Gangrena Part 3, Theological tract · Part 13

Gangrena Part 3 · Theological tract · Part 13

p. 101Animadverſions upon this Expoſition.

THis Sectary is not the firſt that hath wreſted this place thus, but ſome before him have ſeparated to day from the words that follow, and joyned it with the words going before, ſo that the diſtinction ſhould be, Amen I ſay unto thee to day, and then ſhould follow thou ſhalt be with me in paradiſe; upon which let the reader look Theophylact who handle this place largely and Janſenius Harmony on the Goſpell, Cap. 143. beſides in the Greek Copies to day is joyned with the words thou ſhalt be, and not with the word I ſay, of which read Beza upon the place: yea lets looke upon the words, they are an anſwer of Chriſts to the Theifs prayer, that Chriſt would remember him when he came into his Kingdome, not to remember him in this world to ſave him from the Croſſe and temporall death: now Chriſts anſwer is accordingly, that he ſhall be partaker of his heavenly Kingdome, and tells him the time to day, that is, thou ſhalt be with me without any delay, and ſo there ſhall be no danger that I ſhall forget thee when I come into my Kingdome, for behold, this very day I ſhall take thee to my Kingdome, vide Rollock: in Cap. 19. Johan. The theif in his prayer ſpeaks to Chriſt as going preſently into his Kingdome, and deſires to be remembred upon his coming thither as now being upon the Croſſe in a curſed condition: now if Chriſt had ſaid to him then, he ſhould be with him, but not told him the time when (the theif knowing he ſhould be dead to day) but meaning it of a long time, two thouſand years af…er, this would not have been ſo comfortable to the theif; beſides there was no p. 102reaſon nor need of adding to day to that word I ſay to th…, for the theif knew they were ſpoken to day, yea at that inſtant to him▪ neither could to day be for aſſeveration; Chriſt uſing that word word of aſſeveraton A…, inſtead of that neither is there any paralell place in Scripture where to day is uſed in ſuch an acception.

There is one Maſter John Ba…hil…r Licenſer-Generall of the Sectaries Books, and of all ſorts of wicked opinions, Licenſer to Maſter Saltmarſh, Cre…enſis, Walwin, Webb, and divers other Sectaries; who hath been a Man-midwife to bring forth more monſters begotten by the Divell, and borne of the Sectaries within this three laſt years then ever were brought into the light in England by all the former Licenſers the Biſhops and their Chaplaines for foureſcore years; he hath licenſed Books pleading for all ſo…ts of Sectaries, as Seekers, Antinomians▪ Anab…ptiſts, &c. as S…t…ſh, and Walwins Books; and for Antibaptiſts denying ſince Chriſts death all Baptiſme by water, as W…bb… Book, page 6. where is …id down, that I … Baptiſme which was water did end at the coming of Chriſt, and that there is no Baptiſme by water inſtituted by Chriſt; yea, for Antiſcripturiſts, Arians, Anitrinitar…ans, Queſtioniſts, and all Blaſphemers, as is apparent by his licenſing that late wicked Pamphlet, call'd, Some modeſt and humble Queries concerning a printed paper, Intituled an Ordinance preſented to the Honourable Houſe of Commons, &c. where if the Reader do but compare the former part of that Ordinance, in what caſes only that Ordinance inflicts death, viz. upon the wilfull and obſtinate publiſhers of ſuch damnable Hereſies and Blaſphemies, with the ſecond Quere made upon that Ordinance, whether it be agreeable to the mind of Chriſt, for men to inflict the heavie cenſure of death upon their Brethren, for holding forth ſuch Doctrines, or opinions in Religion, ſuppoſe contrary to admonition, which for ought the Inflicters know, except they make themſelves infallible, may be the ſacred truths of God, he muſt needs find thus much pleaded for, that therefore ſuch blaſphemies and Hereſies contained in the Ordinance, yea Atheiſme it ſelf (for that is in the Ordinance, that God is) may not be puniſhed with death, becauſe for ought any man knowes they may be the …acred truths of God, and the maintainers and publiſhers of them our Brethren; So p. 103that at once in this Quere upon the Ordinance, all the fundamentalls of Chriſtian Religion are overthrown, and ſuch Doctrines, and opinions as are contrary unto them (for ought any man knowes except he make himſelf in…allible) may be the ſacred truths of God, yea groſſe Scepticiſme and Atheiſme is brought into the Church. This Maſter Bachiler hath Licenſed ſeverall Pamphlets for a Toleration, yea no… only for a limited bounded Toleration of ſome Sects and opinions, as ſuppoſe Anabaptiſts, Independents; but for a Univerſall g…nerall Toleration of all conſciences and opinions, as may be ſeen in **S…e Mr Walwins P…edict. of Maſter Edwards converſion, Whiſper in M. Edwards eare &c.Walwins Books licenſed by him; yea he hath licenſed unlice…ſed Books printed before he was borne, as a Pamphlet entituled Religious Peace, made by one **Buſhers Book of the old Edition page 19. New Edition, page 23.Leonard Buſher, and printed 1614. wherein there is a pleading for a Toleration of Papiſts, Jewes, …very perſon or perſons differing in Religion; and that it may be lawfull, for them to write, diſpute, confer, print and publiſh, any matter touching Religion, either for or againſt whomſoever; And that the wickedneſſe of Maſter Bachiler the Independent may the more appear, I deſire the Reader to obſerve in his licenſing this and ſome other Books, theſe following particulars, Firſt, He gives not a bare Imprimatur to his Book of Buſhers, but gives his Imprimatur with a ſpeciall Recommendation in theſe words; This uſefull Treatiſe (entituled Religious Peace) long ſince preſented by a Citizen of London to King James and the High Court of Parliament, then ſitting, I allow to be reprinted; and ſo to ſome of Saltmarſhes Books, Smoake in the Temple, Groanes for Liberty, Reaſons for Ʋnity, Love and Peace, &c. We have Imprimaturs with ſpeciall approbations, and diſcourſes of the lovelineſſe, exellenty, ſweetneſſe, glory ſhining in them. Secondly, in the reprinting of this Book for generall Toleration, call'd Religious Peace, Maſter Bachiler made ſome materiall alterations, and writ in the margins of ſuch places in the Book where ſome ſpeciall paſſages were for Toleration, that they ſhould be printed in a great letter, differing from the letter in which the body of the Book was printed; for that end no doubt that the Reader might better obſerve them; and this I was told from a perſon of ſome quality, and a Scholler who ſaw the Originall Book, wherein ſuch alterations were made, and told me they were the ſame hand with that whi…h gave Licenſe to the Book. p. 104I ſhall give the Reader an inſtance or two and no more: whereas Buſhers Copie page 16, is thus, Therefore I humbly deſire his Majeſtie and Parliament, with all godly carefulneſſe to conſider that 'tis not poſſible that the Church of Rome (called Catholick,) or thoſe that ate deſcended of her, and have received their Faith and Diſcipline from her, ever was or could be the Apoſtolick Church (call'd Primitive Church) or ſhee that is deſcended from her; Maſter Bacheler changes it from Faith and Diſcipline, into Miniſtery and Ordination, reading it thus, and have received their Miniſtery and Ordination from her: That paſſage in the old Edition, page 11. printed in the ſame letter the whole Book is, viz. Therefore as the Papiſt (when they complaine of the Turks and Pagans for their bloody perſecution) do therein condemne themſelves, becauſe they are found to do the ſame, yea worſe; for 'tis a greater tyrannie for one Chriſtian to force and kill another, then for Turks and Pagans to kill a Chriſtian, for that is no ſuch great wonder, ſeeing it is a Paganiſh part, who have no better knowledge; but Chriſtians ſhould have better knowledge, and more mercy then to play the Pagans againſt Chriſtians, is in this new Edition printed in a different character, a greater letter; neither is this the only Book wherein 'tis diſcovered John Bachiler treads in the ſteps of ſome Licenſers who went before him, being acquainted with Index. Expurgatorius, but in Webbs Book he altered and changed, as in the ſecond part of Gangraena I at large have ſhewed. The man hath juſtified and acquitted the former Licenſers, Doctor Baker, Doctor Bray, Doctor Heyward, Doctor Weeks, and the reſt of that race, who in the point of licenſing were Saints to him, who hath licenſed ſuch books and things that I am confident none of them durſt have done for feare the people would have riſen up and torne them in peeces; and certainly the people would never have borne with ſuch books in the Biſhops dayes; beſides ſhould any man before the ſitting of this Parliament have writ, or licenſed ſuch Books (of which good ſtore have been both writ and licenſed within this three laſt years) that man, or men whoever they had been, had without all queſtion been firſt queſtioned and proceeded againſt by this Parliament, of all men. This Bachiler is ſuch a deſperate Licenſer, that nothing now in that kind can ſtick with him, having ſwallowed down thoſe wicked Queries upon the Ordinance againſt p. 105Hereſies and Blaſphemies; and I am afraid that if the Devill himſelfe ſhould make a book, and give it the Title, A plea for liberty of conſcience, with certaine Reaſons againſt Perſecution for Religion, and bring it to Mr. Bachiler, hee would licenſe it, and not onelyonly with a bare Imprimatur, but ſet before it the commendations of A…ſefull Treatiſe, of A ſweet and excellent booke, making for love and peace among brethren; or ſome ſuch diſcourſe.

In Buckingh …mſhire there are many notorious Sectaries, as at Ail…bury one Dagnall a Book-ſeller, a map of errors, who to a godly Miniſter denyed Originall ſinne, and maintained other wicked opinions: one Barre a Weaver; and at Ch…ſham, or thereabouts, one H…ch, ſpoken of at large in the Firſt part of Gangraena; and another a Gentleman, who was an Officer in the Army, a great Seeker.

There is one Carter, having but one eye, a Sectary at Watton in Ha…tfordſhire, and a great Pr…acher, who keeps Conventicles on the Lords day, there being grea… reſort to him; never coming to the publike Aſſemblies.

There are many Independents and Sectaries at or neare Lewis in Suſſex, ſome of the chiefe being Mr. Peters Converts, as one Mr. Banniard, Miniſter; one Mr. Poſtlethwait, one Mr. Crafts, (as I remember the name;) Mr. Bunn…ard will not preach upon nor keep the Faſt-dayes: being at London on a Faſt-day, hee would not goe to Church; a Gentlewom…n who lives in his houſe uſeth to ſpin upon the Faſt-day. And there are divers Sectaries in that Town, that work openly on Faſt-…yes.

Oats the Weaver, ſpoken of in the Firſt and Second parts of Gangraena, being arraigned upon his life at Chensford the laſt Aſſize, for dipping one Anne Martin, who …ied ſome fourteen dayes after, and being found not guilty, was bound by the Judge to his good behaviour, and made to …ind Sureties that hee ſhould neither preach nor dip; and yet notwithſtanding the very next Lord… day hee preached in Chensford, and goes on ſtill in Eſſex preaching his errors. The people of Wethersfield hearing that Oats and ſome of his companions were come to their Town, ſeaſed on them (onelyonly Oats was not in the company) and pumped them ſoundly. And Oats coming lately to Dunmo… in Eſſex, ſome of the Town p. 106hearing of it where hee was, fetched him out of the houſe, and threw him into the river, throughly dipping him. A Citizen who was at Chensford when Oats his triall was, having ſome knowledge of him, reaſoned with him, that ſetting aſide the diſpute of the lawfulneſſe of Rebaptization, in prudence it could not be well done, to doe that which in ordinary reaſon would deſtroy the creature; viz. in cold weather to dip weakly perſons: Unto which anſwer was made by one Teach an Anabaptiſt, and a companion of Oats, that God had made a promiſe in that caſe, When thou goeſt through the fire, and through the water, I will be with thee. And when this Citizen ſaid, that was not underſtood literally in that ſenſe, it was inſiſted upon that it was to be taken in that ſenſe.

The City Remonſtrance, and my books, are exceeding hatefull to the Sectaries in the Army; they ſpeake deſperately againſt the City, and the City Remonſtrance; as among divers other ſpeeches, a Captaine of Lievtenant Generall Cromwells Regiment of Foot ſpake words to this effect, That the City Remonſtrance was as devilliſh a thing as ever was penned by man: which this Captaine in his teſtimony againſt Adjutant Generall Gray, June the 19. being examined, did give in himſelfe under his owne hand, of which I have ſeen a true copy, taken out of the originall Records. I have been told alſo from good hands, that my books are ſo hated among the Sectaries in the Army, that no Commanders nor Officers dare be knowne to have them, or to read them: and ſome Presbyterians (whoſe names I ſhall conceale) getting the books, have been forced to read them by ſtealth in the night in their beds, when they have been ſure none ſhould carry tales of them. The Presbyterians and Orthodox have been glad to deale with my books in the Army, as the Proteſtants are glad to doe with Bibles, Mr. Perkins Works, &c. in Countries, as Spain, where the Inquiſition is in force.

A godly young man and a Scholler who hath been in the Quarters of the Souldiers divers times with them, yea ſome of the great out…, when they were in the Weſt, in July laſt, told me and ſome other company, that hee had heard ſome of the Sectaries in the Army ſay, they would not tolerate Presbyterians, though they tole…ated all others; becauſe they looked upon them as moſt deſtructive to them.

p. 107September 23. I was told from good hands, both from a Miniſter in the City who hath relation to the place, and from one who came from the place, that a Captaine of the Army quartering with his Company at a Town called Auſter, in Warwickſhire, preacheth in the Pariſh Church, ſometimes twice on the Lords day, and the Miniſter, though an honeſt man, is glad to ſtand by.

A godly Miniſter of Briſtow, preaching in Briſtow by way of Exhortation, to exhort men to goe out of themſelves, and to reſt on Chriſt, one ſtood up in the Church, either whilſt hee was preaching, or preſently upon finiſhing his Sermon, telling him that hee had preached Antichriſtianiſme to exhort men. The ſame Miniſter related it, that a Souldier a great Sectary finding fault with ſomething hee had preached of Chriſts wondring at their unbeleefe, hee told him they were Chriſts words; to which this Sectary replyed, Chriſt ſpake thus in his darkneſſe, or in the time of his darkneſſe. This Miniſter alſo one day diſcourſing with this Sectary about our being juſtified by the righteouſneſſe of Chriſt, the ſame Sectary replyed, Chriſts righteouſneſſe was a beggarly righteouſneſſe.

A godly Miniſter who lives in Somerſetſhire told me of a Sectary and a Sequeſtrator, who to him maintained Adultery was no ſinne; and to another Miniſter, that drunkenneſſe was no ſinne, but a help to ſee Chriſt the better by. Hee told me alſo that ſome Sectaries, having a Book among them called The fulneſſe of Gods love, maintained generall election, that God had choſen all men to life, and that election was of all men; with whom this Miniſter reaſoned, alledging that in the 9. of the Romanes, verſ. 11, 13, &c. and telling them, the word Election implied it was of ſome, not of all; for if I come and chuſe, I take ſome, and leave others; but if I take all, I doe not chuſe.

There is a godly Miniſter who came out of the Army lately, and underſtands the ſtate of it very well, that told ſome Members of the Houſe of Commons, there are ſome whole Troops in the Army that hold ſuch deſperate opinions, as denying the Reſurrection of the dead, and hell; which relation I had from a worthy Member of the Houſe, with the names of the Parliament men to whom it was told, and of the Miniſter who told it.

I was told by ſome honeſt underſtanding men, who heard Maſter p. 108Barroughs preach, that on the day of the laſt Thankſgiving in September, hee preaching at his Lecture at Michaels Cornhill, on Pſal. 78. 42. ſpoke againſt the City, for being unthankfull to the Army, the Inſtruments of their deliverance, by whoſe meanes they enjoyed the clothes they wore, the bread they eat, the trading they had; and diſcourſing of that liberty, peace, trading, which this City had by their means, threatned heavie judgements on this City, what judgements they might expect, for unthankfulneſſe to the Inſtruments of their good, who had been a meanes to ſave them, becauſe they would not have them have their liberty; but (ſaith hee, ſpeaking of the Army) if they would ſtand upon termes, or capitulate with us, what might they not have? and if they were an Army of Papiſts, what would they not have? with other things ☞to that purpoſe, inſomuch as theſe Citizens ſaid, many ſpake of the Sermon, and that theſe were dangerous inſinuations, eſpecially there being divers Souldiers belonging to the Army there preſent. I enquired alſo of a godly Miniſter who heard this Sermon, of the truth of theſe paſſages, and hee ſaid there were ſuch paſſages to that effect. And Maſter Burroughs in his preaching at Cornhill, beſides what hee may doe in other places, hath often ſtrange paſſages and flings, as a little before that, againſt the City Remonſtrance, (though hee named it not) which many took notice of; and at other times againſt the Presbyterians, comparing them to Eſau, and the Independents to Jacob; ſpeaking of Eſau, how many rough, wild men had been brought down in the field, and wee had at home many Eſaus, wild, rough men againſt their brethren, who hee doubted not ſhould be brought down in due time; or words to that effect.

