any Abatement of their former Burdens so little did their Task-Masters relent But contrariwise they saw Reason enough to expect that their little Fingers would be heavier than their Predecessors Loyns And it is hard to bring Men readily to venture their Lives to bring themselves into a Prison or Beggary or Banishment These were the true Causes that no more came in to the King The first kept off the Royalists and the rest the second kept off the rest alone Yet the Earl of Darby the Lord Talbott and many Gentlemen did come in to him and some that had been Souldiers for the Parliament as Capt. Benbow from Shrewsbury with Cornet Kinnersly and a Party of Horse and some few more The King's Army of Scots was
of Fact was false by which they proved me so vile a Person yet I was the less careful so to clear my self as I might because I take it to be a thing as justifiable as to eat Bread if I had taken the Sequestration because the man 's own Fundamental Right as it was a thing Consecrated to God was null he being so insufficient as not to be owned for a Minister As I have great reason by all the trial I made of him to think that he understood not the Substance of Religion the common Catechism or Creed so he was unable to teach the People the very Substantials of Christianity Once a quarter he scrapt a â—ew words together which he so said over as to move pity in his Auditors but woe to the People that have no other Pastor then such as he And God's Right being the first in Dedicated Things and the Law also annexing them to the Office for the Work 's sake and for the sake of the Peoples Souls he that cannot at all do the Work and so is uncapable of the Office can have no Title to the Place and Maintenance And I cannot believe that the Peoples Souls must be all untaught and sacrificed to his pretended Legal Right And another Pastor they were not like to have without the Maintenance unless they could have got one that had an Estate of his own and would go on warfare at his own Charges or could live without Food and Raiment for the Peoples Poverty disabled them from maintaining him 〈◊〉 it had been but a Physician 's or Surgeon's Place in an Hospital which a meer 〈◊〉 had got for his life I think to let the People perish for fear of dispossessing him of his Place and Pay had been to be righteous over much and charitable over little And the fifth part was allowed them for their Wives though they did nothing for it And yet this ignorant man was not dispossest by force but by the Power then in possession even by Parliamentary Power when the Lords who are the highest Judicture sate as well as the Commons by the King 's â—aw And he was cast out on Articles sworn for Insufficiency and Scandal And yet this was done by others before I came near them And must the place be void of a Teacher because the Parliament would not give the Maintenance to a man that knew not what the Work of a Pastor was § 129. Besides this ignorant Vicar there was a Chappel in the Parish where was an old Curate as ignorant as he that had long lived upon Ten pound a year and unlawful Marriages and was a Drunkard and a Railer and the Scorn of the Country I know not how to keep him from reading for I judged it a Sin to tolerate him in any Sacred Office I got an Augmentation for the Place and got an honest Preacher to instruct them and let this scandalous Fellow keep his former Stipend of Ten pound for nothing and yet could never keep him from forcing himself upon the People to read nor from unlawful Marriages till a little before Death did call him to his account I have Examined him about the familiar Points of Religion and he could not say â—alf so much to me as I have heard a child say And these two in this Parish were not all In one of the next Parishes called The Rock there were two Chappels where the poor ignorant Curate of one got his living with cutting Faggots and the other with making Ropes Their Abilities being answerable to their Studies and Employments § 130. In my Labours at Kidderminster after my return I did all under languishing Weakness being seldom an hour free from pain Of which I shall give a brief Account together as an addition to the general one foregoing that I may not be oft upon it mentioning only some of those passages in which God's Mercy most affected me Many a time have I been brought very low and received the Stentence of Death in my self when my poor honest praying Neighbours have met and upon their Fasting and earnest Prayers I have been recovered Once when I had continued weak three Weeks and was unable to go abroad the very day that they prayed for me being Good-Friday I recovered and was able to Preach and Administer the Sacrament the next Lord's Day and was better after it It being the first time that ever I administred it And ever after that whatever Weakness was upon me when I had after Preaching administred that Sacrament to many hundred People I was much revived and eased of my Infirmities Another time I had a Tumour rose on one of the Tonsills in my Throat white and hard like a Bone above the hardness of any Schyrrhous Tumour I feared a Cancer being it was round and like a Pease as it beginneth And when I had by the Physician 's Advise applied such Remedies as he thought fittest and it no whit altered but remained as hard as at the first at the end of about a quarter of a Year I was chek'd in Conscience that I had never publickly praised God particularly for any of the Deliverances which he had vouchsafed me And being speaking of God's Confirming our Belief of his Word by his fulfilling of Promises and hearing Prayers as it is published in the second part of my Saints Rest I annexed some thankful mention of my own Experiences and suddenly the Tumour vanished and no sign wherever it had been remained Nor did I either swallow it down or spit it out nor knew what went with it to this Day Another time having read in Dr. Gerhard the admirable Effects of the swallowing of a Gold Bullet upon his own Father in a Case like mine I got a Gold Bullet and swallowed it between 20 s. and 30 s. weight and having taken it I knew not how to be delivered of it again I took Clysters and Purges for about three Weeks but nothing stirred it and a Gentleman having done the like the Bullet never came from it till he died and it was cut out But at last my Neighbours set a Day apart to fast and pray for me and I was freed from my Danger in the beginning of that day Another time being in Danger of an Aegilops and to be brief at divers times in divers Weaknesses Pains and Dangers I have been delivered upon earnest Prayers such as have assured me that God heareth such extemporate Prayers as many now deride And because I am speaking of Prayer I will add one Instance more or two of the Success of it for my Neighbours as well as for my self § 131. There liveth yet in Kidderminster a grave and honest Widow Mrs. Giles Widow to Mr. Giles of Astley one of the Committee of that County she had a Son of about 14 or 15 Years of Age Apprentice in Worcester to a Mercer he fell into a Feaver which being removed ended in a most violent Epilepsie The Physicians used all ordinary means for a
the Importance and Consequence of the War and making not Money but that which they took for the Publick Felicity to be their End they were the more engaged to be valiant for he that maketh Money his End doth esteem his Life above his Pay and therefore is like enough to save it by flight when danger comes if possibly he can But he that maketh the Felicity of Church and State his End esteemeth it above his Life and therefore will the sooner lay down his Life for it And men of Parts and Understanding know how to manage their business and know that flying is the surest way to death and that standing to it is the likeliest way to escape there being many usually that fall in flight for one that falls in valiant fight These things it 's probable Cromwell understood and that none would be such engaged valiant men as the Religious But yet I conjecture that at his first choosing such men into his Troop it was the very Esteem and Love of Religious men that principally moved him and the avoiding of those Disorders Mutinies Plunderings and Grievances of the Country which deboist men in Armies are commonly guilty of By this means he indeed sped better than he expected Aires Desborough Berry Evanson and the rest of that Troop did prove so valiant that as far as I could learn they never once ran away before an Enemy Hereupon he got a Commission to take some care of the Associated Counties where he brought this Troop into a double Regiment of fourteen full Troops and all these as full of religious men as he could get These having more then ordinary Wit and Resolution had more than ordinary Success first in Lincolnshire and afterward in the Earl of Manchester's Army at York Fight With their Successes the Hearts both of Captain and Soldiers secretly rise both in Pride and Expectation And the familiarity of many honest erroneous Men Anabaptists Antinomians c. withal began quickly to corrupt their Judgments Hereupon Cromwell's general Religious Zeal giveth way to the power of that Ambition which still increaseth as his Successes do increase Both Piety and Ambition concurred in his countenancing of all that he thought Godly of what Sect soever Piety pleadeth for them as Godly and Charity as Men and Ambition secretly telleth him what use he might make of them He meaneth well in all this at the beginning and thinketh he doth all for the Safety of the Godly and the Publick Good but not without an Eye to himself When Successes had broken down all considerable Opposition he was then in the face of his strongest Temptations which conquered him when he had conquered others He thought that he had hitherto done well both as to the End and Means and God by the wonderful Blessing of his Providence had owned his endeavours and it was none but God that had made him great He thought that if the War was lawful the Victory was lawful and if it were lawful to fight against the King and conquer him it was lawful to use him as a conquered Enemy and a foolish thing to trust him when they had so provoked him whereas indeed the Parliament professed neither to fight against him nor to conquer him He thought that the Heart of the King was deep and that he resolved upon Revenge and that if he were King he would easily at one time or other accomplish it and that it was a dishonest thing of the Parliament to set men to fight for them against the King and then to lay their Necks upon the block and be at his Mercy and that if that must be their Case it was better to flatter or please him than to fight against him He saw that the Scots and the Presbyterians in the Parliament did by the Covenant and the Oath of Allegiance find themselves bound to the Person and Family of the King and that there was no hope of changing their minds in this Hereupon he joyned with that Party in the Parliament who were for the Cutting off the King and trusting him no more And consequently he joyned with them in raising the Independants to make a Fraction in the Synod at Westminster and in the City and in strengthening the Sectaries in Army City and Country and in rendering the Scots and Ministers as odious as he could to disable them from hindering the Change of Government In the doing of all this which Distrust and Ambition had perswaded him was well done he thought it lawful to use his Wits to choose each Instrument and suit each means unto its end and accordingly he daily imployed himself and modelled the Army and disbanded all other Garrisons and Forces and Committees which were like to have hindered his design And as he went on though he yet resolved not what form the New Common-wealth should be molded into yet he thought it but reasonable that he should be the Chief Person who had been chief in their Deliverance For the Lord Fairfax he knew had but the Name At last as he thought it lawful to cut off the King because he thought he was lawfully conquered so he thought it lawful to fight against the Scots that would set him up and to pull down the Presbyterian Majority in the Parliament which would else by restoring him undo all which had cost them so much Blood and Treasure And accordingly he conquereth Scotland and pulleth down the Parliament being the easilier perswaded that all this was lawful because he had a secret Byas and Eye towards his own Exaltation For he and his Officers thought that when the King was gone a Government there must be and that no Man was so fit for it as he himself as best deserving it and as having by his Wit and great Interest in the Army the best sufficiency to manage it Yea they thought that God had called them by Successes to Govern and take Care of the Commonwealth and of the Interest of all his People in the Land and that if they stood by and suffered the Parliament to do that which they thought was dangerous it would be required at their hands whom they thought God had made the Guardians of the Land Having thus forced his Conscience to justifie all his Cause the Cutting off the the King the setting up himself and his Adherents the pulling down the Parliament and the Scots he thinketh that the End being good and necessary the necessary means cannot be bad And accordingly he giveth his Interest and Cause leave to tell him how far Sects shall be tollerated and commended and how far not and how far the Ministry shall be owned and supported and how far not yea and how far Professions Promises and Vows shall be kept or broken and therefore the Covenant he could not away with nor the Ministers further than they yielded to his Ends or did not openly resist them He seemed exceeding open hearted by a familiar Rustick affected Carriage especially to his Soldiers in
186. 30. The third Sheet was called One Sheet for the Ministry against the Malignants of all sorts containing those Reasons for the present Ministry which shew the greatness of the Sin of those that set against them It was intended then against the Quakers and other Sectarian Enemies to the Ministry but is as useful for these Times and against those that on other pretences hate and silence and suppress them and might tell their Consciences what they do § 187. 31. The fourth Sheet I called A Second Sheet for the Ministry being a Defence of their Office as continued against the Seekers who pretend that the Ministry is ceased and lost And it may serve against the Papists that question our Call for want of a Succession and all their Spawn of Sectaries that are still setting themselves against the Ministry and against the Sacred Scriptures § 188. 32. Mr. William Montford being chosen Bayliff of Kiderminster desired me to write him down a few brief Instructions for the due Execution of his Office of Magistracy that he might so pass it as to have Comfort and not Trouble in the Review which having done considering how many Mayors and Bayliffs and Countrey Justices needed it as well as he I printed it in an open Sheet to stick upon a Wall Entituled Directions for Iustices of Peace especially in Corporations for the Discharge of their Duties to God suited to those Times § 189. 33. Mr. Iohn Dury having spent thirty Years in Endeavours to reconcile the Lutherans and Calvanists was now going over Sea again upon that Work and desired the Judgment of our Association how it should be successfully expedited which at their desire I drew up more largely in Latin and more briefly in English The English Letter he printed as my Letter to Mr. Dury for Pacification § 190. 34. About that time Mr. Ionathan Hanmer of Devonshire wrote a Treatise for Confirmation as the most expedient means to reform our Churches and reconcile all that disagree about the Qualification of Church Members I liked the Design so well having before written for it in my Treatise of Baptism that being requested I put a large Epistle before it and after that when some Brethren desired me to produce more Scripture Proof for it than he had done I wrote a small Treatise called Confirmation and Restauration the necessary means to Reformation and Reconciliation But the times changed before it could be much practised § 191. 35. Sergeant Shephard an honest Lawyer wrote a little Book of Sincerâ—ty and Hypocrisy and in the end of it Mr. Tho. Barlow afterward Bishop of Lincoln wrote without his Name an Appendix in Confutation of a supposed Opinion of mine that Saving Grace differeth not Specie but Gradu from Common Grace To which I replied in a short Discourse called Of Saving Faith c. I had most highly valued the Author whom I wrote against long before for his Six Exercitations in the end of Schibler's Metaphysicks But in his Attempt against me he came quite below himself as I made manifest and he resolved to make no Answer to it In this Tractate the Printer plaid his part so shamefully that the Book is scarcely to be understood § 192. 36. Being greatly apprehensive of the Commonness and Danger of the Sin of Selfishness as the Summ and Root of all positive Evil I preached many Sermons against it and at the Request of some Friends I published them entituled A. Treatise of Self-denial which found better acceptance than most of my other but yet prevented not the ruine of Church and State and Millions of Souls by that Sin § 193. 37. After that I published Five Disputations about Church-Government in order to the Reconciliation of the differing Parties In the first I proved that the English Diocesance Prelacy is intollerable which none hath answered In the Second I have proved the Validity of the Ordination then exercised without Diocesanes in England which no Man hath answered though many have urged Men to be re-ordained In the third I proved that there are dives sorts of Episcopacy lawful and desirable In the fourth and fifth I shew the lawfulness of some Ceremonies and of a Liturgy and what is unlawful here This Book being published when Bishops Liturgy and Ceremonies were most decryed and opposed was of good use to declare my Judgment when the King came in for if I had said as much then I had been judged but a Temporizer But as it was effectual to settle many in a Moderation so it made abundance of Conformists afterwards or was pretended at least to give them Satisfaction Though it never medled with the greatest Parts of Conformity Renouncing Vows Assent and Consent to all things in three Books c. and though it unanswerably confuted our Prelacy and Re-ordination and consequently the Renunciation of the Vow against Prelacy and opposed the Cross in Baptism But Sicvitant Stulti Vitia as my Aphorisms made some Arminians If you discover an Error to an injudicious Man he reeleth into the contrary Error and it is hard to stop him in the middle Verity § 194. 38. At the same time I published another Book against Popery fit for the defensive part and instructing Protestants how to answer any Papist It is entituled A Key for Catholicks to open the jugling of the Iesuits and satisfie all that are but truly willing to understand whether the Cause of the Roman or Reformed Churches be of God In this Treatise proving that the Blood of the King is not by Papists to be charged upon Protestants I plainly hazarded my Life against the Powers that then were and grievously incensed Sir H. vane as is before declared And yet Mr. I. N. was so tender of the Papists Interest that having before been offended with me for a Petition against Popery and a Justice of all times spake against it on the Bench and his Displeasure encreased by this Book he took occasion since the King came in to write against me for those very Passages which condemned the King-killers Because comparing the Case with the Doctrine and Practice of the Papists I shewed that the Sectarians and Cromwelians had of the two a more plausible Pretence which I there recited he confuteth those Pretence of theirs as if they had been my own thereby to make the World believe that I wrote for the King's Death in the very Pages where to the hazard of my Life I wrote against it when he himself took the Engagement against the King and the House of Lords and was a Justice under Oliver and more than so signed Orders for the sequestring of others of the King's Party But the great Indignation against this Book and the former is that they were by Epistles directed to Ri. Cromwell as Lord Protector which I did only to provoke him that had Power to use it well when the Parliament had sworn Fidelity to him and that without any Word of Approbation to his Title Yet those that were
Bishop Usher had before occasionally spoken of him in my hearing as a Socinian which caused me to hear him with suspicion but I heard none suspect him of Popery though I found that it was that which was the end of his Design This Jugler hath this Twenty years and more gone up and down thus secretly and also thrust himself into places of Publick Debate as when the Bishops and Divines disputed before the King at the Isle of Wight c. And when we were lately offering our Proposals for Concord to the King he thrust in among us till I was sain plainly to detect him before some of the Lords which enraged him and he denied the words which in secret he had spoken to me And many Men of Parts and Learning are perverted by him § 61. In this time of my abode at the Lord Broghill's fell out all the Acquaintance I had with the most Reverend Learned Humble and Pious Primate of Ireland Archbishop Usher then living at the Earl of Peterborough's House in Martin's-Lane Sometimes he came to me and oft I went to him And Dr. Kendal who had wrote pettishly against me about Universal Redemption and the Specification of Saving Grace desired me when I had answered one of his Invectives and had written part of the Answer to the other to meet him at Bishop Usher's Lodgings and refer the matter to him for our Reconciliation and future Silence which I willingly did and when the Bishop had declared his Judgment for that Doctrine of Universal Redemption which I afferted and gloried that he was the Man that brought Bishop Davenant and Dr. Preston to it he perswaded us who were both willing to Silence for the time to come § 62. In this time I opened to Bishop Usher the motions of Concord which I had made with the Episcopal Divines and desired his Judgment of my Terms which were these 1. That every Pastor be the Governour as well as the Teacher of his Flock 2. In those Parishes that have more Presbyters than one that one be the stated President 3. That in every Market Town or some such meet Divisions there be frequent Assemblies of Parochial Pastors associated for Concord and mutual Assistance in their Work and that in these Meetings one be a stated not a temporary President 4. That in every Country or Diocess there be every year or half year or quarter an Assembly of all the Ministers of the County or Diocess and that they also have their fixed President and that in Ordination nothing be done without the President nor in matters of common or publick concernment 5. That the coercive Power or Sword be medled with by none but Magistrates To this Sense were my Proposals which he told me might suffice for Peace and Unity among moderate Men But when he had offered the like to the King intemperate Men were displeased with him and they were then rejected but afterward would have been accepted And such Success I was like to have I had heard of his Predictions that Popery would be restored again in England for a short time and then fall for ever And asking him of it he pretended to me no prophetical Revelation for it to himself but only his Judgment of the Sense of the Apocalyps § 63. I asked him also his Judgment about the validity of Presbyters Ordination which he asserted and told me that the King asked him at the Isle of Wight whereever he found in Antiquity that Presbyters alone ordained any and that he answered I can shew your Majesty more even where Presbyters alone successively ordained Bishops and instanced in Hierom's Words Epist. ad Evagrium of the Presbyters of Alexandria chusing and making their own Bishops from the Days of Mark till Heraclus and Dionysius I asked him also whether the Paper be his that is called A Reduction of Episcopacy to the Form of Synodical Government which he owned and Dr. Bernard after witnessed to be his § 64. And of his own Accord he told me considently That Synods are not properly for Government but for Agreement among the Pastors and a Synod of Bishops are not the Governors of any one Bishop there present Though no doubt but every Pastor out of the Synod being a Ruler of his Flock a Synod of such Pastors may there exercise Acts of Government over their Flocks though they be but Acts of Agreement or Contract for Concord one towards another Quere If the whole Synod have no governing Power over its Members hath the President of that Synod any qua talis § 65. When Oliver Cromwel was dead and his Son almost as soon pull'd down as set up or upon their Tumults voluntarily resigned their Places the Anabaptists grew insolent in England and Ireland and joining with their Brethren in the Army were every where put in Power and those of them that before lived in some seeming Friendliness near me at Bewdley began now to shew that they remembred all their former Provocations by my publick Disputation with Mr. Tombes and writing against them and hindring their increase in those parts And though they were not much above twenty Men and Women near us they talk'd as it they had been Lords of the World And when Sir Henry Vine was in Power and forming his Draught of a not Free but Fanatick Common-wealth and Sir George Booth's Rising was near and the look't for Opposition they laid wait upon the Road for my Letters and intercepting one written to Major Beake of Coventr◠they sent it up to Sir Henry Vane to London who found it so warily written thought himself was mentioned in it that he could have nothing against it yet sent he for Major Beake to London and put him to answer it at the Committee where by examination they sought to have made something of it but after many Threatnings they dismissed him This was the Anabaptists Fidelity § 66. The People then were so apprehensive of approaching Misery and Consusion while the Fanaticks were Lords and Vane ruled in the State and Lambert in the Army and Fifth Monarchy Men as they called the Millenaries and Seekers and Anabaptists were their chief Strength that the King 's old Party called then the Cavaliers and the Parliaments Party called the Presbyterians did secretly combine in many parts of the Land to rise all at once and suppress these insolent Usurpers and bring in the King Sir Ralph Clare of Kiderminister acquainted me with the intended Rising the Issue of which was that the Cavaliers failing except a few at Salisbury who were suddenly disperst or taken Sir George Booth and Sir Tho. Middleton two old Commanders for the Parliament drew together an Army of about 5000 Men and took Chester and there being no other to divert him Lambert came against them and some Independants and Anabaptists of the Country joining with him his old Souldiers quickly routed them all and Sir George Booth was afterwards taken and imprisoned I told Sir R. Clare that if the
pretence of promoting Godliness so they fear'd the enraged Prelatical Party would renew their Persecution under pretence of Order and Government And some that thought R. Cromwell's Resignation was not plain and full did scruple it Whether they were not at present obliged to him for though they knew that he had no Original Right and though the condemned the Act of those Men as Treason who set up both his Father and him yet when he was set up and the Government had been Twelve years in their Hands and the House of Commons had sworn Subjection to him they thought it was very doubtful whether they were not obliged to him as the Possessor And withal many had alienated the Hearts of Men from the King making them believe that he was uncertain in his Religion c. and that the Duke of York was a Papist and that they would set up the revengeful Cavaliers but these things were quickly at an end For many Gentlemen who had been with the King in Scotland especially the Earl of Lauderdaile and Colonel Greavâ—â— who were of Reputation with the People did spread abroad mighty Commendations of the King both as to his Temper and Piety whereby the Fears of many at that time were much quieted § 69. As for my self I came to London April the 13th 1660. where I was no sooner arrived but I was accosted by the Earl of Lauderdale just then released from his tedious Confinement in Windsor Castle by the restor'd Parliament who having heard from some of the Sectarian Party that my Judgment was that our Obligations to Richard Cromwell were not dissolved nor could be till another Parliament or a fuller Renunciation of the Government took a great deal of pains with me to satisfie me in that point And for the quieting People's Minds that were in no small Commotion through clandestine Rumours he by means of Sir Robert Murray and the Countess of Balcares then in France procured several Letters to be written from thence full of high Elogiums of the King and Assurances of his firmness in the Protestant Religion which he got translated and publisht Among others one was sent to me from Monsieur Gaches a famous pious Preacher at Chatenton wherein after an high strain of Complements to my self he gave a pomâ—ous Character of the King and assured me that during his Exile he never forbore the Publick Profession of the Protestant Religion no not even in those places where it seemed prejudicial to his Affairs that he was present at Divine Worship in the French Churches at Roan and Rochel though not at Charenton during his stay at Paris and earnestly press't me to use my utmost interest that the King might be restored by means of the Presbyterians c. The Letter being long and already publisht shall not be here inserted But I could not forbear making divers Reflections upon the Receipt of such a Letter as this was § 70. This Excellent Divine with divers others living at a distance knew not the state of Affairs in England so well as we that were upon the place They knew not how much the Presbyterians had done to bring in the King or else they would not have thought it needful to use any Exhortations to them to that end And they knew not those Men who with the King were to be restored so well as we did What the Presbyterians did to preserve and restore the King is a thing that we need not go to any Corners or Cabinets to prove The Votes for Agreement upon the King's Concessions in the Isle of Wight prove it The Ejection and Imprisonment of most of the House of Commons and all the House of Lords prove it The Calamitous overthrow of two Scottish Armies prove it The Death of Mr. Love with the Imprisonment and Flight of other London Ministers prove it The wars in Scotland and their Conquest by Cromwell prove it The Rising of Sir George Booth and his Army's overthrow prove it The Surprize of Dublin-Castle from the Anabaptists by Colonel Iohn Bridges and others in Ireland and the Gratulations of General Monk in England the Concurrence of the Londonners and the Ministers there the Actual Preparations of the Restored Members of the Long Parliament and the Consent of the Council of State left by them and the Calling in of the King hereupon by the next Parliament without one contradicting Voice and finally the Lords and Gentlemen of the King 's old Party in all Countreys addressing themselves to the Parliamentarians and the King 's grateful Acknowledgments in his Letters and his Speeches in Parliament do all put this Matter out of question Of which I have said more in my Key for Catholicks § 71. And when I read this Reverend Man's excessive Praises and his concluding Prayer for the Success of my Labours I thought with my self how little doth the good Man understand how ill the beginning and end of his words accord He prayeth for my Congregation and the Blessing of my Labours when he hath perswaded me to put an end to my Labours by ssetting up those Prelates who will Silence me and many a hundred more He perswadeth me to that which will separate me from my Flock and then prayeth that I may be a Blessing to them He overvalueth and magnifieth my Service to the Church and then perswadeth me to that which will put a Period to my Service and to the Service of many hundreds better than my self But yet his Cause and Arguments are honest and I am so far from being against him in it that I think I am much more for it than he for he is for our Restoring the King that our Ministry may be freed from the obloquy of malicious Enemies but I am for restoring of the King that when we are Silenced and our Ministry at an end and some of us lye in Prisons we may there and in that Condition have Peace of Conscience in the Discharge of our Duty and the Exercise of Faith Patience and Charity in our Sufferings § 72. And I confess at that time the Thoughts of Mens hearts were various according to their several Expectations The Sectarian Party cried out that God had in Justice cut off the Family that Reigned over us and to return to it again was to betray the Church and the Souls of Men. Some others said That the Sectaries had traiterously and wickedly pull'd down the King and Parliament and set up themselves and broken their Oaths and pull'd down all Government and made the Name of Religion a Reproach and brought that Blot upon it which is never till the Day of Judgment like to be wiped off But yet that after Twelve years alienation of the Government and when a House of Commons hath sworn Fidelity to another and the King 's own Party had taken the Engagement their Obligations to that Family were by Providence against their Wills dissolved and that they were not bound to be Actors in that which will Silence
they are doubtful 1. In Case that a Man pretend to have the King's Commission but doth not shew it me what am I then to do 2. In Case he shew it me under the Privy Seal and another shew the Broad Seal to a Commission to resist him 3. In Case he shew the Broad Seal and I know not whether it be counterfeit or surreptitiously procured 4. In Case that by the fault of Officers or forgetfulness or any other cause one Man should have a Commission to defend and command a Ship or Fort or Country and another shew a Commission of the same date to command and defend the same Ship Fort or Country and to resist any that oppose him Is it unlawful for both of them here to obey the King's Command 5. In case that any shall shew or pretend a Commission for any illegal Act as to take Mens Purses by the High-way to break into their Houses and take their Money and Goods and seize their Estates or kill their Families Or to lay a Tax upon the Country without the Consent of Parliament or to ravish Mens Wives or Daughters or to burn the City or if two or three should shew a Commission to come into the House of Lords or Commons and kill them all in the place c. It is certain that a Sword is Arms and that to fight in a Man 's own Defence is to take up Arms Or if any say it must be the fighting of many together only that is called the Taking up of Arms as that is not to be understood by the words which have no such restriction so no Man knoweth how many it must be that by concurrence must make the Act to be a Taking up of Arms. We have put some of these Cases to Parliament Men and they tell us That in any such Case they would use their Arms to defend themselves But these are single Members What the Houses mean we know not but by the words And no words can be more exclusive of any Exception than these That it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever Also what if Saul gives Commission to his Armour bearer to kill him Might not a Subject by Arms defend the King and rescue his Life against his Will and Commission And what if a Court of Justice decree a Subject the Possession of his House and Land and require the Sheriff of the Country to put him in possession and to raise the Posse Comitatus to do it if there be resistance And what if the Person to be ejected shew a Commission from the King to keep possession contrary to this Judgment is it unlawful for the Sheriff to obey the Court And the Posse Comitatus of Yorkshire hath been a considerable Army § 394. The Things which increase the Doubt of the Non-subscribers in this Case are these 1. Because if as it is said by some the Laws are the King's Laws and the Acts of his Will as well as his Commissions are Then if his Law and his Commission be contradictory I must need disobey the King which soever I disobey and resist the King's Will which soever I resist We have no Laws but what are Acts of the King's Will and till they are repealed they still express his Will 2. Because that the Laws are made purposely to be the Subjects Rule of Obedience being also the Rule of Judgment in all Courts and being that Act of the King's Will which the Subjects have publick certain Notice of They know that the Laws are indeed the King's Laws and are not counterfeit And they are of universal Obligation But a Seal to a Commission may possibly be counterfeit or the Subject can have no such certifying notice of it 3. And they know that the King is not himself every where present to tell his doubtful Subjects which signification of his Will he owneth and which they should prefer and that he governeth his Kingdom by his Courts and Officers they sit and send forth their Orders in his Name And a known publick Court of Justice seemeth to be a more credible declarer of the King's Will than a Stranger or particular Person who saith that he hath his Commission It is the Form of the Law to be the Act of the Governing Will of the King and the use of his Courts to declare it and expound it and judge by it for his Subjects But a private Commission wanteth these Advantages 4. Because they think that the Law of Nature and the Constitution of the Kingdom must else submit to this Declaration For if two or three or more shew a Commission to kill all the Parliament and fire the City Nature seemeth to allow them Self-defence and Parliaments which are part of the Constitution are vain if they have no better Security for their Lives 5. They find a Statute of King Edward the Third That if any Man bring from the King a Command under the Little Seal or the Great Seal to require any Judge to go against Justice or to contradict it the Judge shall go on as if it signified nothing And the Sheriff's forcible Assistance may be part of his Judgment or the legal Consequent 6. Else no Subject seemeth to have any Security for his Estate or Life nor the Subject any Liberties For if their Estates or Purses be taken away or their Lives assaulted by pretended Commissions or Taxes imposed contrary to Law what remedy have they To say they may question the Instruments at Law is vain and worse as long as that Law whatever it decreeth must submit to a Commission and must never resist it nor use any force of Arms though against a single Man for its own Execution Who will begin a Suit at Law against the King's Will at all if he first know that his Will must not be resisted and that the End will but be his greater ruine 7. They said King Iames asserting in his Writings for Monarchy that a King may not make War against his whole Kingdom In case then that he should do it they are uncertain that the whole Kingdom might not at all resist his commissioned Officers 8. They find the late King Charles the First in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions of the Parliament asserting a Protecting Power in the Lords and setting up the Laws above his own Will 9. They know that the Laws are made by King and Parliament and Commissions here supposed to be by the King alone And the whole Authority of all parts seemeth more than of one alone 10. They find that it hath been familiar with Lawyers to prefer the Law before the King's Commissions and Parliaments have been of that mind And they are too weak to Condemn them all in their own Faculties 11. They find that the greatest Defenders of Monarchy of all Forreign Lawyers even Barclay and Grotius have instanced in many Cases in which it is as they say lawful by Arms to resist a King And we pretend not to more
any thing amiss in the Government of Church or State Established by Law If Endeavour be taken in its Latitude it is a perfect contradiction to this Law 3. The Testimonies of several Members of both Houses who assured us that in the Debate this was the declared Sense of the Parliament Sir Heneage Finch told me the intention of it was only to have security from us without any respect to our Iudgments concerning the Government that we would not disturb the Peace and that it was imposed at this Season in regard of our Wars with France and Holland He added it was a tessera of our Loyalty and those who refused it would be looked on as Persons reserving themselves for an Opportunity My Lord Chamberlain said the Bishops of Canterbury and Winchester declared it only excluded Seditious Endeavours and upon his urging that it might be expressed the Arch Bishop replyed It should be added but the King being to come at Two of the Clock it could not with that Explication be sent down to the House of Commons and returned up again within that time The Bishop of Exeter told Dr. Tillotson That the first Draught of this Oath was in Terms a Renunciation of the Covenant but it was answered they have suffered for that already and that the Ministers would not recede it was therefore reasonable to require security in such Words as might not touch the Covenant 4. The concurrent Opinion of the Iudges who are the Authorized Interpreters of Law who declared that only tumultuous and seditious Endeavours are meant Iudge Bridgman Twisden Brown Archer Windham Atkins who were at London had agreed in this Sense Some of the Ministers were not satisfied because the Opinion of a Iudge in his Chamber was no Iudicial Act but if it were declared upon the Bench it would much resolve their Doubts I addressed my Self to my Lord Bridgman and urged him that since it was a Matter of Conscience and the Oaths were to be taken in the greatest simplicity he would sincerely give me his Opinion about it He professed to me that the Sense of the Oath was only to exclude seditious and tumultuous Endeavours and said he would go to the Sessions and declare it in the Court He wrote down the Words he intended to speak and upon my declaring that if he did not express that only seditious Endeavours were meant I could not take the Oath be put in the Paper before me that word and told me that Iudge Keeling was of his Mind and would be there and be kind to us The Ministers esteemed this the most publick Satisfaction for Conscience and Fame and several of them agreed to go to the Sessions and take the Oath that hereby if possible they might vindicate Religion from the Impâ—tation of Faction and Rebellion and make it evident that Consciences only hindereth their Conformity Some of the most unsatisfied were resolved to take it We came in the afternoon on Friday to the Court where seven Ministers had taken it in the Morning At our appearance the Lord Bridgman addrest himself to us in these Words Gentlemen I perceive you are come to take the Oath I am glad of it The intent of it is to distinguish between the King 's good Subjects and those who are mentioned in the Act and to prevent Seditious and Tumultuous Endeavours to alter the Government Mr. Clark said in this Sense we take it The Lord Keeling spake with some quickness Will you take the Oath as the Parliament hath appointed it I replyed My Lord We are come hither to attest our Loyalty and to declare we will not seditiously endeavour to alter the Government He was silent and we took the Oath being 13 in number After this the Lord Keeling told us He was glad that so many had taken the Oath and with great vehemency said We had renounced the Covenant in two Principal Points that damnable Oath which sticks between the Teeth of so many And he hoped That as here was one King and one Faith so here would be one Government And if we did not Conform it would be judged we did this to save a stake These Words being uttered after by his Silence he had approved what my Lord B. had spoke of the Sense of the Act and our express Declaration that in that Sense we took it you may imagine how surprizing they were to us It was not possible for us to recollect our selves from the Confusion which this caused so as to make any reply We retired with sadness and what the consequences will be you may easily fore-see Some will reflect upon us with severity judging of the nature of the Action by this check of Providence Others who were resolved to take the Oath recoil from it their Iealousies being increased I shall trouble you no longer but assure you That notwithstanding this accident doth not invalidate the Reasons for the lawfulness of it in our apprehensions yet the fore-sight of this would have caused us to suspend our proceedings The good Lord sanctifie this Providence to us and teach us to commit our dearest Concernments unto him in the performance of our Duty to whose Protection I commend you and remain Yours intirely William Bates London Feb. 22. After my Lord Keeling's Speech Sir Iohn Babor enquired of Lord Bridgman whilst he was on the Bench Whether the Ministers had renounced the Covenant He answer'd the Covenant was not concerned in it Mr. Calamy Watson Gouge and many others had taken the Oath this Week but for this unhappy Accident My Lord Bridgman came to the Sessions and declared the Sense of the Oath with my Lord Chancellor's allowance But all the Reasons contain'd in this Letter seem'd not to me to enervate the force of the fore-going Objections or solve the Difficulties § 24. A little before this L. B. and Sir S. committed such horrid wickedness in their Drinking acting the part of Preachers in their Shirts in a Balcony with Words and Actions not to be named that one or both of them was openly censured for it in Westminster-Hall by one of the Courts of Justice You will say Sure it was a shameful Crime indeed And shortly after a Lightning did seize on the Church where the Monuments of the were and tore it melted the Leads and brake the Monuments into so small pieces that the people that came to see the place put the Scraps with the Letters on into their Pockets to shew as a Wonder and more wonderful than the consumption of the rest by fire § 25. In this time the Haunting of Mr. Mompesson's House in Wiltshire with strange Noises and Motions for very many Months together was the Common Talk Of which Mr. Ios. Glanvil having wrote the Story I say no more § 26. The Number of Ministers all this while either imprisoned sined or otherwise afflicted for preaching Christ's Gospel when they were forbidden was so great that I forbear to mention them particularly § 27. The War began with
cast such abundance of them into sickness and kill'd so many as greatly weakened many Divers of the most forward Gentlemen of the Countrey there lost their Lives And thus we have taught an Enemy how to undoe us if he can but force us to keep our Inland-Soldiers who are not used to that Air about the mouth of the Thames their bodies are no more able to endure it than if it were the mortallest of our Foreign plantations § 53. But the great stir of these Times was about Money The Parliament said that never had the like summs been laid on the subjects of this Land and that the old way of payments by five or six subsidies at a time was such a trisle in Comparison of this as that it would be scarce observable After many vast sums granted by way of Land-Taxes Royal Aid Poll-money c. there was fetled for continuance the Chimney-money and several Excises and the Customs and the Wine-Tax for a limited Time c. But all was so much too little that more was still needed and demanded The Countrey-people cried out We are undone The Tenants at Will did so many of them give up their Farms that the Gentlemen cried out If we have any more Land-Taxes we are undone What the People said of the Parliament and what of the Court and what of the Bishops and what of the Women I shall not write But Losers and sufferers will take leave to talk But the Parliament grew more urgent to have an account of the moneys as not believing that it was possible fairly to expend so much The Persons that were made a Committee for examining Accounts were very eminent for Ability and Impartiality and sincerity Mr. William Pierpoint the Lord Bruerton Col. Thompson and abundance more They laid the great blame on Sir Geo. Carteret Treasurer for the Navy◠He was accused deeply in the House of Commons He excused himself by laying much on the King's Privy-seals The Parliament said that those Moneys were not to have been laid out on private Uses After long time the King and Council called the Lord Bruerton Col. Thomson and some others and sharply rebuked them as injurious Persons and such as sought to discontent the Parliament and make Differences c. And His Majesty undertook the Decision of the Business and acquitted Sir George Carteret and the Parliament grudged but acquiesced § 54. When the Chancellour was banished Sir Orlando Bridgman was made Lord Keeper a Man that by his seeming moderation to the Nonconformists though a zealous Patron of Prelacy got himself a good Name for a time and at first whilst the D. of Buckingham kept up the Cry for Liberty of Conscience he seemed to comply with that Design to the great displeasure of the Ruling Prelates But when he saw that that Game would not go on he turned as zealous the other way and now wholly serveth the Prelatical Interest but is not much valued by either side but taken for an uncertain timerous man High Places great Businesses and Difficulties do so try Mens Abilities and their Morals that many who in a low or middle station obtained and kept up a great Name do quickly lose it and grow despised and reproached Persons when Exaltation and Trial hath made them known Besides that as in prosperous times the Chief State Ministers are praised so in evil and suffering times they bear the blame of what is amiss § 55. About this time the E. of S a Papist having a very fair Wife Daughter to the E. of C. a Papist also with whom lived Mr. Iohnson alias Terret the Disputing Champion for Popery she liked other men so much better than her Husband that she forsook him and kept her self secret from his knowledg But he believing that the Duke of Buckingham kept her secretly was not content to lose his Wife but he would also lose his Life And sending the Duke of Buckingham a Challenge they met and fought the Duke having Capt. Holmes and Ienkins with him and the Earl of Shrewsbury Bernond Howard and another Where Howard kill'd Ienkins and the Duke wounded the Earl of which wounds he dyed And the King pardoned the Duke but strickly prohibited Duels for the future The Duke also and the Marquess of Dorcester had a skuffle at boxing in an open Committee of Parliament § 56. When the D. of Buckhingham came first into this high favour he was looked on as the chief Minister of state instead of the Chancellor and shewed himself openly for Toleration or Liberty for all parties in matters of God's worship And then others also seemed to look that way as thinking that the King was for it Whereupon those that were most against it grew into seeming discontent The Bp. of Winchester Morley was put out of his place of Dean of the Chappel and Bp. Crofts of Hereford who seemed then to be for moderation was put into the place But it was not long till Crofts was either discouraged or as some said upon the Death of a Daughter for grief did leave his place and the Court And the Bp. of Oxford was brought into his place and Dr. Crew the son of that wise and pious Man the Lord Crew was made Clerk of the Closet § 57. At the same time the Ministers of London who had ventured to keep open Meetings in their houses and preached to great Numbers contrary to the Law were by the King's favour connived at So that the people went openly to hear them without fear Some imputed this to the King 's own inclination to liberty of Conscience some to the D. of Buckingham's prevalency some to the Papists Interest who were for liberty of Conscience for their own Interest But others thought that the Papists were really against Liberty of Conscience and did rather desire and design that utmost severities might ruine the Puritans and cause Discontents and Divisions among our selves till we had broken one another all into pieces and turned all into such Confusions as might advantage them to play a more successful Game than ever Toleration was like to be But whatever else was the secret cause It is evident that the great visible cause was the burning of London and the want of Churches for the people to meet in It being at the first a thing too gross to forbid an undone people all publick worshiping of God with too great rigour And if they had been so forbidden poverty had left them so little to lose as would have made them desperately go on Therefore some thought all this was to make Necessity seem a favour § 58. But whatever the cause of the Connivance was it is certain that the Countrey Ministers were so much encouraged by the boldness and liberty of those at London that they did the like in most parts of England and Crowds of the most Religiously inclined people were their hearers And some few got in a travelling way into Pulpits where they were not known and the next day
Scripture without Exposition I distinguished the two parts of the Controversie 1. Whether there be Bread after Consecration 2. Whether there be Christ's Body And the first I proved by express Scripture and I thought gave him enough And after two or three hours he brake off fairly but yielding nothing He after affirmed that a Woman was but a Nurse aud no Governour to her Children and that if he commanded them to deny Christ they were bound to obey him else Families would be Confounded § 245. I had fourteen Years been both a necessary and voluntary stranger at the Court but at this time by another's invitation called to attend the Duke of Lauderdaile who still professed special kindness to me and some pious Scotsmen being under suffering one absconding another sequestred and undone and craving my interposition for them I went to him and desired his Pardon and Clemency for them which he readily granted And being to reprint my Key for Catholicks where his Name was in too low a manner in the Epistle he being then a Prisoner in Windsor-Castle I told him that to omit it might seem a Neglect and so to mention him would be an injurious dishonour and therefore if he pleased I would put to it an Epistle Dedicatory which he consented to and approved of the Epistle before it was Printed But being fain to leave out the second part of the Book and much of the first that the rest might be licensed I printed instead of that left out a new Treatise on the Subject on which I disputed with Mr. Wray called Full and easie Satisfaction which is the true Religion Wherein Popery is brought to sence of the meanest Wit But some were offended that I prefixed the Duke's Name as if it tended to honour him at that time when he was decried as a chief Counsellour for absolute Monarchy for the War with the Dutch and a standing Army and he was threatned as soon as the Parliament sat but went into Scotland as Commissioner and called a Parliament there for my part I never lookt for a Farthing Profit by any great Man nor to my remembrance ever received the worth of a farthing from any of them But I would not in Pride deny any Man his due honour nor be so uncharitable as to refuse to make use of any Man's favour for Sufferers in their distress The matters of their State Counsels are above my reach § 246. In October the Lord Clifford called the chief of the secret Council having the Summer before been at Tunbridge Water fell into several Distempers and shortly after died So near is the fall of the greatest to his Rising which was a great blow to his Party § 247. Mr. Falkener Minister of Lin a sober learned Man wrote a book for Conformity which that Party greatly boasted of as unanswerable Indeed he speaketh plausibly to many of the Nonconformists smallest Exceptions against some particular words in the Liturgy and some Ceremonies but as to the great Matters the Declaration and the Oxford Oath and Subscription and Re-ordination and the Image of the Cross as a Symbol of Christianity and dedicating sign in Baptism the Ministers denying Baptism to those that scruple the Cross or to the Children of those that dare not forbear Covenanting for their own Children in Baptism and lay it all on Godfathers the rejecting those from the Lord's Supper that dare not take it kneeling the Thanksgiving at Burials for the happiness of notorious impenitent wicked Men and other such like his Defence is so poor and slight as is fit to satisfie no Judicious Man that is not prepared for Errour by Interest and Will But pro captu Lectoris c. § 248. On the 20 th of October the Parliament met again and suddenly voted that the King should be sent to about the Duke of York's Marriage with an Italian Papist a-kin to the Pope and to desire that it might be stopt he being not yet come over And as soon as they had done that the King by the Chancellour prorogued them till Monday following because it is not usual for a Parliament to grant Money twice in one Session § 249. On Monday when they met the King desired speedy Aid of Money against the Dutch and the Lord Chancellour set forth the Reasons and the Dutch unreasonableness But the Parliament still stuck to their former resentment of the Duke of York's Marriage and renewed their Message to the King against it who answered them that it was debated at the open Council and resolved that it was too late to stop it § 250. Some one laid in the Parliament-House they say near the Speaker's Chair a wooden Shooe such as the Peasants wear in France with some Beads and on one end drawn the Arms of France and on the other the Arms of England and written between Vtrum horum mavis accippe And Henry Stubbs now Physician once under Library-Keeper in Oxford who was accounted an Infidel and wrote against Monarchy for Sir Henry Vane and against me perswading the Army and Rump to question me for my Life and after was drawn by the Court to write against the Dutch now Printed a Half-Sheet called The Parit Gazette containing many Instances where Marriage by Proxy had been broken for which he was sent to the Tower § 251. On Friday Oct. 31. The Parliament went so high as to pass a Vote that no more Money should be given till the eighteen Months of the last Tax were expired unless the Dutch proved obstinate and unless we were secured against the danger of Popery and Popish Counsellours and their Grievances were redressed 252. The Parliament Voted to ask of his Majesty a day of Humiliation because of the Growth of Popery and intended solemnly to keep the Powder-Plot and appointed Dr. Stillingfleet to Preach to them who is most engaged by writing against Popery but on the day before being Nov. 4. the King to their great discontent prorogued the Parliament to Ian. 7. § 253. The seventh of Ianuary the Parliament met again and voted that their first work should be to prevent Popery redress Grievances and be secured against the Instruments or Counsellours of them And they shortly after voted the Dukes of Buckingham and Lauderdale unfit for trust about the King and desired their Removal But when they came to the Lord Arlington and would have accordingly Characterized him without an Impeachment it was carried against that Attempt And because the Members who favoured the Nonconformists for considerable Reasons were against the rest and helped off the Lord Arlington the rest were greatly exasperated against him and reported that they did it because he had furthered the Nonconformists Licenses for tolerated Preaching § 254. Sir Anthony Ashley Cowper â—ometimes one of Oliver's Privy-Council having been a great Favourite of the King for great Service for him and made Earl of Shaftshury and Lord Chancellour and great in the secretest Councils at last openly set against others on the
Expressions And this Expedient I gather from my Lord Cook who hath providently as it were against such a season laid in this observation The â—orm of the Subscription set down in the Canons ratified by King James was not expressed in the Act of the 13th of Elizabeth Instit. p. 4. c. 74. And Consequently if the Clergy injoyed this freedom untill then in reference to the particulars therein contained what hinders why they might not have the same restored in reference also to others It is true that it may seem hard to many in the Parliament to undo any thing themselves have done But tho this be no Rule for Christians who are sometimes to repent as well as believe if they be loth to repent any thing what if they shall only Interpret or Explain Let us suppose then some Clause in this Bill or some new Act for Explanations If anâ— Nonconformist cannot come up to the full meaning and intent of these Injunctions rightly Explained let him remain in statu quo under the state only of Indulgence without benefit of Comprehension for so long as those who are not Comprehended may yet injoy that ease as to be indulged in some equal measure answerable to his Majestie 's Declaration whether Comprehension be large or narrow such Terms as we obtain are pure Advantage and such as we obtain not are no loss But if any does and can honestly agree to the whole sense the Parliament intends in such Impositions why should there be any Obstruction for such a Man tho he delivers himself in his own words to be received into the Established order with others Unless men will look on these Injunctions only to be contrived for â—â—gines of Battery to destroy the Nonconfromist And not as Instruments of Vnity to edify the Church of God I will not leave our Congregational Brethren neither so long as I have something more that may be said for them not ordinarily considered by any It is this that tho indeed they are not and cannot seek to be of our Churches as they are Parochial under the Diocess or Superintendency of the Bishops yet do they not refuse but seek to be comprehended within the Church as National under his Majesty I will explain my self The Church may be considered as Vniversal and so Christ alone is the head of it and we receive our Laws from him Or as Particular and so the Pastors are Heads Guides or Bishops over their respective flocks who are commanded therefore to obey them in the Lord Or as National which is an accidental and external respect to the Church of God wherein the King is to be acknowledged the supreme Head of it and as I judge no otherwise For thus also runs the statute That our Sovereign Lord shall be taken and reputed the only supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England called Ecclesia Anglicana Now if it should please the King and Parliament to allow and approve these Separate Meetings and Stated Places for Worship by a Law as His Majesty did by his Declaration I must profess that as such Assemblies by this means must be constituted immediately integral parts of the Church as National no less than our Parish Cougregations So would the Congregate Churches at least those that understand themselves own the King for Head over them in the same sense as we own him Head over ours that is as much as to say for the supreme coercive Governour of all in this accidental regard both to keep every several Congregation to that Gospel-order themselves profess and to supervise their Constitutions in things indifferent that nothing be done but in subordination to the peace of the Kingdom Well Let us suppose then a liberty for these separate Assemblies under the visitation of his Majesty and his Justices and not the Bishops I would fain know that were the Evil you can find in them If it lie in any thing it must be in that you call Schism Separation then let us know in it self simply considered is nothing neither good nor Evil. There may be reason to divide or separate some Christians from others out of prudence as the Cathechumens of old from the fully instructed for their greater Edification and as a Chappel or two is added to a Parish-Church when the people else were too big a Congregation It is not all Division then or Separation that is Schism but sinful Division Now the supreme Authority as National Head having appointed the Parochial Meetings and required all the Subjects of the Land to frequent them and them alone for the Acknowledging Glorifying or National serving and worshiping the only true God and his Son whom we have generally received And this Worship or Service in the nature of it being intrinsecally good and the external Order such as that of time and place and the like Circumstances being properly under his Jurisdiction it hath seemed to me hitherto that unless there was something in that order or way prescribed which is sinful and that required too as a Condition of that Communion there is no Man could refuse his attendance on these Parochial Assemblies without the sin of Disobedience and consequently his separation thereby becoming sinful proves Schism But if the Scene be altered and these separate Assemblies made Legal the Schism in reference to the National Church upon the same account does vanish Schism is a separation from that Church whereof we ought or are bound to be Members if the supreme Authority then loose our obligation to the Parish-Meeting so that we are bound no longer the iniquity I say upon this account is not to be found and the Schism gone Lo here a way opened for the Parliament if they please to rid the Trouble and Scruple of Schism at once out of the Land If they please not yet is there something to be thought on for the Separatist in a way of forbearance that the innocent Christian at least as it was in the time of Trajan may not be sought out unto Punishment Especially when such a toleration only is desired as is consistent with the Articles of Faith a Good Life and the Government of the Nation And now I turn me to the Houses My Lords and Gentlemen I will suppose you honest persons that would do as you would be done unto that would not wrong any or if you did would make them recompence There hath been very hard Acts passed which when the Bills were brought in might haply look smooth and fair to you but you saw not the Covert Art secret Machination and purposely contrived snares against one whole Party If such a form of words would not another should do their business By this means you in the first place your selves some of you were overstript Multitudes dispossest of their Livings The Vineyard Let out to others The Lord Jesus the Master of it deprived of many of his faithful Labourers And the poor sheep what had they done bereft of their accumstomed spiritual
Prisoners and helpeth them to books and preacheth repentance to them The poor and the ignorant are those that he liveth for doing good to Soul and Body daily save that he Soliciteth the Rich to contribute to such uses The reading of Mr. Ios. Allen's Life hath raised his Resolution and Activity to such a Course of Life which was far higher than other Mens before § 268. Mr. Sherlock's book before mentioned making a great noise and he and the Author of the sober Inquiry and others of them when they reproached other Nonconformists being pleased to put in some Exceptions of me by Name I thought my self the more obliged to disown their Miscarriages And I first in Discourse sought to convince Mr. Sherlock and lest he should not either understand or report me aright Writings being surer Vindications than Memory I sent him some Animadversions which have since been Printed § 269. My old friend Dr. Thomas Good now published a book called Dubitantius and Firâ—ianus against Atheism Infidelity Popery and then Presbytery Independency and Anabaptistry very superficial He was formerly indeed a professed Prelatist but moderate and himself never hindered from his Ministerial work and maintenance and joyned with us in our Disputations at Kederminster and our Concord in Worcestershire among the dissenting parties Yet being Canon of Hereford and Mr. of Baliol Colledge in Oxford tho old waiting for more he asserted in his Book that they were confessed things indifferent that we refused Conformity for and that all the Nonconformists without Exception had a hand in the late King's Death one way or other by Consent c. The Impudency of which assertion moved me to write the Contradiction here adjoined To my Reverend Friend Dr. Good Mr. of Baliol Coledge in Oxford Reverend and Worthy Sir IT is now about a Month since I received a Letter from you for the furthering of a good work which I sent to Mr. Foley by his Son Mr. Paul F. not having opportunity my self to see him I have stayed so long for an Answer not hearing yet from him that I think it not meet any longer to forbear to acquaint you with the Reasons of the delay He liveth quite at the other end of London from me and my weakness and business keep me much within Doors and it 's hard to find him within except at those hours when I am constrained to be in bed But I have reason to Conjecture that his Answer will be 1. That the Rich men whose Judgments are for Conformity are far more Numerous than those of another mind and therefore fitter to promote that work And there are so very few that do any thing for the ejected Ministers that some of them live on brown bread and water which hindereth these Gentlemen from other kind of Charitable works 2. And I must crave your patience being confident by your ancient kindness of your friendly Interpretation while I tell you that this day I heard one say we can expect that Dr. Good do make his Scholars no beter than himself And what reason have we to maintain and breed up Men to use us as he hath done in his late Treatise I got the book and was glad to find much good and several moderate passages in it And I knew you so well that I could not but expect moderation But when I perused the passages referred to I could say no more for them but that I would write to you to hear your Answer about them For I confess they surprized me Tho at the same time I received many new books of a sanguine Complexion from other hands without Admiration I. The first passage referred to was pag. 104. Which are confessedly things indifferent This is spoken indefinitely of the Presbyterians Where have I lived I know not one Presbyterian living that divideth from you for any thing which he confesseth indifferent I crave your Answer containing the proof of this At least to name some one of them that we may reprove him We take conformity to be so far from indifferent that we forbear to tell the World the greatness of the Sin which we think to be in it lest Men cannot bear it and lest it should disaffect the people to the Ministry of the Conformists II. Your pag. 156. I pass by The main matter is pag. 160. 161. that tho All the Nonconformists were not in Actual Arms against the King nor did they all as natural Agents cut off his head but morally that is very sinfully and wickedly they had their hand stained with that Royal blood For whosoever did Abet these Sons of Belial in their Rebellions Treasons Murders of their King and fellow Subjects either by consenting to their Villanies praying for their Prosperity praising God for their Successes c. The Charge is high If it be not true 1. They are almost as deeply wronged as you can wrong them 2. Our Rulers are wronged by being so provoked to abhor them Silence and Destroy them 3. Posterity is wronged by a misinforming History I. You are too old to be ignorant that it was an Episcopal and Erastian Parliament of Conformists that first took up those Arms in England against the King The Members yet living profess that at that time they knew but one Presbyterian in the House of Commons Interest forced or led them to call in the Scots and Presbytery came in with them If you doubt of it see the Propositions to the King at Nottingham where a Limited Episcopacy is one II. The Lord Lieutenants that seized on the Militia were far most Conformists and scarce any Presbyterians at all III. The General Officers and Colonels of the Earl of Essex Army were ten to one Conformists and few if any Presbyterians save after deboist Mercenary Scots if they were such which I know not And the General Episcopal himself IV. The Major Generals of the Militia in the several Countries were mostly Conformists and Scarce any Presbyterians V. The assembly at Westminster when they went thither were all Conformists save about 8 or 9 and the Scots Commissioners VI. One of the two Arch-Bishops was a General in the Parliament's Army VII Many of the present Conformable Ministers were in Arms against the King and some wrote for his Death and many of them took the Covenant and Engagement VIII The most of the conformable Gentry of my acquaintance that were put upon it took the Engagement against the King and House of Lords IX The Non-conformable Ministers of Gloucestershier Mr. Geery Mr. Capell Mr. Marshall c. were against the Parliament's War though the Parliament's Gaâ—â—ison was over them Mr. Bampfield who hath lain 6 or 7 years in the common Jail for Preaching with his Brother sometimes Speaker of the House of Commons were so much against the Parliament's Cause that to this day even while he lay in Jail he most zealously made his followers renounce it Many Non-conformists in many Counties were of the same mind X. Many of the Non-conformists lived in
intend only Bishops and King by Church and State 1. It would suppose that King and Parliament do take Bishops and King for two coordinate Heads in governing the Kingdom 2. And that they set the Bishops before the King which is not to be supposed 5. And to put all out of question the Oath is but Conform to former Statutes Oaths Articles of Religion and Canons 1. The Statutes which declare the King to be only Supreme Governour of the Church I need not cite 2. The Oath of Supremacy is well known of all 3. The very first Canon is that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and all Bishops c. shall faithfully keep and observe all the Laws for the King's Supremacy over the Church of England in causes Ecclesiastical And the 2d Canon is to condemn the dangers of it And the 36. Canon obligeth all Ministers to subscribe that the King's Majesty under God is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm as well in all spiritual and Ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal And as the Parliament are called the Representative of the People or Kingdom as distinct from the Head so the 139. Canon excommunicateth all them that affirm that the Sacred Synod of this Nation in the Name of Christ and by the King's Authority Aslembled is not the true Church of England by Representation So that they claim to be but the Representative of the Church as it is the Body distinct from the Head Christ aud the King as their chief Governour 4. And all that are Ordained are likewise to take the Oath of Supremacy I do utterly testify and declare in my Conscience that the King's Highness is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or Causes as Temporal 5. And It is also inserted in the Articles of Religion Art 35. And it is added expositorily Where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the Chief Government by which title we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended we give not to our Princes the Ministring either of God's Word or of the Sacraments but that only prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastcal or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the Stubborn and evil Doers Here it is to be noted that though no doubt but the Keys of Excommunication and absolution belong to the Pastors and to the Civil Magistrate yet the Law and this Article by the word Government mean only Coercive Government by the Sword and do include the power of the Keys under the title of Ministring the Word and Sacraments Church Guidance being indeed nothing else but the Explication and Application of God's word to Cases and Consciences and administring the Sacraments accordingly So that as in the very Article of Religion Supreme Government appropriated to the King only is contradistinguish'd from Ministring the Word and Sacraments which is not called Government there so are we to understand this Law and Oath And many Learned Men think that Guidance is a fitter name than Government for the Pastor's Office And therefore Grotius de Imper. Sum. Pot. would rather have the Name Canons or Rulers used than Laws as to their Determinations Though no doubt but the name Government may be well applyed to the Pastor's Part so we distinguish as Bilston and other judicious men use to do calling one Government by God's Word upon the Conscience and the other Government by the sword as seconding Precepts with enforcing penalties and Mulcts § 301. While this Test was carrying on in the house of Lords and 500 pounds Voted to be the penalty of the Refusers before it could come to the Commons a difference fell between the Lords and Commons about their priviledges by occasion of two Suits that were brought before the Lords in which two Members of the Commons were parties which occasioned the Commons to send to the Tower Sir Iohn Fagg one of their Members for appearing at the Lords Bar without their consent and four Counsellours Sir Iohn Churchill Sergeant Pemberton Sergeant Pecke and another for pleading there And the Lords Voted it Illegal and that they should be released Sir Iohn Robinson Lieutenant of the Tower obeyed the Commons for which the Lords Voted him a Delinquent And so far went they in daily Voting at each other that the King was fain to Prorogue the Parliament Iune 9. till October 13. there appearing no hope of Reconciling them Which rejoiced many that they rose without doing any further harm § 302. Iune 9. Keting the Informer being commonly detested for prosecuting me was cast in Gaol for Debt and wrote to me to endeavour his Deliverance which I did and in his Letters saith Sir I assure you I do verily believe that God hath bestowed all this affliction on me because I was so vile a wretch as to trouble you And I assure you I never did a thing in my Life that hath so much troubled my self as that did I pray God forgive me And truly I do not think of any that went that way to work that ever God would favour him with his mercy And truly without a great deal of mercy from God I do not think that ever I shall thrive or prosper And I hope you will be pleased to pray to God for me c. § 303. A while before another of the chief Informers of the City and my Accuser Marishall died in the Counter where his Creditors laid him to keep him from doing more harm Yet did not the Bishops change or cease Two more Informers were set on work who first assaulted Mr. Case's Meeting and next got in as hearers into Mr. Read's Meeting where I was Preaching And when they would have gone out to fetch Justices for they were known the doors were lockt to keep them in till I had done and one of them supposed to be sent from Fullum stayed weeping Yet went they straight to the Justices and the week following heard me again as Informers at my Lectures but I have not yet heard of their Accusation § 304. But this week Iune 9. Sir Thamas Davis notwithstanding all his foresaid Warnings and Confessions sent his Warrants to a Justice of the Division where I dwell to distrein on me upon two Judgments for 50 pounds for Preaching my Lecture in New-street Some Conformists are paid to the value of 20 pounds a Sermon for their Preaching and I must pay 20 pounds and 40 pounds a Sermon for Preaching for nothing O what Pastors hath the Church of England who think it worth all their unwearied Labours and all the odium which they contract from the People to keep such as I am from Preaching the Gospel of Christ and to undo us for it as far as they are able though these many years they do not for they cannot
long if there be cause § 315. Whilst this was my Employment in the Countrey my Friends at home had got one Mr. Seddon a Nonconformist of Derbyshire lately come to the Gity as a Traveller to Preach the Second Sermon in my New Built Chappel He was told and over-told all the Danger and desired not to come if he feared it I had left word That if he would but step into my House through a Door he was in no danger they having not Power to break open any but the Meeting-house While he was Preaching Three Justices with Soldiers supposed by Secretary Coventry's sending came to the Door to seize the Preacher They thought it had been I and had prepared a Warrant upon the Oxford Act to send me for Six Months to the Common Goal The good man and Two Weak Honest Persons intrusted to have directed him left the House where he was safe and thinking to pass away came to the Justices and Soldiers at the Door and there stood by them till some one said This is the Preacher And so they took him and blotted my Name out of the Warrant and put in his Though almost every Word fitted to my Case was false of him To the Gatehouse he was carried where he continued almost Three Months of the Six and being earnestly desirous of Deliverance I was put to Charges to accomplish it and at last having Righteous Judges and the Warrant being found faulty he had an Habeas Corpus and was freed upon Bonds to appear again the next Term. § 316. By this means my Case was made much worse For 1. The Justices and other Prosecutors were the more exasperated against me 2. And they were now taught to stop every Hole in the next Warrant to which I was still as liable as ever So that I had now no Prospect that way of Escape And yet though my Charge Care and Trouble had been great for his Deliverance and Good People had dealt very kindly with him my usual Back-biters the Prelatists and Separatists talk commonly of me as one that had unworthily saved my self from Danger and drawn a Stranger into the Snare and therefore deserved to bear all the Charges Though as is said 1. I was Twenty Miles off Preaching publickly 2. They that askt him to Preach told him the Worst 3. He went into Danger from Safety by the Conduct of some Persons of that censorious humour 4. My Danger was Increased by it as well as my Charges But Man's Approbation is a Poor Reward § 317. Just when I came home and was beginning to seek Mr. Seddon's Deliverance Mr. Rosse Died the Fiercest of the Justices who had sent me to Goal before The other Two are one Mr. Grey and Sir Philip Matthews § 318. The Parliament being sate again a Letter was secretly printed containing the History of the Debate in the Lord's House the former Sessions about the Test and it was Voted to be burnt by the Hangman but the more desired and read it In which it appeareth That when it came to be their own case more was said by the Lords for the Cause of the Nonconformists than ever they were permitted to say for themselves § 319. A most Excellent Book was written for the Nonconformists for Abatements and Forbearance and Concord by Dr. Herbert Crofts Bp. of Hereford without his Name of which more afterward § 320. The Lords and Commons Revived their Contests about their Powers and Priviledges and the Lords appointed Four Lawyers to plead their Cause and the Commons set up Orders or Votes to forbid them And the Duke of Buckingham made a Notable Speech against Persecution and desired the Consent of the Lords that he might bring in a Bill for the Ease of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects in matters of Religion but while it was preparing the King on Monday November 21st Prorogued the Parliament till February come Twelve-month § 321. The Speeches of the Earl of Shaftsbury and others about the Test were secretly Printed and a Paper of Reasons for Dissolving this Parliament and Calling a New One which were given in the House of Lords And the Debates of this Test opening a little of the Noncouformists Cause as to the Oxford Oath together with what the Earl of Shaftsbury hath done with Wit and Resolution hath alienated many even of the Conformists from the present prevailing Bishops § 322. The other of the fierce Justices that Subscribed a Warrant for my imprisonment died shortly after viz. Colonel Grey The Death of Mr. Barwell Sir Iohn Medlicot Mr. Ross and Mr. Grey besides the Death of some Informers and the Repentance of others and the Death of some late Opposers of the Clergy made me and some others the more to compassionate Persecutors and dread God's Judgments § 323. The Town of Northampton lamentably burnt § 324. An Earthquake in divers Counties § 325. My Dear Friend Sir Matthew Hale Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench falling into a Languishing Disease from which he is not like to Recover resolvedly petitioned for a Dismission and gave up his Place having gone through his Employments and gone off the Stage with more universal love and honour for his Skill Wisdom Piety and resolved Justice than ever I heard or read that any English Man ever did before him or any Magistrate in the World of his rank since the days of the Kings of Israel He resolved in his weakness that the place should not be a burden to him nor he to it And after all his great practice and places he tells me That with his own Inheritance and all he is not now worth above Five hundred Pounds per Annum so little sought he after gain He may most truly be called The Pillar and Basis or Ground of Iustice as Paul called not the Church but Timothy in the Church the Pillar and Basis of Truth His digested knowledge in Law above all Men and next in Philosophy and much in Theology was very great His sincere honesty and humility admirable His Garb and House and Attendance so very mean and low and he so resolutely avoided all the Diversions and Vanities of the World that he was herein the Marvel of his Age. Some made it a Scandal but his Wisdom chose it for his Convenience that in his Age he Marryed a Woman of no Estate suitable to his Disposition to be to him as a Nurse He succeeded me in one of the meanest Houses that ever I had lived in and there hath ever since continued with full content till now that he is going to his Native Countrey in likely-hood to die there It is not the least of my pleasure that I have lived some years in his more than ordinary Love and Friendship and that we are now waiting which shall be first in Heaven Whither he saith he is going with full content and acquiescence in the Will of a gracious God and doubts not but we shall shortly live together O what a blessed World were this were the
