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<DATE>2007-10-26</DATE>
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<NAME>Elspeth Healey</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>Peace Protected, AND Di&s;content Di&s;-armed.
WHEREIN The &s;eventeen Queries (with the addition of three more, Po&s;t&s;cript-wi&s;e) lately publi&s;hed, partly to allay the di&s;contents of &s;ome about the late Revo|lution of Government, but more e&s;pecially to guide every mans feet into the way of Peace, as well his own, as the publique, are reinforced with Replies unto, and Animadver&s;ions upon, &s;uch An&s;wers, which &s;ome (it &s;eems) have given unto them, to invalidate their purport and intent.</P>
<P>Together with four new Queries &s;uperadded.</P>
<P>By the Author of the &s;aid &s;eventeen Queries.</P>
<Q>Every Kingdom divided again&s;t it &s;elf, is brought to de&s;olation.</Q>
<BIBL>Mat. 12. 25.</BIBL>
<Q>The wi&s;dom which is from above is fir&s;t pure, then Peaceable, Gentle, and ea&s;ie to be intreated.</Q>
<BIBL>James 3. 17.</BIBL>
<Q><GAP DESC="foreign">;</Q>
<BIBL>Chry&s;ost.</BIBL>
<Q>Semper enim &s;unt tumultuo&s;i &s;piritus, qui regnum Chri&s;ti non bene extolli credunt, ni&s;i aboleantur omnes terrenae pote&s;tates.</Q>
<BIBL>Calvin. ad Roman. 13. 1.</BIBL>
<Q>&mdash;Non &s;i quid turbida Roma Elevet, accedas.</Q>
<BIBL>Per&s;ius.</BIBL>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>I. Macock,</HI> for <HI>H. Cripps,</HI> and <HI>L. Lloyd,</HI> and are to be &s;old at their &s;hop in <HI>Popes-head</HI> Alley. 1654.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Reader.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Good Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_THere were a while &s;ince a few Queries de|livered out with the <HI>right hand</HI> unto the people of this Nation, but it &s;eems that by many they have been received with the <HI>left.</HI> It was <HI>Davids</HI> complaint, that <HI>for his love,</HI> men <HI>became his adver&s;a|ries,</HI> and <HI>rewarded him evil for his good</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">P&s;a. 109. 4, 5.</NOTE>. And the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> was jealous that he &s;hould be looked upon as an Enemy by the <HI>Galathians,</HI> for <HI>telling</HI> and teaching them <HI>the truth.</HI> Yea the Lord <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> him&s;elf, by rea&s;on of his familiar and free conver&s;e with men, although it were in due order to the &s;aving of their Souls, yet pur|cha&s;ed unto him&s;elf from many, the blot and imputation of being a man <HI>gluttonous, and a Wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and &s;inners</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Mat. 11. 19.</NOTE>. Notwith&s;tanding he had this to ballance his lo&s;s in this kind; that his <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> in &s;uch deportments of him&s;elf was <HI>ju&s;tified</HI> by tho&s;e, who were capable of the true nature thereof, and of the expre&s;s and clear tendency in it to tho&s;e worthy ends projected by it. <HI>But Wi&s;dom</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>is ju&s;tified of her children.</HI> I am all thoughts made, that there is no man of a &s;ingle eye, that can di&s;cern any thing in the &s;aid Queries of an oblique or ignoble tendency, or which comporteth with any end, whereof &s;uch a man, who dayly expecteth to appear before the Judgment Seat of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> needs to be a&s;hamed; or which &s;avoureth of any thing in the Author, but of a publique &s;pirit, and Chri&s;tian de&s;ire to &s;ee the <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> of his God in the Land of his pilgrimage, in peace and
<PB N="4" REF="3">
pro&s;perity all his days, and in this condition to tran&s;mit it to po&s;terity.</P>
<P>Notwith&s;tanding &s;ome, upon con&s;ultation had with &s;ome froward and &s;educing Oracle, have pretended to &s;ee a Vi|&s;ion of darkne&s;s in tho&s;e Queries, by which they have been admoni&s;hed, to pronounce this hard &s;entence again&s;t their Author, that he is a <HI>Time-Server;</HI> a Wor&s;hipper of the Greatne&s;s of this World. If by, <HI>Time-&s;erving,</HI> they mean, a &s;ubjecting a mans &s;elf to <HI>&s;erve</HI> with all diligence and faithfulne&s;s the common Intere&s;t of the men of the <HI>times,</HI> wherein he liveth, as well Great, as &s;mall, as well high, as low, rich as poor, I plead, <HI>Guilty,</HI> to the Indictment: I have (in this &s;ence) been a <HI>Time-Server</HI> of a long time, well nigh ever &s;ince I was capable of &s;uch a <HI>&s;ervice.</HI> But if by, <HI>Time-&s;erving,</HI> be meant, any unchri&s;tian, or un|manlike compliance, either with the head, or tail, of this world, for any &s;ecular accommodation or Intere&s;t of mine own, I can wa&s;h my hands in the Laver of <HI>Davids</HI> Innocency, and with an erect Con&s;cience profe&s;s and &s;ay, <HI>They lay to my charge things that I know not.</HI> And herein I &s;uppo&s;e that all tho&s;e, who have fully known my principles and practi&s;e from the beginning, will be my Compurgators. This I confe&s;s, that from first to la&s;t, I have &s;tood clo&s;e and fa&s;t, by the pre&s;ent Authority for the time being, and have contended with the be&s;t of the &s;trength of my under&s;tanding, for an univer&s;al &s;ubjection of the Nation, in all things lawful, unto it. When there were two Authorities conflicting, that of the late King, the other, of the Parliament, in which ca&s;e I judged it not meet, either to neutralize, or amphibolize, I joyned the &s;mall &s;trength of my hand with that, which upon con&s;idera|tion I judged be&s;t pleadable, and withall mo&s;t promi&s;&s;ory of Civil, yea and of Religious Happine&s;s al&s;o unto the Land. To this Authority I have con&s;tantly adhered all along
<PB N="5" REF="3">
without the lea&s;t regret, or relenting, not only in the lowe&s;t ebb thereof, when its Competitre&s;s, like a &s;tood, was ready to have overwhelmed it, but likewi&s;e under all that hard mea&s;ure, and tho&s;e di&s;couraging and &s;ad requitals, where|with it recompenced all my &s;ervice and faithfulne&s;s unto the Interest of it. For as on the one hand, I &s;till was a zealous A&s;&s;ertor of this Authority, and compelled, as far as my tongue, pen, or example had any compul&s;ive power in them, all &s;orts of people in the Land to &s;ubmit for con|&s;cience &s;ake unto it; &s;o on the other hand I was as zeal|ou&s;ly faithful in declaring and a&s;&s;erting the ju&s;t and law|ful bounds of this Authority, te&s;tifying and per&s;wading it to contain it &s;elf within its own &s;phere, witne&s;sing and prote&s;ting, that if it &s;hould prove like <HI>Jordan</HI> in the time of Harve&s;t, and overflow its banks, this would endanger the cutting off of the waters, and laying the channel of it dry: which thing al&s;o we all know is come to pa&s;s now &s;ome while &s;ince. And, though I love not to be too po&s;itive in matters of this nature, yet I very much incline to con|ceive, that one Rea&s;on why God took no more plea&s;ure in the Parliament of the la&s;t &s;itting, was their a&s;&s;uming of a Power notoriou&s;ly incompetent to them, as <HI>viz.</HI> to make that Adultery in Parents, which God never made Adul|tery: and that illegitimacy in children, which God never, made &s;uch; yea which common rea&s;on and equity might have taught them not to be &s;uch. Yea in the&s;e ca&s;es they a&s;&s;umed a Power, which we may &s;ay (without the lea&s;t re|flexion of di&s;honour upon God, or the &s;traitening of his Prerogative) is incompetent unto God him&s;elf. For God cannot make things to be &s;uch, or &s;uch, without that which is e&s;&s;entially and formally requi&s;ite to make them &s;uch; He cannot make a man without a rea&s;onable Soul, nor a wall white, without whitene&s;s; nor that to be fraud or deceit, which in the e&s;&s;ence of it is hone&s;ty and plain dealing; &s;o
<PB N="6" REF="4">
neither that to be adultery, which is naturally and e&s;&s;en|tially an hone&s;t and lawful conjunction. If they had re|pealed the former Law, which (with a like incon&s;iderate|ne&s;s) made adulteries of &s;uch marriages, which were not &s;olemnized by the Clergy (then &s;o called,) and the children born in &s;uch marriages, illegitimate; and had only pro|vided by mulcts and penalties, or what other means they judged meet, again&s;t all clande&s;tine and unworthy proceed|ings in the affair, leaving the tran&s;action of the &s;olemni|ty free for per&s;ons of any rank or quality, without making that Adultery, which God and the Law of Nature make an hone&s;t and honourable conjunction, or that illegitimacy which the&s;e make an honest and blamele&s;s propagation, they had done well and worthily. But now by appropri|ating the bu&s;ine&s;s we &s;peak of unto Ju&s;tices of Peace, upon the &s;ame, or like, account, on which it was before appropri|ated to the Clergy, is to cleave a bad knot with a wedg as bad as it; and though, not formally or intentionally, yet con&s;tructively and con&s;equentially, to claim a Power beyond, or above, the Power of God him&s;elf; a claim, a|gain&s;t which, it was no otherwi&s;e like, but that God him&s;elf would declare fir&s;t, or la&s;t. Men in places of Power and Authority, can hardly be &s;ufficiently jealous over them|&s;elves, le&s;t they conceit their Power to be larger and more exten&s;ive then it is, or that in the admini&s;tration and exerci&s;e of it they do not entrench upon &s;ome or other of the appropriate Royalties of God. But my faithfulne&s;s in endeavoring to pre&s;erve that Authority I &s;peak of from di&s;&s;olution and de&s;truction by it &s;elf, and its own exor|bitancies, was of &s;o hard a re&s;entment with it, that it did not only quench all remembrance and regard of all tho&s;e other &s;ervices, wherein I unfeignedly and with all my might &s;ought to prevent the di&s;turbance and annoyance of it by other men, but further kindled a &s;pirit of unkind|ne&s;s,
<PB N="7" REF="4">
yea of frowardne&s;s, and hard (that I &s;ay not, unju&s;t) proceedings, in the bre&s;t therof, against me. For upon this account I cannot but pre&s;ume it was, that I was &s;o gene|rally frowned upon, and &s;mitten with the tongue, by this Authority; that &s;ome of my Writings (as I was inform'd) very narrowly e&s;caped the double doom of the hand of the co~mon Hangman, and of the fire; that I was (to my no &s;mall trouble) time after time &s;ummoned before the Con&s;i&s;tory (&s;irnamed, the Co~mittee for Plundred Mini&s;ters,) and this by the procurement, abetment, and contrivance of &s;ome of the Members them&s;elves of the Authority I &s;peak of, that here I was coar&s;ly handled, di&s;gracefully entreated, my Accu&s;ers, though but few and le&s;s con&s;iderable, counte|nanced, my Friends, who appeared with me, and for me, neglected; and that at la&s;t I was compelled to drink the cup, prepared only for Malignant Mini&s;ters (&s;o called in tho&s;e days,) being not only &s;eque&s;tred from my Living (the be&s;t means I had for the &s;upport of my &s;elf, wife, and &s;even children) but denyed the liberty &s;o much as <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">f preach|ing in my wonted place. Nor was there, as far as my me|mory is able to recollect the terms and circumstances of the&s;e high proceedings again&s;t me, any ground or rea&s;on to this day given by the &s;aid Committe, of that &s;o &s;evere a &s;entence awarded again&s;t me. This I verily beleeve, that from the fir&s;t to the la&s;t of the &s;itttng of that Parliament, there was no example of any Mini&s;ter in the Land who had &s;o con&s;tantly, and cordially, and with &s;o much activene&s;s in the promotion of their Cau&s;e, adhered to them, as was, and is, &s;ufficiently known (yea and was acknowledged by &s;ome of them&s;elves) that I had done, and upon whom they had &s;o little to charge otherwi&s;e, who received the like mea&s;ure from their hand. I confe&s;s that after &s;everal years total Seque&s;tration (between four and five as I remember) the Presbyterian Intere&s;t &s;omewhat damping (I remember not
<PB N="8" REF="5">
now upon what revolution, or occa&s;ion) and the Per&s;on hi|therto gratified with the hard mea&s;ure mea&s;ured unto me in my Seque&s;tration, falling under &s;ome Parliamentary di&s;like, with much ado I was again re&s;tored to my place in <HI>Colman&s;treet.</HI> But (as the &s;aying was) <HI>Jam &s;eges e&s;t, ubi Troia fuit;</HI> at my return I found only a piece of a <HI>Skeleton</HI> or bare Anatomy of tho&s;e Means, which at my enforced departure I left a fair and full Body. The chief men upon the place, during my ab&s;ence, had (it &s;eems) ir|revocably transferred their devotion-benevolence, toge|ther with their devotion it &s;elf in hearing, upon him, who had all that while &s;erved their turns, and his own, in my Pulpit; who, what he wan in this kind, wears to this day. So that if I &s;hould e&s;timate the damage and lo&s;s I &s;u&s;tained by the hard mea&s;ure of my Seque&s;tration (without valuing the di&s;paragement and di&s;repute accompanying it) at 500l. I &s;hould (I beleeve) cut &s;hort the account by the one half. Notwith&s;tanding all the&s;e grand di&s;obligements, and Dra|gon-like dealings with me, yet did I not behave my &s;elf, either frowardly, or faultringly, in that Covenant of loyalty and &s;ervice, wherein God, and mine own Judgment and Con&s;cience, had engaged me unto the men, who thus re|quited me.</P>
<P>So that if I have been a <HI>Time-Server</HI> (in the &s;ence of my Accu&s;ers) I have &s;erved very hard Ma&s;ters, from whom I never received any thing for my work or &s;ervice, but only in &s;ome &s;uch coyn, wherein <HI>Paul five times re|ceived forty &s;ave one of the Jews</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">2 Cor 12. 24</NOTE>. Nor have I yet ever known, unle&s;s by theory, and hear-&s;ay, that the Great Men of the times, have, or have had, &s;o much as the value of the ninth part of a farthing wherewith to reward the &s;ervices of tho&s;e who have &s;erved them. But I know by experience that they have had rods, yea &s;corpions, wherewith to cha&s;ti&s;e their &s;ervants without a cau&s;e. Nor do I now write the&s;e
<PB N="9" REF="5">
things, either out of any effeminate or querulous di&s;po&s;ition, or out of a de&s;ire, or expectance, that the Ma&s;ters of the pre|&s;ent times &s;hould repair the breaches made upon me by their Predece&s;&s;ors (the Ma&s;ters of the times lately pa&s;t) but ra|ther out of a de&s;ire to &s;top the mouth of that unworthine&s;s, which is opened again&s;t me, as if I had thriven in the world &s;o well by &s;erving the times formerly, that &s;till I meant to follow the &s;ame occupation. The truth is, that I do intend, and am re&s;olved (God a&s;si&s;ting me) to &s;erve the pre&s;ent times upon the &s;ame account and terms, on which I &s;erved the former; yea and judg my &s;elf bound in con&s;cience, both to God, and my generation, &s;o to do. There &s;hall be no more Wars in the Land, nor blood&s;heds, nor tumults, nor plun|derings, nor depopulations in my days, no nor yet in the days after me, as far as I &s;hall be able, while&s;t I live, by my ut|termo&s;t interpo&s;ures to prevent them. But as <HI>Daniel,</HI> though free and willing to gratifie King <HI>Bel&s;hazzar</HI> in his de&s;ire, yet &s;pake thus unto him, <HI>Let thy gifts be to thy &s;elf, and give thy rewards to another</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Dan. 5. 17.</NOTE>: in like manner, I can, and &s;hall be free and faithful to &s;erve men in Autho|rity (and in them, the Nation) and yet leave them at per|fect liberty to di&s;po&s;e, as well their faces, as their places, to whom they plea&s;e. I de&s;ire neither, but in order to their own better &s;ervice, and the &s;ervice of tho&s;e, whom they are bound to &s;erve as well as I: and if they plea&s;e to deny me both, I &s;hall &s;erve them as well as I can without them. It may be it is a Maxim of Policy amongst State&s;-men, to make u&s;e of their countenances, and opportunities of preferment, as ordinary men make u&s;e of their money, who do not be&s;tow or lay it out upon what they have already, but upon what they want, and de&s;ire to have, and withall have rea&s;on to beleeve that they are not like to have, without it. Men of ordinary di&s;cretion cannot be offended that rattles and babies &s;hould be given unto froward children, to content
<PB N="01" REF="6">
and keep them quiet: and it is the &s;ence of more then one (though I am neu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ral in the conjecture) that the di&s;content and froward|ne&s;s of the <HI>Paul,</HI> figuratively &s;o called, in the An&s;wer to the &s;econd Query, might have been way-layed and prevented, by a rattle when time was, put into his hand. They are, or may be, good <HI>hor&s;es,</HI> and good <HI>mules, who&s;e mouths</HI> may be, though they <HI>mu&s;t be, held with bit and bridle, le&s;t they come near thee, [viz.</HI> with their mouths, to bite and mi&s;chief thee, as <HI>Janius</HI> and <HI>Tremellius</HI> glo&s;s the place, <HI>P&s;al. 32. 9.]</HI> And they (po&s;&s;ibly) may be none of the wor&s;t men for the u&s;e and &s;ervice of a State, who&s;e mouths mu&s;t be held with golden bits and bridles from falling foul upon them. My great de&s;ign in giving unto <HI>Ce&s;ar</HI> that uttermo&s;t of what I know to be <HI>Ce&s;ars,</HI> is, that hereby I may purcha&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;o much the better and freer &s;tanding, the more equitable liberty, to deny unto <HI>Ce&s;ar,</HI> or take from him, that which I know is not his, when ever he a&s;&s;umes it. I have heard it from the mouth of a Souldier in our late Wars, as a Maxim in Martial Di&s;cipline, <HI>Pay well, and hang well.</HI> And <HI>Job</HI> &s;topt the mouth of his di&s;con|tented wife, with this demand; <HI>What? &s;hall we receive good at the hand of God, and &s;hall we not receive evil?</HI> Yea God him&s;elf by allowing the marriage bed as honourable, inve&s;ts him&s;elf with &s;o much the greater equitablene&s;s of power to judg whoremon|gers and adulterers with &s;everity, <HI>Heb. 13. 4.</HI> And if <HI>Ce&s;ar,</HI> who ever he be, careth not to be &s;erved upon &s;uch an account, as that &s;pecified, he mu&s;t wait for his relief until I be dead. For I am re|&s;olved to &s;erve him, and yet not to &s;erve him upon any other terms, while&s;t I live.</P>
<P>But (Reader) I have prefaced above the proportion of the di&s;cour&s;e. I have nothing further to inform, but that a Friend of mine pre&s;enting me with the &s;ight of &s;ome brief An&s;wers (&s;ent unto him) unto my Queries lately publi&s;hed, I conceived it might be of &s;ome concernment to further &s;atisfaction, briefly to vindi|cate the truth of what is <HI>con&s;tructively</HI> a&s;&s;erted (for there is lit|tle or nothing a&s;&s;erted <HI>formally)</HI> in them, again&s;t the allegations &s;ugge&s;ted in the &s;aid An&s;wers, which I think are as material, though brief (at least &s;ome of them) as can readily be made, and withall to add three or four Queries more upon a new account. <HI>Is it not good if peace and truth be in thy days, and mine;</HI> who am</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thy Friend, heart and Soul in the Truth,
JOHN GOODWIN?</SIGNED>
<DATELINE>From my Study in <HI>Cole|man&s;treet, London.</HI> <DATE>March 6. 1653.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB N="11" REF="6">
<HEAD><HI>PEACE PROTECTED,</HI> AND Di&s;content Di&s;-armed.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query I.</HEAD>
<P>WHether doth not the Apo&s;tle expre&s;ly affirm <HI>(Rom. 13. 1.) That the Powers that be [i.</HI> what&s;oever they be, and however, in re&s;pect of &s;econd means, compa&s;&s;ed, attained, or procured by men, who &s;tand po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of them] <HI>are ordained by God [i.</HI> orderly, regu|larly, wi&s;ely, &amp; righteou&s;ly in re&s;pect of his providen|tial interpo&s;ure about the ve&s;tment of them, di&s;po&s;ed of, and lodged in the per&s;ons, who&s;oever they be, who are the pre&s;ent Mini&s;ters, or Admini&s;trators of them?] Or were not the highe&s;t <HI>Powers</HI> in the world, when the Apo&s;tle &s;pake this, <HI>viz.</HI> That <HI>the Powers that be, are</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ordained of God,</HI> ve&s;ted in <HI>Nero,</HI> not only a Mon&s;ter of men (as he is commonly termed) in re&s;pect of his bloody cruelty, unnaturall lu&s;ts, &amp;c. but likewi&s;e advanced to the Empire, neither by the orderly way of the &s;uffrage or election of the people, nor yet by the le&s;s di&s;orderly way of the choyce of the <HI>Roman Senate,</HI> but partly by the wickedne&s;s of his
<PB N="12" REF="7">
mother <HI>Agrippina,</HI> who cau&s;ed her husband <HI>Claudius</HI> to di&s;-inherit his own &s;on <HI>Britannicus,</HI> to make way for the Adoption of her &s;on, (this <HI>Nero)</HI> partly by the over-ruling interpo&s;ure of the Cohorts and re&s;t of the Souldiery, <HI>The Senate</HI> (&s;aith the Story) <HI>as men af|frighted with amazement, not once contradicting the &s;ame?</HI></P>
<P>To this Query &s;ome an&s;wer; <HI>That the Powers that be are indeed</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>ordered by God, even when the&s;e Powers do give their power and &s;trength to the Bea&s;t, and make War with the Lamb. Yet have they been, and ought to be in their &s;o doing, witne&s;&s;ed against, by tho&s;e that are called, and cho&s;en, and faithful,</HI> Rev. 17. 12, 13.</P>
<P>But this An&s;wer, 1. Reacheth not the intent or purport of the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply.</NOTE> Query. For this querieth not about the unlawful or &s;inful exer|ci&s;e of any authoritative Power (of which only the An&s;wer &s;peak|eth,) or whether this may not, yea and ought not, to be witne&s;&s;ed again&s;t by tho&s;e who are called unto it; but of the Power it &s;elf ve&s;ted in the &s;upreme Magi&s;trate, con&s;idered &s;imply as Power, and as di&s;po&s;ed unto him by God. This Power ought not to be re&s;i&s;t|ed, or <HI>witne&s;&s;ed against,</HI> by any per&s;on what&s;oever; nor can it be, either re&s;i&s;ted, or witne&s;&s;ed again&s;t, but by re&s;i&s;ting, and wit|ne&s;&s;ing again&s;t, the Ordinance of God. The Kings of the Earth, who give their power to the Bea&s;t, are not to be <HI>witne&s;&s;ed again&s;t</HI> for being Kings, nor for their accepting of Kingly Power (&s;uppo|&s;ing it duly ca&s;t upon them,) but only for the male-admini&s;tration of this power. Yea the power of the Bea&s;t him&s;elf (whoever, or what&s;oever, be meant by the Bea&s;t) whereby he now maketh War again&s;t the Lamb, but might, if he plea&s;ed, employ and u&s;e for the Lamb, is not to be <HI>witne&s;&s;ed against</HI> by any man, as being the <HI>Ordinance of God;</HI> but only the enormous and mo&s;t de&s;perate abu&s;e of this Power in fighting again&s;t the Lamb, which is the Ordinance of the Devil. And when the Bea&s;t by being <HI>witne&s;&s;ed against</HI> in the wicked exerci&s;e of his Power, comes through the ju&s;t Judgment of God in putting it into the hearts of his &s;ervants to make War again&s;t him, to be de&s;poyled and deprived of his Power, his Power (properly) is not re&s;i&s;ted by the&s;e men, but
<PB N="13" REF="7">