There is one Maſter Symonds of Sandwich a great Independent, who preached, that though hee would not ſay that all who came not into the Church-way were damned, yet hee would ſay that all who had opportunity to joyne to that way, and did not, but lived and died without repentance, for not coming into the Church-way, ſhould be damned: And, ſaith hee, we had been in the Church-way in this place before now, but for an Apoſtate Brother in this Town, ſpeaking of a godly Miniſter once an Independent, but converted from the error of that way: and this Maſter Symonds brought that place Zech. 14. 17, 18, 19. that the Lord will ſmite them p. 109that come not up to keep the feaſt of Tabernacles: Now a godly Miniſter in the ſame Town ſhewed theſe Notes to a Member of the Houſe of Commons, who asked this Maſter Symonds, why this place makes not as much againſt thoſe who will not joyne in a Presbyteriall way, as againſt thoſe who will not be Independents? This Maſter Symonds reporting of this godly Miniſter that hee was a lyar, hee went to him with two more, in a faire way, to ſpeak to him, and this Maſter Symonds was ſo imperious and high, that hee called this godly Miniſter, An intolerable Fellow and malicious. Some of the Magiſtrates of that Town asking Maſter Symonds, why divers of the people in the time of the publike Aſſemblies met in private, hee anſwered, Can you blame them, when they have nothing but bread and cheeſe in publike? ſpeaking of this godly mans Miniſtery. Now upon occaſion of Maſter Symonds branding this godly Miniſter for an Apoſtate, becauſe hee had forſaken the Independent way, this godly Miniſter preſently after in his owne Church publikely confeſſed, hee was once of the Independent way, and actually entered into a Church Covenant, and would baptize none but the children of parents in the Church Covenant; but (ſaith hee) this was, when I was in the Iland of Providence alone, and in the dark; but when I came into England, ſince this Parliament, and compared both wayes together, the Presbyterian and Independent, confer'd with divers Miniſters about them, read books, as Maſter Rutherfords, &c. heard Maſter John Goodwin preach ſome Sermons for Presbytery, I ſaw the power of the Keyes to be in the Miniſters of the Church, not the people, the Church Covenant, and all thoſe wayes of admiſſion, requiring men to give ſignes of grace, &c. to be Will-worſhips; when I came to hold up the Independent way in the light, (like as men doe the cloth they buy) I ſaw it was a moth eaten garment, and had many flawes in it. Hee told the people hee had been humbled privately before God, that hee had been of that way, and now deſired to be publikely humbled for it; and confeſſed his ſinne in being a Miniſter of an Independent Church, and gave God glory, ſaying, I am not aſhamed to recant that wherein I did amiſſe and was miſtaked; it was … ſhame to Paul to confeſſe hee was a blaſphemer; and hee wiſhed that ſome Miniſters who had been Stage-player, and Cringers to the name of Jeſus, pleading for bowings, p. 110would publikely confeſſe, and follow his example; for, ſaith this godly Miniſter, I doe this to ſet them an example; and who would account the worſe of them if they followed my example? This Miniſter tells me hee turned not (God knowes) for any outward reſpects; for whilſt hee was in Providence, hee was ba…kt and upheld in that way, againſt all oppoſitions, by ſome great ones; and when hee was come to London, namely (ſince this Parliament) hee was offered maintenance and ſupport in that way; but coming to examine things, hee found the Scriptures hee went upon did not prove the things; and obſerving that the way whilſt hee was in it was full of factions, fractions and diviſions, and finding divers of his members that were come out of Providence into England turned ſome to be Anabaptiſts, ſome Antinomians, ſome Seekers, all theſe things laid together, God bleſſed to recover him out of that dangerous way of error and ſchiſme wherein hee was.

In May laſt, a Commander belonging to the Army told me, that hee hath heard many Souldiers of the Army who are Sectaries ſay, when newes hath come to the Army, of the Parliaments ſetling the Presbyterian Government, What have wee fought for then all this while, if that muſt be ſetled? The ſame Commander tells me hee hath heard divers of the Sectaries belonging to the Army pray, but never, as hee could obſerve, did they pray for forgiveneſſe of ſinne; neither doth hee think that any of the Sectaries in the Army uſe to pray for pardon of ſinnes.

There is one Crab of Southwar… ſide, a Dipper and a Preacher, who vents ſtrange doctrines againſt the Immortality of the ſoul, &c. This man was complained of this ſummer to the Lord Major, for ſpeaking words againſt the King, as that it was better to have a golden Cal…e or an Aſſe ſet up, with ſuch kind of expreſſions, then to have a King over them: For which words hee was bound over to anſwer at the Seſſions; but I heare nothing what is become of him.

There is one Lieutenant B. a Lieutenant of a Troop of Horſe, a great Sectarie, who is ſo proud and conceited, that he thinks himſelf able to diſpute with the whole Aſſembly, and calls our godly Miniſters Prieſts at every word; he affects ſtrange▪ high words, ſaying, they who have the inviſible motions of the ſpirit have nothing to doe with them who are in carnality; he hath given out p. 111that Maſter Angelo and the other Prieſts at Briſtoll, durſt not diſpute with him; he makes nothing of any Miniſter, nor of thoſe whom he formerly received moſt good from; and that the Reader may have a true character of this Sectary, I ſhall ſet down a Relation given me in writing from an underſtanding godly man, who came this Summer from Briſtoll and thoſe parts; which is as followes. 'I was lately at Briſtoll, wher I ſaw one Lieutenant B. who (as I was credibly informed by …are witneſſes) hath publikly contradicted Maſter Pa…le and Maſter Angelo where they have preached (once the Deputy Governour, and the Major of the City being preſent) his carriage towards the godly Miniſters being generally diſliked by the Citizens, …ieutenant B. was confined to his Chamber, upon which he writes to the Deputy Governour that he cared not for Prieſts, Governours, nor Committees, or words to the ſame effect. The ſame Lieutenant hath formerly preached publikly in his ſearlet Coat laced with ſilver lace. I was told by one of the Committee, and a godly man, that he and Mr Angelo had heard one Thomas Web pr…ach Blaſphemy in Ratcliffe Church Briſtoll, which Web doth go from place to place, in Gloceſter and Summerſetſhires ſeducing people, as I am informed by credible perſons.

There is a godly underſtanding man come from New-England this year, who lived there many yeares, and knowes well the Miniſters, Magiſtrats, and ſtate both of their Church and Common-wealth (who alſo is drawing up a Tractate of their Church way and practiſes, illuſtrated by examples and experiments made upon many there; which hath been communicated to me ſo farre as he had proceeded in it;) Now this m…n related to me July 27. in the preſence of a godly Gentleman, that he ſaw and read a Manuſcript, which was in the hands of many, and made by ſome of their Magiſtrats (as it was conceived) for an Arbitrary Government in the Common-wealth; that in crimes and offences committed, there ſhould not be certain penalties appointed by Laws, to ☜which the Governours and Magiſtrate ſhould keep, but it ſhould be left to the diſcretion and wiſdome of the Magiſtrate what he thought …it to inflict in caſe of ſuch and ſuch crimes; and in this written Book many reaſons were given for this Arbitrary Government, and againſt being tied to Laws, as the inſtance of Solomon p. 112in commanding to divide the child upon the complaint of the true, and falſe Mother; as that Magiſtrates were Gods, ſo call'd, eſpecially in regard of their wiſdome: Now how or wherein ſhould their wiſdome and gifts be manifeſted, if a liberty were not left to them? for a boy migbt read the Law, and pronounce the ſentence according to that, and therefore that the gifts of Government might be exerciſed, ſentences and penalties ſhould be left to the Magiſtrates. This man tells me, many others read this Manuſcript as well as he, and ſo great notice was taken of it, that ſome in New-Engl. when they were a going to Boſton, or ſpeaking of going thither, would ſay, lets take heed what we do there, leaſt we looſe our heads, for what offences the Governour ſhall think an… ſay deſerves beheading. Now as Independency, and many other opinions being firſt broached in New-England have come over into Old, ſo I have reaſon to ſuſpect by the Arbitrary Government exerciſed by too many in theſe times, and the great workings of many to uphold Arbitrary power, and to keep all things from being ſetled in Common-wealth as well as in Church, there are ſome Sectaries of that opinion among us, eſpecially when I lay to that opinion broached in New-England, ſome paſſages preached in a Sermon by Maſter Peters, Auguſt 2. 1646. at Iſlington, on that Text on the fourth of Coloſ. verſ. 12. in which Sermon Maſter Peters ſpeaking of perfect men, uſed theſe words, and ſuch like, Yee talk of Laws, Laws; the Kingdome is not to be maintained by Lawes, but by perfect men.

Auguſt 13. two Bookſellers of Pauls Church-yard told me, that a Bookſeller offering to exchange Books, as Maſter Dents P…th-wayes to Heaven for ſome of Saltmarſhes Books, anſwer was made by a Sectarie, what do you bring ſuch Books for? you may ſtop bottles with them, we will take none of your old Divinity, we have new light and new Divinity now.

A woman who ſometimes was a Member of a Church of the Anabaptiſts, acquainted me in June fifth, ſhe was of one Blunt, Emmes, and Wrighters Church, one of the firſt and prime Churches of Anabaptiſts now in theſe latter times: This woman thought there was ſomthing more excellent in this company, and that way, …en in other men, and that ſhe might have truſted her life with them; but after awhile ſhe found them a wreched people; The p. 113Church broke into peeces, and ſome want one way, ſome another, divers fell off to no Church at all. She married a husband a Box-maker, one of Lams company, who got from her all he could, and ſet up a Boxmakers-ſhop on purpoſe (as ſhe conceives) to get what ſhe had to furniſh a ſhop with, and after a time went away from her into the Army, and though he came out of the Army a long while agoe, yet he keeps from her, and will not live with her, nor allow her any maintenance; and ſhe having followed him to his Church and meetings, the Church maintaines him in it (as ſhe reports to me) ſaying ſhe is an unbeleever and of the world, what have they to do with her, with other words to that effect; and when ſhe goes to any place, where ſhehears he is, or thinks ſhe may find him, they abuſe her, are ready to offer her violence, andſome of theſe Sectaries will deny he is married to her, and bid her prove it. Now ſhe tells me that in thoſe Anabaptiſts Churches, (of which ſhe ſometimes was (they are not married by Miniſters, nor by any other man ſpeaking words to each party which they aſſent to, but before ſome of their way they profeſſe to take each other to live together, and one of their company writes down in a paper, with ſome hands ſubſcribed to it, of two ſuch going together on ſucha day; which writing this woman had in her keeping, but her husband coming in one night late after ſhe was a bed, got it out of the place where ſhe had laid it; and now ſhe is troubled how ſhe ſhall prove him to be her husband.

There is one Mr Saltmarſh, a man who hath of late writ many traſhie Pamphlets, full ſtuffed with all kind of Errors, ignorance, and impudency, and hath been well anſwered and baſ…ed by three Learned Divines, two of them grave and ancient, Maſter Gataker, and Maſter Ley; the third a young man, Maſter W. and I am ſtill in his debt for ſome paſſages in his Groa…es for Liberty, and Reaſons for Ʋnity, Love and Peace, againſt my firſt and ſecond parts of Gangraena, but reſolve to come out of it; For beſides what I have ſaid to him in the ſecond part of Gangraena, and ſhall ſay in this third, I purpoſe to reckon with him once for all, in another Tractate. This Maſter Saltmarſh this laſt half year hath much followed the Army, a fit place for him; and of him and his Doctrine there, the Reader if he turne back …o page 45. may read more. When Oxford was taken, he was one of thoſe famous Preachers▪ p. 114who preached at Saint Marles (as the weekly newes Books gave it out,) as fit a man to credit the Parliament and the Reformation with the Univerſitie, as his Brother Peters. Maſter Saltmarſh being to preach in the Army on a Faſt day this Summer, made a Preface by way of Apologie, that he preached not for the Faſt, he would not he underſtood to preach as upon that occaſion, or that his Sermon was a Faſt Sermon. He hath been at Bath this year, and there in one of the leſſer Churches preached, that at John Baptiſt wore a leatherne girdle, ſo his Doctrine was leather at Doctrine: He would have preached at the great Church, but the Miniſter would not give way; whereupon he came to the Miniſters houſe to conteſt with him, about denying him his Pulpit, and ſpeaking ſo of him to them who came for leave, eſpecially ſeeing he had never ſeen him before; unto whom the Miniſter replyed, he had heard of him by M. John Ley, and Maſter Thomas Edwards, and was fully ſatisfied concerning him; beſides he ſaid I have heard of one Maſter Saltmarſh, who in the time of the former differences between the King and the Scots, viz. before this Parliament, made verſes to incenſe the King to Warre againſt the Scots, when he went into the North; and that when the late Oath, made by the Biſhops of &c. came forth, went many miles to an Archdea…on to take that Oath upon his knees; unto which Maſter Saltmarſh replyed, he was then in his darkneſſe, and the Miniſter of Bath rejoyned, he thought him to be ſtill in the ſmoak.

There is Cretenſis, alias Maſter John Goodwin, a monſtrous Sectary, a compound of Socinianiſme, Arminianiſme, Libertiniſme, Antinomianiſme, Independency, Popery, yea and of Seep…ciſme, as holding ſome opinions proper to each of theſe. This man for twelve yeares laſt paſt hath diſturbed the City of London, with broaching continually one Error or other, which was the true cauſe why the Biſhops and their Chap…es ſuffered him, (though in ſeverall particulars irregular according to the Biſhops wayes) to preach, when they put down others, and would not ſuffer them, and all becauſe by his conceits and fancies he would diſturb the Puritan party: I could alledge what Mr Burton coming to …e him in thoſe times propheſſed of him; what M. Thomas Goodwin hath ſaid of him for his opinions about juſtification, and what others of the Church-way have ſaid of him, but I ſhall reſerve p. 115them. A Reverend and learned Divine of another Kingdome, hearing him pray and preach, gave this judgement of him before he turned Independent, that he had hereticum ingenium, his genius ſeemed to be for Error, and as ſome men diſcover a naturall inclination, and a diſpoſition to one evill more then another, ſome to theft, being given more to ſt…ling, ſome to lying; ſo is Maſter Goodwin to Hereſie and Error, ſeems to be made for a Heretick. I ſhall inſtance now only in a few things by which the Reader may judge of the man, and of his way. A very godly and judicious Miniſter told me, that he being at London about Spring was a twelve month, he went to heare Maſter Goodwin preach, who preaching upon that ſubject how hard a thing it was to beleeve the Goſpel, aggravated the hardneſſe of beleeving by theſe Reaſons, one was becauſe there were many contradictions in the Scripture as they appeared to us, and he inſtanced in divers, as about Juſtification, &c. A ſecond was, becauſe take two men of equall abilities for holineſſe, learning, parts, and theſe ſhall expound the Scripures different wayes, ſo that which Expoſition ſhall a man take to in this caſe? Now beſides theſe he gave divers others ſuch Reaſons, never ſalving or reconciling any of them; ſo that the Miniſter profeſſed to me, he trembled to heare him, and hath looked upon him ever ſince as a wicked man, judgeing the ſcope of his preaching, was …ather to make unbeleevers and Atheiſts, then to work Faith in men. Another godly Miniſter tells me, that ſome judicious hearers, among the reſt a Gentleman of parts, going to heare him preach on a Lords day, he then was upon the Majeſtie of the Scriptures, and among other inſtances to prove the Majeſtie of the Scriptures, he ſpoke of the contradictions in the Scripture, and went over many particulars, and ſo left them without any ſolution or Anſwer; at which this Gentleman was ſo offended, that he ſp…e of this to divers the ſame day, and ſaid the Sermon was enough to have made all them Atheiſts who heard it. A godly Miniſter in the City hearing him preach (and as I remember) it was on his Tuſeday Lecture at his Conventicle houſe, upon that point that there were many neceſſary truths that cannot be proved by Scriptures, ſave only by a ſtrong hand of Reaſon; and inſtancing in that point of proving Chriſt to be God, he runne over thoſe Scriptures brought to p. 116prove Chriſt to be God, and anſwered them with the Arian, and Socinians evaſions, and ſo left them, never taking away thoſe Anſwers, as if the man would in a ſubtle cloſe way, whil'ſt he ſeemed to prove ſomthing elſe, and confute the Anabaptiſts, ſow the ſeeds of Socinianiſme: This Miniſter was much troubled at it, ſpake of it to many Miniſters of the City, how no Socinian could have pleaded againſt Chriſt being God, more then M. Goodwin, ſo far as concerned the eluding of thoſe Scriptures, which are the proofs of it, and could not but leave a tincture in the mind of the Auditors, that it could not be proved by Scripture that Jeſus Chriſt was God, ſeeing the cheif and moſt pregnant places for it were ſo Anſwered.

Theſe practiſes and way of Cretenſis, brings to my mind the practiſe of Sebaſtian Franck, a Learned man, and indeed the moſt Learned Sectary of all the Sectaries in theſe latter times, both before him, and in his age, who hath written a Book ex profeſſo, to ſhew the diſcordances of Scriptures, laying down many inſtances in this kind, and ſo leaving them without ſhewing any harmony or agreement; Which Franck being a great Seeker, and Enthuſiaſt, did it without all queſtion upon a deſigne to drawe men off from the Scriptures, to Revelations. Two religious and underſtanding Citizens told me the tenth of June laſt, and ſaid they could bring many more to atteſt it, that they heard (not long before) Maſter John Goodwin preach at his Conventicle as followes; That we ſhould not condemne any thing for an Error, till we had taken as much paines in the ſearching out whether it were ſo or no, as he which broached the Error had done in promoting it; for he did beleeve a man might ſerve God better in an Error, then he who was in the truth.

Here is a brave Patron of Error and a fine fetch to plead for and uphold it, for if Errour muſt not be condemned till men have taken ſo Animadverſ.much paines, it may never be ſpoken againſt, or at leaſt not till 'tis grown to ſuch a head that 'tis paſt help: For a Heretick who broaches any Doctrine againſt the Scripures, the Trinity, the humane nature of Chriſt, Juſtification, may ſay to him who oppoſes theſe Doctrines, I have ſtudied this twenty yeares theſe points; when you have ſtudied them as long, then preach …, againſt them, but not before; p. 117Beſides this implies as if Ministers and Chriſtians could not be ſure any Doctrines were Errors, without long ſearching whether they were ſo or no, and as if there were no received known principls and Doctrines of Chriſtian Religion, lay'd down ſo plainly and clearly in Scriptures, that when errors were publiſhed contrary to them, Miniſters and Chriſtians might not condemne them at firſt, but must ſtudy and ſearch to know whether they were Errors or no; which preaching fits well with many paſſages in ſome Books of Cretenſis, eſpecially his thirtie eight Queres upon the Ordinance againſt Hereſie and Blaſphemie.

