ligion, but only to cherish them that the pope approveth of, and to punish those whom the pope condemns, and that Christ must govern and judge of matters of religion himself; that is, by his pretended Roman vicechrist; I shall only now say this, that if Rome were acquainted with self-denial, and if the selfish, carnal interest of riches and rule, and worldly greatness had not blinded them, they could never have believed themselves, that Christ did appoint the pope of Rome to be his universal vicar; and that princes and magistrates in their own dominions, have not more power to judge who is to be tolerated or punished by the sword, than the pope of Rome; when no priest, or prelate upon earth (as such) hath any thing to do with such a judgment; no, not in the places where they live. All that they have to do therein, is to judge who is the heretic, or offender, in order to his censure and excommunication; but it is magistrates only that must judge who is the heretic or offender, in order to corporal punishment or restraint. And this I undertake to make good against all the Papists in the world: much more, that the Roman tyrant hath no such power at the antipodes, and in all the Christian nations of the earth.

Remember in all this, that I speak not against a toleration of godly, tolerable men, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Independent, Anabaptist, &c. that will walk in charity, peace and concord; we shall never be well till these are closed.

But do we not know that Papists have Italy, and Spain, and Germany, and France at hand to help them? And that if we grant them such a liberty as shall strengthen them and make way for their power, we give them our own liberty, and are preparing faggots for our own martyrdom, and giving away the Gospel, that by wonders of mercy hath been till now preserved, (and I hope shall be preserved in despite of Rome and hell). Nor yet do I plead for any cruelty against a Papist, but for a necessary defence of the interest of Christ and the souls of men, and the hopes of our posterity. True humanity abhorreth cruelty.

Did magistrates well know their dependence upon God, and that they are his officers, and must make him their end, they would not take their flocks to be their masters, though they may take them for their charge; nor would they set up a carnal interest of the multitude against the pleasing of God, and men's salvation: nor would they think so highly

of men's conceits and wills, as to judge it a matter of so much moment, to allow them in religion to say and do what they list. If allowing a man's self in the practice of known sin is inconsistent with a state of grace, and a sign of a miserable slave of satan, I leave it to you to consider, what it will prove to allow others, even countries and nations, in known sin. And if rulers know not that setting up an universal vicechrist, and worshipping bread (though they think there is no bread) with divine worship, and serving God in an unknown tongue, with other points of popery, are sin; and that opposing and reproaching the holy Scriptures, ordinances and ministry, are sin; woe to such rulers, and woe to the nations that are ruled by such. O what a blessing is a holy, self-denying magistracy to a nation! If one could have told you twenty years ago, that you, and such as you should be rulers in this land, how confidently would you have promised an universal encouragement to godliness, and a vigorous promoting the cause of Christ, and a zealous suppressing of all that is against it! Little would you or I have thought, that after professors of godliness, were in power, so many years should have been spent in destroying charity and unity, and cherishing almost all that will stand up for the devil, and plead his cause against the doctrine, and discipline, and worship, and churches, and officers of Jesus Christ, and that in their days it should have been put to the question, Whether the ministry itself should be taken down? and that men in power should write for liberty, for all that will call itself religion, even popery not excepted, (nor, I think, infidelity or Mahometanism itself); and that those that write so should be men in power. My heart would have risen against him as an odious calumniator, that should have presumed to tell me, that such men as have attempted this would ever have come to such a pass: and I should have encountered them with Hazael's question, "Are they dogs, that they should do so vile a thing?" and exercise such cruelty on souls, and seek to bring back the people of God to the Romish vomit, and set up the greatest tyranny on earth, and all under pretence of a religious liberty?

But alas, it is not magistrates only that are so wanting in self-denial. Ministers also are guilty of this crime, or else we should not have been so forward to divisions, and so backward to the cure; nor would men of this profession, for

the interest of their opinions and parties, have cherished dissension, and fled from concord, and have had a hand in the resisting and pulling down authority, and embroiling the nations in wars and miseries. And whence is it but for want of self-denial, (for our own faults must be confessed) that the ministers of Christ are so much silent in the midst of such heinous miscarriages as the times abound with? I know we receive not our commission as prophets did, by immediate, extraordinary inspiration: but what of that? The priests that were called by an ordinary way, were bound to be plain and faithful in their office, as well as the prophets; and so are we. How plainly spoke the prophets, even to the king! and how patiently did they bear indignities and persecutions! But now we are grown carnally wise and cautelous; (for holy wisdom and caution I allow ;) and if duty be like to cost us dear, we can think that we are excused from it. If great men would set up popery in the land by a toleration, alas! how many ministers think they may be silent, for fear lest the contrivers should call them seditious, or turbulent, or disobedient, or should set men to rail at them and call them liars and calumniators; or for fear they should be persecuted, and ruined in their estates and names. If they do but foresee that men in power and honour in the world will charge them with lies or unchristian dealing for speaking the words of truth and soberness against the introduction of popery and impiety, and that they shall be made as the scorn and offscouring of all the world, and have all manner of evil sayings falsely spoken of them for the sake of Christ, his church and truth, they presently consult with flesh and blood, and think themselves discharged of their duty; when God saith, "If the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand;" Ezek. xxxiii. 6. And were we no watchmen, yet we have this command, "Thou shall not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him;" Lev. xix. 17. Yet now many ministers will be cruelly silent, lest they should be charged with malice, and hating those they are commanded to rebuke. The sword of violence I persuade them not to meddle with; but were it not for want