only the horrid abu&s;e of this Power; which abu&s;e the Ju&s;tice of God judgeth meet to puni&s;h, and to prevent for the future, by the utter &s;ubver&s;ion and ruine of it. And the rea&s;on which the Apo&s;tle gives, why <HI>Christ &s;hall put down all Rule, and all Au|thority and Power,</HI> before his <HI>delivering up the Kingdom to God the Father,</HI> is, becau&s;e he <HI>must reign, till he hath put all his ene|mies under his feet (1 Cor.</HI> 15. 24. 25.) which plainly &s;hews, that <HI>Christ</HI> hath no quarrel, no controver&s;ie, with, or again&s;t, any <HI>Pow|er,</HI> as &s;uch, but only as bent and acted in the exerci&s;e of it again&s;t him. Therefore they who clamour, or <HI>witne&s;s again&s;t,</HI> any Power, &s;imply as &s;uch, <HI>re&s;ist</HI> the Ordinance of God; and they who <HI>wit|ne&s;s against</HI> any &s;uch Power, which is &s;ub&s;ervient to the affairs of <HI>Je&s;us Christ</HI> in the world, re&s;i&s;t not only the Ordinance, but the Intere&s;t al&s;o of God, and of the Lord <HI>Je&s;us Christ.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query II.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is it any way nece&s;&s;ary in point of rea&s;on, or con&s;cience, that they, who quietly obey, and &s;ub|mit unto the pre&s;ent power, or the per&s;ons actually inve&s;ted with Authority over them, &s;hould either ju|&s;tifie, approve, or own the termes, method, way, means, or manner, either of their attaining unto, or their inve&s;titure with, this Authority and power? Or did the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> ju&s;tifie, or approve of, the way or means by which <HI>Nero</HI> obtained the Imperiall Dig|nity, in &s;ubmiting and appealing unto him, or unto his Authoritie, yea or in his injoyning all <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 25. 10. 11.</NOTE> (as we heard) to be &s;ubject unto him, and this <HI>not only for wrath, but for con&s;cience &s;ake</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Rom. 13. 9.</NOTE> <HI>?</HI> Or do we ever read in the Scriptures, of any per&s;on either puni&s;hed, threatned, or reproved by God, for doing things &s;im|ply, and in them&s;elves, lawful, at the command, or in obedience unto, any Magi&s;trate or Per&s;on, &s;eated, and &s;etled in Authoritie, how unduly &s;o ever advanced to his &s;eate of power?</P>
<P><PB N="14" REF="8">
To this Query &s;ome judg this a &s;ufficient An&s;wer: let the Reader judg between the Query, and the An&s;wer, whether if the one be an Harp, the other be not an Harrow.</P>
<P><HI>We will &s;uppo&s;e Paul and Phelimon engaged, the one by War,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>the other by Faith and Prayer, in the Work of this pre&s;ent gene|ration. If Phelimon conquer, and take the power, Paul will ex|pect that Phelimon &s;hould &s;o behave him&s;elf, both in the taking of the power, and in his u&s;ing of it, as doth become a Chri&s;tian, and the promi&s;e he is under, and not &s;o as did Nero, or William the Conqueror, or others, who went a warfare for them&s;elves, and did &s;o declare it.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. The Query doth not at all enquire after what manner, or <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, or A|nim adver&s;io~.</NOTE> upon what terms, <HI>Phelimon,</HI> upon his conque&s;t, taketh the power, nor doth it &s;uppo&s;e him to have taken it orderly, as neither on the other hand doth it &s;uppo&s;e the contrary; but purpo&s;ely de|cl<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="3 letters">th his que&s;tion as impertinent to the bu&s;ine&s;s, which it (the Qu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ry) de&s;ireth to promote.</P>
<P N="2">2. Neither doth it at all query, whether <HI>Phelimon</HI> u&s;eth not the power wel, which he hath taken, there having been little or no opportunity to judg of this, when the Query was drawn up. But,</P>
<P N="3">3. The Query only interrogates, whether <HI>Paul</HI> may not with a good Con&s;cience, quietly &s;ubmit and &s;ubject him&s;elf to that Power, which <HI>Phelimon</HI> hath taken unto him&s;elf, whether he hath taken it orderly and duly, yea, or no. And &s;uppo&s;eth, that <HI>Paul</HI> the Apo&s;tle, the true <HI>Paul,</HI> when he lived, did &s;ubmit, yea and enjoyn &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion unto all <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> unto &s;uch a Power, which was altogether as di&s;orderly and unworthily taken, as <HI>Phelimon,</HI> with all the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of envy or di&s;-ingenuity, can be imagined to have taken his. But concerning this the An&s;wer is profoundly &s;ilent. Yet,</P>
<P N="4">4. Concerning <HI>Phelimons,</HI> as well taking, as u&s;ing of the power now ve&s;ted in him, if we had the true <HI>Paul, Paul</HI> the A|po&s;tle, <HI>Paul</HI> the infallible, in &s;tead of a per&s;onated <HI>Paul,</HI> to de|termine the que&s;tion, whether <HI>Phelimon</HI> hath done well and like a <HI>Chri&s;tian,</HI> or otherwi&s;e, either in taking, or u&s;ing his power, we &s;hould have cau&s;e to reverence his deci&s;ion, yea though <HI>Phelimon</HI> &s;hould fall by it. But in ca&s;e <HI>Paul</HI> &s;o called &s;hall arbitrate the ca&s;e again&s;t <HI>Phelimon,</HI> unle&s;s he can &s;atisfie us that he hath ploughed
<PB N="15" REF="8">
with the heyfer of <HI>Paul</HI> truly &s;o called, about the grounds of his arbitration, we are Judgment and Con&s;cience-free from his deci&s;ions.</P>
<P N="5">5. Whether <HI>Phelimons</HI> taking the power was any ways re|pugnant to any <HI>promi&s;e he was under,</HI> is the con&s;ideration of ano|ther Query following, not at all moved in this.</P>
<P N="6">6. (And la&s;tly) If by the <HI>work of this pre&s;ent generation,</HI> the An&s;wer meaneth, either &s;uch <HI>a work</HI> which is incumbent by way of duty upon <HI>the pre&s;ent generation,</HI> or &s;uch <HI>a work</HI> which is be|neficial or commodious for this <HI>generation,</HI> (although the former and the latter be materially the &s;ame,) I do not yet under&s;tand how <HI>Paul</HI> is engaged, either <HI>by Faith, or prayer,</HI> about it. If we may e&s;timate <HI>the work</HI> about which he is <HI>engaged,</HI> by the tenor and tendency of his actings, it is a work as well of &s;in, as of &s;or|row, to the pre&s;ent generation.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query III.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is it not the gracious Coun&s;el and intent of God, in declaring, That what&s;oever <HI>Powers be, they are ordained by him</HI> (as we have heard) and again, that ALL <HI>that are in Authority,</HI> &s;hould be <HI>prayed</HI> and <HI>Interceded</HI> for, yea and <HI>thanks</HI> al&s;o <HI>given for them, &amp;c.</HI> Whether (I &s;ay) is it not the gracious intent of God in the&s;e, and many other like Declarations made by him, to provide for the peace &amp; quiet of States, Kingdoms, and Common-wealths, by cutting off al occa&s;ions and pretexts from the people, of quarrel&s;ome di&s;putes about the Rights and Titles of tho&s;e, who are in pre|&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Soveraign or ruling powers <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Ac &s;ane hoc verbo mihi videtur Apostolus volui&s;&s;e tol|lere frivola~ hominu~ cu|rio&s;itate~, qui &s;aepe &s;olent inquirere quo jure adepti fuerint potestatem, qui rerum potiuntur. Satis au|tem nobis e&s;&s;e debet, quod prae&s;unt. Non enim con&s;cenderunt &s;ua ip&s;i virtute hoc fastigium, &s;edmanu Domini &s;unt impo&s;iti. <HI>Calv. ad Rom.</HI> 13. 1. Cum igitur quaeritur cui parendum, non est &s;pectandum qualis &s;it qui po|testatem excercet, nec quo jure vel injuria quis pote&s;tatem inva&s;erit, quave ratione eam admini&s;tret, &s;ed tantum &s;i pote&s;tatem habeat. Si enim quis pote|&s;tate pollet, jam indubitatum e&s;t illum &agrave; Deo eam pote&s;tatem accepi&s;&s;e. <HI>M. Bacer. in Rom.</HI> 13. 1.</NOTE>?
<PB N="16" REF="9">
And do not all they reject this gracious coun&s;ell of God again&s;t them&s;elves, and again&s;t their Nation, and labour to defeat it, who &s;et them&s;elves with all their might (yea, with more might, it is to be feared, then their own) to rai&s;e a Spirit of di&s;loyaltie and di&s;obe|dience in the people, unto the pre&s;ent Government and Governours, upon pretence, That tho&s;e who are in power, did by undue and unworthy means po&s;&s;e&s;s and inve&s;t them&s;elves with it?</P>
<P><HI>The intent of God in that coun&s;el by</HI> Paul, 1 <HI>Tim. 2. 1, 2. is that</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>&s;upplications, prayers, and giving of thanks &s;hould be u&s;ed as a first or chief means to carry on the Go&s;pel work committed to</HI> Paul, <HI>and by him given in charge to</HI> Timothy. <HI>And all &s;orts of men, both tho&s;e in Authority, and others, &s;hould be interceded for, or given thanks for, as they are Oppo&s;ers, or Accepters, of the Gospel. And all &s;orts of tho&s;e in Authority are no more to be given thanks for, then all &s;orts of men are.</HI></P>
<P>2. <HI>It needs to be no mans doubt but that all the Powers of the four fir&s;t Monarchies are all of them &V;&s;urpers, even from</HI> Nim|rod, <HI>the mighty Hunter, who was the fir&s;t, to the little Horn, who hath the eyes of a man, and is the la&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>3. <HI>Have not the &s;ervants of God, who have held forth his te&s;timony concerning their work in their pre&s;ent generation, been always counted movers of Sedition, and di&s;obedient to Authority, when yet they have walked in the power of the Spirit of God? Ezra 4. 15. Luke 23. 2. John 19. 12. Acts</HI> 24. 12.</P>
<P>Although here be words enough, whereof, in re&s;pect of their <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply and Animadver|&s;ion.</NOTE> numbers, to make many An&s;wers, yet here is no word that &s;avors of any &s;teady, or direct An&s;wer to the Query. This enquires after the&s;e two things; 1. Whether it was not the gracious intent of God in the two Scripture pa&s;&s;ages there mentioned (as in many others) to provide for the peace and quiet of States and Com|monwealths, by cutting off all occa&s;ions and pretexts from the people, of quarrel&s;om di&s;putes about the rights and titles of tho&s;e, who are in plenary po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the pre&s;ent Power: 2. Whether
<PB N="17" REF="9">
all tho&s;e do not reject this gracious coun&s;ell of God again&s;t them &s;elves, and their nation, who &s;et them &s;elves to rai&s;e a &s;pirit of di&s;|loyalty and di&s;obedience in the people, unto the pre&s;ent Go|vernment, and Governours, &amp;c. Now the pretended An&s;wer &s;peaketh not &s;o much as one word, either negatively, or affirma|tively, or by way of di&s;tinction, to either of the&s;e points; nor are the particulars thereof any wayes relative to the main bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e intended, either in the pre&s;ent, or in any other of the Que|ries; nor &s;o con&s;iderate in them&s;elves. For,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>If all &s;orts of men, b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">th tho&s;e in Authority, and others, are to be interceded, or given thanks for, as they are oppo&s;ers, or accepters of the Go&s;pell</HI> which yet is an il-advi&s;ed a&s;&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ion in as much as <HI>accepters of the Go&s;pel</HI> may be <HI>interceded for</HI> as well, if not rather, <HI>as the oppo&s;ers of the Go&s;pell,</HI> why do not the men, who&s;e cau&s;e the An&s;wer pleads, <HI>give thanks</HI> unto God for tho&s;e in Authority among&s;t us, who are no <HI>oppo&s;ers,</HI> but cordial <HI>accep|ters,</HI> of the Go&s;pell, in&s;tead of murmuring, and venting bitter di&s;contents, with many unchri&s;tian and hard &s;ayings again&s;t them?</P>
<P N="2">2. Neither is it true, that tho&s;e <HI>in Authority,</HI> when faithfull and upright hearted in their tru&s;t <HI>are no more to be given thanks for, then other men.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3 A though it &s;hould be granted, that all the heads of the <HI>four fir&s;t Monarchies were &V;&s;urpers</HI> (which yet may be the rea&s;onable, at lea&s;t the tolerable doubt of any man in as much as one of the heads of the fir&s;t of the&s;e Monarchies was by God him|&s;elf repre&s;ented by an <HI>head of gold, Dan.</HI> 2. 38. where likewi&s;e it is &s;aid, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 37. that <HI>God had given him a kingdom, power, and &s;trength, and glory &amp;c.)</HI> but be it (as I &s;ay) granted that all the&s;e heads were <HI>u&s;urpers,</HI> in re&s;pect of their domination over &s;uch nations upon whom hey made warre without any ju&s;tifia|ble ground and cau&s;e, oppre&s;&s;ing them by force of armes, exer|ci&s;ing dominion over them again&s;t their wills, &amp;c. Yet,</P>
<P N="1">1. It followeth not from hence that therefore any of the heads of the&s;e <HI>Monarchies</HI> &s;hould be <HI>u&s;urpers</HI> in re&s;pect of any &s;uch kingdomes, territories, or nations, unto the Soveraigne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and rules whereof they were called by the free vote or de&s;ire of the people; Or,</P>
<P N="2">2. That all Kings or cheif Magi&s;trates in the world, who were contemporarie with the&s;e Monarchies (re&s;pectively) &s;hould be
<PB N="18" REF="10">
<HI>u&s;urpers.</HI> For many of the&s;e might be (and &s;ome, que&s;tionle&s;&s;e, were) freely called or cho&s;en by their people into the places and tru&s;ts of kingly Soveraignty. Nor were either <HI>Saul,</HI> or <HI>David,</HI> or <HI>Solomon,</HI> &amp;c. (who were Kings during the fir&s;t of the &s;aid four Monarchies) U&s;urpers, becau&s;e Kings.</P>
<P N="4">4 (And la&s;tly) Though it &s;hould be granted that <HI>the &s;ervants of God, who have held forth his te&s;timony concerning their work in their pre&s;ent generation, have been</HI> ALVVAYS <HI>counted movers of &s;edition,</HI> &amp;c. (however <HI>Alwaies</HI> is not &s;ufficiently proved by three or four in&s;tances, nor can be proved by all the in&s;tances that are produced yet this at no hand proveth, either 1. <HI>That all they who have been counted movers of &s;edition,</HI> were the &s;ervants of God, witne&s;&s;e <HI>Barabbas, Theudas, Judas</HI> of Galilee, &amp;c. Or, 2. That all &s;uch, who, being by profe&s;&s;ion, and by common e&s;teem al&s;o, and po&s;&s;ibly in truth, the &s;ervants of God, <HI>were counted mo|vers of &s;edition,</HI> were <HI>counted</HI> &s;uch without a cau&s;e. And if this mi&s;demeanour had not been incident to profe&s;&s;ors of <HI>Chri&s;tianity,</HI> yea &amp; reputed beleevers, doubtle&s;&s;e the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> would not have cautioned tho&s;e, whom he calls <HI>Elect according to the fore|knowledg of God the Father through &s;anctification of the Spirit</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 Per. 1. 2.</NOTE>, upon &s;uch termes as the&s;e; <HI>But let none of you &s;uffer as a murther er, or as a theif, or as an evil doer, or</HI> A BUSY BODY IN OTHER MENS MATTERS ^b^. Nor &s;hould the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> have had any competent occa&s;ion in his addre&s;&s;e to the <HI>Galathians,</HI> to have reminded them of <HI>&s;edition,</HI> among&s;t other works of the fle&s;h <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Gal. 5. 19 20</NOTE>. And it is the notion of the generality of our be&s;t Prote&s;tant Ex|po&s;itours, that a di&s;po&s;ition ob&s;erved by him in many <HI>chri&s;tians</HI> in his dayes to move &s;edition, and &s;tirr up people again&s;t their ru|lers, occa&s;ioned from him that di&s;cour&s;e concerning &s;ubjection un|to Rulers and Magi&s;trates; which we find. <HI>Rom.</HI> 13. 1. 2, 3. &amp;c. <HI>Calvin</HI> upon the place informeth us that <HI>there are always &s;ome trouble&s;ome and tumultuous &s;pirits</HI> [meaning in the Church, or among&s;t <HI>chri&s;tians] who never think that the Kingdom of Chri&s;t can be duly advanced, unle&s;&s;e all earthly power be aboli&s;hed; nor that they ever enjoy the liberty which he hath given, untill they have &s;haken off the yoke of all human &s;ubjection</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Su<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t eni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;emper <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">umul+tuo&s;i &s;piritus&punc; qui regnum Chri&s;ti non bene extolli credunt, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;i aboleantur omn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s terr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nae pote&s;tates: nec <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ertate per ip|&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m data &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ui <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">&s;i quodvis hu|manae &s;ervitu|t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> jugum ex|cu&s;&s;eriat. Cal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ad Rom. 13. 1.</NOTE>. The &s;ub&s;tance and truth of this ob&s;ervation is confirmed by the pens of many o|thers, and by the experience of all ages. Nor, 3. (and la<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly) doth the afore&s;aid conce&s;&s;ion &s;uppo&s;e, or &s;o much as intimate, that <HI>the
<PB N="19" REF="10">
&s;ervants of God,</HI> either alwaies or (indeed) at any time, were <HI>counted movers of &s;edition,</HI> by their fellow-&s;ervants, (the true holy, and faithfull &s;ervants of God) but onely by the wicked and perver&s;e generation of men in the World, unle&s;&s;e they de&s;erved to be &s;o counted, and were <HI>movers</HI> of &s;edition indeed. Therefore though &s;ober and zealous Chri&s;tians have frequently been <HI>counted movers of &s;edition</HI> without a cau&s;e; yet may it very well &s;tand al&s;o, that many <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> have been ju&s;tly &s;o counted, having given too much cau&s;e of &s;uch an imputation.</P>
<P>What the An&s;wer meaneth by mens <HI>work in their generation</HI> (as likewi&s;e by their <HI>holding forth Gods te&s;timony concerning</HI> the &s;ame) I confe&s;&s;e I doe not well under&s;tand. Certain I am, that praying, &s;upplicateing, interceding, <HI>and giving of thanks</HI> for all in Authority; and &s;o &s;trengthening the hand of worthy rulers and magi&s;trates, by a peaceable &s;ubjection unto them, and by per|&s;wading others into the like &s;ubjection, is <HI>the work</HI> (if by <HI>work,</HI> we mean, the duty) of every mans <HI>generation.</HI> And in this &s;ence of the word <HI>work</HI> to cur&s;e the <HI>ruler</HI> of a mans people, is <HI>the work of no generation.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="part">
<HEAD><HI>Query</HI> IV.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is, or ought, the letter of the Law, to be ob&s;erved in all ca&s;es what&s;oever? or is not <HI>ratio Le|gis, anima Legis, i. e.</HI> the <HI>rea&s;on, or end of the Law, the &s;oul of the Law,</HI> which is in all ca&s;es to be preferred before the letter, which is but as the body of it? Yea or hath any Law what&s;oever any binding force, further then the execution of it, or &s;ub|jection unto it, are con&s;i&s;tent with the publique &s;afety and good <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Omnis lex ord<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">natur ad communem hominum &s;alu|tem, &amp; in tantum obtinet vim &amp; rationem Legis: &s;e|cundum vero quod ab hoc deficit, virtutem obligandi non habet. &V;nde Juris peritus dicit, Quod nul|la ratio juris, aut aequitatis benignitas patitur, ut quae &s;alubriter pro &s;alute homi|num introducuntur, ca nos duriori interpretatione con|tra ip&s;orum commodum perducamus ad &s;everita|tem. Contingit autem mul|toties, quod al quid ob&s;er|vari communi &s;aluti e&s;t u|tile, ut in pl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ribus, quod tamen aliqu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">bus ca&s;ibus e&s;t maxime nocivum <HI>Aq<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 12. q. 96. a.</HI> 6. &V;nde &s;i emergat ca&s;us, in quo ob&s;ervatio ta|lis Legis &s;it damno&s;a com|muni &s;aluti, non e&s;t ob&s;er|vanda. <HI>Ibid.</HI> Nece&s;&s;itas di&s;pen&s;ationem habet an|nexam; quia nece&s;&s;itas non &s;ubditur legi. <HI>Ibid.</HI></NOTE>? Or are not &s;uch men <HI>Judges of evil thoughts</HI> (as the Scripture &s;peaketh <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">James 2. 4</NOTE>) who con|demn &s;uch per&s;ons, as violators or tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors of the Law, who in order to the publique peace and &s;afety, act
<PB N="20" REF="11">
be&s;ides, or contrary to, the letter of the Law, and in &s;uch ca&s;es only, wherein the ob&s;ervance of this letter vi&s;ibly threateneth the &s;aid common peace and &s;afety? Or whether are private men, who know little of, conver&s;e little with, State tran&s;actions and affairs, the more competent judges, when, or in what ca&s;es, the ob&s;ervation of the letter of the Law is of a dangerous and threa|tening import to the publique &s;afety, or &s;uch per&s;ons, who&s;e dayly re&s;idence is in the mount of State-negotiations, and who by the advantage of the ground, where they &s;tand, may very rea&s;onably be conceived to be in a full capacity per|fectly to di&s;cover and under&s;tand on what hinge the publique Intere&s;t and Safety turneth, and what means and interpo&s;ures are mo&s;t promi&s;ing of their procure|ment, promotion, and e&s;tabli&s;hment?</P>
<P><HI>The Di&s;-&s;atisfied, as they are called, are fully &s;atisfied in this,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>that the rea&s;on, or end, of the Law, is to be preferred before the letter: which cau&s;ed their clo&s;ing with, and owning the affairs of this nation when as &s;ome, which are now in pre&s;ent authority, did turn their backs upon it, and le<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t the work, not being able to bear it, becau&s;e it was contrary to the letter.</HI></P>
<P><HI>It is not the height of a mans Station alone that will inable him to a true di&s;coverie of things, but the &s;inglene&s;&s;e of his eye, together with the truene&s;&s;e of that light, in which he walketh. Jeremie knew the means of I&s;raels &s;afety better then the King, and all the Princes.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, If the <HI>Di&s;-&s;atisfied &s;o called,</HI> be onely &s;o called, and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply and A|nimadver|&s;ion.</NOTE> not &s;uch indeed, though the Queri&s;t rejoyceth not (as neither
<PB N="21" REF="11">
ought he) in the formalitie of his mi&s;take, yet doth he much re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oyce in the matter of it. But if there be none really <HI>di&s;-&s;atisfied, what meaneth then the bleating of the &s;heep, and the lowing of the oxen?</HI> the weak complaints of many &s;imple ones, and the low|der vociferations of others great in their own eyes, again&s;t the pre|&s;ent Government?</P>
<P>1. If &s;ome now in Authoritie, turned their back upon, and left the work of the nation when time was, as not being able to bear it, becau&s;e it was contrary to the letter of the Law, it is a &s;ign that had they been &s;atisfied, as the An&s;werer acknowledgeth him&s;elf with the re&s;t, called Di&s;-&s;atisfied, to be, that the rea&s;on or end of the Law, is to be preferred before the letter of it, they would not have turned their backs upon it, becau&s;e of any con|trariety in it to the &s;aid letter. Therefore this turning the back in them, whether in it &s;elf ju&s;t fiable, or not ju&s;tifiable doth in no degree ju&s;tifie, or ea&s;e the guilt of a like practi&s;e in them, who profe&s;&s;e them&s;elves &s;atisfied in that, which occa&s;ioned that fail|ing in them. He that turneth his back upon a dut<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e, only through a mi&s;take of an unlawfulne&s;&s;e to perform it, rather con|demneth, then any way excu&s;eth him that &s;hall neglect it, being perfectly &s;atisfied about the lawfulne&s;&s;e, and much more the ne|ce&s;&s;itie of it.</P>