Secondly, There are many thouſand truths both to be beleeved and practiſed, that are not contained in the Scriptures, as that Jeſus Chriſt Son of the Virgin. Mary was the Son of God; as the Reſurrection from the dead, as Baptizing of Infants, womens receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper; all which could not be proved by Scripture, but by a ſtrong hand of Reaſon deducing them. Many other paſſages I have from good hands of Cretenſis preaching, of his preferring Reaſon before Faith in points of Religion; of holding the ſleeping of the ſoule till the Reſurrection, of bodies that dye not riſing the ſame again, with divers ſuch; but I ſhall reſerve them, with the proofs of them, both perſons, times and places, till my nex Anſwer comes out againſt him, and ſhall now inſtance only in one Pamphlet lately ſet forth by **This Pamphlet is generally ſpoken and beleeved by all to be… his, and many of his Church have openly ſaid ſo to.him, call'd ſome Modeſt and humble Quenes, upon the late Ordinance againſt Hereſies; concerning which I may ſay as the Holy Ghoſt doth of Herods impriſoning John, he hath added yet this above all, to write ſuch a wicked Pamphlet, and at ſuch a time, there being not a more deſperate ungodly, Atheiſticall peece written by any man ſince the Reformation: I have had occaſion to read many Diſcourſes and Tractats of Libertines, and Scepticks that have been writ within this laſt hundred years, and have ſeen much wickedneſſe in them, both in thoſe of other Countries, and our own, eſpecially thoſe written and newly printed within five years laſt paſt: but in none of them do I find (all things conſidered) ſuch a ſpirit of Libertiniſme, Atheiſme, prophaneſſe and laying waſte of all Religion, breathing, as in theſe Queres; for beſides thoſe evill ſpirits of Error, ſcoffing, diſorder, confuſion, irreligion that works in all the other Queres, ther's a Legion of wicked and p. 118duplicate page p. 911duplicate page p. 118uncleane ſpirits (ſeven fold worſe then thoſe that have been caſt out) in that ſecond Quere, wherein it will appear manifeſtly to all who compare the firſt part of the Ordinance with that Quere, that all Chriſtian Religion is overthrown at once, yea that principle written in all mens hearts by nature, that there is a God; for doctrines and opinions contrary unto theſe, for ought any knowes, may be the ſacred truths of God, and the publiſhers of them our Brethren, according to this Quere.

Now I challenge any man to ſhew me a more deſperate deſtenctive paſſage in the writings of any Libertine or Sectary then this: How hath the Lord left him to himſelf, to write ſuch Queries? I remember that in my Second Part of Gangrana, in that part of it which is a Reply to Cretenſis, in Page 35. I write thus, That I feared (unleſſe God gave him repentance) if hee lived but one ſeven years, hee would prove as Arch an Heretick, and as dangerous a man as ever England bred; and that hee would be another David George, Francken, Socinus; and behold within a few moneths, not giving God glory to repent of his evill deeds, but going on to write, hee hath by theſe Queries made good what I propheſied of him, and hath filled up the meaſure of his iniquities; ſo that I beleeve hee hath juſtified Corn…rt, Sebaſtian Franck, Francken, S… cinus, David George, with all the reſt of that rabble; and I doe not think 'tis lawfull for Chriſtians to receive ſuch a one into their 2 John 10. 11.houſe, or to bid him God ſpeed, but rather if they come where he is to fly from him, and not to ſtay, as Saint John did from C… rinthus; and for his writing of theſe Queries, I think godly Miniſters ſpeaking of him, may call him as Polycarpus did Marcion: I hope ſome good hand will make Animadverſions upon them, and give an Anſwer to thoſe Queries. Now, notwithſtanding all the deſperate opinions and principles he pleads for, and the Independent ſeparated Church that hee is Miniſter of, there's one opinion hee holds, and practiſes accordingly, different from the Independent way, viz. That Baptiſme belongs not onelyonly to the Children of thoſe who are added to a particular Church, and that Miniſters may not onelyonly baptize the Children of Parents of their own Church, but may baptize Children to whom they have no relation, viz. in any Pariſh or place where they are deſired; and two honeſt Citizens told me they heard him preach, That Baptiſme was not p. 911a Church Ordinance that required the preſence of the members of the Church, but might be adminiſtred any where, either in the ſame Congregation, or in another place: And, I conceive, though he be an Independent, yet he holds this and ſome other things in his Church way different from the other Independents; as for this Reaſon, that he may be ſingular in his way, and in ſomething differ from them, ſo that hee might keep a doore open for his profit and gain; and hence 'tis, I have been informed from ſeverall hands, that as he is a zealous man for Funerall Sermons, ſo he is a Baptizer generall, baptizing in Stepney Pariſh, Hackney, ſeverall Pariſhes of London, and baptizes ſometimes three or foure in a day, going from one place to another, and that 'tis thought hee ☜many times gets fifty ſhillings and three pound a day by baptizing children who are not of his Church; and I have ſpoken with ſome women, who have been at ſuch baptizings, and have ſeen the gold put into his hand; which, I muſt confeſſe, is a good wiſe way to the maintenance allowed him by his Church, to have this additionall means from them that are without, for the more comfortable maintenance of his wife and children. But by the way, whilſt Maſter Goodwin baptizes thoſe who are not of his Church, which ſurely hee doth no… doe as a gifted Brother, but as a Miniſter, and is an act of power and office, not of love and charity onelyonly, the Independents greateſt and onelyonly Argument to ſpeak of, uſed in the Aſſembly, in their Sermons, and ſome printed Books againſt a Presbyteriall Church, and Miniſters ruling in common over more then their particular Congregation, is fully anſwered; for if they may of themſelves without the conſent of the Miniſter of that Congregation, baptize who are not of their Church, then certainly they may with conſent of the Miniſters and Officers of ſuch Churches joyn in the ruling and governing of them who are not of their Congregations; and by this the ruling power of Miniſters does not extend further then their power of feeding by the word and Sacraments; and therefore till I give Maſter Burroughs a particular Anſwer to this Reaſon of his, Wee would have the ruling power of Miniſters not to extend further, &c. pag. 29. of his Vindication againſt Maſter Edwards, and ſuch a like paſſage in his Irenioum, I referre him to Maſter Goodwin to be ſatisfied what reaſons hee hath to baptize p. 120thoſe over whom he hath not a Paſtorall charge, and the ſame will be found to hold ſtronglier for a power of governing thoſe who are not of a Miniſters particular Congregation: and yet Maſter Burroughs, if hee were pleaſed to take notice, might find this very Argument anſwered in the Antapologia, (being brought by the Apologiſts in their Apologeticall Narration) and in the Aſſemblies Anſwer to the Reaſons of the Diſſenting Brethren given in againſt Presbyteriall Government; which Anſwers were never yet taken away by the Apologiſts, or any of them; and Cretenſis in his late pretended Reply to my Antapologie takes no notice of them, as he does not to the reſt of the Arguments againſt their Non-communion, &c. but is ſo wiſe as after taking two yeares and upward for Anſwer, yet to crave further day for payment, filling up many ſheets with mending the Printers and Correctors faults, and making many faults where there are none, let…ing paſſe all the materiall thing… both in matters of fact and Arguments till a Second Part, which the Reader may expect ad Grae…as Kalendas: And of this learned Reply to the Antapologie, a worthy Divine writes to me, Septemb. 12 as followes; I have lighted upon the frothy Anſwer to the Antapologie, of which (lay aſide pedanticall jeers, unchriſtian miſconſtruction, Rhetoricall flaſhes, and Jeſuiticall equivocations) there will be ſcarce ſo much of a ſolid Anſwer remaining as would fill one ſheet of thoſe 38. that ſwells its puffe-paſte bulk.

There is one Maſter Hugh Peters who came over from New-England about five yeares agoe, a great Agent for the Sectaries, who hath many wayes, by preaching, writing, conference and diſcourſe, and above all by acting in ſeverall kinds, promoted the Independent way: The Reader ſhall find him ſpoken of in the Firſt, and Second Parts of Gangraena, Pag. 40, 41. of the third Edition, in ſome of Maſter * Pry…s Books, in a Book called, The Sectaries Anatomized, pag. 3. Now I will give the Reader an account Minors no Senators. A Diſcovery of New lights.of him, in relating ſome of his paſſages in Sermons, Books and Diſcourſes. In Sermons hee hath preached as followes: In the firſt yeare the Scots came into England hee hath in the Pulpit ſpoken well of them; as in a Sermon at Covent Garden, commending their Army, hee ſaid there was in one Regiment of the Scots fifteen hundred or ſeventeen hundred Bibles: but ſince that time p. 121of the new Modell of the Army, hee hath preached againſt them, as at Lewis in Suſſex, where alſo hee ſpake againſt the Presbyterians, becauſe they will not live voluntarily upon the good will of the people, but will ſtand upon ſuch a meanes, whereas the Independents will preach freely, asking nothing; So at Maſter Gatakers Church at Redriffe on the monethly Faſt-day, May 27. 1646. hee preached againſt the Scots by name, that theſe Scots now in the Land were a new Generation, not thoſe Scots that came in at firſt to our help, but theſe were other Scots come from Sweathland, Germany, and he knew not whence; that to his knowledge they had ſent away whole buſhels full, or …uns full of money, at that time alſo hee preached concerning the monethly Faſts, that they were Canonicall ſet Faſts, and hee wiſhed they were ſuſpended for a time, and Faſts taken up occaſionally: And on May 17. at Cruciat Friars, he preached concerning the Scots, and of our Army, what a holy religious Army it was, and that they would have no warre with the Scots, unleſſe it ſhould appeare out of the word of God they ought to have; and if it ſhould prove ſo, yet they would goe to fight with their Brethren of Scotland with tears in their eyes. On the laſt of May, 1646. preaching at the Three Cranes in the Evening, he ſpoke againſt the * Common Councell, This was upon occaſion of the City Remonſtrance.for medling with that they had nothing to do with, going beyond their Commiſſion, ſaying, Let them look into their Charter and ſee if there be any ſuch thing mentioned: He found fault with the City Remonſtrance, ſaying, We now fall upon Remonſtrating and Petitioning one againſt another, inſtead of giving God thanks for his late deliverances and mercies vouchſafed unto us. In this Sermon he ſpake ſlightly of the Covenant, and of thoſe who made ſuch a ſtirre about it, in preſſing the people to be carefull in ſticking to it, as if they would have them to make an Idoll of the Covenant: In this Sermon alſo hee ſpake about the King to this purpoſe, what a ſtirre here was about a King, as if we could not live without one, and how fond we were to hug and embrace him, who ſtruck us a box on the ea…e the other day, and all becauſe he now ſtroakes us on the cheeks: In this …ermon alſo he ſpake, that wee were now grown to a refined Malignancy, ſo that he ſaw no more difference between theſe times, and the firſt times of the troubles, then between a half crown piece and two ſhillings and ſix pence; p. 122by his diſcourſe in the Pulpit it was carried in ſuch a way, as under the Malignant ſtriking at the Presbyterian party, who oppoſed Sectaries: In this Sermon he ſpake alſo of the Army to this effect, that when hee thought of the Army, and the carriage of men towards them, hee thought of Jeſus Chriſt, how like they were to him, that as he went about doing good and working miracles, and at length the people crucified him, ſo will men do with this Army. This Sermon was ſo offenſive, that I was told of it by divers; and ſome Citizens went to ſpeak with him about it, and the conference that paſſed between him and them I ſhall acquaint the Reader with under the head of Maſter Peters diſcourſes. Maſter Peters in the Army in Hedington Fort hath preached againſt the City of London, incenſing the Army againſt the City; of which the Reader may read more if he turn backward to page 24.

Since the taking of Oxford by the Parliament forces hee hath preached in Saint Maries, the ſame day when Maſter **It was in ſome of the Newes Books of that week.Saltmarſh did, beſides other times that hee hath preached in Oxford, and there goe credible reports from perſons of worth, both of ſtrange paſſages preached by him concerning the King, and of ſouldiers in the Army that he could pick out, that ſhould be able to open Scriptures, draw Doctrines, make uſes better, and more proper, then any of the Schollers in the Univerſitie; and that he would make a boy of twelve yeares of age to preach as good Divinity as moſt of them, or to that effect: But becauſe I had not theſe Relations at firſt hand from eare witneſſes, I will not aſſert them till I have fuller proof. Maſter Peters at Plymouth, and ſince at London preached, that ſuppoſe a Father have five Children, one a drunkard, another an adulterer, a third a ſwearer, and ſo in the reſt, and hee cannot reclaim them, will hee preſently throw them into the Thames? will he not wait for their amendment, uſe meanes for their converſion? ſo now in a Kingdome, their are ſome Anabaptiſts, others Antinomians, others Browniſts, others Papiſts; will the Magiſtrat preſently, becauſe theſe cannot beleeve their Truths, cut off their heads and kill them? with more words to this effect, M. Peters preached at Linclons Inne, upon that text, Acts 5. of Gamaliels counſell, and upon that Text in the ſame Sermon he contradicted himſelf; for his firſt point taken from Gamaliel, that Gamaliel a great man in place, a rich man, and yet a graceleſſe wicked man p. 123was this, that a man may be a great man in place, power, and yet a graceleſſe man; and in the latter part of his Text and Sermon, he fel upon ſpeaking of Gamaliels giving that counſel, Refrain from theſe men and let them alone, and there he called him good Gamaliel, honeſt Gamaliel, wiſe Gamaliel, with many words to that purpoſe, ſaying, I profeſſe I had rather live under Gamaliels Government then any I know of; where ſhall a man read of ſuch a man? I had rather live under Gamaliels Government, then under any of the Presbyterians. And in his pleading for Liberty of conſcience upon thoſe words of Gamaliel, one of his Arguments againſt all reſtraint was, becauſe we the Engliſh Nation naturally above others were given to change, and did not love to be held to any thing; in a few years we turned foure or five times, we were Papiſts in Henry the eights dayes, Proteſtants in King Edwards dayes, Papiſts in Quene Marys dayes, Proteſtants again in Queen Elizabeths raigne. Maſter Peters preached on a ſolemne day of thankſgiving at Chriſt Church, before both Houſes, the City of London, the Aſſembly; and in that Sermon among many other odd paſſages, he would make a marriage that day between the Parliament and the City, marry them together, and he bid all thoſe who conſented to this marriage to hold up their hands, he holding up his own; but as it fell out this did not take, for very few of the Congregation held up their hands: I heard not the Sermon, but it was related to me by ſome Miniſters, and Citizens, who did hear it, that they beleeve never in the memory of man ſo weak and ſo odd a Sermon was preached before ſuch an Auditory.