and also how the Plot was laid to Kill the King Thus Oates's Testimony seconded by Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey's Murder and Bedlow and Pranse's Testimonies became to be generally believed Ireland a Jesuit and Two more were Condemned as designing to Kill the King Hill Berry and Green were Condemned for the murder of Godfrey and Executed But Pranse was by a Papist first terrified into a Denyal again of the Plot to Kill the King and took on him to be Distracted But quickly Recanted of this and had no Quiet till he told how he was so Affrighted and Renewed all his Testimony and Confession After this came in one Mr. Dugdale a Papist and confessed the same Plot and especially the Lord Stafford's interest in it And after him more and more Evidence daily was added â—â—â—man the Dutchess of York's Secretary and one of the Papists great Plotters and Disputers being surprized though he made away all his later Papers was hanged by the Old Ones that were remaining and by Oates his Teâ—â—imony But the Parliament kept off all Aspersions from the Duke The Hopes of some and the Fears of others of his Succession prevailed with many § 28. At last the Lord Treasurer Sir Thomas Osborne made Earl of Danby came upon the stage having been before the object of the Parliament and People's jealousy and hard thoughts He being afraid that somewhat would be done against him knowing that Mr. Montague his Kinsman late Ambassadour in France had some Letters of his in his keeping which he thought might endanger him got an order from the King to seize on all Mr. Montagues Letters who suspecting some such usage had conveyed away the chief Letters and telling the Parliament where they were they sent and fetcht them and upon the reading of them were so instigated against the Lord Treasurer they impeached him in the Lords House of High Treason But not long after the King disolved the long Parliament which he had kept up about 17 or 18 years But a new Parliament is promised § 29. Above 40 Scots men of which 3 Preachers were by their Council sentenced to be not only banished but sold as servants called slaves to the American Plantations They were brought by ship to London Divers Citizens offered to pay their ransom The King was petitioned for them I went to the D. of Lauderdale but none of us could prevail for one man At last the Ship-Master was told that by a Statute it was a Capital crime to Transport any of the King's Subjects out of England where now they were without their consent and so he set them on shoar and they all escaped for nothing § 30. A great number of Hungarian Ministers had before been sold for Gally slaves by the Emperour's Agents but were released by the Dutch Admiral 's Request and some of them largely relieved by Collections in London § 31. The long and grievous Parliament that silenced about 2000 Ministers and did many works of such a nature being dissolved as aforesaid on Ian. 25. 1678. A new one was chosen and met on March 6 following And the King refusing their chosen speaker Mr. Segmore raised in them a greater displeasure against the Lord Treasurer thinking him the cause and after some days they chose Serjeant Gregory § 32. The Duke of York a little before removed out of England by the King's Command who yet stands to maintain his Succession § 33. The Parliament first impeached the foresaid Papist Lords for the Plot or Conspiracy the Lord Bellasis Lord Arundel Lord of Powis Lord Scafford and Lord Peter and after them the Lord Treasurer 34. New fires breaking out enrage the People against the Papists A great part of Southwark was before burnt and the Papists strongly suspected the cause Near half the buildings of the Temple were burnt And it was greatly suspected to be done by the Papists One Mr. Bifeild's house in Holbourn and Divers others so fired but quenched as made it very probable to be by their Conspiracy And at last in Fitter-Lane it fell on the house of Mr. Robert Bird a Man employed in Law of great Judgment and Piety who having more wit than many others to search it out found that it was done by a new Servant Maid who confessed it first to him and then to a Justice and after to the Lords that one Nicholas Stubbes a Papist having first made her promise to be a Papist next promised her 5 l. to set fire on her Master's house telling her that many others were to do the like and the Protestant Hereticks to be killed by the middle of Iune and that it was no more sin to do it than to kill a Dog Stubbes was taken and at first vehemently denyed but after confessed all and told them that one Giffard a Priest and his Confessor engaged him in it and Divers others and told them all as aforesaid how the Firing and Plot went on and what hope they had of a French Invasion The House of Commons desired the King to pardon the woman Eliz. Oxley and Stubbes § 35. If the Papists have not Confidence in the French Invasion God leaveth them to utter madness to hasten their ruine They were in full junctness through the Land and the noise of rage was by their design turned against the Nonconformists But their hopes did cast them into such an impatience of delay that they could no longer stay but must presently Reign by rage of blood Had they studied to make themselves odious to the Land they could have found out no more effectual way than by Firing Murder and Plotting to kill the King All London at this day is in such fear of them that they are fain to keep up private Watches in all streets besides the Common ones to save their houses from firing Yea while they find that it increaseth a hatred of them and while many of them are already hanged they still go on which sheweth either their confidence in Foreign Aid or their utter infatuation § 36. Upon Easter day the King dissolved his privy Council and settled it a new consisting of 30 men most of the old ones the Earl of Shaftsbury being President to the great joy of the People then tho since all is changed § 37. On the 27th of April 1679. Tho it was the Lord's Day the Parliament State excited by Stubbes his Confession that the Firing Plot went on and the French were to invade us and the Protestants to be murdered by Iune 28 and they voted that the Duke of York's declaring himself a Papist was the cause of all our dangers by these Plots and sent to the Lords to concur in the same Vote § 38. But the King that week by himself and the Chancellour acquainted them that he should consent to any thing reasonable to secure the Protestant Religion not alienating the Crown from the Line of Succession and Particularly that he would consent that till the Successour should take the Test he should exercise
and the Rule of his Faith and Life And repenting unfeignedly of his Sins he did resolve through the Grace of God sincerely to obey him both in Holiness to God and Righteousness to Men and in special Love to the Saints and in Communion with them against all the Temptations of the Devil the World and his own Flesh and this to the Death If therefore these things were Believed and Consented to by him and if these things do essentiate our Saving Christianity and so be sufficient to make us all one in Christ why should some different Modes and Forms of Speech wherewith these great Substantials may and do consist obtain of Men to think him Heterodox because he uses not their Terms And why should such Distances and Discords be kept up amongst us whilst we all of us own all the forementioned Articles and are always ready on all sides to renounce whatever Opinions shall appear to overthrow or shake such Articles of Faith and Covenanting Terms with God and Christ And I cannot but believe that all Christians seriously bound for Heaven and that are fixed upon these Truths are nearer each to other in their Judgments than different Modes of Speech seem to represent them Of such great Consequence is true Charity and Candour amongst Christians 3. The Reverend Prelates and the Ministers and Members of the Church of England may possibly distaste his plainness with them and think him too severe upon them But 1. they are no Strangers to his professed and exemplified Moderation Who valued their Worth and Learning more than he did Who more endeavoured to keep up Church Communion with them by Pen Discourse and Practise though not exclusively Who more sharply handled and more throughly wrote against and reprehended total Separation from them than himself And what Dissenter from them ever made fairer and more noble Overtures or more judicious Proposals for a large and lasting Comprehension with them than they knew he did And who more fairly warned them of the dismal Consequences and calamitous Effects of so narrowing the Church of England by the strict Acts procured and executed against so many peaceable Ministers who thereby were silenced imprisoned discouraged and undone And how many Souls and Families were ruin'd and scandaliz'd by their imposed Terms another and that a solemn and great Day will shew e're long 2. Our Author never yet endeavoured to unChurch them nor to eclipse their Worthies nor did he ever charge their great Severities on them all He ever would acknowledge and he might truly do it that they had great and excellent Men and many such amongst them both of their Laiâ—y and Clergy 3. He thought what I am satisfied is true that many of them little knew who and what was behind the Curtain nor what designed nor great Services were doing to France and Rome hereby 4. And his great Sufferings from them may well even as other things abate their Censuring if not prevent too keen Relentments of these Historical Accounts of them 5. And to leave these things out was more than Mr. Baxter would allow me or admit of Pardon one who acts by Order not of Choice 4. That such copious and prolix Discourses should be here inserted about Things fitter for oblivion than to be remembred may seem liable to Exceptions and Distast from some viz. such Discourses as respect the Solemn League and Covenant the Oxford Act c. Things now abandon'd and repealed by Act of Parliament for Liberty of Conscience But 1. those pressing Acts are yet upon Record and so exposed to the view of Men from Age to Age. 2. They represent Dissenters as an intolerable Seed of Men. 3. All Readers will not readily discern what here is said by way of Apology for those of whom such Acts took hold 4. Hereby Dissenters will appear to all succeeding Generations as a People worthy of nothing but National Severities and Restraints Whence 5. their Enemies will be confirmed in their groundless Thoughts and Censures of them 6. This will not lead to that Love and Concord amongst all Protestants which God's Laws and the Publick Interest and Welfare of Church and State require 7. Those things abode so long in force and to such fatal dreadful purpose as that the Effects thereof are felt by many Families and Persons to this day 8. And all this was but to discharge some of no small Figure in their Day from all Obligations to perform what had been solemnly vowed to God Surely such as never took that Covenant could only disclaim all Obligations on themselves to keep it by virtue of any such Vow upon themselves but to discharge those that had taken it from what therein they had vowed to God to do till God himself discharge them or that it be evident from the intrinsick unalterable Evâ—â— of the Matter vowed that no such Vow shall stand is more than I dare undertake to prove at present or to vindicate in the great Day However a Man 's own Latitude of Perswasion cannot as such absolve another nor eo nomine be another's Rule or Law But 9. if these long Discourses be needful pertinent clear and strong as to the state of that Aâ—â—air their length may be born with 10. The Author thought it needful to have this set in the clear open Light to disabule all that had been imposed on by false or partial and defective History in this Matter and to remove or prevent or allay Scandal and Censure for time to come 11. And if such things be also published to make our selves and others still more sensible of what we owe to God and to our most gracious King and his late Soveraign Consort and our then most gracious Queen Mary not to be parallel'd in any History that I know of by any of her Sex for All truly Royal Excellencies and to his Parliaments who have so much obliged us with freeing us from those so uncomfortable Bonds what Fault can be imputed to the Publisher herein Shall Gratitude be thought a Crime though more copious in the Materials of it than may every way consist with the stricter Bounds of Accuracy 12. I am apt to think and not without cogent ground that very many Readers now and hereafter would with the Author have thought me unfaithful to themselves and him had I not transmitted to Posterity what he left and as he left it for their use And I hope therefore that the Reader will not interpret this Publication as the Product of a Recriminating Spirit God himself knows it to be no such Birth Thirdly The Publication 1. The Author wrote it for this End 2. He left it with me to be published after his Death 3. He left it to the Iudgment of another and my self only by a Writing ordered to be given me after his Death as my Directory about the Publication of his other Manuscripts which are many and of moment And if thâ— rest entrusted with me about their being printed one or
against Scandalous Ministers he shews how by that means he came to be settled in the Town of Kidderminster as Lecturer to a scandalous Incumbent against whom a Petition had been presented to that Committee had â—e not consented to his Settlement under him p. 18 c. a sort of a Prediction of his in a Funeral Sermon preacht afterwards at Bridgnorth p. 20. His Temptations to Infidelity and to question the Truth of the Scriptures c. with the means of his being extricated out of them p. 21 c. a remarkable story of a false Accusation of one Mr. Cross a pious Minister in the Neighbourhood of Kidderminster as if he attempted to ravish a Woman with its detection p. 24. A return to the Proceedings of the Parliament and Account of the springs and rise of the Civil War to p. 29. The Case of the Country stated about the Civil Differences between King and Parliament and the Ecclesiastical Differences between the Prelatical and the Antiprelatical Party from p. 30. to p. 38. His own sense of and 〈◊〉 about this matter p. 39. Here he returns to the series of his own Life and relates a remarkable story of his preservation from the fury of the rabble at Kidderminster who were enrag'd upon the Churchwardens going to remove a Crucifix according to order of Parliament p. 40. upon the Peoples tumultuousness he retired to Gloucester where he first met with some of the Anabaptists p. 40 41. then he returns to Kidderminster where a little after some of Essexes Army quarter'd but they retiring before a part of the Kings Army and he finding the Rabble furious thought not his stay sase and so went with the Essexians to Worcester p. 42. October the 23 d 1640. the day of Edge-hill Fight he preacht at Alcester and the next day went to see the place of Battel p. 43. after this he went to Coventry where he continued a year preaching to the Town and Garrison p. 44. he went with some Country Gentlemen to Weâ—m and other places designing to leave Coventry but soon return'd thither again and stâ—y'd there another year having much trouble from Separatists Anabaptists and Antinomians p. 45. Of the laying the Earl of Essex aside and the new modelling the Army p. 47. Of the Scotch Covenant How far Prelacy was abjur'd in it as it was explain'd by the Assembly of Divines p. 48. of Cromwell's Interest in the new modell'd Army and the change of the old Cause p. 49. the Fight at Naseby and its Consequences p. 50. an Account of his first coming into the Army presently after that Fight the Principles and Temper he then found prevail amongst them p. 50 51. How he became a Chaplain to Col. Whalley's Regiment and upon what grounds and considerations p. 52. how strenuously he set himself to oppose the Sectaries in the Army p. 53. An Account of the several Marches and most remarkable Actions of the Army while he continued in it from p. 54. to p. 58. An Account of a Dispute he maintain'd for an whole day together with some of the Sectaries of the Army in the Church at Agmondesham in Buckinghamshire p. 56. His sickness forc't him to withdraw from the Army retiring from which he after several removes returns to Kidderminster p. 58. A further Account of the Proceedings of the Sectaries after he left the Army and of Oliver's intreagues p. 59. An Account of the King's treatment after his delivering himself to the Scots till he was forc't to fly to the Isle of Wight p. 60 61. of the Treaty that was on foot with the King while he was confin'd there and the Dispute between the Kings and Parliaments Divines concerning the Point of Episcopacy and his Iudgment about it p. 62. What follow'd afterwards till the King's Tryal and Execution p. 63. Of the Engagement his Iudgment of it and Preaching against it p. 64. What hindred Cromwell's advancement after the taking off the King p. 65. of King Charles the Second his being forc't by the Scots to take the Covenant before they would admit him to the Succession and his Iudgment thereupon p. 66. Of the Order of the Rump for all Ministers upon pain of Sequestration to pray to God for success for the Army advancing against the Scots and to return Thanks for their Victories and his Practice about it p. 66. Of the trouble of the Presbyterian Ministers in London on account of their adherence to the King and Mr. Love's Tryal p. 67. of Cromwell's march into Scotland and his Victory there the King's march into England and the Fight at Worcester p. 68 69. of what follow'd after till Cromwell became Protectour and the Iudgment of the generality of the Ministers as to the point of Submission to him p. 70 71. of the Triers of Ministers chosen by Cromwell p. 72. of the Assembly at Westminster p. 73. Of the several Sects which sprang up in these times Of the Vanists Sir Henry Vane's Character p. 74 75. Of the Seekers and Ranters p. 76. of the Quakers and Behmenists p. 77. of other Sect-Masters as Dr. Gell Mr. Parker Dr. Gibbon c. p. 78. From publick he then passes to his own personal Affairs And gives a full Account of the Sequestration of the Living of Kidderminster p. 79. An Account of his illness after his return thither and of several Answers of Prayer with reference thereto as also with reference to others p. 80 81 82. A particular account of his laborious work and diligent improvement of his time to the best advantage in his Masters service while at Kidderminster p. 83. the great success of his Ministerial Labours amongst that People p. 84 85. His great advantages in order to and in all this service p. 86 87 88 89 90. The Church Discipline kept up there p. 91 c. the difference that arose between him and Mr. Tombs and their publick Dispute at Bewdley p. 96. Cromwell's Death and Character p. 89. Of the setting up and deposing of Richard Cromwell with a Censure upon it p. 100 101. on which occasion a general Account is given of the Sectarian Party then grown rampant p. 102 c. Of Monk's coming to restore the King p. 105 c. A large account of his several Books and Writings The occasions of them and the opposition made against them from p. 106. to p. 124. A general Censure of his own Works p. 124. a Comparison between his younger and his riper years An account of his Sentiments about Controversial Writings His Temptations and Difficulties most considerable improvements and remaining defects from p. 124. to p. 136. a penitent Confession of his Faults p. 137. PART II. Written in 1665. HE begins with the Differences and Debates about Church Government in the late timesâ— and gives his Iudgment about the several Principles of the Erastians Prelatists Presbyterians Independants and Anabaptists shows what he approv'd and dislik'd in each mentions the many impediments on all â—ands to charitable
alter it and the King's Approbation of these Canons made them sufficiently obligatory unto us Those that were against it said I. That Episcopacy was either contra jus Divinum or at best not Iure Divino and therefore mutable when the King and Parliament pleased 2. Or at least that it was undeniable That Archbishops and Deans and Chapters and Arch-deacons c. were not all Iure Divino nay that the English frame of Diocesans having many hundred Parish Churches under one Bishop in fini gradus was not only against the Word of God but destructive of all the Episcopacy which was known in the Church at least for 200 years 3. They said that it was intolerable to swear to a blind Et caetera for litterally it included all the Officers of the Ecclesiastical Courts that are now in Exercise of the Government Lay-Chancellors that use the Keys for Excommunication and Absolution Surrogates Commissaries Officials and the rest And was it ever known that all the Clergy was sworn to such an Anomalous Rabble 4. They said that for ought they knew this Goverment in whole or in some part might be altered by the King and Parliament by a Law And to tie up our selves by an Oath that we would never obey such a Law nor consent to that which the King might command us this they thought was a Bond of Disobedience next to a Rebellion 5. They said that it was against the Subjects Liberty which alloweth them soberly to Petition the King and Parliament for a Redress of any Grievance And if now a Lay-Chancellor's use of the Keys e. g. were no burden to the People we know not how God may make such Alterations by his Providence as may make that a Grievance which now is none 6. And they said it was against the Priviledges of Parliament that such an Oath should be devised and imposed upon the Subjects without a Law or the Parliaments consent These and other Reasons were pleaded against it And afterward when the Parliament took it into consideration it was Condemned on these and other Accounts The Ministers of the Country met together at Bridgnorth to Debate this Business that they might have no Division and some few were for the Oath but more against it This put me upon deeper Thoughts of the Point of Episcopacy and of the English frame of Church-Government than ever I had before and now I had the opportunity of seeing some Books which I never had before My very dear Friend Mr. William Rowley a Gentleman of Shrewsbury sent me Gersomus Bucerus his Dissertatio de Gubernatione Ecclesiae and Didoclaves Altare Damascenum and shortly after I had Parker de Polit. Eccles◠and Baynes's Diocesanes Trial and I received Bishop Downham and compared his Reasons with Bucers Didoclaves c. And though I found not sufficient Evidence to prove all kind of Episcopacy unlawful yet I was much satisfied that the English Diocesan frame was guilty of the Corruption of Churches and Ministry and of the ruine of the true Church Discipline and substituting an heterogeneal thing in its stead And thus the Et caetera Oath which was imposed on us for the unalterable subjecting of us to Diocesans was a chief means to alienate me and many others from it For now our drowsie mindlesness of that subject was shaken off by their violence and we that thought it best to follow our business and live in quietness and let the Bishops alone were rowzed by the terrours of an Oath to look about us and understand what we did § 23. This Oath also stirred up the differing Parties who before were all one Party even quiet Conformists to speak more bitterly against one another than heretofore And the dissenting Party began to think better of the Cause of Nonconformity and to honour the Nonconformists more than they had done And it fell out that at the same time when we were thus rowzed up in England or a little before the Scots were also awakened in Scotland For when all was quiet there under a more moderate Episcopacy than we had then in England though that Nation had been used to Presbytery a new Common-Prayer Book that is the English one with some few Alterations was framed and imposed on the People of Scotland who having not been used to that way of Worship one Woman in Edenburgh cried out in the Church Popery Popery and threw her Stool at the Priest and others imitated her presently and drove him out of the Church and this little Spark set all Scotland quickly in a Flame Insomuch that other Places taking as much distaste at the Common Prayer and at the Bishops also for its sake and for fear of the Silencing of their Ministers and some Ministers increasing their distaste the Lords presently were divided also insomuch that the King was fain to instruct the Earl of Trequaire as his Commissioner to suppress the Maiecontents But in a short time the number of them so encreased that the King's Commissioners could do no good on them but they got the power of all the Land because the far greatest part of the Nobility with the Ministry were conjoyned Hereupon they all entered into a National Covenant to the same purpose as formerly that Nation had done but they did it without the King's Authority The Oath or Covenant was against Popery and Prelacy and Superstition and to uphold the Gospel and Reformation The Aberdeen Doctors dissented from the Covenant and many Writings past on both sides between the Covenanters and them till at last the ensuing Wars did turn the Debates to another strain § 24. It fell out unhappily that at the same time while the Scots were thus discontented the King had imposed a Tax here called Ship-money as for the strengthning of the Navy which being done without Consent of Parliament made a wonderful murmuring all over the Land especially among the Country Nobility and Gentry for they took it as the overthrow of the Fundamental Laws or Constitution of the Kingdom and of Parliaments and of all Propriety They said that the Subjects Propriety in his Estate and the Being of Parliaments and that no Laws be made nor Moneys taken from the Subjects but by the Parliaments Consent are part of the Constitution of the Republick or Government And they said that the King having long disused Parliaments upon Displeasure against them because they curbed Monopolies and corrected Abuses of Officers c. had no way to lay them by for ever but to invade the Subjects Propriety and to assume the power of laying Taxes and raising Moneys without them and that if thus Parliaments and Propriety were destroyed the Government was dissolved or altered and no Man had any Security of Estate or Liberty or Life but the Pleasure of the King whose Will would be the only Law They said also that those that counselled him to this were Enemies to the Commonwealth and unfitter to counsel him than Parliaments who are his highest Court and Council The
Christianity that he frequented Alehouses and had sometimes been drunk that he turned the Table Alter-wife c. with more such as this The Vicar had a Curate under him in the Town whom they also accused and a Curate at a Chappel in the Parish a common Tippler and a Drunkard a railing Quarreller an ignorant insufficient Man who as I found by Examining him understood not the common Points of the Childrens Catechism but said some good words to them sometimes out of Musculus's Common Places in English which was almost the only Book he had and his Trade in the Week-days was unlawful Marriages The People put their Petition into the Hands of Sir Henry Herbert Burgess for Bewdley a Town two miles distant The Vicar knowing his insufficiency and hearing how two others in his Case had sped desired to compound the Business with them and by the mediation of Sir Henry Herbert and others it was brought to this That he should instead of his present Curate in the Town allow 60 l. per Annum to a Preacher whom fourteen of them nominated should choose and that he should not hinder this Preacher from preaching whenever he pleased and that he himself should read Common Prayer and do all else that was to be done and so they preferred not their Petition against him nor against his Curates but he kept his Place which was worth to him near 200 l. per Ann. allowing that 60 l. out of it to their Lecturer To perform this he gave a Bond of 500 l. These things being thus finished some of them desired old Mr. Lapthorn a famous Man turned from Nonconformity by King Iames to come and preach with them on trial to be their Lecturer Mr. Lapthorn's roughness and great immethodicalness and digressions so offended the intelligent leading Party that they rejected him somewhat uncivilly to his great displeasure Hereupon they invited me to them from Bridgnorth The Bailiff of the Town and all the Peoffees desired me to preach with them in order to a full determination My mind was much to the place as soon as it was described to me because it was a full Congregation and most convenient Temple an ignorant rude and revelling People for the greater part who had need of preaching and yet had among them a small Company of Converts who were humble godly and of good Conversations and not much hated by the rest and therefore the fitter to assist their Teacher but above all because they had hardly ever had any lively serious preaching among them For Bridgnorth had made me resolve that I would never more go among a People that had been hardened in unprositableness under an awakening Ministry but either to such as never had any convincing Preacher or to such as had profited by him As soon as I came to Kiderminster and had preached there one day I was chosen Nemine contradicente for though fourteen only had the power of choosing they desired to please the rest And thus I was brought by the gracious Providence of God to that place which had the chiefest of my Labours and yielded me the greatest Fruits of Comfort And I noted the mercy of God in this that I never went to any place in my Life among all my Changes which I had before desired designed or thought of much less sought but only to those that I never thought of till the sudden Invitation did surprize me § 30. When I had been here a while in the beginning of Iuly the two Families which I had last lived in at Dudley and Bridgnorth were at once visited with Sickness and they both sent for me upon a conceit of my skill in Physick but being from home I went to neither of them and it proved a most contagious malignant Fever next the Plague Mrs. Foley and some of her Family died and Mr. Madestard his Wife and a Gentlewoman that lived with them died within a day or two each of other Being with my old Friend Mr. William Rowley the sad Message came to us Mr. Madestard being his Kinsman and I went with him to the Funeral and preached his Funeral Sermon in so deep a sense of the misery of that unprofitable People and the deep groans which I have heard from their faithful Pastor for their obdurateness that I could not forbear to tell them my fears of some heavy Judgment to come upon that place which they were more capable of laying to heart than their Pastor's death I had never before nor ever did I since presume upon such kind of Predictions nor did I speak that with any pretence of Prophesie but the expression of that fear I could not then suppress My Text was Ezek 33. 33. And when this cometh to pass loe it will come then shall they know that a Prophet hath been among them And when the War was begun the Town being against the Parliament was a Garrison for the King kept by the Neighbour Gentlemen of the Country who fortified the Castle and when the Parliament's Forces came to take the Town they cast such effectual Fire-works from the Castle as burnt down the Town to the Ground and burnt also the great Church where I preached that Sermon and where Mr. Madstard was interred So that the Inhabitants were undone and fain to lye under Hedges till the Compassion of others afforded them Entertainment and Habitation And as for their Church it was a great while before it was rebuilt and that after two general Collections for it The first time that I came among them when the Wars were past I chose the same Text again to preach on to call their sins against their faithful Pastor to remembrance But they and I were so much interrupted with Tears that with some Pawses I had much ado to proceed on to the end § 31. Whilst I continued at Kederminster it pleased God to give me much Encouragement by the Success of my weak but hearty Labours As when I was young I used to keep a daily Catalogue of my daily Mercies and Sins but when I grew elder I found that Course had its Inconveniences and took up too much time and therefore I only recorded those which were extraordinary even so when I first entered upon my Labours in the Ministry I took special notice of every one that was humbled reformed or converted but when I had laboured long it pleased God that the Converts were so many that I could not afford time for such particular Observations about every one of them left I should omit some greater Work but was fain to leave that to their compassionate familiar Neighbours and take notice my self of Families and considerable Numbers at once that came in and grew up I scarce knew how § 32. All this forementioned time of my Ministry was past under my fore-described Weaknesses which were so great as made me live and preach in some continual expectation of Death supposing still that I had not long to live And this I found
increase my Faith and give my Soul a clear fight of the Evidences of his Truth and of himself and of the invisible World § 37. Whilst I was thus employed between outward Labours and inward Trials Satan stirr'd up a little inconsiderable rage of wicked men against me The Town having been formerly eminent for Vanity had yearly a Shew in which they brought forth the painted forms of Giants and such like foolery to walk about the Streets with and though I said nothing against them as being not simply evil yet on every one of those Days of Riot the Rabble of the more vicious sort had still some spleen to vent against me as one part of their Game And once all the ignorant Rout were raging mad against me for preaching the Doctrine of Original Sin to them and telling them that Infants before Regeneration had so much Guilt and Corruption as made them loathsome in the Eyes of God whereupon they vented it abroad in the Country That I preached that God hated or loached Infants so that they railed at me as I passed through the Streets The next Lord's Day I cleared and confirmed it and shewed them that if this were not true their Infants had no need of Christ of Baptism or of Renewing by the Holy Ghost And I askt them whether they durst say that their Children were saved without a Saviour and were no Christians and why they baptized them with much more to that purpose and afterward they were ashamed and as mute as fishes Once one of the drunken Beggers of the Town raised a slander of me That I was under a Tree with a Woman an ill-fam'd Beggar of the Town All the Drunkards had got it in their mouths before I could find out the Original I got three or four of them bound to the Good Behaviour and the Sot himself that raised the Slander confessed before the Court that he saw me in a rainy day on Horseback stand under an Oak which grew in a thick Hedge and the Woman aforesaid standing for shelter on the other side the Hedge under the same Tree and that he believed that we saw not one another but he spake it as a Jest and the Company were glad of the occasion to feed their Malice So they all askt me forgiveness and I desired the Magistrate immediately to release them all There lived at Kinver an ancient prudent Reverend Divine Mr. Iohn Cross who died since Pastor of Matthews Friday-street in London This godly Man had been the chief means of the good which was done in Kidderminster before my coming thither when I came I got him to take every second day in a Weekly Lecture It came to pass once that a Woman defamed him at Kidderminster openly and told the People that he would have ravished her Mr. Cross being a wise Man sent one before to desire the Bailiff and Justice to call her to Examination and he came after and sate in a common dark coloured Coat among many others in the Bailiff's Parlour as if he had been one of the Magistrates The Bailiff called her in and she stood impudently to the Accusation The Bailiff askt her whether she knew the Man if she saw him which she confidently affirmed He askt her Is it this Man or that Man or the other Man or any there And she said O no God forbid that she should accuse any of them Mr. Cross said Am not I the Man and she said No she knew the Man well enough And when they had told her that this was Mr. Cross she fell down on her knees and askt him forgiveness and confest that one of his Neighbours who was his great Accuser at the Bishops Courts had hired her to report it But the Good Man forgave them all § 38. And here I must return to the Proceedings of the Parliament because the rest will not be well understood without connoting the Occasions of them which were administred When the Londoners cried to the House for Iustice and honoured those Members who were for the punishment of Delinquents and dishonoured those that pleased the King a Breach began to be made among themselves And the Lord Digby the Lord Falkland and divers others from that time forward joyned with the King being not so immoveable as many of the rest whom neither hope nor fear nor discontent would alienate from the Cause which they thought well of Yet others were tried with the offer of Preferments The Lord Say was made one of the Privy Council Mr. Oliver St. Iohn was made the King's Sollicitor c. But as this did not alter them so others of them would accept of no Preserment left they should be thought to seek themselves or set their Fidelity to Sale When the Earl of Strafford was Condemned and the King desired to sign the Bill many Bishops were called to give him their Advice and it is commonly reported that Archbishop Usher and divers others told him that he might lawfully concur with the Judgment of his Parliament proceeding according to Law though his own Judgment were that their Sentence was unjust But Dr. Iuxon the Bishop of London advised him to do nothing against his Conscience and others would give no Advice at all When the King had Subscribed and Strafford was beheaded he much repented it even to the last as his Speeches at his Death express And the Judgments of the Members of the Parliament were different about these Proceedings Some thought that the King should not at all be displeased and provoked and that they were not bound to do any other Justice or attempt any other Reformation but what they could procure the King to be willing to And these said When you have displeased and provoked him to the utmost he will be your King still and when you have sate to the longest you must be dissolved at last you have no power over his Person though you have power over Delinquent Subjects And if he protect them by Arms you must either be ruined your selves by his displeasure or be engaged in a War Displeasing him is but exasperating him and would you be ruled by a King that hateth you Princes have great Minds which cannot easily suffer Contradiction and Rebukes The more you offend him the less you can trust him and when mutual Confidence is gone a War is beginning And if it come to a War either you will conquer or be conquered or come to Agreement If you are conquered you and the Common-wealth are ruined and he will be absolute and subdue Parliaments and Govern as he pleaseth If you come to an Agreement it will be either such as you force him to or as he is willing of If the latter it may be easilier and cheaper done before a War than after If the former it will much weaken it And if you Conquer him what the better are you He will still be King You can but force him to an Agreement and how quickly will he have power and
himself These numerous Petitioners also were very offensive to the King insomuch that once some of his Cavaliers came out upon them armed as they passed by Whitehall and catcht some of them and cut off their Ears and Sir Richard Wiseman leading them there was some Fray about Westminster-Abbey between the Cavaliers and them and Sir Richard Wiseman was slain by a stone from off the Abbey Walls And when at last the King forsook the City these Tumults were the principal Cause alledged by him as if he himself had not been safe Thus rash Attempts of Head-strong People do work against the good Ends which they themselves intend and the Zeal which hath censorious Strife and Envy doth tend to Confusion and every evil Work And Overdoing is the ordinary way of Undoing § 41. 2. And some Members of the House did cherish these Disorders and because that the Subjects have liberty to Petition therefore they made use of this their Liberty in a disorderly way When they had disgraced Ship-money and the Et caetera Oath and Bowing towards Altars and such things as were against Law they stopt not there but set themselves to cast out the Bishops and the Liturgy which were settled by Law And though Parliaments may draw up Bills for repealing Laws yet hath the King his Negative Voice and without his Consent they cannot do it which though they acknowledged yet did they too easily admit of Petitions against the Episcopacy and Liturgy and connived at all the Clamours and Papers which were against them Had they only endeavoured the Ejection of Lay Chancellors and the reducing of the Diocesses to a narrower Compass or the setting up of a Subordinate Discipline and only the Correcting and Reforming of the Liturgy perhaps it might have been borne more patiently but some particular Members concurred with the Desires of the imprudent Reformers who were for no less than the utter Extirpation of Bishops and Liturgy To which purpose the Lord Brook wrote his Book against Episcopacy And in the House of Commons Sir Henry Vane endeavoured to draw all up to the bighest Resolutions and by his Parts and Converse drew many so far to his mind And also the sense of the younger less experienced sort of the Ministers and private Christians in the Country was much against amending the Bishops and Liturgy and thought this was but to guild over our Danger and lose our Opportunity but they were for an utter Extirpation Though none of all this was the Sense of the Parliament yet those Members which were of this Opinion did much to encourage the Petitioners who in a disorderly manner laboured to effect it The Bishops themselves who were accounted most moderate Usher Williams Morton and many other Episcopal Divines with them had before this in a Committee at Westminster agreed on certain Points of Reformation which I will give you afterward though out of the proper place when we come to our Proposals at the King 's Return 1660. But when the same Men saw that greater Things were aimed at and Episcopacy it self in danger or their Grandeur and Riches at the least most of them turned against the Parliament and were almost as much displeased as others § 42. 3. And the great distrust which the Parliament had of the King was another thing which hastened the War For they were confident that he was unmoveable as to his Judgment and Affections and that whatever he granted them was but in design to get his advantage utterly to destroy them and that he did but watch for such an Opportunity They supposed that he utterly abhorred the Parliament and their Actions against his Ship-money his Judges Bishops c. and therefore whatever he promised them they believed him not nor durst take his word which they were hardened in by those former Actions of his which they called The Breach of his former Promises § 43. And the Things on the other side which occasioned their Diffidence and caused the War were these following especially above all the rest 1. The Armies of the Scots and English did long continue in the North undisbanded in their Quarters till the Parliament should provide their Pay Some say other Business caused the delay and some say that the Parliament was not willing that they should be so soon disbanded but the Army of the English wanting pay was easily discontented And the Parliament say that the Court drew them into a Plot against the House to march suddenly up towards London and to Master the Parliament Divers of the Chief Officers were Examined Sir Iacob Astley O Neale Sir Fulh Huncks my Mother-in-Law's Brother and many others and they almost all confessed some such thing that some near the King but not he himself had treated with them about bringing up the Army but none of them talkt of destroying or forcing the Parliament These Examinations and Depositions were published by the Parliament which did very much to perswade abundance of People that the King did but watch while he quieted them with Promises to Master them by Force and use them at his Pleasure And this Action was one of the greatest Causes of the dangerous diffidence of the King § 44. 2. Another was this When the Parliament had set a Guard upon their own House which they took to be their Priviledge the King discharged them and set another Guard upon them of his choosing which made them seem as much afraid as if he had made them Prisoners and would at some time or other command that Guard to Execute his Wrath upon them whereupon they dismissed them and called for a Guard of the City Regiments This also did increase the Diffidence § 45. 3. Another great Cause of the Diffidence and War was this The King was advised no longer to stand by and see the Parliament affront him and do what they listed but to take a sufficient Company with him and to go suddenly in Person to the House and there to demand some of the Leading Members to be delivered up to Justice and tried as Traitors Whereupon he goeth to the House of Commons with a Company of Cavaliers with Swords and Pistols to have charged five of the Members of that House and one of the Lords House with High Treason viz Mr. Pim Mr. Hampden Mr. Hollis Mr. Strowd and Sir Arthur Haseirigge and the Lord Kimbolivn after Earl of Manchester and Lord Chamberlain of the Lord's But the King was not so secret or speedy in this Action but the Members had notice of it before his coming and absented themselves being together at an inner House in Red-Lyon Court in Watling street near Breadstreet in London And so the King and his Company laid hands on none but went their ways Had the five Members been there the rest supposed they would have taken them away by violence When the King was gone this Allarm did cast the House into such Apprehensions as if one after another their Liberties or Lives must be assaulted
and silly Preachers whose Performances were so mean that they had better kept to the Reading of the Homilies and many of these were of Scandalous Lives Hereupon the Disciplinarians cried out of the ignorant scandalous Ministers and almost all the scandalous Ministers and all that studied Preferment cried out of the Nonconformists The name Puritan was put upon them and by that they were commonly known when they had been called by that name awhile the vicious Multitude of the Ungodly called all Puritans that were strict and serious in a Holy Life were they ever so conformable So that the same name in a Bishops mouth signified a Nonconformist and in an ignorant Drunkards or Swearers mouth a godly obedient Christian. But the People being the greater number became among themselves the Masters of the Sense And in Spalatensi's time when he was decrying Calvinism he devised the name of Doctrinal Puritans which comprehended all that were against Arminianism Now the ignorant Rabble hearing that the Bishops were against the Puritans not having wit enough to know whom they meant were emboldened the more against all those whom they called Puritans themselves and their Rage against the Godly was increased and they cried up the Bishops partly because they were against the Puritans and partly because they were earnest for that way of Worship which they found most consistent with their Ignorance Carelesness and Sins And thus the Interest of the Diocesans and of the Prophane and Ignorant sort of People were unhappily twisted together in England And then on the other side as all the Nonconformists were against the Prelates so other of the most serious godly People were alienated from them on all these foresaid conjunct Accounts 1. Because they were derided and abused by the Name of Puritans 2. Because the Malignant Sort were permitted to make Religious Persons their common Scorn 3. Because they saw so many insufficient and vicious Men among the Conformable Clergy 4. Because they had a high esteem of the Parts and Piety of most of the Nonconformable Ministers 5. Because they grieved to see so many Excellent Men silenced while so many Thousand were perishing in Ignorance and Sin 6. Because though they took the Liturgy to be lawful yet a more orderly serious Scriptural way of Worship was much more pleasing to them 7. Because Fasting and Praying and other Exercises which they found much benefit by were so strictly lookt after that the High Commission and the Bishops Courts did make it much more perillous than common Swearing and Drunkenness proved to the Ungodly 8. Because the Book that was published for Recreations on the Lord's Day made them think that the Bishops concurred with the Prophane 9. Because Afternoon Sermons and Lectures though by Conformable Men began to be put down in divers Counties 10. Because so great a number of Conformable Ministers were suspended or punished for not reading the Book of Sports on Sundays or about Altars or such like and so many Thousand Families and many worthy Ministers driven out of the Land 11. Because when they saw Bowing towards Altars and the other Innovations added they feared worse and knew not where they would end 12. And lastly Because they saw that the Bishops proceeded so far as to swear Men to their whole Government by the Et caetera Oath and that they approved of Ship-money and other such incroachments on their Civil Interests All these upon my own knowledge were the true Causes why so great a number of those Persons who were counted most Religious fell in with the Parliament in England insomuch that the generality of the stricter diligent sort of Preachers joyned with them though not in medling with Arms yet in Judgment and in flying to their Garrisons and almost all those afterwards called Presbyterians were before Conformists Very few of all that Learned and Pious Synod at Westminster were Nonconformists before and yet were for the Parliament supposing that the Interest of Religion lay on that side Yet did they still keep up an honourable esteem of all that they thought Religious on the other side such as Bishop Davenant Bishop Hall Bishop Morton Archbishop Usher c. But as to the generality they went so unanimously the other way that upon my knowledge many that were not wise enough to understand the Truth about the Cause of the King and Parliament did yet run into the Parliaments Armies or take their part as Sheep go together for Company moved by this Argument Sure God will not suffer almost all his most Religious Servants to err in so great a matter And If all these should perish what will become of Religion But these were insufficient Grounds to go upon And abundance of the ignorant sort of the Country who were Civil did flock in to the Parliament and filled up their Armies afterward meerly because they heard Men swear for the Common Prayer and Bishops and heard others pray that were against them and because they heard the King's Soldiers with horrid Oaths abuse the name of God and saw them live in Debauchery and the Parliaments Soldiers flock to Sermons and talking of Religion and praying and singing Psalms together on their Guards And all the sober Men that I was acquainted with who were against the Parliament were wont to say The King hath the better Cause but the Parliament hath the better Men Aud indeed this unhappy Complication of the Interest of Prelacie and Prophaneness and Opposition of the Interest of Prelacie to the Temper of the generality of the Religious Party was the visible Cause of the overthrow of the King in the Eye of all the understanding World that ever was capable of observing it § 50. And whereas the King's Party usually say that it was the seditious Preachers that stirred up the People and were the Cause of all this I answer 1. It is partly true and partly not It is not true that they stirred them up to War except an inconsiderable Number of them one perhaps in a County if so much But it is true that they discovered their dislike of the Book of Sports and bowing to Altars and diminishing Preaching and silencing Ministers and such like and were glad that the Parliament attempted a Reformation of them 2. But then it is as true that almost all these were conformable Ministers the Laws and Bishops having cast out the Nonconformists long enough before insomuch that I know not of two Nonconformists in a County But those that made up the Assembly at Westminster and that through the Land were the Honour of the Parliaments Party were almost all such as had till then conformed and took those things to be lawful in case of necessity but longed to have that necessity removed § 51. When the War was beginning the Parties set Names of Contempt upon each other and also took such Titles to themselves and their own Cause as might be the fittest means for that which they designed The old Names of Puritans
and Formalists were not now broad enough nor of sufficient force The King's Party as their Serious Word called the Parliaments Party Rebels and as their common ludiâ—rous Name The Round-heads the original of which is not certainly known Some say it was because the Puritans then commonly wore short Hair and the King's Party long Hair Some sâ—y it was because the Queen at Strafford's Tryal asked who that Round-headed Man was meaning Mr. Pym because he spake so strongly The Parliaments Party called the other side commonly by the Name of Malignants as supposing that the generality of the Enemies of serious Godliness went that way in a desire to destroy the Religious out of the Land And the Parliament put that Name into their Mouths and the Souldiers they called Cavaliers because they took that Name to themselves and afterwards they called them Damme's because God Damn me was become a common Curse and as a By-word among them The King professed to sight for the Subjects Liberties the Laws of the Land and the Protestant Religion The Parliament profest the same and all their Commissions were granted as for King and Parliament for the Parliament professed that the Separation of the King from the Parliament could not be without a Destruction of the Government and that the Dividers were the Destroyers and Enemies to the State and if the Soldiers askt each other at any Surprize or Meeting who are you for those on the King's side said for the King and the others said for King and Parliament the King disowned their Service as a Scorn that they should say they fought for King and Parliament when their Armies were ready to charge him in the Field They said to this 1. That they fought to redeem him from them that took him a voluntary Captive and would separate him from his Parliament 2. That they fought against his Will only but not against his Person which they desired to rescue and preserve nor against his Authority which was for them 3. That as all the Courts of Justice do execute their Sentences in the King's Name and this by his own Law and therefore by his Authority so much more might his Parliament do § 52. But now we come to the main matter What satisfied so many of the intelligent part of the Countrey to side with the Parliament when the War began What inclined their Affections I have before shewed and it is not to be doubted but their Approbation of the Parliament in the cause of Reformation made them the easilier believe the lawfulness of their War But yet there were some Dissenters which put the matter to debates among themselves In Warwickshire Sir Francis Nethersole a religious Knight was against the Parliaments War and Covenant though not for the Justness of the War against them In Glocestershire Mr. Geree an old eminent Nonconformist and Mr. Copell a learned Minister who put out himself to prevent being put out for the Book of Recreations and some others with them were against the lawfulness of the War so was Mr. Lyford of Sherborn in Dorcetshire and Mr. Francis Bampfield his Successor and some other Godly Ministers in other Countries And many resolved to meddle on no side Those that were against the Parliaments War were of three Minds or Parties One Part thought that no King might be resisted but these I shall not take any more notice of The other thought that our King might not be at all resisted because he is our Sovereign and we have sworn to his Supremacy and if he be Supreme he hath neither Superior nor Equal And Oaths are to be interpreted in the strictest Sense The third sort granted that in some Cases the King might be resisted as Bilson and other Bishops hold but not in this Case 1. Because the Law giveth him the Militia which was contended for and the Law is the measure of Power 2. Because say they the Parliament began the War by permitting Tumults to deprive the Members of their Liberty and affront and dishonour the King 3. Because the Members themselves are Subjects and took the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy and therefore have no Authority to resist 4. It is not lawful for Subjects to defend Reformation or Religion by Force against 〈◊〉 Soveraigns no such good Ends will warrant evil Means 5. It is contrary to the Doctrine of Protestants and the ancient Christians and Scripture it selfe which condemneth all that resist the higher Powers and as for the Primitive Christiansâ— it is well known they were acquainted with no other lawful Weapons against them but Prayers and Tears 6. It importeth a false Accusation of the King as if he were about to destroy Religion Liberties or Parliaments all which he is resolved to defend as in all his Declarations doth appear 7. It justifieth the Papists Doctrine and Practices of Rebellion and taketh the Odium from them unto our selves and layeth a Reproach upon the Protestant Cause 8. It proceedeth from Impatience and Distrust of God which causeth Men to fly to unlawful means Religion may be preserved better by patient Sufferings These were their Reasons who were against the Parliaments War which may be seen more at large in Mr. Dudly Digs his Book and Mr. Welden's and Mr. Michael Hudson's and Sir Francis Nethersole's § 53. As for those on the Parliaments side I will first tell you what they said to these Eight Reasons and next what Reasons moved them to take the other side 1. To the First Reason they said as before that for the Law to give the King the â—â—â—â—itia signifieth no more but that the People in Parliament consented to obey him in Matter of Wars and to fight for him and under his Conduct For the Law is nothing but the Consent of King and Parliament and the Militia is nothing but the Peoples own Swords and Strength And that this Consent of theirs should be supposed to be meant against themselves as if they consented to destroy themselves whenever he commanded it is an Exposition against Nature Sense and Reason and the common Sentiments of Mankind And they said that the same Law required Sheriffs to exercise the Militia in Obedience to the Decrees of his Courts of Justice and this against the King's Personal Commands and in the King's Name Because King and Parliament have by Law setled those Courts and Methods of Execution a Command of the King alone can no more prevail against them than it can abrogate a Law And the Law said they is above the King because King and Parliament are more than the King alone And they pretend also Presidents for their Resistance 2. To the Second they said that when 200000 Protestants were murdered in Ireland and their Friends so bold in England and the Parliaments Destruction so industruously endeavoured it was no time for them to rebuke their Friends upon terms of Civility and good Manners though their Zeal was mixt with Indiscretion and that if the Londoners had not shewed that Zeal
for them it might have emboldned their Enemies against them and that if the permitting of Petitioners to crowd to them too boldly and speak too unmannerly can be called the raising of a War when they fought with none but were assaulted themselves then the calling up of the Army from the North was much more so and so they were not the Beginners Or had they been the Beginners it had been lawful being but to bring Delinquents to Justice as the Sheriff himself may in Obedience to a Court of Justice But the Irish Flames which threatned them were kindled before all these 3. To the third they said that the Parliament are Subjects limitedly and not simply as the King is not an absolute but a limited King viz. limited by the Laws and Constitutions of the Government they are Subjects to him according to Law but not subject to Arbitrary Government against Law Their Propriety is excepted in their Subjection and they have certain Liberties which are not subject to the Will of the King And also they said That as the Sheriff is a Subject and a Court of Justice Subjects and yet may resist the King's Letters even under the Broad-Seal and his Messengers or armed Men that act illegally because the Law which hath his Authority and the Parliament's enable them so to do so also may the Parliament which is his highest Court of Justice And they said that as they have a part in the Legislative Power they have part in the Summa Potesâ—â—as and so far are not Subjects And they said that the bare Title of Supreme is no Argument against the Constitution of a Kingdom though it be expressed in an Oath For the King is stiled the Supreme Governor of France and yet the Oath of Supremacy doth not bind us to believe that no French Man may lawfully â—ear Arms against him 4. They say to the fourth That they wholly grant it that though Religion may be the end of a lawful War yet not of a Rebellion nor may any Reformations be performed by any Actions which belong not to the Places and Callings of the Performers But where the means are Lawful Religion and Reformation are lawful Ends. 5. To the fifth they said That they agree with all good Christians and Protestants that true Authority may not be resisted by any Subject But all Protestants or most agree with them that a limited Governor which hath not Authority to do what he lists may perform an Act of Will which is no Act of Authority and that the Parliament was the highest Judicature and that it was Rebellion in them that resisted the Parliament in their legal prosecution of Delinquents and Defence of the Land and themselves and that Paul Rom. 13. determineth not at all whether the Emperors or the Senate was the higher Power and that the Resisters of the Parliament are the condemned Breakers of that Order and Command 6. To the sixth they said that they Charge nothing on the King but what their Eyes behold viz. That he hath forsaken his Parliament and raiseth Arms against them and protecteth Delinquents And this they mention but as Matter of Fact for the culpability they charge upon his evil Counsellors and Instruments For the King being no Subject is liable to no Accusations in any of his 〈…〉 Irish the Papist and those guilty Persons who would ruine all to 〈…〉 Justice whom they accuse and not the King And whateve◠〈…〉 King 's Declarations say Ship-money hath been imposed the Judges have been 〈◊〉 the German Horse were to have been brought in the Northern Army 〈◊〉 have been brought up against the Parliament the House was invaded and 〈◊〉 Members demanded a Guard was set upon them and their Destruction 〈◊〉 Enemies was powerfully endeavoured 7. 〈◊〉 the seventh they said That for the supreme legislative Authority to defend 〈◊〉 and the Land and for the King's Courts of Justice to prosecute Delinâ—◠〈◊〉 though against the King's Will is no dishonour to the Protestant Religion 〈◊〉 any thing like the Papists Doctrine and Practices of Rebellion nor any Justification of them If it were then the very Constitution of our ancient Government or Kingdom would it self be a dishonour to our Religion 8. To the last they say That Patience is our Duty so far as we are called to Sufferings and God is â—o be trusted in the way which he hath appointed us But if the Irish Rebels had foretold the Parliament and Justices of their Insurrection and then exhorted them to Patience and Non-resistance and trusting God or if a Thief that would rob us to exhort us to be patient and not resist he doth but exhort us to be guilty of his Sin 〈◊〉 Protestants Patience was that which pleased the Irish or if a King must be brought in as a Party the French Mens Patience in the Parisian Massacre pleased Charles IX and the Executioners And if in all Countries the Protestants would let the Papists cut their Throats and die in the Honour of Patience it would satisfie those bloody Adversaries who had rather we died in such Honour than lived without it But if such Patience would be a poor Excuse for a Father that sought not to preserve his Children much less for the Paliament that stand still while Papists and Delinquents subvert both Church and State These were their Answers to their Accusers in those Points § 54. The Sum of those Reasons which satisfied many that adhered to the Parliament were these which I will but briefly name 1. As to the Danger of the State the Matters of Fact did make it seem undeniable to them Ship-money they judged not of according to the Sum but they thoughtâ— Propriety was thereby destroyed and Parliaments cast aside and made unnecessary And they saw that this Parliament was called upon the Scots and then called Discontented Lords importunity after many Parliaments had been dissolved in displeasure and after they had been long forborn And the calling up of the Northern Army and the demanding of the Members made Multitudes think that the ruine of the Parliament was the great Design and their ungrateful beginning and proceedings made this seem credible so that I met with few of that sort that doubted of it But above all the Two hundred thousand kill'd in Ireland affrighted the Parliament and all the Land And whereas it is said that the King hated that as well as they They answered that though he did his hating it would neither make all those alive again nor preserve England from their threatned Assault as long as Men of the like malignity were protected and could not be kept out of Arms nor brought to Justice 2. The End of the War did much prevail with them For they thought that to master and destroy the Parliament was to leave the People hopeless as to any Security of their Propriety or Liberties or any Remedy against meer Will For there is no other Power that may relieve them And if Parliaments
were so used before what would they be said they if by such a War they should be conquered And they thought that the ruine of the State and of Men's Propriety was such an End as no means could be lawfully used for and that the Preservation of the Kingdom was such an End as would make lawful any necessary means which God himself had not forbidden 3. And then as to Authority they thought that the Legislative Power is the chiefest part of Soveraignty and that the Parliament having a part in the Legislative Power had so far inherently a Power to defend it which no Law can suppose them to give away And as the Peoples Representatives they supposed themselves much Intrusted to secure their reserved Liberties which the Law giveth not the King any Authority to take away 4. And they supposed that Government being that Publick Work which upholdeth the Common Peace it is to be done by Publick Instruments andâ— Means and that the Kings Laws are his Instruments of Government and also his Publick Courts and Officers And that the Subjects cannot know so well whether private Commands or Commissions be real or counterfeit nor are so much bound to take notice of them And that the Judgments and Executions of the Courts of Justice being the Effect of Laws which King and Parliament have made are of greater Authority than contrary Commissions or Commands from the King alone 5. It much confirmed them because all confessed That the Sheriffs of Counties must raise the posse Comitatus for the Execution of some Decrees of Courts of Justice though the King forbid it or grant a Commission to any to hinder it And that the foresaid Statute of Edw. 3. maketh even the King's Letters under the Broad Seal to be void when they would hinder Justice 6. And they pleaded the Law of Nature which is greater than Positive Laws That no Nation is bound to destroy it self The Militia being nothing but the Peoples own Sword they say they are not bound to destroy themselves with it nor can any Law be so interpreted And whereas it was said That the King sought not to destroy the Parliament but to bring some among them to punishment they said that it belongeth to the Parliament to judge its Members and that if on pretence of punishing offending Members the King may come and fetch away or demand those that displease him Parliaments and Liberties and all Security of them is gone 7. The King's Answer to the Nineteen Propositions greatly confirmed many when they saw the King himself declaring to them That the Legislative Power was in Kings Lords and Commons and that the Government was mixt and was not Arbitrary which they thought it must needs be if his Commissions were of greater power than his Laws and Courts and if no resistance might be made against any that executed an illegal Commission 8. It most prevailed with many that the Parliament professed not to fight against either the Person or Authority of the King though against his Will but that their War was only against Subjects They said that some Subjects were Delinquents that fled from Justice against whom they might raise Arms offensively and other Subjects took Arms against the Parliament and against these they made a Defensive War But all of them were Subjects and not Kings And the King's Will or Commission is not enough to save all Subjects from punishment when his Law is against it nor to authorize them to destroy the Parliament and their Country 9. They were much emboldened because this Parliament was continued by Law till it should dissolve it self And therefore some said the King's Presence is virtually with them he being a part of the Parliament and others said that no War could be lawful which was for their dissolution or ruine or to deprive them of their Liberty and that the defence of them was lawful whom the Law continued 10. They alledged King Iames who they said of any Man did most endeavour to advance his Prerogative and yet in his printed Treatise for Monarchy confesseth That a King cannot lawfully make a War against the Body of his Kingdom but only against an offending Faction Therefore say they not against the Representative Body till it be proved that by perfidiousness they have forfeited the Virtue and Honour of their Representation 11. They alledged Barclay Grotius and other Defenders of Monarchy especially that passage of Grotius de Iure Belli where he saith That if several Persons have a part in the Summa Potestas of which he maketh Legislation a chief Act each part hath naturally the power of defending its own Interest in the Soveraignty against the other part if thâ—â— invade it And addeth over boldly That if in such a War they conquer the conquâ—red party loseth to them his share And saith That this is so true that it holdeth though the Law expresly say that one of the Parties shall have the power of the Militia it being to be understood that he shall have it against Forreign Enemies and Delinquents and not against the other part 12. It much confirmed them to find the most Learned Episcopal Divines speak so high for the Legislative Power of Parliaments as Tho. Hooker doth Eccles. Pol. lib. 1. for the Eighth Book which saith more than the Parliament ever said was not then published And for resistance in several Cases as Bishop Bilson doth even in that Treatise wherein he so strongly defendeth Obedience and which he dedicated to Queen Elizabeth And to find how far they defend the French Dutch and German Protestants Wars 13. They said that the Carnal respect of Men for personal Interests hath made all the stream of most Mens Words and Writings go on the Prince's side but Tyanny is a Mischief as well as Disobedience and that which all Ages and most Nations have grievously smarted by and they that befriend it are guilty of the Sin and of the Ruines which it procureth It keepeth out Christianity from five parts of the World It corrupteth it and keepeth out the Protestant Truth in most of the sixth part The Eastern and the Western Churches suffer under it to the perdition of millions of Souls If Bodily Sufferings were all the matter were nothing but it is Mens Souls and the Interest of the Gospel which is the Sacrifice to their Wills 14. Lastly This greatly confirmed many that the Matter being a Controversie whether the Disobedience and Resistance of King or Parliament is now the Rebellion and Sin the simple People are not wiser than the States-men that differ about it How then should they better quiet their Judgments than in the Judgment of the Parliament who are the Trustees of the People and the chief Court and Council of the King and have so many Lawyers and Wife men among them and are so greatly interessed in the common Good themselves If it were but the Question Which is the King 's Governing Will which the People must obey And a
Soldier saith It is my Commission and the High Court of Parliament saith It is the Law declared in a Court of Justice a Parliament seemeth to be the properest Judge As in Controversies of Physick who is to be believed before the Colledge of Physicians Or in Controversies of Religion who before a General Council If the House of York and Lancaster â—ight for the Crown and both Command the Subjects Arms. the poor Peasants are not able to judge of their Titles And if a Parliament shall not judge for them who shall These were the Reasons which caused Men to adhere to the Parliament in this War § 55. For my own part I freely confess that I was not judicious enough in Politicks and Law to decide this Controversie which so many Lawyers and Wise men differed in And I freely confess that being astonished at the Irish Massacre and perswaded fully both of the Parliaments good endeavours for Reformation and of their real danger my Judgment of the main Cause much swayed my Judgment in the Matter of the Wars and the Arguments à fine à natureâ necessitate which common Wits are capable of discerning did too far incline my Judgment in the Cause of the War before I well understood the Arguments from our particular Laws And the Consideration of the Quality of the Parties that sided for each Cause in the Countries did greatly work with me and more than it should have done And I verily thought that if that which a Judge in Court saith sententially is Law must go for Law to the Subject as to the Decision of that Cause though the King send his Broad Seal against it then that which the Parliament saith is Law is Law to the Subjects about the Dangers of the Common-wealth whatever it be in it self and that if the King's Broad-Seal cannot prevail against the Judge much less against their Judgment I make no doubt but both Parties were to blame as it commonly falleth out in most Wars and Contentions and I will not be he that shall Justifie either of them I doubt not but the Headiness and Rashness of the younger unexperienced sort of religious People made many Parliament Men and Ministers overgo themselves to keep pace with those hot Spurs no doubt but much Indiscretion appeared and worse than Indiscretion in the tumultuous Petitioners and much Sin was committed in the dishonouring of the King and provocation of him and in the uncivil Language against the Bishops and Liturgie of the Church But these things came principally from the Sectarian separating Spirit which blew the Coals among foolish Apprentices And as the Sectaries increased so did this Insolence increase I have my self been in London when they have on the Lord's Days stood at the Church Doors while the Common Prayer was reading saying We must stay till he is out of his Pottage And such unchristian Scorns and Jests did please young inconsiderate Wits that knew not what Spirit they were of nor whither such unwarrantate things did tend Learned Mr. Iohn Ball though a Nonconformist discerned the stirrings of this insolent Sectarian Spirit betimes and fell a writing against it even then when some were crying out of Persecution and others were tender of such little Differences One or two in the House and five or six Ministers that came from Holland and a few that were scattered in the City which were the Brownists Relicts did drive on others according to their own dividing Principles and sowed the Seeds which afterward spread over all the Land though then there were very few of them in the Countreys even next to none As Bishop Hall speaks against the justifying of the Bishops so do I against justifying the Parliament Ministers or City I believe many unjustifiable things were done but I think that few Men among them all were the Doers or Instigaters of it But I then thought that whosoever was faulty the Peoples Liberties and Safety could not be forfeited And I thought that all the Subjects were not guilty of all the Faults of King or Parliament when they defended them Yea that if both their Causes had been bad as against each other yet that the Subjects should adhere to that Party which most secured the welfare of the Nation and might defend the Land under their Conduct without owning all their Cause And herein I confess I was then so zealous that I thought it a great Sin for Men that were able to defend their Country to be Neuters And I have been tempted since to think that I was a more competent Judge upon the Place when all things were before our eyes than I am in the review of those Days and Actions so many Years after when Distance disadvantageth the Apprehension A Writer against Cromwel's Decimation recanting his great Adherence to the Parliament in that War yet so abhorreth Neutrality that he likeneth him rather to a Dog than a Man that could stand by when his Country was in such a case But I confess for my part I have not such censorious Thoughts of those that then were Neuters as formerly I have had For he that either thinketh both sides raised an unlawful War or that could not tell which if either was in the right might well be excused if he defended neither I was always satisfied 1. That the Dividers of the King and Parliament were the Traitors whoever they were and that the Division tended to the Dissolution of the Government 2. And that the Authority and Person of the King were inviolable out of the reach of just Accusation Judgment or Execution by Law as having no Superiour and so no Judge 3. I favoured the Parliaments Cause as they professed 1. To bring Delinquents to a Legal Trial 2. And to preserve the Person and Government of the King by a Conjunction with his Parliament But Matters that Warrs and Blood are any way concerned in are so great and tenderly to be handled that I profess to the World that I dare not I will not justifie any thing that others or I my self have done of any such consequence But though I never hurt the Person of any Man yet I resolve to pray daily and earnestly to God that he will reveal to me whatever I have done amiss and not suffer me through Ignorance to be impenitent and would forgive me both my known and unknown Sins and cleanse this Land from the Guilt of Blood § 56. Having inserted this much of the Case of History of those Times I now proceed to the Relation of the Passages of my own Life beginning where I left When I was at Kidderminster the Parliament made an Order for all the People to take a Protestation to defend the King's Person Honour and Authority the Power and Priviledges of Parliaments the Liberties of the Subject and the Protestant Religion against the common Enemy meaning the Papists the Irish Massacre and Threatnings occasioning this Protestation I obeyed them in joyning with the Magistrate in offering
the People this Protestation which caused some to be offended with me About that time the Parliament sent down an Order for the demolishing of all Statues and Images of any of the three Persons in the blessed Trinity or of the Virgin Mary which should be found in Churches or on the Crosses in Church-yards My Judgment was for the obeying of this Order thinking it came from just Authority but I medled not in it but left the Churchwarden to do what he thought good The Churchwarden an honest sober quiet Man seeing a Crucifix upon the Cross in the Church-yard set up a Ladder to have reacht it but it proved too short whilst he was gone to seek another a Crew of the drunken riotous Party of the Town poor Journey-men and Servants took the Allarm and run altogether with Weapons to defend the Crucifix and the Church Images of which there were divers left since the time of Popery They Report was among them that I was the Actor and it was me they sought but I was walking almost a mile out of Town or else I suppose I had there ended my days when they mist me and the Churchwarden both they went raving about the Streets to seek us Two Neighbours that dwelt in other Parishes hearing that they sought my Life ran in among them to see whether I were there and they knockt them both down in the Streets and both of them are since dead and I think never perfectly recovered that hurt When they had foamed about half an hour and met with none of us and were newly housed I came in from my walk and hearing the People Cursing at me in their Doors I wondered what the matter was but quickly found how fairly I had scaped The next Lord's Day I dealt plainly with them and laid open to them the quality of that Action and told them Seeing they so required me as to seek my Blood I was willing to leave them and save them from that Guilt But the poor Sots were so amazed and ashamed that they took on sorrily and were loth to part with me § 57. About this time the King's Declarations were read in our Market-place and the Reader a violent Country Gentleman seeing me pass the Streets stopt and said There goeth a Traitor without ever giving a syllable of Reason for it And the Commission of Array was set afoot for the Parliament medled not with the Militia of that Country the Lord Howard their Lieutenant not appearing Then the rage of the Rioters grew greater than before And in preparation to the War they had got the word among them Down with the Round-heads Insomuch that if a Stranger past in many places that had short Hair and a Civil Habit the Rabble presently cried Down with the Round-heads and some they knockt down in the open Streets In this Fury of the Rabble I was advised to withdraw a while from home whereupon I went to Glocester As I past but through a corner of the Suburbs of Worcester they that knew me not cried Down with the Round-heads and I was glad to spur on and be gone But when I came to Gloucester among Strangers also that had never known me I found a civil courteous and religious People as different from Worcester as if they had lived under another Government There I stayed a Month and whilst I was there many Pamphlets came out on both sides preparing for a War For the Parliaments Cause the principal Writing which very much prevailed was Observations written by Mr. Parker a Lawyer But I remember some Principles which I think he misapplieth as also doth Mr. Thomas Hooker Ecclis polit lib. 8. viz. That the King is singulis major but universis minor that he receiveth his Power from the People c. For I doubt not to prove that his Power is so immediately from God as that there is no Recipient between God and him to convey it to him Only as the King by his Charter maketh him a Mayor or Baliff whom the Corporation chuseth so God by his Law as an Instrument conveyeth Power to that Person or Family whom the People consent to and their Consent is but a Conditio sine quâ non and not any Proof that they are the Fountain of Power or that ever the governing Power was in them and therefore for my part I am satisfied that all Politicks err which tell us of a Magestas Realis in the People as distinct from the Majestas Personalis in the Governors And though it be true that quo ad naturalem bonitatem in genere Causae finalis the King be universis minor and therefore no War or Action is good which is against the common Good which is the end of all Government yet as to governing Power which is the thing in question the King is as to the People Universis Major as well as Singulis For if the Parliament have any Legislative Power it cannot be as they are the Body or People as Mr. Tho. Hooker ill supposeth who lib. 1. Polit. Eccles. maketh him a Tyrant that maketh Laws himself without the Body but it is as the Constitution twisteth them into the Government For if once Legislation the chief Act of Government be denied to be any part of Government at all and affirmed to belong to the People as such who are no Governors all Government will hereby be overthrown Besides these Observations no Books more advantaged the Parliament's Cause than a Treatise of Monarchy afterwards published and Mr. Prin's large Book of the Soveraign Power of Parliaments wherein he heapeth up Multitudes of Instances of Parliaments that exercised Soveraign Power At this time also they were every where beginning the Contention between the Commission of Array and the Parliaments Militia In Gloucestershire the Country came in for the Parliament In Worcestershire Herefordshire and Shropshire they were wholly for the King and none to any purpose moved for the Parliament § 58. Whilst I was at Gloucester I saw the first Contentions between the Ministers and Anabaptists that ever I was acquainted with For these were the first Anabaptists that ever I had seen in any Country and I heard but of few more in those parts of England About a dozen young Men or more of considerable Parts had received the Opinion against Infant Baptism and were re-baptized and laboured to draw others after them not far from Gloucester And the Minister of the Place Mr. Winnel being hot and impatient with them hardened them the more He wrote a considerable Book against them at that time But England having then no great Experience of the tendency and consequents of Annabaptistry the People that were not of their Opinion did but pity them and think it was a Conceit that had no great harm in it and blamed Mr. Winnel for his Violence and Asperity towards them But this was the beginning of the Miseries of Gloucester for the Anabaptists somewhat increasing on one side before I came away
