those whom they had helped to Power were turning it against them and breaking them to pieces by dashing Independency against them Aspiring Men make fair Promises till they have gained their point but when that is once secured they take other Measures They say that Maximilian for the gaining of Votes in order to the Empire used secret Preachings to please the Protestant Princes the Elector Palatine the Dukes of Saxony and Brandenburgh and went openly to Mass to please the Popish Bishops of Mentzs Triers and Collein Also the claims of the worldly increase with their Power And for illustration-sake when the House being garbell'd had much less right but more force the Army as yet agreeing with them and the good King being in their hands then they gave to the Declarations of their Pleasure the Title not as before of Ordinances but of Acts of Parliament Oliver likewise declared plainly That there was as much need to keep the Cause by Power as to get it And being potent he entred the House and mock'd at his Masters and commanded with insolent disdain that That Bawble meaning the Mace of the Speaker should be taken away Men may intend well but using the help of the illegal secular Arm they can never secure what they propose but frequently render that which was well settled much worse by their unhinging of it By such means it comes to pass that the Civil State is embroyl'd and Religion sensibly decays â—â—stead of growing towards perfection where publick order is interrupted and Men gain a Liberty which they know not how to use Secondly It appeareth by the History of our late Revolutions which began with pretence of a more pure Religion that our Dissentions occasion'd great Corruptions both in Faith and manners Then the War was Preached up as the Christian Cause And one of the City-Soldiers mortally wounded at Newberry-fight was applauded in an Epistle to the Houses as one whose Voice was more then humane when he cryed out O that I had another Life to loose for Iesus Christ. Then this Doctrine so very immoral and unchristian was by some Preached and by great numbers embrac'd The Lord hath no more to lay to the charge of an Elect Person yet in the heighth of Iniquity and the excess of Riot and committing all the Abominations that can be committed then he hath to lay to the charge of a Saint Triumphant in Glory Then certain Soldiers enter'd a Church with five Lights as Emblems of five things thought fit to be extinguish'd viz. The Lord's-day Tythes Ministers Magistrates the Bible Then by a publick Intelligencer who called himself Mercurius Britanicus the Lord Primate Usher himself was reproach'd as an Old Doting Apostating Bishop Instances are endless but what need have we of further Witnesses then the Lords and Commons and the Ministers of the Province of London whose Complaints and Acknowledgments are here subjoyned The Lords and Commons in one of their Ordinances use these words We have thought fit left we partake in other Mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their Plagues to set forth this our deep sence of the great dishonour of God and perillous condition that this Kingdom is in through the abominable Blasphemies and damnable Heresies vented and spread abroad therein tending to the Subversion of the Faith contempt of the Ministry and Ordinance of Jesus Christ. The Ministers made a like acknowledgment saying Instead of extirpating Heresie Schism Profaness we have such an impudent and general inundation of all these evils that Multitudes are not asham'd to press and plead for publick formal and universal Toleration And again We the Ministers of Iesus Christ do hereby testify to all our Flocks to all the Kingdom and to all the Reformed Churches as our great dislike of Prelacy Erastianism Brownism and Independency so our utter abhorrence of Anti-Scripturism Popery Arianism Socinianism Arminianism Antinomianism Anabaptism Libertinism and Familism with all such like now too rise among us Thirdly some Dissenters by the Purity of Religion mean agreeableness of Doctrine Discipline and Life to the dispensation of the New Testament and a removal of humane Inventions and thus far the Notion is true but with reference to our Church it is an unwarrantable Reflexion For it hath but one Principal Rule and that is the Holy Scripture and Subordinate rules in pursuance of the general Canons in Holy Writ are not to be called in our Church any more then in the pure and Primitive Christian Church whose Pattern it follows humane Imaginations but rules of Ecclesiastical Wisdom and Discretion But there are others among the Dissenters who by the Purity of Religion mean a simplicity as oppos'd to composition and not to such mixtures as corrupt the Circumstances or parts of Worship which in themselves are pure Quakers and some others believe their way the purer because they have taken out of it Sacraments and External Forms of Worship and endeavoured as they phrase it to bring the Peoples minds out of all Visibles By equal reason the Papists may say their Eucharist is more pure then that of the Protestants because they have taken the Cup from it But that which maketh a pure Church is like that which maketh a pure Medicine not the sewness of the Ingredients but the good quality of them how many soever they be and the aptness of their Nature for the procuring of Health Men who have this false Notion of the purity of Religion distill it till it evaporates and all that is left is a dead and corrupt Sediment And here I have judged the following words of Sir Walter Rauleigh not unfit to be by me transcribed and considered by all The Reverend Care which Moses had in all that belong'd even to the outward and least parts of the Tabernacle Ark and Sanctury is now so forgotten and cast away in this Superfine Age by those of the Family by the Anabaptist Brownist and other Sectaries as all cost and care bestow'd and had of the Church wherein God is to be served and worshipped is accounted a kind of Popery and as proceeding from an Idolatrous Disposition Insomuch as time would soon bring to pass if it were not resisted that God would be turned out of Churches into Barnes and from thence again into the Fields and Mountains and under the Hedges and the Officers of the Ministry robbed of all Dignity and Respect be as contemptible as these places all Order Discipline and Church-Government left to newness of Opinion and Men's Fancies Yea and soon after as many kinds of Religions would spring up as there are Parish-Churches within England Every Contentious and ignorant person clothing his Fancy with the Spirit of God and his Imagination with the gift of Revelation insomuch as when the truth which is but One shall appear to the simple multitude no less variable then contrary to it self the Faith of Men will soon after dye
