Gangrena Part 3, Theological tract · Letter 37
A Paſſage ſent in a letter dated June 16. 1646. from a worthy Miniſter in the Weſt to a Citizen in London to communicate it to me.
Sir,
YOu may further acquaint Maſter Edwards with this Paſſage: I lately met with a worthy Knight, who being mer…ily diſpoſed would needs try an experiment upon a Papiſt how that generation was affected towards Independents; therefore riding by a Gentlewomans houſe, and a great Papiſt, not farre from Reading, he was reſolved to go in and counterfeit himſelf an Independent; this Gentlewoman conceiving him to be ſuch, entertained him with as great friendly reſpects as ſhe could have done any Jeſuit in the world; ſhe profeſſed ſhe loved the Independents with ☞all her heart; and if any men in the world did them right, it would be the Independents; this the foreſaid Gentleman related to me himſelf.
July 25. A godly Miniſter told me that an Anabaptiſt and Antinomian pleaded againſt asking forgiveneſſe of ſinnes; ſaying, it was no more lawfull to pray for the pardon of ſinnes then to pray for our election: It was anſwered, there was an expreſſe command for one, none for the other; it was replyed, where in the Scripture? anſwer was made, in the Lords Prayer; the Anabaptiſt anſwered, the Lords Prayer was only for that time.
A Lieutenant Colonel a man both valiant and godly, told me he had heard a Captain who was a Sectary, preach that theſe Wars ſhould not end till all the wicked in the Land on both ſides were deſtroyed; and ſaith he, if you obſerve it, tis commonly they that are ſlaine ſtill, it may be now and then one of the godly.
About the beginning of June laſt, a Parliament man had a letter from a godly Miniſter in Lynn, acquainting him with the increaſe of Errors there, and that there was a woman Preacher there who …ents many Hereſies; as that the Scriptures were not the word of God, that the drowning of the old World and ſtory of Noah were not true, there were no ſuch things, with other things of that nature.
July the eighth, a godly Miniſter lately of this City, told me in the preſence and hearing of other Miniſters as a certain truth, this ſtory, That at a houſe in Red-croſſe ſtreet or thereabouts, there met ſome Sectaries, where ſome forty perſons being preſent, one of then exerciſed his gifts, and in his exerciſe preached theſe Doctrines.
1. That Jeſus Chriſt was not God, not the Son of God.
2. That the Scriptures were not the word of God, and brought many arguments to prove it.
3. That the ſouls of men dye with their bodies.
Now as he was delivering theſe points, there was a woman preſent that wept bitterly, ſpeaking words to this effect, If this Doctrine be true, what ſhall I do? I have many yeers beleeved in Jeſus ☜Chriſt, and hoped to be ſaved, but now what will become of me? Which words this blaſphemous Sectary taking notice of, ſaid, good woman you need not be troubled; for though Chriſt be not God, neither any certainty of the Scripture being the word of God, yet if you live honeſtly and modeſtly, you ſhall do well enough; beſides, this fellow ſaid, there are two Witneſſes or Prophets coming ſhortly that will bring Scriptures with them, and then you and I ſhall know what to do and to beleeve.☜
There is an Independent who came ſome yeers ago out of New-England, and is made a Captaine here, who left a wife and many children there, and after he was come over, never ſends, nor writes to his wife, nor takes no care for the…r ſubſiſtence, but as it ſeems by Letters written to New-England▪ and from thence, this Captaine hath been ſometimes neer the marrying others here in England, in ſo much as a Letter was written to him b…one (whom I ſuppoſe an Elder) at the deſire of the Church to deale with him about it, which Letter I have read, as alſo a Letter from his wiſe, wherein ſhe wonders ſhe could not hear from him, and prayes him to conſider in what ſtate he left her and thoſe children, and how unable both ſhe and they are for any inployment; and for to ſhow the truth of this Relation, I ſhall give the Reader a true copie of the Letter ſent him out of New-England, which is as followes.
Captaine — and beloved Brother,
HAving an opportunity I embraced it to write unto you, being alſo deſired by the Church, we earneſtly deſi…ing your good in the Lord. I wonder that you would never ſens a word, neither to my ſelf, nor any friend of yours; we knew not whether to write unto you, untill this opportunity. Your wife is yet a live, and never received word, nor penny from you; And which is moſt ſadde, we are informed by two Letters, that you have been ſometimes ready to marry others; which (you know) is very evill, and condemned by the Law of England, as well as by the Law of God: we hope you will take it to heart, together with your forgetfulneſſe of your wife and children. It ſhowes that your heart is declined from God, and we hold it our duty to recover you if we can, by the bleſſing of God upon the meanes we ſhall uſe. Good Sir, take ſome time to conſider of your wayes, the time will come when you muſt give account for them to the great Judge of all. We ſhall expect to hear an anſwer from you concerning this buſineſſe; for God calls us to purge his Church from ſuch evils as theſe are. Thus with my love unto you, and prayers to the Lord to recover you, and humble you, I reſt
Your loving friend Richard Blinman. Gloceſter in New-England December 4. 1645.