<P>3. Though it be not the advantage of a mans &s;tation alone that will inable him to di&s;cover things, either near at hand, or further off, yet where there is the &s;ame, or a greater, &s;inglene&s;&s;e of the eye, and with all the &s;ame truene&s;&s;e of light, the advantage of a &s;tanding mu&s;t needs be a proportionable advantage for di&s;coverie. If the An&s;wer could prove that his <HI>Paul,</HI> either hath a more &s;in|gle eye, or walks in a truer light then his <HI>Phelimon,</HI> I &s;hould with|out much conte&s;t grant, that the&s;e advantages in this <HI>Paul,</HI> might very po&s;&s;ibly balance <HI>Phelimons</HI> advantage in point of &s;tanding. But the <HI>Paul</HI> we &s;peak of, is too full of wrath (as is much to be feared) to have a clear or &s;ingle eye. The common &s;aying is,
<Q><L><HI>Impeditira animum ne po&s;&s;it cernere verum;</HI> i. e. <NOTE PLACE="inter"><L>By wrath &s;o hindered is the mind,</L>
<L>That truth it cannot &s;ee, or find.</L></NOTE></L></Q></P>
<P>And the Scripture it &s;elf &s;aith, that <HI>The wrath of man worketh
<PB N="22" REF="12">
not the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of God:</HI> the cheif rea&s;on whereof is, be|cau&s;e it di&s;cerneth not, or apprehendeth not this righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Therefore,</P>
<P>4 (And la&s;tly) The rea&s;on why <HI>Jeremiah</HI> knew the means of <HI>I&s;raels &s;afetie better then the King and all his Princes,</HI> was, be|cau&s;e he was a Prophet immediately &amp; extraordinarily in&s;pired by God. If the An&s;werer can &s;atisfie us that his <HI>Paul</HI> plougheth with this heyfer, we will acknowledge him more able to declare the riddle we &s;peak of, then <HI>Philemon,</HI> and all his Princes. But as in <HI>Micah's</HI> daies men, <HI>walking in the &s;pirit, and fal&s;hood,</HI> might <NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 2 11.</NOTE> notwith&s;tanding be <HI>Prophets,</HI> or <HI>Jeremies, unto that people;</HI> in like manner, he that will with a zealous confidence prophecie mens minds and de&s;ires unto them in the&s;e dayes, &s;hall be a Prophet, yea a <HI>Jeremie,</HI> a great Prophet unto them. Yet if the An&s;werers <HI>Paul</HI> be a <HI>Jeremiah</HI> al&s;o, I confe&s;&s;e the Query was not aware of it. For this e&s;timateth the abilities of men for di&s;coveries of a politique nature and import, by the generall pre&s;umption of the wi&s;e&s;t men among&s;t us, and (as I &s;uppo&s;e) in the world, touching the pre&s;ent &s;tate of things in the world, and not by the private &s;uppo&s;ition of any one per&s;on, or a few, as <HI>viz.</HI> that <HI>Jeremy</HI> &s;hould be ri&s;en from the dead, or now alive in <HI>England,</HI> or that any other per&s;on &s;hould now be found of a like prophetique anoynting with him. Who&s;oever now &s;hall undertake to preach for Doctrine, or as the mind or purpo&s;e of God, any thing, which he cannot &s;ub&s;tantial|ly prove from the Scriptures to be indeed the minde or purpo&s;e of God, e&s;pecially if he &s;hall pretend revelation hereof from God, otherwi&s;e then by the Scriptures, we cannot but judge him a bla&s;|phemer of the ble&s;&s;ed fulne&s;&s;e and &s;ufficiencie of the Scriptures, and very near (at lea&s;t) unto that cur&s;e; <HI>If any man &s;hall add unto the&s;e things, God &s;hall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.</HI> Rev. 22. 18.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query <HI>V.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Whether are &s;uch promi&s;es, engagements, or pro|te&s;tations, binding upon the Con&s;ciences of tho&s;e, who have made them, yea or lawful for them to ob|&s;erve or keep, which, by rea&s;on of an alteration and
<PB N="23" REF="12">
change of tho&s;e circum&s;tances and terms, under which, and in con&s;ideration of which, they were made, cannot be ob&s;erved or kept, without the imminent danger, or damage, of tho&s;e, unto whom, and for who&s;e &s;ake, wealth, and &s;afety, they were made <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><P>Ad hoc quod teneatur <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o|mofacere, quod promi&s;it, re|quiritur quod omnia immu|tata permaneant: alioquin, nec fuit mendax in promit|tendo, quia promi&s;it quod habebat in mente, &s;ubintel|lectis debitis conditionibus. Nec etiam e&s;t infidelis non implendo, quod promi&s;it, quia eaedem conditiones non ex|tant. <HI>Senec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. D Benefic. l. 4. c.</HI> 34.</P>
<P>Ad quintum decendum, quod ille qui aliquid pro|mittit, &s;i habeat animum faciendi quod promittit, non mentitur: quia non loqui|tur contraid, quod gerit in mente. Si ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o non faciat quod promi&s;it, viditur <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">fi|d liter agere per hoc, quod animum mutat. Pote&s;t ta|men excu&s;ari ex duobus|&V;no modo, &s;i promi&s;it id, quod manife&s;te est illici|tum, quia promittendo p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">|cavit, mutando autem pre|po&s;itum, bene facit. Alio modo, &s;i &s;int mutatae condi|tiones per&s;onaram &amp; nego|tiorum&mdash;&V;nde &amp; Apo&s;to|lus non e&s;t mentitus, qui non ivit Corinthum, quo &s;e iturum e&s;&s;e promi&s;erat, ut dicitur, 2 <HI>Cor. 1. Aqu. 22. q. 110. a.</HI> 3.</P></NOTE>? Or in ca&s;e, a man having borrowed a &s;word of his Friend, and promi&s;ed to deliver it back again into his own hand within a months time, this Friend of his in the <HI>interim</HI> falling into a <HI>delirium</HI> or phrenetique di&s;temper, and &s;o continu|ing till the &s;aid month be expired, is this man bound in con&s;cience to perform his promi&s;e notwith&s;ta~ding, by deliver|ing the &s;word into his friends hand at the time appointed? Or is not the &s;ad providence befaln his friend in this ca&s;e, to be interpreted by him, not only, or &s;imply, as a di&s;charge from God in re|&s;pect of the performance of his &s;aid promi&s;e, but as an Item, or engagement layd upon him by God, at no hand to perform it? Or hath there not within the&s;e few years pa&s;t, been an alteration or change in the politique terms and circum&s;tances of this State and Com|monwealth, as con&s;iderably great, as well can be imagined?</P>
<P>To this Querie, mi&s;-notioned as an objection, we have this, <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE>
<PB N="24" REF="13">
&s;aid, in &s;tead of an An&s;wer. <HI>This Objection is of no force, ex|cept it had proved that all they were fallen into a delirium, who from the beginning of the&s;e divi&s;ions in this nation, have been the pur&s;uers o' the publigue liberties thereof; excecting onely tho&s;e, who have abetted, and doe approve of, this la&s;t late change, which as yet appear to be very few, except the ba&s;e &s;pirited Cle<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">|gie, and the oppre&s;&s;ing Lawyers, and tho&s;e that are Baptized in|to their &s;pirit.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, This An&s;wer mi&s;takes in the very fir&s;t words of it, calling that an <HI>objection,</HI> which is onely a que&s;tion, propounded to tho&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nimadver&s;io~.</NOTE> who are di&s;-&s;atisfied, for this end, that by bethinking them&s;elves of a rea&s;onable and direct an&s;wer unto it, they may be brought to reflect upon the unrea&s;onablene&s;&s;e of their di&s;-&s;atisfaction.</P>
<P>2. Whereas it &s;pends it &s;elf upon the particular in&s;tance of a per|&s;on calling into a <HI>delirium</HI> in the ca&s;e &s;pecified, it declines the dint, and plain de&s;igne of the Querie. For this &s;uppo&s;eeth in the main bod<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">e of it, that there may many changes of circum&s;tances and termes, be&s;ides the falling into a <HI>delirium</HI> in tho&s;e, to whom a per&s;on, one or more, hath engaged him&s;elf &s;o or &s;o, interveen or happen, which may render the performance of a promi&s;e or engagement (in the letter of it) very incommodious unto tho&s;e, to whom they have been made; and con&s;equently, unlawfull. But to this the An&s;wer oppo&s;eth nothing at all. The ca&s;e of a per&s;on falling into a <HI>delirium,</HI> was onely &s;ubjoyned in the querie by way of illu&s;tration, or exemplification of the &s;aid generall Sup|po&s;ition.</P>
<P>3 It is a grand mi&s;take to think that the <HI>force</HI> or &s;trength of the Querie lieth in a &s;uppo&s;all, that <HI>all the pur&s;uers of the pub|lique liberties</HI> (except the excepted) have <HI>fallen into a delerium.</HI> For as the Scripture &s;peaketh of a gift, that <HI>it blindeth the eyes,</HI> not of mad or fooli&s;h men, but, <HI>of the wi&s;e,</HI> yea and <HI>perverteth the words,</HI> not of hypocrites, deceivers, or the like, but, <HI>of the richteous</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Deut 16. 19.</NOTE>; &s;o may it be &s;aid of any corrupt, yea or mi&s;-notioned or mi&s; apprehended, Intere&s;t, that th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">s al&s;o very frequently entan|gleth the judgements and under&s;tandings of men otherwi&s;e, and in other ca&s;es prudent and politique (it may be, more then) e|nough, yea and of &s;uch, who in re<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">pect of their ends and actions are not the wor&s;t of men. So that the di&s;-&s;atisfied may very
<PB N="25" REF="13">
po&s;&s;ibly be mi&s;taken about the naturall and direct tendency of the late change of the government, without being &s;uppo&s;ed fallen into a <HI>delirium.</HI> But,</P>
<P>4. If the An&s;wer w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ll needs enforce a nece&s;&s;ity upon me, to &s;uppo&s;e, either the &s;atisfied, or di&s;-&s;atisfied partie in the land, to be fallen into a <HI>delirium,</HI> or any di&s;temper of &s;ome affinitie therewith, I mu&s;t plainely and ingenuou&s;ly profe&s;&s;e, that I &s;hould offer much le&s;&s;e violence to my judgement, to &s;uppo&s;e the latter much more obnoxious in this kind, then the former Di&s;content or di&s;-&s;atisfaction, e&s;pecially about the providential interpo&s;ures of God, argues a much nearer neighbourhood to a <HI>delirium</HI> then a mind patiently and compo&s;edly apaid and &s;atisfied herewith.</P>
<P>5. If by <HI>a betting and approving the last late change,</HI> the An|&s;wer meaneth, the <HI>abetting</HI> it in the travell of it, as <HI>viz.</HI> by fur|thering, and a&s;&s;i&s;ting the production or bringing it forth; and &s;o, the <HI>approving,</HI> or ju&s;tifying of all the wayes, means, or con&s;idera|tions, which contributed toward the production of it, I confe&s;s I que&s;tion whether &s;o many abetted and approved it, as the An|&s;wer &s;uppo&s;eth. For I pre&s;ume that this, terming the Clergy, <HI>ba&s;e-&s;pirited,</HI> and the Lawyers, <HI>oppre&s;&s;ing,</HI> intends the&s;e epi|thites, not as individuall, but as &s;pecifical (re&s;pectively.) If &s;o, I can hardly think that either the <HI>Clergy,</HI> or the <HI>Lawyers (i. e.</HI> all in both of the&s;e kinds) ever did <HI>abet,</HI> or doe <HI>approve,</HI> of the &s;aid change. If by <HI>abetting</HI> and <HI>approving,</HI> the an&s;wer meaneth, a willing, patient and quiet &s;ubject on unto it, approving it &s;o farre, as lawfull to be thus &s;ubjected unto, doubtle&s;&s;e there are far greater numbers, then what the an&s;wer &s;peaketh of, who thus and in this &s;ence abe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and approve of it. The commanders of the &s;hips of this Common-wealth at &s;ea, withall under their com|mand (re&s;pectively) mo&s;t of (if not all) the Regiments of the Armie on land, as well in <HI>Ireland</HI> and <HI>Scotland,</HI> as in <HI>England;</HI> and &s;o again, very many, if not all, the more con&s;iderable Cities and burroughs, and greater towns in <HI>England,</HI> have declared them&s;elves <HI>abettors and ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rovers</HI> (in the &s;ence di&s;tingui&s;hed) of the change into the pre&s;ent Government.</P>
<P>I confe&s;&s;e that in the proper and u&s;ual &s;ence of the word, <HI>ap|prove, viz.</HI> as it &s;ignifieth, to like well of, to ju&s;tifie, or com|mend, I know very few, &s;carce any (though very po&s;&s;ibly there may be many) who have declared them&s;elves <HI>approvers</HI> of the
<PB N="26" REF="14">
&s;aid change, <HI>viz.</HI> &s;o far as this <HI>change</HI> was the contrivance, procure|ment, or work of men. Nor do I conceive that, in this &s;ence, it ever was, or will be, pre&s;&s;ed upon any mans con&s;cience to <HI>approve</HI> it. It will &s;erve for all politique, peaceable, and publique ends and pur|po&s;es, if it be <HI>approved</HI> by men &s;o farre as God hath had his hand in it, it being more appropriately his work, then mens; according to that of <HI>Daniel, He</HI> [i. e. God, not man, or men] <HI>removeth Kings, and &s;etteth up Kings</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Dan. 2. 21.</NOTE>, <HI>[i. e.</HI> changeth and altereth both Governors, and forms of government] I pre&s;ume all that will be required of the people of the land, is, to approve of the pre&s;ent Government as lawfull to be &s;ubmitted unto [&s;imply, and in the generall] and as nece&s;&s;arie to be &s;ubmitted unto by them, while&s;t God &s;hall plea&s;e to continue it over, or among, them:</P>
<P>6. The an&s;wer yetunder hand, as it falls &s;omewhat unchri&s;tianly foul upon the <HI>Clergy</HI> (&s;o called) in terming them, <HI>ba&s;e-&s;pirited,</HI> and &s;o upon the <HI>Lawyers,</HI> in &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">leing them <HI>oppre&s;&s;ors;</HI> &s;o on the other hand it makes them &s;ome kind of recompence, though (I pre&s;ume) at unawares, and as much be&s;ides intention, as truth, in numbering them among&s;t the <HI>pur&s;uers of the publique liberties of this N&aacute;tion &s;ince the beginning of our divi&s;ions.</HI> I beleeve that the farre greater part of both generations have no con&s;cience of this honour. But though my heart be not with the generality or bulk of either profe&s;&s;ion, yea I judge the Nation very deploro|bly mi&s;erable in being &s;o di&s;-furni&s;hed, as it is, with men of worth and con&s;cience, in both; yet, 1. I beleeve we have <HI>I&s;rael</HI>'s propor|tion  of good men, in both, <HI>one of a City, and two of a Tribe</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Ier. 3. 14.</NOTE> which con&s;ideration mediated (though, it &s;eems, it could not ob|tain, or prevail) for &s;omewhat better epithites to be be&s;towed upon the re&s;pective members of both profe&s;&s;ions, the <HI>ba&s;e-&s;pirited</HI> upon the one, and <HI>oppre&s;&s;ing,</HI> upon the other. 2. If the per&s;ons meant by, the <HI>Clergie,</HI> have of late times declared again&s;t, and re|jected, the appellation, becau&s;e of the offen&s;ivene&s;&s;e of it (which, as I remember, they have done) it is not ingenuous to reproach or twit them with it. 3. (and la&s;tly) I beleeve that &s;ome of tho&s;e, whom the An&s;wer &s;tigmatizeth, as <HI>ba&s;e-&s;pirited,</HI> have of the incorruptible &s;eed of the Word of God begotten mo&s;t of the mo&s;t truly noble and heroique &s;pirits in the land.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="part">
<PB N="27" REF="14">
<HEAD>Query VI.</HEAD>
<P>Whether was that &s;uppo&s;ition of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> without &s;ufficient rea&s;on, or gronnd, when, upon his aveng|ing one of his Brethren by &s;miting the <HI>Egyptian,</HI> who <HI>oppre&s;&s;ed him, he</HI> SUPPOSED <HI>that his Brethren would have under&s;tood how that God by his hand would deliver them?</HI> Or were not his Brethren dull and &s;low of heart in not taking the kindly impre&s;&s;ions of &s;uch a providence, and not under&s;tanding, that pregnant inti|mation from God, that his Coun&s;el and Will was, to appoint and make his Servant <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a Prince or Ruler over them, and this in order to the vindication of their liberties, the freedom of their per&s;ons from oppre&s;&s;ion, and to their further benefit and good otherwi&s;e? or do not they &s;hew them&s;elves to be altogether unexperi|enced in the &s;peech and language of high Providen|ces, or at lea&s;t to be either but dull and drow&s;ie, or el&s;e cro&s;s and froward, Interpreters of the mo&s;t &s;ig|nal di&s;pen&s;ations of God, who do not under&s;tand that his will and plea&s;ure is, to appoint &s;uch a per&s;on <HI>toties quoties,</HI> by who&s;e hand he vouch&s;afeth unto a People a long continued &s;eries of extraordinary de|liverances, for a Prince and Ruler over them? Or do not that people reject the Coun&s;el of God again&s;t them&s;elves, who &s;ay unto a Per&s;on &s;o commended unto them, and appointed over them, by God, <HI>who made Thee a Ruler or a Judg?</HI></P>
<P>For an&s;wer to this Query, we have another, but altogether ir|relative <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> to it; <HI>viz.</HI> this, <HI>Whether had</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>been worthy the name and honour of a Prince and ruler, if, instead of guiding the people into Canaan, he had for his ea&s;e and plea&s;ure &s;ake turned
<PB N="28" REF="15">
again into Egypt? If Mo&s;es had built again the things, which he had de&s;troyed, he had made him&s;elf a Tran&s;gre&s;&s;our.</HI></P>
<P>Here is nothing at all in this an&s;wer, to the tendencie or pur|port <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply and A|nimadver|&s;ion.</NOTE> of the Query. And i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> had been (upon the matter) as much to the purpo&s;e, to have an&s;wered by querying thus; If <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had been a martherer of his Father, and of his mother, and had committed inc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t with his &s;i&s;ter, had he been meet to be appointed a prince or a Ruler over the people of God? For doubtle&s;&s;e he was as farre from <HI>turning back again into Egypt for his ea&s;e or plea&s;ures &s;ake,</HI> as he was from committing the&s;e abominations. Indeed the fooli&s;h, froward, and di&s;contented people, were lay|ing their heads together, and con&s;ulting, to make them a captain, who &s;hould lead back again into <HI>Egypt. And they &s;aid one to a|nother, let us make us a Captain, and return into Egypt</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Num. 14. 4</NOTE>. But <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was a man of another &s;pirit: he was on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly for the leading them forward towards <HI>Canaan,</HI> not for the carrying them back to wards <HI>Egypt.</HI> Or,</P>
<P>2. If the intent of the &s;aid Anti-querie be to in&s;inuate again&s;t the Per&s;on minded in the parallel of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in the Queree, any &s;uch unworthine&s;&s;e, as if he were a man, who <HI>for his ea&s;e and plea&s;ure &s;ake</HI> meant to re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ave the people of this nation, the reflexion is not onely groundl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e (and in this re&s;pect, &s;candalous, and un-chri&s;tian) but likewi&s;e is, 1. Contrary to the verdict of common &s;ence, which dictateth, that there is neither ea&s;e, nor <HI>plea&s;ure,</HI> but care and trouble, and weari&s;omne&s;&s;e both of fle&s;h and &s;pirit, to be expected in that &s;tation of Government, wherein God hath placed him; and 2. To the very tenor and purport of tho&s;e Arti|cles, or Con&s;titutions of the Government, to the ob&s;ervation whereof he hath &s;olem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly &s;worn; which are calculated and fram'd as it were on purpo&s;e for the pre&s;ervation and maintenance of the publique liberties of the people, and this with as much wi&s;dom and contrivance, as can rea&s;onably he expected from men; of which &s;omewhat further in one of the additional Queries.</P>
<P>3. (and la&s;tly) It is not nece&s;&s;ary that he who builds again the things, which he de&s;troyed, &s;hould make him&s;elf a tran&s;gre&s;&s;our by his new building them. It was &s;aid of <HI>Paul</HI> to his great ho|nour, by the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> of his times: <HI>He which per&s;ecuteth us in times pa&s;t, now preacheth the Faith, which once he de&s;troyed</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>a</HI> Gal. 1. 23.</NOTE>
<PB N="29" REF="15">
However, if the&s;e words in the An&s;wer, <HI>If Mo&s;es had built a|gain &amp;c.</HI> be reflexive upon him, whom God hath given <HI>(Mo&s;es-</HI>like) for a Ruler unto this Nation, as if he &s;hould now be about to build again the en&s;lavement of the people, which he hath here|tofore de&s;troyed, the reflexion (as hath been already &s;aid, in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ffect) is papably and putidly calumnious, and not fit either for the heart, or mouth, or p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n, of a Chri&s;tian.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query <HI>VII.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Whether did not God <HI>&s;end</HI> THAT <HI>Mo&s;es to be a Ru|ler and a deliverer</HI> unto his People, who was <HI>refu&s;ed</HI> by them <HI>&s;aying</HI> unto him, <HI>who made thee a Ruler and a Judg?</HI> Or is it not a matter of frequent occurrency and ob&s;ervation in the Providential Admini&s;trations of God, that &s;uch things are brought about and done by him, which, though as contrary to the minds and de&s;ires, as to the expectations of many good people, when they are new done, yet turn to an incomparable benefit and advantage unto them afterwards? Or was not the death of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> as <HI>a Sword pa&s;sing through the &s;oul</HI> of his Virgin Mother, yea and of many other holy and gracious per&s;ons, both men and women, by which notwith&s;tanding they were highly rai&s;ed in peace and comfort afterwards, and &s;hall be eternally &s;aved? Or did not eleven of the twelve Tribes of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> &s;ide with the hou&s;e of <HI>Saul</HI> again&s;t <HI>Davids</HI> ad|vancement over them, being for a time highly un|willing and di&s;contented that he &s;hould be their King, under who&s;e Government notwith&s;tanding they flouri&s;hed like a green bay Tree, and &s;aw many years of the greate&s;t pro&s;perity and peace?</P>
<P><HI>The di&s;-&s;atisfied are fully &s;atisfied in this, that all things work</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>together for good to tho&s;e that love God. And &s;o &s;hall the pre|&s;ent
<PB N="30" REF="16">
change: it &s;hall di&s;cover the thoughts of many hearts, and make manife&s;t whether men walk in the power of the &s;pirit, which is of this world; or in the power of that Spirit which is of God: which is a ble&s;&s;ed bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and of great advantage.</HI></P>
<P>Though there be little or nothing in this An&s;wer to the pur|port <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nimadver&s;io~.</NOTE> of the Query, yet let us animadvert &s;omewhat upon it.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is good tidings to hear that the <HI>di&s;-&s;atisfied</HI> about the late change in government, will be <HI>&s;atisfied,</HI> e&s;pecially <HI>fully &s;atis|fied,</HI> with any thing. There is the more hope that in time they will be &s;atisfied with that al&s;o. But,</P>
<P N="2">2. If they be &s;o <HI>fully &s;atisfied</HI> with the Word of God, why are they not, competently at lea&s;t, or however, tolerably, <HI>&s;ati&s;|fied</HI> with the works of God al&s;o? Or is it not his work (as we lately heard from <HI>Daniel) to remove kings and to &s;et up kings;</HI> and con&s;equently to make all the changes and alterations in Go|vernment that are found in the world? Or is any work of God, compared with his word, &s;o heterogeneall or di&s;&s;onant to it, that he that is <HI>fully &s;atisfied</HI> in the one, &s;hould be capable of no <HI>&s;atis|faction</HI> at all in the other? And</P>