of self-denial, the sword of the Spirit would be more faithfully managed against the sins of the greatest enemies of Christ and of the Gospel, than it is by most, though it should cost us more than scorns and slanders, and though we knew that bonds and afflictions did abide us.

And verily, I cannot yet understand, that the contempt and scorn of the ministry in England is fed by any thing so much as selfishness. Could we be for all men's opinions and carnal interests, (O what experience have I had of this!) all men, for aught I see, would be for us. Is it a crime to be a minister? Doubtless it is then a crime to be a Christian. And he that rails at us as ministers to-day, it is like will rail at us as Christians to-morrow. But if such will vouchsafe to come to me, before they venture their souls, and soberly debate the case, I will undertake to prove the truth of Christianity. The world may see in Clem. Writer's exceptions against my "Treatise against Infidelity," what thin transparent sophisms, and silly cavils, they use against the Christian cause. When they have well answered, not only that treatise, but Du Plessis, Grotius, Vives, Ficinus, Micrelius, and the ancient apologies of the Christian writers of the church, let them boast then that they have confuted Christianity. The devil hath told me long ago in his secret temptations, as much against the Christian faith, as ever I yet read in any of our apostates; but God hath told me of much more that is for it, and enabled me to see the folly of their reasonings, that think the mysteries of the Gospel to be foolishness.

But if it be not as ministers and Christians that we are hated, what is it then? If because we are ignorant, insufficient, negligent or scandalous, why do they not by a legal trial cast us out, and put those in our places that are more able, diligent and godly, when we have provoked them to it and begged it of them so often as we have done? If it be because we are not Papists, it is because we cannot renounce all our senses, our reason, the Scripture, the unity, judgment and tradition of the far greatest part of the universal

b See my Reasons of the Christian Religion, since written.

e I may, with Tertullian, call all our enemies to search their court records, and see how many of us have been cast.out or silenced for any immorality, but for obeying conscience against the interest, or wills, of some who think that conscience should give place to their commands. Read the two or three last chapters in Dr. Holden's Anal. fidei.

church. If I have not already proved that popery fighteth against all these, and am not able to make it good against any Jesuit on earth, let them go on to number me with heretics, and let them use me as they do such, when I am in their power. If we are hated because we are not of the opinions of those that hate us, it seems those opinions are enemies to charity; and then we have little reason to embrace them. And if this be it, we are under an unavoidable necessity of being hated: for, among such diversity of opinions, it is impossible for us to comply with all, if we durst be false to the known truth, and durst become the servants of men, and make every self-conceited brother the master of our faith. If we are so reviled, because we are against an universal liberty of speaking or writing against the truths and ways of Christ, and of labouring in Satan's harvest, to the dividing of the churches, and the damnation of souls, it is then in the upshot, because we are of any religion, and are not despisers of the Gospel, and of the church, and of men's salvation; and because we believe in Jesus Christ. I have lately found by their exclamations, and common defamations, and threatenings, and by the volumes of reproaches that come forth against me, and by the swarms of lies that have been sent forth against me through the land, that even the present contrivers of England's misery, (liberty, I would say) and of toleration for popery, and more, are themselves unable to bear contradiction from one such an inconsiderable person as myself; and they have got it into the mouths of soldiers, that my writings are the cause of wars, and that till I give over writing, they shall not give over fighting (though I do all that I am able for peace d). And if this be so, what a case would they bring the nation into, by giving far greater liberty to all, than ever I made use of! Unless they still except a liberty of contradicting themselves, they must look for other kind of usage, when libertinism is set up. Yea, if they will seek the ruin of the church and cause of Christ, they must look that we should take liberty to contradict them, and to speak for Christ and

Read Mr. Stubbs's and Mr. Rogers's books against me; and the soldiers openly thus calumniated me and threatened my death, as the said authors desired them to call me to a trial, even for speaking and writing against their casting down the government of the land, and setting up themselves, and attempting at once to vote out all the parish ministers.