that the Armies were engaged when Sermon was done in the Afternoon the report was more audible which made us all long to hear of the success About Sun-setting Octob. 23. 1642. many Troops fled through the Town and told us that all was lost on the Parliament side and the Carriage taken and Waggons plundered before they came away and none that followed brought any other News The Towns-men sent a Messenger to Stratford upon Avon to know the certain truth About four a clock in the Morning the Messenger returned and told us That Prince Rupert wholly routed the left Wing of the Earl of Essex's Army but while his Men were plundering the Waggons the main Body and the Right Wing routed the rest of the King's Army took his Standard but it was lost again kill'd his General the Earl of Lindsey and his Standard-bearer took Prisoner the Earl of Lindsey's Son the Lord Willoughby and others and lost few Persons of Quality and no Noblemen but the Lord St. Iohn eldest Son to the Earl of Bullingbrook and that the loss of the left Wing was through the Treachery of Sir Faithful Fortescue Major to the Lord Fielding's Regiment of Horse who turned to the King when he should have Charged and that the Victory was obtained principally by Colonel Hollis's Regiment of London Red-Coats and the Earl of Essex's own Regiment and Life-Guard where Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir Arthur Haselrigge and Col. Urrey did much The next Morning being willing to see the Field where they had fought I went to Edghill and found the Earl of Essex with the remaining part of his Army keeping the Ground and the King's Army facing them upon the Hill a mile off and about a Thousand dead Bodies in the Field between them and I suppose many were buried before and neither of the Armies moving toward each other The King's Army presently drew off towards Banbury and so to Oxford The Earl of Essex's Army went back to provide for the wounded and refresh themselves at Warwick Castle the Lord Brook's House For my self I knew not what Course to take To live at home I was uneasie but especially now when Soldiers on one side or other would be frequently among us and we must be still at the Mercy of every furious Beast that would make a prey of us I had neither Money nor Friends I knew not who would receive me in any place of Safety nor had I any thing to satisfie them for my Diet and Entertainment Hereupon I was perswaded by one that was with me to go to Coventry where one of my old Acquaintance was Minister Mr. Simon King sometime School-master at Bridgenorth So thither I went with a purpose to stay there till one side or other had got the Victory and the War was ended and then to return home again For so wise in Matters of War was I and all the Country besides that we commonly supposed that a very few days or weeks by one other Battel would end the Wars and I believe that no small number of the Parliament-men had no more with than to think so to There I stayed at Mr. King 's a month but the War was as far from being like to end as before Whilst I was thinking what Course to take in this Necessity the Committee and Governour of the City desired me that I would stay with them and lodge in the Governour 's House and preach to the Soldiers The offer suited well with my Necessities but I resolved that I would not be Chaplain to the Regiment nor take a Commission but if the meer preaching of a Sermon once or twice a week to the Garrison would satisfie them I would accept of the Offer till I could go home again Mr. Aspinall one of the Ministers of the Town had a Commission from the Earl of Essex to be Chaplain to the Garrison Regiment but the Governour and Committee being displeased with him made no use of him And when he was displeased as thinking I would take his place I assured him I had no such intent and about a Twelve-month after he died Here I lived in the Governours House and followed my Studies as quietly as in a time of Peace for about a year only preaching once a week to the Soldiers and once on the Lord's Day to the People not taking of any of them a Penny for either save my Diet only Here I had a very Judicious Auditory among others many very godly and judicious Gentlemen as Sir Richard Skeffington a most noble holy Man Col. Godâ—rey Bosvile Mr. Mackworth with many others of all which Mr. George About was the chief known by his Paraphrase on Iob and his Book against Bread for the Lord's Day And there were about thirty worthy Ministers in the City who fled thither for Safety from Soldiers and Popular Fury as I had done though they never medled in the Wars viz. Mr. Richard Vines Mr. Anthony Burges Mr. Burdall Mr. Brumskill who lived with that Eminent Saint the old Lady Bromley Widow to Judge Bromley whose only discernable fault to me was too much Humility and Low thought of her self Dr. Bryan Dr. Grew Mr. Stephens Mr. Craddock Mr. Morton of Bewdley my special Friend Mr. Diamond good old Mr. Overton and many more whose presence commanded much respect from me I have cause of continual thankfulness to God for the quietness and safety and sober wise religious Company with liberty to preach the Gospel which he vouchsafed me in this City when other Places were in the Terrours and Flames of War § 62. When I had been above a year at Coventry the War was so far from being ended that it had dispersed it self into almost all the Land only Middlesex Hartfordshireâ— most of Bedford and Northamptonshire were only for the Parliament and had some quietness And Essex Suffolk Norfolk Cambridgeshire and Huntingtonshire with the Isle of Eli were called the Associated Countries and lived as in Peace because the King's Armies never came near them and so for the most part it was with Kent Surrey and Sussex And on the other side Herefordshire Worcestershire and Shropshire till this time and almost all Wales save Pembrokeshire which was wholly for the Parliament were only possessed for the King and saw not the Forces of the Parliament But almost all the rest of the Counties had Garrisons and Parties in them on both sides which caused a War in every County and I think there where few Parishes where at one time or other Blood had not been shed § 63. And here I must repeat the great Cause of the Parliaments Strength and the King's ruine and that was That the debauched Rabble through the Land emboldened by his Gentry and seconded by the Common Soldiers of his Army took all that were called Puritans for their Enemies And though Some of the King's Gentry and Superiour Officers were so Civil that they would do no such thing yet that was no Security to the Country while
The Synod stumbled at some things in it and especially at the word Prelacy Dr. Burges the Prolocutor Mr. Gataker and abundance more declared their Judgments to be for Episcopacy even for the ancient moderate Episcopacy in which one stated President with his Presbytery governed every Church though not for the English Diocesan frame in which one Bishop without his Presbytery did by a Lay-Chancellour's Court govern all the Presbytery and Churches of a Diocess being many hundreds and that in a Secular manner by abundance of upstart Secular Officers unknown to the Primitive Church Hereupon grew some Debate in the Assembly some being against every Degree of Bishops especially the Scottish Divines and others being for a moderate Episcopacy But these English Divines would not Subscribe the Covenant till there were an alteration suited to their Judgments and so a Parenthesis was yielded to as describing that sort of Prelacy which they opposed viz. That is Church Government by Archbishops Bishops Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy All which conjoyned are mentioned as the Description of that Form of Church Government which they meant by Prelacy as not extending to the ancient Episcopacy When the Covenant was agreed on the Lords and Commons first took it themselves and Mr. Thomas Coleman preached to the House of Lords and gave it them with this publick Explication That by Prelacy we mean not all Episcopacy but only the form which is here described When the Parliament had taken it they sent it to all the Garrisons and Armies to be taken and commended it to all the People of the Land And when the War was ended they caused all the Noblemen Knights Gentlemen and Officers which had been against them in the Wars to take it before they would admit them to Composition and take it they did And they required that all young Ministers should take it at their Ordination The Covenant being taken the Scots raised an Army to help the Parliament which came on and began to clear the North till at York fight the Scots Army the Earl of Manchester's Army and the Lord Fairfax's small Army joyned Battel against Prince Rupert's Army and General King's Army and the Earl of Newcastle's Army where they routed them and it was thought about 5000 were slain upon the place besides all that died after of their wounds After this the Scots Army lay still in the North a long time and did nothing till thereby they became odious as a burden to the Land The Scots said that it was caused by the Policy of the Sectaries that kept them without pay and without orders to March Their Adversaries the Vanists and the Cromwellians said it was their own fault who would not March. At last they were Commanded to besiege Hereford City where they lay a long time till the Earl of Montross having raised an Army in Scotland against them for the King had made it necessary for them to return into their own Country and leave Hereford untaken and the People clamouring against them as having come for nothing into the Country Some Months after they were gone Col. Iohn Birch and Col. Morgan took Hereford in an hour without any considerable bloodshed The Waters about the Walls being hard frozen the Governour sent Warrants to the Constables of the Country neer adjoyning to bring in Labourers to break the Ice Col. Birch got these Warrants and causeth one of his Officers in the Habit of a Constable and many Soldiers with Mattocks in the habit of Labourers to come the next morning early to the Gates and being let in they let in more and surprized the Town This much I thought good to speak altogether here for brevity of the Scots Army and Covenant and now return to the new modell'd Army § 71. The English Army being thus new modell'd was really in the hand of Oliver Cromwell though seemingly under the Command of Sir Thomas Fairfax who was shortly after Lord Fairfax his Father dying Cromwell's old Regiment which had made it self famous for Religion and Valour being fourteen Troops was divided six Troops were made the Lord Fairfax's Regiment and six Troops were Col. Whalley's Regiment and the other two were in Col. Rich's and Sir Robert Pye's Regiments The Confidents of Cromwell were especially Col. Ireton and Major Desborough his Brother-in-law and Major Iames Berry and Major Harrison and Col. Fleetwood and as his Kinsman Col. Whalley and divers others But now begins the Change of the old Cause A shrewd Book came out not long before called Plain English preparatory hereto And when the Lord Fairfax should have marched with his Army he would not as common Fame faith take his Commission because it ran as all others before for Defence of the King's Person for it was intimate that this was but Hypocrisie to profess to defend the King when they marcht to fight against him and that Bullets could not distinguish between his Person and another Man's and therefore this Clause must be left out that they might be no Hypocrities And so had a Commission without that Clause for the King And this was the day that changed the Cause § 72. The Army being ready to march was partly the Envy and partly the Scorn of the Nobility and the Lord Lieutenants and the Officers which had been put out by the Self-denying Vote But their Actions quickly vindicated them from Contempt They first attempted no less than the Siege of Oxford but in the mean time the King takes the field with a very numerous well-recruited Army and marcheth into Northamptonshire into the Parliaments Quarters and thence strait to Leicester a Town poorly fortified but so advantagiously situated for his use as would have been an exceeding Loss to the Parliament if he could have kept it It was taken by Storm and many slain in it General Fairfax leaveth Oxford and marcheth through Northamptonshire towards the King The King having the greater number and the Parliaments Army being of a new contemned Model he marcheth back to meet them and in a Field near Naseby a Village in Northamptonshire they met Cromwell had hasted a few days before into the associated Counties which were their Treasury for Men and Money and brought with him about 500 to 600 Men and came in to the Army just as they were drawn up and going on to give Battel His sudden and seasonable coming with the great Name he had got by the Applauses of his own Soldiers made a sudden Joy in the Army thinking he had brought them more help than he did so that all cried A Cromwell A Cromwell and so went on and after a shor◠hot Fight the King's Army was totally routed and put to flight and about 5000 Prisoners taken with all his Ordinance and Carriage and abundance of his own Letters to the Queen and others in his Cabinet which the Parliament printed as thinking such things were there contained as greatly disadvantaged the
Reputation of his Word and Cause Major General Skippon fighting valiantly was here dangerously wounded but afterwards recovered The King's Army was utterly lost by the taking of Leicester for by this means it was gone so far from his own Garrisons that his Flying Horse could have no place of Retreat but were utterly scattered and brought to nothing The King himself fled to Lichfield and it is reported that he would have gone to Shrewsbury his Council having never suffered him to know that it was taken till now and so he went to Rayland Caâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 which was a strong Hold and the House of the Marquess of 〈◊〉 a Papist where his Dispute with the Marquess was said to be which Dr. Baâ—ly published and then turned Papist and which Mr. Christopher Cartright continued deâ—ending the King Fairfax's Army pursued to Leicester where the wounded Men and some others stayed with the Garrison in a day or two's time the Town was re-taken And now I am come up to the Passage which I intended of my own going into the Army § 73. Naâ—â—by being not far from Coventry where I was and the noise of the Victory being loud in our Ears and I having two or three that of old had been my intimate Friends in Cromwell's Army whom I had not seen of above two Years I was desirous to go see whether they were dead or alive and so to Naseby Field I went two days after the sight and thence by the Armies Quarters before Leicester to seek my Acquaintance When I found them I stayed with them a Night and I understood the state of the Army much better than ever I had done before We that lived quietly in Coventry did keep to our old Principles and thought all others had done so too except a very few inconsiderable Persons We were unfeignedly for King and Parliament We believed that the War was only to sive the Parliament and Kingdom from Papists and Delinquents and to remove the Dividers that the King might again return to his Parliament and that no Changes might be made in Religion but by the Laws which had his free consent We took the true happiness of King and People Church and State to be our end and so we understood the Covenant engaging both against Papists and Schismaticks And when the Court News-book told the World of the Swarms of Anabaptists in our Armies we thought it had been a meer lye because it was not so with us nor in any of the Garrison or County-Forces about us But when I came to the Army among Cromwell's Soldiers I found a new face of things which I never dreamt of I heard the plotting Heads very hot upon that which intimated their Intention to subvert both Church and State Independency and Anabaptistry were most prevalent Antinomianism and Arminianism were equally distributed and Thomas Moor's Followers a Weaver of Wisbitch and Lyn of excellent Parts had made some shifts to joyn these two Extreams together Abundance of the common Troopers and many of the Officers I found to be honest sober Orthodox Men and others tractable ready to hear the Truth and of upright Intentions But a few proud self-conceited hot-headed Sectaries had got into the highest places and were Cromwell's chief Favourites and by their very heat and activity bore down the rest or carried them along with them and were the Soul of the Army though much fewer in number than the rest being indeed not one to twenty throughout the Army their strength being in the Generals and Whalleys and Rich's Regiments of Horse and in the new placed Officers in many of the rest I perceived that they took the King for a Tyrant and an Enemy and really intended absolutely to master him or to ruine him and that they thought if they might fight against him they might kill or conquer him and if they might conquer they were never more to trust him further than he was in their power and that they thought it folly to irritate him either by Wars or Contradictions in Parliament if so be they must needs take him for their King and trust him with their Lives when they had thus displeased him They said What were the Lords of England but William the Conquerour's Colonels or the Barons but his Majors or the Knights but his Captains They plainly shewed me that they thought God's Providence would cast the Trust of Religion and the Kingdom upon them as Conquerours They made nothing of all the most wise and godly in the Armies and Garrisons that were not of their way Per fas aut nefas by Law or without it they were resolved to take down not only Bishops and Liturgy and Ceremonies but all that did withstand their way They were far from thinking of a moderate Episcopacy or of any healing way between the Episcopal and the Presbyterians They most honoured the Separatists Anabaptists and Antinomians but Cromwell and his Council took on them to joyn themselves to no Party but to be for the Liberty of all Two sorts I perceived they did so commonly and bitterly Speak against that it was done in meer design to make them odious to the Soldiers and to all the Land and that was 1. The Sots and with them all Presbyterians but especially the Ministers whom they call Priests and Priestbyters and Drivines and the Dissemby-men and such like 2. The Committees of the several Countries and all the Soldiers that were under them that were not of their Mind and Way Some orthodox Captains of the Army did partly acquaint me with all this and I heard much of it from the Mouths of the leading Sectaries themselves This struck me to the very Heart and made me Fear that England was lost by those that it had taken for its Chiefest Friends § 74. Upon this I began to blame both other Ministers and my self I saw that it was the Ministers that had lost all by forsaking the Army and betaking themselves to an easier and quieter way of Life When the Earl of Essex went out first each Regiment had an able Preacher but at Edg-hill Fight almost all of them went home and as the Sectaries increased they were the more averse to go into the Army It s true that I believe now they had little Invitation and its true that they must look for little Welcome and great Contempt and Opposition besides all other Difficulties and Dangers But it is as true that their Worth and Labour in a patient self-denying way had been like to have preserved most of the Army and to have defeated the Contrivances of the Sectaries and to have saved the King the Parliament and the Land And if it had brought Reproach upon them from the Malitious who called them Military Levites the Good which they had done would have wiped off that blot much better than the contrary course would do And I reprehended my self also who had before rejected an Invitation from Cromwell When he lay at Cambridge long before with that
famous Troop which he began his Army with his Officers purposed to make their Troop a gathered Church and they all subscribed an Invitation to me to be their Pastor and sent it me to Coventry I sent them a Denial reproving their Attempt and told them wherein my Judgment was against the Lawfulness and Convenience of their way and so I heard no more from them And afterward meeting Cromwell at Leicester he expostulated with me for denying them These very men that then invited me to be their Pastor were the Men that afterwards headed much of the Army and some of them were the forwardest in all our Changes which made me wish that I had gone among them however it had been interpreted for then all the Fire was in one Spark § 75. When I had informed my self to my sorrow of the state of the Army Capt. Evanson one of my Orthodox Informers desired me yet to come to their Regiment telling me that it was the most religious most valiant most succesful of all the Army but in as much danger as any one whatsoever I was loth to leave my Studies and Friends and Quietness at Coventry to go into an Army so contrary to my Judgment but I thought the Publick Good commanded me and so I gave him some Encouragement whereupon he told his Colonel Whalley who also was Orthodox in Religion but engaged by Kindred and Interest to Cromwell He invited me to be Chaplain to his Regiment and I told him I would take but a days time to deliberate and would send him an Answer or else come to him As soon as I came home to Coventry I call'd together an Assembly of Ministers Dr. Bryan Dr. Grew and many others there being many as I before noted fled thither from the Parts thereabouts I told them the sad News of the Corruption of the Army and that I thought all we had valued was like to be endangered by them seeing this Army having first conquered at York where Cromwell was under Manchester and now at Naseby and having left the King no visible Army but Gorings the Fate of the whole Kingdom was like to follow the Disposition and Interest of the Conquerours We have sworn to be true to the King and his Heirs in the Oath of Allegiance All our Soldiers here do think that the Parliament is faithful to the King and have no other purposes themselves If King and Parliament Church and State be ruined by those Men and we look on and do nothing to hinder it how are we true to our Allegiance and to the Covenant which bindeth us to defend the King and to be against Schism as well as against Popery and Prophaneness For my part said I I know that my Body is so weak that it is like to hazard my Life to be among them and I expect their Fury should do little less than rid me out of the way and I know one Man cannot do much upon them But yet if your Judgment take it to be my Duty I will venture my Life among them and perhaps some other Ministers may be drawn in and then some more of the Evil may be prevented The Ministers finding my own Judgment for it and being moved with the Cause did unanimously give their Judgment for my going Hereupon I went strait to the Committee and told them that I had an Invitation to the Army and desired their Consent to go They consulted a while and then left it wholly to the Governour saying That if he consented they should not hinder me It fell out that Col. Barker the Governour was just then to be turned out as a Member of Parliament by the Self-denying Vote And one of his Captains was to be Colonel and Governour in his place Col. Willoughby Hereupon Col. Barker was consent in his discontent that I should go out with him that he might be mist the more and so gave me his consent Hereupon I sent word to Col. Whalley that to morrow God willing I would come to him As soon as this was done the elected governour was much displeased and the Soldiers were so much offended with the Committee for consenting to my going that the Committee all met again in the Night and sent for me and told me I must not go I told them that by their Consent I had promised and therefore must go They told me that the Soldiers were ready to mutiny against them and they could not satisfie them and therefore I must stay I told them that I had not promised if they had not consented though being no Soldier or Chaplain to the Garrison but only preaching to them I took my self to be a Free-man and I could not break my word when I had promised by their Consent They seemed to deny their Consent and said they did but refer me to the Governour In a word they were so angry with me that I was fain to tell them all the truth of my Motives and Design what a case I perceived the Army to be in and that I was resolved to do my best against it I knew not till afterward that Col. William Purefoy a Parliament Man one of the chief of them was a Confident of Cromwells and as soon as I had spoken what I did of the Army Magisterially he answereth me Let me hear no more of that If Nol. Cromwell should hear any Soldiers speak but such a word he would cleave his crown You do them wrong it is not so I told him what he would not hear he should not hear from me but I would perform my word though he seemed to deny his And so I parted with those that had been my very great Friends in some displeasure But the Soldiers threatned to stop the Gates and keep me in but being honest understanding Men I quickly satisfied the Leaders of them by a private intimation of my Reasons and Resolutions and some of them accompanied me on my way § 76. As soon as I came to the Army Oliver Cromwell coldly bid me welcome and never spake one word to me more while I was there nor once all that time vouchfaced me an Opportunity to come to the Head Quarters where the Councils and Meetings of the Officers were so that most of my design was thereby frustrated And his Secretary gave out that there was a Reformer come to the Army to undeceive them and to save Church and State with some such other Jeers by which I perceived that all that I had said but the Night before to the Committee was come to Cromwell before me I believe by Col. Purefoy's means But Col. Whalley welcomed me and was the worse thought on for it by the rest of the Cabal § 77. Here I set my self from day to day to find out the Corruptions of the Soldiers and to discourse and dispute them out of their mistakes both Religious and Political My Life among them was a daily contending against Seducers and gently arguing with the more Tractable and
same Opinions He would not Dispute with me at all but he would in good Discourse very fluently pour out himself in the Extolling of Freegrace which was savoury to those that had right Principles though he had some misunderstandings of Freegrace himself He was a Man of excellent Natural Parts for Affection and Oratory but not well seen in the Principles of his Religion Of a Sanguine Complexion naturally of such a vivacity hilarity and alacrity as another man hath when he hath drunken a Cup too much but naturally also so far from humble Thoughts of himself that it was his ruine § 83. All these two Years that I was in the Army even my old bosom Friend that had lived in my House and been dearest to me Iames Berry then Captain and after Colonel and Major General and Lord of the Upper House who had formerly invited me to Cromwell's old Troop did never once invite me to the Army at first nor invite me to his Quarters after nor never once came to visit me nor saw me save twice or thrice that we met accidently so potent is the Interest of our selves and our Opinions with us against all other Bonds whatever He that forsaketh himself in forsaking his own Opinions may well be expected to forsake his Friend who adhereth to the way which he forsaketh and that Change which maketh him think he was himself an ignorant misguided man before must needs make him think his Friend to be still ignorant and misguided and value him accordingly He was a Man I verily think of great Sincerity before the Wars and of very good Natural Parts especially Mathematical and Mechanical and affectionate in Religion and while conversant with humbling Providences Doctrines and Company he carried himself as a very great Enemy to Pride But when Cromwell made him his Favourite and his extraordinary Valour was crowned with extraordinary Success and when he had been a while most conversant with those that in Religion thought the old Puritan Ministers were dull self-conceited Men of a lower form and that new Light had declared I know not what to be a higher attainment his Mind his Aim his Talk and all was altered accordingly And as Ministers of the old way were lower and Sectaries much higher in his esteem than formerly so he was much higher in his own Esteem when he thought he had attained much higher than he was before when he sate with his Fellows in the Common Form Being never well studied in the Body of Divinity or Controversie but taking his Light among the Sectaries before the Light which longer and patient Studies of Divinity should have prepossest him with he lived after as honestly as could be expected in one that taketh Errour for Truth and Evil to be Good After this he was President of the Agitators and after that Major General and Lord as aforesaid And after that a principal Person in the Changes and the principal Executioner in pulling down Richard Cromwell and then was one of the Governing Council of State And all this was promoted by the misunderstanding of Providence while he verily thought that God by their Victories had so called them to look after the Government of the Land and so entrusted them with the welfare of all his People here that they were responsible for it and might not in Conscience stand still while any thing was done which they thought was against that Interest which they judged to be the Interest of the People of God And as he was the Chief in pulling down he was one of the first that fell For Sir Arthur Haselrigg taking Portsmouth of which more hereafter his Regiment of Horse sent to block it up went most of them into Sir Arthur Haselrigg And when the Army was melted to nothing and the King ready to come in the Council of State imprisoned him because he would not promise to live peaceably and afterwards he being one of the four whom General Monk had the worst thoughts of was closely consin'd in Scarborough Castle but being released he became a Gardiner and lived in a safer state than in all his Greatness § 84. When Worcester Siege was over having with Joy seen Kidderminster and my Friends there once again the Country being now cheared my old Flock expected that I should return to them and settle in Peace among them I went to Coventry and called the Ministers again together who had voted me into the Army I told them That the forsaking of the Army by the old Ministers and the neglect of Supplying their Places by others had undone us that I had laboured among them with as much Success as could be expected in the narrow sphere of my Capacity but that signified little to all the Army That the Active Sectaries were the smallest part of the Army among the Common Soldiers but Cromwell had lately put so many of them into Superiour Command and their Industry was so much greater than others that they were like to have their Will That whatever obedience they pretended I doubted not but they would pull down all that stood in their way in State and Church both King Parliament and Ministers and set up themselves I told them that for this little that I have done I have ventured my Life and weakened my Body weak before but the Day which I expected is yet to come and the greatest Service with the Greatest Hazard is yet before The Wars being now ended I was confident they would shortly shew their purposes and set up for themselves And when that day came for all that are true to King Parliament and Religion then to appear if there be any hope by contradicting them or drawing off the Soldiers from them was all the Service that was yet possible to be done That I was like to do no great matter in such an Attempt but there being so many in the Army of my mind I knew not what might he till the Day should discover it Though I knew it was the greatest hazard of my Life my Judgment was for staying among them till the Crisis if their Judgment did concur Whereupon they all voted me to go and leave Kidderminster yet longer which accordingly I did § 85. From Worcester I went to London to Sir Theodore Mayern about my health He sent me to Tunbridge Wells and after some stay there to my benefit I went back to London and so to my Quarters in Worcestershire where the Regiment was My Quarters fell out to be at Sir Tho. Rous at Rous's Lench where I had never been before The Lady Rous was a godly grave understanding Woman and entertained me not as a Soldier but a Friend From thence I went into Leicestershire Staffordshire and at last into Derbyshire One advantage by this moving Life I had that I had opportunity to preach in many Countreys and Parishes and whatever came of it afterward I know not but at the present they commonly seemed to be much affected I came to our
made haste and were upon them before they were well resolved what to do and the hearts of the Citizens failed them and were divided and they submitted to the Army and let them enter the City in triumph Whereupon Massey and Hollis and others of the accused Members fled into France of whom Sir Philip Stapleton died of the Plague near Calice and now the Army promised themselves an obedient Parliament but yet they were not to their mind § 89. Here I must look back to the Course and Affairs of the King who at the Siege of Oxford having no Army left and knowing that the Scots had more Loyalty and Stability in their Principles than the Sectaries resolved to cast himself upon them and so escaped to their Army in the North. The Scots were very much troubled at this Honour that was cast upon them for they knew not what to do with the King To send him back to the English Parliament seemed unfaithfulness when he had cast himself upon them To keep him they knew would divide the Kingdoms and draw a War upon themselves from England whom now they knew themselves unable to resist They kept him awhile among them with honourable Entertainment till the Parliament sent for him and they saw that the Sectaries and the Army were glad of it as an occasion to make them odious and to invade their Land And so the terrour of the Conquering Army made them deliver him to the Parliaments Commissioners upon two Conditions 1. That they should promise to preserve his Person in Safety and Honour according to the Duty which they owed him by their Allegiance 2. That they should presently pay the Scots Army one half the Pay which was due to them for their Service which had been long unpaid to make them odious to the Country where they quartered Hereupon the King being delivered to the Parliament they appointed Colonel Richard Greaves Major General Richard Brown with others to be his Attendants and desired him to abide awhile at Homeby-House in Northamptonshire While he was here the Army was hatching their Conspiracy And on the sudden one Cornet Ioyce with a party of Soldiers fetcht away the King notwithstanding the Parliaments Order for his Security And this was done as if it had been against Cromwell's Will and without any Order or Consent of theirs But so far was he from losing his Head for such a Treason that it proved the means of his Preâ—erment And so far was Cromwell and his Soldiers from returning the King in Safety that they detained him among them and kept him with them till they came to Hampton Court and there they lodged him under the Guard of Col. Whalley the Army quarterring all about him While he was here the mutable Hypocrites first pretended an extraordinary Care of the King's Honour Liberty Safety and Conscience They blamed the Austerity of the Parliament who had denied him the Attendance of his own Chaplains and of his Friends in whom he took most pleasure They gave Liberty for his Friends and Chaplains to come to him They pretended that they would save him from the Incivilities of the Parliament and Presbyterians Whether this were while they tried what Terms they could make with him for themselves or while they acted any other part it is certain that the King 's old Adherents began to extol the Army and to speak against the Presbyterians more distastfully than before When the Parliament offered the King Propositions for Concord which Vane's Faction made as high and unreasonable as they could that they might come to nothing the Army forsooth offer him Proposals of their own which the King liked better But which of them to treat with he did not know At last on the sudden the Judgment of the Army changed and they began to cry for Iustice against the King and with vile Hypocrisie to publish their Repentance and cry God Mercy for their Kindness to the King and confess that they were under a Temptation But in all this Cromwell and Ireton and the rest of the Council of War appeared not The Instruments of all this Work must be the Common Soldiers Two of the most violent Sectaries in each Regiment are chosen by the Common Soldiers by the Name of Agitators to represent the rest in these great Affairs All these together made a Council of which Col. Iames Berry was the President that they might be used ruled and dissolved at pleasure No man that knew them will doubt whether this was done by Cromwell's and Ireton's Direction This Council of Agitators take not only the Parliaments Work upon themselves but much more They draw up a Paper called The Agreement of the People as the Model or Form of a New Commonwealth They have their own Printer and publish abundance of wild Pamphlets as changeable as the Moon the thing contrived was an Heretical Democracy When Cromwell had awhile permitted them thus to play themselves partly to please them and confirm them to him and chiefly to use them in his demolishing Work at last he seemeth to be so much for Order and Government as to blame them for their Disorder Presumption and Headiness as if they had done it without his Consent This emboldeneth the Parliament not to Censure them as Rebels but to rebuke them and prohibit them and claim their own Superiority And while the Parliament and the Agitators are contending a Letter is secretly sent to Col. Whalley to intimate that the Agitators had a design suddenly to surprize and murder the King Some think that this was sent from a real Friend but most think it was contrived by Cromwell to affright the King out of the Land or into some desperate Course which might give them Advantage against him Collonel Whalley sheweth the Letter to the King which put him into much fear of such ill governed Hands so that he secretly got Horses and slipt away towards the Sea with two of his Confidents only who coming to the Sea near Southampton found that they were disappointed of the Vessel expected to transport them and so were fain to pass over into the Isle of Wight and there to commit his Majesty to the Trust of Collonel Robert Hammond who was Governor of a Castle there A Day or two all were amazed to think what was become of the King and then a Letter from the King to the House acquainted them that he was fain to fly thither from the Cruelty of the Agitators who as he was informed thought to murder him and urging them to treat about the ending all these Troubles But here Cromwell had the King in a Pinfold and was more secure of him than before § 90. The Parliament and the Scots and all that were loyal and soberminded abhorred these traiterous Proceedings of Cromwell and the sectarian Army but saw it a Matter of great difficulty to resist them but the Conscience of their Oath of Allegiance and Covenant told them that they were bound to hazard their
Lives in the attempt The three Commanders for the Parliament in Pembrookshire raised an Army against them viz. Major General Langhorn Collonel Powel and Collonel Poyer The Scots raised a great Army under the Command of the Duke of Hamilton The Kentish Men rose under the Command of the Lord Goring and others and the Essex Men under Sir Charles Lucas But God's time was not come and the Spirit of Pride and Schism must be known to the World by its Effects Duke Hamilton's Army was easily routed in Lancashire and he taken and the scattered Parts pursued till they came to nothing Langhorn with the Pembrookshire Men was totally routed by Collonel Horton and all the chief Commanders being taken Prisoners it fell to Collonel Poyer's Lot to be shot to Death The Kentish Men were driven out of Kent into Essex being foiled at Maidstone And in Colchester they endured a long and grievous Siege and yielding at last Sir Charles Lucas and another or two were shot to Death and thus all the Succors of the King were defeated § 91. Never to this time when Cromwell had taught his Agitators to govern and could not easily unteach it them again there arose a Party who adhered to the Principles of their agreement of the People which suited not with his Designs And to make them odious he denominated them Levellers as if they intended to level Men of all Qualities and Estates while he discountenanced them he discontented them and being discontented they endeavoured to discontent the Army and at last appointed a Randezvouz at Burford to make Head against him But Cromwell whose Diligence and Dispatch was a great Cause of his Successes had presently his Brother Desborough and some other Regiments ready to surprise them there in their Quarters before they could get their Numbers together So that about 1500 being scattered and taken and some slain the Levellers War was crusht in the Egg and Thompson one of Captain Pitchford's Corporals aforementioned who became their chief Leader was pursued near Wielingborough in Northamptonshire and there slain while he defended himself § 92. As I have past over many Battles Sieges and great Actions of the Wars as not belonging to my purpose so I have passed over Cromwell's March into Scotland to help the Covenanters when Montross was too strong for them and I shall pass over his Transportation into Ireland and his speedy Conquest of the remaining Forces and Fortresses of that Kingdom his taking the Isles of Man of Iersey Garnsey and Scilly and such other of his Successes and speak only in brief of what he did to the change of the Government and to the exalting of himself and of his Confidents And I will pass over the Londoners Petitions for the King and their Carriage towards the House which looked like a force and exasperated them so that the Speakers of both Houses the Earl of Manchester and Mr. Lenthall did with the greater part of the present Members go forth to Cromwell and make some kind of Confederacy with the Army and took them for their Protectors against the Citizens Also their votings and unvoting in these Cases c. § 93. The King being at the Isle of Wight the Parliament sent him some Propositions to be consented to in order to his Restoration The King granted many of them and some he granted not The Scottish Commissioners thought the Conditions more dishonourable to the King than was consistant with their Covenant and Duty and protested against them for which the Parliament blamed them as hinderers of the desired Peace The chiefest thing which the King stuck at was the utter abolishing of Episcopacy and alienating theirs and the Dean and Chapters Lands Hereupon with the Commissioners certain Divines were sent down to satisfie the King viz. Mr. Steph. Marshall Mr. Rich. Vines Dr. Lazarus Seaman c. who were met by many of the King 's Divines Archbishop Usher Dr. Hammond Dr. Sheldon c. The Debates here being in Writing were published and each Party thought they had the better and the Parliaments Divines came off with great Honour But for my part I confess these two things against them though Persons whom I highly honoured 1. That they seem not to me to have answered satisfactorily to the main Argument fetcht from the Apostles own Government with which Saravia had inclined me to some Episcopacy before though Miracles and Infallibility were Apostolical temporary Priviledges yet Church Government is an ordinary thing to be continued And therefore as the Apostles had Successors as they were Preachers I see not but that they must have Successors as Church Governors And it seemeth unlikely to me that Christ should settle a Form of Government in his Church which was to continue but for one Age and then to be transformed into another Species Could I be sure what was the Government in the Days of the Apostles themselves I should be satisfied what should be the Government now 2. They seem not to me to have taken the Course which should have setled these distracted Churches Instead of disputing against all Episcopacy they should have changed Diocesan Prelacy into such an Episcopacy as the Conscience of the King might have admitted and as was agreeable to that which the Church had in the two or three first Ages I confess Mr. Vines wrote to me as their excuse in this and other Matters of the Assembly that the Parliament tied them up from treating or disputing of any thing at all but what they appointed or proposed to them But I think plain dealing with such Leaders had been best and to have told them this is our Iudgment and in the matters of God and his Church we will serve you according to our Judgment or not at all But indeed if they were not of one Mind among themselves this could not be expected Archbishop Usher there took the rightest course who offered the King his Reduction of Episcopacy to the form of Presbytery And he told me himself that before the King had refused it but at the Isle of Wight he accepted it and as he would not when others would so others would not when he would And when our present King Charles II. came in we tendered it for Union to him and then he would not And thus the true moderate healing terms are always rejected by them that stand on the higher Ground though accepted by them that are lower and cannot have what they will From whence it is easy to perceive whether Prosperity or Adversity the Highest or the Lowest be ordinarily the greater Hinderer of the Churches Unity and Peace I know that if the Divines and Parliament had agreed for a moderate Episcopacy with the King some Presbyterians of Scotland would have been against it and many Independants of England and the Army would have made i◠the matter of odious Accusations and Clamours But all this had been of no great regard to remove foreseeing judicious Men from those healing Counsels which must
close our Wounds whenever they are closed § 94. The King sending his final Answers to the Parliament the Parliament had a long Debate upon them whether to acquiesce in them as a sufficient Ground for Peace and many Members spake for resting in them and among others Mr. Prin went over all the King's Conscessions in a Speech of divers Hours long with marvellous Memory and shewed the Satisfactoriness of them all and after printed it So that the House voted that the King's Concessions were a sufficient Ground for a Personal Treaty with him and had suddenly sent a concluding Answer and sent for him up but at such a Crisis it was time for the Army to besâ—ir them Without any more ado Cromwell and his Confidents send Collonel Pride with a Party of Souldiers to the House and set a Guard upon the Door one Part of the House who were for them they let in another part they turned away and told them that they must not come there and the third part they imprisoned the soberest worthy Members of the House and all to prevent them from being true to their Oaths and Covenants and loyal to their King To so much Rebellion Perfideousness Perjury and Impudence can Error Selfishness and Pride of great Successes transport Men of the highest Pretences to Religion § 95. For the true understanding of all this it must be remembred that though in the beginning of the Parliament there was scarce a noted gross Sectary known but the Lord Brook in the House of Peers and young sir Henry Vane in the House of Commons yet by Degrees the Number of them increased in the Lower House Major Sallowey and some few more Sir Henry Vane had made his own Adherents Many more were carried part of the way to Independency and Liberty of Religions and many that minded not any side in Religion did think that it was no Policie ever to trust a conquered King and therefore were wholly for a Parliamentary Government Of these some would have Lords and Commons as a mixture of Aristocracie and Democracie and others would have Commons and Democracie alone and some thought that they ought to judge the King for all the Blood that had been shed And thus when the two Parts of the House were ejected and imprisoned this third part composed of the Vanists the Independants and other Sects with the Democratical Party was left by Cromwell to do his Business under the Name of the Parliament of England but by the People in Scorn commonly called The Rump of the Parliament The secluded and imprisoned Members published a Writing called their Vindication and some of them would afterwards have thrust into the House but the Guard of Soldiers kept them out and the Rump were called the Honest Men. And these are the Men that henceforward we have to do with in the Progress of our History as called The Parliament § 96. As the Lords were disaffected to these Proceedings so were the Rump and Soldiers to the Lords So that they passed a Vote supposing that the Army would stand by them to establish the Government without a King and House of Lords and so the Lords dissolved and these Commons sat and did all alone And being deluded by Cromwell and verily thinking that he would be for Democracie which they called a Commonwealth they gratified him in his Designs and themselves in their disloyal Distrusts and Fears and they caused a High Court of Justice to be erected and sent for the King from the Isle of Wight Collonel Hammond delivered him and to Westminster-Hall he came and refusing to own the Court and their Power to try him Cook as Attorney having pleaded against him Bradshaw as President and Judge recited the Charge and condemned him And before his own Gate at Whitehall they erected a Scaffold and before a full Assembly of People beheaded him Wherein appeared the Severity of God the Mutability and Uncertainty of Worldly Things and the Fruits of a sinful Nation 's Provocations and the infamous Effects of Error Pride and Selfishness prepared by Satan to be charged hereafter upon Reformation and Godliness to the unspeakable Injury of the Christian Name and Protestant Cause the Rejoicing and Advantage of the Papists the Hardning of Thousands against the Means of their own Salvation and the Confusion of the Actors when their Day is come § 97. The Lord General Fairfax all this while stood by and with high Resentment saw his Lieutenant do all this by tumultuous Souldiers tricked and over-powered by him neither being sufficiently upon his Guard to defeat the Intreagues of such an Actor nor having Resolution enough as yet to lay down the Glory of all his Conquests and for sake him But at the King's Death he was in wonderful Perplexities and when Mr. Colomy and some Ministers were sent for to resolve him and would have farther persuaded him to rescue the King his Troubles so confounded him that they durst let no Man speak to him And Cromwell kept him as it was said in praying and consulting till the Stroke was given and it was too late to make Resistance But not long after when War was determined against Scotland he laid down his Commission and never had to do with the Army more and Cromwell was General in his stead § 98. If you ask what did the Ministers all this while I answer they Preach'd and Pray'd against Disloyalty They drew up a Writing to the Lord General declaring their Abhorrence of all Violence against the Person of the King and urging him and his Army to take heed of such an unlawful Act They present it to the General when they saw the King in Danger But Pride prevailed against their Counsels § 99. The King being thus taken out of the way Cromwell takes on him to be for a Commonwealth but all in order to the Security of the good People till he had removed the other Impediments which were yet to be removed so that the Rump presently drew up a Form of Engagement to be put upon all Men viz. I do promise to be True and Faithful to the Commonwealth as it is now established without a King or House of Lords So we must take the Rump for an established Commonwealth and promise Fidelity to them This the Sectarian Party swallowed easily and so did the King's old Cavaliers so far as I was acquainted with them or could hear of them not heartily no doubt but they were very few of them sick of the Disease called tenderness of Conscience or Scrupulosity But the Presbyterians and the moderate Episcopal Men refused it and I believe so did the Prelatical Divines of the King's Party for the most part though the Gentlemen had greater Necessities Without this Engagement no Man must have the Benefit of suing another at Law which kept Men a little from Contention and would have marr'd the Lawyers trade nor must they have any Masterships in the Universities nor travel above so many Miles
from their Houses and more such Penalties which I remember not so short Lived a Commonwealth deserved no long Remembrance Mr. Vines and Dr. Rainbow and many more were hereupon put out of their Headships in the Universities and Mr. Sidrach Sympson and Mr. Io. Sadler and such others put in yea such a Man as Mr. Dell the Chaplain of the Army who I think neither understood himself nor was understood by others any farther than to be one who took Reason Sound Doctrine Order and Concord to be the intollerable Maladies of Church and State because they were the greatest Strangers to his Mind But poor Dr. Edward Reignolds had the hardest Measure for when he refused to take the Engagement his Place was forfeited and afterwards they drew him to take it in hopes to keep his Place which was no less than the Deanarie of Christ's-Church and then turned him out of all and offered his Place to Mr. Ios. Caryll but he refusing it it was conferred on Dr. Owen to whom it was continued from year to year And because the Presbyterians still urged the Covenant against killing the King and pulling down the Parliament and setting up a Commonwealth and taking the Engagement some of the Independent Brethren maintained that its Obligation ceased because it was a League and the Occasion of it ceased And some of the Rump said it was like an Almanack out of date and some of the Souldiers said they never took it and others of them railed at it as a Scottish Snare So that when their Interest would not suffer them to keep so solemn a Vow their Wills would not suffer their Judgments to confess it to be Obligatory at least as to the part which they must violate § 100. For my own part though I kept the Town and Parish of Kiderminster from taking the Covenant and seeing how it might become a Snare to their Consciences yea and most of Worcestershire besides by keeping the Ministers from offering it in any of the Congregations to the People except in Worcester City where I had no great Interest and know not what they did yet I could not judge it seemly for him that believed there is a God to play fast and loose with a dreadful Oath as if the Bonds of National and Personal Vows were as easily shak'd off as Sampson's Cords Therefore I spake and preach'd against the Engagement and dissuaded Men from taking it The first hour that I heard of it being in Company with some Gentlemen of Worcestershire I presently wrote down above twenty Queries against it intending as many more almost against the Obligation as those were about the Sense and Circumstances And one that was present got the Copy of them and shortly after I met with them verbatim in a Book of Mr. Henry Hall's as his own one that was long imprisoned for writing against Cromwell Some Episcopal Divines that were not so scrupulous it seems as we did write for it private Manuscripts which I have seen and plead the irresistability of the Imposers and they found starting holes in the Terms viz. That by the Common-wealth they will mean the present Commonwealth in genere and by Established they will mean only de facto and not de jure and by without a King c. they mean not quatenus but Etsi and that only de facto pro tempore q. d. I will be true to the Government of England though at the present the King and House of Lords are put out of the Exercise of their power These were the Expositions of many Episcopal Men and others that took it But I endeavoured to evince that this is meer jugling and jesting with Matters too great to be jested with And that as they might easily know that the Imposers had another sense so as easily might they know that the words in their own obvious usual sense among men must be taken as the Promise or Engagement of a Subject as such to a Form of Government now pretended to be established And that the Subjects Allegiance or Fidelity to his Rulers can be acknowledged and given in no plainer words And that by such Interpretations and Stretchings of Conscience any Treasonable Oath or Promise may be taken and no Bonds of Society can signifie much with such Interpreters § 101. England and Ireland being thus Conquered by Cromwell by deluding well-meaning Men into his Service and covering his Ambition with the Lord Fairfax's Generalship the Parliament being imprisoned and cast out the King cut off and the Rump established as a new Commonwealth those great and solid Men Pim Hampden c. being long before dead and rid out of his way who else had been like to have prevailed against the Plots of Vane in the Parliament you would think there were nothing now standing in his way to hinder him from laying hands upon the Crown But four Impediments yet stood before him 1. The numerous Cavaliers or Royalists ready for new Enterprizes against him 2. The Scots who resolved to stick to the Covenant and the King 3. The Army which must be untaught all the Principles which he is now permitting them to learn For those Principles which must bring him to the Crown are the worst in the World for him when once he is there 4. The Ministers of England and Scotland and all the sober People who regarded them The first of these he most easily though not without strugling overcame making his advantage by all their Enterprizes The second put him harder to it but he overcame them at last The third proved yet a greater difficulty but he seemed absolutely to overcome it yet leaving still some Life in the root The fourth strove against him more calmly and prudently with invincible Weapons and though they were quiet were never overcome but at last revived the spark of Life which was left in the third and thereby gave a Resurrection to the first and second and so recovered all at last not to the state of their own Interest or to that Condition of Church Affairs which they desired but to that Civil State of Royal Government to which they were engaged and from which the Nation seemed to have fallen These are the true Contents of the following parts that were acted in these Lands The Rump I might mention as another of his Impediments but as they now were doing his work so I conjoyn the Relicts of them which then disturbed him with the Army who were the strength by which they did it § 102. The King being dead his Son was by right immediately King and from that time he dateth his Reign The Scots send Messengers to him to come over to them and take the Crown But they treat with him first for his taking of the Covenant and renouncing the Wars and the Blood that was shed in them by his Fathers Party By which I perceive that the Scots understood the Clause in the Covenant of Defending the King's Person and Authority in the Defence
excellently well governed in comparison of what his Father 's was wont to be Not a Souldier durst wrong any Man of the worth of a Penny which much drew the Affections of the People towards them The Presence of Collonel Rich. Graves and Collonel Massy with them was the great Inducement to the Parliamentarians to come in But another great Impediment kept them off which was Cromwell's exceeding speedy Pursuit of them so that People had not time to resolve themselves considerately and most were willing to see what Cromwell's Assault would do before they cast themselves into the Danger Soldiers may most easily be had when there is least need of them The King came by the way of Lancoshire and summoned Shrewsbury in vain as he passed by through Shropshire And when all the Country thought that he was hastening to London where all Men supposed he would have attained his Ends increased his Strength and had no Resistance he turned to Worcester and there stayed to refresh his Army Cromwell's Forces being within a few days March of him § 110. The Army passed most by Kiderminster a Fields Breadth off and the rest through it Collonel Graves sent two or three Messages to me as from the King to come to him and after when he was at Worcester some others were sent But I was at that time under so great an Affliction of sore Eyes that I was not scarce able to see the Light nor fit to stir out of Doors And being not much doubtful of the Issue which followed I thought if I had been able it would have been no Service at all to the King it being so little on such a sudden that I could add to his Assistance When the King had stayed a few Days at Worcester Cromwell came with his Army to the East side of the City and after that made a Bridge of Boats over Severn to hinder them from Forage on the other side but because so great an Army could not long endure to be pent up the King resolved to charge Cromwell's Men and a while the Scots Foot did charge very gallantly and some chief Persons among the Horse The Marquis Hamilton late Earl of Lanerick being slain But at last the hope of Security so near their Backs encouraged the King's Army to retreat into the City and Cromwell's Souldiers followed them so close at the Heels that Major Swallow of Whalley's Regiment first and others after him entered Sidbury-Gate with them and so the whole Army fled through the City quite away many being trodden down and slain in the Streets so that the King was faign to fly with them Northward the Lord Willâ—â—ot the Earl of Lauderdaile and many others of his Lords and Commanders with him Kiderminster being but eleven Miles from Worcester the flying Army past some of them through the Town and some by it I was newly gone to Bed when the Noise of the flying Horse acquainted us of the Overthrow and a piece of one of Cromwell's Troops that Guarded Bewdley-Bridge having tidings of it came into our Streets and stood in the open Market-place before my Door to surprise those that past by And so when many hundreds of the flying Army came together when the 30 Troopers cryed stand and fired at them they either hasted away or cryed Quarter not knowing in the Dark what Number it was that charged them And so as many were taken there as so few Men could lay hold on And till Midnight the Bullets flying towards my Door and Windows and the sorrowful Fugitives hasting by for their Lives did tell me the Calamitousness of War The King parted at last from most of his Lords and went to Boscobell by the white Ladies where he was hid in an Oak in manner sufficiently declared to the World and thence to Mosely and so with Mrs. Lane away as a Traveller and escaped all the Searchers Hands till he came safe beyond Sea as is published at large by divers The City of Worcester was much plundered by Cromwell's Souldiers and a Party only sent out after the King 's Fugitives for an Army I will call them no more the Earl of Derby was taken and Capt. Benbow of Shrewsbury and were both put to Death the Sentence of Coll. Mackworth dispatched Benbow because he had been a Souldier under him The Earl of Lauderdaile and the Earl of Craford were sent Prisoners to Windsor-Castle where they were detained till the Restoration of the King Coll. Graves at last being released by Cromwell lived quietly at his House which made him ill thought of and kept from Preferment afterwards when the King came in And thus Cromwell's next Impediment was over § 111. The Scots Army being utterly dispatched in England and many of the Prisoners of Foot sent to the Barbado's c. part of Cromwell's Army was sent to prosecute the Victory in Scotland where briefly all their Garrisons at last were taken and the Earl of Glencarne and that learned religious excellent Person the Earl of Balcarres who kept up the last Forces there for the King were fain to fly to the King beyond Sea And Major General Monk was there left with some Forces to keep the Country in Subjection § 112. Cromwell having thus far seemed to be a Servant to the Parliament and work for his Masters the Rump or Commonwealth doth next begin to shew whom he served and take that Impediment also out of the way To which End he first doth by them as he did by the Presbyterians make them odious by hard Speeches of them throughout his Army as if they intended to perpetuate themselves and would not be accountable for the Money of the Commonwealth c. and he treateth privately with many of them to appoint a time when they would dissolve themselves that another free Parliament might be chosen But they perceived the Danger and were rather for the filling up of their Number by New Elections which he was utterly against His greatest Advantage to strengthen himself against them by the Sectaries was their owning the publick Ministry and their Maintenance for though Vane and his party set themselves to make the Ministers odious by reproachful Titles and to take them down yet still the greater part of the House did carry it for a sober Ministry and competent Maintenance And when the Quakers and others did openly reproach the Ministry and the Souldiers favour them I drew up a Petition for the Ministry and got many thousand Hands to it in Worcestershire and Mr. Tho. Fâ—ley and Coll. Iohn Bridgis presented it and the House gave a kind and promising Answer to it which increased the Sectaries Dipleasure against them And when a certain Quaker wrote a reviling Censure of this Petition I wrote a Defence of it and caused one of them to be given each parliament Man at the Door and within one day after they were dissolved For Cromwell impatient of any more delay suddenly took Harrison and some Souldiers with him as if God
Synod at Westminster I know that there are Men in the World that defame both the Actors and the Work and would make the World believe that almost none but worthy Learned Men were turned out and that for their Fidelity to the King and Bishops and that almost none but Unlearned and Factious Fellows were introduced But this Age hath taught the World how little the Report of such Men is to be believed of any others who speak what their Interest and Malice do command them and by these are made strangers to the Men they speak of though they dwell among them For they Converse not with them at all unless in some wrangling Dispute when Malice and Passion seek a Whetstone but they talk only with those that talk against them and easily believe any false Reports when once they are so like the Common Enemy that they desire them to be true But I shall in this Case also speak impartially neither justifying what they did amiss nor condemning them without cause And because I have past it by before I shall say something of the Westminster Assembly here This Synod was not a Convocation according to the Diocesan way of Government nor was it called by the Votes of the Ministers according to the Presbyterian way But the Parliament not intending to call an Assembly which should pretend a Divine Right to make obliging Laws or Canons to bind their Brethren but an Ecclesiastical Council to be Advisers to themselves did think that they best knew who were the fittest to give them Advice and therefore chose them all themselves Two were to be chosen out of each County but some few Counties I know not upon what reason had but one I suppose it was long of the Parliament Men of those Counties And because they would seem Impartial and have each Party to have liberty to speak they over and above the number chose many Episcopal Divines even the Learnedest of them in the Land as Archbishop Usher Primate of Ireland Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Hammond Dr. Wincop Bishop Westford Bishop Prideaux and many more But they would not come because it was not a Legal Convocation and because the King declared himself against it Dr. Dan. Featley and very few more of that Party came But at last he was charged with sending Intelligence to the King's Quarters at Oxford of what was done in the Synod and Parliament and was imprisoned which much reflected on the Parliament because whatever his Fact were he was so Learned a Man as was sufficient to dishonour those he suffered by The Prolocutor or Moderator was Dr. William Twisse a Man very famous for his Scholastical Wit and Writings in a very smooth triumphant Stile The Divines there Congregate were Men of Eminent Learning and Godliness and Ministerial Abilities and Fidelity And being not worthy to be one of them my self I may the more freely speak that Truth which I know even in the Face of Malice and Envy that as far as I am able to judge by the Information of all History of that kind and by any other Evidences left us the Christian World since the days of the Apostles had never a Synod of more Excellent Divines taking one thing with another than this Synod and the Synod of Dort were This Assembly was confined by the Parliament to debate only such things as they proposed to them And many Lords and Commons were joyned in Commission with them to see that they did not go beyond their Commission Six or seven Independants were joyned with them that all sides may be heard of whom five were called the Dissenting Brethren Philip Nye Thomas Goodwyn Ieremiah Burroughs Sydrach Sympson and William Bridge who joyned with the rest till they had drawn up a Confession of Faith a larger and a shorter Catechism But when they came to Church Government they engaged them in many long Debates and kept that Business as long as possibly they could undetermined and after that kept it so long unexecuted in almost all parts of the Land saving London and Lancashire that their Party had time to strengthen themselves in the Army and the Parliament and hinder the Execution after all and keep the Government determined of a Stranger to most of the People of this Land who knew it but by hearsay as it was represented by Reporters For my own part as highly as I honour the Men I am not of their Mind in every Point of the Government which they would have set up and some words in their Catechism I could wish had been more clear and above all I could wish that the Parliament and their more skilful Hand had done more than was done to heal our Breaches and had hit upon the right way either to unite with the Episcopal and Independants which was possible as distant as they are or at least had pitched on the Terms that are fit for Universal Concord and left all to come in upon those Terms that would But for all this dissent I must testifie my Love and Honour to the Persons of such great Sincerity and Eminent Ministerial Sufficiency as were Gataker Vines Burgess White and the greater part of that Assembly Among other parts of their Trust one was to approve of all that should be admitted into any Church Livings They had no Power to put out any but only to judge of the fitness of such as were taken in The Power of Casting out unworthy Men was partly in a Committee of Parliament Men at London and partly in the Committees of each several County according to an Ordinance of Parliament expressing the Crimes Herein it was laudable that Drunkards Swearers Cursers Blasphemers Hereticks Fornicators and such scandalous Persons were to be ejected but it was not well done to put in those among them that had been against the Parliament in the War For the Work of God should not give place to the Matters of their Secular Interest and Policy as long as the Being of the Commonwealth is secured And all the Learned Ministers in the Land on one side and the other are few enow to do the Work of Christ And I believe that those that were against them would have done them less hurt in the Pulpits where there were so many Witnesses than they did in Private But yet I must needs say that in all the Countreys where I was acquainted six to one at least if not many more that were Sequestred by the Committee were by the Oaths of Witnesses proved insufficent or scandalous or both especially guilty of Drunkenness or Swearing and those that being able godly Preachers were cast out for the War alone as for their Opinions sake were comparatively very few This I know will displease that Party but this is true And though now and then an unworthy Person by sinister means crept into their Places yet commonly those whom they put in were such as set themselves laboriously to seek the Saving of Souls Indeed the one half of them were
very young but that could not be helpt because there were no other to be had The Parliament could not make Men Learned nor Godly but only put in the learnedest and ablest that they could have And though it had been to be wisht that they might have had leisure to ripen in the Universities yet many of them did as Ambrose teach and learn at once so successfully as that they much increased in Learning themselves whilst they prosited others and proportionably more than many in the Universities do § 118. To return from this Digression to the Proceedings of Cromwell when he was made Lord Protector he had the Policy not to detect and exasperate the Ministers and others that consented not to his Government having seen what a stir the Engagement had before made but he let Men live quietly without putting any Oaths of Fidelity upon them except his Parliaments for those must not enter the House till they had sworn Fidelity to him The Sectarian Party in his Army and elsewhere he chiefly trusted to and pleased till by the Peoples submission and quietness he thought himself well settled And then he began to undermine them and by degrees to work them out And though he had so often spoken for the Anabaptists now he findeth them so heady and so much against any settled Government and so set upon the promoting of their Way and Party that he doth not only begin to blame their unruliness but also designeth to settle himself in the Peoples Favour by suppressing them In Ireland they were grown so high that the Soldiers were many of them re-baptized as the way to Preferment and those that opposed them they crusht with much uncharitable Fierceness To suppress these he sent thither his Son Henry Cromwell who so discountenanced the Anabaptists as yet to deal civilly by them repressing their Insolencies but not abusing them or dealing hardly with them promoting the Work of the Gospel and setting up good and sober Ministers and dealing civilly with the Royallists and obliging all so that he was generally beloved and well spoken of And Major General Ludlow who headed the Anabaptists in Ireland was fain to draw in his head In England Cromwell connived at his old Friend Harrison while he made himself the Head of the Anabaptists and Fanaticks here till he saw it would be an applauded acceptable thing to the Nation to suppress him and then he doth it easily in a trice and maketh him contemptible who but yesterday thought himself not much below him The same he doth also as easily by Lambert and layeth him by § 119. In these times especially since the Rump reigned sprang up five Sects at least whose Doctrines were almost the same but they sell into several Shapes and Names 1. The Vanists 2. The Seekers 3. The Ranters 4. The Quakers 5. The Behmenists 1. The Vanists for I know not by what other Name to make them known who were Sir Henry Vane's Disciples first sprang up under him in new England when he was Governor there But their Notions were then raw and undigested and their Party quickly confounded by God's Providence as you may see in a little Book of Mr. Tho. Welds of the Rise and Fall of Antinomianism and Familism in New-England where their Opinions and these Providences are recorded by him that was a reverend Minister there One Mrs. Dyer a chief Person of the Sect did first bring forth a Monster which had the Parts of almost all sorts of living Creatures some Parts like Man but most ugly and misplaced and some like Beasts Birds and Fishes having Horns Fins and Claws and at the Birth of it the Bed shook and the Women present fell a Vomiting and were fain to go forth of the Room Mr. Cotton was too favourable to them till this helpt to recover him Mrs. Hutchinson the chief Woman among them and their Teacher to whose Exercises a Congregation of them used to assemble brought forth about 30 mishapen Births or Lumps at once and being banished into another Plantation was killed there by the Indians Sir Henry Vane being Governor and found to be the secret Fautor and Life of their Cause was fain to steal away by Night and take Shipping for England before his Year of Government was at an end But when he came over into England he proved an Instrument of greater Calamity to a People more sinful and more prepared for God's Judgments Being chosen a Parliament man he was very active at first for the bringing of Delinquents to Punishment He was the Principal Man that drove on the Parliament to go too high and act too vehemently against the King Being of very ready Parts and very great Subtilty and unwearied Industry he laboured and not without Success to win others in Parliament City and Country to his Way When the Earl of Strafford was accused he got a Paper out of his Father's Cabinet who was Secretary of State which was the chief Means of his Condemnation To most of our Changes he was that Within the House which Cromwell was without His great Zeal to drive all into War and to the highest and to cherish the Sectaries and especially in the Army made him above all Men to be valued by that Party His Unhappiness lay in this that his Doctrines were so clowdily formed and expressed that few could understand them and therefore he had but few true Disciples The Lord Brook was slain before he had brought him to Maturity Mr. Sterry is thought to be of his Mind as he was his Intimate but he hath not opened himself in writing and was so famous for Obscurity in Preaching being said Sir Benj. Rudiard too high for this World and too low for the other that he thereby proved almost Barren also and Vanity and Sterility were never more happily conjoined Mr. Sprig is the chief of his more open Disciples too well known by a Book of his Sermons This Obscurity by some was imputed to his not understanding himself but by others to design because he could speak plainly when he listed the two Courses in which he had most Success and spake most plainly were His earnest Plea for universal Liberty of Conscience and against the Magistrates intermedling with Religion and his teaching his Followers to revile the Ministry calling them ordinarily Blackcoats Priests and other Names which then savoured of Reproach and those Gentlemen that adhered to the Ministry they said were Priest-ridden When Cromwell had served himself by him as his surest Friend as long as he could and gone as far with him as their way lay together Vane being for a Fanatick Democracie and Cromwell for Monarchy at last there was no Remedy but they must part and when Cromwell cast out the Rump as disdainfully as Men do Excrements he called Vane a Jugler and Martin a Whoremonger to excuse his usage of the rest as is aforesaid When Vane was thus laid by he wrote his Book called The retired Man's Meditations
wherein the best part of his Opinions are so expressed as will make but few Men his Disciples His Healing Question is more plainly written When Cromwell was dead he got Sir Arthur Haselrigge to be his close Adherent on Civil Accounts and got the Rump set up again and a Council of State and got the Power much into his own Hands When he was in the height of his power he set upon the forming of a new Commonwealth and with some of his Adherants drew up the model which was for popular Government but so that Men of his Confidence must be the People Of my own displeasing him this is the true Account It grieved me to see a poor Kingdom thus tost up and down in Unquietness and the Ministers made odious and ready to be cast out and a Reformation trodden under Foot and Parliaments and Piety made a Scorn and scarce any doubted but he was the principal Spring of all Therefore being writing against the Papists coming to vindicate our Religion against them when they impute to us the Blood of the King I fully proved that the Protestants and particularly the Presbyterians adhorred it and suffered greatly for opposing it and that it was the Act of Cromwell's Army and the Sectaries among which I named the Vanists as one Sort and I shewed that the Fryers and Jesuits were their Deceivers and under several Vizors were disperst among them and Mr. Nye having told me that he was long in Italy I said it was considerable how much of his Doctrine their Leader brought from Italy whereas it proved that he was only in France and Helvetia upon the Borders of Italy and whereas it was printed from Italy I had ordered the Printer to correct it fromwards Italy but though the Copy was corrected the Impression was not Hereupon Sir Henry Vane being exceedingly provoked threatned me to many and spake against me in the House and one Stubbs that had been whipt in the Convocation House at Oxford wrote for him a bitter Book against me who from a Vanist afterwards turned a Conformist since that he turned Physician and was drowned in a small Puddle or Brook as he was riding near the Bath I confess my Writing was a means to lessen his Reputation and make men take him for what Cromwell that better knew him called him a Iugler and I wish I had done so much in time But the whole Land rang of his Anger and my Danger and all expected my present Ruine by him But to shew him that I was not about Recanting as his Agents would have perswaded me I wrote also against his Healing Question in a Preface before my Holy Commonwealth And the speedy turn of Affairs did tye his Hands from Executing his Wrath upon me Upon the King's Coming in he was questioned with others by the Parliament but seemed to have his Life secured But being brought to the Barr he spake so boldly in justifying the Parliaments Cause and what he had done that it exasperated the King and made him resolve upon his Death When he came to Tower-hill to die and would have spoken to the People he began so resolutely as caused the Officers to sound the Trumpets and beat the Drums and hinder him from speaking No Man could die with greater appearance of gallant Resolution and Fearlesness than he did though before supposed a timorous Man Insomuch that the manner of his Death procured him more Applause than all the Actions of his Life And when he was dead his intended Speech was printed and afterwards his Opinions more plainly expressed by his Friend than by himself When he was Condemned some of his Friends desired me to come to him that I might see how far he was from Popery and in how excellent a Temper thinking I would have askt him Forgiveness for doing him wrong I told them that if he had desired it I would have gone to him but seeing he did not I supposed he would take it for an injury for my Conference was not like to be such as would not be pleasing to a dying man For though I never called him a Papist yet I still suppose he hath done the Papists so much Service and this poor Nation and Religion so much wrong that we and our Posterity are like to have cause and time enough to Lament it And so much of Sir Henry Vane and his Adherents § 121. The second Sect which then rose up was that called Seekers These taught that our Scripture was uncertain that present Miracles are necessary to Faith that our Ministry is null and without authority and our Worship and Ordinances unnecessary or vain the true Church Ministry Scripture and Ordinances being lost for which they are now Seeking I quickly found that the Papists principally hatcht and actuated this Sect and that a considerable Number that were of this Profession were some Papists and some Infidels However they closed with the Vanists and sheltered themselves under them as if they had been the very same § 122. The third Sect were the Ranters These also made it their Business as the former to set up the Light of Nature under the Name of Christ in Men and to dishonour and cry down the Church the Scripture the Present Ministry and our Worship and Ordinances and call'd men to hearken to Christ within them But withal they conjoyned a Cursed Doctrine of Libertinism which brought them to all abominable filthiness of Life They taught as the Familists that God regardeth not the Actions of the Outward Man but of the Heart and that to the Pure all things are Pure even things forbidden And so as allowed by God they spake most hideous Words of Blasphemy and many of them committed Whoredoms commonly Insomuch that a Matron of great Note for Godliness and Sobriety being perverted by them turned so shameless a Whore that she was Carted in the Streets of London There could never Sect arise in the World that was a lowder Warning to Professors of Religion to be humble fearful cautelous and watchful Never could the World be told more lowdly whither the Spiritual Pride of ungrounded Novices in Religion tendeth and whither Professors of Strictness in Religion may be carried in the Stream of Sects and Factions I have seen my self Letters written from Abbington where among both Soldiers and People this Contagion did then prevail full of horrid Oaths and Curses and Blasphemy not fit to be repeated by the Tongue or Pen of Man and this all uttered as the Effect of Knowledge and a part of their Religion in a Fanatick Strain and fathered on the Spirit of God But the horrid Villanies of this Sect did not only speedily Extinguish it but also did as much as ever any thing did to disgrace all Sectaries and to restore the Credit of the Ministry and the sober unanimous Christians So that the Devil and the Jesuits quickly found that this way served not their turn and therefore they suddenly took another § 123. And