<P N="3">3. If the pre&s;ent change &s;hall <HI>work together for good to tho&s;e that love God,</HI> why do not tho&s;e who love God, e&s;pecially being fully <HI>&s;atisfied</HI> in the truth and certainty hereof, rather (according to the Apo&s;tles exhortation, in every thing <HI>to give thanks</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5. 18</NOTE>) give thanks unto him for the change, at lea&s;t &s;o farre, and in &s;uch a re|&s;pect, as it <HI>worketh for good to them,</HI> then murmur or complain again&s;t it, or &s;uffer Sathan to fill their hearts with wrath, di&s;cor|tent, or indignation, becau&s;e God hath either brought to pa&s;&s;e, or however, &s;uffered it to come to pa&s;&s;e? I beleeve that <HI>Jobs</HI> wife would not have uttered her &s;elf in &s;uch pa&s;&s;ionate di&s;content, as &s;he did, becau&s;e of her husbands &s;ufferings, though deep and grei|vous, had &s;he indeed beleeved that they would have wrought for good unto her. Should men be offended at their Benefact|ours?</P>
<P N="4">4. It is confe&s;&s;ed that the <HI>pre&s;ent change</HI> hath already <HI>di&s;co|vered the thoughts of many hearts,</HI> and may (probably) di&s;cover many more. But that it &s;hould <HI>make manife&s;t, whether men walk in the power of the &s;pirit of this world, or of the Spirit which is of God,</HI> is in no degree probable, &s;carce po&s;&s;ible; unle&s;&s;e (haply)
<PB N="31" REF="16">
it be by &s;ome &s;uch after fruits or con&s;equents of it, which at pre|&s;ent are hardly imaginable. For it is a clear and <HI>manife&s;t</HI> ca&s;e, that they do not all <HI>walk in the power of the &s;pirit of God,</HI> who murmur and are offended at it, and oppo&s;e it (witne&s;s the <HI>walk|ings</HI> of the Con&s;piratours again&s;t it, lately di&s;covered and appre|hended) and &s;o again that all they, who are &s;atisfied with it, and who live peaceably, and with comfort under it, do not <HI>walk in the power of the &s;pirit of this world.</HI> For if they who tremble at the Word of God, and dare not rebell again&s;t it, and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s Word expre&s;ly chargeth, <HI>Let every &s;oul be &s;ubject to the higher powers;</HI> and, <HI>that the powers that be, are ordeined of God;</HI> and again, that <HI>who&s;oever re&s;i&s;teth the power, re&s;i&s;teth the Ordinance of God &amp;c.</HI> if &s;uch men (I &s;ay) as the&s;e <HI>walk in the power of the Spirit which is of God, and not of the &s;pirit of this world,</HI> then all tho&s;e who for con&s;cience &s;ake are &s;ubject to the Government brought in by the <HI>late change,</HI> cannot &s;o much as with any face of rea&s;on, or of truth, be judged <HI>to walk in the strength of the &s;pirit of this world,</HI> but of the Spirit which is of God. So that if the <HI>pre&s;ent change</HI> be a touch&s;tone of per&s;ons <HI>walking in the power of the</HI> one <HI>Spi|rit,</HI> and of the other, the di&s;-&s;atisfied are much more like to be found <HI>walkers in the power of the wor&s;er &s;pirit,</HI> then of the bet|ter. But is a very incon&s;iderate and ill dige&s;ted notion, to con|ceive, that either a going on the right hand, or on the left, in poli|ticall que&s;tions or di&s;putes, &s;hould make it <HI>manifest whether men walk in the power of the &s;pirit which is of God,</HI> or <HI>of the world.</HI> I am &s;trongly inclined to think, that men of this notion, under&s;tand but little what it is to <HI>walk in the power of the &s;pirit of God.</HI> There are other manner of touch&s;tones for the di&s;coverie of the two &s;orts of walkers mentioned, then a State <HI>quod libet,</HI> or the adhering in judgement to one &s;ide or other of a Dialectical que|&s;tion about a forme of Government, which yet are very in&s;uffi|cient to manife&s;t the one kind of the&s;e walkers from the other. I confe&s;&s;e that a very great number (I &s;uppo&s;e I might &s;afely &s;ay the farre greater part) of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">, who <HI>walk in the power of the &s;pi|rit of the world,</HI> are <HI>manifest</HI> more then enough, without being <HI>manife&s;ted,</HI> either by their &s;atisfaction, or di&s;-&s;atisfaction, about the <HI>pre&s;ent change.</HI> But the manife&s;tation of &s;o much as a con|&s;iderable number of tho&s;e, who <HI>walk in the power of the &s;pirit which is of God,</HI> is hardly procureable or attainable, not onely not
<PB N="32" REF="17">
by the &s;aid, either &s;atisfaction, or di&s;-&s;atisfaction, but not by &s;ymp|tomes of a far more &s;earching and important &s;ignification, then the&s;e.</P>
<P N="5">5. (and la&s;tly) <HI>The fruits of the ble&s;&s;ed bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and great advantage,</HI> of which the cloze of the an&s;wer &s;peaketh, are no more like to grow upon the tree pretended (in the former part thereof) to bear them, then grapes are to grow upon thorns, or figgs on thi&s;tles.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="part">
<HEAD><HI>Query</HI> VIII.</HEAD>
<P>Whether are not children like to receive better quarter, and terms of love, care, provi&s;ion in things nece&s;&s;ary and convenient, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> from their natural Parents, and &s;uch who begat them, then from &s;trang|ers, or per&s;ons not &s;o neerly related to them? Or is any community of men, or body of people, like to be &s;o naturally regarded and cared for in the things of their comfort and peace, by any other kind of Ruler, or Governour what&s;oever, as by tho&s;e, who, under God, have been the Pre&s;ervers of their lives, liber|ties, and e&s;tates, by expo&s;ing their own per&s;ons to all the difficulties, hard&s;hips, and hazards of war, and jeoparding their lives them&s;elves in the high places of the field, where death for the time had his throne? Or doth not the Pre&s;erving of a people upon &s;uch terms as the&s;e, as kindly, as naturally, as affectio|nately, endear them to their Pre&s;erver, as the act of procreation commendeth children unto the love and tender affections of their Parents? Or is not the Act of <HI>Pre&s;erving</HI> of very neer a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">in to the Act of Beget|ing? If the premi&s;es will &s;tand, who are more de&s;ire|able by a people in the places of Rule and Authority, then tho&s;e, who have been their great Pre&s;ervers?</P>
<P><PB N="33" REF="17">
To this Querie we have onely this pettie impertinency for an|&s;wer: <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> but for this brevi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y we &s;hall have con&s;ideration in words in the an&s;wers to &s;ome of its fellows following. <HI>It &s;eems the Government is placed even where the Queri&s;t would have it. But let us be patient till we &s;ee the fruit, and then we &s;hall know the tree thereby of what kind it is.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. Oh that the An&s;werer could per&s;wade him&s;elf and his di&s;-&s;atisfied party, to hearken to the voyce of his own <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> ad|monition and exhortation here, and to be content and <HI>patient, until</HI> they <HI>&s;ee the fruits of that Government,</HI> which with &s;o ma&s;|culine an effeminacie they decry without end? <HI>How ble&s;&s;ed a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e and great advantage</HI> might this <HI>patience</HI> of theirs pro|bably prove unto the nation! But</P>
<P N="2">2. How prepo&s;terou&s;ly irregular and unrea&s;onable is the An|&s;werer, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rely and A|nimadver|&s;ion.</NOTE> with his di&s;-&s;atisfied partie, to labour in the very fire, as they doe, for the hewing down a tree, as corrupt and naught, while&s;t as yet they confe&s;&s;e they know not of <HI>what kind it is,</HI> nor what <HI>fruit</HI> it will bear! The words of the An&s;wer are of an ex|pre&s;&s;e import this way; <HI>Let us be patient till we &s;ee the fruit, and then we &s;hall know, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. If the &s;ig-tree in the parable <HI>(Luke</HI> 13.) in&s;tead of being <HI>dig|ed about and dunged</HI> to make it fruitfull, had by the dre&s;&s;er of the vineyard, been mangled, chopt, hackt, di&s;mantled of her bark, principall boughs, &amp;c. the native fruitfulne&s;&s;e, or that which by an orderly <HI>digging about, and dunging it,</HI> it might have been brought unto, could not be e&s;timated, judged of, or known. As <HI>oppre&s;&s;ion</HI> is &s;aid <HI>to make a wi&s;e man mad</HI> ^a; &s;o may mi&s;-u&s;age or mi&s;-handling, make a good and a fruitfull tree, barren, or the fruit of it, degenerous, and not an&s;werable to the native goodne&s;s of the tree. Neither can the real worth of a good government, or Governour, ever be, experimentally, or by their fruits, &s;uffici|ently known, if tho&s;e, who live under them, and &s;hould live in &s;ubjection unto them, be continually quarrelling and provoking, and by all mens weakning the hand of both from being lift up un|to tho&s;e ways and methods for publique benefit, which are in their hearts. <HI>A tree is known by the fruit; [viz.</HI> if it be plant|ed in a &s;oyl proper to it, and hath that culture and husbandry be|&s;towed on it, which the nature and kind of it requireth.]</P>
<P N="4">4. (and la&s;tly) If <HI>the Queri&s;t</HI> would <HI>have the Government
<PB N="34" REF="18">
placed even where it is,</HI> although the An&s;wer ca&s;teth the very <HI>&s;eeming,</HI> or appearance, of &s;uch a thing, as a blemi&s;h or blot upon him, yet he knoweth no rea&s;on why he &s;hould be a&s;hamed of the comportment of his <HI>will</HI> with the <HI>will</HI> of God. Certain he is, that God is <HI>willing</HI> that the <HI>Government &s;hould be placed, even where it is;</HI> yea he judgeth, and ver<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly beleeveth that God is not meerly or barely <HI>permi&s;&s;ive</HI> in this his <HI>will,</HI> have|ing been operative with &s;o high (I had almo&s;t &s;aid, miraculous) an hand towards the accompli&s;hment and effecting of it. In which re&s;pect the Queri&s;t cannot but judg, that God is willing <HI>that the Government &s;hould be placed even where it is, etiem voluntate approbante,</HI> even with his will of approbation. How|ever, if the An&s;weret &s;hall pretend knowledge of a wi&s;er, or bet|ter, di&s;po&s;ition of the Government, then <HI>even where now it is placed,</HI> the Queri&s;t mu&s;t profe&s;&s;e that he knoweth not how to &s;ubmit his apprehen&s;ions of the wi&s;dom and goodne&s;&s;e of God, unto any conceit what&s;oever, whereof, either him&s;elf, or any other; is capable, of the wi&s;dom or goodne&s;&s;e of men.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>IX.</HEAD>
<P>Whether are not they rather Back-biters of &s;in, then Reprovers, who importunely declaim and cry out again&s;t the Sins of tho&s;e that are Ab&s;ent? Or is not this a mo&s;t unworthy practi&s;e of men, to in&s;inu|ate them&s;elves into the hearts and affections of &s;im|ple and incon&s;iderate people, by cau&s;ing, or tempting them to think the better of them&s;elves, while&s;t others are reproached and declaimed again&s;t in their hear|ing, as per&s;ons more &s;inful and unworthy, then they? Or have not daring and bold &s;peeches uttered again&s;t Superiors, and per&s;ons in Authority, tending to ble|mi&s;h them, or to impair their honor &amp; e&s;teem, always been of an affectionate and captivating re&s;entment with the more ignoble and lower-&s;pirited &s;ort of men, cau&s;ing them to have the per&s;ons of tho&s;e, who
<PB N="35" REF="18">
utter them, in admiration, as worthy A&s;&s;ertors of the Liberties of the People, and expo&s;ing their own li|berties, yea and lives al&s;o, to make the purcha&s;e?</P>
<P>In&s;tead of an an&s;wer to this Querie, this is &s;aid, <HI>No doubt the &s;ins of tho&s;e that be ab&s;ent, may be upon many occa&s;ions &s;po|ken again&s;t, or el&s;e the Scriptures had never kept upon record</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>the &s;ins of Noah, David, and others to be &s;poken of even in all generations. Yea there are many ca&s;es wherin we are partakers of other mens &s;ins, if we doe not in our places bear witne&s;s again&s;t them. No doubt many &s;ervants of God in this nation have &s;poken again&s;t the &s;ins of the late Court, and &s;upertitions of the late Pre|lates, when as yet none of them were pre&s;ent: and yet were not accounted by the Saints to be tran&s;gre&s;&s;ours, but faithfull in their generation.</HI></P>
<P>This an&s;wer giveth the Querie a goe-by, in &s;tead of an encoun|ter with a broad &s;ide: and looks a little towards it on the back-&s;ide of it, nor careing to look it in the face; The Querie is farre from <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nim adver&s;io~.</NOTE> &s;uppo&s;ing that the <HI>&s;ins of tho&s;e that are ab&s;ent,</HI> ought in no ca&s;e, or upon no <HI>occa&s;ion</HI> what&s;oever, to be <HI>reproved, or witne&s;&s;ed a|gain&s;t.</HI> The truth is that no &s;in at all can be reproved, but what is like to be, as well the &s;in of &s;ome that are <HI>ab&s;ent,</HI> as well as of any that are pre&s;ent. That mi&s;carriage, and unworthine&s;&s;e which the Querie &s;trikes at, is the <HI>importune,</HI> re&s;tle&s;&s;e, and day-after-day <HI>declaiming again&s;t the &s;ins of tho&s;e who are ab&s;ent,</HI> e&s;pecially of their Superiours, and &s;uch who are in authority, and this in a way to gratifie and feed the corrupt and froward humours of tho&s;e that are pre&s;ent; as when a mini&s;tery &s;pends it &s;elfe more in make|ing tho&s;e that are ab&s;ent, wor&s;e then they are, then in making tho&s;e who are pre&s;ent better then they are; ye in making tho&s;e that are pre&s;ent wor&s;e then they would be otherwi&s;e, by making them judges of evill thoughts, and &s;peakers of evill words, again&s;t tho&s;e who have neither done them, nor (as they have raa&s;on enough to be confident) intend them, the lea&s;t harms. The Querie witne&s;&s;eth again&s;t &s;uch a practice as this, as unchri&s;ti|an and &s;infull; and &s;ugge&s;teth, that, of the two, it may rather be termed, a <HI>back-biting</HI> of &s;in, then a <HI>reproving.</HI> And this (I pre&s;ume) cannot be oppo&s;ed, either with Scripture, rea&s;on, or
<PB N="36" REF="19">
truth: nor doth the An&s;wer lift up &s;o much as the lea&s;t <HI>iota</HI> again&s;t it.</P>
<P>If it be here rejoyned, that &s;peaking the&s;e things, I put good men to rebuke without cau&s;e, reflecting upon them as guilty of &s;uch mi&s;demeanors, whereof they are innocent and free; I An|&s;wer,</P>
<P>That if the&s;e good men do not put them&s;elves to rebuke by practi&s;ing the things imported in the Querie, as unworthy, nei|ther doth the Querie put them to rebuke. For this nameth no offender; neither doth it particular<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ze, characterize, or point at any per&s;on, more, or otherwi&s;e, then the Scripture it &s;elfe, when it &s;aith; <HI>Thou &s;halt not revile the Gods, nor cur&s;e the Ruler of thy people</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Exod. 2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 28</NOTE>. He that doth not <HI>revile the Gods,</HI> not <HI>cur&s;e the Ruler of his people,</HI> is not at all reproved, or condemn|ed, by this Scripture, but rather ju&s;tified, and commanded, in his innocency from the&s;e great offences. Nor &s;hould the Que|rie beat the air, unle&s;s it &s;hould &s;uppo&s;e &s;ome per&s;ons now in being, guilty of the crimes therein cen&s;ured. If the <HI>Genius</HI> and tendency of it be as proper to keep men innocent, as to bring them who have tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed, to repentance, this is enough to a&s;&s;ert the u&s;efulne&s;s of it, though there were no per&s;on upon the face of the Earth touch'd in a way of reproof by it. Yea they who can wa&s;h their lips in innocency from the foulne&s;s there &s;pecified, are vertually prai&s;ed, and not at all di&s;paragingly re|flected upon, by it. If the An&s;wer could have ju&s;tified any thing, either by the Scriptures, or by the approved practi&s;e of the Saints in any generation, which is made &s;in, or cen&s;urable, by the Querie, it had de&s;erved the Name and acknowledgment of an An&s;wer. But the An&s;wer having nothing to lay to the charge of the Querie, neither &s;hall the Queri&s;t be further trou|ble&s;ome to it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query <HI>X.</HI></HEAD>
<P>Whether is there any in&s;tance or example to be found in all the Scripture of any Prophet, or faithful Servant of God, who counted it a plea&s;ure to declaim
<PB N="37" REF="19">
again&s;t their Rulers before the people; e&s;pecially again&s;t any &s;uch Ruler, whom they acknowledged, or knew, to be a per&s;on fearing God, and withall, a man, the tenderne&s;s and goodne&s;s of who&s;e Con&s;ci|ence they could not lightly but know to be &s;uch, which made him utterly aver&s;e as to any penall vin|dication of him&s;elf, (e&s;pecially upon the per&s;ons of &s;uch men, whom he had the lea&s;t cau&s;e of all to judg godly,) though highly injured and provoked by them? Or is it not a mo&s;t unworthy &s;train of an un-Chri&s;tian di&s;-ingenuitie, to tread and trample upon tho&s;e with a foot of in&s;olencie, whom we know (or at lea&s;t have very good grounds whereon to be con|fidently per&s;waded) that they are fa&s;t bound in their judgements, and con&s;ciences towards God, from ri|&s;ing up again&s;t us, to repair them&s;elves, or to mea&s;ure. out unto us according to the ju&s;t demerit of &s;uch our mi&s;demeanors again&s;t them?</P>
<P>This Query hath produced us a larger An&s;wer then any of its <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> fellows. <HI>There is no doubt many in&s;tances to be found: but &s;ome come to hand with little &s;earch.</HI> Amos <HI>he declaims again&s;t the &s;ins, foretels the judgment that &s;hould come upon Jeroboam, and that to the people of the Land, and not to his hearing. And therefore</HI> Amaziah <HI>the Prie&s;t &s;ends to the King (no doubt to curry favor with him) accu&s;ing the Prophet, telling him that</HI> Amos <HI>had con&s;pired again&s;t him, and that the Land was not able to bear his words. Am. 7. Again,</HI> Jeremie <HI>&s;ends</HI> Baruch <HI>to read the roul, which contained the &s;in, as well as the Judg|ments of the Princes and people of</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>to read the &s;ame to the people in the Hou&s;e of the Lord, the King not being pre&s;ent, but the Princes afterward told the King thereof, Ier. 36. Again, Am. 1. the Prophet doth declaim again&s;t the &s;ins of &s;everal Countries with their Princes. Now &s;urely he could not be pre&s;ent with them all at once. Again, the Prophet</HI> Eze|kiel <HI>likewi&s;e being in Babylon with the fir&s;t that went Captive,
<PB N="38" REF="20">
doth even at that di&s;tance by Gods command, &s;et his face towards</HI> Jeru&s;alem, <HI>and declaim again&s;t the &s;innes thereof, and in particu|lar again&s;t the &s;ins of the Princes.</HI> Ezek. 31. 22. <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t him&s;elf called Herod, Fox, behind his back. Yea it is hard to be proved that the &s;ervants of God were pre&s;ent with the Princes, who&s;e &s;ins they reproved.</HI></P>
<P>2. <HI>This &s;uppo&s;ition is born out of due &s;ea&s;on: for the patience gloriedin, is not &s;o fa&s;t bound, as is &s;uppo&s;ed.</HI> (The&s;e la&s;t words relate unto the latter pa&s;&s;age in the Query; <HI>Or is it not a mo&s;t un|worthy &s;train,</HI> &amp;c.)</P>
<P N="1">1. There is not within the large circumference of this an&s;wer, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply &amp; A|nimadverti.</NOTE> any oneline, or clau&s;e, that joyns i&s;&s;ue with the main import of the Querie, which is, <HI>whether there be to be found any in&s;tance in all the Scripture, of any Prophet, or &s;ervant</HI> of God, who <HI>coun|ted it a plea&s;ure to declaim again&s;t &s;uch their Rulers before the people, whom they acknowledged, or knew, to be men fearing God, and with all &amp;c.</HI> To this point of the Querie, which is the heart and &s;oul of it, the an&s;wer offereth nothing at all, but turneth a&s;ide to &s;ome examples of Idolatrous and wicked Princes and Rulers, as <HI>Jeroboam, Jehojakim,</HI> &amp;c. again&s;t whom, together with their people partakers of their &s;ins, &s;ome of the Prophets of God, by immediate, particular, and expre&s;&s;e revelation, were charged to prophe&s;ie, and to denounce the judgements, which he had deter|mined to bring upon both, in ca&s;e they did not timely repent. And becau&s;e the&s;e expre&s;&s;es from God, concern'd, as well the people, as their Princes, and the people being many, were the more con&s;iderable partie concerned in the&s;e me&s;&s;ages; nor had the Prophets entru&s;ted with the&s;e me&s;&s;ages, always opportunity to conveene the people and their Princes together, therefore &s;ome|times they delivered their burdens, or me&s;&s;ages from God unto the people, the Princes being ab&s;ent. But they alwayes &s;et down, or cau&s;ed to be &s;et down, in writeing, the tenor of the&s;e their prophecies (re&s;pectively) that &s;o they might be pre&s;ented unto the Princes upon occa&s;ion; as is evident in the ca&s;e of <HI>Jeremies</HI> roll, (mentioned in the An&s;wer) which was read in the ears of the King, <HI>Jer.</HI> 36. 21. and this after the &s;umme and &s;ub&s;tance of it had been made known unto him before.</P>
<P>What is there then in any, or in all, the examples in&s;i&s;ted upon
<PB N="39" REF="20">
in the An&s;wer, that doth &s;o much as colourably parallel, or ju&s;ti|fie, the practi&s;e of tho&s;e, who with turbulencie of pa&s;&s;ion and di&s;content, prophecie the vi&s;ions of their own hearts, (made of bit|terne&s;&s;e and blood) not again&s;t <HI>Jeroboams, Jehojakims, Herods,</HI> Idolatrous or ungodly Rulers, but again&s;t <HI>Davids, Hezikiahs, Jo|&s;iahs,</HI> men zealous for God, lovers of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, hating cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &amp;c. with open mouth, and in a clamourous manner, re&s;tle&s;ly, and without cra&s;ing, pouring contempt and di&s;parage|ment upon them, laying to their charge things which they know not, calling their light, darkne&s;&s;e, making their &s;treight things, crooked, traducing their faithfulne&s;&s;e under the odious names and mi&s;pre&s;entations, of promi&s;e-breaking, fal&s;ifying of words &amp;c. and all this in the ears (for the mo&s;t part) of an ill-&s;pirited and incon|&s;iderate multitude, with menacing or di&s;paraging glances at all &s;uch being pre&s;ent, who &s;hall make report of the words &s;poken unto him, or them, who are mo&s;t concerned in them. So that the practices and deportments of the men now de&s;cribed in the bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e under con&s;ideration, have as little <HI>communion</HI> with the beha|viour and carriage of the Prophets alledged in the An&s;wer, as <HI>light hath with darkne&s;s,</HI> or <HI>righteou&s;nes with unrighteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> or that which is from God, with that whih is from men. All circun&s;tan|ces (well nigh) in the proceedings of the one, and of the other, are diametrally oppo&s;ite. 1. The Prophets, though they mentio|ned or named the &s;inns of their Rulers before the people, yet they &s;ought not hereby to render them odious to their people, or to incen&s;e the people again&s;t them, but rather to admoni&s;h the peo|ple, that if God were determined to puni&s;h their Kings and Prin|ces for &s;uch and &s;uch &s;ins, if in time they repented not, much le&s;&s;e would ht &s;pare them, being partakers with them in their &s;ins, in ca&s;e they remained &s;tubborn and impenitent. But the men, who&s;e ju&s;tification is attempted in the An&s;wer, in&s;i&s;t upon mat|ters of oblequie and charge again&s;t their Rulers, before the peo|ple, not to admoni&s;h them of any communion in &s;in with their Rulers, nor of any judgement of God hanging over their heads for &s;uch communion, but onely, or chiefly (as is too too apparent) to create and work an odium or di&s;ta&s;te in the people again&s;t their Rulers.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Prophets in&s;i&s;ted onely upon &s;uch &s;ins of their Rulers before the people, whereof they were truly and really guilty, and