AN ARGUMENT FOR UNION Taken from the True Interest OF THOSE DISSENTERS in ENGLAND Who Profess and call themselves PROTESTANTS LONDON Printed for Tho. Basset at the George in Fleet-street Benj. Tooke at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-yard and F. Gardiner at the White-Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. THE CONTENTS DIssentions are dangerous to the Church Page 1. If the Church should be dissettled by such means our Dissenters would not obtain their Ends. p. 2. Their First or Subordinate End is the Establishing of themselves p. 3. The first Branch of it is the Establishing themselves as a National Church which cannot be hop'd for either First by all of them p. 4. Or Secondly by the Prevalent Party amongst them p. 5. This is prov'd First from several Reasons p. 5 6. Secondly from the history of our late Revolutions p. 6. to 10. After which it is shewed That if they could not then gain their point they can much less do it now p. 10 c. The second Branch of their Subordinate End is the settling of themselves by mutual Sufferance p. 12. This is proved still more improbable p. 12 13. Also it is shewed that Parties tolerate each other no longer then one gets Power to suppress the rest with publick safety p. 14. to 18. The Second End of the Dissenters is more Principal and the first part of it is the keeping out of Popery p. 18. That this End cannot be obtained by Dissenting from our Church is shewed From Reason p. 18. to p. 25. From the History of the late Times p. 25 c. From the Iudgment and Methods of the Papists themselves p. 28 29. The second part of the more Principal End of the Dissenters is the advancing of Pure Religion p. 30. But there are Reasons to perswade us that upon the Dissettlement of this Church Religion would not be advanced but embased p. 30 34. to 37. And the History of the late Troubles sheweth this to have been so in Fact p. 33 34 38 39. By virtue of the Premisses Dissenters are perswaded to consider seriously the state of things in this time of Prosecution and to hold constant Communion with our Church with which the wisest and best of them hold occasional Communion that the blessed Ends of Truth Holiness and Peace may be obtained p. 40 41 42 43. ERRATA PAge 5. Line 5. for Perswasive read Persuasion p. 12. l. 5. for Laxation read Luxation p. 30. l. 22. for Opposed read Proposed p. 36. l. 17 for ties read Impurities AN ARGUMENT FOR UNION c. I Take it for granted seeing a Truth so very plain needs no formal Proof that the ready way to overthrow a Church is first to divide it It is also too manifest that our Dissentions are Divisions properly so called or Publick Ruptures It is true notwithstanding these Ruptures the Church still lives and in some good measure prospers But how Mortal these Breaches may at last prove through their Continuance and Increase a Man who has but a Competency of Judgment may easily foretel It is therefore the business of every Good Man as far as in him lies to disswade with Prudent Zeal from these Divisions which are in their Nature so uncharitable and so perillous in their Consequence Now one way of moving Men to desist from their Undertakings is the shewing of them with calmness of Temper and plainness of Reasoning that their Ends are not likely to be obtain'd As also that by the Means they use they will bring upon themselves those very Evils which they fear and of the removal of which they have Expectation Wherefore I have chosen an Argument of this Nature in order to the persuading of Dissenters to joyn in the Exercise of Constant Communion with the Church of England And I have here endeavoured to make it evident to them that in attempting to pull down this Establish'd Church they unwarily turn their own force against themselves and prepare Materials for the Tombs of their own Parties This Argument is here offer'd to them in the Spirit of Christian Charity and without any design of exposing or exasperating any person who differs is his Notions from the sence of the Writer For he had rather lie at the Feet of the meanest Man who is overtaken with an errour then spurn insolently against him Now in the managing of this Argument it is necessary to shew two things First What those Ends are which are proposed by the Dissenters I mean those which seem with any tolerable colour of Reason fit to be proposed and which are designed by the better and wiser of that number Secondly What Reasons may make it manifest that the Ends which they propose can never be procured by the Dissettlement of the Church of England These things being shewed there shall follow such a Conclusion as is suitable to the Premisses First For the Ends proposed by the more Prudent Dissenters they are of two kinds The First End is Subordinate The Second is Principal Or the End to which the former serventh in the quality of the Means The Subordinate End is the Establishing of themselves And it hath two Branches Either the setling themselves First as a National Church Or Secondly as several distinct Churches giving undisturbed Toleration to one another For I am not willing to believe all of them to be given up to such a degree of Infatuation as to be intent only upon beating down without considering what is fit to be set up That is the way of Tempests and not of Builders The Principal is the further Advancement of the Reformed Religion This also hath two parts 1. The Removal of Popery 2. The Introduction of the Protestant Religion in greater Purity and Perfection then the Church of England is in their Opinion as yet arrived at or can probably attain to by vertue of its present Constitution If there be amongst them Men disturbed in their Understandings by the heat of Enthusiasm if there be amongst them any Men whose Wisdom is sensual and worldly who presumptuously make Heaven stoop to Earth and conceal their private and secular Designs under the venerable name of Pure Religion I do not concern my self with them in this Persuasive to Vnion The former cannot and the latter will not be convinc'd For there is no Ear so deaf as that which Interest hath stopp'd And there is a great deal of earnest Truth suggested in the Jocular Speech of Iames the fifth of Scotland who when his Treasurer desired liberty to be plain with him drew out his Sword and said merrily to him I shall slay thee if thou speak against my profit The First Branch of the first or Subordinate End of the Dissenters is the Establishing of themselves as a National Church This is either designed by All of them or by a Party which believeth it self to be most sober and most numerous and most likely to prevail over the rest so far at least as to become
the State-Party For All of them to expect to be united in one Uniform Body is to hope not only against the Grounds of Hope but of Possibility For the Parties are very many and very differing or rather very contrary and they cannot frame amongst them any common Scheme in which their Assents can be united What Communion for Example sake can the Presbyterians have with Arians Socinians Anabaptists Fifth-Monarchy-Men Sensual Millenaries Behmenists Familists Seekers Antinomians Ranters Sabbatarians Quakers Muggletonians Sweet-Singers These may associate in a Caravan but cannot joyn in the Communion of a Church Such a Church would be like the Family of Errour and her Daughters described in Mr. Spencer's Fairy-Queen of which none were alike unless in this that they were all deform'd And how shall the Christians of this present Church be disposed of to their just satisfaction They will never Incorporate with such a Medly of Religion and they are such both for their Quality and their number as not to be beneath a very serious Consideration For the Prevalent Party there seemeth to be both Reason and Experience against their hopes of Establishing themselves as a National Church These Reasons amongst others have moved me to entertain this Persuasive concerning them First Such a Party not maintaining Episcopal Government which hath obtained here from the Times of the Britaine 's who in the Apostolical Age received the Christian Religion and which is so agreeable to the Scheme of the Monarchy It is not probable that they shall easily procure an exchange of it for a newer Model by the general consent of Church or State I may add the Body of the People of England whose Genius renders them tenacious of their Antient Customs Again All the Parties amongst us have of late declared for Mutual Forbearance They cannot therefore be consistent with themselves if they frame such a National Constitution by which any Man who Dissents from it shall be otherwise dealt with then by personal Conference which also he must have liberty not to admit if he be persuaded it is not fit or safe for him And such a Body without any other nerves for its