A Second Admonition to Edward Bagshaw, Part 2 · Section 26 – Section 28
Sect. 26. E. B. p. 8. You ſhould have ſpared the dead,11th Crime Excuſing falſe prophecying to the diſhonour of Gods Spirit. and not diſturbed the duſt of my fellow priſoner Mr. Powel, by reproaching his memory with ſo abuſive and diſgraceful a mention of him, as if he were a falſe Prophet, and acted by a deluding Spirit: For you lay to his charge, that many years ago, he propheſied of ſome things which we do not yet ſee fulfilled.
R. B. 1. Though it was printed ſince his death, it was written before ever I heard of his death, and I think many Weeks before he dyed. 2. You made it in a manner neceſſary to me to convince you by ſome inſtance that was near enough for your obſervation; and do you blame me when you have done? 3. I named not Mr. Vavaſor Powell; but only your Companion and fellow Priſoner; and its like you had more than one, and few could know that it was he: But you have diſgraced him by naming him. 4. I called him not a falſe Prophet; but warned you not thus to abuſe Gods people, and bring reproach upon Religion, by fathering raſhneſſes and deceits on the Spirit of God? And have you ſo little ſenſe of the honour of God and Religion, as to be angry at that! Alas Sir, what would you have ſaid if I had told you how common this was in the Army? To ſet up and pull down, do and undo, own and diſown, as by the Spirit of God? If I ſhould have told you of the ſad Inſtances of Mr. Erbury, Mr. Saltmarſh, Mr. Dell, Mr. William Sedgwick, (who as from God wrote one Week to the Army againſt their putting the King to death, and the next or ſame Week wrote to them quite on the other ſide; and that ſet London by a Prophecy or Viſion on looking for the day of judgement on a ſet day,) to ſay nothing of abundance ſuch; beſides Mrs. Hutchinſon in New England, and the Ranters and Quakers in our dayes. Can you have any love to ſouls, and any zeal for God and for Religion, and not be grieved to think that Gods Spirit ſhould be thus reproached, and Infidels hardned in a contempt of the Spirit, as if it were but a fancy! O wo to the world becauſe of offences!
5. You ſhew more of the relicts of modeſty here, than in moſt that I have yet met with, in that you do not deny the truth of what I ſaid of him. But yet your intimations are deceitful, as if his Prophecies had not been abſolute, but conditional, or elſe not for the preſent, but the future. But the caſe was this, as learned and underſtanding hearers will yet teſtifie; that at Clifton upon Thame in Worceſterſhire, quickly after Worceſter Fight, in his Sermon he ſaid, that He would tell them theſe things as from God, that they ſhould have no more King, nor pay any more Taxes, nor pay any more Tythes, and laying his hand upon his Bible, he added [And this I have otherwiſe than from hence] which ſhewed that the Scripture was not his Rule, for all you accuſe others of making it an imperfect Rule.
6. And do you not yet perceive your partiality and reſpect of perſons? It ſeemeth your duty to open the faults of the Prelats and Conformiſts, and to calumniate us Non-conformiſts that diſſent from you, and to feign that which you think will ſerve you for reproach. But if your companions publick falſe prophecying be but mentioned upon your own inſtigation, you cry out of abuſe and diſgrace to his memory. Sir, Was it true or falſe? If it be true, that thus he duplicate page duplicate page did (which is mentioned as no rarity) ſhould you not rather take part with God than him? And if an Aaron will make the people naked to their ſhame, will not God record it to his ſhame? Is not the honour of the Spirit of God more tenderly to be preſerved than his, or yours, or mine, or any mans? O do not injure God, for Man.
Sect. 27. E. B. p. 8. But 1. May not a good man,12th Crime Paralleling falſe Prophecies with the Prophets words in Scripture. yea, a true Prophet, be ſometime miſtaken? Was not Samuel ſo, when he took Eliab to be the Lords anointed? Was not Nathan deceived, when he encouraged David to build the Temple?—
R. B. 1. Yes, they may be deceived when they ſpeak in their own names, and judge by their own Spirit or reaſon: But do you think they may be deceived when they propheſie as from God. If ſo, then what certainty can we have of the truth of any of their Prophecies, if they may ſpeak falſly to us in the name of God? 2. Will not your followers think you yet ſee your partiality, who in one Page reproach others as denying Scripture to be a perfect Rule, and in another can thus ſeek to parallel Gods Prophets, with one that raſhly in the Pulpit propheſieth three falſhoods together in the name of God? Is it not Gods direction to us, to take him for a falſe Prophet who propheſieth that which cometh not to paſs? Every one that foretelleth that which doth come to paſs is not a true Prophet, Deut. 13. 23. But every one that abſolutely propheſieth that which doth not come to paſs, is a falſe Prophet, Deut. 18. 20, 21, 22. But the Prophet which ſhall preſume to ſpeak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to ſpeak—even that Prophet ſhall dye. (Mark whether God do judge as you do.) And if thou ſay in thy heart, how ſhall we know the word which the Lord hath ſpoken, when a Prophet ſpeaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to paſs, that is the thing which the Lord hath not ſpoken, but the Prophet hath ſpoken it preſumptuouſly: thou ſhalt not be afraid of him.
Sect. 28. E. B. 2. May not many Prophets truly foretell things to come,13. Crime, Scrip…ures eluded. and yet thoſe things be a long time ſuſpended and delayed becauſe of the ſins of the people? Is not this condition to be underſtood in moſt Scripture Prophecies, expreſſed, Zach. 6. 15. And this ſhall come to paſs, if you will diligently obey, &c.
R. B. 1. A Conditional promiſe or prediction may be not only delayed, but never fulfilled (ſo as that the thing ſhall not come to paſs) if the condition never come to paſs, 2. Promiſes are oftner to be expounded as Conditional, than peremptory Prophecies, when no condition is expreſſed. But what words can more exclude both Conditions and Delayes, than [I tell you from God, that you ſhall never more, &c. When 1. They never ceaſed paying Tythes from that day to this: 2. And their Taxes were then upon them, and I think they believe not that they never paid more. 3. And that we have a King his Subjects all acknowledge. Indeed the Jews ſay that the promiſe of the Meſſiah is delayed becauſe of their ſins; and by ſuch pretences what true Prophecy may not be perverted, and falſe excuſed?
As for what you ſay of Mr. Powels Religiouſneſs, diligence, and worthineſs, I never ſaid a word againſt it: And I deſire to promote, and not to cloud the true honour of his name: And your calling that an unchriſtian calumny which you cannot deny to be a proved truth, is but an unmanly calumny of your own. And for your Prophecy of my memory dying before me, I am not ſolicitous of the matter; let God do with my memory what he pleaſe: nor am I regardful of your Prophecy, who defend falſe prophecying, being commanded not to fear ſuch, Deut. 18. 22.