Conversion of their own Children was the chief means to overcome their Prejudice and old Customs and Conceits 19. And God made great use of Sickness to do good to many For though Sick-bed Promises are usually soon forgotten yet was it otherwise with many among us And as soon as they were recovered they first came to our private Meetings and so kept in a learning state till further Fruits of Piety appeared 20. And I found that our disowning of the Iniquity of the Times did tend to the good of many For they despised those that always followed the stronger side and justified every wickedness that was done by the stronger Party Though we had judged the Parliaments War to be lawful and necessary to save themselves and us from the Irish and their Adherents and to punish Delinquents in a Course of Law while we believed that nothing was intended against the King or Laws yet as soon as ever we saw the Case changed and Cromwell's Army enter into a Rebellion against King and Parliament and kill the King and invade the Scots and fight against the King that should have succeeded c. we openly disowned them and on all just occasions exprest our abhorrence of their Hypocrisie Perjury and Rebellion except two or three idle drunken Fellows that thought to live by flattering the Times this was the Sense of all the Town And had I owned the Guilt of others it would have been my shame and the hinderance of my work and provoked God to have disowned me 21. Another of my great Advantages was the true Worth and Unanimity of the honest Ministers of the Country round about us who associated in a way of Concord with us Their Preaching was powerful and sober their Spirits peaceable and meek disowning the Treasons and Iniquities of the times as well as we they were wholly addicted to the winning of Souls self-denying and of most blameless Lives Evil spoken of by no Sober Men but greatly beloved by their own People and all that knew them adhering to no Faction neither Episcopal Presbyterian nor Independent as to Parties but desiring Union and loving that which is good in all These meeting weekly at our Lecture and monthly at our Disputation constrained a Reverence in the People to their Worth and Unity and consequently furthered my Work such were Mr. Andrew Trisham Minister of Bridgnorth Mr. Tho. Baldwin Minister at Chadsley Mr. Tho. Baldwin Minister of Clent Mr. Ioseph Baker Minister in Worcester Mr. Henry Oasland Minister of Bewdley Mr. William Spicer Minister of Stone an old man since dead Mr. Richard Sergeant last Minister of Stone Mr. Wilsby of Womborne Mr. Iohn Reignolds of Wolverhampton Mr. Ioseph Rocke of Rowley Mr. Richard Wolley of Sallwarp Mr. Giles Wolley Mr. Humphrey Waldern of Broome Mr. Edw. Bowchier of Church-hill Mr. Ambrose Sparry of Martley Mr. William Kimberley of Ridmarley Mr. Benj. Baxter of Upton upon Severn Mr. Dowley of Stoke Mr. Stephen Baxter Mr. Tho. Bromwick of Kemsey Mr. I. Nott of Sheriff-hales with many others to whom I may adjoyn Mr. Iohn Spilsbury and Mr. Iuice one of Bromsgrove and the other of Worcester Independants and very honest sober and moderate men who were all of them now silenced and cast out though not one of them all had any hand in the Wars for the Parliament or any Military Employment only Mr. George Hopkins of Evesham was in the Army a worthy faithful Minister also and no other of our Association that I know of besides my self in all the County 22. Another Advantage to me was the quality of the Sinners of the place There were two Drunkards almost at the next Doors to me who one by night and the other by day did constantly every Week if not twice or thrice a Weak roar and rave in the Streets like stark-madmen and when they have been laid in the Stocks or Gaol they have been as bad as soon as ever they came out And these were so beastly and ridiculous that they made that Sin of which we were in most danger the more abhorred 23. Another Advantage to me was the quality of the Apostates of the place If we had been troubled with meer Separatists Anabaptists or others that erred plausibly and tollerably they might perhaps have divided us and drawn away Disciples after them But we had only two Professors that fell off in the Wars and one or two at most that made no Profession of Godliness were drawn in to them They that fell off were such as before by their want of grounded Understanding Humility and Mortification gave us the greatest suspicion of their Stability And they fell to no less than Familism and Infidelity making a jest of the Scripture and the Essentials of Christianity Though they so carefully hid it that we could never possibly have known their Minds but from the Alehouse and Companions with whom they were more free And as they fell from the Faith so they fell to Drinking Gaming furious Passions horribly abusing their Wives and thereby saving them from their Errours and to a vicious Life So that they stood up as Pillars and Monuments of God's Justice to warn all others to take heed of Self-conceitedness and Heresies and of departing from Truth and Christian Unity And so they were a principal means to keep out all Sects and Errours from the Town 24. Another great help to my Success at last was the fore-described Work of Personal Conference with every Family apart and Catechising and Instructing them That which was spoken to them personally and put them sometime upon Answers awakened their Attention and was easilier applyed than publick Preaching and seemed to do much more upon them 25. And the Exercise of Church-Discipline was no small furtherance of the Peoples Good For I found plainly that without it I could not have kept the Religious sort from Separations and Divisions There is something generally in their Dispositions which inclineth them to dissociate from open ungodly Sinners as Men of another Nature and Society and if they had not seen me do something reasonable for a Regular Separation of the notorious obstinate Sinners from the rest they would irregularly have withdrawn themselves and it had not been in my power with bare words to satisfie them when they saw we had liberty to do what we would It was my greatest Care and Contrivance so to order this Work that we might neither make a meer Mock-shew of Discipline nor with Independants un-church the Parish-Church and gather a Church out of them anew Therefore all the Ministers Associate agreed together to practice so much Discipline as the Episcopal Presbyterians and Independants were agreed on that Presbyters might and must do And we told the People that we went not about to gather a new Church but taking the Parish for the Church unless they were unwilling to own their own Membership we resolved to exercise that Discipline with all Only because there are some Papists and Familists or Infidels
Blood to keep him in it But if they would venture for their Parts on new Confusions he would venture his Part by retiring to his Privacy And so he did to satisfie these proud distracted Tyrants who thought they did but pull down Tyranny resign the Government by a Writing under his Hand and retired himself and left them to govern as they pleased His Good Brother in Law Fleetwood and his Uncle Desborough were so intoxicated as to be the Leaders of the Conspiracy And when they had pull'd him down they set up a few of themselves under the Name of a Council of State and so mad were they with Pride as to think the Nation would stand by and reverence them and obediently wait upon them in their drunken Giddiness and that their Faction in the Army was made by God an invincible Terror to an that did but hear their Names The Care of the Business also was that Oliver had once made Fleetwood believe that he should be his Successor and drawn an Instrument to that purpose but his last Will disappointed him And then the Sectaries flattered him saying that a truly Godly Man that had commanded them in the Wars was to be preferred before such an one as they censured to have no true Godliness § 146. I make no doubt but God permitted all this for Good and that as it was their Treason to set up Oliver and destroy the King so it was their Duty to have set up the present King instead of Richard And God made them the means to their own Destruction contrary to their Intentions to restore the Monarchy and Family which they had ruined But all this is no Thanks to them but that which with a good Intention had been a Duty to take down or not set up Richard Cromwell yet as done by them was as barbarous Perfideousness as most ever History did declare That they should so suddenly so scornfully and proudly pull down him whom they had so lately set up themselves and sworn to And that for nothing they could scarce tell why themselves nor ever were able to give the World a fairer Reason for their Villany by any Fault they could charge upon him than the Munster Fanaticks had to give for their Bethlehem Outrages and Rebellion That they should do this while a Parliament was sitting which had so many wise religious Members not only without the Parliaments Advice but in despight of them and force him to dissolve them first as if Perjury and Rebellion were newly put into the Commandments or God had made these proud Usurpers to be the Governors of Protector and of Parliaments and exempted them wholly from the Precept Honour thy Father Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers That they should so proudly despise not only the Parliament but all the Ministers of London and of the Land as to do this not only without advising with and against their Judgments but in a factious Envy against them left they should be too much countenanced Yea they did it against the Judgments of most of their own Party the Independants as they now profess themselves Yea Mr. Nye that was then thought to be engaged in the same Design doth utterly disclaim it and profess that his Consent or Hand was never to it But Pride usually goeth before Destruction § 147. And having said this of the Crimes of these Firebrands of the Army I must say somewhat of the Sectarian Party in General I mean those who have been most addicted to Church-Divisions and Separations and Sidings and Parties and have refused all terms of Concord and Unity I doubt not but many of them were People that feared God who in their Ignorance of the Doctrine of Church Unity and Communion have been drawn by Pretences of Purity to follow their Leaders in ways which they understood not And I doubt not but the Presbyterians have had their Faults in their Treaties with them and that politick Statesmen kept open the Divisions for their own Designs that they might have a Party to weaken the Scots and Presbyterians that would have restored the King But yet I must record it to the Shame of their Miscarriages that the weaker and younger sort of Professors have been prone to be puft up with high Thoughts of themselves and to over-value their little Degrees of Knowledge and Parts which set them not above the Pity of understanding Men That they have been set upon those Courses which tend to advance them above the Common People in the Observation of the World and to set them at a farther Distance from others than God alloweth and all this under the Pretence of the Purity of the Church That in Prosecution of their Ends there are few of the Anabaptists that have not been the Opposers and Troublers of the faithful Ministers of the Land and were the Troublers of their People and the Hinderers of their Success they strengthned the Hands of the Prophane The Sectaries especially the Anabaptists the Seekers and the Quakers chose out the most able zealous Ministers to make the Marks of their Reproach and Obliquy and all because they stood in the Way of their Designs and hindered them in the propagating of their Opinions They set against the same Men that the Drunkards and Swearers set against and much after the same manner reviling them and raising up false Reports of them and doing all that they could to make them odious and at last attempting to pull them all down only they did it more prophanely than the Prophane in that they said Let the Lord be glorified Let the Gospel be propagated and abused and prophaned Scripture and the Name of God by entituling him to their Faction and Miscarriages Yea though they thought themselves the most understanding and consciencious People of the Land yet did the Gang of them seldom stick at any thing which seemed to promote their Cause but whatever their Faction in the Army did they pleaded for it and approved it If they pull'd down the Parliament imprison'd the godly faithful Members killed the King if they cast out the Rump if they chose a Little Parliament of their own if they set up Cromwell if they set up his Son and pull'd him down again if they sought to obtrude Agreements on the People if they one Week set up a Council of State and if another Week the Rump were restored if they sought to take down Tythes and Parish-Ministers to the utter Confusion of the State of Religion in the Land in all these the Anabaptists and many of the Independants in the Three Kingdoms followed them and even their Pastors were ready to lead them to consent And all this began but in unwarrantable Separations and too much aggravating the Faults of the Churches and Common People and Common Prayer Book and Ministry which indeed were none of them without Faults to be lamented and reformed But they thought that because it needed Amendment it required their obstinate Separation
The Uniting of the Churches upon the Primitive Terms and the tollerating not of all but of tollerable Differences is the way to Peace which almost all Men approve of except those who are uppermost and think they have the Reins in their own hands And because the side which is uppermost are they that have their Wills therefore the Churches had never a settled Peace this Thousand years at least the true way of Settlement and Peace being usually displeasing to them that must give Peace to others But this way hath the mark of being the best in that it is the only way which every Sect acknowledge for the second and next the best and is it which all except the predominant Party liketh But Wisdom is justified of her Children § 149. To consummate the Confusion by confirming and increasing the Division the Independants at last when they had refused with sufficient pervicacy to associate with the Presbyterians and the Reconcilers too did resolve to shew their proper strength and to call a General Assembly of all their Churches The Savoy was their Meeting-place There they drew up a Confession of their Faith and the Orders of their Church Government In the former they thought it not enough expresly to contradict St. Iames and to say unlimitedly That we are justified by the Righteousness of Christ only and not by any Works but they contradicted St. Paul also who faith That Faith is imputed for Righteousness And not only so but they expresly asserted that we have no other righteousness but that of Christ. A Doctrine abhorred by all the Reformed and Christian Churches and which would be an utter shame to the Protestant Name if what such Men held and did were indeed imputable to the sober Protestants I asked some honest Men that joyned with them Whether they subscribed this Confession and they said No. I asked them why they did not contradict it and they said that the meaning of it was no more than that we have no other Righteousness but Christ's to be justified by So that the Independant's Confessions are like such Oaths and Declarations as speak one thing and mean another Also in their Propositions of Church Order they widened the breach and made things much worse and more unreconcileable than ever they were before So much could two Men do with many honest tractable young Men and had more Zeal for separating Strictness than Iudgment to understand the Word of God or the Interest of the Churches of the Land and of themselves § 150. But it hath pleased God by others that were sometime of their way to do more to heal this Breach than they did to make it wider I mean the Synod of New-England who have published such healing Propositions about stated Synods and Infants Church Membership as hath much prepared for a Union between them and all other moderate Men And some One hath strenuously defended those Propositions against the opposition of Mr. Davenport a dissenting Brother I take this to be more for healing than the Savoy Propositions can be effectual to divide because the New-England men have not blemished their Reputation nor lost the Authority and Honour of their Judgments by any such Actions as the leading Savoyers have done § 151. When the Army had brought themselves and the Nation into utter Confusion and had set up and pull'd down Richard Cromwell and then had set up the Rump again and pull'd them down again and set up a Council of State of themselves and their Faction and made Lambert their Head next under Fleetwood whom they could use almost as they would at last the Nation would endure them no longer nor sit still while the world stood laughing them to scorn as acting over the Minster Tragedy Sir George Booth and Sir Thomas Middleton raised Forces in Cheshire and North-Wales but the Cavaliers that should have joyned with them failed them almost all over the Land a few rose in some places but were quickly ruined and came to nothing Lambert quickly routed those in Cheshire Sir Arthur Haselrigge with Col. Morley get into Portsmouth which is possessed as for the Rump Monk declareth against them in Scotland purgeth his Army of the Anabaptists and marcheth into England The Rump Party with Haselrigge divided the Army at home and so disabled them to oppose Monk who marcheth on and all are afraid of him and while he declareth himself against Monarchy for a Commonwealth he tieth the hands of his Enemies by a lie and uniteth with the City of London and bringeth on again the old ejected Members of the Parliament and so bringeth in the King Sir William Morrice his Kinsman and Mr. Clarges were his great Advisers The Earl of Manchester Mr. Calamy and other Presbyterians encouraged and perswaded him to bring in the King At first he joyned with the Rump against the Citizens and pull'd down the City Gates to master them but at last Sir Thomas Allen then Lord Mayor by the perswasion of Dr. Iacomb and some other Presbyterian Ministers and Citizens as he hath oft told me himself invited Monk into the City and drew him to agree and joyn with them against the Rump as they then called the Relicts of the Parliament And this in truth was the Act that turned the Scales and brought in the King whether the same men expected to be used as they have since been themselves I know not If they did their Self-denial was very great who were content to be silenced and laid in Gaols so they might but bring in the King After this the old Excluded Members of the Parliament meet with Monk He calleth them to sit and that the King might come in both by him and by them He agreeth with them to sit but a few days and then dissolve themselves and call another Parliament They consented and prepared for the King's Restoration and appointed a Council of State and Dissolved themselves Another Parliament is chosen which calleth in the King the Council of State having made further preparations for it For when the Question was Whether they should call in the King upon Treaty and Covenant which some thought best for him and the Nation the Council resolved absolutely to trust him Mr. A. especially perswading them so to do And when the King came in Col. Birch and Mr. Prin were appointed to Disband the Army the several Regiments receiving their Pay in several places and none of them daring to disobey No not Monk's own Regiments who brought in the King Thus did God do a more wonderful Work in the Dissolving of this Army than any of their greatest Victories was which set them up That an Army that had conquered three such Kingdoms and brought so many Armies to destruction cut off the King pull'd down the Parliament and set up and pull'd down others at their pleasure that had conquered so many Cities and Castles that were so united by Principles and Interest and Guilt and so deeply engaged as much
convinced me how unfit we are to write about Christ's Government and Law and Iudgment c. while we understand not the true Nature of Government Laws and Iudgment in the general and that he that is ignorant of Politicks and of the Law of Nature will be ignorant and erroneous in Divinity and the sacred Scriptures § 157. 2. The Second Book which I wrote and the first which I began was that called The Saints everlasting Rest Whilst I was in Health I had not the least thought of writing Books or of serving God in any more publick way than Preaching But when I was weakened with great bleeding and left solitary in my Chamber at Sir Iohn Cook 's in Derbyshire without any Acquaintance but my Servant about me and was sentenced to Death by the Physician I began to contemplate more seriously on the Everlasting Rest which I apprehended my self to be just on the Borders of And that my Thoughts might not too much scatter in my Meditation I began to write something on that Subject intending but the Quantity of a Sermon or two which is the cause that the Beginning is in brevity and Style disproportionable to the rest but being continued long in Weakness where I had no Books nor no better Employment I followed it on till it was enlarged to the bulk in which it is published The first Three Weeks I spent in it was at Mr. Nowel's House at Kirkby-Mallory in Leicestershire a quarter of a Year more at the Seasons which so great Weakness would allow I bestowed on it at Sir Tho Rous's House at Rous-Lench in Worcestershire and I finished it shortly after at Kidderminster The first and last Parts were first done being all that I intended for my own use and the second and third Parts came afterwards in besides my first Intention This Book it pleased God so far to bless to the Profit of many that it encouraged me to be guilty of all those Scripts which after followed The Marginal Citations I put in after I came home to my Books but almost all the Book it self was written when I had no Book but a Bible and a Concordance And I found that the Transcript of the Heart hath the greatest force on the Hearts of others For the Good that I have heard that Multitudes have received by that Writing and the Benefit which I have again received by their Prayers I here humbly return my Thanks to him that compelled me to write it § 159. 3. The Third Book which I published was that which is entituled Plain Scripture Proof for Infants Church-Membership and Baptism being the Arguments used in the Dispute with Mr. Tombes and an Answer to a Sermon of his afterward preached c. This Book God blessed with unexpected Success to stop abundance from turning Anabaptists and reclaming many both in City and Country and some of the Officers of the Irish and English Forces and it gave a considerable Check to their Proceedings Concerning it I shall only tell the Reader 1. That there are towards the latter part of it many enigmatical Reflections upon the Anabaptists for their horried Scandals which the Reader that lived not in those times will hardly understand But the cutting off the King and rebelling against him and the Parliament and the Invading Scotland and the approving of these with the Ranters and other Sects that sprang out of them were the Crimes there intended which were not then to be more plainly spoken of when their Strength and Fury was so high 2. Note that after the writing of that Book I wrote a Postscript against that Doctrine of Dr. Burges and Mr. Tho. Bedford which I supposed to go on the other Extream and therein I answered part of a Treatise of Dr. Sam. Warks's which Mr. Bedford published and it proved to be Mr. Thomas Gataker whom I defended who is Dr. Ward 's Censor But I knew it not till Mr. Gataker after told me But after these Writings I was greatly in doubt whether it be not certain that all the Infants of true Believers are justified and saved if they dye before actual Sin My Reason was because it is the same justifying saving Covenant of Grace which their Parents and they are in And as real Faith and Repentance is that Condition on the Parents part which giveth them their right to actual Remission and Adoption So to be the Children of such is all the Condition which is required in Infants in order to the same Benefits And without asserting this the Advantage of the Anabaptists is greater than every one doth imagine But I never thought with Dr. Ward that all Baptised Children had this Benefit and Qualitative Sanctification also nor with Dr. Burgess and Mr. Bedford that all converted at Age had inherent seminal Grace in Baptism certainly given them nor with Bishop Davenant that all justly baptised had relative Grace of Justification and Adoption But only that all the Infants of true Believers who have right to the Covenant and Baptism in foro Coeli as well as in foro Ecclesiae have also thereby Right to the Pardon of Original Sin and to Adoption and to Heaven which Right is by Baptism to be sealed and delivered to them This I wrote of to Mr. Gataker who returned me a kind and candid Answer but such as did not remove my Scruple and this occasioned him to print Bishop Davenants Disputations with his Answer My Opinion which I most incline to is the same which the Synod of Dort expresseth and that which I conjecture Dr. Davenant meant or I am sure came next to Here note also that Mr. Tombes sollicited me yet after all this to write him down my Proofs of Infants Church-membership out of the circumcised Church which I did at large as from the Creation downward as far as Proof could be expected in Proportion to the other Histories of those Times Instead of sending me an Answer to my Papers he printed some of them with an insufficient Answer in his last Book These Papers with a Reply to him I have since Printed § 159. 4. The Fourth Book which I published is a small one called The right Method for Peace of Conscience and spiritual comfort in thirty two Directions The Occasion of it was this Mrs. Bridgis the Wife of Col. Iohn Bridgis being one of my Flock was often weeping out her Doubts to me about her long and great Uncertainty of her true Sanctification and Salvation I told her that a few hasty Words were not Direction enough for the satisfactory resolving of so great a Case and therefore I would write her down a few of those necessary Directions which she should read and study and get well imprinted in her Mind As soon as I had begun I found 1. that it would not be well done in the Brevity which I expected 2. And that when it was done it would be as useful to many others of my Flock as to her and therefore I bestowed more time
not prejudiced by partiality against this Book my Key for Catholicks have let me know that it hath not been without Success It being indeed a sufficient Armory for to furnish a Protestant to defend his Religion against all the Assaults of the Papists whatsoever and teacheth him how to answers all their Books The second part doth briefly deal with the French and Grotian Party that are for the Supremacy of a Council at least as to the Legislative Power and sheweth that we never had a general Council nor can it be at all expected § 195. 39. But the Book which hath furnished my Enemies with matter of Reviling which none must dare to answer is my Holy Commonwealth The Occasion of it was this when our Pretorian Sectarian Bands had cut all Bonds and Pull'd down all Government and after the Death of the King had twelve Years kept out his Son few Men saw any probability of his Restitution and every self-conceited Fellow was ready to offer his Model for a new Form of Government Mr. Hobbs his Leviathan had pleased many Mr. Tho. White the great Papist had written his Politicks in English for the Interest of the Protector to prove that Subject ought to submit and subject themselves to such a Change And now Mr. Iames Harrington they say by the help of Mr. H. Nevill had written a Book in Folio for a Democracy called Oceana seriously describing a Form near to the Venetian and setting the People upon the Desires of a Change And after this Sir H. Vane and his Party were about their Sectarian Democratical Model which Stubbs defended and Regars and Needham and Mr. Bagshaw had written against Monarchy before In the end of an Epistle before my Book of Crucifying the World I had spoken a few Words against this Innovation and Opposition to Monarchy and having especially touched upon Oceana and Leviathan Mr. Harrington seemed in a Bethelhem Rage for by way of Scorn he printed half a Sheet of foolish Jeers in such Words as Ideots or Drunkards use railing at Ministers as a Pack of Fools and Knaves and by his gibberish Derision persuading Men that we deserved no other Answer than such Scorn and Nonsense as beseemeth Fools And with most insolent Pride he carried it as if neither I nor any Ministers understood at all what Policy was but prated against we knew not what and had presumed to speak against other Mens Art which he was Master of and his Knowledge to such Ideots as we incomprehensible This made me think it fit having given that General hint against his Oceana to give a more particular Charge and withal to give the World and him an Account of my Political Principles and to shew what I held as well as what I denyed which I did in that Book called Political Aphorisms or A Holy Commonwealth as contrary to his Heathenish Commonwealth In which I plead the Cause of Monarchy as better than Democracy and Aristocracy but as under God the Universal Monarch Here Bishop Morley hath his Matter of Charge against me of which one part is that I spake against Unlimited Monarchy because God himself hath limited all Monarchs If I had said that Laws limit Monarchs I might among some men be thought a Traytor and unexcusable but to say that God limiteth Monarchs I thought had never before been chargeable with Treason or opposed by any that believed that there is a God If they are indeed unlimited in respect of God we have many Gods or no God But now it is dangerous to meddle with these matters Most men say now Let God defend himself In the end of this Book is an Appendix concerning the Cause of the Parliaments first War which was thus occasioned Sir Francis Nethersole a Religious Knight who was against the lawfulness of the War on both sides sent his man to me with Letters to advise me to tell Cromwell of his Usurpation and to counsel him to call in the King of which when I had given him satisfaction he sent him against with more Letters and Books to convince me of the unlawfulness of the Parliament's War And others attempting the same at the same time and the Confusions which the Army had brought upon us being such as made me very much disposed to think ill of those beginnings which had no better an end I thought it best to publish my Detestation and Lamentation for those Rebellious Proceedings of the Army which I did as plainly as could be born both in an Epistle to them and in a Meditation in the end and withal to declare the very Truth that hereby I was made suspicious and doubtful of the beginnings or first Cause but yet was not able to answer the Arguments which the Lawyers of the Parliament then gave and which had formerly inclined me to that side I conconfessed that if men Miscarriages and ill Accidents would warrant me to Condemn the beginnings which were for another Cause then I should have condemned them But that being not the way I found my self yet unable to answer the first Reasons and therefore laid them down together desiring the help of others to answer them professing my own suspicion and my daily prayers to God for just satisfaction And this Paper is it that containeth all my Crimes Against this one Tomkins wrote a Book called The Rebels Plea But I wait in silence till God enlighten us In the beginning of this Book having reprehended the Army I answer a Book of Sir Henry Vane's called The Healing Question It was published when Richard Cromwell was pull'd down and Sir H. Vane's New Commonwealth was forming § 196. 40. About the same time one that called himself W. Iohnson but I hear his Name is Mr. Terret a Papist engaged me in a Controversie about the perpetual visibility of the Church which afterwards I published the story of which you have more at large in the following part of this Book In the latter I inserted a Letter of one Thomas Smyth a Papist with my Answer to it which it seemeth occasioned his recovery from them as is manifest in a Letter of Mr. Thomas Stanley his Kinsman a sober godly man in Breadstreet which I by his own consent subjoyned To this Book Mr. Iohnson hath at last replyed and I have since return'd an Answer to him § 197. 41. Having been desired in the time of our Associations to draw up those Terms which all Christian Churches may hold Communion upon I published them though too late for any such use till God give men better minds that the World might see what our Religion and our Terms of Communion were and that if after Ages prove more peaceable they may have some light from those that went before them It consisteth of three parts The first containeth the Christian Religion which all are positively to profess that is Either to subscribe the Scriptures in general and the ancient Creeds in particular or at most The Confession or Articles annexed e.g.
no fixing any more Diocesses in the World than Twelve or Thirteen and whoever since pretended to succeed them in those Twelve or Thirteen Diocesses 3. And if following Bishops or Princes fixt Diocesses that is no divine nor unalterable Law 4. We never read that an Apostle claimed any Diocess as proper to him or forbad any other to officiate in it or blamed them for so doing 5. It is certain that while they went themselves from Country to Country they fixed Bishops to every Church or City Act. 14. 23. Yit 1. 5 6. Ad 9. 1. The Apostles fixed not Bishops of the lowest Rank Vicatim nor Rigionatim but in every Church which was then in every City where were Christians even the same Church that had Deacons and Presbyters fixed 2. Bishops preached to Infidels to whom they were not Bishops but Preachers 3. The Christians of neighbour Villages came to the City-Church and when they had Oratories or Chappels there it made them not another Parish and excluded not such from personal Communion with the Bishops Church nor extended to such as by Distance or Numbers were uncapable of such personal Communion 4. Titus was either an ambulatory Evangelist to go about as the Apostles gathering and Setling Churches as I think or if fixed he was an Archbishop who was to settle Bishops under him in every City as Dr. Hammond judged It followeth not that a meer Bishop may have a Multitude of Churches because an Archbishop may who hath many Bishops under him 5. As the Magnitude of human Body so also of a particular Church hath its Limitation suited to its Ends Communion by Delegates or Officers only is the Case of many Churches associated But Personal Communion in Doctrine Worship Conversation and Discipline is the End of each particular Church and if you extend the Form to more than are capable of that End even to many such Societies by so doing the Species is changed § 38. About this time a reverend learned Brother Mr. Martin Iohnson being of the Judgment of Dr. Hammond and Dr. Gunning and yet a Lover of all honest peaceable Men and constant at our Meetings Lectures and Disputations was pleased to write to me about the Necessity of Episcopal Ordination I maintained that it was not necessary ad esse Ecclesiae and that he might be a true Minister who was ordained by Presbyters and that in Cases of Necessity it was a Duty to take Ordination from them He opposed this with Modesty and Judgment being a very good Logician till at last he yielded to the Truth These Letters with their Answers are added in the Appendix § 39. A little after this an Accident fell out that hindered our Concord with the Episcopal Party and is pretended at this Day by many to justifie the Silencing of all the Ministers that were afterward put out Oliver Cromwell who then usurped the Government being desired by some to forbid all Ministers of all Parties whatsoever to officiate who were notoriously insufficient or scandalous taketh hence Occasion to put in with the rest all those that took part with the King against the Parliament and so by offending them hindred our Agreement with them which provoked me then to protest against it and publish my Judgment against the hindering of any Man to preach the Gospel upon the Ground of such Civil Controversies as those § 40. And about the same time Experience in my Pastoral Charge convinced me that publick Preaching is not all the ordinary Work of a faithful Minister and that personal Conference with every one about the State of their own Souls together with Catechising is a Work of very great Necessity For the Custom in England is only to catechise the younger sort and that but by teaching them the Words of the Catechism in the Liturgy which we thought besides the Doctrine of the Sacrament had little more explicatory than the Words themselves of the Creed Lord's Prayer and Decalogue Therefore I propounded the Business to the Ministers and they all upon Debate consented that I should â—â—rn our brief Confession into a Catechism and draw up a Form of Agreement for the Practising of that Duty I drew up the Catechism in Two leaves in 8 vâ— comprehending 〈◊〉 is necessary to be believed consented to and practised in as narrow â— room and just a Method as I thought agreeable to the Peoples Understandings And I proposed a Form of Agreement for the Practice which might engage the 〈…〉 to go through with the Work And when I brought it in it was conseâ—â—ed to and subscribed and many neighbouring Ministers of other Countries desired to join with us and we printed the Catechism and Agreement together § 41. Of all the Works that ever I 〈◊〉 this yielded me most Comfort in the practice of it All Men thought that the People especially the ancienter sort would never have submitted to this Course and so that it would have come to nothing But God gave me a 〈◊〉 willing People and gave me also interest in them and when I had 〈◊〉 and my People had given a good Example to other Parishes and especially the Ministers so 〈◊〉 concurring that none gainsayed us it prevailed much with the Parishes 〈◊〉 I set two Days Week apart for this Employment 〈◊〉 faithful unwearied Assistant and my self took fourteen Families every Week those in the Town came to us to our Houses those in the Parish my Assistant 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 Houses besides what a Curate did at a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 to us a Family only being present as a 〈◊〉 and no Stranger admitted after that I first helpâ— them to understand it and next enquired modestly into the State of their Souls and lastly endeavoured to set all home to the convincing awakening and resolving of their Hearts according to their several Conditions bestowing about an Hour and the Labour of a Sermon with every Family and I found it so effectual through the Blessing of God that few went away without some seeming Humiliation Conviction and Purpose and Promise for a holy Life and except half a dozen or thereabouts of the most ignorant and senseless all the Families in the Town came to me and though the first time they came with Fear and Backwardness after that they longed for their turn to come again So that I hope God did good to many by it And yet this was not all the Comfort I had in it § 42. For my Brethren appointing me to preach to them about it on a Day of Humiliation at Worcester when we set upon it I printed the Sermon prepared for that use with necessary Additions containing Reasons and Directions for this Work in a Book called The Reformed Pastor which excited so many others to take the Course that we had taken that it was a far greater Addition to my Comfort than the profiting of the Parish or County where we lived Yea a Reverend Pastor from Switzerland wrote me word that it excited
of the nearer Ends The Holy Ghost as Illuminating and so Revealing by the Instrumentality of the Word is in Efficiency and Dignity above the Word 3. The Apostles themselves were in order of Efficiency above the Writing or Letter of the Word though in order of Dignity the Scripture is above them 4. The Ministry and Teaching of Parents is as to the Original both subordinate to Scripture as commanded by it and co-ordiante as instituted and enjoyned before it by verbal Precept and doth still acknowledge this double obligation But it is subordinate to Scripture in Dignity and as to the nearer End 5. The same is true of Baptism and other Ordinances mentioned already 6. The delivery of the Scriptures down to our hands 1. As to acquaint us with the Canonical Books 2. And that these are all 3. And that they are uncorrupted in Matters of moment is in efficiency a co-ordinate Means of Revelation for it is not out of Scripture only that it receiveth its force but as to the End and the Dignity it is subordinate to the Scripture These things seeming thus to my apprehension I cannot yet acknowledge it a Truth that no Means of Revealing Christ is co-ordinate with the Scriptures I need to say no more to the Necessity and Fundamentality than I said in my last Paper I earnestly crave that the offering of these Reasons as my Diffent may not be offensive to you seeing I apprehend the Case to impose on me a Necessity there being no Means in the World that I remember more like to be an Engine to tear in pieces the Church than an unfound composure of Fundamentals I mean an Imposing of those Things as Fundamental which are not found whereby the most deserving may be ejected from the Ministry and censured to Damnation We are framing a Means of Union and not of Division And though it grieves me to be offensive to my Brethren yet had I rather suffer any thing in the World than be guilty of putting among our Fundamentals one word that is not true The Christian Faith hath been ever the same since the Apostles days and I find not that ever the Churches Fundamentals contained such an Article as this The Scripture nor the Assembly's Confession have none such that I know of The word Co-ordinate is so ambiguous that it is unfit to lay so great a stress upon it and the use of it here yet more perswades me that it had been better for us to adhere to Scripture Terms R. B. § 56. At last Twenty of their Propositions were printed for the Parliament But the Parliament was dissolved and all came to nothing and that Labour was lost § 57. At this time the Lord Broghill and the Earl of Warwick brought me to Preach before Cromwell the Protector which was the only time that ever I preached to him save once long before when he was an inferiour Man among other Auditors I knew not which way to provoke him better to his Duty than by Preaching on 1 Cor. 1. 10. against the Divisions and Distractions of the Church and shewing how mischievous a thing it was for Politicians to maintain such Divisions for their own Ends that they might fish in troubled waters and keep the Church by its Divisions in a state of Weakness lest it should be able to offend them and to shew the Necessity and Means of Union But the plainness and nearness I heard was displeasing to him and his Courtiers but they put it up § 58. A while after Cromwell sent to speak with me and when I came in the presence only of three of his chief Men he began a long and tedious Speech to me of God's Providence in the Change of the Government and how God had owned it and what great things had been done at home and abroad in the Peace with Spain and Holland c. When he had wearied us all with speaking thus slowly about an hour I told him It was too great Condescension to acquaint me so fully with all these Matters which were above me but I told him that we took our Ancient Monarchy to be a Blessing and not an Evil to the Land and humbly craved his Patience that I might ask him How England had ever forfeited that Blessing and unto whom the Forfeiture was made I was fain to speak of the Species of Government only for they had lately made it Treason by a Law to speak for the Person of the King Upon that Question he was awakened into some Passion and told me it was no Forfeiture but God had Changed it as pleased him and then he let fly at the Parliament which thwarted him and especially by name at four or five of those Members which were my chief Acquaintance and I presumed to defend them against his Passion and thus four or five hours were spent § 59. A few days after he sent for me again to hear my Judgment about Liberberty of Conscience which he pretended to be most zealous for before almost all his Privy Council where after another slow tedious Speech of his I told him a little of my Judgment And when two of his Company had spun out a great deal more of the time in such like tedious but meer ignorant Speeches some four or five hours being spent I told him that if he would be at the labour to read it I could tell him more of my mind in Writing in two Sheets than in that way of Speaking in many days and that I had a Paper on that Subject by me written for a Friend which if he would peruse and allow for the change of the Person he would know my Sense He received the Paper after but I scarce believe that he ever read it for I saw that what he learned must be from himself being more disposed to speak many hours than to hear one and little heeding what another said when he had spoken himself § 60. While I lodged at the Lord Broghill's a certain Person was importunate to speak with me Dr. Niâ—â— Gibbon who shutting the Doors on us that there might be no Witnesses drew forth a Scheme of Theology and told me how long a Journey he had once taken towards me and engaged me patiently to hear him open to me his Scheme which he said was the very thing that I had been long groping after and contained the only Terms and Method to resolve all Doubts whatever in Divinity and unite all Christians through the World And there was none of them printed but what he kept himself and he communicated them only to such as were prepared which he thought I was because I was 1. Searching 2. Impartial and 3. A Lover of Method I thank him and heard him above an hour in silence and after two or three days talk with him I found all his Frame the Contrivance of a very strong Head-piece was secretly and cunningly fitted to usher in a Socinian Popery or a mixture of Popery and half Socinianism
Presbyterians and Episcopal Men had but before come to some Agreement they would the more unanimously join against the Fanaticks But since the War the Diocesane Party by Dr. Hammond's means was gone to a greater Distance and grown higher than before and denyed the very being of the Reformed Churches and Ministry and avoided all ways of Agreement with them but by an absolute Submission to their Power as the Papists do by the Protestants and that there is a wonderous difference between the Cause of the one Party and the other For though they are born equally capable of Government or Subjection yet all that the Presbyterians for the most part of them desire is but to have leave to worship God and guide their Flocks in ways of Piety and Concord without being persecuted for it And the Prelatical Mens Cause is that they may be the Governors of all and that no Man have leave to serve God but as they prescribe to him nor to rule his Flock but as ruled by them Yea as soon as a Man doth but side with the Men of that Opinion he presently carryeth it as if by his Opinion he had acquired a right to be the Governor of others But especially I told him that the Number of the Ignorant and Scandalous was so great which the Diocesane Party would restore and set up and the Number of the godly learned able Ministers so great which they would cast out and silence that we look'd on it as the ruine of the Church that we had not any Animosity against them that we desired no Man should be hindred in his Ministry for any thing he had done in the Wars against the Parliament But we desired that the People might have faithful Pastors and not drunken ignorant Readers as he knew in this Country they had had And that every ceremonial Difference might not again be thought a sufficient Reason to cast out hundreds of the ablest Men and put in such insufficient Persons in their steads Persecution and the Ruine of the Ministry and Churches were expected by most if Prelacie got up again and if such leading Men as Dr. Hammond would but before-hand come to Terms of some Moderation and promise to endeavour faithfully to bring things to that pass as now should be thought indifferent it would greatly facilitate Mens Conjunction against the turbulent Sectaries and Souldiers I told him he had long lived here among us and saw the worst of us he saw that our private Meetings were only in due Subordination to the Publick and that they were only spent in such Actions as every Christian might do to repeat a Sermon and Pray and propose his Doubts to his Pastor and sing Psalms and not to any Faction or Sedition and that we had not a Sectary in the Town but were all of a Mind and walked in Humility and Blamelesness and Charity toward all all which he did freely acknowledge and I asked him then whether he thought we were fit to be endured or to be supprest And whether it were not hard that Men who had prevailed in Arms as the Parliaments past had done should beg but for Liberty to live quietly by them or those that were now kept under and not obtain it But we cared little for this as it is our own Interest so that the Souls of Men even Thousands in all Countries might not be injured and undone by an ignorant vitious persecuting Ministry To this he confidently affirmed that he being most throughly acquainted with Dr. Hammond who received Letters from Dr. Morley then with the King could assure me that all Moderation was intended and that any Episcopacy how loâ—â—soever would serve the turn and be accepted And a bare Presidency in Synods such as Bishop Usher in his Reduction did require was all that was intended Yea Bishop Hall's way of Moderation would suffice that there should be no Lord Bishops nor so large Diocesses or great Revenues much less any persecuting Power but that the Essentials of Episcopacy was all that was expected that no godly able Minister should be displaced much less silenced nor unworthy Men any more set up that there should be no Thoughts of Revenge for any thing past but all be equal In Conclusion we agreed that I should make some Proposals to Dr. Hammond containing the Terms of our Agreement and he would bring them to him for he lived but seven Miles from us and procure me an Answer Whereupon I drew up a few Proposals and Sir Ralph Clare shortly brought me back an Answer to them by which I saw that there was no Agreement that way to be made For Dr. Hammond cast all the Alterations or Abatements upon the King and Parliament when as the thing that I desired of him was but to promise his best Endeavours to accomplish it by persuading both the Clergy and the Civil Governors to do their Parts Yet I must say I took the Death of Dr. Hammond who died just when the King came in before he saw him or received his intended Advancement for a very great loss for his Piety and Wisdom would sure have hindred much of the Violence which after followed I wrote him a Reply but never sent it because the Tumults presently interrupted us The Papers on both sides were these following R. Baxter's Proposals sent by Sir R. Clare to Dr. Hammond HAving premised the Terms on which the Episcopal Presbyterian and Independant c. may maintain a Brotherly Agreement in case the Magistrate gives Liberty to them all I shall add some Propositions containing those things that we desire the Brethren of the Episcopal way will grant us as necessary to the Peace of these Churches and the avoiding of Persecution to the hindrance of the Gospel in case the Magistrate should establish their way 1. We desire that private Christians may not be hindered from praying in their Families according to the sense of their Necessities without imposed Forms nor from reading Scripture and good Books catechising and instructing their Families and restraining them from dancing and other Vanities which would withdraw them from holy Exercises on the Lord's Day And that Neighbours be not hindred from meeting at convenient times in each others Houses to edifie themselves by Godly Conference Reading repeating Sermons Prayer singing Psalms so be it they refuse not the oversight of their faithful Pastors in the management hereof nor set up these Meetings in Opposition to the publick Assemblies but in due Subordination to them and be responsible to Governors for all Miscarriages 2. We desire that the ungodly sort of People may not be suffered to make the serious practice of Godliness an open Scorn or to deride the Practice of such holy Duties as by God and our Governors we are allowed to perform 3. That the most able Godly faithful Men be Pastors of the Flocks and the insufficient ungodly negligent scandalous and Heretical be kept and cast out the Welfare of the Church consisting so much in
thousands of faithful Ministers and be like to be the Perdition of many and many thousand Souls But the Presbyterians said We are bound by the Covenant to the King that last was and by the Oath of Allegiance to him and his Heirs and all Changes since have been made unlawfully by Rebellious Sectaries and for our parts whatever others have done we have taken no Engagements or contrary Oaths if the Sectaries and the Cavaliers have taken the Engagement what is that to us Our Brethren of Scotland nor we never did it Therefore being obliged to the King as the undoubted Heir of the Crown we ought to do our Duty as Loyal Subjects to Restore him and for the Issue let God do what he will § 73. This was their Resolution but in their Expectations they much differed for those of them that converse with the Nobles and Great Men and heard from them an high Character of the King as to his Temper and Piety were apt to believe them and had great hopes that because he had taken the Covenant himself he would be moderate in setling all Matters of the Church and would allow the Presbyterians liberty to preach the Gospel in their Parish-Churches and that he would remove the Subscriptions and leave the Common Prayer and Ceremonies indifferent so that they should not be cast out of the Churches Others thought that the Prelates being once set up there would be no place for Non-subscribers in the Publick Churches but yet that if we were the means of the King's Restoration the Prelates would not for shame deny us such Liberty as the Protestants have in France and that Protestants would not deny that to Protestants after such an Obligation which Papists granted them But a third sort said You know not the Principles or Spirit of the Prelates if you look for any Liberty in Publick or in Private to be granted to any that do not conform We all look to be Silenced and some or many of us imprisoned or banished but yet we will do our parts to restore the King because no foreseen ill consequence must hinder us from our Duty And if ignorant Men be put into our places and never so many Souls perish by it the Fault is not ours but theirs that do it And a fourth sort there were that foreseeing the Silencing of the Ministers said We are sure that there are not competent Men much less excellent in England to supply the place of one among many of those that will be cast out and we know that God useth to work by Means and therefore that the Change is like to be the damnation of many thousand Souls and we do not believe that we are bound all things considered to be forward to bring such a Work to pass But we will stand by and see what God will do and will not hinder it § 74. Those that lookt for Liberty were encouraged in their Expectations by these Means following 1. All the Noblemen and Gentry that had been Sequestred for the King's Cause against the old Parliament did in several Counties publish Invitations to all Men to promote the King's Reduction protesting against Thoughts of Revenge or Uncharitableness and professing their Resolution to put up all Injuries and live in Peace 2. Afterward his Majesty sent over a Promise of Liberty of Conscience as these Men understood it but indeed it was but a Profession of his readiness to consent to any Act which the Parliament should offer to him to that end 3. Dr. Morley and other of the Divines on that side did privately meet with several Persons of Honour and some Ministers and professed Resolutions for great Moderation and Lenity § 75. But those that look'd for silencing cruelty and Confusion said that from the Beginning except a few inconsiderable Persons it was all the Enemies of serious Godliness in the Land who were on the one side and it was the Friends of serious Godliness who were the main Body on the other side That the Enmity between the Woman's and the Serpent's Seed is the most unreconcilable in the World That all the Hypocrites and carnal Sort of Formal Pharisaical Christians will persecute them that are born after the Spirit That Wars and Sequestrations and Cromwel's severity against them have exasperated them so that we shall have natural Enmity and Malice sublimated to deal with and that they will revenge all their real and seeming Injuries that these twenty Years Tryal hath proved them unreconcilable That their carnal Interest will continually engage them against serious Godliness and a Man of Conscience that cannot say or swear or do any thing which they command him will be taken by them for a Schismatick and Enemy That the late Wars hath given them Advantage to cast the Odium of Civil Broils upon Religion and of other Mens Faults upon the innocent so that there Interest will certainly lead them to call all those Rebels that swear not to their Words and every Man whose Religion is not ceremonious and complemental shall be called a Presbyterian and every Presbyterian a Rebel And whereas heretofore they had no worse Names to call godly Men by than the foolish Names of Puritans and Roundheads henceforth if a Man will not be as bad as others he shall be called an Enemy to the Government And though not one of forty of the Ministers ever medled with the Wars they shall all fare alike if they be not Prelatists Thus did Men differ in their Expectations § 76. When I was at London the new Parliament being called they presently appointed a Day of Fasting and Prayer for themselves The House of Commons chose Mr. Calamy Dr. Gauden and my self to preach and pray with them at St. Margaret's Westminster In that Sermon I uttered some Passages that were after matter of some Discourse Speaking of our Differences and the way to heal them I told them that whether we should be Loyal to our King was none of our Differences in that we are all agreed it being not possible that a Man should be true to the Protestants Principles and not be Loyal as it was impossible to be true to the Papists Principles and to be Loyal And for the Concord now wish'd in matters of Church-Government I told them it was easy for moderate Men to come to a fair Agreement and that the late Reverend Primate of Ireland and my self had agreed in half an Hour I remember not the very Words but you may read them in the Sermon which was printed by order of the House of Commons § 77. As soon as this printed Sermon came abroad the Papists were enraged against me and one nameless Gentleman wrote a Pamphlet to challenge me to make good my Charge And others sent me Letters with their Names real or counterfeit containing the same Challenge but never told me where they dwelt nor how I might convey an Answer to them whereas the heedless Challengers might have seen that I fully performed what
I undertook and answered their Challenge before they sent it in the Sermon it self when I cited Can. 3. of the General Council at the Laterane under Pope Innocent III. which I have done in other Places again and again to provoke them to make some Answer to it but never could procure it of them But to gratifie these Gentlemen I began to write a fuller Proof of what I there affirmed but I was advised not to publish it considering the Power and Malice of the Papists and how greatly though they called for it they would be enraged by it and in likelihood quickly work my Ruine § 78. The next Morning after this Day of Fasting did the Parliament unanimously Vote home the King Nemine contradicente and do that which former Actions had but prepared for § 79. The City of London about that time was to keep a Day of solemn Thanksgiving for General Monkes Success and the Lord Mayor and Aldermen desired me to preach before them at St. Paul's-Church Wherein I so endeavoured to shew the Value of that Mercy as to shew also how Sin and Mens Abuse might turn it into matter of Calamity and what should be right Bounds and Qualifications of that Joy The Moderate were pleased with it the Fanaticks were offended with me for keeping such a Thanksgiving the Diocesane Party thought I did suppress their Joy The Words may be seen in the Sermon ordered to be printed § 80. But the other Words about my Agreement with Bishop Usher in the Sermon before the Parliament put me to most Trouble For presently many moderate Episcopal Divines came to me to know what those Terms of our Agreement were And thinking verily that others of their Party had been as moderate as themselves they entered upon Debates for our general Concord and we agreed as easily among our selves in private as if almost all our Differences were at an end Among others I had Speech about it with Dr. Gauden who promised to bring Dr. Morley and many more of that Party to meet with some of the other Party at Dr. Bernard's Lodging in Grays-Inn there came none on that side but Dr. Gauden and Dr. Bernard and none of the other side but Dr. Manton and my self and so little was done but only Desires of Concord expressed But whereas I told Dr. Gauden That for the Doctrinal Part of the Common-Prayer-Book though I knew that there were many Exceptions against it yet I remembred nothing which I could not assent to allowing it but the favourable Interpretation which the Writings of all Divines are allowed He took Advantage from these Words to praise my Moderation in the next Book which he printed as if I had spoke this of the Liturgy in general as a Frame of Worship leaving out the first Words As to the Doctrinal Part to which only I limited my Assent So that I was put in print so far to vindicate my self as to set down the true Words which he never contradicted Thus Men were every day talking of Concord but to little purpose as appeared in the Issue § 81. And because I heard that Dr. Morley was a Moderate Orthodox Man and had often Meetings with Dr. Manton and others whom he encouraged with Pacificatory Professions and that he had greatest Interest in the King and the Lord Chancellor I had a great desire to have one hours Discourse with him to know whether really Concord was intended And when he gave me a Meeting and we had spent an Hour in Discourse I found that he spake of Moderation in the general but came to no particular Terms but past by what I mentioned of that Nature But speaking much for Liturgies against Extemporary Church-Prayers he told me at last that the Iansenists were numerous among the Papists and many among the French inclined to Peace and that on his knowledge if it were not for the Hinderances which Calvin had laid in the way most on this side the Alpes would come over to us And this was all I could get from him § 82. When the King was to be sent for by the Parliament certain Divines with others were sent by the Parliament and City to him into Holland viz. Mr. Calamy Dr. Manton Mr. Bowles and divers others and some went voluntarily to whom his Majesty gave such encouraging Promises of Peace as raised some of them to high Expectations And when he came in as he past through the City towards Westminster the London Ministers in their Places attended him with Acclamations and by the Hands of old Mr. Arthur Iackson presented him with a Rich-adorned Bible which he received and told them it should be the Rule of his Actions § 83. About this time I had some Conference with one that called himself William Iohnson a Papist the Occasion Progress and End of which I will here give you at once to avoid farther Interruptions by it When I was at Kiderminster 1659. one Mr. Langhorn a Furrier in Walbrook sent me a Sheet of Paper subscribed by William Iohnson containing an Argument against our Church for want of perpetual Visibility or That none but the Church of Rome and those in Communion with it had been successively visible casting all on his Opponent to prove our Churches constant Visibility He that sent this Paper desired me to answer it as for some Friends of his who were unsatisfied I sent him an Answer the next Day after I received it To this some Weeks after I received a Reply This Reply had cited many Fathers and Councils and as the use is brought the Controversy into the Wood of Church-History To this I drew up a large Rejoinder and sent it by the Carrier though I was not rich enough to keep an Amanuensis and had not leisure my self to transcribe yet as it well happened I had got a Friend to write me a Copy of my Rejoinder For it fell out that the Carrier lost the Copy which I gave him to carry to London and professed that he never knew what became of it And no wonder when I after learnt that my Antagonist lived within five or six Miles of me whom I supposed to have lived one hundred and fifty Miles off When I expected an Answer I received a Month after an Insulting Challenge of a speedy Answer and this seconded with another all calling for haste I suppose he thought I had kept no Copy but as soon as I could get it transcrib'd I sent it him and I heard no more of Mr. Iohnson in a Twelve-month When I was at London I went to Mr. Langhorne and desired him to procure me an Answer to my Papers from Mr. Iohnson or that I might know that I should have none At last he told me that Mr. Iohnson would come speak with me himself which he did and would have put off all the Business with a few Words but would promise me no Answer At last by Mr. Tillotson I was informed that his true Name was Terret and that
call it self and such Men Holy Dare you read what I have written of their Holiness in my Key chap. 34. Detection 25. or procure them to answer that and the rest there 2. Are all that are Holy the Rule or Rulers to all others when you have conversed among the Papists one seven Years if Delusion leave you Reason and impartiality you will be more capable of comparing them with your own Parents and such as you lived amongst here and judging which were the more holy 3. As Catholick signifieth a Member of the Church Catholick or such is hold the Catholick Faith so other Churches are much more such than Rome As it signifieth the universal Church Rome is none such The same I say of Apostolick Those that are most exactly of the Apostolick Faith are to be called Apostolick but Woe to us if we were in that no better than Rome 14. You may see now what pitiful Grounds you have for flying into a Pest-house as a City of Refuge or for 〈◊〉 all the cleanest Rooms in the House of God and 〈◊〉 your self to that Room that hath the most leprous infected Persons in it as if it were the only Church of God And for Novelties O that the whole Case 〈◊〉 there be tried and let that Church that hath introduced most Novelties in Faith and Discipline and Worship be most rejected as unclean Were you impartial the several 〈◊〉 of our Religion might put that part of the Controversy 〈…〉 you For our Rule of Religion is only the Holy Scripture if you shew 〈◊〉 that we misunder stand it we shall renounce that misunderstanding but to misunderstand Scripture is to make a new Rule no more than to understand your Councils And you know the Scripture is no Novelty but the Eldest Your Rule is Councils and Papal Decrees which are new contradictory and endless and you never know when you have all and when your Faith is at its maturity and no more to be added under pretence of Determinations If you dare read my 24th 25th and 35th Decection in my Key you may see quickly who are the Novelties One chief Reason of my abhorring Popery is that I am absolutely certain of its Novelty Madam I must take the freedom to say That when your Priests dare neither Dispute in your hearing upon all the provoking offers that I made not yet will answer the Books that I have written nor yet give you leave to read them they have imprisoned your Soul in the partiality of a Sect and while you are so unfaithful to your self if you be miserable because you would not make use of the Remedy and deluded because you are resolved or obliged from coming into the Light your Friends will have an easier account to make for you before God than your self as having discharged their Duty when you wilfully refuse yours What you read formerly against Popery before you doubted or heard their Fallacies was as nothing I suppose for I do not think you observed or remember the stress of the Argumentation which you read We will have leave to pray for you though we cannot have leave to instruct you and God may hear us when you will not which I have the more hopes of because of the Piety of your Parents and the Prayers and Tears of a tender Mother poured out for you and your own well-meaning pious disposition I have known some such Piety bred among us carried by mistake into their Church but little initially bred there Though they pretend that Persons of Charity and the Spirit of God with us must go to them to receive it I would I knew whether you can say by true Experience I felt no true Love of God in my Soul before but as soon as I turned Papist I did and have now the Spirit of God and his Image which before I never had Sure the Change of an Opinion about your Pope and Church is one thing and the Renewing Grace and Love of God and Heavenly mindedness is another I fear not your Prayers bringing your Delusions and Idolatry in your Mother's Chamber as to her self while she walks uptightly with God Nothing that I find in your Manual or the Mass-Book will ever have that power For the Liberty of your Religion which you say you hope for on the Grounds of the King's Declaration I have no more to say but 1. That I never loved Cruelty in any and it hath increased my version to Popery that I still observed that lying and uncharitable cruelty have been the two Hands by which it makes such a bustle in the World 2. And that i◠Italy Spain and Austria Bavaria c. would grant Liberty to Protestants we should see more Equality in the Expectations of it here but if you get Dominion as well as Liberty it will be no Evidence of the Truth and Goodness of your Cause Our God our Rule our Hope our End and Portion are the same in the Inquisition Prison and Flames as in Prosperity We have a Kingdom that cannot be moved and Treasure that none can rob us of It is for that and not for Worldly Prosperity that we renounce all Sensuality Heresie Superstition Idolatry Tyranny and false Worship and desire in Pure and Spiritual Worship with Faith and Patience to wait for the Coming and Righteous Judgment of the Lord. Who with the Spirit of his Mouth and the brightness of his Coming will destroy that wicked One the Son of Perdition 2 Thess. 2. Madam I rest your Servant for and in the Truth of Christ Rich. Baxter London Ian. 29. 1660. Since the Writing of this I am informed that Mr. Iohnson is the Person that you would have had to Dispute for you and that did now and formerly Dispute with Dr. Gunning If so I like your Condition or Religion never the better for your denying it◠when you confessed he feared not any injury from me Our Religion is more a Friend to Truth For the honourable Lady Anne Lindsey at Calice This. § 87. When the King was received with the General Acclamation of his People the Expectations of Men were various according to their several Interests and Inducements Some plain and moderate Episcopal Men thought of Reconciliation and Union with the said Presbyterians yea and a Reward to the Presbyterians for bringing in the King The more Politick Men of the Diocesan way understood that upon the King's Return all the Laws that had been made in Nineteen Years viz. since his Father's departing from the Parliament were void and so that all their Ancient Power and Honour and Revenues would fall to them without any more ado and that they had nothing to do but to keep the Ministers and People in quietness and hopes till Time should fully do the work Some few Presbyterians thought the King would favour them as well as others for stirring up the Soldiers and City to restore him In London I found that Mr. Calamy for his Age and Political Understanding and
there to meet the Divines of the other party according to promise with their Proposals also containing the lowest Terms which they could yield to for Peace we saw not a Man of them nor any Papers from them of that Nature no not to this Day But it was not fit for us to expostulate or complain § 98. But his Majesty very graciously renewed his Professions I must not call them Promises that he would bring us together and see that the Bishops should come down and yield on their Parts and when he heard our Papers read he seemed well pleased with them and told us he was glad that we were for a Liturgy and yielded to the Essence of Episcopacy and therefore he doubted not of our Agreement with much more which we thought meet to recite in our following Addresses by way of Gratitude and for other Reasons easy to be conjectured 99. Yet was not Bishop Usher's Model the same in all Points that we could wish But it was the best that we could have the least hope I say not to obtain but acceptably to make them any Offers of For had we proposed any thing below Bishops and Archbishops we should but have suddenly furnished them with plausible Reasons for the rejecting of all further Attempts of Concord or any other Favour from them 100. Before this time by the King 's Return many hundred worthy Ministers were displaced and cast out of their Charges because they were in Sequestrations where others had by the Parliament been cast out Our earnest Desires had been that all such should be cast out as were in any Benefice belonging formerly to a Man that was not grosly insufficient or debaucht but that all that succeeded such as these Scandalous ones should hold their Places but these Wishes being vain and all the old ones restored the King promised that the Places where any of the old ones were dead should be confirmed to the Possessors But many got the Broad Seal for them and the matter was not great for we were all of us to be endured but a little longer However we agreed to offer these five Requests to the King which he received Agreed to be verbally requested of the King 1. That with all convenient speed we may see his Majesty's Conclusions upon the Proposals of the mutual Condescentions before they pass into Resolves and if it be thought meet our Brethens Proposals also 2. That his Majesty will be publickly declare his Pleasure for the Suspension of Proceedings upon the Act of Uniformity against Nonconformists in Case of Liturgy and Ceremonies till our hoped for Agreement 3. That his Majesty will be pleased to publish his Pleasure at least to those that are concerned in the Execution that till the said expected Settlement no Oath of Canonical Obedience nor Subscription to the Liturgy Discipline Ceremonies c. nor Renunciation of their Ordination by meer Presbyters or confessing it to be sinful be imposed on or required of any as necessary to their Ordination Institution Induction or Confirmation by the Seales 4. That His Majesty will Cause the revoking of the Broad Seal that is granted to all those Persons that by it are put into Places where others have Possession to which none before could claim a right that is such as they call dead Places 5. That his Majesty will be pleased to provide some Remedy against the Return or Settlement of notoriously insufficient or scandalous Ministers into the Places from which they were cast out or into any other § 101. While we waited for the promised Condescentions of the Episcopal Divines there came nothing to us but a Paper of bitter Oppositions by way of Confutation of our for mer Proposals We were not insensible of the unworthiness of this dealing and the Brethren at first desired me to write an Answer to it But afterward they considered that this would but provoke them and turn a Treaty for Concord into a sharp Disputation which would increase the Discord and so what I had written was never seen by any Man lest it should hinder Peace The Bishop's Answer to the first Proposals of the London Ministers who attempted the Work of Reconcilement which was brought them afterward instead of their Concessions before expected and promised When we looked to see how much they would abate of their former Impositions for the attaining of Vnity and Peace we received nothing but this Contradiction Concerning the Preamble § 1. WE first observe that they take it for granted that there is a firm Agreement between them and us in the Doctrinal Truths of the reformed Religion and in the Substantial Parts of Divine Worship and that the Differences are only in some various Conceptions about the Ancient Forms of Church-Government and some Particulars about Liturgy and Ceremonies Which maketh all that follows the less considerable and less reasonable to be stood upon to the hazard of the Disturbance and Peace of the Church § 2. They seem to intimate as if we did discountenance the Practice of those things which in Principles we allow which we utterly deny In sundry Particulars therein proposed we do not perceive what farther Security can be given than is already provided for by the established Laws of this Realm whereunto such Persons as shall at any time find themselves agrieved may have recourse for Remedy § 3. 1. We heartily desire as well as they that all Animosities be laid aside Words of Scorn Reproach and Provocation might be mutually forborn and that to Men of different Persuasions such a Liberty may be left of performing Christian Duties according to their own way within their own private Families as that yet Uniformity in the publick Worship may be preserved and that a Gap be not thereby opened to Sectaries for private Conventicles for the evil Consequents whereof none can be sufficiently responsible unto the State § 4. 2. We likewise desire that every Congregation may have an able and Godly Minister to Preach Catechise administer the Sacraments and perform other Ministerial Offices as need shall require But what they mean by residing and how far they will extend that Word and what effectual Provision of Law can be made more than is already done concerning the Things here mentioned we know not § 5. 3. Confirmation which for sundry Ends we think necessary to be continued in the Church if rightly and solemnly performed will alone be sufficient as to the point of Instruction And for notorious and scandalous Offenders provision is made in the Rubrick before the Communion which Rules had they been carefully observed the Troubles of the Church by the Disputes and Divisions here mentioned had been prevented § 6. 4. There cannot be taken a more effectual Course in this behalf than the Execution of the Laws already made for the due Observation of the Lord's Day which in this particular are very much stricter than the Laws of any Foreign reformed Churches whatsoever Concerning Church-Government § ◠They do not
pretend to Divine Authority or true Antiquity It granteth them much more than Reverend Bishop Hall in his Peâ—â—re-maker and many other of that Judgment do require who would have accepted the fixing of the President for Life as sufficient for the Reconciliation of the Churches 2. It being most agreeable to the Scripture and the Primitive Government is likest to be the way of a more Universal Concord if ever the Churches arrive on Earth at such a Blessing However it will be most acceptable to God and to well informed Consciences 3. It will promote the Practice of Discipline and Godliness without Disorder and promote Order without the hindering of Discipline and Godliness 4. And it is not to be silenced though in some respects we are loath to mention it that it will save the Nation from the Violation of the Solemn Vow and Covenant without wronging the Church at all or breaking any other Oath And whether the Covenant were lawfully imposed or not we are assured from the Nature of a Vow to God and from the Cases of Saul Zedekiah and others that it would be a terrible thing to us to violate it on that pretence Though we are far from thinking that it obligeth us to any Evil or to go beyond our Places and Callings to do Good much less to resist Authority yet doth it undoubtedly bind us to forbear our own Consent to those Luxuriances of Church-Government which we there renounced and for which no Divine Institution can be pretended It is not only the Presbyterians but multitudes of the Episcopal Party and the Nobility Gentry and others that adhered to his late Majesty in the late unhappy Wars that at their Composition took this Vow and Covenant And God forbid that ever the Souls of so many thousands should be driven upon the Sin of Perjury and upon the Wrath of God and the Flames of Hell Or that under Pretence of calling them to repent of what is evil they should be urged to commit so great an Evil. If once the Consciences of the Nation should be so debaâ—ched what good can be expected from them or what Evil shall they ever after be thought to make Conscience of or what Bonds can be supposed to oblige them or how can your Majesty place any Conâ—idence in them notwithstanding the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which they take or how can they be taken for competent Witnesses in any Cause or Persons meet for human converse or how should those Preachers be regarded by their Auditors that dare wilfully violate their solemn Vows and it would be no Comfort nor Honour to your Majesty to be the King of a Persideous Nation And whatever Palliation Flattery might at Hand procure undoubtedly at distance of time and place where Flattery cannot silence Truth it would be the Nations perpetual Infamy And what Matter of Reconciliation would it be to the guilty Papists when we blame their impious Doctrines that have such a tendency How loose would it leave your Majesty's Subjects that are once taught to break such sacred Bonds Till the Covenant was decried as an Almanack out of date and its Obligation taken to be null that odious Fact could never have been perpetrated against your Royal Father Nor your Majesty have been so long expulsed from your Dominions And the Obligation of the Covenant upon the Consciences of the Nation was not the weakest Instrument of your Return We therefore humbly beseech your Majesty with greater importunity then we think we should do for our Lives that you will have Mercy on the Souls and Consciences of your People and will not urge or tempt them to this grievous Sin nor drive them on the insupportable Wrath of the Almighty whose Judgment is at hand where Princes and People must give that account on which the irreversible Sentence will depend For the honour of our Religion and of your Majesty's Dominions and Reign we beseech you suffer us not to be tempted to the violating of such Solemn Vows and this for nothing when an Expedient is before you that will avoid it without any detriment to the Church nay to its honour and advantage The Prelacy which we disclaimed is That of Diocesans upon the Claim of a Superiour Order to a Presbyter assuming the sole Power of Publick Admonition of particular Offenders injoyning Penitence Excommunicating and Absolving besides Confirmation over so many Churches as necessitated the Corruption or Extirpation of Discipline and the using of Humane Officers as Chancellors Surrogates Officials Commissaries Arch-Deacons while the undoubted Officers of Christ the Pastors of the particular Churches were hindered from the Exercise of their Office The Restoration of Discipline in the particular Churches and of the Pastors to the Exercise of their Office therein and of Synods for necessary Consultation and Communion of Churches and of the Primitive Presidency or Episcopacy for the avoiding of all shew of Innovation and Disorder is that which we humbly offer as the Remedy beseeching your Maiesty that if any thing asserted seem unproved an Impartial Conference in your Majesty's hearing may be allowed us in order to a just Determination Concerning the Preamble in your Majesty's Declaration we presume only to tender these Requests 1. THAT as we are perswaded it is not in your Majesty's Thoughts to intimate that we are guilty of the Offences which your Majesty here reciteth so we hope it will rather be a motive to the hastening of the Nation 's Cure that our Unity may prevent Mens Temptations of that Nature for the time to come 2. Though we have professed our willingness to submit to the Primitive Episcopacy and a Reformed Liturgy hoping it may prove an Expedient to an happy Union yet have we expressed our dislike of the Prelacy and present Liturgy while unreformed And though Sacriledge and unjust Alienation of Church-Lands is a Sin that we detest yet whether in some Cases of true Superfluities of Revenues or true Necessity of the Church there may not be an Alienation which is no Sacriledge and whether the Kings and Parliaments have been guilty of that Crime that have made some Alienations are Points of high Concernment of which we never had a Call to give our Judgment And therefore humbly beseech your Majesty that concerning these Matters we may not to our Prejudice be otherwise understood than as we have before and here expressed 3. That as your Majesty hath here vouchsafed us your gracious Acknowledgment of our Moderation it might never be said That a Ministry and People of such moderate Principles consenting to Primitive Episcopacy and Liturgy could not yet be received into the Settlement and countenanced Body of your People nor possess their Stations in the Church and Liberty in the Publick Worship of God 4. And whereas it is expressed by your Majesty That the Essence and Foundation of Episcopacy might be preserved though the Extent of the Jurisdiction might be altered this is to us a ground of Hope