In Auguſt laſt, Maſter Peters preached at Stepny upon that Text, In me yee ſhall have peace; on which words he diſcourſed as followes; That now every one was inquiring after peace, asking for peace, deſiring peace, he told them here was peace in Chriſt, but as for that other peace which they ſo much asked after, though now they had a month or two, a time of ceſſation, reprivall for in Gods keeping Seſſions, yet they muſt look ſhortly for Warre; and he ſaid for himſelf, though many are …o… peace, peace, hee was for Warre; he ſaid there were times▪ and offers of peace, which God offereth to places, and if they take them, well and good, but if not, they may never have them more; and he cryed out, O Stepny, Steptny, thou haſt had thy time of peace, and the p. 124day of viſitation by **Maſter Burroughs the morning ſtarr, preaching about ſeven a cloke in the morning, and Mr Green…al at three of the clock in the afternoone. ☞two famous and worthy lights; you have had your morning Star, and your evening Star; ſtill he ſpake of two lights ſome half a ſcore times in this Sermon, never taking notice of a third, Doctor Hoyle, the Miniſter of the place; and ſpeaking of the offers of peace, which if men take not, they ſhall never have again, he ſpake of New-Caſtle and the King, how he had had offers of peace in the Propoſitions lately ſent him, but for ought he knew for refuſing the offer of peace, hee might never have it more, but he and his Children, and that ere long might beg their bread. I might further relate ſome paſſages of Sermons preached by him in divers other places, as Iſlington, (where commonly upon his returne out of the Army he payes his firſt fruits) Wapping, Fiſhſtreet-hil, Lumbardſtreet, Chensford, Kent, Holland, with other places; but I have yet divers things to relate of his conferences and diſcourſes, and out of his printed Pamphlets; and ſhall come …rom his Sermons to ſome of his Diſcourſes: A godly underſtanding Citizen told me the twenty ninth of May laſt, that Maſter Peters had ſaid to him a few dayes before, that the City Remonſtrance was the foundation of all the Cities miſery, and would be ſo, the Army would disband, and the Commanders would come and lay down Armes preſently upon it. He brag'd alſo to this Citizen, that he would prove the Church of England to be no true Church, and meet any man to maintaine it next morning at eight of the clock. Upon Maſter Peters Sermon preached the laſt of May, 1646. at the three Cranes ſpoken of a little before, there were two Citizens being offended at many paſſages in that Sermon, went to him that night to conferre with him for ſatisfaction, and under both their hands they gave me in writing the ſumme of the conference between him and them, which is as followes. Upon occaſion of Maſter Hugh Peters preaching at the three Cranes Church in the Vintry, we went to ſpeak with Maſter Peters about his Sermon, and finding him at Colonell Rowland Wilſons houſe, we waited on him till he came forth, and ſpeaking to him, one of us told him we had ſome buſineſſe with him, and would come to him another time, apprehending it unſeaſonable becauſe late; he told us we muſt ſpeak with him now, for he was to go forth of London the next morning about foure of the clock: We then told him we came to ſpeak with him about ſome things p. 125he had preached that afternoon; and the firſt thing we ſpake to him of, was, that he ſhould ſay men made an Idoll of the Covenant, to which Maſter Peters replied, ſo you do, I can meet with none almoſt in London▪ but they …ry…, the Covenant, the Covenant, as if we were beaſts before we took the Covenant, and that made us men; he further ſaid that he had taken it (as hee thought) at leaſt twenty times, and ſaw nothing in it, that men ſhould make ſuch a ſtir about it▪ W… ſpake to him of his ſpeaking in his Sermon againſt the City R…ſt, he ſtood to juſtifie what he had ſaid, and calld it a wicked thing, and being asked wherin, he ſaid there was a paſſage in it, that no godly man muſt live amongſt us, or have any place of truſt in the Kingdome; being told there was no ſuch paſſage in the Remonſtrance, and that he being a Miniſter might be aſhamed to ſpeak that which was ſo falſe; a friend of his ſtanding by, ſaid, Maſter Peters meant, it was ſo in effect; and Maſter Peters ſaid, that we would let no Sectaries (as wee term'd …hem) live or have any place of truſt amongſt us, and for his part hee was an Independent, and one of thoſe we termed Sectaries, and in that no Independent nor Sectary might have any places of truſt, that implyed the godly; it being replyed the word Independent was not expreſſed in the Remonſtrance, he affirmed it was, but other diſcourſe put of the examination of it: Maſter Peters ſaid what would we have, and asked if we did not live well and quietly enough, and might not follow our Trades and buſineſſe in peace, and why ſhould we trouble our ſelves with theſe things; the Sects and Schiſmes did us no harme; we told him there was other danger beſides our Trades, they deſtroyed ſoules, and wee were bound by our Covenant to oppoſe Hereſies and Schiſmes, and asked him whether or no it waſ not lawfull and warrantable to Remonſtrate, or Petition againſt ſinne and …rour▪ and whether our late Petitions againſt Popery and Prelacy were not Juſtifiable, and whether or no he had not a hand in that againſt Biſhops? He anſwered he thought Errors did not ſo deſtroy ſoules, and that he could worke upon a Papiſt as ſoon as one of your Proteſtants: And for the Biſhops; had not they troubled him in his temporalls by taking from him his maintenance, and ſubſiſtence, he had never moleſted or troubled them; for he knew not but that the Papiſts, Prelats, and we might live quietly together, and p. 126ſerve God in love and peace. And being asked then, how the Parliament could juſtiful their quarrell, and Warre yet on foot, ſeeing they oppoſed both, by open Armes, terming it in all their Declarations the cauſe of God and Religion; He anſwered that the true cauſe was not for Religion, for he knew no word of God to warrant fighting, or taking up of Armes in the cauſe of Religion, but it was only to maintain our civill rights and liberties; and there being diſcourſe of the Magiſtrats power, he asked what the Magiſtrate had to do in Religion? anſwer was made, the Magiſtrate had power to put Blasphemers and Idolaters to death; Maſter Peters replyed, yes in the old law, but none in the Goſpel; He being asked by what power they in New-England did baniſh for opinions, he made a kind of a ſlight anſwer, ſaying they did but ſend them over a River out of the Patent; and would you would give us Cornwell, we would be content to live there. He being ſpoken to about what he ſaid of the King, was asked whether wee ought not to uſe all lawfull wayes for bringing the King unto his people, ſeeing he lately had made ſuch faire offers? Maſter Peters replyed, we might truſt him if we would, but if we knew what Letters of his they had lately intercepted in the Army, we would ſoon be of another mind. Maſter Peters asked us, whether as we came to him about what he preached, had we ever been with Maſter Edwards about what he had written againſt the Saints: we told him we conceived Maſter Edwards had written nothing againſt the Saints, neither was what he had written any offence to us, as what he had preached was, and that we had cauſe to beleeve what Mr Edwards had written was true, he being a godly Miniſter: Maſter Peters asked what had he to do with the particular infirmities of particular men; we told him as he was a Miniſter of the Goſpel, he had to do with them, as Paul had to do with H…meneus & Rhile…as; Maſter Peters ſaid that was in matter of Faith, but Maſter Edwards had medled with the Saints in matters of practiſe; to which wee replyed that Saint John wrote againſt Diotrophes in point of practiſe; and wherein men made their ſeeming holineſſe a meanes for the receiving of their Erroneous opinions, there was cauſe that their practiſes ſhould be ſpoken againſt to undeceive people; and ſo parting with him, one of us adviſed him to forbear his practiſes, for hee laboured to deceive the people. June the third, 1646. p. 127I walking in Weſtminiſter Hall, Maſter Peters meeting me, ſpake to me, that I had abuſed him in Print, and that I had broken a Goſpel rule, which was, If thy Brother offend thee, go and tell him his fault between him and thee alone; I anſwered him I had not tranſgreſſed the rule, for that was in caſe of private of…nding, but he had publikely preached and vented himſelf, and private telling would not have been a remedy ſufficient; he ſaid I had wronged him in thoſe things I had written of him, and that coming twice up from the Army, each time he found himſelf in a Book of mine: I told him I would prove them, and name time and place when and where delivered; and he was like to be in a third Book; whereupon hee call'd me Knave, and ſtincking …ellow; I anſwered him he had abuſed our Brethren of Scotland, and I told him what I had written I would make good; and ſo ſpake quick and freely to him; whereupon he ſaid ſpeak not ſo loud, and threatned to beate me or fall about my eares, ſaying I ſpake againſt the Saints; I replyed, Paul Beſt, Wrighter, &c. ſuch Saints, but he made nothing to ſpeak againſt the Reformed Churches and Presbyterians in his Sermons, and they were no Saints with him; ſome other diſcourſe there paſſed at the ſame time between us, but no more of it now: And laſtly that the Reader may judge of Maſter Peters by his diſcourſe, I was told it within theſe few weeks from good hands, upon occaſion of pigeons being on a table, that Maſter Peters at that table ſpake what a world of pigeo…s they had in New-England, how hee had ſeen ſuch a flight there, ſuch a …mber at once even covering the heavens, and being asked whence they ſhould come, he anſwered from an Iſland not far off, which was twenty miles long and ☜three miles broad; which was ſo full of pigeons, that the Iſland was all covered over with pigeons dun… two foot deep. Now as I have given the Reader ſome paſſages of his Sermons and diſcourſes, ſo I will give a taſte of the man, by e…tracting a few things out of ſome of his Pamphlets, and I will begin with his Book call'd Mr Peters laſt Report of the Engliſh Wars, which a great Commander of the Army commonly call's Peters Politicks, upon which I ſhall make ſome Obſervations and Anima…verſions, though breifly.

N…w in this Pamphlet entituled Maſter Peters last report of the Engliſh Wars (which I heartily wiſh may prove his laſt Report of the Engliſh Wars) I deſire the Reader to obſerve two things▪ p. 128Firſt, the maine deſigne and ſcope of theſe Anſwers and Reports: Secondly, the way and manner of managing i…, to make his deſigne take, not careing how falſly and partially he relates both of himſelf and others, things manifeſtly known to be untrue. For his deſigne and aime, it appeares to ſtand in theſe 11. particulars, as I ſhall point the Reader to the pages all along, where he may find them.

1. He is ſolicitous and induſtrious to excuſe, take off all blame and fault in every thing from the Sectaries, and from ſuch in the Army accounted of his Religion and way, as appears by theſe paſſages among others, page 8. I could adde that we take cauſam pro non cauſa, we put our troubles upon Schiſmaticks and Opinioniſts, and never attend the true cauſe. There may ſhortly be a great change in the Netherlands, but you ſhall find the cauſe not in the harmleſſe An…baptiſts, &c. page 2. Only let me be your true Informer, ☞ He ſpeaks of the ſurrender of Oxford.that you had nothing committed then by * ours that had not its riſe from integrity and faithfulneſſe to the State, accompanied with ſuch skill, as the Lord was pleaſed to diſpenſe; and let me tell you, men upon the place (in ſuch caſe) can better judge, then lookers on afa… off. I hope you wil not loſe by that bargain in the end, though … ſeem for preſent an ill peniworth.

2. He is carefull to plead for Liberty and a Toleration of Sectaries, being zealous to ſecure them from all harme and hurt, being ſuch a harmleſſe people both in word and deed, as is evident by theſe paſſages, page 7, 8. God uſeth his own …edi… o…dy, violence becommeth not Saints: In Popiſh times the Clergy had not the c…ve power, but ſubjected the civill Magiſtrate to do their work, I wiſh the State keep a good bol… upon that dore: I am confident the chief means to greate… an Error, will be by violence and oppoſition, when …ghted it dies, Coal… blown get heat & ſtrength, neglected grow cold. I wiſh every one …ight be ſeverely puniſhed that ſpoke againſt either Presbytery or Independency, till they could define that aright, and diſtinguiſh about them and their wayes; then I beleeve we ſhould have …um ſilenti…m, page … 1. Let it be our care that after ages may not ſay we conquered our ſelves into a new ſlavery.

3. His deſigne is in laying together Presbytery and Independency, to advance Independency, and ſet it on high, and depreſſe p. 129Presbytery in compariſon, as in Pag. 7. ſpeaking of Scotland hee ſaith, It will be their mercy to keep what they have, and ours to be growing up to what wee deſire; and again in the ſame page, Let the preſent Church-Government goe on, and walk …ly and tenderly, let thoſe that longed for it improve it, E…at quan…um valere poteſt; let others that are godly know, it may help, at leaſt to hew ſtone, and ſquare timber for a more glorious building, to bring from one extremity to another▪ Where by the way the Reader may obſerve, how he puts thoſe that are godly, by way of oppoſition, to thoſe who longed for the preſent Church-Government, Let others that are Godly know it may help, as if none that were godly longed for Presbyteriall Government; as alſo how contemptibly be ſpeaks of the Presbyteriall Government in compariſon of the Independent, in th…ſe words, It may help at leaſt to hew ſt…, and ſquare ſim… for a m…e glorious building, to bring from one extremity to another, that is, from Prelacy to Independency; but I can tell Maſter Peters, that he is deceived in Presbytery, for few that ever entertain that, and improve it, do fall to Independency; but Independency (all the world may ſee) and I have fully proved it in the Firſt part of …, the fourth Co… lary, that Independent Government is the mother and … of all Hereſies and Errours, and doth not onelyonly help at leaſt, but is the chiefe work man to hew ſtone, and ſquare timber, for the more glorious building of Anabapti…, Antino…niſme, Libertiniſme, yea Scep…ieiſme and Atheiſme; and before I conclude this, I deſire the Reader to obſerve, …ow God hath left this man to wound his own cauſe with his own pen, and againſt his will to ſpeak well of Presbyteriall Government, whilſt hee was advancing the one and depreſſing the other, viz. in thoſe words, to bring from one extremity to another, where …e makes Independency to be the other extreme to Prelacy, and Presbytery to be the medium between them: now all Schollars know, In medio, viz. of extremes, though not of degrees, co…it virtus; and if Independency be in extremity, it doth o… againſt the rule, as well as Epiſcopacy.

4. Maſter Peters in this his laſt …port is not only curefull to excuſe, protect, and highly dom…end the … and Opinions of die times, but he is ſtudying of new projects for the propagating and p. 130ſpreading of Sectariſme (as if it grew not faſt enough) both in this and other Kingdomes, as the Reader may eaſily obſerve in theſe paſſages: Pag 8. Your demand of my thoughts of England in order to foraign States, I anſwer with a wiſh, viz. That forthwith we might have ſome choice Agents ſent out, as two to Sweden, two to the Cantons our good friends, two to the Netherlands, and ſo to other Parts, as we ſee cauſe, and theſe accompanied with a Manifeſt of Gods gracious dealings with this State, &c. Now certainly Maſter Peters muſt be one, and ſome other honeſt godly men, (which the Presbyterians are not, as appears, by what a little above I obſerved from Maſter Peters words) active Independents of Maſter Peters acquaintance, as Maſter H. Maſter B. Maſter P. Maſter T. and others, who together with the Manifeſt of Gods gracious dealings with this State, may by way of comment and enlarging tell brave ſtories of the Victories and Conqueſts of the Independents in Nazeby Field, entring of Cornwall, at Torrington, of taking ſuch and ſuch Towns, Cities, by ſuch and ſuch Colonels and Commanders, when indeed they either never ſtruck a ſtroke at that time, or were many myles abſent, or the work was done to their hands by others, and they only ſent for to have the honour to be made Governours, to enjoy the fleſh, the skin, and the oyle of the Lion and the Leviathan, when they had their deaths wounds before; for the proofe of which ſeverall particulars, I could give notable inſtances moſt certainly true, confuting the weekly Pamphleters, crying up of ſome men, and ſaying nothing of others, and ask where ſuch a one was, and how many ſtrokes he ſtruck at Nazeby Field, and who routed Goring and his Horſe in the Weſt about Bridgewater, and drew the modell how to ſtorm Bridgewater, and who routed the Enemy at the entrance into Cornwall, and who reduced Exeter, and Worceſter to the laſt point of extremity, with many particulars about Briſtow, and at Oxford, but it ſhall not need, there are ſome men in the Army upon the places keep a true account of theſe things, and in a convenient time will ſpeak, and undeceive the world. And ſo Maſter Peters pag. 12. writes thus, How long therefore ſhall I intreat ſome three or foure I…inerury Miniſters in a County? Evangeliſts went out before Churches were ſetled; how eaſily might the Land be in ſome meaſure reduced to God, p. 131and their own civill Intereſts, if proviſion was laid in of this kind? But you will object, We have about nine thouſand Pariſhes, and not a thouſand able men. I anſwer, You ſee the need of Itinerants; and ſecondly, why may we not follow the practice of other Reformed Churches? and gather up godly youths our of ſhops, and ſend them for improvement ſomewhere, &c.

Maſter Peters is carefull to propagate his Church-way at home Animadverſ.as well as abroad, and that in all haſte, and at once to over-ſpread the Kingdome with it, by his importunity for three or foure Itinerary Miniſters in every County to goe over each County, and therefore asks how long he ſhall intreat, implying this was not the firſt time; and indeed the firſt fruits of theſe Itinerary Preachers that I can heare of clearly ſhewes the deſigne, there being three named who have paſſed the Houſe of Commons for ſome parts of Wales, Maſter Cradock, Maſter Symonds, Maſter Walter, or ſome ſuch name, who are ſaid to be Sectaries, and two of them I know to be ſuch, and decline coming to the Aſſembly, though appointed by the Houſe of Peers the Aſſembly ſhould give that Houſe an account of them; and leſt there ſhould not be Independent Preachers enough for this wor…, Maſter Peters is earneſt to have youths gathered out of ſhops, and ſent to Oxford for improvement, and though they fall ſhort in Arts and Tongues to be ſent abroad: But by the way let me ask Maſter Peters, why not ſome ſent to Cambridge, but all to Oxford▪ This clearly ſhewes the deſigne, becauſe Cambridge, all the Colledges in Cambridge are Preſbyterian, but at Oxford there being ſo many preaching Commanders and Officers, they may quickly learn the opinions of the Army, and their way of preaching, and be ſent forth with their deſperate Principles, deſtructive both to Church and State.

5. Maſter Peters cryes up, magnifies, and extolls to the heavens the Commanders in the Army of his Religion and mind, and takes occaſion to inſtance in particular men, as if there were none to be compared with them, as may be ſeen pag. 6. Fear not the Army whoſe Commanders (like Samuel) can ask any County or Town where they have been, Whoſe Oxe, or Aſſe have they taken? never fewer complaints, nor many men of ſuch quality, whoſe deſign is only to obey their Maſters, viz. the Parliament; the …lighting the Army is their money, triumphant chariors would have p. 132broke our necks. So pag. 4. For Worceſter, I am ſorry ſo little is ſpoken of it, where ſo much worth and gallantry appeared, and indeed I cannot remember where I have ſeen ſo much done in ſo ſhort a time; foure Regiments of Foot under the command of Colonell Rainborow came, and raiſed works within Piſtoll ſhot of their Royall Sconce, &c. wherein Lievtenant Colonell Pride, and Lievtenant Colonell Ewers had a chief ſhare, whereupon the Enemy accepts of thoſe Propoſitions you have ſeen: and truly I wiſh Colonell. Ra…nborow a ſutable imployment by ſea, or land, for both which God hath eſpecially fi…ted him, Foraign States would be proud of ſuch a ſervant.

6. Weakning and darkning the valour, faithfulneſſe and worth of other Commanders, not Independents (though of the ſame Army) and of the other Armies in compariſon, relating matters wrong and very partially, for the extolling his own party, as the Reader may obſerve in the Relation of Worceſter, giving to Colonell Whaley only a preparatory part, making a little way for the taking of Worceſter, but attributing the glory of the work to Colonel Rainborow now Governor of Worceſter, Colonel Pride, &c. ſpeaking thus, pag. 4. Where when that valiant Commander of Horſe Colonel Whaley had done his duty, and with the help of Countrey Forces had block up part of the Town, foure Regiments of Foot under the command of Colonell Rainborow came, and raiſed works, within Piſtoll ſhot, &c. whereas I have been told from good hands, and ſo I beleeve hath Maſter Peters before this, of the great wrong and injury he hath done Colonell Whaley in this Relation, Colonell Whaley before ever Colonell Rainborow was ſent, having reduced Worceſter to the laſt point, and Worceſter being in a ſuch condition then, that there wanted little elſe tantu… non, that it was not actually ſurrendred; but of this more afterwards. So pag. 6. Feare not that Army whoſe Commanders like Samuel, never fewer complaints, nor many men of ſuch quality, whoſe deſign is only to obey their Maſters, viz. the Parliament; as if no other Army or Commanders like them. And ſo pag. 10. By the ſame means the mercy is gained, it may be preſerved; if men, yea good men were inſtrumentall in the one, they muſt be in the other; conſide when you ſee cauſe to conſide, &c. as if no other Armies were means to gain Conqueſ, p. 133and Victories but this, nor none other to be truſted to conſerve what is won; and inſtances in men to be credited with Garriſons who are honeſt godly Engliſh-men, (he may know by other paſſages who are his honeſt godly Engliſh-men, viz. Sectaries, and ſuch as are oppoſite to the Scots) though differing in opinion, as all France being moſt Catholike truſts it ſelf to their Proteſtant Leaders: So would he have all places of ſtrength and command truſted with Independents, Anabaptiſts, though the Parliament be Presbyterian.