<PB N="40" REF="21">
which either by the light of nature, or the expre&s;&s;e Word of God, or both, they certainly knew to be &s;ins indeed. Whereas the men we &s;peak of, arreign their Rulers at the barre of their hearers, for matters of cavillation, and for &s;uch things, under the names of en|ormous crimes, or actions, which both by the Word of God, and by the Law and light of nature, are, under &s;uch circum&s;tances, as under which they were tran&s;acted by them, not onely or &s;imply ju&s;tifyable, or warrantable, but al&s;o, (as farre as &s;ober men, and of be&s;t and &s;ounde&s;t under&s;tandings, are able to judge) worthy commendation.</P>
<P N="3">3. The Prophets (&s;pecified in the an&s;wer) were not onely willing that the Kings and Rulers, who&s;e tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions together with the judgments threatened again&s;t them, they had occa&s;ion to declare in the ears of the people, &s;hould come to the di&s;tinct and perfect knowledge of what they declared in this kind, but likewi&s;e endeavoured and procured it. <HI>Goye</HI> (&s;aith <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> and <HI>tell ye that Fox, Behold, &amp;c.</HI> (meaning <HI>Herod.)</HI> So the Prophet <HI>Abijah,</HI> 1 King. 14. 7. See al&s;o 2 <HI>Chrn. 21. ver&s;e</HI> 12. Whereas their prepo&s;terous Imitatours, are wont to reprove, di&s;|grace, or threaten tho&s;e, that &s;hall informe their rulers of the truth of tho&s;e things, which they (at their plea&s;ures) &s;peak of them before the people.</P>
<P N="4">4. The &s;aid Prophets never di&s;paraged, or poured contempt upon their good, godly, or worthy Kings or rulers, in the pre&s;ence or hearing of the people, but upon their Idolatrous, wicked, and unju&s;t Kings onely. But the tongues of their competitours are as drawn &s;words in the midde&s;t of the people, again&s;t &s;uch rulers, who them&s;elves cannot but acknowledg to be men of a gracious anoynting from God, Ju&s;t, and Holy, and Good.</P>
<P N="5">5. (and la&s;tly, that which is as much, or more, as all the for|mer) The Prophets indeed, had a particular and expre&s;&s;e commi&s;&s;i|on and charge by way of immediate revelation from God, in all things to &s;peak, as they &s;pake, and doe as they did in the premi&s;&s;es, in which re&s;pect a nece&s;&s;ity lay upon them in both. Whereas the by prophets, eyed by the Querie, and countenanced by the An|&s;wer, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">an upon their angry me&s;&s;age without being &s;ent from God, nor can they give any &s;ober, or &s;ub&s;tantial account, that they were any waies led, or in&s;pired by him, to &s;peak the tenth of tho&s;e revilings and hard &s;ayings again&s;t the Rulers (one, or more)
<PB N="41" REF="21">
which God hath &s;et over them, wherewith notwith&s;tanding they have dareingly adventured to pollute their lipps, and con&s;ci|ences, together, yea and the minds end thoughts of many o|thers.</P>
<P>2. Whereas the An&s;wer pretendeth, <HI>that it is hard to prove that the &s;ervants of God were pre&s;ent with the Princes, who&s;e &s;ins they reproved;</HI> I rejoyn, that if the Scriptures be of &s;uffici|ent Authority, it is ea&s;ie to prove, 1. That <HI>Samuel</HI> was pre&s;ent with <HI>Saul</HI> when he reproved him for the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of <HI>Agag</HI> and of <HI>Amalek,</HI> and &s;o again, for his offering &s;acrifice, 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 13. 11. 2. That Nathan was pre&s;enr with <HI>David,</HI> when he reproved him for his murther and aadulteris 3. The Prophet who reproved <HI>Jeroboam</HI> &s;tanding by the altar in <HI>Bethel</HI> to burn incen&s;e, was pre&s;ent with him, 1 <HI>King, 13. 12. 4. Eliah</HI> was pre&s;ent with <HI>Ahab,</HI> when he reproved him, 1 <HI>Kiogs</HI> 18. 18. And a another time, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 28. 10 20. 5. That in like manner there was a nother Prophet pre&s;ent, when he reproved him 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 20. 42. 6. That <HI>Michiah</HI> al&s;o was pre&s;ent with him, when he reproved him, 1 <HI>King.</HI> 22. 17. 28. 7. that <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> was pre&s;ent with <HI>Jebo|ram,</HI> when he reproved him, 2 <HI>King.</HI> 3. 13 8. That <HI>Hanani</HI> the Prophet was pre&s;ent with <HI>A&s;a,</HI> when he reproved him 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 16. 7. 9. that <HI>Jehu</HI> the &s;on of <HI>Hanani</HI> was pre&s;ent with <HI>Jeho|&s;apha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> when he reproved him. 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 19. 2. 10. That the Prophet who reproved King <HI>Amaziah,</HI> was pre&s;ent with him, when he did it. 11. That the Prophets were pre&s;ent with <HI>Ma|na&s;&s;eh,</HI> when they reproved him. 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 33. 18. compared with 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 21. 10, 11, 12. 12. that <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI> was pre|&s;ent with <HI>Herod,</HI> when he reproved him, <HI>Mat.</HI> 14. 4. 13. That <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John</HI> were pre&s;ent with <HI>Annas</HI> the high Prie&s;t, and the re&s;t of his A&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors in councel when they reproved them, <HI>Acts</HI> 4. 19. 14. that <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o was pre&s;ent with the High Prie&s;t <HI>A|nanias,</HI> when he reproved him, <HI>Act.</HI> 23. 3. So that <HI>it is</HI> not <HI>hard to prove that the Prophets and &s;ervants of God were pre&s;ent.</HI> (ei|ther formally, or equivalently, and for the mo&s;t part, <HI>formally with the Princes, who&s;e &s;ins they reproved:</HI> but it is very hard, if not impo&s;&s;ible, to prove, that ever they reproved the &s;ins of good Princes or Rulers before the people, but onely when them&s;elves were pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>3. (and la&s;tly) The <HI>&s;uppo&s;ition [viz.</HI> concerning the tender|ne&s;&s;e,
<PB N="42" REF="22">
goodne&s;&s;e, Patience, &amp;c. of the Per&s;ons mo&s;t declaimed a|gain&s;t] which the An&s;wer &s;aith, <HI>is born out of due time,</HI> as if it had had no being till the publi&s;hing of the Queries, had (undoub|tedly) received birth and being long before this, and lived (I veri|ly beleeve) in the bre&s;ts of tho&s;e very men, who now &s;eek to &s;lay and de&s;troy it; or if not in theirs, yet in other mens, where it is as much made of, and delighted in, as it could have been in theirs. And whereas the An&s;wer (incon&s;iderately, and with a little ve|n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m) adds; <HI>For the patience gloried in, is not &s;o fa&s;t bound, as is &s;uppo&s;ed;</HI> I rejoyn, 1. That here is no <HI>glorying</HI> in any mans <HI>patience,</HI> but onely the patience of a man, mode&s;tly and with truth atte&s;ted, or (more properly) &s;uppo&s;ed. 2. That the pati|ence of a Magi&s;trate, or cheif Ruler, is not to be e&s;timated by his regular and nece&s;&s;arie &s;everity in order to the publique peace and tranqaillity of his people, but by his habitual deportment of him|&s;elf under &s;uch per&s;onal wrongs and provocations, which may be pardoned or put up without the prejudice, or danger of o|ther men. Therefore notwith&s;tanding any thing yet acted or done, the <HI>Patience,</HI> which the Query &s;uppo&s;eth, may in the language of the An&s;wer) be as <HI>fa&s;t-bound,</HI> as it is &s;up|po&s;ed.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="part">
<HEAD><HI>Query</HI> XI.</HEAD>
<P>Whether doth not the Apo&s;tle, expre&s;ly charge and injoyn <HI>every Soul</HI> (without exception of any) <HI>to be &s;ubject to the higher powers,</HI> declaring, <HI>That who&s;o|ever re&s;isteth the Power, re&s;i&s;teth the Ordinance of God, (Rom.</HI> 13. 2.) If &s;o, do not &s;uch per&s;ons &s;in again&s;t an expre&s;s Commandment of God, and this with an high hand, who, under what pretext &s;oever, &s;hall o|penly teach di&s;obedience unto the <HI>Powers</HI> over them, animating and encouraging, yea by all unchri&s;tian and indirect means, incen&s;ing and provoking the people again&s;t the <HI>Powers,</HI> which God, whether in judgment, or in mercy, hath mo&s;t ju&s;tly placed and
<PB N="43" REF="22">
appointed over them? Or can the &s;in of <HI>re&s;isting the Powers,</HI> be more pregnantly, unque&s;tionably, yea or more dangerou&s;ly and mi&s;chievou&s;ly perpetrated and committed, then when tho&s;e, who ought to live in &s;ubjection under them, are day after day, openly &s;olicited, tempted, urged, yea upon Religious pretences conjured, to deny or refu&s;e this &s;ubjection unto them, and are pa&s;&s;ionately, and (as it were) out of an exta&s;ie of zeal, born in hand, that while&s;t they break &s;o &s;ignal a Command of God, they do him worthy &s;ervice?</P>
<P>This Query (it &s;eems) hath by an equivocal generation, be|gotten two more, which <HI>Conjunctim</HI> call them&s;elves an An&s;wer to it. The former, this: <HI>Did the Authors hear tho&s;e Teachers, which he doth defame?</HI> The latter this: <HI>Doth the Author judg</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> <HI>that all commands of all Superiors, are always to be obeyed? Sure|ly no: for then they &s;hould be found tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors, who &s;hall exer|ci&s;e the vengeance written again&s;t Babylon, when the kings of the earth their Superiors &s;hall b wail her burning, as wholy avers to tho&s;e providences: &amp; they al&s;o who &s;hall come at call to the Sup|per of the great God to eat the fle&s;h of Kings and Captains, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>To the former of the&s;e Que&s;tions I an&s;wer.</P>
<P N="1">1. That it rejoyceth in a thing of nought, building it &s;elf upon <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply &amp; A|nimadver&s;i.</NOTE> the &s;and, in ead of a foundation, and &s;uppo&s;ing, that there are &s;ome <HI>Teachers</HI> in being, whom the Author of the Queries <HI>de|fameth.</HI> For if there be any &s;uch <HI>Teachers</HI> now upon the &s;tage, who&s;e protraicture is truly drawn in the la&s;t recited Query, they cannot be &s;aid to be <HI>defamed</HI> thereby, unle&s;&s;e men may be <HI>defamed</HI> by the truth. Men may be ill reported of by the truth: <HI>It is no good report I hear of you</HI> (&s;aid <HI>Eli</HI> to his &s;ons:) but <HI>John</HI> the <HI>Bap|ti&s;t</HI> did not (I conceive) <HI>defame</HI> the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> and <HI>Sadduces,</HI> when he &s;tiled them <HI>a generation of vipers:</HI> nor did <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> de|fame <HI>Herod,</HI> when he called him, a <HI>Fox;</HI> nor <HI>Paul, Nero,</HI> when he termed him, a <HI>Lion.</HI> Or if there be no &s;uch <HI>Teachers</HI> among&s;t us, as that Query purporteth, there is no ground to complain that any are <HI>defamed</HI> by it. For tho&s;e who are not &s;uch, it neither maketh, nor &s;uppo&s;eth, to be &s;uch. Or if there be any, who are in part, though not altogether, &s;uch, as are there repre&s;ented, and
<PB N="44" REF="23">
&s;o likely in time to prove altogether &s;uch, the Query is &s;o farre from defameing the&s;e, that it is of a very proper calcalution to prevent their <HI>infamie</HI> (at lea&s;t in the growth and increa&s;e of it) by pre&s;enting them, as in a gla&s;&s;e, with &s;uch a face, the deformity whereof they cannot light<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y but abhorre, and &s;o be far from makeing their own like unto it. Review al&s;o the latter part of the Reply made to the an&s;wer of the 9 Query.</P>
<P N="2">2. Whereas the &s;aid former Que&s;tion interrogates, <HI>Did the Author hear tho&s;e Teachers &amp;c.</HI> I an&s;wer: the <HI>Author</HI> heartily wi&s;heth that there were no &s;uch <HI>teachers,</HI> as are there de&s;cribed either for him, or any others, to <HI>hear.</HI> Yea he hopeth, that there neither are, nor ever will be, &s;uch Teachers, who&s;e unworthine&s;&s;e will hold out, length and breadth, with that de&s;cription; only he is more then jealous, that though he knoweth no men among&s;t us, yet there are &s;turdy <HI>&s;triplings</HI> among&s;t us, likely in a &s;hort time to make men, of that generation.</P>
<P>Or if the &s;aid interrogatory catcheth at any &s;uch advantage as this, that the Author of the Queries mu&s;t needs goe beyond the line of his <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> commi&s;&s;ion, in reproving, or blameing &s;uch Teachers, from whom he hath not per&s;onally heard the things, for which he reproveth them; his An&s;wer is, that an <HI>accu&s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ion</HI> even <HI>again&s;t an Elder</HI> may <HI>under two or three witne&s;&s;es</HI> be enter|tained, how much more under double and treble the number? But more of this in our progre&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>The latter of the two que&s;tions, may well be a que&s;tion indeed. For doubtle&s;&s;e the Author is every whit as farre as the An&s;werer, if not &s;omewhat further, from <HI>judgeing, that all commands of all &s;uperiors are alwaies to be obeyed.</HI> Nor can he well imagine why &s;uch a que&s;tion as this &s;hould be put. By, <HI>re&s;isting the powers,</HI> nei|ther doth the Apo&s;tle, nor the Query, under&s;tand, a non-comply|ing [obedientially, or practically] with all tho&s;e that are in power, in what&s;oever they &s;hall command; I never knew, nor heard of, &s;o much as any one man, who was thus minded; but, by the phra&s;e of, <HI>re&s;i&s;ting the powers, [viz.</HI> which are, and are <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;overeign or &s;upreme] the Apo&s;tle (que&s;tionle&s;&s;ely) meaneth, a denying &s;ubjection to the&s;e powers, as &s;uch, [1. a re|fu&s;eall of obeying them in &s;uch commands, which they have a right o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> authority, to impo&s;e upon men, which right extendeth onely to things lawfull.] For no <HI>Power</HI> or <HI>powers</HI> what&s;oever,
<PB N="45" REF="23">
have any right to impo&s;e any &s;uch command upon any per&s;on, which the per&s;on commanded hath not a right or liberty from God, to obey. Tis true, the <HI>powers</HI> we &s;peak of may be <HI>re&s;i&s;t|ed</HI> in a wor&s;e &s;ence then that now opened; as <HI>viz.</HI> when they are not onely rejected in their lawful commands, but their &s;ubver&s;ion and ruine attempted al&s;o, whether by force, or by politique in&s;i+nuations or coun&s;els. He that either di&s;obeys the lawful commands of the <HI>powers that are,</HI> or by force endevours, or by &s;ubtilty con|trives, their abolition, may very properly be &s;aid to <HI>re&s;i&s;t the pow|ers.</HI> But,</P>
<P>2. The in&s;tance of the <HI>execution of the vengeance upon Baby|lon,</HI> is very improper to prove, that Superiours may be re&s;i&s;ted in unlawfull commands. For evident it is from <HI>Rev.</HI> 17. 16. that tho&s;e who <HI>&s;hal execute the vengeance that is written again&s;t Ba|bylon,</HI> &s;hall have the concurrence of their Kings, or Princes, with them therein. <HI>And the ten horns which thou &s;awe&s;t upon the bea&s;t</HI> (interpreted to be the <HI>ten Kings,</HI> who at fir&s;t gave <HI>their power and &s;trength to the bea&s;t, and made warre again&s;t the Lambe.</HI> v. 13. 14) <HI>the&s;e [viz.</HI> among&s;t them, &s;ome, if not all, of them] <HI>&s;hall hate the whore, &s;hall make her de&s;olate, and &s;hall eat her fle&s;h, and &s;hall burn her with fire.</HI> And for <HI>the Kings of the Earth,</HI> &s;poken of <HI>chap.</HI> 18. 9. here &s;aid to <HI>have committed fornication, and lived deliciou&s;ly with her,</HI> and to <HI>bewail</HI> and <HI>la|ment for her, when they behold the &s;moak of her burnings, &amp;c.</HI> they either are &s;uch of the former Kings, who &s;hall not joyn with their fellowes in <HI>hateing the whore, makeing her de&s;olate and na|ked, eating her fle&s;h, &amp;c.</HI> but per&s;i&s;t in their adulterous league with her to the very la&s;t; or el&s;e they may be, the Cardinalls, and Great Bi&s;hops of the Antichri&s;tian Sea, who in re&s;pect of their wealth, power, pomp and external magn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ficance, may be termed, Kings or Princes <HI>of the earth.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query XII.</HEAD>
<P>Whether do not all <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> &s;tand expre&s;ly char+ged, to <HI>make &s;upplications, prayers, interce&s;sions, and giving of thanks,</HI> as <HI>for all men,</HI> &s;o more e&s;pecially for <HI>Kings, and</HI> ALL <HI>that are in Authority, that they may
<PB N="46" REF="24">
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godline&s;s and hone&s;ty?</HI> If thus, do not &s;uch <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> notoriou&s;ly prevaricate with the &s;cope and intent of their own <HI>&s;upplications and prayers</HI> (at lea&s;t if they &s;upplicate and pray ac|cording to the pre&s;cription of the Holy Gho&s;t, now mentioned) who labour in the very fire without cea&s;|ing to make pro&s;elytes unto <HI>Barabbas,</HI> in &s;tead of <HI>Je|&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;triving might and main to &s;ea&s;on all they can, with principles of turbulency and &s;edition, and to mold their Chri&s;tian Brethren into &s;uch coun&s;els and re&s;olutions, which no man can rea&s;onably imagine or expect, but that they &s;hould, or will, exa&s;perate tho&s;e <HI>in Authority</HI> into &s;uch ways, which mu&s;t needs make their <HI>lives</HI> le&s;s <HI>quiet and peaceable?</HI></P>
<P>To this Query, this bi-membred An&s;wer is given. 1. <HI>Kings</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> <HI>and Governors that do oppo&s;e the te&s;timony of Je&s;us, that breaks forth and is proper to their generation, are indeed to be interceded for, but not to be given thanks for, no more then we are bound to give thanks for theeves and murtherers, becau&s;e the Apostle hath commanded thanks to be given for all men.</HI></P>
<P>2. <HI>The Author &s;hould have declared what tho&s;e principles of &s;edition be. Pauls principles were counted &s;editious, and yet they were only &s;uch things, as concern'd the kingdome of God, and name of Je&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>For the fir&s;t member of this an&s;wer, it is quite be&s;ides the mat|ter <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nimadver&s;io~.</NOTE> of that part of the Query, to which it pretends the relation of an An&s;wer. For this &s;peaks of the <HI>prevarication of Christians with the &s;cope and intent of their own &s;upplications and prayers, in ca&s;e</HI> they pray <HI>according to the pre&s;cription of the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> 1 Tim. 2. 12. The An&s;wer excepts nothing again&s;t <HI>praying</HI> or <HI>&s;upplicateing</HI> for any &s;ort of men, but again&s;t <HI>giving of thanks</HI> for &s;ome men; concerning which the Query moveth nothing at all, further then the bare citeing of the words, <HI>giving of thanks,</HI> among&s;t others, in the pa&s;&s;age tran&s;cribed from the A|po&s;tle.</P>
<P><PB N="47" REF="24">
What <HI>testimony of Je&s;us</HI> it is, which this part of the An&s;wer &s;uppo&s;eth to be <HI>proper to a generation,</HI> and more e&s;pecially to this generation (for this is the empha&s;is of the bu&s;ine) he An&s;we|rer &s;hould have declared, as he &s;aith to me concerning the <HI>princi|ples of &s;edition,</HI> of which I &s;peak. It &s;eems there were &s;ome in <HI>Paul</HI>'s dayes, who troubled the minds of many with this not on or Doctrine, that the <HI>day of Chri&s;t was at hand, 2 The&s;.</HI> 2. 2. Yet this was no <HI>testimony of Je&s;us proper to that generation;</HI> with what confidence &s;oever it might be pretended to have been &s;uch. And to &s;et a few people a gogg with a conceit, that if they might chu&s;e and &s;et up &s;uch or &s;uch Per&s;ons in places of power and Authority over them, they &s;hould lay the foundations of the fift Monarchie, and &s;uddenly bring the Kingdome of Chri&s;t (&s;o much &s;poken of) upon the world, is no <HI>te&s;timony of Je&s;us proper to</HI> this <HI>generation.</HI> For <HI>Je&s;us</HI> hath no where declared &s;uch a <HI>propriety</HI> as this, to re&s;ide in &s;uch a Doctrine, or <HI>testimony of him,</HI> as that now mentioned. If by, <HI>proper to a generation,</HI> the An&s;wer meaneth, commodious, u&s;efull, or nece&s;&s;ary to a generation, cer|tain I am that the Doctrin of &s;ubjection unto the <HI>Higher powers</HI> is very <HI>proper to</HI> this <HI>generation.</HI></P>
<P>But concerning what the an&s;wer &s;peaks (though eccentrical|ly to the Querie) again&s;t <HI>giving thanks for theeves and murther|ers;</HI> Doubtle&s;&s;e in &s;uch a &s;ence as we ought, or may, <HI>pray,</HI> or <HI>intercede for them,</HI> we may and ought to give thanks. For, for what&s;oever good thing we may, or ought, intercede, or pray for on their behalf, we may and ought to give thanks, when God vouch&s;afeth to give it unto them. The matter of our prayer or in|terceding for them, ought not to be any thing &s;infully evill: nor ought the matter of our giveing of thanks for them, be any &s;uch thing (I mean, that is &s;infully evill in them,) but onely that which is good, as being &s;ome expre&s;&s;ion or te&s;timony of the goodne&s;&s;e of God towards them. But this is more again&s;t the An&s;wer, then for the Querie.</P>
<P>Whereas the latter part of the An&s;wer, in&s;tructeth me in my duty, and telleth me that I <HI>&s;hould have declared what tho&s;e prin|ciples of &s;edition be,</HI> whereof the Query &s;peaketh, con&s;idering, that <HI>Pauls principles were counted &s;editious, which yet were onely &s;uch things, which concerned the kingdome of God, &amp;c.</HI> I repone (by way of excu&s;e for my over&s;ight, or failing, in this point,)
<PB N="48" REF="25">
1. That I was rank of beleif, that no per&s;on, who would vouch|&s;afe to ca&s;t his eye upon the Query, could look upon, either the Queri&s;t him&s;elf, or any other per&s;on in the lea&s;t degree con&s;idera|ble among&s;t us, as no more able to di&s;tingui&s;h between <HI>princi|ples of &s;edition, and things which concern the kingdom of God,</HI> then tho&s;e Pagans and profe&s;&s;ed Infidels were, who &s;o broadly mi&s;took <HI>Pauls principles,</HI> as the An&s;wer &s;ugge&s;teth. If my confidence in this kind did ill become me, I doe accept of the blame, and &s;hame, of it. But, 2. (to redeem my over&s;ight in the premi&s;&s;es, and obey the voyce of the admonition given me) I declare, 1. (in the negative) that by, <HI>principles of &s;edition,</HI> I did not mean <HI>things concerning the kingdom of God;</HI> nor, 2. things of a doubtfull di&s;putation whether they were (I mean, <HI>principles of &s;edition)</HI> or no; but (in the affirmative) &s;uch Doctrines, Tenents, or Con|ceits, which in the eye and judgement of any con&s;idering man, not intoxicated with the cup of the &s;ame notions and de&s;ignes, have a manife&s;t tendencie in them to di&s;turbe the cour&s;e of the pre&s;ent Government, to alienate the hearts and affections of peo|ple from tho&s;e rulers and Governors, which God hath judged meet to &s;et over us, and con&s;equently to prepare them for tumul|tuous coun&s;els, and practi&s;es, and for a conjunction with di&s;-af|fected per&s;ons, who &s;hall at any time appear in the lea&s;t degree con&s;iderable for the re-imbroyling of the nation in order to an al|teration, of the government, or Governors of it. Be&s;ides, I verily beleeve, that there is not one of many but &s;ufficiently under&s;tands what the Querie meaneth by, <HI>Principles of turbulencie and &s;edition,</HI> without any &s;uch <HI>Declaration,</HI> as the An&s;wer &s;eemes to require.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>XIII.</HEAD>