strength and motion for the Encouragement of those who are Members of it and the Discouragement of those who refuse its Communion will not long hold together Nor hath it means in it sufficient for the Ends to which it is designed And indeed by this means the Spiritual Power of Excommunication will be rendred of none Effect For what Punishment what Shame what Check will it be to Cross and Perverse Men if being shut out of the National Church they may with open Arms and with Applause due to real Converts be received into this or the other particular Congregation as it best suiteth with their good likeing Furthermore It is commonly said that since the Presbyterians have gathered Churches out of Churches there are not many true and proper Disciplinarians in England If it be so then Independency is amongst Dissenters the prevalent side and I know not how a National Church can be made up of Separate Independent Churches for each Congregation is a Church by it self and hath besides the general Covenant of Baptism a particular Church-Covenant and therefore it is difficult to imagine how all of them can be by any Coherence of the Parts united into one intire Society But be it supposed that the Disciplinarians are of all Parties the most numerous and prevalent yet Experience sheweth how hard a Work it is for all of them to form themselves into a Church of England In the late times of Publick disquiet they had great Power they had in humane appearance fair and promising Opportunities and yet there grew up at their Roots another Party which in Conclusion over-dropped them and brought their Interest into a sensible decay it being the nature of every Faction upon Victory obtain'd over their Common Adversary to subdivide In the Year 1640 The Commons had a debate about a new form of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction And they agreed that every Shire should be a several Diocess That there should be constituted in each Shire a Presbytery of Twelve Divines with a President as a Bishop over them That this President with the Assistance of some of the Presbyters should Ordain Suspend Deprive Degrade Excommunicate That there should be a Diocesan Synod once a Year and each third Year a National Synod A while after it was voted by them that to have a Presbytery in the Church was according to the Word of God Many other Steps were made in favour of the Discipline The Common-Prayer-Book was removed an Assembly of Divines was Established Their Directory was introduced they were united in the Bond of a solemn League and Covenant There was sent up from the County of Lancaster a Petition signed with 12000 Hands for the settling of Classes in those parts A Petition of the like importance was framed by divers of the Common-Council of London They seemed nigh the gaining of their Point yet they widely missed of it There was in the Assembly it self a ferment of Dissension Mr. Sympson and some others favoured an Independent Mr. Selden and some of his Admirers an Erastian Interest There was a Party in the Nation who were then called Dissenting Brethren and to these the Directory was as offensive as the Canons and Liturgy had been to those of the Discipline They drew up Reasons against the Directory of Church Government by Presbyters They afterwards Printed an open Remonstrance against Presbytery of which the Assembly complain'd to the House as of a Scandalous Libel And there were those who Reproach'd the Presbyterians in the same Phrases in which they had given vent to their displeasure against the Liturgy of the Church of England The Ministers of Lancashire complain'd concerning them That they had compared the Covenant to the Alcoran of the Turks and Mass of the Papists and Service-book of the Prelates As likewise that they said it was a Brazen-Serpent fit to be broken in pieces and ground to Powder rather then that Men should fall down and Worship it Amongst the Disciplinarians some were confident of Success One of them for he was not then gone over to the Part of the Independents expressed his assurance in these most unbecoming Words before the Commons It will said he bring such a Blot on God as He shall never wipe out if your poor Prayers should be turn'd into your own bosomes that Prayer for Reformation A Speech not fit to have been repeated if it were not necessary to learn Sobriety of Wisdom from the Remembrances of Extravagance in former Times Others acknowledg'd their hopes but did not dissemble their Fears Six years ago said a person eminent amongst them after this Parliament had sate a while it was generally believ'd that the Woman the Church was fallen into her Travel but she continues still in pain Insomuch as they begin to think she hath
not gone her full time and earnestly desire she may because they fear nothing more then an abortive Reformation Others did openly confess that their hopes were not answer'd and that the State of Religion was much declined The Ministers of the Province of London used upon this occasion these passionate words Instead of a Reformation we may say with Sighs what our Enemies said of us heretofore with scorn we have a Deformation in Religion Those Independents who adher'd to that part of the House which joyned with the Army prevailed for a Season but they also were disturb'd by those who went under the Names of Lilburnists Levellers Agitators Then likewise Gerard Wynstanley publish'd the Principles of Quakerism discoursing or rather repeating the Dreams of his Imagination in such Expressions as these If you look for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ you must know that the Spirit within the Flesh is the Jesus Christ. Every Man hath the light of the Father within himself which is the Mighty Man Christ Iesus Then Enthusiasm excited in part by the common pretence of an extraordinary Light revealed as of a suddain in those days in England brake forth into open distraction Then Ioseph Salmon a present Member of the Army publish'd his Blasphemies and defended his Immoralities He justify'd himself and those of his way saying That it was God who did Swear in Them and that it was their Liberty to keep Company with Women for their Lust. Wyke his Disciple kissed a Soldier three times and said I breath the Spirit of God into thee Salmon himself printed a Pamphlet call'd a Rout in which he set forth his villainous self as the Christ of God saying I am willing to become Sin for you though the Lord in me knows no Sin We love to sweat drops of Bloud under all mens offences We shall see of the Travel of our Souls Enthusiasm tho' not in this rankness of it was now openly favour'd by Cromwell himself who together with six Soldiers prayed and preached at Whitehal His own temper was warmed with fits of Enthusiasm And he confess'd it to a Person of Condition from whom I receiv'd it as did others yet living that he pray'd according to extraordinary Impulse And that not feeling such Impulse which he call'd Supernatural he did forbear to pray oftentimes for several days together In Process of time his House of Commons and he himself were publickly disturb'd by that wild Spirit in the raising of which they had been so unhappily instrumental A Quaker came to the door of the House and drew his Sword and cut those nigh him and said He was inspir'd by the Holy Spirit to kill every Man who sate in that Convention And he himself was not only conspir'd against by those who call'd themselves the Free and Well-affected people of England but openly bespattered by the Ink of the Quakers in several Pamphlets and by their Clamours affronted in his own Chappel where before his face they gave bold interruption to his Preachers Other Historical Memorials might be here produced relating to the hopeful Rise and mighty Progress and equal Declension of the Disciplinarian Party