inconveniences he asked me whether I thought the inconveniences of Extemporary Prayer were not rather to be avoided than those of imposed Forms I told him that we should do our best to avoid the evils or abuse of both He asked me how that should be I answered him not by disclaiming the use of Forms or of conceived Prayer but using both in their proper seasons And as I was going on the Company fell into a laughter at me as if I had spoken for some foolish thing when I spoke but for that which the Ministers of England have used ever since the Reformation and most that have any Zeal do use by their allowance to this day praying Extempore in the Pulpit § 200. I oft made it my earnest request to them but that we might have our proper turns in speaking and that we might not interrupt one another but stay the end but I could never prevail especially with Bishop Morley who when any thing was spoken which he would not have to be spoken out would presently interrupt me and go on in his way I told them that if they took this Course I judged all our Conference fruitless to the hearers for my Speeches were not incoherent but the end and middle must be joyned to the beginning to make up the sence and that as the End is first in the intention but last in execution so I usually reserved the chief part of what I had to say to the last to which the beginning was but preparatory And therefore I had rather they forbad me to speak any more◠than let me begin and then not suffer me to go on any further The Bishop answered that I spake so long and had so many things that their memories could not retain them all and should lose the first if they stayed till the last and that I spake more than any other I told him that as to my speaking more than others it was my duty yea to speak as much as all the rest except when my Brethren saved me that labour If they thought I spake too much they would tell me so And for others one side was to speak as oft as the other side If we had consented that they should fill the room when we were but Three and then every one in the Room should speak as much as one of us we had made a fair bout of it I cared not how many of them spake if they were but willing to be answered But if five of them must speak and but one of them be answered they would say that all the rest were unanswerable And for my length I told him that we consented that one of themselves should be always in the Chair as they had been and whenever the Chair-man interrupted me and told me I had spoken long enough I was willing to be silent but that was never done or let us turn the Quarter-Glass and see that one speak no longer than the other And for the weakness of their memories I supposed they were on equal Terms It was as hard for us to remember what they said and if we could not we would either take Notes or ask another or pass by what we forgot rather than overthrow all Order in Discourse and speak in Confusion like People in a Fair. And for my part I thought that a continued Speech without vain words doth best spare time seeing that when I may thus set all the parts of my sence together when the broken parcels signifie nothing I can better make known my meaning in a Speech of half a quarter of an hour than in two days rambling Discourses where Interruptions and Interlocutions toss us up and down from thing to thing and never let us see the sence and reason of each others in that Connexion and Harmony which is its Light and Strength But all these words were cast away and they had seldom Patience to forbear an Interruption § 201. One learned Doctor behind me that was no Commissioner desired to be heard as if he had some unanswerable Argument And it was a Question Whether all that scrupled Conformity whom we pleaded for were not such as had been against the King I answered him 1. That the King himself had given sufficient Testimony of many of them 2. That there is not one Minister of twenty that we plead for that had ever any thing to do in the Wars or against the King most of them being then Boys at School or in the University 3. That Men on both sides had been against the King Hereupon Bishop Morley asked me whether ever I knew a conformable Man for the Parliament against the King Yes my Lord quoth I many a one Name one quoth some of them Yes a Bishop yea an Archbishop quoth I At which they all hearkened as at a wonder Do you not know quoth I that the Archbishop of York Dr. Williams sometime Lord Keeper of England was a Commander of the Forces for the Parliament in Wales At which they were silent and that Argument was at an end § 202. When I told them that if they cast out all the Non-conformits there would not be tolerable Ministers enow to supply the Congregations Bishop Morley answered that so it was in the late Times and that some Places had no Ministers at all through all those Times of Usurpation and named Aylesbury which he knew to have had none upon his own knowledge I told him that I never knew any such and therefore I knew there were not many such in England And if it were so I hoped that he would not plead for such a Mischief by the Example of the Usurpers But since I have enquired of the Inhabitants about Aylesbury and they unamously professed that it was notoriously false and named me the Ministers that had been there successively and usually two at once § 203. Also the said Bishop when I talkt of silencing Ministers for things indifferent told me That we should remember how we did by them and that we talkt not then as now we do I answered him That I was confident there was no Man there present that had ever a hand in silencing any of them For my own parts I had been in Judgment for casting out the utterly Insufficient and notoriously Scandalous indifferently of what Opinion or Side foever but I had publickly written against the silencing or displacing any worthy Man for being against the Parliament And if it had been otherwise he should take warning by others Faults and not imitate them and do evil because Cromwell did so § 204. Upon this Dr. Walton Bishop of Chester said Indeed Mr. Baxter did write against the Casting of us out But Mr. Baxter did not you say That if our Churches had no more than bare Liberty as others had without the compulsion of the Sword that none but Drunkards would joyn in them I answered No my Lord I did not I only said that as they had been ordered if they had but
be forced to Absolve the unfit and that in absolute Expressions 7. That they are forced to give thanks for all whom they Bury as Brethren whom God in mercy hath delivered and taken to himself 8. That none may be a Preacher that dare not Subscribe that there is nothing in the Common Prayer Book the Book of Ordination and the Nine and thirty Articles that is contrary to the Word of God These are most of the things which we judge contrary to the Word of God which at present come to our remembrance So we humbly desire that whenever you would have us give you a full enumeration of such we may have leave to consult with the rest of our Brethren and deliver it to you by our Common Consent And we humbly crave that all these Points may be taken into serious Consideration and those of them which we have not yet debated we are ready to debate and give in our Arguments whenever we are called to it to prove them all contrary to the Word of God And may we be so happy as to have this Proposal granted us we shall undoubtedly have Unity and Peace Ad 2 m We suppose according to the Laws of distinguishing you speak in this second Proposal of all things so inexpedient as not to be contrary to the Word of God Otherwise the greatest Sins may be committed by inexpediences As a Physician may murder a Man by giving him inexpedient Medicines and a General may destroy his Army by inexpedient ways of Conduct and Defence And the Pastor may be guilty of the Damnation of his People by Doctrines and Applications inexpedient and unsuitable to their state And a way of worship may be so inexpedient as to be sinful and loathsom unto God such is the Battology or thinking to be heard for affected Repetitions or Bablings Pharisaical Thanksgivings that Men are better than indeed they are with abundance such like But supposing that you here speak of no such inexpedient things but such as are not contrary to the Word of God We add Ad 3 m We are thankful that in such Matters we may have leave to make any such Proposals as are here mentioned but we shall not be forward to busie ourselves and trouble others about such little things without a Special Call If the Convocation at any time desire an account of our Thoughts about such Matters we shall readily produce them And for acquiescing in their Judgments in such Matters what we Three do in that point is but of small consequence And for others seeing the Ministers that we speak for were many Hundreds of them displaced or removed before the advice of the Convocation and others denied their Votes because not Ordained by Diocesans and others not approving the Constitution of our Convocations durst not meddle in the choice We cannot tell how far they will think themselves obliged by the Determination of this Convocation But this can be no matter of impediment to your Satisfaction or ours For we are commonly agreed that we are bound in Conscience to obey the King and all his Magistrates in all lawful things and with Christian patience to suffer what he inflicteth on us for not obeying in things unlawful And therefore while we acquiesce thus far in the Judgment of those who must make the Decrees of the Convocation to be civilly obligatory and the King intendeth to take their Advice before he determine of such Matters It is all one as to the end as if we directly did thus far acquiesce in the Judgment of the Convocation if the King approve it But if the King and Parliament dissent or disallow the Convocation's Judgment as it is possible they may have cause to do would you have us acquiesce in it when King and Parliament do not And for the last part of the Proposal by God's Assistance if you do not silence or disable us we are resolved faithfully to teach the People that the Division of the Church is worse than inexpedient and the Peace of it not to be disturbed for the avoiding of any such inexpediences as are not contrary to the Word of God We conclude with the Repetition of our more earnest Request That these wise and moderate Proposals may be prosecuted and all things be abated us which we have proved or shall prove to be contrary to the Word of God But if we agree not on those things among our selves according to his Majesty's Commission the World may know we did our parts When the Liberty of using the Alterations and Additional Forms which were offered to you according to his Majesty's Declaration would end all our Differences about Matters of Worship And when you have had them in your hands so long since you called for them and have not notwithstanding the Importunity of our Requests vouchsafed us any Debates upon them or Exceptions against them but are pleased to lay them by in silence We once more propose to you Whether the granting of what you cannot blame be not now the shortest and the surest way to a general Satisfaction Note here That I offered to my Brethren two more Particulars as contrary to the Word of God which were 1. That none may have leave in Publick Worship to use a more suitable orderly way but all are confined to this Liturgy which is so defective and disorderly which we are even now ready to manifest if you will receive it 2. That none may be a Minister of the Gospel that dare not subject himself by an Oath of Obedience to the Diocesans in that State of Government which they exercised in this Land contrary to the practice of all Antiquity These Ten Things I offered as contrary to the Word of God but the two Brethren with me thought these two last were better left out lest they occasion new Debates though they judged them true § 208. When I read and delivered these Papers the Bishops were much displeased that I should charge so many things on the Church as Sins Where you may note the marvellous oscitancy of these men that when they had treated with us so long and received so many large Exceptions and Replys and in all had heard us open the sinfulness of their way they should yet imagine that we had accused their way but of inexpediency and think to gratifie themselves by such a poor device But their main design was to divide us while they set us upon distinguishing all their sins from their inexpediences and they thought that one would take that for inexpedient only which others took to be sin And they considered not that we were now treating what should be imposed and not what should be obeyed if it were imposed and that we would charge Sin upon their Impositions in many points which might lawfully be done when Imposed rather than to forsake the Churches And if I did the Church any Service in all these Debates it was principally by frustrating their evil design of dividing us so
Servant Io. Earles To my honoured Friend Mr. Richard Baxter These § 271. Before this in November many worthy Ministers and others were imprisoned in many Counties and among others divers of my old Neighbours in Worcestershire And that you may see what Crimes were the occasion I will tell you the story of it One Mr. Ambrose Sparry a sober learned Minister that had never owned the Parliament's Cause or Wars and was in his Judgment for moderate Episcopacy had a wicked Neighbour whom he reproved for Adultery who bearing him a grudge thought now he had found a time to shew it He or his Confederates for him framed a Letter as from I know not whom directed to Mr. Sparry That he and Captain Yarrington should be ready with Money and Arms at the time appointed and that they should acquaint Mr. Oasland and Mr. Baxter with it This Letter he pretended that a Man left behind him under a Hedge who fate down and pull'd out many Letters and put them all up again save this and went his ways he knew not what he was nor whether he went This Letter he bringeth to Sir Iohn P the Man that hotly followed such work who sent Mr. Sparry Mr. Oasland and Captain Yarrington to Prison This Mr. Oasland was Minister in Bewdley a servent laborious Preacher who had done abundance of good in converting ignorant ungodly People And he had offended Sir Ralph Clare in being against his Election as Burgess in Parliament for that Town But who that Mr. Baxter was that the Letter named they could not resolve there being another of the name nearer and I being in London But the Men especially Mr. Sparry lay long in Prison and when the Forgery and Injury was detected he had much ado to get out § 272. Mr. Henry Iackson also our Physician at Kidderminster and many of my Neighbours were imprisoned and were never told for what to this day But Mr. Iackson was so merry a Man and they were all so cheerful there that I think they were released the sooner because it appeared so small a Suffering to them § 273. Though no one accused me of any thing nor spake a word to me of it being they knew I had long been near a Hundred miles off yet did they defame me all over the Land as guilty of a Plot and when Men were taken up and sent to Prison in other Counties it was said to be for Baxter's Plot so easie was it and so necessary a thing it seemed then to cast such filth upon my Name § 274. And though through the great Mercy of God I had long been learning not to overvalue the thoughts of Men no not so much as the Reputation of Honesty or Innocency yet I was somewhat wearied with this kind of Life to be every day calumniated and hear new Slanders raised of me and Court and Country ring of that which no Man ever mentioned to my face and I was oft thinking to go beyond Sea that I might find some place in retired privacy to live and end my days in quietness out of the noise of a Peace-hating Generation But my Acquaintance thought I might be more serviceable here though there I might live more in quietness and having not the Vulgar Language of any Country to enable me to preach to them or converse with them and being so infirm as not to be like to hear the Voyage and change of Air These with other Impediments which God laid in my way hindred me from putting my Thoughts in Execution § 275. About this time also it was famed at the Court that I was married which went as the matter of most heinous Crime which I never heard charged by them on any Man but on me Bishop Morley divulged it with all the Odium he could possibly put upon it telling them that one in Conference with him I said that Ministers marriage is lawful and but lawful as if I were now contradicting my 〈◊〉 And it every where rung about partly as a Wonder and partly as a Crime whilst they cried This is the Man of Charity little knowing what they talkt of 〈◊〉 that at last the Lord Chancellour told me He heard I was married and wondered at it when I told him it was not true For they had affirmed it near a year before it came to pass And I think the King's Marriage was scarce more talked of than mine § 276. All this while Mr. Calamy and some other Ministers had been endeavouring with those that they had Interest in and to try if the Parliament would pass the King's Declaration into a Law and sometimes they had some hope from the Lord Chancellour and others but when it came to the trial their hopes all failed them and the Conformity imposed was made ten times more burdensome than it ever was before For besides that the Convocation had made the Common Prayer Book more grievous than before the Parliament made a new Act of Uniformity with a new Form of Subscription and a new Declaration to be made against the Obligation of the Covenant of which more anon So that the King's Declaration did not only die before it came to Execution and all Hopes and Treaties and Petitions were not only disappointed but a weight more grievous than a Thousand Ceremonies was added to the old Conformity with a grievous Penalty § 277. By this means there was a great Unanimity in the Ministers and the greater Number were cast out And as far as I could perceive it was by some designed that it might be so Many a time did we beseech them that they would have so much regard to the Souls of Men and to the Honour of England and of the Protestant Religion as that without any necessity at all they would not impose feared Perjury upon them nor that which Conscience and Common Esteem and Pâ—pish Adversaries would all call Perjury that Papists might not have this to cast in our Teeth and call the Protestants a Perjured People nor England or Scotland Perjured Lands Oft have we proved to them that their Cause and Interest required no such thing But all was but casting Oyl upon the Flames and forcing us to think of that Monster of Millan that made his Enemy renounce God to save his Life before he stabb'd him that he might murder Soul and Body at a stroke It seemed to be accounted the one thing necessary which no Reason must be heard against that the Presbyterians must be forced to do that which they accounted Publick Perjury or to be cast out of Trust and Office in Church and Common-wealth And by this means a far greater Number were laid by than otherwise would have been and the few that yielded to Conformity they thought would be despicable and contemptible as long as they lived A Noble Revenge and worthy of the Actors § 278. When the Act of Uniformity was passed it gave all the Ministers that could not Conform no longer time than till Bartholomew-day
that Party in the News-book and in their Discourses That Calamy that would not â—e a Bishop was in Iail And when his Sermon was printed an Invective against him came out in Language like an Inquisitor that shewed a vehement thirst for Blood But precious in the sight of the Lord is the Blood of his holy Ones § 282. Abundance more were laid in Jails in many Counties for preaching and the vexation of the Peoples Souls was increased At St. Albans Mr. Partridge the ejected Minister being desired to preach a Funeral Sermon a Captain or Lieutenant came in with his Pistol charged and shot one of the hearers dead and the Preacher was sent to Prison § 283. There were many Citizens of London who had then a great Compassion on the Ministers whose Families were utterly destitute of Maintenance and fain they would have relieved them and had such a Method that the Citizens of each County should help the Ministers of that County But they durst not do it lest it were judged a Conspiracy Wherefore I went for them to the Lord Chancellour and told him plainly of it that Compassion moved them but the Suspicions of these Distempered Times deterred them and I desired to have his Lordship's Judgment Whether they might venture to be so charitable without misinterpretation or danger And he answered Aye God forbid but Men should give their own according as their Charity leads them And so having his preconsent I gave it them for Encouragement But they would not believe that it was Cordial and would be any Security to them and so they never durst venture upon such a Method which might have made their Charity effectual but a few that were most willing did much more than all the rest and solicited some of their own Acquaintance for their Counties Relief § 284. And here I think it meet before I proceed to open the true state of the Conformists and Nonconformists in England at this time I. The Conformists were of three sorts 1. Some of the old Ministers called Presbyterians formerly that Conformed at Bartholomew Tide or after who had been in possession before the King came in These were also of several sorts some of them were very able worthy Men who Conformed and Subscribed upon this Inducement that the Bishop bid them Do it in their own sence And so they Subscribed to the Parliament's words and put their own sence upon them only by word of mouth or in some by-paper Some of them read Mr. Fullwood's and Stileman's Books and could not answer them and therefore Conformed For no Man ventured to put forth a full and satisfactory Answer to them for fear of ruine Though somewhat was written before by Mr. Crofton and after by Mr. Cawdry and others Some were young raw Men that were never versed in such kind of Controversies Some were perswaded of the sinfulness of the Parliaments War and thence gathered that the Covenant being in order to it was a Rebellioâ—s Covenant and therefore not obligatory And other things they thought were small Some had Wives and Children and Powerty which were great Temptations to them And most that I knew when once they inclined to Conformity did avoid the Company of their Brethren and never askt them what their Reasons were against Conformity 2. A second sort of Conformists were those called Latitudinarians who were mostly Cambridge-men Platonists or Cartesians and many of them Arminians with some Additions having more charitable Thoughts than others of the Salvation of Heathens and Infidels and some of them holding the Opinions of Origen about the Praexistence of Souls c. These were ingenious Men and Scholars and of Universal Principles and free abhorring at first the Imposition of these little things but thinking them not great enough to stick at when Imposed Of these some with Dr. Moore their Leader lived privately in Colledges and sought not any Preferment in the World and others set themselves to rise These two forementioned Parties were laudable Preachers and were the honour of the Conformists though not heartily theirs and their profitable Preaching is used by God's Providence to keep up the Publick Interest of Religion and refresh the discerning sort of Auditors 3. The third sort of Conformists was of those that were heartily such throughout And these were also of three sorts 1. Those that were zealous for the Diocesan Party and the Cause and desirous to extirpate or destroy the Nonconformists And these were supposed to be the high and swaying Party 2. Those that were zealous for the Party and the Cause materially but yet were more moderate in their private wishes to the Nonconformists and did profess themselves that they could not Subscribe and Declare if they did not put a more favourable sence on the words than that which the Nonconformists supposed to be the plain sence 3. Those that were raw or ignorant Readers or unlearned Men or sensual scandalous Ones who would be hot for any thing by which they might rise or be maintained This Composition made up the Body of the Conformists in this Land and all this Difference there was among them II. § 285. The Nonconformists also were of divers sorts 1. There were some few of my Acquaintance who were for the old Conformity for Bishops Common Prayer Book Ceremonies and the old Subscription and against the imposing and taking of the Covenant which they never took and against the Parliaments Wars But they could not Subscribe that they Assent and Consent to all things now imposed nor could they Absolve all others in the three Kingdoms from being obliged by the Vow and Covenant to endeavour Church Reformation though they would not have had them take the Vow 2. A greater Number of the Nonconformists or Reconcilers of no Sect or Party but abhorring the very Name of Parties who like Ignatius's Episcopacy but not the English Diocesan Frame and like what is good in Episcopal Presbyterians or Independents but reject somewhat as evil in them all being of the Judgment which I have described my self to be in the beginning of this Book that can endure a Liturgy and like not the Imposition of the Covenant but cannot Assent and Consent to all things required in the Act nor Absolve three Kingdoms from all Obligation by their Vows to endeavour in their Places the alteration of the English Diocesan Form of Government Though they doubt not but Sedition and Rebellion should be abhorred of all whether for Reformation or any other Pretence 3. A third sort of Nonconformists are the Presbyterians whose Judgment is fore-described and manifested in their Writings to all the World Of these two last sorts if I be not taken for a partial Witness are the soberest and most judicious unanimous peaceable faithful able constant Ministers in this Land or that I have heard or read of in the Christian World Which I am able to say I speak without respect of Persons in Obedience to my Conscience upon my long Experience 4. The
fourth sort are the Independents who are for the most part a serious godly People some of them moderate going with Mr. Norton and the New-England Synod and little differing from the moderate Presbyterians and as well ordered as any Party that I know But others of them more raw and self-conceited and addicted to Separations and Divisions their Zeal being greater than their Knowledge who have opened the Door to Anabaptists first and then to all the other Sects These Sects are numerous some tolerable and some intolerable and being never incorporated with the rest are not to be reckoned with them Many of them the Behmâ—nists Fifth-Monarchy-men Quakers and some Anabaptists are proper Fanaticks looking too much to Revelations within instead of the Holy Scriptures And thus I have truly told you of all the Sorts among us except the Papists who are sufficiently known and are no more of us than the other Sects are The Atheists and Infidels I name not because as such they have no Pastors § 286. Next it will not be amiss if I briefly give you the Sum of their several Causes and the Reasons of their several Ways I. The Conformists go several Wâ—ys according to their forementioned Differences 1. Those that are high Prelatists say 1. For Episcopacy it is of Divine Institution and perpetual Usage in the Church and necessary to Order among the Clergy and People and of experienced Benefit to this Land and most congruous to Civil Monarchy and therefore not to be altered by any no not by the King and Parliament if they should swear it Therefore the Oath called the Et caetera Oath was formed before the War to Swear all Men to be true to this Prelacy and not to Change it 2. Those that are called Conforming Presbyterians and Latitudinarians both say that our Prelacy is lawful though not necessary and that Mr. Edward Stillingfleet's Irenicon hath well proved That no Form of Church Government is of Divine Institution And therefore when the Magistrate commandeth any he is to be obeyed But since they grew up to Preferment they grow to be hot for the Prelacy § 287. And therefore as to the Covenant they all say 1. That the End of it was Evil viz. To Change the Government of the Church without Law which was setled by Law 2. That the Efficient Cause was Evil or Null viz. That the Imposers had no Authority to do it 3. That the Matter was Evil viz. to extirpate and change the Government of the Church by Rebellion and Combination against the King 4. That the Swearers Act in taking it was sinful for the foresaid Reasons 5. That the King's Prohibition and disowning it did nullifie all the Subjects Obligations if any were upon them by virtue of Numb 30. 6. That the People being all Subjects cannot endeavour the Change of Church Government without the King 7. That King Charles took not that same Covenant but another 8. That he was forced to it 9. That he was virtually pre-engaged to the contrary Matter in that he was Heir of the Crown and bound to take the Coronation Oath 10. That to cast so many Men as the Bishops out of all their Honours and Possessions is Injustice which none can be obliged to do 11. That if it were lawful before to endeavour an Alteration of the Government of the Church yet now it is not when King and Parliament have made a Law against it These are Mr. Fulwood's and Mr. Stileman's Pleas and the Sum of all that I have heard as to that Point § 288. But further as to the Interpretation of the Words of the Declaration hereabouts the Latitudinarians and Conforming Presbyterians and some of the Prelatists say as followeth 1. That the Declaration includeth not the King when it saith There is no obligation on me or any other person which they prove because that Laws are made only for Subjects and therefore are to be interpreted as speaking only of Subjects 2. Because the King is meant in the Counterpart or Object viz the Government of the State which is not to be altered 2. They say that it is only Rebellions or other unlawful Endeavours that are meant by the words to Endeavour 3. They say that by any Alteration is meant only any Essential Alteration and not any Integral or Accidental Alteration of the Government 4. And the leading Independents have taught them also to say that this Covenant was essentially a League between two Nations upon a certain occasion which therefore if ever it did bind is now like an Almanack out of date Et cessat obligatio cessantibus personis materiâ fine 5. They principally argue that all Mens words are to be taken charitative in the most honest and favourable sence that they will bear much more the King 's and Parliaments Therefore Charity permitteth us not to judge them so inhuman irrational irreligious and cruel as to command Men to be perjured and to change the constituted Government by prohibiting King Parliament or People to do any thing which belonged to them in their places These are the Reasons for the lawfulness of declaring against the Obligation of the Covenant § 289. 3. In the same Declaration it is professed That it is not lawful on any pictente whatsoever to take up Arms against the King or any Commissionated by him c. Concerning this they are also divided among themselves One Party say That this is true universally in the proper sence of the words The other say That it is to be understood of such as are legally Commissioned by him only and that if he should Commission two or three Men or more to kill the Parliament or burn the City or to dispossess Men of their Freeholds it were lawful forcibly to resist Or if the Sheriff be to raise the Posse Comitatus in obedience to a Decree of a Court of Justice to put a Man into possession of his House he may do it forcibly though the Defendant be Commissioned by the King to keep it Because they say that the Law is to be taken sano sensu and not as may lay the Law-givers under so heavy an Accusation as the literal unlimited sence would do § 290. 4. The fourth Matter of Difference being the Oath of Canonical Obedience they here also differ among themselves 1. Some of them think that as the Necessity of Monarchy and our Relation to the King doth make the Oath of Allegiance necessary or very meet so the Necessity of Prelacy and our Relation to the Prelates doth make the Oath of Obedience to them justifiable and meet For that which must be done may be promised and sworn 2. Others of them say That it is only to the Bishops as Magistrates or Officers of the King that we swear to them 3. And others say That as we may be subject to any Man in humility so we may promise or swear it to any Man And it being but in licit 〈◊〉 honestis that what we may
lawfully do we may swear to do § 291. 5. The fifth Controversie is about Re-ordination of such as were not Ordained by Diocesans but by the Presbyteries which then were at home or abroad And here they are also of two minds among themselves The one sort say That Ordination without Diocesans is a Nullity and those that are so Ordained are no Ministers but Laymen and therefore their Churches no true Churches in sensu politico And therefore that such must needs be Re-ordained The other sort say That their Ordination was valid before in foro spirituali but not in foro cioili and that the repeating of it is but an afoertaining or a confirming Act as publick Marrying again would be after one is privately married in case the Law would bastardize or disinherit his Children else § 292. 6. The sixth Controversie is about the lawfulness of the Assent and Consent to be declared which is to all contained in the Book of Articles the Book of Ordination and the Book of Common Prayer These comprehend abundance of Particulars some Doctrinal some about the Offices and Discipline of the Church and some about the Matter the Order and Manner and Ceremonies of Worship Here they are also divided among themselves some few of them take the words plainly and properly viz. the willing Conformists and think that indeed there is nothing in these Books which is not to be assented and consented to And indeed all the Convocation must needs be of that mind or the Major part and also the Parliament because they had the Books before them to be perused and did examine the Liturgy and Book of Ordination and make great Alterations in them and therefore if they had thought there had been any thing not to be assented and consented to they would have altered it by correction before they had imposed it on the Church But for all that the other Party is now so numerous that I could yet never speak with any of them but went that way viz. with the Latitudinarians to expound the words all things contained in the Books which they assent and consent to All things which they are to use and their Assent and Consent they limit only to the use q. d. I do dissent that there is nothing in these Books which may not lawfully be used and I do consent to the use of so much as belongeth to me Though yet they think or will not deny but that there may be something that may be ill framed and ill imposed The reason of this Exposition they fetch from the word use which is found after in the Act of Uniformity though it be not in the words of the Delaration And for the Books they say It is lawful to use the Common-Prayer and the Ceremonies Cross Surplice Copes and Kneeling at the Sacrament and all that is in that or the other Books to be used and therefore to declared so much § 293. More particularly 1. Concerning the Kalendar imposing the use of so many Apocryphal Lessons they say that they are read but upon Week-days and that not as Scripture but as edifying Lessons as the Homilies are and as many Churches have long used them And that the Church sufficiently avoideth the Scandal by calling them Apocryphâ—◠§ 294. And 2. for the parcelling and ordering of the Prayers and Responses as they are some of them say that it is the best Form and Order and it 's only Fancy and 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 them Others say that they are disorderly indeed but that is not the Sin of the Users when they are imposed but of the Framers and 〈◊〉 § 295. And 3. as for the Doctrine of the Salvation of Baptized Infants in the Rubrick of Baptism and all the rest in that Book and in the Nine and thirty Arâ—â—â—â—â— some of them say that they are all found viz. the willing Conformists but the unwilling Conformists say that these are not things to be used by themâ— and therefore not within the Compass of the declared Assent or Consent in the Act. § 296. And 4. as to the Charitable Applications excepted against in Baptism Confirmation the Lord's Supper Absolution of the Sick and Burial they say they are but such as according to the Judgment of Charity we may use And if there be any fault it is not in the Common Prayer Book which useth but such words as are fit to be used by the Members of the Church but it is in the Canons and Discipline of the Church which suffereth unfit Persons to be Church-Members § 297. And 5. as for the Ceremonies they say 1. That Kneeling is freed from all suspicion of Idolatry by the annexing of the Rubrick out of King Edward the Sixth's Common Prayer Book which though the Convocation refused yet the Parliament annexed and they are the Imposers and it is their sence that we must stand to And as it is lawful to Kneel in accepting a sealed Pardon from the King by his Messenger so is it in accepting a sealed Pardon from God with the Investiture of our Priviledges § 298. And 2. they say that the Surplice is as lawful as a Gown it being not imposed primarily because significant but because decent and secondarily as significant say some Or as others say It is the better and fitter to be imposed because it is significant and that God hath no where forbidden such Ceremonies § 299. And 3. for the Cross in Baptism they say that it is no part of the Sacrament of Baptism but an appendant Ceremony that it is the better for being significant that it is but a transient Image and not a fixed much less a graven Image and is not adored that it is but a professing sign as words are or as standing up or holding up the hand and not any Seal of God's part of the Covenant and though it be called in the Canons a Dedicating Sign it is but as it signifieth the Action of the Person or the Church and not as it signifieth the Action of God receiving the dedicated Person And some say That it cannot be de denied but that according to the old and common use of the word Sacrament as a Military Engagement it is a Sacrament yet it is not pretended to be a Divine but a Humane Sacrament and such are lawful it being in our definition of a Church Sacrament that it is Ordained by Christ himself And though Man may not invent New Sacraments as God's sealing or investing Signs and so pretend that to be Divine which is not yet man may invent New Human Sacraments which go no further than the signifying of their own Minds and Actions And they say That if such mystical Signs as these had been unlawful it is a thing incredible that the Universal Church should use such as far as can be found from the Apostles days even the Milk and Honey and Chrysm and White Garment at Baptism and the Station on the Lord's Days and the oft use of the Cross and
pursued me to this very day 2. But it is the Reasons against our full Obedience to the Imposition of this Conformity which I am now to rehearse but I must desire the Reader to remember that my bare Recital is no sign of my Approbation of all that I recite though I be one of those that dare not Conform § 304. And first there are divers general Reasons which keep some of them more than others from Conformity and drive them further even from joyning with them in Liturgy or Sacrament 1. Some of them look upon the Principles and Lives of many of those who fall in with the establisht Church as furnishing them with a sufficient Plea against Conformity For say they it 's easie to observe how the Prophane and Vitious and Debaucht and Scandalous which makes up but too great a part of the Nation fall in with that Party in the Church that are for Prelacy and Liturgy c. and for oppressing those who differ in their Sentiments from them about these Matters Now how say they can we safely joyn in with that Body of Men that harbours so many open Enemies to all Religion as the prophane part of the Nation comprehends But some who are more considerate reply That this is no other than what is the usual Attendant of a National Establishment it being a common thing for all those in a State who are really of no Religion in appearance to fall in with that Mode of Religion that is favour'd by the Law and most encouraged by the Prince § 305. 2. The same Persons say That by Conforming they shall own and strengthen Usurpers who have made a New Office which Christ never made and to the great wrong of Christ and the peril of the Church have made themselves Lords of God's Heritage And as he that obeyeth the Pope's Law is guilty of his Usurpation so is he that obeyeth the Prelates Laws though the Matter commanded were lawful in it self But the moderater Nonconformists are not for this Reason because say they it is but Counsel as it cometh from the Convocation and it is the King and Parliament that make a Law of it whom we must obey in lawful things And they say further That we must not forbear a Duty for fear of Encouraging Men's Usurpations § 306. They say also 3. That these Impositions are done by the Prelates in meer design to root out godly Ministers and Christians And that when they feared that the old Conformity would not serve turn they have added such new Materials of set purpose which keep out a Thousand at least that would have yielded to the Old Conformity And what they aim at further when they have thus driven out all the able faithful Ministers God knoweth But if we set in with them and use the very means which they have â—â—bricated for this very end to destroy the Interest of Godliness though the Act commanded were indifferent we are made guilty of their Sin But the moderate Nonconformists say That such Reasons as these are good Seconds where the Matter is first proved evil but 1. That Mens Designs are lateâ—t in their hearts and the strongest Conjectures will not serve instead of Proof 2. If that it were known to any one of us not by the Evidence of the thing but by some other Discovery that a lawful thing is Commanded with a pernicious design that will not excuse us from our Obedience unless it be probable that the Church is like to be saved from ruine by our forbearance to obey And we may do the thing commanded without any participation of the Guilt of Mens private malicious Intentions § 307. 4. Also they say That we have Covenanted to endeavour a Reformation and had begun it and therefore shall be Covenant-breakers and Backsliders if we yield to any thing which was to be reformed But here the more moderate have many Distinctions between things unlawful and things only inconvenient and between those that have opportunity to do better and those that have not and between seldom Communion and most ordinary And they say that things unlawful must not be done whether we have covenanted against them or not But for things only inexpedient or evil by a superable Accident they become our Duties and no Covenant disobligeth us from our Duty and that the Covenant never was intended to oblige us to prefer no Worship before that which is defective but only to prefer that which is better before it And that it may be a duty to Communicate sometime with a very faulty Church in order to our Catholick Communion with the whole so be it our ordinary particular Communion be in the purest Church and Order caeteris paribus that we can have § 308. 5. And another Reason given is That the Aggravation of the Sin of these Imposers is very great that they have been Persecutors heretofore and seen and felt God's Judgments for it and have been convinced and intreated to return to Charity and yet they have with renewed Malice set themselves to the debauching of the Consciences of the Kingdom and to the extirpation of Natural Honesty and have branded all their Party with the Mark of Perjury Perfidiousness and Persecution while they brand the Consciencious with the Name of Puritans And therefore they are a Generation ready for perdition and certainly near some heavy Curse And for us to joyn with them that are in the way to Wrath is the way to be partakers of their Plagues But the moderate say to this 1. That the Extenuation as well as the Aggravation of their Sin must be considered And that it must be remembred that among the Nonconformists there is a Party of Sectaries that Rebelled against all the Governours that were over them and cut off the King's Head when they had conquered those that are now against them in the Field and sequestred their Estates And that such great Provocation may not only sublimate Malice where it findeth it but greatly exasperate even temperate Men. 2. That it 's true that we must partake with no Men in their Sin as ever we would escape their Plagues but when that which is the Imposers Sin is become the Subjects Duty God will not plague us with them for doing our Duties 3. That it is dangerous to presume to foreteâ— on whom God will bring his Judgments in this Life and to preâ—ume that we are safe and they are near perdition while all things come alike to all and the differencing Day of Judgment is not yet come Therefore it is dangerous on such Prophesies or Presumptions or Fears to go out of the way of any Duty or to avoid any lawful Communion with the Church § 309. 6. Again it is said That these Impositions being the Engines of Division in the Church as Mr. Hales himself affirmeth we shall be partakers of the Schisms if we use them But the moderate say That indeed if we partake in the Imposition we partake in the
not the Primitive Episcopacy or any other sort but the present Diocesan Prelacy which was in being in England Ergo no other could be extirpated 2. Because when the Covenant was debated first in the Synod at Westminster abundance of Divines who Subscribed the Covenant did openly profess that they were not against Episcopacy and would not consent to it in any such sence 3. Because the said Divines upon that profession caused the Description of the word Prelacy to be exprest in a Parentheses which is only the Description of our Diocesan Frame which is to be seen in the words of the Covenant 4. Because when the House of Lords who imposed it did conjunctly and solemnly take the Covenant Mr. Tho. Coleman who preached and gave it them did openly declare at the giving and taking of it that it was not all Episcopacy that they renounced or vowed by this Covenant to extirpate but only the Diocesan Prelacy there described All this with the words themselves I think is sufficient Evidence of the matter of that Clause § 365. 2. And for the Persons here are especially three sorts in question 1. The King 2. The Parliament 3. The People The first question is Whether the People in the number allowed by the Act may not by humble petition endeavour a reforming Alteration of the Prelacy 2. Whether Parliament Men may not lawfully speak and vote for it 3. Whether King and Parliament may not alter it by altering the Laws If all these Actions be the endeavouring of a Duty or of a lawful Thing in their several Places and Callings and that be the very thing which the Vow obligeth them to then the question is Whether hereto it do not bind them § 366. 1. To say that the People may not so much as petition for a Thing so much concerning their Felicity is to take away not only that Liberty which the King hath in many of his Declarations against the Parliament professed to maintain but also such Liberty as Lawyers say is woven into the Constitution of the Kingdom by the Fundamental Laws and cannot be taken from them but by changing the Constitution yea and reducing them to a state below that of a Subject § 367. 2. To say that a Parliament Man may not speak or vote for such an alteration seemeth to be against the old unquestioned Priviledge of Parliaments which was never denied by the King who opposed them in other things And this Opinion also by such an Alteration of Parliaments would alter the Constituted Government of the Land § 368. 3. To say that the King and Parliament may not alter Prelacy by altering the Law doth seem to be the highest Injury to Soveraignty by denying the Legislative Power § 369. If it be a thing which the People may not petition for nor Parliament vote for nor speak for nor King and Parliament alter then either because the Law of God disableth them or the Common Good forbiddeth them or the Laws of the Land restraineth them from But it is none of these Ergo 1. It is before shewed That no Law of God hath established the English Form of Prelacy nay that the Law of God is repugnant to it 2. And that the Common Good forbiddeth not the Alteration but requireth it 3. And that no Law restraineth in any of the three formentioned Cases is plain in that there is no Law against the Peoples Petitioning as aforesaid nor can be without alteration of the Government And the King with his Parliament are above Laws and have power to make them and to abrogate them So that it seemeth a thing that may be done and a Vow turneth a may be into a must be where it is of force And thus far they think that there is no great difficulty in the Controversie § 370. Before I tell you their Answers to the contrary Reasons I may tell you that not only Dr. Sanderson granteth but all Conformists that ever I talkt with hereabout do agree with us in these following Points 1. That we must here distinguish between the Actum Imperantis the Actum Iurantis and the Materiam Iuramenti the Act of the Parliament imposing it the Act of the Persons taking it and the Matter of the Oath or Vow 2. And also between the Sinfulness of an Oath the Act of the Swearer and the Nullity of it 3. And that if the Imposers Act be sinful and the Taking Act be sinful yet the Oath is obligatory if the Matter vowed be not unlawful and the Actus Iurandi were not a Nullity as well as a Sin 4. That if there be six Articles in a Vow and four of them be unlawful this doth not disoblige the Swearer from the lawful part Otherwise an unlawful Clause put in may free a Man from a Vow for the most necessary Duties 5. That if a Nation take a Vow it is a personal Vow to every individual Person in that Nation who took it 6. That if there be in it a mixture of a Vow to God and a League Covenant or Promise to Men the Obligation of the Vow to God may remain when as a League or Covenant with Man ceaseth unless when the Vow is not co-ordinate but sabordinate to the League or Covenant as being only a Vow or Oath that it shall be faithfully performed 7. That if a Vow be imposed in lawful proper Terms it is not any unexpressed Opinion of the Imposers that maketh the Matter unlawful to the Taker 8. That if the Imposers be many Persons naturally making one collective Body â—o â—ence of theirs is to be taken as explicatory but what is in the words or otherwise publickly declared to the Takers Because they are supposed to be of different 〈◊〉 among themselves when they agree not in any Exposition 9. That though a Subject ought to take an Oath in the sence of his Rulers who impose it as far as he can understand is yet a Man that taketh an Oath from a Robâ—eâ— to sive his Life is not alway bound to take it in the Imposers sence if he take it not against the proper sence of the words 10. That though a Subject should do his best to understand the Imposers sence for the right taking of it yet as to the keeping of it he is bound much to the sence in which he himself took it though possibly he misunderstood the Imposers § 371. Now to their Answer to the Reasons of the Conformists Object 1. The End was evil to change the Government of Church and State withâ—â—â— Law which was setled by Law The Bishops were a part of the House of Lords and therefore could not be cast out but by their own consent and the whole Parliament's with the King Answ. 1. It is not the ill ends of the Persons imposing that can disoblige the Taker unless it had been the fiâ—is proximus ipsius Iuramenti essential to the Vow it self and inseparable from it The Ends of Parliaments may be manifold and unknown
which the People cannot know nor are bound to search after The words of the Vow it self are in our several Places and Callings we shall endeavour And this was the expressed work and end And this was not doing any thing against Law If a discontented Person now should say that the Parliaments End in the Act of Uniformity and that against Conventicles was Persecution and the Suppression of Religion and therefore they are not to be obeyed how would this hold while Uniformity and Peace are the published Ends and the rest are either uncertain or impertinent to us 2. Whether indeed the Imposers Ends were ill is a Controversie fit to be touched by it self They thought such a Change of Church-Government was a good End And for doing it against Law they put not that into the Swearers part in this Clause and proâ—essed the contrary themselves But if they did themselves purpose to do that against to Law which others swear to do in their Places and Calling that is according to Law are those others therefore not obliged to do what they vowed to do according to Law because the Imposers intended to do their part against Law 3. I suppose all the King's Party who took the Oath at their Composition had no ill end in it and are they not then to interpret it by their own Ends as it is their Personal Vow 4. If we reach Men that the bad Ends of the Imposers do disoblige Men from performing Vows materially good take heed left it follow that it will disoblige them much more from obeying Commands and Laws materially good And then every Subject will take himself to be disobliged who is but confident that Persecution Oppression c. were his Rulers Ends. What if a Man for evil Ends command me to obey the King or to worship God or to give to the Poor Or make me swear to do all this Doth not my Vow oblige me because he had evil Ends that drove me to it Nay if I had my self vowed to do all these for some evil end though it is certain that I must not do it to that end yet whether the change of my End does disoblige me also from my Vow as to the Matter is a difficult question which I think Casuists commonly resolve in the Negative But if any Man did mistake their Design and had good Ends himself while theirs were bad yea and the End commanded him were good the Case is much plainer 5. Who can say that the King had an ill End in taking it Or that his Place and Calling did not impower him to do that which in a Subject would have been illegal and that he may not lawfully endeavour accordingly And whereas it is said That the very War it self expounded their meaning who imposed it they being then in Arms against the King It is answered by the Non-Subscribers 1. That they openly professed to take up Arms only against Delinquent Subjects according to Law 2. That their misapplication made not good words to be bad to others 3. That if they make me swear to do it in my Place and Calling I am not obliged to expound this to be out of my Place and Calling because they go out of their Place and Calling And whereas it is said That the Bishops were part of the Parliament and so of the Civil Government â— It is answered 1. That the Parliament declared that they were no Constitutive Essential Unchangeable Part without whom the Acts of both Houses were invalid They were but part of the Lords House where they might be over-voted 2. The Scruple of the Non-Subscribers is not at all whether they are obliged to endeavour to dispossess them of their Baronies or Places in Parliament which is in the power of the King to give them but only about their Ecclesiastical Power and Government as here formed And if it could be proved that the Covenant intended both the Ejection of them from their Church Power and their Places in Parliament it followeth not that it obligeth not to the lawful act because it obligeth not to the unlawfulâ— 3. Nor can it easily be proved unlawful for the King and Parliament either to make a separation of these Powers or to take both from them and so set up the Primitive sort of Bishops either with or without any Civil Authority Abbots had once also a place in Parliament and yet they are now taken down it is supposed not unlawfully The King himself doth lawfully make Members of both Houses by making Earls and Barons and by giving Corporations power to choose Burgesses who before had none And as the new making of these so the excluding of some Members may be without any change in the Form of Civil Government Certainly many Fathers and Canons are against the Civil Government of the Clergy § 372. 2. The second objection is That the Authority of the Imposers was null as to that Act Answ. That is a distinct Controversie which here I shall pass by But granting it to be so no more will follow but that the People were not bound by any Command of theirs to take it But a Vow that is taken in my Closet without any Man's imposition or knowledge may be obligatory or one that a Robber forceth me to by the High-way The nullity of the Obligâ—â—on to take it is all that followeth the nullity of their Authority which will not infer the nullity of the Obligation to keep it for it maketh it but equal to a Vow which is made of a private Will without any Command of Authority at all § 373. 3. The third Reason which most nearly toucheth the Controversie is That the Matter vowed to extirpate Prelacy was unlawful both as against the Laws of God and of the Land Answ. If this be proved no doubt but the Obligation is void and of no effect But 1. It is before proved to be far from being against the Law of God to alter this Prelacy by warrantable means And also that it is not against the Law of the Land for Subjects modeâ—â—y to petition or Parliament Men to speak or the King and Parliament to change which are the Actions which belong to their Places and Callings And if it had been expresly part of the matter of that Vow to do this by unlawful means the question is Whether this can disoblige the Swearer from the lawful part adjoying which is to do it in their Places and Callings Whatever other matter is this matter is not yet proved to be unlawful § 374. Object But Episcopacy is Jure Divino and the Covenant mentioneth the extarpatien of Prelacy which is of the same Species with the other Episcopacy And therefore it is to be understood as to the extirpation of all Episcopacy and so not obligatory Answ. 1. It is before proved that our Prelacy is not of Divine Right but against it 2. And that it differeth even specically from the Primitive Episcopacy 3. But that 's nothing to the
Non-Subscribers to speak de materia necessaria 2. The Text expresly limiteth the indulgence to a daughter in the family or a wife and doth not extend it to the stronger Sex 3. It limiteth it to Families where the Ruler is still at hand and extendeth it not to Kingdoms 4. It doth not prove the Obligation null from the beginning but only dissolved afterward by the Father's or Husband's dispensation as many Verses express 5. Therefore to pretend a parity of reason for a King 's dispensing with his Subjects Vows is a bare pretence and unproved and disproved 6. If it would hold then it is in the power of Kings to save all their Subjects from the guilt of Perjury by dispensing with all their Vows 7. This Law in Numbers is no further in force than it appeareth to belong to the Law of Nature or of Christ For as Moses's Law it dy'd with Christ and was nailed to his Cross Though the general equity of it be still of force 8. How many Thousands in this Land and Scotland never knew of the King's Declaration against the Covenant How then could that dispense with their Vows which they never knew of nor possibly could know of being in the Parliaments Garrisons or Quarters 9. What 's this to all those that took it when the King was dead and therefore could not dispense with their Oaths 10. What is this to the King himself who took it long after his Father's Death over whom no man had a dispensing Power 11. What 's this to all those that took it after the present King had taken it and published a Declaration for it Did not this then confirm the Obligation Though for my part I am one of those that think that the Scots did ill unmannerly disobediently unlawfully inhumanly foolishly in forcing the King to take the Covenant against his will and to publish so harsh a Declaration against his Father's Actions contrary to his own Iudgment Yet it is his open Declarations and not his secret Unwillingness which his distant Subjects could take notice of So that this reason seemeth strongly to make against the pleaders of it because of the King 's confirming Act. § 378. 6. The sixth Reason is That the People cannot lawfully endeavour the change of Church Government without the King Answ. 1. Cannot the Subjects petition and the Parliament speak and vote without him and petition him also 2. Cannot a Bishop lawfully advise the King to do it if the King ask his Advice 3. Cannot the Subjects endeavour it if the King command them Are they all bound to disobey the King if he should command their Service for the Change of Prelacy into the Primitive Episcopacy Their Place and Calling is to do it when the King commandeth them And so many of them understood and took it And it seemeth too near a kin to Rebellion to say that no Subject must obey the King in such a matter though he swear it If you say This is never like to be I answer No Man knoweth what Change the Mind of Kings as well as other Men may admit And they that read the King's Declaration in Scotland thought they had a visible proof of it 4. And what 's all this to the King 's own Act who took it himself whom we must also by our Subscription disoblige § 379. 7. The seventh Reason answereth this That the King took not the same Covenant mentioned in the Act of Uniformity but another Answ. This is so thin a shift that the King himself doth not own it but saith That his Enemies drove him to it against his will As if mutatis mutandis the various Names and Cases of Persons made an Oath or Covenant not to be the same Because it 's said in the beginning We Noble men Knights c. and not We the King and Nobles they suppose another Name or Person maketh it specifically another Covenant Or because the Article of protecting the King's Person belonged not to him to take § 380. 8. Another Reason is That the King was forced to it Answ. The more to be blamed are they that did it then But all the World acknowledgeth that the Will of Man cannot be forced absolutely and that a voluntary Act though caused by necessity or terrour is moral and that a Promise made to Man much more a Vow to God in materia licita though forced by a Robber that would take away ones Life may yet be Obligatory A Man that may choose whether he will vow or die is bound by his Vow if he choose it before Death Though yet the choosing it may possibly be his sin § 381. 9. Mr. Fullwood's great Reason is That the King was pre-engaged to take the Corporation Oath as Heir of the Crown and consequently engaged to Episcopacy and consequently he was not obliged against it by the Covenant Answ. 1. If he were not obliged to take the Crown he was not obliged to take that Oath If he were obliged under the Peril of a Sin to take the Crown then Charles the Fifth and other Princes that have laid down Crowns or refused them have sinned unless some peculiar Reason be here brought But this is not affirmed by any That a Prince may not lawfully refuse a Crown unless when it would hazard the Happiness of the Kingdom 2. He might have taken the Crown with an alteration of that Oath Who ever said That the King and Parliament have not power to change that Oath who can change the Laws 3. Who can prove that it is any violation of that Oath or wrong to the liberties of the Church which the King sweareth to preserve to change the Prelacy into the Primitive Episcopacy by taking down Lay-Chancellors and restoring Pastoral Power c. any more than it was to take down Abbots and to cast out the Pope and to subject the Clergy to the Magistrate who before were much exempt All these seem to be much more against the Liberties of that which was called the Church when this Oath was formed than the shewing Mercy to Prelates and the whole Land by reducing them to a lawful rank can be 4. Do any Casuists in the World teach such Doctrine That a former Oath is null because some Conveniencies required the taking of a later 5. If this hold true then God's Law which is former and higher than all having first made it as many Non-Subscribers think a sin to cherish the Diocesan Frame at all and consequently to swear to do it the question is Whether the Obligation to swear the upholding of them or the Obligation not to swear it were the greater § 382. To Mr. Fullwood's further Reason is That it is injustice to cast out so many Men from their possessed Dignities and Estates and therefore no Vow can oblige any to it Answ. 1. If indeed it were so then the Vow extending but to our Places and Callings cannot bind us to it But is it any Injustice to make a Law
against Prelacy in Specie and to let their Places and Honours die with them The Government may be so altered without putting out any Man if none be put in to succeed them when they die 2. And what if the King continue them as Church-Magistrates only to do what his own Officers may do to keep the Churches Peace as Justices and continue their Baronies and their Lands and Places in Parliament and only reform the pretended Spiritual Power of the Keys would not this have been a taking down of Prelacy without the wrong of any 3. Or what if he had taken down all their Power and given them a Writ of Ease and therewith left them durante vita their Estates and Honours Would this have been any injury to them 4. If Prelacy be as sinful as the Non-Subscribers foregoing Arguments would prove can it be injustice to save a Man from Sin and Hell and to save all the Churches from such Calamity for some fleshly abatements that follow to a few Persons 5. Was it injustice to put down the Abbots Or cannot King and Parliament do good by Laws to the Church or Commonwealth whenever a single Person or a few do suffer by it 6. Especially where the Maintenance is Publick and given for the Work and the Work is for the Publick Good Doth any Prince scruple the removing of an intolerable Pilot or Captain from a Ship Or an intolerable Minister from the Church Or an intolerable Officer from the Court though it be to his loss For my part I never accused them for casting out so many Hundred Ministers from their Livings or Benefices upon supposition that it be no wrong to Christ and Mens Souls to cast us out of the Church but should rather justifie it § 383. 11. The last and not the weakest Reason against the Obligation of the Covenant is That if it were lawful before for subjects to petition and Parliament Men to speak and vote against Prelacy yet now it is not because by this Act the Parliament hath made it unlawful Answ. 1. The Parliament doth only declare their sense of a thing past that no Man is bound and not enact by a Law that no Man shall henceforth be bound 2. If it had been otherwise all Protestants confess that neither Pope nor any Earthly Power can dispense with Oaths and Vows 3. They do not so much as prohibit all Men to endeavour an alteration of Government in the Church but only forbid them to say That they are bound to it by the Covenant 4. They have allowed Subjects to petition for the change of Laws so they do it but ten at a time 5. The Parliament is not by any Man to be accused of such a Subversion of Liberties and of Parliaments Priviledges and of the Constitution of the Kingdom as to forbid Subjects petitioning and all Parliament Men speaking and to disable the King and Parliament from changing a Law when they see cause If they should do any of this the Charges now brought against the Long Parliament would teach and allow us to suppose all to be null 6. If the Laws of God be against Prelacy those oblige above all Humane Laws And he that should forbid another to save him or his Neighbour when he is drowning doth not by that prohibition make the saving of them unlawful before God § 384. Now to the Latitudinarians addition of Reasons de modo sensu 1. They say that the Act extendeth not to the King at all when it biddeth us subscribe that there is no Obligation on me or any other person for Laws being made for Subjects are to be interpreted only of Subjects unless when the King is named To this it is easily answered That they distinguish not between the King as the Subject of a Law and the King as the Object of my Assertion or Belief It 's true that the Law speaketh of Subjects only whenever it speaketh of the Duty of Subjects and the King is no Subject But it is as true that the Law speaketh of the King only whenever it speaketh of the Prerogatives of the Crown and Soveraignty and as the Object of the Subjects Acts of Loyalty The question is not here Who is commanded by this Act but who is obliged by the Covenant or Vow And if I be commanded to say that no person is obliged without any limitation I can with no reason except the King whom the Law excepteth not Princes may be obliged by Vows as well as others and their Obligations may be the Subject of our Assertions and Belief § 385. 2. The second Reason is Because the King's Government is part of that whose alteration is declared against therefore be can be none of the any other persons Answ. 1. So the Prelates are the Persons whose Government is here mentioned and yet no doubt they are included in the any other persons as their Chancellors Commissaries Deans c. 2. If the King may be included when it is said That no Man must extirpate Monarchy no not the King much more when it is said That no Man may extirpate Prelacy for there the reason of the Objection faileth § 386. 3. They further say That the Act meaneth only that no Man is bound by the Vow to endeavour against Law as by Rebellion Sedition Treason c. and not that Subjects may not petition Parliament Men speak or King and Parliament alter the Law which they prove because it was taking up Arms and illegal Actions only that the old Parliament was blamed for Answ. This one pretence hath drawn abundance of laudable Persons to Subscribe but how unsatisfactory it is may thus appear 1. Why then could it never be procured to have the word unlawfully put into the Act when it was know that in that sence none of us would have scrupled it 2. All Casuists agree that Universal Terms in or about Oaths and Vows must not be understood any otherwise than Universally without apparent cogent Reason On such Terms as these else a Man may take any Oath in the World or disclaim any The Parliament hath exactly tyed Subscribers to the particular words and they long deliberated to express their own sence And they say neither I nor any other person and now cometh an Expositor and saith The King is not the any other person What! Is he no Person or is he not another Person So they say no Obligation lieth on us to endeavour and the Latitudinarian saith That I may endeavour it and that they mean no Endeavour but unlawful This contradictory Exception and Exposition is against all common Use and Justice and such as will allow a Man to cheat the State by saying or unsaying any thing in the World 3. We have many a time told some Latitudinarians how this matter may be soon decided if they will The Parliament hath past another Act with the self same words in it making it Confiscation for any Man to say That he or any other person is
obliged by the Covenant to endeavour any Alteration of Church-Government Let them write or say openly Men are obliged by the Covenant to endeavour it by lawful means but not by unlawful and let them give leave to another to accuse them in a Court of Justice for these words and let it be there tried and judged and then the sence of the Law will be declared If they be in the right the Accuser shall lose his Costs and no danger can befal them If they be not in the right they will be punished by Confiscation And is not the hazard of such a Law Suit cheap enough for a Man to save himself and others from so great a Guilt as the Justification of three Kingdoms in the Sin of Perjury if it so prove And yet I could never hear of the Man that would hazard his Estate thus on the confidence of his Exposition of the Law but multitudes venture their Souls upon it 4. The Parliament who is the Expounder of their own Laws have given us their sence of the Subject of our Controversie in a former Law which puts all out of doubt For in the Corporation Act all Men are put out of Power and Trust who will not declare that absolutely without any limitation There is no Obligation upon me or any other person from the Oath called c. so that all Obligation to any thing at all by that Vow is in this most important Act denied and the profession of this denial thus imposed By which it is past doubt that the Law-makers sence is against all Obligation absolutely 5. And that it is so is well know to those that know what was said in the Parliament when among the Commons this Reason carried it viz. That if any Obligation at all be acknowledged even to things lawful every seditious person will be left to think that he is bound to all which he conceiveth lawful which with some will be to resist the King or commit Treason Therefore all Obligation absolutely must be denied I confess such Villains there may be and they should be carefully restrained but as I doubt this Act of Parliament will no whit change their belief of their Obligations for they will think Parliaments cannot dispense with Oaths or with the Laws of God so it is a sad remedy for such villanous Errours to disoblige Men from the lawful part of Vows for fear lest they take the unlawful to be lawful As it is to teach Men to take nothing which God commandeth to be their Duty for fear least they should take ther Sin to be their Duty § 387. Object But what if the Bishop give me liberty to put in the word unlawfully or to Subscribe only in that sence may I not then lawfully do it Answ. This was the only Expedient to draw in Nonconformists heretofore and so it hath proved of late again But I distinguish 1. There is much difference between Subscribing the very words of the Act with the verbal or by-addition of your own Explication and the putting in of your Explicatory words into the Sentence which you Subscribe 2. Between Subscribing this as the imposed Declaration in the Act and Subscribing it only as another thing 3. Between the secret and the open Explication of your Mind For my part if the word unlawfully had been joyned to endeavour by the Law-makers I would not have scrupled to Subscribe that part of the Declaration But 1. the Bishop is not the Law-maker and therefore hath no more power than a private Man to expound the Law Nor is he so much as a Iudge in this business who may expound it in order to the decision of a particular Cause but only a Witness that you Subscribe 2. If you only Subscribe the very words of the Declaration and speak your Explication or write it in a by-paper you do then provide an insufficient Plaister for the Sore you do that which is evil in it self and would cure it by an uneffectual accidental Medicine You harden both the Imposers and Subscribers by your Scandal while you are said to Subscribe the very thing imposed whose sence is so plain that your Exposition is but an apparent ludicrous distortion As if I were commanded to Subscribe this Sentence God hath no knowledge nor no love The Imposer understandeth it vulgarly and blasphemously The words in the most strict and proper sence are true which cannot be said in our Case because knowledge and love are spoken primarily of the Creatures Acts and are not in God formaliter but eminenter that is somewhat more excellent which hath no other name because we have no formal Conceptions of them but must speak of God after the manner of Men while Man is the Glass and Image by which we know him yet would I not Subscribe this imposed Proposition while the Imposer meaneth it blasphemously because it is a heinous Scandal to be said to Subscribe and own such Villany and so to encourage others to it no though I might express my sence 3. Especially I may express it but privately where the Remedy against the Scandal will be ineffectual But if you may Subscribe the whole Sentence with your own words therein and that not as it is the imposed Declaration which is otherwise expounded by the Law-makers themselves but as another and may make this as publick and notorious as your Subscription it self is then I have less to say against it There are no words utterable which a Man may not put a good sence on if he please And yet I durst not so far play with Death and comply with the Spirit of Impiety as to Subscribe that There is no God or God is unjust or unwise or unholy c. though I had liberty to say I mean it in this or that sence which is true and warrantable § 388. 4. Another Motive of the Latitudinarians to Subscribe is That by to endeavour any Change or Alteration of Government in the Church is meant only any change of the Species of our Church-Government and not any Reformation of integral or accidental Defects or Depravations Answ. 1. And yet these very Men do profess to believe with Mr. Stillingfleet That no Form of Church-Government is of Divine Appointment or Imposition And if so why is it not lawful for the King and Parliament to change that which God hath not made necessary Or for Subjects to endeavour it by Petition 2. It is agreed on by Casuists and their Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Sanderson with the rest That Oaths are to be taken sensu strictiore and so are Laws and those especially which determine of the Obligation of Oaths But it is an unwarrantable audacious liberty for any Subject unnecessarily thus to turn an Universal Enunciation into a Definite and Particular and when the Law saith any alteration of Government to say that some alteration is not included Their reason is because it is said of and not in Government Answ. There is no Language much
less the English that alloweth you such a sence of these two Prepositions as if of must needs mean the Species and in may mean only the Integrity or Accidents We dare not be so bold as to feign such a Difference and Latitude of sence to be in the Preposition of unless we could prove it 3. Will it not be taken for Treason if you make the same Exposition of the other Clause of the Declaration and say that the King and Parliament meant no more than to say that no Man is bound by the Covenant to endeavour an Essential or Specifick Change of State-Government or no greater Change than what may leave it still in the Species of a Monarchy Or do you believe that they meant no more and that they determined not against supposed Obligations to lower Changes of the Royal Government 4. There is not the accuratest Grammarian and Logician of them all that can tell just what may be said to Specifie a Government and what but to integrate it and just how far a Change may go before it may be called a Change of the Species 5. But suppose all this were nothing It is clearly proved that it is not the Genus of Episcopacy but the Species of English Prelacy described which the Covenant meaneth And I have proved already that a specifick alteration of this Prelacy is lawful and whether also not-necessary let the impartial Reader judge I have asked the most Learned of the Diocesan Party that I could meet with this Question Whether it be not lawful for the King and Parliament to take down Chancellors and all Lay-Judges in Spiritual Courts and Deans Arch-deacons Commissaries and the Courts themselves and to take down a Bishop of a Thousand or many Hundred Churches and to set up a Bishop in every Market Town with the adjacent Villages yea or in every great Parish to govern with his Presbyters as it was in Ignatius his days and in Cyprian's And never Man of them denied it lawful for them to make such a Change if they saw it meet I have asked them further Whether they would not call this a Change of Government de specie or according to the sence of the Act And they all confest it For if they did not the Act and Declaration would herein do them no good but leave private Men to endeavour such an Alteration which they know is all the Alteration that ever we desired of them and for which they have called us Presbyterians I have asked them further Whether a Vow turn not a licet into an oportet And they never deny it Where then can you imagine any remaining difference Why this was all that they said That it was not this Species of Prelacy but Episcopacy in genere which the Covenant meant and consequently the Act meaneth Which I have proved to be most evidently untrue there being no other Episcopacy but our Prelacy then existent nor Episcopay ever named in the Convenant in genere but this Prelacy being exactly described and this purposely for the deciding of this very Doubt by the means of Mr. Gataker Dr. Burges and many more in the Assemblies who renounced the extirpation of all Episcopacy and the Lords having taken the Covenant in that openly declared sence But suppose all this had not been so Doth not a renunciation of the Genus contain the Species And if any Man voweth against the Genus mistaking it to be all sinful will not his Vow bind him against that Species which indeed is sinful though not against the others As suppose that a Man should think that All swearing and Accusing others were a sinâ— and so to save himself from the said sins should Vow to God against them all If afterward this Man discover that some swearing before a Magistrate is a duty and some accusing of another is he not for all that still bound against prophane and rash swearing and malicious or unjust accusing which indeed are sins for therein he was not mistaken So if Men had as they did not upon mistake make a Vow against all Episcopacy or Prelacy as a sin and afterward discover that one sort is a Duty and the other a Sin do they not remain obliged against that wherein they were not mistaken 6. Lastly Let it be noted That though it be said in Declaration of Government yet it is added in the Church and not of the Church which is as much against them as the other is for them seeming to intimate that it is not the Form only Constitutive of the Church which they here intend § 389. 5. Some leading Independents say That it was essential to this Vow to be also a League and as a League it is ceâ—sed by the cessation of Persons and Occasions This shift they were put upon first themselves being the first that nullifâ—ed these Bonds that they might do what they did against the Covenant and make it as an Almanack out of date Answ. 1. Though as a Political Instrument it be called by one Name A Solemn League and Covenant and so all the parts of it do make one Instrument yet 1. The formality of it as a League and as a Vow are different 2. And as a Vow to God and a Moral Act of Man there are in it as many distinct Vows as there are Maâ—ters vowed The League is not the end of the Vow but Reformation was the professed end of both to which they were taken as co-ordinate means And therefore it as a League it were ceased it followeth not that as a Vow it is so For Men are the parties in the League but God is one of the Parties in the Vow and every individual Person is the other Party And if one Vow or Article should cease it followeth not that all the rest do so 2. It is not proved that it ceaseth as a League Though it oblige us not to war or to any thing against the King or State and though many of the Persons be dead that took it For 1. War was not mentioned in the Covenant much less as the Duty of all the Covenanters sure it was never intended that all the Women must fight 2. If it had that was but one of the means there mentioned and every Man bound himself to endeavour in his Place and Calling and that was not to fight for all 3. Therefore though the particular Occasions cease the general Cause continueth the need of Reformation and though no Man be bound to any unlawful means it followeth not that there is no bound to lawful means And though some Persons be dead not only the Nations but many individual Covenanters are living 4. And in express Terms they bound themselves all the days of their lives zealously and constantly to continue therein and therefore intended no such cessation § 390. 6. Lastly The Latitudinarians say that the general Rule is That all Sayings are to be interpreted in the best sence that the words will bear Ergo Answ.