7. The ſeventh particular in this Pamphlet is, the exceſſive boaſting, truſting in, and omnifying this Army, as if it were omnipotent, able not only for all ends and purpoſes at home, but to conquer all Chriſtendome, yea the whole world, to goe to Bavaria, Lorain, the Palatinate, Ireland, France, to incounter forraign threatnings, and teach Peaſant… to underſtand Liberty, to ſecure us againſt Danes and Saxons, yea to cauſe the Weſt Indies and the Eaſt to offer themſelves to our devotion; the proofe of which the Reader may find pag. 6. Were I perſwaded that forraign threatnings were in earneſt, I wiſh this Army might be ſent to encounter them, and teach Peaſants to underſtand Liberty, and I would not doubt but to ſee good fruit of it ſoon, I would rather our men ſhould live upon their wine, then they upon our beer. So pag. 9, 10. What you hear of a conjunction between the Prince of Wales and his Lievtenant Generall the Duke of Lorain, with ſome promiſes from his Uncle Bavatia, need not trouble you; the Danes and Saxons never maſtered this …and by power, but by our home-bred diſtempers. To prevent thoſe fears, let Engliſh-men keep to their proper Intereſts, and Scots to theire, and I know not why we might not mar…ch into Bavaria and Lorain▪ before they come to us, and make them pay all old Arreares. I muſt confeſſe▪ I am divided between Ireland and the Palatinate, only I quiet my ſelf in this, that we may doe both▪ And againe, pag. 9. And if our back-doore were well ſhut at home, how might Euphrates be…yed up; I meane the Weſt Indies and the Eaſt too offer themſelves to our devotion. And not only Maſter Peters, but divers other Sectaries do in a ſort deifie this Army; I beleeve never was there an Army, or rather one ſort of men in the Army, viz. Independents and Sectaries, ſo p. 134cryed up in Pulpits, Pamphlets, Speeches, and that to their faces, as this is: I might relate paſſages out of Sermons, printed Pamphlets of the Saints in the Army, the Independents calling them the ſtrength, preſervers, deliverers of the Presbyterians, the inſtruments under God by which we enjoy all, &c. But I muſt abreviate and conclude this with a ſpeech lately related to me, of a great man of Maſter Peters his Religion, that a diſcourſe ariſing about the great Turk ſeaſing on ſome of our Merchants goods in Turkis, upon occaſion of the difference between King and Parliament (the Ambaſſador there being on the Kings ſide) and what courſe there might be to help it,; he anſwered to this effect, we had an Army that the terror of it was ſuch, that we needed not to feare the great Turke, but it might go to the gates of Conſtantinople and demaud right.

8. Maſter Peters deſigne is to plead for the keeping this Army on foot ſtill, and that in England for this Winter at leaſt, and to poſſeſſe men of the need of it, and to perſwade againſt the disbanding of it by any meanes; and to work this the more he runnes into praiſes of the Army and Commanders, of which the Reader may find ſuch paſſages as theſe page 6. Your demand about the diſpoſing the Army, is not ſo proper for a private pen to engage in; yet this I may ſay, that other Nations in our condition would think, if they look round about them, and within them, the disb…nding an Army (if truſty) ought not to be a work of haſte: When the ſeas are down in England, I think the paſſage into Ireland will be eaſier; and if we can maintain a defenſive Warre this Winter, I truſt the ſpring will invite many over thither; in the meane if theſe faithfull Commanders were in Garriſons (without any deſigne be it ſpoken) you have alwayes an Army ready, the private ſouldier will ſtill runne to his honeſt and well known Commander, &c. Briefly I ſay this to your queſtion, that this Army was hardly gotten, and I wiſh it may be as hardly disbanded; and ſo page 10. ſpeaking of preſerving the conqueſts, hee writes thus, By the ſame meanes the mercy is gained it may be preſerved; if men, yea good men were inſtrumentall in the one, they muſt be in the other: And of their praiſes, that they may not bee disbanded, ſee page. 5. I find our Souldiers generally in the old forme, rather wondering then boaſting, admired by the enemy for p. 135their gallantry and Conduct: And page 6. Feare not that Army, whoſe Commanders (like Samuel) can ask any County or Town where they have been, whoſe Oxe or Aſſe have they taken.

9. Maſter Peters cloſely, but ſhrewdly ſtrickes at that neer conjunction and union, joynt intereſt of both Nations as one by vertue of the Covenant in a uniformity of Religion, in Doctrine, Government and Diſcipline, and labours to divide between them, by hinting paſſages, to look upon them not as one, but as two Kingdomes, having different intereſts; for proof of which the Reader may take notice of theſe following paſſages, page 7. Let us remember England as it was never conquered but by faction, ſo it can never be ruled but by love; the ſame Laſt will not fit an Engliſh and a Scottiſh foot; they came not ſuddenly to what they enjoy, and therefore ſhould give England a little breathing over what is propounded; it will be their mercy to keep what they have, and ours to be growing up to what we deſire: So page 10. To prevent thoſe feares let Engliſh men keep to their proper intereſts, and Scots to their…. I would as ſoon credit a Garriſon to a known honeſt godly Engliſh man, differing from me in his opinion, &c. And pray Maſter Peters why not a known honeſt godly Scotch-man differing from you in his opinion; implying a Scotch-man, though a known honeſt godly man, differing in opinion, you would not truſt.

10. Maſter Peters ſtrickes at the City of London and their Remonſtrance page 11. in theſe paſſages, ſpeaking of our late enemies, ſaith, Their higheſt deſigne now is to make it Royall; you may remember how. willing I was once to have made a match, my weakneſſe was ſuch, that I did not ſtudy whether both parties were well agreed, and my ſimplicity kept me from thinking of a Corrivall; and let London know, that if they think a Parliament ſits the quieter by being ſo near them, ſo … think when the Parliament doores are ſhut up at Weſtminſter, their ſhops will hardly ſtand open at London. I… the claſhing of ſwords cannot be heard, yet death climbing up their windowes by the increaſe of the plague, calls for ſomething▪ And in the ſame page again, Had the Citizens Remonſtrated more about their debts due, and leſſe about▪ their wille, they might have had more thanks, and it may be by p. 136this time, ſome might have kept Orphanes from their doores, that …ry for the money lent to ſupply the States uſe.

11. Mr Peters deſigne in his Anſwer to ſeven Queres is to repreſent and render himſelf all along as ſome great Stateſman, and knowing man, a great Traveller, and of great experience, a man beloved of godly men, and reſpected at home and abroad, a man of great intereſt in the moſt Learned and godly men of other Nations, as Maſter Forbs the Scotchman, Doctor Ames, a man ſo active as if he did all, and ſo wiſe as to give Anſwer to Queres, and Counſell and Reſolution to Parliament men (as by ſome paſſages in theſe Anſwers, it ſhould ſeem this friend was) in the hardeſt matters, both of Church and S…ate, a man that could not be miſſed by the Parliment, or the Army, not ſpared out of England, and ſuch hints have b…n given out both in Sermons, and in Speeches. Now the whole frame of the Queres and Anſwers ſhewes this to be his …me, but more particularly theſe paſſages, page; 4. Maſter Richard S…w…y, a Member of the Houſe, who was of our Counſell in this work: I preached at Worceſter at our coming in, and did obſerve a doore open to the Goſpel. Maſter Peters was of the Counſell belike, for taking of Worceſter, and the man who preached upon the coming in of the Parliament forces to the Town: And I beleeve he, and others of his followes were of the Councell to get Colonell RSpan… to be ſent to take Worceſter, when that gallant Colonell Waley had done the deed, that ſo a Presbyterian might neither enjoy the honour, nor the fruit of his labours: And though I have never been at Worceſter, yet upon report of credible perſons, I can make another obſervation then Maſter Peters upon his preaching at Worceſter, and the …a…i…on and Government there, viz. inſtead of a door open to the Goſpel, a doore is opened at Worceſter to Independency, and to all kind of Sects; a doore opened for …lemen… Wrigh…e… that Antiſcrip…uriſt, Sceptick (ſpoken ſo much of in my firſt part of Gangraena) to be …here, and to …i… Hereſies and Blaſphemies, And I am certainly informed, … Sectaries are already publike Preachers in the City of Worceſter, o… Maſter …, who was before at Wa…wick, and …he Maſter M…. And ſo page 6. Maſter P…ters gives …ll, he …ſ…he Army may be as hardly di… as it was go…, …e …ates the diſeaſe of our pre… di…, and preſcribes the …u…e…; he… p. 137directions about ſending to forraigne States, page 8. 9. about the ordering of our Counſells, and affaires, page 10. 11. 12. and then in page 13. 14. he comes to a formall diſcourſe concerning himſelf, where he tells the Reader fine ſtories of himſelf; And if my different judgement offend any, my Anſwer is, that with much expence of money and time, with diligent inquiry into Reformed Churches, I have taken paines to ſatisfie my ſelf, and remaine now where I was for ſubſtance …ifte… years ſince, reſolving by that experience to keep a window open to more light and truth, though ſcoffed and ſlighted; my care hath been to acquaint my ſelf with the moſt learned and godly in the Country where I travell; Firſt I lived about ſix years neer that famous Scotchman, Maſter John Forbs, with whom I travelled into Germany, and enjoyed him in much love and ſweetneſſe conſtantly▪ from whom I never had but incouragement, though we differed in the way of our Churches. Learned Ameſius …reathed his laſt breath into my boſome, who left his Profeſſorſhip in Freiſland, to live with me becauſe of my Churches Independency at Roterdam, and charged me often, even to his death, ſo to look to it, and if there were a way of publike worſhip in the world that God would own, it was that: He was my Collegue and choſen Brother to the Church where I was an unworthy Paſtor; and I thank the Lord ſuch a Church it continues to this day; that truly I ſlightly took up nothing in that kind, nor did I looſe all my ſeven years being in New-England, amongſt thoſe faithfull, learned, godly Brethren, whoſe way of worſhip if we profeſſe, it will not be groundleſſe, when their wri…ings are examined. And ſo much for Maſter Peters deſigne in his laſt Report of the Engliſh Wars.

The ſecond maine thing in his Pamphlet, is, the manner and way he takes to effect his deſigne and aime the better, which though at firſt view it be ſeemingly carried in ſeverall phraſes, with a great deale of moderation to the Presbyterians, and a deſire of propagating the Goſpel, Religion, Piety, (the name of God, Religion, and preaching being often ſpoken of) and of maintaining, yea inlarging the glory of the Engliſh Nation, and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject: Yet indeed 'tis written and calculated for the Meridian of Independency and Secta…iſme, in every particular of it, ſo as there is not one paſſage in it but I could eaſily p. 138reduce to that Praedicament, and draw all the lines to that center, clearly ſhewing 'tis for the advancing of that party; which that he may do the man cares not what hee writes; but inſtead of a faire, full, open, true Relation of things, he writes very partially in ſome things, falſly in other things, hypocritically and doubly in moſt; and were I at leaſure to write Animadverſions on every line of this Pamphlet, and give a full Anſwer to it, laying one thing to another, I could diſcover many myſteries of iniquity in it, and ſhew it to be exceeding pernicious both to Church and State, and very prejudiciall to the League and Union between the Kingdomes, and ſuch a peece of Politicks, that in this juncture of things, an Arch-Jeſuite if he were imployed to write, would make much ſuch another. I ſhall give ſome inſtances.

Firſt, his Relation of Worceſter buſineſſe is very partiall, much wronging that gallant Gentleman, Col. Whaley, giving the honour of reducing Worceſter to others, who hath deſerved better at the hand▪ of Maſter Peters and ſome others, then to be ſo ſerved. This Gentleman did very great ſervice at Naſeby Field; this Gentleman reduced that ſtrong Caſtle of Banbury, beſides many other gallant ſervices that he hath done; but becauſe he is a Preſbyterian, and an Antilibertine; therefore others who never did that worke at Worceſter, nor in Naſeby Field, &c. muſt have the honour of his labours, and muſt enter upon them, reaping that which hee hath ſowed with much faithfulneſſe, valour, hazards. The relation of this buſineſſe of Worceſter is ſo partiall (thats the beſt can be ſaid of it) that I have been informed from perſons of much worth and truſt, that when Col. Whaley read it, he went to a great Commander of the Army, ſpeaking to this purpoſe, do you not ſee how Peters hath abuſed and wronged me, and ſhall he be ſuffer'd? well, if I meet him, I will cane him ſoundly; and a Commander of the Army told in ſome company to a Lieutenant Colonell, a great Sectary, that he had heard, Colonell Whaley wherever he met Maſter Peters, would cane him, if not cut him, for his relation of Worceſter buſineſſe.

Secondly, ſpeaking of Schiſmaticks and Opinioniſts, he inſtances in Anabaptiſts, and calls them the harmeleſſe Anabaptiſts, which is a falſe Epithite given to them; for what Sect or fort of men ſince the Reformation this hundred years have been more harmfull; p. 139ſurely Maſter Peters cannot but have read or at leſt heard of the Tumults, Wars, Tragedies, Out-rages, Rapes, raiſed and committed by the Anabaptiſts in ſeverall parts of Chriſtendome, eſpecially in Germany and M…ſter. Sl…idan, Bullinger, Schluſelburgius, Horlenſius, Guido de Bres, with many others, have laid theſe open to the world: And if we look upon our Anabaptiſts at home, and conſider what many of them have done and do dayly; how can we call them harmleſſe? Are they harmleſſe who in contempt of Baptiſme have piſſed in the Font, have fecht a horſe into the Church and baptiz'd it? Who aſſault with violence godly Miniſters, put them out of their Pulpits by force, openly affront them, and invade their Pulpits whether they will or no: Who make tumults and riots in Countries▪ Who kill tender young perſons and ancient with dipping them all over in Rivers, in the depth of Winter: Who give out that they will never lay down their ſwords whilſt ther's a Prieſt in England: Who write and print libells, full ſtuffed with invectives and ſeditious ſpeeches againſt the Right Honourable Houſe of Peers, undoubtedly a Court of Record, the higheſt Court of Iudicature in this Kingdome: Who make wicked libells and ſpread them abroad of Noble men, and perſons of great place by name, as that religious and Noble Earle of Mancheſtor, the Lord Major of London, a whole Kingdome, as Scotland, and a whole City, as London: Who have endeavored and do by all wayes to involve theſe Kingdomes into a new War, more deadly and deſtructive then the former. And yet Anabaptiſts of our times are guilty of all theſe and many more, as the Reader may ſind proved in this Book, and divers others written in theſe times.

Thirdly, ſpeaking of himſelf he ſaith, He remaines now where he was for ſubſtance fifteen years ſince, which I cannot judge to bee true, no nor that he is the ſame for ſubſtance which he was ſeven years agoe; and becauſe I will be brief I will put but one queſtion to Maſter Peters, and that is, whether fifteen years or but ſeven years agoe …e was for a Toleration of …ll ſorts of Sects, Anabaptiſts, Antinomians, Seekers, Papiſts, &c. and thought ſo lightly of Errors and Hereſies as now he does; or whether he ever did, or durſt in New-England in the time of Anabaptiſts and Antinomians growing there, preach ſuch Sermons for a Toleration of p. 140them, and ſpeake ſo favourably of them, as he hath done, and doth here? I am of the mind if any man ſhould have told him fifteen, or ſeven years agoe, Maſter Peters, the time ſhall come, that you ſhall live in a Kingdome where all damnable Hereſies and wicked doctrines ſhall be vented, by printing, preaching, and you ſhall be ſo farre from ſeeking to ſuppreſſe and hinder them, as that you ſhall make nothing of them, preach for a Toleration of them, cry them up for Saints who hold them, plot, act, ride, work night and day for the upholding of them; he would have been very angry, boiſterous, and have ſaid, as Hazael to the Prophet, Am I a dog that I ſhould do theſe things? nay, I am ſo well perſwaded of Mr Peters, that he was ſo farre fifteen years agoe from being of theſe opinions and running theſe wayes, that I am confident 'tis but a few years agoe ſince he is fallen thus; and that the two things that have poyſoned him, are his being in the Army, and his converſe with ſome wicked Politicians of theſe times, who upon matter of worldly intereſt, being men of ſmall and broken eſtates, that they may be great and the Heads of a great party, countenance and patronize all kind of abominable Sectaries; not caring what becomes of Religion, and who propheſies falſly, ſo they may beare rule by that meanes.

Fourthly, Speaking of turning his cheek to the ſmiter, hee ſaith with Jeremy, though he neither borrowes nor lends, &c. yet this may be his portion: Now I wonder he can ſay ſo, when a… his hand hath been againſt every man, medling with all ſorts of men, a Polupragmaticall, medling in the Armies with many, abuſing the Common Councell and the City of London, the Aſſembly, the Reformed Churches, our Brethren of Scotland, Committees, the King and his children, and indeed who not: I could name particular perſons of both Houſes of whom he hath ſpoken his pleaſure, who have deſerved a great deale better of him.

Fifthly, There is an unjuſt and ſcandalous paſſage, pag. 11. reflecting upon the City and their Remonſtrance, as if they remonſtrated about their wills, and not about things needfull, and juſt grievances; and as if the increaſe of the plague upon the City, were for any neglect towards the Parliament; whereas I would have Maſter Peters know and all his party, the City of London could not do leſſe, and have but done their duty; the p. 141Reformed Churches, Scotland, the body of this Kingdome, and all who are not Independents and Independentiſh, doe bear witneſſe of the faithfulneſſe of this City to the cauſe of God and the Parliament; and this Remonſtrance was ſo farre from being a matter of meer will (as Maſter Peters words import) that I am of the mind, and I beleeve not alone in it, that it will never be well with England, till the City of London, the Miniſtry of the Kingdome, and all the Counties as one man make a plainer Remonſtrance, in a more particular way and manner, of all the growing miſchiefs and abominations in Church and Common-wealth, deſiring a ſpeedy and effectuall redreſſe of them. And as for his hinting the cauſe of the increaſe of the plague to come from the City Remonſtrance, or want of the Cities full conſent to a match with the Parliament, I dare boldly ſay of him, in …o ſaying, He is a falſe Prophet, a dreamer of dreams, ſpeaking the viſions of his own heart, and declaring falſe burdens; and do offer from the word of God to make it good againſt Maſter Peters, that if the City of London would oftner Remonſtrate and Petition in this kind, and uſe the power they have by their Charter and the Lawes in force, to puniſh Hereticks and Sectaries, and diſturb their meetings, the plague would ſooner be removed from them.