But in such cases I choose rather to take of my Pen then to lean too hard upon it Yet the nature of my Argument did necessarily lead me to the former Remarks and if useful Truth smarts let Guilt suffer a Cure and not kick against the Charitable Reporter In Sum the longer the Church of England was dissettled the greater daily grew the confusion and the division of Sects was multiplyed not unlike to that of Winds in the Marriners Compass in which Artists have increas'd the Partitions from four to two and thirty Insomuch that the very Distractions which were among us did in some measure prepare the way for the return of the King and the Restitution of the Church men finding no other common Bottom on which the Interests of Religion and civil Peace might be established Now if the Dissenters could not then when so fair Opportunities were in their hands carry on their cause to any tolerable Settlement much less may they now hope to do it For there are now many hinderances which did not then lie cross their way First The Platform of Discipline so highly applauded so earnestly contended for during the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King Iames hath now been in part tryed and the presence of it to omit other Reasons hath abated the Reverence some had for it Secondly There is not at this time such an Union amongst Dissenters as appeared at the beginning of our late Troubles The number of those Dissenters who were not for the Discipline was then very inconsiderable But in a few years they brake as it were into Fractions of Fractions Insomuch that the Ministers of the Province of London expressed the Estate of things in the Year 47 on this manner Instead of Vnity and Vniformity in Matters of Religion we are torn in pieces with Distractions Schisms Separations Divisions and Subdivisions Thirdly Those who then favoured the Discipline are much departed from their former Scheme of Government inclining to Independency which they once denyed to be God's Ordinance and pleading for Toleration which they once called The last and strongest hold of Satan Fourthly At the beginning of our Disturbances many Men of Quality and such who had a Zeal of God favour'd the Settlement of the Discipline in the simplicity of their hearts They had not then seen any Revolutions they had not discovered the secret Springs of publick Motions nor the vile Interests of many men which lay concealed under the disguise of Pure Religion They saw what all Men may see in all times abuses in Church and State and the very name of Reformation was sweet to them Now notwithstanding the sincere zeal and the power of these Men the Discipline could not long be carried on much less could it be perfected by them There is therefore at this time a much greater Improbability of Success in the like design For many considerable men Piously inclin'd have seen their error and will not be a second time engaged And they will not say of our late changes as the Protector did That they were the Revolutions of God and not humane designs That they were the Revolutions of Christ upon whose Shoulders the Government was stayed They are not of the same mind with him who told the Commons That if they acted Faith then the Records of those Times on their side should bear thus to all Posterity the Book of the Wars and Counsels of God Also since those days through the laxation of Discipline during the licence of the War the discovery of great and black Hypocrisies the multiplication of Parties and Opinions the publishing of many lewd and irreligious books from Unlicens'd Presses Atheism hath made very formidable Advances And they say that some undisguised Sceptics and
Atheists have sometimes since the King's Return been much used in the Cause of our Dissenters Now if well meaning zeal could not establish the Discipline it is not likely to be promoted much less settled by the help of such hands of which the outsides are not washed by so much as an External form of Godliness The Second Branch of the first End of Dissenters seems more improbable then the first viz. The settling themselves as several distinct Parties giving undisturbed Toleration to each other This seems not probable upon many accounts First Some Dissenters believe some of the Parties to be incapable of Forbearance as maintaining Principles destructive of Christian Faith and Piety This Opinion they still have for instance sake of Antinomians Quakers and Muggletonians And they formerly declamed against the Toleration of divers others They publish'd here by Authority so called an Act of the Assembly at Edinburgh Against Erastians Independents and Liberty of Conscience bearing as they speak their publick Testimony against them not only as contrary to sound Doctrine but as more special Letts and Hinderances as well to the Scottish received Doctrine Discipline and Government as to the Work of Reformation and Uniformity in England and Ireland The Ministers of the Province within the County Palatine of Lancaster in their Harmonious Consent with the Ministers of the Province of London publish'd their Judgments in these zealous Words A Toleration would be a putting of a Sword into a Mad-man's hand An appointing a City of Refuge in Mens Consciences for the Devil to fly to A proclaiming Liberty to the Wolves to come into Christ's Fold to prey upon his Lambs A Toleration of Soul-murther the greatest murther of all others and for the establishing whereof damned Souls in Hell would accurse Men on Earth Neither would it be to provide for tender Consciences but to take away all Conscience If error be not forcibly kept under it will be Superior It seems they were not then of the later Perswasion of the Protector who said concerning the People of several Judgments in this Land That they were All the Flock of Christ and the Lambs of Christ though perhaps under many unruly Passions and Troubles of Spirit whereby they gave disquiet to themselves and others And that they were not so to God as to us Again There is no firmness or social influence in the nature of this Union It is the Union of a multitude who meet and disperse at pleasure and he who proposeth this way as the means to knit Men into Christian Communion is like a Projector who should design the keeping of the stones together in the strength of a firm and lasting House by for bearing the use of Cement The Union that lasteth is that of the Concord of Members in an Uniform Body Moreover It is to be consider'd that there are no Parties in this or any other Nation so exactly poised that they have equal Numbers and Interests There is always one of them which over-ballanceth the rest And one of the several ways must always be favoured as the Religion of the State And it is natural for the strongest side to attempt the subduing of the weaker And though this be not soon effected yet 'till one side getteth the mastery the Parties remain not as distinct Bodies settled in peace within themselves and towards each other but as Convulsions in the common body of the State Some think this Inclination to the swallowing up of all other Parties to be found almost only in the Romish Church But there is something of it to be discerned I will not say in all Churches seeing I well understand the good Temper of our own which suffered Bonner himself to live yet in all Factions and Parties though the inequality of Power makes it not seem to be alike in all of them The Catt hath the same inward Parts with the Lyon though they differ much in size And some such likeness they will find who dissect humane nature and Bodies civil There is this Disposition in Men whether they be the Politick or the Conscientious The External practice of all Parties is answerable to this inward Disposition There is this inward Disposition in men who espouse any Faction whether