Account of Truth and Peace, Section 6
SECT. VI.
4. SO we give you, Sir, to know, That our Paſtour with our ſelves have taken full notice, as you willed us, of your Sons handy-worke, in the Margent of that Treatiſe our Paſtour hath written about forms of Prayer, and in ſpeciall the "Lords-Prayer, whereof you were more than an occaſion, or cauſa ſine quâ non; we have as we were ſayiug well obſerved your Sons Charge of blaſphemy there. And Truely had it not been your Son, whom we have knowne ſo well, we had wondred at it. Beſides he is but young, a youth-full Man; Yet theſe words may fit very well; An evill time ſure, ſad things are comming, "The Child ſhall behave himſelfe proudly againſt the Auncient; and, which aggravates the fault, we thinke, the Son ſhall doe this, the Father ſtandingby, and giving allowance to it, and which might, in ſome mens thoughts, highten it to a Crime, the father of the Childe a Miniſter of the Goſpell, allowing his Son ſo dealing with his fellow-Miniſter, and little leſſe than boaſting of it, if not glorying in it, when it was ſo done. Your owne acknowledgement, Sir, Mr Ford and Mr Owen with your ſelfe were at your Sons Elbow, at leaſt he was within the ſound of your words, which were theſe, "Take heed, Son, what you write, that it be no more than what you can Anſwer, "I'le warrant you for that, ſaid he: Say we; ſhould you have taken his warrant, being ſo youthfull a Man and knowne ſo to be? Say you, for we make bold to queſtion you about this matter, though were vve as much above you in place, as vve are below you, we would not be ſo bold with you, as you know who was, vvhen the Childe offended in the preſence of the Father, he excuſed the Son à tanto if not à toto, and laid all the blame upon the Father, and gave him a box on the eare, withall ſuffering the Childe to doe a thing ſo unbecomming in the preſence of the Father. So we returne to you, and This onelyonly we would ſay, Enquire we pray you at your Oracle (we meane not your ſelfe, for if we counted you an Oracle, as, you ſay, we did, we ſee, we were miſ-taken; Yet becauſe we think vvee did not, vve vvill not aske pardon) vve pray you enquire of Gods Word, That Oracle, whether you, being the father of the Childe, ſhould not have ſeene what the Childe had written? Suppoſing you had ſo done; It will be ſuppoſed alſo, we thinke, that for "Blaſphemy, you would have Commanded him to have written "Errour; Yet that would have been too heavie a Charge too, upon theſe words, againſt which blaſphemy ſtands charged, "That the Lords-prayer is a dead letter, for had there been a Spirit of life and quickning in thoſe words, commonly ſaid with the ſpeed of a good Clarke by Miniſters of your perſwaſion, way, and judgement, what a growne and Tall-man in Chriſt had your Son been by this time of the Day, being taught this prayer in his Cradle, by your owne Confeſſion, uſing it upward all along, and at this very day ſaying it now very Clarke-like in the Pulpit; ſo tenaciouſly he holds to that, the manner of us all, he had learn't in his Cradle. And Truely Sir, others may think you your ſelfe had made clearer Demonſtrations of the good Spirit ſpeaking in you, had the words of that prayer been Spirit and life unto you, having ſaid it ſo often in our hearing at th' end of your owne; Well, Sir, but if this be ſo as your Son ſaith, "The Lords prayer is a quick'ning letter, and he that ſaith contrary "blaſphemeth, then you doe well, and your bounden dutie (as we Country-folke ſay) teaching it your Children; yet our perſwaſion is from the premiſes, ſo from this alſo, which followes, That it cannot be as your Son ſaith, That this ſaid prayer, ſhould be Spirit and life, while yet the moſt vile and wicked perſons in the world ſay it every day, for few ſay any other, and moſt ſolemnely on the Lords day after you, when you ſay it. We commend your Son to your care and good counſell, he ſtands in great need of it: And we pray for you, That you may ſtand in Gods Counſell.