Sixthly, That alſo is a falſe and untrue Aſſertion, That the deſign of the Army is onelyonly to obey their Maſters the Parliament; the ſlighting the Army is their money, triumphant chariots would have broke our necks, underſtood in Maſter Peters ſenſe, viz. of that part of the Army the Sectaries; for if it were ſo as he ſpeak…; what means the bleating of the ſheep, and the lowing of the oxen that I and many others hear? If their only deſign be to obey their Maſters the Parliament, whats the reaſon they break, conte… their Ordinances, viz. that againſt m…ns preaching not ordained Miniſters, that for the better obſerving of the Monethly Faſt, thoſe for the ſetling of Presbyteriall Government? &c. What means thoſe ſpeeches of ſome of them, If they knew the Countries mind, as well as the Countries might know theirs, they would have another kind of Reformation then the Parliament is about; that they have not ſo long fought for liberty and now to be enſlaved; with many ſuch like. And if the ſlighting of the Army is their p. 142money, and triumphant chariots would have broke their necks, certainly they have then had little pay, and their necks would have been broken long before now; for never was Army better provided for, ſince theſe warres, with moneys, recruits, all kind of things; and many particular men, ſpeciall perſons of that party, which Maſter Peters counts the Army, have been well rewarded over and above pay, &c. And for triumphant chariots, there have been men on purpoſe employed to provide them triumphant chariots weekly, to carry them throughout the Kingdom, and forraign parts, in the weekly newes books, wherein they have been lifted up to heaven in praiſes, reports of victories, other mens valiant acts attributed to them, and they upon all occaſions pleaded for, excuſed, and fair gloſſes put upon the …ouleſt actions of any Commanders and Souldiers of that party; ſo that a man would wonder Maſter Peters ſhould write thus, but that he will ſay any thing, if it be for the Sectaries; and they who know the man and his manner, what ſtories he hath told in Pulpits of ba… …ells that he hath been in, and how many victories have been atchieved, will never marvell at what he writes here.

Seventhly, For that Maſter Peters ſpeaks of Maſter Forbes and Am…s, of that conſtant ſweetneſſe and incouragement in the one towards him, and of the ſpeeches of the other to him even to his death, I much doubt of the truth of them, and that upon theſe grounds: However Maſter Forbes might be great with him before …e declared himſelf for Independency and the Church-way, yet I have been told from a godly underſtanding Miniſter who lived many years in Holland, and that in the time of Maſter Peters being there, both before he was looked upon as an Independent, and …wards, viz. all the time till he went to New England, that when Maſter Forbes by the power of the Biſhops faction was put by his place of Miniſter to the Merchant Adventures at Roterdam, he would have received the Lords Supper at Maſter Peters Church (Maſter Peters Independency or Church-way not being viſible then) but Maſter Peters offering to put upon him or requiring ſome of his Church-way devices, ſpake ſomething to Maſter Forbes of things in that kind, which Maſter Forbes nece… ted with ſo much indignation and ſcorn, (knowing what love and …eſpect he had ſhown to Maſter Peters, and what experience p. 143Maſter Peters had had of him, and that now beſides all his ſufferings in Scotland, he was put by all in Holland, for refuſing the Ceremonies and the Biſhops wayes) that now being deprived both of Miniſtry and Sacraments, and coming to Maſter Peters as his great friend, he ſhould offer to queſtion him of his ſtate of grace, or propound his Independent …icks to him before he could be admitted, that he ſpake very ſharply to him, telling him in theſe words, or to this effect, He would not come to the Lords Supper with him if he would have …im, nor have communion with a man in ſuch a way: And I beleeve there was little love or ſweetneſſe paſſed between them afterwards, or little incouragement that Maſter Peters ever after had from that learned and godly Scotch-man.

And as for the ſtory he tells of learned Ameſius, (for no other end as I know but to gain credit to himſelf and the Church-way) I much queſtion that he ſhould ſpeak ſo of the Independent way, and give ſuch a charge about it (as Maſter Peters relates) as alſo that he left his Profeſſorſhip in Frizland to live with Maſter Peters mee…ly upon that reaſon, becauſe of his Churches Independency, and my grounds of doubt are theſe: Firſt, Becauſe in Doctor Ameſius his Works I find Principles againſt the Independency of Churches, as in his Book of Caſes of Conſcience, **Quaeſt non… ▪ Quinam habent p…teſtatem excommunica…di? Reſp. Claſſium & Synodum eſt, quando di…icul…as aliquae ſubeſt, commu… conſi…io declarare, & decernere, quinam debean… excommunicari.the fourth Book, cap. 29. in anſwer to that queſtion, Who have the power of Excommunicating? Among others who have power, he ſaith, Synods and Claſſes when any difficulty ariſeth, have a power to declare and decree, who they be that ought to be excommunicated. … in his Medull… Theologie…, the firſt Book, Chap. 39. having ſpoken of a particular Church, he comes in with this Cantion or Proviſo, Notwithſtanding particular Churches, as their communion requires, the light of nature, the equity of rules and examples of Scripture teach, may, and alſo often ought to enter into a mutuall confederation and aſſociation among themſelves in Claſſes and Synods, that they may uſe the common conſent and help, as much as conveniently can be, eſpecially in all thoſe things which are of greater moment. I … alſo in Ameſius his Works many paſſages againſt other Principles of the Independent way, at the uſe of **Eccleſiae ta…en particulares, …t car…m communio poſtulat, natur… lumen, & aequitas regularum, & exemplorum Scripturae docent, poſſunt… ac ſaepiſſime etiam debent confoederationem a…t conſoci… tio…em mutuam inter ſe ini…e in Claſſibus & Synodis ut communi conſenſu & ſubſid…o mutuo utantur quantum commode …ieri poteſt, in iis praeſertim, quae ſunt major is momenti… Ameſ. lib. 4… de Conſcient. cap. 29. quaeſh oct….Suſpenſion from the Lords Supper to goe before Excommunication, which is denyed by the Independents; with p. 144many others. Now the writings of men are more to be regarded and beleeved, then the words of ſuch a man as Maſter Peters, eſpecially in favour of his own cauſe. Secondly, For Doctor Ames leaving his Profeſſorſhip in Frizland to live with Maſter Peters at Roterdam, I will not deny that, but I doe deny that it was becauſe of his Churches Independency; it was upon other reaſons, and of this I can give the Reader ſome good account: (and I muſt acknowledge it as a providence of God, that I many years agoe by reaſon of my intimate acquaintance with the eminenteſt and godlieſt men of thoſe times, and with the prime of thoſe who are now turned Independents, did hear and know many things of all ſorts of godly men, both at home and abroad, in Holland, England, New-England, which I then little thought I ſhould ever have had any uſe of, but ſince have been, and are of great uſe in anſwering Independents, when they come and tell the world ſtories of themſelves, which men know not how to diſprove them:) Doctor Ames (as I have been told from grave godly Miniſters) for many years before he died was weary of his place in Frizland, and would fain have had ſome place in England; he moved and propounded it to ſome, that if he could but have any living or place to preach in (though in a remote Village) without uſing the Ceremonies and being put upon ſubſcription, he would take it, for he had a mind to give himſelf to preaching, and to enjoy the ſociety of Engliſh Chriſtians and Miniſters, and was weary becauſe of that dulneſſe and different way, in regard of the practicall power of godlineſſe he found among thoſe he lived with there, and the godly Engliſh, whom he in the former part of his life had been acquainted with; and therefore divers years before there was any thought or ſpeech of Independent Churches or this way, he moved for a place in England, and would faine have left his Profeſſorſhip in Frizeland: And I am ready to depoſe I have been told this by one or more godly Miniſters of great note. 'Tis ſufficiently known I was well acquainted with Doctor Preſton, Doctor Sibs, Maſter Bouls Doctor Preſtons Tutor, Doctor Taylor, Doctor Staughton, &c. and from ſome of theſe I had it; and I remember I have been in company with Doctor Ames, at Doctor Preſtons lodging, who after the death of King James, coming to England, and to Cambridge, I heard him preach there, p. 145and well remember the Sermon and Text, Jude, verſ. 20, 21. but times in England growing worſe and worſe, there being no hope for ſuch a man as he here, being weary of his Profeſſorſhip in Frizland, was willing to be Miniſter of an Engliſh Church in Holland ſince he could not obtain it in England; and I make no queſtion, if Doctor Ames could have been aſſured of a comfortable place for people and maintenance in England, without Ceremonies and Subſcription, he would have taken a Pariſh Church in England, before he would have gone to Maſter Peters at Roterdam; but if upon his coming to Roterdam there was any ſuch change (as Maſter Peters ſpeaks of) that he was really turned to be an Independent, and of the Church-way, and would have carried on that way with Maſter Peters, it was the mercy of God to him to take him away juſt upon his removing, and new coming to Roterdam, before he had appeared actually engaged in that way, or written for it; becauſe his name and authority, being a learned man, might have ſwayed the more with many; and we ſee Maſter Peters makes uſe of his name to credit that cauſe thirteen years after, notwithſtanding that he died upon the borders and entrance into it, before any notice was ever taken by the Reformed Churches of any ſuch thing; though I much queſtion whether or no in his latter time there was any ſuch change as Maſter Peters ſpeaks of.

Eighthly, Maſter Peters writes many things hypocritically, which he and his party neither practices, nor intends; but a ſnake lies under the green graſſe, as that of a door open for the Goſpel, and of Itinerary Miniſters in a County three or foure, which is for no other end but to leaven the whole Kingdome with Independency, and to fore-ſtall Presbytery from being ſetled; as that of almoſt loſt liberty, the Engliſh being ruled by love, as cautions about a new ſlavery, and wiſhes of all marks of ſlavery to be taken off, when as 'tis evident he and his party mean by liberty, a freedome to hold what they will, and to be under no Church-Government; and that he and his party are the greateſt means in all places for keeping up all thoſe things, which the people have uſed to account marks of ſlavery, and againſt Engliſh liberty; as that of walking plainly in your Councells; God preſerveth the ſimple, as ſpeaking againſt Arcana Imperii, deep-ſet counſells of men, &c. whereas he and his party have and doe practiſe quite p. 146contrary, having deep-ſet counſells, uſing all Machivillian tricks to undermine men, looking one way and rowing another; which is ſo evident that all men ſpeak of it, and whereof I have given in my former Books many inſtances, under that head of the practices of the Sectaries. Epiphanius reſembles Hereticks to Moul…, who doe all their miſchief by working under ground; but if once they be above ground they are weak and contemptible creatures; juſt ſuch are our Independents and Sectaries, they have done all, and ſtill doe by their under-hand working, but if they would play above board, ſpeak plainly what they would have, and not hide themſelves, we ſhould quickly take them all. Many other particulars I might obſerve in the manner and way of carrying on his deſigns, ſecretly laid down in theſe Anſwers, as alſo I had thought to have made ſome Animadverſions and Obſervations upon his Sermon preached at Chriſt-Church, and another **Mr. Peters meſſage from Sir Thomas Fair…ax.printed pamphlet of his, but becauſe I have enlarged already, and perceive I ſhall exceed the number of ſheets I at firſt intended when I fell upon writing this Third Part of Gangraen…, therefore I ſhall forbeare any more of this kind for preſent. I have given the Reader ſome account of Maſter Peters in his Writing, Preaching, and Diſcourſes; it remains I ſhould ſpeak of him in his Actings, what hand he hath had in promoting ſeverall Petitions in City and Country, in favour of the Sectaries; as that Anti-Petition (commonly ſo called) framed preſently after the City Remonſtrance, which was carried up and down the City by his man, to get hands to it; what meetings he hath been at ſeverall times, at ſeverall places, as at the Nags-head, as in Coleman-ſtreet, &c. what Countries and places he hath ridden to, to get Burgeſſes for Parliament; what perſons of worth hee hath complained of to ſome in Authority, whereby they have been ſent for, and taken off their imployment in ſuch places (the thing aimed at in it) and yet the things never proved, but the quite contrary proved; what great ſummes of money, with other gifts, beſides two hundred pounds per annum for him and his heires, lawfully begotten, which hee by his ſtirring and acting hath obtained; but I ſhall ſpeake no more of him now, but reſerve what I have further to ſay, unto a Fourth Part of Gangr…na.

p. 147There is one Maſter Feake an Independent named in page 81. of this Book, of whom becauſe when I writ that ſheet I had not my full profe of particulars as I deſired, I paſſed him over lightly till another time, but having ſince received full and particular information of him, I think at good to pay my debt of promiſe ſooner then I made account of: This Maſter Feake within this twelve months was Preacher in London, and hath preached many ſtrange and odd things at Peters in Cornhill, beſides Wool-Church, and other places, as for ſeparation from our Aſſemblies, expreſſing many heterodox things about mixed Communion at the Lords Supper, againſt maintenance of Miniſters by Tythes; and in Sermons and Prayers hath had many ſ…ings at the Aſſembly; but now is Preacher in the Town of Hartford (the ſhire Town) and in the greateſt Pariſh and Church of that Town, viz. All-Saints; being put into a Sequeſtrated Living, by the power of ſome of the Independent partie in that Town, without the approbation of the Aſſembly, having never been with the Aſſembly; according to the Order of the Honour. Houſe of Commons, nor with the Committee of Plundred Miniſters neither, (as I beleeve) who uſe to ſend thoſe that come to them for Sequeſtrated Livings to the Aſſembly, before they grant them power and intereſt in ſuch places. As for his carriage at Hartford, where he hath preached ſince laſt January, it hath been as followes. His preaching and praying ſhewes him no friend to the Aſſembly nor to the Directory: he hath never uſed the Lords Prayer ſince he came thither, but hath preached againſt the uſe of it as a prayer. 'Tis obſerved of him by underſtanding men his Auditors, that they never heard him appoint or ſing a Pſalme, he reades but one Chapter or a peece of a Chapter; he hath not baptized any ſince his coming. One of the Committee, a Juſtice of Peace, put up ſome Articles againſt him at the Aſſizes at Hartford, to both Judges then on the Bench; The firſt was this That Chriſt would deſtroy not only unlawfull Government, but lawfull Government, not only the abuſe, but the ☜uſe of it; and as he had begun to deſtroy it in England, ſo would he by raiſing combuſtions in the bowells of France and Spaine; and that he would deſtroy Ariſtocracy in Holland, for Tolerating Arminianiſme: When he denyed the words, one being preſent, and asked, affirmed him to have preached thus; and there are p. 148foure others, underſtanding men and of good worth will teſtifie the ſame. Then Maſter Feake explained himſelf before the Judges, that there was in Monarchie and Ariſtocracy an enmity againſt Chriſt, which he would deſtroy; and as he was ſpeaking ſome turbulent fellowes and Sectaries, clambred up by the Bench, and cryed out my Lord, my Lord, Mr Pr. doth it in malice, we will maintaine our Miniſter with our bloud; whereupon the Judge threw away the paper, and ſaid he would heare no more of it, though he had before commanded Maſter Eldred, to read openly all thoſe Heterodoxies. The Lords day following, Maſter Feake in the Pulpit endeavored to anſwer all the Articles put up againſt him to the Judges, in a great Auditory. Many other things I have heard of him ſince his coming to Hartford; but what I here ſet down of him, beſides the relation I have had by word of mouth of perſons of worth, 'tis given me under hand in writing, and that with this ſeale ſet to it, what I have here written I will juſtifie, and much more when I am called to it.