<P>Whether are &s;uch men filled with the Spirit of God, or with a contrary &s;pirit, who, in &s;tead of <HI>giving thanks</HI> unto God for tho&s;e <HI>in Authority</HI> (which is the expre&s;s Command of the Apo&s;tle, as we heard&mdash;that <HI>giving of thanks be made for all men, For Kings, and for</HI> ALL <HI>that are in Authority, &amp;c.)</HI> do little el&s;e upon all
<PB N="49" REF="25">
occa&s;ions but fill the ears of men with their di&s;con|tents, complaints and murmurings again&s;t tho&s;e in Authority? And whether are not <HI>murmurers</HI> and <HI>complainers</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Jud. 1. 6.</NOTE>, and &s;o again, <HI>traytors, heady, high-mind|ed</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Tim. 3 4.</NOTE>, and again, men who <HI>de&s;pi&s;e Government</HI> [or Lord&s;hip, <GAP DESC="foreign">] <HI>pre&s;umptuous, &s;elf-willed,</HI> NOT AFRAID <HI>to &s;peak evil of dignities</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2. 10</NOTE>, ranged by the Ho|ly Gho&s;t him&s;elf among&s;t per&s;ons highly di&s;appro|ved by God? And whether is not <HI>that wi&s;dom, which is from above,</HI> as well <HI>peaceable,</HI> as <HI>pure, gentle, and ea&s;ie to be entreated</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Jam. 3. 17.</NOTE>, as that which is found in per&s;ons, <HI>having bitter envying, and &s;trife in their hearts, earthly, &s;en&s;ual, devilli&s;h</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Jam. 3 14. 15.</NOTE>?</P>
<LIST>
<HEAD>To this Query, this An&s;wer tripartite is given.</HEAD>
<ITEM>1. It were better to try the &s;pirits, then by Querying of what &s;pirit &s;ome are of, to gratifie the carnal world, who is al|waies <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> ready to reject that Spirit which is of God.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. To reprove the &s;ins of Government, is not to de&s;pi&s;e Go|vernment, but to remove from it that which makes it de&s;|&s;pi&s;eable.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The wi&s;dome from above, is first pure, then peace|able.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>To the fir&s;t member of this An&s;wer; 1. That the main de|&s;igne <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply &amp; A|nimadver.</NOTE> of the Queries, both <HI>divi&s;im,</HI> and <HI>conjunctim,</HI> is to <HI>try &s;pi|rits,</HI> and to di&s;cover who are the per&s;ons that in their deport|ments about the pre&s;ent Government and Governours, are acted and led by the &s;pirit of God, and who, by their own &s;pirits, or by the &s;pirit of the World. Therefore if the <HI>trying of &s;pirits</HI> be &s;o commendable a work, the An&s;werer hath no cau&s;e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o blame the Queries, at lea&s;t in re&s;pect of their projection, or end. If they have not quitted them&s;elves in their undertaking with that dex|terity, or regularne&s;&s;e of proceeding, which was to be de&s;ired, nor done their work to &s;atisfaction, there is this to be &s;aid for them; that their will was good, onely how to perform it they found not.</P>
<P><PB N="50" REF="26">
2. I doe not at any hand under&s;tand, how <HI>the Querying of what &s;pirit &s;ome men are of,</HI> &s;hould be any matter of <HI>gratificati|on to the carnal world.</HI> It is a greater and more dangerous <HI>gratifi|cation</HI> of them, either &s;o to &s;peak, or &s;o to doe, that they may be incouraged or per&s;waded, that &s;uch per&s;ons, who are of their <HI>&s;pi|rit,</HI> are of the Spirit which is of God.</P>
<P>3. Nor is it <HI>alwayes,</HI> or univer&s;ally true, that the <HI>carnal World is ready to reject that Spirit, which is of God,</HI> if by <HI>carnall world,</HI> be meant all per&s;ons at pre&s;ent un-regenerate. For how then &s;hould the world in any part of it become regenerate? Doubtle&s;&s;e no man becomes regenerate by rejecting the Spirit of God, nor by a readine&s;&s;e to <HI>reject it,</HI> no nor while&s;t either of the&s;e are found in them. But this is little to the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e before us.</P>
<P>The &s;econd member of the An&s;wer, in directne&s;&s;e of termes contains nothing but a mo&s;t true and worthy &s;entence: onely a little explication would &s;trengthen the claim of it to this honour. <HI>To reprove the &s;ins of Government,</HI> [with a Chri&s;tian gravitie, and with a di&s;covery of an honourable e&s;teeme of that Govern|ment it &s;elf, the &s;ins of which we <HI>reprove] is not to de&s;pi&s;e the Government;</HI> but it is a matter of ea&s;ie mi&s;carriage, <HI>to reprove the &s;ins of Government</HI> after &s;uch a manner, as herein to betray our &s;elves that we are <HI>de&s;pi&s;ers of Government,</HI> yea and to incou|rage tho&s;e that hear us to de&s;pi&s;e it al&s;o.</P>
<P>2. It is one thing to <HI>reprove the &s;ins of Government;</HI> another, to a&s;per&s;e it with the imputations and charge of &s;uch &s;innes, of which it is not guilty; and then to fall heavy and foul upon it for &s;uch <HI>&s;ins,</HI> of which, either the <HI>strength</HI> of our di&s;affections on|ly, or the weakne&s;&s;e, of our under&s;tandings, or both, have made it guilty.</P>
<P>The words of the third and la&s;t member of the An&s;wer, are of too great an in&s;piration to be que&s;tioned. But 1. it is no <HI>impuri|ty</HI> not to reproach, revile, or cur&s;e, the ruler of a mans people. 2. From the expre&s;&s;e tenour of the words, that <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> which is not <HI>peaceable,</HI> whatever it may pretend to <HI>purity,</HI> is evicted not to be <HI>from above.</HI> But (&s;aith the Apo&s;tle <HI>Iames) if ye have bit|ter envying and &s;trife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not a|gain&s;t the Truth</HI> [by &s;aying or thinking, you are men truly wi&s;e,
<PB N="51" REF="26">
when as you are nothing le&s;&s;e] <HI>This wi&s;dom de&s;cendeth not from above: but is earthly. &amp;c.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>XIV.</HEAD>
<P>Whether did not <HI>Satan</HI> (the great Enemy of the peace and &s;afety of mankind) de&s;ire to <HI>&s;ift</HI> the Apo|&s;tles rather then any other &s;ort of men, <HI>[i. e.</HI> to di&s;turb and trouble their fancies, memories, under&s;tand|ings, &amp;c. for a time, with an intent and hope by this means to draw out of them &s;ome &s;oyl or dro&s;s, &s;ome unworthy carriages, or other, which coming from them, he knew mu&s;t needs be more &s;erviceable for his ends, then the &s;ame, or the like, coming from other men.] Or doth he not in the&s;e days labour in the ve|ry fire to di&s;turb the principles, di&s;temper the ima|ginatives, di&s;order and confound the rea&s;ons, appre|hen&s;ions, and under&s;tandings of &s;uch men, who&s;e di&s;ordered actings and mi&s;carriages he &s;uppo&s;eth will be of highe&s;t conducement to his ends, which are known to be, the trouble, mi&s;ery, and de&s;truction, of the poor creature called Man? Or are not &s;uch men, the men of this character, who&s;e zeal hath &s;o highly commended them to the opinions and thoughts of many devout and well-meaning men and women, that they judg their thre&s;holds to be much nearer the thre&s;hold of God him&s;elf, then other mens?</P>
<P>Again&s;t this Query, this An&s;wer magnifies it &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>We find none of the Apo&s;tles that Sathan had this advantage</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> <HI>again&s;t, but Peter, who was &s;o confident of his own abilities that he thought none &s;o able to &s;tand, as he. And they are neare&s;t un|to Sathans &s;ieve, who count them&s;elves the ma&s;ters of wi&s;dome, and rationality, in their generation. And as Sathan had the greate&s;t advantage upon men of that temper; &s;o when God stirrs
<PB N="52" REF="27">
up in&s;truments to bear forth any te&s;timony of his in their gene|ration, he cl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;eth the weak and the fooli&s;h things of this world. Not that they are fooli&s;h: for there is no wi&s;dom like to that which is from above. But &s;o they are called, becau&s;e &s;o e&s;teem|ed by the world, in which they live, and with which they contend to the lo&s;&s;e of their honours, names, e&s;tates, and therefore are count|ed fooles. But notwith&s;tanding they are known to be of God by tho&s;e poor &s;ouls, that walk in the light of the &s;ame &s;pirit of God which they walk in.</HI> To the&s;e things,</P>
<P N="1">1. The Scripture will not allow it for truth, that <HI>Sathan</HI> had <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply &amp; A|nimadver.</NOTE> <HI>not the advantage of &s;ifting again&s;t</HI> ANY OF <HI>the Apo&s;tles,</HI> but <HI>Peter</HI> onely. For pre&s;ently upon the apprehending of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> by the multitude, that were &s;ent from the cheif Prie&s;ts and elders with &s;words and &s;taves again&s;t him, it is expre&s;ly &s;aid, <HI>that all the Di&s;ciples</HI> (as well as <HI>Peter) for&s;ook him and fled</HI> (Mat. 26. 56. This was an effectual &s;ifting. Yea <HI>Peter</HI> (it &s;eemes) in ca&s;e it be &s;uppo&s;ed that he <HI>fled</HI> al&s;o, immediately repented of his <HI>flying,</HI> and &s;hewed more courage (at lea&s;t for a time) then any of his fellows. But,</P>
<P N="2">2 If <HI>Peter</HI> was therefore more obnoxious to <HI>Sathans &s;ifting</HI> then the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles, <HI>becau&s;e he was &s;o confident of his a|bilities, that he thought none &s;o able to &s;tand, as he,</HI> this is ful|ly concurrent with the de&s;ign of the Query. For I verily beleeve that there are no men more <HI>confident of their abilities,</HI> or that think they are more <HI>able to &s;tand,</HI> then the Per&s;ons looked upon by the Query, and admired by the An&s;wer.</P>
<P N="3">3. If they who <HI>count them&s;elves the ma&s;ters of wi&s;dom in their generation,</HI> be the men that are <HI>neare&s;t unto Sathans &s;ieve,</HI> I be|leeve the &s;ame Per&s;ons will be found to inherit the relation of this proximi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y too. Nor can I ea&s;ily per&s;wade my &s;elf, that the An&s;wer|er him&s;elf, whoever he be, one, or more, is able to per&s;wade them out of a corceit that they are equal (at lea&s;t) to the fir&s;t born &s;ons of wi&s;dom in their <HI>generation.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. It is the &s;ence of wi&s;er men then I, and the&s;e not a few, that the men, whom the An&s;wer would make <HI>contenders with the world to the l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e of their honours, names, e&s;tates,</HI> and upon this account, to be <HI>counted fooles,</HI> are rather gainers in all the&s;e, then lo&s;ers in any, by that conte&s;t, wherein they have lately ap|peared
<PB N="53" REF="27">
(and which they &s;till pro&s;ecute) I can not &s;ay, <HI>with</HI> or a|gain&s;t, <HI>the World,</HI> but with Per&s;ons of as much <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> worth as I know any, &s;o that by con&s;idering men, they are counted rather &s;ubtile, then <HI>fooles,</HI> in entering the li&s;ts of their pre&s;ent <HI>contention.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. I confe&s;&s;e that tho&s;e &s;ouls, who <HI>walk in the light of the &s;ame &s;pirit with them,</HI> may very probably be exceeding confi|dent, and imagine that they <HI>know, that they are of God,</HI> in as much as <HI>every mans wayes &s;eems right in his own eyes;</HI> and con&s;equent|ly, other mens ways, which are the &s;ame with theirs, mu&s;t needs <HI>&s;eem right</HI> al&s;o.</P>
<P N="6">6. (la&s;tly) Neither doth God always <HI>chu&s;e the weak and fool|i&s;h things of this World,</HI> for his <HI>in&s;truments to bear forth every te&s;timony of his in their generation. Luther, Melancthon, Cal|vin</HI> (with many others of like note about their times) were none of <HI>the weak or fooli&s;h things of this World,</HI> but men of great en|dowments, guilts, abilities of learning, knowledge in tongues, arts and &s;ciences &amp;c. and yet the&s;e were cho&s;en by God to bear <HI>forth a great te&s;timony of his in their generation.</HI> Not to &s;peak of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> his great In&s;trument of old for the &s;ervice and purpo&s;e here mentioned, to whom the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elf &s;peaking by the mouth of <HI>Stephen,</HI> giveth tis te&s;timony, that <HI>he was learned in all the wi&s;dom of the Egyptians,</HI> and that he <HI>was mighty in words,</HI> as well as in deeds; <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf, who was a <HI>cho&s;en ve&s;|&s;el</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>a</HI> Act. 7. 22.</NOTE> <HI>unto him to bare his Name even befors Kings</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Act. 9. 15.</NOTE>, had never|thele&s;&s;e been brought up at the feet of <HI>Gamaliel,</HI> (a Doctor of the Law, and a man of great reputation in his generation <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Act. 5 34.</NOTE>) <HI>and was taught according to the perfect law of the Fathers</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Act. 22 3.</NOTE>; yea, and immediately before his being <HI>&s;tirred up by God to bear forth his te&s;timony,</HI> was by the great men of the world in his generati|on, highly e&s;teemed, and judged meet to be imployed in their greate&s;t affaires. Therefore neither was he any of the <HI>weak or fooli&s;h things of the world.</HI> The re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles, however before, and at, the time of their calling to be Apo&s;tles, they might be numbred among&s;t <HI>the weak and fooli&s;h things of the world,</HI> yet before God &s;ent them forth to <HI>bear his</HI> great <HI>Te&s;timony</HI> unto the World, they were extraordinarily and miraculou&s;ly <HI>endued with strength from on high,</HI> with wi&s;dom and great under&s;tanding, with the knowledge of tongues, and much other learning, as is to be &s;een in their writings. Nor doe I beleeve that God ever
<PB N="54" REF="28">
<HI>&s;tirred</HI> up any <HI>in&s;trument to bear forth</HI> any <HI>te&s;timony of his in their generation,</HI> in any &s;olemn or publique manner, but onely &s;uch, whom either he found men of worthy guifts and abilities at the time of his &s;tirring them up, or el&s;e whom he furni&s;hed ac|cordingly, in or upon their &s;tirring, before he imployed them in any &s;uch &s;ervice. The Scripture indeed &s;aith, that <HI>God hath cho|&s;en the fooli&s;h things of the world to confound the wi&s;e, and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, 1 Cor.</HI> 1. 27. [&s;peaking (as is evident from the context) of the mean condition, and e&s;teem of the generality or greater part of Beleevers in the world, in compari&s;on of the great and numbers of rich men, learned and prudent men, men in high places who op|po&s;e or reject the Go&s;pel, according to that of <HI>Chri&s;t, Mat. 11. 5 the poor receive the Go&s;pel,</HI> as the former tran&s;lation read it] but it no where &s;aith, with the An&s;wer that he hath cho&s;en the weak and fooli&s;h things of the World to bear forth his te&s;timony in their generation in a mini&s;terial and publique way.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>XV.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is there any kind of zeal more ec&s;tatical and fierie, then that which is blind, and without knowledg? Or was it not &s;uch a zeal as this, which made the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf, whil&s;t yet a <HI>Phari&s;ee, exceedingly mad again&s;t</HI> the Saints, in &s;o much as to <HI>per&s;ecute them even unto strange Cities</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Act. 26. 11</NOTE>? Or were not the <HI>Jews,</HI> to whom notwith&s;tanding <HI>Paul</HI> bears this witne&s;s, that <HI>they had a zeal of God,</HI> the fierce&s;t ene|mies of all others, to the mo&s;t worthy and faithful Servants of God? Or was it not a &s;park of this un|hallowed fire, that provoked the two Di&s;ciples, <HI>James</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> to demand of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> whether they &s;hould not <HI>command fire to come down from Hea|ven to con&s;ume the Samaritans,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>they received them not?</HI> Or did not the Lord <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> upon their mo|tion <HI>turn</HI> him&s;elf towards them, and <HI>rebuke</HI> them in
<PB N="55" REF="28">
the&s;e words; <HI>Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of</HI> ^b? Or do they under&s;tand and con&s;ider of what &s;pirit, they either are, or ought to be, who (in effect) <HI>call for fire,</HI> not only from Heaven, but from Earth al&s;o (I mean, from the vulgar, and le&s;s con&s;iderate &s;ort of people) to de&s;troy, if not the per|&s;ons, yet the power and Authority (which mu&s;t needs endanger the per&s;ons al&s;o) of &s;uch Rulers a|mong&s;t them, who do not <HI>receive</HI> their notions and Doctrines about Government, and &s;ubmit to an in|ve&s;titure from them, and &s;uch as they plea&s;e to joyn in the Act of this inve&s;titure with them&s;elves?</P>
<P>This Query is pre&s;um'd &s;atisfied with this bi|membrous An|&s;wer.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. If zeal without knowledg, be bad, &s;urely knowledg of, with|out <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> zeal again&s;t, the &s;ins of our generation, is much wor&s;e, and &s;hall receive the greater condemnation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The people that know not the Law, are cur&s;ed, &s;aid the Pha|ri&s;ees of the hearers and followers of our Lord Ie&s;us.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>To the former part of this An&s;wer, thus. Fir&s;t, the An&s;werer <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nimadver&s;io~.</NOTE> had &s;mall cau&s;e to reflect upon the Queri&s;t, as a man <HI>without zeal again&s;t the &s;ins of his generation.</HI> His Queries them&s;elves are, with the be&s;t &s;trength he could readily put to them, bent again&s;t &s;ome of the greate&s;t &s;ins (at lea&s;t in his judgement, and as farre as his <HI>knowledge</HI> extendeth) of his generation; as <HI>viz.</HI> turbulen|cie of &s;pirit, running without &s;ending, revileing Magi&s;trates, mur|murings and di&s;contentments again&s;t the gracious and wi&s;e di&s;|pen&s;ations of God towards the Nation, beleeving of &s;pirits with|out trying whether they be of God, or no (with others of affinitie with the&s;e.)</P>
<P>2. Zeal, being nothing but the &s;trength and fervour of de&s;ire to accompli&s;h &s;ome end, it may expre&s;&s;ed otherwi&s;e then by blu&s;tering, or by crying out, either in the &s;treets, or temple. <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> &s;hewed as much <HI>zeal,</HI> or &s;trength of de&s;ire, to propagate the Go&s;|pell and &s;ave the precious &s;ouls of men, by <HI>not &s;triveing, nor cry|ing,</HI>
<PB N="56" REF="29">
nor cau&s;ing <HI>his voyce to be heard in the &s;trets,</HI> when time was; and &s;o in <HI>not breaking a brui&s;ed reed,</HI> in <HI>not quenching &s;moking flax,</HI> &amp;c. as he did in terming the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees, hypo|crites, &s;erpents, a generation of vipers,</HI> and thundring out woe after woe again&s;t them. And when the <HI>&s;ins of our generation</HI> are more likely, according to principles of &s;ound rea&s;on and judg|ment, to be redre&s;&s;ed by a &s;pirit of meekne&s;&s;e, or private and af|fectionate applications unto tho&s;e, who are the great offenders, he may be every whit as <HI>zealous</HI> for the redre&s;&s;e, who in &s;uch wayes as the&s;e attempteth it, as he, who with bitterne&s;&s;e of &s;pi|rit, and a <HI>Stent<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ean</HI> voice declaimeth again&s;t the &s;aid &s;ins upon the hou&s;e top. Nor did the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> intend, either to quench, or to abate, <HI>Timothies zeal</HI> again&s;t &s;in, when he thus in|&s;tructed him: <HI>And the &s;ervant of the Lord mu&s;t not &s;trive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, instructing with meekne&s;&s;e tho&s;e that oppo&s;e them&s;elves, if God peradventure will give them repentance&mdash;and that they may recover them&s;elvs out of the &s;nare of the Devil &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2. 24. 25. &amp;c.</NOTE>.</P>
<P>3. (and la&s;tly) Although (po&s;&s;ibly) <HI>knowledge of the &s;innes</HI> of others, <HI>without zeal again&s;t them,</HI> be &s;imply <HI>wor&s;e,</HI> then <HI>zeal without knowledge,</HI> con&s;idered onely as &s;uch, and apart from its fruits and actings; yet never did the <HI>knowledg</HI> of other mens &s;ins without <HI>zeal</HI> again&s;t them, produce the like &s;ad and greivous ef|fects, at lea&s;t directly, in the World, yea or among&s;t the Saints them &s;elves, as <HI>zeal without knowledg,</HI> e&s;pecially when indulged, and commended by others in the blind and irregular actings of it, hath frequently done.</P>
<P>To the &s;econd prrt of the An&s;wer, I rejoyn;</P>
<P N="1">1. If the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> had &s;poke truth of <HI>the hearers and follow|ers of Chri&s;t,</HI> in &s;aying, that <HI>they knew not the law,</HI> they had &s;po|ken nothing but truth, in &s;aying, they <HI>were cur&s;ed,</HI> notwith&s;tand|ing their hearing and following <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> For they who not long after, cryed, <HI>crucify him, crucify him,</HI> had been <HI>hearers and fol|lowers of his</HI> formerly.</P>
<P N="2">2. Were it <HI>granted, that the hearers and followers of Chri&s;t</HI> were unju&s;tly and untruly charged by the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> (who were enemies to <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and his Doctrine) that <HI>they knew not the law;</HI> this is no proofe, &s;o much as in colour, that therefore all tho&s;e, who are <HI>hearers and followers</HI> of a fallible &s;pirit, and &s;ubject un|to
<PB N="55" REF="29">