In the best sence which hath Evidence of Truth Charity requireth us to take all the words of others But the question is first Which is the true sence and not which is the best And if it can be proved that another is either certainly or probably the true meaning of any words we must not feign a better sence because it is better In the Case in hand the Law-makers have plainly declared their own sence by their Speeches and Votes and deliberate plain Expressions and by another Act for Corporations If I might take all Oaths and Statutes in the best sence which possibly those words may be used to express than I could take almost any Oath in the World and disobey any Law in the World under pretence of obeying it and tell any Lie under the pretence of telling Truth and Jesuitical Equivocation would be but the common Duty of the Charitable But Charity is not blind nor will it prove a fit Cover for a Lie He that knoweth the Parliament and is but willing to know their sence may know the mistakes of this pretended Charity And especially Laws and Oaths are to be taken in the sence which is plainest in the words § 391. Besides all that is already said I shall end this Subject with this question on the Non-subscribers part Whether an Oath doth not bind Men in the sence of the Takers though they be bound to take it in the sence of the Imposers if they know it As if I had been commanded to swear Allegiance to the King and he that commandeth it should mean Cromwell or some Usurper and I thought he had meant my rightful King Am I not bound hereby to the King indeed And if so Query further Whether any Man so well know the sence of every Man and Woman in England Scotland and Ireland as to be able to say that it was so bad that they are not obliged to it And in what Age it was that all Ministers were forbidden to Preach the Gospel of Christ till they knew the Hearts of all the People in three Kingdoms so far as to justifie them before God from the Obligations of such Vows and Oaths § 392. And though I heartily wish that the Prelates would have been intreated to have chosen another course of proceeding with their Brethren and not have tempted any to Repinings or Complaints for endeavouring which I lost their love yet I would admonish all my Brethren to take heed of aggravating this Difference so far as to bring the present Ministry into Contempt and hinder the Efficacy of their Labours I did my best to have prevailed beforehand that we might not have had any occasion of Divisions but if we must needs be divided that it might have been upon some lower Points than the Obligation of Oaths and Vows It had been better for the Prelates that the Non-subscribers had seemed to be scrupulous Persons that refused only some tolerable Ceremonies than that the fear of so great a Crime as justifying three Kingdoms from the Bond of an Oath and the guilt of Perjury should be the occasion of their Ejection and the Matter of this Publick Controversie But seeing this could not by us be prevented let us not be so partial as to wrong the Church by making them odious to justifie our selves It was sad when the Names of Formalists and Puritans and afterwards of Malignants and Rebels and Cavaliers and Roundheads distinguished the divided Parties But it is now grown worse when they are called PER-fidious jured secutors and PURITANS For the most odious Names do most potently tend to the extinguishing of Charity and the increase of the Difference between them § 393. III. The next Controversie is Political That it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King or as is after said against any Commissionated by him In this the Lawyers are divided yea and Parliament themselves one Parliament saying one thing and another another thing And the poor ejected Ministers of England are commonly so little studied in the Law that in these Controversies they must say as they are bidden or say nothing And they think it hard that when Lawyers and Parliaments cannot agree every poor ignorant Preacher must be forced to decide the Controversie and say and subscribe which of them is in the right upon pain of being cast out of their Office and silenced which they think as hard as if they were required to decide a Controversie between Navigators or Pope Zachary and Boniface's Case about the Antipodes or else be silenced We are ready to Subscribe That King Charles the Second is our lawful King and that we owe him Obedience in all his lawful Commands and that we are bound to defend his Person Dignity Authority and Honour with our Lives and Estates against all his Enemies and that neither Parliaments nor any other at home or abroad have any power to judge or hurt his Person or depose him or diminish any of his Power and that it is not lawful on any pretence whatsoever to conspire against him or â—stir up the People to Sedition or to take up Arms against either his Authority or his Person or against any lawfully Commissioned by him or any at all Commissioned by him except he himself by a contrary Commission or by his Law do enable us or not forbid us or when the Law of Nature doth oblige us In all these Cases we are ready to Subscribe And one would think this much might procure our Peace But that which is scrupled by the Non-subscribers is as followeth The words on any pretence whatsoever studiously put into a Form of Declaration by a Parliament are so universal as to allow no Latitudinarian Evasions or Limitations or Exceptions by any Man that is sincere and plain-hearted and doth not Equivocate with God and his Governours Now 1. Though the King's Authority or Person may not be resisted by Arms they are not certain that his Will may not in any Case be resisted 2. Though none Authorized that is Legally Commissioned by him may be resisted yet they are not certain that all that are Commissioned by him are Authorized or Legally Commissioned 3. Either this Declaration requireth us to suppose that the King never will Commission any illegally or else that though he do yet such may on no pretence whatsoever be resisted by Arms. If the former be the sence then either it is because no King will do it or only because no King of England will do it The former all Historians Politicians Lawyers and Divines are against And the latter hath no Evidence of Certainty to us But yet if that had been the sence we should have consented that on supposition the King commission Men legally they are not to be resisted But this no Man will say is to be supposed as an Event certainly and universally future But if the worst that is possible might be supposed possible then in these several Cases
skill in Laws than they 12. They find that even the greatest Episcopal Divines approved by our Princes and most Learned Defenders of Monarchy and Obedience do yet set up the Laws above the King and write more in this Case than we can consent to◠Mr. Tho. Hooker whom King Charles the First commended to his Children to be read speaketh so very high not only in his whole Eighth Book dedicated by Bishop Gauden to the King but also in his First Book which was extant when King Charles the First commended his Works that for my part I do not believe him that the Body as such hath the Legislative Power and that the King is singulis major and universis minor with much of the like And therefore I have wrote a full Confutation of him in the Fourth Tome of my Christian Directory And yet he is one of the most magnified Authours with the Bishops And so is Bishop Bilson who in his Treatise for Christian Subjection dedicated to Queen Elizabeth hath that terrible passage for resisting Kings before-recited § 253. 13. And they find that not only Politicians speak more in this Case than we allow and the Roman Greek and other Historians but the Historians and Chroniclers of this Land For instance Hollingshead Lib. 1. in his Chapter of Parliaments saith This House hath the most high and absolute Power of the Realm For thereby Kings and mighty Princes have from time to time been deposed from their Thrones Laws either enacted or abrogated Offenders of all sorts punished and corrupted Religion either disannulled or reformed which commonly is divided into two Houses or Parts c. Here is more then I assent to or think to be justifiable Now when all these say so much more for Resistance than we judge sound it seemeth hard to us to go so far contrary to them all in Matters of other Mens Profession as to Subscribe That on no pretence whatsoever no one Commissionated by the King may be resisted by taking up Arms. 14. And we read how Dr. Mainwairing and other Divines have been condemned by Parliament for Matters of this Nature And whatever any Latitudinarian may say we are sure that on no pretence whatsoever are words that exclude all these fore-mentioned Pretences from being lawful And if it yet be said That it is disloyal to suppose that any such illegal Commission will be granted we do not suppose that it will be so but if it be not possible to be so in this Age or another then we are contented to Subscribe this Clause For Parliaments will not differ about Impossibilities § 395. Incident to this Controversie are other Clauses of the Declaration as that the Covenant was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed against the known Laws c. which though they contradict not yet many that were Children then and know neither Matter of Law or Fact no not so much as the Fundamental Laws and Constitution of the Kingdom do think themselves very uncapable of determining § 396. And for the Trayterous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are Commissionated by him We see no position here recited and therefore must annex this Clause to the former as before supposing that the meaning is that it is a Trayterous Position to say That it is lawful by the King's Authority to take up Arms on any pretence whatsoever against c. And we all confess that it is a Contradictory and Trayterous Position for any man to say that he may take up Arms by the King's Authority against his Authority or Dignity or Honour or Person But all the Doubt is as aforesaid Whether the King's Laws have not his Authority and whether his Laws and his Commission may not be contrary or one Commission contrary to another And in that case whether it be Trayterous to say that one side hath his Authority against the other As if his Law allow Men to defend their Lives and Purses against Assaults and an Assailant produce a Commission whether the King's Authority in his Laws and Courts enable not a Man by Arms to save his Purse or Life against such a pretended Commissioner And how shall any Subject at the time of the Assault be sure whether the Commission be true or spurious If as Ioa◠and Abner sent the young Men to play mad play before them and the Romans caused their Gladiators to fight to make them sport so if the King to try the Valour of some Subjects would Commission a few on both sides to fight against each other doth it follow that both sides were Traytors because they both fought by his Authority against such as were Commissionated by him If it be said That this is not the meaning of the Act we answer◠That where Forms are supposed to be deliberately worded by a Parliament if we must not understand Universals universally but may put in Limitations or Exceptions at our Pleasure then their words are not the signifiers of their Minds and we know not whether to go to understand them nor what be the Exceptions and Limitations allowed but every Man may except according to his Fancy and thus all will be but Equivocation and Deceit And Dr. Sanderson resolveth it That when Oaths and consequently subscribed Forms are ambiguously worded and the Imposers will not explain them it is not fit at all to take them Some Lawyers tell me that if it came before the Judges they would judge an unlawful Commission to be no Commission and that the Judges are the Expositors of the Law I answer 1. We have no assurance that the Judges would so judge much less unanimously nor that they have so done 2. Lately Mr. Ioseph Read offered at the King's-Bench-Bar to take the Oxford Oath as expounded in that sence by the Vote of the Lords about the Test and he was reproved for his Offer and told that he must take it as the Law imposed it and was sent back to Jail 3. The Law-makers only can expound a Law as antecedently Obligatory to all the Subjects The Judges can only expound it consequently for the decision of a particular Case in order to Execution and ad hoc which warranteth no Man to take that for the true meaning of the Statute § 397. IV. The Fourth Controversie is about the Oath of Canonical Obedience And the Reasons why this is scrupled by the Non-Conformists are these Because they take the Power it self to which they are to swear to be specifically Evil and against the Word of God of which their Proofs are given before And therefore they dare not be guilty of swearing Obedience to them lest they 1. Take the Name of God in vain and Oath being a thing which is not to be ventured on but with the greatest reverence deliberation and sincerity 2. And lest they scandalously approve of Usurpation in Christ's Kingdom to the wrong of his Crown and Dignity and contract the guilt of Treason or Disloyalty
owning the King's Declaration by returning him Thanks for it and I perceived that it was designed that we must be the Desirers or Procurers of it But I told him my Resolutions to meddle no more in such Matters having incurred already so much hatred and displeasure by endeavouring Unity And the rest of the Ministers also had enough of it and resolved that they would not meddle so that Mr. Nye and his Brethren thought it partly long of us that they mist of their intended Liberty But all were averse to have any thing to do with the Indulgence or Toleration of the Papists thinking it at least unfit for them § 419. The Independent Brethren also told me That the Lord Chancellor had told them that their Liberty was motioned before when the King's Declaration came out and that we spake against it even I by name But when I told them what words I spake before recited they had no more to say But now they grew greatly affected to the E. of B. a Papist thinking that the King's Declaration was procured by him and that he and the Papists must be the means for their own ends to procure our Liberty But the Declaration took not at all with the Parliament or People and the E. of B. setting himself against the Lord Chancellor accusing him by Articles of High Treason in the Lord's House was cast off by the King as an Incendiary and forc'd to hide his head § 420. Good old Mr. Simeon Ash was buried the very Even of Bartholomew-day and went seasonably to Heaven at the very time when he was to be cast out of the Church He was one of our oldest Non-conformists of the old Strain for now Conforming is quite another thing than before the Wars He was a Christian of the Primitive Simplicity not made for Controversie nor inclined to disputes but of a holy Life and a cheerful mind and of a fluent Elegancy in Prayer full of Matter and Excellent Words His ordinary Speech was holy and edifying Being confined much to his House by the Gout and having a good Estate and a very good Wife enclined to Entertainments and Liberality his House was very much frequented by Ministers He was always cheerful without profuse Laughter or Liberty or vain Words never troubled with doubtings of his Interest in Christ but tasting the continual Love of God was much disposed to the Communicating of it to others and Comforting dejected Souls His eminent Sincerity made him exceedingly loved and honoured insomuch as Mr. Gataker Mr. Whittaker and other the most excellent Divines of London when they went to God desired him to preach their Funeral Sermons He was zealous in bringing in the King having been Chaplain to the Earl of Manchester in the Wars he fell under the obloquy of the Cromwellians for crossing their Designs He wrote to Col. Sanders Col. Barton and others in the Army when G. Monk came in to engage them for the King Having preached his Lecture in Cornhill being heated he took cold in the Vestry and thinking it would have proved but one of his old fits of the Gout he went to Highgate but it turned to a Fever He died as he lived in great Consolation and cheerful Exercise of Faith molested with no Fears or Doubts discernable exceeding glad of the Company of his Friends and greatly encouraging all about him with his joyful Expressions in respect of Death and his approaching Change so that no Man could seem to be more fearless of it When he had at last lain speechless for some time as soon as I came to him gladness so excited his Spirits that he spake joyfully and freely of his going to God to those about him I stayed with him his last Evening till we had long expected his Change being speechless all that day and in the night he departed § 421. On the first of Ianuary following was buried good Mr. Iames Nalton another Minister of the Primitive Sincerity A good Linguist a zealous excellent Preacher commonly called The weeping Prophet because his Seriousness oft exprest it self by Tears of a most holy blameless Life Though Learned yet greatly averse to Controversie and Disputes In almost all things like Mr. Ash except his natural temper and the influence it had upon his Soul both of them so composed of Humility Piety and Innocence that no Enemy of Godliness that knew them had a word of sence to say against them They were scorned as Puritans as their Brethren but escaped all the particular Exceptions and Obloquy which many others underwent But as one was cheerful so the other was from his Youth surprized with violent Fits of Melancholy once in a few years which though it distracted him not yet kept him till it was over in a most despondenâ— Case and next unto Despair And in his health he was over humble and had â—o mean Thoughts of himself and all that was his own and never put out himself among his Brethren into any Imployment which had the least shew of Ostentation Less then a year before he died he fell into a grievous fit of Melancholy in which he was so confident of his Gracelesness that he usually cried out O not one spark of Grace not one good Desire or Thought I can no more pray than a post If an Angel from Heaven would tell me that I have true Grace I would not believe him And yet at that time did he pray very well and I could demonstrate his sincerity so much to him in his Desires and Life that he had not a word to say against it But yet was harping still on the same string and would hardly be perswaded that he was Melancholy It pleased God to recover him from this fit and shortly after he told me That now he confessed that what I said was true and his Despair was all but the effect of Melancholy and rejoyced much in God's deliverance But shortly after came out the Bartholomew Act which cast him out of his Place and Ministry and his heart being troubled with the sad Case of the Church and the multitude of Ministers cast out and silenced and at his own unserviceableness it revived his Melancholy which began to work also with some fears of Want and his Family's Distress and this cast him so low that the violence of it wore him away like a true Marasmus so that without any other Disease but meer Melancholy he consumed to Death continuing still his sad Despondency and Self-condemning Means By which it appeareth how little Judgment is to be made of a Man's Condition by his Melancholy Apprehensions or the sadness of his Mind at Death and in what a different manner Men of the same Eminency in Holiness and Sincerity may go to God! Which I have the rather shewed by the instance of those two Saints than whom this Age hath scarce produced and set up a pair more pious humble just sincere laborious in their well-performed Work unblameable in their Lives not
but the contrary As to Cyprian's words it 's true that a People that care for their Souls must depart from an Heretical or utterly intolerable Minister as they that love their Lives will do from a Physician that would kill them But there is a great deal of difference between Personal Faults and Ministerial Faults as between a Drunkard and an Heretick and between a tolerable ministerial Fault as all imperfect Men are guilty of in their several measures and an intolerable one and between the Desertion of a whole Congregation and of the lesser part when the rest will not forsake the Minister I deny not but you are bound to forbear committing the care and guidance of your Souls to a Man whose Ministerial Faults are intolerable And such are 1. The utterly Ignorant and Insufficient 2. The Preachers of Heresie or Doctrine contrary to the necessary Points of Religion 3. And those that set themselves to preach down Godliness or preach for a wicked Life if any such there be But you must remember how in their Factious Zeal all Parties or Sects of late among us were wont to preach against one another and yet that was not taken for preaching against Godliness though the Persons were never so godly that they preached against And as you recount all that may aggravate their sin so you must in justice remember all that may extenuate it Remember therefore 1. That for the Common Prayer and Ceremonies and Prelacy multitudes of worthy holy Men conformed to them heretofore from whom you would not have separated such as Dr. Preston Dr. Sibbs Dr. Taylor Dr. Staughton Mr. Gattaker and most by far of the late Synod at Westminster And for the rest of the Conformity remember the Matter and the Temptation For the Matter it is much about Political Things where it is no wonder if Divines on either side are ignorant or erroneous and if they be unacquainted with the Power of Kings and Parliaments when Lawyers and Parliaments themselves are disagreed about them And for the Temptation remember that such horrid Miscarriages as the Rebellious pulling down of King and Parliament killing the one and casting out and imprisoning the Members of the other and the attempting the taking down of all the Ministry and the ruining of all Order by armed Sectaries with the multitude of Sects that swarm'd among us I say these Effects with the King 's miraculous Restoration and the ruine of such an Army without one drop of Blood are things that might easily draw Men to judge that the Covenant was but a League for the promoting of an unlawful War and therefore is utterly null And specially it concerneth you to remember that it was the Independents that first taught them the nullity or non-obligation of the Covenant calling it a ceased League and an Almanack out of date which they were forced to do that they might violate it And yet you do not now call them Perjured and aggravate their Sin and say They kill'd the King and conquered Scotland when they had sworn the contrary in the Covenant Nor do you separate from them on this account Nay it is mostly the Independents that are now for Separation from the Prelatists as Perjured who went before them in the nullifying of this Vow 4. We disswade you not from worshipping of God with the best you have so you will but remember that Love and Concord and honourable Solemnity are considerable Ingredients to make up the best and that it is not best to spend the Lord's Days in no Church-worship at all but meerly with a few that are met occasionally because you cannot worship him publickly as you would and that that may be the best which you have liberty to perform which is not the best which you could do if you had liberty 5. And though the Churches be too much undisciplined and all Communicate so are the Reformed Churches of Helvetia which are numbered with the best where Discipline never was set up In Conclusion He that separateth from one Church for a Cause common to almost all the Churches in the World doth go too near a Separating from all the Churches in the World But so it is here For almost all the Churches in the World have worse Ministers and worse Members and as bad a form or way of Worship as these in England And it is a terrible thing to think of Separating from all or most of the Universal Church of Christ on Earth § 436. But the Ejected Presbyterian Ministers that would not come to Common Prayer in Publick went more moderately to work and said 1. We do not separate from every Congregation that we joyn not with in Person Else every Man doth separate every day from all the Congregations in the World save one If they are not Separatists for not joyning with us then neither are we for not joyning with them no more than for not joyning with the Anabaptists and Independents We may confess them to have a true Ministry and be true Churches but their faultiness we must not countenance 2. We were lawfully called by Christ to feed our particular Flocks And if these Men cast us out of the Temples and Maintenance and get into our Places and the more ungodly half of the Parishes for fear of Man conform to them it doth not follow that we are absolved from our Office and Duty for the rest or must bring them to the disorderly way of Worship which they violently imposed on us § 437. To these I answered 1. That it 's true that meer Absence is no Separation But when a Party call and invite you to joyn with them and you publickly accuse their way and never joyn with them at all you seem to tell the World that you take it to be unlawful And that hath some degree of Separation to avoid them as a Company unmeet to be joyned with 2. Though you Offices to your People cease not yet you have your power to Edification and not to Destruction And if a tolerable Minister be put into your Places it 's considerable whether it be not most to your Peoples Edification Unity Charity and Peace to take them with you to the Publick Assemblies and help them nevertheless at other times your selves as much as you can And whether both helps be not more than one Especially when you cannot preach to above four your selves without Imprisonment and Banishment and then you cannot preach at all And whereas it's easie to let a passionate Stoutness transport us and think that Tyrannical Church-Usurpers must not be encouraged by our Compliance the meek Spirit of Christianity when it sifteth these reasonings will find in them too much of Self and Passion when Unity Charity and the Churches Edification is on the other side § 438. And whereas some Men are much taken with this Reason That these times have more Light than the old Non-conformists ever had and therefore that is not excusable in us which was so in them
that Traytorous Positon of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are Commissionated by Him in pursuance of such Commission And that I will not at any time endeavour any alteration of Government either in Church or State The Reasons of Men's refusal to take this Oath were such as these following 1. Because they that were no Lawyers must Swear not only that they think it is unlawful but that it is so indeed 2. Because they think that this setteth a Commission above an Act of Parliament And that if one by a Law be made General or Admiral during Life another by a Commission may cast him out And though the Law say He shall be guilty of Treason if he give up his Trust to any upon pretence of a Commission Yet by this Oath he is a Traytor if he resist any one that hath a Commission 3. Because they fear they are to Swear to a contradiction viz. to set the King 's bare Commission above a Law which is the Act of King and Parliament and yet not to endeavour the Alteration of Government which they fear least they endeavour by taking this Oath 4. Because they think that by this means the Subject shall never come to any certain Knowledge of the Rule of his Duty and consequently of his Duty it self For it is not possible for us to know 1. What is to be called a Commission and what not and whether an illegal Commission be no Commission as the Lawyers some of them tell us and what Commission is illegal and what not and whether it must have the broad Seal on only the little Seal or none 2. Nor can we know when a Commission is counterfeit The King's Commanders in the Wars never shewed their Commissions to them that they fought against at least ordinarily There was a Collonel of the King 's since his coming in that brought a Commission Sealed with the broad Seal to seize on all the Goods of a Gentleman in Bishopsgate-street in 〈◊〉 by which he carried them away But the Commission being proved counterfeit he was hanged for it But a Man that thus Seizeth on any Gentleman's Money on Goods may be gone before they can try his Commission if they may not resist him But the Parliament and Courts of Justice are the Legal publick Notifiers of the King's mind and by them the Subjects can have a regular certain notice of it So that if the Parliament were concluded to have no part in the Legislative Power but the King 's meer will to be our Law yet if the Parliament and Courts of Justice be erected as the publick Declarers of his will to the People they seem more regardable and credible than the words of a private unknown Man that saith he hath a Commission 5. And they think that this is to betray is to the King and give the Chancellour or Lord-Keeper power at his pleasure to depose him from his Crown and dispossess him of his Kingdoms For if the King by Law or Commission shall settle any Trusty Subject in the Government of Navy or Militia or Forts and command them to resist all that would disposseâ—â— them yet if the Lord Chancellor have a design to depose the King and shall Sealâ—â— Commission to any of his own Creatures or Confidents to take possession of the said Forts Garisons Militia and Navy none upon pain of Death must resist them but â—e taken for Traytors if they will not be Traytors yea though it were but whilst they send to the King to know his Will And when Traytors have once got possession of all the Strengths the detecting of their stand will be too late and to Sue them at Law will be in vain And he that remembreth That our Lord Chancellor is now banished who lately was the chief Minister of State will think that this is no needless fear 6. And they think that it is quite against the Law of God in Nature which obligeth â—s to quench a Fire or save the Life of one that is assaulted much more of our selves against one that would kill him and that else we shall be guilty of Murder And according to the preper Sense of this Oath If two Foot-boys get from the Lord Chancellor a Commission to kill all the Lords and Commons in Parliament or to set the City and all the Country on Fire no Man may be Force of Arms resist them Lords and Commons may not save their Lives by force not the City their Houses And by this way no Man shall dwell or travel in safety while any Enemy or Thief may take away his Life or Purse or Goods by a pretended Commission and if we defend our selves but while we send to try them we are Traytors and few have the means of such a Tryall 7. They think by this means no Sheriff may by the Posse Comitatus execute the Decrees of any Court of Justice if 〈◊〉 can but get a Commission for the contrary 8. They think that Taxes and Subsidies may be raised thus without Parliaments and that all Men's Estates and Lives are at the meer will of the King or the Lord Chancellor For if any be Commissioned to take them away we have no remedy For to say that we have our Actions against them in the Courts of Justice is but to say that when all is taken away we may cast away more if we had it For what good will the Sentence of any Court do us if it pass on our side as long as a Commission against the Execution of that Sentence must not be resisted unless a piece of Paper be as good as an Estate 9. And they think that by this Oath we Swear to disobey the King if at any time he command us to endeavour any alteration of the Church-Government as once by this Commission to some of us he did about the Liturgy 10. And they think that it is a serving the Ambition of the Prelates and an altering of the Government to Swear never to endeavour any alteration of Church-Government yea and to put the Church-Government before the State-Government and so to make the Prelacy as unalterable as Monarchy and to twist it by an Oath into the unalterable Constitution of the Government of the Land and so to disable the King and Parliament from ever endeavouring any alteration of it For if the Subjects may not at any time nor by any means endeavour the King will have none to execute his Will if he endeavour it And if Divines who should be the most tender avoiders of Perjury and all Sin shall lead the way in taking such an Oath who can expect that any others after them should scruple it And it was endeavoured to have been put upon the Parliament 11. And they think that there is a great deal in the English Diocesian Frame of Church-Government which is very sinful and which God will have all Men in their places and callings to endeavour to reform
as that the Bishop of the lowest degree instead of ruling one Church with the Presbyters ruleth many hundred Churches by Lay-Chancellors who use the Keys of Excommunication and Absolution c. And they take it for an Act of Rebellion against God if they should Swear never to do the Duty which he commandeth and so great a Duty as Church-Reformation in so great a Matter If it were but never to pray or never to amend a fault in themselves they durst not Swear it 12. This Oath seemeth to be the same in Sence with the Et caetora Oath in the Canons of 1640. That we will never consent to an alteration of the Government by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans c. And one Parliament voted down that and laid a heavy charge upon it which no Parliament since hath taken off 13. As the National Vow and Covenant seemeth a great Snare to hinder the Union of the Church among us in that it layeth our Union on an exclusion of Prelacy and so excludeth all those learned worthy Men from our Union who cannot consent to that Exclusion so the laying of the Kingdoms and Churches Union upon the English Prelacy and Church-Government so as to exclude all that cannot consent to it doth seem as sure an Engine of Division We think that if our Union be centered but in Christ the King of all and in the King as his Officer and our Soveraign under him it may be easie and sure But if we must all unite in the English Frame of Prelacy we must never Unite § 15. Those that take the Oath do as those that Subscribe resolve that they will understand it in a lawful Sense be it true or false and so to take it in that Sense To which end they say that nullum iniquum est in Lege praesumendum and that all publick Impositions must be taken in the best Sense that the Words will bear And by force and stretching what words may not be well interpreted But the Nonconformists go on other grounds and think that about Oaths Men must deal plainly and sincerely and neither stretch their Consciences nor the Words nor interpret universal Terms particularly but according to the true meaning of the Law-givers as far as they can understand it and where they cannot according to the proper and usual signification of the Words And the Parliament themselves tell us That this is the true Rule of interpreting their Words Beyond which therefore we dare not stretch them § 16. And therefore 14. They dare not take the Oath because if it be not to be taken in the proper or ordinary Sense of the Words then they are sure that they cannot understand it for it doth not please the Parliament to expound it And Oaths must be taken in Truth Judgment and Righteousness and not ignoranatly when we know that we understand them not § 17. The Lawyers even the honestest are commonly for a more stretching Exposition And those that speak out say That an illegal Commission is none at all But we our selves go further than this would leads us for we judge That even an illegally commissioned Person is not to be resisted by Arms except in such Cases as the Law of Nature or the King himself by his Laws or by a contrary Commission alloweth us to resist him But if Commissions should be contradictory to each other or to the Law we know not what to Swear in such a case § 18. But because much of the Case may be seen in these following Questions which upon the coming out of that Act I put to an able worthy and sincere Friend with his Answers to them I will here Insert them viz. Serjeant Fountain Queries upon the Oxford Oath We presuppose it commonly resolved by Casuists in Theology from the Law of Nature and Scripture 1. That Perjury is a Sin and so great a Sin as tendeth to the ruin of the Peace of Kingdoms the Life of Kings and the Safety of Mens Souls and to make Men unfit for Humane Society Trust or Converse till it be repented of 2. That he that Sweareth contrary to his Iudgment is Perjured though the thing prove true 3. That we must take an Oath in the Imposer's Sense as near as we can know it if he be our Lawful Governour 4. That an Oath is to be taken sensu strictiore and in the Sense of the Rulers Imposing it if that be known if not by the Words interpreted according to the common use of Men of that Profession about that subject And Vniversals are not to be interpreted as Particulars nor must we limit them and distinguish without very good proof 5. That where the Sense is doubtful we are first to ask which is the probable Sense before we ask which is is the best and charitablest Sense and must not take them in the best Sense when another is more probable to be the true Sense Because it is the Truth and not the Goodness which the Vnderstanding first considereth Otherwise any Oath almost imaginable might be taken there being few Words so bad which are not so ambiguous as to bear a good Sense by a forced Interpretation And Subjects must not cheat their Rulers by seeming to do what they do not 6. But when both Senses are equally doubtful we ought in Charity to take the best 7. If after all Means faithfully used to know our Rulers Sense our own Vnderstandings much more incline to think one to be their meaning than the other we must not go against our Vnderstandings 8. That we are to suppose our Rulers fallible and that it 's possible their decrees may be contrary to the Law of God but not to suspect them without plain cause These things supposed we humbly crave the Resolution of these Questions about the present Oath and the Law Qu. 1. Whether upon any pretence whatsoever refer not to any Commissionated by him as well as to the King himself 2. Whether not lawful extendeth only to the Law of the Land or also to the Law of God in Nature 3. Whether I Swear that it is not lawful do not express my peremptory certain Determination and be not more than I Swear that in my Opinion it is not lawful 4. What is the Traytorous Position here meant for here is only a Subject without a Praedicate which is no Position at all and is capable of various Praedicates 5. If the King by Act of Parliament commit the Trust of his Navy Garrison or Militia to one durante vita and should Commissionate another by force to eject him whether both have not the King's Authority or which 6. If the Sheriff raise the Posse Commitatus to suppress a Riot or to execute the Decrees of the Courts of Justice and fight with any Commissioned to resist him and shall keep up that Power while the Commissioned Persons keep up theirs which of them is to be judged by the Subjects to have the King's Authority 7. If a Parliament or a
Court of Justice declare That the King by his Laws commandeth us to assist the Sheriffs and Justices notwithstanding any Commission to the contrary under the great or little Seal and one shew us a Commission to the contrary which must we take for the King's Authority 8. Whether this extendeth to the Case of King Iohn who delivered the Kingdom to the Pope Or to those Instances of Bilson Barcley Grotius c. of changing the Government putting by the true Heir to whom we are Sworn in the Oath of Allegiance c. if Subjects pretend Commission for such Acts 9. Whether Parliament Judges in Court or private Men may by the King's Authority in his Laws defend their Lives against any that by a pretended Commission invadeth them or their Purses Houses or Companions 10. Whether we must take every Affirmer to have a Commission if he shew it not Or every shewn Commission to be current and not surreptitious though contrary to Law 11. Whether he violateth not this Oath who should endeavour to alter so much of the Legislative Power as is in the Parliament or the Executive in the Established Courts of Justice Or is it meant only of Monarchy as such 12. Doth he not break this Oath who should endeavour to change the Person Governing as well as he that would change the Form of Government 13. If so doth it not also tye us to the Persons of Church-Governours seeing they are equally here twisted and Church-Government preposed 14. Is it the King 's Coercive Government of the Church by the Sword which is here meant according to the Oath of Supremacy Or Spiritual Government by the Keys Or both 15. Is it not the English Form of Church-Government by Diocesans that is here meant and not some other sort of Episcopacy which is not here And doth he not break this Oath who instead of a Bishop over 500 or 1000 Churches without any inferiour Bishop should endeavour to set up a Bishop in every great Church or Market-Town or as many as the Work requireth 16. Seeing Excommunication and Absolution are the notable parts of Spiritual Government and it is not only the Actions but the Actors or Governours that we Swear not to alter and Lay-Chancellors are the common Actors or Governours whether an endeavour to alter Lay-Chancellors Government as some did that procured his Majesty's Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs be not contrary to this Oath and excluded by any alteration 17. Whether petitioning or other peaceable means before allowed by Law be not any endeavour and a violation of this Oath 18. Whether not at any time c. tye us not to disobey the King if he should command us by Consultation or Conference to endeavour it Or if the Law be changed doth not this Oath still bind us Lastly Whether this following Sense in which we could take it be the true sense of the Oath I A B do Swear That a it is not Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever b to take up Arms against the King c And that I do abhor that Traytorous Position of taking Arms by his Authority against his Person or against those that are Commissionated by him d in pursuance of such Commission And that I will not at any time endeavour any alteration of Government either in Church or State e a In my Opinion b For the Subjects of his Majesty's Dominions c Either his Authority or his Person the Law forbidding both d Whether it be his Parliament Courts of Justice Legal Officers or any other Persons authorized by his publick Laws or his Commission supposing that no contrariety of Laws and Commissions by over-sight or otherwise do Arm the Subjects against each other e I will not endeavour any alteration of State-Government at all either as to the Person of the King or the Species of Government either as to the Legislative or Executive Power as in the King himself or his Parliament or Established Courts of Justice And therefore I declare That I take all the rest of this Oath only in a Sense consistent with this Clause implying no alteration in the Government And I will endeavour no alteration of the Coercive Government of the Church as it is in the King according to the Oath of Supremacy Nor any alienation of the Spiritual Power of the Keys from the Lawful Bishops and Pastors of the Church Nor will I endeavour to restore the Ancient Discipline by removing the Spiritual Government by the Keys out of the Hands of Lay-Chancellors into the Hands of so many able Pastors as the number of Churches and necessity of the work requireth nor any other Reformation of the Church by any Rebellious Schismatical or other unlawful means whatsoever nor do I believe that any Vow or Covenant obligeth me thereto declaring notwithstanding that it 's none of my meaning to bind my self from any Lawful Means of such Reformation nor to disobey the King if at any time He command me to endeavour the Alteration of any thing justly alterable The General Answer was as followeth UPon Serious Consideration of the Act of Parliament Entitled An Act for Restraining of Nonconformists from Inhabiting in Corporations And of the Oath therein mentioned I am of Opinion That there is nothing contained in that Oath according to the true Sense thereof But that it is not Lawful to take up Arms against the King or any Authorised by his Commission or for a private Person to endeavour the Alteration of the Monarchical Government in the State or the Government by Bishops in the Church And that any Person notwithstanding the taking of such Oath if he apprehend that the Lay-Judges in Bishop's Courts as to Sentence of Excommunication for Matters meerly Ecclesiastical or for any other Cause ought to be Reformed or that Bishopricks are of too large extent may safely Petition or use any lawful Endeavour for Reformation of the same For that such Petition or other Lawful Endeavour doth not tend to the Alteration of the Government but to the amendment of what shall be found amiss in the Government and Reformed by Lawful Authority and thereby the Government better Established And I conceive every Exposition of the said Oath upon Supposition or Presumption of an Obligation thereby to any thing which is contrary to the Law of God or the Kingdom is an illegal and a forced Exposition contrary to the intent and meaning of the said Oath and Act of Parliament for it is a Rule nullum iniquum est in Lege praesumendium And an Exposition tending to enjoyn any thing contrary to the Law of God would make the Act of Parliament void which ought not to be admitted when it bears a fair and plain Sense which is no more Than that Subjects ought not to take up Arms against their Lawful King or such as lawfully Commissionated by him and for private Persons to be unquiet in the place wherein they live to the disturbance of the Government in Church or State Iohn Fountain Feb. 6.
1665. The Particular Answer was as followeth NOT at present to dispute the things presupposed although I may not grant all in the Fourth and some other of the Positions to be warranted by the Law of Nature or Scripture I add as necessary to the Resolving of the Questions upon the Act of Parliament That in the Exposition of Acts of Parliament if there may be a fair and reasonable Construction made of the Words not contrary to the Law of God or Reason that Construction ought to be made thereof and that any Exposition which tends to make it sensless or contrary to the Law of God and Reason or to suppose any wicked thing enjoyned thereby is a forced Construction and contrary to Law being destructive to the very Act of Parliament I hereupon lay aside any Answer to the Fourth and Eighth Questions which may peradventure be thought meer Cavils against the Act though I knowing the Temper of the Propounder have a more charitable Opinion of him But I do apprehend that tho' there may want a Word to make a Logical Position concerning the Trayterous Position mentioned in the Oath yet there is a plain Sense in the Oath viz. That it is unlawful to take up Arms against the King and that if any would make a distinction and affirm That though the unlawfulness were admitted to take up Arms against him yet by his Authority they might take up Arms against his Person or against those that are Commissioned by him in pursuance of such Commission such an Affirmation and Position as this is Traytorous and to be abhorred and there is such a plain Sense in it as every one that hath common Reason understands it so and therefore Quod necessario subintelligitur non deest And I do not believe that any who propound the Questions to be resolved do themselves imagine that the Parliament had any thought of what is mentioned in the Eighth Question for nullum iniquum in Lege praesumendum Upon consideration of the Act I apprehend the Makers thereof had an apprehension that there were three sorts of People which might have a dangerous influence upon the King's Subjects if not rightly principled viz. Ministers or Preachers School-Masters and such as did Table and Board Children and therefore did provide to restrain them from doing hurt to the Kingdom in keeping the Ministers out of the populous Places of the Kingdom or where they were best known and most likely to prevail and that no Children might be poisoned with Principles destructive to Government The Principles which they feared were these 1. That in some Cases it might be lawful to take up Arms against the Supreme Magistrate at least by a distinction unwarrantable in taking up Arms against his Authority against his Person or such as he did Commissionate 2. That private Persons might endeavour to alter the Government in the Church or State where they lived For the discovery of such as were of these dangerous Principles I conceive the Oath is framed which is Established by this Act and any who holdeth these Principles may not safely take it but if he hold not these Principles he may And as to the Questions 1. That the Words upon any pretence whatsoever in the Oath refer only to the King himself 2. That Lawful comprehends any Law obligatory 3. That it is only according to the Opinion and Judgment of him that takes it 5. He that hath the Lawful Commission is the only Person that hath Authority by the King's Commission 6. I conceive the Sheriff 7. That Commission which is according to Law 9. I conceive they may 10. I conceive a Commission must be shewn if required and that a surreptitious and void Commission contrary to Law is no Commission at all 11. I understand not the Latitude of this Question but I conceive the Sense of the Oath is not to endeavour the Alteration of Monarchical Government in the State 12. Though I conceive it utterly unlawful to endeavour to change the Person of the Governour yet that being sufficiently provided against by the former Laws I do not conceive that it was intended by the Makers of the Law in this part of the Oath to intend more than the Alteration of the Government 13. Answered before And yet if the Person of the Supreme were included in the State-Government I do not conceive that it would extend to the Governours under him in the Church for they may be justly removed in Case of Crime c. 14. I conceive both 15. I conceive its the English Form of Church-Government and yet that is no breach of the Oath to endeavour in a lawful way to make more Bishops and lesser Bishopricks 16. I do not think the Oath bindeth not to endeavour to alter the Actors or Governours in the Church so it be done by lawful means and that it is lawful notwithstanding the Oath to endeavour to alter Lay-Chancellors in a lawful way 17. I conceive it is not 18. I conceive it doth not There are so many things put in the last Question of the Sense of the Oath as will require more discussion than the present Opportunity admits Iohn Fountain Feb. 13. 1665. Sir Iohn Maymard also told me That an illegal Commission is no Commission though privately being the King's Serjeant §19 But that all these Answers should rather resolve me not to take this Oath than any way satisfie me to take it may thus appear 1. He confesseth that the Principle feared was That in some Cases it is lawful to take up Arms against the Supreme Magistrate or by his Authority against those Commissioned by him And yet implicitly granteth it in the Cases intimated in the Eighth Question 2. He confesseth that another feared Principle was That private Persons may endeavour to alter the Government of the Church And he confesseth That by lawful means we may endeavour it in a great part of it And as to the Particulars 1. He thinketh that the Words on any pretence whatsoever refer to the King only whereas in my Conscience I think that the Authors of the Oath meant it also as to any Commissioned by him otherwise there is nothing in all this Oath against taking Arms against any Commissioned by the King so they do not pretend his own Authority for it And upon my knowledge a great part of those that Fought for the Parliament went on other grounds some thinking Parliaments and People above the King as being singulis Major universis Minor as Hooker speaks Eccles. Pol. Lib. 8. some thinking that the Law of Nature did warrant them and some that the Scripture did require them to do what they did And can I believe that it was none of the Imposers Intention by the Oath to provide against any of these Opinions If really it were not then a Man that taketh this Oath may notwithstanding it believe That though it be not lawful to take Arms against the King nor against his Armies by pretence of his
Authority yet upon four other grounds it is lawful to take up Arms against his Army 1. Because as Willius and other Politicians say the Majestas realis is in the People 2. Because some Lawyers say That the People of England have as Hooker and Bâ—lson calls them fore-prized Liberties which they may defend and the Parliament hath part of the Legislative Power by the Constitution of the Kingdom 3. Because the Law of Nature and Charity requireth the Defence of our Selves Posterity and Country 4. And because Scripture requireth the same They that will say That the Oath hath left all these Pleas or Evasions for Fighting against the King's Armies do make it utterly useless to the ends for which it was intended and make the Authors to have been strangely blinded 2. Note That he takes the Word Lawful to extend to all Laws of Nature Scripture or whatever And 3. That he takes these Words It is not Lawful to mean no more than I judge or think it is not Lawful As if all our Parliament Men with the Learned Bishops had not had Wit enough to have said so if they had meant so but said one thing and meant another 4. I confess I stick not much on the Fourth Quaere but its plain that the Subject named is capable of various Predicates yea of contrary and of taking Arms may be applied to an opertet a litet a factum est yea or a non licet though the licet I doubt not is their Sense 5. Note That the Answer to the Fifth is a meer putting off the Answer For the Question is Whether the Act of Parliament or the private Commission be more Authoritative And he answereth That which is Lawful which implieth that he was not willing to speak out 6. Note that he plainly concludeth that a Sheriff hath the King's Authority to resist by the Posse Comitatus the King 's Commissioned Officers that would hinder him from Executing the Decrees of a Court of Justice And doth not this either cross the intent of the Imposers or give up the whole Cause Doth it not grant that either it is lawful by the King's Authority given to the Sheriff by the Law c. for him by Arms to resist the King's Commissioners Or else that they be resisted as not Commissioned because their Commission is unlawful And what did the Parliament's Army desire more If a Sheriff by the Sentence of an inferiour Court may raise Arms against the King's Army as not Commissioned you will teach the Parliament to say That their Judgment is greater than an inferiour Court's 7. And it is possible That Commissions may be contrary of the same date who then can know which is the Traytor 8. The Seventh is a putting off the Answer like the Fifth 9. Note especially that of the Eighth Quaere which implyeth divers Instances of Cases in which Grotius Barclay Bilson c. say That it is Lawful to take Arms against the King he seemeth wholly to grant it and maketh it but like a Cavil to suppose that those Cases ever came into the Parliament's Thoughts And I am much in that of the good Man's Mind But if they will Swear me to an Universal while they forget particular Exceptions that will not make the Oath Lawful to me For 1. It is not certain to me That they would have excepted those things if they had remembred them 2. Much less can I tell which and how many things they would have excepted 3. And how could the wit of Man devise Words more exclusive of all Exceptions than to say It is not Lawful on any pretence whatsoever Are those in the Eighth Quaere no pretences whatsoever I dare not thus stretch my Conscience about an Oath when I know that the Authors were Learned Crasty willing to extend it far enough and Men that understood English and spake in a matter of their own Concernment and Employment Therefore by any pretence whatsoever I cannot think that they meant to exclude so many Pretences as the Eighth Case speaks of 10. Note also That he alloweth Parliaments Judges or private Men even by the King's Authority in his Laws to defend their Lives their Houses Estates Purses and Companions against such as are Commissioned to Surprize them Which is because he taketh such to be really no Commissions And so the Parliament and their Army would say in a Word That the King's Commissions to his Armies were no Commissions But this which the Lawyers wholly rest on I think in my Conscience was so contrary to the Imposers Sense that if it had been then mentioned they would have expresly put in some Words against it And if an illegal Commission be no Commission then there are not two sorts of Commissions one legal and the other illegal unless speaking Equivocally And this comes up to what Richard Hooker and the long Parliament said viz. That the King can do no wrong because if it be wrong it is not to be taken for the King's Act. 11. Note also That a Commission must be shewn if required and an illegal one is null And which of the Parliament's Souldiers ever saw the Commissions of those whom they Fought against Not one of many Thousands And was this think you the meaning of the Imposers of the Oath that it should be left to Men's Liberty to take an illegal Commission for none If this were declared who of all the Parliament's Army would not take this part of the Oath 12. To the Eleventh he answereth That the Oath is against altering Monarchy which none doubts of But whether the Power of Parliaments or Courts of Justice be included the good Man thought it not best to understand 13. He thinks that by Government is meant only the Species Monarchy and not the Person of the King as being sufficiently secured elsewhere whereas there is no such limitation in the Words but that he is to be esteemed a Changer of the Government who would depose the King and set up an Usurper 14. But if it do secure the King's Person as I think it doth and should do he thinks it extendeth not to the Persons of the Church-Governours because by Law they may be altered But 1. Here is no difference made in the Oath unless it be that the Government of the Church is put before that of the State 2. Therefore the Question is Whether this Oath be not contrary to those former Laws and do not settle the Bishops and Chancellors as fast as the King As to the plain Sense of the Words I find no difference And as to the meaning of the Law-makers it is hard otherwise to know it seeing they are of so many minds and various degrees of Capacity among themselves 15. And it is here confessed That the Clergy-Government is included yea and that the Oath meaneth the English Species and yet he thinketh that it prohibiteth not lawful Endeavours to make more Bishops and to take down Lay-Chancellors whereas 1. Chancellors are
the Governours for the greatest part 2. And as a Congregational Church doth specifically differ from a Diocess of 1000 or 600 Churches the former de fine being for Personal Communion in God's Worship and not the latter so therefore the Bishop of a Congregation must needs differ specifically from the Bishop of such a Diocess Therefore so to change were to change the Species of the Government as I am confident the Bishops themselves would say if the Question were put to them 16. By Endeavouring here he understandeth only unlawful endeavouring and not Petitioning or other lawful means whereas the Word in the Oath is absolute and unlimited And I cannot be so bold as to Swear not to endeavour and secretly mean except it be by petitioning or other lawful means for no sober Man will think that we may do it by unlawful means if he know them to be so And the old Et caetera Oath in 1640. the Antecessor of this had not consenting which could not be so limited And further it seems plain that this cannot be their Sense because it is equally applyed to both Governments in the Oath save that the Church-Government is put first And who dare say that this is the meaning as to the Government of the State I will not endeavour the deposing of the King or the change of Monarchy unless it be by lawful means Whereas the Oath seemeth to me that it is never to be done at all and no means is lawful for such an Aid And therefore we must so understand it as to the Diocesanes too if we will not Swear absolutely or universally and mean limitedly and particularly yea and limit and not limit the same Word as respecting the several Governments without any colour from the Terms 17. Lastly When the Oath Sweareth us not at any time to endeavour which is as plainly an Exclusive of Exceptions as to Time as can briefly be uttered he thinketh that by any time is meant any time except when the King shall command me the contrary or the Law shall change c. Now when so much violence must be used with the Words of such an Oath and when the Imposers will not after many Years knowledge of our Doubts and Difficulties make them any plainer and so when they are at the best to us so unintelligible and no Lawyer nor Parliament that we can speak with can resolve us but all the Answer we can get from the Parliament Men is You must understand it in the proper usual Sense of the Words And from the Lawyers An unlawful Commission is none and lawful Endeavours are not forbidden who can take such an Oath in Judgment and Uprightness of Heart that is satisfied in the Points forementioned § 20. The Act which Imposeth this Oath openly accuseth the Nonconformable Ministers or some of them of Seditious Doctrine and such hainous Crimes wherefore when it first came out I thought that at such an Accusation no Innocent Persons should be silentâ— especially when Papists Strangers and Posterity may think That a Recorded Statute is a sufficient History to prove us guilty and the Concernments of the Gospel and our Callings and Men's Souls are herein touched Therefore I drew up a Profession of our Judgment about the Case of Loyalty and Obedience to Kings and Governours and the Reasons why we refused the Oath But reading it to Dr. Seamaâ— and some others wiser than my self they advised me to cast it by and to hear all in silent Patience because it was not possible to do it so fully and sincerely but that the malice of our Adversaries would make an ill use of it and turn it all against our selves And the wise Statesmen laughed at me for thinking that Reason would be regarded by such Men as we had to do with and would not exasperate them the more § 21. After this the Ministers finding the pressure of this Act so great and the loss like to be so great to Cities and Corporations some of them studied how to take the Oath lawfully And Dr. Will Bites being much in seeming Favour with the Lord-Keeper Bridgeman consulted with him who promised to be at the next Session and there on the Bench to declare openly That by Endeavour to change the Church-Government was meant only lawful Endeavour which satisfying him he thereby satisfied others who to avoid the Imputation of Seditious Doctrine were willing to go as far as they durst And so Twenty Ministers came in at the Sessions and took the Oath viz. Dr. Fates Mr. Sam. Clarke Mr. Sheffield Mr. Hall or Mr. Church Mr. Matth. Pool Mr. Lood Mr. Stancliffe Mr. Roles Mr. Lewis Mr. Smith Mr. Arthur Mr. Bastwick Mr. Brooks Mr. Overton Mr. Batcheler Mr. Cary Mr. Butler Mr. Wildâ—ore Mr. Hooker And not long after Dr. Iacomb took it and Mr. Maâ—â— and Mr. Newton of Taunton in Somersetshire being then in London Mr. Iohn Howe in Devonshire and in Somersetshire Mr. William Thomas Mr. Cooper of Southwark then there And in Northamptonshire Dr. Conant late Regius Professor of Divinity and Vice-Chancellor in Oxford and about Twelve more with him I heard of no more Nonconformists that took it § 22. Dr. Bates wrote me presently the following Letter which because it sheweth the Truth of their Case and Inducements I think meet here to add the rather because when they took the Oath the Lord-Keeper left out the Word only And Judge Keeling openly told them That he was glad that so many of them renounced the Covenant with more such like which made Mr. Clarke openly tell him That they took this Oath only in such a Sense as they conceived to be not inconsistent with the Covenant And because the People in London reviled the Ministers as Turn-Coats when they had done which Insultings and Revilings much grieved some of them Dr. Bates's Letter of their Case about the Oath Dear Sir I Iudge it due to our Friendship and necessary for my Fame to give you an account of what past amongst us in Reference to the Oath In several Meetings of the Ministers the special Enquiry was about the meaning of the Word Endeavour Whether to be understood in the universal Extent so as to exclude all Regular or only tumultuous and seditious Actings The Reasons which persuaded us to understand it in a qualified Sense were 1. The Preface to the Act which declares the occasion and the end of the Oath was to prevent the distilling the Poison of Schism and Rebellion now it is a known Rule ratio juris est jus from whence it appears That only Schismatical and Rebellious Endeavours are excluded to avoid which there was an antecedent Obligation 2. It is necessary to interpret this Oath in congruity with former Laws in particular with that which concerns tumultuous Petitions wherein this Parliament declares it to be the priviledge of the Subject to complain remonstrate Petition to King or Parliament or to advise with any Member of Parliament for the altering of
that was Governour of our Fort at Sheerness had not fortifyed it and deserted it And so they came up to Chatham and burnt some of our greatest Ships and took away some while we partly lookt on and partly resisted to no great purpose And had they but come up to London they might have done much more This cast us into a great consternation § 45. At this time the King came in person among the Citizens to perswade them not to desert him and made a Speech to them at Tower-Hill not here to be recited And he had now great Experience of the Loyalty of the Citizens who after such sufferings and under such pressures in matters of Conscience and of worldly Interest even in such extremity were neither proved to do or say any thing that was contrary to their fidelity to the King § 46. The firing of London which was most commonly suppos'd to be done by the Papists and the Wars with the French did raise greater Jealousies of the Papists than had appeared before so that weekly News came to London from many Counties that the Papists were gathering Horse and Arms and that some of them had got Troops under pretence of the Militia or Volunteers to be ready for our defence The Parliament hereupon declared themselves more against them than was expected which greatly troubled the Papists The Royalists in many Countries were almost ready to disarm them especially the E. of Derby in Lancashire was wholly true to the Protestant Interest Whereupon the Papists thought it policy to live more privately and to cease their oftentation and to obscure their Arms and Strength and to do their work in a more secret way And some of them Printed an Address to the Royalists to plead kindness and affinity of dispositions with them telling them that they hoped that they that had fought and suffered in one cause for the King against the Puritans should have continued in the same Union and Kindness and that they would not have been so much against them This was answered solidly by Dr. Loid And doubtless the Papists had never so great a dejection and disappointment since the King came in For they seemed to think that the Parliament and Royalists had been so distracted with malice and revenge against the Puritans as that they would have been content that London was burnt and would have done any thing that they would have them even against themselves their Countrey their Religion and Posterity so it had but favoured of that revenge But it proved otherwise § 47. Whilest that all these Calamities especially our loss and disgrace by the Dutch must be laid on some or other the Parliament at last laid all upon the Lord Chancellor Hide And the King was content it should be so Whereupon many Speeches were made against him and an Impeachment or Charge brought in against him and vehemently urged and among other things that he counselled the King to Rule by an Army which many thought as bad as he was he was the chief means of hindering And to be short when they had first sought his Life at last it was concluded that his banishment should satisfy for all And so he was banished by an Act during his Life The sale of Dunkirk to the French and a great comely House which he had new built increased the displeasure that was against him but there were greater Causes which I must not Name § 48. And it was a notable providence of God that this Man that had been the grand Instrument of State and done almost all and had dealt so cruelly with the Nonconformists should thus by his own friends be cast out and banished while those that he had persecuted were the most moderate in his Cause and many for him And it was a great ease that befell good people throughout the Land by his dejection For his way was to decoy men into Conspiracies or to pretend plots and when upon the rumour of a plot the innocent people of many Countries were laid in prison so that no man knew when he was safe Whereas since then tho Laws have been made more and more severe yet a Man knoweth a little better what to expect when it is by a Law that he is to be tryed And it is notable that he that did so much to make the Oxford Law for banishing Ministers from Corporations that took not that Oath doth in his Letter from France since his banishment say that he never was in favour since the Parliament Sat at Oxford § 49. Before this the Duke of Buckingham being the head of his Adversaries had been overtopt by him and was fain to hide himself till the Dutch put us in fear and then he appeared and rendered himself and went prisoner to the Tower but with so great Acclamations of the People in the Streets as was a great Discouragement to the Chancellor And the D. of Buckingham was quickly set at liberty Whereupon as the Chancellor had made himself the head of the Prelatical party who were all for setting up themselves by force and suffering none that were against them so Buckingham would now be the head of all those parties that were for liberty of Conscience For the Man was of no Religion but notoriously and professedly lustful And yet of greater wit and parts and sounder Principles as to the interest of Humanity and the Common good than most Lords in the Court Wherefore he Countenanced Fanaticks and Sectaries among others without any great suspicion because he was known to be so far from them himself Though he marryed the Daughter and only Child of the Lord Fairfax◠late General of the Parliament's Army and is his heir hereby yet far enough from his mind but yet a defender of the Priviledges of Humanity § 50. Before this also the Earl of Bristol had attempted to pull down the Chancellor and to bring in a Charge against him into the Parliament But the King soon quelled him And being a Papist he hath lain latent or quiet ever since as unfit to appear in publick businesses And Buckingham performed the Work § 51. In October following the Parliament gave thanks to the King for removing the Lord Chancellor But they were vehement in seeking an account of the Moneys which have been granted for the publick service and also to have an account of the business at Chatham by whose fault it was that the Dutch were unresisted and surprized our shipping And Committees were appointed for these purposes and a great deal of talk and stir was made about them for a long time but they could never attain their ends but they that were faulty had friends enow to procure their security And tho the Parliament grudged at it and sometimes talkt high yet this made no alteration in our Affairs § 52. One notable disadvantage which we had by the Dutch attempt was that it drew down our new raised In-land Souldiers into Kent towards Sherness where the unhealthful Air
Bishops had their first Ordination of them by Pomeranus and others that were no Bishops And most Protestants hold That Baptism is null which is not performed by a Minister of Christ. Because no one else is Authorized to deliver God's part of the Covenant or to receive the Covenanter or invest him in the Christian State and Privileges VI. We dare not so far strengthen the cause of the Anabaptists as to declare thus far That all the People of England and all Protestant-Churches as were Baptized by such as had not Ordination by Diocesans are to be Re-baptized VII We dare not so far harden the Papists and honour their cause nor tempt the People to Popery as to seem to consent that their Churches Ministry and Baptism is true and the Protestant Ministry Churches and Baptism is false Nor dare we teach them if which God forbid they should get the power of governing us to call us all again to be Re-ordained and Re-baptized Our Liturgy bidding us to take private Baptism as valid if the Child was Baptized by any Lawful Minister intimating that else it is invalid and so that seemeth the Iudgment of the Church of England VIII We dare not tempt any other Sects or Vsurpers to expect that as oft as they can get the upper hand we must be Re-ordained and Re-baptized at their pleasure IX We dare not make a Schism in our Congregations by tempting the Pastors to reject most of the People from the Communion as unbaptized Persons X. We dare not dishonour the King and Parliament so far as to encourage them to confirm these Errors by an Act of Parliament Enacting really Re-ordination And I R. B. must profess That having eight Years ago written a Treatise purposely to prove the validity of the late Ordination by the Synods of Presbyteries in England though I never practised any my self and having openly called for some Coufutation of it I never could procure any to this day And therefore am the more excusable if I err Though I was my self Ordained by a Bishop Note That by Ordination we mean the Solemn Separation of a Person from the number of the Laity to the Sacred Ministry in general and not the designation appointment or determination of him to this or that particular Flock or Church nor yet a meer Ecclesiastical Confirmation of his former Ordination in a doubted Case Nor yet the â—agistrate's License to exercise the Sacred Ministry in his Dominions All which we believe on just Occasion may be frequently given and received And we thereby profess to consent to no more § 72. Besides the foresaid Alterations of their Proposals we offered them this following Emendation of the Liturgy containing in some Points less and in some Points more than their own Proposals for in this Dr. Wilkins was not streight The most necessary Alterations of the Liturgy THat the old Preface be restored instead of the new one The Order for all Priests Deacons and Curates to read the Liturgy once or twice every Day to be put out The Rubrick for the old Ornaments which were in use in the second Year of Edw. VI. put out The Lord's Prayer to be used intirely with the Doxologies Add to the Rubrick before the Communion thus Nor shall any be admitted to the Communion who is grosly ignorant of the Essentials of Christianity or of that Sacrament or who is an Atheist Infidel or Heretick that is denyeth any Essential part of Religion nor any that derideth Christianity or the Holy Scriptures or the strict obeying of God's Commands Read the Fourth Commandment as it is in the Text viz. God blessed the Sabbath Day Add to the Communion Rubrick None shall be forced to Communicate because it is a high Privilege which the Unwilling are unworthy of and so are those who are conscious that they live impenitently in any secret or open hainous sin And because many conscionable Persons through Melancholy or too hard thoughts of themselves have so great fears of unworthy receiving that it were like to drive them to despair or distraction if they are forced to it before they are satisfied Therefore let Popery and Prophaneness be expressed by some fitter means than this In the Prayer before the Consecration Prayer put out That our sinful Bodies may be made clean by his Body and our Souls washed by his precious Blood and put it thus That our sinful Souls and Bodies may be cleansed by his Sacrificed Body and Blood Alterations very desirable also THE Lord's Prayer and Gloria Patri seldomer used Begin with the Prayer for the second Sunday in Advent for Divine Assistance or some other Let none be forced to hear the Decalogue kneeling because the Ignorant who take them for Prayers are scandalized and hardened by it Let none be forced to use Godfathers at their Childrens Baptism who can either Parent be there to perform their Duty Or at least let the Godfathers be but as the ancient Sponsors whose Office was 1. To attest the Parents Fidelity 2. And to promise to bring up the Child in Christian nurtue if the Parents dye or prove deserters Because Ministers subscribe to the 25th Article of the Church's Doctrine which saith Those Five commonly called Sacraments that is Confirmation c. are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles For they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God Therefore in the Collect for Confirmation put out Upon whom after the Example of the Holy Apostles we have now laid our Hands to certifie them by this sign of thy favour and gracious goodness toward them Holidays left indifferent save only that all be restrained from open labour and contempt of them Especially Holy Innocents-Day St. Michael's Day and All-Saints because there is no certainty that they were Holy Innocents And its harsh to keep a Holiday for one Angel And all true Christians being Saints we keep Holidays for our selves The Book of Ordination restored as it was Let there be liberty to use Christ's own Form of Delivery recited by St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. changing only the Person Take Eat this is Christ's Body which c. Let Christian Parents be permitted to offer their own Children to God in Baptism and enter them into the Holy Covenant by using those Words that are now imposed on the Godfathers That where any Minister dare not in Conscience Baptize the Child of proved Atheists Infidels gross Hereticks Fornicators or other such notorious Sinners as the Cannon forbiddeth us to recive to the Communion both Parent being such and the Child in their power and possession that Minister shall not be forced to do it but the Parents shall procure some other to do it For â—â—â—t thou be Baptised put â—ilt thou have this â—â—ld Baptized The Cross and the Surplice left at liberty and kneeling at the Act of Receiving and bowing at the Name â—esus rather than â—hrist God
which still more destroy it as any thing of long time hath been published It is true that in many things they were real weaknesses which he detected and that he knew more himself than most of those whom he exposed to scorn And it is true that many of them by their censoriousness of the Conformists did too much instigate such Men But it is as true that while Christ's Flock consisteth of weak ones in their Earthly State of Imperfection and while his Church is an Hospital and he the Physician of Souls it ill becometh a Preacher of the Gospel to teach the Enemies of Christ and Holiness to cast all the reproach of the Diseases upon the nature of Health or on the Physician or to expose Christ's Family to scorn for that weakness which he pittieth them for and is about to cure if he had first told us where we we might find a better sort of Men than these faulty Christians or could prove them better who meddle with God and Heaven and Holiness but formally and complimentally on the by he had done something And it is certain that nothing scarce hardened the faulty persons more in their Way and weaknesses than his way of reprehending them For my part I speak not out of partiality for he was pleased to single me out for his Commendations and to exempt me from the Accusations But it made my Heart to grieve to perceive how the Devil only was the gainer whilst Truth and Godliness was not only pretended by both parties but really intended § 89. Yea it would have grieved the heart of any sober Christian to observe how dangerously each party of the Extremes did tempt the other to impenitenitency and further Sin Even when the Land was all on a Flame and we were all in apparent danger of our ruin by our Sins and Enmities the unhappy prelates began the Game and cruelly cast out 1800 Ministers and the people thâ—â—eupon esteeming them Wolves and malignant prosecutors fled from them â—s the Sheep will do from Wolves not considering that notwithstanding their Personal Sin they still outwardly professed the same Protestant Religion and when any Prelatist told the Sectaries of their former Sin Rebellions or Divisions they heard it as the words of an Enemy and were more hardened in it against Repentance than before yea were ready to take that for a Vertue which such Men reproached them for when as before they had begun from Experience to repent And on the other side when the Prelatists saw what Crimes the Army-party of the Sectaries had before committed which they aggravated from their own Interest they noted also all the weaknesses of Judgment and Expression in Prayer which they met with not only in the weaker sort of Ministers but of the very Women and unlearned People also and turned all this not only to the reproach of all the Sectaries but as their Passion Interest and Faction led them of all the Non-conformists also of whom the far greatest part were much more innocent than themselves § 90. And so subtil is Satan in using his Instruments that by their wicked folly crying out maliciously for repentance he hindered almost all open Confession and Profession of repentance on both â—ides For these self Exalters did make their own interest and Opinions to pass with them for the sure Expositor of the Law of God and Man And they that never truly understood the old Difference between the King and Parliament did state the Crime according to their own shallow passionate conceits and then in every book cryed out Repent Repent Repent of all your Rebellions from first to last you Presbyterians began the War and brought the King's head to the 〈…〉 cut it off And as they put in Lies among some truths so the people thought they put in their Duties among their sins when they called them to repent And if a man had professed repentance for the one without the other and had not mentioned all that they expected and made his Confessions according to their prescripts they would have cryed out Traytors Traytors and have pressed every word to be the Proclamation of another War So that all their calling for repentance was but an Ambuscade and Snare and most effectually prohibited all open repentance because it would have been Treason if it had not come up to their most unjust measures And all men thought silence safer with such men than Confession of fin And the sectaries were the more persuaded that their sin was no sin And this occasioned the greater obduration of their Enemies who cryed out None of them all repenteth and therefore they are ready to do the same again And so they justifyed themselves in all the Silencings Conâ—inings Imprisonments c. Which they inflicted on them and all the odious representations of them § 91. But that great Lie that the Presbyterians in the English Parliament began the War is such as doth as much tempt men that know it to question all the History that ever was written in the World as any thing that ever I heard spoken Reader I will tell it thee to thy admiration When the War was first raised there was but one Presbyterian known in all the Parliament There was not one Presbyterian known among all the Lord Lieutenants whom the Parliament Committed the Militia to There was not one Presbyterian known among all the General Officers of the Earl of Essex Army nor one among all the English Colonels Majors or Captains that ever I could hear of There were two or three swearing Scots of whom Vrrey turned to the King What their opinion was I know not nor is it considerable The truth is Presbytery was not then known in England except among a few studious Scholars nor well by them But it was the moderate Conformists and Episcopal Protestants who had been long in Parliaments crying out of Innovations Arminianism Popery but specially of Monopolies illegal taxes and the danger of Arbitrary Government who now raised the War against the rest whom they took to be guilty of all these things And a few Independents were among them but no considerable Number And yet these Conformists never cry out Repent ye Episcopal Conformists for it was you that began the War Much less Repent ye Arminian Grotian innoveling prelates who were reducing us so near Rome as Heylin in the Life of Laud describeth for it was you that kindled the Fire and that set your own party thus against you and made them wish for an Episcopacy doubly reformed 1 with better Bishops 2 with less secular power and smaller Diocesses § 92. Some moderate worthy men did excellently well answer this Book of Dr. Patrick's so as would have stated matters rightly but the danger of the Times made them suppress them and so they were never printed But Mr. Rowles late Minister at Thistleworth printed an Answer which sufficiently opened the faultiness of what he wrote against but wanting the Masculine strength and cautelousness