There is one Richard Overton a deſperate Sectary, one of Lilburnes Breed and followers, who hath printed many ſcandalous things againſt the Houſe of Peers, and notice being given of him, there was an Order granted for the taking of him, and ſeaſing of his Preſſe (a Preſſe that had printed many wicked Pamphlets, that have come out of late, againſt the King, the Lords, the Presbyteriall Government, the City, and for a Toleration, and Liberty, deſtructive to all Religion▪ Lawes and Government, yea overthrowing by the principles laid down in them, the **This is fully proved in the firſt ſheet of this Gangraena, and in ſome ſheets following this.power of the Houſe of Commons, whilſt they ſeeme to cry up and inveſt that Houſe with the Monopoly of all the power of the Kingdome) who being apprehended by the Meſſengers ſent out for him, was brought before a Committee of the Houſe of Lords, where he refuſed to anſwer any queſtions, and carried himſelf with a great deale of contempt and ſcorne, both in words and geſture; and after this being brought before the Houſe of Lords, he refuſed to anſwer any queſtions propounded by the Speaker as in the name of the Houſe, and to that queſtion, whether he were a Printer or no, hee would not anſwer, but told them he was reſolved not to make anſwer to any interrogatories that ſhould infringe his propertie, right or freedome in particular, or the rights, freedomes, and properties p. 149of the Nation in generall: Beſides he gave ſaucie and peremtory words to the Houſe of Lords; and appealed from the Houſe of Lords to the Houſe of Commons; whereupon the Lords committed him to Newgate, as he moſt juſtly deſerved: Now ſince his commitment to Newgate, there are ſome wicked railing Pamphlets come out in his name, and ſold openly; Pamphlets venting a company of curſed principles, both againſt Religion and civill Government, tending to nothing elſe but the overthrow of the fundamentall conſtitution of this Kingdome, in King, Lords, and Commons, and ſetting up the body of the common people, as the Soveraigne Lord and King; denying King and Lords any power, and the Houſe of Commons any further then the peoples Deputies, and at the pleaſure of and will of the people, and to the ruine of Religion, by pleading againſt the Ordinance for puniſhing Blaſphemies and Hereſies. The firſt Book of this Overtons, is call'd A defence againſt all Arbitrary Ʋſurpations of the Houſe of Lords, and a Relation of their unjuſt and barbarous proceedings againſt that worthy Commoner (ſtiling himſelf ſo.) The ſecond is, An Arrow againſt all Tyrants and Tyranny, ſhot from the priſon of Newgate, into the Prerogative Bowe…s of the Arbytrary Houſe of Lords, by Richard Overton Prerogative Archer to the Arbitrary Houſe of Lords. The third is, A Petition and Appeale to the Houſe of Commons, calling them the High and mighty States, the moſt Soveraigne Houſe, and himſelf their leigo Petitioner: In all which he moſt audaciouſly and unſu…erably abuſes the Houſe of Lords, charging them with Tyranny, …ſurpation, invading the Liberties of the people, denying them all legiſlative power, deſiring due reparations againſt them, ſcoffing and ſcorning them and their power, deſcanting upon by way of con…utation the Order of the Houſe of Lords for his commitment; and ſtirring up the Houſe of Commons, and all the people, againſt the Houſe of Lords, to free the people from their oppreſſions, tyrannies, &c. I will give the Reader a taſte of this Anabaptiſticall ſpirit, by tranſcribing a few paſſages out o… theſe wicked and curſed Pamphlets. In page 5. of his de…iance againſt the Lords, he ſpeaks to Engliſh-men thus. Ye in ſpeciall be encouraged againſt all oppoſition and incroachment of Kings, Lords, or others, upon the Houſe of Commons, their rights and properties derived from the people. p. 150And acknowledg none other to be the ſupreame Court of Judicature of this Land, but the Houſe of Commons; and in this gall…t reſolution live and dye, and acquit your ſelves like men: For my part I'le trea… upon the hotteſt coales of fire and veng…ance that, that parcell of men, intituled the Houſe of Lords, can blow upon me for it. Page 15. 17. He makes the Lords to be ſ…bordinate and ſubject to the Commons, the great Repreſentors of the Land; and calls the Knights and Burgeſſes Aſſembled the upper Houſe, and the Judges of the Houſe of Peers as well as his. Page 19. 20. ſpeaking of the power of the Commons, hath theſe words; Therefore theſe Lords being none of the peoples Vicegerents, Deputies or Repreſentors, cannot legally paſſe upon any of the Repreſented, to …y, ſentence, fine, or impriſon; but ſuch their actions (exceeding the ſoveraigne compaſſe) muſt needs be illegall, and Antimagiſtraticall; and therefore as by that ſoveraigne power confer'd from the people upon the Houſe of Commons, I made my appeales to the ſaid Houſe, refuſing altogether to ſubmit unto that uſurpation of the Lords over the peoples properties, &c. In the ſame page ſpeaking of the Houſe of Lords, in a ſcoffing manner, faith, Their Lordſhips might do well to ſend me to Doctor Baſtwicks School of complements, that I might have a little more venerable Courtſhip againſt the next time I appeale in their preſence. In page 17. 18. relating how the whole Houſe of Lords derided him, upon his refuſing to anſwer the queſtions of the ſpeaker of the Right Honourable Houſe of Pee…s, he ſets down that he replyed to them; Gentlemen it doth not become you thus to deride me that am a priſoner at you… Barre; And thereupon ſpeakes of the Houſe of Lords, ſuch ca…riage, ſuch Court; for indeed Comedies, Tragedies, Masks and Playes, are farre more fit, for ſuch idle kind of men. In page 6. Overton ſpeaking of the Houſe of Lords, writes thus; And theſe are further to let them know, that I bid defiance to their injuſtice, uſurpation and tyranny, and ſ…rne even the leſt connivance, glimpſe, jot, or tittle of their favour. Let them do as much againſt …e by the rule of Equity, Reaſon and Juſtice, for my teſtimony and proteſtation againſt them in this thing, as poſſibly they can, and I ſhall be content and reſt. In this Arrow againſt all Tyrants, written (as it ſeems) to ſome Member of the p. 151Houſe of Commons; page 6. he writes thus, Sir, We deſire your help for your own ſakes, as well as ours, cheifly for the removall of two moſt inſufferable evills daily encroaching and increaſing upon us, portending and threatning inevitable deſtruction, and confuſion of your ſelves, of us, and of all our poſterity, namely, the encroachments and uſurp…tions of the Houſe of Lords, over the Commons liberties and freedomes, together with the barbarous, inhumane, blood-thirſtie deſires and endeavours of the Presbyterian Clergy. O the deſperate wickedneſſe of this man, and ſome other Sectaries! who have writ ſuch like paſſages againſt the Lords, and the Miniſters▪ and that for no other cauſe, as appeares by this Pamphlet and divers others (themſelves being witneſſes) but becauſe the Lords queſtioning ſome men for printing the moſt abominable, ſedicious, curſed libells, againſt all Royall Authority, and the fundamentall …awes and Government of this Kingdome, that ever in any age were publiſhed, and they in the moſt unparralleld manner, (of which I beleeve no preſidents can bee ſhewn in any Chronicles or hiſtories of this Kingdome) carrying themſelves contempruouſly and ſcornfully, they committed them to priſon; and becauſe an Ordinance to puniſh damnable Blaſphemies and Hereſies hath been brought into the Houſe of Commons, by two worthy Members, and that by the pr…curement of the Clergie (as the Pamphlet ſaith.) Now for what the Lords have done againſt Lilburne, O…erton, Larner, and ſuch f…llowes, in labouring to ſuppreſſe …uch …editious Preſſes, in puniſhing them; as alſo in their ſpeedy admitting into their Houſe, and thankfull acceptance of the Remonſtrances and Petitions of the City of London, County of Lancaſhi…, &c. And for what Maſter T…t, and Maſter Bacon have done in preſenting ſuch an Ordinance againſt Blaſphemies and Hereſies, they are highly accou…ed of by all the godly and Orthodox Miniſters and people in City and Country, and their names will be famous in all generations; when the names of Lilburne, Overton, &c. yea and of all their great Patrons, whether in the Army, or out of the Army, will be a by-word and a curſe, and canonized in the Kalen…r of ſuch Saints, as John of Leyden, Thomas Muncer, K…ipperdoll…g, &c. In page 10. of this poyſoned Arrow, Overton writes th…s; Why therefore ſhould you of the Repreſentative body ſit ſtill, and ſuffer theſe Lords to p. 152devoure both us and our Lawes? Be awakened, ariſe and conſider their oppreſſions and encroachments, and ſtop their Lordſhips in their ambitious career, for they doe not ceaſe only here, but they ſoare higher and higher, and now they are become Arrogators to themſelves of the naturall Soveraignty the Repreſented have convayed and iſſued to their proper Repreſentors, even challenge to themſelves the title of the ſupremeſt Court of Judicature in the Land, as was claimed by the Lord Hounſden when I was before them; which challenge of his was a moſt illegall, Anti-Parliamentary, audacious preſumption, &c. Behold, Reader, this wicked Sectary labours to ſet the Houſe of Commons againſt the Houſe of Lords, to make diviſion between them: All the hopes of theſe ſonnes of diviſion lie in breaches, which they f…ment all kind of wayes, and in all kind of things wherein there is union; as between the Houſes, the Scots and …he Parliament, the Parliament and the City, the Parliament and the Miniſtry of the Kingdom: They have no hopes but in wars, fiſhing in troubled wa…ers & keeping all things in confuſion, & from being ſetled. In pag. 11, 12, hee ſpeaks thus, Therefore the ſoveraign power extending no further then from the Repreſented to the Repreſentors, all this kind of ſoveraignty challenged by any, whether of King, Lords, or others, is uſurpation, illegitimate and illegall, and none of the kingdomes or peoples, neither are the people thereto oblieged: Thus, Sir, ſeeing the Soveraign or Legiſlative power is only from the Repreſented to the Repreſentors, and cannot poſſibly further extend, the power of the King cannot be Legiſlative, but only Executive, and he can communicate no more then he hath himſelfe; and the Soveraign power not being inherent in him, it cannot be convayed by, or derived from him to any: ſo that his meer Prerogative creatures cannot have that which their lord and creator never hath had, or can have, namely the Legiſlative power. Many other ſtrange paſſages there are, both in his Pamphlets, and Petition and Appeale, made up of intolerable Arrogancy, Impudency, and Anarchy, point blanck againſt the Fundamentall conſtitution of the Government of this Kingdom; but by theſe the Reader may judge of the whole, ex ung…e leonem; and ſo I leave him to the juſtice of the Houſe of Lords.

p. 153There is one John Lilburn an Arch Sectary, the great darling of the Sectaries, highly extolled and magnified by them in many Pamphlets; called, The Defender of the Faith, A Pearle in a Dung-hill, That Worthy Sufferer for his Countries Liberty; this Worthy man, (a precious Jewell indeed) of whom I had thought to have given a full Relation in this Book, and to have laid him open in all his colours, by following him from place to place, and ſhewing how time after time he hath behaved himſelf ſince he came out of his Apprenticeſhip, as by declaring what ſet him firſt on work to print Books againſt the Biſhops, how hee carried himſelfe in the Fleet whilſt he was Priſoner there, how ſince this Parliament both before the warres begun and ſince the warres, how whilſt hee was Priſoner at Oxford, how in the Earle of Mancheſtors Army, how in the City at many meetings about Petitions ſince he left the warres, how before the Committee of Examinations, how the firſt … he was in Newgate by order of the Houſe of Commons, how hee behaved himſelfe before the Houſe of Lords, and how the ſecond time of his impriſonment in Newgate, and how ſince his laſt commitment to the Tower; but becauſe this Narration alone will take up ſome ſheets, there being many remarkable things to be written of him, of his inſolent looſe ungodly practices, and of his Anarchicall Principles, deſtructive to all Civill Government whatſoever, and I have already filled up that number of ſheets I a… firſt intended when I reſolved to write this Third Part, (though I have many things yet to put in this Third Part) therefore I muſt de…erre it till a Fourth Part, and ſhall then by the help of God doe it ſo largely and fully, that I ſhall make his folly and wickedneſſe known to all men, and vindicate the honour and power of the Houſe of Peers from his, and all the Sectaries wicked Libells; ſhewin… the weakneſſe of thoſe Principles, That all power in Government is founded upon the immediate free election of all thoſe that are to be Governed, And of a neceſſity that all who are to be ſubject and obey muſt be repreſented, And that all who have power in Government muſt be Repreſenters; which I ſhall doe for the vindication of the juſt Legall power of the King, the Houſe of Lords, yea and of the Commons; undertaking to make it good, that according to the Sectarian Principles now vented in ſo many Books daily, and ſo much p. 154countenanced by too many, the power and priviledge of the Houſe of Commons would be overthrowne and cut ſhort, as well as the Kings and Lords: For inſtance, (to ſay nothing of that, that the Commons power is not only by being choſen by the ſeverall Counties and Townes, but by the vertue of Writs under the Great Seal, and by vertue of Lawes and Rules, according to which the ſeverall Electors muſt goe, or elſe their Elections give them no power at all;) If this Principle were true, the Houſe of Commons ſhould have no power over me, nor over many thouſands more in the Kingdome, and we might all ſay the ſame things to the Houſe of Commons, which Lilburne, Overton, and all the Sectaries ſay to the Houſe of Lords; for we never choſe them, had no voyces in their Elections, they are not our choſen ones, as the Sectaries ſay of the Lords; I and many Miniſters of the Kingdome, with hundred thouſands of people who have not ſo much free land per annum, are excluded from election of Knights of the Shires, and not being free-men of Towns, have no voyces in choyce of Burgeſſes, and ſo may refuſe ſubjection to their Orders, reſiſt their Officers who come with their Warrants, and refuſe to live by the Lawes they make, as not being choſen by us, who no queſtion are the greateſt number of perſons in the Kingdom; (I beleeve there are more men of years of underſtanding without ſo much free land per annum, then there are thoſe who have ſo much:) Beſides, if this Principle were true, That all ſubjection and obedience to perſons and their Lawes ſtood by vertue of electing them, then beſides all non-free-holders exempted from the Juriſdiction of the Houſe of Commons, all women at once were exempt from being under Government, and all youths who were under age at the beginning of this Parliament ſix years ago (though now men) and had no voyces in the choyce of Parliament men; yea, if this Parliament ſit many years longer, all thoſe who were boyes and children, when they come to years of underſtanding muſt be exempt too, as having had no voyces in election; nay yet further, ſo weak a Principle this is, upon which the Sectaries would overthrow all the power of the King and Lords, and give all power to the Commons, that if it were true, none were bound to any obedience of thoſe Knights and Burgeſſes whom they choſe not, but oppoſed with all their might, ſo that by this rule all Free-holders p. 155in each County who diſſented from him that was choſen, ſhould not ſubmit to that man, but ſet him up whom they have choſen; and though there be four hundred Members in the Com. Houſe, yet they who have voyces in chuſing, and they whoſe voyces carry it for ſuch a man, becauſe they chuſe but one or two, viz. in that County where they live and have eſtates, therefore they ſhould be ſubject only to the determinations of thoſe two men; but for all the reſt, they chuſe them no more then they do the Houſe of Lords: And yet further, if this Principle were good, that ſubjection and obedience is due from none, and to none, but thoſe who are choſen and repreſent, all ſtrangers who come into or live for a time in a Kingdome, when ſent for upon ſuſpitions or reall crimes, may anſwer the Houſe of Commons, What have they to do with them, they choſe them not, they gave them no power over them, they are not their Repreſentors: And laſt of all, upon this Principle, all we who are born within this fifty, ſixty, or ſeventy years, may refuſe obedience and ſubjection to all the Lawes made by Parliaments before we were born, or by ſuch Parliaments whereof we choſe not the Members; and when men clip money, and counterfeit coyn, or men ſteal horſes, and are ſent for by Juſtices, and brought to the Bars, they may with as much reaſon, and more appeal from thoſe Courts of Juſtice, becauſe they never choſe theſe men that made ſuch Lawes, nor ever conſented to them, as Lilburne, Overton, Larner, &c. did from the Lords, to the preſent Houſe of Commons, their Repreſentors, their choſen ones, &c. and I dare undertake to ſhew, that all thoſe ſeeming Arguments and rambling Diſcourſes in Overtons and Lilburnes Books, have as much ſtrength for juſtifying all Delinquents appeals from thoſe Lawes, made ſo many years agoe, and Judges going according to them, as for their declining the Houſe of Lords. Many other inſtances I could give of thoſe who have by the Lawes of England, and other Kingdomes, power of Government, and that moſt juſtly, without any immediate election of the people, and perſons to be governed by them; ſo that we muſt look for ſome other foundations and grounds of giving one man, or more, power in Government over all beſides this immediate Election, and Repreſentation, which will be found firm and ſtrong, and which indeed give the force to Election, p. 156and which in ſeverall caſes, without any immediate Election of the preſent perſons to be governed, binds them before God and men to obedience and ſubjection in all lawfull things, and according to the Lawes; but I muſt de…errre the giving of more Inſtances about Election, with the Reaſons thereof, and of laying downe the juſt grounds of lawfull Authority and Power of one man, or many, and of one and many, without any immediate Election either of a part, or of the whole preſent people, till the Fourth Part of Gangraena; only I will adde two things, Firſt, to ſhew the Witneſſes do not agree, but the great Leaders of the Sectaries di…fer among themſelves in this point, yea the ſame men, as Lilburn, and the Authors of thoſe Pamphlets, Englands Birth-right, &c. Secondly, propound ſome Queres to Lilburne, Overton, Larner, and the reſt of that generation to conſider of in the mean time. For the firſt, However that Lilburne, Overton, and the Sectaries uſe the Houſe of Lords thus, denying them power over Commoners, and a Legiſlative power, with an Intereſt in ſaving the Kingdome, and put all the whole Supreme power upon the Commons, making the Houſe of Lords ſtand for a Cypher, becauſe not choſen by the common people as the Knights and Burgeſſes, yet till wit… in this year and an half, they in writings and actions declared the contrary, viz. before the recruit of the Houſe of Commons with new Members, and the ſucceſſe of the new Modell, as is evident by many **Vid. A Letter e…tit. Englands lamentable ſlavery. The Copy of a Letter from Lic v…en. Col. Lilburne to a Friend. A Pamphlet call'd, A Queſtion and an Anſwer. Lil…es … …d Tru…h j…ſ…. Englands B…rth-right.Pamphlets written before, wherein they abuſed the Houſe of Commons, and particular Members, crying out of them for making the free ſubjects ſlaves, and for ruling in an arbitrary way, as much as they do now of the Houſe of Lords; yea the Lords are pleaded for and cryed up above the Houſe of Commons, for their juſtice, and their readineſſe to hear the grievan…s of the ſubjects; and their power pleaded for, and that by Lilburne himſelf, pag. 74, 75. of his Pamphlet, call'd …nnocency and …ruth juſtified, where pleading to have his buſineſſe of his ſentence in Star-Chamber to be tranſmitted up to the Lords from the He uſe of Commons, by way of Anſwer to Objections againſt it, he hath theſe words, If I be tranſmitted up to the Lords, I confidently beleeve I ſhall get forward, out of the former experiences of that Juſtice that I have found there; and I will inſtance two particulars, firſt when I was Priſoner in the Fleet, &c. but that's too long for me to p. 157write down, and I ſhall rather ref…rre the Reader to the Book, pag. 74. Secondly, May 4. 1641. the King accuſed me of high Treaſon, and before the Lords Barre was I brought for my life, where although one Litleton ſervant to the Prince ſwore point blanck againſt me, yet had I free liberty to ſpeak for my ſelfe in the open Houſe, and upon my deſire that Maſter Andrewes alſo might declare upon his Oath what he knew about my buſineſſe, it was done, and his Oath being abſolutely contradictory to Maſter Litletons, I was both freed from Litletons malice, and the Kings accuſation, at the Barre of the whole Houſe: and for my part I am reſolved to ſpeak well of thoſe that have ☜done me juſtice, and not to doubt they will deny it me, till ſuch time as by experience I find they doe it. And in pag. 56. of Lilburnes Innocency and Truth juſtified, he writes thus, Againe I ſay, a Commi…tee of the Houſe of Commons is not the whole Parliament, no nor the whole Houſe of Commons it ſelfe, according to their owne Principles; and therefore in my judgement, they are not to act contrary to a known and received Law, and therefore cannot juſtly impriſon any man contrary thereunto, neither by a Committee of theirs, nor by the whole Houſe of Commons it ſelf, they being not according to their own Principles the whole ☜Parliament, but a part of it, and therefore that which is eſtabliſhed by the whole (as a Law is by 3. Eſtates, and … Ordinance by 2. Eſtates) cannot juſtly be contradicted by a part, namely the H. of Com. but one Eſtate, much leſſe by one of their Committees, which is but a branch of that one Eſtate; and therefore for my part I judge a Law to be a Law untill it be made voide by all the three Eſtates that made it, or at leaſt by the two Eſtates joyntly, that takes vponupon them to make Ordinances in this time of neceſſity, to make voide a Law at preſent, &c. And therefore I am abſ…lutely of this minde, that neither a Committee of the Houſe of Commons, nor the whole Houſe of Commons together, can juſtly impriſon me, or any other contrary to law, againſt which at preſent there is not ſome Ordinance ☜made both by them, and the Peers, publike at preſent to overthrow it. But I have ſeverall times been impriſoned both by Committees, and by vote of the Houſe of Commons it ſelf, contrary to a known Law made this preſent Parliament by themſelves, againſt which there is at preſent no Ordinance publiſhed and declared by them and the Peers, for the cognizance; Ergo, I ſay they are tyed in juſtice according to the tenor of this Law to give me reparations againſt thoſe perſons that were cheife inſtruments, either in Committees, or in the Houſe of Commons p. 158it ſelf, to vote and take away my liberty from me, contrary to this L…w; and for my part I do accordingly expect my reparations for my late cauſeleſſe moleſtations and impriſonments.

