Light for Smoke, Section 26
SECT. XXVI. Mr. Saltm. his dangerous ſuppoſition of equality of Number and power, with diverſitie of Religion; of incorporation of two powers; and what may be expected ſhould the Sectaries prevaile.
Smoke. Pag. 58. SƲppoſe thoſe you call hereticks, and who (as you ſay a littleaSmoke. p. 57. before) thinke they have as good Scriptures to eſteeme you ſo, were of equall number to you; and both of you equally numbred with Magiſtrates.
Light.What cauſe or need in this difference betwixt you and me to take up ſuch a terrible ſuppoſition as you make? for there would have beene no ground of ſuſpition, if there had not been too much indulgence ſhewed to hereticall, and ſchiſmaticall ſeducers; and what doe you meane by ſuppoſing equalitie in number, power, and ſpirit for conteſtation about contrary opinions? is it to make the Preſbyterians beleeve that the partie they take to be hereticall is, or is like to be ſo many and maſterfull, that they will not ſuffer the Church Government to be ſettled without claſhing of ſwords, and bloody doings? Truly your courting of militarie men as you do, and others ſolicitations of them, and brags of their power and purpoſe may be a juſt ground of ſuſpitiō of ſo bad an intention in ſome of your ſide, which now plead for liberty of conſcience, that if they had might to their minds they would aſſert it with other inſtruments, and would ſecure it with circumſcription, if not preſcription, of the Civill power; as the King of Spaine did the liberty of election of the Emperour at Frankford (againſt King Francis the firſt King of France his competitor for the Empire) who ſent thither an Army of 30000 men, that the chooſers might be free and not forced,Guicciard. whereby he ſo overawed them that they durſt not make their choice but in the family of the houſe of Auſtria.
Smoke. Pag. 58. This is an image of your Incorporation of your two powers, that you ſo plead for in this kind.
Light.Now truly Sr. you are a very ſorry image-maker, that draw your picture ſo imperfectly, ſo groſly, like the rude Painters of old, who were fain to their miſhapen pourtraitures to adde an Inſcription, this is a man, and this is an horſe, or elſe a man could tell no more then a horſe what the pictures reſembled. If you had not told your Reader this is an image of your Incorporation, &c. he would never have thought you meant any ſuch thing by what you have ſaid; and now you have made your deſcription, and ſet your ſubſcription to it, it is yet ſo ſmokie and obſcure, that I doubt he cannot underſtand it, I am ſure I cannot perceive any truth or ſence in it: for what incorporation of powers doe we make and plead for? you ſhould have ſhewed what powers you meane, what incorporation of them we make, where and by what arguments we plead for it; till you doe this, I ſhall thinke your image a meere imagination, and a fantaſticall Chimera.
Smoke. Pag. 58. If we were equally principled for perſecution as you are, and alled by your ſpirit, ah what a Kingdome would here be?
Light.What principles of perſecution doe Presbyterians hold, ſet which they have not warrant from the word of God? all with you is perſecution which in any ſort oppoſeth your laviſh toleration of all Religions, though never ſo diſhonourable to God, and damnable to man; the godly party in the time of the Prelates cried out upon pluralities, and ſoule-murdering Non-reſidencie, accounting it an high and hainous crime in thoſe who withheld ſpirituall food from the ſoules of the people, and held that the State was bound to doe them right, to ſee them ſupplied with neceſſary proviſion for their ſalvation; and is there not a ſoule murdering by poyſoning the peoples ſoules with pernicious principles, as well as by withholding from them found and ſalutary Doctrine? and is not the State bound to provide againſt this ſpirituall perill, as well as the other? which if it may be done without drawing of a drop of blood, it is ſo much more pleaſing to conſciencious Presbyterians, as it is leſſe grievous to hereticall ſeducers; the wild beaſt may be kept and fedde within the grate, and the Fox confined to the length of a chaine, though they be not ſuffered to range abroad, and make havock on the flock. And how are they armed for perſecution of their adverſaries, when they not onelyonly live, but thrive and flouriſh, and are advanced to places of honour and truſt all over the Kingdome.
If the Presbyterians were ſo ſpirited, and ſo armed with power as you pretend, how came the Independents to enjoy ſuch a proſperous condition as they doe? And for the perſecution of the Tongue and Pen, (for there may be words as keene and cutting as very ſwords) was there ever any ſo ſharpe and bitter as theirs, who, pretending to hate and perſecute perſecution, jeere and revile Presbyterie and Presbyters with ſo much virulence that all the ſcoffing Iſhmaelites, Lucians, Martin Marprelates (of which laſtaJoſias Nichols in his Book called the Plea of the Innocent. Ioſias Nichols a godly Nonconformiſt ſaid he was ſtirred up by Satan to hinder the worke of Reformation) put together make not up the meaſure of their malignitie who plead for toleration of all Religions, as you doe, and whoſe ſpirit appeares to be ſo furious (though yours be more calme) that could they advance to the height of their hopes, and aimes, it is manifeſt by their owne written words, that they would not tolerate a Presbyterian, but would bring him under intolerable ſlavery; for they would have thebSo in the Arraignment of Perſecution, p. 36. Printed by Martine Claw-Clergy Printer to the Reverend Aſſembly of Divines for Bartholomew Bang-Prieſt, and are to be ſold at his ſhop in Toleration ſtreet. Anno. 1645. Preſbyterian Tribe led in a ſtring from Weſtminſter to Algate in leatherne jackets, and mattocks on their ſhoulders, and the words that follow preſently after, and cloſe up the Paragraph are, they would doe the State better ſervice with their Canonicall girdles (which very few of them weare) were the knot tied in the right place, the words are no ſuch Riddle as to need an Oedipus to expound them; Sir, I will returne you your owne words againe, and let the Reader judge whether they were more fitly objected by you, or retorted by me. If we were equally principled and armed for perſecution, and acted by your ſpirit (yours who breath out ſuch threatnings and ſlaughters from Toleration ſtreet againſt Preſbyterians) ab what a Kingdome would here be?