THere is one Sir Worts, who being newly Bachelor of Arts came down into Norfolke, and would have had ſuch a place in Norfolke, which ſome of the godly Miniſters thought him not fit to take the Cure of upon him, being ſo young, & having ſo lately commenced Bachelor; whereupon this young youth being angry at the Miniſters, for miſſing the place▪ the next newes the godly Miniſters heard, was, that he was turned Independent, had gathered a Church, and people running eight or ten miles after him, with a great deale of violence crying him up; and amongſt other of his converts that turned Independents and followed this Worts, a godly Miniſter of that Country told me, one of his Pariſh who would lie often in blind Alehouſes and be often drunk (being not admitted by him to the Lords Supper, but being wiſhed by this Miniſter to repent and give ſome teſtimonies of it before he came) upon non-admittance turned Independent preſently and followed this Worts; but a while after, this man was ſtruck ſick on a Munday, dying on the Friday or Saturday after, and would not admit his Miniſter to come at him, but ſent for Worts, and in his ſickneſſe lay all the while ſpeaking and extolling the Church-way to all who came to ſee him, but not doing any thing which concerned a man in that caſe, who had been guilty of ſo great ſinnes, and ſo died.
A godly Miniſter told me, that he knew an old man, an Anabaptiſt that lived at Aſhford in Kent, or thereabouts, who will bee drunken, and when he is drunk, then he will weep much, and bewaile the blindneſſe of the Church of England.
About May laſt I was told it by two or three good witneſſes, that a Souldier belonging to the Army, and one who had been a Dipper, came not long before that to a Town in Bedfordſhire called Ravenſdowne, and got up into the …lpit againſt the will of the Miniſter, preaching for Univerſall Grace, againſt Poedobaptiſme, againſt Tyths; whereupon for preaching whether the Miniſter would or no, one of the Town fetcht a Warrant for him againſt he came down from the Pulpit to bring him before a Knight a Juſtice of Peace of that County, and when he came before him he gave him uncivill words, and carried himſelf diſreſpectively, telling him, that if he committed him, he ſhould be fetcht forth with honour, and to the Juſtices diſhonour; but the Juſtice binding him over to the Seſſions, and being brought thither, deſiring ſome exemplary juſtice againſt him for contempt of his authority, a Letter came from ſome Commander (I am not ſure who) for to ſend his Souldier to him, and ſo as the ſtory was told me, the Juſtices releaſed him and let him go.
An honeſt godly man of good underſtanding told me lately, that one being ſpoken unto about ſending the Army into Ireland, he ſaid there ſhould not go ſix parings of the nails of Sir Thomas's Army into Ireland though it were loſt ten times over; better that loſt then England, hazarded, by ſending away the Army.
At Hampden in Buckinghamſhire, there is one Potter a Smith who hath been a ſouldier and is come out of the Armies, that is a preacher there, and drawes away many people; and though the Miniſter of the place did yeeld much to give him and others content, in being willing to joyn with him and others to keep away ſcandal…us perſons, promiſing to watch over one another, giving …ree leave to this Potter and others to except and object any thing againſt him, or others admitted to the Lords Supper; yet nothing would give them content; but this Potter, and many others whom he hath drawn away, meet in Separated meetings on the Lords day, will pay no Tithes.
A godly Miniſter told me. Auguſt 18. that ſome ſouldiers belonging to Colonell Iretons Regiment quartering but two nights in his Pariſh, infected many, he had rather have given a great deal of mony then they ſhould have come thither: He ſaith they be generally Arminians; and ſate with their hats on in Prayer, Singing of Pſalmes: One of theſe ſouldiers told a godly woman in his Pariſh, that if ſhe did not beleeve Chriſt died for all, ſhe ſhould be damned.