And as Lilburne in theſe paſſages gives the Houſe of Lords an equall legiſlative power with the Commons, making them one of the three Eſtates as well as the Commons, and expreſly ſaith, the Commons are but a part of the Parliament, and that the Commons ☞cannot make void a Law, unleſſe it be by the two Eſtates joyntly, viz. the Lords and Commons (all which are contrary to the many wicked Pamphlets printed in this year, 1646. by which the Reader may obſerve what difference there is between the ſame Sectaries in the year 1645. and the year 1646. ſuch new light hath the ſucceſſe of the new Modell, and the recruit of the Houſe of Commons brought to the Sectaries) ſo Lilburne and the Sectaries by many actions of theirs have owned and eſtabliſhed the power of the Houſe of Lords, as well as of the Commons, as In their ſeverall Petitions to the Lords Houſe as well as Commons, for aboliſhing Epiſcopacy; and in ſeverall other particulars, which clearly proves the legiſlative power of the Lords as well as Commons; for is not that a part of legiſlative power to repeale former Lawes, Statutes, as wel as to make new? and if the Lords had not a power over Commoners, & that of Judicature, why was Lilburne ſo earneſt with the Houſe of Commons, and in print expreſſes to the great and high abuſe of the Houſe of Commons, their delaying of having their votes tranſmitted concerning his ſentence in Sar-chamber, yea, and that againſt ſome Members of the Houſe of Commons by name? Again, if all the power were in the Houſe of Commons, why did he not reſt contented with their votes, but deſire the Lords concurrance, and that for the puniſhing even of Members of the Houſe of Commons, as in page 75. preſſing the Commons to tranſmit their votes, by way of anſwer to an objection, What juſtice can you expect from the Lords, ſeeing Maſter Smart hath ſpent foure or five hundred pounds? he ſhewes his cauſe to be different from Maſter Smarts, in that he is to have juſtice upon thoſe whoſe eſtates are not ſequeſtred, as Maſter Smarts Adverſaries were, but ſome of them ſtill ſit in both Houſes. And laſtly, if the Houſe of Lords have no power to try or judge Lilburne a Commoner, but their offering ſo to do be a high uſurpation, p. 159invaſion of the Commons rights, why did not Lilburne when he was accuſed of high treaſon before the Lords Barre upon his life (as himſelf makes the relation, page 74.) appeale then from the Houſe of Lords to the Houſe of Commons? And as Lilburne himſelf (the head of the Sectaries in theſe Anti-Parliamentary principles) owned the power of the Lords equall with the Commons, and prefer'd their juſtice before that of the Houſe of Commons, though not choſen by the people: ſo Cretenſis alias * Maſter John Goodwin, brings Arguments from the Houſe of Commons Vide Mr Pryns Animadverſ. on Mr Goodwins Theomach. pag. 22. Maſter Pryns Truth Triumphing over falſhood, pag. 106. 107. 108.being choſen by the people againſt their power of making Lawes in matters Eccleſiaſticall, and the peoples ſubmitting to them, becauſe they are choſen by the riffe raffe of the Land, all ſorts of men, worldly men, drunkards, &c. having a right of nominating perſons to a Parliamentary truſt and power. Theſe are a ſecular root, out of which Cretenſis conceives an impoſſibility that a ſpirituall extraction ſhould be made, For who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane, &c. Now by this the Reader may ſee the Sectaries agree not, ſome excluding the Lords from all power, becauſe not choſen by the univerſality of the people, others excluding the Commons from their power, becauſe choſen by the univerſall people; ſo that according to Maſter Goodwins doctrine, the Lords being of Noble Parentage and well bred, not choſen by the rif…e raffe of the people, Atheiſts, Drunkards, the prophane world, may be fitter, and have more Authority to nominate and appoint who ſhall be the men, that ſhall order the affaires of Chriſts Kingdome, then the Commons. And thus have I ſet the Phariſes and Sadduces one againſt the other. Secondly, I propound ſome Queres to Lilburne, Overton, &c. to Anſwer againſt I ſet forth a fourth part of Gangraena.

1. Quere, If all ſubjection and obedience to Governors be founded only upon the parties immediate preſent election of them, and not other wiſe; whether then may any obedience ſo much as to appeare before, anſwer any queſtions, or ſubmit, be given to Juſtices of Peace, Judges, Keepers of the great Seale, Sheriffs, Committees, &c. who are not choſen by the people?

2. Whether any obedience, reſpect, coming without reſiſtance upon Warrants ſent for, may be performed to Majors of Townes, or Deputy Majors, not choſen by the Town where they ſerve, but p. 160appointed by Ordinance of Parliament?

3. Whe her if men remove from one Town to another, where they had no hand in chuſing Majors and Magiſtrates, muſt they demand a liberty and power to chuſe them before they will obey any of their commands; and whether muſt all the young youths of a Town when they come to twenty one years, …or years of ſubjecting, demand in the places where they live, a power of chuſing Aldermen, or Burgeſſes of Townes before they can ſubmit to them?

4. Whether does not a conſtitution of a Government for ſuch a people and Nation, made by the wiſdome of Anceſtors ſome hunhundred years before, though not by election of the people one in every year, or ſeven, or more, but founded upon ſuch and ſuch good Lawes, and in ſucceſſion of perſons by birth and inheritance, bind a people to obey and ſubject, as well as if choſen by them?

5. Suppoſe in formes of civill Government and conſtitution of Kingdomes, every particular were not ſo good and exact as might be deſired by ſome, and poſſibly might be, yet whether is not a peoples ſubmitting, and accepting that forme of Government many years togethera conſenting to it, and equivalent to a formall Election.

There is one John Price an Exchange man, Cretenſis beloved Diſciple, and one of his Prophets; who among others preach for him, when he hath any Book to Anſwer, or ſome Libertine Tractate to ſet forth; This man hath put forth three Pamphlets, one about Independencies, the other two Replyes or Anſwers; one to the City Remonſtrane, the other to a Vindication of the Remonſtrance; in all which he ſhewes himſelf to be Schollar to Cretenſis, and ſomewhat allyed to Lilburne, Overton, and the reſt of thoſe Sectaries, who give all the ſupreame power of this Kingdome to the Houſe of Commons: For in his City Remonſtrance Remonſtrated, and in his moderate Reply he is againſt the City Remonſtrance, for giving only a ſhare of the ſupreame power to the Houſe of Commons, and inſtead of three Eſtates the **City Remonſtrance Remonſtrated. pag. 23, 24, 25, 26.King, Lords, and Commons, of which the fundamentall Conſtitution of the Government of this Kingdome is made up, he holds there is but one, and that the Commons, for which hee gives his Reaſons (ſuch as they be) and puts Queres to the Author p. 161of the Juſtification of the City Remonſtrance; their ſcope being all along, to give the whole ſupreame power, and not only a part to the Commons. Certainly theſe Books of Maſter Price were not written in the yeare 1645. but in the yeare 1646. that they agree ſo with Lilburne, Overton, &c. And if I ſhould uſe his Maſter Goodwins Argument againſt him here, I wonder how hee would anſwer it; Thoſe who are choſen by the generality of the Land, Worldlings, drunkards, uncleane perſons are not fit to have the whole ſupreame power of the Kingdome, and neither King, nor Lords to have any part with them. But ſo are the Commons of England choſen. Ergo. Now both the major and the minor are his Tutor Goodwins, only the major is ſtronger as I put it; for if according to Maſter Goodwin, becauſe they are choſen by the Common people, and not only by Saints, they are uncapable of a part of the ſupreame power, becauſe there is an impoſſibility of a ſpirituall extraction out of a ſecular root; then much more ſhould they not have the whole ſupreame power. And as this man is bold with the power of the King and Lords to exchange it, and give it to the Commons, ſo he is with the City, the Court of Common-Councell, calling the City Remonſtrance made by the Common-Councell, the diſturber of the quiet and peace of the Church and State, &c. And ſo in page 13. 22. there are paſſages Page 7. City Remonſtrance Remonſtrated.aſperſing the Remonſtrance and the Common-Councell. This Maſter Price contents not himſelf to preach only in London, but I heare of him by a godly Miniſter who was lately at Edmunds-Bury, that he hath preached there in a houſe, and a godly judicious Citizen told me and ſome others that he maintained to him ſome dangerous and hereticall opinions, as that men might be ſaved who were not elected, and that if men did improve nature well, God would ſurely give them grace; So that it ſeems this Exchange man ſells other wares beſides Independency and Separation, and does as the Apoſtle Peter ſpeaks, with fained words make marchandize of mens ſoules.

Maſter Price alſo (I ſuppoſe this Price) was at a meeting here in London, where ſome of ſeverall Sects, Seekers, Antinomians, Anabaptiſts, Browniſts, Independents, met with ſome Presbyterians to conſider how all theſe might live together, notwithſtanding their ſeverall opinions, and he was, as all the Sectaries were for a generall p. 163Toleration, and they agreed together like buckle and thong, only the Presbyterians were not ſatisfied.

There is one Maſter Cradock who came out of Wales, and is going thither again to be an Itinerary Preacher whom I have ſpoken of in page 131. that hee declined coming to the Aſſembly, but now lately October 14. ſeeing the pay could not be had without the concurrence of the Lords, and in all this time having made ſome leading men his friends, hee came to be examined and is paſſed; but beſides that he hath gathered a Church, adminiſtring the Lords Supper in a houſe at evening, he hath preached many odd things in the City, ſtraines tending to Antinomianiſme, Libertiniſme, as ſpeaking againſt men of an old Teſtament ſpirit, and how poore Drunkards and Adulterers could not look into one of our Churches but hell fire muſt be flaſhed in their faces. That if a Saint ſhould commit a groſſe ſinne, and upon the committing of it ſhould be ſtartled at it, that would be a great ſinne in him. And now lately this October, or at the latter end of September, he preached on that Text in Thames-ſtreet, Wee are not of the night, but of the day; upon which Text he delivered matter to this effect, that ſince the Apoſtles times, or preſently after them, there had been a great night, but now the day was breaking out after a long night, and light was coming every day more then other; and there were many Goſpel priviledges, and of the new Jeruſalem that we ſhould then enjoy: In that day there ſhould be no Ordinances to puniſh men for holding opinions, there ſhould be no Confeſſions of Faith, there every one ſhould have the liberty of their conſciences, then as in Micah 'tis propheſied of thoſe Goſpel times, All people will walke every one in the name of his God, and wee will walke every one in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever, which place was brought for liberty of conſcience by him; And in that day neither Epiſcopacy nor Presbytery, nor any others ſhould intermeddle, or invade the rights of the Saints; many ſuch flings he had; and this Sermon was preached juſt upon that time when the Ordinance againſt Hereſies was taken into debate, and the Confeſſion of Faith to be brought into the Houſe of Commons, ſo that by theſe and many more particulars, his hints about dipping often and ſuffering ſuch, ſhewes what the firſt fruits of theſe Itinerary Preachers are, and what a ſad p. 162thing 'tis men ſo principled ſhould go among ſuch a people as the Welch, with ſo large a power of preaching as he and his fellowes have.

Maſter Sympſon the Independent, preaching preſently after the ſecond part of Gangraena came forth, at Black-Friars on June 12. (as 'tis given me under ones hand) and in his Sermon diſcourſing about the Angels bringing no railing accuſation againſt Satan, he adviſed his people how to behave themſelves at this time now the Saints infirmities were laid open; Firſt, not anſwer a word, as the King of Judah commanded thoſe he ſent to Rabſhakeh. Secondly, to pray againſt them, yea and to pray againſt them by name, for God would avenge them.

Reader take notice of the charity and love of Independents Animadverſ.to their Presbyterian Brethren, to ſtirre up the people to pray againſt them, and that by name, with giving them an incourragement from Gods avenging, which I never read was practiſed by the Primitive Church, but only againſt Julian the Apoſtate, whom the Church judged with one conſent to have ſinned againſt the Holy Ghoſt. Theſe Independents and Sectaries did in many Books before my firſt part of Gangraena came forth, name many Presbyterian godly Miniſters, and others, laying open infirmities committed long before, yea abuſing Members of both Houſes, and worthy perſons, by writing lyes and falſe things of them, as that religious and Noble Earle of Mancheſter, Maſter Pryn, Colonell King, Maſter Calamy, with many more; and have abuſed by name in printed Books lately many able and godly Miniſters of the Aſſembly, as Maſter Vines, Maſter Marſhall, Maſter Sedgwick, Maſter Gataker, Maſter Ley, Maſter Newcomen, Maſter Seaman, Maſter Hill, Doctor Burges, with ſome City Miniſters; and this is no fault in the Sectaries, neither are theſe worthy men, Saints be like in the Independent Kalender, nor may the Presbyterians I hope pray againſt Maſter Saltmarſh, Cretenſis, Lilburne, and others of them by name; but for Maſter Edwards becauſe he hath written of the damnable Errors, Hereſies, and Blaſphemies of theſe times, and the better to preſerve the people, and to make them take heed, hath given the names of ſome of the prime ſeducers, Wrighter, Erbury, Hich, Wallwyn, Denne, Kiſſin, Lambe, Lilburne, &c. not Saints in his Creed, nor their opinions and wayes, p. 164infirmities, but deliberated, plotted abominations, therefore hee muſt be prayed againſt, and that by name; and as Maſter Sympſon gives him his bleſſing, ſo his Brother Borroughs preſently after the coming forth of the Antapologie, preaching at Cornhill, was ſpeaking of ſome that laid open the infirmities of the Saints, and that raked up Letters, ſtories, and all to bring out againſt the Saints; but of ſuch (ſaith he) I will ſay no more, but as Michael the Archangell the Lord rebuke thee; which in the carriage of the paſſage, and way of expreſſion was ſo evidently againſt me, that (I beleeve) of godly Miniſters and Chriſtians twenty told me of it; and they ſaid many who heard him, ſpoke of it, and ſaid it was a poor thing of Maſter Burroughs to ſpeak ſo in the Pulpit, he ſhould do well to anſwer the Book. Now as for the prayers of the Sectaries againſt me and their curſes, I would have them know, that though I am ſorry for them they ſhould do ſo, yet I feare not their curſes, but well underſtand that when they curſe, God will bleſſe, and that the curſe cauſeleſſe ſhall not come, Prov. 26. 2. beſides I know, in this very thing I have more with me then againſt me, and in many Countries of this Kingdome both North and Weſt, I am aſſured from godly Miniſters and Citizens, who have been with me, that I am in an eſpeciall manner prayed for, and many thanks given to God in my behalf for enabling me, and ſtirring me up to this work againſt the Sectaries.

There is a godly Miniſter of Cheſhire who was lately in London; that related with a great deale of confidence this following ſtory as a moſt certaine truth known to many of that County, that this laſt Summer the Church of Duckingfield (of which Maſter Eaton and Maſter Taylor are Paſtor and Teacher) being met in their Chappell to the performing of their worſhip and ſervice, as Maſter Eaton was preaching, there was heard the perfect ſound as of a man beating a martch on a drum, and it was heard as coming into the Chappell, and then as going up all along the Ile through the people, and ſo about the Chappell, but nothing ſeen, which Maſter Eaton preaching and the people that ſate in the ſeverall parts of the Chappell heard, inſomuch that it terrified Maſter Eaton and the people, cauſed him to give over preaching, and fall to praying, but the martch ſtill beating, they broke up their exerciſe for that time, and were glad to be gone.

p. 165Now I conceive this paſſage of Providence towards theſe Independents ſpeaks thus much to them and to the Kingdom, eſpecially Animadverſ.conſidering this Church of Duckingfield is the firſt Independent Church viſible and framed that was ſet up in England, being before the Apologiſts came from Holland, and ſo before their ſetting up their Churches here in London, Firſt, that the Independents are for wars, deſirous of wars, to maintain and uphold their Independent Churches by them; and thirſt for a new warre with Scotland, as much as ever an unhappy boy did to be at fiſty-cuffes with another boy; and for that end provoke the Scots all kind of wayes, ſtudy all wayes to make a breach with them. Secondly, The warres which they would have, and occaſion, ſhall prove their ruine, the means to overthrow all their Conventicles, ſeparated Meetings; they are greedy of a warre to eſtabliſh them, but as now the beating of …his Drum drove them out of the Chappell, broke up their Meeting, ſo ſhall the warre which they have ſought, overthrow all their Opinions, Meetings, and caſt them out of England for ever; as the Biſhops and their faction were greedy for a warre againſt the Scots, to ſupport their greatneſſe and Ceremonies, and have been active to promote this ſecond warre, which hath proved their ruine; ſo the Independents plotting, and driving on for warre ſhall break their necks, and break up their Conventicles, and cauſe the Kingdoms to caſt them out as an abominable branch; and the iſſue of all the warres and bloud they thirſt after, ſhall be, that ſome of their Heads ſhall be ſerved by the Presbyterians, viz. put into that bloud which themſelves have cauſed, periſh by it, and that moſt juſtly, as King Cyrus was by Tomyris that Scythian Queen, putting his head into a tub of bloud, and ſaying, Satia te ſanguine quem ſitiſti, nam inſatiabilis fuiſti; and therefore let the Independents and Sectaries take heed of a new warre, and make uſe of this warning given them at one of their Meetings.