which was necessary to deal with such an Adversary he was quickly answered by fastening on the weakest parts with new reproach and triumph And the Author was doubly exposed to suffering For whereas he was so neer Conformity as that he had taken the Oxford Oath and read some Common prayer and therefore by connivance was permitted to preach in South-Work to an Hospital where he had 40 l. per Ann. and was now in expectation of Liberty at a better place in Bridewell he was now deprived of that And 〈◊〉 had little relief from the Nonconformists because he Conformed so far as he did And having a numerous family was in great want § 93. The next year came out a far more virulent book called Ecclesiastical Policy written by Sam. Parker a young Man of pregnant parts who had been brought up among the Sectaries and seeing some weaknesses among them and being of an eager Spirit was turned with the Times into the contrary extreme for which he giveth thanks to God And judging of 〈◊〉 called Puritans and Nonconformists by the people that he was bred amongst and being now made Arch-Bishop Sheldon's houshold Chaplain where such work was to be done he writeth the most scornfully and rashly and prophanely and cruelly against the Nonconformists of any man that ever yet assaulted them that I have heard of And in a fluent fervent ingenious style of Natural Rhetorick poureth out floods of Odious reproaches and with incautelous Extremities saith as much to make them hated and to stir up the Parliament to destroy them as he could well speak And all this was to play the old game at once to please the Devil the Prelates and the prophane and so to twist all three into one party than which if prelacy be of God a greater injury could not be done to it being the surest tryed way to engage all the Religious if not the Sober also of the Land against it § 93. Soon after Dr. Iohn Owen first tryed to have engaged me to answer it by telling me and others that I was the fittest Man in England for that work on what account I now enquire not But I had above all men been oft enough searched in the malignant fire and contended with them with so little thanks from the Independents tho they could say little against it that I resolved not to meddle with them any more without a clearer call than this And besides Patrick and that Party by excepting me from those whom they reproached in respect of Doctrine disposition and practice made me the unfittest person to rise up against them Which if I had done they that applauded me before would soon have made me seem as odious almost as the rest For they had some at hand that in evil speaking were such Masters of Language that they never wanted Matter nor Words but could say what they listed as voluminously as they desired § 94. Whereupon Dr. Owen answered it himself selecting the most odious Doctrinal Assertions with some others of Parker's book and laid them so naked in the Judgment of all Readers that ever I met with that they concluded Parker could never answer it Especially because the Answer was delayed about a year By which Dr. Owen's esteem was much advanced with the Nonconformists § 95. But Parker contriv'd to have his Answer ready against the Sessions of the Parliament in Octob. 1670. And shortly after it came out In which he doth with the most voluminous torrent of naturall and malicious Rhetorick speak over the same things which might have been Comprized in a few Sentences viz. The Nonconformists Calvinists Presbyterians Hugonots are the most villanous unsufferable sort of sanctified Fools Knaves and unquiet Rebels that ever were in the World With their naughty Godliness and holy Hypocrisie and Villanies making it necessary to fall upon their Teachers and not to spare them for the Conquering of the rest But yet he putteth more Exceptions here of the Soberer honest peaceable sort whom he loveth but pittyeth for the unhappiness of their Education and in particular speaketh kindly of me than he had done before For when he had before persuaded men to fall upon the Ministers and said What are an hundred men to be valued in Comparison of the safety of the whole When Dr. Owen and others commonly understood him as meaning that there was but a 100 Nonconformable Ministers when 1800 were silenced he found out this shift to abate both the Charge of malignant Cruelty and Untruth and saith that he meant that he hoped the seditious hot headed party that misled the people were but a few Whereby he vindicated fifteen hundred Nonconformable Ministers against those Charges which he and others frequently lay on the Nonconformists by that name But the second part of the Matter of his book was managed with more advantage because of all the Men in England Dr. Owen was the Chief that had Headed the Independents in the Army with the greatest height and Confidence and Applause and afterward had been the greater persuader of Fleetwood Desborough and the rest of the Officers of the Army who were his Gathered Church to Compel Rich. Cromwell to dissolve his Parliament which being done he fell with it and the King was brought in So that Parker had so many of his Parliament and Army Sermons to cite in which he urgeth them to Justice and prophesyeth of the ruine of the Western Kings and telleth them that their work was to take down Civil and Ecclesiastical Tyranny with such like that the Dr. being neither able to repent hitherto or to justify all this must be silent or only plead the Art of Oblivion And so I fear his unfitness for this Work was a general injury to the Nonconformists § 96. And here I think I ought to give Posterity notice that by the Prelatist's malice and unreasonable implacable Violence Independency and Separation got greater advantages against Presbytery and all setled accidental extrinsick order and means of Concord than ever it had in these Kingdoms since the World began For powerful and Godly Preachers though now most silenced had in twenty years liberty brought such numbers to serious Godliness that it was vain for the Devil or his Servants to hope that suffering could make the most forsake it And to the Prelatists they would never turn while they saw them for the sake of their own Wealth and Lordships and a few Forms and Ceremonies silence so many hundred worthy self-denying Ministers that had been Instruments of their Good and to become the Son of the prophane malignant Enmity to the far greatest part of the most serious Religious People in Three Kingdoms And Presbyterians were forced to forbear all Exercise of their way they durst not meet together Synodically unless in a Goal They could not ordinarily be the Pastors of Parish-Churches no not for the private part of the Work being driven five Miles from all their former Charges and Auditors and from every City
what he had suffered by the War who it 's said was but a poor Boy and after a Schoolmaster and Phillips having but one Leg told me he had lost his Leg by the Wars and I thought then there was no remedy but Preachers must be silenced and live in Goals But with much importunity I got them once to hear me while I told them why I took not my Meeting to be contrary to Law and why the Oxford Act concerned me not and they had no Power to put that Oath on me by the Act But all the Answer I could get was That they were satisfied of what they did And when among other reasonings against their course I told them I thought Christ's Ministers had in many Ages been Men esteemed and used as we now are and their Afflicters have insulted over them the Providence of God hath still so ordered it that the Names and Memory of their Silencers and Afflicters have been left to Posterity for a Reproach insomuch that I wondered that they that fear not God and care not for their own or the People's Souls should yet be so careless of their fame when Honour seemeth so great a matter with them To which Ross answered that he desired no greater Honour to his Name than that it should be remembred of him that he did this against me and such as I which he was doing Then they asked me whether I would take the Oath I named a difficulty or two in it and desired them to tell me the meaning of it They told me that they were not to expound it to me but to know whether I would take it I told them it must be taken with understanding and I did not understand it They said I must take it according to the proper sence of the Words I asked them whether the proper sence of those Words I will not at any time endeavour any alteration of Government in the Church was not of any time universally as it 's spoken they said yea I asked them whether it were in the Power of the King and Parliament to make some alteration of Church-Government Ross first said that before it was settled it was But better bethinking himself said Yea I told him the King once gave me a Commission to endeavour an alteration of the Liturgy and allowance to endeavour the alteration of Church-Government as may be seen in His Majesty's Declaration about Ecclesiastical Affairs If he should command me the like again am I not sworn by this Oath if I take it to disobey him yea or if the Law-makers change the Law c. At this Ross only laught and derided me as speaking a ridiculous supposition and said that could not be the Sence I told him that then he must confess the Error of his Rule and that the Oath is not to be understood according to the proper meaning and use of those Words And I bad them take notice that I had not refused their Oath but desired an explication of it which they refused to give though I had reason enough to resolve me not to take it however they that were not the makers of the Law should have expounded it And so Phillips presently wrote my Mittimus as followeth § 112. To the Keeper of his Majesty's Goal commonly called the New-Prison in Clerkenwell Middlesex VVHereas it hath been proved unto us upon Oath that Richard Baxter Clerk hath taken upon him to Preach in an unlawful Assembly Conventicle or Meeting under colour or pretence of Exercise of Religion contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom at Acton where he now liveth in the said County not having taken and subscribed the Oath by Act of Parliament in that case appointed to be be taken And whereas we having tender'd to him the Oath and Declaration appointed to be taken by such as shall offend against the said Act which he hath refused to take we therefore send you herewith the Body of the said Richard Baxter straitly charging and commanding you in his Majesty's Name to receive him the said Richard Baxter into his Majesty's said Prison and him there safely to keep for six Months without Bail or Mainprize And hereof you are not to fail at your Peril Given at Brentford the Eleventh of June in the one and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second J. Philips Tho. Ross. § 113. Here it is to be noted that the Act against Conventicles was long ago 〈◊〉 that I was never Convict of a Conventicle while that Law was in force nor since that the Oxford Act supposeth me Convict of a Conventicle and doth not enable them to Convict me without another Law That really they had 〈◊〉 but Ross's Man to witness that I preached who crept in but the Lord's Day before and heard me only preach on this Text. Mat. â—5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth presseth especially Quietness and Patience towards our Governours and denying all turbulent unpeaceable and seditious dispositions and practices § 114. They would have given me leave to stay till Monday before I went to Gâ—â—al if I would promise them not to preach the next Lord's Day which I denied to promise and so went away the next Morning â—115 This was made a heinous Crime against me at the Court and also it was said by the that it could not be out of Conscience that I preached else why did not my Conscience put me on it so long before Whereas I had ever preached to my own Family and never once invited any one to hear me nor forbad any So that the difference was made by the people and not by me If they come more at last than at first before they had ever heard me that fignified no change in me But thus must we be judged of where we are absent and our Adversaries present and there are many to speak against us what they please and we are banished from City and Corporations and cannot speak for our selves § 116. The whole Town of Acton were greatly exasperated against the Dean when I was going to Prison insomuch as ever since they abhor him as a selfish Perseentor Nor could he devise to do more to hinder the success of his seldom Preaching there But it was his own choice Let them hate me so they fear me And so I finally left that Place being grieved most that Satan had prevailed to stop the poor People in such hopeful beginnings of a common Reformation and that I was to be deprived of the exceeding grateful Neighbourhood of the Lord Chief Baron Hale who could scarce refrain Tears when he did but hear of the first Warrant for my appearance § 117. I knew nothing all this while of the rise of my trouble but I resolved to part in Peace on my part with the Dean not doubting but it was his doing And so I went to take my leave of him who took on him to be sorry and swore it was none of
themselves believed it that the love of Kiderminster would make me Conform and they concurred in vending the Report insomuch that one certainly told me that he came then from a worthy Minister to whom the Arch-bishop of York Sterne spake these Words Take it on my Word Mr. Baxter doth Conform and is gone to his Beloved Kiderminster And so both Parties concurred in the false Report though one only raised it § 151. Another Accident fell out also which promoted it For Mr. Crofton having a Tryal as I hear upon the Oxford Act of Confinement at the King's Bench Judge Keeling said You need not be so hasty for I hear that Mr. Crofton is about to Conform And Judge Morton said And I hear that Mr. Baxter hath a Book in the Press against their private Meetings Judge Rainsford said somewhat that he was glad to hear it and Judge Morton again That it was but time for the Quakers in Buckingham-shire he was confident were Acted by the Papists for they spake for Purgatory already This Talk being used in so high a Court of Justice by the Grave and Reverend Judges all Men thought then that they might lawfully believe it and report it So Contagious may the Breath of one Religious Man be as to infect his Party and of that Religious Party as to infect the Land and more than one Land with the belief and report of such ungrounded Lies § 152. At the same time in the end of my Life of Faith I Printed a Revocation of my Book called Political Aphorisms or A Holy Common-wealth which exasperated those who had been for the Parliament's War as much as the former but both together did greatly provoke them Of which I must give the Reader this Advertisement I wrote that Book 1659. by the provocation of Mr. Iames Harrington the Author of Oceana and next by the Endeavours of Sir Hen. Vane for a Common-wealth Not that I had any Enmity to a well ordered Democracy but 1. I knew that Cromwell and the Army were resolved against it and it would not be 2. And I perceived that Harrington's Common-wealth was fitted to Heathenism and Vane's to Fanaticism and neither of them would take Therefore I thought that the improvement of our Legal Form of Government was best for us And by Harrington's Scorn Printed in a half Sheet of Gibberish was then provoked to write that Book But the madness of the several Parties before it could be Printed pull'd down Rich. Cromwell and chang'd the Government so oft in a few Months as brought in the King contrary to the hopes of his closest Adherents and the expectations of almost any in the Land And ever since the King came in that Book of mine was preached against before the King spoken against in the Parliament and wrote against by such as desired my Ruine Morley Bishop of Worcester and many after him branded it with Treason and the King was still told that I would not retract it but was still of the same mind and ready to raise another War and a Person not to be indured New Books every Year came out against it and even Men that had been taken for Sober and Religious when they had a mind of Preferment and to be taken notice of at Court and by the Prelates did fall on Preaching or Writing against me and specially against that Book as the probablest means to accomplish their Ends. When I had endured this ten Years and found no stop but that still they proceeded to make me odious to the King and Kingdom and seeking utter ruine this way I thought it my Duty to remove this stumbling Block out of their way and without recanting any particular Doctrine in it to revoke the Book and to disown it and desire the Reader to take it as non Scriptum and to tell him that I repented of the writing of it And so I did Yet telling him That I retracted none of the Doctrine of the first Part which was to prove the Monarch of God but for the sake of the whole second Part I repented that I wrote it For I was resolved at least to have that much to say against all that after wrote and preach'd and talk'd against it That I have revoked that Book and therefore shall not defend it And the incessant bloody Malice of the Reproachers made me heartily wish on two or three accounts that I had never written it 1. Because it was done just at the fall of the Government and was buried in onr ruines and never that I know of did any great good 2. Because I find it best for Ministers to meddle as little as may be with Matters of Poliâ—y how great soever their Provocations may be and therefore I wish that I had never written on any such Subject 3. And I repented that I meddled against Vane and Harrington which was the second Part in Defence of Monarchy seeing that the Consequents had been no better and that my Reward had been to be silenced imprisoned turned out of all and reproached implacably and incessantly as Criminal and never like to see an end of it He that had wrote for so little and so great displeasure might be tempted as well as I to wish that he had sat still and let GOD and Man alone with Matters of Civil Policy Though I was not convinced of many Errors in that Book so called by some Accusers to recant yet I repented the writing of it as an infelicity and as that which did no good but hurt § 153. But because an Appendix to that Book had given several Reasons of my adhering to the Parliament at first many thought I changed my Judgment about the first part of the Parliament's Cause And the rather because I disclaimed the Army's Rebellious Overthrows of Government as I had always done I knew I could not revoke the Book but the busie pevishness of censorious Professors would fall upon me as a Revolter And I knew that I could not for bear the said Revocation without those ill Effects which I supposed greater And which was worst of all I had no possible Liberty further to explain any Reasons § 154. When my Cure of Church Divisions came out the sober Party of Ministers were reconciled to it especially the Ancienter sort and those that had seen the Eviâ—s of Separation But some of the London Ministers who had kept up Publick Assemblies thought it should have been less sharp and some thought because they were under the Bishop's Severities that it was unseasonable For the Truth is most Men judged by Sense and take that to be good or bad which they feel do them good or hurt at the present And because the People's Alienation from the Prelates and Liturgy and Parish-Churches did seem to make against the Prelates and to make for the Nonconformist's Interest they thought it not Prudence to gratifie the Prelates so far as to gain-say it And so they considered not from whence dividing Principles come
the King's Consent or Letter of Instructions for what he did which amazed many Hereupon His Majesty Charles II. wrote to the Duke of Ormond and Council to restore his Estate because it appeared to those appointed to examine it that what he did was by his Father's Order or Consent Upon this the Parliament's old Adherents grew more confident than ever of the righteousness of their Wars And the very destroyers of the King whom the first Parliamentarians called Rebels did presume also to justifie their Cause and said that the Law of Nature did warrant them But it stopt not here For the Lord Mazarine and others of Ireland did so far prosecute the Cause as that the Marquess of Antrim was forced to produce in the Parliament of England in the House of Commons a Letter of the King 's Cha I. by which be gave him order for his taking up Arms Which being read in the House did put them into a Silence But yet so egregious was their Loyalty and veneration of Majesty that it put them not at all one step out of the way which they had gone in But the People without Doors talked strangely Some said Did you not perswade us that the King was against the Irish Rebellion And that the Rebels belied him when they said that they had his Warrant or Commission Do we not now see with what Mind he would have gone himself with an Army into Ireland to fight against them A great deal more not here to be mentioned was vended seditiously among the People the Sum of which was intimated in a Pamphlet which was Printed called Murder will out in which they published the King's Letter and Animadversions on it Some that were still Loyal to the King did wish that the King that now is had rather declared that his Father did only give the Marquess of Antrim Commission to raise an Army as to have helped him against the Scots and that his turning against the English Protestants in Ireland and the murdering of so many hundred thousand there was against his Will But quod scriptum erat scriptum erat And though the old Parliamentarians expounded the Actions and Declarations both of the then King and Parliament by the Commentary of this Letter yet so did not the Loyal Royalists or at least thought it no reason to make any change in their Judgments or stop in their Proceedings against the English Presbyterians and other Non-conformable Protestants § 174. In the beginning of December 1670. The Duke of Ormond as he was returning home to Clarendon House in the Night was seized on by six Men who set him on Horseback to have carried him away But he was rescued before they could accomplish it Shortly after some of his Majesty's Life-Guard surprized Sir Iohn Coventrig a Member of the House of Commons and cut his Nose which occasioned a great heat in the House and at last that Act which is newly passed for preventing of the like Many Murders and outrages and cutting of Noses were committed also on other Persons But the greatest Noise was made by certain Dukes and Lords that went in a torrent of Jovialty to a defamed House in a Street called Whetstone-Park and when the wretched Women cryed for help the Beadle came in with some Watchmen and they killed him presently Whilst such things went on the House of Commons was busie about an Act to make all forbidden Meetings for God's Worship Preaching and Praying by the silenced Ministers to be severelier yet punished as Routs and Riots § 175. There happened a great rebuke to the Nobility and Gentry of Dublin in Ireland which is related in their Gazette in these words Dubl Dec. 27. Yesterday happened here a very unfortunate Accident Most of the Nobility and Gentry being at a Play at a publick Playhouse the upper Galleries on a sudden fell all down beating down the second which together with all the People that were in them fell into the Pit and lower Boxes His Excellency the Lord * Lieutenant with his Lady happened to be there but thanks be to God escaped the Danger without any harm part of the Box where they were remaining firm and so resisting the Fall from above only his two Sons were found quite buried under the Timber The younger had received but little hurt but the eldest was taken up deâ—d to all appearance but having presently been let Blood c. recovered There were many dangerously hurt and seven or eight killed outright So far the Gazette About seventeen or eighteen died then and of their Wounds The first Letters that came to London of it filled the City with the report that it was a Play in scorn of Godliness and that I was the Person acted by the Scorner as a Puritan and that he that represented me was set in the Stocks when the fall was and his Leg broke But the Play was Ben. Iohnson's Bartholomew-Fair with a sense added for the times in the which the Puritan is called a Banbury Man and I cannot learn that I was named nor medled with more than others of my Condition unless by the Actor's dress they made any such reflecting Intimations § 176. The Lord Lucas and the Earl of Clare made two vehemently cutting Speeches before the King who now came frequently to the Lord's House The first declaring the frustration of their hopes and the addition of much more to their sufferings Calamities and dangers since the King came in and aggravated the stupendious expence of Moneys and the of the Commons in a Bill then sent up for giving no less than three Millions said he at once and provoking the Lords to stop their Excesses The other was against the King's sitting so ordinarily in the Lord's House and that without his Robes c. There were Copies of the Lord Lucas's Speech given out which encreased the offence and at last it was burned by the Hangman and ere long he died § 177. The Irish Men called the Rebels petitioned the King by the hands of Colonel Richard Talbot a Papist Servant to the Duke of York for a re-hearing against the former Judgments that had deprived many of them of their Lands that so they might be restored to them and the English dispossessed which offended the House of Commons as well as the English Nation and caused some Votes which signified their Offence and the King at present cast aside their Petition § 178. Lamentable Complaints came from the Protestants of France for the severities more and more used against them their Churches pulled down and after Montaban their other University of Lanmors decreed to be prohibited § 179. In the latter end of this Year the Bishops and their Agents gave out their great fears of Popery and greatly lamented that the Dutchess of York was turned Papist and thereupon gave out that they greatly desired that some of the presbyterians as they called even the Episcopal Nonconformists might by some abatement of the New Oaths and
Sorrow but such as tendeth to raise us to a high Estimation of Christ and to the magnifying of Grace and a sweeter taste of the Love of God and to the firmer Resolution against Sin And that Tears and Grief be not commended inordinately for themselves nor as meer Signs of a Converted Person And that we call Men more to look after Duty than after Signs as such â—â—t Self-love on Work and spare not so you will call them much more to the Love of God and let them know that that Love is their best sign but yet to be exercised on a higher Reason than as a sign of our own Hopes for that Motive alone will not produce true Love to God And as the Antinomians too much exclude Humiliation and signs of Grace so too many of late have made their Religion to consist too much in the seeking of these out of their proper time and place without referring them to that Obedience Love and Joy in which true Religion doth principally consist Reader I do but transcribe these three Counsels for thee from a Multitude of Melancholy Persons sad Experiences § 185. This Year Salisbury-Diocess was more fiercely driven on to Conformity by Dr. Seth Ward their Bishop than any place else or than all the Bishops in England besides did in theirs Many Hundreds were Prosecuted by him with great Industry And among others that learned humble holy Gentleman Mr. Thomas Grove an Ancient Parliament-Man of as great Sincerity and Integrity as almost any Man I ever knew He stood it out a while in a Law-Suit but was overthrown and fain to forsake his Countrey as many Hundreds more are quickly like to do § 186. And his Name remembreth me that Ingenuity obligeth me to Record my Benefactor A Brother's Son of his Mr. Rob. Grove is one of the Bishop of London's Chaplains who is the only Man that Licenseth my Writings for the Press supposing them not to be against Law which else I could not expect And besides him alone I could get no Licenser to do it And because being Silenced Writing is the far greatest part of my remaining Service to God for his Church and without the Press my Writings would be in vain I acknowledge that I owe much to this Man and one Mr. Cook the Arch-bishop's Chaplain heretofore that I live not more in vain § 187. And while I am acknowledging my Benefactors I add that this Year died Serjeant Iohn Fountain the only Person from whom I received an Annual Sum of Money which though through God's Mercy I needed not yet I could not in Civility refuse He gave me 10 l. per Ann. from the time of my Silencing 'till his Death I was a Stranger to him before the King's Return save that when he was Judge before he was one of the Keepers of the Great Seal he did our Countrey great Service against Vice He was a Man of a quick and sound Understanding an upright impartial Mind and Life of too much testiness in his weakness but of a most believing serious Fervency towards God and open zealous owning of true Piety and Holiness without owning the little Partialities of Sects as most Men that ever I came near in Sickness When he lay sick which was almost a Year he sent to the Judges and Lawyers that sent to visit him such Answers as these I thank your Lord or Master for his kindness Present my Service to him and tell him It is a great Work to Die well his time is near all worldly Glory must come down intreat him to keep his Integrity over-come Temptations and please God and prepare to Die He deeply bewailed the great Sins of the Times and the Prognosticks of dreadful things which he thought we were in danger of And though in the Wars he suffered Imprisonment for the King's Cause towards the end he came from them and he greatly feared an inundation of Poverty Enemies Popery and Infidelity § 188. The great Talk this Year was of the King 's Adjourning the Parliament again for about a Year longer and whether we should break the Triple League and desert the Hollanders c. § 189. Before they were Adjourned I secretly directed some Letters to the best of the Conforming Ministers telling them how much it would conduce to their own and the Churches Interest if they that might be heard would become Petitioners for such Abatements in Conformity as might let in the Non-conformists and unite us seeing two things would do it 1. The removal of Oaths and Subscriptions save our Subscription to Christianity the Scriptures and the 39 Articles and the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy 2. To give leave to them that cannot use all the Liturgy and Ceremonies to be but Preachers in those Churches where they are used by others submitting to Penalties if ever they be proved to Preach against the Doctrine Government or Worship of the Church or to do any thing against Peace or the Honour of the King and Governours But I could get none to offer such a Petition And when I did but mention our own petitioning the Parliament those that were among them and familiar with them still laught at me for imagining that they were reasonable Creatures or that Reason signified any thing with them in such Matters And thus we were Silenced every way § 190. During the Mayoralty of Sir Samuel Sterling many Jury's Men in London were Fined and Imprisoned by the Judge for not finding certain Quakers guilty of violating the Act against Conventicles They Appealed and sought remedy The Judges remained about a Year in suspense and then by the Lord Chief Justice Vaughan delivered their Resolution against the Judge for the Subject's Freedom from such force of Fines that when he had in a Speech of two or three Hours long spoke vehemently to that purpose never thing since the King's Return was received with greater Joy and Applause by the People and the Judges still taken for the Pillars of Law and Liberty § 191. The Parliament having made the Laws against Nonconformists Preaching and private Religious Meetings c. so grinding and terrible as aforesaid the King who consented to those Laws became the sole Patron of the Nonconformist's Liberties not by any Abatements by Law but by his own Connivance as to the Execution the Magistrates for the most part doing what they perceived to be his Will So that Sir Rich. Ford all the time of his Mayoralty in London though supposed one of their greatest and most knowing Adversaries never disturbed them The Ministers in several Parties were oft encouraged to make their Addresses to the King only to acknowledge his Clemency by which they held their Liberties and to profess their Loyalty Sir Iohn Babor introduced Dr. Manton and some with him Mr. Ennis a Scotch Non-conformist by Sir Rob. Murray introduced Mr. Whittakers Dr. Annesley Mr. Watson and Mr. Vincent's The King as they say themselves told them That though such Acts were made He was against
Persecution and hoped ere long to stand on his own Legs and then they should see how much he was against it By this means many score Nonconformable Ministers in London kept up Preaching in private Houses Some 50 some 100 many 300 and many 1000 or 2000 at a Meeting by which for the present the City's Necessities were much supplied For very few burnt Churches were yet built up again about 3 or 4 in the City which yet never moved the Bishops to relent and give any Favour to the Preaching of Nonconformists And though the best of England of the Conformists for the most part were got up to London alas they were but few And the most of the Religious People were more and more alienated from the Prelates and their Churches § 192. Those that from the beginning thought they saw plainly what was doing lamented all this They thought that it was not without great Wit that seeing only a Parliament was trusted before the King with the People's Liberties and could raise a War against him Interest ruling the World it was contrived that this Parliament should make the severest Laws against the Nonconformists to grind them to dust and that the King should allay the Execution at his pleasure and become their Protector against Parliaments and they that would not consent to this should suffer And indeed the Ministers themselves seemed to make little doubt of this But they thought 1. That if Papists shall have liberty it is as good for them also to take theirs as to be shut out 2. And that it is not lawful for them to refuse their present Liberty though they were sure that Evil were design'd in granting it 3. And that before Men's desigâ—s can come to ripeness God hath many ways to frustrate them and by drawing one Pin can let fall the best contrived Fabrick But still remember that all Attempts to get any Comprehension as it was then called or abatement of the Rigour of the Laws or Legal Liberty and Union were most effectually made void § 193. At this time there was Printed in Holland the Thesis or Exercise Performed at the Commencement for the Degree of Dr. of Law by one of the King's Subjects a Scots-Man Rob. Hamilton In which he largely proveth the Necessity of a standing Treasury in a Kingdom and the power of the King to raise it and impose Tributes without the People's Consent and Dedicating it to the King and largely applying it to England he sheweth that Parliaments have no Legislative Power but what the King giveth them who may take it from them when He seeth Cause and put them down and raise Taxes according to his own Discretion without them And that Parliaments and Mâ—gna Charta are no impediments to him but Toys and that what Charter the former Kings did grant could be no Band on their Successors forgetting that so he would also disoblige the People from the Agreements made by their Predecessors as e. g. that this Family successively shall rule them c. with much more Whom Fame made to be the Animater of this Tractate I pass by § 194. There was this Year a Man much talk'd of for his Enterprises one Major Blood an English-man of Ireland This Man had been a Soldier in the old King's Army against the Parliament and seeing the Cause lost he betook himself towards Ireland to live upon his own Estate In his way he fell in Company with the Lancashire Ministers who were then Writing against the Army and against all violence to King or Parliament Blood being of an extraordinary Wit falls acquainted with them and not thinking that the Presbyterians had been so true to the King he is made the more capable of their Counsel so that in short he became a Convert and married the Daughter of an honest Parliament Man of that Countrey And after this in Ireland he was a Justice of Peace and Famous for his great Parts and upright Life and success in turning many from Popery When the King was Restored and he saw the old Ministers Silenced in the Three Kingdoms and those that had Surprized Dublin-Castle for the King from the Anabaptists cast aside and all things go contrary to his Judgment and Expectation being of a most bold and resolute Spirit he was one that plotted the Surprizing of the D. of Ormond and of Dublin Castle But being deâ—ected and prevented he fled into England There he lived disguised practising Physick called Dr. Clarke at Rumford When some Prisoners were carried to be put to Death at York for a Plot he followed and Rescued them and set them free At last it was found to be He with his Son and three or four more that attempted to Surprize the D. of Ormond and to have carried him to Holland where he had a Bank of Money and to have made him there to pay his Arrears Missing of that Exploit he made a bolder Attempt even to fetch the King's Crown and Jewels out of the Tower where pretending Friendship to the Keeper of it He with two more his Son and one Perrot suddenly Gagg'd the old Man and when he cryed out he struck him on the Head but would not kill him and so went away with the Crown But as soon as ever they were gone the Keeper's Son cometh in and finds his Father and heareth the Cafe and runs out after them and Blood and his Son and Perrot were taken Blood was brought to the King and expected Death but he spake so boldly that all admired him telling the King How many of his Subjects were disobliged and that he was one that took himself to be in a State of Hostility and that he took not the Crown as a Thief but an Enemy thinking that lawful which was lawful in a War and that he could many a time have had the King in his power but that he thought his Life was better for them than his Death lest a worse succeed him and that the number of Resolute Men disobliged were so great as that if his Life were taken away it would be revenged That he intended no hurt to the Person of the D. of Ormond but because he had taken his Estate from him he would have forced him to restore the value in Money and that he never Robb'd nor shed Blood which if he would have done he could easily have kill'd Ormond and easily have carried away the Crown In a word he so behaved himself that the King did not only release and pardon him but admit him frequently to his presence Some say because his Gallantry took much with the King having been a Soldier of his Father's Most say That he put the King in fear of his Life and came off upon Condition that he would endeavour to keep the discontented Party quiet § 195. Mr. Bagshaw in his rash and ignorant Zeal thinking it a Sin to hear a Conformist and that the way to deal with the Persecutors was to draw all the People as far from
received as gifts of Bounty from any whosoever since I was silenced till after An. 1672. amount not in the whole to 20 l. besides ten Pouud per Annum which I received from Serjeant Fountain till he died and when I was in Prison twenty pieces from Sir Iohn Bernard ten from the Countess of Exeter and five from Alderman Bard and no more which just paid the Lawyers and my Prison Charge but the expences of removing my Habitation was greater And had the Bishop's Family no more than this In sum I told the Bishop that he that cried out so vehemently against schism had got the Spirit of a Sectary and as those that by Prisons and other sufferings were too much exasperated against the Bishops could hardly think or speak well of them so his cross Interests had so notoriously spoiled him of his Charity that he had plainly the same temper with the bitterest of the Sectaries whom he so much reviled Our Doctrinal Discourse I overpass § 236. This May a Book was Printed and cried about describing the horrid Murther of one 〈◊〉 Baxter in New-England by the Anabaptists and how they tore his Flesh and flead him alive and persons and time and place were named And when Mr. Kiffen sensible of the Injury to the Anabaptists searcht it out it proved all a studied Forgery Printed by a Papist and the Book Licensed by Dr. Sam. Paâ—ker the Arch-bishop's Chaplain there were no such Persons in being as the Book mentioned nor any such thing ever done Mr. â—issen accused Dr. Parker to the Kiug and Council The King made him confess his Fault and so it ended § 237. In Iune was the second great Fight with the Dutch where again many were killed on both sides and to this day it is not known which Paâ—ty had the greater Loss § 238. The Parliament grew into great Jealousies of the prevalency of Popery There was an Army raised which lay upon Black-Heath encamped as for Service against the Dutch They said that so many of the Commanders were Papists as made Men fear the design was worse Men feared not to talk openly that the Papists having no hope of getting the Parliament to set up their Religion by Law did design to take down Parliaments and reduce the Government to the French Model and Religion to their State by a standing Army These Thoughts put Men into dismal Expectations and many wish that the Army at any rate might be disbanded The Duke of York was General The Parliament made an Act that no man should be in any office of Trust who would not take the Oaths of Supremacy aud Allegiance and receive the Sacrament according to Order of the Church of England and renounee Transubstanstiation Many supposed Papists received the Sacrament and renounced Transubstantiation and took the Oaths Some that were known sold or laid down their Places The Duke of York and the new Lord Treasurer Clifford laid down all It was said they did it on supposition that the Act left the King impowered to renew their Commissions when they had laid them down But the Lord Chancellor told the King that it was not so and so they were put out by themselves This settled Men in the full belief that the Duke of York and the Lord Clifford were Papists and the Londoners had before a special hatred against the Duke since the burning of London commonly saying that divers were taken casting Fire-balls and brought to his Guards of Soldiers to be secured and he let them go and both secured and concealed them 239. The great Counsellors that were said to do all with the King in all great matters were the Duke of York the Lord Clifford the Duke of Lauderdaile the Lord Arlington the Duke of Buckingham the Lord Chancellor that is Sr. Anthony Ashley-Cooper Earl of Shaftsbury and after them the Earl of Anglesey lately Mr. Annesley Among all these the Lord Chanchellor declared so much Jealosie of Popery and set himself so openly to secure the Protestant Religion that it was wondered how he kept in as he did but whatever were his Principles or Motives it is certain he did very much plead the Protestant Cause § 240. In Iune Mastricht was taken by the French but with much loss where the Duke of Monmouth with the English had great Honour for their Valour § 241. In August four of the Dutch East-India Ships fell into our Hands and we had the third great Sea-fight with them under the Command of Prince Rupert where we again killed each other with equal Loss But the Dutch said they had the Victory now sand before and kept days of Thanksgiving for it Sir Edward Sprag was killed whose death the Papists much lamented hoping to have got the Sea-power into his Hands But Prince Rupert who declared himself openly against Popery and had got great Interest in the Hearts of the Soldiers complained sharply of the French Admiral as deserting him to say no worse And the success of these Fights was such as hindered the Transportation of the Army against the Dutch and greatly divided the Court-Party and discouraged the Grandees and Commanding Papists c. § 242. In September I being out of Town my House was broken by Thieves who broke open my Study-Doors Closets Locks searcht near 40 Tills and Boxes and found them all full of nothing but Papers and miss'd that little Money I had though very near them They took only three small pieces of Plate and medled not considerably with any of my Papers which I would not have lost for many hundred Pounds Which made me sensible of Divine Protection and what a Convenience it is to have such a kind of Treasure as other men have no mind to rob us of or cannot § 343. The Duke of York was now married to the Duke of Modena's Daughter by Proxy the Earl of Peterborough being sent over to that end § 244. The Lady Clinton having a Kinswoman wife to Edward Wray Esq who was a Protestant aâ—d her Husband a Papist throughly studied in all their Controversies and oft provoking his Wife to bring any one to dispute with him desired me to perform that office of Conference They differed about the Education of their Children he had promised her as she said at Marriage that she should have the Education of them all and now would not let her have the Education of one but would make them Papists I desired that either our Conference might be publick to avoid mis-reports or else utterly secret before no one but his Wife that so we might not seem to strive for the Honour of Victory nor by dishonour be exasperated and made less capable of benefit The latter way was chosen but the Lady Clinton and Mr. Goodwin the Lady Worsep's Chaplain prevailed to be present by his consent He began upon the point of Transubstantion and in Veron's Method would have put me to prove the Words of the Article of the Church of England by express Words of
Deleatur unlawful 2. I crave an Answer to these Questions 1. Can you certainly say That the Church-Government is so purely Divine and Perfect as that no Reformation is either necessary or lawful Is all the Diocesan Frame such and the Lay-Chancellors Power of the Keys also 2. If there be need of any Reformation is it not a Covenant against Repentance and Obedience to God to covenant never to endeavour it at all 3. What if the King should by Commission require some Alterations or command us to endeavour it are you sure that we are all bound to disobey him 4. What if a Parliament-man make a Speech or pass a Vote for it are you sure that he sinneth 5. Are you sure that the King may not lawfully endeavour any Reformation Or was his Declararation about Ecclesiastical Affairs a sin 6. What if any humbly petition the King and Parliament for any such Reformation as that Laymen may not have the Power of the Keys over a whole Diocess and all the Parochial Pastors be denied it is it certainly a sin 7. If a man Vow though sinfully to do a thing which he may lawfully do if he had not vowed it are you sure it is a sin and not Duty to keep that Vow in Materia Licita which he thinketh Necessaria I put the Question as de futuro if I and Millions should make such a Vow culpably without and against the Will of my Superiours for the time to come are you sure that it bindeth no man of them all I believe that no private arbitrary Vow can forestall my due Obedience to my Governours But antecedent Duty so made by God as Reforming by lawful means of Endeavour it is supposed they do not forbid For every Member of the Church is in his place obliged to promote the Common Good by lawful means as they might forbid us all to exhort or admonish any sinner or to pray or preach or dispute against sin as well as to petition against it 2. And 't is supposed that every Bishop or Parliament-man or Ruler is not forbidden all sueh lawful Endeavours and so that a Prohibition rendereth it not to them at least unlawful For I speak of no other Case But how sad a Case is that Nation in where the Clergy would have all men take them for so infallible and perfect without the smallest Fault or Errour in their Government as that neither Parliament-man Clergy-man nor any one of the People may by lawful means endeavour the least Reformation of them when even the Roman Bishop of Gloucester Godfrey Goodman writeth so sharply against the Lay-Chancellor's Power of the Keys 2. Prop. The Nonconformists hold it high Sacriledge to alienate themselves Strict e But what if they be suspended or silenced by Authority Ans. 1. When it is by true Authority doing it either justly or else unjustly in case their preaching be unnecessary or less necessary than Obedience to the unjust prohibition we will surcease and take it as a sickness or disablement But if it be done by Vsurpers like Papal Prelates or by our Governours uâ—lawfully in case that our preaching remain more necessary to the Publick Good than obedient forbearance we will exercise our Ministry till Death Prison or other Force disable us If you ask Who shall be Iudge I answer 1. The Magistrate by publick Decision in Order to his own Execution and if he do it unjustly God is the Avenger 2. And the Minister by a private Rational Judgment of Discretion discerning Duty from Sin and if he were God and Man will punish him if not God will reward him 2. I also ask Were not Constantius and Valens tho Erroneous Lawful Princes And did not the holy Bishops of the East refuse to surcease their Ministration when they prohibited them And do not Papists and other Protestants as well as Bp. Bilson and Andrews agree That we must do the like upon such unjust Prohibitions And hath our Diocesan more power to silence us than the King Or were we Consecrated to the Ministry in our Ordination on that Condition to preach till forbidden unjustly And did not the Apostles and all Pastors for 300 Years Exercise their Ministry against the Wills of Lawful Magistrates tho Heathens 2. Prop. To preach Lectures with the Incumbent's Consent Strict f And with the Allowance of the Bishop Ans. And that is Let King and Parliament by Law allow us to preach Christ's Gospel if the Bishop will allow us so to do and let the Law leave it to his power to forbid us And what Good will Laws then do us for our Ministry when these Eleven Years have already told us what we must trust to from the Bishops some at least Provide such supply for the Subjects Souls as their Numbers and Necessities require that the meaning may not be Let men be saved if the Bishop consent and for my part I `ll Joyfully be silent But I will not so far deny my Sense and Reason and the Sense of the Countrey also as to believe this is done if another will but confidently say it 's done or say that we do more harm than good no more than I will believe there are no Englishmen in England 2. Prop. Let not the Incumbent be discouraged by the Bishop from receiving them Strict g So they will conform Ans. So they will conform as far as aforesaid or as in the Proposals But otherwise if it be present full Conformity that must still be necessary what are we speaking for This was written in order to our Concord by the means of some Alterations or Abatements of Conformity because it was told abroad that some Bishops were willing of such a thing And is it meant that if we Conform they will abate us some Conformity 3. Prop. Let it be forbidden c. about joyning in Family Worship Strict h That is let Conventicles be allowed in all places Answ. Yes if needful and orderly Worshipping God and helping each other towards Heaven be Conventicling the Heathens so called the Christian Assemblies This Stricture more mortifyeth our hopes of healing than any of the rest For we see here that the Silencing and Imprisoning and Undoing of the Ministers will not satisfy the People also must have their Cross and Conventicles must be Written on it One would think the Limitations here put should have satisfied any man that is for Faith Hope and Charity 1. We moved it for none but those that attend the Publick Assemblies 2. And so it be not at the Hours of Publick Worship 3. And but for Neighbours of the same Parish because many cannot Read nor remember what they have Read nor help their own Families nor understand themselves the Christian Faith 4. We desired this Liberty in no Exercises but reading the Scriptures or Licensed Pious Books and repeating the Publick Sermons of their Pastors and Praying and Singing Psalms 5. We motioned this much for none but those that herein refufe not the Inspection of
are various degrees of Guilt If you made a Canon that all the present Conformists should take the Pope with Bishop Bramhall to be Patriarch of the West and Principium Vnitatis to the Universal Church or should own the Church of Rome the Council of Trent and the rest as far as Grotius did or should subscribe that the Septuagint is to be preferred before the Hebrew Text Or if it were but these and not those of all the various Readings are the right or that there is not a word faulty in our Old Translation or New or in any Book that ever the Convocation approved of as well as the Liturgy c. If all this should prove lawful as it never will and they should turn Nonconformists to your Canon and hereupon they should all be silenced and Popery thereupon come in Who were guilty of all this They with that degree of guilt which all Men have in that they are imperfect Or you with that more heinous Guilt which is incomparably greater If you said All Ministers shall be Silenced and People Excommunicated that have any Error and Sin Their Error and Sin is some Culpable Cause of the Consequent ruin of the Church but nothing in comparison of Yours who are the Grand Cause Strict And for this if they refuse to stand to the Judgment of Foreign Churches I refer them to Mr. Baxter one of the most Eminent Divines of their own party who in the 2d Chapter of the last of his 5 Disputations having enumerated the Controverted Ceremonies viz. the Surplice Kneeling at the Lord's Supper the Rails and the Cross in Baptism though he finds fault with the imposing of them which the Governours are to answer for yet that they may be obeyed without sin which are all that Subjects are concerned in he concludes of all but the Cross in Baptism only which he would not have excepted neither if it were used as we say it is as a Teaching or a Professing Sign only and not as a Sacramental as he mistaketh it to be for we do not use it as a means to confer Grace which is the formalis ratio of a Sacramental-Sign but to signifie and put us in mind of Grace only The like he concludes concerning the use of the Liturgy And as for the Government the Proposer doth not propose the Alteration of it and consequently implyeth it may be submitted to as it is without sin Ans. 1. You speak all this against your self to tell the World how narrow your Church and how strait your Charity is whilst he that you say is so much of your Mind is judged unworthy to be permitted to Preach the Gospel of Christ and worthier to lye in a Common Gaol among Thieves and Rogues yea that it is better for any Congregation to have no Minister than such All this Complyance with you is as good as none to procure him but leave to Preach Repentance For he offered you to Preach only on the Creed and Catechism and could not prevail though responsible for any thing said amiss And he challengeth you to name any one of all the Complying Principles of that Book which he hath ever receded from or contradicted 2. They refuse not to stand to the Judgment of other Protestant Churches that shall hear themselves speak for themselves 3. Did Mr. Baxter in that Book or any where else say That it is Lawful to Subscribe according to the Canon as ex Animo that there is nothing in your Liturgy or Book of Ordination contrary to the Word of God Or that the English Diocesan Frame may be Sworn to for Obedience Or that King or Parliament have not power to make or Endeavour any alteration of your Church-Government if they had sworn it no nor a Lay-Chancellor's Spiritual Power 〈◊〉 any subiect to Petition or any way endeavour the same if he had sworn it 〈◊〉 Did he ever say that it was lawful to Excommunicate as many of Christ's faithâ—â—â— Members either by Pronunciation or Rejecting them from Communion aâ— the Bishops or Chancellor will command him Or to deny Baptism to the Children of all that Scruple Crossing them or that insist on their duty of Covenanting in their Children's Name themselves Did he ever say that your New Subscription Declaration Oath or Re-ordination are Lawful I think not 4. He that can submit to your Government that is peaceably obey you without sin cannot threfore Subscribe that you stand by a Divine Right or that all is faultless and nothing alterable in your Government He would have lived peaceably in Israel when the Priesthood was Corrupted and the High-Places not taken down or in the Greek Church where are many faults or among the â—â—menians or Abassâ—nes but he would have lain in Gaol rather than make a Covenant Contrary to part of his Baptismal Vow never to obey God in endeavouring any reformation of these in his place and Calling telling all others that none of them are bound to do it no not if they had Vowed it Or rather than he would have Subscribed his Approbation and Consent to all and Covenanted to live and die impenitently herein He taketh not these for things indifferent But we find that you will not let men live under you quietly on Terms of patient submission unless they be fully of your mind You say the Proposer proposeth not the alteration of the Government Therefore it may be submitted to without sin He proposeth it not because he knoweth you would not consent Bishop Vsher's Primitive Episcopacy was the Government desired in vain for our Healing 1660. But again I say All thâ—â— may be submitted to may not by Subscriptions Covenants or Oaths be justified and approved 5. Lastly As to the Cross he then thought and thinks still that it is forbidden by the Second Commandment and that as an Image and Symbol of Christianity and a New Humane Sacrament of which before If possibly Light may have any Acceptance I will adjoyn these Questions for the Opponent whosoever Qu. 1. Do you not believe in your Conscience that Agreement would be more easie and common on our Terms of Meer Christianity and Things Necessary than on Yours by adding many things doubted of and needless Will not more agree in the Creed than in Aquinas's Sums if it were all true Q. 2. Doth not the knowledge of Humane Darkness and Variety of Educations Tempers Interests Converse c. and the Paucity of very knowing Men convince you that Concord must be in few and great and evident things Q. 3. Doth not the Experience of all Ages prove it past doubt Q. 4. Doth not the Conscience of your own Frailty and imperfect Knowledge moderate you Dare you say That you are not ignorant of plainer and greater things than we suffer about Q. 5. Do you not hold That God must be first obeyed and none against him And should not a desire to obey God first be cherished And do you cherish it by saying to us Though you
think it a heinous sin to conform yet do it or Suffer for your Dissent Q. 6. Was it not an Act of Christ's Wisdom Mercy and Soveraignty to make the Baptismal Covenant which the Church explained by the Creed to be the Stablished Universal Test and Badge of his Disciples and Church-Members And did it not seem good to the Holy Ghost and the Apostles Acts 15. to Impose only necessary things And is it not a Condemning or Contradicting God needlesly to take a Contrary Course Q. 7. Is not Christ's way and the first Churches most likely to save the People's Souls and yours to damn them For you will confess that Christ's few evident necessary Conditions of Christianity would save Men if Bishops and Rulers added no more But if a multitude more which you count Lawful are added then the Nonconformists to them are in danger of Damnation for the Crime of Contempt of your Authority So that consequently you make all your Impositions needful to Salvation and so make it far harder to be saved than otherwise it would have been Q. 8. What hindereth any debauched Conscience from entering into your Ministry who dare Say or Swear any thing while he that feareth an Oath or a Lie may be kept out And against which of these should you more carefully shut the Door Q. 9. If Agreement be desirable Which side may more easily and at a cheaper rate yield and alter you or we If you forbear Imposing an Oath Subscription Declaration or Ceremony it would not do you a Farthing's-worth of hurt If we Swear Subscribe Declare Conform we take our selves to be heinous and wilful sinners against God You call that Indifferent which we believe is Sin Q. 10. Do you not confess that you are not Infallible yea and subscribe that General-councils are not even in matters of Faith And yet must we subscribe our Assent to every word in these Books or else be Silenced or Suffer Do these well consist Q. 11. Dare you deny that many of your Silenced Brethren Study as hard as you to know the Truth and have as good Capacity And are they not as like to be Impartial who suffer as much by their Judgment as you gain by yours Judge but by your selves Doth their kind of Interest tempt you more than â—our own to partiality Q. 12. Is it not gross Uncharitableness and Usurpation of God's Prerogative to say That they do it not out of Conscience when you have no more from the nature of their Cause Motives or Conversation to warrant such a Censure And they are ready to take their Oaths as before God that were it not for fear of sinning they would Conform Q. 13. Do your Consciences never startle when you think of Silencing 1800 such Ministers and depriving so many Thousand Souls of their Ministry 1 Thess. 2. 15 16. Q. 14. Can you hope to make us believe while we dwell in England that the People's Ignorance and Vice is so far Cured or the Conformists for Number and Quality are so sufficient without the Nonconformists that they should rest Silent on supposition their Labours are unnecessary Q. 15. Is not the loss of a Faithful Teacher where through Paucity or Unqualifyedness of the Conformable he is necessary a very great Affliction to the People And Do the Innocent Flocks deserve to suffer in their Souls for our Nonconformity Q. 16. Could not Men of your great Knowledge find out some other Punishment for us such as Drunkards Swearers Fornicators have which may not hurt the People's Souls nor hinder the Preaching of Christ's Gospel Q. 17. Seeing at Ordination we profess that all things necessary to Salvation are in or provable by the Scripture Do you not confess that your â—nventiunculae are not necessary to Salvation And is the Nonconformist's Ministry no more necessay Q. 18. How say you That only Christianity is necessary to a Member of the Universal Church and so much more be necessary to the Members of particular Churches and the Universal consist of them Q. 19. Did any National Church Impose any one Liturgy or Subscription besides the Creed or any Oath of Obedience to the Bishops for 300 400 500 years after Christ's Nativity Q. 20. Can you Read Rom. 14. and 15 and not believe that it bindeth the Church-Rulers as well as the People Q. 21. Did the Ancient Discipline not enforced by the Sword for 300 years do less good than yours Or was any Man Imprison'd or Punish'd by the Sword eo nomine because Excommunicate as a Contemner of Church-power in not repenting for many Hundred years after there were Christian Magistrates Q. 22. Hath not the making false Conditions of Communion and making Unnecessary things necessary thereto been the way by which the Papists have Schismatically divided Christians Q. 23. Should not Bishops be the most skilful and forward to heal and the most backward to divide or persecute Q. 24. Could you do more to extirpate Episcopacy than to make it hateful to the People by making it hurtful 25. Would you do as you do if you loved your Neighbour as your selves and loved not Superiority Q. 26. Were not those that Gildas called no Ministers such as too many now obtruded on the People And was not the Case of the Bishops that St. Martin separated from to the Death like yours or much fairer § 257. A little after some Great Men of the House of Commons drew up a Bill as tending to our Healing to take off our Oaths Subscriptions and Declarations except the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance and Subscriptions to the Doctrine of the Church of England according to the 13th of Eliz. But shewing it to the said Bshop of Winchester he caused them to forbear and broke it And instead of it he furthered an Act only to take of Assent and Consent and the Renunciation of the Government which would have been but a Cunning Snare to make us more remediless and do no good seeing that the same things with the repeated Clauses would be still by other continued Obligations required as may be seen in the Canon for Subscription Act 2. and in the Oxford-Act for the Oath and confining Refusers And it 's credibly averred that when most of the other Bishops were against even this ensnaring shew of abatement he told them in the House that had it been but to abate us a Ceremony he would not have spoken in it But he knew that we were bound to the same things still by other Clauses or Obligations if these were Repealed § 258. But on Feb. 24. all these things were Suddenly ended the King early suddenly and unexpectedly Proroguing the Parliament till November Whereby the Minds of both Houses were much troubled and Multitudes greatly exasperated and alienated from the Court Of whom many now saw that the Leading Bishops had been the great Causes of our Distractions but others hating the Nonconformists more were still as hot for Prelacy and their Violence as ever § 259. All this
while these envious Preachers cryed out against our Preaching and perswaded men how fully we were maintained they laboured for Laws to increase their setled maintenance and some of them in my hearing Preached how miscrable a case the Clergy were in were they left to the people's kindness and bounty And yet proclaim our fulness who are left to the kindness of those few who also pay fully their Tythes to the Parish Ministers who these Envyers say are but the smaller and poorer sort in the Land which comparatively is true though by this time I think the far greatest part are grown into dislike with the present Prelates who yet cleave to their Church And if their noble rich and numerous followers would leave them in want were they left to their Charity it seems they take their Church to consist of men much more covetous and less Religious and liberal than our few poor men § 261. The Lord's day before the Parliament was dissolved one of these Prelatists Preached to them to perswade them that we are obstinate and not to be tolerated nor cured by any means but Vengeance urging them to set Fire to the Fagot and teach us by Scourges or Scorpions and open our eyes with Gall. Yet none of these men will procure us leave to publish or offer to Authority the Reasons of our Non-conformity But this is not the first proof that a carnal worldly proud ungodly Clergie who never were serious in their own professed belief nor felt the power of what they Preach have been in most Ages of the Church its greatest plague and the greatest hinderers of Holiness and Concord by making their formalities and Ceremonies the test of Holiness and their Worldly Interest and Domination the only cement of Concord And O how much hath Satan done against Christ's Kingdom in the World by setting up Pastors and Rulers over the Churches to fight against Christ in his own name and livery and to destroy piety and peace by a pretence of promoting them § 262. This foresaid Preacher brings to my remembrance a Silenced Minister who heard the Sermon Mr. Iohn Humphrey a man not strait and factious in Doctrin Government or Worship as his Books shew for the middle way about Election Justification c. and his former Writings for giving the Lord's Supper to the Ungodly to convert them and his own Reordination and writing for Reordination The former Sessions of Parliamen he printed a sheet for Concord by restoring some silenced Ministers and tolerating others for which he was Imprisoned as was Dr. Ludovicus Molinaeus M. D. Son to old Peter for writing his Patronus against the Prelatists but delivered by the Common Act of Pardon And this Session the said Mr. Humphrey again printed another sheet and put it into the hands of many Parliament men which though slighted and frustrate by the Prorogation of the House yet I think hath so much reason in it that I shall here annex it though it speak not at all to the righteousness of our Cause and the Reasons of our Non-conformity that the Reader may see upon what Terms we stood But the truth is when we were once contrived into the Parliament's Inquisition and persecution it was resolved that we should be saved by the King or not at all and that Parliaments and Laws should be our Tormenters and not our Deliverers any more Mr. Iohn Humphrey's Papers given to the Parliament-Men Comprehension with Indulgence Nihil est jam dictum quod non fuit dictum prius Terence IT hath pleased his Majesty by several gracious Overtures to commend a Union of his Protestant Subject to the consideration of a Parliament A design full of all Princely Wisdom Honesty and Goodness In this Atchievement there is a double Interest I apprehend to be distinguished and weighed that of Religion it self and that of the Nation The advance of Religion doth consist much in the Unity of its Professors both in Opinion and Practice to be of one Mind and one Heart and one way in Discipline and Worship so far as may be according to the Scriptures The advance of the Nation does lie in the freedom and flourishing of Trade and uniting the whole Body in the common Benefit and dependence on the Government The one of these bespeaks an Established Order and Accommodation the other bespeaks Indulgence Liberty of Conscience or to eration For while People are in danger about Religion we dare not launch out into Trade say they but we must keep our Moneys being we know not into what straits we shall be driven and when in reference to their Party they are held under severity it is easie for those who are designing Heads to mould them into Wrath and Faction which without that occasion will melt and dissolve it self into bare Dissent of Opinion peaceably rejoycing under the Enjoyment of Protection The King we know is concerned as Supreme Governour and as a Christian Protestant Governour As he is King he is to seek the welfare of the Nation as he is a Christian the Flourishing of Religion and the Protestant Religion particularly is his Interest as this Kingdom doth lie in Ballance he being the chief Party with its Neighbour Nations The Judgment now of some is for a Comprehending Act which may take in those who are for our Parochial Churches that severity then might be used for reclaiming all whosoever separate from them The Judgment of some others is for a free and equal Act of Grace to all indifferently the Papists with most excepted whether separatists or others abhorring Comprehension as more dangerous to them upon that Account mentioned than all the Acts that have passed Neither of these Judge up to the full interest of the King and Kingdom as is proposed It becomes not the Presbyterian if his Principles will admit him to own our Parochial Churches and enjoy a Living to be willing to have his Brethren the Independents given up to Persecution And it becomes not the Separatist if he may but enjoy his Conscience to Repine or envy at the Presbyterian for reaping any further Emolument seeing both of them supposing the later may do so have as much at the bottom as can be in their Capacities desired of either It is an Act therefore of a mixt Complexion providing both Comprehension and Indulgence for the different Parties must serve our Purpose And to this end as we may humbly hope there is a Bill at present in the House A Bill for the ease of the Protestant Dissenter in the business of Religion Which that upon this present Prorogation it may be cast into this Model I must present the same yet in a little farther Explication There are two sorts we all know of the Protestant Dissenters one that own the Established Ministry and our Parish Congregations and are in Capacity of Union upon that account desiring it heartily upon condescension to them in some small matters The other that own not our Churches and so are
uncapable of a Conjunction who do not and cannot desire it or seek it For the One that which we propose is a farther Latitude in the present Constituted Order that such may be received and this we call Comprehension or Accommodation Let us suppose that nothing else were required of a Man to be a Minister of a Parish than there is to the Parishioner to be a Member of a Parish Church as part of the National If a person Baptised will come to Church and hear Common-Prayer and receive the Sacrament and does nothing worthy of Excommunication he is he may he must be received for a Parochial Member In like manner If a Minister first ordained and so Episcopally or Classically approved for his Abilities for that function will but read the book of Liturgy and Administer the Sacraments according to it and does nothing which deserves suspension we appeal to all this indifferently sober why should not this suffice a Man for the enjoying his Living and exercising the Office unto which he is called For the other there is indeed nothing can be done to bring those in and joyn them with us in Parochial Union yet is there this to be proposed that you bear with them and not let any be persecuted meerly for their Consciences and that we call Indulgence or Toleration If the Presbyterian now may be comprehended he will be satisfied to act at his Ministry without endeavouring any Alteration otherwise of Episcopacy If the Congregationalist be indulged he will be satisfyed tho he be not Comprehended for that he cannot submit unto and so shall there be no Disobligation put on any but all be pleased and enjoy the ease of this Bill Let but the Grounds of Comprehension be laid wide enough to take in all who can own and come into the publick Liturgy which we suppose as yet to be the greater weight ofâ— the Nation and when the Countenance of Authority and all State-Emoluments are cast into one Scale and others let alone to come of it without persecution to inflame them or preferment to encourage them especially if one Expedient be used which shall not pass unmentioned in the close that such as came in may find it really better to them to be a priest to a Tribe than a Levite to a Family we need not doubt but time the Mistress of the Wise and Unwise will discover the peaceable Issue of such Counsels And here let me pause a little for methinks I see what Icesicles hang on the Eeves of the Parliament-House at this Motion what prejudices I mean and Impressions have been laid on the Members by former Acts. There was a speech delivered by the then Chancellour in Christ-Church Hall in Oxford to the Parliament there and the Schollars assembled Wherein the Glory of contriving the Oxford-Oath and Consequently of the like former Impositions was most magnificently as well as spitefully enough arrogated to its proper Author It wasâ— it seems the designed Policy of that Great Man to root those Principles out of Men's minds upon which the late Wars as he supposed were builded and he would do it by this Invention to wit the Imposing upon them new Declarations Oaths and Subscriptions of a strain framed contrary to those Principles I do remember now the sentence of Esdras to the Apologue of the Angel where the Woods and the Seas would encounter one another Verily says he it was a foolish purpose for the trees could not come down from the hills nor the Waves get up from the shoars I must say the same of this Policy It was really a great vanity to think that folk should be made to swear away their thoughts and beliefs Whatsoever it is we think or believe we do think it we must think it we do believe it we must believe it notwithstanding any of these outward Impositions The honest Man indeed will refuse an Injunction against his Conscience the knave will swallow it but both retain their Principles which the last will be the likeliest to put any villanous Practice on On the Contrary there is nothing could be advised more certain to keep the Covenant and such Principles alive in Mens heart 's and memories than this perpetual injoyning the Renunciation of it Nor may you wonder if that Lesson sink deep into Men's flesh which you will teach them with Briars and Thorns as Gideon taught the Men of â—uccoth Besides it is the most impolitick thing that ever could have been for such Contents as are of that dangerous Consequence to Majesty and the Government to have them once disputed or brought into question to be put into these Declarations Oaths and Subscriptions which necessitates the Examination of them to so many It was the wisdom of the Ancient Church instead of Contention about the Jewish Ceremonies to take care they might have an honourable burial And I dare say if that great Lord Chancellor had but put off his Cap to the Covenant and bidden it a fair Adieu only he should have done more towards its Extirpation than by all this iterated trouble to Men's Consciences And if it shall therefore please the succeeding Ministers of our State instead of going to root out the Principles of Innovation which are got into people by this means which is no means to do it but the means to rivet them more in us to endeavour rather to root out the Causes from us which make men willing to entertain such Principles and desire Change I suppose their Policy will prove the sounder The way to establish the Throne of the King is this to make it appear that all those Grievances and all those Good things which the People in the late times expected to be removed or to be obtained by a Common Wealth or a Change of the Government may be more effectually accomplished by a King in the Acts of his Parliament I am sensible how my Threm riseth upon me and that I begin to shoot wide I take my Aim therefore again and two things in earnest I would expect from this Bill as the summ of what is necessary to the end of it our Ease if it be made to serve the turn The one is that Bishop Laud be confined to his Caththedrals and the other that Chancellour Hide be totally expelled our Acts of Parliament By the first I mean that the Ceremonies in the ordinary Parish Churches be left to the Liberty of the Minister to use or use them not according to his Conscience and Prudence toward his own Congregation And by the latter that all these new devised Oaths Subscriptions and Declarations together with the Canonical Oath and the Subscription in the Canons be suspended for the time to come If that be too much I shall content my self with a modester motion that whatsoever these Declarations â—e that are required to be made subscribed or sworn they may be imposed only as to the Matter and End leaving the Takers but free to the use of their own
the King's Quarters and never were drawn the other way as Dr. Conant lately one of them and others in Oxford and so in other parts XI Some of the Non-conformists were in the King's Army Poor Martin of Weeden lost an Arm in his Army and yet the other Arm lay long with him in Warwick Jail for Preaching XII Almost all the Non-conformists of my acquaintance in England save Independents and Sectaries refused the Engagement and took Cromwell and the common-wealth-Common-wealth-Parliament for Usurpers and never approved what they did nor ever kept their daies of Fasting or Thanksgiving To tell you of the London Ministers prinâ—ed Declarations against the intended Death of the King you will say is unsatisfactory because too late XIII Most of the Non-conformable Ministers of my acquaintance were either boys at School or in the University in the Wars or never medled with it so that I must profess that setting them altogether I do not think that one in ten throughout the Kingdom can be proved to have done any of these things that you name against the King XIV We have oft with great men put it to this trial Let them give leave but to so many to Preach the Gospel as cannot be proved ever to have had any hand in the Wars against the King and we will thankfully acquiesce and bear the Silence of the rest make but this Match for us and we will joyfully give you thanks XV. Who knoweth not that the greatest Prelatists were the Masters of the Principles that the War was raised on Bilson Iewel c. and Hooker quite beyond them all XVI But because all proof must be of individuals I intreat you as to our own Countrey where you were acquainted tell me if you can I say it seriously if you can what ever was done or said against the King by Mr. Ambrose Sparre Mr. Kimberley Mr. Lovell Mr. Cowper Mr. Reignalds Mr. Hickman Mr. Trusham Mr. Baldwin senior Mr. Baldwin junior Mr. Sergeant Mr. Waldern dead Mr. Ios. Baker dead Mr. Wilsby Mr. Brain Mr. Stephen Baxter Mr. Badland Mr. Bulcher Mr. Eccleshall Mr. Read Mr. Rock Mr. Fincher of Wedbury Mr. Wills of Bremisham Mr. Paston c. I pass by many more And in Shropshire by old Mr. Sam. Hildersham old Mr. Sam. Fisher Mr. Talents Mr. Brain of Shreusbury Mr. Barnet Mr. Keeling Mr. Berry Mr. Malden of Newport Mr. Tho. Wright dead Mr. Taylor c. These were your Neighbours and mine I never heard to my remembrance of any one of them that had any thing to do with Wars against the King It is true except Mr. Fisher and some few they were not ejected but enjoyed their places And did not you as well as they If I can name you so many of your Neighbours that were innocent will you tell the King and Parliament and the Papists and Posterity that all the Non-conformists without any exception had their hands stained with the Royal blood What! Mr. Cooke of Chester and Mr. Birch c. that were imprisoned and persecuted for the King What! Mr. Geery that died at the news of the King's Dearh What! Sir Francis Nethersole and Mr. Bell his Pastor who wrote so much against the Parliament and was their prisoner at 〈◊〉 Castle almost all the Wars What may we expect from others when Dr. Good shall do thus I put not in any Excuse for my self among all these It may be you know not that an Assembly of Divines twice met at Coventree of whom two Doctors and some others are yet living first sent me into the Army to hazard my life after Nasby Fight against the Course which we then first perceived to be designed against the King and Kingdom nor what I went through there two years in opposing it and drawing the Soldiers off Nor how oft I Preached against Cromwel the Rump the Engagement but specially their Wars and Fasts and Thanksgivings Nor what I said to Cromwel for the King never but twice speaking with him of which a Great Privy Counselloâ—r told me but lately that being an Ear-witness of it he had told his Majesty But yet while I thought they went on Bilsone's Principles I was then on their side and the Observator Parker almost tempted me to Hooker's Principles but I quickly saw those Reasons against them which I have since published His Principles were known by the first Book before the last came out And I have a friend that had his last in M.S. But I am willing unfeignedly to to be one of those that shall contiue Silenced if you can but procure leave to Preach Christ's Gospel only for those that are no more guilty of the King's blood than your self and that no longer than there is real need of their Ministerial Labour Reverend Sir If you will but so long put your self as in our Case I shall hope that with patience you will read these Lines and pardon the necessary freedom of Your truly Loving friend and obliged Servant Rich. Baxter London Feb. 10. 1673. § 270. Taking it to be my duty to preach while Toleration doth continue I removed the last Spring to London where my Diseases increasing this Winter a flatulent constant Headach added to the rest and continuing strong for about half a year constrained me to cease my Fryday's Lecture and an Afternoon Sermon on the Lord's daies in my house to my grief and to Preach only one Sermon a week at St. Iames's Market-house where some had hired an inconvenient Place But I had great encouragement to labour there 1. Because of the notorious Necessity of the people for it was noted for the habitation of the most ignorant Atheistical and Popish about London and the greatness of the Parish of St. Martins made it impossible for the tenth perhaps the twentieth person in the Parish to hear in the Parish-Church And the next Parishes St. Giles and Clement Daines were almost in the like case Besides that the Parson of our own Parish St. Giles where I lived Preached not having been about three years suspended by the Bishop ab Officio but not a beneficio upon a particular Quarrel And to leave ten or twenty for one untaught in the Parish while most of the City Churches also are burnt down and unbuilt one would think should not be justified by Christians 2. Because beyond my expectation the people generally proved exceeding willing and attentive and tractable and gave me great hopes of much success § 271. Yet at this time did some of the most Learned Conformists assault me with sharp accusations of Schism meerly because I ceased not to Preach the Gospel of Christ to people in such necessity They confess that I ought not to take their Oaths and make their imposed Covenants Declarations and Subscriptions against my Conscience but my Preaching is my sin which I must forbear though they accuse me not of one word that I say They confess the foresaid Matters of fact that not one of a multitude can possibly hear in