There is one John Durance ſpoken of in the Second part of Gangrana, who was apprentiſe to a Waſhball-maker at the Three Herrings in Lumbard-ſtreet, who after preaching ſome years without being ordained Miniſter, doth now preſume without any ordination to Baptize and adminiſter the Lords Supper againſt which high preſumption God hath lately witneſſed by making one in this kind a fearfull example in York-ſhire; which ſtory moſt true and certain with the particulars of it, I intend to give the reader in a Tractate of a Catalogue of the judgements of God upon the Se-Sectaries within theſe four laſt years. Now this Maſter Durance beſides preaching at Canterbury in one of the Churches, hath gathered a Church, to which in one of the Prebends houſes (wherein he dwels) he preaches and adminiſters the Lords Supper in the evening: this man at Sandwich prayed ſtrangly concerning the King as the Reader may remember; and being ſpoken to about Second part of Gangrana, 131it, he was ſo farre from repenting, that he added this, That he hoped ere long to ſee the King fettered in Newgate; which I hearing, could hardly beleeve a man ſhould ſpeak ſo wickedly of the King, and therefore write down i…o Kent to enquire of the truth of it, of them to whom it was ſpoken: and I had this Anſwer returned me in a Letter, that Maſter G. a Jurate of Sandwich had averred no leſſe then what it ſhould ſeem, you have heard already concerning him:
Beſides, this Durance preaching preſently after the newes of the ſurrender of Oxford, ſaid, That for all that, there would be no Peace, till there were a generall Liberty of Conſcience in England.
In Kent, not f…rre from Greenwich, there is a feirce Independent, one Maſter Larkin, a man of wh… I have heard many things both of his preaching aod converſation, concerning whom there are many Letters come from New England, atteſted with many hands, writing of his ill behaviour, and the ſcandals that are upon him there; beſides many paſſages related of his preaching here againſt the Aſſembly, Miniſtery, and of his carriage in ſeverall particulars; but I ſhall ſpeake no further of him at this time.
There is one Maſter Powell at Dartmouth in Kent, a great Sectary; he ſometimes preached in Crooked-lane, where he vented many erroneous things, and …ow does a great deal of hurt in thoſe parts of Kent: There was a neighbour Miniſter, a godly man that being behind in paying ſome of his Taxes (being deeply taxed) one imployed to gather up monies unpaid, coming to him for monies not paid, he demanded … ſhillings for his charges in coming, and uſed theſe words, You are one that oppoſe Maſter Powell, and if the Miniſter would not pay whatever he demanded, would ſtraine his Cowes.
There is one Brabſon in Middleſex about Han…ll, a great Sectarie and Preacher, he preaches much againſt Tithes, and broaches many Errours, ſome of the Middle … Miniſters have told me of ſuch a man, and I am promiſed a full account of the man.
There is one Cornwell in Kent an Anabapeiſt, who hath put forth divers Pamphlets, one againſt Baptizing of Children; others lately printed, Dedicated to particular members of the Houſe of Commons: The firſt pamp… called, The vindication of the royall Commiſſion of King Jeſus, ſet forth about three years ago, was given to divers Members at the doore of the Houſe of Commons: In which Book this Cornwell brands all the Reformed Churches and the whole Chriſtian world at this day which Baptize their children with the odious name of an Anti-chriſtian Faction.
There is one Maſter Blackwood about the Wild of Kent an Anabaptiſt, who hath write about a yeare and a halſe ago, a Book called The ſtorming of Antichriſt; the ſubject matter being againſt Poedobaptiſme, and for Liberty of Conſcience ſo called, wherein as I remember he is for a univerſall Toleration except it be in Blaſphemy, and denying the Scriptures to be the word of God: but about a year ago a godly Miniſter told me he ſpeaking with him about that book and about his limitations, and whether he was of that judgement ſtill, he told him, he had received thanks for that book from a great Commander in the army for ſo far as he had gone right, but wiſhed him to re-collect his thoughts whether be was not out in thoſe limitation… & bounds, ſo that (ſaid M. Blackwood) I am ſomewhat unſatisfied in my former limitations, doubting whether there ought not to be a univerſall Toleration without any of thoſe bounds; and in a Blackwood Apoſtolicall Baptiſme, or a Rejoynder to M. Blake, p. 81. 82.book ſince printed, he is againſt any reſtraint in the c… of Blaſphemy, and denying the Scriptures retracting his …ormer diſtinctions.