error (how importunely &s;oever it may pretend to be from <HI>Chri&s;t)</HI> are fal&s;ly, or unduly, charged to be ignorant of the Law, e&s;pecially when they are thus charged by per&s;ons that are friends to Chri&s;t, and love his Doctrine, and know the truth. As be|cau&s;e <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron</HI> were unju&s;tly charged with murther, or <HI>killing the people of the Lord,</HI> by the <HI>congregation</HI> of murmurers ^a, it doth not follow that therefore <HI>David</HI> was unju&s;tly charged by <HI>Nathan</HI> (the Prophet of the Lord) <HI>with killing &V;riah the Hittite</HI> ^b. So that this part of the An&s;wer al&s;o being touched, vani&s;heth like the apples of <HI>Sodom,</HI> into nothing.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>XVI.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is the a&s;&s;ertive or high-bearing confi|dence of men, any demon&s;trative, yea or compe|tent, argument or ground of truth, in what they de|liver and avouch upon &s;uch terms? Or did any man, or any &s;ort of men, ever fly an higher pitch of confidence then the <HI>Jews</HI> when they notoriou&s;ly belyed the Lord <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> expre&s;&s;ing them&s;elves thus: <HI>Say we not</HI> WELL <HI>that thou art a Samaritan, and ha&s;t a Devil?</HI> Or did they not &s;peak very ignorantly, wickedly, and fal&s;ly, when they plea&s;ed them&s;elves with an high and confident conceit, that they &s;pake WELL, and nothing but the truth? Or, are not the grounds of mo&s;t mens confidence, rather ignorance, or want of con&s;ideration, of &s;uch things, which are &s;trongly objectionable again&s;t their notions and apprehen&s;i|ons, in conjunction with a vain glorious humor of being thought Demi-prophets, and per&s;ons of a more familiar conver&s;e with God, then other men, then any well-grounded knowledg or comprehen&s;i|on of the certain truth of tho&s;e things, which they affirm?</P>
<P><PB N="58" REF="30">
This Query is conceived to be balanced with this An|&s;wer.</P>
<P><HI>True; but yet an high bearing confidence, grounded upon the threatenings and promi&s;es that are in the Scripture of truth, is</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> <HI>ground enough to bear up the A&s;&s;ertors again&s;t the world round about. It is not will to bear the World in hand, that the men of your oppo&s;ition have no grounds of their confidence.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Surely there are &s;ome men of more familiar conver&s;e with God, then others are.</HI> Let us cope with this al&s;o.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is not &s;ufficient that our <HI>confidence be grounded upon the threatenings and promi&s;es that are in the Scripture of truth,</HI> un|le&s;&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nimadver&s;io~.</NOTE> 1. they be <HI>grounded</HI> upon them rightly under&s;tood: and 2, unle&s;&s;e they be al&s;o grounded upon them regularly, <HI>i. e.</HI> after &s;uch a manner, and with &s;uch evidence of rea&s;on, that any &s;ober and con&s;idering man may &s;ay and conclude thus: the&s;e threatenings, and promi&s;es, being true, in &s;uch, or &s;uch, a &s;ence, he that is con|fident upon their authority of &s;uch or &s;uch an event to come to pa&s;&s;e, cannot po&s;&s;ibly be deceived. If the <HI>high-bearing confidence</HI> &s;o much indulged in the An&s;wer, were brought to this touch|&s;tone, it would neither prove to be gold, or &s;ilver, or any precious &s;tone. All the errors and mi&s;takes, that are found at this day a|mong&s;t profe&s;&s;ors of the <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Religion, are grounded (as the re&s;pective A&s;&s;ertors or abettors of them call, <HI>grounding)</HI> upon &s;uch &s;ayings in <HI>the Scripture of truth,</HI> which are altogether as certain and unque&s;tionable, as well in their &s;ence, and meaning as their truth, as tho&s;e <HI>threatenings and promi&s;es</HI> hinted <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> the An&s;wer, what&s;oever they be, or can be. Yea</P>
<P N="2">2. Men of un bala&s;&s;ed, injudicious, and ha&s;ty &s;pirits, and that are not, either extraordinarily quick and apprehen&s;ive &s;uddainly to de&s;cry all circum&s;tances, under which the <HI>threatenings and promi|&s;es</HI> are made, on which he builds, or grounds, his confidence, or el&s;e of very indu&s;trious &amp; patient &s;pirits, that can &s;it by an inten&s;e con|temp<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ation, or con&s;ideration, of a matter, for &s;ome good &s;pace of time may as ea&s;ily mi&s;take in drawing conclu&s;ions touching future events, from <HI>threatenings and promi&s;es in the Scriptures,</HI> as in arguing any other pa&s;&s;ages herein what&s;oever. This truth would (I conceive) have been much more po&s;&s;ible on al hands, then now (po&s;&s;ibly) it may be, had we generally trea&s;ured up &s;uch experi|ments of the mi&s;-conjectures, yea mi&s;-confidences of men,
<PB N="59" REF="30">
which our pre&s;ent age, and that in the later years of it, hath afford|ed.</P>
<P N="3">3. Whereas the an&s;wer further &s;aith; <HI>It is not well to bear the World in hand that the men of my oppo&s;ition have no ground of their confidence;</HI> I mu&s;t oppo&s;e; that either I mu&s;t bear the World in hand that the&s;e men have no ground <HI>[i. e.</HI> no &s;ufficient ground] of their confidence, or el&s;e confe&s;&s;e unto the World, that I have no &s;ufficient <HI>ground</HI> of my <HI>oppo&s;ition.</HI> Of the two, cer|tain I am that for my con&s;cience (what&s;oever it be for my credit) the former is better, then the latter.</P>
<P N="4">4. (and la&s;tly) The An&s;werer, and I, &s;hall not make two a+bout this, that <HI>&s;ome men are of more familiar convers with God, then others.</HI> Onely herein probably we may differ. The An|&s;wer &s;eemeth to &s;uppo&s;e, that tho&s;e men are liklie&s;t to have the preheminence in that familiarity of conver&s;e, now mentioned, who appear mo&s;t in earthquakes, whirlwinds, and fires; where|as I conceive, that many times tho&s;e, who walk in a &s;till voyce, are equall therein unto the other, and &s;ometimes before them. Doubtle&s;&s;e they who are of <HI>more familiar conver&s;e with God,</HI> are like&s;t unto <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> who was the <HI>meeke&s;t man on earth</HI> in his dayes; and &s;o like&s;t unto Chri&s;t, in that, wherein he more pecu|larly commended him&s;elf for a pattern unto men: <HI>Learn of me: for I am meek, and lowly in heart<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">:</HI> and &s;o again, are like&s;t to abound with heavenly wi&s;dom, which (as the Apo&s;tle <HI>James</HI> in|formeth us) who&s;oever pretends unto, <HI>mu&s;t &s;hew out of a good conver&s;ation his works with</HI> MEEKNESSE and wi&s;dom.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>XVII.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is the <HI>Epocha,</HI> or time of the fir&s;t entrance, beginning, or &s;etting up of the fift Monarchy in the World; fixed and determined by God in the Scriptures, &s;o that no humane endeavors or contri|butions towards &s;uch a thing, are any ways available to accelerate or ha&s;ten this period of time, nor (on the other hand) any humane oppo&s;ition or ob&s;tructions or unworthy actings of men, any ways able to retard
<PB N="58" REF="31">
or &s;et it back? If neither, why &s;hould any men trou|ble the World round about them, and abu&s;e the &s;im|plicity of incon&s;iderate people, by an importune bear|ing them in hand, that if they were but permitted to umpire the &s;overaign Affairs of their State and Nati|on, they would out of hand bring the &s;aid ble&s;&s;edne&s;s of the fift Monarchy upon the head of the world, even before the day thereof? Or why &s;hould the&s;e men, or any others, clamor day after day in the ears of poor people, again&s;t &s;uch per&s;ons, who them&s;elves ac|knowledg to be truly Godly, as if they &s;tood in <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> way, and would not &s;uffer him to &s;et up his Kingdom, or this fift Monarchy, in the world, only becau&s;e they cannot be &s;atisfi'd about the truth or &s;oberne&s;s of their notions, and refu&s;e to &s;teer a cour&s;e, threatening ruine and confu&s;ion to their Nation? Or is it not the &s;ence and declared opinion of the&s;e men, that the day and hour, at lea&s;t the year, wherein that Great <HI>Jubilee</HI> of the Monarchy they &s;peak of, &s;hall begin, is unchange|ably, <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> unalterably, unremoveably fixed by God?</P>
<P>This Query is enterteined with this An&s;wer. <HI>Surely it is e|very mans duty, to look for, and ha&s;ten to, the comeing of the day of God a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;aith Peter. Neither doth it become this Author to bear the world in hand, that all things that God hath purpo&s;ed, &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e, however we behave our &s;elvs.</HI></P>
<P><HI>The Religious World were Chri&s;ts greate&s;t enemies at his fir&s;t comeing: and its probable will be &s;o to his &s;econd come|ing.</HI></P>
<P>Embraceing the Monitory of the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> in the beginning of the An&s;wer, to the remnant we return, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply &amp; A|nimadver.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. That the Author, which the An&s;wer chargeth, is &s;o farre from being guilty of the crime here layd to his charge, <HI>viz.</HI> of <HI>bearing the World in hand that all things</HI> &amp;c. that 1. there
<PB N="59" REF="31">
is not a word, &s;yllable, letter, or iota &s;ounding this way in all the Queries; nay 2. he hath publiquely, and this al&s;o very frequently from from time to time, declared his judgment to the contrary, and that his &s;ence, is, that God purpo&s;eth and intendeth many things (in &s;uch a &s;ence as the Scriptures attribute purpo&s;es and intentions unto him) which never come to pa&s;&s;e, &s;ometimes by rea&s;on of the good, other while by rea&s;on of the evill, behaviour of men. The pre&s;ent Query indeed doth little le&s;&s;e then &s;uppo&s;e that the judgement of the <HI>Authors</HI> looked after therein, and cor|re&s;ponding with the An&s;werer, &s;tandeth at that point, at which the An&s;wer (untruly) placeth mine: and how great a rejoyce|ing of &s;oul would it be unto me, if it did not, or if it could be re|moved thither, where the judgement, both of the Que|ri&s;t, and of the An&s;werer al&s;o (as it &s;eems) &s;tand together. Yet.</P>
<P N="2">2. Though my &s;ence be, that many things <HI>purpo&s;ed</HI> (as hath been &s;aid) by God, may not, yea will not, come to pa&s;&s;e, by rea&s;on, either of the holy, or of the &s;infull, behaviours of men; yet I beleeve withall that the coming to pa&s;&s;e of &s;ome things, yea of very many things, purpo&s;ed by him, is wholly and &s;olely de|pending upon his own will and power; and that con&s;equently that all &s;uch things as the&s;e, &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e infallibly and irre|&s;i&s;tibly, and which way &s;oever men &s;hall behave, or not behave them&s;elves. No interpo&s;ure of the deportments of men in one kind or other, can hinder but that the purpo&s;e of God concerning the putting an end unto the world, and this by fire, and &s;o concern|ing a day of judgment concerning a rai&s;ing again from the dead, both good and evill, concerning the &s;alvation of tho&s;e who have lived and died in the faith of Chri&s;t, the condemnation of tho&s;e, who have died impenitent and unbeleeving &amp;c. I beleeve (I &s;ay) that the purpo&s;es of God concerning all the&s;e things (with many others of like con&s;ideration, &s;hall mo&s;t certainly come to pa&s;&s;e, let men doe, or bee, what&s;oever they can, or will. Yea,</P>
<P N="3">3. If it may any waies accommodate the An&s;werer, I declare my &s;elfe very much inclineing to beleeve, that the time of the e|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ecting the fift Monarchie in the world, may either be ha&s;tened, or retarded, at lea&s;t in the portch or fir&s;t fruits of it, by the different or contrary behaviours of men, comporting with
<PB N="62" REF="32">
the one, or the other. But I am farre from thinking, that, or conceiving how, tho&s;e deportments of men ju&s;tified all along the <HI>an&s;wer,</HI> &s;hould have any part or fellow&s;hip either in the erection of the &s;aid Monarchie, or in expediting the &s;ea&s;on of it; unle&s;&s;e (haply) it be in &s;uch a way, which the An&s;werer (I know) can|not endure to hear of.</P>
<P N="4">4. (and la&s;tly) If it be <HI>probable that the Religious world will be the greate&s;t enemies of Chri&s;t to his &s;econd comeing,</HI> how will the An&s;werer quit him&s;elfe, or the men of his approbation, from the danger (at lea&s;t) of da&s;hing their foot at this &s;tone? For they (doubtle&s;&s;e) lay claim to the honour and happine&s;&s;e of being mem|bers of the <HI>Religious world.</HI> Nor are there any more worlds, then the <HI>Religious,</HI> and <HI>irreligious.</HI> They will not (I pre&s;ume) endure to have their names written among&s;t the citizens of the latter; nor doe I know any man, that hath &s;o much as a thought to write them here. Therefore they mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;itie accept of the fellow&s;hip of the world <HI>Religious.</HI> Or if the meaning of this part of the An&s;wer be, that as in the great body of Profe&s;&s;ors of <HI>Chri&s;tian Religion,</HI> the be&s;t and greate&s;t friends of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> are likely &s;till to be found, &s;o are his greate&s;t enemies al&s;o, I have nothing to oppo&s;e, but onely to propo&s;e, and &s;uppo&s;e, that they are not like to be <HI>enemies</HI> to <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> much le&s;&s;e his <HI>grete&s;t enemies</HI> who de&s;ire and endeavour nothing more, then that they, who are his friends in many things, may be &s;o in all.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<PB N="63" REF="32">
<HEAD>Po&s;t&s;cript.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Query I.</HEAD>
<P>MAy it not be yet further queried, Whether &s;uch per&s;ons, whether Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel, or others (but e&s;pecially the former) who publiquely undertake or pretend to know, and predict unto the people, how long the pre&s;ent Government &s;hall &s;tand, and after how many months, or years, it &s;hall pre&s;ent|ly be di&s;&s;olved and fall, do not impo&s;e a kind of wretched nece&s;&s;ity upon them&s;elves to turn every &s;tone for the rai&s;ing of Tumults and In&s;urrections in the Land, and to enrage the people again&s;t the pre|&s;ent Government and Governors, thus to make a covering for their own &s;hame, and to prevent the di&s;honor and reproach of fal&s;e Prophets from light|ing upon their heads? Or did not the Wizard in <HI>France,</HI> having engaged the reputation of his Art in foretelling the death of Duke <HI>Beron</HI> by a <HI>Bungurdian</HI> on a certain day, and finding no likelyhood, the day now approaching, of the event otherwi&s;e, re&s;olve to make him&s;elf a true Prophet by doing the execution him&s;elf, and accordingly murthered him?</P>
<P>This Query is put off with this An&s;wer, (con&s;i&s;ting in a great part of quotations of Scripture, more in number by the whole <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">inue, then in pertinencie to Query.)</P>
<P><HI>No; no more then the Prophets and &s;ervants of God, who</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE>
<PB N="62" REF="33">
<HI>from the &s;in of their Princes and Governours foretold their ruines and judgements, lay under any nece&s;&s;ity to further the &s;ame; but rather &s;ought to repent the judgements by provoking to Repentance.</HI> 1 Sam. 2. 27. 1 Sam. 13. 14. 2 Chron. 18. 16. E&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 6. 11. Jer. 22. 24. to the end. Ezek. 6. 12. Ezek. 7. 27. Dan. 5. 25, 26, 27. Ho&s;. 5. 10. Joel. 1. 4. Am. 1. 15. Am. 7. 10. to the end. Mic. 3. the la&s;t. Nahum 3. 5, 6, 7. Hab. 2. 10. Zeph. 1. 8. 9. Z<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 1. 9. 4. Mal. 1. 5. Luke 21. 6. Act. 21. 11.</P>
<P>Here are texts of Scripture enough to prove &s;omething; yea (que&s;tionle&s;&s;e) many things: but here is not &s;o much as one, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply &amp; A|nimadver.</NOTE> nor a piece of one, to prove that which the An&s;wer affirmeth; <HI>v. z.</HI> That uch per&s;ons, who publiquely undertake and pretend to know, and predict unto the people, how long the pre&s;ent Go|vernment &s;hall &s;tand, how many months, years &amp;c. do not impo&s;e any other nece&s;&s;ity upon them&s;elves to bring to pa&s;&s;e the&s;e their predictions, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n the Prophets and &s;ervants of God lay under to bring theirs to pa&s;&s;e, who prophecied ruine and de&s;truction unto their Princes and Governors, becau&s;e of their &s;innes. For,</P>
<P N="1">1. It is not true, that the <HI>Prophets or &s;ervants of God</HI> here &s;po|ken of, <HI>fortold the ruins and judgements of their Princes,</HI> meer|ly <HI>from their &s;ins,</HI> but from the mouth of God, <HI>i. e.</HI> by particular and expre&s;&s;e order from him, and this delivered by immediate and extraordinary revelation, in one kind, or other. It is true, the &s;ins of the&s;e Princes were the ground and rea&s;on, why &s;uch me&s;&s;ages of threatenings were put into the mouths of the Prophets by God again&s;t them, in which re&s;pect they were (for the mo&s;t part; for in the ca&s;e of <HI>Jonah</HI>'s prophecying again&s;t <HI>Niniveh,</HI> and in &s;ome others, it was otherwi&s;e) injoyned by the tenour of their commi&s;|&s;ions (re&s;pectively) to &s;et tho&s;e their &s;ins and provocations before them, for which God was &s;o highly di&s;plea&s;ed with them, and was re&s;olved according as they from his mouth &s;ignified unto them, without timely repentance, to judg, or de&s;troy them. But the&s;e &s;ins of the Princes, were not the ba&s;is or ground, upon which the Prophets by their own wi&s;dom or under&s;tandings, calculaced or built the particular determinations of times, which are found in many of their prophe&s;ies, wherein the &s;aid Princes were judged puni&s;hed, or de&s;troyed, by God for their &s;ins; but all &s;uch deter|minations were pitched and fixed by God him&s;elf, who commu|nicated
<PB N="65" REF="33">
his mind and coun&s;ell in this behalf unto the &s;aid Prophets. So that the&s;e Prophets having matters expre&s;ly and in parti|cular revealed unto them by God, ran no hazard at all of their credits or reputations, in declareing and predicting when, and after how long a time, the &s;ins of &s;uch, or &s;uch, Princes &s;hould be recompenced in judgement upon their heads; and con&s;equently, <HI>lay under no nece&s;&s;ity</HI> at all, by any unworthy or indirect interpo|&s;ures, to &s;alve their honours, or the truth of their predictions. Whereas the Per&s;ons thought upon in the Query, calculateing their predictions of the &s;hort continuance of the pre&s;ent Govern|ment, onely by a pre&s;umption of their own wi&s;dom, conceiting that they &s;ee beyond, and above, what is written in the Scriptures without any &s;peciall revel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tion from God, doe apparently lay the honour of their Propheticalls at the &s;take, and con&s;equent|ly expo&s;e them&s;elves to a temptation to redeem it, and this by &s;ini&s;ter and indirect practi&s;es, if the feat cannot be done by tho&s;e, which are honourable.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is no ea&s;y matter, if at all po&s;&s;ible, for the Prophets, or &s;ervants of God in the&s;e dayes who have no vi&s;ion from God, but the Scriptures, and what is written there, exactly (as to a month, year, or the like) to calculate the times of Gods patience towards Sinners in any kind, by any light or direction from the Scriptures, or from the judgements or puni&s;hments of Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors, recorded there. The rea&s;on is, becau&s;e, though the &s;ins committed in the&s;e daies, may be known to be the &s;ame, in re&s;pect of the kind and externall act in the perpetration of them, with tho&s;e, who&s;e per|petration, and judgement, are recorded in the Scriptures, yet the circum&s;tances of aggrava<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ion, and extenuation, which are of main con&s;ideration with God in ordering as well the time, as degree of their puni&s;hments, are &s;o numerous, and various, yea and &s;ome|times &s;o &s;ecret and inacce&s;&s;ible to the under&s;tandings of men, that it is next to an impo&s;&s;ibility for men even of greate&s;t abilities, and in&s;ight into the Scriptures, &s;o much as to take a &s;teady aim by tho&s;e Scripture records, how long the patience of God will en|dure the&s;e, or the&s;e &s;inners, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n the&s;e dayes. And be&s;ides, the Scrip|tures informe us, that the <HI>wi&s;dom of God is</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>i. e.</HI> multifarious, or <HI>manifold;</HI> in re&s;pect of which, upon a good ac|count, and in order to &s;ome end worthy of him, he may re&s;pit the judgement of an offender beyond the term of his patience toward
<PB N="66" REF="34">
another, equall in demerit unto him, and this without the lea&s;t touch of a breach upon his ju&s;tice.</P>
<P N="3">3. The Spirits dealt with in the Query, were at their work of denouncing judgement again&s;t the pre&s;ent Government, and of limiting and determining the time of the &s;tanding of it, well-nigh as &s;oon as ever it was born, and whil&s;t yet it had &s;carce done ei|ther good, or evill; whereas the Prophets and &s;ervants of God of old, were &s;eldome or never &s;ent to denounce judgement again&s;t any per&s;on, Prince or other, e&s;pecially not after &s;uch, or &s;uch a prefixed time, but onely after a continuance and progre&s;&s;e in &s;in &s;or &s;ome con&s;iderable &s;pace.</P>
<P N="4">4. (And la&s;tly) The &s;ins of the Princes, again&s;t whom the Pro|phets and &s;ervants of God of old were &s;ent with threatenings of judgement for the&s;e &s;ins, were not imaginary &s;ins, or &s;ins, which through the ignorance, or mi&s;take of the Law, which onely mak|eth &s;in, were &s;o called, but were &s;ins really, indeed, and unque&s;tio|nably. Whereas (as we have formerly &s;ignified) the &s;ins, upon the credit and Authority whereof the Query-Prophets have ad|ventured to prefix a time for the di&s;&s;olution of the pre&s;ent Go|vernment, are onely &s;ins &s;o called, or at the utmo&s;t and wor&s;t, di&s;puteably &s;uch. Yea, they that clearly under&s;tand the Law of nature, in &s;uch ca&s;es, yea or the Law of God, cannot adjudge them &s;uch. Therefore tho&s;e texts of Scripture mu&s;tered in the An&s;wer have neither hand nor heart to &s;trike a &s;troake in that bat|taile, for which they were levied.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>II.</HEAD>
<P>Again, Are not the&s;e pa&s;&s;ages en&s;uing (publi&s;hed in print and &s;ub&s;cribed by M^r <HI>John Simp&s;on,</HI> M^r <HI>Wil|liam Greenhill,</HI> M^r <HI>Thomas Brooks,</HI> M^r <HI>Han&s;erd Knollys,</HI> M^r <HI>T. Harri&s;on,</HI> M^r <HI>Chri&s;topher Feak,</HI> M^r <HI>Richard Wol|la&s;ton,</HI> M^r <HI>Henry Je&s;&s;e,</HI> with &s;everal others, about two years &s;ince, <HI>viz.</HI> in <HI>November,</HI> 1651.) worthy to be engraven with the Point of a Diamond, and written in letters of Gold; <HI>If Ce&s;ar, and Pagan Rulers under him
<PB N="67" REF="34">
in Judea, and el&s;ewhere, were to be honored and &s;ubmitted unto, as both Chri&s;t taught, and his Apo&s;tles</HI> (Mat. 22. 21. Mark 12. 27.) <HI>(AND YET THEY CAME IN BY THE SWORD, AND KEPT GODS CHURCH IN BONDAGE,) how much more &s;hould our Governours be honored by all people in our Nation?</HI> The &s;ame Authors &s;oon after expre&s;&s;e them&s;elves thus: <HI>In our dayes, wherein per&s;ons truly fearing God are of divers formes, di&s;&s;enting in Church Government, &amp;c. Some that are termed Presbyterians, &s;ome Independents, &s;ome Ana|bapti&s;ts, and &s;ome that are not &s;o re&s;olved with any of the&s;e; the power of chu&s;ing Rulers, or of being cho&s;en &s;hould not be limited to any one of the&s;e forms, or per&s;wa&s;ions, to the excluding of others,[excepting &s;uch, WHO EITHER DENY PROPRIETY, or Magi&s;tra|cy, or who a&s;&s;ert carnall liberty, or Polygamy, whom we have witne&s;&s;ed again&s;t in our former declaration; or &s;uch, AS HAVE OPPOSED, OR DO NOT OWN, THIS PRESENT GOVERNMENT.]</HI> A little be|fore (in the &s;aid printed paper) having &s;olemnly pro|fe&s;&s;ed thus; <HI>With one con&s;ent we do thus declare, as in the pre&s;ence of the Almighty, who is the &s;earcher of all hearts, before whom the wicked and deceitful &s;hall be confounded at the day of Judgement;</HI> they lay down this <HI>Propo&s;ition;</HI> That <HI>all people in every Nation, as well members of Churches, as others, ought FOR CON|SCIENCE SAKE to honour &s;uch, as by the wi&s;e di&s;|po&s;ing Providence of God, are their PRESENT RUL|ERS; and are to &s;ubmit to the civil commands, not on|ly of &s;uch Rulers as are faithfull, but even to Infidels,</HI> (to omit &s;everal other things of like import in the &s;aid paper.) Are not the contents and &s;ub&s;tance of the&s;e &s;ayings, clearly and expre&s;ly founded upon the good Word of God, which (as the &s;aid Authors worthily,