their Ends be designs of State or of Religion Parties who are not otherwise then in shew concerned for Religion will perpetually covet Power after Power And Parties who are serious and Conscientious in their way whatsoever it is will not remain in an indifference of tempers towards thosewho treadin contrary Paths and with whom they do not maintain Communion For therefore they with draw from them because they believe Communion with them to be unlawful Otherwise they have no Judgment in the price of Peace and Unity if they willingly part with it when they may without sin enjoy it and if they esteem their way sinful and believe those persons who remain without their pale to be so gone astray as without Repentance to be eternally lost Charity it self will urge them to use all means probable towards the reducing of them And they will be apt to think that the suffering of them in their Wandrings declares them to be contented with their Perdition The External Practice of all Parties do's shew plainly what is their inward Disposition All would do what is good in their own eyes but I do not perceive that any are willing to let others do so Where there is Power there is little Forbearance And the same men as their Conditions alter speak of Mercy or Iustice. Amongst those of the Party of Donatus whose Schism opened so dangerous a Wound in the Churches of Africa all pleaded earnestly for Forbearance whilst their Power was in its Minority Yet S. Austin remindeth one of them of a Practice contrary to their Profession whilst they turn'd against the Maximianists the edge of the Theodosian Laws and abus'd the Power which they had gotten under Iulian in oppressing as far as in them lay the Catholick Christians Amongst those of the Protestant Perswasion the Heads of the Discipline were plainly unwilling that any should have leave to make a separation from their body And one of them with a mixture of Grief and Expostulation thus discoursed before the Commons The Famous City of London is become an Amsterdam Separation from Our Churches is countenanc'd Toleration is cried up Authority lieth asleep Every one would have Power to rowse upit self and maintain his Cause And indeed it is and has been too often in Religion as it is and was in Philosophy Where the divers Sects do not contend meerly for the enlarging the bounds of Philosophical Arts in a sincere and solid inquiry but for the Translating the Empire of Opinion and settling it upon themselves The same men who pleaded for Forbearance in this Church and remov'd themselves into New-England as by themselves was said for the Liberty of thier Conscience or Persuasion when once they
over to a new Party Dissention it self amongst Protestants weakneth their Interest and that which weakens one side strengthens another And many men entangled in Controversy and wearied with endless wrangling are too apt for mere ease and quiet sake to cast themselves in servile manner into the Arms of pretended Infallibility Our Dissentions have already introduced too much of that which is the very spirit of Iesuitism the doing of Evil that pretended Good may come of it the serving of a Cause by any means whether they be just or unjust Some Dissenters do accidently prepare the way for Romish Religion by running into an other extream upon pretence of avoiding Popery by decrying the Church of England as Antichristian and Popish and by condemning that as Popish which is Christian and decent As Episcopacy Liturgy Observation of the Nativity of Christ and other Festivals Reverence of bodily Gesture particularly in receiving the Holy Communion Preservation of places and things set apart for Holy uses with reverend care By this means they bring Popery into Reputation Men will be apt to say if such a Body as the Church of England be Popish it is fit we set down and consider of it for surely they are not so inclined without weighty Reasons If the Clergy of it be inclined to that Religion the Introduction of which together with great numbers of the Popish-Clergy will diminish their preferment it must be the Power of Truth which moveth them against their worldly Interest They will continue their Argument and say further if such good things as these abovementioned be Romish and it be lawful to judge of the whole by the parts of it which are before us surely that which is Popish is also Primitive and Evangelical That which we have examin'd is good and that which we have not may probably be of the same kind Secondly the History of our late Revolutions sheweth that Popery will not be smother'd in the Ruines of the Church of England but rather be advanced upon them It made great Progress in the late Times insomuch that the Dissenters do remove the Odium of the late King 's execrable Murther from themselves and lay it upon the Iesuites thereby tacitly acknowledging that they had so great a power over some of them as to make them to become their Instruments for the cutting of the Lord 's Anointed For if they will not allow Cromwell and Ireton and some others of that Order to have been Dissenters properly so called yet certainly they must not deny that Name to Mr. Peters Mr. Iohn Goodwin and many like to them who appeared publickly in that very black and insolent wickedness How far it is true that the Jesuits influenc'd those Counsels I do not now examine nor do's my Talent lie in Mysteries of State But that in the late Revolutions Popery was not rooted out no Man can remain ignorant who is of competent Age and has not perfectly lost the use of his memory though he has made the most negligent Observations Robert Mentit de Salmonet a Scotchman and a Secular Priest in actual exercise of Communion with the Church of Rome hath publickly taken notice of the many Priests slain at Edge-Hill and of two Companies of Walloons and other Catholicks as he is pleased to style them in the Service of the States It hath been commonly said that Gifford the Jesuite appeared openly in the Year 47 amongst the Agitators and that his Pen was used in the Paper drawn up at a Committee in the Army and call'd the Agreement of the People K. Charles the Martyr speaketh of such things as notorious in one of his printed Declarations All Men know said he the great number of Papists which serve in their Army Commanders and others In the Year 49 Those in the House were acquainted with divers Papers taken in a French Man's Trunk at Rye discovering a Popish Design to be set on foot in England with Commissions from the Bishop of Chalcedon by Authority of the Church of Rome to Popish Priests and others for settling the Discipline of the Romish Church in England and Scotland Mr. Edwards reports from Mr. Mills a Common-Council-man who was so informed by a knowing Papist that the Romanists did generally shelter themselves under the Vizor of Independency It is certain that a College of Jesuits was established at Come in the Year 52. And in a Paper found there mention was made of 155 reconcil'd that year to the Church of Rome Oliver himself used these words in a Declaration publish'd by the Advice of his Council It is not only Commonly observed but there remains with Us somewhat of Proof that Iesuites have been found among some discontented Parties in this Nation who are observed to quarrel and fall out with every Form or Administration in the Church or State Dr. Bayly the Romanist openly courted Oliver as the present hopes of Rome and with a Flattery as gross as the Jingle was ridiculous call'd him Oliva Vera And one of his Physitians hath said of him that he was once negotiating with the Romanists for Toleration but brake off the bargain partly because they came not up to his price and partly because he feared it would be offensive to the People It is also publickly told us that an Agreement was made in 49 even with Owen ô Neal