There is one Maſter Niob…las Daviſon of New-England, who came over from New-England with accounts amounting to a good ſ…e, which he was to give here in London; and landing in the Weſt at that time when all the Weſt was in the Enemies power, for feare of looſing his accounts and being taken, durſt not venture to come up to London, but lived in Barſtable unknown almoſt three quarters of a year, which being then one of the Kings Garriſons he was glad to conceale himſelfe, they not knowing whence be came nor what he was: now being ſometimes in the company of the Cavaliers and of ſome of their Schollars, he heard them often ſpeaking among themſelves of the Independents, and of the differences among us, and they ſpake to one another (not thinking he took notice) that there were from ſeverall Colledges beyond the Seas Jeſuites come over (they named their names, and the places from whence they came) to act the pitts of Independents and Sectaries to blow up the difference and contention: Now when the Weſt was open, and this man got fa… to London, he told this to divers, to a godly Citizen among …hers, who acquainted me with it; and this Maſter Daviſon being ſpoken to by ſome Independents (as being a New-England man) to go to Guildhall upon ſome buſineſſe when ſome Parliament men came downe (as I take it, upon one of the Cities Petitions about Church Government) for ſay the Independents, the Presbyterians will get the upper hand, he refuſed to go, and anſwered them who ſpake to him in words to this effect, You little know what you do, and whoſe work you further in oppoſing the Presbyterians: for ſaith he▪ the Independents in Old-England are nothing like to them of New-England no more then black to white: you Independents here do that which we abhorre there; I met …ith this man, with one who came from New-England, and he held himſelf there an Apoſtle, for which he was whipped, and here h… is a great preacher, and in great account, and this he told to divers. This man is accounted a godly man in New-England and went back thither this June.
For a further proof and confirmation of this, here is a perſon of good account, one of the Committee of Account, that ſpeaks confidently of informations he hath received of the coming over of Jeſuits on purpoſe to mixe themſelves with Independents and the Sectaries to increaſe that Faction for th…ir own ends: I have been told alſo with much confidence that a Gentleman going through Col…man-ſtreet, and ſeeing great ſtore of People coming out of an Alley, asked what the matter was; ſome told him they were Sectaries come now from their Conve…ticles, whereupon ſtanding ſtill to take notice what manner of People they were, he ſawe come out among them fome whom he had known to be Jeſuits and Prieſts.
There is a young man a Schollar and a preacher, who lived ſome years in Holland, and that among ſome of our Engliſh Sectaries, ſometimes of the Church of Ar…b…im, who tells me they all generally and their Families were Anabaptiſts, and that they made much of that ſcurrilous wicked book, The Arraigment of Perſecution: Theſe Sectaries not many months before they came over into England, namely about the Spring laſt, gave thanks at one of their Church meetings for a Toleration of the Sects (which as they heard) had paſſed th… Houſe of Commons; which the Beformed Miniſters of that place hearing of, were much troubled at it, yet hoping it was not ſo, that God would not leave the Parliament to be guilty of ſo great an evill after he had done ſo much for them: Theſe Sectaries would ſpeak much againſt the Covenant, and this Preacher hath heard ſome of them ſay they would be hanged before they would take it, and had rather ſee one another hanged then to take that abominable Covenant. One of the compapany uſed to preach conſtantly in the forenoon, and then in the afternoon two or three others by turns, as Maſter C. Maſter A. and when theſe were from home and there was no preaching, then their Families ſtaid at home, and would not heare the Engliſh Reformed Miniſters, but ſome of them ſaid, If thoſe Miniſters would promiſe never to preach for Baptiſme of Children, nor againſt their way, they would hear them: Upon the newes coming over of the burning of Maſter Archers booke, that made God the author of ſinne, they juſtified all in that book, ſaying, what was in it, was his to a word; and one of them ſaid he could ſhew the Copy; and they ſpake much againſt Aſſembly, Parliament, and that he had as high a place in heaven as any of them would have; and they would make what he had written good. This young man once ſpeaking againſt the opinion, they were very angry at him, ſaying, what had he to do▪ & they would ſpeak againſt our Miniſters with much indignation and ſcorn, as if none of them had any worth.
A worthy Member of the Houſe of Commons told me the laſt I am of opinion that Heaven received few ſuch ſouls …s this Sectarie, and Chriſt ſaith, non retipio tales animas.day of Auguſt, that one Captaine B. told him we had beene fed by our Miniſters tha… mens ſouls when they die went to heaven; but now we ſee a New Light in that they do not go to heaven: to whom this Parliament man replyed, That the ſouls of the faithfull do; for Chriſt told the thief, Luke 24. To day ſhalt thou be with me in Paradiſe: unto whom this Captain replyed, That to day was to be referred to Chriſts ſaying ſo, and not to the time when he ſhould be in Paradiſe, ſo that the meaning was, Chriſt ſaid unto the thief thoſe words to day, but not that to day he ſhould be in paradiſe with him, and ſo the words were to be read, Verily I ſay unto thee to day, and there the point; and then after to be read, thou ſhalt be with me in Paradiſe; which though it ſhould not be to the end of the world, would be no impeachment of the truth of Chriſts ſpeech: whereupon this Parliament man anſwered to this purpoſe, this were to make Chriſt eqivocate and deceive like as your faction does.