the Parish Churches through the greatness of some Parishes the lowness of the Minister's voices and the paucity of Churches since the burning of the City And they confess that the knowledge of the Gospel is ordinarily necessary to salvation and teaching and hearing necessary to knowledge and that to leave the people untaught especially where so many are speaking for Atheism Beastiality and Infidelity is to give them up to Damnation But yet they say that to do so is my duty because the Bishop is against my Preaching And I ought to rest satisfied that it is the Bishop and not not I that must answer for their Damnation Alas poor Souls Must they needs be damned by thousands without making any question of it as if all the question were who should answer for it I will not believe such cruel men I undertake to prove to them to them 1. That our English Species of Dioâ—â—san 〈◊〉 and Lay Choncellours power of the Keys is contrary to God's Word and destructive of true Discipline and of the Church form and Offices instituted by Christ. 2. That were the Offices Lawful the men have no true calling to it being not chosen or consented to by the Clergy or the People 3. That if their Calling were good they have no power to forbid the present Silenced Ministers to Preach the Gospel but thereby they serve Satan against Christ and Men's salvation Paul himself had his power to edification and not to destruction And Christ the Saviour of the World giveth his Ministers only a saving power and to none a power to samish and damn the people's Souls 4. That we are Dedicated as Ministers to the Sacred Office and it is Sacriledge in our selves or others to alienate us from it while we are not unfit or unable for it 5. That we are Charged as well as Timothy before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the Dead at his appearing that we Preach the Word and be in season and our ef season reprove rebuke exhort c. 6. That the Ancient Pastors for many Hundred years did Preach the Gospel against the Wills of their Lawful Princes both Heathens and Aâ—â—ians 7 That the Bishop hath no more power to forbid us to Preach than the King hath And these men confess that Ministers unjustly Silenced may Preach against the Will of Kings but not say they of Bishops 8. That were we Lay-men we might teach and exhort as Lay-men as Origen did though we might not do it as Pastors much more being Ordained the Ministers of Christ. And that now to us it is a work which both the Law of Nature and our Office or Vow do bind us to even a Moral Duty And that when Christ judgeth men for not Feeding Clothing Visiting his Members it will not excuse us to say that the Bishop forbad us That if King or Bishop forbid us to feed our Children or to save the lives of drowning or famishing men we must disobey them as being against a great command of God Love and the Works of Love being the great indispensable Duties And Souls being greater Objects of Charity than Bodies 9. That it was in a Case of Pharifaical Church Discipline when Christ avoided not converse with sinners when their good required it that Christ sent the Pharisees to learn what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice and at two several times repeateth the same words 10. That Order is for the thing Ordered and it's ends and a power of Ordering Preachers is not a power to depose necessary Preaching and famish Souls 11. And I shew them that I my self have the License of the Bishop of this Diocess as well as Episcopal Ordination and that my License is in force and not recalled 12. And that I have the King's License 13. And therefore after all this to obey these Silencers nay no Bishop doth forbid me otherwise than as his Vote is to the Acts of Parliament which is as Magistrates and to fulfill their will that will be content with nothing but our forsaking of poor Souls and ceasing to Preach Christ this were no better than to end my Life of Comfortable Labours in obeying the Devil the Enemy of Christ and Souls which God forbid § 272. Yet will not all this satisfie these men but they cry out as the Papists Schism Schism unless we will cease to Preach the Gospel And have little to say for all but that No society can be governed if the Rulers be not the Iudge Yet dare they not deny but a Iudgment of discerning duty from sin belongeth to all Subjects or else we are Brutes or must be Atheists Idolaters Blasphemers or what ever a Bishop shall command us But under the Censures of these unreasonable Men who take our greatest Duties for our heinous sin must we patiently serve our Lord But his approbation is our full reward § 273 On Iuly 5th 1674. at our Meeting over St. Iamses's Market-house God vouchsafed us a great Deliverance A main Beam before weakened by the weight of the People so cracked that three times they ran in terrour out of the room thinking it was falling But remembring the like at Dunstan's West I reproved their fear as causeless But the next day taking up the boards we found that two rends in the Beam were so great that it was a wonder of providence that the floor had not faln and the roof with it to the destruction of multitudes The Lord make us thankful § 274 A person unknown professing Infidelity but wâ—ether an Infidel or a jagling Papist I know not sent me a Manuscript called Examen 〈◊〉 charging Scripture with Immorality Falshoods and Contradictions from the beginning to the end and with seeming Seriousness and Respectfulness importâ—ned me to Answer him I was in so great pain and weakness and engaged in other work that I sent him word that I had not time or strength for so long a Work He selected about a Dozen Instances and desired my Answer to them I gave him an Answer to them and to some of his General accusations but told him That the rational Order to be followed by a Lover of Truth is first to consider of the proofs brought for Christianity before we come to the Objections aganst it And I proved to him that Christianity was proved true many years before any of the New Testament was Written and that so it may be still proved by one that doubted of some words of the Scripture and therefore the true order is to try the truth of the Christian Religion first and the perfect Verity of all the Scriptures afterwards And therefore Importuned him first to Answer my Book called The Reasons of the Christian Religion and then if I lived I would answer his Accusations But I could not at all prevail with him but he still insisted on my Answering of his Charge And half a year or more after he sent me a Reply to the Answer
dare not desert it lest we shortly appear before our Judge in the guilt of sacriledge perfidiousness against Christ and the people's Souls But we are forbiden to exercise it unless we will do that which we profess as Men that are passing to our final Doom we would readily do were it not for fear of God's displeasure and our Damnation Deprivation of all Ministerial maintenance with heavy Mulcts on such as have not money to pay and long Imprisonments in the Common Goals with Malefactors and banishment to those that shall survive them and that into remote parts of the World were the penalties appointed for us by your Laws Voluminous reproaches are published against us in which our Superiours and the World are told that we hold that things indifferent are made unlawful by the Commands of lawful Governours and that we are guilty of Doctrines inconsistent with the Peace and Safety of Societies and that we are moved by Pride and Covetousness as if we were proud of Men's Scorn and covetous of sordid Want and Beggery and ambitious of a Gaol and that we are Unpeaceable Disloyal Odious and Intolerable Persons Lest we should seem over-querulous and our Petitions themselves should prove offensive we have been silent under Twelve years sufferings by which divers Learned and holy Divines have been hastened home to Glory hoping that Experience would have effectually spoken for us when we may not Speak for our selves And did we believe that our own pressures were the greatest consequent Evil and that the People's knowledge and piety and the allowed Ministers Number sufficiency and Diligence were such as made our Labours needless and that the History of our Silence and Sufferings would be the future Honour of this Age and the future Comfort of your Souls and theirs that instigate you against us before our Common Judge we would joyfully be silent and accept of a Dismission But being certain of the contrary we do this once adventure humbly to tender to Your Majesty and Your Parliament these following Requests 1. Because God saith That he that hateth his Brother is a Murderer and hath not Eternal Life We humbly crave leave once to Print and Publish the true State and Reasons of our Nonconformity to the World to save Mens Souls from the guilt of unjust Hatred and Calumny And if we err we may be helped to Repentance by a Confutation and the Notoriety of our shame 2. That in the mean time this Honourable House will appoint a Committee to consider of the best means for the Healing our Calamitous Divisions before whom we may have leave at last to speak for our selves 3. That these annexed Professions of our Religion and Loyalty may be received as from Men that better know their own Minds than their Accusers do and who if they durst deliberately Lie should be no Nonconformists 4. That if yet we must suffer as Malefactors we may be punished but as Drunkards and Fornicators are with some Penalty which will consist with our Preaching Christ's Gospel and that shall not reach to the hurt or danger of many Thousand Innocent People's Souls till the Re-building of the Burnt-Churches the lessening of great Parishes where one of very many cannot hear and worship God and till the quality and number of the Conformable Ministers and the knowledge piety and sobriety of the people have truly made our Labours needless and then we shall gladly obey your Silencing Commands And whereas there are commonly reckoned to be in the Parishes without the Walls above Two hundred thousand persons more than can come within the Parish Churches they may not be compelled in a Christian Land to live as Atheists and worse than Infidels and Heathens who in their manner publickly worship God The Profession of our Religion I A. B. Do willingly profess my continued resolved consent to the Covenant of Christianity which I made in my Baptism with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost forsaking the Devil the World and the sinful Lusts of the Flesh And I profess my Belief of the Ancient Christian Creeds called The Apostles The Nicene and The Constantinopolitane and the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity fullier opened in that ascribed to Athanasius And my Consent to The Lord's Prayer as the Summary of Holy Desires and to The Decalogue with Christ's Institutions as the Summary Rule of Christian Practice And to all the Holy Canonical Scriptures as the Word of God And to the Doctrine of the Church of England professed in the 39 Articles of Religion as in sence agreeable to the Word of God And I renounce all Heresies or Errours contrary to any of these And I do hold that the Book of Common Prayer and of Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth in it nothing so disagreeable to the Word of God as maketh it unlawful to live in the Peaceable Communion of the Church that useth it The Profession of our Loyalty and Obedience I do willingly and without Equivocation and Deceit take the Oaths of Allegiance and the King's Supremacy and hold my self obliged to perform them I detest all Doctrines and Practices of Rebellion and Sedition I hold it unlawful for any of His Majesty's Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King His Person Authority Dignity or Rights or against any Authorized by his Laws or Commissions And that there is no Obligation on me or any other of his Subjects from the Oath Commonly called The Solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change of the present Government of these His Majesty's Kingdoms nor to endeavour any Reformation of the Church by Rebellion Sedition or any other unlawful means The Overplus as a remedy against Suspicion We believe and willingly embrace all that is written in the Holy Scriptures for the power of Kings and the Obedience of their Subjects and the sinfulness of Rebellion and Resistance And concerning the same we consent to as much as is found in any General Council or in the Confession of any Christian Church on Earth not respecting Obedience to the Pope which ever yet came to our knowledg or as is owned by the Consent of the Greater part of Divines Politicians Lawyers or Historians in the Christain World as far as our Reading hath acquainted us therewith II. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of some Citizens of London on the behalf of this City and the Adjoyning Parishes Sheweth THat the Calamitous Fire 1666 with our Houses and Goods Burnt down near 90 Churches few of which are yet Re-edifyed And divers Parishes whose Churches yet stand are so great that it is but a small part of the Inhabitants that can there hear whereby great Numbers are left in ignorance and as a prey to Papists and other Seducers and which is worse to Atheism Infidelity and Irreligiousness And if many of their ancient ejected silenced Pastors who for refusing certain Subscriptions Declarations Promises Oaths and Practices are called Nonconformists had not through
Kingdom is to Heaven § 291. When I understood that the design was to ruin me by heaping up Convictions before I was heard to speak for my self I went to Sir Thomas Davis and told him that I undertook to prove that I broke not the Law and desired him that he would pass no Judgment till I had spoke for my self before my Accusers But I found him so ignorant of the Law as to be fully perswaded that if the Informers did but swear in general that I kept an unlawful meeting in Pretence of a Religious Exercise in other manner than according to the Liturgy and practice of the Church of England he was bound to take this general Oath for Proof and to record a Judgment and so that the Accusers were indeed the Judges and not he I told him that any Lawyer would soon tell him the contrary and that he was Judge whether by particular Proof they made good their general Accusation as it is in case a Man be accused of Felony or Treason it is not enough that Men swear that he is a Felon or Traytor they must name what his Fact was and prove him guilty And I was at charge in Feeing Counsellors to convince him and others and yet I could not perswade him out of his mistake I told him that if this were so any two such Fellows might defame and bring to Fines and Punishment himself and all the Magistrates and Parliament-Men themselves and all that meet in the Parish-Churches and Men had no Remedy At last he told me that he would consult with other Aldermen at the Sessions and they would go one way When the Sessions came I went to Guild-Hall and again desired him that I might be heard before I was Judged But though the other Aldermen save two or three were against such doings I could not prevail with him but professing great Kindness he then laid all on Sir Iohn Howell the Recorder saying that it was his Judgment and he must follow his Advice I desired him and Sir Thomas Allen that they would desire of the Recorder that I might be heard before I was Judged and that if it must pass by his Judgment that he would hear me speak But I could not procure it the Recorder would not speak with me When I saw their Resolution I told Sir Thomas Davis if I might not be heard I would record to Posterity the injustice of his Judgment and Record But I perceived that he had already made the Record but not yet given it in to the Sessions At last upon Consultation with his Leaders he granted me a hearing and three of the Informers met me at his House that had sworn against me I told them my particular Case and asked them what made my Preaching a Breach of that Law and how they proved their Accusation They first said Because I Preached in an unconsecrated Place I told them 1. That the Act only laid it on the manner of the Exercise which the Place was nothing to And 2. That it was the Practice of the Church of England to Preach in unconsecrated Places as at Sturbridge-Fair at the Spittle at Whitchall-Court and many such like They next said Because I am a Nonconformist I easily convinced them that I am not a Nonconformist in Law-sence but in the same case with a Conformist that hath no Benefice whatever I am in conscience the Law obliging me to no more than I do And if I were that is nothing to the manner of the exercise Their last and great proof was that I used not the Common Prayer I undertook to prove to them that Law commandeth the use of the Common Prayer only in Church Meetings and not in every other subordinate or by-Meeting for Religious Exercises such as ours was And that it was not the sense of the Act that Conformable persons that Communicate in the Liturgy with the Parish Churches should be judged Conventiclers whenever above four of them joyned in a Religious Exercise without the Liturgy For else all Tutors in the University should be punishable and all School-masters that teach their Scholars and pray with them if above 16 years of age and they that instruct Prisoners at Newgate and they that exhort and pray and sing Psalms with them at the Gallows with many such Instances We ought not to judge so uncharitably of King and Parliament unconstrained as to think that they would allow Multitudes to meet at a Play-house a Musick-house a horse-race a Bear-baiting or Dancing or any game and allow many to meet at a Coffee-house Ale-house or Tavern or in any private house and do on pain of utter ruine only forbid Conformable persons to joyn more than four in singing a Psalm or reading a Chapter or a Licensed book or in praying together or Conference tending to Religious Edification In Summ they confest they could not Answer me nor prove their charge but they still believed that I was guilty The Justice was so far from thinking that they proved it that he motioned to them to Retract their Oaths or else still he thought that he must condemn me They denyed to do that and said That the Bishop assured them That it was a Conventicle and I was guilty I desired them if it must all lie upon the Bishop that I might Speak with them to the Bishop for my self They told me That it was the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and they were all just now going to him and promised to bring me word when I might Speak with him But I heard no more of them of that But the Justice retracted not his Judgment but delayed a Month or more to give out his Warrant to distrein though I daily look when they take my books for they will find but little else Though both Justice and Accusers have before witness confessed that they cannot prove me guilty but one professeth to go on the belief of the Recorder and the other of the Archbishop § 292. But God hath more mercy on these ignorant Informers than on the Pharisaical Instigators of them For those repent but no Prelate save one that I hear of doth repent One of them that â—â—ore against me went the next Fast to Redrifâ— to Mr. Rosewell's Church where a Fast was kept where hearing three Ministers pray and preach his heart was melted and with Tears he lamented his former course and particularly his Accusing me and seemeth resolved for a new reformed Course of Life and is retired from his former Company to that end And a third the chief of the Informers lately in the Streets with great kindness to me professed that he would meddle no more coming by when a half distracted Fellow had Struck me on the head with his Staff and furiously reviled at me for Preaching with the titles of Rogue Villain Hypocrite Traytor c. as the Prelatists and Papists often do § 293. The Parliament meeting Apr. 13. they fell first on the D. of Lauderdale renewing their desire to
Hostility is Disunion and Dissolution Therefore no Head or Soveraign hath power to destroy or sight against his Kingdom nor any Common-wealth or Kingdom against their King or Soveraign Rulers unless in any case the Law of Nature and Nations which is above all Humane Positive Laws should make the dissolution of the Republick to become a Duty As if some Republick should cast off the Essential Principles of Society By Law neither King nor Kingdom may destroy or hurt each other For the Governing Laws suppose their Union as the Constitution and the Common good with the due Welfare of the Soveraign is the end of Government which none have power against But it must be noted that the words are against the King and not against the King's Will for if his Will be against his Welfare his Kingdom or his Laws though that Will be signified by his Commissioners the Declaration disclaimeth not the resisting of such a Will by Arms. 3. And if there be any that assert that the King's Authority giveth them right to take up Arms against his Person or Lawful Commissions it must needs be a False and Traiterous Assertion For if his Person may be Hostilely fought against the Common-wealth may be dissolved which the Law cannot suppose for all Laws die with the Common-wealth And it is a contradiction to be authorized by him to resist by Arms his Commissions which are according to Law For the Authority pretended to be his must be his Laws or Commissions and to be Authorized by his Laws or Commissions to resist his Laws must signifie that his Laws are contradictory when by one we must resist another But so far as they are contradictory both cannot be Laws or Lawful Commissions For one of them must needs nullifie the other either by Fundamental Priority or by Posteriority signifying a Repeal of the other And it must be noted that yet the Trayterous Position medleth not with the Question of taking Arms against the King's Person or Commissioners by the Law of God of Nature or of Nations but only of doing it by his own Authority 4. And that it is not lawful to take Arms against any Commissioned by him according to Law in time of Rebellion and War in pursuance of such Commission is a Truth so evident that no sober Persons can deny it The Long Parliament that had the War did vehemently assert it and therefore gave out their Commissions to the Earl of Essex and his Soldiers to fight against Delinquent Subjects for the King and Parliament 5. And the Oath containeth no more than our not endeavouring to Alter the Protestant Religion established or the King's Government or Monarchy It cannot with any true reason be supposed to tie us at all to the Bishops-much less to the English Disease or Corruption of Episcopacy or to Lay-Chancel lours c. but only to the King as Supreme in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil so far as they fall under Coercive Government This is thus proved past denyal 1. The word Protestant Religion as estalished in the Church of England cannot include the Prelacy For 1. The Protestant Religion is essentially nothing but the Christian Religion as such with the disclaiming of Popery aud so our Divines have still professed But our Prelacy is no part of the Christian Religion 2. The Protestant Religion is common to us with many Countreys which have no Prelacy And it is the same Religion with us and them 3. The words of the Oath distinguish the Religion of the Church of England from the Church of England it self and from Government 4. If Episcopacy in general were proved part of the Protestant Religion the English Accidents and Corruptions are not so They that say that Episcopacy is Iure Divino and unalterable do yet say that National and Provincial Churches are Iure Humano and that so is a Diocesane as it is distinct from Parochial containing many Parishes in it And if the King should set up a Bishop in every Market-Town yea every Parish and put down Diocesanes it is no more than what he may do And if by the Protestant Religion established should be meant every alterable mode or circumstance then King-James changed it when he made a new Translation of the Bible and both he and our late Convocation and King and Parliament by their Advice did change it when they added new Forms of Prayer And then this Oath bindeth all from endeavouring to make any alteration in the Liturgie or mend the Translation or the Metre of the Psalms c. or to take the keys of Excommunication and Absolution out of the hands of the Lay-Chancellour's c. which none can reasonably suppose 2. And that our Prelacy is not at all included in the word Government of the Kingdom in Church and State but only the King 's Supreme Government in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil is most evident 1. Because it is expressly said The Government of the Kingdom which is all one with the Government of the King For a Bishop or a Justice or a Mayor is no Governour of the Kingdom but only in the Kingdom of a Particular Church City Corporation or Division The summa potestas only is the Government of the Kingdom as a Kingdom And because forma denominat we cannot take the Kingdom to signifie only a Church or City 2. Because else it would change the very constitution of the Kingdom by making all the inferiour Officers unalterable and so to be essential constitutive parts Whereas only the pars Imperans and pars Subdita are constitutive parts of every Kingdom or Republick and the Constitutive pars Imperans is only the summa potestas except where the mixture and fundamental Contract is such as that Inferiour Officers are woven so into the Constitution as that they may not be changed without it's Dissolution which is hardly to be supposed even at Venice Tbe Oaths between the summa potestas and the Subject are the bonds of the Commonwealth their Union being the form that must not be dissolved But to make Oaths of Allegiance or Unchangeableness â—each to the Inferiour Magistrates or Officers is to change the Government or Constitution 3. And so it destroyeth the Regal power in one of it's chief properties or prerogatives which is to alter inferiour Officers who all receive their power from the Supreme and are alterable by him even by the Majestas which hath the Legislative powers And this would take away all the King's power to alter so much as a Mayor Justice or Constable For mark that Government of the Kingdom in Church and State are set equally together without any note of difference as to alteration If therefore it extend to any but the Supreme even to inferiour Officers it were to extend to them as Governing the State even to the lowest as well as the Church But this is a supposition to be Contemned 4. And if the Distinction should be meant de personis Imperantibus and should
Dr. Tillotson to offer him my Chappel in Oxenden-Street for Publick Worship which he accepted to my great Satisfaction and now there is constant Preaching there Be it by Conformists or Nonconformists I rejoice that Christ is Preached to the people in that Parish whom ten or twenty such Chapels cannot hold § 8. About March 1677. fell out a trifling business which I will mention lest the fable pass for truth when I am dead At a Coffee-House in Fuller's Rents where many Papists and Protestants used to meet together one Mr. Dyet Son to old Sir Richard Dyet Chief Justice in the North and Brother to a deceased dear Friend of mine the some-time Wife of my old dear friend Colonel Sylvanus Tailor one that profest himself no Papist but was their Familiar said openly That I had killed a Man with my own hand in cold blood that it was a Tinker at my door that because he beat his Kettle and disturbed me in my Studies I went down and Pistol'd him One Mr. Peters occasioned this wrath by oft challenging in vain the Papists to dispute with me or answer my Books against them Mr. Peters told Mr. Dyet That this was so shameless a slander that he should answer it Mr. Dyet told him That a hundred Witnesses would testifie that it was true and I was tryed for my Life at Worcester for it To be short Mr. Peters ceased not till he brought Mr. Dyet to come to my Chamber and confest his fault and ask me forgiveness and with him came one Mr. Tasbrook an emiment sober prudent Papist I told him that these usages to such as I and far worse were so ordinary and I had long suffered so much more than words that it must be no difficulty to me to forgive them to any man but especially to one whose Relations had been my dearest Friends and he was one of the first Gentlemen that ever shewed so much ingenuity as so to confess and ask forgiveness he told me He would hereafter confess and un-say it and Vindicate me as openly as he had wronged me I told him to excuse him that perhaps he had that Story from his late Pastor at St. Giles's Dr. Boreman who had Printed it that such a thing was Reported but I never heard before the particulars of the Fable Shortly after at the same Coffee-house Mr. Dyet openly confess'd his Fault and an Ancient Lawyer one Mr. Giffard a Papist Son to old Dr. Giffard the Papist Physician as is said and Brother to the Lady Abergaveny was Angry at it and made Mr. Dyet a weak Man that would make such a Confession Mr. Peters answered him Sir Would you have a Gentleman so disingenuous as not to right one that he hath so wronged Mr. Giffard answered That the thing was True and he would prove it by an Hundred Witnesses Mr. Peters offered him a great Wager that he would never prove it by any but urging him hard he refused the Wager He next offered that they would lay down but five Guinea's to be laid on 't on an Entertainment there by him that lost the Wager He refused that also Whereupon Mr. Peters told him He would cause my friends if I would not my self to call him to justifie it in Westminster-Hall referring the Judgment of Equity to the Company The Papist Gentlemen that were present it 's like considering that the Calumny when opened publickly would be a Slur upon their Party Voted That if Mr. Giffard would not confess his Fault they would disown him out of their Company and so he was constrained to yield but would not come to my Chamber to confess it to me Mr. Peters moderated the business and it was agreed that he should do it there He would do it only before his own Party Mr. Peters said Not so for they might hereafter deny it So it was agreed That also before Mr. Peters and Captain Edmund Hambden he should confess his Fault and ask forgiveness which he did § 9. Near this time my Book called A Key for Catholicks was to be Reprinted In the Preface to the first Impression I had mentioned with Praise the Earl of Lauderdale as then Prisoner by Cromwell in Windsor-Castle from whom I had many Pious and Learned Letters and where he had so much Read over all my Books that he remembred them better as I thought than I did my self Had I now left out that mention of him it would have seem'd an Injurious Recantation of my kindness and to mention him now a Duke as then a Prisoner was unmeet The King used him as his special Counsellour and Favourite The Parliament had set themselves against him He still professed great kindness to me and I had reason to believe it was without dissembling 1. Because he was accounted by all to be rather a too rough Adversary than a Flatteter of one so low as I. 2. Because he spake the same for me behind my back that he did to my face And I had then a New Piece against Transubstantiation to add to my Book which being desirous it should be Read I thought best to joyn it with the other and prefix before both an Epistle to the Duke in which I said not a word of him but Truth And I did it the rather that his Name might draw some Great Ones to Read at least that Epistle if not the short Additional Tractate in which I thought I said enough to open the Shame of Popery But the Indignation that Men had against the Duke made some blame me as keeping up the Reputation of one whom Multitudes thought very ill of Whereas â—owned none of his Faults and did nothing that I could well avoid for the aforesaid Reasons Long after this he professed his Kindness to me and told me I should never want while he was able and humbly intreated me to accept Twenty Guinea's from him which I did § 10. After this one Mr. Hutchinson another of the Disputants with Dr. Stillingfleet and Mr. Wray's Friend one that had revolted to Popery in Cambridge long ago having pious Parents and Relations Wrote two Books for Popery one for Transubstantiation and another in which he made the Church of England Conformists to be Men of no Conscience or Religion but that all Seriousness and Conscience was in the Papist and Puritan and sought to flatter the Puritans as he call'd them into kindness to the Papists as united in Conscience which others had not I Answered these Books and after fell acquainted with Mr. Hutchinson but could never get Reply from him or Dispute § 11. Two old Friends that I had a hand heretofore in turning from Anabaptistry and Separation Mr. Tho. Lamb and William Allen that followed Iohn Goodwin and after became Pastors of an Anabiptist Church though but Tradesmen fell on Writing against Separation more strongly than any of the Conformable Clergy But in Sense of their old Errour run now into the other Extreme especially Mr. Lamb and Wrote against our gathering
no Acts of Government but the Parliament in being should continue or if none then were that which last was should be in power and exercise all the Government in the Name of the King This offer took much with many but most said that it signifyed nothing For Papists have easily Dispensations to take any Tests or Oaths and Queen Mary's case shewed how Parliaments will serve the Prince's will § 39. Divers Papists turned from them to the Protestants upon the Detection of their wickedness and bloody Principles and minds And among others Mr. Hutchinson that called himself Berry against whom I lately wrote He first wrote for the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and after forsook them seemingly for a time § 40. When I had written my Book against Mr. Gale's Treatise for Predetermination and was intending to Print it the good man fell sick of a Consumption and I thought it meet to suspend the publication lest I should grieve him and increase his sickness of which he dyed And that I might not obscure God's Providence about sin I wrote and preached two Sermons to shew what great and excellent things God doth in the World by the occasion of Man's sin And verily it is wonderful to observe that in England all Parties Prelatical first Independents Anabaptists especially Papists have been brought down by themselves and not by the wit and strength of their Enemies and we can hardly discern any footsteps of any of our own Endeavours wit or power in any of our Late Deliverances but our Enemies wickedness and bloody Designs have been the occasion of almost all Yea the Presbyterians themselves have suffered more by the dividing effects of their own Covenant and their unskilfulness in healing the Divisions between them and the Independents and Anabaptists and the Episcopal than by any strength that brought them down tho since men's wrath hath troden them as in the dirt § 41. In April I finished a Treatise of the only way of Union and Concord among all Christian Churches In three parts 1. Of the Nature and Reasons of Union an Concord 2. Of the true and only Terms 3. Of the Nature of Schism and the false Terms on which the Church will never unite § 42. Two years ago by the Consent of many Ministers I Printed one Writing called the Judgment of Nonconformists concerning the Parts or Office of Reason in Religion which having good acceptance by the same Men's consent I yielded to the Printing of three more one of the difference between Grace and Morality Another called the Nonconformists Judgment about things indifferent commanded by Authority And another What Nonconformity is not disclaiming several false Imputations To which I added a 4th of Scandal But when they were Printed some of our Political friends in Parliament and else where were against the publishing of them saying they would increase our sufferings by exasperating or offend some Sectaries that dislike some words And so I was put to pay 23 l. for the printing of them and suppress them § 43. I wrote also Divers Treatises of Nonconformity One opening their case by a multitude of Quere's Another by way of History and Assertion specially vindicating them from the Charge of Schism Another to prove it their duty to continue preaching tho forbidden c. § 44. The Earl of Argyle told me that being in company with some very great men one of them said that he went once to hear Mr. Baxter preach and he said nothing but what might beseem the King's Chappel and concluded that it was his Judgment that I ought to be beaten with many stripes because it could not be through ignorance but meer faction that I conformed not And the Bishops and Clergy to this day make unstudied Noble Men and Gentlemen believe that we confess all to be lawful and meer Inconveniences which we deny Conformity to O inhumane Impudence A Plot of Satan to tempt men never more to believe Clergy men's History Hereupon the said Earl of Argyle after many others desiring me to write down the points that we deny Conformity to I wrote 1. The case of the Nonconformists in a brief History 2. An Index of about 40 or 50 of the points that we cannot conform to but barely naming them without proof to avoid prolixity which may expose them to any Pretender's Confutation And at the importunity of a friend this week May 2. I permitted the shewing them to the Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Barlow who is a Man firmly zealous against Popery of great Reading and Learning long a publick Professor of Divinity in Oxford and esteemed of as equal at least with the best of the Bishops And yet told my friend that got my Papers for him that he could hear of nothing that we judged to be sin but meer inconveniences When as above 17 years ago we publickly endeavoured to prove the sinfulness even of many of the old Impositions and our petition for peace was printed in which we solemnly professed that nothing should hinder us from Conformity did we not believe it to be sin against God and endangering our salvation Yet thus talk the best and Learnedest of them as if they had dwelt a thousand Miles from us and had never heard our Case Some would persuade us that they are all meer hardened impudent Worldlings that know all to be Lies which they thus speak But I am persuaded that this is too hard Censure and that some yea many of the Clergy think as they thus speak because the Schism of the Age doth make them meer strangers to us knowing little more of our minds than what they hear from one another by such Reports And yet we never had leave to speak or write our Case to tell men what it is that we think sin in the New-Conformity much less to give our Reasons § 45. The firing fury going on still God leaving the Papists to self-destroying madness on Friday night May 9. Some Papist prisoners bribing the Porter they set the prison on fire and burnt much of it down the Porter and they escaping together which put the Parliament to appoint the drawing up of a stricter Law to prevent more firing But what can Laws do to it § 46. On the Lord's day May 11th 1679. The Commons sate extraordinarily and agreed in two Votes first that the Duke of York was uncapable of succeeding in the Imperial Crown of England 2. That they would stand by the King and the Protestant Religion with their Lives and Fortunes and if the King came to a violent Death which God forbid would be revenged on the Papists § 47. The Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland Iames Sharp was Murdered this Month. The Actors a Servant hardly used by him or a Tenant drew in some Confederates since suffered § 48. The Parliament shortly dissolved while they insisted on the tryal of the Lord Treasurer § 49. The Scots being forbidden to preach and Meet in the open Fields being led by a few rash
the 1 st 1662 nor ever since had any nor the offer of any And therefore the Law imposeth not on me the Declaration or the Assent or Consent no more than on Lawyers or Judges 2. I have the Bishop of London's License to Preach in his Diocess which supposeth me no Nonconformist in Law-sence And I have the Judgment of Lawyers even of the present Lord Chief Justice and Mr. Pollexfen that by that License I may Preach occasional Sermons 3. I have Episcopal Ordination and judge it gross Sacriledge to forsake my Calling 4. I am justified against suspicion of Rebellious Doctrine many ways 1. By my publick Retractation of any old accused words or writings 2. I was chosen alone to Preach the Publick Thanksgiving at St. Paul's for General Monk's success 3. The Commons in Parliament chose me to Preach to them at their Publick Fast for the King's Restoration and call'd him home the next day 4. I was Sworn Chaplain in Ordinary to the King 5. I was offered a Bishoprick 6. The Lord Chancellor who offered it attested under his hand His Majesty's Sense of my Defert and His Acceptance 7. I am justifyed in the King's Declaration about Ecclesiastical Affairs among the rest there mention'd 8. When I Preached before the King he commanded the Printing of my Sermon 9. To which may be added the Act of Oblivion 10. And having published above an Hundred Books I was never yet convict of any ill Doctrine since any of the said Acts of King Parliament and others for my Discharge and Justification 5. I have oft Printed my judgment for Communion with the Parish Churches and exhorted others to it And having built a Chappel delivered it for Parish use 6. I was never lawfully Convict of Preaching in an unlawful Assembly for I was not once summon'd by the Justices that granted out the Five Warrants against me to answer for my self nor ever told who was my Accuser or who Witnessed against me And I have it under the hand of the present Lord Chief Justice that a Lawful Conviction supposeth Summons And the Lord Chief Justice Vaughan with Judge Tyrrel Archer and Wild did long ago discharge me upon their declaring that even the Warrant of my Commitment was illegal because no Accuser or Witness was named and so I was left remediless in case of false Accusation 7. As far as I understand it I never did Preach in any unlawful Assembly which was on pretence of any Exercise of Religion contrary to Law I Preached in Parish Churches where the Liturgy was Read as oft as I had leave and invitation And when I could not have that leave I never took any Pastoral Charge nor Preached for any Stipend but not daring perfidiously to desert the Calling which I was Ordained and Vowed to I Preacht occasional Sermons in other Men's Houses where was nothing done that I know of contrary to Law There was nothing done but Reading the Psalms and Chapters and the Creed Commandments and Lord's Prayer and Singing Psalms and Preaying and Praching and none of this is forbidden by Law The Omission of the rest of the Liturgy is no Act but a not-acting and therefore is no pretended Worship according to Law But were it otherwise the Law doth not impose the Liturgy on Families but only on Churches and a Family is not forbidden to have more than four Neighbours at saying Grace or Prayer nor is bound to give over Family-worship when-ever more than Four come in The Act alloweth Four to be present at Unlawful Worship but forbids not more to be present at Lawful Worship And House-worship without the Liturgy is lawful worship And yet if this were not so as the Curate's Omission of the Prayers makes not the Preacher and Assembly guilty suppose it were an Assize-Sermon that for hast omitted the Liturgy so the owner of the House by omitting the Liturgy maketh not him guilty that was not bound to use it nor the Meeting unlawful to any but himself Charity and Loyalty bind us to believe that our King and Parliament who allow more than many Four's to meet at a Play-house Tavern or Feast never meant to forbid more than Four to bâ—â—ogether in a House to sing a Psalm or Pray or Read a Licensed Book or edifie each other by Godly Conference while no Crime is found by any Man in the Matter of their Doctrine or Prayer and no Law imposeth the Liturgy on any but Church-Meetings If after many years Reproach once Imprisonment and the late Distress and Sale of all my Books and Goods and those that were none of mine but another's and this by five or six Warrants for present Execution without any Summons or Notice of Accusers or Witnesses I could yet have leave to die in peace and had not been again persecuted with new Inditements I had not presumed thus to plead or open my own Cause I Pray God that my Prosecutors and Judges may be so prepared for their near Account that they may have no greater sin laid to their Charge than keeping my Ordination-Vow is and not Sacrilegiously forsaking my Calling who have had so good a Master so good a Word so good Success and so much Attestation from King Parliament City and Bishops as I have haâ— If they ask why I Conform not I say I do as far as any Law bindeth me If they ask why I take not this Oath I say Because I neither understand it nor can prevail with Rulers to Explain it And if have a good sence I have not only subscribed to it but to much more in a Book called The second Plea for Peace page 60 61 62. Where also I have professed my Loyalty much further than this Oath extendeth But if it have a bad sence I will not take it And I find the Conformists utterly disagreed of the Sence and most that I hear of renouncing that sence which the words signifie in their common use And knowing that Perjury is a mortal Enemy to the Life and Safety of Kings and the Peace of Kingdoms and to Converse and to Man's Salvation I will not dally with such a dangerous Crime Nor will I deceive my Rulers by Stretches and Equivocations nor do I believe Lying lawful after all that Grotius de Iure Belli and Bishop Taylor Duct Dub. have said for it I think Oaths imposed are to be taken in the ordinary sense of the words if the Imposers put not another on them And I dare not Swear that a Commission under the Broad-Seal is no Commission till I that am no Lawyer know it to be Legal Nor yet that the Lord Keeper may Depose the King without resistance by Sealing Commissions to Traytors to seize on his Forts Navy Militia or Treasure Nor can I consent to make all the present Church-Government as unalterable as the Monarchy especially when the Seventh Canon extendeth it to an caetèra to Arch-bishops Bishops Deans Arch-deacons and the rest that bear Office in the same not
be Schismaticks with them that unite not in their Center or at least be not tyed to union by their ligaments So he is a Schismatick to a Papist that Centers not in the Pope as the Principium unitatis and visible Head of the Church and in the Roman Church as the Heart of the Church Catholick denominating the whole He is a SchismatiÌ„ck with some others that owns not every Order or Ceremony which they maintain For my part I should think that he that 〈◊〉 in â—hrâ—â—t and â—â—â—deth the sound and wholsome Doctrine contained in the Creeds of the Church and maintaineth love and unity with all Christians to the utmost extent of his natural capacity even with all that he is capable of holding Communion with is no Schismatick nor his attempts for that end Schismatical Combinations If there were a Bishop in this Diocess and he should go one way suppose he command that all Church Assemblies be at such a time and all worship in such a form and all the Presbyters and People go another way whether they do well or ill so the thing itself be tollerable and will not meet at the time nor worship God in the form which he prescribeth I should think I were guilty of Schism if I separated from all these Churches and guilty of ungodliness if I wholly forsook and forbore all publick worship of God because I could have none according to the Bishops commanding Much more if there were no Bishop in the Diocess at all This seems to be our case in respect of both Worship and Discipline at least for the most part Is that man guilty of no Schisme nor Impiety who will rather have no Discipline exercised at all on the profane and scandalous but all Vice go without controul and the rage of Mens sins provoke Heaven yet more against us who will rather have no Ministerial Worship of God in Prayer or Praise no Sacraments no Solemn Assemblies to this end no Ministerial Teaching of the people but have all Mens Souls given over to perdition the bread of life taken from their mouths and God deprived of all his Worship then any of this should be done without Bishops That had rather the Church doors were shut up and we lived like Heathens than we should Worship God without a Bishops Commands and that when we have none to command us 3. We distinguish of the necessity of Bishops either it is a necessity ad bene esse for the right ordering of the Church when it may be had or it is a necessity ad esse to the very being of a Church or of Gods Worship without which we may not offer God any publick Service or have any Communion with any Congregation that so doth The former we leave as not fit for our determination and therefore we do not contradict you in it nor seek to draw you to own any Declaration against it The latter we do deny there is no such necessity of Bishops as that God can have no Church without them and that we must rather separate from all our Assemblies and never offer God any publick Worship then do it without them remembring still that we speak of those Bishops whom we are charged with rejecting and not the Pastors of particular Congregations And in this distinction of necessity and in this conclusion I have the consent of the generality of the Protestant Bishops so far as I know to a Man as far as their Writings declare to us their Minds and therefore Episcopal Divines may consent Except to Sect. 2. 1. Whether in this Worcestershire Association whoever will enter into it doth not therein oblige himself to acknowledge those for Presbyters and Pastors of Churches who profess themselves to have been made such in a Church where there are and were Bishops that never denyed them Orders without the Hands Consent or Knowladge of the Bishop yea in a time when Bishops were without any accusation before any Ecclesiastical Superiour Synod or other unheard ejected laid by by their own sheep and Presbyters that owed them obedience Reply to Sect. 2. To your first Question I answer 1. You must distinguish of punishing and ejecting Bishops that deserve it and casting out their Order 2. Between casting out the appurtenances and corruptions which made up the English sort of Prelacie as differing from the Primitive and casting out the Order and Office of Bishops simply in itself 3. Between those Men that do cast them out and those that do not 4. Between a Church that hath Bishops and one that hath none 5. Between them that can have Ordination by them and those that cannot 6. Between those Ministers of this Association that were Ordained by Bishops and those that were not 7. Between the Irregularity and sinfulness or Ordination and the nullity thereof and so between a Minister regularly Ordained and a Minister Irregularly Ordained who is a Minister still Hereupon I answer further in these conclusions 1. That too many of the Bishops lately ejected did deserve it is beyond dispute 2. Whether the Parliament in the state that they were in had not power to punish them by Imprisonment or Ejection as Solemon did Abiathar without an Ecclesiastical Superior or whether the Clergy be exempted from such punishment by the Secular power till they are delivered up to them by the Ecclesiastical Head hath been voluminously disputed in the world already Sutcliffe Bilson Iewel and a multitude more have proved that Kings have power in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil and that the Pope hath no power of Jurisdiction in England let the Oath of Supremacy judge and if the Metropolitan of Canterbury or the highest Ecclesiastical Power miscarry who shall restrain or eject them but the Civil Power unless we go to the Pope for more acceptable witnesses I commend to you Spalatensis Grotius and Saravia yea Fr. de Victoria and several Parisians The two former one de Republ. Eccles. the other de Imperio summarum potestatum will never be well answered If it be said the King did it not I answer I think the Authority by whom that much was done that we now speak of will be acknowledged sufficient by most that were against the fact and that fought against the Parliament that understood the Laws It was long before the King withdrew 3. Many of those that approved of the Ejection of those unworthy men yet approved not of the dissolution of the Office and such may be many and for ought you know most or all of the Ministers here Associated Though I suppose rather it is otherwise yet while Men do for peace silence their opinions who knows what they are And sure I am many among us had no hand in the downfall of the Bishops and whether any at all be lyable in this to your Charge besides my self whereof more anon I know not most of our Association were in the Universities in the Wars and the rest were some I
Conformists and Nonconformists The Episcopal Conformists are of Two Sorts some lately sprung up that follow Archbishop Laud and Dr. Hammond hold that there are no Political Churches lower than Diocesan because there are no Bishops under them and so that the Parish-Churches are no Churches properly but part of Churches nor the Incumbants true Bishops but Curates under Bishops nor the Foreigners true Ministers or Churches that have no Diocesan Bishops This Party called themselves the Church of England 1658 1659. When we knew but of Four or Five Bishops left alive who Dr. Hammond said with that Party of the Clergy were of his Mind And these seemed uppermost in 1660 and 1661. and were the men whom I disputed with in my Treatise of Episcopacy The other Episcopal Conformists are they that follow the Reformers and hold the Doctrine of the Scripture as only sufficient to Salvation and as explicatory of it the Thirty Nine Articles the Homilies Liturgy Book of Ordination Apology c. These take the Parish-Pastors for true Rectors and the Parish-Churches for true Churches but subordinate to the Diocesans and to be ruled by them But the Laws have imposed on them some Declarations and Subscriptions which they think they may put a good Sense on though by stretching the Words from their usual Signification The Bishops and Deans are chosen by the King indeed and by the Prebends in shew The Incumbant are chosen by Patrons ordained by Diocesans with Presbyters and accepted by Consent of the Communicants of the Parish The Episcopal Government is managed partly by the Bishops and partly by Lay-Civilians and Surrogates The Episcopal Nonconformists are for true Parish-Churches and Ministers reformed without swearing promising declaring or subscribing to any but sure clear necessary things desiring that the Scripture may be their Canons disowning all persecuting Canons taking the capable in each Parish for the Communicant and Church and the rest for Hearers and Catechized Persons desiring that the Magistrate be Judge whom he will maintain approve and tolerate and the Ordainers Judges whom they will ordain and the People be free Consenters to whose Pastoral Care they will trust their Souls desiring that every Presbyter be an Overseer of the Flock and every Church that hath many Elders have one Incumbent President for Unity and Order and that Godly Diocesans may without the Sword or Force have the Oversight of many Ministers and Churches and all these be confederate and under the Government of a Christian King but under no Foreign Jurisdiction though in as much Concord as is possible with all the Christian World And they would have the Keys of Excommunication and Absolution taken out of the Hands of Lay-Men Chancellors or Lay Brethren and the Diocesans to judge in the Synods of the Presbyters in Cases above Parochial Power That this was the Judgment of the Nonconformists that treated for Peace in 1660. and 1661. is to be seen in their printed Proposals in which they desired Archbishop Usher's Model of the Primitive Episcopacy joined with the Synods of Presbyters II. The Presbyterians are for Parish-Churches as aforesaid guided by Elders some teaching and some only ruling and these under Synods of the like Class without Diocesan or Parochial Superiors and all under a National Assembly of the same as the Supreme Church Power III. The Independants are for every Congregation to have all Church Power in it self without any superior Church-Government over them whether Bishops or Synods yet owning Synods for voluntary Concord Of these some are against local Communion with the aforesaid Churches and for avoiding them by Separation some as if they were no Churches and had no true Ministers some for Forms of Prayer some for faulty Communicants some for Episcopal Ordination and some for subscibing and some for all these and many other pretended Reasons But some Independants are for occasional Communion with the other Churches and some also for stated Communion in the Parish-Churches for which you may read Mr. Tomes's the chief of the Anabaptists in a full Treatise and Dr. Thomas Goodwin on the first of the Ephesians earnest against Separation as the old Nonconformists were Now which of all these should you join with I affirm that all these except the Separatists are parts of the Church of England as it is truly essentiated by a Christian Magistracy and confederate Christian particular Churches All are not equally sound and pure but all are parts of the Church of England Liturgies and Ceremonies and Canons and Chancellors are not essential to it as a Church or Christian Kingdom But it is now a Medly less concordant than is desirable but you are not put upon any such Disputes whether you will call the present Church of England Roman as denominated from the King that is the Head or whether you will say that King and Parliament conjunct are that Head and so it is yet Protestant because the Laws are so or whether you will denominate it materially Protestant because the Clergy and Flocks are so your Doubt is only what Congregation to join with I answer That which all your Circumstances set together make it most convenient to the publick good and your own Though I hold not Ministerial Conformity lawful I take Lay-Communion in any of these except the Separatists to be lawful to some Persons whose case maketh it fittest But I judge it unlawful for you to confine your Communion to any one of them so as to refuse occasional Communion with all save them 1. The Parish-Churches have the Advantage of Authority Order and Confederacy and the Protestant Interest is chiefly cast upon them therefore I will not separate from Lay-Communion with them though they need much Reformation 2. You must not go against your Father's Will no nor divide the Family without necessity The same I say of your Husband when you are married 3. The Nonconforming Episcopal and Presbyterians have not such Churches as they desire but only temporarily keep Meetings like to Chappels as Assistants to others till Parishes are reformed 4. I think it a stated sinful Schism to fix as a Member of such a Church and Pastor as is of the Principles of the Writing which you shewed me I. Because they grievously slander the Parish-Churches and Ministers as none and their Worship and Government as far worse than it is II. Because they Renounce local Communion with almost all the Body or Church of Christ on Earth by renouncing it on a Reason common to almost all III. Because they separate from such Churches as Christ and his Apostles joined with and so seem to condemn Christ and his Apostles as Sinners Christ ordinarily joined with the Iews Church in Synagogues and Temple-Offices when the High-Priest bought the Place of Heathens and the Priests Pharisees and Rulers were wicked Persecutors and the Sadduces Hereticks or worse he sent Iudas as an Apostle when he knew him to be a Theif or a Devil The Apostles neither separated nor allowed Separation from
and perswading all the Families House by House they saw the Body of Town and Parish in love with serious Religion they told me they had been undone if I had followed their Counsel William Allen who with Mr. Lamb were Pastors of an Anabaptist Arminian Church first separated from the Parish-Churches and next from the Independents was turned from Independency much by seeing being our Kidderminster Factor that Parish-Churches may be made as holy as separated ones and the People not left by lazy Separatists to the Devil So that this Experience made him and his Companion more against Independency than I am 11. They abuse the People in indulging them in works that they were never called to nor are capable of nor can give any comfortable account of to God that is To be the Judges of Persons admitted to Communion and of Mens Repentance and Fitness for the Sacrament c. whenas God hath put this Power called The Church Keys into the Pastors and Rulers hands the not over-forced Men but Voluntiers Baptism is the true Churches Entrance and the Baptizer is the Judge of the Capacity of the Baptized no more but Consent to particular Church Relation and Duty is necessary to Membership of Neighbour Christians in particular Churches And nothing but proved nullifying the Baptismal Covenant by Heresie or Sin impenitently maintained or contained in doth forfeit their visible right to Communion And if the People must judge of all these they must have their Callings to examine every Person and they must grow wiser and abler then many of their Leaders are 12. Their Churches have among them no probable way of Concord but they are as a heap of Sand that upon every Commotion fall in pieces The Experience of it in Holland broke them to nothing And it so affected the Sober in New-England that in 1660. or 1661. Mr. Ash and I were fain to disswade Mr. Norton and Mr. Broadstreet whom they sent hither as Commissioners from inclining to our English Episcopacy foretelling them what was doing and we have seen so deeply were they afraid of being received by that Peoples uncurable Separation from their ablest Pastors whenever any earnest erroneous Teachers would seduce them Their Building wanteth Cement 13. God hath so wonderfully by his Providences disowned the way of Schism and Separation on how good pretences soever that I should be too like Pharaoh in hardness if I should despise his warnings For Instance 1. In the Apostles days all are condemned that separated from the setled Churches even when those Churches had many heinous Scandals and St. Paul saith That all they in Asia were turned from him The Authority and Miracles of the Apostles did not serve to keep Men from Separation and raising Schisms 2. Even when the Church lay under Heathen Persecutors for 294 years yet Swarms of Condemned Sects arose to so great a number as that the naming and confuting them filleth great Volumes to the great Reproach of the Christian Churches and Scandal of the Heathens 3. As soon as Constantine delivered the Churches from the Flames of cruel Persecution and set up Christians in Power and Wealth separating Sects grew greater than before each Party crying up their several Bishops and Teachers and grew worse by Divisions till thereby they tempted the Papal Clergy to unite Men carnally by force 4. At Luther's Reformation Swarms of Separatists arose in Germany Holland Poland c. to the great dishonour of the Protestant Cause 5. Here in England it hath been ill in Queen Elizabeth's time by the Familists and Separatists and far worse since It was such as Quarterman and Lilburn and other Separatists that drew Tumults and Crowds down to Westminster to draw the Parliament to go beyond their own Judgment and thereby divided the Parliament-men and drove away the King which was the beginning of our odious War It was the Separating Party that all over the Land set up Anti-Churches in the Towns that had able godly Ministers when they had nothing imposed on them to excuse it neither Bishops Liturgies nor Ceremonies So that Churches became like Cockpits or Fencing-Schools to draw asunder the Body of Christ. It was the Separating Party that got under Cromwell into the Army and became the common Scorners of a godly able Ministry by the Names of the Priest-byters the Driviners the Westminster-sinners the Dissembly-men as Malignant Drunkards did and worse It was these that thought Success had made them Rulers of the Land that caused the disbanding of all the Soldiers that disliked their Spirit and Way and then pull'd down first eleven and then the major part of the Parliament imprisoning and turning out Men of eminent Piety and Worth and making a Parliament of the minor part and their killing the King and afterward with scorn turning out that minor part that had done their work and to whom they had oft profest themselves Servants It was these Men that set up a Usurper that made a thing called a Parliament all of his and his Armies nomination If this should ever be imitated whom may we thank It was these Men that set up the Military Government of Major-Generals It was they that set up and pull'd down so many feigned Supream Powers in a few years as made themselves the Scorn of the World and by a dreadful warning of Divine Justice all their victorious Army and Power dropt in pieces like Sand as they would have used the Church and was dissolved without one Battle or drop of Blood save the after-Blood of their Leaders that were hang'd drawn and quarter'd by Parliament Sentence It is these Men and these doings that have hardened thousands against Reformation and turned all that was done for it O what did it cost and what raised hopes had many of the Success into Reproach quieted the Consciences of those that have thought they served God by silencing hating and persecuting those that they thought had been of this guilty Sect. In a word the spirit and way of causeless Separation whether by violent Prelatists Pursuits and Excommunications or by self-conceited Sectaries was never owned or blest by God If any say truly or falsly You have had a hand in some such thing your self I answer If I had I will hate it and write against it so much the more To thrust ones self into a way so disowned by God by such a course of fearful warnings is to run with Pharaoh into the Red-Sea especially when Impenitence so fixeth the guilt on them that cannot endure to hear of it as may make us fear that the worst 〈◊〉 behind and Sin and Judgments yet continue The Sum of what is said to you on the other side is that the Church of England and the Parish Churches have no true Ministry and therefore are no true Churches That they confess there is no Church without a Bishop and no Bishop below the Diocesan and so no Church below the Diocesan Church That those are no Scripture Bishops and Churches
be sinful and hazarding our Souls c. We should never have stuck at Conformity to them And it is no small Number of Sins so heiâ—ous which we suppose since imposed that we dare not so much as name them least we displease you and make you say that we render the Conformists such heinous Sinners But I will alledge your Authority when any of us are next blamed for discovering the â—einous Sinfulness of Conformity as we yet believe it would be to us If you say that the Licensers would licence our Writings if we did it with Sobriety 1. You know that the Canon and Law is against it 2. I shall then in Justice challenge you to make it good and here promise you an account of my Nonconformtiy whenever you will procure it licensed 6. And which way got you so strong a Faith as to be past doubt that did we discover any sinfulness it would by Authority have been taken away Make this true yet after neer Two Thousand Ministers have been neer Sixteen Years ejected and silenced and many killed by Imprisonment and the People of the Land divided and distracted by the training Engines and you shall have the Honour of being the greatest healer of our Breaches that ever rose in the Days of my Remembrance But if it be not true III. The Third Passage is p. 69 70. throughout These are great things to be spoken so boldly 1. Do you suppose your Reader one that never read Church-History What Work the Bishops made for Arrianism for Nestorianism for the Eutychians and Aâ—â—phalites against Nazianzen Chrysostom c. for the Monothelites about the tria Capitula for Images against Emperors and Kings setting up the Pope and decreed the Deposition of all Princes that obey him not and making Loyalty to be Heresis Henriciana How the River Oronte at Antioch hath been coloured with the Blood and the Graves of the Monks and People that fought it out in the Streets for the several Bishops what work they made at the first Council at Constance the first and the second of Ephesus the Council at Calcedon and many another How many Ages they were and yet are the Army of the Pope to subdue Princes and Nations Truth and Justice and set up the Evil that now reigneth in the Christian World How even against the Popes Will they made the best King and Emperor Ludovicus Pius as a Pennance resign his Crown and Scepter on the Altar to a Rebel Son and sent him to Prison He that ever read but Baronius Binnius or other Episcopal History will pity you can you name one Presbyter for very many Bishops that have been the Heads or Fomenters of Heresie Schism or Rebellion and yet Presbyters were more in Number than Bishops Innumerable Bishops saith Binnius were in the Monothelite Council under â—hilipicuâ— Of all things that ever befel the Christian Church I scarce know any thing comparable in Shame and Mischievous Effects to the horrid perfideousness Contention Schism and Pride of Bishops Cursing one Year by Hundreds all that were of one Opinion and another Year all that were of the contrary as the times and Interest and Emperor changed And if Arius or Novatus Aerius and Donatus which are all you name were the Beginners of any Schism how many hundred Bishops were the Promoters of them all save that of Aerius against themselves And is it any honour to Episcopacy that Arius and Aerius an Arian were not Bishops when they were said to be Seekers of Bishopricks and to divide because they could not obtain them Sure they were Prelatical Presbyters what honour were it to Episcopacy that you are no Bishop if all these and such things were vended by you in hope of a Bishoprick or some Preferment I will never whilst I breathe trust a Presbyter that sets himself to get Preferment no more than I will trust a But did you know or did you not that as for Novatus and Novatian one of them was an ill-chosen Bishop of Rome and the other a Promoter of his Prelacy and that as for Donatus there were two of them one of them a Bishop and that the Donatists Schism was meerly and basely Prelatical even whether their Bishop or Cecilianus should carry it and that their Re-baptizing and Re-ordaining and Schism was because they took none to have power that had it not from their Bishop as being their right like our Re-ordainers And are these Instances to prove what you assert Were it not for entring upon an unpleasing and unprofitable Task I would ask you 1. Who that Iuncto of Presbyters was that dethroned the King was it they that petitioned and protested against it 2. Whether it was not an Episcopal Parliament forty to one if not an hundred that began the War against the King 3. Whether the General and Commanders of the Army twenty to one were not Conformists 4. Whether the Major Generals in the Countries were not almost all Episcopal Conformists The Earl of Stamford was over your Country 5. Whether the Admiral and Sea-Captains were not almost all Episcopal Conformists As Heylin distinguisheth them of Archbishop Abbots mind disliking Arminianism Monopolies c. 6. Whether the Archbishop of York were not the Parliaments Major General 7. Whether the Episcopal Gentry did not more of them take the Engagement and many Episcopal Ministers than the Presbyterians 8. Whether if this Parliament which made the Acts of Uniformity and Conventicles should quarrel with the King it would prove them to be Presbyterians and Nonconformists 9. Whether the Presbyterian Ministers of London and Lancashire did not write more against the Regicides and Usurpers and declare against them than all the Conformists or as much And the Long Parliament was forced and most of them cast out before the King could be destroyed And when they were restored it made way for his Restoration And Sir Thomas Allen Lord Mayor and the City of Londons inviting General Monk from the Rump into the City and joyning with him was the very Day that turned the Scales for the King But all these are Matters fitter for your better Consideration than our Debate I rest Your Servant Rich. Baxter Iuly 26. 1678. To Mr. Long of Exeter Numb VI. A Resolution of this Case What 's to be done when the Law of the Land commands Persons to go to their Parish-Church and Parents require to go to private Meetings Quest. THE Law of the Land commandeth me to go to the Publick Churches the Canon commandeth me to go to my own Parish-Church and not to another Parish Both forbid me to go to Conventicles and silenced Preachers My Father and Mother forbid me to go to the Publick Churches and command me to go constantly to a silenced Minister in Meetings forbidden by the Law But specially not to go to my Parish Priest saying he is an insufficient and drunken Railer but to a Neighbour Parish if I will not obey their first Command Am I now bound to obey my Parents
Case I continued Silent as to any further Suit or Plea keeping constantly in the Communion of the Parish Churches where I lived till in 1668. I was imprisoned for Teaching a few ignorant Neighbours whom thereby I drew with me into the Church and was delivered by righteous Judges VIII The Lord Keeper Bridgman near that time called some of us as by the King's pleasure to Receive and Treat of some Proposals offered for Comprehension and Indulgence and appointed Bishop Wilkins and Dr. Burton to Treat with Dr. Manton and Dr. Bates and me which required that we opened to them our Case We came to a full Agreement which Judge Hale then Lord Chief Baron gâ—eatly approving it drew up in an Act to be offered the Commons who Voted to receive no such Act and defeated the King's Offer and our Hopes IX In 1672. the King again declared not only his Judgment but Resolution for our Leave to Preach and gave us actually Licenses But many Church-men opposed it and called it Schism and disswaded us from using our granted Liberty and said we were bringing in Popery by it And the Parliament was against it and caused the King to reverse his Licenses And in this time I wrote my Books against our Silencing in Defence of the Liberty granted by the King though they were after printed X. After this Bishop Gunning of Ely urged me to declare the Reasons of our Nonconformity and said He would Petition the King to force us to it that we might be Answered and not keep up a Schism and not tell for what I told him I would beg leave to do it on my knees but durst not lest they that called for it could not bear it XI And the Right Reverend Bishop of London urged me to the same and said That the King took us as not Sincere because we so long forbore Conforming and declared not our Reasons To whom I gave the same Answer XII The Earl of Orery told me Bishop Morley proposed some Terms for Concord to keep out Popery and urged me to draw up for the said Bishop what we must have granted which I did and had the Bishops frustrating Answer XIII Another time Dean Tillotson and Dr. Stillingfleet moved us to a Treaty for Concord as encouraged by Bishop Morley and others And we gave them all our Desires in terminis which they seem'd to consent to if the Bishop had not rejectect it XIV After this I wrote a Book of the True way of Universal Concord and directed it to to Bishop Morley and Bishop Gunning as the Men that I meant that had frustrated our hopes On which Bishop Gunning sent Dr. Crowther to inviâ—e me to a Conference and ourâ— Debate three days was Which is the true way of Universal Concord which he maintained to be by Obedience to the Legislative and Iudicial Governing of the College of Pastors I drew up the Sum in three Letters to him maintaining Universal Communion but denying all Forreign Iurisdiction and the possibility of one Humane Soveraigntâ— Monarchical or Aristâ—cratical over all Kings and Churches and all the World XV. After and under all this Discourse Pulpits and Press by Men not to be despised openly accused us as Contrâ—ving and Designing a Rebellion by continuing Nonconformists when we had nothing to say for it So that now our Silence past almost into a seeming Confession of an intended Rebellion Now I appeal to Reason and Conscience to Christianity and Humanity Whether all these Calls of Kings and Bishops Friends and Accusers justifie not a Serious Account of our Case after Fourteen or Seventeen Years accused Silence XVI Yet after all this I durst not I did not write either any Iustification of our Scruples or any Reasons to prove the Impositâ—â—ns sinful save that I gave the Reasons for our not ceasing to preach and against a spurious sort of Diocesanes of some Innâ—vatoâ—s Description But only baâ—ely named de facto what it was that we feared as sin protesting over and over not to accuse the Law or the Conformists XVII And that which on all these Provocations I have done in many Books is but these two things 1. To beg for Concord and prove and it never was nor will be had by forcing all to profess consent to numerous dubious unnecessary Things but only on Terms few plain and necessary in which all sound Christians are agreed 2. To beg for mercy not so much to many hundred suffering Ministers and many Thousand dissenting godly Christians such as no Nation under Heaven out of his Majesty's Dominion hath better that I can hear of but specially for many score thousand needy ignorant untaught Souls For I wrote with respect 1. To the Case of the whâ—le Land before I knew that Seven thousand of the former Incumbents would stay in 2. To the Case of London in the dreadful Plague when infected Men cried for help and had no Teachers the Pastors being fled and the Nonconforâ—â—sts prohibited And about a dozen that ventured and as Grosthead spake obâ—â—â—â—ently disobeyed saw wondrous Success of their Labours in the Penitence of the â—â—â—â—ghted humbled Crowds 3. To the Case of the Fire that the next year burnt City and Churches and many years but few Capacious Tabernacles were built so that Publick Worship mostly ceased And hundred Thousands of undone Persons should then have had special Comfort and Counsel But the Nonconformists were forbidden still 4. I had special respect to the Case of Great Parishes such as Martins Giles Stepney and many more where Ten Twenty Forty thousand persons have no room in their Parish Churches and Mahometans use some Publick Worship And what shall all these Persons do who by Custom excused by Necessity grow to live willingly like Atheists In my Poverty I built a Tabernacle in Martins Parish and though I have the Bishops License to preach in London Diocess I could not be suffered to use it though I would have had the Liturgy there used And I thankfully and gladly accepted of Dr. Lloyd's Consent to take it for the Parish use 5. I never beg'd leave for any to preach but loyal sound peaceable Men and that only where there was plain Necessity and for nothing of Salary and only under Government and Laws of Peace And I thank God that all the Passions Provocations Temptations and Trials that have risen have drawn to Plots or Rebellion or Disloyalty no one Person that I can hear of of all those that I was acquainted with and for whom I then beg'd for Liberty and Mercy And most of them are gone out of a Malignant World to their Everlasting Rest. XVIII The contrary minded while they cried down Division as well as I left us but these three impossible ways to cure them 1. To make all Men and Women so much wiser than themselves as to know all their Things called Lawful to be so indeed when we can get too few to understand their Catechism 2. Or else to get all that
est ut res ita tempora rerum c. The Lord Bacon nameth Four Causes of Atheism 1. Many Divisions in Religion 2. The Scandal of Priests 3. A Custom of Prophane Scoffing about Holy Matters 4. Corrupting prosperity Essay 16. p. 91. * Mr. Mitchel as it s said And since this Mr. Elliot of New-England hath sent me a printed Paper of his own contriving a Healing Form of Synods for constant Communion of particular Churches * This is since published She is since married to the Earl of Argyle * Of what is since published see after-ward * Since printed twice * Since printed Since printed as Directions for weak Christians * Now dead * Publisht since the Author's Death by Mr. Ios. Read * Since Printed * Since Printed * Archbishop Bilâ—on frequently and fully professeth See this matter fully cleared in Le Blancis Thesis * 〈…〉 In the Appendâ—x Pardon the tediousness of three or four Sections which repeat some of that which was mentioned before because it is here put in as part of my Pacificatory Endeavours only Though the Conjunction of the matter caused me to speak together of these things yet the matter of this Section and the following was for time about two or three Years after that which followeth In Ian. 1659. the Committee of Parliament the Rump as they were called Voted Liberty of Religion for all not excepting Papists Feb. 28. 1655 6. * This Writing being some how or other mistard cannot as yet be found March 10. 16â—9 A Petition was sent up from Worcestershire to have 〈◊〉 the Long Parliament â—ate till they had done that for King and Church and Country which they were restored for But it was not delivered because Mâ—â—k that recalled them was otherwise benâ— March 16. The Long Parliament â—â—â—tlolâ—ed it self March 25. Dr. Hammond died The last Day of April 1660. I preached to the Parliament May 1. 1660. the Parliament owned the King and voted his Recall This was in the end of Nov. 1660. Iune 25. 1660. I was Sworn the King's Chaplain in Ordinary This was put in because the serious practice of Religion had been made the common Scorn and a few Christians praying or repeating a Sermon together had been persecuted by some Prelates as a heinous Crime This was added because we knew what had been done and was like to be done again This was added because that the utter neglect of Discipline by the over-hot Prelates had caused all our Perplexities and Confusions and in this Point is the chiefest part of our Difference with them indeed and not about Ceremonies This was added because abundance of Ministers had been cast out in the Prelates Days for not reading publickly a Book which allowed Dancing and such Sports on the Lord's Day a a The Form of ordering of Priests b b Ibidem Acts 20 17 18. * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so taken Matth. 2. 6. Rev. 12. â— 19. 15 c c Rev. 2. 1. e e Ibidem etiam exhortationes castigationes censurae divinae nam indicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summumque futuri Iudicii praejudicium esse Si quis ita deliquerit ut a communione orationis conventus omnis Sancti commercii relegatur Praesident probati quique seniores hoc norem istum non precio sed testimonio adepti Tert. Apol. Cap. 39. f f Nec de aliorum manibus quam praesidentium sumimus idem de corona militis Cap. 3. g g Dandi quidem baptismi habet jus Summus Sacerdos qui est Episcopus desint Presbyteri Diaconi Idem de Baptismo Cap. 17. h h Omni actu ad me periâ—to 〈◊〉 coâ—trahi Presbyterium Cornel apud Cyprian Epis. 46. i i Florentissimâ— illi clero lecum praesidenti Cyprian Epist. 55. ad Cornel. k k Vt Episcopus nullus caâ—â—sam audiat absque presentiâ clericorum suorum alioquin irrita erit sententia Episcopi nisi clericorum presentiâ confirmetur Concil Carthag 4. Cap. 23. l l Encerption Egberti Cap. 43. m m 15. qu. 7. Cap. Nullus The Parochial Government answerable to the Church-Session in Scotland The Presbyterical or Monthly Synods answerable to the Scottish Presbytery or Ecclesiastical Meeting Diocesane Synods answerable to the provincial Synods in Scotland * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Superintendentes unde nomen Episcopi tractum est Hieron Epist. 85. ad Evagrium See Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions and our 39 Articles This is spoken of the Old Common Prayer Book and not of the New where the Doctrine in point of Infants Salvation is changed All this enclosed part was left out of the Petition as presented to his Majesty This only being inserted in the room of it And on the contrary should we lose the Opportunity of our desired Reconciliation and Union it astonisheth us to foresee what doleful Effects our Divisions would produce which we will not so much as mention in particulars lest our Words should be misunderstood And seeing all this may safely and easily now be prevented we humbly beseech the Lord in Mercy to vouchsafe to your Majesty an Heart to discern a right of Time and Judgment * * This was thus expressed in the Petition that was presented not presuming to meddle with the Consciences of those many of the Nobility and Gentry c. ††What follows in this double inclosure was omitted in the Copy presented this only being inserted in the room of it We only crave your Majesty's Clemency to our selves and others who believe themselves to be under its Obligations And God forbid that we that are Ministers of the Word of Truth should do any thing to encourage your Majesty's Subjects to cast off the Conscience of an Oath * * This enclosed part was quite left out of the Copy that was presented * Dr. Wallis Declar. p. 11. p. 11. p. 11. p. 12. p. 12. p. 12. p. 12. p. 13. p. 14. This occasioned Mr. Durel after to say how hardly I was persuaded to let go the Place * But since it is licensed and printed called Directions for weak Christians c. Mr. Hales * Since Bishops of Chester Ely and Norwich upon enquiry of the Inhabitants since I understand that it is no such thing but that Aylesbury was well supplied either by a setled Incumbent or the Preacher of the Garison For somewhat the like Passage see Rushw. Hist. Callect 3 part Vol. 1. 134. Our Arguments Their Answer Note this great Bishop's Acquaintance with Antiquity * Here we had a great Debate they should have proved their penal Imposition lawful but I could get them to no more * This was a mistake in the Speaker or the Scribe * Frewen * Since of his death he made it his request that the ejected Ministers might be used again but his request was rejected by them that had overwitted him as being too late * Referring to something that past