An Answer to the Vindication of Doctor Hammond, Title page – To the reader
AN ANSWER TO THE VINDICATION OF Doctor Hamond, AGAINST The Exceptions of EUTACTUS PHILODEMIUS.
VVherein is endeavored to be cleared What Power MAN hath.
1. Over his own Liberty, (which is) his ALL.
2. Over his own Life, for which he will give that ALL.
The Author E. P.
LONDON, Printed for Francis Tyton, and are to be ſold at the three Daggers in Fleetſtreet, near the Inner-Temple gate. 1650.
TO The Right Honorable, the Lord BRADSHAVV, Preſident of the COUNCEL of STATE.
My Lord,
I Have preſumed to affix your Lordſhips name to theſe few leaves, not that I deſire a Patrocinie for any thing in them, but truth, Quae premetur ſed non opprimetur. Had Dr. Hamonds Vindication been a mirror to reflect mine own ignorance upon me, and had I had thereby ſo much light, as to ſee my ſelf in the dark, I had quietly acquieſſed, and ſate down under the Majeſty and Authority of Truth: But (my Lord) I finde it far otherwiſe; not to charge this Doctors Abilities, I am more then moſt ſuſpitious (if that could be) of his candidneſs, who is not onelyonly ſatisfied in wounding the name of E. P. but takes thereby opportunity to vent his virulency againſt the preſent Powers: Your Lordſhip, and your Coaſſertors of publike Freedom, and of the Liberty of the Goſpel of Jeſus Chriſt may lie for a time under the ſtaines of vile mens Tongues and Pens, yet your Integrity and Reſolutions to the hazard of your All, will (I hope) one day receive the mark of Well-done by him, who makes a narrower exploration then meerly into the Exterior actions of men: My Lord, The Government of a Kingdom, is Prudentibus grave ſed fatuis gratum, the one loves it, becauſe he is filled with imagination onelyonly of its ſweet and beauty; and the other fears it, becauſe he knows its weight and burden; I may not but conjecture that many hate the preſent Powers, ſome becauſe they will, others becauſe they have not a ſhare in the exerciſe of it, ſo that on all hands you have enemies. The Lord direct you, and thoſe now in Power with you, in the Execution of the great Truſt that lies upon you. That you may not onelyonly have the mark of an Honorable and Pathleſs act of Juſtice upon your Names, but that it may ſmell ſweet in the Noſtrils of God, and be pretious in the eſteem of them that fear him: This ſhall be the Prayer of
12. May. 1650. My Lord, Your willing Servant, E. P.
To the READER.
Reader,
LIfe, for which a man wil give All that he hath, and Liberty, which is the Genus Generaliſſimum of that All, into how many parts ſoever it be branched out, are the two deareſt properties of man, eſſentially and neceſſarily annexed to his Being, and yet even theſe have been invaded in a high manner, and received moſt dangerous aſſaults of late Times, by the hands of a Rebellious and Trayterous crew of profane and deceitful men, whom God ſuffered to proceed to kill, deſtroy, and plunder, and to teach to do ſo, without any other Authority, then the meer will of a Tyranical Magiſtrate; Amongſt the late Invadors of our Liberties, there is none (I dare ſay) more peccant then Dr. Hamond, in his way, this man having more advantage to deceive then others, becauſe of his leſs profaneneſs, and greater abilities then the generality of the late Kings adherents, and the more ingenious part thereof, taking up what he delivered with very little examination, upon the account of his parts. This is one of the men that would make the late Kings Will the Rule of Goodneſs, when he himſelf intended it no other then the meaſure of his Greatneſs; this is he that would have erected a Pambaſilia for the late King, though his profeſsions were onelyonly for a regulated Monarchy: what wounds this man hath given to our Liberties, thou wilt ſee in the following Leaves; and though he had not power to compel the ſilly vulgar Plebs mavult decipi quam cogi.to be of his party, yet (I fear) his principles have deceived too many of them, that took up his adviſoes without examining, he being known to be leprous in his opinion, and to have Laeſa Principia, in Polity as well as Religion, and to have needed to be put into a Lazaret till he were cured of both. I ſhall not deſire thee to ſwear compliance and credulity to what thou wilt finde herein, onelyonly try and hold faſt the good, and give it thy Countenance; the evil of it ſhall be beneath the Authors Connivance when he knows it to be ſo.
Thy Servant in the Lord, E. P.