<PB N="68" REF="35">
and mo&s;t truly inform us) <HI>is the Rule and Standard for Faith and obedience?</HI> If &s;o, mu&s;t not all &s;uch men of nece&s;&s;ity be fal&s;e Prophets, ca&s;ting &s;nares upon the people, and leading them out of the ways of truth and peace, who are &s;o far from <HI>HONOURING THEIR PRESENT GOVERNORS</HI> (though no <HI>Infidels,</HI> but partakers of like precious faith with the Saints them&s;elves, though no <HI>keepers of Gods Church in bondage,</HI> but mo&s;t zealous and faithful A&s;&s;ertors of the entire liberties thereof,) that with open mouth they pour contempt upon them day after day, con|&s;ulting with their &s;pleens, or wor&s;e &s;pirits, how to make their favour to &s;tink in the eyes of the people, and &s;o to arm them with di&s;contents and indignation again&s;t them? Or is this, in the dialect, or &s;ence, of the Holy Gho&s;t, to, <HI>HONOUR GOVERNOURS?</HI></P>
<P>To this Query the An&s;werer onely &s;aith; <HI>The&s;e men no doubt</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer</NOTE> <HI>are of the &s;ame mind even to this day. It is not good to bear witne&s;&s;e again&s;t what wee did not hear with our own ears.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. If the men &s;pecified in the Query, be <HI>of the &s;ame mind,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reply, &amp; A|nimadver&s;io~.</NOTE> at this day, which their &s;ayings here cited, doe import, it were well that their <HI>minds,</HI> and their <HI>mouths,</HI> would goe together. How would the peace of the nation rejoyce over &s;uch an agree|ment, as this? But to labour in the very fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e, by reproaches, by revileings, by hard &s;ayings in &s;everall kinds, to alienate the hearts and affections of the people from the pre&s;ent Governors and Ru|lers, is this <HI>for con&s;cience &s;ake to honour our pre&s;ent Governours and Rulers?</HI> He that can thus interpret, need not care what text is given him.</P>
<P N="2">2. Whereas the An&s;wer thinketh it <HI>not good, to bear witne&s;&s;e again&s;t what we hear not with our own ears;</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. To give &s;entence again&s;t a matter, is more then &s;imply to <HI>bear witne&s;&s;e again&s;t it.</HI> And how few Judges throughout the
<PB N="69" REF="35">
world, have heard tho&s;e words, whether trea&s;onable, or of other demerit, <HI>with their own ears,</HI> which they have &s;entenced accord|ing to the Law?</P>
<P N="2">2. A Query, or que&s;tion is not properly or directly, e&s;pecial|ly in our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> dialect, either <HI>bearing witne&s;&s;e again&s;t,</HI> either thing, or per&s;on; nor yet a giveing &s;entence again&s;t either; but rather the &s;earching out of the truth in &s;ome ca&s;e, or other, in or|der to a &s;entence.</P>
<P N="3">3. How few Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel have <HI>heard with their own ears</HI> the wo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ds of tho&s;e errours or here&s;ies, <HI>again&s;t</HI> which notwith&s;tanding they <HI>bear witne&s;&s;e</HI> in their mini&s;try from time, to time, and are blamele&s;&s;e?</P>
<P N="4">4. An accu&s;ation even again&s;t an elder, may <HI>under two or three witne&s;&s;es,</HI> lawfully be received; how much more under twenty?</P>
<P N="5">5. (and la&s;tly) Suppo&s;e a man were pre&s;ent, where words are &s;poken within his hearing, yet may hee po&s;&s;ibly mi&s;take, and verily think that he hears, &s;uch, or &s;uch, words &s;poken, which yet were not &s;poken. There may be <HI>deceptio audi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&ucirc;s,</HI> as well as <HI>vi|&s;&ucirc;s.</HI> And I know no rea&s;on but why the con&s;onant report of a con&s;iderable part of a full auditory touching &s;uch or &s;uch words &s;poken in their pre&s;ence, &s;hould be altogether as good a foundati|on for me to build a belief upon, that the words were indeed &s;po|ken, as an <HI>hearing of them with mine own ears,</HI> according to the u|&s;ual manner of my hearing. But this is of very &s;lender aff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y with the main de&s;ign of the Query.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>III.</HEAD>
<P>Whether, a mans con&s;cience bearing him witne&s;s in the Holy Gho&s;t, that his heart is upright with God, and that he unfeignedly purpo&s;eth and de&s;ires to do all the good upon Earth, while&s;t he abideth among&s;t men, which God &s;hall any ways enable him unto; ought not &s;uch a per&s;on, even in con&s;cience towards God, and out of love and genuine&s;s of affection to his
<PB N="70" REF="36">
generation, embrace and accept of all &s;uch opportu|nities, and advantages of &s;tanding, for the promotion of his work, which God &s;hall by any providence of his offer unto him? Or when God <HI>called Mo&s;es up to the top of the Mount&punc; (Exod.</HI> 19. 20.) had it been meet for him to have an&s;wered, Nay; but I will &s;erve thee faithfully beneath in the valley? Or is it not a grand detriment, or lo&s;s, unto the world, when <HI>Princes</HI> (as <HI>So|lomon</HI> &s;peaketh) <HI>walk as &s;ervants on the Earth; i. e.</HI> when men of noble Principles, of publique Spirits, who&s;e hearts and &s;ouls are in travel with the wealth, peace, and pro&s;perity of the world round about them, who are &s;hap'd and form'd (as it were) on purpo&s;e by God him&s;elf for Rule and Government, &s;hall want a &s;tage whereon to act like Princes, or be per&s;waded to enjoy them&s;elves in priva|cy and retirement? Or in ca&s;e the Sun &s;hould be over|ruled to change place with the Moon, &s;hould not the world have cau&s;e in abundance to lament the change? Or had his tabernacle been pitch'd in any inferior Orb, beneath that, wherein it is now placed by God, could the Earth have rejoyced in his light at that rate, which now it doth? Or had He been in any capacity to inrich the inhabitants thereof with his trea&s;ures, as they are now inriched by him? Or if a candle &s;hould creep under a bu&s;hel, when there is a candle&s;tick provided and &s;et on the table for it, &s;hould not they in the hou&s;e have much more rea&s;on to be offended at it, then well plea&s;ed? Or is it not a &s;ecret guilt or con&s;ciou&s;|ne&s;s in the generality of men of their own narrow|che&s;tedne&s;s, and &s;elf-ward propen&s;ions, which make them jealous that other men are, and will be found, in the &s;ame condemnation with them; and that no man
<PB N="71" REF="36">
coming where he may without much danger &s;erve him&s;elf, will be much intent upon the &s;ervice of o|ther men, further then his own &s;ecular intere&s;t &s;hall &s;uper-intend and advi&s;e him?</P>
<P>This Query, being the la&s;t, is &s;uppo&s;edly &s;lain by the &s;harp &s;word of this An&s;wer. <HI>The flattery of the pre&s;ent power doth not become the Author, who hath oft times approved him&s;elfe not to be the &s;ervant of men. But oh! who hath now bewitch|ed him to appear in this kind to &s;trengthen the hands of the wicked, and to make their heart &s;ad, whom God hath not &s;ad|ded.</HI></P>
<P>This An&s;wer, like the head of a <HI>polipus,</HI> hath a mixture of good, and bad, in it. The fir&s;t words of it contein a wor|thy and Chri&s;tian admonition; viz. that <HI>the flattery of the pre&s;ent power doth not become the Author;</HI> onely the appli|cation of it is reflexive, if not a&s;per&s;ive, without cau&s;e. The next words, that this Author <HI>hath oft times approved him|&s;elf not to be the &s;ervant of men,</HI> contain a friendly and <HI>Christian</HI> te&s;timony. But the words remaining are <HI>gall and vinegar given</HI> unto me, and my betters, to <HI>drink; But oh, who hath bewitched him</HI> &amp;c. But might not I, had I plea|&s;ure in &s;uch hard &s;ayings, upon much more equitable grounds, admiringly complain, and demand: <HI>But oh! who hath be|witched the An&s;werer, to appear in this kind to weaken the hands of the righteous, and to make their heart &s;ad, whom God hath not &s;added?</HI> More particularly;</P>
<P N="1">1. To the implyed charge of <HI>flattering the pre&s;ent pow|er,</HI> it is a burthen laid upon my &s;ound &s;houlder: in which re&s;pect it little pincheth, or paineth me. Where the skin is whole, vinegar poured on &s;marteth not. The truth is, that I am, both naturally, and &s;upernaturally, &s;o farre indi&s;po|to <HI>flatter</HI> any inch of the greatne&s;&s;e of this world, that I am &s;till put to my &s;upernaturals to afford unto great men, &s;o much as common and meet re&s;pects and civilities. <HI>Luther</HI> profe&s;&s;ed that for twenty years together he never felt the lea&s;t motion
<PB N="72" REF="37">
in his heart towards covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e: I may, as in the pre&s;ence of God, Angels, and men, profe&s;&s;e and &s;ay; &s;ince I fir&s;t knew what the world, and the greatne&s;&s;e of it, meant, I never found my heart tempting me &s;o much as to &s;uch a compliance with any great Per&s;on what&s;oever, which yet is warrantable enough, and which I am farre from, either reproveing, or di&s;liking, in another. Yea I have been inclined (and am not yet much altered in my inclination) to look upon the Generality of great men, rather as <HI>faeces</HI> mundi, the dreggs and retriment of the world, and the reproach of mankind, then as worthy the applications of &s;ober men unto them. And they who have be&s;t known me from my youth up untill now, will (I pre&s;ume) very freely give this te&s;timony of me, that what other weakne&s;&s;e or undue cariages &s;oever they have ob, &s;erved in me, they never found me adulterou&s;ly inclined|to familiarities, or corre&s;pondings, with great men, much le&s;&s;e to any adulatory comportments with them. This not|with&s;tanding I mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e, that when I have met with any thing of the divine nature, any thing worthy a <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> in|deed in a great man, I have, occa&s;ionally, and according to the be&s;t of my under&s;tanding to avoid offence, endeavoured to nouri&s;h, &s;trengthen, and increa&s;e it; and (po&s;&s;ibly) in do|ing this, I have made the mo&s;t of it, and (probably) more, then &s;ome others judg the true value, or extent of it to be. Nor do I think that the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf was very farre from &s;uch a &s;trein, as this, when he addre&s;&s;ed him&s;elf thus to <HI>Agrippa: King Agrippa, beleeve&s;t thou the Prophets?</HI> I KNOVV THAT THOU BELEEVEST.</P>
<P N="2">2. Although it be mo&s;t true, that <HI>flattery of the pre&s;ent power doth not become the Author,</HI> yet the repre&s;enting of the <HI>pre&s;ent power,</HI> unto others, and e&s;pecially unto tho&s;e who ought to live in &s;ubjection to it, in the true &s;hape of it, and with tho&s;e de&s;ireable and commendable things in it, which are proper and likely to render this &s;ubjection, the more niturall, willing, and free, is nothing but what well <HI>become</HI> both <HI>the Au+thor</HI> of the Queries, and the An&s;werer al&s;o. And what the pre|&s;ent Query doth more then this, the An&s;werer may with a much better judgement and con&s;cience, number among&s;t things
<PB N="73" REF="37">
which are no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> then terme it, <HI>&s;lattery.</HI> Therefore,</P>
<P N="3">3. The An&s;werer had very little cau&s;e to demand with an, <HI>oh! who hath be witched me?</HI> I am able to give a rea&s;onable and &s;ober account unto any man, of what I have either done, or &s;aid, in the Query. This account I have given already in part, and am ready to account further, when required. There|fore if I was <HI>bewitched,</HI> when I conceived and drew up the Query, it was, not <HI>Sathan,</HI> or the greatne&s;&s;e of this world; but God, or the Spirit of &s;oberne&s;&s;e and truth, who <HI>bewitched</HI> me.</P>
<P N="4">4. The Per&s;on, who&s;e <HI>hand</HI> (as I &s;uppo&s;e) I am charged to <HI>&s;trengthen,</HI> de&s;erves both from the An&s;werer, and from the whole hou&s;hold of faith in the land, a farre better &s;tile, then that of, <HI>Wicked.</HI> But the common &s;aying is; <HI>Regium est ma|l&egrave; audire cum bene f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ceris;</HI> It is Prince-like to be evill &s;po|ken of, when a man hath done well. Or if the term, <HI>wicked</HI> be &s;pecificall, not per&s;onal, &s;o that the meaning of the charge be, that <HI>I &s;trengthen the hands <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f the wicked</HI> partie of men in the land; my defence is, that the <HI>&s;trengthening of the hands</HI> of a good Migi&s;trate to execute judgem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nt and ju&s;tice in his place, is not to <HI>&s;trengthen the hands of wicked men,</HI> at lea&s;t not in wickedne&s;&s;e. Yet (to &s;peak the truth) my arch-de&s;ign as well in this, as in all the re&s;t of the Queries, was not to <HI>&s;trengthen the hand</HI> of any magi&s;trate, good, or bad, but to <HI>&s;trengthen the hand</HI> of the great body of the people in the land to that &s;ubjection under the pre&s;ent Government, which upon good grounds, and next to u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">que&s;tionable, I know w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ll be if univer&s;ally exhibited, at lea&s;t their [civill] happine&s;&s;e and peace.</P>
<P N="5">5. (And la&s;tly) Whereas I am charged, to <HI>make their heart &s;ad, whom God hath not &s;added;</HI> my plea is, that certein|ly God is willing that <HI>their heart &s;hould be made &s;ad,</HI> who will be <HI>&s;added</HI> with the truth; yea, in as much as he is the Author not onely of the truth, but of all &s;ea&s;onable &s;peakings of the truth, he may very properly and truly be &s;aid to <HI>make the heart &s;ad</HI> of all &s;uch, who a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;added by &s;uch &s;peakings of the truth. The heart of the <HI>Corinthians</HI> was made &s;orry, or <HI>&s;ad,</HI> by that Epi&s;tle which&punc; <HI>Paul</HI> wrote unto them concern|ing their ince&s;tuous member: butought <HI>Paul</HI> in this ca&s;e to
<PB N="74" REF="38">
be challenged, that he <HI>made the heart of tho&s;e &s;ad, whom God had not &s;added?</HI> If either the An&s;werer, or any other in his behalf, can fairly &s;hew and prove, that any thing a&s;&s;erted, or (nece&s;&s;arily) &s;uppo&s;ed, in any of the Queries, is either con|trary to the Truth, or un&s;ea&s;onably delivered, the Author is well content that all that &s;hall die by the hand of the Demon|&s;tration; neither &s;hall he make lamentation over it, but rather over his own ignorance, or incon&s;ideratene&s;&s;e, in delivering it</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB N="75" REF="38">
<HEAD>Four New QUERJES &s;uper-added to the former.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>I.</HEAD>
<P>WHether are not the ju&s;t rights, liberties, and Intere&s;t of the people, better, and more clearly a&s;&s;erted and &s;ecured unto them, by the pre&s;ent Government, and by the publi&s;hed articles and con&s;titutions hereof, then ever they were formerly? Or is not the truth hereof in all the materiall points or parts of Government, as in the choice of their &s;upreme or legi&s;lative Authority (I mean, their Parliaments) from time to time, the ab&s;olutene&s;&s;e of this Authority, being di&s;|incumbered and freed from the ob&s;tructions &s;uper-intendencie of a negative voice in another, in the choice of the members of the council of State for the future (and after the conveening of the next Parliament) and &s;o again, in the <HI>Militia</HI> (with &s;ome other particulars) is not this truth (I &s;ay) that the liberties and intere&s;t of the people, are, in all the&s;e particulars, with as much care, wi&s;dome, and &s;aithfulne&s;&s;e of contrivance, as readily can be ima|gined, provided for by the con&s;titutions of the pre&s;ent Government, demon&s;trated above all rea|&s;onable contradiction in a di&s;cour&s;e lately pub|li&s;hed,
<PB N="76" REF="39">
under the title of, A true &s;tate of <HI>the ca&s;e of the Commonwealth?</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>II.</HEAD>
<P>Whether was there, or is there, any other way, cour&s;e, or means, &s;o promi&s;ing in the eye of hu|mane probability, and di&s;cour&s;e, whereby the Army and the Principal members thereof, who &s;tood, and &s;till &s;tand, mo&s;t &s;ignally and &s;olemnly enga|ged by many promi&s;es and publique declara|tions, to contribute their utmo&s;t endeavours to &s;et|tle the Nation in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, freedome, and peace; might, or yet may, performe their in|gagements in this kind to the be&s;t advantage, as by reducing the Nation, and Common-wealth thereof, to that form, or kind, of Government, unto which by the good hand of divine Provi|dence it is now reduced, con&s;idering how un-&s;uc|ce&s;sfull in re&s;pect of any competent &s;atisfaction gi|ven to the Nation, our late Parliaments have been? Or, in ca&s;e the late Government by Parliaments onely, continuing, the tranquillity, peace, and &s;afe|ty of the Nation, or the liberties of the people of God in it, &s;hould have mi&s;carried, or deeply &s;uf|fered thereby, could the Army, or the &s;aid Prin|cipal members of it, have given any tolerable account, either to God, or men, of their o&s;ci|tancy, neglect or &s;itting &s;till, con&s;idering 1. Un|der how many &s;acred ingagements they were to do their uttermo&s;t for the prevention of the&s;e e|vils, and 2. That God had now entru&s;ted them with an opportunity of great hope for their pre|vention,
<PB N="77" REF="39">
as <HI>viz.</HI> directing them to &s;ome &s;uch change of the Government, as that which is now in being? Or in ca&s;e it &s;hould be &s;uppo&s;ed that it is not the &s;ence, or judgement, of other men, that the Government now erected is any whit more promi&s;ing of &s;uch a prevention, then that by Parliaments onely (however our late Par|liaments have not pro&s;pered in the work) is it rea&s;onable or meet to de&s;ire, that the Army and the chief heads thereof, who were contrary-mind|ed, &s;hould walk by the light of other men, in op|po&s;ition to their own?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>III.</HEAD>
<P>Whether is it the kind, or form, of the pre&s;ent Government, or any exce&s;&s;e, or extent, of power, or revenue, &s;tate-&s;plendor, or the like, conferred upon one man, at which the di&s;-&s;atisfied, or the greater part of them, find them&s;elves &s;o much aggrieved and di&s;contented, as the Per&s;on, in whom the &s;upreme place, or office, in this Go|vernment, is ve&s;ted? Or would they not have been very well apaid and &s;atisfied, had there been &s;ome man according to their own hearts, and of whom they might have had hopes that he would haue <HI>fulfilled all their plea&s;ure,</HI> inve&s;ted with all that dignity, power, and all other State accom|modations, which are now ca&s;t upon him, who hath the preheminence in the pre&s;ent Government; yea though the terms and con&s;titutions of the Go|vernment had been the &s;ame, which now they are?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="part">
<PB N="77" REF="40">
<HEAD>IIII.</HEAD>
<P>Whether was there the &s;ame rea&s;on to plead &s;ub|jection to the power of the late King, e&s;pecially when the Parliament had declared them&s;elves in oppo&s;ition to him, which there is now to plead &s;ub|jection to the pre&s;ent power; Con&s;idering 1. That the &s;overaignty, or &s;upremacy of power, was never regularly, or according to the law of nature, ve&s;ted in the per&s;on of the King, but in the people, who&s;e lawfull agents and tru&s;tees, the Parliament were; 2. That the people, to whom the &s;upremacie of Autho|rity and power (as hath been &s;aid) regularly apper|taineth, having in Parliament que&s;tioned their cheif Steward, or Servant (the King) for male-admini|&s;tration of his tru&s;t and power, and declared them|&s;elves in Arms again&s;t him, he (the &s;aid King) was not in a plenary or peaceable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that pow|er, which had been committed unto, or ve&s;ted, in him; whereas the power ve&s;ted at pre&s;ent in him, who is the head, or Cheif, in the Government that now is, is fully, peaceably, quietly, and with|out any forceible conte&s;t or oppo&s;ition, po&s;&s;e&s;t by him? Or in ca&s;e it be, or were, lawfull, when and while&s;t, two adver&s;e powers are &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iving for ma|&s;tery in a Nation, to comport with, and &s;trengthen the hand of, that, again&s;t the other, the prevailing of which he truly judgeth to be mo&s;t expedient for the publique, doth it follow from hence that the refore it is lawfull to deny &s;ubjection unto &s;uch a power, which God &s;o farre countenanceth, and ble&s;&s;eth, as not to &s;uffer any competritre&s;&s;e to ri&s;e
<PB N="78" REF="40">
up with any &s;trength con&s;iderrble again&s;t it? Or had it been regular and ju&s;tifiable, for the power it &s;elf of the people in Parliament, (how much le&s;&s;e for any other) either it &s;elfe to di&s;obey, or to countenance, or abet di&s;obedience in any others, to the Authority of the &s;aid King, in his lawful com|mand, in ca&s;e he had walked in the execution of his tru&s;t &amp; power, with that due comportment with the publique good, which became him? Or had the Tru&s;tees of the people in Parliament been re&s;pond|ing, or faithfull to their tru&s;t, had they interrupt|ed, oppo&s;ed, or di&s;&s;olved &s;uch a Government, under which the Nation had lived, and was (in all good probability) likely &s;till to live, in wealth and peace, with the enjoyment of all their ju&s;t liberties and freedoms?</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Page</HI> 10. l. 8. read Junius.</ITEM>
<ITEM>25. l. 29. r. withall.</ITEM>
<ITEM>29. l. 6. r. palpably.</ITEM>
<ITEM>35. l. 11. r. &s;uper&s;titions.
<LIST>
<ITEM>l. 33. r. rea&s;on.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>39. l&punc; 8. r. cea&s;ing.
<LIST>
<ITEM>l. 21. r. whic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</ITEM>
<ITEM>l. 29. r. he.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>41. l. 3. r. and.
<LIST>
<ITEM>l. 12. r. adulter<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>43. l&punc; 13. r. Author.
<LIST>
<ITEM>l. 26. r. portraicture.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>44. l. 2. r. calculatio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</ITEM>
<ITEM>47. l. 3. r. bu&s;ine&s;&s;e.</ITEM>
<ITEM>53. l. 21. r. this.</ITEM>
<ITEM>54. l. 11. <HI>dele,</HI> and</ITEM>
<ITEM>55. l&punc; 32. r. m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y be.</ITEM>
<ITEM>58&punc; l. 31. r. they build, grou~d their
<LIST>
<ITEM>l. 39&punc; r. pa&s;&s;ible.</ITEM>
<ITEM>l. 3. <HI>dele</HI> from.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>61. l. 21. <HI>dele</HI> that.</ITEM>
<ITEM>64. l. 3. r. prevent.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