that bloody Romanist and that he in pursuance of the Interest of the State so called raised the Siege of London-derry A great door was opened to Romish Emissaries when the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were by publick Order taken away For they were Tests of Romanism Likewise the Doctrine of the unlawfulness of an Oath revived in those days by Roger Williams Samuel Gorton and others helped equivocating Papists to an evasion as I fear it may do at this day among the Quakers So we may be induced to believe by comparing present with former Transactions For we are infomed that in the Reign of King Iames Thomas Newton pretended to have had a Vision of the Virgin Mary who said to him Newton See thou do not take the Oath of Allegiance And being of this publickly examined at the Commission-Table and asked how he knew it to be the Virgin Mary which appeared He answer'd I knew it was she for she appeared unto me in the form of her Assumption It was the Church of England which in our late Troubles principally fortify'd and entrench'd the true Protestant Religion against the Assaults of Rome This Church was still in being though in Adversity She had strong Vitals and did not die notwithstanding there was some Distemper in her Estate There was still a Constitution where Primitive order and decencie might be found and in which Men of Sobriety might be fixed And great numbers of the Church-men by their constant adherence to their Principles under publick contempt and heavy pressure gained daily on the People and convinced
the World that they were not so Popish and Earthly-minded as popular clamour had represented them Also their learned Books and Conferences reduced some and establish'd many and we owe a part of the stability of Men in those times to God's blessing on the Writings of Arch-bishop Land Mr. Chillingworth Dr. Bromhall Dr. Cosins Dr. Hammond and others Last of all It is the Opinion of the Papists themselves that their Cause is promoted by our Dissensions and according to these measures of Judgment they govern their Councils This was the Opinion of the Iesuite Companella in his Discourse touching the Spanish Monarchy written about the Year 1600 and in 54 publish'd at London in our Language Concerning the weakning of the English says that Jesuit there can no better way possibly be found out then by causing Divisions and Dissentions among themselves And as for their Religion it cannot be so easily extinguished and rooted out here unless there were some certain Schools set up in Flanders by means of which there should be scattered abroad the Seeds of Schism c. And whether these kinds of Seeds have not come from hence to us as well as those better ones of the Brabant-Husbandry remaineth not now any longer a question It was the Advice of the Iesuit Contzens To make as much use of the Divisions of Enemies as of the agreement of Friends After this manner it is that they manage themselves they endeavour to widen the Breach in order to the introducing of Popery into a divided Nation They will have hopes as long as we have Divisions They will believe whilst they see the humours are in conflict that the Body will be at last dissolved If they will hope for Resettlement as they declare they do upon such inconsiderable grounds as the Printing of a Monasticon or the Provincial of Lynwood amongst us though in the Quality of History rather then of Title or Law what will they not expect from our un-christian Distempers and from our forbearing of Communion with the establish'd Church as if it were the Synagogue of Satan By this Artifice it is that they gain Proselytes They expose the Protestants as a dis-united People They demand of injudicious Men how they can in Prudence joyn with those who are at variance among themselves Though at this time in the Church of England it self there is much more agreement then in the Church of Rome in which they say there are great numbers of more private Deists and Socinians and some we are certain who publish it to the World that the Primacy is Antichristian in which there are Solemn and Publick Assemblies who declare openly against one another in the great point of the Papal Supremacy and shew by so doing that in their Opinion their common head cannot certainly tell the nature of his Head-ship There remaineth to be considered the second more principal End the advancing Christian Religion in these Kingdoms to greater Purity and Perfection But neither in this is their expectation likely to be answer'd For First The means towards the settling of themselves is the Dissettlement of that which is well fixed And this is the way not to a greater purity in Religion but to the corruption of it For it removeth Charity which is the Spirit of the Christian Religion It letteth loose great numbers who cannot govern themselves it moveth Unbelievers Atheists and Idolaters to pour Contempt upon the Church of Christ and confirmeth them in their evil course It exposeth the Church as a Prey to the Common Enemy Thus the Divisions in Africa gave encouragement to the Arms of the barbarous Nations and those in the Aegyptian Churches made way for the Saracens And the Proposal of the maintenance of Charity and pure Religion by the overthrow of a tolerable Ecclesiastical Constitution is as improbable a Project as that of Flammock who in Henry the 7th's time prosed a Rebellion without a breach of the Peace And it is here to be considered that those who dissent from a National Church do generally make use of such Junctures as are apter to debase then refine Religion They often move for Alterations in the Church when there is a great heat and ferment in the State And in such Seasons the Form of a Church may be pulled in sunder but there is not temper enough and coolness of unbyass'd consideration to set it together to advantage Such times are the Junctures of State Dissenters and amongst them Revolutions generally begin though without the pretence of reforming Religion they are not carried on amongst the People For it will not serve their purpose to say plainly they are against the Government because the Government is against their Interests Now when well meaning Dissenters are in the hands of such worldly Power they will not be able to establish what they think is purest but that which pleaseth their secular Leaders A change in the Church naturally produceth some change in the State and in such changes who can secure the Event for the better The words of Bishop Andrews about the midst of the Reign of K Iames touch this Point and they doubtless are worth our observation When said he they have made the State present naught no Remedy we must have a better for it and so a change needs What Change Why Religion or the Church-Government or somewhat they know not what well stand a while ye shall change your Religion said they of this day the Gun-powder-Traytors and have one for it wherein to your comfort you shall not understand a word not you of the People what you either sing or pray and for variety you shall change a whole Communion for an half Now a blessed exchange were it not What say some others You shall change for a fine new Church-Government a Presbytery would do this better for you than an Hierarchy and perhaps not long after a Government of States then a Monarchy Meddle not with these Changers Now when a State is either disturb'd or dissolv'd men cannot foresee all the ill Consequences of it When the Vessel is stirr'd the Lees come up which lay before undiscerned in the Mass of the Liquor And so it is in Religion it is not fined but rather render'd less pure by motions in the Body Spiritual or Civil Then Politicians use conscientious Instruments no further then they serve a present purpose and for new Purposes they find new Instruments One of the Assembly of Divines discoursed on this manner at a publick Fast. Have not these Trumpets and these poor Pitchers had their share and a good share too in bringing down the Walls of Jericho and the Camp of Midian and have not they like the Story in Ezekiel if I may so express it Prophesy'd you up an Army The Witness of these things is in the whole Kingdom and a Witness of them is in your own Bosomes Yet the Preacher was very sensible at the same time that
away by degrees and all Religion be held in scorn and contempt Fourthly If several contrary Parties be established by way of sufferance no progress is likely to be made towards the perfecting of Religion For the suffering of divers Errors is not the way to the reforming of them One Principle only can be true and the blending of such as are contrary with it createth the greatest of ties a mixture of that which is profane with that which is sacred Fifthly Many Dissenters are not likely to erect a Model by which Christianity may be improved amongst us because they lay aside Rules of discretion and rely not on God's assistance in the use of good means but depend wholly upon immediate illumination without the aids of Prudence And some of the more sober amongst them have inclined too much towards this extream In Reformation said one in his Sermon before the Commons do not make reason your Rule nor Line you go by It is the line of all the Papists The second Covenant doth forbid not only Reason but all Divine Reason that is not contain'd by Institution in the Worship of God God's Worship hath no ground in any reason but God's Will Sixthly There are already provided in this Church more probable means for the promoting of pure Religion then those which have been proposed by all or any of the Dissenting Parties It is true each Church is capable of improvement by the change of obsolete Words Phrases and Customs by the addition of Forms upon new Occasions by adjusting discreetly some Circumstantials of External Order But to change the Present Model for any other that has yet been offered to publick consideration is to make a very injudicious bargain There are in it all the necessaries to Faith and Godliness there is preserved Primitive Discipline Decency and Order And under the means of it there are great numbers grown up into such an improvement of Judicious Knowledge and useful prudent serious Piety that it requireth a Laborious Scrutiny to find Parallels to them in any Nation under the Heavens I do not take pleasure in distastful Comparisons Yet I ought not sure to pass by with unthankful negligence that excellent Spirit which God hath raised up among the Writers and Preachers of this Church their labours being so instrumental towards the right information of the Judgment and the amendment of the Lives of unprejudic'd Hearers It must be confessed that there is some trifling on all sides And it will be so whilst Men are Men. But there is now blessed be God as little of it in the Church of England as in any Age. And the very few who do it appear plainly to be what they are Phantasticks and Actors rather then Preachers But amongst the Parties the folly and weakness puts on a more venerable pretence and they give vent to it with studied shews of mighty seriousness and deliver it solemnly as the immediate dictate of God's Holy Spirit And I cannot call to mind one Minister in this Church who would for instance sake have deliberately used these words of Mr. Rutherford in a solemn audience and after his solemn manner God permits Sins and such Sins that there may be room in the Play for pardoning Grace It seemeth also not unfit for me to take notice that the Changes formerly made in Church-matters in England by Dissenters were not so conducive in their nature to the edifying of the Body of Christ as the things illegally removed The Doctrine of God's Secret decrees taught in their Catechisms was a stronger and more improper kind of meat then that with which the Church of England had fed her Children Ordination by a Bishop accompany'd with Presbyters was more certain and satisfactory then that by Presbyters without a Bishop There was not that sobriety in many of the present and unstudied Effusions which appeared in every of those publick Forms which were considered and fixed And it sounded more decently for example sake to pray in the Churches words and say from Fornication Good Lord deliver us then to use those of an eminent Dissenter Lord un-lust us Nor did the long continued Prayers help Men so much against Distraction as those shorter ones with Breaks and Pauses in the Liturgy and the great and continued length of them introduced by consent sitting at Prayer Neither did it tend less to edification to repeat the Creed standing then to leave it quite out of the Directory for publick Worship Neither was it an advantage to Christian Piety to change the gesture of kneeling in the Eucharist when the Sacred Elements were given together with Prayer for that less reverend one of sitting Of sitting especially with the Hatt on as the most uncomely practice of some was the People being taught to cover the Head whilst the Minister was to remain bare amongst them Nor was the civil Pledge of the Ring in Marriage bettered by the invention of some Pastors who as is storied of them took a Ring of some Women-converts upon their admittance into their Church Neither was the Alteration of the Form of giving the Holy Elements an amendment For the Minister was directed to the use of these words Take yee eat yee this is the Body of Chirst which is broken for you This Cup is the New Testament in the blood of Christ which is shed for the Remission of the Sins of many The words denoting Christ's present Crucifixion either actually or in the future certainty of it give countenance to the Romish Sacrifice of the Mass though I verily believe they were not so intended Nor did the forbidding the Observation of Christ's Nativity and other Holy-days add one Hairs bredth to the Piety of the Nation but on the other hand it took away at least from the common People one ready means of fixing in their Memories the most useful History of the Christian Religion It is easy enough even for Men who are Dwarfs in the Politicks in such sort to alter a constitution as to make it more pleasing for a time to themselves during their Passion and the novelty of the Model in their Fancy not yet disturbed by some unforeseen mischief or 〈◊〉 but 't is extream difficult upon the whole matter to make a true and lasting Improvement there being so many parts in the frame to be mutually fitted and such variety of Cases in Humane Affairs I pray from my Heart for the bettering but I dread the tinkering of Government The Conclusion IF then Dissenters are not likely to obtain their Ends of Establishing themselves of rooting out of Popery and promoting pure Religion by overthrowing the Church of England the Inference is natural they ought both in Prudence and Christianity to endeavour after Vnion with it They will it may be say to me can Men be persuaded two contrary ways Can they both Assent and Dissent And whilst they secretly Dissent would you force them into an Hypocritical Compliance I Answer thus
First Though a Man cannot at the same time wholly Assent and Dissent yet there are means for the rectifying of a false persuasion and he may upon good Ground change his Mind Secondly No Man's Mind can be forced for it is beyond the reach of Humane Power Thirdly Good Governours do not use Severity to force Men to dissemble their Minds and to make them Hypocrites but to move them after a Tryal of fair means to greater consideration I am not concerned in the Emblem of the Persian Dervi who whilst they go about their Office of teaching the Law to the People carry a great Club in their hand But neither do I think that the best way to remove pernitious error from Men is never to give them any disturbance in it I have two things only to recommend first to the consideration and then to the practice of such as Dissent First This is a time of Prosecution and a time of Adversity is a proper time for Consideration and Consideration is a means to make us hold fast that which is good and reject that which is evil I beseech you make such advantage of this Juncture Sit down and think once more of the Nature of this Church Confer with the Guides of the National Religion read without prejudice the Books commended by them to you Peruse seriously the Books which Authority hath set forth Some who have spoken against them have by their own confession never read them Examine and Judge Many of your Scruples have arisen from what you have heard and read they would not have otherwise been ingendred in your Minds Hear and Read for your Information as well as your entanglement Secondly Do as much as you can do Do as much as the Dissenters who are most eminent for Learning Piety Preaching Writing Experience and Fame sometimes actually do They have owned our Communion to be lawful They have received the Communion kneeling They have bred up Children to the Ministry of this Church They have joyned in the Liturgy They have been Married according to the Form of it Nay one who assisted in making the Directory would have his own Daughter in those times be Married in the way of the Book of Common-Prayer Do as the antient Non-conformists did who would not separate though they feared to Subscribe Who wrote with such Zeal against those of the Separation that Mr. Hildersham was called The Maul of the Brownists Do more for the Peace of God's Church then for a Vote or Office or Fear of Legal Penalty Come as Christians to the Sacrament and not as Politicians Those who have so done yet break the unity of the Church are said to use the Arts of Jesuites and to be without all excuse by a Dissenter who writes with commendable temper Do constantly what you do upon occasion No Preaching or Praying which is better liked can ballance the evil of Separation from a Church which imposeth no terms of Communion which are sinful For Peace sake let that be more constant in which your Conscience alloweth occasional exercise A Member who joyns himself to any established Church and also to any Churches which are set up not as legal Supplements of it but as Forts against it seems to be a kind of Wooden Legg if I may represent so grave a matter by so light a Similitude He is tyed on and taken off at pleasure he is not as by natural Ligaments and Nerves knit to such Ecclesiastical Bodies If all would do constantly what they can in Conscience do sometimes they would create a better Opinion of themselves in the Governours and move them to all due favour and hinder all the destructive breaches amongst us For the remain of other Dissenters would be so inconsiderable as to abide in the Body of the Nation as ill humors thrown off to the extream parts from which there may arise some little pain but no mortal danger Now the God of Peace grant Peace to us always by all fit means The END The Introduction The Argument it self It s Partition and Method The Ends of the Dissenters * Melvil's Memoirs p. 2. The first Branch of the first End of the Dissenters viz. Union in a National Church * July 17. 1640. Whitlock's Memorials p. 45. * A. 1644. Id. ibid. p. 117. * In Sept. 15. 1646. Diurnal p. 1313. Whitlock's Memoirs p. 187. * Id. ib. p. 116. A. 44. Ib. A. 45. p. 189. * Harm Consent p. 20. * Mr. S. Symp. in Serm. of Reform A 1643. p. 29. * D Iohn Arr. in Ser. call'd The Great Wonder c. before the Commons A. 1646. p. 36. * Testim to Truth of Jesus Christ subsiribed Dec. 14. 1647. p. 31. ‖ See Hist. of Indep 2 part p 168. * In Myst. of Godlin c. Anno. 1649. Wynst in Saints Paradise C. 5. p. 54. c. * Whid Memoirs A. 1649. p. 430. * Id. ibid. * Salmon's Rout. in Pref. and p. 10 11 c. * On Sund. after East day Ann. 1649. H. of Indep part 2. p. 153. ‖ See View of the late Troubles p. 366. †E. M. L C. * Whitl Memoirs A. 1654. p. 592. * See their Declar. in A. 1655. in Whitl Me. p. 606. ‖ See Ed. Burroughs Trumpet of the Lord sounded p. 2. A. 56. †Whitl Memoirs p. 624. * Testim to the Truth of I. Chr. p. 30. * Mr. Hâ—â—l c. ‖ The Title of Mr. Edwards's book 1647. See Testim of Min. p. 20. * Oliver's Speech in the Painted Chamber Ian. 22. 54 at the Dissolv of the Parl. p. 29. 33. * Mr. Caryl in Ep. Ded. bef Ser. called the Arraign of Unbelief A. 45. The sâ—cond Branch of the 1st End of the Dissenters viz. Union by mutual forbearance * A 1647. Act of Assemb p. 2. * Harmon Consent A. 1648. p. 12. ‖ Protect Speech Ian. 22. 54 p. 28. * Petil. ap S. Aug. cont Petil. l. 2. Absit Absit à nostra conscientia â—t ad nostram fidem aliquem comp Ilamus c. ‖ Mr. Calâ—my in Ser. called The great danger of Covenant refusing A. 46. p. 3. * Lord Bacon's Pref. to Adv. of Learn ‖ Whitlock's Memories p. 276. * Episc. Exam. Thes. Cap. Op. vol. 1. par 2. p. 185. ‖ See Lettres Sinceres Trois partie Sixieme Lettre p. 111. Ruarl Epist. par 1. p. 415 416. * See Spirit of the Hatt p. 12 13 c. ‖ p. 27. †p. 41. The Principal End of the Dissenters the first part of it * Florentissima Anglia Ocellus ille Ecclesiarum Peculium Christi singulare c. * Coll. of Lett. p. 8. c. * See L. de Moulin's Advances c. p. 26. * De Confess Advers H. Hammond c. 1. p. 97 98. * See Rational Discourse of Prayer chiefly of Mystic Contemplation chap. 14. pag. 74. * A Bright Star centring in Christ our perfection Printed for H. Overton in Popes-Head Alley 1646. * Ch. 18. p. 189. * Picchia 〈◊〉 S. R. C. Posth p. 125. * Hist. des troubles dela grand Bret. a Paris 1661. liv 3. p 165 See short view of the late Troubl p. 564. ‖ Arbitr Government p. 28. †See Whitl Memoirs p. 279 280 282. * Exact Coll. p 647. * Id. ibid. p. 405. * Gangrena p. 16 par 2. * Narr sent up to the Lords from the Bishop of Hereford p. 7. ‖ Prot. Declaration Octob. 31. 1655. * In the Life of Bish. Fisher. p. 260 261. †V. Elench Mot. par 2. p. 341. ‖ H. Indep part 2. p. 245 c. * See Mr. Cotton's Lr. Exam. A. 44. p 4 5. Simplicit defence A. 1646. p. 22. Min. of Prov. of Lond. Testim p. 18. †Gee 's Foot out of the Snare p. 58 59. A. 1621. * Campan Disc. of Span. Mon. c. 25. p157 * Contâ— Polit. l. 2. chap. 18. Sect 9. * Journal des Scavans de l' Ann. 1665. p. 140. ‖ Iourn c. de l' An. 1666. p. 230 233. c. †V. Polit. of France * Moyens Surs c. pour la conversion de tous les Heretiques The second part of the second or more Principal End of the Dissenters * L. Bac. H. 7. p 164. * Ser. 6. on Nov. 5. 1614. * D. J. L. on Psal. 4. 4. Feb. 24. A. 1647. * Melvil's Mem. p 33. ‖ Whitl Memoirs p. 363. * Speech at the Dissol of the House Ian. 22. 1654. p. 22. * Id. ibid. p. 529. * Hill's Seâ— called Temple work A. 1644. †D. Crisp in Ser. called Our sins are already laid on Christ. p 274 275. ‖ H. of Indep part 2. p 152 153. ** Mert. Brit. N 13. Nov. A. 43. p. 97. * Die Jovis Febr. 4. 1646. ‖‖ Testlm to Truth of I. Chr. p. 31. * G. Fox in J. Perrot 's Hidden things brought to light p. 11. * Hist. of the World l. 2. 1. part c. 5. p. 249. * Mr. S. Sympson In A. 1643. Reform Preservat pl 26 27. * Ruth on Dan. 6. 26. p. 8. A. 1643. bes the Commons * Prayers at the end of Farewell Sermons Mr. U's Prayer bef Serm. p. 31. * Edwara's Gangrena part 1 Error 112. p. 25. * See Edw. Grangr 2. part p. 13. ‖ Directory for publick Worship p. 27. * Tavern Pers. Trav. l. 4. c. 6. p. 155 156. * See Lawf of hearing the publick Ministry c. by Mr. Nye Mr. Robinson c. and Mr. Corbet's Non-Conformists Plea for Lay-Communion * Mr. Marshall in Hist. of Indep 1 part p. 80. ‖ See Dr. Willit's Epistle Dedicatory before his Harm on 1 Sam. Schismaticorum Qul vulgò Brownistae malleum * Vox 〈…〉 6. p. 49 50 c.